"What is it?" Korekiyo asked, peering over his shoulder.

Kaito didn't bother stopping him. He was still in shock.

Kokichi was slightly more pragmatic.

"Shinguji-chan, wait!" He yelled, jumping up and waggling his arms in front of Korekiyo's face.

"Ouma-kun, stop being a pest." Korekiyo scowled and shoved him out of the way. "I just want to see what's- "He froze, eyes widening as he took in Gonta's body.

-ding dong, dong ding!-

"A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the Ultimate Anthropologist's lab!" Monokuma announced.

Kokichi swore and quickly grabbed something from the floor, putting it in his pocket.

Before Kaito could ask him what it was, Maki and Kirumi arrived, with Ryoma hot on their heels.

"Who is it?" Ryoma asked desperately.

Kaito didn't say anything and just stepped aside.

Ryoma stilled when he saw Gonta and shut his eyes, shaking his head.

Kaito swallowed his apprehension and took a closer look at the body. He needed to do this. For his- for everyone's- for Gonta's sake.

Mercifully, Gonta's thick mane of hair was covering his face. Kaito couldn't see his dead eyes.

His eyes trailed down the rest of the body, frowning when he reached Gonta's feet.

There was a strange burn on the left foot. And the floor underneath it was soaked.

Kaito kneeled and reached out, intending to study it further.

"Momota-kun." Kirumi's steadfast voice cut through the silence. "We shouldn't disturb the scene. Until everybody else is here."

Kaito nodded and joined Kokichi.

His partner was sniffling, pretending to hold back tears.

Kaito knew what was coming. Kokichi was waiting for his audience.

He sighed. He hated that he had to do this…go along with Kokichi's theatrics…

A moment later, Himiko and Tsumugi arrived. The former was frantic, eyes roaming all over the room, until she saw the body and fell to her knees, completely stunned.

"Yumeno…" Kaito said.

Himiko burst into tears, as did Kokichi a moment later. Except in a far more obnoxious fashion.

"UWAAAAHHHH. GONTAAAAAAAAAA!" Kokichi wailed.

Himiko glared at him, still crying.

"Kokichi, stop messing around." Kaito said sharply, playing his part.

"Ouma, now's not the time." Ryoma backed him up.

"Okay." Kokichi grinned, tears vanishing.

Kaito rolled his eyes and went over to Himiko.

"C'mon Yumeno. You can wait with me until Chabashira arrives."

"Thank you Momota." Himiko murmured, getting to her feet. "Where is Chabashira? Is she…is she all right!?"

"I'm sure she's fine." Kaito soothed her. "She's probably at the dorms."

"That makes sense." Himiko said, relaxing slightly.

"It does?"

"She went there after her run. She wanted to have a shower and rest a little bit. Then we were going to meet up for lunch and then I was going to show her and Gonta a new magic trick- "

Himiko hiccupped, crying again.

"There, there." Kaito said, patting her on the back awkwardly.

The door burst open.

"Yumeno-san!" Tenko yelled, rushing in. A haggard-looking Miu was right behind her.

"I'm okay!" Himiko said, pushing Kaito away.

"Who is- oof!" Tenko huffed as the smaller girl barrelled into her.

"It's Gonta…" Himiko whispered.

"G-gonta?" Tenko muttered, frowning for a moment, then her eyes filled with tears and she brought Himiko closer.

Kaito winced. Out of all of them, no one had been closer to Gonta than the two girls.

Then he noticed Miu.

She was looking around the room as Himiko had done, the same desperate gleam in her eyes.

What is she doing…?

Someone poked him in the ribs.

Kaito looked at his partner.

"I'm bored…can we start investigating?" Kokichi requested snidely.

"Sure. I- "

"Where's Kiibo?" Miu said, sounding lost.

Everyone looked at one another.

"She's right. He's not here." Korekiyo said.

"Then…where is he?"

"Where did you last see him?" Ryoma asked.

"The computer room…" Miu's eyes went wide. "I…he can't be…" She turned and ran out of the room.

"Hoshi-chan, please keep everyone here. Momota-chan and I will go after her!" Kokichi said.

"We will?" Kaito said, raising an eyebrow.

"To make sure she's all right." Kokichi stated, glaring softly at him.

"Oh." Kaito nodded, finally understanding. "Yes. I'll go with you."

"All right. Come back as soon as possible." Ryoma said.

Kaito and Kokichi hurried out of the room-

-only to almost run into Miu right in the hallway.

