Chapter 3: Part 4

"What is going on, guys?!" Monokuma shouted into the school's intercom. "Welcome back to another day at Despair Academy! Today, we're going to watch these twerps stumble around blindly try to solve some mystery! So, remember to smash that subscribe button and drop comment for a free gift card giveaway!"

Taking whatever Monokuma's rambling was as the morning announcement, the students began to rise from their beds, got cleaned and dressed, and exited their rooms. Taka waited patiently in the cafeteria for the rest of the group to join him. However, that's morning meeting would be lacking in a substantial crowd. Aside from himself and his bro Mondo and fellow group leader Chiaki, the only other people who bothered to show up were Chihiro followed by Keebo, Mahiru, Ibuki, Shinji, Korekiyo, Tenko, Rantaro, Leon, Angie with her group of Hiyoko, Hifumi, and Teruteru, and Kaede followed by Gonta. Kaede still had the film canister in her hands from the previous day, ready to continue the investigation. Taka took a glance around the room before frowning.

"Where is everyone else?" Taka asked. "It's improper for so many people to be late to our morning meeting! I demand an explanation right now!"

"I can answer where Sayaka is!" Tenko's hand shot up into the air.

"Of course, you can," Leon grumbled under his breath.

"I ran into Sayaka on the way here, but she said she wanted to investigate on her own for the morning," Tenko explained.

"What?!" Taka gasped. "But what if she finds something important or gets hurt?!"

"Uh, she'll just tell us, bro," Mondo answered.

"And if she gets hurt, Ibuki's sure she can scream her lungs out!" Ibuki smiled. "And Ibuki will hear those high notes from even underground."

"OK, but what about Hoshi? Irumi? Komeda? Oma? Ikusaba? Ludenberg? Tojo, Pekoyama, or Tanaka?" Taka questioned his classmates.

"Miu and Nagito told me they were heading to the woodshop to work on something," Chiaki explained. "They dragged Mukuro and Kokichi along with them."

"And Ryoma told me he wanted to paint today," said Rantaro. "As for Celestia and her group, I don't know what they're getting into."

"Shouldn't we stop splitting up?" Shinji asked as he adjusted how his new purple jacket sat on his shoulder. "Ignoring when we explored the third floor yesterday, the last time we split up...someone died."

"I wouldn't worry so much about it," Rantaro responded. "I think anyone planning anything…nefarious would be too on edge to actually follow through with it."

"We simply must pray for Atua to watch over them and protect their souls," Angie clasped her hands together, with her followers copying her.

"OK?" Chihiro raised an eyebrow at the religious group.

"Well, why don't we go ahead and check out this tape?" Kaede held up the film canister. "It's probably the biggest clue we have so far."

"An excellent idea, Akamatsu!" Taka cheered. "It's settled, everyone! We shall watch this film in the projection room!"

"Do you think this will finally disprove the fake memories theory?" Chihiro asked.

"I hope so," Kaede said. "Granted, this is the third of these. Maybe the other two will have more info."

"If they involve what I think they involve, it will prove that we just had our memories wiped…I think," Chiaki answered.

"We'll just have to search for them when we get there," Keebo said as he glanced at Chiaki. "I hope your theory is right. Honestly, I don't know how I'll react one way or the other, but for my friends and for all of you, I hope what Tsumugi told me was a lie."

Everyone nodded to one another and rose from their chairs. However, before they could exit the room, two people entered the room. It was Mikan and Sakura. Since the previous morning, Sakura had been outfitted with a cast wrapped around her right arm.

"Ah, Ogami!" Taka smiled at the muscular woman. "I see you are feeling better."

"I-I wouldn't say she's better," Mikan said. "She still has several weeks before her arm is fully healed. Until then-"

"Until then, I am useless for you all," Sakura said with a shameful frown.

"Don't talk that way," Gonta said. "You still big and strong!"

"But without the use of my arm, I can't fully utilize my strength," Sakura explained. "Many of my grapples are impossible now."

"Still kinda doubt anyone would mess with you," Leon said while scratching the back of his head.

Angie approached Sakura and gently placed her hand on the giant's arm. "Don't not fret, my dear Sakura. I shall request Atua give you a speedy recovery."

Sakura paused for a moment before nodding. "Thank you."

"Enough chatter, everyone!" Taka shouted. "It's time for us to continue our investigation!"

Taka marched out of the cafeteria, with everyone else following close behind him.

