The class seemed to have reached a sound theory that Hikari was the blackened. She might not have killed Murphy, but whether or not she were his killer, the killing game's rules made the question irrelevant. All the class needed to find was Sister Hikari's killer, since she had died before Murphy, and Sayua had revealed that during the blackout, the killer could have gone down from the main deck to the shooter room through the window with a rope. At the time, Hikari had been at the main deck by herself, whence she had drawn in the most suspicion.
"Let's list the events out once more, assuming that Hikari is the killer," Sorao said. "First, Faye sent Hikari out to give Arashi some food and to get some sugar from the kitchen. Hikari took a while, and when she came back, she said she had some trouble looking for the sugar."
"That, however, was but a lie," Haruyuki said sternly. "Instead, she had taken the opportunity to Arashi's food with laxatives. When he left to go to the restroom, she stole the fireworks as part of her plan."
"Then Hikari searched for the music player, since I'd already taken it out of the shooter room…" Tanjiro said. "She went to the staff lounge and found it in the closet."
"And she skedaddled before Murphy went back from the restroom!" Sayua said. "She set up the scene in the shooter room later, and after starting the blackout, she used the rope trick to head down to the shooter room! And once Tanjiro and Sister Hikari entered and activated the music player, she pressed the button and killed the nun!"
"G-Go ahead… Say whatever you want..." Hikari said weakly. "Wh-Whatever I say, you'll still think I'm guilty…"
Haruyuki sighed, shaking his head and raising his shoulders. "I was hoping to see how you would respond to being proven to be the blackened… I thought you might fight back as part of your last attempt to persuade us of your innocence… and yet, you prove to be pitifuller than I could have imagined."
He then frowned as he put his hands in his pockets. "It's boring to see you accept your guilt ever so easily."
"Wow, Haruyuki… you sound a bit… unhappier than usual!" Kasumi said.
"For good reason, I'm afraid," Haruyuki said before he clicked his tongue. "This case involves two killings. I thought that I should see something special… but in the end, the killer had to be among the most unemotive and pitifullest person here. And the solution turns out to be so… rudimentary."
"'Rudimentary'? Please don't tell me you'd rather that this case's solution were complicated..." Tanjiro said.
"Eh, who cares about that creepy dude? He's only saying his creepy things as he usually does," Sayua said, raising a hand flippantly. "Now let's get on with the vote—"
"Wait, hold on!" Masashi interjected. "We shouldn't rush to the vote! We can't be sure that Hikari's the culprit!"
"Oh? And on what grounds do you base your objection?" Haruyuki asked as he and the others eyed him warily. "I see nothing else to talk about further."
"Y-Yeah, I think he's right, Sir Masashi!" Kumi said, also looking keen to end things. "I don't want to believe it… but we've already found who took Sister Hikari away from us!"
"Sorry, Kumi, but I don't think it's that simple," Masashi replied. "There's one part of the argument I think we should look into more."
Let's see… Masashi thought. There's really nothing to question about how Hikari could've climbed down to the shooter room… And I can't deny she could've laced Arashi's food with laxatives… So that leaves only one other thing.
"I want to talk about the part about how she supposedly went to the staff lounge," he continued. "You say that Hikari left the place before Murphy came back from the restroom, but I wonder whether that's true."
"What's there to doubt?" Sorao asked, opening up his arms. "She could've simply stridden into the room and left without anyone stopping her, couldn't she?"
"Still… Maybe we should go over it once more," he replied. "Just to make sure we haven't forgotten anything important."
Sayua let out a loud, derisive scoff. "What a waste of time that would be! Come on, you guys aren't earnestly thinking about it, are you?"
"But I must admit, I too wish to review it," Maiha said. "There's something about this that strikes me as odd… And besides, there's nothing wrong with checking on things again."
Sorao shrugged. "I'm pretty certain on who the killer is... so why not? A quick overview of things won't hurt at all."
"Tch! What a bunch of idiots you are..." Sayua muttered as she glanced away, appearing not to bother arguing to go forth to the vote anymore. She was, at the very least, louder than Haruyuki, who said nothing at all as he glanced at the others with a somewhat cold stare.
Nonstop Debate
"Well, Hikari was free until 8:05 PM," Sorao began. "She could have gone into the staff lounge."
"And no one saw her do so…" Kumi said.
"But are we certain that she left the lounge before Murphy came back?" Mari asked. "Isn't it possible that she was still inside?"
"If that is true," Tanjiro said, "then the music player had not been taken out of the lounge when Murphy came back."
"Well, it makes much more sense for her to have left," Sorao said.
"Before she went back to the dining room, she hid the fireworks and the music player somewhere," Maiha said.
"And after I was done searching the lower decks for the fireworks," Arashi said, "Hikari could've prepared the scene in the shooter room!"
Truth Bullet Chosen (Agree): Kasumi's Account
I agree with that!
"Tanjiro, I think you're on the right track," Masashi said. "There's proof that the music player was still in the closet at the time Murphy returned. I think Kasumi ought to explain it."
"Huh? Me?" Kasumi said, pointing at herself. "Oh, I get what you mean! Well, I was at the arcade at the time!"
"You were?" Maiha asked, sounding somewhat displeased. "This is the first I've heard of that!"
"Maybe if you hadn't gone out of your way to avoid her, you would've learned it from her," Mari pointed out.
Maiha grimaced as she crossed her arms. "Never mind that… Wretched thief, tell us what you know. How can you be so certain that the music player had not been taken out of the room?"
"Well, I heard it!" Kasumi answered with a blithe disposition. "Just before 8:00 PM, amid all the noise from the machines, I heard what sounded like a piano tune from the direction of the lounge!"
"A piano tune…" Faye muttered with widened eyes. "Was it… the same tune that the music player usually plays?"
"Now that I think about it… I'm pretty sure it was!" Kasumi said, nodding excitedly.
"And according to Monokuma, there's only one music player of that kind available," Masashi said. "So we can be sure that it's the very same music player involved in this case."
"B-But why did that thief manage to hear the noise in the first place?" Hikari said.
"If I were to wager a guess, I'd say the killer touched it," Masashi answered. "The music player automatically plays if touched on any of its sides. Thus, when the killer grabbed it, it played its tune."
"And as for why that tune disappeared shortly afterwards, I assume the killer lowered its volume to zero," Mari said, rubbing her chin. "I have a feeling the killer forgot to take that part of the player into account when taking it."
"Of course, I didn't know the tune was the music player's at the time," Kasumi added, "but even so, I still found it odd to hear it. So I kept my eye on the hallway and saw no one leaving the lounge. But right afterwards, Murphy came out of the restroom and rushed over to the lounge! After that, I headed up to the power room and spent some time by myself."
Tanjiro rubbed his chin. "From your account, we can see that the music player was inside the lounge... No one left the lounge afterwards, and Murphy headed inside. It follows that by that time…"
"The culprit had not left the lounge. Is that what you meant to say?" Haruyuki said calmly, despite his slight frown.
Masashi nodded. "So I don't think it's right to say that Hikari must've left the lounge right after getting the music player."
"I-I never went in there in the first place, I swear..." Hikari muttered, looking slightly less angry.
"Wait a minute!" It was Sayua, who frowned a great frown as she set one hand on her hip. "You're all relying on that thief chick's testimony, but how do we know that she simply didn't make that whole thing up?"
"Huh? Are you implying that I'm the one who killed Sister Hikari?!" Kasumi said, gaping in astonishment. "As I said earlier, I have an alibi during the blackout! Sure, I don't have an alibi for some time before the blackout, but that doesn't really matter, does it? It wouldn't make sense to say that I was helping the culprit, since we're all assuming that this was all the work of one person only!"
"Hmm… Come to think of it, we are assuming that there are no accomplices, right?" Mari said.
"It, uh, makes sense, you know," Sorao said, sounding a bit flustered for some reason as he darted his eyes left and right. "There's no incentive to be an accomplice, man… Only the blackened gets to escape. And I don't see anything that points to an accomplice, so we should simply… continue with that assumption, you know."
Huh? Is it me, or did Sorao look a bit... shaken just now? Masashi thought, but as he glanced at Sorao once more, the musician looked as cool and unbothered as usual.
Sayua flinched as she looked back at the others with a firmer frown. "F-Fine… Let's say that it's all true. Even then... so what?"
She waved her hand flippantly. "Hikari didn't leave the room before Murphy went back! Oh, what a turnabout that is! Too bad for you there's a simple explanation for it: she simply left afterwards. See, simple as that!"
Yeah, that seems like the obvious explanation, Masashi thought. But we shouldn't stop there. Is there anything related to the killer's departure that I could try to look into?
A few seconds later, an answer popped up in his mind.
"Hey, Kasumi, after you went up to the power room, didn't you go downstairs?" he said.
Kasumi nodded. "Yeah, I heard a creak and some footsteps of someone running, so I thought that was odd!"
"That must've been the sounds of Hikari fleeing from the scene," Mari said. "What did you do next, Kasumi?"
"Well, I headed down at once and tried to open the lounge door," she answered. "But for some reason, I couldn't get it to budge!"
"That's very odd…" Tanjiro said. "The lounge door doesn't have a lock."
"Ah, but… I believe something else was responsible for why Kasumi couldn't open the door," Mari said. "You know what it was, right, Masashi?"
Masashi nodded as he lowered his eyes.
"I'm certain it was Murphy's body," he answered. "After the power came back on, we tried to go into the lounge, and as it turned out, Murphy's body was blocking the door on the other side."
"Yeah, it took me and Masashi to even get the door to budge a little!" Arashi said, raising a fist. "Murphy was a bit of a large fellow, so I guess it makes sense!"
"Hmm… But if it was Murphy's body that stopped Kasumi from opening the door," Faye said, "doesn't that mean that Murphy had already been attacked by that point? And since Kasumi had also heard someone flee the scene..."
Maiha crossed her arms, her expression cold. "Since Hikari must've fled the room by that point, it was she that attacked Murphy."
"But why?" Faye said, looking rather uncertain. "I don't see any reason for her to have done such a thing! It's already hard enough to accept that she could have killed Sister Hikari, but why had she attacked Murphy as well? Couldn't she have just left through the door?"
"But if Hikari had tried to leave while Murphy was still playing his game," Masashi said, "she would've given her presence away. As we talked about earlier, the door has a creak."
Arashi gasped as he covered his mouth with his hands. "Th-That's right… I-It's the reason why we thought Hikari couldn't have sneaked into the room after Murphy had gone back from the restroom!"
"Then it's all clear," Haruyuki said, his expression solemn. "Suppose that Hikari had left the room without attacking Murphy. Then she would have proceeded with her plan to kill with the shooter. But once the investigation began, we would have heard Murphy's witness account, and she would've been exposed as the blackened."
The others gasped.
"Oh… Oh my God…" Tanjiro said. "Are you saying that Murphy was attacked… all because the thief didn't want to be noticed?"
"It appears so," Mari said. "Also... Kasumi immediately headed down to the hallway after hearing the thief flee from the lounge. But by that point, the door had already been blocked, since Murphy had fallen in front of it. Murphy must've tried with all his might to leave the room right after his attacker had fled the scene.
