As the elevator made its descent, I could feel my heartbeat getting harder, but somehow slower. I felt the blood pulsing down from Junko's arm into my own hand, and I could tell she felt mine. Even though we were descending into hell, holding Junko's hand made it that much easier. The ride was done in silence, the only noise being the rattling of the bars of the elevator. After an eon, the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. We all walked out of the elevator and into the trial room. Bright blue-striped wallpaper adorned the courtroom, alongside large stone pillars and white curtains. In any other situation, it would have looked nice. Here, it felt drab and sinister. I felt my skin crawl.
"Hmmmm…" Monokuma mused, interrupting my thoughts. "When I see all of you gathered together like this, I realise just how few of you are left! Your school life is slowly reaching its climax!"
"Only because of you!" Asahina growled.
"Why!?" Hagakure cried. "Why are you making us do such cruel things to each other!?"
Monokuma looked confused. "What, what? Come on, do you really hate me that much?" He laughed. "I'm just a cute bear!"
"Stop goofing around and start the trial!" Togami scowled. "Weren't you the one threatening us for 'yapping'?"
Monokuma growled. "Don't rush me! I will start it! Just get to your assigned seats already!"
Obliging, we all begrudgingly walked towards our respective podiums. Looking to my left, I could see Ishimaru's sign standing next to me, a dark red X painted on his face. One the other side of the sign, Junko's eyes met mine and I could see her fighting back tears.
Monokuma began his usual explanation of the trial proceedings. I couldn't believe I was getting used to it.
"We already know who did it!" Asahina interjected.
"Wuzzat?" Monokuma said, stumped that Asahina had interrupted him.
"It was Hagakure." Celeste said firmly. "He does not have an alibi for when the murders took place, and we found him in that suit."
"Don't try to deny it!" Asahina yelled. "You killed them!"
"I didn't!" Hagakure insisted. "Someone knocked me out- I was asleep the whole time! I don't know anything about it!"
"Is that really your excuse?" Celeste said.
"It's not an excuse! It's the truth!"
"Shut your murdering mouth, murderer!" Syo cried, ironically pointing her murder tools at Hagakure.
"Who are you calling a murderer, murderer!?" Hagakure growled.
"I am sorry to say, but it is true. We have undeniable evidence." Celeste explained. "Blueprints for the suit, parts used to build it - all of it was found in your room. You have to admit, the evidence is compelling. It all points to you having worn the suit whilst committing your crime spree."
"How many times do I have to tell you!?" Hagakure spluttered, growing more and more flustered. "I… I don't know, I don't know, I DON'T KNOW!"
"H-Hold on just a sec…" I said. "I... I found something that contradicts what you said, Celeste."
"Oh?" Her head snapped towards me, her terrifying red eyes boring holes right through me. "Then please, share with the class."
"I doubt it'll prove anything though." Asahina huffed.
"Actually, I found evidence too." Togami said. "And it is rather substantial. What was that we found, Maizono? Answer Celeste's question."
"Why is he acting like a school teacher?" I asked myself. I held up the note Togami had given me. "This is a note from Hagakure. Note the handwriting."
"Yes. It does seem quite dainty." Celeste rolled her eyes. '"What of it?"
"Compare it to the handwriting on the blueprints and it'll become quite clear." Togami said. "It's obviously different."
"Now he's taking over... " I shook my head. I refused to understand Togami's way of behaving.
Celeste shrugged. "That proves nothing. He could have easily just tried to disguise his handwriting."
"This is Hagakure we're talking about." Togami snapped.
"Yeah!" Hagakure said. "Do you really think I'm smart enough to do something like that!?"
"Way to jump in front of a bullet to avoid a rocket…" Junko murmured.
"The differences are bigger than that, anyhow." Ogami said.
"Sakura! You-" Asahina cried, but cut herself off. She shook her head and then turned to me. "Maizono, do you seriously think Hagakure's not the culprit?"
"Not just her, I believe he is innocent too." Togami butted in before I could answer.
I nodded.
"Then, who was in the Robo Justice suit!?"
"The what?" Junko whispered to me.
"We'll get to that in a sec… believe me it's as bizarre as it sounds." I whispered back. She just nodded slowly.
"Was there like… another suit?" Asahina said.
"THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY!" Hagakure cried. "There's an imposter running around in a suit!"
"An imposter, you say?" Monokuma said. "In a suit?" He laughed. "WAHAHAHA! Now wouldn't that be funny!"
"Quiet, you." Togami said, and Monokuma shut up. He turned back to us. "The suspicious individual hidden within the suit. Go ahead, Maizono. Tell them who it was."
