(3rd Person's POV)

"Wh...? H-Huh? This wasn't...supposed to...Why...me...?"

Still holding on to what little life she had, she weakly turned her head to Sora, tears filling her eyes.

"...Yuki-chan..."

"...?" Sora tilted her head in confusion

Suddenly, right at the end, her eyes shot wide open. And just like that...she never moved again.

Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista...was dead.

"Wh-What the..." Hina uttered, her hands covering her mouth in horror.

"I don't..." Chihiro trailed off.

"Th-This can't be real..." Leon said.

"NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!" Hifumi yelled.

"Huh." Sora blinked. "I was right. Punctured by multiple spears..."

"Who gives a shit if you were right?!" Mondo yelled. "Didn't ya see what just happened?!"

"Now I am painfully aware of the great power and meaning of a promise... I really wanted to keep a corpse from popping up for no good reason, ya know?" Monokuma said, lifting up his paw. "But I guess you all needed to be taught a lesson, after all. Ahh, what an amazing promise! But now you guys understand, right? Now you see just how serious I am..." His lone red eye started glowing again. "Defy me and you get shot full of holes, exploded, buried alive, disintegrated...et cetera. So if you don't want that to happen to you, you'd best obey those school regulations!"

Sora looked at Junko's impaled body. She cringed at the excessive amount of blood pouring out of her body. This was the first time she'd seen somebody die right before her eyes.

"It's really not all that shocking. She just died, that's all. Just went and died." Monokuma chuckled. "It's no more remarkable than the inevitable demise of the entire human race. It's just as natural as the eventual end of the world itself. This isn't some superhero comic. So it's not like when you die, you didn't really die. This is reality!"

" ...Why did you have to kill her? Didn't you say you would put her in prison or something?" Kyoko asked, staring straight at Monokuma.

"I changed my mind." Monokuma said, turning away from the students.

Kyoko shook her head. "No, you've been wanting to kill this entire time."

"Kill this entire time...?" Monokuma tilted his head as he turned around again. "Don't be silly, you can't kill time! Or are you being metaphorical? Are you saying I wanted to waste time this whole time? Come on, what do you take me for? I'm Monokuma!" He then shook his head. "Anyways, none of that matters right now. I have something I'd like to give you to help you in your search for the blackened!"

He pulled out little black and grey booklets and passed them out to the students. "This little file has all the information I've gathered about the death in question. I like to call it... The Monokuma File! I mean, naturally you guys aren't experts at this kind of thing, so you can only do so much with a corpse." Monokuma said. "So instead, I've gathered up everything I know about the circumstances and cause of death. What's that? How do I know the cause of death, you ask?"

We didn't ask... Sora thought.

"Cuz the surveillance cameras picked up the whole thing! I got to see it all go down!" Monokuma proudly announced.

"Wait, so then...you know who killed Maizono?" Kyoko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I do!" Monokuma laughed. "If I didn't, I couldn't possibly pass a fair and accurate judgment during the trial, now could I?" He rhetorically asked while Sora made a shrug that said 'fair point'.

"That's a good point. The judge has to be able to make the proper decision. That's...somehow comforting." Kyoko said.

"Now then, please put your full effort behind your investigation! After all, you don't have any choice but to give it your best shot! Seriously, you don't have a choice!" Monokuma told them. "Okay, so we'll meet up for the class trial...in a little while!"

And with that, Monokuma disappeared once again, leaving the students stunned and confused with Junko's dead body growing colder right in front of them.

---

For a long time...nobody said a single word. Of course, the fact that Sayaka and Junko were dead was already a shock. But it was more than that. It was also the fact that someone in this room murdered someone. And if they didn't find out who it was, everyone would die.

They students had found themselves in a situation where they couldn't help but look at each other with open suspicion. It was pretty bad, all things considered.

And yet, even in such a perversely terrible situation...she didn't show the slightest hint that it had gotten to her.

"Now's no time to wallow in your depression." Kyoko spoke up with her arms folded. "The worst thing we can do right now is lose all faith in each other. That would lead to the same disastrous result as having total faith in everyone else.

