My mouth had gone dry, my pulse rising drastically as my face began to flush with heat despite the sudden chill I felt. My lips were pursed as I tried to keep from screaming out loud in a combination of frustration and distress. It wasn't enough that I'd helped them to find out who the culprit is, was it? Why I ever have expected otherwise, I had no Idea.

I had known that someone would have wanted to find out about who had gone out of their way to save their collages, it was only natural. In a setting like a game of killing, it would be idiotic not to find out who amongst you were capable of medical procedures. With food, water, social activity, and a safe place to rest their heads taken care of for them, the only thing they'd need otherwise would be someone to play doctor if things went airy.

Furthermore, of course they would want to find out who amongst them deserved praise for their heroic efforts in saving the two students lives. Who wouldn't want to?

But, of all times, why did it have to be now? The elevator wasn't even halfway down yet, so my dramatic reveal of the culprit would be completely lost on them. I would blame its slow pace on Junko's despair fetish and say it was deliberately tampered with to make people suffer from claustrophobic anxiety as they delved deeper into the ground, if it wasn't just as likely that it was simply too old to safely move faster down the shaft.

What? I couldn't blame everything on her. That'd be stupid.

Worst still, as they had still plenty of time on the clock to hold their debate, I couldn't just stop the trial and make them wait for Sayaka and the elevator to arrive. Well, I mean I could, but what purpose would that serve? They would still have to wait for her anyway, and at least if they're talking would keep things interesting; for them more than me.

So, as much as I didn't want to, I was going to have to let the debate continue. If for no other reason than to prevent attracting to much suspicion by ending the trial to early.

Poor Leon wasn't doing any better than I was though, so at least I could take comfort in that. He was looking a bit shaken by the programmer's question, though I believe the others might have mistaken his stuttering voice for shock more than fear. "Wha-what do you mean? Why should that matter?"

"Um, well, if what everyone said is right, then Sayaka and Hiro would be…dead, right?" Chihiro's elaborated, though not without hesitating at the grimmer parts. Understandable really. No one here wanted to talk about something as gruesome as death.

Mondo, ever the 'sportive' one, confirmed with her. "Yeah, sounds about right. The chick did get stabbed after all. Hiro too. And we found them in the infirmary. What about it?"

"Well, doesn't that mean someone rescued them?"

"That's true!" Taka but in, his brows furrowed as he spoke to confirm with the mousy girl's theory. "If what we've been led to believe is accurate, then one of us did save them. Most likely, they found both of our comrades in the dead of the night and brought them to the infirmary. After that, they treated their injuries and left them for us to find in the morning."

Not that bad of a theory to be honest. When common decency became something to consider, it wouldn't be enough to just leave someone to bleed out in the hallway. When any murder became a concern for everyone's survival, it would make it even more prudent for people to help each other to survive. The only other option was to finish the job, and no one wanted to be responsible for that crime.

Sadly, Byakuya was there to once more remind them of the frailties of such theories in this game of ours. "But, that right there is the problem."

Taka, caught off guard by the callus remark, flinched back in response. "W-What? What's the problem with honorable comradery!?"

"Beside the fact that there would be no benefit from such an endeavor, there is a more pressing concern. May I remind you that, up until last night, the infirmary was locked off from us. So, the question is, how were they able to access it?" I didn't want to agree with Byakuya, but he had a point. Considering how I'd acted until now, there was no reason they could have come up with that would make sense for me to have opened the door for them just yet.

Celeste only seemed to add to this with her own ponderings. "Yes, that is a concern. There is also the fact that, despite what the Monokuma files state, there is a concerning lack of blood where Hiro was supposedly attacked."

"Huh? Hey, what do you mean "supposedly attacked"!?" Hiro responded, first confused, then quickly shifting to offended that she would even suggest that he had been lying about where he'd been almost killed.

Celeste, clearly ignoring his tone, answered in her false polite voice that felt to me as if she were subtly insulting him. "Is it not obvious? There is a grave concern that you do not recall who had attacked you, even though there is no reason you should have missed them. Keep in mind that the laundry room has great line of sight of the halls to the dorm rooms. I find it difficult to believe that you were unable to see anyone coming at you from the domiciles."

"Y-Yeah." Toko shakily agreed, but from her tortured expression, it was difficult to believe she fully meant most of what she said. "T-Then there's that e-excuse of your t-terrible memory. Y-You keep saying you d-don't remember a-anything from last night. H-How can we be s-sure you're telling the t-truth?"

Hiro, justifiably more upset by the accusations being leveled against him, rebutted with a loud, "Hey! What are you talking about!? If I say I can't remember, then I can't remember! I hit my head! I was probably concussed!"

To be fair, he had a point. Getting your head slammed into a wall, or door frame in this case, hard enough to cause a splatter of blood to form on the wood would cause a concussion at the very least. I may know a bit more than the basic level of first aid, but there was no telling what all kinds of damage had been done to him with the amount that I did know. Hell, he might have gotten some skull fractures or even brain damage for all I knew.

Then again, with how he acts sometimes, I wonder if he didn't already have some kind of brain trauma already.

Regardless of my opinion on Hiro's less than stellar thought processes, I let Byakuya continue to add more dirt to the hole Hiro was digging for himself. "Then there is another problem. Per the Monokuma file, your injuries were given to you around one thirty am, but nighttime went into effect at ten pm. You claimed you went to the laundry room right after night time to look for your crystal ball, but were then attacked as you left. That's a suspicious amount of time to spend just looking in such a small room."

That was… a good point honestly. I had been focused on the situation with Sayaka at the time, so I never thought to question the reasons for Hiro's rather…unusual inclusion to this case. Why had he been in there for so long anyway?

Hiro didn't seem to agree with just giving away the answers to my questions. "W-Well, that's…I was- um."

"Spit it out already!" Mondo growled, tired of this trial and the fortune teller's antics.

That seemed to motivate Hiro well enough. "O-Okay! Okay! So, I might have skipped some details. Truth is, I found my crystal ball not to long after nighttime started. It was in a pile of clothes, just sitting there in the open. I was so happy, I decided to, you know, try to see the future."

Hina was in disbelief at this, her expression more than a little telling "You spent that long in the laundry room…just to make some phony predictions?"

"Hey!" Hiro shouted in defense of his craft. "I'll have you know that some of my most accurate predictions come from when I'm in a clean room. I've gotten up to forty percent once in a freshly cleaned bathroom!"

"T-That's not very sanitary at a-all." Toko unknowingly agreed with me on this.

Hiro, either uncaring about the slight against him or ignoring it entirely, continued. "Besides that, this prediction was important! When I gazed into my crystal ball, I saw a green eyed, black bull fighting with a white bear with a red eye in a field of fire. Several dark silhouettes stood around them, yet they didn't seem to see the fires or the two animals struggling. These silhouettes were being filed with the smoke from their fight in the fire, each slowly suffocating in the miasma. Then, on the brink of death, one of the figures starts to glow and begins to-"

"No one cares about any of that!" Hina interrupted, almost causing me to cry out with a resounding, "I do!" but I repressed it in time. Credit where it's due, despite his overwhelmingly flawed personality and lacking financial management skills, Hiro knew how to grab your attention with his fortunes. Not even a good fortune, and it still caught my attention.

