As Maria pushed the red velvet doors open, she was greeted by the now familiar faces of her classmates.
The air was tense in the royal blue colored room, the walls covered in portraits of Monokuma. And the portraits weren't identical either, oh no. Each portrait showed Monokuma in a different pose, from sitting on a throne to standing on a balcony to swinging in a garden. And that wasn't even the most ostentatious part of the portraits, as the frames themselves stood out even more. They were gold and in each corner, a diamond large enough to fit in Maria's palm twinkled beautifully. And she was pretty sure they were real, considering Akihito was not looking away from them, until Yoshi coughed pointedly, leaving Akihito to smile innocently in response.
From there, Maria turned away from the walls and focused on the elevator doors before them all instead.
They looked like they were made of pure gold and glittered with rubies, which formed two red spider lilies, one at the top of each elevator door. Somehow, they were more ominous, in person and ostentatious, then the prison elevator she had watched on TV nine years ago.
"Ugh, how much longer are they going to make us wait?" Nat snarled, adjusting the sleeves of their tailcoat viciously. It seemed that everyone else, just like Maria, had been forcefully dressed in their formal wear from the ball. But she couldn't help but notice, just as Akihito had pointed out, that several accessories that they had previously worn are now gone.
Some of Hibiki's piercings had seemingly been stolen. Chia had lost her jeweled choker. Satou had been very distraught at the loss of her rose quartz earrings. Akihito was, for whatever reason, lacking his genie lamp belt buckle. Maria had been unable to find her white rose comb. And Tori had been left without her sun necklace.
"Honestly, this is quite unprofessional. We should have started by now." Yoshi huffed, irritated, tapping a finger as his arms crossed.
"W-well…we are missing I-Irusu…" Chia piped up, a bit nervous.
"And that bear never starts the show unless everyone's involved." Aretha drolled.
"Quite right, Sir Dinadon!" Monokuma declared as the red velvet doors opened and the bear king walked in. "It took some time, but we are ready to begin the first Court Trial! Puhuhuhuhu!"
"What do you mean?" Ren questioned, looking lost between confusion and fear. His hands were trembling. Aretha leaned against his side, laying a hand on his own to steady them.
Before Monokuma could answer, screams could be heard from the hallway.
"Unhand me this instant! I will not be participating in this sham of a trial just for your delight!" Irusu screamed at the top of his lungs a second before the doors opened once more and two masked servants entered, each of them holding one of Irusu's arms as he struggled almost violently to escape. The servants didn't even look like they were struggling, their grip as steady as steel as they marched Irusu into the room.
Their grip only loosened when Irusu was in the center of the room, only to drop him to the ground, turn and silently march out of the room where they came, closing the door behind them with what Maria could only describe was a deafening slam.
It was almost as if the doors had been bells that announced a person's death. By having closed them, the servants had essentially doomed one of them to die before the day was up.
Irusu looked up with a fierce glare before his eyes landed on the elevator to the trial room and he froze.
"Ah, Dr. Jekyll, nice of you to join us! If you had taken any longer, I would've had to resort to some old executionary friends! Would have enjoyed a gun, like your story, or perhaps something more exciting! There's so many options here after all! Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma trilled all too happily.
It was terrifying, how easily he spoke of killing. It left Maria feeling much colder than Russia had ever been in winter. But unlike the shiver of calm winters back home made her feel, curling up between her parents with her younger sister at her side, this cold made her feel hollow and empty, as if she were nothing more than a shade of who she was before this all began.
And perhaps that was how Monokuma wanted them all to feel, as if they were hollow shells with no purpose in life outside of dancing to the tune he created.
But while she was thinking these rather dark thoughts, Irusu had been silent. Too silent, to the point that Maria was starting to get concerned.
"Irusu, are you okay?" She asked, her voice quiet to try and avoid drawing even more attention to them.
The acoustic engineer didn't answer for a moment, before he suddenly took a breath in…and his body language shifted entirely, becoming unlike the tense and paranoid Irusu Maria had come to expect. Meaning-
"He's fine." Nima sighed as he slowly stood up, dusting himself off and adjusting the probably annoying top hat. It seemed his cane had also been missing, considering it wasn't anywhere near him. "He'll…be resting for a while. I can handle…this."
"Oooh, Mr. Hyde has come to play!" Monokuma laughed, somehow even more delighted by the shift between the two alters. "Prepared to doom a member of the Court of Despair to death or die yourself? Puhuhuhu, a real trial by fire!"
"You're not funny." Nima glared.
"Yeah, he's fucking hilarious, can we get this goddamn show on the road, Build-a-Bear Reject?" Hibiki snarled, speaking for the first time in a while. His voice was hoarse, but that was the only thing off about him. Sayuri tried to reach out to him, but he only swatted her hand away, as if it were a pesky fly.
"OOOOH! Someone's beary eager to get started!" Monokuma practically beamed. "Alright, then! Anyone who doesn't enter the elevator will get to discover just what surprises are hidden inside my magnificent portraits! I'm quite proud of them, you know! Cost me a pretty yen!"
"What a lame set up, you should at least make it a difficult choice!" Arisu huffed, crossing her arms petulantly. "Players make the best choices when the decision isn't easy! That's why so many game shows are guessing games!"
"I-I don't t-think we should be q-questioning him, A-Ari." Robin quietly spoke up, his eyes looking terrified of drawing the bear king's anger.
"Right you are, Kai!" Monokuma's grin became sharper. "I've been fairly happy so far, since this is a brand new tale that our author delights in telling you all! But I won't be so happy if you don't follow our tale to its climatic conclusion! And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
Ominous red light glowed from Monokuma's jagged eye and sharp nails unsheathed from his free paw, the one not currently holding a scepter.
All of a sudden, Maria became acutely aware of just how many possible weapons could've been hidden in this small, seemingly safe room. From poisonous gas to guns to walls that pushed in to…to the Spears of Gungnir…there were so many possibilities in this small room that could lead to them dying in an instant.
It was getting difficult to breathe for a moment…until the elevator doors opened with the ring of a bell and Monokuma simply laughed and vanished out the doors once more, as if he'd never entered at all.
Slowly, one by one, the seventeen of them entered the elevator, silent and tense as the doors slid closed. Unsurprisingly, the inside of the elevator was not nearly as glamorous as the outside. The inside more resembled the prison elevator that Maria clearly remembered watching descend to every trial nine years ago, always hoping that each one would be the last and sobbing when she was proven wrong every time, even with her fairly basic grasp of Japanese when she could no longer see the Russian subtitles.
Maria stood near the back by herself, fiddling with her fingers as she looked over her classmates. They were all lost in thought, some fidgeting like her and others standing as still as stone. Satou, for some reason, looked far too calm given the situation. And Hibiki's face was completely shadowed, with his arms tightly crossed across his body.
The air was heavy, as if it were physically weighing down on them all, pushing them further and further into the ground, away from the sunlight of the palace above. She supposed it was supposed to be a physical representation of the metaphor Monokuma would be most fond of in this situation, a descent from the light of hope to the shadow of despair.
Michi's lack of presence in the elevator made her heart ache even more than it seemed possible. He should be here, bouncing around, asking bright questions and talking about his dolphin back home and getting them all swept in his whirlwind of a personality.
But he wasn't and the hole he left behind would never be filled.
Just as that thought crossed Maria's mind, the elevator stopped and the doors opened to reveal the courtroom before them.
