A Whole New Killing Game!

Chapter 4: Pt 7

All eyes fell upon the young detective, whose's expression had not changed. If Near was nervous at all about being featured as the main suspect, he wasn't showing it. 

"Violet, you can confirm for sure that this was indeed my room?" Near asked. I gave a firm nod. "Indeed. I don't see how it can be anyone else's." I stated. "I see. You make a fair argument, and I suppose that would explain this situation. However, did anyone consider that there still might be an alternate possibility?" Near asked.

"An alternate possibility? What do you mean?" Kanato asked. "Consider this; Mello indeed wrote his own name in the notebook, and then planted the Death Note and the piece of paper in my room, thus framing myself as the culprit." Near said. I looked at Near surprised. I never thought of that. But still, that theory doesn't seem correct either.

"If Mello wanted to do that, why would be switch the signs on the doors? He could've just left your sign be." I replied. "Perhaps he wanted to stir confusion among us." Near replied. "I don't understand how any of that would benefit Mello though. He wanted to get out of here as badly as we did, so why would he put us at risk like this?" Ulric asked.

"Perhaps he wanted to escape. However, Mello and I have never seen eye to eye before, even when we were young. He's always wanted to beat me. Perhaps he saw this as his way of doing so." Near said. "Yeah, but....would he really have wanted to kill you? Or to kill anyone for that matter?" Crona asked. ".....he has done it before. I believe he would do so once again." Near replied, twirling a strand of hair between his fingers.

I looked away. That can't be right though. Sure, I didn't know Mello as well as Near did, but....I still can't imagine Mello doing such a thing. Especially after we all promised to escape together. That room had to be Near's, that I know for certain. Mihael Keehl was Mello's real name, I'm almost certain of that. I have to think about this. There has to be a way to prove it wasn't suicide. There has to be....

"We aren't making any progress like this. Perhaps we should carry on with the voting. If you were to ask me, Mello had killed himself. He is indeed the culprit." Near stated. I looked down at the paper in my hands, reading over the name Mihael Keehl. I looked over the black ink that was carefully written in beautiful cursive....and then an idea popped into my head.

"Wait! I have an idea! I know how we can identify the culprit!" I blurted out.

"What? How?" Magane asked. "There isn't a way, Violet. We have come to a conclusion, so let us move on to the voting." Near stated. "No listen, hear me out on this." I said.

"We can all agree on one thing, yes? That whoever killed Mello wrote his real name on this paper, which was ripped out of the Death Note. Whether that be Mello or someone else, they wrote his name in here. Then let's see who did it." I said. I looked to Monokuma. "Monokuma, perhaps this may seem odd, but do you have any paper to spare to us?" I asked. Monokuma tilted his head.

"Huh? Why is that?" he asked. "I need some for this to work." I replied. "Ooooh, this is getting interesting~ I wonder what she's got cooking up!" Kokichi said.

"Well, if its paper you need, then I guess I can help out. Anything to make things more interesting." Monokuma replied. He dug into his pocket, which I didn't even know he had, and pulled out a piece of paper. Then he folded it up into a paper airplane and threw it to me. The paper flew across the court and I caught it into my hands. Near narrowed his eyes.

"What are you planning to do, Violet?" Near asked. "I have a hard time believing anyone could perfect such beautiful cursive. So, I propose an idea....everyone write Mello's real name in cursive, on this paper. Whoever's cursive matches the one on the Death Note page, is our culprit. If it doesn't match anyone's in this room, then that means Mello did indeed kill himself." I replied.