Chapter 4: Secrets Revealed

One More Secret

Truth bullets

Monokuma file 5: Chihiro, found in the Outer Hall via the Prosecutor House, died of asphyxiation at 1 AM. A chain was found wrapped around her neck. Aside from bruising on her neck, no other injuries were found.

Locked door: The door on the bottom floor of the Outer Hall was heavily chained up when Kyoko discovered the body. The chains were the same as the ones found around Chihiro's neck.

Broken elevator: The elevator button in the Lawyer House was smashed, preventing it from being called or sent to the Prosecutor House.

Nagito's Sudden Appearance: Nagito arrived at the Prosecutor House despite there being no apparent way to travel between them.

Nagito's Assertion: There are no secret passages between the Lawyer House and Prosecutor House.

First Life Award: Chihiro received an award for clearing the First Life Room at 12:50 AM.

Kyoko's report: The bruises only cover the front of Chihiro's neck.

Missing Alter Ego: The laptop containing Alter Ego went missing sometime before the investigation.

Two Chairs: Two chairs were found in Chihiro's room, one of which was seemingly taken from the room next to Chihiro's.

Sledgehammer: A sledgehammer was found under the covers of a bed in one of the empty Lawyer House dorm rooms.

Bent Handles: The bar handles on the inside of the First Life Room were bent.

Rope: Roughly 35 feet of hempen rope was found in the hallway behind the door to the First Life Room. The rope is frayed near the right side.

Key: A small golden key was found hidden between the mattress and sheets of Chihiro's bed.

Map of the houses

With half of their number now replaced with bloody portraits, the courtroom had never felt so grim. Peko's portrait had two swords in an 'X' shape across her face, while Chihiro's face was obscured with the numbers "404" written in bloody writing.

The somber mood was rather contrasted by the futuristic paint job of the courtroom— black walls featured strings of green code traveling upwards into oblivion. Even when they were finally out of the Lawyer and Prosecutor Houses, it seems they couldn't escape projected images on the walls.

Phoenix took his position in between Maya and Chiaki. Now that there were so few people in the courtroom, he realized that five of the eight remaining students were all standing next to one another. It felt odd— like the balance of the trial would somehow be off.

"Don't just stand around looking sorry for yourselves!" Monokuma scoffed from his throne. "Start the trial! No special rules this time, so what are you waiting for?"

"I'm waiting for the day this is all over," Apollo said somberly.

"Ha!" Nagito snorted. "You still don't get it, do you?"

Apollo shrugged, ignoring the luckster's taunts. "Whatever, let's just get started."

"Perhaps we should ensure we are on the same page about the body discovery," Klavier proposed. "Fräulein Kirigiri, you were the first to discover Fräulein Fujisaki. Can you tell us what happened?"

Kyoko nodded. "I found Chihiro's body lying face-down in front of the door to the First Life Room at around 6:05 AM. I checked the first floor of the Outer Hall to ensure no one was hiding there, and discovered the chains wrapped around the door. I then woke up Chiaki and Maya, deciding to let the body discovery announcement wake the boys up. However, Monokuma informed us you were trapped."

"Is that when you called us?" Makoto asked.

Kyoko nodded. "After our call concluded, Nagito arrived."

"That I did!" Nagito smiled.

"Nagito…" Maya repeated, "how did you even get to the Prosecutor House?

"Yeah, we didn't find a secret passage anywhere in the Lawyer House," Phoenix recounted.

Nagito tsked and wagged his finger arrogantly. Phoenix was briefly reminded of Edgeworth, who often performed the same cocky action when he claimed the upper hand. "We're not there yet," Nagito tutted. "Start at the beginning of the case."

"You don't control this trial," Chiaki countered. "I… think…"

Phoenix and Nagito sighed at Chiaki's inability to maintain an aggressive attitude for more than a few seconds.

"I am forced to agree with Nagito," Klavier stated. "We should start at the beginning. Fräulein Kirigiri, is there anything else of note about Fräulein Fujisaki's body that we should know?"

For a moment, Phoenix thought he saw Kyoko's face tighten slightly, as if there was something she had left out. But he could have just as easily imagined it, as the next moment, she was shaking her head in response to Klavier's question.

"Does anyone have an alibi for 1AM?" Apollo inquired. "I imagine most of us were asleep, or will claim to be."