Kiyoko, always the one to stay on point, forced the conversation to return to the topic at hand. "Anyway, how long did it take you to make your prediction?"

Momentarily caught flatfooted by the abrupt change, Hiro took a moment to remember how the events of last night went. "Huh? Oh, well, I wanted to make sure this one was accurate, I mean it was so bizarre, so I went over it several times. I'd say I did it about…ten or twelve times, so about, I don' know, three hours or so?"

"So, that was when you decided to head for your dorm room, correct?" Celeste questioned him, one of her brows raising ever so lightly, to which Hiro nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, but as I was leaving, I was feeling really stiff and tired. So, I started stretching as I left and well, I yawned. Like, a big yawn. I didn't think anyone would attack me in such an open space, so I just let it lose. Next thing I know, I'm being run over and getting stabbed in the side." Even though he seemed subdued by it, I could only palm my face at that.

Of bloody course, only he would end up getting hurt from something stupid. It was like everything that he did was predetermined to come back and bite him for no other reason than because he was mentally comparable to that of a drugged-up hobo with an addiction for phony alien 'artifacts'. I had been wondering how he had missed Sayaka running down the halls at top speed, but now that I'd heard the reason, I couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Byakuya seemed to agree with me since he turned his head away from the fortune teller in disgust. "Tch, such incompetence."

Celeste only added to the mutual feelings of disappointment when she lightly shook her head and said, "It's to be expected of someone like him. It can't be helped."

"In any case," Sakura spoke up, her strong voice grabbing the attention of everyone with ease. "that doesn't explain who it was to save them afterward."

I couldn't decide whether to feel relived or exasperated. On the one hand, Hiro's shenanigans ate up a solid chunk of time which not only gave that blasted elevator a chance to finally get down here; seriously, why is it taking so long? It also meant that I wouldn't have to worry about them figuring out about my or Leon's involvement.

On the other hand, it would also mean that there could be a chance that, in the absence of their saviors' reveal, they might jump the gun on their vote and try something drastic. It was, admittedly, unlikely considering the abundance of levelheaded individuals here, but it was still a concern, darn it!

Strangely enough, Kyoko spook up first with a topic I didn't expect. "I believe there is another thing we need to discuss first. During the investigation, I noticed several clues had gone missing."

While I was busy scratching my head, wondering where she was going with this, Makoto seemed to have caught on to her intent rather quickly. "You're talking about the sheets of my lint roller and the bloodstain by the door, right?"

"Bloodstain? What about the bloodstain?" Hifumi asked, but his face had gone a bit pale as he spoke. Likely, it was due to the topic of a disappearing blood, more than it was the stain itself.

"When Sayaka had been cut," Makoto explained, his hand curled against his chin in his preferred thinking pose. "she left a large bloodstain on my door. That was how we figured out that she had injured herself. But, despite getting a similar wound, there wasn't any blood at the laundry room."

Celeste didn't seem to get the significance of it just yet, theorizing that, "The reason there wasn't any blood by the laundry room was because Hiro wore that heavy jacket and that haramaki. It is possible that it simply absorbed the blood on the inside. That makes sense, does it not?"

But Makoto shook his head in response, stating, "No, even with his jacket, Hiro would have lost too much blood for there not to be a stain. I believe that someone attempted to clean it up to hide that he'd been attacked."

Yeah, I hadn't thought that through all that well. At the time, I hadn't had any plans to tell the others about Hiro's stabbing. I had wanted to just have the trial to make sure that they all learned about Sayaka's betrayal on their own merits. However, Leon had insisted on cleaning up the clairvoyant's blood to avoid alerting the others, completely unaware that it was technically pointless in the long run. I wanted to tell him, I really did; but sadly, I knew there would be no way for me to be able to without having to bring up how exactly I knew about it.

Yeah, I could have shrugged it off as a guess biased on Monokuma's character, but that hardly would have convinced him. So, instead I stayed silent as he soaked up the puddle and let him go. It was the best I could do at the time, really.

Hifumi hummed in thought, his glasses flashed in the artificial lighting. "Intriguing theory, but what evidence do you have to support this?"

"It's not easy to spot, but there are small traces of blood in the framework of the laundry room." The luckster stated, his expression focused as he pulled up the picture I had taken of the bloody frame. "Also, there's a small trail of blood spots leading all the way to the infirmary. Some of them are streaked from something. Most likely, someone tried to clean them up, but they were in a hurry and missed some. I'm positive that whoever carried them to the infirmary is responsible for it."

Well, responsible is a bit of a strong word. I would have said, unintentionally responsible since it had been Leon dragging Hiro directly behind me that caused the blood dripping from Sayaka to streak. But, I wasn't going to tell them that.

It looked like Leon was going to concede to the luckster's point, albeit, very reluctantly. "Okay, so that means someone brought them to the infirmary and didn't think to clean it all up. Fine. But what does that matter?"

"It matters because they would have had to know that the infirmary was open in the first place. Otherwise, why would they bother going through the effort to drag them across the building?" Kyoko rationalized and subsequently made me palm my face at my own short sightedness.

Why did I even think to question how the Ultimate Detective would have figured that out?

"That would appear to be the case." Sakura stated in agreement with the detective's deduction. There was a seeming agreement from the other in her assessment, nods coming from several of them. However, it there was still the new problem this arose.

"But, who would have known about it being open?" Chihiro's question made the others go quiet, their gazes shifting from person to person as if hoping to find some kind of sign that would reveal just who it was to learn of this unusual breach in security, and why that person didn't think to tell the others.

Taka took the initiative this time to try to figure out the answer to this mystery. "Mondo, Leon, Sakura and I were the ones to try all of the doors every day to see if we could access any new areas. Surely, one of us might have learned of something before now!"

Leon immediately denied any knowledge of his involvement, stating, "Don't look at me, I only learned about it recently. Same as the rest of us."

"Yeah, same here." Mondo denied as well, his brows furrowed deeper as he glowered.

"Aye as well. So, it would appear that we are at a stalemate." The Ultimate Fighter finished for the group, and I nearly sighed in relief at their conflicted expressions. If it ended here, I would be fine with it. There wasn't any need for them to continue if there weren't any more suspects to point to. They had their blackened, the elevator was almost finished descending so there was no worry about Sayaka missing the vote if I had to start it now, and best of all, if I stopped it now then Leon and I wouldn't need to reveal our involvement.

I should have known better, because, just as I was about to open my mouth to announce the end of the trial, Kyoko apparently decided that I needed to watch a train-wreck in process. Because, the moment she opened her mouth, my heart sunk into my stomach. "Not necessarily."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Hiro asked for the others as they're gazes shifted to look at the pale haired girl.