Investigating by oneself had its benefits and drawbacks. Not having people constantly pester you, especially someone as energetic Ibuki or as clingy as Tenko, allowed Sayaka to properly focus on her surroundings as well as avoiding her mental calculations to reach conclusions instead of being derailed. Still, being by her lonesome meant she had no one to watch her back, no one to act as a second pair of eyes that could easily catch sight of a missed clue. However, Sayaka decided to take her chances. With her magnifying glass in one hand and a notepad in another, the pop idol had remained on the first floor. She could hear the clattering footsteps of her fellow classmates echoing in the halls before fading away as they reached the steps. With no more distractions, Sayaka got to work.

The first thing Sayaka chose to investigate was that mysterious projection room on the first floor. So much had occurred since she and Tenko first entered that the poor pop idol almost forgot that it existed. Returning to it revealed that the Monokuma had placed up yellow caution tape across the door sometime in the past weeks.

'How far I can really investigate into that really depends on what Monokuma allows,' Sayaka frowned. 'Still, it's worth the shot…It really does feel I'm a detective now, going back to a crime scene.'

Sayaka gently used her hands to pry apart the different strands of caution tape before raising and angling her leg to attempt slipping through the gap she created. While it was difficult, with Sayaka having to hunch her chest forward and raising her knee over her head, she was successful in flexibly sneaking into the room. Outside of the lights being dimmed as well as some more dust and cobwebs, the room had remained unchanged. It was still a featureless room with only an orb balanced upon a stand in middle to serve as the only detail inside. Sayaka approached the orb and placed her hand upon it. Just like before, the orb lit up and shot out onto one of the walls with same black screen as last time. "Begin?" it asked.

"Begin," Sayaka said out loud.

Once again, a footage of a black and white documentary played. "Japan," a narrator spoke over the footage. "A nation of greatness and progress."

Sayaka glanced back down at the orb. 'If it can start this, maybe it's a remote. And if it is, there should be a way to…' Sayaka tilted her hand to see the orb had several buttons on its screen like a touch-screen phone. There was a pause/play option, a rewind button, and a fast-forward button. 'Bingo.'

Sayaka pressed the fast-forward button, skipping past the origins of Hope's Peak Academy until she finally reached the image of Class 78. Her class. She paused the fast-forward and played it normally.

"Unfortunately, this class would be the final class of Hope's Peak Academy for quite some time," the narrator explained. The film zoomed in on the photo until only Junko and Mukuro. "The recruited sisters, Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba, did not agree with Hope's Peak Academy's view of the world. Instead, they held the exact opposite beliefs. Junko Enoshima was obsessed with despair and wished to spread it across the world. With the help of her sister, and by manipulating Class 77 as Ultimate Despair, the Towa corporation into creating an army of animatronic robots called Monokumas, and using hypnotic and brainwashing animatics, Junko plunged the world into an apocalypse."

Sayaka pulled out her pen and notepad to jot down some notes. "Towa corporation made the Monokuma robots. Junko used animations to brainwash people." Sayaka would use the buttons on the orb to skip through the movie, jotting down notes along the way. "Hope's Peak was the first true killing game. Only Makoto, Kirigiri, real Togami, Asahina, Fukawa, and Hagakure survived. They joined Future Foundation. Future Foundation rebuilt society. Warriors of Hope were kids that worshipped Junko, but they all disappeared. Makoto tried to rehabilitate Class 77 to cure them of their brainwashing. Makoto was put on trial for hiding Class 77 after their killing game. Everyone important survived the final killing game.

Sayaka played the rest of the film normally. "With all the remnants of despair finally wiped out, the future was finally bright. As the societies of the world were rebuilt, Hope's Peak Academy rose from the ashes to set an example for the world, with Makoto Naegi as the headmaster."

"Makoto became a principle?" Sayaka thought aloud. She couldn't help but giggle. "That's quite fitting."

"On September 14th, 20-" the movie was shut off before the date could be revealed. Sayaka turned around to see Monokuma with a spare remote in his paw.

"You got some nerve snooping around here, Sayaka!" Monokuma growled out. "Why can't you be a good little snot like the rest of your friends and booger off?!"

Sayaka sighed and closed her notebook. "It's fine. I got enough info about Hope's Peak for now. I can just come back later."

"Hey! Don't act all nonchalant with your headmaster!"

Sayaka walked right past the obnoxious bear and approached the door.

