---

---

The first thing everyone did was look at the Monokuma file. The victim was Faith, who died due to strangulation. the only notable marks on her body were the ones on her neck, but the monokuma file confirmed there were traces of MONO-SNOOZ in her system. A "common" sleep aid that can be found in everyone's medicine cabinet

Jezebel's room was quickly investigated to see what might have happened. The door in particular was closely observed. There was a small peice of tape stuck to the bottom of it. Furthermore, the door has a standard door knob that needs to be turned in order to open. The door has a solid lock to keep intruders out, but it does open from the inside, even while locked.

There was also a dinner scene set up. The room had a table with two chairs set up in it, one of which Faith had been seated on. There was also a knife taped to the underside of the table. Closer inspection revealed the knife to be a prop blade. It sinks all the way into the hilt, and the blade itself was made out of chrome covered plastic. Otherwise, it was hard to find much else out at this location.

The trap location where a cabinet came down and nearly crushed someone was also investigated. The cabbinet had been loaded up with heavy tools and rigged to fall when tripping a wire. There was some fishing line going from an eyebolt on the top corner of the dresser through another eye bolt which tied off at a final eye bolt across the bottom of the stairs. This created a potentially deadly trap that nearly cost the infinites their lives.

Lastly, there was the bottle of MONO-SNOOZ in the break room where Jezebel was found. Before any other evidence could be collected, Monokuma commanded everyone to go to roller coaster and take that familiar trip into the courtroom.

---

---

“Alright guys, I’ve got a bit of a secret for ya.” Monokuma was shifting side to side on his throne. “Word on the street is, if you can figure out who the killer is, only they will be punished. On the flipside, if you aren’t able to figure it out, everyone else will be punished, and the blackened will be discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health!” Monokuma sighed. “This is the fourth trial right? I bet it feels like you’ve been doing this for years now. And this is just one of many, many killing games.” He hugged himself. “It’s been a long time since a game has had a fourth trial, and I can count on one paw the number of games that went beyond that. I wonder how you’ll do this time.”

Emily made a noizy coughing sound. “Well, I think we should start talking about the room. I mean.” Emily looked down at her hands. “This feels like a classic locked room mystery…”

“Wait a flabbin’ minute!” Ice pointed at Emily. “Weren’t you the last one in the room?”

Emily’s body tensed up. “Y-yes? No!? Apparently not?”

Max fret his brow. “It was curious to see you outside the room, being that you said you were going to remain with Jezebel.”

“I-I was, but that noise.”

Bliss placed a finger on the side of her chin. “The trap right? I was a little startled when it went off, but none of us dared leave Zachary alone.”

Emily cleared her throat again. “Yes, it was the trap. I left the room and managed to do so without Jezebel’s e-handbook. I didn’t realize what had happened until later, when we were all trying to get back into the room.”

Ice squinted his eyes. “That sounds pretty fishy.”

Cyrus pounded his podium. When Ice looked at him, he simply adjusted his glasses, and refrained from looking at anyone. “It’s too early to point the finger at anyone. Let’s focus on the nature of the mystery and work on suspects when we have more to work with.” Cyrus looked at Emily. “That was not Faith that was carried into Jezebel’s room, correct?” Emily nodded. “Then Faith was taken in, their clothes swapped…” Cyrus shook his head. “One mystery at a time. Faith was present when their bodies were discovered, so she was moved in or willingly entered Jezebel’s room.” Cyrus looked to everyone. “Any ideas how that’s possible?”

Bliss turned to look at Zachary. “Um, so if you don’t mind me asking. What happened to you two?”

_{No headers this time, sorry!}

Henry had heard from his sister about the court and past trials, but she had forgotten to mention the way they actually get there. So the pianist did get motion sickness for a moment, but he shook it off to focus. Though Killgood's words did make him nervous.

He was thinking of speaking up first about some of the evidence, but it seemed they were going over the body's location first.

“I don't think Faith would willingly enter Jez's without good reason.” Alice spoke up. “As far as I know, their relationship has been...shaky up till now. So unless she had an ulterior motive,”

“Her being moved into the room seems more of a possibility.” Henry added. “Miss Lambert may have been present when their bodies were discovered. But what about during the investigation, she wasn't there at the time, was she?” he asked. He then glanced over at the archer and jester. “I was kinda hoping to start by asking this, but do you remember anything before you were knocked out?”

Infinites argued back and forth over Daimyon's head. Standing on his podium silently, he switched his attention back and forth between his notebook and Monokuma File, thinking, trying to piece an image together. One line in the former flashed before his mind's eye: ‘Had breakfast with Faith. She's a feisty, ambitious young woman blessed with wonderful imagination. Spend more time together?’ He had written these words shortly after he had seen Faith for the last time, in the morning.

Now she was dead.

