I'm who now?

by Clemerl

Being dropped into the killing game is always a dangerous place to be as a student of Hope's Peak, not knowing what will happen or who will kill whom. But what happens when the one in charge has a change of heart? Or rather, has the mind of someone else entirely who will stop at nothing to save everyone they can. Even if it dives them to Despair.

36. Continuing the second Trial of Despair

It was a complete and total shock that racked my systems when I heard someone cut into the conversation. Now, this was normally the point where the hero of the story would have shot down the scion with his own argument as to why he didn't believe the claim that Byakuya was the aggressor in this tale. That I would have expected.

What I didn't expect was that, Kiyotaka was the one to interrupt the flow of the conversation.

Clearly I wasn't the only one either, because all eyes where now firmly placed on the Ultimate Moral Compass as he pointed dramatically, a strong smirk on his face as he stared down at the Ultimate Affluent Progeny.

Byakuya, for his part, hid his shock better then most as he looked at the moral with a raised brow. "...What do you mean?"

"I apologize for interrupting your argument, but as I said, that is not what happened." Taka reaffirmed his stance as he crossed his arms determinedly.

"Oh, really?" Byakuya questioned, his brow raising even higher. "Then why don't you share with the class. Why do you say that I couldn't have done this?"

"Naturally!" Taka readily agreed, a fire in his eyes. "Because you have missed a fundamental flaw in that idea. That being the location that this crime took place!"

"The...location?" Leon asked as he tried to process what the hall monitor was talking about. Byakuya was right behind him on that, completely caught off guard by the sudden proclamation.

"You can not be serious right now!" The scion pushed. "If there's any chance that the crime took place somewhere else, then let's see the proof!"

"Allow me to explain!" Taka continued. "You see there are a number of inconsistencies between the men's and women's locker rooms that suggest a different story then what you described. For starters, the posters in the rooms!"

"Posters?" Leon asked as he crossed his arms in thought. "What, you mean that one with the swimsuit model on it?"

"I bet those knockers were fake!" Jill unhelpfully cut in. However, Taka poignantly ignored the remark.

"Exactly! Why would the girl's locker room have such a thing?" Taka then put his fist against his chin. "Furthermore, the men's room had a poster of a popular boy band. This doesn't add up if you consider the targeted demographic these posters are typically aimed at. Rather, it only would make sense if someone deliberately swapped them!"

He paused only long enough for some of the students to gasp in shock before continuing. "That also calls other pieces into question. For starters, the shag rug on the ground in the men's room has both a black, half-circle stain on one edge that hadn't been there, while the girl's room carpet is suddenly spotless. However this wasn't always the case. Miss Sakura, you can attest to this, correct?"

"Aye." She confirmed. "During some of my workouts, the tire I use for my daily regimens would sometimes move onto the carpet, and would leave a stain on it. however, the stain wasn't there today."

With a nod in her direction for her collaboration, Taka pressed on. "This only furthers the idea. On top of that, it would also explain the culprit's choice in weapon. While the dumbbells can be found on racks outside of the locker room, you would assume that anyone could use them. However, the sledgehammer would have made for a more convenient weapon if this really happened in the girl's side. All of this together proves without a shadow of a doubt that the crime did not take place in the girl's locker room...!"

"Rather, it took place in the boy's locker room." Makoto finished for Taka, who shot him a quick grin before continuing.

"Exactly that!"

"...Assuming that is the case." Celeste interrupted, her face pensive as she questioned. "Then, how was it that Chihiro was able to enter the boy's locker room? The E-handbook issued only provide access to the girl's room."

"That might not need to be the case!" Taka interrupted with his arms crossed. "Remember, that there is no rule preventing someone from simply borrowing someone's handbook. It is very likely that someone led Chihiro into the boys room and then, when the moment presented itself, attacked them from behind in a cowardly sneak attack! Then, they took her E- handbook and then left her in the girl's locker room to throw us off the trail!"

Gasps abound were heard as the students listened in, sunned by the moral's claims. However, he wasn't done. "Adding on to that, Byakuya, your reaction just a moment ago confirms it. You were completely unaware of the possibility of the misplacement of Chihiro. This would have been more then enough to prove that you couldn't have done this crime!"

"Hey, yeah! That's right, if he did this, he totally would know about the room switch up." Leon added, before pausing. "Wait, 'would have been'? The heck do you mean by that?"

"Simply put, there is one bit of evidence that proves without a shadow of a doubt that Byakuya couldn't have done this. One person that can definitively confirm your misdeeds are not the cruel acts of attacking another person."

"Oh, really?" Byakuya mocked the Moral compass with his head held high. "And just who would this mystery person be?"

"It's Taka." Makoto interjected, seemingly understanding exactly what the moral was implying. "You're talking about your night watch, aren't you?"

"Correct!" Taka confirmed with a massive smile. "I appreciate that you remembered that, my friend!"

"Night watch?" the scion interrupted, to which Makoto explained. "Taka told some of us during the investigation that he had set up a guard post outside of the kitchen last night to monitor our movements, to keep us safe from any attacks."

"Indeed!" Taka confirmed, "I had been made aware of the possibility that there was likely to be another incident now that we had another motive given to us by Monokuma, so in an effort to dissuade any incidences, I volunteered myself to watch over everyone as they rested, so as to limit any possibility of someone attempting a murder!"

"Really, now?" Celeste commented. "So, that is why there was a table in the middle of the hall. I thought that it was rather peculiar."

"Of course!" The moral confirmed. "It was the best location from a tactical point of view! It was also because of this that I can say without a shadow of a doubt that most everyone in this room couldn't have instigated this crime, as I myself can confirm when each and every single person that was, or wasn't in their dorm room last night!"

"And you did this alone?" Byakuya questioned, grumpily. "That hardly stands as a proper alibi."

"You would be correct." Taka admitted. "However, I was not alone! I was told that I would be at great risk had I chosen to stand guard by myself, so I made sure I gathered others to help!"

"Tis true." Sakura added, finally getting involved in the conversation. "Hina and myself were requested to assist in the guard detail, to allow for better protection of our fellows."

"Yeah, and we stayed up most of the night watching. And before anyone asks, Toko locked herself in her room well before night, and didn't leave it once. I should know, I checked everyone's doors every time we switch shifts." Hina confirmed.

"Aw, geez…! Take all of the drama out of it, why don't cha." Jill pouted, causing Hina to shout an offended, "I just defended you!"

"Eh? But, wait, hold on a second. If that's the case, why didn't you guys say anything when Byakuya was going on about Genocider Sho?" Mukuro interjected, completely befuddled but their choice.

"I do of course apologize for that." Taka admitted, looking slightly conflicted at the accusation. "I was so caught off guard by what exactly he was accusing her of that it hadn't occurred at the time to object. I wanted to give him a chance to present his full case before I refuted anything. Yet, I never would have imagined what he was accusing her of was true though."

"Eh, tell it to miss doom-n-gloom, Tick-Tock." Jill interjected with a dismissive wave of her scissors. "It doesn't matter to me anyway. Besides, now that the cats out of the bag, you're all contractually obligated to not give a crap whenever I decide to come out to play anymore!"

"I didn't sign anything, you scam artist!" Hifumi shouted to which she just laughed in response.

"Anyway." Kyoko interrupted with a sigh. "Could you elaborate on how this proves Byakuya wasn't responsible? From from the way it sounds, you have an idea as to the identity of the real culprit."

"Ah, yes, of course." Taka coughed into his hand before continuing. "You see, I know that Byakuya did not in fact attack Chihiro, simply because, I was the first person to come across Chihiro last night."

"You...What?" Byakuya questioned, completely caught off guard by the remark, but it was quickly wiped off his face.

"It's true, I was the first one to find Chihiro." Taka explained, a bit more solemnly now. "I had gone to the locker rooms and found one of the doors opened. There I found her, laying on the ground with blood on her face and clutching her chest. She was still conscious, albeit woozy, I immediately gathered that she had been attacked, so I asked her to remain still while I rushed back to get the others. However, before I left, I asked who it was who attacked her."

"Wait, so, you know who the culprit is!" Hifumi exclaimed in shock, to which Leon added, "Well, out with it man! Who was it!?"

"...That's...a bit more complicated." There was a pensive look on his face as he spoke, a cringe if you will as he forced out the words. "You see, it has to do with the reason that I had gone to the locker room in the first place."

"It was the masked assailant, wasn't it?" Sayaka continued for him, to which he nodded solemnly.

"Masked...What?" Byakuya interrupted looking rather upset. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"During our watch last night, were we attacked by an unknown assailant in a mask and coat." Sakura took over, holding up her arm to fully show her bloodied bandages. "They attacked us near the beginning of our post, and fled."

"Were you able to catch them?" Kyoko inquired, only for Sakura to shake her head in response.

"Nay. They were surprisingly agile, and we were unable to restraint them. It was...a vexing experience, to say the least." Sakura frowned, clearly agitated.

"You weren't able to catch them!?" Hifumi questioned in disbelief, his hand shaking as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Oh my. For someone with her OP. stats to fail like that, this is certainly no ordinary encounter."

"Hey!" Hina interrupted in defense of her friend. "It wasn't that simple! We kept chasing them all around the first floor, but every time we almost had them, they pulled some kind of trick on us and got away!"

"Some kind of trick?" Celeste parroted mockingly. "Really. You are truly a fount of description."

"What do you want me to say!?" Hina rebuked defensively. "It was weird, one minute we had them cornered, the next they were gone. Over and over again, they just kept disappearing on us. We just couldn't pin them down!"

"That is not all." Sakura continued, her eyes closed with a deep frown on her face. "When we first encountered them, they had first emerged from the cafeteria, despite it being locked."

"They threw a knife at me!" Hina followed up. "If it hadn't been for Sakura, I could have been hurt!"

"H-Hold on, what?" Hiro interrupted, his body shaking like a leaf. "Y-You don't think that you were attacked by a...a...a ghost, do you!?"

Leon took all of three seconds to blink, shake his head, and level the clairvoyant with a deadpanned stare before asking, "Whatever happened to, 'the occult is bullshit.' huh?"

"Don't be stupid! Ghosts aren't occult, they're Paranormal! There's a difference." That was all Yasuhiro could counter with, and I could just feel my brain developing an aneurysm. Judging by the amount of students either pinching the bridge of their noses, staring blankly with fogged over expressions, or simply palming their face, I clearly wasn't the only one.

"Returning to the point." Kyoko stressed, not wanting this topic to continue in the slightest. "What did you do after your encounter? Were you able to find out who they were?"

"Ah, right. No, unfortunately, we weren't able to catch them." Taka admitted. "After we fruitlessly pursued them for a fair amount of time, we realized we weren't getting anywhere. Sakura was loosing too much blood, and we weren't making any progress. So, instead we elected to set a trap, using the infirmary as our set peace."

"Why ever the infirmary." Celeste questioned, to which Hina picked up. "Well, it was one of the places they were running into the most. Plus, we had to treat Sakura's cut, so it only made sense."

Taka took over next with, "Afterwords, I stayed hidden and waited for them to approach the infirmary. I hoped that I could ambush them before they could attack, and with any luck we could trap them in a pincer maneuver."

"And?" Mondo finally spoke up, thoroughly invested in his bro's story. "Did you catch them?"