Apollo was greeted with a variety of noncommittal responses all to the tune of "I was asleep," which he did not seem surprised by.

"That raises a question," Chiaki interjected. "Was Chihiro asleep when she was killed?"

Maya rubbed her chin anxiously. "She could have been…"

Phoenix looked across the courtroom and caught Kyoko's eye. They simultaneously looked at Makoto expectantly. The luckster did not disappoint, exclaiming: "No, that's wrong!"

Maya recoiled slightly, hugging her arm to her chest. "Eep! What did I say?"

"Unfortunately, there's evidence that Chihiro was in the First Life Room just before her death," Makoto told Maya.

"Evidence?" Chiaki tilted her head.

Kyoko produced a paper from her jacket. "This is the First Life Award. It apparently was given to one Chihiro Fujisaki at 12:50 AM as congratulations for her clearing of the First Life Room."

"Monokuma," Nagito barked, "can you confirm the legitimacy of that paper?"

"My diplomas are one of a kind!" Monokuma insisted. "But I don't see why I should help you with this. The method for determining their legitimacy is ver-"

"It's real."

Kyoko had turned away from the center of the room and was holding the paper up to the walls, seemingly using the light emitted by the green code to search for a watermark. Even from a distance, Phoenix could see the outline of Monokuma's head on the award.

"Fine, I guess it's not that hard to determine their legitimacy," the bear pouted. "Take all the fun out of it, why don't ya?"

"That establishes a clear timeline," Kyoko summarized, ignoring Monokuma. "It means it's highly likely the true location of death was the Outer Hall or within the First Life Room."

"Hold it!" Phoenix interrupted. "I think we can be reasonably sure the murder happened outside the First Life Room."

"Oh?" Kyoko challenged, looking at Phoenix expectantly.

"The rope found inside the First Life Room as well as the damage to the handles would suggest that the rope was originally used to lock it from the inside, but was later untied and left lying there," Phoenix elaborated. "I would guess that Chihiro was responsible for untying it, since if the murder had occurred in the First Life Room, it would have made sense to just leave her body there."

As he was saying it, something about his explanation felt wrong— it didn't explain how the person who locked the First Life Room got out. The whole situation with the rope was nagging at the back of his mind. Even so, he felt confident in saying the murder did occur outside the First Life Room.

"Why wouldn't they have moved her into the First Life Room anyway?" Maya asked. "It would've taken a lot longer for us to find her… We probably never would have."

"Um…" Phoenix stumbled. Maya had pointed out a very clear flaw in his reasoning. "Maybe… they…" his brain ran into overtime, trying to force his mouth to say something. "Maybe they wanted the crime to be found out?"

Phoenix wasn't surprised when the remaining students looked at him in an uncomfortable silence, but he had (perhaps foolishly) hoped the scenario would play out differently

"Um…" Makoto finally broke the silence. "If they wanted to be found out, wouldn't they have confessed already?"

Phoenix laughed awkwardly. "Well, maybe it's more along the lines of why Apollo wanted to clear the First Life Room? They want to get out of the cave one way or another?"

"I'll thank you not to remind me of that lapse in judgment," Apollo grumbled.

"Sorry. But, think about it— there would be no reason to do all of this if the killer wanted a perfect crime. Something about this feels off— like the killer is half hoping to be discovered. Maybe they feel guilty?"

"While it's an interesting theory," Kyoko admitted, "it has little to do with solving the case. If we continue under the assumption that the murder occurred outside the First Life Room at 1 AM, what can we learn?"

"The chains used in this crime suggest to me that the killer also completed the First Life Room," Klavier put forward. "I certainly doubt any of us would be capable of smuggling in a huge pile of loud metal, nor did we find any during our investigations. That leaves only one location from which they could have obtained the chains."

"That tracks," Apollo concurred.

"The killer completed the First Life Room…" Maya repeated. "What does that mean? Can we rule anyone out?"

"It throws suspicion on me!" Nagito answered cheerily, waving at Maya.

Phoenix rolled his eyes— that was an obvious ploy to throw off the trial.

Then again, maybe it was such an obvious ploy that Nagito actually was guilty, and-

No! I'm done playing his mind games.

