Once again, all of us took our assigned podiums, this time with Michiru's and Saeko's places being replaced with signs with their grayed-out pictures on them, with a pink "X" splashed across. It sent a shiver down my spine, seeing the eerie images of now three of our dead friends.

"Now then, let's begin with an explanation of how the class trial works!" Monokuma began, taking his seat as I began to think about my opening statement. Looking around all the students still alive, there was only one who could have killed Saeko. But who could it have been? "Well, I would explain it, but I'm sure you all know how it works at this point, so it would just be insulting to do it all over again. Anyway... let's begin with this, shall we?"

Phase 1: Nonstop Debate:

Hideki was the first to speak up. "Let's begin. Unlike last time, we don't exactly have a place to start from right off the bat,"

"The last time most of us saw her was at the meeting, right?" asked Shiro. "She left early because she went to go meet with somebody,"

I nodded. "Yeah. Some of us did see her later, though, so let's start from when we last saw her. Then we can begin to narrow things down,"

"Obviously, most of us last saw her at the meeting. Did anyone else see her later, besides the person she met up with?" asked Hikooki.

Rai perked his head up at Hikooki's question. "Yeah, Aiko, Kanon, and I actually saw her a little after the meeting ended! She asked us how to approach the person whose secret she got," He replied. "Aiko suggested that Saeko go right ahead and be honest,"

"And that turned out so bad..." Toko muttered in response. "Since that person is prolly who got her killed..."

Hideki gave a chuckle. "Y'know who seems real suspicious? You, Toko,"

Toko gasped, covering their mouth in silence.

"Toko?" asked Masaki. "That's a really weird assumption. They were best friends with Saeko,"

Hikooki nodded. "It's not a bad assumption. There's lots of evidence that points toward them if you think about it,"

"So, to sum it up," began Kaemon. "Saeko met up with her killer, the person whose secret she got, and got attacked at night. Overnight, she was killed, and her body was found outside, tied to the tree,"

Yuki nodded. "Yeah, and for some reason, there was snow outside,"

"So it must have snowed overnight!" Amy-chan piped up. I suddenly remembered what Rai, Yuki, and Shiro had all said about the snow.

"N-No!" I refuted her. Everyone turned my way, anticipating my argument. "Um... that's wrong. It didn't actually snow last night, Rai and Yuki can confirm this,"

Rai smiled back at me. "Correct, it was supposed to hail last night,"

"Yeah, the snow felt fake," Yuki added on.

Amy-chan's eyes darted back-and-forth as she gave a nervous chuckle. "O-Oh... I feel like such a baka..."

"What does that tell us, exactly?" Hideki asked. "Do you think the killer was trying to mask the exact time they killed her?"

"Hehehe..." Aiko giggled. "I think it's pointless to discuss something like this so early on. Why don't we first figure out how our keeper of the horrible secret committed this atrocious act?"

"Trying to cover yourself up?" Hideki asked her. "After all, your secret was never revealed to us either,"

Aiko gave an imp-like giggle at Hideki's question. "I actually don't remember if you guys figured out my secret. In fact, I don't remember what my secret was!"

"She's really not all there, is she?" Kaemon asked.

Hideki chuckled back. "Classic, playing dumb. If you can't remember what happened, you probably can't remember if you met up with her or not,"

"Que? I don't really think she could have done it," Guadalupe replied. My eyes widened as Guadalupe said this - she was right, it couldn't have been Aiko!

"I-I agree with that!" I replied to Guadalupe. "Aiko actually has an alibi!"

"She does?" asked Kaemon.

"She does?" Tame also asked.

"I do?" Aiko asked.

"Yeah, I was there with you!" Rai replied to her. "We were doing your cleansing ritual, remember? We sat in the magic circle you drew on the ground and chanted these weird latin phrases for hours,"

"And if I recall," I added on. "Azizah woke me up around ten p.m. to check on Saeko after she had gotten hurt. You were with Rai at the time,"

"Oh!" Aiko giggled again. "Guess I'm safe for this one, aren't I?"

