Class Trial - RESUME

...

Kokichi turned to face the masked monster. "Ooooh, I see. NOW when it's convenient you did 'choose' Kirumi as your victim, is that it? Too bad we already proved that was BS Kiyo. It's not like the first girl you agreed to act as you medium was Miyuji or anything, riiiight?"

The room felt colder and by the look on Miyuji's face, she looked nearly betrayed. Or like the supreme leader was some horrifying inverted figure for revealing the attack she could have been a part of.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Kiyo scoffed, making no attempt to hide his annoyance anymore.

"Y-Yeah. Gonta remember that too." Gonta admitted. "Tokuko ask, Kiyo explain stuff, then Tokuko un-ask. Miyuji ask, Kiyo say yes, then Kirumi say she do it. Made Kiyo less happy than when Miyuji want to help."

"Wait, what? But Miyuji was completely innocent! If the person who died was going to be the medium why get her involved at all?!" Tenko asked, incensed by the idea an innocent girl's kind gesture could have been so easily proven to have been a fatal mistake.

Maybe it's because she knows how music plays a major role in rituals? I thought.

"...So everything you said to defend killing Kirumi was a lie, is that it?" Ryoma's voice was as cold as ice as those empty eyes glared at Kiyo. Again the feeling of betrayal was obvious, but some guilt was there too.

Then I heard Shuichi say the contradiction I knew was coming.

"Does this mean Kiyo could be lying about Kirumi being Maki's killer then, and he's only accusing her because she was his victim?"

"No, that's wrong!" I shouted as I pointed a finger at him.

"Huh? Whose side are you on, Sharla?" The detective asked, shocked that I refuted him.

"We don't even know if Kiyo's lying or not. So we should focus on whether or not Kirumi killed Maki for now." I responded.

"I can agree with that. Even if Kiyo's previously stated motivation was a lie this still appears to be a more than plausible theory." Keebo tried agreeing with me to move things along, before Tenko interrupted him.

"What the hell, you can't just move on like that! This is serious you soulless machine-"

"So is keeping everyone alive!" The robot challenged back. "We know Kiyo killed Kirumi, but we need to know beyond any reasonable doubt who killed Maki if we want to make sure we get the right culprit. Motives and addressing your robophobia can come later, because if we do it any other way there might not be a later at all."

"Me, Maki Roll, Shuichi, and Ryoma have been trying to help keep tensions down over some fighting we saw happen between Kirumi, Angie, and Tenko over the whole… zombie motive thing. Kirumi wasn't happy how Angie completely dismissed Tsumugi and Miu as candidates since even if they were murderers they were still our friends and it's not like they were bad people." Kaito gave Angie a sad look as he said that, as if he pitied how close minded she was being rather than angry, as he continued despite the subject matter. "Some of us would have been really happy to have them back too, even if the scenario's sketchy as hell. So Ryoma kept an eye on Tenko when he could while Maki'd shadow Kirumi from time to time. Kirumi could have confronted her about that maybe?"

"Yeah, I noticed that too. But did you really do anything Kaito? I remember seeing the other two plain as day, but Angie didn't really need to be watched as much and you definitely weren't around." Tokuko said.

"Of course I helped, I set up the scheduling and kept tabs on Angie through the tracker thingies." The astronaut argued.

"So you just stayed in your room mostly?" The actress asked teasingly.

"I did not! It's not like I was sick or scared or anything-"

"Did too!" Kokichi shouted.

"Did not!" Kaito predictably shouted back, providing the perfect set up to continue.

"You toooootally did. Good thing in space no one could hear you scream like a baby riiiight?" The supreme leader mocked.

"Knock it off you two, or do you want to die?" Ryoma scolded as he gave both of them a glare.

"Aww, what's the matter Ryoma, having one catchphrase wasn't enough for you anymore?" The purple-haired boy asked.

That certainly got the tennis pro silent. Miyuji visibly held back her laughter and Tokuko had a smirk on her face.

Then again, Kaito did have blood spilling out of his mouth when me, Kaede, and Miyuji found him, Shuichi, and Ryoma during the investigation. I thought to myself.

"Maki smart so she may have kept extra close eyes on Kirumi. Since Kirumi got scary before." Gonta said.

"Angie wouldn't count as one of her 'citizens' either which could have made her a target like me too." Ryoma went on, before Angie took a go at it.

