Hey y'all! Quick trigger warning for transphobia in this chapter in the form of Monokuma being an asshole about trans and nonbinary individuals. Anyways it's trial time


CLASS TRIAL- ALL RISE!


"Now, let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out 'whodunnit' then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one, then I'll punish everyone *besides* the blackened, and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate! Now then, why don't I start you all off? Let's discuss the murder weapon!"

Wow, kinda pushy. Well, whatever. He kept his mouth shut last time; maybe we'll get lucky and he'll leave us be again. "Okay, the murder weapon is pretty simple, right?"

"That's correct. The murder weapon must have been the bloodied object at Hiro's feet," Sakura agreed.

"You mean the dumbbell." Byakuya clarified. "You don't have to call it just 'an object.' We all know what you're referring to."

"Hiro's head wound is consistent with the shape of the dumbbell," Kyoko told us. "And it's the same size. So there's no doubt in my mind that that's the murder weapon."

"Well, I've got a doubt!" Junko argued. "Who says that's the murder weapon just cuz it's got blood in it?!"

"You have a rebuttal? Let's hear it, then," Byakuya demanded. "I'm curious as to what would make you doubt something so obvious."

"Well, it's not that I think the dumbbell wasn't used. That's like, totally obvious. I just don't see why we're all so sure that that was the killing blow!" She slammed down her hand on her stand. "I mean, it's totally obvious that that isn't what killed them, if you just look at 'em. Am I right or am I right?"

She doesn't think the head wound is what killed Hiro? Then she must be referring to... "Are you talking about their jugular?"

"Is that what this vein in your neck is called?" She craned her neck as far back as she could, tracing down her own vein with her pointer. "This one, it was like, totally cut open! Anyone who saw their body would know that, ha-duh!"

"That is true. The opening in their neck was quite large," Celeste agreed. "It would certainly be more than enough for them to bleed out."

"You're right about that wound ordinarily being potentially fatal," Kyoko acknowledged, "but it's really impossible for that to be considered the killing blow."

"What do you mean impossible?" Chihiro asked. "How can you tell? Are you that good at autopsies? Is that your talent? Ultimate Mortician?"

"...No."

How can Kyoko be so sure that Hiro's head wound was the fatal blow and not the neck wound?

"Okay, so there are two options for what the killing blow could be here," Leon started. "Either it's the head wound from the dumbbell, or the neck wound from... uh, what caused the neck wound?"

"I don't think we know," Makoto replied.

"Well, it can't have been done with the dumbell," Hifumi snorted. "Can it?"

"A cut like that would've been caused by a blade of some kind," Mukuro told them.

"We're getting off topic," Byakuya asserted. "Junko may be right. The neck wound not only hit an integral vein, but also released much more blood."

"M-Maybe the head wound only knocked out H-Hiro, and they were killed with the blade?" Toko suggested.

No, that's wrong! "No, Kyoko is right. There's something that confirms the head wound was the killing blow."

"Oh? I wasn't aware you were an expert on autopsies," Byakuya scoffed.

"I don't have to be, thanks to the Monokuma File. It tells us the estimated time of death, the identity of the victim, where the body was found, and most importantly here, the fatal wound. And if you look in this Monokuma File, it says that the fatal wound was a blow to the head."

"And to think that Monokuma made it such a point for us to read it earlier," Celeste thought. "Perhaps he knew that the rest of you had all forgotten."

"Oh, please. Of course I knew that," Byakuya drawled. "It's just too much fun to watch you all squirm for such an obvious answer."

"Hold on. How do we know that we can trust the information on the Monokuma File?" Mukuro asked. "No one here knows how to perform an autopsy. He could easily manipulate the File to lead us in the wrong direction."

"Yeah, that's so true!" Junko agreed. "He could like, lie right to our faces and we'd have no way to know!"

"Hey! Are you doubting my authority as your Headmaster?" Monokuma sat up in his throne. "Do I need to punish you for your insubordination?!"

"I doubt he'd do that here," Kyoko told them calmly, ignoring Monokuma. "Nothing he's said so far has been a direct lie. If he wanted to obscure what the fatal wound was for us, I'd guess he'd simply omit the information in the first place. Isn't that right?"

"Bingo! If there was some juicy detail I could leave out for extra drama, then of course I'll keep it hidden for you all to find! But if there's no way for you all to possibly find out without the File, well, then, it's just not fair!"

"Okay... so you're saying that the killing blow really was the head wound?" Junko asked, deflated. "And not the neck?"

"It would appear so," Mukuro sighed.

"Good. Now that everyone's on the same page," Kyoko tucked her braid back behind her ear, "let's shift our focus. We know what killed Hiro. Let's discuss where it came from."

"Uh, it's a dumbbell, right?" Leon looked confused. "So wouldn't it just be from the locker room? I mean, that's where their body was anyway. So the killer could've just grabbed one off the rack."

"Yeah! Maybe Hiro hadn't quite died from the neck wound, so the killer wanted to make sure the job was done," Makoto agreed.

No, that's definitely wrong! "That's impossible. The dumbbell wasn't from the boys' locker room!"

"It wasn't? Did it not match the other dumbbells?" Hifumi asked. "I wasn't aware there was exercise equipment anywhere else."

"The murder weapon may not have come from the boys' locker room, but there was one other place it could have come from," Sakura told him.

"That's right. The girls' locker room had dumbbells that look identical to the ones in the boys' locker room,"I told them. "And when I checked the girls' locker room for myself, one of the dumbbells was missing. So there's no way that that dumbbell wasn't from the girls' locker room!"

"I mean, yeah, it totally was," Junko thought. "But that's still like, confusing and stuff. I mean, how did the dumbbell get from one locker room to the other? Did one of the girls take one out of our locker room, and then the killer just found it or something?"

"It is kinda strange," Hifumi agreed. "Why bother using a weapon from one locker when killing in the other?"

"Maybe..." Chihiro thought. "Um, there could be an accomplice this time? A boy and a girl, working together?"

"But that doesn't make any sense," Leon countered. "Only the killer gets to leave. An accomplice doesn't get anything. They have to live alongside the classmates they betrayed, or die with them."

"M-Maybe if there was a pair close enough to w-work together though," Toko suggested. "T-To protect a secret. I-It could happen."

