"Hey there guys, what kept you?"
I grinned to myself as the students poured out of the elevator one after another and bore witness to where we would be holding the first of what would likely be many class trials. I had to say, it was a rather grand looking place. The floors were tastefully decorated in large black and white tiles somewhat covered with long red carpets with a gold trim leading from the slightly raised, circular platform in the center. The walls were a lovely shade of royal purple and were accentuated with the beautiful ruby curtains the blocked off access to the other areas of the floor. Pillars of golden-brown, polished stone that stood a few feet away from the walls, circling around the room and adding to the appeal. The lighting came from several wall mounted candelabras that had been modified to use powerful lightbulbs instead of candles, as well as a small chandelier that hung way up high.
The real attention grabber though, was at the center of the room. Sixteen half-circle podiums stood facing towards the center on the donut shaped platform, each one made of mahogany wood and polished carefully to a glossy sheen. Each one also had a small panel located on its center that had a series of buttons depicting a chibi styled headshot of each of the students.
Sitting on the corner of each podium was a small plastic cup with two tiny flags on toothpicks. One black, one white. An addition I put in in for later.
The most impressive feature of the room was a massive throne made with the same expensive wood and had a velvet red cushion on the seat and back. On the finely crafted backboard was the schools coat of arms carefully painted on with a dark black paint. It was clearly the work of a master woodcarver. The only major detraction it held was in its occupant, one Monokuma.
It was rather surprising how decorated this whole room was considering what it was originally designed for. This was one of the several dozen secret floors running throughout the lower levels of the school. From what I could find out, the school had been built with these floors for more than just emergency evacuations. There was a maze of catacombs down here where the school could perform a variety of things that would go unnoticed by the world at large. The fact that I couldn't even access any cameras down there besides the main rooms where these courtrooms had been made helped support that.
If it wasn't for the curtains blocking the way, they would see miles of dark hallways. It was fortunate that Junko had covered those, or else their curiosity might have led them to go searching instead of focusing on the trial. That could have ended badly since I had no way to track them down there.
In any case. The students made their way to the podiums and found their places and the stands. Hiro was the only one that needed assistance getting up since he was still in the wheel chair, but thankfully Mondo and Sakura were able to get him up with minimal effort. Once that was taken care of, I took the time to check their positions.
From my right onwards, Aoi stood next to Mondo, then Kyoko, Sakura, then an empty stand reserved for 'Junko' before Kiyotaka. There was one more space left for Sayaka, followed by Makoto across from my spot, then Hifumi, Toko, Leon, Celestia, Byakuya, and finally Yasuhiro before the last empty seat. A near perfect circle of talented individuals apart from me and the two absences, just as planned.
I smiled unseen as they briefly looked at their handbooks, those that weren't looking at their evidence in preparation for what may come were shuffling awkwardly at their stands. It was clear that most of these students had no idea how to hold a trial like this, but I didn't hold it against them. It wasn't something that was standard in a school environment.
Deciding it was time to get started, I had my Monokuma smack the arm of the throne with its small wooden mallet a few times and cleared my throat. "Now then, let's begin with a basic summery of the class trial. So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out, "whodunit" then only they will be at risk of being punished. However, if you pick the wrong one, then I'll punish everyone besides the blackened. Be warned though, you only have until nighttime to figure out who instigated this dreadful crime."
"And the attacker is one of us, right?" asked Makoto, no doubt wanting absolute clarification on the matter.
"Of course!" I stated bluntly. "One of you tried to murder someone else, and as such, you all have to find out the instigator behind it all."
"Just a moment." Interrupted Kiyoko as she turned to face me more clearly. "Before we move on and begin the trial, I have a few questions."
Turning to regard her having expected this, I simply said, "Ask away."
"What's with those pictures?" I knew she was referring to the two portraits of Sayaka and Junko set in golden frames attached to a pole standing in for the very people depicted on them.
"Oh, that. I would have felt just awful if they had to miss out on such an important event, so I set it up so that if anyone is missing for any reason, we'll never have to forget about them." It was a complete lie. The actual reason was because Junko wanted to torment them with the faces of the fallen by mocking their memory with a morbid reminder of things that had taken place. Of course, she usually crossed out their faces with a large X using either paint or blood; considering Junko, it was likely the later.
"Okay, but then, why is there that empty spot. There were only fifteen of us to begin with, so why are there sixteen seats?" Celeste asked next, pointing out the spot in front of me where I would have been stationed. I chuckled at that thought; like I was going to be standing in here anytime soon.
"Well, there's no reason it shouldn't be there. It's just that, this courtroom technically can host up to a maximum of sixteen students, that's all really." I replied readily. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, I got one." Said Leon as he held up one of the tiny flags. "What's with these things?"
"Oh, those will come into play later should you find out the guilty one amongst you. Don't worry about them for now." I continued to grin, I almost couldn't wait for them to win this, that would be when the best change I'd made comes into play.
"One last thing." Kiyoko chimed in once more, this time pointing to a small standing binder that rested on the throne's left armrest that currently depicted a stylized letter A. "What's that letter for?"
"Oh, that old thing?" I said dismissively with a wave of a paw. "That's your class grade. Since this is a school after all, I decided that I would be judging you all on your combined performances during your trials. Think of it like a hint system, if you're all stuck on something and no one can come up with an idea of how to progress, you can all vote to request a hint in exchange for a letter grade. I can't guaranty that you'll like it, and I assure you that it's in your best interest to avoid getting an F, but it's better than nothing."
Ignoring their wary looks, I continued. "Now then, that about does it for the preamble. Get ready to get started! First up is the case summary. Now, let the class trial begin."
"I assert that the ones who were attacked were Miss Sayaka Maizono and Mister Yasuhiro Hagakure!" Taka quite loudly started the debate, his fist raised assertively as he made his point. It was clear that he was determined to get through this as fairly and on the straight and narrow as he could.
"…Yeah, we know that part already. I lived through part of it." Hiro stated, already exasperated by the moral committee chair.
"And Sayaka was attack took place in Makoto's room." Continued Byakuya, unfazed by the hobo's statement. "While another attack took place on Yasuhiro just outside the laundry room."
"So, it seems most likely that the attacker must have taken them both by surprise." Finished Chihiro, her head dipping lower as her eyes closed sadly. "They didn't even have a chance to resist."
"No! That's wrong!" Countered Makoto loudly, interrupting the flow that they started and almost making me squeal like a fangirl. He said what would become like his catchphrase for the first time. I didn't care that it didn't look as epic as the games and anime made it, I was still getting to watch it first- I mean second hand through Monokuma.
Moving on, Makoto explained, "Just a second Chihiro. With the way things, had been damaged, I think we can assume that there was a struggle of some kind in my room. Most likely, between Sayaka and her attacker."
"That much should be obvious after taking one look at the scene." Byakuya stated disappointedly, his arms once again crossed as he looked away. "It shouldn't even need explaining."
"S-Sorry" Apologized the programmer as an embarrassed blush developed on her face. It wasn't completely her fault; she hadn't even had a chance to see Makoto's room at all since she was busy helping Leon. But, it still stung a bit to be called out like that.
Still wanting to keep the conversation going, Hiro then asked, "So, what's next?"
"Next is the subject of the weapon used to attack them." Stated Sakura next, still physically imposing from her place next to Kyoko.
"Wow, this is actually starting to sound like a real trial." Hifumi sounded truly excited at the prospect. Of course, only trials he likely saw were the overly dramatic kinds in videogames and manga if I wasn't missing my guess.
"So, what was used to cause them harm?" Asked Sakura as politely as she could, considering what she was asking.
"It was a knife of some sort, the Monokuma files both state how they had both been stabbed by some sort of sharp object. Without a doubt, that is the weapon!" I had to wonder how Taka could keep up with that speaking pattern of his.
