"Right. After we looked around the virtual world for a bit, we split into three main groups to find the clues that Monokuma hid in the virtual world." Kaede began.

"Kaede, Rantaro, and Gonta search chapel." Gonta said as he crossed his arms and made a pondering expression.

"And the ones who searched the mansion were me, Maki, the late Angie and Ryoma, and that NPC Kaito!" Kokichi added before he started laughing.

"Hey! Who you callin' NPC, you A-S-S!?" Kaito yelled with a face of complete fury.

"And the people who searched the outside areas were Tenko, Himiko, me, Shuichi, Kirumi, and Keebo." I said as I sighed at Kaito and Kokichi's antics.

"Tenko and I searched outside the chapel, Keebo and Shuichi searched outside the mansion, and Rin and Kirumi searched the forest behind the mansion." Himiko added. "Tenko and I didn't leave each other by ourselves at all until we found that clue near the chapel."

"Same. Keebo and I didn't go too far from each other either as we searched. We were always close by, enough to see the other if one of us found something." Shuichi added.

"Kirumi and I were the same until Kirumi was logged out by the culprit." I nodded in agreement.

"How could any deal fatal damage to either of them when we were all split up in groups like that?" Tenko asked.

"That's what we have to think about." Rantaro stated.

"Let's begin, then." Keebo nodded. The fatal damage that could have killed Angie and Ryoma…let's pin that down.

"In the virtual world, Angie, and perhaps Ryoma as well, received a fatal wound that killed them." Kirumi began the discussion.

"We should focus our efforts on figuring out how that happened first." Kaito said with a big smile.

"Whatever killed those two must have been the thing that was right next to them." Tenko said before she punched the air with enthusiasm. "The shovel! That must be the murder weapon!"

"Perhaps, but could there be some other way?" I asked.

"Maybe Gonta beat them to death with his bare hands." Kokichi then suggested, making me sigh in response.

"I'm being serious…" I groaned while shaking my head.

"Perhaps blunt force wasn't involved. Strangulation is also possible isn't it?" Kaede suggested.

"It's possible that one of them was pushed from a great height." Keebo added.

"Maybe they drowned in the river that was next to the mansion…" Himiko then said as she put a finger on her chin.

"I don't think so. I believe physical trauma, like blunt force trauma, had to be the cause of the fatal damage for Angie at least." Shuichi said. "Her real body didn't show any sign of any sort of struggle, and it appears as though she might have died instantly."

"There's also Rin's story to consider." Rantaro commented. "He said that he was ambushed and hit from behind with something. That was probably the shovel."

"That's right. If the attack was a single hit that caused the victim to die instantly, they wouldn't feel that much pain if any. If that's what happened, Angie's body appearing as though she was just sleeping wouldn't be so far-fetched." Maki stated.

"Oooohhh! The assassin master gets reeeally chatty when it comes to corpses!" Kokichi smirked, resulting in Maki giving him a dark glare.

"So Angie's exact cause of death is blunt force trauma in the virtual world from being hit by the shovel." Kaede summarized.

"So the shovel really was the murder weapon?" Tenko asked.

"Most likely. It's the only thing we've found that could have been used as a weapon to cause fatal damage." Shuichi nodded.

"But why did the culprit leave the shovel at the scene? Wouldn't it have been better for them to try to hide it? That way, we wouldn't have found it at the scene." Tenko asked.

"Maybe there was some reason they had to leave it behind?" Kaito suggested.

"Perhaps they were about to get caught and ran away in a panic?" Himiko suggested.

"Either way, just leaving it there was really lazy on the culprit's part. They didn't even try to get rid of evidence. There must have been something they could have done instead of just leaving it at the scene." Kokichi sighed.

"Where did that shovel even come from? I don't remember seeing a shovel anywhere during our search." I said.

"The cell phone too. We would have found it if it were out in the open." Maki added.

"Perhaps the culprit hid it ahead of time." Rantaro suggested.

"Ahead of time? Wouldn't that mean someone entered the virtual world before any of us?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, and that's exactly what happened. The login and logout records show that." Shuichi replied.

"Really?" Kaede gasped.

"Someone logged into the virtual before, and just to hide the shovel and cell phone they were going to use to kill Rin? Is that true?" Kirumi asked.

"Yes. Though the file doesn't show us who it was, someone definitely logged in before the rest of us." Shuichi stated.

