CLUES FOUND:
• The Monokuma file
• Only blood around the head
• Bloody screwdriver
• Cuts in vital spots
• Bloodstain near Aiko's dorm
• Blood puddle & streaks before Rika's dorm
• Shattered sunglasses near Aiko's dorm
• Koyanagi's key left in dorm: has an imprint surrounded by blood stains
• Letter in Koyanagi's trashcan
• Two knives beneath Koyanagi's bed- one covered in blood, one not
• Missing knives from the kitchen
• Bloodstained cloth in the kitchen
• Blood streaks leading either out of or in to the dining hall
• Shoes speckled with blood
• Toolkit on Koyanagi- missing screwdriver

"So!" Monokuma chirped. "The way the Class Trial works is that you have to find the blackened! If you run out of time or get it wrong, everyone besides the blackened will be executed. If you get it right, only the blackened will be executed."

"Monokuma, I have something to ask you before this Trial begins," Aruto's gaze settled on Monokuma. When the sadistic bear waved a paw for him to go on, the Ultimate Butler continued. "If Koyanagi was alive, what would happen if he went in the girls' bathroom?"

"I'd shoot him, obviously! Perverts are a big no-no, you're highschoolers!"

"And if he was dead?"

Monokuma shrugged. "There's really no gender for corpses in my opinion, so I'd let it pass! And we wouldn't have a Class Trial for him!" 

CLUE ADDED: Monokuma's Account

"All right," Aiko said. "Let's confirm something. What exactly was the murder weapon?"

"Well, that's obvious, isn't it? It's the bloody screwdriver!" Elliot pointed out.

"You've got that wrong!"

All eyes turned towards Locke.

"Well," he shifted his weight from one foot to another. "In Koyanagi's dorm, I found two knives under the bed. One was bloody, and one wasn't."

"That doesn't prove the murder weapon were those knives," Rika supplied. "Besides, how would the knives make their way into Koyanagi's dorm anyway?"

"We're getting off-track," Aruto murmured. "As much as I despise interacting with people with low intelligence such as those around me, it is clear I will not get out alive without supplying help."

With a heavy sigh, Aruto adjusted his glove. "Have any of you read the Monokuma File?" He asked, exasperated. "Cuts such as those are not made by a screwdriver, but a knife."

"You have expertise in knives, probably, right?" Aruno asked. "Bein' a butler and all."

He didn't reply.

"That still doesn't prove that the knives were the weapon. Who knows, it could be made from a needle in a girl's sewing kit,"

"I suppose since I was the only one who really looked closely at the body, I'd like to point out that the fatal wound at the back of the head was somewhat of a stab wound," Kosaki yawned, as if this was no big deal.

CLUE ADDED: Fatal Head Stab Wound

"Oh, all right," Elliot said, nodding. "I suppose that proves the murder weapon to be the knives. But why was one clean and one not clean?"

"I have an answer," Aiko spoke up. "I found a bloody cloth in the kitchen."

"In addition to the knives, I also noticed two knives are missing from the kitchen," Lucy added.

"So," Kyou trailed off. "Let me get this straight. The killer attacked Koyanagi in the hallways of the dorms with the kitchen knives?"

"No, that's wrong!"

Everyone turned to Aiko. "I found tracks in the dining hall. That might mean... the attack might not have happened in the hallway, but in the dining hall itself."

"Oh, that's right. You mentioned that before..." The boy mused over his mistake.

"An attack in the dining hall? What do you mean?" Natsu asked.

"What she means..." Alex sighed. "Is the fact that Koyanagi might not have been killed right away, and instead a series of attacks happened."

"That's impossible!"

Jyushimatsu lifted a hand, still smiling as he spoke. "We confirmed all the cuts were in vital spots, right? That's what I overheard. So Koyanagi should've died instantly!"

"Your smile is creeping me out when you're talking about death..." Elliot mumbled.

"Allow me," Alex spoke before anyone else. "Cuts don't have any effect unless they're deep enough."

"BUt they're bleeding, right? So they must have been deep enough!"

"Say you were scraped on the solar plexus, and it's bleeding badly. You probably won't die from it. It's similar thinking to if you didn't apply enough pressure when attempting to knock someone out using a pressure point."

Jyushimatsu nodded, as if completely satisfied by Alex's explanation. "So... multiple attacks."

"That actually... makes a lot of sense..." Koko seemed deep in thought, cocking her head. "One attack happened in the dining hall, another happened just before Rika's dorm, and another attack happened next to and in front of Aiko's dorm."