Kyoko, forever unperturbed by the sudden attention, once more forced the others to figure it out for themselves, stating, "For us to find our mysterious savior, I believe we must first discover how they were able to destroy our missing evidence."

Hina was the first one to perk up as a gleam of realization flashed in her eyes and she lightly dropped her fist into her open hand. "Ah! They must have used the trash room to get rid of it all!"

"But, that's the problem." Makoto picked up where she was going with this just as effortlessly as I would have assumed he would. "The trash room has a gate over it to prevent unauthorized access to the furnace. According to Monokuma, only the one who volunteered to be that week's janitor can open it."

Leon, seeing the opportunity to shift the blame and knowing that this could end badly for him if he didn't, jumped on the chance to pin in on the first person he could. "So then the one on trash duty is the one messing with us…Isn't that right Hifumi!"

The poor fan-content creator could only squeal in terror at the sudden accusation leveled against him. His blubbery body quivered like jelly as he became a stuttering, panicked mess. "Squee! It-it wasn't me! A fairy must have done it! I'm innocent it this!"

"No," denied Makoto with a shake of his head, his expression firm as he defended the rotund otaku from the glare of their classmate. "if it was Hifumi, he would have done a much more thorough job destroying evidence precisely because he was on trash duty. The fact that Hiro could find the knife that Sayaka took proves that."

Leon stuttered, flatfooted by the quick response, he tried to recover lost ground. "W-Well, that's all well and good, but then how did they get to the incinerator then if they didn't open the gate?"

"When Hifumi and I went to check the trash room," Makoto explained as he gripped the arms of his podium lightly so that he could slightly lean himself a bit more forward. "we found the incinerator had been turned on, despite him confirming that it had been turned off the night before. When we investigated, we found shards of glass laying by the switch."

"Glass?" Hina parroted, her head cocked to one side as her hair seemingly curved like a question mark to emphasize her confusion. Mondo continued the line with a strongly worded. "What the hell was glass doing in there?"

"Originally, it was a ball." Makoto explained away the object's mystery. "Specifically, the crystal ball that Hiro was carrying."

That certainly caught Hiro's attention, especially since Makoto hadn't actually told him where he'd found his ball in the first place. I didn't need to look at his dumfounded expression to tell you that. "Wait, that's where you found it!? Seriously?"

"There's also something else," Makoto continued, switching the picture on his screen for another as he spoke "we found the burnt cuff of a white shirt right next to the incinerator. On it, we found a bloody stain."

"That doesn't mean anything." Leon denied, venomously, before he took a small breath and spoke more calmly. "Most of the guys here have white shirts with cuff sleeves."

"No, by itself, it wouldn't mean much," the luckster agreed to the all-star's point, but then added, "but when you consider the distance between the gate and the switch, there's only one person I can think of that could have turned it on."

It was as good as over. I berried my face into my hands and let out a groan of pure contempt as the words left the mouth of the luckster, my frustration finally coming full circle as he inserted the first of many nails into Leon's coffin, leaving a depressing void of acceptance. There was no way that they wouldn't figure it out now that he had saved Hiro's life, there were far too many things he stupidly let slip that gave him away. It didn't matter that some of them were only brought out because of my actions, he was still the one who gave it away.

It's only a matter of time.

"Do you mean…Leon?" Chihiro, it seemed, was the first to pick up on who Makoto meant, causing the red-haired boy to choke on his own spit.

"That's exactly who I mean." Makoto confirmed, not a shred of doubt in either his voice or his stance. "Only someone like the Ultimate Baseball All-star could hit such a small target from such a distance with a ball, glass or otherwise. By that same logic, you balled up your shirt along with the used sheets of my lint roller and threw them into the incinerator too. But, as a result, a telltale scrap of your shirt escaped."

"Hey, wait a minute!"

But alas, Celeste would not wait for the baseball pro. She had her own observation to give on his actions. "Actually, now that you mention it, it was quite suspicious that Leon was the one to suggest that Sayaka was the one to injure herself. How would he have even known to suggest such a thing had he not seen such actions himself?"

"W-Well, I-" Leon stuttered as he attempted to gain some traction. Sadly, there was not going to be any mercy for his failure.

"There's also his actions when Junko's punishment was interrupted." Byakuya held no remorse for the sad little punk wannabe as he gave that smug little smirk of his that infuriated even the saintliest of people. "He seemed quite familiar with the location of everything needed to save her life. Suspiciously familiar, considering that we had never been in the infirmary before today."

Poor Leon had no ground to hold as he desperately tried to get a word in edgewise. "C-Come on, guys. Anyone could have-"

Kiyoko interrupted next, her expression as neutral as her tone, but it might as well have been as frigid as the north pole to the fiery headed teen. "There is also the issue of Sayaka's would-be victim. Aside from Makoto, you were the only one to actively have a reason to seek her attention. You've stated several times how much you desire to become a musician, and Sayaka is the only one here that knows what that would intel."

"Anyone would have fallen for that! It's just a bunch of coincidences!" Leon was getting desperate; his face was getting pale and his eyes were shifting from each of them as sweat poured down his clammy skin. It was like looking at a cornered animal before a pack of predators. The constant lashing of accusations was biting at his defenses that he had been building up all the last night and day while his fatigue from missing out on so much of his necessary sleep weakened the foundations of his psyche even further and leaving him a nervous wreck of a man. It wouldn't be long now before he snaps back.

"No. If was just one or two things we could have written it off as such, but not when there are so many altogether." Makoto, innocent, kindhearted, sweet Makoto. He wasn't so sweet right now as he dropped the last straw that would break the poor boy, forcing Leon to instinctually try to fight back against these animals in human skin.

"Shut up! Okay look, so what if I knew my way around the infirmary? That's not a crime, is it? I played Baseball and sometimes there are accidents. I've seen dozens of infirmaries nationwide. They all start to blend together after a while; they're almost all the same! The thing about guessing about Sayaka's injury was just that. A. Guess. If it turned out to be the case, then that just means I got lucky! And being Sayaka's target? Any dude here could have fallen for that! I mean, she's the Ultimate Pop-Sensation!"

"I'm guessing you're going to deny destroying evidence too then." Byakuya stated more then asked the fuming all-star.

Either unaware of what he was doing or just not caring about the repercussions, Leon continued to rant. "Hell yeah I'm going to deny it! What reason would I have to hide anything!? If I was invited over only to get attacked, why would I bother trying to hide it by destroying evidence? If anything, I'd have told everyone the second I could! Monokuma said it himself, if we pin this on the wrong guy, then we're screwed! No one would risk their life to hide the culprit if it meant everyone getting axed for it. This is all just circumstantial evidence! Besides, you already said it yourself. No one here knew about the infirmary being unlocked, none of us! So, if you're so smart, you tell us why I would even consider going anywhere near it!"

And there it was, the fires of a man with nothing to gain as he desperately grasped at straws to gain ground against these demons that tried to keep him down. His face had turned a hellish red as his blood boiled beneath the surface as he panted heavily from exertion. His teeth grinding as he held up both of his shaking fists as if clutching the metaphorical chain of allegations that they were trying to tie him down. No matter the outcome, it was clear that he wouldn't back down without putting up a fight.

