Chapter 1: Part 21

Sayaka felt a bit nervous once everyone turned to face her. It was just another reminder that the trial was absolutely nothing like a stage show. She couldn't waste any words and she needed to make sure those words were clear and agreeable. She took some deep breaths as she gathered her thoughts together.

"A theory?" Taka raised an eyebrow. "You mean to say you know who killed Tsumugi?"

"Well," Sayaka cleared her throat, "my theory is a bit more complicated than that."

"Then what is it?" Ryoma asked.

'Well, here goes nothing,' Sayaka thought to herself before finally speaking up. "What…What if Tsumugi…wasn't the one that died?"

As to be expected, everyone in the room looked at Sayaka in complete disbelief at her question. All the judging eyes made Sayaka wish she could just die again to escape the awkward situation immediately.

"What are you fucking stupid?" Miu asked in her usual predictable manner. "Of course Tsumugi died! You were the one who found her, retard!"

"That kind of language is unacceptable, Miss Iruma!" Taka shouted at the inventor. "Maizono only wishes to help us with this case!"

"I don't know, bro," Mondo said as he crossed her arms. "I mean, she does have a point. Sayaka found the chick's body. How could she not be sure about it?"

"Hey, don't say that!" Tenko predictably came to her friend's defense. "She's just trying to help! Give her a chance to speak!"

"No!" Hifumi huffed out and slammed his fists on the podium. "We're here to solve Tsumugi- Miss Shirogane's death! We can't waste time on conspiracy theories!"

"What if it's right though?" Rantaro asked. "We need to cover all possibilities. These murders do tend to get complicated."

"But the casefile said it was Tsumugi," Teruteru said. "Why should we even doubt that?"

"Now hold on, everyone," Celeste spoke up. "I'm actually quite curious to hear what Sayaka has to say."

Teruteru immediately shifted his opinion on the subject. "I agree with Miss Ludenberg."

"Very well," Byakuya said before turning his attention back to Sayaka. "Why don't you explain yourself, Sayaka?"

Sayaka nodded and looked to the rest of the group. "I've been wondering about all these different parts of this case. The flash bang, the backpack in the furnace, Kokichi stopping anyone from getting to the back of the hall. It all felt like…something was trying to stop us from seeing something."

"Yeah, the murder," Leon said sarcastically. "Junko admitted she was responsible for all of that."

Sayaka glanced over at Leon. She didn't want to acknowledge him, but that wasn't the time for old grudges. "But why would Junko set all of that up just to give the moment the slightest hint of suspicion went to her? Why would Tsumugi have ran away from everyone else when we could have helped keep her safe from Junko? There has to be something more going on."

"Hmmm, very curious," Angie commented. "Perhaps Auta has blessed you with an epiphany. Share your blessing with us, Sayaka. What is it you think happened?"

"Well, Tsumugi is the Ultimate Cosplayer, right?" Sayaka asked. "And Junko is the Ultimate Fashion Model. They both specialize in outfits and makeup, appearing different from before. Tsumugi even makes herself look like different people…I think, maybe, they swapped places."

Once again, a moment of awkward silence stretched across the room. The group looked towards each other, trying to read each other's faces to see if they could tell if they were sharing the same thoughts. While Sayaka didn't know their exact thoughts, she knew her theory was ridiculous, but maybe, just maybe, she was onto something.

'I just know "Junko" is hiding something,' she thought to herself.

Kaede was the one to break the silence, but her solemn look let Sayaka knew her friend wouldn't take her side.

"Sayaka, I agree with you that something is up with Junko," Kaede explained. "But it's impossible for Tsumugi to cosplay as real people."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. She knew her theory was a bit hard to swallow, but she didn't think it was impossible. "Why do you say it's impossible?"

"Tsumugi has…a condition called cospox," Kaede said as she nervously scratched the back of her head.

"Cos-what?" Mahiru spoke up.

"What the hell is cospox?" Mondo asked.

"Well, whenever Tsumugi tries to cosplay as a real person, her skin breaks out into hives and turns pink," Kaede explained. "I even had her try it with my clothes once to prove it."

"That's…so stupid!" Hiyoko hissed out. "What kind of stupid disease works like that?!"

"I-I never even heard of cospox," Mikan said as she nervously fiddled with her fingers. "A-are you sure it w-wasn't just the material of y-your clothes?"

"I'm positive," Kaede said.

"I can also confirm this," Kirumi said. "When all the girls went to the pool, Tsumugi was adamant she had to wear her own swim wear as opposed to borrowing anyone else's."

"Kaede wouldn't lie about something like that," Kaito said. "Besides, maybe that cospox was something Monokuma forced onto Tsumugi."

"So, it's like the despair disease?" Ibuki asked.

"Perhaps, but what is more important is that this pokes a hole in Sayaka's theory," Kiyo said softly. "A pity. It certainly seems like a plan a mastermind like Junko could come up with."

