Danganronpa: Despair unbound

Chapter 4: Coat of arms

Class trial

(Faithwood Academy – Underground courtroom– Day 12 – 12:20)

Once again, the courthouse had undergone a style change. The walls had a cobblestone pattern to them and bore red hanging banners with golden trim and emblazoned with the coat of arms of the school. Sitting at each of the pillar partitions was a suit of armour, the chest plates bearing a symbol of Monokuma's face, grinning as always. And, with a heavy sigh, Jinsei spotted both Taro and Haruo's pictures at their podiums, X's across their face. And as Jinsei took his spot, he whispered a silent promise to them.

He'd find the traitor.

(CLASS TRIAL – COURT IS NOW IN SESSION)

The atmosphere in the courtroom was heady as they began to proceed.

"Well, first thing's first… how did Haruo wind up dead in the sealed armoury?" Kasper kicked off the discussion, one of the few outward speakers left in the group as it was.

"I think I might know this one!" Cho piped up, book in her hands but shut. "He used the spear to cut the seals on the door, right?" The courtroom was silent as everyone just gave Cho a deadpan look until the archivist flipped back through her book. "Oh wait uh… n-no, the spear was in the sealed armoury…"

"Yep." Daisuke snorted with contempt, tilting his hat slightly.

"Regardless, I can't think of a reason why he would." Kiyonari added, tugging at the peak of her cap slightly.

"Me n-n-neither…" Furostomi added.

"Shame I can." Kasper said quickly, drawing their attention as he stood there, arms folded and Stetson covering his eyes. "I think Haruo was anticipating being attacked… and broke into the sealed room to arm himself for said attack." The theory made logical sense, but the idea of Haruo feeling the need to be armed, didn't sit well with Jinsei. "There's a craft knife left out in the art room. He must've used that to cut the seal." Kasper finished, keeping his heavy tone.

"So then… Haruo must've been attacked in there, maybe?" Ushio added. Kasper nodded in agreement. But Jinsei could easily spot the crack in this argument.

"That's not possible!" he cried out, catching the student's attention. "If Haruo was attacked in the armoury, that means the art room wouldn't be a mess. And there was blood in there too, so it must be related." Kasper cracked a smile as Jinsei debunked his argument.

"I knew you'd get that one Jinsei. After all, you'd know all about how this one went down, wouldn't you?" Jinsei's eyes widened. Kasper had tricked him and was about to turn the court on him. It was easy to see Kasper suspected him for the killer and was going to twist the case to suit that… it made him wonder…

"What really happened is clearly the killer knocked out Gina and opened the armoury with the craft knife to get the weapon to attack Haruo with." Kasper continued, once again leading the other students on as the voice of reason. Gina noticeably winced at the memory as Kasper continued. "The killer, attacking Haruo but only wounding him, allowed him time to escape down the hall and write a name on the wall in his own blood… yours, Jinsei." The glare of the other students grew harsher as the psychiatrist began to feel hot under the collar.

"Yeah… why else would he write his name… unless…?" Ushio began as he looked at Jinsei with a look of horror in his eyes.

"That's right. Jinsei murdered Haruo." Kasper declared, as Jinsei was now the prime suspect. "I say we end this trial now and execute him." Kasper's glare was unflinching; the death of his friend was clearly affecting him strongly.

"You're wrong, Kasper." Yayoi butted in, returning a glare at the hunter. "Jinsei met with me before he went up to the fourth floor, he couldn't have killed Haruo." Kasper grinned slightly as he fixed his eyes upon the maid, the two ready to trade blows across the court.

"And what time exactly did you meet with him?" Kasper inquired, boring his gaze into the maid.

"Around 10:36." Yayoi replied as Kasper nodded his head.

