"Wait!"The silence blanketed over Kaede. It wasn't Korekiyo...it just wasn't. It wasn't just a hunch, not just intuition---it was a profile that pointed to all the reasons Korekiyo was innocent in this case.
The same evidence that painted <em> him</em> as guilty. The seemingly insignificant but interesting conversation that had haunted the back of her head for hours now that seemed to point at the worst case ever. If Kaede called him out now, she might be able to end the whole killing game bonanza and stop any more sacrifices from happening.
She knew who the mastermind is.
"What is it, Kaede?" Shuichi's eyes bore on her like razor-sharp knives, like she was the one with the eye trauma and not him.
"Yeah, what's wrong, Kaede?" Tenko stared to her, her eyes slowly filling with confusion. "We got the degenerate male as the killer! We even got a confession! Let's just vote now! He's not going to die, anyway! But I'll beat him close to death after we get out of this trial! I just can't wait to be reunited with my Akidio!"
<em>It's not that easy.</em>
"I-I-" Kaede's voice was fighting her, doing its best to try and stop her from saying it. "I-I think I know who the mastermind is,"
"What? Angie didn't hear that! Louder, louder!" The little devil seemed to be cheering her on.
She inhaled again, trying to make herself say it.
"I KNOW WHO THE MASTERMIND IS!"
.
.
.
.
"Wait, you DO?" Monokuma jumped up from his throne. "Tch, so many surprises! Are you kids trying to make me suffer a heart attack and kick the bucket?"
"Well, I suppose the side effects of that would be beneficial for us," Kiyo pointed out, looking oddly calm for someone who had just been told who the perpetrator of this crazy killing game was. "And, Kaede? Who's the mastermind?"
Monokuma eased himself back into his chair. "Alright. I'll hear it then. What's your theory?"
"Shuichi, what's your personal association with poisons?" she asked.
Shuichi paled. "That...that has nothing to do with this case! B-But to if you need to know...I learned loads of the names from fanf- I mean, those mystery novels I like reading. There was a big shelf of them in my uncle's house, and I used to read them a lot when I was little, b-before I became my uncle's apprentice."
<em>Okay. That seems fair. What about this?</em>
"Then how did you help me investigate? You were mighty helpful during that,"
"Angie doesn't think so!" Angie said from the other side of the courtroom. "He was pretty useless during the class trial! He got almost everything wrong!"
"I think that's not the best way to phrase it..." Kirumi muttered.
"You see?" Shuichi looks down at his feet. "I'm useless. Without my talent, we're all just pieces of worthless trash. What about hope? What about despair? There's nothing left!" He looked back up, and Kaede noticed with a shock that his eyes were bright red.
"Shuichi? What's gotten into you? All I did was ask you a couple of questions!" Kaede shrieked, gripping the handle of her podium.
"I've had enough of this stupid trial." Shuichi grinned. "OKAY THEN! I'M THE KILLER! Go on, vote for me...I'm not dying anyways. I can't die."
