Danganronpa: Obscurity’s Disgrace (SYOC) Chapter 14: Burning Lights, Burning Spirit (Part 7), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 1: Burning Lights, Burning Spirit (Trial Part 1)

Warning!

This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark and serious themes! And also expect some choice words that might upset people - thanks to a certain Gas Station Manager! But also expect fun and whimsical themes as well! I hope you enjoy!

[Pheme's Room]

"Oh me oh my..." Pheme giggled to herself as she reclined in her chair. "It's almost time for the Studio Trial! I can barely contain myself!"

"Yes..." The Figure muttered absentmindedly as they looked over some camera footage. "I suppose we can only wait and see to see how Ms. Yamamoto's killer fares, can't we?" They narrowed their eyes at some footage.

"Oh yes oh yes!" Pheme was almost getting a little too excited at this point.

The Figure definitely took notice of Pheme's excitement. "Miss Pheme..." They walked over and out their hand on Pheme's shoulder. "Before we get too excited..." They pulled out a document and set in front of Pheme. "Let's get back to what we started the other day, shall we?"

Pheme looked confused for a second, before a look of realization spread across her face. "Oh! I see! Since Ms. Aurora Beaufort has some sort of involvement in this case... what better time than now to learn more about her?" Pheme started to look over the document The Figure gave her.

"That's correct..." The Figure still really didn't like that Aurora was here, but they unfortunately couldn't go back in time. But they went and pulled up the playlist The Contact provided for them. "Just like any other time, let's start with this..." They clicked on the first video.

"Oh yes! I'm so excited!" Pheme sat back and got comfortable in her chair, and waited for the video to start...

...

[Cacher Sa Vraie Personne]

"Aurora! Can I please get your autograph?"

"Aurora! Can I please take a picture with you?"

"Have my babies Aurora!"

"I love you Aurora!"

Aurora Beaufort was currently sitting in Cacher Sa Vraie Personne, a café in Paris. With the aid of her manager, Jean D'Rue, Aurora had arranged for a fan meet and greet at the café. Some fans were definitely... a bit more aggressive than others, but she has her security to deal with those fans. But for the most part, she was so happy to see her adoring fans take time out of their days to go and see her. She had a surprisingly big crowd today, but who was she to object against that? So many smiling faces... it was just... how could she even describe it?

"Get ready Aurora. The next fan is coming." Jean whispered as he gently reminded her.

"Right." Aurora nodded. Now wasn't the time to get lost in her thought. She needed to face her fans!

It only took a few seconds for her next fan to walk up to her table.

"H-hi Aurora." The fan had a nervous smile on their face.

"Hello. It's wonderful to meet you. What's your name?" Aurora gave one of her signature gentle smiles.

"U-uh..." The fan was clearly starstruck. "It's... Morgan Quincy." Morgan held his head down in bashfulness.

"Well Morgan? Would you like anything from me?" That was the point of the meet and greet after all.

Morgan started to blush. "Um... uh... I..." He stuttered.

Aurora tensed up a teensy bit. She definitely got the occasional weirdos. In case he was, she wanted to be ready.

"Can I shake your hand?!" Morgan blurted out.

"Oh!" Aurora was a little thrown back. She hadn't expected him to blurt out like that. But a handshake? "Of course!" Aurora held out her hand.

"Score!" Morgan cheered as he got to shake his idol's hand. "Hell yeah!" He definitely got his spirit back. The power of the Aurora handshake can change lives. Maybe.

"Thank you Aurora! My friends are gonna be so jealous!" Morgan then ran off with a spring in his step.

Aurora giggled. "I love seeing my fans happy."

Jean nodded from beside her. "I'm happy to hear that Aurora. You are a source of happiness in the lives of a lot of people."

Aurora looked over to Jean. "You really think so?"

"Now pay attention. Your next fan approaches." Jean pointed at the next man who was about to approach Aurora.

"R-right!" Aurora quickly got back into her "star" mode as the next fan approached her. "Hello. It's nice to meet you."

The next man gave a charming smile. "It's nice to meet you Aurora." He offered his hand for a handshake, clearly having more boldness than the last guy. "I'm a foreigner named Hideyoshi. I've been of fan of yours for a long time."

Aurora happily took his hand and shook it. "Ah, I had a feeling you were Japanese. It's wonderful to meet you Hideyoshi." She smiled at him. "I love hearing that I have fans in foreign countries. What started your interest in me?" She immediately started to engage in conversation with Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi flipped his hair all "pretty boy" like. "I have my own desires for fame, I suppose. I don't mean to sound vain, but the idea of fame always appealed to me. The idea of someone... knowing your name. It's always seemed like a wonderful feeling. A feeling that I wish to feel one day."

Aurora tilted her head. "Interesting... but if I may ask, what does that have to do with me?"

Hideyoshi chuckled. "Ah, sorry. I should probably get to the point." He quickly shook his head. "It was your story, or lack there of, that drew me to you. You... are a pinnacle of fame. One, that I'd like to reach someday."

"Ah, is that so?" Aurora was slowly starting to get weirded out by this guy. She wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this.

"Ah, sorry again. I'm rambling." Hideyoshi smirked. "I'm training to become a director. I'm no Ultimate, but I'd like to be one someday." He slid Aurora his business card. "I'd really appreciate it if you could give me a chance. You obviously don't have to if you don't want to, but I'd really appreciate it." He winked. "But that's all. Just wanted to let you know how impressive you are in my eyes. Take care. "Aurora"." He said her name with air quotes, then quickly walked off.

Jean narrowed his eyes. "Should I have security take care of him, Aurora?" His suspicion radar was going off like crazy.

"No." Aurora pocketed his businesd card. "Don't bother. There's no point." Hideyoshi... Aurora really didn't like the aura that young man had. He seemed to be roughly the same age as she was. She felt a chill go down her spine. Who was that?

"As you say Aurora." Jean's words broke Aurora out of her thoughts. "Now be ready. Another person approaches."

Aurora was still thinking about Hideyoshi... but Jean was right. She needed to be ready for her next fan. She quickly composed herself as her next fan approached her. "Hello. It's wonderful to meet you." She greeted them.

"It's wonderful to meet you too." They extended their hand. "You are Ms. Aurora Beaufort I assume?"

Aurora took their hand and shook it. "Indeed... I am her." She was already a little weirded out. It sounded like they didn't know her, so it's strange that they were here in the first place.

"Very good!" They adjusted their suit. "I didn't mean to sound strange, I just had to confirm to be sure." He handed her his business card, just like Hideyoshi. "I am a talent scout with Hope's Peak Academy!"

Aurora felt her heart skip a beat. "A talent scout you say?"

The talent scout nodded. "Correct! And you Ms. Aurora Beaufort, have been on our radar for a long time." He handed her a letter. "This letter contains an official invitation for you to join Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Starlet! What do say?"

"Wow..." Aurora certainly didn't expect this. And she wad silently grateful that the talent scout was talking quietly enough so her crowd of fans wouldn't hear. If they could hear this, it'd make it a lot more chaotic.

"Let me see that." Jean took the business card and letter from Aurora. "Hm..." He read it over. "It's certainly the real deal." He smiled. "How does it sound Aurora? An honor like joining Hope's Peak Academy was the natural next step for you, no?"

Jean raised a good point. Ever since... ever since forever ago... Aurora wanted to be famous. And Hope's Peak Academy? That was fame itself. So... "I suppose... I don't see why not." Aurora smiled once again as she shook the talent scout's hand. "Thank you so much for the opportunity. My manager Jean will be in further contact with you."

The talent scout was grinning from ear to ear. "That's great news!" He leaned down a bit closer to her. "I'll keep quiet about this for your fans. I imagine you want to tell them yourself?"

Aurora giggled. "Indeed. I'd appreciate you staying mum about this for now."

"I can do that." The talent scout nodded. "But isn't that something? Aurora Beaufort, the Ultimate Starlet? Just like your manager! Jean D'Rue, the Former Ultimate Talent Scout-"

The talent scout didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as Jean gently pushed him away from the table. "We appreciate you, but we must ask you to leave now." Jean tried his best to be polite.

"R-right..." The talent scout held his head down, gave Aurora a quick wave, then left.

Aurora gave Jean a quick glare. "You didn't have to do that you know."

Jean scoffed. "You know the stigma that comes with a Former Ultimate status. I don't wish to be reminded of it."

"That's fair, I suppose." Aurora nodded sadly.

But... wow. Hope's Peak Academy. Ultimate Starlet. Fame. That's what it is. Fame. That's the golden ticket. That's her dream. That's Aurora's dream. One simple word.

Fame.

[Pheme's Room]

The video cut off. "I never tire of these videos!" Pheme leaned back in her chair. "Aurora Beaufort... hah." She shook her head. "What a miserable woman. So foolish. Ignorant. Gah!" Pheme stood up. "She is the type of person I hate the most. One who is buried so deep within the pit of fame... and when she gets out, she'll be done. Hah. A girl like that doesn't deserve to be alive." Pheme turned to The Figure.

The Figure had a very noticeable scowl on their face. "Of course Miss Pheme." It was clear they were trying to hold back a certain emotion. "But that's enough for now." The Figure pointed at the clock. "The Studio Trial will be starting soon. You best get down there Miss Pheme."

Pheme's anger over Aurora quickly evaporated. "Oh yes! You're correct!" She jumped up into the air. "I must get going! I haven't got time to be worrying over Ms. Beaufort!" Pheme excitedly ran out the door, and down to the Grand Court, leaving The Figure behind.

The Figure sat down on a chair. "Aurora Beaufort... bah."

...

[Grand Court]

Silence. Complete and utter quiet. It was an oxymoron, but all you could hear was the deafening silence in the makeshift courtroom. Nineteen podiums, each made for a person to stand at. But one of them was occupied by a haunting portrait of Bessie B. Blossom, with a giant X over her face. Insanely disrespectful to the dead. The dead...

That's right. Bessie is dead. And one of them killed her. Everyone eyed each other. Was it them? Or was it them? Could it be them? Questions and accusations raced through everyone's minds as they all stalled out the gross inevitably they'd have to face within the coming minutes.

But judging my Pheme's impatient tapping of her high heel on the step of her overly-glorious throne, she was likely getting impatient. "Hm? Are we ready to get started on the debate?" Pheme looked around at everyone. Everyone, including some of the more crude types, seemed apprehensive.

Pheme snapped her fingers, seemingly receiving a revelation. "Ah, I understand! You don't know where to start do you? Well don't fret my wonderful stars, for I, Pheme, shall help you get started in the Studio Trial." Pheme nodded and stood up from her throne. "Now, let's first go over the rules! All eighteen of you shall argue and debate over who you think the blackened is! In other words, over who you think murdered Ms. Blossom! At the end of the Studio Trial, you all will vote on who you think did the deed! If you're correct, congratulations! Only the blackened will receive punishment by my own hands!" Pheme giggled. "But... if you pick the wrong person? Everyone besides for the blackened will be punished, and the guilty party gets to escape from this studio scot-free! Fun right? Aren't you excited?" Pheme looked around again. Her rule explanation seemed to have gotten a few people moving and stretching, so her job is done! So now, all she needs to do is just sit back and watch the show unfold...

...

After Pheme explained the rules, most everyone's eyes seemed to drift towards a specific thing. Bessie's portrait? Nope. Pheme? Nope again.