Of course, the first thing that caught her mind was that they were underwater. And it wasn't just an effect due to lighting like in Michi's Talent Room, no. When Satou stepped out into the courtroom first, her hair began to float around her and the sashes on her dress followed suit.
"Absolutely stunning! Fae! We have to use this in our project!" Satou beamed as she spun around.
"How on Earth are you breathing?!" Yoshi shouted, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"M-maybe it's magic?" Chia suggested.
"Magic ain't real, kid. There's gotta be a trick to it somehow." Nat scoffed, their eyes darting around as they stepped out, as if they were attempting to figure out what made this possible.
"Logically, we should not be able to breathe, and yet we can. Could this perhaps support Descartes' theory of the universe?" Rosamie mused as she followed out as well, her heels sinking into the seabed floor of the courtroom easily, and yet she did not stumble at all.
"I…I think it's…really pretty." Tori muttered under her breath, her fingers twitching at her sides.
And it was. Not only was the entire room seemingly underwater yet still breathable, but it resembled the bottom of the ocean itself. The floor was a seabed, filled with the flora you'd expect at the bottom of the ocean, and there were fish swimming all around, not even bothering the humans in their midst. There was also coral reefs and sparkling stones, even a ship wreck was further away from them and Maria couldn't tell if the room truly was that big or if the illusion made by the water only made it seem that way.
And in the very center of the room were nineteen podiums set up in a circle, one for each of them and an extra for if Monokuma deemed them worthy of joining it seems. The podiums were each marked with their fairy tale roles, so they each knew where to stand, and were also color coordinated with undersea flora that matched their formal clothes the best.
Of course, this meant that Maria's own podium was decorated with bleached coral, which was…extremely threatening honestly.
And right behind the podiums, on a golden throne, was Monokuma himself, only he was dressed…differently. On top of his head he wore a gold five-pointed crown that resembled a sea star, while his legs had been replaced with a navy blue merman tail with cyan colored translucent fins, and his scepter had been replaced with a golden trident.
"Welcome, welcome! You've arrived at long last!" Monokuma beamed at them all. "I hope you all enjoy my decorating skills, I went all out for our dear Little Mermaid! And perfectly breathable for your puny human lungs too!"
"Who gives a flying fuck how you did this, Monofucker. Just get to the goddamned point!" Hibiki snarled, his patience lessening with every minute he was forced to wait as he stalked towards the podiums. Chiasa followed him as well, silent as a predator just as she had been since they gathered in front of the elevator.
"Ah, H-Hibiki-" Fuwari started to say, but Aretha cut her off with a shake of her head.
"Let it go, honey. He won't listen right now." The drag artist spoke kindly, causing the indie filmmaker to nod quietly.
"Come on, come on, everyone find their podiums and get ready! The climax of our first chapter is finally here!" Monokuma cut in, his voice practically shaking with his excitement to get started.
"Oh, great, on top of all this tackiness, he's a crazed Enoshima fan too." Arisu groaned even as she followed the instructions. "Honestly, this is a terrible fan game, who would even come up with this?"
"Easy, Ari, we don't want to rock the boat too much." Ren smiled complacently, trying to calm the game host down, even though his own voice was obviously shaking in fear.
Maria shared a look with Sayuri, seeing the fear reflected in her eyes, before she, Akihito, Tori, Robin, Nima and Maria herself followed the rest of their classmates into the undersea courtroom.
Finally, it seemed, they were here. This world that Monokuma insisted on calling a fairy tale had finally led them to this moment in time. But Maria could not consider this a fairy tale any longer.
Nat. Ren. Robin. Arisu. Chiasa. Satou.
This story was never a fairy tale, despite the illusions it gave off. No, this story was a tragedy, the worst kind of tragedy possible. It was a grim tragedy where the death and despair of it all could've been avoided, but it always ends the same way. Always.
Rosamie. Chia. Fuwari. Michi. Aretha. Sayuri.
And now that tragedy was a reality, a murder case, and they had to solve it. Otherwise, they would all die. There truly was no right answer, just the only answer available to them.
Yoshi. Hibiki. Akihito. Tori. Nima. Maria.
They had to find the truth behind this death. For Takemichi Goro, the Ultimate Marine Biologist, and for themselves as well.
"Let's begin with a basic explanation of the Court Trial! So, your votes will determine the results." Monokuma cheerfully explained. "If you can figure who 'whodunnit' then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one…then I'll punish everyone besides the blackened and the one that deceived everyone will be allowed to leave! Puhuhuhu! I've always wanted to say that!"
"B-but…where do we even…s-start?" Robin stuttered, looking confused as he glanced around at them all, his eyes briefly stopping at Michi's podium before moving on again.
It wasn't a surprise, given that Michi's podium spot was filled by a funeral portrait of him, with two pink mermaids crossing over his face to form an 'X'. It was a haunting sight, but not one they could afford to focus on right now.
"In a situation like this, Police Commissioner Mikami would start by outlining the cause of death, so as your leader, I believe we should start there as well!" Yoshi declared.
"Who the fuck cares what that douchebag, sorry excuse for a human being would do?!" Hibiki shouted, leaning forward onto his podium and practically spitting the words, as if they were vile poison, glaring at Yoshi where they stood next to each other.
"Hibiki!" Sayuri and Aretha cried out in unison, the singer sounding concerned and the drag artist scolding.
"Geez, what's got you in such a tizzy?" Satou scoffed. "It was reasonable of Shi-Shi, I was just about to suggest that myself after all."
"None of your fucking business, Bubblegum." Hibiki snarled, now glaring at the executive producer.
"Your anger seems to be directed at the police commissioner specifically. Could it be you know him?" Rosamie proposed.
"I don't see how this is imperative to our current objective." Chiasa cut in with a stark glare. "Stop wasting time and you can answer Yoshi's question quite easily."
"You mean the cause of Michi-chan's death?" Maria asked, turning towards the huntress in curiosity. As she did, her hair floated around her, briefly blocking her line of sight.
"If you're so sure about that, then why don't you explain, oh fair huntress?" Nat snarked. Chiasa glared at the historian but nodded in agreement.
"Very well." The huntress nodded. "It's really quite obvious if you examine the Monokuma File."
"But that lists three injuries." Akihito pointed out, leaning back with his hands behind his head in a relaxed position.
"Meaning one of them was what killed Michi-chan." Sayuri questioned, tilting her head gracefully.
"And figuring out which injury it was should tell us something important about this case." Yoshi hummed, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.
"Well, duh, it's so obvious, you guys!" Satou beamed, stepping forward brightly as her hair floated around her, giving her the image of a halo. "The Monokuma File lists Mimi's vocal chords as being crushed first, meaning that injury came first, so that's what killed him!"
"No, that's wrong!" Maria shouted without thinking before quickly covering her mouth with both hands and wide eyes. She had spoken some weird mash of Japanese and Russian, slurring her words into something unrecognizable…outside of the fact that she had most definitely been yelling at Satou.
"I'm sorry…what was that?" Satou questioned. Her eyes had narrowed and there was a cold edge to her smile now.
Maria felt frozen, as if ice had closed around her throat and not a single sound could escape until the ice had melted away. What…what did she just say? What was she going to do? Oh god, this was going to implode, wasn't it?
"I…I…" She stumbled over her words, unable to form a sentence.
"Well, Swan Lake, you wanna survive this trial?" Aretha cut in, staring down at her nails before her eyes darted up to Maria and held her gaze. "You need to get your act together, make sure you know all the facts and make sure your arguments are unclockable. This ain't pre-school and lives are on the line. I reckon these kids can survive a bruised ego if it means they get to live."