"Passing it on to me again…" I thought. "Well, it has to be Hagakure, right?" I said. "He was the only one who could fit in the suit, and we didn't find a second one."
"Then Hagakure is the prime suspect." Togami said.
"That doesn't make any sense! You JUST said he didn't do it!"
"It makes perfect sense. Hagakure was the suspicious individual in the suit, but he's not the culprit." Togami said.
"You're being deliberately confusing, Togami." Kirigiri said. "What he means is, Hagakure and the Robo Justice were nothing more than a red herring. A ruse created by the true killer to throw all suspicion towards him."
"So Robo Justice has nothing to do with this case?" Ogami said.
"That's exactly it." Kirigiri said.
"Now that's a bold assumption!" Syo said.
"And what reason do you have to make such a statement?" Celeste asked. "You do have a reason, yes?"
"Before we get to that, we have another question that needs to be answered." Togami said.
Junko shook her head. "Come on! Stop going around in circles! None of this is making any sense!"
"Well, you would know what had happened had you contributed to the investigation, miss Enoshima." Togami growled.
Sensing where he was going, I chimed in. "Are you talking about how the bodies were moved?"
"My my, your intuition serves you well." Togami said.
"Cause I'm psychic…" I said sadly to myself. I hadn't said that since Naegi died.
"That's exactly correct." Togami continued. "How, prey tell, did the culprit move Ishimaru from the equipment room where he was killed to the repository where he was found?"
"Not to mention Yamada as well." Ogami said. "The killer would have had to take his large corpse from the nurse's office, up two flights of the stairs and into the repository."
"Impossible for anyone to do by themself, unless of course they had superhuman strength." Hagakure said. "Oh! I know! Ogre could have done it!"
"OGRE!?" Asahina yelled.
"Rude comments aside, yes it is true Ogami could have carried the body." Kirigiri explained. "But she had a rock solid alibi from the moment Celeste, the first victim, was first attacked."
"Naturally, she is cleared from suspicion." Togami added.
"Oh. Heh heh, oops." Hagakure said.
"And you better take back what you said about Sakura, or I'll execute you right now ahead of Monokuma!" Asahina shouted.
"Oh boy!" Monokuma cried. "Sadly, that's my fun. You can't do that!"
"Moving back to the discussion at hand…" Togami said. "His body was moved using particular items. Maizono, what were they?"
"A dolly and a tarp, right?" I said. "I remember seeing the tarp in the equipment room when we found Ishimaru's body. I found it odd, since those are used to move around sculptures in the art room. As for the tarp, there was a tarp under Ishimaru's body after we found him in the repository, and then the dolly was there too."
"So… the killer wrapped Ishimaru's body up using a tarp in the equipment room, then pushed him on the dolly all the way to the repository?" Junko asked.
"That's correct." Togami said.
"How did none of you see them do it? That's quite a feat." Junko said.
Togami's eyes widened.
"This is all just a theory, is it not?" Celeste said. "The reason why we all seemed to miss it is probably because this assumption is false."
"An assumption?" Kirigiri repeated.
"Exactly. That dolly, as you mentioned Maizono, is for moving large objects from the art room to the repository." She stared at me again. "It would be very strange indeed to discover that it made its way into the equipment room. Are you sure you are not simply mistaken? And that it was simply in the repository all along?"
Her sharpness was beginning to get to me. "Uh…"
She giggled. "There is no shame in you being wrong. Nobody expects anything from you anyway. We have all accepted the fact that you rarely understand what is going on around you."
"Jesus Christ girl take a chill pill!" Junko cried. "God I thought you were nice!"
I cleared my throat, trying to gather my confidence. "Your ad hominem is making you very suspicious."
"Ad hominem?" Celeste said. "Why, whatever do you mean?
"So the gothic lolita is going to claim ignorance on a couple of latin words?" Togami scoffed. "Maizono, how do you stand to Celeste's rebuttal?"
"There are two reasons why I believe the dolly was used to move Ishimaru's body." I explained.
"Well then, let's hear it - your sad, miserable misremembering of evidence." Celeste said.
"One of the wheels on the dolly had a bloodstain on it. On top of that, there were wheel marks on the floor where the dolly had been dragged through Ishimaru's blood on the bloodstains in the equipment room."
"So?" Celeste said dismissively.
"So!?" Junko cried. "That's more than enough evidence to prove that the dolly was used!"
"How would you know?" Celeste fired back. "You didn't even see it."
"I'm smart enough to follow along with what Maizono is saying, so yes, I think I do know." Junko replied.
