I wasn't super nervous until I saw the almost afraid expression on Rantaro's face as the elevator descended down to the trial room.

We had almost no information to go off on. This was even less evidence than last time. All we had was each other. And even then, we weren't sure who we could trust. Was Sora's story even real? We were going to need stories from everyone. Some way to prove that he was lying. Or some way to prove that he was telling the truth. Agh, this was too much to think about. I could never be a detective.

Before stepping into the elevator, Yuuki asked us if we were all ready. We all seemed to nod, but I could tell that no one was being truthful. But it wasn't like we had a choice. When Monokuma says it's time, it's time.

"We'll figure out who it is," Ruji whispered in my ear as we descended downward. He held the flashlight Maikeru gave him closely, occasionally flicking the light on and off to check and see if it still had power. "Don't worry."

"Oh, of course, we shouldn't worry," Kichiro announced while grinning. How could he even hear us? "The dream team toooootally has us covered, right?"

"Dream team?" I asked.

"You and your ghost buddy!" Kichiro chimed, before suddenly turning grim. "Unless last time was just good luck. After all, you can't just rely on fortune. She'll turn on you in an instant, and laugh as you suffer her betrayal and fall into sweet sweet despair..."

I felt chills run down my spine as his smile returned.

"Oh, but it seems Mr. Security has joined your little group, so maybe things will be different," the unlucky student mused. "After all, he seems quite helpful with his little insults-"

"He is helpful," Ruji whispered, briefly turning his gaze to Maikeru, who was watching us all in silence, his dark purple eyes narrowed slightly at the unlucky student.

"Oh, I'm sure he is. Good luck! You're gonna need-"

As if on cue, the control panel above Kichiro started to sizzle and spark, sending flames around him. Daiki quickly pulled him aside and away from the flames, pushing the ultimate unlucky student behind himself as the lights all flickered until they turned off, leaving us all in complete darkness.

There was terrified silence, then laughter. Kichiro's laughter.

Ruji gasped and fumbled around until he could get Maikeru's flashlight to turn on. Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief upon him sharing the light with the rest of us.

How many times was this going to happen? It was like Murphy's law! This clearly was more than bad luck. It was like Kichiro was cursed, and now it was affecting all of us.

The elevator was shaking. Normally, I didn't mind when elevators shook. But after the sparks, I felt particularly uneasy.

"It's giving Tower of Terror vibes," Ruji whispered to me.

I paused, then lightly smiled, even though no one could see.

"That's what I thought last time," I whispered back. "I didn't know you knew about it."

"Believe me, I've heard of every ghost-related movie, show, and ride," he replied. "Tower of Terror honestly does the theme fairly well. I want to ride it someday."

Me too...

The thought of him on that ride filled me with a warm feeling. He'd definitely get so scared. I'd probably be scared too, but not nearly as much. Rides never scare me that badly. Drop rides were probably the most frightening for me, but even those just made me a little nervous.

"When we get out of here, we'll ride it together," I said. "I promise."

"Maikeru, too?" Ruji asked.

"Maikeru too," I smiled, shaking my head at the faint shade of pink which dusted his face.

Then, the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened.

This room... it might be the last one we lay eyes on. This day... it could be the end for all of us, except one survivor...

This could be it.

But no.

This wasn't going to be it.

I had to solve this and stay alive. For Tora. For Nori. For Seiko.

For Ruji. For Maikeru. We had to go on that ride someday.

For everyone.

"Ahahaha! Welcome back! You've all made it to our second class trial! Congratulations!" Monokuma cheered with a sinister grin. "Now, everyone take your positions so the class trial for the murder of Seiko Okazaki, the ultimate chemist, may begin!!!"

We all took our places, and the trial began.

"Now, before we begin, I think we all need to take a moment to lift our spirits!" Kichiro announced. "After all, what fun is a trial if we're all acting like someone died?"

"Um, someone DID die," Bashira said while crossing her arms.

"Shhhh, happy thoughts..." Kichiro hummed while closing his eyes and bringing his hands together. "Now, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Sans Undertale-"

"Oh shut up!" Ahmya hissed. "This is serious!"

