A/N: Okay, I was wrong; THIS is the longest chapter I've ever written. 19,000 words! Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.
Chapter Four: All Star Apologies
Makoto rubbed his head as he entered the dining hall, both from his physical pain from being attacked in the secret room, and from the mental frustration from trying to figure out what was going on with Sakura and Monokuma.
Could Sakura be...no, I can't make premature judgments yet. I'll have to confirm it with her next chance I get.
Aoi and Yasuhiro lamented how few people were in the dining hall now, with Kyoko commenting "Loneliness has become commonplace."
Aoi tried to lighten the mood by suggesting that they all eat until they passed out, though Yasuhiro and Makoto stepped back in shock at Aoi's next statement.
"Let's fry up some fish and donuts till we can't stand up!"
Chuckling at Aoi's enthusiasm, Kyoko replied "Still, the till we can't stand up part is a problem. After we're done, we need to go explore." As everyone nodded in agreement, she added "Plus, we still have Alter Ego. We don't have to give in to despair just yet."
Feeling his smile return a little bit, Makoto praised "She's right...We have to plan ahead and think about the future!"
Yasuhiro announced his prediction about how there wouldn't be any more murders, and he and Aoi got into an argument over whether his Clairvoyance predictions counted as occult arts.
"Don't put it in the same category as cattle mutilation!"
Huh?
"He's referring to the urban legend where aliens abduct cows and dissect them as part of their research" Kyoko explained.
Yasuhiro went on to tell a story about how aliens abducted part of his hamburger, which just left Makoto even more confused.
To prevent the conversation from being derailed, Makoto uttered "I hope your prediction turns out to be true..."
Yasuhiro, Aoi, and Sakura, all affirmed that they would not become a murderer, with Kyoko chiming in "Nor I."
Makoto looked at Kyoko as he proclaimed "That goes for me too, of course. I could never kill any of my friends!"
Once Sakura brought up that Byakuya and Toko weren't there to say that, everyone's mood plummeted. The conversation effectively over, everyone went to get their plate and fill their stomachs. Makoto took a seat next to Kyoko and began eating. Kyoko watched him out of the corner of her eye and felt doubt and concern fill her heart; she had seen how Makoto looked as he came into the dining hall, and it just felt off.
Is he hiding something from me? No, he's not going to keep secrets from me, not after how much he said he trusted me. I'll just have to get him alone today so I can press him. I'll ask him when he fills me in on the secret room while we're exploring the next floor. He trusts me...enough to tell me the truth, right?
XXX
"You know, you haven't told me what you think yet."
Kyoko turned to face him as he walked into the music room. Makoto had a confused expression on his face as he walked over to her.
"About the secret room in the boys bathroom…"
"Ah!" Makoto explained about how he found the secret room and said "As soon as I started looking around, I was attacked..."
I was afraid this would happen. It's why I didn't want you involved…
"Attacked? By who?"
"Well...they came from behind, and I didn't have any time to react. So I didn't see who it was...And when I came to, the mountains of files and documents...were all gone."
At least you're okay.
Makoto apologized "I'm sorry. I know how important those were."
You've already done more than I would have asked you to do…"It's okay. I already saw what I needed to in there. And I half suspected the mastermind might come after you."
Is that why she was so adamant about doing this by herself the other day?
Noticing Makoto's confused look, she explained "When I discovered the room, the mastermind must have seen me on the surveillance camera in the hallway. They must have seen me go into the boys bathroom, and not come out again. Still, I wanted you to go and see it...I wanted to see how the mastermind would react. Essentially, I wanted to find out if the mastermind actually knew about that room. But to attack you, and steal everything in the room...That must mean there was some unknown clue in there that could reveal the mastermind's identity."
"Then...you knew I was gonna get attacked?"
Makoto felt a twinge of irritation at Kyoko for essentially using him as bait.
Did you ever think to fill me in on the plan during dinner last night?
Kyoko could see the irritation going through Makoto, and felt a twinge of guilt for leaving him in the dark about her intuition.
She chose to mask her guilt by asking "You can handle that kind of thing though, right? After all, you're a boy." Okay, that was a pathetic cover up and you know it.
Makoto chose to take a deep breath and let it go for the time being.
What's happened has happened. Water under the bridge… "Fine...I understand. Then let me ask you something else. Do you know about the note that was left in there? The note that said you must not leave?"
"We...shouldn't talk about that. Not here."
Makoto followed her gaze to the surveillance camera and caught on.
"...I'm looking into it. If I find out anything, I'll let you know. Is that okay?"
Kyoko had gotten up in his face with that last question, leaving Makoto with little choice but to nod in the face of Kyoko's intimidation. It was clear that she was demanding, not asking.
Alright, no more stalling. I showed you mine, now you show me yours. "So, now it's your turn. Let's hear your secret."
"Huh?" How did she...am I really that obvious about it?
Kyoko smirked and continued "Did you think I wouldn't notice? You're hiding something...Am I wrong?"
Well, I guess technically, but it's for good reason! I haven't even gotten the facts from Sakura yet! If I spill now, we may end up at each other's throats again!
Kyoko looked at Makoto, his indecision confusing her.
Why is he being so frantic about this? All I want is for him to be honest with me… "What's the matter? If you're worried about the camera, why not just write it down?"
It's not a matter of keeping it from the mastermind; it's a matter of whether I have proof to risk throwing us into chaos!
Kyoko frowned at Makoto's continued silence.
Why is he being so difficult? I trusted him, now he should trust me with his secrets! "We're friends, so you should be able to trust me. Isn't that what you said before?"
You're right that there shouldn't be any secrets between friends, but...There's nothing worse than expressing doubt about your friend when you don't have evidence for it...Damn it, I hate this! "S-Sorry...I can't tell you...not yet."
You can't tell me...yet? And just when do you plan on telling me, Makoto Naegi? Or do you plan on telling anyone at all? Hiding her frustration and anger, Kyoko replied "So...that's your answer. But do you think that's fair? You were happy to hear what I had to say, but now you're unwilling to share?"
You're right, it's not fair. But I'm doing this to keep us from falling apart. I can't choose between my friends. That's why, at least until I can ask Sakura directly, I can't say anything.
Makoto's head hung, a couple of tears falling from his cheeks onto the floor as he said meekly "I'm sorry. I really am..."
Normally, seeing Makoto upset enough to shed tears would have made Kyoko concerned and would have at least made her soften any negative feelings towards the Ultimate Lucky Student. But today, his apologetic demeanor only irritated her more.
"It's fine."
Kyoko grit her teeth as she said that, her heart feeling like it was beginning to crack, betrayed by Makoto's apparent hypocrisy. She walked past him, her barely concealed anger obvious to the boy.
"Goodbye."
She slammed the door shut, leaving Makoto alone with his thoughts. Once she was outside, she seethed.
Makoto Naegi...going to all that effort to make me spill my secrets, talking about trust and friendship, and the moment I ask him to show me what I showed him, he turns his back and runs away like...like...ugh! Well, he can get out of his own messes from now on!
On the other side of the door, Makoto stared down at the floor, guilt flooding him with the impossible choice he was forced to make. A few tears dripped from his eyes and landed on the floor.
What have I done?
XXX
Makoto was the first to arrive back at the dining hall, taking a seat at the table and sighing into his hands. He had sufficiently composed himself since the not-fight in the music room, but by no means was he happy.
It wasn't long before Aoi, Sakura, Yasuhiro, and Kyoko trickled in. Unlike the last week however, instead of sitting next to or across from him, she chose to sit at the far end of the table, angling her gaze so that she didn't have to look at him.
"Um...Kyoko?"
Kyoko however refused to acknowledge his presence, making no move to turn her head or even to speak to him.
You're mad at me…
Aoi plopped next to Makoto, confused about the sudden change in dynamic between the two Ultimates.
She leaned and whispered in his ear "Hey, Makoto...Does Kyoko seem upset to you?" Don't tell me...they had a fight? Eyes widening in realization, she hissed "She is, isn't she?! She's totally mad!"
Makoto meekly nodded and whispered "Y-Yeah, it looks like it..."
Her brows angled in irritation, she yanked Makoto by the ear and hissed "I bet it's your fault, isn't it? You must've done something to her."
I suppose it is, but…
Makoto clenched his fist in frustration as he mentally cursed the circumstances that led to Kyoko's ire.
I would tell if I could, but I can't betray one friend to please another. God, I hate this!
Sensing the tension between the three Ultimates, Sakura gently redirected the conversation and explained that metal plates had been attached to the windows on the 4th floor as well.
"Just like everywhere else…" Kyoko mused.
The tense atmosphere temporarily dissipated, Aoi talked about how there was a chem lab and how it was filled with vitamins and poisons.
"Still, we'd better make sure we're careful around there" Kyoko warned. Aoi and Yasuhiro proposed that nobody tell Byakuya or Toko about the poisons, but Kyoko shot back "It's Byakuya. It won't be long before he's discovered it for himself."
Yasuhiro spoke about how the data center and headmaster's rooms were locked. The Ultimate Clairvoyant boasted about how Sakura could easily knock them down, but as if like magic, Monokuma appeared, seething at Yasuhiro's suggestion.
Great work Yasuhiro, you jinxed it!
Wasting no time, Monokuma made a new rule that forbade them from breaking down a locked door. Once Monokuma was gone, Makoto remembered something from the 4th floor exploration, and perked up. He explained about how he found a photo of Sayaka, Celeste, and Hifumi, and how Monokuma insisted it was real. Yasuhiro insisted that the photo had to be a fake, but Makoto had reservations.
"I know we could just write that off as a lie, but..."
Oh, so he's willing to trust the bear, but he's not willing to trust me?
"Then you trust Monokuma's word over the people who have died? That's what you're saying, isn't it?"
Where's THIS coming from? Just how angry did I make her? "No, that's not it..." Makoto tried to assure, finding the idea of him trusting the psychotic bear more than Kyoko or any of his friends baffling.
"I'm shocked. You told everyone how we should believe in our friends, but you refuse to do the same."
"Th-That's not..." That's not it at all, Kyoko! If this is about me not telling you my secret, I'm doing it BECAUSE I want us to believe in each other!
Yasuhiro and Sakura tried to break up Kyoko's verbal assault on Makoto, shocked that their two best investigators were fighting with each other. Even Aoi, who was currently on Kyoko's side, was startled by Kyoko's ferocity.
Okay, this clearly isn't a normal lovers' quarrel. So what happened?
Before she could contemplate further, Byakuya strolled in and wasted no time in mocking them for their uncharacteristic lack of camaraderie. Aoi at first tried to make him go away, but at Byakuya's mention of a vital clue, everyone was suddenly interested.
"...Byakuya. What have you been up to?"
Byakuya revealed that he was in the bath, leaving Makoto confused, until his eyes widened in realization that Byakuya was speaking in code.
Her mind on the same track, Kyoko suggested "Maybe we should all go take a bath."
Everyone else nodded and swiftly left the dining hall, with Kyoko in front and Makoto last in line, sensing it was better if he gave Kyoko some space until she wasn't set off by every other word he said.
Why are you getting so emotional over this, Kyoko? I want my friend back…
XXX
When they got to the bathhouse, they found Toko guarding the laptop, who refused to move until Byakuya said so.
Then what was the point of him telling us?
Before any of them could try to further reason with her, she sneezed, triggering her transformation into Genocide Jack. Jack was marginally easier to negotiate with; she agreed to move, but only if Makoto would kneel and beg her to. He looked to everyone else, hoping someone would say something else that would sway her, only to find everyone urging him to humiliate himself already.
Kyoko's reaction was the worst though; she snubbed him, turning her head as if to say I'm not helping you out of this one, Makoto.
Makoto sighed and conceded, falling to his knees and begging in the most desperate voice he could muster. Kyoko felt a strange mix of satisfaction and anger at Makoto's self-humiliation, which confused her.
Why do I even feel partially upset about this? We need to get to the laptop, and this is karmic retribution as far as Makoto is concerned, so why do I feel angry seeing Makoto like this?