"So, we're just back at square one!" Nekomaru said with a growl. "Junko's the only suspect and she's still hiding something!"

'So, I really am wrong?' Sayaka frowned as she thought to herself. 'But there's so many things wrong here.'

Sayaka looked around the courtroom for some sort of support, but none of her companions seemed to come to her side. Taka, Ibuki, Ryoma, even Tenko gave Sayaka looks of doubt.

Junko shrugged with a smirk across her face. "Well, that was a fun waste of time, but I guess there's no use delaying it any longer. Let's get the finale started!"

'I know this is a trap,' Sayaka thought. 'I know it. I just don't how to prove it.'

"Why don't we pause for a moment?" Celeste, of all people, spoke up. "I'm actually quite interested in Sayaka's theory."

"Does that really matter though?" Gundham asked. "If the siren is incapable of proving a shapeshifter was responsible, then we must conclude her theory is wrong."

"And for her to even suggest that Tsumugi would try to trick us like that," Hifumi said as he balled up his fists, "it's low! Lower than low! How could she even try to say that?!"

"Please, Hifumi," Celeste said with a snide smile, "none of us our saints here. But I actually believe Sayaka's theory may have some weight to it. She just explained it poorly."

Sayaka didn't appreciate her intelligence being insulted, but she was at least relieved someone decided to take her side.

"But there's no way the identity switch can work if Tsumugi suffers from cospox," Kaede retorted. "She's only able to dress up as fictional characters."

"Yet that's what proves it," Celeste said.

"Wh-what?" Kaede raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you all remember the way she acted when we all woke up in this place?" Celeste asked, of course she asked rhetorically since she immediately continued. "She refused to believe any of this was real."

"But that was just shock, right?" Leon asked. "She got over that."

"Maybe she didn't," Nagito finally spoke up. "Maybe she thought we were all still fake."

"Well, why don't we ask her best friend himself?" Kokichi perked up. "Hifumi, do you recall anything off about her mental state?"

Hifumi's aggressive tone slowly shrank down to a more timid demeanor. "W-well, she did seem to still be shaken up and confused when we found the nurse's office, b-but she had gotten over it when we started making plans for cosplay! She became really happy and excited when we started!"

"What if she was lying to you?" Kiyo asked. "What if she was using you as some sort of alibi?"

Hifumi immediately swapped back to an aggressive tone and slammed his fist against his podium. "She wouldn't lie to me about that! Stop saying these things about her! Tsumugi was murdered and now you're trying to say she's a murderer?! What is wrong with you?!"

Chiaki tapped the side of her chin as she thought over her next question. "Hifumi, out of curiosity, what was the cosplay Tsumugi was working on?"

Hifumi took a deep breath to calm himself down before facing the gamer. "Well, Miss Nanami, we actually worked together on three Sailor Moon costumes. I had a Tuxedo Mask costume while Tsumugi made a Sailor Venus costume and a Sailor Mercury costume for herself."

"Ok, and you mind explaining what any of that means?" Mahiru asked.

"Y-you know, two of the sailor scouts," Hifumi said as he glanced around the room. No one seemed to understand what he was talking about. "The main characters? One is blonde and the other has blue hair?"

There was still a moment of silence. Only Chiaki nodded in recognition of Hfiumi's description.

"Seriously?" Hifumi huffed and blew air out of his noise. "How can none of you have heard of Sailor Moon? It's one of the most famous female centric anime ever!"

"I have more important matters to attend to rather than watch anime," Gundham said as his pets all posed dramatically across his shoulders.

"Oh please," Kokichi said sarcastically as he waved his hand. "You clearly get your delusions from watching Fullmetal Alchemist and Pokemon."

"How dare you much such accusations, snake!"

"Can we back up a bit?" Mahiru asked. "Did you say they had blonde and blue hair?"

Hifumi turned to the redhead and adjusted his glasses. "Why yes they do. It was way help color coordinate them and give them distinguishing designs."

"Did Tsumugi have wigs for them?" Kirumi asked.

"Yeah, she had wigs for both of th-" Hifumi stopped himself in the middle of his sentence. "H-hey! Don't you dare try to spin this into your theory about Tsumugi being the killer! She would never try something like that!"

"But these coincidences are too numerous to overlook," Chiaki said. "If it was only one or two, that would be fine, but with all these facts, Tsumugi has to have played some role in this."

"But can we really say that the chicks swapped places?" Mondo asked as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, I know cosplay is pretty intense, but I don't if they can just outright look like a different person. Right?"

"Did you all forget that I disguised myself as Junko back at Hope's Peak?" Mukuro spoke up. "It's entirely possible."

"Oh, yeah," Tenko said with her eyes lit up. "Then that proves Sayaka was right!"

"But if we actually compare you two, you would look different from each other," Sakura stated. "Yet as we can see, Junko looks exactly the same as she always has."

"But who's to say Tsumugi wouldn't look more like Junko if disguised than Mukuro?" Ryoma suggested.