"I'd like to direct your attention to the autopsy report. Haruo died at 10:30, 6 minutes you met with Jinsei. And he was unseen by anyone past 10:15 after I went downstairs. In that gap of time, he could've easily killed Haruo without you knowing, making your testimony rather pointless." His words, cold and blunt as steel, took the maid off guard quickly as she was forced to reconsider her words and even look at Jinsei with surprise. Did she doubt him?

"Jinsei… could you…" Gina's fists were clenched, one wrapped around her wooden katana, looking ready to attack him. Jinsei had to remedy the situation quickly before they decided to end the trial then and there. He wracked his brain to find a point to use.

"Like I said, Jinsei is the killer and attacked Haruo, which is how he made the blood message." Kasper reaffirmed. And then, thinking back to his investigations, he had it.

"That's wrong!" he announced, pointing dramatically at Kasper as the chatter in the courtroom stopped. "There's one thing that doesn't fit into your explanation Kasper."

"And what's that, killer?" Kasper dared him.

"I don't think Haruo was injured in a fight. In fact, I don't think there was a fight at all!" He declared. "There's another wound on the back of Haruo's head, the same kind that Gina had! Haruo was knocked out!" Kasper flinched slightly.

"There was a second wound?!" Cried out Daisuke.

"There was but…" Kasper tried to take back the situation, but seemed to be at a loss.

"Even if that wound was from the spear, there's not enough blood to make a message out of it. And the stomach wound didn't bleed too much either!" Jinsei continued, knocking the wind out of Kasper as he clearly had to rethink things.

"But if Haruo was knocked out and not killed, what happened to the art room?" Gina asked the group.

"S-set up?" Suggested Furostomi. "M-M-Maybe… they set-t-t it up to f-f-frame J-Jinsei?" The timid skier had a valid point but someone in the group was still stewing over something else.

"Alright… but explain the writing then." Daisuke spoke out. "If Haruo wasn't bleeding enough to write the message, how did the message get written at all? Is there an answer to THAT equation?" He sneered, staring at Jinsei, clearly sill suspicious. Jinsei took a moment to think on it, back to a point he'd discovered in the art room earlier. The point seemed somewhat stupid to actually do in the case of a crime, but then Jinsei remembered just who the victim was, and it all made a strange kind of sense.

"…Paint." Jinsei said simply. The other students looked dumbfounded.

"What?" Asked Kiyonari.

"The message on the wall isn't written in blood. Its paint." Jinsei reaffirmed.

"That's ridiculous…" Kasper muttered his pride still wounded.

"The red paint pot was half empty when I checked it. The real killer used the paint to fake the bloodstains and write the message with Haruo's hand while he was unconscious." Jinsei continued to explain.

"Could that be why he was targeted?" Asked Cho suddenly, causing the group to turn to her again. "He's the alchemist… he would've been able to tell paint from blood easy, right? Maybe that's why he was killed?"

"Possible…" Gina thought on it as Cho looked somewhat triumphant, making more notes in her book. "But the paint theory seems to hold water."

"No it doesn't." Kasper suddenly recovered, glaring at Jinsei. "What's this about paint pots? There's no way to prove that bottle was even full at the time of the crime. It could've been half empty on the day we got here." He was trying to take control once again, but Jinsei was ready.

"There's one way. By the dust." He said coolly, Kasper stopped in his tracks.

"Dust?" He queried.

"Yes. The rest of the paint pots on that shelf were still coated in dust, not even having been touched. Therefore, the paint pot must've been opened recently, or it'd still be dusty." He finished as once again, Kasper was downed.

"So then… someone used paint to try to frame Jinsei… what a goddamn radian." Daisuke muttered, getting the court onto the same page.

"Well, it's not my place to ask, but what do we talk about next?" Ushio asked as the rest of the group seemed to be somewhat lost on this one. Yayoi looked at Jinsei and smiled, he nodded in return. It might just be time to unveil Jinsei's plan to truly bring the traitor's deeds to the light. He still wasn't sure who the traitor was, but the more information the court had, the better.