"Moving on, now that we know the dolly was used, that further clears the Robo Justice suit, and by extension Hagakure, from suspicion." Kirigiri explained.
"How so?" Asahina asked.
"You should know better than anyone, Asahina." I said. "After all, you pointed it out yourself."
She still seemed confused.
"You can't bend at the waist while wearing the suit." I said. "Since the dolly does not have a handle, the culprit would have had to bend over to push it. But as you observed…"
"If the culprit was wearing the suit, they wouldn't be able to do that!"
"Exactly." Kirigiri said. "This further proves that the suit was simply a distraction set by the true killer."
"Kyehahaha! How painfully ironic!" Syo laughed. "They made Urchin-head so suspicious he's suddenly not suspicious anymore!"
"U-Urchin-head!?" Hagakure cried.
"He's not necessarily cleared yet." Celeste said. "He could have just pushed the dolly along with his feet."
"But it is impossible to see your own feet in that suit." Ogami said. "There's no way it could be done with the proper care required."
"On top of that, if you were wearing such a rigid, cumbersome suit…" Togami explained. "It would be very unlikely to have the dexterity to go about wrapping the body in a tarp."
"You sure said a lot of words there…" Hagakure chuckled. Togami rolled his eyes.
"Couldn't he just have taken off the suit when he needed to move the body?" Asahina asked.
I shook my head. "That's not possible. The suit was specifically designed so that you couldn't take it off by yourself if you were wearing it."
"Why? What's the point of that?" Junko asked.
"To prevent Hagakure from taking it off when he woke up." Kirigiri explained. "If we'd seen Hagakure exit the pool any time between us looking for Celeste and finding Yamada and Ishimaru's bodies in the repository, the plan would have been foiled."
"And even if taking off the suit was possible, there would have been very little time for Hagakure to take off the suit, move the bodies, put the suit back on and stuff himself into a locker." Ogami explained.
"Yeah! Exactly!" Hagakure said.
Celeste sighed deeply. "Have you all forgotten? I have irrefutable evidence that implicates Robo Justice as the culprit." She held up Yamada's battered pink camera. "Is this not a photo of Hagakure in the Robo Justice suit dragging Yamada away?" She presented the photo depicting what she described. "If whoever was in that suit is not the culprit, how do you explain that?"
Everyone was silent.
Celeste continued. "And what did Yamada say after we first found him in the library?"
"He… He said that Robo Justice had attacked him…" I said.
"Exactly. As long as those facts exist, the proper conclusion is beyond question."
"You're awfully persistent, aren't you?" Togami said.
"You know, I'm starting to think she's the culprit." Hagakure said. "Always throwing around accusations."
"Oh? Shifting the blame are we?" Celeste gave Hagakure a cold stare. "I daresay that makes you even more suspicious."
"Shut up!" Hagakure growled.
"Enough!" Kirigiri shouted. "Both of you, this is a trial. Be more diplomatic about this. The possibilities of Celeste or Hagakure being the culprit have not been confirmed just yet. Until then, we need to explore every angle. Instead of seizing one viewpoint, the truth is uncovered by analysing things from every angle."
"I agree, but where do we start?" Ogami asked.
"Let's review this series of unfortunate events from the beginning. Maybe we'll uncover something new."
"Hmph. So annoying." Syo huffed.
"This benefits you most of all, since you and Fukawa don't share memories." Togami said.
Syo's face flushed bright red. "Oh Master, you actually remembered a detail like that!"
"Shut up."
"Plus, we might BE able to find out where Enoshima has been these past few days." Asahina added.
"I'm… not sure that's relevant…" Junko said.
"I suppose we should start with this morning…" Ogami said. "Six of us gathered in the dining hall-"
"No we were in the-" Asahina started, but quickly shut up after Togami gave her a hard stare.
Ogami cleared her throat. "Those of us in the dining hall were Togami, Fukawa, Asahina, Kirigiri, Maizono, and myself. After waiting a short while, we deduced that something had gone wrong when no-one else showed up.'
"Yeah like, even though Ishimaru was all weird and stuff, he was still always punctual." Asahina said.
Ogami nodded. "So we split up and started searching. It wasn't long before we found Celeste, weak and bruised in the rec room. She told us about her assailant, and we quickly went off to find Yamada, whom Celeste had told us the assailant had captured."
"I must have been unconscious for about half an hour…" Celeste said sadly. "It was a good thing Asahina was able to rouse me from my involuntary slumber."
"After that," Ogami continued. "We continued our search for Yamada, and it wasn't long until Maizono told us she had found him in the library, with blood dripping down his head."
"And… Justice Hammer 2 was there, right?" Asahina asked.
