Class Trial - IN SESSION

...

All of us went to our proper podiums again, with three new crossed out portraits filling up our ranks. Miu's was naturally the first that I turned to, her eyes staring back at me from between the three crosses going across her face. I wondered if it was because of the inventor's lewdness or a comment on how 'strong' her personality, like alcohol, but it felt fitting in a darkly humorous sort of way. Miu still would've probably appreciated this little joke either way, if she was here to see it. But she wasn't.

Reluctantly I turned from Miu's face to see those of my other lost friends to my left. It was hard to avoid thinking about whose face would be joining these monochrome memorials after this too. But even that was more pleasant than to really see where Maki and Kirumi's deaths left us.

Ryoma was alone now, flanked on both sides with dead faces. That of one of his closest friends in this academy, and the other the girl who threatened his life to escape it. But at least the latter's absence made it easier for Kaito, Shuichi, and him to share glances now, for what little support that could give each other.

Though these looks would also mean every time the astronaut faced the tennis pro he'd see the harsh reminder of Maki's death looming over him. I couldn't imagine what seeing that must be like for any of them.

The red lines hardly looked out of place for Maki's, but the cross was placed less like an X and more like a plus sign. Or more accurately a rifle's scope, given the circle around it. It was almost a blessing her cause of death wasn't up in the air like Himiko's initially was, since we at least knew for sure she wasn't really shot.

Kirumi's portrait was pretty bland in comparison. The lines were cleaner and crisper than Rantaro's, but less artistic than Tsumugi's, just a plain formal X on the center of her face. Like checking off a box on a grocery list or a voting ballot. Not that any of us ever voted for her to do anything.

But there wasn't much time fo contemplation. Our lives were all on the lines again.

After the Monokubs went over the basic explanation and got into an argument soon afterwards Kaito took the opportunity to begin our discussion. "Let's just ignore them for now you guys. Sorry if I can't be of much help this time."

"Not to worry, no one blames you Kaito." Keebo quickly dismissed with a sympathetic look. "Between the first victim and your illness this was expected."

"My what? Who said anything about me being sick?! I'm not sick, I'm as hearty as a horse!" The astronaut exclaimed.

"Suuure you are Kaito. You really want to admit you've just been scared shitless this whole time?" Kokichi mocked.

"FUCK YOU KOKICHI, I ain't afraid of-"

"No ghost?" Kokichi finished for him with a matching unnatural ghostlike grin on his face and a cackle.

How the fuck does he even make expressions like that?! I thought.

"Can you two not make this a long bloody ghost joke? We already had a failed séance and no zombies." Tokuko said as she put a hand to her face, making Tenko nod in agreement.

"Does it count as a failure if we never got to start it?" Angie asked, acting as if nothing was wrong.

"We ended up with more dead people than we had when you wackos started, hell yeah it counts!" Kaito shouted, looking appalled he had to point it out to her.

While the artist huffed, Kiyo took the chance to make his argument instead. "It wouldn't have failed, someone just took advantage of the few of us isolating ourselves for that brief window of time to kill Kirumi. But we should answer the question of who attacked Maki first yes?"

"No! Kirumi's the freshest so she should be the one we focus on." Tenko shot back, banging against the front railing of her podium with her momentum before pointing at Kiyo. "Besides, it's obvious whoever killed Maki is the one who would have tried attacking you guys. Or BE one of you guys. So Kiyo's the culprit!"

Shuichi stepped in before the anthropologist had the chance to defend himself though. "Easy there Tenko. Angie's the only one who had the gold on her hands from the gold katana that was used to kill her and it was Angie who wanted to perform the séance, so shouldn't she be our prime suspect? The only sources of gold leaf we have are that sword and the supply from her lab, Kaito, Ryoma, and I checked."

"Nuh-uh, Angie would never kill anybody! A degenerate like Kiyo's way more likely, it was his katana. Besides if there was gold on the underside of all the handles in those rooms wouldn't that make not getting any on him suspicious? I mean Kirumi wouldn't since she never tried to leave before… you know." Tenko trailed off as the memory of the horrifying scene made her lose steam.

"Anyone could enter my lab and take it, and not having gold on my hands still proves I could not have handled that katana." Kiyo explained. "And with the game's 'first come, first served' rule why should we assume one person is responsible for both crimes? As the only blackened we need to find is Maki's killer should we not focus our efforts on that culprit first?"