"But why would anyone do that?" I couldn't help but ask. "Did someone…really betray us?"

"We don't have any choice but to believe that. Monodam told us himself that he heard Monokuma talking about a deal he made with someone." Rantaro told me.

"So we were betrayed then. By one of our dearest friends." Kokichi said playfully in a mocking tone.

"Gonta not want to believe it, but it true, right?"

"With everything we're talking about, it's becoming more and more obvious." Maki said with a pointed glare. "We were betrayed. There's no getting around that."

"So who did it? Which one of you accepted Monokuma's deal?" Tenko asked as she glared at all the guys. "I bet it was a degenerate! Only a filthy male would take such an underhanded deal like this!"

"She's back to this now?" Kaito groaned as he rolled his eyes.

"The one who made the deal with Monokuma…" Shuichi mumbled as he thought about it for a bit before a grimace appeared on his face. "I believe…it was Angie."

"Angie?" Himiko asked.

"What? No. It couldn't be her, right? I mean, she wanted to prevent killings, remember? Are you sure it had to be her?" I asked him.

"I don't want to believe it either, but there's a lot of evidence pointing to her involvement in this case, not just as a victim." He told me.

"But why would she accept Monokuma's deal?" Keebo asked. "If she accepted his offer, that meant she wanted to kill someone!"

"But who's to say that's not what she really wanted?" Kokichi asked.

"Angie wouldn't do that! She wanted to help us!" Himiko shouted.

"If Angie was the one planning to kill someone, then from what we've discussed so far…" Kaede began.

"She was trying to kill Rin and frame Kirumi for it." Kaito finished with gritted teeth.

"I…don't want to believe it." I said with averted eyes. "I mean, Angie helped me a lot. I don't want to believe she really would have tried to kill me. That she would have so blatantly stomped over our trust like that."

"Nee-heehee… I guess it makes sense that a lot of you don't want to believe Angie could have done this." Kokichi smirked. "If we want to prove to you all that this is the truth, we'll have to figure out What exactly Angie tried to do. What was she planning on doing to kill Rin? We already know that much, don't we?"

"What do you mean?" Tenko asked.

"She wanted to frame Kirumi, right? That's why she set things up so she would forget everything that happened in the virtual world." Kokichi explained. "Including swapping the cords on Kirumi's helmet to cause that error, making it so she wouldn't remember anything after she was logged out."

"That was Angie who did that?" Kaito asked, but that's when Himiko interjected.

"N-No! That can't be right! Angie couldn't have done that!" She exclaimed. "Because…when could Angie have swapped the cords on Kirumi's helmet?"

"That is a good point." Tenko nodded. "If she swapped Kirumi's cords after Kirumi had logged in without anyone noticing, then she must have logged out to do it!"

"If she logged out, then she would have had to log back into the virtual world after swapping the cords." Rantaro noted.

"But Kokichi was in the salon the whole time, and he told us he didn't see anything." Himiko stated.

"That's true. If Angie had logged in while I was searching the salon, I would have seen her." Kokichi nodded.

"If she hadn't logged in or out, then Angie couldn't have been the one who swapped Kirumi's cords and caused the avatar error!" Kaito proclaimed.

"No, that's wrong!" Shuichi shouted. "It was Angie who caused Kirumi's avatar error. She had plenty of time to do it. Remember the login and logout record?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Kaito asked.

"Angie was the last one of us to log in." Shuichi explained.

"S-So? That doesn't mean anything does it?" Himiko stammered.

"If she logged in last, she would've had time to move around in the real world after the previous person logged in." Maki stated.

"That right! She coulda swapped cords without anyone noticing!" Gonta declared with a nod.

"That was part of Angie's plan. Don't you see? She had to have been the one who accepted Monokuma's deal." Kokichi told us with a serious look before he looked at me and Kirumi with something akin to disappointment. "She tried to kill Rinny in the virtual world, then tried to pin the crime on Kirumi."

"Why are you making it sound like it's somehow mine or Kirumi's fault?" I asked him with a frown.

"Well, it's for that reason she manually logged Kirumi out." Kokichi pointed out.

"She was also the one who did that to me?" Kirumi questioned with a bit of surprise.

"That means she was the one who had the cell phone." Rantaro noted.

