Graham Forester's Story

So it begins.

The students crowded into the elevator. For the first time, Romano realized how empty it felt without the five students they had lost--and soon, there would be a sixth.

Or will there?

Something still bothered Romano about the cause of death. There was too much that didn't quite add up, but the knife in Ysabel's room was plenty incriminating. Something had to be done, fast.

As the elevator ground to a halt, the students found their spots at the podiums. Romano gazed to his left, noting the empty spots where Lottimelia and Bonnie had once stood.

Soon, there would be another one.

"Welcome, boys and girls!" Monokuma popped into his chair, grinning at the students. "A quick review of trial rules! Everyone will work together to find the blackened. When a consensus has been reached, everyone votes! Get it right and the blackened is punished. Get it wrong and you all kick the bucket while the blackened gets to graduate--so tread careful!"

Romano took a deep breath. Somewhere along the line, he had adopted the habit of beginning the trials--perhaps it allowed him to feel like he had control over the proceedings.

"If you do not mind, I would like to begin by addressing the cause of death. It appears to have been a stab to the chest, and a knife from the kitchen was discovered in Miss Ysabel's room."

---

Faussin felt everyone's eyes shift to Ysabel.

"What--" Ysabel almost immediately checked her pockets, eyes widening. "I-I would never have killed her."

Across the room, Graham took something out of his pocket--a handbook. It was... Faqir's?

"...You guys looked more confused than I thought you would. We all know I take things by now, so this shouldn't be a surprise, right? Oh wait. Wait. Oh. Crud, wrong handbook, hold on..."

He paused, rifling through his pockets for a brief moment. This time, he pulled out a different handbook--when the screen lit up, Ysabel's face was the one that appeared on it. "Okay. There we go. Before we left to go check out the kitchen, I took Ysabel's handbook because I got kind of suspicious of her. Of everyone, she's the person we know least about, and her talking with Lottimelia so much before she died was weird, to say the least. When we realized the kitchen knife was missing, Romano and I checked her room out just in case, and we found the knife hidden in her dresser."

"The scissors in my sewing kit aren't working," Ysabel explained, seeming oddly calm. "I had taken one of the knives from the kitchen to use instead. That's why it was in the drawer with my sewing kit."

Faussin stared. Even after she'd only said a few sentences, this was the most he'd seen her talk from the moment they arrived.

Vivara crossed her arms. "You can see why it's hard to believe you when you were seen talking with the victim--who was supposedly stabbed to death--the night before her death and were found with a knife fitting the killing instrument inside of your room."

"Supposedly?" Mercy questioned.

"Well," Finnian started, "she was definitely stabbed. It's just that the stab angle was weird and so was the Monokuma File's analysis of the death."

Vivara nodded. "That's right. We don't want to say anything for sure yet, considering this case may end up being more complicated than the others. Speaking of, were any other clues uncovered?"

Faussin hesitated. "When Faqir and I were looking around, we found an almost empty bottle of sleeping pills and a glass from the cafeteria in the nurse's office. I don't know if they mean anything, but they're weird enough to point out, I think."

"Odd," Vivara muttered. "Even if one of us has been taking sleeping pills every night, I wouldn't think it's been long enough to nearly empty the bottle. Has one of us been taking sleeping pills?"

Sleeping pills? Why does that sound odd to me?

Romano thought over where he had found the knife--it was important to chase that lead for now. "She is not wrong--the knife was indeed found in the same drawer as her sewing kit. However, that is beside the point now. You say the glass from the cafeteria was found in the nurse's office? Do you think it possible the killer may have gotten that glass when they took the knife and planted it to lead us astray?"

Clair bit her lip. "I've been having trouble sleeping, but I haven't been taking pills for it. I think it might be safe to assume those pills all vanished at once."

Romano nodded slowly. "It may be a red herring," he murmured. "Still, it would not be wise to ignore this lead completely. For now, does anyone else have any other clues? Miss Ysabel is seeming rather suspicious right about now."

---

Faussin looked around, watching to see if anyone had found anything else of importance. Everyone was silent.

After a moment, Vivara let out a sigh. "I'll take that as a no. Well, let's look at what we have so far--an odd stab wound, a knife in Ysabel's room, Ysabel speaking with Lottimelia the night before the murder, missing sleeping pills, an empty glass, and the information given to us by the Monokuma file. Where shall we start?"

