Idol of Despair

by maypewz

The night of Sayaka Maizono's plot was a tumultuous one. Out of her right mind and in a state of terror over the fate of her bandmates, she calculates a plan to set-up the one person at Hope's Peak that she holds dear. It's a necessary evil in order to fulfill her longing to become the Ultimate Pop Sensation. But things end up taking a... different turn than in the universe we know

3. Trial 1 - Chapter 3: A Class Trial!

Trial 1, Chapter 3:

As Naegi came closer and closer to the red door, Yamada went further and further away from Naegi until by the time Naegi reached the door, Yamada had joined the rest of the group inside. A heavy weight was felt upon him as he stepped closer and closer to the previously locked, imposingly massive door, and pushed it open.

"Naegi! You're late! We were all waiting for you!" Ishimaru screeched, as much of a walking rulebook as ever.

"H-heh, he was probably trying to stall for as long as possible before we expose him as the m-murderous fiend he is..." Toko said quietly and timidly, just loud enough to hear.

"Don't jump to conclusions yet!" Ishimaru was quick to reprimand her, and Fukawa practically cowered at his tone. "We will reveal the details of Makoto's crime during the trial."

Naegi's heart sunk. 'Damn... They all really think I killed her...'

Naegi surveyed his surroundings. A large elevator was front and center, presumably to take them all down to the trial room. All of the students gathered in the room, making it quite crowded. 'One of us here... murdered Asahina. Wait.. Everyone's here... Sayaka!'

Makoto spotted the girl in the corner of the room, distant, her head tilted down, avoiding eye contact with the rest of the group.

'Should I talk to her? She yelled at me the last time I did, and practically kicked me out of her room. But what I know now, what I found out... it doesn't look good for her. S-she can't be the killer, but I need an explanation, I need to know why she was there, why she was running in the middle of the night, and why she's... acting so suspicious. I have to talk to her. At least try.'

And so, Naegi took a step forward. A slow, unusually heavy step for someone of his stature. And then another step. Sayaka had to have seen him coming. Makoto could just barely see her face. Her expression looked like she was on the verge of tears. Naegi was approaching her now, and then all of a sudden:

"Don't." A whisper followed by a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave her. She will speak when the time comes. When it's necessary. That time is not now." Kirigiri's unmistakably cold voice from behind, louder this time.

"K-Kyoko! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"You were about to make a bad descision. One that put not only your efforts at risk, but everyone elses. I stopped you."

Makoto had about a million questions for each of the two women. He was just about to ask one of them when another familiar voice greeted them.

"Puhuhu! Is everyone here? Okay then..."

'Ugh.'

"Please board the elevator in front of you, which will transport you to the courtroom... where all your fates will be decided. I'll meet you down there. I'll be waiting..."

The group began entering the elevator. The first to enter was Sakura, shortly followed by Yamada. Celeste made her way in, then did Byakuya. Makoto remained still as Toko scurried inside, trying to both get a grip and ignore the fact that Sayaka hadn't moved.

'I guess I have no choice...'

"Are you afraid?" Kyoko stood beside him, looking onward.

"N-not quite..."

"It's like I said before, Makoto. You must uncover the truth of this case yourself. If you don't, neither you, or her," Kyoko nodded toward Sayaka. "will be able to come to terms with the truth."

Kirigiri walked into the elevator before Naegi could say anything else. 'Uncovering the truth of Asahina's death myself... I didn't need her to tell me I had to do that. I must find the one who took an innocent life... But what was that about Sayaka?'

'She knows far more than she's telling me.'

With that thought, Naegi walked to the elevator, each step more difficult as the last. Maizono followed soon after, entrenching herself into the farthest corner away from Naegi, not daring to raise her head for more than a moment to look for where he was, though Naegi noticed. The doors closed, and the steel box descended, clanking like it had seen decades of use. It was like a descent into hell.

'Or like a defendant, waiting to receive his judgement.'

With the thread of distrust in the air, the elevator took the class deeper and deeper underground, until finally, it reached the bottom.

A long hallway, leading into a wonderfully prepared room, with sixteen podiums, one more than necessary. The room was extravagantly decorated, one would wonder why the school had such a room in the first place.

"What do you all think? Just like a real courtroom?" Monokuma yelled out from a throne overlooking the podiums.

"Looks like shit." Oowada said bluntly.

"Everyone find your assigned seats!" The class followed the direction. Naegi's podium sat right across from the crossed out picture of Asahina's, a grim reminder of why they are here. Maizono was sluggish out of the long, dark hallway, and briefly had a look of extreme worry on her face as she realized her podium was directly next to Naegi's.

She was the last to find her podium. Maizono hadn't slept since the night before the murder, and overwelming guilt crushed her usual quick and colorful personality. She wanted to tell Naegi everything, apologize a thousand times, yet found it impossible to do so.

