Chapter 1: Urban Despair Part 5 (Deadly Life)

Citizens Remaining: 16

"Let's get started!"

Monokuma stood up on his throne as we all approached the stands. All of us stared each other down, the judges, jury, and executioners are ready for the trial.

"First things first, let us once again go over the Monokuma File. Misato was killed in her room at around 5pm with a sharp object, Espio's kunai." I said holding my e-Handbook

"My apologies for not being cautious enough. Now then, the weapon was driven directly into her chest, thus ending her young life." The purple chameleon crossed his arms.

Non-Stop Debate

I nodded to him as I faced the others, "Correct. Based on how the door was left open as well, without much damage, Misato must have let the killer into her room."

"Why would she just let them in? Wasn't she expecting Gold to show up?" Shantae asked curiously.

"You're saying that as if Gold couldn't have been the one who murdered her. If he showed up for their 'meeting', then she'd have no reason to be suspicious of him. Thus making him the most likely suspect." Alice smirked as she stared at the guy she mentioned.

"Hey, don't go pointing fingers yet lady, we've still got plenty of time until the vote!"

"Gold's right, we should take more time to look into what we saw in her room." Miles attempted to ease the tension, though it's difficult in this kind of environment.

"Hmph, you shouldn't be too trusting of him, kid. He still could be the blackened, just like the rest of us. " Aoba shrugged at me as I looked over the evidence.

"Anyways, the File doesn't mention any other injuries given to her, aside from the chest wound." Trunks pondered.

"Huh, doesn't look like she put up much of a fight then." I heard from Ryuji.

"No, that's wrong!" I shouted out.

COUNTER

BREAK!

Truth Bullet Used: Ash on Wall

"You didn't investigate with us Ryuji, so you probably didn't notice the ash left on the wall. You must know by now that Misato always uses weapons that shoot ash… or flour. Can't really tell."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember being covered in that stuff this morning after she blasted me… whoops." He rubbed the back of his head as I shook mine.

"Hurry this up please, I need some rest. Let's just say Gold did it and move on." Sucy moaned.

"Yeah, I'm with her. Just vote for the goggles guy." Ishigami responded in a deadpan voice.

"Quit rooting against me, Creepy Gal and Emo Boy!" Gold was getting annoyed, but I just dragged him back to his stand.

"Ugh, can we just continue please?" I told them.

"So we know that Misato attempted to defend herself from her killer, leaving ash on the wall." Thanks Trunks.

"I also spotted ash on the mattress while investigating…" Kaiba spoke up for the first time in a while.

"The weapons we saw in the closet were all hers, which one did she use to leave such a mess?" Miles said.

Shantae then perked up, "She always carried that bazooka with her, maybe that's what she used!"

Once again I noticed a contradiction, "No, that's wrong!"

COUNTER

BREAK!

Truth Bullet Used: Missing Grenade

"I saw in the weapon closet that there was a bundle of grenades. In that bundle, there was an empty spot where a fourth one would be."

Espio promptly responded with, "Misato used a grenade on her murderer, what a collection of weaponry…"

"She's not The Ultimate Arsenal for nothing, now we can get to—"

"Have any facts to back that up?!"

ARGUE

Rebuttal Showdown

"Are you sure she couldn't have used any other weapons? A grenade would have gotten the killer completely covered in ash." Alice stared me down.

"Why do you say that?" I asked her.

She continued her argument while I looked for something to counter her with.

"There are no tracks left by the killer, so we could assume the weapon just left marks on the wall and bed through another weapon! The bazooka seems to be the better option! Misato missed twice, once the wall and another shot on the bed causing it to move, case closed on that!"

"Cutting-into the contradictions!" I said as I found the thing to denounce her claim.

COUNTER

BREAK!

Truth Blade Used: Mattress Position

"A grenade was definitely used here."

Alice looked a bit shocked, but in a way where I couldn't tell if she was serious, "Really? Please elaborate."

"Sure, a blast from the bazooka could have caused the mattress to tip over, yet ash would have been on the left side of the mattress."

