Second Class Trial

We all took our places around the table, facing each other. Monokuma, as usual, sat on a judge's chair above us all, and between Mikan and Hina.

"Alright, everyone, you've done this once before, so you should all know the rules. One of you offed poor K1-B0. Your job is to figure out whodunit. Get it right, and I'll open the third floor for you tomorrow morning! Get it wrong, and I'll open the front door for the Blackened following the trial, while the rest of you die! A-hahahahaha!"

I looked over at Soda, who looked very troubled. But before he could speak, Nagito spoke up first.

"Guys, I know this is hard for all of us. Keebo was a friend to everyone, even a nobody piece of scum like me. But just remember, the deeper and darker our despair, the higher and brighter the hope that shines for us all!"

Kokichi's eyes lit up. "Woooowww! What an inspiring speech there, Nagito! Thanks for sharing it with us!" Kokichi nodded approvingly, then looked at Byakuya. "You liked it too, didn't you? Right, right?"

Byakuya looked back at Kokichi, disgusted. "Do I look like I'm fluent in shit-for-brains? That "speech", if you can loosely call it that, was just a waste of our time, which is steadily ticking away. Now, can we get this trial started?"

Kirumi nodded in agreement. "Yes, shall we? I believe we should start by confirming some details about this death."

I agreed with Kirumi. "Yeah. First, let's confirm the place of death. According to Ibuki, Keebo died in the Jam Room, when she tested out Keebo's new speaker function."

Miu spat out, "Yeah, where she KILLED him!"

Ibuki shot back, "I did NOT kill Keebo! You-"

I interrupted the two of them. "Hey guys, we can go back and forth all night, but we don't have time for that. Let's see what the evidence says about Keebo, alright?"

Miu muttered something under her breath. Ibuki went silent, still glaring at Miu.

I resumed. "Ok, so the body was found in the Jam Room, according to Ibuki. Has anyone found any evidence to contradict this, or can we accept this as fact?"

Byakuya responded, "I find it very likely Keebo died where we found him. It would be difficult for Ibuki, or Miu, to move him alone. Obviously, the two wouldn't have worked together, and it doesn't make any sense for Ibuki to cover for Miu, or vice versa. I say Keebo died where he was found."

Kirumi, Hina, Akane, and Soda all agreed, and no one provided evidence stating otherwise.

"And according to the Monokuma File, the cause of death was partially due to the speaker function. Soda, who worked on the speaker function?"

Soda nervously replied, "Me and Miu worked on it together, at Ibuki's request."

I nodded, already knowing the answer to that question, but wanting to hear Soda say it. "Did Ibuki request anything special with this speaker modification?"

Soda thought for a moment, then replied, "Only that the speaker be really loud, and be incapable of blowing out. Other than that, no."

"So you and Miu worked on the speaker for Ibuki, who had no part of building anything. Did you ever see any evidence of sabotage while you were working on it with Miu?"

Soda shook his head. "No. I checked everything after we finished, and even Keebo himself said everything seemed to be functioning properly, as far as he could tell without testing it."

Byakuya spoke next. "So, Kazuichi, what exactly happened after you finished the speaker function on Keebo?"

"Well..." Soda looked nervous again. "Miu said she needed to do some maintenance on Keebo, and I was hungry, so I went to the Dining Room. I never saw him again after I left Keebo's room."

I made a mental note of that last sentence. "Are you SURE you never saw Keebo after you left his room?"

"Yeah. I didn't see him again. I leave Miu alone when she's doing maintenance on Keebo."

Akane spoke up. "My gut says Kazuichi's telling the truth. I believe him."

Miu spoke up again. "Yeah, because he IS telling the truth! Kaz-poo-ichi over there left me with Keebo so I could do maintenance on Keebo."

I turned my attention to Miu. "So what did you do during this...maintenance?"

Miu looked insulted. "The fuck do you mean, what did I do? I opened him up, put my fingers inside him, and-"

A bad mental image appeared in my mind. "Ok, ok, ok. And after that?"

"I made a slight tweak and put him back together. Then, after I made sure he was working properly, I left his room."

My ears perked up suddenly. "Really, huh? What kind of tweak?"

Soda started to speak. "I think she-"

"None of your fucking business, that's what!" Miu almost seemed defensive at the question, or maybe she felt insulted. It was kinda hard to tell, but she clearly didn't want to answer my question.

I looked at Soda oddly, wondering what he was going to say, then I turned my attention to Ibuki. However, Byakuya beat me to my own question.

"So, Ibuki, you claim you met Keebo, alone, in the Jam Room. Care to explain what happened there?"

