"A body has been discovered! Please convene in the gym as soon as possible."

"No, no, no, this can't be real," Makoto shook his head in complete disbelief. For some reason, he felt as if he lost someone he cared about, even though he had no recollection of the victim before their death. He rushed over to the body before placing his hands on the body's wrist. Nothing. "No!! Kyoko!!"

"T-This is a joke, right?" Hiro was beginning to sweat at the sight of Kyoko's dead body. "T-There's no way she's..dead-"

He was interrupted by the slow, loud, maniacal laughter of Lyra. Her platinum blonde hair covered her features as she continued to laugh loudly. Blonde strands flew upward as Lyra threw her head back, her eyes shimmering with something they hadn't seen from the girl; malice.

"Despite my best efforts to keep everyone from getting killed, it still happened," Lyra cackled, her tone laced with bitterness. "It still fucking happened...haha...figures-"

"This is no laughing matter. There is a dead body!" Janelle scolded. "Why would someone do this?"

"T-This can't be real," Himiko pulled her hat down to shield her eyes from the gruesome sight. "I-I'll just have to use my magic to rewind time and change this..."

"There is no changing this. I told you that this was inevitable," Byakuya stepped through the gym doors, unfazed upon seeing Kyoko's dead body lying on the ground. Toko entered the room soon after him, much to Byakuya's distaste. "Now you finally see the truth of what's around us. Why did you even think you could trust people? One of us did it!"

"Like hell we did!" Fuyuhiko growled. "It was probably you, you asshole!"

The last four people, Akane, Aoi, Tanya, and a disgruntled Nico came running in.

"What happened? What's all this about a body discovery?" Aoi asked frantically, and then her eyes landed upon Kyoko's corpse. Just like Makoto, an irrefutable wave of despair and melancholy shot through her. She fell to her knees as tears welled up in her eyes. "No...This can't be happening...!"

"There's no way...that's real..." Tanya just shook her head before covering her eyes. "No, if I can't see it, it didn't happen! This is all-it's just a lie! No!"

"Puhuhu! It's not a lie!" Monokuma popped out of nowhere, appearing in the same spot he had when they'd first arrived for orientation. "Kyoko is dead, for sure! Good riddance, too. This time, it finally worked."

"Whaaaaa-? How is this not a joke!? We're screwed!!" Hiro screamed before he clutched at his dreadlocks in disbelief. "We're all going to die like she did!!"

"Wrong! That's only if you fail to find the blackened; the person who killed Kyoko!"

"We just lost a friend, and you want us to investigate instead of mourn!?" Makoto was still next to Kyoko's corpse. "Kyoko died, and it's all your fault! How could you kill her!?"

"Oh, but I didn't do that," Monokuma laughed. "One of you did! I promise I'm telling the truth! How does it feel to be betrayed by your friends!? I didn't even have to provide a motive this time, either! Puhuhu! You guys sure were excited to kill!"

"Do you want to die?" Maki's face was dead serious as she glared at Monokuma. "This is not a joke or a game. This is your fault!"

"That's sweet. Unfortunately, I don't really care! You guys will have the next few hours to investigate...well, investigate till I getting bored. Then, you'll all participate in a class trial to find out who the blackened is!" Monokuma just chuckled again, his everlasting and robotic smile full of menace. "Now then, I present to you, the Monokuma File!"

Monokuma handed them all a file before disappearing once more. Shuichi swallowed the lump in his throat before he opened up the file.

"The victim is Kyoko Kirigiri, another Ultimate Detective. The body was discovered inside the gymnasium. It...It says here that the time of death was twelve fifteen."

"Twelve fifteen...? Lyra and I were awake for that! We were awake when...when someone was being murdered!?" Hajime brought his hand to his pained heart, his face contorted in pain. "If we had only been there, we...we could have stopped it..."

Lyra was still laughing quietly, her hands clasped behind her back, but no one paid her any mind. Shuichi bit his bottom lip nervously before continuing on.

"Alongside a sword being stabbed into her stomach, multiple cut wounds are scattered all over her body, most notably her thigh and stomach. One of her arms has been removed."

"Why would anyone go through the effort of brutalizing the body even more!?" Soda's eyes watered. "Miss Sonia, stay back. This is all too much."

