So I wanted to post this for Halloween but due to all the work I was forced to do I ran out of time again. Also when I wrote this chapter it was much longer than I had anticipated. It went from around 8,000 to over 17,000 words by the end of it! That felt like a bit too much as it would have been my longest chapter yet so how do I resolve this? By breaking it into two separate chapters! Hope you enjoy both chapters!
Class Trial Resume
"No… n-no… it can't be. It's not... possible. Luca… please…" My words were scattered as my voice tried to help me speak with little success as my attention turned to Luca, his podium now red in the center of the circle, putting him in the hot seat.
Luca looked up at me and then turned his gaze away from me. I shook my head again. "Luca… why aren't you fighting back? Why are you not arguing anymore?! LUCA, I BEG OF YOU! SAY SOMETHING ALREADY!" I erupted into tears as I pleaded to him. That's when Luca finally spoke up and said, "How can I fight back against the truth? There's no point."
My body went rigid as I had to grab the banister of my podium to keep myself from falling over. "The truth? Then you did it? You… killed Ollie?"
Luca's eyelids trembled as they shut even tighter on themselves. "Yeah… I did it."
My heart sunk as fast as a rock being dropped in the cold, dark, bottomless ocean as I felt the world around me enter a new ice age. The despair I felt now was perhaps… no this despair is the worst I've felt yet as my tears endlessly flowed out.
"Then it all makes sense. The reason you were in the fitness room was not because you were working out, that's where you ran off to after shooting at everyone to get undressed from that baggy disguise. I'll bet you wore your normal clothes besides your jacket and shoes underneath the disguise so you could easily change out of it and just slip on your normal shoes so we'd be none the wiser," Paul theorized.
"It also explains why there was some torn piece of the black clothes found in the fitness room. You didn't escape up there, you hid your disguise there and then later during the investigation went back and grabbed it to destroy the evidence but a piece got snagged and ripped off, leaving behind incriminating evidence," Melinda added.
"But… Luca ain't tall enough to reach up there. How would he have been able to hide the clothes? He's just a tad bit taller than Kai but would the bench really make him tall enough to hide all them clothing?" Willie then asked.
Melinda smirked. "Maybe but I highly doubt he used the weight bench. If anything I'd say he used something else that incriminates him as the culprit. His talent as the Ultimate Traceur."
"W-What do you mean by that?" Shana questioned her, nervously.
Melinda shrugged as she began explaining, "It's simple. There's enough space between the cabinet and the wall for a person to stand and move around inside. Enough space for the Ultimate Traceur to use his parkour skills to scale up the walls to reach the top and hide his disguise from us. Then he hopped down with no problem and shot himself to give himself an alibi that the Shadow Vigilante had shot him. He probably hid the gun in the cabinet and took his position by the door so we would find him. He then would tell us the Shadow Vigilante ran off after shooting him to the hallway that leads to the third floor, intentionally misdirecting us away from the biggest incriminating evidence hidden right behind him."
"It all makes perfect sense," Paul commented.
"No, I can't believe it! Luca! You cared about us! You cared about Ollie! So… why? Why would you do this!?" Shana cried out, about to burst out into tears.
Luca looked at her with dead eyes and replied, "My reasoning doesn't matter. As long as I pay for my crime, it doesn't matter in the end."
"L-Luca…" Shana whimpered out.
"I hate this, partner. This ain't right. Luca ain't that kind of person, right?" Willie asked, his hat tipped down as streaks of tears appeared on his cheeks.
Luca sighed, "Unfortunately, you don't know the kind of person I am. I deserve whatever anger and hatred you want to throw at me. Especially you, Kai. Go ahead. I'm ready for it."
I was silent. The words I wanted to say beat against my brain for release as anger, sadness, confusion, and worse despair all overwhelmed my thoughts. Yet something allowed me to push them to the side and ask him a question. "Luca, are… are you sure about this?"
Luca slowly nodded. "Yeah, Kai. There's no denying this. I shot at you all before I killed Ollie and ran back down to shoot myself to give myself the alibi."
I dropped my head and sniffled a bit before my voice grew dark and angry. "Luca? Why are you lying?"
Luca blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry?"
"You're lying and I want to know why!" I was now shouting at this point.
"Did you go senile all of a sudden?! What the hell do you mean he was lying?!" Paul screamed back.
"Everyone! Please! We need to discuss this further! I think we need to figure out if Luca truly is the blackened or not!" I hollered out to the others.
"K-Kai!" Luca called out in surprise but I shut him up by telling him, "Shut up, Luca!" Luca seemed to be taken aback by my outburst but he didn't speak up again.
"Kai? Are you sure about this?" Shana asked.
Willie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean he confessed. Why do you want to keep going?"
"Because we're missing key facts that may point to a much different outcome! I know I'm asking a lot but please trust me on this one," I begged of them.
The two of them looked down thoughtfully before Melinda laughed out. "This little act of yours is cute but for fuck's sake! Luca already confessed! There is no reason to doubt him when everything matches up!"
"If Kai is having doubts then I'm gonna believe that," Shana suddenly announced.
"What?" Melinda asked in shock.
"I trust Kai immensely. He's the reason we survived four class trials. Besides if I have to believe in you or Kai of fucking course I'm choosing Kai!" Shana laughed out.
"Y'all know I feel the same as Shana so no point in beatin' 'round the bush as you city folk say," Willie quickly replied with a shrug.
