Asahina sat waiting for me outside the entrance to the pool. "In here." She said, taking out her eHandbook and heading into the pool. Readying my eHandbook, I followed her through the pool changing rooms and into the pool, where I found Kirigiri and several others all crowded around a mecha suit at the far end of the pool.
"Robo Justice!?" I cried.
"Phew man, I just had the WORST day!" The man in the mecha suit said casually.
"Hagakure?" I asked fearfully.
"Huh? Hey Maizono." Hagakure replied. "What's up?"
"H… Haven't you noticed…?" I said. "Your rather… unusual attire?"
"Huh!? Did someone come remodel me while I was asleep!?" He cried. "Was it the Illuminati!?"
"It seemed impossible, but it is true. He has somehow gotten more stupid." Togami said.
Kirigiri rolled her eyes.
I turned to her. "Kirigiri, you found him, right?"
She nodded. "Indeed. He was shoved into this pool locker here." She gestured to the locker next to her. "It looked like he was fast asleep, so I kicked him to wake him up."
"That really hurt, you know!" Hagakure cried.
"Frankly, after the shit you pulled, you deserve it." Asahina growled.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Hagakure yelled. "Don't be mean! What have I done!?"
"Hagakure." Kirigiri said firmly. "You need to explain yourself. Why are you dressed in that suit?"
"Uh…" Hagakure stammered. "I… um… I have no idea. One second I was asleep, don't even know how that happened, then I woke up here."
Togami scoffed. "Enough with the sob story. At least take off the horrible suit first."
"How kind of you to offer, Togami!" Hagakure said sarcastically. "It's not like I can do it myself!"
"What do you mean?"
"That's the thing-" Hagakure awkwardly hobbled and turned 360 degrees. "I can't take off this suit by myself."
Celeste huffed. "Why on earth would you design something you can't take off by yourself?"
"I didn't make this stupid thing!" He cried.
"There's a clasp on the back." Kirigiri said. "It looks pretty sturdy. I don't think you could get it off on your own. Here." Using her strength, she managed to unhook the clasp. "Now, there's a lot of small parts to this, so we should all help him take it off together."
Everyone groaned, but obliged anyway. After a couple minutes, we were able to get the suit off.
Hagakure breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! Free at last!"
"Isn't it weird that the suit seems to perfectly fit Hagakure?" Asahina said, picking up the chest piece.
"Do you mean, he's the only one who would be able to wear the suit?" Celeste said.
"W-wait, what? Hold on a sec!" Hagakure insisted.
"No use denying it. We found blueprints for the costume in your room." She said.
"I can confirm. I saw them myself." Togami said.
"Yeah… me too…" I eyed Togami curiously. Based on how he was acting earlier, it seemed like he believed Hagakure didn't make the costume. So why was he acting in accordance with Celeste?
"Then that settles it." Asahina declared. "The one who put on this costume and went around attacking everyone is you!" She pointed at Hagakure.
"HUH!?" Hagakure yelled.
"I say we bound him and gag him." Celeste said.
"Good idea!" Asahina said. "We don't want him killing anyone else!"
"Stop it. He may be a suspect, but he deserves treatment, too." Kirigiri said. "All of us are technically suspects. Does that mean we should all be bound and gagged?"
"What are you talking about?" Celeste said. "We all have alibis."
"That's not my point and you know it." Kirigiri snapped.
"Besides, you keep talking about these attacks or whatever…" Hagakure said. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Don't play dumb!" Asahina cried. "We know it was you! You killed them!"
"KILLED!? Killed who!?" Hagakure screamed. Tears began to fall down his face. "There has to be some mistake! Like, another me running around or something! I dunno!"
"You're the only one who can wear this costume. Who else could be the costumed attacker?" Asahina said.
"How do you know I'm the only one!? Try on the suit yourself before trying to convict me!" Hagakure growled.
"Fine! I will!" Asahina spat. She picked up one of the foot pieces and started trying to put on the costume. After a couple minutes, she started hobbling around helplessly. "See, look! Look how loose it is on me!" She scoffed and put on the helmet. "I mean, come on! I'm blind as a bat in here! Can't see my feet at all!" She lost balance and I quickly ran over to support her before she fell. "I'm surprised you… nghh… anywhere in this thing!"
"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" Hagakure insisted.
"And not to mention-! You totally can't even bend at the waist! That seems like a pretty obvious oversight."
"Why are you still acting like I made it!?"
"It's like I said- nobody but Hagakure could have fit in this dumb costume!" Asahina said. She stumbled a bit.
