Hetaronpa (Danganronpa/Hetalia)

Chapter Six

| CHAPTER SIX

| CLASSROOM TRIAL IN SESSION.

Twelve classmates enter the courtroom, as the jury. It makes me unbelievably angry just thinking about the three deceased.

And, of course, soon it will be four.

Monokuma is seated in his chair, that perpetual smirk on his face. "Hi! Please try and hurry. This trial is going to be interesting, I just know it."

I resist glaring at him and take my place at a stand.

Verbal Bullet: 1
Verbal Bullet: 2
Verbal Bullet: 3

Let's get this over with.

When everyone is ready, Roderich takes out his student handbook. "Alright, so... According to the handbook and our findings, the cause of death was a total of twelve punctures, three of which were inflicted by a chef's knife and nine of which were caused by a three-tined fork. Is there anything we can draw from that?"

"Well, I can understand the knife, but the fork is a tad strange. Not usually something I would consider a murder weapon," Lukas says. "So I think the murderer picked up the first two things he saw."

"But the knife and the fork should've been in two different places," Vladimir counters. "The knife should have still been in its block, and the fork would've been in the fork drawer."

"Actually, I used the knife," interjects Sadik. "I cut the ham with it, for my sandwich. Everyone else used plastic utensils for their lunch, and we had pre-cut pizza for dinner, so no tools needed."

"And I used the fork," adds Mathias. "I woke up from my nap before everyone else and went to the kitchen to eat some cake."

"So those are the only two utensils we used yesterday, and they weren't cleaned up. That explains the choice of weapons," say Francis. I sense Elizabeta shift uncomfortably at the words. This can't be fun for her.

"The next question is why the killer was so anxious to get his hands on the knife and fork," Kiku quietly puts in, giving a fleeting glance at Tino's photo and the large red X slashed across.

The room falls silent, save a soft chuckle from the principal. Why would the culprit grab the first two things he saw? Because he was unprepared, maybe? Or...

"Maybe he was surprised to see someone there. Maybe he panicked," I think out loud.

Roderich nods. "That's what came to my mind, too."

"For that, it would have had to be dark. Or, at the very least, the murderer would have to be quite the scaredy-cat," Heracles says with a shrug.

Lukas raises a hand, pausing the conversation. "I agree. Alright, I think we should move on. We need to figure this out as quick as possible." Murmurs of agreement fill the room.

"What evidence should we discuss next?" I wonder, wracking my brain.

"Tino liked coffee," Elizabeta says in a soft voice. "He probably went to the kitchen to make a cup. He told me it calmed him down."

"And the spoon must be related to that coffee," Gilbert realizes for us. "Maybe he dropped it when he noticed the killer?"

"I'm surprised you were able to figure that out," Roderich replies in a slightly snide tone.

Gilbert flushes. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm sure you know, what with your suddenly brilliant mind--"

"Shut up," interrupts Eliza. "We have more important problems, in case you've forgotten."

They shut their mouths. Monokuma cackles from his seat.

"Gilbert has a point, at any rate," Francis says after a pause. "And if he's right, if our assumptions are correct, then both killer and victim were startled to see the other at one point."

"Now that we have that, we should create a hypothetical scenario," Milen says, his first sentence since the trial started.

Refute! ~Emil

"Wait. We forgot to establish a motive. That will definitely help us out," I say quickly.

"Was there even one in the first place? I seriously doubt anyone here had a grudge against Tino," objects Lukas. "Honestly, I feel as if it was an accidental murder, fuelled by surprise or panic."

I take a second to process this before nodding and fighting the urge to duck my head in embarrassment.

"Does anyone have a scenario to present?" Monokuma asks, his voice laced with laughter. What's so funny about this?

Roderich says, "Yes, albeit a fairly simple one. The victim went to the kitchen around 4:00 AM, to make some coffee. Perhaps he had a nightmare, and needed calming down. Just as he was finishing up, the murderer walked in and was startled. He panicked and grabbed the first two things he saw: a fork and a chef's knife. The victim hardly had time to react; he dropped his spoon and was stabbed those twelve times. As there was little to no blood on the floor, he either fell backwards or the killer cleaned the majority of it up. He then dragged the victim into the pantry before cleaning off the weapons and placing them in a cloth on his chest. Does that sound about right?"

I nod. "That's really likely to have happened."

"I don't see any holes in that theory," Francis adds.

Vladimir is just opening his mouth to speak when the principal beats him to it.

"You kids are good at this! But not quite good enough. You've forgotten two very important things."

| CHAPTER SIX OVER