Chapter Text
Darkness surrounded him. His movement was restricted. He had no idea where he was or how he got there. He didn’t know what time it was. He heard the muddled sounds of an announcement, which one to was, he didn’t know and wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Panic quickly began to set in and Naegi could feel an anxiety attack about to take over. Breath shortened, skin grew clammy. He was never one for dark, enclosed spaces. During that time another announcement went off, but just as before, he didn’t know what it was.
He tried moving around, to no avail. He tried shouting, hoping someone would hear him and get him out. Naegi was on the verge of giving up hope that anyone would find him, the school was huge, he could be anywhere, and that was if the mastermind hadn’t locked away in an area the others couldn’t yet access. Giving one last weak shout he slumped down ass much as he could manage in his dark prison. He didn’t try to stop the tears that pooled on the brims of his eyes, letting them flow over and down his cheeks as all hope of being rescued slowly faded away into oblivion.
He wondered how Togami was dealing with his disappearance, probably fairly well. He wasn’t one to show his emotions, save anger and disdain, for everyone to see. He also hadn’t been all too thrilled to learn he had a soulmate, so maybe he didn’t actually care that Naegi was missing. No… even though he had protested at first, Togami had accepted the fact that they were soulmates. He was likely interrogating everyone to figure out where Naegi was. There was no way he was doing nothing.
As these thoughts flitted through his mind someone approached his prison. The squeal of metal on metal jolted him out of his thoughts.
“OH my gosh! Naegi? Is that you?” Asahina’s voice met his ears, but he was still unable to see the swimmer, or where he was.
“Asahina?” he croaked, throat slightly raw from crying and shouting.
“Wait here, I’m going to get the others!” Asahina said, then he heard the slap of her tennis shoes against a tile floor as she ran away.
“Not like I can go anywhere,” Naegi grumbled as she dashed off.
Minutes passed, long and slow, before he heard more voices, more echoing footsteps. The most distinct voice being that of his soulmate.
“And you’re absolutely positive it’s him in there?” Togami asked in his sharp way he used when his patience was on it’s last thread.
At the sound of Togami’s voice Naegi perked up, he was okay, he had known that the blond hadn’t been killed, there had been no blinding pain shooting through his skull, but that didn’t mean something else couldn’t have happened.
“Definitely,” Asahina answered.
Naegi then felt himself being lurched forward from where he had been trapped. Not that helped matters much as he still found his range of movement restricted and was still unable to see.
“Wh- Why can’t I move?” Naegi asked, panic rising once more as he struggled to get out of whatever was confining him.
“Because you’re in some kind of costume, it seems to have a limited range of movement,” Ogami’s voice replied.
“Costume?”
“Yes, it seems you are in some kind of robot costume,”
“How? How do I get it off?” Naegi asked, voice quavering with barely restrained hysteria.
His question was met with a deafening silence. There was slight shuffling and then brightness. Blinding white florescent light glared down from above as the head of the costume was removed and Naegi blinked rapidly to adjust to the abrupt change in lighting. As his vision acclimated to the new stimuli he eventually came to make out the solemn faces of his classmates. Only, there were two missing. And only of those two didn’t surprise him.
“Where are Fukawa and Yamada?” he asked, fearing the worst just from the atmosphere surrounding those present.
“Well… You see… They’re…” Asahina started to say but couldn’t seem to find the words.
“They have been killed,” Celeste stated when the swimmer failed.
“They’re both dead? How long was I in there? What happened?” Naegi said, giving into the panic. He knew none of them would joke about that in their current situation, so that left with more questions than before.
“They were both killed by a blow to the head with what were called a ‘hammer of justice’,” Kirigiri said, her tone even and blunt as ever, “Celeste was able to find her camera right before she was attacked by the culprit, and on it found a picture of Fukawa being dragged away by the culprit,”
“It’s unclear how long you were in there, seeing as the culprit photographed was wearing the same costume you are currently wearing,” Ogami said.
