Note: This is my longest story so far. I enjoyed trying to work out a trial and focus on the murder. There is always room for improvement but I'm decently happy with this for the time being.
TRIGGER WARNING: ❗️SWEARING/MURDER SCENE❗️
" Digging digging digging DIGGING DIGGING DIGGING for answers you just won't find!"
I stared at Komaeda rather disturbed. He went from thought out sentences ( albeit insane ) to pure nonsense. I don't think anybody expected him to truly lose it to this degree, we thought he had already reached his worst.
" (Y/N) knew just how to...fuck shit up didn't they...?" His hands were tangled in his sweaty and messy rag of hair. His eyes felt like they burned straight through me. Nothing was adding up.
" Nagito, you need to tell us what you were planning-" My speech being cut off by a very pissed Fuyuhiko.
" Hajime just shut the fuck up. He's not gonna listen to you. Damn it if I could just smash your head in-"
Chiaki sent Fuyuhiko a dirty and serious glare. " I agree it's frustrating but this isn't how to go about it." Her calming voice unfortunately didn't help besides start a bickering argument between herself and Fuyuhiko.
I look towards Nagito who stood, or I guess I'd say more so slouched at his podium. Tears fell from his large bulging eyes. His face was so red and he was sweating profusely. He looked like he was having a panic attack, a severe one at that.
I tried to break down the events in order, attempting to figure out how we got to such a confusing spot.
~ — ~
The building burned brightly, our only hope were the canisters being thrown from our hands into the flames. The amount of relief that fell upon us was about to be obliterated once the flames extinguished.
(Y/N)'s body stood twitching. We couldn't even check for a pulse before Monokuma made his body discovery announcement. (Y/N) had deep stab wounds covering their arms, torso, and legs. They were obviously not self inflicted, but it was unlikely that was what killed them. Instead there was a large spear that had entered right below their shoulder and came back out through their lower back. The angle kept their body up and made it look like they were just standing there.
Their face held no readable expression, it looked so empty, void of anything. In their hand was a rope, it had been tied up in a tight knot, it looked only big enough for a wrist to fit through. The other hand hung limp and empty.
We had to swallow any sick feelings and start the investigation.
There was a knife lying a few feet away from the body, blood on the blade and handle. There were other ropes scattered around, some tied and some hanging loose. The only other noticeable thing was the smashed window to the right. There were no shattered pieces inside the building near the window, so it couldn't have been smashed in through the outside.
A hand rested on my shoulder. I turn to see Nagito staring at the body. " Ahh, what a shame..." I awkwardly shove his hand off. His eyes seemed empty and his smile was so plastic. It made me uncomfortable to say the least.
" Nagito! Where were you!?" Anger made its presence known in my voice. This directed the attention of the others. Stress, fear, and anger filled their faces as they came up to the said man.
" Where were you! You sent us on a wild goose chase only to find this!" Sonia exclaimed, hand motioning to the dead body behind us.
Nagito slowly looked up to her, unnaturally slow, his eyes unmoving as he began to speak.
" I'll let you find out, you are investigating after all..." The vagueness of his response further irritated us. He was never any help in the cases, he just further confused us. One thing was for certain though, he wasn't with us when we discovered the body.
~ — ~
" Let's start here...Where were you when the storage house was on fire?" I needed to narrow it down to specifics to get answers even if they weren't straight forward.
" In there! I was in there waiting to burn alive!" He shouted, shaking his head.
" Me not them, damn it!"
I glance at Chiaki to silently ask for her opinion. She didn't say anything at first as she went over the possibilities in her head.
It wasn't like Nagito was actually in there, there was no way he'd just disappear like that without injury. That's when it clicked, the shattered window.
" And you escaped by smashing through the window." I asked more openly than directed at Nagito himself.
" I'd say that makes sense. After all he wasn't in the building when we got there." Sonia chimed in.
Kazuichi shook his head, " No no no, whose to say we can actually believe this wack job!" He had a point, Nagito had thrown us off so many times in previous trials. " He's completely lost it, plus it's obvious he killed (Y/N)! We all know that, so why don't we just vote already?"
" It's too early to say that....we need to look at every angle before we decide." Chiaki took the lead, her statement firm and serious.
There was audible whining from the mechanic but the majority nodded even if they felt Nagito was to blame.
" This was part of your plan? To find the traitor and you decided it was (Y/N)?" Akane pitches in, trying to stay mature and not blow up at Nagito.
" Gahhh! They aren't the traitor, ahhhh they just got in the way." His finger nails tore at his jacket which slightly exposed his wrists. On his right wrist there was a red ring , small scratches and scrapes all along said area as well.
" Nagito, what happened to your wrist?" I asked, I pointed at the dedicated wrist. Nagito rose it to glance at whatever was there.
