His lips were quivering as he received the answer that he by no means wanted. "W-Who..?" His mind went into overdrive as he assessed all possible possibilities of who was dead, or even if the victim count was more than one..

Kokichi firmly gripped onto his shoulders, staring him directly in the eyes, "You might wanna know who's dead right now, so it's not such a surprise when you don't see them in the trial. Rantaro was killed by Kayayayady, Himiko killed by Miu and now Korekiyo killed by.. no idea!"

"H-Himiko..?" He repeated what the other had just said, not wanting to believe that one of the survivors was now dead. Kokichi picked up on his saddened tone of voice and made the decision to be more delicate than he normally was. "Don't worry though my beloved, her death was instant, she didn't suffer whatsoever and you made her murderer pay so don't think about it too much~"

He nodded his head again, finding that one of the only actions that he could manage at the moment. Yet he did find himself dwelling; if he couldn't remember that she even died or how he convicted her murderer, he couldn't accept that he'd done his duty. "How did Korekiyo die, I think I should know that before the trial starts.."

"He was tied up and had a really gruesome bloody hole in the back of his neck, and that probably killed him." Kokichi replied blankly, moving his hand down to touch the detective's, "Come on, we better get going now don't want that Monobear getting all annoyed at us~" as he began to stand up, he felt a strong grip on his hand from no other than Shuichi.

"I can't Kokichi. I can't see them all, I don't think you'd understand but when I saw you and Kirumi, all I could physically see were your dead bodies." His voice shook as he explained, letting go of the liar's hand as sparkling tears began to fill his eyes.

"You idiot." Kokichi grabbed his hand back and hauled the other up off of the ground, pulling him into a hug, "I know you, you're stronger than you look. Look at me, getting all sappy, how'd you do this to me? It's not faiirrrrrr~"

Shuichi melted into the hug almost instantly, covering his own eyes with his hands to restrain his tears. "If I'm so strong and you believe that.. let's go to the trial.."

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When the three of them arrived at the courtyard, the detective slowly trailing along side the liar with the assassin striding in front of them both, the rest of the students began to murmur, staring and locking eyes with the male they once thought was on his death bed.

The moment of silence were uncomfortable, they set the detective's anxiety writhing in his skin.

"Stop staring at him, we all have to get this trial over with." Maki folded her arms as her firm glance drifted from person to person, making them all fear for their lives.

However they quickly shifted into the lift, not spending a single second on doubting what the assassin was capable of.

She turned to look over her shoulder, "Shuichi, don't let anyone give you crap in the trial." But after that, she too disappeared into that lift.

Kokichi reached out to take his hand in reassurance however his fingers barely dusted the fingertips of the detective's as he had started unexpectedly walking towards the trial stadium. Kokichi let him wander for a few steps all by himself before begrudgingly trailing around two meters behind him as he walked.

He didn't know if Shuichi would be alright once the trial began, he had attempted to convince his mind that he would be alright, but deep down, in his heart, he didn't have much hope.

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"Phuhuhu! You've all returned once again! I'm so proud of you kids, so full of despair!" Monokuma cackled on his throne, bearing his sharpened teeth with a crooked smirk.

The rest of the students didn't even raise an eyebrow at his comment, and instead blankly started at their podiums. Every time a trial took place a piece was taken out of their souls.. having to condemn their friends or acquaintances to a gruesome execution wasn't something that they could ever forget.

"So, we gonna do this thing or not?" He astronaut gripped his podium with both hands, raising his voice in order to grab everyone's attention, "I don't want to give the bear the damn satisfaction either but we have to do it or else we'll all die."

"My sincere apologies for coming across so harshly however I have to state that we do not have another choice." Kokichi had no idea how and was still a little amazed at how Kirumi was remaining so calm during this..

"She is correct! I won't have any degenerates getting off without their punishment!" Tenko exclaimed, striking her classic Neo-Akido fighting pose, which hadn't decreased in stupidity since the first time she did it.

"Shuichi, you normally take this privilege, would you care the begin the debate?" Kirumi neutrally shifted to him with a soothing motherlike smile on her face.

But Shuichi still couldn't make a single sound or make eye contact with any of them. He was wrong, he must have majorly overestimated his capacity of internal strength because as soon as he glanced at all the rest of the students back at the courtyard, his predictions had come true.

He saw their normal and unhurt bodies for a single second before his vision began to flicker and distort, weaving their bodies into misshapen and damaged patterns, seeing how they'd look after their executions.. no, he couldn't bear to see that sight once again, so he kept his head firmly buried in his hands as his vision continued to swirl. He felt nauseous and faint so he wasn't as surprised as the other students to find himself limply falling to the bottom of his podium, tears streaming down his face.

kokichoi101 did this amazing but depressing as hell piece of artwork. It just shows my little broken boi perfectly! Thank you so much! They have a whole art book so please go check that out and go follow them and comment and stuff!

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Kokichi focused straight on him as he watched the scene unfold in terror but was stopped from running to him by Kirumi who was already at his side, she lent down beside him and kept whispering sweet nothings into his ear, to almost calm him down.