"But that's not possible is it? She was with us the whole time before we split up to search the virtual world. Even when we were split up, she only searched the main hall of the mansion. There wasn't much there that could have hid the cell phone from sight." Kaito said.

"...No, that isn't exactly true. There was an opportunity where Angie could have grabbed the cell phone." Shuichi said.

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes. It was the moment she ran up to the roof by herself right after we looked at the maps of the virtual world." He explained.

"I remember that. Angie had run up the stairs and Himiko and Tenko followed her up there as the rest took our time walking up the stairs." I said as I recalled the memory. "When we got up there, the three of them were playing in the snow. But since Angie got there first, she would have had a small opportunity to grab the cell phone if it was up there."

"Mind over strength!" And with that, another objection rang out across the trial grounds as Tenko shouted and pointed at Shuichi. "No! Your logic is all wrong, Shuichi!"

"Hm? What do you mean?" He asked.

"Hmph! And you don't even know why you're wrong, either! Typical degenerate male!" Tenko huffed. "Nnnnngraaaaahhh! I'll smash in your face with my fists of hot burning steel!" And so, the second rebuttal showdown began. "Angie running to the roof doesn't have anything to do with the case! She didn't grab the cell phone up there! The cell phone probably wasn't even up there! And now, I'm gonna punch you!"

"W-Wait a second, b-before you punch me…" Shuichi pleaded. "What makes you so sure she didn't?"

"Because Himiko and I were right behind her, of course! She would have had only a few seconds at most to get to the storage shed and grab the phone! But where would she even hide it!? If she couldn't hide it, we would have seen her with it in her hands!"

"No, she did hide it before you two saw her on the roof. And there's proof. After all, I found one of Angie's paint brushes on the ground of the storage shed when I investigated there."

"Her paint brush?" Himiko asked.

"What does that have to do with Angie grabbing the cell phone?" Keebo asked.

"Hmm…" I thought about it for a bit before the answer hit me. "So that's it…"

"Huh? Did you figure something out, Rin?" Kaito asked me.

"We couldn't exactly hide items on our avatars easily, could we?" I asked.

"No. There wasn't any special function for us to hold items. All we had were the pockets our clothes had." Kaede answered before her eyes went wide. "Wait…"

"That's what I thought." I told her. "If Angie rushed up to the roof to grab the cell phone, then that meant she needed a place to store it until she got the chance to use it. And she had the perfect thing to hide it: her tool belt."

"That's right. Our avatars were modeled after our real bodies, so that would include all our clothes. Angie would still have her tool belt with her avatar as well." Maki nodded.

"That's right. That's why a paint brush was left at the storage shed. Angie grabbed the cell phone and needed a place to hide it, so she threw away one of her paint brushes from her belt and put the phone there." Shuichi explained.

"And since Tenko and Himiko were right behind her, that prevented her from properly getting rid of the evidence of what she had done. That is the reason the paint brush was still there." Kirumi added.

"S-Still!" Himiko shouted. "That doesn't mean that Angie really was the one who made that deal with Monokuma!"

"Oh, but there's more evidence that it was her." Kokichi replied. "She said and did a lot of suspicious things while in the virtual world, didn't she? Like how she was the one who wanted us to split up in the first place."

"That's right. That was her." Rantaro nodded with a frown.

"...Hang on." I said as I remembered something. "Angie said something else at the chapel that was a little strange, but at the time, I didn't question it."

"Huh? What was it?" Tenko asked.

"..."


"I believe it would be best if we split up into three main groups." Angie began. "One group will search the chapel. The second will search the mansion, and the third will search outside both areas. I believe that would be best."

"That sounds like a plan." Kaede nodded happily. The others also agreed with Kirumi, leaving Kaito to sigh a little since he couldn't show off his leadership skills.

"So who will be in each group?" Ryoma asked.

"Well, whoever is searching the outside area will have to be people who don't mind the cold." I said before raising my hands. "Which means that'll be the group I'm with. My avatar has my thick winter jacket after all, so I'm well equipped for that."

"Then Rin will be a part of team 3!" Angie said before she gave me a knowing smile. "If that's the case, then Kirumi should be a part of the outside team too!"

"Huh? Why?" I asked her.

"You and Kirumi work well together, so it would be good for you two to be on the same team." Angie told me before she walked closer to me and told me something else in a whisper. "I've also noticed how you both are spending a lot of time together, so I figured I would give you the chance to get even closer. Make sure you stay close to her." Angie then winked at me, which only served to fluster me.