"Oh, but I AM being serious!" Kichiro sang while opening one eye. "It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing... flowers are blooming-"

"Do NOT finish that sentence," Ahmya commanded.

"Oh, please do," Saikoro laughed, leaning his elbow on the stand in front of him. "This is quite entertaining."

"Exactly! Do you want to have a bad time, Ahmya?" Kichiro giggled.

"Guys, enough," Keiko stated. "We can't be wasting time. Someone's dead, and we have to figure out who! We have to move forward, otherwise, we're just hurting ourselves."

I nodded. She was right.

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" I asked. "We need to discuss the motive."

"What about it?" Yuuki asked. "I thought we all agreed we wouldn't take the phone call."

"That's wrong," I breathed. "Seiko never agreed to that, remember?"

Everyone more or less nodded. She was the only one who was upfront about wanting that phone call, though she didn't give much information as to why. All she said was that she had people on the outside who needed her.

"Okay... so we know that Seiko took that phone call," Rantaro breathed. "Did anyone else here do it? It's okay, we're not forming accusations yet."

There was silence for a moment, then Saikoro raised his hand.

"I did," he stated, loudly and proudly.

"Seriously?" Maikeru asked. "Dude, we all agreed-"

"Maikeru," I whispered, hoping to get him to drop the judgment. If we were going to solve this, we were going to have to allow people to be honest.

He fell silent, then looked away and grumbled to himself. I looked at Saikoro and nodded. "Please, tell us what you heard. You don't need to say anything personal... but..."

"No, it's fine," the gameshow host shrugged. "I was reaching out to my girl. She's my biggest fan. It was a fairly casual conversation. She told me she was getting by and that she couldn't wait for me to get home. There was apparently something big happening out there, but I ran out of time, so I didn't hear much. She did seem kinda scared... but she gets like that, so I ain't too worried about it!"

"I'm sorry, you 'ain't too worried about it'?!" Bashira spat. "Dude, that sounds like something we SHOULD be worried about!"

"Meh," Saikoro shrugged. "Big things happen. They come, they go. That's life. If anything, I'm worried about my fans. What if I lose my following because of this sudden break?"

"Oh no, what a nightmare," Ahmya sarcastically muttered.

"That DOES sound terrible," Brittany gasped while covering her face. "Ohmygosh, what if I miss drafting day? I didn't even think about that. How am I ever going to get a good team? I was supposed to be back home in America by now! This is terrible!"

"Wait, you're an American?" Ruji asked.

"I mean... I was born here, but I spent most of my life in the United States," Brittany said. "Two, almost three years! My parents are American, so we go back and forth."

Two years was much different than most of her life...

"...That makes sense," Maikeru whispered under his breath. I coughed to cover my laughter.

"Annnyway, back to the trial," Kichiro laughed. "We're going to have to solve this quickly. Otherwise, the Undertale Gods will get very angry. Now... wait! My lord and savior is telling me something! Everybody shut up!"

Kichiro began rubbing his temples and chanting to himself, putting on an entire ridiculous show. Still, no one interrupted him.

"My god is telling me that Yuuki did it!" he exclaimed, opening his eyes and slamming one fist down on the table in front of him. He used his other hand to point accusingly at the ultimate hero.

"What?! I didn't do it!" Yuuki cried out.

"Oh. Okay then!" Kichiro laughed. "Oopsies."

"Kichiro, stop messing around," Rantaro breathed. "We need to stay focused."

"Why?" Kichiro asked, his joyful grin turning to a more sinister one. It reminded me of Monokuma's in a way. "We're all going to die eventually, Mr. Adventure. If it's not in this trial, it'll be in the next. And if it's not then, it'll come later. Death is always coming for all of us. There's no escape, and the more we fight... the more disappointed we'll be when this all ends. Luck doesn't last forever..."

There was a chilling silence in the room. I wanted to speak out and say something, but I wasn't sure how to follow a statement like that.

What were we really doing here? Surely we couldn't keep getting through these trials. Sooner or later, we were going to mess up and it would cost us all our lives. We barely had any evidence. I could tell everyone that this was a suicide. Or I could blame it on Sora. But if either of those were wrong, then everyone's blood would be on my hands.

