Anguish & Desire/Chapter Thirty One

This is Chapter Thirty One of Danganronpa: Anguish &amp; Desire, Pink Time!. In this chapter, the Ultimates are forced to investigate yet another death amongst their ranks.

Author's Note: i can't belieb i did this

Get her.

The voice inside my head kept calling me. They kept calling for me to get her. To get Yuka. But...if I went, what would I say? Would I ask her -- beg her -- to stay with me? Would I be angry once I saw her face? Would I let her distrust of Rai send me into a frenzy?

“Yuka…!”

What if she doesn’t trust me anymore? What if she’s waiting for me? All she had to do was say that I’d see her tomorrow, and then--! Maybe I wouldn’t be this scared.

What if she doesn’t wanna see me though? What if she thinks I can’t help her? That could be it--maybe she’s using me, just like Nakata was. Maybe she hates me.

Ah, that’s it, isn’t it?

They all hate me. They’re all using me.

Yosano did, too, didn’t she? She didn’t really care about me. She just felt better about herself to protect someone as weak as me.

Nakata just used me for information. She never cared, either.

Yuka and Rai...they’re probably doing the same. I mean, why else would they get so close to someone like me? Someone who has nothing. Who understands nothing. Who is so likely to just...die.

There has to be some ulterior motive. There has to be.

But…!

''Don’t get distracted. Get Yuka.''

But, I--!

It isn’t too late.

No, it’s not too late. I can still get her. I can at least make sure she’s okay, cause, even if she does hate me, even if she is only using me…

...I still wanna be there.

She only left a half an hour ago, right? I...I doubt she’s asleep. I can...I can get her.

I take whatever resolve I can muster up, and rise from my bed. The moment I began the walk toward my bedroom door, a sense of urgency began to take over my body.

I had to reach her.

By the time I reached her door, I was trembling. I don’t know if it was the fear of losing Yuka, the cold draft that hit my bare legs, or if it was just the blood rushing to my head. Either way, I needed her.

I steadily gripped her doorknob, I didn’t even *think* about knocking on her door. I just pushed her door open, and…

...she was nowhere to be found. Her room was completely empty, sans a few shirts and her pink headphones lying on her dresser. Her bed looked untouched, as if she never even slept in her bed.

It was almost unsettling.

“Yuka?”

But no one responded.

“Yuuuka?”

But again, nothing.

I don’t know why I decided to look under her bed and then check the bathroom afterwards -- maybe I just didn’t wanna consider that she *actually* wasn’t here. That she was out roaming the halls at night by her lonesome.

“I think I’m gonna be sick…”

I stumble over myself as I leave her room. I don’t even bother to close her door behind me, and, I find myself trembling in front of the door of the first person who came to my mind.

I knock on her door two, three, I don’t know how many times. Just enough to get her attention.

She’s gotta be with her, right--?!

I stood there for I don’t know how long before the door finally creaked open. It felt like an eternity…

“T-T-Tomori--!”

When Tomori’s head lazily peeks through the door, I can see it in her eyes -- the confusion, the worry. “Rabbit? Are you--?”

I don’t mean to cut her off, but I can’t help it. “Yuka--! Is she with you?!”

She shakes her head. “No? Why, what’s--?”

I spin around from her. There’s only one spot she could be, then. I need to reach her.

But, my feet won’t move. I--I can’t move. Even though my body is trembling, even though everything in my body is telling me to run, I can’t--!

Oh, I get it.

She’s holding me.

Her warm, gentle voice calls out to me. “Hey, hey, just take a breath. I’m here.”

I look down as Tomori tightens her grip around my abdomen. It...kinda hurts.

“What’s wrong with Yuka? What happened?”

“I--I need to find her before it’s too late.”

“Wasn’t she sleeping with you?”

I nod. “I made her upset, and…!”

“And?”

“She left. I don’t know where she went, but--but her room was open and she’s not there and I need to see her--!”

“It’s okay, calm down. Couldn’t she have gone to Kitoaji’s room?”