"HEY!" Monokuma shrieked. "Where do you get off acting like some hotshot detective?!"

Sayaka crouched beneath the caution tape once again before disappearing into the halls. "Bye, Monokuma."

Monokuma stomped his foot against the floor in a huff before crossing his arms. "Kids these days."

The woodshop had been filled with a cacophony of metal clanging, drilling, and scratching together at such a high volume that it could potentially lead to deafness later in life. Of course, Miu only gifted herself a pair of ear-protecting headphones while working, which left Nagito, Mukuro, and Kokichi having to cover their ears. Of course, the gaps in their fingers made the attempt to protect their eardrums worthless as the noise could just pass right through. That wasn't the only uncomfortable thing Kokichi had to endure. While Miu, Nagito, and Mukuro got keep their sight, Kokichi had a blindfold forcibly wrapped around his eyes. This only agitated the supreme leader further.

'I'm really sick of all this prisoner stuff,' Kokichi thought to himself. "Are you done yet?"

Unfortunately, due to all the noise, the three others couldn't quite hear him.

"What?!" Nagito asked.

"I said are you done yet?!" Kokichi raised his voice.

"WHAT?!" Nagito shouted.

"I SAID ARE YOU DONE YET?!"

"What do you think?" Mukuro asked rhetorically.

"WHAT?!" both Nagito and Kokichi said in unison.

"I SAID WHAT DO YOU THINK!" Mukuro shouted.

Kokichi leaned towards Nagito's general direction. "I THINK SHE CALLED US TWINKS!"

"I DON'T REALLY LIKE TWIX!" Nagito said.

"NO, SHE'S THE ONE FIXING IT!" Mukuro shouted.

"WHAT?!"

Finally, Miu put down her tools, ending the constant noise. She'd take off her headphones and wipe the sweat from her brow. "Woof, that was harder than I thought. Forgot how wood's really just a bunch of flimsy bullshit."

"Can I take off my blindfold now?" Kokichi asked. "I want to know what you've been making this whole time."

"Yeah, sure thing, you little shit," Miu turned around to face Mukuro. "Take it off."

Mukuro huffed some air out of her nose before untying the blindfold around Kokichi's eyes. As the supreme leader fluttered his eyes and adjusted his vision, he finally saw what Miu had been working on. It was a long wooden cage, similar in style to a shark cage, only large enough to fit one person in it, and nothing else. It had solid walls, floor, and ceiling, with the door being barred.

"OK, get in," Miu said.

"What the hell is this?" Kokichi asked with a sassy flail of the wrist. "You honestly expect me to stay in that thing? Gag!"

"You don't get much of a choice," Miu spat out. "Nagicuck, lock him up."

Nagito approached Kokichi and grabbed a hold of the smaller lad's arm. "I'm sorry, but this is for the safety of the rest of the group."

"You know, I'd just like to clarify that I've technically never killed anyone in either of these killing games. So, is this really-"

"Shut up and get in!" Mukuro kicked Kokichi into the cage and slammed the door shut behind him.

Before the little snake could break back out, Miu quickly took and lock, attached it to the door, and locked it shut. Kokichi wrapped his fingers around the bars of the door and shook it violently. Miu began laugh.

"Finally got this fucker!" Miu cheered.

Mukuro crossed her arms and smirked at the purple-haired boy. "I hope you're not claustrophobic, Kokichi. Because" Mukuro shook the barred door in a mocking fashion, "you're not getting out of here anytime soon."

Kokichi slowly surveyed just how little room he was left with in his new prison. At most he could only really stand up or sit down with his legs close to his chest. No pacing, no laying down, nothing. Kokichi shrugged. "It's not a bad prison. It's at least in the top five cells I've been confined to."

"Well, duh, I made it!" Miu said. "Speaking of which, where the hell's my pay, soldier dyke?"

Choosing to ignore Miu's crude insult, Mukuro reached into her hoodie pocket and tossed over a pill bottle over to the inventor. Miu squeed with joy as she rubbed the bottle against her cheek.

"Oh babies, mommy missed you," Miu said.

"Um, I hate to interrupt everyone, but I have a question," Nagito spoke up. "Don't the rules say we can't sleep outside of our dorm rooms. So, are we really leaving him in here?"

"No, because I actually thought ahead." Miu circled around to the backside of the wooden cell and kicked it, causing two wheels to pop out of back. "See? We can roll this around anywhere we go."

