A/N: it is my assumption that readers are familiar with the canon events, so I will be moving quickly through them. Don't worry, cases will start diverging more from canon later on.

…

Chihiro alerted everyone when she woke up to find her partner missing from their room. The students investigated and eventually found her in what seemed to be her old room, from which she had moved to Chihiro's. Her corpse lay tragically across the blood-streaked bathroom floor.

Then Monokuma gleefully called them all to the gym to give them instructions on investigating the murder. Some of the students didn't want to obey, and Kyoko convinced them they had no choice. Junko didn't take the lesson to heart, though. Once Monokuma explained that if they guessed Sayaka's murder wrong, they'd all die, Junko refused to participate in the investigation and trial, then attacked Monokuma, despite Kyoko's warning.

Monokuma impaled her with a dozen spears launched from the gym rafters.

Within a week, the 15 students were down to 13, Kyoko reflected sadly. Soon to be 12, once they caught Sayaka's killer.

As expected, the students reacted to the deaths with panic. Kyoko had to calm them down, urge them to continue trusting each other and cooperating. Then she asked each pair where they were last night and they all reported sleeping in the room with their partner. Then she had to stop them from baselessly accusing Chihiro, since it was clear that Chihiro was the least likely to murder out of everyone here, and Sayaka could have easily slipped away while Chihiro was sleeping.

Byakuya made his expected, but still hurtful, comments about how the swearing to peace, partnering up, and refusing to go out at night ideas still didn't end up saving Sayaka, and Kyoko had to defend herself with the obvious observation that Sayaka had to have violated the rules first and intentionally left the locked room she shared with Chihiro at night in order to be victimized. She warned the other students not to follow Sayaka's example if they cared about their safety.

Still, Kyoko was kicking herself for not paying more attention to Sayaka's distress after the motive videos. She had underestimated the girl's desperation. But she knew she could not let feelings of guilt get ahold of her – she had to move forward.

Kyoko quickly assumed leadership of the investigation. She asked Mondo and Sakura to safeguard the crime scene to prevent tampering. The students all read the file Monokuma had given them detailing the case, and Kyoko had to once again stop them from witch hunting someone – Makoto, this time, as the file revealed that the room Sayaka had died in was actually Makoto's (Makoto having moved to Taka's room).

Then Kyoko was finally able to convince them to begin the investigation in earnest. But as she might have guessed, the only ones really interested in a thorough investigation, besides herself, were Byakuya and Makoto. Makoto because he had just recently been accused of the murder himself, and Byakuya because this was all a game to him, a game he intended to win.

And Byakuya did have one advantage, Kyoko reflected as she had to calm Toko down and convince her to stay with her for the umpteenth time. Working alone did speed up his investigation. Still, there were enough people milling around the crime scene for her to leave Toko be after she flatly refused to go near the blood of the body, so she was able to examine the body without distraction.

She had to ask Makoto a few questions about the crime scene since this was his room, and while he was just as slow, mentally speaking, as the others (besides Byakuya), he at least demonstrated an interest and willingness to learn, so Kyoko enjoyed questioning him.

Apparently Sayaka had asked for Makoto's room key, claiming she and Chihiro needed extra closet space for their clothes, and he had given it to her. Foolish. Kyoko chided him for not bringing this event up with her or Chihiro (who had not noticed at the time because Taka had been talking to her - or at her).

By the time Monokuma called everyone back to begin the trial, Kyoko had completed her investigation, and was certain who the murderer was, and how to prove it. Sayaka had left a blatant clue as to her murderer's identity, so Kyoko had no doubt this would be an open-and-shut case. But if Monokuma really was broadcasting some of the events here to influential figures in the wider world, he probably wanted this trial to be dramatic, and Kyoko figured that the best way to avoid a repeat of what happened to Junko would be to give Monokuma what he wanted.

So she bit her tongue through most of the trial, letting the others flounder as they uselessly attacked Chihiro, Makoto, and others. Makoto did a good job, if a slow one, pointing out some of the obvious flaws in others' arguments. Occasionally she did have to remind them all not to leap to conclusions until they'd heard all the evidence. Byakuya somewhat disappointed her by joining the others in accusing Makoto, but she wondered to what extent Byakuya was intentionally playing devil's advocate. He seemed the type.

As openings appeared in the trial dialogues, Kyoko sprinkled in her evidence. The missing hair, the hidden note, the switching of the labels between Makoto's room and Sayaka's… she presented all of the important evidence, really. And once she had them convinced that Sayaka had lured someone to Makoto's room to kill (and frame Makoto), but that person had overpowered and killed her instead, she let loose the bombshell.

She called attention to the dying message. "11037, written in her own blood," Kyoko pointed out.

The reaction was less than ideal. They were confused about what the numbers meant, and worried Sayaka hadn't actually written it, and so on.

Kyoko had to hold their hands through the whole process of understanding the message. "They're not numbers," "Rotate the image 180 degrees," and so on. It was starting to grate on her, how tiresomely dull the minds of those she was trapped with were. But she showed none of her annoyance, as usual.

