Masashi looked over all the evidence once more. He still felt that he was lacking in information, but this was the best that he could work with for now.
List of Truth Bullets
Monokuma File - The victim is Sorao Mineta, the Ultimate Celesta Player. The victim died from carbon dioxide poisoning. When the victim died, his consciousness was in the virtual world of the Planet Explorer game. There is one wound on the back of his head, but it is determined not to have been fatal. There are several stab wounds all throughout his body, but these are determined to have been made after death.
Simulation Room Keys - One key was found by the shattered painting in the Relaxation Room. The other key was found in one of Sorao's pockets in his jacket. There is very little blood on the key.
Attack on Faye and Maiha - As confirmed by Monokuma, someone knocked out Faye and Maiha in the Mars Cafeteria's kitchen at 7:10 PM with a blackjack. Masashi and the others discovered the two women at 10:10 PM.
Sorao's Door - It can only be unlocked from the outside and requires Sorao's keycard, which Maiha had on her person. There are no signs of tampering with the door, and it works as it normally does.
Sorao's Right Hand - There is some blood found on Sorao's right hand. It does not appear to have been the result of a hand wound or splatter from one of Sorao's bodily wounds.
VR Helmet - The helmet of the seat that Sorao's corpse was found on has a bloody handprint on the right side. The handprint matches Sorao's bloody right hand.
Stab Wounds - Several stab wounds have been inflicted on Sorao's body, mainly his upper body. The culprit appears to have used a kitchen knife, as well as a cloak for protection against the blood splatter. Both the knife and the cloak were left behind near the corpse.
Wooden Box - There are several wooden boxes in the Simulation Room. These boxes appear to hold spare equipment such as wooden clubs. One of the boxes holds gas masks, and a person can fit into that box.
Founder's Chest - This chest belongs to Mitsuji Mizugami, the founder of Brightmere Research. It is locked with a voice password.
Fireworks Show - Around 7:30 PM, Masashi, Haruyuki, Takumi, and Sayua launched the rest of Arashi's fireworks on the main deck of the woodland kingdom. It was Sayua who insisted on it. At 7:45 PM, the four went to the Neptune Clubroom.
Kasumi's Account (1) - Kasumi left the Neptune Clubroom and headed down to the Simulation Room around 7:40 PM. When she arrived at the Simulation Room by roller coaster, she saw Sorao carrying something large into the room. She saw him putting it inside the founder's chest, which was open at the time.
Kasumi's Account (2) - After knocking Sorao unconscious with his wooden club, Kasumi fled from the Simulation Room. Before boarding the roller coaster, she cut the wires of the post so that Sorao might be trapped on the Simulation Room side of the roller coaster ride. Just as she rode the roller coaster, however, she fell unconscious.
Kasumi's Account (3) - When Kasumi woke up from her sleep, she found herself lying on the station platform on the entrance side of the roller coaster ride. Her memory being hazy, she thought about going to the Simulation Room, so at 8:00 PM, she pressed the button on the nearby post to summon the roller coaster. After the roller coaster came, however, she had second thoughts and returned to her room.
Dry Ice Box - According to Monokuma, the box was full this morning, but when the smoke button was pressed at exactly 8:00 PM, there was only a fifth of its ice remaining inside. That amount of ice was still enough to produce carbon dioxide non-stop for about two minutes. Normally, a full box would allow the machine to run nonstop for fifteen minutes.
Keycard - According to Monokuma, a while ago, he had placed in the founder's chest a keycard that could be used to access the secret hallway.
Secret Passageway - There is a secret hallway connecting the Control Room and the projectionist room in the Saturn Theater. To access this passageway, one needs to have a staff keycard.
Film - At 8:00 PM, Masashi, Takumi, and Haruyuki watched an animated romantic film that takes place in a fantasy setting. Monokuma had not told anyone what the film was beforehand.
Note - During the attack in the kitchen, a note fell from the masked attacker's person, according to Maiha. The note contains instructions for the murder scheme involving the smoke machine.
Password - The password to Mitsuji Mizugami's chest in the Simulation Room is "time hides all wounds". Sorao obtained the password from Monokuma last night, apparently after interesting him with his words.
Sorao's Meeting - Sorao asked Monokuma to arrange a meeting with him and a certain person. This was made possible because Monokuma can unlock any door in this ship. What the two talked about is unknown.
Virtual World's Secret - According to Monokuma, there is a key located south of the starting location in the virtual world of the Planet Explorer game. Taking this key to the spaceship at the starting location and using it on the door unlocks a secret exit. Apparently, the process of finding the key and taking it to the spaceship takes about two minutes. Maiha and the others learned about this after dinner. The only ones who did not learn about it were Masashi, who was locked up in his room, and Sayua, who had gone back to her room.
"Let's begin with a simple explanation of the class trial!" Monokuma said. "Vote correctly for the blackened, and the innocent among you win! Vote incorrectly, and only the blackened will escape punishment!"
"It… It just feels so bizarre," Faye said with a dejected look on her face. "Sorao… is really dead…"
Maiha let out a sigh as she glanced downwards with a sad expression. "He was certainly no saint, and his death prevented our secrets from being leaked to the outside world. And yet, none of this should have happened."
Masashi said nothing, but he agreed with the sentiment. Sorao had been a wicked human being, but Masashi could not find it in his heart to say that he had deserved his fate.
"And one of us has become a killer because of this!" Kasumi bemoaned. "I don't want to see any more executions! It's just… too cruel!"
"Well, enough whining!" Monokuma said, looking somewhat displeased. "Get to the meat of the matter! That's what we're here for!"
"Um… all right," Takumi said sheepishly.
"But where do we begin?" Masashi asked. "A lot has happened tonight, so it all feels complicated."
"Yeah… complicated…" Sayua said, looking around warily at the others.
"Let's start by discussing the circumstances behind Sorao's death, then," Haruyuki suggested. "We ought to determine how exactly Sorao was killed."
Nonstop Debate
"The cause of death is simple," Maiha said. "According to the Monokuma File, he died from carbon dioxide poisoning."
"But I'm so confused!" Kasumi said, raising a hand. "How exactly did the culprit bring in carbon dioxide to kill Sorao?"
"There's a mechanism in the Control Room that allows you to emit gas into the room," Haruyuki answered. "The source of the gas is a container of dry ice. If you melt the ice by pressing a button in the control panel, it'll channel the gas into the Simulation Room."
"And as I have confirmed with Monokuma, the button was pressed at exactly 8:00 PM," Maiha said. "Even a minute of exposure to a room full of that gas can be quite dangerous."
Takumi groaned, his face turning blue. "I can't believe such a powerful spell exists!"
