-CLASS TRIAL RESUME!-
"Explain yourself." Takashi said. "How exactly could Eunji be playing us?"
"Yeeun mentioned a rope earlier, but nothing ever came out of it." Kazuhiko said. "And even the detective said it was important to this case, so let's hear it."
"..." Miyumi fell silent.
"Radio silence? How disappointing." The racer replied. "See what I mean? Can we really trust this detective?"
"We shouldn't go straight towards Eunji." Takashi said. "Wouldn't it be better to clear the remaining 4, and if all of them have solid alibis, then that'd leave only Eunji."
"Well, fine then." Kazuhiko said. "Let's hear from Miyumi, about both her and Eunji then."
"Fine." The detective replied.
Let's go, then...
-NON-STOP DEBATE!-
-START!-
"I spoke with Eunji before the time of the murder, and then I spent the rest of the time looking for her." Miyumi said. "So, neither of us are cleared, still."
"Can you tell us when was the last time you spoke with her?" Youngjae asked.
"9:30, I'm pretty sure. Then she told me she was going to Ayaka's lab."
"That would explain why she showed up at the third floor." Kaori said. "She was at Ayaka's lab on the second floor, then she heard all that commotion."
"But can anyone really verify her story?" The racer said. "It is entirely possible that Eunji was on the thrid floor the entire time."
"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"
-BREAK-
"Takashi was up in the third floor, after the murder, right?" Yeeun said.
"Yes, I believe you did encounter me at 10:04 AM." Takashi said. "Why do you ask?"
"You mentioned earlier that you saw Eunji just arrive at the third floor." Yeeun said. "Can you verify what time?"
"9:50, I think?" Takashi said. "I did see her go up the stairs, which does add up to the theory of her finding Izumi, going downstairs to bring her to the nurse's office, then going back upstairs to investigate the workshop."
"Naomori did clear you, but it's still quite suspicious that you were at the third floor around the same time the dead body was in the workshop." Kazuhiko said. "What time exactly did you arrive at the third floor?"
"I left Naomori at 9:45, but I didn't actually get to the third floor until 9:47." Takashi said. "Which is the same time the murder was committed... if only I had been faster, I could have stopped it."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, Takashi." Kaori replied.
"If anything, you probably would have been killed, too." Kazuhiko said.
"Maybe so..." Takashi fell silent.
"Anyways, Takashi said he saw Eunji arrive again at the third floor, which means she can't be the culprit-" Yeeun said
"I'll remedy your mistake!"
ARGUE!
NAOMORI
"Eh?" Yeeun said.
"Takashi's story doesn't exactly clear Eunji of any wrong-doing yet." Naomori said. "It's entirely possible that she could have killed Masahito, went back downstairs, and then went back upstairs."
He does have a point there... but...
I still can't see Eunji being the culprit.
"I believe that you're wrong, and I'll prove it." Yeeun said.
-REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!-
-TRUTH BLADES!-
-START!-
"Does it really need any more explaining, Yeeun?"
"Eunji could have just knocked out Izumi, and killed Masahito, and brought Izumi back to the nurse's office..."
"And then returned back upstairs, and that's when Takashi saw her."
ADVANCE!
"Agree to disagree."
"If it really is Eunji, what motive would she have for sparing Izumi?"
"And why would she knock herself out in the workshop, anyways?"
"Why to feign innocence of course!"
"You said it yourself, Eunji is intelligent. She could have easily knocked herself out to make herself look innocent."
"There's nothing to disprove my theory, is there?"
"I'LL CUT YOUR WORDS!"
-BREAK!-
"There is something to disprove you, actually." Yeeun said. "Monokuma."
"Eh!?" Monokuma said.
"You yourself banned Eunji because she saw the culprit in action, correct?" The songwriter said. "Which means she can't be the culprit!"
"Aw crap!" The bear replied.
"Good catch there, Yeeun." Miyumi nodded.
"I agree." Takashi replied.
Yes...
Okay... I feel more confident now.
