Noa's face was blissful and dreamy, eyes spiraling with madness. "Oh, kawaii, kawaii, kawaiiii…!" she giggled, clutching her face. "The world is just so full of cute!" Then, faster than the blink of an eye, her expression morphed into one of pure disgust and disdain. "No. It was. Now, it is nothing but ugliness! Hideous, horrible, terrible ugliness, and it must be… purged!"

"Purged?!" It was seldom a good thing when that word was used in casual conversation, and even less good when it was a class trial.

"If you're referring to the victims," Tsubaki gripped the railing of her podium, barely controlling her anger, "there is nothing ugly about Aoi!"

ALTER-EGO raised his eyebrows while Hiiro hid her mouth behind her hand and made a noise that sounded like a mix of a giggle, squeal, cough, and polite clearing of her throat. Tsubaki released the railing immediately, recoiling in embarrassment.

Noa, meanwhile, replied evenly, tone and temper switching back to that of someone with civility. "I concur, but alas, I was not… of sound mind… at the time." Her face was rueful. She almost seemed genuinely apologetic and regretful. "In the beginning, I was thinking in… admittedly… one-dimensional terms… True beauty and ugliness run far deeper than skin. But at first… Well, you cannot deny, Aoi isn't very conventionally cute." Noa smiled glibly, knowing that her words would inflame the trial room. She was not disappointed.

"WHAT?!" Both Tsubaki and ALTER-EGO were livid. Noa, however, already had her story prepared.

"But more than that… I think I sensed it before any of us fully understood…" Her eyes pierced ALTER-EGO's soul. "You were always hiding something, weren't you, Aoi?"

"I AM ALTER-EGO!" ALTER-EGO thundered, startling everyone but Noa.

"And yet Aoi is the one I tested," she said calmly. "But as the rest of you discerned before, she was far from the only one." Her eyes moved to Hiiro, then Ibuki's death portrait, then Esora, then Rei's death portrait.

"But why, Fukushima, WHY?!" Esora demanded. Now it was her turn to grip her podium railing, the wood coarse beneath her hands. "Why her? Why Rei?!" She was innocent! She didn't deserve any of that! She ESPECIALLY didn't deserve to lose an entire leg!

It was an image Esora knew she would never get out of her mind, no matter how long or short she lived. It should've been me. It should've been the reverse… She should've been the one who only lost a hand. Why, Noa, WHY?! Why an entire leg?!

"I tested her just as I tested Aoi. It is not my fault she did not survive," Noa replied coldly.

"Noa…" Towa asked at the same time, so softly that even Noa struggled to hear her. "Don't tell me… Did you go after Ibuki because of… Saki…?"

The trial room instantly went dead silent and even Noa felt her stomach pitch. "No," she finally said, but her voice was tight. "In fact, I intentionally avoided her in the name of avoiding that bias."

"Then how…? Why…?"

"What's with all these tests, already?!" Shinobu interrupted with a quiet snarl.

"That is why I allowed Aoi live," Noa nodded at Shinobu before turning to RONDO, as if expecting forgiveness. "In the beginning, I was indeed aiming to kill, to purge Ugliness from this world, but then it occurred to me, the reason Aoi and I crossed paths was because we'd both been in the academy. Whether it was fate or luck, we exited around the same time and location as well, and I realized that the reason she was fleeing the safety of the academy to return to the dangers of the forest was…" Her iridescent green eyes slowly slid to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki's hands and heart tightened.

"That level of self-sacrificial nobility…" Noa murmured. Now her gaze settled upon ALTER-EGO, but he shivered in disgust and annoyance, for although her eyes were focused on him, he could feel that she was searching for Aoi.

First off, fuck you for trying to ignore me! Second off, fuck you for trying to get close to Aoi!

"She provided another invaluable service," Noa continued, still looking at ALTER-EGO. "Were it not for her, I would not have seen the error of my ways. My biased thinking. As I have said before, true beauty and ugliness run far deeper than just the skin. I ought to have judged Aoi based on the merits of her heart, not her appearance, and so that is when and why I decided that rather than killing her, I would test her. If she lived, she proved her worth. If not… Oh, well." Noa shrugged callously.

After Noa had this epiphany, she had a second one. Chloroform! It didn't take her long to race back to the nurse's office, then the kitchens, then back outside. Even though it gave Aoi quite a head start, Noa had the advantage of planning and preparation. She stalked Aoi like a determined predator, and in the end, the Kawaii Hunter finally caught her prey.