Words failed him. If it hadn’t been for the rigidity of the costume Naegi would have been on the floor, as it was he barely managed to remain on his feet and not fall flat on his back. He couldn’t remember much of the previous night, but he was certain he hadn’t seen either Fukawa or Yamada. He did recall Fujisaki and Kirigiri asking him to do… something with the laptop? And going to the second floor bathroom, then pain… After that everything was fuzzy. He couldn’t remember… and because of that, he couldn’t argue for innocence in the case. How was he supposed to convince everyone else that he was innocent when he didn’t even know himself? So frozen in thought he didn’t notice that Togami and Fujisaki had moved to start removing him from the costume.
“How did you even get this on?” Fujisaki asked as he unhooked the clasp on the back.
Naegi didn’t answer. He was just now realizing that Togami hadn’t said anything since he had asked Asahina if she was sure it was Naegi in the costume. His silence was unnerving. The lucky student didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Ding dong. Bing bong.
“The time for investigating is over! All students still living gather behind the red door on the first floor so we can begin the class trial!” Monokuma said over the speaker system.
“That bear has the worst timing, ever, I swear,” Asahina groused as she made to leave the pool.
The pool? Naegi finally took a moment to see where he was. It was definitely the pool, the scent of chlorine permeating the air was clear as day. So how did he get there? Naegi had so many questions.
Ogami trailed after her, looking to be deep in thought. Celeste and Kirigiri following not too far behind, leaving the three remaining boys to bring up the rear.
“You didn’t do it,” Togami said, after the door had shut and Naegi had removed the final piece of the costume.
“Huh?” the brunet questioned ever so eloquently.
“You didn’t kill Fukawa or Yamada. The evidence Fujisaki and I found before we found you doesn’t match with what we just learned. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t expect a full explanation of what happened to you last night when this trial is over,” the blond asked, well, demanded would be a more accurate way to put it.
Naegi nodded, he knew Togami was angry, he had every right to be, but when he felt arms circle around him and pull him close he looked up with confusion.
“I’m truly relieved to find you okay, I may not have wanted this bond, but, even after only a few days, I don’t know what I would do without you,” the heir whispered in Naegi’s ear.
“R-Really? You really feel that way?” Naegi asked as they followed a few steps behind Fujisaki to the trial room.
“Yes. I’m not sure exactly what it is I feel, but I do know that if you leave, the resulting effects would be quite negative to me,”
Naegi didn’t know how to respond to that, blushing brightly and giving Togami’s hand an affectionate squeeze.
With the blond’s help and under Fujisaki’s watchful eye, Naegi made it down the stairs tot he first floor with no obvious mishaps. The lucky student was a little dizzy, but didn’t think it was that bad, thus choosing to keep that fact to himself when asked how he was doing. His head throbbed a slight amount and his leg was still a bother, but nothing seemed like it would be a problem. They joined the girls in the waiting room; a room which once felt too small, crowded as they all squished inside, not felt too big.
“Are ya all here? Are ya all ready? Are ya all just quivering with anticipation?” Monokuma spouted off his pointless questions as he popped up behind Celeste, “Yes? Well, alrighty then! Let’s get this show on the road!” and just as quickly as he appeared, he was gone.
The elevator opened up and the seven students filed in and descended down into the earth to fight for their lives in a battle of wits. As Naegi thought about it, he thought this might make an interesting game concept if he weren’t actually in a life and death situation. He clung to his soulmate’s arm, holding on until they were forced to separate and go to their designated podiums.
“Today’s trial is the result of not one, but two! Murders! Yamada Hifumi, the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, and Fukawa Toko, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy. Both killed in such a brutal and savage way, so let’s find out who done it!” Monokuma said, seeming oddly cheery, even for him.
“But, don’t we already know who did it? I mean, I know we usually say that, but like, this time we have a picture of the culprit dragging Fukawa away. Not that I want to believe that Naegi did it, but the picture was pretty clear, and we did find Naegi in the robot costume...” Asahina said.
“This is true. And given the quality of the camera, it would be quite difficult to edit the image, that is, if you were able to at all,” Celeste commented.
“Wait,” Naegi cut in, “Please, could someone tell me what exactly happened?”
“But you should know better than any of us, seeing as how it was you in that costume,” Celeste remarked.
“But I don’t! I don’t remember anything after going to the bathhouse with Chihiro last night!” Naegi argued, leaning heavily on his podium.
