Before I did anything else, I looked at the Monokuma File we got before. It read:

"The victim was Maizono Sayaka. The time of death is estimated to be around 1:30 AM. The body was discovered in Naegi Makoto's room, in the dormitory. All evidence suggests that the death took place in the bathroom. The cause of death was a stab wound to the abdomen. There was also an injury to her right wrist. Specifically, the wrist appears to have suffered a fracture."

We have no choice but to push forward if we want to find out what happened. Somehow, I have to find the truth so that we can all survive… And as for Maizono, I have to find out how she was killed!

I suddenly heard a sniffle coming from somewhere in the room, it was coming from Chihiro. I spoke calmly to her. "Aren't you going to help investigate, Chihiro?"

"But…" She began. "I can't leave Junko here. I-I feel sorry for her… I… I have to stay with her."

Understanding, I nodded and walked over to Hagakure who was panicking to himself. "Ugh… No way. I seriously don't wanna die here…!" He then began screaming. "I'm begging you! God, Buddha, Mother Earth, God of Space, King Neptune! Help me! I don't care who it is, just get me outta here!"

Looks like Hagakure doesn't seem prepared to do any kind of investigating right now. So, I let him be in his own little world. I looked at Junko's body once more before shedding a tear and walking out of the gym.

I head to the scene of the crime: My room. We won't make any progress without investigating there. When I got there, Mondo and Sakura were there guarding the bathroom where Maizono's corpse was, and Kirigiri was examining the slashes on the walls. I looked inside the drawer where the toolkit was. I didn't really see any evidence that it's been used at all. Which makes sense, I guess. I mean, I haven't had any reason to open it.

"Yo, Naegi." I jumped at the voice. To my relief, it was only Mondo. "We ain't exactly in the mood to be building' fuckin' furniture, right?"

"So, you haven't used yours, either, then?" I asked.

"Not just me. Nobody's busted theirs out yet, as far as I know." He explained. "Actually, we were talking about it yesterday. None of the guys opened their toolkits yet. Cuz like, why the hell would we?"

This seemed like useless information, but I had a sneaking suspicion that this might be useful.

The next thing I examined was the lint roller. At first glance, it seemed normal, but when I got a closer look, it looked like there was way less than there was before. Did Maizono see how dirty my room was and decide to clean up a little…?

On the floor next to the lint roller was the replica sword I brought back for self-defence. It was out of its sheath, so does that mean it was used in the attack somehow? I hadn't looked at the blade until now. I shouldn't be surprised that it's coated in gold, too.

On top of that, some of the gold coating has come off parts of the blade, and the handle, too. The handle especially missing lots of its coating. I remember on the second day that when I barely touched it with my finger, the coating stuck to me. So, I assumed either Maizono or the killer used this during the attack.

There was also a key on the ground. It has my name on it, so this must be my room key. If I remember correctly…

"Ah, that's right. We'll have to trade keys."

When we switched rooms, we switched keys, too. So Maizono would have had the key here in my room the entire time. But if that's true, how did the killer get into the room in the first place? Could Maizono have forgotten to lock the door? No, that seems impossible. I specifically told her that even if it was me, she shouldn't open the door for anyone. After promising, there's no way she would have forgotten to lock it, or opened it for any reason.

'Well, maybe she dropped they key somewhere and someone else grabbed it.' I thought to myself.

No, that's not possible, either. Maizono was in here when we switched rooms. And with how scared she was last night, she wouldn't have gone walking around. And besides, we all promised we wouldn't go out of our rooms at nighttime. So she couldn't have dropped it…

So, how did the killer get in here?

The sword's sheath was also on the floor. But as I looked closer, there were some scratches on it. They must've been made with something sharp…

But how did the sheath get scratched up in the first place? Even if someone used the sword during the struggle, it doesn't make sense for the sheath to be damaged. I mean, if you're gonna attack someone with a sword, the first thing you'd do is unsheathe it. A heavy sheath like this would only get in the way. It could just slide off in the middle of the fight. So, why are there scratches on the sheath?

I took a better look at the slashes and gouges on the floor, walls, and bed. If I didn't know any better, I'd say there some kind of struggle.

"Damnit…!" I cursed to myself. "I was right there in the other room! If only I'd heard something!"

"That would not have been possible." Said Sakura.

"Huh…?"

"Don't you remember? All of our rooms are completely soundproof." She explained. "So something could happen in the room right next to you, and there's no way you could know. Perhaps this was another of Monokuma's strategies, creating an ideal setting for murder…"

It sounded crazy, but I had a feeling that might help us in the investigation…

"Sakura…" I began. "Do you think I'm guilty, too?"

"I try not to make assumptions like that." She replied. "I simply don't know whether or not you did this. Whatever decision the rest of you come up with, I will follow your lead."

"I see…" Was all I could say.

