They were all standing around in the gymnasium waiting on Monokuma to tell them what to do next. No one wanted to be here, especially TK but after what Kyoko told them, they had no choice but to do what the bear wanted. Everyone was tense, they were scared that they might follow the same fate as Sayaka. TK, on the other hand, was angry.

He was angry at the person who murdered his friend, angry at Monokuma for trapping them in the school, but most of all, he was angry at himself. His mind kept replaying what happened last night and how terrified Sayaka looked when she came to him for help. He didn't even argue about switching rooms with her, he wanted her to feel comfortable. He should've done more to stay with her and maybe she would still be alive.

"H-Hey, are you okay?" Hina asked with a worried look etched on her face.

"No, I just saw my friend's dead body and all we're doing is standing around in the gym waiting for that damn bear!" TK shouted. Hina flinched, though she had a sympathetic look. TK didn't know if she was close with Sayaka, but it must've been horrifying to see someone your age murdered.

"We had no choice but to come. You remember what Kyoko said, we're at Monokuma's mercy," Taka repeated what Kyoko told them earlier.

"Yeah, well why should we listen to what that bear says!?" TK yelled. He wasn't happy when Monokuma told them what to do, and he's not happy about it now. "He was probably the one who murdered Sayaka!"

"I would never do that!" Monokuma's voice echoed throughout the gym. Suddenly, Monokuma jumped up from the stage and landed on his podium. "If you can believe anything, you can believe that!"

"He's here again…" Leon growled.

"Unless someone violates a school regulation, I absolutely will not interfere," the back and white bear informed them. "I can promise you, I won't do anything that goes against the purpose of your school life here. I'm famous at safari parks throughout the world for following the 'Bear-Times-One' rule!"

"Then… who did it? Who killed her?" Chihiro asked who already had tears coming out of her eyes but was trying her best to keep the rest in.

"You already know the answer!" Monokuma said, and everyone felt dread wash over them. "The one who killed her is… one of you!"

Everyone was quiet. No one believed it or thought it was too absurd for it to be true.

"Hmm? What's the matter? You guys all look like you're about to see a dove get shot up with a Gatling gun!" Monokuma joked, but no one was in the mood for his jokes or thought it was funny. "Don't you remember what I told you when this all began? One of you decided to kill Sayaka so that you could graduate! Someone's just following the rules. There's nothing wrong with that!"

"Y-You're lying… right?" Hifumi asked in disbelief.

"Of course he's lying! He killed her!" TK exclaimed, accusing the bear of killing his friend.

"Nope, sorry. One of you is now a bona fide killer," Monokuma said, denying the blond's accusation. "If they wanted to, the one who did it could testify to the little fact."

"What?" TK looked around at everyone. They all shared the same look on their faces. Everyone looked at each other with a combination of fear, suspicion, and confusion.

"A-Are you serious…?" Chihiro asked who was on the verge of breaking down.

"Someone… Someone killed someone!" Taka said, blue in the face.

"It is amazing what some people are capable of," Celeste commented.

"Hey, hold on! Don't just assume he's telling the truth!" Mondo argued.

"That's enough. Before we do anything else, I'd like to confirm something with the stuffed animal here," Byakuya said before turning his attention to Monokuma. "If one of us really did kill her, that person gets to graduate from the school, right?"

"Huh?" Monokum playfully said.

"Don't play dumb! That's what you said, isn't it!? If you kill someone, you get to leave!" Byakuya demanded, annoyed by the bear's playfulness.

Monokuma giggled before breaking out into an almost psychotic laugh which freaked some of them out.

"Why are you laughing!?" Leon said, looking a little pale.

"Puhu… it's cuz… naive. You're just so naive! You think it's really that easy? You can just kill someone and waltz on outta here? You're super naive! Devilishly naive! HELLISHLY NAIVE!" Monokuma mocked them. "No no no, the real thing has just begun."

"The real thing?" TK repeated.

"Are you ready?! Allow me to explain the second part of the rule regarding graduation! Just like I explained before, you must kill someone if you want to leave," Monokuma explained. "However, even if you do that, there's still one more part to the agreement you have to uphold, remember?"

"You are referring to rule six of the school regulations. If you are the 'blackened' that committed the murder, you can't be found out by the other students. That is what you are talking about, is it not?" Celeste said and some of the other students checked their e-Handbooks to confirm what she said.

"Bingo! It's not enough to just kill someone. You have to actually get away with it!" Monokuma sadistically cheered. "Which naturally means you need a system in place to assess whether or not it's been gotten away with! So, a certain amount of time after a murder has taken place, a class trial will begin!"