Somehow, this struck him harder than he would have admitted. He had barely known her: that note was his first mention of her in a while. But it was a note of promise, a new seed of hope in the overbearing despair. They would have gotten along swimmingly, he was sure of it. They could have become really good friends. But Faith was no more, her last mark on this world a murder mystery they were now forced to solve. So be it, the poet told himself. He would find his hope in bringing her killer to justice.

“There are many puzzle pieces floating in my head right now, struggling to fit together. I think we should find the corners first,” he started once there was a lull in the debate. “Cyrus is right—entering the room is one corner. I don't know how someone could have entered a room that wasn't theirs...but I do have an idea on who could have had the opportunity.” He held a dramatic pause, partly for effect, partly for a quick glance at his notebook. “I was one of the people watching over Jezebel after they were found in the break room. Until I was called away. Then, she was left alone...with Emily,” he pointed at the woman. “The next time I saw you was back at the room, which has become the crime scene. I take no pleasure in accusing anyone, especially not you, but...you're the only one who could've done this. You even had her handbook! Yes... M-my memory is not very good, but I distinctly remember that I used Jezebel's handbook to get her back into her room. Then I left it in the room. With you! With it, you could've moved in and out freely and, and...you could've gotten others in there as well. How, or why Faith in particular, I don't know. But this is the first corner.”

As the others were processing his accusation, he added in a lower voice, “Of course, I almost got murdered while I was out, but that's a different piece. A different corner.”

Lucy shook her head to Henry’s suggestion about Faith. “That’s a very dangerous assumption to make. It is true that Faith didn’t like Jezebel much towards the end, but they were friends in the past. It’s possible she entered the room to talk things out. Barring that, she could have entered her room with the intent to kill her. There are plenty of reasons Faith could have willingly entered Jezebel’s room. We should be focusing on what the physical evidence tells us.” Lucy was more accepting of Henry’s next statement. “I did not notice her either. So it’s possible she had already swapped with Jezebel at that time.”

Henry then tried to get Jezebel and Zachary to say something.

“I remember like… Talking with Zachary.” Jezebel was still dressed up as faith. “We were totally having coffee just like we do every morning. We were just talking and junk, and like, I woke up under my bed dressed in Faith’s clothes. This totally feels like a dream.”

Meanwhile, things on the other side of the court room were heating up. Ice gave Daimyon a nod. “See?” He looked back at Emily. “Even the poet knows you are the only one who could have done it! You used the handbook to get out of the room, drag faith in, swapped their outfits, and committed murder!”

“Mph!” Emily took a deep breath. “Well, I didn’t expect Daimyon to metaphorically roll over on me so fast. But considering I nearly killed him after doing that literall-”

“So you set the trap too!”

Emily’s face turned red. “No! I did no such thing! I was talking about the time I almost landed on him!” She groaned. “Look. The handbook was left in the room, just like Daimyon said. It was in the exact same spot when we returned. Because like I said, I left the room without it, locking me and everyone else out of the room! I was only able to open the door because for whatever reason, it can be opened from the inside without the handbook!”

Ice scoffed. “Or so you claim, pitchfork! There’s nothing proving everything you say isn’t a lie!”

The sound of Cyrus’s glasses cracking caused Ice to flinch. “…But we should not overlook any possibilities.” The politician folded his arms. “It is possible that this entire crime was orchestrated by Emily, But then why did she change their clothes? Why kill someone in a room only she had access to? We should consider all possibilities, because there are a lot of items in that room that don’t make sense yet.” Cyrus addressed everyone present. “Can anyone think of any other way the door might have been opened?”

Max was scrolling through his own handbook when he looked up. “Oh.” He stood up. “Does anyone know what the murder weapon was yet?”

Lucy winced. “I would guess some fine wire was used to strangle her, looking at the bruising. But we didn’t find anything in Jezebel’s room. But their was hay all over the floor, which made finding something like that difficult.”

“That’s what I thought. Just making sure.” Max continued to browse.

Henry nodded in understanding when listening to Lucy and Jezebel. He did smile a bit when the former agreed with him on Faith being absent. “Apologies for the wild guess, a miscalculation on my part.” He said to the prodigy, and turned back to Jez. “Curious. I can only assume your drinks were possibly drugged with the sleeping pills we found, if there was nothing else.” The pianist thought. Though his attention had turned to Daimyon throwing his own accusation at Emily, stating that only she could have done it. “H-Hey, can we not jump to conclusions until we make sense of this? Please??” Henry spoke up, a bit nervously when he noticed the argument heating up.

“Welcome to the 8th circle of Hell.” Alice half-joked to her brother, trying to calm Ice down. Both siblings jumped a bit when they heard Cyrus' glasses crack, but oddly, the politician didn't seem angry. The recon was a bit confused, but that wasn't her main concern at the moment, he had asked if anyone knew another way the door could have been opened.

“Wasn't there some tape at the bottom of the door?” Henry asked. “Could it have jammed the door to where it wouldn't close? I haven't really figured out how that would work though...”

Jezebel rolled her eyes. “Like, totally. No other way we could have been poisoned. We did eat anything else.”

