Danganronpa 2: Follow the Truth

Chapter 4: The Masquerade's Final Act- Class Trial- Part 1 (Malachi)

Once everyone got to their spot, I noticed there were now two more portraits with bloody X's over them. Emma and Amaya.

"The class trial will now start!" Monokuma yelled. "Now then, let's begin with a simple explanation of the class trial. During the class trial, you will present your arguements for who the killer is, and vote for "whodunnit." If you vote correctly, then only the blackened will recieve punishment. But if you pick the wrong person... I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that person will earn the right to leave the city!"

"Let's not waste any time." Cassius said. "Let's discuss how Amaya was killed."

"Yeah... alright." I said.

"Well, to start off, Amaya's cause of death was blunt force to the head, right?" Ren said. "So what was the murder weapon?"

"I'm pretty sure that it's Amaya's own guitar." Atsuki said. "There was blood on the body of her guitar, and it was found next to her."

"And, in addition to being bludgeoned, she was also stabbed two times." Spencer said.

"Yeah. She had two seperate stab wounds in the same place on her body, as if the blade was turned before it stabbed into her again." I said. "She also was bruised in her stomach."

"Wh-Why would th-the killer injure her s-so much?" Masa asked.

"I think... There was a struggle." Nao said. "I don't have any evidence to back it up right now, but my guess is that the killer fought her, and they stabbed her, she pulled the knife out and lunged for them, where they caught the knife, took it, stabbed her again and kicked her back where she fell onto the bench. That's why it was broken and bloody. So when she got up, the killed must of grabbed her guitar and hit her." He explained. "But like I said... I don't really know for sure."

"That sounds pretty plausable, actually." Cassius said. "Good deduction, Nao."

"Well, if that's how Amaya died, what should we move on to now?" Ren asked.

"Perhaps we should go over who killed her now?" Spencer asked.

"The killed would be hard to determine right now. There isn't much evidence to find them." Atsuki said.

"So we already know how she died, and the Monokuma File stated when she died." Zoey said, "And we can't find out who killed her yet... So maybe we should try to find out why the killer decided to kill them?" She asked.

"Why Amaya died? Can we even determine that?" Spencer asked.

"Th-The killer r-really didn't leave m-much behind..." Masa said.

Why Amaya was killed... I know but... Can I really just come out and say it...? What would people think to the fact that Kisho...

"I believe Amaya found out some sort of secret of the killer's." Atsuki said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Think about it." Atsuki started, "There was no motive this time around? So maybe the killer had some sort of secret that Amaya found out about. So to keep them quiet, they killed her."

"And what secret would this be, exactly?" Cassius asked.

"...I think I know." I said.

"Hm? What is it?" Spencer asked.

"... I went to Amaya's room to investigate, I found out that, if she died, she wanted me to investigate the previous crimes on her behalf. She was doing this, but wanted me to find out as well." I said. "And I found something out by investigating..." I looked down, away from everyone.

"I-I'm having trouble seeing how this r-relates t-to the case..." Masa said.

"Yeah, how the hell does this relate to why Amaya died?" Cassius asked, yelling.

"Amaya found something out while looking at the previous murder scenes... That the killer of this case had to kill her for." I said.

"But this case still doesn't trace back to the other crime scenes, you fucking idi-" Cassius started to say, but was cut off.

"Don't be stupid, Cassius." Nao said. "Honestly, for being someone so arrogant as yourself, you really depend on other people for support during the trials. But you just swear and insult them instead of being nice, because unlike you make yourself seem, you're too weak to have anyone see you as not a tough guy." Nao sighed.

"Wh-What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Cassius asked.

"You should have realized that the blade used to stab Amaya was one we've seen before." Nao said. "The dagger that was used to kill Yudai. The killer decided to kill Amaya with the same blade used to kill her loved one."

"What about that, exactly?" Spencer asked.

"If you remember, the dagger was thrown in the dumpster behind the dressing rooms after the murder." Atsuki said. "So the killer was there at one point."

"Not only that, but there were also clothes and clothing hangers knocked over on the ground, and some of the hangers were broken, too." Nao said, "So I assume Amaya and the killer first met there, and Amaya got the first strike on the killer, knocking them back to the clothes. Then Amaya ran to the basketball court to get away, or to fight in a more open space."

"Why do you think the killer was hit?" Spencer asked.

"Well, the killer didn't have a strong weapon to push someone back, right?" Zoey said.

"Yes. That and the killer could have killed her right then, even if he did." Nao said.

"Anyway..." Ren said. "What were you saying earlier, Malachi?" He asked, "What did you find out when you were investigating the previous crime scenes?"

"...We had you get those notes, remember, Ren?" I said. "Well... We determined all the notes from the previous cases, except the one we said was written by Setsuko to talk to Waffle, were all in the same handwriting."

"And what about that? We already know that Kisho was the one who blackmailed Ren with those letters in the first two cases." Cassius exclaimed.

"That is what we said, but..." I paused and took a breath. "We found another note in the love hotel under the bed in Emma and Masa's room... The one that told Emma to kill either Eri or I, or else Masa would die..." I said. "Anyways... That note was also in the same handwriting as the other ones."

"Wh-What does that mean, Malachi...?" Masa asked me.

"It means we were wrong. Because the notes have the same handwriting, that means the one who blackmailed Ren was alive at least while we were in the love hotel, and if we use our theory that Amaya found out the killer's secret then... We were wrong. Because this would mean that the one who killed Yudai and Bahira, Ren's killer, and the one who made Setsuko kill Waffle, is still alive. And that means..." I said, "Kisho never killed anyone."