AN: It's the time for the first trial! Things are going to be moving quicker after this point but there's still plenty left to happen. Thanks to all of you who are taking the time to read this, and now time for the trial!
Day 15, 1120 Hours, the Trial Room
John looked around the room. It was it was…
Either a tribute to Amelia or mocking her.
The room was full of movie posters featuring the actress, others also, but the ones that did feature her had her face crossed out in red. All the other actors throughout the posters had their heads replaced with Monokuma's. The room beyond that was decorated with a ridiculous amount of velvet and featured a screen behind Monokuma, who had sat on a throne that was in a circle of podiums. They matched the room's overall theater décor, when John found the one with his name on it he had to pull down the main part which resembled a theater seat in the way that if he didn't constantly lean on it, it would snap back up.
Beyond the room itself, the other eye-catching thing was a portrait of Amelia that occupied what would have been her space. It had a blood red 'X' painted over the actress's face, a reminder of her death. John also took the moment to note the order of podiums.
To the left of Monokuma was Mary, followed by Jane, Alexander, the portrait of Amelia, Perdita, Louise, Rowland, Billy, Wilbur, Barry, Adam, and Chloe to John's right, followed by Paris on his left finishing with Atsuko and Ferris directly to Monokuma's right.
Shi-ru was standing off to one side by a complex machine that resembled a projector to fit in with the overall theme of the room.
"Okay you stupid bastards!" Monokuma said from his throne, "The purpose of this trial is to determine which one of you is the culprit who has blackened their name with murder! If you pick the blackened student they will be promptly punished, but if you pick anyone else, everyone but the blackened will be punished!" Monokuma said, giggling, "The trial goes until you all call for a vote or I say you're too damn boring!"
With that, the bear leaned back and began eating honey from a jar he pulled out from under the throne he was sitting on.
On the screen the words 'First Trial Start!' appeared and the screen focused in on Alexander who began to speak.
"I believe a simple recap of the basic situation; Citizen Amelia was discovered with her skull smashed open at ten sixteen by John, Ferris, and Atsuko. According to Ferris, they knew someone had died when he discovered his medication had been returned."
"I can say she was dead long before they found her," Louise said, the screen focusing on her, "I was able to figure out that she died sometime around eight last night. She also had several defense wounds along with the wounds inflicted by the culprit, the bruise to her chest and her fractured skull."
"The killer experienced regret after he finished killing her, and tried to pose her in a more peaceful pose," Billy said, "I believe it was our person on psychotics suffering a metal break."
"Then can we rule out those who were medicated and admitted it?" Atsuko asked.
"Only Ferris," Rowland said, "He was completely self-medicated, the rest could have been taking a combination of medications. It also doesn't really help since Ferris was suffering such major body failure he would have been unable to exert the force required to knock Amelia to the ground."
"Saved from suspicion by my failing organs? Kind of…ironic, I love it!" Ferris said, "But I also had an alibi, John, Paris, and Atsuko were all rooming with me because we couldn't find Atsuko's room key without an invasive search!"
"But we all fell asleep and can't really vouch for each other," John said.
Ferris blinked, but shrugged saying, "You're right, good show pointing it out, but, there was another way we saw that we hadn't left the room."
John paused for a moment trying to think of what Ferris was talking about when he realized it.
"When we first woke up Shi-ru handed us that hangover cure and he gave one to each of us there, excluding you," John stated after a second.
"Bingo, that's five people cleared in the first few minutes I say that's a good start," Ferris said.
"Wait, five?" Jane asked.
"I believe he is referring to the fact that Amelia probably didn't commit suicide," Adam boomed in his loud voice.
There was a moment as people regained their hearing before Paris spoke.
"W-well? W-what were t-the rest o-of you doing?"
Chloe shrugged, before saying, "I went directly to my room, whatever Monokuma had slipped into the punch wasn't effecting me much but I figured I'd rather not chance running into any of you drunk."
"Mary had lost consciousness by the time I reached her room," Rowland said, "I set her on her bed and locked her in, leaving the key beside her before going to bed myself."
"Wait, how did you get my key?" Mary asked, eyeing the genius suspiciously.
