Danganronpa: Frozen Mayhem

3-5: Deadly Life (Trial)

With the clunking of heavy machinery, the elevator ground to a halt at the trial room. With six people gone the elevator seemed a lot more spacious - not a good thing. Down here, the ten that remained would be fighting for their lives.

"Upupupu!" Monokuma scrutinised them from his spot overlooking the trial room, red eye glowing threateningly. "Players, to your positions!"

Stepping onto his stand, facing everybody else in the circular arrangement, felt almost routine at this point. But things were different.

Naoki now had a black and white picture resting on his stand - Seishiro couldn't quite identify the blood-coloured design crossing out his face, but supposed it was intended to be discuses on their sides.

What a poor stylistic choice, he thought. Then he realised the gravity of the situation and wondered why exactly he was judging the artistic skills of a murderous teddy bear.

Hitomi's portrait was crossed out just the same as the other victims. She didn't have any spectacular fanfare - she just wasn't there anymore.

"Well, well, well," cheered Monokuma. "Welcome back to your third, wonderfully despair-inducing Class Trial! Will the third time be the charm for this culprit, or will they be out after three strikes?"

"Enough with it," said Takehiko.

"Ugh, you guys are getting more and more impatient every time," complained Monokuma.

Amaya glared at him. "Come on, it's because nobody wants to be here."

"Upupupu! That's not true! Last I checked, the mastermind is still among you! Who could it be?" Monokuma hopped down from his perch and jumped his way across the stands, pointing at everyone. "Could it be you, Kawaguchi Katsumi? Or you, the infinitely hopeful Watanabe Etsuko? Could it be the dark and brooding Mitsukuri Takehiko, or his arch-nemesis Toru Misaki? What about the devious Fujiwara Komi?"

"Hey," protested the cheerleader.

"It could even be Ichisada Hitomi- no, wait! She, rather unfortunately, is no longer with us."

Takehiko gripped the wooden side of his stand.

"After all, we have her and her untimely passing to thank for this wonderful Class Trial!" Monokuma cackled, clearly trying to rub salt into the wound.

"Hurry up," urged Misaki. "I don't want to be here any longer than I need to."

"This isn't all about you," said Takehiko.

Katsumi clasped her hands over her ears. "Don't start again! I swear, if you do..."

"Upupupu! This feeling of hatred, of division...will it be enough to drive someone to kill?" Monokuma pondered.

"Shut up and let us start," shouted Amaya.

"You know, I never said you couldn't start without me telling you," replied Monokuma nonchalantly. "But I really do appreciate how polite you're all being to me, your wonderful, benevolent headmaster!"

Seishiro shook his head. "Alright, alright. We'll start, okay? Let's figure out what exactly happened."

"Agreed," said Keiji. "Should we start at the clay dust that the body and surrounding area were covered in? That seems like the oddest thing about the crime scene."

"You said clay dust, right?" Amaya asked. "Like, it was all that stuff that was settled around the clay sculptures and stuff in the art room, I'm pretty sure."

Misaki nodded. "Given the smell and texture, probably. It kind of matches with the stuff on the bench by the statues, but the stuff that comes off the outside of the statues is a lot whiter."