"Would you give up your life for someone you just met like that?" Byakuya asked.

"Well, i-if I really loved them, then m-maybe."

"..."

"There's still a bigger issue here," Mukuro reminded us. "Hiro was nonbinary. They shouldn't have been able to get into either locker room to be killed in the first place. So how did they come to be in the boys' locker room?"

"I'd like to have that question answered as well," Kyoko agreed. "Monokuma, they're your e-handbooks. Was Hiro allowed into the boys' locker room?"

"Hm? Oh, Hiro was a special case, having had his sex marker changed prior to entering the school, so of course I couldn't just let 'them' in a locker room not meant for 'them'," he said, flicking his paws like quotation marks in the air. "It was unfortunate for him, of course, but that's what you get for going against your own biology!" He leaned back in his throne and pulled out a pair of opera glasses. "I'm surprised you had to ask such an obvious question. I thought you were smarter than that!"

"The way you said that... I don't think that's exactly right," Chihiro said worriedly. "Biology?"

"He's already kidnapped us and is forcing us to kill each other," Leon sighed. "Him being transphobic is the least of our problems. Let's just be happy they don't have to listen to this fucker talking shit."

"Yeah, but we still need to know how they got in the boys' locker room," Makoto said. "If it wasn't because of their E-handbook, then how could they get there in the first place?"

"Well, it's not as if he's banned from the pool," Monokuma corrected. "He just can't get into the lockers using his E-handbook, that's all."

"They," Chihiro corrected quietly. "It's they..."

"B-But that's impossible! How could they get into the pool w-without their E-h-handbook?" Toko demanded.

"Actually," Celeste remembered, "I may know of a way they accessed the lockers."

"And would you like to share it with the class?" Byakuya huffed.

"I was about to." She smiled. "It is something that Hina and I found in the main hall."

Yeah, that's right! "There was a mailbox in the main hall with E-Handbooks in it!"

"Oh, yes. I remember seeing something like that in there. E-Handbooks, you said?" Byakuya asked.

"Yes. Three, to be precise," Celeste confirmed. "The ones belonging to Sayaka, Mondo, and Taka were all there, and all still functioning. This is what you are referring to, is it not, Monokuma?"

"Yup yup yup! That's right! I didn't want your poor papa duck to feel left out, so I told him about the mailbox!" Monokuma confirmed.

"So anyone who knew about the mailbox before now would've been able to go into whichever locker room they wanted," Kyoko summarized.

"Okay, so that kinda makes sense, I think," Hifumi decided. "But I'm still confused on why Hiro was in the girls' locker room in the first place. I mean, they were supposed to be on guard, weren't they? Why'd they leave?"

"If I remember correctly..." Someone told me they'd overheard Hiro. But who?... Ah, right! "...Makoto could have part of that answer."

"Oh, yeah, that's right! You said you heard something, didn't you?" Leon remembered.

"Yeah, that's right," Makoto confirmed. "Last night, I wanted to go use the bathhouse. When I was leaving my room, I overheard Hiro talking to someone. They weren't talking very loudly, and whoever the other person was, I couldn't see them from around the corner, or make out their voice from my end of the hall. But I definitely heard Hiro say they'd meet them in the locker rooms."

"S-So then, someone must've lured Hiro there on purpose, a-and laid a trap," Toko realized. "They could've waited at the door, a-and cut their neck open when they came in! A-And when they didn't die i-immediately, the killer grabbed a nearby dumbbell and finished th-the job!"

"A halfway decent idea," Byakuya hummed, "but it still leaves a couple questions. For one, why bother with the dumbbell if the killer had a blade on them? Why not just stab them again?"

"Maybe they didn't wanna get blood on themselves?" Leon suggested.

"The reason why the killer used two different types of weapons," Kyoko mused. "That's definitely important. It's something I haven't quite figured out myself."

"Well, regardless of that," Celeste spoke, "this would mean that in order for Hiro to enter the boys' locker room, they would have had to use Taka's or Mondo's E-Handbook to get in. And if they did that, then the killer was either a girl that was aware of the E-Handbooks, or a boy himself."

"In which case, the killer could be just about any of us," Byakuya finished. "That's what you're thinking, right? But actually, the real killer did a very sloppy coverup. In fact, she even left critical evidence behind that revealed her identity."

"Critical evidence?" Kyoko sent him a look.

"That's right. But why don't we ask her ourselves? Chihiro?"

"Oh, no." She'd started tearing up. "Oh, no, no, no..."

"Giving up already? Come now, you won't even answer a simple question? I haven't even said anything yet."

"I... I don't know who did it..."

"Oh, but I think you do. You see, Kyoko and I found something most interesting at the scene of the crime, not far from Hiro themself. Sloppy work, leaving your own marked duffel bag at the scene of the crime, wouldn't you agree?"

"Leave. Her. Alone." Mukuro's voice was icy cold, and in her eyes I saw a blazing fire, a dripping hatred directed straight at Byakuya.

"I'm not finished." He pushed up his glasses, immune to Mukuro's venom. "If she'd just calm down, we could get this whole thing answered quite quickly."

"Calm down? Your questions don't even make sense!" Junko spat at him. "She has every right to be afraid! You're trying to trap her with your words!"

"Like I said, I've barely said anything. But if you're going to be so defensive, then fine, I'll leave her alone. Toko, you do it." He snapped his fingers.

"Y-Yes sir!" She looked over to Chihiro, fumbling with her hands. "U-Um, why was your bag found in the boys' locker room?"

"I'd- *hic* -I'd gone to the locker rooms that night to- to exercise, and-"

"And what? Your duffel bag somehow e-ended up in the boys' l-locker room?"

"That's-"

"And inside, there was a small tracksuit soaked in blood. I-In fact, it was so small, not many people here c-could fit into it, r-right?"

"It was in my size..."

"So y-you admit it! The tracksuit w-was yours! It must've been what you wore t-to kill Hiro, wasn't it!?"

"Toko, enough!" I don't wanna believe it... I really don't wanna believe that Chihiro was the one who did this, but... everything seems to add up...

"Well, there you have it," Byakuya declared haughtily. "Chihiro thought up her plan, and followed through quite easily. She lured Hiro to the locker rooms, killed them, and made her escape- and in the process, forgot her precious duffel bag with her incriminating tracksuit. How disappointingly amateur."

