The air felt heavier than it had the last time as Maria stepped through those velvet red doors. Her classmates stood beyond it, all of them various shades of uncomfortable. Maria couldn't blame them.
The room felt far too empty without Michi, Tori or Robin there.
And now they'd be forced to lose another too, if they wanted to survive.
Maria's heart was beating in triple time at just the thought of the upcoming trial, but she didn't have long to panic before she felt the hand clutching hers squeeze. She looked up, only to find Akihito already looking down at her.
He was smiling softly, full of confidence and…something else that she couldn't identify but recognized.
His soft smile slowly shifted into his familiar mischievous grin as he slowly released her hand. His fingers trailed along her skin and it was only when they were free that he ran forward to join the rest of their class, almost jumping on Ren's shoulders.
"Wha-Akihito!" Ren cried, startled as he struggled to remain standing.
"Haha, sorry! It was just so gloomy in here, I had to break the ice!" Akihito grinned once he was back on his own two feet.
"So you jumped on me?" Ren asked. He must have been very shocked, considering he usually didn't react this way. Akihito only grinned.
"Akihito, it is very rude to enter a room in such a way! You could have caused an injury to Ren!" Yoshi scolded, pointing a finger directly at Akihito's nose.
"Don't," Fuwari cut in, a bit of a nervous gleam in her eyes. But there was also a smile playing on her lips. "I-I think we all needed that. Everything felt…so heavy. A-and I think Chia needed it."
And it was true. When Maria finally saw Chia, she knew Akihito had done the right thing.
The haunted look that had been in Chia's eyes since they'd found Robin had lessened, if only slightly. The blood that stained her cheek seemed less stark against her skin now. Maria was pretty sure if she tried talking to Chia this time, she'd be able to respond.
Which was good. Maria wasn't sure what Monokuma would do if one of them simply didn't speak during the trial and she most definitely did not want to find out.
"Doesn't matter if she needed it, considering we still gotta go through with this shit show," Nat scowled. Their entire frame was tense and their arms were crossed over their chest as they glared at the ostentatious elevator doors.
"Yeah, like, how can you guys even smile? You know there's still a killer here, right?" Satou added, raising a single eyebrow, as if taunting them.
"In the US, it's innocent until proven guilty, Sugar Princess," Aretha argued, eyeing Satou almost carefully. When Maria glanced her way, she couldn't help but notice the shells decorating one of her gloves and the sun emblazoned on her chest, tributes to Michi and Tori alike.
"Not when it comes to cases like this," Irusu argued. His words sounded almost haunted, as if he were recalling something from the past. "Thanks to that psycho bear, we're a circus act that has to perform on command. I'd tear out every piece of fur on his body if I could."
"Aww, that's not very nice, Dr. Jekyll!"
Irusu screamed and the entire group turned only to find Monokuma standing before them all.
"Fucking hell!" Hibiki screamed. Arisu, ever at his side, clutched his arm tightly.
"You have got to stop doing that!" Maria cried, holding her chest where her heart raced.
"But where's the fun in that, my dear Snow White?" Monokuma laughed.
"I believe the fun is in us living so you may…witness your trial," Sayuri said hesitantly, avoiding Monokuma's gaze.
"Y-yeah…" Fuwari agreed, hiding behind Chiasa.
"Hmmmmmmmmmm. I'll consider it," Monokuma allowed before he clapped his paws together. "Now then! With everyone here, we can head down to the trial grounds! Yahoo! I hope you're all ready for a beary bad time! There's no happy ending awaiting down there!"
"As should be expected of a trial that ends in another death," Rosamie stated, completely deadpan as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"You shouldn't have said it like that," Sayuri chastised gently. She extended a hand out to Chia, who had gone completely white once more. Slowly, as if she were in a dream, the fire dancer approached the singer and allowed herself to be pulled close.
Maria's heart broke anew.
"Then let's get this over with," Chiasa grunted, placing a single hand on her hip.
"I concur." Yoshi nodded.
"Awwww, it's no fun if you don't react," Monokuma whined, slumping forward to the point where his crown fell off his head and into his paws. "How am I supposed to survive without your hatred?"
"Hmmm…honey?" Akihito suggested with a bright smile.
"No…too sweet," Monokuma pouted. His head suddenly shot up and he stared at Maria. "Oh! I know! Snow White, can you make piroshki? Mmm…fish piroshki with a side of despair, oh how delicious it would be!"
"…gross," Arisu commented quietly, looking as if she'd much rather say something else.
"Agreed, there's no way I'm making that for you," Maria scowled, crossing her arms.
"Ugh, Sugar Plum Princess is soooooo lame," Satou groaned, rolling her eyes. Monokuma nodded along, as if in agreement. Maria dug her nails into her arm, resisting every urge in her body to claw at the bear who only brought hell wherever he appeared.
"Now then! I hope you're all ready! Because I sure am!" Monokuma shouted before he swirled his cape like a magician and vanished the way he came.
As soon as the doors closed behind him with a resounding 'bang!', the elevator dinged and the obnoxiously gaudy doors opened. The contrast of the prison elevator to the opulent appearance of the waiting room made Maria's heart trip over itself as it traveled up her throat.
"Like the monarchy walking to the guillotine," Nat scowled as they led the way inside.
Their words seemed to break the silent spell that had fallen over them all and soon, all fifteen of them were inside and the doors to the elevator slid shut. Maria leaned back against the wall behind her as the elevator began to descend, focusing on her breathing instead of looking at the place where Robin had stood the last time they rode this very same elevator.
Three of them gone…three lives snuffed out far too soon and it left Maria feeling sick. But she couldn't just focus on that right now because if she did, then she would lose a valuable piece of information, she knew it. She had to focus, both for herself and for Robin, because if she didn't, then the chance of her dying and him not getting justice would increase to monstrous levels.
A touch brushed against her hand and Maria looked over to her right. Akihito was there, his hands folding behind his head and giving nothing away of how he had brushed against her hand. His touch caused sparks to ignite under her skin and Maria knew he hadn't touched her hand as some kind of flirtation.
His eyes were concerned and sad, flickering between her and Chia again and again. It was almost as if he wanted to take away the fear and grief marring both of them and Maria could feel her heart warm at the sight.
The rest of the elevator was silent and heavy, with the only sound being the quiet sniffs Chia occasionally let out, but Maria felt almost a bit like she had found stable ground. Breathing became easier and even though she was still terrified…she knew they could do this.
They could find Robin's killer.
Just as she thought this, the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing the courtroom to them all.
Maria couldn't help the gasp that left her as she saw the trial grounds. Where before there had been an undersea floor, there now was a blizzard. And while Robin's Talent Room had snow on the floor and the second floor had the snow falling, this was completely different. The snow was whirling around in an actual blizzard and the force of it nearly blew Irusu's hat off his head.
"Holy fuck!" he shouted, grasping onto the hat to keep it on his head.
"Interesting…" Aretha mused as she, too, stepped out. Her heels sunk in the snow, causing her to stumble the slightest bit into Irusu, catching herself on his shoulder. "Sorry there, Sound Guy. You okay?"
"I-I am perfectly fine!" Irusu stuttered, glaring up at Aretha, who only smiled in response.
"Interesting," Ren hummed, a finger pressed thoughtfully to his chin as he observed the two as they stood in the blizzard.
"Should you really be focusing on this right now?" Chiasa questioned dryly, looking as unimpressed as Yoshi did.
"It's my talent, dear Chiasa, so of course it is!" Ren winked, but both the action and the smile on his face read as very forced.
"Don't you think we should step out there, Lover Boy?" Hibiki sighed, looking exhausted already.
"There's no need to fight," Sayuri chuckled, sounding as forced as Ren. She stepped forward to hold on to both Ren and Chia's hands and led them out onto the trial grounds. "Come on, now."
Maria took a deep breath and followed after her, taking a long look around the courtroom.
Just like in Michi's trial, the seemingly dangerous conditions didn't harm her at all. The wind and snow were fierce, but all that happened was her hair was tossed around a bit, along with her skirt. The floor was covered in a blanket of snow with snowflakes falling and icicles hanging from the ceiling. Maria could even see the ice castle from the Snow Queen fairy tale in the distance, though she still couldn't tell if it was real or an illusion.
Once again, all nineteen podiums were set up in the center of the trial grounds, this time decorated with various colored ice statues that matched their formal clothing, similar to the coral from the last trial, leaving Maria confused if she should be in awe of the bright white rose statue on her podium or freaked out.
And right behind the podiums was, of course, Monokuma. This time, he wore a crown made of icicles and wore a robe made seemingly of ice crystals that sparkled whenever he shifted on the obnoxiously gold throne, a scepter made of ice and topped with a broken silver mirror in his hand.