I nodded. "And then Yamada told me 'Robo Justice' had hit him on the head with that same hammer. Messed him up pretty bad... "
"Wait, so Yamada was the first person to call him Robo Justice?" Junko asked.
Celeste nodded. "Is that so strange? Yamada was known for his obsession with anime."
Junko pursed her lips and said nothing. I looked over at Kirigiri, who was eyeing Junko with a curious stare.
"After I found Yamada covered in blood, I helped him down to the nurse's office and met up with everyone else back on the third floor." I said.
"You left him there by himself?" Junko asked.
"Well- At the time, I didn't think anything was going to happen…" I said, quickly realising that if I had stayed with him, he wouldn't have gotten killed… I fought back tears.
"After you left the nurse's office I ran into you, correct?" Togami said.
"Yes, that's right. Then we ran up to the third floor after hearing Celeste scream." I added.
"That was… one hell of a scream you gave." Togami said.
"It was the wails of a woman longing for that sweet, sweet Giant Robot love!" Syo laughed.
"Shut up." Togami said, yet again.
"That comment makes no sense, but moving on…" Celeste said. "Yes, I saw the Robo Justice man make his way down the third floor corridor. I was blocking off the stairs so he had no choice but to go that way."
"By the time we all got back to you, the elusive Robo Justice had disappeared." Togami said.
"Exactly. As we were preparing to chase down Robo Justice-" Celeste said.
"Yamada screamed violently from downstairs." I interrupted.
"We then split up into two groups: One to check on Yamada, and the other to find Robo Justice." Ogami said.
"By the time we got downstairs to the nurse's office, it was too late: Yamada was already dead." I sniffed.
"Wait, if we're assuming Robo Justice is the killer, how was he able to get downstairs to kill Yamada if he was trapped on the third floor?" Junko asked.
My heart suddenly stopped. I hadn't considered that possibility.
"Good observation there, Enoshima." Kirigiri smiled. "The idea of the killer being Robo Justice does not quite add up, does it now?"
Ogami frowned. "That's- that's true! Especially since we found Ishimaru's body mere moments before or after Yamada's body was found!"
"Exactly. There are too many contradictions here." Kirigiri said.
"Well, it's not like Robo Justice could teleport, so yeah, it seems that there's just no way…" Asahina said. She sighed sadly. "Sorry Hagakure."
"Y-Yeah!" Hagakure growled. "You should be sorry!"
"Hold on, we haven't ruled it out just yet." Celeste said. "If not him, who else could it be? Aside from Enoshima, everyone else had a solid alibi."
"I think we need to go into more detail about *when* each murder actually occurred." Kirigiri said. "I'm positive that that will clear up these anomalies."
"Okay then, so…" Asahina thought for a moment. "Celeste's attack was obviously first, and then Yamada's first attack was second, then Yamada's murder was third, so Ishimaru's murder must have been last! Then both bodies were moved to the repository for some reason..." She explained.
"And what makes you so sure that that's how the attacks played out?" Kirigiri asked.
"The numbering of the Justice hammers of course!" Asahina said confidently.
Kirigiri shook her head. "That was a trap laid by the true killer. They disguised the sequence of events by numbering the hammers in that way."
"By making the hammers increase in both size and the number written on them, the killer was able to manipulate our minds into thinking that's how the attacks played out." Togami explained. "Whoever this killer is, they have an incredible knowledge of human psychology."
"The human psyche is a mysterious conundrum, full of mysteries and abnormalities that just seem totally normal if you don't pay attention to it!" Syo exclaimed. "Anyway, I seem to be all caught up on how it all played out now. Can we just move on?"
"Not until we clear those anomalies I said earlier." Kirigiri said. "First, we need to establish what time Ishimaru was actually killed. As we know, the Monokuma File does not indicate a time of death this time. This leads me to believe that the killer tried to disguise the time of death on purpose, and the only reasons they would do that would be to either implicate someone else, or give them a rock-solid alibi."
"Which means, if we discover what time he was actually killed, that would open up the field for a lot more suspects." Togami explained.
"Exactly." Kirigiri smiled. "And the key piece of evidence that leads me to that death was given to us by none other than Ishimaru himself."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Junko asked.
"You remember, right Maizono?" Kirigiri asked.
I thought for a moment. "His watch! His watch shows his exact time of death!"
"What time did his watch say?" Ogami asked.
"It was… just past 6 o'clock." I replied. "If his watch broke at 6am this morning, that would have been when he was killed."
"That is quite the assumption, is it not?" Celeste said. "It could have been broken previously."
"When we were all gathered together last night, the watch was not broken then." Kirigiri explained. "I saw it myself. It had to have been broken when he was killed."
