another-dr-another

[another-dr-another]

taira counters kobashikawa, and otori counters tsurugi

Maeda, narrating - …None of this is fully relevant to the case.

Maeda - Like- we aren’t really talking about Tsurugi planning something, and Tsurugi planning something isn’t really vital to proving his guilt.

Maeda - But we don’t need to bring that up! Let’s just- counter their arguments.

Maeda - It’d be nice if I could get Tomori and Kobashikawa on my side, but what I need is to sway Maki. 

~*~

Ōtori - Tsurugi!

Ōtori - Do you even believe we’ll buy what you’re saying, or are you just trying to distract us?

Ōtori - You’re refusing to let this trial advance in any meaningful way. You won’t let us believe it’s Uehara, and I can’t understand why.

Ōtori - But I think it’s time you stopped focusing so much on him, and started trying to cover for your own ass. Stop trying to run us in circles.

Tsurugi - It’s not like it’s my fault that we haven’t made progress… the suspects keep being innocent!

Hatano - Tomori!

Hatano - Isn’t Tsurugi’s whole thing about, like… not letting things get worse? No more pain?

Hatano - Even if you don’t think he killed Higa because he wanted to escape, don’t you think he realized he wasn’t doing anything to get Higa to chill out?

Hatano - He could’ve realized Higa was continuing to be a dick, and decided to kill him about it. It’d be helpful, to put an end to him, right?

Tomori - …But if you believe that, can you explain why he would suddenly kill last night? 

Taira - Kobashikawa!

Taira - You’re smart. Don’t let yourself be confused by Tsurugi and Uehara’s claims, you’re better than that.

Taira - We know it wasn’t Uehara. Physical difficulties, logical fallacies with his status as of the murder, and inconsistencies in his testimony.

Taira - Isn’t it obvious that he’s keeping things from us? We can’t trust a person like that-

Taira - And we shouldn’t trust someone who we think helped with a murder.

Kobashikawa - …This just feels too sudden… it feels like we’re going too far with our arguments.

Maeda - Uehara!

Maeda - Do you know the full truth of Tsurugi’s interactions with Higa? 

Maeda - When we all hung out in the rec room, Higa was starting to get along with us more than he ever had. 

Maeda - Then suddenly, he’s around Tsurugi, and he’s yelling at anyone within sight again. Shouldn’t we see that as weird?

Maeda - If you don’t know what happened there, then we can safely assume that Tsurugi had more of a reason to be mad with Higa than you did, which makes him more suspicious.

Maeda - And if you do know, then you haven’t told us, which means you have a reason to hide it- so it probably doesn’t make you look like the blackened. And shouldn’t the truth be easy, if you haven’t lied about being the blackened?

Uehara - I don’t need to listen to that… I know what happened, you need to accept that what I’m saying is the truth.

BREAK!

Maeda - …None of your arguments helped you. We’ve already discussed everything.

Maeda - It was Tsurugi. He decided some time ago that he’d kill Higa, and he got Uehara to confess to it to cover up the murder.

Maeda - That’s our understanding of the case, supported by what we know happened last night, and how they’ve both been acting.

Tsurugi - …

//He’s searching, when he looks at Maeda. Which doesn’t matter to him.

Maeda - …Uehara, was I right? Why did you confess?

Uehara - …

//He wipes at his nose.

Uehara - Because I’m the blackened.

Maeda - We know you aren’t.

Uehara - I don’t know what to tell you. I murdered Higa. Reached over and waited for him to stop breathing.

Maeda - …Alright. Sure, Uehara.

Maeda - Maki? Do you have any thoughts?

Maki - …

Maki - I’m sorry…

Maeda - Fucks sake. She just won’t get it… what can I do to get the vote?

Maki - The evidence just… it all looks like it supports Tsurugi.

Maeda - Holy shit SHE WASN’T TALKING TO ME!

Maeda - She was apologizing to them! Score! Holy fuck!

Tomori - …Maki…

Maki - I’m so sorry. 

Maki - I- I don’t want to vote yet. That’s okay, right?

Taira - I don’t think anybody’s pushing for that. It’s fine.

Maki - …Okay. I’m sorry.

//That second part wasn’t directed at Taira.

Tomori - …You’re okay. Don’t apologize for making your own decisions, Maki. 

Hatano - …

Hatano - What else do we have to discuss? Genuinely. What do you guys want to talk about?

Kobashikawa - …

Hatano - Like… I don’t have an issue with debating, but, I’d also like to leave her as soon as possible.

Hatano - If we don’t have a reason to stay, why should we?

Maeda - …Not that I think he’ll help us, but I’m still sort of hung up on Uehara’s involvement in all of this. 

Taira - Oh, right. Initially, didn’t you think Uehara might have pushed Tsurugi to let him take the fall?

Taira - The theory that Tsurugi acted on an impulse is out the window now, isn’t it?

Maeda - …Yeah.

Maeda - That’s right. I’ve argued that Tsurugi planned this. Meaning, he went into the sleepover…

Maeda - And he knew already that he was going to kill Higa. He probably stayed awake when we all fell asleep…

Maeda - He wouldn’t have expected Kobashikawa to wake him up, or planned for the fight, but-

Maeda - Hey- is it possible Tsurugi decided to loop Uehara into the plan after he had his fight with Higa?

Ōtori - What makes you think that?

Maeda - I don’t know. Unexplained factors, I guess. Tsurugi couldn’t have planned for him and Higa to fight… maybe he was thrown off, and decided to get Uehara on his side.

Tsurugi - …So. Now you think that I approached Uehara?

Maeda - We wouldn’t have to theorize if you would explain.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Is there any explanation that I could give, where I’m not the blackened, and you believe me?

Maeda - …When you ask questions like that, it looks pretty bad for your innocence.

Tsurugi - I don’t think I’ll be serving myself if I try to play like I can’t see what’s happening here.

Tsurugi - You’ve theorized that I was awake, Uehara wasn’t, and I killed Higa because we kept getting into fights, then asked Uehara to take the fall for me. 

Tsurugi - If that’s what you believe, then that’s all there is. 

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …I mean, like. I can’t argue against it? I argued that I was the blackened earlier. Like… maybe start factoring that in? Since you’re trying to look at everything I’ve ever said or done.

Ōtori - Don’t be a dick about the fact you’re getting suspected.

Tsurugi - You hid from Maki in the boy’s bathroom, Ōtori. 

Tsurugi - But, like I said, it doesn’t serve me to play about this. You’ve got arguments, and I can’t refute them. 

Tsurugi - If you try to vote, then I’ll see if I have anything else I can pull- but right now, I’d appreciate some time to think.

Tsurugi - Which, seems like everyone could use that- there aren’t enough of you that want to vote to justify voting now. Maybe sort that out?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Have you ever had to defend yourself against homicide charges before?

//It’s- oddly casual. Not the way he approaches the topic, that’s the same way Maeda would ask that question if there wasn’t a murder trial. In fact, that’s the issue- it’s like the trial isn’t even happening, with that question. 

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi responds in kind.

Tsurugi - I pled guilty to throwing a hundred and eighty-seven rocks into a volcano. But the courts sealed those records. 

Tsurugi - I don’t have to share that information, legally. But I don’t mind telling you all <3.

//If they were out of the trial, Maeda would joke back, or continue the conversation otherwise. But, they aren’t. No one says anything.

Tomori - …So, what do you all think of Uehara exactly?

Maki - Was Uehara in on it before Higa died? Or after?

Ōtori - After might make sense. The sound Maeda heard could’ve been them talking. 

Taira - They negotiated- Uehara agreed not to wake everyone up, and to deal with things in the morning.

Tomori - …But that could apply just as easily to Uehara being the blackened?

Hatano - So, Tsurugi agreed to cover up Uehara killing Higa? That’s what you want?

Tomori - …

Maeda - It looks like Tomori’s about to cry.

//She looks away- Maeda watches as Tsurugi reaches over, and seems to take her hand.

Maeda - Oh, this sucks. Tsurugi’s between her and Uehara. If he’s behind this, he can affirm his plan easier than we can pull them out of it.

Maeda - It still could’ve been Uehara’s idea to take the fall. We don’t know if Tsurugi asked him to or not.

Kobashikawa - …It makes more sense for the blackened to get someone to help them, than for someone to offer to help the blackened.

Maeda - Kobashikawa pleaaaase, please join me. 

Maeda - Mhm… 

Taira - …

Taira - Either way, it’s odd to think that Uehara agreed to take the fall.

Maeda - …Huh? What do you mean?

Taira - If that was their plan, then we wouldn’t be debating like this. 

Taira - We were ready to vote for Uehara. Tsurugi was the only one really defending him- if he wanted us to vote for Uehara, then he had us.

Taira - You could say that we’d have been confused by him not defending Uehara, but it’s easy to fix that. He could’ve just acted like he was sad, and confused, but came to agree.

Taira - So…?

Kobashikawa - Wait- that’s a really strong point.

Kobashikawa - Why would Uehara confess, if not so we’d vote for him? And if we were supposed to vote for him, why wouldn’t Tsurugi let us?

//Uehara’s expression- still indescribable. Something about it is odd, in a way that leaves Maeda unable to read it. 

Maeda - …Uehara. What are you keeping from us? If you’ve already been accused- of being the blackened, of lying…

Maeda - What do you possibly have left to hide?

Tsurugi - Huh…

Tsurugi - So, Uehara could be the blackened, but he couldn’t be? But he can’t not be the blackened?

Ōtori - What?

Tsurugi - He confessed, and everyone decided he could’ve been capable of strangulation, and woken up to the fight… but then Maeda accused me, and everyone says he couldn’t have been awake to do it, and couldn’t have pulled it off!

Tsurugi - But now, you can’t make sense of why he’d confess! So if it doesn’t make sense for him to cover for me… what could the right answer be?

Maeda - …

Maeda - We don’t know why Uehara confessed, but we also don’t understand why you’d kill Higa.

Maeda - Tomori was right. It’s weird to imagine you deciding to kill Higa.

//Something has changed in Maeda. That will not be taken back. However, that change is briefly ignored. And Tsurugi is the person who has cared for Maeda the most.

Maeda - You’re in on this with Uehara. You killed Higa, and you’re working with him to try and escape.

Maeda - …But, is that wrong?

Maeda - Is this supposed to be confusing, to teach us how to solve a hard case, before you die? That can’t be it, because that implies you don’t want to escape, so why would you kill Higa? On accident? Then what about the fights?

Maeda - What motive could you have, other than escape? Was it just to stop Higa? Then why would you leave us? If you could get Uehara to confess, couldn’t you have gotten him to kill?

Maeda - And why is Uehara so… confused? So lost on what’s happening?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - …Uehara and I didn’t do anything wrong.

Maeda - God damn it.

//Tsurugi killed Higa. That’s all there is to it.

Hatano - …No matter what we decide happened, this is weird. They’ve been weird, nothing’s going to make this seem normal.

Hatano - Who killed Higa. That’s what actually matters.

Ōtori - …Between the two of them, it does make more sense for Uehara to have lied. Hatano’s right- we can argue back and forth on details, but…

Ōtori - We won’t be able to solve everything. 

Taira - Mhm. We would need to know everything Tsurugi and Uehara ever did, arguably.

Maeda - …?

Taira - After all, we don’t know how long they’ve been working on this. Who’s to say we haven’t missed signs further back than we thought to look?

Maeda - Oh… yeah, that’s true.

Maki - …

Maki - Is there anything left to debate?

Tomori - There’s no reason to give up! 

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Wait…

Tomori - If we had stopped debating any of the other times we were confused, but had an answer, we wouldn’t have gotten here.

Tomori - I know we want to leave, but we shouldn’t let ourselves get rushed!

//We don’t know when they planned this out.

Taira - No one’s saying we should vote now.

Maeda - …We don’t know…

//…We don’t know when they planned this out.

Maeda - …

Maeda - !!!

Maeda - Fuck.

Maeda - Oh fuck!

Maki - Maeda? What is it?

Maeda - You- they fucking- GOD!

Maeda - This has been their plan!

Ōtori - Wh- if you’re having some sort of revelation, just say it! Haven’t we known that they planned this?

Maeda - They were going to kill him earlier!

Maeda - Oh my god! They’ve been planning to kill him!

Maeda - How does this make sense. This makes sense. I just need to understand it. I can see it.

Maeda - We’re giving them way too much credit. I mean- either way, we’ve caught on, right? At one point, they were both off our suspect list. Isn’t it possible they just screwed up?

Maeda - That’s the problem with an accomplice. Even if you manage to convince someone somehow, you still need to make sure you’re both on the same page.

Maeda - The more people you bring in, the more ways your plan can go south.

Maeda - Which is exactly what already happened. The shit at the sleepover-

Maeda - Why would they kill in a room with everyone there. Why would Tsurugi kill after a fight that made noise. Why would he kill after Kobashikawa woke him up, meaning there was a risk he was still up.

Maeda - They didn’t want to do it like this. So they panicked, and this is what they ended up with.

Maeda - Maybe they were rushed by the motive? They needed to kill soon-

Tsurugi - Aren’t you getting too unrealistic with this?

Tsurugi - It- like, this feels vindictive. I get you’re accusing me of murder, but… is this where you want to take things?

//He looks concerned. A bit hurt, maybe. Maybe.

Maeda - …

Maeda - You’ve fucked up, Tsurugi. 

Maeda - Higa picked fights with you a lot, right? Yeah? Like before the sleepover, or during it?

Tsurugi - Mhm…

Maeda - So, because you argued with him, you decided you were okay killing us all by trying to get away with his murder?

//Tsurugi watches Maeda, uncertain.

Maeda - No. It wasn’t like that. Because you were going to kill him no matter what. You wanted to kill him before those arguments.

Maeda - In fact, I bet the fights were a way to cover up the shit you wanted to pull. We almost missed it, all because we were willing to see Higa as the issue.

Maeda - But you already tried to kill him. And guess what? Guess what, Tsurugi?

Tsurugi - …

//The class is still, waiting to see what happens- ready to turn tide on either boy. Maeda has the advantage right now, and both he and Tsurugi know it. So when Maeda stares at him, Tsurugi doesn’t have a choice but to play.

Tsurugi, voice small - …What?

Maeda - I saw it.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - Haha.

Maeda - Fucking. Okay.

Maeda - This is really funny.

Maeda - I saw it. I saw him try to kill Higa.

Maeda - It has to have been about the new motive- or, maybe not! Maybe he just felt like it now.

Maeda - But the timing makes me think the motive was relevant. Maybe he’ll explain what his thoughts were on the motive, when we vote!

Maeda - Tsurugi tried to kill Higa once before… this was-

{Before the Rec Room Hangout}

{During the Rec Room Hangout}

{After the Rec Room Hangout}

[another-dr-another]

okay okay... hatano counters tomori, otori counters kobashikawa, maeda counters uehara, and taira counters tsurugi? i kinda feel bad tho... :C

Hatano - Tomori!

Hatano - Isn’t Tsurugi’s whole thing about, like… not letting things get worse? No more pain?

Hatano - Even if you don’t think he killed Higa because he wanted to escape, don’t you think he realized he wasn’t doing anything to get Higa to chill out?

Hatano - He could’ve realized Higa was continuing to be a dick, and decided to kill him about it. It’d be helpful, to put an end to him, right?

Tomori - …But if you believe that, can you explain why he would suddenly kill last night? 

Maeda - Uehara!

Maeda - Do you know the full truth of Tsurugi’s interactions with Higa? 

Maeda - When we all hung out in the rec room, Higa was starting to get along with us more than he ever had. 

Maeda - Then suddenly, he’s around Tsurugi, and he’s yelling at anyone within sight again. Shouldn’t we see that as weird?

Maeda - If you don’t know what happened there, then we can safely assume that Tsurugi had more of a reason to be mad with Higa than you did, which makes him more suspicious.

Maeda - And if you do know, then you haven’t told us, which means you have a reason to hide it- so it probably doesn’t make you look like the blackened. And shouldn’t the truth be easy, if you haven’t lied about being the blackened?

Uehara - I don’t need to listen to that… I know what happened, you need to accept that what I’m saying is the truth.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - We're mostly there-

Maeda - I don't think Ōtori wants to fight with Kobashikawa right now, though.

Maeda - But that leaves me with a solution.

[another-dr-another]

{Review evidence} Well its time for bridges to burn.

Maeda, narrating - It’s evidence if they can’t explain it.

Maeda - …I just want things to be easy. I get that won’t happen, because someone’s been murdered. But, like…

Maeda - This is hard in a weird way.

Maeda - …Sorry. Is that pathetic? 

Maeda - I can get it together. I’ll- stick it out, or whatever.

Maeda - …Not that you said anything to judge me. You probably get it. 

~*~

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - …Did I do something, Maeda?

Maeda - Did you?

Maeda - You and Uehara have been weird, Tsurugi. Do you think this is normal?

Tsurugi - What did we even do?

//His voice cracked.

Maeda - Again, you two aren’t helping. You won’t give up any information. You’ll share some things, but it’s obvious that there’s other stuff you’re keeping from us. 

Tsurugi - Oh bullshit, Maeda. 

Tsurugi - Like, what’s that even supposed to mean? What do you want from either of us? What have we fucked up that no one else did?

Maeda - You’re lying.

Tsurugi - About what?

Maeda - About what happened!

Maeda - About what happened last night, and this morning, and- and about god knows what else!

Maeda - …What else have you kept from us?

//It’s a sentence he pushes against Tsurugi’s throat, pressing him in a strange way. Maeda isn’t confident on what he’s even trying to do here- but he sees tears glisten in Tsurugi’s eyes, and it makes him feel satisfied.

Tomori - Maeda, what do you mean?

Maeda - …She doesn’t believe me at all.

Maeda - Not Tomori, not Tsurugi, not Uehara. Puts me down three.

Maeda - I can have one more person refuse to believe it, and still take the majority vote.

//Maeda thinks back through the evidence he has. His testimony, and the timing of last nights events. Kobashikawa’s information about the visit to the dining hall, then him leaving for his room. Uehara during the trial, claiming to be telling the full truth, then keeping information hidden. Tsurugi…

Maeda - …I don’t know. I can’t understand what’s happening, but I know what I’m struggling with because I wasn’t paying attention when I was supposed to, and what I’m struggling with because it just isn’t right.

Maeda - No matter how we cut it, Uehara couldn’t have killed Higa without Tsurugi knowing.

Maeda - If he killed Higa, and wants us to believe him, then he should just confess that Tsurugi knew he was the blackened.

Uehara - …What?

Maeda - Because Tsurugi would’ve been up, and if you were awake too, you must have been woken up at the right time to over hear the fight, and decide to kill Higa.

//Looking at Uehara…

Maeda - It’s like he doesn’t even understand what I’m saying. God- is he stupid? Or just playing at it?

Maeda - Or, we say that Tsurugi killed Higa, and was able to convince Uehara to try and take the fall.

//Do not bring up what Tsurugi said in the hallway, Maeda.

Maeda - Again. Tsurugi’s the person who actually makes sense, timeline-wise. No matter what, Tsurugi’s keeping quiet about something- either murdering Higa, or knowing Uehara murdered Higa.

Kobashikawa - …

Maeda - Kobashikawa? Is something on your mind?

Kobashikawa - …I didn’t want to bring it up. Just… isn’t that weird? 

Kobashikawa - Earlier, when we created an alibi for Tsurugi, we claimed he couldn’t be the blackened because he was optimistic about Higa.

Kobashikawa - Sure, none of us were expected to murder, so we need to reevaluate what we think of people’s character…

Kobashikawa - But, we made the point that nobody liked Higa. That was an argument that was made and used when we debated.

Kobashikawa - So, shouldn’t the inverse still be sort of relevant?

Maki - …

//Maki is more conflicted than Kobashikawa is- Maeda can tell. Kobashikawa might be the last vote he had to lose… it seems like he really can’t suspect Tsurugi.

Maeda - Fuck… which means I need to win over Maki. Which sucks, because I’m going up against Tomori and Tsurugi for her-

Maeda - I mean, I think even she and Uehara were getting along. And I’m in a team with Ōtori and Hatano, which doesn’t look great for my cause.

//Maeda can’t think of what to say to sway the crowd.

Tsurugi - Yeah… like…

Maeda - Tsurugi do it for me. Tsurugi say some bullshit and screw himself over.

Tsurugi - All I ever did was try to help Higa, and I didn’t even want to. 

Tsurugi - I didn’t like Higa. I didn’t feel good being around him, and we didn’t get along well. But I was okay with trying to help him, because I wanted someone to, and didn’t want anyone else to have to.

Tsurugi - I was trying to avoid this for him.

Maeda - …Do you ever wonder if, like… you sort of made a self-fulfilling prophecy for him?

Maeda - I mean, why were you so insistent he was going to die? 

Tsurugi - Because of how the other murders went. Inori went for Kurokawa because she was obviously upset over her loved ones, and Yamaguchi went after Mekaru because of her relationships.

Maeda - But how does that relate to Higa’s bullshit? He was a dick, that’s not the same as being relevant to the motive.

Tsurugi - Do you know something about the motive that we don’t, Maeda?

//Maeda’s screwed himself. He doesn’t really know anything about the motive.

Maeda - …No. Why do you ask?

Tsurugi - You seemed confident he wasn’t connected to the motive. I don’t think we can really say that confidently, you know?

Tsurugi - So, I was wondering if you knew soemthing the rest of us didn’t. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - My point still stands. It was like you were warning Higa.

Tsurugi - …I was. 

Tsurugi - Being isolated and upset with everyone around you is bad for you. Even if we weren’t trapped here, it would’ve been bad for Higa. 

Tsurugi - That isn’t anything bad, Maeda.

Maeda - …Didn’t say it was.

Tsurugi - You’re implying that it’s suspicious.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I mean, yeah. You’re suspicious.

Maeda - Like- seriously? Why did you even care about Higa coming to the sleepover?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Wait.

//Maeda realizes what he’s implying there- if Tsurugi wasn’t trying to help Higa, and if he didn’t have good reason for inviting Higa-

Maeda - You told him to sleep next to you. You made sure he was coming, and made sure you’d be directly next to him.

Maeda - Were you planning to murder Higa, Tsurugi?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Seriously?

//His voice is heavy- tears. Maeda can’t bring himself to care- like, at all. Did he just get it?

Tsurugi - He shows up, starts throwing shit around, starts a fight that night, and now because he’s dead, I’m evil because I wanted him to hang out with us?

Tsurugi - Like- I felt bad that I was making everyone deal with him! That’s the dilemma I’ve been facing!

Tsurugi - And now you’re mad at me because my concern looks like a murder plan?

