A/N: Long one!
The next morning, Niles and Rantaro went to the cafeteria but only to get food to bring with them. Kirumi easily gave them their breakfast to go and the duo heads off to see if they could find a dead body. The two scour the first floor and find no evidence of a struggle. As they loop near the stairs to the basement, Rantaro spots a small spatter of blood and draws Niles's attention to it. Niles looks to the blood and notices that the blood goes in two directions - down the stairs and down the hall, away from the basement. The two decide to check the basement first and cautiously head down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, the two find a body - Kiibo.
"I feel bad for Kiibo.. He didn't deserve this," Rantaro says, wincing.
"No he didn't. Kokichi shouldn't have roped him in but here we are. Go get the others... I'll stand watch," Niles says.
"No, come with me. People might think you had messed with the crime scene," Rantaro says.
"Ah, true," Niles says before following Rantaro back up the stairs and back to the cafeteria. When they open the doors, neither were surprised to feel the tension in the room and that there was some worry on a few faces.
"G-Good morning Niles and Rantaro. You two are late," Kaede says.
"They were actually on time but took food to go," Kirumi comments.
"Eh? Why'd you do that?" Miu asks, arching an eyebrow.
"Because we were searching for a body," Niles answers bluntly. The room freezes and goes completely dead silent at the words that fell from the Outlaw's mouth.
"...Judging from the looks on your faces, I'm going to assume you found Kiibo since he isn't here?" Shuichi manages to ask, his voice cracking a bit.
"Yeah. Bottom of the stairs to the basement," Rantaro answers. The other twelve students take a moment before getting up and following Niles and Rantaro out of the cafeteria and towards the basement. As they all reach the crime scene, the body discovery announcement goes off and they all get a notification on their MonoPads signifying that they all received the autopsy report. Maki and Tsumugi are put on guard duty this time around.
"So cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head," Kaito says. "What is it with blunt force trauma to the head? Two cases in a row now!"
"And the time of death was shortly after midnight," Kaede says afterwards.
"Hey losers- There's a bloodied arrow here," Miu says, squatting and pointing to the bloodied, and slightly broken, arrow on the ground next to Kiibo.
"An arrow? Who would have access to that..?" Himiko asks, frowning.
"That would be my arrow," Niles says, causing all eyes to look to him. He moves his cape to reveal the quiver and the bow, knowing he would now have to reveal that he is always armed.
"How intriguing, you've been armed this entire time... Keheheheheh... Able to kill any of us at a moment's notice," Korekiyo comments.
"And before miss loud mouth with anger issues tries to lay any blame on me... I have a alibi," Niles says just as Tenko was about to open her mouth.
"And I can confirm it," Rantaro says.
"As expected since you two seem to never leave each other's sides," Tsumugi says.
"Neither Rantaro nor myself are the culprits. In fact, Kiibo wasn't the original target. The culprit tried to kill me and Rantaro last night. We were enjoying some stargazing and I barely heard the whistle of yet another shotput come flying towards us and had I not moved us, we would be dead. I shot off an arrow at our culprit in an attempt to stop them but they ran. However, we can safely rule out any females as it was a distinctive male grunt. We gave chase until the school door and then retreated," Niles says.
"So that's why you went looking for a dead body... Cause you were attacked," Shuichi says.
"Precisely," Niles says. "And someone here is hiding a wound. My arrows are very sharp as I usually aim to kill."
"Can you two exclude any males from suspicion?" Kaede asks.
"Kokichi. He was hanging out with me, Niles and Maki from 11PM to about midnight," Rantaro answers.
"Is this true Maki?" Tenko asks.
"..Yes. I was with the three of them last night. We didn't see anyone pass us when we were out there," Maki answers.
"Huh. So that means the culprit was in the school building for two hours after the nighttime announcement?" Miu asks.
"That or was in the casino prior," Korekiyo says.
"Oh, Shuichi, we found a blood trail," Niles says to the Detective.
"Please show me," Shuichi says, getting up from his spot on the ground. He had been inspecting Kiibo's body in full. The Detective follows the Outlaw and Survivor over to where the two had spotted the blood trail. The three follow the trail which leads them to the first floor boys' bathroom. They push open the doors and continue to follow the trail to the back stall. Opening the door, Shuichi finds a white sleeve sticking out. Grabbing some paper towels first, Shuichi pulls the shirt out of the toilet. The shirt was ripped as if the culprit tried to make the shirt impossible to identify. There was a tear in the arm with faded pink stains, indicating where Niles had shot the culprit.