"True, we did only see the ash on the bottom of the mattress. Also the bazooka being fired at that angle could have also just pushed the mattress straight to the right side of the room, without tipping it." Killua continued.

"The positioning of the bed suggests that it was covering the grenade leaving the bottom of it covered in ash and flipped over! Since it was Misato who threw it out, the killer must have tried to prevent the explosion from being heard by tossing the mattress over it." I finished.

"Hm… interesting deduction skills you have there. I accept defeat." Alice put her hand to her chest and sighed.

"Won't you guys hurry up? You found less clues than the other guys, yet you're taking just as long!"

"Shut up Monokuma, we're busy!" Emma told the bear, while I wondered what he meant by "other guys".

"We solved the mystery of how the crime scene ended up the way it was…" Killua started.

"Now we just gotta find out whodunit!" Ryuji finished as he raised his fist.

"Alright, let's go catch a criminal!" Shantae cheered.

"You two are being too loud." Sucy stated, annoyed.

I'm pretty sure that most of us are still suspicious of Gold, but I'll try to help him out since he's proven to me that he isn't a truly bad guy. Still I have no idea who the true killer could be. Hold on…

"There's a few more things left from the crime scene that we need to discuss li—"

"You mean the black hairs lying on the floor, correct?" Kaiba rudely interrupted me.

"That was one of them, but you should have let me finish. Hmph." I scoffed at him, who then did it back to me.

"Now now, so what do you think about those hairs Kaiba?" Aoba asked the rich jerk.

"Well I believe that they came from our goggles wearing friend over there. Other than Spider-Boy over here, he's the only other person with black hair in this group."

"What?!" Gold was stunned.

"Considering how the other person's hair is curly, we can see that it doesn't match the hair we found earlier. Thus turning our attention to our culprit. What a shame that you left some obvious tracks to yourself, you must have been really stressed to have been losing hair at your age..." Kaiba continued to mock him as Gold got more annoyed.

"That's it, jerkface! I'm gonna shove my pool cue up your—"

"ORDER IN THE COURT!" Monokuma banged a gavel on his throne.

"Hmph, no one would act that way if they weren't guilty. It's time to end this game." Kaiba closed his eyes and ignored him.

Non-Stop Debate

"So Gold entered the room so he and Misato could conduct their 'meeting'..." Aoba began to recap as if Kaiba was correct.

"He took out Espio's kunai, making her grab one of her grenades and throw it at him!" Alice jumped on the bandwagon, "Gold tossed the mattress on top of the explosive so no one could hear it, the bed getting flipped over in the process. He then proceeded to stab her and run away to get help, leaving a couple of hairs behind!"

"No, that's wrong!"

COUNTER

BREAK!

Truth Bullet Used: Black Hair (Costume Shop)

"Not you again, why can't you just be quiet?" Kaiba told me.

"Sorry, but the hair isn't from Gold." I said confidently.

"It's not?!" Shanate was taken aback by this.

"No, I found this hair from the costume shop in the shopping district. Gold was searching the restaurants along with Ryuji yesterday, so he had not visited that area yet!"

"There's a costume shop? I mean, if it helps me prove I'm innocent…" Gold put his arms behind his head.

"How could you be so sure it's NOT from Gold?" Aoba responded.

"Simple, it came from a missing wig that was part of a costume set. I saw the person the costume was based on while walking around Enoshima Park." I showed them a picture I took of the signs in the park.

"Okay, but where was Gold exactly during the time of the murder? Espio asked.

"Heh, Super Serious Flower Gal's got ya covered, right?" Gold… referred to me, I guess?

"Uh, right. He has an alibi."

Clue Selected: Gold's Alibi

"Finally! Now it's starting to look like the trials of old!"

"SHUT UP MONOKUMA!" We all said as he just went to sleep.

"Well then, Gold was out getting snacks at around 4:40pm, twenty minutes until the timeframe of the murder."

"That's it? That's such an easy thing to lie about." Ishigami responded appropriately.

"Yeah, and even if it was true, he would have easily been able to put the snacks away, then go kill her. Couldn't have taken too long." Sucy explained.