…

I shake my head. “No.”

“Do you know where she might be?”

“Yes.”

I feel Tomori let go of me. “Then let’s go, okay? We’ll get her.”

I nod. “T-Thank you.”

“Lead the way, Rabbit.”

I gently guide Tomori to the staircase, and -- when we get there -- a sound is heard in the distance.

“Is that...crying?” Tomori asks.

Crying…?

Now that Tomori mentions it, it kinda does sound like it…

...we better hurry.

I quickly climb the stairs, and the crying only becomes more and more clear as I get to the second floor, with Tomori in tow.

I hurry to Classroom 2-A, and, sure enough that’s where the crying is coming from. The classroom door is open, and I can see pink hair poking out of the closed locker.

“Yuka…?”

“Is she okay?” Tomori asks.

I...don’t know.

I walk to the locker, and gently open it. She has her back turned toward us, and her crying only gets louder.

“Yuka?”

She stops crying at the sound of my voice.

Ah, she’s okay then! That’s..

...huh?

She’s…

...she’s...not...okay…

Yuka steadily turns around to face us, and, I hear Tomori shriek in shock. Yuka’s skin is ghostly white, the ends of her pink hair are stained with a crimson blood. Blood covers Yuka’s face and throat, and she falls forward.

I almost don’t catch her. Almost.

She falls right into my arms, and I collapse onto the floor with her on top of me. I hurriedly sit up, and supporting her with my arm around the back, I look into her fading, pink, eyes.

“Yuka…?”

Her body trembles in my arms as her eyes widen in realization. “--g Brother? I can’t--see you.”

I try to force a smile at her. “It’s me, Yuka. It’s me.”

I quickly turn back to Tomori, who also trembles at the sight. “Get somone--! Please, Tomori!”

My voice reaches her, and snaps her back into reality. She hurriedly nods, and I hear her leave as I turn back to Yuka, who attempts to raise her hand. “I-Is it r-really you?”

I nod and grab hold of her hand. “It’s really me.”

“I’m cold.”

I’m sorry.

“Yuka...how did this happen?”

She doesn’t answer right away. Instead, her body continues to just tremble, as blood steadily drips from her mouth. “I’m c-c-cold. A-Am I dying?”

“No, no, Yuka, of course not. You’re just a little under the weather, is all.”

Tomori, please--you need to get back here now!

My own voice betrays me once again. My words are full of worry and anxiousness, but she smiles gently to herself.

“--love me?”

Those are the only words she can force herself to muster out.

“Yuka…?”

“Even if you...you don’t mean it...please--! Please…?”

“I don’t get it, Yuka…? What are you asking me to do--?!”

She’s asking me to…?

I feel myself get choked up as Yuka meekly stares into my eyes. “Big--”

“I love you, Yuka, but--!”

Her lips curl the tiniest bit upwards as she begins to lose the color in her face.

“Don’t go, Yuka! P-Please--! Tomori’ll be back soon with help, just--don’t close your eyes! Yuka--!”

My words never reach her, though. As I beg her to stay here with me, her eyes lose their light. Her body stops trembling, and, almost instantly…

DING DONG BING BONG

“A body has been discovered! Now, after a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin, so use this time wisely in discovering clues which lead to the blackened! Hehehe, well anyways, I’ll see you soon!”

She’s gone…

...Yuka Kihara, the Ultimate DJ, is dead.

She was so innocent, so sweet. She...was my best friend here--and now--! She’s dead. She’s dead and she’s not coming back.

“She’s really...?”

Kimie Tomori, the Ultimate Model’s monotonous voice reaches me, and I hear her sigh to herself. “It’s happened again…?”

“It appears so.”

Madoka Nakata the Ultimate Mercenary, who I guess Tomori reached out to for help, walks toward Yuka and I.

“Ken...you know what this means, right?”

I know.

It means...we have to find her killer. The person who...who did this to Yuka.

“But…?!”

“She’s gone,” Nakata says. “You can mourn later, but we’ve got a job to do.”