"Kirumi's also one of the few who had access to the Necronomicon. Only Kaede and I had really read it thoroughly though, so the ashes Kirumi planted may have been a genuine attempt to revive her. Even if she got to the part about the effigies you need she probably missed the rest of the steps so it failed." The artist explained.

"Or to take away our chance bring back Himiko and claim she thought bringing Maki back would either replace the séance or stop the need for a trial at all. But did the process really fail Monotaro?" Tenko asked, turning to face the four bears.

"Oh, you're asking us now? Well, I wouldn't say it failed so much as it wasn't really done in the first place. But Maki wasn't one of the four we said you could bring back either, not that it matters now." Monotaro explained.

"...So it really was limited to just them?" Kaito looked torn, as if he was hoping she could come back despite everything.

"WELL-IT'S-NOT-LIKE-THEY-DON'T-STILL-HAVE-A-SORT-OF-TRANSFER-STUDENT-ALREADY. SO-THIS-IS-FINE-I-THINK." Monodam muttered.

"Whatchoo talkin' bout grill-face?" Monosuke asked, giving his robotic brother an odd look.

"THERE'S-STILL-14-STUDENTS-HERE. I-MEAN-SHOULDN'T-SHE-COUNT? SHE'S-BEEN-HERE-SINCE-THE-BEGINNING-AND-NO-ONE-SEEMED-TO-MIND-HER-BEFORE. BUT-THIS-MOTIVE-NOT-BEING-USED-MEANS-WE-CAN-INCLUDE-HER-WITH-THE-OTHERS-NOW!"

"WHAT THE FUCK MONODAM?! That thing ain't a person in the first fuckin' place!"

"Are you sure? She's a lot less spooky to me than fake ghosts are, and the transfer student might not have been made a 'person' either." Monophanie admitted.

"...What on earth?" Kiyo mumbled under his breath, eyes widening. His zipper was flicking about like he was taking short shallow breaths or like he did when he lied, but this was different. He was scared.

Is Monodam talking about the new mastermind? I thought.

Kokichi decided to get the discussion back on track. "Soooo we're thinkin' Maki went after Kirumi since she'd know a killer when she sees one? Wouldn't that still leave Kiyo as a suspect too? For someone as 'innocent' as the rest of us, you sure don't seem queasy about messing around with fresh bodies. It's almost like you're used to this sorta thing."

"And what perchance are you exactly accusing me of Kokichi?" Kiyo asked.

"I think you know what I'm talking about there, Mister 'Seeing everyone suffer gets me off'. Someone's watching us play this game and for being a participant you've been enjoying yourself waaay too much." The supreme leader argued.

"So what if I'm a sadist? That's hardly a surprise to anyone I'm sure, and it's not like you aren't one too." The anthropologist taunted. "And I've hardly had as much of a reason to be as fearful as the rest of you in the first place. You're right in claiming I have more experience with murder than I previously made clear, I'll grant you that much. I may even have as much experience with it as Ryoma has had by this point. But if you're trying to paint me as the mastermind of this game Tsumugi had been supposedly been, you couldn't be more wrong."

I glanced at Kaede to see that she wasn't taking this in well. She barely made a peep since Kokichi took control of things and not only was she still shell-shocked she was crying. It's no wonder why Gonta was trying so hard to take advantage of his podium spot's to reach out and comfort her.

Gonta could also probably be ruled out as a suspect, he's too childlike for this to all be an act. He could prove useful too, between his low self-esteem making him think he's stupid and excellent physical skills. Either in building him up to someone stronger than he is now or by keeping him as a malleable puppet. I thought to myself.

"Seriously, this 'mastermind' talk again?" Monotaro asked.

"...But Monotaro we shouldn't be bringing this up too often." Monophanie pointed out.

"Yeah, you really shouldn't try to shortchange them out of their hard work ya'know-" Monosuke said.

Them? As in the gender-neutral singular form or as a plural? Gotta keep that in mind for later. I thought.

"I know, let's just see where their wild goose chase goes."

The cubs did just that so we returned our focus on the traitor among our midst.

"So, that's what's been off about you. You killed before this game even started. And lot at that." Shuichi muttered, resignation and rage written all over his face.

But if seeing the last bit of faith his old 'friend' had in him fizzle out bothered him Kiyo sure didn't show it. "Yes, but that hardly matters now does it? I'm still not the blackened here, just like you aren't. And I couldn't exactly be open about this sort of thing, with the stigmas I've seen held against you and Maki."

