Chapter 24:

. "Okay." Kirigiri replied, as she continued to kneel near next to Hagakure's body. She was checking his mouth, which appeared to be empty except for his teeth and tongue.
. Genocider had checked the other first floor classroom for clues, and while she was there, she had been looking at the desks. There didn't seem to be anything odd. She had opened all twenty, and there wasn't a single clue to be found on any of them. There was nothing in any of of them. Not to mention the legs all looked in perfectly good shape.
. She went and found Togami who was searching through case files again, in an attempt to peg something, anything down. But unlike the last trial with Genocider, there wasn't an easy hook to look into. Not enough time to look for a clue that may not even be there. He should have been reading these as soon as the second trial finished, maybe even taking some notes on them.
. "Master, nothing wrong in the other first floor classroom."
. "And the others?"
. "Well... I haven't checked them yet."
. "You fool. Come back to me when you've checked them all!" Togami was irritated at his lack of progress with the case files.
. "Yes, Master!"
. Genocider went ahead and checked the second floor classrooms. Classroom 2-A, with its dark green walls, also had twenty desks. Genocider got a good chuckle out of the sign that said "Always Be True To Yourself."
. There wasn't much in any desk either. She found some language textbooks for German, Latin, and French, as well as a book on Greek Grammar. But if those textbooks were clues, then they were lost on Genocider. Classroom 2-A just appeared to be a dead end.
. Classroom 2-B, with its drab brown atmosphere was as fruitless as 2-A. The twenty desks didn't appear to have any scratch or scuff marks beyond the normal uses of a school student, at least in Genocider's mind. The list of books probably wasn't going to much either, and Monokuma's lame-ass pun of "Realism ain't all it's chalked up to be" on the chalkboard made Genocider cringe.
. "Yamada, my tea is cold. Go warm it up again in the microwave." Celeste demanded of Yamada.
. "I would... but..."
. "But.. what?"
. "It seems the microwave has exploded from the inside out."
. "What?"
. "Never mind about the tea. Yamada. I have my own clue to explore."
. "Your own clue? I think it's our clue." Yamada said.
. "Did I stutter?" Celeste said, menacingly.
. "No, Celeste." Yamada said.
. "No, Celeste, indeed. Now get back to the murder scene and tell those three that the microwave has blown up and to find me if they have any theory about it or if they want to see it for themselves."
. "Yes, Celeste."
. Celeste went ahead and began examining the microwave. Aside from the faint smell of smoke that still lingered, there were the shattered remains of a CD inside.
. "How strange. It appears someone has microwaved a CD."
. She flipped over the CD and was surprised to see "Yaushiro Hagakure" inscribed on it.
. "Well, this definitely connects this microwave to Hagakure's death." Celeste came to that obvious conclusion. She continued to inspect the microwave. The outside had been bashed it, but the plug appeared to be functional as it was still plugged in.
. "Celeste." Fujisaki had arrived. "I heard from Yamada you found something."
. "Yes. The microwave is in shambles." Celeste said, quickly glancing at the knife rack. There were still only two missing. The one she took last night, and the one she had covertly picked up in the gymansium, the one that Maizono had brought when she witnessed Oogami and Enoshima kill each other.
. "I see." Chihiro studied it closely.
. "Do you notice anything about it?"
. "I'm a computer programmer, not a mechanical engineer. But I do notice something strange."
. "Well, what's that?"
. "Look how it's been bashed in.
. Indeed, Fujisaki had pointed out something that Celeste had the shards on the front appeared as those they had been hit by a hammer.
."Hey, Fujisaki?"
. "Yes."
. "Do you think I could get the time this thing stopped working if I plugged it in?"
. "No! No! No!" Monokuma came in shrieking. "I am not going to have extra fire hazards in play right before the third trial."
. "Extra?" Celeste said.
. "Maybe the Monokuma file will have some information?" Fujisaki said.
. "Oh yeah." Celeste said. "I forgot about that."
. Celeste pulled up the file on her Student ID.

. "VICTIM: YAUSHIRO HAGAKURE: TIME OF DEATH: 1:45 AM
. CAUSE OF DEATH: A BLOW TO THE HEAD. DEATH WAS INSTANTANEOUS.
. PLACE OF BODY: CLASSROOM 1-A"

. "There's not much to go on in here." Celeste said.
. "I was afraid as much." Fujisaki replied.