"So what, the attacker just picked up some random knife, and started swinging?" questioned Mondo, unsure as to where anyone would have gotten a knife in the first place. Though, he'd been guarding Makoto's room the whole time and had no idea of where the knife could have come from in the first place.
Once again, Makoto was there to set the record straight. "No. I do think it was a knife; but, not just any kind of knife. I'm almost positive that it was a kitchen knife. After the attack, we discovered that one of the knives from the kitchen was missing. That must have been what was used to attack them both."
"Oh…yeah, I guess that makes sense." The biker admitted understandingly. "But if that's the case, where did the knife end up afterwards?"
"We don't know." Said Hina, disappointment coloring her tone. "We looked all over the place, but no one could find it."
The others nodded along since none of them had found it themselves no matter where they'd look. I knew where it was, but I wasn't saying anything about it. I couldn't, I went out of my way to hide it after all. Leon was with me on that if his almost unnoticed sigh of relief was any indication.
Unfortunately, it just had to go wrong.
"Actually, I think I know where it went!" Said Hiro excitedly, grabbing everyone's attention.
Leon was the most shocked out of all of them, "Seriously? How'd you find anything? You were stuck in the infirmary."
The clairvoyant shrugged in response, "Yeah, you won't believe it but I found in the strangest place. See, when Monokuma was trying to get me in this wheelchair, I happened to knock my pillow over and this fell out of it."
Reaching into his pants pocket he pulled out the very kitchen knife they'd been talking about. It had some tufts of lint sticking to it, but the most noticeable thing about it was the dark stain running along the tip and the knife edge. There was no doubt about it, that was the knife that had been used on him and Sayaka.
Of course, I had already known it was there. I was the one to slip it under the pillow in the first place. I'd put it in there after I'd finished patching up the two injured parties. I had intended to come back for it later and wash it in the sink, but I had ended up forgetting about it instead.
That was my fault. I take full responsibility for that one.
"Inconceivable!" Exclaimed Hifumi as he practically leapt back off his seat just from how shocked he was. "The attempt to murder weapon was in the pillow of one of its would-be victims!?"
"Why did you not bring this up earlier?" demanded Byakuya, a small amount of anger coating his tone.
"Hey, cut me some slack!" Hiro rebutted, "Like I said, I only found it a little while ago. I didn't have a chance to tell anyone before Monokuma showed up and dragged me over here."
"B-But you still could have mentioned s-something before we got in the elevator, o-or before we started the trial." Pointed out Toko as she glared exasperated at the well-meaning clairvoyant. He blinked in response, clearly the thought having never occurred to him, before a sheepish grin slowly spread across his face as he started to scratch his cheek embarrassed.
"…Whoops. That's my bad."
"In any case," Sakura stated, trying to get the conversation back on track. "We know that the knife was the weapon."
"Yeah, but where does that get us." Brought up Leon, a bit agitated from Hiro's absentmindedness. "We all know Makoto was the one who attacked her, right!?"
"That's r-right…" Confirmed Toko nervously, continuing the line of thought. "Makoto's room was the s-scene of the crime. What more poof do you n-need? H-He probably attacked the k-klutzy hobo too."
"H-Hold on a sec. I'm-" Panicked Makoto, as he tried to deny the false accusations being thrown his way. I was a bit thrown off by the accusations myself. In the game, he had a reason to try and pin the blame on Makoto. He wanted to shift the blame away from him since he didn't want to be executed for killing Sayaka. But this time, there wasn't any blood on his hands, and he wasn't sought for murder.
So why was he suddenly so against the luckster? Toko was only pushing because of her desire to fit in was making her jump onto the first theory train she could. But Leon didn't have such an excuse. What had changed?
Thankfully, he had Kiyoko there to save his hide. "Let's draw our conclusions after we've presented our arguments. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much of a point in having a class trial, would there?"
"Fine, whatever. We can talk all we want; it isn't going to change that result." With Leon momentarily pacified, our white-haired detective continued.
"I don't think that's true at all. I'm sure that if we keep at it, something will reveal itself." And with that, she was quite once more, no longer desiring to be the one speak about this subject. With that taken care of, the others decided to continue the debate with Leon taking point.
"Okay, so there's no question that the kitchen knife was the weapon, but where does that get us? I mean, Makoto had to have been the one to take the knife from the kitchen, or else it wouldn't have been there."
"No! That's wrong!" Reputed the luckster at the accusation the baseball star presented. "Yes, someone did take the knife from the kitchen, but it wasn't me. In fact, I have a witness. Hina told me that she was in the dining hall yesterday evening and she was there when the knife went missing. She would have seen me if I even came close, right Hina?"
"…Yeah, t-that's right." Confirmed the swimmer nervously, likely unsure of where Makoto was going with this at first, then realization hit and she continued with more confidence in her voice. "Oh, yeah! I didn't see you at all last night! I'm sure of it."
"The knife disappeared while Hina was in the dining hall, but I wasn't there the entire time. In short, there's no way I could have taken the knife." Makoto stood more confidently then before, and I could see why. Now he had someone one his side for sure, he could start trying to find the real culprit.
Then Toko brought up a good point. "D-Doesn't that seem even more s-suspicious? The idiot s-swimmer girl and M-Makoto could be working t-together, in a-an attempt to p-protect each other, r-right?"
"Idiot swimmer girl!?" The highly offended Hina shouted before continuing with, "Oh, and more importantly, why would I get involved in something like that!?"
"Speaking of which, I'd like to ask the bear something…" Said the affluent heir as he turned to me expectantly. "if there is an accomplice, do they also become "blackened"?"
"So you have asked, and so shall I answer." I stated through the afore mentioned bear, practically abuzz with excitement in being allowed to participate in some way; even if it was with Byakuya. "Well, it really depends on the trial involved. In both the normal trial and the supplement trial, the murder slash attempted murder may have an accomplice if they can convince someone, but only the one who does the killing will have the chance to graduate. It should also be noted that, in the event of a failed killing with the involvement of an extra party, it will result in the accomplice getting a detention at the end of the supplement trial."
"Detention?" Parroted the moral high ground Taka, to which I responded, "Yes, a week-long detention where they will be locked in their rooms with minimum interactions with their fellow students. Just to show you how much I don't like failed attempts."
I knew it was a bit complicated for some of them, if the confused expressions I was getting were any indication, but thankfully Kyoko was there to dumb it down for them. "So in other words, two people can work together, but one of them has no chance of profiting from it."
"Then there's no way anyone would work together, right?" the biker leader questioned, and he was mostly right. It wasn't likely any of them would have a reason to work together at all with this going against them, but that wouldn't stop them from trying if one of them was crafty enough. I knew that much from the third chapter.
"But, what if they did work together, and they just didn't know about the rule?" worriedly asked Chihiro, and to be fair, she had a point. I'd only just told them about this, so to an outside perspective someone might have done just that. However, it wasn't going to happen today, because it hadn't happened last night.
"Ugh, good grief. Well, why don't you ask those two you're accusing since everyone knows the rule now. See if either of them throws the other under the bus, then you'll know for sure." I stated, irritated that this was happening, even if I knew it would.
"Well, I'm not responsible for attacking Sayaka, or Hiro, and I'm not an accomplice." Stated Makoto without any hesitation, followed by Hina with, "Yeah, and I'm not either of those."
"So you say." Replied Byakuya, not yet entirely convinced. "but, it does change the fact that Asahina was the only one in the dining hall. She could have easily taken the knife herself if she so desired."
"No way! I-I was with someone the entire time I was in there!" Refuted the swimmer before gesturing across the room at the ultimate fighter. "Sakura was with me the entire time. We stuck together like glue all day yesterday."