Taka crossed his arms and shouted. "But if Miss Shirogane physically is incapable of dressing as a real person, then we can't accept this as a possibility!"

"Gonta's head hurts," Gonta grabbed the sides of his head and pouted his lip.

Junko smirked and shrugged. "Looks like you guys are stuck at an impasse."

"Yeah, we're kind of split right now," Nekomaru said.

"Split?" Monokuma finally spoke up after such a long, gracious period of silence. "Did someone say split?"

Tenko looked over at the black and white bear with her brow raised before her eyes widened in horror. "Wait, no. Please no!"

Sayaka looked over at her friend. "What? What is it?"

Before Tenko could even answer, a giant gear rose up from the ground in front of Monokuma. Monokuma reached behind his back and pulled out a giant key that couldn't have possibly been there, as if cartoon physics took over for just a moment. Monokuma spun the key around in his hand before slamming the key inside of the gear and turning it. As soon the key turned, all of the students' podiums lit up at the bottom and shook violently. Everyone grabbed a hold onto their podiums as they slowly began to rise into the air.

"Wha-wha-what?! Ibuki is flying!" Ibuki screamed. "This would rock if it wasn't here!"

"What the hell is this?!" Leon screamed.

Kaito groaned as his podium came to a stop. "It's a scrum debate."

"A what?" Rantaro asked.

"Explain this now, bear," Byakuya said with a growl in his voice.

"Allow your ever so loving headmaster to explain this," Monokuma said as he stood up in his seat. "A scrum debate occurs when there's a split of opinion between all you lovely students. It's up to you to come to solve this little snaffu in order to continue."

"But isn't the trial already about us discussing amongst ourselves?" Sayaka asked.

"Also," Chiaki looked over her podium to see that Monokuma's throne was still in the same position on the ground. "Does your chair not fly?"

"Hey! I spent most of my budget on bringing you back to life!" Monokuma whined out. "Just be lucky you got flying podiums at all!"

"Stupid bear can't get anything right, can he?" Hiyoko snickered to herself.

Miu joined in on the laughter. "You have a beautiful genius right here that could fix that for you. If you need some help, I'd be happy to…if the price is right."

"Sorry, but all of my gadgets can only be operated by professionals," Monokuma said. "Now, how about you all STOP MESSING AROUND AND ENTERTAIN ME!"

The podiums began to shuffle and line up on opposite sides of the room. One side, the side that believed the "Junko" in the room was truly Tsumugi, comprised of Sayaka, Celeste, Mukuro, Teruteru, Mahiru, Mikan, Nagito, Chiaki, Rantaro, Ryoma, Kirumi, Tenko, and Kokichi. The other side, the side that believed Tsumugi was truly dead and Junko, was made up by Leon, Chihiro, Mondo, Taka, Hifumi, Sakura, Junko, Byakuya, Peko, Ibuki, Hiyoko, Nekomaru, Gundham, Kaede, Angie, Kiyo, Gonta, and Kaito. It was certainly uneven and it would an uphill battle for Sayaka.

Sayaka took a deep breath. 'I have to be right,' she thought to herself. 'If I can't prove this, if this is wrong…No. I won't let that happen.'

"If Shirogane suffers from this cospox, then there's no way she could have disguised herself as Junko," Taka said.

"B-but I've n-n-never seen a case of cospox in any medical record," Mikan responded. "I-i-It's most likely f-fake."

"What if it's the despair disease and it only was designed for Tsumugi?" Ibuki asked.

"Why would Monokuma make another disease and only use it on one person?" Celeste responded. "Surely, he'd love to spread it to each of us."

"Someone would've had to have noticed them changing, right?" Leon asked.

"God, I wish," Teruteru said under his breath.

"Did you forget I was assigned to keep everyone from getting to the back of the building?" Kokichi smirked at the baseball player.

"Can we even be sure they'd be able to pull off a switch like this?" Mondo asked.

"For an Ultimate, they should be able to accomplish anything relating to their talent," Nagito said.

"Tsumugi would never do something like this!" Hifumi snapped at the opposition. "She's not like that!"

"You've only known her for a few days, Hifumi," Mukuro crossed her arms as she spoke. "How would you know what she's capable of?"

"But Tsumugi nice!" Gonta shouted. "Tsumugi not killer!"

"Maybe she's been lying the whole time," Ryoma said coldly. "Maybe she really was the mastermind the whole time."

"Can we really ignore the possibility Junko and Tsumugi weren't swapped beforehand?" Kiyo asked as he placed his finger on his lips. "Perhaps they swapped back to their original clothes during the confusion."

"Junko was under heavy surveillance the last night," Chiaki said. "And even if she was able to swap with Tsumugi during their time together, Mukuro or myself would've noticed."

Some of those that had taken the side of Junko being the culprit began to back off from the conversation and went silent. Still, there were some that needed to be swayed.