Everyone's eyes drifted towards Kei. Kei quickly noticed the stares, and he realized why he was being singled out. "Oh, I get it." Kei stretched his arms. "It's because I'm a Lawyer yeah?"

"Well you aren't good for anything else you K-pop wannabe bitch!" Alpha glared at him.

Kei just brushed off the insult, but out of all things, a "K-pop wannabe?" Was it because of his appearance? It was probably because of his appearance. Anyway, "Fine then, I'll get us started." Kei continued. "You'd normally start with an opening statement, but the studio trial is a bit special isn't it?" He raised an eyebrow at Pheme. "I think the best way to start this is to establish the basic facts. So that everyone is on the same page for when we really get down to it. Fair?" He extended a questioning expression to everyone.

"Yes, uh, logically s-speaking, that makes sense." Adam pushed up his glasses.

"Indeed! Kei is correct, that is a wise way to start this off." Damien offered over-indulgent praise to Kei. Kei didn't care.

"Okay-nya! So what basic fact should we start with first-nya?" Kuroko tapped her pointed finger against the bottom of her chin as she thought about it.

"Well..." Ji-hoon was scrolling through his Star-Phone. "The Pheme File seems as good a place to start as any. Let's go through it." Ji-hoon opened up his evidence app and started to read the Pheme File aloud.

-The victim was Bessie B. Blossom, the Ultimate Pop Star.

-Her body was found inside of the boarded-up room on the first floor of the Studio.

-Bessie's cause of death was immolation. Bessie was also electrocuted, and there is evidence of a single blow to Bessie's head from a blunt object.

-Bessie's time of death was 7:51 am.

"All of these main points seem important, so let's go through them in order." Ji-hoon tapped his fingers against his podium. "First, the boarded-up room." Ji-hoon initiated their first topic. "I feel like discussing the room will naturally lead us along to figuring out what exactly happened to Bessie."

"Okay." Aurora slowly nodded her head. "It's time to really get this started... isn't it?"

Damien smiled sadly. "Indeed. We must do this..."

"Yeah. We'll do this for Bessie." Raiha solemnly nodded. Strange to hear her not use any slang. Guess she's pretty serious here!

"So that boarded-up room..." Ji-hoon crossed his arms. "I admittedly never got to check it out too much. Did anyone here actually investigate it at all?"

"Oh hey!" Yoshino slapped her hand on her podium. "Wasn't it...

...

Damien, Ayaka, and Aelia who investigated that room in the very beginning? I think so?"

Eyes turned to the three brought up. Ayaka and Aelia seemed nervous, but Damien merely chuckled to himself. "That is correct my dear Yoshino! Myself, my dear Ayaka, and my dear Aelia investigated that room ourselves in the beginning!"

"Ugh..." Alpha groaned. "Damien, there's no need for that "dear" bullshit, just explain your shit so we can get this done!" She slammed her hand on her podium.

Damien chuckled. "My dear Alpha, must we start this once again? I'm afraid that there'd be no point to that. Our podiums are awfully far aware... so unfortunately, I believe you cannot punch me, even if you wanted to!" He gave a smug smirk.

"God you're a fucking prick!" Alpha snarled at Damien.

"You humans and your constant fighting..." Cathy shook her head.

"Yeah... that ain't it." Raiha frowned. "Damien bestie? Let's just get on with it." It was kind of weird seeing Raiha actually act serious for once.

Even Damien seemed a little taken aback. "Yes... you're right my dear Raiha." He adjusted his clothes. "My dear Ayaka? My dear Aelia? What do you think? What do we know?" He gave his dears the metaphorical talking stick.

"W-well, I don't think we r-really know that much actually." Ayaka decided to speak up. "We weren't a-able to figure out much. I don't think our preliminary investigation a-amounted to much." She let out a deep breath, visibly shaking. Barely 3k or so words into this trial, and she's already nervous? It's gonna be a long day for her.

"Interesting. This door sticks out like a sore thumb doesn't it?" Damien mused as he stood in front of a boarded-up door. The door itself was wooden and aged, with three thin wooden planks blocking it off. There was no handle on the door.

"Ayaka is r-right... unfortunately." Aelia cleared her voice. "Prior to our investigation... a-all he saw was that the door had n-no handle... and we s-saw the three w-wooden planks too. That's it..." She looked down sadly.

"I see..." Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes, clearly deep in thought. "I wonder if..." He started to think.

"Hold up!" Well, Ji-hoon wanted to think, but his train of thought was interrupted by Joji.

"Joji? What is it? Let's keep on track here." The celebrity detective already sounded impatient.

"Ji-hoon! You're going about this all wrong!" Joji emphasized his last word with a slam of his hand on his podium. "We don't need this trial shit. It's obvious who the killer is!"

"Oh? You already *cough* know? That's surprising." Rosalind coughed into the conversation.

"Fuck yeah I do!" Joji slammed his hand down with a bit more force, before pointing at someone. "It's obvious that it's you...

...

Pheme! It has to be you!" A fire was burning in Joji's eyes. "Fess up! You killed Bessie! Just to bring us into the bullshit trial!" Joji pointed at Pheme like he was a certain spiky-haired lawyer accusing a suspect.

But the actual lawyer couldn't help but chuckle at that accusation. "That's a bold claim there Joji." Kei covered his mouth in feigned shock.

Upon hearing the accusation, Genjiro shot Joji a confused look. "That is a fucking bold accusation! Man, I hate that bitch Phlegm, but I don't think she burned Bessie to a crisp bro!"

"Y-yes, that doesn't seem v-very plausible." Adam adjusted his glasses.

Damien slowly shook his head. "Like Adam and Genjiro stated, I'm afraid that your accusation isn't exactly possible Joji!" He gave the carpenter a condescending look.

Joji turned to Damien, a fire still burning in his eyes. "And why the hell not? Do you have proof that Pheme didn't do it?!"

Damien chuckled, then adjusted his hair so that it looks perfect while he proves Joji wrong. "Joji, with all due respect, this shouldn't even need discussion." Or any suspenseful ellipses! "Pheme has rules in place. Don't you remember?"

"Rules..." Joji thought out loud. "Oh!" He had an epiphany. "You mean rule eleven?"

11. Pheme nor any of the staff will never directly commit a murder.

Damien smiled gently. "Indeed I do. I'm happy you understand that Joji. Now, let us-

"Your argument lacks foundation!"

Joji slammed both of his hands on the podium, sending over a gust of wind Damien's way, messing up his hair and clothes in the process. "J-Joji?" Damien hadn't expected to have been countered like that.

"Hold on a second Damien!" Joji glared at the beautician. "I get why you brought up the rules! I do! But Pheme has been pretty lax about some of them!"

Damien shot Joji a confused look while he readjusted his clothes and hair. "What exactly do you mean by "lax"?" He wasn't sure where Joji was going with this.

"I'll explain to you what I mean!" Joji slammed his podium again. "Rules three and five! That's what I mean!"

Damien shifted his eyes to the side. Rules three and five?

3. "Nighttime" is from 11:00 pm to 8:00 am. During that timeframe, you are required to stay within your rooms. Attempting to leave your rooms during "Nighttime" will result in punishment from Pheme.

5. Breaking or Destroying any cameras or studio property present in the studio is strictly forbidden and will result in immediate punishment from Pheme.

"Oh shit! I kinda get what you mean Joji!" Genjiro added with a slam on his podium. These poor podiums. "Phlegm is lax with rule three at least!"

Aurora tilted her head. "Pheme is lax with rule three? What do you mean?" She slowly turned her parasol in her hands.

"Oh hey!" Yoshino slammed her podium. The podium abuse is crazy. "Genjiro and Jojo told me about that! Something about jogging yeah?"

"Oh ho! Damn right!" Genjiro pumped his fists into the air. "Last night, Joji and I had a good ol' arm wrestling match! It doesn't matter who won..." He decided to gloss over the fact that he somehow lost. "Anyway, after that, Joji and I went for a jog around the first floor! We kept going even after the nighttime announcement, and Phlegm never even stopped us!" He emphasized with another slam.

"That's rather... *cough* interesting." Rosalind turned to Pheme. "Did you have any particular reason for not stopping Joji and *cough* Genjiro?"

Throughout Joji's entire accusation towards her, Pheme said nothing at all. It wasn't visible due to her mask, but she was smirking though. She was already enjoying this a lot. But she wasn't in the mood to answer that question. Pheme sat up in her throne, and held up her hand to Rosalind in a motion to make her stop talking. "Before that... Mr. Kaneshiro?" She looked toward Joji.

Joji immediately turned to Pheme, and glared at her. "What?! What do you want?! Are you giving up?!" Boy, he was more than a little angry right now.

Pheme tried to stifle a giggle. "Giving up? Oh heavens no! Before anything else, could you explain what you meant by me being "lax" with rule five as well?" She rested her head in her hand. "I'm very curious as to what you mean."

"Um..." Aelia looked around, before setting her eyes on Pheme.

Pheme turned to Aelia with a curious look. "Ms. Celani? What is it? Do you mean to answer for Mr. Kaneshiro?"

"W-Well, I guess so!" Aelia tried to confidently face down Pheme. "You explained t-that during the investigation... didn't you? About r-rule five?"

Pheme chuckled. "I am of course aware of that. You three boys would normally be punished for that... but I'll let you boys off the hook this time! But don't think you'll be this lucky next time!"

"That's right Aelia!" Joji smiled at the puppeteer, before turning back to glare at Pheme. "You excused Genjiro, Kei, and I for breaking down the door. So you technically broke your own rule!" He stomped his foot. "So why should we trust any of your other rules then?!"

Pheme raised her eyebrows. "Ah, that's your argument I see!"

...

"Is that all you're going to say?" Joji stated awkwardly at Pheme. "Anything?"

Genjiro started to glare at Pheme too. "What? Did Joji already catch your ass in the act? Was it that easy?" He got surprisingly cocky.

"No... I highly doubt that." Kei chimed in. "Besides, it'd be pretty boring if Pheme was the killer just like that." He shiftily shifted his eyes towards Pheme. "Doesn't really fit your M.O., does it?"

Pheme's eyes lit up. "Oh, you know me so well Mr. Aikawa! That's why you're my favorite!" She pointed at the lawyer.

Kei raised an eyebrow. "I'm your favorite? Really? Why's that?"

"Kei!" Alpha joined back up with the podium slamming. "Why do you fucking care about if you're Pheme's favorite?"

Kei shrugged. "I never said I cared. Just curious!"

"Well save it for later? Can we keep on track so we can figure out who killed quadruple B bitch?" Alpha was getting fed up with this. And the trial had barely started!

"Sheesh, calm down." Kei held out his hands in front of him. "That ain't a nice way to speak of the dead!"

"If you keep this shit up you'll be joining her soon Mr. Phoenix Wrong!" Alpha decided to pull out her threats and references. A threatference, if you will.

"Fine fine." Kei waved her off. It probably was better to stay on track anyway. It wasn't like they had an otter giving them a time limit for the trial, but still. "What were we talking about again?" Kei needed a reminder.

"Simping for Pheme?" Raiha reminded him. "Do you have an OF BTW Pheme?" She for some godforsaken reason asked.

"Oh christ..." Alpha rolled her eyes with force, the crossed her arms.