Sakura gave a harsh nod in confirmation. "Aye, Asahina had not been feeling well after the videos and requested that I accompany her for some tea."
"Well, couldn't one of you taken the knife while the other wasn't looking?" Asked Hiro as he scratched a spot of his head injury that had likely been bothering him. Though, he had a point there. If one of them had the chance, they could have removed the knife themselves and snuck off with it to do who knows what. However, Hina debunked that theory right off the bat.
"Nope, no way! I was so scared after I had seen that stupid video commercial, so I asked Sakura to do me a favor." Hina continued with a small dusting of pink on her cheeks. It was clear that she was a bit embarrassed when she thought about what she'd asked the fighter to do for her. Thankfully, Sakura continued unperturbed in the swimmer girl's stead.
"Last night, I abode in Asahina's chambers…aye, slept by her very side. Indeed, each of us can give an alibi for the other." I knew that was true as well, it was surprisingly hilarious to see too. Thanks to the cameras, I could see them both as they went to sleep; along with the others, but we're focusing on these two right now. What made it funny was the fact that. While Hina had curled up on her side next to her, Sakura was flat on her back with one of the most awkward and stormy expressions I'd seen. If I were a betting man, I would have said that the reason for it was because of how unorthodox that had been for the very traditional focused fighter to sleep with another, girl or otherwise, without being married.
I just wish I hadn't had to focus on the situation with Sayaka, I would have taken a picture.
That was when Chihiro brought up another important point. "Um, but wouldn't that be against the school regulations?"
"The rules state that we are only allowed to sleep in the dorms," Celeste corrected the programmer in that calm, measured tone of hers. "it never said anything about us having to bunk within our own domiciles, so it would be fine."
But then, one of my favorite exchanges started. Taka immediately slammed one of his hands down hard on the edges of his podium and exclaimed. "Of course it's not fine. For a man and a woman to share a room…! It-it's immoral!"
"But…I am a woman." Corrected Sakura with a look of disbelief at his remark. I only barely managed to stop myself from snorting at that. It wasn't often that she was shocked by anything, so it was always interesting when it happened.
Immediately Taka lost ground and began backpedaling in shock. "Y-You are!? Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry."
I couldn't not laugh at that, "Hahaha! Oh, wow. I mean really. How didn't you know that already? What, did the bust or skirt not tip you off? Woo! Talk about unobservant!" I knew it was cruel of me to do so, I mean, his face had gone so red that even his ears were starting to glow. But, it was worth it to see Sakura blush as well.
"B-be quiet! I-it was an honest mistake!"
"In any case." Stated Celeste as she tried to get back on topic. "if neither Hina, Sakura or Makoto didn't take the knife, then we are at a stalemate. We are out of suspects."
That worried the others. Without a possible suspect, they wouldn't be able to continue this line of questioning. There would be no way of finding someone out as the culprit unless someone were to speak up, this would be where it ends.
Thankfully, Hina would be the one to provide the clue they needed. She hesitated, and I watched her shift uncomfortably in her podium, but eventually, she said, "…Actually, there was one other person to enter the dining hall."
Naturally, some were confused as to why she hadn't brought this up with Byakuya being the one to voice it. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
She didn't reply for a moment at first, merely lowered her head sadly, but just when it looked like the others were going to get impatient with her, she spoke. "Because… they were already suffering enough."
Her words were soft as she spoke, her voice filled with regret for what she was about to reveal to the others. She likely knew what the ramifications were for either telling or not, but she had to know that it was too late to take it back now. So, with a sigh she admitted that, "Sayaka Maizono… She came into the dining hall before she was attacked."
There was an incredible amount of shock on the other's faces, but Makoto was the most shocked out of all of them. It wouldn't have made sense to him considering how she had been acting the night before, so scared and vulnerable, he obviously couldn't rap his mind around it. "Sayaka…was the one who…"
"Aye. Thinking back, 't would be hard to say she was her usual self." Sakura elaborated as she remembered the events of the night before. "She ne'er so much as glanced at us when she strode into the kitchen. She claimed that she sojourned thither for a drink, but most likely…that is when she took the knife."
"Are you saying, Maizono was the one to take the knife?" Makoto asked in disbelief, still having difficulty accepting what was being told to him. Sakura was quite for a second, seemingly trying to think of a way to answer his question, but then she spoke.
"…She would be the most likely suspect…but, there was one other that might have done it." And then, the muscle-bound women turned to look at…me. "Monokuma was also there that night…Sharpening the knives from the kit…including the one that went missing."
My jaw dropped as she turned the tables on me, but before I could refute, Hina jumped in. "Oh yeah! Monokuma was there when Sayaka showed up. He could have taken the knife when we left!"
Of all the rotten…! "Hey, hey, hey! What's this nonsense now! I'll have you know that I put all of those knives right back where I'd gotten them."
"So you say," Replied Byakuya with that infuriating smirk of his that made me want to slug him for that remark. Now I must defend myself from these accusations. "but then why were you messing around with the knife set in the first place?"
"Unbelievable." I said with a growl. "As I told those three girls last night, I am responsible for the maintenance of much of this establishment. While the chore list is for you all to decide, who does what, there are somethings here that only I can operate. Knife care and repair is one of those."
"But, you were still there, right?" asked Hiro aggressively, turning as best as he could in his wheelchair to point at me. "You could have just grabbed a knife and slipped away like you are always doing!"
Grr, that loud mouth. "For the love of- NO. Okay, I couldn't have taken the knife even if I had wanted to. For your information, on top of the school regulations, I have a set of rules that I must follow myself that prevent me from making the game unfair for you all. For example, I am not allowed to kill anyone that hasn't broken one of my rules, nor am I allowed to take items from a room unless it is solely for cleaning of a post crime scene. Okay? And in case you had forgotten, miss Ogami and Aoi, I had put the very knife you found missing back on the rack when I explained that to you."
Huffing as I crossed the bear's arms angrily as I turned away. The shear nerve of them, accusing me of breaking my own rules to kill someone. The gall they had to say that about me. I don't care that I was technically the one holding them here, that kind of talk was uncalled for.
"But if you didn't take the knife, then…" Makoto cut off, unwilling to finish his sentence, so I cut in. "The victim Sayaka Maizono! She's the one who took the knife…!"
Then, in that moment I remembered, I wasn't supposed to tell them that. They were supposed to figure that out on their own. "Whoops! Did I say that out loud?"
"She…She probably took for self-defense." Makoto tried to defend her actions, but the sweat pouring down his forehead made his argument lose some of its potency. "She was scared out of her wits, so she must have taken it to protect herself."
"Then the culprit must have wrestled the knife from her at some point, then they turned around and attacked her." Byakuya reasoned as he adjusted his glasses, if for no other reason than to make the light glare off them. It was a fair assumption, and it was fairly accurate to what had happened; even thought it was only fairly accurate. But then, the affluent prodigy brought up another theory. "But if that's the case, then Makoto might not have taken the knife, but he still could have attacked her."
Poor Makoto panicked at the accusation being flung back at him once more and left him stammering to defend himself. "What!? H-Hold on! I…"
Thankfully for his sake, Kiyoko was still on his side in this. "Hold on. It's still too early to conclusively decide that Makoto is the culprit just yet, wouldn't you say? Because you see, if the room did belong to the culprit, then they did something truly bewildering. And until we unravel that little mystery, we can't decide that Makoto is the instigator."
"Bewildering?" the Biker gang leader questioned, frustration coating his tone as he glared at the purple themed detective. It was clear he was getting tired of being given the run around instead of just getting the answers. He wasn't the only one, that much was curtain, but he was defiantly the most vocal one right now. "What the hell are you talking about."