"There's further evidence that the killer completed the first life room," Phoenix picked up the conversation. After having debated for a few minutes, it was now really setting in just how small their group had become. In previous trials, someone like Leon— or rather, the Ultimate Imposter— would have broken the silence. "The sledgehammer we found in the Lawyer House used to break the elevator button must have come from there, too."

"Oh, yeah," Maya raised a finger. "Doesn't the broken button mean the killer has to be one of the boys? Uh… No offense, Nick."

Nagito barked a sarcastic laugh.

Phoenix marveled at how Maya was so casually convicting them— she had been much more hardened by the events in the village than he thought. Still, he had to refute her claim, because he knew it to be false:

"Objection!" There was less punch to his objection than normal, but at this point he didn't feel as though shouting would do him any favors. Maybe he should switch to Makoto's catchphrase… No, that would be ridiculous. "Maya, you should know it's impossible to rule out the girls simply because of the broken elevator." Although none of the girls seem like likely candidates anyways…

"Why?" Maya protested. "How else would you get… oh, I see. Nagito."

Phoenix nodded. "He showed us there must be another way to get between the houses."

"No, that's wrong!"

By this point, Phoenix was able to recognize that the deeper voice parroting Makoto's catchphrase belonged to Nagito. Phoenix looked at him with narrow eyes.

"Sorry, Phoenix, but you made a mistake," Nagito said airily. "I'm afraid you can't get between the houses, only from the Lawyer House to the Prosecutor House. Not the other way around. The passageway isn't direct, either."

"Come again?"

"Of course, I can't prove it to be true, but you'll just have to trust me. Unless another person who cleared the gauntlet wants to refute me?"

No one spoke up, and it was obvious why— attempting to rebuke Nagito's claim would only throw suspicion on them.

Apollo tossed his hands up. "I say we just vote Nagito and get it over with. He cleared the First Life Room, and he's being extremely suspicious. I really can't see how it could be anyone else."

Nagito folded his arms and frowned, his sadness seeming genuine for once. "I was right about you— you really are hopeless."

"We shouldn't vote yet," Chiaki cautioned. "It's too early… probably."

Nagito sighed. "Always indecisive, aren't you, Chiaki?"

"We've done this song and dance before, Herr Justice," Klavier scolded. "During nearly every trial, Nagito has attempted to throw suspicion on himself, and not once has he been the killer."

"Can we go back to talking about what the killer did after the murder?" Maya asked. "Maybe we'll stumble upon something."

"Might as well," Apollo sighed.

"Wow," Nagito snarked. "Your conviction is blowing me away."

"It would appear they began by ambushing Fräulein Fujisaki in the Outer Hall with a bundle of chains," Klavier absentmindedly snapped his fingers.

"After strangling her, they locked up the bottom set of doors with more chains," Chiaki continued, fiddling with the straps of her backpack.

"Then they took the elevator to the Lawyer House and destroyed the button with a sledgehammer," Apollo concluded. "And returned to their room as if nothing had ever happened."

"OBJECTION!"

"What now, Mr. Wright?" Apollo groaned.

"We're forgetting something," Phoenix tapped his palm with the backs of his fingers. "The key the others found stuffed in Chihiro's mattress… When would that have been placed?"

"Could that not have been placed by Fräulein Fujisaki herself?" Klavier inquired. "Perhaps she brought it with her from the village."

"Incorrect!" Nagito intoned. "That key is a reward for completing the deadly gauntlet." He reached into one of the pockets of his enormous hoodie and produced a key, identical to the one hidden in Chihiro's room. "This time, I actually can prove my claim!"

Apollo reached into his vest and pulled out the copy of the key they had found in Chihiro's bed— sure enough, they were identical. "What does this even go to?" Apollo wondered.

Nagito scratched the back of his head. "I have a theory, but I don't think it matters for the purposes of this trial."

Phoenix was surprised to hear him answer Apollo so calmly and honestly— so far, it seemed like Nagito had more disdain for the red-clad lawyer than anyone else in the village.

"In any case," Apollo sighed, returning the key to his breast pocket and patting it once, "maybe the killer just hid the key at some point during their manipulation of the evidence— does it really matter?"

"The killer certainly did a lot of work spreading evidence out across the two houses," Kyoko noted. "Almost too much to be considered reasonable."