"I'm kidding Alpha bestie-in-question!" Well, Raiha could only be serious for long I suppose. Par for the course!

"Huh? You are?" Pheme sounded weirdly disappointed. "I would've given you the link to it... but if you were kidding, I guess not!" She dropped a shocking revelation that realistically only Sempi may or may not care about.

"Wait what-" Raiha got cut off by Pheme standing up from her throne.

"Back to what Mr. Aikawa said about my M.O.! He's correct! I'd never step in and kill any of my adorable and precious stars! Why in the world would I do that?" Pheme put her hand on her hip, her voice dripping with feigned offense.

"Yeah but still-" Now it was Joji that got cut off, due to Pheme stomping her heel-clad foot on he ground. It was surprisingly loud.

"You were going to bring up the rules, weren't you Mr. Kaneshiro?" Pheme slowly shook her head. "Fine... how about this?" Pheme snapped her fingers, which in doing so caused it to slightly echo in the trial room. A few seconds later... everybody got a notification on their Star-Phone.

One or more rules have been updated!

3. "Nighttime" is from 11:00 pm to 8:00 am. During that timeframe, you are *not* required to stay within your rooms. You can stay out for as long as you like.

5. Breaking or Destroying any cameras or studio property present in the studio is strictly forbidden and will result in immediate punishment from Pheme. *Exceptions may occur depending on certain precarious situations*

"And there!" Pheme sat back down.

"You really changed the rules on a whim like that? I already know that'll be annoying in the future." Ji-hoon crossed his arms.

Joji didn't know what to say. "W-what? Seriously?!"

Pheme nodded smugly. "Seriously!" She simply said.

"But that- that doesn't-" Joji was getting caught on his words. "That doesn't disprove my words though! You still could've-"

"That logic needs a touch-up, I'm afraid!"

Damien confidently pointed at Joji, sending a strong gust of wind the carpenter's way. "And I have returned the favor." Damien said smugly, before brushing nothing off of his shoulder.

"Damien? What the fuck is it?!" Joji didn't have any counters, as he had to get his bearings back from being hit by that gale of wind.

"Joji... there is more... "concrete" proof that Pheme couldn't have committed this murder. It's a little "meta," but I believe it should be brought up." Damien sounded a bit more serious than usual.

Kuroko tilted her head. "What do you... oh-nya." She got a look of realization.

"I see you understand what I'm getting at my dear Kuroko." Damien solemnly nodded. Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, it looked like almost everyone was realizing what exactly Damien meant. Well, besides for Joji. "Joji? Shall I explain?"

"Uh-" Joji wasn't necessarily stupid, it's just that his group has some really smart people.

"Very well, I'll explain it." Damien started talking, not even giving Joji a chance. "I believe Kei and Rival were the ones who acknowledged it, but killing games have happened before Joji. Did you know that?"

"I mean..." Joji's anger started to calm down. He was faced with a... rather serious topic. And with what Damien said... who didn't know that? Those killings games are going to live forever as a stain on humanity, and not to mention the people who...

Oh. "Oh." Joji repeated the narration.

"I see you understand." Damien closed his eyes. "In those killing games... the overseers of those killing games rarelybroke the rules, and they rarely killed any of the people who were a part of it. If this killing game is at all related to those... it'd be logical to assume that Pheme would follow those very same rules and principles." Damien heaved a heavy sigh.

"Rarely broke the rules?" Kei had to think about that statement for a moment. "Oh yeah! That's fair." He realized what Damien meant as he stretched his arms.

Damien went back to looking at Joji. "Joji, I'm sorry, but the chance of Pheme being the killer in this case is astronomically low. It's just..." Despite his confident front, even Damien was having trouble getting this thought out. "It'd be wiser to assume that one of us did kill our dear Bessie." He shifted his eyes away.

Joji held his head in his hands. "Fuck... damn it..." He was clearly distraught. "I never ever thought about those killing games..." He turned his back to the rest of the group. "FUCK!"

...

Silence fell over the group. That hard pill of truth to swallow- the fact that one of them killed Bessie... it still lingered in the air. In the investigation, at the beginning of the trial, and now during the trial again, here they are, being forced to acknowledge it. It's tough. The more timid and nervous ones stayed silent. It was vastly harder for them to accept it. But for one person...

"We done with the tangent now?" Ji-hoon tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. "We have a case to solve here." He then promptly glared at Joji's back. Good thing Joji wasn't looking then huh?

"I thought it was valid enough to bring up..." Lake hugged themselves.

"Y-yeah... I don't think it was a-an... impossible idea..." Aelia tried to keep herself from shaking. Damien was unfortunately a bit too far away to comfort her by stealing her shoulder at the moment though.

Ayaka didn't say anything, instead choosing to look down at the ground, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"I mean... both the little bitches and Ji-hoon have a point." Alpha moved her sunglasses to above her head. "It's fair to assume that fucking whore could've killed quadruple B bitch. But at the same time, let's get going already yeah? We're no closer to figuring out actually who killed her."

Yoshino crossed her arms. "You don't have to word it that damn rudely you know."

Alpha just scoffed at the horror novelist, choosing to not even honor Yoshino with a rebuttal.

Ji-hoon pulled out his Star-Phone to check a few things in his evidence app, then slowly looked to Alpha. "Never thought I'd be agreeing with someone like you." He sprinkled some snark into his words before turning back to face the group. Alpha was once again only gave Ji-hoon a scoff. "Now again, where exactly were we?"

Cathy put her hand to her mouth like she was about to haughtily laugh. "Before the carpenter human derailed us, we were talking about the door to the boarded-up room!" Huh. Strange to not hear Cathy laugh for once whenever she says something. "Nyahaha!" Nevermind. "For that door to resist me, it must be something real impressive!" She winked at Pheme, who promptly returned the wink.

"Right." Ji-hoon casually pointed at Cathy. "Getting back to it then. If Damien, Ayaka, and Aelia weren't able to find anything back then, and if nobody found out anything between then and the door being broken down... it falls to you Cathy." He was starting to sound annoyed that Cathy of all people had possibly vital information for the case.

"Nyaha! Of course the humans now rely on me!" She scoffed smugly.

Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes so much it almost looked like they were closed. "Are you going to explain anything or not?"

"In due time celebrity detective human, in due time." Cathy reassured him. "For nyow... I'm curious about the door's pre broken state! How did our killer make a locked-room mystery? And one that I couldn't break into? I knew humans had plenty of crafts hidden up their sleeves... but I'm almost impressed!"

Ji-hoon sighed. "Fine. Let's switch our focus to the trio that triggered the BDA then."

...

Kei, Genjiro, and Joji. I want to hear from you three, specifically the latter two."

Genjiro made an appalled grasp, then tightly gripped his podium. "What the fuck? No way you think I killed Bessie?"

Kuroko rolled her eyes. "That's not what he said-nya! He wants to ask you boys, because you have reliable testimonies-nya!" The not-a-cat-girl reminded them.

Joji seemed confused. "Reliable testimony?"

Kei chuckled. "She means rule twelve."

12. Once 3 or more Stars, not counting the guilty party, discover a body, the Body Discovery Announcement will play.

Kei started to absentmindedly practice pointing his finger in Joji's direction. Not to practice to be like a certain spiky-haired lawyer though. Not at all... unless?

Anyway, Kei continued to speak. "Because of rule twelve, we can safely say that we three boys are innocent in the murder of Bessie." He reminded them.

"Oh! Oh yeah! Fuck yeah!" Genjiro seemingly hadn't realized that already.

"Okay... good." After his accusation of Pheme, Joji was trying his best to just... stay calm.

"Getting back on topic..." Ji-hoon cut in with the impatient tapping of his foot. "Genjiro and Joji. You were the first at the scene right? I believe you already told Kei about it but tell us all about it. It's important we all are on the same page."

"Fuck yeah! I can do that!" Genjiro pumped his fist in the air triumphantly. "Not much to say, as Joji and I woke up at kinda the same time? 7:50 am! We left the VIP Quarters together. Then when he left, that's when we smelt the fucking smoke! We ran over to it, then we immediately started to break that bitch-ass door down! After a minute of that, Kei joined up with us. Then the story after that is fucking obvious." Genjiro finished recounting his testimony.

"Sounds about right!" Joji agreed with a nod.

"Hm..." Aurora decided to take over Ji-hoon's questioning. "You must've been experiencing a lot of adrenaline at the time... but were you able to see any vital details?" She gently tilted her head.

"Uhh..." Joji thought back. Did he notice anything? Well... "I don't think so." He scratched his head. That was a little anti-climatic, but that happens sometimes! "Genjiro?" He turned to his bro.

Genjiro fiercely shook his head. "Nope. Bitch I don't see how I could've seen anything." He crossed his arms.

Aurora seemed deep in thought. "I see..." She turned to Kei. "Do you see anything by chance?"

Kei slowly shook his head. "I think the simplest answer I can give to that... is that let's direct our focus back over to Cathy." He gave the Christmas cat girl a sly smirk.

Following the gaze of their lawyer, eyes turned back to Cathy. "So it's back to you then Cathy." Ji-hoon glared especially hard at her. "The door. What did you find out?"

Cathy stifled a giggle. "I see! The humans turn to me! Now... I suppose this was expected." She crossed her arms and turned to the side. "I'll do you humans a favor and grant you some information. I'll just take my payback into my own hands later! Nyahaha!"

A collective groan from most of the rest of the group played out. Besides for the nicer ones.

"S-so? What d-do you... know?" Aelia decided to step up. If she wants attention, a trial is probably the best time to do so!

"Well..." Cathy steadily tapped her foot on the ground. "Hm... should I say it? It might be a bit more fun to watch you clamor for my information! Nyahaha!" Of course she'd choose now of all times to taunt them.

"Cathy? Can you please tell us?" Lake asked her. Poor Lake didn't know what they were getting into by asking Cathy of all people to cooperate.

"I don't know, can I tell you?" Cathy gave Lake a cocky look.

"Um..." Lake didn't understand what Cathy was doing. "Well, I don't know. Can you tell us?"

"I don't know, can I tell you?" Cathy kept giving Lake a cocky look.

Lake furrowed her brow in confusion. "Uh..." They didn't know how to respond.

"H-hey!" Adam gently slammed his hand on the podium, to draw attention to him. The podium slamming trend was done though. Raiha scoffed at him.

Anyway. "We don't n-need the information from Cathy. There w-was another p-person who investigated with her, wasn't there?" Adam brought up a valid point.

"Oh yes! That's a valid point Adam! I had nearly forgotten!" Damien gave Adam a proud look. "The person that Adam is referring to is...

...

Me." Taking away Damien's moment in the spotlight, Rosalind decided to speak up for herself. "I also investigated the now *cough* broken door with Cathy." The cinematographer slowly nodded.

Cathy shot her a glare. "Hey human! It's not fun if you-"

"Very good my dear Rosalind! Explain for us, if you would!" Just like how Rosalind interrupted him, Damien decided to interrupt Cathy.

Cathy then subsequently shot Damien a glare. "Human! It ruins the bit-" Nope.

Rosalind seemingly didn't care about Cathy's bit, as he she merely cleared her voice, coughing a fair bit in the process. "Cathy perhaps accidentally *cough* shared this information with me..." She closed her eyes. "But what we found out, was that the door had six hinges on it, for whatever reason." She slowly shook her head.