"Ahhh, finally!" Monokuma cried, beaming even with his face unable to shift at all. "I was starting to get impatient waiting for all of you to arrive! What do you think of my decorations this time? I think Kai would have loved them!"
"And you don't get to speak for him," Maria snapped, glaring up at the bear even as she approached her podium. "You didn't know him so don't pretend that you did!"
"My, my, feisty today, are we?" Monokuma giggled. His voice was far too pleased and the broken mirror reflected light directly towards Maria's eyes.
"We are simply determined to find the truth and survive. That is all," Yoshi stated, but the look in his eyes as he glared at Monokuma was dark. Standing beside him, Fuwari squeezed his hand before she gently took Chia's hand from Sayuri and began to lead her to their podiums.
"This is a tacky use of such equipment," Irusu scoffed, placing his hands on his hips. "I know many people who would put together a much more beautiful set than you ever could with this equipment, not that you'd ever meet them!"
"Hmm…I think I preferred Mr. Hyde over you, Dr. Jekyll," Monokuma commented, almost innocently, placing a paw to his chin as he tilted his head.
"Why you no good, inelegant mu-"
Irusu bit his tongue and Maria could see Nima fronting in real time, watching as his posture shifted and how different he looked when his eyes opened. She couldn't help but wonder if it had been a conscious choice for Nima to come forward or if it was an instinctual measure to protect Irusu.
Nima glanced around and seemed to almost deflate as he saw their smaller number.
"Robin?" he whispered, his voice shaking slightly.
"I'm afraid so." Chiasa nodded. Nima simply nodded, looking down at the snow covered ground before he went to his podium. Maria followed him with her gaze, her heart aching.
She couldn't imagine what it must be like for him, knowing them all and having to watch them die one by one without saying a single word of their past.
But it seemed that Nima's solemn journey to his podium reminded the rest of them to go as well and soon enough, each podium was filled. Fifteen where there were originally eighteen. The pain stabbing Maria's heart as she glanced around the circle of podiums almost brought tears to her eyes as she ended by meeting Arisu's gaze. Arisu, who had been the most effected following the last trial, now stood with a determination in her eyes that Maria hadn't seen in the days following the last trial. She nodded in affirmation to Maria.
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 Robin Yukimura, the Ultimate Glaciologist, 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! Now then, let's get starteddddd!"
Those words rang throughout the trial grounds and Maria shivered, glancing at the two new portraits added to their circle. Tori's had two pink towers stamped across her face while Robin had two pink mirror shards, both in the shape of an 'X'.
"Excellent, then we can start at the beginning: the Monokuma File," Yoshi stated, crossing his arms as he spoke thoughtfully. "Unlike last time, nothing is excluded. We have Robin's time of death and what was used to kill him written out, plain as day."
"The wound is also consistent, there weren't any signs of other injuries," Chiasa added. "But there is something bothering me about how he died."
"Bothering you? What do you mean?" Satou questioned, tilting her head slightly. "I mean, nothing looks fishy to me, so I don't know what you could be seeing that I'm not."
"That's because someone without my experience wouldn't notice something like this," Chiasa deadpanned, glaring at the executive producer.
"Then we have our first topic to discuss," Sayuri spoke up, her voice preventing any conflict. "Shall we begin?"
"So you say there's something bothering you about the Monokuma file," Ren summarized thoughtfully. "Is there a specific part?"
"I suppose you could say that," Chiasa conceded.
"Then why don't you tell us?" Satou baited. "What, you gonna say it's his cause of death?"
"Don't be so hasty. I think there's something more here," Nima added quietly.
"How can there be something more?" Satou questioned. "Wasn't it just confirmed that nothing was excluded?"
"No, that's wrong!" Maria cut in, drawing Satou's glare. "I'm sorry, Satou, but that's impossible."
"And why not, Sugar Plum Princess?" Satou demanded, her eyes narrowed and a sarcastic tone to her voice.
"The stab wound may have been what caused Robin's death, but that wasn't what he died from. He died from severe blood loss!" Maria argued.
"Huh?!" Satou cried, shocked.
"That's right." Rosamie nodded in confirmation. "He wasn't dead when he was found, ergo, the stab wound wasn't the cause of death. Most likely, the massive amounts of blood he lost were the true cause."
"Exactly," Chiasa agreed. "And by leaving the weapon in his chest, it acted as a stopgap, which bought him time before he died."
"W-wait…" Chia's quiet voice cut through the air. When Maria glanced her way, Chia's face was as pale as can be, the only spot of color being her clothes and the blood on her cheek. "D-does…does that mean…?"
Her voice was shaking and Maria could see the question in her eyes, but she couldn't give it voice. Maria bit her lip before she let out a sigh and answered.
"Robin stopped us from pulling the weapon out so neither of us would be the blackened."
The words hung in the air, but Maria couldn't look away from Robin's portrait.
He had been protecting her and Chia, right until the end. He died so slowly and painfully, but when he finally had a chance to live, he sacrificed it so neither of them would take on the burden of being the one to kill him by removing the weapon.
Her heart ached for him. He didn't deserve this, none of them did.
"But that doesn't mean either of you is cleared," Hibiki stated quietly, his eyes intense. "Besides, that just means we're dealing with one sadistic bastard."
"Or maybe just a smart one," Akihito added. "After all, they probably did this for a reason. Like…give themselves an alibi."
"That makes sense," Sayuri agreed, looking distressed. "So Robin's killer is a cunning person who let him die so…so painfully just to get away with it. It's horrible!"
"It's the nature of this stupid, horrible game," Arisu pouted. Her eyes, however, were a blaze of anger. "It breeds the worst in people, all for giggles and ratings!"
"Ahh, so you understand, Alice! Gold star for you! Be sure not to eat it, puhuhu!" Monokuma laughed, kicking his legs against his throne.
"But that doesn't help us, ya fuckleheads," Nat argued, placing their hands on their hips. "We still don't know what the fuck the weapon is thanks to that goddamn bear!"
"Who? Wittle ol' me? Puhuhu…" Monokuma giggled. Maria glared at him but turned back to the trial at hand.
"Then let's figure that out," Aretha suggested, tapping her nails against her podium. "What could have been the weapon used to kill Robin?"
"Just from a glance, it was pretty fucking small," Hibiki stated, a finger resting against his chin.
"Could it have been an arrow from Chiasa's room?" Nima questioned.
"Or maybe a knife from the kitchen…?" Fuwari added.
"None of the arrows from my room are missing," Chiasa denied.
"Wait, did you actually count every arrow?" Ren asked, genuinely shocked.
"N-no…knives w-were m-missing…from t-the kitchen…" Chia said, her voice just barely heard over the din as she twirled ribbons around her fingers.
"Then where'd the weapon come from, huuuuuh?" Satou asked, hands on her hips as she grinned.
"It would be nice if the weapon was already in the crime scene…" Akihito sighed dramatically.
"I agree with that!" Maria cut in, rolling her eyes at Akihito, who was now grinning at her. "Even though you already knew this, the weapon very likely could have come from Chia's Talent Room."
"W-what?" Chia stuttered, her eyes wide in shock. "I-I didn't see a-anything like that!"
"And where exactly would the weapon be found?" Yoshi asked, sounding curious. "I actually did not spot any such weapons myself."
"That's because there's another portion to Chia's Talent Room," Maria explained, gripping the podium with her white knuckled hands. "Akihito and I investigated it as a possible escape method for the culprit, but it turned out to be a dead end."
"Yep! And was a really dark alley with all sorts of dangerous things thrown around," Akihito added, smiling despite the dark topic of conversation. "I wouldn't be surprised if the weapon came from there, given how many knives we found there."
"Knives?!" Arisu cried, shocked. "Why would Chia have knives in her room? Those pieces wouldn't make sense for her games!"
"That doesn't change what we found." Akihito shrugged, as if he was unbothered by the entire situation. "Hmm…does this mean Chia was…involved with back alley deals?!"
He spoke dramatically in order to make it obvious he was joking, but the look that crossed Chia's face made Maria freeze.
"Chia…?" Sayuri questioned, her voice gentle as she, too, noticed the terrified look on the girl's face.
"I-I…" she stuttered, the words seeming to get stuck in her throat.
"Wait, were you?" Nat asked, surprise coloring their voice.
"Holy shit…" Hibiki whispered.
"N-n-no! M-Master…I-I…" Chia stumbled over her words, unable to find the words she wanted, needed, to say.
"Then why did you Talent Room have a place like that, huh?" Satou asked, a cruel light in her eyes.
Maria knew what she was going to insinuate and she had to stop it.