Daquan scratched his chin. "So the meeting ended around six, and Saeko got hurt around ten, and nobody saw her between those times... this means there was around a four-hour period for her to meet up with her killer,"

"What if someone sneaked in there and killed her when she least expected it?" Kenji asked. I immediately spotted the contradiction in Kenji's argument.

"N-No, that's wrong!" I replied.

"Hmm? Did I miss something?" He asked me with a glare.

I remembered what Daquan and Toko had said about Saeko's room. "According to Toko and Daquan, Saeko kept her room locked," I told Kenji.

"Yeah!" Daquan added on. "We tried knockin' and callin' her name, but no matter what, she wouldn't open up!"

Toko nodded in return.

"Well, this is just getting nowhere," Hideki replied with a huff. "But obviously, you two didn't hang around her room all night, otherwise you would have seen who she met up with. When did you leave her door?"

"Around eight-thirty or so," Toko replied. "Then the two of us just took different directions. I hung out in my room while Daquan went to his,"

"So if anything," Hideki replied, his grin growing wider. "You're still on the chopping block,"

"N-No way!" They protested. "I'd never kill Saeko, the two of us were pardners!"

Masaki nodded back. "We should stop looking at this as one big picture, and start looking at it in four separate times. First, from five to ten, when she met up with her killer. Then, around ten, when you guys found her hurt in her room, then overnight, when she died, and finally, the time we found her dead. If we tackle each of those individually rather than looking at it all at once, the big picture should come together,"

Kaemon sighed. "So, whose secrets were revealed last night?"

I thought back to the previous night. "Mine, Masaki's, Kenji's, Tame's, Yuki's, Hideki's, and Ryo's," I replied. "So all of us have alibis for this time, as Saeko couldn't have possibly met up with any of us,"

Ryo clicked his tongue and nodded. "Gotcha. So that leaves everyone else, then?"

Rai spoke up again. "I also had Shiro's secret, but they left before I could read it,"

Shiro gasped. "Rai, please, quiet-"

Monokuma interrupted them. "Hey! Rai, didn't I say that you weren't allowed to say whose secret you had?!"

"I told everyone I had it yesterday, during the meeting!" Rai protested.

Monokuma growled. "Ughhh... Fine. But if anyone says whose secret they had, and they weren't part of the meeting, I promise I won't be so easy on you! So... without further ado, let's continue,"

"So it had to be somebody whose secret was never revealed at the meeting," Ryo muttered. "Rai, Aiko, and Guadalupe also have alibis, as do Toko and Daquan,"

"And around 10 p.m., Saeko got hurt," Azizah recalled. "Kanon, Toko, Daquan, Sen, Hideki, and myself all went into her room to check up on her,"

Sen's eyes perked up. "Yes! I believe it was Toko who heard her scream, and then we went into her room to check up on her.

Wait a minute... I thought to myself. How did she open the door if she had hit her head too hard to even finish her sentence...

"Yeah, and then Saeko opened the door for us!" Toko stated. I gasped.

"No, wait! That's wrong!" I called back. Toko looked back at me, raising an eyebrow. "Could Saeko really have opened the door herself? She was too weak to even finish her sentences, how could she have possibly gotten up?"

"How did Saeko open the door then?" Sen asked me.

I had to really think about this one...

Phase 2: Logic Dive:

I concentrated as hard as I could as I tried to piece together exactly how this would happen, considering every nuance and every possibility the killer could have taken.

Who opened the door?

*Saeko
*The Killer

I had already decided Saeko couldn't have opened the door herself. It had to have been The Killer.

Where was the killer hiding when the door opened?

*In the travel bag
*Behind the display case

While either one would have been difficult, I imagined it would be easier to crawl into a huge travel bag than behind a display case. Not to mention, Saeko's display case was transparent, and the travel bag was not. If the killer had kept quiet, they could have hidden inside without detection. It had to be In the travel bag.

How did the killer open the door?