Filing the thought away for later, she decided to break her internal promise and save him.
"That should be enough, right? Hurry up and let us talk to Alter Ego."
Genocide Jack cackled and complied moving to the wall so they could access the laptop. Makoto walked forward and booted up Alter Ego.
Alter Ego beamed and exclaimed "You really came! I was finally able to crack open all the files that were on this laptop!"
"Just what I thought…" Kyoko mused, suspecting this result after Byakuya's hint.
Everyone suddenly became nervous, exemplified by Makoto's shaking hands as he prepared ot type in their next question.
It then left everyone shocked when Kyoko grasped the laptop out of Makoto's hands and ordered "Move."
She...she didn't even ask me this time…
In spite of how emotionally wounded Kyoko's order made him, Makoto knew that disobeying her would only make things worse. He got up from the bench and backed up a good 5 feet behind her, so that he could barely see what she was typing.
"Here we go…"
Alter Ego revealed that the school administrators devised a plan to have the students live out the rest of their lives at Hope's Peak, leaving everyone shocked.
"That doesn't make any sense! Why would they do that?" Yasuhiro yelled out, voicing what everyone else was thinking.
"I don't think Alter Ego is finished. Perhaps we should hear the rest…" Kyoko advised.
Alter Ego went on to explain that this plan was concocted in response to a devastating occurrence known only as the Tragedy.
What the...is this...is this even real?
Contrasting with everyone else, Kyoko appeared calm and analytical as she voiced "I see. Things are finally starting to make sense...What this means is, one year ago, this thing - this tragedy - took place. And whatever it was, it forced Hope's Peak to shut down. From there, they decided to use the school as a kind of staging ground...They planned to sequester the student shere, where they would live out the rest of their lives."
Sakura and Aoi wondered why the school would plan something like that, and what the Tragedy even was. Unfortunately, Alter Ego revealed that he couldn't find the answers to those questions on the laptop files.
"We get halfway through the answer, and that's it?"
"It would appear so. Disappointing…"
Her calm demeanor was shattered however when Alter Ego chimed in that the Headmaster had finalized the school's plan, and that he was probably still in the school.
"The headmaster...is here in this school!?"
Kyo...Kyoko?
Sakura and Aoi speculated that he must be the mastermind, while Yasuhiro lamented that there was no way to get to him since the Headmaster's room was locked.
Still emotionally startled, Kyoko clenched her fist, stating "I'll find a way…No matter what it takes...I will find the headmaster. No matter what the cost…"
She sounds so determined, as though her life was depending on it. Kyoko...what are you thinking?
"Kyoko? What's going on?"
Kyoko struggled to answer Aoi's question, rendered for the first time somewhat speechless as she slowly uttered "I can't explain why. I just...know that I have to find him."
Makoto watched with concern as she took more than a few deep breaths, struggling ot compose herself and regain her neutral expression. Makoto resisted the urge to grab her hand in comfort, and at last Kyoko looked like she was back to her normal self.
"...We should see if Alter Ego has any more information."
Alter Ego explained that there wasn't anything else on the laptop, and expressed regret for not being more helpful.
"Then...it really is all over" Yasuhiro moaned, only to be interrupted by Kyoko.
"Wait. Alter Ego seems to have more to say."
Alter Ego asked where Kiyotaka, Hifumi, and Celeste were, only to be shocked and teary eyed when Kyoko answered that they were dead. Alter Ego expressed regret and apologized.
Sighing, Kyoko said "Well then, I guess that's it."
Alter Ego's job done, he bid farewell before going into sleep mode, the atmosphere turning melancholy. It was Kyoko who broke the silence.
"We won't have to talk to him all that much anymore."
As Aoi lamented about how she felt sorry for Alter Ego, Yasuhiro interjected that he was just a computer program. This set off Makoto, who argued that Alter Ego was still their friend, even if he wasn't organic, with Aoi and Yasuhiro agreeing with him. Under normal circumstances, Kyoko would have been touched by Makoto's rousing speech. However, her irritation with the Ultimate Lucky Student prevented her from being drawn in to his camaraderie.
"So anyway…" As Yasuhiro expressed offense at being interrupted, Kyoko continued "Anyway, there's nothing more Alter Ego can do to help us. As such, his role in this is over. Am I wrong about that?"
"No, but..."
Kyoko cut him off by glaring at him and continuing "And frankly, I question the ease with which you decide who is and isn't your friend."
Makoto barely held back tears, hurt by Kyoko's lashing out.
Do you really mean that…
Sakura sensed that another argument was brewing and diverted the conversation to go over what Alter Ego had managed to dig up. They also tried to wrack their brains as to what the Tragedy could have been, but they all came up empty.
"That event led to the closing of Hope's Peak. If nothing else, it must have had some kind of connection to this school."
Sakura and Aoi speculated that since none of them could think of what it was, that maybe the school tried to cover it up.
Yasuhiro expressed outrage at such a conspiracy and exclaimed that the government should handling whatever the Tragedy was, to which Kyoko replied "Maybe. But right now there's only one path open to us...We have to find the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy. We have to find him, and make him tell us everything. As long as we can get our hands on him, I think…"
Kyoko started to become marginally more frantic as she spoke of the headmaster, leaving Makoto concerned.
Kyoko…
Makoto barely restrained the urge to hold her hand and comfort her.
Once she composed herself, Kyoko stated "Well, our business is done here, so for now we should get out of here."
At that moment, Genocide Jack sneezed, reverting back to Toko. She looked around and stammered that Byakuya would be mad at her for not guarding the laptop.
"Let's avoid getting involved any further" Kyoko advised.
Everyone nodded, choosing not to comment further and left the bathhouse, their business done.
XXX
They didn't get far until Monokuma popped out of nowhere, ranting about how angry he was before disappearing again. Before any of them could contemplate what he meant, the nighttime announcement played.
One it was done, Kyoko turned around and addressed the group by asking "So, it's nighttime. What does everyone want to do? Celeste was the one who suggested our nighttime rule, but she's gone now…"
Aoi said that she still wanted to keep Celeste's rult to calm her nerves, and Yasuhiro voiced his agreement.
Kyoko turned to Makoto and asked "What about you, Makoto?"
Caught off guard that Kyoko was giving consideration to his opinion, Makoto wisely chose not to look a gift horse in the mouth and nodded to indicate his agreement with the others.
"Very well then. In that case, time for bed."
Everyone then dissipated, going back to their bedrooms. Makoto got changed and fell into a fitful sleep, tossing and turning from the guilt eating away in his heart.
"I'm sorry, Kyoko. I'm really sorry..."
XXX
The lavender haired girl peeked out of her room, then discreetly slipped out the door and closed it without making a sound. She then started making her way through the hallway until she spotted Aoi and Yasuhiro at the dining hall entrance.
"Hey Kyoko. You come to grab some grub?"
Kyoko shook her head at Aoi's cheerfulness and replied "Not yet, no. I actually came to ask you a favor."
Aoi raised her brow in confusion at Kyoko's request.
A favor? Why me though? Doesn't she usually ask Makoto to be her sidekick?
Deciding to cut straight to the point, she requested "After Makoto has breakfast, come to my room and ring my doorbell. I'll come get my own breakfast when he leaves the dining hall."
"Wait, so you're avoiding Makoto now? Isn't that a little childish?"
Aoi cringed at Yasuhiro's wording, and Kyoko sent her glare of doom normally reserved for murder culprits towards Yasuhiro.
"Care to repeat that, Yasuhiro?"
The Ultimate Clairvoyant yelped in fear and hid behind Aoi, the sight making Kyoko flashback to the day she met Makoto, making her blush for a moment before shaking her head.
Trying her hand at getting Yasuhiro's thoughts across in a better sentence, Aoi treaded carefully as she spoke "Kyoko, what Makoto did, was it really that bad? I mean, this just seems a little...extreme. What was it that he did to deserve this? Did he show you too much backbone?"
Thinking back to Makoto's forceful speech towards her a couple of nights ago, as well as his rebuffs of her attempts to find out the truth, Kyoko realized that she wasn't used to being stood up to, particularly by the shy Makoto.
Is that why I'm so angry with him? Because I can't take being told no? No, it's because he can't trust me after telling me to trust him, it's a double standard!
Choosing not to reveal her thoughts, Kyoko cryptically replied "In a manner of speaking..." Turning around, she walked away, saying "I'm heading back to my room now. Goodbye."
XXX
Makoto walked in and went to the dining hall, walking up to Sakura, Aoi, Toko, and Yasuhiro. He started wondering where Kyoko was, leaving Yasuhiro to chime in with the truth.
"Oh, she said she'd come by later."
"Later?" Why isn't she here now?
"Yeah. After you leave."
Makoto's heart cracked some more after hearing that.
So now she's not even trying to hide it. She hates me, doesn't she?
Aoi then started berating Makoto for being too forward with Kyoko, leaving Makoto even more confused, which eventually turned into an argument between Aoi and Toko, leaving Yasuhiro to try and break them up.
"Anyway, you and Kyoko need to make up already, ya know?"
"Y-Yeah, I know..."
I know I messed up here, guys. For goodness sake, I couldn't even sleep, I was feeling so guilty. But I need to get the story straight from Sakura before I can do anything else.
His path clear, he turned to the Ultimate Martial Artist and asked if they could talk later. Aoi then started accusing him of trying to make advances on Sakura since Kyoko had dumped him, leaving Makoto to frantically reassure everyone that wasn't the issue. Intervening, Sakura asked if they could talk tomorrow instead, explaining that she was currently feeling some aches and pains.
Could it be…
As Makoto flashed back to what he saw of her fight with Monokuma, Sakura assured him that some sleep and protein would leave her good as new. Aoi angrily warned him not to bother Sakura until tomorrow, leaving the boy to frantically nod. Sakura apologized and at Yasuhiro's suggestion, everyone present began to eat breakfast. Makoto hastily threw together some cereal and fruit and scarfed it down as quickly as possible, making his way to his room and closing the door.
Kyoko...you really...do you really hate me so much?
Makto spent the next hour taking some breaths, trying to calm his emotions as the torrent of emotion threatened to overwhelm him.
XXX
It wasn't until around noon that Makoto deemed it safe to leave his room again. Cautiously, he tiptoed out, sighing when no sign of Kyoko appeared.
Maybe I need a walk to calm my nerves…
It was on this walk that he saw Kyoko on one of her investigations. He froze in his tracks, trying to figure out how to react to crossing paths with her.
I know I can't tell her anything yet, but Yasuhiro said that we have to make up, an dI want to be her friend again. Alright, I'll give it a shot!
Steeling his nerves, he walked over to her and was about to give a shy greeting when Kyoko's words cut through him like a blade, without even looking at him.
"Go away. I'm busy. I don't have time to waste..."
Makoto felt his heart break even more, if it was possible. Fearful, Makoto gulped and ran in the other direction, heading back to his room and shutting the door. He threw himself on the bed, burying his head into the pillow. Tears leaked into the pillow as he sobbed, his emotional restraint having reached his limit.
"Kyoko hates me...she really hates me. She hates me so much she doesn't even want to look at me. She won't even let me say I'm sorry. How can I fix this when she won't even let me? I...I want my friend back. My friend who...who believed in my innocence when I needed someone to. This is worse than...when Sayaka died..."
If Makoto had anything else to say, it was drowned out my the sobs he shed into his pillow. What Makoto didn't realize was that he had accidentally left his door open a crack. Aoi had been walking down the hallway when she heard every word he said, leaving the Ultimate Swimming Pro shocked and downcast, feeling a touch guilty of how she had berated Makoto when he was suffering too.
Those two...Yasuhiro's right, they need to make up, and soon. Kyoko needs to know that… Tomorrow! I'll pull her aside tomorrow and tell her how Makoto's feeling.