"We have no reason to discuss things any further! Luca has confessed to the murder! This trial is done!" Paul yelled.
Melinda glared at us as she spoke, "Don't let your emotions cloud your mind to the obvious truth! Luca killed Ollie! End of story!"
"We won't give in! Not until the full truth is known!" I shouted back.
HOLD EVERYTHING!
"Here we are yet again! Neither side seems willing to give in so it's time to return to our morphenomenal trial grounds! Let this heart throbbing argument begin!" Monokuma squealed out. Soon the panel arose and Monokuma quickly inserted his key and turned it as everything began shifting and floating up once more. Our seats were now divided as Melinda, Paul, and Luca took one side while me, Shana, and Willie took the other as we faced off.
Debate Scrum!
Question: What is there left for us to do this class trial?
Answer 1: Nothing else remains to discuss
Answer 2: Discuss the problems of the case
START!
"Why do you insist on making things more difficult for us when we have our answer?" Paul growled out.
Leave this to me!
"The problem is that Luca is the one that is being difficult. He knows more than he's letting on," I retorted.
"Why are you doubting the evidence? It is too clear Luca is the killer!" Melinda hollered.
Shana!
"Our situation isn't because we are not believing the evidence provided, it's the fact that there are still some key issues that don't seem to add up," replied Shana.
"You can't seriously be throwing all your lives away because you don't want to believe a friend has betrayed you," Paul scoffed out.
Willie!
"We ain't sayin' that. All I know is we've been through this enough to know that as long as we have doubts, we need to discuss it. We can deal with the fact we were undoubtedly betrayed after we find the full truth!" Willie yelled back.
"I unraveled this case for you and this is the thanks I get? You are showing complete bias by saying I'm wrong just because you hate me!" Melinda shouted.
Willie!
"We never said anythin' about what was already discussed was not right! This ain't got nothin' to so with who we like and who we hate, it all comes down to the things we haven't talked about yet. That's all!" Willie told her.
"If we don't convict Luca now, Kai will do something irrational all because of his emotions," warned Paul.
Shana!
"This has nothing to do with our feelings! We just can't convict Luca until we have every loophole and loose end undone. Our lives are all on the line if we mess up," Shana explained.
"I know you asked me to be quiet but I don't want you to throw your life away because of my wrongdoing. Just end this now. I beg of you," Luca pleaded.
Leave this to me!
"You say that yet you're intentionally hiding important information from us? You are without a doubt highly suspicious but if you're not telling us everything then I can't ignore that. If you're giving up your life so easily then I might as well learn the whole truth for Ollie's sake!" I argued back, angrily.
It seemed like our arguing wouldn't end as each side was unrelenting and unmoving! We wouldn't give in to them and they did the same in return. We just kept fighting back against each other until our side finally found a small opening and we pushed at that window of opportunity!
"THIS IS WHAT WE'VE DECIDED!"
Full Counter!
Soon we were back in the courtroom as I looked to my three opponents from the last debate. "You can object and try to force me to comply all you want but the bottom line is I'm not going to vote until I have no more conviction to proceed with this class trial anymore. None of you will make me change my mind."
Paul glared at me but eventually sighed. "Well then fine! If you're gonna get us all killed because of your weak heart then be my guest!"
"Paul! Don't give in!" Melinda called over to him.
Paul shrugged as he looked at her. "Well, he's not going to and I know he's too stubborn to reason with so there's no point in trying to reboot something that is impossible to reprogram. Besides, he does sound confident he noticed something. It won't hurt to listen to what he has to say. It may be completely pointless but then Kai has surprised me time and time again. Go ahead, Kai."
Melinda seethed a bit but stayed quiet as I looked to Luca. "So let me see if I understand this correctly? After you shot at all of us, you ran up to Ollie and shot her before coming back down to the fitness room to hide the clothes and shoot yourself. Is that how it really happened?"
"Of course it did," Luca blankly replied.
"Then why does your story not match up to the actual events that occurred during that time?" I asked.
"Will you explain yourself already instead of repeating the same damn line over and over?!" Melinda snarled out.
"Sure thing. All you have to do is look at the evidence," I responded.
Present Evidence: Shadow Vigilante's Attack Path
"HERE'S YOUR EVIDENCE!"
I began explaining, "When we found Paul and Melinda in the library, who was shot at very recently, we were with them for about a minute before the alarm was finally shut off and in that next moment…"
Before we could comprehend anything another shot rang out and a distant cry made it to our ears. "That sounded like it came from the second floor!" Melinda shouted.
"We heard you get shot, or in actuality, you had shot yourself but how did you do it so fast? How did you shoot at Paul and Melinda, run up from the first floor to the farthest room of the fifth floor, shoot Ollie through the window, run all the way back down to the second floor, get undressed, hide those clothes, and then shoot yourself in the span of a minute maybe two? Even with your superior athleticism as the Ultimate Traceur, not even you could do all that in such an incredibly thin amount of time!" I elaborated to the others.
Luca seemed to freeze up. "I-I… well, that's because I…"
"That is impossible for you to have done just like how you claimed to have dodged the bullet at point blank when you had your alibi against the Shadow Vigilante. Twice you've lied about doing such an incredible, physical feat. You really are such an amateur," Paul shook his head in disbelief.
Melinda just seemed to glare in silence as Willie spoke up. "So then if he didn't do all that, then what did he do when he ran away from the library?"