"Don't we have a trial to be getting back to? We can't stop because a guy like that is too weak." Ryoma declared in a low and husky tone, slicing the mood in half. "If he can't do it, then I will. Let's go through people's alibis."

"I'll go first so I can clear myself of any suspicion so I can resume helping Shuichi recover, I was cleaning the corridors, I am sure that all the students who saw me would back up my alibi," She spoke up from the detective's podium yet still remained to speak in a clear and mature voice.

"Kirumi, I don't want to suspect you, but doesn't that place you anywhere in the school, so you could have moved the body easily around?" Kiibo spoke up, a finger to his chin.

Maki let out a loud huff and exhaled, "Think of the clues before you begin your accusations, when I examined the body, I saw that the blood had been very messily scraped around the back of his neck which had been caused by a puncture mark so if Kirumi had wanted to kill Korekiyo, the blood would still have been on her gloves."

There was another small interval of silence before Angie's voice was heard, "But Atua says that she could have changed her gloves!"

Kokichi tutted in a sarcastic retort, keeping his thoughts firmly away from Shuichi's current meltdown. He had a cast to solve, "I saw mom when I left the bathroom, someone was trying to kill me!~"

"This isn't the time for your jokes Kokichi, can't you take something seriously for once?!" Kaito snapped back in reply, locking eyes with him as he growled across the trial grounds.

"But I'm not lying, when have I ever lied Kaito, it's not something that I'd ever do, is it now?" He let out a small laugh before continuing with a pout, "But you guys, I was seriously near the brink of death! This person came in, picked up something from the floor and then kicked the stall next to me wide open! It was super swcary! And then Kaito tried to strangle me, but then mom showed up and ya da ya da."

"Get to the point, explain about her gloves you smartass!" Kaito shouted again, grimacing his teeth.

"I know blood and there was no blood on Kirumoms gloves I swear on my life! Don't you guys trust me?~"

"Gonta want to believe in Kokichi and everyone else, Gonta trust you so Gonta believe it!" The optimistic idiot raised his hands to his hips and exclaimed with a wide but sickening smile. "But why would person want to kill Kokichi?"

"More importantly.. why was there a body discovery announcement just after Ryoma entered the bathroom, shouldn't there have been another two people allowed, excluding the killer of course.." Maki thought aloud, posing a whole new question. "Kokichi, when you entered the bathroom, was the body there already?"

"So nosy Maki," he stalled in order to buy himself some extra time, as soon as he confessed this, the tables would be turned on him, wouldn't they? "But fine, the body was there~ I investigated a little as well."

The assassin nodded, taking that into account. "So, that's two people, yet three sounds the announcement, not including the killer.. and Kokichi you say that someone kicked a door in?"

"Wait a moment! That degenerate just confessed to being at the scene of the crime and you just let it go without any regard?" Tenko hissed, not believing what she was hearing.

"It is suspicious Maki, do you have proof that he is not lying to us again?" Kiibo questioned, his tone attempting to sound cheerful and not melancholic.

She shook his head but met him with an icy glare. "I can fully support his alibi for the time before and after the murder, we were in the same place, tending to Shuichi's needs and to check whether he was going to survive." It was blunt, but there was no time for pleasantries.

"There were blood scrapes across the floor so he could have moved the body easily, I think.. I took a few looks around and that's what I saw.." That timid voice set Kokichi's blood boiling, she had stayed near to completely silent so far yet now the snake she was was beginning to come out to play. "Did he ever leave your sight..? No, he must have.. to go to the bathroom, right? Sorry if I'm wrong.."

maxisntsatan did this, another amazing art by them! If you haven't followed them before.. get to it already!

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Tsumugi. Her voice was quaint and almost went inaudible, yet it began to play on the other ultimate's minds. It was possible, Kokichi could have been the murderer.

"...B-But I can back up his alibi as well, and he wasn't gone long enough to change his clothes from the blood that would have gotten on his uniform.. if Kokichi said that Kaito attempted to attack him outside the bathroom, doesn't that place more blame on Kaito instead of Kokichi, if you're going to p-point fingers, back up your argument." Shuichi slowly pulled himself to his feet with shaking arms. He was prepared to fight for this and for Kokichi, even if it meant dragging Kaito down.

When he was down, out of his mind, there were flashbacks.. the images looked so real, but they weren't flashback lights, they seemed to actually have happened.. and the majority of them were of what seemed to be of this timeline. His feeling for Kokichi all came rushing back, flooding his system and burning his heart.

Some memories were fuzzy and he didn't doubt that they might stay that way forever.. but he had no doubt in his mind that he had to fight for the person he loved more than anything else in his life.

"I will fight for him and I will never stop fighting Tsumugi, so stand your ground!"

                                                                .REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN.

(okay, sorry I had to split the trial into two parts again! I just thought that 2000 words was probably enough for you guys to digest. Ahaha.. besides I'm  working on the second half already as the glorious artists have already drawn me a closing statement, a rebuttal showdown and other secret stuff! So thank you and I look forward to hearing your theories. Lot of Easter eggs in this chapter if you look hard enough!)