"Poor Sorao!" Kasumi muttered. "Being trapped in the Simulation Room with all that gas... that's a horrible thing to see in his last moments."
Truth Bullet Chosen (Refute): Monokuma File
No, that's wrong!
"Hang on, Kasumi," Masashi said. "You're forgetting something. The file mentions something pretty important about Sorao's consciousness. Namely, when Sorao died, his consciousness was in the virtual world of the Planet Explorer game."
"Ah!" Kasumi took out her Monokuma File and read it. "Th-That's right! It really says that! I can't believe I've forgotten about that!"
Maiha scowled, looking at her scornfully. "Is that so...?"
"S-Sorry..." Kasumi said, lowering her voice. "It's just that... a lot has happened tonight, so my mind's not really in tip-top shape."
"I'm still confused about one thing," Faye said, setting one finger on her chin. "When Sorao died, he was also in the virtual world of Planet Explorer. But why was he in there in the first place? What was his purpose for going there?"
"Whoever said that it was Sorao who entered, however?" Haruyuki responded.
Faye looked at him skeptically. "Huh? Are you saying... the killer put him in there?"
"Really? You can put people in the virtual world even if they're unconscious?" Kasumi asked.
"That's right!" Monokuma answered, looking quite proud. "All you have to do is put the headset on someone's head and press the button on the side. The fact that you need no consent makes it very sweet!"
"Eww... having 'sweet' and 'no consent' in the same sentence makes it so wrong..." Kasumi commented, looking uneasy.
"I suppose that's a plausible explanation for Sorao's consciousness being in the virtual world at his time of death," Maiha replied, ignoring her comment. "The killer knocked him unconscious first and then injected him into the virtual world. Perhaps it was to ensure that Sorao would waste his time trying to escape the virtual world and thus be unable to escape his death in time."
"A-And Sorao still died from the poison, even though he was in the virtual world?" Takumi asked, his head cocked to the side.
Maiha nodded, albeit with a look of derision. "Must I explain everything? Yes, of course he did. His consciousness was in the virtual world, but his body in the real world was still prone to any dangers that it was exposed to."
Faye shuddered. "Who would've thought that a VR game could be used to kill people? It's such a wild and unthinkable idea."
"It's pretty new to me!" Kasumi said.
"Well, actually, it's not particularly original," Haruyuki added with a plain tone. "I've already reviewed many a light novel involving this premise, so I am very familiar with the matter. In fact, this reminds me of the fifth installment—"
"Enough about the 'originality'. No one cares a whit about how original the crime is," Maiha said, scowling and sounding keen to shut Haruyuki up, which left the man looking somewhat miffed. "There's one more issue to talk about: despite having killed Sorao with the poison already, the culprit also stabbed him several times."
"According to the Monokuma File, this was done after his death," Masashi said. "It's rather strange. Why did the culprit bother to go with the poisoning, only to stab the body later?"
"Talk about overkill!" Kasumi added. "Maybe the killer's some kind of psycho who goes crazy over making the crime scene as grisly as possible!"
"I-I sure hope there really isn't someone like that here!" Takumi said, looking at the others warily now that the idea was in his head.
"Perhaps the culprit hated Sorao, but still lacked the will to stab a living man several times," Haruyuki suggested, unbothered by her guess. "It left behind quite a bloody mess. It may have been meant for shock value, then. In that case, it certainly filled me with a sense of surprise, though it did not last long. It's something akin to a scene from a horror movie trying too hard, if I am to be generous with my rating."
"Uh, did you really just critique the crime scene?" Faye said, looking at him with a bemused expression.
"There's always room for improvement," he replied, looking not at all bothered by her reaction.
"Yes, yes, your criticism is much appreciated. Now could we get back to what's actually relevant?" Maiha responded, sounding annoyed again.
"Okay, then... now what?" Sayua said, sounding somewhat moody. "We've been talking all about how he died, but does it matter? You still haven't got a clue on who the killer is, have you?"
"Yeah, I don't think we'll get anywhere from trying to determine what exactly the culprit did in the Simulation Room," Faye said.
"Maybe… we should start from the beginning, then?" Takumi suggested. "A lot of things happened tonight, didn't they? I still don't understand what's going on!"
"Yes, a good idea from you for once," Maiha answered, nodding. "Let us start from the beginning."
Nonstop Debate
"First of all… there was the attack on Faye and me in the kitchen of the Mars Cafeteria," Maiha began. "Before the attack, I left to go to the restroom in the Mars Cafeteria."
"But when you came back, you saw Faye lying on the floor unconscious," Haruyuki said. "And the cloaked attacker was standing beside her."
"You never saw the attacker's face?" Sayua asked, eyeing her closely.
"No. Unfortunately, the attacker had been all covered up, so I could not make out any facial features," Maiha answered. "And the attacker was also holding a blackjack."
"Th-Then who was the attacker?" Takumi asked.
"It must've been Sorao!" Kasumi answered quickly. "He must've escaped from his room first by fiddling with the lock somehow!"
"So... he attacked Faye and Maiha and stole the keys..." Sayua said.
"Yep! He went to the Simulation Room after that!" Kasumi said.
Truth Bullet Chosen (Refute): Sorao's Door
No, that's wrong!
"Wait a minute, Kasumi," Masashi said. "Monokuma told us during the investigation that Sorao's door works as it normally does. And there are no signs of tampering, so Sorao couldn't have somehow unlocked the door from inside."
"M-Monokuma said that?" Kasumi said, gaping.
"That's right! I inspected it very carefully and can confirm it!" Monokuma answered. "It's all part of my Monokuma service! Satisfaction guaranteed, or you get your money back!"
"Then it's settled. Since the lock's not been tampered with," Masashi said, "that rules out Sorao being the attacker."
"Yeah, there's no way he could attack us in the kitchen if he was still trapped in his room!" Faye said, nodding. "The attacker has to be someone else!"
"The attacker stole all the keys in my possession," Maiha said with a grim expression. "The keys were the key to Sorao's room, the key to his handcuffs, and both keys to the Simulation Room."
"It's clear that the keys to the Simulation Room were not the attacker's only goal," Haruyuki said. "They wanted the key to Sorao's room as well. After all, they needed to take him to the Simulation Room and kill him there."
"So... what did the culprit do after stealing all the keys from Lady Maiha?" Takumi asked.
"Well, if you stole a key, I'd think you'd want to use it," Faye replied. "The culprit must've gone to Sorao's room to take him away."
Masashi then let out a small gasp once he thought about the scenario. "Wait a minute… that's weird. Don't you think Sorao would've resisted once the culprit tried to abduct him?"