You’re...heartless…

“That’s right!” MonoMech exclaims, jumping up and down as he enters the room. “We need to find the blackened! So that we can execute him, her, it, them, you, me, us!”

“Sh-Shut the fuck up-!” Tomori exclaims. “Why are you still doing this...what do you want from us?”

“I just want to see your beautiful faces,” MonoMech giggles. Your beautiful faces covered in sweet, sweet, fear.”

…

“That’s--!”

Tomori is cut off by a scream. “Where is everyone--?! What’s going on?!”

Is that…?

“It’s Nakamoto,” Nakata mumbles. “I’ll get him and the others.”

With that, Nakata briskly walks out of the classroom, and I find my mind drifting back to Yuka. For some reason...she looks so peaceful.

I hear Tomori sigh and her hand gently touches my shoulder. “Rabbit...we’re safe. It’s okay.”

“S-Safe…?”

“Yuka...she knew we were here. If it had been one of us who did it, she would’ve...she would’ve freaked out. So, at least we can say for certain that it wasn’t one of us.”

She’s...already moved on to.

I get it...we’ve all become so used to this, that it’s easy for everyone to accept it. Accept that one of us could die at any point.

I have to be like that, too.

I nod, and I gently place Yuka’s body on the floor. Tomori gently helps me up to my feet and briefly uses me as a stand. “Where is everyone…?”

“I don’t know…”

MonoMech clicks his fingers. “Maybe they’re all scared! Ohh, that must be it!”

“Yuka…?”

Like clockwork, the others soon joined us in Classroom 2-A. Their reactions...well, I guess now it’s to be expected.

Rai Kitoaji, the Ultimate Screenplay Writer, falls to their knees. They clutch their shirt and slightly tremble. “Yuka...why…?”

Kei Nakamoto the Ultimate Host stares wide-eyed at the scene, scratching his chin. “Yuka-chi...how did this happen?”

Satoshi Tsuda the Ultimate Archer emptily stares at Yuka’s body before turning away. He briefly makes eye-contact with me -- or was he looking at Tomori? -- before closing his eyes.

Kiyo Azama the Ultimate Violinist and Isamu Shiomi the Ultimate Songwriter both stare at the ground, dejected. While Azama’s a bit more collected, Shiomi trembles ever-so-slightly.

“How could we let this happen…?” Shiomi asks. “There wasn’t even a motive--it makes no sense.”

“Someone got fed up, I suppose,” Azama sighs, turning to MonoMech. “You have something for us, right?”

MonoMech smirks. “Yes, Kiyo! It’s the MonoMech file!”

Our e-Handbook rings, and I pull mine out.

Victim: Yuka Kihara

Cause of Death: ??

Time of Death: 11:08 P.M.

“Huh? What’s with this cause of death?” Nakamoto asks. “Why is it blank?”

MonoMech shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“It’s probably the key to this case,” Nakata says. “That’d make sense, right? If we find out the *how* we’ll find out the *who*.”

MonoMech, once again, shrugs. “I don’t care what you do, just investigate! I’ll see you at the trial.”

MonoMech disappears, and the eight of us are left, looking at one another. There’s an eerie silence that plagues us...one of us...is the person who killed Yuka.

That means someone standing here--!

I shake the thought from my head. The real enemy isn’t standing in front of me, they are the ones behind this entire situation.

“What if there is a traitor…?”

What if...what if Yuka was right -- if Obinata was right? What if the enemy *is* one of us? And if that’s the case…

Why was I the only one with my memory wiped? Why was I the only one who couldn’t remember anything…? Maybe...maybe Obinata was right in suspecting me.

Maybe I am the traitor.

“Now isn’t the time to stand around,” Nakata says. “We need to find out which of us killed her.”

“But...where should we start?” Shiomi asks. “We had only disbanded our meeting for, like, an hour before now, how could this have happened so quickly?”

“I think that’s an excellent point,” Nakata says, nodding to herself. “Alibis -- everyone, now.”