"But can we trust Monokuma's word?" Kazuhiko said. "After all, he interfered in class trials before. This could just be one of his many ploys to mess with us."
"...!" Yeeun was caught off-guard.
That is true, isn't it?
Monokuma isn't the most trustworthy...
"I am offended!" Monokuma said. "I would never mess with the integrity of this killing game!"
"I don't believe that." Naomori replied.
"Well, believe it!" The bear said.
"I can repeat that Monokuma is unreliable, but I do believe that Eunji isn't the culprit, and that's why he banned her." Takashi said. "If she was the culprit, wouldn't he have just let her attend?"
"He could be covering for her." Kazuhiko said. "Who knows? Maybe Eunji has more involvement in all of this than we think."
"Now you're just talking crazy." Hirokazu said.
"Meh, while I can throw Monokuma far, I sure as shit don't trust him." Seungyeon said.
"Yeah, I kinda agree with Seungyeon there." Kaori said.
"Kaori!?" Hirokazu was shocked.
"Look, I want to believe that Eunji isn't the culprit, but to trust Monokuma... there has to be another way to prove her innocence, right?" The dancer asked.
"We have to use whatever we can use to find the killer." Izumi said. "If that means trusting Monokuma's word... so be it."
"Exactly." Takashi said.
"I agree." Youngjae said.
"I'd rather not trust that bear." Kazuhiko said.
"Seems like we're pretty split-" Naomori said.
HOLD ON!
"Puhuhuhu! Now THIS is interesting!" Monokuma said. "Myself as a debate topic? It really warms my heart!"
"Well, come on then." Kazuhiko said. "Let's do it."
Yes, in order to move forward with proving Eunji's innocence...
I need to convince the rest of the class to trust Monokuma!
We ALL need to be in the same page, especially moving forward!
So... let's do it!
…
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: "Can we trust Monokuma's word that Eunji is innocent?"
Left side: "We can't!": Naomori, Kazuhiko, Seungyeon, Kaori, Reika, Ichiro, Masahito, Empty.
Right side: "We can!": Yeeun, Izumi, Youngjae, Takashi, Miyumi, Hirokazu, Ayaka, Jutaro
-DEBATE SCRUM START!-
"I'm sorry, but I can't trust Monokuma here." Kaori said. "He's unreliable."
Hirokazu!
"Even if he is unreliable in our daily life, he's been a stickler for the class trial rules!" Hirokazu said.
"But can we really trust that?" Kaori said. "I mean, what about what happened with Reika?"
Miyumi!
"He interfered with Reika to start the killing game, and I doubt he wants to interfere any more this late into the game." Miyumi replied.
"Too me, it feels like you're all just blindly trusting the bear who killed our friends." Kazuhiko said.
Takashi!
"Blindly trusting? Using every evidence we have, and what we've read from the regulations... It only makes sense to trust that Eunji isn't the culprit because of Monokuma's ban." Takashi said.
"But isn't it also likely that Monokuma is simply covering for Eunji? As I said, she could be his associate." Kazuhiko responded.
Izumi!
"I sincerely doubt that Monokuma is covering for Eunji." Izumi said. "After all, he betrayed Reika after making a deal with her."
"That contradicts what you all said earlier!" Seungyeon said. "So do we trust the fucking bear or what!?"
Youngjae!
"You're right, it contradicts what we said earlier, but as Miyumi said, that was the first class trial." Youngjae said. "This is our third one, and I'm sure Monokuma wants to ensure this killing game last as long as possible."
"Can't believe this all comes down to trusting Monokuma." Naomori said.
I'll do it!
"As much as I don't like trusting Monokuma either, it's the only way we can move forward!" Yeeun said.
-CROUCH BIND!-
"THIS IS OUR ANSWER!"
-BREAK-
"Alright, alright, fine." Kazuhiko said. "Monokuma, Eunji really isn't the culprit?"
"Sigh... due to my mistake, you all found that out." Monokuma said. "Yes, I can clear Eunji, unfortunately..."
"See? There you go, Eunji is inno-"
"CUT!"
ARGUE!