*By hand
*Thrown object

I couldn't imagine it being easy to open the door by hand, and quickly hiding inside a travel bag a few feet from the door without being detected. Furthermore, given that the doors opened with the E-Handbooks, it was certainly possible that the killer could have just thrown the E-Handbook at the door and unlocked it. My answer was Thrown object.

"I've got it!" I called out, piecing together my answer.

Phase 3: Nonstop Debate:

"Okay... the killer was inside Saeko's room the whole time," I told everyone. "He could have hidden inside the huge travel bag, and opened the door throwing Saeko's E-Handbook,"

"Egad, is that true?!" Sen asked.

"Interesting..." Tomoe replied to me. "We sometimes have people do that on the sets of movies, so that they can come in during scenes we need to film in one take. There's only so much editing can do,"

"So... The killer was in there the entire time?" asked Azizah. "That is... quite unnerving to consider..."

"What if the killer was among the group that went inside the room, and joined everyone amidst the confusion?" Ryo suggested.

"Not possible," Hideki replied. "I was there, we all entered through the door,"

"So we figured that out," Asa muttered. "But, pray tell, what of Miss Nura's wound?"

Sen scratched his chin. "I initially diagnosed it as a fall, but this opens up a whole new door of possibilities," He replied.

"Actually, now that I think about it," Masaki replied. "It's possible that our culprit hit her on the head themselves, probably in retaliation to hearing their secret revealed to them. And while the blow was not fatal, it was still enough to seriously damage her,"

"Then later on, the killer would have had to attack her fatally," Hikooki replied. "But when?"

"Probably after taking her outside, where they stabbed her to death!" Tame tacked on.

Wait, that wasn't correct! "No, that's wrong!" I replied to Tame.

"Huh?" She asked me.

"It's simple. Her room was a complete mess, which shows clear evidence of a struggle-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Kaemon cut me off.

"Cut the crap!" He shouted out.

Phase 4: Rebuttal Showdown:

"Don't be such a fucking idiot!" Kaemon called out.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked him.

"You know exactly what I mean," He replied to me. "Killing Saeko in her room, not possible,"

I raised an eyebrow, trying to listen to Kaemon's argument.

"Daquan and I watched her room all night!"

I nodded at him, this was a well-formulated argument. That didn't mean it was correct, however.

"Not a single time did anyone enter or exit her room!"

I wasn't sure how this tied into his argument, but I just had to press on.

"That obviously means that our killer took her outside before Daquan and I watched the cameras!"

I sighed, trying to think of how I was going to refute Kaemon. "That doesn't prove that the killer did all that before! The killer could have carried her out after! Her disorganized room is further proof of this!"

Kaemon shook his head again. "You don't get it, do you? If anything, her disorganized room is proof of my argument! Because that means the killer never went back!"

I clicked my tongue, trying to come up with a rebuttal. There had to be something that proved Saeko was killed in her room...

"So admit it, there's no evidence that Saeko was killed in her room! Meaning that Azizah coulda done it or something,"

"I'll cut through those words!" I shouted back, suddenly remembering the hole in Saeko's mattress. "Alright, listen up!"

Kaemon scoffed. "You've got nothing,"

"Actually, I've got something," I replied to him. "There was a bloody hole on the underside of Saeko's mattress. What was the murder weapon? A spear,"

Kaemon went speechless. "But... that means..."

I nodded again. "And if you recall, Sen's autopsy revealed that she had actually been stabbed twice. There wouldn't be any real reason to stab Saeko twice if they were just going to kill her outside to begin with,"

Phase 5: Nonstop Debate:

"So, the puzzle is starting to come together," Masaki commented. "Let's recap what we know. It had to be somebody whose secret was never revealed. Saeko met up with her eventual killer sometime between eight-thirty and ten, then she was found injured sometime after 10. It couldn't have been anybody who checked up on her either. That leaves just two more phases for us to figure out - overnight and the cover-up,"

"Wait, why did Kaemon accuse me?" Azizah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was wrong, let's move on," Kaemon cut her off, not even acknowledging her question.

"I believe Mister Nakama stated that he and Mister Brown watched Saeko's door overnight?" Asa began.