"I saw it with my own eyes though," Kaede said. "I saw that Tsumugi couldn't dress herself up as a real person!"

"Which is why I hold onto the theory she still believes this to all be some sort of fantasy," Celeste said with a light giggle.

"I hundred percent second that theory!" Teruteru added on.

"Come on!" Hifumi slammed his fist against the podium one last time. "You're really just going to ignore how clearly evil Miss Enoshima is to drag Tsumugi's name through the dirt?! How could you?!"

"We aren't ignoring, you degenerate male!" Tenko snapped at the round nerd. "Sayaka and everyone is just pointing out all the evidence that points to this being a switch-a-roo!"

"Then prove it," Junko with a confident grin.

Tenko turned to the fashion model. "H-huh?"

"I said prove it," Junko shrugged. "Although, I'm guessing you really can't."

"You really aren't worried?" Mukuro asked. "We already snuffed out most of your defense."

"So? Sure, you can say how suspicious I am all you want, but that's a no shit argument. I'm the mastermind, dear sister. Of course everyone thinks there's something wrong with me. But what do you actually have that proves I actually am Tsumugi? Just assumptions. Sure, there's a time frame that would allow us to swap clothes, but no one saw either of us. I put Kokichi to guard the hallway, but again, that could just be a waste of time for you all. Clothes in the furnace, flash grenades, all of that can clearly be explained by me wasting all of your time and throwing you off my trail."

"So, you have no real argument, do you?" Nagito sneered at the model.

"No, but neither do you. Let's say there's a ninety-nine percent chance you're all right. Maybe I am not Junko. All of that evidence points to that. But can any of you say that there's any damning pieces of evidence that absolutely proves it to be true? As long as you don't, there's that one percent that will pester at you."

Junko smirked as she scanned the two rows. Everyone turned to each other with expressions of confusion and doubt. That one percent of despair was all Junko needed to plant in everyone's minds.

"B-but there is proof!" Tenko shouted before looking back at Sayaka. "R-right?"

"You're going to turn to Sayaka after she led you to this conclusion?" Junko laughed. "A conclusion you clearly aren't a hundred percent behind?"

"Sh-shut up!" Tenko snapped at Junko.

"Oh, feisty. I like that, but I can already see that hope draining from your eyes." Junko then turned to the rest of the room. "What about the rest of you? Can you really put your faith in a girl who never even made it to the class trial in the first place? A girl that would stab a friend in the back and still fail miserably?"

Leon glared at the idol before turning away in disgust. Kaede held onto her arm as she frowned at the idol. Taka, Kaito, Mahiru, Hiyoko, Hifumi, Miu, Gundham, even Mukuro and Celeste either turned away from the idol or gave her doubtful expressions.

"That's what I thought," Junko said.

Sayaka's eyes widened in horror. 'N-no,' she panicked internally. 'This is what she wants. I think, no, I know I'm right. There's too much evidence to say otherwise! But…but I don't have anything else…And no one is willing to listen…'

"Now, since no one's willing to humor you anymore, Sayaka, why don't we just move on to the finale?" Junko asked.

"No, that's wrong!"

Sayaka turned to see that Nagito was pointing at Junko in quite an overdramatic display.

"I believe in Sayaka," Nagito said. "I have hope in here. And to stop a despair-filled person like you, I'll stand by her side!"

"Hmph, cute," Junko said as she rolled her eyes. "Yet, that still doesn't solve the problem of you not having any evidence."

"You got that wrong," Chiaki held her hand up to Junko. "We have a way to prove you are Tsumugi."

"Oh really?" Junko raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly is that?"

Chiaki looked at Sayaka and smiled at the idol. "Do you want me to do this or do you?"

Sayaka tilted her head. "I…I don't know what you expect me to do."

"It's easy. You got the answer in your pocket."

"My pocket?" Sayaka looked down, reached her hand into said pocket, and pulled out her monopad. She looked back at Chiaki. "I don't get it."

"Trust me, you do," Chiaki said.

Sayaka looked back at her monopad. She went to turn on her monopad but she stopped herself. She lifted her head back up and looked dead into Junko's eyes. "Hey, Junko…can you take out your monopad?"

Junko raised her eyebrow. "Wh-what?"

"Your monopad," Sayaka repeated herself. "If you turn it on, it shows your name, right? Just turn it on and show us how stupid my theory is."

Junko went silent. Her eyes jolted around as she noticed everyone locked their eyes on her. Junko gritted her teeth a bit.

Mukuro actually smirked. "Is something wrong, sister?"

"I…I just remembered that I left my monopad in my room," Junko said. "Sorry, but I can't really-"

"Oh, bullshit!" Miu snapped. "You're just trying to weasel your way out of it, bitch!"

"Peko, see if she has her monopad on her," Byakuya ordered.