"You've made your point." I said. "Do you want me to help you take off the costume?"
She nodded. After a few seconds, I managed to help her out of the costume.
"Okay, so, maybe the suit does only fit me…" Hagakure said. "But that doesn't prove that I attacked anyone! There may have been another suit!"
"Then where is the other suit?" Celeste asked. "Do you have evidence?"
"Umm…"
Celeste huffed. "See? Like I said. Useless."
I stepped back a bit, allowing myself to take in everyone around me. Ogami was still guarding the bodies, Syo was running around god knows where, and Junko was still missing. "Junko… where are you?" I said quietly to myself.
"Hmm…" Celeste said. "I see you are still worried about Enoshima."
"Ah! You heard me?" I cried.
"She disappeared right after Owada's execution, right? And we haven't seen her since then, sans when Monokuma gave us the motive."
I nodded.
"She is obviously suspicious. She is more than likely the mastermind's spy."
"D-don't say that!" I cried.
Togami looked at me. "You seem to be in a great hurry to defend her. On what evidence?"
I bit my lip. Her disappearance was worrying me. Not to mention that awful dream I had the previous night. I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
"Anyway, we can solve that ordeal later. For now, this case is top priority." Togami said. "Speaking of…" He turned away and spoke quietly. "This is looking more and more like a set-up."
I looked over at Hagakure, who was looking more and more confused. "So, uh, can you tell me what's going on? All I know is, someone's been killed. Could one of you fill me in?"
"I…" I sobbed. "Yamada and Ishimaru were both killed…"
"AH! Both of them!?" He cried. "That's… awful!"
Asahina scowled. "Why are you acting surprised? You killed them!"
"N-no! I have no idea! I swear I didn't know they were dead!"
"How could you not? Considering you killed them." Celeste said.
"No! I swear! Wait- hold on!" Hagakure patted his pockets. "Crap! It's gone!"
"What's gone?" I asked.
"That note!"
"What note?" Togami asked.
"Well, last night, someone slipped a weird note under my door. This is what it said: 'I found a whole that we can use for escape. Monokuma can't find out, so don't tell anyone else about it. Just come to the rec room at 1 a.m.'
"Hmm…" Togami said.
"But the last thing I remember was going to the rec room, and then immediately passing out. The real killer probably drugged me or something!"
Kirigiri nodded. "That could happen. The nurse's office did have chemicals that could do that…"
"That does not prove anything." Celeste said.
"Shut up! Someone's trying to set me up!" Hagakure said. "A secret passage… a chance to escape… Someone wrote all that to trick me!"
"Your fault for buying that very obvious bait." Asahina said.
"Well, after being trapped here for so long… I thought it best if I took that chance… Even if it was a lie." He said.
"Even if it meant your death?" Togami said.
"Wait- hold on!" Hagakure said. "Why would someone try to kill me!?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because you killed two people!" Asahina yelled.
"Hey! Calm down! I keep telling you it's not me!"
"Well if you had that note I would believe you!" Asahina said. "But you don't. So there."
"Enough talk. We don't have much time before the trial. We need to get going." Togami said.
"What else is there to investigate? We already know who did it!" Asahina said.
"Well, two people here have missed out on vital parts of the investigation." Togami said, pointing at Hagakure and Kirigiri. "For the game to be fair, everyone must have all their knowledge equipped." He looked at Hagakure. "Even if one's capacity for intelligence is severely lacking."
"How can you be so mean and so fair at the same time?" Hagakure said.
"Maizono. You seem to have an odd knack for this sort of thing, considering you're just a pop idol." He looked at me with a hint of scorn. "Help Kirigiri and Hagakure catch up."
I nodded. Everyone quickly dispersed, leaving me with the exasperated Hagakure and very tired Kirigiri.
"Shall we go?" Kirigiri asked. "Hagakure. Calm yourself and focus. If you don't investigate, how are we supposed to clear your name?"
"R-right. Okay." Hagakure said.
"Justice Hammer 2 is in the library." I said.
"Yes, that's true. That was Yamada's first attack, correct?" Kirgiri said.
I nodded.
"I was there for that, and I don't think there was much else of importance there." Kirigiri said.
"The camera is still in the rec room, along with Justice Hammer 1."
"That's not important." She said quickly.
"Well the bodies are still in the repository… both of them…"
"We'll start there, then. After that we will investigate the equipment room where Ishimaru was killed, then the nurse's office where Yamada was killed, and then finally Hagakure's room where these blueprints are stored."
"You didn't look at them?" I asked. "What were you doing?"
"That's none of your business." She snapped.