"Luck isn't what got us this far," Daiki stated, making practically everyone gasp in shock.

I looked up at him, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Kichiro.

"Oh? Look who's finally speaking," Kichiro teased. "You've got a lovely voice, spy boy..."

Daiki had fallen silent once again, but his gaze didn't falter. It was like he was speaking to Kichiro through his eyes. It was a language only the two of them could understand.

Kichiro's smile slowly faded.

Then, the unlucky student nodded and looked forward.

"Whatever," he muttered. "It was Yuuki."

"It wasn't Yuuki," Ruji breathed. "He was with me last night until bedtime. The Monokuma file said that the murder happened late last night... so he and Brittany are safe."

"And Ruji is safe," Yuuki smiled while giving the ghostbuster a wink and a thumbs up. "The three of us have air-tight alibies."

"Alibies!" I exclaimed. "Of course! We have to hear everyone's alibies! That will narrow down who our suspects are!"

"Ahmya, Daiki, and Kichiro are safe," Bashira explained, shooting a quick glare at Kichiro as she spoke. "We were all together at the time of the murder too."

"Awesome!" I chimed. "My group split up earlier, so I guess that leaves me, Maikeru, and Sora as suspects, as well as Rantaro, Saikoro, and Keiko!"

"And Seiko," Maikeru added while reaching into his pocket and pulling out the note. "We... found this on her."

The ultimate security guard quickly and calmly explained that it was a suicide note and that from the way things looked, it was entirely possible that Seiko killed herself. Still, he made it clear that we should discuss all our options before coming to a conclusion. After all, there were six other suspects.

"There were also two sets of footprints coming into the building from the back door-" Ruji started.

"That was us," Rantaro interrupted.

The ghost buster stilled, then turned his gaze to Rantaro. "Huh?"

"The footprints. When Sora found me, he took me in through the back to see the body. It was the fastest way based on where we were," the ultimate adventurer explained.

Oh... well, okay then. I suppose that explained it...

"So... what else is there to go on?" I asked, looking desperately at Rantaro. "Did either of you find anything?"

"No," Rantaro breathed. "I mean... aside from Sora's story, I have nothing."

"Sora's story?" Keiko asked.

"Yeah..." the pilot muttered. "Last night, I saw Seiko after her phone call. She was really upset by whatever she heard... then she left. And that was the last time I ever saw her alive..."

I tried looking for a flaw in his statement, but I couldn't find any. Even if he was lying, there was no way to prove it. I was growing less and less confident in my suspicions of him. I mean, he was sticking to his story fairly well. He wasn't getting involved in the trial and trying to control the argument.

"Anything else, Sora?" Maikeru asked. "You were mainly working with her yesterday. Any information helps."

Sora rubbed his nose, then bowed his head and nodded.

"She... told me that before this game, she was working in a small lab. She loved everyone there like family. But... it was close to being shut down. She didn't have many funds. But she wanted to do big things. She wanted to use science to save a lot of people. She had dreams, things she wanted to accomplish with her life. But if her lab were to get shut down... she'd lose everything. That's why she wanted that phone call. She wanted to reach out and make sure everyone was okay. Make sure her home was still there. I... don't know what happened over the phone... but if I had to guess, I think it had something to do with that."

Oh... poor Seiko.

I bet she could have accomplished so many great things. I didn't know her well... but she seemed smart. She must have been in order to become the ultimate chemist.

But now she was nothing more than another student I never got to know...

I hated this game. I hated this so much. It was bad enough that we were being forced to do this, but we were ultimates. We were beings capable of changing the world. I know that sounds incredibly selfish, but we have the hope of a bright future on our shoulders. I mean, this would be just as terrible with normal people. Even if it was people like me. But these other kids? They're truly special. They all have the potential to truly be something great.

"I... okay, this is going to sound really harsh," Ruji timidly stated. "But... we need to talk about you, Sora."

Sora rubbed his nose once again, then looked up at the ghostbuster with a concerned expression.

"What...?"