"Something was missing from the scene that by all accounts should have been there. If it was the culprit's room they wouldn't have needed to remove it at all, it wouldn't have been suspicious if it was still there. Yet, when you look around, ever bit of it was gone. You know what I'm talking about, right Makoto?" She looked at the luckster patiently, her eyes demanding that he answers correctly. Thankfully he was quick to pick up on what she was referring to.
"That's right! There wasn't any hair anywhere in my room! The floor was completely clear of it!" As his explanation finished, Mondo realized something from the part of the investigation he'd been there for as well.
"Right… I remember now. Didn't you say it looked like your lint roller had been used while we were there? The bastard must have used it to remove some evidence from the crime scene before I got there. Damn, that's sneaky."
"Right," Makoto confirmed conclusively, "And if I was the one to attack Sayaka, I wouldn't have needed to remove my own hair, because it was my room!"
"The reason the hair was gone…" theorized Celeste, still not quite convinced about Makoto's innocence, "…was to remove any trace that Sayaka had been there. That makes sense, does it not?"
"No," disagreed Kyoko stoically. "If that were the case, he wouldn't have bothered letting us know the state about the lint roller. He would have hidden it or written it off."
"Okay, but then why wasn't there any hair on the ground?" Leon questioned in a way that sounded sincere, but I could tell it was more to keep suspicion off him.
Either way, Kiyoko answered his question. "It was so that the true culprit would remove any evidence of them being there. With that in mind, it's impossible to believe the culprit and the owner of the room to be one and the same."
"That… is true." Reluctantly agreed Byakuya, "Plus, if Makoto had wanted to make sure no one would know it was him, he would have been more thorough when he cleaned up the crime scene instead of coming to inform us that she had gone missing… Alright then, I'll accept that you might not be the culprit…for now."
"Eh? But then how did the culprit get into Makoto's room?" Chihiro questioned, her eyes traveling away from the group as she thought about it. "I know if I was as scared as she was, I wouldn't open the door for any reason."
"Oh, maybe they just rang the doorbell! You know, tricked her into opening the door for them!" Stated Hiro excitedly, his loud voice echoing through the room as he expressed his thoughts. Unfortunately for his idea, Makoto didn't agree with that for one good reason.
"No, Sayaka and I promised not to open the door for any reason. It wouldn't make sense for her to go against that promise after going through the effort of swapping rooms in the first place." That was a fair belief as well. They had swapped rooms to keep her safe after all, if this was a normal circumstance, there wouldn't be a reason for her to leave then.
Sad to say though, these weren't normal circumstances.
For a moment, the students were silent as they tried to think about this. How could the criminal have gotten into the room? Leon asked if someone could have picked the lock, but Taka shut it down by quoting my own statement about how the locks were unable to pick. Hifumi questioned if someone simply broke the lock, but I shot it down by stating that an alarm would have gone off if the main door was tampered with and would have given to offender a hardy zap if they had done so. One after another, ideas were being brought up and then shot down by one of the students and it looked like it might end in another stalemate. Fortunately, Kyoko was there to bring up her own theory.
"I believe the answer is, unfortunately, simpler then you'd think." Reaching into her jacket, she pulled out a sheet of paper that I'd been waiting for this whole time. On the side, she showed, most the entire page had been rubbed over with pencil lead, turning most of it black. However, looking closer revealed that words had been imprinted into the paper that had been missed completely by the pencil lead.
While I didn't need to look at the paper to know, I still knew that it said, "I'd like to discuss something with you. Please come to my room in fifteen minutes. Be sure to check the nameplate on the door so you don't visit the wrong room by mistake, okay?" and then, the most important part of the note came. It was signed…Sayaka Maizono.
"This is a note made by Sayaka Maizono." Kyoko redundantly stated, probably just to make it clear for those that couldn't see it from across from her. Either way, she continued with, "She lead the perpetrator to her by personal invitation. I rubbed a pencil across the notepad in Makoto's room, doing so revealed this massage. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it was very effective in this case. Most likely, she slipped it under the culprit's door to lure them to her."
Needless to say, that caught the others completely off guard. "So the victim… invited the culprit into the room!?"
"That would appear to be the case." Kyoko answered Hina's question with closed eyes, her expression unreadable to all who looked at it. It didn't make sense to them though. And it showed best through Makoto.
"H-hold on a second! She never would have done that! Sayaka was terrified…absolutely terrified! She-She said that someone tried to force open her door! That's why…That's why she swapped rooms with me! There was no way she would let anyone into the room!" He was shaking in his spot, his fists clenched tightly as he pressed them into the cool wood of his stand. He was barely holding it together over there and I couldn't stop my heart from clenching tightly as I watched on.
It was heart wrenching to watch him break down like that. This was supposed to be my greatest enemy here that I was looking at here, yet all I could think about was how miserable he looked like this. Not for the first time I wanted to just stop all of this just because of the pain I was causing these people. It was getting harder to convince myself that this needed to happen.
It certainly did not help that Kyoko was going to make him except the reality of what happened. "…What if she was only pretending to be afraid?"
"Huh?" Makoto asked in disbelief as he looked at the silvery haired girl, completely shocked that she would even suggest such a thing. "What are you talking about? Why would Sayaka even do something like that!"
Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't be getting any proper answers from her anytime soon as she continued to make him figure it out on his own. "If you wish to know, then you are going to have to figure out what happened once the culprit got into the room. There you will find the answers you seek."
They didn't have much of a choice now. No one else was offering any ideas, so it was with a margin of reluctance that the others agreed to try and piece together the scene of Sayaka's attack.
It should be no surprise that, as one of the guards that had been assigned to watch over the scene, Mondo took the lead of this one. "Alright, then I guess we should to start with that replica sword we found."
'It's so warm.'
This was her first thought as she slowly came too, her mind foggy and her body warm as she began the slow return to consciousness. Her eyes were heavy and to her they felt like lead weights as she tried to open them even slightly. Her body was no better off, despite the soothing warmth she felt on it. Every movement felt difficult and sluggish.
Her limbs were pretty much unresponsive, every inch feeling numb. There was a small sensation of some kind coming from each of her wrists, a dull throbbing from her right, and feeling of something intruding into her left. Anytime she attempted to move either arm, the feeling would become painful instead and would only calm back down if she stopped moving and gave it time to settle.
'It hurts.' she thought to herself as she tried to figure out what had happened, but with her senses all muddled as they were, it was hard to focus on any single thing. 'Why does it hurt…?'
Her mind tried its best to answer her, tried to tell her about what it had filed away for her so that she could remember, but it just couldn't quite get past the fog in her head. There were bits and pieces, but nothing concrete.
She didn't know how long she spent trying to piece things together, but nothing was standing out no matter how she tried. It was no use; she would just have to open her eyes herself and see what was going on.
It took a lot of effort to even get her eyelids to cooperate with her desire, and more than a few times she was ready to just give up on it. However, she was nothing if not determined to sate her curiosity, so gathering up as much energy as she could, she forced her eyes to open.
It took a moment for her eyes to focus, but eventually she was met with the sight of a white tile roof. Taking a small sniff of the air revealed the light smells of cleaning chemicals and disinfectants she could vaguely recall smelling whenever she visited the hospital, so maybe that was where she was. Listening didn't change much as the room was silent, but if she strained her ears she could make out the slow breathing of someone sleeping nearby.
Straining her neck to force her head up, she slowly turned her sight to where the source of the breathing was roughly located at. As she did, she saw another woman sleeping on a cot nearby, their long hair and curvy figure giving away their gender without any issue. There was some concern felt when she noticed a trail of blood leading from the bed to the floor, but this was negated by the sight of an I.V. bag half full of blood leading to the girl's other side.
