Chiyo Yagami was looking forward to the first day of her final year at Hope's Peak Academy. That is until she is knocked out and transported to what seems to be a campsite in the middle of the woods with her 15 other classmates who she no longer rem...
With cautious and hesitant steps, all remaining eight of us stepped inside the trial room, the rattling of the elevator's doors shutting behind us.
This dingy and grim place is starting to become a usual meeting spot for us...
The room, just like the last time, had faced some renovations.
The ivory pillars had been polished and now shone brightly against the adjusted and fixed chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Between each pillar, walls had been erected, shaping the room. Some walls had large lanes of glass allowing us to admire the large array of coloured crystals adorned on the rocks behind them, illuminating the darker parts of the room with their glow.
Scaffolding still occupied some of the room in certain areas that hadn't been fixed up yet, and the floor was still stone. However, the podiums got an upgrade, matching the material of the white pillars.
Geez, it seems like every class trial, Monokuma's wallet just gets bigger. Where does he get the time and money to do all of this anyway?
The sense of unease that drifted in the air was just quadrupled when my eyes laid upon four new death portraits. One each for Tatsuo, Akihiro, Finn and Hidemi.
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The last one, Hidemi's, stuck out to me. Her expression, her eyes...It was so enthralling despite the feeling that they were constantly watching me.
But the last moments I saw of Hidemi kept flashing in my head. The way the blood from her mouth dripped down the side of her cheek. Or the way her veins popped out of her skin as if they were to burst.
Hidemi...had died. And she did not deserve it. No one did.
My momentarily trembling hands formed fists and I avoided the gaze of Hidemi's portrait, emotions building up inside me yet again.
I must...keep a brave face.
Satoshi stood close by me, and I could hear the sounds of his breath quickening as his gaze lingered on Hidemi's photo, the candle beside it flickering in amber light. He tried his best to calm down once again, Kenjiro walking over to console his friend.
This case is yet to be solved...yet in some way, it has impacted somehow everybody.
We each saw three dead bodies. That number might increase to four if we get the culprit right.
Or...there's a chance that we get this wrong and the eight of us die excluding Akihiro's killer.
No. I won't let those thoughts take control! I mean...I have to solve this with Satoshi. Once we find the true killer and heck, who even killed Finn too, things...will be better, right?
As long as I do this for Hidemi, Aki and Finn...I hope I can impress and please them wherever they are.
But all of those thoughts of the deceased just kept bringing up one name in my mind. Hidemi's was mostly in the foreground, yet my thoughts kept wandering off to Shimura and how suspicious he seems.
I definitely need to check the morgue after this trial. Shimura could be hiding secrets.
But he's just...dead, right?
"All of this silence...It's so boring!" Ryoko groaned. "I didn't come here to look at everyones' moody expression or hear their gloomy sighs but to hear about murder! And I'm sure this case will be the most entertaining of them all-"
"Shut it." I paused her. "I will slap you again."
"O-Oh my! Again with the slapping Chiyo?" Ryoko teased. "Maybe you enjoy it?"
"W-What the hell?!?"
"Now that we're all here." Monokuma then began cutting our conversation short, his voice echoing in the room. "Then we can start the trial to convict whoever did this! Now please, take your podiums."
We did as we were told at stood at our designated stands, nervously awaiting for the gruesome trial to begin.
Well... it's time.
It seemed as if everything got into place, ready for our up-and-coming battle to determine who the killer was.
The majority of the people seemed nervous or distressed, and I would be an idiot if I didn't count myself and Satoshi in that category.
But...the very smaller percentage of just one person - obviously just Ryoko - was enjoying every last second of this damn game.
Ryoko...How can see this as just a game for her shitty amusement? She's so...strange. No, worse than that!
Yet she isn't important right now. We need to determine Akihiro's killer, and Finn's too if we're able to.
But after seeing three corpses in the space of an hour today...
I just hope we can do it and survive.
No...I know we will. Because I'll do this with Hidemi's hope in mind. The idea of solving the case and freeing Akihiro and Finn's souls is just...great.
No matter what. This case will be solved. I can guarantee that.