'Class trial?" TK said in his head.

"Yup! It'll begin a few hours after the murder! Everyone will gather together, including the blackened who committed the murder. And they and the spotless students will all engage in one big debate showdown!" Monokuma said. He then pressed a button and a projector screen descended from the ceiling to the stage. The lights then shut off as a picture of three boys and three girls were standing behind podiums as Monokuma sat on a throne in the middle appeared on the screen.

"During the trial, you'll have to present your arguments about who you think the blackened is. And once everything comes to an end, the outcome will be decided by popular vote! If the answer you've arrived at is correct…" The screen shows everyone pointing at one of the girls and the word "Guilty" appeared over her head before being dragged away by Monokuma. "Only the one that disturbed your peace will be punished. The rest may continue their communal life."

"However… if you choose poorly…" Everyone pointed at one of the boys and the word "Incorrect" appeared over his head before Monokuma dragged away everyone but one girl. "Then the one who got away with murder will survive, and the rest of you will receive your punishment. Which of course means your school life will come to an end! As far as class trial rules go… that's all there is to it!"

The lights were flipped back on as the screen ascended back into the ceiling. There was a sense of unease and a little bit of queasiness amongst the students from what they have just seen.

"So, um… what exactly is this 'punishment' you keep talking about…?" Hifumi asked nervously, after the courage to speak.

"Oh! Well, to put it simply…" A devilish smirk appeared on Monokuma's face. "It's execution!"

"E-Execution!?" Hifumi screamed.

"And by execution, you mean…" A frightened and tearful Chihiro said before being interrupted by Monokuma.

"Execution is… execution. Ex-e-cution! Electric chair, bzzt bzzt! Poison gas, cough cough! Torn apart like a paper plane in a hurricane!" As Monokuma listed off ways they could be executed some of the students were growing pale, and others appeared to be nauseous.

"S-So, to make sure I understand," Taka spoke up after finding his voice. TK noticed he was a little pale, but he could also see that Taka was sweating profusely. "If we get the culprit right, then only they die. But if we get it wrong… all the rest of us get… executed?"

"What a smart little chimpanzee you are! Look at you, implying you didn't do it without actually saying it!" Monokuma laughed, which caused the Moral Compass to receive a few suspicious stares thrown his way. "So it's basically what the outside world calls a 'lay judge' system, or an inquisition type thing! Which means you'll be deciding who you think the killer is. But judge carefully, because all your lives are on the line!"

"Okay, let me just add the rule I just described to your handbook. Make sure to keep it in mind!" Monokuma said as he pushed a few buttons on a tablet he pulled out of nowhere. There was a little ding that came from their e-Handbooks shortly after he put his tablet away.

"W-Wait, hold on a second!" An enraged Junko said. "You're freaking insane, you know that!?"

Monokuma hummed in response, angering the Ultimate Fashionista.

"A class trial? What the hell is that!? I don't want anything to do with it!"

"Why not?"

"Whaddya mean why not!? Why do I have to waste my time trying to figure out who murdered someone!?" Junko yelled at the bear.

"What!? Are you saying you're not gonna participate in the trial!? Only punishment awaits such blasphemy!" Monokuma exclaimed with his red eye glowing.

"What? Punishment!?" Junko said, a little frightened after learning what punishments are in the school.

"I might… I dunno, throw you in a deep, dark, scary prison or something!" Monokuma said, making Junko angrier than she already is, but also braver knowing that her life wasn't in any danger.

"Shut the hell up! Say whatever you want, I'm not gonna be part of this!"

"Don't be so selfish!" Monokuma fired back.

"You're the one being selfish! Kill whoever you want, it's got nothing to do with me!" Junko yelled.

"The evil standing here before me… I'm trembling with fear…!" A red-faced, sweaty Monokuma said before drawing out his claws. "But I won't give in to such evil! It's my style to stick it out and resist till the very end…! If you really wanna get out of here, you'll have to go through me first!"

Monokuma jumped off the stage and charged, more like waddled towards Junko. His claws were drawn and his red eye glowing brightly. Before he was able to do anything, Junko easily stomped on the bear, causing him to let out a weird cry.

"Are you enjoying yourself now?" Junko asked with a confident smirk.

"Are you?"

"Huh?" Junko lost her smirk and was confused by the bear's question.

"Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is not allowed. You've violated a school regulation," Monokuma sang menacingly. I invoke the mighty summon spell! Help! To me, godly spear Gungnir!"