"Six?!" Raiha's face looked like she was posing for a clickbait TubeYou video or something. "That's like... more than average!"

"Oh hey, guess the fucking plum prostitute does have a brain in there!" Alpha glared at Raiha while pointing at her own head. "Anyway..." But Alpha quickly got back to a normal stance. "Explains why the door would never open..."

"Indeed *cough*." Rosalind had to steady herself with her parasol. "But there was another thing about them..." She trailed off, letting someone have a chance at some screen time and dialogue.

"What other thing-nya?" And it looks like Kuroko got that dialogue!

"Well..." Rosalind continued her thought. "Whenever you were to *cough* touch those hinges... they'd move."

Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow. "They'd move?"

"Correct." Rosalind nodded. "I'm not sure of their purpose... but every time you were to touch them, they'd move a little upwards. And in the case of the hinges on top of the door, they'd move to the right. I at first thought the point was to *cough* move all of them back at once, then that'd open the door. But in *cough* hindsight, that wouldn't be very possible." She closed in eyes, satisfied that her explanation was over with.

"Interesting..." Kei muttered. "I wonder if..."

"Kei-nya?" Kuroko's podium was right next to Kei's, so it was easy to get his attention. "Do you have any ideas about the door-nya?"

Kei flashed Kuroko a quick smirk. "I might." He looked towards the rest of the group. "First... well, I suppose we're in the middle of a Studio Trial aren't we? So? Any ideas?" He wanted to hear from everyone first before he says his own theory.

Ideas... A door with six hinges... some move upward... and some to the side... it feels like... is there...

...

"There's a trick to it." In his first line in the trial, Darren helped to figure out this mystery.

Bewildered looks quickly fell upon Darren. Truthfully, half of them had forgotten he was even here. "There's a t-trick to it?" Weirdly enough, Ayaka was the one who spoke up next.

Darren nodded steadily, seeming almost... well actually, it's hard to tell how Darren is really feeling. Let's not worry about. "Let's remember... that there wasn't a door handle. So it can't open conventionally. So..." He let someone else finish his thought.

"And so... there m-must be a trick to it! P-perhaps a code?" And it was Adam who finished his thought.

Darren flashed Adam a quick smile. "That's what I'm thinking." He then turned his head to Kei. "Was that your idea then?" He said plainly.

Kei chuckled. "Yep. That was what I was thinking. Not bad Darren." He winked at the bartender. Darren just stared at him in return.

"So if we're working with the idea that the door required a code..." Ji-hoon looked over the list of evidence they collected. "If any of the evidence is connected to that code... it'd have to be that one."

Raiha's eyes lit up, like she knew exactly what Ji-hoon was talking about. "Oh! Oh! Bet that! I'm picking up what you're putting down Ji-hoon!" She looked at his eagerly.

Ji-hoon tentatively narrowed his eyes. "Okay..." Raiha's interjection was a little out of nowhere, so he decided to act a little wary. "Fine. Explain it then." He gave her chance.

"Bet!" Raiha cheerfully nodded her head. "KK, so I think the code has to have something to do with...

...

the burned-up note, obvi!" Raiha did a very "Raiha" pose.

Huh. Ji-hoon definitely knew that there was more to Raiha than met the eye... but he was surprised she got it. "Yeah Raiha, that's was I thinking." He gave her a curt nod, but no "Good job!" Kinda wack Ji-hoon.

Aelia had a concentrated look on her face. "R-remind me of the... b-burned up note again?" She had admittedly forgotten about it.

Raiha giggled. "That's NP Aelia bestie, lemme pull it out. And if this is the code, it'd be slay if everyone was on the same page anyway." Raiha slowly pulled out the crumpled and limp note out of her pocket. She then read aloud what it said, as a reminder to the group and to my readers. "The note says...

clockwise circle 162215

so yeah!" Raiha finished reading out the short note.

Yoshino got a baffled look on her face. "Clockwise circle 162215? Honestly, not sure what exactly that means."

"Me either!" Joji scratched his head.

Now, you'd normally expect the other himbo, Genjiro, to chime in and say he doesn't know either but... "Oh shit! I think I get it!" He actually had a solid idea.

"Oh really?" Kei struggled to hold in a chuckle.

"Really?" Almost repeating Kei's words, Ji-hoon shot Genjiro a look that dripped with disbelief.

"Hey you fuckers!" Genjiro brought back the podium slamming trend. "You want to be like that? Fine! I'll prove you bitches wrong!" He pointed at Kei and Ji-hoon at the same time.

"Yeah okay." Ji-hoon dismissively turned his head away. Wow he really didn't believe Genjiro did he? "Let me just-"

Kei smiled and shook his head, getting ready to cut off Ji-hoon. "Let the man speak Ji-hoon. Let's see if he's right! I mean, it's not like we can know these things for sure either. I don't think we can prove anything for sure with the door anymore anyway." He shrugged.

Ji-hoon rolled his eyes. "First he tries to usurp me and now he's trying to cooperate..." He muttered under his breath. No one heard him.

"Okay! Everyone shut the fuck up and let me explain!" Genjiro slammed his fist on his podium like how a judge would slam their gavel. "I think the code is kinda simple really." He crossed his arms. "I'm thinking...

...

the note straight up tells you how to open that damn door!" Genjiro said without elaborating.

"Genjiro..." Yoshino slowly shook her head. "That part is obvious, you dumbass!" She did an annoyed hand motion.

Genjiro scoffed. "I have to make it dramatic and exciting, dumbass!" He returned the insult. "Fucking anyway... I think the numbers correspond to the hinges. And "clockwise circle" tells you which hinges are which! Easy right? Aren't I smart? Aren't I amazing? Nah nevermind, you don't need to answer! I already know I'm amazing!" Genjiro smiled surprisingly wide as he started to flex.

Ji-hoon widened his eyes. Wow. He actually got it. Or well, he had the same train of thought that the smart ones had anyway.

"Oh! I see!" Aurora, who isn't necessarily a smart one or a dumb one, decided she wanted more screen time. "So the one furthest down on the left would be "1". Then the one above it would be "2," and so on!"

Ji-hoon quickly nodded. "That's what I was thinking Aurora. Nice job."

"Indeed! Very good my dear Aurora!" Damien praised her.

Genjiro and Raiha glared at Ji-hoon and Damien at the same time. "Hey! Where the fuck/flip is my praise?!" They said in unison.

Ji-hoon ignored them to look back over his evidence app, but Damien decided to look toward them. "Ah yes! Very good my dear Raiha! You did remarkably well, as well!" Raiha smiled and went back to whatever she was going. But he ignored Genjiro.

"Hey you-" Genjiro was going to tell him off, but Damien cut him off, not wanting another Alpha incident.

"So... according to my dear Aurora's thoughts..." Damien resumed thinking, using Aurora's guess. "You'd press hinges 1, 6, 2, 2, 1, and then 5. And that would presumably open up the door. That's what we all are thinking, yes?"

The group shared a collective nod. "Now... I'm curious as to where this note writer got that code from..." Damien continued to think. "Is that perhaps relevant?"

"Honestly, it probably fucking is!" Alpha groaned. "Because no fucking way they just guessed it. But without any ideas on who or where they got it from, it's a waste of time!" She crossed arms.

"Well..." Cathy decided to speak up again. "Maybe-"

"Shut the hell up Cathy! You're just gonna blue ball us again!" Oh. Thanks to Alpha cutting her off, it looks like Cathy's blue-balling was stopped. Three cheers for Alpha!

Damien let out a long sigh at Alpha and Cathy's back and forth. He opted to not press them. "Alright. Shall we-"

"Um... I think I m-might know how they got t-the code." Ayaka, still looking down at the ground, decided to speak.

"My dear Ayaka? What is it?" Damien turned to his dear Ayaka with a curious look. He wasn't able to see Ayaka's expression, but he could tell she was blatantly troubled.

Darren gave Ayaka an ever-so-slightly curious look towards Ayaka. He didn't say anything though. He already had a feeling on what she was going to say.

After it was silent for long enough, Ayaka continued to explain her idea. "I w-wonder if the writer of that note g-got that code... b-because...

...

they were the traitor." Ayaka stayed looking at the ground, refusing to meet anyone's gaze at her idea.

"Huh? Seriously?! I don't know if I..." Yoshino already had trouble believing it.

Joji groaned. "I know you're just giving out ideas Ayaka... but that's fucking bullshit!" He joined back in with the podium slamming trend. "No way that traitor nonsense is real!"

"I personally still refuse to believe that there is a traitor as well." Aurora closed her eyes.

"Me too! I can't believe it!" Lake joined the non-believers. Wow. Some people still refuse to believe it? Well, they're in for a tough ride!

Anyway, Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes at Ayaka. "I can see where you're coming from with that. So are you implying that the traitor is the killer then?" And that got even more shocked faces and expressions from everyone.

"Y-yes." Ayaka slowly nodded. "Maybe Pheme g-gave the traitor the n-note. And told them to kill Bessie. Or maybe the t-traitor just wrote it down after Pheme told them. Or maybe-" Ayaka started to go on a nervous rant about the traitor.

Almost like he was astral projecting his hand onto her shoulder, Damien cleared his voice, causing Ayaka to stop. "My dear Ayaka. I'd kindly advise you to stop. There's no point in thinking too hard about it."

Ayaka stopped talking, not choosing to reply to Damien.

...

Silence fell upon the group. Some people argue they're being a bit too... sensitive... I suppose. Sensitive to the idea of a traitor. There are a fine mix of realists and idealists in the group. But the idea that one of them really was working against them... it wasn't pleasant.

"Um..." Aelia broke the silence. "I want to ask Pheme... a-about what Ayaka said." She slowly looked toward the goddess of fame. Pheme seemed to be loving this, judging by her expression. "Are you a-able to confirm or deny what Ayaka said?"

Pheme slowly shook her head. "Of course not! How could I?" She giggled. "But that's an interesting theory you're running with... the traitor being the one who killed Bessie? Interesting." She tapped her fingers on her throne. "Again... I cannot confirm or deny any of your theories! But there's nothing wrong with exploring other avenues of thought... you know?" She gave specifically Aelia an expectant look.

"O-other avenues?" Aelia tilted her head. Pheme went back to silently watching her glamorous stars debate. Hm... Aelia got to thinking. She wasn't the smartest person in the world... but it sounded like Pheme gave them a hint? Maybe?

It looked like that vague hint caused some of the others to think. Yoshino closed her eyes. "1. 6. 2. 2. 1. 5." She repeated the code, then opened her eyes. "Hey guys? Call me crazy if you want... but doesn't that sound familiar? I feel like I've heard those numbers recently of something? Wish I could remember fucking where specifically..." She frustratingly whispered that last part.

"Familiar-nya?" Kuroko narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't ring any bells for me-nya." She shrugged.

"Yeah... sorry horror bitch, I think it's just a random sequence of numbers." Alpha said dismissively. She said sorry though, which was a first for Alpha!

"You sure Yoshi?" Genjiro asked her. "I think it's just... just..." The wrestler started to trail off.

Kei flashed Genjiro a sly smirk. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Genjiro slowly nodded. "Holy fuck... I think so!"

"Ah! I think I understand!" Damien proclaimed.