Hideki nodded. "Yeah, Kaemon did mention that,"

"Guess that means we can add Kaemon to the list of safe people," Masaki replied.

"Goddammit..." Yuki muttered under her breath. "I was kinda hopin' it was him,"

"Shut the fuck up!" Kaemon shouted back at her.

"You shut the fuck up!" Yuki shouted back.

"Is this really the time or place to be having such a fight?" Utamuro asked the two of them.

"Since Kaemon and I didn't see anything, that means that the killer remained in the room until the two of us went to bed," Daquan piped up. "Lucky bastard, there's no way he shoulda known..."

Shiro nodded back. "I was in the lab until I went to bed, and since we've established that our culprit had to go in there at some point, it definitely had to be really late when the killer carried out their plan,"

"Wait, why do you say the killer went into the lab?" asked Hikooki, raising an eyebrow.

Shiro shook their head. "Like Kanon, Rai, and Yuki said before, there was no way that it really snowed outside. The easiest and most convenient way I can think of to make artificial snow is to mix liquid nitrogen and water. Two things you can easily acquire onboard this train. Furthermore, it's really common knowledge that the two can make fake snow when combined, so it's not outside the realm of possibilities,"

Daquan nodded. "Damn... the killer really went through a lot just to carry out this one murder..."

"What did the killer do? Carry her out and pin her against the tree?" Rai asked.

"I think that she was carried inside something. It's too much work to carry a dead body, go back, grab a spear and rope, and try to rearrange her room without getting caught in the span of three hours-" Kaemon suggested.

Wait, there was evidence that pointed to this being true!

"I agree with that!" I consented with Kaemon.

"Whoa, really?" Kaemon asked.

"Yes, I do!" I replied to him. "Hideki, Toko, do you remember the travel bag?"

"The one our culprit was hiding in?" asked Hideki.

"Yes, that one!" I replied. "The wheels were wet. That's good enough evidence that the travel bag was taken outside, despite there being no reason for that bag to go outside overnight,"

Toko nodded. "Ah, I think I get it now..."

"Further evidence is the lamp in the garbage," I added on. "The killer must have bumped into the lamp, as that bag would have been really heavy and easy to lose your grip on. Must have been a misstep,"

"Which is why the room was clean!" Yuki called out.

"You're still cleaning the hallway tomorrow," Utamuro whispered.

"So now this means that we've figured out how the killer did this," Masaki began. "Now we need to narrow down the suspects. Kanon, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, Hideki, Yuki, myself, Rai, Aiko, Shiro, Guadalupe, Toko, Daquan, Sen, Azizah, and Kaemon are all out,"

"That leaves..." Kenji began, counting on his fingers. "Tomoe, Hikooki, Utamuro, Asa, and Amy-chan,"

"Actually, I saw Utamuro, Tomoe, and Amy-chan on my run," said Guadalupe. "And I saw Hikooki with Rai and Aiko at one point,"

Everyone then turned toward Asa, whose podium seemed to move toward the center of the circle.

"Oh dear... it appears I've gotten myself into a bad situation, doesn't it?" Asa asked.

Hikooki crossed his arms. "Cut the crap, Asa. You don't have an alibi. Therefore, you killed her,"

Asa shook her head. "Mister Kawata, you must be mistaken. I certainly had no involvement in the murder of Miss Nura,"

Hideki raised his eyebrows. "Wait just a damn minute," He began. "I just remembered something that proves Asa didn't do this,"

"It's not my secret, is it?" Asa asked. "Because that would be quite the misfortune for you..."

Hideki shook his head. "Nope. Kanon, think back to when we went into Saeko's room. Can you recall something that clears Asa's name?"

I closed my eyes and entered a deep thought once more. I had to remember something that would clear Asa's name.

Phase 6: Hangman's Gambit

I thought back to when Azizah pulled me back into Saeko's room. There had to have been something that would prove Asa wasn't the killer, though it would be simple. Something I might have brushed off at first.

What proves Asa didn't do it?