I blinked. "Okay. Sure." Her attitude was really annoying sometimes.
"Jesus, Kirigiri! You could stand to be a little less harsh!" Hagakure said.
Kirigiri gave him a cold stare.
"I-I was just joking! Heh heh…" He laughed uncomfortably. "A-anyway… What's the deal with these justice hammers? The hell even is a justice hammer? Is it like those, gavels or whatever that judges use in court?"
I sighed. "Kirigiri, was it a mistake to bring him?"
"Yes." Kirigiri said without hesitation. "But we have no choice." She sighed. "He deserves a fair trial as much as we do."
"Jeez, don't make me sound like such a burden." Hagakure pouted, sauntering off out of the pool area.
We quickly followed him and made our way upstairs. Once we got into the repository, Kirigiri immediately got to work. She knelt down next to Ishimaru, taking only a very brief second to recoil ever so slightly. Asahina and Ogami were standing guard like before, except Asahina had nasty expression on her face.
"Why is he here?" Asahina growled.
"Ah!" Hagakure cried. "Don't look at me like that!"
Kirigiri sighed. "He has the right to investigate too."
"But he's the killer!" Asahina protested.
Kirigiri just rolled her eyes. "Ignore her for now, Hagakure."
"Uh… heh heh…" He laughed awkwardly.
Kirigiri continued examining Ishimaru's body. "Just as the Monokuma File said. They were both killed using similar weapons." She said. She picked up both of Ishimaru's arms one at a time gently then let them flop back onto the floor. She stood back up. "I found something."
"What is it?" I asked.
"You remember the wristwatch Ishimaru always wore on his left hand?"
I gulped. "No?"
Kirigiri frowned at me disapprovingly. "Are you that oblivious to others around you? I thought you were supposed to be observant."
"Uh- I…" I stammered and looked away shamefully. Hagakure gave me an awkward look and shrugged.
"Never mind." She sighed. "Take a look at this." She held up his left hand so I could see. "It's broken. You can see the hands aren't moving, right?"
I nodded.
"It most likely broke when he was killed. And if you look closely..." She pointed at the hands on his watch. "You can see it was broken just past 6 o'clock."
"So it was broken right after 6…" I said. "But, what if it was broken last night?"
"It wasn't." She let go of his arm and stood up. "You didn't answer your door last night so you wouldn't have known, but just before 10pm last night we were all gathered in the bathhouse, and his watch was most definitely working then. I saw it for myself. That was when we first discovered Alter Ego had gone missing."
"Just before nighttime?" I said. "B-but you only told me this morning!"
"Well, last night we came to your door, but you never answered." Hagakure said. "Everyone else was in the bathhouse."
"Neither you, Fukawa, or Togami showed up." Kirigiri replied. "So we had to wait until morning."
"But everyone else already knew?"
She nodded.
"So Yamada and Ishimaru both knew it was missing from the start…"
"Do you think Alter Ego is important to this case?" She asked pointedly.
I started sweating. "Well… it makes sense… the two people who were fighting over it are now both dead…"
Kirigiri nodded. "That is logical, yes. And I agree with you. I think Alter Ego plays a vital role in this case, I'm just not sure how yet."
"Does that make Junko a suspect?"
"I mean…" Hagakure said. "Never mind." He shook his head.
Kirigiri said nothing. She just knelt back down beside the body and examined the watch again. "The wristwatch was definitely broken at 6am this morning." She let his hand drop and stood back up. "There's also something in his hand. Take a look."
Assuming Kirigiri's prior position, I knelt down and examined his left hand. He appeared to be gripping something small and white very tightly. "Is that… a piece of paper?"
"Yes." Kirigiri said. "See if you can grab it."
I nodded and touched his hand. The ice-coldness of his dead hand made me recoil backwards. I regained my composure and started to open his hand. As rigor mortis had set in, it took great effort to pry the piece of paper from his hand. "Damn it, I think I ripped it."
"Let me see." Kirigiri said, so I handed her the piece of paper. "Hmm…" She examined Ishimaru's hand. "No, you didn't rip this piece of paper. This was the exact piece of paper he was holding in his hand."
"Really?"
She nodded. "I think that's all the clues from Ishimaru's body. Now let's examine Yamada's body."
"Man, this is getting more confusing by the minute!" Hagakure said.
"Shut up, Hagakure! You murderer!" Asahina yelled.
"Hina, please." Ogami said.
Asahina's stance relaxed, but she kept her angry eyes fixated on Hagakure, who cowered away slowly.
