I don't rightly know how someone was supposed to properly react to a corpse, but I'd imagine screaming was a perfectly acceptable and reasonable response. You'd probably expect me to be panicking because the blood currently splattered all over the shower stall wasn't the usual Pepto Bismol colored blood from the game, it was bright red as it should've been, a messy pool having built around Makoto's body. Or maybe it was because the entire sequence of events that the game had carefully laid out had been derailed into oblivion. You'd be wrong on both accounts in that case, that wasn't why I was screaming. No, I was screaming because someone had died all because of me. Makoto's eyes seemed to drill right into me, his almost accusatory dead stare seeming to say, "You could've stopped this. You could have saved me." And he was right, I could've saved him. And now everyone would suffer for my failure to properly act.

It was a scene that I'd never be able to scrub clean from my mind, no matter what I did. Makoto had his whole life ahead of him, despite the struggles he'd go through. He was bright, optimistic and the reason that the original group were even able to get out of Hope's Peak to begin with. Despite all of the hurt he would go through, Makoto would be able to rebuild his life and the world, all while moving forward with a bright smile on his face. All because he managed to hold onto hope. And now here he was, dead in a shower. It was my fault, it was my fault to tell Makoto to stay in his room. It didn't make him any safer, it made him an even easier target. What the actual fuck was I thinking?

"Tony…? Tony, are you okay?"

Somewhere in the midst of my screaming, I could faintly hear Hina's voice call out to me, but it sounded far away. I stumbled out of the bathroom, nearly tripping over my own feet as I came face to face with Kyoko, Celeste, Hina and Sakura, the rest of the group waiting just outside the doorway apparently.

"Tony, what happened…?" Hina asked again, her tone clearly uneven. I dunno what I must have looked like in her eyes, but it must have been terrifying.

"I believe it should be rather obvious…" Celeste remarked. "But if you wish to investigate, by all means."

Hina reluctantly nodded, slowly stepping into the bathroom before letting out a sharp scream of terror, causing everyone else to rush in like a stampede. Their reactions were about what I expected honestly, mixtures of terror, revulsion and neutrality. Toko pointedly was looking away from the sea of blood before her, for very obvious reasons. Even the once unshakable demeanor of Byakuya Togami looked a tiny bit surprised that someone had actually turned up dead. Of course, with this many witnesses, it was about time for him to pop up like a cancerous tumor.

With the ringing of the school bell, the TV monitor on Makoto's wall flickered to life. The image showed Monokuma lazily lounging back, silently mocking us as he held a fancy glass of what looked to be brandy. "Puhuhu! I've been waiting for this moment! The first body has finally been discovered! At your nearest convenience, please make your way to the school gymnasium! I'll be waiting!" he said in a singsong voice before the TV switched off, leaving us all to pick up the pieces. My guilt and sorrow were only just enough to counter the unadulterated fury that was building up inside me. I didn't want to go, I couldn't just leave Makoto in the state he was in. I failed to save him, the least I could do was not abandon him.

"D-does he really want to see us now of all times…?" Chihiro whimpered, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"The fuck, dude…" Mondo snarled. "What the fucking shit?!"

Everyone was clearly in shock, but none were nearly as shook as Sayaka. Her eyes fluttered onto Makoto's body, her body trembling as she knelt down in front of the corpse that used to be her friend. "Makoto…? Makoto, wake up. Wake up, please…" she choked out, seeming to think Makoto was just sleeping, like he would wake up any moment now. "Get up, Makoto…! Please, wake up! Makoto!"

Her howls devolved into tear drenched sobs, collapsing into a wreck as everyone just watched on, not sure of what to do or say. For all of her faults, it was clear that Sayaka at least geninuely cared about Makoto's wellbeing if the 11037 message in the game was anything to go by. Add that to the fact that Makoto and Sayaka knew each other from middle school and it was more or less like finding out a childhood friend had died in some freak accident. Only this was no accident. Someone in this room killed Makoto Naegi. I had no idea who, given I was still trying to process everything that was happening, but I knew that we'd have no choice but to figure out who. Or else we'd end up on the chopping block instead.