Nagito's eyes lit up. "Wow. You really do think of everything, Miu."

"Of course, Nagicuck," Miu said. "You never should've doubted my golden brain!"

"I think we're done here," Mukuro said. "We should go check on the rest of the group."

Both Miu and Nagito nodded and followed Mukuro out of the woodshop, with Kokichi along for the ride.

The majority of the student body had to be careful when entering the film room. It was still the same mess it was the previous day. Taka would take it upon himself to pick up all the reels of film. Of course, due to how much film there was and how much each of the strips of film would get tangled up with each other, Taka had a hard time cleaning anything up. It did at the very least create a clear path for the rest of group to walk along. As soon as all nineteen of them found a semi-comfortable spot to stand, Kaede made her way towards the film projector. Opening the canister, she took out reel for "Mind Wipe Test: Number 3," and placed it in the projector.

"Everyone ready?" Kaede asked.

"Good ahead, Akamatsu," Taka said.

With a flick of a switch, the light of the projector shined against the wall the sound of each picture of film clicking through projector at a rapid pace. Soon enough, the film showed a countdown. 4, 3, 2, 1. Then, hard cut. It was footage of a blank white room, similar to a room in a psychiatric ward. The only thing in the room was a worn-down bed with a redheaded girl laying down upon it. After a few seconds of the girl sleeping on the bed, someone entered the room. It was a male around the same age as the rest of the students, perhaps even a year older. He wore semi-professional clothes like a button-up shirt, tie, and business slacks in a sloppy manner, failing to tuck in his shirt and leaving his tie hang loose. He had shaggy black hair with one strand sticking up. With the notepad he had in his hand, he smacked against the wall next to girl's head.

"Alright, get up," he said.

The redhead shot up and rubbed her eyes. She looked around the room for a moment before facing the young man. "Uh…hello?"

"Let's go through this real quick," he said while glancing at his notepad. "What do you remember?"

"What do I remember?" the girl repeated. "I…I had some…I was writing something…right?"

"Yep," the boy said. "You got your notebook under your pillow?"

With a puzzled expression, the girl slowly checked under her pillow and low-and-behold, there it was. She took the book and opened it.

"Do you remember your name?"

The girl paused for a moment.

"Do you remember your name?"

The girl shook her head.

"Figures you'd forget," the man said. "Your name is Ryoko Otonashi. You're at Hope's Peak Academy because you're the Ultimate Analyst. Although, you're more of an idiot if you ask me. Do you understand?"

Ryoko looked up at the man and shook her head. "No…that's not right."

The young man paused in his writing. Putting down his notepad, he faced Ryoko. "It is, Ryoko."

"No, it's not. My name isn't Ryoko. It's-"

"That wore off sooner than I thought," the man facepalmed. "Looks like we're going to have to increase the effects of the memory program."

Ryoko rolled her eyes. Suddenly, she was no longer some confused girl. She had a bit of sass in her voice. "Seriously, this whole this is never going to work if you don't stop screwing up."

"How the hell do you expect me to do that then?"

"I don't know, be meaner! Just be an absolute ass! I can't start my plan if I can remember who I am!"

"OK, fine. I'll get it done." With that, the young man left the room, ending the tape.

The group stood in silence for a minute while Kaede shut off the projector. Everyone looked towards one another, hoping that at least one of their companions would have some idea of what they saw. After a minute, Ibuki broke the silence.

"Wait, does that mean Keebo was right?" Ibuki asked.

"How could you've gotten that from that?" Leon asked. "It…didn't really explain anything."

"I've got to agree with the lovely ballplayer," Teruteru said, placing special emphasis on the word ball.

"As do I," Taka said. "Mioda, I request you properly explain how you came to such a conclusion!"

"Well, that one girl said she didn't want to remember who she was and that guy was totally giving her a new name," Ibuki explained. "Isn't that like how Ro-Bro said we got our memories messed with?"

"R-ro-bro?" Keebo said with a baffled expression.

"But didn't it seem more like the process of the memory wipes Junko had been working on?" Mahiru asked. "There seemed to be an actual memory wiping process while the whole new identity seemed more like suggestions."

"That still implies she's trying to gain a new identity," Kiyo said.

"But why would it be two different methods?" Shinji asked.

"Because it's not a new memory program," Chiaki spoke up, which gathered everyone's attention. "This was the beginning of Junko's memory wiping program. In fact, the girl in that video was Junko."