XXX
Makoto walked into the gym, having heard Monokuma's announcement. He had honestly contemplated not going, wondering whether a punishment from Monokuma would have been more merciful than Kyoko giving him the cold shoulder. At the end of the day however, he forced himself off the bed and down the hall to the gymnasium.
Everyone watched as he came in, Kyoko doing a double take at Makoto's appearance. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he had made no effort to wipe the tear tracks from his cheeks. Kyoko's purple eyes softened in concern, starting to second guess her decision to ignore him for the first time.
Was I...was I too hard on him?
Before she could ponder further, Monokuma popped up from behind the podium, causing everyone to refocus their attention on the sadistic bear. Everyone started voicing their suspicion that Monokuma was about to reveal the next murder motive. To everyone's surprise though, Monokuma instead started ranting about how he called them to get rid of his grudge.
His...grudge?
"We have a grudge against you, of course, but I don't recall you ever having a grudge against us."
Monokuma then revealed the biggest bombshell up to that point; his spy was Sakura Ogami. Discord successfully sewn, Monokuma disappeared, leaving Sakura to face her fate. Everyone save Byakuya, Makoto, and Kyoko reacted with shock and disbelief.
"Well, Sakura? If he's wrong, all you have to do is tell us."
After a painful pause, Sakura all but admitted the truth. Aoi defended Sakura's actions, and Makoto joined in right after, deciding to at last unveil what he had seen that night.
"You...saw all that?"
Though she still kept her neutral expression, Kyoko was rattled by Makoto's revelation.
This was it, right? This was the secret you kept from me…
There was no time to ponder further though; Byakuya immediately questioned who the mastermind was, but Sakura lamented that she was never trusted with that information. Furthermore, she had revealed that she was ordered to kill if nobody had killed another for a while. Aoi fiercely defended Sakura's character, only for Sakura to gently silence her, insisting that she had to take responsibility.
"How do you intend to do that?"
Sakura replied that she was going to defeat the mastermind once and for all. After uttering one last apology for not telling her secret earlier, she walked out the building, her steps leaving earthquakes in everyone's ears.
As she left, the nighttime announcement rang, but the argument wasn't over. Byakuya and Aoi went back and forth about Sakura, leaving Kyoko to resume her role as mediator and step in.
"Let it go for now, Hina. Talking about it isn't going to help anything." Aoi objected, tears in her eyes, but Kyoko gently rebuffed "Go to your room, cool down, and we can continue this discussion tomorrow."
Growling, Aoi stomped out, leaving everyone else to follow her back to their rooms for the evening, any sense of camaraderie evaporated.
XXX
Kyoko waited outside the dining hall entrance, tapping her foot against the floor. Though she was still upset with Makoto, she had gotten worried along with the others when he hadn't showed up for breakfast like he normally did. As such, she wordlessly volunteered to wait outside for him until he came.
Luckily she didn't have to wait long; she spotted Makoto walking from his room toward the dining hall. She watched as he walked up to her and stammered "Kyoko...good morning..."
She didn't glare at him, but she wordlessly turned around and walked off into the dining hall, Makoto following her.
At least he's safe…
Makoto was surprised to see Byakuya and Toko joining their group, who explained that they only decided to come in order to take refuge from Sakura. Byakuya and Aoi wasted no time getting into an argument over his negative perception of Sakura, with Aoi angrily arguing that Sakura's forced role as a spy was a stupid reason for everyone to hate her.
"Before you get too far into your argument, maybe you should think things through. Why did the mastermind reveal that Sakura was a spy to us?" As Aoi answered that it was because Monokuma wanted revenge for Sakura betraying him, Kyoko shook her head.
"That may be part of it, but it's not the whole picture. Revealing that fact was also meant to serve as the next motive the mastermind wanted to give us. The chaos and confusion born from suspicion...The hatred...In other words, this right here - the fighting, the bickering - is the trap the mastermind laid for us. Knowing that, will you still stand there and argue like children?"
Aoi stammered that it wasn't her intention and expressed her frustration that nobody would believe in Sakura. Yasuhiro voiced that he'd forgive her if she took down the mastermind, making Makoto cringe at his insensitivity. Byakuya however, was downright callous, claiming that it would be better if she died. That remark earned him a slap, fueled with every drop of Aoi's ire. From there, the argument escalated, Aoi claiming that Byakuya deserved to die, and Byakuya challenging her to. This only served to rile Aoi further, leaving Makoto to try and calm her down.
"H-Hina! Calm down!"
Kyoko calmly interjected "This is exactly what the mastermind wants. And it's exactly what Sakura doesn't want."
Trembling, Aoi stormed out to cool off before she acted too drastically. Makoto stared after her, feeling powerless to help his friend. Byakuya berated her as a hysterical girl who was hardly worth his attention.
"It's what other people call having feelings, Byakuya. And all you can do is mock them for it." Catching Byakuya off guard with her scolding, Kyoko continued "A friendly word of warning - someday that attitude is going to come back and bite you. Hard."
Their appetites lost, everyone left the dining hall, losing more and more of their morale with every step.
XXX
It wasn't for a couple more hours until Makoto ran into Kyoko again. Mustering up the courage to try and talk to her again, Makoto walked up to her, only to be rebuffed in the same fashion that he was yesterday. Emotionally numb from the rollercoaster of events over the past couple of days, Makoto quietly walked away. Unbeknownst to Makoto however, Kyoko's rejection this time around was much more forced, as the inadvertent revelation of his secret was causing her to second guess herself.
To further complicate matters, Aoi had heard the most recent exchange and, intending to make good on her promise from yesterday, walked up to Kyoko.
"What are you thinking, Kyoko? Why haven't you and Makoto made up yet?"
She turned to the Ultimate Swimming Pro and replied "Aoi, are you feeling better?"
Aoi rolled her eyes and retorted "Don't change the subject here. This whole cold shoulder routine you're giving Makoto is really getting old. WE want you to patch things up, HE wants you to patch things up, so go and make up already."
"Forgive me, Aoi, but last I heard, you were also talking tough to Makoto the other day. What exempts you but not me?"
"I'm not exempted, and I'll get my turn to apologize for assuming. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that it was Makoto withholding information about Sakura from you that made you ticked off, right?"
When only silence greeted her, Aoi continued "I thought so. You probably felt betrayed, betrayed that Makoto wouldn't trust you with that information before Monokuma revealed it. Well I can't imagine how it must have felt, being in his shoes. You saw how the others reacted to the news about Sakura, and that was when the bear told us. How much worse do you think it could have been if Makoto had said it, without any hard evidence to prove it?"
Though she stayed silent, Kyoko had to grudgingly admit that Aoi had a point. She knew that Makoto was the kind of person who would want to keep the group united at all costs; accusing one of his friends of betrayal without hard evidence would have gone against everything he stood for. She had to admit that she was basically asking him to choose between her and Sakura, an impossible choice for someone like Makoto.
I guess he wanted to confirm it with Sakura first before he told anybody. I can see his logic, but…
"And another thing; Makoto feels remorse for keeping that from us. He feels immensely guilty for it. I passed by his room the other evening and he left his door open ajar. And you know what I heard? He was crying, Kyoko! He was sobbing into his pillow, convinced that you hated him and pleading for his friend back. He wants his friend back who believed in him when none of us did. And you know the real kicker Kyoko? He cried that he felt worse thinking you hated him than he did when he discovered Sayaka's corpse in his bathroom!"
Kyoko was struck silent; it had been her goal to punish him and make him feel bad for breaking his promise and betraying her trust. It hadn't been her goal to make them bitter enemies and make him sob into his pillow.
What have I done?
Aoi sighed and turned around, saying to the mysterious Ultimate "If there's one thing that Hope's Peak has taught us, it's that we can't guarantee any of us will be alive tomorrow. Tell me, if Makoto were to die tomorrow, would you want your last memories of him to be of you giving him the cold shoulder, of him fearing your hatred? The others already hate Sakura for her circumstances; don't drive Makoto away too."
As she walked away, Aoi said "The ball's in your court now, Kyoko. You can forgive and make up, or the two of you can die thinking the worst about each other. It's your choice."
Kyoko stood there, physically neutral but mentally shaken by Aoi's revelations and argument.
He thinks I...I hate him? Tomorrow, then. I'll talk to him tomorrow. She's right; this feud of ours has gone on long enough, and if we're going to make it out of here alive, we need to stay united. Thank you, Aoi.
XXX
"What's going on? What's all this noise about?"
Kyoko had walked into the nurse's office to find Sakura screaming at the heavens.
"I gather that something happened?"
Makoto begged Kyoko to stop Sakura, only for Sakura to calm down on her own, storming out with a bandaged Aoi following her, leaving Makoto alone with her for the first time since their fight. It was Makoto who broke the silence.
"A-Ano...Kyoko…? Are you...still mad?"
Yes, but more at myself than you…
Her pride unwilling to let her voice that thought, Makoto took her response as a confirmation and lamented "Yeah, I figured."
"It's...fine." We have to bury this hatchet. Might as well get it over with…
"Huh?" You mean she's actually talking to me? Don't mess this up, Makoto!
"About that issue we discussed earlier...it doesn't matter anymore."
"Then...do you forgive me for not being able to talk about it?"
Forgive you...do you forgive me as well? "You could have told me about Sakura and Monokuma fighting, but you stayed quiet. You were only thinking of Sakura, and that's why you didn't tell me, right? You didn't want to confuse everyone until you could talk to her and be sure of what you saw. That's what you were thinking, and that's why you didn't tell me. Right?"
Makoto nodded, not trusting his mouth to not mess this chance up. Kyoko opened her mouth, unable to resist saying something that she would later deem as snarky and unnecessary.
"To think like that...I wouldn't have expected such arrogance from you. Because ultimately, that means you don't trust me." And what of the class trials? Didn't he trust you then?
"N-No, that's not it..." Makoto sighed in defeat and finished "But if that's how you feel, I can't really change your mind. I'm sorry..."
Kyoko turned her head, a faint blush visible from her cheeks as she confessed "It's fine. I've already forgotten about it. Besides...I may have...overreacted."
Kyoko...am I hearing things, or did you just admit you were wrong?
Kyoko held her hand in front of his face as she said "Anyway, it's over and done with. Like I said, let's just forget about it."
Makoto beamed and nodded, ecstatic that he had his treasured friend back and that he was in her good graces once more.
Smiling softly, she turned her head to the side, starting "Anyway, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."
Raising his eyebrow in curiosity, Makoto asked "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Actually, I'd like you to come somewhere with me. I have business there…"
"Where…?" I'll follow anywhere, but it'd be nice if you told me where you wanted to take me…
Smirking, Kyoko replied "Just come with me, and you'll find out."
Makoto nodded, and Kyoko turned around and started walking out the door. Before they could leave though, Makoto called out to her.
"Kyoko?"
Kyoko turned around, curious at what Makoto wanted to say.
"I...I missed you, you know..."
Makoto was blushing, smiling a dorky smile as he confessed that particular feeling.
...Me too…
Kyoko however didn't voice that thought. Instead, she wordlessly intertwined her left hand with his right, causing the both of them to blush, before lightly tugging to get him to follow her.
"Well then, shall we get going?"
Soft smiles crossed both their faces, Makoto understanding that Kyoko missed him too, and Kyoko making a promise to herself as they walked.
...I'll never make you suffer like that again…
XXX
"The dressing room…?! So the something else you mentioned…!"
"That's right. It has to do with Alter Ego."
Makoto was confused, stammering "But...you said we didn't need Alter Ego anymore." He cracked open all the files on this case, so what's left for him to do?
Kyoko shook her head and corrected "I didn't say we didn't need him. I just said he had done his job. Besides, it's not us that needs Alter Ego. He has business with us. Alter Ego asked me to bring others to come see him. Apparently he has something he wants to ask us." Handing the laptop to Makoto, she finished "Will you do the honors, Makoto?"
Makoto nodded, gratefully accepting the laptop and sitting on the bench, Kyoko sitting right next to him. Makoto placed the laptop so that it was sitting on both of their laps as he powered on Alter Ego. When Alter Ego noted that two people would be plenty, Makoto openly wondered what Alter Ego wanted to ask them.
