Madoka let out a breath, then immediately covered his mouth with a surge of bile threatened to come with it. Everything had moved so fast--it was still so hard to believe that Clair was even there. The woman standing beside Madoka now was a stranger.
"I..." Braeden looked around at the group, realizing that at this point, it seemed the group had locked onto him as the only viable suspect. Madoka gripped the stand--he couldn't stand the thought of someone else dying here. "She...you..."
Clair giggled, twirling her hair flirtatiously. "Look at you go. You guys are pretty good at this deduction stuff. Not a bad leap, Fauss! Yep, you're right on the nose. If I was going to have someone take the fall, they'd have to be gullible enough to fall for me and despicable enough to deserve it."
"You lied to me!" Braeden suddenly shouted, nearly vaulting over the top of his stand. "You b*tch! You promised you wouldn't tell 'em! You promised you'd take the fall! You promised I'd get home, back--back to Mom! You promised, you f*cking b*tch!"
A smirk tugged at Clair's lips. "I broke our other promise too, why stop now?"
"She made me!" Braeden insisted, eyes wavering. "I didn't even hate the girl or nothin'! She told me she'd take the fall, I just..."
Madoka swallowed, trying to clear his throat enough to get a word out.
Only one came.
"Why...?"
Clair's expression faded, her face now blank if not vaguely annoyed. "Why don't you ask the teddy?"
"Huh? Oh, right." Monokuma shrugged. "But you can't pin this all on me! You're the crazy sicko who orchestrated the whole thing! It's a great story, you should tell it!"
"Oh?" Clair smiled softly. the sight made Madoka want to bolt out the door. He pressed his head into the stand, scratching at it. "...Alright, then. I suppose we've figured everything out by now. Then, with your permission, I'll explain everything."
Please do. Madoka let out an angry sob, pounding a fist on the stand. I need to know. I need to know...
Clair eyed him, then centered her gaze on Monokuma. "...It started with a secret. A very, very important secret. A secret I absolutely must keep no matter what. Even if it means..."
Her gaze flickered to Eriko's picture at her stand. Madoka tilted his head to peer at it past his tears.
Clair took a deep breath before continuing. "...Those of you who know Eriko know she was a bit nosy. And Monokuma here was kind enough to inform me that she had uncovered something she really should have kept her nose out of. No matter what. No matter what, I can't..."
Oh my gosh. Of course. It was him. It was that bear. It was all him.
Clair bit her lip, drawing blood. "I began planning right away. There were a lot of variables, but with enough help I could account for those. First, I needed backup--a plan to get out of the situation in case things went wrong. That backup came in the form of Braeden Carmichael."
Braeden hissed something under his breath, averting his eyes. His fists shook on the table--Madoka realized his was too.
"I invited Braeden out to the bar upstairs. While we were there, I brought up that Eriko was getting a bit nosy. Some revealed cleavage, some sweet talk, a bit of flirting, and I had him wrapped around my finger. We made a deal--he would back me up and help me with this plan, including dealing the killing blow if I ordered, and in exchange I would get myself voted as the killer so he could escape. To sweeten the deal, I promised him a night alone. In hindsight, he should have realized how bad of a deal it was--if I took the fall and you all got it wrong, well...we'd all die, and that would defeat the purpose. Secondly, it's not like Monokuma would actually let us sleep together. There's a rule, after all."
Hearing Clair so callously spell it out with that vacant expression and monotone voice tore Madoka's heart in two. He buried his eyes in his sleeve, trying to drown out her voice with his own sobs.
"I needed more than that, though. Eriko was too smart to come visit me if my only other companion was a literal gangster. That was where Faqir and Madoka came in. Thanks for that, boys!"
Faqir hide his face in his hands. Madoka let out a choked wail.
I can't believe it. She really used me. She used me...
There was a noticeable pause before Clair continued. "Right after the morning meeting, Brae and I got to work. We slipped into the bar, unscrewed the barstool that would be the murder weapon, and hid it in the casino. Braeden opened one of the machines and emptied it out enough for me to hide so I could create some kind of panic or alibi for myself. I couldn't let Brae give up on me, so I gave him a little tease in the casino while we waited for Madoka. Sorry you had to hear that, but I supposed it bought me a bit of time and gave you a nice excuse to use."
