Fujiko

The thing is, yeah, for sure, the traitor's in on it, I totally, totally buy it. But, like, how are we supposed to accuse anyone of that?! We've known each other for half a year now, and we've helped each other through a lot of awful shit! How heartbreaking would it have to be to learn that, after all that time, someone thinks you might've been conspiring and lying to the rest of the group all along?

"Nobody's gonna make any moves? I was expectin' someone ta try n' run a rig. Aright then. Ini, mini, miney, Azumi," Wakumi points, snapping at her eyepatch.

She blinks, stunned, and then draws her eyebrows together in bewilderment. "I-- Excuse me?"

"Ye're one o' the folks who knew the laddie's schedule. Ye coulda ambushed 'im in the gym, n' ye got the physical prowess ta pull off chloroformin' 'im. The murder also made use o' yer own equipment, n' ye, generally speakin', got a lot o' alone time with the laddie with which ye coulda used the flashlight doohickey on 'im. N' outta e'eryone, ye're the one 'e's most likely ta tell about gettin' that note." She crosses one leg over the other and gives her a threatening glare.

"But I--!"

"N' don't gimme any o' that, 'Oh, but I love 'im!' bs. If there's a traitor floatin' around causin' problems, we can't well rely on 'feelin's' now, can we?"

"Jesus Christ Wakumi, how are we supposed to hear ourselves think over the sound of your voice?" I snark, trying to give Azumi enough time to gather her thoughts.

"Like YE think any, wench!" she hisses back at me. She then takes several deep breaths. "Look, I know that the person who makes the first accusation is ne'er a particularly popular person fer a bit. But I'm just tryna get ta the truth o' the matter. We need ta address any suspicions without relyin' on pure emotion. If the lassie's got proof otherwise, I'll listen ta it 'bout as fairly as I can."

"Hey, Yuu," Gou mentions right afterwards. "So, about those bloody prints we found on the stepladder--"

"No," Yuu cuts him off. He looks really angry, all of the sudden! "I'm not gonna answer that question."

"You've gotta!" Monokuma sings with an obnoxious sneer. "Obstruction of evideeeeence!"

He grits his teeth. "Fine. Ask the question."

"If the bloody prints on the stepladder don't look like shoe prints or fingerprints, is it-- just hypothetically!-- possible for them to be footprints from bare feet?" he asks, holding his hands out in front of him in a gesture probably meant to calm Yuu down. Being right in the middle of those two is hella uncomfy right now.

He flexes his fingers a couple of times. The tiny squishing sounds of the leather punctu-- punctuate his shaky breaths. "On a purely hypothetical note, yes, maybe they could be bare footprints. I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to apologize for, Yuu," Azumi pipes up. Her voice is small.

"Guys, what the fuck?! She passed out when she saw Tozen dead! That's not a thing that happens if you're not shocked and surprised!" Ren shouts out.

After a quick silence, Yuu starts to hyperventilate. "Okay, okay, okay, okay, I'm really, really sorry, and I really hate doing this, but I'm supposed to be the reliable one since I'm the one who's positively not the killer, so I just have to ask this even if I don't believe the implications."

"Dude, what are you even talking about? Are you gonna try and claim that it's a fake? You saw her!"

"No! No, it wasn't a fake, but... what you told me, when she fainted, is that I needed to help with her blood pressure! Isn't that... a little familiar?"

My little dude, who'd been mostly silent up until now, suddenly lets out an instinctive squeak. "The Lisinopril! Are you saying that the fainting wasn't fake, but staged?"

"I'm not saying anything! I was just asking the question!" he snaps back automatically.

"So? Anythin', lassie?" Wakumi asks.

Azumi seems to hesitate. Yuu fills in the spot for her with an, "Aha!" With a glimmer of hope in his eyes, he says, "Azumi, put your feet on the table!"

"Huh?"

"Just do it!" Taking his advice, she frantically props her feet up. "See?! The bloodstains couldn't possibly have been made by her feet!" he declares confidently.

"I don't follow... sorry," I wince.

"So, we already said that the killer wouldn't have time to wash their clothes off, right? Wouldn't normally be a problem for someone who's barefoot-- a quick rinse'll do it. But Azumi's costume covers part of her heel and her second toe. There's not a drop of blood anywhere on her costume, which would be impossible if those prints belonged to her!" he explains.