"Let's find out, shall we?"
The program's request shocked the two Ultimates; he wanted them to connect him to the school network.
"...What?"
Alter Ego explained that he wanted to do more to help everyone escape from Hope's Peak, and that connecting to the network was the only way left that he be helpful. Makoto pointed out the foolishness of the idea, that even attempting to do such a thing was just asking for a death sentence.
"You agree, right Kyoko?"
Kyoko however remained silent, worrying the Ultimate Lucky Student.
Kyoko, don't tell me...you're actually considering this?
Alter Ego insisted that although he was scared and that he knew the risks, that he had to do this. Makoto felt lost in the courage and determination shown by the AI.
Gently, Kyoko argued "You remember what you asked before, Makoto? You asked what the difference is between a person and a program, right?"
You mean you were...actually listening to me back then? I thought you were trying to pretend I didn't exist…
"When I talk to Alter Ego, I don't know...I have no idea how to answer that question. I think maybe that's a question even the program's creator can't answer. But I can say this...There's no question that Alter Ego is our friend."
"Kyoko..."
Makoto felt his eyes water as he realized just how much Kyoko took his words earlier to heart.
"To be honest, I didn't want Alter Ego to push himself anymore. Because if we take any more risks, the mastermind really will notice it...But...Let's do it, Makoto. Let's connect Alter Ego to the network."
"B-But…!"
Kyoko saw Makoto's hesitance start to waver, and finished "He's our friend, so I want to take his feelings into consideration. And he says that he wants to fight alongside his friends. If you were in his place, could you just sit by and do nothing in this situation? If you saw everyone else fighting and doing their best, could you just look the other way? Or would you stand up? Stand up tall next to everyone else and tell them you're their friend?"
She...she's right. If I said no now, after what I promised after Celeste's execution, I'd really be a hypocrite. And furthermore, everything Kyoko said in her anger these past couple of days would be true…
"And besides...there's one place where the mastermind might not notice…Remember? There's another place besides here where there's no surveillance camera."
Makoto's eyes widened as he answered "That's it! The secret room you told me about…!"
Kyoko nodded, explaining "And I do believe you can connect to the network from there. I remember seeing an ethernet port on the wall. However, just because there's no camera there, doesn't mean there's no danger. There's no way to be sure the mastermind isn't monitoring the network somehow. We'll also have to move Alter Ego, and the mastermind may spot us going into the secret room. If they pick up on any of this, then...it's all over."
"You're right..." Makoto remembered how he had gotten conked on the head after finding the secret room.
"But despite all that, I still think we need to try. Because that's our best chance of finding any new clues."
Makoto nodded, persuaded by her speech. Makoto then requested that he be the one to transfer Alter Ego, since only he could hide the laptop under his clothing. Despite her reluctance to place Makoto in harm's way again, Kyoko saw the sense in the suggestion.
"Okay then, I'll leave it to you...Thank you. Then let's get started. It's gonna be a little cramped for you, Alter Ego. Bear with us, okay?" After Makoto had finished fitting the laptop underneath his shirt, Kyoko advised him "In the secret room, there are a bunch of different cables in one of the desk drawers."
"So there might be a network cable in there?"
"Assuming the mastermind hasn't taken it already…"
Makoto nodded; this plan was risky from the start, but the absence of a network cable was one of the less dangerous risks in this plan.
"Well, all we can do is go and check for ourselves."
Getting up off of the bench, Kyoko turned around and concurred "Agreed. Let's head to the secret room…"
So the two went off, Makoto grasping the bunched up fabric so as to not let Alter Ego slip as they headed through the school and up the stairs.
XXX
"Hey, Makoto...Are you sure all the documents are gone? I refuse to believe you! Go and check again!"
"Huh?" What the heck, Kyoko? Why are you mad at me again?
"Just hurry up and go! And to make sure you don't run off, I'm gonna wait right here!"
Wait...this is being too forceful. I get it; she's acting! Even I was convinced for a moment…
"Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and go!"
Pretending to be offended, Makoto held up a single hand in surrender, exclaiming "O-Okay, okay, I'm going..."
As he was about to turn around, Kyoko uttered "And be thorough. I'm counting on you."
She winked, making Makoto blush as he opened the door to the bathroom.
XXX
"How'd it go?"
Makoto explained that it went okay, but that all the documents were gone.
Impressed that Makoto was able to keep up with her acting performance, Kyoko replied "I see...Then there's nothing left for us here. Goodbye."
That's it? Nothing else, just...goodbye? "Ah-Kyoko" Makoto called out as she walked away.
"Yes?"
"Um-So we're just gonna split up?"
Failing to see the problem, Kyoko answered "Of course. I have no reason to stay with you at this point."
...Why do I suddenly feel like I'm being ignored again…
"Isn't that a little too...direct?"
Kyoko rolled her eyes and teased "Should I hesitate and fumble for something to say? You're so high-maintenance…"
High maintenance?
Makoto explained that he was wondering what they were going to do about Sakura. After all, the matter couldn't just be brushed off like their fight.
"Well...something has to be done, it's true. But the way things are right now, there's no way to persuade anyone. They don't have the mind to listen."
That was true enough; just listening to Byakuya and Aoi go at it like cats and dogs was all the proof anyone needed to see that nobody would listen to each other the way things were going.
"Then what should we…?"
Kyoko sympathized with Makoto's filing of helplessness and offered "If we can find some new clue, that would likely change the situation. That's all we can hope for right now." Laying her hand on his shoulder, she finished "All we can do is wait, and believe in our friends."
Makoto nodded and the two parted ways, Makoto getting a bad vibe and making him shiver as he walked back to his room.
XXX
Makoto yawned, rubbing his eye as his doorbell rang.
"Who's ringing my doorbell?"
He walked over to the door and opened it, to find to his surprise Kyoko standing on the other side.
"Makoto, get out here."
Makoto yelped as grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him into the hallway.
"Hey! Kyoko…? What's going on?"
He was troubled by the slight hint of panic in her purple eyes as she explained "Hina just came to see me, and she was white as a ghost. It sounds like something's happened…"
If Makoto was still asleep at all, those words woke him up fast, his eyes widening in shock and dread.
"She said for us to come to the rec room."
"Okay! Let's hurry."
Makoto dashed off, leaving Kyoko in the dust as she struggled to keep up with him.
XXX
The dynamic duo spotted Aoi standing outside of the rec room, a frantic expression on her face.
While Makoto caught his breath, Kyoko said "I'd better hear what Hina has to say…"
Aoi waved them over and urged them to look into the window, and spotted Sakura sitting on a bench, seemingly asleep.
"What's going on? Did something happen to her?"
Aoi explained that she was walking by and saw Sakura in the rec room, but the door wouldn't open and Sakura wouldn't respond when Aoi called out to her.
As Aoi wondered what to do, Kyoko calmly stated "First of all, we need to get into that room." As Makoto brought up that they may be breaking the new regulation if they tried to break in, Kyoko retorted "We're going to force our way in."
Irritated at feeling ignored, Makoto growled "I just said-"
"The door isn't locked. It's not locked because the rec room door doesn't have a lock." Seeing Makoto's confusion, Kyoko explained "It feels like the door is pressing up against something inside the room. Is it...the chair?"
"Chair…?"
Shaking her head, Kyoko continued "Either way, this door isn't locked. Which means, as far as I can tell, the rule doesn't apply."
"Then...there's no problem if we break in?" It's still a gamble, but I'll trust Kyoko.
"Let's smash the window. That should be the fastest way…"
As Aoi ran off to find something, Makoto and Kyoko peered through the window again. Makoto expressed confidence that Sakura would be fine, but he was greeted with silence from Kyoko.
She'll be fine...right?
Aoi handed Makoto a broom that she had found in the classroom.
"You can handle this, right Makoto?"
Makoto nodded and wasted no time in running towards the door, jabbing the window with the wooden end like a saber, shattering the glass. Makoto then jostled the chair away from the entrance, cutting his hand in the process on the jagged glass still attached to the door. As he pulled his hand away, Kyoko swiftly and wordlessly covered the minor wound with a bandage that she had taken from the nurse's office. No time for an expression of gratitude, Makoto slammed the door open, and the three Ultimates rushed inside.
XXX
"We didn't make it in time. It's happened again…"
Aoi rushed out the door to get the others, leaving Makoto to stare in shock at the sight in front of him. The past tragedies had left him numb to screaming and yelping; his only response was silence, with tears brimming in his eyes.
"I need to examine Sakura's body…"
Kyoko spoke with neutrality, her voice not betraying a hint of emotion as she stated the reality of what needed to happen. As she started to work, Aoi rushed in with Yasuhiro, Genocide Jack, and Byakuya in tow. Yasuhiro yelped in shock that she was the one to go, while Byakuya as usual expressed amusement in the recent murder.
"You heard the announcement just now, right? So you know what this means."
It wasn't long before Aoi pointed the finger at Byakuya, Genocide Jack, and Yasuhiro. Then Makoto pointed the finger at Monokuma when he came to deliver the Monokuma File, only to be refuted by the sadistic bear. As Aoi continued to seethe at Byakuya for his insensitive remarks regarding Sakura, Kyoko intervened as the mediator to refocus the group.
"Right now, our top priority needs to be uncovering Sakura's killer. If we can't do that, we're all dead."
When it came time to choose who to guard the crime scene, Aoi enthusiastically volunteered. What nobody saw coming however, was Byakuya's demand that Kyoko be the second guard.
"...Me?"
Byakuya explained that she had been a thorn in his side, so he was ordering her to stay behind this time.
Byakuya, you can't! Kyoko's our best detective here; we NEED her to be able to investigate. Without her, our chances of survival will plummet!
To Makoto's shock and dismay, Kyoko acquiesced to Byakuya's demand "Fine. I'll stay behind."
Kyoko…
It was then that Aoi made a demand of her own; that Byakuya, Yasuhiro, and Genocide Jack be banned from the crime scene. Sensing that arguing further would be fruitless, Byakuya suggested a compromise in a rare moment of mediation; that only he be allowed to investigate.
Aoi tried to argue, but Kyoko reasoned "I know how you feel, Hina, but you should agree to his request." As Aoi tried to argue, Kyoko continued "We have to find out who killed Sakura. For those of us still alive, and to honor Sakura's memory…"
Aoi acquiesced, only insisting that Byakuya not be allowed to touch Sakura's corpse, which Byakuya insensitively agreed to. Sensing another fight coming, Kyoko cooled the tensions.
"That's enough fighting. We need to focus on the investigation from here on out. Everyone, keep this in mind. If we can't uncover Sakura's killer...all of us face execution."
Yasuhiro and Genocide Jack then left the room, leaving the other four Ultimates in the room. While Byakuya was looking around the room, Kyoko went up to Makoto and whispered in his ear.
"I think the case this time might be...a challenge."
"Why's that?"
Makoto was intrigued; for Kyoko to specifically label a case as a challenge was uncharacteristic of her, and indicative of its challenge.
"The only way into the rec room is the door we just came through. And that door had been jammed shut with the chair from inside the rec room. Which means the killer would have had to escape somehow, after barring the door. In other words, this is a classic locked room murder."
Makoto's eyes widened in shock; he had heard of such mysteries in books, movies, and video games, but he never expected to encounter such a thing at Hope's Peak.
Then again, I never expected to be trapped in a school and told to murder to graduate by a robot bear, so…
"Are you curious to hear more about what a locked room murder entails?"
"S-Sure, if you don't mind..." Anything to get us closer to finding Sakura's killer, I suppose…
"When you break down this kind of murder mystery, there are four basic types. The first type is when the locked room is created after the actual crime is committed. This simply means that the killer commits his crime, then through some special method seals the room. This mainly involves some sort of trick involving the locking of the room. Basic approaches include using a string, or simple mechanism. There are a number of variations. Are you following me so far?"