"That would be true, if Gold wasn't carrying a ton of snacks."

Clue Selected: Gold's Pile of Snacks

I showed them a picture of Gold in his room, next to his snack pile atop his bed.

"A… ton?" Kaiba didn't know what to think.

"Yup! I just had to try everything and I thought I could share it all with you guys, but from how things have been going, most of you won't get any." Gold crossed his arms.

"Yo, I think I can see you're not the killer dude." Ryuji high-fived him and Shantae asked if she could have some later.

"Yeah, sorry for doubting you man." Marty gave him a thumbs up.

"Just great, we just lost our only suspect, way to go Ms. Mizuno." Aoba shook his head and sighed.

"Heh heh heh heh." Gold rubbed under his nose as he pat my back, ugh I'm both glad and annoyed at this moment.

"Hold on, we still have something left that we could look at!"

"Wait, really?" Marty was surprised.

"Yeah, show us Ai!" Emma gripped her fists in anticipation.

"We're all waiting." Trunks looked at me and I nodded to him.

Clue Selected: Bloody Piece of Cloth

"I got it! There was a bloody piece of cloth left on the bed at the crime scene."

"That little thing? I just thought it was trash." Emma wondered.

I zoomed in on an image of the cloth, "Well it's not, if you look closer, then you can see that it's a torn off piece of clothing!"

"I can see it, but still, how can we find out who this belonged to?" Miles looked at me with concern.

"We can find out by looking to see who's wearing new clothing." I answered.

The room just went silent after I said that.

"For real?" Ryuji said.

"Yes, for real." I told him, "You can tell if someone is wearing cleaner clothes by comparing them to how they were earlier, can't you?"

"Well I know I didn't change." Gold snarked as I saw crumbs on his shirt, probably from one of the snacks in the pile.

I surveyed the courtroom, looking for any differences in what everyone has wore today, and then I made my choice.

"It's you, isn't it?!" I thought in my head.

"That's a nice jacket you have there, Kaiba."

"You can't be serious, this is an assumption that could cost you your life!" He reacted the way I expected.

"Gold did say not to point fingers like we did, why are you doing it now?" Alice teased me, but I knew I was right.

"It's because he's the one who killed Misato. I'm sure of it."

"You're just a big idiot, aren't you? And here I thought you could have been one of the intelligent ones, yet you decide to claim that I did it. What a pity…"

"Scoff at me all you want, I have proof. Right Bernadetta?"

"H-HUH?!"

She has just been silently listening to the whole thing, afraid to say a single word.

"Now this is REALLY starting to get ridiculous, relying on a weakling like her for proof? Ha ha ha ha!" Kaiba laughed, but I smiled at the recluse.

"I know you can do it. Now let him have it!" I encouraged her.

She took a deep breath and finally walked forward to speak.

"I heard a voice outside my room. It mentioned a name that I didn't recognize, but I think it could maybe be useful."

"What?!" Kaiba was stunned.

"I couldn't hear all of it, but what I could get out of it was, 'Need…to…for...Mok.', before walking off. "

"Kaiba, didn't you mention a name back during the Monokuma meeting earlier?" I pointed at him.

"I remember him saying a name that sounded like that. But what was it exactly?" Trunks thought to himself as I looked back on earlier.

And I pieced it together.

M O K U B A

"It's coming together…" I said in my thoughts before saying the name.

"Mokuba."

Kaiba cringed after hearing that name, before his head fell downward in defeat.

"That's… my little brother's name." He let out weakly.

"It's over. Let's recall everything that's happened." I couldn't believe I felt bad for him in that moment.

It's time for me to sum up everything.

"The killer found Espio's lost kunai somewhere in the city and kept it for themselves, not knowing whether they would use it or not. They then saw their loved one being turned into a 'Remnant of Despair' by Monokuma this morning. Witnessing Gold and Misato talking about meeting up and they decided that the opportunity to strike is there. So while Gold was off scouring for treats, Misato headed back to the Hope-tel. The killer then visited the costume shop and saw a black wig on the racks and took it. When Misato opened the door at around 5pm, expecting Gold, the killer was standing there instead. After seeing the kunai being drawn, Misato took out a grenade and tossed it at them, prompting the killer to prevent a loud explosion. The bed was tipped over and with nothing in their way, the killer stabbed Misato in the chest. Noticing blood and perhaps ash covering their clothing, they removed the bloody part of their outfit on the mattress, as well as scattering hair from the wig. The killer went back to their room to change their clothes before joining up with the rest of us. This duel is over, Seto Kaiba.