"It just matters what order they went in," Lucy said. "If the first attack was in the dining hall, then either Aiko or Rika is the clear suspect."

"Everyone is," Eve-Mia pointed out.

"Alibis are useless at this point," Aruno mumbled. "The attack happened late at night, so everyone should be in their dorms."

"You've got that wrong!"

"What?"

"It said the time Koyanagi died is around 12 AM to 2 AM. It doesn't mean the attack couldn't have happened earlier then that. Therefore, everyone is still a suspect, but alibis just before Nighttime might help," Hiroko said, placing her hands on the podium stand. "First of all, why would Koyanagi head out?"

"Maybe the killer lured him out?" Aruno suggested.

"But how?" The question rose from Locke. "There's nothing in his room that hints that the killer lured him out, and Koyanagi's not stupid enough to meet anyone late at night."

"You've got that wrong!"

Aiko lifted a small piece of paper in her hand. "I kept this to myself. It's a letter I found in Koyanagi's trashcan."

Locke, who was next to her, plucked it out of her hand and read it out loud:

"Oda, can you meet me in the dining hall tonight at 11 to discuss the safety of the others? The motive clearly shook them up, and I don't want any killing going on."

"A... letter?" Aruno asked, furrowing his brow.

"A letter addressed to Koyanagi," Locke announced. "He was at the dining hall at eleven." 

CLUE ADDED: Letter to Koyanagi

"Which is the exact reason why Koyanagi was found dead. He was moving around. There's no doubt the killer was the one at the dining hall." 

"So alibis's aren't completely useless," Hiroko mumbled. 

"I was in my dorm," Eve-Mia spoke out, and about half the people in the room murmured agreements.

"Eleven last night, you ask...?" Aruto uttered. "I went to the dining hall before nighttime for the murder to drink tea, and I went to the kitchen only once. Last time I checked, there was no knives missing."

"You were at the damn kitchen?" Alex exploded. "Wh-Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

CLUE ADDED: Aruto's Account 

"It wasn't needed," Aruto stated with a shrug. "All of you were going to lead yourselves into a death trap by the looks of it, so I offered information that might help."

"Well, from Aruto's account, we can established the knives used to kill Koyanagi were taken from the beginning of nighttime to the time of Koyanagi's death- before 2 PM."

"And the letter said past eleven, right?" 

"Yeah." 

"Uh, speaking about the letter," Natsu spoke up. "I got one too." 

"What?" Lucy shrieked. 

"Seriously," Elliot sighed. "Tell us sooner, dude!' 

"But on this one, instead of the safety part, the writer claims they want to she a make-up artist in action." 

CLUE ADDED: Natsu's Account/Letter

"Anyone else wanna speak up about the letter?"

"Why would Natsu and Koyanagi get the letters?"

"If you think about it..." Koto murmured. "Both Koyanagi's and Natsu's dorms are positioned on the far right side of the hall."

"The choosing could have been random. Or not," Kyou suggested. 

"It's impossible for us to know right now," Locke stated. 

"Oh, just for your information," Natsu shifted uneasily. " I stayed in my dorm." 

"That's wrong!"

"Huh?" Natsu exclaimed. "H-Hiroko!" 

"I saw both Aruto and Natsu in the dining hall when I went to get food earlier, and I'm pretty sure that one of the knives had gone missing by the time Aruto left."

CLUE ADDED: Hiroko's Account

If Hiroko's lying, that means Natsu's Account is the real... but if Natsu's lying, that means Hiyoko's is true... they both contradict each other, so which one is true?

"Aruto?" Lucy asked. "You either saw Natsu or Hiroko, right?"

"I was in and out," he replied simply. "If anyone was there, I didn't take notice of them." 

"So the list of suspects is Aruto, Hiroko, and Natsu, right?"

"For now, yeah. Main suspects," Aruno confirmed. "Let's move on. What happened when Koyanagi was attacked?" 

"The attacks took place in the entrance of the dining hall, the hallways near my dorm, and the girls' bathroom," Rika said. "Right?"

"You've got that wrong!" 

"I'm sorry, what?" 

"Rika, that's wrong," Kyou replied. "Do you remember what Monokuma said earlier? Koyanagi would have been killed on spot if he had run into the girl's bathroom," he reminded her. "The final attack didn't occur there."

"There where?"  Jyushimatsu asked.