"Is that where you learned to fire dance, Chia? A place like your Talent Room with a warm dancing area and a darker side to it?" Maria asked, cutting off whatever Satou had planned.
Chia gave only the slightest of nods.
"Oh sweetie…" Aretha trailed off, her tone sympathetic.
Nima was looking down, his face in shadow that hid his eyes.
"That sounds like something the bear would do," Chiasa sighed, a trace of empathy in her voice. "That gives us an explanation for where the weapon came from."
"Then I think it's time we move on to the elephant in the room," Yoshi stated. "Robin's last words. Or rather, word."
"A name…what was it again?" Fuwari asked, looking a bit sheepish. "I…couldn't hear him very well."
"That's understandable," Aretha reassured. "We weren't close enough to hear the name clearly."
Chia winced, looking down at her trembling hands and not saying a word.
"All right, then Maria? Can you tell us the name Robin said?" Sayuri asked, her voice soft and unhurried. Maria appreciated it, especially how difficult this trial was going to be going forward now.
"Rinka," Maria answered, her eyes never leaving Chia as she spoke the name. "Robin's last word was 'Rinka'."
"Well, that's just useless," Satou scoffed, crossing her arms with a scowl. "Nobody here is named 'Rinka'. He probably just thought one of you was someone he used to know."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Nat cut in, their eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean? Are you saying there is a player named Rinka here?" Arisu gasped, her eyes wide.
"We already have a precedent for people not sharing their true names," Rosamie stated plainly, her glasses gleaming.
"That's a fucking low blow and you know it. I had a reason, what reason could anyone have to hide their name being 'Rinka'?" Hibiki glared, crossing his arms.
"Maybe they just don't like the name?" Ren suggested blithely.
"Oh! Maybe they're in witness protection!" Akihito grinned, growing excited.
"Please have some sense of logic," Yoshi sighed. "We already know Monokuma does not care to enlighten us to any secrets outside of motive."
"Could it be possible…that Rinka doesn't even know they're Rinka?" Satou suggested, leaning her head against her hand.
"Wait, that's it!" Maria shouted, her eyes wide as she stared at Satou in complete disbelief. The pieces in her mind were starting to connect, just a little. If she thought like that, then…
Then…
"Geez, Sugar Plum Princess, no need to cut me off if you agree!" Satou glared, her hands on her hips.
"But Satou, you're right!" Maria insisted, grasping onto the too cold podium with both hands. "Nobody here knows who Rinka is, including Rinka! The only person who knew, somehow, was Robin!"
"I'm afraid this is not a match!" Ren cut in, his expression apologetic. "I'm sorry Maria, but I cannot accept this argument so easily."
"Ren…? Why not?" Maria asked, staring at him with confused eyes.
"It just doesn't make sense," Ren explained. "How could Rinka not even know they're Rinka? Even in the previous games, everyone knew their own name whether they shared it or not, thanks to the MonoPads. So how could they not know?"
"In the previous games, Monokuma knew everything about the players, but he doesn't here! By us knowing he had no idea Nima existed, we know he couldn't have known enough to put Rinka's name on their MonoPad," Maria argued.
"But how could Rinka not know their own name? The entire premise of your argument is that they couldn't have known they were Rinka. But how could that even be possible? Nobody forgets their own name!" Ren pointed out.
"That's where you're wrong!" Maria denied. "We are in a killing game, one where our memories have been summarily erased and we have no idea how much time we have lost! Anything in the time we're missing could have caused us to forget our current names or Rinka discovering their birth name could have been forgotten, leaving them with no idea to their identity as Rinka!"
"…I admit, that is possible," Ren sighed, brushing his hair back slightly from his eyes. "Are you sure about this, Maria?"
"I am." Maria nodded. Or rather, she had to be, because if they didn't all give their best effort, then they would all die.
"Seems like you know something about Rinka, Swan Lake," Aretha commented, raising a single eyebrow curiously.
"It's not anything concrete, but I think I know how to prove who Rinka is," Maria admitted.
"Then let's hear it," Nima challenged, crossing his arms. "What will prove who among us is Rinka?"
"It's…" Maria trailed off as she searched for the picture she had taken, only to find it gone. "What the-"
"Looking for this?"
Maria turned only to find Akihito holding out the candle for all to see.
"You deleted my picture just to show off?!" she cried, glaring at him. Akihito only grinned and winked at her.
"I figured we'd need a little lighthearted moment, ya know?" he smiled. "Besides, I saw how you were looking at it. A picture couldn't do this justice."
"Are you two about done?" Hibiki asked dryly, looking fairly unimpressed. Maria could feel her cheeks heating up in embarrassment, but she refused to give Akihito the satisfaction of flustering her.
"What the hell is that, anyway?" Nat asked, squinting to try and see what Akihito held.
"May I see it?" Yoshi requested, holding a hand out.
"Sure thing," Akihito grinned, tossing it rather carelessly in the air.
"No!" Maria and Chia yelled at the same time.
But neither of them had to worry as Chiasa's arm shot out, catching the candle easily. She examined it carefully before she stepped off her podium and walked over to Yoshi, handing the candle to him.
"It's not wise to throw delicate objects," Chiasa scolded Akihito as she returned to her podium.
"Oopsie, my bad," Akihito grinned, completely unrepentant. Maria rolled her eyes at him, watching him carefully.
Which was how she saw the exact moment his gaze flickered to Chia and then back to Maria, a single eyebrow quirking in her direction. Maria tilted her head the slightest bit, but otherwise remained silent.
"This appears to be a candle, and an exquisitely made one at that," Yoshi commented, examining the candle with the eye of a jeweler. "It must have taken quite a bit of time to shape it into a robin like this. But what exactly does this tell us of Rinka?"
"You'd be surprised how much it tells us," Maria admitted, placing a finger against her chin. "Akihito and I found that in Robin's room, in a box on his vanity labeled 'Rinka'. It had a few trinkets that must have belonged to or reminded him of Rinka."
"That makes sense but still doesn't fucking tell us anything," Nat scowled.
"Which means there must be more to this candle than meets the eye," Rosamie surmised, a single eyebrow raised in intrigue.
"Got it in one!" Akihito grinned, flashing a finger gun her way, to Rosamie's unimpressed stare.
"What is it then?" Fuwari questioned, a curious look in her eyes as she gazed at Yoshi and the candle.
"It looks delicate, like any wrong movement could break it," Sayuri commented, a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Could the age tell us something about Rinka?"
"Not exactly," Maria disagreed. "But it can tell us two things: how it's connected to Rinka and who Rinka is."
"What a fascinating turn," Aretha smiled, her white teeth as bright as the snow surrounding them. "Would you care to enlighten us?"
"Of course," Maria confirmed. "First, how is the candle connected to Rinka? The fact that Robin had it in his room with a box of items labeled as 'Rinka' means that it was special because of her. And given it's unique shape and age, I think it's safe to assume Rinka made it."
"Wow, she must have been nearly as talented as I!" Satou gasped, placing her hands on her cheeks excitedly.
"And how does it tell us who Rinka is?" Nima asked, but when Maria glanced at him, she found no confusion on his expression.
Meaning that, whatever happened before they came here, Rinka had told them all who she was or, at the very least, remembered. And because of Monokuma, he couldn't just tell them.
She really hated that thrice damned bear.
"Because Rinka herself just told us who she was," Maria answered. She turned to glare at Akihito, crossing her arms. "While I didn't know or approve of Akihito throwing the candle, doing so forced Rinka to prove who she is without even realizing it."
"Who's Rinka then, Maria dear?" Akihito asked, fluttering his eyelashes at her dramatically.
Maria rolled her eyes to the ceiling before she turned to the only person who could be Rinka.
"Chia…it's you, isn't it?"
Chia blinked repeatedly, as if she were completely unaware of anything around her.
"What…?" she whispered, sounding as if she just woke up.
"Your birth name isn't Chia Amachi, is it?" Maria asked in the softest, kindest voice she could. "It's Rinka…right?"
"I-I…no, I-I'm not…I-I mean…I don't k-know…I…I-I…" Chia stuttered and fell over her words, her hands coming up to clutch at her hair. Her clothes fell slightly with her movement, revealing scars on her body that Maria hadn't seen before.
There were so many…
"I-I…am I Rinka…? B-but h-h-how would that…I-I couldn't be…could I…? N-no, but then…I…no!" Chia cried, shaking her head frantically.
"Hey, Chia…" Ren called out, concerned. But Chia only pushed herself back from her podium, clutching onto her body with both hands.