"I… I understand not wishing to leave Makoto in such a state," Taka began in an apprehensive tone, "but Monokuma would simply drag us all to the gymnasium regardless. We'd best hurry…" It was clear that Taka really wished that wasn't the case, but given that Monokuma held all the cards here, there wasn't much we could realistically do.

"Fine by me," Byakuya said, looking only a bit less haughty than usual. "Let's just get this farce over with."

Sayaka struggled to find her breathing, not willing to tear her eyes away from Makoto's corpse. "But… but…"

"There's little to be done," Celeste said softly. "Now that someone has died, Monokuma will probably elaborate on what needs to be done. Empathy for your fellow man is all well and good, but it won't be enough to save yourself in the end."

If that wasn't the modus operandi for every killer in this series, I don't know what it was. Celeste's words seemed to have some kind of effect on Sayaka regardless, her tears devolving into sniffles, though she still refused to move.

"Hey… c'mon." Leon knelt down, offering his hand. "It's gonna be okay, yeah? We just gotta stick together." Sayaka stared at him for a few moments, not sure of how to process his offer before taking it and allowing Leon to help her to her feet.

I could've sworn this was Leon and Sayaka's first actual interaction in this chain of events, which was horribly ironic given how Leon was the one who shanked Sayaka in the first place. I do remember Leon having a thing for her in the stage production of the game, but not much else beyond fan stuff. If there wasn't a corpse in the general vicinity, I probably would've laughed my ass at the sheer irony of the situation.

"S-so that settles it then?" Hina asked, on the verge of tears herself. "We just have to go to the gym?"

"We seem to have little choice in the matter," Sakura said sourly. "All we can do for now is hurry before Monokuma forces us to come to the gym."

"This is…" Hiro struggled to find the words, his face looking far paler than it should have been. "Dude, what the hell…"

"Fine," Kyoko finally said. "We'll just have to see what Monokuma does next. Come on, there's not much else we can do here."

One by one, the students milled out of Makoto's room, or rather the crime scene I should say, their stances all stiffer than normal. Finally, Sayaka and Leon took their leave, but not before Sayaka shot me an odd look before turning around. That just left me, Makoto's body and the feeling of emptiness building in the pit of my stomach. It was funny, Makoto knew next to nothing about me other than my fake talent as a lawyer while I knew practically everything about him. If he could see me right now, he'd probably be wondering why I was blaming myself so hard. But the thing was that with my foreknowledge, I could've prevented this, I swear I could have. But humans were wholly unpredictable, eighteen and nineteen year olds even moreso. And it wasn't like I tried to begin with. I spent the first few days trying to find a way out before the motive came into play. What right did I have in saying I could've stopped this?

"It's your fault, y'know."

I jumped in surprise, only to find Monokuma's sneering face looking up at me, resting ever so casually on Makoto's bed. I kept forgetting Junko had multiple Monokumas all set up throughout the school and I hated that fact. Almost as much as I hated Junko and her stupid bear.

"Fuck off, you degenerate bitch," I growled, knowing all I was doing was just giving Junko more ammo.

"Someone's got quite the mouth on him!" Monokuma snickered, hopping off the bed with a cartoonish squeak. "But you know I'm right. It's all thanks to you and your brilliant idea that wonderful little Makoto Naegi is dead. Sure, you aren't the blackened, but you might as well have set up the dominoes that led to it! That little ball made of helplessness, anguish and tragedy building at the bottom of your stomach? That's what we call despair. Keep that little nugget of information tucked away in the back of your mind for the next few hours as you head to the gymnasium, Mr. Davis! Because we're just getting started!"

With his characteristic, "Puhuhu!" Monokuma waddled away from sight, leaving me all alone again. I stared back at Makoto, feeling an almost animalistic rage burning up inside of me. This was no time for mourning. I had to pick myself up, keep going despite what was in my way. I was going about this in video game logic, how if Makoto was alive then everything would just work out. But that's not how life worked. This wasn't a visual novel anymore. This was pure reality. As ludicrous as Danganronpa was, this was reality. Someone out there killed Makoto just for their own selfish means. And if we didn't catch them, we'd die in their place. I really did wish I could've gotten everyone out of here, but that wasn't on the table anymore. Just another broken promise on top of the pile.