Ibuki nodded. "Yep! Me and Keebo walked together to the Music Room, where we talked about music lyrics for a while. Then we went into the Jam Room. I shut the door, and Keebo opened his chest up, revealing a pretty sick speaker! I plugged my guitar in and had Keebo turn it on internally. He started to say something, but I nailed a power chord before I could hear what he was going to say. Suddenly, his eyes went blank, and sparks started shooting out of him! I dropped my guitar, scratching it, and ran for Miu and Kazuichi at once!"

Ibuki then showed her guitar, and the scratch along the side of it. "Poor guitar..." Ibuki lamented. "Ibuki never meant to hurt you..."

I had a question for Ibuki. "Did you see anyone outside when you ran out, Ibuki?"

Ibuki nodded. "Yeah, Nagito and Kokichi were in the Biology Room, looking at the stuff inside. It's boring in there, but they seem to enjoy that room."

Kokichi nodded. "Yep, me and Nagito were in there. We saw Ibuki running like someone was after her, so we stepped out and searched the hallways. Nagi-Boy here walked past the Music Room, and looked down the Library hallway and the nearby Courtyard hallway, and I looked down the Classroom hallway and the Stairway hall. Nagi-Boy found Byakuya in the Library, but saw no one else. I found no one, though, until Ibuki came back with Miu and Kazuichi."

"And what was Byakuya doing in the library?", I asked Nagito.

Byakuya answered for him. "What do people do in libraries, you nitwit? I was reading!"

Nagito laughed. "Sure enough, he was reading a thick book. I took a step in, and he sneered at me. I was lucky his glare didn't pierce right through me!"

So Ibuki and Keebo walked into the Jam Room. Ibuki said Keebo started to say something, but was cut off by his death. Ibuki ran out, witnessed by Kokichi and Nagito. The two of them searched the hallways until Ibuki returned, with Kokichi finding no one and Nagito finding Byakuya, reading in the library.

Kokichi spoke up. "Byakuya could've killed Keebo, then!"

Hina nodded, "Yeah, he totally could have! He was on the second floor, so he-"

Byakuya glared at Hina. "Have you spent too much time underwater recently? Of course I didn't kill Keebo. That robot, with his insipid questions, was simply beneath me."

Kirumi spoke up next. "I agree. I don't believe any evidence exists to point to Byakuya as the killer."

Peko agreed with Kirumi's assessment. "It does not seem likely that Byakuya would've had any motivation to kill Keebo. I never saw them speak to each other, and I never heard either really speak much of the other."

Kokichi laughed. "Nee-hee-hee! That was a lie. It was obvious Byakuya didn't do it."

Hina glared at Kokichi and muttered something at him under her breath, but I couldn't make out what she was saying.

So Byakuya was out as a suspect, which I more or less figured already. However, this still left Soda, Miu, or Ibuki as the most likely suspects.

"So I guess it's safe to say, between Ibuki's departure and return, no one entered the Music Room. Not even Nagito?"

"That's right. Even I did not enter the Music Room. Kokichi suggested checking the hallways first, then the rooms. Kokichi said no one was in either classroom. Byakuya was alone in the library, and no one was in the Courtyard. Ibuki returned before either of us could check the Music Room, but I'm sure no one got past the both of us."

I processed this information for a few moments, then turned my attention to Soda.

"Soda? We probably should've asked you this before, but did you find anything during your autopsy?"

Soda closed his eyes tightly and lowered his head, then nodded slowly. "Yes, I did find one thing."

Byakuya shouted at Soda. "Is that so? You should've said so immediately!!"

"I tried, but everyone kept speaking over me," Soda replied. "But yes, I found something that I don't remember seeing before."

"And what, exactly, was that, Kazuichi?" Byakuya asked.

"There was a single wire connected to the wrong amplifier. With this setup, it would've overcharged Keebo's electronic systems when activated, causing him to short out." Soda took a deep breath. "He was not set up like this when I last saw him."

All eyes turned to Miu. Miu flipped her hair, shrugged, and said, "What? Do you think I, the gorgeous girl genius with the golden brain, made a mistake during Keebo's maintenance? I sure as fuck did not! Besides, I didn't start up the speaker and short Keebo out, Ibuki did! She's the murderer, this should be fucking obvious by now! I say we vote!"

Monokuma leaned forward in his chair. "Did someone say it's voting time?"

"No, not yet!" I shouted. "Something still seems...off here."

"Awww, man! Well, HURRY UP!! And wake me up when it's voting time; you're boring me here!" Monokuma then laid one head on an armrest, draped his legs over the other armrest, and pretended to sleep, snoring for effect.