"Thus, no one else could've gone into the room afterwards," she continued. "And so even if Hikari had tried to go into the room only after Murphy's killing, it would've been impossible for her, because Murphy had blocked the door already."
"Then it's certain now: if Hikari wanted to get the music player back," Sorao said, "she needed to go to the lounge before Murphy was attacked... and before Kasumi saw Murphy go back to the lounge right before the special event began at 8:00 PM."
"And given Murphy's witness account of not seeing anyone come into the room, and the fact that he had been attacked from behind..." Haruyuki added, "we must assume that his attacker had been hiding in the closet beforehand."
"Just like Hikari...!" Arashi said, trembling. "But... I don't think it makes sense to say that two different people happened to be hiding in that same closet!"
"I agree," the art critic said. "It's more sensible to say that there was only one evildoer involved... and Hikari not only stole the music player for her murder scheme but also attacked Murphy out of desperation."
Kumi quivered as he groaned. "Then… Sir Murphy's killer… and Sister Hikari's killer… are one and the same?"
Haruyuki nodded. "I know not what drove her to kill Sister Hikari after her attack on Murphy, but it is something we shall learn only after the vote, I suppose."
"Wh-What? You want us to vote already?" Masashi said.
The man then raised a hand swiftly, as if to strike against something in the air. "Have you not realized, Masashi? In the end… nothing has changed. Hikari is the only one who could have been the blackened, and you have shown no proof that says otherwise."
Masashi groaned as he tried to come up with a response. "W-Well… We have the order of events down now, so there may be something new we haven't thought about."
"Oh?" Sorao said. "What is it, man? We're not mind readers, you know."
"For one," Mari answered ever so calmly, "we don't know when exactly Hikari attacked Murphy."
"Huh?" Sayua said, giving her the evil eye. "How the hell is that important?"
"Hikari wasn't by herself between 8:05 PM and 8:10 PM," she explained. "But if it turns out that Murphy was attacked in that time interval…"
"Then she's not the killer, right?!" Arashi said, clenching his teeth.
Hikari looked up at Mari with a somewhat shocked expression. "Y-You... The way you're saying that, it seems like you believe I'm innocent..."
Mari nodded slightly. "It's what I'm leaning toward, but by no means am I certain... Hey, Kasumi, what time did you head down to the hallway after hearing the killer flee the room?"
Kasumi sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, but I don't remember! I was thinking about, uh, certain things, so my mind's a bit hazy, you see."
"Well... that makes things a bit more complicated than they need to be," Tanjiro said, sighing dejectedly.
"Still, there may be something that can help us narrow down the time of Murphy's attack," Masashi said. "We should think about it once more!"
Nonstop Debate
"Is there anything that shows when Murphy could've been attacked?" Mari asked.
"Maybe… Murphy's last words!" Arashi said. "Didn't he mention the time somewhere?!"
"Or could it be… something in the lounge?!" Kasumi said. "Maybe one of the game machines has a clue!"
"Hmm... I don't think the lounge has a clock," Faye said.
"And I don't remember seeing a dying message written anywhere!" Sayua said.
"And it's not as if the murder weapon had anything to help us…" Sorao said.
"So is this it?" Sayua said. "I've got to say, what a waste of time this has been!"
Truth Bullet Chosen (Agree): Game Modes
I agree with that!
"Kasumi, in a way, I think you're right," Masashi said. "There was something in Murphy's game that can help us show how much time passed."
"Really?!" Kasumi said. "What is it?!"
"The game, Battle on Blue Earth, has three different difficulty modes," Masashi answered. "There are a few differences between these modes, and I think they may prove important."
"But how?" Kumi said, cocking his head to the side. "I don't get it… How do those different modes help show what time Murphy was attacked?!"
"Well, one of the differences is in time," Mari said. "For example, each level on Easy Mode is three minutes long, but each level on any of the other modes is five minutes long."
"Exactly," Masashi said. "I think that with the game mechanics, we can hone in on the time of attack—"
"Please hold on a moment!"
The objection came from, surprisingly enough, Tanjiro.
"Wh-What? Tanjiro, what is it?" Masashi said.
"Well, um, I'm sorry for interrupting you, but I just think that there's something off about your reasoning," Tanjiro said. Though his tone was shaky, Masashi could still sense that it was much sharper and harsher.
"Wow, really?" Sorao said. "I can't believe it... Tanjiro's actually arguing something for once!"
Tanjiro winced as he eyed Sorao bemusedly for a moment. "P-Please don't put it that way... I simply wish to correct Masashi's argument, that's all."
Rebuttal Showdown: Tanjiro Urata
"I don't think the game mechanics can be used to find out the time of attack," Tanjiro began. "After all, you depend on the game mode for this.
"But all that we have is the Game Over screen.
"It doesn't say which mode Murphy was playing on, does it?
"Nor did Murphy mention it in his dying words, I believe.
"With that dearth of information, is it even possible to narrow down a time of death?"
"It's true that the Game Over screen doesn't list out the mode," Masashi said, "but it doesn't mean it has no information that can help us determine it."
"I'm sorry, but what are you referring to, exactly?" Tanjiro replied.
"The only things that appear on the screen are the score and the number of tokens.
"And the score has absolutely no relation to the time.
"Nor does it have anything to do with the special event.
"And it is true that different game modes naturally give out different numbers of tokens…
"But here, nothing about the number can help us.
"I'm sorry to say, but maybe we should, uh, rethink things."
Truth Bullet Chosen: Score Screen
I'll cut through your words!
"No, that's not true," Masashi said. "True, the text on the Game Over screen shows only the score and the number of tokens… but that's not the only useful piece of information we can gather from it."
"Hhuh? What are you talking about?" Tanjiro asked.
"It's the background," Masashi answered. "The Game Over screen shows a very particular background. If the player dies on a certain level… the screen uses that level's theme as the background."
Haruyuki widened his eyes even more. "Is… that so? Why, that's news to me. But then again, as I stood guard by the nun's body, I had no chance to investigate the staff lounge."
Kumi cocked his head to the side, still looking perplexed. "Um…. so how does the fact that the level that Sir Murphy lost in was a desert level help us in any way?"
"Hah! I know the answer to that!" Sayua said, sneering. "It's so simple that if you'd bothered to help out with the investigation, even you would've figured it out!"
"Maybe you should actually say the answer rather than brag about how simple it is," Faye replied, looking unamused.
"Uh, I think it's best if I explain it..." Tanjiro said. "Each game mode arranges its order of levels differently. So a desert level could be the first level on one mode, but the second level on another."
"A-All right, then… What are the level orders for each mode?!" Arashi asked, clenching his fists as he bit his lips.
"Oh, I remember the level orders!" Kasumi said, raising her hands excitedly as if she were a student trying to catch her teacher's attention. "I've played the game a few times, so I'm familiar with it, and let me tell you, I've played a lot of the other arcade games—"
Maiha slammed a fist on the podium. "Just say the level orders already!"
Kasumi flinched for a moment. "Well, looks like someone's impatient... But I guess I shouldn't delay things anymore! All right, so Easy Mode's GFBSGS... Normal is DFSGFB... Hard is SBDGSV... and Extra Hard is FBGDSV! The D stands for Desert... And that's all you need to know, really!"
"Impressive!" Haruyuki remarked as he clapped a few times. "You certainly are useful in keeping this kind of thing in mind!"
Kasumi giggled. "Oh, it's nothing! I'm used to having to remember details like this in my line of work, anyway. Like, for example, this one time, I was trying to uncover the safe combination of this rich man—"
"Enough already!" Maiha replied, clenching her fist as her scowl grew. "No one wishes to hear your pointless blathering! We must move on to the matter at hand!"
Haruyuki let out a disappointed sigh. "And no one said that you spoke for us all... but this is not the time to argue about it, I suppose."
"Uh, anyway... I think we can rule out Easy Mode right away," Masashi said. "It doesn't have a desert level in the first place."
"S-So we can be sure Murphy wasn't playing Easy Mode, then..." Hikari mumbled.
"As for Normal Mode… the desert level is the first level," Sorao added. "Hard Mode has it be the third level, and Extra Hard Mode the fourth level."
"Out of these three modes," Tanjiro said, "which mode was Murphy playing on?"
"Well, let's think about it another way," Masashi said. "Each level on these modes is five minutes long. And we know for sure that Murphy started playing his game at 8:00 PM."
"Then… Normal Mode's desert level, since it's the first one, began at 8:00 PM," Faye said, looking more focused than usual. "Hard Mode's began at 8:10 PM, and Extra Hard Mode at 8:15 PM."
"Perhaps Murphy was playing on... Hard Mode?" Faye said sheepishly.
"I don't know about that, Miss Nirigiri!" Arashi interjected. "From my time with him, I could tell that he was a hardcore gamer! Maybe he was on Extra Hard Mode instead!"
"No, no, I don't think so!" Kasumi said. "My intuition tells me that he chose Normal Mode. He seemed like a rather ordinary person, and normal people are naturally risk-averse, so naturally, he'd choose the normal option!"
"Th-That's not exactly a solid reason..." Tanjiro said, eyeing her with confusion.
Haruyuki chuckled as he opened up his arms. "What a complication we've found ourselves in... Even with the information on the Game Over screen, I doubt that it's even possible to tell which mode Murphy was on. Perhaps we ought to go with the simplest option and vote for Hikari."
"Wait, hold on! We shouldn't stop here!" Masashi said. "I don't think we've fully talked about it. I think that if we go over the other pieces of evidence, it may be possible for us to reach the answer."
Even though he was unsure of Hikari's innocence, he had a strong feeling that ending things here was not a good idea at all. Even if Haruyuki ended up being right about her being the culprit, he still wanted to wrap things up conclusively, rather than risk setting aside something crucial to the case.
"I agree. I think it's possible as well," Mari said calmly, which relieved Masashi a bit.
"At the very least, in my opinion, it's worth further discussion," Tanjiro added meekly.
"B-But what else is there to talk about?!" Arashi said insistently. "I can't think of anything else that can help us!"
"I agree with the hot-headed commoner," Maiha added. "I see no way to determine the exact time of attack."
Sorao shrugged his shoulders as he leaned forth. "Yeah, man... Totally impossible, if you ask me."
"Ugh… Looks like we're not all of one mind on this," Faye said. "We're all split on this—"
"For despair's sake, don't slack off!"
Monokuma's interjection silenced the class as all looked at him with awe.
"It seems you guys can't make up your minds to save your lives!" Monokuma said. "Looks like we'll have to resolve this dispute the same way my ancestors did!"
"Your ancestors had flying podiums and transforming courtrooms?" Sorao remarked.
"Well, no, but what they had was essentially the same thing, anyway!" Monokuma replied.
"How…?" Faye said. "You know what, I'm not even going to argue with you on this."
"All right, now!" Monokuma raised his paw. "Let's settle this, old-school style!"