Ice looked to Alice. “That means that the pill bottle was placed beside Jezebel! At the time, we thought that she had overdosed, but that clearly isn’t the case…”

Emily’s eyebrow raised. “Tape on the door? Jam?” She looked around the room. “Did anyone get a closer look at that?”

“I did!” Bliss spoke up. “Um, the tape was pretty thin. It was wrapped in an oval, sticky side out, and placed on the bottom of the door. Kind of like how you would stick one of those fake bows to a Christmas present. It was just a small piece maybe an inch or so wide. I only noticed it because there was some hay stuck to it. I don’t think it would have jammed the door, the gap was too big.”

Cyrus removed his glasses. “There was a gap under the door?”

Bliss nodded. “It was pretty narrow. I can’t even fit my finger through.”

_{This is too short for me AAAAAAAA-}

At least he was getting somewhere! "Okay, does anyone know what could have fit through the gap?" Henry asked, silently wishing he had a spare pen or pencil to write all this down in his journal.

"Only thing I can think of is a blade. What about that prop knife we found?" Alice suggested.

Bliss lifted a finger to her lip. "Well, It might fit, but..." She raised her eyebrow. "How would that be used to open the door?"

Daimyon did not speak again for a while. He was deep in deliberation, constructing scenes in his head only to demolish and reconstruct them at a moment's notice. He was trying to piece it all together, driven by a desperate want to be useful—having read back several pages in his notebook in an attempt to find more information, he was reminded again and again how his survival was not his achievement. Case to case, he was carried by those smarter than him, only to suffer grisly fates while he, somehow, survived. Maybe he was not worth enough to kill. There was some twisted relief in that thought and an equally twisted desire to prove it wrong. He might never have the material knowledge to solve these cases, but he has always had one thing he could fall back on.

His creativity.

“A blade!” he cried out, having kept half an ear on the conversations around him. “How cliche! It is as clear to me as few things are that we are dealing with a creative killer here. Someone who would have used everything but a knife to end a life. No, I think...I think the string—I mean, the tape is what we need to focus on.” He paused to compose himself. He was naturally inclined to rhyme his speech when he was excited. “Emily was the only one who had Jezebel's handbook in our time frame so naturally I suspected her...but ah! What if our frame itself is hopelessly limited? Outside the box, we have to look outside the frame...”

“Just spit it out already!” Ice slammed on his table.

“...what if the killer prepared the murder before we found both of them unconscious?”

There was a silence. Then Ice spoke again, still as angry but now also confused, “What?”

“I hadn't seen either of them since breakfast by then. Others hadn't either, apparently, since they were somehow drugged out of all our sights. Which means...all of that time before we had found them is of interest! Not to mention that this killer, that they also could've had Jezebel's handbook at this time!”

“So you're suggesting that our killer visited her room way before Faith was killed,” Cyrus chimed in, his expression contemplative. “I guess it is plausible. They could have done whatever in there, including...somehow...keeping the door...ah!”

“The tape!” Realisation seemed to have struck the two men at the same time. But Cyrus' mind worked faster. “Of course! That tape had to have held something—something that let the killer open a locked door. Argh, but what was it...” he fumed, his hand tightening around his hapless glasses.

“Well, what does it matter! Be open-minded, Cyrus! Now we know that the killer could have gone in and out any time they wanted!” Daimyon continued.

“So that's how I could go back without the handbook...” Emily added. “But wouldn't we have noticed that something was stuck to the bottom of the door when we, uh, first brought Jezebel back to her room?”

Daimyon quickly reasoned, not wanting his thunder stolen, “Well...it could've been very hidden! Or we could've been very blind! Either way, just think of the possibilities. This means that we must—”

“—think about a shit ton more options!” Ice interrupted. “You damn poet, can't you just keep your mouth shut if you can't bring us forward? We don't even know what the murder weapon is, and now you're saying they could've brought in literally anything from any—”

“What if it was the tape?”

“Fucking excuse me?”

“She was strangled, wasn't she? Or maybe it was some hay...”

“You lost yer damn mind...”

"No, string right." Denis had been quiet up until now, But he seemed to be energized by the discovery. "Killer use invisible string!"

Max turned to look at him. "Hmmm? What do you mean by invisible string?"

"Kind you fish with!" He pretended to cast a rod out towards the center of the courtroom. "Hard to see string. Fool fishes. Fool Daimyon and Emily."

Lucy leaned against her podium with her elbows. "Yea! That would be really hard to notice. It's not like the lighting is even that great."

"Then it's settled." Cyrus looked at everyone. "Emily is no longer the sole suspect in this case. The killer could have entered Jezebel's room well before Emily and even Daimyon got there."

Ice folded his arms. "Well it doesn't mean it's not her!"

Cyrus only sighed in response. "That is true, but knowing everyone's ali-"

"Wait." Max stood up.

The politician looked more and more tired with everyone who spoke. "Yes, Max?"