The choice to take one of a pair of body parts was indeed symbolic, the representation of the sacrifice of Ugliness in the name of Cuteness. That was also how and why Noa was able to seemingly avoid the power of the mushrooms for so long. It wasn't avoidance; the decision to murder so methodically was part of her delusion. Then as Marika determined, all Noa had to do was sit back and let her Talent tell her what everyone was thinking and seeing, and then she manipulated herself in order to manipulate them. But the story wasn't done.

"What say you, Monochio?" Noa asked suddenly, tone prompt and professional as she turned to the Headcatster lounging in its hammock. "Will you tell me now why you prematurely triggered that BDA?"

"What? No! No more questions! Let's just hurry up and vote her out already!" Muni cried.

"Yeah. Cool motive and all, or whatever, but still murder," Shinobu agreed in deadpan.

"If I am entertained," Monochio replied, ignoring the others. Noa's expression betrayed nothing, but those closest to her leaned slightly away. Her eyes swept around the trial room once more, silently asking for a challenger. Towa's hands and eyes were glued to her podium railing.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry… To whom was she apologizing? She did not know. I'm just not strong enough to… to… to…

The truth sings clearly to me! Tsubaki raised her chin defiantly. "Noa! Here! I'll challenge you!"

"Ah! Tsubaki! Excellent!" Noa opened her arms and smiled at the vocalist. She was disappointed in Towa, but if it was a show Monochio wanted…

"Kawaii, kawaii, kawaiiii!"

Ok, so she's obsessed with cuteness, or whatever. That much is obvious.

"For you see, cute is to hope what despair is to ugliness."

And yet she was still ok with "purging" at least two of us?!

"And ohhhhh so many of you were all SOOOO ADORABLE! It broke my heart to see you here!"

I wonder… would she have stopped at just two…?

"But as the ugliness, the infection, began to grow and spread, well I… knew I simply had to do something!"

Hmmm… She's also claimed Ibuki as a victim. So how does the inside connect to the outside…?

"Hnngh! Kawaii, kawaii, kawaiiii!"

Knowing Noa's motive with the others, and the way she killed Ibuki…

Tsubaki thought back on all the evidence they'd discussed so far. The parts and pieces that once seemed unconnected slowly fell into place. They had enough evidence connecting the crimes committed outside to the crimes committed inside. It was where some of Noa's vast scientific knowledge would've been at its most useful, particularly chemistry and biology. For the victims outdoors, there was that chloroform. For Ibuki…

Oh my God… Tsubaki's eyes widened. A gas attack! If it was COP… "You were trying to kill the whole class, weren't you, Noa?"

ooo

The trial room reeled, students erupting into cries of horror and disbelief. Noa only gave the tiniest of nods to confirm that everything she'd said and done was true. What better way to test everyone fairly and evenly than a way that killed en masse, and required all of them to be in a similar proximity? It was fairer and faster than Noa individually tracking down every single classmate and coming up with increasingly complicated ways to "test" them. The Kawaii Hunter was just as pragmatic as she was strong and tenacious.

"You ought thank me!" Noa sniffed haughtily. "A mercy kill. I simply could not bear the thought of any of you sweet, adorable, precious, lil CUTIES suffering in this Hellhole of a Killing Game for even one single second longer. And even more, even better, it is I who shall bear the full weight and pain of the execution, not any of you." Her arms were open and her eyes were closed, tone and smile beatific.

Then, faster than the blink of an eye, her eyes opened, and they were spiraling again. She clutched her face, giggling madly. "This was a trial for us all!" she declared. "I trusted in Cuteness and Hope, that they would conquer Ugliness and Despair! I trusted that no matter which side—I or you—would emerge victorious, it would be the correct one, for if you defeat me fair and square, then it is I who deserves to die, not you! Ohhh, don't you get it?! There is nothing more important in life. Than. The. Cute!"

"Ohhh, kawaii, kawaii, kawaii!" Noa burst into peals of laughter and the others recoiled. Maybe it made sense to her, but to them, it was nothing but the ramblings of an obsessed madwoman. She was truly willing to die for this "cause"… Maybe she hadn't triumphed over the mushrooms as well as she thought. Sure, she was able to manipulate herself into manipulating others around her, but her decision to obey that compulsion at all may not have really been much of a decision at all.

"But now! If you'll allow me! I'll provide the closing argument!" Noa sing-songed. The others scowled at her in disgust, but as no one else wanted to do it, she was given free range to brag about her crimes as much as she wanted. It was evident by the look on her face, and the tone of her voice, that it was something she'd been dying to flex.

If this is to be my swan song, my last show, my final bow, my curtain call, then I'm going to enjoy the limelight for all that it's worth! It's time to make a sound, tell a tale, no one has ever heard!