"White shirt... That means Gonta, Korekiyo or Kaito," Rantaro deduces.
"And yes we already eliminated you Shuichi. You have noodle arms and couldn't possibly chuck a shotput as far as the culprit did. Nor could you outrun me even with a head start," Niles says.
"Good to know.." Shuichi sweatdrops. "I'm going to assume you don't know physics but know the approximate timing of how long it takes for your arrows to strike your target."
"That would be correct. My arrows fly at about 90 meters per second. The culprit was within 90 meters as it was under a second and I couldn't see the culprit."
"And for me specifically, I would have had to have been directly above you."
"Precisely. I'm leaning more towards Gonta or Kaito. Kaito because we don't know how strong he is and I would not be surprised if he had some hidden strength in him and Gonta because he is clearly strong."
"And Korekiyo is similar to me build wise," Shuichi hums out.
"Well, hopefully we can get enough valid alibis to figure out who," Rantaro says. "This trial is mostly going to be circumstantial evidence..."
"Agreed," Niles nods. The trio steps out of the bathroom just as the TV crackles to life displaying Monokuma.
"Attention, attention. This is your headmaster speaking. I'm bored so if all students would report to the Shrine of Judgment, we can get this trial started! If you don't show, you will be executed by the Exisals!" Monokuma announces to the student population.
"Obviously Kiibo wasn't the Mastermind. I don't really understand why everyone thought that just because of what Kokichi said," Niles says as he walks towards the entrance.
"Suspicions and doubts will make people think stupid things unfortunately," Rantaro says.
"That is true. Though, I'm going to assume the Mastermind wanted you two dead based off what the motive said," Shuichi says. "But why would the Mastermind want you two dead..."
"Oh most definitely me," Niles says, ignoring the mumbled question that fell from Shuichi's lips. "Though I wonder if the Mastermind would have stayed true to their words had either myself or Rantaro been killed."
"I'm guessing not since neither of us is the Mastermind nor the so called helper," Rantaro says.
"I'm going to agree with you on that," the black haired male says. The three meet up with the remainder of the students, accusatory eyes going to Kaito, Shuichi, Gonta and Korekiyo. The remaining 14 participants enter the Shrine of Judgement, the statues moving once more to reveal the elevator down. As they gather into the elevator, all knew that the next time the elevator was used, there would either be 13 people, or one person using it. The ride down was filled with tension and small groups were formed in an attempt to bring peace of mind on the ride down that seemed to take forever. Niles, Rantaro and Kokichi were in a corner, Maki lingering by herself but slightly near them. Tenko, Himiko, and Tsumugi were in another corner. Shuichi, Kaede and Kirumi were near Niles, Rantaro and Kokichi whereas Miu, Gonta, Kaito and Korekiyo were all awkwardly grouped in the middle, Miu closer to Maki. The elevator finally comes to a halt and the doors open, revealing once more, the trial room. Instead of just Ryoma's portrait crossed out with pink paint, Angie's and Kiibo's had joined him. The participants go to their respective podium and all look to Monokuma.
"Welcome, welcome to the Trial of K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot, otherwise known as Kiibo. The rules are, as always, to find the blackened! You all will debate using the evidence you found to figure out whodunnit! When you come to a conclusion, you all will vote who you think it was! If you're correct, the blackened gets punished. However, guess wrong, and everyone but the blackened gets punished and they get to leave!" Monokuma says.
"One question before we start, had the culprit actually killed the Mastermind, would the game truly have ended?" Niles asks.
"Yup! If the Mastermind had been killed, then you would have won this killing game!" Monokuma answers.
"Wow Daddy! That's a beary game changing incentive!" Monophanie says.
"I also have a quick question - Is that incentive only for this murder?" Rantaro asks.
"That's irrelevant! Start the trial!" Monosuke says, interjecting for Monokuma.
"Very well. We know the deceased is Kiibo and that he was murdered around midnight due to blunt force trauma," Kirumi starts out.
"His body also had a few dents and some scuffs, implying he was shoved down the stairs first," Shuichi adds on.
"We all know that the original targets were the suspicious losers Niles and Rantaro," Miu says. "This clears them of being the culprit."
"However, before we continue with Niles's and Rantaro's alibi, we need to know where everyone was between 10PM and midnight," Shuichi says.
"Eh? Why from the nighttime announcement?" Miu asks.
"You stupid bitch! That's because Niles's and Rantaro's alibi starts at 11PM!" Kokichi says.
"O-Oh," Miu says, flushing and looking to the side.