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi seems upset. That isn’t an issue, at all.

Maeda - Guys.

Maeda - How many of you think Tsurugi could have been planning to kill Higa? Raise your hand.

//Maeda raises his hand- Hatano manages to do the same, quicker. As soon as she sees Maeda start, Taira follows suit… and after a second of them waiting, Ōtori raises his hand as well.

Taira - …That’s four of us. It’s a minority belief.

Maeda - …But how many of you don’t think there’s even a possibility?

//As Maeda, Ōtori, Hatano, and Taira lower their hands, Tsurugi and Tomori raise their hands- Uehara doing the same in a similar fashion as Taira had. And mirroring the first group again, Kobashikawa hesitates before casting his vote.

Ōtori - Four and four.

Tomori - …Maki, no pressure. Just… curiosity?

//She doesn’t ask anything directly, only calling for Maki to share whatever she might want.

Maki - …I don’t know.

Hatano - It isn’t hard. They’re pretty exclusive- do you think there’s any chance he went into the night wanting to kill Higa? Or are you reaaally certain that he didn’t? Completely confident?

Maki - …

Maki - I don’t know.

Maki - Someone killed Higa, yeah, and it’s not someone we previously would’ve thought would kill. But, of all of us, was it really the person who was trying to help Higa?

Hatano - Or so he claims! It could’ve all been one big tactic!

Maki - Starting when? 

Maeda - That’s a great point, actually. We don’t know when this started… for all we know, Tsurugi’s been planning to kill Higa. 

Tsurugi - Seriously? Why would I-

Tsurugi - If that’s your argument, then you have to explain why I haven’t tried anything in the past week that we’ve been here!

Tsurugi - Why I’d only choose to kill Higa last night, when we were all together, with tons of potential witnesses!

Maeda - We don’t have to explain it, to be fair. 

Maeda - Uehara was probably asleep, and you were probably awake. We don’t really need more of an argument than that.

Tsurugi - Yes you do. You can’t spend all this time arguing and theorizing, and then turn around and say this is the one time we don’t need to establish a motive.

Maeda - You wanted to get out, there’s a motive.

Tsurugi - Maeda, what the hell did I do?

//He looks at Maeda, clearly getting worked up.

Maeda - …Was it you? Or was it Uehara?

Tsurugi - I…

Tsurugi - It was neither of us, Maeda. Something else has to have happened.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I hope, when we’ve voted… whatever the outcome is, you’ll be able to understand why I’m…

Maeda - …How to word what I’m doing…

Tsurugi - Maeda, this is so dumb. 

//Tsurugi beats him to the next part of the conversation. 

Tsurugi - We went from Uehara confessing, to maybe I’m the blackened, to I’ve been planning to kill Higa since we set foot in here.

Tsurugi - This is insane!

Maeda - Someone’s dead.

Tsurugi - …

//They look at each other.

Monokuma - It Seems A Impasse Has Been Reached.

Maeda - Oh my god, the bear.

Monokuma - In The Event That The Surviving Students Are Evenly Divided Between Two Opposing Opinions, It Is The Duty Of The Headmaster To Assist In The Debate.

Maki - Wait- we aren’t evenly divided, though. We can’t be with nine people.

Monokuma - Students Have Determined Sides Amongst Themselves.

Monokuma - Maki Kiyoka Will Not Have Her Podium Affected By The Division.

Maki - …Oh.

Monokuma - The Dual Debate Is Now In Effect.

//The podiums slowly rotate- Maki’s shifting out of the way, joining the empty podium. Maeda looks at his classmates, admittedly focusing on Tsurugi, who seems distracted. When they settle, Maeda realizes he’s facing Uehara- who’s pale, and grabbing his podium. 

Maeda - …Did the motion make him nauseous?

//Despite himself, Maeda tries to get Uehara’s attention.

Maeda, silently - You okay?

Uehara, silently - I’ve got it. It’s fine.

Maeda - …Oh. If I am right, then Uehara probably isn’t happy I found them out.

Maki - We aren’t pressed for time. We shouldn’t rush this… 

Maki - …But it isn’t wrong to debate. Just make sure you’re going for actual facts, you guys.

//Tsurugi’s at the end of their row, next to Kobashikawa- Tomori between Kobashikawa and Uehara.

Maeda - If I had to pick four people I didn’t want to debate against, this would be at least half of that list.

Scrum Debate: START!

Question: Was Tsurugi planning a murder before his last fight with Higa?

Team - LUNAR

“He wasn’t- he was being genuine !” - Kobashikawa, Tsurugi, Uehara, Tomori

Team - SOLAR

“He was- he’s been tricking us!” - 

Maeda, Taira, Hatano, Ōtori

~*~

Tomori - Maeda, I didn’t think you’d do something like this.

Tomori - Don’t you believe in Tsurugi? He’s constantly helped us. Every trial, he was the one that helped us understand.

Tomori - If Uehara is the blackened, then that’s something even I’m having a hard time accepting.

Tomori - Uehara and Tsurugi are closer than Uehara and I. 

Tomori - Any ways in which his behavior seems weird- isn’t that just how you’d expect someone to react to their friend confessing?

Tomori - And now you’re accusing Tsurugi! Shouldn’t you- grant some levity here?

Kobashikawa - …Also, Uehara literally confessed…

Kobashikawa - Maybe there’s something weird going on with Tsurugi falling asleep-

Kobashikawa - But in his defense, when I came back from my bedroom, he seemed tired!

Kobashikawa - For all we know, Tsurugi fell asleep as soon as he laid down after the fight with Higa, like he said.

Kobashikawa - Or… even if he and Uehara are in on it together, who’s to say it was Tsurugi who killed Higa?

Kobashikawa - No matter what, we can’t act like we’ll know for certain. Uehara confessed. I… want to believe that my classmates have decided to tell the truth.

Uehara - I have reasons for why I didn’t confess earlier.

Uehara - This doesn’t have to go down as some shitty thing where Tsurugis been lying, and I’m in on it to kill us all.

Uehara - Everyone keeps getting fucked over by the notion of someone being evil. But, maybe nobody did anything wrong.

Uehara - Higa was a bad person. He was shitty to be around.

Uehara - I killed him because he sucked. Tsurugi had practically nothing to do with it. 

Uehara - I’m way more feasible of a blackened. There’s no real reason to suspect Tsurugi of having any ill intent towards Higa.

Uehara - I woke up to him being an asshole, so I did something about it. The end.

Tsurugi - Exactly… 

Tsurugi - There isn’t strong evidence for anything.

Tsurugi - I hope if we get anything out of this, we reevaluate if it’s Uehara.

Tsurugi - Once the trial is over, you all don’t have to accept my reasons for how I’ve behaved. But, Uehara…

Tsurugi - …Just, lighten up, yeah?

COUNTER!

Maeda - Man. I really can’t believe this- but I wish we could talk to Higa.

Maeda - Clearly, he had a history of fights with Tsurugi-

Maeda - And then he ends up dead, and Tsurugi says nothing memorable happened?

Maeda - There’s too much being kept from us.

Hatano - And we all met, like… yesterday. 

Hatano - Not even mentioning how dealing with this shit changes us-

Hatano - Were we close enough to judge each others morals?

Ōtori - Mhm. No matter how we cut it, I don’t buy that Tsurugi was asleep. 

Ōtori - He knows something… and he’s more likely to hide his own guilt.

Taira - It may sound circumstantial, but all those circumstances start to add up, don’t they?

Taira - Tsurugi and Uehara are both suspicious. But Tsurugi is the one who’s strong, and the one who’s obviously been taking joy in this.

Taira - We shouldn’t let our heads get messed with.

[another-dr-another]

recap!! boy what are you on about... what are you cooking...

Maeda, narrating - Yeah.

Maeda - It’ll start to make more sense, but- I don’t think it’s hard to see where I’m going with this.

~*~

Maeda - Our understanding of the case really started to crumble when we tried to understand what happened in the few minutes around the fight.

Maeda - Higa and Tsurugi fought, Tsurugi laid down, Uehara killed Higa. When did Uehara decide to kill Higa? How did Tsurugi not notice this?

Maeda - If we say Uehara had been up, then… what, he decided not to get involved in the fight between Higa and Tsurugi? And, neither Kobashikawa nor Tsurugi noticed him when they were moving around in that area?

Maeda - Then, if we say Uehara got woken up, sure, but that leaves the issue of why he’d decide to commit murder. Again, really, just a crime of opportunity because he happened to wake up?

Maeda - Our evidence for Uehara being the blackened is the fact he confessed, and theoretically could’ve been awake and able to kill.

Maeda - The evidence going against this is the actual logistics of the case, with him potentially being unable to kill, and asleep.

Maeda - …Compare with Tsurugi.

Maeda - Tsurugi is definitely physically capable, no one’s going to argue against that. And we know he was awake, because he got into his fight with Higa.

Maeda - He claims he fell asleep after, but there’s still things I heard and saw that go unaccounted for- things we know were connected with the murder. I mean, can we really believe he’d have fallen asleep that quickly?

Maeda - And that’s not even mentioning his alibi. It was… basically that we didn’t think he would’ve killed Higa. That’s all. It really doesn’t hold up-

Maeda - Multiple times, we’ve confronted the fact that whoever the blackened is, it’s no one we’re going to be happy about, and it’s not someone we think would’ve committed murder.

Maeda - We’re literally just out of people we suspect-

Maeda - There is Ōtori. We should remember that.

//Ōtori looks like he might have a seizure. But Maeda doesn’t really have reason to care about that, right now. Maeda’s morals are so far from relevant.

Maeda - But, no one thinks Ōtori tried to kill Higa, for like… multiple valid reasons.

Maeda - Tsurugi doesn’t have that sort of strong evidence. There’s a reason why we were suspicious of him at one point.

Tomori - …That reason was because he confessed though.

Kobashikawa - And we decided that confession wasn’t valid… it was sort of self-imposed duress, no?

Maeda - But that doesn’t matter. The-

//Maeda pauses for a moment, thinking before he speaks. “The fact he seemed scared” doesn’t seem like the right way to go about things.

Maeda - …The fact he felt the need to confess could mean a lot of things.

//He won’t bring up the possibility that Tsurugi was pretending to be scared. He doesn’t have evidence for it, or a need to bring it up. Maeda is good at keeping things to himself.

Maeda - He could’ve been trying to vent out guilt, or trying to mislead us.

Tsurugi - Eh…

//The first time he’s spoken since Maeda started to lay out his argument.

Tsurugi - Maeda… do you really think I’d do all of that?

//He looks hurt. There’s a visible plea in his expression, mixed with hesitance, and confusion. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - I hope that if I’m wrong, you can understand me.

Maeda - …Maybe that’s an argument in and of itself. If he’s innocent, why is he upset over being accused?

Maeda - Shouldn’t you be happy that I’m thinking for myself, and making an argument?

Tsurugi - Mm…

Tsurugi - Just… I don’t know. I’m probably overreacting, it… I guess I’m happy you’re trying.

//He looks to the side.

Tsurugi - It just doesn’t make sense.

//When he speaks next, it sounds like he’s holding back tears.

Tsurugi - I mean- it’s not like I wasn’t hurt all the other times I was accused of murder. I wasn’t guilty then, it didn’t feel nice to be suspected. 

Tsurugi - I don’t mean to make you feel bad, or override the discussion- I really don’t want to be accused of guilt tripping…

Tsurugi - …I think I’m just tired? I… it’s probably a good thing I grabbed coffee, yeah?

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t know what to say. You shouldn’t worry about getting accused of guilt tripping- my only issue I’m having right now is just… confusion. I’m confused about why you didn’t get upset like this then, in the past trials.

Tsurugi - I mean-

//He sounds a bit defensive.

Tsurugi - I got woken up last night, got into a fight, hit my head, woke up to the discovery announcement, felt bad when we found Higa’s body, and got into a fight.

Tsurugi - It’s been a hard day for everyone, and I’m not saying I have it the worst, but it, like, has not let up for me, in… probably twenty four hours, if we go all the way back to my fight with Higa before the sleepover.

Maeda - …

//It’s a solid argument- but not one that argues for his innocence.

Maeda - That’s fair, I… I understand.

Maeda - It doesn’t make you seem innocent of murder, though.

Kobashikawa - …

Kobashikawa - I’m sorry, I know you laid out your arguments- but, is there anything you maybe forgot to mention?

Kobashikawa, slightly panicked - I’m not saying I disagree-

//He looks briefly at Tsurugi, who’s… arguably sulking.

Kobashikawa - Or that I agree. My issue is that… it feels like these arguments are still sort of… dissonant from what’s going on with Higa. 

Maeda - Like, what I was saying about him, versus Tsurugi, before the murder?

//Kobashikawa nods, unsure.

Maeda - …

//For a moment, Maeda feels nauseous.

Maeda - …Genuinely?

Maeda - I think their fight- honestly, their fights were worse than Tsurugi let on, and when they fought in his room, Tsurugi just… killed him.

Maeda - It could have been self defense. I kept hearing sounds after what we understand to be the moment when Tsurugi’s head hit the bedframe. I don’t know- do we think Higa would’ve been satisfied and just… gone to bed?

Maeda - I don’t… see Tsurugi getting mad and deciding to kill Higa. But, I can see Tsurugi getting scared.

//Maeda’s really found his theory now.

Maeda - I think Higa picked a fight, I think it was worse than we understand, I think this happened shortly after another fight that was worse than we understand, 

Maeda - And I think it escalated. I don’t see that situation ending calmly, with Higa going to bed, and Tsurugi just laying down next to him.

Maeda - I think the fight kept going, and eventually, Tsurugi got the upper hand- which totally makes sense, because we know he’s a better fighter- and I think Tsurugi strangled Higa.

Maeda - …Hate to bring it up again, but it’s possible that that’s what caused the blood on the pillow-

Maki, tightly - We decided not to accuse anyone because none of us necessarily had marks that would’ve indicated that.

Maeda - Right- sure, sorry.

Maeda - I should try not to overstep.

Maeda - But, uh, anyways- Tsurugi killed Higa, and then, in the morning, when he went to Uehara’s room-

Tomori - Woah- you’re skipping over a huge chunk of time there?

Tomori - You think Tsurugi killed somebody and just- laid down about it? Weren’t we saying that that doesn’t make any sense?

Maeda - Whoever the blackened was, they have to have gone to bed at some point.

Maeda - It was his room. He probably had something to soothe himself until he could sleep- he probably worked on one of his bracelets or whatever!

Maeda - Then he wakes up, and he has that weird episode we all saw, and then he and Uehara go to Uehara’s room.

Maeda - While they were in there, they probably planned what they’d do.

Maeda - And that looked like Uehara taking the fall for the murder.

Hatano - …You just lost me.

Hatano - Why would Uehara do that?

Maeda - …Hatano, it’s- for this theory to work, Uehara has to have agreed to take the fall.

Hatano - Couldn’t Tsurugi have, like… blackmailed him?

Maeda - With what? Like- what would outrank dying by execution?

Hatano - He could’ve- I don’t know, threatened his family?

Maeda - …Which he wouldn’t be able to do, if he couldn’t escape… in this theory, Uehara knows Tsurugi is the blackened. He could just snitch.

Hatano - Maybe he was made to believe he was the blackened…

Maeda - Like- Uehara genuinely believes he’s the blackened, because of Tsurugi?

Hatano, losing confidence - …Yes.

Maeda - …

Taira - In my opinion, it’s more likely that Uehara agreed to take the fall.

Maeda - Mhm. They’re close. Maybe, they’re close enough that Uehara would agree to die in Tsurugi’s place.

Tomori - Okay- first off, that’s not true. Uehara has people he wants to see again, he has family outside the game. 

Maeda - But the motive videos… if he believed something happened to his family, who are like- probably continents away-

Tomori - And secondly, it isn’t Uehara valuing Tsurugi’s life over his own, Maeda. You’re suggesting that Uehara would value Tsurugi’s life over everyone else.

Maeda - …Maybe that’s the case.

Tomori, exasperated - What?!

Maeda - …

Maeda - Like. Tsurugi’s a valuable member of society. Obviously, none of us should die, and I’m not saying his life is more important than ours,

Maeda - But Tsurugi’s done a lot, right? Like- mental health initiatives, whatever? Japan isn’t the only country that’s seen crime go down because of him.

Maeda - Someone who murdered in self defense, who’s helped thousands of people, who you’re close friends with…

Maeda - I don’t know what I’d do in that situation- but, don’t you all think Uehara could have made that choice?

//A cold feeling hits Maeda- the sort of fear when you’ve just realized that not only are you in danger when you thought you were safe, but you undoubtedly have no way out. Immediate confidence that you are fucked. 

Maeda - …

//As he remembers the conversation he had in the hallway with Tsurugi- not only about voting incorrectly, but then after, about who he’d choose to let escape.

Maeda - …Was he trying to set me up like he did with Uehara?

Maeda - Is that what he said to Uehara? Did he get Uehara to want to end the killing game, then reaffirm that by convincing Uehara to help him escape?

//For the first time in a while, Maeda looks to Uehara. He’s able to glean absolutely nothing from Uehara’s expression.

Maeda - …I don’t want to bring that up right now. I…

Maeda - If I’m wrong…

Maeda - I don’t think I’d be able to come back from bringing up the conversation we had in the hallway.

Maki - …

Maki - Uehara?

Uehara - …

Uehara - Tsurugi hasn’t done anything.

Uehara - I swear on my life, I killed Higa. Tsurugi’s just defended me, that’s all that he’s done.

Maeda - What did you two talk about when you were in your dorm?

Uehara - I don’t really know-

Maeda, hissing - You both keep saying that!

Uehara - Jesus FUCK lemme be!

Uehara - -But, Tsurugi went over the evidence he saw in the room, talked about what he thought might be going on with Hatano and Ōtori, and laid down for most of the time because his head hurt.

Uehara - Lemme finish. God damn.

Maeda - …I don’t fuck with that.

//Maeda grabs his handbook, and types something in his evidence.

Maeda - Tsurugi, is that true?

Tsurugi - Uuu… yeah, I think so.

Maeda - “Think”?

//Tsurugi sniffs.

Tsurugi - I don’t think I killed Higa. But, I also don’t think it was Uehara…

//He rocks slightly, not looking at anyone.

Tsurugi - I don’t know.

Tsurugi - Maybe, I’m just kinda out of the fight, cuz I couldn’t work it out before the trial… I think that swing kinda hit me more than I thought.

Maeda - …I don’t fuck with that.

Taira - Are we at a stand still?

Maeda - No, we aren’t. The evidence points towards Tsurugi more than it does Uehara.

Taira - Mm… do you think that evidence is enough to overturn a confession? 

Maeda - Yes, it should be. Anyone could claim anything, and I’ve given reason why Uehara would lie about being the blackened. 

//The class seems… overwhelmingly, unsure.

Maeda - …Not to mention, Tsurugi and Uehara keep being weird.

Maeda - They’re in on something together. Neither of them have been able to answer our questions, right?

Maeda - Obviously, they’ve shared some stuff- but there’s a ton that they’ve kept private, when they shouldn’t have reason to. Are we really gonna buy that they both keep forgetting things? Conversations related to the murder?

//On the one hand, Maeda is confident Hatano agrees with him, and it seems like Ōtori is really considering what he’s saying. On the other, Maki, also considering, seems a bit less swayed, while Maeda is just getting the feeling that Kobashikawa’s disinclined to suspecting Tsurugi. Fuck.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Tsurugi.

Maeda - I don’t want it to be you.

//A glint of hope sparks in Tsurugi’s eyes-

Maeda - But, I don’t want it to be anyone.

//-Snuffed.

Maeda - Most of the class just isn’t suspicious. Not me, not Hatano, not Kobashikawa, not Ōtori, not Maki.

Maeda - Tomori and Taira have both been suspected, but Taira got cleared with an alibi, and…

//Fuck, he doesn’t have an argument here.

Maeda - We’ve talked a lot about intuition- I don’t think anyone really believed it was Tomori. 

Maeda - Leaving us with you, and Uehara. Uehara has confessed. But he won’t give us his full account of what’s happened, and he keeps leaving things out whenever it has to do with you.

Maeda - Which isn’t even mentioning the fact that it just doesn’t make sense for Uehara to be the blackened!

Maeda - And you’ve pulled the same shit that he has- you keep saying you don’t know things that happened only hours ago. 

Maeda - Both of you are hiding the same things, and Uehara wants us to believe it’s him, and that’s asking us to trust someone who’s lying by omission. 

Maeda - Fess up what you’re hiding, and make everything make sense, or give us a better reason why it can’t be you, so Uehara is our best option again.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - Or, I’ll keep going over why I think Uehara’s covering for you. If you aren’t hiding anything, you shouldn’t have an issue with letting me dig deeper into this.

Maeda - But if he did push you to do this, then I really hope you’ll find it within you to just tell us, Tsurugi. I don’t believe you killed Higa because you were okay with us all getting executed. 

Maeda - So, confirm that by explaining why you did that, or prove me wrong. Or, we’ll try to work it out on our own, like you’ve said you wanted us to.

~*~

Maeda - …It sucks.

Maeda - I was close to Tsurugi. I’m not… going to act like I didn’t talk with him more than I did most of the others.

Maeda - But, it’s not like I’m Hatano losing Iranami. I have other people, and I have the chance to look Tsurugi in the eye, and talk about things.

Maeda - Even if he’s not really talking… let me go over the new evidence I want to add.

New Truth Bullet: Uehara’s Confusion

New Truth Bullet: Tsurugi’s Avoidance

{Review Evidence}

[another-dr-another]

can't believe im saying this but we should've listened to higa

Maeda, narrating - He was right.

Maeda - Like- not about everything. Higa was wrong about a ton of shit.

Maeda - But I think… 

Maeda - …

~*~

Maeda - Higa knew something we didn’t, Tsurugi.

Tsurugi - …?

//He looks at Maeda, curious.

Maeda - …

Maeda - What happened between you and him the day of the sleepover?

//He blanches, surprised.

Tsurugi - Oh. Uh…

Tsurugi - I don’t know. He just came in and started to sort of freak out. It really only escalated right before you and Uehara came in? Things were… weird, but fine, before that.

Tsurugi - Like, he was tense, but we were just talking. 

Maeda - Okay, there’s- a lot of things I want to go over there.

Maeda - Why was he even in your room? Why’d he approach you?

Tsurugi - …I don’t know why, but if you’re asking how, I had the door cracked open. A lot of people stopped by that day- you and Taira included.

Maeda - Okay, that’s true.

Maeda - But it doesn’t change things. Shit happened.

Maeda - I haven’t been seeing all of what goes down. It’s impossible, without following someone 24/7. I need to work out what I’m missing. 

