Holy shit this chapter turned out much bigger than all the others, sorry :(
Shuichi's Pov:
"Your investigation time has already ended! Please gather in front of the elevator to begin the class trial! See ya later!"
The monitor turned off.
It's happening again. Another class trial is about to begin.
I walked alone outside, meeting up with the others where Monokuma said in the announcement.
The atmosphere in the shrine of judgement... Was morbid.
Normaly we would have Angie, Kokichi and even Kaito messing around, trying to cheer us up a little.
But now... Angie is no longer with us. And Kokichi hasn't said a word after we left him alone to investigate. Kaito is also sad about Rantaro's death. His usual naivety and energy were replaced by a silent, quiet person.
And the rest of us... Were more focused on surviving the next hours more than anything. The ones who already died in the last game didn't want to repeat the experience and the survivours didn't want to try it.
The elevator's door opened with a mechanical noise and took us to the trial grounds we wished we didn't have to see again.
We went to out podiums and, taking a deep breath, I decided to start the debate.
" Lets start the trial. Who wants to give out the first topic?"
"Well... The Monokuma file was stangely small, we don't have much information about the murder." Maki said.
"She's right! We can only state that Rantaro was stabbed at 5 am! In the hallway! Litteraly anyone could have done it." Tenko stated. It seems this time she's a little less depressed than before...
"The knife came from the kitchen, right? So the murderer went there, picked the knife and killed Amami." Kirumi muttered.
"Yes, there was indeed a knife missing from the kitchen when me and Kaito went there to check." I agreed.
"Shouldn't we start by talking about our alibis for the time of the murder?" Tsumugui asked.
"I don't think that would be relevant. At 5 am, everyone must have been sleeping in their dorms." I answered. But my words were interrupted by the ultimate maid.
"Actually... Even if my statement might make me look suspicious, I must admit that by that time I was doing everyone's loundry on my lab."
"Wait, isn't your lab like, super close to where the body was found?!" Kaito loudly said.
"Kaito's right. The body was in the hallway between Kirumi's and Gonta's labs. Didn't you see or hear anything?" I questioned the maid.
Kirumi shoke her head.
"I see... So... Is there anyone else who has an alibi?"
But no one answered my question. We are clueless about who could or not have killed our friend.
"I think we can take off the infecteds from the suspect list." Maki declared.
"I shall disagree. Even if Akamatsu, Ouma and Hoshi were weakened by the disease, i think it would have been possible for them to sneak into the kitchen and ambush on Amami."
Kyo refuted. And I yes, I think that might be a possibility, even if unlikely.
"That's a total nonsence! Kokichi was still connected to the blood machine. If he got up and left the infermary, it would have done some kind of noise, right? And even if me and Ryoma were feeling a little better than him, I don't believe that we could go to the kitchen. That motive drained all our energy, and after what happened in yesterday's morning... We were too tired to even move. Right Ryoma?" Kaede speeched in their defense.
"I have to agree with her. Even me, an athlete, felt incapable of doing such a thing."
"So it's setted? Kaede, Kokichi and Ryoma are innocent?" Surprisingly, Miu said an entire sentence without swearing or yelling.
"We should probably assume that. Is more likely one of the people who aren't infected to be our culprit than those three." Kaito stated.
"So Kirumi is our main suspect?"
"Just because I was near the crime cene it doesn't mean that I'm the murder. The walls in the academy's labs are sound proof, so I didn't hear a thing." The maid defended.
We all stopped talking to think for a bit. A murder ocurred, but exept for three of us... Anyone could be the culprit. We had no clues about who did it. We can't deduce anything from what we have.
"... I might know something..."
We looked at Kibo, who proceeded to explain.
"I was in my dorm last night, when I heard a noise coming from outside, around 4:30 am. When I went to the window, I saw... Kaito leaving the dorms unit and entering the main building."
"Is that true Kaito? Did you lie to us when you didn't say you weren't in you doorm? Tchh. Typical degenerate male." Tenko acused, desdain all over her face.
Kaito stared at her, sweating.
"I-i... It's all a misunderstanding! I didn't tell you that I wasn't in my dorm cuz... I went to check on everyone in the infermary! That's it!"
"And do you have any prof that you weren't killing Amami intead?"
"... Actually... I do"
Kaito left his podium and walked to Tenko. He showed the girl something on his monopad, what made her gasp. And after that... She smiled at Kaito? Is that even possible? Tenko is smiling at a male?
"I see... Then, listen up all of you! Kaito here was for sure in the infermary at 5 am! Trust me!"