"So we've confirmed it then? Ishimaru died at approximately 6 in the morning?" Ogami said.
"Exactly." Kirigiri said. "And now we've solved that anomaly, let's move on to the next one:"
"Hold on- doesn't that mean Hagakure could have killed Ishimaru then?" Asahina said. "He wouldn't have been stuffed inside the suit then."
"Excuse you!" Hagakure cried. "Why would I kill him in secret only to wear something that would implicate me several hours later!?" He growled. "And for your information, I was knocked out at around 1am, when I was asked to meet someone in the rec room!"
"You agreed to meet someone in the rec room in secret… and you didn't even know who summoned you?" Togami said. "God you're a bigger idiot than I thought."
"Well- they said they found a way out! I thought it was worth the risk!" He insisted. "I remember the note exactly: 'I've found a hole we could use to escape. Monokuma can't find out, so meet me in the rec room at 1am.'"
"And you agreed to do that when it was obviously a trap?" Asahina slapped her forehead. "Can we even believe that note even existed?"
"L-Leave me alone!" He huffed.
"But that's-" I said.
"You realised something, didn't you Maizono?" Kirigiri smiled.
"That's the same note Yamada had! Only, the meeting time and place are different."
"Exactly." Kirigiri said. "Both notes were phrased exactly the same way, but the note that Yamada had said to meet at the equipment room at 6am."
"Okay then, so why was Ishimaru killed in the equipment room at 6am then and not Yamada?" Ogami said.
"Probably because the note wasn't for Yamada. Is that what you were going to say?" Togami said.
Kirigiri nodded. "Although the note was on Yamada's… person… it did not belong to him."
"Hmm? Why the hesitation?" Syo said. "Was it stuffed down his pants or something?"
Kirigiri clicked her tongue. "Yes."
Syo burst out laughing. "YAM YAM HAD THE GOODS DOWN HIS PRIIIVVAAATESSSS~!"
Kirigiri sighed. "Moving on… There is a noticeable tear in this note, see?" She held it up for everyone to see.
"What the heck? There wasn't a tear in mine." Hagakure said. "What does it mean?"
"Yamada probably more than likely took this from the recipient's hand."
"How can you prove that?" Celeste said.
Kirigiri held up another piece of paper. "This was in Ishimaru's hand when we found him in the repository." She moved the two pieces of paper so that they joined together. "See? Proof that the piece of paper was originally from Ishimaru. When Ishimaru died, rigor mortis would have set in, meaning it would have been difficult to grab the note from Ishimaru's hand."
"But why would Yamada take a piece of paper off of Ishimaru's body?" Asahina asked.
"Yamada died under rather mysterious circumstances, did he not? And we never established how his body was moved to the repository after he died without anyone noticing. It makes so much sense now." Togami said.
"Don't avoid my question and move on by yourself!" Asahina yelled. "Some of us are still lost!"
I gulped. I understood what Togami was insinuating.
"Well there is an explanation for both: To answer your question Asahina, I have to elaborate on what Togami said." Kirigiri said. "That was what I was going to explain next anyway, so thank you for the segue, Togami."
Togami rolled his eyes.
"The most logical explanation as to how someone was able to move Yamada's copious corpse is of course, Yamada simply moving his own body by himself."
"AAAAHHH!" Hagakure screamed. "Like a g-g-g-ghost!?"
Kirigiri frowned. "No, not like a ghost. I mean that he wasn't dead, he just simply stood up and walked upstairs on his own."
"After I left the nurse's office, I didn't pay it any more attention, and instead met with you guys at Ishimaru's original crime scene…" I explained. "None of us would have seen him if he hid somewhere in between him leaving and us coming back to the nurse's office…"
"So. Yamada faked his own death and walked out of the nurse's office, and then hid somewhere where we couldn't see him. Then, all of a sudden, Ishimaru's body goes missing, and then we find *both* bodies in the repository." Togami said.
"This is all just baseless conjecture. You are assuming that Yamada was still alive, but that is impossible." Celeste said.
"And you know that, how?" Kirigiri asked.
"Well, did you all not hear the body discovery announcement? It was made after Yamada's dead body had been found." Celeste explained. "How can you refute that?"
"That's obvious. The announcement could have easily been made for someone else's discovery." Kirigiri said.
"That's exactly right." Togami said. "It was not long after we found Ishimaru's body that the announcement was made."
"So?" Celeste said.
"Well, if two bodies had been discovered, there should have been two announcements."
"Maybe... Monokuma got lazy and simply rolled them into one?"
