Shuichi jogged next to Kaede. "Where did you go? We were worrie-oh." his mouth made an 'o' shape as he saw the mess unfolding in front of her. "So this is the primary crime scene. How did you figure it out?"
"The playing card," she answered, handing him the card. "The solder. The blackened soldered the card here and murdered Miu with it."
"Before moving the body and setting it up, only in the time frame of fewer than 14 minutes." Shuichi walked around the messy room, pushing through the debris. "The killer must have planned some sort of trick, because no one went to the cafeteria between 8 and 8:14. I just can't remember what it was...maybe a sedative,"
"So it was planned," Kaede muttered. "By someone with great number sense."
"And a lot of strength," the Ultimate Detective, rummaging through the rubble. "I really don't want to do this, but Kaede, can you check Miu's weight on your Monokuma file? It's less awkward if a girl does it."
Kaede felt like she was invading on Miu's privacy, but since the information was given to them originally, she guessed it was fine. She scrolled through the students' profiles, wincing at the big red letters [DEAD] stamped over Miu's profile pic. "56 kg," she told Shuichi.
"That is...not something a normal person can lift. So maybe we should focus less on height and more on physical strength. Because the blackened likely lifted her onto this cart and pushed it all the way to the dining hall," he pushed out a cart out from the back, which was splattered with blood.
"Does that rule out Kokichi?" Kaede asked.
"No, not exactly. He could have used some sort of trick, like a lever system to transport the victim. This is interesting, though..." he pointed at a rope tied on the lower rung of the cart. It had been severed, probably in an attempt to destroy evidence, but it was still there.
"It looks like someone tied a rope to the cart." Kaede pointed out, feeling extremely stupid the moment she said it.
"Yeah," he responded. "I don't know what it is yet, but it might be an important clue..." he pushed around the debris. "And here's the other half." he showed her a relatively clean straw rope, severed diagonally by what seemed like a sharp object. Well, there was no lack of dangerous sharp objects in Miu's lab, so it could have been anything.
"I'll keep looking for clues here, but you should rendezvous with Kirumi and Kiyo, see what they found," Shuichi told her.
The wonky clock on Miu's lab wall told her that there were 10 minutes until the dreaded class trial began, which prompted Kaede to sprint through the hallways, back to where everyone else was. Kirumi was holding a tiny yellow notebook, which she was furiously <strike>scribbling</strike> quickly writing in. When she saw Kaede approach though, she stopped and gave her a small smile.
"It seems like everyone was in their rooms at the time of the murder. Unfortunately, no one is able to vouch for anyone else, and as we know that <em>someone</em> is lying, that isn't much of an alibi."
Kaede frowned. This case was getting harder by the minute, and with only 4 people confirmed innocent(the people who discovered the body and herself) and confusing evidence that didn't add up at all. She hoped that Shuichi would be able to use his Ultimate Detective skills to figure something out, and walked back into the dining room, where Kiyo was examining the knife.
"Any luck?" she asked him.
"Unfortunately, not much. There are very faint wheel marks hidden under the cards, though. If there was a cart or something similar used to transport the body-"
"Yeah, we found one." Kaede interrupted. "The Ultimate Inventor's research lab was the main crime scene, there was blood everywhere, and we found a cart in the mess. It was tied with a rope, though. Shuichi's examining it now."
"Well, I suppose this case is in good hands if the Ultimate Detective is on it," Kiyo sighed and stood up. "I guess we will have to get going. I don't suppose you know where this trial is going to be held?"
<hr>
"Wow."
To Monokuma's very tiny credit, the class trial room was actually pretty classy. Sure, the elevator was like that one ginormous thing used in movies whenever people went to storm Area 51, but the trial room was super cool, with an overall blue techy vibe. Had Miu been alive to see this room, she would have loved it. But she wasn't. And she was the reason they were here that they were there.
Her portrait was there to take her place though, standing rather lonely looking at one side, black and white but painted over with 3 bright pink horizontal crosses, like xxx, the sign for porn. She would have appreciated it for sure, if she was watching from above.
There were two other portraits situated in the deadly circle: Rantaro's and Tsumugi's, and Kaede's heart squeezed slightly tighter with guilt when she saw the former, which was crossed out with a simple cross. The latter was slightly different. Instead of being crossed out in pink, the word [TRAITOR] was stamped onto her eyes with sickly orange-ish paint, probably because 1) she wasn't dead, and 2) she was a traitor, in both the Ultimate Students' and Monokuma's eyes.
Everyone got into their respective places, and Monokuma loomed over from above in his makeshift throne.
"Now then, let's begin with a simple explanation of the Class Trial! During the Class Trial, you will present your arguments for who the killer is, and vote for whodunnit! If you vote correctly, only the Blackened will receive punishment! But if you pick the <em>wrong person</em>... I'll punish everyone besides the Blackened, and that person will earn the right to leave the Ultimate Academy!"
There was a sort of funky mix of space rock jazz music playing in the background, which made the whole thing around three times more awful, but there really was no time to brood over that sort of thing. Slowly, the podiums started to light up a neon blue, and the first class trial began.