Out of nowhere, multiple spears appeared from the floor all piercing through Junko. Her blood splattered everywhere as everyone looked on in horror.

"Wh…? H-Huh?" Junko somehow managed to say. Blood dripped out of her mouth as she twitched with every breath she took. "This wasn't… supposed to… Why… me…?"

Her eyes shot wide open and all the spears retracted back into the floor, allowing her body to collapse. They were all terrified as they watched her body twitch on the floor as her own blood pooled around her until she stopped moving, signaling that Junko Enoshima had died.

"Wh-What the…?" Hina covered her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up.

"I don't…" TK was surprised that Chihiro wasn't crying after how tearful she's been since they've were called to the gym. Hell, he feels like crying right now.

"Th-This can't be real," Leon managed to stutter out.

"NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!" Hifumi screamed.

Monokuma slowly got up, wiping away any blood that got on him before moving back to the stage. "Now I am painfully aware of the great power and meaning of a promise. I really wanted to keep a corpse from popping up for no good reason, ya know? But I guess you all need to be taught a lesson, after all. Ahh, what an amazing promise! But now you guys understand, right?"

Everything became tense as Monokuma stared at them with his beady black eye and his menacing glowing red eye. "Now you see just how serious I am. Defy me and you get shot full of holes, exploded, buried alive, disintegrated… etcetera. So if you don't want that to happen to you, you'd best obey those school regulations!"

Everyone stared at Junko's lifeless body. Just a few minutes ago she was walking and talking among her peers and then her life was taken away from her in an instant. It was both horrifying to see happen and heartbreaking to know that they all just lost another friend.

"It's really not all that shocking. She just died, that's all. Just went and died," Monokuma said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "It's no more remarkable than the inevitable demise of the entire human race. It's just as natural as the eventual end of the world itself. This isn't some superhero comic. So it's not like when you die, you didn't really die. This is reality!"

"Why did you have to kill her? Didn't you say you would put her in prison or something?" Kyoko asked. She didn't sound like she was grieving Junko's death, but more like a curious person demanding answers.

"I changed my mind," Monokuma answered an answer that Kyoko wasn't satisfied with.

"No, you've been wanting to kill this entire time," Kyoko retorted.

"Kill this entire time…? Don't be silly, you can't kill time! Or are you being metaphorical? Are you saying I wanted to waste time this whole time?" Monokuma joked, completely dodging her question. He then got offended out of nowhere. "Come on, what do you take me for? I'm Monokuma!"

He soon calmed down and cleared his throat. "Anyway, none of that matters right now. I have something I'd like to give you to help you in your search for the blackened!"

He jumped behind the podium before hopping back out with a black file in his paw. "This little file has all the information I've gathered about the death in question. I like to call it… The Monokuma File! I mean, naturally you guys aren't experts at this kind of thing, so you can only do so much with a corpse. So instead, I've gathered up everything I know about the circumstances and cause of death."

"What's that? How do I know the cause of death you ask?" Monokuma said, even though no one said anything. "Cuz the surveillance cameras picked up the whole thing! I got to see it all go down!"

"Wait, so then… you know who killed Sayaka?" Kyoko asked emotionlessly.

"Of course I do!" Monokuma answered. "If I didn't, I couldn't possibly pass a fair and accurate judgment during the trial, now could I?"

"That's a good point. The judge has to be able to make the proper decision," Kyoko solemnly sighed. "That's… somehow comforting."

"Now then, please put your full effort behind your investigation! After all, you don't have any choice but to give it your best shot! Seriously, you don't have a choice!" Monokuma said cheerfully. "Okay, so we'll meet up for the class trial in a little while!"

After finishing everything he needed to say, Monokuma disappeared from the room. Everyone was quietly digesting everything that the bear told them. They have to figure out who murdered Sayaka and if they find out who did it then they'll be executed, but if they don't then everyone but the murderer will be executed. It was sickening to know that before the day is over someone else will lose their life.

TK noticed that some of them were staring at each other suspiciously, and he understood why. If they were to believe what Monokuma told them was true then someone among them murdered Sayaka.

"Now's no time to wallow in your depression. The worst thing we can do right now is to lose all faith in each other," Kyoko said, showing no signs that their situation had gotten to her. "That would lead to the same disastrous result as having total faith in everyone else."

"Huh…" A sweaty blue-faced Leon said.

"Cooperation is absolutely key at this point. Who you decide to trust or not trust is, of course, up to you," Sayaka told them.