Maria closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, focusing on those words. Right. They had to survive and to survive, she had to hurt some feelings.
Sorry Satou. She thought before she opened her eyes again and smiled. "Thank you, Aretha." Then she turned to Satou and spoke clearly. "I said, 'no, that's wrong.' Michi-chan did not die from his throat injuries. He was not strangled to death."
"And what makes you think so, hmm?" Satou demanded. "You've got as much mystery solving experience as the rest of us here, little Sugar Plum Princess, which is: none. Zero. Zilch. So please explain just how you know that Mimi did not die from his throat injuries."
"I may not know much about mysteries, or even autopsies, but there is someone here who can help us figure this out, Satou." Maria said, her voice calm and firm. "Isn't that right, Rosamie?"
"You are correct." The midwife nodded. "Michi-chan's throat injuries were old enough that no remnants remain, if there ever were, on his neck."
"So what does that mean, Player Rosamie? Please clarify for our audience." Arisu requested, leaning forward eagerly onto her podium.
"It means that Michi-chan's throat injuries could not be his cause of death." Rosamie stated.
"And since the fish bites are rather shallow, that means Michi-chan's cause of death has to be his head injury!" Maria argued, pointing at Satou as if she were a real attorney in court.
"Well, let's take it to the judge then, see who's really correct." Satou smirked before she turned towards Monokuma and fluttered her eyes. "Monokuma~! Can you pretty please tell us what Mimi's cause of death was…? It'd make me so happy if you did…!"
"Weeellllll…" Monokuma trailed off.
"The trial will not continue until you confirm either way." Chiasa shrugged, as if uninterested.
"Better fess up if you want this show to go on, honey." Aretha winked.
"I've got a much better idea, Puhuhu!" The bear laughed. "Let's have you all debate it out!" Suddenly, Monokuma raised the trident in his hand and it glowed. "Everyone, please look down at your podium and select which side of the debate you plan to take!"
Maria glanced down and, sure enough, there were two buttons that were not previously there before her. One read 'The Little Mermaid Cracked His Pearl' and the other 'The Little Mermaid Can't Breathe On Land'.
She glared at the two options and how they mocked Michi but forced herself to pick the first button all the same. Michi died from head trauma, that she was sure of.
"Allllllll right! Looks like everyone's ready! Now hang on, this is the fun part, puhuhuhu! Oh, and try not to swallow any water on your way up! It wouldn't be fun if one of you drowned before someone else got the chance to kill you!" Monokuma practically beamed.
"D-drowned?!" Robin cried out, his eyes wide in fear.
"He's messing with you." Nima muttered quietly. "Doesn't want to ruin his game, after all…"
"O-oh, right…" The glaciologist nodded, looking only slightly relieved.
And that was the last anyone was able to say before Monokuma's trident glowed again and suddenly, all nineteen podiums floated up. Up, up, higher into the water until the entire court was lined up in two rows, with Monokuma floating between them all to judge on his throne.
On one side was Maria, Rosamie, Robin, Chia, Akihito, Sayuri, Chiasa and Nima.
On the other side was Satou, Fuwari, Ren, Nat, Yoshi, Tori, Arisu, Aretha and Hibiki.
"Annnnnnnnd debate!" Monokuma declared, all too brightly.
Satou instantly jumped at the chance to speak.
"There's no way hitting his head would kill Mimi, it wouldn't be hard enough of an impact!" She argued.
"A blow to the head where Michi-chan received it is more than enough to kill an animal, it should be enough for a person as well." Chiasa countered, her gaze cold and unquestioning. And, really, nobody could argue with a huntress on what could kill an animal.
"But there wasn't a possible weapon to cause a head wound, now was there?" Aretha smiled coyly.
"The catwalk above the tank Michi-chan was in had blood on it. I think it is pertinent to consider this a weapon as well." Rosamie retaliated smoothly, her eyes keen behind her glasses.
"But Michi-chan was so tall! How could anyone push him over?" Fuwari questioned, her voice a bit distressed.
"Just because someone's tall doesn't mean someone shorter can't take them by surprise. I did it to Aretha earlier." Maria added, to which the drag artist nodded in confirmation.
"Oh come on, would he really be so fucking stupid as to get close to someone in a place where he could've fallen and hit his head?" Nat scoffed.
"Actually…Michi-chan was very fond of being close with people. It's…not impossible he got too close and was accidentally pushed." Chia offered shyly.
"If he fell, it's also possible that the props we found caught around his neck!" Yoshi argued, his eyes narrow.
"According to this sketch, the props wouldn't be enough to strangle him." Nima countered, holding up the Monokuma File to demonstrate his point.
"Player Michi-chan didn't call out, it's natural to assume his voice was cut off by being strangled." Arisu stated.
"It's…it's also possible th-that Michi-chan was…in shock, so his voice cut off right b-before he hit his…his head." Robin shakily pointed out.
"But none of us were there, outside of the killer, so how can we even be sure?" Tori asked, her voice soft and unsure.
"Just because we weren't there, doesn't mean we can't work it out logically." Sayuri returned gently.
"We can't be sure that the criminal didn't alter the crime scene and add on the elements of the fall while we were investigating." Ren pointed out.
"Oh please, the crime scene was so well guarded, even I couldn't take anything from it." Akihito beamed proudly.
"Who gives a flying fuck, just tell me his cause of death! Tell me how he suffered!" Hibiki snarled.
"That's why we're here, Hibiki. And I think we've proven Michi-chan's cause of death." Maria said, sharing a look with everyone on her side, who all nodded in agreement.
In unison, they all turned to the other side and declared,
"This is our answer!"
"Now Monokuma, give us yours." Chiasa demanded, her eyes narrow and honestly terrifying to look at.
"Oh, fine! Fine, fine, fine!" Monokuma huffed. "The cause of the Little Mermaid's death was blunt force trauma to the head. Happy? Your Monokuma Files have all been updated."
Curious, Maria took out the scroll and gasped as it grew longer within her grasp, at least a full meter.
And where before the cause of death section had been blank, it was now filled in with, sure enough, 'blunt force trauma to the head'. Thank God it didn't say 'cracked his pearl', that was ridiculous.
"What?! No! I was sure I was right!" Satou cried out, stomping her foot angrily as their podiums floated back down to the courtroom floor. "It wouldn't make sense otherwise and I'm always right, so you have to be wrong!"
"Me? Wrong?" Monokuma's voice was deceptively light for the shiver his words caused to go down everyone's spine. "Now, Light Princess, you couldn't possibly be saying that I am wrong in my own game…can you?"
Satou glared fiercely, looking ready to defend herself when-
"Now, now, sugars, no need to fight." Aretha cut in, her voice calming and smooth. "I'm sure there's a reason for why Little Red had that neck wound."
"It was not a neck wound." Rosamie cut in, pushing her glasses up as she spoke. "As Chiasa can confirm, there was no wound anywhere to be found on his neck."
"That is true." Chiasa confirmed with a nod.
"So then how the fuck did he get that?!" Hibiki seethed, his anger rising the further the trial went on.
"Hibiki, please, you have to-" Sayuri started to say.
"Don't you dare tell me to calm the fuck down, Hoshina!" Hibiki snapped, his voice causing all of them to fall silent. He glared and shook with the force of his anger before he raised a hand to cover his face. "I don't know…what the fuck is going on. But until I get some goddamn answers on how Michi died…I feel like I'm one second from fucking exploding and it makes no goddamn sense!"