The detective was visibly holding himself back, before he took a deep breath and addressed the bastard again. "...Fine. Then there's one last thing to check. There's no way Maki went down without a fight, so let's make sure all of that blood on you is Kirumi's. She couldn't have fought back, so you shouldn't be hurt."

"Woah-woah-woah, are you asking him to take his shirt off? In public?! Innocent eyes Shuichi, and no one wants to see that!" Tenko screeched, as appalled as Zanza when he was defeated.

...I don't know Tenko, never underestimate the power of morbid curiosity. I thought.

"Y-Yeah, it ungentlemanly to expose skin like that around others!" Gonta agreed, red as a fire Ether crystal.

"Well when I cosplay I've seen guys and girls go around nearly nude or looking like it a lot so I don't mind, as long as it will really help prove Kirumi killed Maki. Will we need to check her bloody body too then?" Tokuko asked and begged too many questions I wasn't sure I wanted the answers to.

"Ugh, are you talking about the headless one? Do I really have to see that again?" Monophanie complained, which gave her brattiest brother a nasty thought.

"...Well, we do gotta keep this a fair trial right? And it's not like that broad would mind anymore. What sort of maid would turn down some good ol' fanservice, even if she had a good head on her shoulders?"

"...THAT-WAS-A-REALLY-MEAN-JOKE-MONOSUKE. BUT-FOR-FAIRNESS-I-WILL-GO-AND-BRING-HER-BACH-HERE!"

Kiyo looked on nonplussed as he watched the bear-bot scamper off.

"...Very well then, I suppose it can't be helped. If you truly distrust my alibi that much. I do believe the torso is all that is needed for this, yes?" He said with a resigned sigh as he unbuttoned his shirt, much like he did with his coat before.

It sounded like nearly anyone took a breath at what they saw though. Little blood seeped through onto his skin, but it was hard to say Kiyo was really uninjured. It's just that nothing on him was recent.

Scar after scar, of varying types and ages, covered nearly everything. He didn't touch his mask or bandages but they had already seen that those areas were mostly normal compared to the rest of him.

It's not all stuff that could be self-inflicted or purely exotic from his 'field work' either. I know cigarette burns and the telltale indents of belt buckles when I see them. But even if Kiyo wasn't involved with the traitors that'd never excuse what he allowed himself to become.

But I knew deep down that was far from the truth I know.

"Are you all quite satisfied with my involvement now? It is rather cold in here if you don't mind." The anthropologist asked.

After getting enough shocked nods to his implicit request he started putting both of his layers back on, hiding the gore under his uniform's coat once again, barely reacting to the wet blood on his skin.

"What the hell happened to you man?" Kaito asked.

"Life did. Humanity's cruelties are no stranger to me, which is why I maintain they too can be beautiful." Kiyo shrugged in reply, as if this was no big deal. Like all of this was something normal even for me.

Right on time, Monodam came back in the green Exisal with Kirumi's body mostly in one piece. He clearly made the effort to lay her as if her head was still attached, despite it being easier to carry them if they were separated. A low podium was made in the middle of the room to rest her on for everyone to see.

Monophanie's gag reflexes could be heard acting up again before she inevitably muttered. "So gory…"

"If you're so bothered by it why not lend her Monotaro's scarf? It's more than sufficient to act as her 'velvet ribbon' so to speak, as some versions of the tale make it just that." The anthropologist suggested.

"Do we really have to… undress her too?" Ryoma asked, and was pretty uncomfortable at the idea.

"NO! Er… Gonta means... forearms should be all we need to see. So rolling back sleeves and taking off gloves should be enough! Few other places defensive wounds could be, arms are used to block self." Gonta objected, and got a raised eyebrow and what was probably a scowl from sir 'so why the fuck did you just make me undress' himself.

Monodam nodded and began to try doing just that, but his paws made the gloves a bit harder to do. When he was done there was no denying the fresh and bloodied bandages that were found there. And unlike Kiyo's questionable fashion decisions she has no excuses for that.

"Take off the bandages too, please! Atua thinks Maki may have left us another clue here if she could, so put the arms as if Kirumi was protecting her face." Angie exclaimed.

With a bit more difficulty Monodam eventually managed it. I leaned over my podium for a closer look of Kirumi's arms.

And there it was. While the arms in general looked like a mess with the arms held up there was a message Kirumi probably wasn't able to notice. Either she was too preoccupied with tending to the wounds or she never bothered to check. If she did she'd probably have cut herself more to cover this up.

