Danganronpa: Happily Never After

by WolfieRed23

For some people, life is a fairy tale. For others, life is nothing more than a tragedy. And now Maria Kikumoto has found herself in the middle of one such tragedy, alongside 17 other students suddenly trapped in the so called Palace of Despair, with only each other, Monokuma, and silent servants for company. Want to leave? All you have to do is kill! Puhuhu! SYOC. Cover: SakuraIdol

29. Chapter 29:Chapter 3B 2: The Way

There was a lump in Maria's throat as she pushed the red velvet doors open, finding her remaining classmates waiting for her on the other side. She still couldn't believe that Ren had died during the investigation and none of them had known until they discovered his body. Now, instead of thirteen, they were down to twelve and they were going to lose one more of their number soon.

They had started with eighteen. And if Monokuma had his way, which she had no doubt he would, they would soon have less than ten.

Would it still continue then, until there was only one of them left? Maria didn't know and even then, would that be the end? Or would Monokuma—or rather, the mastermind behind him—reset the simulation and start the game all over again, forcing them to kill each other over and over again in an endless loop? It was a terrifying prospect, one Maria felt sick even thinking about, but right now, there was nothing she could do.

She forced her gaze up, focusing on her classmates. An awkward air still hung around them all and none of them seemed willing to break the silence. Not even Akihito, who glanced away as soon as Maria's eyes caught his. Guilt struck her heart but she pushed it down as far as it could go.

She couldn't deal with that, not right now.

"Nervous, Swan Lake?" Aretha asked softly. Maria glanced at the drag artist, finding a glimmering gold bracelet on her right wrist and snowflakes decorating her hair. The tributes for Rosamie and Robin, just as blatant as the ones for Michi and Tori.

"Aren't I always?" Maria smiled in a self-deprecating manner. Aretha laughed, a bark of air that was more forceful than it usually was, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears and tension still apparent in her shoulders.

"Well, if anyone can solve this mess we've found ourselves in, it's you," she stated, reaching out to squeeze Maria's shoulder lightly. "Just trust in yourself and you'll figure it out."

"And you've got us, too," Sayuri added, joining Maria's other side. Her eyes were still rimmed red despite the servants' attempts to hide the signs of her mourning with makeup. Maria reached out to squeeze her hand, unable to even imagine the depths of grief she must be experiencing. "We'll find the truth just like we did the last couple times, like we always do."

"Quite." Yoshi nodded firmly. Fuwari was cradled in his arms even now, her cheeks still stained with tears. In comparison, Yoshi wore a rather stoic expression, though his eyes were just as pained as the indie filmmaker's. "Chiasa and Ren deserve the justice that the truth will bring them. No matter what, we shall uncover what happened to the two of them."

"That's the spirit, Oedipus Rex!" Monokuma cheered as he entered the room, smiling far too brightly up at them all. "Though even if you don't find the truth, I don't mind that much. I get to punish someone no matter what happens, after all! Puhuhuhu!"

"I mean, we've only got to find one killer this time, yeah? Like, that's totes gonna be easy with all the evidence we found," Satou grinned, looking over her nails almost lazily. "Besides, it's not like a dirty killer deserves the chance to hang out with someone like me."

"Nobody here is a dirty killer," Akihito argued, his eyes silencing her with a glare. Maria felt her breath catch in her throat, something about this striking a chord in her, but one she couldn't quite explain. "We're all just victims stuck playing Monokuma's game."

"You're damn right we are," Nat agreed, crossing their arms as they cocked a hip to the side. "Ain't no way any of those poor bastards would've done any of that shit if we weren't trapped here."

"And what makes you so sure of that, hmmm, Arsene Lupin?" Monokuma questioned, tilting his head to the side. "After all, you can't remember just how well you knew everyone, if you did at all. What makes you so sure that the few who claim to be together, including yourself, are even telling the truth? Or if those memories are even real?"

Maria could feel her blood turning to ice as her eyes, without thought, glanced towards Akihito. She didn't have the memories that his motive influenced self did and she couldn't deny that her own lack of memories terrified her. She trusted Akihito, she did, but it was based on the time they've spent here and engrained habits that her mind wasn't able to let go, even with her memories missing. But nothing she had could confirm what Akihito had said while under the motive's influence and it would be just like Monokuma to give them all fake memories just to mess with them.

But Akihito met her gaze head on and never glanced away. Maria's heart raced in her chest and she glanced away as heat filled her cheeks.

"Bullshit!" Hibiki snarled, moving to march towards Monokuma only to be held back by Arisu. "You can say whatever shit you want about us, but don't you dare insinuate any of us would lie about this, you shitty bear! You fucked with our memories, you don't get to claim anything we remember is false!"

"And so far, it's not," Nima added, causing Monokuma to glare at him. "And my memory is untouched by you."

"Hmm…yes, your existence was an oversight on my part," Monokuma admitted begrudgingly. His red eye pulsed angrily, but Nima didn't even flinch. He knew, just as well as the rest of them, that Monokuma couldn't do anything to him unless he broke a rule. "But next time…I won't make that mistake."

"There will never be a next time!" Maria snapped, glaring down at the bear. "I won't let there be!"

"Puhuhu…what an imagination you have, Snow White! Thinking you have any power in my game…I'm so amused, I could cry!" Monokuma laughed, throwing his head back with the force of it. Rinka flinched from the sound and Maria couldn't blame her, she almost wanted to hide away herself.

But she didn't. Instead, she glared down at the bear who made their lives hell, who stole her voice as easily as he stole their memories. She wouldn't let him do that, never again.

"Right then, I think that's enough banter for now!" Monokuma beamed, clapping his paws together. As if on cue, the elevator doors opened, inviting them all to enter and descend into the depths of the palace. "I shall see all of you inside then, my lovely court! I look forward to hearing your spirited debates, puhuhu!"

With a bow and a swirl of his cape, Monokuma vanished, leaving the twelve students alone with an open elevator.

"Well then…let's go," Yoshi stated, though Maria could see the clear anxiety in his posture. He held Fuwari's hand tightly in his as the two of them led the way into the elevator. The others began to follow them, one by one, until it was only Maria and Sayuri left outside.

Maria glanced at her friend, watching as a single tear fell from her eyes, her hand trembling at her side. Without hesitating, she took Sayuri's hand in her own and squeezed it tightly.

"We'll find the truth," she promised, causing Sayuri to glance at her. Tears had turned her eyes into a shimmering lake, but none of them fell. She simply nodded firmly and squeezed Maria's hand back.

The two of them entered the elevator together and the doors closed behind them. The elevator began to descend and Maria clutched onto Sayuri's hand just as tightly as Sayuri grasped hers, a lifeline in the dark. The elevator was even emptier now, with six of them dead. She could see the holes where they were supposed to be, like missing pieces from a puzzle, unsolvable while those six were lost. The air in the elevator was heavy as it always was, but that didn't mean it was easy to bear. If anything, Maria felt as if the air was being squeezed from her lungs with each level the elevator passed, however many that was.

It felt like a small eternity before the familiar ding rang out as they arrived and the elevator doors slid open, revealing the new trial room for them all to see.

This time, they stepped out into a forest with multiple paths spread out from the center of the podiums. Maria glanced around, but the forest was so dark that she couldn't see much beyond the circle of the podiums or where the paths led. She could've sworn she heard the growling of wolves though and shivers raced down her spine. Just as she thought that, however, a light appeared in one of the paths, flooding it with light and revealing a pearl white pumpkin shaped carriage. Magic seemed to swirl around that path, beckoning them all to explore it and see what they find.

"Whoa!" Satou cried out as she stepped out of the elevator, nearly twisting her ankle as her knees buckled.

"Careful there, doll," Aretha warned, barely catching the executive producer by the elbow. "Wouldn't want a third death on our hands."

"Thanks, Retha!" Satou beamed, relief causing her shoulders to relax. "Help me to my podium, hm? I wouldn't want to almost fall again cause the ground's so uneven."

Maria stepped out, comforted, at least, by the fact that nobody was hurt and this this trial room didn't seem to be as environmentally harrowing as Michi and Robin's had been. The darkness wasn't a big improvement, but it was something at least compared to being underwater and in below zero temperatures. And their podiums were all decorated with cloaks similar to the one Chiasa had worn while attending the trials, each in their respective colors. As Maria approached her own podium, she realized there was also a wand lined against the podium's top, providing just a bit of light for them all to see by, also color coded.

Right behind the podiums was Monokuma on his throne, wearing a pure white nightgown which contrasted sharply with the large king's crown on his head, his scepter resembling a gold magic wand with a wolf shaped crystal at the top as the magical jewel. The throne was also pure white, glowing with the same magic as the carriage, entirely out of place with most of the courtroom.

Honestly, the whole thing seemed to be a mish mash of the two fairy tales that Chiasa and Ren had been assigned, like Monokuma had been prepared for a Red Riding Hood theme and had been forced to throw in the Fairy Godmother elements at the last minute without any of it making sense.

"Well, good thing Ren isn't here to see this," Akihito commented lightly.

"No kidding, he'd certainly have some comments on the décor," Aretha agreed. It seemed she agreed with the comments she imagined, her eyes filled with scorn as she stared down at her own cloak and wand. "It's tackier than anything a self-respecting queen would use as props."

"Minus five points for lack of creativity," Arisu graded, glaring at Monokuma.

"Hmph! You kids just don't understand artistry like I do," he scoffed, turning his nose up at all of them.

"No, you're just extremely tacky," Hibiki declared, crossing his arms.

"If you're all done insulting me, the king of the palace!" Monokuma shrieked, stomping his foot on the throne. "Isn't it time we got down to business?"

Maria ignored everything else, glancing around at the new funeral stands which had joined them. Rosamie's face had a pink skull painted across her face, with Xs where her eyes were. Chiasa's now had two pink wolves crossed over her face while Ren had two pink magic wands, both shaped like Xs.

"I don't know, I think insulting your taste in decorations is more entertaining for fucking sure," Nat grinned, sharklike in their manner. "Ain't that right, Rinka?"