"W-Wait, it's not like that!" I whispered back to her. "She just needed help adjusting to coming back, and I-"

"I know, and Atua approves of this ship! He wishes you both the best of luck in your future. Nyahaha!" Angie told me before she started laughing again. I felt an eye twitch at the implication she just made between me and Kirumi. Great… just what I needed. Now I feel like I'll have to apologize to Kirumi later because of that.

"Look, it's up to Kirumi to decide which group she wants to be a part of, so-"

"I do not mind being a part of the outside search team." Kirumi interrupted me, causing my mouth to dangle wide open when she did. I turned to face her with my surprised expression, but she only returned it with a serious and calm look that she usually had. Even without her saying anything, I could tell that was her way of saying 'I won't budge on this'.

"Alright then. I guess Kirumi and I will head the outside search team." I sighed


"Angie was the one who wanted Kirumi to be in the same search group as me." I explained. "In fact, she specifically told me to stay close to her."

"H-Huh!? Really!?" Kaede shouted.

"Yeah. Thinking back, it was a little strange. But if it was all part of her plan to kill me and frame Kirumi, then it would make a lot of sense why she would want to make sure we were in the same place when she began her plan."

"But just because she told you two to stick together didn't mean that you would. Besides, how would she know where you two were when the time came to pull off her plan?" Himiko asked.

"We weren't exactly quiet when discussing which of us would investigate which areas when we left the mansion." Shuichi stated. "While we were splitting our outside team into our own groups to make searching the outside area easier, it would have been simple for Angie to have eavesdropped on our conversation. Like I said, we weren't exactly trying to be quiet about it."

"It's not just that either. Keeboy also thought he saw her enter the forest, didn't he?" Kokichi asked with a sly smirk.

"That's…true. I did think I saw her." Keebo nodded hesitantly. "Of course, back then I thought I was just imagining things, as I only saw her for a moment out of the corner of my eye. But now that we've discussed it, that was probably right before Angie began her plan and logged Kirumi out."

"Angie also searched the main hall of the mansion. That meant that she would have an easy time leaving whenever she wanted since her area was right next to the mansion's exit. She wouldn't have run into anyone when she left." Rantaro said. "The only thing she would have to worry about was being spotted by Keebo and Shuichi, but since there was a large area to search around the mansion and they weren't likely to split up too far from each other, the chances of getting caught were low anyway."

"And Keebo did catch her, but still didn't do anything since it was so fast and sudden for him, he thought he was imagining things!" Kokichi added with a twisted laugh, like he actually found that funny. "If only Keebo did something, then maybe both Angie and Ryoma would still be alive!"

"That's…" Keebo began, but he trailed off at a loss of words.

"So the reason Angie was so fast in saying she wanted to search the mansion…it was because she wanted to have access to the main hall so she could leave without getting caught?" Kaito asked.

"She must have also hidden the shovel before we all logged into the virtual world in a place where only she could find it and where it would be easy to grab." Maki added.

"So…she really was planning a murder?" Kaede asked, still not wanting to believe it.

"Angie…why?" Himiko muttered the question, but she was never going to get an answer.

"I was sad that she was gone, but now that we know what Angie was planning…I don't know what to think anymore." I said as I looked away from Angie's portrait. Seeing her smile in that portrait only caused a bit of heartache. It only made the feeling of betrayal stronger. Why? We were close, weren't we? You gave me advice and helped me when no one else could. Did you really want to kill me?

"Nee-heeheehee! Niiiiice! Backstabbed by a trusted friend… Of course, I knew something like this was bound to happen eventually in a game of suspicion like this." Kokichi laughed. "See? Now this is an ideal fun situation! Now we can start a real class trial!"

"Hey, Kokichi sorta sound like…Monokuma." Gonta noted.

"Hm, really? I don't sound anything like him."

"No…You're just like Monokuma." Kaito said before he glared at Kokichi. "Both of you are cowards. You never speak the truth or show your true face."

"Wait, coward? You say some interesting things sometimes, Kaito." Kokichi chuckled, not showing any signs that Kaito's words were fazing him.