“I was talking to MonoMech,” Shiomi says, adjusting the collar of his shirt. “I can’t disclose what we were talking about for...well, you guys know….”

Nakamoto nods his head and winks at us. “I was in Mio-chi’s room!”

Right, Shiomi was going to distract MonoMech while Nakamoto went to gather supplies for our escape. That adds up.

“The rest of us went to bed, right?” Rai asks. “We all came back down here together.”

Satoshi nods. “It’s true for me.”

“And me, too,” Azama says.

“I was in my room too, sleeping,” Tomori says, scratching her neck. “Of course I can’t prove that to everyone, but...Rabbit can vouch for that.”

…

I nod my head. “Yuka and I…”

“Wasn’t she supposed to sleep over yours?” Nakata asks. “What happened?”

Her tone is so accusatory. I don’t know why it makes me flinch -- why it puts me off so much.

“Ken…”

Nakamoto gasps. “Did you--?!”

I shake my head. “She got upset and left.”

Nakata sighs. “It’s hard to believe that--”

“Look at the time of death,” Tomori grunts, stepping forward. “That was five minutes ago on the dot. Rabbit and I were there -- we saw her last moments. She didn’t run from us, she didn’t accuse us -- that should be enough proof you need that it wasn’t us. It’s one of you six, and, I’m going to figure out which one of you--!”

“T-Tomori…?! What’s wrong?” Satoshi asks.

Tomori looks back at him and sighs. “S-Sorry, was I getting fired up again?”

“Can you explain what exactly happened?” Nakata asks. “You saw her last moments?”

I hesitate...I don’t wanna think about it.

But...if it means finding her killer...or at least proving Tomori and I’s innocence, then…

“I got nervous that she left. When she wasn’t in her room, I went to Tomori for help. I thought--I thought maybe Yuka was there.”

“Why Tomori?” Shiomi asks. “Why not Kitoaji?”

I look over to Rai, and, well to say Rai is expecting an answer is an understatement. Their eyes pierce mine -- as if to say, ‘I knew you didn’t trust me. After all we went through, you still didn’t trust me.’ -- and I only sigh. “Yuka was upset that I was spending too much time with Rai, that’s why she left. I knew she wouldn’t be there.”

I don’t even think I’d believe that, but I couldn’t tell them the truth; that Yuka suspected Rai as the traitor.

“What happened next?” Azama asks.

“I remembered that there was a place Yuka would go whenever she wanted to cry, whenever she felt alone,” I say, and I point to the blood-stained locker. “I figured she was here, so Tomori and I came here. When we found her, she was bleeding, and t-trembling in my arms...she heard our voices though. Maybe...maybe she found some peace in that…”

“How long did you leave her alone for?” Shiomi asks.

“Thirty at most,” I say. “So...someone killed her within the thirty minutes she left my room.”

“She did look kind of out of it during the meeting,” Nakamoto mumbles. “Do you think it’s possible she was sick?”

I shake my head. “She was sad, yeah, but definitely not ill.”

“I-I see…”

“So, as we know it, Ken and Tomori can’t be the blackened,” Satoshi says. “The rest of us are fair game.”

“What about the three person discovery rule?” Azama asks. “Who was the third person to find Yuka’s body...doesn’t that mean they’re also in the clear?”

Nakata nods. “Thanks for pointing that out. I was the third person, and as such, not the blackened.”

Satoshi, Azama, Shiomi, Nakamoto, or Rai...one of them killed Yuka?

“Well, enough standing around,” Nakamoto says. “Nakata-chi, are we guarding the body again this time?”

“No need,” Nakata says. “It’s quite apparent that it isn’t possible for this crime scene to be tampered with.”

…

What is that supposed to mean?

“Fine,” Shiomi says. “Then let’s get searching.”

With that, everyone but Rai, Nakata, and I leave the classroom to go investigating.

W-Why…? Why did it have to be her?

“You’re covered in her blood,” Rai says, offering me their hand. “Wanna get cleaned up?”