Rinka startled at being addressed, glancing around before looking back down at her feet. Nat sighed, a forlorn expression on their face, and Maria's heart ached for her friend who'd already suffered enough.

"Ahhhhh-HEM!" Monokuma cleared his throat obnoxiously, glaring at them all.

"Yes, yes, let's please get started already," Satou agreed, clapping her hands together as she smiled up at Monokuma. "I am ever so excited to see how this trial will play out!"

"You're strangely chipper this time," Nima commented, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"But of course! After all, I don't want to die," Satou stated, waving a hand like it was obvious. And perhaps it was, but the fact that she failed to even mention the two victims simply…rubbed Maria the wrong way.

But she couldn't focus on that right now, not when she had other things to worry about. Maria stared across the circle of podiums and her eyes met Fuwari's. The poor girl still looked so heartbroken and Maria wanted nothing more than to squeeze her tight and never let her go. But there was nothing she could do except go forward into this mess that had been left to them by the killer.

And what a mess it was.

But 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. Rinka. 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 Chiasa Oigamori, the Ultimate Huntress, for Ren Sato, the Ultimate Matchmaker, 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 out '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! And remember~! Since this time we have a double murder on our hands, you all have to discover who the blackened is for the first murder, that of Chiasa Oigamori, the Ultimate Huntress. If her killer is different from that of Ren Sato, the Ultimate Matchmaker, then only they will be punished should you discover them."

"And if they're the same killer?" Yoshi questioned, his eyes narrow as he gazed at Monokuma.

"Then it doesn't matter in the end!" Monokuma giggled, waving his scepter happily. "But in the end, no matter what, the blackened you're seeking is the one who killed Chiasa Oigamori. Soooooo…focus on her first!"

"You're being strangely helpful for a change," Arisu noted, tapping a nervous finger against her podium. "It goes against your own rules…why the sudden change?"

"Hey, there's no precedent for double murders here! I'm just trying to keep you characters on the proper rails of the story!" Monokuma retorted, glaring at them all as his claws grew on his paws. "Now start debating before I lose my patience and add a timer like that pesky otter did!"

"Well, I'll start with the obvious question then," Satou piped up. "Like, why was she in Fae's room? Fae wasn't even there, after all."

"I-I don't know…" Fuwari admitted, staring down at her podium. "Ever since the motive w-went into effect…I hadn't seen Chiasa at all."

"That's true, she avoided everyone once the motive began. I don't even know where she was at the time," Yoshi added, a finger thoughtfully pressed to his chin. "Chiasa is…was always talented at avoiding people when she wished to be alone, so I'm not even sure where she was."

"I know," Maria spoke up, raising her hand slightly, as if she were in class. "Or at least, I know where she was yesterday. She and I were in her Talent Room together."

"Really?" Aretha raised an eyebrow in surprise. "So that's where you two disappeared to. Anything noteworthy happen?"

"Not really." Maria shook her head, thinking back. It hadn't been much of anything if she was being honest. They had just…sat in silence for hours, Maria seeking solitude from her own silence and Chiasa working with her weapons. "She let me in because I was unable to speak, but she did threaten me with her bow at first. After that, we were just…sitting together."

"Wait," Hibiki cut in, his brow furrowed. "You're saying Red threatened you with her bow?"

"Briefly," Maria confirmed. A bit nervous, she reached up to play with her hair. "It was the motive, I think. It made her more…standoffish then she normally was, more prone to isolating. But she let me in because I couldn't speak. That's my impression at least."

"Still, that's weird as fuck," Hibiki continued. "I mean, if anyone here was likely to fight off an attack, it would have been fucking Red. And if she was holding a fucking bow and arrow at you, her weapon of choice, then how the fuck did someone take her out with a sword? And where the fuck did it even come from?"

"My guess is the armory, they had a lot of fancy swords like that in there," Akihito answered, flicking a gold coin between his fingers. "But you are right about Chiasa. Why wouldn't she fight back?"

"It could be the motive," Maria suggested, a finger pressed against her cheek. "I mean, it made a few of us unnoticeable to everyone around us."

"Like Ren, you mean," Sayuri pointed out, her hands clutched above her heart. "The moment the motive activated, it was as if he didn't exist unless you looked for him purposefully."

"Yes, but not just him," Maria argued. "Hibiki was also less noticeable, covered in shadows as he was, and I couldn't speak. Rinka, too, was less noticeable than she usually is. Any of us could have gotten the jump on Chiasa."

"You're gonna have to speak up a bit louder," Nima cut in, his voice startling Maria from her thought process.

"Huh?" she questioned, confused.

"You say that Ren, Hibiki, Rinka and you all had the means to get a surprise attack on Chiasa, but your own testimony contradicts that," he pointed out, his eyes sharp in a way Maria was unused to seeing from him or Irusu. "As soon as you entered Chiasa's Talent Room, she noticed you and threatened you. So why wouldn't she notice any of you on the day she died?"

"The culprit clearly met with Chiasa today with the intention of killing her," Maria countered. Her hands trembled at her sides, but she had to keep going, even if it made her feel ill. "And considering who Chiasa was, anyone targeting her would have to be prepared beforehand in order to ambush her."

"But that's just who Chiasa was, a huntress," Nima stressed, gripping his podium. "Anyone in that profession or paranoid enough would never be able to let their guard down. But Chiasa was attacked and killed, and the Monokuma File mentions that there were no defensive wounds on her body."

"Then maybe there was something that made Chiasa slow to react, enough for the killer to get the jump on her," Maria argued even as her heart sank in her chest.

"And what would have made her slow to react?" Nima challenged.

"She was poisoned!" Maria shouted, silencing the entire courtroom.

"What…?" Fuwari asked, her eyes wide and tear filled once more and, oh, Maria hadn't wanted to reveal this in this way.

"Chiasa was poisoned," Maria repeated, unable to look at any of the others. "Among the food on the third floor was a picnic full of various poisons, including belladonna. Hibiki can confirm the symptoms, but the important part isn't just that they match Chiasa's body, but where we found the belladonna in the first place."

"Where was it found?" Nima asked, his voice gentle, as if he knew the answer already and was just waiting for Maria to finally give it voice.

"In Ren's pocket," Maria whispered, covering her face with her hands.

"No…" Sayuri whispered, her hands coming up to cover her mouth and her eyes wide. The horror and pain in her eyes was almost too much to bear, but there was nothing Maria could do to stop it. "No…you're saying that Ren…but he wouldn't! Never!"

"Not even to be noticed?" Aretha asked, her quiet voice sounding like a bell in the silent courtroom.

"What?" Sayuri asked, blinking in surprise.

"I'm not saying anything concrete, but we all know how the motive worked," Aretha explained, her gaze meeting Sayuri's and never looking away. "Ren's made him unnoticeable to us, meaning being noticed was something he strived to do at all times. With that taken away from him by force, is it possible he'd do something, anything, in order to get it back?"

"I…" Sayuri trailed off, unable to argue in the face of that argument. Tears filled her eyes and she viciously wiped them away before looking down at her podium, unable to meet anyone's eyes. "I still don't believe Ren did this…but I can't argue that he could have."

"Fair enough." Aretha nodded understandingly. She then glanced back at Maria and waved at the center with her hand. "Swan Lake, the floor is yours."

"All right," Maria sighed, trying to rally herself. She knew she was right, but that didn't make this any easier to explain. "Chiasa was poisoned at some point, probably by her killer, and by the time she was attacked, the poison had run its course enough that she was either unaware of what was happening or too weak to fight back."

"But how do you know it's the belladonna that she was poisoned with?" Nat asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

"The symptoms of belladonna poisoning can include vomiting, stomach pain, dry mouth, slowed breathing, slow pulse, delirium and even paralysis," Hibiki listed off, almost clinically. "Symptoms can start showing in a couple hours and it's extremely deadly."

"How do you know that off the top of your head?" Akihito questioned, looking a bit shocked at just how readily the answer came.

"Knowing the symptoms of poison is pretty fucking important when you've got idiotic assholes eating whatever plants they find in the fucking woods," Hibiki answered, rubbing his forehead. "For god's sake, how hard is it to not eat the berries when there's a giant fucking sign warning you not to?"

"The answer will shock you! It is extremely hard for certain people," Arisu added, a slightly cheeky smile on her face. Hibiki just slapped a hand over his eyes with a sigh.

"And with symptoms like that, Chiasa would either not notice or be an easy victim for the killer," Nima summarized, nodding a bit as he thought the words over. "Very well…I can accept this going forward."

"So Chiasa was poisoned and using this, the killer was able to bring her to Fuwari's room and attack her there," Yoshi said, a furrow in his brows. "That makes sense chronologically and with the Monokuma File, but why Fuwari's room? If Chiasa really did start the day and was targeted by the culprit in her Talent Room, why would they move her up two flights of stairs and kill her there?"

"Maybe for the dramatics?" Satou suggested, folding her arms. "I mean, you gotta admit, Shishi, it was a pretty dramatic scene to find. Startled me enough to scream after all."

"No, the location had to be on purpose," Akihito disagreed. "I mean, it's a lot of work to go up two flights of stairs just for dramatics. Even I wouldn't do that."

"But then why?" Satou questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"Maybe there was something they needed on the third floor specifically?" Arisu suggested thoughtfully.

"Or maybe they just wanted to pin the blame on Fuwari, like a coward," Nat scowled, crossing their arms.

"I still think it was for the drama," Satou insisted, smiling cheekily. "Makes the most sense to me."

"Could it be related to the incident with Yoshi on the third floor?" Aretha questioned, tapping a finger against her cheek.

"Or maybe it's just cause the rest of us were less likely to be up there, you dumbasses," Hibiki sighed, looking very tired.

"I think that's it!" Maria cut in, pointing Hibiki's way. "I mean…think about it, none of us have really been up there since we found it and especially not since the motive started. Nat couldn't even get up there! So if Chiasa screamed or tried to fight back, the rest of us would be less likely to hear it since we were most likely to be two floors down."