In all honesty, it was a losing battle. If he had wanted to convince them of his involvement being none in the slightest, he would have to be able to outwit the Ultimate Detective, not to mention the others as well. There wasn't a snowballs chance in Hades of him convincing them with his level of intelligence, especially with his frustrations currently blinding him.

"…" Kyoko was surprisingly silent in the face of his rage, her gaze unflinching at his fuming tantrum where some of the others had backed away in shock. Her purple eyes stared steady into his wild gaze, as if searching for something, though what that was, I couldn't tell you.

"What, got nothing to say now?" Leon barked more then said, his sneer still in place but his breathing was starting to calm.

Kyoko said nothing for a while, as stoic as a statue as she gazed at him. Were it not for the subtle movements of her chest and occasional blinking, I could have mistaken her for one for how little she moved. Finally, as Leon started to calm down, she asked him, "…Are you finished?"

"…Huh?" He replied, his rage momentarily replaced with confusion at the question she posed to him. It seemed that was all she needed though, as she turned away from him.

"Good, because there is a logical explanation for why you would have taken them to the infirmary."

And just like that, the fire in him was reignited. "W-What!? Bull! What explanation!?"

Once more, the others flinched back at his outburst, but she was unaffected by his fury, her gaze stern as she all but slammed him with the next nail for his coffin. "Simple, you may not have known about the infirmary…but someone else might have."

"Gak!" Just like that, he lost his ground, his flinch back telling more than his mouth could preach to the onlookers. As if a spell had been lifted, the others came out from the silence that had entranced them during the last few minutes.

Toko was the first one to speak, her eyes wide at the new possibility the equally purple themed girl proclaimed "S-Someone already knew about the infirmary being unlocked?"

"Who was it! Please, speak up!" politely demanded Kiyotaka as he glanced from person to person, silently demanding the proper party explain themselves.

Leon was quick to recover, denying it with a sharp shake of his head as he slammed his fists down on the podium. "No! Shut up! She's crazy! No one could have known about it!"

"On the contrary." Kyoko stated with conviction, turning back to look him in the eyes once more. "You've already proved it was possible, indirectly."

That certainly caught Leon off guard, his eyes widening in disbelief, practically stumbling over his words, "H-Huh? The hell are you talking about?"

But, it would appear that Kyoko was done holding the torch by herself as she instead turned to give the luckster a turn. "Makoto, when you went to the infirmary, did you happen to notice something peculiar?"

Makoto, to his continued credit, picked up on what she was asking nearly immediately. "You're talking about the hand prints on Hiro's jacket, right?"

"Correct." She confirmed with eyes closed in thought. "When I was changing Sayaka and Hiro's bandages earlier, I noticed an inconsistency between them."

"Inconsistency? The hell are you talking about?"

Makoto jumped in to answer the Biker's question himself. "I think I know. When I went to check up on them, I noticed that there were golden handprints all over the collar of Hiro's jacket. Most likely, from whoever it was that Sayaka tricked into going to my room since their handprints would have still had to be covered in the gold from the hilt of the sword. However, none of Sayaka's clothes had any prints at all."

"Even if we discount the idea that Leon was the one Sayaka lured in, there would be no reason for her clothes to be spotless if she was saved by the same person." Kyoko finished for him, but I noticed there seemed to be a sort of gleam flash within her eyes. It was gone so quickly I wasn't sure if I'd imagined it or if it was a trick of the camera, but I was intrigued now.

"W-Well, couldn't they have j-just washed their hands, t-then come back for her?" It didn't feel like Toko was all that sure of what she was proposing, as if she knew it was flawed, but wanted to throw it out there to feel more included. That was my theory any way. However, it made a small amount of sense. There had been nothing to prevent me and Leon from washing our hands in the infirmary for our impromptu surgery so there was no reason to think that-

"Not possible!" Taka immediately shot that theory down, his sudden shout catching me off guard and leaving me confused. "Per the school regulations, the water is turned off during nighttime hours! Any attempt would be met with nothing!"

Toko was noticeably cowed by that. "O-Oh, I didn't know about the water. I-I haven't t-taken a shower since we got here, s-so I didn't think t-to about that."

'Hang on, what? But if that was the case, then why were we still able to…' and just like that, I felt like an idiot. I was the one who had to turn off the water every night and back on in the morning. But, I had been so focused on the situation with Sayaka, that I had neglected my duties as headmaster and left the water running. It was only when I had gone to bed that I had turned the water off absentmindedly. 'That's going to come back to bite me somehow. I don't know how, I don't know when, but I know it will.'

"Haven't taken- Oh, my…" Hifumi's next comment certainly didn't help my mood. Though Toko's angry flustered face did a bit.

Possibly in an attempt to keep the mortified girl from attempting to murder the otaku in righteous fury, Makoto was quick to get things back on track. "A-Anyway, Sayaka had been cut long before Hiro, and with a much larger wound. She would have lost far too much blood before they could have dragged Hiro to the infirmary and come back for her. Even if they waited to treat Hiro's wounds until they came back, Sayaka would have bled out before they could do anything to save her. I don't think she would have survived if there was only one person there."

"So, unless there had been more than one rescuer…" Sakura started, her eyes closed as realization was felt by all, while Mondo finished for her as he looked away in anger.

"…We'd be having a really different trial right now…Fuck." It was depressing, the mood the of others dropping as they realized exactly what that meant. Hina, Chihiro, and Taka looked the most forlorn, with the programmer even burying her face in her hands and the moral committee chair trying to ignore the small tears poking at the edge of his vision. But that didn't mean the others weren't upset as well. Even if they hid it well, they each had their own long face. Only Byakuya seemed outwardly indifferent as he turned away with a scoff, but that slight tattle-tell of a hand of his gave him away as he all but ruined his suit sleeves with his stony grip.

One look at the others was all it took for Leon to decide that it was time to address the issue, though his voice was much more subdued now. "Okay, that cleared up the fact that there had two be two people involved. Fine. I'll let that pass. But how does that prove that they knew the door would be unlocked? I mean, doesn't that prove that maybe they just, I don't know, guessed that it was unlocked?"

Kyoko naturally didn't agree with the weak excuse. "On the contrary, it proves it even more."

"How do you figure?"

Byakuya took the floor next, his glare of superiority on full display. "Isn't it obvious? If it weren't then they would have made the entire trip a fruitless endeavor. Unless they were trying to dispose of both victims, moving them to a locked room would have been pointless. Cooperation to rescue those two would have been impossible unless one of their rescuers would have had informed the other of the door being open in the first place. Otherwise, there wouldn't be that other piece of evidence."

That sure got Leon's attention, and it made him nervous. "W-What other piece of evidence?"

"You're talking about the bloody hoody we found in the laundry room, aren't you?" Makoto asked and immediately I wanted to wring that little neck of his. Oh, not Makoto's, he was fine. But I didn't want that jerk-wad Byakuya touching my stuff until he choked down some humble pie!