Rai’s sudden gesture makes me flinch, though. “Ah, sorry, did I scare you?”

I shake my head. “N-No, I’m just…”

Why…?

Why did I flinch?

“Want to investigate the body first? Get cleaned up afterwards.”

Nakata’s voice pierces through my shell, and I can only muster up a small nod. I steadily walk closer to Rai, who gently places their hand on my shoulder. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this one out, too, like we did the others. We’ll...avenge her.”

I just nod again. “W-We have to.”

The two of us approach Nakata, who watches over Yuka’s still body. She looks so...peaceful, now.

Yuka...why…?!

“The first thing I’d like you to notice is the blood,” Nakata says. “All this blood, no external wounds. It’s...very odd.”

“She was...puking it up,” I mumble, pointing to the stream of blood coming out of her mouth. “Maybe...maybe she was sick.”

“I figured as much,” Nakata says. “If it’s nothing external, it has to be internal.”

Rai sighs. “Could she have been poisoned? Like the poison MonoMech put through the air last time?”

“Not quite. That poison wasn’t designed to kill, but to instill fear in us. So odds are it’s something else.”

“But yes for the poison?” Rai asks.

“Possibly.”

“She could have been sick,” Nakata says. “However, that means she must’ve had something else wrong with her. Did she mention having any illness to you two before?”

Any illness…?

…

“No,” I say. “Not that I remember.”

“Only Yosano would’ve known about that, I think,” Rai says, tilting their head.

“So that’s a no for you too,” Nakata says. “Well it is an irregular amount of blood for it to have been some kind of disease she’s been keeping secret…”

I nod. “I see…”

“So someone here actually killed her…” Rai sighs.

“As if there was any question,” Nakata says. “Well...there’s not much that can be investigated here.”

…

Ah, that reminds me.

“Nakata, when you said before that this crime scene can’t be tampered with, what did you mean?”

She looks at me for a moment and bites her lip. “You, technically, are part of the crime scene, ya know? And, not to mention, this wasn’t where the real crime scene is.”

“The real crime scene?”

“Where she died.”

…

Rai frowns. “I hate to say it, but…”

“Sorry, let me rephrase--where her death started.”

I tilt my head. “You mean where she was poisoned?”

“Precisely.”

With that, Nakata turns her back toward us. “Clean up. I’m sure you’ll find something out along the way.”

As Nakata leaves, Rai grabs my hand within theirs. “Let’s go, Ken.”

“But...Yuka…”

“Let’s at least get you some new clothes, okay?”

I nod, and Rai drags me back to the changing room on the same floor. Once inside, Rai finds me a white shirt and trunks to change into, but…

...I still feel nothing but unease. Rai’s doing all these nice things, yet the sight of them makes my stomach twirl. Why?

After I change, and Rai wraps their arms in mine, they sigh. “Is it true, Ken?”

“Is what?”

“That Yuka was upset with me?” My silences prompts Rai to continue. “I guess so...I don’t know why. I could tell Yuka didn’t want anything to do with me earlier, she had this strained look on her face when I tried to talk to her...I didn’t know it was something like that, though.”

“I wish she were more open about it,” I mumble. “We could’ve worked something out but--”

Rai gently pulls me closer to them. “But now we need to find who killed her.”

Who killed her…?

Right--who did this?!

“That’s a scary face,” Rai says. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

…

“I don’t know--no. I’m...I’m not. Is...that okay?”

For a split-second I see Rai smile. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Are you okay, Rai?

Rai just shakes their head. “No. No, but, that’s okay, right?”

“Y-Yeah,” I say. “Will we ever be okay again?”

Rai just smiles. “We don’t have to be okay...just alive. After that...we can figure out how to be okay.”

Is that really enough?

Rai and I soon find ourselves walking back to Classroom 2-A, but…

…

“Was this here before?” Rai asks.

“Was what?” I ask, and Rai’s fingers falls upon a small little blood trail, going back the way we came. “Were we walking right by that before…?!”