"That makes sense," Yoshi agreed, nodding slightly. "I believe the only people to truly spend time up there were myself and Chiasa during our rounds, Arisu and Hibiki during theirs when the motive was active, and Aretha and Satou."

"We split our time between the second and third," Satou confirmed, winking. "Retha and I were working on some surprises, after all, between her room and mine. But I can't share just yet, so sorry everyone!"

"Anyway," Maria continued, a sigh in her voice. "The point is that Hibiki's right. The reason Chiasa was found in Fuwari's room was most likely because most of us were unlikely to be up there during the murder."

"So to summarize right now…Chiasa was poisoned with belladonna, which allowed the killer to attack her. She was then taken to the third floor and killed in Fuwari's Talent Room," Nima explained, tilting his head lazily as he stared at Maria with focused eyes. "And she died in the middle of the day from multiple stab wounds…sound right?"

"That's what we know so far," Akihito confirmed, flipping the gold coin in his hand.

"But w-we're…no closer to figuring out who killed her," Fuwari pointed out, her hands trembling. "We know how…when and…where…we may even know why. But we don't know who!"

"We don't know who yet, but we do have a suspect," Nat pointed out. Their eyes briefly darted over to Sayuri, an almost apologetic look in them that was there and gone faster than a blink.

"You mean Ren…don't you?" Sayuri asked, her voice quiet.

"Sayuri…" Maria called out, unsure of just what she wanted to say, but wanting to comfort her friend all the same.

"It's okay." She shook her head, strands of hair falling into her eyes, hiding her gaze from the rest of them. "I knew we'd have to talk about him like this. I…I'm okay."

It was obviously a lie, but there was nothing else any of them could do except continue forward.

"I mean…personally, I think Ren did it." Satou shrugged in a lazy manner. "He had the belladonna after all and hung himself from the guilt of it, open and shut to me."

"You can't say he's the killer when he isn't here to defend himself," Arisu protested, glaring at Satou. "He could have easily been murdered and framed so the real killer could get away with it, all within the game's rules."

"I ain't saying he fucking did it, but the evidence sure does paint a picture of it being him," Nat argued, raising a finger towards the ceiling. "Unnoticeable, belladonna on him and dead, not painting a pretty picture."

"But why would he kill himself then?" Aretha challenged, quirking one of her eyebrows. "I mean, it's a genius plot if Lover Boy pulled it off, we wouldn't have much of an idea who did it."

"Perhaps once the motive ended, Ren felt guilty for what he did and chose to take his own life in response?" Akihito offered.

"But that doesn't make sense!" Hibiki protested, looking annoyed. "None of that matches Lover Boy's fucking personality, let alone his own fucking reaction to seeing Red's body!"

"Well, it's not like anybody can prove he was somewhere else at the time of the murder," Satou drawled sarcastically.

"No, there is!" Maria cut in, leaning forward on her podium as she met Satou's gaze. "There is someone who was with Ren during the time of the murder!"

"There was?" Sayuri gasped, her head lifting as hope sparked in her eyes. "Who? Who was it?"

"It was me."

Fuwari's voice rang throughout the courtroom, drawing everyone's eyes. She looked down for a second before she forced herself to gather her courage and look up once more.

"Ren and I…w-we spent the morning and early afternoon together. W-We even heard Satou scream together," she confessed. She took a deep breath before meeting Satou's gaze head on. "So no, Ren couldn't kill Chiasa. He was with me the entire time."

"The entire time?" Satou hummed, leaning forward on her podium with a smirk on her face. It was a sly smirk, like something Maria imagined an evil genius would wear when they thought that they had won. "Really, Fae? And when exactly did you meet Ren?"

"H-Huh?" Fuwari stuttered, surprised.

"I mean, if you're gonna claim to have been with him the whole time, then obviously you know the exact time you found him. Right?" Satou's smirk stretched wider, resembling a knife now. "Right?"

Fuwari was looking at the ground, unable to meet Satou's gaze. The executive producer let out a giggle that grated on Maria's ears and she glared at her in response.

"My, Fae, I don't know if I should have expected this from you or not! You really didn't check the time? What a simple mistake! Truly, I would never make sure a mistake, especially when working! You need to know the time down to the second when you want your work to go right, after all," Satou laughed, leaning back from the force of it all.

"Satou…" Sayuri trailed off, looking unsure of just what to say.

"I'm not wrong!" Satou protested, straightening up, her hands on her hips. "Fae is acting as Ren's alibi, but how can we consider it accurate without the time? It's not like anyone here can confirm it for her—"

"Hold it right there!" Arisu shouted, pointing an accusing finger Satou's way. She moved so fast that a fierce wind blew towards the executive producer, cutting her voice off entirely. "I may not know the exact time Player Fuwari and Player Ren met up, but I can narrow it down!"

"Oh really? Do tell, Ari!" Satou beamed, clapping her hands excitedly.

"Player Hibiki and I ran into Player Fuwari during our rounds early today!" Arisu declared, smiling triumphantly. She flashed an Ace of Hearts in her hand as she continued. "Specifically, we crossed paths with her at 10:02 AM, right outside her bedroom door!"

"That's right," Hibiki confirmed, his own eyes widening as he remembered. "We were going around to make sure everyone was up and out of their rooms. The only ones still inside their rooms then were Sound Guy and Songbird."

"And Player Fuwari ran away from us after that. I checked the time so I know exactly when she could have met with Player Ren," Arisu smiled, pulling the card close to shuffle her deck only to pull out a royal flush, all hearts. "And that was 10:02 AM. Player Fuwari, where did you go after you saw us?"

"I-I ran to the m-main corridor," Fuwari answered, looking up to meet Satou's eyes. "And I sat in the s-shadows there…with Ren. Until we heard your scream."

"Huh…all right, I suppose I have to give you that, Fae," Satou sighed before a smile grew on her face and she winked in an exaggerated manner. "So if Ren didn't kill Chi-Chi, who did~?"

"I think what we should be asking is why Ren died actually," Yoshi cut in, a furrow to his brow. He placed a finger against his chin. "After all, the crime scene was set up so we would think he killed Chiasa, but why? If he hadn't died, the killer very well could have gotten away with this crime."

"That's true," Aretha agreed, tapping a nail against her cheek. "There really wasn't much evidence left at the original scene. So why was Lover Boy killed?"

Silence fell over the courtroom as they all thought through the scenes again. Maria bit her lip, frustrated with herself. Nothing she'd found could explain why Ren had been killed and the whole thing had been framed so carefully as a suicide that she had almost fallen into that trap. Ren was her friend, the first person she'd met in this hell, how could she not believe in him? Not again. She'd figure this out, she would.

Why was Ren killed…?

"I think he…saw something."

Maria's head shot up, her eyes meeting Rinka's. The fire dancer was staring at the ground, playing nervously with the bracelets on her wrists.

"Rinka?" Maria called out, causing her to glance up for a second before looking down again.

"It's just…when I-I was investigating, I found something…strange," she admitted.

"Strange? What was it?" Akihito questioned, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

Rinka didn't answer, but instead took out a scarf from her pocket, holding it out for all of them to see.

Maria's heart stopped in her chest.

"A scarf?" Nat asked, an unreadable expression on their face. "Hey, Rinka, pass it here." Rinka nodded, doing so, and the phantom thief began to carefully examine each fold of the scarf.

"What're you looking for?" Nima questioned.

"If I'm right then there should be…ah!" Nat crowed triumphantly, picking something up. "I knew it! Take a look at this, you fuck wads!"

"What…is that exactly?" Satou questioned, her voice taking on a derisive tone.

"It looks like…a piece of hair," Maria noted, leaning closer to Nat's podium.

"You bet your ass it is," Nat grinned, sharklike. "And that's not all. If I twist this scarf like this…"

They demonstrated exactly what they were talking about and Maria gasped as it clicked together in her mind.

"Are you saying this was used on Chiasa?!" she cried, her eyes not leaving the scarf for a second.

"I can't confirm it, but I suspect it sure as fuck was," Nat confirmed, holding the scarf up for them all to see the shape it made.

It was a garrote.

"Wait, are you saying—" Akihito started to ask.

"The killer was trying to hide the fact that they strangled Chiasa," Nat declared holding the scarf up. "Her hair is the one that's caught in here and they needed to hide it. Ren just happened to walk in at a bad time, so they killed him by making it look like he hung himself and planting the remaining evidence on him. Just to get away with murder."

Silence hung over the courtroom for several moments as they all processed this.

"Sooooooo…" Satou cut in, shattering the silence without a care. "What does this tell us about the killer then?"

"Satou!" Maria scolded, glaring at the executive producer.

"I'm just saying!" She shrugged nonchalantly. "So Ren caught the killer and got himself killed. That doesn't tell us about who killed Chi-Chi now does it? And that's why we're here, ya know. Besides…wasn't Chi-Chi stabbed to death?"

"And poisoned by belladonna too," Aretha agreed, a thoughtful frown on her face. "Strangling her between the two doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Maybe Chiasa woke up when they stabbed her so they had to strangle her to knock her back out," Nat suggested. "The fuck does it matter? This clearly directs us to the killer somehow."

"And where did it come from?" Yoshi questioned. "If we can figure that out, we'll have our next suspect."

"Not exactly," Aretha argued. "I mean, it looks like something from my Talent Room, but that's open to everyone."

"And who visited your Talent Room recently?" Yoshi asked, crossing his arms as he stared Aretha down. The drag artist shrugged nonchalantly.

"I haven't been in there recently, so I wouldn't know. It could've been taken at any time, you know, sugar?" she pointed out. "I don't think this scarf tells us much, you get me?"

"So we're back at square one?" Akihito groaned, running a hand through his hair. "What else can we talk about? We all know the murder weapon came from the armory, there was nothing else in Fuwari's room for us to use to figure it out. How are we supposed to solve this?"