'…Where the heck did that thought come from?'

"Hmph, naturally." Byakuya smirked, and suddenly I realized where the dark thought came from. I didn't like him. Not in the slightest.

"Wait a minute," Hiro finally spoke up, a completely lost look on his face. Not surprising for him since he hadn't even heard of it before now. "what are you talking about? What hoody?"

Chihiro was the one to answer that one, since Leon looked like he'd swallowed his tongue in his shock. "When we were checking out the laundry room, we found a blue hoody in one of the washers. When we pulled it out, we found the ends of the sleeves and the front covered in blood."

Makoto picked up from there. "Most likely, one of the two who saved Sayaka and Hiro had been wearing it when they carried them to the infirmary. Specifically, when they carried Sayaka."

"The blood on the sleeves most likely came from when they were operating on them." Kyoko chimed in with her own theory, a thoughtful expression on her as she deduced the reason for the exitance of such evidence with ease. "That would also explain why the piece of the shirt Makoto found was blooded as well."

Byakuya apparently wasn't done interjecting either, because he added, "It should also be noted that, splattered on the same hoody was a fair amount of laundry detergent. It was mostly unnoticeable since the standard detergent in the laundry room is the same color, but even an incompetent child would notice the scent."

"So, maybe they tried to clean all the blood off with the washer, but they forgot about the water being turned off at night time." Hina's summery of my idiocy was only drowned out by my head meeting the desk with a dull, "Thunk." I knew that would come back to bite me.

"Precisely." Kyoko confirmed to my further dismay. "This further proves that there had been an accomplice."

"How so?" Mondo asked, thankfully hadn't caught on yet. Sadly, I knew it wouldn't be for long with those three on the case.

To my continued apprehension, Makoto would be the one to prove me right on that. "When Leon went to hide his involvement, he used the trash room's incinerator to burn his shirt. But this hoody was found in the laundry room covered in soup. If it was Leon's, there would be no reason for us to find it the washer."

Kyoko had apparently decided that was enough, turning to the all-star with her steely gaze, she asked him once more. "Well, Leon? How about it? Who was it who told you about the infirmary?"

"W-well, uh…" Leon wasn't looking to good right now. His gaze was shaky, darting about wildly almost as if he was barely able to concentrate on what was going on around him, and his legs were quivering in his stand. His face was turning a disturbing shade of red and purple, as if his own blood was unable to decide if it wanted to heat up or freeze over leaving the top half violet and the base a deep crimson. The stress was getting to him in a way he could no longer fight.

He'd already tried rage, he tried what logic he could, now he had nothing to fight with.

Just as I was writing off and chances of getting out of this without being revealed, Hifumi started speaking. "Hey, um, not to argue with the prosecution, but I have a question. Could it be that, Leon used his toolkit to force the lock?"

Leon started to raise his head, as if feeling a bit of hope in the idea, but Taka ruthlessly stomped it down. "It's not possible. As previously stated, all the doors are equipped with an alarm! If someone tried to force the lock, then Monokuma would have stopped them!"

I hated to add to the breaking of what was left of his spirit, but I had to play the roll I'd been forced into. So, I sucked in a breath of air, and with a heartbroken expression that would remain unseen, by them I said, "That's right. And you can bet your buts that I would have been very upset if someone broke one of the dorm room doors."

That had been all I intended to say, but then Kyoko spoke up. "Hold on. Just the "dorm room doors"?"

My eye's shot open as realization stuck, and a small twisted smile crossed my face. I could use this. Maybe not right now, but this could come in handy. "Yeah, about that. Only the doors leading to the dorms, the dining hall, the trash room, and the doors to certain specific rooms that you don't currently have access to have an alarm built in. Theoretically, one could break the door open with their toolkit. However, doing so would be incredibly unwise. None of you have any lock-smith knowledge to speak of, so busting the lock would be extremely noticeable. Even just pulling out the screws and replacing them afterward will mess with doors ability to operate properly. So, I ask, did any of you have issue with the door today?"

Ever the one to trust to learn of such things, Taka reported, "No, no one reported any such issue."

"And you wouldn't have." I stated back, feeling a little smug. "Since the door hadn't been locked for a while, they wouldn't have had to bust it open."

"Wait, then why was the door unlocked then?" Makoto asked the question on all of their minds as they all turned to look at Monokuma, expecting me to tell them the answer. Their gazes firmly fixed on the plushy as if trying to intimidate the key to the mystery out of its mouth with their group stare.

"…" Hah! As if I would fall for such tactics. My lips were sealed.

Unaware of my resolve, Mondo decided that he was tired of waiting. "Well? Spit it out already!"

I wasn't about to let him tell me what to do, I wasn't the kind to care about threats. So instead, "…I plead the fifth."

I don't think that it needed to be said that, Byakuya wasn't pleased by that. "All of this and you still refuse to tell the truth. Fine, there's only one question left to answer anyway. I see no need for your input anymore."

'Like I was going to give it, you floozy!' I don't care that I was smug, I don't care if it was petty or childish, I still got to piss him off. That was amazingly fun.

"Makoto. Would you please run through the events of last night from the beginning one more time?" Kyoko requested, just as done with this trial as I was. And just like a loyal puppy wanting to please his master, the luckster began the closing argument.

Makoto was on point for the story, as expected. His memory of the case working with his smarts, he summarized the entire thing easily. From Sayaka's events setting up what was her attempt to murder Leon, to his act of self-defense against her. He transitioned seamlessly into how she had gotten injured, her literal run in with the door, and how she'd escaped. He mentioned the fear she'd held as she rushed down the hall, though it was but a footnote to the case of Hiro's actions leading to her eventually stabbing him.

Then he moved on to my actions, though he didn't have a name to give me he made do with it by playing the pronoun game. He told how I'd convinced Leon to help me drag the two to the infirmary, though he mentioned that he wasn't quite sure how I knew it was open. He brushed over how we had saved the two of them, obviously not understanding the entire process but he made up for it with mention of how Leon messed up and forgot about the handprints on Hiro's jacket.

Then he turned to the aftermath, where he told them about Leon cleaning up the hair in the crime scene, and how he tried to eliminate the evidence by using the glass ball and the incinerator in the trash room to burn it. He then added who I had gone separate around that time and tried to wash the Hoodie in the laundry room, all while forgetting about the water shut off during the night. Eventually, concluding in "And that's the entire situation of what happened, Leon Kuwata!"

"…D-damn it…" the redheaded ball player muttered, looking absolutely drained.

Makoto spoke again, his voice much calmer now that the important facts had been laid to rest, and he tried to entice the answer to the last mystery out of, "Leon. Why won't you tell us who was with you last night?"

"…" I felt so much pity for Leon right now. He looked ready to pass out, his gaze unfocused as he stood there with a broken expression, his eyes glassy. The color had drained from his face; he was swaying in place and only held up by his weekend arms. It looked like all it would take to knock him over would be a stiff breeze.