"Yeah, why even bother hiding the key or sledgehammer to begin with?" Maya wondered. "Why not put them back in the First Life Room?"

"This furthers my theory that the killer wanted to be caught," Phoenix pointed out. "It seems like the killer probably hid Alter Ego behind the deadly gauntlet, although we might have just missed a hiding spot."

"Perhaps," Kyoko conceded. "Although perhaps they were merely intending to disguise the order of events. Which brings up another question— what was the purpose of moving the chair?"

Phoenix opened his mouth, prepared to come up with a flawless explanation for why the killer had to move the chair… but nothing came out. He had no idea why the killer moved a desk chair from an empty room into Chihiro's, for seemingly no other reason than for the fun of it. Based on the stumped expressions on the others' faces, they were equally perplexed.

"Maybe the chair will make more sense if we consider the rest of the crime?" Phoenix wondered. "What haven't we discussed yet?"

Kyoko turned her attention to Nagito. "I think it's time you showed us when you cleared the First Life Room."

Nagito smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." He reached into one of the inner pockets on his hoodie and produced a folded piece of beige paper. After shaking it to an unfolded state, he held the certificate aloft for the rest of the courtroom to see.

Phoenix had to squint to make out the words, but it became clear that the award was indeed Nagito's. The crest of Hope's Peak was stamped on the top right, and the time of completion read: 3:24 AM. Nearly 2 and a half hours after the murder.

"Wait, that can't be right!" Apollo exclaimed. "You wouldn't have had access to the chains or sledgehammers by then!"

"Indeed, this would seem to entirely absolve Nagito," Klavier sighed.

"There's a bigger issue here," Kyoko asserted. "In order to have completed the First Life Room at that time, you would have had to step over Chihiro's corpse without paying it any mind."

Nagito rubbed his forehead with a knuckle, brushing aside a strand of his messy hair. "Except I didn't do anything of the sort. When I entered the First Life Room through the Lawyer House, Chihiro's body wasn't there."

"Monokuma, would a dead body lock one of the entrances to the Outer Hall?" Phoenix asked, raising his voice and directing the question at the bear on the throne. "We know that if someone enters via the Lawyer House, no one can enter via the Prosecutor House, and vice versa. If Chihiro had entered the Outer Hall through the Prosecutor House but was killed, would the doors unlock?"

"They would indeed unlock!" Monokuma confirmed. "Corpses hardly count as people, wouldn't you agree?"

"Hey!" Maya protested. "Stop talking about Chihiro like that!"

"Even if Nagito was able to enter the Outer Hall through the Lawyer House, how could he have missed Chihiro's body?" Chiaki questioned. "Can we take him at his word?"

Nagito narrowed his eyes. "So you only speak up to doubt me? Half the time you're barely confident enough to finish a sentence, but this is something you're sure about?"

Phoenix was surprised by how personally he seemed to be taking Chiaki's statement. At first, it felt like he held a grudge against Apollo more than anyone else, but now it was more clear that both Apollo and Chiaki were under fire by him. What was the reason?

"We have no choice but to take him at his word." Kyoko folded her arms and tightened her hands around her biceps. The motion reminded Phoenix of Franziska— it felt like years had passed since the first class trial. "Of course, we can't treat his word as absolute truth, but we have to consider that he isn't lying. Right now, his account is all we have."

Phoenix still felt like something was off. The various inexplicable statements made by Nagito along with the overly complex nature of the crime all nagged at him. He was certain there was just one piece of evidence he needed to re-evaluate to clear up everything.

"Nagito is the type to step over a dead body to get to his destination anyways," Klavier mused. "Are we sure he didn't just ignore the corpse and clear the deadly gauntlet anyways?"

"Like I said," Nagito growled, clenching one of his fists, "I didn't see the body when I entered the First Life Room."

Phoenix's ears perked up. That was the second time Nagito had worded his statement to specify entering the First Life Room.

Phoenix raised his hand, pointing fiercely at Nagito. "But what about when you left? Did you see her then?!"

An eerie grin slowly stretched across his face. Phoenix was glad to be 90 degrees across the circle of podiums from the luckster, though with Nagito's current horrifying expression, he wished he could have been even further away.

"I did…" Nagito said quietly. His shoulders began shaking.

Apollo slammed his podium with both of his fists. "And you didn't see it fit to mention that?!"

