-CLASS TRIAL RESUME!-

"Youngjae?" Eunji asked.

"I mean it." Youngjae replied. "Pay attention to all the clues that you have, Eunji."

"Okay..."

"There's an inconsistency that you've ignored." Youngjae replied.

What is going on

-NON-STOP DEBATE!-

-START!-

"You're acting extremely sus, dude." Masahito said. "So, you're the killer after all!"

"No." Youngjae said. "I'm just a thorough investigator."

"Youngjae, are you think what I'm thinking, too?" Miyumi asked.

"That is possible." The babysitter replied.

"Ughh! You're all so confusing!" Masahito remarked.

"What is it? What is the inconsistency that we missed?" Kaori asked.

"There is no inconsistency! He's just fucking with us!" Masahito remarked.

"THAT'S WRONG!"

-BREAK!-

"The way that Ichiro's throat was slit!" Eunji asked.

"Huh?" Masahito said.

"That's what I thought, too." Miyumi said. "Usually, in murder victims of throat slitting, their angle is very consistent, but with the way Ichiro's throat was slit, it's very unusual."

"I don't get it." Hirokazu said.

"Eunji, may you explain?" The detective asked.

I gotta think this through...

~~HANGMAN'S GAMBIT~~

How exactly was Ichiro's throat slit?

It was _

D

CORRECT!

"NOW I UNDERSTAND!"

-BREAK!-

"I understand now!" Eunji said. "It was self-inflicted!"

"HUH?!" Was the reaction of pretty much everyone except for Youngjae, Takashi, and Miyumi.

"You telling me he committed suicide?" Kazuhiko asked.

"No, he definitely did not." Miyumi said. "There is infact a culprit in this case, but using all the evidence I found, it logically makes sense that the culprit was unwilling in this regard."

"The culprit... was unwilling?" Ayaka asked.

"Think about it." Miyumi said. "The random bloodstain in Eunji's lab, Reika's missing clothes, the knife being dropped foolishly in Hirokazu's lab. The culprit must have freaked after accidentally murdering Ichiro."

"Nope, I definitely don't believe that." Izumi said.

"Me neither." Masahito replied. "It'd make more sense if they were intentionally trying to frame somebody."

"I can believe that the culprit is unwilling." Ayaka replied.

"But Ichiro inflicting the wound on himself is just..." Seungyeon said.

"It's hard to believe, but it's the truth." Yeeun replied.

"I guess we're pretty split." Naomori said.

HOLD ON!

"This again?" Eunji asked.

"Puhuhu!" Monokuma said. "I'm so excited! Let's go!"

This is our chance to convince everyone that Ichiro may have been behind his own murder after all!

The podiums started to slowly depart the main class trial room, going in a line towards another room in the class trial set. Eventually, all podiums split even into a 8-8 left-right side, showing a split between the students.

Topic: "Was Ichiro's murderer really unwilling?"

Left side: "They killed him on purpose!": Naomori, Izumi, Masahito, Seungyeon, Kazuhiko, Hirokazu, Kaori, Reika

Right side; "Ichiro forced them!": Eunji, Ayaka, Youngjae, Takashi, Miyumi, Yeeun, Ichiro, Jutaro

-DEBATE SCRUM START!-

"I mean, come on, to believe that Ichiro's wound was self-inflicted is crazy!" Masahito said.

I got this!

"His wound being self-inflicted would make a lot sense with the angle." Eunji said.

"Okay, then, but... why would he do that?" Seungyeon asked.

Yeeun!

"If we discuss this more, then the why will make sense!" Yeeun replied.

"The culprit being sloppy could easily just be explained with them trying to frame someone!" Izumi stated.

Miyumi!

"Them being sloppy makes so much more sense if they were forced to kill Ichiro. After all, would you react normally if that were to happen to you?" Miyumi asked.

"But then why would his room be messed with if not for the culprit to cover up their crime?" Kaori asked.

Takashi!

"If Ichiro had planned for this, it'd easily be reasonable for him to cover up the traces of his plan." Takashi replied.

"Alright, fine, but does this even matter?" Kazuhiko asked.

