"Oh my God, you have gotto be kidding me!" Shinobu threw her hands in the air. "Is everybody the culprit today?!"
"N-no, no! Of course not! Don't be dumb!" Kurumi scoffed, pointing a warning finger at Miiko. This time, though, Haruna wasn't the only one who heard her voice falter. Even more importantly, they had a confession from Miiko. The veracity was still in the air, of course, but that was why the students wanted to pursue it. And Kurumi's attempts at silencing Miiko only made it even more intriguing to them.
"I'm sorry, Kurumi!" Miiko's eyes were sad as she silently pled for her friend's forgiveness. Miiko didn't mean to give in so easily like that! I just panicked! I'm really sorry for all the trouble Miiko caused you. Thanks for all your help though…
"Wh-what…? What are you apologizing for?!" Kurumi tried to scoff. "You didn't do anything wrong, so… why are you apologizing?!"
Miiko, meanwhile, turned her regretful green eyes on the others. "It all started when we were making that prank for Haruna," she said. "Miiko wanted to make a prank for Kurumi too!" She was only further encouraged when she found the fourth floor.
For better or worse, it was chance alone that Miiko and Yuka passed like ships in the night, and none of them could say for sure who was there first. What Miiko could confirm, though, was that while Yuka was in the darkroom, she had stumbled upon a glass display case of bugs around the world. Aoi visibly shuddered and flinched when Miiko mentioned this.
Thanks to her Ultimate Linguist Talent, Miiko was able to read the instructions on the case that detailed how to open it, and there was also a note mentioning a case of snakes and other reptiles just farther down the hall. Miiko took her fill for Haruna's prank, and she would be back for more in Kurumi's. Although Haruna lied about rope tag, she was actually right that some of the rope came from the fourth floor. That was why Miiko was able to build the trap that she did. When that much rope was required, it took more than one storage closet to find enough.
That was also why, when Haruna first used the rope tag lie, Miiko panicked. Haruna knew she was lying, so what was she doing?! Thrown off guard, Miiko's composure crumbled, and although Haruna wasn't expecting it, she got the confession she was fishing for.
"Miiko is sorry!" The Ultimate Linguist apologized to both of her unit-mates.
"God damn it, Chairman!" Kurumi sighed, tired and angry.
"Kurumi!" Haruna snapped, hands flying to her hips. "If you hadn't acted so suspiciously, I wouldn't have needed to corner you like that!" Her gaze turned rueful as she turned to Miiko. "I genuinely had no idea…"
"No, Miiko understands," Miiko shook her head with a sad smile, then she turned to Kurumi. "You don't have to lie for me anymore…"
Bow before the Princess of Pranks! "Oh, nonsense! Nonsense!" Kurumi scoffed, throwing her hands in the air before crossing them and closing her eyes with a disgusted, disdainful pout. "I'm not wrong, I'm NOT! I am the Ultimate Prankster, and what I say about pranks goes! Someone was tampering with Miiko's prank, I'm telling ya! And the last thing we need is to get distracted from that!"
"You're one to talk!" Muni sneered.
"Besides, Kurumi, you really have no evidence that actually supports your claim about the rope trap belonging to you," Haruna interjected, preparing to cross verbal swords with her. She didn't want to, but this was getting out of hand. Was Kurumi not aware that if they voted incorrectly, they would die? Even if she was merely attempting to protect Miiko, as noble as it was, it could cost everyone everything!
Although Miiko did not confirm it directly, that was why she confessed. She didn't like seeing Kurumi being yelled at because of her, and as the whole class discussed in the first nonstop debate, there was no reward for protecting a killer. Regardless of intent, guilty was guilty, and if anyone was led astray … Miiko doesn't want anyone getting hurt because of her anymore!
Kurumi, however, wouldn't back down, so their little showdown began. "I'M NOT WRONG! Miiko is innocent! She's no coldblooded killer!"
"But she confessed!" Haruna sighed, offering up her first rebuttal. "Besides, accidents can happen!"
"Accidents?!" Kurumi scoffed. "Listen, Chairman, don't you remember what she said earlier? That trap was made for me! Would she really design a death trap for me? Come on!"
"But if we assume that she accidentally—" Haruna began, but Kurumi didn't let her finish.
"If it should've been escapable for me, it should've been escapable for Nagisa!" The Ultimate Prankster unwittingly gave Haruna the answer.
It is my duty to unveil the truth! "No, that's wrong!" Haruna cut Kurumi off. "I think I'm finally starting to see the truth, Kurumi…" Haruna smiled grimly at the other girl. "Miiko tried to copy your mechanical style in her prank—that's even what you used to claim that her trap was yours, it was similar to the one you made for me—but because she isn't you, she made a mistake.