"No! I promise, I didn't do it! I couldn't! *hic* I... I wouldn't!" Chihiro broke down sobbing. "They... they looked out for me... They were looking out for all of us! Why would I ever want to kill them? That's horrible!"

"Crying w-won't save you," Toko sneered. "Name one hole in our explanation! Go on! N-Name one! I-It all lines up, d-doesn't it?"

"Enough, Toko." Mukuro was deathly calm, but the fire in her eyes had only grown stronger. "You're wrong. Chihiro is not the one responsible for this."

"I can't deny that your logic is a possibility," Kyoko told them, "but if that's the case, then there's still some things left unanswered. And until we have those answers, we won't be able to complete this picture."

"Are you absolutely sure? Very well then." Byakuya nodded. "I suppose I'm willing to hear you out. What else do you have to present?"

"We already established that the dumbbell used in the murder was from the girls' locker room, rather than the boys', right?" Kyoko asked. "But that's not the only inconsistency regarding the locker rooms. Right, Hina?"

Ah, right! "Yeah, there wasn't any blood splatter in the boys' locker room at all! None on the ground, none on the bench, and none on the lockers their body was pressed up against."

"That's true," Sakura agreed. "And considering the amount of blood that had come out through two very deep wounds, I doubt that what was left on their body was all that there was."

"But there was blood on the tracksuit, rrrright?" Toko hissed. "Ssssso the rest of it was probably soaked up in that!"

"That's not likely. With wounds of that size, it's virtually impossible that the blood would only land on the victim and killer," Mukuro said, stone-faced. "The fact that there isn't any blood at all where we found the body suggests that its current location and where Hiro was killed aren't the same place."

"Shhhhe could've wiped the blood off and cleaned it away!" Toko tried.

"Then what would be the point of leaving the body there?" Leon asked. "At that point, just throw the entire body away!"

"Okay, but how does that stop Chihiro from being the killer?" Hifumi asked. "Not that I think you would kill anyone," he added hastily.

"It's okay. I know I must look suspicious right now..." Chihiro assured him, trying her best to smile. It wasn't working.

"There was something else." Kyoko grabbed our attention. "Something found in the girls' locker room." She looked directly at me.

"Yeah, Junko and I found it. There was a huge bloodstain right in the middle of the carpet in the girls' locker room."

"Yeah!" Junko confirmed. "And it was a huge bloodstain, too. I thought it was weird that there was so much blood, but if it came from Hiro, then that would like, totally make sense!"

"So it was as I suspected," Kyoko decided. "Hiro, who knew about the spare E-Handbooks, used Sayaka's E-Handbook, not Taka's or Mondo's, to access the girls' locker room. Of course, I already had my suspicions, but that blood, combined with the other inconsistencies at the crime scene, all but confirms that the girls' locker room was the location of death."

"Because of the dumbbell, too, right?" I asked. "It would be kinda weird if they used a girls' dumbbell in the boys' locker room."

"Well, yes, but that wasn't the only other reason," she told me. "You might not have noticed, but there was certain information in the Monokuma File that wasn't present this time around. For the first investigation, the File said that 'all evidence suggests the murder took place in the bathroom.' However, this File said nothing about the location of the murder, only where the body was found." She grinned. "The File isn't just a summary of facts. It's a clue in and of itself. Remember last time? Instead of saying the weapon was a knife, it just said it was a 'sharp object.' It's the same principle here."

"Oh, I see, I see! Very interesting," Hifumi hummed. "But I still don't get why the killer moved the body in the first place. Was it just to keep people from knowing about the E-Handbooks?"

"Perhaps the killer wanted to take advantage of the fact that not everyone knew about the E-Handbooks in the mailbox in order to disguise the fact that she, a girl, could be the culprit. If anything," Celeste thought, "this only further suggests that it is Chihiro, does it not? After all, she is a girl."

"That's not…" Chihiro tried to say.

"Bullshit! Chihiro isn't a killer!" Leon spat.

"I must wholeheartedly agree! She had no motive, no reason to attack, nothing at all!" Hifumi announced.

"Well…" All eyes were on me. "I'm not saying it is you, Chihiro, but there was a motive. I mean, with the secrets and all…"

"Chihiro didn't tell us hers," Makoto realized. "Not only that, but she was close to Hiro. She could've easily gotten them to meet them."

"Well, yeah, but…" she whimpered.

"It wouldn't be at all impossible to imagine that she'd use that to her advantage," Byakuya said with a wicked grin. "To lure them over to the locker rooms and kill them once they were inside with the heavy weapons provided. Even someone as small as you would surely be capable of killing someone like them if they weren't expecting it, wouldn't you?"

He looked right at Chihiro. She couldn't say a word, just rocked back and forth on the stand. "I…"

"Just a second," Kyoko interrupted. "We still aren't finished."

"Hm? Aren't we?"

"No, we aren't. Because even if that is what happened, it doesn't explain how or why Hiro's body had two different wounds, from two different weapons, one of which is still unknown. Not only that, but there's something else left unexplained, something that you brought to my attention yourself." She glared at him. "I didn't think you'd forget so easily."

He grinned. "Of course not. Just making sure you're paying attention."

"It's not a very appropriate time for that, is it?" She turned to look at me. "Hina, you and Byakuya were the ones present when finding the body, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right..."

"And was there anything particularly unusual about what happened?"

"Other than Hiro being dead?" If Byakuya and I were the only ones to see them, then... "The body discovery announcement went off."

"...That's what's supposed to happen though," Leon said, confused. "That is what it's for, right?"

"O-Only when three or more spotless find it," Toko stammered. "A-And if Hina and B-Byakuya were the only two to have seen it, then-"

"Then someone else, someone innocent, must have been the one to see it!" I finished for her. "Right?"

"Exactly," Kyoko confirmed. "So I'd like to offer an alternative possibility- Chihiro wasn't the killer, but rather, the first to find the body."

"Yes! That's it! That's what happened!" Chihiro managed through her tears.

"If that's true, th-then why didn't you just say so?!" Toko demanded.

"Maybe because you were attacking her," Mukuro said coldly.

"N-No, they were right to," Chihiro defended. "After all, it certainly looked like it was me. I don't blame you all for suspecting me. I should've gone to get someone right away instead of hiding last night."