Maeda - And what are the details on that conversation, Tsurugi? What was he talking about, and why did things escalate?

Tsurugi - Honestly, I don’t fully remember… sorry.

Tsurugi - A lot of things happened that day, and a lot’s happened since. Uhm…

Tsurugi - When he came in, he was nervous about the sleepover… he was asking me what I thought would happen during it. So, I talked about what games we might play, and stuff.

//Maeda is watching Tsurugi. He seems too calm.

Maeda - Aren’t you worried? Tsurugi?

//There’s no such thing as knowing someone. You’ve only known Tsurugi for a few days, Maeda.

Tsurugi - As for the escalation… he just got weird. Again, things weren’t really bad- then he shook my table, and knocked it over when I ignored that.

Maeda - No, you have to have noticed something.

//Tsurugi shoots Maeda a look, something akin to annoyance, before he sighs, and it falls.

Tsurugi - I was getting to that…

Tsurugi - I don’t really know, though. Higa was upset, and he said it seemed like I was ignoring him, but I wasn’t at that point. I didn’t acknowledge it when he tipped over my stuff, but I was still listening to him.

//Tsurugi shrugs.

Tsurugi - Really, I don’t know what to say. Things were chill, then he got mad at me, then he got madder.

Maeda - As far as I can tell, he isn’t keeping anything from us… whatever happened, he doesn’t think it’s relevant.

Maeda - At least, that’s what it looks like.

Maeda - That’s it?

Tsurugi - Yeah… sorry.

Maeda - Huh.

Maeda - I don’t buy it. I don’t buy what’s been happening.

Maeda - Tsurugi and Uehara have both been acting weird. I don’t trust them… and I think I know what’s really happened.

Maeda - But, I need to establish what I’ve noticed before I can come out and start arguing with him- and it’d be nice if I could get the others on my side too.

Maeda - …Okay. Sure.

Maki - Maeda- how is this relevant to the case?

Maeda - I just want to make sure we’re understanding what happened before the murder. 

Maki - Really?

Maeda - Mhm. All cards on the table.

Kobashikawa - …What are you trying to do here?

Kobashikawa - You and Hatano- everything you were saying earlier, how does it connect to this?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Can’t you tell?

Taira - You should probably explain clearly, so we can all agree.

Hatano - To be fair, I’m not sure I know exactly what’s going on.

Maeda - …Really, Hatano? I’m not looking for someone to be completely aligned with me, but that’s a bit…

//He’s looked over at her- she shrugs.

Hatano - I know what I’m thinking, but we might not be on the same page.

Ōtori - …Why’d you bring up Higa, earlier?

Maeda - We should’ve listened to him.

Maeda - Not about everything- but he noticed things we didn’t- maybe because he othered himself so hard.

//Kobashikawa is looking at him with slight trepidation, but Maeda doesn’t have time (or need) to focus on that right now.

Maeda - He called Tsurugi manipulative, and- a lot of shit got said-

~“Tsurugi has been a creepy asshole, and keeps taking advantage of the killing game to live out some fucked-up fantasy he seems to have-”~

Maeda - Not all of it is relevant, but there was a clear point he was trying to make. He said that Tsurugi was getting us to believe what he wanted, so he could control us, and have things go how he wanted.

Maeda - …I don’t think Tsurugi did anything wrong. The reason we’ve all listened to Tsurugi is because he’s helped us.

Maeda - But… Higa seemed stressed about everyone being against him, and Tsurugi being able to get people to ignore Higa.

Maeda - So- what would happen if someone wasn’t listening to Tsurugi? How…

//He looks to Tsurugi, who’s clearly been caught off guard.

Maeda - How’d you feel, when Higa was yelling at you?

Tsurugi - …

//Tomori looks at him, then at Maeda, judging him for coming after Tsurugi. Maeda chills slightly, but continues to look at Tsurugi.

Tsurugi - I…

Tsurugi, slowly- carefully - I was unsure of how this would affect things at the sleepover, but I noticed what you’re pointing out, about Higa being… on edge about isolation.

Tsurugi - Since the rec room had gone so well, I thought Higa coming to the sleepover would be good for us… and I wanted Higa to get along with us, since it’d decrease the odds of another murder, if we could all be close.

Tsurugi - That’s why I went to make sure he’d still come… 

Maeda - Mhm…

Maeda - And when you two got into your fight at the sleepover, what then?

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - He’s stopping to choose his words.

Tsurugi - I was just tired… I’d mostly fallen asleep when Kobashikawa woke me up, so I wanted to go back to bed.

Tsurugi - I really don’t remember what Higa said to me.

Maeda - It was the last thing he ever said, and severe enough for him to hit you- but you don’t remember even what the subject was?

Tsurugi - No…

Tsurugi - Blehhh… I’m sorry, Maeda. But I don’t even know what good this is doing, so, I really can’t help you.

Maeda - …

Maeda - You’ve had a pretty hard time knowing what to say, huh Tsurugi?

Tsurugi - …What do you mean?

Maeda - You’ve been really careful with your words. I know you aren’t the type to be super open about everything you think, but it’s been especially harsh lately. You keep holding back on us.

Tomori - …Don’t talk strangely, Maeda. What are you getting at?

Maeda - …If Tsurugi were being honest with us, he wouldn’t have to stop and think so much. 

Maeda - You’re unsure of what to say, and I think it’s because you’re not sure what you’re supposed to do. Something within you is conflicted, isn’t it?

Tsurugi - …

//He’s looking away, trying to think while he waits for Maeda to elaborate.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t want to assume… but if my theories are right, I have to imagine I can get a feeling for what you’re thinking.

Maeda - You don’t know which way to go, and that’s why you keep being so quiet. You know more than you’re letting on, and you don’t know if you should reveal the truth or not.

Uehara - …The truth?

Maeda - …Did Uehara come up with this idea? Or was it you?

//Tsurugi looks at Maeda- any pretenses have been dropped, as Tsurugi focuses his attention on scouring Maeda for information. Where is he going with this?

Maeda - I guess it doesn’t matter, not for the trial- but to prove who the blackened is, I should probably understand all of what’s happened, and that’s why I ask.

Maeda - Did you ask him to confess? Or did he offer to cover for you?

//It’s an involuntary reaction.

Tsurugi, softly - …Oh.

Maeda - You murdered Higa, Tsurugi.

//There’s a familiar feeling under Maeda’s fingertips, as he twitches, wanting to point at Tsurugi. Around him, the room starts to spark and buzz as the students set off on their own thoughts.

Maeda - Uehara must have realized this, and that’s why he’s confessing. At some point between when the murder happened, and when he confessed, he agreed to take the fall for you.

Maeda - Uehara gets voted, everyone gets executed, and you get to leave the school.

//Maeda never really had an issue with Tsurugi- there were many moments (though, not every second of their school life) where Maeda would say Tsurugi was his favorite classmate. So, he can’t find himself to be mad right now. If anything, Maeda would be softly pleading- but he doesn’t feel a need to plead. He’s sure of himself.

Maeda - It makes everything make sense. 

Maeda - The difficulties we’re having with making Uehara look like the blackened- it’s because he isn’t the blackened.

Maeda - He fits just as well as anyone does, because there’s no strong evidence, because of course you’d know not to leave a trace behind.

Maeda - Earlier, when you confessed- it could easily be a way of trying to alleviate some guilt. You played pretend like you were trying to get us to vote for you, but you probably believed Uehara would come pull you out of the situation.

//A storm of emotions swirls through Maeda. More than anything, he feels at peace. The ebbs and flows just mean movement, and movement means change. No longer at a standstill, everything is starting to evolve.

Maeda - Everything grows. No matter what, we frame it as growth- even rot is something that spreads. 

//Maeda can feel the world rot, crumble under his fingertips, and it’s such a familiar feeling that it truly feels safe to him. 

Maeda - What else…

//He goes to speak, but gets cut short.

Tomori - Seriously? Is that where we’re taking this?

//Maeda calmly looks at her. There’s genuine distress mounting, which makes sense. It’s exactly what he’d expect of her.

Tomori - We have Uehara, quite literally confessing, and you’re accusing Tsurugi? 

Maeda - Uehara confessed, and it fit in all the ways it could have- but it doesn’t really make sense.

Tomori - What the hell! And Tsurugi being the blackened does make sense?

//Maeda nods.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - I don’t know what to say…

Maeda - Will you admit it?

Tomori - If he did confess, would you stop believing it’s him? What does a confession mean to you, Maeda?

//He shrugs- much more concerned with Tsurugi’s reaction.

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi smiles with ease.

Tsurugi - I dunno! 

Tsurugi - I don’t think it was me, but I don’t think it was Uehara either~

Tsurugi - But, no matter what I say, that’s only one part of what makes up people’s minds- there’s other arguments beyond my reaction.

Maeda - And, he’s only one part of the courtroom. I have to get the majority’s vote, not a unanimous vote.

Tsurugi - Besides, I don’t know who it is… so, I can’t have a stronger argument if I don’t have any argument at all!

Kobashikawa - …Tsurugi, would you just… say that it isn’t you?

Tsurugi - …I feel like if I do that right now, it’s gonna seem like I’m screwing around, and it’ll be bad.

Tsurugi - It wasn’t me. Maeda’s wrong, I didn’t kill Higa.

Maeda - He doesn’t have a reason to tell us he did. Whether he is or isn’t the blackened, he has no reason to confess to the murder.

//Of course, Kobashikawa knows this. He didn’t ask out of a believe Tsurugi couldn’t lie.

Maki - …Maeda, you’re really pulling an accusation out of nowhere right now.

Maki - Can you explain this theory? You said it makes “everything” fit, you should elaborate on that. What doesn’t align with Uehara being the blackened?

Maeda - …Yeah, lemme explain.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - So…

Maeda - How are you feeling about this. Because personally, I feel really confident. But, I haven’t sat and worked through all my logic yet.

Maeda - I don’t have an issue with just… going over what I’ve got, piece by piece. In fact, it’d probably be a good idea to make sure everything I’m thinking is tracking.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t… want to be wrong about this. I’m going to be very firm on this, because if I am wrong, then Uehara is the blackened, and I’ve totally fucked everything up.

Maeda - But I don’t believe that Tsurugi has been honest with us, and I believe that accepting that as a fact means accepting the probability that he has been lying because he is the blackened.

{Recap}

[another-dr-another]

{Kobashikawa's Testimony}

Otori, Kobashikawa, Iranami, Uehara, and Higa went to the dining hall.

This could've been when Uehara decided to kill Higa.

Maeda, narrating - Yeah! We don’t really know what happened then, do we?

Maeda - They could’ve gotten into a fight, couldn’t they?

~*~

Maeda - I think I know what happened.

Maeda - …But…

//Maeda looks around at his classmates- he… isn’t so sure he should make his argument quite yet.

Maeda - Before I say that- lemme try something else.

Maeda - After Higa and Tsurugi got into their fight, we know things continued to happen- that wasn’t when the nights events ended.

//This theory doesn’t go so well- as you should know by now. It’s hard to explain, but often, Maeda has a feeling for how his theories might go. His accuracy is debatable, which is why he keeps these suspicions to himself, but he was right here. His testimony about what he heard last night isn’t applicable now… but he thinks he should be glad it got brought up. A mistake still gets you valuable evidence- if you notice some of the discrepancies with how his classmates responded.

Maeda - What about this, then;

Maeda - Last night- there was one time where our group got super split up, and a ton of people who have been relevant were alone together.

Maeda - The trip to the dining hall.

Maeda - Kobashikawa, Iranami, and Ōtori, along with Higa and Uehara, went off to the dining hall.

Maeda - Ōtori was probably focused on not getting caught, and Kobashikawa’s already been able to help us with what he noticed- we can’t really expect him to have picked up on everything happening, right?

Maeda - So, Higa and Uehara could have had some issue in the dining hall.

Maeda - Hell, maybe that’s even what caused Tsurugi and Higa to fight, you know?

Maeda - Like, I know Tsurugi woke him up- but he said he doesn’t remember what they fought about, right?

Tsurugi - Higa said my bedframe was ugly.

Maeda - No he did not, do not start with that.

Maeda - Isn’t it possible Higa was already upset due to something going down with Uehara, and then being woken up by Tsurugi set him off?

Maki - That could make sense. He was always pointing out that Tsurugi and Uehara were close to each other.

Tsurugi - Higa said I’m a symptom of the downfall of masculinity.

Maeda - No he- did he say that?

Tsurugi - Yeah. This wasn’t last night though this was like… an unrelated conversation. 

Tsurugi - I’m just reminiscing. 

Maki - Higa could’ve picked a fight with Tsurugi because he was upset with Uehara.

Maeda - Right!

Maeda - And then, Higa’s fight with Tsurugi would just be more of a reason for Uehara to kill Higa.

Kobashikawa - …Wait.

Kobashikawa - Sorry. I’m not trying to argue against Uehara being the blackened. I just… I guess I’m confused. I don’t know what your timeline is anymore.

Kobashikawa - Uehara and Higa got into a fight in the dining hall, then Higa and Ōtori came back, followed by Uehara and I…

Kobashikawa - Everyone laid down to sleep, I went to get changed, waking Tsurugi up- then I came back, and Tsurugi went back to bed. When I laid down, he and Higa started to fight.

Kobashikawa - Then… Tsurugi got hit, laid down… and Uehara reached over to kill Higa? Woken up by the fight? 

Maeda - I mean- not woken up, necessarily-

Ōtori - Wait. Then, he was up the whole time?

Maeda - Yeah, I guess.

Ōtori - …But Tsurugi said he saw Uehara asleep. 

Kobashikawa - Yeah, that’s the same issue I’m having.

Kobashikawa - Actually- it’s only one of the issues. 

Kobashikawa - Higa and Uehara weren’t ever alone together… the only time they were in the same room was when Higa grabbed his food, and both Ōtori and I were there when that happened. 

Kobashikawa - After that, Uehara was in the kitchen the whole time, and only left it after Higa had gone back to the dorms.

Kobashikawa - So…

//Maeda feels his heart sink.

Maeda - So there’s no time when Higa could have riled up Uehara-

Maeda - And, because of the stupid restrictions with people being asleep, it doesn’t even look like there’s a time when Higa could have died.

Maki - …Wait, shit-

Maeda - Because either Tsurugi would’ve still been up, or Uehara would’ve been asleep. 

Tsurugi - No- I fell asleep quickly. 

Tsurugi - No matter what, we know that that’s true. Because we know Higa has to have died early on in the night, due to the autopsy, which is pretty irrefutable, and we’re doubting anyone would’ve randomly woken up within the time frame.

Tsurugi - I was asleep, that’s the argument.

Hatano - …

Hatano - Arguing for Uehara to be the blackened?

Tsurugi - No. Making sure we have the right understanding of the case.

Hatano - You care about that now? See a need to correct us, now that we think it’s him?

Tsurugi - See a need to step in because it’s about something I would know about. Why would I not explain something only I experienced?

Hatano - …

Hatano - Kill yourself.

Maeda - Jesus Christ, Hatano.

Taira - …Let’s not dwell on that. Tsurugi and Hatano can work things out, we shouldn’t prioritize their situation. 

Taira - The murder?

Maeda - …I forgot what we were talking about.

Maki - It doesn’t matter if Tsurugi fell asleep… I mean, sure, we can choose if we buy it or not- but this is about Uehara.

Maki - If he was asleep, then he couldn’t have killed Higa. That’s in line with the logic we’ve been using.

Maki - I know we got rid of the alibis- but now we’ve decided Uehara’s doesn’t apply, I think we can reapply them, yeah?

Maki - That’s the whole reason why Ōtori, Hatano, and myself can’t be suspected. All three of us were seen asleep.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Actually- Tsurugi, why didn’t you mention Uehara being asleep?

Tsurugi - It’s more definitive to say he physically couldn’t… so I just didn’t mention it.

Hatano - Huh.

Tsurugi - This was earlier, Hatano!

Tsurugi - Besides! Maeda didn’t mention that he saw Taira asleep until we were stuck on debating if she or Tomori was the blackened!

Tsurugi - Don’t get after me on that! It’s such a non-issue, come on!

//Maeda’s heart stopped for a second there. Okay, fair game.

Maeda - I’ll leave that point alone, then… I don’t want to get myself or Taira caught up.

Maeda - Okay. But still, it’s an issue. If we say Uehara was asleep, then we’re back to our earlier issue- hell, it’s the one we just brought up.

Maeda - If everyone’s alibis are reinstated, then no one could’ve done the murder, except for Tomori.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - Well?

Tsurugi - Hey- when did this become our conversation?? Everyone else can step in!

Hatano - …

Hatano - You know. We never dismantled every alibi.

Maeda - What do you mean?

Hatano - When Uehara had us do that. We got rid of people being asleep, and people being weak- but that wasn’t everyone’s alibi.

Maeda - …Ōtori, Maki, Taira, and you, all asleep. Myself, Uehara, Kobashikawa, not strong…

Maeda - This shit keeps coming up. I should do a push up everytime it comes up. Less embarrassing. Problem solving.

Hatano - Uh huhhh… and Tomori’s suspicious, she never had an alibi- but that’s only eight.

//She was a bit condescending there- but Maeda isn’t thinking about that.

Maeda - …We never dismantled Tsurugi’s alibi.

Hatano - No we didn’t!

Maeda - …Weird, and it’s fair to point that out, but…

Maeda - What do you think that means, Hatano?

//Hatano shrugs.

Hatano - I don’t care.

Hatano - If Uehara’s confessing, and Tsurugi’s confessing, I think we should just see if Monokuma will execute them both.

Maeda - Monokuma is not going to let us do that.

Maeda - I feel like a dad right now.

Maeda - …Man, I wanna be a dad, lowkey. I don’t really like babies though. Maybe I could babysit.

Maeda - Or I could foster teens. Pre-teens, older kids… that could be cool. 

Maeda - Murder trial, back to the murder trial. 

Maki - I don’t know what relevance that could have… I mean, if we’re going to suspect Tsurugi, it looks like we’ll do that regardless of what alibis are saying.

Kobashikawa - …Are we suspecting him? I- it doesn’t seem like it’s Tsurugi. 

Maeda - We’re not suspecting Uehara regardless of alibis! We’re throwing out his coordination alibi, and trying to work out the sleeping thing right now.

Maeda - This isn’t about Tsurugi, it’s about Uehara. He’s the one who didn’t bring up Tsurugi’s alibi.

Tsurugi - Nobody brought up my alibi!

Maeda - Not the time Tsurugi!

Tsurugi - Wh- I’m just being fair!

Maeda - Uehara was leading the conversation, it was on him to keep track of that!

Tsurugi - Nobody wants us to screw up the trial, it’s on all of us!

Maeda - The blackened seems to want us to screw up-

Tsurugi - Bullshit! You don’t believe that, cuz you think Uehara’s the blackened, and Uehara’s helping us!

Maeda - Maybe he’s screwing with us!

//Shit.

Tsurugi - …

//The room stops. Maeda stops.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Wait.

Maeda - Uehara. Are you screwing with us?

Uehara - No.

Uehara - No, no no- 

Uehara - Shit- guys, shit. This is- fuck- this is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I’m telling the truth, I’m just- not really good at helping, right now.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Uehara. I swear to god, if you’re screwing with us right now. If you’re lying, or doing anything-

Uehara - I’m doing my best, dude!

Uehara - God…

Maeda - Okay. Why didn’t you bring up Tsurugi’s alibi then.

//Uehara sighs, seemingly frustrated.

Uehara - I didn’t remember it. 

Uehara - Even now, I don’t even know what you’re talking about!

Ōtori - You forgot what Tsurugi’s alibi was?

Uehara - Yes! Jesus!

Maeda - It was the fact he wanted to help Higa. We don’t believe he could’ve been driven to kill Higa- if he wasn’t pushed to it earlier, then what could Higa have done then that would’ve warranted death?

Uehara - …Oh. Yeah, makes sense.

Maeda - …Yeah?

Maeda - Wait- did you just think Tsurugi didn’t have an alibi? What did you think was happening when we said everyone except for Tomori had an alibi?

Uehara - …And Taira.

Uehara - Sorry- but- I don’t… know.

Uehara - …Which sounds dumb. I’m really sorry. I’m… I promise, I’m trying.

Uehara - I really wasn’t thinking of anything.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I want to believe this. I want to make this work.

Maeda - Distracted?

Uehara - Yeah, probably… being the blackened is tough work, I guess. Lots to think about. 

Maeda - Especially with wanting to get caught, but not wanting to make it seem like you were just lying.

Uehara - Yeah!

Uehara - That’s all it is. I’m playing chess, guys… seven layer chess. 

Uehara - Yeah.

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi’s gaze is fixed on nothing, hand visibly gripping his podium. Maeda isn’t ignoring this detail, but he has no clue what to do about it, so he’s not addressing it.

Ōtori - None of that gets us anywhere, though.

Maeda - Right. It doesn’t.

Maeda - Yeah…

Maeda - Is it possible that Tsurugi woke Uehara up when he laid down?

Kobashikawa - …And immediately decided to kill Higa?

Tomori - “Oh, if I’m up, I might as well go commit homicide”- like it’s no big deal?

Maeda - What else, then?

Tomori - …

Maeda - …I’ve been so distracted by Tsurugi and Uehara… I almost forgot Tomori is Uehara’s friend, too.

Kobashikawa - …

Kobashikawa - There isn’t an explanation that makes more sense. We can go with that.

Maeda - …

//Maeda doesn’t feel great about Kobashikawa’s consent there. There’s an extra layer to Kobashikawa, and this trial, and Higa’s death-

Maeda - I mean, fucks sake. At this point, everyone’s got some bullshit happening here…

//Maeda glances around Inori’s podium- looking at Taira. Quickly, she looks up from her disinterested evaluation of the floor, and catches his eye. Nothing is passed between them. When Maeda looks away though, he feels sort of settled.

Maeda - There’s more for us to work out though.

Maeda - We weren’t able to establish why Uehara would go after Higa.

Maeda - Ignoring the matter of when Uehara decided to kill Higa- there’s the why, the thing that pushed him over the edge.

Maeda - Just… like we were saying with Tsurugi. …Huh.

//The others seem to be having a similar thought.

Maki - It’s…

Maki - It doesn’t fully line up, does it. No matter what we do.

Maeda - …

//Any argument is skipped over. They don’t need to establish what the issue is.

Maeda - …

//Something within him cracks.

Maeda, pleading - We need a blackened though.

Maki - …Yeah. And it looks like Uehara is our best suspect.

Ōtori - But- doesn’t it mean something that this isn’t making sense? I mean-

Ōtori - The other cases, we were able to make it all fit. This isn’t working. We keep having issues with what happened.