Youngjae!

"It does matter because depending on how Monokuma rules, we could get the vote wrong!" Youngjae replied.

"This whole thing is just so confusing." Hirokazu said.

Ayaka!

"It may be confusing, but let us debate this more, and the truth will become clear." Ayaka said.

-CROUCH BIND!-

"THIS IS OUR ANSWER!"

-BREAK-

"Alright, so..." Kaori said. "Ichiro really slit his own throat then? Using the culprit's hand?"

"That's the only logical conclusion-" Eunji said.

"Create a better image!"

ARGUE!

MASAHITO

"Until you provide evidence, I refuse to believe your lies." Masahito remarked.

"I'm getting real tired of your shit, pal." Eunji replied.

"Well then, give me proof."

Now you've done it this time!

-REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!-

-TRUTH BLADES!-

-START!-

"It's still a total baseless assumption to say that Ichiro slit his own throat."

"You don't have any evidence."

"So, stop pushing this agenda."

ADVANCE!

"It's like you didn't even pay attention during the debate scrum!"

"If Ichiro forced the culprit into slitting his throat..."

"Then them running around leaving evidence all over the place makes perfect sense!"

"Like I said..."

"You have no fucking evidence!"

"So stop!"

"I'LL CUT DOWN YOUR WORDS!"

-BREAK!-

"Yeeun told me that she last saw Ichiro at 5:41 AM, and he was acting way different from his usual self." Eunji said.

"Huh? You're gonna believe that bitch, really?" Masahito asked.

"Chill with the misognystic language, asshole." Eunji remarked.

"I'm serious, you're really going to believe her?" Masahito said. "When she was awake at night? She could have easily killed him!"

"I was awake at night too." Ayaka said.

"Me too!" Kaori replied.

"So was I." Hirokazu stated.

"I didn't see you awake, astrology boy." Masahito replied.

"Anyways, Ichiro's strange behavior last night leads me to believe that he perhaps had something planned." Yeeun said.

"It's possible that he meant to kill somebody, but when that failed, he then forced them to slit his throat." Ayaka replied.

Ayaka has a point.

"Ugh, nothing makes sense anymore!" Masahito remarked. "So, what the fuck is going on!"

"Let's look back at this whole case now with everything cleared up." Miyumi said.

"Ichiro had made a plan to murder someone, so he cleaned up his own room to make sure nobody would see what he had planned." Ayaka said. "And he went over to his target, and failed to kill them, so he forced them to kill him."

"Afterwards, the culprit freaked out and ran over the place, leaving evidence at Eunji's, Reika's, and Hirokazu's lab." Miyumi said. "And of course, the whole stuff with Ichiro was all part of his plan."

"So, Ichiro really is an asshole then, huh..." Eunji sighed.

"I can't believe he really tried to kill somebody, and when that failed, he just forced them to kill him." Hirokazu said.

"What a fucking coward." Masahito remarked.

"Okay, so then... who did Ichiro try to target?" Kaori replied.

"Hold on." Miyumi said. "Eunji, there's something you're forgetting."

"What is it?" Eunji asked.

"There may be a third party involved." Miyumi said. "Not the murderer or culprit, but somebody who knew what Ichiro was trying to do, and they tried to cover up what he had done."

"What makes you say that?" Naomori asked.

"Eunji, you still have it, right?" Miyumi asked.

Does she mean...?

SELECT A TRUTH BULLET!

SELECTED – Ichiro's Broken Monopad

Eunji pulled out her monopad, showing the class a picture of Ichiro's smashed up monopad.

"This right here is Ichiro's monopad." Eunji said.

"It's broken!" Masahito replied.

"I thought you couldn't break monopads?" Ayaka asked.

"You sure can't!" Monokuma said. "They're indestructible!"

"And those footsteps I heard before I found his body could have been the third party!" Izumi said.

"Honestly kids, who cares!?" Monokuma held a claw out. "Just get to figuring out who the culprit is! This third party stuff doesn't matter!"

"The bear is getting suspiciously uptight." Kazuhiko replied.

