---

---

"Wait, Zachary, you almost got killed when you challenged Geina to a shooting competition, remember?" Mercy and Alice had been silently listening to everyone else debating on the crime scene. The courtroom seemed alot tamer than the first time, so the recon hopped everyone could solve this case quicker. Said recon was also suprised to see Killgood actually establish the three rules she suggested, so she had to stifle a nervous laugh with a cough.

"Wow. First you commit a form of public indecency in the first trial, and now you're acussing the web designer of cheating on his girlfriend? If I didn't know better, I'd say you would fit in with the prostitutes of England old..." Alice mummbled under her breath, shooting a quick glare at Mary. With Daimyon and Noel mentioning the motive notes however, the recon changed her tone quick.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Alice exclaimed, turning to Mercy. "Hey Doc, do you have our motive notes?" the recon asked.

"Uh yeah, do you want yours now?" Mercy answered, with the recon quickly nodding in reply.

"Well, if it's alright with Killgood for you to move..."

Calvin breathed out a sigh of relief at the announcement of the new rules. The last trial… had gone off the rails. Felix was on the right path, and Calvin nodded along as the Infinites began to agree on some basic facts. “I mean, the arrows weren’t my best, but I guess if you kept them all together…” He shrugged, not wanting to discuss the what he believed to be shoddy craftsmanship. Still, he was distinctly aware of the eyes on him. He felt a dull twang in his gut. Another one of his weapons had been a part of someone's death. Just like with-

"And you. You say you made 24 right? Did ya give them all to Robin Hood or nah?"

Calvin was thankful for the interruption, and unconsciously offered a thumbs-up, “I’m not keeping any of those things. Most of the shit I’ve been making is subpar as hell.” He winced. The puppet's eyes seemed to bore into his soul, and he quickly turned away to listen to Zach speak. His mouth almost ajar, Calvin listened carefully. He was trying to keep track of all occurring in the court, unsure in his suspicions. The last trial had been easier to follow along with. Now, voices pulled at him as he tried to parse through the noise while keeping a cool head. He wouldn't be embarrassed like he had been with Davis - No, Neoslayer - had torn into him.

"Wait, Zachary, you almost got killed when you challenged Geina to a shooting competition, remember?"

Mercy’s voice rang in his ears. “Wait a fucking second.” Calvin said. “Is that true?” He had turned from Mercy and was now staring directly at Zach, a small frown forming on his face. He remembered how Zach had been there to help save him from Alexandria, and how the man had seemed to have everything in order. Still. The duel in and of itself was inconspicuous, Calvin could understand the motives behind it. It was the lie that shook his balance, and something in him that had laid dormant seemed to rise up. He slammed his gloved fist on the railing, a dull thud resonating across the room. “What the fuck are you hiding, Zach?” A blue spark shone in his eyes, despite his furrowed brow.

---

"Wait, Zachary, you almost got killed when you challenged Geina to a shooting competition, remember?"

Ghhh...!

The only external sign that the Infinite Archer did not like that being brought up was the small moment it took for him to respond to Mercy's statement. "Ah." he smiled warmly at her. "I really must have forgotten that, what with all of the mayhem and whatnot. Really makes it difficult to recall everything," he explained away with a chuckle. Of course, Calvin did not seem to be having any of that.

“What the fuck are you hiding, Zach?”

Zachary had a bit of difficulty keeping the smile under the more assertive Calvin. He seemed almost at a loss on what his next words should be, but his features betrayed no lack of confidence. "I... well, nothing really." his right arm went to the back of his neck before he consciously noticed it. He could keep a straight face all he wanted, but that habit of his really was difficult to break. His father had told him many times it's how he could tell when Zach was telling a small white lie or worried. But, well, you can't use a gesture like that as evidence for anything. Zachary had no reason to fear, not that he had done anything bad... right?

"Anyways, I haven't really spoken about that incident since it happened, so it simply slipped my mind is all."

Honestly, he expected to keep a clearer mind in all of this, but the very fact that he was in this situation proved that the trial was getting to him. Externally, he was doing okay, but internally... well, he was a mess. The arrows... well,

...You shouldn't be doing this. It so dumb and awful. Hurry up and snap out of it before you get yourself killed.

But I...

Jezebel folded her arms behind her back and turned to face Zachary. Due to the fact that their podiums were side by side, They were a confortable speaking distance from each other. Jezebel could probably reach out and touch Zachary if she chose to. “Seriously? Zachary, take a chill pill.” The clown was still smiling. She folded her hands behind her back and pivoted her hips side to side. “You so told me about 'the incident' on the stairs before we saw Marianne's body. But like, why say that you left your arrows in your room? Was the fight you and Geina had that totally bad that you wanted to hide it from everyone?” She turned to everyone else and threw out her hands. “But I know Zachary totally didn't do it. The fact that he took the arrows outside means that everyone had access to them.” She whipped her hand out from behind her back and pointed at Calvin. “You hear that Baldwin #3? Baldwin #1 totally isn't hiding anything! And we can't confirm that you're not lying to save that zlint ass of yours!”