"He had to have headed straight to the fitness room since we heard the shot a quick minute after meeting up with Paul and Melinda. So he shot at them in the library, ran to the second floor, got undressed in the fitness room, scaled the cabinet and walls to hide the clothes on top, and then shot himself. Doing that would fit the timeframe of what we imagined to be the Shadow Vigilante's attacks," Shana explained to Willie.
"Then did he kill Ollie after we met up with him?" Willie asked.
I shook my head and replied, "No, we were all paired up and searching for a mysterious masked shooter that was never really there and we never separated when we searched the fifth floor. But then again, it now explains the piece of information we have been missing all this time."
"What? The fact that Ollie's time of death was listed as unknown?" Willie asked.
I blinked in shock. "Y-Yeah, actually. How did you know that? I thought you couldn't read."
Willie smiled. "I can't but Shana helped me out with that before I went off to investigate so I would have all the information that everyone has at the beginning."
"Good on you! So yes, that should have raised some red flags at the very beginning. The fact that Monokuma hid this piece of information is beyond crucial to know how things played out. Or better yet how things didn't play out. If Ollie really did die at the obvious time we had thought then the time should have been listed. But because it wasn't then we shouldn't have assumed the time of death would have been so easy for us to figure out," I expounded on the subject.
"So then with all that said the truth is Ollie was not killed when we were all being shot at. That must mean she was killed before the Shadow Vigilante ever made an appearance," Paul deduced.
I quickly noted, "Also, I had spent that afternoon with Ollie and she had remained in her room when I left so she had to have been killed sometime after nighttime started at 10 PM and before we were all woken up by the alarm at around 5:30 AM this morning. That means unless we all were with someone last night, all of us are lacking alibis."
"Not so fast!" Melinda suddenly popped in! "Just because no one has any alibis for the new timeframe does not mean Luca is no longer the most suspicious! After all, he is the Shadow Vigilante who shot at us so he is still clearly the one behind all of this!"
"He is majorly involved in this case, there is no denying that, but that doesn't mean he's the one who actually killed her! Besides, he's not the only one who's been suspicious. I think we should discuss when everyone may have been acting weird in one way or another," I said.
"Someone else was acting suspiciously? Who?" Melinda asked.
"The one feigning like they don't know who I'm referring to right now," I answered as my gaze remained unmoving.
Melinda's face went dark again as her voice went sinister. "Are you trying to suggest what I think you are?"
"Don't take my word for it. Willie can also vouch for me. Remember, Willie?" I asked my cowboy friend.
"Oh, sure! I know what you're referring to! See me and Kai were in the school store when a gunshot sounded again during the investigation and we rushed out to see Melinda on the floor and I gotta say she was incredibly offish. We saw a huge bullet hole in the nearby wall and she suddenly clung to me whimperin' like a newborn baby who was taken from their mama," Willie told the others.
Shana suddenly went red-faced as she seemed to get very mad. "Wait… she clung to you? She didn't like touch you or anything, did she?"
"Not really that much," Willie answered before his eyes lit up like he just realized something. "Hang on a bed-post! Are you getting… jealous?"
Now Shana's cheeks were the only thing red as she went rigid and was getting flustered. "W-What! Me!? Jealous!? Ha! Don't even try to insinuate that!"
"I don't know what insinuate means but I can tell you're full of it with how your face is heatin' up!" Willie chuckled at her.
"S-Stop it!" Shana pleaded.
By this point, both Melinda's and Luca's podiums were now red and in the center of the ring as they were both in the hot seat. Melinda suddenly scoffed at us. "So you're saying that because I was shot at that suddenly I'm suspicious? Maybe you should think of a contradiction that makes some sense!"
I shook my head at her and argued back, "But that does make you suspicious! After all, you're not one to be timid and scared so easily. It's just not like you to be frightened. Also, you have such amazing reflexes and senses from hunting yet somehow this one time you were caught off guard? That just doesn't seem likely. If you truly did believe a shooter was running around you would have kept your guard up even more than you normally do. There's also the fact you told us the Shadow Vigilante ran off to the dormitories when we found no trace of him! You had us running around before and during the investigation and now you're running us around in the class trial all of a sudden. To me, that's very deceptive."
"The huntress will trap you!" Melinda called out.
"Then let us discuss things in more detail. Let's say Ollie was killed earlier. You don't have any evidence that links me to the crime scene, do you?" Melinda laughed out.
Rebuttal Showdown!
Truth Blades Prepared: Status of the Dead Body, Art Room Window Hole, Exploded Plastic Pieces, and Blood Splattered Canvas
"Who cares what time Ollie was killed? It does ==/== not matter! You need evidence someone was there and as far as that is concerned, you ==/== have nothing. Why are you wasting time trying to figure out ==/== who was there when you have no possible way of doing so?" Melinda demanded me.
"I'll bet I can figure out who was at the crime scene. All we gotta do is look at what we found there," I told her with a sly grin on my face.
"Ha! Don't make me laugh! How are you going to do that? Find fingerprints? Maybe find some blood ==/== from the culprit? Or perhaps read all of ==/== our minds? None of those things are possible! Besides Ollie's body, we found nothing ==/== of suspicion!" Melinda screamed at me.
Truth Blade Used: Blood Splattered Canvas
"I'LL CUT YOUR WORDS DOWN TO SIZE!"
Counter!
"Funny how you said it like that because I did find something of suspicion at the crime scene. The blood-soaked canvas!" I shouted back.
"What?" Melinda asked.