"I don't understand the crime scene at all!" He threw out his arms. "Does no one find it extremely suspicious that there was a candle lit dinner set up, with a knife taped under the table?"

Jezebel raised her hand. "Yea, Like, I can explain that." Even with the makeup on, the bags under Jezebel's eyes were visible. "So like, I was going to surprise Zachary with a dinner and junk. And like, I thought it would be funny to stab him with a prop blade at some point." A grin crossed her face as the truth came out. "But like, that wouldn't have been too tasteful looking back at it."

Max closed his eyes. "It wasn't." He opened his eyes again. "And I take it you have no idea why Faith and you swapped clothes?"

"Like, I wasn't really awake when it happened."

Max gave the Jester a sideways glance. "Just making sure it wasn't something you two planned in advance."

"We weren't exactly on speaking terms."

"That is really weird though." Lucy held her chin. "It doesn't really make sense for the killer to swap their clothes. Unless..." She looked at monokuma. "Hey, that mono snooze stuff. How does it work?"

"My patented MONO-SNOOZE medicine puts everyone who eats it into a deep sleep for a few hours." the bear chuckled. "You don't always wake up feeling refreshed, but you do wake up! Well, unless you get strangled first. But it doesn't matter how much you have. Everyone falls asleep and wakes up at about the same time. Even things like your weight don't really matter."

"Then I don't see why the killer switched their clothes." Lucy groaned. "Why even bring Faith into this? I'm just saying, they had access to Jezebel. Do we even know how they got Faith in there?"

“Vendetta? Impractical joke? Incrimination?” Alice thought to herself. “It's hard to say. Either Faith was lured into Jez's room, or if the pills are something to go by, she was drugged then got moved to the room. Or if Lucy is onto something, she could've been attacked without knowing.”

Henry was trying to think of where someone could get some fishing wire when he overheard Cyrus mention alibis. Maybe that could help them out? “You need alibis, right?” He looked over to the politician. “Well, around 8:00, Sis, Ice, Daimyon, Faith, and I had breakfast together. It was...honestly awkward, concidering. Daimyon left thirty minutes later.” The pianist shrugged. “I wasn't really doing much when Miss Rishima had called everyone to the break room, until Max and Denis asked me to assist them in investigating around past 9:00. When the trap a few minutes later nearly had us killed, Denis and I stayed behind to guard the scene 'till the other two got back. That was about it for me, until later on.” He explained, then looked over to his sister. “I have been meaning to ask where you were at the time, though.”

“Well for the most part, me and Ice waited back in his room until things died down after Jez and Zachary were found unconscious.” Alice explained.

“Oh, okay. Wait, what-” Henry was about to ask her something else, but he didn't want to get slapped or something for it, so he just kept quiet.

“Invisible string...it's too much of a MacGuffin for me to accept! If Faith truly was strangled, then a string like that could have done it all: entry, exit, murder. But alas! We have to consider everything,” Daimyon pondered the spy's idea. As plausible as it was, surely this case was more complicated than a piece of string. He hoped it was, at least, for if it was not, then they were well and truly screwed. Anyone could have possessed a string like that; the poet had a sinking suspicion that it was available in the hospital somewhere.

“I apologise for adding further questions and confusion to this...mess of a case, but I can't quite wrap my head around the timeline here,” he added somewhat later. “The medicine has a surprisingly strict duration, that much we know. We also know that Faith had to take it after Jezebel and Zachary—I mean, she was there when we found the two asleep, wasn't she? Was she? Truth be told, I hadn't seen her whatsoever after breakfast...” He wanted to go much further with this train of thought, but there were simply too many holes, too many missing rails for it to do anything but sputter to a sad halt.

“I did leave early,” he said, his eyes on his notebook for certainty, when a young man whose name he had not yet had the chance to learn brought up their breakfast together. “If you are keen on knowing, I felt a terrible torrent of guilt close in around my mind, suffocating my chances at socialisation. I spent the next hour riding out that torrent...quite painfully, in my room. After the announcement, well, you've all seen me! First I...well, should I say, protected Jezebel in her room with Emily, then I went off with the dashing officer to investigate. It was then that tragedy almost struck! In the form of a dresser, barrelling down at us from the staircase. After that, I was running around, quite rattled mind you, gathering everyone up back to Jezebel's room until the discovery. All my time should be...accounted for, I hope.” He took a small bow after his monologue. “Naturally, I can vouch for everyone who has been with me during these times. Regrettably, I know nought of anyone else. Isaiah and...Alice, was it? Did you really stay in one room for all of this? Were you...not moved to action by the madness around you?”

Ice rolled his eyes at Daimyon “What? And end up being the victim in one of these crazy cases? What do you take me for? Some kind of ginkgo biloba?”

“Are we ready for alibis already?” Bliss raised a finger to her lips. “There’s still a lot we don’t know. I mean, sure, we probably don’t need to know why the killer dressed up Faith but…” The nanny corrected her posture. “Wait! Did the killer dress her up?”