Makoto nodded, understanding the basics of what Kyoko was trying to tell him.
"The second type is when the locked room already exists before the crime is committed. Basically the killer uses a special contraption or tool from outside to target the victim inside. You push a switch and it pires a handgun, you shoot an arrow through a gap in the door, something like that. But in this case, that doesn't seem to fit. There are no guns or arrows in the school, and the door doesn't have any gap that would allow it…"
Yeah, I think we can probably cross that one off the list… Makoto reasoned as he nodded to tell Kyoko he understood.
"The third type is when the killer stays in the room until it's opened up."
This time Makoto was confused; seeking clarification he asked "What do you mean by that…?"
Sighing, Kyoko explained "They stay hidden, and when the door is opened, they use the confusion to blend in with the group. They pretend they showed up along with everyone else, and that's that."
That sounds like it could have been possible...maybe…
Seeing that Makoto at least understood the concept enough to ponder it, Kyoko continued "And the fourth and final type is when it wasn't actually a locked room at all."
"Not a locked room…?" Okay, how can a locked room not be a locked room? Sounds like Schrodinger's cat…
Seeing Makoto's confusion, she explained "By that I mean, there actually is an alternate escape route somewhere within the room. You see this a lot in novels and things, but in reality it's generally not possible."
"Then you think we can cross that one off, too?"
Nodding, Kyoko confirmed "I believe so, yes. So, when it comes to locked room mysteries, those are the basics."
So we're likely down to types 1 and 3… Hoping to draw on Kyoko's miraculous deduction, Makoto asked "Then...Kyoko, which of these four choices seems the most likely in this case?"
If I knew that, I wouldn't have bothered with the entire explanation… Kyoko tapped her chin in thought and replied "That's a good question. Answering that should be our primary focus during this trial. But right now...I can't really say."
Should have known it wouldn't be that easy…
"But for Sakura to have been killed…" Kyoko started to ponder.
"Yeah, she's not the type who would go down without a fight."
"And she certainly didn't, I would say. She was the Ultimate Martial Artist, strong in body, mind, and spirit. So how was the killer able to get the upper hand on her…? I wonder...did someone get the upper hand…?"
"They must have taken her by surprise, right?"
Nodding, Kyoko replied "Certainly, they would have needed to if they expected to stand any chance against her."
Nothing more was said, Kyoko's intuition on that subject at its limits. Sighing, Makoto went to work investigating the crime scene. Makoto spotted four red bottles on a nearby counter, each one with a Monokuma figure and a chess piece inside.
"It's no different from your standard ship in a bottle."
Makoto jumped, Kyoko's explanation catching him off guard.
"Huh?"
He's never heard of a ship in a bottle? Sighing, Kyoko explained "You know, where the bottle's opening is smaller than the boat placed inside? You've never seen that?"
Realization crossing his face, Makoto exclaimed "Oh, yeah...maybe I have."
At least he's not completely sheltered… "So this is the Monokuma version of that. A...Monokuma Bottle, if you will."
Coming to the conclusion that a Monokuma bottle was the weapon, Makoto moved on with the investigation. His gaze moved to an open locker in the far corner and his eyes widened as he noticed a handprint on the inside of the door.
"What's a handprint doing here?"
No longer surprised at Kyoko's tendency to sneak up on him, Makoto answered "It looks like someone touched the inside of the locker, and it left a handprint in all the dust..."
Nodding, Kyoko commented "And it looks quite fresh, too. I'd say someone was hiding here in the locker, and they left behind a little something extra…"
Makoto excitedly brought up the possibility that this fit the third type of scenario yoko mentioned. The lavender haired Ultimate, though amused at Makoto's enthusiasm, shook her head.
"Unfortunately, that's not a possibility."
Makoto's energy deflated, and he exclaimed "Huh? Why not?"
Kyoko explained "Think back. Before we opened the door, we looked inside the room, right?"
Flashing back, Makoto realized his mistake as he replied "Oh yeah… And the locker was already open at that point..."
"So there's no way someone could have hidden in there until after we opened the door" Kyoko finished.
And here I thought I was onto something…
Noting Makoto's depressed expression, Kyoko laid her hand on his shoulder in comfort and assured him "You're trying; that's important. No mystery gets solved with a single clue, so keep at it, alright?"
Makoto nodded and moved on from the locker. He turned to the shattered glass in front of the door that he forced open earlier, and noticed a white foam coffee cup with Proteinzyme - X printed on the front.
"It looks like...a protein drink. And it's empty…"
Makoto speculated that Sakura must have drank it before she died, since she loved protein drinks and believed that they were good for curing ailments. Kyoko however was unconvinced.
Did she? Then why is there glass under the cup? She shook her head and retorted "I wouldn't take that to heart, if I were you…"
...Are you trying to bruise my ego, Kyoko…
"But that's strange…You see what's scattered around the can?"
Makoto looked closer and realized that she was referring to the glass shards from the window he broke.
"But they aren't just scattered around the can. They're also underneath it."
Confused, Makoto asked "Why does that matter…?"
Resting her hand on her chin, Kyoko answered "I can't say for sure yet, but you're probably going to want to take note of it. I feel like it'll become an important clue later on…"
Makoto nodded, filing it away for further analysis and continued with the investigation. Once he found all that he could, he walked back over to Kyoko.
"Well, Makoto? Have you finished with your general investigation?"
Makoto nodded and replied "Yeah, I think so...for the most part." There's always the possibility that something else might turn up while I'm away, but Kyoko will probably find it while guarding Sakura's body…
"Then you should probably go talk with people now. I'm on guard duty, so I can't leave. Which is why I've decided you'll go in my place."
She's been a little more pushy since our...issue. Not like we have too many options, with Byakuya's stupid demand and Yasuhiro and Genocide Jack not really making effort to investigate. Still, things would go a lot more smoothly if Kyoko could investigate as she pleased…
"Are you sure that's a good idea? Wouldn't it be better if I could convince Byakuya to have us trade places? I mean, you saw how I came to the wrong conclusions in the past ten minutes. I'd just botch it probably..."
For some reason, Makoto's self-depreciation made Kyoko irritated. However, she hid it, keeping her expression neutral as she leaned in Makoto's face, causing the Ultimate Lucky Student to stumble backwards in surprise.
"Don't go speaking so poorly of yourself; it doesn't suit you at all." Leaning away from him, Kyoko softened her gaze and continued in a calmer tone "You shouldn't sell yourself so short, Makoto. You've proven during the past three trials that you have the capabilities to solve these cases. All anyone else has done is nudge you in the right direction, me included. None of your conclusions in this investigation were illogical, just incomplete." Smiling, she assured "You'll do fine on your own. Just have faith in yourself, and I believe you'll see us through this trial, just like you have through all the others."
Eyes brimming with happy tears, he nodded and turned to leave the room, leaving Kyoko and Aoi alone in the rec room.
XXX
"So Makoto, how's your investigation going?"
Kyoko wasted no time as Makoto walked in the door, returning from his investigation. Makoto explained how Sakura had asked to see Byakuya, Yasuhiro, and Toko before she died, and how all three claimed to have not gone to see her.
"I see...So along with Byakuya, they're both claiming they didn't go see her. But it's all too convenient. Someone must be lying…"
Makoto nodded, filing the possibility away for further analysis during the trial.
"Well, I've made some progress of my own. Sakura's body, the shelf of magazines, and the Monokuma Bottles. These three things have revealed new clues. You'd do well to look them over one more time."
Makoto went over to Sakura's body, staring hat her corpse for anything he might have missed.
What am I overlooking?
Seeing Makoto's confusion, Kyoko teased "Just staring into space isn't going to help you figure anything out."
This feels like Chihiro's trial all over again...Makoto flashed back as he nodded and replied "I know. But..."
"Don't you think you might need to actually examine the body?"
Do I really have to…
"There's no getting around it." Kyoko advised, as if reading his mind.
She grabbed his wrist as she walked them up to Sakura's corpse corpse, Makoto becoming uneasy. Though he had become used to seeing Kyoko handle dead bodies in the past, he himself cringed at the sight of them.
"I can't believe how calm you are. No matter how many times I see a dead body, I can't get used to it..."
Eyes swimming with understanding and sympathy, Kyoko assured "That's totally normal."
"Then...how can you…?"
Pondering for a moment, Kyoko replied "I imagine it's because I've had plenty of opportunities to touch dead bodies in the past." What was I? What's my talent?
"What?"
Shaking her head at Makoto's concern, she replied "Sorry, never mind. More importantly, look here…" Gesturing towards Sakura's shoes, she asked "You see that yellow powder on her instep? That powder is clue number one. Next is the wound to her head. Look carefully...Actually even telling you that, it's incredibly difficult to spot. So let me just explain...It would appear that she didn't suffer a single blow...but instead, received two blows to the head."
"Two blows…?"
Nodding, Kyoko commented "Interesting, wouldn't you say? And there's one more interesting thing...Both of her hands were spotless. There's absolutely no trace of blood on either one. So, that's what I learned from examining her body in detail."
Nodding, Makoto made his way toward the counter of Monokuma bottles, remembering that Kyoko mentioned something about another clue she found.
Something new...Something new…
"So? Did you figure it out? There's a hidden correlation between all the bottles. Pay careful attention and you're sure to find it."
Makoto wracked his brain for anything that could link the bottles together, but came up empty. Frustrated, he turned to Kyoko to ask her for the answer. As usual, Kyoko cryptically shook her head.
"I don't mind guiding you toward clues, but giving you my conclusion isn't a good idea. Each person needs to come to their own conclusions, so that everyone can have confidence in the outcome."
Is that why you've been so cryptic in the past trials? Or is it… "And it's not just because you don't trust me...right?"
Kyoko's eyes softened, getting the feeling that her giving him the cold shoulder contributed to his insecurities. While it was true that she didn't trust anybody completely, she trusted Makoto with more than she trusted anyone else. She lay her hand on his shoulder, deciding to tell him the truth.
"I do trust you, to a degree. Otherwise, I wouldn't have told you anything to begin with."
Only to a degree…?
Makoto wasn't sure to feel complimented or saddened. He wanted Kyoko to trust him completely, but he knew from experience that for her to trust at all wasn't something to take for granted. He steeled his emotions, deciding that solving this case was more important than his insecurities about Kyoko's feelings at the moment.
"Actually, there's one other thing about the Monokuma bottles that's bothering me...I'd like to do an experiment to confirm it. You don't mind helping me, right?"
"An experiment...?" What kind of experiment could she possibly be planning?
Kyoko explained "Can you gather up all the pieces of the broken Monokuma bottle? Try to get the smaller pieces, too."
But...that's tampering! "Are you sure it's okay to mess with the crime scene like that…?"
Kyoko waved off his concern, explaining "I've already done a thorough investigation, so it's fine. And that obnoxious Byakuya's not here, so...Anyway, I need to get something from the chem lab. While I'm gone, try to gather up all the glass."
Before he could respond, Kyoko ran out the door, leaving him alone with Aoi. Sighing, he picked up a nearby broom and dustpan and went to work.
So much for being stuck on guard duty…
It wasn't long after he finished that Kyoko returned with a grey scale in hand.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Is everything ready? Then let's get to work."
"So...what kind of experiment are we doing?"
"I got a scale from the chem lab. We're going to use it to compare weights." When Makoto asked what they were going to compare, she replied "The pieces of glass you collected, and one of the Monokuma Bottles that's still intact."
Confused, Makoto asked "Why do you want to do that…?"
"That's the point of the experiment. It'll make sense when we're done." Setting the scale on the shogi table, she started "First, let's compare the weight of two of the normal Monokuma Bottles." Makoto found that the two bottles were essentially balanced in weight, leading Kyoko to conclude "Which means, each Monokuma Bottle weighs about the same." Seeing MAkoto nod in understanding, Kyoko continued "Now, here comes the important part...Put all the pieces you picked up on one side of the scale. Now, what might we expect to see?"
