A year ago today I posted my first fanfiction chapter on this website. Whether you are a regular, or this is the only piece you've read, thank you for accompanying me on this journey.

Chapter 2.5 - Blame It On Despair

The elevator whirred and clinked, before opening its door. The class of eleven students walked out of it, and into the very familiar Trial Room. They all had bad memories of that place, but by the end of the day they would have made new ones, and just as horrifying as the others. There would be no peace in the courtroom.

Quietly, and with a fair amount of resignation, they occupied the stands assigned to each of them, noting how much emptier it felt now that there were 3 less students than when the first trial had begun.

No one paid any mind to Monokuma when he ceremoniously entered the arena. It was time for the truth, and they knew it.

CLASS TRIAL IS NOW IN SESSION

Monokuma: "Welcome to the Class Trial for Miss Yang Xiao Long."

Monokuma: "Let's start with an explanation of how the Class Trial works. You will be given time to discuss the evidence you all gathered, and at the end you will have to vote for who the murderer is. If you vote correctly, I'll execute the culprit, but if you're wrong I'll kill everyone except the culprit. So pick carefully, kiddos!"

Sun: "Did you really have to repeat that?"

Ruby: "So... Where do we start?"

Pyrrha: "You don't have to do this, Ruby."

Ruby: "Yes, I do. I need to do it for Yang." She began to choke on her own words, so Jaune took over.

Jaune: "We should start by determining cause of death."

Weiss: "No, we should start by determining why she is still alive!"

Jaune: "Huh?"

Blake: "I assume you mean me."

Sun: "Not this again!"

Ren: "She does have a point. Blake and Yang were both handcuffed when the murder happened..."

Nora: "That's right, you two refused to be freed like the rest of us!"

Monokuma: "Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second! You got free from the cuffs?"

Emerald: "Yeah, Sun lockpicked them..."

Velvet: "You didn't notice?"

Monokuma: "No! I was busy, I thought I could leave you kiddos to behave for a couple hours!"

Weiss: "Moving on..."

Monokuma: "Hey, don't ignore me!"

Blake: "We didn't break any of he rules, so you can't do a thing." Monokuma kept grumbling in the background, but no one paid him any mind.

Neo: "Where were we?"

Ren: "Blake was going to explain why she wasn't with Yang at the time of death."

Jaune: "But don't you already know?"

Ren: "I do, but everyone else doesn't. We need to hear them say it."

Emerald: "Them?"

Sun: "That'd be me. I unlocked their handcuffs." He lifted his hand like a student asking for the teacher's attention in class.

Ruby: "But didn't Yang say..."

Velvet: "She did insist it was unsafe to disobey Monokuma."

Monokuma: "Damn right it is! Finally, someone with some sense!"

Blake: "Yang asked Sun if it was possible to unlock the cuffs, and then put them back on."

Neo: "Why?"

Jaune: "She wanted to train, right? Her duffle bag was there in the classroom."

Blake: "Being chained to each other made it hard for her to move around, and I could tell she didn't want to bother me. I was actually the one who suggested it."

Ren: "You could have freedom to move around, and afterwards go back to the shackles to avoid Monokuma's wrath."

Blake: "Exactly."

Pyrrha: "But wouldn't that mean only the two of you knew about it?"

Weiss: "Thank you! At last, someone intelligent here."

Jaune: "What are you trying to say, that one of them committed the murder?"

Sun: "Hey, Blake couldn't have done it! She was unconscious the whole night."

Emerald: "Wait, say that again?"

Neo: "We found her knocked out in the library."

Velvet: "So that's why she didn't show up at the crime scene."

Weiss: "And we're supposed to believe that because..." As much as he wanted to disagree with her accusations, her argument was pertinent. They were believing nothing butBlake's word on it.

Blake: "The Schnee is right, I don't have an alibi. No one can corroborate my story except the killer."

Jaune: "What about chloro-stuff?"

Nora: "The what?"

Neo: "It's a chemical that makes you unconscious when you breathe in its vapors." She used the notepad page she had used when explaining it to Jaune.

Pyrrha: "Chloroform? I don't think you'd find any in a school..."

Emerald: "Hmm, so that's why you two were so interested in the infirmary."

