"There is something I should tell you all," Sakura announced softly.

"Oh, let me guess," said Byakuya snidely. "You're the traitor?"

"Byakuya!" Hina shouted. "How dare you! Sakura would never betray us!"

Sakura shook her head. "I understand his suspicion. Please, listen to my story."

Kyoko nodded. "We're listening."

Sakura sighed, then began. "My motive video did not just show my dojo destroyed and my family, despite all their martial strength, broken and slain. It also showed my love, Kenshiro, tied up somewhere dark while a figure offscreen pointed a gun at him. I was worried, but Kyoko's explanation, that the video was most likely faked, helped. Then, as Hina and I walked away, Monokuma appeared, said he wanted to talk to me alone. Hoping for more information, I allowed it, and asked Hina to wait for me. As I walked with Monokuma, he swore to me that the videos were real, and that he was holding my love hostage. He demanded that I work with him, as a spy on the inside, and be ready to kill for him if needed, or else he would execute my love."

Kyoko looked around at the others as Sakura told her story. Celeste and Byakuya seemed interested and suspicious. Makoto and Hina seemed sad. Hiro was staring into space.

Sakura continued solemnly. "It was a tough choice. But I thought about returning to Hina and lying to her about what had transpired, I thought about breaking the oath Kyoko had just had us all swear, and I clung to the hope that Monokuma was simply lying. I refused him. I am not the traitor."

"And why have you not told us about this event before now, hmm?" Celeste asked.

Sakura nodded. "I told Hina about it. But we agreed at the time that sharing this with the rest of you would not help you, but only invite suspicion upon myself. It seemed imprudent."

Byakuya looked like he was about to retort, but Kyoko cut him off. "I agree. That was wise at the time, for the sake of promoting group unity. Now, however, this is very pertinent information."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed, glaring at Kyoko. "If he approached one of us with that threat, it seems likely he approached more. Anyone else have something to share?"

"He didn't talk to Hifumi or me!" Hiro cried out. "And that's coming from me, so you know it's the truth!"

"He didn't appear to me or Taka, either," Makoto added.

"Nor myself or Junko," Celeste nodded.

"He also did not approach Toko or myself," Kyoko finished in her usual monotone.

"If there's anyone who could have agreed to work with him, it's you, Byakuya!" Hina declared, aggressively pointing at the Togami heir. "You were the only one without a partner!"

Byakuya snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. As though I would lower myself to that extent."

Hina looked like she was going to continue throwing accusations, so Kyoko stepped in. "I don't think it is Byakuya," she said.

"Huh?" Hina stopped, confused. "Why not?"

"I followed him after the motive videos, spoke to him. We agreed that the videos were most likely faked and that we needed to work together against the Mastermind."

"And you trust him?" Hina asked, incredulous.

"I trust him to do what he thinks is best for himself, no matter who else the Mastermind might threaten," Kyoko explained.

"I concur," Celeste added. "Besides, Byakuya is not the type to follow orders."

"That's right," Byakuya confirmed. "I would never work with that despicable bear unless I were the one giving him orders."

"Yes, that makes me feel so much better," Hina commented flatly, glaring at Byakuya. "Fine then. But if it's not him, then who?"

"Well, let us think about this logically," said Kyoko. "There are only eight possibilities. One possibility for each of the seven of us, plus the possibility that the bear is lying, and none of us are traitors. Let us go through each possibility in turn and decide what we think the chances are of it being the correct one." She had already done this herself, of course, and did not like where the probabilities fell. But maybe someone else could provide an insight she had not considered. "How does that sound?"

"I suppose that makes sense," said Hina, and the others murmured agreement, except Byakuya.

"There are two possibilities you have not included," said Byakuya snidely. "Well, one possibility and one different interpretation of the last possibility.."

Kyoko blinked. "You are going to say the other possibility is that there are multiple traitors, are you not?" Taking Byakuya's silent glare as confirmation, she continued, "That possibility requires two or more of the others to be correct, so I did not think it needed its own discussion. Besides, simple math would tell you that the chance of two unlikely possibilities both being true is much more unlikely than the chances for either alone. But what is this alternate interpretation?"