You're a better person than me, Chihiro. "That still doesn't make it okay for them to gang up on you! You didn't deserve that!"

"But that's what you all did with Sayaka, isn't it?" She wiped her tears away. "And it worked. So why shouldn't they do the same thing now?"

"Let's not clear Chihiro of suspicion just yet," Byakuya interrupted. "That certainly seems like a plausible reason for her bag being present at the scene of the crime. After all, remembering to take your bag back with you doesn't seem like that much of a priority when you find an acquaintance dead. But there are still a couple issues with this proposal."

"Yeah, l-like what if there was a-an accomplice?" Toko sneered. "I-It'd explain why the a-announcement went off, a-and why there were two different wounds on their body, right? S-So that must be it!"

"No way! That can't be right," Makoto interrupted. "Why would anyone act as an accomplice when they know they're gonna die anyway?!"

"It's still a possibility," Kyoko conceded. "So maybe we should get Chihiro's unfiltered testimony before coming to any conclusions."

"And no one will interrupt her until she's finished!" Junko warned us. "Go on, Chihiro. It's okay." Her voice softened as she turned to look at her.

Chihiro took a deep breath. "Okay. Here's what happened, as best as I can remember.

"After everyone else had shared their secrets, I wanted to be strong enough to share mine, too. So I decided I wanted to try to work out and come up with a plan. After nighttime started, and everyone was in bed, I asked Hiro to help me. We decided to meet at two am in the locker rooms. They said not to worry and that they'd be able to get into the locker room just fine, so I assumed their handbook was programmed to let them into the boys' locker room. I went back to my room and got some sleep so I'd be ready to start getting stronger.

"When I woke up, it was already two, so I went to the warehouse with my duffel bag to look for a gym outfit that would fit me. It took me a while, but I found it. From there, I went to the locker rooms. We were going to meet outside the lockers, so I waited for a while, but they didn't show up, so I decided to check inside, and... and I saw them there, slumped over and covered in blood. I think maybe, if I'd been there earlier... maybe they would've still been alive. Maybe I could've saved them...

"I used the tracksuit I found to try and stop the blood flow, but it was already too late. They were gone. I tried to look for help, but then I was afraid that if I found anyone, then I'd find the killer, and I'd be next, and I didn't think anyone would answer their doors at night, so... So I hid in my room until the body discovery announcement went off."

She started sobbing again. "That's all I know. I'm sorry, I don't know who did this to them, or why... I should've done something; I should've said something earlier, I'm sorry..."

"No, Chihiro," Mukuro assured her. "Don't blame yourself. You did everything you could."

"Yes, it is the killer who did this, not you!" Hifumi agreed. "We'll figure out who did this!"

"So that's why there was blood on the tracksuit," Kyoko thought. "I was curious about that. But there's still something I don't understand."

"So you caught it too," Byakuya said smugly. "Well, it was quite obvious, wasn't it? The hole in her story." He dropped his smile. "If you were really meant to meet Hiro, then how exactly did you find yourself checking the boys' locker room?"

"Um..."

"You never mentioned going to the main hall in your story, or finding a boys' E-Handbook," he continued. "In fact, it wouldn't matter if you knew about the mailbox or not beforehand. If Hiro brought Sayaka's to the girls' locker room, you could've learned about Mondo's and Taka's that way, couldn't you?"

"..." Chihiro's tears flowed silently down her face. Her lips quivered as she stared into her hands. "I didn't know..."

"Tell us what really happened, Chihiro. And don't say you forgot to mention going to the main hall; it's too late for that."

"...I can't. I'm sorry..." She sank to the floor. Her hands clung to the bars of her stand so tightly they turned white. "I want to tell you so much, but I'm weak! I don't know what you'll do or say and I'm- I'm so afraid!"

"You're not weak, Chihiro! Don't put yourself down." Junko crouched down to her level. "It's okay. You can talk to us. We're all your friends here."

My breath caught in my throat. What Chihiro and I talked about earlier, before that girls' night... Monokuma's insistence on using the wrong pronouns for Hiro... So it really comes down to this. I guess I should've realized earlier what was in her secret letter. And to think, that Chihiro's been put in this position... The reason why she never wanted to go to girls' night, how she wants to be stronger, how she got into the boys' locker room... That must've been what it was.

"You're like, one of the only people I've ever met who could actually suck up her pride and ask for help sometimes!" Junko declared. "Chihiro, you're one of the best girls I've ever met!"

"Wait." I'm sorry that they had to find out this way, Chihiro. I'm sorry you didn't get to choose.

"What?" Suddenly, everyone was looking at me. There was a mix of confusion, anger, but there was also fear. Chihiro and I stared at each other.

"I know you're scared. I can't imagine how you must feel right now." Chihiro stood up as I spoke. "It's okay if you aren't ready to say it. But if they don't know, then they'll never accept what you've told us." I tried to smile at her. "It's okay. You know I've got your back."

"Oh, I see now," Celeste realized.

"What? What do you see here?" Byakuya demanded.

"No, I want to tell you all myself." Chihiro's voice echoed around us, loud and clear. "I wanted to tell you all under better circumstances, when I knew that you'd all accept it. But if this is how it has to happen... then okay. The truth is..."

"The truth is that Chihiro is actually a boooooooy!" Monokuma blurted out. "Whew. I was getting real bored of that weird back and forth." He looked over all our faces. "What, don't tell me only Pool Noodle over here figured it out! You mean you really didn't know? Heck, even I knew that!"

Pool Noodle?! "Hey, she needs to tell us herself! Npw shut your stupid mouth!"

"Hey, hold on!" Junko stopped him. "I've had enough of you misgendering trans people! Why don't you shut your bear trap and let us finish over here like a good boy?!"

"A good boy, heeh?! So that's the sort of freaky stuff the Ultimate Fashionista is into, heeeeh?!" He wriggled in his seat. "I feel all tingly all over!"

"That's quite enough. You'd do well not to lay your eyes on my sister." Mukuro seethed. "You disgusting, putrid, misgendering-"

"Um." Chihiro looked totally red. "Actually, he wasn't- well, he didn't misgender me. Hiro, yes, but I- I really am a boy. He/him and all." He hung his head in apology. "I-I'm sorry for not correcting you all earlier, but after years of people assuming I'm a girl upon meeting me, I've kinda just... stopped bothering." He picked his head back up. "Most of the time, when I try, either they won't believe me or they call me awful things." He avoided eye contact with anyone. "I've even been told I'm mocking trans people by wearing a skirt, but I really just find them more comfortable to wear. That's all."