Ren: "Yes, if there's a chemical like that in here, the infirmary would be the place to find it."

Weiss: "Wait, hold on a minute! What are you talking about?"

Ruby: "The infirmary was locked when we found it."

Jaune: "Well, it's not anymore."

Weiss: "And why didn't we know about this?"

Emerald: "We just found out today during the investigation. Jaune was the one who suggested we look."

Jaune: "We found pieces of a small bottle in the classroom. It looked a lot like some sort of medicine."

Velvet: "So only the killer knew about the door being unlocked? Do you think they were the ones who unlocked it?"

Ren: "Breaking a door would be against the rules."

Sun: "Then who did?"

Neo: "Obviously, Monokuma"

Monokuma: "Oh ho, busted! You're right, I opened it after the last trial. Thought it would make things more interesting."

Blake: "And no one thought to check because it wasn't on the second floor."

Pyrrha: "Then how did the killer find out about it?"

Blake: "I don't think that's important right now. Only that they knew, and were the only ones to do so."

Ruby: "So there was chloroform in the infirmary?"

Ren: "No."

Jaune: "I mean... We didn't find it there, doesn't mean there wasn't some before.

Sun: "So the killer took it and used it to knock out Blake."

Weiss: "That's circumstancial at best."

Blake: "Hate to agree, but she has a point."

Sun: "What are you saying, Blake? This clears you of suspicion!"

Emerald: "He really doesn't get it, does he?"

Sun: "Get what?"

Weiss: "If she didn't do it, it had to be you."

Sun: "WHAT? Why?"

Pyrrha: "You two were the only ones who knew that Yang and Blake were separated."

Nora: "Which means you had opportunity! You screwed up, monkey boy."

Sun: "Is everyone against me?" Doesn't feel good, does it?

Jaune: "Let's not make hasty accusations, just like last time. We still haven't determined the cause of death."

Neo: "Do we have to? It was pretty clearly impaling."

Blake: "Actually, no it wasn't."

Ren: "It was asphyxia, right?"

Emerald: "She died from suffocating?"

Pyrrha: "Are you sure?"

Jaune: "We did find marks on her neck..."

Ren: "And it was covered by her scarf, so it most certainly had something to do with the case."

Sun: "So... What? The killer strangled Yang and then hid the marks with the scarf?"

Weiss: "Are you okay, Ruby?"

The sniper didn't answer, her eyes closed like she was holding back tears. She waved for them to continue. As much as they wanted, they couldn't leave the stands to console her. The trial had to go on regardless of the pain it caused.

Emerald: "I still don't buy that she was strangled. I mean, did you see the freaking pole coming out of her stomach? It was coming out of the other side!"

Blake: "Yes, and it's technically possible to survive that as long as it doesn't hit anything vital, which was the case."

Velvet: "Wouldn't she just bleed out?"

Blake: "Yes, but she wouldn't die instantly. She would've had time to scream for help, and the killer probably didn't want that."

Emerald: "Fuck..."

Sun: "Hey, but didn't the Monokuma File say she was impaled?"

Nora: "The Mono... Oh, right, yes, that's a thing we have." She grabbed the Scroll from her pocket and quickly tapped its buttons.

Jaune: "It said she had been impaled..."

Blake: "But not that it was the cause of death. In fact, that detail seems to be suspiciously missing from the file altogether."

Monokuma: "Are you accusing me of something, Miss Belladonna?"

Blake: "Yes." Her remark was blunt and devoid of emotion.

Monokuma: "How dare you? I'll have you know that I'm a stalwart and trustwort..."

Emerald: "Okay, so the bear totally lied to us, what else?"

Monokuma: "Hey, I'm right here!"

Sun: "If he hid a piece of information, it must be important, right? I mean, why else would he to do it? He's trting to mess with us."

Blake: "Exactly my point."

Weiss: "So, assuming we take your word for it, what was the murder weapon?"

Blake: "That... I don't know. It clearly wasn't done by hand, and it didn't quite look like normal rope burns."

Sun: "So, what did it look like?"

Ren: "Something thicker than a rope, also maybe less cohesive."

Neo: "A bed sheet, maybe?"

Jaune: "Oh, no..."

Velvet: "What?"

Jaune: "I think I know what it is..."

Weiss: "Well, spill it out!"