"The canvas that is covered in Ollie's blood has some duct tape on the front but I checked the back of it and it doesn't have any tears aside from the bullet hole. Not only that, but there were pieces of plastic taped to the canvas and other smaller pieces scattered in the blood on the floor. It looked like there was a bag that exploded," I said, showing off the evidence.
Paul then opened his laptop and began typing away. "There's something else about this that had me confused as well and so I began running simulations on my laptop while watching over the crime scene and I wish to show everyone my findings."
Soon his screenless projection came up and a polymorphic replica of the art room spawned in with a door, canvas, and a person inside the room who had to be Ollie and outside the room was the killer. "Now watch from an eagle-eye perspective of what I was able to obtain through these simulations," Paul told us as we watched intently. The killer raised their arm and then a dotted line went through the door, then through Ollie, and finally through the canvas.
"So what? That didn't prove anything," Luca grumbled.
"Then maybe we should switch our perspective to the side and you'll see it," Paul smirked as he played it again now with the shooter on the far right and the canvas on the far left. The shooter shot the bullet through the window before it traveled forward and hit Ollie before passing through and hitting the canvas. But what happened earlier caught my attention. "Now class, what did you notice was out of place?"
"Did… Did the bullet path go through Ollie's… chest?" I hesitantly asked.
Paul nodded. "Good eye, Kai. I took into account the position of the window, the canvas, and Ollie's body height and her most likely place to be standing when she was shot and when I replicated it, this was the result."
"So what? That doesn't prove anything," Luca spat out.
"No! It proves a major fact! It means Ollie should have been shot in the chest if she was standing in front of the window! But we saw the bullet wound in the middle of her face!" I argued.
"Then what does this mean?!" Willie hollered out.
"It means we're being duped again. The path from the window to the canvas is out of reach of the victim's fatal injury which means that the killer never shot Ollie through the window," Paul replied, informatively.
"Allow me to jump ahead of you!" Luca suddenly shouted at us.
"No! You're wrong! There is no other explanation!" Luca screamed out.
"Whoa! Luca?" I asked in stunned surprise.
"Kai! You'll believe me right? After all, you're my brother!" Luca said, seeming to try and play me.
'Why are you doing this to me, Luca?' I cried out in my thoughts.
Rebuttal Showdown!
Truth Blades Prepared: Shadow Vigilante's Attack Path, Willie's Gun Analysis, Paul's Account, and School Store Inventory List
"Kai, you see why Paul's simulation is flawed, right? He must have made the size of ==/== Ollie's stand in bigger to throw us off. He's got to ==/== be hiding something from us. You agree with me right, Kai?"
"Luca, what are you getting out of this? Why are you making yourself even more suspicious than ever!? I don't understand!" I cried out.
"Do you not trust me anymore? I'm trying ==/== to help! If you really can't see it then I'll have to help you see it! When you take into account all of ==/== the places where bullets were fired, several shots ==/== can be counted. The fact that there's only one bullet hole in the entire room can only mean one thing! There was only a single shot inside the art room!"
Truth Blade Used: Willie's Gun Analysis
"I'LL CUT YOUR WORDS DOWN TO SIZE!"
Counter!
"Luca, that's not likely. Not with what Willie's told me about the murder weapon," I informed him.
"Huh?" Luca blinked in shock.
"I took a look at the gun after I took it off Monokuma and I saw that six out of fifteen bullets in the magazine were used. That's one bullet for each of us alive. However, the muzzle of the gun showed it had been used a lot more and recently with how dirty it was. I wasn't able to tell exactly how many times the gun was fired but my best assumption is maybe eight or more times," Willie theorized.
"Actually, I think eight is perfect, Willie. All we have to do is account for all the bullet holes in total. There's the five who were shot at by Luca, Luca shooting himself, the bullet hole in the art room, and of course the one that killed Ollie. Altogether that makes eight separate shots and the gun was only fired six times. Which means the gun was reloaded after making two shots, one in the art room and one into Ollie's head." I summarized.
"But then what about the blood on the canvas and the ground? How do you explain that? How was there that much blood?" Melinda growled at me.
I cupped my chin, thoughtfully. "Well, I think I may know of a potential reason for that. It must have been…"
•Ollie's blood
•A batch of pink paint
•A blood pack
Answer Selected: A blood pack
"HERE'S THE TRUTH!"
"That must be it! It was a blood pack!" I called out, triumphantly.
"What are you blabbering on about!?" Melinda sighed.
I smirked as I began explaining. "The reason why there was plastic everywhere was because someone taped a blood pack onto the canvas and then shot it through the window and blew up the blood pack to give us the image that Ollie was shot through the window when in fact she wasn't!"
"Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing a small fridge with a glass door containing some blood packs in the Nurse's office when we were checking in on Kai," Willie mentioned.
"I installed that myself!" Monokuma added.
"Um, news flash! You're forgetting something majorly important! There was only one bullet hole in the entire art room and no other room had a bullet hole! If Ollie really was shot by a different bullet, then why is there no eighth hole in any wall?!" Melinda asked, furiously.
"I wanna know why Luca is being suspicious," Shana admitted.
Paul sighed. "And I want to know why you people seem to have lost your minds right now."
"Can you answer me?!" Melinda, Shana, and Paul all shouted out at once.
Mass Panic Debate!