Taira - The other cases left more evidence. Most of what was found for this one relates to your choices, Ōtori. And we know those aren’t important for Higa’s murder.

Maeda - …What if they are related?

Ōtori - Maeda, don’t.

Maki - Wait- do you think there could be a connection?

Maeda - I mean- I don’t have any ideas. But maybe we should be thinking about that more?

Kobashikawa - But if we don’t have reason to think they’re related, aren’t we going to get too unrealistic?

Maeda - I don’t-

Maeda - I just- I need to make this work, but it just isn’t fitting.

Maeda - There’s so much we don’t understand. Clearly something happened that made things escalate… but we don’t know what.

Maeda - And, I mean- even if we work out why this happened, there’s still the issue of logistics. 

Hatano - Seriously?

Maeda - What?

Hatano - This shouldn’t be this hard. If you know what the huge issue is, the big thing that’s suddenly throwing all logic out the window, you just… fucking delete that thing.

Maeda - …What?

Hatano - I can’t believe I’m trapped here with you guys.

Hatano - I hope we go back up and find out the buildings been airbombed because that’s the only way we’re escaping.

Hatano - The only issue you’re finding with Uehara being the blackened is that he was asleep, because Tsurugi said so. Sure, there’s the issue of motive, but I think that that’s fairly whatever.

Hatano - Do you see? What’s in the way here? It’s not impossible for Uehara to have killed Higa.

Maeda - …Tsurugi’s testimony could be flawed. That’s what she’s saying.

Maeda - I do… I get what you’re implying.

Maeda - But, if we start… just throwing out evidence, we don’t have a basis for anything.

Hatano - So work out the reason to discredit that evidence.

Hatano - Can you think of any reason why this evidence might exist, if it’s not evidence, but a lie? Does that start to make what’s happening here make sense?

Maeda - …

//He doesn’t have any thoughts on this. All he can decide to do is look at Tsurugi.

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi, who is staring intently at the floor, seemingly removed from the conversation.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Seemingly.

//Something inside of Maeda has cracked. There is a change. Maeda could articulate this, if he had reason to be concerned with it. But Maeda’s motivations have changed.

Hatano - …You keep insisting we need to look at a certain time for this murder.

Hatano - But Yamaguchi and Inori both planned out their kills well in advance. Sure, they had some time where they decided to take advantage of the event-

Hatano - But they both knew what they wanted to do before Kurokawa died. They didn’t know how, but they knew they’d be killing someone.

Hatano - If the mastermind is pulling us around, then sure, whatever, blame them. But the blackeneds have to have had the ability to commit murder. There’s people who are like that, and people who aren’t.

Hatano - Everyone who’s going to kill in here would have been willing to kill, no matter what. They were wired like that before the game.

Hatano - Inori, who was a surgeon that saved lives, and Yamaguchi, who was a lawyer, who, probably, did the same. 

Hatano - People suck. Some people just suck. 

Hatano - Whenever you wake up and see that, try and see if it helps you get past this pretend idea of faith.

Maeda - …

//Faith.

Maeda - …I’m not where Hatano is yet.

Maeda - Maybe I’ve been too kind to Yamaguchi and Inori, but I don’t think that means we’ve been too harsh on the mastermind.

Maeda - They’re all worse than we’ve been painting them, I think.

//Something has cracked, but not for this Maeda. There is a before and an after- this is Maeda after, trying to rectify his past beliefs.

Maeda - Everyone is worse than I thought.

Maeda - No one here is good. 

//Faith.

Maeda - What sort of person am I? Am I someone the mastermind knows will kill? 

Maeda - There’s no reason to believe I’m better than anyone, or that anyone is better than me. We can’t dictate things like that. 

Maeda - Huh.

Maeda - I guess this is it.

//Faith.

Maeda - Nothing's set in stone right now. If I knew how to guarantee anything, then I wouldn’t be myself. I don’t have any control over anything.

Maeda - I can’t control others, and I can’t control who I am. Can I even choose what I say?

Maeda - I’m myself. Whatever type of person that looks like, that’s who I’ll live with. 

Maeda - I’d say I’m a shitty companion to be stuck with, but that’s too self pitying. Pity doesn’t get anyone anywhere. So, I’ll stand up instead.

//Maeda can’t see. Maeda can’t hear anything. But everything is alight to him in a new way.

Maeda - …Guys, we’re working together, right?

Maki - …Yeah. No matter what, we have to be in this together.

Ōtori - I disagree with Hatano.

Ōtori - I know how this is going to look for me- but I don’t feel like it’s good to start hating Inori or Yamaguchi.

Kobashikawa - …

Maeda - Of course Ōtori would say something like that. “I know how this is going to look for me”, don’t say that sort of thing. It won’t absolve you. I don’t feel bad for you, Ōtori.

Maeda - …I could hurt Ōtori.

Kobashikawa - What are we going to do about Uehara’s confession. That’s what I’m still thinking about.

Maeda - We just need to fix our understanding of things.

Taira - Maeda, do you believe Uehara?

Maeda - …

Maeda - I did. I felt so confident. Have my beliefs changed? Or is it just the way I’m approaching them?

Uehara - …

//Uehara crouches down, coughing. Simultaneously, Kobashikawa turns away to sneeze.

Uehara - …You gave me your fucking germs, Koba.

//Maeda starts to regain his senses- but the world stays alight. His head is full of pressure, and something grander than the universe gleams around him. Kobashikawa, and Uehara.

Maeda - …

//Neither worth thinking about now. Not even Hatano or Tsurugi. It’s about looking back.

Tsurugi - …

//Something sparks.

Tsurugi - We don’t have to be debating. Monokuma may not give us another intermission, but we aren’t being pushed to vote right now.

Tsurugi - …I still have snacks if anyone wants something.

//It’s still. After a moment, Kobashikawa tentatively raises a hand- and Tsurugi chucks something or other towards him. Maeda is too busy to pay attention.

Maeda - Abandon all hope. I don’t believe in that, but it’s all I can come up with right now.

Maeda - I think… we misunderstood a lot of what was going on.

//He would almost say this feels familiar. Something is settling under his touch, but he can’t understand the way it fails to be foreign to him. The recognizability is half of what makes it indiscernible. 

Maeda - We need to look at the evidence. Throw out any of our feelings. Sure- intuition, connections… but we shouldn’t let what we want trump what we need. 

Maeda - There’s a different understanding of the case that we’ve managed to avoid, because we always cut ourselves off from that path.

Taira - …

Tsurugi - …You’re talking so seriously, Maeda. 

Maeda - …Sorry. This just feels… grand.

Tsurugi - What is it we’ve been avoiding?

Maeda - …

Maeda - We didn’t listen to someone we were supposed to.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - …Fuckkk.

Maeda - I don’t know what’s happening with the blackened. I want to make that clear.

Maeda - Genuinely, I don’t care about the blackened right now. New issue. 

Maeda - We’ve been too nice about ourselves. Everyone’s been able to avoid their flaws and their faults. If you manage to pretend you believe that, and get other people to act the same, then it’s like those issues don’t even exist.

Maeda - But you should accept them, and accept anything that comes with.

Maeda - If people are mad at you for lying and hiding so you can hurt them, then of course, you’ll try to lie and hide again, if people will let you. Then everyone gets hurt again.

Maeda - It’s hard, but the only way to handle this is to address it.

Maeda - …Sorry. I feel like I wasn’t even talking about the case.

Maeda - Nothing feels real right now. I don’t think this is an actual place. I think I’m hallucinating. Everyone is real.

Maeda - Oh my god. Oh my God.

Maeda - Okay. There is no such thing as a good person. Not that that matters at all right now it’s just really important to me that you understand that.

Maeda - We were way too idealistic in our judgements and we avoided reality. Somebody was able to notice things we didn’t, and they tried to act on this, but-

Maeda - Now, we’re never going to know what they were thinking, and that’s part of why this trial has been so hard.

Maeda - We’re missing a testimony that could’ve helped us solve things because it would’ve given us a new way of seeing-

Maeda - Do you understand what I’m saying? I feel so nauseous all of a sudden.

Maeda - Oh my god. We have been so wrong.

Maeda - Do you know who we should have listened to?

{Select a Student}

[another-dr-another]

select evidence -> maeda's testimony?

Maeda, narrating - My testimony?

Maeda - We should be making sure that our understanding of the murder fits with my testimony, for sure.

Maeda - I’ve been kinda trying to make sure that everything's aligning- but nows as good of a time to bring this up to the others as any.

~*~

Maeda - I think I know what happened.

Maeda - After Higa and Tsurugi got into their fight, we know things continued to happen- that wasn’t when the nights events ended.

Maeda - We don’t know exactly what happened… but couldn’t we say that Uehara and Higa had their interaction after that?

Maki - …Where’s Tsurugi in this scenario?

Maeda - Laying down- like he said he did after the fight.

Maki - Okay…

Maki - Your testimony had, like… noises and lights, right?

Maeda - Mhm!

Maki - …

Maki - So, what would’ve happened? I mean-

Maki - Tsurugi wouldn’t have fallen asleep that quickly, right? But… Uehara and Higa started to fight, and sure- that could be the sounds- but that caused the lights, too?

Maeda - …I mean. We know the lights happened. Maybe Uehara can explain it?

Tomori - Uehara. Do you remember seeing lights? Was that something that happened with you and Higa?

Uehara - …

//He laughs, audibly stressing.

Uehara, faintly - I don’t know if I’m supposed to lie, or-

Maeda - Don’t LIE???

Uehara - Sorry! I won’t!

Uehara - No lights. I really don’t remember that happening.

Maeda - …What? You don’t remember there being lights?

Uehara - No? Sorry dude…

Maeda - Ohhh I can’t fucking do this.

Uehara - I dunno. Maybe that happened. It could've been later that night maybe? Like, you kept waking up, but didn’t realize how much time was passing?

Ōtori - …It’s really easy to screw up your sense of time when you’re sleeping a ton.

Maeda - No. I know that was last night… fuck!

Kobashikawa - …

Kobashikawa - I agree. I don’t think Uehara and Higa really interacted last night.

Kobashikawa - Like… because, wouldn’t Uehara have basically needed to catch Higa off guard? If Higa had suspected an attack… I don’t think that Uehara could’ve pulled off the murder.

Kobashikawa - We’ve already sort of agreed to suspend disbelief for the physical limitations of Uehara killing Higa. This might be pushing things a little too far.

Maeda - …Okay. That’s a fair enough argument.

Maeda - I really believe that what I witnessed was all pretty consecutive, but…

Maeda - Yeah. It doesn’t really make sense for Higa and Uehara to have fought after Higa and Tsurugi fought.

Tsurugi - Uehara couldn’t have killed Higa because strangulation uses your hands and I decided to touch up Uehara’s nails again while he was asleep, after I fought with Higa. And you can’t really use your hands when your nails are wet.

Maeda - …

Maeda - And his nails took the whole night to dry.

Tsurugi - The whoooole night!

Maeda - Okay. We’re gonna execute Tomori, then. Good work Tsurugi.

Tsurugi, tearing up - No…

Maeda - Lemme work out when Uehara and Higa fought. That should get everyone to accept Uehara as the blackened.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - Some other time when they could’ve interacted.

Maeda - Higa and Uehara… when did things get worse with you two?

[another-dr-another]

{Taira’s Testimony} against {We’ve confirmed that Uehara isn’t strong enough} bc i love lying <3 can maemae bluff his way into remembering the only reason they "cleared" uehara was bc tsu said so without actually checking -iris

Maeda, narrating - Right…

Maeda - They’re close. That’s all there is to it. 

Maeda - Say Tsurugi was confident it wasn’t Uehara, just, based off the fact they were friends, so he believed in him…

Maeda - So he lied.

Maeda - I remember Tsurugi asking me if I thought I could condemn anyone- if any of us had a motive that would keep us from being forgivable.

Maeda - I can forgive Tsurugi for believing in Uehara. It’s human. 

~*~

Maeda - No, you’re wrong!

Maeda - We don’t have a guarantee that Uehara wouldn’t be strong enough to murder Higa. 

Maeda - I mean, Tsurugi said he wouldn’t be strong enough, but he could be wrong.

Maeda - It’s not like the test was infallible, right? And I know we tried to account for the fact the blackened would also have to be able to keep Higa from thrashing away, but…

Maeda - Does that sound like something anyone would be able to really feasibly do?

Maeda - No matter how you cut it, Higa was an athlete. You’d expect even other SHSL athletics to struggle with killing him-

Maeda - Killing anyone, any way, in a situation where we’re all in a small room… we really need to ease up a bit on saying things are impossible, because the murder is pretty impossible.

Maeda - If anyone was capable of killing Higa like that, then why not Uehara? Because we think he couldn’t?

Maki - …

Maeda - …The test could be wrong. 

Maeda - Or, Uehara decided to lie about being the blackened.

Maeda - Which one makes more sense?

Maki - …

Maki - Shit.

Maki - Yeah. I’ll concede. It looks like it was Uehara.

Tomori - …

Hatano - …Tsurugi could’ve lied, too.

Hatano - He’s like, totally a dick about Uehara. Maybe he knew Uehara was strong enough, so he’s trying to get us all killed.

Maeda - …

~“I kinda want everyone to vote wrong.”~

Maeda - I don’t think Tsurugi would do that…

~“Do you think this is supposed to end?”~

Maeda - …But that isn’t what he meant.

Uehara - …Oh, Hatano-

Uehara - We fought in the dining hall, right? Could you maybe testify?

Hatano - …Seriously?

Tsurugi - …Hatano was talking about that, huh…

//Tsurugi was looking over the edge of his podium, having at up at some point Maeda missed- but he pulls himself up now.

Tsurugi - I didn’t lie for Uehara. I didn’t test him. I didn’t need to.

Tsurugi - It wasn’t Uehara. He was asleep all throughout last night. I checked that he was asleep after I fought with Higa.

Taira - …

Taira - I noticed you didn’t test him. Back then, you claimed it was because he was uncoordinated.

Tsurugi - Oh! I’m glad you remembered that, Taira. I didn’t want to bring it up and seem suspicious, since I didn’t interrupt when everyone said he was cleared because of strength.

Maeda - Wait- it wasn’t Uehara’s strength to begin with-

Maeda - Tsurugi didn’t check Uehara’s strength during the trial???

Tsurugi - But, yeah. Uehara could’ve strangled him, sure-

Tsurugi - I don’t think that he’d have been able to pin him down, that’s the issue. I was asleep next to Higa when the murder happened- they have to have been able to kill Higa without me noticing.

Tsurugi - That means keeping Higa still enough he wouldn’t have really moved at all- and Uehara couldn’t do that!

Tsurugi - He doesn’t fight with precision. Hehe- if anything, Hatano should be able to confirm that.

Tsurugi - …Sorry, that sounded mean. Hatano, what do you think?

Hatano - …

Hatano - I think you should kill yourself, Tsurugi.

Maeda - .

//His mind goes blank. 

Tsurugi - …

//Fucking- huh?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Okay.

Tsurugi - Was that- did you- like.

Tsurugi - …Was that an intentional comment. Or.

Hatano - …

Hatano - I hope you die.

Hatano - I hope you fucking kill yourself.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - What the actual fuck.

//Maeda can feel himself shaking. Everywhere around the class, everyone is visibly tense- this isn’t the most scared, or upset, or stressed they’ve been this trial. But there is some sort of energy in the air that has everyone straight on edge. Maeda locks eyes with Kobashikawa- the student who’s closest to across from him… who only has Iranami’s portrait between himself and Hatano.

Kobashikawa and Maeda, silently - What the fuck?

//Maeda stares at Kobashikawa, trying to share… some sort of- maybe solidarity? Before making the mistake of looking to Kobashikawa’s left. Hatano is holding her left arm, staring at Tsurugi… oddly plain. There’s no fire or fury or fight behind her. It’s a simple fact, with no goal, no intent. She’d just be really happy if he killed himself.

Maeda - …

//Maeda feels one of his legs buckle. Directly next to Hatano, Ōtori stares at the floor, and Maeda feels a bit happy that Ōtori, with all the shit he seems to have pulled, gets to deal with this. 

Tsurugi - Okay.

Tsurugi - That’s, like. 

Tsurugi - A normal comment. I think.

//Maeda has seen a lot of posts on Instagram about how this is called suicide baiting and in the year of our lord 2k19, people should not do it because people can kill themselves about it. Maeda feels a bit bad now for taking delight in Ōtori’s suffering.

Maeda - …I don’t think she meant that.

Hatano - It is. You should kill yourself.

Hatano - When Kurokawa died, you confirmed you have a gun in your room. You can do it once the trial’s over.

Maeda - Ouh.

Tomori - Hatano shut the fuck up.

Tsurugi - No this is fine. This is. 

Tsurugi - It’s fine.

Hatano - You agree.

Hatano - Guys it’s okay, he agrees.

Tsurugi - Well. No. 

Tsurugi - I just- I don’t know. I don’t really want to talk about this? 

Hatano - Yeah I’ve noticed that about you. 

Maeda - Oh my goddddd.

Hatano - …Always quiet when it comes to talking about things that are hard for you. Kind of makes me worried when you do speak up.

Hatano - Cause… if it’s something that stresses you out, you don’t deal with it. So why are you willing to defend Uehara now?

Tsurugi - …?

Tsurugi - I’m defending him cuz no one else is… I have arguments that haven’t been considered!

Tsurugi - It’s like what’s been said. If something doesn’t make sense, there’s no reason we shouldn’t try to… assuage people’s fears.

Hatano - …

Hatano - You aren’t scared, though. 

Hatano - This is, like… everything for you. It’s just what I said earlier. You wanna play hero and prove your importance and shit.

Tsurugi - …Then, if you think it’s Uehara- why would I be defending him?

Hatano - I don’t think it’s Uehara.

Tsurugi - Oh!

Tsurugi - Wait, this sucks. I wanna work with you now, but- like… yeah.

Tsurugi - Why don’t you think it’s him?

Hatano - I’m not gonna help you.

Tsurugi - Okayyy.

Tomori - …

Taira - …

Uehara - …

Tomori - …Hatano you can’t tell people to kill themselves.

Hatano - Fucking do something about it, Tomori.

Hatano - Not my fault you chose shitty friends.

Uehara - …What?

Uehara - Tomori, like…

//He seems genuinely lost, losing his opinion in the middle of his sentence.

Maki - …

Maki - I’m so sorry- Uehara, that’s when you’re choosing to step into the conversation?

Uehara - Huh.

Maki - …Okay. Nevermind.

//Maeda’s still reeling- this conversation isn’t making things any better.

Tsurugi - …Oh, right, my argument.

Tsurugi - So-

Kobashikawa - Tsurugi, is this really okay?

Tsurugi - …Honestly dear Kobashikawa, I don’t know what to do right now. I’m being so genuine. What the hell.

Tsurugi - Sorry. Let’s move on.

Tsurugi - So, I don’t think Uehara would’ve had the precision to kill Higa. …That’s it. That’s my defense.

Maeda - …Okay.

Maeda - Is he okay? Is Hatano okay? None of what just happened is okay. But- they’re moving on. Tsurugi is, at least. I don’t know if Hatano really has anything to move on from. 

Maeda - Oh my god. She told him to kill himself.

Maeda - After Iranami died? After Iranami died? Seriously?

//Logically, Maeda has understood that this is a bad situation for them, psychiatrically. He has a new understanding of that fact right now.

Maki - …

Maki - So our conversation about strength doesn’t really matter?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - No, it’s an excuse to make Uehara flex and show off that he’s actually got a bodybuilder look to him. C’mon Ue, show them.

Uehara - I can’t do that.

Tsurugi - Sorry he’s shy.

//Maki slowly places her head into her hands.

Maeda - Same, Maki.

Tomori - …To be fair.

Tomori - Maybe if Uehara was good at being coordinated, he wouldn’t have gotten beat up by Hatano.

Maki, faintly - I mean, Hatano’s definitely stronger than him.

Tsurugi - This is why I want Hatano’s testimony! But whatever.

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - You know- I just don’t think that’s good enough of a defense.

Tsurugi - …Huh?

Ōtori - Seriously, saying Uehara isn’t coordinated enough? I don’t think it holds up. Maybe he is uncoordinated, but that’s not all too… not-damning.

//Maki laughs weakly.

Kobashikawa - …

Kobashikawa - Could… we maybe pause this?

Maeda - How come, Kobashikawa? What do you have in mind?

Maeda - No judgement. Thank you Kobashikawa if you have something new to bring up. God, we need to move on.

Kobashikawa - Uehara, if it was you… why did you kill Higa?

Uehara - Oh…

Uehara - Higa sucked, he was evil- whatever.

Uehara - I mean, you know. Everyone knows what it was like. I don’t-

Uehara - Can’t really imagine that being a hangup of yours?

Kobashikawa - Why not earlier, then?

Kobashikawa - I mean… if your only reasoning is that Higa sucked, then-

Kobashikawa - Like- listen, I don’t think this disproves it. I just think you’re still holding out on us. There’s something that happened which we aren’t being told about. Why kill Higa now?

Maki - …Fuck.

Maki - I’m with Kobashikawa here. Why now- not even why now, but why then? Why last night specifically- why after the fight?

Maki - You were responsible for food, Uehara. You could’ve poisoned Higa with ease- and if you’re okay with being executed, that would’ve given us more evidence to work with. 

Ōtori - …Could that be the reason? The fight with Tsurugi?

Taira - Tsurugi testified that Uehara was asleep when he and Higa had their fight.

Tsurugi - Mhm- I didn’t want to wake him up. That’s part of why I woke Higa up on accident- I stepped on the floor by him instead of on the mattress. 

Tsurugi - Maeda even pointed out that our sleeping positions were weird- I laid down differently to keep Uehara asleep.

Ōtori - …All of that could be a lie, though.

Maeda - No- I mean, why would we call bull on that?

Tomori - And what reason would Tsurugi have to lie? This is what you guys said about the strength thing, and he didn’t lie there! 

Tomori - Or… only, like… by omission. By not correcting us misspeaking. But that was to keep from throwing off the debate!

Tomori - He’s had a straight story about this.

Maeda - Right… not to mention, that just brings us back to the thing about killing Higa earlier. 

Maeda - He could’ve killed Higa at any point, under that logic. Even if we get Tsurugi specific, there’s the fight they got into just before the sleepover- or the one they got into after the second trial!

Tsurugi - !

Uehara - …?

Taira - …What fight?

Maeda - …Uh.

Maeda - …

//His head buzzes.