“Um, wow!” Bliss started tapping the top of the podium with her hands. “Alright, so if Marianne was going to Shaun's room to discuss her note, it sounds like the motive notes might have held something incriminating against the killer.” She nodded and turned to face Killgood. “Could you put the light on them?”

Monokuma let out a tired sigh. “Let's just wait for the authors of those letters to show themselves and move them around. This was there motive after all.”

”We're late! We fuckin' aren't! Sigh. Tee-hee! The queen is here!”

All four carnage sisters charged into the room on horseback, weaving around the infinites.

”Just for simplicity's sake, we're going to put everyone's notes up on the jumbotron.” Willow announced most pleased with herself. ”We will display the notes, as well as who currently holds them.” the doll giggled. “We made one note for each infinite in this killing game, save Aleecia. And because these notes took the place of your gifts, you can rest assured that no one received a note that described themselves.”

“So like.” Jez cave the robot a sideways glance. “Could you also display who opened their notes prior to arriving in the court?”

”Hmm.” Willow scratched her head. ”I could, but as the queen-”

“Do as she says before you embarrass the Killgood name further.”


”Y-yes!” And so, everyone presented their motive notes. As soon as they laid them out on their podium, they could see a large monitor light up with their name, if the note had been opened or not, and what the note actually read:



“Trippendicular...” Jezebel fret her brow. “But it looks like two notes are missing.” She turned to look at Shaun. “Did you forget to bring your note, or was that the one Baldwin #4 found?”

Before Shaun could even begin to recover from the immense embarrassment of Mary's implications, he was questioned by another - this time, Noel, their very own Infinite Reporter. In the second she questioned him,, colour drained from the boys face as he realised the implications the conversation topics had upon him.
"Y-yeah, th-there were p-people around..." he took a second to compose himself, tripping over the words as he spoke them, "Sh-she talked to me i-in the br-break room, s-so there were a-a lot of p-people about..." His head turned towards the Infinite Nanny "I don't... r-remember who e-exactly was there, b-but y-you were, r-right, Bliss..?"

But before he could even address the rest of Noel's, the courtroom seemed to explode in accusations against Zach. His lie seemed something too important to have forgotten, and the subsequent excuse felt much too convenient. Not that he could say much, but even then, he had to agree wit the majority - even if he didn't want to accuse the newcomer. It had already happened once with Lucas, and in that vein he couldn't help but share the sympathies of everyone who felt betrayed.

Shaun watched, quietly, as everyone pulled their notes from whatever respective area they held them in, and read them silently once displayed upon the screen. He closed his eyes, and took a slow, shaky breath, trying to clam his nerves, but within the first few Jez had questioned him.
"I-I..." he started, stuttering profusely, feeling anxiety well up within him, "I-I-I d-don't know... I-I didn't g-go back i-into my r-room... wh-wh-which was wh-where I left i-it..." his gaze fixed on the floor, atempting to avoid all the other Infinites, "A-and I n-never ch-checked it... I-I'm sorry..."

---

Monokuma throwing in new rules surprised Felix a bit, but Jezebel agreeing with what he suggested set his mind to peace at least a little. Having shared opinions always gives you a sense of safety.

However, Max was still very much surprised; he was impressed by the overall cooperative debates. It was much better than in the previous case, something that the new rules painfully referenced back to. He found himself agreeing with everything that was being presented. The gown, the arrows, the buzzer, there was nothing for him to add. But Max actually kind of felt relieved by the fact that there were some competent people in this room when he wasn’t expecting anything from most of them.

But then, a sudden flash of uneasiness crawled over his spine. Zach spoke his first words, and they contained a lie. Even after it was pointed out by Mercy and Calvin, the archer did nothing but deteriorate the situation. Max wanted to confront Zach in the hopes to reveal the truth, but he was interrupted. This time, the overextending teddy decided it was time to reveal the notes and Max took this opportunity to take the lead after looking through all of them.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Said Max with an elevated voice accompanied by a few claps of his hands. “I’d like to confirm something regarding the notes. At first, they don’t seem relevant at all, just random trivia and facts that pertain to the infinites. Yet as Jezebel said, there are some missing, two to be precise; and one of them is a truth bullet. And said note is about a certain trickster unlike the one we've seen." He said, giving a slight look at jezebel.