"I think I get it t-too..." Aelia thought back to what happened yesterday.

Ji-hoon slowly nodded. "Yep. If we don't think the code doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the traitor, I think there's one other place it could've came from." He looked around the group expectantly. Judging by everyone's expressions, it looked like Ji-hoon, Genjiro, Kei, Yoshino, Adam, Damien, Aurora, Raiha, Aelia, Rosalind, and Darren got it.

But that left some others confused. "Hm? Are you humans not filling me in on something?" Cathy narrowed her eyes suspiciously at everyone.

"Yeah... what am I missing?" Joji scratched his head.

Ji-hoon lightly chuckled. "Fair enough some of you wouldn't know. Because not everyone was there for it." He dropped ominously. "I think this code comes from the...

...

special event." He confidently nodded.

Lake narrowed their eyes for a moment, before widened them a moment later. "Oh!"

"Attention my adorable stars! I hate to interrupt you, but it's time for a "Special Event!" Participation is not mandatory! But if you do wish to participate, make your way over to the Horror Studio! Further details will await you when you arrive! I hope to see you there!"

"I remember hearing that announcement!" Lake recounted. "But I was too scared to check it out..."

"Yeah." Alpha crossed her arms. "No fucking way I was going to go and see that shit. Reeks of suspicious bullshit."

"Like I said..." Ji-hoon continued. "Not everyone attended it."

"Right." Aurora nodded, taking over Ji-hoon's thought. "Pheme showed us a... rather disconcerting audio recording and video." She gave Adam a sympathetic look. "But now that I think about it...162215. I think..."

"Audio log start. Log #1. Date is June 2nd, 20XX. Time is 15:00."

"Y-yeah..." Having Aurora explain it caused it to fully dawn on Aelia. "The beginning of t-the audio log said... log 1. So that's 1. T-then it said... June 2nd. That's 62. Then it w-was 20XX. And f-finally, the t-time was... 15:00. So t-that's 215." She summarized the idea.

"Ah! Very good my dear Aelia!" Damien gave her a warm smile. "Putting it together... it's 162215. Our code!"

"That's what we're thinking. And if that's the case, then-" Ji-hoon cut himself off. It was a few minutes late, but something he witnessed earlier in the trial just hit him.

"Ji-hoon? Are you alright?" Aurora tilted her head.

"Hold on." Ji-hoon didn't directly answer Aurora's question. "Before we move further with this line of logic... I want to hear from two people." He said ominously.

Kei raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You already have some suspects in mind?"

Ji-hoon didn't face Kei. "Funny you say that Kei..."

...

because I want to hear from you and Darren." He shifted his eyes to the lawyer, suspiciously.

"Oh?" Kei's expression didn't change. And Darren didn't say anything in general.

"Kei. Darren." Ji-hoon wasn't sure what to think. "A few minutes ago, when we reached the realization of truth of the code, why did you two agree with us? You weren't part of the nine that went to the special event. I know that Kei almost went in, but you didn't. I want some answers." He commanded.

He looked around the group expectantly. Judging by everyone's expressions, it looked like Ji-hoon, Genjiro, Kei, Yoshino, Adam, Damien, Aurora, Raiha, Aelia, Rosalind, and Darren got it.

And so, eyes shifted to the secretive lawyer and the secretive bartender.

"D-Darren?" Ayaka muttered.

Darren didn't seem to care about the accusation. "I'll tell you how I knew. Adam told me." He shrugged.

Ji-hoon blinked. "He did?"

Adam nodded, opting to answer in Darren's place. "C-correct. I told Darren about the s-special event yesterday."

"W-well... I w-want to explain what happened in the Horror Studio a little e-earlier." Adam deeply exhaled.

"Alright". Darren gave the go ahead for Adam to explain what had happened.

And so Adam did.

...

"I see..." Darren muttered. "Sounds like a lot."

"I don't want t-to toot my own h-horn, but I, strictly speaking, have a f-fairly good memory. I told him about w-what I remembered of the a-audio recording." Adam finished explaining.

"Yep." And that was what Darren said in response.

People still eyed his a little suspiciously. "Alright. I think I'll trust that." Ji-hoon decided to let Darren go. "If Adam really did tell him, I think he's fine."

"Hate to say it, but you're probably fucking right." Alpha groaned. "You already know the Darrem has thought about shooting up a few schools in his life. Makes sense he's kissing the fucking school shooter Jr." The gas station manager rolled her eyes.

Neither Adam or Darren responded to that. Adam widened his eyes a bit, but Darren's expression didn't change. He presumably didn't care. Classic Darren.

"Let's move on to my accusation then, shall we?" Kei took the reins from Ji-hoon, going right in on accusing himself.

"You're accusing yourself-nya?" Kuroko seemed baffled.

Kei wagged his finger. "Not exactly. I figured I'd just explain myself. I have nothing to hide." He looked to Ji-hoon. "Ji-hoon. And Genjiro too. You know I almost went in with you. But I opted against it, as I told you two fellows that I "wanted to try something." You remember that?"

Damien thought for a second. Since Kei brought it up...

Following Aelia's point, the four of them saw Ji-hoon, Kei, and Genjiro entering the Horror Studio. "Oh? The boys are interested in it then?" Aurora tilted her head.

...

"Yeah..." Raiha muttered. "Hey! Hol up!" Drawing attention back to the door, the four then saw Kei leaving, then going right. "Guess Kei wasn't vibing with it?" The trendsetter shrugged.

"Yes, I do remember that. What did you have in mind then Kei?" Ji-hoon went full on interrogator mode.

"I'll tell you." Kei stuck his hands into his pockets. "I've wanted to bring this up anyway. And I'd like to hear what Pheme thinks about this too." He shot Pheme a quick glare, who subsequently returned the glare. "First... do we all remember that Kuroko's studio had a hidden camera in it?"

"Why yes, I *cough* remember that. I was there when Kuroko discovered it. Yoshino was as well." Rosalind coughed her way back into the conversation. And Yoshino fiercely nodded in response.

Kuroko let out a quiet groan. "Yeah... it still creeps me out-nya..." She looked up at Kei. "Why bring it up Kei-nya?"

"Well. Lake can back me up on this." He quickly pointed at the ballet dancer. "But I found another hidden camera. In the Horror Studio. Right?" He gave Lake an expectant look.

Lake concentrated for a second, thinking about what Kei had just said. "Hm... oh! Oh yeah! The other day, I found Kei in the Horror Studio, and we had a quick talk! And he mentioned finding a camera in a tree there!" Lake recounted. "We meant to go and find Rosalind after that, but we weren't able to. After we couldn't find her, we decided to stop for now. I guess we forgot to think of it again!" Lake sheepishly shrugged.

"Hey now. I certainly didn't forget." Kei shot Lake a finger-gun.

"So that makes three strange hidden cameras now, doesn't it? My dear Kuroko's studio, the Horror Studio, and the boarded-up room." Damien did basic math. "It appears that... wherever there is a hidden camera, something rather tragic happens. First, the special event in the Horror Studio. Second, our dear Bessie meeting her demise in the boarded-up room. Third... ah." Damien realized what he was saying.

Forgetting about Kei for a moment, eyes drifted to Kuroko. It took her a few seconds to realize what was happening. "Hold on now-nya! I have no clue why there was a hidden camera in my studio-nya!" She started to defend herself.

Kei slightly frowned. "Hey now, I was still in the middle of explaining my story. Besides, I doubt Kuroko had anything to do with this personally." He shrugged.

In mere moments, Kei shifted the attention away from Kuroko and back onto himself. "Yes... it's doubtful my dear Kuroko has anything to do with this." Damien adjusted his clothes. "Please continue Kei."

Kei quickly nodded. "I was planning on it. So, I found a hidden camera. Prior to the special event, I was with Ji-hoon and Genjiro. They were having a small argument about leadership. But after Pheme's announcement played, I went with them at first. But yadda yadda, I didn't. I knew it was a strange idea... and I know some of you aren't gonna approve of what I did." Kei exhaled. "I checked on the camera and audio apps. The motive apps that Pheme gave us."

A collective gasp rang out from the group. You can judge them all you want, but that was something that they agreed upon as a group. To not use those apps. "Y-you actually used those apps Kei?" Ayaka muttered.

"Seriously man?" Genjiro said a little disapprovingly.

"Hold on." Ji-hoon stopped anyone else from complaining. "Kei. Just explain what and why you used them." The celebrity detective wanted this to stay on track.

"Alright." Kei gave a simple nod. "Like I said, I used those apps. And while the special event was going on...

...

the apps were a bit different." Kei dropped ominously.

"D-different...?" Aelia tilted her head.

"Yeah. They were." Kei slowly blinked. "During that time... on both apps, I had an option for "Horror Studio." When I clicked on it, I believe the audio and camera feeds were coming from the hidden camera I found. So that's how I got the information from the special event. Call it suspicious if you want." Kei shrugged.

"Really?" Ji-hoon sounded really interested in that development. "As interesting as that sounds, do you have any proof of that? I know that Pheme has shut down those apps, but I'm asking just in case."

Kei crossed his arms. "Well... I suppose I don't. But I do know the details of the special event. Hannah Yokomizi, Asher John Jr., the burning video, and all that stuff. That proof enough?"

Ji-hoon thought for a moment. One could say he was being a bit too suspicious of Kei. But... he had to be thorough.

"I won't let you use your privilege!"

Ji-hoon of all people joined in with the podium slamming trend, causing a sharp gust of wind to be blown Kei's way.

Kei held onto his podium, then onto his arm. His arm still slightly stung from the burn scars after all. "Ji-hoon? You really want to fight this huh?" He started to readjust his hair.

"I wouldn't say "fight" exactly." Ji-hoon stared Kei right in the eyes. "Considering the presence of a traitor... I can't discount the possibility that Pheme could've just told you. And you don't have anyone to back up that sorry, unlike Darren. That's why I choose to question this."

Kei chuckled. "Fair enough." He didn't seem too phased. "So let me turn this over to Pheme." He looked over to the goddess. "May as well ask... can you back up my story? The Horror Studio being a part of the motive apps and all?"

Pheme closed her eyes. "Hm... Hm... Hm..." She acted like she was thinking about something.

"So are you gonna fucking stall then?" 8k or so words into the trial and Alpha is already done.

"No. Of course not!" Pheme opened her eyes. She had a strange tone in her voice. "But to answer Mr. Aikawa's question, I cannot confirm nor deny his claims." She immediately went and check her own Star-Phone after addressing Kei.

Ji-hoon slowly looked back towards Kei. "So? What now?"

Huh. Kei wasn't nervous here. Not all. He triggered the BDA after all. And he understood that Ji-hoon was just covering his bases. So he wasn't mad. But... he didn't exactly have anything else he could say here to help his case. Uneasy eyes fell upon Kei.

"I get where you're coming from Ji-hoon..." Aurora seemed concerned. "But Kei can't be the killer. Why not just trust him?"

"Huh?" Ji-hoon looked at Aurora. He didn't expect everyone to share his views, but...

"Yeah... like Kei being the killer is kinda... not slay?" Raiha explained in brain-rot terms.

"Nyahaha! I'd normally join in on the accusations, but even I can't deny the facts!" Cathy stomped her foot. "That lawyer human cannot be the killer!"