As usual, Monokuma took out his key and inserted it into a circular panel before him, whereafter all the students' podiums and Monokuma's throne rose into the air. All answered the question and split off into two sides according to their answer, and so began the debate.
Debate Scrum
Question: Can we determine which mode Murphy was playing on?
No: Sorao, Haruyuki, Sayua, Takumi, Arashi, Maiha, Faye
Yes: Masashi, Mari, Tanjiro, Hikari, Kasumi
"Murphy could've been playing on any of the three modes, right?" Haruyuki said.
"Of the three modes, we can exclude Normal Mode. He mentioned that he had reached the 'next level'," Mari said.
"I don't see how that phrase is any important!" Arashi said.
"That phrase wouldn't make sense, since on Normal Mode, the desert level is the first level," Kasumi said.
"Even if we exclude Normal Mode, we still can reach no conclusion. Murphy could have been playing on Hard Mode or Extra Hard Mode," Maiha said.
"But the desert level on Extra Hard Mode is the fourth level, which means he would've been attacked at 8:15 PM," Tanjiro said.
"Hikari was free at that time, wasn't she? So she could've waited at the closet until then!" Sayua said.
"B-But before that time… I'd already gone back to the Pirates' Rest Spot at 8:05 PM. It's impossible for me to have hidden in that closet that long," Hikari said.
"Whoever the killer may be, Murphy could have still been attacked at 8:15 PM," Sorao said.
"But Kasumi had checked the door before that time, so Murphy must have been attacked earlier than 8:15 PM! " Masashi said.
"How do you know for certain that Lady Kasumi checked the door before 8:15 PM?" Kumi asked.
"After I checked the door, I bumped into Masashi, and we both headed down to the Pirates' Rest Spot, where Faye and Maiha were! They know we arrived at 8:15 PM!" Kasumi said.
"So what now? Which mode are you saying Murphy was on?" Faye asked.
"There's only one mode remaining, and it's Hard Mode!" Masashi said.
This is our answer!
The opposing side had no more arguments to make, and so no one said a word as the podiums began their way down and returned to their usual spots.
"It's clear now that the only mode Murphy could've been playing on was Hard Mode," Masashi said. "That means that the desert level must've been the third level."
"And that level… began at 8:10 PM!" Arashi said. "The first level began at 8:00 PM and ended at 8:05 PM, after all!"
"And we know for sure that he must have been attacked at the very beginning of the level," Mari said. "He mentioned it in his last words."
"Hmm… That I cannot dispute," Haruyuki said, looking somewhat disappointed.
"But at that time, Hikari left the Pirates' Rest Spot to stand outside!" Faye said. "There's no way that she could've attacked Murphy at the lounge at the same time!"
"Then… Lady Hikari… isn't the killer?" Kumi said, looking at the others astoundedly.
Mari nodded. "Yep. Hikari at no point could have gotten back the music player. It looks like my intuition was right this time."
Sayua flinched before gathering her bearings again. "Gah… Guess so."
Hikari scoffed a quiet scoff. "W-Well… That is what I was saying the whole time… Had you listened to me, we should have avoided this whole mess."
Tanjiro sighed. "I would rather that you sounded a little grateful that you've been proven innocent… but I understand why you feel a little moody now. And I suppose that it's better that I offer you my apologies for suspecting you."
"Wait, but what about Arashi's stomachache?" Kasumi added. "Are you saying it was all a coincidence?"
"O-Of course it was..." Hikari answered. "I-I never put any laxatives in the food, I assure you..."
"Y-Yeah... I guess I was on the wrong track when I accused you..." Arashi said, looking greatly frustrated as he looked down.
"So, Hikari, during the blackout, you truly were standing at the main deck the whole time, right?" Masashi asked.
Hikari nodded slightly, still looking askance at the others, despite the lack of suspicion toward her now. "Y-Yes… I saw no one pass by, I'm absolutely sure. Faye only appeared after the body discovery announcement played."
"But if Hikari was there the whole time," Maiha said, "then no one could've done the rope trick to go down to the shooter room."
"Th-Then the whole thing appears to be impossible!" Kumi said as he clutched his head, quivering. "I-I don't understand what's going on! A-Are you saying that the killer had fairies for help?"
"I'd rather that we didn't resort to such explanations as that," Tanjiro said, looking dumbfoundedly at him.
"Actually… Now that Hikari's proven to be innocent," Sorao said, smiling, "we can narrow down our list of suspects to just one."
"Wh-What? We can?!" Arashi said.
Sorao nodded. "Hey, Tanjiro, one question… You said you spent time with Kumi after you left the arcade. What time would you say that was?"
"Oh, well, I can't say for certain… but I know that it was after 8:00 PM," he answered.
Sorao widened his smile. "Then it's clear! Kumi couldn't have been hiding in the staff lounge's closet at the time. So we know for sure he's innocent."
"Th-There's no way I would've done it, anyway!" Kumi said, whimpering. "I... I'd never take Sister Hikari's life! Only a truly wicked and twisted soul would do such a thing!"
"And you know for sure I can't be the culprit," Sorao said, shrugging his shoulders. "I would've had to sneak into the room and somehow make my way toward the other side of the room. But we proved earlier that couldn't have been done."
"Wait a minute… didn't we come up with a list of suspects earlier?" Faye asked. "I remember we narrowed it down to four people."
"And we now know three of them to be innocent," Mari said as she crossed her arms. "That means… there's only one possible suspect left."
"Th-Then who?!" Kumi whimpered. "Wh-Who was it...? Who was the one that killed Sir Murphy and Sister Hikari?!"
It was then that Masashi understood whom Mari had referred to.
That person… is the only one left! Masashi thought. I can't believe it… But I don't see anywhere else to go if I don't go forth with this.
Masashi faced the suspect.
"Sayua… was it you?"
"What?!" she cried out as the others looked at her at once. "What the fuck are you saying, Masashi?! I'm the culprit, you say?!"
"Yeah, whatever reason do you have?" Tanjiro asked meekly.
"Well… Sayua's the only one left in the list of suspects," Masashi answered. "She doesn't have an alibi during the blackout."
"Nor does she have an alibi before the blackout as well," Haruyuki added before chuckling. "Why, you could've stolen the fireworks and taken the music player from the lounge without a hitch."
"S-So… it was you all along!" Kumi said, hostility returning to his eyes. "You're the one that killed Sister Hikari and Murphy!"
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Sayua replied as she shook her fist. "What if I have no alibi?! Even if I had wanted to kill her, I couldn't have done it!"
"And why not?" Maiha asked.
"Uh, duh-doy! As you guys said earlier, the killer couldn't sneak into the room or come down from above!" Sayua said, raising her hands. "So it's the truth when I say I was stuck on the lower third deck's boat ride during the blackout!"
"Well, that I can't doubt!" Kasumi said. "When Maiha and I went down to the lower third deck, the boat was missing! So someone must've been riding it at the time!"
"And no one else has admitted to riding the boat," Haruyuki said, "whence we can safely assume that on this particular aspect, Sayua tells the truth."
"What do you mean, 'on this particular aspect'?! Every word I've said is true!" Sayua replied. "I was stuck on the boat, so I couldn't have even gone to the shooter room!"
"I wonder..." Haruyuki said. "It is true that it was impossible for the killer to have used the rope trick during the blackout. Nor did the killer sneak into the room and flee after pressing the button.
"But… there may be one more avenue for the killer," he continued. "The killer didn't come from above, but…"
Kasumi gasped. "Are you saying… the killer came… from below?!"
"Yes, so to speak," Haruyuki answered. "Below the shooter room is the supply room, so it's not as if the space below the shooter room had been inaccessible."
"Hah! Impossible!" Sayua said. "There are no hidden trapdoors connecting the two rooms!"
"Ah, but… whoever said the killer needed to be in the room?" Sorao said, smirking. "All the killer needed to do was activate the shooter. Strictly speaking, nothing about it requires that the killer be in the room."
"A-Are you saying that that awful woman… used magic?!" Kumi said, some excitement returning to his voice, though it was mixed with a great deal of hostility. "She was really a witch and cast a spell to press the button?!"
"Sorry, Kumi, but I think the solution may be more mundane than that," Mari answered. "For her to kill Sister Hikari, Sayua would need to be in the supply room."
"And there was no problem for her to get to that room," Masashi said. "After all, remember, the killer had borrowed the employee ID from Monokuma. So if Sayua had the ID on her, she could ride to the supply room without a hitch."
Sayua sighed loudly. "All right, even if that's true, so what?! How do you suggest that I killed the nun? The only thing separating me and the button was a wooden floor, and amazing as I am, even I couldn't have made the floor go away!"
"I-I still think you could've done it!" Kumi said, pointing at her. "Maybe you asked a fairy to press the button for you—"
"Oh, shut the fuck up already!" Sayua said, slamming the podium with her hand. "You have no idea how painful it is to hear the word 'magic' come out of your goddamn idiotic mouth!"
Assuming that Sayua's the culprit… is there anything that she could've used to help her press the button? Masashi thought. Wait a minute… the floor… I see!
"There is one thing I can think of..." Masashi answered. "It's… the poles."
"Huh? Poles?" Sayua said. "What poles?"
"Remember when Kumi argued that Tanjiro could've used one of the poles in the supply room to press the button?" Mari replied. "Kumi said that Tanjiro could've hidden the pole in the shooter room beforehand and then slid the pole through the floor gaps after pressing the button with it."
"Of course, that could not have been the case, since the poles were all found under layers of tarp," Haruyuki said. "But that does not change the fact that the poles were thin enough to fit through the gaps."
"And from what I could tell of the poles," Mari said, "I'd say that they were long enough for her to reach the button."
Sayua winced as she lurched back a little. "Y-Yeah, well…"
"Then… it was possible for Sayua to reach the button from under the floor!" Arashi said. "I can't believe it… That's how she did it?!"
Haruyuki chuckled, looking rather delighted as he glanced heavenwards. "Oh, yes, that's certainly quite a solution! To kill the victim from under the floor... It's not original at all, but it is clever! Sayua has no alibi, so she could've done it—"
"H-Hang on, everyone!"
It was Tanjiro.
"Huh? Was that you, buddy?" Sorao said, looking truly astounded. "What is it, man?"
"I… I think we've all forgotten something important," Tanjiro said. "I admit, it's perfectly possible that Sayua could have pressed the button from below."
"Tanjiro!" Sayua said, gaping at him. "Wh-What are you—"
"L-Let me finish!" Tanjiro said. Despite his outburst, his voice was noticeably shaky. "It's possible that Sayua did it… but I don't think it's possible for her to set up the crime scene like that."
"What? What do you mean?!" Arashi said. "Are you talking about the music player?!"
Tanjiro nodded meekly. "Since Hikari's innocent, it means that her account of standing outside the Pirates' Rest Spot the whole time was the truth."
"O-Of course…" Hikari said. "A-After Arashi came down to look for his fireworks, we searched the storage rooms together… And after he left, I stood outside the dining room the whole time. I-I only left once to go to the shooter room, but that happened right before the blackout began…"
"But at no point did you see Sayua, right?"
