(3rd Person's POV)

CLASS TRIAL...ALL RISE!

Monokuma: Let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out "whodunnit" then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate!

Sora tilted her head in confusion, knowing something was clearly wrong.

Sora: ...What happened to the writing style? It's supposed to be quoted, isn't it? And...the narration isn't supposed to be italic. Or aligned that way.

Monokuma: Puhuhu...oh, that? Well, our dear little author thought it would be easier for her to do the Class Trials in this style. What, did you really think she was gonna spend all that time with the quotes and extra words?

Sora: Oh. Makes sense.

Makoto: Anyway...the killer is really one of us, right?

Monokuma: Of course!

Taka: Okay then...everyone close your eyes, and whoever did it, raise your hand!

Mondo: Don't be a goddamn idiot. Why the hell would they raise their hand?

Kyoko: Before we move on and start the trial, can I ask a question real quick?

She looked at the portraits of the now-deceased Sayaka and Junko with X's on them.

Kyoko: What's going on with...those pictures?

Monokuma: I'd feel awful if they got left out just because they died. Friendship penetrates even death's barrier!

Hifumi: Friendship...penetrates?

Celeste: Okay, but what about that other empty seat?

The gambler's gaze was fixed on a seventeenth seat that no one was in.

Celeste: There were only sixteen of us to begin with, so why are there seventeen seats?

Monokuma: Oh, no reason. It's just that out little courtroom here can technically fit up to seventeen people. Okay, that about does it for the preamble. Get ready to get started! First up is the case summary. Now, let the class trial...begin!

Makoto had a serious expression on his face. It's about to begin--the debate to decide who they think the killer is... Anything he found, anything he noticed... He has to be ready to speak up about anything. Because this isn't just about him. Everyone's lives are on the line!

---

NONSTOP DEBATE: MAKE YOUR ARGUEMENT!

Taka: I assert that the one who was murdered was Miss Sayaka Maizono!

Hiro: ...Yeah, we know that part already.

Byakuya: And the murder took place in Naegi's room.

Hina: In the bathroom...

Chihiro: So it seems most likely that... The killer must have taken her by surprise while she was in the bathroom. She didn't even have a chance to resist...

Makoto's Truth Bullet: Evidence Of A Struggle

"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"

---

Makoto: Just a second, Fujisaki. Try to remember how my room looked... With the way things had been damaged, I think we can definitely assume there was a struggle.

Chihiro: A struggle? Between who...and who?

Makoto: Between Maizono and the killer, of course.

Chihiro: So you're saying...Maizono wasn't caught by surprise in the bathroom?

Celeste: She must have been attacked in the main room first, then she ran to the bathroom to try and hide. The killer followed her in, and that's where they finished the job...

Byakuya: That much should have been obvious after taking one look at the scene. It shouldn't even need explaining.

Chihiro: S-Sorry...

Hiro: Okay, so what's next?

Sakura: Next is the subject of the murder weapon.

Hifumi: Wow...this is starting to sound like a real trial!

Now...they need to determine what killed Sayaka!

---

NONSTOP DEBATE: MAKE YOUR ARGUEMENT!

Sakura: So what was used to kill her?

Taka: There was some kind of sharp object thrust into her stomach...Without a doubt, that is the murder weapon!

Mondo: So the killer used some random knife they had on 'em... How could anyone do something like that? That son of a bitch!

Makoto's Truth Bullet: Kitchen Knife Set

"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"

---

Makoto: No. I do think it was a knife--but not just any knife. I'm almost positive is was a kitchen knife.

Mondo: Huh? A kitchen knife?

Makoto: After the murder, we discovered that one of the knives from the kitchen was missing.

Sakura: Which means that knife must be the murder weapon.

Mondo: Ohh...yeah, I guess that makes sense. You could sorta see the weapon stickin' out of her stomach... And if you look real close, I could totally see that being a kitchen knife.

Leon: Okay, so the murder weapon was a kitchen knife. But where does that get us? I mean, we all know Naegi killed her, right!?

Sora: (Rolls her eyes) Oh, good grief...

Toko: That's r-right... Naegi's room was the s-scene of the crime. What more proof do you n-need?

Makoto looked frightened, his hands in front of his chest.

Makoto: H-Hold on a second! I'm--!

Kyoko: Let's draw our conclusions after we've presented our arguments. Otherwise, what's the point of the trial?

Leon: Well we can talk all we want, it's not gonna change that conclusion.

Kyoko: I don't think that's true at all. I'm sure if we keep at it, something new will reveal itself.

Hiro: You really believe that?

Kyoko: ...

---

NONSTOP DEBATE: MAKE YOUR ARGUEMENT!