"You said before that the hooks should've broken beneath Nagisa's weight at the slightest touch, but who is to say that she didn't struggle to free herself only to die right before she was out? Maybe the reason the hooks gave away so easily was because by the time Aoi and Hiiro went to untangle her, all those hours of her weight against them finally strained them far enough?"
It was a thought so desolate that some of them immediately disregarded it as pure fantasy, but although it was pure speculation, it wasn't an impossible reality. Miiko was no killer, but accidents happened. If the prank occurred the way she wanted it to, even if something went wrong, she would've been right there to help Kurumi out. Because Nagisa fell into the trap when no one was around, though…
ooo
"Stupid!" Kurumi interrupted. "Stupidstupidstupidstupid! Why do you guys keep accusing her?! She would never kill anyone!"
"I'm sorry, Kurumi," Miiko sighed, gazing sadly at Kurumi. "It was supposed to be a fun surprise…"
"It was!" Kurumi argued. "Someone else is framing you! Just give me a little more time, and I'm sure I can sus 'em out!"
Saki managed to catch Haruna's gaze through the chaos. Shall I…? she asked silently. Haruna nodded once. If Kurumi wouldn't listen to her or Miiko, then maybe someone else could talk some sense into her. And because Kurumi was grasping at straws now, even Saki could disprove her claims again. It was time for the final battle, and both sides were armed and ready.
"Miiko didn't do this. She designed it for me. So if I could escape it, Nagisa should've been able to as well!"
Saki imagined herself shooting through every single statement, waiting for the time Kurumi would give her the one with the final weak point.
"There's no way she did it wrong either. She copied me, the Ultimate Prankster!"
At last, an answer was formulating in Saki's mind, Kurumi again unwittingly handing her the ammo. She was trying to claim that because Miiko copied her style, it was proof that someone else sabotaged the prank and turned it deadly. The argument was flimsy at best, but obvious rebuttal that Miiko could've just copied something wrong aside, something in what Miiko told them earlier gave them the answer.
"So again, I'm telling you, she's being framed! Someone else hijacked our prank and is blaming us!" Kurumi continued, defiant, trying to deflect everything Saki said. She imagined herself in her own form of armor, a jester's outfit that was purple and white, checker-patterned. But as Saki continued to shoot through her every argument, more and more of her armor fell off. The jester hat fell, bells shattering. The ruffled collar tore. The pompous outfit and shiny fabric tore and became dirt and frayed. Soon, Saki was lined up and poised for the final strike, the killing blow.
"Kurumi, the only ones who could've known about the prank are the victim and creator. Anyone else who found out was either told, or would've had to stumble upon it and not question it or the report the body. The reason it only could've been you, Nagisa, and Miiko is because it was… Miiko's extra secret prank."
The wordplay was perfect. It was Miiko's extra secret prank for Kurumi, and it was a prank so secret that even the Ultimate Prankster didn't know about it until Miiko told her outright. That was the proof of why it couldn't have been sabotaged, no one else could've known about it, or else they would've triggered it and died, or reported it, or found a body and reported that. And the reason they were sure it was Miiko's prank rather than Kurumi's was that aside from Miiko's confession, as Kurumi had said far too many times, she was the Ultimate Prankster. She wouldn't mess up a prank, especially one so allegedly elementary. That was only a lie she cooked up to try to protect Miiko, unfortunately…
Kurumi's expression shattered. Her heart shattered. Her very last argument shattered. Her world, her future, her friendships… Everything shattered, bursting open like glass smashed on the ground. Kurumi's face contorted in horror and she silently cursed Miiko. If that girl hadn't been so damn kind and caring, she could've kept her mouth shut and given Kurumi time to figure out what went wrong! Because if there was one thing Kurumi was truly sure of, the trap really was hijacked. For better or worse, though, she would never be able to convince the others of that now.
ooo
"I'm sorry, Miiko, but if you would allow me… I think I can provide a closing argument," Saki said slowly, solemnly. "Would it be all right if I… walked you through it? I know I can't quite hold your hand, but… it's the next best thing…" She winced. How stupid she sounded.
"O-o-ok…!" Miiko sniffled, gripping her podium railing as she wept. Saki is being so nice to be! She shouldn't be!
"Oh, Saki, Miiko!" Noa whimpered as well. Kurumi, meanwhile, said nothing, face dark and unreadable as she looked down, hugging herself. Saki struggled not to look at her as she cleared her throat and did her best to gather what little courage she had left.
"It all began several days ago, when Rinku suggested a dinner party for all of us to help us trust one another again. The dinner party itself was wonderful! Everyone had so much fun and such good food! But afterward, little did we know that tragedy was lurking among us. We spread out across the first floor as we finished eating and cleaning, and Kurumi and Miiko decided to play a prank on Haruna. While Kurumi built the trap, Miiko searched the rest of the floor for scary decorations to add to it. That was how she discovered that one of the doors to the fourth floor was open.
