First Class Trial

The black double doors shut behind us after everyone was inside. In front of us was a large, round table in the shape of Monokuma's face. Surrounding the table were 16 podiums, with a placard on each. Also, there was a tall pole with a picture I couldn't quite make out from my angle. Monokuma, once lifeless on a judge's chair, sprang to life once the doors shut.

"Alright everybody, find your seats, and let the Class Trial begin!" I found my spot, between Nagito and a picture of Taka, sitting on a pedestal.

Ibuki asked, "Ummmm, why is there a picture of Taka here?"

Monokuma answered, "Just because Taka's dead doesn't mean he should miss this. Besides, that IS his seat! Why should he have to miss this?"

I decided to speak up. "Alright. So I gathered that this is a roundtable discussion. Any topic goes at any time, as long as it's related to this case. That said, I think we should clear up exactly how Taka met his fate."

Byakuya replied, "Yes, I agree. Mikan claims it was the blow to the back of the head, not the front, that killed Taka. Yet the blow to the front of his head happened first. Care to explain this?"

Mikan sheepishly answered, "Y-y-yes. Gonta admitted to punching Taka during an argument. The shape of the bruise on Taka's forehead matches the general size and shape of Gonta's fist. But neither Gonta nor anyone else said anything about Taka's skull being injured."

Maki nodded. "I agree. The blow to the forehead came first, and such an injury would not have been enough to kill Taka, merely knock him out."

Kokichi decided to butt in. "So what exactly hit Taka in the back of the head to kill him? I bet it was Peko's sword!"

Hina's eyes lit up. "Yeah, that must be it! She snuck up behind Taka and killed him!"

Peko's eyes went wide. "No, I most certainly did not! I barely even spoke to him!"

Keebo spoke up before I could. "That seems inconsistent with the evidence, doesn't it?"

Maki nodded in agreement. "Peko's sword was too narrow for the injury. This was caused by a large, wide, blunt object. No doubt in my mind."

Kokichi started laughing. "Yeah, I was lying. There's no way Peko's sword could've done this."

Taking a deep breath, I decided to move things along. "Anyway, we've already ruled out Peko's sword as the weapon. Anything about the crime scene catch anyone's eye?"

Miu spoke up. "Yeah, the blood on the wall behind Taka! I haven't seen that much blood since my last-"

"Shut up," Byakuya interrupted, causing Miu to wince. Soda looked like he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut and gritted his teeth instead, glaring at Byakuya. Byakuya either didn't notice, or didn't care.

Akane answered, "Well, his blood was found on the wall behind him, right? Maybe the wall hit him in the back of the head and killed him."

Byakuya and I both put our face in our hand at the same time, but he spoke first. "No, you imbecile. Walls can't come to life and kill people. Have you taken leave of whatever passes for common sense in that thick skull of yours?"

Akane lifted her chin. "My gut tells me that wall killed him."

Hina agreed, "Yeah, it totally could've been the wall that killed him."

Kirumi started to say something, but I ended up cutting her off. "How exactly would a wall kill Taka? It's not like one of us picked up the wall and hit Taka with it."

Maki responded, "The wall didn't hit Taka. Taka hit the wall."

Kirumi finally spoke. "Yes, I believe this makes more sense. Something drove Taka into the wall hard enough to kill him. Either that, or he was struck with an object from behind, which caused a blood splatter. Either would make more sense than being struck with a wall."

Nagito's eyes lit up as he suddenly decided to make his presence known. "I think we should figure out whether Taka was struck with an object, or hit the wall, to kill him."

Miu spoke up again. "I saw Little Miss 'Toy-On-My-Back' walking into the trash room, taking something out of her sheath! I bet she destroyed the real weapon in the trash compactor, then grabbed another sword to replace hers!"

Hina thought hard. "Hmmm...I wonder..."

Maki, once again, spoke up. "Nope. She only has one sword. I've been in her room, and looked around myself."

Miu grinned. "And what ELSE did you do in there? I bet you were-"

Byakuya interrupted Miu again. "Again, shut up. I've had enough of your perverted musings."

Ignoring Miu, I processed what Maki said, then spoke up. "I agree. Plus, the trash compactor was mostly empty, and the incinerator was cold. There was nowhere to hide a weapon in there, so Peko couldn't have put anything in there."

Peko seemed to relax, ever so slightly. "I'm glad to have this cleared up. Besides, I found nothing, and no one, in the Trash Room. No one else entered or left between my arrival and Shuri, Ibuki, and Keebo arriving, either. I'm assuming none of them tried to hide a weapon with two other people in the same room as them. Thus, there could be no weapon hidden in that room."

Nagito said something about hope, but I didn't catch most of it. Instead, I was reluctantly focused on Gonta.

Kokichi broke the brief silence. "Maybe Maki killed Taka? She is the Ultimate Assassin, after all!"

Maki's eyes almost turned into flames, figuratively speaking. "Do you want..." She quickly cut herself off, cleared her throat, then said, "No, I didn't kill Taka. Never had a reason to."