"Yeah, no way he would've gone willingly!" Takumi added. "Sorao was rather frightening... I bet he could've put up a strong fight even with handcuffs..."
"Maybe they didn't need him to go along with them willingly, then," Faye suggested, sounding uncertain. "Maybe they… knocked him out?"
"Knocked him out... Why, that's a rather good suggestion, Faye!" It was Maiha, who looked oddly keen, if her smile meant anything. "In fact, I think there was one thing that the culprit could've used. We've all seen it already."
"W-We have?" Takumi said, cocking his head to the side. "What is it?"
Something that could be used to knock someone out… Masashi thought. Ah, that's it!
"I can think of only one thing," Masashi answered. "It's the tranquilizer, right?"
Maiha nodded, her smile betokening her delight. "Yes, that's right! Monokuma gave us four tranquilizers a while ago. And I trust that you know from experience how effective it is."
Masashi groaned as that memory of his attempt to kill Sorao sprang in his mind. "Yeah… you used yours on me, and I fell asleep in just a minute. Something like that would work to subdue Sorao easily."
Haruyuki looked at Masashi with a somewhat stern expression. "In that case… are you proposing that the killer was someone who had a tranquilizer?"
"But who?" Faye said. "Who could've done it?"
If I remember correctly… there was only one person who had a tranquilizer, Masashi thought. I'm not sure whether that person really is the culprit, but…
"The only one who could've done it," he said, "was you, Kasumi."
"Wh-WHAT?!" Kasumi cried out as the others gazed at her with newfound suspicion. "Y-You're suspecting me?!"
"I'm loath to say it, Kasumi… but he has a point," Haruyuki replied. "You indeed were the only person with a tranquilizer. Maiha, Faye, and Sayua had already used theirs before tonight's events."
"S-So Lady Kasumi's the only one left!" Takumi said with bewilderment. "I can't believe it! Lady Kasumi, did you really try to kill Sorao?! I know he was an awful man, but… I thought you were a noble thief who'd always play fair!"
Kasumi gasped as the others looked at her. "Don't tell me you think I did it! I mean... What about the time?! I was with Masashi the whole time until 7:00 PM, and I bet I had an alibi when you were attacked!"
Faye shook her head. "Sorry, Kasumi, but... we were definitely attacked by the culprit at 7:10 PM."
Kasumi opened her mouth in surprise. "H-How can you be so certain?!"
Yes, that's right... Kasumi wasn't there when we got confirmation, Masashi thought. Let's see... what proves that Faye and Maiha were attacked at that time?
"It was Monokuma who told us," he answered. "According to him, someone knocked Faye and Maiha out in the kitchen at 7:10 PM."
"That's right!" Monokuma added gleefully. "I was so shocked when I saw you two attacked! What a twist! To be honest, it was pretty nice seeing that since this evening had been pretty boring, and violence always spices things up."
Faye sighed, looking dismayed. "I really wish you didn't see pain as something to amuse you."
Monokuma snorted. "Sheesh, you're no fun. I bet you don't see the appeal of movie scenes where everything goes kablooey. Seeing the set getting destroyed... and all those characters screaming as they are swallowed by the chaos... It's so beautiful."
Masashi held in a groan as he heard Monokuma sniffled at the end. "Um, well... in any case, we know for sure that Faye and Maiha were knocked out by a third person after 7:00 PM." He then looked at Kasumi with a serious expression. "Kasumi... please be truthful with us. Did you abduct Sorao?"
"No, no, no!" Kasumi protested, shaking her head. "You have it all wrong! I'm not the culprit! I simply went to the Neptune Clubroom and went down to the Simulatiom Room later! That's where I saw Sorao!"
"What a laughable story!"
It was Maiha, who sounded quite keen as she glared at the lady thief.
"There's absolutely no one here who can support your claims!" Maiha replied with a scathing tone. "And since you don't have an alibi, you could've been the one who attacked me and Faye! You could've gone to Sorao's room with the key you stole!"
"Gah... But... But...!" Kasumi muttered.
"I'm sorry, Kasumi..." Masashi said. "Maiha's right. You're the only one here who had a tranquilizer tonight—"
"Just shut up and listen to what I have to say!"
Though Kasumi's upper half was covered with her red masquerade mask, there was an unmistakable frustration rushing through her face.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten every goddamn thing I've told you!" she said, snarling and clenching a fist. "Listen, I went to the Simulation Room and happened to find Sorao there! He attacked me with that stupid club, and I tried to use my tranquilizer on him! But he managed to get it and used it on me! But before I managed to fall unconscious, I knocked him on the head with his own weapon! I didn't kill him, and that's the goddamn truth!"
"Well, that's what you say, but…" Masashi replied, taken aback by her rage. "If you really are the culprit, then your whole account may be fake."
"Yes, indeed," Maiha added, looking somewhat amused. "It is nothing but a tale."
"Oh, shut up! You never give me the stupid benefit of the doubt, you arrogant harpy!" Kasumi said, pointing at the ballroom dancer.
"H-Harpy?!" Maiha replied, looking at her with equal fury.
Kasumi snorted, cracking a small smile upon seeing Maiha's reaction. "And besides, there's another explanation for how the culprit managed to knock out Sorao without the stupid tranquilizer! And I'll explain it to you loud and clear!"
Rebuttal Showdown: Kasumi Ayukawa
"The culprit didn't have a tranquilizer, so they needed to think of another way to knock him out," Kasumi began.
"That's why they ended up having to use a weapon.
"Yeah, like the blackjack that they used on Faye and Maiha!
"They were knocked out as well, weren't they?
"The killer could've entered Sorao's room and then launched a surprise attack on him!
"That's how Sorao was knocked unconscious!"
"But even with handcuffs, I doubt that Sorao couldn't have fought back against the killer," Masashi said. "He would've been alert after seeing someone with a blackjack."
"Oh, that's simple to explain!" she answered. "The culprit simply pretended that they were here for an innocent purpose."
"They could've said they were here to give Sorao one more meal.
"And after Sorao let his guard down…
"The culprit simply knocked Sorao on the head!
"That's a plausible explanation, isn't it?!"
Truth Bullet Chosen: Monokuma File
I'll cut through your words!
"No, that can't be it, Kasumi!" Masashi responded. "There's no way that Sorao was knocked out on the head in his room!"
"Wh-Why not?!" she said.
"Think about what the Monokuma File says," he explained. "It says that there is one head wound."
"S-So what?"
"If your theory is correct, and your encounter with him isn't a lie… then it means that Sorao was hit twice on the head. Once when the culprit attacked him in his room, and once when you attacked Sorao in self-defense in the Simulation Room."