Jaune: "It was a bath towel... My bath towel."

Nora: "Your... Dammit, Jaune, did you kill someone again?"

Jaune: "No! And I didn't do it the first time either, we already settled that!"

Blake: "Wait, but why do you think your towel was used in the murder?"

Jaune: "Because I found it there, in the classroom..."

Ren: "Are you sure? I didn't see anything."

Blake: "Neither did I."

Jaune: "I... maybe have hid it..."

Weiss: "YOU DID WHAT?"

Neo: "Did he just admit to tampering with evidence?"

Sun: "Oh man, that doesn't look good for you."

Jaune: "I didn't kill her! And the towel was in the duffle bag, it's not my fault none of you investigated it!"

Weiss: "And are we just supposed to take your word for it?"

Pyrrha: "No, you can take mine as well. I can vouch for Jaune."

Weiss: "Based on what?"

Pyrrha: "He was with me at the time of the murder. The Monokuma file says it happened just after 10 pm, right? We were at the pool during that time."

Jaune: "That's right, we even heard the announcement!"

Pyrrha: "See? He's innocent." He beamed at smile at his savior and she smiled back.

Weiss: "Hmph."

Blake: "That does give him an alibi, which is more than the rest of us can say."

Emerald: "I say we still axe him for trying to screw up thr investigation."

Jaune: "What? No! That's against the rules, right Monokuma?"

Monokuma: "You underestimate how bored I am, Pool Noodle. It could be arranged..."

Ruby: "Can you guys please focus?" She barely spoke up, but it was enough for the class to hear.

Velvet: "So... Where are we now?"

Neo: "Jaune's Towel was used as the murder weapon."

Emerald: "But wasn't Yang tied up and all? Why would you use a towel when you have rope with you?"

Pyrrha: "Maybe she was already tied up before the killer came in?"

Ren: "No, there were clear signs of struggle."

Jaune: "Ren's right, the classroom was smashed to bits, there must've been a fight."

Nora: "A fight against Yang? The Ultimate Fighter? Ouch, that couldn't have been pretty."

Ruby: "Boxer."

Emerald: "That doesn't answer my question."

No one spoke for a while. No one had the solution to that puzzle just yet.

Weiss: "It seems we won't get anywhere on the why, so maybe it's best we move on."

Velvet: "Sure, but do we believe it?"

Sun: "I don't see why not."

Ren: "Since Jaune isn't a suspect, we have no reason to doubt his word."

Jaune: "Thanks."

Pyrrha: "So we have a murder weapon but no idea why it was important to use or who used it."

Blake: "But since we mentioned the fact that she was tied up. What was that rope all about? It looked... odd."

Nora: "Yeah, it had like a couple of weights on it, like jumping rope."

Jaune: "I think that's exactly what it was."

Ruby: "There was jumping rope in the pool lockers." She cleared her throat before speaking, but the words still sounded coarse.

Velvet: "So, the pool is involved in this too?"

Pyrrha: "It couldn't, I was there with Jaune at the time."

Weiss: "The killer could've easily gotten the rope beforehand. We found no evidence linking the two places."

Jaune: "Actually..."

Weiss: "What, did you hide any more evidence from us?"

Jaune: "No! It was right there, you just couldn't see it because it was in the men's locker room."

Nora: "But didn't she investigate the poil with Ruby?"

Ren: "The locker rooms have an electronic lock that can only be opened with our Scrolls, just like the bedrooms."

Blake: "So she couldn't have checked it even if she wanted to."

Weiss: "Alright, alright, I'm right here! You can stop making my case for me."

Neo: "Anyway, what was in there?"

Jaune: "There was a rack of pool supplies in the middle of the changing room. I could swear it wasn't there yesterday, and it was broken. One of the legs was missing."

Blake: "One of the legs?" She nearly jumped at him, gripping the stand with feverish devotion.

Jaune: "Yes, why?"

Blake: "Was it metal, chrome, two inches thick?"

Jaune: "I think so."

Emerald: "You look like you struck gold."

Blake: "It's the metal pole used to impale Yang. The description matches exactly."

Sun: "Wait, what?"

Ren: "The pole did have a rubber end, like a foot."

Velvet: "Is that even possible?"

Sun: "How would you get if off?"