"The weapon that was used to knock out Gina and Haruo." Yayoi suggested, earning a murmur of agreement from the court.

"It had to be hard… but not hard enough to cause death." Kiyonari theorized, tweaking her cap again. "Maybe it was something from the art room?"

"Wood, I'd guess. Probably flat." Gina winced at the memory, rubbing the back of her head.

"Guys… it might be a bit long winded, but I think I know what the weapon is." Jinsei broke it gently, knowing he'd need a run up in order to fully get this off his chest.

"Of course you'd have it figured out…" Kasper sneered slightly.

"Back off." Jinsei frowned slightly. "Anyway… I believe the weapon was a trophy." The group all looked at him in confusion. "There's a large shield trophy in the principals office. It had some slight bloodstains on it and a dent. I think it's safe to say it was used to attack Gina and Haruo."

"W-w-wait a sec…" Furostomi piped up. "I…I thought-t-t the office was lock-k-ked…"

"It is, and was… but there's a key I have." The psychiatrist slipped a hand into his pocket and removed the key, as the group stared at it. "This is a master key, once that unlocks and locks every door in the building. It was a tool used by the traitor to move freely in the school."

"But… why do you have it?" Ushio asked, wrapping his sleeves around himself.

"I have it because Yakusha had it." Jinsei explained, now taking out the letter the actor had left him, his plan was falling neatly into place. "This letter was hidden inside of Yorick, along with the key Yakusha found. It's how I knew about the traitor after the 4th trial and…. why I went unconscious in the gym yesterday."

"Yakusha knew there was a traitor?" Gina looked at the letter, reading it over with the rest of the group.

"He suspected it at least. The key was good proof of it." Jinsei nodded as he held up the key again. "With this key, I was able to unlock the security room and the principals office where I found the trophy. Moreover, I locked the armoury the day before."

"So, that means…" Daisuke tried to put it together.

"The traitor is the true murderer." Kasper finished his thoughts for him. "That's what you're trying to say, isn't it Jinsei?" The psychiatrist nodded, seemingly glad the hunter had stopped attacking him.

"They set up the art room and wrote your name huh?" Gina wondered aloud, looking back over the facts.

"Not just that… what about the weapon?" Yayoi proclaimed, catching the attention of the court.

"What's wrong with the weapon?" Said Kiyonari with a slight frown, tugging her cap.

"I don't think the spear's the real murder weapon." The maid said.

"Why n-not? All t-t-t-the other w-weap-pons were c-c-clean…" Furostomi shivered, pointing with a mitten-covered hand.

"But here's the thing… if that spear was really the thing that killed Haruo, it would've been stuck in and acted as a cap on the blood. But Haruo's jacket and shirt had blood on it, yet the spear was clearly stuck in." Yayoi continued her explanation, as Jinsei hadn't been thinking about that point. Good thing she brought it up.

"But some blood may still come out." Kasper pointed out quickly.

"Yes, some, but Haruo was bleeding onto the floor as well as his shirt. I think a different weapon was used." Yayoi finished, nodding her head slightly.

"And what the hell could that be?" Daisuke snapped, getting frustrated that no clear conclusions were coming around.

"W-what about the c-c-craft knife? It w-w-was wet… like the b-b-blood g-got washed off of it-t-t?" Suggested Furostomi. Kasper shook his head in response.

"The wound was still at an angle, the weapon must've been long to some extent. The knife is far too small." He concluded, as the skier was quiet once again.

"Back to square one…" sighed Kiyonari, leaning on her podium a bit and adjusting her cap. The rest of the group adopted similar expressions. They didn't know of anything else that could be the murder weapon outside the spear. Something with a blade, and long too, Jinsei thought. Nothing directly sprung to mind…

But then, as he thought back over the evidence, he got an idea. Two pieces of evidence, seemingly useless to the rest of the case, suddenly seemed to have some kind of relevance. It was a bit of a long shot as he was still missing the third part of the weapon, but getting the court thinking about it might be able to help them to some extent.