"But that's clearly not what the Monokuma File says, is it?" Maiha added, sneering. "He was hit only once… so your theory is nothing but a fantasy!"
Kasumi gasped, flinching. "I-It can't be…! Th-That can't be right!"
Haruyuki sighed, looking at her with unease. "Kasumi… you're not lying to us, are you? I sincerely hope that you are sincere in your words."
"Of course I'm sincere!" Kasumi replied. "I-In fact, my classmates say that I'm the sincerest person they've ever met!"
Maiha snorted, crossing her arms. "Your classmates are nothing more than misguided fools."
"E-Eep!" Kasumi said, wincing at the bitterness that Maiha had put in her last word.
"Whatever you may say, it's clear that the culprit abducted Sorao from his room with the use of a tranquilizer," Maiha continued. "And you're the only one who had a tranquilizer!"
There's no denying that, Masashi thought. Kasumi had the tranquilizer, and I don't see a way to prove that Sorao used it on her rather than the other way around.
"So... Kasumi's really the culprit?" Faye said, eyeing her with surprise.
"I-I'm sorry, Lady Kasumi, but it doesn't really look good for you!" Takumi added. "I want to believe in you, but…"
"C-Come on, guys! Please listen to me!" Kasumi replied, clapping her hands together beseechingly, her expression full of anxiety. "I admit, I've lied plenty of times in the past, but you have to believe me this time!"
Nonstop Debate
"I swear to you, I never went to Sorao's room!" Kasumi began. "I went down to the Simulation Room around 7:40 PM and happened to stumble upon Sorao!"
"But you have no witness to back you up," Maiha retorted. "I say you dragged Sorao to that place after knocking him unconscious with your tranquilizer."
"But even so, how do you explain the head wound?" Haruyuki said.
"It's simple," Maiha said. "When Kasumi arrived at the Simulation Room, Sorao woke up, much to her chagrin."
"So she had no choice but to knock him out with the club?" Faye said.
"I-I did so out of self-defense after Sorao attacked me!" Kasumi said. "I only fled the scene after Sorao had attacked me with my own tranquilizer!"
"Such pitiful excuses you have. There's no proof that you fled because your life was in danger," Maiha replied handily. "You knocked Sorao out and killed him with the smoke machine."
Truth Bullet Chosen (Refute): Kasumi's Account (2)
No, that's wrong!
"Actually, there is one thing that shows that Kasumi's not lying about fleeing the scene," Masashi replied. "Maiha, don't you remember the condition of the post in the station?"
"Post? Station? Are you referring to the panel that you can use to summon the roller coaster to your station?" Maiha asked.
Masashi nodded. "Remember what the post on the Simulation Room side was like. When we examined it shortly before discovering Sorao's corpse, we saw that the wires in it were cut. This means that it was no longer functional."
"Well, that's because I cut those wires!" Kasumi added. "I cut them because I knew that Sorao might follow after me with the roller coaster! So I had to cut them before I boarded the roller coaster! That way, he couldn't summon the roller coaster back to his side!"
"Ah!" Maiha gasped, her face slightly warped with indignation at being contradicted.
"If Kasumi had been the killer, it wouldn't have made much sense for her to cut those wires," Haruyuki added. "After killing Sorao, she could've simply ridden the roller coaster back to the other side. Cutting the wires would've provided her with no benefit."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense…" Faye said.
"S-So Lady Kasumi's innocent?!" Takumi said with hope in his voice.
"Of course I am!" Kasumi said with less anxiety now that more and more people seemed to believe her.
"I think it looks fairly likely," Masashi said, "that she really encountered Sorao in the Simulation Room by chance—"
"You've shown rather poor judgment!"
Maiha, on the other hand, looked unwilling to back down, her fist clenched, her glare growing intense. "It's such a sorry sight to see you fall for her trick, Masashi."
"Huh? Trick?" Masashi said, bewildered.
"You don't understand? How pitiful."
"But… what's there to understand?" he replied. "The cut wires show that Kasumi fled for her safety, don't they?"
"Hmph. I will not let a bunch of cut wires avert my gaze toward the truth," Maiha retorted, gazing at him resolutely. "Allow me to enlighten you, then."
Rebuttal Showdown: Maiha Hanazawa
"The wretched thief knew that we would suspect her sooner or later," Maiha began. "After all, she is the only one who had a tranquilizer tonight.
"Thus, she would be the most obvious suspect.
"She needed to draw suspicion away from her.
"That is when she had the foolhardy idea of pretending to be a victim of Sorao's attack.
"As part of this false narrative of hers…
"She cut the wires of the post in the Simulation Room station!
"That is how she has managed to deceive you!"
"I admit, it's possible that Kasumi tried to pretend to be a victim," Masashi said. "But don't you think the other parts of her account back her account?"
"Of course not," Maiha replied readily.
"There was no one on the Simulation Room floor except for the wretched thief and Sorao.
"So there are no witnesses to lend credence to her story.
"And she has no evidence to back up her account about what Sorao did.
"Besides the part in which she cut the wires…
"There's nothing else in her account that can be verified.
"It will take more than a bunch of cut wires to make me believe in her victimhood!
Truth Bullet Chosen: Kasumi's Account (1)
I'll cut through your words!
"No, Maiha… there is one thing in her account that we can verify!" Masashi said. "When Kasumi entered the Simulation Room, she happened to see Sorao carrying something."
"Wh-What?" Maiha said, her confidence replaced with confusion.
"That's right! And not only that, but I saw where he put it!" Kasumi answered. "He put it in the chest belonging to Brightmere Research's founder!"
The others gasped.
"A-Are you talking about the founder's chest?" Faye said, eyes widened. "The chest with the voice password?"
"You mean the chest whose contents we don't even know?" Sayua said, looking more interested than before. "You... You really saw Sorao putting something in there?"
Maiha scowled, albeit much less fiercely. "Wretched thief! You say that you saw this 'something', but your account is steeped in vagueness! How do you expect us to trust it?!"
"Ah, but there is one easy way to see whether she is telling the truth," Haruyuki added with a serene smile. "Since she claims to have seen Sorao put something in the chest, why not examine the chest? Isn't that what you were hoping to do before Monokuma announced that the investigation was over?"
Maiha winced as soon as she was reminded of her own words. "Th-That's right… I indeed wanted to look into the chest, but we were cut short on time for some reason."
"Oh, something happened that simply made it preferable to end the investigation. Once again, so sorry!" Monokuma said, sounding oddly evasive.
'Something happened'? Masashi thought. What on earth is going on?
"S-So we can't investigate the chest at all?!" Kasumi said.