"Huh...?" Leon lifted his head up and looked at Kyoko.

"Cooperation is absolutely key at this point. Who you decide to trust or not trust is, of course, up to you." Kyoko said.

"Continuing to think about and talk about the deceased certainly isn't going to help anything." Celeste casually said, twirling a piece of her hair.

"S-Saying stuff like that is just--!" Hina stuttered, but Celeste had more to say.

"How many times have I told you? Anyone who can't adapt...will die. Death is the only thing awaiting those who are unable or unwilling to adapt." Celeste said as she made her deceitful smile. "If that happens, you only have yourself to blame."

Ooooof... Sora winced in her head.

"What an awful thing to say!" Hina exclaimed. "Especially after what's happened!"

"Right now, exposing the killer is the most important thing. Because if we don't, we're all going to die here." Kyoko said.

"...She's right." Byakuya nodded. "We need to begin our search right away."

"Either way, we can't run away from the situation, so we have no choice but to move forward." Sakura spoke up.

"We just hafta do it, I guess. What other choice do we have?" Hina said with a rough sigh.

"No way in hell am I letting someone kill me...!" Leon growled, his eyes filled with determination. "Alright, dammit! Let's do this!"

Sora's lips formed into straight line as she nodded to herself. They have to. No matter how much they don't want to, they don't have a choice in the matter.

If this is what I have to do to survive, then I'm ready. Sora thought, a newfound look of determining making its way upon her face. Let's do this...!

---

Sora watched as Makoto walked up to Junko's dead body and put his hand on her wrist, possibly to check for a pulse, although she didn't really see the point in doing that. After being impaled from multiple sides, it was obvious she was dead.

"She...really is dead." Makoto solemnly whispered.

"I don't know why you even bothered to check. After those injuries, and losing that much blood... Frankly, I'd be shocked if she did survive something like that." Byakuya said.

"H-Huh...? H-Hold on..." Hiro spoke up as the students turned to him. "H-H-H-Hold o-on! J-J-Just w-wait a second! Sh-She's...dead!? Then that means...! That means everything that's happened so far is real!? It's not a joke or whatever!? It's really real!? Hell no! S-Someone save me! Let me outta here! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" He screamed.

"You're j-just now accepting that...?" Toko asked.

Sora simply gave Hiro a deadpan expression. She's heard of blind ignorance before, but this...this is just ridiculous.

---

"Before we start searching for Maizono's killer, we need to decide what to do about securing the crime scene." Kyoko spoke up.

"What do you mean...?" Makoto questioned.

"You're thinking of putting someone on guard duty so nobody can disturb the area, aren't you?" Byakuya asked. "After all, if the culprit decides to destroy the evidence, we're pretty much screwed." He said as Sora nodded in agreement.

"In that case, I don't mind doing it. I don't like havin' to think, anyway. I'll let you guys figure out who killed that chick." Mondo said.

"Okay, then we can let Owada look after the scene." Hina said.

"Well, no...we can't just leave him there alone." Byakuya shook his head.

"What? Why the hell not!?" Mondo asked, glaring at the progeny.

"Isn't it obvious? If you were the culprit, what's the first thing you would do? By volunteering for guard duty, you're in a position to destroy all the evidence you want."

"Wh--!? Fuck you!"

"Fine, then I'll stay there on guard duty as well. That way there's no problem." Sakura spoke up.

"2-player co-op base defense with the two of them... With their stats, they're totally OP!" Hifumi exclaimed.

"Since we won't be able to help investigate, we're putting our faith in the rest of you." Sakura said.

"I'm still pretty freaked out, but...I'll try." Hina nodded.

---

"Hmm?" Celeste hummed, then smiled. "Heh heh...so you finally noticed."

Who the hell are you talking to? Sora thought. There's no one in front of you.

"Huh? Noticed what?" Leon asked.

"I was looking through the Monokuma File we received. And I noticed something very obvious, and very unusual." Celeste said.