Maeda - When Uehara and I were waiting for Tsurugi in the hallway, but he was talking to Higa, and Higa got upset, so Higa hit him, and Tsurugi hit back, because Higa went for his hearing aid, and it startled Tsurugi, and then Higa was all bruised up the next day, because Tsurugi hit him hard enough to knock him out, and so Tsurugi left Higa’s room, and talked with Uehara, before we all went into Tsurugi’s room so I could get something to eat.

Maeda - The night after the second trial.

Taira - Oh.

Taira - Yeah, okay. Kobashikawa is right, then. We should probably work out what Uehara’s motive was.

//Maeda feels like he was just shaken. Shaken shaken shaken until all of the wires keeping his brain connected got tugged out. Uh oh. Whoops? He needs to get his bearings. 

Tsurugi - …Do you all believe it was Uehara, then?

Kobashikawa - …I’m sorry, Tsurugi.

Kobashikawa - I’m not sure what happened yet, and I want to understand better what the reason was for the murder. But, I really don’t think Uehara would falsely confess.

Tsurugi - You don’t need to apologize, Kobashikawa. It’s okay.

Maki - …

Maki - I just don’t see who else it could be…

Tsurugi - It was Monokuma. We should execute it.

//Maeda is feeling a good bit better. He’s not really sure what he was talking about just earlier.

Taira - We should ask Uehara to explain himself.

Uehara - Sorry. Explain what?

Uehara - …Wait I don’t fucking like you. Piss off, Taira.

//Taira nods slightly. Maeda thinks he’s adjusted back to the conversation.

Maeda - Would you explain your motive?

Uehara - …The motive? The one Monokuma gave us?

Maeda - …Like, your reasoning for killing Higa?

Uehara - I mean. I don’t really know. I guess the motive was… relevant. Sure. 

Maeda - …?

Uehara - ???

Maeda - …Let’s try to work out the motive a different way.

Maeda - Any other way. Please. Please. 

Taira - Something other than the fight with Tsurugi last night.

Kobashikawa - And not the one earlier that day…

Maeda - We were all together. Surely there’s something?

Maki - Well, yeah. Something set the murder off. We just have to identify what it was. 

Maki - …Maybe then we’ll feel comfortable finishing off the trial.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - I can’t really think of an interaction between Higa and Uehara…

Maeda - Higa had been acting weird for the last day or so. Oddly… inconsistent. Better, then worse…

Maeda - So, I should’ve been more attuned to Higa than usual. Why didn’t I notice anything happening?

Maeda - It wouldn’t have been anything while we were all falling asleep… in fact, even Tsurugi should’ve noticed something- he was around Uehara at least, for like, the whole sleepover.

Maeda - Hm…

Maeda - Sometime where not only I didn’t notice, but Tsurugi also couldn’t have picked up on something happening… isn’t there one answer?

Maeda - At what point in the night could Uehara have decided to kill Higa?

{Select Your Evidence!}

[another-dr-another]

hit {We’ve confirmed that Uehara isn’t strong enough} w the bloodied pillow? id imagine strength matters less if you have an implement to do the murder with? -annie

Maeda, narrating - Yeah…

Maeda - That’s true. If Uehara could use the pillow, didn’t we say that that’d take less strength?

~*~

Maeda - Hold it!

Maeda - Uehara doesn’t need to be particularly strong to pull off the murder.

Maeda - If he used the pillow that was found near Higa, then he could’ve suffocated Higa, right?

Maki - …I guess?

Hatano - …

Kobashikawa - Isn’t it normal for there to be a pillow near Higa, though? I mean… he could’ve still been killed with one, but…

Maeda - No- this one is relevant because we saw blood stains on it. It caught mine and Tomori’s attention.

Tomori - Mm…

Tomori - I don’t know if this is making sense. Maeda, are you sure?

Maeda - Yeah. This makes everything make sense- Uehara just suffocated Higa with the pillow. That’s why that pillow was astray.

Hatano - Doesn’t that get rid of your alibi too?

Maeda - Mhm. Mine and Kobashikawa’s- but we aren’t confessing to murder.

Uehara - …Huh.

Maeda - …Fuck does that mean, Uehara?

Uehara - Uh… nothing. Sorry.

Maki - I thought we agreed it was strangulation, though…

Maeda - Well… yeah. But was that just so we could narrow things down?

Ōtori - I thought we had evidence for it being strangulation…

Maeda - Evidence like what?

Maeda - Why are they starting to disagree with me? I thought we were mostly on the same page?

Tsurugi, weakly - Aughhh…

Tsurugi, from the floor - Guys. Guys shhhh. You need to be so quiet to hear me.

Tsurugi - He wasn’t suffocated. We know because of how Higa’s hands were positioned. That’s why we decided it was strangulation.

Tsurugi - And strangulation takes more strength than suffocation.

Maeda - …Damn it.

Maki - Yeah! Yeah- thanks, Tsurugi.

Tsurugi - Mhm…

//It seems like Tsurugi’s getting comfortable on the floor again.

Maeda - So, I really need to prove that Uehara could have strangled Higa-

Maeda - …Wait. Tsurugi?

Tsurugi - ?

Maeda - You don’t think it’s Uehara?

Tsurugi - I dunno.

Maeda - …If it’s not Uehara, why do you think he’s claiming it was him?

Tsurugi - …I dunno? Why are you asking me?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Sorry. Let’s go back to your thing, Maki.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - …Huh.

Maeda - Usually, I just move on when my argument was strong enough.

Maeda - I should focus on Uehara, and proving he’s the blackened.

Maeda - Like I said, I’m confident it was him, I just have to get the argument down. Nothing that’s happened would make me doubt that.

Maeda - …But… huh.

[another-dr-another]

hi uehara. -iris

Maeda, narrating - …

Maeda - It has to be.

Maeda - That’s who it is. The same person that suddenly started helping me- that’s the person who’s been hiding from us for hours.

~*~

Maeda - …It was you, Uehara.

Maeda - You murdered Higa.

Uehara - …

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - An accusation ain’t enough, Maeda! You-

Tsurugi - …

//He goes silent. Maeda feels a wave of nausea.

Maeda - …Is he going to speak again? Can he?

Tsurugi - …You’ve gotta give us your evidence, Yu.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Yeah. I have to argue for this, huh?

Tsurugi - When you’re saying this sort of thing, yeah! What makes you think it was Uehara?

Maeda - …Other than everything that’s happened over the past five minutes?

Maeda - Uehara fits the bill. He’s been having issues with Higa for a long time now. It makes total sense to argue it was him- it makes the most sense out of everyone we have left.

Maeda - I mean… I think he was my number one suspect before the trial started, to be honest. It just felt right.

Maeda - They got into fights a lot, and… I mean, Uehara is known for getting physical with people. 

Maeda - Back when we first met…

Maeda - I think the first conversation I ever had with him, he mentioned how he had a reputation for curb-stomping! Uehara is the type to throw hands when someone’s being a dick, and Higa was a dick!

Uehara - I take pride in it. Talk shit, get hit…

Tsurugi - Higa wasn’t curb-stomped.

Ōtori - The fact he didn’t die in the sensationalized way that’s more likely to be focused on isn’t worthwhile evidence, though.

Tsurugi - Didn’t say it was!

Maeda - …

Maeda - Uehara. You wanted me to realize it was you.

Uehara - …

//Slowly, he nods his head.

Uehara - The trial’s gone on too long. I’m tired.

Uehara - Honestly… I thought I’d be suspected fairly quickly. I had no clue about how this was gonna start- with Iranami’s death, and all-

Uehara - But I figured once we looked at Higa’s death, you all would work out that it was me.

Tomori - …

Tomori - Really? Uehara?

Uehara - …Yeah.

Uehara - I don’t… know what to say. All I can do now is try and keep everyone from voting wrong, right?

Maki - …

Maki - Why confess now? Why not earlier?

Tsurugi - Yeah. Isn’t that weird of you, Uehara?

Uehara - …

Uehara - I thought I could be hands off with this. I don’t know how to prove that I did it- so I thought confessing might make me look suspicious, like I was lying.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - The evidence should start to make sense…

Maki - …What about your alibi?

Uehara - What? 

Maki - I know you made the point that we should ignore the alibis, but I don’t understand why.

Maki - I mean, sure, we were able to identify you as the blackened because we did- but why can we just ignore the evidence?

Uehara - I have an alibi? I- I shouldn’t.

Maki - …Tsurugi said you weren’t strong enough. 

//Maeda looks over at Tsurugi. Tsurugi is not standing up. Maeda thinks he is fully laying down, as best as he can while staying on his podium.

Uehara - Oh.

Kobashikawa - That’s a good point, Maki.

Kobashikawa - Sure… Uehara could have wanted to hurt Higa- but we have to remember to imagine this actually happening.

Kobashikawa - Can you all envision Uehara reaching over and strangling Higa? And Higa not being able to get anyone’s attention?

Hatano - Well, clearly Higa couldn’t get anyone to realize what was happening. That’s true no matter who the blackened is.

Kobashikawa - …But, Uehara? I mean- in general, Uehara strangling Higa…

Ōtori - It makes sense otherwise.

Ōtori - Maeda, didn’t you say Uehara was able to drag Higa out of Tsurugi’s room? That feels like a good indicator of strength to me.

Maeda - Mhm…

Maeda - And again- that’s indicating a willingness to get physical with Higa on the same day that we had the sleepover.

Maeda - …Funnily enough, I think that was a bit under 24 hours ago.

Maeda - So recent… god.

Uehara - I get into fights fairly often.

Uehara - No evidence for my ability to strangle… but it shouldn't be hard to believe.

Maki - …Well, it is.

Maki - I hate to say it- I don’t want it to be true- but, beyond the strangling, I actually really believe it was Uehara.

Maki - Except, I can’t get over the issue of the strength. I don’t think you were physically capable of doing it.

Taira - What’s your theory for why he’d be confessing, then?

Maki - …

Maki - I have a guess. But, honestly, I don’t want to consider it.

Tomori - I mean.. a sudden, fake confession…

Maeda - …

Maeda - Do you all feel like we’re taking this too lightly?

Maeda - Uehara confessed to murder. The trial could finally be ending- and eight of us could be safe.

Maeda - And… Uehara could be about to die. Shouldn’t we have some more passion?

Maki - …

Maki - I don’t want to get worked up over nothing. I just want to get the facts in place.

Tomori - …Yeah… I think we’re all so uncertain, it’s easier to just… discuss it simply.

Maeda - Ah… that’s fair. I just don’t know who else it could be.

Uehara - I killed Higa.

Uehara - …Maybe it’s because I’m so…

Maeda - …Calm?

Uehara - …Mhm. Maybe that’s affecting how everyone feels.

Maeda - Tsurugi is still on the floor right now.

Maeda - …Sorry, I can’t do that-

Maeda - Uehara- can you like. Look at Tsurugi? Or, Tomori; could either of you verify that he hasn’t like… passed out?

Tsurugi, weakly - Sorry. I’m fine.

//Tomori looks over at him. Uehara’s eyes drift to the floor.

Tomori - …He looks fine.

Tsurugi - I’m busy rewatching The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Right now. In my head. 

Uehara - …’S a good movie.

Tsurugi - So let’s watch it together!

Uehara - Now, or later?

Tsurugi - Mm.

//Tsurugi shifts on the floor- not standing, but simply adjusting his position.

Maki - …

Maki - Maybe you’ll be able to. I still think Uehara’s alibi is too strong for us to accuse him of murder.

Maki - Let’s- if you all believe it-

Maeda - …I’m confident. I don’t think Uehara was trying to lead us off course here.

Maki - -Then someone should be able to convince me. Right?

Uehara - …

Maeda - …Right. 

Maeda - I’m confident. It was Uehara.

Maeda - I just… it’s less the alibi that’s confusing me, and more how long it took him to confess.

Maeda - But, he was able to explain that, and I buy it. Plus, weird behavior in trial doesn’t mean anything for the murder.

//Maki looks at Maeda. Maeda is reminded of talking with her in the dining hall, repeatedly over the course of the investigation. An understanding passes between them.

Maeda - …Maki and I can get through this. We’ll work together to solve Higa’s murder.

//Subtly, Maeda nods to Maki. She firmly returns it.

Maki - Let me remind you why I believe it wasn’t Uehara.

Rebuttal Showdown: START!

Truth Bullets: Bloodied Pillow Monokuma File #03-2 Taira’s Testimony

Maki - First, it’s all just weird. 

Maki - Sure, Uehara could be argued as the sort of person that’d kill Higa…

Maki - But, to lead us on such a wild goose chase? Then just… suddenly decide to confess?

Maki - I mean, he didn’t even really confess! He just had us play weird roundabout games until you figured it must be him.

BREAK!

Maeda - That’s all… fair. Uehara’s behavior has definitely been unorthodox- …not funny.

Maeda - Sure, but he gave his reasoning for those choices. If you don’t buy it, then there’s nothing we can do, because we won’t really get evidence about what Uehara’s been thinking.

Maeda - But, it doesn’t matter! Uehara’s actions in the trial don’t apply to the murder.

Phase Two

Maki - I mean- they’re indicative of him, and {we need to understand Uehara to understand the murder}-

Maki - But sure, whatever. That doesn’t change the fact that {Uehara has an alibi}.

Maki - {It doesn’t matter if he wanted to kill Higa}, or if he wants us to believe he killed Higa.

Maki - {We’ve confirmed that Uehara isn’t strong enough}, and- don’t forget, Uehara was the one who said we should ignore alibis.

Maki - If you ask me, I think it’s more feasible that {someone was pretending to be asleep}, so if we want to look at alibis again, let’s check those.

Maki - But, strength is a pretty concrete thing, and strangulation takes a lot of that. Uehara couldn’t do it.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - Okay. Maki’s really got a decent defense- Uehara doesn’t seem strong.

Maeda - But, like he mentioned, he’s got fighting experience. He’s got to have some strength built up, right?

Maeda - And… I think… being tall maybe comes with strength? M…Maybe. That isn’t a good argument, ignore that actually.

Maeda - Anyways. Uehara’s alibi is definitely what’s getting in the way of voting for him. I really get why he wanted us to ignore alibis, if he wanted us to think it was him.

[another-dr-another]

Advance!!!

Maeda, narrating - God…

Maeda - There’s somebody that… is sort of suspicious, but I don’t know…

Maeda - Really- how does that make sense with how they’ve been acting? I guess that isn’t enough reason to rule them out, but… I’ll have to see how I can make that make sense.

~*~

Maeda - Okay. So, we look back at what happened before the case to solve it.

Uehara - Mhm. No evidence.

Uehara - …Really you all never would’ve been able to solve the case. Just have to guess right-

Uehara - Isn’t that an… informed? Guess?

Tsurugi - Educated hypothesis.

Uehara - Wow… incredible.

//Tsurugi kicks his podium.

Monokuma - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - So.

Maeda - I actually don’t know what to say.

Taira - Who can we take off the list? Automatically, who didn’t fight with Higa?

Maeda - Oh- uh…

Maeda - You didn’t, Taira… Hatano never really did, Tomori didn’t… are we safe to take Ōtori off the list?

Ōtori - Why would I be on the list?

Maeda - …Well.

Kobashikawa - We can take Ōtori off. Should I be on the list?

Uehara - It’s only people who fought Higa, not who Higa fought with.

Kobashikawa - …

Tomori - …?

Kobashikawa - …I just… sort of wish I had smacked him while I had the chance. Sorry.

Tomori - No, that’s good. Express those feelings. You don’t have to be okay with what he did to you just because he’s dead now.

Maki - …

Maki - It was his actions catching up with him, Kobashikawa. Either that makes you happy, or it isn’t enough of a comeuppance. Those are the two options- feeling guilty over hating him isn’t a choice.

Kobashikawa - …Thank you.

Tsurugi - Phenomenal teamwork. I believe your wisdom will ALWAYS save the day.

Tsurugi - Maki, Tomori. How do we escape?

Maki - …Arson.

Tomori, overlapping - Love women.

Tsurugi - Okay! Perfect.

Tomori - You can do the second part non-literally. Non-romantically. Only if you’re queer about it though.

Tsurugi - I like this topic… can we stay here forever?

Uehara - Murder.

Tsurugi - Ughhhhh.

Maeda - Stay on topic. Stay on topic.

Maeda - Taira, Hatano, Tomori, Ōtori, Kobashikawa. Anyone else off the list?

Maki - …I fought with him enough to be on the list, huh…

Maeda, apologetic - Yeah, I think so.

Maki - It’s fine.

Maki - …

Maki - Not to… be suspicious and defend myself, but… it’s not like I fought with him shortly before the murder.

Maeda - That’s true…

Maki - …Right?

Tomori - …I don’t think it was you, Maki. 

Maeda - …Not Maki. Not Ōtori, not Kobashikawa, not Taira, not Tomori, not Hatano.

Maeda - Hey- am I on the list? I haven’t fought with him recently.

Hatano - No- but you have gotten physical, just to be real. I don’t think Maki ever did that?

Maeda - But I know it wasn’t me… and I didn’t fight with him recently, at least. 

Maeda - So…

Maeda - Tsurugi’s on that list, but we know Tsurugi… he never really fought with Higa- it was only once that he put hands on him, to take him out of the dining hall.

Maeda - And the whole reason we were able to say that it wasn’t him is because we don’t think Tsurugi would’ve killed Higa.

Maeda - But…

Tomori - I guess we can keep Maeda on the list.

Tomori - Did anyone see him and Higa interacting last night?

Kobashikawa - Higa didn’t get into fights with anyone last night, did he?

Maeda - It’s not just about last night, though.

Tsurugi - Meeeeeee.

Tsurugi - But! Not any that we all witnessed, no.

Maeda - We don’t need to go as far back as we could- even looking at the day of the sleepover, someone starts to come to mind.

Maeda - …That’s fine, though.

Maeda - We don’t need to be looking at the sleepover specifically to find the blackened.

Maeda - Just look at that day. At what led up to it. Any time we were all going to interact with Higa.

Uehara - Maeda’s right.

Uehara - The answer’s earlier than the sleepover. 

Maeda - Helpful. 

Maeda - Whatever. It is actually helpful to get that confirmation…

//Maeda… pauses, and looks at Uehara.

Maeda - I want to say thank you, Uehara, but… I don’t-

Maeda - Do you see what’s happening here?

Hatano - Okay… so, looking at what happened before the sleepover, who is it?

Maeda - …

Maeda - There was a fight before the sleepover- about the sleepover, that same day. 

Maki - Wait- really? Who was involved?

Maeda - Uh- funnily enough, I think everyone who’s currently a suspect.

Maeda - Uehara and I were walking together- he came out of the dining hall when I happened to be walking by.

Maeda - We were going towards the dorms, when we heard a bang from Tsurugi’s room. Higa was in there, yelling and smacking shit around.

Maeda - Which… means he started shit, which tracks with the sleepover- which matters, but not for knowing who the blackened is. It matters because of what it tells us about the blackened.

Maeda - If Higa was the one who started the fight… it makes the suspects behavior make way more sense.

Maeda - Uehara and I went in to Tsurugi’s room, and Uehara was able to get Higa to leave.

Maeda - …He dragged Higa out, physically. Tsurugi pushed past Uehara to make sure Higa would come to the sleepover, and Uehara didn’t want this to happen.

Uehara - …Mhm.

Uehara - I knew he shouldn’t come. He was an asshole- he couldn’t just quit being a dick, he never could.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Which- Uehara said something similar to me, earlier.

Maeda - When we were going around getting everyone to go hang out in the rec room… Uehara asked me to not let Higa be alone near Tsurugi.

Maeda - …Which is a weird pattern. It’s a weird pattern. If it doesn’t mean anything.

Tsurugi - …

//The class is silent. They seem to be with Maeda here. This means something.

Maki - …

Maki - I haven’t really interacted with Higa for a few days.

Maeda - Mhm… and I’ve been around when things have happened- but I haven’t actually been involved in anything.

Kobashikawa - You- You’ve just witnessed things.

Ōtori - And you seem to be witnessing the same sort of thing.

Maeda - …Yeah.

Maeda - One student has been on edge around Higa. One student has been nothing but wary of Higa.

Maeda - One student clocked that Tsurugi and Higa were having issues, and didn’t want him around Tsurugi.

Maeda - One student has been willing to get physical with Higa, recently. 

Maeda - One person kept showing up as having issues with Higa.

Uehara - …

Taira - …

Tomori - …

Tomori - But… if it’s that student, then…

Maeda - …Their behavior doesn’t make much sense, right?

Maeda - Not like they confessed- but if their own theories make it point to them, why not just confess?

Tomori - …Yeah.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Maybe we should just ask them.

Uehara - …

Uehara - You should probably make sure we’re all on the same page first, Maeda.

Maeda - Is it possible that we aren’t?

Maeda - No… the way he’s looking at me- he knows what I’m thinking. I’ve found the answer he wanted me to get.

//Maeda’s palms are sweaty, and he feels like his extremities are starting to shake, going cold as the blood rushes to his rapid-beating heart instead.

Maeda - But… for the sake of not skirting around the subject anymore. 

Maeda - I need to just say it.

Uehara - Who do you think the blackened is, Maeda?

~*~

Maeda, narrating - …Oh my god. 

Maeda - Why? Why- not even why did he kill Higa, but… why would he do this? Why did the trial run the way it did… just to end up here?

Maeda - …I guess I might be getting my answers soon enough.

Maeda - I think I know who killed Higa.

{Select a Student}

[another-dr-another]

{Taira’s Testimony} against {has to be an answer indicated by the evidence we found} bc. um. does there have to be? it would be nice, sure, but maybe the solution lies outside of the evidence! either way, maemae needs to bluff his way through this so we can focus on smth else -iris

Maeda, narrating - Yeah- if I’m wrong, I’d love her to refute me!

Maeda - But I can’t think of anything we haven’t inspected fully. Maybe there is an answer that will make all of the evidence make sense, but we aren’t getting to that answer with our current tactics.

~*~

Maeda - No, you’re wrong!

Maeda - There isn’t an answer indicated by the evidence. We wouldn’t be suggesting a change in approach if there was.

Maeda - I mean, we can reconstruct alibis again, if we want to go against Uehara’s plan, but…

Maeda - Oh, I actually don’t want to finish that sentence.

Tomori - But it doesn’t look good for me if we do that. Right.

Maeda - Yeah…

Maeda - Fuck it.

Maeda - Actually, why are you against doing it like this? I thought you’d be happy about doing something that gets focus away from you, regardless of whether or not you’re the blackened.

Maeda - If you are the blackened, you don’t want to get caught, and if you aren’t, you don’t want to be falsely accused.

Maeda - So…?