Finnian crossed his arms. "Let's start with the stab wound. The angle suggested Lottimelia was lying down when stabbed, which suggests she was tackled, sleeping, or something along those lines."

Graham stroked his chin. "She's pretty small, right? So it's not like we can assume based on physical stuff this time. I think any of us could tackle her and win."

"She would've fought back, though," Mercy muttered. "The killer would've been hurt, even if just a bit."

"Lottie does strike me as the type to claw and kick till her last breath," Vivara admitted. "Could that have been a reason for them to have visited the nurse's office?"

Finnian shifted. "Maybe. Unless, like Romano suggested, they were trying to create a red herring, that doesn't explain why they messed with sleeping pills, though."

Romano thought for a moment. Something still wasn't quite adding up--there was too much wrong with the situation that he couldn't even begin to put his finger on what exactly that was. "...They may have visited the nurse's office to fix wounds and decided it would be a grand opportunity to plant false clues. Under that thought process, our thoughts turn towards Miss Ysabel, correct?"

Clair bit her lip. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then apparently changed her mind and gripped the stand, observing the others. Madoka reached out to pat her shoulder.

"That said..." Romano paused. "We cannot be certain Miss Ysabel was the culprit until we have cleared up one thing: what is it you were talking with Miss Lottimelia about all those times? What would cause you to take a sudden interest in her so close to her death? And have you anything to say regarding the other claims that have been made during this trial?"

---

Faussin tucked his hands into his jacket, watching Ysabel as she took a deep breath.

"When Lottimelia revealed she had DID, I became curious," Ysabel admitted, hands trembling. "See, my sister suffers from the same condition. So I approached her and I asked her about it, and we ended up talking for a while. She was very excited to hear about someone else like her and I-I liked talking to her because she reminded me of home. Why would I kill someone who gave me something I might never be able to get back?"

Faussin shifted, having trouble watching her. Murderer or not, Ysabel was currently arguing for her life--they all were.

Everything she said made sense, but the coincidences were all they had to go on. Coincidence had led them to Xhevona, after all.

Clair stared at her stand, something odd reflected in her eyes. Romano gazed at her for a moment before turning his attention back to Ysabel.

"Did anyone notice Miss Ysabel talking with Miss Lottimelia before we met Miss Lottie?" he asked. "Currently we have no other leads pointing towards anyone else. Perhaps you would like to explain yourself instead."

"Something..." Clair trailed off, shaking her head. Romano stared at her for a moment--he could hear the hesitation in her voice.

Still...what else did they have?

---

"If I was going to murder someone, do you think I'd be so obvious about it?" Ysabel pointed out. "I wouldn't talk to the victim so much the night before I killed them."

Faussin frowned, not sure what to think. Everything they had against Ysabel so far didn't feel big enough to lock her in as the murderer. All of their lives were at stake--they couldn't afford to get this wrong. But at the same time, they didn't have anything else to go on.

"Hold on," Graham said. "Okay. Fauss, Faqir, you guys didn't find any missing sharp objects in the nurse's office, right? No bloodstains or anything either?"

Faussin nodded. "Yeah, we didn't find anything."

"Right," Graham confirmed. "And the only sharp object we did find missing was a knife of all things, hidden in Ysabel's room. This trial's weird for sure, but that feels like some pretty d*mning evidence. Because if that knife didn't kill Lottimelia, what did?"

Vivara crossed her arms. "The killer could've had something unconventional, though it feels unlikely."

"I agree, it's unlikely," Finnian added, "in fact, I'm almost certain the wound was made by a knife. I've seen stab wounds made by kitchen knives before, and the similarities were uncanny."

"You've seen other dead bodies before?" Graham blurted.

Finnian adjusted his glasses. "I see a lot of things. Also, my girlfriend's brother is a cop."

Graham nodded thoughtfully.

"So Graham, are you saying Ysabel is the killer?" Vivara asked.

"I'm saying that the knife in her room doesn't feel like a coincidence" Graham replied. "And neither does her talking to Lottimelia so much the day before. Ysabel hasn't talked to anyone so far, so even if the story about her sister having DID is true, it just seems really out of character. Besides, how else would the killer know she'd be in the garden at four o'clock in the morning if not by talking to her?"