Despite how high up in the air all of their podiums were, Peko leapt over the stand of her podium and propelled herself over to Junko's podium. The floating podium dipped downward with the sudden added weight, but whatever technology Monokuma used for his theatrical machines corrected itself and rose back to the others' level. Junko did her best to push Peko off, but the swordswoman was too persistent and far too fast for the model to stop. Peko immediately slipped her hand into Junko's pocket and snatched her monopad.

"Give me that!" Junko said as she attempted to tackle Peko, but she was too late.

Peko flipped out of Junko's podium and landed back in her own. Peko turned on the monopad and presented the screen to the rest of the group.

When screen fully lit up, there was text that displayed on it. "Welcome Back, Tsumugi Shirogane."

"Wh-what?" Hifumi gasped.

"She truly is a shapeshifter!" Gundham said as his pets narrowed their glares at the cosplayer.

"Then that settles this," Celeste said before looking down at Monokuma. "I believe that we are done with this scrum debate."

"Ok, ok, I'll get you guys down from there," Monokuma said before twisting the key, and therefore, the gear the opposite direction.

Slowly but surely, all of the podiums descended down to their original locations before finally being planted back into the ground. Everyone glared at "Junko" as she hid her face from everyone.

"T-Tsumugi…is it…really you?" Hifumi asked.

"Junko" sighed and pulled off her blonde wig so she could let her long blue locks drop down. She reached into her bra, pulled out her glasses and placed them over her eyes. "Yeah…" she said. "It's me."

Teruteru leaned over his podium to get a better view of the lady's chest. "Do you have anything else in there?"

Everyone chose to ignore the perverted cook and chose to focus on the situation at hand.

"But…but why?" Hifumi asked at the verge of tears. "If you succeeded…we'd all die."

"Tsumugi," Kaito spoke up, "were you really the mastermind of our killing game?"

Tsumugi sighed and turned to face the rest of the group. "Yes. I was."

Ryoma took his candy cigarette out of his mouth and glared at the cosplayer. "While we're all asking you questions, I got one myself. When Kaede missed her attack on Rantaro, were you hiding in the room waiting to strike?"

Tsumugi nodded.

"What?!" Kaede gasped. "Tsumugi, why? We all trusted you! You were our friend!"

"It should be obvious why she did it," Nagito said as he furrowed his brow. "She just wants to spread despair among us, turn us against each other, filled the world with her madness."

Tsumugi rolled her eyes. "You're so off. You wouldn't even understand I explained it."

"Why don't you stop being vague and explain yourself?" Byakuya commanded. "Do you still truly think we're nothing be hallucinations?"

"Hallucinations?" Tsumugi raised an eyebrow. "You guys keep trying to make me out like I'm the crazy one, but I'm the only one that knows the truth here. None of this is real. None of this was ever real. The killing games, the disasters, everything is fake! Danganronpa is nothing but a reality show!"

Everyone else in the room went silent. Even people like Celeste and Kokichi were taken aback by Tsumugi's rant.

Tsumugi continued, her hair becoming messier as she pulled on it and her eyes becoming more maniac as she shrieked. "I mean, can any of you actually believe your own lies? Gonta, you really think you were raised by wolves and still dress up in a suit and tie? Ryoma, you really think you can just kill a bunch of people and still be recruited by a school? Peko, you really think you're a yakuza's bodyguard? Mukuro, you think you can become a soldier as a teenager?! These are all just backstories cooked up to make you all interesting for viewers! And this?! This is all just some nightmare or trick! Someone trying to get at me for screwing it all up!"

"S-screwing what up?" Chihiro asked.

"The show!" Tsumugi snapped. "The show was going so well! Rating were the highest they've been in years, then Shuichi had to get it cancelled! He mocked me on live television and everyone turned on me! The academy broke down and crushed me! Now? This has to be some kind of punishment. Either I'm in a coma induced nightmare or the producers are trying to break me…"

"And that's why you killed Junko?" Sakura asked.

Tsumugi took a deep breath, regaining a tiny portion of her composure. "Junko…Junko, Junko, Junko. That was my ticket out of here. You remember all those themes I talked about earlier? About all the reoccurring elements each trial had? I left out the most important reoccurring plot point in each of these killing games. Junko Enoshima is ALWAYS INVOLVED! If there was a way to wake up, or a way to stop these producers? It would have to be killing Junko. I had already been planning on killing her, but it seems this place was a step ahead of me. When Junko wrote those threatening letters to everyone, she actually wrote this."

Tsumugi reached into her pocket and pulled out the letter she received days ago. "Tsumugi, I know you're the mastermind of the Ultimate Academy. Let's chat when we get the chance."

"That chance would be when I was set to guard her," Tsumugi explained.

"So, you used our plans against us," Byakuya commented.

"Of course," Tsumugi said as she placed the letter back in her pocket. "Still, I wasn't expecting Junko's distractions to be a flash grenade or Kokichi. I bet it was one last prank by her before she tried to kill me."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you killing Junko wasn't the plan?"

