Danganronpa 2: Force Despair

Chapter 4: Lies that Spread from Loss of Friends- Class Trial (Layne)

We all walked out of the elevator and into a new trial room. There were now two new spots had pictures with a bloody X over them, which were Shio and Mien. We all went to our places.

"The class trial will now start!" Monokuma yelled from his chair. "Now then, lets begin with a simple explanation of the class trial. During the class trial, you will present your arguements for who the killer is, and vote for "whodunnit." If you vote correctly, then only the blackened will recieve punishment. But if you pick the wrong person... I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that person will earn the right to leave the school!"

"Let's begin this trial, then." Roy said.

"We should probably begin with how Mien was killed, right?" Chouko asked.

"You're right to think that, Chouko." Azura said.

"The Monokuma File stated that Mien died from bleeding out." Atsuki stated.

"That's right. Mien was stabbed with an ordinary kitchen knife right in her upper back... Though it seems the knife was pulled out and left by her side, and she was left to bleed out there infront of the desk." I explained.

"In her back, though? I feel like Mien isn't one to let her guard down like that." Atsuki said.

"Someone probably just snuck up on her." Chouko said. "If she was facing the desk's front, someone could have made a straight path to her with a knife and stabbed her."

"Chouko's right... His map does show that from the door to Mien's body was a straight path." I said, "So his explanation sounds reasonable."

"We aren't sure if the murderer or Mien herself pulled the knife out though... And because of where her wound was, it would have been hard to pull it out herself... But maybe she could have." Roy said.

"Let's disregard that, perhaps." Ren said, "Anyways, there is another issue. The Monokuma File stated that the time of death is unknown. We really need to determine that to find out who could have killed her."

"There is a way to determine the time she died," I said.

"Do you mean that screen on the furnace you told us about, Layne?" Azura asked.

"That's right." I said.

"I see... So if the killer had to dispose of something from the crime, it would have been after the crime." Ren said. "But couldn't the killer have gotten rid of it quite a while after the murder, right?"

"That's true, however... There's evidence that shows it must have been quite soon after the murder." I said. "There was a drop of blood on the ground in the garbage room, so something must have came from the headmaster's office, where Mien was killed."

"What could that be, then?" Ren asked.

"Well, there were some papers on the ground near Mien, and they had her blood on it. However, the small pool of blood didn't seem complete, as there wasn't a complete puddle there... Like a paper was taken from the middle. So my belief is that the killer took a paper that had some information on it they wanted secret, which is why they killed Mien in the first place, and why they had to burn it."

"That makes sense... Thank you for explaining." Ren said.

"So what time was Mien killed then?" Atsuki asked.

"Well, the furnace was turned on last at midnight last night." Roy said. "And Monokuma explained to us that the nighttime announcement goes of at ten pm... So that means the murder must have occured after the nighttime announcement went off."

I was right... This trial doesn't seem so bad... We seem calmer... Like we're about to finally reach the happy ending we wanted...

But of course, I forgot he was here.