"I might have an idea!" He declared as the court's attention was back on him, once again.

"Might? Make up your factoring mind." Daisuke grumbled.

"There was something on the back of that trophy I forgot to mention…" He began. "A strip of used duct tape."

"Duct tape?" Echoed Cho.

"Yes. And there was a slightly used roll in the art room too… this is making me think of something." He went on, drawing in their stares. "What if someone duct taped the craft knife onto a shaft and used it as a makeshift spear? They could then dismantle it and no-one would suspect it!" His peers seemed to take it to heart.

"That's not a bad idea…" Gina contemplated. "A makeshift weapon…"

"Be that as it may, this makeshift spear still needs a shaft to stick the knife to. And I'm guessing you don't have an explanation for that, do you?" Kasper berated Jinsei, his annoyance clear.

"Well no… but it's a point to go on." He tried to get the hunter to accept it.

"There were no real long shaft-like objects at the scene… and none on the 4th floor." Yayoi wondered aloud.

"The killer must've taken it with them." Gina affirmed. That seemed the most likely explanation, but they still would've had to hide it somehow, Jinsei thought. The announcement about the murder went out 10 minutes after it occurred, that'd be barely enough time to go and hide the item somewhere, and someone would've surely spotted someone fleeing the 4th floor. Hell, he and Yayoi were near the stairs when they spoke, so if it wasn't on the 4th floor then…

And then it hit him. Flipping the question around, Jinsei considered how the killer could've hidden the weapon easily. The answer was simple, to keep it on their person. And if that were true, then one student could've hidden a shaft-like object on their person without anybody suspecting them. And if that was true, then they might've just found their killer. Jinsei took a deep breath as he turned and addressed one of his friends.

"Kiyonari?" Jinsei asked, looking at the cleaner who was quiet as usual, fiddling with the peak on her cap.

"What?" She replied disinterestedly.

"Do you have your mop with you?" Jinsei asked.

"I always do." Kiyonari responded, Jinsei could even see the handle from over her shoulder. "Now you want to maybe bring up a relevant point?"

"I just did. I found the murder weapon." Jinsei said quickly as Kiyonari raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" She asked, curiously.

"A long shaft like object you could duct tape a knife onto the end of and use as a spear… your mop fits that bill. And you always carry it, no-one would suspect you having it." Kiyonari took a moment, as she looked blank. And then she smiled oddly.

"Jinsei… I know you want to end this case, I do. But don't be stupid and try and pin it on me." She continued, taking a stern look.

"But it makes sense. If you did it, you could keep the mop with you and not need to hide it!" Jinsei insisted.

"And what about Gina's sword? Who says she couldn't stick the knife onto that and use it?" Kiyonari countered, keeping a stern face.

"But Gina was knocked out at the time!" Jinsei said again.

"She could've easily faked her wound with paint, just like the message." Kiyonari countered a second time.

"Gina's wound is genuine. I checked it out in the infirmary, there's signs of internal bleeding." Yayoi confirmed as Kiyonari's point now seemed null.

"Even then, couldn't the killer have simply stolen her sword to use as a spear with the knife?" Kiyonari suggested, keeping her cool.

"The sword's not long enough..." Cho piped up quickly. "It's not long enough to be wielded two handed effectively…"

"Exactly. The mop is the only effective option for a shaft to stick the knife onto." Jinsei continued.

"And what if the killer simply hid it on another floor?" Kiyonari continued to challenge him.

"Me and Yayoi were standing beside the stairs before the crime! No-one came down the stairs, even if one of us is lying, the other isn't!" he continued.

"Right, because only the killer can leave after all! Partnerships are pointless!" Monokuma pointed out, dipping his fat paw into a pot of honey as he watched the trial with sick glee.