"I agree...I simply cannot believe anyone would do such a thing," Sonia sighed. "Unfortunately, we must proceed...It all is as Monokuma says. If we do not find the murderer, we will all be e-executed.."

"But...We just lost Kyoko. Kyoko was one of our friends," Aoi couldn't stop herself from sobbing. "I don't know why, but I feel like she was someone I used to be really close to. I lost her, and I don't even know why...!"

"Me too," Makoto was sitting there in silent tears next to Kyoko's body. "Kyoko...Please, wake up..."

"...I think I know what happened," Shuichi said tensely. "and I think Kyoko knew, too. I think we were all in a killing game before. Monokuma keeps saying about how we all should know the rules already, and we all keep feeling like we have some sort of connection to people. I think...we were all in this situation before. A killing game, I mean."

"What!? That's absurd!" Hiro freaked out. "No way! We would remember that!"

"Not if our memories had been wiped. There's too much of a coincidence with our headaches, random connections, and Monokuma's demeanor," Shuichi replied, his voice calm and analytical. "I believe that's what Kyoko had said. If just our memories of a killing game were wiped, then it's safe to assume that it's possible. We were probably all in one killing game at some point in time."

"We were all...placed here before?" Janelle questioned. "Monokuma is making us suffer once more..."

"I don't think all of us. Monokuma mentioned 'newbies' when he was explaining the rules. Maybe some of us actually haven't been in this game before," Shuichi responded. "...Regardless, we should focus on this trial for now. I just thought you all should know."

"Thank you for that knowledge. I am positive it will come in handy during our investigation," Janelle bowed. "We should all split up and search around the gym."

"...Nyeh...my magic is telling me that splitting up isn't a good idea," Himiko said. "It's dangerous..."

"Well, we need to take a couple of risks here," Makoto wiped at his eyes, not that it did much to stop his free flowing tears. "Okay...let's start..investigating."

"Hold on. Don't you think we should have people guard the armory again?" Hajime reminded everyone, his naturally cynical nature shining once more. "Just in case someone tries to pull anything..."

"Yeah..Aoi, Akane and I can go again," Tanya said dejectedly. "I don't think we'd be much help, anyway."

The three left the gym, leaving everyone else to investigate. Despite Byakuya's distaste for everyone in the room, he was interested in someone; the one who killed Kyoko. After all, Byakuya needed to win, and the only way to do that was to find the murderer. So he would cooperate.

"...Weird. The murderer really sliced up Kyoko's thigh here," Maki was pretty much the only person who could stand to even look at Kyoko's body without being repulsed. "I mean, they really did it all over her body, but...there is a lot of blood on her thigh."

"Not to mention severing her arm," Hajime sighed. "Why in the world would anyone go this far? Wasn't killing her enough? Now she had to die in pain, too?"

"...Why would the murderer feel the need to remove her arm?" Shuichi pondered as he rubbed at his chin. "Her arm is nowhere in sight, and her thigh is covered in blood. ...Ah! Her gloves are covered in the gold, too..."

"That's probably from the sword. She probably just grasped the sword when it was stabbed into her," Maki said curtly, but Shuichi couldn't help but think something was strange about that.

"...Is that really it...?"

"I don't know, but Kyoko looks...like she suffered a lot," Makoto sniffled. "If you're right, and I once knew her...then I don't even fully understand how much I must have valued her...! This is so unfair..."

"It is, isn't it?" Maki couldn't help but agree. Something suddenly piqued her interest on the sword. "Hey, there's a dent on the handle. It looks like some of the gold is kinda coming off of it, too."

"A dent? Why is there a dent?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," Makoto brushed Kyoko's hair to the side gently, unknowingly uncovering another piece of evidence. "Hey, what's this...? A small slit in the ground..?"

"That one might have already been here before," Hajime shrugged. "There's no proof it's related to the case."

"That is true," Sonia sighed. "Okay, let us all look around more."

"Yeah..." Shuichi agreed, placing his hand on the handle of the katana. Just as he suspected, gold flaking came off onto his hand. "Let's keep looking."

The group of fourteen students continued to inspect the body and gym.  A group of four, Janelle, Tanya, Soda, and Hiro all went together to search for Kyoko's missing arm, which was nowhere in sight. Shuichi, as perceptive as ever, noticed something quite strange about the whole situation.