Blake: "There are plenty of ways to break through metal. Corrode it with acid, melt it with a torch, even kicking it for long enough should be able to break a bar like that one."

Neo: "You've sure put a lot of thought into that."

Blake: "I... have had my fair share of troubles with metal bars."

Jaune: "But using it as a weapon doesn't seem very practical..."

Nora: "Why not? It's sturdy enough to use as a bat, and has long reach, to give you the advantage over an enemy who excels at close-quarters like Yang." For once, it seemed Nora was at her element: talking about weapons. It was a rare occasion, seeing her smithing talent come into use.

Weiss: "Thus we can deduce that the killer was expecting a fight."

Jaune: "And there was one. Smashed desks, the cut on her head and the scratches on her shoulder..."

Blake: "Let's disregard the scratches for now."

Pyrrha: "Why is that?"

Nora: "Yeah, why shouldn't we talk about those scratches? Do they incriminate you?"

Ren: "Blake claims that when she was attacked and drugged, she scratched her attacker."

Ruby: "So you think Yang is the one who put you unconscious?"

Weiss: "Isn't that convenient."

Blake: "I... No, she couldn't have been the one attacking me."

Emerald: "Huh, I half expected you to claim self-defense there."

Weiss: "And willingly admit to the crime? Please, as if she would fall for that."

Jaune: "Well, she couldn't have made it up. She hadn't seen the body yet when she told us what had happened."

Blake: "And making that up to cover my alibi would only cast more doubt ovrr me, which is exactly what's happening. This is why I said we shouldn't bother with the scratches yet, there are to many pieces missing to make sense of it."

Ren: "But we shouldn't ignore the possibility that Yang could've been the one to do it."

Ruby: "Yang would never do something like that."

Jaune: "She's right, what would Yang have to gain from it?'

Velvet: "...maybe she was planning to kill someone."

Ruby: "What?"

Emerald: "Makes sense, when you think about it. Yang could use Blake being knocked out as an alibi for her murder."

Blake: "If I was conveniently left unconscious just before a murder happened, that would make Yang the prime suspect!"

Emerald: "Not if she pretended to be unconscious as well."

Blake: "And why would the killer knock out the two of us but murder someone else? That makes no sense."

Emerald: "..."

Emerald: "Okay, guess you're right."

Jaune: "So, Yang wasn't the one who attacked Blake, do we all agree on that?"

Pyrrha: "I guess so."

Weiss: "That much is obvious. Sun was evidently the one who did it.'

Sun: " Hey, why me again?"

Weiss: "Didn't we just determine that the metallic rod used in the killing was from the male changing room? Who else could've taken it?"

Ren: "Sun, Jaune and Myself."

Nora: "Ah, that's right, because of the electronic lock! Only boys can go in!"

Weiss: "Precisely. Jaune has an alibi, and out of the two remaining only Sun had the opportunity, since he was the only one who knew about the handcuff situation."

Blake: "..." She grimaced, the math visibly happening inside her head.

Sun: "I... What..."

Weiss: "See, he doesn't even have any defense left. Monokuma, can we get to the voting yet?"

Monokuma: "Sure thing, princess. If you please would select the culprit from..."

Sun: "Wait, no! I'm innocent! Jaune, you believe me, right?"

Jaune: "I want to, but..."

Emerald: "The evidence is kinda piling up on you, man."

Sun: "Then we must be missing some part of the evidence! What haven't we talked about yet?" His knuckles were white from gripping the stand in panic, and his eyes wide in fear. Was it the look of innocence, or the last gasp of an animal cornered with no escape?

Ren: "We never found out why the sound recorder went missing."

Velvet: "Sound recorder?"

Nora: "We found a recorder missing from the AV Room. Not sure what it was for, though."

Sun: "That's right! I've never even been to the AV Room, so it couldn't have been me!"

Weiss: "Is that seriously the best you can do?"

Neo: "Hey, let the man speak."

Sun: "Then what about the ropes?"

Ruby: "They were from the men's locker room."

Jaune: "No, but he does have a point. We never figured out why Yang was tied up."

Weiss: "How does that change the killer's identity?"