"Y-Yes! Also," she states, as though finally finding her voice, "if I was the Blackened, I would not need to rig up the rope trick! I could carry someone of his size to the middle of the tightrope and drop them head first onto the ground. Not that I would, obviously, but I am capable of such. The more tricks involved in a crime, the more potential evidence, right?"

"Mind putin' yer money where yer mouth is? Trust me, I'd like ta see yer acrobatics."

"What do you mean? It's not like she can carry Tozen, he's gone!" Gou points out.

Ren swipes through his E-Handbook, face focused. Honestly, I keep forgetting that we have that thing! "I can do it. I'm only an inch shorter and three pounds heavier than Toz. Those slight differences shouldn't matter."

"Not in the slightest. Monokuma, you would allow us another field trip, yes?"

"Yep yep! Off to the Warehouse we go!"

We make our way down there. We all stand directly underneath the tightrope, poised to catch Ren. We watch as Azumi takes him into her arms and makes her way up the unbloodied ladder. He goes limp to imitate being unconscious, but I get a brief glimpse of fear in his eyes. She takes a single breath and then starts to walk. She, slowly but surely, makes her way to us. She tilts Ren enough so that his head faces the ground. "Be careful," I hear him mutter.

"Trust me," she pleads. She then drops him.

We scramble to catch him, and he lands safely in Gou's arms with an "Ooof!"

"You okay, bud?" Gou asks, white as a sheet.

"Heheh... I guess I really fell for you there."

Gou's face goes deadpan. "He's fine."

Azumi heads back to the ladder as easily as if she was like, literally just breathing, and then comes back to us. "Was that a sufficient display of proof?" she asks with a bit of sass in her tone, readjusting her hair sticks.

"Oh my God, you are so hot right now and I can't handle it," I admit, fanning myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuu

I have to admit, it makes the tension in my shoulders dissipate a little, being able to put my doubts in her to rest. Azumi is a good person... and I want to feel certain of that. But now that she's clear, what comes next? As we walk back to the meeting room, she holds her head up high and her steps are confident, but she nibbles on the inside of her mouth.

"You okay?" I ask, speaking quietly so that nobody else hears.

"I am alright now. Your assistance is appreciated."

"But something's still bothering you, right?"

She shows no indication of surprise other than a couple extra blinks. "But of course. Just because my name is cleared does not mean we are much closer to discovering the true culprit. And that scares me."

"We'll figure it out." We part then, to take our seats, and then we're plunged back into the courtroom.

"Okay. If the culprit isn't Azumi, then we're back to the drawing board," Chimon sighs.

"Don't take this personally, please. I'm going to make an accusation, but it's more for the sake of crossing off a potential option than anything you should take seriously," Gou starts.

"Aye," Wakumi nods.

"Before I say anything, anybody recognize this?" he asks, pulling out the small piece of plastic we found earlier.

"Huh? That's one of my guitar picks, where did you find that?" Ren asks, briefly seeming concerned. Then he runs a hand through his hair. "Though, you're also my pick... when it comes to love."

"Ren, why am I the only person you've flirted with this entire time?" Gou laughs incredulously. But then he seems to get a hold of himself, and the smile vanishes. "It's possible that Ren is the killer."

"Ack! Me?! Why?!" he panics.

"We found it in his shoe. Not only that, but you were left alone with the body!"

"What?! That is absolutely ludicrous! When was he left alone with the body?! Was it not your group's job to guard it?"

"There was a brief window of opportunity," Chimon mumbles, "right when you fainted."

I try to think back on the Body Discovery Announcement. "I know that you were just trying to get Zu help as soon as possible, so I don't blame you. But you nudged me into taking her to the infirmary that instant, even before anyone else had come down to see the body. Again, we don't really think it could be you, but--"

"The Lisinopril pills. Ain't it possible 'e drugged the wench? If 'e had an excuse ta get some precious extra moments fer crime scene tamperin', it's a possibility. Keep in mind, neither o' the crime scene hunters found any blade, but we're sayin' somethin' was used ta slice the safety net. So somethin' got moved."