"Well, Monokuma? Any comments?" Togami asked.
"Well. it's a very sensitive issue, so I can't go into too much detail…" Monokuma said. "But, I can say this, the body discovery announcement is only made when three or more people discover a dead body for the first time."
"That doesn't answer our question, Monokuma." Hagakure said. "We're asking if you're a lazy bum."
"No, actually, that was plenty." Togami said. "Think about it. If the announcement only plays after we discover a dead body for the first time, why did we hear it later on?"
"You mean when we found Yamada and Ishimaru's bodies in the repository?" Asahina asked.
I realised what he was referring to. "If we heard it when we found Yamada in the repository, it was because he was actually dead then." I explained.
"Exactly." Togami said. "I think that more than confirms it."
"Confirms it? He could have simply just actually survived the blow and succumbed later on." Celeste said.
"I don't think Yamada quite had the constitution to withstand a blow to the head like that." Ogami replied.
"A-Actually, there is one more reason why I believe Yamada faked his death and walked upstairs on his own." I said.
Celeste scoffed. "This whole thing is pointless."
"Well, his glasses." I swallowed. "When we found him in the nurse's office, his glasses were covered in blood."
"Y-yeah, that's right. I remember." Asahina said.
"But when we found him in the repository later on, his glasses were completely clean." I said. "I also found a cloth designed for cleaning glasses in the trash can of the nurse's office, and it was covered with blood."
"So? Anyone with glasses could have used that." Asahina said.
"Well, it had a picture of a cartoon character on it." I said. "If I recall, it was the same one on the camera that Celeste has, that Yamada claimed to be his."
"The character was… Princess Piggles, from Demon Angel⭐ Pretty Pudgy Princess I think." Asahina said.
"I see your point." Ogami said. "And the only people here with glasses are-"
"I wouldn't be caught dead using a tacky piece of garbage like that." Togami spat.
"A few tissues is all I need to keep my glasses clean!" Syo said.
"Then it had to have belonged to Yamada, right?" Junko said. "He used the cloth to wipe his own glasses so he could see where he was walking."
I nodded. "The only person who would benefit from a clean pair of glasses would be the wearer themselves."
"So, if he was pretending to be dead, where did the blood come from?" Asahina asked.
"The fridge in the nurse's office had packs of blood in them. He probably used those to replicate the blood." Kirigiri explained.
"He figured if he was gonna play dead, he was gonna go all out! So he just dumped it everywhere!" Syo said. "But he went crazy and had to wipe his glasses off afterwards. God what an idiot!"
"If Yamada was still alive at that point, the disappearance of Ishimaru's body is easily explained." Kirigiri said.
"H-He's… the only one who could have moved his body." I said. "None of us did it or saw who did it, so it had to have been him."
"Yamada faked his own death, walked upstairs without us seeing him, and moved Ishimaru's body to the repository. So, knowing all that, what do you think it means?" Togami asked.
I gulped. "It means that… Yamada was involved with the murders." I answered.
"WHAT!?" Asahina screamed.
"Not only that, he was one of the assailants." Kirigiri explained.
"B-But… he died, you know!? I-If he was involved, w-why did he die!?" Hagakure screamed.
"It seems that the killer in this case is extremely brutal and cunning." Togami grinned. "To drive someone to kill only to betray them later on, that is a definitive sort of malice that no mere normal person can replicate."
"So Yamada killed Ishimaru, and then someone killed Yamada after that?" Asahina said. "That's terrible!"
"It also explains how the door to the repository got locked." I said. "While we were all looking for the bodies, the door to the repository was locked. "Knowing that everyone else was searching elsewhere, I didn't think it was important at the time."
"But… in hindsight, that is a little strange." Asahina said. "I could have sworn it wasn't locked yesterday."
"So, someone must have killed him while we were searching for the bodies." Ogami said.
"That discards everyone's alibis yet again." Togami said.
"Not everyone's." Ogami said. "Hina and I were searching together."
"Y-Yeah. We were…" Asahina said.
"Assuming we can trust your testimony, that means only two of us have alibis." Togami said. "While we may have walked past each other at certain points, that isn't good enough of an alibi as the murder would have taken mere seconds."
"The killer most likely just knocked on the repository door and asked to be let in." Kirigiri explained. "Yamada obliges, and then is promptly killed." She tapped her chin. "Then the killer, after checking it was clear, walked away, pretending to have checked the art room and found nothing."
"Maizono!" Togami pointed at me. "You were the first to check the art room!"
"Gah!" I gasped, shocked by Togami's sudden accusation. "B-But- b-but, it was locked! I swear I didn't go in!"