"I'm sorry, Makoto," I apologized, knowing he couldn't hear me. "But I swear to god we aren't giving up. Not in a million years. We'll get through this and we will get out of here alive. That much I can promise you."

If Makoto was still capable of speech, he probably would've gone along the lines of "Don't make a promise you can't keep."

The atmosphere in the gymnasium was so dense that it could've developed its own gravitational pull. Nearly everyone was looking around at each other, the distrust evident on their faces as they waited nervously for Monokuma to hurry up and explain what would happen next. Their faces twitched in nervousness, seemingly lost in their own little worlds. In fact, the only two in the crowd that seemed to notice my presence were Celeste and Kyoko, Kyoko eying me strangely.

"Well, well, it's good to see you in semi-better spirits, Tony," Celeste smiled. "Though you were the last one to leave it seems. Is everything all in order?"

"As well as it can be," I said through my teeth, jiggling my leg impatiently.

"I see." She turned toward the podium, a disappointed sigh exhaled. "It truly is a shame. I would've thought that discouraging nighttime activity would have been enough, but perhaps I misjudged someone. After all, who can truly claim to be able to predict basic human behavior?"

This was rich, coming from the woman whose entire talent was built off of reading people. I couldn't tell if Celeste was being genuinely sincere or if she was just fucking around with me, but thought nothing of it. Right now my mind was swimming with theories, ideas and suspicions, but nothing was terribly concrete at the moment. I haven't even gotten the chance to truly examine the crime scene and I wouldn't until Monokuma went through his explanation of the Class Trials. Once that was done, I could start theory crafting. The first step in any investigation was to keep your cool, try to empty your mind of any wild theory crafting for the moment and let the evidence speak for itself.

"Damn it…" Leon swore, tapping his foot. "When's that bastard gonna show his face anyway? What, is he busy erasing evidence because he went and did it or something?"

"Hold it right there, buster! I can tell you right now that my paws are pristine in this! If you can believe anything, believe that!"

Leon let out a small yelp as Monokuma hopped onto the stage with a certain spring in his step. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the bastard was far more chipper than usual, probably because he got at least part of his usual brand of sick kicks.

"Son of a-!" The Ultimate Baseball Star regained himself, glaring daggers at the mechanic bear. "The hell's your problem?! You just waiting there to scare the shit outta us?!"

"Says the baseball punk with a fake weave trying to accuse me of all people in sticking his nose in other people's affairs!" Monokuma gave Leon a pointed look before turning to the rest of us. "Unless someone goes out of their way to violate the regulations in place, you can count on me to avoid interfering whenever possible! Scout's honor! That much I can absolutely promise you!"

"Then.. if you weren't the one who killed him," Chihiro said, "who did kill Makoto?"

"Puhuhu…" Monokuma's lips curled into a smile. "Isn't it obvious? The one who killed Makoto Naegi is standing right here in this very room, and I know exactly how they did it too!" A harsh silence fell over the gym, Monokuma gazing out into the now smaller crowd for the expected reaction. That reaction being terror. "C'mon, what's with those looks? You looked like I just ran your pet kitten through a sous-vide bath or something."

He leapt off the stage with a flourish, pacing in front of us. "Don't you all remember the start of all this? Whoever decided to go and off Makoto was just following the rules set in place for graduation! Really, nothing wrong with that!"

"There's…" Hifumi let out an audible gulp as he sweated profusely. "There's no way that's the truth… right?"

"Nope," Monokuma shook his head. "Sorry to say, Mr. Gerbil-face, but one of you standing in this very room is a cold-blooded murderer. In fact, if they had a death wish, they could just as easily just reveal themselves right now!"

That's when it finally sunk in for everyone. Whoever killed Makoto was standing among them, maybe even right next to them. Their attention turned from Monokuma onto each other, gauging each other with fear, confusion and worst of all, suspicion. The thin layer of trust that had been building between us was in the midst of breaking down into pure rubble. Wonderful for Junko, but terrible for the rest of us.