"But by connecting all of the notes to the infinites we would leave only Shaun and Zach without a note that relates to them, so through the process of elimination…one of them is the trickster."

"But how are you gonna figure out who it is? there's no clear evidence that points to Shaun nor Zach." Said Felix while scratching the back of his head.

"Well, there is another clue, but it isn't very clear. It is the fact that the trickster’s note was found in Shaun’s room, but it could just as well have been placed there by the blackened, so it isn’t a solid lead.” Max placed his hands on the counter and focused his gaze onto Zach. “Yet even though it isn’t a solid clue, I Have to go with my gut and say that the note belonged to Shaun. Which means that the only possible person to be the trickster would be you, Zach." A sudden serious and intimidating glare had taken root within Max's eyes. It was as if he tried to warn Zach to choose his next words very carefully. "How fitting, that the trickster just started to lie.”

”I’m afraid I can’t let that slide, max.“ The voice of the politician echoed through the courtroom. He looked straight at the cop, his face surprisingly calm. ”I agree that the notes we are missing seem to be Shaun and Zachary indeed. However, we can not establish anything from a gut feeling. “ He shook his head in disappointment. They would not find a correct conclusion based on baseless accusations.

"But first of all, we should get everyone to agree on which note belongs to who. With that, he began to list his ideas.



After explaining his thoughts on who the notes belonged to, he continued with his other beliefs on the notes. ”The notes are important. That much I am sure of. I think it is important to establish why, as well. Perhaps the true former infinite trickster would come forward willingly if he knew the importance. “

Cyrus started his explanation: ”In this case there are three notes of importance: the note received by the killer, the note received by Shaun, and the note received by Marianne. The notes displayed on the jumbotron show who is currently in possession of the note, not who received it.“ He clarified. ”Everyone here had a note to show. This means that the lost note was one of those three. After all, only the killer had access to all three notes. The killer could’ve also taken the note of Shaun or Marianne to show here. “ He paused for a few seconds. ”This means the killer destroyed the other note, which means it was probably extremely incriminating evidence. Knowing whose note that was may therefore be pivotal to the case. And we would know, the moment the former infinite trickter comes forward.“

He smirked. ”Of course, should this infinite trickster not come forward, then that is essentially admitting the former infinite trickster is guilty, isn’t it?“

---

“Seriously? Zachary, take a chill pill.” Jezebel commanded, still smiling. She folded her hands behind her back and pivoted her hips side to side. “You so told me about 'the incident' on the stairs before we saw Marianne's body." and with that, there really wasn't much Zach could say against that. She blew him out of the water. It was fairly embarrassing, being called out so blatantly, but this much was to be expected. They needed the truth if they were going to get to the bottom of this case, and Jez was only doing what was right. That said, it wasn't his inability to lie anymore that made him open up, rather than Jez.

To Zachary, the Infinite Archer, Jez's smile almost reminded him of a mother smiling at a child throwing a silly tantrum. Her ability to handle herself in this situation while Zach's pride and guilt won out was rather upsetting to the young man, but it had also finally opened his eyes. Something terrible had happened because of him. He was at fault and it was only proper he shouldn't try to hide from it. Even if it was embarrassing. Even if it hurt. He needed to come clean.

Zach closed his eyes tightly and attempted to take control of himself.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Alright. I am not a child. This is a very serious and important debate. There is no escaping what I have done here and if I fuck up here, there's no second chance.

His eyes opened, and his gaze turned to Jezebel.

"You're right, we did speak a bit of this before we found Marianne," he admitted calmly. It was her he felt the most guilt for lying to. "I'm sorry I lied, it was very out of character and immature of me and this situation calls for none of that. It's not going to happen again."

Zachary was rather sincere with his apology, but given the state of everybody in the room and how tense the air was, perhaps some might have thought he was doing so sarcastically. Unfortunately, the bear decided it was going to interrupt, providing another clue to the case and, very unluckily, this also happened to bring even more suspicion on him.

Well... shit.

"Hrm."

He was going to remain calm. He rubbed his chin as he took the notes into his mind and while he was then accused of being the Trickster. Well, the OTHER trickster. The young archer locked eyes with the Infinite Cop after his accusation, trying his best not to cave under the pressure. But since he'd already stared death in the face, a cop really shouldn't prove to be too much. "I may have lied, but as you can see, I'm not that great at it. Me, the other Trickster? I'm good with bows and handguns, not deceit." he vehemently claimed.

Whether or not anybody bought this, Cyrus didn't seem to want to trust "instinct". In fact, Cyrus appeared to be more concerned with confirming if the Trickster was the killer or not. What was more important now? The information he knew, or seeing if somebody would reply to Cyrus' summons?