"What about the poison?" Maria suggested, causing everyone to look at her. She shrugged. "I mean, Chiasa was a huntress, but in order for this murder to work, she had to have been poisoned with belladonna. How did the killer manage that?"

"That's a good question," Yoshi hummed in agreement, nodding. "Yes, if we can figure that out, perhaps we will find something new."

"But how could someone poison Chiasa?" Sayuri asked. "And when would they have had the opportunity?"

"This morning," Maria answered, thinking back. She crossed her arms. "Don't you remember? Chiasa was one of the people who skipped breakfast this morning, which isn't like her. It's possible the culprit used that window of opportunity to poison her."

"That's true," Fuwari agreed, biting her lip nervously. "She…didn't c-come out of her room this m-morning for breakfast."

"So it's most likely something in her breakfast was poisoned, something she wouldn't notice," Maria explained. "Meaning someone brought her breakfast this morning with the plan to poison her."

"Whoa, whoa! Are you saying Jordie—I mean, Retha poisoned Chi-Chi?" Satou gasped, her hand coming up to clutch at her chest. "That's insane! I was with her the whole day, you know! We didn't do anything!"

"I wasn't accusing either of you." Maria shook her head, bewilderment no doubt written all over her face. "I was just talking about a possibility. But you two delivered breakfast this morning?"

"We did," Aretha confirmed. "To be specific, Swan Lake, we delivered breakfast to the people who were staying in their rooms: Sound Guy and Little Red. Just the two of them remained in their rooms."

"And there was no belladonna involved!" Satou added, her cheeks puffed out in anger at the two of them being accused. Maria opened her mouth to protest that she hadn't been accusing either of them when Satou's eyes widened. "Oh!"

"What is it?" Sayuri questioned, looking concerned.

"I just realized," Satou said, turning towards a certain person as she did so. "Retha and I delivered Iri's breakfast first and Retha told him that's what we were doing."

"Wh-What are you saying?" Rinka stuttered, her gaze following Satou's in worry.

"I concur. What are you saying, Satou?" Nima demanded, crossing his arms as his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I'm saying," Satou stressed the word. "That Iri knew what we were doing. Meaning that he could have used our kind gesture as a cover up to kill Chi-Chi."

A bang resounded throughout the courtroom and Maria flinched from just how loud it was, her head turning towards Nima as her heart raced in her chest. He was glaring at Satou with such ferocity, unlike anything she could remember seeing from him since they'd met in this game. He was grinding his teeth, looking seconds away from launching himself at her, held back only by his hand clutching tightly onto the podium.

"Satou…" he said, his voice soft but all the more frightening for the silence surrounding it, causing it to echo in the forest path they found themselves in. "I knew you were a bitch before, but this is too far…even for you."

"Excuse me?" Satou gasped, her eyes wide. "What right do you have to talk to me like that?"

"I have every right…every right in the fucking world," Nima sneered, his features sharpening even further. "You better start explaining just why you're accusing Irusu before I force you to."

"Scary, scary~" Satou hummed, looking completely relaxed despite the sudden turn of events. "All right, you want an explanation? Then allow me!"

She curtsied, as if she were a princess in a ballroom, ready to dance with her prince. But all Maria could see in that moment was a snake, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"First of all, the only two people Retha and I brought breakfast to this morning were Iri and Chi-Chi," Satou explained, examining her nails as she spoke. "We brought Iri his food first, since his room was closer to the dining hall and Aretha told him what we were doing. That was the last time anyone saw Iri until we found Chi-Chi's body and he was brought out of hiding because he had no choice. Meaning there's a convenient window of time where nobody knows where he was and what he was doing, where Chi-Chi," Here, Satou let out a dramatic gasp, as if to hammer her point home before she continued, "died! So, theoretically, it's entirely possible for Iri to have left his room once we were gone and planned to use us to kill Chi-Chi. That should tie everything nicely together, doesn't it?"

"Not bad…except you're wrong," Nima scoffed, crossing his arms.

"I'm sorry?" Satou questioned, her voice taking on a scary quality, as if daring Nima to repeat himself.

"I know Irusu better than anyone else here, anyone else in the world, and I said you're wrong," Nima repeated, his head held high. "Hey, Maria."

"Yes?" Maria questioned, surprised that she was being addressed. The air had gotten so cold, everything so intensely focused on Nima and Satou that she had almost forgotten she could even be involved in this conversation.

"You mentioned the motive changed everyone…right?" Nima asked, his eyes never leaving Satou, like a hunter tracking their prey. At Maria's confirmation, he continued, "What happened to Irusu then?"

"Irusu…ah!" Maria gasped, her eyes widening. "That's right! He'd changed entirely! He wasn't even human anymore, he was a beetle!"

"And not just that," Aretha piped up. "Sound Guy couldn't open any doors on his own. I let him in his room that first night and he never came out again as far as I know."

"Which means Irusu couldn't have done it!" Akihito grinned, pumping a fist in the air excitedly.

"No…" Satou shook her head, her smirk somehow growing wider. "It just means that someone else, using his body, could have."

"You're really not going to let this go, are you?" Nima scowled, crossing his arms and gripping his coat sleeve tightly.

"Why wouldn't I?" Satou asked, curious. She tilted her head to the side, an almost innocent look in her eyes. "I mean…I know what you're hiding from us. Why wouldn't I suspect you?"

"What do you mean…are you talking about the last motive?" Sayuri questioned, her eyes wide.

"What is she talking about, Nima?" Hibiki demanded, glancing towards the acoustic engineer.

"I thought we were done with that motive!" Arisu cried. "Now it's coming up again? Player Satou sure had an ace up her sleeve!"

"Satou, explain yourself!" Yoshi ordered, glaring at her now.

"I was just about to!" Satou exclaimed, pouting as she placed her hands on her hips. "Not my fault you all decided to ask questions."

"Satou!" Maria shouted, feeling her fingers twitch at her sides. She was going to throttle someone at this rate.

"All right, all right, I'll spill the deets!" Satou beamed, winking exaggeratedly at them all. "Now then, where was I?"

"Don't you fucking dare…" Nima warned. Maria glanced his way only to find him glaring at Satou with so much hate it was as if a shadow had fallen over him. His eyes were the only part of him she could still reasonably see and they looked…terrifying, piercing through the shadow surrounding him like a monster from her nightmares.

"Hmm…ah, yes! It was right here!" Satou grinned, unrepentant in the secret she was about to spill.

"Satou…you fucking bitch…" Nima growled.

"Well, you guys, see, Nima exists because—"

"Shut up…"

"When he was younger, Iri—"

"I said shut up…"

"Well, how do I say this nicely…"

"Shut—"

"Iri killed his older brother!"

Silence resounded throughout the courtroom for several moments before it was interrupted by the sound a slam as Nima's hands hit the podium in front of him. His eyes were glowing with a fierce, almost murderous rage, as he sucked in as much air as he could, as if there was too little of it in the room.

"You…little…bitch!"

Nima moved, as if to throw himself at Satou, but Maria moved quicker. Before anyone could blink, she had thrown herself at Nima, grasping his arm and holding him down with as much strength as she could muster.

"Let go of me!" Nima snarled, fighting against her. "Fucking hell, Maria, let me go!"

"I won't!" Maria shouted, tightening her grip on his arm. Her nails dug into his suit jacket, but she didn't care. He had no reason to hurt her and he hadn't shown any intention of doing so before now. She had nothing to fear. And she wouldn't let him do something he'd regret either. "I'm not letting go, Nima!"

"Fuck…lemme at that bitch!" Nima demanded. His hand closed around Maria's as if to pry her nails from his arm, but she only tightened her grip, glaring up at him.

"I'm not letting you do this!" she declared, feeling her eyes burn. "I don't care what you've done or what Irusu's done, I don't care if you're not planning on hurting Satou at all, I'm not letting go!"

"And why the fuck not?!" Nima leaned closer, close enough that their foreheads were practically touching and no doubt all he could see were her eyes. That was all Maria could see, after all. That and the pain in them.

"Because killing Satou isn't going to take back what she said and it's not going to save Irusu," Maria argued, meeting him glare for glare. "And I don't want to live with anymore regrets, so when I tell you I'm not letting go, I mean it. I am never letting you fucking go!"

The courtroom probably hadn't ever been this silent in all the trials before this one combined, but Maria didn't pay it any mind. Her entire focus was on Nima, watching that pain in his eyes. She squeezed his arm even tighter, emphasizing her words.

She wasn't letting him go, not now and not ever.

A small eternity must have passed before Nima calmed down enough to let out a breath. He hung his head, resting his forehead on Maria's shoulder as his hand relaxed. Trusting him to not attempt to escape her hold again, Maria raised one of her hands to his hair and began to tangle her fingers in it, trying to sooth him. His top hat had fallen off at some point, but she only vaguely noticed this, focusing on calming the young man in her arms instead.

"It will be okay," she whispered. "This doesn't change anything. We'll find the truth and keep both you and Irusu safe. I promise."

Nima didn't say a word, instead just…resting there for several moments. Maria didn't complain, instead continuing her soothing motions over and over again, calming him as best as she could.

"Ugh, snoooooooooooooooooore!"

Monokuma's irritated voice shattered the moment and Maria glared up at the bear, who was already glaring at her in turn.

"I signed up for a trial where someone dies, not a snooze fest where we hug each other and sing Kumbaya!" he shouted, waving his scepter at her in an irritated manner. "Get on with the show already!"

"Shut up…you damn bear," Nima groused, still not moving from his spot on Maria's shoulder. She didn't say a word, simply continuing her motions until he took in a deep breath and straightened up. Nima met her gaze and Maria gave him a single firm nod. She watched as he took in one more deep breath before he turned back to the front of his podium…and Satou.

She was staring at them, still smiling that same innocent smile, as if she hadn't just exposed a secret that Nima would have, and almost did, kill her for.

"Fine. You're right," Nima admitted, glaring at Satou. "Irusu murdered his older brother. And how does this explain why I would kill Chiasa?"

"I was getting there, but someone decided to have a little breakdown instead," Satou sighed dramatically.

