Natural rhythm established, there was a little more order in the court as the trial continued through the alibis. Rinku, Maho, Esora, and Rei were cleared of suspicion as they had been in the music room listening to Rei play piano the whole time. Shinobu, Rika, and all of Photon were safe because they'd been in the gaming lounge. Rika joined late, but the rest of her unit was able to vouch for her because they'd been together until they finished cleaning the dining hall. Rika escorted a sleepy Saori to her dorm while Dalia and Marika spent the rest of the night together. The only ones with alibis that could not be confirmed by others were Kyoko, Yuka, and Hiiro. What ensued was a mass panic debate between the three of them.

"I am not the culprit," Hiiro said calmly.

"It wasn't me!" Yuka cried at the same time.

"I promise, I can explain." Kyoko looked apologetic as she tapped the brim of her cap, hand covered in bandages tinged in pink.

"It is unfortunate, because Nagisa could've vouched for me," Hiiro began.

"I know I wandered off a little bit, but…" Yuka scratched her face embarrassedly.

"I was just trying to find a way out of here," Kyoko said.

"We parted ways because I returned to my dorm."

"Strangely enough, one of the doors to the fourth floor was open!"

"I was trying to get back to one of the hallways we woke up near, not where Nagisa died."

"I was using the crystal ball in my room, trying to divine an escape, but I didn't see anything."

"So, I snuck inside, and I found a darkroom!"

"I cut my hand on one of the broken windows. It was already cracked, but when I tried to break it more, this is all I got for my efforts."

"By the time I came back downstairs, Nagisa was gone, so I figured she got tired of waiting for me," Hiiro looked down embarrassedly.

"Unfortunately, the darkroom was empty. No photos, no cameras, nothing!" Yuka sighed in frustration and shook her head in despair.

"I'm sorry for wandering off, but that's all I got for you." Kyoko shrugged, wincing regretfully.

There was a lotto unpack in every statement, but Saki knew that she could only address one issue at a time. The one that seemed the easiest to refute was… Evidence of a struggle?

"Ummm, K-K-Kyoko…" Saki raised a hand.

Kyoko met her gaze evenly. "Hmm?"

"I… uhh… am sorry to say this, but… How can we be sure your injury—?"

"Seriously?!" Shinobu interrupted. "You're an idiot if you think an injury that small resulted from a struggle!"

"I- I- I- kn-know…" Saki stuttered fearfully, recoiling. "I just wanted to be sure…"

"And I know Nagi!" Shinobu continued, ignoring Saki. This was the real reason for her temper bleeding through. "She would never go down without a fight! So- so- so- for you to say that the tiny cut Kyoko has came from fighting with Nagisa… That's just stupid!"

Shinobu tightened her hands into fists, looking away from the black and white portrait hanging across the trial room from her. Stupid, stupid Nagi! Why didn't you scream for help? Why did you go off alone? Why couldn't you have just come with me to the gaming lounge?! Whoever did this to you… why weren't you able to take them in a fight!? I thought you were tougher than that, stronger…

Saki watched guiltily. She wanted to take Shinobu at her word, but they needed to verify the truth, not just for Kyoko's sake, but so that they could clarify the nature of Nagisa's death. If Kyoko was innocent—and Saki believed she was—there had to be a way to prove it! She closed her eyes and thought hard about Nagisa's body, and everything she knew about Kyoko. Slowly but surely, the word spelled itself out in her mind.

"Blood!" she gasped quietly. Not on Kyoko, but Nagisa!

At the same time, as if reading her mind, Hiiro piped up. "If you check the PheFos, you can see that the ropes are the same color in every image."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Muni snorted.

"It means that there was no blood anywhere on any of them," Hiiro replied evenly. "Likewise, there is no evidence that someone tried to clean any blood off of any of them. And I confess that I felt Nagisa's sweater for this exact reason, and the fabric was neither damp nor stiff with any blood. Small though Kyoko's injury is, I'm sure at least some blood must've gotten somewhere if she was truly the culprit."

"Wait. You felt her sweater?" Saori interrupted with a scandalized tone. Hiiro only gave her a mournful nod, refusing to elaborate.