"Smiling, putting on a mask, never saying what you really think, that kind of cowardice is just like Monokuma!" That's when Kaito pointed at Kokichi and gave him a confident smile "Listen up, Kokichi! To hell with this 'game of suspicion' crap! I will never be okay with it! I'm just going to believe in everyone! Instead of suspecting my friends, I'm gonna find the truth by believing in them!"

"Well, if you think you can win this game like that…then sure, be my guest." Kokichi told him with an unamused sigh.

"Of course I can. I don't need your permission."

"Alright, that's enough, you two." Rantaro chided them.

"How long are you guys going to argue? Let's hurry this up and continue." Maki groaned. "If we don't find the culprit, then we'll all die. You know that?"

"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry." Kokichi apologized, but it was clear he didn't really mean it.

"Well, we can continue talking about Angie planning to murder me all we want, but it won't change the fact that she ended up being one of the victims in the end." I stated.

"Rinny's right. Actually…this culprit hunt just got to the exciting part!" Kokichi exclaimed with stars in his eyes. "Even if we know what Angie was planning and how she planned to carry it out, it's pretty meaningless if we don't find the culprit. That's how a class trial works, after all!"

"Kokichi talking like Monokuma again…" Gonta muttered.

"Let's ignore that and continue the discussion." Kaede sighed.

"So Angie was the one who planned the murder. She even accepted Monokuma's deal for information on the virtual world in order to kill Rin." Tenko explained.

"She would have blamed Kirumi for the crime, and the error would have made it impossible for Kirumi to argue against the accusation." Maki added.

"With that in mind, Angie probably died soon after she attacked Rin." Rantaro said.

"That makes sense. Her plan was going smoothly up until that point. Kirumi was logged out, and she had got the drop on me." I said as I rubbed my head. I could still feel where she hit me with that shovel.

"Problem is, because of all that, we don't even know what happened that got her killed." Kaito said.

"Well, there is one possibility." Shuichi stated. "Ryoma. He was in the forest as well."

"I guess we should talk about Ryoma's part in all of this." Himiko then sighed as she rubbed her head. "This is getting really confusing."

"No kidding. Angie planned all of this, but she still ended up being a victim." Kaede said before she crossed her arms. "What in the world could have happened that caused that." I hummed as I thought about the question. It was a difficult problem. Our would-be-killer ended up as one of our victims, and Ryoma, someone who so far isn't even involved in Angie's plan, ended up as our second victim. Just what on earth happened in the virtual world. And…why is this feeling of dread getting worse?

"So why was Ryoma killed? That's what we have to figure out next." Kaede began.

"From everything we've discussed, Angie wasn't planning on killing Ryoma at all. He shouldn't have even been at the forest." Rantaro said.

"Yeah, he was supposed to be on the roof of the mansion." Kaito nodded.

"Reasons Ryoma might go to forest…" Gonta muttered. "Gonta know! Maybe Ryoma see Angie and follow her?"

"Would it really be that convenient?" Maki questioned.

"Then Ryoma must have been planning his own murder plan!" Kokichi yelled. "Then BAM! He killed Angie!"

"Then what? He died from the poison that was injected into him?" I asked. "That doesn't seem quite right." Shuichi thought for a moment before he snapped his fingers.

"I agree with Gonta. I believe it's possible that Ryoma saw Angie entering the forest and followed her."

"Huh? Really?" Gonta asked, happy at the thought that he helped.

"Isn't this a convenient answer though?" Himiko asked.

"Well, Keebo saw Angie go into the forest, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think someone might have seen her too." Shuichi explained.

"But Keebo was outside the mansion, and Ryoma was on the roof. Was there really a way for Ryoma to see Angie from all the way up there? That roof was pretty high up!" Tenko reminded Shuichi.

"Yes, that's true. That's why Ryoma would have had to use a specific item that was on the roof to see Angie." Shuichi said.

"A specific item?" Keebo asked.

"Do you mean the binoculars?" Kaede asked. "There were mounted binoculars on the roof, and they could see as far as the edges of the virtual world."

"That's right. Using those binoculars, Ryoma could have seen all the way to the river by the mansion, or even…the entrance to the forest." Shuichi stated.

"He was investigating the roof, so it would make sense he would look through the binoculars to see if there was any kind of secret he could see with them." Rantaro nodded as he rolled the thought around in his head.

"So after seeing Angie, he just walked down the stairs and left the mansion?" Himiko asked.