"H-hold on a fuckin' second!" Mondo roared. "Guys, think about this for a sec! He's the one telling us there's a killer here, but how do we know this piece of shit teddy bear ain't the killer?!"

"Enough of your pointless gibbering," Byakuya said, stepping forward ahead of the group. "Before anything else, there's something we need to confirm with the stuffed animal over there. Assuming that one of us did in fact kill Makoto, that person is now allowed to 'graduate' from the school, correct?"

Monokuma blinked once, registering Byakuya with confusion. "...Eh?"

"Don't you dare play coy with us! That's exactly what you said; if someone kills someone else, they get to leave! I know what you said!"

It took a moment for Monokuma to process Byakuya's words, but once he did, it was like the demented piece of shit had woken up on Christmas morning. His usual smile widened considerably, turning to us all with a low chuckle. His laughter only grew as our faces became more and more confused until he was quite literally rolling around on the floor, laughing like Byakuya had just told him the world's greatest joke. This was the part I had been dreading since this whole fiasco kicked off…

"W-why are you laughing…?" Sayaka looked ready to keel over and die as Monokuma got up, trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Naive… Honest to god, you kids are just so damn naive!" Monokuma proclaimed with thunderous laughter. "Come on, do you all really think it's that easy? Just kill someone and get to waltz right out the front door with a slap on the wrist?" Almost immediately, he stopped laughing, giving us all an extremely harsh glare. "That's extremely naive of you! Devilishly naive! Hopelessly naive! No, no, no, the real fun starts right now."

"Don't just stand around, laughing like an ingrate," Byakuya growled. "Elaborate."

"Ohh, someone's an eager little beaver! Very well then, it's now time to explain the next step in our lovely graduation program!" Monokuma snickered. "Now then, as I explained before, if you wish to graduate from Hope's Peak Academy, you need to go through and actually kill someone. But there's a little catch!"

"You are referring to the sixth regulation, are you not?" Celeste asked, pulling out her handbook. "If you are the killer, then you must remain undiscovered by the other students, no?"

"Bingo!" Monokuma nodded eagerly. "It's not enough to just kill someone in the middle of the night, you see! That would just be far too easy! No, the blackened needs to be able to successfully fool their peers and fully get away with their crime before they're allowed to leave! As such, after a certain amount of time has passed following the discovery of a body, we will promptly hold a class trial!"

I'm sure Monokuma expected a stronger reaction out of us, but ended up with awkward silence instead. Half of the students looked like Monokuma was speaking a foreign language, while the other half were waiting on a more detailed explanation. I decided to step forward myself and continue the conversation.

"What do you mean by a 'class trial'"? I asked.

If Monokuma could groan any harder, I would've mistaken him for an angsty teenager. "Oh for Pete's sake, the lawyer doesn't understand what the world 'trial' means?! Fine, allow me to elaborate. After a body has been discovered, you'll all be given a few hours of investigation to try and figure out what in the heck just happened. Following that, the spotless students and the blackened shall descend into our lovely little underground courtroom for a grand showdown for the ages! During the trial, you'll all have to present your arguments for who you think the real killer is amongst your peers. When the trial comes to an end, you'll all have to vote on who the real killer is, determined by popular vote! So if the blackened in this case receives the most votes, only they shall be punished with the rest of the class free to continue their communal lives in peace. But…~"

"If you happen to choose poorly," Monokuma continued, letting out a mighty laugh. "Then I'll punish everyone aside from the blackened, leaving the real killer free to graduate at their own discretion! And that's it as far as the class trial is concerned!"

"Hold on a second…" Chihiro looked as pale as a poltergeist, failing to meet Monokuma in the eye. "By 'punishment', what do you mean…?"

"Oh, right!" Monokuma's eyes widened in realization. "I almost forgot to elaborate on that last point. Well, by punishment, I of course mean execution."

It was like time had frozen for a split second. Everyone, even the normally stoic looking Sakura Oogami or calm and collected Celeste Ludenberg looked shaken to their cores. Meanwhile, Sayaka, Leon and even Chihiro looked ready to break out in a panic attack. The stakes had been made, the reality now fully setting in. It was do or die for not just us, but for the killer too. This was an all in bet, with no ways to cash out until everyone had played their hand fully. If I had a dollar for every panicked face in the room, I'd had enough to buy a small lunch for myself.