Tomori - …

Tomori - You all could’ve voted for me earlier. There was never any evidence that cleared me of suspicion.

Tomori - But you didn’t, because it didn’t feel right. So… I’m confident that you all will do what’s right. Even if we have those close calls-

Tomori - I really don’t think we were going to mess that up. So, I don’t mind what the logic looks like, if something stops us from being too hasty with our voting.

Maeda - …

Maeda - We had a feeling that it wasn’t you. Can’t we investigate the intuitions we have?

Tomori - …

//She’s staring at Maeda… almost pleadingly, but she’s not asking for anything from him. Tomori’s looking for something to say, a way to articulate her thoughts- and it keeps escaping her. 

Maeda - …

Uehara - …

Uehara - I don’t think we should talk about our guesses, though.

Maeda - Motherfucker.

Maki - Uehara. Can you please give us something firm to go off of.

Uehara - …

Uehara - I like the guess-work idea. And I like the thought of going with something based off what we think happened.

Uehara - But, Tomori’s right. We can’t act like we didn’t debate.

Uehara - Everyone’s views are going to be all screwed up if they try and look back like that.

Uehara - It’s… not a matter of looking at the case now, you have to look at it then.

Maeda - …?

Uehara - Like- how you did then-

Tsurugi, overlapping - Look at the case with what we knew back then.

Tsurugi - Because, the issue is the information we have now, right?

Tsurugi - The point Uehara’s been making is that a lot of our reconstruction is just conjecture. We can’t fully depend on things, because every belief we had could get deconstructed.

Tsurugi - All the alibis got countered, all equally as weakly. It’s trepidious- but anything’s possible. We’re looking for the slightest hint of something being wrong, and then we can morph anything to it.

Tsurugi - 

Uehara - …

Uehara - Tsurugi.

Uehara - I… want to control where the trial goes.

Tsurugi - …

//He looks at Uehara. He looks at Uehara. Uehara is looking at him, too. But it’s different. Tsurugi looks at Uehara.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Ue in charge~

Tsurugi - Ue takes the lead! A storm front swoops in!

Tsurugi - Do you have any guesses who the blackened is, Uehara?

Uehara - …

Uehara - I don’t think I can…

Uehara - …

//He looks at the ground, and closes his eyes tight.

Uehara - …This needs to end soon. For everyone’s sake. Mine, and yours-

//He opens his eyes again, almost weakly against the light.

Uehara - We all can be done with this trial. We’re so close to finally getting it.

Uehara - I don’t know how to get us there in a way that isn’t going to make us go back. I really don’t want to go back.

Uehara - …

Uehara - Sorry. That didn’t help.

Uehara - I swear I��m not stupid. I’m just really really tired. 

Tsurugi - …

//Maeda makes a note- Uehara never answered Tsurugi’s question.

Maeda - I’m curious too… does Uehara know who the blackened is?

Uehara - …

//His voice cracks.

Uehara - God, I want this to be over.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Maybe you should take a break, Uehara.

Ōtori - …He only just started contributing though.

Maki - Ōtori, lay off, would you?

//Ōtori rolls his eyes.

Kobashikawa - …

Kobashikawa - Uehara. You said you wanted to influence where the trial goes?

Uehara - …Mhm.

Uehara - The problem…

Uehara - Tsurugi was right, earlier. There isn’t evidence to solve the case.

Uehara - When you know who it is, sure, you can make the proof fit-

Uehara - That’s why we’ve been able to accuse anyone. Come up with a name, and all the evidence can be applied to them.

Tomori - …

Tomori - What do you want us to do, Uehara?

Uehara - …You have to look at the evidence from before the murder. That’s what really matters- it’s not about what happened then, because that was only one moment.

Uehara - Any of us could have done it. But, who’s the one person that would have murdered Higa? Who is it that looked suspicious? 

Uehara - That’s why it matters that we think about this in terms of before we had evidence. Who’s your base impulse?

Maeda - …

Ōtori - …Exactly what I said?

Uehara - Wait- No.

Uehara - Because, there has to be a reason. It’s-

Uehara - There’s logic behind who it was! Any of us could have killed Higa out of simply disliking him, and any of us could have gotten into a fight with him and gotten extra upset.

//Maeda watches as Uehara tightens his grip on his podium stand. When Maeda looks up- he immediately makes eye contact with Uehara, who maintains his gaze.

Uehara - But who do you know had already had issues with Higa? 

Uehara- The blackened is someone that at least one of us should be able to point out. Multiple events, multiple fights. 

Maeda - …Is he asking me?

Maki - …

Maki - There was a few of us that got into fights with Higa.

Uehara - One person makes the most sense.

Kobashikawa - …Even though you said it’s not about instinct?

Uehara - There’s a reason why it must have been this person. You don’t know it, but it makes them the most likely suspect. You should be able to point them out, without knowing why.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Do you really think this will work?

Uehara - Yes. 

Uehara - It has to. So, it will.

Maeda - …

Hatano - …This is a weird fucking gambit, Uehara.

Uehara - Yeah. Sorry.

Tsurugi - …

Tomori - …

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …

Maeda - It’s possible though, right?

Maeda - I mean- we do need to look at what happened leading up to the murder. We’ve been stressed because the blackened didn’t try to hide their crime, and leave clues, and it was impulsive, so there’s no traces of prep.

Maeda - But, if you say that it matters who was already having issues with Higa…

//…Maeda, subconsciously, starts to piece together what this might mean.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Then, we can at least try.

Uehara - …

//He rubs at his head, closing his eyes.

Uehara - Sorry. Headache. Sounds good though, Maeda.

//Uehara looks at Maeda, though wincing, and still trying to alleviate his headache.

Uehara - It shouldn’t be hard. The answer’s there. Just… solve the case.

Taira - …

~*~

Maeda, narrating - Uehara…

Maeda - If I start to look back on what’s happened…

Maeda - …

Maeda - Does that make any sense though? Does it align with what they’ve been doing in the trial?

Maeda - Maybe I shouldn’t take that as too strong an indicator… people act weird when their life is on the line.

Maeda - …No, I need to think about this seriously. 

Maeda - It looks like the others are trying to think about it too… but I really get the feeling Uehara is looking to me, specifically.

Maeda - Though- there’s the question of why we’re even placing so much trust in Uehara… but-

Maeda - Well! Well. That’s not…

Maeda - …

Maeda - …I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.

Maeda - I need to look back on what’s happened recently. Before the murder. Then, maybe I’ll remember who was already suspicious to me, from the start.

{Advance}

[another-dr-another]

Iranami… {Died} away.

Kobashikawa started to fall asleep, but Ōtori woke him up, and reminded him he needed to go get {his binder off}.

Kobashikawa woke up Tsurugi so Tsurugi would know why someone was leaving, and so he would keep the {door} open. 

Tsurugi hitting his {head} on the bed frame.

Tsurugi laid down, Higa laid down, and to our knowledge, everyone was {asleep}.

We entered the dining hall, triggering the {BDA}, while I went back to Tsurugi’s dorm. 

Ōtori, Hatano, and {me}.

Maeda, narrating - Yeah… that works, I think I know what I want to say, going off that.

Maeda - The case is still familiar- though it’s weird trying to remember what information to omit.

Maeda - But! I think I’m starting to get a feel for what we were thinking before we started to debate

~*~

Maeda - Last night, Higa, Iranami, Ōtori, Kobashikawa, and Uehara went to the dining hall. Higa and Ōtori left first, then Kobashikawa and Uehara, leaving Iranami.

Maeda - Ōtori poisoned some coffee, and Iranami… passed away. Back in Tsurugi’s dorm, everyone laid down to sleep.

Maeda - Maki and Hatano were already asleep, and I was mostly asleep. Kobashikawa started to fall asleep, but Ōtori woke him up, and reminded him he needed to go get changed.

Maeda - Kobashikawa woke up Tsurugi so Tsurugi would know why someone was leaving, and so he would keep the door open. 

Maeda - Kobashikawa came back, he started to fall asleep, but as Tsurugi went back to bed, he woke Higa up.

Maeda - Tsurugi and Higa got into a fight, which culminated with Higa hitting Tsurugi, and Tsurugi hitting his head on the bed frame.

Maeda - Tsurugi laid down, Higa laid down, and to our knowledge, everyone was asleep.

Maeda - In the morning, Hatano, then Ōtori, then myself, woke up, and left Tsurugi’s dorm to go to the dining hall, which we reached at 7:28.

Maeda - We entered the dining hall, triggering the announcement, while I went back to Tsurugi’s dorm. 

Maeda - Everyone left the room when I came in, but Uehara, Tsurugi and I triggered the second announcement when we realized that the head count was one short, even accounting for Ōtori, Hatano, and Iranami.

Maeda - That… should be everything we know after investigating.

Maeda - Right?

Taira - Sounds fine… but I don’t know what Uehara’s looking for, of course.

Uehara - …Huh?

Uehara - Ah- sorry. No, I think that’s good.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - When you finished investigating, you didn’t know about the fight yet.

Tsurugi - You did know that you heard sounds last night, but didn’t know what they were from.

Tsurugi - Also, you found dried blood on a pillow on the empty bed frame. And, Higa had discoloration along the back of his neck, and the back of his arms.

Maki - Which are discoloration, from blood pooling- another sign that Higa had been dead for awhile.

Maeda - Right! Yeah- I forgot about that.

//Tsurugi idly looks around the room, while Maki shrugs dismissively. Takes a team.

Kobashikawa - So… where do we go from here?

Uehara - That’s up to you all. Where do you want the debate to go?

Ōtori - Hey- we’re here because you told us to throw out our arguments and start again. Step it up a bit, what are you thinking?

Uehara - …Honestly, I don’t really know…

Maeda - Seriously, Uehara?

Uehara - It’s- I know where this is supposed to end, just not… how to get there.

Hatano - …

Hatano - Do you know who the blackened is?

//…Uehara doesn’t reply. He doesn’t particularly seem to be ignoring the question, just… it’s as though he didn’t hear it.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Let’s… try deconstructing our arguments, actually. Rather than arguing for them, what if we all tried to argue against them?

Ōtori - Why would we do that?

Maeda - Well… we know that we started to get kinda… self-relying with our arguments, right? Maybe now that we’ve hashed things out, and have a better understanding, we should check things again.

Maki - …I get it.

Maki - Like, the arguments we had before were theoretical- scaffolding, so we could keep building up.

Maki - We did get some information out of the debate- we just didn’t get an answer. Some of us didn’t know any part of last night's timeline, and none of us knew about Tsurugi’s fight with Higa.

Maki - Maybe now if we try to make our arguments again, we’ll be able to get more information out of them.

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - Uehara?

Uehara - …Huh?

Uehara - Uh- I don’t know. Go for it. 

//Next to Uehara, Tsurugi covers his face with his hands, and curls inwards slightly. After a moment, he drops his hands, and places them on his podium.

Kobashikawa - …The main thing we tried to establish was alibis for everybody. Most people were either established to be asleep, or established to not be strong enough to strangle Higa.

Taira - I feel that both of those are rather firm points, are they not?

Kobashikawa - …Maybe you could argue the people we thought were asleep might not have been?

//Ōtori looks at Kobashikawa- but it doesn’t seem like Kobashikawa means the suggestion any way but genuinely.

Tomori - …Really?

Kobashikawa - I mean- I think it makes sense to say it wasn’t them, but…

Hatano - Any of them could have woken up in the night- had a nightmare, whatever. Killed Higa, then went back to sleep.

Kobasikawa - …Or maybe they were only pretending to be asleep when people saw them, and they were awake to hear the fight.

Maki - …

Maki - If we say that, then I’m back on the list, along with Ōtori and Taira.

Ōtori - Is that right? That’s who our list of suspects is?

Taira - Uehara?

Uehara - ?

Taira - The person you think is the suspect- it’s either myself, Ōtori, Maki, or Tomori?

Uehara - Oh- no, no…

Uehara - You haven’t gotten rid of everything yet.

Maeda - Oh, my alibi’s totally gonna get shot.

Maeda - …Which sucks- but why does Uehara want to get rid of his own alibi?

Taira - So, the strength alibi is next.

Kobashikawa - Which cleared Uehara, Maeda, and myself. But…

Ōtori - But?

Kobashikawa - …I don’t have an idea for this one like I did the other alibi.

//Ōtori seems to scoff slightly.

Uehara - …

Tomori - …

Tomori - What if… we say Higa died another way?

Kobashikawa - Oh- something that wouldn’t be limited by strength?

Ōtori - Like what? Poison?

Maki - …

Hatano - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - Why would you say that.

Maki, immediately - Genuinely are you fucking dumb?

Ōtori - I was joking!

Tomori - I-

Tomori - Poison! Or something.

Tomori - I don’t- let’s ignore the poison, please. Please. 

Tomori - Just. Something other than suffocation.

Kobashikawa - Strangulation. That’s what we agreed it was.

Tomori - …Sorry. I’m kinda confused- what’s the difference again? I know we covered it, just-

Maki - You’re okay, Tomori. It was a while ago.

Maki - Strangulation as in his throat getting constricted, not suffocation as in airways blocked.

Maki - That’s why we had some people do the squeeze test, was so we could gage if they were strong enough to strangle Higa.

Hatano - Wait- screw that.

Hatano - Why did we decide it was strangulation, again?

Taira - Due to the position of Higa’s body, if I remember correctly. Specifically, it was his hands, they looked like they were blocking something. 

Hatano - Right. That’s pretty hard to argue against, right?

Maki - …Sure, but that’s true of our other reasonings-

Hatano - But we can get rid of the alibi without changing the method of murder! Tsurugi could’ve just been wrong when he did his test!

Hatano - Maybe it was Uehara, and he lied. Tall people are usually fairly strong, y’know.

//Hatano isn’t looking at him, but Uehara still shrugs. 

Tsurugi - …

//Maeda watches as Tsurugi steps to the edge of his podium, closer to Uehara, and reaches out to grab Uehara’s arm, trying to gently urge him closer.

Ōtori - Actually, that isn’t bad. It means we keep our cause of death that’s consistent with the evidence we have- but it still does the job of taking down the alibis.

Taira - What explanation are we utilizing?

Kobashikawa - …

Tomori - I think- just that Tsurugi’s test isn’t something we can guarantee was right.

Taira - Tsurugi, thoughts?

//Tsurugi is maneuvering Uehara’s arm around his shoulder

Tsurugi - That’s okay, I don’t mind it.

Maeda - So- that’s it, then.

Maeda - Maki, Ōtori, Taira, Hatano, Tomori, and now Kobashikawa, Uehara, and me. Anyone could be the blackened.

Hatano - Sure- if we say we’ve really dismantled the alibis.

Maki - Well?

Uehara - …?

Uehara - That’s… it’s up to you guys. Where does the debate go from here?

Maki - You really don’t have a plan?

Uehara - …I think… this is the best plan.

Maeda - Make us deal with everything again.

Maeda - I- that sounded bad. I really think I get it, though.

Maeda - Maybe if we construct our arguments again, we’ll find a flaw.

Uehara - …

Uehara - That won’t work.

Maeda - What. Uehara.

Uehara - Sorry. Shit- sorry. Sorry.

Uehara - It’s… that’s not what the point of that was supposed to be. I know- you made that point earlier and I didn’t say anything, but-

Uehara - Uh-

Uehara - …That’s not what my point was.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - So silly…

Tsurugi - Maybe we should reverse engineer things… plug everyone in as the blackened, and see who the evidence supports best?

Taira - …Tsurugi. You don’t know who the blackened is.

Tsurugi - …?

Tsurugi - …I-

Tsurugi - Aaah… have you ever spent tons of time with pill bugs, and you can feel your head start to curl up like them? And nothing can get through?

Tsurugi-  I totally don’t know what you’re telling me, Taira…

Maeda - Is she questioning him? Or is she just stating a fact?

Taira - I just wanted to remind you of that.

Taira - Maybe you should take this a bit more seriously. You’re the one who’s failing us, in a way. 

Taira - I’m a maid, I’m not supposed to be able to solve murders. We all put our faith in you, and you’re coming up short. Why did you even get scouted?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - I don’t care if you talk like that to me. It won’t help our situation, and you know that. There’s no point to that sort of statement.

Taira - I’d rather name what I’m seeing. Can you acknowledge what’s happening here?

Tsurugi - We aren’t making any progress, if that’s what you mean.

Taira - Does that scare you? Do you feel anything, at the prospect of us dying?

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …He wants to back down from the conversation.

Tsurugi - You aren’t asking that genuinely. You’re trying to shape things so it seems like I’m working against the class. 

Taira - I’m trying to skew things? All I’ve done is ask you questions. Why are you afraid of answering?

Tsurugi - I don’t want to talk about this because I don’t want to prove that I care about everyone’s survival.

Taira - Would you be sad if we died?

Tsurugi - Can somebody else step in?

Tomori - Oh-

Ōtori - Taira, this isn’t getting us anywhere. You can feel however, but unless you think this’ll help us work out who the blackened is, let’s move on.

Taira - …Hm.

Taira - I feel like understanding everyone’s motivations would help us. But, it’s true that my argument right now isn’t very strong. So, let’s go back.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Okay. 

Maeda - ???

Maki - …Reverse engineering?

Ōtori - Honestly, I think that’s stupid.

//Maki throws up her hands, frustrated.

Maki - Okay! Your bright idea, then?

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - Is anyone… automatically suspicious to any of you?

Hatano - What- like, guess work?

Ōtori - No… just… gut instinct, I guess.

Tomori - R-Really?

Ōtori - I mean- there’s like, science behind it, right? Where you get a feeling about something?

Maeda - …

Maeda - In theory, saying that you noticed more than you realized you did.

Taira - Mhm. Something tips you off- usually, to a situation being unsafe.

Ōtori - Exactly… 

Ōtori - I hate to say it- like, seriously, I swear I’m not crazy… but I think I’ve totally had those moments where I had the feeling I needed to reevaluate, and I ended up being right.

Tsurugi - The sixth sense. Premonitions but only for getting the fuck out of Dodge. 

Tomori - …

Tomori - So… are we going to vote?

Kobashikawa - We- we aren’t right?

Ōtori - I mean, not for the blackened… but- maybe we can see if we all have the same… inclination. 

Ōtori - If we do, maybe it’s something worth pursuing.

Tomori - But… isn’t that sort of ignoring what we just did?

Maeda - Well…

Maeda - If it got us back into the same state of mind we were in before we started debating, didn’t it have the effect Uehara intended?

Ōtori - …What even was Uehara’s goal…

//Maeda looks at Uehara. He’s leaned over, with Tsurugi holding a tissue to his nose. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - Well. Who cares.

Maeda - Our best option here might just be to see what we all felt like before we started the trial.

Tomori - …

Tomori - But that doesn’t make sense!

Rebuttal Showdown: START!

Truth Bullets:

Kobashikawa’s Testimony Maeda’s Burns Taira’s Testimony

Tomori - We shouldn’t just guess who we think the blackened is! Intuition can be totally off!

Tomori - I mean- what did any of you think about the past murders? I didn’t know who it was! 

Tomori - This is way too high stake to just guess!

Tomori - We need to use actual logic, and try to work through things!

Tomori - Let’s debate! Let’s talk! But let’s not go off what we feel like it could be! 

BREAK!

Maeda - She’s right… I don’t know who I would’ve said if I’d been asked to guess the last two murders- especially not the first one, I don’t have a clue what I was thinking then.

Maeda - But we’ve already played the logic game, and we were able to make arguments for everyone!

Maeda - We aren’t going to vote- this is just another approach for debate!

Phase Two

Tomori - But what will this give us that normal debate can’t?

Tomori -We {can’t go baselessly accusing each other}! It’s bad for the group- didn’t you see what we just devolved into?

Tomori - This is way too serious to just be going off of a feeling, isn’t it?

Tomori - We can {review the evidence again}, and see if we find anything new this time.

Tomori - No matter what, we need to understand what our evidence is saying.

Tomori - There {has to be an answer indicated by the evidence we found}- we just don’t know what it is yet!

Tomori - But this isn’t using any evidence- and opinions aren’t a good way to solve a murder case.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - I really get what Tomori’s saying- guessing the blackened’s identity is stressful!

Maeda - But, she’s the one who made the point that we’re getting harsh… we should make an argument for something.

Maeda - I don’t know why she’s so against it, though. It has some stressful implications- but that’s not what we’re dealing with right now.

[another-dr-another]

Maeda, narrating - There’s some evidence…

Maeda - If I were Hatano, I wouldn’t acknowledge it- but I wouldn’t deny that it exists, either.

~*~

Maeda - No, that’s wrong!

Maeda - It isn’t just speculation that makes it look like Hatano could be the blackened.

Maeda - With the way the room was set up, Hatano was completely secluded…

Maeda - There’s no way of confirming when she was asleep, or what she was doing. She could have been awake before everyone.

Maeda - It’s more credible to suspect Hatano of being awake, because we know she was the first one up. It’s only a matter of how long she was awake for.

Tomori - …

Tomori - That isn’t a strong argument, though… so what if she was up early enough to kill Higa- Hatano wouldn’t have had a reason to.

Taira - Unless she thought Iranami had been hurt, and Higa had something to do with it.

Hatano - …Huh?

Hatano - Is… Is that really- are you thinking that might be real?

Kobashikawa - …

//Taira seems to be genuinely contemplating. The other students Maeda looks at, though… 

Maeda - They aren’t wondering if it’s her. They know they can’t prove that.

Maeda - They’re trying to tell if they’re at the point where they’ll just vote for her despite not being confident.

Hatano - …Really?

Maki - …I don’t think we’re there, just because… it might look like you-

Hatano - Maki, it’s bad if it LOOKS LIKE ME.

Hatano - Currently- two minutes ago, the blackened didn’t look like anyone? Now, you’re all saying it’s me?

Hatano - H-a- haha haah- ha- we’re all going to die. 

Hatano - It- I swear to you, it wasn’t me.

Hatano - I was asleep! I fell asleep fast, so I woke up a bit early- but I’m used to waking up only a bit before the morning announcement!

Hatano - I get ready quick, so I can afford to sleep in until twenty minutes before the announcement plays!

Hatano - That totally isn’t enough time to kill Higa!

Ōtori - Sure- but all we have to go off of is your account, Hatano.

Hatano - Anyone could be lying!

Hatano - I totally don’t have a motive!

Ōtori - Taira and Maeda have mentioned that it could’ve been for Iranami.

Hatano - But that doesn’t even make any sense!

Hatano - It’s stupid to say it was for Iranami, Iranami- Iranami was already dead!

Maeda - But we don’t know the timeline of things- and we don’t know that the blackened knew all of what happened.