Jaune: "Maybe it doesn't, but it's still important. Like Ren said, she was put on display like someone was sending us a message. The way the body was placed, all that blood around it, there has to be a meaning..." His case wasn't rock solid, but it would buy the Ultimate Thief a few more moments. He knew too well how it felt to be put on the spot and wrongfully accused, so he wasn't going to cast a vote until every doubt had been resolved.

Emerald: "A message? Like what?"

Nora: "Enemies of the heir, beware!"

Ren: "We don't know, that's the point. But if you want to get away with murder, why would you put on a show instead of hiding thr body."

Velvet: "Oooh, I see. That makes sense... I think."

Weiss: "So, what you're suggesting is that the culprit had a hidden motivation that we've all missed so far?"

Pyrrha: "And where would that be hidden?"

Jaune: "It's probably somerhing we overlooked. Maybe the position she was in? I'm not sure... Could also be all that blood splatter, or cut she had on her forehead."

Blake: "Blood Splatter? What are you talking about?"

Jaune: "Didn't you notice? There were blood stains on the floor, like five feet away from the body."

Blake: "I didn't exactly have much time in there, before we were called for the trial."

Monokuma: "Do you want to go back and investigate it again? Well, too bad! Should've done it while you had the chance!"

Sun: "Can't you like, draw it for Blake to see?"

Jaune: "I mean, I could..."

Weiss: "Didn't Velvet photograph it? That would be much better than a sloppy hand-made drawing."

Velvet: "Sorry, I only shot the body..."

Sun: "Then I guess there's no choice."

Jaune: "Ugh. Neo, do you mind?" The mute frowned menacingly at him, but lent him the notepad and pen.

The boy did his best to scribble the blood just like he remembered it. Good thing he couldn't get that gruesome murder scene off his head.

Jaune: "Here you go. I hope that's good enough..."

Blake: "Oh. That's strange."

Ren: "What's strange about it?"

Blake: "Are you sure this is right? That the blood is sprayed in that direction?"

Jaune: "I think so, yeah."

Nora: "Stop making suspence and tell us!"

Blake: "The blood seems to be imploding from the middle of the room, like Yang was hit while she was there, and sent flying backwards."

Sun: "That doesn't make any sense. What could possibly do that?"

Weiss: "A fast and solid projectile could do that, like a spear or... Oh." Her icy-blue eyes widened in realization.

There was a general murmur of confusion in the trial room. The class appeared ti have figured something out, something big, but he couldn't quite make out what.

Jaune: "Are you saying the metal leg was used as a throwing spear? Wouldn't that take, like, a ton of force? That's basically impossible!"

Weiss: "Wait, does he not know?"

Pyrrha: "No, he does not."

Nora: "How? You're like super famous!"

Emerald: "And he never even asked?"

Jaune: "What are you guys talking about? Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha: "They're talking about my talent."

Ruby: "The Ultimate Olympian, isn't that it?"

Jaune: "Olympian? As in the Vytal Olympic Tournament? Isn't that like the biggest athletic achievement of a lifetime?"

Pyrrha: "Yes, it is."

Jaune: "AND YOU WERE IN THEM?"

Weiss: "She was, gold medalist even. Pyrrha Nikos is notoriously know for her skill in spear throwing."

Ren: "So, if someone could've pulled this off, it's her."

Jaune: "Whaaaaaaat..." He was feeling so lost in the midst of all that new information, that apparently everyone had but him.

Blake: "Do you deny that you had the means to do it?"

Pyrrha: "No, I guess I don't." She was oddly calm, considering where the conversation was quickly heading.

Ruby: "Then it was you..."

Pyrrha: "I was with Jaune at the time of the murder."

Jaune: "That's right! Pyrrha couldn't have done it."

Neo: "Isn't that the exact same scheme Coco tried to pull?"

Weiss: "But no one else couldn't have done it."

Jaune: "Hey, weren't you saying that about Sun too, like five minutes ago?" The singer glared at him with burning contempt, but didn't fire back.

Emerald: "And isn't spear throwing done against straw dummies? You'd think Yang would be able to dodge a throw from so up close. She was a professional fighter, after all."

Ren: "Not if she didn't see it coming."

Emerald: "Huh?"

Velvet: "Are you saying she had her back turned?"

Blake: "That would be impossible. Yang was impaled from the front."