"He asked you for it and you flashed all of us getting it," Ferris said when Rowland didn't respond right away.
As Rowland mumbled something about looking for the right words, Mary turned pink before saying, "Who exactly is us?"
"Me, Rowland, and John, and Atsuko was semiconscious at the time so we'll throw her in for good measure," Ferris responded.
Mary made a series of sounds while Rowland looked towards the posters and John avoided meeting anyone's eyes.
"What? We all looked away when we realized what she was doing, we have class," said Ferris.
"Class? You?" Louise said, "You have as much class as an empty school, I have seen you lick evidence."
Ferris shrugged, ignoring the strange looks he received.
"We have diverged from the important topic," Alexander said, trying to regain order.
"Yes! We must solve this case posthaste lest the bear lose interest," Adam said.
"I went to bed," said Wilbur.
"As did I," said Perdita.
"I was talking to the Shi-ru at the store when she died," said Louise.
"Can we trust him?" asked Perdita, "Or is he not allowed to say, or have you found some way to ally him to yourself in hopes of escape?"
"Listen Pitchy," Shi-ru said from his position by the projector machine, "I am not on the side of the culprit, and much like how Monokuma cannot lie, I can't either, so yes, she was there."
Perdita bristled at the penguin's dismissive tone, while Jane spoke out.
"Amelia escorted me to my room, the alcohol and my allergies were killing me, we got there around seven, she asked if I needed her to stay, b-but I told her to help someone else, that I would be fine, I could have stopped this if I had said yes."
"Or sent someone else to their death," Rowland said, causing Jane to burst into tears.
"Rowland," Mary said her face in her hands.
"Not helpful, yes," was his response.
"If it's any help, I was eating a sandwich around the time she died," Barry said in his lazy tone.
"I too was in the cafeteria around the time of her death," Adam boomed confidence written across his features.
"No, you two were not there at the time."
Heads turned to Alexander, who was leaning forward slightly onto his podium.
"I too was in the cafeteria, but you too left before the time of death, I went to my room after I had failed to clear my head with coffee which was my purpose in being there."
"So, John, Paris, Ferris, Atsuko, and Mary couldn't have done it? Mary did receive her glass thing when we woke her up right?" said Jane, Rowland nodding yes to her question, "Can we eliminate some more people?"
"The wounds were made by someone of her height," Louise offered, "going off the spur of the moment kill idea, that would mean Ferris, Atsuko, and I would be too short and Rowland and Chloe would be too tall."
"Right, that's three more people cleared," Ferris said.
"Wait, Bill never gave an account of his actions," Adam said, pointing at the analyst.
"I wasn't doing anything," was Billy's response.
The two began to argue, Alexander trying to diffuse the situation as it escalated. After a few minutes Chloe yelled over them to silence them. Causing the room to fall silent.
"C-can we r-run through the evi-evidence again?" Paris asked.
"Okay," Rowland said, "Ferris has been cleared on multiple accounts; John was cleared because his location was confirmed for the entire night along with Paris and Mary. Atsuko and Louise were both cleared on accountant of being short while Chloe and I are cleared because of our excessive height. It was not suicide as Amelia would not have been able to beat herself to death in such a way. That leaves seven suspects: Barry, Billy, Adam, Jane, Perdita, Alexander, and Wilbur."
"Shit," Ferris said, "I'm all out of evidence."
"We could try and narrow it down by the medications?" Atsuko asked.
"We would have to rely on Billy and he could be the culprit, he is especially suspicious since he refuses to tell us what he was doing last night," Adam said.
"And you aren't for lying? Barry is just forgetful but you have been acting off," Billy said, almost causing another argument.
"Was there anyone taking multiple medications?" Atsuko suddenly asked Shi-ru.
"Try Monokuma, I've helped all I can," was the penguin's response.
"And I'm more than happy to tell that no one was taking multiple medications!" Monokuma said from his chair.
There was a moment of silence before Rowland said, "Revealing your weakness might seem large but it will help convince us that you are not the one to blame."
"Jane is out, and Wilbur, you were on the blood thickener right?" John asked.
Jane nodded while Wilbur stiffened and gave a terse nod. There was a moment of silence before Perdita sighed and admitted, "The needle was mine."