“Just because you do not remember does not negate the fact that it was you we found in the costume,”
“Where did the robot costume even come from? It doesn’t seem like something Makoto would have, Yamada maybe, but not Makoto,” Fujisaki asked, “I mean, it looked like it was custom made, didn’t it?”
“Now that you mention it… It did seem more like something Yamada would have, not Naegi,” Asahina said.
“I can say, with absolute certainty, that I have never once seen Makoto build anything or do anything that would lead me to believe that Makoto was behind this,” Togami stated.
“But that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have been the one to build it. It’s possible he built it before you two got together,” Kirigiri noted.
“But I didn’t! I’ve never even seen that costume before today!” Naegi said, pleading for someone to believe him.
He could barely move in that thing, how was he supposed to have killed two people? And why would he do so in a costume that he couldn’t get off on his own? So many things weren’t adding up. Naegi didn’t have any reason to kill anyone, he had been the one to preach them all working together to get out. Maybe if Fukawa hadn’t apologized there might have been a reason. But Yamada? He hardly knew the guy! Then again… besides Ishimaru, there hadn’t been any real, obvious connections between the killer and the victim. Had there?
Thinking back on it… Maybe there had been? Maizono and Kuwata both had a mutual interest in music, but is that why she tried to kill him? Did she think he would be a threat to her ultimate title if he branched out into music? That didn’t make any sense. And the only reason Hagakure had been killed was because he tried to blackmail Owada. Other than that those two had no previous relationship, at least to Naegi’s knowledge. So maybe that train of though wasn’t going anywhere…
“- found in the repository, how did Naegi move both bodies from where we originally found them to there? He might have been able to drag Fukawa from the physics lab, but Yamada was killed on the first floor, there’s no way Naegi would be able to move him, even if he didn’t have an injured leg. I mean just look at him! He’s so tiny! There’s no way he could have moved Yamada,” Asahina argued.
Wait, what? The bodies were moved?
“The bodies were moved?” Naegi repeated the question out loud.
“Yeah. Weren’t you listening?”
“Sorry,” Naegi shook his head, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this,”
“Understandable,” Ogami said with a short nod.
“If I recall correctly, there was something different about Yamada when we found him in the repository compared to when we found him in the nurse’s office,” Celeste mused thoughtfully.
“You mean besides the fact that he tried to say something before he actually died?” Kirigiri quipped.
“She’s right. There was something off,” Asahina said, “Weren’t his glasses covered in blood in the nurse’s office?”
“They were,” Ogami agreed, “Yet when we found him after that they had been wiped clean. If we hadn’t already established that Yamada was alive before we found in the repository, which we did upon finding him and him trying to tell us the name of his killer, this would be more useful,”
“But it’s very useful!” Fujisaki exclaimed, “We now know that it couldn’t have been Makoto who killed Yamada!”
“And how do we know that?” Celeste asked.
“Because it would have been impossible for Naegi to move fast enough after killing Yamada, to get from there to where we found him in the pool locker,” Ogami said, putting the pieces together.
“All right, so Naegi didn’t kill Yamada, are we sure of that? It’s possible that Yamada died from what happened to him the nurse’s office, is it not?” Celeste countered.
“But we were with him in the nurse’s office before he got attacked, at least until I had to go to the bathroom...” Asahina said.
“This is true, but as you also know, I went with you to the bathroom because you were afraid of being attacked, and during this time we had sent Ogami to inform the others of what we were planning after we had made sure Yamada was okay,” Celeste reminded her, “And when we went back to check in on Yamada that’s when the first body discovery announcement played,”
“There were two body discovery announcements?” Naegi cut in again, recalling, sort of, hearing two announcements fairly close together when he had been locked up, but not being about to tell what they were.
“Yes, the first occurred while we were separated into two groups. Fujisaki, myself and Kirigiri were searching the third floor, while Ogami, Asahina, and Celeste were watching over Yamada after we had found him in the library claiming he was attacked by ‘Robo-Justice’,” Togami explained.
“It was during that time that we found Fukawa’s body in the storage closet in the physics lab,” Fujisaki said.
“So then the question becomes, why was there need for a second body discovery announcement? Unless Monokuma is simply trying to throw us off,” Togami said.