"Hibiki…" Robin whispered, staring at him in shock.
Tori, too, was staring at Hibiki, biting her lip with an empathetic expression on her face, as if she truly understood what he was experiencing.
"I'm sorry…you were closest with Michi-chan, weren't you, Hibiki?" Ren smiled sadly. "It's only expected that you would react this way to his death."
"Oh come on!" Satou groaned, drawing everyone's attention to her as she threw her head back. The movement created a strange visage of her hair floating above her head as she righted herself. "We've only been here four days! There's no reason for you to be so broken up by Mimi's death!" A second later, she reached up a hand to gently dab at her eyes. "I mean, yeah, it's sad and I miss him…but that doesn't mean you should be yelling at us like this!"
"Satou!" Fuwari cried out in shock before a cough startled out of her. Concerned, Chia reached out from where she stood next to Fuwari and tried to squeeze her hand until the fit passed. The indie filmmaker smiled weakly as her coughing ceased before she turned back to the executive producer. "How can you say that about Michi-chan and Hibiki? They were each other's closest friends!"
"Yeah, after four days! I mean, come on, Fae, would you really break down sobbing if someone you knew less than a week had died?" Satou scoffed before her eyes suddenly became wide and innocent. "Though if that happened to me, I'd hope you'd mourn me! We're going to be partners, after all!"
Fuwari could only stare in shock and Maria, too, felt confused. Satou was changing how she acted so fast, she just couldn't keep up.
"You know, what if there's a reason Hibiki's all broken up?" Akihito cut in, his voice playful and light, destroying the tense atmosphere with a single word.
"Akihito-kun?" Maria questioned, turning to him, only to find him smiling at her.
"That's true…I can think of one reason, maybe." Sayuri nodded in agreement, her voice thoughtful as she gazed down at her podium, her hair floating with the movement.
"Oh, oh! Who's going to reveal the answer? We'll be right back after this commercial break!" Arisu beamed.
"No! No, no, no, no commercials!" Monokuma cut in angrily. "And if you try that again, Alice, the Queen of Hearts will be the least of your worries!"
"No!" Tori shouted, her eyes wide in fear and panic. "You can't!"
"I'm the king, I can do whatever I want! Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma trilled happily, waving his trident around as he spoke.
That was the moment the answer clicked in Maria's mind.
"I've got it!" She cried, barely aware of the Russian words slipping past her lips as everyone turned to her. Almost without thinking, she switched to Japanese. "The reason Hibiki's grief is affecting him so terribly! It's because Monokuma stole our memories!"
"Ahh, I see now." Aretha smiled. "Because the bear took our memories, we're only left with vague impressions of how we felt about each other."
"But in those stolen memories, Hibiki and Takemichi were extremely close." Yoshi realized, his own eyes wide. "So when faced with Takemichi's death, of course Hibiki would react like this and not understand why! Excellent deduction, Maria!"
"Oh, um, thank you…" Maria looked down with a sheepish blush no doubt staining her cheeks.
"You two as well, Akihito and Sayuri!" Yoshi added with a smile.
"Thank you." Sayuri smiled gently, light pink dusting her own cheeks.
"Thanks!" Akihito beamed. "Does that mean my punishment is rescinded?"
"Absolutely not." The jeweler deadpanned, causing the track and field star to exaggeratedly sigh in resignation.
"Alright, that solves one fucking mystery." Hibiki rolled his eyes, though he sounded a bit calmer than he had previously. "But that still leaves a fuck ton left for us."
"Like why the fuck nobody heard a scream when he fell?" Nat prompted, crossing their arms as they spoke.
"Yes, we should address that next." Yoshi nodded in agreement. "What reason could Takemichi possibly have for not screaming as he died?"
"Maybe the killer stuffed something in his mouth?" Nima quietly suggested.
"Oh, or perhaps the betrayal of his attacker shocked him into silence!" Satou piped in eagerly.
"Fuck, next you're going to suggest he choked on his own spit from talking too much." Hibiki groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"I'm sure it wasn't that." Ren smiled.
"Maybe he was caught by surprise!" Akihito beamed.
"Or…maybe i-it was the curse?" Chia offered.
"Wait! Of course!" Maria cut in, smiling at Chia as she met the fire dancer's eyes. "The curse! We never figured it out, so that has to be what happened! The curse kept Michi-chan from yelling out!"
"Not so fast!" Akihito shouted suddenly and Maria turned to him with wide eyes.
"A-Akihito-kun?!" She gasped.
"Sorry, but I'm not going to let you get away that easily, Maria!" Akihito beamed, his arms lazily crossed as he spoke. "Let's see if your argument can out pace mine!"
I…I don't understand what he's getting at… Maria thought to herself before she nodded firmly and stared directly at the track and field star. But I know I'm right, so I just have to prove it.
"You said Michi-chan was affected by the curse." Akihito said. "But then why would that affect his voice? Everyone else we could see what happened, but nobody's said anything about Michi-chan."
"If Michi-chan's curse set in only when he was alone with the killer, then there would have been no time for anyone to know! It's possible the killer didn't even know!" Maria argued.
"Hm, you say that, but there's still one thing you forgot." Akihito shrugged. "There's no proof that Michi-chan lost his voice to the curse."
"Actually there is!" Maria cried out with a wide, thrilled smile, catching onto that small, tiny thread with both hands. "Michi-chan's throat injuries that were listed first on the Monokuma File!" She unfolded the scroll to prove her point. "We originally went off the assumption that the order the injuries were listed in was the order Michi-chan received them. But we know now that it was the head wound that killed him, so how could his vocal chords be crushed before that and leave no obvious wound behind? Because Michi-chan died after he was cursed and like Ari's blindness, Robin's hands and Sayuri's leg, he must've been mute thanks to the curse! And, of course, nobody else was cursed when we first gathered this morning, but Ari, Sayuri and Robin were only un-cursed when we found Michi-chan's body, so there's no way anyone outside of Michi-chan could have been cursed!"
"…" Akihito was silent for a moment, simply staring at her before his face suddenly split into a wide beam. "Alright, you've got me! You win this argument, Maria!"
"So Player Michi-chan had that injury because he was cursed?" Arisu gasped, her eyes wide in shock.
"That would fit with the lack of wound on his neck." Rosamie mused aloud.
"And it comes on so suddenly…" Sayuri nodded in agreement, her fingers gently stroking her formerly cursed leg.
"One minute y-you're normal and the next…the next you're not." Robin added, his hands shaking.
"But that still doesn't tell us who fucking killed him." Hibiki growled, looking frustrated again.
"I…" Tori quietly stuttered, looking as if she were going to make a suggestion of some kind.
"Well, who's to say you didn't kill him, hmm?" Satou cut her off with a smirk on her face. "I mean, you've been pretty worked up and you didn't have a very strong alibi, now did you?"
"Fuck off, Bubblegum. I told you, I was with Shortstack and Cinders up until 11! Then I put my ass straight into bed, like any normal sane goddamn person would!" Hibiki snapped.
"True, but from what we know…" Satou hummed as she took out a, surprisingly, still dry notepad and flipped through it. "Mimi was killed at exactly midnight. And given your terrible reaction to Police Commissioner Mikami's name earlier, I don't think it's unreasonable to be suspicious. Don't you agree?" She smiled like an angel and shivers went down Maria's spine.
"It is true, your reaction to my mentioning of Commissioner Mikami was exceedingly violent." Yoshi nodded thoughtfully.