With that out of the way, she turned her head to look around the room she had found herself in. from what she could see from her spot, she would have to guess that she was in doctor's office. It was easy to come to that assumption, considering the cabinets of medicine, medical cots like the ones she and the other girl were on, examination light hanging from the ceiling, and the like.
This was only further confirmed by the IV in the other women's arm. There weren't many other places that she could think of where such a thing would be commonly found, and all of them would be only under exceedingly unusual circumstances. So, she felt safe in her assumptions about this place being a med lab of some sort.
But, that raised the question. 'What am I doing here?'
Trying to think back through the fog, memories of the night before started to slowly trickle back to her and caused her to gasp. She was a student at Hope's Peak Academy, forced to take part in the game of mutual killing. She had been here little over a week and she had been disturbed to learn that her closest friends and fellow idols might have been forcefully disband by the mastermind behind all of this.
Then, tears started to flow from her eyes as she recalled what she'd done after. How she'd plotted to murder her music lover of an Ultimate and then pin the blame on her close childhood schoolmate to escape this living nightmare. Then when she'd failed and even ended stabbing herself instead, she ran away and accidentally cut Yasuhiro in her blind fleeing.
Instinctually she tried to raise her right arm to wipe away her tears, when a sudden spike of pain lanced up her arm and caused her to recoil violently. Slowly, as to not aggravate whatever part of her that was causing this agony, she carefully lifted the damaged appendage and went wide at the sight. Her limp hand dangled unresponsive due to her broken wrist, the joint swollen by quite a large margin and a blend of dark purple and black decorating the flesh. It was a painful sight to behold and it didn't help that it just as agonizing to feel as it was to look at.
A hiss of air escaped from between her teeth as she tried to pull in the broken limb, instinctually trying to bring it close to protect it. However, as she reached with her other arm to guard the injured one, she was suddenly met with resistance in the form of a long red tube emerging from a needle taped to her left wrist. Now aware of this other development, she followed the tubing up to find a nearly empty blood bag hanging just out of the edge of her peripheral view.
'Did-did someone…save me?' The thought came to her with a feeling of confusion. Why would anyone save her after all of that? Didn't they know what she'd done? What she'd nearly ended up doing?
But, even more confusing was, who was the one who saved her? It couldn't have been Leon; she'd tried to kill him after all. There was no reason for him to even try after what she'd done. If anything, he would every right to kill her in retaliation for her betrayal of his trust.
Makoto wasn't even a consideration. He had locked himself in her room at the time and promised not to leave. If there was one thing she did remember about him from their middle school days, he always kept his word. Even when he didn't like it, he was the one everyone could count on. It was one of the traits about him she liked the most.
And Hiro had been down for the count. She had seen him smack his head and pass out. Not hard to figure out he hadn't helped her. Besides, even if she hadn't knocked him out, he still wouldn't have helped her since she'd stabbed him in the first place. There was just no way she could think of that he would have helped her.
But, that didn't answer her question. If none of them were the ones who saved her life, then who was it? She couldn't think of who it would have been. If it had been one of the others, then it meant that they would have broken the night time rule and stumbled upon her and Hiro by the laundry room. But that didn't make sense either since when she looked around he wasn't here.
Did whoever save her leave the Ultimate Clairvoyant behind? The thought caused an uncomfortable lump to form in her throat. He may have been a bit of a creep with his attempting to con everyone out of hundreds to thousands of yen with his thirty percent accurate fortune telling, but he didn't deserve that. No, if anything, she was the one to deserve that fate.
She was the one who jumped straight to attempting murder. She was the one who had betrayed her closest friend to flee from this retched place and pin her crime on him. She was the one who couldn't let go of what she'd seen and instigated this terrible series of events. She was the guilty one here no one else.
Her depressing thoughts continued to plague her, her guilt eating away at her soul as tears ran down her face. There was no redemption for her after what she had tried to do. As far as she was concerned, it might have been better if she had died.
"You know, just because I'm used to seeing girls cry, doesn't make it any less disheartening to walk in on." So, lost in riding her emotional descent that she was caught completely off guard when someone stated that it caused her train of thought to abruptly stop. With a small "Eep!" escaping her lips, she immediately attempted to leap away from the cause.
This turned out to be a mistake. Not only did her hasty movement reignite the pain in her broken wrist, but it agitated her side and caused an injury of some sort to light up. Once more hissing through her teeth, she spared a glance down to her side where a nasty surprise awaited her and caused her eyes to widen at the sight.
There, just along the bottom of her rib line, was an array of black thread stitching a large jagged cut in her flesh closed. Just under it was a blooded pad with strips of medical tape attached to it that had come loose from her due to her panicked jump.
Despite knowing that she had company, she couldn't draw her eyes away from the disfigurement. Her gaze traced over every stitch, every detail forever burning into her mind. There were no doubts that this would leave a scar, one that would not be easily ignored by anyone lucky enough to catch it. This image would be forever trapped in her subconscious for the rest of her life.
She was so focused on this new development, she almost missed the white paw moving towards the pad until it pushed it back over her stitched-up wound. As it started carefully reattaching the strips of tape, she followed the limb up to its owner and immediately had to purse her lips to prevent herself from screaming.
There stood the very bear that had trapped her in this place. The mastermind who'd given her that awful video and gotten her to attempt to murder someone in cold blood was standing right there and was patching her back up. This image was so contradictory to the image she'd built up about this individual that she was stricken silent as she watched it work, afraid that any sudden movements might cause it to lash out against her. With her in such a weakened state of being, there was no contest regarding who the winner of that fight would be.
For a good solid minute, the bear worked on her in silence, barely even glancing at her as it worked. It was strange how almost… gentle it seemed to be acting. Its touch was light and careful, uncharacteristically kind from everything she'd known of the demented creature so far and it only made her feel incredibly unnerved and confused the more she watched it work.
Finally, it seemed to finish reapplying her bandages and backed off with a nod of its two-toned head. "Okay, good. Looks like you didn't reopen anything when you moved like that, but I'd be more careful if I was you, missy. You never know what could happen if you broke a seem before it finishes healing."
Again, it stunned her with its words. Wasn't this the person who was trying to get everyone to kill each other? Why would they care if anything happened to her? Wasn't that what they wanted? For her to die?
It went against everything they'd been preaching since they'd gotten here.
Seemingly unaware of the veritable storm cloud of conflict going on in her mind, the bear leapt off the cot and grabbed something white on the nearby door knob before waddling back to her, tossing the item at her as it did. "Now then, I know you've got a lot of questions right now, but they'll have to wait till later. Come on let's get you dressed."
"…Dressed?" she parroted before glancing down…
…Only to then realize that she was almost naked from the waist up, and that the 'white pile' Monokuma had tossed at her was the top half of her uniform, including her bra. All she had on was the medical pad on her wound, and a couple smaller ones covering up her breasts.
Instantly, her face lit up in a deep scarlet blush; both at the sudden realization of her state of dress, and embarrassment at having not noticing it earlier. I shrill screak burst forth from her lips as she used her only working hand to hastily grab her blouse and hold it up over her chest to preserve what remained of her modesty.
"…Seriously?" deadpanned the two-tone bear, completely in disbelief at her actions. "Did you seriously just notice that you were barely dressed?"
"I wasn't really focused on it at the time, okay!?" For a moment, the bear didn't speak, simply content to stand there staring at her. Then, its paws slowly raised up and met its face with a soft, "pouf".
"…My god, I've seen some dumb things in my life, but that is high up there as one of the dumbest thing I'd seen yet." Ignoring any attempt that she made to dispute the claim, the bear dropped its paw back down with a sigh and climbed back onto the cot. "Whatever. Let's just get those clothes on you already."
"W-Wait." She exclaimed, pulling the blouse tighter to her chest. "I-I can get dressed myself. I don't need you looking over my shoulder."