What? What did Kaito show her to make the ultimate Aikido master believe him?
"Well, i guess that if Tenko corroborates with Kaito's innocence... There's no reason to doubt her... But just in case, mind showing me your alibi?" I asked Kaito. Everyone was as shocked as me. What a wierd way of proving innocence...
"...if I do, promise me I don't have to show it to anyone else. Is something kinda personal, you know?" He muttered.
"I think that if two different people aggre that you are innocent... That might be enough for the rest of us to believe in you..." Kyo answered.
Kaito nodded and brought me his monopad. He opened the gallery, where were stored a few photos of random things. (Yes, for me monopads are like ipads)
He scrolled up and displayed a picture... Of himself, faintly smiling, in front of a sleeping Kokichi in the infermary. I could see the thin tube connected to the small boy's arm, so that means that the image was recent. And over it, I could read 'today, 4:58 am'.
I still love Oumota, don't judge me ;)
"...it's true. If Rantaro died exactly at 5 am like the file says, then Kaito couldn't have done it."
Why did Kaito take a picture of him and Ouma though?
But this means that... Miu, Kirumi, Maki, Tenko, Korekyo, Gonta, Kibo, Tsumugui and even me could be the culprit.
"Hey, Shuichi. I think you're missing something."
Kokichi, who has been silent all this time finaly talked.
"Me and Chabashira found under... Rantaro's body... One of my scarves. Don't tell me you didn't notice!"
A scarf? I didn't see any scarf while investigating...
"Is that a lie, Kokichi? Because I didn't found anything like that in the crime cene."
The boy looked clearly offended. But before he could reply, Tenko interrupted.
"No. Ouma isn't lying this time. Under Rantaro's body was a checkered piece of fabric, soaked in blood."
"I think we both know who is the only person that could have access to my clothes, don't we Shumai?" Kokichi stared seriously at me.
Yes... The one who would have Kokichi's scarf... That can only be...
"Please, tell me I'm wrong, Kirumi."
" Kirumi told it herself. She was doing the loundry that time. She stabbed Rantaro and let the scarf behind to frame Ouma. That's the only possibility." I completed.
But Kokichi didn't say anything. He was still thinking about something, when Kirumi started to argue with my accusation. She was able to keep her calm, even in a debate that put her life in the line, unlike last time.
After 15 minutes of argueing...
"There's something we're overlooking actually." Kokichi finnaly stated.
"What do you mean by 'overlooking'?" Kibo asked.
"We don't even know the cause of death."
...oh. Right.
"Isn't it obvious? The green guy was stabbed! Died because of blood loss! Are you really that stupid, Kich?" Miu laughed.
"No. Ouma has a point. The monokuma file doesn't specify the cause of death, which means that it's important for the murder to keep that a secret. We already saw something like this in the VR, when Ryoma died. The time of death wasn't clear." I said.
"But Rantaro didn't have any injury but the stab. How can we be sure that he didn't die due to that?" Maki questioned.
" Notice that the Monokuma file says that the body has 'no other external injuries', but he could have been poisoned, just like Yumeno. That would leave no external injuries..."
...
"... Kirumi, may I ask you something?"
"I don't see why not Kokichi." She answered.
"Were you alone this morning, when you were in your lab?" The purple boy asked. Looks like he found something...
"Of course I was, why would I be with someone else-"
"NO! GONTA CANNOT KEEP THIS ANYMORE!"
What?
"Gonta was helping Tojo-san when-"
"Gonta, keep quiet!" Kirumi ordered him. But it was too late.
"Now, you two are certaintly hidding something!" Miu yelled.
"I... see." Kirumi looked saddly at Gonta.
"Gonta was helping me with the loundry this morning...
Flashback:
Kirumi and Gonta were leaving the ultimate maid's lab, holding piles of washed clothing, when spotted Rantaro, stabbed, in the hallway.
"Amami! What happened?"
Kirumi ran to the boy, holding him. He was still counscious somehow.
"Who did this?"
"I-i.-" Rantaro shortly answered, pointing at himself, his finger trembeling.
"Gonta! Go into to my lab and bring him some antibiotics. The first aid kit is in one of the cabinets!" Kirumi ordered.
Gonta left and the maid took a random piece of clothing from her basket to wipe out the blood coming out of Rantaro's stomach.
After a minute, Gonta came back with the medicine and a glass of water.
End of the flash back
"That was pretty much it."