"He has a point," Vivara muttered. "We don't have evidence pointing at anyone else but her, truth be told. Ysabel. Your defense?"

"I already told you my piece," Ysabel replied softly. "I did not kill her. I beg that you reconsider, considering all of us will die if you vote me up."

Graham's point could not be ignored. Romano's mind flashed back to the first trial--the schedule Xhevona had left, her washed dress, Bonnie's note...all had been coincidences, but coincidences that pointed to pretty convincing evidence. They couldn't afford to get lost now.

"I am afraid we have nothing else to go off of," Romano relented. "Miss Ysabel, there is simply no excuse for the number of coincidences in this case."

"Or maybe it was YOU!" Oni shouted suddenly, pointing accusingly at Romano. "After all, you are the one who went to explore the kitchen and who found the knife in Ysabel's drawer! Maybe you planted the knife there! THE BUTLER ALWAYS DOES IT!"

By now, Oni accusing Romano during the trials had almost become a fun game he looked forward to. "I see you are not willing to give that up. Very well, then I offer this as a rebuttal--Master Graham was with me during the exploration of the kitchen and the trek to Miss Ysabel's room. He can tell you that I did not take anything with me from the kitchen, therefore I could not have planted the knife in Miss Ysabel's room."

Oni sighed. "One day, butler. One day I shall uncover your crimes!"

"I just want this to be over," Faqir groaned. "Yo, Monokuma, the longer this drags the more depressed we all get. We're like, forty-percent more depressed right now. That's four ten-percents! And that's terrible."

Monokumua seemed amused. "Yeah, sure, Groucho. If you bozos are ready to vote, then let the voting--"

"Wait!"

Romano glanced over at Clair, who bit her lip, her fingers tapping on the stand.

"No, we can't...something isn't right," Clair insisted. "I don't know how to explain it, but...those sleeping pills are bothering me. It feels like too much work just to create a red herring..."

Faqir cocked his head. "We already concluded no one was taking sleeping pills, right? So how else would they have disappeared except for some kind of false lead?"

"That's exactly it, though," Clair insisted. "No one else has been taking sleeping pills. And there's really no other way to use them except for a false lead or poison..."

Faqir perked up. "Wait. Poison? Did you say poison? Elaborate on that."

Poison? Why did that come across as so odd to Romano? Admittedly, taking into account the odd phrasing of the Monokuma File, poison would make sense...but then why cover the poison with a stab wound? Why not just poison the victim and leave her there? What was the stab wound accomplishing if they concluded Lottimelia had been poisoned? It didn't add up.

Clair looked around, her eyes wavering. "Well...d-don't worry about me, but I know a lot about drugs and things like that because I take a ton. Sometimes a particularly large amount on purpose. N-not this time, but..."

"Miss Clair." Romano took a long, deep breath, trying to keep himself focused. "Focus and continue, please."

Clair nodded, biting her lip. "Viv, Finn, correct me if I'm wrong, but...well, a large enough amount of sleeping pills all taken at once could cause some pretty severe symptoms. If they were dissolved somehow with hot water, maybe in tea or something, it could be bad for whoever took so many. At the base level it's just nausea and vomiting, mixed with dizziness, slurred speech, confusion, things like that. If you take way too many it could cause shock and low blood pressure, or could cause difficulty breathing and coma..."

Wait.

"Stop," Romano ordered sharply. Clair froze. "Repeat that last part."

"U-um...shock, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, coma?"

That's it.

Romano locked eyes with Vivara-- those sounded all too familiar. "Miss Vivara, what did the Monokuma File say about the cause of death?"

---

Vivara's eyes shimmered. "Lowered blood pressure and difficulty breathing. And I do believe the symptoms Clair associated with an overdose of sleeping pills are correct. Are we to pursue the possibility that Lottimelia was poisoned?"

Finnian sighed. "If she was poisoned, the sleeping pills and the Monokuma File being weird would make sense, but she was still stabbed. Why?"

"Perhaps I was framed?" Ysabel tried.

"That is a possibility," Vivara admitted. "If they saw you talking to Lottimelia so much and knew you had a knife in your possession, it would make you quite an easy target to frame."