"In front of Rika's dorm, there was a blood puddle. It was huge, remember? You compare that to the streaks and it's evident." 

"The fatal wound was a stab to the head," Kosaki recalled. "If you hit an artery or vein, you can cause a puddle like that."

"Then which attack came first? the one in the dining hall, or the one in the hallway?"

Silence overcame them all. 

"If we think about it... the first attack out of the three wouldn't hail as much blood. So which one of the two locations has less blood?" 

"The dining hall," Lucy answered immediately. 

"There were tracks in the entrance of the dining hall," Kyou agreed. "If Koyanagi entered the dining hall, but he was attacked in the doorway, right when he came, that explains the tracks. If he ran out and went to the corner near Aiko's dorm..."

"There was blood streaks on her wall," Jyushimatsu said. "If Koyanagi hid behind the wall with bleeding cuts, some of it would've gotten on the wall."

"Then what does the shattered pieces of shades next to the wall mean?" Elliot asked. 

"Think about it," Rika said. "If it's dark, and you're in a non-lit hallway with shades on, you would take them off to see better, right?" 

"Then he stepped on them, right?"

"I don't think that's right," Kosaki disagreed. "I think that the killer might've stepped on them instead." 

People came to the realization of her words, mumbling. 

"If Koyanagi heard the crack of his sunglasses because of the killer sneaking up behind him, he would get up and run in the other direction- around the corner, where is where the puddle of blood was found," Kosaki explained. "Honestly, is it that hard to understand?" 

"Koyanagi was definitely running away from the killer," Lucy agreed. "If you look at the soles of his shoes, they're smeared with blood. What if he was bleeding while he was crouching? He would've ran, and gotten some blood on his shoes, right?" 

"Yeah," Aruno agreed. "Probably." 

"Then how did the killer get his body in the girl's restroom?"

"They dragged it, obviously." 

"So it's a girl."

"No, that's wrong!"

"Gender injustice?" Elliot mumbled. Kosaki shot him a glare. 

Hiroko furrowed her brow. "If the body was dragged, it would've left marks. Besides, the killers would have to wash off afterwards." 

"And there's no evidence to prove that the blood was washed off," Rika added.

"You've got that wrong!" Lucy yelled. 

"You remember what Aiko found? She found a bloody washcloth in the kitchen. I thought it might have been used to wash off the blood off one of the knives, which would explain its cleanliness, but what if the killer washed the blood of themselves and used the cloth to clean up?" 

"But what about the fact if the body was dragged, it would have left marks?" Hiroko countered.

Alex frowned. "It could be a guy, then... they just had to be strong enough. All they had to do was throw it." 

"Aruto's strong enough," Natsu reasoned. "I probably am, too."

"I think evidence against Aruto and Natsu is piling up~" Monokuma giggled. "Anyway, hurry it up, you bastards!"

Aiming a glare at Monokuma, Kosaki shook her head. "It... can't be a guy. Remember how Koyanagi was positioned? Face-down, his limbs spread out, perfectly flat, and in the far back of the girl's bathroom. I doubt anyone could be that lucky to throw him and have his body land like that." 

"Which takes Natsu and Koyanagi off our list," Elliot noted. "So our main suspect is Hiroko."

"What?" Hiroko exclaimed. "N-No! I'm not the killer!"

"Why would Hiroko be the killer?" Natsu wondered out loud. "She's the Ultimate Care-Taker..."

"What you see on the outside isn't the same on the inside," Aruto sneered. "She could be lying about her talent." 

"Moving on," Jyushimatsu said shortly. "What about the screwdriver and the toolkit? Did you guys find it in his dorm?" 

"No," Locke shook his head. "Just his keys and the knives. That's it. The keys had a bloodstain that looked like a hand."

"... like someone was holding onto it..." Alex murmured. "If someone's holding onto the keys while blood is being splattered, the part obscured by the hand wouldn't be bloodstained, right?"

Silence elapsed over them all, but Aruto fished the very keys out of his pocket.

"That's always possible," he noted lazily, holding the object by the ring as his careful eyes raked over the keys. "Koyanagi was probably holding them. It wouldn't make sense for him to leave his dorm without his keys." 

"Then how'd they get back in his dorm?" Locke asked.

"The killer probably took it back. They could get in his room, after all with his keys- and tried to get rid of the evidence. It also explains why the knives were there," Aiko explained. 

"Just... just who... did it?" 