"So if Rantaro didn't die due to the stab wound... That means that..." We looked at Kirumi. She sheed a tear wile ending the sentence I just started.
"The only possibility is that he died because of the medicine... That was given to him by... Gonta."
Why? Why does this keep happening?
"Amami took the pills. But I'm afraid that Gonta brought the wrong meds."
Gonta stood there, looking at the ground, and then decided to talk.
"Gonta can't read, so he took the first box he found. The green one. When friend Rantaro died in front of us..."
"I told him to keep that as a secret, because I was afraid Monokuma wouldn't take out the motive if the trial wasn't intersting enough. I thought that if Rantaro tried to... End his life to save the infecteds... At least we would take that wish foward."
"You dummy! I can't repeat the motives! That would be boring! Once the motive ends, it cannot apply it anyomore! You could have just told you classmates!" Monokuma stated.
" I see... I'm sorry Gonta, for making you lie about this."
So... I think this case is solved... The last thing I can do is to organize everything and go through the events one last time...
"Let me summarize this case, please correct me if I'm mistaken. Rantaro was the one who took the knife from the kitchen, and decided that the best way to save the infecteds was taking his own life, so no one would be considered the blackended and only one life is lost. That's why he stabbed his stomach, but unfortunatly for him, the wound wasn't fatal and before he fell uncousious Kirumi and our culprit found him in the hallway. Guided by the maid, the culprit rushed to her lab in order to get antibiotics so Amami's wound wouldn't get infected... But because of not being able to read the tags, the victim died due to taking the wrong medication? Is that true, Gonta Gokuhara, the ultimate entomologist?
"Soo it's decided! Yup! You got it right once more! The culprit you were all searching for, the one who killed Rantaro Amami, was Gonta Gokuhara, the ultimate entomologist! Next time learn how to read!"
...
"I'm impressed. How did you know I wasn't alone Ouma?" The maid asked.
Kokichi took his time to answer.
"Remember when I sliped and cut my hand? There was a huge puddle on the floor, and little pieces of shattered glass everywhere. That could only have happened if a water glass or something similar was broken there. And... I heard someone coming inside the infermary at night. I deduced it wasn't Kirumi, since she always knocks before coming in. So I pretended to be asleep until that person left. If someone was intrested in medicines, I just thought that water would be needed to swallow it. It just makes sence."
"I see... But Gonta didn't get the medicine from where friend Kokichi was..." Gonta said, confused.
"Was there someone else in the infermary? Who?" Kirumi questioned.
But me, Tenko and Kaito know who it was. We shared a look between us and Kaito saddly announced.
"I don't think thats relevant now."
"He's right. But I have a question. What pills did Gonta give Rantaro?" Tenko said.
"I can't be sure. But Monokuma put the first aid kit in my lab, with a few basic medicines. If admistrated the wrong amount of any of them though... A person could die from overdose." Kirumi stated.
"And why didn't Kokichi say that someone went into the infermary earlyer? That would have saved us a lot of time!" Miu yelled.
"... Lets say that I didn't want to be responsable for someone's death anymore, whore." He muttered.
Kokichi got out of his podium and headed to Gonta.
"Please don't leave me again." He said, hugging the gigant's legs. His voice was emotionless, but a single tear dropped from his eye. Gonta hugged him back.
"Please don't be sad because of Gonta. Gonta is happy that friends are alive!" He smiled at Ouma.
"ENOUGH OF SHITTY DIALOGS! THE MAIN EVENT IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!
LETS GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT! IIITTT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!"
TW
A gentleman's dutty- Gonta Gokuhara's execution
Gonta was dragged to a arena, where were 13 clones of each one of his friends (exept for Maki and Shuichi). On the screen appeared a sentence: "save all of them"
Each clone was in a trap they couldn't escape from, traps similar to the person's death. For exemple, Kaede's clone was hanging, Ryoma's was inside a huge water tank and Kokichi's was on the top of a tall building, beeing pushed to it's edge.
Gonta started saving each one of them, being chased by a giant robotic bee while doing so.
He was almost finishing helping Tenko getting out of an iron cage when...
"GONTA WATCH OUT!"
Ouma, who left the trial grounds, was now in the arena. He jumped between Gonta and the bee, which was about to invest on his friend. The monster's blade pierced Kokichi's left arm, making him hiss and fall in pain, holding his bloody arm.
But seeing that the insect wasn't giving up on chasing them... Gonta protected the supreme leader with his body, being stabbed multiple times before finnaly dying.
"Objective: incomplete."
Peko inpired execution :(