"Clearly not." Byakuya scoffed. "Otherwise we wouldn't be discussing this."

Taka flinched in response, but clearly couldn't refute the claim. "Unfortunately, Byakuya is correct. Just before I could attempt to make my move, they suddenly took off running for the stairs to the second floor. Of course, naturally I pursued, but I was unable to apprehend them before they could duck into the men's locker room..."

"Yeah? And? Spit it out man! What happened next!?" Leon all but shouted as he leaned over his stand.

"I...unfortunately, lost them." Kiyotaka admitted, shame painting his expression, but it was quickly swapped out for a more elated one. "However! I did find Chihiro there, alone and already unconscious from being attacked by the masked assailant!"

Gasps echoed out from some of the students, but I was too busy double taking to care. Because, that was clearly wrong. But, why was he lying right now? But my gaze wandered to the other's, and I couldn't help but notice that, a certain student hadn't reacted very strongly. Someone that absolutely should have.

"So, you found her first?" Mukuro asked, before slapping one of her hands down on her podium. "Why the heck didn't you come back and wake the rest of us?"

"I admit that, I was a bit hasty in my judgment on that one." Taka admitted. "At the time my only prerogative was to see to Chihiro. I wasn't sure how bad her injuries were, beyond the blood on her head I couldn't see any other wounds. However, that didn't mean she couldn't have had more. So, I doubled back to get Asahina and Sakura, with the hope that we could bring her to the infirmary."

"Which, you clearly didn't do." Celeste pointed out.

"That...you aren't...entirely wrong." Taka reluctantly admitted with a grumble. "As I said, we intended to bring her to the infirmary. However, when we got back to the locker rooms, someone had already swapped the contents of the boy's and girl's locker rooms."

"What? Why would someone do that? How would they do that?" Mukuro asked for everyone present, but the moral and swimmer could only awkwardly shrug.

"That, we were not able to ascertain." Sakura stated, her gaze firm as she was. "All we were able to understand was that they had moved everything around and had placed Chihiro in the girl's locker room."

"Okay, but, that still doesn't answer anything." Leon added with frustration coating his words. "I mean, you couldn't have been gone that long, so how would they get it all shuffled around that fast?"

"We don't know." Taka stated. "Before we could properly investigate, we were forced to leave when we heard someone coming. This turned out to be a boon, as it allowed us to witness you, Byakuya, going into the girl's locker room, and see you set up the entire scene!"

Gasps of shock rang out from many of the students at the declaration. Byakuya especially looked dumbfounded and then vexed that he had been caught red handed in the act and hadn't even realized it. However, Mukuro was positively livid.

"You...Are you telling me that, you all saw him doing that...and you didn't do anything to stop him!?"

"I must say, that is unusually callous of you three." Byakuya stated, looking unprecedentedly amused by their admission. "What would you have done if I were to have taken advantage of the opportunity to finish her off? I've already told you that I would do anything to win this game after all."

"We would never have allowed that!" Hina argued, however, Sakura was quick to interject.

"Each of us were close enough that we could have confronted him if we found it necessary. There was never any reason to believe that we would have been unable to stop any actual attempts on her life."

"Exactly! We would have stopped you if we thought for even a second you were going to hurt her." Taka exclaimed, pointing furiously at Byakuya with a steely glare. "When we saw what you were doing though, I saw something that made me realize that we didn't need to stop you."

"Oh, really?" Byakuya scoffed as he gave his superior gaze look at the Moral. "And what could you have possibly seen that could have changed your mind?"

Mondo clearly took offense to the slight against his bro, because he began cracking his knuckles threateningly in Byakuya's direction. "You're really cruising for a bruising, pal."

"You're talking about the way she was strung up, aren't you Taka?" Makoto suddenly interrupted, which was followed by a nod from the Ultimate Moral himself.

"Naturally, that was part of the reason, yes. As I watched him arrange her body into the display you all encountered her in, I was certain that he was taking her injuries into account due to how methodical he was being. However, what convinced me to allow him to continue was his expression when he was checking her vitals."

"His expression?" Sayaka parroted, then looked at the affluent progeny in confusion. Byakuya in turn looked away from the group, stoically, and refusing to look anyone in the eye.

Taka took that as invitation though as he continued, "Absolutely. Before anything else, I watched as Byakuya examined her, and he preformed a very careful inspection of her breathing and pulse. He also gave a sigh in relief when he realized that she was alive."

Leon gave a double take at that remark. "Wait, hang on a minute. You're telling me that Byakuya, mister, "I'm gonna win this game at any cost, even if it means killing you punks myself." was worried about Chihiro? I don't buy it."

"Doubt if you will, but I know what I saw." Taka countered. "Byakyua was very careful not to cause her any further damage then what already existed. While there is no doubt that he did seek to mislead us into thinking Genocider Sho was the culprit, we can not ignore that he did try to help Chihiro. That is why I believe that he is not the culprit."

Off to the side Mukuro looked conflicted, but she eventually added, "Well, if you think about it, it wouldn't have been very smart if he had killed her there, not after he made that declaration. The smart thing would be to lay low until he could be one hundred percent sure that he wouldn't get caught. I mean, he's a total prick, but he's not that stupid."

"True enough." Celeste agreed. "The smart thing would be to wait, or to allow us to relax before he made his move. I must admit, the more I think on it, this whole set up felt far too deliberately aimed at himself to be incidental."

"Well, Byakuya? Is that enough proof for you?" Kyoko asked the resident millionaire, who gave no response in return for several seconds. Eventually though, he gave a sigh and turned up his condescending tone another notch.

"Hmm...interesting. I'll admit, would have preferred something more substantial, but I'll give you all a pass. You are correct, I didn't attack Chihiro. I simply found her unconscious and decided to take advantage of the situation to have a bit of fun." he then dropped his grin in favor for a somehow more condescending glare. "However, do not assume that I had even the slightest inclination of being even slightly concerned with her. I simply checked so that I could be sure whether or not she was alive, nothing more."

Then he leveled Taka with a particularly scathing look. "Though I must say, I'm quite shocked at how heartlessly our so called "Ultimate Moral Compass" could be. Using an injured girl as bait to lure me into a trap like this, even dragging in two witnesses to help facilitate an alibi. I commend you for your ingenuity if nothing else."

Taka froze for a second as he processed Byakuya's words, before lurching back in horror. "W-What!? What are you trying to say!"

"Isn't it as obvious as those ridiculous eyebrows of yours?" The scion scoffed. "You said it yourself, you broke away from your group and rushed up the stairs to the locker room where you found Chihiro. Furthermore, you said that you found her in the boys locker room, alone. Plus, you were the one to put forth the fact that we can 'borrow' another student's E-handbook, not I. Who's to say that you weren't the one to attack Chihiro?"

Taka looked positively pale at the accusation. Before he could retort though, Hiro decided to open his gaping skull cave.

"Huh. You know, he's gotta point. Taka did say that. In fact, I think I can see it! Taka walks into the locker room where he sees Chihiro, standing by her lonesome. So, he picks up a nearby dumbbell, and bam! Strikes her down! Then to cover his tracks, he moves her and all the stuff in the locker rooms around so that we don't know who did it, and then goes to get Hina and Ogre to throw us off the scent! Mystery solved!"

Yasuhiro, oh poor idiotic Yasuhiro. You always were one to jump the gun, but this had to be the biggest one yet. Oh, if only you realized just how close to death you were for that remark. Because, if looks could kill, then Mondo would have put you two miles deep with the death glare aimed your way right now.

"Hey! You lose what few screws you got left, you bastard!? There's no way in hell my Bro would attack anyone, especially a dude like Chihiro!" Mondo then turned to level the same burning glare at Byakuya. "So you better stop fucking around with this nonsense!"

"I assure you, I am not...F-ing around." Byakuya skirted around the swear. "I am simply making a case. If it's wrong, then refute it. That is, if you can."

"Of course I can." Kiyotaka took a deep breath, then crossed his arms behind himself. "There are a number of reasons that I couldn't have attacked Chihiro. For starters, I have no reason to attack her to begin with!"

"Really? That's your counter argument?" Byakuya shook his head in disgust. "I must say, I am disappointed. If you're going to lie, you could at least put in a little effort. Everyone has a reason to attack anyone here. We all have a motive, in case you've forgotten. Monokuma made sure of that."

"That's true." Makoto interjected, "However, if you'll remember, Taka was the only one of us to try and find a way to keep them from becoming a motive."

"Exactly! I said it before, and I'll say it again. My secret isn't something worth killing someone over!" Taka then reached into his pocket and withdrew the surprisingly torn up paper that contained his secrets. "In fact, I'm still willing to tell you all my secrets right now if you want to prove my sincerity."

"Please don't waste our time with that." Celeste interjected with a sigh. "As I said before, it would just be a waste of time."

"...Very well." With a sigh, Kiyotaka then carefully tucked the paper pieces away and crossed his arms before continuing "Moving on, the second reason I couldn't have attacked her was because of my attire."

"Huh? What do your clothes have to do with anything? They look fine to me." Leon puzzled, but Makoto picked it up right away.

"That's right. Taka always wears that white uniform all the time. If he had attacked her, there would have been blood splattering him."

"Sakura. Hina. You were with Kiyotaka last night. Did he have any blood on him when he met up with you both?" Kyoko's question was quickly answered by a matching set of shook heads.

"Nay. His attire was as pristine as he is currently." Sakura refuted, before Hina jumped in with an enthusiastic, "Yeah! We definitely would have noticed if he had any blood on him, and we didn't see a single speck on him."

Taka nodded to the girls in turn and then cut in with, "Before anyone asks, this is also the same uniform I was wearing last night as well. I felt so guilty to Chihiro for not being able to catch the culprit that I decided to forgo rest and make sure not a soul could mess with the crime scene again."

"Sakura and I helped too." Hina stated. "The two of us worked in shifts the whole night so that Chihiro and Taka were never alone for a second."

"We offered many a time to allow Kiyotaka a chance for reprieve, but he never once took it." Sakura added with a doleful expression.

However, that wasn't the only observation of Celeste's that she had to be made known. I could tell, because she turned to look at the professional swimmer with an impressed look as she said, "I must say though, I'm quite impressed, Hina. When we found Chihiro, you looked so surprised to find her like that. However were you able to make it seem so convincing?"

Hina stumbled on her words a bit at the tone of the gambler, but then sheepishly started to scratch her cheek. "W-well...okay so, the whole Chihiro getting tied up thing happened when Taka and Sakura were watching her. I had gone beck to bed to rest up a bit before we rotated shifts, so I completely missed that part. Then, when I did tap in, I was always watching the doors to the locker rooms. So..."

"So it was genuine?" Celeste finished for her, looking rather disappointed. "Honestly, I figured, but I didn't want to assume."

"You don't have to act so disappointed!" Hina snapped.

"I'm assuming that changed at some point since both Sakura and Hina were present at the dining hall this morning." Sayaka chimed in with her observation, to which Taka nodded.

"Indeed. The only time that changed was when the morning announcement was sounded. I asked the girls to meet up with the rest of you while I made one last sweep of the area, and to pretend that they had no inkling as to Chihiro's attack so as to not alert our masked assailant that they were aware of their involvement."