"Look. There's a bit of wood chipped off on the ground here," Shuichi pointed to the small specks of wood scattered under the body, barely seen to the normal eye. It was only really possible to notice them if one was to actively look for something other than the body. 

"...Do you think it can be from those beams up there?" Himiko pointed upward toward the thin supporting beams running horizontal by the ceiling. "It looks like...some of it has been chipped off."

"Oh, you're right Himiko!" Hajime nodded. "How did that happen...?"

"I-It p-probably doesn't h-have anything to do with the case," Toko just muttered, annoyed. She rubbed at her shoulder from where she had collided with the ladder yesterday. "T-That's a-all the information w-we have...?"

"I found another dent on this wall," Sonia said, pointing to the wall opposite from the entrance. "Still, I am not sure if this has anything to do with anything..."

"Just a couple of indentations and a body..."

"Hmph. Plebeians," Byakuya muttered under his breath as he clutched at a stray piece of fabric he had found underneath Kyoko's body. A little slit was on the piece of fabric. "Didn't even notice."

"...W-We should c-check out t-the armory," Nico suggested. "T-The weapon h-had to come from somewhere..."

"Good point. How about you and Fuyuhiko go check it out so we can keep investigating around here?" Maki replied. "That way, no one can tamper with evidence."

"...Okay..."

The two short students left the area before walking over to the armory in silence. The rooms leading up to the armory around the corner, consisting of Aoi's, Akane's, Sonia's, Nico's, Maki's, and Byakuya's rooms were all shut.

Tanya, Aoi, and Akane were sitting outside of the armory with upset looks on their face.

"Hey, you guys. What are you doing here?" Tanya questioned.

"We just wanna look 'round here for evidence."

"Alright. I'll come with you guys, just as...a precaution," Aoi nodded, and she headed inside the armory with Fuyuhiko and Nico. "Do you guys see anything?"

"...L-Looks like t-there's a weapon missing f-from it's crate," Nico pointed. "S-See...?"

"...Huh. You're right. What's this? It's got a time of...nine forty seven?" Fuyuhiko grimaced. "This must be where the sword was taken from. Guess they didn't bother fuckin' bringing it back since the time was shown here..."

"Yeah, I guess there would be no point," Aoi sighed. "Has the investigation been progressing well?"

"...Not really."

"Great...I can't believe someone killed," Aoi muttered, tears welling up in her eyes. "We might all die because of them...why is this happening...?"

Ding ding ding!

Monokuma's annoying voice suddenly popped up over the monitor, his smug face appearing utterly gleeful at their despair.

"I'm getting bored of waiting...Time to start the trial! Please head to the garbage disposal right now! If you don't, I'll kill you! Puhuhu, see you there!"

"It's...It's time..." Aoi sniffled. "...Okay, let's all go. We...We can do this!"

The remaining seventeen students all headed to the garbage disposal, their suspicion and fear inherently present. All of a sudden, the large garbage crate split into two before revealing an escalator's doors behind it.

The students boarded the elevator that took them straight down. Not a word was spoken. As the doors opened, it revealed a courtroom setup, striking fear into their hearts. This was no game; it was life and death. Life and death that could have been avoided if friends had just stayed friends.

But someone had taken that friendship and betrayed it.

Makoto stood with his hand over his chest and a determined look on his face.

...

Hiro was sweating as he glanced around nervously.

Toko fiddled with her braids.

Byakuya's arms were folded as he looked down on everyone.

Aoi tried to hold her head up high.

Hajime gripped at his tie, hopeful they could figure out the truth.

Sonia played with her hair.

Soda could only shake anxiously.

Akane stuck her finger in her ear absentmindedly.

Fuyuhiko scowled.

Shuichi could only keep his yellow eyes fixed ahead of him as he aspired to find the truth.

Himiko stared at the group.

Maki fiddled with one of her ponytails.

Lyra giggled to herself.

Janelle played with the edge of her dress.

Nico pulled her hood over her head.

Tanya gripped her hands into fists, ready to fight for their beliefs.

One of them had done it...but who?

With their hearts pounding in their chests, the students had no choice but to step out of the elevator, and face the truth. Now was the time. They had to find out who had killed Kyoko, or everyone would die. No matter how much no one wanted to believe their friends could do it, there was no alternative. Monokuma simply held too much power...and so, it was time.

Time for a deadly class trial!