Hikari shook her head. "I-I definitely should know, had I seen her."
"But therein lies the problem," Tanjiro said, keeping his soft tone. "Before the murder, Sayua would've needed to set up the music player in the shooter room. And Arashi and Hikari definitely didn't see it during the search."
"Then Sayua would've needed to go to the storage room afterwards…" Sorao said. "But that goes against Hikari's statement of not seeing her."
The others murmured to one another in shock and confusion as the implications of the contradiction set in.
"Y-You see?!" Sayua said, sneering, though this time, it lacked its usual confidence. "Tanjiro here's just schooled you hard! There's no way for me to have gone to the shooter room without going through the hallway and being seen by that spirit medium chick—"
"Actually... we already know the answer to that," Haruyuki replied sharply, looking not at all deterred. "And the one who told us the answer earlier was you yourself."
"Wh-WHAT?!" Sayua said. "As far as I remember, I was never the topic of discussion!"
"Oh, you weren't… but Hikari was," Haruyuki said. "You claimed that she had climbed down to the shooter room by using the rope on the main deck, did you not?"
"Aha!" Arashi slammed his fist onto his palm again. "I think I know what you're saying! The rope couldn't have been used during the murder… but maybe it was used before the murder!"
The others gasped.
"That… makes sense, actually!" Faye said, aghast. "The rope trick was used not for the murder… but for its preparation!"
"Of course, she didn't originally have that plan in mind," Haruyuki said, among the few to have stayed calm upon hearing the revelation. "Sayua must have tried to return to the shooter room, only to see Hikari standing out at the hallway."
"Y-Yeah… I left around 8:10 PM," Hikari said. "That was the same time when Murphy's killer attacked him…"
"So the whole rope-climbing plan was thought up on the spot?!" Kasumi said, raising her hands in bewilderment.
Haruyuki nodded sternly. "Trying to find a way to the shooter room without being caught by Hikari, she must've then realized that the shooter room's window was reachable with the rope on the main deck."
"Arashi, after you saw your fireworks were missing, you left the main deck unattended, yes?" Sorao said.
"Th-That's right!" Arashi said, his frown growing. "Don't tell me… after Hikari and I searched the shooter room, Sayua saw that as an opportunity to sneak down to the shooter room?!"
"Oh, hell no!" Sayua slammed her hand on her podium. "Th-This isn't right...! As I keep telling you, I was down at the boat ride the whole time!"
Haruyuki chuckled once again. "Ah, but can you prove it? For all we know, your account is nothing but a lie."
"Y-Yeah!" Kumi said, sounding more and more upset. "You must've killed Sister Hikari… And you've done awful things before... There's no way that I'd ever believe you!"
"Hmph! As if I gave a damn about what you say!" Sayua said, looking at him haughtily as she waved dismissively at him.
"And I don't care about what you say!" Kumi retorted, raising his fists in frustration. "Only someone wicked and heartless would dare to kill Sister Hikari... And that person was you! You're the culprit! You have to be! I'll never fall for your lies again, you awful witch!"
Sayua held the podium with both hands while leaning forth toward Kumi's direction. "Bring it on, you stupid shit-spewer!"
Oh, boy... He was upset enough with Tanjiro earlier, and now...
Masashi looked at the storyteller, slightly sad that things had turned out so badly that a sweet boy had become distraught and desiring to punish the wrongdoer. Even though he knew that he would feel better later, it was still disheartening to see such a sight now.
Nonstop Debate
"There's no doubt! The killer's Sayua!" Kumi said. "She claims she was on the boat ride, but she has no one to back her up!"
"Yeah, she was by herself…" Mari said.
"So she could've attacked Sir Murphy and gotten the music player!" Kumi said.
"But Hikari ended up acting as a spanner in the works," Haruyuki said.
"Hence, Sayua improvised a new plan to sneak into the shooter room," Maiha added.
"A-And no one saw her…" Hikari said. "I-I certainly didn't."
"She must've been lucky that no one happened to be around the deck at that point," Sorao said.
"You're so stupid to believe in this bad joke!" Sayua said angrily. "Anyone with common sense can see I'm innocent!"
Truth Bullet Chosen (Refute): Arashi's Account
No, that's wrong!
"Kumi, that's not quite right," Masashi said earnestly. "Sayua had no one with her at the time… but we can prove she was on the ride. Arashi can prove it, after all."
Arashi widened his eyes as he clutched his chest. "Wh-What?! Wh-What are you talking about, Masashi?!"
"In your search for the fireworks, you went down to the lower third deck at some point, didn't you?" he replied. "You told me that you had seen no boat."
"O-Oh! Yeah, that's right!" Arashi answered. "But what does that have to do with anything—"
Arashi stopped, nearly starting as he appeared to realize the implications of his statement.
"Th-There was no boat… but that means someone was riding it at the time!" Arashi cried out.
"And that must've been Sayua," Tanjiro said, looking less anxious. "None of us claim to have ridden it at the time."
Masashi nodded as he gave a sidelong glance at Sayua, who too looked surprised from hearing this. "In other words… Sayua has been telling us the truth. She truly was on the boat ride at the time."
"A-Aha! See? Like I told you!" Sayua said, sounding more like her usual haughty self, though still sounding a bit confused.
"Now hang on," Haruyuki said, raising a hand calmly. "Even if she was on the ride, how does it exactly prove she's not the culprit? She may have simply gone up to the shooter room later."
Mari shook her head, however, as she crossed her arms.. "No, I don't think that's possible. Remember: Hikari was outside at the hallway nearly the whole time. Sayua would've crossed paths with her if she had attempted to go upstairs. And the only time Hikari left was when she went to the shooter room."
"B-But… once the lights went out, I saw a dim light in the room," Hikari said. "Th-That must've been the music player… So the killer must've planted it long before I went into the room."
"And why didn't you mention that after we all gathered on the main deck?" Maiha asked.
Hikari shuddered as she hid the lower half of her face behind her kimono's sleeves. "I-I forgot about it… All the news about missing fireworks and persons preoccupied my mind, that's all."
"Well… I suppose that's possible," Tanjiro said, scratching his cheek. "Anyway, it's clear that Sayua would've had to put the music player there before the blackout. But it was impossible for her to get to the main deck and do the rope trick because of Hikari."
"But… what about the water slide in the lower third deck?" Kumi suggested. "Isn't that connected to a room in one of the upper decks? Maybe Sayua, with her black magic, climbed her way up there—"
Sayua let out a greatly annoyed groan. "Oh, fuck you! Can't you use your brain and see how stupid your suggestion is?!"
"Besides, it would've been difficult to climb up the slide, don't you think?" Tanjiro said.
"Th-Then... she... she... she must have made the boat disappear!" he said, his voice increasingly strained. "She wanted to fool us into thinking she was riding the boat, so she cast a spell on the boat, and... and..."
Kumi stuttered as he tried to continue, but the others simply looked at him silently, none of them showing any signs of being convinced by his words. The silence was so deafening that even the storyteller seemed unable to ignore it, and eventually, he stopped, looking utterly gloomy that one of his most loathed peers was not guilty.
"So... now what?" Faye asked, her voice shaky as she eyed the others carefully. "Sayua's clearly not the culprit, but it means we have no suspects, right?"
"Yeah… Since Sayua was on the boat, there was no way for the culprit to go to the supply room and press the button from below," Sorao said. "It truly looks as if the crime were impossible."
"Um… There is one thing."
Once again, it was Tanjiro, who raised his hand slightly as everyone else looked at him.
"Hmm? What is it?" Kasumi asked.
"Um, to begin with…" he answered, clasping his hands together. "Given Hikari's account, I think there's no doubt that the culprit needed to use the rope trick to access the shooter room and set up the music player there. Even if it wasn't Sayua who did it, I can't think of any other way to go to the shooter room."
"True… But what's your point?" Sorao asked.
"Something has popped up in my mind," Tanjiro said. "For the trick to work… wouldn't the window need to be open?"
"Oh!" Kasumi said. "Yeah, that's right! If it hadn't been open, the culprit wouldn't have been able to get inside!"
"But wasn't the window open the whole time?" Maiha asked.
"I wasn't sure about that at first…" Tanjiro said. "But as I thought hard about it… I'm absolutely sure it wasn't. I believe I said something like that during the investigation."
"The window's open?" Tanjiro said. "That's weird… It wasn't like that when I came here earlier. Was it open when I came here with Sister Hikari…?"
Masashi turned around at once, looking him in the eye. "Tanjiro! You came in here earlier with Sister Hikari?"
"When I went to the shooter room long before 8:00 PM," Tanjiro continued, "the window definitely wasn't open."
"And you didn't open it, did you?" Maiha asked, to which Tanjiro responded with a shake of his head.
"But by the time of the investigation, the window had already been opened…" Faye said. "Hikari, you went to the room right before the blackout began. Did you open it?"
She too shook her head. "Th-The blackout startled me enough that I left the room at once… And even if the blackout hadn't happened, why would I have opened it, anyway?"
"Good point…" Sorao said, raising a finger. "From the sound of it, the window had been opened sometime before Hikari entered the room."
"So… the culprit… had to have been someone who entered the room beforehand?" Kasumi said.
"And not only that, but it must have been opened from the inside after the culprit attacked Murphy and fled from the lounge with the music player," Mari said. "The plan to use the rope to sneak into the shooter room was completely improvised."
"Yeah, Hikari's presence in the hallway ended up hindering the culprit," Tanjiro said.
"In other words… the culprit needed to go down to the shooter room in person first," Maiha concluded. "That person needed to open the window to pull off the window trick."
And it was that very moment that Masashi realized who the killer was.
Oh… Oh my God... Masashi thought, bereft of his ability to stand calmly. There's only one person that fits all the criteria...
"Masashi, you seem to have figured it out," Sorao said, smiling a small smile. "Mind telling us what's on your mind."
As the others gazed at him, Masashi could not but be besieged by a familiar feeling of indecisiveness. He had done this twice already, but even now, he could not be rid of the burden of having to condemn a fellow classmate. He wanted to believe that he was wrong, but he had no choice.
This is the only way to find out the truth... This is the only way to survive this class trial... This is the only way to go back to my normal life.
Readying himself with a breath of air, Masashi then opened his mouth.
"There's one person that fits the description," he said. "And that person... is Arashi."
"Wh... What?! Arashi?!" Faye exclaimed.
At first not appearing to have heard the question, the pyrotechnician said nothing. But a few seconds later, he yelped in surprise, as wide-eyed as nearly all the others, who now gazed at him with awe and dread.
"M-Masashi...! Wh-What are you saying?!" Arashi said, his raised voice full of confusion. "Y-You're not serious, are you?!"
"I'm sorry, Arashi... But as things stand right now, I can't think of anyone else but you," Masashi said. "After Hikari left the Pirates' Rest Spot, you happened to go down to the lower second deck, supposedly to look for your fireworks. And as part of the search, you and Hikari went to the storage rooms."