"How can I be Rinka?! How could I forget Robin?! How could I…how could I kill him?!" she screamed. Silence rang throughout the courtroom as they all stared at her in shock. "That's what you're saying right?! The last name on Robin's lips…if I am Rinka, that means I killed him, but I…I didn't! At least…I don't remember killing him…"
"But you could have, no?" Rosamie proposed. "After all, if your memory is fickle enough to forget your own name, then could you not have forgotten your crime?"
"I-I…" Chia was at a loss for words.
"I can prove that Chia-that Rinka-had nothing to do with the murder," Maria cut in. Chia looked at her with wide, tear filled eyes and Maria's heart ached fiercely.
"You can?" Hibiki questioned. "Well, then get to it, Snow."
"This is it," Maria pointed out, holding out the scroll she'd taken from Robin's room. "With the murder committed, the motive no longer threatens us and so we read Robin's secret. Or rather…we read Chia's."
"M-mine?" Chia stuttered, looking shocked.
"Yeah," Maria smiled slightly. As carefully as possible, she unrolled the scroll, staring at the words printed there. They were as misleading and cruel as they were when she first read them in Robin's room. But reading them aloud felt…different, more permanent. Despite that, she knew she had to read them. "'Chia Amachi killed Rinka Miyake when she accepted Chia as her name and forgot all about Robin Yukimura.'"
Silence hung over them all as all eyes rested on Maria.
"But how does that prove Player Chia didn't participate?" Arisu questioned, looking a little confused.
"I haven't shown the second piece of evidence I need," Maria explained. "First, the scroll tells us that Chia herself had no clue to her identity. And this second piece proves that even if she did know, she wouldn't have killed Robin any more than he would have killed her."
"Please, show it!" Fuwari pleaded.
"It's this," Maria answered, holding out the ice crystal she and Akihito found in Chia's room.
"That-"
"It's your gift from Robin," Maria cut Chia off, smiling softly her way. "You made him the candle and he gave you this crystal. Two gifts, the perfect way to hold on to a childhood friend, right?"
Chia's tears began to fall from her eyes, but she didn't wipe them away, unable to look away from the crystal. Slowly, Maria approached her and laid the crystal in her hand.
"This is all I need to know it wasn't you. You may be Rinka, but he didn't forgive you for killing him. He forgave you for forgetting about him and yourself. You didn't kill him."
Chia collapsed into Maria's arms and she quickly gathered her close, rubbing her back as she cried. Great heaving sobs filled the room as Chia mourned at last for Robin, the blood that had stained her cheek being washed away by the trail of her tears and what remained stained Maria's collar, not that she minded. She just held the fire dancer through it all, never letting go for a moment.
"Ugh, are we done with this crying fest yet? If you keep this up, I'll be bored enough to call the whole trial off!" Monokuma groaned, his too happy voice cutting through the mournful air mercilessly.
"If you'd just give us a minute, we'll return to your death game." Maria glared at the bear, feeling protective over Chia.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know this was Once Upon a Beary Unhappy Time," Monokuma drawled sarcastically. "Get back to your podiums before I kill all of ya."
"As much as I hate to say it, we should do as he says," Yoshi agreed.
"Here," Fuwari said softly, stepping forward to help Chia back to her podium. She nodded at both Maria and Yoshi, reassuring them that she had Chia.
Maria could only sigh as she returned to her own podium.
"There, does that satisfy any suspicions on Chia?" she asked, curious.
"If not," Aretha added with a smug smile. "there's always her clothes."
"Her clothes?" Satou repeated, confused, tilting her head slightly.
"Well, with how bloody that scene was, anyone who stabbed Robin would've had quite a bit of blood on them. And I scoured her wardrobe, there was no blood on her clothes," Aretha stated, confident and assured.
"An interesting thing to note," Chiasa commented.
"I just know clothes, that's all." Aretha shrugged, smiling slightly. "All of that should rule Chia out quite nicely, no?"
"It does, but that leaves us at square one," Nima pointed out, a bit sardonically. "Is there anything else at the crime scene you all can remember?"
"For how brutal it was, there wasn't much left behind," Sayuri admitted.
"It was like magic," Akihito added. "One way in, one way out and no clue how the killer left it so clean."
"Magic…" Maria whispered to herself. Could it be…? She glanced up. "What if the killer's escape seems so magical because it was magic?"
"I don't follow," Yoshi said, his brow furrowed as he crossed his arms. "How could it be magic when no such thing exists?"
"Maybe not real magic, but stage magic could," Maria elaborated. The pieces in her mind seemed to fit. "Especially if someone's talent were to utilize such skills."
"But nobody here is a magician, Sugar Plum Princess," Satou snarked, smirking. "Your little theory falls apart just like that, after all."
"That's only if we're all being honest about our talents," Chiasa cut in. Her eyes glinted like a knife's blade as they met Maria's, seemingly understanding her logic.
"But there's no proof of that! …Is there?" Akihito asked, looking around in confusion.
"If there was, it'd be in the Build-a-Reject's motive. Meaning Snow's got a pretty big clue up her sleeve," Hibiki grinned, a sharp one that spoke of a sprung trap.
"The motive is no longer in effect, so…yes. I do." Maria nodded.
Slowly, with all the delicacy she could manage, she pulled out a scroll.
The one she had been given.
"That's your scroll…isn't it, Maria?" Fuwari asked, her eyes wide.
"It's the one I was given, but it doesn't contain my secret. It contains someone else's," Maria confirmed.
"Who's secret does it contain, Player Maria?" Arisu questioned, her eyes wide in interest as she posed like she were holding a microphone Maria's way.
"Nat's."
The word, the name, hung in the air uneasily as all eyes shifted from Maria to Nat.
"Haaaaah?" they drawled, looking extremely bored with the accusation. "So what if you do? How the fuck does this pertain to our situation?"
"'Natsuko Kazakiri came to the Palace of Despair with a lie on their lips, their talent far more cunning, more magical, than a historian."
The sharp smile Nat wore was frozen on their face when faced with Maria's answer. Maria observed them, holding her breath as she waited for the decision Nat would make, where they would steer this trial now.
She wished she could say she was surprised when Nat spat out a sharp, dangerous laugh.
"Oh man…that's it? That's your proof that I'm some sort of magician? Fuck, that's useless!" Nat laughed, wild and carefree. "I'll admit, the scroll's right about the historian part, but I ain't coughing up anything else! You'll have to present a lot more than that to catch me!"
"I think I can help with that, along with some friends here," Akihito cut in, grinning brightly.
"You? And how are you gonna help?" Satou demanded, her tone derisive.
"Hey, as an appreciator of beauty, I think I can recognize one of my own," Akihito declared, full of confidence.
"Who said you were on the same level as me?" Nat scoffed, crossing their arms.
"Perhaps not, but a thief always recognizes a thief." Akihito winked.
"You would besmirch their name based off so little?" Rosamie questioned, her glasses glinting in the light.
"Nope!" Akihito grinned, popping the 'p' sound. "Maria's been holding onto it for me, that's all!"
"And I have it right here," Maria confirmed, loading the pictures she had taken earlier and revealing them. "Isn't this your Talent Room, Nat?"
"How did you find that?" Hibiki gasped, his eyes wide as he drank in the rich details of the room alongside everyone else.
"In the library, after Ren and Yoshi got us up to date on some newspapers Ren found," Akihito grinned.
"You mean about the phantom thief?" Yoshi asked, his eyes widening.
"Yeah." Maria nodded. "The newspapers hinted that the thief was an ultimate and we all know Monokuma doesn't leave any random thing like that just lie, so they were obviously here, but none of us fit the criteria. None of us, except Nat, who was assigned Arsene Lupin for their role. Not only is he the definition of a gentleman phantom thief, but Nat had been blocking his book since we discovered the library. I thought there might be a clue in the book itself. Imagine my surprise when Fuwari couldn't pull it out and we found a whole other room instead."
"And it's too fucking coincidental to be a legitimate coincidence," Hibiki agreed.
"That means Nat would know how to pull off an escape and leave a locked room behind!" Arisu gasped, her eyes wide.
"Except it wasn't locked…" Sayuri giggled a bit awkwardly as she made her correction.
"Well, Nat?" Yoshi prompted. "What do you say?"
"Your proof is a bunch of Lupin related items? Hardly incriminating, fuckalls," Nat scoffed. "You gotta do better than that."
"Better huh?" Maria hummed. Her fingers rubbed against her arm, feeling the goosebumps that formed on her skin as she shared a look with Akihito. "What better proof than a calling card?"
She held the card up and the characters she could just about read glimmered in the light.