"Of course not," Tsumugi answered. "I just said I had to kill her if I wanted to get out, but I couldn't let her know that. I played along with the idea of me just being a dumb fangirl…" Tsumugi paused before a smile flashed across her face. "Hehe, actually, I guess I still was a fangirl. I love Danganronpa. I love all you characters. And Junko was always my favorite…" Then, she shifted to a somber frown, "But I've been away from home for too long. So, even though this was a dream come true in some way…I'm tired. I'm tired of Danganronpa and all those two-faced fans. That's why I attacked as soon as we finished swapping our outfits."

Another moment of silence filled the room. Everyone looked towards each other, hoping someone could make some comment that could explain the rambling they had heard, then back at the cosplayer.

"Then that explains it," Byakuya spoke up. "You're delusional, Tsumugi. Your refusal to accept the reality of the situation drove you to attempt an escape. You created this television story to excuse yourself of any possible responsibility for what you had done."

"I'm…not…delusional," Tsumugi glared at Byakuya. "Do you want me to prove it?"

"We'd love to see you try and fail, shapeshifter," Gundham said.

"Fine," Tsumugi said. "I'll prove it. Celeste, your cat's name is Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg and your real name is Taeko Yasuhiro."

The constantly smirking mask Celeste had kept on the entire trial cracked as her blood red eyes widened in terror. "Wh-what the hell did you just say?!" Celeste gasped.

"What? That's your real name?" Tenko asked. "That's so…normal."

"Did you tell her that, Ludenberg?" Taka asked.

"OF FUCKING COURSE I DIDN'T TELL HER THAT!" Celeste screamed at the moral student. "I'D NEVER FUCKING MENTION THAT!"

"Perhaps Hifumi was the one that told her," Sakura suggested. "Afterall, we only solved your murders by Hifumi's dying words."

Tsumugi immediately shifted her attention from Celeste to Sakura. "Sakura, you were never meant to be chosen by Hope's Peak. The original choice for the Ultimate Martial Artist was the man you loved, Kenshiro, but he was sick with terminal illness."

Sakura's eye began to twitch as she balled her hands up into fists. "H-how did you learn that?!"

Tsumugi ignored the fighter's rage and looked at Leon. "Leon, your cousin Kanon has a major crush on you."

Leon attempted to hide his blushing face behind his arm. "Dude, what the hell?! No one's suppose to know that!"

Teruteru leaned over to the baseball player. "So, you got an incest thing going on?"

Leon growled at the cook. "I'll kick your ass if you say that again!"

"Ha ha!" Miu laughed at Leon. "I knew you'd be desperate enough to fuck a cousin!"

"Oh please," Hiyoko snickered. "He probably couldn't even score with family members. They all know he's small down there."

"I-I am not!" Leon shouted.

Tsumugi glanced over at Hiyoko and Miu. "Hiyoko, you're not actually 13. You're the same age as the rest of your class, you're just scared they'd make fun of you for looking young. Miu, you have a spikey dildo in your drawer."

Both Hiyoko and Miu turned beat red.

"Th-these are all lucky guesses," Byakuya attempted to explain Tsumugi's revelations.

However, Tsumugi had a bomb for Byakuya as well. "You're not the real Byakuya Togami. You're truly known as the Ultimate Imposter."

Byakuya's glasses fell off of his face as his mouth dropped open. All of the other students looked over at the large well-dressed man as they let this new piece of information sink in.

"What?" Taka gasped. "You really aren't Togami?"

"See?" Tsumugi said. "I know everything there is to know about you even though none of you ever told me. Because none of you are real. You're all just characters with complex backstories."

"Is that so?" Rantaro asked as he crossed his arms.

Tsumugi rolled her eyes. "Of course it is."

"Ok then," Rantaro nodded a bit. "What's my youngest sister's name?"

"I…what?"

"I asked what is my youngest sister's name."

Byakuya smirked as he understood what Rantaro was doing. "If we truly were written characters you would know the answer to that, wouldn't you?"

"Th-they're minor characters never seen on screen," Tsumugi said. "They don't have names. I doubt Rantaro would even-"

"Her name is Oribu," Rantaro interrupted her.

Tsumugi went silent. Everyone began to let out sighs of relief.

"Seems like all that was just smoke and mirrors," Kokichi said with a smirk.

Tsumugi growled. "None of you get it. Listen, you all need to-"

"Hey, can you all hurry up already?" Monokuma whined as he slouched on his throne. "I'm getting bored over here! You guys haven't even voted yet! Get it over with so the fun can begin!"

"Oh yeah," Kaito scratched the back of his head. "We got to vote."

Tsumugi's eyes widened. "W-wait! You can't just kill me! I-I have more to tell you! Kaito, please! You wouldn't want to kill me, would you?"

Kaito sighed. "Tsumugi…I thought you were one of my friends, but…it turns out you're worse than Kokichi."

"And in case you forgotten, I'm pretty damn bad. Nehehe," Kokichi snickered.