. "Well, I mean-. Say Fujisaki, stop for a moment. Do you hear something? It's playing over the intercom."
. "Yeah, I hear it too."
. "Monokuma!"
. "Oh, I was finally wondering if you guys noticed that I had background music on." Monokuma sniggered. "It took you how many days? I call this track 'Box 15'. When it stops playing, you'll know that the investigation time is just about over."
. "Uh huh."
. "I think the more important question is... why do you have background music on?"
. "Because it's climatic. Every game needs some great music to go with it, even this game known as "'The School Life of Mutual Killing.'"
. "So this is still just a game to you?" Celeste replied.
. "It's a game to me. A lifestyle for you." Monokuma said all-knowingly. "But hey, I could play something a bit more to taste."
. All of a sudden, "PEPSI MAAAN! PEPSI MAAAN!" began blaring throughout the school halls.
. "God no!" Maizono screamed. "Please no! No! NO! MONOKUMA!" Maizono said, raising and pounding her fists in frustration. "TURN THAT CRAP OFF!"
. "What's wrong, Maizono?" Monokuma chuckled. "Don't like a little product placement?"
. "You know I have to agree with Maizono, I preferred that somber track from before." Naegi said.
. "This track is tonally inappropriate." Kirigiri said.
. Celeste and Fujisaki continued to look around the kitchen. Fujisaki noticed something odd.
. "Hey, Celeste, there appear to be some knives missing."
. "Are there?"
. "Yeah. But it's strange."
. "What's that?"
. "One of the knives here is quiet wet. It appears that it has been cleaned off."
. "Yo! S'up! Fujisaki!" Leon had just arrived. "Oh, and you, Celeste. I see the two of you are in here, Yamada told me all about the microwave."
. "Hey, Leon." Celeste sighed.
. "Wow! It looks like it was hammered in." Leon replied.
. "Yeah." Fujisaki said.
. "Ten bucks says it was a sculpting hammer." Leon said.
. "Wait, what?" Celeste said.
. "You know the sculpting hammers? The only hammers in this school any one has access to are the sculpting hammers inside the art room's storage room."
. "I guess you're right."
. "I'm on it. I'll see you later, Fujisaki." Leon said, dashing off.
. "Hey, Celeste, did something happen between you and Leon?" Fujisaki asked.
. "No, well kinda. Can I not talk to you about it?" Celeste said, glancing at the security camera in the kitchen.
. "Oh, I understand." Fujisaki gave an understanding smile. "Now if only I understood why we're hearing 'PEPSI MAN! PEPSI MAN!' through the speakers school-wide."
. Leon wished he had known about the microwave being smashed in before he had gone down to the first floor. Still, there was somewhere else to investigate: the art storage room. He strolled up the first floor stairs and was heading to the stairs on the third floor when Togami nearly bumped into him.
. Leon's eyes narrowed.
. "You."
. "Have you found anything?" Togami replied, pretending not to notice Leon's icy tone.
. "Yeah, we found the microwave smashed in. Probably by a hammer."
. "And how do you know that the microwave being smashed in had anything to with Hagakure's death?"
. "Well, it has something to do with Hagakure, considering there was a fragmented CD inside with the name 'Yasuhiro Hagakure' on it."
. "Alright, then. I accept such reasoning."
. "It makes more sense than Monokuma's new taste in music."
. "Agreed."
. Leon and Togami went up to the third floor. They passed the recreation room and turned left. The purple lights illuminated their walking. The silence between the two was deafening, and then they were interrupted by someone.
. "Master! Master!"
. "Oh, crap." Byakuya sighed. "I'd forgotten that she'd be here."
. Genocider Shou came running up to the two of them.
. "There appears to be nothing wrong with any desk in any of the classrooms!" Genocider reported excitedly.
. "Good." Togami said.
. "A third trial. I thought maybe one would happen. Two seemed absurd, but now three. What's Monokuma's angle? What's the long game? Was Hagakure onto something? 'I mean, what benefit does it have for you? If someone successfully commits a murder, that means your little game is over. ... "Is there some great philosophical meaning behind it? Are you like, broadcasting this all over the world with the intent to display the fault of humanity? Because you've chosen the worst possible candidates for it, a bunch of teenagers.' "
. "Naegi?" Maizono asked.
. "Nothing. I was just lost in my own head for a moment."
. "I still can't believe that there's going to be a third trial."
. "Neither can I."
. "You're still wondering how you got in here."