There was no avoiding Makoto's gaze as she dragged herself to the podium. She could barely stand. 'God, please don't talk to me.' She thought. There would be no holding it in if he did.

"Everything will be ok." He spoke. Not questioning her, as she had dreaded. Supportive. Perhaps even understanding. Was this what she needed?

"Ok." she said in reply, an unusually cold tone for her but a response nonetheless. Naegi hadn't expected a response at all.. Was this a good thing? 'Better than being yelled at.' Yes. It's progress.

'I can't let this progress be for nothing.'

The bear spoke up again, explaining the general rules of the trial. If they can figure out the killer, only they will be executed. If they pick the wrong one, everyone else will.

The thought ran a chill up most of their spines. Naegi was still coming to terms the fact one of their own killed Asahina. The idea tore him up inside, both the fact that one of them murdered another and that to survive, they must condemn another one of them to death. One more thing caught his interest.

"I-I have a question..."

"Naegi-kun! My beloved student! I have answers."

"What's with the pictures?" The two dead students, Asahina and Enoshima, had their podiums replaced with an image of themselves crossed out. It was... mocking.

"My dear student, the fallen shouldn't be disqualified from the trial just because they died! The power of friendship penetrates death's barrier!"

"What about the empty seat?" Celeste, who had been quiet since the murder, questioned the bear.

"Oh, no reason. There was an extra podium, and I saw no reason to remove it. Anyway, enough questions unrelated to the trial! It is time! Let's get started! First, the case summary."

The debate begun.

"The one who was murdered was Aoi Asahina!" Ishimaru asserted.

"Wow, really? We had no fuckin' idea. Get real. The bear meant... talkin' about what happened to her, or somethin'." Oowada was visibly annoyed, and maybe angered, by Ishimaru's obvious statement. The two emotions seem to go hand in hand for him.

"Let's start with the facts." Byakuya butted in. "Aoi Asahina was murdered in the room of Makoto Naegi. Her body was found next to the bed, stabbed once in the abdomen with a kitchen knife."

"How'd you know it's a kitchen knife?" Yasuhiro, this time, was the one to challenge the speaker.

"If you even took a single second to look at it instead of groveling like scared dogs, you would have been able to tell. However, I took the liberty of investigating the cafeteria kitchen, and there was a knife missing from the wall rack. The size of the knife outline fits, for all we can tell."

Celeste confidently spoke straight after. "Asahina must have been coerced to Naegi's room somehow, she had no key to enter and no other reason to be there. The question is of who led her in. Whoever did must have killed her."

"Heh. Heh. C-Can we cut the pleasantries? We all know Naegi did it. There's no other possible suspect..." Toko seemed to amuse herself with her accusation.

"No! I didn't kill Hina. She was my friend!"

"Oh, sure. I bet that's what you told her before you s-stabbed her, you fiend. You p-probably cozied up to her, and led her to your room and-"

"This is getting off topic." Togami butted in once again. "Save your baseless theories for when we have a better grasp on the situation."

"O-okay..." Toko meekly replied.

"Nah. We already have a damn good grasp on the situation." Leon claimed, looking somewhat frusterated. "Asahina was killed in NAEGI'S room. Anyone could've gone and grabbed the knife. But only Naegi could let her into that room. There's no way it was anyone else! There ain't any other possibility."

Togami was furious. "Don't talk down to me, imbecile. You know nothing about this case."

"I dunno... what if someone else had Mr. Naegi's key somehow?" Hifumi's question bothered Naegi. Because he knew someone else DID have his key.

"What, Makoto just hands out room keys in the middle of a killing game like candy? Unlikely, man." Kuwata remarked in turn.

'Should I... If I do... the blame will shift to her. Even if I don't believe it... Does it have to be done?'

"We should draw our conclusions after we've presented our arguments. Otherwise, we'll keep throwing accusations everywhere and get nowhere." Kirigiri attempted to bring a bit of peace to the discussion.

Naegi sighed.

"Wait. I-I did give someone else my key." The words stuck in his throat for a moment before he was able to spit them out.

The group looked confused. They didn't believe him, of course, but everyone was so confused that THIS was Makoto's defense, that they failed to challenge his words before he spoke again.

"Maizono... would you like to help explain?"

Silence. Maizono herself may have wanted to speak, to exonerate Naegi, but she was frozen in fear. Fear that the room switch would only criminalize her, and lead even Naegi on a conclusion that she was the one to kill Hina.

"S-sorry Naegi. Your girlfriend has gone mute." Toko remarked.

'So much for speaking up when it's needed.'

"F-fine then. I'll explain for her, she's... not feeling great anyway. The night of the murder, Sayaka came to me and asked me to switch rooms with her. She said she heard someone try to break in her room, and felt unsafe in there. We switched rooms and keys then."