Cyrus turned to look at Bliss. “There’s no evidence to suggest either one dressed up Faith.” he raised a hand to his chin. “Up until now we’ve all assumed the killer dressed her up, but you don’t think that’s correct?”

“It explains a lot more if we assume Faith decided to cosplay on her own.” She rested her arms on the podium. “She wasn’t on speaking terms with Jezebel, but they were good friends before coming to this killing game. If she somehow knew that Jezebel was in trouble, doesn’t it make sense that she might try to defend her?”

Max adjusted his tie. “So you’re suggesting that she snuck into Jezebel’s room at some point, swapped clothes, downed some mono-snooze, all to sacrifice herself for Jezebel?”

“Doesn’t that make more sense than the killer swapping their outfits? The killer’s original target was Jezebel! If it wasn’t for all the makeup, they probably wouldn’t have been fooled. But her outlandish outfit made such a ruse possible.”

Jezebel’s only response to lower her head.

Lucy nodded. “I have to agree with Bliss’s assessment. It clears up everything, and explains how the killer was able to carry Faith into the room: they didn’t. She walked in there all on her own.” She folded her arms. “That also means that she must have entered the room after Emily and Daimyon left. Did anyone see Faith around that time?”

Denis shook his head. “She there when Jezebel Zachary discovered. Left after.”

“So we need Alibis for the time between nine and ten.” Cyrus looked at everyone. “What were you doing around that time? Noel invited Bliss, Lucy, and myself to play cards in Zachary’s room, so we’re all accounted for. But Lucy did leave early.”

Ice groaned. “You know what Alice and I were doing. We can vouch for each other.”

Denis pointed at himself with his thumb. “Henry and me help Max! Like Daimyon!”

Max nodded. “We left them to keep watch over the scene while Daimyon, Emily, and myself got everyone together to investigate the trap.”

Bliss put a finger on her chin. “So the only people who were ever alone for that time were Daimyon, Max, Emily, and Lucy.”

“Actually…” At long last, George decided to speak. “I invited the li’l lass into my room. I reckon she left your card game at about half past nine?”

Cyrus nodded. “So she went straight to you. So that leaves Emily, Daimyon, and Max.”

“I reckon you can take Emily off there too.” The cowboy said with a chuckle. “I think Y’all will agree with me that this ol’ crime had to be set up while the archer and clown were taking a snooze, right? Well milk tank here spent the night with me, and I’d rather nobody look too deep into that.”

Emily’s eyes shifted side to side. “He’s just new, and he had questions, a-and, and…”

George put his hand on his face. “Quit yer blubberin’! I wouldn’t touch you with a cattle prod, let alone one of my spurs!”

“I was with Emily from eight to nine too.” Bliss said. “So she really couldn’t have interacted with Jezebel’s room before then.”

Max nodded. “That’s fair. If Lucy was with George before the trap went off, and Emily couldn’t have set up her room, then that leaves Daimyon and myself.” Max turned to look at Daimyon. “First I’d like to thank everyone for helping move this trial along. I doubt I could have solved it by myself. And as a police officer, it brings me an immeasurable feeling of satisfaction when the unjust are rightfully punished.” He fret his brow. “I was training in the Dojo this morning, I think that Denis can attest to that? He spotted me this morning and we trained until Emily discovered Jezebel and Zachary.”

“He right.” Denis smiled.

“It just all makes so much sense now. We all thought it was Emily because of how much she interacted with Jezebel’s room, but Daimyon was there right along side her. Before the morning announcement went off, he must have rigged that trap at the stairs and set up Jezebel’s room. They both used fishing line, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that our murderer made the trap as a diversion. Because he was in the room with Emily, he was able to make sure Emily didn’t notice the setup on the door.” Max’s voice gradually grew louder. “You never wanted to kill anyone with the trap, it was just a diversion. With everyone rushing around to investigate the trap, you invited yourself into Jezebel’s room to strangle her to death, only you killed the wrong victim. With Emily as your scape goat, you were confident that no one would suspect you.” Max’s finger shot out towards Daimyon. He was practically screaming. “Daimyon Londe, you twisted son of a bitch! What moves a poet to murder!?”

HASHAHAHAHAHAH

IGNORE THIS

Daimyon nodded along and made eager notes as the Infinites brought up their alibis one after the other. As they spoke, the poet crossed their name off his list. They were making good progress, he thought, narrowing down the list of possible culprits quickly. Soon there were only four...three, two...one suspect left. One name left uncrossed.

His.

“W-what? There's no...way...” he murmured, drowned out by an angry Max shouting at him. ‘Twisted son of a bitch’, the officer called him. Murderer. He heard his every word but could not comprehend any of them. He glanced up for the first time from his notebook and immediately wished he hadn't. Everyone's eyes were on him. He sank back into the book in a desperate reach for protection, but the spotlight remained, burning his back. He was no longer the swallow, flapping its wings gracefully in the light—he felt like a startled cockroach, its primal reflexes urging it to scamper away from the blinding light. And he would have run, was there any place to. He would have pinched himself, woken up, forgotten everything.