Zachary wasn't so sure. He was nervous as can be, he was fairly embarrassed at how he acted, and he most certainly wasn't even sure how things were going to turn out. Would he win or would he lose? He feared the evidence was against him and he knew of no way out. But... well, if Jez believed in him, then he'd do his best. It was the least he could do for his first friend, even if otherwise he was the worst.

When Jezebel spoke up, Calvin felt a brief moment of respite, as she immediately backed up his argument. However, her casual demeanor put him on edge, as he remembered the many questions she had peppered him with before the trial had begun. “But I know Zachary totally didn't do it. The fact that he took the arrows outside means that everyone had access to them. You hear that Baldwin #3? Baldwin #1 totally isn't hiding anything! And we can't confirm that you're not lying to save that zlint ass of yours!”

Calvin rose an eyebrow, his cheeks glowing ever so slightly. “I’m not fucking lying!” Something about Zach’s demeanor continued to put him on edge, but before he could pursue, the carnage sisters entered and revealed the contents of the motives notes. He hadn’t expected Monokuma to immediately reveal who had chosen to look at their notes, and wondered for a moment how the bear had found out. “What the hell are these good for? Seriously, this was it?” These notes, much like his own, hardly seemed to count for much. All except for that of the “Infinite Trickster”. And there were only two possible candidates. He watched as Max and Cyrus quickly painted both the trickster and Zach into a corner (though their identities may have differed) and Calvin stood back, listening.

"I'm sorry I lied, it was very out of character and immature of me and this situation calls for none of that. It's not going to happen again."

“Jesus Fuck, dude. It’s about time.” Calvin rolled his eyes, but his demeanor was relatively cool. Zach continued, denying the claims of trickster, and Calvin felt himself nod before he thought to. Despite the Archer’s deceit, something in his claims rang true for the blue-eyed blacksmith. Zach wasn’t the murderer. But what else was he hiding? He looked intently at the archer, his face open and honest, but eventually turned away, to look around at the group. He was waiting for anyone to speak up in response to Cyrus' question, but his eyes were focused on the small boy with the large scarf who seemed anxious beyond belief. It couldn't be.

Jezebel raised an eyebrow, still bearing a smile. “Gag me with a spoon, you totally got the detective one wrong. Max is so not the most like a detective, especially if he's laying down accusations on Baldwin #1” She shook her finger in Max's direction. “I think the spider one was totally for max. Like, a spider with half as many eyes would not see things very well. Other than that, your guesses look zlint. She pointed at Zachary. “And this guy, a trickster? In another life maybe, but we're really good at lying. Like, no one's figured out I use to be a hippopotamus yet.

“Wha!?” Bliss recoiled in shock.

“See how quickly I got that Betty? Zachary is so not a trickster. ” her grin widened.

“Hmph!” The nanny folded her arms.




Ice's eyes darted between Zachary and Calvin, not able to keep the annoyed frown off his face. Finally, he brought his hand up to massage his temples, messing up the bandage around his head even more. “Would the two of you please can it? Both of you need to shut you're bloody traps! You eggs are so loud that I can't even hear myself think with the two of you mouthing off to each other!” Ice groaned. “The trickster has had every opportunity to reveal themselves. We need to look at this at a different angle.” Ice looked around the room, meeting eye contact with each patient individually except for the two punks. “Does anyone remember seeing anything suspicious? Is there a testimony that could help identify the trickster? This bloody prison already has one. Jezebel, as the current Infinite Trickster, what's your take on this?”

Bliss turned to Jezebel. “Didn't Daimyon ask you earlier if you knew about there being another trickster? I don't think you answered him.”

“Like, no way!” She giggled before folding her hands under her chin. “I totally can't believe I'm not the only one.”

---

---

“Does anyone remember seeing anything suspicious?"

At that point did a lightbulb appear in Alice's head, as she quickly pulled out her E-handbook and scrolled through the truth bullets. "Was ist es? Did you figure something out?" Mercy asked the recon. "I haven't exactly seen any suspicious events before hand, but I know someone who did." Alice announced, pulling up Parker's testimony.

"Someone had thrown a wallet into the vault. From what I was told, a male infinite had lost it, searching the study. But who?"

Mercy scratched the back of her head in thought. "Well, did you get an idea of what the wallet's owner looked like? Or the person who threw it in the vault?" Alice only shook her head no in response.

The debate flowed like a rapid stream with many forks and branches but all ultimately returning to the surging river: which, in this case, was the question of the second Infinite Trickster's identity. The known trickster was not exactly helpful, although no one could blame her. Daimyon would have also certainly been surprised had he found out about another Infinite Poet. Why, he loved to think he occupied a unique position on the grand stage of life, even though it was as much a privilege as it was a prison. He had often felt he was nothing without his rhymes and his poems, that he was destined for a specific fate from the day he had entered this world.