Kobashikawa - This is dependent on so much… extraneous information, though. 

Taira - Hm…

Taira - Things must have happened that we don’t know about, though.

Taira - If we had all the information we needed, then Tsurugi would have been able to solve the case. 

Tsurugi - !

Taira - We’re going to need to start making assumptions… unless anyone has anything they haven’t shared.

Hatano - This is a stupid assumption though.

Tomori - I-It really is… I get that we all want to leave, but we should leave here by elevator… not by execution. 

Maki - …Can we control that, though?

Maki - I mean- if we could solve the case, I feel like we would have solved it by now.

//…Somehow, that sends a ripple through the class. “If we could, wouldn’t it be done?”

Maeda - …

//…Is this case unsolvable?

Maki, realizing - …Oh.

Tomori - We can solve the case.

Tomori - We- the case is solvable. 

Tomori - Someone knows what happened. 

Ōtori - And we’re dependent on the mercy of a murderer. Someone who’s willing to kill everyone for their own gain.

Tomori - We- we don’t know that-

Ōtori - WELL IT SURE LOOKS LIKE IT!

Tomori - Don’t yell!

Ōtori - What do you want us to do!

Ōtori - What are we supposed to do! What should we do right now! What can we do! Lay down and die? Is that what we’re supposed to do?

Tomori - We shouldn’t be fighting.

//…She’s audibly on the verge of tears. Maeda looks at her (previously more focused on Hatano, who seems to be collapsing inward), and confirms this. Her face is flushing, and she’s clearly trying to blink back what must be a sting in her eye.

Tomori - …

Hatano - …

Hatano - And you shouldn’t vote for me, either.

Maeda - Piggybacking off the fact we feel bad for Tomori, or genuinely defending herself.

Taira - I want to believe you, Hatano. It’s clear that you loved Iranami- I don’t want to think of you as someone who would choose to commit murder.

Taira -  But… do you have a defense? Anything we could use as a reason?

Hatano - …

Hatano - …

//Fuck, more tears.

Hatano, crying - I don’t.

//She brings her arms up, trying to hide her face.

Hatano - I don’t want to die. I want to get out of here… I want to escape, and feel a breeze again, and see the sun…

Hatano - But we’re all gonna die down here. We’re going to vote wrong, and we’re all gonna get tortured to death, and no one’s ever going to even find our body, and we’re going to rot, and there’s no reason to think we’ll escape even if we do find the blackened.

//Tomori slowly unfurls a bit- clasping her hands together, and fidgeting slightly, but seeming to be pulled out of her own emotional collapse by Hatano’s distress. To her credit, Hatano seems to have lost steam pretty rapidly.

Hatano - …We’re all going to die. And I really don’t want to die. But no, I don’t have a defense.

//She laughs, and wipes at her face, then plants her hands on her podium, shifting her weight forward.

Hatano - Fuck it. Take the gamble. Maybe that’s who we are, as a class. We tried, and we failed, and now we’re giving up. 

Hatano - Whatever we choose, let’s give it our all, right? Vote with whatever passion you can wring out.

Hatano - It doesn’t matter what the outcome is. Just make the choice you’ll be proud of.

Maeda - …

Maki - …

Kobashikawa - …

Maeda - …I want to say she’s being genuine. I really do. 

Ōtori - …

Taira - …

Maeda - I don’t feel a need to argue against what she’s saying, to be fair. But, I also don’t know that this makes her innocent.

Uehara - …

Tsurugi - …

Tomori - …

Taira - …Well.

Taira - I don’t really know where this leaves us.

Maeda - …Does anyone want to raise any other suggestions?

Maki - …

Ōtori - …

Kobashikawa - …

Kobashikawa - I really don’t think it’s Hatano.

Kobashikawa - I don’t know. I don’t-

Kobashikawa - If it’s her, I don’t want the only reason we didn’t vote for her to be the fact I felt off about it.

Kobashikawa - But… if it isn’t her…

Ōtori - …Do you have any defenses, Kobashikawa? Anything you wanna raise?

Kobashikawa - …

Maki - If you do, you really should bring it up. 

Kobashikawa - ..It just doesn’t feel right. We have so little evidence-

Kobashikawa - And I get that we don’t have evidence for anyone… but Hatano feels so out of the blue. 

Maeda - We’ve ruled out most of the people we were initially suspecting, though.

Uehara - …Based on what?

Maeda - !

Maeda - Huh?

Uehara - …

Uehara - Sorry- this shit gives me a headache.

Uehara - Why did you rule people out?

Maeda - …Really?

Maki - I- Lemme recap.

Maki - Not me or Ōtori because someone saw us asleep-

Maeda - Or Taira.

Maki - …Or Taira.

Maki - Not Kobashikawa, Maeda, or yourself, because of strength limitations.

Maki - Not Tsurugi, because of… everything that happened earlier. 

Maki - Leaving Tomori, and Hatano. 

Uehara - Okay. No.

Uehara - Well- yes, sure. Thank you for, uh… explaining, Maki.

Uehara - Why does it matter that Maki, Ōtori, and Taira were seen asleep?

Maki - …?

Uehara - Not accusing you! Making a point.

Uehara - Maeda?

Maeda - …No reason to think they killed Higa if they were asleep at the point where he was still alive.

Uehara - Mhm, right…

Maeda - …But…

Maeda - …But we just started accusing Hatano…

Ōtori - No one saw her asleep, to be fair.

Uehara - But, if Hatano was still awake…

//He looks at Maeda, imploring.

Maeda - Then… she’d have seen Iranami leaving… she might’ve joined, or waited up to watch for her…

Maeda - Fuck. Does that go against every argument we had?

Maki - …

Maki - Not saying this because I think it was Hatano, but you did have a theory that trumps that.

Maki - There’s still the chance Hatano woke up early. It checks both boxes- she was awake, and she’d know Iranami was gone, just…

Maeda - Too late to keep Iranami from her fate.

Uehara - But, why would she go after Higa, then?

Maeda - They could’ve had a conversation we don’t know about.

Kobashikawa - That’s just as feasible as saying that anyone woke up in the middle of the night and killed Higa, though.

Maeda - …But we don’t know that anyone woke up- we know that Hatano was awake.

Maki - …Wait.

Maki - Fuck. Wait???

Maeda - Huh?

Maki - …Guys, are we actually stupid?

Maeda - Maki, spit it out! What is it?

//She laughs, sounding so exhausted.

Maki - Guys. Oh my god.

Maki - What time did you get up this morning.

Maeda - …Like, Hatano, Ōtori and I? Uhh-

Ōtori, focused - We showed up at the dining hall doors just before they opened, which would’ve been 7:30.

Ōtori - We were all awake by 7:25. 

Maki - Right, right. And- if you had to guess, how long would you say Hatano was up for?

Maeda - …At most, maybe an hour before?

Ōtori - She did seem tired, like she was just waking up… but sure, for the sake of debate, she could’ve been falling back asleep.

Ōtori - If we say she killed Higa, then yeah, an hour before sounds right. She wakes up, looks around eventually, things… progress- and then she calms down enough to be drifting back to bed when Maeda and I wake up.

Maki - Okay. Right.

Maki - So, then. Hatano was up at 6:30, at the earliest?

Maeda - Yeah.

Maeda - I really get the feeling she’s got something… but what could she know?

Maeda - Maki, tell us what you’ve worked out.

Maki - Nothing you all don’t already know! It’s the same shit we know confidently, because earlier, I got it wrong.

Maeda - …?

Maki - Higa was already dead by then.

Maki - The rigor mortis had set in. 

Maki - He could not have died recently enough for it to be Hatano waking up early and killing him. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - Oh my god. Rigor mortis.

Hatano - …OH MY FUCKING GOD.

Maeda - He… Higa wasn’t even alive.

Hatano - SUCK IT. ALL OF YOU.

Maeda - …Holy shit. That’s definitive evidence. He wasn’t even alive. He was not alive.

//Maeda is reeling.

Maeda - If the murder went down the way I was theorizing, then Higa wouldn’t have been stiff. 

Maeda - He- he couldn’t have died that recently. It wouldn’t be nearly enough time for rigor mortis.

Maki - This is exactly what I got wrong- I applied my numbers wrong, which is why we were so confident that that’s what the lower limit was-

Maki - We didn’t even think it would be important!

Maeda - …Oh my god. I was totally wrong.

Tsurugi - …

Tomori - …To be fair, I don’t think anyone else remembered that, Maeda.

Uehara - It… should have been the whole reason why it mattered when people were asleep, though.

Uehara - That’s the only timing matter you know for sure about Higa’s death.

Uehara - Still alive after Kobashikawa left and came back, but dead hours before everyone woke up.

Maeda, aloud - Establishing that he died early last night.

Taira - …Oh.

Maeda - …Ohhh my god. Oh my goddd.

Hatano - Yeah. Oh my god. 

Hatano - I TOLD YOU it wasn’t me! I didn’t do shit!

//At his podium, Kobashikawa crouches over, quietly coughing. Maeda knows he keeps doing this- but a part of him is trying to find something other than Hatano to focus on. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - …I want to say I’m sorry, but I really don’t feel like it matters.

Hatano - No, no, you’re right, I don’t care.

Hatano - Fuck ALL of you. I didn’t kill him. Fuck you. 

Maeda - …We don’t have a suspect again.

Kobashikawa - But we know it wasn’t Hatano.

Maki - Which- that brings us back to Tomori.

Hatano - Tomori who accused the shit out of me! Burn her!

Ōtori - …Don’t use a witch-burning reference if you want to accuse someone-

Hatano - None of you can tell me shit! You all were gonna vote me as the blackened!

Hatano - Oh my god. Tomori, do you have a defense? Huh?

Tomori - …

Tomori - …Uehara?

Uehara - It isn’t Tomori.

Uehara - I-

//He cringes, and Maeda almost thinks he’s rolling his eyes.

Maeda - Keep going, Uehara… if you have something to say, say it.

Uehara - Your reasons for why it couldn’t be people.

Uehara - It’s- it’s good to try and narrow things down, but…

Uehara - It didn’t get you anywhere, right?

Maeda - …

Maeda - I thought we were able to narrow down our suspects list, but… is it Tomori? Does that feel right?

//Maeda thinks back on the experiences with her- one especially comes to mind. Sitting in Tsurugi’s room, with Tomori and Uehara, as Tomori started to cry about the oncoming trial…

Maeda - …I don’t think it’s her.

Maeda - …No. It didn’t. We don’t have anyone we can confidently say is the blackened.

Uehara - Mhm.

Uehara - I think… when you know, you’ll know. You’re getting too hung up in trying to use logic.

Uehara - People’s intuition can be pretty trustworthy. I think… sometimes, a part of us sees something that the rest of us doesn’t.

Uehara - What does your intuition say, Maeda?

Hatano - …Wait, seriously?

Taira - …

Taira - Uehara- are you truly asking for Maeda’s intuition?

Maeda - …She stressed both of those words independently. Just- in case you didn’t notice that. Damn.

Uehara - …Mm.

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi is looking at Uehara. Uehara’s eyes are wandering around the room- when he isn’t looking at Maeda.

Kobashikawa - Can’t we trust some of the reasoning we came up with? A lot of it should hold true…

Hatano - Yeah- what’s the point of arguing for my innocence if you’re just going to say the arguments don’t matter?

Uehara - …

Uehara - People were being way too harsh with you.

Uehara - It’s… not like anyone would’ve listened. With everyone fixated on Hatano, they won’t look away…

Uehara - Besides. I get why you’re doing the things you’re doing. I don’t think you’re weird, or… impossible to defend. 

Uehara - Not in the wrong. Trying your best.

Maeda - …The fact Uehara is saying that, after… well, everything that happened with him and Hatano (and Tsurugi) in the dining hall…

Maeda - With how nice he’s being to her, I really don’t get why he was getting after me so hard back then.

//Maeda’s snapped out of his reminiscing, as he catches flailing in the corner of his eye.

Maeda - !

//He only catches the tail end of things- sees Tsurugi step away, arms out, shielding himself, as Uehara tries repeatedly to whack at Tsurugi’s head.

Maeda - ?!

//By now, Tsurugi has enough distance for Uehara to give up, allowing Tsurugi to look up at Uehara reproachfully. Uehara looks back. 

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …

//He turns, and looks back at the class. Tsurugi lowers his arms, rocking slightly from side to side as he clasps his hands together in front of his chest. His gaze slowly slides from Uehara, to the floor in between their podiums.

Uehara - …Let’s go over what happened last night.

Uehara - Just- uh. The simple shit. No theories, no speculation.

Uehara - Everything is way too complicated…

Ōtori - That’s what everyone’s been saying, though. It doesn’t get us anywhere to point out that this is a complicated case.

Uehara - …Really? I… I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention.

Maki - …

Maki - No. This is different from what we’ve been saying.

//Maeda watches as Uehara wipes at his nose- only for a trail of pink to immediately reappear. He turns to Tsurugi, who hands him some tissue. 

Maki - It’s about looking at the case from the start, because everything we’ve come up with has just confused us.

Maki - We’re trying to establish a logic, but all we’re doing is making up these arbitrary rules that are too easy to warp to fit a point.

Maki - …Which is exactly what Tomori was trying to show earlier, when she made her argument for why Hatano could be the blackened- it isn’t Hatano, but with how we’ve been approaching this, it was easy to make it look like her.

Maki - Like…

Maki - I could say Ōtori is the blackened, because he poisoned the coffee, but maybe the poison serves as a sedative, and he gave some to Higa, knocked him out, and killed him.

Maki - Or it was Kobashikawa, and once he came back from his dorm room, he couldn’t sleep- got upset about how bigoted Higa is, and for all we know, secretly stomped on his throat to break his windpipe, then strangled him to finish him off.

Maki - Or maybe it was me, and I’m just smart enough to leave absolutely no trace. 

Maki - We started to introduce all of these concepts and rules, and it got totally… self-supporting, then self-consuming.

//Uehara’s nose seems to have stopped bleeding. 

Maki - Let’s- I think we need to try again. With everything.

Ōtori - …Seriously?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Fucking christ… yeah. Yeah. 

Maeda - No, she’s right. We’ve fucked up. We need to try again.

Uehara - …

Uehara - It isn’t that bad. 

Uehara - Things aren’t designed for us to screw up the trial. We can just try again. We’ve got the actual facts of the case, and we have each other, and we have ourselves.

Uehara - It’s eight against one. 

Tsurugi - …

Kobashikawa - …So we’re starting the trial again.

Uehara - Mhm.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Maeda, do you wanna recap?

Maeda - ? Why me?

Tsurugi - Ue asked you to recap why you ruled people out, but Maki did it instead.

Maeda - …

//He’s waiting for Tsurugi to expand upon the sentence. It’s reason enough, sure- but he feels like there should be more.

Tsurugi- …

Maeda - …Or not. Okay- not like I’ve got an issue with it.

Maeda - Okay. Just- as though the trial were just starting, right?

Tsurugi - Mhm!

Tsurugi - We all investigated different things, so some of us may not have the full picture yet!

Maeda - I did get to investigate more than some of the others, I think…

Recall, Repair, Refute: START!

Evidence:Taira’s Testimony

Maeda - Last night, Higa, Iranami, Ōtori, Kobashikawa, and Uehara went to the dining hall. Higa and Ōtori left first, then Kobashikawa and Uehara, leaving Iranami.

Maeda - Ōtori poisoned some coffee, and Iranami… —- away. Back in Tsurugi’s dorm, everyone laid down to sleep.

Maeda - Maki and Hatano were already asleep, and I was mostly asleep. Kobashikawa started to fall asleep, but Ōtori woke him up, and reminded him he needed to go get —-.

Maeda - Kobashikawa woke up Tsurugi so Tsurugi would know why someone was leaving, and so he would keep the —- open. 

Maeda - Kobashikawa came back, he started to fall asleep, but as Tsurugi went back to bed, he woke Higa up.

Maeda - Tsurugi and Higa got into a fight, which culminated with Higa hitting Tsurugi, and Tsurugi hitting his —- on the bed frame.

Maeda - Tsurugi laid down, Higa laid down, and to our knowledge, everyone was —-.

Maeda - In the morning, Hatano, then Ōtori, then myself, woke up, and left Tsurugi’s dorm to go to the dining hall, which we reached at 7:28.

Maeda - We entered the dining hall, triggering the —-, while I went back to Tsurugi’s dorm. 

Maeda - Everyone left the room when I came in, but Uehara, Tsurugi and I triggered the second announcement when we realized that the head count was one short, even accounting for Ōtori, Hatano, and —-.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - Fuck’s sake…

Maeda - So, it’s not Hatano- but that’s, like… the only one we’re saying confidently, I guess?

Maeda - I think… theoretically, it could be anyone… but there’s probably people who are more suspicious than others.

Maeda - I just need to get back into the headspace I had when this trial started…

Maeda - So much has changed since then.

[another-dr-another]

fuck, don't have much for this one. Uhhh maybe {Tomori was closer to Higa} and {Room Layout}?

Maeda, narrating - But that puts suspicion back onto Tomori...

Maeda - I mean, sure, it works as an argument!

Maeda - But I don't want to make a point like that. I have to pick something that makes sure it makes Hatano look suspicious.

Maeda - She's the one I want to accuse of being the blackened.

[another-dr-another]

hit {Taira would’ve been closest to Higa} with room layout, maybe??????? - annie

Maeda, narrating - God, wait…

Maeda - If that’s the case- Tomori totally tripped herself up.

Maeda - I mean. Because yeah, she was wrong, but that’s not all. This doesn’t make Tsurugi or Uehara looks suspicious- it makes her look bad.

Maeda - She falsely accused someone of something she should be getting accused of.

~*~

Maeda - No, that’s wrong!

Maeda - Tomori, Taira isn’t the suspect that was closest to Higa. You were.

Tomori - …

//She looks… maybe surprised, that Maeda pointed that out.

Tomori - Well, sure- but I was to the side of Higa! It might’ve been closer in that regard, but I wasn’t… near.

Tomori - Like, I was tucked away! For Taira, it was a clear line to get to him, but that isn’t the case for me… so, you can’t really say I was closer, you know?

Ōtori - …You were closer, but also, you weren’t?

Hatano - Yeah- also, wasn’t Tsurugi closest of all?

Maki - Tsurugi and Uehara…

Maeda - They’re not really on our list of suspects right now, though- this is between Tomori and Taira.

Taira - …I think this point needs to be described more clearly. Maeda, do you remember where everyone was sleeping?

Maeda - Ah… yeah, I think.

Maeda - Maki, Kobashikawa, and Hatano were the furthest from everyone. Maki was sleeping in the same row as Taira and I; I was between them, and Taira was over at the end.

Maeda - Ōtori slept next to Kobashikawa, who was the closest to the door out of Tsurugi’s room. Hatano was asleep, like… perpendicular to them, in a little section kinda cut off by Tsurugi’s bookshelves.

Maeda - Between Hatano’s row, and Ōtori-Kobashiakwa’s, was a third row with Tsurugi, Uehara, and Higa. They were…

Maeda - I was between Ōtori, and the mattress Tsurugi and Uehara were on- and again, further down the room than they were. 

Maeda - Higa was next to Tsurugi and Uehara, and he was in the same, like… column, as Taira.

Maeda - Lastly, similar to Hatano, Tomori was also a bit cut off from the rest of us. She was closest to the bathroom, asleep near the foot of Tsurugi’s bed. 

Maeda - So, while Taira was in the same line as Higa, it was Higa and Tomori that were sleeping near Tsurugi’s bed.

Maki - Can you really say one was closer than the other, though? Not like anyone grabbed a measuring tape.

Maeda - No… I agree, we can’t- but I’m not the one who brought up who was closest. Tomori did.

Maki - …

Taira - Besides, it isn’t really about who was closer than the other- it’s about who would’ve been able to kill Higa with more ease.

Kobashikawa - Well… wasn’t the bedframe in Tomori’s way, then?

Taira - It was- but that’s a benefit. Isn’t it, Maeda?

Maeda - Yeah. Taira was honestly screwed over by her position, if she wanted to kill Higa. She would’ve been really easy to see- the second she moved, I’d have been able to see her.

Maeda - While Taira was directly in my line of sight, I could only slightly see Tomori, if I was sitting up. While laying down, I couldn’t see her at all.

Maeda - And, since I didn’t sleep facing Higa, who was above my head, she’d have been able to move over to him without anyone seeing her.

Tomori - …

//She’s quiet. 

Maeda - …It looks wrong. This isn’t like other times where she doesn’t know what to say.

//…She’s panicking.

Kobashikawa - …Isn’t this too definitive?

Maeda - What do you mean?

Kobashikawa - The blackened has to have been someone who could’ve moved to Higa, unseen by Maeda.

Kobashikawa - If Taira couldn’t move without Maeda seeing her, and we’re ruling out everyone who we decided earlier couldn’t be the blackened… then, Tomori is our only suspect.

Maeda - …!

//Maeda feels his heart jolt.

Tomori - …

//Looking at Tomori, it seems like she’s experiencing the same. 

Hatano - …

Hatano - Really? Is that the answer?

Maki - W-Woah, isn’t this too sudden? Do we really think it was Tomori- just because they both slept near Tsurugi’s bed?

Tomori - …

//She’s staring at nothing.

Kobashikawa - We… we should go over our reasons for suspecting her…

Maeda - We don’t know if she was asleep… and no one would’ve noticed her moving, if she was still up.

Taira -Mhm. 

Taira - She was strong enough. She was close enough.

Taira - She fits every detail, and everyone else has been ruled out.

Maki - …Tomori? Do you- can you defend yourself, here?

Tomori - …

//She looks up- looks directly at Maeda. Hatano is the one across from Tomori… he gets why he wouldn’t look at her.

Tomori - It wasn’t me.

Tomori - You… 

//She closes her eyes for a moment, trying to compose herself. When Tomori opens them again, she isn’t looking at Maeda anymore.

Tomori - You shouldn’t accuse me of murder. I don’t have it in me to do that sort of thing. 

Maeda - …Pretty shitty defense.

Hatano - It makes a lot of the trial make sense.

Hatano - Like, think about it? Kinjo’s whole deal earlier about being unable to solve the trial, saying it was him, etc…. Maybe he knew from the start, and has just been trying to throw us all off.

Maeda - Ah- !

Maeda - I was going to say that I don’t think Tsurugi would let us vote wrong… but…

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Well, I still don’t think he would. That was one incident- I’ve seen how Tsurugi’s been acting since then, and I trust him.

Maeda - This is more about Tomori than anyone else. We should keep on that subject.

Hatano, sniping - …Yeah, sure Maeda.