. "What? How do you know that?"
. "Because I'm an esper."
. "Uh huh."
. "Super Duper High School Level Lucky Student, my ass. I'm just an ordinary guy."
. "And yet, you're here."
. "What even qualifies as luck?"
. "I can help you there." Monokuma said.
. "Ahhh." Naegi said.
. "You want to know what qualifies as luck?"
. "Please tell me that it's not plot armor."
. "What?"
. "You know, plot armor? Where you're not worried about whether or not the main characters in a show will die because you know they have to stick around."
. "Oh, that plot armor. Yeah, about that... See I never care for luck. I was only ever interested in what student would get selected."
. "What?"
. "Oh, yeah. The Super Duper High School Level... God, that is such a long title, you know what, I'm going back to the alternate naming scheme, I'm saying 'Ultimate' Lucky Student, etc. from now on. Anyway the title 'Lucky Student' gets reused as a title a helluva lotta times throughout Hope's Peak."
. "Why?"
. "It's part of their annual lottery, or at least it was."
. "So you're saying Ultimate Lucky Student is might be akin to the 'Ultimate Bullshit'?"
. "Yeah, pretty much."
. "BULLSHIT!"
. "But all seriously, the goal behind the Lucky Students was to take an average person and measure him up against the 'talented' people. But sometimes those 'average' people can be pretty weird. Like I knew this one guy, who claimed he got kidnapped, but ended up with a winning lottery ticket in the bag his kidnappers took him in."
. "I don't believe you."
. "Of course you wouldn't."
. "Then what was this student's name?"
. "Nagito Komaeda."
. "And he wouldn't have happened to know a 'Peko Pekoyama', would he now?"
. Monokuma looked surprised. "How do you know that name?"
. "That gilded award sword outside the gymnasium. I spotted it on my first night of exploration."
. "Wouldn't you like to find out if the Ultimate Swords-woman knows another Ultimate Lucky Student, but alas you're trapped in here. Unless you successfully commit a murder, that is." Monokuma chuckled as he slipped out of sight.
. That was it. Makoto Naegi got up from the floor of Classroom 1-A.
. "Huh? Makoto?" Maizono asked.
. "I can't do it. I can't stay here and be the guard any longer. Besides there's you and Kirigiri and Yamada." Naegi said, putting his hood up.
. "There's nothing preventing you from leaving." Yamada said.
. "Alright. See you guys later." Naegi said. "I have to know just as much as the rest of you. Otherwise, I'll just be a hinderance at the class trial."
. "Wait, Makoto" Maizono pleaded.
. "What is it? Maizono?" Naegi asked.
. But Maizono's words fell silent as she realized there was no way to justify keeping Naegi in this room without revealing the fact that someone had threatened his life to her.
. Kirigiri stood up. "I finished my investigation of the body. Wait just a moment, Naegi, and I'll accompany you."
. "Accompany you where?" Celeste asked, as she and Fujisaki re-entered the classroom.
. "Celeste, I know it was your plan to have guard duty but..." Naegi started.
. "But you can't stay in here. You have to get exploring for clues. Isn't that right?" Celeste smiled. "Well, I did say that I want there to be guards, but they don't necessarily have to the same throughout the investigation. Why don't I take over guard duty? I have to things to mull over."
. Fujisaki timidly decided to stay in the room as well. "It's only fair if Naegi gets his own chance to investigate as well."
. "Alright." Kirigiri said. "So Celeste, Yamada, and Fujisaki will now guard the body. Maizono, that means you're free as well."
. "Yes, it does."
. "Hey, Kirigiri, you go solo. I'll accompany Naegi." Maizono said as Naegi ran off.
. Naegi was impatient. "I'm going to start with that microwave Yamada mentioned. It's got a CD with Hagakure's name on it. That means its the one piece of evidence outside of the classroom that we know without a doubt is connected to this case." Without waiting for Maizono to catch up, Naegi jogged to the cafeteria.
. "So this is what happened to the microwave." Naegi said, inspecting it thoroughly. But a piece of paper caught his eye.
. Sorry, guys, I broke the toaster.
. "Toaster?" Naegi asked.
. "What's this about a toaster?" Maizono asked, having caught up to Naegi.
. "I don't know. But there's a note that makes reference to a toaster. But there's no toaster in the kitchen." Naegi said.
. "How very strange." Maizono said. "Do you think it's important?"
