Marigolds In The Wind

16.

It felt like just as fast Hajime was thrust into the investigation, they were thrust into the trial. But Hajime was concerned, he didn't know if he had enough evidence for this case, yet he had no choice and headed to Monokuma rock.

He didn't want to believe that Nagito did this to himself, he didn't. But where else did the evidence point them? Hajime hoped the others had gathered more evidence as well, so they could figure out what happened.

As they stood in the elevator, Hajime felt a pit growing in his stomach. He had barely processed what had happened, Nagito was really gone. Hajime could've broken down crying right there. But he didn't, they had to deal with the trial first.

Once they reached the trial ground, everyone took their spot. Then Monokuma took his spot, before giving a summary of how the trial worked. Then they got the show on the road.

"Who would do such a thing to Nagito? It's cruel, even for him!" Sonia said.

"Yeah!" Kazuichi added, "he was trying to reveal the traitor, right?"

"Yeah, that's what he said," Fuyuhiko said, "why?"

"Then, wouldn't it make sense for the killer to be the traitor?" Kazuichi asked, "I mean- they'd have the motivation to torture him for info!"

Hold on, was that right? Hajime thought back to Nagito's body for a moment. God, he wished he didn't have to, but this was more important right now. He went over all the parts affected, eventually coming up to Nagito's face.

"No, that's wrong!" Hajime pointed out, "Nagito had duct tape over his mouth, remember? It'd be impossible for the killer to torture Nagito for the sole purpose of information then!"

"Are you sure though?" Kazuichi crossed his arms, "maybe... maybe that was one of the killers tricks! The killer tortured Nagito for information and when he died, the killer put the duct tape over his mouth!"

"Um, I don't think so," Chiaki raised her hand, before adjusting her jacket a little, "if you look back to the body, there were crinkles around Nagito's mouth, right?"

"Then it'd mean that he was trying to open his mouth under the duct tape, right?" Hajime added.

"Exactly," Chiaki nodded, "uh, I think..."

"I- ugh!" Kazuichi grunted, "how do you guys know all of this stuff?"

Did he do any investigating at all? Hajime thought, sighing softly.

After that point was cleared up, they continued on with the trial. Hajime rested his hands on the rail in front of him, listening in on what everyone had to say.

"Well, now that that's cleared up, I have a question," Sonia said.

"Ah- yes! What's your question Miss Sonia?" Kazuichi's eyes lit up.

"If we remember back to how we discovered the body, the door was quite hard to open was it not?" Sonia asked.

"Yeah, it only opened a little bit, right?" Chiaki nodded.

"And I needed to open it by force!" Akane said.

"Then, could the killer leave at all? What was blocking the door anyways?" Sonia crossed her arms.

Hajime sat back and thought about it for a moment? What was in the warehouse that could've blocked the door? It couldn't be the Monokuma plushies, those are too light. It couldn't have been Nagito himself, no, he was already bound to the ground. That raised the question, how did Hajime himself even get in there? Sure, he didn't open the door all the way when he entered by himself, but it wasn't as hard as it was the second time around. If he remembered correctly, the door opened with a little jolt the first time around, and he felt something hit the door again as he entered. What were scattered around the warehouse again? Then it clicked.