F-I-N-A-L W-O-R-D-S-

"I've got it!" I called out, remembering Saeko's last words to us.

Phase 7: Nonstop Debate:

"What is it?" Asa asked me, tilting her head.

"When I was with the others in Saeko's room," I began. "She was so weak she couldn't even finish her sentence. She could only say one word. 'He'. Asa, you're a woman,"

Asa nodded. "Yes, I am!" She replied, smiling and wiping her forehead. "That's quite the relief, dear. Thank you,"

Hideki scratched his chin. "And with Tomoe and Amy-chan both being girls, that leaves only two people, Utamuro and Hikooki,"

"Didn't you get the memo?" Utamuro asked him. "Hikooki and I both have alibis,"

Then I remembered - Guadalupe didn't see them all at once like she did with Rai and Aiko. They disappeared before she could make it back onto the train.

"No, that's wrong!" I replied to Utamuro. "No, you aren't safe. Guadalupe didn't testify to seeing either of you the whole night, isn't that right?" I asked her.

"Sí!" Guadalupe replied, nodding back in my direction. "By the time I ran back to the train, Utamuro and Hikooki were both gone!"

Hikooki and Utamuro both went silent. Of the two of them, who was it?

Then I remembered - One of them was with his friends, the other was on his own. Which meant...

"I know who did it," I began, looking at the culprit.

"Who did it?" Hideki asked me. "Not like we're counting on you with our lives if you get this wrong, y'know,"

I nodded. "It was... Hikooki Kawata. You're the only one!"

"What?" Hikooki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?!" Rai screamed.

"Nani?!" Amy-chan shouted.

"Hikooki... Please tell her she's wrong..." Rai pleaded.

Hikooki blinked and shook his head. "...No. I didn't do it," He whispered, looking down.

"That all ya got?!" Toko shouted out him. "Yer life's on the line fer possibly killin' my best friend, and all ya can say is that ya didn't do it?!"

Hikooki shook his head again and glared at me. "I didn't do it,"

I glared right back at Hikooki. "The evidence lines up. You're the only one who could have done it-"

"Shut up," Hikooki told me, a little bit more firmly this time. "You have no idea what the hell you're saying. I'm gonna prove it,"

Phase 8: Rebuttal Showdown:

"What else you got, Hikooki?" I asked him, ready to refute his statement. "If you've got anything else to add, you better say it,"

Hikooki nodded. "Certainly. Your argument rests on the claim that, by coincidence, Saeko's dying words were referring to a person,"

I nodded. It was shaky, but it still suspicious.

"You also seem hell-bent on the idea that Utamuro had an alibi, despite not being seen after 9 p.m.,"

Again, that did seem rather coincidental, but still-

"Finally, it's seriously coincidental that I would have been able to do all of that, without getting caught. It's quite the risk,"

I nodded again. Was my argument falling apart on him? It would have been rather difficult...

"Doesn't make it impossible!" I replied. "The evidence lines up perfectly against you!"

"Bullshit!" Hikooki shouted back. "You're just assuming things! Like Saeko's dying words, she could have been talking about anybody!"

Then I thought about it - Saeko's dying words weren't just talking about the gender of the person.

"I'll cut through your words!" I called back to Hikooki. "No... now that I think about it, Saeko's dying words were aimed specifically at you,"

Hikooki tried to speak up, but stuttered over his words. "Wh-what makes you think that?"

I shook my head. "He... He... It sounds exactly like the beginning of your name,"

"...It could have been Hideki's name!" Hikooki protested.

"Did you get none of this?" I asked him. "Hideki had his secret revealed and entered Saeko's room. He had no part in this whatsoever,"

Hikooki went silent again, as did the rest of us.

"Hikooki... please..." Rai whispered. "You're one of my only friends. You need to defend yourself!" He shouted out. "Please! You can still survive!"

Hikooki took in a deep breath and glared at me, his face growing red.

"What the fuck do you think you're saying?!" He shouted, sounding genuinely angry. "You're wrong! You're fucking wrong! You're wrong, I say!"