"I told you Kyoko wasn't the killer!" Shinobu interrupted next, sighing in frustration and waving a hand in exasperation.

"So, if the absence of blood on Nagisa and the trap absolves Kyoko, what of Yuka and Hiiro?" Miyu asked.

"Like I said, my story is similar to Kyoko's," Yuka began. "I was also exploring the first floor, and I found a staircase on the far west side of the building. The door to the fourth was open, so I decided to explore, since the rule only forbade entering locked rooms. I found a darkroom up there, so I just had to check it out, you know? For evidence! But unfortunately—"

"Ok, Ultimate Cam Girl, ok," Shinobu snorted.

"Hey! I was being serious!" Yuka frowned. "I wanted to see if I could find any incriminating evidence against the Mastermind!"

"Mastermind?" Some of the students felt chills run down their spines. That word. Why was it evoking such a strong reaction out of them?

"Yeah!" Yuka glared at Monochio. "I know it said that its creator is from beyond these walls, but someone had to have put it here, and if it really is someone outside of here, then maybe…" She didn't want to say it out loud, but her implication was clear. Maybe we can find a way out too!

"Don't get your hopes up, missy!" Monochio sneered. "Even if you had found something up there, I am the only one who can access security footage! The cameras upon which such footage is obtained is under lock and key, strictly by me!" The cat pawed its chest and raised its chin arrogantly. "Without the passcodes, you haven't got a hope or a prayer!"

"Wait, so does that mean Monochio is confirming Yuka's alibi about being on the fourth floor?" Esora interrupted.

"Oopsie! I've said too much!" Monochio didn't sound sorry at all as it covered its mouth with its paw.

"Hmph. I could've used that footage to confirm my alibi," Kyoko observed with a wry smile.

"Well duh!" Monochio snorted. "But where's the fun in deduction if you have the answer handed to you on a silver platter? Or screen, I guess."

"Actually, I think I can confirm Yuka's story as well!" Hiiro interjected, surprising them all. "After I finished my divination, I came back downstairs and spotted Yuka walking towards that staircase she was talking about. I didn't think anything of it then, but looking back at it now… The Peaky dorm isn't that far down the hallway, so it doesn't make sense for her to be going that far, so that must've been when she was exploring!"

"Honestly, you guys need to be more careful about just wandering off on your own!" Saori sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"As if you didn't do the same?" Marika's teasing voice piped up right beside her.

"H-hey! We already covered that!" Saori reared back nervously. "I was on my way to bed! You all saw me! Rika escorted me—!"

Rika snickered and Hiiro had to hide a smile behind her hand, concealing a giggle as a soft, gentle cough.

"—I never reemerged from my room!" Unlike Hiiro and Yuka… Saori thanked her usually-unlucky stars that she stayed put the entire night.

"Yes, you are correct." Hiiro's smile was bittersweet. "And I appreciate your concern. I just never thought…" The smile on her face vanished, and her shoulders slumped. She promised she would protect me… Oh, Nagisa, why did you have to leave me so soon?!

"If I had perhaps stayed with her, or forced her to go with me… I figured that she was just unnerved by the idea of my divination—"

Dalia made a noise that was halfway between sympathy and fear.

"—but if I could've foreseen what would happen…!" Hiiro broke off, the irony torturous. She was trying so hard to see into the future that she let something be stolen from her present, right beneath her very nose.

"Oh, Hiiro, no, you cannot blame yourself for this!" Miyu's eyes shined with compassion and tears as she looked at the girl on her left.

"Yes, you couldn't have known!" Aoi insisted, her right hand intertwining with Hiiro's left.

"If there's anyone we should be mad at, it's the culprit!" Tsubaki agreed grimly. She may have found Nagisa annoying most of the time, but she never wanted the Ultimate Guitarist anywhere except by her side! So, whoever took her away from me—from us—has HELL to pay!

"Yeah, I'm not even mad at the murderer!" Rika decided loudly. "I'm mad at Monochio!" She pointed damningly at the robotic cat.