Ever the tactless one, Taka pushed forth. "Mister Kuwata! Please inform us of who it was who helped you save Miss Maizono and mister Hagakure!"

Leon was broken now. There was no reason to believe otherwise. He was going sing like a canary, tell them of how I, Junko, had gone and saved the Popstar and the Seer, and how together we worked to hide that. How we had gone out of our way to stop a murder from happening. It was only a matter of-

"…I promised."

It had been so quite that I almost missed it. Chihiro caught it though, "…Leon?"

The red head spoke up again, a little louder though. "I promised…not to tell anyone."

"Promised…?" Mondo repeated, the most effected by the word out of the class, but I was stunned silent by what he was saying. 'Is he actually going to…?'

Makoto voiced the question on the others mind once more, asking the all-star, "Your talking about the person who helped you, aren't you?"

It was silent for a while, much longer then I'd thought it would considering the number of loudmouths in the room, but for once the others stayed quiet. I'm not sure if it was out of sympathy for his state of mind from how much of a struggle it was for him to even admit this much or if it was because they had just realized that pushing him to far right now risked him shutting them out, but whatever their reasons, they stayed silent. Eventually, Leon gathered the strength he needed to confirm their suspicions. "…Yeah…I told them that…I swore…I wouldn't tell anyone that they had helped me save them last night."

"Huh? Why would you promise something like that?" Hina clearly didn't understand the ramifications of what this oath he had given me would be.

Sakura agreed with her, saying, "Indeed. I do not see the logic in keeping such information concealed." Though, I wasn't sure if it was because she honesty didn't understand, or if she was agreeing to make Hina feel better. Even when I considered her honorable personality, I just couldn't decide which way she was going with this.

"They said it was to keep themselves safe from…from being targeted." Leon's teeth and fists clenched again near the end of that little admission, as did my own. This ignoramus was going to blow everything at this rate!

Mondo clearly didn't understand where he was going with this. "The fuck? How the hell would telling us about them put a target on their back?"

"Is it not obvious." Celeste asked him in return, her condescending tone biting at his temper. "Since this game of mutual killing requires that someone dies, naturally a person that can prevent it would be an undesirable, both to the mastermind and to the players."

Leon grimly nodded along, "Yeah…that's what they said too. They didn't want Monokuma to know about any of that stuff, so they asked me to stay silent."

Maybe it was my frayed nerves talking, or my Monokuma persona, but I couldn't help but want to spite those words of his; consequences be damned! "Whelp, too bad for them then! I already knew long before the night even came close to finishing! Sad to say, they really should have thought to avoid doing that blabbing in front of the camera, huh!"

"So, you knew who had saved them from the very beginning." Kyoko caught on immediately to what I'd meant, as usual.

"Yep." I confirmed, but now, it was time to end this farce. "But, um, well, I can't help but wonder, does this even really matter?"

That quip was something most of them didn't seem to expect from me, if I judged solely by the number of raised brows I was finding. Clearly, only a couple of them got what I meant by that, the prodigy and the detective closing their eyes as they turned their gazes away from the group being my supporting evidence. They could see the argument I was making and conceded.

Hina glared at me, not a shred of understanding in her eyes as her ponytail strangely decided to sharpen as if it was feeling as agitated as she was. "What are you saying? Of course, it matters!"

"Yeah, uh huh, sure." I interrupted with a raised paw lazily waving around as unconcerned as I sounded. "Maybe for you guys, but I meant in regards to the trial."

"Huh?" Hina asked back, her shoulders falling as rage gave way for confusion. She wasn't the only one, the teller, programmer, luckster, fighter, otaku, and writer joined her in the bewildered expressions as they glanced from Monokuma and each other. In their befuddlement, they missed the looks of realization in the gazes of gambler, moral, and biker which then gave way to frustration in the latter's case. They were not able to question me about it though, as I started to explain without their prompting.

"Well, if you recall, I called for this trial to find out the instigator behind last night's conflict. As far as this debate is concerned, you only need to vote for who it was who attempted to become blackened. So, as entertaining as the questions about "who saved the day for those two students?" is, the fact of the matter is that I never said anything about finding that out should say a lot about what I feel about this situation."

Sakura was the first one to understand my meaning. "He is unfortunately correct. Our investigations were to find the instigator of the crimes that took place last night. We shall have to find Maizono and Hiro's rescuer later."

It wasn't something that any of them wanted to do, they had already spent so much time on this and were basically being told that their efforts were pointless in the end. No doubts in the slightest that it infuriated them all. Unfortunately, for them at least, I had a point that they couldn't ignore. If they didn't stop focusing on this and go back to the topic that mattered, there was no grantee that things would work out for the best.

To my surprise, Celeste decided to jump in with a question that I had been wondering about myself. "Before that, there's still one thing I wish to find out. Leon, why did you save Sayaka?"

"Yes, I was wondering the same thing myself." Byakuya interjected, his head tilted back slightly in that look of disrespectful superiority for all he saw as beneath him that pissed off anyone who looked at it. "Considering our current positions in this killing game, there would be no reason to save her life."

That statement had been horrifying to hear for them, to so casually call this a game and to mention saving someone as pointless. That was going too far for them, Chihiro especially was upset by that callus remark. "H-How can you say something so…horrible?"

"This is a person's life we're talking about here." Added Hina, her hands covering her mouth in horror as she stared at the prodigy with a look filled with nothing short of disgust for the affluent progeny and his opinion on this situation. She clearly never had to deal with someone like this, a person in such a standing that the simple idea of life being as expendable as a pawn in a chess game was an easy decision to make for them. It was not a kind of thought process they could comprehend, having lived a relatively common life where they were taught that all life was precious and should be treasured.

However, it was all but ignored, only warranting a passing glance from Byakuya at best. "Oh? Well, there's more that needs asking. On top of this game we're being coerced into playing, Sayaka attacked Leon with nothing short of the desire to see him die. Why then would you of all people go out of your way to save the life of the person who tried to murder you in cold blood?"

Leon was left speechless by Byakuya's harsh tone and his dark accusations, not having expected the heir to confront him on his choice to save rather than harm. Not that I blame him, it's not often that you're asked why you didn't kill someone. "…It…it's because…because…"

'Why did I save her…?' the thought had bothered him for a while, ever since he had gone to bed that night, he had wondered the same thing repeatedly. It was as Byakuya said, Sayaka had tried to kill him last night, there was no way around that. Anyone would have been at least a little vindicated and tried to take revenge on her for trying to take their life, he'd be lying if he said the thought hadn't crossed his mind at one point during all the crazy events. So, why hadn't he gone through with it?

Fear.

'That's right.' His expression fell as the memory surfaced once more. The look on her face as she clutched the knife as she tried to kill him, to the raw terror in her eyes when he attempted to approach her after she had collided with the door and injured herself. The way her voice had cracked as she screamed at him, first with bloody intent but then with nothing short of anguish. But the worst part had been when he saw her tears start flowing down her face, blurring her vision and making his heart ache at the sight of it. 'She was so scared.'