SEUNGYEON
"S-Seungyeon!?" Yeeun was shocked.
"Sure, Monokuma can clear her, but still..." Seungyeon said. "I have some doubts."
"What do you mean?" Yeeun asked.
"Are we sure that Eunji is 100% innocent in all of this? She may not be the culprit, but she may have been an accomplice to the actual culprit." Seungyeon replied.
Seungyeon...
Fine, I'll show you, then.
-REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!-
-TRUTH BLADES!-
-START!-
"It's entirely possible that the culprit and Eunji both had a plan to kill Masahito and Izumi individually"
"Then, Eunji had second thoughts, and saved Izumi herself."
"That does seem somewhat reasonable, no?"
ADVANCE!
"But the regulations state that the culprit whose victim gets found first, would be the official blackened of that case."
"It's likely that Masahito would have been found first..."
"Which would have made Eunji's involvement moot."
"I did say that Eunji backed out, did I not?"
"She kinda seemed like she was at her breaking point recently."
"Isn't it entirely possible that Eunji could have been driven to attempt murder?
"I'LL CUT YOUR WORDS!"
-BREAK!-
"Do you really not remember, or are you just messing with me?" Yeeun said. "Remember what Miyumi told us?"
"What did Miyumi tell you and Seungyeon?" Youngjae asked.
"I've looked in the eyes of murderers, or people who were planning a murder." Miyumi said. "Eunji never had that look."
"There ya go." Seungyeon said. "So she is 100% INNOCENT!"
"Huh!?" Yeeun was confused. "Weren't you just arguing that she wasn't?"
"I was fucking with you, duh!" The actress replied.
This woman...
"Alright, alright." Kazuhiko said. "I get it, fine. But of course the actress had to make such a big show over the whole thing."
"I am an actress, after all!" Seungyeon said. "And your meathead brain wouldn't have gotten it otherwise!"
"Seungyeon aside..." Takashi said. "Eunji is safe, which leaves us back to the four suspects we were left off with."
"I still want to know how exactly Eunji ended up in that spot." Kaori said. "I mean, let's think about it. The culprit thought she was dead, right? But how?"
"Let's discuss that a bit more, then." Miyumi said.
-NON-STOP DEBATE!-
-START!-
"So, obviously after Takashi saw Eunji go upstairs, she went to the workshop." Kaori said. "But then what happened after that?"
"It's safe to assume that she saw the culprit with Masahito's body." Miyumi said.
"But then how did they knock out Eunji?" The dancer replied. "The how is important, because how badly did they knock her out to make even Monokuma think she was dead?"
"The alcohol rag?" Izumi asked. "He did use it on me before."
"I don't think so." Miyumi said.
"How about that fucking golfclub we saw, eh?" Seungyeon said.
CONSENT!
SEUNGYEON&YEEUN
"I agree!"
-BREAK!-
"Seungyeon may be right on the money there." Yeeun said, pulling out her monopad, displaying a picture of the golfclub. "This golfclub here looks badly dented."
"Jesus christ." Kaori said. "You're telling me the culprit smacked Eunji with that?"
"No wonder they thought she died." Youngjae replied.
"Yeah, but is that really sufficient?" Naomori said. "People can survive golfclub hits all the time. Is there anything else that might have made the culprit think she died?"
Now that I think of it...
There is something else that's bothering me.
SELECT A TRUTH BULLET!
SELECTED – Busted Up Desk Drawer
"Here's my evidence!"
"Miyumi, Seungyeon and I did find this." Yeeun said, showing the class the picture of the busted up desk drawer."
"That looks horrid." Takashi replied.
"Yeah." Yeeun said.
"You know what I think?" Yeeun said. "When the culprit hit Eunji with that golfclub, she collapsed and smashed her head onto this desk drawer."
"Yeah, that'd do it." Naomori said.
"I mean, you smash a golfclub against somebody's head, and then they smash their head on the way down? I'd definitely would have thought Eunji was dead there, too." Kaori said.
"I think I can proclaim Miyumi's innocence, then." Takashi said. "It's only logical, is it not? She would never harm Eunji."