Alas!

Pushing these thoughts away, he refocused on the court. Everyone's motive notes were presented—he apparently had Max's, though he did not give it much attention, considering his busy state these last few days. Noel had his description, a brief but entirely fitting one. Noel...

He snapped back again. Alice's words made him instinctively hit up the e-handbook again, but this time he did not find what he was looking for. He ran through his notebook as well for insurance but found nothing. And yet, the truth bullet was clear as day...

“Excuse my interruption...!” he spoke up. “Who is this Parker you speak of, Alice? I admit to absent-mindedness, but if I'm not mistaken, they have no entry in the e-handbook! Surely Dr. Killgood would be meticulous enough to keep this vital document up-to-date...”
He looked over the group of Infinites, again and again. Everyone was included in the tablet's list, except for this Parker who had apparently witnessed something...

As best he could, Shaun listened on to the coversation at hand. Cyrus made something of a show of quickly deducing all of the notes, something that impressed Shaun greatly - the Infinite Politician truly was suited to being the leader of the group. He didn't feel envious of the position, but such an intellect was something he could only dream of; the kind that went hand in hand with the dealings he no doubt made on a daily basis. Considering the group and scenario, it was hard to keep a cool head and stable mind, but no matter what, Cyrus appeared to have that. Minus his bouts of anger, of course, but he could hardly blame him, nor would he draw it up to a loss of control. It got the job done, after all.

But when things came around to Zach, his situation went from bad to worse. Shaun could feel his suspicions building with every second, strengthened as Zach failed to provide a proper excuse for lying. There was something about it he couldn't shake, no matter how the conversation progressed. There was something off. In the Court, it made no sense to lie. With everyones lives on the line, they were all focused on exposing any false comments, and subsequently the blackened. If Zach really wasn't the killer... he was just making things easier for the real one to get away with whatever scheme they had planned.

Unable to peel his eyes away from his handbook, he tried his very best to make sense of whatever clues he possibly could. Ice prompting everypne to speak on anything extra they knew spurred him to think, but no matter what he couldn't think of anything. However, when Alice brought up the testimony, right at the bottom of the Truth Bullets section of the Handbook, his nerves jumped.
"P-Parker?! Y-you mean, A-Alice Parker..?" he almost yelled, his voice still awfully quiet despite it; but when he found everyone's eyes on him from the outburst, he shrunk back in anxiety, "A-Alice... P-Parker... Th-the fifth C-Carnage Sister l-locked in the st-studies v-vault... S-so you met her t-too..?" he asked nervously, facing towards Alice.

The recon nodded in reply. "One of the other four sisters mentioned her, so my curiosity got the best of me." Alice told Shaun, looking down at the floor in thought. "She wants to help us with these cases, as long as we survive and help free her from the vault." she explained to the other infinites. "But who ever else knows about her, must've had the wallet."

"I-I see..." Shaun replied, and stood for a second, considering, "I-I don't have a-any wallet, s-so... wh-who else knew about h-her..? I-I... n-never told anyone... d-did you?"

"No, I was hoping to properly introduce her at a later time." Alice answered, shaking her head no. "I don't have a wallet either, just my pocketwatch." The recon said, pulling out said pocketwatch from her jacket pocket.

Shaun's eyes subsequently scanned over the other Infinites, taking them in one by one, but making sure not to stare for too long, quickly averting his gaze the moment he did so with any of them. If what Alice was saying was true, then... At most two other people had met with Alice Parker. And not mention, one of them had something that might have been instrumental to the case at hand. He looked back down at his handbook, reading over the testimony one more time to be sure.
"Th-then... wh-who has it..?"

”A new carnage sister? Well isn’t that a news story!“ Noel said excitedly. ”I haven’t been in any killing game with more or less than four carnage sisters.“ She recalled the other killing games she had been in. All killing games had four carnage sisters, and all of them had names that could vaguely to traced to match a famous conqueror of the past. That said, the name ‘Alice Parker’ was of course far removed from this standard formula.

Noel’s face turned bleak at the thought. ”Wait, free her? “ The reporter shrieked. ”You’re saying the murders allow for a fifth carnage sister to join the carnage? Oh hell no.“ She let out a whimper to further signify her extreme displeasure. Four carnage sister were enough trouble. Why did Shaun and Alice talk so casually about a fifth monster trying to break out of these vaults?! Did they have any idea how dangerous these robots were?

Noel thought about the situation for a second. ”It wouldn’t make sense for someone to discard their wallet, only to retrieve it later just before the trial, right?“ Noel mused. ”Either you’d keep it on you all the times, or you’d keep it hidden. So are the people who discarded and found it two different people?“ She paused, giving it more thought. ”That would mean two people would know about this vault opening…“ She had a hard time picturing that. But if there were two people involved with this wallet , that meant one of them wasn’t the murderer!