"I agree with Kiyo, there will be time to go over Kirumi's death later. We can even sort out who killed her outside of the court if we run out of time before we can settle it." Ryoma said, giving Kirumi's portrait a wary glance.

"Yeah! Besides Maki has more possible suspects too, so settling her death will take some more time." Miyuji agreed.

"Why would the killings be unrelated though, aren't they a bit too close together to be a coincidence?" Angie wondered. "If we uncover Kirumi's killer it may help narrow down potential suspects for Maki too, if the two aren't one and the same. But Angie isn't responsible for either of these, I swear by Atua's name."

"Is 'Atua' really their name, or just what they are? Merely asking out of genuine curiosity I assure you." Kiyo asked, and despite his claim the question had an unmistakable snark to it earning him a glare.

"Hush up you heretic, Angie need not speak His name. That's a higher member benefit." The artist said in a dark tone.

"I… I guess the two could be related? I mean Kirumi was the one investigating Maki's body so maybe the killer chose to attack her just in case she noticed something in addition to wanting to stop the séance." Kaede suggested, unsure of what else to say.

"Then Kiyo's still the killer because he chose Kirumi to act as the medium-" Tenko was about to say before she was cut off.

"No, he didn't Tenko! Kirumi ask him for job. Gonta may no be able to help but he still hear that right." Gonta argued.

"Exactly. And Angie was the one who chose the rooms we were going to use, I only said they needed to be dark." Kiyo explained. "It would appear the katana used to cut off the head of our maid was hidden under those rooms. Had I been the one to kill her why wouldn't I have simply used a weapon from Maki's lab instead?"

"Why would anyone have used a katana in that poor condition then? It is most surprising it is able to cut as well it is despite it's current state. Maki's lab would be a plain better place to take something like this from, wouldn't it? It's probably where the knife Kiyo found in Kirumi's apron came from too." Keebo pointed out.

"Oooh I know, I know! Angie had to use it because she'd be too short to reach Kirumi's neck with anything else!" Kokichi said, hopping up and down as he raised his hand like a kid with a look that screamed he knew he was wrong and just merrily teasing them again. And so the robot took the bait.

"Negative, that is both illogical and unlikely. While none of Maki's weapons are as long as the katana's blade the angle of the cut wouldn't be this even if that were the case, there'd be a slope to it. Besides Kirumi may not have even been standing when she was attacked."

"Umm, wouldn't there need to be a lot of force behind the swing too? Angie isn't sure why everybody's only picking on her and Kiyo." Angie said, looking a little confused as Kiyo only shrugged.

Seeing as it was easy to clear up I explained this one. "It's because of the announcement. It only rings when three people not including the killer find a body, and it didn't ring until Kaede and Ryoma caught up to me and Miyuji. Unless anyone thinks I could've done this too?"

"Ah, fair point. I hadn't noticed. Are you sure that's when it rang Sharla?" Kiyo asked as he, Angie, Miyuji, Kaede, and Ryoma took a moment to mentally go over what happened. "Everything was rather hectic at that point I'm afraid. I hardly remember the bell ringing at all, and I wasn't in nearly as much shock as you, Miyuji, and Kaede were at the time, my apologies."

"Yeah, sorry Sharla but I don't really remember hearing anything other than Miyuji screaming either when me and Kaede caught up with you four." Ryoma reluctantly agreed, giving Angie a wary glance as she still seemed to be thinking it over and coming up blank. "It could have rang, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't really paying attention to that thing in the first place."

...Am I sure? I mean a lot was going on and we've heard it so often now. I couldn't really catch what anyone was saying either. And I don't want to accuse either of them. Or is Kiyo trying to gaslight us, and just tricked Ryoma and Kaede? Why would he kill Kirumi? He'd have to have blood or something on him right- OH! I thought before giving my theory. "Hmm, maybe you're right. I mean neither of you has her blood on you- well I mean Kiyo has some on his bandages now but only from touching her, he didn't when he offered to help- and with how... messy it all was that's pretty unlikely, isn't it? Especially since the killer also posed her."

"But no one here got blood on them. Could killer have been under boards to stay clean? That why crosspiece cut?" Gonta asked, struggling to picture what might explain this.

"Gonta makes a good point, the crosspieces don't seem to be related to anything. Unless it made Kirumi trip, to help set up the attack maybe?" Tokuko suggested.

"No, had that been the case Kirumi would have most likely suffered at least a head wound. We saw Kaede nearly fall prey to it, and who knows what would have befallen her if not for Gonta's intervention." Keebo said, though he looked frustrated that this left the boards unexplained for this.