"Because if you're not the phantom thief, then surely someone else was able to make such amazing cards as these and pull off such astounding heists," Maria continued, carefully twirling the card as she spoke, well aware that Nat's eyes were closely tracking the card's every move, tracing the crescent moon stamped on it. "Yoshi described them to us, they truly were like magic. I guess you just don't match up to such an ultimate in that case…"
"You are a sly woman, Maria Kikumoto," Nat grinned, sharper than before, like a predator who had their prey between their teeth. "I guess I'll reward your efforts by confirming your thoughts. You're correct! My true identity is none other than Tsuki, the Ultimate Phantom Thief!"
Nat grasped their waistcoat and swirled it like a magician's cape, causing smoke to cover them, hiding them from view and causing many of the others to start coughing from the excessiveness of the smoke quantity. When the smoke finally cleared, Nat's appearance had changed slightly.
Where they had previously not worn many accessories, they now wore a wedding band on each ring finger, a black ribbon choker studded with small rubies, pearl and emerald earrings, a gold and platinum bracelet on their right wrist and, most damning of all, was a signet ring on their left middle finger, with a crescent moon symbol.
"Perhaps I should thank you, being so passive is simply not my style," Nat grinned, their left hand coming up to show off both the rings they wore and play with the end of their braid. "But I fail to see how my identity is important to this trial in the first place. After all, it's not like I have anything to do with this."
"You're denying being the culprit?" Yoshi questioned, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Uh…duh! Why on earth would I kill him?" Nat scoffed, crossing their arms. "I'm just a little ol' thief trying to make ends meet, after all!"
"I don't think that's true," Maria stated, keeping her eyes carefully trained on Nat. "I mean, there's very few people who could leave such a clean crime scene and you weren't very happy with Robin before he died."
"Cause he was acting like a fucking idiot, like he knew who I was." Nat rolled their eyes. "Guess I should've been watching you instead, hm?"
"If that's the only evidence you have, it's not enough for us to vote," Arisu groaned, biting her lip.
"But that's not all, is it, Swan Lake?" Aretha smiled, glancing over at Maria. She gave a small, encouraging nod and Maria took a deep breath.
If Nat was the killer, then she had to keep going.
"For all your confidence, you seem very tense when it comes to being exposed. Which makes sense, since you'd be arrested if caught, after all." Maria shrugged. "And besides…this is yours, isn't it?"
She held up the red leather bound journal, where Nat's intricate handwriting could be seen.
"Damn, you found that too? Sneaky, sneaky~" Nat grinned, clicking their tongue in mock disappointment. Maria, however, was unphased and held the journal out to Nima.
"I'm afraid I can't read it exactly, would you mind?" she asked, almost sheepish as the question left her lips.
"Of course." Nima nodded. He was steady and still, but when his hand brushed Maria's as he took the journal, his fingertips felt just a bit warm in the freeze of the courtroom. Without another word, Nima flipped through the journal until he reached one page in particular and began to read. "'We're stuck here and if that fucking bear is right, then there's no way out. Fuck, all I wanted was to figure out what the hell that school knew about me, not end up in the Tragedy Part 2: Electric Bugaloo! If the worst should happen, at least there's some easy targets here, I can be in and out quick.'"
"Those are your words, right?" Maria asked, unnecessarily.
"So what if they are? That was from day 1, darling, it's called panic." Nat examined their nails, not even pretending that Maria's accusation was worth their time. "You got anything else?"
Before anyone else could say a word, however, Nat suddenly cried out, their hand reaching up to clasp their forehead in pain.
"Nat?!" Sayuri gasped, her eyes wide.
"Do you need h-help?" Fuwari asked, trembling a bit with frantic worry.
"What I need is for all of you to shut up!" Nat snarled, their entire demeaner shifting so rapidly, it was as if they were all looking at someone else in their place. "Fuck, I said stop talking!"
"Nobody is," Rosamie whispered. Her head was tilted the slightest bit, a spark of concern in her eyes. "Please, take a breath."
"Shut up!" Nat shouted, pushing themself away from their podium as they grasped at their head, looking seconds away from clawing at the source of the pain. "Shut up, shut up, shup up! If you're all so certain I'm the fucking killer, then vote so this can fucking end already!"
"'I am so angry. This damned headache comes and goes, getting worse every time. If this is meant to be hell, then it's a damn effective one. I'm getting out of this shithole.'"
Nima's voice rang out throughout the room, the only other sound being Nat's harsh breathing, the façade of the confident phantom thief reduced to so much anger and pain. Maria stared, the image simply incongruous with what she knew of Nat.
Was this the answer they'd all been looking for? Had Nat, the Ultimate Phantom Thief, killed Robin because they couldn't take the pain they were suffering from or being trapped here any longer.
A pulse of pain reverberated through Maria's own skull and she barely resisted the urge to shrink in on herself. This wasn't the time to focus on her.
"Sooooooooo…is the village ready to vote on who's the witch? Oops, sorry, that's a different game! Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma laughed, breaking the heavy silence that hung over the trial.
"Is…that it then?" Ren questioned, looking around at them all.
Silence hung over them all, the only breaking point being Nat's heavy, pain filled gasps for air. Maria glanced at everyone one by one, all of them looking unsure in some form and her heart ached.
What was the right answer?
What was she supposed to do?
Was this the end?
"And the best part is…you gave up on me."
Maria wanted to scream, but she bit her tongue instead, feeling the irony taste of blood fill her mouth. Now wasn't the time to focus on that, she had to be present, here and now.
So many lives were on the line…but how was she supposed to figure it out?
"E-excuse me…Master…M-Monokuma?"
Maria's head shot up and she looked over at Chia where she stood between Rosamie and Fuwari. The candle and ice crystal sat on top of her podium, giving a color to her cheeks that she had been lacking since Robin had been found and her eyes held just a bit of that spark of life that had been missing in her since, almost as if the returning of the candle and the crystal to her, her own heart had melted from the ice of grief and she could see clearly once more.
"Hm? Oh, Little Match Girl, I didn't realize you were still with us!" Monokuma giggled at his own reference. "How can I help you on this cold New Year's Eve, hmm?"
But Chia's eyes only grew brighter at Monokuma's mockery of her.
"Before we v-vote, I'd like t-t-to…check something," she stated. "It should make the trial more entertaining…I-I think."
"Hmmm…" Monokuma seemed to be thinking it over for several minutes, even glancing down at the masked servants guarding his throne. Maria held her breath as she watched the silent showdown between the two. Her heart pounded, whispering that this was what would decide the trial in the end. "Well…if it's for a new entertaining twist in my fairy tale…I'll allow it."
"Oh, thank-"
"But be warned, Little Match Girl," Monokuma grinned as he cut Chia off. "Running out of matches will be the least of your problems should this be just a hallucination."
Chia gulped, looking down at the candle and crystal for a moment before she raised her head once more. Her eyes were blazing with the fire of her determination as she squared her shoulders and met Monokuma's gaze.
"Thank you." Her words were cold and firm for Monokuma, but when she faced the rest of them, she warmed. "Um, Nima, could I see that journal?"
"Of course." Nima nodded, closing the journal and walking over to pass it to Chia gently.
Chia nodded her thanks before she opened the journal and scanned the words. The only sound in the court room was that of flipping pages and the occasional hum by Chia herself.
It was such a simple action, but Maria could feel the weight hanging over them all. Whatever Chia said would decide where this trial went as well as who would live and who would die.
And for all that it was a terrible burden to place on Chia, Maria couldn't see any fear in her at all. All she saw was determination and fire.
But finally, Chia closed the journal and laid it down behind the candle and crystal, her palm resting on the cover almost reverently.
"Nat did not kill Robin."
Her voice was quiet but the words themselves were clear.
"What?!" Hibiki cried, narrowing his gaze at Chia. "Listen, Bambi, you can't just fucking say that, not here!"
"And I'm not. I…I have proof," Chia admitted, not backing down for a second, even as her hands trembled.
"Don't feel shy there. You can tell us," Aretha reassured, smiling slightly.
"Yeah. It'll be okay, Chia," Fuwari added, reaching out to squeeze Chia's shoulder.
"What do you have?" Yoshi questioned, his tone softened as much as he seemed able. Chiasa let out a snort at the awkwardness he gave off while Fuwari giggled just a little.
"I have…this." Chia pulled out a piece of paper. It was wrinkled and Maria was sure she saw a few drops of blood staining it. "It was under Robin's l-leg. I grabbed it before I was f-forced to…leave him. I read it, but it didn't make sense to me. N-now…it does."
"What does it say?" Ren asked, gentle and open, endearing himself to Chia without overwhelming her. Chia took a deep breath in before holding the note up and began to read it.
"'I know your secret…S-should you wish it to remain as such, meet me i-in the heart of it at 2 am.'"
"I see," Maria hummed, laying a finger against her chin.