Rai nods. “That’s what Nakata was probably talking about before.”

Rai and I silently follow the blood trail, and we’re led to…

...the bio lab.

“The bio lab?” I ask. “I’ve only been here once, I think.”

“I didn’t know we had one of these,” Rai mumbles. “When did this get here?”

Mio would have probably been able to do something to help us here…

Rai and I enter the bio lab, and are faced with…

...a pretty odd scene.

Nakata sits perched upon a table, looking down as Tomori and Satoshi are wrapped up together in a hug. Well, I wouldn’t say that, I more mean Tomori has Satoshi trapped in her arms, rolling around on the floor.

“What’s happening here?”

Satoshi looks up to me. “Ken--save me.”

“Rabbit! Our little Satoshi made a big discovery!”

Tomori temporarily releases her grip on Satoshi, and in that time, he squirms out from under her and jumps to his feet. He scurries behind Rai and I, and Nakata just idly watches us.

Satoshi takes a deep breath. “I thought I was a goner…”

Tomori clicks her tongue and jumps to her feet as well. “I’m not that heavy, am I?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“Good call,” Rai mumbles. “It’s a trap.”

“No, Rabbit is a trap!”

I frown. “I…”

“Sorry, that was an easy one,” Tomori says, laughing to herself. “Anyways, Satoshi, tell them everything!”

Satoshi nods, and takes a few moments to catch his breath. “I found this.”

He pulls a small medicine-looking bottle out of his pocket, and on the label, it reads ‘Super Secret MonoMech Poison’.

“Super Secret MonoMech Poison…?”

Nakata gasps. “Huh…?”

“Where was this?” Rai asks.

“It was here,” Satoshi says. He leads Rai and I over to the front desk, where a kettle, and a mug rest. On the floor next to the desk, was a spilt liquid and a broken mug. “Right next to the kettle.”

“What happened here…?” Rai asks.

“It looks like this is where Yuka was poisoned,” Tomori says, before pointing to a plant over on the windowsill. “And, would any of you happen to know what kind of plant this is?”

This…

...belonged to Sasada, right?

“Sasada used this to make tea once for me,” Rai says. “So, you think…?”

“I think Yuka met someone for tea,” Satoshi says, placing his hand on his chin. “Realistically, it could’ve been anyone since we were all awake without alibi at the time, but...whoever poisoned her probably slipped it into her tea.”

“The poison is a liquid,” Satoshi continues, reading the label of it. “It says so on the bottle, so it’s not like she could’ve consumed it any other way.”

...so she was poisoned when she drank this.

But who…? And, why…?

“Huh?” Tomori asks.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Where’d Nakata go?”

I quickly turn around, but...she’s right. Nakata is nowhere to be found. What happened?

“Maybe she went to investigate elsewhere?” Satoshi asks. “It--It doesn’t matter, though.”

I approach the kettle and gently place my hand on the outside. “It’s warm. Definitely recently used.”

On the corner of the table is blood, and where the broken mug is there’s a small blood puddle. She probably realized she’d been poisoned when she threw up blood, and tried to get away. But...why didn’t the blackened give chase? Why didn’t they take the poison with them to try ad dispose of it?

This doesn’t add up.

The second mug also has tea in it, so she was definitely with someone.

“I’m so confused,” Tomori says. “I just don’t get it.”

“Me neither,” Rai says.

I turn away from them. “I need to talk to the others.”

“Shiomi is sulking in his bedroom,” Tomori says. “Azama and Nakamoto...I don’t know where they are.”

“Maybe Nakamoto’s working on it,” Satoshi says. “We should check in on him.”

“Did he say anything about his progress?” Rai asks. “I doubt he found anything…”

I sigh. “We might as well check.”

“I’ll stay here and see if I can find anything,” Rai says. “There might be more here…”

“I’ll stay, too,” Satoshi says. “Can you two check out the others?”

I nod.

I have something to talk to Tomori about, anyway. This might be for the best.