"So that concludes it, the mop must've been the weapon combined with the knife… and that puts you in pretty heavy suspicion." Jinsei continued, glaring at Kiyonari, becoming more and more sure that she was the killer.

"Alright… but if I was the killer, why would I go to the trouble of making a fight scene to frame Jinsei when the note on the wall would be enough?" Kiyonari continued to defend herself, even under Jinsei's continuous barrage. But this question made him stop to think for a moment. Making a fake fight scene did seem like going too far when Haruo seemingly escaped… but looking back on it, one small note in Jinsei's handbook made him remember.

"Oh there was a reason, nothing to do with framing me… in fact, it's part of why Haruo was really targeted." Jinsei said confidently, causing the janitor to flinch slightly.

"Go on?" Kiyonari dared him.

"Haruo was doing research on the notes between cases to see if one individual could've written all the notes. And I think he'd found an answer." The psychiatrist affirmed as the court was silent to listen to him. "Haruo left his findings on a note, but it had ink splattered over it like it was knocked over in a fight!" He slammed his fist onto the banister. "That was the real reason to set up the fight scene, to cover your tracks and protect your identity!" He declared again, a sense of catharsis washing over him. Kiyonari's face twitched again, hand on her cap.

"What bullshit…" she muttered to herself, seeming to finally be slipping. Jinsei decided it was time to end this.

"It's not bullshit. It all connects." Jinsei began, winding up to deliver the coup de grace. "The traitor used notes to turn us on one another and cause tragedies. And when Haruo started to find out about them, they decided to take him out. Using their key, they entered the principal's office and took the trophy, then using it to knock out both Gina and Haruo. Then they messed up the art room and spilled ink on his documents to protect their identity. Next, using the red paint, they painted the message on the wall with Haruo's hand, then created their makeshift spear and slashed the seals on the door of the armoury open and unlocked it with their key. Finally, they stabbed Haruo with their makeshift spear and then switched it out with the spear in the armoury to kill him. Finally, the dismantled the spear, washed the blade and returned the shield to the principal's office with the duct tape stuck on the back, locking it to prevent it being found." Jinsei pointed across the courtroom, triumph in his voice. "Isn't that right, Kiyonari?!" he roared.

Kiyonari was still for a few moments, dipping her head slightly as the peak of her cap covered her eyes, trembling ever so slightly. Jinsei peered at her.

"Well… anything to say in your defence?" Kasper said suspiciously, looking close at the janitor. She looked up and took an oddly thoughtful look as she stared down Jinsei.

"Question, if I may." She stated bluntly. Jinsei got a little worried.

"Yes?" He allowed it.

"What exactly is your proof that the traitor is the killer here?" She asked. Jinsei was curious of what her angle was.

"The key of course. You used it to unlock the principal's office and the armoury." Jinsei answered. Kiyonari smirked slightly.

"Yes… a key which you've proven to have." She suddenly twisted the conversation around to indict him. "I'd say it's suspicious that you and only you have a master key."

"But it was with the note Yakusha had in Yorick!" He tried to say.

"Yes, a note." She countered once again. "Wasn't the traitor known for being able to forge notes to turn us on one another? So exactly what proof can you offer to assure us that note is genuine?" Jinsei was losing his grasp on the situation quickly and Kiyonari was trying to turn his friends on him.

"W-well… no." He admitted sheepishly. "But you're the traitor! You must have a key on you right now! In your pockets!" He claimed, but the janitor simply shook her head dismissively.

"Sorry… but I've got nothing." She dug her hands into her pockets and turned them out. They were empty. No key. Nothing.

"B…but…" Jinsei suddenly felt weak at the knees. Could he have been wrong about all this? Had he indicted the wrong person?

"I think you just proved your own guilt, Jinsei. You have the master key and a forged note. You're the true killer and the traitor." Kiyonari said defiantly. Jinsei felt the eyes of Kasper, Daisuke and Ushio on him, looking suspiciously at him. Jinsei's mind was befuddled.