"Why stab and poison, though?" Finnian repeated. "Just a stab would do it. If anything, poisoning her makes it harder to frame her, because it's weird. If it'd just been a stab wound, we..."

"We would've voted up Ysabel already," Vivara finished.

Fausin shifted. "There were some pills spilled on the floor, too. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it was weird--there were a ton on the floor. Enough that the killer would've noticed and picked them up, especially if they didn't want anyone to know Lottimelia was poisoned. And I just remembered this, but, did anyone else notice that the flowers around Lottimelia were completely fine? If there was a struggle, they would've been crushed or something, right?"

There it was--the issue with the Monokuma File that had bothered Romano. Lottimelia hadn't died from her stab wound--she had died from poison.

"In all other cases so far, the Monokuma File has listed the actual cause of death. Thus, there is reason to believe Miss Lottimelia had already died from poisoning due to an overdose in sleeping pills when she was stabbed. That would explain the odd angle of the stab wound, correct?"

Faqir seemed thoughtful. "Clair, you said 'hot' water. They wouldn't dissolve in cold water?"

Clair shook her head. "Well...not without a lot of stirring, and the clear color would make it easier to see there was something in it, whereas with hot tea the color of the dissolved pills would be far less distinguishable."

"Yo, Rom." Faqir glanced over at Romano. "As a butler, you probably serve a lot of tea. That's the stereotype, right?"

Romano raised an eyebrow. "Correct, though I do not know what this has to do with anything."

"Right, well, see..." Faqir looked at Faussin, tapping his fingers. "Hot tea couldn't be served in an ordinary dinner glass, could it?"

"It could, but only those sweet-tea-serving degenerates of the States would dare place hot tea in a glass. Sophisticates know hot tea is always to be served in a teacup, or at least some manner of mug."

"That's what I thought." Faqir nodded. "But Fauss...that's weird, right? We found an empty water glass from the kitchen in the nurse's office. There were still some water droplets in it, like it'd been recently used. If Lottimelia was poisoned, you'd think the killer would give her tea, not a glass of water."

Romano heard nails scratch against the wood of the podiums; he looked over at Clair, whose eyes had suddenly snapped to life.

"No one else poisoned Lottimelia." Clair's expression was oddly serious.

"You're the one who suggested poison!" Faqir insisted.

"I know." Clair looked across the room at Faussin, her hands curling. "No one else poisoned her."

In an instant, Romano's mind clicked.

She cannot possibly be right.

...Right?

---

Faussin stared back at Clair, chest clenching. "You don't think she...?"

He grabbed the front of his stand. Why hadn't he seen it sooner?

When Lottie came out, it was a sign. The girl even said it--Amelia was beginning to lose it, and that's why Lottie took control. Lottie, completely in charge, even when Amelia was clearly the dominant one of the two. In line with that, the sleeping pills made sense, the time of death, the--

"She died in the garden."

Faussin closed his eyes, the realization sinking in more and more.

"The Ultimate Botanist died last night, lying in a bed of beautiful flowers. Of course. Because where else would she have wanted to die?"

At once, all the puzzle pieces fell into place. They had been looking at the case all wrong from the very beginning.

"The pills were not the red herring." The gears in Romano's head wouldn't stop turning. "The stab wound was. We have been going about this all wrong. Whoever stabbed Miss Lottimelia did not kill her and plant the pills--they stabbed her to make it seem like she hadn't taken the pills. They wanted us to vote for Miss Ysabel. The question now is...who would that be?"

Clair cursed under her breath. "Th-this is all my fault. I-I made you all worry about me when we should have been worrying about Amelia! We could have stopped this and we didn't, I...I didn't, of all of us I should have seen the signs but I was so obsessed with...d*mmit!"

Madoka reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. For the first time, Romano realized he had been entirely silent throughout the whole trial.

"Your queen is confused!" Oni declared. "If...if Lottimelia killed herself which is what I think you're insinuating, then who is the blackened?!"

Monokuma just shrugged. "That's for you to find out, weeb."

"Everything lines up," Clair muttered. "She wasn't mad at any of us, she was hardly crying, she...she had internalized everything to the point that her more energetic, more confident personality was allowed to take over due to her relaxed mental state! The switch that flipped her switch was the trial, poor Amelia had completely withdrawn so Lottie had no choice but to take control of their actions and personality so she didn't become a husk, and..."