Ji-hoon groaned. "Guys, I'm not saying that Kei is the killer-"

"So why interrogate him then Ji-hoon?" Lake of all people stepped up. "I hate this whole trial as much as anybody... but if you want my opinion? I think you might be letting personal biases cloud you. It still really feels like we've only take a small step forward on the journey to figure out who killed Bessie... but the most important thing here is trust. I know that one of us did it... but we'll find out who it is through trust. So I think we should trust Kei."

...

"Guys?" Lake looked around. "Did I say something weird?"

Not necessarily weird. It was just that nobody expected that out of Lake. "Lake." Ji-hoon said with a distant expression. "... I'm not here to be idealistic. I'm here to solve a case. And I need to pursue every-

"Fine! I'll admit it! I can back Kei up!" Somebody suddenly interjected.

"What?" Ji-hoon stopped talking and turned in the direction of the voice. "You can?"

...

"Joji?" Ji-hoon didn't have to turn far, as Joji was right next to him.

The carpenter had a frustrated look on his face. "Yeah." He said guiltily.

Kei had a curious expression on his face. He was interested to see what Joji was going to say.

"So..." Joji started his explanation. "I lied a little. Genjiro?" He looked at his wrestling bro. "This morning... when I woke up... I checked the apps."

Everybody seemed shocked. "No shit? You don't say?" But Genjiro seemed more curious than anything.

Joji started to tap his foot, maybe in attempt to keep him calm. "I have no excuses. I was getting antsy I guess." He looked down in shame. "But when I did check the apps.. I got an option on both the audio and camera apps for the "Boarded-Up Room." In the camera app, I saw flames. In the audio app, I heard a scream. A scream that wasn't Bessie. I'm confident in that. But it was muffled anyway. And that's why I went to the Boarded-Up Room immediately after waking up. That's all." Joji went quiet.

...

"So..." Kei broke the silence. "You didn't say this out of fear that someone might end up suspecting you?"

Joji shamefully nodded.

Kei shifted his eyes to the side. "So much for Lake's "trust" speech huh..." He muttered while people started to look disapprovingly at Joji. But Kei didn't have time for that. "Ji-hoon." He got the celebrity detective's attention. "How about now?" Our lawyer put on a smug posture.

Ji-hoon heaved a heavy sigh, then turned to our beloved carpenter. "Joji? This true?"

"Yeah..." Joji muttered before turning his back to the group. He wasn't having the best day today huh?

Ji-hoon stayed silent for a moment, jotting something down on his Star-Phone. "Okay. I feel alright believing Kei's story now. Once is a coincidence, but twice is suspicious. I feel alright believing that these hidden cameras gave extra options."

Everybody was still a little apprehensive after this turn of events. "Yeah... yeah! Even if Joji initially lied, I'll choose to believe him and Kei!" Lake confidently nodded. Ji-hoon ignored them.

...

"Anyway... let us go back around to what we were talking about before Kei's accusation derailed us, shall we?" Damien took control of the debate.

"Um... w-where were we again?" Aelia needed a reminder.

"My dear Aelia, we were figuring out who could've gotten that code. 162215. We were working under the assumption that the traitor had nothing to do with it. And we also know that code came from the special event. So if we choose to exclude Kei and Darren, the means that one of the nine in attendance got the code." Damien gave a recap.

"I s-see..." Aelia started to think. The narration said earlier that a Studio Trial would be the best time for her to get some eyes turning her way... but she hasn't gotten that yet. So she started to think. She could tell the smart ones were thinking too. But she wanted to beat them... somehow beat them to the punch. And she didn't need a long-winded trial mini game to do so. She just needed simple logic... and... ah! She got it! "H-hey guys? About the code...?" Aelia made sure to get eyes on her.

"Aelia? What is it?" Ji-hoon had a neutral expression.

Aurora looked curiously at the puppeteer. "Did you figure something out Aelia?"

Cathy looked smug at the puppeteer as well. "Nyahaha! I think the puppeteer human did figure it out!"

Huh. Looks like Cathy figured it out. Aelia wasn't surprised. "What we were talking about before t-the stuff that happened with Kei... w-was the code." Aelia began speaking, and began to accuse someone of being the one to have figured out the code first, subsequently throwing away Lake's trust talk. "If y-you think about it... it had to be one of the n-nine of us who were there. So it's either Me, Damien, Aurora, Raiha, Genjiro, Adam, Ji-hoon, Rosalind, or Yoshino."

"You can stop stalling any day now Damien's cock-sleeve!" Alpha just wanted Aelia to accuse someone already.

"O-okay." Aelia wasn't sure how to reply to that. But she was admittedly trying to drag this on a little, so she decided to get to the point. "I know that one of t-the nine... also went to the boarded-up room more than once. And..." Aelia took a deep breath. She was just about to accuse someone! Maybe not necessarily of the murder but of at least being suspicious! And people were paying attention to her! It was like dream come true. Well, besides for the murder part.

Damien gave her a reassuring smile. And it was like that smile filled her with power! Perhaps an overstatement but whatever! Anyway... "If we're g-gonna look towards anyone n-now... I think it should be...

...

Raiha. S-sorry!" Aelia immediately apologized for her accusation.

Raiha's face looked like she was posing for a clickbait TubeYou thumbnail. She had no words.

Adam narrowed his eyes. "You think R-Raiha was the one who g-got the code in the first place?"

Ji-hoon gently smiled. "It appears we're on the same page Aelia."

"W-why Raiha?" Aurora didn't like the idea of her bestie being accused.

Cathy smirked. "The puppeteer human is most likely correct! Despite her greedy ways... she is correct here!"

Aelia confidently nodded. Yeah. She wasn't sure why she was getting support from Cathy of all people, but who cares! It was finally time for her to get some screen time. People were laying eyes on her. It was time. "So, a-according to-

"That L rizz ain't it chief!"

Raiha pointed an accusatory finger at Aelia, summoning a gust of wind from who knows where to attack the poor puppeteer. Aelia hold to hold on to her podium to prevent herself from flying away. "R-Raiha? I'm sorry b-but..." She tried to keep speaking as twintails started to get messed up.

"I'm sorry bestie!" Raiha fiercely crossed her arms. "But WTH are you accusing me of being the code person?"

"Well it's because-" Ji-hoon tried stepping in, but Damien cut him off with a cough. Not a Rosalind cough! Just a normal cough!

"Let the girl speak Ji-hoon. I believe it wouldn't be bad for other people to shine in the trial, don't you?" Damien eyed him.

"But that's not the point-" Ji-hoon got cut off again. But by Aelia just continuing to talk.

"Raiha... t-the reason why I accuse y-you of being the one to have gotten the code first... and of being s-someone who is a little suspicious... is because you've been seen at the boarded-up room p-plenty of times!" Aelia was trying her best to be confident here.

"Uh???" was how Raiha responded. "Listen Aelia slowly-losing-bestie-status, IDK WYM?"

Aelia let out a deep breath. "I-If you want me to explain... I will! B-but for that...

...

I'll need some help from Damien and Cathy f-for that." Aelia channeled Bessie a bit through calling on some of her little helpers.

"Ah yes! Of course I'll aid you my dear Aelia!" It didn't take long for Damien to offer his help. "I believe I know what you're referring to, my dear?"

But something that kind of caught her attention was Raiha walking away from the boarded-up room, and leaving Damien's company. "I'll see you later my dear Raiha!" Damien bid the trendsetter farewell.

Despite the flashback being from Ayaka's POV, Damien did eventually tell Aelia about it. "Yes, I'm afraid my dear Aelia is correct my dear Raiha. I did encounter you at the boarded-up door. Alone. Any particular reason, my dear?" Damien hopped on the Raiha accusing train.

"Uh-" Damn. Raiha was actually getting a little thrown off here. She didn't expect to be accused here. But you know what this calls for? Some good old fashioned deflection! "Damien, it's low key not very slay of you to say that. You've been at the door plenty of times you know! Like with your dear Ayaka? Your little "FTE?" And you and Aelia and Ayaka investigated that door in the first place! Be FR with me Damien, c'mon bruh." She deflected it back onto Damien.

Aelia was preparing to defend him, but Ayaka did it in her place. "During b-both of those times, I can attest t-that Damien did nothing suspicious. I t-think so at least..." She stared Raiha dead in the eyes.

"W-what she said!" Aelia latched onto Ayaka's statement.

Damien smiled brightly. "Thank you my dears Ayaka and Aelia!" He then gave Raiha a smug grin. "It appears that didn't work out for you, did it my dear Raiha?"

Raiha let out a quiet growl. How was this happening? She didn't-

"And a-after Damien, we need to ask... Cathy!" Raiha's thoughts were cut off my Aelia continuing to speak.

"Huh? WTH is Cathy bestie-in-questioning gonna do?" Raiha tried to stay strong.

"Nyaha! I forget how fragile human memories are!" Cathy haughtily laughed. "Have you forgotten already trendsetter human?"

"Nyahaha! What are you doing trendsetter human?" Welp, it wasn't Ji-hoon. It was Cathy! Everyone's favorite! Cathy sauntered right up next to Raiha. "Having trouble puny human?" She teased.

Raiha rolled her eyes. "Nuh-uh!" Taking after Pheme, Raiha did the :finger_waggle: to Cathy. "What do you even want Cathy bestie-in-questioning?" She crossed her arms.

"We had a little talk the other day... right in front of the boarded-up room no less!" Cathy announced.

Raiha flinched at Cathy's statement, then went to frantically check her Star-Phone as a drop of sweat started to drip down her forehead. She knew that there's his actual point in checking her Star-Phone, it's just a force of habit. "W-what's your point Cathy?" Raiha stuttered a little.

Finally getting her revenge from that flashback scene, Cathy did the :finger_waggle: emote at Raiha. "I and the humans are just wondering why you have interest in the room. That is all!"

Sensing that he had a chance to jump in, Ji-hoon adjusted his glasses. Ever since his FTE with Raiha, he's been very off put by her. If she had anything to do with this... heh. "And you'd better not say it's just a coincidence. We'd need solid proof that it not you."

Raiha still stared wide-eyed at her accusers. How did this go from accusing Kei, who was blatantly innocent, to accusing her? How the hell? And Aurora and Lake's concerned faces weren't making it any better.

"Raiha?" Was all Aurora could ask. She really didn't want to lose two besties in one day.

"Raiha..." Lake tried to stay calm. "I trust you... so if you had anything to do with anything... I trust that it wasn't evil or malicious! And I trust that you'll do what's right!" They tried to encourage her.

Raiha wasn't sure how that was going to help. But that did give her an idea for an argument. "So, is your argument that I wanted in the boarded-up room for some reason? No cap on a stack?"

"Let me word it like this, my dear Raiha." Damien stepped in. "We know the killer must've somehow been able to access the boarded-up room. And if we're not going to go down the "traitor" line of logic, we must assume that they got it from the special event. We aren't explicitly saying that you're the killer my dear Raiha. Just that you need to be questioned for your act. That is the summary of our accusation of you." He summed up.

"WTH?" Raiha was slowly starting to get a bit frustrated. "Well... if I really was wanting to use that cheugy room for the murder, why didn't I ask the big men like Joji and Genjiro to break it down for me? You get me? I high key wouldn't have to wait for the code then." She countered.