Every word she spoke only hurt more. Madoka's whole body trembled.
"After I sent Madoka away, I found Faqir and brought him back to the casino while Braeden found a place to hide. Faqir was the backup for the backup--if Eriko arrived with someone else or Madoka refused to leave, I told him to attack. Supposedly, they were in on the joke--the 'joke' in this case being 'getting attacked by someone you thought was your friend'. While Eriko's companion--Mercy--was distracted dealing with Faqir, I sent Braeden out to knock her and Faqir out and get Eriko into the casino. And then..."
There was silence--thick, heavy silence. Madoka forced himself to look over at Clair.
She was crying.
Tears had begun trickling down her cheeks. She forced a smile, fake and twisted with emotion. Her eyes had faded out once more, as if she was witnessing a vision.
"I...I just didn't want her to tell anyone." Clair's lips trembled, but she continued. "I just wanted her to promise she wouldn't tell anyone. Because if anyone found out who I really am...i-if anyone knew, if--"
Her voice grew more frantic with every word, taking on an odd tone as her hands gripped her hair. It was as if the world around her had faded out--she was in her own world, and from the sounds of her cries and the horror in her voice, it was not a pretty one.
"I can't go back! I can't! I-if this gets out, he could find me! He'd find me, and then he'd make me go back! I can't go back! You have no idea, y-you have no idea how thrilled I was...t-to arrive here, to find out we were trapped but I was safe, th-this is miserable but it's not true hell! You don't even know the hell I went through, you don't know real hell until you've spent days in a row staring into the jaws of death and knowing there's no escape, there's nothing you can do, you're helpless and all you can do is hope one day he'll finally kill you! I WON'T GO BACK!"
Her hands tore out fistfuls of her hair, sobs escaping her throat and her eyes squeezed shut. Where once Madoka had felt nothing but hot fury and chilling betrayal, he felt a familiar sense of protectiveness rise in his throat.
C-Clair...what happened to you? Who are you? Who...who hurt you?
Desperate to calm her enough to get her to finish the story, Madoka feebly reached out to try and touch her. His fingers tapped the edge of her stand. Clair continued to sob into her stand, scratching at her own face until blood fell onto the wood. Clair..
"Do you get it now?!" she shouted, her voice breaking in an odd pitch. "I-I can't let her ruin everything! I worked so hard just to pry myself away, j-just to...j-just to climb that mountain and tumble into another abyss...I-I just wanted her to keep quiet! I didn't want her to have to die!"
A moment passed. Finally, Romano spoke up. "Then why did she?"
Clair was quiet, taking time to recover her wits. When she had finally recovered enough to speak without breaking, her story concluded.
"Because of Monokuma."
Madoka tried to keep himself from throwing something or cursing out the bear who sat at the judge's chair. Monokuma watched the proceedings unfold, quiet.
"H-he told me...h-he said, if I didn't...if no one died then he would...tell all of you. H-he was going to spill the secret I've thrown my entire life away to keep. I-I couldn't let that happen. I-I...just want to be safe..."
"Clair..." By now, even Faqir looked torn. He looked between Clair and Eriko's podium, fiddling with the chain around his neck. "Geez...whatever this secret is, it's so important you would kill someone for it?"
"You don't understand." By now, even Clair's voice was nearly unrecognizable. She cleared her throat, resuming her speech with the lilting tone she was known for. "I...I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I just...I wanted to let her go, but if she lived then...th-then I'd have to go back. I can't go back. I would do anything to stay away from there. Even if it means..."
"Even if it means condemning two souls to death." Romano looked over at Braeden, remarkably calm. "Master Braeden, have you anything to say regarding these accusations?"
Braeden remained quiet, staring at his podium. After a moment, he reached over to unhook the chain Faqir had given him from his belt loops, laying it on the stand. "...Only that they're all true. I...killed Eriko. One blow with that barstool was all it took. ...She didn't suffer. Neither of us wanted 'er to suffer."
The trial room felt bathed in negative energies. Oni began reciting Bible verses, scrambling for a vial of holy water. Her words came as practiced proclamations, as if chasing the bad energy from the room. Oddly enough, it made Madoka feel significantly more calm--or perhaps it was the apatite he clutched in his palm.