"Then how else would someone hide the blood? I mean there was so much of it and nobody found any sheets or anything to clean any of it up or block the splatter right?" Miyuji asked.

I closed my eyes as I began to think to myself.

Let's see… we ruled out using something to cover them since we didn't find anything.

Even Angie's lab doesn't have a sink so there was definitely no way for anyone to wash the blood off.

…But hiding it UNDER something we'd expect a person to normally wear could work if it covered enough of them. Particularly if they were one of the three checking rooms for the séance, since no one would see them without it. Which would only leave one person.

But none of this is making any sense even if he is one of the remaining traitors. What motive could he possibly have to do something like this?

I opened my eyes as I spoke. "I think I know the trick to this now you guys. If you'll let me explain my theory on how this happened..."

I looked around the room, and everyone gave their approval. No one had any distinct ideas at all. So I began painting the scene for them with my words and the sound of my voice the best I could.

"First the culprit set up the three rooms sometime before today. Cutting through the crossbeams and applying gold leaf to the handles would take too long for this to be anything other than premeditated. I can't explain the floorboard trap, but it could be to help distract anyone who found this by accident.

Today, when someone else suggested these rooms be used for the séance it was time for that premeditation to pay off. They made sure only one person went into each room, themselves, their victim, and the one they planned to frame for this. Ideally, their fall guy was the one who'd suggest this.

They wouldn't need to do anything for their mark to set themselves up, since they'd likely touch the loose gold when trying to leave the room, making it look like they've touched the golden katana.

Not only would the culprit know to avoid the gold there, the victim wouldn't have a chance to touch it either, so if we didn't notice the handles we'd assume there was no other way for the gold to be there. They may have even originally planned to clean the other two handles, since they set it up so it wouldn't matter who went into each room, but obviously they never got the chance so we weren't fooled by this.

But that doesn't explain how they kept their hands clean to start with. That ties into how they didn't seem to get anything on them.

They went under the floor, where the three rooms are all connected, and took off their jacket. They already planted the katana in that crawlspace, so it was a vital area for them both to keep their weapon out of sight and provide a way to get into the victim's room without being seen.

Since there weren't any bloodied covers in this area that means whatever they used to hide the blood they'd get on them is still with them. Here there are two possibilities. They could have left their coat down there to make sure it'd stay clean, dropping it off when they got the katana or vice versa. Or they took off their coat, turned it inside out, and tied it around their waist like an apron to help keep any blood from getting on their legs. I think the latter's more likely here.

After that, they pick up the katana and go to the room they know Kirumi entered so none of the gold would get anywhere they couldn't explain later. They have to act fast because while the rooms are dark since there aren't any candles it also means she'd be tempted to leave soon. Maybe they even said something to help make her pause or used the seesaw trap to distract her.

Ultimately they succeeded in decapitating her. It could be due to the killer having a light source on them or just the length of the blade covering a lot of the room but their goal was achieved. After doing so they moved her body to the wall near where they entered, posing her as if it was for a twisted tea ceremony.

With how general the pose is in practice even that could have been done in the dark, and I'm not entirely sure why they chose to move her like this at all. It could be to keep her away from the seesaw trap in the center of the room, but it's really hard to say.

To get rid of the gold and blood from their hands they remove the wrappings they put there. The cotton strips could then be used to help touch up any other clean up they need to do on the walk back to the room they'd be expected to leave from. But first, they'd stop to put the blood-soaked katana under the room their patsy was in to further implicate them of this crime.

With the katana gone and blood mostly out of the way they put their jacket back on, over their probably blood covered shirt, and stuff the soiled wrappings in one of their pockets while applying some fresh bandages so that we'd be none the wiser that they changed at all as we'd notice if they were missing.

That's probably around the time me and Miyuji found Kirumi's body, since everything happened so fast. It wasn't hard to look like they were just worried about what was going on when they joined the rest of us, and if they needed to adjust anything else we'd all be distracted trying to find out what was going on even if the body was found sooner than they were planning on.

I wasn't imagining the bell delay before either. Since they needed to see what Miyuji was screaming about as soon as they could to keep from being suspicious, they really were one of the first four to see the body.

So… the easiest way to for us to see if I've got this wrong would be for you to take off your jacket Kiyo. Otherwise, there's no one else who could do it this way. No one could enter or leave those rooms without anyone else noticing, and at least Angie's hands would still have blood on them if she tried my method."