"But the other points still stand!" Yayoi tried to claim. "The mop is still a shaft useable for the makeshift spear!"

"We established the traitor is the killer, and two of the traitor's tools have been revealed. Regardless of the other facts, I think it just gave us definitive proof who our traitor is." Kiyonari said definitively. Jinsei had no choice. He had to find some definitive proof that Kiyonari was the traitor right then and now or else the ballots would be called and he'd be declared guilty. He thought back over the trial, rooting through the evidence. There had to be some way that he could prove that she was the traitor. What was there? She didn't have the key, she'd emptied her pockets but… wait… could it be hidden somewhere else?

"Kiyonari!" Jinsei came back with renewed gusto.

"What now, traitor?" She folded her arms and looked stiffly at him.

"I noticed something throughout this trial… something that'll prove that you're the real traitor." He declared as Kiyonari made a noise of dismissal.

"And that would be?" She asked.

"Throughout this trial, I noticed something odd about you…" Jinsei began. Kiyonari simply cocked an eyebrow. "You've been fiddling with your cap a lot." Her left eye twitched slightly.

"What's that got to do with it?" She said, but Jinsei had spotted her twitch. He'd gotten her.

"Take off the cap… you're hiding your key under there." Jinsei said decisively. Kiyonari froze up.

"That's ridiculous… you can't just make a claim like that." She stated, grumbling slightly.

"Maybe not, but it's a simple request. So why can't you do it?" Kiyonari's hand moved to her cap and clasped onto it as she refused to remove it.

"I… I won't." She said defiantly.

"Then you're clearly hiding something under there. Care to tell us what?" Jinsei said piercingly. The cleaner's hand began to shake slightly as her teeth gritted, a bead of sweat running down her cheek, eyes shadowed by the peak of the cap. But then, surprisingly, her hand came down and she took a deep breath, she then looked up at Jinsei and smiled.

"Airight, fine… you win." She stated simply. Jinsei looked shocked.

"Wait… are you…" He began.

"Yes, I admit it. I'm the one working for Monokuma and I killed Haruo." She completely admitted it, keeping a simple look on her face like it didn't even matter.

"You… you're confessing?" Gina looked at her in awe, no-one else had done this prior to this trial.

"Yes. I have no regrets. So, why don't we just get the voting started?" She looked over to Monokuma, keeping a sly smirk on her face.

"Right you are! It's voting time, ladies and gentleman!" The buttons appeared to the students as one by one, they cast their vote. The slot machine reared up in the middle of the room as the three reels spun and stopped on Kiyonari's usual face. The cheers resounded and the slot machine slunk back into the ground.

"Welly welly welly well! The one who killed Haruo Mori was in fact, Kiyonari Mizu!" The bear hopped about on his throne as Kiyonari stood there, calm and collected.

"You did it then… you led us on this whole time?" Kasper looked up to her beneath his Stetson, glaring slightly.

"Yes. And I'd do it all again." She proclaimed confidently, her smirk never wavering.

"W-why?! Why would you d-d-do this and work-k-k for him?!" Furostomi cried out, her eyes wet with tears.

"Because I despise all of you. You're all the same, self absorbed little egotists who only care about your little bubble until something bumps into it." She stated flatly, a hint of anger in her eyes.

"That's not true!" Cho claimed.

"Oh isn't it? I had a whole year living with you bastards and not one of you even noticed me in that time." She continued, now scowling. "To you, I was just the custodian. Not a student, not a friend, just a hapless worker. And this year has been the same! I was happy to watch all of you turn on one another." She continued.

"Wait… a whole year? But we've only been here a few days!" Daisuke snapped. Kiyonari just grinned.

"Oh yeah, of course we have… heh, fine. I don't care anyway, you don't deserve to know." She shrugged and continued to smile dismissively.