"Gonta not see why not. No one in main hall since Angie left for forest." Gonta said.

"Ryoma also wouldn't have tried to be sneaky. He had no reason to. So yeah, he probably just walked down the stairs and left the mansion that way." Kaito said as he rubbed his head.

"Hmm…that's when he headed towards the forest to see what Angie was doing." Kokichi hummed. "What do you think happened next?"

"...He probably stumbled onto the crime as it was happening." Shuichi grimaced.

"Yeah. Angie probably logged Kirumi out as soon as she got to the forest, meaning she would be able to attack me as soon as she found me." I said while making a conflicted face.

"How unlucky…" Himiko frowned.

"No kidding…" Tenko nodded.

"So Ryoma was an unfortunate witness. If so, why did he die? Was it just so Angie wouldn't have any witnesses to the crime?" Kirumi asked.

"I believe so. Rin's testimony proves that there must have been some kind of conflict between the two of them." Shuichi nodded.

"My testimony?" I asked.

"You heard two people arguing before you blacked out, didn't you?" Rantaro asked.

"Y-Yeah. Now that you mention it, if Kirumi was logged out, then one of those people had to have been Angie, and the other…"

"Must have been Ryoma." Maki finished.

"The two of them got into an argument, because Angie was trying to kill Rin and Ryoma saw the whole incident." Keebo stated. "Then that must mean that Angie attacked Ryoma as well. That way, there wouldn't be any witnesses."

"But couldn't Ryoma dodge Angie? Ryoma fast. Gonta know cause he able to dodge Gonta!" Gonta exclaimed.

"But remember, our avatars had equalized physical parameters. He probably wasn't as fast in the virtual world." Kokichi pointed out.

"If our physical strengths were all the same, then we can also get rid of some other assumptions. Like Ryoma being able to steal the shovel away from Angie to hit her with it. If we all have the same level of strength and Angie was holding the shovel, it's highly unlikely Ryoma would have been able to pull the weapon out of her hands." Rantaro noted.

"Then why did he not just run? Could he have not done that?" Kirumi asked.

"Maybe not. Rin was lying there, after all. For all Ryoma knew, maybe he wasn't dead. Perhaps he stayed for the chance to save Rin?" Kaede suggested.

"If that's the reason, he should have just left." I grumbled. "If he did that he would have…wait."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Tenko asked me.

"We forgot something important about Ryoma in this case." I said. "His FA. When you found him in the real world, you said his bangle had injected him with poison. That must mean he performed his FA."

"That's right. If he performed his FA, he would have died anyway." Kaito said.

"But what was Ryoma's FA?" Himiko asked.

"Maybe we can use what we've pieced together from the case to figure that out." Rantaro suggested.

"We know when Ryoma's bangle injected him. After all, Kirumi heard the very moment that happened." I said.

"It happened soon after I was logged out. I remember hearing the jingle distinctly." She nodded.

"If that's the case, then there could only be a few things that caused it to be set off." I said as I closed my eyes. I just need to think about it clearly. The answer is right in front of me, I just need to look for it.

Reasoning Research

Take it slowly, Rin. Think about it a step at a time. First of all, when did Ryoma's bangle inject the poison into his body?

A. After Kirumi was logged out.

B. Before Kirumi was logged out.

It was obviously after she was logged out. Kirumi said so herself. Next, what would have immediately happened right after Kirumi was logged out?

A. Angie was attacked.

B. Ryoma was attacked.

C. I was attacked.

I was attacked. I still feel some throbbing in the back of my head. Thanks Angie… But that means… With all of that in mind, there could only be one thing Ryoma's Forbidden Action could have been.

A. He could not enter the forest

B. He could not attack anyone

C. He could not witness anyone attack anyone else

"I got it!" I exclaimed while snapping my fingers. "Ryoma's FA must have been witnessing violence from anyone else!"

"Witnessing violence?" Kaede repeated.

"I agree. If Ryoma's FA was performed right after Kirumi was logged out, then the event that caused that must have been Angie attacking Rin." Shuichi explained.

"So Ryoma couldn't witness anyone do anything violent towards another. That explains why he wanted to go to the mansion then." Kokichi smirked.

"Huh? Why?" Gonta asked.

"Don't you remember what he said before we split up?" Kokichi asked.


"So who'll be searching the mansion?" I asked.