"I don't think you can call that little," Nat snarked, smirking at the executive producer, who barely reacted.

"Now then, listen up everyone." Satou clapped her hands, as if she were a teacher in a classroom. "This is such a fascinating story, since it is, after all, the reason Nini exists!"

"The scroll had that much detail?" Akihito questioned, more curious than anything else.

"It did!" Satou declared, smiling brightly. "Now then, this all happened many years ago. Iri actually has two siblings, Mishima and Hilde, one brother and one sister, both older than him. And one day, while Mishima and Iri were home alone, they got into a fight, since Mishima worked as a musician and Iri, like a dummy, critiqued his big brother. The fight went south fast, until Mishima claimed their father left their family behind because of Iri. Iri, in his anger, grabbed a nearby ash tray and slammed it into his poor big brother's head, killing him instantly. How tragic! But if we were to ask Iri, he wouldn't remember it like that, because Nini here was born in that moment! He manipulated his memories, all to protect Iri, and became his ultimate protector. Now, who's to say he wouldn't kill Chi-Chi over something equally as small?"

"Hold on," Maria cut in, her eyes narrowing in thought. "You say this proves Nima could have killed Chiasa, but it's just a story how Irusu killed his brother in the heat of the moment, with an obvious motive. There's no motive here for Nima to kill Chiasa."

"We never talked much," Nima agreed, nodding slightly.

"Ah, but that's only as far as we know," Satou smirked, leaning forward on her podium coyly. "I mean, after all, Nima here has memories the rest of us don't. Who's to say he isn't lying about his lack of motive, hmm?"

"Fine, but why wait until now to kill Chiasa then?" Akihito argued. "He had plenty of opportunities to do something, but he hasn't."

"Uh, duh, so we wouldn't suspect him. He had to build trust so we would look at other people instead of him." Satou rolled her eyes. "Honestly, if I didn't get his scroll last motive, we wouldn't even know what he's capable of. You should all be thanking me."

"We should thank you…while you're accusing Nima of murder…right…" Nat muttered, rolling their own eyes at that. "Listen, princess, we're gonna need some more fucking proof then that. You got anything from the crime scene that proves it was him?"

"Unfortunately not," Satou sighed, looking down sadly. "I wanted to investigate his room, but Iri wouldn't let us in. I bet if we searched there, we'd definitely find something."

"That doesn't count as evidence," Yoshi protested, shaking his head. "If you don't have evidence outside of the scroll motive, then we can't consider Nima or Irusu as viable suspects in this case."

"But you still can't argue it wasn't him," Satou countered. "I mean, he was the only one who could've poisoned Chi-Chi, after all."

"Not entirely," Maria argued, placing a finger against her chin. "How would Nima know about the breakfast trays being delivered after all? His and Irusu's memories aren't connected like that."

"Oh…well…" Satou trailed off, the slightest twitch forming in the corner of her right eye.

"And on top of that, we still don't know if Nima even experienced the motive," Maria continued, not giving her a chance to think. "As far as we know, Irusu and Nima didn't switch once during the motive, so it's possible he didn't even have the opportunity to do any of this."

"But we don't know they didn't switch," Satou protested, pointing a finger to the ceiling as she made her point.

"Aretha," Fuwari spoke up then, causing all eyes to dart to her. She didn't flinch, instead staring at the drag artist with a focused gaze. "I-I mean, Aretha could confirm…who was fronting this morning, r-right?"

"That's right," Aretha agreed. She glanced down, her fingers playing with the jewelry she wore. "This morning, Sound Guy didn't talk to me, but…I did hear buzzing on the other side of the door."

"Meaning we can almost certainly confirm that Irusu was fronting this morning and we know he left right as the investigation started," Maria continued, pieces sliding into place in her mind. "And by your own admission, Satou, he never left his room before the trial started."

"Ghk!" Satou flinched at that, realizing she'd caught herself in a trap.

"And the method of death doesn't fit either of us either," Nima added, almost blandly as he spoke. "Irusu wouldn't plot a murder at all, but if he did kill, it would be a heat of the moment accident. For me, I'd be…very efficient. Not multiple stab wounds like Chiasa was found with."

"All of this to say that Nima and Irusu being the killers is impossible on almost all accounts," Maria summarized. Her eyes narrowed even further as she gazed at Satou. "I do wonder why you've been so insistent on them doing it though."

"Well, I-I mean…can you blame me?" Satou scoffed, crossing her arms. "They're a killer! Who else would I suspect except someone like them, hmm? It's not like you have any better ideas for suspects, now do you?"

Maria bit her lip. She hated to admit it, but Satou was right. She didn't have a better idea of who the killer could be. All she had was an idea and a lot of circumstantial evidence, none of which pointed solidly towards the killer no matter how she thought it through.

There was too much missing from the crime scenes to figure out who the killer was.

"Fuck…fuck!"

Hibiki's sudden curse startled Maria from her thoughts and she looked at him, finding him examining the Monokuma File carefully, an almost frantic look in his eyes.

"Hibiki…?" Fuwari questioned, concern in her voice.

"I think I just found something…fucking hell, this is why I should've checked his corpse!" he cursed. His head shot up then, glaring at Monokuma. "Oi, Monoshit! Can you enlarge this picture of Lover Boy's neck?"

"Hmm…I can, but why should I?" Monokuma asked, tilting his head to the side. His red eye seemed to spark with amusement and Maria clenched her fists in frustration.

"You're all about entertainment, right? Well trust me, this'll be fucking entertaining!" Hibiki argued. His eyes were insistent, almost manic at that. Whatever he found, it rattled him and Maria was almost scared to know what it was.

"Oh, well…very well. I shall allow it!" Monokuma grinned, waving his scepter in the air. Suddenly, a large holographic picture of Ren's neck appeared in the center of the podiums, allowing them all to see it. "Well then, Ugly Duckling, entertain me!"

Hibiki ignored the bear, his fingers already tracing the image.

"Look at this, right here," he explained. "The direction of the damage his neck suffered from isn't shaped entirely like a noose, it goes around his neck entirely rather than at an angle."

"What…does that mean?" Rinka questioned, looking a little confused.

"It mean that Lover Boy was strangled," Hibiki answered, his eyes deadly serious. "And when we compare to Red's neck—oi, Build-a-Bear-Reject!" The picture changed, showing Chiasa's own neck this time. "There's no mark like there is on Lover Boy's."

"Wait, but that means—" Maria cut herself off, her eyes widening.

"Whatever the fuck it was the killer was trying to hide, whatever it was that got Ren killed, it wasn't the garrote," Nat finished, a grim look on their face as they held the scarf up once more.

"A-And the hair…that must belong to—" Sayuri gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

"Ren," Akihito stated. His hands clenched into fists at his side. "His killer strangled him and then strung him up to die."

"And he doesn't have a time of death," Maria whispered, her heart racing in her chest. "Because Monokuma said it would be too easy then…too easy…"

"But that would mean…" Nima trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

Maria couldn't blame him, she could barely bring herself to finish it either. But they had to, because if they didn't, then this trial would go nowhere. And so, she forced the words past her throat, putting the truth to what happened to Ren at last to rest.

"Aretha…it was Aretha who killed Ren."

…

"What…?" Aretha whispered, her voice taking on a hollow quality. She was staring down at the podium, hiding her eyes from them all. "It…was me? I killed Ren…?"

"The person who attacked Ren must've intended for someone else to be the blackened for him, which is why we found the rope tied to the door knob. If the door was open, it would tighten the rope enough for the noose to break his neck. That means that whoever opened the door was automatically going to be the blackened," Akihito sighed, crossing his arms. "Whether they meant it to be you or not, we don't know for now. But yes, that's the truth."

"Oh god…" Aretha whispered. She sounded so far away, horror sinking into her expression before she covered it with her hands. "Oh god…!"

"Ren was…he…" Sayuri couldn't continue speaking. She covered her face as tears began to fall from her eyes, a sob escaping her throat. She crumbled on her podium, as if to protect herself from the truth by making herself as small as possible. "Ren…Ren…!"

"Aretha, Sayuri…" Maria whispered, reaching out, wanting to comfort her friends, but—

"Does this really matter though?"

"Satou!" Akihito shouted, glaring at the executive producer.

"I'm just saying," Satou continued, an uncaring expression on her face. "I mean, the one who killed Ren doesn't really matter. Our job is to figure out who killed Chiasa. That's all."

"How can you b-be so cruel?!" Rinka demanded, glaring at Satou now as well. "Ren was our friend, he was Sayuri's—"

"And it's tragic, truly." Satou nodded in agreement, placing a hand over her heart. "Sayuri has my condolences, but…what does it matter when Ren's killer isn't the blackened? Unless we find that person, we're all dead, ya know? And even knowing it was Aretha who killed him, that doesn't change anything."

Did it? Maria wasn't sure. All she knew for sure was that Aretha had shut down entirely while Sayuri was sobbing in pure grief. Was knowing that Aretha had been set up to kill Ren and how he actually died truly meaningless?

No, there had to be something here. Something she was missing that Ren's death could reveal about Chiasa's. But what was it? What was she missing? The answer was there, it had to be…

"Wait…" Fuwari spoke up, her voice hesitant. "What was the k-killer…or the person who s-strangled Ren trying to h-h-hide then?"

"What?" Maria questioned, her eyes darting to the indie filmmaker.

"I mean…we all thought Ren died b-because the killer was hiding the s-scarf…but that doesn't l-look right now," she explained, shrugging helplessly. "So what were they t-trying to hide from Chiasa's murder…why did Ren have to die?"

"You're right, Fuwari," Yoshi agreed, his eyes widening as his hand slammed on the podium. "Clearly, there's something we've overlooked! We have to look back at Chiasa's case from the start, to find that missing evidence!"

"Ugh, really?" Satou groaned. "We've gone over everything so many times though. What could we really be missing?"

"An excellent question proposed by Player Satou," Arisu agreed, biting her lip. "Do any of the remaining players have a satisfactory answer?"