"You bastard."

Fukawa's voice was becoming one of Naegi's least favorite sounds.

"You're trying to pin this on her! Y-you convinced her more than anyone else she was your friend and you just go and use her as your tool? That was your plan from the start. You're h-heartless."

"Yeah!" Leon jumped in on attacking Naegi. "How could you be so cruel? You're a fuckin' monster, dude."

"Listen to what Kirigiri said earlier! Let me explain myself further."

"What's there to explain, man? Just admit it already."

"E-everyone, maybe we need to think about this a little more before we conclude Makoto is the culprit..." Chihiro came to Naegi's aid, and nobody could bring themselves to yell at the girl as they had to Makoto.

"Well, Naegi. Do you have any proof that tells us you were not in your own room the night of the murder?" Togami questioned.

'Any proof... do I? When I was first told about Asahina's murder, someone was there who could say for sure I wasn't in the room with the body...'

"I do. Yasuhiro. You woke me up when the body was found, yes?"

"Huh?" Hiro looked suprised to hear his name called. He was more than a little unready to answer such an important question. "Y-yeah, that's right, I did."

"You saw inside the room I was in?"

"I think so."

"Was there any body?"

"Nope... and you weren't in the one with the body either. Wait, are you telling me that room switch story wasn't a lie?"

"You just proved it."

"That can't be right. I know for a fact that the room was yours, it said it on the door, and the Monokuma File said the murder took place in that room. I must've misremembered, because that room was totally yours! Unless Monokuma lied?"

"Nope! Ahahaha!" As if on cue, Monokuma clarified. "Everything in the Monokuma file was 100% correct! I would never lie to my students! If there was a competition for honesty, I would be the best bear in town!"

"So then... yeah. You probabaly played some mind trick on me, and dulled my senses so I couldn't predict it! There's no mistake!"

'Hmm... you know for a fact the room was mine... but does he?'

"Hold on!" Makoto's confidence was high, but in the back of his mind he knew where the suspicion would lie. 'One step at a time.'

"Let's go back. You said you knew the room was mine because of the nameplate, correct?"

"Yeah, we all have our names on our doors. Yours was on the door I opened, no mistake."

"What if I and Sayaka's nameplates were switched?"

"T-that... could that happen?"

"I didn't even know you could take those off. Interesting." Oogami added.

Yasuhiro, along with many of the others, were shocked. But someone else could back up his claim...

"He's right." Byakuya had a sly smirk on his face. "I and Makoto spoke after he was done investigating the crime scene. I only spoke to him for a moment when I saw that the door to the room with Asahina's body had Sayaka's nameplate."

Makoto felt happy that even Byakuya could come together with the group to lay down such evidence. 'We really are all in this together!' he thought.

"Now we know Naegi did indeed switch rooms with Maizono. Meaning, Naegi isn't the killer."

"H-he's not? Then who else!" Leon exclaimed.

'Oh god.' Naegi thought.

"The primary suspect is obvious." Byakuya sternly stated. "The culprit switched Naegi and Maizono's nameplates, leading Asahina to Naegi's room, while Asahina herself thought she was entering Sayaka's room. Only one person could've done that, and would have had the reason to do such a thing. It had to have been Sayaka Maizono herself."

Makoto knew it was coming, but it hit him like a truck nonetheless.

"T-that can't be... Sayaka would never!" Chihiro of all people raised her voice, taking the words out from Naegi's head.

"Oh, but it is. I don't hear her defending herself. How would you even know she wouldn't? She hasn't been close to anyone, except Naegi. That's why he was convinced to switch rooms with her so easily. Naegi himself can back up that I saw Maizono wash gold residue from her hands and saw her drop Naegi's key."

Naegi wanted to say something. Wanted to refute any of what Togami was saying, or implying.

"Naegi, is that true?" Kirigiri asked.

"Y-yes, but..."

He couldn't. The logic was sound.

'Sayaka... did... you betray me?'

'No. No, I refuse to believe it. Even if it makes sense.'

"No, that's wrong!"

"What?" Byakuya was shocked. He had just helped save this boy, and now what?

"Maizono would never do that! It isn't like her!"

Togami let out a chuckle, and sighed. "Hmph. You fool. She used you like a tool to save her own skin, and you still hold on to these false notions of friendship."

"She would never set me up. There has to be another way!"

"Then tell us. Enlighten us on what other possibility there is. She set you up. She lied to you from day one. The quicker you get that through your thick skull the quicker we move on from this. So please, dare to try to find a flaw in the argument you yourself set up. Or, better yet, let's ask Maizono herself. Please, Sayaka, tell us how innocent you are."

Once again, silence.

"S-Sayaka..." Naegi was desperate.

No response.

"You need to defend yourself..."

"YOU'RE INNOCENT! SAY SOMETHING! TELL EVERYONE THE TRUTH!"