"It was?" Gonta gasped. "But Junko not have red hair."

"It must've been some kind of wig, like how she and Tsumugi fooled us earlier," Sakura commented.

"I should've known it was her," Teruteru said. "Those thighs are a big give away."

"But why would she want to erase her own memory?" Angie asked. "It is rather silly to me since it could ruin her own plans."

"Junko wanted to be the first test subject for this," Chiaki explained. "Both to see how well it worked for herself as well as to induce despair for herself. Especially when she killed the boy in that video…I think."

"So, she used him and killed him…like with Mukuro?" Tenko asked.

Chiaki nodded. "So, since this footage lines up with my story, I think it's safe to say this finally disproves the fake memories and TV show story."

"What do you think, Keebo?" Kaede asked.

Keebo had stood towards the back of the group, deep in thought as he processed the entire discussion, rubbing his chin the whole time. After a moment, Keebo looked up at Chiaki. "I can't say that I don't still have my doubts. I don't know why Tsumugi would lie about that if it being the truth would cause more despair… And just like Ibuki said, this seems like there could still be a way to create false memories."

"But what about the fact Chiaki said that was Junko before the killing game?" Mahiru asked. "If that's footage of these show runners or whatever creating new identities for us, why would it line up with Chiaki's story?"

"That's the one part that still giving me some doubt in what Tsumugi told us," Keebo answered. "I guess…we're still stuck at this stalemate."

"Well, this only the third video in this series, right?" Kaede spoke up. "Maybe if we find the others, everything will be revealed."

"A-and Rantaro has been taking all of th-those notes on Tsumugi's notebook, the Hope's Peak book, and the D-danganronpa book," Mikan added on.

"By the way, are you almost done with those, Amami?" Taka asked.

"I have finished the Hope's Peak and Tsumugi's notebook," said Rantaro. "Now, I'm just double checking with the Danganronpa book."

"Excellent work!" Angie said. "Once you are finished, the light of Atua will finally shine on us all!"

"So, can we go now?" Hiyoko asked. "I'm sick of standing around here."

"I believe it is safe to say that we are done here for the time being," Taka said. "Although, I do request that you will share this information with all those that have missed this screening!"

"Don't worry!" Tenko smiled. "I'll go tell Sayaka as soon as possible."

"And I'll happily deliver this information to Miss Ludenberg," Teruteru licked his lips.

"Very well, take care everyone!" Taka shouted and marched out of them room.

However, as everyone stepped outside, they noticed Miu, Nagito, and Mukuro, but more importantly, they saw what they were dragging around. A wooden box containing Kokichi. Upon seeing said site, Tenko broke out into a fit of laughter. She grabbed a hold of her gut while pointing at the purple-haired boy. The mockery was enough to make Kokichi attempt a lunge through the bars. It fell short.

"Well, it's about time we got you a proper cell," Kaede said. "Good job, Miu."

Miu rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm great. What else is new?"

"How did your investigation go?" Nagito asked. "Did that video reveal anything?"

"Kinda, but it's still confusing as shit," Mondo crossed his arms. "Junko was testing some mind wiping crap on herself, so we're still stuck not knowing whether or not all of this is real or not."

"Fret not, bro," Taka placed his hand on Mondo's shoulder. "Once Rantaro finishes with his readings, everything will finally be revealed. Now, let us all take off-"

"Pardon me for a moment," Angie spoke up. "Is Kokichi the only one being placed in a cell?"

"I mean, he's kind of the biggest problem here," Leon scratched the back of his head. "Who else would we even need to lock up?"

"How about Korekiyo and Mukuro?" Angie smiled.

Most of the group, especially Mukuro, were taken aback by Angie's suggestion. Even Hiyoko, Hifumi, and Teruteru raised their brows at their leader.

"Why do I need to be locked up?" Mukuro's face turned so red with anger a vein began to pulsate on her forehead. "I've been trying to prevent a murder more than any of the rest of you!"

"While your attentions are certainly commendable, you lack turn self-control," Angie explained. "Pointing a gun at all of us and your constant roughhousing of Kokichi could've caused a death. You're far too reckless, so for our safety, I say we put you in a cell too."

"Now, hold on!" Mahiru spoke up. "OK, maybe Mukuro had been too rash with her methods, and yeah, Korekiyo is a creep too, but…are we really just going to start locking up everyone that we don't like?"

"I see what you mean," Chiaki said. "This could become a slippery sloop if we don't take accountability for our actions."