"Now don't put words in my mouth! It really irks me when people do that. Don't you hate it when people lie about you?" Monokuma replied. "Even though we can't go to the ship, I've already prepared for this scenario!"
Monokuma then clapped his paws, and a few seconds later, Masashi and the others heard whirring coming from the elevator. It appeared to be going back up, and some time later, it came back down. When it opened, a few Monokumas appeared, holding up the very chest that Masashi wanted to examine. The sight was enough to stupefy all the students as they stared at it with gaping mouths. The Monokuma helpers laid down the chest near Masashi's podium and then rushed back to the elevator, and the elevator's ascent marked their disappearance.
"Well, this is quite atypical…" Haruyuki said. "Bringing the evidence itself here during the trial…"
"Special times call for special measures!" Monokuma said. "Just this once, I'll allow you to take a break from the proceedings and examine it to your heart's content. My team of Monokuma experts opened the chest earlier and can verify that it is 100% safe, so go on, open it again!"
"Um, even with the chest, how can we open it?" Kasumi asked. "We don't know the password, do we?"
"Actually, Monokuma told me and a few others during the investigation," Masashi answered. "It was… 'time hides all wounds'. Sorao had asked him about it last night, apparently, so he also knew the password."
"Sorao talked with Monokuma?!" Faye exclaimed, eyes widened.
"That's right. Apparently, Sorao must've entertained him enough to make Monokuma give him the password," Haruyuki responded. "Unfortunately, we have not been told on what they talked about."
"Sorao knew the password…" Sayua muttered, her gaze looking quite unfocused. "But… why did Sorao ask him for it…?"
"Perhaps he was curious about the contents of the chest and thought it might have something of value," the art critic suggested plainly.
"Wait, if Sorao asked him… does that mean that we could've asked Monokuma for the password all along?" Masashi asked.
Monokuma, however, let out a buzzing sound. "Sorry, but that's not how it works! I only told him because he interested me enough with what he had told me. He was an exception, that's all! Like all good bears, I don't give out passwords under normal circumstances!"
Sorao was an exception… I wonder what he told Monokuma, Masashi thought.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Open the chest up already!" Kasumi said, sounding full of anticipation as if she were a little girl excited to open her birthday gift. "Oh, it just kills me to see a chest left unopened!"
"Before we open the chest, we must ascertain one more thing," Haruyuki said. "Kasumi, state for the record what you saw Sorao holding."
"Um… my memory's a bit fuzzy… but… I think…" Kasumi then let out a great gasp. "I remember a bit more clearly now! He was holding some kind of… red tub! And it was full of water!"
"Th-That's awfully specific!" Takumi said.
"R-Red tub, you say..." Maiha glowered at the phantom thief. "We'll see in a few seconds just how correct you are. Masashi, open it."
Taking in a deep breath first as if readying himself for some laborious deed, Masashi turned toward the chest and said the password. A second later, the chest let out a click. He opened the chest and found that there were a variety of items inside, but the thing that stood out most was that there was a red tub of water.
"Ah! That's the same thing that I saw!" Kasumi said.
"Wh-What?!" Maiha exclaimed, eyes widened. "Th-That's… that's the missing tub!"
"Missing tub?" Masashi said.
"Yes, I told you about how a large tub had gone missing from the Control Room," she answered. "So that's where it went!"
"Wh-What the?" Sayua said, looking quite astounded. "Why… Why is that thing in there…?"
"I-It certainly looks like Lady Kasumi wasn't lying to us!" Takumi said.
"Yeah… It certainly matched what Kasumi said she'd seen right before we opened the chest," Faye said.
"Since Kasumi could not have asked Monokuma for the password to the chest, she could not have put the tub in the chest," Haruyuki added with a small but telling smile. "And moreover, even if she had been the culprit, it would've been quite needless for her to mention the open chest at all. She would've just omitted it from her eyewitness account. Do you not agree, Maiha?"
Maiha snarled as the others murmured similar sentiments of belief in her. "I… I… I demand a further investigation!"
"Wh-What?! You still think I'm lying?!" Kasumi said.
The ballroom dancer scoffed. "We mustn't be too hasty in dismissing you as a suspect."
Haruyuki nodded. "I don't quite care for your continued skepticism, but I agree that a further investigation is warranted. There may be other clues in the chest."
Maiha nodded as she crossed her arms. "Masashi, look through the chest. Thoroughly!"
Suppressing a sigh at being the one to do the handiwork, Masashi looked at the chest once more.
First, he placed one finger in the tub's water. "It's quite lukewarm…"
"If it's lukewarm now, then the water must've been hot a while ago and has cooled down," Haruyuki added. "Do you see anything else remarkable about the water?"
Masashi looked at the tub some more, but all he saw was his reflection. "No... nothing."
He then saw something beside the tub: two empty medium-sized plastic bags. "What the…? Why are there bags here?"
"I've seen those bags before, actually," Faye said. "There are plenty of those in the control room."
"Is there anything inside?" Haruyuki asked.
Masashi shook his head. "Sorry, but they're completely empty."
Maiha sighed with frustration. "Are there any other clues, Masashi?"
Masashi looked through the other contents of the chest, but they were all items of clothing, including a pair of thick blue gloves, and small trinkets such as cards, pictures of scenery, and badges. He even searched the clothing thoroughly, but found nothing of note. "I guess that's it."
"Puhuhuhu…" Monokuma said. "You know what? Since I cut the investigation a bit short, I think I'll be a bit generous and give you some more info!"
"Wh-What info?" Faye said.
"My trusty forensic analysis!" he answered blithely. "Using my expert fingerprint analysis, I will tell you the names of all the people who touched a certain thing!"
"Really? How handy," Haruyuki replied. "Just to ease all our doubts that it was Sorao who put these things in, we ought to see whether his fingerprints are on anything."
"Even before the motive was given, Sorao had been to the control room a few times, so taking the fingerprints of the tub would be futile," Maiha said.
"In that case, what should we take the fingerprints of instead?" Faye asked.
"Actually… there is one thing," Haruyuki added with quite a satisfied tone. "Maiha… do you remember that sometime before the motive, all of us went to the Simulation Room to investigate the chest?"
"Yes… Ah!" She gasped. "So that's what you mean."
"W-Wait a minute!" Masashi said. "What's this about going to the Simulation Room? This is the first I've heard of it."
"Well, yes, you were locked up in your room at the time, and our investigation yielded nothing productive at all," Maiha answered matter-of-factly. "All of us except you went to the Simulation Room. I had grown curious about the founder's chest, so I thought that there might be a way to open it."
"Uh, hello? What does that have to do with the topic at hand?" Sayua said.