What were they missing from Chiasa's murder? That was the question they had to answer if they wanted to keep going. And they had missed something, they just needed to find it.

If they found that…there was no doubt in Maria's mind that they'd find her murderer then.

"I…have a question," Rinka spoke up, a hesitant light in her eyes.

"What is it, Rinka?" Akihito asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Well…i-it's just…the wounds on Chiasa's b-body…I don't think they match the weapon," Rinka admitted, her fingers tangling together nervously.

"The wounds, huh? Explain it to me, Bambi," Hibiki requested, a serious expression on his face.

"I-I just…I checked the wounds and they looked too…too small to be from that sword," Rinka elaborated. She glanced down then, as if embarrassed. "I-I even…pulled out the sword, to check."

"So that's why you were holding the fucking sword!" Nat realized, a proud look on their face. "Whatcha find then?"

"They just…don't match. The sword was…too big." Rinka shook her head. "Is it p-possible that…the sword isn't the real murder weapon?"

"Another false murder weapon? Haven't we done this before?" Satou groaned dramatically, tipping her head back.

"It's a good theory," Nima pointed out, looking relatively calm compared to just minutes ago. "Were there any other possible weapons found?"

"No," Yoshi sighed. He looked frustrated, stress at the corner of his lips. "Both crime scenes only had the weapons on the bodies, outside of the scarf Rinka found."

"So there's no other murder weapons, but the sword doesn't match Chiasa's wounds," Maria summarized, biting her lip. If that was the case and there was another weapon, then where had the true murder weapon gone? There was really only one option she could think of. "Is it possible the killer still has the weapon on them, then?"

"That's a sound theory," Yoshi stated, nodding in agreement. "If we didn't find the weapon, then it must be something easy to hide."

"B-but how do we know the killer still has the weapon on them?" Fuwari questioned, a concerned look on her face.

"Easy," Akihito smiled sadly. "Ren's dead, after all."

"Wait, so you're saying—" Maria cut herself off, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence. It was cruel, but it was the only explanation that made sense.

"The killer was trying to hide something when Ren came across them," Akihito continued. "It would make sense for it to be the weapon. And when they realized they'd been caught, they'd probably consider it safer to keep the weapon on them rather than in the room that was about to be investigated."

"Oh god," Sayuri sobbed. Maria couldn't blame her, her own horror causing the blood in her veins to freeze. Ren truly had been killed because he accidentally saw the killer. He hadn't intended to do anything and it wasn't part of the killer's plan at all. It simply…happened.

How awful.

"The weapon must be small then," Nima said, his voice breaking the silence of Sayuri's heartbroken sobs. "Something the killer has on them even now."

"Th…The wounds on Chiasa's body were really small," Rinka added. "Smaller even then…then the scalpel that was used on Robin."

"What kind of weapon are we looking for then?" Arisu wondered. "I don't remember any weapons smaller than that."

"Maybe it's just something we haven't seen then, but the killer had, so they knew they could use it," Maria suggested, thinking back. "Something that wouldn't be easy to spot as a weapon."

"What kind of weapon…would that be?" Fuwari asked, looking more confused than anything else.

A small blade…one that could be easily hidden on a person…noticeable enough that the killer decided to hide it not once, but twice…who here could hide something like that on their person?

"I think I know who has the weapon on them," Maria spoke up, causing everyone to look at her. Her voice seemed to snap even Sayuri and Aretha out of their no doubt spiraling thoughts. Maria took a deep breath. "There's really only one option, honestly. Isn't there, Satou?"

"I'm sorry, what?" the executed producer gaped at her. "Are you actually accusing moi of being the killer? Like, for real?"

"Maybe not the killer…but you definitely have the weapon on you." Maria crossed her arms, glaring at Satou.

"Oh really? And just where is this weapon you're talking about?" Satou scoffed, mirroring Maria's posture as she crossed her own arms.

"It's on your foot," Maria declared.

"Huh?" Satou startled, her eyes widening in surprise. "How did—huh?!"

"How did you know that, Swan Lake?" Aretha questioned, her voice still hoarse, but her eyes seemed more present than before.

"We've worn these outfits four times now and not once in the previous times has Satou ever tripped in her shoes," Maria explained, narrowing her eyes. "And unlike the last trial grounds, this one isn't nearly uneven enough for her tripping to be anything but suspicious."

"Retha tripped in the last trial though!" Satou protested, pointing at the drag artist. "How can you say I'm suspicious when she did it last time and wasn't?"

"Because she fell due to her heels sinking in the snow," Maria countered easily. "You didn't. You simply stepped on the ground and nearly fell. Because one of the shoes you're wearing doesn't match the height of the other and that imbalance caused you to trip."

"You're not even looking at my shoes, how do you know that's why I fell?" Satou argued.

"Because you're not injured," Maria explained. Satou continued to grow angrier, but Maria was calm in the face of it, which seemed to only anger her further. "Those are your only excuses for almost falling, but neither is possible. The only reason you fell is because your shoe is wrong. And once you show us your shoe, we'll be able to confirm if it's the murder weapon."

"And what if I say no, huh?" Satou demanded, crossing her arms and pouting like a child. "You can't make me do anything!"

"True, but this also won't prove your innocence," Maria stated. She placed a hand on her hip. "Meaning we'll all just be suspecting you, when you could easily prove the truth. It's your choice, Satou."

Satou's face began to turn an alarming shade of red, as if she were about to explode from how angry she was. But Maria could see her brain working in real time, trying to find a loophole that could allow her to escape the corner she'd been pushed into.

It took a few moments, but finally, Satou let out a growl of frustration.

"Fine! Fine! You want to see my shoe? Here!" she shouted, ripping the shoe in question off and throwing it directly at Maria's face.

"Maria!" Akihito, Sayuri, and Aretha all shouted in unison, but it was Nima who managed to catch it, a few centimeters away from Maria's nose.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, taking the shoe from Nima.

"Thank you," she said, her voice far too breathless for her liking. Had Nima not caught the shoe, she would have…

"It's fine." Nima shrugged, not even looking at her. Instead, he glared at Satou, who turned her nose up at him silently.

Shaking her head, Maria turned her focus onto the shoe she now held. Like Satou's regular formal pumps, this shoe was pink and had a heel. However, it was obviously a larger heel than a pump typically had, ending in a deadly, blood stained point.

"I think we have our weapon now," she stated, holding it up for everyone to see.

"Which also means we have our killer," Yoshi added, glaring fiercely at Satou.

"Why? W-Why did Chiasa have to die?" Fuwari asked, tears falling from her eyes.

"Uh…I dunno." Satou shrugged. At everyone's incredulous looks, she scoffed, "What, you think just cause I have the weapon that I'm the killer? How dull. That is so not a plot twist I can get behind."

"So you won't admit it?" Nat asked. As Satou shook her head, the phantom thief let out a scoff of their own. "Why am I not fucking surprised anymore? You killed Chiasa, tried to get rid of the evidence, knocked out Ren and then set up Aretha to actually kill him, and you still can't admit when you're caught."

"You're no better, little thief," Satou mocked, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

"I hate to say it, but I agree," Nima cut in before Nat could snarl back. "Satou isn't the type to get her hands dirty. She's more likely to use someone as a tool than do her own work."

"A tool…wait…" Akihito trailed off, his eyes widening in panic. "Wait…wait wait wait! You can't mean…! No way, no fucking way!"

"What? What is it?" Arisu asked, a concerned expression on her face. "Player Akihito, what did you figure out?"

"The killer wasn't Satou…she'd never do that. She'd sooner use that person as a tool to try and convince Monokuma to let her go," Akihito explained. His words were rushed, his panic ruining any composure he had. "And we didn't know the rules of a case with multiple bodies until we found Ren during the investigation, so she wouldn't just leave who killed him to chance. She wouldn't risk someone else taking the possible victory from her. And that shoe is too big for Satou, that's why she tripped in the first place!"

"The killer was someone she chose, someone she manipulated to do the act," Maria picked up, her own heart racing as she realized just why Akihito was so panicked, so fearful. "So the person who killed Ren had to be the same person to kill Chiasa, the same tool to guarantee Satou's victory, the real owner of the shoe. The killer has to be—"

"Me."

Maria turned, her heart in her throat as her eyes met Aretha's. The drag artist met her gaze head on, a self-deprecating look in her eyes.

"That's what you were gonna say, right Swan Lake?" Aretha smirked. She straightened up, flipping her hair over her shoulder as the armor on her shoulder flashed in the spotlight shining over the circle of podiums. "Well, if you're so sure I'm the killer, you better be prepared to fill each and every hole."

"Aretha, no—" Nima said, only to be cut off by a raise of Aretha's hand.

"It's fine, Nima," she insisted. Her eyes never left Maria's. "Let's see what Swan Lake's figured out, hmm?"

"Aretha…" Maria trailed off, her voice shaking. She didn't want this to be the truth, the end of this story. But nothing else made sense, not with the evidence and the character of everyone involved in this case. Nothing else explained everything.

"Go on, Maria," Aretha smiled, tilting her head slightly. "Show me how you've grown since the first case. Show me the truth."

Tears burned in her eyes, but she nodded.

"All right, Aretha," she said. Her eyes were on her friend, the person who gave her the confidence in that first trial which felt like so long ago. Now, she was facing down Aretha as the blackened, while Nima could do nothing but watch on, Irusu blissfully unaware of anything. It hurt, it ached, just as badly as the last two trials, but…she couldn't stop here. She promised she wouldn't. "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.

"This whole case began when Monokuma started the latest motive. Using a mirror, he trapped all of us in the form of our 'true selves', psychologically torturing all of us with the parts of ourselves we hate becoming all there was of us. It took a toll on us all, but especially the blackened, who was one of us who suffered heavy dysphoria thanks to this motive.