And when she had run, he chased after her. He did want his vengeance at first, he wouldn't deny that, but he also wanted to keep her from hurting anyone else. The dread he'd felt when he had walked up on the sight of her and Hiro unconscious on the ground, the knife buried in the clairvoyant's side, it had nearly made him feel sick to his stomach. He hadn't failed to stop her attack on himself, but because he couldn't stop her from retrieving the knife, she had managed to almost claim a different victim. In that brief moment, her had wondered, would it have been better to have just let her kill him instead of all this.

Through the haze of the depression, Junko had come and snapped him out of it, forcefully having him help her to save, not just Hiro, but Sayaka too. And later, after they had worked to clean up evidence, he had time to think about why he had gone through all the effort to hide what had happened. Why he had gone through the trouble of pretending that he hadn't been involved.

'That's right. She reminded me…'

"Well, it appears that he's not talking then." I stated after a while of waiting for Leon to speak up, even if it was something I'd have liked to learn about myself. Seeing him looking so lost, I decided that it could wait until there was a chance I could ask him face to face. "Well, it doesn't matter in the end. Whatever his reasons, pity, remorse, maybe a sick crush, what matters is that he did help to save them. Even if it's a stupid idea to let them live, it isn't important to the vote."

The others looked grim at that, already knowing that I was right, even if they didn't want to admit it. They had to pick the Pop-idol out as the one that had started this insanity and move on. Since Leon had given up on talking, that was there only option left right now.

Kyoko, however, didn't agree. "…Before we finish, I would like to ask you something."

As she was looking straight at me as she said this, I knew she was referring to me. I don't know why, I'd given them all I planned to, and I would have assumed they'd have taken the hint and moved on with the case. Clearly, I was wrong on that idea.

However, I didn't have anything to lose just yet. My involvement was going to be revealed soon anyway. So, why not humor her. "Sure."

"Earlier, you told us that, "if no one can come up with an idea of how to progress, we can all vote to request a hint". If we used one of the hints, would you tell us who the hoodie belongs too?" Huh?

"Well, in a way I would, I guess." I sort of confirmed, but I wasn't sure where she was going with this. "Like I said, they'll be rather vague and you might not like what you here. It is just a hint after all. But, why would you want to waste one of your hints on this? You've all pretty much decided on who the instigator was from what I've heard so far. Why use an important advantage on something so frivolous?"

It didn't make sense in the long run. I had given them the hint system to help them find the blackened amongst them in the off chance that all logic failed to point at any specific individual. That had happened during the second game and it was only though the guilty party's own partial admission to their crime did the group manage to pin the crime on the right person. That part had driven me up the wall trying to figure it all out, but it all worked out in the end.

However, that didn't mean that others would own up to their mistake and it could lead to the entire case falling on its face. It was especially true since I was an outside element that they wouldn't be able to account for. If I failed to save someone, then my actions might screw them over by mistake. With Kyoko, Byakuya, and Makoto on hand it wasn't likely, but the possibility was still there!

I couldn't let them have infinite hints though, that would compromise everything if they decided to exploit my system to get the correct results every time. If that happened, then there would be no risk and that would just raise all kinds of red flags to viewers in the outside world. If that happened, then there wouldn't be anything I could do to stop the Ultimate Despair from reacting poorly; at the minimum.

I had to limit them to protect them, as backwards as that sounded.

It would seem that I had a few who shared my view on this, as the more cautious of them were looking nervous at their only hints being used up like that. It was Hifumi to address this, "U-Um, not to say this isn't really important to learn about, but should we really use our assets so quickly?"

"We shouldn't waste our only advantage so carelessly." Celeste stated, her finger absentmindedly twirling one of her hair drills as she spoke. "it wouldn't be wise to waste our best chances at finding a culprit in the future."

"It's fine" Kyoko replied, to my frustration. "It will work out in the end."

To my dismay, that seemed to be enough to lighten up the moods of the worriers, if only a little bit, but it was enough. None of them were arguing against the decision, even as they were shifting in their spots. Celeste seemed to decide to be the groups spokesperson, "Very well, Monokuma, if you would."

I didn't like where this was going, but I had to uphold my word. With a deep sigh, I had Monokuma reach over and flipped over the "A" sign for a "B" sign that was underneath it. "If you're all sure…"

I waited for any rebuttals, there wasn't any, regrettably. So, with a sigh, I decided to just go with it. "…Yes, the person who owns the hoodie was the one who knew about the door being open. They came to me with a request I couldn't refuse."

"Interesting." Interjected Byakuya, looking the part of the interested individual instead of being sarcastic for once. "And what perchance would be something that not even you of all people could pass up?"

I was going to tell him to take that attitude of his and shove it, but I was cut off by the soft words, "…Murder."

All eyes were drawn to Leon, his head down as he slouched over in his stand. His fists were clenched hard enough that I was almost surprised that he hadn't cut into his palms with his fingernails, and while I couldn't see his eyes, I was certain that they were clenched just as tightly. His voice was noticeably strained as he continued, "They promised him that there would be a murder if they open the infirmary early."

"They promised…t-they would murder someone?" asked the horrified swimmer girl, easily voicing the thoughts of the others as they mirrored her expression in their own way. Not even Celeste could sustain her poker face come that bomb shell. That wasn't something that you casually promise to a murder happy, sadistic bear mascot. Or anyone else for that matter.

"Yes, that appears to be the case." Sakura confirmed with her expression stormy as she glared at nothing in particular.

"W-who would promise something like that?" Chihiro muttered, terrified of what kind of person that would guarantee something so horrible. But, before anyone could say anything, there was an interruption.

"BEEP!" The sudden noise startled them, Hiro nearly fell out of his chair from how hard he'd jumped. "W-What the heck was that!?"

But I only smiled. It was about damn time the elevator got down here. "Oh, that's time everyone! The debate is over! It's time to decide on who done it!"

"Wait, already?" Asked Makoto in disbelief, to which I replied, "Yes, already! It has been well over three hours since the debate began, so the time to wrap up this trial is now! I gave you more than enough time as is."

"But we still haven't figured out who saved Sayaka and Hiro!" interjected Hina, to which several of the others either nodded or voiced their agreement. However, I was having none of it!

"Oh, well, too bad. Figure it out on your own time!" I stated, not even the slightest bit apologetic. With the press of a switch, a small board with a lever on the side rose from in front of each of the podiums. On each was a series of buttons arranged in a circle with each of the student's digital portrait on their correspondent position; my own excluded, obviously. "So! If you'll direct your attention to the device in front of you, you will find you're voting station. Press your switch to vote for the one you think was the blackened, folks, and make sure you remember to do so. You wouldn't want to be punished for something as stupid as failing to vote. Who will be found Guilty!? Will your vote be correct, or will it be dreadfully wrong!? What's it gonna be, what's it gonna be!?"