"D-did he just say execution?!" Hifumi screeched like a parakeet, looking ready to vomit.

"B-by 'execution', you don't mean…" Leon trailed off, unsure if he even wanted to finish that train of thought. Monokuma was more than thrilled to finish it for him.

"Execution means exactly what it means! The method doesn't matter, whether it's being ripped apart by machine gun fire, given the good ol' electric chair or even a classic gallows hanging! Just use your imagination!"

That was enough to drive the point home for many. It didn't matter who won in the end, someone else would be dead and buried by the end of the day, the only difference was that either only one more person would die or fourteen more would be tossed into the metaphorical blender. Either way, Monokuma would get his kicks all at our expense. If Makoto were here, he'd probably try to rally the other students and claim Monokuma was the murderer, but that just wasn't the case, now was it?

"Now that all of that is out of the way," Monokuma said. "I'll make sure to add these little rules to your little handbooks right away, just to make sure you don't end up forgetting!" A gentle hum vibrated the pocket in my pants, though I already knew what had just been updated. I knew how these trials worked, mostly. But someone else apparently wasn't getting the message nearly as clearly.

"This is… just… damn it!" I didn't notice Hiro at first, but now that he was speaking, I could see something shifting in him. Perhaps harder than the others, reality was hitting Hiro hard. His earlier denials of the reality of his situation were coming back to bite him and he hated every second of it. "This is bullshit! You can't just expect us to do this, someone just died for crying out loud!"

"Crazy is really a matter of perspective at the end of the day," Monokuma hummed. "What might be crazy for you is perfectly reasonable within the realm of logic for someone else. And furthermore, I most certainly do expect you to do this! Participation is vital for this school life to continue onward smoothly! That means everyone must take part in the upcoming class trial, no ifs, ands or buts about it!"

"No way, not happening!" Hiro protested, his eyes a mixture of anger and panic as he tried to stand up for himself. "You can't make me do this! Buddha, Odin, God, someone just help me already!" He held his hands in some kind of prayer, hoping that a miracle would descend from on high and lift him to safety. All Hiroreally ended up accomplishing was making himself look like a total fool in front of everyone.

Monokuma let out a sigh of disappointment. "Unbelievable… I can't just go and punish someone right away, but I need to make sure everyone knows I'm not fooling around! What am I to do…?" He stopped, slowly turning to me with a certain glint in his red eye. "Ah… now I see. Puhuhu… Mr. Davis? Would you mind just standing still for a moment? I'd rather not have your wonderful face mangled right before a class trial!"

"What are you…?" I blinked, not sure of what Monokuma was about to do, but an image of a blonde young girl with two pigtails came to mind, dying as medieval spears stabbed at her like she was nothing more than a shish kabob. Now I was in considerable panic, my heart threatening to rip itself free from the confines of my chest.

"Now then… Come to me, mighty spear of Gungir! Intimidate my enemies, show them the folly that comes in daring to oppose my might!"

It happened faster than I could blink. Six barbed spears shot up from the gym floor, all of the shooting upwards with a single pointed tip. Had I moved even a smidgeon more, I would've been the second dead body that everyone would've seen that day. Thankfully, my brain realized that staying still was the right thing to do. Each spear certainly grazed me, a clean cut on my face cheek and little cuts here and there on my suit, but thankfully nothing vital was actually hit. But the fact remained that I was literal inches away from death just a few moments ago. The screams that filled the gymnasium were enough of an indicator that Monokuma's little idea had panned out.

"Puhuhu! Looks like you'll have to pay for that cheap monkey suit in its entirety, Tony!" Monokuma looked absolutely pleased with himself. "I do apologize for having to scare one of my wonderful students like that, but I just had to stress to Mr. Marujana Hair over here the absolute importance of adhering to our school regulations!"