"How can you be so calm?" Asked Yayoi, staring at her curiously. "You've been found guilty, you're going to be executed…" He looked at her sadly. Even with how Kiyonari was the traitor, he wondered if he couldn't have prevented this by talking to her more.

"Executed?" Kiyonari scoffed. "I'm Monokuma's accomplice, you really think he's going to execute his agent? That'd be insane." She snarled cruelly. "I'm safe from that." But as she spoke, Monokuma began to cackle behind her.

"Now why wouldn't I execute you? You were under the same rules as everyone else Kiyonari, you break those rules and get caught, and you get punished!" the bear laughed as the cleaner suddenly turned around and the colour drained from her face.

"What?! But we're partners, you promised you'd help me out of this damn school!" Kiyonari screamed, her cool façade finally broken before the court. The bear cackled once again.

"Upupupu! I wasn't lying about that, but I never said that I'd get you off the hook if you were caught! You've got to abide by the rules! And I have a real special punishment for you, the super duper high school level custodian, and traitor!" The bear cackled as his button podium appeared in front of him.

"You treacherous bastard! You can't do this to me! I helped you dammit!" Kiyonari screamed at him, watching in horror as sweat and tears streaked her face. The bear, oblivious to her pleas, smacked the button with his mallet.

(GAME OVER – KIYONARI MIZU HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY – COMMENCING EXECUTION)

Kiyonari's eyes darted around as she found herself in a large area. It looked like a modern apartment with a wooden floor and clean blue walls. The biggest difference was just how huge the room was. Kiyonari was only a few inches tall in comparison to the humungous area. All of a sudden, Monokuma, much larger than Kiyonari too appeared from around the corner, holding the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner behind him, leering down at the little janitor.

DUST BUNNY EXTERMINATION

Spotting Monokuma turn on the vacuum cleaner, Kiyonari started to run with a scared look on her face, racing across the wooden floor. Monokuma gave chase, jabbing at her with the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner, only for her to dodge and jump to either side, racing across the floor. It was impressive she was avoiding it for so long.

Suddenly, from his other hand, Monokuma revealed a spray bottle and aimed it at Kiyonari, squirting her with some kind of cleaning solution. Kiyonari slipped on the now wet floor and fell onto her face. The vacuum nozzle reached her and quickly sucked her up, sending her tumbling down the nozzle and into the dust bag.

Cackling to himself, Monokuma tottered over to a large device sitting in the corner and twisting a knob on it, revealing it to be an incinerator as a large flame sparked inside of it. Releasing a catch on the vacuum cleaner, Monokuma removed the dustbag and opened on end, tipping it up and emptying its contents into the incinerator.

Kiyonari, coated in dust, tumbled screaming out of the bag and downward into the incinerator, disappearing into the flames with a light fizzle as Monokuma put down the bag and closed the hatch on the incinerator.

Back in the courtroom, the group stared as the traitor was no more. It was obviously a good moment to have the traitor dead, but their fellow student was still dying before their eyes. Something connected between the students as they exchanged glances.

"Aaahhh that was so good! Ooohhh can you smell this air?! It's Desp-Air!" Monokuma cackled, tottering about on his feet as he laughed.

The students left without another word. They had to reflect upon this trial about themselves and their goals now that the traitor was no more.

(Faithwood Academy – Jinsei's room – Day 12 – 23:00)

"Dear Juchika

It has to end, right now. The bear has taken 8 of us now through his sick motivations and I can't let it keep happening.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to bring the other students together and end the murders for good. I don't know how we'll get out of here but it will not be through bloodshed or the sacrifice of others. Kiyonari was the last straw.

And I will do all I can to enforce it. For my friends. For the people I now trust.

Because there's no one else to trust in this place except my fellow students now. And if I can prove that I can place my full trust in them, maybe they can do the same and we can break this chain of slaughter and execution.

Give me strength, Juchika. I will need it.

Yours truly, Jinsei."