Ok, I'm gonna start with an apology for this taking so long. I was having a lot of trouble actually coming up with ideas for this chapter and writing them coherently. Basically writer's block, but for a year. Anyways, I'm so happy that you guys are still enjoying this fic! I'm thinking I'll continue this through most of the game, or at least until I kill off Kuwata, because then the game would continue as normal (There is a chance that I might. Plum loves despair XD).

Now for the long-awaited confrontation of chapter 3!

"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready for another beee-eautiful day!"

As the usual morning announcement played, Naegi groggily sat up, brushing a stray lock of hair back into place. He finally mustered up the motivation to stand and flicked on the lights, finding that Kuwata was still asleep. Even though everyone was supposed to show up to breakfast, Naegi decided to leave him, thinking that the baseball player definitely needed some rest after last night. 'He might as well wake up on his own and come to breakfast on his own terms,' He thought. Ishimaru and the others would surely understand if he came to the meeting late, right? 'Let's hope.' Shutting the door quietly, Naegi made his way to the dining hall for breakfast.

Apparently he was early, as the only other students present were Ishimaru (who had, unsurprisingly, been first), Oogami, Asahina, and Fujisaki. The others slowly showed up as well, Sayaka arriving just a tad late. She blamed it on not sleeping well due to her fear last night, giving a small yawn as though to emphasize her point. The luckster avoided her gaze, not wanting to engage her just yet. He cared for her, he really did, but he was almost...afraid of her. It was not a thought he wanted to dwell on. He would pull her aside later to ask about last night. Then he would hopefully get the answers he wanted. Eventually, even Kuwata waltzed into the room, quickly making his way to sit with Naegi and Hagakure, who had arrived just moments earlier, not sparing Maizono a single glance. His fresh jacket (how many of those did he have?) covered the wound, but he still obviously winced when moving his arm. She appeared to have noticed his arrival, but didn't react in any way that was out of the ordinary.

Ishimaru suddenly calls for everyone to sit at the main table for their "meeting". They had to report on what they had found over the last few days-or rather, what they hadn't found. Apparently, not a single piece of evidence regarding an exit had been discovered, not counting the large steel hatch in the entrance hall. Everyone seemed to be getting more than a bit uncomfortable, the rowdier of the bunch voicing anger over their situation. Maizono was uncharacteristically quiet. She only spoke when Ishimaru asked for her account of the last few days. Otherwise, she hadn't said a word. She seemed to be looking pointedly away from Naegi's side of the table, focusing intently on Ishimaru's motivating speech. "Naegi!" Ishimaru's sharp call echoed through the room, drawing said luckster's attention away from Maizono and drawing a small gasp from him. "Please pay attention! This is very important! Now, where was I..."

After the meeting finally ended, Naegi trailed after Maizono, nerves nearly getting the best of him. However, he pushed through his anxiety, greeting her in as cherrfyl a manner as he could. "Hey Maizono!"

She turned, a soft smile gracing her face. Just as beautiful as ever. "Naegi! It's good to see you! How are you doing?" Her words sounded...forced. As though she were reading a script. It was subtle, but unsettling nonetheless. A grim look crossed his face, but he tried to seem nonchalant. He didn't want to scare her if she hadn't done anything.

"I-I'm good. And you?"

They had a short conversation comprised of relatively awkward small talk. As much as he wanted to bring up what happened to Kuwata, he was still afraid to upset her. 'Or is it that you don't want to find out the truth?' he thought. 'You don't want to know if she really brought herself to hurt someone.' After a moment of simply standing in silence, Maizono finally turned to leave. Before she could, however, Naegi reached and gently grabbed her arm. "Wait, Maizono, I...I have a question for you."

She seemed puzzled, but didn't pull away. "What is it?"

He paused, taking a breath. 'Approach the topic lightly. Don't sound too suspicious. She probably doesn't even know what happened.' "How, uh, how late did you stay up last night? I know you were scared and didn't sleep too well."

Her expression settled, but her words held the faintest bit of skepticism. "About 1:00, then I finally managed to fall asleep. All that stress, you know."

"You sure?"

She gave Naegi a quizzical look. "I might be off by a few minutes, but I'm pretty sure, Naegi. Why? Is something wrong?"

He nearly breathed a sigh of relief at the good answer. He didn't want to assume she was lying, so he took her answer at face value as best he could. "Nothing's wrong, don't worry. I was just wondering. Wanted to make sure you were ok after how shaken you were."

She was definitely unsatisfied with that answer, raising a sculpted blue brow doubtfully. "Are you sure? After all that build-up? And you look kinda nervous. Are you sure?"

Geez, he really was bad at this whole subtlety thing, wasn't he? Now she was all worked up for (hopefully) no reason. He reassured her, making it seem like he had just been paranoid. She seemed to have bought it, and they parted ways, Naegi going to his room to think.

Thankfully, nothing had interrupted his reflection on the recent events. It seemed that Monokuma was satisfied with the bloodshed the night prior. After a while, the luckster had come to some conclusions.

Maizono couldn't be completely cleared of suspicion, no matter how much he wanted to believe she was innocent. There was no one to back up her claim except for Kuwata (and that was on shaky grounds) and...Monokuma. Monokuma had the camera footage from their bedrooms. But was Naegi willing to ask something as private as what happened in her room throughout the night? Well, it was technically his room, but she had stayed in there all night. If she found out, he'd be in serious trouble. He'd look like a total creep! She may tell the others and then they wouldn't trust him. Hell, Monokuma probably wouldn't tell him anyway! But he was so curious. Even though Maizono was probably completely innocent, he still had to know what happened to Kuwata and what had given him such a wound at such an arbitrary time.

For the time being, he chose to believe Kuwata's testimony. Even though his brain tried to reject the incredulous notion, he knew that wounds like that didn't just appear out of nowhere and that someone was to blame for this incident, be it Maizono or not. He didn't want to believe it, but it was the only option he currently had. He just hoped he was wrong.

Aaaaaaaaand there's chapter three! Sorry this is so short and, once again, I am so sorry I took so long on this (nearly a year, jeez!), but I had some awful writer's block. I finally found what got me stuck and fixed it. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter and keep a look out for chapter three! Remember, I'm completely open to suggestions and critiques, so don't be afraid to give me your two cents on anything I've done so far.