"You killed Rantaro, framed Kaede for murder, you caused to turn against each other," Kaito narrowed his brows at Tsumugi. "You…you're getting what you deserve."

"B-but if you do this, none of you will find out the truth!" Tsumugi begged. "We can't get back if you kill me! V-vote for yourselves! We can all-"

"Hell no we're not voting for ourselves!" Mondo growled.

The stands at each of the podiums opened up and small touch screens with icons of each of the students revealed themselves.

"Please!" Tsumugi begged one last time. "Don't do this!"

"We can't leave until it is done," Peko said coldly. "That is the rule Monokuma enforced upon us."

Tsumgui frowned, hung her head down and buried her face in her hands. As Peko moved her finger over to the icon containing Tsumgui's picture, Tsumugi suddenly lifted her head back up to face the group. But it wasn't her own face. It wasn't even her hair or her body. She had completely changed from a blue-haired girl to a short, blonde male with a boyish face and a fancy black suit.

"Peko, stop," Tsumugi said in a much deeper tone than should be possible.

Peko stopped her movements stone dead as she gazed upon the face of her young master, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu.

"Y-young master?" Peko spoke.

"Peko, could you really do this to me?" the "yakuza" asked. "You promised to serve me no matter what. You can't let me here. I need to leave! Please, Peko!"

Peko froze completely. Ibuki attempted to shake the swordswoman's arm, but she was completely stiff.

"Hmph," Gundham chuckled. "You may have stopped the samurai in her tracks, but your tricks cannot protect you from your fate." Gundham held his hand out and allowed Kahn to prance down his arm.

Just before Gundham's dark disciple cat could press the button to vote to execute the cosplayer, Tsumugi ran her hands across her face and took on the guise of Princess Sonia Nevermind.

"Gundham, stop!" the "princess" pleaded.

Gundham pulled his arm back and held Kahn in his hands. "Wh-what?"

"Gundham, please! You know my country needs me! If I die here, who will protect my people!"

Gundam's hand began to shake. He'd grab a hold of his wrist and his bark disciples attempted to sooth him by cuddling up against his cheeks, but he continued to shake.

"Tsumugi, that's enough!" Kaito shouted.

"Yeah, we understand you're afraid, but this is the only way," Kaede said.

Tsumugi spun her head towards Kaito and Kaede and immediately dressed herself up as Shuichi. "Kaito, Kaede, I promised you two I'd keep moving forward. Not just for myself, but for everyone. If you kill me now, none of us win."

Both Kaede and Kaito went silent.

"She's getting to everyone!" Tenko shouted. "We got to just ignore her and vote!"

Just before Tenko could slam her fist down on the touch screen, Tsumugi ran her hands down her face to reveal she had shifted into Himiko.

"Seriously, Tenko?" the "mage" said with an exhausted sigh. "You're really going to kill me like that? Nyeh, you've always been such a drag."

Tenko's eyes widened and she stopped her hand just inches away from the screen. "H-Himiko?"

Sayaka looked over at her friend and shook her arm. "Tenko, you know that's not really her! Don't fall for this."

"B-but…I can't…I can't press that button while looking at her," Tenko said with tears in her eyes. "She…she looks just like Himiko…"

Sayaka gritted her teeth. 'If no one else will do it, then I have to!" She turned to the touch screen and went to go press Tsumugi's icon.

"Sayaka…"

Sayaka paused. That voice. So soft, a bit high, but still filled with optimism and friendliness. Sayaka knew she shouldn't look up. If his voice was enough to freeze here in place, seeing him…

Sayaka looked up. Why would she if she knew what would happen? That curious instinctive need to do the exact opposite what you know you should do, it really is all consuming. She locked eyes with the short, brunette boy she admired for so long, the boy she betrayed. Makoto Naegi.

"Sayaka," the "boy" repeated. "I know things have been hard for you. I know want to make everything right with me. I already forgiven you for what you've done at Hope's Peak. So please, don't do this. Don't stab me in the back again."

Again. Again. 'I'd…betray him again,' Sayaka thought. She could feel a tear running down the side of her face.

"Everyone, stop listening to her," Chiaki said sternly. "None of it is real. You know none of these people would say these things."

Tsumugi only had to change her costume slight to transform into Hajime Hinata. She turned to Chiaki with a smile across her face.

"Chiaki, you know-"

Before Tsumugi could finish her pleas, no before she could even start it, Chiaki took her shoe off and chucked it at Tsumugi's head, knocking off her mask and wig.

"That's enough, Tsumugi," Chiaki said. "It's over, Tsumugi. You know we have to do this."

Tsumugi held onto her nose, attempting to keep any possible blood from dripping out all over the floor. She would glare daggers at the gamer as everyone else snapped back to their senses.

'You bitch,' Sayaka thought to herself as she glared at Tsumugi. 'You get what you deserve.'

Sayaka slammed her finger onto the button to vote for Tsumugi. Slowly, but surely, everyone else broke out of their confusion and followed suit. Everyone pressed on Tsumugi's icon and turned to face the ever-smiling Monokuma.