Leon: So I guess there's no question that the kitchen knife was the murder weapon. But where does that get us?

Toko: N-Naegi must have taken it f-from the kitchen, right? He did it in secret, when nobody was in the d-dining hall... And then he w-went and stabbed M-Maizono with it!

Leon: So he really did do it!

Hifumi: Mm, mm, yes. Then it's been decided... We've reached the end!

Makoto's Truth Bullet: Aoi's Account

"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"

---

Makoto: Okay, wait, hold on. I didn't take the knife from the kitchen.

Toko: Next you're g-gonna say you're not the k-killer, right? Go ahead and say it all y-you want...!

Makoto: Well, what if I have a witness? What do you think, Hina?

Hina: ...Huh?

Makoto: Remember what you were telling me earlier?

---

Flashback...

"Well, I went to go get some tea from the kitchen last night, and all the knives were still there. But when I finished my tea and went back into the kitchen to wash my glass...one of the knives was gone."

"So you're saying the knife disappeared while you were drinking your tea in the dining hall?"

"Yeah..."

---

Makoto: Just to be perfectly clear, the knife disappeared while you were in the dining hall, correct?

Hina: Y-Yeah, that's right...

Makoto: And at any point while you were there, did you ever see me come into the dining hall?

Hina: Umm...no, I don't think so...

Byakuya: You don't "think" so?

Hina: ...No, he definitely wasn't there!

Makoto: The knife disappeared while Hina was in the dining hall. But I wasn't there the entire time. In other words, there's no way I could have taken the knife!

Toko: Okay, th-then what about this...? What if the i-idiot swimmer girl and N-Naegi are in on it together, a-and lying to protect each other?

Hina: (Looks offended) Idiot swimmer girl!? Oh, and more importantly, why would I get involved in something like that!?

Byakuya: Speaking of which, I'd like to ask the bear...if there is an accomplice, do they also become "blackened"?

Monokuma: So you ask, and so I shall answer! Each murder is allowed to have an accomplice, but only the one who does the killing will get to graduate.

Kyoko: So in other words, two people can work together, but one of them has no chance of profiting from it...

Mondo: Then there's no way anyone would work together, right...?

Chihiro: But...what if they did work together, and they just didn't know about the rule?

Monokuma: Uggh, good grief! Enough already! No, okay!? There are no accomplices in this case! ...Oops! Did I say that out loud...?

Makoto: Anyway, I didn't go to the dining hall, and I didn't take the knife. So I'm not the killer!

Chihiro: Okay, so then...who did take the knife?

Celeste: Hina seems the obvious candidate. After all, she just said she was in the dining hall...

Now having all eyes on her, Hina frantically shook her head.

Hina: N-No way! I swear it wasn't me!

Hifumi: Sure, but can you or anyone else prove that?

Sakura: I can.

Hina: That's right! Sakura was with me the entire time I was drinking my tea...

Leon: Uhh...I hate to have to ask, but just to be sure, Sakura's...

Sakura: Me.

Leon sweatdropped.

Leon: ...Right.

Hiro: But then...couldn't either one of them have grabbed the knife?

Hina: Actually, no. Because...um...well...

Mondo: Just spit it out already!

Sakura: I stayed in Hina's room last night.

Hina: I got so scared thanks to those creepy videos. I wasn't really thinking, I just asked her to stay over. Which means we have airtight alibis!

Toko: You s-stayed over...? Doesn't that v-violate one of the school r-regulations?

Chihiro: We're not allowed to sleep anywhere but the dorms, but it doesn't say we have to stay in our assigned room. So, I don't think that's a problem.

Taka: It IS a problem! A boy and girl spending the night together!? It's...it's...unwholesome!

Pfffft....! Sora snickered in her head.

Sakura: But...I'm a girl.

Taka: Wh--!? You are!? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!

Celeste: But if it wasn't either of you, then what other possibility is there?

Sakura: Actually, there is one other possibility. Right, Hina?

Hina: Oh yeah, that's true! One other person did come to the dining hall while we were there.

Byakuya: Why didn't you say so in the first place?

Hina: Well, because...they're not here anymore.

Makoto's eyes widened. Is she talking about...

Hina: Maizono. She's the one who came to the dining hall. And then later...she wound up dead...

So...the person who took the knife. It was...

---

-Sayaka

-Monokuma

-Hina

"I GOT IT!"

---

Makoto: Then...Maizono is the one who took the knife?

Sakura nodded.

Sakura: That's the only possibility. And thinking back on it, she was acting kind of unusual... When she came into the dining hall, she didn't even look at us. She just went straight to the kitchen. As she left, she said she just wanted a drink of water. But most likely...

