Entertaining a Small Thought

3rd Arc Part 24: The Blackened and Spotless

"Wh-Wh-What!?" Tenko screamed.

"Himiko!?" Gonta yelled.

"Y-You've got to be kidding! There's no way it could be Himiko!" Kaito shouted.

"Himiko is my main suspect as well," Shuichi told them.

"Shuichi?" Kaede muttered.

"Why Himiko? This seems way out of left field." Rantaro said.

"It's because if we think about the time of the crime, Himiko is the only one who could have been there at the scene of the crime to pull it off," Shuichi explained.

"Exactly. While there isn't any physical evidence at the scene due to how the virtual world operates, in terms of ability and alibis, Himiko is the only one who falls short." I added.

"No! There's no way! Himiko couldn't have killed Angie!" Tenko screamed. "A-And...e-even if she...d-d-did..." She mumbled. "I-It doesn't even matter! Angie's the culprit of this case, remember! She killed Ryoma, so it doesn't matter who killed Angie!"

"I understand how you feel, Tenko. But maybe we should discuss this rationally and calmly." Keebo told her. "Both Shuichi and Rin have a point. Perhaps Angie's murder does have a part to play in this case. I think we should seriously discuss whether or not Himiko actually could have killed Angie."

"So you understand how she feels. I see..." Kokichi said before gasping. "Wait! Robots can understand human feelings!?"

"O-Of course I understand! I work...really hard to understand!" Keebo shouted at him.

"Hey... Why're you gettin' all worked up, Keebo? Chill, dude." Kaito told him.

"Enough already! It's voting time, and I'm voting for Angie!" Tenko screamed. "Himiko isn't the culprit! Right, Himiko?"

"R-Right." Himiko nodded, visibly shaken from being accused of murdering her friend. "I would...never kill Angie! She helped me so much, so I would never hurt her!"

"Even if she was trying to hurt you?" Kokichi asked.

"What...?"

"Just food for thought." He chuckled.

"But isn't Angie culprit?" Gonta asked.

"We should still discuss this, regardless of if she is or not," I responded.

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions without knowing the whole truth," Shuichi added.

"Mm-hm, we should talk it out more. This case might have juicy plot twists waiting to happen!" Kokichi nodded in agreement.

"There's no need to discuss it! It's not possible! There's no way Himiko could be involved in this!" Kaito shouted.

"Yeah, there's just no way. I can't possibly believe that she could kill anyone, let alone Angie." Kaede said as she held her arms.

"No, it's too dangerous to vote before we arrive at a logical decision!" Keebo argued.

"HOLD IT!" Monokuma yelled. "Wowee! This argument is getting intense! At times like this, the Ultimate Academy is proud to present its very own morphenomenal trial grounds!"

"Yippee! I've been waiting for this!" Kokichi cheered.

"Why were you waiting for it?" Kaito asked with a groan. So we're going to do another scrum debate? We've made our stances clear on the matter, but we can't vote until we understand everything about this case, even if that means we have to see an ugly truth. We have no choice but to convince everyone of that.

So Monokuma, for the third time now, took out a key and stuck it into a slot on his throne, causing our podiums to glow and move high into the air just like the previous two times. Once we were high enough, our podiums divided us into separate groups based on the side of the argument we were on just like before.