"Well, that answers one question at least," Arisu smiled. "We know why Player Robin met with his killer. But…how does this explain why Player Nat is innocent?"
"B-because…the handwriting doesn't match," Chia explained. She grabbed the journal and laid it down beside the note, showing off the two pieces of writing. "Look."
She was right, the two styles of handwriting were like night and day and Maria had to struggle to keep her gasp at bay.
The journal that Nat had written in contained letters so swoopy even when they were obviously feeling emotional that Maria could barely decipher what it said. But the note had very stringent letters, each line looking as if it were measured by a ruler to be the shape it was.
"And how do we know the thief simply didn't disguise their handwriting?" Satou asked, rolling her eyes derisively.
"Um…" Chia trailed off, looking unsure.
"Because we found this journal at all," Maria said, taking over and crossing her arms as she met Satou's gaze. It was just as much for warmth as it was to show a confident posture. "Nat is not just any thief, but the Ultimate Phantom Thief."
"You flatter me," Nat smirked, though it was obvious they were still in pain even as they gave a rather theatric bow.
"But because of that, they'd never leave evidence like this lying out for anyone to find," Maria continued, not acknowledging Nat outside of a concerned glance. "Nat's heists are known for being practically impossible to determine how they were committed. That's why they agreed to attend Hope's Peak, after all, to find out how it's possible their identity was discovered. If Nat really was planning to kill Robin, they'd never leave this journal for us to find. They'd destroy it."
"A-and…!" Chia gasped, looking down sharply at the two items she held as the realization hit. "The paper's different! Look, Nat's journal is all fancy, but this note is just regular lined paper!"
"That's all well and good, but that just leaves us back at square one," Chiasa stated, not unkindly.
"Not exactly," Maria disagreed, biting her lip. "Chia, can I see the note you found?" Chia nodded before bringing the note to Maria. She hummed as she observed it much closer, staring at the lettering. It looked so familiar…almost like she'd seen it somewhere before.
"Is it really just regular lined paper?" Akihito asked, drawing Maria's eyes. He shrugged. "It just looks too thin to be regular paper, is all."
And it did, Maria realized. A piece of paper this size would barely fit in a notebook, not unless it was…
Maria gasped.
"Maria?" Sayuri called out, worried. "You've gone pale, is something wrong?"
"I know who did it…" Maria whispered, unable to believe it even as she said the words aloud. "I know who killed Robin."
"Just from a piece of paper? Come onnnnnnn!" Satou rolled her eyes.
"I'm intrigued now…" Nat commented, leaning against their podium with one hand resting on it. They looked less in pain now, but Maria could see the remnants of it.
"Are you sure, Maria?" Nima questioned, entirely serious.
"Yeah…I think I am." Maria nodded.
"Then please, share your thoughts with us all," Yoshi requested, gesturing to the circle of podiums. "Who do you think is the culprit?"
"Rosamie."
The words rang throughout the courtroom and Maria found she couldn't say much else, ice freezing the words in her throat, unable to escape to the rest of the world.
"How curious," Rosamie stated, tilting her head just slightly. Her glasses glinted, hiding her eyes from sight. "Why would you say that?"
"First off, this paper isn't from a notebook, like Akihito said. It's from a prescription pad, and the only person that could conceivably have something like that would be you. Second, earlier in the trial, you were pushing Chia to confess, as if she were the killer, but as soon as the target switched to Nat, you fell silent," Maria explained. "It's quite the series of coincidences."
"But not enough to get someone declared guilty of murder," Rosamie said, the slightest quirk to her lips as she observed Maria. "You'd need something more than that, after all."
"We should ask her to write something down!" Akihito suggested, grinning. "That way we can see if her handwriting matches the note!"
"Except she knows why we're asking, so she could easily change how she writes," Yoshi countered, shaking his head. "In order to be certain Rosamie is the culprit, we'd need to connect her to the murder solidly. For example, if her clothes had blood on them."
"Unfortunately, none of them did." Rosamie shrugged gracefully.
"Actually, nobody's did," Aretha admitted, tapping her nails against her arm. "I checked several closest but no hint of blood on anyone outside of Robin."
"What if that's the key?" Akihito asked, his voice suddenly serious. His usual lightheartedness was gone, replaced with an almost icy seriousness as he stared at Maria. "The only person with blood on them is Robin."
"But that would mean…You can't be serious!" Sayuri gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock.
"Fucker killed himself?" Nat asked, looking confused but Maria was certain their shoulders relaxed. "That's what you're saying, right?"
"I don't think that's right though." Maria shook her head. "That knife…it went completely through his shoulder. There's no way Robin could've had the leverage to do that and lay on the ground as he was."
Nobody questioned how she would know such a thing and for that, Maria was grateful. She didn't want to explain how she knew, the things she had seen during those terrible years, equally as horrifying as what everyone else here had seen as well.
"But that leaves the blood only on Robin still," Chiasa stated thoughtfully. "Though considering he stopped Chia from removing the blade…is it possible he started it and the blackened finished it when he couldn't go all the way?"
"Like an assisted s-suicide?" Fuwari stuttered, her face pale.
"Or the letter was blackmail to make him do it and he couldn't," Hibiki suggested, a kind tone to his voice, as if attempting to assuage Fuwari.
"Which would mean this isn't a suicide at all, but a murder, like we thought," Nima stated. "And takes us back to the note."
"Which still tells us nothing." Nat rolled their eyes.
"But just because there's no blood on Rosamie's clothes doesn't rule her out as a suspect anymore," Maria contested, her eyes glimmering. "Meaning that and the paper both count against her. And! There's the fact that this note told Robin to meet the writer at the heart of his secret at 2 am. But we didn't find him until earlier today, just moments before he died! The timing and the manner of death both serve to give the killer an alibi so they wouldn't be considered a suspect right away!"
"Which is all very nice, but you need proof, Sugar Plum Princess," Satou scoffed, glaring at her. "Seriously, have you not learned everything? If I were you, I'd be trying to find the missing piece or focus on the actual killer."
The missing piece…
Those words rang out in Maria's mind over and over again. Because for all that Satou had meant the words as an insult to Maria herself, they were correct.
They were missing a piece of evidence to connect Rosamie to the crime.
Or rather, they weren't seeing the evidence that connected her to the crime as it should be seen.
Her mind racing, Maria took out her MonoPad and began to flip through all the evidence.
It was here, she knew it was. She just needed to find it.
"You're seriously still barking up this fucking tree?" Nat glared. "Come on, sweetie, learn to let it go! It's not good to latch onto things like this."
"It is when it's to catch a murderer and save all of our lives," Maria argued, her eyes never leaving the device in front of her eyes.
"You're obsessed, you know that? You're gonna get us all killed at this rate!" Nat chastised. "What're you gonna do then, huh? Apologize as we're all dying?"
Maria ignored these words, flipping faster. It was right in front of her, she just needed to see it for what it was.
"Or maybe you're the killer and this is you trying to mislead us! You fucker, you think you can kill us all by buying time and framing Rosamie?! What, you get off this fucking bullshit?"
"You know that's not true, Nat. I just want to live."
"And how do we know that, huh? Why are we even trusting a word you say? Or what anyone says! You can't trust anyone here so what's the point of words!"
"Words are all we have, the only way we can tell our stories without Monokuma twisting them. And besides, trust is all we have, if we let that go, then we have nothing."
"You're so fucking naïve, you know that? No wonder you got caught in this fucking mess, I bet it's your fault we're all here in the first place!" Nat spat the words like acid, causing them to cling to Maria's skin like poison.
As the words registered, Maria found herself staring at the transcript from the Monokuma File and the picture of Robin's body. She wasn't reading the words, however. Instead, her gaze was riveted to the picture of the body, trained on the knife sticking out of Robin's shoulder.
The knife that none of them had fully examined.
"It's the weapon!" Maria shouted, her voice ringing out, causing the icicles on the ceiling to shake from the force of her yell. "The weapon itself is what ties Rosamie to the murder!"
"Don't tell me you're going to suggest fingerprints? We can't even test for that," Rosamie sighed, as if disappointed.
"No, it's actually much easier than that." Maria shook her head. "When we found the back alley in Chia's room, we all assumed the weapon came from back there since we found similar looking knives and razer blades. But we were wrong."
"Wrong?" Rosamie questioned, her voice in a completely flat tone.
"The weapon didn't come from Chia's room at all." Maria held her head high, her words full of confidence and self-assurance. She knew she was right. "The weapon was a scalpel and it came from your Talent Room, Rosamie!"
"Interesting theory," Rosamie chuckled, raising a single finger towards the ceiling, her elbow resting on the wrist of her other arm. "Too bad you cannot prove such a thing."