"Right?! He's totally hiding something from us! He must've gotten close to Mimi so he could kill him, Shi-Shi!" The executive producer insisted.
"I-I…I don't think so…" Fuwari cut in quietly. Satou, however, heard her and her head whipped towards the indie filmmaker with a frozen smile.
"What was that, Fae?" The executive producer questioned, every word she spoke crisp and punctuated in tone.
"I just…I mean, we didn't know about the killing game when we arrived, and…and Hibiki was already close with Michi-chan by the time of the ball." Fuwari tried to explain herself. "I don't think he'd kill him…"
"But he's still lying to us! He's hiding something, I know it! Why shouldn't he just tell us if he's innocent then? Huh?!" Satou cried, now glaring at Fuwari. "Aren't you my partner, Fae? Aren't you on my side? You know I'm right, I'm always right!"
"I hate to agree, but she's right this time." Nat ground out behind clenched teeth, glaring first at Satou and then at Hibiki. "You're obviously hiding something and that's not a good idea here, asshole."
"What the fuck do you know?" Hibiki growled.
"Look, your secrets are yours until they mess with us, so just confess your shit so we can move on without dying! Some of us are too important to die, or did you not think of anyone besides yourself?!" The historian snapped.
"Sounds like you're only thinking of yourself, hypocrite!" The dispatcher snarled right back.
"My fucking life is on the line here, asshole, so just fess up before-"
"Hey, hey, let's not fight, okay?" Sayuri cut in, trying to deescalate the situation. "We're all stressed, but we shouldn't be at each other's throats like this. We need to work together or none of us are going to leave alive."
"I agree with Sayuri." Maria nodded. "And I also believe that you're not the killer, Hibiki. But…"
"But the only way for us to be certain of that," Nima added. "is if you tell us. I-" The acoustic engineer's voice suddenly cut off and he glared fiercely at Monokuma, who only giggled and cheerfully waved back at him.
"Come on now, Songbird, ain't no secret as bad as you're making it out to be when your life's on the line." Aretha smiled.
"Whatever it is, it'll be okay." Ren nodded in agreement.
Hibiki was silent for several moments, staring at them all one by one until his gaze met Michi's funeral portrait and he crumbled. His head fell down so only the top of his head remained, speaking to his podium instead of the rest of them.
"The reason…I got so pissed when Chief brought up that bastard…it's because I can't fucking stand him." Hibiki muttered, his voice barely heard.
"But why?" Tori, surprisingly, asked. Her voice was soft with understanding, as if she could already make a guess.
"Because that bastard…is my grandfather." The dispatcher confessed.
"WHAT?!" Yoshi shouted, his eyes widened in pure shock, clearly having not expected this. "You're Commissioner Mikami's grandson?!"
"Yeah…name's Hibiki Mikami." Hibiki sighed as he finally looked up. He looked tired and his gaze looked so many years older than the rest of him. "Everything else was true, just couldn't stand the idea of that nepotism manipulating bastard getting credit for me getting into this fucking school. So I lied and changed my name on all those fucking forms. That's all I was hiding, so stop accusing me of killing Michi!"
"Geez, alright, alright…ooh, maybe once we get out, I can meet your grandpa, maybe convince him to sponsor mine and Fae's project!" Satou cried out, her eyes sparkling with possibilities.
"That wasn't so bad…I'm glad you were able to be honest with us, Hibiki." Chia smiled slightly, bowing her head slightly.
"That still leaves us without a suspect, however." Chiasa cut in suddenly. "Unless somebody else has some evidence to present?"
"But what else is there to go over?" Fuwari gasped, looking scared now. "We…we didn't miss anything, did we?"
"There might've been one thing…" Aretha hummed. "Now, I ain't sure if it'll help us or not, but it's better than nothing. Right, Swan Lake?"
"…right." Maria sighed, nodding in agreement. "And there is a piece of evidence that we haven't talked about yet."
"There is?" Arisu questioned, looking surprised. "What is it? Would you care to enlighten us all, Player Maria?"
"It's the blood stain on Michi-chan's shirt." Maria explained. "There's no reason for it to exist."
"I don't understand, what do you mean, Maria?" Ren questioned, his brow furrowed as he asked the question.
"His wounds…" Hibiki whispered, his eyes widening as he figured it out. "Because how he hit his head and fell, there's no fucking way in heaven or hell blood could have ended up on Michi's shirt!"
"And even with the water, there is no way his shirt could've been stained…unless…" Nima trailed off quietly.
"Unless that wasn't blood on Michi-chan's shirt." Maria confirmed, her voice deadly calm, even as her entire spirit shook with fear and trepidation.
"Then…then what is it?" Chia gasped, her own eyes widening. "I-I mean…it certainly l-looked like blood…didn't it?"
"It did." Chiasa quietly nodded. "Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the coloring perfectly matched that of blood."
"Coincidence or fate, one of the eternal questions of philosophy…" Rosamie hummed almost to herself.
"That doesn't tell us what the fuck it is though!" Nat snapped, cutting off Rosamie's musings before they could begin.
"Really? I thought it was obvious." Akihito laughed airily.
"And so did I!" Satou haughtily stuck her nose in the air.
"Care to share with the class then?" Aretha drawled, challenging the two. Akihito merely smirked while Satou looked ready to burst out her answer, when-
"It's paint…" Robin gasped, causing the executive producer to glare at him fiercely, while the track and field star and the drag artist began to applaud him.
"Great job, Robin!" Akihito beamed, causing the glaciologist to blush.
"If that's true…then our suspect list is rather short." Yoshi mused, his eyes flickering over to one person in particular. The one person who had been stained with paint just that morning.
"Ari…" Maria whispered, drawing the game host's attention. "Is it true?"
Arisu was silent for several moments, staring at them all before her eyes met Tori's.
"Ari…" Tori whispered, her voice and hands both shaking terribly.
Then, and only then, did Arisu speak.
"Yes. It is."
"Ari, no!" Tori shouted instantly, leaning forward on her podium as if she could jump over it and reach the game host before she said anymore.
But Arisu spoke uninhibited.
"I won't lie anymore, it was me." She said, entirely serious and completely unlike her normal self. "Tori and I were painting last night when Michi-chan came by and insisted we go to his Talent Room with him, since it was his turn on Yoshi's schedule. He was very excited, so I didn't clean my hands liked Tori did. Anyway, we visited his room and he led me and Tori up to the catwalk. He was very excited, talking insistently about anything and everything with his room. But…he suddenly stopped and I…without thinking, I turned towards where I last heard his voice, but my hand met his chest and both my surprise and his sent Michi-chan falling. The…the next thing I heard…was…w-was splashing as his body hit the water. Tori took me back to my room then…helped me get cleaned up and…a-and that was it…"
The entire courtroom was silent as they all stared at Arisu, her head bowed and guilt and regret leaking through every inch of her body.
"Ari…" Tori whispered again, tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Tori. But I can't lie anymore, I can't let you die!" Arisu insisted, meeting the painter's eyes head on.
"But…"
"It's okay…it'll be okay, I promise. Just vote for me and…and everything will be okay." Arisu tried to smile, her voice shaking even as her eyes never left Tori's.
"Ari…you really…" Fuwari trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.
"You did this to Michi?" Hibiki whispered, as if unable to believe it either.
"It wasn't on purpose. I'd never hurt him on purpose, or anyone!" Arisu insisted. "But…it still happened and I couldn't stop it…"
"So that's it…? Our answer is Ari did it?" Sayuri questioned, looking around at them all. "I…I don't want to see her die…or anyone at all."