"If you kids continue talking about this supposed third party, I'll punish you!" Monokuma said.

"Alright, fine." Miyumi said. "Now, let's start establishing alibis."

"Well, Miyumi was awake." Kaori said. "So was I, Ayaka, Yeeun, Hirokazu and Masahito. Everyone else was asleep before the 7 AM announcement."

Women's clothing went missing... The culprit freaked out after killing Ichiro...

Ichiro picked out a target, but why?

Could he...

QUESTION TIME: What reasons could Ichiro have for targeting someone?

A. The motive

B. Their personality

C. Sheer Randomness

"That's it!"

The women's clothing being missing... the motive being Ichiro's main reason for targeting somebody...

If he knew who had his secret...

That... that leaves only one person...

SELECT SOMEONE!

#1. Eunji Park#2: Yeeun Kim #3: Kaori Minami #4: Masahito Kiyabu #5: Naomori Morita #6: Jutaro Harada. #7: Hirokazu Tsukuda #8: Youngjae Seo #9: Ayaka Suzuki #10: Ichiro Arakawa #11: Kazuhiko Ishibashi #12: Reika Kurosawa #13: Izumi Yamamoto #14: Seungyeon Kang #15: Takashi Okazaki #16: Miyumi Takahashi

SELECTED

#9: Ayaka Suzuki

"Aya-chan..."

No... I can't do this.

Eunji suddenly felt like she was alone, just standing there in her podium.

Aya-chan... it can't be her.

I-I refuse to believe it.

We've spent so much together, we've laughed together and had so much fun!

I can't do this to her!

I can't kill Ayaka!

I'm sorry everyone.

I'm not strong enough.

I guess... this is where our story ends...

….

..

.

Yeeun looked at Eunji, who just seemed in distress.

So, Eunji, you figured it out, too, huh?

Ayaka killed Ichiro.

It's so horrible, but it was all his fault.

Don't worry.

I know you can't do this to her.

So you don't have to.

Just rest, Eunji.

I will take care of it!

Yeeun looked at Ayaka, and took a deep breath.

"The culprit is Ayaka." Yeeun said.

"Huh?" Masahito blurted out. "Now, that doesn't make any sense! Do you have evidence to prove it!"

That I do...

TRUTH BULLET ADDED – AYAKA RUNNING

Ayaka Running: Yeeun saw Ayaka running outside to the lab building.

TRUTH BULLET ADDED – AYAKA'S CLOTHES

Ayaka's Clothes: Yeeun found a pile of Ayaka's clothes covered in blood.

TRUTH BULLET ADDED – NOTE TO AYAKA

Note to Ayaka: Dropped in the courtyard, was a note that Ichiro left to Ayaka.

-NON-STOP DEBATE!-

-START!-

"You can't just go around saying that Ayaka is the culprit who no evidence!" Masahito said. "And besides, like we'd believe you, anyways!"

"..." Eunji was silent.

"Yeeun, could you provide us some evidence, please?" Miyumi said. "I'm open to any suspect."

"Yeah, this could be a huge breakthrough." Takashi replied.

"She has no fucking evidence!" Masahito remarked.

"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"

-BREAK-

"At around 6:09 AM, I saw Ayaka running in the courtyard." Yeeun said. "She was running towards the lab building.

"..."Ayaka was just quiet.

"You could just be lying!" Masahito said. "I ain't believing shit!"

"That's a pretty big statement." Miyumi said. "Do you have any evidence to back your claim up?"

I sure do!

SELECT A TRUTH BULLET!

SELECTED – Ayaka's Clothes

"Here's my answer!"

Yeeun pulled out her monopad, and showed the class the pictures of Ayaka's bloody clothes.

"Is that...?" Hirokazu said. "Yeeun, where'd you find this?"

"I found this in the laundry room." Yeeun said. "It's crazy that nobody went to investigate it."

"The laundry room?" Miyumi said. "I can't believe I let that slip me by."

"No, by the time of the investigation, they were already washed. I found them behind a bunch of baskets, maybe when Ayaka was changing in her room." Yeeun replied.