Hiroko shrugged, withdrawing her hands from her pockets. When she did so, a crumbled piece of paper fell from her pocket. 

Koko leaned over and picked it up, but Hiroko attempted to swipe it from her hands. "I-It's nothing!"

With her small height, Koko held it out of reach. "It's a ripped piece of paper," she said. "With Hiroko's name on it."

From next to Koto, Natsu reached up and plucked it from her fingers. "... the handwriting looks like the one in the letter I got!"

"Let me see," Aiko held out a hand. 

Dropping it in her palm, Aiko withdrew her arm and pulled out the piece of paper that was, no doubt, Koyanagi's letter. "It does look the same," she observed. "And the end of the letter and the top of the slip of paper are both ripped."

"Th-That's a coincidence!"

"Oh? Is it a coincidence that you were in the Dining Hall that night? And both Natsu's and your accounts contradict each other?" Aiko replied. 

"...!" 

"You've backed yourself into a corner, Hiroko." 

"It still could've been Aruto!" Hiroko responded, her knuckles turning white as she clenched them into fists. "It's too easy for him to pretend to drink tea and grab the biggest knife to stab Koyanagi, and splat!" 

"... Hiroko, how do you know that the biggest kitchen knife was missing, and that it was used to stab Koyanagi? I found the largest one in Koyanagi's dorm, bloody. Why would you know that?" Locke asked.

Hiroko stiffened. 

"You've backed yourself into a corner," Aruto repeated.

Koko edged away from Hiroko, fear glimmering in her eyes. 

A minute passed. Two. Three. Four. 

"Fine! I did it! You all would find out anyway!"

A small gasp of surprise leaked out from Koko's mouth. 

"I knew... that if I got away with this... I would... see all of you... die... which is... why I gave... up... on... myself. I... hated... killing Koyanagi... just the... thought makes me shiver... I'm a horrible care-taker..." Hiroko shivered. 

"... how'd it go down?" 

She took a deep breath. "All right.... let me tell you... guys...

"I gave Koyanagi a letter asking him to meet me in the dining hall at 11. Natsu was also given the same letter. Being the cautious person he is, Koyanagi had grabbed his toolkit in case he needed to use it, but arrived later then usual- 11:30."

"Why?" Someone asked. Hiroko ignored them. 

"I- I thought he was going to attack me. I saw him with the toolkit and thought he would stab me to death with a screwdriver. I was in the kitchen, so I grabbed two knives off the wall- one was the biggest, the other the smallest- and attacked him moments after he came into the dining hall.

"Upon realizing this, Koyanagi had turned and fled. I had managed to inflict two wounds on him, leaving bloodstains on the floor. He had ran out and left tracks. He ran to one of the intersections of the dorm because he thought that I would lie in wait for him at his dorm. This intersection was near Aiko's dorm."

She gripped the sleeves of her sweatshirt tight.

"I had to get the job finished- I wouldn't be able to explain in the morning. So, I snuck up behind him, but like you guys said, Koyanagi had taken the shades off. My foot landed on it, cracking it, and making this noise. He went to run for it again, but not before I landed another two vital injures. He was slow from blood loss, and left blood streaks everywhere.

"I finally managed to kill him just before Rika's dorm. I meant to aim for the arm or the neck, but Koyanagi had twisted in a weird way and my knife had stabbed right into his skull. He died instantly. I was frozen for a few moments, allowing him to bleed out on the floor, trying to understand the fact I had a corpse in front of me. And.. I panicked." 

"You dragged the body into the girl's bathroom and planted fake evidence," Aruto stated bluntly.

Hiroko nodded. "That's right. Careful not to get any blood of me, I positioned Koyanagi's limbs so the blood wouldn't drip on me or the floor, and took him to the girl's bathroom. I only had blood on my hands, and left him face-down on the floor.

" I considered using the knife I didn't use as fake evidence, but it would make no sense. So I took his toolkit, rolled the screwdriver around a bit in blood, stole his keys, placed them back and hid the knife under the bed, hoping no one would find it-"

Which I did," Locke coughed. 

"I realized that. But yeah, I went back to my dorm at 12:45. The whole reason... the whole reason... the whole reason why I did so many things... I had to protect the rest of my siblings. There's five of them, and I saw one get k-killed..."

Hiroko's voice broke near the end. 

"What are you g-going to do now?" she asked, a bitter smile on her face as she wiped away tears. A smile that was fake. "I've... I've accepted my mistake."

[Woo! 3,000 something words. Geez.]