"Well, that certainly took you guys long enough," Monokuma said as he straightened his sitting posture. "But you at least found some way to keep it entertaining. Anyways, let's tally all the votes to see if you all picked right or oh so horribly wrong?"

Just as Monokuma finished his usual monologue, a giant screen lowered itself down from the ceiling and stopped just behind Monokuma's throne. The screen turned on and played a simulation of a slot machine with everyone's face on it. The slots spun around until three icons of Tsumugi's face lined up in a row. The sound of cheers, clapping, and bright buzzers played as the digital slot machine spat out gold coins.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding-ity, DING!" Monokuma cheered and clapped. "You all got it right! The killer of Junko Enoshima and the mastermind of the Ultimate Academy Killing Game is Tsumugi Shirogane!"

"Hey, wait a second," Teruteru spoke up. "I just remembered something. In the casefile it said that the victim was Tsumugi."

"H-hey, that's right," Chihiro said as she checked her Monopad. She turned to Monokuma. "I thought you said you wouldn't interfere with the crime scenes."

Monokuma chuckled and shook his head. "First of all, you really should have learned not to trust me at this rate. Secondly, I had to. After all that effort Junko and Tsumugi put into this set, I didn't want to go to waste. It would've been too easy!"

Tsumugi sighed and turned to face Monokuma. "And it was still for nothing. Well, I gave it my best shot. Might as well get this over with."

"Oh?" Monokuma tilted his head to the side. "You want to get to the execution already? No final words?"

"Well," Tsumugi looked back to the rest of the group, "I'm sorry that it ended this way. You're all still so confused with everything and I did hurt your feelings, but…I'm happy I got to be here as long I have. All of you will always be my favorites. It was a dream to meet all of you, but…it's time for me to wake up."

"T-tsumugi wait!" Hifumi shouted. Tears ran down the sides of his face as he faced the cosplayer. "I…I need to know! Were we really friends? Did you actually care about me or did…did you just use me?"

Tsumugi took a moment to think. "It was great to talk to you about anime and video games with you, Hifumi. I think those moments were genuine…for a while. After that…I was using you. While that hurts, I am happy I got to have the chance to outsmart my idol."

"I-idol?" Hifumi asked.

"Junko. She's the reason I was inspired to be a mastermind in the first place. To meet her, to talk to her-"

"So, you're nothing but a psychotic fangirl," Mukuro said.

"Yes, but unlike you, I actually had the guts to prove I could kill her," Tsumugi said with a smirk. "To think, I could outsmart the great Junko Enoshima!"

"Oh?" Monokuma tilted his head once again. "You think you outsmarted her?"

Tsumugi raised an eyebrow and turned back to the bear. "What? O-of course I did! I killed her!"

"Hmmm, maybe that's what she wanted you to do," Monokuma said. "I mean, after all, who put that backpack with the cloth and knife in the incinerator? Who set up to have you meet with those letters? Who had Kokichi block off the back of the hallway? Who oh who made it obvious how much time there was to allow the two of you to do this little switcharoo?"

Tsumugi's eyes widened as everything hit her. "She…she set me up to fail."

"And isn't that just like her?" Monokuma giggled.

Nagito looked toward Tsumugi. "It was one final act to fill you with despair."

"But I think we dragged this on for far too long," Monokuma said. "I think it's clear that we've reached my favorite part of the day. Get ready for the thrills, chills, and kills with the execution of the Ultimate Cosplayer! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!"

A large, red button rose up from the floor in front of Monokuma. Ever the showman he is, Monokuma pulled out a comically large judge's gavel and slammed it onto the button. The screen behind him played a video of an 8-Bit cartoon of Tsumugi being dragged away by Monokuma.

"Game Over," the text on screen read. "Tsumugi has been found guilty. Time for the punishment!"

This part took way too damn long to make. On top of slight burnout, trying to deal with my work schedule, my sister's wedding, and trying to do other projects and playing games, it was just a longer chapter to write.

I hope I balanced the characters well. Sometimes Sayaka seems to take a backseat as a main character lol. She did help solve the murder, so she has that, but still. I also hope I made this particular mystery interesting to solve and not stupid convoluted and contrived. I also wish I could have played with the Danganronpa game mechanics more in the story. Discordant Echos, which inspired this story, does that very well.

I at least like how I wrote Tsumugi and Hifumi. I wish I pushed Hifumi's paranoia on who killed his friend more and I worry I made Tsumugi's motive too out of character/convoluted. But I like attempting to give Hifumi more character importance and the mind games Tsumugi played are fun.

And yet, Junko still got the last laugh on her.

Sorry this took so long, everyone. I'm glad you've all been enjoying the story and I hope this is still keeping you around. I feel like I have a million things on my mind to say, but I can't think of the words for them. I'm just glad to be getting back to this. The next chapters shouldn't take as long. I promise.