"It's..." Masahito fell silent. "Okay, whatever, it could just be yours!"

"The clothing is colorful, does it seem like something I would wear?" Yeeun asked.

"Um..." Kaori said. "So... Ichiro was going to kill Ayaka, but she stopped him, so he grabbed her hand and made her kill him?"

"It's all bullshit!" Masahito said. "You don't have proper evidence that it was Ayaka!"

Do I need to show more?

SELECT A TRUTH BULLET!

SELECTED – Note to Ayaka

"You see this?" Yeeun said. "It's a note that Ichiro left to Ayaka. He had stuffed it under his mattress."

Yeeun read it out loud to the class. "Yo, Suzuki! Come meet me near the rec room, I got some stuff to show you! Hurry, please! Before Momo rings his announcement!"

"That sure sounds like that idiot." Seungyeon sighed.

"..." Ayaka was just silent.

"Hey, Eunji?" Yeeun said. "I get it."

"...huh?" Eunji asked.

"Nope!" Masahito remarked. "You're the fucking culprit, Yeeun! I know you are! It doesn't make any sense, why woul Ichiro target Ayaka!"

Oh great..

-ARGUMENT ARMAMENT!-

-START!-

MASAHITO

"You're just trying to save your own ass!"

"You went out of your to murder Ichiro!"

"Now you're just trying to pin this on Ayaka!"

"You're a fucking bitch!"

"A whole bitch!"

"Grah!"

"Keep on lying!"

"See where that fucking brings you!"

"It won't prevent shit!"

"You're the culprit!"

"Go die!"

"Just get fucking executed!

"GRRRRRAHH!"

"You'll rot for this!"

"Murdering Ichiro, and pinning this on our nicest classmate!"

"I can't wait to vote for you!"

"SHUT UPPPP!"

"GO TO HELL!"

"FUCKING BITCH!"

"URRRGGGGGH!"

-FINAL BLOW!-

"It doesn't make any fucking sense! Why the fuck would Ichiro come after Ayaka?"

TER

AYA ← → LET

V

KA'S

AYAKA'SLETTER

"IT'S OVER!"

"URRAAAAAGGHHHHHHH!"

-BREAK!-

"Ayaka's letter contained Ichiro's secret." Yeeun said. "At some point, he probably figured it out. So who better than to kill the sole person who knew your secret?"

"N-Nooo...!" Masahito said.

"Ayaka?" Yeeun said. "Are you okay?"

"...Yeeun, thank you." Ayaka replied.

"I'm going to explain everything to them, and this horrible class trial will be over, okay?

"Okay."

I'm so sorry to do this to you, Ayaka. This should never have happened.

-CLOSING ARGUMENT!-

Who got Ichiro's secret?

The culprit

What exactly was Ichiro planning?

To murder somebody to escape

Who did Ichiro target?

The culprit

So, Ichiro left a note to the culprit, what did it say?

To meet him near the recreation room

What did Ichiro grab as a weapon?

A knife that Youngjae had left behind in the kitchen

So, then what did Ichiro do when he met up with the culprit?

He tried to kill them, but the culprit blocked it.

Once the culprit had taken the knife from Ichiro's hands, what did Ichiro do?

Grabbed the culprit's hands and forced them to slit his throat.

After being forced to kill Ichiro, what did the culprit do?

Run into Eunji's lab.

In there, what had happened?
The culprit accidentally spilled some of Ichiro's blood onto the floor.

The culprit ran to the lab building, and who saw them?

Me, Kim Yeeun.

What did the culprit do once they got the labs?

Went into Reika's lab

At Reika's lab, the culprit?
Took some clothes to change into.

And the culprit?

Cleaned the knife.

Afterwards, the culprit went into Hirokazu's lab and?

Dropped the knife by accident.

Afterwards, the culprit went into the trash room and?

Threw behind the bloody shirt used to clean the knife.

And finally, the culprit went into the laundry room and?

Hid their bloody clothes.

"THIS IS THE TRUTH OF THE CASE!"

ACT I

"It all started with the motive: the secrets."