“Me? Try to throw you off? Now why would I do that?” the bear asked.
“Then you should be fine to answer the question that if two bodies were found at the same time shouldn’t two body discovery announcements have gone off?”
“Well, it’s a very sensitive issue, so I can’t go into too much detail… But what I can say about the body discovery announcement is that… it’s only broadcast when three or more people find a dead body for the first time!”
“Well that helpful, in the most unhelpful way ever,” Asahina grumbled.
“Quite the contrary, it was most informative,” the heir stated, “The fact that he said ‘for the first time’ means that the announcement would play if we were to come across the same body a second time. So that makes it very clear that Yamada was still alive during the first announcement and that he actually died at the second one,”
“So… what now? We still don’t know who killed Fukawa, or how Naegi got into that costume? I mean sure the picture shows ‘Robo-Justice’ dragging her away, but I really don’t think it was Naegi who killed her,” Asahina said.
“It’s most likely that the person who killed Fukawa is the same person who killed Yamada,” Ogami said.
“It definitely wasn’t Makoto,” Fujisaki asserted, “If you remember, Makoto mentioned that he couldn’t really move after you pulled him out of the locker? Well, if he couldn’t move then, how would he have been able to move before being in there? Also, I’m fairly certain another person put him in that costume,”
“What makes you say that?” Celeste inquired.
“The only way to get the costume off was a clasp on the back of said costume. Makoto would have been unable to get it on and off without someone to help him,”
“But what about the picture?” Asahina asked.
“What about it?” Togami asked in reply.
“It was clearly taken so we would see who the killer was,”
“By who though?” Kirigiri asked.
“Who’s to say it was taken by a person? What if the killer set it up on a timer? Have the picture taken without the need for another person?” Celeste remarked.
“But that wouldn’t have worked,” Togami said, plainly.
“And why is that?” Celeste snapped.
“Because that camera doesn’t have a timer function,” Fujisaki said, “Which means that someone else would have had to have taken it. And I’m willing to bet that whoever took that photo is the one who put Naegi in that costume and killed both Yamada and Fukawa,”
“And who is that?”
“The person who’s name Yamada was trying to say before he died,”
“But can we really trust the name he was trying to say, after what he was saying before that?” Celeste posed a new question.
“Huh?” Naegi was beyond confused, his head was pounding, and the dizziness he felt earlier, it wasn’t getting better. He was struggling to remain upright, even clutching his podium as he was, wasn’t helping.
“You mean how he was saying something about how he had met us all before at Hope’s Peak?” Ogami clarified.
“But what does Yamada have to gain by lying to us? He obviously knew he was dying, and even if he hadn’t, whoever killed him would have killed him before the trial began to prevent him from exposing them,” Kirigiri said, “He had nothing to lose, and he knew that,”
“Wh-Who’s name did he say?” Naegi asked, shaking slightly as he did his best to keep himself on his feet. Having a bad leg was hard enough, but add on top of that the headache from being forcibly knocked out and then drugged… It was a miracle the boy had made it this long without succumbing to the exhaustion his body and mind were feeling.
“That’s the thing… While it was you in the costume, and from what we’ve seen all evidence makes us think it was the person in the costume who killed them, it wasn’t your name that he said,” Fujisaki said.
Naegi’s eyes shot to his friend, not sure if he heard him correctly.
“He, he said Yasuhiro...”
“Yasuhiro? But he’s...dead? We saw his body, we had the trial and everything,” Naegi said, shaking his head trying to see how that made any sense.
“He was dead, I can concur,” Togami stated.
“But don’t you find it weird that Yamada said ‘Yasuhiro’ instead of ‘Hagakure’? I don’t think they were ever that close that they had used given names, or, well, close at all...” Asahina pondered.
“Yamada wasn’t really close with anyone, besides Celeste,” Fujisaki replied.
“That’s an interesting point,” Togami mused.
“How so?” Ogami asked.
“Did anyone ever see Yamada spending time with anyone other than Celeste?”
“Not that I can recall,”
“Now that you mention it...” Asahina said, thinking back on the times she saw Yamada, and in each memory Celeste was right there, or he was doing something for her.
The others, excluding Celeste, all agreed as well.