"That does explain why they were acting weird." Mukuro suddenly threw in her own observation, her hand lazily held aloft as she gazed at them with one eye shut. "Seriously, I mean, Sakura was one thing, but Hina was like, totally jittery the whole time I was there. More then normal even."

"You don't have to say it like that!" Hina shouted back with an embarrassed dusting of red on her cheeks. "I get it, I'm bad at keeping secrets! You don't gotta rub it in!"

"Back on topic." Byakuya interjected impatiently. "Let's say for a moment that any of this circumstantial evidence actually mattered. Why then did you not simply remove Chihiro from their bindings and take them to the infirmary."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Why didn't ya do that?" Jill suddenly chimed in with a very concerning grin growing on her face. "No wait, let me guess! You're secretly into BDSM, aren't you Tick Tock!? Seeing that little Loli all roped up like that got you all fired up and you just had to commit it to memory, huh!?"

"D-Don't be so crass!" Taka immediately cut in, not even a hint of a blush on his furious expression as she cackled uncontrollably. "Such degenerate behavior is strictly against everything I stand for! I would never even entertain the thought!"

"Then, why did you leave her tied up?" Leon asked as he scratched his head. "Cause right now, I'm kinda stumped."

For a few seconds, all was silent as the ultimate moral considered the question. Kiyotaka, for all of his quick responses, suddenly looked a bit more...haggard that he usually was. There was a heaping of guilt on his face, his normally fierce expressions were completely gone as he looked to the side with a sad look that said a lot more then I thought it would.

Taka, what did you do?

Well, I would get my answer, but not from him.

"It was to catch the real culprit in the trial, wasn't it?" Everyone looked at the luckster who spoke with an understanding, yet somehow also nonplussed look.

"Wait, hold up, you lost me. Run that by me again?" Leon interjected with a perplexed expression of his own.

"Remember back in the first trial?" Makoto began his explanation. "Monokuma told us that, as long as someone is conscious, they must attend as part of the class trial."

"I see, I see. By making sure that the class trial happened, Master Ishimaru would be able to insure that whoever was behind the mask would be unable to simply escape the hands of justice." Hifumi smiled as he adjusted his glasses so that they would gleam as brightly as his grin. "Since Master Togami had already set up the scene for him, all Master Ishimaru would need to do is make sure that the trial happened to trap his target."

"That's...!" Taka started to refute, but then he bit his lip and sighed. "Regrettably…true, yes. To protect everyone, I...agreed to allow for the trial to happen. It was not an easy decision to make, but I stand by it."

The other students were clearly conflicted, and with good reason. On the one hand, this would be the one and only way to insure that they did catch their culprit, as well as near guarantee that they are punished for their actions. On the other hand, it was at great risk to their own safety should they fail to get the right person. However, if they didn't do a class trial, the culprit would be allowed to roam freely to attack someone else.

To bad they didn't know that it was me, otherwise it might have worked.

"Are you shitting me?" Leon moaned despairingly. "I don't even...who even…? Fuck, man."

Taka nodded with his own frustration bared for the world. "I know. I didn't want to do this either. That is why I plan to make it right by all of you by the end of this trial."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked for the majority of the students, before quickly adding, "What are you going to do?"

The Ultimate Moral Compass turned to look each and every one of his fellow student in the eyes, and then stated boldly, and with determination, "To make up for doing this to you all, I have decided to face you all straight and honestly. Therefore, I have made my decision that, after the trial has reached it's conclusion, I will voluntarily subject myself to a punishment you, my peers, deem fitting."

Gasps of shock rang out at the declaration, Mondo's being the loudest as he said, "The fuck you talking about, bro? You don't gotta do that!"

However, Taka wasn't having it. With firsts clenched, he stood his ground and boldly declared, "No, bro. I have to do this. This trial only happened because I allowed it to happen. Byakuya may have been the one to dress up Chihiro and set up a false narrative, but I was the one who decided to risk everyone's lives to catch a far worst threat! My actions are unforgivable, and I deserve to be held accountable for them! I will not run away from my failings as a protector of the people!"

The student's were stunned for a moment by his bold declaration of dedication. They were clearly not used to hearing anything like this from anyone, much less someone of accreditation like Kiyotaka. They clearly never anticipated that anyone in this situation would be so willing to put their own life on the line like this, especially to make up for their own actions.

Idly, I wondered what life would be like if more politicians were as open about accepting their mistakes and failing like this. Eh, thoughts for later.

Off to the side, Celeste heaved a sigh at the display, reminding everyone, "Yes, that is all well and good, but it will be meaningless if we do not find the culprit in the first place."

"Yes! Let us continue." Taka agreed, before placing his chin against his fist. "Now, where were we?"

"Well, since we're on the topic of the masked culprit, how about we discuss alibis." Makoto offered. "Taka, Hina, and Sakura, you said you all were making notes of everyone's movements last night. Do you have anything that can add to that?"

"Ah! That's right!" Hina exclaimed. "I remember now! Taka had a list of what everyone was doing last night. Would that help?"

Taka's eyes practically shown like fireflies as he turned to her with a thankful, "Yes, that's right! I wanted to make sure everyone was accounted for, so I wrote down everything of note in my pocket book! Here!"

Quickly searching through his pockets, he withdrew a small ringed notepad and began flipping through the pages before landing on one in particular and then passing it around for everyone to see. As it was passing by Monokuma, I quickly snapped a screenshot for myself and began to read it myself.

It was a simple graph with everyone's name on each line. Much like Taka, it was relatively straight forward. Some of the names only had a few short lines, mainly, "Went to dorm", but there were a few that were different. Specifically, the obvious ones, Mondo, Kiyotaka, Byakuya, Asahina, Sakura, Chihiro, and strangely, Kyoko. Most already were established thus far, all but two.

"Well, well, now isn't this interesting." Byakuya smugly smirked. "I believe this gives us two more possible culprits, doesn't it? Mondo, Kyoko? Care to explain?"

"Yeah, I got your explanation right here." Mondo replied, his fist held up, yet his tone was surprisingly calm. "I ain't gotta tell you shit, because it wasn't me. I was in the steam room for a late night sweat. I never even went to the Locker rooms all night."

"I was investigating a lead." Kyoko refuted as well, her expression was calm as well, but I could tell she was guarded. "I found something I believed would assist us in the long run, and was otherwise preoccupied for most of the night. I never once approached the locker rooms."

"Wait, that doesn't tell us anything." Hiro complained. "You gotta give us some details here."

"Actually, I don't." Kyoko countered. "I am aware that I seem suspect, but it doesn't change the fact that I never went to the locker rooms."

She then turned her gaze fully to Byakuya, staring him down without a hint of emotion on her face. "However, you seem to have forgotten an important detail in your theory."

"Oh really?" Byakuya countered with a raised brow. "And what might that be?"

"You're talking about how the culprit first came up, aren't you Kyoko." Makoto offered his thoughts, and after Hiro brought up the old, "Huh?" the luckster continued, "When Taka, Hina, and Sakura first found them, the masked person first came out of the cafeteria, after it was locked for the night."

"Ah, that's true!" Sayaka gasped in realization. "None of us can go in there after the nighttime announcement."

"Furthermore, this masked attacker was reportedly faster then Sakura, and was able to seemingly vanish at a moment's notice." Kyoko picked up from there. "Even at our best, I highly doubt any of us could boast that kind of ability."

"That's...true." Hina hesitantly agreed, followed up with Sakura's own, "Aye. There are few that I would not be able to apprehend were the need to happen."

"No doubts here." Mondo stated as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I sure as fuck wouldn't be able to outrun you without my ride. Hell, maybe even with it."

Most of the others all muttered their own mutters of agreement as well, reluctantly or not. Even Byakuya had to agree, though it was with clear reluctance. Jill was an exception of course as she simply giggled creepily, but to be fair, she could apparently leap at least fifty feet into the air into a moving train running at least thirty miles per hour, but she wouldn't try to hurt Chihiro so she didn't count.

"So, who could it be then?" Leon grumbled as he scratched his head. "I mean, are there any clues?"

Shaking heads and conflicted expressions were all that met his question. The were all stumped, completely and utterly. There was nothing to point them in the right direction, not enough answers to their questions.

That's when Kyoko decided to chime in with an idea. "Perhaps we should put this question on hold for the moment. There are still other mysteries to this case left to be solved. Possibly one of them may lead to our answers."

"Other mysteries?" Hiro parroted back with a quizzical expression. "What other mysteries are there?"

Kyoko was silent for a moment, her face carefully devoid of expression as she stood. It was quickly apparent that she had no intention of steering the conversation one way or the other, something that annoyed the others greatly. Understandably, she wasn't ready to tip her hand just yet. So, the other's started thinking up subjects to keep the conversation going.

"Well, there is something that's been bothering me." Sayaka stated. "It's just, Taka said that he found Chihiro in the boy's locker room, right?"

"That he did, yes." Hifumi confirmed.

"Well, I've been wondering how she even got in there." She noted with a concerned expression. "Did the culprit drag her in there, or was she in there to begin with?"

"Obviously she had to have been dragged in there after they attacked her." Hiro theorized with full confidence in his voice. "They must have caught her from behind before they went into the locker room. Then they dragged her into the boy's side and left her behind, running away before Taka showed up. Then after he left, they sneaked back into the locker room and used her E-handbook to get into the girl's locker room and left her there."

"Don't be a fool." Celeste chastised him, "We've already established that they had to have been in the room before they were attacked, otherwise there wouldn't be any blood."

"Oh. Yeah, my bad." Hiro folded like a card house. "Alright, then. I guess they must have knocked her out first, then used their own handbook to get into the boy's locker room. Then, they attacked her with the dumbbell!"

"What would be the point to that?" Sayaka criticized his thought process this time. "If she was already unconscious, there wouldn't be a need to bring her into locker room either way."

"Well, obviously it was...Hold on, I got this."Hiro struggled to think of some excuse scratching his head as he searched the no doubt cobweb infested corners of his psyche. There was a fair amount of hmms and umms as he pondered, and for a moment I expected someone to get sick of waiting before he could cobble something together in his hair-brained head of his. Sadly, one of the burned out bulbs in there seemed to flicker to life, because he suddenly pointed dramatically.

"I got it! They must have been trying to hide the body! But since Taka was on their heel, they decided to stash her in the boy's room!" Mondo, Leon, and Makoto, unanimously facepalmed.

"That's the same fucking thing you just said, you god damned idiot!" The biker shouted, causing the hobo to reel back for a second, before shouting back in frustration, "Look, I'm trying okay!? What, do you want me to say, 'she had someone else's handbook and went into the boy's locker room for the thrill of it' or something?"

That dusty bulb was apparently pulling double duty because something sparked in his eyes at the thought. "Wait, yeah, that must be it! She had someone's handbook and went into the boy's locker room with it!"

"No, I don't think Chihiro used any handbook but her own." Makoto spoke up. "No one reported missing their handbook."

"Yeah! Because the one who did would be the person who attacked her!" Hiro, please stop. "That's must be why they attacked her in the boy's locker room! They must have misplaced it somewhere and she found it! Then she decided to use it to go into the boy's locker room where she was attacked!"

I folded my hands in front of my face, my eyes staring blankly over them as I gazed at the clairvoyant. To be fair, it wasn't the greatest stretch of logic he had thus far from him. It was flawed, yes, but it had a modicum of sense to it. However...