We then come to this morning where the killer, pushed by their accomplice, finally decided to do something about this and began the steps necessary to kill Chiasa. First, they took the belladonna from the picnic on the third floor and mixed it into her breakfast. Nobody questioned why the killer was doing this, because they delivered breakfast to Irusu as well, the other person who refused to leave their room. Irusu ended up not eating, being unable to open his door by himself thanks to the motive. But Chiasa, even under the motive's effects, decided to eat her breakfast and was poisoned by the belladonna from it."

"Knowing this, the killer was then able to kidnap her, taking her to the third floor. There, they went into Fuwari's Talent Room…and got to work. In a mad frenzy, they attacked Chiasa over and over again with their weapon of choice, until she stopped moving. The weapon in question? A stiletto heel, which was sharp enough to be a knife and also belonged to the killer."

"Once Chiasa was dead, the killer and their accomplice began the work to cover up the crime. First, they took a sword from the armory and stabbed Chiasa through the heart, trying to disguise the weapon that actually killed her in the end. Then the accomplice screamed, drawing all of us to the scene of the crime. But they weren't done there. Now that the motive had ended, the killer was less willing to cover up the crime, but their accomplice made certain they would be silent. The accomplice then used the investigation as a chance to get rid of the remaining evidence they had in Ren's Talent Room. But as they were doing this, they were caught, by none other than Ren himself."

"Thinking quickly, the accomplice used a scarf they had to strangle Ren until he fell unconscious. They knew they couldn't leave him alive after that, not after he'd seen them trying to get rid of the murder weapon, so instead they decided to have the killer take care of him while also framing him for Chiasa's murder. They strung him up in a noose, tied to the door handle so that when it was opened, the rope would tighten and kill Ren instantly. They then hid the remaining belladonna in his pocket to complete the frame job, leaving him there, barely alive. As for the murder weapon, they simply tucked it away in their purse and later wore it to the trial. After all, where else is safer to hide evidence than on their own person?"

"When we all came to investigate the rest of the floor, the accomplice encouraged the killer to head to the back room in Ren's Talent Room, to be the one to open the door. They fell into the accomplice's trap and we all were shocked to find Ren there, already dead. From there, there was nothing else the killer could do, but follow the laid out plan before them. Whether they would have done this had it not been for the motive or the accomplice, we'll never really know in the end."

"What we do know, however, is that the only person who could have killed those two…was you, Aretha!"

Silence hung over them all, but Maria only had eyes for Aretha. The drag artist wore a sad smile, tears gently falling from her eyes, and slowly she began to clap.

"Well done, Swan Lake," she declared. Her voice rang throughout the crossroads, the only sound to be heard as everyone, even Monokuma, remained silent. "Please, take a bow. You truly deserve it. Now then, everyone, please put your votes in. There's no need to continue this painful trial any further."

"Aretha…" Nima trailed off, his voice pained.

"Please, dear…" Aretha pleaded, still smiling through her tears. Nima let out a breath before he nodded in agreement.

"Ohhhhh? Looks like you've reached your verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes?" Monokuma questioned, somehow subdued when normally he'd be gleefully laughing at their misery. It was strange, but he continued speaking before anyone could call him on it. "You all have a lever in front of you. Use it to make your selection! And be sure to choose someone, I don't think any of you want to be punished for some so trivial at this point!"

The air of the court room was very heavy as, one by one, everyone put their votes in. It was as if they were all waiting for another shoe to drop, another twist to reveal its hand, but nothing was coming. Maria had laid out the truth in its entirety and all that was left…was to vote.

"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 trilled, clapping his hands excitedly as he watched them all, putting their votes in one by one.

When all the votes were cast, what looked like a hologram appeared, which showed pixelized versions of them all, with Michi, Tori, Robin, Rosamie, Chiasa and Ren's greyed out. All twelve of them remaining lit up rapidly one after the other until, finally, only Aretha's was lit up and the hologram was replaced with an image of Aretha herself, dressed in her Sir Dinadon attire with a shadowed Jordan at her back, facing away from her. Surrounding her were various mannequins showing the pieces she utilized in her drag artistry, spotlights shining down on her as she smirked at an unseen audience.

"Heh…"

Maria startled at the sudden noise, having not expected it. Typically, Monokuma would announce that they were correct and declare Aretha to be the blackened, allowing the trial to end. But this wasn't normal, far from it in fact.

And the fact that it was Satou laughing made it even worse.

"Heheheheh…haha! Ahhhhh hahahahahahaha!" she laughed and laughed, throwing her head back with the force of her laughter. "You did it! You actually did it! Ohhhhhhh my god! I won!"

"What?" Maria asked, unable to say anything else.

"S-Satou?" Fuwari stuttered, a terrified look in her eyes. Maria was suddenly starkly reminded of that first trial, when Satou's true self had been revealed to them all for the first time.

This, however, felt even worse.

"I can't believe it! I actually won!" Satou continued, uncaring of anyone's eyes on her. She jumped down from her podium and marched over to stand directly in front of Monokuma's throne, grinning up at him. "Did you see that, Monokuma? Your game worked! Now, I and I alone shall escape this prison!"

"Oh?" Monokuma asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Satou, what are you talking about?" Yoshi demanded, glaring at the executive producer. "We voted correctly, the blackened is Aretha. You won, yes, but not just you. We all won because we found the correct killer."

"That's where you're wrong, Shi-Shi~" Satou sang, twirling around to face them all. She waved a finger in the air, the playful motion contrasting eerily with the words she was saying. "Because, you see~, you all got the blackened wrong~! The real killer, the real blackened, was me~!"

"What?!"

"The fuck do you mean?!"

"D-did we vote wrong?"

"Everybody, silent!" Yoshi shouted. The suddenness of his voice caused everyone to fall silent, the chaotic mess ending as quickly as it began, everyone turning their focus to the jeweler. "Monokuma, what are the rules for someone to qualify as the blackened?"

"Well~," Monokuma sang, looking amused at this situation. "The main rules are that the blackened kills the victims with a tool of some sort, which can be anything from an actual tool to their own hands. Pretty simple, wouldn't you say?"

"And by those rules, I am the blackened," Satou declared, placing her hands on her hips. "Therefore, I, the one and only Satou Mike, am the winner of this killing game! Ahh hahaha, ahhhhhhhh hahahahahahahahaha!"

"No way!" Akihito shouted, shaking his head furiously. "That can't make her the blackened! It's Aretha, it's the only logical explanation!"

"And who do you think made this plan, hmm?" Satou chuckled. She flashed a peace sign, posing like a magical girl from a certain anime. "Everything that happened was all by my design! I originally wanted to use Iri for my plan, but Jordie kept cockblocking me when I tried to spend time with him. So lame, but it all worked out! Jordie was such fun to spend time with and with the last motive, all my whispers about just how dangerous Chi-Chi was finally made a difference! Jordie was all too eager to do everything I said, just to end the motive sooner! And even after it ended, I still used him to kill RenRen and it worked! So beautifully too, I couldn't have planned it better if I wrote the plot myself! And none of you caught on, you all voted for Jordie, just as I planned! And now, I've won the game with not one, but two murders under my belt! Awesome! Right, Monokuma?"

"Monokuma, you can't accept that!" Maria argued, desperation crashing down on her. She couldn't believe she was begging the psychotic bear for help, but their fate now rested entirely on him. "She wasn't the blackened, don't believe her!"

"You can't kill us! We were right!" Nat added, glaring up at the bear. "We played your fucking game, jackass, and we won! Don't you fucking dare side with her!"

"Ren and Chiasa deserve better than that!" Sayuri agreed, clutching her heart as tears fell from her own eyes.

"And what does Sir Dinadon have to say, hmm?" Monokuma asked, still far too calm for how desperate the rest of the class minus Satou was right now.

"Yeah, come on, Jordie, tell them it was all me!" Satou beamed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Just like we planned!"

Aretha was silent for several moments, her tears dry on her cheeks. Her eyes were pained as she wiped at them, taking a deep breath.

"I was the one who killed them," she stated, her voice firm despite how shaken she looked. "I killed Chiasa with my own two hands, the shoe as my weapon. And though I didn't know it at the time, I did kill Ren by opening that door, which broke his neck. I am the killer, the blackened of this case. Satou was only my accomplice and, by your own rules, has no benefit to acting in this way. Declare me guilty, Monokuma. Do it!"

"No!" Satou shrieked, glaring at Aretha. "Jordie, you liar!" She suddenly whirled back around towards Monokuma, pointing at the bear's snout. "You said if we got away with murder then we'd get to go free! I did it! I got away with two murders!"

"Oh really?" Monokuma hummed, placing his empty paw against his chin. "Well, what was the murder weapon?"

"HIM!" Satou declared, pointing back at Aretha even as her gaze never left Monokuma. "He was my murder weapon! I won!"

"Hmm…While creative, and there was a case where someone took a gamble and used someone else to kill in another game, you need to actually have blood on your hands for it to count. People don't count as weapons, you know? Unless…you think that of your classmates? How very undignified of you." Monokuma raised his snout in the air in an arrogant manner before he suddenly broke out into laughter. "Puhuhu…puhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

"No…Noooooooooooo!" Satou screamed, her voice reaching a pitch that was almost too high for Maria to hear.

"And that means…it's time for our brave knight to face the dragons!" Monokuma declared, raising his arms to the sky like a child at an amusement park. "The blackened in this case, the one who killed Little Red Riding Hood and Fairy Godmother, was none other than Sir Dinadon!"

"For what it's worth, I am sorry," Aretha said, her focus turning to Sayuri, Yoshi and Fuwari. "Neither of them, nor any of you, deserve the pain of this. If I could take it back, I would. But I can't, so instead…"

"It's not your fault you were manipulated," Sayuri protested, wiping her own tears away. "Ren wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"Chiasa either," Fuwari agreed. Her eyes were still red and her lip looked as if it had been bitten raw, but she held her head high regardless. "This…this isn't your fault."

"Thank you both, though I don't deserve it," Aretha smiled.

Yoshi stared at her for several moments, before he glanced away. He moved around the podiums towards Fuwari, stopping at her side before he reached out and took Fuwari's hand in his own, their fingers intertwining. Aretha only nodded in understanding, though Maria couldn't say what the message Yoshi was sending truly was.