Hiro looked absolutely shocked as Monokuma moved past him, his eyes scanning the room as he glared daggers into our souls. "I mean business. Mess with me and I won't even blink to put any of you little bastards down in the most horrific way I can think of. If you don't want to end up with a dozen spears down your throat, you better listen to me. Got it?" There was no sense of casual merriment or macabre in Monokuma's voice. Only the barely restrained patience of a literal psychopath. Nods quickly filled the gymnasium as Hiro could only watch on with a slack jaw. I was still trying to figure out if I had died of a heart attack or not as the spears slowly retracted back into the indents on the floor.

"But hey," Monokuma shrugged. "Even if Tony did die, there'd be nothing special about it, just like how there's nothing special about how Makoto died. It's no more of a shock than the inevitable fate that awaits the human race. It's not like some cheap comic book where when you die, you're not 'really' dead, y'know?"

"I'm surprised," Kyoko said, all eyes on her now. "Why didn't you kill either Tony or Hiro? If the goal was to prove a point, wouldn't death be a more effective solution?"

"Goodness me, who do you take me for, Kyoko?" Monokuma gasped in a faux offended tone. "I might get my kicks out of watching you all slaughter each other like a bunch of wild animals, but even I need to play by rules! Allow me to reiterate, so long as you all follow the school rules to a T, I won't lay so much as a paw on any of you! In fact, I'll even jot it down in the handbook just to make it crystal clear!"

We ignored the buzzing in our pockets as Kyoko continued to glare directly at the bear. "No. You've been craving to kill for some time now, you just haven't had the opportunity to capitalize on it yet."

"Killing for some time…?" Monokuma parroted, tilting his head. "Don't be silly, how can you kill time? Or maybe you were speaking more metaphorically? Bah, none of that matters right now. What is important is the next gift I intend to bequeath onto everyone!" He snickered. "Any moment now, your handbooks should be buzzing with a new section added! We call it the 'Evidence' app! Basically, you can scan your handbook over anything that might seem useful to your investigations and it'll jot it down for future use! Alternatively, you can use it to jot down any evidence manually, such as witness testimonies and the like. Basically it's your main tool for investigational purposes!"

Sure as the sun rises every morning, we all checked our portable handbooks to find a new section ungreyed, the Evidence section. And it was already buzzing with a new addition.

"In regards to the Evidence app," Monokuma continued, "I've also taken the liberty to conduct a brief autopsy of sorts for everyone's convenience! I mean let's be real for a second, you guys are total amateurs at this kinda stuff, so it's safe to say none of you guys know what to do with a corpse! As such, I've used my all-seeing eye to write you all a handy bit of information to get you all started in your investigations! I call it… the Monokuma File!"

"So… in other words, you already know who killed Makoto for sure?" Kyoko asked, thumbing her chin.

"Well obviously!" the monochrome teddy bear shot back. "I mean, why else do you think I keep dozens of security cameras all over the place? If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to act as an impartial judge, jury and executioner! I need to make sure the playing field is nice and even for the potential blackened and the innocent after all!"

"I see," Kyoko nodded, seemingly content for now. "The judge does need to be able to pass judgment accurately. I suppose that's a small assurance."

With that done, Monokuma twirled into the air, landing back on the stage with a graceful flourish. "Now then, if you're all quite done with the preamble, let the first official investigation of the Killing School Life begin in earnest! Since you're all a bit new at this, I've decided to give you a little bit of extra investigation time, about an extra hour to be exact! Be sure to put your all into this, because you literally have no choice in the matter!" With a loud guffaw, Monokuma did a backflip behind the podium, his laughter carrying itself even after his departure.

Yet no one seemed keen on moving. After all, the metaphorical Sword of Damocles hung over our heads like a shaky chandelier, poised to snuff us out at even the slightest misstep. Not to mention that one of our friends was already lying dead in his own shower. Needless to say that our initial motivation to investigate wasn't exactly sky high.

"Now's not the time to be standing around," Kyoko's voice brought all of us back to reality. "The worst thing we can do right now is lose faith in ourselves or each other. That would just be the same as having total faith in everyone."

I looked up and realized just how right Kyoko was. Now was the time to put our heads on and work together to figure out just what happened. It hurt that Makoto was gone, but we'd end up the exact same way if we just stood around waiting for the trial to come and go without doing a thing. I knew already that I was prepared, but other people certainly weren't.