There was nowhere to run. In his notebook, his own name stared back at him. He looked up, into Max's eyes. He was worryingly pale. “I...didn't do it,” he muttered, repeating once more in a stronger voice, “I didn't do it.”

“No one else could've. Did you really think you'd get away with it?” Noel said, her arms crossed. “To be honest, though, this was one development I didn't expect. I—”

“—I didn't do it!” shouted Daimyon, banging on his trial desk with pathetic weakness. “How could have I? I-in half an hour...cupboard's too heavy anyway...I, I don't know where to get strings o-or how to use them or where the rooms are or how to get in or who's cosplaying what or—”

“Can we vote now? Fucker's gonna collapse of a heart attack soon,” Ice shrugged.

“No! I didn't do it!” Daimyon felt death's wind blow past him as the man spoke. He struggled to breathe, having to hold himself upright. From the corner of his eye he saw Monokuma, reaching for a hammer with its paws. It was now or never. “None of this makes sense! I had no reason...no reason at all to kill anyone here! I...barely knew Jezebel, but I've noted that she and Zachary were together, and why would have I broken that? And Faith...I wanted to be her friend, just today! Look, it's all here!” He turned the notebook towards the others, not caring that they were all too far to read it. “Look at me, while you're looking! A stronger wind would blow me right away. How could've I moved the cabinet that almost killed us? Where could've I gotten string? The knowledge to use it in any way other than to tie my shoes? How could I hurt someone who was defenceless—how could I hurt anyone?” He felt pathetic, firing off one weakness after the other, but he did not care about that. He cared about the disapproving look in his fellow Infinites' eyes—they did not believe him. His voice cracked, and his eyes welled up. “Please, my friends...I'm a poet, nothing less, nothing more. I'm not a murderer.”

“As I was saying...this is an unlikely development, precisely because you don't have the...uh, constitution of a murderer,” Noel asserted. “But I know you, Daimyon. You might be weak but you're more competent than you let on. With enough planning, you could've done this...unfortunately.”

“Planning? But I haven't...I haven't planned anything! That's it!” He wiped his eyes, only to have them clouded by more tears. “I couldn't have done it, because I haven't planned anything!”

Cyrus shook his head. “And how exactly do you plan to prove that?”

“There's nothing in here about planning anything!” Once again, Daimyon turned his notebook to the rest, frantically leafing through its pages.

“Why would you need that notebook to plan? Could've done it in your head, or on some scrap paper.”

“N-no, not in my head, no... And I use no other paper but this notebook. But even if I did, I'd have to have it with me right now, and, and,” he quickly tapped the pockets of his jacket and trousers, “I don't!”

“Daimyon, stop. You're not making any sense,” Noel said.

“He's squirming, like a mouse caught in a trap. They all act the same,” added Max, ready to bring that hammer down on the culprit's head. “I suggest we vote.” General sounds of agreement came from the Infinites.

Max turned to Monokuma and was about to ask the bear officially, but Daimyon spoke first. “No!” he shouted, rather. “Y-y-you don't understand, I'm, I'm...

“...I'm an amnesiac.”

“What?!” came Noel's voice amidst the chorus of surprised ones. “So I was right on the—”

“Okay, hold on, everybody,” Cyrus quickly took control of the situation, turning to the poet. “To me this sounds like a desperate excuse, but I'm willing to hear you out. Speak and speak quickly.”

“I...haah...I'm an amnesiac,” Daimyon repeated, in a dizzying mix of disbelief and relief. He had never said these words out loud to others before, but suddenly they started flowing freely, as if an uncorked wine after decades of ageing. “Anterograde amnesiac...total amnesiac. I don't remember the past and I can't remember the present. Whatever you tell me right now, I will forget in minutes. This is why this notebook is my most treasured possession,” he held the book to his heart, “it's my memory. Everything about you, all of you, that I want to remember, is in here. Everything I want to do or have done is in here. Whatever isn't...well, it might as well not have happened, as far as I'm concerned.”

“I can't believe you'd hold a secret like that for so long...” Max said through gritted teeth.

“I...I wouldn't be standing here today if I did. It is my greatest weakness, a disability that towers above all my imperfections. It makes me the...perfect victim and the worst murderer at the same time. To commit such an atrocity, I would've had to plan for days...write pages into this notebook about it, for I have no other. I offer it to anyone to page through, front to back...you won't find anything of the sort. It's all written in pen, which I can't and couldn't have erased. More than that, I would've had to hold onto my murder notes until the moment I committed it, and then beyond it to keep my story straight. It's...ha, what a silver lining. It makes murdering someone an almost impossible task for someone like me.”

He wanted to say more, but he did not. A sad smile appeared on his lips as he wiped his tears away and stood up tall. It was out now. It was secret no more.