There was no mistaking those marks. Just six little lines, three to make one damning symbol per arm.

マキ

Ma-Ki

So, in the end, the faux child caregiver left her dying message in katakana that even a child could read. I thought to myself.

"Leave it to Maki Roll to make sure no matter who won that fight we'd know who did this..." Kaito mournfully said with a rueful grin before slaming his hands on the railing with a curse that made many of my friends flinch.

"Well, there we have it. Kirumi is the blackened without any room for doubt. Shall we begin voting time?" Keebo said, still clearly bothered by Kiyo's role in all this.

Catching his worry Angie saw her chance and took it. "Angie would rather not if we can wait, to discuss Kokichi's mastermind theory or Kiyo's motive."

"Yeah! Just because the absolute menace says he's just a crazy killer doesn't mean Kokichi was wrong." Tenko agreed.

"Aww, you really DO listen to me now! I'm so touched." Kokichi exclaimed.

"That touch will be Tenko flipping you if you don't watch it." Miyuji challenged.

"Oh don't worry, I'm watching! Allllways watching." The supreme leader said with a smirk and a finger to his mouth as he watched Tenko begin to boil.

"Not. Helping." The vocalist muttered.

"Nope, I do that too! Let's face it, even when I'm messing around I'm waaay more help than you are." He teased again, and nearly got her to burst before Kaito intervened.

"Quit it! Can we disprove Kiyo is the mastermind or not?"

"Hey we didn't say we'd let you do this! I mean it's not like letting him talk would be able to get enough of youse to vote wrong just to fuck him over right? So we can just vote now!" Monosuke said

"WE-CAN-STILL-LET-HIM-EXPLAIN-HIMSELF-SO-THEY-CAN-UNDERSTAND-HIM-BETTER-AFTER-THEY-VOTE, AS-THIS-IS-A-SETTING-WHERE-THEY-WON'T-BE-ABLE-TO-PUNISH-HIM-THEMSELVES-YET. HIS-REASONS-MAY-NOT-BE-AS- SCARY-AS-IT-LOOKS, LIKE-THE-ONES-HE-GAVE-BEFORE!" Monodam exclaimed.

"I just like being in the trial room, and there's no timer on the post voting period so that's fine with me~" Monophanie agreed with the robotic bear, causing the tiger to roar his disapproval.

But at least there was no doubts who all of us needed to vote for, or any reasons to try and get it wrong on purpose. Needless to say, all votes were shown to be for the absent Kirumi, and it was no surprise when the machine confirmed her as the culprit behind Maki's death. The real surprise would come later.

For now, none of us tried to leave but at least we could walk around with our podiums unlocked.

...

Class Trial - ALL RISE

...

Gonta naturally beelined to bear hug Kaede, who seemed to appreciate it as well as she could right now. Tenko looked tempted to do the same, but chose to stay put so Angie and Tokuko felt safe to go over to her in their efforts to get as far from Kiyo as possible. Keebo encouraged Gonta, Miyuji, and Kaede to join the girls, while he, Kokichi, Kaito, Shuichi, and me remained more on our own, placing themselves between them and Kiyo.

During this time Kiyo confirmed that he isn't the new mastermind we're looking for and explained how his original plan was supposed to work. But throughout all of this, I noticed that Shuichi was shaking with rage and clenching his fists.

"Can we just get to the punishment..?" He asked.

"No, we can't! The blackened's dead, so the gory part can't be done." Monophanie shot back.

The detective growled in anger as he turned to approach me. I stepped backwards in worry.

"S-Shuichi?!" I called out his name in fear for what's about to happen.

"This is... your fault." The hatless boy muttered.

"What? How is this my fault?!" I asked in confusion.

"If you weren't hunting down the traitors, none of this would've happened!"

With that yell he charged at me as the others looked on in shock as the detective prepared to punch me. I braced for impact and then...

BAM!

I opened my eyes to see Shuichi's fist hitting Monophanie as she leapt off her throne. I could hear Kaede and a few others gasp in horror in realization.

"Shuichi... you..." I started. "You broke the rules!"

"What..?" The detective muttered as his eyes widened. "No... Sharla... I-I didn't mean to-"

"I've believed in you." I continued with tears in my eyes. "Ever since the first trial you were the shining hope in this game's despair. But now, you might not be a traitor but you still betrayed us!"