Byakuya seemed surprised. Then he regained his composure in the blink of an eye, acting as though nothing had happened, and adjusted his collar. "Well, if that's all, then you could've just said that. No need to act so dramatic."

"Yeah! You see?!" Monokuma grinned snarkily. "Chihiro may dress girly, but he's still a boy through and through! Now, if only other, more confused individuals would just realize-"

"Just because my birth sex and my gender match doesn't mean others' don't!" Chihiro's voice boomed out. It was bolder, stronger, more confident than anything else he'd said before. "Don't you dare use me as an excuse to talk bad about others!" His voice dropped back down to normal. "It's really mean."

"H-Hold on," Toko interrupted. "But i-if you're really a boy, th-then how come you wear skirts a-and stuff like that? People m-might not assume you're a-a girl if you didn't, r-right? S-So why bother?"

"I told you, I like skirts. They're more breathable. What's wrong with that?" Chihiro's cheeks turned pink. "What's the big deal? Mukuro has jeans, and she's a girl! Hina wears sports shorts!"

"W-Well, yeah, but that's different."

"Not really!" Junko beamed. "Fashion is an artistic medium, totally separate from gender identity! The stereotypical assignment of gender roles to certain articles of clothing is something I've personally been trying to circumnavigate for years now. It's become like, wayyyy more acceptable over time for girls to wear what was considered 'guy clothes' because men are seen as the superior gender from the patriarchal lens most of our society perceives the world through, but it's a lot harder for men to accept their more feminine sides because of how women's interests are seen as superficial and shallow according to the pervasive misogynistic narrative." She whipped out a pocketbook and started scribbling. "You should've told me sooner, Chi! You could like, totally be a perfect model for some of my upcoming shows! You know how hard it is to find male models willing to wear skirts and dresses?!"

"Wow, I had no idea how much nuance there was in the fashion industry," Hifumi commented.

"Perhaps we can debate on gender presentation after the trial?" Celeste interrupted. "In case you have all forgotten, we are discussing a murder here."

"Celeste is right. Let's get back on topic," Kyoko agreed. "Now that we know the truth behind the duffel bag, we can move on to identifying the culprit."

"Well, not quite," Celeste continued. "I am not entirely convinced of Chihiro's innocence. Forgive me if this sounds insensitive, but I do not believe his coming out is a sign of his innocence. As Toko mentioned, there is still the possibility of an accomplice, is there not?"

"I wouldn't really call it coming out," Chihiro told her. "I'm not trans."

"It's true, we can't clear Chihiro as a suspect just yet," Kyoko said. "But I think his story is reasonable enough to where we can shift our attention for now, since we now know why and how he entered the boys' locker room. Considering the way his tracksuit absorbed the blood, it being used to try and stop blood flow would make much more sense than having worn it during the murder, changed out of it, and then left it there at the scene of the crime. Besides, we still have the issue of the two separate wounds."

"That is true. Even if Chihiro is involved, that could only be through the help of another," Celeste agreed. "Then, we should work to find who that other is."

"I-If we're still going off of the idea th-that the killer was a girl, a-and killed Hiro in the girls' locker room, then that means th-the killer would have to be one of the girls, r-right?" Toko asked. "S-Since there weren't any other girls' E-Handbooks i-in the mailbox."

"Chihiro, did you tell Hiro your secret when you were asking them for help?" Makoto asked.

"No. I was going to tell them when I got there." His eyes widened. "Oh, no. If I'd told them before, then they wouldn't have gone into the girls' locker room, would they?" He rubbed his sleeve against his eyes, trying to hide that he was still crying. "E-Even though I'm not the killer, i-it's still all my fault!"

"Nah, the killer still could've gotten into the boys' locker room with Taka's or Mondo's handbook, yeah?" Leon assured her. "I doubt there was anything you could've done to stop it, so don't blame yourself."

"..."

"Anyway, if Hiro didn't know the right locker room to go to, then they definitely got Sayaka's E-Handbook and went into the girls' locker room to wait for Chihiro," Byakuya continued. "Then, the blackened killed them, moved them to the other locker room with one of the other E-Handbooks, and returned them both to the mailbox afterwards, or worked with Chihiro to move and plant the body."

"Should we consider the possibility that the tracksuit was used to stifle the flow of blood from one locker room to the next?" Celeste asked.

"While it's certainly possible, I can't imagine why it'd be left there other than to purposely incriminate Chihiro," Kyoko thought, looking over at him. "And based on his reaction to being accused, it's not likely. Possible, but unlikely."

"Maybe the killer did it because they thought Hiro was breaking in!" Leon suggested. "It could've been an accident!"

"Maybe it started as an accident," Byakuya countered, "but there were two separate wounds on Hiro's body, each caused by a different object. If it started as an accident, it certainly became murder along the way."

"Or perhaps there were two people in the locker room," Celeste suggested, "who were each holding a different potential weapon, and attacked at the same time." She tapped a finger to her cheek. "That would also explain how an accomplice could be possible despite the risks. If two attacked at the same time in defense, would it not be natural for both to want to cover it up?" Her eyes darted around the circle. "It could even be possible that neither knew which of them killed them until the release of the E-Handbook."

"That's also possible," Byakuya agreed. "If the kill was an accident and caused by two or more people-"

"Up-up-up! Only one accomplice is allowed for any killer!" Monokuma interrupted. "Any more than that, and it's not fun for the rest of the group."

"And when was that made a rule?"

"Just now! Oh, but don't worry. There's only one accomplice this time!"

"So we were correct?" Celeste giggled. "There is an accomplice."

"Heeh?" Monokuma tilted his head. Then his red eye started glowing brighter. He stood up in his seat and started stomping his feet and flapping his arms like a little kid. "Nyaaaaaaaah! I gave it away again! Okay, you clever little fuckers, new idea- no more accomplices after this trial for this class! If you see someone kill, then sucks to suck! You can't help even if you want to! Humph!" He sat back down angrily. "Stupid little bastards..."