"I'll go then. The mansion looked cool after all." Angie said swiftly, her smile never leaving her face as she did.

"Guess I'll go too. I want to see what else that place has to offer anyway. Maki Roll, you should come with me." Kaito said.

"...Fine. Whatever." Maki grumbled as she crossed her arms.

"Nee-heehee, then I guess I'll go to the mansion too. After all, If I can't bug Keeboy or Rinny, I'll just have to bother our Space Idiot here while we search." Kokichi said with a snicker.

"Hey! Don't call me an idiot, and take this seriously! If you're coming with us, you'll have to investigate!" Kaito yelled at him.

"I can already tell that leaving those two together is a bad idea." Ryoma groaned. "I'll go to the mansion too, if only to make sure you both stay away from each other."


"If his FA was witnessing violence, then he went to the mansion to prevent Kaito and Kokichi from fighting" Kaede said.

"Wouldn't he have just stayed far away from them instead of going with them if that were the case?" Tenko asked.

"That wouldn't be any better. Imagine if he was with the chapel group. Before Tenko ran in and showed us what we found, we were planning on meeting up with the mansion group to see if they found anything." Rantaro began.

"If Kaito and Kokichi fighting when we got there, and Ryoma with us…"

"Ryoma would have died immediately. He wouldn't have stood a chance!" Kokichi finished Gonta's statement.

"So instead of taking the chance of walking in on a fight between Kaito and Kokichi, he went with them to make sure they stayed far away from each other." I nodded. "That makes sense. I probably would have done the same thing."

"It was Ryoma who suggested Kaito search the dining room and Kokichi search the salon." Maki noted. "That was probably because those two areas are far apart. Enough so that they couldn't find a reason to get into any arguments with each other."

"I see. So the reasoning behind all this is solid, right? That means Ryoma's FA was witnessing violence." Kaito stated.

"But what does that have to do with any of this?" Maki questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, think about it. Angie would have wanted to kill Ryoma if she knew he saw everything. If he was alive during the trial, he would reveal everything, so she would have had no choice but to try to kill him as well." I began to explain. "And if the two were arguing before Angie decided to attack, I can imagine many situations where she did end up hitting him. Especially if the poison was running through him during their confrontation."

"I don't want to imagine it. Being attacked by a friend who wanted to kill you while you were dying of poison? That's too awful." Kaede gave a soft cry.

"Ryoma must have immediately felt the effects of the poison. Monokuma said that the poison was extremely lethal and would kill within moments. Even with Kirumi slowing it down, it must have been extremely painful for Ryoma to have it in his body. Even if he was in his avatar, I can't imagine he didn't feel it. That must have affected his ability to run away or dodge her. That just makes it more obvious that Ryoma wouldn't have been able to do anything in that sort of situation."

"Yes, but the problem is what ended up killing him." I stated with a frown.

"That's right! If Angie did hit Ryoma with the shovel, what would have killed him? The attack in the virtual world, or the poison in the real world?" Shuichi questioned.

"Does it really matter? Wouldn't either method still make Angie the culprit?" Rantaro asked.

"Would it? Would Ryoma dying from his FA be counted as Angie killing him?" Kaede pondered.

"Hey, Monokuma. This seems like a question for you. What are we supposed to do if Ryoma died from his FA?" I shouted to the bear.

"You ask, so I will answer!" Monokuma cheered. "And for what the answer is…it depends on the situation!"

"The situation? What do you mean?" Gonta asked.

"Well, let's take Mister Wakuri's FA for instance." Monokuma began. "If he had fallen asleep on his own, it would be like a suicide. But if someone knocked him out in an attempt to get him to perform his FA, it wouldn't have injected him, as falling asleep and being knocked out are two separate things. And then there's the third path that could have happened. Suppose someone sneaked something into Mister Wakuri's food that made him more drowsy than usual, and then he fell asleep because of that. That would mean whoever snuck that stuff into his food is the culprit who killed Mister Wakuri by using his FA as the weapon!"

"So the situation is what determines whether the FA was actually the murder weapon or not." Rantaro mused.

"So since Ryoma saw Angie attacking Rin and that activated his bangle, would that make Angie the culprit in that situation?"

"That's asking a bit much of me. If I say anything, it would be like I'm telling you who is or isn't the culprit!" Monokuma shouted.