I directed my attention back to Miu. "Yes, Ibuki may have inadvertently caused Keebo's death, but I don't believe she actually killed him. Someone else's hand ended Keebo's life. Since both you and Soda say it wasn't Soda, that leaves you, Miu."

Miu took a step back, shocked. "Huh? Me? Are ya fuckin' stupid, Shuridiot? Ibuki was the one who killed Keebo! She plugged him in, played her guitar, and killed him! You said so yourself!"

"No, Miu, I only said that she inadvertently caused it," I answered.

"Bullshit! The Blackened is the one who kills another. That was Ibuki! Ibuki killed Keebo!" Miu shouted back at me.

Soda spoke up. "Sorry, Miu. I noticed the crossed wire during the autopsy, which happened after Keebo died. Ibuki wouldn't have had the knowledge to do something like this, and I know I didn't do it; Peko and Maki were watching me. That means only you could've sabotaged Keebo. Ibuki wouldn't have known how, and I never had a chance. When you sabotaged Keebo...you set him up to die."

Byakuya spoke next. "When you crossed Keebo's wires, knowing what would happen, you masterminded Keebo's death. You set up Ibuki to kill Keebo, then planned on using that technicality to escape this place. However, Kazuichi's discovery of the crossed wire sealed your fate, Miu."

Hina leaned forward. "But wait! If Ibuki was the one who actually shorted Keebo out by using the speaker function, then Ibuki killed him, not Miu!"

Maki started to say something, but Monokuma cut her off. "Ok, ok, time's up. Time to vote, and put this trial to an end!"

Our podiums changed to a circle of faces, with Taka, Gonta, and Keebo's faces crossed out. I thought carefully. Was it Miu, who was found to have sabotaged Keebo? Was it Ibuki, who, while accidental, still caused Keebo to die by using the sabotaged speaker function? Time was up; I had to pick someone, or we could all die!

I took a deep breath, and made my choice.

After everyone voted, the screen on Monokuma's podium changed to show a Craps table, with a pair of dice bouncing off the far wall and coming to a slow stop. Miu's face showed up.

Monokuma spoke. "Well, I've got good news and bad news for you all. The bad news is, this was not a unanimous vote. The good news is, majority rules, so the group ended up choosing...Miu!"

Miu exploded. "FUCKING BULLSHIT! All I did was cross one wire. Lil' Miss Tits-On-My-Head over there killed her, not me! This is BULLSHIT!! Fuck you, Monokuma! FUCK YOU ALL!!"

Monokuma shook his head. "Another time, another place, I would have agreed with you. Ibuki's hand DID cause Keebo's death, after all. However, unlike Junko, I look to the direct source that caused the death. If someone plants a bomb, and someone else sets it off, who do you blame? Me, I blame the bomber. With that said, you set the plan in motion, not Ibuki. You were the mastermind of K1-B0's death, and your hands directly caused K1-B0's short-circuiting, which you admitted to doing. In Monokuma's eyes, that makes YOU, not Ibuki, the Blackened!"

Miu kept screaming profanities at Monokuma, but Monokuma ignored her. "Disagree with me all you want, but my decision is final, and Miu is the Blackened! Now, let's give it everything we got! It's...Punishment Time!!"

"FUCK YOU, MONOKUMA! FUCK YOU ALL!!" Miu shouted once more, at all of us.

Suddenly, the door to the Execution Room opened up, and a manacle went over Miu's neck. It then yanked her out of the room. One of Miu's hands was on the manacle, and the other was flipping us all off. She was dragged to a bed, which the manacle forced her to lie on. A sign above said "Miu's Execution: Wet Dream"

Straps shot out of the bed, strapping her wrists and ankles down. Next, a respirator attached itself to her head like a helmet, with a mouthpiece that came down over her nose and mouth. It started pumping something into her mouth that made her fall asleep. Then suddenly, two large spikes shot out from within the bed, piercing Miu's breasts and lungs. The bloody spikes remained there, pointing straight out of her chest, as Miu died before us.

Byakuya immediately left, along with Peko and Maki. Ibuki was on her knees, sobbing, while Soda hugged her from the side, saying something in a low voice to her. Kirumi walked over to the two and asked them something, but Soda shook his head and sent her away. Nagito and Kokichi were the next to leave, with Nagito mentioning something about the brightest of hope shining from the darkest of despair, or something to that effect. Mikan, who was silent throughout the entire trial, left with Akane and Hina next. Finally, Soda, Ibuki, and I left together, with Ibuki wondering who could've voted her as the killer, and neither of us wanting to even think about it.

We were now down to 12, from 16. Who would die next, I wondered.

Sadly, I only had to wait a few days to find out...