"Yuka herself made the same discovery, though she and Miiko did not see one another at all during their time on the fourth floor. Instead, Miiko found a glass display case of insects from around the world. She pillaged them, as well as fake snakes and other reptiles, from a second display case further down the hall. It would not be the last time she went up there. Instead, the fourth floor and her secret knowledge of it inspired her to pull a prank on Kurumi. After their prank on Haruna was done, Miiko got to work, borrowing rope she also found from the fourth floor.
"She copied Kurumi's style in order to make the trap mobile, since she hadn't done any of the mechanical work herself in the trap for Haruna. It was this similarity that Kurumi would later use to claim Miiko's trap as her own. Unfortunately for both of them, Miiko wasn't able to copy it completely correctly, and in the time it took her to find Kurumi and lure her back to the site of the prank, Nagisa had wandered into it and died. I can only imagine the shock and terror Kurumi and Miiko felt when they returned to the site of Miiko's prank only to find Nagisa's dead body.
"Because it was only the two of them, though, they didn't trigger a Body Discovery Announcement, giving them the chance to hide the crime. Kurumi managed to convince Miiko to allow her to take credit for the trap in hopes of forcing a confession out of someone else who might've sabotaged the trap and turned it deadly. That was the plan, at least, but Haruna saw through it quickly. It's true that Monochio did not need to give a motive for this trial, because the culprit and her accidental accomplice already had big ones of their own!"
Saki slowly turned to Miiko, pointing at her dramatically. "Miiko! This crime was not orchestrated by you, but for you! Kurumi was willing to do anything to protect you, even lying on your behalf, risking everyone else's lives, convincing you to go along with it! But the one argument she could not overcome was why the trap would've failed if it was truly designed by her, since she is the Ultimate Prankster! The cruel irony, of course, is that this was the one prank she couldn't have known about because it was Miiko's extra secret prank!
"I'm sorry, I wish it didn't have to be this way, but… Miiko Takeshita! Ultimate Linguist! You're the only one who could've done it! That, I believe, is the truth of the case!" And with that, Saki closed her closing argument.
ooo
"Nyahahaha! Well done, Saki, well done!" Monochio clapped its paws excitedly, claws clacking together loudly.
Saki shivered in disgust at its praises while Miiko wept. "Ohh… Nagi, Hiiro, Shino… I'm so, so, sorry! Can any of you ever forgive me? I never meant to hurt anyone! Oh… Miiko is sorry!" She hiccupped and gasped into her hands as she hid her face in shame from the others.
"You have nothing to apologize for! It was an accident! Just a terrible, dreadful accident!" Kurumi wept with her. She reached out to hold the smaller girl again and Haruna leaned away so that Kurumi could reach her better. Miyu wept into her hands, shoulders shaking. The three survivors of RONDO looked equally pained, Hiiro rubbing Miyu's back while Aoi and Tsubaki held hands for comfort, right in front of Nagisa's death portrait. Their wish to see the culprit exposed was granted, but could they say that they were satisfied?
"Miiko never meant to hurt anyone! Not Nagisa! Not Lyrilily! Not RONDO! Not Peaky, or- or- or-!"
"Ohohoho! Such sweet, salty, savory, sorrowful despair!" Monochio interrupted, licking its lips as the time on the trial clock finally ran out. "I would love to revel in it forever, but… we've kept the audience at home waiting long enough! They want to see an execution!"
"Execution?!" Miiko whimpered, shrinking into herself as she looked up at the giant Headcatster in terror.
The rest of the class cried out as well. "No… No way you were serious about that?!"
"Listen, my family knows corporate law, and there's a huge difference between murder and manslaughter!"
"If you want her, you have to get through us!"
"Man, this is such BULLSHIT!"
"What if we just refuse to vote?!"
Monochio only shook its giant furry head happily. "Nope, uh-uh, sorry, no way Jose! That's not how this Killing Game works! Unless you want to join little Miss Miiko in her punishment, I suggested that you cast your votes and you cast them wisely!" It swished its tail, and every PheFo screen switched over to one containing a pixilated replica of the trial room. Of the 24 podiums, only Nagisa's was gray and crossed out. The class was asked to click on whichever pixilated version of themselves they thought was the culprit. Half a minute later, all the votes were in.
"All right, all right, all right!" Monochio cheered. "Let's see if you chose correctly!" It purred out a drum roll, using its tail to accentuate the sound. Then the PheFo screens zoomed in on… Miiko's icon.
The screen lit up with confetti, and balloons fell from the top while the word "CORRECT" appeared in big, bold, green letters.