"Don't say that like Angie's going to lock you all up!" Hiyoko shouted. "She's looking out for everyone's safety! And Mukuro and Kiyo don't even got the brainwashing excuse! They're just awful people!"

"Kiyo even admitted he didn't feel remorseful for what he's done," Teruteru added on.

"What do you think, Taka?" Shinji asked.

Taka had paced back and forth while stroking his chin, pondering over the decision. He'd come to a stop, glancing over at Angie. With a nod from the artist, Taka reached his decision. "I think it would best if we do keep Shinguji and Ikusaba under watch. For the sake of everyone's safety."

"Bro," Mondo walked over to Taka's side and whispered, "are you sure this is a good idea?"

Taka nodded. "Of course, bro. Now, could you, Irumi, and Komeda work on two extra cells?"

"Sure, I better get something out of this," Miu said.

Mondo glanced over at Mahiru and Leon, noticing just how horrified they looked with their sunken in eyes and slightly open mouths. He then glanced over at Mukuro and Kiyo. 'OK, that mask creep definitely needs to be locked up, but the Mukuro chick?' he thought to himself. 'Bro, I hope you know what you are doing.'

Mondo grabbed a hold of both Mukuro and Kiyo's arms and dragged them along after Miu and Nagito.

Taking that as their que to leave, Angie signaled for Hiyoko, Hifumi, and Teruteru to follow her towards the chapel room. With everyone else following suit to go their separate ways, Mahiru was left alone in the center of the third floor.

'OK, no more waiting around,' Mahiru thought to herself. 'Something's got to be done.'

Chihiro was walking down the stairway when he felt a light tap upon his shoulder. Looking over it, he saw Tenko standing right behind him.

"O-oh," Chihiro stuttered slightly. "Hello, Tenko. Is everything ok?"

"Oh, I'm doing great," Tenko nodded.

Tenko went silent, nodding as she awkwardly looked around the stairway. Chihiro gulped down some saliva, not sure what was happening at that moment.

"Um, can I help you with something?" Chihiro asked.

Tenko fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke. "Uh, yeah. I just, I know that Nekomaru was helping you train, so I thought, if you're fine with it, if I could take over for him? I could teach you Aikido, some self-defense, anything I know."

"Oh, well, thank you so much for the offer, Tenko. But I'm actually training with Mondo now. Sorry if that upsets you."

"Oh…n-no. That's all good. Um…I'm glad you're getting more training…." Tenko felt sweat pouring down her face. "Bye!"

The Aikido master suddenly dashed past Chihiro and disappeared as she moved down the first floor. Chihiro blinked a few times, confused by the interaction before continuing downstairs.

Sayaka's investigations had led her towards the second floor. She flipped through her notes to start a new page, labelling it "Kaito's Murder." Considering she lacked any true leads, she was left to jotting down bullet points for theories she had.

-Killer has to be smart

-Figured out how to cheat the killing rule

-Didn't want to get their hands dirty?

-Killer had to be able to slip into Mukuro's room

-Had to pick the lock

-Lock wasn't broken

Sayaka sighed to herself. 'How exactly am I supposed to find more clues for this? Am I supposed to just interrogate everyone? I'm not sure if I've got that hardboiled cop act in me.'

Sayaka shook her head. 'Or do I make some sort of guess. What is that called? Profiling? I guess that could be a good starting point.'

Sayaka turned the page and wrote down another title. "Suspects."

'Obviously, Chihiro couldn't hurt a fly. Neither could Tenko. At least in murder anyway. Ryoma would make a self-sacrifice before murdering someone. Taka isn't really a murdering type. And hate to think it, but he's kind of dumb too. Sakura is too honorable to kill someone, and if she did it wouldn't be with such a trap. Leon is an idiot and Mondo is definitely hotheaded, but neither of them could pull that trap off. Chiaki had only killed Nagito because she was tricked into it, so she isn't really a murderer. She was also…made to protect her class. So, maybe if it came to protecting everyone, she could kill. But again, she wouldn't have set up a trap to randomly kill someone. Mahiru, Mikan, Ibuki, Gonta and Kaede wouldn't kill in that way either. They either had to be brainwashed or get pushed into a corner.'