He said nothing as he stared at her, his gaze increasingly unnerving as the seconds passed by. His beady eye and his jagged red eye slowly moved to look at her right hand and the broken wrist it was attached to. Then they traveled to the other wrist where the IV was still attached. Finally, its sight traveled back up to her face before it tilted its head with exasperated confusion.
She didn't need to be psychic to guess what he was thinking.
"…R-Right. Um…c-could you…promise not to stare…?" She knew it was a long shot to make such a request now, the one controlling Monokuma didn't have any reason to even humor her, but it didn't hurt to ask.
Fortunately, their response was, "My dear, Sayaka Maizono. I am a bear of standards. My morals regarding people being made dead for entertainment may fall under all kinds of scrutiny, but my standing in maintaining my T rating should not be called into question. I am not some hormonally charged teenage boy who can only have a shot at real T&A in a dirty magazine, or perving in the bathhouse. I am a professional and a gentleman. Moreover, I'm a bear. What do I care about your human sweater puppies?"
It didn't necessarily make her feel better, but at least it was a start. So, with great reluctance, she lowered her arms and passed the blouse and bra back to Monokuma. To his credit, he didn't even glance at her chest as he picked up the cloth support and slipped it over her chest. After an embarrassing minute of his hooking the clasps together, he took her blouse and helped her slip it over her head. Then, after taking a minute to carefully remove the now empty IV from her arm and putting a bandage on the hole it left behind, he then helped her slip the arm through the sleeve.
Then came the hard part; the arm with the broken wrist. They had to go slow to avoid jarring it too much, otherwise it would cause her incredible amounts of pain and be forced to stop to let it settle back to manageable levels before trying again. Thankfully, that only happened a few times and each time Monokuma stayed surprisingly patient and even more surprisingly supportive. Once that was done, the bear grabbed a roll of gauze off the counter and a basic six-inch ruler from the small rolling table she had missed in her initial search of the room.
"Hold still," The bear commanded softly as he placed the ruler across the back of her hand, just barely avoiding her swollen part of her arm. "I'm going to splint this for you so that it has a chance to heal properly. You'll have to bear with a bit of pain though, but it'll be worth it in the end."
She was still wary of his intentions for helping her like this, but she knew he was right. It would be better if it was properly splinted, she knew that much. It also would cause her a bit of discomfort to have it put on, but it be better in the long run.
But as the bear started his work, she couldn't help but wonder. "Why…?"
"Huh?" Monokuma replied, pausing in his work with the strip only having finished wrapping the forearm and just about to move on to her hand to balance it.
"Why are you going through so much trouble if I'm just going to…t-to be killed anyway?" Her voice was shaky as she spoke, tears once again poking at the edges of her eyes.
"…What makes you think that?" He inquired after a period, his voice emotionless as he continued to work on her arm, but it was brushed aside as she continued her questioning.
"Your rule. The one about getting caught. "The only way to leave this the school is to murder someone without getting caught" I broke your rule by getting caught. If you're going to punish me anyway, then…why bother helping me…?"
Monokuma was silent for several minutes, focusing solely on her arm. Other than a few hisses of pain occasionally, Sayaka was silent too, worrying about what his response would be. So, they sat in an uncomfortable silence.
Just when she couldn't take it anymore, Monokuma finally spoke, "I don't think of it that way."
"Huh?" she didn't know if it was his whimsical tone of his statement that confused her more.
"Well, in my book, attempting to break a rule, and actually breaking a rule are a bit different. Yes, it's true that you tried to murder someone to escape, and if you had succeeded I would have to punish you. But you failed. That means that you were unable to disrupt the sanctity of these halls and only you and the one you attempted to do in know about it as far as the class is concerned. Remember, I can only intervene against those that are successful at killing someone. So, it no longer falls to me if you fail."
Now he turned to look her in the eyes, his task of wrapping up her arm now finished. "No, it falls to your peers as to what happens to you now."
"…!" A cold, dark pit started forming in her stomach at the words. But before she could ask what he meant by that, he continued.
"Right now, your classmates are down below us, having a class trial to find the instigator of last night's events. Now, you, me, and Leon Kuwata are the only ones who know the actual answer to that, but that won't be the case soon enough. For now, neither Leon or I have told them anything, but I have no doubts in my mind that the others will figure it out soon enough, with or without our help. Once that happens, I will be putting your fate in their hands. They and only they, will be the ones to decide your future here."
She couldn't speak, her words had been robbed from her. Her classmates were going to decide her fate? They were going to learn about all she had done last night? "N-No. T-They…"
"Yeah, I know. It's a sad story, girl." Monokuma interrupted, his tone uncaring about her problems. "But too bad, it's too late for regrets now. You've got a date to keep downstairs. Now, don't waste both of our time struggling, and let's get you into this wheelchair."
What could she do? It was as he said, it was too late for regrets. All she could do was…accept the inevitable.
With a heavy heart, she let Monokuma help her into the chair, being careful not to nock her injury in the process. It was surprisingly difficult to do; her body was very sluggish to respond to her commands and it caused her to nearly fall down several times. However, Monokuma was there to keep her from doing so, keeping a strong grasp on her the whole time and moving slow enough to accommodate her.
She might have questioned his behavior, but she was focused more on her own movements and what would be happening to her that it completely slipped her mind. Once she was firmly seated into the wheelchair, she let him lead her out into the hall way and towards the red doors that would seal her fate.
"…So, let's see if I'm hearing this right. Sayaka led this person, the culprit, to her room with a note. Then, when they got there, she attacked them with the knife she took from the kitchen. When that happened, the culprit grabbed the replica sword, while it was still in its sheath, and defended themselves. After that, they took the sword out of the sheath, and broke her wrist with the sword…am I following along so far?"
I had to resist a sigh as Hiro summarized what they had finally figured out in the past several minutes. Honestly, it was bad enough that I had to listen to this all again as they debated over the actions of who they thought was the culprit was, but when the slower ones dumbed down the course of events, it dragged things down for me.
I was, however, a bit thankful that they established where they were it their debates so far, otherwise I'd be just about as lost as Hiro tended to be. With the elevator now beginning its accent to pick up the actual culprit, it would only be a matter of time before the truth would come to this trial room.
I had to thank whoever designed the Monokuma control room for making it possible to use multiple Monokuma at once, otherwise this might have been more problematic than anything else. It was rather easy to understand in concept, all you had to do was activate a Monokuma in a different room and they would both respond to any command input into them. With enough dexterity, you could even control dozens of them at once to do separate tasks each.
Sadly, executing such actions in practice was far more difficult than you can imagine. Just making one Monokuma do some more incredible feats, such as doing a front-flip summersault over a certain luckster from a dead start for example, required a lot of commands made for just one of them. I could barely keep up with just that much alone, and I've been lead to believe then somehow Junko could simultaneously command hundreds of the damn things, plus the traps in the walls and floors, and the mounted turrets all at the same time.
Thankfully for my sanity, controlling the two I had been had been made so much more simple since the courtroom Monokuma was sitting down and didn't need any major input. Even better was that the rest of the Monokuma could be simply put into a form of "Cleaning mode" so that I wouldn't need to focus on them as they repaired and cleaned up all the damages from the attack. Hey, they were built to be maid-bots, so to speak.
Regardless, I was reminiscing too much now, I needed to focus on the trial.
"That's really all we have figured out now." Asahina chimed in as exasperated as I felt for Hiro right now.
"Yeah, but then what happened next? Did they just stab her with the knife or something?" Leon asked,
"That could very well be what happened." Confirmed Taka, his face scrunched up with either rage or disgust at what he was agreeing too. "After forcing miss Sayaka to let go of the knife, the culprit must have then taken it and used it to stab her!"