"That's not possible." Kyoko shot down, causing him to jolt back in shock.

"Whaa…! So cold!" He cried before stamping his foot and pointing aggressively at her. "Wait! What do you mean it's not possible!"

Once more she was silent for a moment, as if considering her words. Then she suggested, "...Before I give my reason, why don't we take a little break from the trial? I'd like you all to come see something."

Without giving anyone a chance to answer, Kyoko started walking away from her podium, to which I immediately took the helm. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! Just what do you think you're doing, Missy! Once the trial begins, no one is allowed to leave until the final vote is cast!"

"Don't worry. This will make the whole trial more exciting." Kyoko assured my puppet. "I'm sure that thought must please you?"

"Huh?" I asked, but it wasn't really a question since I already know what she was trying to do. She was trying to play into my character's weakness for drama and suspense by enticing me with her little act. Had I the desire to play the fool right now, I might have played along.

Instead, I had my Monokuma sit back down and clap his paws together to a slow beat. "Oh, oh ho. I see, I see. You, I like you. Trying to play to my weakness for drama. I must admit, it is tempting. Oh, it's so very tempting to let you do as you please…however, there's no need for that."

"...Pardon?" She stopped, turning to look my puppet in the eyes with a glare.

"Now, now, no need for that." I waved off with paw. "I already know what it is specifically that you want to show everyone. Really, I'm like, four parallel universes ahead of you. So, I've taken the liberty of bringing them in for you."

As if on queue, the elevator bell dinged, drawing the students attention to it. I mean, technically I set it off, but you know, semantics. More importantly, to the complete shock of the students, one of my other Monokuma, this one dressed in a nurse's cap and shirt, waddled in pulling a rolling cot. On that cot was a familiar programmer, still unconscious and resting, though now wearing a wrap around his head, and minus the dried blood that had caked his hair the last they'd seen of him.

Immediately, some of the other students got off their podiums and rushed to his side, skirting around the nurse bear as they moved to check on their classmate. I allowed it, just this once, because I was too busy looking smugly at Kyoko, who looked extremely uncomfortable at how easily I had figured out what she was planning, even though she did her best to hide it.

"So..." I smirked at her. "Was I off the mark? Come on, tell me how close I was. An inch off? Centimeter? Right on the dot?"

"..." She didn't dignify me with a response. Instead, she just closed her eyes and crossed her arms, and moved to the gathering of student while ignoring my gaze burrowing into the back of her head.

"You bastard!" Mondo declared as he stood between Monokuma and Chihiro. "The fuck are you playing at dragging Chihiro down here!?"

"Yeah!" Hina added as she stood by the unconscious student's bedside. "She should be in the infirmary, not here!"

"It's fine. This is what you wanted, eh Kyoko?" I shifted the blame easily. She glared at me for making her look like the bad guy here, but she did turn back to the other students.

"Fine. First, I would like you to examine the victim's body one more time." she pressed on with her request. "Be sure to examine the entire body. Take your time."

"E-excuse me!?" Leon stuttered looking extremely uncomfortable at the concept. "No, I mean, seriously. Like, what the fuck?"

"Y-you mean like...touching her?" Hifumi hesitantly asked, very briefly looking like he was thinking of something dangerous, before rapidly paling, then violently recoiling and rapidly shaking his hands. "EH! No way, no way, no way! She'd never look at me the same way again!"

"Th-that is incredibly disrespectful." Taka stated, visibly disturbed. "I mean, putting my hands on an unconscious girl's body? That would be tantamount to molestation. That is a very serious criminal offense!"

"I-I mean, yeah. What he said. It's not that the idea creeps me out or anything, it's just...based on religious grounds, you know?" Hiro tried to excuse his refusal. It wasn't like any of the other guys were much better, understandably so. The idea of groping around their classmate's body was quite a disturbing idea on it's own, but since they were still alive, it only made the whole thing more uncomfortable. Top it with the fact they thought Chihiro was a girl and, well...

Mukuro rolled her eyes from where she stood at the stand. "Oh my god, you guys are such pansies."

"I don't see you stepping up!" Leon fired back with a vane pulsing in his forehead, to which she stuck out her tongue tauntingly.

Finally, Sakura decided that enough was enough. "I'll do it."

"Sakura, are you sure?" Hina protested, momentarily stopped her friend. "We could just let one of the others do it."

"Nay, it's fine. I believe Chihiro would rather a fellow girl examine them." Well, I certainly couldn't let that go unchallenged.

"Oh, I would very much doubt that." Sakura turned and gave me a sidelined glare, but then went to her task.

"Oh, my, my, my. What's this? Is the Beef looking for the clam chowder? We going to see some girl on girl fun times, hmm?" Jill questioned, and I hoped it was joking but I couldn't be sure. The blush on her face surprisingly didn't help.

"It's not like that at all! Stop screwing around." Hina countered, swinging her fist in the serial killer's general direction in anger. Jill only laughed in response.

Ignoring the antics happening behind her, Sakura gave Chihiro a small bow and offered the programmer an apologetic, "Please forgive the intrusion."

As she began to examine Chihiro's body, careful not to disrupt the programmer's rest, Kyoko reminded her, "Be sure to be very though and check her entire body, and I believe we will solve this particular mystery."

"Her entire body…? I know you say that, but..." Sakura's statement suddenly died off after her hands bushed against a certain area, and her eyes suddenly widened. Then they squinted as she began feeling the area some more, trying to make sense of what she was feeling. As far as she could tell, there shouldn't be anything where her hands were currently, and yet there was certainly something.

"What…? This is...what could this m-" she abruptly cut off, freezing still when she heard a gargled groan, followed by a squeak of horror. Suddenly, a pair of hands abruptly grasped her own. It hadn't been from one of the students behind her though, it was more down and…

Slowly, ever so slowly, her head turned to the source of the sound, the joint feeling like it was on a rusty hinge from how difficult moving her head was. Eventually, her silver eyes made contact with the source in a pair of horrified hazel colored eyes, glistening with unshod tears, on a face burning a deep, blood hue.

"...U-uh, I can explain."

…

It was an interesting experience, describing the sensation of sleep. Most people would tell you that it was the most important part of the day, being able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the day and just let your mind be it's own entertainer. Some would tell you that it was important because it let your mind and body have a chance to heal from the day to day strain. The more pessimistic might tell you that it was the closest thing to death that you could experience without actually dying, like a daily on again-off again relationship with the reaper.

Which was probably why, in this moment, Chihiro was wondering if death would have been a better alternative.

Everything hurt. Everything hurt so much. His head was swimming, like a bowl full of fish. His very pulse vibrated his head, continually hammering over and over again like a water drum. His chest felt like liquid fire that stung with every breath he made. His arms felt numb, full of pins and needles like a novice acupuncturist decided to poorly use a full tray of pins on them. His legs felt weak, like wet noodles left to simmer for over an hour, and just about as useful.

That was what the waking world had for him, and while Chihiro had never been a lazy type of person, this moment made the idea of just going back to sleep seem like a better alternative. To just give up the ghost and let the calm soothing call of his rest take him to a world of quiet slumber, one where he wouldn't need to worry about this pain.

Except, he knew full well that he wouldn't be getting any respite if he gave into the temptation. He shivered as he recalled the horrifying images that had plagued his rest until now.

Cities collapsing building by building, one after another, snuffing out hundreds of lives in moments. People committing all sorts of acts of violence and suffering against their fellow man, for seemingly no reason then because they could. Armies of monochromatic bears marching through the streets, staining their fur in their victims fluids and playing in their essence.

'Stop!' Just remembering those vivid images made his stomach curl in on it self, and had he anything to eat, he would have hurled it all up just thinking of those gruesome images. So instead of that, he decided that it would be better to just lay awake and stew in his misery then go back to sleep and risk seeing those...images again.

Still, it did give him a chance to rest, even with the throbbing in his skull. He kept his eyes closed and let his body rest, focusing only on some internal calculations and programming script. It wasn't easy, not with the pain in his skull, but it was better then…

Blood in the streets. Bodies raining down from the sky. Teens slitting open their own necks with blooded grins.

'NO! No! Focus, on equations. Scripts. Anything else.' For some reason, though he did feel like something was off. Despite the fact that he was laying down, he could feel like he was slowly moving. It was almost like he was descending, slowly drifting downward, deep into the earth. Somehow, it was both disconcerting and comforting at the same time.

All to soon the movement stopped, and he could vaguely hear something rattle through the throbbing, but that only made the pounding worse so he tried to put it out of his mind as quickly as possible.

It took longer then he'd hoped for the incensed pounding in his skull to fade, but eventually it started to subside. It wasn't by much, but it was enough for him to focus. To breath. To think.

Idly, he noted the sudden feeling of something pressing against his lips. It was hard, and round, but small. A pill, his mind managed to supply, but no thoughts lasted much longer then that. Unbidden, his lips were pried open, just enough to allow the pill through.

The second it touched his tongue, his spine shivered and his mouth bunched up at the overwhelming taste of bitterness that assaulted him. He was no stranger to bitter medicine, but this made everything he'd ever had seem like raw sugar by comparison. It was so bitter that it became indescribable, his mind simply couldn't even comprehend any sort of flavor to compare it to.

Because of that, when he felt a glass pressed against his lips, he didn't even hesitate to greedily gulp down as much as he could in one go, nearly choking on the liquid in his haste to rid himself of the overwhelming taste of the pill. Part of him criticized him for even allowing such a thing to enter his system, let alone swallow it. However, that part was near immediately silenced by the soft taste of honey and tea and the feeling of warmth flooding his stomach.

He sighed in relief, most of the bitter taste washed away in the wave of sweet. When the glass was presented again, he took more smaller, slower sips, letting the bitter aftertaste fade to the recesses of his subconscious to stew into something that might end up becoming a new trauma later.

Eh, that was future Chihiro's problem to deal with. Current Chihiro was dealing with some more pressing matters.

Slowly, painfully, he forced open one of his eyes in a squint, looking through the lids to glace at the person who he was half convinced had poisoned him. Unfortunately, he became somewhat more convinced that it was true when he saw the half faced bear that he had long come to fear.

Idly, he made note of the stereotype nurse's hat that cosplayers and some costume makers used, but he ignored it.

Said fear only heightened when the bear chucked the cup to the side were it shattered somewhere, and pressed the paw to his lips. "Shh. It's okay, you're safe. Nurse Monokuma is here to take care off all your woes."

"…I've never felt less safe in my life." Chihiro muttered softly in response, to which the bear simply shrugged, and hopped down. Finally allowed to see, he almost wanted the bear back, because even with his headache it didn't take long for him to realize that he was in the elevator that lead to the horrible trial grounds.

For a moment, he was entrapped in fear. Why was he here? What was he doing here? Was there a trial going on? Did someone die? Where was everyone else…?

Oh, oh no. Oh, his head was spinning again. His vision was failing, everything was spinning. He had to close his eyes again, before he felt sick again.

After about ten or so minutes, his body relaxed and the pains he had been experiencing slowly faded to a dull ache. Whatever it was in that pill, it was working. When the pain was mostly gone, his mind slowly began slipping back into darkness, fortunately without the terrible visions this time.

Even with his body and mind finally resting, he couldn't help but feel anxious. Just thinking about where he had woken up made his rest feel weirdly uncomfortable, even as his body recovered. A sense of dread kept him from fully relaxing as well as a feeling of concern. He had no answers to his questions and concerns, only dread.