Tomori - …

Tomori - I wouldn’t kill anyone. I don’t believe in it.

Ōtori - …Not even someone like Higa?

Ōtori - I mean, remembering that he was fighting with Tsurugi, and hit him…

Tomori - I wouldn’t kill somebody because they were being an asshole. Don’t accuse me of things out of my character.

Maeda - She isn’t looking at anyone.

Tomori - …I mean, seriously? I- I killed Higa, over Tsurugi?

//She laughs, so weakly.

Tomori - Come on… really? Is that… a way you all can see me? Get a grip…

//Maeda… Maeda is getting the feeling they shouldn’t do this. Not that anyone’s… really outright accused her, not yet, but…

Maeda - …

//Maybe this is how the others felt when he suggested it could’ve been Hatano. But, no… Maeda doesn’t think they got the alert feeling of wrongness that he has.

Maeda - Not that any of this trial has really felt “right”… this hasn’t been normal for us, not since Hatano, Ōtori and I found Iranami’s body.

Maeda - Well, wait…

Maeda - If Tomori was up around that time… don’t we get back to that same issue of whether or not she saw Iranami?

Hatano - Why would that matter here?

Maeda - Well… are you going to argue that Tomori wouldn’t have done anything if it looked like something was off? 

Maeda - If we believe that the blackened would’ve seen that Iranami was missing, then Tomori wouldn’t be the blackened- unless we argue that she wouldn’t have cared.

Hatano - We don’t have to argue that the blackened would’ve seen her, though…

Maeda - Yeah, but- that was your only defense for your innocence.

Hatano - …

Maeda - …

Hatano - I don’t really have a motive.

Tomori - Again. I wouldn’t have killed Higa over him hitting Tsurugi.

//She laughs again- pure stress reflex.

Tomori - If I would have, Higa would’ve died- what, day one? It’s stupid. I wouldn’t kill anyone.

Maki - …So neither of them have a motive.

Kobashikawa - I-Is it Taira, then?

Maeda - W- It’s not Taira! It doesn’t become her just because- just because we can’t prove that Hatano or Tomori had motives…

Maeda - I’m- confused. I don’t know where everyone else’s logic is right now…

Maeda - Hatano, Tomori, Taira…

Ōtori - …Sorry. I really don’t think it’s Hatano- I think we should stick with Taira, or Tomori.

Maeda, frustrated - But I saw Taira asleep.

Maki - W-Wait, what?! 

Maki - Maeda, the reason Taira has been our other suspect is because no one saw her asleep. 

Maki - You’ve testified, like, three times- the hell do you mean you saw her asleep?!

Maeda - …Yeah.

Maeda - …Did I not say that?

Maki - Maeda.

//The lie just comes so easily. 

Maeda - I- Shit, I’m sorry. 

Maeda - N-No… I’d have sworn that I saw Taira asleep when I was getting to bed last night…

Hatano - When did you fall asleep?

Maeda - Uh… Uehara was back from the dining hall, and he and Kobashikawa were the last two to leave, so…

Maki - …Oh my god.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t feel bad about this. It wasn’t Taira. The worst consequence here is that people think I slipped up on my testimony, and that’s whatever.

Maki - …Shit.

Hatano - So… it was Tomori.

//Sorry, Tomori. Maybe tomorrow will be a nicer day.

Hatano - Earlier, we were able to work out that it was either Tomori or Taira. Now, we know Taira shouldn’t have been a suspect, she should’ve been off the list with, uh- with Maki and Ōtori!

Hatano - …So we’ve solved it.

Maeda - Okay. Uh…

Maeda - I still don’t feel like this is right, though.

Maeda - But, does that mean I suspect Hatano?

Maeda - I believe Tomori, though… I really don’t think she’d kill Higa.

Ōtori - Hate to say it, but… really? Even after… everything?

Maki - Like you have room to talk.

Ōtori - I’m a participant of the trial! If we vote wrong, I die too!

Maki - Concerned with group execution now that it’d get your ass?

//There’s a quiet thump. Maeda turns towards the sound.

Kobashikawa - …Nn…

//He’s crouched down- Maeda thinks the sound was Kobashikawa voluntarily hitting his head against his podium. After a moment, he sits down cross legged, apparently needing to take a break.

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - Point being, could we confidently say that anyone would kill Higa over anything, let alone just the fight with Tsurugi?

Hatano - Well. Uehara would’ve, for the latter, I’d bet.

Hatano - But, mount everything up together, that feels like a good enough motive for Tomori. 

Hatano - Hell, maybe they were in on it together.

Maeda - …What?

Hatano - Tsurugi set up sleeping arrangements right? Couldn’t he have planned things so Tomori could get away with the murder? 

Maki - And now he’s killing us all off, so Tomori can escape? Everyone, including himself?

Hatano - Very well could be! Who knows what’s going on!

Maeda - Could that be the case? It… would track with that one conversation I had with Tsurugi…

Maeda - But, I really don’t want to bring that up. And even if I did, should I seal Tomori’s fate like that, and support Hatano’s argument?

Maki - So… then, we’re back to one of our original theories.

Maki - Higa got into a fight, and then, somebody killed him for running his mouth?

Hatano - Yes! And the only thing Higa was involved in last night was the fight with Tsurugi! So it would’ve been someone close to Tsurugi!

Maeda - Man… last night, Hatano and Tsurugi didn’t have any issues…

Maeda - Anyways- it seems like they might zero in on Tomori anyway, without me saying anything.

Tomori - …It could’ve been a misunderstanding.

Maeda - ?

Maki - Tomori- come on, elaborate. What are you thinking?

Tomori - …

//She exhales shakily, bringing the palms of her hands up to press into her eyes. Maeda listens as she tries to compose herself.

Tomori, tightly - …Mmmm…

Tomori - …

//She lowers her hands, and turns her head.

Tomori - …Tsurugi, please- I can’t deal with this.

Maeda - !

Tsurugi - !

//Tsurugi’s eyes briefly dart around the room- not really looking for anything, just… looking at anything but Tomori.

Tomori, imploring - …

Tsurugi, hesitant - …

//Very faintly… Tsurugi shakes his head- not at Tomori’s request for help, though.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - I didn’t decide the sleeping positions.

Tsurugi - Just… by the way. I asked Higa about sleeping next to me. That’s the only thing I had any sway over.

//Tomori doesn’t relax- but she uncoils, just slightly. 

Maeda - Oh… that’s right.

Maeda - Yeah… when I was deciding where to sleep, I just went for an empty space…

Maki - …

Hatano - That isn’t related to what Tomori was going to say though. 

//Maeda looks at Tomori- she seems removed from the conversation now, following Tsurugi reentering the debate.

Maeda - I wonder what she was thinking…

Tomori - Hatano could have killed Higa.

Maeda - !

//Tsurugi twitches- surprised.

Tomori - “Hatano couldn’t kill Higa, because she’d have seen Iranami was missing, and gotten upset.”

Tomori - It…

//She pauses. Hatano is staring at her, but Tomori doesn’t seem to notice. It’s something else that’s making her stop.

Tomori - She could’ve woken up when Higa and Tsurugi started to fight.

Tomori - She listens in, and whatever Higa says, it makes her worried that something’s happened. That someone’s hurt, or someone’s dead.

Tomori - Higa hits Tsurugi, Tsurugi falls asleep. Hatano stays awake, can’t work out what happened, can’t calm down about it.

Tomori - She goes over there, wants to ask one of them about it. When she’s going over, she tries to look for Iranami, but can’t find her.

Tomori - There’s a misunderstanding. She jumps to a conclusion. 

Tomori - …Between the two, Higa is the easy choice. She’s on him before he can react. 

Tomori - Distraught, she stumbles back to bed… and in the morning, the whole thing seems like a nightmare she’s already forgetting. Or, she tells herself that.

Tomori - Then, Hatano goes to the dining hall.

Tomori - She shuts down, and has to deal with the fact she killed somebody- what does that mean for her? What does it mean if Higa didn’t have anything to do with Iranami’s death?

Tomori - She sees Tsurugi investigating Iranami, and doesn’t know what to think. Could he be responsible instead? Did she kill the wrong person, and now it’ll come back to bite her?

Tomori - Then… cue everything we saw happening this trial. Hatano’s on edge, she’s hurt, she’s upset with Tsurugi.

//Maeda feels himself twitch.

Maeda - What the hell?

Tomori - …It’s as good of a theory as anything else we’ve got right now, right? If we’re going to start going blow for blow, shouldn’t we commit?

Tomori - It’s perfectly feasible. 

//…The trial room is dead silent.

Maeda - Is she serious? Is she serious? Tomori, what the fuck?

Hatano - …

//Hatano seems… pissed. Tsurugi’s staring wide-eyed, as Tomori seems to be processing what she says.

Tomori - …

Tomori - It sounds stupid. That’s because it is.

Tomori - Everything we’re doing right now is stupid.

Tomori - I just- I don’t even have a point right now. 

//She laughs weakly.

Tomori - Can we please just try to be- like, fucking nice while we accuse each other of murder?

Tomori - Everyone’s feelings are hurt. Only one of us is going to die. 

Tomori - Like- oh my god! What if we got rescued Right This Second. And it didn’t even matter who killed Higa. Where would that leave us as a group? What would we do?

Tomori - Can we get a fucking grip? Can we get a grip? Can we act like normal people? 

Maeda - …

Hatano - …I think we’re having a normal reaction to the situation, actually-

Tomori - I didn’t say we weren’t, Hatano.

Tomori - But can we try to choose to be halfway decent? Can we step back from gnawing people’s heads off and chill? 

Tomori - I believe in us! I think we could try! I have been choosing to be nice this entire time! And I’m going to try to go back to that!

Tomori - Now can half of you make that same effort?

Maeda - …

//His head goes empty. Truly, he doesn’t know what to think, let alone what to say.

Tsurugi - …

Tomori - …Hatano isn’t the blackened. Any argument I made that implied that, I’m rescinding it. I don’t want my words to lead to her getting accused.

Tomori - But it’s easy to make it look like it’s her. It’s easy to come up with a reason why it’s anybody. So whatever we do, instead of trying to make the evidence look like someone, we should see who it looks like-

Tomori - …Or, whatever. I don’t know.

Tomori - I don’t know how to solve the case. But I know that what we’re doing right now to try and solve it is sacrificing way more than we can afford to.

Taira - …

Maeda - …But it has to be someone.

Tomori - Again, though; what about everyone that it isn’t? 

Tomori - And-

Tomori - Who says the blackened deserves this treatment?

Ōtori - …What?

Tomori - I- Monokuma keeps screwing with our heads, right? That’s the whole point of the latest motive!

Tomori - So, if- if it is me, or it is Hatano- is it right to be getting so aggressive with how we try to give our arguments?

Tomori - Getting angry makes it harder to make good arguments, and it makes us less likely to listen to other ideas! Everyone’s getting invested in their theories, and everyone’s distrusting each other!

Tomori - And then, we will solve it- because, I swear to you, I know that we can work this out- and again, then what!

Tomori - Once we’ve subdued the blackened, once we’ve promised we get to live another few days, are they going to be happy they got cut off because they snapped?

Hatano - The blackened killed somebody!

Tomori - You started the trial off with your lack of concern for Higa!

Tomori - It- It is not our fault if the blackened dies today. But we’re making a choice, and it’s one with a clear answer, that we’re making under duress-

Tomori - And that matters to point out, because it’s the same as the blackened.

Tomori - It really is the nine of us working together! But instead, we’re devolving into everyone against everyone!

Maeda - …It’s the blackened that’s doing that, though.

Maeda - They could just confess, if we were working together. But there’s somebody who’s choosing themselves over everyone else.

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …

Tomori - …I don’t think we should be saying anything about the blackened’s thoughts right now. 

Tomori - It’s sort of like talking about someone who isn’t in the room, right?

Taira - Well, they’re welcome to reveal themselves, and express their own thoughts.

Maeda - …

Maeda - You know, I bet I’m really unsuspicious right now. Like- to be so firmly against the blackened-

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Is that really how I think, though?

Maeda - Why… Why am I so resistant to what Tomori’s saying? When did I get so fixated on finding out who the blackened is… I mean-

Maeda - Of course, I have to to survive… but I used to be so much calmer- I was optimistic about their reasonings, like Tomori. 

Maeda - Does Tomori have a reason for thinking so well of the blackened? It’s… actually a bit worrying.

Maeda - …Could she know? Does she have a reason to be keeping that person safe?

Kobashikawa - …

Maki - …

Hatano - …Well? What are we going to do now, then?

Hatano - Anyone have any bright ideas? Tsurugi? Tomori?

Tsurugi - …I don’t know what to do. 

Tomori - …

Tsurugi - Tomori’s right though, uh…

Tsurugi - The game is designed to put us in the mindset of… identifying one person who’s responsible for the threat, and punishing them because they deserve it for acting against the group.

Tsurugi - It gives us an enemy, which encourages us to revert to peace when we have the opportunity for it. 

Tsurugi - This is a worse variation of the bad situation that we are constantly in; we need to remember that we’re all in the same bad situation.

Ōtori - …

Ōtori - People keep saying that, but it doesn’t change anything.

Kobashikawa - The only avenue for progress is to identify the blackened…

Tomori - But, to what goal?

Maeda - Survival?

Ōtori - …

Tomori - …

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Zuna, don’t… stress too much about things. You’re right, we’ll… we’ll identify the blackened.

Tomori - I know. I’m not worried… I believe we’ll get out of this.

Tomori - …I am a member of this class, though. I want to participate in the debate.

Maeda - …Something just happened that I do not have enough information to understand.

Maeda - Ohhh my god I wish I was friends with everyone. I wish I was so close with them and they’d just tell me everything.

Maeda - Which, thought I was doing alright with that… group. But maybe not! Whatever. 

Maeda - I need to find people to get closer with. Who can I get close with who will let me in so I can know things.

Maeda - …Fuck, bit late to be trying to work that stuff out. Like, this is the worst time…

Tomori - …

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …

Uehara - We should be debating who the blackened is.

Uehara - The issue isn’t the fact we’re fighting, it’s that we’re trying to fix the fight.

Uehara - People won’t calm down until we know who the blackened is. So let’s stop fighting about the fact we have to vote for someone, and just… 

Uehara - …Maybe we just vote.

Tsurugi - I- Uehara, the damage this is- the harm to the group that this is causing-

Uehara - So let’s end it, let’s-

//Maeda swears- it looks like Uehara stomps his foot a bit, as he tosses his head back in exasperation.

Uehara - Let’s be done with this. 

Uehara - Give up, wash our hands. We had a good run, did the best we could-

Uehara - Doesn’t feel like Tomori or Taira or Tsurugi, or anyone, so we can’t vote, because it doesn’t feel right.

Uehara - Let’s- fuck it, let’s just name people, then everyone will intuit it. Who has the most blackened-y vibe. 

Maeda - …Not Tomori or Taira or Tsurugi.

Tsurugi - …Things like this make me feel gross.

Uehara - You said… earlier, you said you don’t know who the blackened is. You know what’s best though- do you want to give everyone something to go with?

Maeda - Not Ōtori. Not Kobashikawa.

Tsurugi - …I don’t know what we should do. I only know what we shouldn’t do, and we shouldn’t vote yet.

Uehara - Mm… 

Uehara - Well, you usually do a good job of leading the trial~

Tsurugi - …

//He mumbles in- it’s probably Korean, but Maeda isn’t paying any real attention to the conversation. 

Maeda - …Who feels right. Who did I catch a feeling from.

Hatano - …Let’s vote for Tsurugi. One in nine odds, or whatever. And his defense was weak.

Tsurugi - Let’s not vote for me, please…

Maki - I don’t think we should do that-

Kobashikawa - …Was anyone really entertaining the thought, to be fair?

Ōtori - There isn’t good reason to-

Hatano - If we all die because we tried to kill Tsurugi, I’d be able to die happy.

Taira - …?

Hatano - Like. I don’t have an issue with staking myself down for that. He’s strong, and he’s a dick. Boom, fits the qualifications to kill Higa.

Ōtori - …Your drama with Tsurugi is frankly getting a bit too extreme. 

Hatano - You tried to commit murder last night. Freak.

Maeda - …Is Hatano the blackened?

Hatano - Fucking what.

Maeda - …Sorry.

Maeda - Wait, actually though. Was it you, Hatano?

Hatano - No?

Maki - Maeda- Why are we back to suspecting Hatano?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Woke up first, could’ve seen Iranami gone and killed Higa… For all we know, they got into a fight this morning, before anyone was up.

Maeda - Keeps accusing people, said Higa’s death didn’t matter…

Maeda - There’s even the possibility that more stuff happened last night we don’t know about- maybe Iranami did come back, later in the night, then left for the dining hall again?

Ōtori - Wait- a theory like that totally goes against Occam’s Razor, though.

Maeda - Yeah, but we don’t need to play by literary rules. If that’s what the blackened was constrained to, they’d randomly kill someone, just… find them in the hallway, stab them, and leave.

Maeda - Besides, the point still stands, right?

Maeda - Hatano cared about Iranami, and didn’t like Higa. She’s been weird about Higa’s murder, and ever since we knew we had to solve it, she’s been accusatory.

Maeda - …So, could it have been Hatano?

Hatano - …

Hatano - Let’s all vote wrong on purpose. None of us should be alive anymore. 

Tomori - Hatano!

Maeda - This is exactly what the blackened could be thinking.

Tsurugi - Uhm.

Taira - ? Tsurugi, something to add?

Tsurugi - …No. 

Maeda - I kinda want Hatano to elaborate but I think it’ll give me a headache. Anyways.

//The class is oddly silent. Maki sighs, and Maeda thinks she might speak- but she doesnt.

Maeda - …No refutations… that isn’t what I expected.

//Kobashikawa moves… but just to fidget with his fingers. Uehara looks to the side, maybe searching for words… but they don’t seem to come. 

Taira - …

Maeda - …

Hatano - …I mean. It wasn’t me. I don’t know what to say.

Hatano - Anyone could have done anything!

Tomori - …But if it looks like you-

Hatano - YOU SAID YOU DON’T WANT PEOPLE THINKING IT WAS ME?

Tomori - I don’t like your logic.

Hatano - That is so petty. You wanna die because I’m saying things you don’t like?

Tsurugi - …

Taira - …Hi, Tsurugi.

Tsurugi - I didn’t even say anything.

Maeda - She didn’t say you did-

//Taira laughs. Maeda’s heart forgets to beat for a moment. Tsurugi twitches.

Tsurugi - …Literally what did I even do this time?

Taira - Nothing? Just wanted to say hi.

Tsurugi - That is so untrue. 

Tsurugi - Do you think I’m the blackened?

Taira - Do you think you’re the blackened, still?

Kobashikawa - …Interrupting. What the fuck are you two talking about?

Tsurugi, crying - I don’t know???

Uehara - …Sunshine, stop crying.

Tsurugi - I caaan’t…

Maeda - Oh my god. 

//Taira starts to eat a cracker as Tsurugi’s legs seem to buckle, encouraging him to give up, and sit down again. Uehara looks at him with some vague emotion. Maeda feels a headache start to come on.

Maeda - …Tsurugi, what’s wrong?

Tsurugi - Aaaaaaa…

Tsurugi - Someone died, in my room, Maeda. There is so much wrong with today. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - Can we, like…

Maeda - Debate? Or…

Maeda - Tsurugi’s the… second? Person? Who’s needed a break from the trial in the past ten minutes.

Tomori - …

Uehara - Probably should. 

Uehara - It isn’t Hatano. So we should clear that up.

Hatano - Does anyone actually think it’s me?

//Uehara braces himself on his podium as he leans over to see Tsurugi. 

Maeda - Well, Uehara won’t be elaborating on his thoughts, I guess.

Kobashikawa - …

Ōtori - …

Maki - …

Taira - Hatano, do you have an argument for why it isn’t you?

Hatano - …I don’t think I should have to defend myself… it’s stupid to say it could’ve been me.

Hatano - Maeda keeps making these weird arguments. Are we really getting anywhere with listening to them?

Maeda - Hey?

Kobashikawa - Nothing’s really getting us anywhere…

Kobashikawa - But! That doesn’t mean I think it’s Hatano…

Nonstop Debate: START!

Truth Bullets Higa’s Body Maeda’s Burns Room Layout

Maki - …Hate to say it, but if the shoe fits…

Hatano - But there isn’t any evidence to say it was me!

Hatano - {All you have is Maeda’s crazy accusations!}

Hatano - So what if I’m upset! I don’t think it’s because I’m the blackened, I’m pretty sure it’s because Iranami is dead!

Kobashikawa - And… of the proof we have, the more concrete evidence fits other people better.

Kobashikawa - {Tomori was closer to Higa}, and {Tsurugi was awake}...

Taira - Do you think it was either of them?

Kobashikawa - No… but I don’t think it was Hatano either.

Taira - Hm…

Maki - …It has to be someone, though.

Maki - If {stronger evidence pointing to Hatano exists}, would that be enough for us to vote?

Tomori - Would we want to vote so suddenly?

Maki - It isn’t voting suddenly if we’ve been debating for hours.

Hatano - But it wasn’t me! We’ve totally just flipped our target again!

Hatano - We keep changing focus, and getting way too close to voting! {We should hold off}! You’re being way too trigger happy here!

~*~

Maeda, narrating - …Again, it’s not that it really feels like Hatano…

Maeda - But God- it’s gotta be late afternoon by now. We woke up an easy seven, eight hours ago. 

Maeda - Maybe this is just where things end. 

Maeda - Obviously, everyone wants to live… but we aren’t making progress. If it feels like it could be the answer, maybe we stick with that. 

Maeda - And it could be her! She really has been acting strangely! Yes, she lost Iranami, but if her response to grief is anger, and we follow the theory she knew something happened last night, but not that Iranami was dead…

Maeda - Whatever. Debate for the sake of debate, at least.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Please don’t let this be wrong.

Maeda - Please, let someone stop this if I’m wrong. Don’t let us vote wrong. Please. Amen.

[another-dr-another]

hm. this is a little nonsensical, but {Monokuma File #03-2} might work against {we can’t solve this case}? higa's arm placement could be a good lead! maybe we talk abt why they didn't fall down after he died idk -iris

Maeda, narrating - Does that work?

Maeda - I don't think anything about Higa's arms tell us more about who the blackened is.

Maeda - Taira isn't right- she's the one who said there has to be a blackened.

Maeda - Even if we can't see how they did it, we know that it happened.

Maeda - But, Taira also made the point that I need to have something to argue in favor of, even if I don't have an argument.

Maeda - All I know right now is who I don't suspect. I don't think I have enough to actually argue that I can solve the case.