Aelia was the one who issued the accusation, and that means she must be the one to counter it back. "B-but Raiha... you didn't! Genjiro and Joji haven't mentioned h-helping you out. And Cathy mentioned h-her little talk with you... a few seconds ago. In that talk... y-you asked her if she could g-get in there. W-why would you ask a sneaky p-person like Cathy, and not a s-strong person like Genjiro or Joji?!" She pointed her finger right at Raiha, causing a gust of wind to be sent her way.

"KYAAAAAA! THAT ISN'T GUCCIIIIII!!!" Raiha let out a sharp yell while she struggled to hold onto her hoodie to prevent it from being blown away. She looked a little worse for wear, but Raiha wasn't going to do down like this. "Aelia non-bestie, this is all circumstantial!" She said while putting her hoodie back on. "Like, where's your actual proof?!"

Huh. Raiha had a point there. The evidence against her was pretty circumstantial. But Aelia wasn't going to give up that easily. She remembered seeing something that Raiha did during the investigation. Something that should be brought up. "You want p-proof Raiha? I-I can do that!" Aelia confidently stated.

Raiha took a step back. "For real?" She didn't believe it.

"F-for real!" Aelia confidently smiled. "I just... n-need the testimony of...

...

Cathy once a-again!" Aelia called upon our beloved cat burglar.

Cathy quickly glared at Aelia. "Not sure where you get off calling on me like that human... but I'll help you out! Nyahaha!"

Oh great. Now Aelia and Cathy were on her? What a random duo. Raiha groaned. Better than someone like Ji-hoon. "What can Cathy non-bestie e-even say?!" Raiha started to stutter.

"Nyaha!" Cathy did a finger-gun at Raiha. "Simple! The cinematographer human and I investigated the broken down door in the boarded-up room!" Rosalind replied with a single nod, then Cathy continued. "And who did we see approach the door after we left...?"

Rosalind started to leave, but stopped at the doorway. She slowly turned around when she saw Raiha approach the door they were just investigating.

"It was you! Trendsetter human!" Cathy confidently pointed at Raiha, causing another gust of wind to he blown her way.

Raiha was getting visibly frustrated, but she wasn't going down that easily. "Nuh-uh!" She kept a tight grip on her podium. "That doesn't-"

"Hey! I wasn't finished you know! You humans are so impatient." Cathy cut back in. "Trendsetter human, you were the first one to find the note. Covering your tracks were you? And more on the note..." Continuing that flashback...

and she pulled out a note from her pocket.

"Wonder what that trendsetter human is doing..." Cathy narrowed her eyes as she observed the trendsetter human.

"I saw you pull out the note near the door!" Cathy took over accusing Raiha. "What were you doing? What reason would you have for doing that? Why are you suspicious, trendsetter human? What for? You humans are incomprehensible, but I figure I may as well ask!"

"No..." Raiha muttered.

It might've been circumstantial, but evidence was starting to stack up against Raiha. She really did seem like the most likely suspect to have written that note the code on it.

"R-Raiha?" Aurora's voice shook.

"No way. Did you-?" Yoshino couldn't even finish her sentence.

While some were more in disbelief, others chose to be more aggressive.

"Fess up bitch! Did you kill Bessie?!" Genjiro emanated an intimidating aura.

Alpha crossed her arms. "It would be this fucking slut."

"So!" Aelia took back over. "R-Raiha! Tell us!" She had a split second to think of a cool line. "What do you really know?!" Eh, it'll do. The strongest gust of wind yet blew directly Raiha's way. She couldn't even dodge it.

"No...

...

that's...

...

totes...

...

LAAAMMMEEEEEE!!!"

...

Raiha was forced to experience her hair and makeup getting messed up by wherever these gusts of wind are coming from. She wanted to deny this for longer... she really did... but she had to know when to give up. Especially with the stares of the other seventeen people in here.

"Raiha? Did you or did you not write the note?" Ji-hoon stepped back up. He couldn't let Aelia have all the fun.

Raiha looked down at the ground, her hair and make-up were in shambles. She didn't look like she was having a good time. "I did."

A collective gasp rang out. Ji-hoon continued. "Did you get the code from the special event?"

"Yes." Raiha simply answered.

"Okay. Why did you hide it?" Ji-hoon asked the big question.

Raiha looked up, a slightly frantic look on her face. "It wasn't because I was the killer! It was... the same reason as Joji..."

Joji looked shocked hearing his name be mentioned. "Me? What- oh. You were afraid?" Joji understood immediately.

Joji might've understood, but Aurora sure didn't. "But Raiha... you didn't kill Bessie did you? And if you didn't... please explain the story with the code. Please."

Raiha seemed to be a mix of frustrated and ashamed. "I'll be real with you all. You can believe me if you want to. It's just... as a trendsetter, I chase new and exciting things! You know?" She dropped most of her brain-rot for her explanation. "When I saw that door... and after I heard from Damien about what Pheme had said about the door... I wanted in. I thought... it'd be crazy if I could get in there! I wanted that moment of "wow Raiha, that's real impressive you got in there! great job!". I wanted the credit. So I thought about what the code would be... I thought about the special event... and it was like a gut feeling. I guess."

"Fuck you mean credit? It's just a fucking door!" Genjiro pointed out.

"I know that!" Raiha snapped back. "But in a place like this, you never know! For all we know, Pheme might've hid something crazy behind there!" Raiha looked down at her feet again. "But when we all eventually got in there... all that was there... was just Bessie. Dead. There was nothing goot at all." She closed her eyes as she finished her explanation.

A silence filled the room for a moment.

...

"Answer me one thing Raiha." Until Kei broke that silence. "Did you ever actually open the door prior to Bessie's death?"

Raiha slowly looked up at Kei. "I did. It was still between two sets of boards, so it's not like it could move much. It could move a little forward and backward. That's it."

Kei slowly nodded. "I see." He went silent for a moment, before preparing to address the entire group. "Guys, for what it's worth, I doubt Raiha is the killer."

Lake slowly smiled. "Yeah! I don't think it's her either!"

"Oh please! You just think that because of your trust bullshit!" Alpha pointed out.

"No... Lake's right." Aurora spoke up. "Raiha was with me the entire time after we woke up. We were in her studio. She never left my sight."

"Right." Kei winked at Aurora. "And you know...

"The handwriting on Raiha's note and Bessie and Aurora's notes is different." Rival spoke for the first time in this trial, stealing Kei's spotlight.

Kei slightly widened his eyes. "R-right." Rival speaking really threw him off.

Raiha was a little thrown off too, but she wanted to mention one more thing. "Before I forget, I think the killer took the crowbar and my note from my studio at the same time. I accidentally left my note in there at night. And I know the crowbar was in there last night. So yeah." She finished recounting.

"I see..." Damien began to think. "My dear Raiha, I'd ask you take better care of your things in the future."

"Yeah... I v much get that now Damien." She brought back a little bit of her slang, showing that she's calmed down a little. She was glad that no one was judging her too harshly for what she did either.

"So... we figured out the code to the boarded-up room and who obtained the code in the first place." Damien crossed his arms. "So after my dear Aelia's moment in the spotlight... where do we go from here?"

"You know... since Kei brought up the notes that Bessie and Aurora got... have we seen any other examples of people's handwriting-nya?" Kuroko got an idea on how to proceed.

"That's a good idea my dear Kuroko!" Damien astral projected himself to set a hand on her shoulder. "Have we...?" Damien started to think. Examples... of... handwriting...

Oh! Oh. Damien could think of two examples they've seen.

"My dear Kuroko, I believe you may have a point!" Damien smiled at her. "Because we have indeed seen two examples of people's handwriting! Not counting my dear Raiha of course."

"Oh-nya? Do tell-nya!" Kuroko couldn't remember what Damien was referring to. Well, Kuroko was never exposed to one of them anyway.

Damien could see a little bit of fear fall upon his dear Aelia's face. Well. This is a studio trial after all. No room for emotions. Not right now. But first... "The first example is handwriting we've seen is...

...

Darren." Damien said with bit of contempt.

Darren raised his eyebrows up a little. "That's true."

"You're just gonna admit it?" Yoshino seemed baffled.

"Yeah. Got no reason to hide it." Darren pulled out a note out of his pocket. It read:

New scanner was installed.

Scan your Star-Phone to open the door.

Pheme told me to tell you all.

-Darren

"The note explains why I wrote it." He handed it over to Damien, whose podium was right next to his. "Want to compare it to Bessie and Aurora's? You have their notes don't you?"

Damien scoffed. "Fine." He took Darren's note, and he pulled out Aurora and Bessie's notes. It didn't take long for Damien to notice. "The handwriting is different." He stated. "If we still choose to go on the assumption that the killer wrote these notes, it's not Darren." Damien said a bit emotionlessly. Congrats Nathan! He's safe! (For now)

Ayaka tried to hide the relieved look on her face. "T-that was one example. W-what was the other?"

Ah yes. The other example. Damien chuckled internally. He technically didn't have to reveal this. But a studio trial is the time for truths. So Damien had no choice here. "The other example..." He started to pull out a note from his pocket.

Aelia started to sweat. No way. Was he really about to-? Did he actually see it-? What else could it be-? Her mind started to go in circles. She was freaking out. Was he actually going to reveal it to everyone? Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh-

"This here is the other example." Damien pulled out a pristine piece of paper out of his pocket. "This here... is a note written by my dear Aelia." Damien's voice sounded like he knew he was doing something wrong, but he didn't care. "I'll withhold the contents of the note. But after comparing it to my dear Bessie and my dear Aurora's notes..." He held them up next to each other. "The handwriting is different."

Aelia let out a deep exhale. Oh god she actually thought Damien was going to reveal the contents of it to everyone. Her life would've been over if that happened. Damien didn't even look at her while he did it. Jeez... how the hell was she going to- ah, nevermind. Aelia saw a few pairs of eyes drift her way.

"Hold up. No way you just pull out a note from your cocksleeve, compare it, then say it's good." Alpha didn't believe it. "I call bullshit."

Damien chuckled. "Must we do this again, my dear Alpha? I assure you that-" Right as Damien was talking, Cathy somehow snatched the "Aelia note" right out of his hands. "Hey! Damn feline-!"

"Cathy! No-!" Aelia tried yelling out, but it was too late. "Wait. Is that m-" Aelia stopped herself.

Cathy turned her back to Damien. "I agree with the gas station manager human! I don't trust the beautician human for a second!" Cathy started to read the note. It read:

Dear Damien,

I like you.

-Aelia

Cathy chuckled to herself. Really? She honestly believed it now. The puppeteer human seemed like the type to fall head over heels for someone she met not even a week ago. Pathetic. Cathy somehow shoved the note back into Damien's hand. "You know what? The beautician human is all kinds of shady. But I believe him! That note seemed like something that puppeteer human would write!"

Aelia just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. First Damien finds the note, and now Cathy knows?! She so gonna make fun of her now. Ugh...

Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes. "You sure Cathy?"

Cathy scoffed. "Don't question me, human! I'll keep with the beautician human's wishes and not reveal the contents. But the puppeteer definitely wrote that! And the handwriting is different too! Nyaha!"

Aelia couldn't handle the pairs of eyes looking at her. God this was embarrassing. "O-okay... that note is mine but can we move on please?" She spoke very fast.