Taka: Then the person who took the knife was the victim herself!

Makoto: I'm sure... I'm sure she just took it for self-defense...

Byakuya: So you're saying the knife she took...was then taken from her, and she was killed with it? In that case, you may not have taken the knife, but you still could have killed her.

Byakuya casually looked at Makoto, the latter widening his eyes.

Makoto: What!?

Toko: S-See!? He did do it, a-after all!

Makoto: No, you're wrong!

Hifumi: So that's how you would twist the argument and send us all off in the wrong direction!? Hm-hmm... You possess a most terrifying talent...

Makoto grit his teeth in frustration. If somebody doesn't do something, they're all gonna convict him! Don't they see if they do that, everyone's gonna die?!

Sora: You guys are being ridiculous, you know that? Don't you think it's a little too soon to point the finger?

Kyoko nodded in agreement with the girl.

Kyoko: She's right. It's still too early to decide conclusively that Naegi is the killer, wouldn't you say? Because you see, if the room did belong to the killer, then they did something most bewildering. And until we unravel that little mystery, you simply can't declare that he's the killer.

Mondo: Bewildering? What the hell are you talking about!?

Kyoko: Something was missing from the scene of the crime that by all rights should have been there. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

Something that should have been at the scene but wasn't... That must be the crucial point. If Sora can just figure out what that something is...

---

HANGMAN'S GAMBIT: THINK ABOUT IT!

H.A.I.R.

"EASY PEASY."

---

Sora: Oh right. There wasn't a single hair on the floor...

Chihiro: So, the culprit removed some evidence?

Makoto: Yes. And if I were the culprit, why would I need to get rid of all the hair in my own room? It wouldn't be unusual at all to find my hair at the crime scene, if the crime scene is in my room.

Celeste: The reason all the hair was gone...was to remove any trace that Maizono had ever been there. That makes sense, does it not?

Kyoko: No. If that were the case, they would have had to do something about the body itself, not just her hair.

Hifumi: Ah-ha-ha! Yes, very true, very true!

Leon: Okay, then why wasn't there any hair on the ground?

Kyoko: The killer got rid of it all, of course. To remove any trace that they had ever been there.

Mondo: Wait, then that means...!

Kyoko: Precisely. It's simply beyond reason to believe that the room's owner and the killer are one and the same.

Chihiro: Then...Naegi isn't the culprit?

Taka: But are you sure we can decide something so important based solely on the absence of some hair!?

Kyoko: No. There are other reasons that prove Naegi couldn't have done it.

Sakura: I would like to hear these reasons...

Kyoko: Do you remember anything remarkable about the bathroom at the scene? Sayaka was attacked in the main room first, then fled into the bathroom, right?

Mondo: Yeah, then they ran after her, got into the bathroom, and stabbed her.

Kyoko: And how did the killer get into the bathroom? Did they have any trouble with it?

Celeste: What do you mean...?

Kyoko: It's fairly certain that the killer had some trouble getting into the bathroom. There was clear evidence left behind. Do you remember, Naegi? Shirayuki?

The killer struggled getting into the bathroom. And the evidence that proves it is...the object the killer broke.

---

PRESENT KEY ITEMS: SHOW YOUR PROOF!

Makoto and Sora's Truth Bullets: Bathroom Doorknob

"I GOT IT!"/ "EASY PEASY."

---

Sora: ...You're talkin' about the doorknob, right?

Hiro: Huh? The doorknob? What doorknob?

Makoto: The doorknob for my bathroom... It was completely broken. See how the top part was unscrewed, and the doorknob's about ready to fall off?

Chihiro: Oh yeah, true... But what does it mean?

Kyoko: In trying to bypass the lock, they ended up nearly removing the entire doorknob. This is another most bewildering act for the room's owner. It proves Naegi is beyond suspicion.

Leon: So what, you're saying he wouldn't break the door in his own room? But if the only choice you have is to break it, you break it! There's nothing "bewildering" about it!

Kyoko: You still don't see? Okay, then... Let's take another look at how the incident unfolded. Hopefully that will help you understand...

---

NONSTOP DEBATE: MAKE YOUR ARGUEMENT!

Kyoko: The incident took place in Naegi's room. Maizono was first attacked in the main room. She then fled into the bathroom.

Mondo: Then the killer ran after her... And they got into the bathroom.

Leon: At that point, the killer had to try and bust down the door because Maizono had locked it.

Chihiro: And finally, the culprit had Maizono cornered...

Toko: It was y-you, wasn't it Naegi! A-Admit it! We already kn-know the answer!