"Time's up citizens! Cast your votes on who murdered Misato! Will you make the right choice? Or the dreadfully wrong one…" Monokuma woke up finally as we all voted.

The votes were tallied up and on a large monitor I saw a slot machine with our faces on them. They all lined up with Kaiba's face and he was declared guilty.

"Correct! The blackened was Seto Kaiba! As always it was obvious, for me at least."

Bernadetta walked up to him oddly enough, "Why? W-why did you kill her?".

"... It's hard to believe, but my little brother Mokuba is what's most important to me. Seeing him turned into a slave, forced to take over my world…. It broke me. Besides that, that girl's hot-headedness would have caused our downfall eventually. You saw what happened yesterday."

"I doubt any of us would forgive you, but just know that you weren't alone in feeling this way. Monokuma and whoever's controlling him will pay for this." I told him.

"Alright this is going on long enough. Now then, I've prepared a VERY special punishment for Seto Kaiba, the Ultimate CEO!" Monokuma chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba, once again I have lost a game I thought I played well."

"Let's give it everything we've got! It's...PUNISHMENT TIIIME!"

Monokuma hit his gavel on a button, and the execution began.

GAME OVER

KAIBA HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT!

A shackle shoots out behind a curtain and grabs Kaiba by the neck, dragging him to a strange battlefield. There were two sides with Kaiba on one end, and an oddly dressed Monokuma with a strange haircut. Both of them had some disk things on their arms along with stacks of cards. The battlefield activated between them and projections started appearing.

Execution: The Forbidden One

Kaiba and Monokuma were battling using the cards in their decks and causing monsters and spells to appear on the projection field. I then noticed there were numbers on the side of their platforms, they started at 8000, before dropping to 4000, to 2000, 1000 etc.. Eventually Kaiba summoned a large white dragon with blue eyes and told it to attack Monokuma, who's number reached 500. Monokuma then whipped out five cards and summoned a titan of a monster. Kaiba kneeled down, almost like he knew what was coming and was crushed by the summoned monster, his number reaching 0.

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All of us witnessed this sight, in an instant, Seto Kaiba was killed before our eyes.

We did this.

Bernadetta was in tears and I hugged her as they began to form in my eyes as well. Monokuma proceeded to laugh maniacally as he dismissed us back to the Hope-tel. I didn't feel any sense of victory, only regret. Kaiba murdered Misato, but he was also a victim. I walked all the way to my door, until I ran into them. Trunks, Miles, Emma, Bernadeta, Gold, Ryuji, Marty, Killua, and Shantae.

"Hey, thanks for solving the case Ai." Trunks looked at me with a forced, but sincere smile.

Bernie was next, "Yeah, I didn't think I'd have the confidence to reveal say what I needed to without your support."

"You saved my butt out there, could have been toasted like a Cianwood City sweet potato!" Gold patted my back, but he looked like he was faking a smile too.

The others all complimented how I was out there, solving the case, and I managed to let out a small smile despite the pain (didn't think a zombie like me could still feel that). We all hung out until the 10pm announcement, the snack pile Gold had ended up looking smaller than it was earlier. The whole thing felt nice, we needed it after that excruciatingly long trial. It's going to take so much time to get over the events of today, and there could be darker days ahead, yet we need to move on.

For their sake.

URBAN DESPAIR IS OVER. I feel so much better after writing this out. There's a lot of problems here, but I hope this wasn't too bad. Thanks for following this story so far, I can't believe there's people even reading this thing! HOPE you all can continue following it until the Final Trial ends! For now I need to take a break and learn how many truth bullets should ACTUALLY be collected. Also remember that Free-Time Event requests are still open.