Noel decided it was worth a try. ”So, did someone here do either of those things?“ She asked. ”Did anyone here either toss away the wallet, or find it?“ It was a long shot, but if someone spoke up, maybe she’d have the scoop for this case!

Cyrus shook his head. ”I have a wallet, but I have had it on me since I arrived here.“ He took it out of his pocket for everyone to see.

Mary giggled at Shaun's blushing and embarrassment. "I was just joking around. You're a sweet herbivore, so I know you would never do that~" She put a finger to her chin.
"So the culprit struck during the time you were gone from your room. How long was it?" She then gave a surprised reaction, putting a hand to her mouth at Daimyon; she felt conflicted with what she learned.
"D-Daimy-Doo? Geez, you make me feel jealous!"

The Infinite Streamer's cute pout turned into a an annoyed scowl when she caught Alice staring at her.
"Excuse me, I didn't quite catch that," she spoke in a slightly heightened voice, her own eyes staring back in anger.
"It's rude to gossip about others behind their back, you know." She listened to Cyrus, and brought out her own note.
"You mean these papers? I still don't get what their point is! Mine talks about the cyclops for some reason."
She rubbed her brow.
"Uhh...Hey, Bliss. I think your note's not about Jezzy. Call it a girl's intuition."

Monokuma folded his arms. "Okay, which of you boneheads told an infinite about Alice Parker?"

All of the carnage sisters pointed at Geina. "Hey! I was really fuckin' pissed, alright? Alexandria ran off and didn't want to play with us anymore."

"R-really!?" the cute carnage sister giggled. "That upset you that much?"

Geina looked away "M-maybe. I ain't sayin' shit."

Nariko shuttered. "Misunderstandings make me so upset."

"If I had a honeycomb for every time..." The bear snorted. “There will be consequences for this.” The carnage sisters all shivered and backed away from their father's throne. “Anyway mister poet, as the others have said, Alice Parker is the fifth, unloved daughter of Dr. Killgood. She was named after a woman who almost had her name changed to Alice Gallo, but that's a story for another time.” the bear quielty giggled. “I'm typically not this forthcoming about my daughters, but what Alice Masson said is correct. She wants to be free, and every successfully executed blackened brings her closer to freedom. You can rest assured that she told you the truth believing that it would bring the blackened down.”



Bliss's eyes widened when Mary told her that the note might not be for Jezebel. “Really!? I mean, I think it could refer to Jezebel but...” Bliss looked at the note in front of her. “It's definitely a bit cryptic, who else could it refer to?”



Jezebel leaned on her podium, carefully looking at everyone around herself. “Hmmm... ” Her grin widened to the point that it was almost touching the corners of her eyes. “Bitchin' job Noel, You totally confirmed the wallet leaver and wallet retriever are the same person!”

“Can we really assume that?”

“Well doy! We so used it to confirm the trickster was the blackened, right?” She placed her hands on her hips. “Because like oh my god, I know who it is!” She slapped her hands together before going on. “If we consider all the tre important points of the case, like that Zachary is innocent, The trickster is not, who the notes cover, who had acess to Alice Parker, you can only come to one totally shocking, totally zlint, totally grody revelation.” She pointed across the court at a particular infinite. “And that is that barf bag Shaun is the culprit!”



“Shaun!?” Bliss's voice was practically screeching. “It can't be!”

“It so totally is, and I'm just as disgusted as you are!”

Bliss groaned and looked away from the clown. “I can't believe this without proof.”

“Don't worry, I'll totally remove all doubt dickweed here is anything but guilty!” Jez cracked her knuckles before tucking her hands behind her back. “So like the only people who could be a trickster are Zachary and Shaun. And it's totally not Zachary. So like, it's Shaun.”

“Now listen here buster!” Bliss jammed her finger down on top of her podium. “Say that all you want, but we won't blindly believe Zachary is innocent!”

“Betty wants the facts huh?” Jezebel shrugged. “If Marianne kept my buzzer, it would be so easy for him to retrieve it from Marianne's room. Once she died, that noid would have her E-handbook.”

“Eh...” Bliss recoiled.

“Zachary's arrows def left his room. Shaun could have totally stolen them from the dojo.” Jezebel tipped her head to the side, still grinning. “And the murderer totally happened in his room right? He so smuggled all of that stuff inside with his big jacket. Who would have thought to look?”

Bliss hugged herself. “But, Shaun...”

“The wallet totally had something incriminating in it, which is so why he left it with Parker.” She leaned on her podium. “But he must have known someone might talk to Parker, so he came back to retrieve it.”