Maizono raised her head for the first time since the trial began. Naegi's eyes pleaded with her to say anything at all.

She gave Nagei an unsure look, and slumped her head back down.

Murmurs surrounded the group. "You t-tried to set up Naegi? Hehe, next t-time try setting up someone with balls, it'd be more believable." "Fuckin' bitch!" "This is... I didn't foresee this." Among others.

'She... she won't deny it... why won't she deny it.'

'Is it true?'

"Alright, Togami. You've made your point. Shall we move on?" Kirigiri shot Byakuya a severe glare, who responded in kind with his usual sneer.

"Fine by me."

"Wait..." An idea popped into Yasuhiro's head. "W-what if Makoto was working with Sayaka! Wouldn't that make them both the blackened?"

"That's a good question, actually." Kirigiri responded. "Well, Monokuma, if two people work together to commit a murder, do they both become the blackened?"

"Nope! Only the one who is responsible for the murder itself is the blackened. No exceptions! Having an accomplice is perfectly legal, but only one can graduate!"

"So there's no benefit for any accomplice." Togami ended the conversation.

Kirigiri continued. "Alright. So, if we conclude that Sayaka Maizono was indeed in Naegi's room, and Naegi in Maizono's, that would make her the prime suspect. However, we still know little about the murder itself. We need to trace exactly what happened during the murder."

Yasuhiro had an idea. "It's pretty obvious. After the room switch, Sayaka switched the nameplates on her and Makoto's rooms."

Oogami went next. "Then, she lured Aoi into Makoto's room, while Aoi thought she was heading to Sayaka's..."

"She attacked Asahina with the knife, and didn't even give her a chance to resist..." Chihiro said, on the verge of tears.

Naegi broke out of his spell. 'But... one detail proves she did...'

"W-wait... that's... not right."

Toko snarled. "O-oh boy, here we go again..."

"There must have been somewhat of a struggle. The table by the front door was knocked over. Asahina probably fell over it, meaning she must have had some time to react."

"T-that makes sense... sorry..." Chihiro choked up, trying to hold back her sobs.

Leon spoke assertively. "Ok, so there was a struggle, what difference does that make? We're all still gonna come to the same conclusion."

"I disagree. Once we know all the facts, I'm sure something new will surface." Kirigiri steered the conversation back to the murder. "While investigating, did any of you here notice anything off? Something that seemed out of place."

Makoto felt almost like she was calling him specifically out. And well.. she was.

'There is something weird about the crime scene.. it happened in my room... well I guess a good place to start would be what's weird about my room compared to the others...'

Kyoko shifted her glare squarely onto Makoto as he pondered her question. As he did so, some of the others blurted out strange guesses of their own.

"The nameplates!"

"Uhhh.. maybe the fuckin... katana, or somethin'?"

"What if the killer was a demon?"

Kyoko rolled her eyes at these replies until Makoto finally spoke up.

"I've got it! My bathroom door knob is different from all of the other rooms. It's jammed and you have to push up on the door knob for the bathroom to open. Right Kyoko?"

"Yes.. that's correct.. but when we looked at the door, the door knob had been removed." She continued on. "You'd have no need to remove the door knob. Something seems off about that to me.."

"Yeah, so how does that matter?" Leon's voice was the first to speak up. "Maizono wouldn't have known either. She is definitely responsible, we're just thinking in circles at this point. Might as well go ahea-"

A wave of realization began to wash over Makoto.

"That's it! When me and Maizono switched rooms.. I told her about the door knob and how to open it. So she wouldn't have had to remove the door knob at all." Some gasps passed over the crowd of students seated at the podiums as Makoto continued on with his statement. "She'd have no need to remove it. I also told Kyoko about this before the trial, so she would know."

Kyoko nodded in confirmation to Makoto's statement. A slight smile pursed over her lips.

From beside Makoto, he heard a soft whimper. It was Sayaka. She was trying to say something... it almost seemed as if she was struggling to build up the willpower to do so. Upon realization of this, Makoto had to make a decision.

'She might hate me for this but.. I have to.. she has to testify for us. Otherwise it's nothing more than a baseless claim. I'm sorry Maizono but.. we have to do this.'

Makoto finally built up the courage and spoke up once more.

"Hey Maizono, can you confirm this for everyone? You knew how to open the door, didn't you? Without the removal of the door knob being necessary?"

Maizono looked at him. A look of fear was plastered on her usually warm and welcoming features. She looked.. terrified. Like she could tear up at almost any moment. A sharp stabbing feeling welled up in Makoto's heart. It felt so wrong for her to look like this. It took everything Sayaka had. She felt exhausted and she hadn't said anything yet. Like she had just run a 30 lap track marathon around the local YMCA beforehand. But finally, she opened her lips to speak. In a meek, coarse-from-sobbing tone, she let out her two-worded reply.