"Kirigiri-" I said. I pointed at Yamada's body. "I feel like Yamada's an even bigger mystery. For one thing, how were they able to move Yamada's massive body from the first floor to the third floor?"
"Yes, I've been wondering that myself." Kirigiri said.
"And the other question is: Why bother wiping his glasses clean?"
Kirigiri looked at me strangely. "His glasses?"
"See, look! His glasses are clean. Why would the killer go to the trouble of doing that?"
"Maybe… Maybe the killer touched his glasses by accident and had to get rid of their fingerprints?" Hagakure asked.
Kirigiri nodded. "That's a good idea, but I think it's more simple than that."
"What do you think it is, then?" Hagakure said, smiling to himself slightly. I could tell Kirigiri's compliment put him in a good mood.
"I'm not sure yet. The reason I'm not sold on the fingerprint theory is, well, if I'm being honest, I don't think any of us have the expertise to take fingerprints."
"Oh yeah…" Hagakure said. "Heh heh, none of us are really detectives, are we?"
"Let me tell you, having an Ultimate Detective in our class would really help us out." Asahina said.
Kirigiri stared at Yamada's body, deep in thought.
"You okay, Kirigiri?" I asked.
Kirigiri shook her head quickly. "It's fine. I just-" She stopped for a moment, as if preparing herself, then she suddenly launched her hand down Yamada's pants at top speed.
"WOAH!" Hagakure yelled.
"EW!" Asahina cried.
"KIRIGIRI-!" My voice caught in my throat. "What the hell!?"
She stood back up and looked around at all of us strangely. "What? Is something wrong?"
"Like hell is something wrong!" Hagakure said. "You're a weird lady, you know that?"
"And you are rather presumptuous, Hagakure." She replied. "I was only looking for this." She held out her hand to reveal a large crumpled-up piece of paper. She held it out to Hagakure. "Go on. Unravel it."
"WHAT!?" Hagakure recoiled backwards so violently I thought he was going to fall over. "No way in hell!" He pointed at me. "Let Maizono do it!"
"Fine, if you're going to be a baby about it." Kirigiri replied. "Here." She handed it to me.
I slowly took the piece of paper from Kirigiri's hand, extremely envious of the gloves she was wearing, and slowly unraveled it. "It's a note!" I said.
Hagakure rushed over. "What does it say?" He leaned over me to get a better look.
I pushed him away slightly. "Um… please step back a bit… thanks…"
Hagakure looked hurt but obliged.
I shook my head. "Anyway, this is what the note says:" I cleared my throat and read out the note. "I found a hole maybe we can use to escape. Monokuma can't find out, so don't tell anyone else for now. Let's meet in the equipment room at 6 a.m."
"That sounds eerily familiar, doesn't it?" Kirigiri smirked at Hagakure.
"Wait, that's just like the note I got!" Hagakure said. "Except this one's different! Mine said to meet in the rec room at 1 a.m!"
"But why would the killer want to meet with Yamada 5 hours after they met with Hagakure?" I asked. "Assuming, of course, Hagakure didn't write this note."
"Ah- Of course I didn't!" Hagakure said defensively.
"Hold on." Kirigiri said. "Don't just because Yamada had the note does not mean it was meant for him."
I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"
"Do you still have that other piece of paper?"
I nodded and held it up. Kirigiri simply pointed to the note.
"I still don't really understand-" I said, my voice interrupted by a familiar sound.
Ding dong, ding dong!
Monokuma's face popped up on the monitor at the back of the repository. "Are you excited? Are you pumped? It's time for the class trial to begin! Like the bright burst of fireworks, like the flash of a soul clashing with life and death!"
"There he goes on another one of his tirades…" Asahina groaned.
"And so…" Monokuma continued. "Without further ado, everyone, please gather in the usual spot! Make your way to the red door on the first floor of the school! Puhuhu, see you soon!" He laughed, then the monitor shut off.
Asahina and Ogami were the first to walk off. "I've got my eye on you, murderer!" Asahina hissed at Hagakure as she walked past.
Hagakure sobbed. "Damn it! I really needed to see those blueprints that are supposedly in my room!"
I remembered the note Togami gave me. "Don't worry, Hagakure. I'm sure it will be fine." Although I was saying that to calm him down, it did nothing to calm my own nerves. An entire murder investigation had gone by and I hadn't seen Junko once. It's clear that she's still alive but… where on earth was she? Was she the killer? The mastermind's spy? Where-
"Come on, Maizono." Kirigiri said, interrupting my thoughts. "We need to hurry."