"Does anyone know where Kiibo was?" Kaede asks, bringing the conversation back on track before Kokichi and Miu could get into a little insult spat.
"Yes. Kokichi, Rantaro and myself were in my Research Lab and we had seen Kiibo drift between the library, the AV Room and the Game Room," Niles answers.
"We had kept the door propped open so that we could listen for potential assailants and we constantly heard the doors opening and closing," Rantaro further explains. "Kiibo didn't leave the basement at the announcement and hadn't left when we left an hour later."
"So at least four people were inside the school building from 10PM to 11PM - Kiibo, Niles, Rantaro and Kokichi," Kaito says.
"I was as well. Not that anyone can confirm my location between 10PM and 11PM, but I was in my Research Lab," Maki says.
"Well, most of us were inside the school I think. I was the last one to leave," Tsumugi pipes up.
"I can confirm that. I was finishing up the sweeping near the entrance and as I was leaving, I saw Tsumugi approach last," Kirumi says.
"Alright. Kirumi! Who didn't you see? Which suspicious male wasn't spotted?" Tenko asks.
"Well, two of the four potential culprits weren't seen. The only individuals I didn't see were Gonta, Kiibo, Niles, Rantaro, Kokichi, Maki and Kaito," Kirumi answers.
"Oh, but Gonta saw Tsumugi! Did Tsumugi not see Gonta?" Gonta asks, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Oh! You're right! Well, I more so heard you leave, though I'm surprised you noticed someone as plain as me!" Tsumugi says.
"To get this moving along, can the rest of you not be dolts like this plain ole stupid girl?" Niles asks, getting irked by how irresponsible Tsumugi was with her information. "And don't even start with me Tenko. I will knock you out if I have to."
"Is that even allowed...?" Himiko says.
"If it can be done without leaving his podium, and if it becomes necessary, I will allow it!" Monokuma says. Niles smirks a bit hearing that.
"But wait, why didn't Kirumi see Gonta if Tsumugi heard Gonta leave?" Miu asks.
"Gonta was in building bug hunting after everyone else left! Some bugs are shy and don't like it when there are multitudes of people around!" Gonta answers.
"The four that gathered around 11PM... Did you see Gonta at all?" Korekiyo asks.
"Nope," Niles says.
"No," Rantaro answers.
"Nuh-uh!" Kokichi responds.
"As the one in the building the longest, no," Maki answers. "He must have been in the back half of the first floor."
"Since I haven't had a chance to explain myself yet, I was in the casino until almost midnight. I saw that group on my way back to the dorms," Kaito chimes in.
"Did any of you see him?" Kaede asks. She gets a no from all four of them.
"Damn, so I still can't be eliminated as a suspect," Kaito sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"No you certainly cannot. And it doesn't look good for you either based on what we found in the bathroom," Niles says.
"Huh? What did you find?" Kaito asks, arching a purple eyebrow.
"We found the remains of a white button up shirt in the toilet," Shuichi says.
"Which eliminates Shuichi from the suspect pool, leaving Gonta, Kaito and Korekiyo," Rantaro says.
"Wait wait wait... Didn't you two idiots say you found a blood trail that led to the bathroom? Why the hell did we need to figure out everyone's location? Niles clearly shot the culprit, so have the suspects fuckin' reveal where they got shot!" Miu says.
"Oh while I'm sure a few of us would enjoy the show, I'm sure our Detective wants all the facts so we can... reasonably ask the culprit to remove their shirt," Niles says.
"That sounds like Pooichi for you..." Miu sighs. "Though I suppose Pooichi also wanted to keep himself from having to disrobe in front of everyone like the little pissbaby he is!"
"Anyways... Moving back on track," Shuichi sighs, trying to refrain from hiding under his cap more, "We can also eliminate Korekiyo from the pool of culprits."
"Not that I'm no grateful for this... But I am curious as to how you are able to confirm my innnocence," Korekiyo says, his head tilting into his bandaged wrapped hand.
"I would be the one with the evidence," Niles says. "The fact that like Shuichi, you have a very... slender frame and noodle arms. There is no way you or Shuichi would have been to throw the shotput as far away as the culprit did. No one can throw it outside of 90 meters but it was definitely farther than where either of you would have had to have thrown it from."
"Ah yes. I suppose that is true. You said you two ran after the culprit as well?" Korekiyo asks.
"We did, though Niles is much faster than I am and would have probably caught you or Shuichi had it been one of you two," Rantaro adds on. Niles nods and he turns his one eyed gaze to the Astronaut and Entomologist.
"That being said... Kaito, Gonta.. Remove your shirts."