Nagito began chuckling. "Heh… You never asked! What, am I supposed to hand you everything on a silver platter? You're an Ultimate!"

The final word was dripping with disdain. Phoenix once again found himself wondering what on earth caused Nagito to behave so spitefully towards people he once idolized.

"Okay, so you came across Chihiro's body upon exiting the First Life Room," Phoenix confirmed. "That would have been at 3:24 AM, yes?"

Nagito nodded, still laughing manically.

"And when did you enter it?" Kyoko questioned.

"Oh, I can't be sure of the exact time, but it must have been around 3," Nagito answered, his laughter finally subsiding. "Not a lot of time to set up a dead body and chain up the Outer Hall, wouldn't you agree?"

No, that's not nearly enough time. No killer would perform such a risky gambit. For that matter, why would they even bother?

"If the killer chained up the Outer Hall with you in it, how would you have left?" Chiaki inquired.

Nagito scoffed. "Why should I tell you? Stop dozing off and put your brain to work."

"We're missing something here," Phoenix said aloud. "There must be something else to his story. Something about the Outer Hall that we missed…"

"Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma's giggle was an odd interruption to the trial. Their headmaster's interjections were rarely so brief— was he trying to give them a hint?

Phoenix pictured the map of the two pyramids that Monokuma had provided on the first floor of the Outer Hall. An inverted pyramid atop a regular pyramid, with a cylindrical chamber on the left. In hindsight, it seemed foolish to take that map at face value, but everything about the geometry of the houses seemed to line up with his experiences living there.

But they didn't line up with Nagito's experiences.

I don't have enough information yet, Phoenix determined, gazing at the luckster. His white hair stood out against the black and green walls of the courtroom— the lines of code became blurry, slowly fading away as all of Phoenix's focus was directed towards Nagito. I need to press him for every detail I can!

"Nagito."

"Yes?" Nagito shifted his gaze to Phoenix. "Oh, my— you look quite resolute. Maybe you won't let me down after all! What can I do for you?"

"I need to know more about your actions upon clearing the deadly gauntlet," Phoenix began. "Do I have your word that everything you say will be truthful?"

"Of course," Nagito bowed with a flourish. "I have not told a single lie this trial, and I don't intend to, either."

Apollo scoffed.

Phoenix nodded. "Then let's get started. First of all, what was your reward for clearing the First Life Room?"

"We were allowed to walk through the deadly gauntlet for free for the rest of our time there. The room beyond the gauntlet was filled with a variety of weapons, such as bombs, chains, ropes, and swords. We also received the golden key and some… information about Kurain village and the killing game."

"Hold it! What was the information?" Phoenix pressed.

Nagito merely chuckled in response. It was clear he wasn't going to answer that.

"Fine. Moving along, once you were done sampling the prizes, where did you go?"

"Out the exit."

Phoenix narrowed his eyes. Yet again, Nagito's wording was very particular. He glanced at Kyoko, who was observing Nagito with similar skepticism— this affirmed his suspicions.

"Was the exit the same as the entrance?"

Nagito grinned. "No, it wasn't! Good question!"

"But the exit and entrance were the doors to the First Life Room?" Phoenix confirmed.

"Yes."

Phoenix closed his eyes. He considered the information he had been given. All of it pointed to one conclusion, but he needed one more piece of information to confirm it.

"The secret passageway from the Lawyer House to the Prosecutor House— is it in the First Life Room? If so, what form does it take?"

"It is," Nagito confirmed. "It's a long ladder beneath a trapdoor on the floor."

Phoenix nodded. That clinched it— he knew the secret behind the houses now, and he revealed it to the other students:

"There are two First Life Rooms." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement of fact, to which Nagito's grin widened.

"Well done!"

"Herr Wright, what are you talking about?" Klavier questioned skeptically.

"Where is the second one?" Chiaki asked, seeming more attentive than a moment ago.

Phoenix pictured the map provided by Monokuma. He was now realizing just how wrong it was— nearly every piece of information on the map was misleading.