Eventually though, his rest was again interrupted. This time by the blare of a loud beep sounding like it had been blared out of a fog horn right in his ears, followed immediately by the rattling of the chain link doors rolling open. He flinched, the sudden noise jarring him from his respite, but it was over quickly enough.

He then felt himself moving again, though this time it was forward. He heard someone shouting his name, but he was finally comfy and didn't want to respond. His headache was finally settled and he didn't want to wake up. His body felt like lead, and he felt no drive to move. Even when he heard others clamoring around his bed, he could only mentally apologize, because his body simply refused to wake, and he had no urge to fight it.

He could hear shouting sometimes, some people clearly were very angry about something or another. But he was just so tired. They could take care it, he just needed to rest.

However, then he felt someone's hands on his body.

A violent shiver rocked his body. Whoever these hands were, they were massive! Easily three times the size his own hands were, and their fingers were nearly completely covered in thick callouses that scratched and pulled at the fabric of his school uniform. They were clearly very strong, but they patted him down gently as they moved up and down his body.

He was suddenly very motivated to wake up, but his body was slow to respond, even his eyes struggled to open in the fight against sleep and the horror of being molested. Tears began to flow from his face at his own weakness being exploited like this. It was humiliating, mortifying, and…

Whoa! Hey! No! That is not an okay place!

Immediately, he claimed the wheel and immediately he forced his eyes to open up. His vision was hazy, but it didn't stop him from seeing a horrifying sight of a red creature with long white tresses groping a very sensitive part of himself. He couldn't stop himself from squeaking in horror at the sight, but he wasn't about to let them do this with his body. Just because he didn't like it didn't give anyone else the right to mistreat it without his consent, dammit!

He lunged as best he could from his prone position, grabbing the creature by its pointer and ring fingers; idly despairing at the fact that his tiny hands could just barely wrap around the digits. Fortunately though, this did manage to catch them off guard, and they immediately stopped what they were doing.

Unfortunately, it meant that their attention was now on his face rather then his crotch, and he honestly didn't know if that was better. The piercing silver eyes seemed to stare into his soul, their eyes wide open to take in the full extent of his fear. Their intimidating aura made him feel smaller then any before, and their impressive stance and wide figure made him feel like he was a kitten standing before a lion so vast was the differences between them.

Then, they opened their mouth, and he shuttered in fear of the mighty roar that might be shouted any moment now, certainly to rattle his bones and bring him back into the lands of slumber once more.

So, instead, he decided to speak first, to try and prevent himself from becoming hurt by taking the initiative. It might now save him, but it might give him a chance if he explains it first. So, he opened his mouth as well and spoke.

"U-um, I can explain." Chihiro blinked as his mind processed the words being said, but to his surprise there was a bit of an echo effect in the words. No rather, it was as if someone else had said it at the same time as him. Yet, the voice was also familiar to him...

Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock, he did recognize that voice! It was Sakura's voice, but for some reason, she sounded different. She sounded scared like she was going to get hurt for something. But that couldn't be right, what could possibly hurt her?

As his vision slowly cleared up, he realized that the creature before him was not a monster at all. This was Sakura, his friend, his classmate, and he almost felt himself calm instinctively. Yes, she was safe to be around.

Then he remembered what he woke up to seeing her doing, and all that relief was instantly washed away for cold, hard dread.

Why was she doing that? Why was she touching him in his sleep like that? What was going on here? What was happening here? Did she know his secret now? Someone was shouting, was he shouting? He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe.

"Hey!" He was suddenly jolted out of his downward spiral when another hand grabbed his shoulder. Startled, his gaze snapped over to the concerned expression of Mondo, looking at him.

"Are you okay?" Mondo asked, though clearly they both knew the answer. No, he was not okay. He was very much not okay. He was hurting all over, he was sick to his stomach, his secret was about to be exposed against his will, and his emotions were far too strained to handle this situation right now. So, when Mondo opened his arms ever so slightly, he wordlessly buried his face into the biker's shirt, regardless of the sharp pain it caused in his chest, and just unleashed all of his pent up feelings into his guy friend's chest.

Wordlessly, he could only cry, his words muffled into the chest of his classmate. Mondo in turn was surprisingly patient with him, softly patting his head as he expelled the last of his tears. It took some time, more then he would like to admit, but he eventually felt himself calm down again. He managed to pull himself out of his friend's shirt, a tear soaked spot all that he left behind.

Looking up to his biker buddy, he couldn't help but blush in embarrassment as he looked into Mondo's eyes, and muttered, "I...I'm sorry."

But Mondo wasn't having it this time. Instead he sighed knowingly and said, "Come on, dude. Don't worry about it."

Chihiro smiled a little bit, but it didn't hold up for long as he turned to look at the others. He gulped suddenly feeling the full weight of everyone's gaze on him, most worried, a few annoyed, a few more relieved. Sakura noticeably couldn't meet his gaze, and he had a pretty good idea why. There was something...off about Toko that concerned him, but he decided to put it aside for now.

"G-good morning, everyone...what did I miss?"

...

I sighed in relief as Chihiro finished his cry with Mondo and turned to address the others, looking...well, not better, but certainly better then he could have been. He wasn't in very good shape, but he was getting there.

Still, I pondered as I leaned back in my seat as the other's crowded the little programmer, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty about allowing Sakura to make him cry like that. I really shouldn't have allowed that to happen in the first place looking back on it, but if it wasn't now then it would have happened sooner then later anyway.

Kyoko was a little too pushy for having people come to the correct solution sometimes, there was no doubt about that. I could see the logic, better they come to the conclusion naturally with a little help then just telling them the answer. Otherwise, they become too reliant on one person to have all the answers and stop thinking for themselves. But, sometimes you also have to consider the limits you're pushing and what bridges you may be needlessly burning in the process.

A fact that she was clearly making note of, if the way she was gripping her sleeve and looking so glum was any indication.

Still, I couldn't push all the blame onto her. In my "infinite wisdom", I thought it would be fun to upstage her, knock the wind out of her sails as it were. So, I had a Monokuma bring Chihiro here, along with some of the same pills I had been giving Mukuro, solely to rip the rug out from under her. No consideration for his health, just using him to mess with the detective.

"God, I am such a horrible bitch."

Honesty, both of us should have known better then to push for this to happen. It was one thing if Chihiro had been dead, corpses don't care who's touching them, but this was us both making use of a poor boy's unconscious body for our own ends. Kyoko at least had the argument that she just wanted to keep everyone alive by finding the logical fallacy, I was just doing it for threats and laughs.

Why did I think that this would be okay? I don't even have any beef with Kyoko, so why did I do that? What the hell is wrong with me?

I am gonna have to just add this to the ever growing list of things I will need to apologize for later. Trial now, repentance later.

Just in time to, because Chihiro just gave me the perfect Segway.

With a clearing of my throat, I turned on the mic and had Monokuma say, "Well, rise and shine to you too, sleepyhead. You almost missed the trial to find your attacker from last night. Huhuhuhu, now wouldn't that be a shame? To miss out on a chance to take your revenge just because you overslept a bit, what a travesty that would be!"

Chihiro only looked on in complete and utter bafflement, but before he could speak, Mondo cut in. "Hey! You over-sized half moon cookie, how about ya fuck off!?"

"Yeah! Why don't you pick on someone else for once, prick!" Leon threw his hat in the ring as well. "Can't you see she's hurt!?"

"Yes, I do see that." I admitted, cranking up the smarmy attitude as I snark. "I also see three others here that you seem to have missed in your rush to accuse me of actually giving a hoot. Such cold and heartless classmates you two are."

While the two hotheads growled at me, Kyoko tried to defuse the situation. "Just ignore him. It would just be a waste of your time."

However, that only brought Mondo's attention back to her. "Don't you start! You had Chihiro brought here because you said that it would let us find something important, but all I saw back there was you making Sakura feel up Chihiro and make the dude cry, so I don't wanna hear that from you!"

"..." Kyoko was silent in the face of Mondo's rant, her expression unmoving as she stared down his rage. Ever as his corncob pomp poked her forehead as he got up in her face, she was as still as a mountain in the face of his red hot bluster.

Then, she turned away from him, and took a step toward Chihiro. The programmer looked at her in turn, confusion, trepidation, and maybe a little bit of anger on his face. A bit unusual for him, but after being made to cry for the umpteenth time after deciding that he wanted to change, as well as being potentially exposed for his secret, I could see the frustration.

Mondo growled at her and looked like he was gonna say something, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Sakura glaring him down, a firm shake of her head being his only answer to his questioning gaze. He growled, but then looked at Kyoko and Chihiro for a moment, tsked, and buried his hands in his coat pockets.

For a little while longer, the two continued their stand off, and it seemed like nobody was going to do anything. But then, one of them finally broke the stalemate, but it wasn't the one I thought it would be.

"I appologize for doing that to you." I blinked in shock and aw as I saw the steadfast, stubborn, secretive Kyoko, not only surprise me by apologizing for her actions, but then further my shock by bowing at the waste to the equally stunned programmer.

However, it didn't last for long. She then straightened back up, brushed her hair from her face, nodded, and then began walking back to the podium, leaving a whole mess of people staring. Some in shock at the audacity of her not even explaining anything, others in shock that she even gave that much. Me, I was just surprised that she gave it so easily, since the only time she did so I the game was after several days and it was like pulling teeth getting it out of her. I guess I really gotta stop assuming with her.

However, one biker was positively livid at the shear gall of this women. He honestly looked like he was about to make an exception to his rule about not hitting women for the moment, he looked that freaking pissed off. He didn't even say anything, he just glared at her neck while cracking his knuckles, all while multiple veins on his head and neck violently pulsed.

So, it was really fortunate that Chihiro put his hand on the biker's elbow to stop him. When the livid gang leader turned to look at the programmer, he visibly deflated when he saw a soft smile aimed at him by way of cute little cinnamon roll boy. "Mondo, it's okay."

The biker did a double take at that. "I d-wait, what?"

"It's okay. I'm fine now." Chihiro continued to reassure his friend. "Everything will be okay."

"B-but, what about you're-" Mondo choked as he realized what he almost blurted out, but Chihiro only shook his head.

"I-I know." the programmer whispered, and I wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't for the nurse Monokuma by his bed; thank you unintentional foresight! "It's scary. I'm so afraid that I feel like I just want to run away from this all and keep on running. But if I don't do this, I'm more afraid that's all I will be doing for the rest of my life."

He then looked the biker in the eye, and with unwavering determination said, "I don't want to keep doing that! I want to change! I'll admit, it's not most...ideal way. But if it's gonna happen anyway, then I might as well use it as a chance to make that change. Take that first step."

Mondo looked at the smaller boy in shock, as well as a healthy amount of envy. I could see that, in this moment, Mondo had more respect in this teen then any one man had before. So, he nodded his head and with a little prompting, helped the little programmer out of the cot and then helped him over to his podium, my Monokuma nurse removing his standing picture.

After a little bit of time, everyone was back in their proper placements, and Taka started off with, "Now that we're all back together, let's continue where we left off."

"Dude, why do we have to continue?" Leon shot down. "Chihiro's fine now, right? All she'd gotta do is say who attacked her and this whole thing would be over."