"But someone here can," Maria declared. "Monokuma!"
"Hai! Yessir, I'm here!" Monokuma saluted before he bent over in half laughing. "Ahhhhahahahaha! Like I'd ever treat any of you like that! Whatcha want, Snow White? If it's entertaining, I might help!"
"I know you took Robin's body, so I know you have access to the weapon!" Maria glared at the bear, resisting the urge to grind her teeth. "Show it to us so we can determine what it is once and for all!"
"Hmmm…well, I suppose that's fair. After all, wouldn't want a useless Devil's Proof be the cause of a mistrial, our story would come to a far too early conclusion if that happened!" Monokuma grinned, his teeth like needles gleaming in the night. "Very well! Weapon so silver and shiny with love, appear so that we can see who you fit like a glove!"
In a flash of glimmering ice, the weapon in question appeared and Maria gasped as she laid eyes on it.
The blade was thin even as it reached a deadly point. There was no denying it now.
The weapon was a scalpel.
"No way. No fucking way, this can't be happening," Nat gaped, staring at Rosamie with wide, betrayed eyes. "You can't be…Fucking hell, this can't be real!"
"Natsuko…" Rosamie trailed off, looking lost as she stared right back at them.
"I'm sorry, Nat," Maria apologized. There it was again, that terrible ache as she watched the blackened and the person who mattered the most to them face the reality of what happened. "But I won't dance around the truth this time. I'll expose it…right here, right now!"
She could see the stage in her mind unfolding, revealing the dancers, her classmates, as the entire terrible event unfolded.
"After the last trial, we all became even more cautious then we had been previously, with Yoshi and Chiasa together implementing a nighttime watch in order to prevent another murder. Who knows if this would have been effective had there not been another motive, but we'll never know. Because this time, the motive was secrets. Specifically, we were all given someone else's secret, the perfect reason to kill someone who could have your secret…and the perfect blackmail material."
"Our killer seems to have thought so too, because the night after we received the motive, they snuck a note under Robin's door, revealing they knew his secret and beckoning him to come to 'the heart' of his secret. In this case, that was Chia's Talent Room and Robin also discovered that. As requested, he met the killer there at 2 am. I don't know what they discussed, but I'm confident in saying that the killer used Robin's secret to blackmail him into stabbing himself with a scalpel from their own Talent Room."
"Things were going to the killer's plan, because Robin did stab himself in the shoulder. But he didn't stab it deep enough to lead to him eventually bleeding out, so the killer was forced to take matters into their own hands. They pushed the scalpel further into Robin's shoulder, until he was laying on the floor bleeding out and guaranteed several agonizing hours ahead of him. Due to Robin giving himself the original wound, the killer managed to avoid staining their own clothes and dug the scalpel in deep enough that when we found Robin, we wouldn't recognize the scalpel for what it was. After that, the killer left at some point, leaving Robin in Chia's Talent Room with hours left to live."
"Hours later, when the rest of us woke up, we acted as if it were a normal day, unaware that Robin was dying right above our heads. Who knows if we would have found him at all, if Chia, Aretha and I hadn't decided to set up a triple practice in order to see our own talents in action. But when we entered Chia's Talent Room, we found Robin, still alive but not for much longer. Aretha ran to find the others while Chia and I tried to help Robin."
"However, Robin refused to let us remove the weapon, concerned that doing so would make one of us the blackened since the scalpel was acting as a stopgap. Instead, he used his final moments to apologize to Chia, knowing she was his childhood friend Rinka. Right after he said those final words, Robin passed and the rest of you entered the room. And because Robin's time of death was so much later then the time he was attacked, the killer had successfully bought themself an alibi, muddying the waters."
"And the only person who would use such tactics…is you, Rosamie!"
Silence hung over the courtroom as everyone stared at Rosamie, who was looking down at the ground, her hair and glasses hiding her expression from sight.
"Rosa…mie…talk, dammit…" Nat whispered, their voice sounding almost broken to Maria's ears. "Fucking hell, did you…did you really…?"
"I suppose there is no point in denying it any longer," Rosamie stated. She lifted her head and met Maria's eyes, tilting her head to the side and smiling even as a tear fell from her eye. "Your logic is correct. Congratulations, Maria."
"Don't…please, Rosamie, don't," Maria whispered, her voice shaking. Her heart, still so fragile from revealing Tori as the one who killed Michi, cracked anew. A new scar for another friend she'd lost by her own choice.
"Fuck…Why the fuck did you do that?! I'm supposed to be the criminal in this relationship, asshole! You're supposed to be home safe, thinking about philosophical shit and asking me random ass questions when I come back and then spend your work shifts helping babies! Why would you think this is the answer, Rosa?!" Nat screamed, tears falling from their eyes. They looked seconds away from grabbing onto Rosamie and shaking her relentlessly. A second later, they grabbed their head and groaned. "My head…why can I…what the fuck did you do to me, bear?!"
"Oh? I did nothing." Monokuma shrugged. His innocent act was undermined, however, by the ominous glow of his red eye. "Perhaps the reality of your partner facing execution has made some memories…wake up."
"You fucker-!"
"Natsuko, please," Rosamie pleaded, cutting Nat off before they could say something they regret. Her voice was still mostly steady, but Maria could hear just the slightest waver. "I understand what I did and I shall explain, but please…make the correct decision."
Maria's heart was racing even as it broke in her chest, blood filling her lungs and making it difficult to breathe.
She did this. This was all her doing, she should've-
"Maria, please," Rosamie said, her voice cutting through Maria's thoughts. "You know what to do. Please, do not feel any guilt."
Maria bit her lip, nodding the slightest bit. She couldn't speak, all her words melting as soon as they reached her lips.
"Puhuhuhu…looks like you've reached your verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes?" Monokuma trilled all too happily, kicking his feet in his throne like a little kid. "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?"
Nat was trembling where Maria could see them, but Rosamie reached out, laying a hand on their wrist. Maria's heart shattered just a bit more.
"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, bright as sunlight and yet the most sinister thing Maria had ever heard.
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, Tori, and Robin's greyed out. All fifteen of them remaining lit up rapidly one after the other until, finally, only Rosamie's was lit up and the hologram was replaced with an image of Rosamie herself, dressed in her the Boy who Couldn't Shudder attire, sitting in a chair with a towel over her lap, a swaddled baby in her arms and various papers, no doubt philosophical ones, falling around her like snow.
"Oh me oh my! It looks as if it's time for our dear boy to learn about fear!" Monokuma declared, rubbing his paws together eagerly, sending shivers down Maria's spine. "The blackened in this case, the one who killed Kai, was none other than the Boy who Couldn't Shudder!"
"Now you better start talking, Doc," Hibiki stated, crossing his arms as he glared over at Rosamie.
"Of course." Rosamie nodded, as pointed as ever. "Your deductions were correct, Maria. Everything played out as you said."
"But why?" Chia asked, her voice shaking so much that she could barely speak at all. "Robin-Robbie did nothing to you, so why kill him? Why kill at all?"
"My motive was selfish," Rosamie admitted. "For all that I have witnessed many deaths when acting as a midwife, I have not had the chance to observe so closely, to understand it. I have seen life begin many times, but never death as I would have liked. And after I received Robin's secret…I could not stop myself from acting."
"His secret?" Sayuri repeated, looking a bit confused.
"Oh, don't tell me…" Ren whispered, looking horrified.
"He was in love with Chia." Rosamie nodded.
Chia let out a choked sob, her legs giving out on her. She would have hit the ground had Ren not grasped onto her, helping her remain standing as he hugged her tightly.
"The rest was as you surmised. After I completed the stabbing, I observed him for some time, to observe his mindset and actions. He was…relatively silent overall, surprisingly. Right before I left is when he started to repeatedly apologize, though it made no sense to me." Rosamie shrugged. There was the faintest hint of shame on her features. "And that's the whole sorry tale, all so I could observe him dying. But now…it seems so ridiculous now."
"Because the current you wouldn't have done such a thing, even if you only remember that now," Nima said, his voice sounding so desperately sad and tired.
"I see. Thank you, Nima," Rosamie smiled slightly. "I see that there are still things I must learn, it is only most unfortunate I cannot be here with you all to continue doing so."
"Is that really all you have to say?" Nat demanded, glaring at Rosamie with tear filled eyes. "Fuck, Rosa! Fuck!"
"Nothing else I say can make me look better," Rosamie admitted. "I wanted to see how those in love would react when one half dies while observing both halves. It's as horrible as it sounds. And I am not afraid of moving forward. I simply wish for you to do the same, my Natsuko."