"I do."

"T-then how!" Leon exclaimed. "You just saying it doesn't mean anything."

Maizono paused for a moment, trying again to work up the courage to speak.

"Well?" Byakuya rushed her.

"Y-you have to push up on the doorknob a little." she caved, letting out a sigh afterwards. The feeling of sadness and most of all, guilt, was trying it's best to overwhelm her, but she refused to cave.

Byakuya took in her reply for a moment and then looked back at Naegi. "Is that true?"

Makoto nodded in reply. "Yes, that is how you open the bathroom door." He found himself looking down at the floor afterwards.

Oogami butted in with a reply of her own. "Couldn't you two be taking up for eachother? If you were accomplices, that is." Kirigiri quickly objected to this claim.

"Well.. Makoto told me before the trial that very same thing. About pushing up on the door to open it. So if they were, it'd have to be a planned cover up. And there isn't really any benefit for accomplices, considering whoever didn't commit the murder would still be left behind and ultimately killed if the murderer got away with it." she replied.

Chihiro opened her mouth to speak. "W-well... does that mean Maizono can't be responsible?"

"Hold up!" Leon raised his voice a bit in response. "I don't buy it one bit! How can we be so sure that she's clean? Just because she couldn't have taken the door down? What if she just used the tool box to avert suspicion away from her?!"

"The girls were given sewing kits while the boys were given toolboxes. Maizono probably wouldn't have known this unless she went snooping around in drawers." Kirigiri replied. "She isn't clear beyond doubt. But I find it doubtful that she'd search every inch of Makoto's room if she had been plotting a murder the whole time. I think there are two questions here... how did Asahina end up there in the first place, and who found the body?"

"Yasuhiro was the one who woke me up."

"Yeah.. I remember it being Yasuhiro too."

"Does this make him the new prime suspect?"

A pale look covered Yasuhiro's face. "No! I didn't find it! Leon was the one who knocked on my door and woke me up! I swear guys!"

Kyoko's eyes narrowed on him. "Well you can say that.. but Leon could easily say otherwise. Was anyone else here woken by Leon and not Yasuhiro?"

Oowada did a hand raise gesture.

"Me. I was. Leon actually went to almost everybody's door, but it was real early in the morning so I guess most of you guys didn't wake up because of that. Probably around 5 AM, that's what I remember seeing when I looked up at the clock after getting woken up by the doorbell rings. Me and Yasuhiro were the only two to answer... I told him that he was full of shit and to fuck off though so I guess Yasuhiro's the one who woke all of you guys up." Oowada scratched his head and a nervous smile crossed his face. "Heh, sorry guys. But yeah, I remember seeing Yasuhiro in the halls when I answered the door for Leon and he said that he was the only other one who had woken up."

"So Leon... assuming you were the one who found the body, why were you in Maizono's room?"

Kuwata began to shuffle around in his pocket, before finally taking out a scrumpled piece of paper and unfolding it. "This is why."

It was note addressed to Kuwata. The one they had found at the crime scene. It read...

'Hi Kuwata. Could you swing by my room tonight at around 12:00 AM? I've been feeling like there was somebody after me lately, and I was wondering if you could help me figure out who it is.. Thank you.

Regards, Maizono.'

Naegi's face recoiled upon reading the note. His heart sunk out of his chest.

'That note.. it's almost the exact same story she told me to switch rooms..'

He continued on. "It was unmistakably Maizono's plot! She tried to set Makoto up and then lead me into the room to kill me! I don't know how Asahina was involved, but I entered the room, saw the body and noped out of there and went to wake up everyone!" putting his finger on his chin, he took a few moments to think before continuing. "Maybe she tried using me as a backup plot in case the one with Asahina failed?"

Kyoko spoke up to the others. "Let's stop and review what we know firstly. A lot of things just got revealed. We know that Maizono tried to lure Leon into her room, likely in attempt to kill him. We know that it was Leon who found the body and not Yasuhiro at around 5 in the morning. And we know that the doorknob was taken off with a screw driver and entered. The corpse is in the living room. What incentive would someone have to go into the bathroom after killing somebody? To clean themselves up. We know Maizono wouldn't have entered the bathroom in this fashion, as she knew how to open the jammed door." She continued on. "There's a discrepancy I've noticed between the note and the account that Oowada gave. First of all, Yasuhiro, can you confirm that it was 5 in the morning when you were woken up?"

Yasuhiro nodded his head. "Yep, it was around 5. I remember asking myself who the hell would be by at this hour, and looking at the clock."

"The note was addressed to Kuwata at 1 AM. That's a near 4 hour gap between the two events occuring. This contradicts Leon's story of him discovering the body and immediately rushing to wake the others up, which would've taken place at 5. What could've happened in those 4 hours? There's no way of proving that Kuwata wasn't there while Asahina was still alive, but I've found some evidence that might support it."