"Why are you suddenly jumping at Sayaka!?" Junko growled. "Jeez, you're such a freak, you know that?"
"Quiet, you." Togami scowled. "I was simply making an observation."
"Throwing around absurd accusations does not make for a 'fun' or 'interesting' trial, Togami." Hagakure said. "It just makes you look like an asshole."
"Says the one who was first in the hot seat." Togami spat indignantly.
"Oh come on, man! We already said I couldn't have done it! Stop going around in circles!" Hagakure said, flustered.
"We did not say that at all, actually." Celeste replied. "But well done on deflecting the blame off yourself with such subtlety."
"S-Shut up, you!" Hagakure cried.
"We did, actually." Kirigiri said. "Knowing that Yamada was murdered while we were searching for the bodies, that rules him out entirely, considering he was trapped in the pool locker the entire time and couldn't get out."
Celeste scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You cannot even prove that Yamada was involved. Why would a murderer become a victim themselves anyway?"
"We proved that earlier too." Kirigiri said. "The note that Yamada had on him belonged to Ishimaru. We proved that with the pieces of paper. If Yamada wanted so desperately to dispose of a note that Ishimaru had that he would stuff it down his pants, it must have been incriminating."
"Heeheehee! His pants!" Syo cried.
"N… Never mind that…" I said. "All of Yamada's actions point to him being involved in the murders. It makes sense."
"Exactly." Kirigiri said.
"That's… so fucked up." Junko said.
"I don't really understand what's going on, but uh… Yam Yam had the note, right?" Syo said. "Clearly it was meant for him!"
Togami sneered. "If you were paying attention instead of running your foul mouth, you would have noticed that Kirigiri had the torn piece of paper that Ishimaru had held in his hand. That torn piece of paper matches up with the tear in the note Yamada had, meaning Yamada had to have taken it off of Ishimaru's corpse."
"Ooh! Master yelled at me and gave a succinct explanation! I am on fire!" Syo laughed eagerly.
"Y-You're so- ugh, gross!" Junko said.
"Not to mention, the note said to meet in the equipment room at 6am, which, as we can prove by his watch, is his exact time and place of death." I added.
"Welp, when you put it like that…'' Syo said. "No further objections! Kyehahahaha!" She laughed maniacally.
"Okay. Moving on from that thought, there's still one more thing that bothers me." Hagakure said.
Celeste sighed audibly. "And what might that be?"
"The weapon used to kill Yamada!" Hagakure declared.
"The weapon…?" Ogami asked.
"Yeah, cuz, I mean… according to the Monokuma File…" Hagakure seemed to be really struggling to gather his thoughts. "The way Ishimaru and Yamada were killed was almost the same, with them having similar fractures and everything. So they must have been killed with a similar kind of weapon. But Justice Hammer 3 and 4 were still laying around in the nurse's office and equipment room." He tapped his podium, deep in thought. "So the killer would have had to grab one of the hammers, kill Yamada, then put it back where they found it." He looked around at all of us. "But… wouldn't that have been super risky for them?"
Junko blinked in surprise. "Damn, Hagakure, nice thinking!" She gave him a huge smile and a peace sign made with her fingers.
Hagakure beamed.
"I'm surprised, it seems there is a semblance of a brain knocking around that skull of yours after all." Togami noted.
"Hell yeah! It's packed in there good and tight!" Hagakure said excitedly.
"He's right, though. I don't understand it either." Ogami said. "The Monokuma File makes it clear they were killed using similar instruments, but if the hammers were already laying around those other rooms…" She trailed off.
"So the question is, how could the culprit have gotten their hands on either of the hammers?" Celeste asked. "Personally, I haven't a clue." She shrugged.
"What about the other hammers, Justice Hammer 1 and 2?"
"They were still in the library and rec room, I believe." I said.
"And, if Celeste was attacked by one and came out with only a few bruises, I doubt they would be big enough to kill someone." Junko said. "You would have to strike multiple times, and the monokuma file states there was only one fracture, right?"
Hagakure nodded. "Yeah, seems like it."
"I did also have a concussion too, do not forget." Celeste said.
Junko gave Celeste an odd stare.
"Is it not possible they used a different weapon?" Togami asked.
"I don't think it is possible, they were both killed with the same kind of thing, right?" Hagakure replied.
"So then, what was used to kill Yamada?" Ogami asked.
"We should probably clear that up first, right?" Junko asked.
"Was it Justice Hammer 3, or Justice Hammer 4?" Ogami asked.
"Whatever it was, there's another thing we need to clear up. How was the culprit able to carry it around so freely?" Celeste asked. "How did no-one witness them carrying it?"