Ren: "That's not it. She had a cut above her left eye, didn't she?"

Jaune: "That's right, and it looked like it had been clean- oh."

Blake: "If it bled onto her eye, it could impair her ability to react in time."

Weiss: "But that still doesn't solve the problem of her alibi."

Pyrrha: "Because I didn't do it."

Nora: "Maybe we should be focusing on how Sun could've impaled Yang, then."

Sun: "Hey, not this again!"

Neo: "You two are the prime suspects right now..."

Pyrrha: "We must be missing some clue, then."

Jaune: "Maybe we should review everything we know."

Velvet: "Okay, then."

Blake: "The case started after dinner yesterday, when Yang and I asked Sun to unlock our handcuffs for a short period of time."

Velvet: "Where did that happen exactly?"

Sun: "On the second floor. Yang said she didn't want to risk Ruby walking in on it."

Weiss: "So the killer had to know of this."

Sun: "Either that, or they just happened to go to the second floor around that time."

Blake: "But we didn't see anyone. Regardless, after being freed, I went ti the library, and that's when I was attacked."

Ren: "Chloroform from the infirmary might've been involved, although we didn't find any."

Sun: "And Blake was out for the rest of the night."

Weiss: "Alledgedly."

Jaune: "After that, the killer went after Yang. She was in one of the second floor classrooms, because she liked to go there to meditate."

Emerald: "And the only people who knew about it were Jaune and Blake."

Ruby: "I knew about it too."

Emerald: "Yeah, but we're not counting you. Sun could've found out about it easily, also."

Nora: "The killer brought the metal leg from the pool rack in the boy's locker room, to serve as a weapon."

Jaune: "But I was there in the locker room, and there was no pool rack..."

Blake: "So it must've been placed there after you left."

Weiss: "Moving on, the killer fought with Yang, slicing her forehead."

Pyrrha: "Then, they impaled Yang, but that didn't kill her, so they used a towel to finish her off."

Jaune: "My towel."

Nora: "Which also had to have been brought in by the murderer."

Velvet: "That's a lot of pre-planning..."

Ren: "After the deed was done, they covered the marks with her scarf, and cleaned up the bleeding above the eye. They didn't, however, clean up the mess in the classroom, the broken desks and the pieces of glass."

Emerald: "What was that shattered bottle, anyway?"

Blake: "Chloroform, probably."

Jaune: "They also tied up Yang's arms with rope taken from the pool."

Weiss: "And that's all there is to it."

Ruby: "We only found her after the morning announcement."

Jaune: "The... morning..." It was then that the pieces fit together in his mind.

Pyrrha: "Are you okay, Jaune?"

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

It can't be.

This is all wrong.

I have to be misreading something.

Panic started creeping up on his face, and the more he thought about it the more it became clear.

But he didn't want to. He didn't want that clearness. He didn't want the answer.

Not that answer.

Ren: "Jaune? Something wrong?"

Jaune: "I... didn't hear the morning announcement..."

Nora: "What?"

Neo: "What difference does it make?"

Jaune: "I always wake up with the announcement. It's really loud."

Emerald: "Well, yeah, it's pretty obnoxious."

Monokuma: "You kids never appreciate the things I do for you."

Weiss: "What's your point?"

Jaune: "What if the reason I didn't hear it is because it didn't play?"

Monokuma: "Excuse you, my announcements are foolproof!"

Blake: "Not if the monitor had been tampered with, is that what you're saying?"

Pyrrha: "Isn't that against the rules?"

Jaune: "Damaging or breaking, yeah, but covering the speakers would get it done."

Nora: "Duct tape would probably be enough. I'm pretty sure there was some in the storage room."

Weiss: "So what? Someone duct taped the monitor in your room?"

Jaune: "Maybe. But the point is... If we can't trust one of the announcements, can we really trust the other?"

Ren: "Ooooh, I see. The nighttime announcement could be fake."

Emerald: "So that's what the sound recorder was for!"

Jaune: "Exactly. If you recorded the nighttime announcement, you could play it whenever you wanted to create the illusion that it was later than it really is."

Velvet: "But wouldn't you hear the real announcement back at your room... Oh!"

Weiss: "Which essentially means Pyrrha's alibi is fake."

Pyrrha: "So that's how it is."