Truth Bullets Loaded: Paul's Account, Beretta M9 Handgun, Lack of Motive, Status of the Dead Body, and Hidden Perk
"I want to know why there are only seven total bullet holes in the walls around the school? Can you give me a reason to believe why that is?" "Luca has been beyond suspicious and I just don't want to believe it! Luca!" "I wish to understand why you people are going ballistic all of a sudden," Melinda questioned, Shana cried out, and Paul groaned out in frustration.
"I'm not sure yet but give me a chance to look things over and I may be able to figure it out." "I shouldn't have to say it again. I killed Ollie. There's nothing more to it." Partner, I wanna know how you're so calm right now!" I responded, Luca deadpanned, and Willie hollered out.
"Like hell, a snot-nosed spoiled brat like you could ever figure out this situation we're in right now! This is all your fault!" "But why? You have no reason to do it! I refuse to believe you would simply kill her on a whim like that!" "Because someone needs to be rational during these times of mass panic. Besides, there is something I'd like to point out," Melinda screamed back, Shana refused, and Paul elaborated.
"It's my fault for making sure we don't choose the wrong answer? You're right, this is absolutely my fault." "You wouldn't be able to understand." "Oh yeah? What do you think you could do?" I sneered, Luca moaned out, and Willie asked.
"I'm glad you're finally starting to see my way for once." "I can't if you keep dodging away from giving me a straight answer!" "All you have to do is consider if the bullet even exited the body," Melinda sarcastically replied, Shana screamed, and Paul noted.
Truth Bullet Fired: Status of the Dead Body
"I CAN HEAR YOU!"
Consent!
"Wait, Paul, are you saying the bullet never left the body?" I asked.
"That's a theory I have, yes. It is possible the bullet is still lodged inside her head and that would explain why there is no other hole on the walls," Paul commented.
"How about that Melinda? Paul is helping us all figure out the truth," Shana mocked her.
Melinda seemed to force a smile as her eyes glared icy darts at Shana. "So glad our Great Protector is saving us. But there is one question I still wanna know. Who was the one that shot at me?" Melinda suddenly popped up another question.
"Yes, I would like to know this as well. From the sounds of it, Melinda still is a victim considering Kai and Willie both heard a shot and found Melinda attacked. How do we explain this?" Paul asked.
'She's trying to weasel her way out! I know she's more involved than she's letting on! I just know it!' I screamed in my head.
Non-Stop Debate!
Loaded Truth Bullets: School Store Inventory List, Shana's Account, Willie's Gun Analysis, and Luca's Account
"The Shadow Vigilante shot at me twice! Luca has to be the one who shot at me that second time!" Melinda accused.
"..." Luca remained quiet.
"No rebuttal? Then you must have done it," Paul noted.
"He's been going all over the place when he speaks up and stays quiet! We need proof he did it!" Shana shouted.
"Could it have been the murder weapon?" questioned Paul.
"That ain't no way it was the murder weapon that killed Ollie! I had it at that time and I was with Kai in the school store!" Willie told him.
"No, the gun used was much bigger! This gun could have only come from one place and there's only one person who could have done it! Luca grabbed it from the school store and tried to kill me again!" Melinda cried out.
Truth Bullet Fired: School Store Inventory List
"YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!"
Counter!
"No, Melinda. It couldn't have been from the school store! The inventory list doesn't show any guns were missing in the first place!" I fought back.
"There's no way that's true!" Melinda shouted.
"But it is the truth! Just look at the list yourself if you don't believe it!" I quickly uploaded the pics I took to the screen so everyone could see.
"Yeah, from what pictures Kai took of the guns on the shelves and the list, all the guns are accounted for," Shana replied after examining the pictures.
"Even if a gun was missing it would've been useless," I added.
"Why is that?" Paul asked.
"The store is stocked to the brim with gun supplies and such yet there's one thing not listed on here that every gun needs! Ammunition!" I called out.
"Now that you mention it, I don't recall seein' any bullets at all in the school store! I figured the guns were already loaded up for use," Willie quickly responded.
"I doubt Monokuma would have done that. He likes to keep all the supplies separated like the crossbow and arrow that was "used" in the first class trial so it would be strange if he had put the bullets into the guns already," I told him.
"But then if the gun that was shot at me wasn't from the school store then where did it come from?" Melinda growled.
I shook my head at her. "Well, there is only one place I can think of…"
•The Headmaster's Room
•My Dormitory
•Melinda's back
Answer Selected: Melinda's back
"HERE'S THE TRUTH!"
"That rifle on your back looks big enough," I answered.
"Are you saying someone used my own precious against me?!" Melinda shouted out.
"No, genius! I'm saying you shot the gun yourself!" I shouted back.
"Grkk!" Melinda seemed to choke up.
"I told y'all she'd shoot her own ass!" Willie laughed out, not believing he actually called it!
"She shot the gun herself? But why would she shoot at herself?" Shana asked.
"No, I think she simply shot it at the wall and then feigned her terror. As for why? I think it was to lure me and Willie, who were the closest to her at the time since no one else came over when it happened. Then once we were there, she clung onto Willie like her life depended on it," I noted. Shana seemed to growl at that last sentence.
"But what was the point of lurin' us over for? And why would she hug me of all partners like that?" Willie asked.
'Why would she want to do all that? There's only one answer that is the most logical," I thought.
Present Evidence: Beretta M9 Handgun
"HERE'S YOUR EVIDENCE!"
"It was because you had something she wanted! The Beretta M9 aka the murder weapon!" I stated firmly.
"W-What!? That's absurd!" Melinda screamed out.