If they were honest, both Alice and Henry felt bad. They both looked over to each other, unsure of what to do as Daimyon was pinned down as the culprit. Despite the poet trying to defend himself, there was no other suspect left, and him admitting that he had total amnesia didn't help either. The pianist wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. The recon only looked away, silently crossing her arms with a worried, rather remorseful expression.

The room had erupted into a cacophony of noise. Everyone was talking about what Daimyon just said. Everyone was discussing its credibility, from how someone could live like that for so long to how he kept it hidden. Finally Cyrus snapped his fingers.

“Let me see that!”

Without warning, Noel plucked Daimyon’s notebook out of his hands and passed it to Dennis, who then passed it on to Cyrus. He opened the book to the first page, stared at it for a few seconds, and then turned the page. He then did so again.

“Um.” Bliss turned to look at Monokuma. “Does Daimyon really have a condition like that? I think I’ve heard of it before, but never met someone who suffered from it.”

“Well…” Monokuma rocked side to side in his throne. “Typically we have a full confidentiality agreement with our infinite patients, but since Daimyon was the one to spill the beans… ” He stood up. “Yup!”

“Tch!” Ice froze. “You’re serious?”

“It would be beary nice if I lied at a time like this. That’s more something the lion they were going to replace me with would do!” The bear ran its paws down the front of his stomach. “I mean, he might have been exaggerating about his short term memory, but every day to him is the first time he’s seeing your faces.”

Cyrus passed the book back so that it could be returned to Daimyon. There were a few new cracks in his glasses. “The only possible explanation is that Daimyon has other notes elsewhere. Maybe a second book that would detail the events of the murder. We did a thorough investigation, but I feel as though we need to see Daimyon’s room.”

Monokuma groaned. “I need to keep everyone entertained, and giving you more time to investigate is boring, so guess what?” He threw his hands over his head. “Your benevolent GM has declared that there was nothing of the sort in Daimyon’s room!”

Ice leaned folward. “Maybe, Daimyon burned the notes-”

Cyrus growled. “Perhaps the reason they call you ice is because of how dense your skull is.”

“Hey!”

“The fact of the matter is that each morning Daimyon wakes up, he needs to catch up on everything that’s happened. He needs to relearn about us, catch up on the situation, and constantly record more and more information as they days pile up. To try and prepare a murder on top of that is nigh impossible. This murder was prepared over a course of days, and Daimyon can’t do something like that without keeping notes for it.” Cyrus put on a fresh pair of glasses. “But we aren’t without options. Daimyon was just the most likely suspect. We still have one more. It’s a little irritating that he almost got me to condemn Daimyon, but we’re rectify that now.” He turned to face Dennis. “You saw Max working out. About what time did that happen?”

Dennis scratched his chin. “Maybe eight-thirty-ish.”

Cyrus grinned. “Well, there you have it. Max could have been doing anything before that time.” He pointed at the police officer. “It seems Max Visser is our killer.”

Max folded his arms. “And what makes you so sure? You’re underplaying Daimyon’s intelligence a great deal if you don’t think he’s capable of murder.”

“And you’re underplaying mine.”



“It’s clear that the death trap at the top of the stairs was rigged some time ago. Maybe a day, maybe longer, but all that really matters is that it was prepared before today. As was the poisoning of the coffee pot that Zachary and Jezebel used every morning. All you had to do was wake up and head in to see if your plan worked, which it did.” Cyrus pushed up his glasses. “With Jezebel and Zachary unconscious, you were free to manipulate the scene however you chose. You gave Jezebel a bottle of sleeping pills to make it look like she overdose, then borrowed her handbook to set up her room. You knew that the most likely suspects would be the ones who took her into her room. Then all you had to do was wait for them to be discovered while you trained in the dojo. Just like you planned, They were discovered. The two were carried into their respective rooms, and that was when you sprung the second part of your plan.” Cyrus’s grin widened as he continued, but it never looked manacle or intimidating. But it did drip with an unapologetic amount of smug.”That was when you set up the stairway trap, and shortly after recruited Dennis and Henry to help you investigate. You also had to get Daimyon out of Jezebel’s room. Having more than one person watch Jezebel was probably an oversight on your part, but that mattered little.” He slammed his palm into the podium. “The crash was close enough to Jezebel’s room that Emily heard it and came running, something that worked to your advantage. You had Dennis and Henry watch over the trap while you, Daimyon, and Emily split up to gather everyone. But you took a little detour, didn’t you?” Cyrus wasn’t smiling anymore. His face became stern and serious. “Before your arrival though, Faith understood what was going on. How isn’t clear, nor is the why, but she entered the room. She swapped outfits with Jezebel and used mono-snooze to knock herself out. You had no idea, largely because of how… unique her uniform is. You yanked the fishing line off of the door and strangled her to death. Then you left the room to help round up the others, where they would eventually discover that Jezebel’s room had been locked, and that you killed Faith.”