"Shuichi..." Kaede whimpered with tears in her eyes too. "How could you... do this to us?"

"W-Wait! Sharla... Kaede... I can explain-" Shuichi argued before Monophanie interrupted.

"N-No need to. There's going to be an e-execution after all." She said in pain as her brothers tried to help her.

"What?! Hey, I'm sorry-" The detective sputtered, trying to get the Monokubs away from the execution button to no avail.

There was still an execution for this after all. It just couldn't be for who it should have been.

GAME OVER

Shuichi has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

Shuichi found himself inside some sort of ballroom with see-through walls and stone statues of the Monokubs above him. He sees the surviving students on the other side of one of the walls and tries to reach out to Kaede.

But before he could two large clasps on tight chains wrapped themselves around his arms, restraining him from moving towards the others. He looks around and becomes confused upon seeing himself surrounded by life-sized wooden dolls, each resembling the twelve surviving students.

Burning Ballroom Massacre

Ultimate Detective Shuichi Saihara's Execution: Executed

The blue-haired boy gazed in horror as a grinning Angie appeared before him. Unable to move, he screamed as she plunged a dagger right into his chest. Then, Angie disappeared, only to be replaced by Tokuko. Again, she stabbed the detective in the chest, and vanished. One by one, each member of the group took their turn to leave their mark upon Shuichi's chest. Each wound was more painful than the last, but not damaging enough to outright kill him.

With each knife planting itself into Shuichi's body, the Monokubs threw lit candles into the room along with Monodam pushing Monotaro into the fires that ensued. This made the ballroom grow unbearably hot. The mixture of intense pain and the unbearable heat made each wooden doll look even more horrific and nightmarish than the last in Shuichi's eyes. The agony went on and on until finally, it was Kaede and Sharla's turn. Their dolls were ablaze from the fires of the candles. They both wore extra wide grins, making sure Shuichi got a good look at them before landing the final daggers right through his heart as the real pianist and sniper screamed in horror.

Shuichi's corpse wore a twisted, scared, mind-rending expression. The wooden dolls, now all burning and falling apart, congregated around his body. Finally, they fell inwards on top of him, creating a makeshift bonfire that burned the entire room to the ground.

As we left the trial room, Kaede and Miyuji asked me to meet up in the pianist's research lab. When I got there, Miyuji explained that Kaede started playing 'Clair de Lune' in honor of Shuichi's memory.

"It must be painful for her to lose her boyfriend like this." The vocalist muttered as the pianist played.

What did we do to deserve this? I'm no stranger to losing those who are close to me but still. I thought to myself.

Meanwhile in Maki's research lab, Gonta stood there alone in fear. Someone who claimed to have known him before the game had asked to meet him here and he had no other choice.

"U-Um... are you there..?" He called out.

"Over here." A raspy voice responded.

The entomologist yelped in surprise as Kiyo seemed to pop out of nowhere from the various weaponry in the deceased assassin's lab.

"Are you scared?" Kiyo asked.

"K-Kiyo..." Gonta muttered, breathing hard. "What wrong? Calling Gonta out on night Maki, Kirumi, and Shuichi die..."

"Kehehe... 'What's wrong'? Are you sure about that? Because you should remember the answer very well. Is that right... Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Disciple?" The anthropologist continued.

The faux entomologist screamed in in realization as painful memories came back to him.

"You know that I'm really the Ultimate Calligrapher and the Disciple of Blood, yes? Sharla now knows that too." Kiyo said.

"Gonta remember now... but not fully yet. Does Kiyo want Gonta to kill Sharla?" Gonta asked.

In response, Kiyo grabbed the muscular boy by his dress shirt and pulled him to his eye level as he spoke. "Correct, I'm going to try to do the same. If my attempts don't work you better not let me down."

"Gonta... understand..." The most powerful of Zanza's disciples obliged.

The faux anthropologist left soon afterwards. Gonta looked down at his dark orange Battle Gem in his hand as tears ran down his cheeks and hit the wings on his gem.

"S-Sharla... Gonta sorry... but Gonta have to kill you." He muttered. "Gonta have score to settle with Sharla."

...

End of Chapter 3: Beware the Most Powerful Traitor

Surviving Members: 12

Present Obtained: Three-Star Cap - Proof that you cleared Chapter 3. A memento of Shuichi. It used to be something he hid behind and it's now a sign of his resolve to find the truth.