"H-hold on a sec!" Hina spoke up. "It's one thing to say to get started, but how the heck do we even get started to begin with?"

If Celeste could sigh any harder, she could've produced a hurricane right there. "Well, will standing around and just talking about the deceased help our situation in any way?"

"H-how could you just say that?!" Hina glared at the gambler. "Especially after what happened to Makoto!"

"I believe I've already said that adaptation is the key to survival. Those who fail to adapt will only earn themselves an early meeting with the Reaper. Only death awaits those who fail to even attempt to alter themselves according to the current scenario. If that happens, you shall only have yourself to blame." Celeste's response may as well have been a sledgehammer to Hina, who failed to offer up any other counterargument to the Queen of Liars.

"Right now, the only thing we can do is expose the killer," Kyoko stated firmly. "Because if we get this wrong… Well, do I need to explain further?"

"I'd rather you didn't…" Hifumi let out a defeated sigh.

"She's right," Byakuya nodded. "The only path forward is to begin our investigation, immediately."

"There is no running from this battle," Sakura proclaimed. "We can only move forward to meet it head on, or else we'll all meet our ends."

Hina gritted her teeth, taking in a deep breath. "We just… hafta do it, I guess." Her tone made it clear this was the last thing she ever wanted to do. "What choice do we have?"

"No way in hell I'm dying here!" Leon roared, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, goddamn it, let's do this shit!"

"I…" Sayaka gulped, doing her best to not look like she was drowning in oxygen. "I can't die… I can't afford to die…"

It was of some comfort to see everyone slowly come together on this much at least. The threat of being executed like a common war criminal probably had some effect on that. At least when we died, we'd die together.

However, there was still another item on the agenda. "Before we get started," Kyoko spoke again, "I'd like to address another issue. Namely how we secure the crime scene."

Leon blinked. "Huh? Why the heck would we need to do that?"

"Simple, really," Byakuya knowingly smirked. "We need someone on guard duty so that no one else can disturb the crime scene while we investigate. After all, there's always the possibility that the culprit could sneak in and destroy vital evidence before we could begin searching for it."

"If that's all, then I could probably do it," Mondo said. "I mean, I ain't that smart so I wouldn't be that much of a help when it comes to thinking anyway. I'll let you guys figure out who killed Makoto."

"Right," Chihiro nodded. "Then we could just leave it to Mondo-"

"Actually, no," Byakuya cooly interjected. "Just leaving him alone wouldn't do us any good.

"The fuck?!" Mondo growled angrily. "Why's that, jackass?!"

Byakuya blinked, giving Mondo a look. "Because if you were the killer, you would have free reign to destroy as much evidence as you'd want. We need a second person to help preserve the integrity of the crime scene."

"Son of a… Go fuck yerself, Byakuya!" Mondo looked ready to crack Byakuya's face wide open, but ultimately refrained.

"In that case, I shall volunteer as well," Sakura said, stepping forward. "That way there shouldn't be any problems with preserving the crime scene."

"Hmm…" Hifumi nodded. "Mr. Mondo Oowada and Ms. Sakura Oogami side by side? With their stats, I'd dread anyone who would dare cross such an explosive tag-team combo!"

Sakura turned to face us. "Since we won't be able to investigate, we shall both put our faith in the rest of you."

"You can count on us," I nodded. Not like we had much of a choice to begin with, but with everything on line, we had no room to screw up.

So, investigations. I usually just ended up clicking on everything that looked neat in Ace Attorney and just let the highlight feature of the Danganronpa games carry my way to victory. But there wasn't going to be any such handicap here. I had to go about this like an intelligent human being, and what better way than to actually take a look at the autopsy report? Or… the Monokuma File, I supposed. Same difference in the end. Regardless, I flipped my way to the Evidence section, swiping onto the Monokuma File to see what was up. A black and white outline of Makoto's body slumped against the wall appeared on the screen, followed by a paragraph of text:

"The victim is Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student. The time of death is estimated to be around 1:30 AM. The body was discovered in the victim's own room, in the dormitories. The cause of death was a fatal stab wound to the victim's abdomen, although it appears that the victim was also stabbed in the stomach beforehand. Additionally, the victim's right wrist was broken by some form of trauma or force. As a final note, the victim was isolated in his room for the whole night."