The room was silent as I held my accusatory position and the others turned to look at him. But despite the horrors he's accused of he isn't upset. Kiyo doesn't seem bothered by any of this in the slightest. And that wasn't the worst of it.

He's smiling. There's no doubt about the expression under that mask. He's accused of murder and he looks like a child who just got a brand new set of toys to play with! Something isn't right here. I know he's kind of messed up and that he's one of the traitors but this is going too far! How can he possibly be so happy about this right now?! I thought to myself.

"Nicely done Sharla! I'm most impressed, I'm sure that'd deductions would even make Shuichi proud. You're always so full of wonderful surprises. You are absolutely correct! But so there is no room for doubt here I will concede, and I do apologize if it is unduly upsetting to any of you."

There really wasn't any doubts as he laid his coat along the railing of his podium. There's so much blood his white undershirt could nearly be mistaken for Maki's top, it's even worse than his bandages were. He made no move to take off the bandages though, since considering everything he really didn't need to. But even as he stood before them in his bloodied button down he didn't seem the least bit nervous.

"Though I must also confess, the trick with the floorboards really is unrelated here." The anthropologist said. "That was just a remnant of a plan I scrapped after seeing it might be too difficult to properly utilize. Though had I stuck with it Kirumi would have died all the same, during the caged dog séance. Any other questions?"

"...What the actual fuck?" Kaito muttered.

"Do be more specific Kaito. I can't answer you if I'm not sure to which part of this you are referring to."

"Are you giving up then?" Ryoma practically growled as he visibly struggled to restrain himself.

"For Kirumi's murder most certainly! But if you think now is a good time for us to vote you'd be most sorely mistaken. Not unless your death wish has changed to wanting to have us all die alongside you. Because for the terms of this trial, as bloody as I may be, I'm still as 'spotless' as everyone else. However, I am grateful you all have allowed me to experience something so close to what our true blackened must have all felt before their ends. It's a most enlightening and intriguing sensation."

"What are you talking about?! You killed Kirumi you bastard-" Tenko shouted at him, as if hoping if she got angry enough his confidence would crumble and see he was doomed. But he just wouldn't stop.

"Indeed I did! But only Kirumi. Just ask Gonta or Ryoma, I was with them when Maki died. Unless you'd prefer I simply tell you all who our real blackened is, the one you all should have been seeking? Now I do understand if you don't wish to believe me, but it won't make my words any less the truth. I'm offering to reward you all for your fine work in order to keep the trial up to this point from being a wasted effort."

What? So he just killed her because he knew he'd get away with it?! I remember exactly who he is now! I thought.

"Why did you even go so far then?! The posing, the decapitation, all of it! Why kill someone at all if you know you aren't going to graduate from it?" Kaito snapped.

"Must you be so hung up on that? Her death has never mattered in this case. But fine. I only meant to cut into her neck enough to be fatal, to assure her a quick death, but I misjudged the sharpness of the blade. I hadn't tested it enough so I didn't notice the rust wasn't an indicator of it being dull, so I put much more force into the swing than I should have. The posing was an attempt to give her some dignity after my mistake. I also thought it may suit an 'artist's' sensibilities, to buy me more time to prove I was not guilty of killing Maki should I have needed it. I do apologize for framing you Angie, I have no excuse."

Angie and Miyuji's smiles were completely gone as they blankly stared at the monster standing beside them. The hate in their eyes were unmistakable. Had they been someone else they might've even tried to attack him, for the way his apologies as he faced them felt like a mockery. But their resolve was stronger than that so she just watched him in silence, refusing to dignify any of this with a response, until Kaito began shouting at him again.

"How can you say a person's death didn't matter?! Like hell we'd ever just let that be swept under the rug. We can't just ignore what happened to them in order to protect ourselves. She was our friend! Besides, Maki Roll told me she was going to talk to you last night so you still could have done this."

"And that is true, but she left my lab before I did and I still have my alibi. Gonta was even as gracious as to escort me back to my dorm, in accordance to the student council's curfew Maki and I both broke. But given what happened I suspect she never actually left the fourth floor." Kiyo claimed.

"So what, you're trying to pin your crimes on Keebo or Angie again?! We don't need to waste any more time on your lies, I'm ready to vote!" Tenko yelled.

"And it'd be suicide Tenko, we still have a ways to go to prove anything. I saw both of them that night and if the Monokuma-" Ryoma began to argue before the Monokubs interfered.