Makoto's Truth Bullet: Bathroom Doorframe

"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"

---

Makoto: The reason my bathroom didn't open wasn't because it was locked. After all, the girls' rooms are the only ones with locking bathrooms, right?

Sakura: Yes... Now that you mention it, that is true.

Chihiro: Then...why didn't your bathroom door open...?

Makoto: Because it was stuck.

Leon: Huh? What are you talking about?

Makoto: My bathroom door doesn't fit the frame quite right. Monokuma over there can testify to that.

Monokuma: Yup! True as true can be! But ya know...you're supposed to be the Ultimate Lucky Student, right? But to have such a cruddy door... Puhuhu...! That's not lucky at all!

Kyoko: So the reason the door didn't open was just because it was stuck. But the killer didn't know that, and assumed it was locked. So they tore apart the doorknob to get in.

Celeste: Okay, but then why would the killer even think the door was locked in the first place? Everyone should have known you can't lock any of the boys' bathrooms.

Kyoko: The killer could easily make that mistake, thanks to one important detail about the scene of the crime...

The killer was convinced the bathroom door was locked... So they didn't know that the door actually couldn't be locked. In other words, the important detail about the scene of the crime that they didn't know was...

---

-The crime took place in Sayaka's room

-The crime took place in Makoto's room

"I GOT IT!"

---

Makoto: The killer must not have realized that it was my room.

Hifumi: What!? Are you saying the culprit didn't even know where he was? That's...inconceivable!

Kyoko: And yet, he's absolutely right.

Hifumi: SAYWHAAA!?

Kyoko: Well, to be more specific... What the killer didn't know was that Naegi and Maizono had switched rooms. Which is what led to the misunderstanding about the bathroom. If Maizono had been in her own room, then...

Taka: Then there would have been a lock on the door, and they would've had to break through...!

Sakura: So they had no idea how unnecessary their actions were...

Kyoko: Ultimately, we can't know if it came open by force or simply by accident, but... The killer must have been considerable confused, with no idea how they actually got the door opened.

Byakuya: Regardless, it was a pointless act. Wasting time trying to break down a door that wasn't locked is...

Makoto: ...Definitely something I wouldn't do, since I would've known exactly why it wasn't opening. Right?

The progeny sighed.

Byakuya: That is...a definite possibility.

Chihiro: So the killer would have to be someone who didn't know they'd switched rooms...?

Toko: Then Naegi c-couldn't have done it...!

Sora: (Sarcastic) Wow, what a surprise...

Mondo: Okay, then who did do it!?

Hifumi: I'm sorry, but I give up! Quit without saving!

Chihiro: But...what happens if we can't decide on who we think did it...?

Taka: Well then, why don't we just vote right now? Majority rules!

Sora: That...not a good idea...

Hiro: Yeah! Our necks are on the line here! Someone seriously needs to do something. For serious...!

Celeste: Does no one have any other thoughts or questions? It does not matter how trivial they may seem...

Hina: Oh! As a matter of fact, I do have one question!

Celeste looked disappointed.

Celeste: Oh...you...

Hina: You don't gotta sound so disappointed!

Taka: It's fine, it's fine, just ask your question!

Hina: Oh yeah! Okay, so, umm... Well, I was just wondering, how'd the culprit get into Naegi's room in the first place?

Sora: That...a good question, actually. I've been asking myself that, too.

Leon: Maybe Maizono just dropped the key somewhere and the culprit picked it up. That's possible, right?

Taka: I don't think so. That seems way too convenient.

Chihiro: Then...maybe someone picked the lock?

Taka: Negative! If you remember, Monokuma made it quite clear that the locks are all unpickable.

Hifumi: Fine, how about this? The killer got in the easy way. They could've knocked and said they wanted to talk or something, and Miss Maizono just...let 'em in!

Makoto: No, that can't be it, either.

Hifumi: O-ho! Trying to argue against me? Sounds like someone doesn't know his place!

Sora: ...What.

Hifumi: Hello!? Why, exactly, can't that be it!?

---

PRESENT KEY ITEMS: SHOW YOUR PROOF!

Makoto's Truth Bullet: Switching Rooms

"I GOT IT!"

---

Makoto: Because Maizono was already scared, remember? That's why she asked me to switch rooms in the first place.

---

"The same goes for you, Maizono. No matter who it is, don't open your door for anyone."

"Even if I'm sure it's you, I absolutely won't open it. Otherwise, what's the point of even switching?"

---

Makoto: Knowing what she'd been through, I just can't believe she would have opened the door for anyone.

But at that moment, someone made a refute that caught Makoto off-guard.

"What if her being scared...was a lie?"

Class Trial: On Hold

To be continued...?