"That is a good point." Celeste admitted, with her fake smile on display. "Why must we exercise further effort then necessary in this matter?"

However, Taka shook his head. "Negative! Chihiro wasn't involved in the discussion before now, so it wouldn't be fair to her to just end this here!"

"True." Sakura agreed. "It would be for the best that everyone was on the same page regardless of the circumstances. Unless, you have any objections, Chihiro?"

The programmer shook his head, and thus a round of catch up began, with Taka taking the lead. "Alright, last night, I was made aware of the possibility of an attack in progress and decided to set up a guard detail with Sakura and Hina's assistance."

Chihiro perked up with realization. "Ah! I remember, that was why you were by the cafeteria."

"Precisely!" Taka confirmed before continuing. "However, not long afterward, we were assaulted by an as of yet unknown, masked individual. We gave chase, but unfortunately we were unable to catch them."

"After a while, me and Sakura went the infirmary since she had gotten hurt protecting me." Hina chimed in with the fighter presenting her arm for reference. Chihiro gasped in concern for Sakura's health, but didn't get to say anything before Taka took over.

"I attempted to intercept them on the way to the infirmary, but they surprised me by running to the second floor instead. Naturally I gave chase, and my search led me to the boy's locker room." Chihiro nodded, knowing what happened during that part.

"After I realized I had lost my query, I doubled back to get Sakura and Hina with the intent to bring you to the infirmary as well to treat your injuries, but..." He trailed off for a moment, guilt twisting his expression. Seeing him struggle, Sayaka took over next with, "When they returned, they found you tied up in a crucifix fashion."

"Yeah, but thanks to my bro and Makoto, we figured out that this fucker..." Mondo jabbed his thumb in Byakuya's direction. "...was the one fucking around with the crime scene to frame that Genocider creep."

Right on cue, Jill laughed her insane laugh and startled the hell out of those nearby. "Isn't it wonderful! My white knight actually going out of his way to flatter me by imitating my modes-whatever you call it. Hohoho, if I wasn't so invested in not getting killed myself, I would totally take you to my chamber to show how much I love your wild side."

"Stop talking." Byakuya immediately fired back.

"Toko?" Chihiro questioned, which immediately caught her alter-ego's ire.

"NO! No, no, no, n to the hell to the o, I am getting really tired of having to say it! Gloomsvile and I are different personalities, completely different from each other! I am the murderous sun to her boorish night, the knife to her books, the barbecue to her ketchup! She loses herself in fantasies, I kill for the artistry; we are not the same."

Chihiro only looked even more confused and concerned as he stared at her. Like I could just about see little equations dancing about his head as he tried to internalize this new development. The gears were turning, but he wasn't quite getting anything to work right. Looking at the other's for answers wasn't helping, they were clearly all pretty much resigned to pushing it off till later.

Eventually, Mukuro had to step in as she gave a sigh and said, "Just roll with it. Trust me, it's not worth it."

Chihiro seemed extremely against that, he honestly seemed like he was going to limp over to the serial killer, give her a hug, and ask her to tell him what's wrong. Yet, with such overwhelming opposition, he could only sigh and let it go.

Well, for his sake, I hope he let it go.

"Anyway." Makoto continued this time. "We were having a difficult time with one thing. When Taka found you the first time, you were in the boy's room. However, when they went back to get you to take you to the infirmary, they found you in the girl's locker room while the rugs, posters, and the dumbbell were all swapped. Kyoko thought we would find the reason for that if we were to…um."

"Frisk her bod? Clap her cheeks? Spread some clams? Kneed the peach buns? Pet the kitty? I can go on!" Jill unhelpfully added which unnerved the poor programmer, to which Leon chimed in, "Do you freaking mind!? Cut the freak out!"

With a moderate sigh, Kyoko took over, "I believe that there was a reason for the unnecessary act that could only be found if you were to use either your E-handbook, or through a thorough examination of your body. Unfortunately as the case was, we were unable to find your E-handbook during the investigation. As I was unable to do otherwise, I resolved to go with the latter option, and had a second witness to validate my theory."

Then, she turned to look him straight in the eyes, and both of us saw his own very briefly glace over at a certain person, before immediately darting back up when he realized his mistake. Kyoko, however, capitalized on the misstep.

"Judging by your glance just now, you know who I'm talking about." Chihiro winced at being caught looking, but he nodded anyway and then turned fully to look at her.

"So...you know." It wasn't a question, or an accusation. Just a statement of fact. The girl he was referring too said nothing for what must have felt like the longest time to the little programmer, but eventually…

"...I'm sorry." Sakura apologized forlornly. "Aye. I do."

"I-I see." was all Chihiro could say to that. He looked down, with his hands held together, looking on the verge of crying all over again.

Then, he did something that completely threw everyone for a loop. Something that almost seemed out of character of him. He smiled, genuinely smiled.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry that you had to find out that way, but I'm...relieved that it was someone like you who figured it out." He said, his smile never once wavering. Yet, I could see how his fingers shook and how he kept his eyes closed as he spoke.

Then Chihiro sighed, yet his smile didn't waver. "Y-you know, it's kinda funny. I've spent so long trying to hide it from everyone that I just started to think I would never get a chance to say it myself. But, the moment I entered this school, it seemed like everyone was starting to learn my secret one by one, whether I told them myself or not."

Chihiro drew in a deep, shaky breath, one that clearly hurt his broken ribs yet was ignored, and then slowly let it go. He placed his hands together in front of his chest. Finally, he opened his eyes.

"The reason that I was in the boy's locker room, and the reason someone moved me to the girl's locker room are because of this." He stated and then, he pulled out a familiar piece of paper from his shirt pocket.

However, I, and possibly a few others, immediately noticed something off about it. The first was that it looked rather opaque for a paper. The next was that the ink in the contents that would have been words were horribly streaked, to the point that it was likely that the kanji written inside would be completely illegible if you were to attempt to read it. Finally, a single bead of water dripped out onto the floor as he held it out for everyone to see.

"Oh..." Chihiro's expression fell as he saw the poor condition of his letter, most likely he had intended to show it instead of saying his secret himself.

"What's that?" Leon asked, his eyes squinting as he tried to get a look at the ruined letter from his podium. "Some kind of paper?"

"That's right." Chihiro confirmed with a nod of his head. "However, it's more then just that."

"Hang on, is that the motive that Monokuma gave us?" Makoto questioned, with many of the other's doing a double take or gasping in either shock or realization. Again though, Chihiro merely nodded.

"It is...or, I mean, it was." Chihiro confirmed, despondent at his plan going awry. "Well, my guess would be that they had realized what my secret was, and they were trying to protect it for me."

"To protect your secret..." Makoto muttered, and I could practically see the gears grinding in his head as he tried to put together the clues. He was also looking through the handbook at the evidence in his handbook, trying to put everything together. Then, something clicked in his head, followed by a few of the others, and each of them were starting to sweat as things started to click into place.

"U-um...Chihiro?" Makoto stuttered a single bead of sweat rolling down his face as he turned to his friend. "This secret of yours...it wouldn't happen to be related to what we were discussing last time we were talking...would it?"

Chihiro was silent, but he nodded. "Yes."

This scene quickly devolved from there. Sayaka looked really confused, but as the dots connected in her mind her eyes got noticeably wider and her jaw drooped lower. Mondo cringed and covered his eyes with one of his hands. Sakura clenched her fist as she was very reluctant to speak and tell everyone what she knew. Kyoko wasn't going to say without prompting, clearly. I sure as hell wasn't going to interject, because Monokuma isn't the kind to spoil surprises without good reason, even if he was a total troll when he did.

Apparently, Mukuro was quickly growing sick of this dancing around the issue, as she slapped her hand on the podium and growled. "Oh, for god's sake. I can't take this anymore! One of you, spit it out already!"

Kyoko sighed, clearly just as done with this as Mukuro was, before sealing the deal. "The reason for all of this misdirect was to hide the fact that Chihiro...is a boy."

A pregnant silence overtook the students as they all began to process this information. Eyes widened, jaws dropped, confusion, shock, wonder, disbelief, all sorts of wonderful emotions flashed across the student's faces one after the other in no particular order. One oddity I noted was Taka's eyes as they flashed back and forth between the sheepish Chihiro and the pained Mondo, and that the biker was giving him a very apologetic look tinged with shame.

"Ah, I see. That would make the most sense. Thank you for sharing this information." Hifumi broke the silence, his face noticeably pinched as he gave a pleasant smile, which almost immediately dropped in favor of a single unfiltered shout of shock, "WHAAAAT!?"

"You're joking, right?" Yasuhiro questioned, seemingly oblivious or in denial of the sheer weight that had been dropped on everyone.

In response, Kyoko looked the shaman dead in the eye, took in a breath, and gave a straight and flat. "...No."

"T-t-then..." Kiyotaka stammered as he drew his rattled gaze to Chihiro. "Chihiro, is it true...you're a boy!?"

The poor little boy, secret exposed for all to hear, only cringed. His eyes had closed tightly once the outbursts began, and he was clearly not handling being the center of attention very well at all. Still he did manage to hesitantly nod and say, "Y-Yes."

"I...What, but, wait...how are…?" Leon muttered as he tried and failed to come to terms with this new information.

"That...explains so much." Mukuro muttered to herself. Chihiro gave her a confused blink, but didn't call her out on it. Thankfully, someone was able to divert his attention before he could ask something she wouldn't be able to answer.

"But, why ever would you dress up as a women?" Celeste asked the little programmer, to which he began to fidget uncomfortably. However, he would not be getting a chance to say his reasons.

"Eeeeeeee!" A very sudden, and immediately disconcertingly excited cry startled me and cause a violent shiver to run down me spine. I'd like to think that it was fully justified though, because Genocide Jack, passionate killer of cute little boys, was now staring at Chihiro like a starving dog looking at a fat, juicy hunk of freshly cut meat. She was loudly, and disturbingly panting like one too, thick dollops of drool rolling down her curled tongue and onto the floor as her face contorted into a twisted Cheshire grin that only pronounced the fiery red of her blushing cheeks. I am only about half sure that I could just about see the pink hearts dancing around her head and in her eyes.

Of course, the biggest concern was the fact that she had brought out the scissors again.

"You're a...Cross dresser!?" She all but squealed in high pitched eager delight, even as Chihiro stared back in complete and utter confusion, with a dash of dread. "Oh, oh man! That's the best! The loli was secretly a shota this whole time, and right under my nose!? Now, I'm really on fire! I'm so excited, I can't stop my leaking! I knew that something about you seemed off, Kuro hinted as much, but this! I can barely contain myself!"

Turns out, containing herself wasn't something she could do, as one moment she was suddenly on her podium, and the next she was in the air poised like a bird of prey, cackling like a true lunatic. When Sakura, Mondo, Kyoko and Leon looked like they were going to move to intercept her midair, she chucked most of the scissors in hand at their own podiums as a warning shot, momentarily stopping them in their tracks.

A moment was more then she needed though, as she all but tackled the poor boy out of his podium with him only getting out a startled and pained yelp in response. I all but slammed my hands on the Monokuma controls, ready to rush to intersect and keep her from killing him in front of his own class. But the moment I was past the podium circle, I froze at what I saw.