. "I don't know." Naegi admitted. "Let's keep in mind for the class trial."
. "Does it say who wrote the note?" Maizono asked.
. "No, there appears to be no name." Naegi said.
. "So we don't know who wrote it."
. "No, we don't."
. Naegi and Maizono continued to investigate the kitchen. There was nothing of note that either of them could find. The four knives above the microwave were undisturbed. Aside from the microwave, the kitchen seemed almost spotless. The black floor had no messes.
. "Wait, four knives?" Naegi noticed. " I thought there were six knives."
. Togami and Leon were investigating the art preparation room.
. "Do you know how many sculpting hammers there were originally?" Leon asked.
. "Six, if I'm not mistaken." Togami replied.
. Leon counted the hammers. There were six.
. "What is it?" Genocider asked.
. "All six are accounted for." Leon said.
. "That's hardly a surprise." Togami replied. "I just took a look at the Monokuma file, and it says Hagakure died at 1:45 AM. What time is it now? If so, then that gives the culprit plenty of time to put away the hammer."
. "Wait, 1:45 AM?" Leon said. His eyes narrowed. That crossed some suspects off his list.
. Celeste was examining Hagakure's body. Something seemed odd. 1:45 AM?
. But that would mean Hagakure died right around the time she was attempting to pull of her own murder attempt. So did that mean she had an alibi for that time just like Leon, Togami, and Maizono?
. "Oh yeah, that's a really great alibi. I was attempting to murder Leon and Togami at the time of Hagakure's death. Brilliant! What a wonderful way to get out of being accused of Hagakure's death."
. "Celeste, is something wrong?" Fujisaki asked.
. "I just can't shake the feeling that something is off with Hagakure's corpse." Celeste said.
. "What is it?"
. "I don't know."
. Yamada stood there. "I think I'll investigate the classroom a bit." Yamada said. Slowly he opened each desk and felt around.
. "Have you found anything?" Celeste asked.
. "No." Yamada said. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom for a bit."
. "Fujisaki, check this out?" Fujisaki forgot what Chihiro was thinking as Celeste called out.
. "What is it, Celeste?" Fujisaki asked, bending over slightly.
. "Look at Hagakure's corpse, there's something peeling off his fingers."
. "It's...glue."
. "Yeah, but what was Hagakure doing with glue?"
. Fujisaki thought. "But the door was closed off with glue. Was Hagakure trying to seal himself into the classroom? If that was the case, why?"
. As Naegi continued to explore the kitchen, he couldn't shake the sinking feeling.
. "What is it, Naegi?" Maizono asked.
. "I can't shake this feeling. From when Monokuma mentioned that Nagito Komaeda guy. First a Peko Pekoyama and then that Ultimate Physicist who created the air purifier on the third floor, and that Nagito Komaeda guy, another Lucky Student, there have been other students from Hope's Peak."
. "Yeah, so what?"
. "Where are they?"
. "I'm sorry?"
. "Why was he focusing on us? What was so special between the fifteen of us? What connection do we all share?"
. "Huh. I guess that question needs answering."
. "Yeah, it kinda does."
. "But not today. We need to focus on the trial."
. "Alright, we can save it for later."
. Meanwhile, Celeste and Fujisaki were so focussed on Hagkaure's body, they didn't realize that the door opened.
. WHAP!
. And in a pair of instants, the two had been knocked out. Fujisaki's brain was jogging.
. "Parallax scrolling. Different angles. Layers."
. "Parallax scrolling. It's where background images move slower than the foreground images to create three-dimensional appearances."
. "Can't parallax scroll a classroom..."
. Fujisaki awoke.
. "Oh, Fujisaki. How are you?" Maizono asked.
. "My head is still ringing. But I'm think I'm fine."
. "You have quite the bruise, are you sure you're going to be okay?"
. "Yeah. I'll be fine."
. "Since Enoshima has departed, we had Monokuma check the two of you for concussions."
. "And?"
. "None. It was really weird. He had this machine that he used to hook up to your head. Said it would help measure brain waves. No signs of a concussion. For either of you. You're all ready to go."
. "Good to hear."
 Meanwhile, Celeste had a restless unconsciousness.
. "You can't do that. You just won't have enough money. There's no way it will work mathematically."
. "Are you so sure?"
. "What are you going to do, live on those relatively meager World Series of Poker winnings?"
. "Of course I can."
. "But how?"