I nodded, feeling tears begin to well up in my eyes. I rubbed my eyes. "Okay. I'm coming." I quickly followed Kirigiri and Hagakure down the stairs to the first floor of the school. Hagakure held the red door open for us and we walked in.
Everyone else was already there. Ogami, Asahina, Togami, Syo, and Celeste. The only person missing was-
"Hold the phone!" Monokuma came bursting in. "We still have one person short!" He growled. "You know, I should have killed her when I had the chance. That nasty rulebreaker Enoshima has been nothing but trouble since day one!"
"Day one?" Togami asked.
"Oops!" Monokuma put his paws over his mouth. "Slip of the tongue! I meant day three. You know…" He grinned and looked at me. "After lucky boy Naegi was killed?"
I scowled and turned away.
"Anyway!" Monokuma cried. "I'm feeling eager to go chop, chop, chop! Enoshima is looking rather delicious right now!"
"Hold your goddamn horses." A voice called from behind me. "I'm here."
"Junko!" I shouted, running over to her.
"S-Sayaka…" She said. She looked like she wanted to turn and run, but she stood still.
I leapt up and wrapped my arms around her. "Junko, I was so worried about you!" I cried.
"I'm…" She sniffed. "I'm so sorry, I just-"
"Enough of this!" Togami's voice boomed. "Explain yourself, where the hell have you been? There was a murder, you know. Two in fact. Why the hell did you not contribute to the investigation?"
"Cause I just-" Junko said. "I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to do it." She started crying. "I don't want to go through this anymore!"
Kirigiri looked at her sternly. "Neither do we. And yet, here we are. We're all doing our part to ensure that we all survive this."
"She's right." Togami sneered. "If you want this to end, do all of us a favour and lay down and die. It would spare us from your snivelling and your excuses."
"Shut up, Togami! That's too far!" I yelled.
"I'm not even close to finishing." He said. He pushed past Syo, who of course was eyeing him like a mad dog, and made his way over to Junko, sizing up to her. "I might even go so far to say that you're working with the mastermind."
"What!? Why!?" Junko said, backing up against the door.
"Oh, come on, Junko!" He scoffed. "It would explain everything!"
"Your sudden disappearances, in particular this one which was very prolonged." Celeste added.
"Not to mention, you're even dressed like Monokuma!" Syo giggled.
"Stay out of this, you." Togami growled. He turned back to Junko. "She is right, though. You have an interesting choice in colour palette." He spat. "Black, white, and red."
"Now that's just silly!" Asahina yelled. "If she really was the spy, why the hell would she wear those colours!? It's basically screaming 'I'm working for Monokuma!'"
"Reverse reverse psychology." Celeste giggled. "By becoming the most suspicious, she believes it looks too obvious so it becomes not suspicious."
"Not to mention, you miraculously survived being executed by Monokuma after you very clearly broke the rules and assaulted him." Togami continued. "Why was that?"
"She didn't break the rules! I stopped her!" I cried.
"That… that is true." Hagakure said. "She did throw a knife at her head."
"I don't think a murderer like you has any right to participate in this conversation." Celeste said coldly.
"ACK! I'm getting bored!" Monokuma yelled. "For the record, I'm still mad that I was cheated out of my one chance of teaching you all a lesson, young Maizono!" He growled, brandishing his claws at me. "But…" He stepped back a bit. "Even though she wanted to break the rules, she didn't actually do so, so my paws are tied."
"Does that mean we can threaten to break the rules as much as we want, as long as we don't actually break them?" Togami asked, a sly grin on his face.
"JUST GET ON THE DAMN ELEVATOR ALREADY!" Monokuma screamed. "Yeesh, you teenagers and your yapping. If you don't hop to it right now, I'll kill every one of you for being late to the trial! So scram!" With those ominous parting words, Monokuma left.
"I'm not wasting another moment!" Hagakure cried, sprinting towards the elevator doors.
Gradually, we all followed Hagakure onto the elevator and stepped on, with a couple exceptions.
"Junko?" I asked. Her back was still up against the red door. She was breathing heavily. Sweat was pouring down her face.
"Huh?" She looked at me. "Yeah, right. Of course." She stood up straight and walked towards the elevator.
I grabbed her arm. "Junko, wait-"
She stopped and looked at me. "Sayaka, what's-"
"Promise me." I sniffed.
"Promise what?"
"Promise me. Promise me you will never leave me again." I sobbed. Tears streamed down my face.
Junko lifted up her arm so that her hand slipped into mine. I could see tears in her eyes too. "Okay. I promise."
Hand in hand, we walked onto the elevator.