Maiha crossed her arms, looking annoyed. "You're quite daft, aren't you? When we investigated the chest… we tried to open the chest with our hands. Everyone except two people."
"Who?" Masashi asked.
"Sayua and Sorao," Haruyuki answered. "Sayua, I believe you said you didn't want to bother with the attempt."
"Yeah... that's right," the cheerleader answered, crossing her arms. "Felt pretty pointless to see whether there was any secret to the chest, so I just stood watching Sorao."
"Sorao never touched the chest?" Masashi said.
"That's right. And keep in mind that a day after the... incident between you two," Maiha answered, sounding somewhat uncomfortable mentioning Masashi's attempted killing of him, "I decided to have the Simulation Room locked, with the two keys in my disposal. So he had no chance of touching the chest."
"That is, until tonight," Haruyuki said. "If his fingerprints are on it, we can be sure that he opened the chest."
"S-So what are the results, Captain Monokuma?" Takumi asked.
Monokuma looked down at the floor, his eyes half-shut. "Let's see here... Maiha, Haruyuki, Kasumi, Faye, Takumi, your prints are on here. And Masashi, yours are there as well."
"Well, I touched it when I investigated the chest just now, so that's natural," Masashi replied. "But are Sorao's on it?"
It was then that Monokuma let out a great chortle.
"Of course his prints are on there!" Monokuma answered. "He touched that chest, all right! Touched it like how anyone would touch the chest to open it!"
Updated Truth Bullet: Founder's Chest - This chest belongs to Mitsuji Mizugami, the founder of Brightmere Research. It is locked with a voice password. Inside the chest are a tub of water and two empty bags. The water in the tub is lukewarm.
The only person whose fingerprints are not on the chest is Sayua, as she never touched the chest when the group investigated the chest a few days ago. Sorao must have touched the chest tonight since he had not touched the chest previously.
"AH!" Maiha gasped, looking fully aware of the implications of the results. "Then… Sorao really was the one who opened it!"
"Now do you believe Kasumi when she said she witnessed him putting the tub of water in the open chest?" Haruyuki asked.
Maiha grimaced, and for a moment, she looked away. Eventually, she faced the others. "Fine… I yield. For now."
"Well, you should've listened to me in the first place!" Kasumi said with some smugness in her voice.
She still added that 'for now' at the end… I guess she still has some doubt left in her heart, Masashi thought. Well, I guess that's fine. At least she knows when to give it up.
"Well, I'm just as confused as before!" Faye said. "What exactly did Sorao put the tub of water in for?"
"Since he asked Monokuma for the password to the chest, I assume that he had some kind of malicious plan in mind," Maiha answered. "I can't possibly imagine what it was—"
"Wait, hold on!"
Of all people, it was Sayua, who bore a nervous expression.
"What is it?" Masashi asked.
"I… I… I just remembered something!" she said, sounding quite amazed. "I… I think I know why Sorao had a tub of water in the first place."
"You do?!" Takumi said.
"Yeah… and it has to do with you!"
"M-Me?!"
The one she pointed to was Kasumi, who looked utterly surprised at being the center of attention again.
"H-How?!" Kasumi said. "Wh-What does that tub of water have to do with me?!"
"Oh, it has very much to do with you," Sayua said rather ominously. "You see… I know your secret involving water."
Kasumi gasped, suddenly looking more frightened than outraged. "N-No way… you… you know?!"
"Huh? What's going on?" Faye asked, confused. "What secret?"
"A few days ago, there was one time when Kasumi was watching Sorao," Sayua explained. "I saw them in the pool area in the pirates' cove… I was standing in the stairway, so they didn't notice me. But I still could hear what they were saying."
Sorao was standing quite a distance from the pool, wearing a pair of trunks with his shirt off. "Once again, thanks for letting me take a swim. You would not believe how restrictive the others are. I can barely have any fun with them."
"W-Well, I'm a pretty nice girl," Kasumi said, standing by him. "A-And I admit, it's nice to see you shirtless again…"
Sorao chuckled. "Even knowing my true colors, you still admire my body?"
"I'm not one to deny the fact that you're... well, pretty hot," she replied. "Oh, if only you weren't so evil!"
"'Evil'... Pfft. Blame Masashi for making me reveal this bad side of mine. The truth is why we often can't have nice things," Sorao said, smiling. "Say, Kasumi… wanna take a dip with me? We can have quite a lot of fun together."
It was then that Kasumi's face grew pale.
"Um… sorry. I have to pass," she said, her tone shaky.
"Huh?" Sorao cocked his head slightly. "What's the matter? Ladies usually love getting wet with me."
"Well… oh, I shouldn't say it to you."
Sorao inched closer to her. "Come on, baby. If you have a secret, say it to me. I won't tell the others. Besides, it's not like I can really use it against you."
Kasumi looked at Sorao once more, her face flushing more and more.
"F-Fine… I confess…. I… I have a fear of water."
Sorao gasped. "A fear of water? That's pretty unusual. Can't you handle drinking water and taking showers?"
"Yeah, of course, but other than that, I try to avoid water as much as I can!" she answered. "I… I mainly can't stand seeing bodies of water. I can't help but think of the idea of drowning!"
"Wow... that's rather unfortunate. Being in the water's actually pretty nice, so it sucks that you can't enjoy the feeling. Did something happen to you a long time ago?"
Kasumi nodded shyly. "Th-There was an incident when I almost drowned… since then, whenever I see water that I can drown in, I can't help but feel the need to get as far as I can!"
"Oh, man…" he answered, looking and sounding quite sympathetic. "Drowning must be your worst nightmare…"
"Th-That… You… You heard that?" Kasumi said, looking at Sayua with utter anxiety.
"Yeah, that's right... I didn't think it was all that important, and I had no reason to bring it up until now," Sayua said. Though she did not sound unhappy, there was no smile on her face.
"Kasumi... are you really scared of water?" Masashi asked, amazed.
"I can't help it!" Kasumi's voice turned shaky, her body posture now exuding fear. "I-I told you the story about how I nearly drowned in my childhood! Since then... I... I can't stand seeing big bodies of water! That's why I've never stolen anything from aquariums ever!"
Oh, that's right... Kasumi was separated from her biological parents one night, Masashi thought, recalling the story that she had told a few days ago. She fell off her family's boat and was lucky enough that someone else had been there to save her... but I guess it makes sense that her experience shook her greatly.
"Kasumi..." Haruyuki said, looking somewhat worried about her. "Are you all right? I can't imagine it was pleasant for you to talk about your fear."