Bliss closed her eyes. “Shaun wouldn't do that to Marianne...”

“That's totally why a penis breath like Shaun would do those things.” Jez's head tipped left and right. “He's so playing with your feelings, that's what a trickster does best.”

Bliss's eyes were wet when she looked at the web designer. “Shaun, you didn't do it, right?”

The debate continued beyond what Krista could contribute. She felt like she knew nothing in a room of smart people, prepared for their job. She listened quietly, chewing nervously on her bottom lip as everyone answered everyone's questions. Even as Shaun and Alice began to explain who Alice Parker was and how they met the fifth Carnage Sister, Krista just did not know what to do. Monokuma claims that Parker's testimony, in this case, could be trusted, especially if she really wants the blackened to be caught to escape this torture, but Krista couldn't trust the carnage sister herself. It was just too convenient...

And then Jezabel began her dirty accusations. In her attempt to protect her friend, Jezabel pinned everything that could have happened on Shaun, despite it just not being possible...


Krista gripped the podium hard, her knuckles turning white from the strain. She looked directly at Jezabel at this point, almost challenging the trickster. "I believe in Shaun! He couldn't have done it!" It just couldn't be him!

"Now... let's begin with Marianne's room. When Shaun and I checked her room earlier, we found nothing; no handbook, no note, no buzzer. And we found absolutely nothing in her room, so the buzzer found in Shaun's room had to be carried by Marianne herself! Shaun couldn't have gone into her room without her permission or handbook right? But Shaun didn't even have his own handbook until now!" Off to a strong start... right? But onto the wallet... now that was something Krista knew how to argue.

"The truth bullet even says so! Parker knew Shaun already, but the truth bullet states that the person that COLLECTED the wallet was unknown! A MALE unknown! And unless Zachary will tell us that he's met PArker before, it can easily be him that collected the wallet!" Krista gave a quick beam towards Shaun at this point, giving the poor guy a thumbs up. "Two! Even if you're still doubting that irrefutable evidence, I have another thing for you! Ever since we found Shaun at the staircase, he's been with me the entire time, and we never went anywhere near the study!"

"Aaaand three! Isn't it possible that Geina told someone else about Parker too? I mean, if she was willing to break the rules and talk to Alice about her sister, then surely she would tell anyone else that she likes!" Krista then crossed her arms over her chest, feeling satisfied but not quite done yet.

"Buuut~" Elias interjected, Krista's head immediately snapping in the puppet's direction in surprise. "He could still be the killer. You haven't refuted that~"

"Of course I have! Shaun was attacked when I found him. Mercy can even confirm that the thing in the syringe is anaesthesia! He was attacked and I was with him the entire time after-"

"And what if he was faking his attack? All you gotta do is pretend to have a silly little headache, right?"

"Well... maybe... but there isn't any proof to suggest that he faked his attack! Look at him now, he's still pale as hell! Shaun isn't the type to lie about things that happen to him, unlike some." While she didn't mean to be too harsh on Zachary for omitting his run-in with Geina, she still had to prove her point. "I found him lying face down on the stairs like he was drugged then pushed from the top, that's a lot of thought into something that is faked."

Still... not quite satisfied. Her eyebrows furrowed. There was something that Jezabel had said during her accusation against Shaun... She turned back to the trickster, still concerned.

"But... Jezabel... I want to ask you something... You said that Shaun could have stolen the arrows from the dojo right...? But didn't Zach already tell us that they were in his room? He never confirmed whether they were in the dojo after his... thing with Geina... so... how do you know they were in the dojo?" She ended it on an unsure note. Did she miss something, or was that a slip...?

---

Max knew that going with your gut was a risky move, one that could very easily turn out for the worse. But Max is a risky man, and he knew that risks needed to be taken in order to advance. And this risk turned out to be quite fruitful.

Cyrus may have neglected Max, but although their methods may have differed, Cyrus was aiming for the same goal as Max; Cornering the Trickster, putting pressure on them, and ultimately letting them reveal themselves. He was quite impressed by Cyrus’ attempt, although it was to be expected that the infinite politician had a way with words.

But then Zachary decided to speak up, first apologizing to jezebel, and then Peering at Max. Their intense glares must have probably seemed very intimidating to the others, it at least daunted Felix enough to take a step back. But in the moment, Max was solely focused on Zachary, who refuted Max’s claims with such confidence that it almost convinced Max. In any case, this was going nowhere, and the last thing that Max wanted, was to stall the trial.

The next topic that was brought up by Alice surprised Max, he found the truth bullet about parker’s testimony quite weird, as there was no parker here. But the fact that she was a carnage sister who’s goal was to get as many people killed so she can escape!? It spelled trouble, and it concerned Max even more that Alice and Shaun talked about it so casually; as if they would help this parker.