"And that was the only instance of someone other than Hikari going to the shooter room," Mari pointed out. "We know Hikari couldn't have done it, which leaves only you as the one who opened the window."
"Hikari, did you see Arashi open the window at any point?" Sorao asked.
Hikari gulped before she opened her mouth. "W-Well… I wasn't really paying attention to him during the search. I was busy looking through some of the boxes, a-and I thought he was looking at the other ones…"
"But at no point did you touch the window, yes?"
"O-Of course I didn't touch it…" she answered.
"Then only Arashi could have done it," Sorao said as he clapped his hands once. "Well, now, Arashi... things are looking pretty bad for you, dude. What have you to say for yourself?"
"Grrk… I… I..." Arashi said, sweating as he looked down at his podium.
"Well? Come on, dude, don't be shy. What's your answer?"
"I…" Arashi said before he looked up at the others with a firmer expression. "I... I opened the window."
"Aha! So it's true!" Sayua said, pointing at him accusingly. "You're the culprit!"
"I can't believe it!" Faye said, her face growing a bit pale. "Arashi… killed Murphy and Sister Hikari?"
"Yeah, it's unbelievable!" Kasumi said, raising a hand.
"H-H-Hang on! L-Let me finish!" Arashi said, sweat beginning to drip down his brow. "I opened the window because I wanted some fresh air!"
"But you didn't mention that earlier," Haruyuki said, looking sternly at him. "You failed to mention a detail that was crucial to the case."
"I-It was such a minor detail, though!" Arashi said, stumbling on his words. "I simply thought it was unimportant, that's all! And besides, you can't seriously accuse me simply because I opened a window!"
"But had you not done that," Maiha replied, looking at him coldly, "the killer couldn't have pulled off the rope trick and smuggled in the music player."
"C-Coincidence! It was a coincidence!" Arashi said, raising a fist. "Look, there are other reasons why I can't be the culprit! After all, I was with Masashi and Mari the whole time during the blackout! At no point could I have sneaked over to the shooter room and pressed the button!"
"True… I think it's safe to say that the shooter room's button wasn't pressed at all," Sorao said. "But… who's to say that there was no other way to activate the shooter?"
"Wh-What?!" Arashi said, fiddling with the collar of his white shirt. "Wh-What on earth are you talking about?! Th-Th-There was only one way, and it was pressing the button in the shooter room!"
Wait, no… That's not right, Masashi thought. There was another way… One that we set aside earlier!
"Arashi… You, Mari, and I headed up to the power room," Masashi said. "And in that very room are several backup buttons… Including one for the shooter."
"Eep!" Arashi winced as he ground his teeth.
"But… Wasn't that button nonfunctional?" Faye asked. "After all, Arashi had disabled it this morning."
"Yeah, Sister Hikari and I were there with him, and I definitely saw him cut off the wires for the button labeled 'Emergency Shooter'!" Sayua said. "He wasn't faking it or anything, that's for sure!"
"M-Maybe he simply asked Monokuma later to fix the button…" Hikari suggested.
"Hey, don't try to get me involved in this!" Monokuma responded. "I may fix up broken things in your rooms and clean up around the ships and whatnot, but I don't do that kind of electrical work."
"Y-Y-You see?!" Arashi said, trying to put up a less anxious countenance. "I-I couldn't have used the backup button! And I was with you guys the whole time, so I must be innocent!"
Hmm… But there's no other option left, Masashi thought as he looked down at the podium. Arashi didn't actually disable the button this morning… How did he fool Sister Hikari and Sayua, then?
Hangman's Gambit
Question: How did Arashi make it look as if he had disabled the shooter's backup button?
?-?-?-?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?
Let me see… The backup buttons are all lined up vertically.
L-?-?-?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?
And to the right of each of them is a label naming its function.
L-A-B-?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?
Wait a minute… Arashi and the others were relying on the labels to tell which button was which.
L-A-B-E-L ?-?-?-?-?-?
And I bet Sister Hikari and Sayua weren't familiar with the buttons' true order!
L-A-B-E-L S-W-?-?-?-?
So Arashi could've used that to his advantage!
L-A-B-E-L S-W-I-T-?-?
And come to think of it, the Empty Supply button was also disabled!
L-A-B-E-L S-W-I-T-C-H
It makes sense now! He pretended that the Empty Supply button was the shooter's backup button and openly disabled that one instead!
LABEL SWITCH
"That's it!" Masashi cried out. "Arashi switched the backup button's label with another's! That's how he fooled Sister Hikari and Sayua!"
"H-HUH?!" Arashi said as he flinched and lurched back slightly. "L-Label switch…? Wh-What in the world are you talking about?!"
"Each button has a label put on the right side," Masashi explained. "Since the buttons themselves aren't labeled, we have to rely on the labels to tell which button is which.
"And that's not all," he continued. "Right now, there's another button that's been disabled as well: the Empty Supply backup button. Isn't it possible that Arashi switched these two buttons' labels?"
"Oh!" Kasumi said. "Then… after Arashi took Sister Hikari and Sayua to the power room, when he disabled the shooter's backup button, he was actually disabling the Empty Supply one!"
The explanation drew gasps from many of the others, and in the meantime, Arashi let out nothing but an exasperated groan.
"Wait, but how do you know that the buttons' labels can be switched in the first place?" Faye asked. "Isn't it possible that they're stuck onto the wall?"
Masashi, however, shook his head after he had thought about it. "Actually... I think Kasumi herself told us that the labels could be taken off."
"I sure hope we've found enough clues!" Kasumi said. "Arashi and I looked around in the water slide room, but found nothing! We even searched the power room again, but once again, no luck!"
"Really? Not even a single bit?" Faye said.
Kasumi shook her head. "Nothing important in the trash can… Nothing on the back of the labels… Not even anything hidden in the buttons' panels! I thought I might've struck gold, since something like that happened on one of my previous heists."
"More importantly... during the investigation, was there anything else in the power room that struck you as odd?" Mari asked.
Arashi scratched his cheek. "N-No… Kasumi and I even combed over the room a few times, but we didn't find anything suspicious other than the broken buttons."
"That's right! Nothing hidden at all!" Kasumi answered at once, appearing to carry a look of disappointment, though her eyes were hidden. "I even thought that there might be something secret written on the back of the emergency buttons' labels, so imagine my disappointment when I took them off and found nothing—"
"Uh, Kasumi, but maybe you should stop now!" Arashi said as he looked uneasily at the others. "I don't think the others would like it too much if you kept on rambling!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Kasumi said. "During the investigation, I had to take off the labels from the panel first to look at their backs! I thought you guys already knew that they were removable!"
"Uh, no, not really..." Tanjiro said. "If I see a label, seeing whether it can be taken off isn't the first thing in mind..."
"Then… it was possible for Sir Arashi to trick Sister Hikari...!" Kumi whimpered.
Maiha scowled, looking far more shocked than angry. "I can't believe it! That wretched thief knew that critical piece of information all along, and she had simply let it out!"
"To be fair, you were pretty glad that she had been interrupted," Haruyuki said, smiling amusedly at her. "Hence, it's no surprise that you dismissed her and, in your own words... 'pointless blathering'."
"Tch...!" Maiha said as she staggered back a bit.
"Well, I can't believe that loud as hell hothead managed to fool me!" Sayua said. "Normally, I can see through any kind of trick! That's how I got the culprit right last time!"
"I… am more inclined to believe that it was sheer luck that time," Tanjiro said quietly. "Anyway, this explains why Arashi suddenly interrupted Kasumi earlier... He must've realized the importance of her words and didn't want us to focus on the labels."
Maiha, having recovered from her shock, gazed disapprovingly at Arashi. "Anyway... it was you all along, it seems. I can't believe that I managed to have been deceived by the likes of you."
"Since the button in the shooter room was inaccessible to Arashi," Mari said, "the only remaining option was the backup button in the power room."
Masashi nodded. "He must have switched the labels this morning so as to trick Sayua and Sister Hikari into thinking that he was disabling the correct button—"
"I'm not done yet!"
Arashi's exclamation silenced everyone as he raised a fist with one hand and pointed at Masashi with the other.
"Y-You can't seriously say I'm the culprit just because the labels could've been switched!" Arashi said, his face looking slightly blue. "E-Even if I'd done that, it would've still been impossible for me!"
"Huh? Impossible?" Masashi said.
"That's right!" Arashi yelled, his voice growing uneasier and uneasier. "It was impossible!"
Rebuttal Showdown: Arashi Seiya
"You keep saying I didn't actually disable the shooter's backup button!" Arashi began. "But even so… so what?!
"How could I have known when Sister Hikari entered the shooter room?!
"If I'd pressed the button at the wrong time…
"The plan would've failed, don't you think?!
"And I was up in the power room with you and Mari the whole time, wasn't I?!"
"True, you needed to make sure that you didn't press the button too early," Masashi said. "But that doesn't mean you couldn't have found a way to get the timing right."
"No… No, you're wrong!" Arashi yelled.
"There was no way I could see into the shooter room!
"And it's not as if I'd used a tool or anything like that!
"No, there's no way I could've known when Sister Hikari stood in the line of fire!
"So admit you're wrong already!"
Truth Bullet Chosen: Music Player
I'll cut through your words!
"That's not true, Arashi… There was a way!" Masashi said. "You couldn't see… but you could hear."
Arashi shrank back as his face grew paler. "Wh-What? What do you mean, 'I could hear'?!"
"Remember the weird piano music that we heard?" Masashi answered. "It came from the music player after Sister Hikari touched it."
Faye gasped as she raised her hands to cover her mouth. "Oh… Oh my God… Don't tell me you're saying that Arashi… used that as a signal?"
Masashi nodded. "Since he couldn't see into the room, he needed a sign that told him that someone was in the line of fire."
"But… I thought Arashi put it there to cover up the alarm's sound!" Kasumi said.
"I believe he used the music player for that purpose as well," Masashi said. "He mainly wanted a way to tell when his victim was in the right position… Covering up the alarm was another benefit."
"In essence, he killed two birds with one stone…" Haruyuki chuckled again. "My, my, he's cleverer than his appearance may suggest. I must say, I should've seen this coming. That an important clue had a twofold purpose has happened before."
"Masashi, Mari, after the piano tune began to play," Sorao said, "did you see Arashi press the backup button?"
Masashi recalled the time when he, Mari, and Arashi had been in the power room. "Come to think of it… there was one time when I didn't have my eye on Arashi at all."
"Anyway, the culprit behind this blackout appears to have simply flipped the switch and broke it," Masashi continued, standing by the breaker box in the middle of the power room. "Now let's go check out the other rooms—"
At that moment, something else broke the power room's silence. Of all things, an extremely faint piano tune rang through the air, which silenced Masashi and his two companions as they turned their heads around in confusion.
"Wh-What is this music?" Masashi said, sweat dripping down his brow. "A-And where is it coming from?"
"It sounds like it's coming from downstairs..."
It was then that Mari moved from her spot to the power room's entrance, and Masashi's eyes were fixated on her, for he awed at how calm she was. Even though he was certain that this piano tune did not bode well, she still went ahead to go find the cause, whatever the danger might be.