“You sound pretty sure of yourself.” Max sounded unconvinced.

"There are a few other hints aside from you being the most likely culprit at this point. Nothing concrete, but it seemed fishy. Aside from Daimyon and Emily, you had the most control over the events of the case. You were even the one to trigger the trap, right? Because you didn’t want to kill anyone with that. Your target was Jezebel. You were even the one to open up a discussion about why they would have traded outfits. Because as the killer, that was the one part of the case you didn’t understand." With a sigh, Cyrus lowered his arms to his sides. “I know you did it Max. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re still holding that fishing line somewhere on your person. It wasn’t at the crime scene, and I’m willing to bet that there weren’t any safe places to dispose of it.”

With a sigh, Max pulled the fishing string out of his pocket and dropped it on his podium. “Very well.”



What followed was everyone voting for Max, and him being confirmed as the killer. Most of the infinites weren’t taking it well, but Noel least of all. “Why?” was all she said.

“I had seen Jezebel carry a bunch of strange items into her room, and I thought she was going to murder someone. Though it seems in my haste to deliver justice, I hadn’t noticed it was all a joke from the infinite trickster.”

Noel shook her head. “And you were going to have us all die for it?”

There was a knob in Max’s throat. “It’s become increasingly clear to me that murders are going to keep happening. I don’t know what I was planning. My brother is dead, and I haven’t been in a very good place since then. But I’m glad you were able to catch me. In a strange way, I’m glad that Faith thwarted my attempt to kill Jezebel. If there are people willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may live, it proves that my choice to kill was wrong. I should have been more patient.” He looked at Noel. “Please continue to serve justice in ways that I couldn’t. I did not mean to create a tragedy. I just…” He trailed off.

"Oh thank god..." Henry sighed in relief when Max was revealed to be the actual killer. He didnt really care about Daimyon keeping his secret from them, the pianist was just glad it wasn't the poet in general. "Wait- So I was nearly offed by the guy who wanted me to help in the first place?? Not cool!" He shot a look to the officer. "I know you probably didn't mean to hurt anyone with that bloody trap, but still. Not. Cool."

Alice wasn't mad at Max. Even if she did appear so, or tried to, she was just dissapointed.

"Not cool." Denis repeated before folding his arms. "Not cool at all."

Noel leaned on her podium. "All you needed to do was confront Jezebel about it. There were ways around this."

Max shrugged his shoulders. "There's a reason I'm not the infinite detective."

"But you're gunna be infinitely dead in just a second, and I bet a few of you are pretty excited to see it happen!" Monokuma raised his paws into the air "It's punishment time!"

---

Max was standing inside a high security prison. The walls were lined with monokuma bots wearing jumpsuits, making lots of noise and occasionally throwing trash at the police officer. It was clear max was nervous, but he kept his gaze straight ahead. Because in the hall with him was a mob of carnage sisters dressed as fellow police officers, and standing behind them was every carnage class chassis they had faced up until now, who were also wearing police outfits. Kyra was in the lead, and they all had their batons drawn as they bared down on him.

Max had nowhere to go. To his back was a concrete wall with no way around the incoming sisters. All he had at his disposal was a knife. Previously he had been fool enough to think it would be an effective weapon to kill a carnage class chassis, but not anymore. Perhapse in an attempt to give himself an easy way out, he turned the knife on himself, only to discover it was a prop blade. He didn’t have much tome to reflect on his mistake before he was enveloped by the carnage sisters.

---

Lucy cleared her throat. ”So he kills off everyone like that? Why do you all look okay with this?”

Emily shook her head. ”It’s just happened so many times. It’s sad, but you almost get use to it. It’s not that we don’t care, but we need to be strong if we want to prevent ourselves from falling into despair.”

”I’m just tired of grieving. Once someone’s dead, the tears are for you and you alone.I’m just tired of feeling sorry for myself.” Bliss closed her eyes. ”But what Max said was true. Faith sacrificed herself for Jezebel. There are still good people who walk among us, even if so many have died.”

“Well, like, I’m glad some of you can put on a brave face. But I feel like shit,” Jezebel wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I wasn’t very nice to her towards the end.”

Denis put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. ”She still like you.” He forced a smile. ”In end, she think you worth saving. She protect you with life. She not too nice at end if memory correct.” He took a step back. ”It okay feel sad. You lost friend.”

“Zachary…” Jezebel’s voice cracked. “Did you want to get out of here?”

---

---

Hello everyone, Dr. Killgood with a prescription of monokuma theater!

You know something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is retirement. I’m getting older, and I feel I’ve lot a step or two. There are a lot of young cubs that want to take my place, but they don’t have the experience, charm, or wit to do it!

Those damn youngsters are ruining everything! They don’t buy houses! They don’t play gulf! They don’t watch cable TV! They aren’t into casual dining! They aren’t buying napkins! They don’t go to the movies! They don’t go on cruises! They don’t wear suits! They don’t even use bar soap!

But all participate in despair…