"...I guess so." Ji-hoon really didn't know what to think, but it didn't feel like any of it was a lie. Besides, it'd be a better use of their time to move on anyway.

"Okay..." Kei took back over. "That was a lot. Where should we go from here?"

"That's a good question..." Aurora started to think. They've established certain facts, and possibly cleared a few people from the murder. But it still doesn't feel like they made any solid progress so far. Ah! This might not be the right way to go, but it was something Aurora was curious about. "If I may? I believe I know the natural progression from here."

"Of course my dear Aurora! What is it?" Damien gave Aurora permission to continue speaking, even though she didn't need permission.

"Well..." Aurora absentmindedly started to twirl her parasol around in her hands. "Since we went through so much to establish what happened with the door... how about we talk about the locked-room mystery? The door was locked, but the killer wasn't inside. How could they have escaped?" Aurora posed an interesting question.

"I guess that's a fair enough way to go." Kei shrugged. "But considering what we know about the door... I think the answer to that is fairly simple."

"Simple?" Aurora tilted her head.

"Yeah. Simple." Kei repeated. "Or I guess I'm assuming it's simple. Hey Pheme?" He got the attention of the goddess.

"Oh?" Pheme raised an eyebrow. "What is it Mr. Aikawa?"

Kei smirked. "Could you confirm something about the door for us? Such as, if it someone could lock themselves in there? The hinges wouldn't be visible from the inside of the room."

"Hey... that's a good point!" Joji had a realization.

"Actually... that's a damn good question to ask." Alpha put her sunglasses back on as she looked at Pheme. "If they could lock themselves in here, you could argue that Bessie offed herself." Alpha didn't even use her usual nickname for Bessie here, as she realized the severity of what she was saying.

"Offing herself? Surely you don't mean-" Aurora didn't even want to finish her sentence.

Luckily for her, she didn't have to! "Let me stop you right there Ms. Beaufort!" Pheme stood up. "Mr. Aikawa asked a valid question. I suppose since you stars would've had no way of realistically figuring this out... I'll answer for you!" She cheered.

Wow. Pheme actually answering a question? That's like the chances of Jared and Cassandra happening as a ship! Zero! Oh wait wrong story.

"But to make this quick, no, the door would've been unlocked from the inside. So it's impossible to lock yourself in it!" Pheme explained.

Kei nodded, seemingly satisfied. "And there you go. The killer probably just ran out after killing Bessie. And Bessie probably didn't leave because she was just too weak to do so."

"I see..." Aurora still didn't like any of this, but it felt a little nice getting mysteries cleared up. "Ah, and do you think the rubble naturally piled up right next to the door? That's the only way I could think of how to explain that."

Large pieces of rubble had fallen from the ceiling, and currently rested in the right corner of the room, and near the entrance of the room as well. Cathy and Rosalind were currently investigating the door, which lay across a pile of rubble.

"Hm... I'd say that's *cough* correct." Rosalind coughed into the conversation for some reason. "You could tell that the rubble simply fell from the ceiling. So yes, I think that's *cough* correct."

"Okay..." Another mystery down! Aurora took a small solace in that. "Next... since we keep talking about... what exactly is the boarded-up room? I acknowledge that this might not be relevant to who killed Bessie, but I can't deny that I'm rather curious. It was a rather strange room." Aurora offered another topic.

"T-that's a valid question..." Adam had to think about that one.

"Is that really gonna help us find who fucking killed Bessie? Feels like we've been doing nothing but wasting fucking time." Genjiro didn't think it was valid apparently. "How far have we gotten guys? Have we made any fucking progress at all? Are we any closer?"

"Huh. For once, I agree with you, you fucking muscle-head." Alpha crossed her arms. "I know that fucking white whore didn't give us a time limit or nothing, but can't we just get on with it?" Pheme seemed like ignore Alpha's new nickname for her.

"Well..." Aurora wasn't actually sure how to answer. Was she...? Were they just trying to skirt around the truth...? Was she just delaying the inevitable? Was there any point-

"With all due respect, I think talking about the room is a *cough* valuable use of our time." Rosalind stepped up.

"Oh yeah? I liked you better when you were quiet you anorexic bitch." Alpha spat out an insult, like she usually does.

Rosalind let out a dry chuckle. "I can't blame you for seeing me like *cough* that. But back on *cough* topic, we don't need to talk about what the room is. More... what is in the room. That should lead us to what exactly killed Bessie." The cinematographer reasoned.

"I think that's the right way to go here." Ji-hoon pointed out. "I get where you're coming from Alpha. But it's best to take this at a relatively slow pace, and be thorough. We can't afford to vote wrong you know."

Alpha groaned. "Fine. Fair enough." She closed her eyes. "So the random shit in there. Like Pheme said, she just stored random supplies in there right?" Oh hey, Alpha didn't say "white whore" this time! Character development!

"Yeah Alpha non-bestie, Pheme had some crazy stuff in there. So random. Random isn't funny Pheme!" Not sure what Raiha was trying to get across with that last sentence.

"So let's r-recall then what exactly was in there..." Adam started to, like he said, recall.

"Right." Aurora, followed by Aelia and Damien, moved over to the left side. Compared to the right side... it was notably less music themed. It just had shelves full of random items. Cleaning supplies, a stepladder, a trumpet, boxes full of a random assortment of things, buckets, gasoline, and- hold on. Gasoline?

"Cleaning supplies, g-gasoline, a bucket, a mop, a trumpet, a-and... that feels like everything of n-note." Adam finished recalling.

"That reminds me Adam!" Aurora interjected. "Didn't you say something about a bucket having a rim?"

Adam adjusted his glasses. "Ah yes! I d-did say that!"

Adam adjusted his glasses. "The bucket f-from the toppled s-shelf, is the only one of the buckets to have this rim."

"I heard you guys talking about that!" Joji wanted in on the conversation. "That bucket had a real apparent rim in it, right? Like some kinda liquid was sitting in there for a while?" Joji started to cook.

"Y-yes! I explained during the investigation, but a r-rim like that could form from a v-variety of things. T-though in this case, it's most likely water." Adam nerded out.

"Shut the fuck up for a second nerd!" Genjiro cut him off. "Doesn't the rim imply that there was liquid in there?"

"W-well yes! It's impossible to know f-for certain, but m-most likely yes." Adam nodded as he continued.

"Hold on." Rival suddenly spoke up, possibly wanting more screen time. "If... there was water in there... doesn't that straight up tell us how the... blackout happened? And how B-Bessie got electrocuted too?" He stuttered while saying Bessie's name. Fair enough that this is hard for him.

"Huh? How Val?" Yoshino didn't get it yet.

"Y-yes... I think I understand." Adam started to nod. "I think if the b-bucket was full of water, then m-maybe- hm." Adam cut himself off.

"Hm? What's the matter Adam?" Aurora asked him.

Adam seemed to be concentrating on something. "I think I w-was speaking a bit too soon. Rival's idea s-seemed correct... the bucket full of water having something to do with the electrocution and b-blackout. But I don't thinks it's p-possible."

"Why not?" Rival jumped back in. He seemed tired.

"W-well... it'd be the s-same reason f-for both. For the b-blackout, just water into exposed wires w-wouldn't necessarily do that. And for the electrocution, there'd have to be s-something metal involved. B-but there wasn't anything like... that-" Adam cut himself off again.

"What's up Adam?" Rival started to get a bit more involved in the conversation.

"I think... I think..." Adam was slowly having a brain-blast moment.

C'mon Adam! Think!

"I w-wonder if... Oh!" And the brain-blast cometh.

"You got something Adam?" Jock asked the nerd. Oh wait. I meant Joji asked Adam.

But yes Joji, Adam definitely did having something. "G-guys... I wonder if..." Adam face slowly started to grow more and more concerned.

"Adam?" And now Aurora was getting concerned too.

"What's up Ade?" And Yoshino joined the concerned train.

"Adam." Ji-hoon crossed his arms. "I see you've connected some dots. Did you think back to what you said during the investigation? And what I told you before we entered the elevator?"

"Pst. Adam." Ji-hoon whispered to the academic as the group slowly filtered into the elevator. "Quickly. What do you think about..." The whispering unfortunately got a bit too quiet for the narration to hear.

Adam nodded. "I t-think you're right. I agree." He whispered back before all eighteen officially got onto the elevator.

Adam slowly nodded. "Y-yes..." Adam couldn't believe what he was thinking.

Ji-hoon gave him a reassuring nod. One that said "You can do it!"

"O-okay... I have something that s-seems impossible... b-but it would m-make some circumstances about Bessie's death make a lot more s-sense. The electrical fire, the electrocution, and the b-blackout." Adam started to dramatically say.

"Well what is it?! Spit it out!" Genjiro was getting impatient.

"W-well..." Adam took a deep breath. "L-laugh at me if you want... but I think w-we should consider the possibility of Bessie... b-being... a...

...

a robot."

A robot?! That's crazy?!?!?! Still can't believe Gold called that from since Bessie's intro!

Okay, so I'll save some details about this till probably the Chapter 1 Epilogue. But for now I'll say one thing. Candle at first submitted Bessie to me as an actual human. But a little after that, Candle said hold up let me cook, then gave me a redone Bessie form, with her being a robot. I was going to accept her even in her human form, but Bessie being a robot really made her a lot more interesting. Again, I'll save some more of the epilogue.

But that was Part 1 of the trial! Did you hate it? Love it? Unironically please let me know. The trial has been the part I've been the most nervous to write, so I hope Part 1 was okay. I'm curious to see if anyone's theories have changed, if at all.

Also Gold wanted a shoutout or something so yeah yeah here it is:

Danganronpa: Twisted Tragedy by SilverMark16

It's really good! He just finished Chapter 2, so I want to shout him out! If you read it, look out for Alisa Zachary, an OC of mine! :D

But I think that's it. I gotta go and get started on Trial Part 2, so I hope you enjoy it!

And I hope Bessie's killer enjoys their last moments~

Glamorous Stars Remaining: 18

Adam Brooks - Ultimate Academic [PROJECT DRAMA]

Aelia Celani - Ultimate Puppeteer [theycallmewotch]

Alpha - Ultimate Gas Station Manager [Epifanio Therion]

Aurora Beaufort - Ultimate Starlet [WolfieRed23]

Ayaka Naganohara - Ultimate Violinist [Sempi]

Catherine Munchkin - Ultimate Cat Burglar [Nekoja]

Damien Lux - Ultimate Beautician [oddlyillregular]

Darren Taylor - Ultimate Bartender [Otterplay]

Genjiro Mashimoto - Ultimate Wrestler [Grandma Sue]

Ji-hoon Jo - Ultimate Celebrity Detective [TheRoseShadow21]

Joji Kaneshiro - Ultimate Carpenter [SureJahn]

Kei Aikawa - Ultimate Lawyer [theotakureader101]

Kuroko Kurobara - Ultimate Hypnotist [MrUtenaHolic]

Lake Beaumont - Ultimate Ballet Dancer [KadachiNova]

Raiha Miyahara - Ultimate Trendsetter [Prince PokePersona]

Rival Seizon - Ultimate Backing Vocalist [SinWriter7]

Rosalind Reinhardt - Ultimate Cinematographer [Orlando Butler]

Yoshino Akiyama - Ultimate Horror Novelist [DeathlyJazzHands55]