Again the room fell silent, Monokuma leaning forward in expectation.
"How come you weren't showing more signs of withdrawal?" Billy asked after a second.
"Because the bear only cleaned out the cabinets, I simply stored some outside of the bathroom," the vocalist said in a patronizing tone.
John saw Paris and a few others bristle, but Rowland was once again listing suspects.
"Assuming it was the antipsychotics taker, which leaves Billy, Barry, Adam, and Alexander."
"I- don't have anything else," Atsuko said after a second.
"I-I d-didn't really find anything important," said Paris.
"I had a sandwich," Barry offered again.
"Tch, is this the best you all can do?" Perdita said scornfully.
"Hey, you haven't really been doing anything!" Jane said angrily, "You've just been sitting there while our lives are on the line!"
"I told you my greatest secret did I not? That is not nothing."
"Are you kidding? That's all you have?"
"I at least spent my time looking for evidence; you wasted our time crying if Monokuma is to be believed."
"And I'm getting bored," Monokuma said lazily from his throne, "you bastards better have a break through soon or it's voting time."
"Holy- quick! Someone's got to have some evidence; we can't just take a wild guess here!" Atsuko said.
"I say Billy did it! He refuses to tell us the truth about where he was last night!" Adam yelled.
"I don't remember, and you flat out lied!" Billy retorted.
"HA! Memory loss? Really? Rowland! Would memory loss accord with a psychotic break?"
John tried to focus. There had to be something they were missing. They would all die if there wasn't. He could hear them going back through the evidence, bringing more people into the pool of suspects ignoring the evidence they had as the argument caused order to break down. John could see Monokuma raising a gavel, he could tell that time was running out, what had they missed?
Epiphany hit John like a train.
"Louise! Quick! Was Amelia missing a fingernail?"
Monokuma froze the gavel in the air as everyone fell silent to look at John.
"No," the flustered girl responded after a second, "there was some bruising but she had all her nails."
John closed his eyes in relief, before explaining, "When I found the book, a fingernail fell off the cover, I assumed it was Amelia's especially since you said she had defensive wounds, but a book is unlikely to rip out a fingernail when you're being bludgeoned, but if you're the one swinging it…"
John trailed off, before showing his hands to the group saying, "I have all my nails."
Slowly, everyone around the room showed their hands and proved they had all their nails. All except Adam.
"Someone could have received fake nails from Shi-ru or brought them with," the thespian said when it came to be just him, "I refuse to move forward on such shoddy evidence!"
"Everyone else has shown us their hands, you can as well," John countered.
"Really? And if I refuse?"
"Then we'll know it was you."
"Ha, then why isn't Billy suspicious? He refused to recount his whereabouts? Why isn't he still suspicious?"
"He admitted he forgot-."
"I also found him passed out in the gym," Perdita cut in, "And when I woke him up the penguin brought him that fizzy drink."
"Yes, my famous hangover cure," said Monokuma from his throne, glaring at Shi-ru who muttered that it was his cure.
Adam remained composed as a few spluttered at Perdita's reveal.
"What? I never said I was out of information, I just wanted to see if it could be solved without it, and I'm sure Adam appreciates the dramatic revelation," the vocalist said with a condescending smile.
Adam still refused to budge, prompting Chloe to move towards the thespian. Adam began to move away but was suddenly tackled by Shi-ru. The penguin quickly moved to his arm, inspecting it before jumping off onto Adam's podium.
"He's missing a nail," Shi-ru stated.
Adam moved back to his podium, saying, "Alright, but that doesn't prove anything, I could have lost that nail earlier or the culprit hid their missing nail some other way! We still haven't cleared Barry's and Alexander's names!"
"I don't think you're convincing anyone, but you really are a great actor, I could believe it if the evidence didn't run against you," said Ferris.
"Ah, have you all made your choices? To vote just tap the picture of the person you believe to have committed the crime!" Monokuma said straightening up.
John hovered for a moment over the picture of Adam as the rest of the class cast their votes. Adam seemed the most likely, but they still hadn't completely cleared Barry or Alexander. John believed Alexander wouldn't do it, and Barry was too easy going to but, no. Adam had panicked when the motive had been announced and had acted differently at first while Alexander and Barry never acted different.