"It's a Monokubs file you bastard!" Monosuke shouted.

"Zip it Monosuke, let them work or I'll gag you with my scarf!" Monotaro threatened.

"Oh my..." Monophanie groaned.

"HE-SAID-BE-QUIET!" Monodam yelled.

"...Fine. If the Monokubs File is to be believed I saw Kiyo at the time it said Maki died. I don't see this being some sort of trick he pulled either, she's too quick to lose to someone like him in a fight."

How did Ryoma forget that's what the murder files are called now? I off-handily thought.

"Yeah. Gonta… not really understanding why he do this but Kiyo not lying about Gonta escorting him. But… that means student council kill Maki? Why?! We… We protect all students. No exceptions!" Gonta said best he could through his confusion, sweat, and tears.

"Exactly! And Angie definitely didn't see Maki that night. I was working in my lab, no visitors either." Angie quickly claimed, which got a nod from Tenko to offer some support for it.

Not to be outdone Keebo also rushed to his own defense. "I didn't see anyone, I was working in the computer lab the entire time! You can even check the log for the program I've been fixing, everything is time stamped so I have a solid alibi!"

Kiyo almost looked bored as he shook his head at both of their panicked responses. "You all seem to be forgetting there was one other person on the fourth floor that night. Kirumi was the one patrolling the halls so Keebo had his time to work and help weed out any of Angie's unwanted guests."

"I'm not the culprit!" The robot shouted over him.

"Angie's not the culprit!" Angie said at almost the same time and volume.

"You're both idiots is what you are." The anthropologist bitterly countered them almost just as quickly.

It was hard to get a word in edgewise as the three kept talking over each other in their efforts to prove they weren't the culprits. Well, the two were, as Kiyo simply kept being drowned out as he tried to prove they were panicking over nothing. His argument seemed sound enough though, despite my wariness.

Framing Angie for Kirumi's death in order to make her a suspect for Maki's would have only worked if he always planned on making her the person he planned to frame, which doesn't seem like the case. I thought to myself.

Keebo's been completely unrelated to the case so far and has no motive to go to Kiyo's lab to kill Maki.

But Kirumi's a different story. She had been so ready to kill after her video she lashed out in front of everyone. Maybe Maki was able to pick up on that and confronted her about and something… snapped.

"So Kiyo, what did you mean to tell us the reason you killed Kirumi because you knew she was guilty of killing Maki?" I asked.

"Precisely. That is why she put herself in charge of examining Maki's body, much like how I examined my own victim in kind. Kirumi planted those ashes, not discovered them. I saw her do it since I knew to keep an eye on her already." The anthropologist explained. "It's also when she took the knife Maki had when she fell, hidden under the pieces of the broken banister. I suspect Maki used it in self-defense, rather than the blood being Maki's, given how it's style indicates it came from Maki's lab, when Kirumi would have likely preferred the equally easy to obtain kitchen knives as she had more experience with them."

"So what? You're saying you killed Kirumi to avenge Maki since you knew they fought for a reason you're not telling us? I'm not bloody buying it one bit." Tokuko said.

"Oh goodness no, if that was my motivation I wouldn't have needed to do anything. Can you imagine the execution Monokuma would have had in store for her?" The long-haired boy muttered. "Kirumi wasn't the sort of woman who'd be content to go quietly into the night either, so her own futile efforts to elude her grisly fate would have only prolonged things even more. She'd never allow herself to die with dignity if she could help it. Survival was far too important for her. So I spared her that suffering, as beautiful as it may have been."

"So… Kiyo kill Kirumi to… protect Kirumi? Like killing wounded animal that can't get better?" Gonta asked.

"Very good Gonta! And not just her either. So far I've been the only one of us who hasn't played a part in sending our friends to their graves, with voting to have them executed. Now I'm the only one with her blood on my hands, rather than having it divided amongst us all. I didn't think anyone would mind that."

"Why you... you..." I muttered before shouting "You bloodbending traitor!"

The courtroom seemed to burst with anger, confusion, horror, and various other emotions I couldn't describe. The fact that Kiyo, one of the most calm students in this killing game was Kirumi's killer and one of the remaining traitors was too much for the others to put into words.

I hope I'm doing the right thing by revealing Kiyo as a traitor to everyone. How much does the new mastermind want us to suffer? I thought to myself.

...

Class Trial - INTERMISSION