“What are you trying to get at?” Celeste questioned.
“Simply the fact, that if anyone would know him, it would be you,” Togami said.
“Are you insinuating that I killed him?”
“And if I am?”
“I’d say you are taking a very risky gamble, do you really wish to challenge me?”
“I think the odds are in my favour for this hand,” the blond smirked.
“Wait, what about Fukawa?” Asahina interrupted.
“What about her?” Kirigiri questioned.
“Well, we haven’t even touched on her murder, and we know they’re connected because of the hammers,” the swimmer tried to explain.
“This is true… And when we found Celeste this morning, she claimed she had been attacked by the killer, that was where we found the first hammer, the smallest one,” Ogami continued Asahina’s thought process.
Naegi could only listen, it was taking all his will power to not just pass out right then and there. The more he listened and the more that was revealed about the case, the more he began to believe that he didn’t have any part in it. The whole thing sounded like something that would have needed to be planned out way in advance, what with all the moving parts and such. And Naegi knew he definitely hadn’t had the time to plan something like that. So who did? If he could remember anything from last night that would be helpful, he might be able to help draw this whole trial to a swift end. But that would be too easy. The harder he thought about it, the worse his headache got…
“So you think I purposefully injured myself to avoid drawing suspicion to myself, then killed Fukawa and Yamada?” Celeste sneered, “And then set Naegi up as the killer?”
“I do,” Togami said calmly.
“As do I,” Kirigiri said.
“And I believe that if we were to open up your student handbook, the ones that display each student’s name, we’ll find that Celestia Ludenburg isn’t your actual name. Feel free to try and prove me wrong, but I do believe this is checkmate,”
With both Togami and Kirigiri staring her down Celeste really had no place to run, figuratively speaking that is, though it wasn’t like she had anywhere to run physically either. The Ultimate Gambler glared at them, then dropped the glare and sighed in such a way to suggest she had given up.
“Fine, you win,” Celeste began, no longer speaking with the accent they were so accustomed to hearing, “I know when I’ve been beat. I, Celes- no, Yasuhiro Taeko, am the one who killed Hifumi,”
“Why?” Asahina asked.
“For the money of course,” she snapped, “I was so close to reaching my dream, the motive money would have been just what I needed to make it a reality,”
“Your dream?” Fujisaki inquired.
“To live in a European castle. And to gather handsome men from all over the world to serve as my butlers-slash-bodyguards. I was going to make them dress up like vampires and satisfy my every need. Once I obtained that, I would have created a perfectly aesthetic world of decadence… Living the rest of my life there was my only dream, my only goal… That’s what life is all ABOUT! Combined with my own winnings, Monokuma’s one hundred million yen would have made that dream a reality. I got right to the edge, but… Unfortunately, my dream has been scattered to the wind. Still, I don’t have any regrets. I pursued my dream till the very end, so why would I?” the black haired girl said.
“But why kill both of them? You just had to kill one person, you didn’t have to kill both of them,” Fujisaki asked, hoping to garner some semblance of a sane answer.
“I never actually killed Fukawa, Hifumi did. Though it was under my instruction that he did so, but I did kill Hifumi. The idiot almost ruined my plans with his stupidity,”
“So why try to pin it on Naegi?” Kirigiri asked.
“I had to ensure Hifumi’s cooperation somehow, and by convincing him the blame would be on someone else, it really wasn’t hard, that idiot would have done anything I asked,”
“But why Naegi?” Asahina pressed.
“Because he fit into the costume, honestly it could have just as easily been you in there, you’re about the same size,” Yasuhiro said, “Are you done now? I’ve already admitted to being the one behind it all, I don’t see why you’re delaying the end of this,”
“She’s right,” Monokuma said, “So now it’s VOTING TIIIME! Use the lever in front of you to cast your vote. Will you make the right choice? Or the dreadfully wrong one? Only time will tell!”
Naegi, vision patchy, black spots growing with each passing second, reached for the lever to cast his vote. As he locked in his selection a flash of a memory from the previous night came forth in his mind. With a shaky breath, Naegi recalled what he had seen before losing consciousness.
“She- she’s the spy,” he said, voice a near whisper before he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.