"That's right." Miyumi said.
"That leaves only Me, Seungyeon, and Kazuhiko." Yeeun said.
"Seungyeon, don't you think it's time for you to confess?" Kazuhiko said.
"Eh?" Seungyeon said. "What are you talking about?"
"You clearly know too much about this case." The racer replied. "It's pretty obvious it's you, isn't it not?"
"I don't like what you're saying." The actress replied.
"I never actually considered Seungyeon a suspect, but let's discuss that." The detective replied.
"Don't forget, she is an actress after all." Kazuhiko said. "She could have been putting on an act this entire time, fooling us into trusting her."
"This is the second time I'm being accused, and I still don't fucking like it." The actress replied.
I don't think it's Seungyeon...
But...
Kazuhiko told me something...
If I can...
Do I?
In order to the find the truth...
Do I have to lie to do it?
If I have to...
I will.
-NON-STOP DEBATE!-
-START!-
"Just admit it, Seungyeon." Kazuhiko said. "You killed Masahito, didn't you?!"
"I did not, you asshat!" Seungyeon replied.
"Seungyeon, I will admit that you did act very suspiciously during the investigation." Miyumi said.
"And I never saw her around, either." Kaori said. "During the time of the murder, I mean."
"You guys are really turning against me?" Seungyeon said. "Come on!"
"Hey, Yeeun!" Kazuhiko said. "Back me up here!"
PERJURY ACTIVATED
TRUTH BULLET – SEUNGYEON LAST SEEN ON THIRD FLOOR
LIE BULLET: SEUNGYEON WAS NEVER ON THE THIRD FLOOR
"I'll reveal the truth!"
-BREAK!-
"Kazuhiko, you lied to me earlier, didn't you?" Yeeun said.
"Eh?" Kazuhiko replied. "What do you mean?"
"You told me you saw Seungyeon go up to the third floor, but she never did!" The songwriter replied.
"And how would you know she was never on the third floor?" The racer asked.
"Because I saw her." Yeeun said. "In the first floor. She was in her dorm. I tried to talk to her but she shut me out."
"Is that true, Seungyeon?" Miyumi asked.
Seungyeon, come on!
I'm trying to save your skin here!
Seungyeon had a look of confusion, but then she quickly grinned.
"Yeah, that's right." Seungyeon said. "I was in the first floor, never on the third floor."
"I smell bullshit here." Kazuhiko said.
"Yeah, actually, I think I can recall Seungyeon being in her dorm." Youngjae said.
Thank you Youngjae for playing along!
"Then... that leaves only me and Yeeun." Kazuhiko said.
"Wait, now hold on a minute." Naomori said. "Do we even know how the culprit escaped? That could completely destroy everyone's alibis!"
"That's true, isn't it?" Miyumi said. "Yeeun?"
I already know, though.
SELECT A TRUTH BULLET!
SELECTED – Vent in Workshop
"Here's my evidence!"
"The vent in the workshop." Yeeun said. "The culprit used that to esc-"
"You'll never win!"
ARGUE!
KAZUHIKO
"Kazuhiko." Yeeun said.
"A vent in the workshop." Kazuhiko said. "Now that sounds extremely unlikely."
"Seriously!?" Yeeun said.
"I think you're just lying to save your own skin." The racer replied.
Now I have no doubts!
-REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!-
-TRUTH BLADES!-
-START!-
"A vent in the workshop sounds impossible"
"If that was the case, wouldn't Masahito have just used it to escape the culprit?"
"Stop lying."
ADVANCE!
"Only observant people would have noticed it."
"No offense to Masahito... but he wasn't observant."
"And it's obvious the culprit used this vent to escape!"
"But how?"
"A vent doesn't mean anything!"
"There's no way that vent can be the culprit's escape!"
"I'LL CUT YOUR WORDS!"
-BREAK!-
"Wrong!" Yeeun said. "Izumi!?"
"Oh, right!" Izumi said, pulling out a map. "I found this map earlier, and it actually shows the vent system in this school!"