Jaune: "Pyrrha? Please tell me I'm wrong." She smiled.

Pyrrha: "No, you are very right. I'm so proud of you, working together with everyone else. Your training has come a long way." Raising one hand, she moved the neckline of her sweater to the side, revealing a set of scratch marks over her shoulder.

Jaune: "...Pyrrha?"

Weiss: "Did she just admit it?"

Emerald: "Looks like it."

Sun: "But why is she so calm? She looks like she... won."

Blake: "I'm curious, how did you bypass the electronic lock in the changing room? Your Scroll shouldn't have given you entry."

Pyrrha: "That's simple, I just came in through the other side." She still distressingly unfazed, almost at peace.

Jaune: "The other side? You mean from the pool side?"

Pyrrha: "Yes. There's only a curtain separating the pool and the locker room. Not exactly state-of-the-art security."

Blake: "I can't believe we missed that..."

Weiss: "And why did you use the metal pole? Wasn't that even more incriminating, using the weapon you're famous for?"

Pyrrha: "Obviously, I intended to use it as a bat, to knock her out. There wasn't supposed to be a fight, I wanted to take her out as painfully as possible. I did not expect her to endure it, it was… unfortunate..."

Emerald: "Fuck..."

Pyrrha: "And in case you were wondering that too, I knew about Blake and Yang no longer being handcuffed by mere chance. I was helping Ren with the dishes, so I stuck around, remember?"

Ruby: "...why."

Pyrrha: "Sorry?"

Ruby: "Why? Why did you... kill her?" She struggled with her own words, tears beginning to form in her eyes again.

Pyrrha: "She was a threat to all of us. She was going to kill sooner or later."

Ruby: "That's not true! Yang wasn't like that!"

Pyrrha: "Didn't she promise you she would get you out of here? How do you suppose she was going to do that?" Her calm started to dispell little by little.

Ruby: "..."

Blake: "You're demented."

Jaune could only stare in disbelief at that monster occupying the body of Pyrrha, so further from the kind and helpful girl he had met.

Weiss: "Can we just vote now? She already confessed and everything."

Sun: "I just... This feels wrong. Why is she so chill about this?"

Pyrrha: "Because, like you said, Sun: I won."

Velvet: "What?"

Pyrrha: "If you vote me now, it will be the end of this school."

Emerald: "The hell is she talking about?"

Monokuma: "Oh my, this is getting interesting!"

Pyrrha: "I killed Yang, there's no denying that. But I didn't do it alone."

Ren: "You had an acomplice?"

Jaune: "Don't you dare..."

Pyrrha: "It was Jaune."

Ruby: "Jaune? What is she talking about?"

Blake: "The towel... That's why it was important to strangle her with it."

Pyrrha: "You figured it out. Jaune gave me the alibi, he gave me the murder weapon, he even allowed me inside his room so I could silence his monitor."

Jaune: "I DID NONE OF THOSE THINGS!"

Pyrrha: "Yes, you did. You just didn't realize it at the time. You played a part in her death as much as I did."

Jaune: "SHUT UP!" He grabbed onto the aching sides of his head, unable to come to terms with her transformation, with all the lurking horror she had hidden from him.

Weiss: "So that was your plan? Have two murderers so that we would never be able to vote correctly?"

Pyrrha: "Yes. We both killed her, so whoever you vote for, the other wins and goes free."

Nora: "So we're all just going to die?"

Jaune: "...you've got that wrong..."

Pyrrha: "Did you say something, Jaune?"

Jaune: "YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!"

Pyrrha: "Huh?" For the first time since the trial started, she truly looked disarmed. Her green eyes were confused, and her calm semblance had been torn aside to reveal fear.

Jaune: "You killed Yang, not me. Only you are the culprit!"

Pyrrha: "But..."

Jaune: "No, shut up! We asked Monokuma, Ren and I, because we were afraid Sun and Blake were working together on this case."

Sun: "Hey, come on, man!"

Jaune: "You know what Monokuma told us? 'It only matters who dealt the killing blow'. That was you. This is all your fault."

Pyrrha: "No! Jaune, I..."

Pyrrha: "I only wanted to help you..."

Neo: "You killed someone just because you wanted to get the guy? Geesh."