I looked over and saw Monokuma giggling on his chair. I tried to ignore him.
"Sounds like a Justice Hammer 5 is about to make an appearance!" Syo laughed.
My eyes widened. I quickly remembered. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a Justice Hammer, right? It only had to be an instrument shaped just like a Justice Hammer."
"Oh, I get it!" Hagakure said. "You're talking about those giant mallets in the repository right? That would be real easy for someone to just quickly grab, murder Yamada, and then walk away!"
"But those hammers did not have any blood on them." Celeste said. "How could they have been used to murder?"
"There was a sink in the repository. All you would have to do is wash it off and hang it back up." Ogami said.
"And that's exactly what the culprit did." Kirigiri said. "They grabbed a hammer off the wall, killed Yamada with it, then quickly washed it off and hung it back up. There is evidence to prove it. The giant hammer hanging on the wall had shown evidence of being scrubbed clean. Whilst the other hammers on the wall had some evidence of use, such as bits of dust or wood splinters, the largest hammer was completely clean."
"Had the culprit scrubbed the other ones, we probably wouldn't have noticed, but they wouldn't have had the time in case someone saw them in the repository." Togami said.
"Several of those large mallets had gone missing from the repository too. My guess is those were painted to become the justice hammers used in the attacks."
"That would explain why the Monokuma File noted that the wounds were similar." Ogami said.
"So, let me get this straight." Asahina said. "Yamada drags Ishimaru's body to the repository after killing him with Justice Hammer 4 that morning, and then somebody, the true killer who was working with him, grabbed a hammer from the repository, killed Yamada, washed the hammer, put it back, and finally left the repository to continue the search?"
"Hold on a moment." Celeste butted in. "I still think it's strange to assume someone was working with him. The way the "graduation rule" works, there is no benefit to helping someone else carry out a murder." She explained. "So the idea that anyone would work together like that is simply ludicrous. We talked about this, did we not?"
"We did, but…" Junko trailed off.
"Based on the rules that have been laid out for us, even if more than one person is complicit in the murder, only the one who actually carried out the act can "graduate" and survive." Celeste explained. "Assuming the rule holds true, it is simply impossible that two people worked together on this."
"But, that only really applies if there's one murder, right? In this case, there were two murders."
"That's… that's exactly it!" I said. "That makes it that much more likely to be an accomplice since there were two murders."
"That is the worst logic I've ever heard." Celeste rolled her eyes.
"You're right that the possibility of there being an accomplice isn't really worth considering if there's one murder. If only one person can be saved per murder, an accomplice has no risk versus reward benefit." Kirigiri said.
"Do you mean to say that, if two people kill two victims at the same time, they will both be considered the blackened?" Junko asked. "That would benefit both parties."
"M… Monokuma..." I said timidly.
"Hmm? Yes? Come to hear my sweet song I just wrote during your debate?" He asked.
"N-No… I was just wondering if that was the case… if two people killed a victim each simultaneously, would they both be considered the blackened and therefore be eligible to graduate?"
"Hmm…" Monokuma said slowly. "Let me think… NOPE! NOT GONNA TELL YOU!"
"Why not? Would that not make this killing game more interesting?" Togami asked.
"Well… uh…" Monokuma hesitated. "It would, I guess… but…"
"You're hesitating, I see." Togami grinned. "That's good. That's enough information on its own."
"How so?" Junko asked.
"It means he hasn't considered that possibility yet." Togami replied. "Meaning, Monokuma knew that the true killer was going to betray Yamada from the start, preventing the exact situation we had just come up with."
"Oh shut up, you!" Monokuma growled. "That's one hell of a stretch!"
"And the true killer was not going to bargain on that." Kirigiri said. "If they had known about that, they wouldn't have betrayed him."
"They had him kill Ishimaru first so he couldn't back out later on, since his life was on the line already." Junko said.
"It'd be interesting to see how that would play out. Two blackeneds together in one trial." Togami said. "If one person succeeded in fooling everyone, would the other blackened face punishment too?"
"If that was the case, the other blackened would just out the first one before it was too late." Kirigiri said. "The true killer probably considered that possibility, so that's why they chose to kill Yamada instead."
"The true killer wanted to make it look like only one killer committed the crime, so that's why they designed it the way they did." Ogami said.
"Meaning, finding out that Yamada was involved in the crimes is key to finding out the true killer." Togami said. "Wouldn't you agree, Celeste?"
My heart stopped. Of course. It made so much sense. One so cunning, one so clever, one so cruel, one so completely devoid of remorse. It had to have been her. Celestia Ludenburg was the culprit behind these murders.