"On the contrary, it's exactly what happened. You faked your horror of getting shot at and threw yourself onto Willie to grab the gun he had tucked away because not long after we separated we noticed the gun went missing! That's because you swiped it off him!" I cornered her.
"Then I didn't forget it in the school store! I knew I wouldn't have left that behind! You tricked me!" Willie shouted.
Paul glared at Melinda. "What is the meaning of this!? Explain yourself immediately!"
Melinda bowed her head down to her podium with a huge slam radiating through the trial grounds. "My Great Protector! I swear this is all baseless conjecture! They have no evidence I actually took the gun off of him! Besides, why would I want that gun in the first place?"
"There's the fact to hide you are involved in this murder which I know you must be!" I told her.
"Oh yeah? And how can you be sure of that, motherfucker!?" Melinda questioned me, her face fuming and her eyes wild and red.
"I said it myself earlier. The gun didn't come from the school store so it must belong to the person who brought it here. Originally we thought it was the Shadow Vigilante but I was in Luca's room last night and I saw no indication that he had a gun. Besides an Ultimate Traceur has no skills using a gun. However, you flaunted your rifle since day one and what kind of huntress would you be if you only used one rifle and a big knife? I bet if we checked your room, we'd find all the weapons you brought along, and all the ammunition needed to use them including the Beretta M9 you stole back from us!" I called her out!
"Melinda! I swear if the gun is yours, you better confess it now!" Paul ordered her.
"Fine, it's mine," she admitted.
"Damn! She really is a dog at the heel!" Willie gasped out.
"But it's because it was stolen from me!" Melinda then confessed.
"Oh really? You're gonna pull that card?" I asked her, not buying into her obvious lie.
"But it is true. I was ashamed to admit that a gun was stolen from me and I didn't want to frighten anyone by saying so. I was looking into it on my own to try and find out who stole it and before I could tell anyone, Luca ran around with my gun and shot at everyone! You must believe that I'm a victim in all this! However, there is one thing. Luca has shot a gun similar to my Beretta M9 before. He's even told me so," Melinda suddenly told us.
"Like hell, I'm gonna believe anything you tell us. There's no way Luca actually shot a gun before. Right, Luca?" I asked him.
Luca just looked down and said, "Yeah, I have."
"Luca! Why are you supporting her!?" I screamed at him.
"Because he knows I've got him trapped like the good huntress I am. Anyway, he had his gun in hand and ready to use it but Monokuma confiscated it from him so he stole mine and used his own ammunition for it," Melinda giggled, innocently.
"Monokuma! Is this true?!" Shana called him out.
"Who's to say? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't! That's for you kids to find out!" Monokuma laughed out.
"You're useless!" Shana shouted in frustration.
"No worries, Shana. I already caught Melinda in a lie," I said, grinning as I did so.
Melinda's smile quickly evaporated as her darkened face and voice returned. "Oh, so you say but can you back it up with the endless shit streaming out of your opening?"
"I can actually. You told me a story a while back about how you hurt your half-sister when your rifle misfired and blew a hole in your roof. It went off because you always keep it loaded. I'm willing to bet you do the same with all your weapons! This means that the Beretta M9 would have already been loaded with your ammunition," I rebutted her.
"Oh, whatever! Ammunition is ammunition! Still, you have no way to prove me wrong physically now do you?! Gahahahahaha!" Melinda cackled at us madly!
"I bet I could if I had a bullet," I remarked.
"Oh, and why is that?" Melinda asked.
"Because you have your own special insignia on your gun and I happened to notice it on your Bowie knife too. So I bet it's also on your Beretta M9 and I bet your so egotistical that you would put it on your bullets too! If I had one of those I could pin you on this easy!" I told her.
"But you don't have one and so my point is entirely plausible! This means that Luca, who has already confessed to the crime I might add, is still the most likely and only guilty party behind everything since he is without a doubt the Shadow Vigilante!" Melinda hollered out.
'I hate to admit it but I'm stuck now. I don't have one of the bullets and so now I can't pin this on her. What do I do now?' I wondered as the feeling of despair was slowly creeping back.
But then someone called out, "Hey Monokuma! I want a recess!" My eyes blinked in shock as I looked over to Shana.
Monokuma looked towards her in equal shock. "Wha-wha! What's the meaning of this!? You would dare ask for a recess during this most titillating class trial! Why should I do that?!"
"Because we need to retrieve one of the bullets for the class trial!" Shana announced.
"What!?" Melinda shouted out.
"If this is to be a fair trial we need to grab this one piece of evidence! You know things need to be fair and besides, I'm sure I can find a way to make things interesting for you," Shana smirked.
"Interesting you say? Well, in that case, I call a recess! However, I will enforce some ground rules! I need at least one willing participant to come and help you with this task! As long as you make this interesting for me, then you won't have to worry about facing punishment for wasting time!" Monokuma giggled.
At first, no one said a word before I stepped forward. "I'll do it."
"Great! Then Kai and Shana please come with me." Monokuma called out as the two of us went onto the elevator and went back up to the school grounds. We got off the elevator which closed behind us and descended back down as we made our way up to the fifth floor and back to the art room.
"Alright then! Go retrieve your bullet and your proof!" Monokuma ordered us.
I approached the wall where the bullet fired through the window and canvas had ended up. I poked around the hole using my finger but I felt nothing. "Hey Shana, let's use your pickaxe and make the hole bigger."
