Just One More Time

3 - Use Your Talent to Escape

"It looked like a gunshot wound," Harukawa muttered. Shuichi glanced around the room, his eyes landing on the person with a twitching smile, ready to crack.

"I believe Harukawa and Saihara are the two who have knowledge of guns. Ouma may be a possibility," Tojo recommended.

"Hey! I definitely know how to use a gun, I've killed people before! Don't underestimate me," Ouma pouted.

"Tojo, you're wrong, the killer isn't Harukawa, Ouma or I..." Shuichi began, having put the pieces of the puzzle together during the investigation. He knew the blackened wouldn't go quietly, even after being exposed.

"Here we go again Mr Detective," Ouma groaned. "You couldn't have let the trial be fun this time, could you?"

"Oi! Shut up Ouma!" Momota shouted. As the two started bickering, Shuichi began his closing argument of the class trial.

"The blackened gave Iruma a note, asking her to meet them in the Ultimate Assassin's Research Lab at 1:30 pm to reveal the mastermind, which the victim did, alone. In Harukawa's lab, the culprit picked out a pistol and silencer, hiding them on their person. Using the red cloak on the mannequin, the blackened put it on to protect themselves from blood splatter, hiding until Iruma appeared.

When Iruma arrived at 1:30 pm, the blackened left their hiding spot and shot their victim in the head with the silenced pistol. They took out a trash bag that they'd brought with them and took off the cloak, now soaked in blood, and shoved it, and the gun, inside the bag. Taking the bag to dispose of, they ran into Himiko and me on the second floor, explaining that they'd broken a few plates in the dining room. This didn't make sense to Himiko though, as there was no sound of broken porcelain in the bag when the blackened walked away.

Dumping the bag of evidence into the dumpster behind the academy, the blackened believed it would cover up their identity. The blackened is you, Tojo Kirumi, the Ultimate Maid." Shuichi finished, pointing at the woman who seethed with rage.

"Tojo? How interesting," Shinguji muttered, holding his cheek.

"It's not true! Tojo would never kill someone!" Akamatsu cried, crying as she fell to her knees. "You were so hopeful that we'd get out of here!"

"I apologise, it was due to the fact I must return to my country and citizens," Tojo apologised.

"Your country and civilians?" Hoshi asked.

"Tojo Kirumi, the Ultimate Maid and de facto Prime Minister of Japan! That flashback light I showed you all revealed the people you love most, and for Tojo, that's the citizens of Japan!" Monokuma sang as he explained. "How could she ever run her country when you're all trapped in here?!"

"I must return to my country, I shall not die here."

"Gonta sacrifice himself!" The gentle giant shouted, tears pouring from behind his glasses.

"We can't let the country fall! I'll do what I can to help Tojo, as a man, it's my duty!" Momota frowned with determination, slamming his fists together. Tojo smiled and bowed to the men, ready to accept their offer before Shuichi interrupted.

"No one here is sacrificing themselves. The country isn't going to fall, no matter whether Tojo is the Prime Minister or not. Tojo is just trying to get you all to sacrifice yourselves to save herself, which I can't blame her for, but it's not going to work. Monokuma won't break the rules of the game." Shuichi sighed, staring at the ground as people around him gasped.

"Why would I do something that goes against the point of this fine institution?!" Monokuma shouted, his remaining children agreeing.

"You're all idiots if you thought offering to sacrifice yourselves would work," Harukawa muttered. Shuichi analysed everyone in the circle of podiums as they voted for the killer. Despair seemed to seep into the pores of everyone, some more than others, but one person caught Shuichi off guard. Ouma had tears pricking at his eyes, a shadow looming over his face, genuine emotions peeking past the cracks of his mental barriers.

"You're selfish Saihara," Tojo muttered. "You can't save anyone, so stop pretending to be the hero!" Her voice raised to a scream of frustration, hatred, sorrow and desperation. "I'm not going to die here, I'm not-"

Cutting off the maid, Monokuma slammed his paws onto the familiar red button, a white string shooting out and wrapping around the woman. Everyone watched in horror as she disappeared, kidnapped by the string to a smaller room popping up in front of the group, the wall acting as a one-way window.

The dimly-lit room (which directly resembled Tojo's research lab) was covered with spiderwebs in every corner, every piece of furniture connected to each other with fragile string. A broom popped up in front of the woman, one that she took in her gloved hands and immediately began cleaning away the spiderwebs. As every spiderweb disappeared into the broom, another one took its place, the neverending supply of silk exhausting the woman. Tojo made multiple rounds of the room, cleaning to her best ability, but nothing worked.

The spiderwebs started reappearing with extra strings, more and more engulfing the victorian-styled room. As Tojo had no more room to move through the webs, they disappeared, the room morphing into a void as she became wrapped up in a large spiderweb. Her body stuck to a ginormous, thick spiderweb that hung in the pitch-black void. No matter how much she squirmed, the woman had no chance to break free, the thick restraints giving no sign of faltering.

Clicking filled everyone's ears as a spider crawled down the spider web towards its prey, half the size of the predator. The spider tormented Tojo with its lack of speed, creeping towards the woman who refused to let anything beat her. As the spider reached her body, its fangs twitched as they plunged into the woman. Tojo's screams pierced everyone's ears, large holes pouring and squirting blood as the spider ripped apart her limbs.

As the spider retreated, red blood dripped from its fangs and pedipalps, staining the white, slightly opaque strings. Only Tojo's head, right hand and left femur remained in the trap, clothes shredded apart in the attack.

As the execution came to an end, Shuichi turned to his remaining classmates to see them all drowning in despair. Gokuhara and Akamatsu cried together, tears even pricked Hoshi's eyes despite his emotionless appearance. Harukawa stared at the ground in anger, whilst Momota attempted to calm her down, despite no tears evident on her face. Shuichi noticed one male standing away from the group, facing away from the execution. Ouma seemed like he no longer felt his facade necessary, the male reaching his breaking point.

The detective slipped beside Himiko as the group slumped towards the elevator to return to the grounds of the killing game. "He might try to kill himself next, we should keep an eye on him."

Himiko glanced over at Ouma and sighed. "He liked Tojo, right? Nyeh, I feel bad for him..."

"Just remember, none of us dies, they're not suffering," Shuichi whispered. That's a lie, the last thing they remember is the insane suffering that they couldn't escape. Himiko seems to feel happier now that I've said that, though. Maybe Ouma was right, some lies are better than the truth. If only you knew all the lies I was telling you, Himiko.