Makoto hypothesized that either the result would be the same, or the pieces he collected would be lighter, since it was possible he could have missed some along the way.
"Okay, then let's give it a try."
To his shock though, the broken pieces were heavier than the complete bottle.
How is this even possible?!
"Just as I thought…"
Wait...you knew this was going to happen?
"The results of our experiment, and the correlation between each of the bottles - put it all together...and I believe you will arrive at one very persuasive conclusion. So? What do you think? It's all on you."
No pressure, Kyoko…
Moving on, Makoto moved on to the magazine rack. This time however, he didn't need Kyoko to point it out; he spotted a magazine upside down on the rack.
But why is that significant?
"If something catches your eye, it's important for you to explore that in detail, don't you think?"
"Yeah, you're right..."
Makoto opened the magazine, and was shocked to find the name Toko written on the inside in blood.
Peering over his shoulder, Kyoko remarked "Then it would appear you've found it."
Makoto trembled, flashing back to Sayaka's trial, as he stammered "Kyoko...is this..."
Concerned with how he was starting to lose it, Kyoko grabbed him by the shoulders and urged "Makoto, calm down."
Makoto took a deep breath and felt his panic ebbing away, making them both sigh in relief that Makoto could think logically again.
"It is indeed a dying message. Someone used their finger to write it."
Then...did you…
As if reading his mind, Kyoko said "But just to be clear, I'm not the one who put it back upside down. It was already like that when I found it a little while ago. I made sure to put it back exactly as I found it, for the benefit of others who might come looking."
Aoi spotted the dying message and concluded with gusto that Toko must be the killer then, but Makoto and Kyoko weren't so easily convinced.
It's too easy. And besides, Sayaka's dying message was written when her wound was so obviously fatal. But in Sakura's case, we're not entirely sure what killed her. So we can't point the finger at Toko yet…
Their contemplation was interrupted by Monokuma's announcement that it was time for the trial to start. Makoto lamented that they hadn't solved the mystery of the closed room yet, and that it would have to play out at the trial. All three taking one last look at Sakura's corpse, they filed out of the rec room.
XXX
It wasn't long before Monokuma burst into the lobby, exclaiming with glee about the case, and ocnfusing everyone by grinning and winking.
Even Kyoko was thrown off guard as she exclaimed "What the…?"
"Oh, I've just recently discovered the power...of emoticons!"
Emoticons? Looks more like you're trying really hard to make a face…
Makoto and Kyoko did his best to ignore him until he disappeared, leaving the remaining six Ultimates alone. Aoi seethed as she walked in the elevator, with Byakuya, Toko, and Yasuhiro following behind her.
"Standing around here isn't going to do any good. Let's get going."
Nodding, Makoto followed Kyoko into the elevator, dread once again filling everyone inside as they waited for the elevator to take them to the trial.
XXX
Aoi wasted no time pointing the finger at Byakuya, Toko, and Yasuhiro again. All three claimed that they never went to see her, but Yasuhiro stumbled after Makoto brought up the candy wrapper that he dropped and Aoi identified it from the candy she gave to Sakura. Yasuhiro tried to claim that he got it before the incident, but this only made him more suspicious.
Wait...Sakura only got it after the incident. That means...I got it!
Makoto brought up that Sakura only got that candy after the incident, causing Yasuhiro to curse his stupidity. Recovering, Yasuhiro revised that he did go talk to her, but insisted that was it. He then claimed that Toko murdered Sakura, bringing up Sakura's dying message in the magazine. This however raised Kyoko's suspicions.
"Hiro, hold on...When did you see that dying message of hers?"
Caught off guard, Yasuhiro stammered it was when they found Sakura's body, only for Kyoko to shake her head.
"But if you recall, Hina was very adamant about keeping you away from the scene of the crime. So it's hard to believe that's when you actually saw the message for yourself."
She's right...Hold on...But when Kyoko found the magazine with the dying message in it, it was...I got it! "Kyoko, you found the magazine on the magazine shelf, right?"
Nodding, Kyoko confirmed "That's right. Looking through the shelf, I found the magazine with the dying message on it. I found it right there at the scene of the crime, after we'd started the investigation."
Makoto concluded that what Yasuhiro said wouldn't make sense if that was true, causing the Ultimate Clairvoyant to angrily insist that he was making perfect sense.
"I can tell you exactly when I found the dying message...When Ogre's body was discovered!"
Shaking her head, Kyoko retorted "And I can tell you when I found the dying message...It was only after the investigation had begun. I found the magazine tucked away on the magazine shelf...When I pulled it out, I saw her final words."
No, there's definitely something wrong with what Yasuhiro said...wait...what Kyoko said!
Makoto asserted that the magazine had only been found after the investigation had begun, and since he was barred from the murder scene, there was no way Yasuhiro could have seen it then like he claimed. Yasuhiro tried to divert the conversation by insisting they were focusing on the wrong part, but this only made him more suspicious.
It was then that Kyoko chimed in "Actually, can we even be sure Sakura wrote that message in the first place?"
Eyes blazing, Yasuhiro angrily yelled that he was completely sure Sakura wrote it. This rant of his continued for a good couple of minutes, until Makoto calmly brought up that Sakura's hands were completely free of blood.
When Aoi wondered who did write it, Kyoko hypothesized "Hiro could very well have written it himself. That would explain how he knew about the message in the first place." Realizing he was caught, Yasuhiro confessed to having faked the dying message, leading Kyoko to conclude "I figured as much."
Yasuhiro went on to explain that he went to the rec room to meet Sakura and, mistaking her muttering for an intent to kill, conked her on the head with a Monokuma Bottle, wrote Toko's name in the magazine, and fled as fast as he could. Yasuhiro resigned to his fate, but when Aoi called for his death, Kyoko shook her head in skepticism.
"No, I think there's more to Hiro's story…" At Aoi's angry confusion as to what she was talking about, Kyoko elaborated "There's one thing that Hiro's story just now doesn't explain. And until we figure that part out, we can't consider the case closed."
What Yasuhiro did that doesn't make sense...wait, why the magazine was hidden...I got it!
Yasuhiro expressed confusion at Makoto's claim that the magazine was hidden on the shelf, insisting that it was just sitting out in the open. Toko insisted he was lying, but Kyoko shook her head.
"I don't see any reason he would lie now, after already confessing to the crime…" Byakuya hypothesized that someone else must have been in the rec room and put the magazine on the shelf, to which Kyoko confirmed "I don't think there's any question about that." When Aoi wondered who put the magazine back, Kyoko replied "If they went to the trouble of hiding the magazine...they must not have liked what was written on it."
There's only one choice...Toko's name was written in it...I got it!
Aoi asked if Toko really went to the rec room, causing her to sweat and panic. She claimed that it didn't matter since Yasuhiro already confessed to killing Sakura. Yasuhiro agreed, but Makoto refuted them, making Aoi ask what he meant.
"What he means is that Hiro isn't the killer." Despite Toko's objections, Kyoko gently insisted "Hiro, tell us what happened one more time. If we go through it once more, it should become clear he's not Sakura's killer."
Confused, Yasuhiro asked "What do you want me to do?"
"Just tell us what happened one more time, when you attacked Sakura."
Nodding, Yasuhiro reiterated that he grabbed a Monokuma Bottle from the shelf and hit Sakura from behind before she could defend herself.
"You hit her from behind...And you only hit her once, is that right?"
"Yeah, just once..."
Wait, but she had two wounds. "That doesn't explain why she had two head wounds."
"Two…?"
Nodding in confirmation, Kyoko explained "That's right. She had two separate wounds on her head." At Yasuhiro's confusion, Kyoko explained "Two wounds means she was struck twice. What's more, both attacks must have come from a Monokuma Bottle." When Toko challenged how Kyoko could know that just from the head wounds, Kyoko replied "It's not just because of her head wounds. It's also because of the Monokuma Bottles themselves. There's something very suspicious about those bottles...Once you understand that point, you'll understand why two separate Monokuma Bottles must have been used. Think back...after the incident, there were 4 Monokuma Bottles left on the shelf, right? And we found pieces of a bottle on the ground, along with the chess piece it had inside."
"That was the bottle Hiro hit Sakura with, right?"
Nodding, Kyoko continued "For now, just note that there were four intact bottles, and one broken bottle. But originally, there were six bottles in total. Meaning one has gone missing." Toko stammered, asking how Kyoko could know that there were six bottles, causing Kyoko to answer "That's easy. If you look at what the bottles all had in common, it should become clear."
Wait...The correlation between the Monokuma Bottles...It must have to do with what was inside. Let's see, there were six bottle, each one having a different piece. Wait a minute..a chess piece. Now I understand!
Makoto revealed that each bottle had a chess piece inside, and that broken bottle they found contained the knight.
"So? What's that m-matter?"
Kyoko shook her head at Toko's stammering and replied "I guess you don't know too much about chess, do you? Then let me explain...In chess, there are six different pieces - the king, the queen, the rook, knight, bishop, and pawn. What was left intact at the crime scene were the king, rook, bishop, and pawn...just those four. And on the ground was the knight."
Makoto concluded that one bottle went missing, but Toko still questioned what chess had to do with the case, claiming that it could have disappeared before the murder.
"No, it's clear that the missing bottle is connected to this case. Think about what state the missing bottle must have been in. Maybe then you'll understand."
Then the bottle that was missing...I got it! "The bottle must have been broken." When Toko demanded evidence, Makoto thought to himself The evidence that proves that is...I got it!
Makoto brought up the experiment that he and Kyoko did with the scale from the chem lab. Byakuya growled at being disobeyed, but otherwise said nothing. Makoto revealed that the broken pieces outweighed one intact bottle, which meant that there was more than one bottle's worth of broken glass.
"So from this, we can surmise that two bottles were actually broken at the scene of the crime. But someone did their best to clean up the pieces of one of the bottles, along with the figure inside. But when they did, they must have left behind a few too many pieces. Which is only natural. They certainly had no way to measure the exact right number of pieces to remove."
Aoi wondered why someone would try to get rid of it, and Makoto concluded "Because of what it would reveal about the case..." That bottle must have been used by...I got it!
Makoto hypothesized that the second bottle was used to attack Sakura.
"The second wound on Sakura's head came from that second bottle. Given all the evidence, this is the only possible conclusion."
"The killer wanted to make it look like there was only one attack, so they had to get rid of their evidence" Makoto continued.
"From there, we can conclude that it wasn't Hiro who delivered that second blow. Wouldn't you agree, Toko?" As Toko cringed, Kyoko continued "And there's the matter of the magazine. You must have been in the rec room when the incident took place."
Toko and Yasuhiro soon started pointing fingers at each other, with Yasuhiro sharing that he saw Toko go into the rec room, but that she had disappeared when he went in. Toko emphatically denied going into the rec room, and Kyoko intervened.
"I'm sure she didn't disappear, but maybe she found somewhere to hide…"
Toko continued to emphatically deny going into the rec room, her stammering so bad she was almost incoherent. However, she was stunned into silence when Makoto brought up the handprint he found inside the locker.
"Does this handprint look familiar, Toko?"
Toko stammered a denial, but Kyoko interjected "Okay then, let's just compare it to your hand, shall we? That'll clear everything up, right?"
Toko hesitated, but at Byakuya's command, she admitted that it was her handprint and that she may have killed Sakura.
Just like that?
Gently, Kyoko pressed "Give us the details, Toko. What happened between you and Sakura?"
Toko admitted that she saw everything between Sakura and Yasuhiro from the locker, then after Sakura was unconscious popped out and hid the magazine. She then revealed that she fainted after seeing Sakura's bloody face when she woke up.
"If you want to know m-more, you'll have to ask...her."
She then sneezed, signaling the transition to Genocide Jack, who after an overly dramatic introduction, revealed that she and Toko don't share memories, and that when she woke up to Sakura's bloody face, she grabbed a Monokuma Bottle and smacked Sakura over the head with it.