"It's either the blackened dies or we die." Nat stated, glaring up at Monokuma as they spoke. "Those are your shit rules, right?"
"Of course! And as soon as you're ready to vote, we'll see if you're right!" Monokuma laughed all too happily.
"Then…vote. I'm…I'm ready." Arisu whispered, holding her head up bravely, even as tears trembled in her eyes.
"Phew, I managed to survive!" Satou smiled. "Good job everyone, nice work!"
"Hold it right there." Chiasa's voice cut off all movement like a bolt of lightning, drawing everyone's eye to her.
"Chiasa? What is it?" Yoshi asked, concerned.
"There's something not right about this. And I can smell the desperation coming off Arisu, the desperation that we believe her." Chiasa explained.
"That's because I want you all to vote, so that nobody here dies!" Arisu insisted. "Michi-chan is already dead, nobody else should have to die!"
"You say that, but that doesn't explain the fish." The huntress stated flatly.
"The…the fish?" Fuwari questioned.
"What do you mean, Chiasa?" Maria added, glancing over all the notes on her MonoPad again to find just what the huntress was talking about.
"Yes, the fish that was at Michi-chan's side." Chiasa nodded. "The dead fish…that should not have been dead."
"What do you mean?" Akihito asked. "Why shouldn't it be dead?"
"Because fish don't die that quickly…unless they swallow something they're not supposed to." Chiasa stated. "Something like metal."
"M-metal?" Robin stuttered, his eyes wide in surprise.
"Yes." Chiasa confirmed. "And I've been watching everyone carefully since I noticed it this morning. A few people are missing some metal objects…but not you, Arisu."
"Y-you don't know that's why it died!" Arisu argued. "Besides, how would the fish have gotten a piece of metal to swallow anyway?"
"If Michi-chan had pulled something metal off his killer…it's not too far of a stretch to think a fish would swallow it." Maria said.
"But you don't know that he did that!" Arisu countered.
"Actually, we do." Hibiki interjected, crossing his arms. "Michi's hand when we found him was clenched, as if he were holding onto something. But there wasn't shit in his hand."
"So whatever he pulled off, the fish swallowed?" Sayuri summarized.
"Correct. Meaning Arisu could not be the killer. Nothing metal was missing from her, this morning or now." Chiasa reasoned.
"But what did the fish swallow then?" Nima questioned. "I mean…a lot of stuff is missing from us now."
"And I can confirm several rooms looked as if they had objects stolen from them!" Akihito piped up eagerly.
"I…I think I know." Maria offered. "And I think…that what that fish swallowed will tell us who the real killer is."
"You're wrong, the real killer is me!" Arisu insisted. "Maybe that fish just swallowed a prop that fell with Michi-chan when I pushed him! You can't just put your entire claim as to who killed him off a little fish like that! I confessed, I told you it was me and I told you how it happened! So why won't you believe me and vote for me already? This game is over for me, I lost, so let me pay the price!"
"Ari…I'm sorry. You did everything you could to protect this person, but we found the truth regardless." Maria said, her voice soft and empathetic. "I don't like it either, but…the fish died because it swallowed Tori's sun necklace."
"No! She just left it in her room, you're wrong! The clasp was broken, remember? So she took it off!" Arisu insisted, tears starting to fall from her eyes.
"There's a very easy way to solve this, mphf nmnphf mmphf, ya know." Monokuma said, chewing between his words and drawing the entire class's attention.
Only to find the bear already eating the dead fish.
"Ya know, mphf nmnphf mmmmhf, this fish ain't too bad for being poisonous." He declared.
"You're doing that now?!" Maria shouted in disbelief. "That wasn't even important until less than two minutes ago!"
"I was hungry, Snow White, and you know no bear can resist a good fish!" Monokuma insisted as he continued to eat, only to suddenly cough. "Oh, what's this here? Puhu."
And he held up Tori's sun necklace.
"And there's the proof." Aretha sighed sadly.
"No, no!" Arisu shook her head, her tears falling all the harder now.
"Ari…stop…please…" Tori begged, crying tears of her own now.
"How can you say that?! I…I…!" Arisu hiccupped, unable to speak.
"I'm sorry, Ari." Maria apologized again, feeling her heart ache. "But…I may be a dancer by trade, but I won't dance around the truth…not again…I'll expose it right here, right now!"
And she spoke, imagining the events playing out within her mind, like dancers on a stage.
"This all began when Monokuma gave us that motive, which left two of us cursed with afflictions we had before we woke up here at some point during the day for every day we were here. The first two cursed were Arisu, who became blind, and Robin, who's hands were burned, right before our eyes. Because of the dangers now posed to both of them, Yoshi set up a rotating schedule so that neither of them was ever left alone. Of course, this also meant our killer was never left alone either."
"The next day, we all again witnessed as Sayuri was cursed to lose her leg and did our best to help her while also helping Arisu and Robin as well. And Michi-chan, having grown quite fond of us all, kept to the schedule he was given and visited Arisu the night he was killed to spend time with her. At the time, Arisu was, of course, with our killer so Michi-chan invited them to both join him in his Talent Room. He took them up to the catwalks, possibly to show off the props or some marine life that was seen better above than at level. But our killer was growing restless and, at the worst possible time, Michi-chan was cursed."
"His voice vanished and our killer, possibly in shock, accidentally reached out and pushed him over the railing, leaving a paint stain on the front of Michi-chan's shirt. As he fell, Michi-chan instinctively reached out and grasped the only thing within his reach to try and stop his fall. Namely, a necklace the killer was wearing, but the clasp broke and both it and Michi-chan fell. During the fall, Michi-chan's head hit the catwalk above him and he was killed due to the blow before he even hit the water below. Once he was in the tank, several fish came and bit him, giving him shallow bites, while another came and ate the necklace he had clasped in his hand, and shared his fate."
"Our killer, however, panicked and this is when Arisu, who heard the whole incident, became an accomplice. Together, the two fled the scene of the crime and returned to the room they were sharing for the night. The killer washed all the paint off of them and made sure nothing on them connected them to the crime. Unknown to the killer, however, Arisu had another plan. She purposefully missed some spots of paint on her hands in order to implicate herself the following day and use her blindness to her advantage as an explanation for why her clean up was so sloppy. But that wasn't the end of her machinations either."
"When we discovered Michi-chan's body the next day, the curse lifted on everyone but him and Arisu noticed that Michi-chan's body was clutching something. However, she didn't know what it was, so during the investigation, she randomly stole items from several rooms. Specifically, she stole mostly small items that we would be wearing during the trial. But she forgot to steal something from herself and to account for the fact that the killer was wearing their normal clothes when the murder happened. But all the same, Arisu planned to take the fall from the start for the killer, to protect them and keep them alive."
"And this killer she went so far to protect…can only be you, Tori!"
"No! She didn't do it!" Arisu cried, desperate and scared. "I'm telling you, you made a bad move! The way to win the game is to vote for me!"
"Ari! Please! Stop it!" Tori's voice suddenly cut through the courtroom, louder than any of them had ever heard it. She was trembling, her hands held tightly to her chest and tears falling from her cheeks as she stared directly at Arisu. "If you keeping insisting…then you'll die, and I-I can't let that happen."
"But I can't let you die either!" Arisu protested, vigorously shaking her head.
"It's okay…I promise, it's okay." Tori smiled, sad and bittersweet before she turned to face the rest of the class. "You all know the answer. Please…vote. I honestly can't stand being here anymore. I might go insane otherwise."