"Vent system?" Hirokazu asked.
"Yup!" Izumi said. "You see, the vent in the workshop here, it actually leads out to another room!"
"Then, that means that after Eunji showed up, the culprit knocked her out, then used the vents to escape!"
"That's kinda sus, I don't know man." Naomori said. "The Impostor vented outta there?"
"What are you even talking about?" Miyumi said.
I know without a doubt who the culprit is!
It's...!
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
#11: Kazuhiko Ishibashi
"It's YOU!"
….
"Kazuhiko's the culprit." Yeeun said.
"Nonsense!" Kazuhiko said.
"Come on dude, really?" Yeeun said. "Everyone has an alibi, except for YOU!"
"You don't have an alibi either!" Kazuhiko replied.
"Why the hell would she help out so much on this case if she was the culprit?" Kaori said.
"It's like what I suspected, anyways." Miyumi said. "Kazuhiko is the culprit."
"This is blasphemy!" The racer said. "You're all wrong! It's Yeeun!"
"I mean, seriously, think about it." Yeeun said. "I was in the first floor this entire time, and I never saw Kazuhiko down there."
"Me neither." Kaori said.
"It's clear that Kazuhiko is the culprit." Yeeun said. "After killing Masahito and knocking out Eunji, he used the vent to escape."
"And how would you even know that?" Kazuhiko said. "You're wrong!"
You killed Masahito...
You hurt Eunji!
I won't let you get away with this!
-ARGUMENT ARMAMENT!-
-START!-
KAZUHIKO
"Your theory is wrong!"
"All wrong!"
"Stop lying! You're the culprit!"
"Everyone, it's her!"
"Listen to me!"
"No!"
"You're really going to believe her?"
"Don't forget that her and her family are tied to Monokuma!"
"She's playing you all!"
"Stop being idiots!"
"Yeeun is guilty!"
"NOOO!"
"So this is really how it ends for all of us, huh?"
"You fools will just blindly trust this TRAITOR?"
"She killed Masahito!"
"And now she's going to kill all of us!"
"Stop being fools!"
"It's Yeeun!"
"NOOO!"
-FINAL BLOW!-
"What evidence do you even have to pin me as the culprit? Where would that vent even lead!?"
ROOM
FLOOR ← → SECOND
V
CLASS
SECONDFLOORCLASSROOM
"IT'S OVER!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
-BREAK!-
"According to the map that Izumi showed me, the vent in the workshop leads to a second floor classroom!" Yeeun said. "And that's the exact same classroom I saw you come out of!"
"I already told you, I was erasing my student council plans!" Kazuhiko replied.
"What classroom are we talking about, exactly?" Kaori said.
"The one near the stairs to the first floor." Yeeun replied.
"That's weird, I was there yesterday and I never saw any plans." The dancer replied.
"..." Kazuhiko fell silent.
"So?" Miyumi said. "Is that it, then?"
"..." The racer was still quiet.
"I think we got him." Yeeun said. "I won't let you get away with this, Kazuhiko! I'm going to explain this whole entire murder in full, and then your crimes will be exposed to everyone!"
Eunji... we will be seeing you again.
And Masahito... you got your justice.
-CLOSING ARGUMENT!-
Why were Izumi and Masahito both at the workshop?
The culprit asked them to meet them there.
What was the culprit planning to do with them?
Kill both of them
What did the culprit do to Izumi?
Knocked her out with an alcohol rag
How did Izumi get out of the workshop?
Masahito brought her out
Who heard this commotion?
Eunji
Masahito...?
Fought back against the culprit
And Eunji...?
Brought Izumi to the nurse's office
But ultimately, Masahito died, and the culprit...?
Planted their alcohol rag on his body
Eunji soon after...?
Returned to the workshop
And she saw?
The culprit over Masahito's body
So the culprit...?
Knocked out Eunji with a golfclub
But why did the culprit think Eunji was dead?
Because she hit her head on a desk on her way down.
After knocking Eunji out, the culprit...
Used the workshop vent to escape
And the culprit arrived...