"And when it was all over, you collected the pieces of the bottle to get rid of the evidence, didn't you?" Kyoko asserted.
After a playful argument with Byakuya, Genocide Jack lamented that she was unlucky since Sakura should have been able to dodge her no problem.
...Isn't unlucky my thing...Makoto thought dryly as he watched the scene play out.
"Even as strong as she is, she must have still been reeling from Hiro's attack."
To Makoto's surprise, Aoi called for the vote, only for Byakuya to object, saying that part of Toko's story didn't make sense. Makoto realized that the second attack still didn't account for how Sakura got into the chair that she died in. Makoto brought up the bloodstain in front of the shelf as proof that the second attack occurred outside of the chair. Yasuhiro accused Genocide Jack of moving her back to the chair in order to frame him, only for the serial killer to object that she couldn't have moved Sakura's body on her own. Byakuya concluded that the case hadn't ended yet.
As Aoi opened her mouth to object, Kyoko added "Plus, the biggest mystery of all - the locked room - still has yet to be explained. Until we take care of that, we can't say this case has been properly settled."
Aoi argued that Genocide Jack just hid in the locker after killing Sakura. Yasuhiro agreed with that, but Makoto thought otherwise.
Kyoko corrected me on this very detail...This time I got it!
Makoto revealed that when he looked inside the rec room window before breaking it, he saw that the locker was wide open, so Toko couldn't have been hiding in there when they broke inside. With Genocide Jack seemingly exonerated, Yasuhiro concluded that Sakura didn't die from either wound on the head. Aoi insisted that nothing else could have killed her, but Makoto brought up the vomited blood from Sakura's mouth.
Aoi suggested that Sakura cut the inside of her mouth when she got hit with the bottles, only for Kyoko to refute "If that's all it was, the file wouldn't have specified vomited blood. Not to mention, I didn't find any cuts inside her mouth."
Genocide Jack cackled and exclaimed "You even checked in there?! God, you really ARE into dead bodies!"
Makoto felt some slight irritation at Jack's remark, but before he could interject, Kyoko replied "No, I'm not into dead bodies. What I'm into is solving mysteries."
It was then that Byakuya dropped the biggest bombshell of the night so far; Sakura was poisoned. He then produced a dark, clear jug with CHEM C-9 printed on it. Makoto asked if he found it in section A of the chem lab, which Byakuya all but confirmed when he hypothesized that the culprit switched it with a nutrient from section A.
What Byakuya did next shocked everyone; he drank nearly all of the poison. Everyone panicked, until they saw that Byakuya's only reaction was disgust at the taste of the liquid.
Intrigued, Kyoko asked "Can I see that bottle for a second?" Nodding, Byakuya handed her the bottle, and after sticking her gloved finger in it and tasting some of the residue, she concluded "This is...It's protein powder."
Wait...so if the protein powder was in the poison container, then the poison must have been inside the...now I understand!
Makoto concluded that the poison was inside Sakura's protein drink, which Byakuya agreed with. Debate then turned to who the suspect was, and after Makoto and Byakuya brought up the footprints left in the chem lab, Aoi dropped the most shocking bombshell yet.
"It was me."
Still shocked, Makoto could barely keep focused as Byakuya explained that only someone wearing sneakers could be the culprit, and since Makoto's footprints didn't match, that only left Aoi. She started to confess to what happened, but Kyoko was a little bit skeptical.
"Hold it! I'm not convinced…" Something's not right. I can't put my finger on it, but this still seems a little off…
Byakuya scoffed, ranting about how everyone was in it for themselves in this game, so the fact that Sakura and Aoi were close meant nothing.
Kyoko shook her head and said "You say that, but I'm still not convinced."
Byakuya sighed, annoyed and asked "How many times do you plan to repeat yourself?"
"Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying it because of some misguided sentimentalism. But there's still that one unsolved mystery, and I'm still not convinced."
Makoto caught on and asked "Are you talking about the locked room problem?" That has to be the only mystery left unsolved, and it's the most important part!
Very good, Makoto…"Hina...if you really are the killer, explain it. How did you create that locked room?"
Aoi, stumped by Kyoko's question, yelled "Just cuz I'm guilty, that means I have to tell you everything?"
Shaking her head, Kyoko answered "No, it doesn't. But the fact that you won't tell us concerns me." Byakuya expressed disbelief at Kyoko's belief that Aoi could be innocent, to which she replied "And if I do?"
Byakuya exclaimed that the facts left no room for doubt, but Makoto was unconvinced, raising the point that the footprints were too obvious of a clue.
"He's right. It makes it look like you wanted people to suspect you." Aoi tried to defend that she was so nervous, she didn't leave a footprint, leaving Kyoko to press "...You didn't notice?" As Aoi insisted that was how things played out, Kyoko gently asked "Listen Hina...Could you go into a bit more detail? Tell us more about when you switched the poison and the protein."
Aoi tried to refuse, but caved after Makoto asked her to, leaving Byakuya to scoff at how he thought the two of them were wasting their time.
"Go ahead, Hina. Start from the moment you arrived at the chem lab."
"Right away I went to section C, and got the poison" Aoi started.
"And is that when you spilled the powder in front of that part of the shelf?"
Aoi nodded and explained that she accidentally dropped the bottle when she opened it.
Nodding, Kyoko replied "I see. Okay then, go on."
Aoi then explained that she went to section A to get the protein powder and switched it with the poison, then left with the protein can containing poison. This series of events however, left Makoto confused, and he asked her over Byakuya and Jack's objections to repeat her account one more time. Aoi explained how she went to section C and grabbed the poison.
"And you spilled some of the powder on the ground in front of the shelf."
Nodding at Kyoko's conclusion, Aoi then continued that she dropped the bottle when she grabbed it.
Nodding, Kyoko pressed "Okay, and then…?"
"I moved from section C to section A..."
Wait a minute, that doesn't match up. The footprints were only in front of section A. Her account is false!
Makoto raised the point that the footprints in the chem lab clearly contradicted Aoi's account, leaving Aoi and Byakuya shocked. When Byakuya demanded an explanation, Aoi stammered, unable to come up with an answer.
Kyoko turned her glare on Aoi and accused "You lied to us, plain and simple. If you look at the footprints, your movements in the chem lab are obvious. The powder had already been spilled when you came in, and you went straight to section A. So you never went to section C. Whatever you did there, it only involved section A."
Byakuya expressed shock, not used to having his logical conclusions turned upside down. Kyoko smirked at seeing the Ultimate Affluent Progeny knocked off his high horse. Even Makoto couldn't help but smile inside at seeing the braggart so silent. But the case wasn't over, so Kyoko continued with her explanation.
"And the footprints aren't the only problem with her account. Before I explain that part, I'd like to submit some new evidence."
Byakuya's eye twitched as he roared that she couldn't have procured new evidence. Makoto, though a little irked that she hadn't shared it with him, knew better than to question Kyoko's assertions.
Addressing Byakuya, she retorted "...Are you sure? After all, you're the one who gave it to me."
Byakuya and Makoto's jaws dropped at this revelation as Makoto thought That explains why she didn't tell me; she only had it a few minutes ago. Could it have been the poison bottle?
As if reading Makoto's mind, Kyoko revealed "It was hidden inside the bottle of poison you gave me. I'm amazed you of all people would miss such a vital clue. A truly grave oversight…"
Beyond annoyed, Byakuya roared "Just say it already! What is it you think you found!?"
"I found this." She held out a piece of glass as she explained "It had sunk to the bottom of the bottle. And the hidden clue was exposed thanks to you ingesting the powder. I couldn't have solved the mystery without you. So, thank you for that." As Byakuya stammered and wondered what it was, Kyoko replied "Oh, you still don't realize? Well then...Makoto, why don't you explain it?"
"Huh? Me!?"
Makoto's nervousness wasn't helped by Byakuya's loud demands for answers.
No pressure, Kyoko. The shard of glass in the bottle...I got it!
Makoto deduced that it was from the rec room window, just like the glass around and underneath the protein can.
Nodding, Kyoko replied "You're right, it must be. Of course, that leads to another question. How did a shard of glass from the window get inside this bottle of poison?"
What's strange is what Aoi told us. That means her account about switching the poison and protein is a lie. I got it!
Makoto proceeded to deduce that the poison bottle was there until they all broke in, exposing the hole in Aoi's account.
"And then, once the room was opened, the bottle somehow got moved back to the shelf in the chem lab. Meanwhile, the protein can we found at the crime scene was planted there. That had to be after the locked room was opened. In other words, after Sakura died."
For once, Byakuya found himself being left in the dust with Kyoko's deduction, and wondered how she got poisoned if the protein can wasn't even there when she died.
Closing her eyes, Kyoko conceded "You're right. We do need to explain that. But before we do, there's something I'd like to confirm with everyone here. It has to do with the protein can. After Sakura's body was discovered, did anyone move it or trip over it or anything like that?" Byakuya demanded to know if it was a loaded question, to which Kyoko shook her head in amusement and assured "Not at all. Just answer to the best of your ability." After everyone answered in the negative, Kyoko concluded "Okay then, that settles it. That proves that the protein can found its way to the murder scene after the room was opened."
Byakuya's fists clenched as he roared how she could make such a claim, making Kyoko smile at his uncharacteristic short temperedness.
"When it comes to that protein can...there's not a doubt in my mind. Until the locked room was unlocked...it absolutely was not in there!"
Byakuya was in denial, shaking his head and insisting that it had to have been there before the room was unlocked.
No, that's wrong. And I know what proves it!
Makoto explained that the glass from the rec room window was also scattered under the protein can, which proved that the can was laced in the room after the window had been broken. Byakuya had no choice but to concede.
"Kyoko...earlier, when you asked if anyone had moved the can, or tripped over it..."
"If that were the case, that would explain the can being on top of the glass" Kyoko finished.
"So you asked everyone about it to eliminate that possibility right out of the gate..." Makoto theorized.
Smiling, Kyoko continued "And that's made everything clear, hasn't it? As long as it was a locked room, it only contained the bottle of poison, and not the protein can. But once the room was opened up, they were switched. And as a result...the protein can wound up in the rec room, and the bottle of poison returned to the chem lab."
Byakuya, confused even more, asked why she drank the poison then, still under the belief that she was tricked into drinking the poison.
...I think I know why. It's not something I prefer to think about though… Makoto gulped as he concluded "The only explanation is...she drank it from its original bottle, knowing exactly what it was."
Kyoko confirmed "Precisely. She was alone in a locked room. All she had was the poison. What other possibility is there?"
Aghast, Byakuya exclaimed "Such a ridiculous fiction is..."
"...exactly what happened."
For the first time in his life, Byakuya nicely asked her to please tell him what happened.
"Before we get to that, we need to clarify one other thing...We need to establish who exactly got the poison from the chem lab and took it to the rec room." Seeing that Yasuhiro was still under the flawed theory that Aoi was the culprit, she turned to Makoto and asked "What do you think, Makoto?"
It had to have been...I got it! "It was Sakura herself."
Everyone except for Makoto and Kyoko were shocked, and Makoto felt ill for even suggesting it, but couldn't find another explanation. Aoi angrily retorted that there was no way, only to be refuted by Kyoko.
"On the contrary. We know for a fact she went to the chem lab, right to the section full of poisons."
Aoi angrily yelled at Kyoko to stop lying, exclaiming that she was wrong. Makoto felt a twinge of anger when Aoi exclaimed she hated him and Kyoko, but buried it, understanding that she was lashing out. Makoto eventually silenced her when he brought up the yellow powder on Sakura's shoe, hypothesizing that Sakura was the one who dropped it when she went to the chem lab.
Bouncing off of Makoto's theory, Kyoko posed "But why did Sakura pay a visit to section C in the first place? The only explanation is that she was looking for poison. After all, that's all that section contained."
Makoto then dropped the biggest bombshell of them all; Sakura had killed herself. Everyone save for Kyoko expressed disbelief, but Makoto explained that she had barricaded herself in the room, creating the locked room herself.