"T-Tori…" Fuwari whispered, staring at the painter with her own tears forming.
"I see…very well." Yoshi nodded, his face grim and full of regret.
The entire rest of the class was silent and Maria's heart ached so terribly, she was sure it was going to burst if the pain didn't cease.
"Puhuhuhu…looks like you've reached your verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes?" Monokuma trilled all to happily. "You all have a lever in front of you. Use it to make your selection! Oh, just to remind you all…make triple sure you vote for someone! You wouldn't want to be punished for something so minor, right?"
Maria felt shivers crawl across her body at those familiar words. God, it was almost as if whoever were controlling the bear had a script that quoted Enoshima directly to the letter, just so they could be as authentic as possible.
"Okay! Then let's get excited! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeeee?" Monokuma cheered, still quoting that script yet sounding as if he were attending a game at a stadium.
The entire class was silent as they all, one by one, cast their votes.
When all the votes were cast, what looked like a hologram appeared, which showed pixelized versions of them all, with Michi's greyed out. All seventeen of them remaining lit up rapidly one after the other until, finally, only Tori's was lit up and the hologram was replaced with an image of Tori herself, dressed in her Rapunzel attire and looking as if she were twirling as she held a paintbrush and paint in shades of pink, yellow and purple swirled around her, as if she had painted it in midair.
"Uh oh! Looks like you found the girl in the tower!" Monokuma declared, sounding way too delighted considering the situation. "The blackened in this case, the one who killed the Little Mermaid was none other than Rapunzel!"
"Why?! Why would you confess?!" Arisu cried out, devastated.
"Because I can't let you die. Because I won't see you get hurt again." Tori said, her voice quiet but her words firm.
"Just tell me why, Keiji." Hibiki asked, his voice cold, but steady. "Why did you kill Michi."
"It…it wasn't on purpose, like Maria said. But…" Tori looked down again. "I couldn't stand being here, every day felt like I was getting closer to clawing my own skin out if I didn't get out of here. I…I've spent my entire life being trapped inside one building and when it seems like I finally escaped, I wake up to this…this hell where I'm trapped again with no escape! I just want my freedom! That's it! Why am I never allowed to have that?! And…! And Michi-chan…he was…so much like my mother. He rarely left us alone once Ari lost her sight and…and I know he was just trying to help, just trying to be a good friend…but it was just too much and I couldn't tell him to back away for just a little so I could breathe."
"Tori…" Sayuri whispered, her voice empathetic and soft. "You could have come to us, we would've helped you…"
"But I couldn't, not ever since that motive started!" Tori insisted, her head shooting up and showing her terrified, desperate eyes. "Because as soon as I knew Ari couldn't see! As soon as I knew, I…I…! All I could think was 'this is my fault, she's like this because of me, she did this to save me'! And my heart was hurting so hard, I couldn't think of anything except what if Ari never got her sight back? What if she's like this where we came from and my first thoughts were right? What if I cost her her sight? What if I'm the reason she and I are here? What if-" She cut herself off, physically biting her tongue from saying any more.
"You're like me…" Hibiki trailed off, his eyes wide as he saw the similarities. "You…when you look at Cards, you feel something you normally wouldn't and you can't explain a fucking thing about it…"
"Exactly…and it terrified me." Tori nodded, crossing her arms protectively over her body. "I…I didn't mean to kill him…but all these feelings and…and memories of my mother…it was so fast, I couldn't stop it…"
Maria moved without thinking, making her way over to the painter and delicately, giving her a chance to pull away if she chose, she hugged her. Tori broke down into sobs, clutching onto her tightly.
But Maria could offer no words of comfort.
When Tori had calmed slightly, she pulled away and, hesitantly, removed the leather bracelet from her wrist, revealing the scar on her wrist underneath.
"It's fitting that both chances for my freedom are marked by scars that won't heal." Tori smiled bitterly before she turned to Arisu and stepped closer to her. "I know you probably can't forgive me or…or don't even remember, but I…I love you, somehow I know I love you."
Arisu sobbed and threw herself into Tori's arms, almost knocking her off balance.
"I love you too, I know I do! That's why I protected you, I always will!" She declared, clutching Tori tightly.
"Thank you…but now I'm going to protect you." Tori softly whispered before she kissed Arisu on the forehead.
Arisu let out another sob before, as if by instinct, she lifted Tori's scarred wrist and kissed it. Tori smiled weakly before she fully pulled away.
"We'll take care of her." Ren whispered as he stepped forward and gathered Arisu into his arms.
"And we'll get out of here too, guarantee." Aretha added, her nod firm.
The others were mostly quiet, unable to speak beyond their no doubt choked throats or simply not being as emotionally effected, like Rosamie and Chiasa, both completely stoic, seemed.
Hibiki, however, was the last to speak.
"If you see Michi over there…tell him we miss him…just like we'll miss you, Braids." He said. There wasn't forgiveness exactly in his eyes, not yet, but there was…comradery and understanding.
"I will." Tori nodded.
"Ah geeeeeeez, are you done with this soap opera?" Monokuma cut in with a loud groan. "That's the wrong genre and I've had this spell in reserve for days! The author said I could cast it, so quit your moping and focus on me!"
"Narcissistic little shit, aren't ya?" Nat sarcastically smirked, causing the bear's fur to ruffle for a moment before he smiled.
"Puhu…I suppose now is as good a time as any to remind you what game you're playing." Monokuma smiled. "After all, it's my game! And I've prepared a very special punishment for our Rapunzel, Tori Keiji, the Ultimate Painter!"
The entire class startled as Tori's real name left Monokuma's lips. He hadn't addressed a single one of them by name, not even when he'd declared Michi dead.
Was this because Tori was the blackened? Or was there another reason behind this?
"I'm sorry. I don't want to die, I really, really don't want to die and I'm sorry!" Tori whirled towards them all, her braid thrashing behind her and floating as she did so. "Please, don't do the same, don't die like me! I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"
"Now then, iiiiiiiiiit'sssssss Puniiiiiiiiiiiishment Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!" Monokuma declared and raised the trident in the air, causing it to glow gold once more.
Suddenly, two chains shot out of the air and clasped onto Tori's wrists. She had a single moment to gasp at them before she was pulled through the water like a fish on a line and vanished.
Monokuma waved his hand and the water shifted, revealing a stage behind glass. The stage was obviously meant to be a tower and the walls of it were decorated with murals, all of Monokuma and all the color of blood.
Shivers ran down Maria's spine and she had to fight to not look away, lest Monokuma force her to watch.
A door opened and Tori was dragged in to the middle of the room, where two more chains shot out and snapped around her ankles. A Monokuma dressed like a painter appeared and handed her a paintbrush in her right hand, while another one suddenly appeared on the tower roof above her.
The four ends of the chains rested in his hands.
A banner that looked as if were painted in the same style as the other murals suddenly unrolled above the chain holding Monokuma. The letters were bloody and dripping to the ground, but still legible.
Grimm Masterpiece.
Suddenly, the chain holding Monokuma moved and Tori unwillingly stabbed the paintbrush into her left wrist. The brush pierced a vein and blood covered the bristles. Leaving her bleeding wrist exposed, the Monokuma dragged her like a puppet and forced her to use her own blood to paint the remaining empty portion of the wall.
When the blood she was using ran out, Tori was suddenly stabbing her left elbow and continuing the process again, painting and painting until she ran out.
Then she stabbed her abdomen.
Her lower right leg.
Her lower left leg.
Her right ankle.
Her left ankle.