"...I don't like what you're implying there," Kyoko said calmly. "But for now, we'll worry about this trial."

"If there's an accomplice, then figuring out which one is the killer will be even harder to uncover," Byakuya mused. "But first, a question. If the killer has an accomplice, is their seeing the body counted towards the body discovery announcement?"

"Nope!" Monokuma said cheerily. "An accomplice may not be blackened, but they aren't spotless, either! Consider them the, uh... the gray!"

"I see," he hummed. "In that case, Chihiro's testimony is more likely to be the truth. Unless anyone else wants to admit to having seen the body prior to Hina and myself?" No one said anything, and he nodded. "I see."

"Wellllll, the killer would ssssstill be a girl," Toko thought. "Thhhhhhe blood on the girls' carpet is enough proof of that. She could have aaaaaaaa boy accomplice that put their body in the boys' locker room though."

"Ah, good point," Byakuya nodded.

"Thaaaaaanks..."

"What if I'm being considered the accomplice?" Chihiro looked ashamed. "I'm the one that sent them over there, and I didn't look for any help when I should've. I could be considered the accomplice, even if it wasn't intentional."

"You have to be knowingly helping the killer," Makoto assured him. "I wasn't considered an accomplice last time, even though I helped by mistake."

"Yeah, but isn't it weird?" Leon thought. "That the killer has an accomplice. I mean, we were all in our own rooms last night, right? Hiro made sure we all went to our own rooms. Sure, Makoto went to the bathhouse, but that was way before the time of death."

"Yeah, and Hiro knew about that. I didn't interact with anyone except them. For there to be a killer and an accomplice, and do all that coverup before Chihiro got there, they would've had to have a plan. Who had the time to come up with that in such a short amount of time when we were all stuck in our rooms?"

Chihiro didn't see the killer at all... Wait a minute. That reminds me! "Chihiro, you said you waited a long time before you saw that Hiro was dead, right? When would you say you made it back to your own room?"

"Um, I'm not really sure, but it had been a while..." he thought back. "Maybe it was closer to three by then? I waited way too long, I'm sorry..."

"No, it's okay! I just thought of something!" There was someone who claimed to have been out of their room at three. And since I'm not seeing a reaction, they must not remember telling me that. "Do you remember seeing anyone on your way back?"

"No, I didn't see anyone. If I had, I'd definitely remember. I was watching every doorway and hallway I passed in case someone jumped out at me..."

"Okay, got it." Then that means the alibi I was given was probably a lie. "And just to make sure, no one claims to have left their room at three, right? Not even to the warehouse?" I met Mukuro's eyes as I spoke. You made a mistake.

"N-No," Toko confirmed.

"I stayed put," Celeste replied.

"Nope!" Junko agreed. "At least, Mukuro and I didn't. Right, Mukuro?"

"How interesting," Sakura realized. "That's not what she told us. Mukuro?"

"Mukuro?" Junko looked afraid. "We were in our room... right?"

Mukuro sighed. Then she smiled resignedly. "It's okay, Junko. This is my own fault."

"What are you talking about, Mukuro?" Chihiro tugged at his sleeves. "What are they saying?"

"I'd also like to know what's happening," Byakuya demanded. "What does she mean, 'they know'? Surely you're not giving up that easily. I mean, they're suggesting you lied about your whereabouts. Don't you have any sort of defense?"

"When Hina spoke to us, she asked if either of us had left our rooms at any point," Sakura explained. "Mukuro claimed that she and Junko had gone to the warehouse around three to look for snacks."

"When I asked Junko for her alibi earlier, she didn't mention that at all," I finished. "And that's the real reason you were in the girls' locker room, wasn't it? You were trying to make sure no one found out about the connection between the blood on the carpet and Hiro's death."

"Ugh! I was trying to like, keep some distance! Why would we do anything like that? Mukuro, they're being stupid. Tell them they're being stupid." She looked at her sister desperately, but she just shook her head. "Mukuro! Help me!"

"That would explain how you were able to pull off a murder so quickly," Leon growled. "The two of you share a room, don't you? You would've had all night to figure out a plan."

"Not to mention that the Ultimate Soldier would most definitely have blades of her own," Celeste agreed. "So there would be no need to borrow one. I would not at all be surprised if she had the exact blade used on Hiro on her person as we speak."

"Not to mention the experience and mentality a soldier would have to have to be able to kill and hide their grief," Byakuya agreed. "Sayaka was smart, but she couldn't stop blubbering over her kill throughout the investigation."

"Well, yeah, but... but Mukuro is our friend!" Chihiro denied. "You wouldn't actually condemn all of us, would you? I mean, you didn't even have a reason to-"

"I've kept my secret." She smiled sadly. "That's what matters. We can vote now."

"Uh, no, we won't! I'm not just gonna let you throw yourself away like that!" Junko argued. "I won't let you do this!"

Mukuro turned sharply. "Hush and let your big sister take care of this. I won't let you die for my mistakes. Not anymore." She looked up to Monokuma. "Can you start the voting now?"

Monokuma sat up. "Well, okay then! If you all say so!"

Hold on. The way she said that... It seems suspicious. Mukuro is obviously admitting to killing, but something still doesn't feel right! "Wait, not yet!"

Monokuma crossed his arms, looking back and forth. "Well, which is it? Are you ready or not?"

"Not yet." Kyoko nodded at me. "As long as there's still doubt in our minds, we aren't finished here."

"That's not necessary. I'm telling you that you're right. I killed Hiro to keep my secret, and asked Junko to help me. What's done is done, and I'm willing to pay the price." Mukuro's expressionless face looked from person to person. "What's hard to understand about that?"

"No way! I'm not accepting that!" Junko spat at her. "You shut up and let us keep talking! We'll talk about it as long as we want!"

"I must admit, this is an interesting turn of events," Byakuya thought. "Then, let's keep discussing it. I would like to know more details."

"I-If Byakuya thinks we should keep talking, then I'll have to agree," Toko decided. "Let's k-keep going!"

"I see... Very well, then. I am with you, too." Celeste smiled. "Although I wonder what sort of conclusion this will lead to."

"Then the majority rules, right?" Chihiro yelled up at Monokuma. "We want to keep going! We'll find out who did this! And I'll prove it wasn't Mukuro!"