"Huh? You're full of shit! Present it." Leon growled back at her.

"The trash room. There was a bloody sleeve in the trash room."

Naegi nodded. "Yes, me and Hifumi saw it."

Hifumi further confirmed the statement. "Yeah! I was on janitor duty, watching over the trash room! And I saw it! The incinreator had been turned on and everything!"

Kyoko looked pleased, and continued with her theory. "So if the killer had tried to go into the bathroom and wash the blood off, only to find that their shirt was stained and it wouldn't come out, the next logical conclusion would be to dispose of it in the trash room. That shirt looked almost identical to the white button up shirt we've seen you wear, Kuwata."

"So?! That doesn't prove shit. Do I have a trademark on white button up shirts or something? When can I expect to receive my royalties?"

"That isn't the point. There's something about the way it was disposed. The grate infront would block a killer from being able to use the incinerator."

Makoto briefly drifted into thought upon hearing Kyoko's words, before what she was implying finally occured to him.

"But throwing it between the grate hole wouldn't be a problem if you were the ultimate baseball star." he blurted out.

Kuwata's face paled a little, before an angered expression began to cover his features. "What? So that's your argument? That I play baseball? It's not like that throw would be beyond the law's of physics to make for someone else here. And besides.. you still haven't proved why Asahina was there at all."

Kyoko sighed. "None of these are decisive points, no. But if they all add up.. it stops being a coincidence after a certain point. Besides... I think I have an idea of why Asahina would've been there. There was something else in the trash room, right Makoto?"

Makoto's head began to throb. 'Yes there was... there was a-'

"A water bottle! There was a water bottle also thrown in between the fence around the same area of the shirt. And the water bottle had blood on it. Meaning, Asahina might've gone out for water during the night and found herself caught up in this whole situation. How else would the water bottle have gotten blood on it if she wasn't holding it?"

Leon looked agitated.

"So what?! This still doesn't prove that I did it. Maizono could've easily done every single action listed here. Besides, it wouldn't take 4 hours to dispose of evidence. That's overkill."

Togami glared at Leon, before then beginning to speak. "Hold it. Early in the morning I was in the AV room, and I heard running coming up the hallway. I told Makoto this before the trial, so you can verify it. Right Makoto?"

Makoto nodded.

"Alright then. And while I was in the AV room, I saw Maizono come running up to the women's bathroom. Didn't shut the door, in a frenzy she just ran in and started was washing a gold sparkly substance off her hands. It looked similar to the gold you'd see on the Katana. But this is strange. Because the Katana wasn't the murder weapon. There was no blood whatsoever on it. The knife was the only weapon that could've been used for the murder. Leon is an athlete.. the odds that she could've overpowered Maizono are high. Did Maizono perhaps use the Katana in self defence after being overpowered by Kuwata?"

Everyone was taken aback. 'Does.. does this mean that Kuwata-'

"That's bullshit! And it doesn't explain how Asahina died! Even if she was out for water and ran into us"

Togami smirked. "Well I think the answer to that is simple. Maizono calculated her plot, set it up to frame Makoto and invited you. You ran into Asahina in the hallway and for whatever reason she decided to come with you. You are both athletes after all, it's possible you and her would have some things to speak to eachother about. You both walk right into Maizono's trap, but in the heat of the moment somehow Maizono fails to stab you and you end up taking the knife from her. Considering your stature, this seems like a likely outcome. And then you were perhaps enraged or something, I don't know, but after that you try to kill her. Yet.. as you do so.. Asahina walks right infront of the knife.

Pure shock filled the air. Is.. is he right?

Kyoko butted in as well. "I think I agree with Byakuya here. The water bottle supports Asahina being out during the night time, and it would be pretty difficult for Maizono to actually manage to kill someone like you Leon. Plus, we all know Maizono hasn't been behaving normally lately. She has been in a bad headspace this entire time, and that can easily blur one's judgement. To continue from where Byakuya finished, I feel that if most here had killed someone by pure mistake their first response would be to probably freeze up in shock. And when this happened.. Maizono seized her escape oppourtunity and hit you with the katana. That would explain the gold stuff on her hands. It's material off of the hilt of the katana. She could've used it to hit you over the head, which would explain the size of the gap in time between you alerting everyone else. You were not only disposing of evidence, you had likely been knocked unconscious as well and taken time to wake up." Kyoko sighed.

"You still have no proof!"

"We do have proof. Nothing definitive, but lots of smaller fragments of evidence point to you. We obviously can't take Maizono's testimony as the word of god but.. Maizono.. our theories, are they accurate? What were you doing that night?"

Maizono looked down. She talked in a very quiet demeanor, almost a whisper. In fact, she had to speak up in order for the others to even hear her.