"But this is a question we have to make clear in order to progress. It's your fault for not making it clear enough when you gave us the motive." Kokichi told him.

"Well it's not my fault I was forced to use this motive!" Monokuma yelled.

"Again with passing the blame onto me…" I grumbled. "Well, if I had to make a guess, I would say that this is a situation where you could say Angie killed Ryoma with the FA if that's what actually killed him. I mean, Ryoma went into the forest not knowing he was going to see a violent act. It wasn't really his fault. It was Angie's for planning a murder, even if having Ryoma witness it wasn't intentional."

"Then either way, whether he died from the poison or the blow Angie dealt to him, that still means that Ryoma died first, and that Angie was the one who killed him." Tenko shouted.

"Then we have our culprit, right?" Kaede asked.

"The blackened of this case…is Angie Yonaga. That's right, isn't it? Was it really…Angie?" Himiko asked in a soft voice.

"Then what do we do about Angie's death? Should we try to figure out who killed her?" Rantaro asked us.

"Monokuma said that the only killer we need to focus on is the one who killed the first victim. If Ryoma died first, then all we had to do was find his killer, and we've done that." Maki stated.

"Angie killed Ryoma. It's true that Angie died, but Angie was trying to kill someone. I'm not sure I could completely blame whoever killed her in that kind of situation." Kaito muttered. "I mean, yeah, it's awful. Killing isn't right, no matter what happens. But still, Angie probably would have killed whoever killed her if she had the chance. She tried to do the same to Rin, and ended up killing Ryoma for that end, right?"

"And this is a good end for us, right? This way, there won't be any execution for us to be forced to watch. We'll all be able to go back together." Kaede said.

"Well, two of us still died, but that's true I guess." Kokichi noted.

"So should we begin voting now?" Keebo asked.

"No, hang on." Shuichi interrupted. "I believe we should discuss more about how Angie ended up dying. I think it's crucial to find the truth of this entire case."

"Shuichi?" Kaede questioned before I nodded.

"I agree with Shuichi. I think we shouldn't ignore Angie's case just because we can. I mean, despite everything, Angie was still my friend. Whether or not she tried to kill me, she still died, and I want to know what happened to her. And above all, since her death is so deeply connected with Ryoma's, I believe it's just as important to find her killer. After all, there might still be secrets that are out of our sight in this case."

"But we've already talked about most of the evidence, haven't we? What more is there to talk about?" Kaito asked.

"That's true. Even if we wanted to find Angie's killer, what could we do to find them?" Kaede asked.

"There's actually a few things we could do." Shuichi told her. "We know everything that happened up to the point of Angie's death. All we need to do is find someone who had the opportunity to kill Angie at that time."

"The time Angie died must have been soon after Ryoma, right? That would mean it was sometime right after Kirumi was logged out and Rin was attacked." Keebo stated.

"Hmm…" Kokichi hummed before a smile appeared on his face. "Well, that's simple enough. In fact, if you think about it that way, an obvious suspect comes to mind."

"An obvious suspect?" Gonta repeated. I stayed quiet as I put a hand on my chin, my frown growing more and more as I thought more about what Kokichi said. The person who ended up killing Angie… The crime took place in the forest, meaning they must have gone there. Angie wanted to kill me, so just like Ryoma, it's likely this person just so happened to stumble upon the crime. The only way to identify the culprit is identifying the one person who had the chance to be in the forest at the time of the crime, but…if this is right…then it's too heartbreaking. Even so, I can't hesitate. I need to find the truth, and that means bringing this person out into the open. It should be fine…right? Ryoma died first, so that means this person won't die, even if we bring them out into the open. So, I should just say it, shouldn't I? And so, I hardened my resolve, took a deep breath, and then spoke.

"Himiko…" I muttered, trailing off as I didn't really want to finish my sentence.

"Nyeh…?"

"H-Hey, Rin? Why…did you say Himiko's name just now?" Tenko asked me.

"..." C'mon! Now is the time to show off that resolve I'm so proud of! I've done worse things than accuse someone of a crime, so why am I hesitating? Is it because it's so hard to believe that it was her? That it seems so impossible that she was the one who killed Angie of all people? Maybe, but still, that doesn't change the fact that it's something that we have to talk about. "My prime suspect for the one who killed Angie…is Himiko." I told Tenko.