She reeled backwards, hyperventilating, and grabbed the wall for support.

"Iruma-chan?" Kokichi said, giving her a concerned look.

"He isn't there. But I left him there…and everything is a mess…where is he!?" Miu ranted.

"Woah, woah, woah. Take a deep breath and calm down." Kaito said.

"Momota, Gonta is dead! And I can't find Kiibo! What if he's been hurt!?"

"Monokuma's storage room." Kokichi said suddenly.

"Kokichi?"

"I have a hunch."

"You think he's there? Why would he be…unless…?" Miu flinched and tore down the corridor.

With nothing else to do, the two of them hurried after her.

They found her struggling with the door to the storage room, unable to open it.

"It's not locked! It's stuck!" She said, jiggling the handle again.

"Iruma-chan, step back." Kokichi demanded. "Let Momota-chan deal with it. He's stronger than both of us."

Miu nodded and quickly withdrew.

Kaito strode forward and gripped the handle tightly, pushing against the door with all his might.

It only opened a few inches, but he could feel something scrapping against it on the other side…

Maybe I can-

He put his foot in the gap and kicked the object. It folded in on itself, freeing the handle, and the door finally opened.

"Kiibo!" Miu yelled, shoving him aside and hurrying into the room.

Kaito stepped after her, only to be stopped by Kokichi.

"Momota-chan, look." He said, pulling out a folding chair from behind the door. A length of fishing line was tied around one of its legs.

"Is that- "

Miu screamed and fell to her knees.

Kokichi flinched and dropped the chair.

Kaito rushed to Miu's side. She was weeping, pointing at a familiar metal hand jutting out between two boxes.

Kaito stared at it dumbly, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Someone gently nudged his shoulder.

"Momota-chan, help me dig Kiibo out." Kokichi said.

Kaito nodded, gritting his teeth.

Together, the two of them moved the rest of the boxes out of the way, fully uncovering Kiibo's body.

Kaito frowned. There was something wrong with Kiibo's head.

It was severely misshapen. As if-

Someone has pummelled it in. He realised, swallowing nervously. They hit him over and over again, until they were sure that he was dead.

-ding dong, dong ding!-

"A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in my storage room!" Monokuma said in a sing-song voice.

Kaito took a deep breath and turned to Miu. "Iruma-chan, everyone will be here in a few moments. I need you to tell me…did you kill Gonta?"

Miu hiccupped, unable to answer him.

"Please Iruma!"

Miu shook her head, angrily biting her lip.

"Right. Iruma, I know that you were planning a murder. At some point, during the investigation, you need to tell me everything."

"Momota- "

"Don't worry, I'll defend you in the trial. But we have to be strong now, because- "

The door burst open and everyone else piled in.

Kaito shut his mouth and stood up.

Miu shuddered and stared at Kiibo's body dejectedly, refusing to look at anyone.

"Two murders!?" Tsumugi gasped. "What! How!?"

"Gonta and Kiibo…they didn't deserve this." Ryoma muttered, scowling.

"No one deserves this." Korekiyo said quietly.

"Wait! Isn't he a robot- I mean, are we sure he's really dead?" Tsumugi asked.

"Of course! I can bring him back!" Miu exclaimed. She crawled forward and grabbed Kiibo's head, desperately trying to pry it open.

"Iruma-chan, don't tamper with the evidence. "Kokichi said sharply.

"I'm not." Miu bit back. "Kiibo's not dead. He just shut down because of the damage to his head. If I can get his memory chip out, I can bring him back online in my lab. He can tell us who did this to him."

"Okay. Just be careful." Kokichi warned.

Miu huffed and went back to work.

After a few seconds, she managed to prise Kiibo's head open, exposing an array of wires and circuit boards.

Leafing through them, she started to panic, until she was almost tearing them out.

"Iruma! Stop! You're damaging him!" Kaito said.

"It's not here. It's gone." Miu quibbled, dropping the parts.

"Did the blackened take it?" Kokichi said.

"How? I'm the only one who knew about it- "Miu's expression darkened and her eyes narrowed into slits. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting? You-you son of a bitch. How dare you!"

"I'm not suggesting anything." Kokichi said smoothly. "It's obvious that you didn't remove the chip from Kiibo's head. Cos' you'd never do anything to hurt him."

"But she would hurt Gonta!" Himiko spat.

"No." Miu wilted, shaking her head. "I- "

"We're not idiots Iruma! We know you were planning a murder! So, you could escape with Kiibo!" Himiko yelled, tears leaking from her eyes due to sheer force of her voice.