"Chihiro..." Mukuro tilted her head down, eyes obscured by her bangs. "You have too much faith in me."

"Actually, he has the exact right amount!" Junko scolded her. "Stop being a stupid sacrificial lamb and tell them the truth!"

There it is again! Whatever it is that Mukuro is hiding from us, Junko knows about it. But what? There's only one accomplice-

Oh. I see.

"Ugh, just get on with it! I'm starting to get tired of this stupid back and forth!" Monokuma pushed himself to the edge of the throne, swinging his legs back and forth. "Just look at how bored you're making me! I feel like I'm back in primary school, watching my classmates fight over me!"

"Bears go to primary school?" Hifumi wondered.

"Try to stay on topic," Byakuya sighed. "I'd like this to be at least a bit stimulating."

"I have an idea!" If we want to get the truth, we've gotta trick them into telling us! Otherwise, we'll keep going in circles. "Mukuro, why don't you tell us exactly how you killed Hiro. Then we'll all be satisfied, right?"

"I could just tell you after we vote," Mukuro countered. "There's no need to continue delaying."

"Maybe, but I think we'd all be more comfortable voting for you if we knew exactly what happened," Kyoko told her.

Mukuro sighed. "You really want to hear my story? Fine, then.

"The secret that Monokuma found for me was... devastating, to say the least. I won't disclose it; that would defeat the whole purpose of killing. But trust me when I say it wasn't pleasant.

"So I asked for the help of my sister. As it turned out, she'd overheard Hiro's earlier conversation as well, having had the door still open waiting for them to check we were in our room. So we decided that when the time came, we'd follow them.

"Once it was nearly two, we left our room and followed Hiro up to the locker rooms. They stopped in the main hall first, which we weren't expecting. That was how we discovered the mailbox. We let them leave, then slipped in and each grabbed an E-Handbook ourselves. It added a new element to our plan.

"Once they were in the girls' locker room, we went in one at a time. I had Junko go in first and distract them so I could slit their throat from behind. When they didn't die immediately, I grabbed one of the dumbbells and hit them over the head.

"Once they were dead, we had to move quickly, before the other party arrived. Initially, our plan had been to plant the body in the hall, but with the added advantage of the E-handbooks, we had a way to erase ourselves of any suspicion, and made it easier to explain away the dumbbell. We moved their body and the dumbbell to the boys' locker room and started trying to move the carpet. But there was too much equipment on top of it, and not enough time, so we left it there.

"We barely got out in time. We ended up waiting in the second floor hall for you, Chihiro, to go towards the pool before we made our escape. Upon seeing you, we assumed you wouldn't find the body, and everything would proceed normally.

"And that's how it happened. There's not much more to say. If that answers all your questions, we can move forward, right?" She smiled sadly. "I've accepted my fate."

"That's a bit more boring than I expected," Byakuya thought. "But it seems... off."

So I'm not the only one who felt that... Nothing sounds technically wrong, but the logic is strange. I just have to figure out where to say it!

"Hmm... Could you summarize that over again for us, perhaps? Simplicity is quite useful in times like these," Celeste asked.

Mukuro sighed again. "Alright, if it'll satisfy you, but this will be the last time.

"After Monokuma gave us our envelopes, I made the decision to kill. Junko agreed to help me. We followed Hiro to their meeting place, each taking an E-Handbook on the way. When we got there, Junko distracted them, and I slit their throat open. And because they were still alive after, I killed them with the dumbbell."

There! That's the flaw! "Why?"

She froze for a split second, confused. "Why? What do you mean?"

"She means," Kyoko specified, "why did you bother with the dumbbell?"

"I was wondering that myself," Byakuya thought. "If you already had a knife that no one would find, why take the extra effort to use materials at the scene of the crime?"

"Not only that," Celeste added, "but you also took the time to purposely leave the dumbbell with the body, rather than make any attempts to hide it."

"You know, I was wondering about that too." Junko's expression was a mix of sadness and relief. "Why you were so insistent on doing it just like that. I thought, 'why? Why bother leaving evidence like that?' At the time, I thought you were trying to leave it as a distraction." Her puffy blue eyes seemed to glitter when full of tears. "Because, like, there's no way you'd try to get caught. I mean, that like, defeats the purpose! Hahaha!" Her laugh was bitter and dry. "Hun, your story has more holes than Swiss cheese. So like, don't even bother."

"Enough, Junko." Mukuro's expression had hardened like stone. "Stop spouting nonsense. I've listened to you. Now, you listen to me, and stay out of this. I've dragged you down far enough."

"Mayyyybe it's you that should shut up," Toko drawled.

"I'd like to hear Junko's side of the story as well," Kyoko agreed. She looked slightly nervous for the first time since we'd gotten here.

"Alright, then. Listen here!" Junko's bravado came in full force. "I was no distraction! I was the main fuckin' course! I knocked Hiro out with that dumbbell so they'd be easier for this dumbass-" She pointed at Mukuro- "to kill! That's what I was told to do! And of course I listened, because the Ultimate Soldier would know what to do! 'It won't be enough force to kill them,' she said!" Her tears ran down her face and chin, dampening the collar of her uniform, eyes and nose dripping all over. "Was that all a lie? Or an accident? Did I take away your freedom, or was it gonna be me all along?!"

Mukuro watched her break down, tensed up like a wire. I wonder... Will she say anything? What can she say?

"Enough of this!" She slammed her hands down so hard on her gilded stand I could hear something crack. "Don't fill their heads with that! I've accepted my fate!"

"But it's not just your fate, is it?! You don't get to make that decision for me!"

"Uhhh, I'm confused," Hifumi said anxiously. "Which one of them did it?"

They both whipped around to face him. "ME!"

"Oh, dear. How will we know which one is telling the truth?" Celeste wondered.

"Iiiiiit's impossible!" Toko shrieked. "There's no way for us to know!"

Kyoko took a breath. "No. There's always a way to find the truth."

"Why?" Chihiro trembled where he stood. "Why... Why would you do this to us? What secret could you possibly have, that you would rather kill us all then let it be found out?!"

Mukuro's face was stoic, but her voice was panicked. "Chihiro, I-"

"Shut the fuck up." Leon looked furious. His hair was bristling like a porcupine's quills, and his face was all red. "You tell us the truth! You tell us the truth right now!"