"I'm sure she locked herself in so nobody could stop her from doing what she did. She sat there, drank the poison, and breathed her last breath...And the empty bottle of poison rolled around the locked room, until we came and opened it. At that point, someone grabbed the bottle and snuck it out of the room. And that was you, wasn't it Hina?" At Aoi's silence, Kyoko continued "You did it to throw off the investigation, didn't you? When we found her body, you stayed right there near the door. Because you already knew Sakura was dead...and because the bottle of poison had rolled near the doorway."
"I was too shocked to notice anything, and Kyoko was too busy checking the body..." Makoto reflected.
"And the more I think about it, the more I realize how unusual your actions were." Kyoko explained "You said you were going to go get everyone else...but your real action was to go to the chem lab and switch out the containers, wasn't it? Once you were at the chem lab, you headed straight to the section where the protein powder was kept. There, you took the powder and poured it into the bottle of poison you'd grabbed from the rec room. When you left the lab, all you had was the empty protein can. Thinking about it like that, the footprints make perfect sense."
"When you were done, you gathered everyone together, and once you were back in the rec room...While everyone else was focused on Sakura, you quietly placed the can on the ground" Makoto concluded, lamenting on how he should have noticed it earlier.
The blame doesn't rest solely with you. We all should have noticed earlier… Shaking her head to banish the lamentation for the time being, Kyoko said "So, Sakura committed suicide. In order to hide this fact, Hina undertook a series of actions to undermine the investigation. As long as you could disguise the truth, you didn't care if we blamed you for her death. That's why you didn't bother to get rid of such obvious evidence, right? The footprints in the powder, and the bottle of poison. Vital pieces of evidence, and yet…"
Byakuya expressed surprise at Aoi's scheme, and Aoi for her part angrily insisted that she killed Sakura and that it wasn't over.
Let's end it...this has to stop, Aoi!
Makoto proceeded to recap everything that happened from Sakura's attempts to speak with the others to Aoi's attempts to direct the trial to a false conclusion.
XXX
Aoi was sobbing, having lost any hope of keeping her scheme under wraps. Byakuya, not for the first time today, was aghast and shellshocked.
"That's...what happened? But...Makoto, how did you - ? How did you manage to - ? How were you able to uncover the truth...that even I couldn't discern!?"
It's not that hard to discern once you put the pieces together, Byakuya… Kyoko interjected "You still haven't realized? We don't all act according to calculations and cost-benefit diagrams. That's what makes us so complicated. That's what you don't understand, and that's why you couldn't solve this case."
Byakuya could only grunt in shock at the simplistic answer that had eluded his brain.
Kyoko chastised "See? Didn't I tell you? When you dismiss other people's feelings, it'll always come back to bite you in the end."
Monokuma then interrupted the conversation, reminding them that it was time for them to vote.
"Oh yeah...that's right…"
You forgot?
Makoto facepalmed as Monokuma became depressed at Kyoko having apparently forgotten about the need to vote.
XXX
Sakura ended up being voted the guilty party, seeing as she had taken her own life. When Byakuya demanded to know why Aoi had gone so far, she held up a suicide note and said it was written by Sakura. She sobbed that since everyone had pushed her away when all Sakura had wanted to do was be friends with everybody, that they all had murdered her and that they all had to atone for their sins by dying.
"Oh my god..." Makoto gasped. "You set us up so that we'd all go down with you!"
Byakuya seethed, Aoi stared at everyone with rage, and Yasuhiro stared at the ground in guilt. It was then that Monokuma interjected, holding up the real suicide note from Sakura and revealing that the one in Aoi's hands was a fake. Everyone froze, this revelation even stunning Kyoko, though she kept her neutral mask.
"You filthy little…!"
Sensing the anger rise in Makoto, she laid her hand on his shoulder to calm him down before asking Monokuma "So then, what did she write in her real suicide note?" When Monokuma started becoming philosophical about the point of final suicide notes, Kyoko tapped her foot in irritation at the bear's antics, gritting her teeth and growling "Could you get on with it, please?"
Monokuma obliged, revealing that he had taken her family dojo hostage unless she agreed to murder at his command, and that Sakura had decided to take her own life because she couldn't stomach the thought of killing one of her friends anymore. He also revealed her additional motivation of trying to keep the group united and using her death to atone for having served as the mole for the mastermind.
Aoi sobbed "She wanted to...stop us from fighting? To protect us?"
Nodding in confirmation, Kyoko said "She didn't end her own life because she was weak. Quite the opposite in fact...She was strong. Too strong. That's why she killed herself. She chose death for herself in order to protect the rest of us. To sacrifice so much...No normal person could do that. It was only her limitless strength that made it possible."
Monokuma started taunting about how Sakura's goodwill was all for nothing after Aoi enacted her scheme to have everyone else executed. That was the last straw for Makoto, who yelled that Sakura's death wasn't a waste. Yasuhiro concurred, declaring that he didn't blame Sakura or Aoi. Monokuma stood aghast, seeing his plan to tear the dwindling survivors apart come crashing down like a house of cards. He looked to Byakuya, his last hope, who declared that the only way to survive was to win since those were the rules.
Seriously, Byakuya? AFter all this, you still intend to keep going like this is just a game?
"Keep watching; things may turn out differently than you think..." Kyoko whispered in Makoto's ear, convincing him to cool his temper.
What Byakuya said next shocked everyone else in the room; "Which is why...I am bowing out of the game."
Huh?
Kyoko smiled and Makoto beamed as Byakuya went on to explain "Sakura and Hina were both willing to sacrifice their lives to deny the reality of this game. Thanks to them, it would appear the others have cast aside their fear for this game. There's no point in participating in a game which has lost that sense of excitement."
...Not exactly the reason I was hoping for, but I'll take it!
Monokuma seethed with anger as Kyoko smirked at the sadistic bear in victory and taunted "Well? Now can you say that Sakura's death had no meaning?"
XXX
Monokuma still had one last trick up his sleeve though; he had captured Alter Ego and proceeded to use an excavator to turn the laptop into a ball of scrap metal and decorate it with his face.
"So...you finally noticed him. I assume you knew then; what he was up to..."
Monokuma cackled and revealed that he knew all along what Chihiro had been up to, and had only resorted to execution when Alter Ego had attempted to break into the network. Makoto roared that Monokuma would pay for what he had done, only for the bear to wave him off and announce that it was time to read the post-script.
"Post script…?"
Monokuma started to read more of Sakura's suicide note, only to stop in the middle to everyone's dismay, refusing to recite a passage that apparently had some vital information. He taunted them, refusing to hand over the note, then continued to skim down the note until one line caught his interest.
"What is it now…?"
Monokuma read Sakura's final declaration that she would fight against the mastermind, then disappeared from sight. Aoi turned to everyone and apologized for her actions, leading Byakuya to offer the closest thing to a statement of forgiveness. It would have been touching if Genocide Jack hadn't reacted with jealousy, leading Aoi to claim she didn't want a sleazeball like Byakuya. This however make Byakuya angry at her and started another argument between the three as Makoto, Yasuhiro, and Kyoko watched with exhaustion. Eventually they headed back to the elevator and went back to their rooms, too mentally drained to even think about eating dinner.
XXX
Kyoko rang the doorbell, standing outside of Makoto's room. She waited, but no answer came from the other side.
Can't say I didn't expect this, given what time it is…
Not sure what she was thinking, she turned the doorknob and, to her surprise, it opened, revealing Makoto's room.
He didn't even lock his own door? What's he thinking?
Shaking her head, she entered, walking over to the sleeping Ultimate Lucky Student, lightly snoring in a fitful sleep.
He looks...cute…
Shaking her head in amusement at her own thoughts, she patted his cheek with her right hand.
"Wake up. Makoto, wake up."
Makoto grunted, eyes barely open as he sat up, Kyoko stepping back as he tried to gain awareness of what was going on.
"Kyoko…?"
His voice was laced with drowsiness as he rubbed his eyes, trying to fully awaken.
Kyoko rolled her eyes and replied "Yes, it's me."
"Huh? Kyoko…?"
...I know he's still drowsy, but he should know that I'm here. Her voice slightly irritated, she reiterated "I said yes…"
"So Kyoko's here..." Makoto's eyes widened as he exclaimed "Wait, what!?"
In his shock, Makoto rolled off the bed, landing right in front of Kyoko's feet. The entire lower half of his body was wrapped up in his blanket, giving off the impression of a caterpillar half-encased in a cocoon. Makoto looked at the floor, his cheeks red from embarrassment, while Kyoko giggled into her palm at Makoto's antics. Eventually she crouched and felt for one of the corners, starting to untangle the fabric from Makoto's body.
"Wh-What are you doing here?"
Isn't it obvious? "I'm here to wake you up."
"Wait, but my door - " How did she get into my room in the first place?
Kyoko replied matter of factly "It was unlocked. You're unbelievably careless."
Makoto's eyes bulged as he shrieked "It was unlocked!? Are you serious!?" How did i not lock it?
Answering the second question, Kyoko calmly relied "Always. And you don't have to overreact like that every time you're surprised."
Looking down in embarrassment, Makoto asked what time it was, to which Kyoko simply replied "3 o'clock. In the morning, of course."
3 A.M.!? Couldn't this have waited until breakfast?
By this point, she had gotten him completely untangled. Offering her hand, he gratefully took it as he stood up.
Rubbing the last of his sleepiness from his eyes, Makoto asked "I-It's so late...What happened…?"
Kyoko paused, then admitted "I have a favor I need to ask…"
This piqued Makoto's interest as he reasoned Whatever Kyoko's asking, it must be important if she's admitting she needs help. "What's your favor…?"
"Remember what Sakura said at the end of her note? I'm not going to just lay down and die. I will fight you...I want to find out what she meant by that." She then leaned in his ear and whispered "The data center on the 4th floor. I'll meet you there."
She then turned on her heel and left, leaving Makoto to stand there and think What the heck just happened?
XXX
That's weird, no sign of Kyoko. I didn't just dream her coming into my room, right…
Shaking his head, Makoto tried opening the Data Center door, only to find it was locked. Makoto yawned as he was fatigued, both from the draining trial, and from Kyoko having woken him up four hours early.
Why the heck did you even call me out here if the door was locked, Kyoko?
"Oh ho! Well, if it isn't Mister Kumbaya himself. What are you doing up, mister?"
Makoto turned around to see Monokuma, who started ranting at him about how breaking inside a locked room was prohibited and how late it was.
Hey, it's not my fault I got woken up at 3 A.M…
"...What's wrong now? Why are you out here making a racket?"
Makoto and Monokuma turned to see Kyoko approach them.
"K-Kyoko!?" Finally! What took you so long?
Exhausted, Monokuma roared "Go the eff to sleep!"
"...Sure, you got it. Come on, Makoto. Let's head back."
...That's it? Just like that, we're leaving? Then what was the point of coming here in the first place?
When he didn't follow, Kyoko called "Didn't you hear me? We're leaving."
"I have no idea what's going on anymore..." Makoto lamented as he shuffled after her.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just go."
The two went down the stairs, out of Monokuma's sight, Makoto feeling even more confused than when he woke up.
XXX
"So. Goodbye."
Okay, that's it. I need answers, and I need them now! "H-hold on!"
Kyoko turned around, surprised by Makoto's uncharacteristic straight forwardness. Sighing, she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"...Don't worry about it. Well then...goodnight."
Makoto's shoulders sagged in defeat, sensing that Kyoko wasn't going to budge on this tonight. As he turned around, he jumped, feeling Kyoko's breath down his ear as she whispered a name to him.
"Mukuro Ikusaba."
"What?"
"Mukuro Ikusaba...The sixteenth student, lying hidden somewhere in this school...The one they call the Ultimate Despair...Watch out for her."
This time, she turned around, walking to her room, and leaving Makoto in the hallway.
There. I've warned him of the danger. I just hope he truly has enough luck to avoid it. Stay safe, Makoto.