John voted for Adam.
Once the final vote was cast the floor in the center of the podium ring came apart revealing a giant roulette wheel with a space in front of each person. A ball with Monokuma's face on it was sent spinning around the wheel, slowly coming to rest in front of Adam accompanied with fanfare.
"Congratulations! You bastards got it right, Adam Dakota, the Ultimate Thespian, did kill Amelia Ivanov! Not only correct, but unanimous as well!" Monokuma said after the fanfare had finished.
Adam sighed, leaning forward on to his podium. "I, am sorry," he said.
Silence met his statement as he continued to speak.
"I had started to suffer a breakdown when Amelia came across me, she followed me when I tried to lose her, using Barry to delay her by shoving him into her path. I fled into the library finally snapping when she confronted me, all I could think was how dare she believe she was superior, I fictions thought I know. I pushed her into the shelf, her shoe breaking and I grabbed the book and, well, we all heard John break down what happened after that."
The silence after he finished was suffocating.
Jane finally said, "Amelia would for-."
"But she can't," Adam said, finally straightening out, "I have no need for your forgiveness, for I am damned now, I have nothing to offer but death for atonement. My regret is to be the first to be caught up in this hellish game."
As the thespian fell silent once again, Monokuma giggled before raising his gavel once again saying, "Well, it's Punishment Time now!"
The animatronic bear brought the gavel down onto a big red button, triggering an animation that appeared on the lower half of the button and the massive screen where the sprite version of Adam was dragged away by a sprite of Monokuma with the words Adam Dakota has been found guilty, Punishment commencing… appearing above the animation.
Suddenly a door opened behind Adam and several chains flew out, binding the thespian and dragging him down the hallway, leaving the other students to rush after him. When they reached the end, Adam was splayed so his body formed a star atop a stage.
Shooting Star
A metal frame shaped like a five pointed star snapped around the thespian. He was quickly covered by metal sheets, silencing any sound he might have made as the star was attached to what looked like a pair of engines. They roared to life a second later, launching the star through an opening up into the night sky.
Inside the star, Adam could feel the pressure decreasing as well as the oxygen content of the air. The walls of the star were slightly see-through, and he could see the landscape. As more of the earth became visible, Adam was struck by its beauty, before the star began its reentry into the atmosphere. The heat was quickly becoming unbearable, and Adam could smell his flesh cooking, feel his eyes boiling, his brain frying.
Back on the ground, John had been distracted by the fact that it was now night, but quickly returned his focus to a gleaming dot that was rapidly approaching. Blast shields appeared around the room as the star containing Adam crashed to earth landing upon the stage. As the shields retracted, smoke prevented the wreckage from being seen and as it finally cleared the star was revealed, still intact. Very slowly, the star opened, allowing Adam's bones to clatter out along with the smell of vaporized flesh. John could see patches of melted metal on the skull that had been the thespian's piercings, fused to the skull by the extreme heat of reentry.
After a few minutes of the wreckage with Adam's skeleton in plain view, a pair of curtains fell across the stage. Monokuma bounded out dressed in formal suit before saying, "And that was the famous Adam Dakota! A rising star in the theater world, you have all just had a front row seat to his return to earth!"
"That was not a punishment," Rowland said after a moment, "that was a show."
John looked around at his fellow classmates, and was met with horrified looks.
"He didn't deserve that," he heard Jane gasp, "He deserved punishment but not that."
"Upupupu," Monokuma laughed, "You all should get to bed, it's already nighttime!"
As the others did their best to return to the now open elevator, John noticed that a few were sitting stunned. Paris was one of them. John walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, the soccer player not reacting as he guided her to the elevator. As the rest of the students entered in various states of shock, Shi-ru returned to the crank and began moving the elevator up again.
The ride up was like the ride down, silent. The silence reigned as the students returned to their dorms, no one, not even Ferris attempting to speak. Reaching Paris's door, John prompted her to unlock it and he pushed her in.
"See you tomorrow," he said.
Paris stopped, before saying, "Yeah, tomorrow."
She then closed the door, leaving John to return to his dorm and fall into a fitful sleep.