She switched hands.
Her right elbow.
Her right wrist.
When she ran out of non-vital areas to stab, the Monokuma forced Tori to stab herself in the same areas again. Over and over, again and again.
And Tori continued painting even as pleas left her lips and tears fell from her eyes. She kept going and going and going and going and going and-
Tori collapsed to the ground, her skin ghostly pale wherever it wasn't covered in blood. The blood stained her dress and her hair both, and her final expression was one of sheer pain and desperation, to live or for it all to just end nobody knew any longer.
And above her, the wall now held a painting of a Monokuma dressed as Rapunzel. The blood was still wet enough that it was dripping from the painting's eyes, as if Rapunzel Monokuma were mourning for the deceased Tori below.
"Woooooooo! Yes! I've been waiting years to do that!" Monokuma cheered, breaking the somber air hanging throughout the courtroom in an instance. "Ahhh, I'm so glad our dear author let me have this! And what a brilliantly horrible execution too! I just…ah…it's so beautiful…" The bear seemed to be faking emotional tears and Maria wanted to tear him limb from limb.
"You are a monster of the deepest hell and I hope the Devil throws you even further for your crimes." She snarled in Russian, causing everyone to stare at her in confusion.
She did not translate a word of what she said.
"Aw, so kind of you to say so, Snow White!" Monokuma beamed. "Now, I don't know about all of you, but I am beat after an execution well done! I can't wait to see what happens next, what plot twist awaits us around the corner!"
"We're not continuing this sick fucking game, you Bastard Bear." Hibiki growled.
"Your belief in your own supposed control is truly impressive." Rosamie mused, raising an eyebrow slightly as if she were considering something. But as to what that was, she did not share.
"Oh you are all so dumb! Don't you know that everyone says that and they fail every? Single? Time?" Monokuma exclaimed. "They always play the game and despair is given freely all around! It's the best kind of game there is!"
"And how many of those games have been won by Monokuma in the past?" Aretha challenged.
"But this time is different! Because this is my despair filled fairy tale happily ever after!" Monokuma beamed. "I was promised a happy ending, and I will get it even if I have to watch all your blood drip just like those pretty paintings in there."
Not a single member looked back at the horrible paintings, at the single painting that contained all the life that Tori had in her.
"This game…really is the worst one I've ever seen…" Arisu sniffed as she wiped at her tears. Her glare towards Monokuma was dark, but she never left the circle that Ren's arms held her in, supporting her.
"Says you, Alice! Now then, I'm off to bed! I wish you all beary despair filled dreams, every one!" Monokuma grinned before he waved the trident again and vanished from sight.
The courtroom was silent for several moments, until a voice broke it.
"Well, now that that's over with," Akihito smiled as he stepped towards Arisu and held out a hand. "here ya go!"
His hand opened and Arisu gasped as Tori's sun necklace fell into her hands.
"How-" She started to ask.
"He was so distracted by his despair, the necklace was just asking to be taken!" Akihito grinned brightly as he folded his arms behind his neck. "Honestly, it was like he wanted it to be taken!"
"Thank you…thank you, so much." Arisu smiled through her tears as she held the necklace close.
"I might be able to replace that clasp for you, so it doesn't break again." Yoshi offered.
"Oooh, can I come too? I'd love to see the jewelry you have~!" Satou beamed before she turned to Fuwari. "Come on, Fae, let's go!"
"I uh…I'd like to go to bed, actually. Sorry." Fuwari smiled uneasily. Satou didn't seem to notice, pouting only slightly before she turned her focus back onto Yoshi.
Sayuri quietly made her way over to Fuwari, however, and quietly led her to the elevator. Ren wasn't too far behind her, still guiding Arisu along.
One by one, the rest of them returned to the elevator as well, ready to return to the palace and get some rest…before they had to face the rest of this game, now short two players.
However, right before they entered the elevator, Maria reached out and pulled Akihito off to the side. He glanced down at her curiously.
"Thank you for that argument during the trial." She said softly.
"What do you mean? I just like to argue, it was no big deal!" Akihito shook his head in confusion.
"Maybe, but…your argument allowed me to confirm beyond a shadow that Michi-chan lost his voice. And…and you made sure Ari got that necklace. You're…you're actually a really good guy, Akihito." Maria smiled.
"Did…did you just…?" Akihito's eyes were wide as he stared at her.
"Maybe I did…and?" She tried to tease him. It was weak, still weighed down by grief, but it was there all the same.
Akihito smiled at her and raised one of her hands to his lips, leaving a gentle kiss against her knuckles.
"It was my pleasure, dear Maria." He whispered.
She rolled her eyes at him and pulled her hand away, though not as roughly as she might've only a day ago.
She then entered the elevator, ready to return to the world above and escape the despair haunting this room, until they were forced back again once more.
Desperately, she prayed that wouldn't come.
Total Surviving Students: 16
Maria Kikumoto – Ultimate Ballet Dancer
Sayuri Hoshina – Ultimate Singer
Takemichi Goro – Ultimate Marine Biologist
Akihito Ban – Ultimate Track and Field Star
Ren Sato – Ultimate Matchmaker
Yoshi Iwada – Ultimate Jeweler
Fuwari Motozawa – Ultimate Indie Filmmaker
Natsuko Kazakiri – Ultimate Historian
Tori Keji – Ultimate Painter
Rosamie de Vera – Ultimate Midwife
Arisu Takara – Ultimate Game Host
Satou Mike – Ultimate Executive Producer
Hibiki Mikami – Ultimate Dispatcher
Chia Amachi – Ultimate Fire Dancer
Jordan Franklin – Ultimate Drag Artist
Irusu Shogani + Nima – Ultimate Acoustic Engineer
Chiasa Oigamori – Ultimate Huntress
Robin Yukimura – Ultimate Glaciologist
And there we are, the end of Chapter 1: Into the Unknown!
I hope the trial was exciting for all of you, and that the end result makes sense. I wrote this before I wrote the investigation, so I was attempting to work backwards so everything made sense. Also, about Michi's name in the beginning of the trial, and his and Tori's names at the end, on my original doc, there's a line crossing their names out that apparently fanfic doesn't support. So I improvised, hope it comes across what I was trying to do! Also, Tori's execution was not created by me! The credit entirely goes to Amy47101!
Now, I won't keep you all here too long, since this chapter was already absolutely MASSIVE as it is, but I have a question for you all. So, I'm not sure if any of you know this, but I have a tumblr, which has the same name as I use here, and I was considering posting a 'Danganronpa: Happily Never After Fun Facts' kinda post after each Chapter. It would include details about the characters, why I chose things to play out this way, some meta facts that I threw in here for fun but would take too long to explain. And, of course, if anyone had any questions, I'd be happy to answer them there as well. Also, I would share the fan art made by SakuraIdol, should I confirm permission to do so, there as well if you all want to see it. Does that sound like something you guys would enjoy? If so, let me know! If not, that's okay too!
Moving on, Chapter 2! I will be honest, that chapter is still in the very deep planning stages. So it will probably be a while before I start writing it, let alone posting it. But in the meantime, I am going to once again open the FTE poll to figure those out! So once you're done here and you know who you want to have an FTE with in Chapter 2, please go vote! I'll leave it open for quite some time!
I think that's everything...I'll see you all whenever I get back! Please give me all your thoughts on this Chapter 1, I'm curious to how I did for my first Deadly Life! Anyways, bye for now!
EDIT: Fun Facts are officially a thing! Please go check my tumblr if you're curious!