“I would like to meet this…Parker after we finish the trial. And I do not have a wallet on me, there is really no need for one while recovering in Axis Mundi.” He pulled his pockets inside-out to show that it contained nothing.

“Same, it’d be weird to keep it in your pockets while you’re in a hospital bed anyway.” Said Felix while giving a grinning glance towards Cyrus.

Both Felix and Max sighed in response to Monokuma and the sister’s tiring commentary, but that sigh quickly turned to disappointment as Jezebel desperately tried to protect Zachary; they had been pretty close, but this was just embarrassing. Anyone could find the flaws in jezebel’s arguments, which Krista neatly summarized. All Max could do, was sigh and shake his head in disappointment.

“Jezebel, what is it you're trying to accomplish? Throwing these wild accusations and flawed arguments at us does nothing but embarrass you. Is it to protect Zachary? I admire you looking out for your friends, but you are only worsening his position right now.” Max was talking a bit like how a disappointed dad would talk to his kid, but he now looked at Zachary again.

“And you. Are you really that pathetic? to let a woman cover for you because you refuse to man up?”

---

Contrary to Zach's belief mere moments ago, things had started to get even more heated during this trial. How were people even capable of registering everything being thrown back and forth? These people weren't human! Well, that's probably what the average person thought of all Infinites, now that he thought about it. Either way, he was having a difficult time processing everything, but Jez was doing all the heavy lifting for him, he needed to do something. On top of that, he couldn't disagree with that cop calling him pathetic if he didn't say anything at all. It was time. Zachary would go ahead and finally be of use to the case and to Jez specifically, so she wouldn't have to carry him through this.

"Actually, the arrows were---"





Jezebel giggled confidently, completely unmoved by max's jab at her “naivety.” “Oh gosh, where do I start with this one?” She used one hand to prop up her head and the other to tap the top of her podium. “Mercy and I both didn't believe Zachary. I totally think this trial shot his nerves, but why he said something untrue we can worry about later. Mercy said that she saw him get into a scuffle with Geina, and I so remember Geina telling me about the event as well. Aren't you suspicious of him because you think he lied? Or do you think Mercy is also lying? Like how many people need to be liars to make you right? It's all a bit grody. like your logic.”



“So shaun was injected with some junk, won't refute that.” She folded her hands under his chin. “But like, do you know how long it takes for that stuff to work? Could he have injected himself and thrown the syringe somewhere? I bet it was found near his body, wasn't it?” She shrugged. “I hope you're not as amateur with that violin as you are with this.” She grinned playfully.



Jezebel looked at the carnage sisters out of the corner of her eye. “Geina, did you tell anyone else about Parker?”

“No fuckin' way! I'm gunna eat shit over just telling one of you ass holes about that! I wouldn't do shit to help any of you after what you did to Alexandria!”

"This is em-bear-assing..." Monokuma held a paw over his black eye. "You can rest assured she didn't reveal any more critical information to anyone else. Nor did the other sisters."

Geina looked around the court. “Wasn't it obvious I only told Alice Masson?”

Jezebel rubbed one of her cheeks with her index finger, rolling her eyes as she did so.“Not to Krista.”

“That was unessisary but true.”Nariko shuttered.



“This is so my favorite part of your retort. ” She was giggling. “So like, if Shaun prepared Marianne's death before hand, her buzzer is totally the last thing he'd need. With her dead, couldn't he just like walk into her room and take the buzzer with her handbook? Then he could drop it by her body before using the buzzer and junk. All he'd need to know is that I gave it to her. ” Jez broke out into laughter. “Blond is so your natural hair color isn't it? ”



“What's left to cover? This retort is totally as flimsy as a rubber chicken.” she cracked her knuckles. “Can I hear what Parker actually said? Is there a way to do that?”

"Well." The bear lifted a paw to his chin. "I believe Alice saved the entire discussion, so you should have acess to it on your E-handbook."

Jezebel decided to play back Alice Parker's testimony.

“He did not like being looked at.” She whispered. “I only knew it was a man by the sound of his voice. Perhaps I should have tried to look at him, but I was hoping to gain his trust by remaining in hiding as he left.” She laughed like a wraith.

"I knew it!” Jezebel was practically dancing behind her podium. "You see it right? She never got to see him, so it could still totally be Shaun.” Jez reached into her uniform and pulled out a device. "No trickster goes anywhere without THIS!” She held up the device. "It's the voice leviathan 9000! With it, anyone can totally sound like anyone! And so...” She pointed at Shaun. "Shaun's the other trickster, so he totally has one!”