"Yes. I.. I um.. I tried to kill Leon." Her face never left the floor as she talked. "Asahina had come with him, she had a water bottle in her hand. I missed and Leon took the knife from me. He tried to kill me but then.. Asahina.. she stepped in front.. trying to prevent the violence and killing.. and she ended up dying infront of me. Leon just stared at the body.. and while he was doing so I knocked him out with the Katana. I ran out of the room and hid in the women's bathroom in the hallway. Later that morning once everyone had woken up I snuck back into my room and locked myself in there.. the door had been left open by Naegi."

Makoto looked at her. A pained expression covered his face, and he knew a pained expression probably covered hers too.

'Why? Why would she..'

"Wh-why would you do such a thing..?"

"Did Leon even do anything wrong? He was just acting in self defence!"

"This is all your fault, you bitch! Even if Leon did it, you should be the one who dies!"

As more and more shouts came from the students, Makoto's head was spinning. It felt like it would twirl clean off and crack like an egg on the sidewalk if he let it. But no. We have to.. figure this out. There's no clear evidence. This is almost sort of like guesswork. But if we kept talking in circles, nothing will get solved. We have to summarize the events that we think we know and come to a vote. Besides.. if we pick incorrectly or don't pick at all, we're all dying anyway.

"So to summarize what we know into a cohesive story.. Maizono.. switched rooms with me to try and set me up as the murderer." Naegi's voice cracked as he spoke these words, the sorrow covering his heart felt like a hammer. "She switched the nameplates around and lured him into my room with a note. He went into my room, thinking it was hers and was attacked by Maizono with the knife from the kitchen. Maizono missed and Leon took the knife from her. Enraged, he went and tried to kill her in retaliation. But Asahina was shouting at him to try and stop through his rage, and thinking he wouldn't stab her, he stepped in front to block her. But Leon was in kill mode, and she accidentally lunged herself infront of the knife. It killed her instead of it's intended target, Maizono. She had been holding a water bottle, which became soaked in blood as she fell to the floor. Leon was paralyzed in fear, having killed his friend. In this window of time, Maizono seized an opportunity to escape and hit him with the head with the golden Katana, likely knocking him out. She hid afterwards, and when Leon came to he began disposing of evidence. He took the door down with the toolbox, which Maizono couldn't have known about, and entered to wash himself off. But his shirt was stained, and the water bottle had also had blood embed itself into the plastic. So he went to throw these away in the infirmary. But the infirmary was blocked off by the fence, so he had to throw them instead. A difficult throw that only a baseball player could reliably make. These are the events.. at least we think they are.. There's so little to go off of, but no other story adds up."

Leon looked terrified.

"You've got it all wrong.. it isn't me, you fuckin idiot! Like i'd kill someone! Yea right!"

Monokuma finally opened his mouth.

"Pupupu! I'm getting tired of waiting! Are we done here? I believe we are! I think it's vote time! On the podium infront of you, there is a lever to help you vote for whomever you think the blackened is! Cast your votes! But beee careful.. all of your fates hinge on this vote!"

Leon spoke up. "Hey! Hold on! Not yet! We need to talk more!"

Monokuma laughed. "I make the rules 'round here! I'm sick of waiting! There's nothing left to talk about anyway, so you better all make the right guess!"

Tension filled the air. But in the end.. the votes came in.

"Hohoho! We had some dissent! Leon just barely edges out the vote and wins by a margin of two! The others were all in favor of Maizono. But fortunately.." he laughed. "The majority made the correct choice! Leon Kuwata, the ultimate baseball star is responsible for Asahina's death. In part thanks to a very devious plot by our very own Ultimate Pop Sensation! Wonderful job detectives. You all managed to piece together the events by following the bread crumb trail. I've prepared a very special execution for you, Ultimate Baseball star. Come with me!"

"What?! No this.. this can't be happening, there's no wa-"

He was dragged off with a rope around his neck. They were at some sort of baseball field. An army of baseball machines surrounded Leon, who had been secured to a post of some sort. Monokuma held a remote control in his hand, and he pressed the button. Thousands of baseballs bludgeoned Leon. Within minutes he was no longer recognizable as the Kuwata the students had knew. He.. was dead. Leon was dead. Shock filled the air, nobody spoke a word until Monokuma blurted out in his usual sadistic demeanor.

"Bwahaha! That one was good, right guys? Cmon, I go through all this trouble and you'd think someone had died in here. Well, I guess someone did die, hahaha!"

And with that, the first class trial had formally come to an end. Grim expressions were shared across the faces of the students there. They had just watched Leon Kuwata die, the man who killed Asahina as a result of a freak accident. And yet.. neither of them would've died if it weren't for the girl who planned everything out to save her own skin. All of the students knew that, several of them had been shooting her piercing glances even during the trial after her plot had been revealed. Yet strangely, after watching Kuwata die infront of him, Sayaka herself didn't feel all that upset. At least not as upset as she usually would have.