At the second floor classroom near the stairs.
And finally, who saw the culprit leaving the classroom?
Me, Kim Yeeun.
"THIS IS THE TRUTH OF THE CASE!"
ACT I
"Starting after Monokuma's morning announcement, Masahito and Izumi were both summoned by the culprit to meet them at the workshop."
"While Masahito and Izumi thought nothing of it..."
"The culprit was really planning to kill both of them."
"And so, the two of them arrived at the workshop..."
"Setting the stage for the crime."
ACT II
"At some point during the meeting, the culprit used an alcohol rag to knock out Izumi."
"But before they could make another further moves, Masahito noticed this..."
"And fought back against the culprit."
"In the process, Masahito took Izumi out of the workshop, lying her out in the hallway."
"But unfortunately... the culprit got to Masahito before he could escape."
ACT III
"Even thought Masahito fought back, sadly, the culprit still managed to strangle him to death with their bare hands..."
"And then soon after planted their alcohol rag onto his body."
"In the outside of the workshop though, Eunji had heard all this commotion."
"So she herself went upstairs, and that's when she found Izumi."
"So she took her to the nurse's office and left her on the bed."
ACT IV
"But Eunji wasn't done there."
"Curious about what happened, Eunji went to the workshop."
"And that's when she stumbled upon the culprit standing over the body."
"The culprit went quick into action, grabbing the golfclub near them, and hitting Eunji on the head with it."
"This quickly knocked Eunji out, but she slammed her head on a desk on the way down, leading to the culprit believing her to be dead."
ACT V
"Believing their murder plan to have gone successfully, the culprit then made their escape."
"They locked the workshop door, and then used the workshop vent to escape."
"And eventually, the workshop vent brought them to the classroom in the second floor."
"But they didn't get away completely unseen, as I myself stumbled upon them exiting the classroom."
"I didn't think much of it, but now I know..."
Yeeun turned towards the culprit. "It's YOU, isn't IT? Kazuhiko Ishibashi, the Ultimate Racer!?"
The culprit's facade disappeared, revealing Kazuhiko with an angered look.
-BREAK!-
"Well, Kazuhiko?" Miyumi said.
"Hahaha... what a shame." Kazuhiko laughed. "What a damned shame."
"Is that a confession?" The detective replied.
"Is it? Or maybe it isn't?" The racer said.
"Imma be real with you, you had a shitty fucking plan." Seungyeon said. "With Reika, it took logical deduction. With that whole Ichiro and Ayaka situation, it took Yeeun to figure it. But this? All it took were alibis, dude."
"I agree with that." Miyumi replied. "Did you really believe you were going to get away with it?"
"No, I really didn't." Kazuhiko said. "But that's even better!"
"The fuck?" The actress said.
"This despair that I'm feeling.. oh how wonderful, how beautiful!" The racer said. "Such amazing despair!"
"Despair?" Yeeun said.
"Why of course!" Kazuhiko replied. "Despair is perfect!"
"Um... Monokuma, can we vote?" Takashi said.
"Are you kiddos sure?" The bear asked.
"Yes, we're pretty damn sure." Kaori said.
"Alrighty then!" Monokuma said. "It's the moment we've all been waiting for! The heartpounding excitement as the blackened and the spotless face off!"
"IT'S VOTING TIME!" Monokuma announced.
Yeeun looked as the screen in her podium turned on to display all 16 students faces, with "voting time" in the top of the screen. She selected Kazuhiko's picture.
"Alright, voting's done!" Monokuma said. "Did you make the right choice? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeeee!?"
A screen lowered to the middle of the podium circle, and displayed a screen showing where the votes lied. On Kazuhiko's tally, 9 red spots appeared, while 1 red spot showed up on Yeeun's tally. Nonetheless, Kazuhiko's picture showed up to the right of the screen, 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 slowed down, and stopped on Kazuhiko's little sprite.
And the result?
VERDICT
ISHIBASHI
CORRECT!
The machine started to spurt out coins, and it let out a Monokuma laugh.
ALL RISE!