Finally, Makoto was the first to follow her guidance and point out the obvious. "If you turn the message around, it becomes the English letters L-E-O-N ... or more accurately, Leon!"

Leon panicked and Kyoko had to present the rest of her evidence to corner him. Mondo even added that he remembered hearing the door to the room he shared with Leon opening during the night, but had not brought it up because he thought he had dreamt it. At Kyoko's behest, Makoto kindly laid out the story of the crime in full, and finally, as Leon ranted and raved, everyone was convinced.

They all voted for Leon, and they were right. Monokuma then "executed" him by battering his body with hundreds of high-velocity baseballs.

Kyoko felt sorry for him. He was just a kid trapped in a bad situation, like the rest of them. But now their survival depended on his death.

If there was one spot of good news, it was that Monokuma had all but confirmed her theory. He had said "everyone" was waiting for Leon's execution, suggesting that many others were watching the proceedings besides those trapped here. More troublingly, he also claimed that if they learned the secrets of this place, they'd be glad to be trapped here forever. She wasn't sure how it could benefit him to lie about that, but if he was telling the truth… no, that would be insane. But then, Kyoko did have severe amnesia, of that much she was sure… but still, for the whole world to be like those videos he had shown them… it was unthinkable. Especially if she wanted to maintain morale amongst the students. So she pushed aside her fears and set about leading the students back up to the gym.

…

Once in the gym, the students talked in small groups about the recent traumatic events for some time. For her part, Kyoko attempted to chat up Byakuya, and he did seem a bit more open to her than before the trial, though that still wasn't saying much. Finally, Celeste announced she was retiring for the night, and before Kyoko could say anything, Celeste adopted a thoughtful look and stopped herself. "Actually, there's something we must discuss before we can sleep. Those of us who are now missing our partners… must we pair with someone new?" Celeste seemed disappointed at the thought.

"Hey, yeah," Mondo chimed in. "Who the hell is gonna give me an alibi now?"

"Is there even a point to partying up anymore?" Hifumi asked, glancing scornfully at Hiro. "It didn't help Sayaka and Leon."

Kyoko sighed lightly as everyone turned to her. She nodded. "Yes, we should assign new partners, and yes, there's a point to it. Just, please, don't make Leon's mistake and slip away from your sleeping partner for a secret late-night meetup." Kyoko still couldn't believe the baseball star had been stupid enough to do that. Must have been thinking with his dick, she reflected. Hopefully the other men will learn from this.

"Celeste, Mondo, and Chihiro need new partners," Kyoko continued. "From what I know of your personalities, I think it would be best if Mondo paired with Chihiro and Celeste paired with Toko instead of me. Does that sound acceptable?"

Predictably, the students had concerns.

"I-I have to sleep with a boy?" Chihiro stammered, blushing.

"Wh-what, you're just abandoning me like trash?!" asked a frightened Toko.

"And who would you pair up with then?" Celeste asked, frowning.

Kyoko held up a hand to forestall their objections. "We'll put up a privacy screen between Mondo and Chihiro. Should be easy enough to find some materials to make a simple one. And when one of you is using the bathroom, the other can just wait outside." Seeing Chihiro's frown, Kyoko added, "You may feel uneasy now, but I think you'll end up bringing out the best in each other. We can discuss changing partners again later if I'm wrong."

Mondo and Chihiro eyed one another, but Kyoko's words seemed to placate them.

"Toko, you're not being thrown away," Kyoko continued, turning to the quivering girl. "I've simply come to realize I lack the patience to… meet your social needs." Kyoko tried to choose her words carefully to avoid setting Toko off, and Toko's increased shaking suggested mixed results. "Celeste, however, is excellent at adapting to any social situation. Isn't that right, Celeste?"

Celeste looked unsure whether she was being praised or mocked, which was understandable given Kyoko's ever-neutral tone. From Kyoko's perspective, it was simply an observation she had made as she watched the girl interact with the others over the past few days. Celeste finally nodded, and opened her mouth, but Kyoko anticipated her question and cut her off.

"And as for who I will pair with," Kyoko said calmly. "I will be keeping an eye on the person who has not had a partner thus far: Byakuya."

Byakuya snorted. "Tch. And why would I agree to that?"

Kyoko turned to fix him with her steely gaze. "Besides the alibi a partner can give, you mean? I believe I proved myself in that trial. Whatever your own business and investigations, I can help, or at least I can assure you I will not keep you from it. And anyway we are more likely to discover things about this place and this game if we work together."

Byakyu's gaze was hard, and one could practically see his brain whirring like a computer as he considered Kyoko's words. Finally, he softened and sighed. "We'll see," he said, and stormed off.

It was Kyoko's turn to sigh. She was going to have to deal with a lot of this nonsensical posturing, wasn't she? Hopefully it would be worth it. Byakuya seemed like the only other intelligent one here, even if his intelligence was obscured by his ridiculous ego. She turned to the group watching her. "See you all tomorrow," she said simply, and walked briskly after the Togami heir.