"Continuing to think about and talk about the deceased certainly isn't going to help anything," Celeste said while twirling her hair.

"S-Saying stuff like that is just–!" Hina said before being interrupted by Celeste.

"How many times have I told you? Anyone who can't adapt… will die. Death is the only thing awaiting those who are unable or unwilling to adapt. If that happens, you only have yourself to blame," Celeste cheerfully repeated the same mantra she told them multiple times which angered Hina.

"What an awful thing to say! Especially after what's happened!" Hina shouted.

"Right now, exposing the killer is the most important thing. Because if we don't, we're all going to die in here," Kyoko stated.

"...She's right. We need to begin our search right away," Byakuya smirked as he agreed with her.

"Either way, we can't run away from the situation, so we have no choice but to move forward," Sakura said while sneaking a glance at Junko's corpse.

"We just hafta do it, I guess. What other choice do we have?" Hina said with determination in her eyes.

"No way in hell am I letting someone kill me…!" Leon stated with a little more determination than Hina. "Alright, dammit! Let's do this!"

Everyone was hyping themselves, sharing the same sentiment; they had to do this. They kept using it as a mantra to give themselves strength.

'We have to do this, no we need to do this. It's our only option if we want to survive. But above all, there is one thing I need to find out…' The image of Sayaka's lifeless body appeared in his head. 'Why did Sayaka have to die?'

"Before we start searching for Sayaka's killer, we need to decide what to do about securing the crime scene," Kyoko said after everyone settled down.

"Why…?" TK asked, unintentionally putting a little target on his.

"You're thinking of putting someone on guard duty so nobody can disturb the area, aren't you? After all, if the culprit decides to destroy the evidence, we're pretty much screwed," Byakuya concluded from what Kyoko was inferring.

"In that case, I don't mind doing it. I don't like havin' to think, anyway,'' Mondo volunteered. "I'll let you guys figure out who killed that chick."

"Okay, then we can let Mondo look after the scene," Hina said.

"Well, no… we can't just leave him there alone," Byakuya disagreed with the swimmer.

"What? Why the hell not!?" Mondo asked angrily.

"Isn't it obvious? If you were the culprit, what's the first thing you would do? By volunteering for guard duty, you're in a position to destroy all the evidence you want," Byakuya explained, and a majority of them understood his reasoning. All of their lives are at risk and they can't afford someone tampering with the evidence.

"Wh-!? Fuck you!" Mondo growled. After what happened last time TK got in between the heir and the biker TK moved closer to Junko's body where he didn't have to worry about being knocked out.

"Fine, then I'll stay there on guard duty as well. That way there's no problem," Sakura offered so they didn't have to worry about a brawl breaking out.

"2-player co-op base defense with the two of them. With their stats, they're totally OP!" Hifumi exclaimed, but no one paid attention to his gamer talk.

"Since we won't be able to help investigate, we're putting our faith in the rest of you," Sakura told everyone.

"I-I'm still pretty freaked out, but… I'll try," Hina said.

As they were talking TK decided to check Junko's corpse while Celeste glossed over the Monokuma File. He placed two fingers on her wrist to check for a pulse, one that wasn't there.

"I don't know why you even bothered to check. After those injuries, and losing that much blood," Byakuya said after he noticed him checking her body. "Frankly, I'd be shocked if she did survive something like that."

"I know, but it wouldn't feel right to just ignore her," TK countered.

"H-Huh…? H-Hold on… H-H-H-Hold o-on! J-J-Just w-wait a second!" Hiro spoke up. He looked pale and was breathing extremely fast. "Sh-She's… dead!? Then that means…! That means everything that's happened so far is real!? It's not a joke or whatever!? It's really real!?"

Hiro grabbed his head and ran around the gym looking for some way to escape. "Hell no! S-Someone save me! Let me outta here! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"You're j-just now accepting that…?" Toko said. It took a while for Hiro to calm down, more like stop running around like a madman because he secluded himself in one of the corners of the gym, hugging himself as he tried to slow down his breathing.

"Hmm? Very interesting…" Celeste hummed, ignoring Hiro's freak-out.

"What's interesting?" Leon asked and everyone, minus Hiro, turned to the gambler.

"I was looking through the Monokuma File we received. And I noticed something very obvious, and very unusual," Celeste smirked.

"Huh? What are you talking about…?" Chihiro asked.

"Go ahead, take a look. Notice anything interesting above where Sayaka died?" Celeste showed them the file and pointed at the "Location of Death" on the paper. Everyone's eyes widened while TK felt his heart sink into his stomach. "She died in Takeru's dorm."