They had no words as they reluctantly complied, their gazes stony as they used their little voting apparatus to point out the investigator amongst them. Everyone was silent as they voted, hesitating momentarily to glance at each other warily. Hifumi pulled at his tie as if it had tightened suddenly and he continued to mess with it. Toko had taken to biting at her fingernails on one hand as the other mercilessly strangled one of her braids. Hina and Chihiro had run out of tears and simply stared at their only sources of strength. But where Sakura was gazing back at the swimmer with a reluctant nod as she cast her vote, Leon refused to raise his head as he pulled his switch with a shaky grip and returned to staring at the checkered pattern tile. Both Mondo and Taka briefly glanced at each other, as if expecting the other to speak up against this, but when neither said anything they turned back to their vote with grit teeth. Only Celeste, Byakuya, and Kyoko cast their votes without any preamble, but the fact that they kept their eyes closed the entire time after didn't escape my notice.

Finally, the last of the students, Makoto, cast his vote. The entire time, his eyes didn't stray from Monokuma's, his glare as frigid as a snowman in the frozen tundra. Once he did, the center of the room opened and out from in popped up a slot machine of some kind. Mondo's dumfounded, "Oi, the hell is this?" went unanswered.

In addition to the fact that there were three of them facing towards the students, it was gold and decorated with all sorts of exotic flowers, though I think that they were plastic. But the most interesting feature it boasted was, instead of the normal cherries, bells, and lucky 7s, the reals had chibi headshots of each student. Immediately, they started rolling while the stock sound of a drumroll sung out from them. Round and round they rolled, the faces blurring together as it spun. Eventually, it slowed to a halt, all three locked with Sayaka's portrait.

The "Voting lottery", as I so attentively noted was plastered on top of the dang things, rung out with a loud, "Cha-ching!" before the entire thing lit up as cheers and whistles sang to the glowing "GUILTY!" sign. Tons of mono-tokens poured out of the slots, but there was no rush to collect them like you would see from a normal casino. Instead, their gazes dropped at the confirmation of their theories. They could no longer deny her guilt.

I certainly didn't help rise the mood when I interrupted in my "happy" tone. "Ya nailed it! This time around, the instigator of this case of attempted framing of Makoto for the murder of Leon is, Sayaka Maizono! Give up some applause for our lovely contestants for sleuthing her out!"

"Sayaka…" Makoto muttered, heartbroken at the confirmation that his closest friend was the one who betrayed them all. "it really was her…"

Hina looked ready to break down sobbing, her hand over her mouth as she forcibly held back her sobs. "H-How horrible. She…"

"Damn it to fucking hell!" angrily interrupted Mondo, slamming his fist on the arm of his stand and startling everyone out of their depressing state. "Why would she do that such a thing?"

Sakura was one of the most effected, actually looking rather scary with a deep-set glare as she whispered, "Sayaka..."

I hated that I had to keep acting like the complete ass-hat right now, right when they needed kind words instead of snarky commentary. But, I slapped on a sadistic grin despite my wishes. "Hmm? What's with all the sad faces? Come on, cheer up! A criminal has been found out, no one's dead yet, and you all get to continue your life of mutual living for another day. I'd say you guys got off easy from where I'm standing."

Obviously, there were no agreements coming from them. They would live to see another day, but the cost was greater than what some of them were willing to spend. It didn't help that I was driving the point into the ground. "I mean, yeah, all things considered you've all been played for like a bunch of saps by miss Sayaka, but really, what did you expect from someone in such a cut-throat industry anyway? I tell ya, the things she's gotten into in her life…yuk. Makes you wonder who the real Sayaka Maizono even was. I mean, have you heard the rumors of back ally deals, controversy, sabotage both with and without intent? And that's just the tip of this Titanic sinking iceberg…of course, none of it could be proven in a court of law, so what do I know!? Point is, you found her out. Congratulations!"

Let it be known that I don't like being glared at, if it wasn't obvious already. It creates feeling that I'm being attacked by a person's temper for no other reason then I messed up a little. It was worst when I knew I deserved it. The guilt hurt me a lot internally, but I just kept on smiling and pretending that it didn't affect me, only to rant and rave in the privacy of my home later. Then, I could rationalize my thoughts later.

"…Shut up…"

I had been so focused on my admittedly unhealthy habits that I had almost missed Makoto's words. "Huh? You say something?"

He was quick to pick back up, his glare full of anger with tears at the edge of his vision that could either be from rage or sadness. "I said, shut up. I'm not going to blame Sayaka for what she tried to do. This wasn't her fault. Ever since middle school, everyone loved her. She became the idol of millions, and then suddenly you locked her up in here, showed her that video, scared her…pushed her over the edge."

His voice had slowly risen with every word, his anger on par with what I'd associate with Mondo above all the others. Speaking of which, during his rant I took a glance at the others to see their reactions to these events. Some of them seemed to have snapped out of their funk somewhat at his words, raising their heads up as they heard his words about how Sayaka had been; Leon especially surprised me considering how he must have felt about her right now. Some looked conflicted, as if they couldn't decide if what he was saying was biased or not seeing as they had come from the same middle school, though she had betrayed him in the end. Others like Hifumi seemed to focus more on the fact that he was badmouthing someone that could have him ended in a second and were shaking in their shoes. Then there were those who were trying to pretend that they weren't interested, like Byakuya, but their wandering eyes betrayed their interest.

As he spoke, he moved away from his stand, slowly walking around the others. I decided to meet him on the way, having Monokuma step off the stand and pass behind Aoi and Mondo, stopping just before Kyoko as he started to step faster. "Everything…every single thing…happened because of you!"

With his mighty roar, he leapt at the bear, putting all the rage he'd built up, all the hate he felt for what had happened, all the pain they had endured so far. It was clear that he had no reservations about what he was about to do. With a fire in his eyes that wouldn't be quenched, he drove that fist straight at the monster in plushy form.

Only to find his arm halted mid swing by a stronger grip.

Bewildered by the sudden inability to hit me, Makoto turned to see the source of his halted assault on robo-plush. "Huh? Kyoko…?"

"I wouldn't, if I were you." Kyoko answered his unspoken question of why would she stop him, her hand never leaving his arm as she spoke in that calm, careful tone. "At least, not if you truly wish to help her."

He looked reluctant, his eyes flicking over to the Monokuma as his glare faded, but he let her pull him back from the bear. I resisted the urge to sigh as he stepped back. That would have been messy had he hit, but just as I expected, Kyoko intervened to keep the luckster from getting himself killed. I couldn't help but notice that Makoto's explosion had come earlier then it had in the old story, though I personally blame it on that little secret dumping I'd done on Sayaka. Nothing hurt more than someone slinging shade at your friend.

"Whew! That could have ended poorly for you." I said with relief fabricated to sound sarcastic and uncaring. "Ya nearly made me have to punish you. Would have been a shame too…"

I waited for one of them to take the bait I'd cast out for them with that line, and as expected it didn't take long for the so-called-lucky student to take the bait, asking me what I'd meant by that. And I smiled. It was time for those tiny flags to come into play.

"You would have missed out…on the final debate."