" They got violent, it wasn't intentional, but trash like me deserved it." Once again, more nonsensical words without enough context.
" What the fuck does that mean?" Fuyuhiko slammed his fist down.
" They tried to take control, it was MY plan!" Nagito cried, it sounded more stressed this time.
" You keep mentioning some sort of plan. What was it?" My question was thrown out the window once again with his maniacal laughter. Fuyuhiko immediately yelling at him to stop.
" With that information we can assume (Y/N) got physical....so did that prompt you to stab them?" I continued, another more straightforward question.
" They saw me holding it, yet they still tried to stop me." Nagito confessed, wiping the tears and snot messily with his sleeves.
" So you admit to stabbing them then?" Kazuichi shook his head, not like he was surprised but more that he was disappointed he was correct.
" Back on the topic of the rope. It appears you have a mark cause by something similar." Chiaki continued back to a previous question.
" Yeah, plus there were ropes all around the room including in (Y/N)'s hand." Akane bringing in more information on the scene.
" Ah yes, I was getting all tied up and ready for the finale." Nagito sweat, holding himself as he gave a sickening smile.
Kazuichi chimed in again with an idiotic comment.
" What kind of kinky stuff were you getting into!?"
" That's obviously not what was happening you moron!" Fuyuhiko shouted, fists balled up in pure frustration.
~ — ~
It had been useless to get Nagito to admit to anything clearly. The more details we uncovered the more back and forth contradictions Nagito would confuse us with until he finally snapped.
"What about the spear-"
" They pulled it away from me! It wasn't supposed to happen like that!" Nagito cut off. He had finally burst, just a mess of tears and snot. His body shook at the cold sensation covering his being.
" The pure fear and shock made me run out of there. I couldn't figure out how my luck had failed me."
" So you...you tried to kill yourself...?" Kazuichi asked softly, more as a rhetorical question.
" All of that effort, ready to take your own life just to find the traitor." Sonia sighed, clutching her hand to her heart.
" In the name of hope! That's what it's all for, bring upon the worst despair to birth and even brighter hope!" Nagito wept though he had practically cried all his tears out.
I stared at (Y/N)'s empty podium, their smiling picture crossed out with an X. To think that they were willing to risk their lives to prevent Nagito from dying. His plan was foiled by (Y/N)'s foolish intervening.
" Did you even catch the traitor in the end?" I broke the silence with the single question.
Nagito's red bloodshot eyes caught my gaze, a trembling smile on his lips. " No, and that is the worst despair of all."
Akane grabbed ahold of her podium. She steamed with anger. " You kill (Y/N) and all you're upset about is you didn't find the traitor!?" Kazuichi in a panic went to hold Akane back as she made her way to Nagito.
" Of course you guys wouldn't get it...but now with two more gone you'll be another step closer to finding the answer."
Monokuma interrupted us with a " Awww what a sad story. Friendship over despair. Goes to show you how that will turn out phuhuhuhuhu...." He takes out his mallet in excitement. " Alright everyone! It's time to cast your votes!"
~ — ~
It was unanimous , Nagito had been voted the blackened. A disturbed sense of relief flooded over us at the comfort of a completed trail.
" EEEEEER! Wrong answer!" My heart stopped, I didn't see a single person move. Even Nagito, who had already excepted his fate looked horrified.
" W-what do you mean that's wrong!?" Fuyuhiko was visibly on the verge of tears.
" It's wrong! What else do you want me to say?" Monokuma said nonchalantly, oh I could tell he was eating this up.
" Nagito admitted to it! The evidence all lines up!" I shout back, my legs were trembling, this couldn't be right.
" There was a detail you obviously didn't look close enough to." His annoying voice only mocked us.
" And what would that be?" Sonia asked, her voice a cold monotone.
" Who was the one who let go of the rope?"
I would be lying if I said I didn't need to think about it. Nobody seemed to have even thought about that detail. But would that even count? Nagito admitted to the stabbing, the set up, to the actual murder. Why now is this being brought to light.
" Th-that's not fair! He -he admitted to the murder!" Kazuichi yelled at the bear, tears streaming down his face. " Why would it matter who was holding the rope at that point!?"
" It was the final blow- the finishing move was done by the one and only ultimate (talent) themselves!" Monokuma sat hugging himself and gushing. " Ahhh what a horrible turn of events, you were already in despair of losing another but now everyone is going to die! It's the worst despair you could have fallen into!"
I hadn't noticed that I had started crying, even Chiaki was.
Nagito looked like he had finally met his match. "No, a brighter, a powerful hope will come from this!" His fingers dig into his scalp.
" Unfortunately for you it won't. As long as you don't yearn for hope, you'll never fall victim to despair...."
" Now why doesn't everyone join their friends?" His mallet lifts into the air.
" Iiiiiiit's punishment time! Let's give it everything we've got!"