"Wh-? She's right!" Hina exclaimed.

"Then, could it be…!?" Hifumi gasped.

Everyone's gaze slowly turned to TK. Some looked horrified, others looked betrayed, and a few looked like they were gonna murder him.

"W-Wait, you've got it all wrong! Just one night, I… I traded rooms with her because she was scared!" TK tried to explain, but he felt like he was talking to a wall. No one believed him and it looked like some had already come up with their own conclusion about what happened.

"Y-You expect us to believe that? Just tell us the t-truth!" Toko stammered.

TK never felt more outnumbered than he did at that moment. Everyone's suspicions returned and TK didn't need to be a mind reader to know what they were thinking. They all think he did it.

"Are we all done talking? We need to begin our investigation soon," Kyoko spoke up and TK felt grateful to have the attention off of him. "At this point, we should split up. We need to get to the bottom of this and find out who killed Sayaka. We'll have to collect clues to form a foundation, then construct an argument to come to a final decision. If we get this wrong… Well, do I really have to say any more?"

"I'd rather you didn't, no…" Hifumi said, and everyone shared the sentiment.

"Everyone pray for good luck," Kyoko said before hurrying out of the gym.

"I'll be going, too," Byakuya followed after her.

"Oh yeah, I'm on guard duty, huh? I'd better head to the scene of the crime!" Mondo said after watching the two.

"Ah, that's right," Sakura agreed with him.

"Lemme just say this right now! If whatever son of a bitch did this is here right now, and they're thinking of destroying that evidence…" Mondo loudly cracked his knuckles to send his message. "They'd better not let me find 'em! I'll skip the trial and cave their goddamn skull in myself! I'm serious! I will fuck them up!"

Mondo's words sent shivers down their spines as he and Sakura ran off to the crime scene.

"But… I mean, we're not detectives or anything, y'know? And we're gonna investigate a murder? How do we even do something like that?" Hina said what everyone was thinking. They have no experience looking for clues and they have to figure out a murder. If any of them had actual experience, which is highly unlikely, it would be from TV shows and movies, and if what Ken and Cody told him was true about them being overly exaggerated then they're all screwed.

"We don't r-really have to do anything in p-particular. W-We already know who k-killed Sayaka," Toko said quietly, but loud enough for a few to hear her.

"What are you saying!?" TK snapped.

"It was y-you," Toko said bluntly.

"It wasn't me!" TK shouted and he took one step toward the author.

"D-Don't come any c-closer! Are you g-gonna kill me next!?" Toko screamed and TK realized what he was doing. He already knew that some of the others think he killed Sayaka, he doesn't need to confirm their beliefs by yelling at Toko.

"W-Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. It's not for sure that TK's guilty yet," Hina said, which gave TK hope knowing that not everyone believed he was a murderer.

"That's true. We may as well at least check just to check," Hifumi agreed with the swimmer.

"Even if I w-wanted to, I c-couldn't help inv-vestigate…" Toko spoke up.

"Wait, why not?" Leon asked.

"I'm not g-good with… b-b-blood. All it takes is o-one glimpse and I b-blackout," Toko admitted.

"Well, whatever. I don't think anyone was expecting much from you, anyway," Leon said rudely as he ruffled his hair. "Alright, I guess I better get going."

Slowly everyone exited the room except for Chihiro and Hiro, both having their own reasons for staying behind. As he stood there, TK thought back to what Monokuma said about all the ways they could be executed. He needed to prove his innocence and find out who the real murderer is or else they'll all meet the same fate as Junko.

"I guess I should start by reading the Monokuma File if I want to get to the bottom of this," TK said to himself as he picked up the file and skimmed through it.

"The victim was Sayaka Maizono. The time of death is estimated to be around 1:30 a.m. The body was discovered in Takeru's room, in the dormitory. All evidence suggests that the death took place in the bathroom. The cause of death was a stab wound to the abdomen. There was also an injury to her right wrist. Specifically, the wrist appears to have suffered a fracture."

TK placed the file back down and thought about what he read. It stated the obvious like the location and cause of death, but it also said she had a fractured wrist. He knew that it had to be important to the case if Monokuma went out of his way to put it in the report.

"I guess that's all the information I'm going to be able to get from the Monokuma File," TK sighed. If he was being honest, he was dreading what he had to do next but if he wanted to save everyone then he had to do it. Slowly, TK walked out of the gym and towards his room.