Far from the bloody massacre that I imagined, Jill had him in a full on glomp, her arms wrapped tightly around his body and her own body pressed firmly into his side. His head was forcibly pressed into the crook of her neck as her tongue danced along his jawline, kinda like a red snake. One hand still clutched a solitary pair of scissors with the tip pressed against his lip, but it hadn't drawn blood yet. Furthermore, her gaze, once sadistic and cruel, now looked more serene and gentle; even as Chihiro squirmed uncomfortably.

Of course, her skirt had also gotten hiked up to the point you could clearly see her black thong, but knowing her, it was unlikely intentional.

Wait, was that blood on his lip? It wasn't from the scissors, they were clean and on the other side of his lip. So why was there blood?

I blinked confused as hell as to what the hell I was looking at. This was not the scene of a murder. This was the furthest thing from a murder. This was something out of some cheep manga where a yandere throws herself at the main character because he was her type. "The hell is this?"

"Hehehe." she laughed, somehow both menacingly and sweetly at the same time. But made no attempt to answer my question. I don't think I would be getting it either, because they were both suddenly surrounded by multiple members of the concerned students all scrambling to pull them apart.

As they scrambled to get her off of him, the gears in my head were grinding, trying to figure out what the frick I just witnessed. From what I could recall, neither Toko nor her alter ego were known to be particularly affectionate, not physically anyway from what I could recall, nor were they particularly known to throw themselves at a boy they like. It fact, the only person that they canonically liked was Byakuya, and there wasn't a snowball's chance in inferno that he would allow someone like her, a girl with metal disorders a mile wide, a reacquiring streak of forgetting to do basic hygiene, and an actual body count, to get anywhere near him.

Hence why she is a stalker most of the time.

Moreover, I was shocked that she hadn't absolutely stabbed him to death right then and there. Would have been the shortest trial ever. But she was not one that would be denied easily. Hell, like she said, she hunted down her first victim a near whole county away, and she only got more tenacious since.

So, what was different this time? I pondered as I stared at Chihiro and thought. Could it be because of him? He was rather agreeable at the best of times, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had had some friendly interactions during their time in school. However, he certainly wasn't a huger either. Even if they were close, I couldn't see these two hugging regularly.

...Well, I guess I would have to figure this mystery out later. Everyone had managed to reclaim their stands and were mostly ready to continue. All of them were either glaring at the serial killer smiling like the cat who caught the canary, or looking concerned at the heaving programmer clutching at his chest with a pained look on his face. Mondo had his hand on Chihiro's back to help support him as he barely managed to stand. As they waited for Chihiro to recover, Hina turned to Jill and stomped her foot in anger.

"What the heck was that about!? You almost killed him!" Jill only laughed at her remark, making the swimmer fume.

"Aw, lighten up, Mega Milk." The serial killer tutted. "Like I was actually gonna kill him then and there. There's a certain thing called, tact. You could stand to learn it."

"You are the last person to be talking about tact!" Hina rebuked furiously, but Jill only shook her head in response.

"Ma, ma. But it's true I would ever so love to get my scissors into him, but it's not so simple! See, I have a thing called, standards. It's not enough that he be pretty, he's also got to have the right kind of, shall we say, personality. Gotta make sure he's got the goods to get my fire not just going, but also roaring for more! Ya know? Also, gotta figure out a time and place, to do the dead. I mean, it's really hard to get in the mood in here of all places." But then she cackled uproariously. "Aw, who am I kidding!?"

Then, to everyone's confusion, she scowled, her tongue finally pulling into her mouth before she stared aggressively biting her thumbnail. "...Actually, if I could be frank, I don't really feel like sticking it in him. It's like...I can't do it with him just yet; no mater how much I want to. I'm not ashamed to say that I actually was going to do it with him right then and there; I'm talking full on exhibitionist style and everything. But, it's like, I don't know, it doesn't feel like it normally does when I kill someone. Like, I don't know, like there's something missing...?"

While she was pondering her own out of character moment, Hifumi looked extremely conflicted because of her phrasing. "...If it was anyone else, I might have been jealous of Miss-Master Fujisaki...I might still be…"

"Dude." Leon side eyed him in disgust.

I wasn't paying attention to that though, as I was more focused on the frustrated and befuddled serial killer. So I was right, this was unusual, even for her. Why did she feel the need to stop even for a moment.

Then, something clicked. "Would it be like, a butcher who's killed countless chickens before suddenly being unable to kill one because this one was a pet they raised with their own hands?"

She pulled her thumb out of between her teeth and snapped her fingers as she pointed at Monokuma and exclaimed. "Yeah, just like that! It's so frustrating!"

Ah, that explains it. He was saved by the fact that they were friends. Like how she would another friend in "Ultra Despair Girl's". They had spend such a long time together, both as Toko and as Genocider Sho that they had grown attached. Combined with the year or so here in lock-down, and you've also got a case for them possibly developing a minor Stockholm syndrome. I-

...wait. I wanted to facepalm. He got saved by the power of friendship. God fu-!

Eventually, Chihiro was able to stand on his own power. He was still kinda wheezy, but he waved off any attempt to help him further, so everyone eventually decided to push on. He was giving Jill a noticeably wider gap then before though.

Well, I decided it was time to make them push on. "Okay, we all done with the interruptions? I mean, I'm ecstatic, all these little diversions are all kinds of fun for me. But, you do still have a time limit, you know."

They all flinched, but Mukuro was the only loud one. "What the fuck!? Since when did we have that rule!?"

"You and Sayaka weren't here for the first trial, but we did bring it up back then, you only have so much time. So, chop, chop." I had Monokuma chop one paw against the other, for effect.

"Well, it's not like there's much else we can figure out, right?" Hiro sheepishly commented, to which Kyoko disagreed.

"I disagree. I believe that there is more to be explored before we can officially call these mysteries complete." Unfortunately, that only made Leon groan.

"Seriously? I mean, haven't we gone over everything so far?"

"No, don't you remember?" Makoto disagreed. "Chihiro wasn't able give his side of the story."

"...Oh, shit. Right, we got all focused on the whole, 'dude being a guy' thing, we kinda forgot to go over that." Mondo stated as he scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know though, you think that you're up for that, Chihiro?"

For his part, Chihiro nodded, gave a small wheeze, then swallowed and said, "I-I'll be fine. I can...I can do this."

Mondo and several of the others clearly didn't believe him. Yet, they were clearly not going to be able to stop him, so they sucked it up and stayed quite. After taking a second to clear his head, Chihiro took a disconcertingly wet sounding breath, and began his tale.

"...Okay. So, last night I went to the boy's locker room to do some exercise. I just...wanted to get myself into shape." Some of the students clearly missed it, but there was a sudden tenseness in his shoulders when he finished speaking. His eyes seemed to glass over a bit, like he had lost his focus. He also clutched at his chest, possibly having chest pain of some sort. Whatever it was though, he seemed to shake it off relatively quickly, but I was concerned.

Should I stop the trial? If he's not doing well in his condition, then I obviously should so that he could get back in the bed and rest. Plus, I couldn't get that drip of blood out of my head. If he had gotten even more hurt because of Jill's flying tackle, he might need some serious medical attention. His ribs were still broken after all, prime to cause some serious damage if this continued.

Yet, I don't know how I could without raising alarms in people's heads. I might be willing to stop this, but Monokuma wouldn't. If anything this would just raise the drama for his sick game.

Not to mention that, I couldn't risk Junko coming back to stop me, not now. I don't know what triggers her or if she can just show whenever she wants, but if I tried to stop the trial, she might come out to stop me.

I frowned, but sat back down. I will just have to watch Chihiro and make sure he doesn't push himself too hard for now. But, I made a silent promise to myself, if he coughs blood again I'm stopping this, consequences be damned!

"Okay, but why do it at night, especially after the night time announcement?" Celeste questioned. "Would it not be easier to do it during the day time, without breaking our night time rule?"

Chihiro flinched at her accusing stare, but responded anyway. "I-I know. But, I didn't want anyone to find out about my secret. After night time was the only time I could safely do it."

"Understandable." Sakura nodded, before presenting her own theory. "That would also be the reason thou didn't wish to join myself and Hina when we offered to join us."

"Y-yes, I'm sorry." Chihiro apologized. Initially he looked like he was going to give an apologetic bow, but he winced from his ribs rebelling and wisely straightened back up.

"You could have just told us." Hina pouted, crossing her arms with a pout and a huff. "We would have been okay with it."

"But, he didn't know that for sure." Mondo cut in, looking from Hina to Chihiro. "Dude couldn't know that, right? I mean, shit, he's been hiding this thing for so long, it ain't easy to just trust someone with this kinda heavy stuff."

"He's...got a point." Hifumi admitted, looking quite bummed as he spoke. "It isn't easy to just trust someone like that, especially with something so...delicate."

Chihiro squirmed in place, but didn't deny anything. Instead, he pushed on with his recount of events. "A-anyway, I was in there for a little while, and I didn't hear anyone enter."

What? I blinked as I processed the absolutely incorrect statement I had just heard. That didn't make sense. I know for a fact that what he was saying was partly a lie, but why was he lying about that. I know for a fact that Mondo was there, so what was going on here?

Then, something clicked. Was he trying to keep Mondo from being accused by pretending that he was never there? That was the only thing I could think of, and judging by the way Mondo kept looking away from him, I think I wasn't the only one to figure that out.

So, would that become a problem? Technically, not really. As long as they kept the story straight at least. They only needed to set it up that Taka saved Chihiro and that would be it. They didn't have too, but it could work.

"Incidentally, you were alone when you went to the boy's locker room, yes?" Celeste asked, a strange gleam in her eye as she asked. For a split second, Chihiro hesitated just a bit too long, and his eyes flicked over to Mondo.

So much for keeping that secret.

"Y-yes, I was alone." he replied, shuffling uncomfortably under her gaze, and her brow and my own rose in unison at the clear lie.

"Honestly, now." Celeste chastised him with a sigh. "Very well. Then, if I may ask, do you know how your attacker was able to enter the boy's locker room? Alternately, would you be able to tell us how they got into the girl's locker room."

"Huh?" Hiro questioned. "Wait, you lost me. What does that matter?"

"Forgive me, that was my mistake, I set the bar too high for someone of your intellect." Celeste casually apologized backhandedly. "Do you not find it strange that someone was able to assault our classmate in the men's locker room, but then have the capability to move him into the girl's locker room? It was one thing when we were all under the assumption that Chihiro was a girl..."

"But now that we know otherwise, that original idea no longer holds water." Byakuya finished with a frown. "Each of us can only enter the locker of our corresponding gender. Meaning for this crime to have worked, it would require someone to not only enter the boy's locker room to attack Chihiro, but they would also have to be able to get into the girl's locker room."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Hiro agreed, then, without thinking, shouted. "So I was right! Chihiro must of hacked their E-handbook to get into the girl's locker room! That's why they took his handbook! OR, or maybe their profile already was registered as a girl so that they could hide their secret!"

Chihiro blinked, puzzled by the remark, and then began frantically searching through his pockets. No doubt looking for the E-handbook that wasn't there. Kyoko's statement earlier must not have fully registered before now.