Fujiko runs her fingertips through her hair. "Um, as much as I hate agreeing with that, he was just the one to tell us he had more medical knowledge than he used to. He maybe knew which pills would be good for making her faint?"

"Hold on, Ren did not DRUG me!" Zu shouts again.

Before she can get in another word edgewise, however, Fujiko lets out a gasp. "Wait, I heard chain noises last night. There was, like, no sign of chains anywhere even remotely NEAR the crime scene, right?"

"I definitely didn't see any, not for our entire search. Including in the weird room," I clarify, not liking where this is going.

Ren sits deadly still, as though the slightest movement would fuck him over. And in this case, it might. The dude's got chains on his pants, and it's been proven time and time again that they are not quiet. The fact that this looks more and more plausible the more we think on it isn't promising. I don't want it to be him, either. Frankly, who would I want it to be? I don't want anyone to die. This entire game is fucking awful and it makes me sick to my stomach.

"I still don't actually know what happened down there. Was there anything in the Warehouse that wasn't there before last night?" she asks.

"Were there always two stepladders?" Gou asks.

"Yes. One on each side, for easy dismount. I figured it would be ideal if I could start and conclude a routine on either end."

"Uh, it didn't look like there were any new boxes, either," I mention.

"It might've been something really important for the murder plot. That's the only thing that would make sense to me," Chimon says.

"Like what, laddie? The safety net, the stepladders, n' the hooks were already put in place e'er since Yuu rigged up that tightrope."

"Not all the hooks. What about the ceiling hook? We still have no clue how that was installed, but it would make sense if that process was part of why the stepladder fell over!" Chimon deducts triumphantly.

"It would almost definitely be easier for the traitor than anyone else... if they had access to everything this place offers, like... maybe even the Monoinu, then it should absolutely be possible..." I concede. "But what stumps me is the note. Why would Ren-- or anyone else for the matter-- put that much effort into a warning note, complete with a hidden message, only to undo it all with the Flashback Light?"

"Also, I do not understand why everyone failed to take note of this until now, but Ren would surely be physically incapable of pulling this off. In order for Ren to be the Blackened, he would need to restrain Tozen for a minimum of five minutes in order to render him unconscious with the chloroform. And excuse me for my curtness, but Tozen was demonstrably stronger than Ren," Zu says. I don't think I've ever really heard her put that much raw disdain into her tone, and it's honestly a bit scary.

Ren's posture relaxes, but he says nothing, and this whole situation is really offputting. Ren was incredibly prepared to deal with Azumi's accusation, practically foaming at the mouth to help her. But when he gets accused, he says nearly nothing and SHE'S suddenly extremely vocal. All the alarm bells are going off in my head, but I try to shove them down because I don't even want to think about it.

Much to my dismay, someone else comes up with it first. Her voice is so incredibly tiny, but since she's next to me, I hear it loud and clear. "So, like, y'know how we figured out how Toz died by combining two ideas? Wh-What if we h-have to do the same thing? If it's not Azumi OR Ren... could it possibly be Azumi AND Ren?"

My heart plummets into the pit of my stomach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Azumi

My heart is beating so intolerably loudly that it overwhelms my senses. It is such an unbearable feeling that it is as though the very air is cacophonic and discordant. Time passes in an unharmonious rhythm; it feels as though I cannot be certain whether our silence lasts for minutes, hours, days, or years. I have to strain to make out what they're saying over the pounding of blood in my ears.

"Let's just... play around with the idea. Just for a second."

"I don't like that option, but if that was the case, it could solve a lot of issues."

"Aye. The acrobat coulda been the one ta knock out the laddie, cause she needs hella strength ta do what she does fer a livin'."

I'm processing everything on a slight delay, so it takes me a moment to associate statements with their speakers. Fujiko. Chimon. Wakumi.

"And Ren being the one to install the hook would make sense, since Fujiko heard chain sounds down there." Gou.