"Aw hell yeah! I get to show off my mining skills now!" Shana triumphantly hollered out as she spat into her hands before picking up her pickaxe. "Stand aside." She warned me but just as I did and she moved in.
"Confiscated!" Monokuma shouted as he snatched her pickaxe before she could swing it.
"What the hell! Give me back my pickaxe!" Shana shouted angrily.
"Nope! I have a lot of repair work to do this time and I will not allow you to deface the school any more than you kids already have!" Monokuma told us off.
"Whatever let's check one of the other spots," I grumbled.
"But do you have enough time? If you don't return to the class trial soon I'll have to execute both of you!" He warned us.
"But we can't get to the bullet without the pickaxe!" I shouted back.
Shana blinked. "Wait… there's another bullet we can get."
It took me a second but when I realized she meant the one in Ollie, I froze up. "Shana, you can't be serious. We're not surgeons. How are we even going to dig it out?"
"A miner is prepared for anything," She confirmed that as she pulled out a small electric drill from her belt. Shana then approached Ollie and turned on the drill which pointed at the small hole in Ollie's head.
Monokuma seemed to get excited as Shana prepared to drill into our dead friend. "Oh… my… God… Defacing an actual face! Oh, the despair that must be bringing! Now, this is exciting! I will definitely overlook interrupting the class trial if you pull this off!"
Shana looked calm but her hand began trembling as it inched ever so slowly to Ollie. She then stifled a whimper as the drill shut off and she dropped to her hands. "I can't! I can't do this to her! She doesn't deserve to be mutilated open like this!" Shana cried.
"Do you wanna be executed now? If not, I suggest you do it!" Monokuma furiously growled at her. "Perhaps I can do it for you."
I glared at him. "You're not touching her! You'll just cave her entire head in!" I then knelt next to Shana and looked at her. "Shana, let me do it."
Shana simply nodded as she remained still. I reached down and took the drill from her before getting into position. I turned on the drill and pushed down. But I felt a force preventing me from doing it. I tried again but felt myself being stopped. It was me. I… I couldn't do it either. How can I do this to Ollie? I can't, that's why. But I need to do it otherwise we'll never find the truth and we'll be executed! I kept trying to force my hand down as the stress from all this made tears leak from my eyes again. 'Don't be a fucking crybaby! You need to be strong! You're everyone's last hope! Be strong, Kai! Dammit! Why can't you just do it!?' Suddenly I felt a hand grab my shoulder and I whipped my head around to see… "Luca?" I whispered.
"Hey! What are you doing up here? I demand an explanation, young man!" Monokuma shouted.
Luca looked at Monokuma. "You said at least one helper could come up. You never said only one. So obviously I came to help."
Monokuma took in an angry breath but stopped halfway as he looked thoughtful. "Ya got me there. Well, if you can't get your evidence then all three of you will face your punishment together."
"Don't worry. I will get what we need," Luca said as he took the drill from me. Before he could react I grabbed his arm. He looked me in the eyes as I whispered. "Why are you doing this?"
Luca then smiled for the first time today but it was also filled to the brim with extreme sorrow. "Retribution," He calmly answered. He gently pushed me and Shana to the side as he turned his back to us, blocking our sights from Ollie as the drill turned on and we heard the drill make contact with her head. Shana covered her ears and threw herself into my chest as I hugged her, trying to ignore the sounds of bone and brain getting pureed into a mushy mess before I heard the clang of metal on metal.
The drill shut off and Luca soon held up a bloody bullet in his hand. Monokuma marveled at the sight. "Holy shit! You actually did it! That sent my black heart racing! Oh, the despair you must have felt!"
Luca grabbed a towel from out of his jacket and draped it over Ollie's face, covering her from sight. He then leaned down and gently kissed what was her cheek, covered by the towel. I managed to hear him whisper, "I don't deserve forgiveness so I won't ask for it." He then wiped the drill and bullet clean using the towel and handed Shana back the drill before holding the bullet to me.
I took the bullet and closely examined it. And soon on the side of the bullet, I noticed a familiar design. "Got her," I whispered as I began running back to the library with Shana and Luca close behind. While running past Monokuma, Shana grabbed her pickaxe back from Monokuma as we ran out of the room. We quickly entered the library and the elevator and made our way back down to the trial grounds.
"About time! Luca just ran off and he had Willie block us off! What was that about?" Paul asked as he steamed with anger.
"Luca helped us get the evidence," I answered him.
Melinda looked terrified now. "He did what?!"
"And look what we found," I dramatically paused as I held up the bullet. "The bullet that killed Ollie!"
"You actually got it out of her body?!" Willie asked in shock.
"Luca is to thank for that. This now proves that Melinda is lying about Luca having a gun and his own bullets! Because this bullet has a craving in it. One that faintly resembles the insignia that is on your rifle. In other words, your personal mark," I told everyone.
Paul walked over and snatched the bullet as he examined it himself. "You better have a good explanation for this!"
"Master! I-I can explain!" Melinda cried out.
"There's nothing to explain! You are involved in this case! Admit it!" Paul shouted at her.
"Fine! I'm involved," Melinda confessed.
"This is just sad. She's got hardly any self-respect left," Willie mumbled.
"So now we're at a crossroad of two suspects majorly involved in this murder but the question is, who did it?" Monokuma asked.
"It's me!" Luca shouted out. "How many times must I say it!? I killed Ollie!"