Phase 9: Panic Talk Action:

"You're wrong!" Hikooki shouted at me. It looked like he wasn't going to listen to me anytime soon... I just had to sit back and wait for him to wear himself out. "You're wrong, I say! All your evidence is based on coincidence!"

I nodded, just listening to his words. He clenched his fists as tears began to run down his eyes.

"Fuck you!" He shouted at me. "Fuck all of you who think it's me! I had zero part in this! Zero! You just want to accuse me!"

We certainly didn't want to accuse him at all. If anything, we were hoping he didn't do it.

"You have no real evidence! Nothing that innately proves I did any of this! You're jumping to conclusions!"

What was he going on about this time?

"You... you..." It sounded like he was running out of things to shout at me. "...Like that snow bullshit. Why would I go through the process of making fake snow and spreading it over the crime scene?"

Now that I thought about it, it certainly seemed odd that somebody would do it. It didn't really mask the time it took place, and it was quite a hassle.

...But there was one thing.

TO - COVER - HIKOOKI'S - TRACKS

"I've got it!" I replied. "Hikooki... Isn't it weird that there were no footprints before we went out to find her body, despite her body clearly being in the open, and that the hallway was clean despite it being Kaemon's night to clean?"

Hikooki went silent. "You... still don't know that was me..."

"The evidence lines up, Hikooki," Hideki replied, grinning at the Ultimate Pilot. Tears began to run down Hikooki's face as his argument fell apart.

"No... This... This isn't how it's supposed to go..." Hikooki muttered.

Rai gasped. "Hikooki... Please, tell me this isn't true..."

Toko crossed their arms and shook their head at Hikooki. "Fuck you! You killed Saeko!"

"Anyway..." I began. "I think I know how to sum up this case,"

Phase 10: Climax Reasoning:

"Act I: This case begins around five p.m. yesterday," I began, recalling every event from this case. "Most of us met up in the Dining Hall to exchange secrets. Just before we could begin, Saeko Nura left the room, saying she was going to meet up with somebody. A few others left the room as well - including the blackened. While the meeting continued as normal, it was brought to a close when we got into an argument, and ended early,

"Act II: Only thirty minutes later, I met with Saeko again, along with Rai and Aiko. That's when we found out Saeko had gotten a very sensitive secret, which we later found out to be the secret belonging to the blackened. Unfortunately, this would be the last either of them saw of Saeko as we all suggested she approach them with honest intentions. Her door was locked for the next few hours, preventing anybody from going into her room.

"Act III: A few hours later, Saeko met with the blackened, hoping to talk with them about her secret. Unfortunately, this went south quickly as the culprit hit her over the head, severely injuring her. Saeko let out a loud scream, prompting Toko, Daquan, Sen, Hideki, Azizah, and I to come to her aid. The blackened, cornered, did what he could to hid himself - sneak inside of a large travel bag in Saeko's room. To further the illusion, the blackened tossed Saeko's E-Handbook at the door, unlocking it and letting us inside. Unfortunately for us, none of us ever saw the blackened in her room. Dismissing her wound as just a fall, we had no idea what Saeko was actually in for. We left her alone for the night, though Daquan had a different idea,

"Act IV: Only a few minutes later, Daquan, with the help of Kaemon, set up surveillance of Saeko's door, watching for any change. The two of them waited for hours, but around three a.m., the two of them left and went to bed for the night. This turned out to be a fatal mistake, as while still inside Saeko's room, the blackened exited the bag and impaled Saeko through the torso, killing the poor girl. From there, the blackened set out to cover their tracks,

"Act V: In the dead of night, the blackened placed Saeko's corpse, the spear, a rope, Saeko's E-Handbook, some water, and a case of liquid nitrogen in the travel bag they had been hiding inside of. They rolled the bag through the hallway, and accidentally knocked over a lamp on a shelf, breaking it as it shattered upon the ground. This would be one of the biggest mistakes the blackened would make. Once outside, the killer impaled Saeko's corpse in roughly the same place, and tied her corpse around the tree. Of course, all this bag rolling and walking left a lot of tracks on the ground. The blackened, mixing liquid nitrogen and water, sprinkled fake snow over their tracks to create the illusion that it had snowed overnight, but mostly to mask the method they used to carry her outside,