"We all got assigned with somebody else's secret, and Ichiro's secret fell to the culprit."

"At some point, Ichiro had figured out that the culprit knew his secret."

"Which in turn, brought his plan to action."

ACT II

"With the knowledge of the culprit having his secret, Ichiro devises a plan to murder them."

"Ichiro dropped off a note for the culprit.."

"And went into the kitchen to grab a spare knife that Youngjae had left behind."

"Anyways, once Ichiro had met up with the culprit, he made his move."

ACT III

"But he failed horribly, as the culprit gripped his arm and disarmed him."

"With Ichiro's plan failed, he went to his next best thing."

"He grabbed the culprit's arm and forcefully made them slit his throat."

"With that, Ichiro died almost instantly."

"Horrified at what they had done, the culprit ran off."

ACT IV

"They ran into Eunji's lab, probably trying to comprehend what they had done."

"They must have spent a long time there, because a puddle of blood had formed on the floor."

"Anyways, once they had enough time to recover, they ran over to the lab buildings."

"And that was their mistake, because that's when I saw them running."

"Anyways, they made their way to Reika's lab, in which they took some clothes."

"They cleaned the knife off, and made their way to Hirokazu's lab."

"There, they accidentally dropped the knife."

ACT V

"After spending more time in Hirokazu's lab, the culprit made their way to the trash room."

"There, they dropped the bloodied shirt used to clean the knife off."

"And next, they went into the laundry room."

"They had to change fast, so they just left their bloodied clothes hidden behind some baskets."

"And that's when I went in and found the clothes."

"Of course, they never had planned for any of this, so it's understandable why'd they be so sloppy."

"It makes me sad, but this is the harsh reality of the situation."

Finally, Yeeun just looked at the culprit, sadden. "Is that about right, Ayaka Suzuki, the Ultimate Horror Writer?"

The culprit's facade broke away, revealing Ayaka, with a look of sadness.

-BREAK!-

"That's right." Ayaka said, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "I-I killed him..."

"A-Aya-chan..." Eunji's voice broke.

"That fucking asshole!" Masahito slammed his hand on his podium. "I won't let this stand!"

"It's not over yet." Miyumi remarked. "Do you guys remember something?"

"What is it?" Takashi said.

"We can let Monokuma decide." Miyumi said.

"You mean...?" Izumi asked.

"We let the vote tie between Ichiro and Ayaka. And from there, we'd let Monokuma's ruling decide."

"But there's 13 of us here..." Naomori said.

"We can tie it 6-6-1." Miyumi said. "I'll offer myself up, if anyone would like to throw a stray vote at me, feel free."

"I'll do it." Youngjae said. "So, what's the plan from there?"

"Ayaka, Eunji, Naomori, Masahito, Hirokazu, and Kaori vote for Ichiro, and the rest of us vote for Ayaka."

"Okay.." Yeeun said. "Let's do it, then."

"Does that mean you kids are ready to vote?" Monokuma asked.

"Yes, we are." Yeeun replied.

"Alright!" Monokuma said. "It's the moment we've all been waiting for! The heartpounding exictment as the blackened and the spotless face off!"

"IT'S VOTING TIME!" Monokuma announced.

Yeeun looked as the screen in her podium turn on to display all 16 students faces, with "voting time" in the top of the screen. She selected Ayaka's picture.

"Alright, voting's done!" Monokuma said. "Did you make the right choice? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna bee!?"

A screen lowered to the middle of the podium circle, and displayed a screen showing where the votes lied. The final tally was...

Huh?

7 votes for Ayaka, 5 votes for Ichiro, and 1 vote for Miyumi. With that, Ayaka's picture showed up to the right of the monitor, with a big "selection" shown on the bottom of it.

A machine with a "Verdict" sign on the top, and a wheel in the middle that contains little pixel sprites of all 16 students, showed up.

The wheel started to spun, rapidly cycling through every student's sprites. Eventually, it slow down, and stopped on Ayaka's little sprite.

And the result?

VERDICT

SUZUKI

CORRECT!

The machine started to spurt out coins, and it let out a Monokuma laugh.

ALL RISE!