"I was so busy looking at Mari," Masashi continued, "that Arashi had escaped my attention. And Mari was facing from him... which means that we both weren't looking at him!"
"In that very short span of time," Mari added, "Arashi could've pressed the button without our noticing him. And he stood right by the buttons, too."
"Gah!" Arashi winced. "Th-That... That's...!"
Haruyuki clapped his hands together. "It seems that our fiery friend was far slyer than I imagined him to be. I wonder whether there are any more surprises awaiting me."
"Then that settles it!" Sayua said. "That guy's the culprit! No doubt about it!"
Arashi groaned as his frown deepened. "N-No… you have it wrong! You have it all wrong! I'm not the culprit! I… I…"
"Hmm… Masashi, I have one question for you," Maiha said, having grown less agitated that Arashi had fooled her this long. "You said that during the investigation, both the Empty Supply button and the Emergency Shooter button had already been disabled."
Masashi nodded. "No doubt about it."
"But that is odd, is it not?" she replied. "If the hot-headed commoner had not actually disabled the shooter button by the time of the blackout, and he used it to kill Sister Hikari… it means he had to disable the shooter button after the deed was done, yes?"
"Hmm… Good point," Sorao said. "Sometime after Arashi pressed the button… he had to disable it, without anyone seeing him. He needed to disable it to maintain the charade that it had been nonfunctional the whole time."
"B-But I was with you guys!" Arashi said, cracking a nervous smile. "And there was hardly a moment when I was by myself! Both during the blackout and during the investigation! And even when I was alone, there wasn't enough time for me to disable the button!"
"True... I imagine that you'd need about half a minute to thoroughly disable the button," Mari said, but she looked no less deterred as she faced Arashi once more. "But... there was one moment that struck out to me. One moment when you had the opportunity to be alone for an ample amount of time."
Once Sorao left the room, Faye glanced down at Kumi, who was still sobbing, albeit quietly. "Uh... shouldn't we do something about him? I don't think he's recovered from this."
"Oh! Maybe a drink will help him feel better!" Arashi said, slamming a fist on his other hand's palm. "I remember hearing from him that he likes milky tea, and if I remember correctly, it's sold in the arcade's vending machines! Let me go get a few cans!"
"Yeah, that sounds good..." Masashi said, nodding. Though he doubted that it would help him that much, at this point, he would not want the storyteller to fall apart even more.
"Let me go with you!" It was Kasumi, who raised her hand. "I need to go to the restroom! And there's a restroom in the arcade, right?"
"Whoa, really? That happened?" Sorao said, looking rather surprised. "I wasn't there at the time, so naturally, I didn't know about it."
"Kasumi... when you headed off to the restroom, obviously, Arashi didn't go inside with you, right?" Mari asked.
"No, of course not!" she answered. "I asked him to wait outside—"
She gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands. "No way... Arashi was all alone... and I was in the restroom for a while! He had more than enough time to thoroughly disable the true Emergency Shooter button!"
Her revelation drew gasps from the others.
"Once again, you surprise me, Arashi!" Haruyuki said as he opened up his arms, his tone a mix of surprise and praise. "It felt a little odd to me that you had suddenly suggested that you leave the room to get Takumi some drinks... But your true purpose was to go off to the power room and finish the last step of his scheme, I see. It's commendable that you dared to go to such lengths to destroy the evidence."
"And it means that everything you've said about going to the restroom and your fireworks being stolen... was all a lie," Sorao added blithely, standing casually as he smiled a calm smile. "In hindsight, it makes so much sense... We only split up to find the fireworks because of what you had told us."
Arashi bit his lip. "N-No... You have it all wrong...! I... I—"
"Everyone, please, wait a minute!"
The one who cried out was none other than Faye, whose face looked the uneasiest yet.
"Hmm? What is it, Faye?" Masashi asked.
"Are… Are we sure that Arashi's the culprit?" she asked. "I admit, there's evidence pointing at him, and he opened the window, no doubt, but for all we know, it was only a coincidence! There's nothing else that conclusively shows he's the killer!"
"M-Miss Nirigiri!" Arashi said delightfully, his eyes glinting.
Sayua, on the other hand, merely snorted. "Well, if you don't think he did it, then you've got to have someone else in mind!"
Faye nodded, much to Masashi's surprise, standing steadfast. "I can think of two other people who could have done the deed: Mari and Haruyuki."
"Wh-What? Me, you say?" Mari said, gaping and looking far more flustered than Masashi imagined her to be, given her usual disposition.
On the other hand, Haruyuki chuckled a calm chuckle, as if delighted to be in the spotlight. "Ah… I had a feeling that I should be accused sooner or later. I admittedly look rather suspicious to the unknowing eye."
"A-At least you're self-aware..." Hikari mumbled.
"Mind if we hear your explanation, Faye?" Sorao asked.
"Of course not. My reasoning's clear, simple, and onefold," she answered, sounding bolder. "I've heard both your accounts, and neither of you has an ironclad alibi. Either of you could've stolen the fireworks, gotten the music player back, and started the blackout."
"That… is a fair point to bring up," Maiha said. "Arashi is more suspicious because he opened the window, but I suppose it's possible that it was a convenient coincidence for the killer."
"And Mari and Haruyuki were both on the upper third deck during the blackout!" Kasumi said. "I don't like to say it, but it sure looks like either of them could've pressed the button."
"W-Wait… If Mari and Haruyuki are now suspects," Hikari said, "why isn't Masashi a suspect as well?"
Sorao chuckled. "It's obvious: Masashi was with Faye, Maiha, and Kasumi right before the blackout. He had no opportunities to go up to the power room and start the blackout."
"Anyway, I wasn't the only one who could've pressed the button!" Arashi yelled right before pointing at Mari. "You could've done the same thing, Mari! And if not you, then it was Haruyuki! He claims he was at the water slide room, but how do we know that's true?! He has no alibi!"
The others, hitherto bemused, murmured to one another as their gazes at the three suspects grew warier and warier.
"I'm not the culprit…" Mari said, looking much cooler as if she had regained her wits. "But I admit... that's not exactly a solid defense."
"I should like to add that I too am innocent," Haruyuki said, smiling. "In fact… I know how I can prove myself to be innocent. Of course, I would rather wait for the rest of you to figure it out. It's more interesting that way."
"I-I'm no liar!" Arashi declared, pointing at them both. "One of you did it and is out to get me! I've been framed!"
As the three suspects denied the accusation, confusion entered the others' dispositions as they looked at one another skeptically, and so began what Masashi felt to be the last debate.
Nonstop Debate
"I'm not the only one you should suspect!" Arashi began. "I wasn't the only one who was by the buttons at some point!"
"Well… I admit, I moved to the buttons at some point," Mari said. "I moved there after we heard that dreadful scream."
"Oh, well, I guess Mari could've pressed the button!" Kasumi said.
"Yeah, she had the same opportunity to kill Sister Hikari as I did!" Arashi said. "And she could've disabled the button while she was alone during the investigation!"
"I admit, I don't have an alibi at some point in the investigation," Mari said, "but that's not enough to say that I did it."
"And what about Haruyuki?" Sorao said. "Wasn't he in the water slide room?"
"I was…" Haruyuki said. "But I had no opportunity to sneak in and press the button."
"Yeah, Masashi checked the room before we entered," Mari said. "And there was no one inside."
"Still! He was alone at that time!" Arashi said. "Maybe he lured us out of the room so that he might press the button and kill Sister Hikari!"
"And you guys didn't find Haruyuki. Rather, he showed himself to you," Faye added. "Perhaps he had disabled the button after luring you out of the power room."
Truth Bullet Chosen (Refute): Tanjiro's Account
No, that's wrong!
"Arashi, I'm afraid you're wrong," Masashi said. "Mari and Haruyuki had no opportunity to kill Sister Hikari."
"H-How can you say that so confidently?!" Arashi said, sweating as his fist tightened.
"The scream we heard," Masashi answered. "Mari moved to the buttons right after we heard the scream."
"S-So what?" Hikari said. "Wh-What does that have to do with anything?"
"For one… that scream was none other than Tanjiro's," he answered. "He was the only person who screamed, and the timing of the scream matches up with his account. The most important part is that he screamed after he saw Sister Hikari's body."
Kasumi gasped. "Ah, I get it! If Tanjiro screamed, it means that Sister Hikari had already been killed!"
"And so by that point… the killer had already pressed the button," Maiha said. "Hence, Mari could not be the culprit."
"Argh!" Arashi cried out as he lurched back. "W-Well… What about Haruyuki?!"
"As I said earlier… I cannot be the culprit," Haruyuki answered, shaking his head calmly. "I could not sneak into the room after hearing the music play. Masashi, you saw no one inside before you and the others headed into the room, yes?"
Masashi nodded. "And I'm absolutely sure that there are no hiding spots in the power room. It's a very narrow room, so if you'd been hiding in there, I would've immediately noticed you."
"And after we heard the music play, I walked toward the power room's entrance," Mari said. "In other words, I was facing the hallway... It wouldn't have been possible for him to sneak into the room and secretly press the button."
"But… But…!" Arashi said, his voice growing more and more exasperated.
The revelation caused many of the others to murmur to one another in amazement at how quick and tidy Arashi had been with his scheme.
"Why, Sir Arashi?!" Kumi cried out, his eyes watering. "Why did you kill them both… Why did you kill Sir Murphy and Sister Hikari?! Weren't they both… your friends?"
"N-No… No, you have it all wrong!" Arashi said, his face growing a bit pale, his body shaking in dread. "I-I'm not the culprit… S-So stop it… stop looking at me like that!"
"But… Arashi, there's nothing else to talk about," Masashi said. "It's certain that you're the only one who could've done it."
Though it was part of how the class trial was to go, it still pained Masashi to have to make Arashi confess. He wished that this were not happening, but a wish was but a wish. Right now, all he could do was move forth.
"M-Miss Nirigiri! Please say something!" Arashi pleaded as he looked at her frantically, his voice becoming shakier and shakier. "Tell them that I'm not the culprit...!"
For a few seconds, Faye said nothing, also looking uneasy at how things had turned out. But a few seconds later, she let out a sigh, lowering her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Arashi... I really want to believe that you're not guilty," she replied, her tone full of anguish. "But... much as I want to keep backing you, I have to admit, I can't think of anything against their logic."
"N-No... Miss Nirigiri! Please!" Arashi pleaded before he turned to another lady. "K-Kasumi! What about you?! Don't you believe me!"
Unfortunately for him, however, Kasumi too looked agonized as she lowered her head. "Believe you me, Arashi, I don't want to think this is true! But you've heard what Masashi and the others have said... All the facts given, I can't think of anyone but you."
Sorao chuckled as he opened up his arms, smiling. "Well, Arashi... Looks like the ones you thought to be your loyal defenders aren't here for you anymore."
"Th-They... aren't..." Arashi said, his voice choking as he quivered. "No... But... why?"