"Act VI: In order to cover up any evidence they had left behind, the killer went through the process of cleaning up the hallway, even with the little time they had left. The killer returned the bag and E-Handbook to Saeko's room and flipped over their mattress, and tried to put her room back to its original state. Of course, the blackened didn't quite get every detail correct, leaving behind lots of evidence. If the killer had managed to put Saeko's room back together better, they might have been able to create an unsolvable murder. However, that one piece of evidence allowed us to work backwards and figure out exactly who it was... the Ultimate Pilot, Hikooki Kawata,"

Trial End:

Hikooki went completely silent as tears ran down his face. "You... you got it right..." He muttered.

"Hikooki, no..." Rai whispered, tears forming in his eyes as well. "Please... please tell me you're wrong! You couldn't! You wouldn't!"

"I did..." Hikooki replied. "It was wrong of me... it was the worst thing I ever did... but I did indeed kill Saeko..."

Monokuma jumped down from his chair again. "All rise! The trial has come to an end! Let the voting begin!" The keyboard with everybody's faces appeared before us again.

Once again, I didn't even hesitate as I voted for Hikooki. I assumed everybody else did as well.

Hikooki sighed, crying into his eyes.

"You... have no right to be cryin' right now..." Toko bawled. "My best friend is dead thanks to you! You deserve everythin' comin' to you..."

"I know!" Hikooki cried back. "I don't deserve to live anymore..."

"Just tell me," Daquan began, holding back tears. "Why did you do it?! Why would you kill Saeko?! She never hurt anybody!"

Hikooki sniffled. "I-I... She had my secret... You s-see... Years ago, I had a g-girlfriend. Her name was Naomi, and she was the sweetest, most beautiful, most adventurous girl I ever knew. We met while the two of us were still in pilot's school..." He began.

"And?" Tame asked him.

"I... never knew any of this..." Rai muttered.

"Yeah... 'cause you only wanted to talk about the different clouds," Hikooki replied. "Anyway... Naomi and I were inseparable. We always talked about wanting to see the world together. She was a grade above me, though. And she was the best pilot I have ever seen. Way better than me. One day, she left on a trip, piloted by herself, of course. I encouraged her to go. She didn't return for weeks..."

"What happened after?" Asa asked him.

"..." Hikooki took a deep breath as tears welled up in his eyes. "...Her father... told me that she had died in a plane crash. I can remember her funeral to this day. I couldn't even give a speech because I was crying so much. I still have all of our pictures together, all the notes she wrote me when we talked about the trips we would go on, all the postcards from the places we said we would go..."

"...That is... quite tragic," Kenji muttered.

"...I don't deserve to be called the Ultimate Pilot," Hikooki declared, taking off his hat. "That title rightfully belongs to Naomi,"

Monokuma laughed. "Upupu~! It's true, you know! Saeko's secret read, 'Hikooki Kawata got his girlfriend killed in a plane crash'!"

Hikooki sniffled again. "She told me... She told me that she experienced loss herself, and that I needed to let go of Naomi, because she was able to let go of her loss... And while she had a point, I couldn't take it. That's when I hit her with the spear. She didn't die, and I felt really bad, looking at her trying to walk and talk. After a few hours, later that night, she told me. She told me... That I would never get better if I didn't get over Naomi. Even in her worst pain, she was telling me I needed to move on... I can't move on so easily! I can't! And so... In a truly despicable act... I killed her,"

"Aw, what a sad sob story!" Monokuma replied.

Aiko sniffled. "Oh no, that's so heartbreaking! It's always a terrible tragedy when two hearts are forcefully torn from one another!"

"That's... really harsh..." Masaki replied.

I tried to withhold my tears as well. While it was hard to forgive Hikooki for this, there was something upsetting about it.

"But let's not shift the focus completely from Saeko!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Saeko Nura once forgot to give her bedridden brother his pills, resulting in his death! Who had that one?"