My vision is hazy, like I'm in a dense fog, and the edges of everything bleed into the edges of everything else. Black speckles start to pop up in my vision here or there. I tuck myself into a ball. I can't pass out now. I can't pass out now. That is the absolute worst-case scenario. "I-I need water," I force myself to vocalize. I recognize that acting this way might appear as though I am trying to gain pity. It might appear as though I am guilty. I do not care. After a flurry of motion and noise, plastic is pressed into my hand. I unscrew the cap and take long, needy gulps of water until I nearly choke. "I'm... conscious," I declare, pulling myself back into the present moment. Things start to get a little more clear.

"Did you hear everything?" Yuu asks, and I can sense the concern in his tone.

"I... believe so?"

"We were just talking about the possibility that you took the Lisinopril of your own free will in order to buy Ren time to clean the crime scene," Chimon says.

"Ah. It appears as though I missed that part. My sincerest apologies."

"And, that note... if either one of them wanted to back out of the plan and save Toz, it would make sense for them to write that. But maybe the other caught wind of it and used the light to ruin everything," Fujiko says.

"Thinking about it in that context... that's too sad," Gou sighs.

"We got a problem, though. Which one o' 'em is the actual Blackened?"

"Zu? Ren?" Yuu asks. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything.

"You're wrong," I insist, forcing myself to sit up straight and look them each in the eye.

"Then what's the truth, Azumi? If we have it wrong, would you tell us?" Chimon proffers.

"Ren did nothing. It was all me, on my own."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP. Zu, you're such a fucking liar! You know it was all me! You're the one who wasn't involved!" STOP. Just let me do this!

Before I know what's happening, we're suddenly shouting over one another.

"I alone am responsible for the end of Tozen's life! I loved him, and I killed him anyway!" I vow.

"Azumi did literally nothing! I killed Tozen, and that's the answer you're looking for!" Ren screams.

"Why are they both trying to take full responsibility?" Yuu asks, perplexed.

"If that's really true, then why did you set up the big, elaborate trap? You proved to us that it wasn't necessary," Chimon addresses.

"How, dude? You couldn't overpower Tozen for five minutes, right?" Gou says.

"I'm super confused! They both denied responsibility when they were alone, but once both of them got the blame at once, they reacted like this!" Fujiko squeals.

"I set up the trap for the sole purpose of exploiting it to cast suspicion off of myself. Also, giving you candor, as the traitor, I felt it would add a bit of flair to integrate aspects of prior cases."

"Not normally. But, as the traitor, I had access to the strength of the Monoinu. Alone, Toz would've kicked my ass, but I was prepared for that."

"Is it possible that they were both given false memories, just like Tozen? Maybe they're both actually convinced they did it," Chimon posits.

"And the footprints? How did you leave those?" Gou asks.

"Tell me what the note was for, then," Yuu beckons.

"We only found the one light, though! Maybe there was some sort of accident?" Fujiko attempts.

"Simple. I took off my costume. I tucked it in a far corner of the Warehouse after knocking Tozen unconscious, quickly rinsed myself after he died, and put my clothes back on. That way... no trace of blood. The only problem is that I feared I did not have enough time to clean off the prints without getting caught, so I let them stay."

"I... I didn't want to kill him. I wanted to give him a chance to protect himself. But while I was lying awake that night, I changed my mind and gave him the fake memories as soon as possible." His voice goes a bit somber, lacking a modicum of the initial force behind it.

"AGH! IT'S SIMPLE AS THIS! They're tryna turn this inta a fifty-fifty shot. If we can't be positive which one o' 'em did it, we're forced ta gamble with our lives."

"You seriously expect us to believe you did that naked? Fuck it, just-- why did you pass out, Zu? I know that wasn't fake, so you were either drugged or surprised," Yuu pleads, shutting his eyes. "Also, what about Ren's pick?"

"You said next to nothing to defend yourself when it was just about you. Could you please just tell us what's going on?" Gou begs.

"I don't want to believe that! They've both been so kind!"

"Everything was in service of pinning the blame on someone else. I even took the pills myself, thinking I could force a situation where someone looked suspicious. But that's cowardly! I'm... done."

"Please, just make it stop," Yuu beseeches us. I'm so sorry.

"They made their cases. It might be up to us to figure out which one of them is the killer," Chimon sighs. He's almost completely hiding his face with his hat, as though afraid to face us.

No matter how this ends, I will wind up hating myself. Why did this have to happen?