Jaune: "I don't want to hear it. Monokuma? Can we vote now?"

Pyrrha: "Jaune, I'm sorry. Please..."

Monokuma: "Sure thing, kiddo. Let's get to it."

CLASS TRIAL – END

The ten students pressed the buttons, not a single one even considering defiance. They had learned the lesson from Yatsuhashi, they could even still see his body falling on the floor and going limp. They couldn't see it literally, of course, but it was there when they closed their eyes at night.

Just as before, the giant screen descended from the roof and displayed the slot machine with their faces. It spun, and then it stopped.

It screamed in joy when Pyrrha Nikos' face lined up three times, victoriously throwing confetti inside the digital display. Neither of them shared the happiness.

When the claw came for the murderer, he looked away, refusing her the mercy off sharing his gaze one last time. She had betrayed them, she had betrayed him. She did not deserve pity. It didn't matter if she had fixated on him because he had no idea who she was and didn't care, it didn't matter if she loved him, it didn't matter whatever sick fantasy she had projected on him. She was a monster.

Only Ruby stared at her directly, through her tearful eyes. She wasn't angry nor resentful. She was scared, confused, deep in disbelief that the redhead had done such a thing, that someone who disguised as a friend could've taken her sister away.

"Jaune, I'm sorry… All I wanted-" She would never get to finish those words.

Her neck was grabbed by the claw, and she was pushed away into the darkness. The screen lit up, and the remaining class reluctantly looked up at it.

Zeus' Wrath

Ultimate Olympian

Pyrrha Nikos' Execution

The title card fell, revealing a much different image from the previous punishment. The screen showed a rocky mountainside, stretching above what they could see. There was a blue sky around it, and even clouds beginning to appear at the top, but it was clear that the lighting was artificial.

The redhead was hanging on in the middle of the steep climb, her fingers grabbing whatever protruding rocks were in reach. Although nothing had happened yet, her task was extremely clear: climbing.

Propelling herself with her legs, she reached for a rock further up the cliff, and then repeated the same process again and again, moving upwards little by little. It was then that the real trials began.

There was a loud thundering noise, and the blue sky quickly shifter to a darker shade of grey, much too fast for a natural reaction. Then the first flash came, and immediately after the roaring sound of a thunderstorm. The mountain seemed to shake, but Pyrrha grabbed on tight and stayed firm. Rocks began sliding off the top, falling near her, but she remained strong and kept scaling.

It was a breathtaking spectacle, watching the one-woman-army persevere when all the odds were stacked against her. The falling rocks were now boulders half her size, yet she still somehow managed to dodge them and not fall off the cliff.

As she was reaching the end, a platform in the mountainside that was plain enough to stand on, the thunder started to get closer. It hit once just above her fingers, forcing a chunk of the rock to detach from the cliff and take away the balance from that hand. It struck another just below her feet, forcing the girl to hold all her weight on just her arms.

She was so close. Only two more leaps, and she'd be there. A boulder grazed her shoulder, but she continued. Only one more to go. Her right hand grabbed on to the top, and she breathed out in relief, thinking the punishment was over.

It was then that the lightning hit her back. The sudden burst of electricity coursed through her whole body, turning her muscles rigid and immobile. Incapable of bending her fingers, she lost her grip.

And she fell.

The camera zoomed in tantalizingly slow on the floor down below, and the red paste that was left of the once mighty Pyrrha Nikos. Then the screen turned off, and the trial room was filled by the headmaster's laughter.

"Upupupupupupu. That was so extreme!"

It was hard not to feel revolted by what they had just seen, regardless of their conflicted feelings for the dead girl. It was hard not to be shaken to the core by what the bear had in store for them. It was so hard, and their hardships were far from over.

In hollow and robotic movements, they walked back in the elevator that would rise back to the school. There was nothing to say, no consolation for their despair. When the doors opened, Jaune reached out for the Ultimate Sharpshooter, but she slipped past him and disappeared.

He wondered if she blamed him.

He wondered if he blamed himself.

With no will or energy left in him, he unlocked and entered his room, falling limp on top of the bed. Sleep came eventually, but with it came the nightmares.

CHAPTER 2 END

Students Alive - 10

Props to Kratos1989 for guessing correctly who the culprit was.