"Fucking fuck fuckity hell!" Nat snarled, grasping onto Rosamie's arms and pulling her close. "I'm gonna live just to spite you now, you frustrating woman!"
Rosamie's lips quirked just slightly before she leaned in and lightly kissed Nat's cheek.
"Ughhhhhhhh!"
Monokuma's groan shattered the atmosphere and everyone turned to glare at him.
"Why do fairy tales always have this mushy sickly sweetness? Can we move on? Huh? What do you say, dear readers? You want to see me execute her, right? Riiiiiiiiiiight?"
"Who the fuck are you even talking to?" Hibiki deadpanned.
"This just in, the bear's insane!" Akihito grinned teasingly.
"P-please be careful with what you say!" Fuwari pleaded, looking a bit panicked.
"Don't worry, Songbird, we'll be fine," Aretha smiled, but it was obvious to Maria that she didn't mean it.
Nobody here would be fine, least of all Rosamie.
"Wonderful!" Monokuma cheered. "Then allow us to raise the curtain on our next performance! I've prepared a very special punishment for our Boy who Couldn't Shudder, Rosamie de Vera, the Ultimate Midwife!"
Monokuma speaking Rosamie's name was just as shudder inducing as the last time.
Rosamie, however, didn't react in the slightest. She only stared at Monokuma head on.
"Now then, iiiiiiiiiit'sssssss Puniiiiiiiiiiiishment Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!" Monokuma declared and raised his silver scepter, causing the mirror at the top to glow a brilliant silver.
Just like with Tori, chains sprung out of the air and clasped around Rosamie's wrists. Within seconds, she was pulled into the darkness of the snow storm surrounding them.
As soon as Rosamie was gone, Monokuma waved the scepter again and this time, the snow swirled in a circle, revealing a window that showed a stage.
Unlike Tori's execution, the stage this time was simply that, a stage, with what looked like a torture device in the center and a gleaming glass ceiling.
Rosamie was dragged in shortly thereafter and Maria shivered as she watched as she was forcefully strapped onto the metal table with straps tightly wrapped around her wrists, ankles, thighs and even her forehead, preventing Rosamie from moving even a centimeter.
A Monokuma wearing scrubs suddenly stepped out onto the stage and above him, a sign lit up, resembling an Emergency Entrance sign at a hospital, the words on it all too clear to be read mistakenly.
The Girl Who Wouldn't Scream.
The Monokuma jumped on top of the table Rosamie laid on then, holding up a scalpel. Using it, he cut into Rosamie's abdomen and Maria winced at just how deep it went.
But Rosamie didn't react.
So Monokuma cut further into her abdomen, to the same reaction. Then he tried her arm, her calf, the side of her head and her foot.
But with each cut, Rosamie only blinked, no scream leaving her lips even as blood welled up on her skin.
Growling, Monokuma threw the scalpel to the side and picked up a dagger, repeating his cuts once more. More blood sprayed out and still there was no reaction. Monokuma was obviously growing angry as Rosamie's lack of reaction, since he jumped off and wandered off the stage.
When he returned, it was with a chainsaw in hand, which he used to cut at Rosamie's knee, dismembering her legs one by one. Throughout it all, Rosamie never reacted.
Monokuma glared at her, dropping the chainsaw as his red eye glowed in fury. Rosamie only tilted her head slightly, causing blood to slide across the table with her hair.
Monokuma tilted his head up towards the ceiling and screamed, loud enough that the window separating the rest of the class from the execution vibrated. But that glass didn't break.
The glass ceiling above Rosamie, however, did.
And Maria could only watch as large pieces of glass fell and she saw the spark of fear in Rosamie's eyes. She was scared, for the first time she truly was scared.
But just when Maria thought she'd scream, Rosamie surprised them all.
The instant before the glass pierced her, she smiled, a real, full smile.
Blood flowed from the table to the floor as the scrub wearing Monokuma slowly turned to the class watching. He removed his mask and smiled at the class, raising his arms up to the sign that had declared the name of this execution.
The words on it had changed.
And they all lived happily ever after…!
"Ahhhhhh! What a beeeee-utiful bedtime story!" Monokuma crowed, drawing the rest of the horrified class's attention back to him. "I could just cry and go to sleep right now!"
"Alright, now you've really pissed me off," Nat snarled, casually sliding a jewel out of their coat sleeve down their arm like a basketball, passing it from hand to hand. "You think you're so clever, we'll see about that! I'm getting out of here without resorting to your fucked up little jerk off!"
"How rude, my dear Lupin! Should you not save that for Holmes? Oh wait, he isn't here!" Monokuma laughed. "Ah well, c'est la vie! And we still have four more chapters to go!"
"You are insane!" Maria hissed. "This isn't a book or some fucked up story! It's our lives you're playing with! How on Earth can you think this is okay?! How?!"
"Pretty easily. After all, this is my bearily ever after," Monokuma grinned and it was very obviously a threat. Maria stumbled back, her back hitting someone's chest. "So I suggest you all become beary comfortable with life here. It's all you fucking losers have left, after all!"
"Who are you?" Fuwari asked, tears clinging to her eyelashes. "What did we ever do to you?"
"Isn't that the question? The answer is…bzzzzt! Bye bye!" Monokuma stuck his tongue out and with a wave of the scepter, vanished.
"It seems we got under that monster's skin," Chiasa commented. "Excellent. That means he's more likely to make mistakes."
"He doesn't seem the type to make any mistakes," Aretha admitted, looking a bit uneasy.
"But everyone does. It's human nature," Nima stated firmly. He met everyone's gaze one by one, waiting until they all nodded at least a little, whether they believed it or not.
"So what now?" Satou asked, even as she examined her nails.
"Now, we go back upstairs and reconvene tomorrow. We cannot allow this to continue," Yoshi stated, firm and resolute. "I will not allow any more of us to die."
"Do you think you can do it?" Arisu asked, a bit scared.
"He's the chief, he's gonna fucking try," Hibiki answered, squeezing her shoulder. Yoshi nodded firmly in agreement.
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Akihito grinned, his voice close enough that Maria knew it was his chest she ran into. "Whaddya say, Chia?"
"Rinka."
"Huh?" Fuwari asked, turning to face the fire dancer. "Sorry, did you say…Rinka?"
"Yes." Chia nodded. She clutched the candle and ice crystal firmly yet gently in her hands. "Please, call me Rinka. Rinka Miyake. That's who I am. That's…my name."
"And it's a lovely one," Sayuri smiled gently.
"Yes, it is." Maria nodded in agreement, looking around as, one by one, the rest of the class nodded.
Nat, however, did not. Instead, they stepped forward and met Rinka's gaze dead on.
"Rinka, huh…alright then," they stated before holding a hand out to her. Slowly, Rinka took Nat's hand in hers and they shook. "I'm sorry he was taken from you."
"I…I'm sorry s-she was taken from you too," Rinka whispered, her tears already falling again. Nat, however, only nodded before they straightened up and began to lead the way back to the elevator.
"Well? You losers coming? I'm freezing my ass off here!" they yelled back, causing a few chuckles to rise out of the group.
Maria turned her head, looking up at Akihito, who smiled back down at her gently. Without thinking, her hand came up and she brushed the back of her fingers against his cheek, causing his breath to catch.
Slowly, giving her a chance to pull away, he reached up and took her hand in his, squeezing it before he stepped to the side to intertwine their fingers and lead her to the elevator.
Maria never let go.
Total Surviving Students: 14
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 Phantom Thief
Tori Keji – Ultimate Painter
Rosamie de Vera – Ultimate Midwife
Arisu Takara – Ultimate Game Host
Satou Mike – Ultimate Executive Producer
Hibiki Mikami – Ultimate Dispatcher
Rinka Miyake – Ultimate Fire Dancer
Jordan Franklin – Ultimate Drag Artist
Irusu Shogani + Nima – Ultimate Acoustic Engineer
Chiasa Oigamori – Ultimate Huntress
Robin Yukimura – Ultimate Glaciologist
And there is the end of Chapter 2! For those who sent me their theories, I'm glad to say my little misdirection worked and your theories were very well thought out with the clues I left. I hope the twists in this trial made it an entertaining one for all of you as well!
Once again, the execution of this chapter is entirely credited with Amy47101! And the main force that pushed me to finish this at last is entirely owed to Sakura Idol, who only has TWO profiles left to complete! Please go give Sakura all the love and support because the art is so much more than I could have ever dared asked for!
Finally, I will be opening the voting for the Chapter 3 FTEs in a couple days, so enough people have time to read this before I accidentally spoil the culprit. Next time I update here, be sure to go check it out!
I think that's everything then. I hope you all enjoyed this Chapter! I look forward to your thoughts! See you next time!