Was it just from the adrenaline? Had she not had time to sort out her emotions? Who knows. But in this moment, as the other students grieved? She just felt empty. Devoid of emotion, an exceptionally rare feeling for her. In fact, it was a feeling she hadn't ever felt before. She had been so upset and guilt ridden during the trial, yet now it had all seemed to just.. vanish. After the initial reactions, which mostly consisted muffled cries of some of the more emotional students and the angry mumbles of some of the more macho students had come to a conclusion, she found herself being confronted from all sides by the remaining survivors.

"Why would you d-do something so horrible?" Chihiro cried out to her through tears. Wiping her eyes, she tried to look into Maizono's empty eyes. "Why... Sayaka... why?"

"You fuckin' punk. You go out and get two people killed and even tried to set Makoto up for the crime? The hell's wrong with you?!" grumbled Oowada, a piercing anger filling his eyes.

"Hmph. Looks like the precident's finally been set and the game's really getting started now. Upsetting that the floodgates were opened thanks to a failed plot." Togami sneered at her, before continuing. "Well, the plan wasn't so bad. More the pathetic execution of it was what doomed you, you might've succeeded if not for that.."

"We were supposed to band together and support eachother Maizono!" Ishimaru bellowed angrily, despite the light tears coming out of his eyes. "You will never be forgiven!"

Maizono's eyes closed, but the blank look on her face never left it as she continued to be verbally bombarded by just about every other student in the room. After some time passed and everyone had ceased speaking, she finally replied in her usual soft voice. There wasn't a trace of malice, sadness, or any unique identifier in her words. A simple reply, one that almost felt as if it were intentionally designed to twist the knife even further to the other students with how much care it seemed to lack.

"Think what you will of me."

A most unexpected response. Some whispers, insults, and other such reactions spread throughout the students before finally one voice overpowered the rest.

"She's fucking crazy!" spoke Yasuhiro. "Do you even feel a little bad over what you did?!"

"Does it matter?"

"What the hell does that mean?!" His voice began to raise at her. "You're a nutcase!"

"I asked you a question. And the answer to that question.. is no." Sayaka adjusted herself gaze directly into Yasuhiro's eyes. "Nothing I say right now matters. None of you would ever understand the reason for why I did what I did. I could explain it many times over, and none of you would understand." She paused briefly amidst more rumblings in the crowd, before continuing. "So it's pointless. Think what you will of me."

All that followed this statement was silence. It almost felt like the conversation had run its course, just as quickly as it had come. The expressions that you'd expect covered the students faces. Kyoko's held it's usual firm look, Celes and Togami's faces shared light smiles on them, the rest of the looks in the room were mostly that of despair varying anywhere from simple frowns to crying. The crushing silence remained in place, until someone stepped up to the front and looked Maizono dead in the eyes. It was Makoto Naegi.

"Why?" He peeped out through a torrent of tears. It was all he could muster out of his voice.

The moment he had said that, the guilt finally came crashing down on Maizono. After what he had done for her, and how she betray-

'Nope. Not happening again.' she cut off her brain, not letting it reach the conclusion of that thought.

It took all of her willpower to keep her away from a complete breakdown infront of everyone. She wasn't going to let that happen. None of them could see her emotions, she didn't want that anymore. She was tired of being the weak one who always cried. That's what she told herself, but the dam of tears was beginning to crack and fall apart at the seams and it wouldn't take much more to push it over.

"It... had to be done." Maizono barely managed to find any words to reply to him with, and it took just about all she could handle to even squeak those words out. But she couldn't just leave things there. "I... understand if you hate me now Makoto. I'm sorry." She turned her back away from him. In that moment, the brief feeling of apathy she had carried previously was gone without a trace. Seeing Makoto's big green eyes look so betrayed. It.. it really broke her heart. To Makoto, her turning away had probably looked like a sign of apathy. In reality? The floodgates had started tearing up at the seams, but she couldn't show weakness right now. Not now.

'I can't.'

To Makoto, it had probably looked like a sign of apathy. The real reason? The tears that Maizono couldn't hold back any longer slowly streaming down her face.

A/N: Yeah so remember what I said about the last chapter being really hard to figure out where to go from at times? This one took it to a whole new level. Honestly after this I really gained a new level of respect for just how difficult writing a consistent trial is. It's a daunting endeavor and really just shows how much skill the ones in the game must've taken to write as well. Makoto as a character has also grown on me a lot, I've started to truly realize how integral having a positive leading presence is amidst the situation that our cast has found themselves in. At first I actually sort of had a dislike for Makoto, but over time he has definitely grown on me and I'd like to do his character (along with the rest) the most justice that I know how to.