"Aretha," Nima called out as he approached her. He looked up to meet her gaze, reaching out a hand to cup her cheek in his own. She leaned into the touch, her own hand coming up to hold onto his. "I know you don't remember…but you have to know, before the end…we love you, both of us."

"Oh darling…I did know, but it's still nice to hear," Aretha smiled. Tears formed in her eyes again before she closed them, leaning down to kiss Nima gently on the lips. "Please, don't blame yourself. I would still protect you both, even if I had known this was the ending awaiting me. And tell Irusu—"

"Tell him yourself," Nima insisted. Before anything else could be said, his posture changed and suddenly, it was Irusu standing in the courtroom.

"Irusu…" Aretha trailed off, seemingly unsure of where to start.

"What's happening?" Irusu questioned, glancing around. He noticed a second later that his hand was cupping Aretha's cheek before his cheeks flashed red and he moved to pull away. "I—"

"It's not your fault," Aretha insisted, cutting him off. "Mishima's death, my own execution…neither of those are your fault. So please, don't blame yourself."

"What are you talking about, how do you know about—" Irusu cut himself off, scowling with frustration at his own lack of memory. "That damn invader…"

"He's not," Aretha denied, squeezing Irusu's hand. "Nima's here to keep you safe and he loves you, just as I do. Please, talk to him, talk to the others, and live. That's all I want for you, love."

"Aretha, I don't understand…" Irusu pleaded, looking so very lost.

"I know," Aretha smiled sadly.

"Alllllllright then!" Monokuma cut in, shattering the moment the entire class, minus Satou, had been wrapped in. "It's time for what we've all been waiting for! The best part of this entire show! The spot where alllllllll of our budget is put towards!"

"Wait, you have a budget?" Akihito questioned, looking a bit shellshocked.

"Now allow us to raise the curtain on our next performance! I've prepared a very special punishment for our Sir Dinadon, Aretha Iman, aka Jordan Franklin, the Ultimate Drag Artist!"

Somehow, Monokuma listing both of Aretha's names was even worse than him just saying one of them, a bucket of ice water on Maria's head when she'd been expecting it to be warm.

Aretha's expression filled with fear then, but she forced a smile as she pushed Irusu away, keeping him out of the line of fire.

"Don't be sad, everyone," she smiled, curtsying. "I know this will be the greatest performance Aretha Iman has ever had. I won't ask you to enjoy, but please…watch until the end."

"Now then, iiiiiiiiiit'sssssss Puniiiiiiiiiiiishment Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!" Monokuma declared as he raised his gold magic wand to the sky, causing the sun to suddenly rise above the horizon, bathing the courtroom in light.

Just like the last two times, chains sprung out of the air and clasped around Aretha's wrists. Before anyone could blink, she was dragged off into the woods, vanishing within seconds.

A moment later, Monokuma waved his scepter again and this time, various branches extended from the trees, forming the shape of a TV before a screen appeared which showed a street.

There were multiple floats on the street, each decorated in black and white with the occasional red. Aretha stood in the middle of the main float, now wearing a black and white sequined dance leotard with asymmetrical scarlet fringe, fishnet stockings, black and white heels, and matching heels. In the crowd, there were various Monokuma robots, all wearing rainbow themed clothes and waving flags which Maria thought were pride flags, each one stamped with Monokuma's face. The last noticeable thing was the giant Clap-O-Meter behind Aretha, currently in the green.

A banner suddenly unfurled above Aretha's head, the words written in a curling script that declared, for all to see, the name of this execution.

Bear City Blues.

Music began to play and Aretha glanced back at the Clap-O-Meter behind her. Seemingly understanding, she began to perform, lip syncing to the song that was playing in the background and dancing with everything she had. The crowd began to cheer, waving their flags excitedly.

The Clap-O-Meter rose to 10%.

Aretha smiled, fluttering her eye lashes before smoke suddenly surrounded her. When it cleared, she stood there in her Sir Dinadon attire, winking at the audience. She continued to perform, exaggerating her movements and encouraging the audience to be louder than they already were being.

The Clap-O-Meter rose to 45%.

Aretha began to perform magic tricks, pulling flowers out of her sleeves, flashing smoke bombs and changing parts of her costume with each new trick performed. The Clap-O-Meter rose higher and higher, crossing 75%. Aretha glanced back at the machine and she smiled, almost in relief. She was so close, perhaps she could make it if…

Suddenly, a tour bus drove by, decorated with a giant high heel shoe on the roof. It was innocuous at first, until the shoe burst into pieces as a Monokuma jumped out of it. This Monokuma wore a dress made of blue chain mirrors with square mirror accents and silver metal chain components. The Monokuma flipped through the air dramatically before landing on top of the Clap-O-Meter, destroying it as it posed like a gymnast, throwing black and white marbles in the air at the same time.

The Monokumas in the crowd went wild at the sight and threw flags, roses and even Monokuma stamped shirts onto the float, right as Aretha's heels suddenly got caught on the marbles, sending her tumbling to the ground next to the float. Her wig fell off and there was a terrible snap as her ankle broke.

The crowd, sensing the weakness in Aretha, began to grow even louder until they suddenly surged forward like a wave. Aretha couldn't do a thing, but allow them to surge over her, clawing into her without a care for neatness as her blood stained ground.

There was only one Monokuma left on the float now and it began to walk around, picking up all the items which had been thrown on top of it. Once everything had been collected, it turned back to face the students watching and threw a handful of glitter in the air.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Monokuma sighed as the screen went dark, drawing the class's attention back to him. "What a perfect way to end this trial!"

"Aretha…" Irusu whispered, looking shocked more than anything. Sayuri, ever the empathetic person, approached him and wrapped her arms around him. Unlike how he would usually react, Irusu allowed her to hug him, sinking into it with wide, unseeing eyes.

"You robbed me of my victory!" Satou shouted, glaring at Monokuma. "How can you call yourself a mastermind if you give the wrong verdict, hmm?"

"Because this wasn't the wrong verdict, oh stupid Floating Princess," Monokuma snarled, his teeth flashing in the dim light. Satou let out a squeak as he snapped them close to her, barely jumping back in time to escape him biting her. "The blackened was Sir Dinadon and Sir Dinadon alone. End. Of. Dis. Cussion!"

"But—"

"Would you just shut the fuck up already?!" Maria screamed, her patience lost. Everyone stared at her in shock, but she could only glare hatefully at Satou. "You lost, don't you get it? You were never the blackened and now, you'll never be the blackened unless you do something by yourself for once, except you're too much of a chicken to do anything alone! Right now, we're all reeling from losing Chiasa, Ren and Aretha, all of which is because of you, so unless you want to end up on someone's shit list and be the next victim, you'd better stop your whining and get over yourself."

"Why, I never—"

"Aretha was a better person than you could ever hope to be."

Satou startled at the voice that cut her off, turning to the source of it.

"Fae?" she questioned.

"I mean it," Fuwari stated, her voice strong as she glared at her former friend. "Aretha, Chiasa, Ren? They were all a thousand times the person you could ever hope to be. I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, Satou, but I…I can't. Not anymore. So stop. Stop all of this."

"Well said," Yoshi agreed, squeezing her hand tightly. "I think that's enough for today. It's been long and harrowing for us all. We'll discuss how we'll move forward in the morning. Now then, if you'll excuse us."

He then began to gently lead Fuwari to the elevator, never once looking back at the others.

"I'm with those two," Nat stated. "I'm exhausted and don't want to deal with any more fucking whining right now. Let's just go."

It seemed everyone else agreed as, one by one, everyone made their way to the elevator. Even Maria did so, never looking back as they left Satou and Monokuma behind.

Satou sputtered for several moments, but the elevator wouldn't leave without her, so she only sputtered even more when Nat marched back out to the trial grounds, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her directly into the metal box.

The last thing Maria saw of those trial grounds was Monokuma, his gaze latched onto her and never, ever leaving.

---

"Aww man, I didn't even get to do my whole spiel," Monokuma sighed as soon as he was alone. He slouched over, feeling depressed for a moment before he straightened back up again. "Oh well! At least that little bitch is put in her place now. Maybe I'll get a murder sooner next Chapter! Wouldn't that be great?"

Nobody answered, but that was fine. He knew nobody who could hear him would be able to answer anyway.

"Ahh, but you all think they'll find a way to defeat me, now don't you? Puhu…how sad you are, clinging to such fruitless hope! It really reminds me of the old days, you know? Ahhh, so much despair…what good memories!"

This game wasn't going to be over any time soon. Not if he had any say about it. And he did, oh boy, he did.

"What a lovely fairy tale this will be," he sighed, fanning himself dramatically. "And you know what the best thing about fairy tales is? They never, ever end. An unending fairy tale…that's my dream. And these fools will never stop me from achieving my dream. Puhuhuhu…"

Silence was his only response…just as expected.

---

Total Surviving Students: 11

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 we are, the third trial complete! I cannot wait to see everyone's reactions to this! Some of you even figured out the culprit, so good job to everyone who did! And once again, thank you so much to the amazing Amy47101 for coming up with this entire plot, it was brilliant and I'm sure you're reveling in everyone's reactions! Also, thanks to TenaciousTurtleDuck, Fyre-Maiden and James95 for sending in Chiasa, Ren and Jordan! I loved writing them so much and I'm so sad to see them go!

Also, thanks to James95 for submitting Jordan's execution! I'm so glad I didn't have to come up with one myself (or ask Amy) this time! I hope I did it justice in its description. And for those curious, the Monokuma that jumped from the tour bus was a reference to Nomi Malone, according to James' description of the execution.

I'll be opening up a poll for Chapter 4 FTEs soon, but I'm not sure when I'll start working on that. Lots of life stuff going on right now, so we'll see where I end up. Who knows, maybe I'll stop by Purgatorio for a little bit? We shall see.

But until next time, thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this Chapter! Bye now!