She took in a breath of air, and in a few seconds, she looked slightly calmer. "Y-Yeah... thanks. I'm okay now. I admit, I have a fear of water, but I don't see what's so relevant about it."
Sayua scoffed. "You don't get it? I thought even you would see what I was implying."
"Well, I don't!"
"Neither do I!" Takumi added, looking befuddled.
"But I do."
It was Maiha who responded, her countenance now bearing the same confidence that she had possessed earlier.
"Maiha...?" Masashi said. "What are you...?"
"It makes so much sense now!" the ballroom dancer said with a renewed zeal. "Sorao... was planning to use the water to drown the wretched thief!"
Everyone gasped.
"N-No way!" Faye said, eyes widened. "I-I can't believe it!"
"Listen first before you show any more shock," Maiha said, wagging her finger at Kasumi arrogantly. "This new fact proves the possibility that the wretched thief is the culprit!"
"H-How?!" Kasumi replied, looking quite afraid.
"Indeed. You must explain yourself at once," Haruyuki said, staring sternly at her accuser.
"Gladly," Maiha responded, sneering. "After attacking me and Faye and stealing all my keys, the wretched thief went to Sorao's room. She tried to abduct him with her tranquilizer, but unexpectedly, he fought back and managed to steal the key to his handcuffs and one of the Simulation Room's keys. Then Sorao fled the scene before she could catch him.
"He had a new goal in mind: kill the wretched thief. After all, she was planning to kill him, so he needed to strike first and devised a scheme to catch her by surprise. As part of his scheme, he went to the Simulation Room via roller coaster. He planned to kill her by drowning, as he knew that she would not be able to fight back once she was submerged in water."
"Hold on. If he planned to drown her, why not use any of the pool areas in the ships?" Haruyuki asked.
"That's because she would know right away what he planned to do with her if she saw him in the pool areas, and she would stay away from them. That would ruin his chances of drowning her," she explained readily. "So he thought of tricking her. He would await her in the Simulation Room, and she did not expect that room to have any water in it. But in truth, he hid a tub of water in the founder's chest. He would spring the trap against her when she should arrive. And once he should kill her, he planned to return to his room and claim that it was impossible for him to be the killer because he was locked inside the whole time!"
"I… suppose that makes some sense," Masashi said. "So Sorao went to the Simulation Room willingly, and Kasumi chased after Sorao?"
"That's correct. She caught him while he was still preparing the trap. He must have been quite shocked and unnerved to be found before he could finish. Panicking, he attacked her with a wooden club. But she snatched the club from him and knocked him out with it!"
"And that's when Kasumi thought of killing him with the smoke machine?" Faye said.
Maiha nodded. "She couldn't very well kill him by drowning him in his own tub, given her... reluctance around water. And killing him with the club would lead to bloodshed that she would have to clean up. Poison therefore was the cleanest method… though it seemed that she changed her mind afterwards, as shown by the multiple stabbings to his corpse."
"Th-That's not what happened!" Kasumi protested. "I-I was knocked out by my tranquilizer when Sorao grabbed it from me!"
"I-I'm sorry, Lady Kasumi, but…" Takumi said. "Lady Maiha's theory sounds… pretty convincing."
"It certainly explains a lot," Faye said, nodding along. "If he planned to exploit Kasumi's fear of water, then it makes sense why Sorao had a tub of water in the first place."
"Y-Yeah…" Sayua said, looking quite amazed. "That's what I had in mind as well… Gotta admit, she explained it way better than I could."
I can't believe it... Masashi thought, amazed. Maiha conceded a few minutes ago that Kasumi was telling the truth... but now she's made a turnabout and come up with a new theory!
Though he wanted to believe in Kasumi and say that Maiha's theory was wrong, he had to admit that it explained quite a lot, and the facts of the case did not seem to contradict it at first glance. And it explained how Kasumi had told the truth about Sorao's attack on her and yet was the killer.
"Ooh… Y-You guys have to believe me! I'm innocent!" Kasumi said, looking afraid.
Maiha pointed accusingly at her. "My theory adheres to the facts more than your misleading testimony. Now give it up already."
"Yeah, that's right! Tell us the whole story already!" Sayua said, clenching a fist.
"I-I am! And the truth is that I'm innocent!" Kasumi yelped, the class trial becoming more hectic and chaotic.
Nonstop Debate
"When Kasumi went to the Simulation Room," Maiha said, "she found Sorao preparing his trap to kill her."
"She caught him carrying a tub of water," Takumi said, "and putting it in the chest..."
"Sorao panicked and tried to knock her out with a club instead," Faye said. "But she grabbed the club from him and knocked him out."
"So once Kasumi knocked Sorao out," Sayua said, "she put him in one of those chairs and equipped him with the VR headset!"
"Once Sorao was trapped in the virtual world," Maiha said, "the wretched thief went to the Control Room and activated the smoke machine to poison him."
"Then to make herself look like a victim… she cut the wires of the post in the Simulation Room floor's station," Faye said.
"Then she simply rode the roller coaster back," Sayua said, "since that's the only way to leave the floor."
Truth Bullet Chosen (Refute): Secret Passageway
No, that's wrong!
"Actually… there was one other way out of the Simulation Room floor," Masashi said. "There's a secret passageway connected to the Control Room."
"H-Huh?" Faye said, eyes widened. "Secret… passageway?"
"Yes. Do you remember the locked door in the Control Room?" he answered. "It turns out that the door leads to a secret passageway that goes all the way up to the projection room in the Saturn Theater."
"Whoa, really?!" Kasumi said, gaping.
"Yes, that's right," Haruyuki answered. "Maiha, Takumi, Masashi, and I investigated the passageway. Anyone using that passageway could escape from the Simulation Room floor without having to use the roller coaster."
"Pfft. So what?" Sayua retorted. "The thief chick simply escaped by roller coaster. There's no proof that she ever used the secret passageway."
No... there's more to the passageway than she may think, Masashi thought.
"Even though I said it was connected to the Control Room… there's actually one more way to access the passageway," Masashi explained. "The right-side walls of the secret passageway… are actually the glass walls in the Relaxation Room."
"Wh-WHAT?!" Kasumi exclaimed. "Wait a minute… that shattered painting we saw… Don't tell me…!"
"I think it's quite clear that someone used the secret passageway," Masashi answered. "There's no other reason to smash part of the glass painting in the first place… unless the one who smashed it needed to use the secret passageway!"
"Oh!" Faye gasped. "I… I guess the secret passageway really was used…!"
"Exactly. Doesn't that seem weird to you, though, Maiha?" Masashi said.
"I-In what way?" Maiha said, looking at him warily.