Hina nodded, "Yeah, Maki didn't kill poor Taka, for sure!"

Soda and Nagito voiced their agreements, and Kokichi started laughing again. "Yeah, that was another lie. I know it wasn't Maki, either. Nee-heehee!"

Swallowing down my urge to grab Kokichi by his neck and beat his face against his own podium, I took a deep breath and summarized.

"Ok, so it wasn't Peko, and it wasn't Maki. Nothing was found in the trash room by Peko, Ibuki, Keebo, or myself. The incinerator was cold, so nothing could've been burnt up. Also, nobody's revealed a weapon, or mentioned finding one, so I think it's safe to say there was no weapon involved. Are we in agreement here so far?"

Nagito nodded. "Yes, I think we can all agree to this. We just need to keep going, and hope shall lead the way!"

Soda answered, "Right! We can't give up now!"

I replied, "I never said anything about giving up. I'm just getting a few things out of the way. That said, it's safe to say his body wasn't dragged anywhere, so he was killed where we found him. Only one person admitted to attacking him before he died..."

Gonta's eyes shot open. "Gonta? You think...Gonta killed Taka?"

I slowly nodded. "You killed Taka. And I think I have enough to prove it. Let me speak."

"You were learning how to be a gentleman from Taka, seeing him as a mentor of sorts. You admitted to arguing with Taka outside his dorm room, where his body was found. You admitted to punching him, which likely caused the injury to the front of his face. Taka then fell backwards from the force, hitting the back of his head hard on the wall, causing a brain hemorrhage from the force you sent him backwards with. You stormed off, in anger, before you realized what had happened, so you had no cause to cover up a murder you didn't even know happened. A murder...that you didn't know...you committed."

I took a deep breath, then looked down in sorrow. "I'm sorry, Gonta, but all the evidence and testimony points to you. I know you didn't mean to, but you killed Taka with your own formidable strength."

Gonta stared straight at Taka's picture, silent, then started crying. "It must be true then. Gonta kill Taka in anger. Gonta not act like gentleman, and took another's life. No one else do it. Not Peko, not Maki, not anyone else."

Soda started crying a little. I heard Akane mutter, "I knew my gut was right. That wall DID kill him..."

Gonta suddenly stopped sobbing, and stood up straight. "Gonta no mean to kill Taka, but Gonta kill Taka anyway. Gonta...sorry to everyone. Gonta...idiot!"

He then took a deep breath and said, "But Gonta not run away. Gonta's punishment is death. Gonta face punishment like a gentleman."

Nagito replied, "Hope wins out! I think we can safely vote now."

Monokuma, who had pretended to be sleeping most of the trial, suddenly sprang awake. "Did someone say voting time? Alright! Now, everyone select the person you think is the Blackened. Majority vote gets picked, so even if you guessed right and everyone else guessed wrong, guess what? YOU DIE ANYWAY! A-hahahaha!"

Our podiums changed to a circle of faces, each belonging to a schoolmate, with Taka's face crossed out in red. I took a deep breath, then selected Gonta.

After everyone had voted, the screen on Monokuma's podium lit up, and pretended to roll two 16-sided dice on a Craps table. Both dice bounced off the far wall, then rolled before coming to a stop. Gonta's face shown on both dice.

"Corrr-ect! It was Gonta who killed Taka!" Monokuma announced. "Now, let's give it everything we've got. It's...PUNISHMENT TIME!"

"Gonta...sorry...to everyone..." Gonta quietly said to all of us, tears gently streaming down his face.

Suddenly, the red door slid down, and a manacle on a chain shot out from behind it, and clicked around Gonta's massive neck, dragging him out of the room swiftly. We all ran after him, horrified. Gonta finally stopped when the chain went into the ground, trapping him face up on a dirt mound. Four more chains sprung out of the dirt, trapping his arms and legs. I happened to look up, and saw a sign saying "Gonta's Execution: Monokum-Ant Farm".

As we all watched, too stunned to speak, hundreds of little mechanical ants poured out from several holes under the dirt. They were white on one half, with a black eye, and black on the other half, with a red slitted eye, much like Monokuma himself. The ants swarmed Gonta, who remained silent and stoic, and for several long moments, nothing could be seen of Gonta at all, but the smell of blood was in the air.

After a while, the ants started leaving Gonta and crawled back into their ant nest underground. I put a hand to my mouth when I saw Gonta...or what was left of Gonta. The Monokum-Ants ate him, flesh, blood, and even clothes, leaving only his massive skeleton behind.

We all stood there, dumbfounded and stunned. We...all...just...watched Gonta die. The guy who always spoke in the third person, who admitted that he wasn't smart but always wanted to be helpful. The guy who was so good at serving in Volleyball just days ago, and who just wanted to be a gentleman more than anything else in the world...was now dead.

...I'll be honest, I don't even remember the rest of the day. How long we stood there, how long Soda cried at witnessing Gonta being executed, how quickly Byakuya left the rest of us after we were allowed to leave, even how I eventually got to my room to go to sleep. It was all just a sickening blur.

And it was only getting started, too..