"Nyahahaha! I would never harm an innocent student! That's your guys' jobs!" It sneered down its nose at her.

"Hiiro, we could tell that you loved Nagisa," Marika was the next to offer comfort. "And she loved you! She wouldn't blame you this, so don't you dare do it for her!" She gave the Ultimate Diviner a weak smile.

Shinobu found herself nodding in agreement. "Yeah, you did the best you could," she grunted, but she couldn't say more because of the lump in her throat. She grit her teeth again. Stupid, stupid Nagi! Why did you have to go and die first? I know you're an idiot, but come on!

"Nyahahaha! Such sweet, sweet, delicious despair!" Monochio purred. Not only was the grief and finality of Nagisa's death finally sinking in, the students had no leads. Every alibi was solidified, so where did they go next? "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I just can't WAIT to find out! Because either way, I know it'll be fun! For me!" It waved its tail threateningly over the large red button on the table immediately beside its lavish couch.

The gesture was enough to spur some of the students into action.

"No, we can't give up! Not when Nagisa is counting on us! She deserves justice, doesn't she? Even if not for ourselves, we must carry on! For her!" Ibuki was one of the first to encourage them against Monochio's taunts. Now it was her turn to remember her unit's songs and look to them.

We only see the future, and see the new world. We're always ahead of time, no one can catch up!

Beside her, Saki exhaled, trying to settle her nerves. Inside, she chanted a silent prayer. I have no enemy but myself. Actions speak louder than words! Come on, go reach for the stars!

They would make the sounds no one had ever heard, they would give Nagisa the closure she deserved, and they would save and protect everyone!

ooo

With alibies covered, talk shifted from suspects to the trap. "Looks super complicated to me, so it must've taken a while to set up!" Rinku said, tapping her chin as she inspected her PheFo photos. "As the Ultimate Explorer, I have a lot of experience tying things up!"

"Did you have to say it like that?!" Muni interrupted, blushing.

"My, my, our little Rinku is so… mature!" Hiiro blushed as well.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Muni cried.

"A-anyway," Maho interrupted with an embarrassed laugh. "M-moving on… We can infer from what Rinku said that the culprit is someone that nobody saw for a while, since it would've taken such a considerable amount of time to build and hide the trap."

"There was something else I was thinking about earlier," Noa added. "When we were wondering if Nagisa fought back or not, we decided that she didn't because there was no blood on her, or any of us. We established that Kyoko's injuries were unrelated, so knowing that Nagisa didn't fight back, I think I can find another piece of evidence that explains why…"

Noa's PheFo was already open, so the others were quick to do the same, racing to see who could be the first to find her clue.

I got it! Saki thought, eyes darting over every inch of the trap. "The metal hooks holding the ropes up!" They strained under Nagisa's weight, but they did not break. It was a classic case of a rope trap on the floor that, when stepped on, immediately closed around the victim, and pulled them up. So, it was not that Nagisa didn't fight back. She couldn't. No matter how she struggled, those hooks never let her go…

"Now, given the forces necessary to lift a mass of her size, the acceleration would have to be—!" Noa studied her photos closely.

"Nooaaa! This isn't physics class!" Towa whined. The only important part of her spiel was that the trap could be "auto engaged", whatever that was.

"What did you say about her ass?" Rika asked at the same time.

While several of the students stared at Rika, Muni scoffed to herself. "What a cartoony trap! It sounds like something out of an old kids' show!"

"I'm sure you'd know all about that," Maho teased, leaning behind Rinku to whisper to Muni.

"H-hey! It's just because I'm the Ultimate Illustrator, you know?! I had to study a lot of different animation styles!" Muni defended herself.

Before their latest "debate" could go any further, Kurumi cut them off. "Hey! You guys! I think I know who the culprit is!"

"Eh…?" The entire trial room went dead quiet as every eye turned to Kurumi.

"I was thinking about it as soon as you started describing it!" she bragged. "And I think that the culprit iiiissss… iiiissss…"

"…"
"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Me!"

"…?!"

Trial Intermission.

AN: Kurumi is Kokichi, yeah… LOL!