"Leon, your temper," Makoto tried. "We have to finish the trial."

He gripped the stand with all his strength, breathing heavily. "Regardless of whether the killer is you or your sister, Mukuro, you're the guilty one here."

She just stared at him. "I know." A single tear ran down her face. Otherwise, she looked totally expressionless. All her emotions had evaporated, save for that single tear. "You'll have to make your own decision on who you think the killer is. I won't help you to decide anymore."

"Vote for me." Junko's face was still covered in tears and snot, but she smiled through it. "It's my own fault; I hit them too hard! Let's just be done talking about this, for good."

"How do we know this isn't some sort of ploy between them?" Byakuya demanded. "They could still be in on it together."

"I don't know," Toko thought, chewing her thumb. "They both ssssssseem like they believe what they're saying. I can't tell whhhhhich one is telling the truth!"

"If neither of you will speak anymore, then maybe we should go through all the evidence," Kyoko suggested. "That way, we'll know we're making the right decision."

She's right... If we go through it all one last time, then the right answer has to reveal itself to us! "Okay. Then here's what happened!

"Last night, not long before nighttime, Monokuma gave us all a motive: our embarrassing secrets and memories. The killer could easily admit her secret... but her accomplice couldn't. It was too dark for her to reveal.

"When the two of them got back to their shared room, one explained to the other her predicament- that she couldn't let her secret out under any circumstance. The killer, wanting to help, told her about a conversation she'd caught a snippet of. When everyone else was heading to bed, Chihiro had asked Hiro to meet him at the locker rooms to train. They agreed to meet at two am.

"The accomplice saw this as the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone- or rather, one person with two blows. She told the killer most of her plan to kill Hiro and cover up her secret. When it was almost two, the killer and accomplice left to follow Hiro up to the locker rooms.

"Along the way, they made an unexpected stop in the main hall, where Hiro picked up Sayaka's E-Handbook so they could get into the girls' locker room to meet Chihiro, since they didn't know that Chihiro was a boy. Hiro kept going towards the locker rooms, and the killer and accomplice slipped into the main hall and grabbed the only other E-Handbooks there- Taka's and Mondo's- to use. This discovery altered their plan somewhat, but it made it even easier to keep attention away from themselves.

"Once Hiro was in the girls' locker room, the killer and accomplice followed them in. Remembering the instructions her accomplice had given her, she grabbed one of the dumbbells off the rack, and struck Hiro over the head, intending to only knock them out for the accomplice to kill. What she didn't know was that this was, in fact, the true killing blow.

"The accomplice then slit Hiro's throat open so the killer wouldn't realize what she'd done, and the two of them began the coverup. They took Hiro's corpse and the now bloodied dumbbell to the boys' locker room, and set them down on the bench for the class to find in the morning, and the killer and accomplice escaped the scene, each thinking the other was the killer.

"It was then that Chihiro was on his way to meet Hiro to train. The killer and accomplice hid further down the hall, waiting for him to pass before moving on, returning all of the borrowed E-Handbooks to the mailbox, and making it back to their room.

"Meanwhile, Chihiro waited for Hiro to arrive. Eventually, he got tired of waiting, and checked the boys' locker room, only to find Hiro's dead body. He tried to stop the bleeding with his tracksuit, but was unsuccessful, and ran back to his room in fear, leaving his bag to be found the next morning, and causing the body discovery announcement to go off seemingly one person short.

"That must be what happened. isn't that right, Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba?!"

I had to gasp for breath for a second after all that. Gosh, I really thought I had better lung capacity than this...

"How can you be sure?" Kyoko's voice cut through me. 'How can you be certain that Junko was telling the truth and not Mukuro?"

"Well... because I trust them. Both of them."

"That doesn't even make any sense! How can you trust them both after this?" Leon asked incredulously.

"I trust that Junko trusted her sister." I looked from one to the other. "And I trust that Mukuro, with her extensive military expertise and loyalty, would do anything to help her sister escape. Even use a motive to trick her into killing someone."

"Trust? Don't be ridiculous," Byakuya scoffed. "You can't base all our lives on trust. If your conclusion is all because of your assumptions of other's thoughts, then I'd rather not have you make this decision for everyone."

"Do not be so hasty, Byakuya," Celeste told him in a singsong voice. "She is sharper than you might think." She smiled at me. "If you believe that that is how it happened, then I shall vote accordingly. Better this than blindly refusing to listen to others."

"I will too." Sakura nodded. "Judging by their faces, I'd say you're likely correct."

Their faces... Can I even bear to look? To think, they both decided to sacrifice everything for the other... Would I have done the same for Yuuta? Would he have for me? I made myself look at them.

Junko looked relieved. Her tears had started flowing again, but she was wiping her nose aggressively with a polka dotted handkerchief. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Mukuro, on the other hand, looked furious. "Don't you dare... Don't you dare kill her! Don't you take this from her!"

"That's proof enough for me," Makoto decided.

"Me too," Leon agreed.

She looked from person to person desperately. "You're... you're all condemning her to death! You can't do this; she's innocent!"

"She is," Hifumi agreed. "But you know what? So are the rest of us. And you didn't seem to care much about that."

"A soldier knows when to make sacrifices," she spat through gritted teeth.

"I-Is that a confession?" Toko yelled. "It was, wasn't it? You admitted it! You're nnnnot the killer!"

"That's- that's not what I meant." She pulled a long knife coated in dried blood suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, and shook it at all of us. "Stop this, all of you!"

"It's too late." Chihiro's voice was empty. His eyes were hard and steely, and reminded me of Mukuro's, just moments ago. "You brought this on her, and on us. Don't try and shift the blame now."

"Listen to her, big sis." Junko had finally stopped crying, and amazingly, she had no signs of resentment or anger as she gazed at Mukuro. "I've accepted it. Now you need to, too. It's okay."

She only gripped her knife tighter. "I can't... I won't!"

"Then you'll only ever be alone," Byakuya droned. "I believe we're all ready to vote now?"

No one protested, save for a single, choked sob from Mukuro.

"Upupupupu, about time!" Monokuma hopped to his feet. "Okay then, please pull the lever in front of you to vote for the killer- just the killer, not the accomplice! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What's it gonna be?! What's it gonna beeeee?!"