So with that, Tomori and I leave the bio lab. We walk in silence for a few moments.

“Are you okay, Tomori? You seemed mad before.”

She nods. “Don’t worry about me, Rabbit. Yuka hated me, but...she was so young, and innocent, nonetheless. I wish I could’ve just gotten her forgiveness first.”

…

“I’ll get over it though,” Tomori says. “I will.”

“I don’t think she hated you,” I say. “Maybe she held some resentment, yeah, but...I don’t think she wished for you to get hurt. She is -- I guess was -- strong. She might not seem it at times, but…”

Tomori smiles. “Yeah, I know she is. I wish we could’ve gotten back to at least being friends.”

“But...wouldn’t that make this hurt more?”

“I don’t know, Rabbit. Maybe it could’ve been avoided.”

Maybes...and what ifs...I can think about these later. Right now we have to find out who did this.

We continue to walk in silence, until we come across Azama in front of the dining hall with Nakamoto. They talk quietly to one another, as if they were two schoolgirls sharing secrets.

“Yo,” Tomori greets.

Nakamoto flinches and jumps away from Azama, who giggles at the sight. “Jesus, Tomori-chi, you scared me…”

“Sorry about that,” she says. “Have you guys found anything out yet?”

Azama shakes her head. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Nakamoto sighs. “N-No--and the plan has to be put on hold. We’ve run into an unexpected issue.”

“Which is…?”

He looks at me, and then points to the camera above us.

Ah, right.

DING DONG BING BONG

“What?”

MonoMech appears on the monitor above us. “Hello kiddies, I’m sorry to cut your investigation short...but we’re pressed for time! So, would you all kindly make your way to the trial room so we can begin? Be there in five or die!”

“W-What...already?!” Tomori asks.

“We didn’t get to finish investigating--!” I exclaim.

“Well, now is not the time to complain,” Nakamoto says. “C’mon, we gotta go.”

I sigh, but follow Nakamoto’s lead to the gymnasium.

I didn’t get to investigate the rest of the school...nor did I get to talk to Shiomi or Nakata. Hell--I barely got to speak to Nakamoto and Azama. Why are we being forced to the trial so early?

When we get there, Nakata, and Shiomi -- who numbly stares at us -- are already on the stage, standing by their designated stands.

Satoshi and Rai are quick to join us, talking idly to each other as they join us on stage.

Where Yuka once stood, a black and white portrait of her takes her place, and a red ‘X’ is painted over it.

She’s really gone...

Satoshi stands next to me, and Mio’s portrait next to him. Tomori stands between Yosano’s portrait and Obinata’s portrait, with Sasada’s next to his. Azama and Shiomi stand side by side, and Tani’s portrait is next to his. Nakata stands beside Tani’s portrait, and Nakamoto stands next to her. The portraits of Yuka, Saishi, and Shiho are next, and Rai stands on the other side of me.

And, now it’s about to happen again. Another trial will begin.

To find out who killed Yuka Kihara, perhaps the most sweetest, innocent of us. My best friend. She was fighting hard to get out of here, and always did her best to pick me up when she could. I...I wish she were still here.

But she isn’t.

Someone killed her.

And that person…

...that person is…

...The Ultimate Host, The Ultimate Beatboxer, The Ultimate Fashion Designer , The Ultimate DJ , The Ultimate Songwriter, The Ultimate Screenplay Writer, The Ultimate Model, The Ultimate Mercenary, The Ultimate Survival Games Player, The Ultimate Archer, The Ultimate Pitcher , The Ultimate Violinist, The Ultimate Pianist , The Ultimate Arsonist , The Ultimate Gardener , The Ultimate Motivational Speaker …

...one of us.

And it’s up to the rest of us to expose that person. And in doing so, we...we basically sentence them to death. But if we don’t--! If we don’t, we’ll be the ones who die.

And thus, our fourth class trial is upon us -- a trial that’ll lead us to victory or defeat.

“Alright kiddies, let’s get it started!”

And it begins right now--!