"But we know Melinda is involved and only she has a motive for doing this! She wanted Ollie dead because she wanted to please her master for Ollie's betrayal! That's why a murder occurred before Monokuma's new motive was given out!" I argued.
"I agree with that there logic!" Willie hollered.
"Ditto," Shana added.
"Luca is the killer!" Melinda shouted.
Paul groaned out, "We don't have anything decisive enough to point the finger at either one! We're at a dead-end and right now the vote will end in a draw!"
Monokuma suddenly popped in shouting, "No no! We can't have that! Only one person is the blackened and the other is a spotless accomplice!"
"But we have nothing else to work with! We're stuck!" I told Monokuma.
"Then allow me to submit this evidence to the court! I'm proud to present the fifth footage of "The Victim's Final Moments"!" Monokuma suddenly announced!
Melinda's face went pale at this announcement. "What the hell?! You're showing off the murder?! What's wrong with you?"
"Won't this just give us the answer?" Paul asked him, confused.
"Are you sure about that?" He asked back before continuing with, "Just watch and find out for yourself!" With that, the lights dimmed down as the big monitor began playing.
The art room soon came up from the point of view of the surveillance camera as I saw the clock on the wall read a little past 2 AM. The door opened and Ollie came walking in with Luca behind her.
Ollie giggled, "Luca, I enjoy a late-night rendezvous as much as the next girl but you still haven't told me what was so important you wanted to talk about."
Luca didn't respond to her as he had one hand in his jacket pocket.
Ollie tilted her head as she approached him and cupped his face in her hands. "Honey? What's wrong?"
Soon Luca looked up into her eyes and with tears in his eyes, he muttered. "I'm sorry about this." A click was heard as Ollie looked down to see Luca taking the safety off the handgun. She began slowly backing up as he raised his hand up to point the gun at her.
"Luca… this isn't funny anymore. Where did you even get that? I know you've never shot a gun before," Ollie said, her hands raised in defense.
"You're right, I haven't. But I need to do this," Luca told her.
"You don't need to do this, Luca," Ollie tried reasoning with him but Luca stopped her by screaming in tears, "Yes I do! I don't expect you to understand but if I don't do this… then… then…"
Ollie looked into his eyes and gasped like she noticed something. "I… I see it now. You're doing this… for him. I… I see. I let my own emotions for you prevent me from seeing your true self. What an insult I've made of myself. I'm such an idiot," Ollie laughed sadly at herself.
He shook his head at her. "No. You have no reason to regret expressing your feelings for me. Truly, I am flattered but… I just can't return them."
Ollie nodded. "I understand. But you can't let her get what she wants out of this." She took a step forward but Luca made no indication that he was gonna shoot her if she did so she kept stepping forward slowly as she spoke. "However she made the threat, we can fight her! Not just you and me! Everyone else! Our friends will do all we can to stop her from doing anything rash! I even learned that Paul has moved past my "betrayal" to him so even he may help us if we tell him. You may feel alone but you're not. I may not be able to be here for you in the way I love you anymore but I will still be here for you no matter what. Because I care about you and I want you to be happy." By this point, Ollie was now standing in front of Luca, past the gun which was still pointing out as Ollie cupped his face and smiled at him with a tear streaking down her cheek.
Soon Luca's hand dropped down to his side and he sniffled as his forehead slowly pressed into hers. "I'm sorry…"
"I forgive you," She whispered back.
"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Melinda stated, suddenly standing in the doorway as she closed the door behind her. "Luca, I recall our deal happening a little differently than this outcome."
Ollie stepped towards her. "You can't control him, bitch."
"You have no right to speak to me, scum. You deserve what's coming to you and he's going to do it for me," Melinda said, her face darkened and her voice more sinister than usual.
Luca then pulled Ollie back as he stepped forward. "You can't seriously believe that you can force me to your whim anymore. You may have intimidated me before but I have Ollie and soon the others will be behind me and we'll expose you!" Luca then pointed the gun at her most likely in an attempt to intimidate her.
Soon a massive grin crept across her face like the Cheshire cat. "Big mistake," Melinda replied in a hushed tone. Then suddenly she screamed out as she rushed Luca! She knocked him over to the ground as they wrestled against each other before they stood back up as Melinda now had her left hand on the gun, trying to snatch it out of his hand! Her right hand went for it too but Luca's left hand grabbed it and craned it away as he looked like he was struggling to hold her back.
"Ollie! Get back!" Luca called out to her, not taking his eyes off of Melinda as Melinda's wild eyes stayed locked onto his. The gun was being pulled back and forth, up and down, as one tried to free it from the other. There was a sudden creak that sounded and then the gun came flying down in their hands and the next thing that happened was a jumpscare from the explosion of a gunshot.
Luca looked to his right in shock at what just happened and soon saw Ollie on the ground as blood was spurting out of her forehead! "Oh, God… Oh God NOOOO!" Luca immediately released the gun as he rushed and dropped to her side, lifting her upper body into his arms as his tears began to overflow from his eyes. "Ollie! OLLIE! PLEASE DON'T DIE!"
For a second, it seemed Ollie put her hand over his arm, and a crack of a smile formed on the corner of her lips before her eyes faded and her movements froze. Luca crumpled into himself as he began clutching her tightly against himself.
Melinda brushed herself off as she walked up to him. "There. That wasn't so hard now was it? There's no backing out now. You must go through with this. It's time for him to experience ultimate despair," She told Luca as the video cut off there.
Class Trial Intermission