"The traitor could have already died," Byakuya answered flatly. "Then Monokuma would not be lying to us, but rather misleading us."

Kyoko nodded. "That is a good point. It is at least worth considering. Let us say that there are sixteen possibilities then, one for each of the fifteen of us at the start of this death game, plus the possibility that it is none of us."

Hiro groaned. "Man, this is gonna take a while, isn't it?

Kyoko nodded. "We must be thorough if we are to be confident in our suspicions, and not merely suspicious of everyone as the Mastermind undoubtedly hopes. In fact, we should write this down. Follow me, we'll commandeer a classroom."

"Fine," said Byakuya, already walking out of the gym. "See you there."

Everyone else who might have opposed Kyoko's idea was already dead, save Hiro, and he did not want to be the odd man out. So the rest of them followed Kyoko as she led them to the nearest classroom, joined Byakuya in wiping off the graffiti from the blackboard, and wrote the names of each of the surviving students at the top of it, plus the sentences "Monokuma lied" and "Fallen Student." She then drew lines to separate the names into columns, and a long line in the center to create two rows. Finally, she moved to the far left of the blackboard and wrote just above the central line, "evidence in favor," and just below it, "evidence against."

The rest of the students shuffled into their seats, save Byakuya, who stood leaning against the nearby wall, his own chalk in hand.

"Name one," said Kyoko, pointing to "Hiro", the leftmost name. "What evidence points to Hiro being a traitor, and what evidence points away?"

"Hey, why do I have to go first?!" Hiro protested.

"He's an idiot," said Celeste at practically the same time.

Kyoko nodded and wrote "Idiot" in the "evidence against" section.

"Hey!" Hiro squealed loudly. "That's not nice!"

"What would you say in your defense, then, Hiro?" Kyoko asked.

"I, uh…" Hiro stammered. "I'm a good person! I wouldn't do anything like that, dudes, for serious!"

Kyoko nodded and added "Good person" to the list.

"He would have to be a ridiculously good actor to be the traitor and have hid it from us," said Makoto. "I don't think it's possible."

Kyoko nodded and wrote "Too much acting required" to the list. "Any evidence in favor?" she pointed towards the other row.

The others stared silently for a moment, considering the question, before Byakuya cut in. "His ultimate talent is being a scam artist," he said in a bored tone.

"Hey!" Hiro cried out, seemingly more incensed by this comment than by the earlier "idiot" comment. "Fortune telling is not a scam! My predictions are 30% accurate guaranteed!" He glared angrily at Byakuya.

"Oh. My mistake," said Byakuya in a voice dripping with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.

Kyoko nodded, and added "Good at BS'ing" to the "evidence for" list, before reaching down and adding "believes his own BS" to the evidence against.

"I think at this point we can see that the evidence suggests Hiro is not a traitor," Kyoko said calmly, forestalling Hiro's next objection. "Agreed?"

There were murmurs of assent, and Kyoko moved on to the next name.

…

They were only a couple of names into the list before the nighttime announcement played, and they all agreed to meet up the next morning to continue. Part of Kyoko dreaded the morning, remembering how the last time they had been interrupted while responding to a motive, Chihiro had died in the night. Thankfully, this time, there was no rude Monokuma wake up, and the students all returned to the classroom unharmed.

When the chalkboard had been filled, hours later, Kyoko sat back and admired their handiwork. After Hiro, Kyoko read the written comments as follows, mentally including the person who proposed the evidence when it seemed important.

Makoto:

Evidence for:

Unusual Ultimate (Byakuya)

Evidence against:

Helpful

Caring

Invested in Trials

Bad at lying (Celeste)

Sakura:

Evidence for:

Quiet

Scary (Hiro)

Never shared secret motive (crossed out, as Sakura explained that her secret had been that she considered helping Monokuma)

Evidence against:

Told us about bear's threat

Harmless (Hina)

Honorable

Hina:

Evidence for:

Nosy (Byakuya)

Evidence against:

Kind

Innocent

Emotional

Bad at lying (Celeste)

Byakuya:

Evidence for:

Asshole (Everyone, including Byakuya)