"I... did..." Guadalupe replied.

"Upupu~! Anyway... I've prepared a special execution for the Ultimate Pilot, Hikooki Kawata!"

Nothing could have prepared me for what was next.

Execution:

Plane and Simple:

Hikooki sighed as he suddenly appeared in the cockpit of an airplane. He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, his seatbelt strapped onto him, locking him in place as he instinctively grabbed hold of the plane's controls. Then, the plane began to rapidly descend out of the sky.

His face looking panicked, Hikooki pulled the controls as hard as he could, bringing the plane level again. He breathed a sigh of relief, until a bullet shot through the plane's cockpit. Hikooki jumped, trying to undo his seatbelt. More bullets riddled the cockpit, each one conveniently missing Hikooki as he scrambled for his seatbelt, which seemed to be jammed.

With a gasp, Hikooki finally pulled the seatbelt off of himself and rolled out of his seat, running for cover as he ran past all the bullets. He dashed out of the cockpit and into the aisles, bullets shredding apart the seats. In the back of the airplane was a framed picture of an unfamiliar, yet quite beautiful woman. Hikooki gasped and grabbed hold of the picture, until a bullet pierced his stomach. He leaned over, dropping the picture and reaching for it as bullets shredded through his body, spilling blood all over the place. The plane began to spiral downward toward the ground.

As the plane descended, we all gasped in horror as we watched the plane fall toward the ocean. The plane crashed into the water as Hikooki reached for the picture, which began to float up toward the surface. Hikooki tried to swim up there as well, but was still bleeding profusely and lacked the strength to move. Hikooki's face went blue as pink blood surrounded him, his eyes rolling up as his body sank to the bottom.

The picture rose to the surface of the water, but was too wet and dirty to be recognizable anymore.

All of us went silent as we witnessed this horrific execution.

Post-Trial:

"Serves that double-crossin' outlaw right," Toko whispered through tears in their eyes. "Saeko! Saeko..."

Daquan hugged them and patted their back as Toko cried out some more.

"Hikooki... He was my... Friend..." Rai muttered.

"In a way... I can't say I'm completely surprised," Hideki stated. "But in reality... I don't think Hkooki's the one to blame for this,"

"What the fuck do you mean?" Daquan asked him.

"It's simple," Hideki replied. "Wasn't Aiko the one who told Saeko to meet up with Hikooki?"

"I believe Miss Amane did say that," Asa replied to him.

"What? I honestly don't remember..." Aiko stated.

Hideki chuckled and crossed his arms. "If anything, Aiko... The blood of Saeko and Hikooki is completely on your hands,"

"Huh?" Aiko scratched her head.

"Aiko..." I began, looking at her. "This wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for this. There was no way you could have known." I then turned to Hideki. "If Aiko did this... So did I. I... encouraged Saeko to meet up with him,"

Hideki shrugged and turned away. "Then you're equally guilty, Kanon. In my eyes... You're no better than a murderer,"

I looked down and really began to think about this.

If Saeko hadn't met up with us last night, she and Hikooki would still be alive now.

The elevator took us all back to the train. Just as I was about to enter my own room, Masaki stopped me.

"Hey, Kanon?" He began.

"What is it?" I asked him, trying to hide my tears.

"You... You did nothing wrong, okay? I just... I want you to know that. Please don't blame yourself for the deaths of Saeko and Hikooki, okay? I... Probably would have said the same thing..."

"But... you would have blamed yourself for the same thing!" I wailed. "You... You still feel suicidal all the time... I can't lose you like we lost Lorenzo, Michiru, Saeko, Hikooki..."

Masaki sighed and hugged me again, just like last time. "With you around, Kanon, I have a reason to keep myself alive. Don't worry about me. Please. You've got so much to live for ahead of you,"

He let go of me and went back to his room. My face felt like it was blushing in full, and I wiped my tears on my sleeves as I went back to my room.

I would never forget what I witnessed this day.

CHAPTER 2 END

SURVIVING STUDENTS: 20