"Yo, Naegi." Called Mondo. "Come here, for a second, would 'ya?"

"What is it?" I asked.

"I realized something while I was on guard duty." He began. "The killer could've already destroyed some evidence, right? Before anyone found the body, I mean. There's a trash room here in the dorms, right? They coulda tossed some stuff in there…"

"Y-Yeah, that's definitely possible."

"That dirty bastard…!" Mondo cursed under his breath. "Anyone who raises their hand to a woman is scum that deserves death. That's what my brother taught me. So if I ever find the son of a bitch that did this, I'm gonna pound his goddamn face in!"

"B-But…" I stammered. Trying to calm him down. "What if it was a girl that did it?"

Mondo was completely silent. "That'll get sorted out when the time comes." He eventually replied.

I quietly called Kirigiri's name while she was investigating the area, but she just ignored me.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked back.

"N-No, not really…"

"I'm searching." She stated.

"Searching…?"

She was down on her knees, carefully inspecting every inch of my room.

"Did you lose a contact or something?" I asked. All she did was scoff and go right back to what she was doing. I dunno what she's doing exactly, but she seems to be concentrating pretty hard on it.

But a few seconds later, she suddenly stood up straight and said…

"Are you a clean freak?"

"Huh?" I gasped. Why would she ask such a thing? "N-No, I don't think so. But what…?"

Nodding, Kirigiri glanced around my room one more time.

"Interesting…" She mused.

"What's interesting?" I asked.

"Just as I suspected. There's something very unusual about your room."

"Unusual?" I repeated. "What do you mean?"

"I've searched your floor from one corner to another…" She began. "…And I didn't find one single strand of hair."

"Really…?" I asked. Interested in what she was talking about.

"Not one hair from the victim, and not one hair from you, even though you've been living here."

"You know, now that you mention it…" I began. "I noticed something while I was looking around before. It looked like the lint roller had been used, but I never touched it. Could someone have used it to…?"

"Very interesting…" Mused Kirigiri. "Your room didn't have a single hair in it, and someone used your lint roller without your knowledge. In other words; someone other than you came in and scrubbed your room clean."

"Was it Maizono or the killer?" I asked. She simply shrugged.

"That's the question, isn't it?"

I looked behind her. The bathroom door was still wide open. And on the other side was…

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Naegi?!" Yelled someone from behind me. I turned around in shock to find none other than the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader.

"I-I…" I began. Mondo didn't even wait until I got the next word out.

"Tryin' to interfere with the evidence, are ya?" He bellowed as he cracked his knuckles. "Why, I oughta…"

I closed my eyes tightly and braced myself for impact, but it never came. When I opened them again, Kirigiri was standing between both Mondo and I.

"Hold up." She said to him. "If Naegi wants to investigate, he shall. I have taken a look around here, and there's some strong evidence that he didn't do it."

"Whu-? Seriously?" He asked as his anger turned into curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"I'll explain in due time." She replied before turning her attention to me. "Naegi, go ahead into the bathroom."

"Th-Thanks…" I said before gulping nervously and stepping into the bathroom.

There she was. Maizono Sayaka dead in my bathroom. Looking at her made it painfully clear it wasn't a dream, or an illusion. She had lost everything that made her "Her"…

All at once I was overcome with dizziness, nausea, the urge to burst into tears, and many other feelings I couldn't explain. Why…? Why did Maizono have to die? I have to uncover the truth. I have to find out what happened! I wanted to give up, I wanted to collapse. But that thought held me up and supported me.

I told myself I simply couldn't face what I saw, but I couldn't think about that now! I pulled out the Monokuma File to verify what it said about her body.

"Let's see…" I began. "Some sort of sharp object has been thrusted into her stomach. That must have been the killing blow… But where did they get it from, anyway? That's definitely something I should look into later…"

I took a closer look at Maizono's right wrist. According to the Monokuma File, her right wrist is broken. Her wrist does look swollen and bloody, that's for sure, but there's something sort of glittery there on her wrist, too. Right were her wrist was swollen, there's something golden and glittery. That definitely concerns me…

Another thing that concerns me is there's some blood on her left index finger, but that's it. The palms of both of her hands are totally spotless, so how come there's blood only on her left finger?

The stab wound in her stomach is what killed her, so when she broke her wrist, that must've happened earlier on. I mean, how would her wrist get broken after she'd already been killed? So it's very possible she broke her wrist during the struggle…

The killer attacked Maizono in the main room, which is where she got her wrist broken. After that, the killer cornered her in the bathroom where the inflicted the deadly wound.

I looked past Maizono to the wall behind her. And I saw the numbers 11037 written in blood. Did Maizono do this? If so, that must explain the blood on her left index finger.

Before I left the bathroom, I took one more look at Maizono's corpse. "Maizono…" I said to her body. Knowing good and well she couldn't talk back. "I'm sorry I wasn't there…"