"They don't believe in you anymore, man!" Sorao replied, sounding as if he took delight into all this. "It's all clear now: from this point on... you're all alone."
"A-All alone... No one to help me..." Arashi muttered, his face growing more and more distraught as he swayed about slightly. "You guys... Y-You... You don't believe in me anymore...?"
"Uh, what the fuck's going on with him?" Sayua said, eyeing him confusedly.
"A-Arashi?" Masashi said, growing more and more worried. "Are you all right?"
"You... You won't believe in me...!" he continued as he set one hand over his left eye. "Even though... if it were the other way around, I'd believe in you... No one will help me... Why do I have to be alone...? Why do I feel... so... helpless...?"
Mari let out a sigh. "It's unfortunate, but we've only gotten to this point because of all the deductions we've made. I'm afraid that this is something that we all have to accept."
Masashi nodded. "If you have any evidence that shows your innocence... then please, show it. I don't want to believe you're the culprit, either, but it's what my logic has led me to."
"That's... what you say?" Arashi hung his head down. "Wait... I see... I understand now..."
"Understand... what?" Tanjiro said tentatively.
"No one will believe me... Not even Miss Nirigiri..."
"A-Arashi?" Kasumi said. "Y-You don't look so well... Is something the matter?"
"Oh, something's the matter with him, all right," Sorao said, sounding not at all scared or bothered by these events. "And I'm afraid there's no stopping it now."
"No one will believe me...!" Arashi repeated, appearing not to have heard what Kasumi and Sorao had said. "And the one who's caused all this...
"It's all clear!
"Masashi...! It's you!
"It's you... that's caused me to be all alone!"
All of a sudden, Arashi slammed his fists onto his podium, showing not a whit of pain, and reared his head, his eyes full of fury and dead set on Masashi.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" he screeched, sounding hardly like his usual self. "It's all your fault that I feel this way now!"
"Wh-What in the world?!" Tanjiro said, raising his hands defensively.
Sayua took a step back. "Holy crap! I'm pretty sure he's snapped!"
Kumi squealed as he hid his face behind his teddy bear. "S-Sir Arashi... Wh-Why have you gone berserk?"
"H-He's in his death throes..." Hikari remarked, looking at him fearfully.
The others too muttered their surprise at his change in temperament. Even the usually calm ones such as Maiha and Haruyuki looked startled as well, as if they were now looking a wild beast in the eye.
Oh no... he's lost his temper... Masashi thought, speechless at the spectacle before him. Why...? Why did this have to happen?
"A-Arashi!" Faye said, looking at him concernedly. "P-Please calm down at once!"
"Sorry, Miss Nirigiri, but I can't!" Arashi replied, his ferociousness not waning. "What Masashi's doing is simply unfair!"
"'Unfair'? What do you mean by that?" Masashi said.
Arashi pointed straight at him, his scowl growing. "You keep accusing me, saying I must've switched the labels earlier and pressed the button during the blackout! But... there's no proof at all that I did any of that!"
"H-Huh?" Masashi said, as Arashi panted and recovered from his latest outburst.
"Where's your proof that the labels were switched?!" Arashi said, his anger flowing with confidence. "I stayed quiet up until now, since I thought for sure that following through with your theory would show how dumb it was! But you keep on fingering me as the culprit!"
"Well, that's because you are!" Sayua responded. "I'm 100% sure that you're the culprit! So let's just get this over with and begin the vote!"
"I don't think so!" Arashi slammed both fists onto the podium again. "I need to see some proof first! The only thing you have is the fact that I opened a certain window in the shooter room… but that's hardly any proof at all! It was all a mere coincidence!"
"Th-That's right! Arashi has a point!" Faye added, looking somewhat delighted, though anxiety was still all over her face. "Much as we've been going on about how he must have done it… it's all merely a guess, a supposition, a hypothetical! Masashi hasn't shown any conclusive proof that he did any of those things!"
"Indeed… Much as I am inclined to believe him guilty," Maiha said, looking somewhat troubled by this situation, "the burden of proof is on Masashi. And so far, he has shown no evidence that the labels were switched this morning."
"S-So… Sir Arashi's not guilty?" Kumi clutched his head with both hands. "I-I don't get it… Did he press the button or not?!"
"Without any evidence, all Masashi's been doing is pin the blame on me!" Arashi said as he closed his fists. "You guys have got to believe me now, right?! You have to believe that I'm not the culprit!"
"Is there… truly no evidence that Arashi did it?" Mari asked, looking concerned. "Sayua… you're the only other one here who was with Arashi when he pretended to disable the shooter button."
"Yeah, what of it?" Sayua responded.
"Do you happen to remember the order of the labels?" she asked. "If you do, then we can compare—"
But before she could finish, Sayua raised her hand, shaking her head. "Sorry, but that's a no-go for me. I don't remember the exact details of the event all that well."
"And even if she did, it wouldn't mean anything!" Arashi responded, his voice cocky, though nothing about it suggested that he would laugh pridefully any time soon. "I never switched the labels, and the evidence backs me up!"
Don't tell me Arashi chose Sayua to help him with the disabling because he knew she doesn't have that exceptional a memory! Masashi thought, sweat dripping down his brow.
"Then is it safe to say Arashi's innocent?!" Kasumi said. "I mean, I don't know what to think… but I certainly don't want him to be guilty!"
"There's no evidence pointing at him, so… the culprit has to be someone else!" Faye said, clasping her hands.
"I'm… not fully sure about this, but I think we can try to look at this from another perspective," Tanjiro said. Despite his attempt to sound bold, his voice still had its usual meekness and uncertainty. "Instead of thinking about the fact we can't examine the buttons anymore… maybe we should think about the differences between the scenes."
"Huh? What scenes?" Sayua asked.
"I was thinking… this morning, Arashi changed the labels, and you saw him disable the button," Tanjiro explained. "But right now, the labels are back in their original positions, right? So maybe there was something present back then that isn't now."
"But what possible difference could there be?" Haruyuki asked. "And even if there is a difference, how does that exactly implicate Arashi?"
"Hmm… During the investigation, Arashi went with Kasumi to the power room," Masashi said. "Of course, he had already disabled the actual backup button, so he was only pretending to help with the investigation…"
"Wait… If he was there…" Mari said. "Don't you think you can use that as a basis for comparison?"
"Wh-What?! What comparison?!" Arashi said. "What in the world are you talking about?!"
"Think about it this way…" Mari said. "Did something in Arashi's appearance or behavior during the investigation differ from how it was this morning? Masashi, you were with Arashi and Kasumi in the power room during the investigation… so you may have noticed a difference from what Sayua saw this morning."
Hmm… A difference… Masashi thought. Arashi's not going to admit it, so I can't trust his word… But did I see anything different? And does that difference somehow show that the labels were switched this morning?
"Wait a minute…" Masashi said as his eyes widened. "I can't believe it… but one thing comes into mind."
He was incredibly astounded that this was the solution to this current dilemma. It seemed extremely unlikely that things would turn out this way in his favor, but he could not at all complain at what he had uncovered. All he had to do was show Arashi the evidence.
Arashi's scowl grew, and yet the anger in his expression was unlike anything that Masashi had seen.
"Stop it...! The others won't believe in me while you keep hindering me!" Arashi said, thrashing about with his arms. "Yes... It's all your fault! It's all your fault, it's all your fault, it's all your fault!"
Arashi... I'm sorry that things have come to this... Masashi thought. But I'm certain that you killed Murphy and Sister Hikari… and I'll prove it!
Argument Armament: Arashi Seiya
"I've done nothing wrong!"
No… I don't want to say it, but that's wrong.
"It's you that's wrong!"
That's not true...
"I thought you were my friend, Masashi!"
Arashi...
"But a friend wouldn't make me feel like this!"
Is that... what you truly think?
"I feel so angry... I don't want to feel this way at all!"
And I don't want to see you like this as well, but...
"Admit it already!"
It's you that has something to admit to.
"You're the one who's made me like this!"
Arashi... Please... stop denying it.
"Nobody will believe in me!"
The one who's done wrong here is...
"It's all your fault!"
It's you.
"It's all your fault, it's all your fault!"
I'm sorry...
"It's all your fault, it's all your fault, it's all your fault!"
I'm sorry, Arashi... But I have to show everyone what you've done.
"Why won't you admit it already?!"
Let's end things right here and now.
"Admit it, Masashi! There's nothing that shows that I switched the labels this morning!"
Taking in a breath of air, Masashi opened his mouth and showed Arashi the difference that he had been oblivious to:
"It's your bracelet!"
Arashi gasped as he looked down at his bracelet, which he wore on his right wrist. "Wh-What the...? My… bracelet?"
"Are you talking about the bracelet I gave him last night?!" Kasumi said. "I don't get it as well."
"Arashi… this morning, apparently, Sayua saw a 'weird pink bracelet' on your wrist," Masashi said. "She said she saw it when you reached for the fake shooter button."
"Yeah, that's right!" Sayua said. "His sleeve dropped when he raised his arm, so it caught my eye only then!"
"I don't doubt that at all... But here's where the problem arises," Masashi replied. "During the investigation, Arashi's bracelet appeared... but not when you would expect it to appear."
"Oh, I don't know whether you know this already, Masashi, but I was here this morning!" Arashi said as soon as he approached the panel of buttons. "Sister Hikari asked me and Sayua to help her disable the shooter's backup button!"
"Yeah, Sorao told me about that earlier," Masashi answered as he glanced at the buttons again. "Hmm… Which one's the backup button?"
"Oh, that one, of course!" Arashi then pointed at a certain button that was on the lower half of the panel.
"The button's labeled 'Emergency Shooter', so I guess that's it!" Kasumi added.
"Hey, Arashi, one more question," Masashi said. "I've heard that you disabled the shooter's backup button this morning with Sister Hikari and Sayua. Is that true?"
"Oh, that's right!" Arashi answered before giving Masashi an account of what had happened, which account matched what Sorao had told him earlier.
"And Sayua mentioned that you had a pink bracelet on your wrist," Masashi said. "It was the bracelet that Kasumi had given you, right?"
Arashi nodded profusely. "Of course it was! What else could it have been?!"
"Oh, Arashi, are you wearing the bracelet?" Kasumi asked.
"Huh?" Arashi turned toward her with a confused expression. "Why do you have to ask me that?! Of course I am! See!"
With a confident grin, he pulled up his sleeve and showed her the bracelet.
"Wait a minute... Arashi's bracelet appeared only after Kasumi had asked him about it!" Tanjiro said. "But why did Kasumi ask him in the first place, when she should have already seen it while he reached for the button?"
Kasumi gasped at the implications of her not having seen it when she should have. "D-Don't tell me that he…!"
Masashi nodded sadly. "This morning, Arashi pointed at the button, and Sayua saw the bracelet without a problem… But when he pointed at what was supposedly the same button during the investigation, neither you nor I saw it. And since you didn't see it, you naturally had to ask him about it to see whether he still had it."
"B-But why?" Faye asked. "Why didn't Kasumi see the bracelet?"