Never shared secret motive

Evidence against:

Hates following

Too selfish to threaten

Kyoko:

Evidence for:

Unknown Ultimate (Byakuya)

Secretive personality

Claims to be unable to remember past

Evidence against:

Has led efforts against Mastermind

Bad at hiding emotions (Celeste)

Celeste:

Evidence for:

Excellent liar

Gothic appearance (Hiro)

Scary when angry (Makoto)

Never shared secret motive

Evidence against:

Always with Kyoko

Monokuma lied

Evidence for:

It wants division

It's evil (Hina)

Evidence against:

Cares about game integrity

Adamant it is truthful

Not known to lie yet

Fallen Student:

Evidence for:

Monokuma revealed them, said "no longer need them."

Genocide Jill seems the type

Evidence against:

No one else seems the type

Sayaka/Leon/Mondo were killed early on

Leon/Mondo/Hifumu killed without premeditation

Junko killed by Monokuma

Chihiro sweet, helpful, victimized

Taka too depressed

After reviewing the evidence, Kyoko led the students to the clear conclusion.

"Most likely, Sakura, Hina, Hiro, Makoto, and Byakuya are not traitors," Kyoko proclaimed. "Am I wrong?"

The others agreed with that assessment - reluctantly, in Byakuya's case.

"If the traitor was a fallen student, it was most likely Toko, or possibly Hifumi. Am I wrong?"

The others agreed. "They also both died in the most recent case," Makoto added. "It makes sense that Monokuma would reveal them right after."

"So, we're left with five options. Celeste, myself, Monokuma, Toko, Hifumi. Any thoughts?"

"It couldn't be you!" Hina cried out. "No one's done more to protect us!"

"Yeah," Makoto confirmed. "I trust you."

"Well if you ask me," Byakuya began.

"We didn't," Celeste whispered under her breath.

"We should suspect both Kyoko and Celeste," Byakuya continued. "The only real thing they have going for them is that they vouch for each other."

"Wouldn't Monokuma have told us if there were two?" Hiro asked, scratching his head.

Byakuya shook his head. "He likely implied there was one so that, once we found them, we would let our guard down around the other one."

"I think you are the only one who suspects Kyoko," Sakura commented, fixing Byakuya with a thoughtful gaze. "I believe she has more than proven herself."

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "And Celeste?"

Celeste smiled sweetly. "Come now, Byakuya. I have been arguing for peace since the beginning. Would you really believe me capable of such depravity?"

Byakuya answered with a steady glare.

"Hey," Makoto cut in. "We know she didn't tell Monokuma about…" he glanced at the classroom's security camera, "our secret weapon. That should put her in the clear, right?"

"Do we know that?" Byakuya asked. "After all, Monokuma did say at the start that he enjoyed watching us try to figure out everything."

A terrible thought struck Kyoko. It would be easy for Celeste to slip away at night, as Sayaka and Leon had. She had already told Kyoko that she had made the rule against nighttime outings for her own benefit. And no one else knew Alter Ego's current location… oh no. She needed to wrap things up fast.

"In any case," Kyoko spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention. "It is clear that most of us are very likely not traitors. There is no reason to treat anyone, except maybe Celeste and myself, with suspicion. And there is certainly not enough evidence to justify killing anyone. After all, it is still quite likely that Monokuma lied or misled us, and either never had an accomplice or had simply recruited Toko or one of the other fallen. Am I wrong?"

"No, that's right," Makoto confirmed. "Byakuya can distrust you two as he likes. But this motive will do nothing to affect the rest of us! Right?" He looked around uncertainly.

"Right!" Hina confirmed, as Sakura and Hiro nodded their assent.

"Excellent," said Kyoko. "Then this exercise has had its intended effect. We can return to our pairs and our lives, now."

The others nodded and began to stand up and leave.

Kyoko walked up to Celeste, and said sternly, "Follow me."

She then led a confused Celeste up to the second floor and into the boy's bathroom, caring more about seeing the truth with her own eyes than maintaining maximum secrecy. She marched up to the hidden door and entered the secret room.

Alter Ego was gone. So were all of the books, cables, and everything else. Only furniture remained.