Firstly, the fact that the secret passageway was on the floor meant that the Lawyer House had to be above the Prosecutor House. Of course, that would create an obvious contradiction— the doors to the Outer Hall wouldn't line up in the slightest. However, if Nagito's statements were true, then he would have entered the First Life Room through the Outer Hall in the Lawyer House, fallen through the trapdoor and somehow made it to the Prosecutor House. The only way for that to be possible, and for the exit doors to be different than the entrance doors, was if there were not just two First Life Rooms, but two Outer Halls, with the Lawyer House stacked on top of the Prosecutor House. The doors which appeared to lead to the other house were actually fakes— that was why they were locked. Additionally, the presence of a student in one Outer Hall locked the other one so the students couldn't immediately deduce the true nature of the buildings.

He finished rearranging the map in his head. It was a bizarre result, but it also lined up with everything Nagito had said.

"We've been tricked by Monokuma," Phoenix explained. "The layout of the two houses is nothing like the map would indicate."

"I'm offended!" Monokuma gasped. "How dare you accuse me of tricking you all?"

"What do you propose the true layout is?" Kyoko questioned, pointing at him similar to how he tended to point at others. Did this mean he had discovered the truth before Kyoko?

Phoenix explained how he believed the pyramids were actually arranged. Most of the expressions of his classmates were that of cautious skepticism— which he was unsurprised by.

"What would be the point of this?" Klavier asked.

Maya groaned. "To confuse us, which it did."

"Mr. Wright, are you really sure about this?" Apollo questioned.

"I think he's onto something," Makoto declared. "It makes sense, if you think about it."

"Wait a second!" Apollo exclaimed. "All of this is based on Nagito's testimony! Are we really okay just accepting what that maniac says as fact? Why wouldn't we just go with the much more obvious solution, which is that the map is correct?"

Nagito groaned. "Do you have a hearing problem? I said I wasn't going to lie during this trial."

"As if we can take your word on anything!" Apollo scoffed.

"Herr Justice, for what it's worth, would you not be able to tell if Herr Ko— I mean, Nagito, was lying?" Klavier reminded him.

Apollo grasped his left forearm tightly. "No! Someone like him is basically immune to my ability. How else do you think he fooled me about his true nature for several days straight?"

Maya smacked her forehead. "Ugh, I can't believe it! Why didn't I think to use my talent during the investigation?"

The courtroom was silent for a moment. Phoenix laughed awkwardly, wanting the silence to cease. "Uh, Maya… where did that come from?"

"Apollo's talent is being the Ultimate Lie Detector. That reminded me why I got into Hope's Peak in the first place— because I'm a spirit medium. There were no school regulations in the pyramids— I could have just channeled Chihiro and we could've found out who killed her!"

"Oh, no," Monokuma interjected, "that wouldn't have been allowed! I would have put a stop to it right away!"

"But you said there were no regulations!" Maya protested.

"That's seeming more and more like a contrivance," Chiaki said with muted disappointment. "I think the real reason the regulations were temporarily revoked was so whoever cleared the First Life Room could use the bombs without fear of being punished."

Steam began emitting from Monokuma as he turned slightly red from embarrassment. "Uh… That's crazy talk! You kids and your overactive imaginations!"

"Seems like you were right on the money there," Apollo grumbled.

"Should we get back on track?" Makoto asked the group.

"Yes, I think we should," Kyoko nodded, seeming exasperated.

Apollo and Maya both quietly apologized for disrupting the trial.

Kyoko, after waving her hand at the apologies, took control of the conversation. "Working under the assumption that Phoenix's deduction is correct, there's now a new question we need to answer: Did the killer know about the duplicate halls?"

"How could they not have?" Maya asked.

Apollo pursed his lips and poked his forehead. "If they only cleared the Prosecutor House version of the First Life Room, there would have been no indication that there was another one directly above them. They might have killed Chihiro without ever knowing the secret of the structure's layout."

"Wait a second…" Phoenix said aloud, repeating Apollo's statement. "Someone who cleared the Prosecutor House version… wouldn't know about the layout of the structure."

Apollo's words gave him an idea. A horrible, awful idea, but one which just might be the true solution to the case. It would explain a lot of the inconsistencies— although accepting it would require a lot of new explanations to the other problems. Even so, he was sure it was worth pursuing— his instincts as a lawyer told him so.

"Uh oh, I know that look," Maya sighed. "Give it to us straight, Nick. What have you realized?"

Phoenix closed his eyes and inhaled slowly through his nose. "I think… I know who the killer is."