"Arashi's been wearing the same kind of outfit the whole time, so it can't be attributed to any change in clothes," Sorao said blithely. "The only explanation I can think of is… the button that he pointed to at the investigation wasn't the same button he had modified this morning. And because of that… there's a clear difference in height."
Arashi, clutching his wrist, cried out as if he had just touched something burning. "Y-Y-You... You can't be serious!"
"It makes sense, though!" Kasumi said. "The Empty Supply button is on the upper half of the panel of buttons, whereas the shooter's backup button is a bit on the lower half!"
"And so it makes sense why the bracelet could be seen when he pointed at the higher button this morning," Maiha said. "Because of the height, the sleeve covering the bracelet fell, which exposed it. But the same did not happen for the lower button."
"Ah!" Faye exclaimed. "I can't believe it… but that makes a whole lot of sense!"
"The switch wasn't apparent, of course, which is why he knew that Sayua wouldn't remember exactly," Masashi said. "But unbeknown to him… the bracelet gave the switch away."
"In fact, now that I think about it... he also unwittingly exposed his bracelet during the blackout," Mari said, raising a finger.
Arashi walked up to the panel and pointed up at a certain button. "Um, it's this one, right? It's labeled 'Emergency Power'!"
"Yes, I believe that's it," Mari answered, looking at him. "And by the way… what's that thing on your wrist?"
"Huh…?" Arashi said as he lowered his hand.
"Your wrist. Your sleeve was covering it up until you pointed at the button. I saw something pink on it."
After a few seconds, Arashi gasped. "Oh, I get what you're talking about! You're talking about my reconciliation bracelet!"
"Your… reconciliation bracelet?"
Arashi pulled up the sleeve of his right hand, which had been covering the bracelet. "This is my reconciliation bracelet! Kasumi gave me it yesterday night!"
"Arashi wasn't trying to deceive us at that point, of course. The labels had already been switched back to their original positions," Mari explained. "But the principle is the same: he pointed at a higher button, and so his sleeve fell, which exposed his bracelet."
"N-Nggh…!" Arashi said, tightening a fist. "Y-You… You're imagining things! M-Maybe Sayua misremembered it! Maybe she saw my bracelet later on!"
"Like hell I would misremember seeing that bracelet of yours!" Sayua said, pointing at him angrily. "You've got some nerve saying that someone like me would misremember things!"
"And besides… if the witness accounts aren't enough to rid us of all doubt," Mari said, "let's check it out."
"HUH?!" Arashi said, nearly stumbling back. "Ch-Ch-Check what out?!"
"Right now, the labels are back in their original positions," Mari explained, a small smirk appearing on her face. "We'll go to the power room and have you point at the shooter's backup button. Then we'll switch the labels and have you point at the Empty Supply button, the button that was falsely labeled the shooter's backup button this morning."
"If we see your bracelet at that point... well, you're history, dude," Sorao answered, smirking.
"No… No, no, no, no, no!" Arashi said, clutching his head with both hands. "M-Monokuma! You can't allow this to happen!"
"And why not?" Monokuma replied, looking rather merry. "It all sounds pretty interesting to me! I'll allow for a recess this time around!"
"NO!" Arashi exclaimed as he slammed his hands onto his podium, his every movement reeking of desperation. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!"
"Why, Sir Arashi, why?" Kumi said beseechingly. "Why did you kill Sir Murphy and Sister Hikari?"
"It doesn't matter if he won't say," Masashi said. "Either way… we've found evidence that shows the labels were switched. And it's already been made clear how Arashi pulled off his whole scheme."
"No…" Arashi said, shaking. "This can't be... THIS CAN'T BE TRUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Once his scream came to an end, Arashi was reduced to making weak, pathetic cries, his head hung down shamefully.
"Masashi..." Mari said, glancing at him. "You know what to do, right?"
Masashi nodded. "I still don't understand why things had to turn out this way, but... I think we've found out enough to make a solid conclusion."
And so he began what he had done twice before.
Closing Argument
"First of all, the killer plotted to use the shooter in one of the lower second deck's storage rooms to their advantage," Masashi said. "They needed to replace the shooter's paper arrows with metallic arrows that they bought from the arcade's gift shop. The only way to the supply room was by using the boat on the lower third deck, and so last night, they asked Monokuma for an employee ID. With it, they could control the boat by hand, and they replaced the arrows in the supply room without a problem. Since the killer did not need to go to the supply room any longer, they later gave Monokuma the ID back.
"Next, the killer wanted to create the impression that it was impossible for them to commit the crime. Hence, the next morning, they took Sister Hikari and Sayua to the power room and cut off the wiring for the Emergency Shooter button, the one for the shooter's backup power. Unbeknown to the two others, however, the button whose wiring was cut off was actually the Empty Supply button. The killer had in advance switched its label with that for the shooter backup button. Thus, in truth, the shooter's backup button was still functional.
"There was one issue, however. At the time, the killer wore a bracelet that Kasumi had given them earlier. Because the Empty Supply button was higher than the killer, when the killer reached for the button, their sleeve dropped, which exposed their bracelet. Of course, the killer, at the time, wasn't aware of it, but wearing the bracelet ended up being a great mistake.
"When evening came, the killer headed off to the shooter room to prepare the scene. The killer needed their victim to stand in a specific place, so that the line of arrows might hit the victim. But there was one thing missing: the music player. Earlier, Tanjiro had taken the music player out of the room and later stowed it in the staff lounge's closet. The music player was important as it played music automatically whenever touched on any of its sides, and the killer needed it for two purposes. One was to act as a signal for when the killer was to activate the shooter. The other was to cover up the alarm sound that the shooter would make.
"Sometime later, when the coast was clear, the killer headed off to the staff lounge as part of their search. They managed to find the music player in the closet, though they had briefly accidentally activated it and so was forced to shut it. But before they could leave, Murphy, who had left to go to the restroom, came back and began to play Battle on Blue Earth as part of a special event. The mode that Murphy had chosen happened to be Hard Mode.
"The killer must have waited for a while, hoping that Murphy would go away. But as time passed, it became clear that Murphy would not leave any time soon. And the killer knew that they could not sneak out, for the lounge's door was incredibly creaky. Murphy would have noticed them with the music player, and they would have been found out later on. In other words, the killer was trapped inside.
"There was only one way out for the killer. They decided to attack Murphy with one of the metallic bats in the closet. Once the attack was done, the killer quickly fled from the scene with the music player at hand. I assume that the killer thought that they at least had knocked him unconscious. Unbeknown to them, Murphy, barely alive, tried to leave the room, only to collapse in front of the door, which effectively blocked anyone from going into the lounge. Now, the killer, still going with their original plan to kill someone with the shooter, tried to go to the shooter room with the music player.
"But there was one problem: Hikari. She stood outside the Pirates' Rest Spot, and so she was in the way. The killer needed to find a way to sneak into the shooter room to finish setting up the scene. That's when the killer thought of an idea.
"They first headed down to the hallway without the music player. They were forced to meet with Hikari, and so they claimed that they were looking for missing fireworks. Hence, the killer and Hikari searched the two storage rooms. But in the shooter room, while Hikari wasn't looking, the killer sneakily opened the window ever so slightly. That was all they needed to do for their trick to become possible.
"Afterwards, after pretending to look around some more for the fireworks, the killer headed back up to the main deck. They then lowered the rope tied around the mast, and as it so happened, it was long enough to reach down to the shooter room's window. This may sound incredible, but the killer, with the music player at hand, descended down the ship's side. Once they made it to the shooter room, they set up the scene and quickly climbed back up.
"The preparations were now done. The killer hurried to the power room, switched the two labels to their original places, and caused the ship's power to go down. They then met up with me and most of the others on the main deck, and we decided to split up, which was in fact part of the killer's plan. The killer was to go to the power room with me and Mari.
"Once in the power room, the killer made their way to the panel of buttons, ready for someone to touch the music player. Indeed, when Sister Hikari touched the music player, the killer, the music acting as their cue, pressed the button twice in order to activate the shooter. Mari and I had looked away from the killer for only a few seconds… but sadly enough, that had been more than enough time for the deed to be done.
"Afterwards, once we discovered Murphy's and Sister Hikari's bodies, the killer had one last thing to do. The deception of the buttons needed to be complete, and they needed to make the shooter's true backup button nonfunctional. Thus, the killer made up an excuse to go to the arcade. Kasumi accompanied them, but since she had to go to the restroom, the killer had an opportunity to be alone and had enough time to thoroughly disable the true Emergency Shooter button. And because the killer thought that no one else had looked at the buttons' wiring beforehand, the killer suspected that we would not know any better.
"However… the killer made one mistake. It was so small that I don't think the killer themselves noticed it. While I was investigating the power room with the killer and Kasumi, the killer pointed at the shooter's true backup button. But at that point, we didn't see their bracelet… which went against what Sayua had seen this morning. Only after Kasumi asked the killer was the bracelet revealed to us. It was this small inconsistency that showed that the two buttons' labels had been swapped this morning!"
Masashi then pointed right at the culprit, whose hands were set on the cheeks. "There was only one person that could have done it: you, Arashi Seiya, the Ultimate Pyrotechnician. I don't want to believe it, but... that's the truth behind your scheme, isn't it?"
Once Masashi was done, all the others looked at Arashi with bated breath, waiting to see whether he would continue to deny the accusation.
"Arashi…?" Faye asked, her eyes already growing tears. "Is… Is Masashi right? Did you truly do all those things?"
After fidgeting about for a few more seconds, Arashi opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry, Miss Nirigiri…" Arashi mumbled, looking down at his podium. "You heard Masashi… You heard him lay out everything that I did!"
Faye said nothing, but his answer seemed to have shaken her, as she immediately tried to suppress the sound of her weeping, her tears flowing down her cheeks.
"I... I can't believe it...! " Kasumi said, covering her mouth with one hand. "You really fooled us for a while there!"
"B-But why?" Kumi asked once again. "Why did you do all this... Sir Arashi?"
"Now, now, you can ask him all the questions you want later!" It was Monokuma, undoubtedly the only one here who felt no sorrow from this ending. "Now, then… it's… Voting Time!"
As usual, the podiums lit up, and all the students looked down at their panels and saw their usual options to pick from. Staring at Arashi's panel for a few seconds, Masashi eventually clicked on it.
"The voting is done!" Monokuma said, raising his paw. "Show us the results!"
Unsurprisingly, the courtroom's monitors all showed that every last vote was for Arashi.
Monokuma chortled. "Who will be chosen as the blackened?! Will you make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?!"
Then appeared the roulette wheel that rolled until it slowly stopped at Arashi's pocket, whereupon tons of applause and confetti appeared, and the class trial ended.
Here it is! The second half of the trial! As it turns out, the killer's Arashi. This one was likely easier to guess; in fact, at least one of you guessed correctly that Arashi was the blackened. Congratulations if you guessed correctly! As shown earlier, there were a few hints that Arashi was the culprit, the open window in the shooter room being one, the bracelet being another.
Anyway, I'll talk more about what I think of Arashi next time, when the execution happens! See you then!