"…Are we sure that the culprit is the one who stabbed Sayaka?" Kyoko interjected with a questioning gaze, causing a bit of an uproar from the others.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Shouted Mondo, a vane in his forehead throbbing wildly as he spoke. "Of course the culprit stabbed her! Why the hell else would we even be talking about this whole fucking time!?"
"But don't you think it's odd?" she continued, undeterred by his loud angry voice. "If the culprit had stabbed her there, then why did she survive? And by that same vain, how did she end up in the infirmary? The same infirmary that until last night had been locked."
That was the question they had to figure out. Something that they were starting to realize themselves. "That is true. If this were a true killer mastermind like we've seen, then they would have made sure that she was dead right there. Why would they let her go after that?"
"Hell if I know! Maybe they got some sick fetish for watching girls struggle or something!" Leon tossed out his remark like a fastball against Hifumi's question. But that would be shot down as well by Makoto.
"I don't think that's the case… If the culprit got the knife, then I don't think she would still be alive. They would have killed her right then. But, what if Sayaka took back the knife with her other hand?"
"S-Saywhaaa!" Shouted the startled Hifumi before Makoto continued. "If Sayaka took the knife back with her left hand, the one that wasn't broken, then she could have escaped without being killed at all."
"But then, why would she have that stab wound?" countered Celeste, not quite convinced that was what happened. "If Sayaka did as you said, then she would only have the broken wrist, but as we have established, she still was stabbed at some point. So, I ask you, where did she get that stab wound?"
Makoto was silent for a while, unable to figure out how she had gotten the wound. He was wracking his brain trying to piece this puzzle together, I could tell just from the amount of concentration on his face, but he was struggling. It didn't look like he was going to be able to figure it out.
But then, someone I didn't expect spoke up. "…Maybe it was an accident?"
All eyes wandered over to the speaker, the ultimate baseball star, who wore an expression that for once I couldn't identify. "An interesting theory. What makes you say that?"
Leon turned to Byakuya with that same unreadable expression. "Okay, hear me out here. What if, and this a big if, but what if Sayaka tried to hide somewhere and she took the knife with her. Then, when she tried to get into this hiding place, something made her trip or something and she… cut herself with the knife?"
Several eyes widened at what he said, but ever the cynic Byakuya needed more than an if. "And what evidence do you have to support this?"
Leon started breaking out into a sweat, and my palm met my forehead. He did not think this through, of bloody course. I should have guessed that he would mess this up as well. But fortunately, as he was fumbling his words, he was struck with inspiration.
"I…That is- Wait. Makoto! You know what it is right?" He clearly caught the Luckster off guard, but he pushed on anyway. "Y-You know. That thing. The one spot that proves that she might have had an accident. That thing!"
"That thing?" Makoto parroted in confusion which made Leon sweat even harder, but then his fortune came through as the Luckster remembered the detail he was hoping for. "Are you talking about the bloodstain on my bathroom door?"
"Y-Yeah, yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" confirmed the all-star excitedly. "If Sayaka tried to hide in the bathroom, but messed up somehow, then she could have gotten the cut there, right?"
"Eh? But how would she have cut herself then if she tried to hide in the bathroom?" questioned the little Chihiro, to which Leon nearly panicked again.
"I-I don't know, I'm just saying that it could be that she tried to get in and maybe she just forgot to unlock the door or something." Unfortunately for him, that was not the right answer to give when Taka was listening.
"Impossible! If you recall from the note we had all been given from Monokuma, the male dorms don't have any locks on their bathroom doors!"
"That might be right for all the other dorms," responded Makoto, unknowingly saving Leon's hide in the process "but that actually could have happened with my room. My bathroom door has a wonky frame and gets stuck all the time. It has a trick to it, and it is easy to open when you know it, otherwise it won't budge. Monokuma can vouch for that."
I smiled a bit. Finally, some inclusion. "Yep, that's right. It's all kinds of irritating that the contractor messed that one up, but since it would be more annoying to get it replaced, I've been kind of putting it off. But, ya know it's kinda funny when you think about it. You're supposed to be the "Ultimate Lucky Student", right? Yet out of everyone here, you got the room with the cruddy door. The sure irony of it all, right!?"
"Anyway," Interrupted Byakuya, "that would explain how she got hurt, but that doesn't explain one thing, why would she try to hide in the bathroom but instead hurt herself on it, if she knew it was jammed?"
A scarlet blush creeped across Makoto's face. "…I never told anyone about the jam. I kind of forgot to as the week went by. Not even Sayaka knew about it."
"Then that would explain why she would crash into the door and injure herself." Stated Sakura. "without the knowledge of the door's secret, she would have no ability to enter it and thus would possibly run headlong into it should she attempt to hide within."
"But, then why would she try to hide in the bathroom if she thought it wouldn't lock?" The confused Asahina asked and truth be told, that one stumped me. Why had she tried to barricade herself inside Makoto's room in the first place? She couldn't have known about the wonky frame, she proved that much when she ran head first into the door. And she of course knew that, as a boy's dorm, the door wouldn't have a lock on it to dissuade anyone. So why bother trying to hide in there?
"T-The bathroom doors only o-open inwards, don't they?" asked Toko nervously, her thumbnail caught between her teeth as she tried to keep herself from freaking out over the attention she was getting now by speaking up. "C-Couldn't she have tried t-to barricade the door with her own body weight?"
"Oh yeah!" chimed in Hiro, taking the spotlight from poor Toko in the process. "That's true! That way, if you were ambushed in your room, you'd still have a safe place to hide! Sayaka must have been planning to wait it out when she realized that she messed up! Good thinking Toko!"
Now, this would be the part where most people would accept the compliment and move on. Toko, however, is not most people. "S-Shut up! I d-don't need to hear such insincere p-praise f-from a brain-dead h-hobo."
"Hey! Who are you calling "brain dead"!?" Oh, sure, he only takes offence to that part.
"Anyway." Sighed the ultimate gambler, her exasperation almost palatable from the scene the two had. "if what Toko said is true, then it would also explain why she would have gotten that cut as well, correct?"
"True, true," confirmed Hifumi as he adjusted his glasses to make them flash in the light. "with the door jammed and her unknowing of that, she would have run right into it. Even more so with her being panicked from her failed assassination. With enough momentum, she could have sliced her gut by mistake."
"Hey yeah, that reminds me. Didn't ya say that her cut was kinda jagged?" Mondo ask Kyoko, as she was the one who gave the pop-idol the first look over.
"Indeed." Our resident detective confirmed "I had thought it was strange that whomever had attacked her would have cut her in such a way."
Unfortunately, Hiro didn't understand the ramifications of this. "Huh? What's strange about it?"
"Normally, if someone were attack someone else with the desire to kill, they would aim for their stomach or neck. It's a very common method of murder." It was clear to more than just myself that Byakuya wasn't particularly thrilled to have to inform the slow thinking clairvoyant about what he should have realized himself.
"But, Sayaka was stabbed at a weird angle, along her ribs. If they were trying to kill her with the knife, they wouldn't have cut her in such a bizarre way." Makoto finished up the basic summery
"Then, if that's how she got her cut, then doesn't it mean that whoever she brought over wasn't the instigator then?" Leon pondered aloud. But really, I already knew the real reason he was asking. With the theory that Sayaka had been the one to initiate these events up till this point, and that her wound on her side was self-inflicted, he could better keep their focus on the facts that he wanted them to know about.
But, there was still one matter they still haven't addressed yet. "Yeah, that's kinda what it sounds like, but then who's the one who attacked me?"
Hiro had a point and they all knew it. They still had to figure out that half of the mystery if they had any hope of besting this game. "It would be best if Yasuhiro recounted what happened again. Maybe something new will come to light."