"Yumeno, shhh. You're in shock." Tenko said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Himiko nodded and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her cardigan.

"C'mon, let's go. Leave the investigating to the pros." Tenko said, gently taking her hand.

Himiko nodded again and let Tenko lead her away.

The latter glared at Miu as they walked past her.

Miu immediately glared back, before scoffing and looking away.

A moment later, a devilish laugh echoed around the room.

Monokuma appeared from under a box, still chortling.

Miu bristled. "It was you! You took the chip!"

"Yup." He admitted gleefully.

"So- where is it?" Miu shouted. "Tell me!"

"I dropped it in a toilet."

"Don't bullshit me. It's too precious. I know you still have it!"

"Okay, okay, ya got me." Monokuma said, getting out the chip and holding it above his head. "It's riiight here!"

"Give it to me!" Miu growled, scrambling to her feet.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhh…. no. I can't do that. It would make things waaayyy too easy."

Miu glared at him and raised a fist.

Monokuam giggled and waggled his eyebrows at her.

Thankfully, Ryoma intervened and pulled Miu back. "Iruma, this isn't worth it. if you hurt him, he'll execute you."

Miu struggled against him for a moment, then bit her lip and crumbled to the floor, weeping.

Ryoma swallowed, then released her and slowly stepped away.

Kaito considered comforting her, but discarded the notion when Kokichi stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Soooo, Monokuma, when you said it would make things "too easy" …does that mean that Kiibo saw his murderer?"

"Bingo! If I let you bring the bot online, you'll discover who the blackened is."

"So, if you won't give the chip to us now…doesn't that mean you're holding Kiibo's life hostage?" Kaito said, standing by his partner.

"Hmm. Am I?" Monokuma said, cocking his head and laughing. "Woah! I guess I am!"

"If we catch the blackened, will you bring him back?" Miu asked, almost pleading.

"Maybeee."

"All right. Let's start the investigation." Miu declared, shakily getting to her feet.

"Wait! There were two murders- what if they were committed by different people? Which one would be the blackened?" Kaito said.

"Hmm. I dunno. I guess they could flip a coin?" Monokuma smirked.

"What if they're working together? Wouldn't they both be the blackened? Because of the motive?" Kokichi said.

"Upupu. I do admit, that is a rather despairful possibility." Monokuma admitted.

"There's only two people- two murderers who would work together." Miu said, scowling at Kirumi and Maki.

"I assure you, neither of us murdered anyone." Kirumi said curtly.

"We were together the whole morning. Cleaning my lab." Maki added.

"Well, maybe you're covering for another." Miu said, sounding much less certain.

"Iruma-chan, Momota-chan and I will uncover the blackened. Don't worry, we won't let the perps get away." Kokichi said.

"Fine." Miu muttered, backing down.

"Now that that's all over…Monokuma, are we dealing with one murderer, or two?" Korekiyo said.

"Yes, well, I don't want to give the game away." Monokuma coughed. "So, I'm adding a new rule: If two different murders by two different people occur around the same time, then whoever killed first is the blackened."

Kaito frowned.

Two murders…this is going to be difficult to solve.

"This'll be easier to solve than Saihara-chan's murder. I already have several suspects in mind." Kokichi boasted.

"Really?" Kaito said, blinking in surprise.

"Yes, Momota-chan. But I'd rather keep my suspicions to myself for now." Kokichi said, winking at him.

"Can we please start the investigation? I want to go back to my lab. I find this room…suffocating." Korekiyo complained.

"No one cares Shinguuji-chan." Kokichi said.

Kaito sighed. "Enough bickering. Shinguuji is right. We need to start investigating." He turned to Monokuma. "We won't give up. We'll catch the blackened."

"We have to. It's the only way we can survive." Ryoma said demurely.

"Just like the last two trials…All right! Let's uncover the truth!" Himiko said, clapping her hands together.

"I'll help in any way I can." Tenko said.

"So will I." Tsumugi chimed in quickly.

"If you need anyone to guard the crime scenes. Tojo and I can do it." Maki said. Kirumi nodded in agreement.

"I'll help you investigate my lab." Korekiyo said.

"And I'll do whatever I can to catch Kiibo's killer." Miu vowed.

"So, everyone's ready…good." Kaito said, nodding at his classmates.

"Are you ready Momota-chan?" Kokichi grinned at him.

"Yes."

"Then lets…"

-INVESTIGATE-