So not exactly a lot to go on, but we had a time of death, but we also had probable cause of death and other injuries. I was kind of surprised how much of this lined up with Sayaka's case in the first game. Stab wounds, broken wrist, the works. But Makoto… couldn't have tried to kill his killer, could he? No, there was no way. I couldn't say for sure that was the case until I took a better look at the crime scene first, but Makoto was definitely not that kind of guy. Realistically, he was in the same camp as Chihiro in that neither of them could hurt a fly even if they wanted to, so why the broken wrist? And for that matter, who could've possibly gotten into Makoto's room to begin with?

"Isolated?" Hifumi asked no one in particular. "So… does this mean Mr. Naegi was alone for the rest of yesterday after those videos?"

"That appears to be the case," Kyoko nodded. "But we need to get started right away. At this point it would be better for us to split into groups and conduct our own investigations to form a foundation for the case. But no matter how we do this, if we get this wrong…" Kyoko didn't need to finish her sentence. We got the big picture at this point, now was our time to hit the ground running.

She turned her back on us, already on her way to the door. "Pray for good luck, everyone."

Luck's definitely not all we need, that's for sure, I mused quietly.

Sakura gave a curt nod before nudging Mondo to attention. "Then that means we ought to get going ourselves."

"Huh?" Mondo blinked. "Oh, right… crime scene duty and all that." That having been said, they began making their way back to Makoto's room, but not before Mondo turned on his heel to look back on the rest of us.

"I'll say it once and only fuckin' once! If the son of a bitch who offed Makoto is thinking of burnin' any evidence under me and Sakura's noses, think again! I'll find ya, save ya the trouble of a trial and bash in yer fucking skull myself! Not even your own mother will recognize ya by the time I'm done!" And with that, he and Sakura were gone.

"Fine, I might as well play along," Byakuya shrugged. Frankly, I wanted a ocean or two's distance between me and Byakuya, but I guess we'd have to play nice for a little bit unless we both wanted to end up on the chopping block. I certainly didn't have to like him at the very least.

I took a deep breath, in and out, to calm my nerves. "Right… I should get started too." While I lacked any actual experience in investigations, I did have some places I could check to cross-examine them with what I remember from the game. The first area of interest would have to be Makoto's room. As things stood, I doubt that we were dealing with a locked-room murder. There were only a couple of people here I could legitimately see attempting something like that and none of them seemed all that keen on playing their hand this early. But if Makoto's room was locked, how did the killer get themselves into his room to begin with? If I could just figure that out, it was more than likely the rest of the puzzle would fall into place.

"That furrowed brow of yours is quite telling, Tony. Your brain is already so hard at work, diligently attempting to solve this little mystery." Celeste was just smiling, seemingly content with letting events run their course.

"Call it a trick of the trade," I shrugged. "Are you going to help with the investigation in any way?"

"Do I look like I'm a detective?" Celeste frowned. "Besides, your eyes would be far better attuned to this whole 'mystery solving' business far better than my own. No, no, I shall attend to the matters of the class trial in my own way. Do go about your business."

So much for that. But hey, Celeste never did much to help in the investigation sections to begin with, so it wasn't like I was missing out on much. Then again, I would probably do better with someone to bounce ideas off with, but that probably wasn't an option here. No, I'd have to do this solo. So I cracked my knuckles, took in a deep breath and focused. Phoenix Wright had his own way of investigation, Miles had his and even Makoto had his own way of finding the truth. I'd just need to find mine.

Or else we'd all pay the price.

A/N: So... been a while, huh? Life happens as it does, but I finally managed to put this out. However, the investigation section ended up getting beefed into damn near 12k words! As a result, I had to split the investigation into this and the next chapter. That's my bad. But hey, we're finally in the real meat of things! Next time on In Contempt of Despair, the class begins their investigation into Makoto's murder before the class trial starts. Check y'all next time.