"Huh? What are you talking about...?" Chihiro meekly asked.

"Go ahead, take a look. Notice anything interesting about where Maizono died? She died in Naegi's dorm."

Hm? Sora raised an eyebrow. She looked through the Monokuma File, and sure enough, it said that Sayaka died in Makoto's dorm room.

"Wh--? She's right!" Hina exclaimed.

"Then, could it be...!?" Hifumi said. In a moments notice, all gazes turned to the lucky student.

"H-Hold on a second! You've got it all wrong!" Makoto tried to defend himself. "F-For just one night, I...I traded rooms with her. I did it because...she was afraid."

"Y-You expect us to b-believe that? Just tell us the t-truth!" Toko said while Sora tilted her head, pretty skeptical of Makoto's defense.

The look in everyone's eyes had done a complete 180 from just a few minutes earlier. The feeling of suspicion and fear had returned. Now most of them believe Makoto's the culprit.

"Are we all done talking? We need to begin our investigation soon." Kyoko rolled her eyes. "At this point, we should split up. We need to get to the bottom of this and find out who killed Maizono. We'll have to collect clues to form a foundation, then construct an argument to come to a final decision. If we get this wrong... Well, do I really have to say any more?"

"I'd rather you didn't, no..." Hifumi sighed.

"Everyone pray for good luck." Kyoko said as she hurried out of the gym.

"I'll be going, too." Byakuya said as he soon followed.

"Oh yeah, I'm on guard duty, huh? I'd better head to the scene of the crime!" Mondo said.

"Ah, that's right." Sakura nodded.

"Lemme just say this right now!" Mondo yelled as he turned to the other students. "If whatever son of a bitch did this is here right now, and they're thinking of destroying that evidence...They'd better not let me find 'em! I'll skip the trial and cave their goddamn skull in myself!" He threatened while Sora raised an eyebrow. "I'm serious! I will fuck them up!"

...Huh. Okay, then... Sora thought as he and Sakura ran off.

"But...I mean, we're not detectives or anything y'know? And we're gonna investigate a murder? How do we even do something like that?" Hina asked.

"We don't r-really have to do anything in p-particular. W-We already know who k-killed Maizono..." Toko said, making her insinuation pretty clear.

"What are you implying...?" Makoto narrowed his eyes.

"It was y-you." Toko straight up told him.

"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" Makoto raised his voice, stomping the ground in frustration, making Toko defensively flinch.

"D-Don't come any c-closer! Are you g-gonna kill me next!?" Toko stepped back.

Sora rolled her eyes. "Good grief..."

"W-Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. It's not for sure Naegi's guilty yet." Hina said.

"That's true. We may as well at least check just to check." Hifumi agreed.

"Even if I w-wanted to, I c-couldn't help inv-vestigate..." Toko said.

"Wait, why not?" Leon looked at her.

"I'm not g-good with...b-b-blood." The writer shuddered. "All it takes is o-one glimpse and I b-black out."

Oh, Hemophobia. Sora thought.

"Well, whatever. I don't think anyone was expecting much from you, anyway." Leon ruffled his hair.

Oooooof! Gonna need a Burn Heal for that one.

"Alright, I guess I better get going." And just like the others, Leon, as well as most of the students, left the gym.

"W-Wait, don't go yet! You have to hear me out!" Makoto called out to them, but it was pointless. Everyone was already leaving, and their parting looks at him were filled with suspicion.

Sora, on the other hand, gave Makoto an apathetic stare as she walked off. As she headed towards the door, she looked to be lost in thought...

Is he really the killer? Or is he being framed? Sora mused. Either way, I can't jump to conclusions. We have to get this right. Or...

"Execution is...execution. Ex-e-cution! Electric chair, bzzt bzzt! Poison gas, cough cough! Torn apart like a paper place in a hurricane! Which yes, we can make happen."

Sora shook her head. No. She can't let that happen. Not to her, she can't. She won't let it. All she has to do...is find the truth!

Chapter 6: End

To be continued...?