Danganronpa V3: of the elite (Volume 2 Ongoing)

Chapter 5 : class trial, part 3

"That is a valid point... So, then, could the killer have done it because they dislike or hate Kokichi?"

Shuichi added his thoughts to the discussion, raising a possibility that the killer was acting out of spite for Kokichi.

"Hm... But why would someone hate Kokichi?"

Another student raised a valid question as he continued to speculate about the killer's motives.

"And then there are other people who could have had a grudge against Maki, not just Kokichi. What's more, some people hated Maki just for being a prodigy."

The debate started to shift to potential alternatives to Kokichi as a suspect. This possibility was also not far fetched, since it had been revealed during their daily meetings that Maki had quite a number of haters in the class

"Well... If there are so many possible reasons to hate Maki, then there are many possible killers, too. This is going to make it really hard to narrow down the culprit."

Another student jumped in with this thought, adding a complication to the already muddled debate.

"But the killer must have had enough reason to hate her to want to take her life. They wouldn't have risked being punished for something so severe as murder if there wasn't enough reason behind it..."

"Okay, but who out of us have solid alibis that would rule them out as the killer?"

Another student raised some thoughts, reminding the class that many of them may still count as suspects.

"I mean, we can argue all we want about how unlikely our suspects and motives are, but we haven't done anything to really rule any of us out as the killer." Kaito said.

"Ah, yes... I did say that I was the last person to see Maki before her murder earlier, didn't I?"

Ayanokoji confirmed, reminding everyone that he had indeed made this claim.

"So... does that mean you're still a suspect too?"

"Hm..."

Ayanokoji pondered the question for a moment, considering the possibility of his own guilt.

"I suppose it does. I don't have anything to prove my innocence, so it can't be ruled out that I might be the killer."

This admission left the rest of the class startled, as they hadn't expected him to admit such a possibility without much resistance.

"Well, there you have it, I could very well be the killer! After all, the suspect with the alibi has the most to gain by killing people."

Kokichi jumped in, his smirk growing wider as he pointed out the possibility of ayanokoji intentionally killing Maki.

He turned back toward the rest of the class with a smirk.

"Who knows, maybe ayanokoji actually has a good reason to kill her? Maybe he hated some part of her personality or didn't like her talent? He seems suspiciously calm right now..."

This sudden accusation from Kokichi seemed to cause a small stir of speculation amongst the class.

People were beginning to doubt ayanokoji's innocence, and his calm demeanor seemed to be contributing to the suspicion.

But, however, there was no guarantee that Kokichi's suspicions alone would be enough to sway the class and turn their focus towards ayanokoji as the culprit.

"Alright, so let's focus on ayanokoji for now. What's his excuse for being calm then?" Asked shuichi.

- wanting to hear Ayanokoji's counterpoint to Kokichi's accusation

"Excuse me..."

Ayanokoji spoke up, turning all the eyes to him as he responded to the classmate.

"What kind of reaction did you expect me to have? Should I be getting angry or panicking right now?"

"You're assuming I'm normal."

Ayanokoji responded bluntly, seeming to accept the accusation.

"And you're saying that it's unnatural for me to be calm, correct?"

"Exactly!"

Gonta affirmed, not backing down in his line of questioning.

"Anyone would panic if they were being accused of murder."

"Hm... I see."

Ayanokoji considered the classmate's reasoning for a moment before continuing.

"Well, then, let me make something clear. I did not kill Maki."

He spoke in an even-toned voice as he made this statement, showing no change in his demeanour at all.

"That's what anyone who killed Maki would say!"

Kokichi jumped in suddenly, raising the doubt against Ayanokoji once again.

"I mean, think about it. How can we verify that he didn't kill Maki?"

"That's just it! We can't! Everyone else has a better alibi than him, making him the prime suspect."

Kokichi raised his objections with a smug look, still showing no remorse for his baseless accusations against ayanokoji.

"What's more, he has motive to kill Maki! He would have something to gain if he did, given that she was leading the class trial. So, it wouldn't be a far stretch to say that he did in fact kill her."

" I see .." shuichi said-

Kokichi added this additional point to his previous accusations, making the suspicion toward Ayanokoji all the more solid. The class was fully intrigued by Kokichi's logic.

"But, then, wouldn't ayanokoji be too smart to commit such a sloppy murder like this?"

Shuichi spoke up, bringing up a valid point. The way Maki was murdered was far from perfect, which made some people doubt that ayanokoji would commit something so careless and obvious when he had the intelligence and foresight to plan out a better murder.

"But what if the poor quality of the murder is intentional? What if he purposely made his method of killing so sloppy to make it harder for us to figure out his guilt?"

Kokichi added this possibility, not backing down in his accusation despite the counterpoints raised.

"How can you prove that it's intentional? For all we know, he might just be a poor murderer."

Kaito disagreed, raising the counterargument that ayanokoji may simply not be that good of a murderer.

"But he's also a very intelligent person, which means it's also probable that he's a good murderer. It could be either way, making his intelligence both a liability and an asset if he's the killer. Either way, we can't rule out either possibility until we find evidence."

Kokichi answered the counterargument, acknowledging that ayanokoji was smart but also making it clear that the class shouldn't completely dismiss the idea that he might have deliberately made the murder sloppy in order to trick them.

"Hm.... I guess you're right. We shouldn't rule any possibility out."

The classmate agreed, not completely sold on either side of the argument, but acknowledging that both of the possibilities were still viable. Their focus was back to trying to find evidence that could rule out any of the students as the killer. But with so many potential options available, it felt like a neverending endeavor for the class to make any real progress.

Who could it be? Kaito momota , gonta ... kokichi or shuichi...-

Or-

Me.