"BZZT! Wrongo, bucko!" I interjected, pretending to sound angry and insulted. "I can't let that insult slide! Now, I am aware of certain groups out there that are far less ridged as the rest of society when it comes to sexual identity. I am not here to preach about which is right or wrong here. However, Chihiro himself, when he signed the paperwork to join this academy, clearly identified himself as male. As such, his E-handbook, as was agreed upon, was registered as such. He may dress like a girl, but until he files the legal papers, then he is a boy through and though!"

I turn angled a particularly nasty look, or as much as a plushy bear could, at the hobo clairvoyant and continued, "Also, these things are entirely UN-hack-able. Unless you plug it directly into the database with a specific connector only I have, or have access to the WiFi I have to grant authorization for, you can't even so much as change the time, much less alter profile settings."

"So, whoever attacked him had to be able to enter both rooms to set things up for Byakuya." Makoto reiterated, it took him a second, but then, "Actually, that reminds me. During the investigation, one of us found an E-handbook. Isn't that right, Hifumi?"

Hifumi jolted in his spot, but then a gleam came to his eyes as he smiled, his voice deepening as he spoke. "Hehehe, my time has come."

"Oi, we don't want your theatrics, just spit it out." Mukuro fumed, aggressively.

The wind thoroughly knocked out of his sails, Hifumi sadly withdrew the other E-handbook from his pocket. "W-well, you see, I did find one of the handbooks during the investigation. I thought it would be an important clue, so I've just been holding on to it."

"You've had that this entire time? Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Leon criticized him, causing the paunchy teen to lean back away from him.

"W-well, I-I was, but you see, I tried to access it to see if it could, you know, give us a clue. But, I couldn't get it to turn on. I think it's broken." Hifumi sadly passed the broken tool down the way; the way opposite of Genocider Sho I feel should be mentioned. It took a bit of time, some of them took a moment to try and turn it on themselves, but passed it when they realized the futility of the act. Eventually, it got to Chihiro, who also tried and failed to get it to turn on.

"...Hmm...I...think that it may be heat damage." Chihiro hesitantly theorized. To which, my jaw could only hit the floor. How the frick could he tell!?

"Really?" Hiro asked in my stead, amazed by the programmer's technological understanding. "How can you tell?"

"It's...well, it's not really something I know for sure." Chihiro admitted, as he continued fiddling with the unresponsive device. "Without taking it apart to see the specs I couldn't tell you exactly what the problem was. It's just, I remember a time my mother accidentally dropped her phone into the rice steamer without realizing, and when it came out, it looked kinda like this."

He then held it up for everyone to see, and pointed at some part of the black screen. "See here, where the screen has bubbled and warped? Specifically how it's bubbled outward. Most screens only do this when there is a lager amount of internal heat causing a melt down. However, notice how some of the bubbles have water in them?"

"Hey yeah, look." Leon added, looking rather puzzled by the damage. "Wait, didn't the bear say these things are water proof though?"

"Yes." Chihiro said before I could say anything. "However, no matter how durable electronics can be made, there is always weaknesses to them. If the casing was damaged in some way, say with extreme heat, it would allow for water to get into those small crevices to damage it further."

"Extreme heat...and water." Makoto pondered as he started piecing things together, but while he was having a bit of a deep dive into his train of thought, Mondo decided that he would rather metaphorically poke a animatronic bear.

"Tch, talk about an oversight. For someone who talks hot shit about these things, they sure break easily." Oh, Ohhhhohoh you're really going there, huh buddy.

"Well, I'll have you know that it's not my fault." I growled back at him. "These things are designed to handle any and every day to day wear and tear. They are water proof, have a very high shock resistance, and can even withstand impact that would destroy any normal phone easily."

"And yet, this one does appear to be broken." Celeste pointed out. "For all your confidence, you can not deny that."

"Grr, alright, fine, yes they have a little snag in the design." I 'reluctantly' admitted. "But I can't tell you what it is. What'll I do if you all start trying to replicate it? These things are expensive, you know! Not to mention the fact that it totally voids the warranty."

Well, I mean, I could have my personal mechanic make a few new ones. But that would mean I'd have to call him, then he'd have spend time building them. Then there was the shipping to consider and going through the process of getting it set up and connected into the system. So much hassle.

Yes, I'm just that lazy.

"Just tell us!" Hina demanded impatiently. "Why would we wanna break our own handbooks!?"

I sighed, feigning reluctance. "Oh well, fine...If it will keep the trial fair then I guess I have no choice. As some of you may have already guessed, no doubt thanks to the cross dresser over there, the weakness of the cutting edge E-handbook is...when it is exposed to high temperatures for too long, it will suffer a meltdown and completely break!"

"I flipping knew it!" Hifumi suddenly shouted, leaning over his stand and pointing dramatically at the broken screen.

"...You knew it?" Makoto asked in shock.

The otaku nodded furiously as turned his head to inform the luckster. "Yeah! Cuz I found that handbook laying on the floor of the sauna!"

What happened next, could only be described as a series of unfortunate events. A series of dominoes all set up throughout this trial all ready to go at the slightest tip. Eyes were widening, things were clicking together, but not in a way someone wanted them. Almost at once, most every smart person in the room slowly turned their attention to one particular student, one person who all of these pieces pointed too.

"...You?"

…

Alright, it's the new year, and we're already starting it off with a new chapter! I put a lot of time into this one, and I hope that it shows. Now, let's leave this off with a fun little omake. For the record, it is completely non-canon, I just thought it would be fun.

This time we get another sample of a world were I end up possessing a different character then the Mastermind.

Enjoy!

…

Omake: I'm who now IF: Genocider...sho?

I sighed as I stood up, my head aching, and groaned. Dammit Toko, why couldn't you faint like normal people? Preferably in a way that wouldn't cause me to wake up with a mild concussion to be specific.

Groaning, I looked around the courtroom at the faces of all of her friends as they all stared at me with faces of concern on their faces, with the sole exception being the princely Mc Prick.

Continuing to rub the back of my head, I winced when I found a new knot. Yep, that was going to bruise. Fortunately, when I pulled our hand away there wasn't any blood, so that was a small mercy. Yet, I still pursed my lips as I looked at my hand and rubbed me fingers together. Moist.

"Hmm..." I wondered if I could file a claim against him for mental abuse induced physical trauma? I mean, knowing his lawyers it was unlikely to stick, but it would damage his reputation and that might be worth it in its own right.

"T-Toko?" Sayaka asked me, and I turned my now blue eyes, an unusual result of my integration but not an unwelcome one, her way.

"Oh, hey Sayaka." I waved lazily at her, and then at the redhead not far from her. "Ah, I see you're both okay. Good, good."

"U-Uh, yeah. Thanks?" Leon muttered as he stared, though I don't blame him. After all, I did save both of their lives a few nights ago through...unconventional means.

"Aye, your welcome. Say, you're not still upset with me kicking you in the you-know-what, right?" From the way he immediately crossed his legs, there was clearly still some resentment. "Sorry man. But you have to admit, trying to go into a girl's room at night with a screwdriver in hand wasn't doing your image any favors."

"S-shut up." He stammered as he turned away at the memory. "...Wait, now you remember that!?"

"Yep. Sorry, me and my head-mates don't actually like to share details about our lively hoods very much." I scratched at an itch in one of my ears. God, dammit I wish she cleaned these out more often. Or just practiced basic hygiene in general. I shouldn't have to be the only one of us who can use soup!

"Anyway, what's up?" Before snapping my fingers, idly frowning with the realization that one of our bodies roommates ruined the hard work I did buffing our nails...again. "You, Huffy, tell me what we doing."

Hifumi blinked rapidly at my finger in his face, but then leaned back and adjusted his glasses. "Um. We were...just discussing how Genocide Jack killed Miss Fujisaki. Or, at least that was what Master Togami claims."

I gave him a slow blink, then slowly turned to look at the befuddled billionaire. Then back at Hifumi with a raised eyebrow, then at the empty podium where Chihiro was supposed to be, only to find an X stained picture of him instead. Then I turned my head to look at Mondo, and then stared at him. "Oh, did he now?"

Mondo made the mistake of looking away, sheepishly muttering, "I mean, dude isn't dead, just...unconscious."

"Damn well better be!" I snapped my finger at him. "I didn't nearly get a lead clot in my everything for nothing after all."

I then turned to look at Monokuma with his popcorn in paw and the empty stand before it. Then at discount Junko, who looked very conflicted at the sight of me. "Oh cool, you aren't dead...yet. Neat."

Mukuro gave me a double take, at that. "I...Why would I be..."

"...Byakuya, I fail to see how this proves anything." Taka suddenly interrupted, looking quite cross at the heir. "While this is certainly...unusual for Toko, I do not see how this proves that she is Genocide Jack!"

"I...This doesn't make any sense." Byakuya turned to glare at me. "You! What's the meaning of this! Didn't you swear to me that you have a split personality with the infamous serial killer, Genocide Jack?"

Ah, so that's what this was about. I allowed my head to lazily flop to one side and lay on my shoulder. "...Hmm...Well, I'm a Jack, in a sense...And, yeah, I am one of her three personalities. Yet...I wouldn't really call myself genocidal."

I rolled my host's shoulder and pulled one of Jill's scissors from one of the pouches and started lazily spinning it on my finger by one of the loops, headless of Hifumi's squawk of terror. "Now, my other sister on the other hand, yeah, she would totally call herself something cringe like that. Love her and all, but I wouldn't recommend talking to her if you can help it. Especially you, Byakuya. She's way out of you're league, pretty boy."

It was now his turn to double take at the accusation. "I...what is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?" I shot back. "I'm saying that you aren't man enough for her. I just don't think you got what it takes to really wow her, boy."

"Don't be ridiculous." He shot back. "As if I would even want her attention."

"Oh, so she's suddenly not good enough for you because I'm here, is that it?" I snapped back. Boy wants a fight? I'll give him a war. "What, was Toko not enough for you so now you think you got to get the full set, pig?"

"I never wanted her in the first place, she was the one who forced her unwanted delusions onto me." he fired back, to which I levied the scissor at him.

"Oh, so now she's delusional, is she?" I spat. "Typical rich prick belief system, just because she's an artist, her work is mocked until she's dead. Then you can mooch off of her life's work and call it revolutionary just to auction it off to line your pockets."

"I'm already the head of my families business." Byakuya countered, "What use would I have in selling her waste of paper for a paltry sum when I make more in a day then she ever could in a lifetime."

I threw my hand into the air in exasperation, "Here we go again, mister Richie Rich flaunting his fat stacks to make up for his lack of valuable personality. Mister sad excuse of a human being has to validate his own pathetic existence by showing how much paper he can throw at his problems."

That one really got to him, I could tell because he was red in the face and leaning his body against the podium. "As if you are any better then I. Tell me then, what could you have that I don't?"

I gave him a haughty laugh and gave him a cliche princess laughing pose. "A father's love, for starters."

Something snapped in him at that one, and he got up and he lunged for me, finally losing his cool princely attitude. Fortunately, for him, he was grabbed in a full nelson by Mondo, Taka and Leon also quick to assist in restraining him. All the while he threw obscenities and threats.

Would I regret that in the long run? Maybe. Would Toko hate me for this? Possibly. Did I make a powerful enemy today? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Not a chance in hell, I would absolutely do it again. Because, as I prepared to shoot Byakuya's little ploy in the foot and bust this case wide open, I took great pride in the fact that I did something that not even Junko could do.

I made Byakuya look like a child.

Worth.