. "It's called investing in stock and getting dividend checks back."
. "What?"
. "You know, dividend checks?"
. "Celeste, I know what dividend checks are. That's how my parents got wealthy. But those wouldn't be enough."
. "Combine that with winning gambling tournaments, and it would be enough."
. "And what happens if you don't win?"
. "I will win."
. "You're the same as ever. Gun-ho. And the idea of failure has never crossed your mind."
. "Yes, it has."
. "No, it hasn't. I mean,not really. You've only ever suffered setbacks."
. "Like you've never failed before."
. "Oh, I have. Being born with such a worthless talent as mine. That's where I've failed."
. "Luck isn't worthless."
. "Is it?"
. "If it weren't for your luck, you never would have met me..."
. "And I never would have learned gambling statistics, or mathematical probabilities."
. "Yes, as I've said before and will say again 'Whatever the game, you must have a mind for strategy. This will allow you to increase your odds of winning. However, the exciting part about gambling is that there is a power which can overwhelm any strategy. That power is ... luck. So in short, embrace your luck."
. "You say that but it's brought me just as many bad things as good things."
. "Well, there ARE only two types of luck- good and bad. There is no in-between. And that luck is built into every human at the moment of conception. Like a computer program. Some call it fate. The bottom line is, luck is life."
. "Celeste, never have truer words been spoken."
Celeste opened her eyes in the infirmary.
. "Kirigiri. Maizono."
. She turned slightly and saw Monokuma.
. "S'up! Can you hear it?"
. "Ah!" That got Celeste out of bed real quick.
. "What's going on? Hear what?"
. "Easy, you've just been knocked out."
. "But why?"
. "I don't know. I was just about to ask you that. What were doing you before the two of you got knocked out."
. "We were examining Hagakure's body. Wait two of us?"
. Celeste's eyes shifted over to the bed adjanct to her. The rumpled sheets indicated that someone had been in there.
. "Aw. Crap. Who was it?"
. "Yeah. Fujisaki. That makes three people knocked out, but not murdered within the last twenty-four hours."
. "Wait, three?" Celeste asked.
. "Don't worry about it." Maizono gritted her teeth.
. "Who found us?" Celeste asked.
. "Leon."
. "What?"
. "He was heading back to the classroom when he saw Yamada come out of the bathroom. Together the two headed back to the classroom where they discovered the two of you knocked out. Then we all brought you up here. Needless to say, everybody else is now on edge even more than usual."
. "Okay, Monokuma, now what do you want to mean hear?"
. "What do I want you to hear here? Take a listen."
. "That's some odd ... ambience."
. "Yeah, I've been looping for the second song from Portal: ''Taste of Blood', which reminds me. Now that everybody is awake. It's time!"
. Monokuma's announcement played: "TIME'S UP: HEAD TO THE TRIAL ROOM!"
. With that notification, the nine students gathered up to the front of the elevator. Trial number three was about to get underway. Maizono was the first one there to board the elevator.
. "Trial number three. I hope this isn't the one that gets us."
. Celeste came next.
. "Who attacked me? And will my alibi be needed"
. Leon was third to board.
. "A pool cue, glue, and a vase: which is the murder weapon?"
. Fujisaki stared into space as Chihiro boarded the elevator.
. "Who do I keep thinking parallax scrolling is the answer here?"
. Togami joined them, pushing up his glasses in anticipiation. There was something thrilling about these trials to him, but unlike the first trial, this one wasn't very obvious.
. "Was there something I missed in those files?"
. Genocider hovered behind him.
. "I'm sure my White Knight will figure this all out like the brilliant man he is."
. Yamada scooted in following Genocider.
. "Well, well, well, it's time to say goodbye to someone, but who? And how many?"
. Kirigiri joined them next.
. "Monokuma clearly has something up his sleeve. But what is it?"
. Naegi was last.
."Trial number three. Hagakure dead. But who killed him? And why do I get the feeling we're overlooking something very, very important?"
. Monokuma snickered. The plans were coming together nicely. No matter how entertaining trial number three was for him, the next go-around was probably going to be even more entertaining than any of the first three? But if they made it through trial number three, how would they fare in the future?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please, keep speculating on where this story will go. There is one advantage to being patient and taking my time, I've already planted seeds for future chapters so nothing is an ass-pull. Try and find them. (Also, I originally had Celeste find the note instead of Naegi.) Yes, there is going to be a fourth trial.