The only adult in the room shook his head at Kyoko's statement, obviously still frustrated that he couldn't recall who had attacked him. "I don't see how that will help anything. I mean I told you guys, I can't remember anything from last night."
"Please Hiro. Just run it by us one more time." Makoto pleaded with him, his eyes glinting in a way that could twist at the heart. Hiro sighed explosively, but he still nodded in acceptance.
"Alright, alright. I get it." And with a moment to collect his thoughts, Hiro began his tale.
"Okay so, after we finished up our late-night meeting, I decided to go search for my crystal ball. I misplaced it a couple of days ago, and I wanted to be sure that no one came around and took it, ya know?" There was a muttered comment from Toko about how, "only you would want anything that stupid." But, it was either ignored or went unnoticed.
"So, I went into the laundry room to see if it was in there. I remembered that I had taken it out of my pockets earlier so that I could wash my jacket. It was getting bit ripe." TMI dude. "I was looking in there for a while, about an hour or two, but I found it sitting in a pile of clothes. I was so excited; it was like a guardian angel had blessed me with good fortune for my persistence!"
Then, his excitement seemed to fade as he recalled what happened next. "But, as I was leaving, someone ran into me and knocked me over. I must have hit my head or something because I blacked out right after. Looks like my angel was a demon of misfortune after all."
"…Disregarding that last part." Makoto wisely decided for everyone's sake. "Hiro, did you happen to notice anything about them that you recognized?"
Sadly, Hiro shook his head. "Nah man, I was so focused on getting to bed I didn't even have time to react, much less see who it was. All I could tell you is that they were probably shorter than me."
"Huh? How could you tell? You just said that you didn't see them." Hina brought up, confused by Hiro's conflicting statement.
"Well, I mean, whoever did stab me had to have done it at a low angle, right? Otherwise, I'd have seen them coming a mile away." Hiro rationalized, surprisingly.
"I…guess that makes sense." Hina admitted with uncertainty in her tone. "So then…that means that the person that attacked Hiro was shorter then him, right? That doesn't narrow it down much, does it."
"Excluding those that are just as tall as Yasuhiro or taller, that only leaves Chihiro, Kyoko, Makoto, Hifumi, Leon, Kiyotaka, Toko, Celeste, Sayaka, and Junko. Of them, Chihiro, Kyoko, Makoto, Toko, and Sayaka, are the only ones significantly short enough to be unnoticed. Asahina has an alibi thanks to Sakura, so she couldn't be responsible, but that still leaves the rest of them." Byakuya thoroughly elaborated. It made sense in a way.
Hifumi would have been seen well before he could have gotten near, and both Leon and Kiyotaka were far too naturally loud to be missed in their bright white clothes. On the girl's side, "Junko" could have easily managed to sneak up on someone since she was the Ultimate Solider, but the platform boots of her messed with her balance and that bright wig grabbed attention very effectively. Celeste had a similar problem with her massive, drill curled hairdo.
"I-I Have nothing to d-do with this." Toko denied angrily, her finger jabbed out accusingly. "Y-You just want to b-blame me because y-you think I'm some kind of d-disgusting creature. D-Don't go l-labeling me because you're disgusted by my p-presence! I was in m-my room all night, w-writing."
"That's not the problem." Stated Kyoko, completely ignoring the unsettling commentary the Ultimate writer spouted. "We've already established that whoever it was had to be in possession of a knife or a similar sharp object. Because of that, it eliminates even more of us from the list."
"So, then…doesn't that mean someone else took another knife then? That's where we are going with this, right?" Hifumi asked Kyoko uncertainly.
"No," she denied in response. "if that were the case, then Hina would have mentioned there being other missing knives from the set. So Hina, did you see any other missing knifes?"
"No, that was the only knife that went missing…Ah!" Hina's sudden gasp echoed through the halls as she no doubt realized where Kiyoko was going with this. Along with her, the eyes of several of the others widened as well as the pieces came together in their minds.
"Well, what are you saying then?" Demanded the long since frustrated Mondo, the veins in his forehead twitching wildly as his blood boiled beneath his reddened skin. "Who the hell had a knife and was small enough to sneak up and stab Hiro!?"
I knew where she was going with this from the get go. She was leading them to the right conclusion, to the true culprit in this. Still, it was rather disturbing how easily she could steer them where ever she wanted. Junko was right to keep an eye on her.
Either way, she had pointed out the right information that they needed to piece it together, and as I expected, Makoto as the one to piece it together first.
"Sayaka…she's who you think did it…"
"…" She was silent, but she didn't need to speak. The fact that she looked right at him spoke plenty.
"I-Inconceivable!" loudly denied Taka passionately. "Did we not just establish that miss Sayaka was injured and fleeing the scene? Why would she attack someone after having just failed!?"
"Perhaps, it wasn't so much a crime of intent a more so crime of circumstance. With her plan to kill the one she invited over having failed, she was likely desperate. Like a scared animal, she ran from them, no doubt afraid that she would be killed herself for her actions. But as she fled, she stumbled across another possible victim candidate."
"You're talking about me, right?" Hiro asked Byakuya, his gaze still a bit confused as to what he was going with this. I could tell, both me and a few others were a bit frustrated by his inability to keep up with what was going
Completely ignoring the hobo like seer, the prodigy continued. "…When she noticed him, she likely decided that, if she couldn't get her first target, she'd go for another."
There was logic in his words, that much I was certain. After failing to end Leon's life as she had, there was a possibility that she would go out of her way to take down someone far less…I'll be nice and just say, "physically fit". She was desperate, with nothing going for her then a busted wrist, and a bloody knife that had entered her own flesh. From an outsider perspective, that sounded perfectly sound.
And evidentially, the others were falling for it too. "So she just up and stabbed me!? What the hell did I do to deserve that!?...Don't tell me. She's not with the yakuza, is she!?"
"No, I highly doubt she would be involved in that kind of thing." Denied Hina with a shrug of disbelief at this, unable to even consider said suggestion from the urchin afroed man. To sheer idea was ludicrous in the highest order. It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so pitiful.
"Hey you never know! I've seen some people you'd never guess were involved with those guys that totally were in deep!" And yet, Hiro still insisted on it. Unbelievable.
"…Anyways." Kyoko interrupted, since it was clear Hiro would drag this on longer if someone didn't drag the trial back into focus. "If she was the one who attack Hiro, then that clearly answers the question of who the instigator is."
"Sayaka…" Makoto muttered, a depressing aura emitting from his form as his hair drooped down, covering his eyes in shadows. I felt bad for him. This whole affair was clearly weighing down on him hard, dragging his spirit to the ground.
Internally I wondered what it was like. I had dealt with well over my share of betrayals in my life, watched as my kindness and caring nature was abused by some coward who joined the crowd just because they were afraid of being subjected to the same treatment. But, I learned to ignore it, identify when they would happen again, and steal myself for the inevitable when it did happen. It still hurt, but it became lessened overtime.
However, this was on a whole other level. How did it feel to have someone betray you so thoroughly that their actions could have gotten you killed? To find out that you had essentially been nothing more than a sacrificial pawn to achieve their own selfish goal.
How would he recover from this? Will he just accept it, lash out, become a recluse? Unlikely at best, I knew that much. He was far to kind to let this hold him down for too long. Oh, he would be hurt for a while, and it's highly likely that being near the pop Idol will be an awkward affair for a while, but he'll recover from this and grow stronger from it. I know it.
With that thought in mind, I figured it was time to end this trial. Sitting up straighter in my chair I pulled myself closer to the mic to make my announcement to begin the voting process. Once that was done, I would be able to begin my plan to save Sayaka from death.
However, just as I was about to open my mouth, I was interrupted by a softly spoken question that made my blood freeze in my veins.
"But, if Sayaka was the culprit…then, who was the one who saved them?"