This led to Sayaka listing off those that were more suspicious. 'Rantaro is nice, but he can get weirdly intense. Still, I doubt he could really find a time to ditch Mikan. Miu did plan a murder before, but it backfired. Nagito did too. But the two of them were together the whole time, and I doubt Miu would be one to not rat someone out. Kiyo definitely could've done something like this, but he was under watch by Sakura then. What about Angie and her group? She's weird for sure, but is she a killer? If she wanted, she could've ordered Hiyoko, Hifumi, and Teruteru to set it up for her, but would they?'

The last group of people made Sayaka pause. 'Peko and Gundham were willing to kill without being brainwashed. Same with Kirumi. Then Celeste…It has to be her. She's cold-hearted enough to plan something like this. She used Hifumi to kill Taka back at Hope's Peak. She was even making comments to Ryoma to kill himself so we could keep investigating the school.'

Sayaka would then write down "Celestia Ludenberg: Prime Suspect."

'I still don't have any proof though,' Sayaka thought. 'I have to find a way to prove she could've picked the lock and taken Mukuro's gun. But what if Gundham, Peko, or Kirumi have an alibi for her?'

"SAYAKA!"

The sudden shouting followed by a crushing hug that nearly tackled her to the ground could only be one person. "Hey, Tenko," Sayaka said with a sigh.

"How have you been today?" Tenko asked while releasing her grip on the pop idol. "Did you find anything out?"

"Sort of," Sayaka flipped to an earlier page in her notebook. "I went back to that projection room on the first floor to see more of that documentary. Monokuma cut it off again, but…I learned about what happened to the rest of my class."

Tenko leaned over to peak at the notes. "So, Makoto reopened Hope's Peak? That's cool, but that still really confuses me. How could none of my group know about it?"

"I don't know," Sayaka said. "I really hope that it isn't because of someone copying Junko's footsteps."

"OH!" Tenko's eyes lit up. "Speaking of Junko, that test footage Kaede found? Turns out it was of Junko testing out her mind wiping that she used on you guys! That's got to prove Chiaki was telling the truth!"

'So, it is all true then,' a small smile formed on Sayaka's lips. All the worries Sayaka hid away. Of her mother's passing, her father's safety, her time being a larger-than-life pop star, her time with Makoto, all her pain and joy was true. If only she could remember the two years she spent at Hope's Peak. However, there was one other concern Sayaka had.

"But what us being here?" Sayaka asked. "If I really died with the rest of my class, how did we end up here?"

"That…we still don't know," Tenko frowned a bit. "Still, we'll figure this all out!"

Sayaka nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we will."

"Soooo, do you want to hang out now? I'm kind of hungry myself."

Sayaka flashed a bright smile at Tenko. "Sure thing! I can make something for both of us if you'd like."

"Yeah. I'd love that."

"Great!" Sayaka turned around and returned to the stairway.

As Sayaka walked away of her, Tenko couldn't help but freeze as she watched Sayaka walk away. That smile was enough to for her to turn beat red. 'Focus, Tenko! Stop standing around and go eat!'

Tenko forced herself to break out of his petrified state and walked after Sayaka.

"Bark, bark, bark!" Monokuma shouted through the intercom. "It's now 10 pm. As a result, all the water has been shut off and the kitchen is closed until the morning. So, goodnight."

What made this part take so long? A couple of things. As usual, there's the mix of scheduling and working on other outlines. I've also been trying to get back into drawing again, so I sometimes spent nights on that rather than writing. I also finally got Street Fighter 6, which is so fucking good, guys. Finally, I've just got to admit that motivation for this point in the story is hard. I have plenty of plot lines I want to get to, but getting there is the problem. I really want to include scenes of Mondo and Chihiro training, what Celestia's group was up to, and Sayaka running into Ryoma here, but I just ran out of time. Keeping up this pace is difficult. Next chapter will probably have to back off Sayaka slightly for those scenes. But this investigation has to keep going. I'm really trying to keep you all guessing what's true or not right now.

I did have fun with the Miu scene, because she's just so great to write, especially with Nagito and Kokichi there too. Speaking of which, I saw some of you question how lax everyone is with Mukuro pulling out a gun, so I'm trying to do a better job with the cast's intelligence and give actions better consequences. I was really proud of earlier chapters made everyone act rationally with some rightful paranoia. Like The Thing. Maybe I just got lazy. I'm really trying. I'm also wish I was better with my writing prose. The first few parts were good, but everything feels too plain. What do you guys think?

Anyways, thank you all for your patience. I promise the next part will be made faster. Until then, post your comments and take care.