"Let's say that Kasumi really is the culprit," he explained. "She did everything that you say happened up to Sorao's death. After stabbing Sorao's corpse and making herself look like a victim by cutting the wires of the station post… she would simply need to flee from the crime scene. In that case… why bother with smashing the painting?"
"Aah…!" she said, eyes widened. "That's…"
"Yes, Masashi has it right," Haruyuki added. "If Kasumi had planned to make herself look like a victim of Sorao's attack and had intended to blame someone else for his death… she would not have needed to smash the painting. She would have simply argued that the culprit escaped the scene of the crime by roller coaster, not by the secret passageway. Smashing the painting is such a random and needless addition to her scheme."
"And yet in reality, the glass painting was smashed…" Faye said.
"The smashed glass painting definitely shows that the secret passageway was used," Masashi said. "It doesn't make sense, though, if we keep assuming that Kasumi is the culprit. So how about we look at things from another perspective?"
"Wh-What perspective?" Maiha said.
"Let's assume that a third person was behind this all along. I think things will start to make more sense," Masashi suggested. "Instead of Kasumi… it was that person who tried to abduct Sorao."
"Grk!" Maiha winced. "But… how do you explain the tub of water?"
"It is a little strange, I agree. I'm much less certain about that part of tonight's events," Haruyuki said. "Nonetheless, perhaps he still had the idea of killing his attacker by drowning them in the tub of water. After all, drowning is still a clean and effective way to kill someone, whether or not they have a fear of water."
"Then Kasumi was just an innocent person who stumbled upon Sorao's preparation of his trap!" Faye answered, sounding more and more convinced. "They got into a scuffle, which ended with Sorao being knocked unconscious, and Kasumi stung with her own tranquilizer!"
"Kasumi managed to get into the roller coaster before falling unconscious. The roller coaster made its way to the entrance side of the ride," Masashi said.
"A-And what happened next?!" Takumi said.
Let's see here… Masashi thought. If I remember correctly, what happened next was…
"Kasumi told me and Haruyuki the last part of her account. And there was something pretty strange about it," Masashi answered. "When she woke up… she didn't find herself on the roller coaster. Instead, she was lying on the floor at the station!"
"Wh-WHAT?!" Maiha exclaimed, frowning. "But… if that's correct, then…!"
Masashi nodded, seeing that she had realized what the answer was. "There's only one reason why she was on the floor instead of the roller coaster… someone else arrived at the scene and removed her from the roller coaster!"
The others gasped.
"Wh-Who?! Who was it?!" Maiha said, sounding frantic.
"I can think of only one person: the culprit," Masashi answered. "The culprit must have been looking for Sorao and found Kasumi unconscious in the roller coaster ride."
"That must've alerted the culprit that something was going on in the Simulation Room floor," Haruyuki added. "So they needed to get there by roller coaster. Of course, since Kasumi was in the driver's seat, they had to remove her and set her on the floor."
"So that's why I was lying there when I woke up!" Kasumi said, looking amazed. "I… I can't believe it!"
"The culprit went to the Simulation Room and found Sorao unconscious," Masashi said. "Seeing that Sorao was in no shape to fight back, the culprit simply hooked him up to one of the VR headsets and sent him to the virtual world of the Planet Explorer game. Then they headed off to the Control Room."
"They really used the smoke machine?" Faye said. "Do you know when exactly?"
"8:00 PM," Masashi answered. "In fact, there's something else significant about that time."
"Th-There is?" Maiha said, the confidence in her tone waning.
Let's see… he thought. I'm pretty sure that at that time, this happened...
"Coincidentally, at that exact time, Kasumi woke up and did one thing that would change things dramatically," he said. "She pressed the button on the entrance side's post to summon the roller coaster. That caused the roller coaster to move from the Simulation Room side to the entrance side."
"Yeah, that's right!" Kasumi answered. "I thought about going to the Simulation Room, but once the roller coaster came, I had second thoughts and fled back to my room!"
"All while the culprit and Sorao were still on the Simulation Room side!" Faye gasped. "Wait a minute… doesn't that mean that they were trapped there?!"
"That's right," Haruyuki said. "And since Kasumi had already broken the Simulation Room station's post by cutting the wires, it was impossible to summon the roller coaster back."
"S-So it's like a locked room, right?!" Takumi said.
"Yes. Though it seems that the culprit knew of a way to escape the locked room," Haruyuki replied. "After killing Sorao and… stabbing his corpse, the culprit found themselves unable to summon the roller coaster. So to escape the floor, they smashed the glass painting to access the secret passageway."
"But doesn't that mean that the culprit had learned of the secret passageway beforehand?" Maiha asked.
"Perhaps Monokuma told them about it," Haruyuki suggested.
"Well… I'm not going to say whether I told anyone about it," Monokuma answered. "But I will say this: if you had asked me about it… I would have told you about it. Not like the secret passageway had anything of importance, really."
Gah… I should've known that he would play that game with us, Masashi thought.
"So… the culprit entered the passageway?" Faye said. "But wait, why didn't they access it through the locked door in the Control Room?"
"The problem is that the culprit needed a keycard for that," Masashi said. "Since the culprit had to smash the painting… they probably didn't have one."
"I have a keycard given to me by Monokuma, but that was during the investigation," Maiha answered.
"So it's quite clear that the culprit didn't have a keycard," Haruyuki answered. "They had to shatter the painting to even gain access to the passageway. Otherwise, they would've used the keycard to open the door in the Control Room. It worked, but it also exposed the secret passageway's existence to us."
"Um, by the way… what did the culprit use to smash the painting?" Takumi asked. "I think I remember seeing a hammer."
"I believe it came from the Control Room there," Haruyuki answered. "I remember seeing a sledgehammer there along with other tools."
"So that's that, right?" Faye said. "The culprit used the secret passageway behind those glass walls to escape to the projection room in the Saturn Theater!"
"And thus, the culprit found themselves back in the upper decks of the space station," Haruyuki said. "Though there are a few parts that we cannot be completely sure about, I believe that we have a fairly solid idea of Sorao's and the culprit's actions. In fact, it's clear who it is."
"I-It is?!" Takumi said.
That's right… Masashi thought. If it's not Kasumi, then…
There was only one person remaining.
Even after they had already deduced what the culprit had done, for some reason, Masashi felt that it would not be that easy.
But that was no excuse to stop here.
He faced the suspect.
"It was you… Sayua."
The first part of the class trial is here! This part is mainly focused on the basics of the crime, so probably a lot of the deductions here aren't too surprising. Nonetheless, it was tricky to write this part down and make it flow well. It's one thing to have the scheme planned out, but another to have the characters figure it out piece by piece.
In the next part, the class trial continues! See you then!