More confident?

"One more thing is bothering me," Romano murmured. "If Lottie was able to lift Amelia's spirits so much and the girl seemed to be alright so long as Lottie was allowed to have some control...what would have triggered her to commit suicide?"

---

Lottimelia had killed herself. She'd decided that this was too much for her and so she took her own life, leaving this world while surrounded by the nature she loved to study.

Thinking about it made Faussin nauseous.

"You're right," Ysabel realized. "Amelia may have wanted to end her life, but Lottie's presence seemed to fix that. It doesn't make sense that she ended it anyways."

Vivara sighed, adjusting her glasses. "And the day after Lottie took control, no less. You'd think she would've lasted some time before giving into Amelia wanting to end their life."

"Unless," Ysabel began, with an odd smile, "somoene talked her into it."

Faussin stared, suddenly very uneasy.

Graham's fists clenched. "What--what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Lottie wasn't holding on very tightly, either. It's interesting," Ysabel said, brushing her hair behind her ear. The more Faussin stared, the more twisted her smile began to look, and the more unsettling her calm demeanor became. "She put on such a strong front, but Lottie didn't really seem to care about, well, anything. The only reason she felt the need to keep their spirits high was for Amelia. Adorable, sweet little Amelia--Lottie wanted her to live on, to be happy."

"That's why you were talking to her so much," Vivara muttered, fingers wrapping around the edges of her stand.

Ysabel laughed. "All I did was convince her they'd be happier dead than stuck in this H*ll. Better she took her own life than let one of you, right?"

"The stab wound," Graham muttered. "Why?"

"Simple," Ysabel replied. Her eyes darkened considerably. "Because you all deserve to die. And to think, we were just a moment away from the vote. I should have checked the nurse's office. Ha! Bad on me, I suppose."

The pieces were all there. The puzzle was solved. Lottimelia's suicide, Ysabel's involvement...it had all been uncovered. There was nothing less to discuss.

Romano hated it.

Someone let out a choked sob. Romano turned towards the source of the sound, noticing Madoka bent over his stand, shaking violently. Next to him, Clair's eyes took on their dead, vacant look, fixed on some point far beyond reality.

Of course--this was the second trial in a row in which someone had attempted to manipulate everyone into making a wrong choice, or in fact involved manipulation at all. Romano never thought he would miss the first trial--at least Xhevona had been straightforward. No one had been brought into her mess but herself. No one had been forced to confront the reality that some of them were willing to end whatever lives they chose for selfish reasons.

"...Ysabel, you b*tch."

With each new trial, Faqir grew more and more distant from the casual, pleasant jokester Romano had once known. With each death, each new revelation about the character of the students, more and more of his good humor died. Romano could only imagine how much this was tearing everyone up.

"What the actual f*ck?! You convinced her to kill herself just because you wanted us dead?! What the h*ll did we even do?! Sure, I can understand being furious with Clair, but the rest of us have done nothing wrong, c*nt!"

Romano hadn't realized it before, but it hurt to hear his fellow students cry and lose themselves in these trials. His head spun--his composure couldn't slip now. The more everyone broke, the more they needed support.

"Everyone, remain calm," Romano insisted. "I understand that there are many negative emotions right now--"

"You, understanding emotions? That's rich, Rom." Faqir laughed, but the broken sound was obvious. "You wouldn't know grief if it slapped you in the face. You've just been pretending everything's fine, just blocking everyone out, keeping up a guard...you don't even have emotions! There's no way you could ever understand what this is like for us!"

His outburst was not unexpected. Romano took a deep breath. "I apologize that you think that. My efforts to keep my emotions in check have been entirely to provide a sense of stability. If we were all to lose our minds, I believe if it safe to say we would have failed our very first trial. Sometimes it is necessary to distance yourself from grief so that your mind may function clearly."

Faqir's fist slammed onto the table, tears in his eyes. "F*ck this, why does this keep happening?! We've been kidding ourselves! We're never getting out of here!"

Clair had sunk behind her stand by now, wailing. Madoka scratched at the wood. Oni...

Oni lifted her chin, taking a long, deep breath. She whispered under her breath as if trying to keep herself calm. Somehow, her courage was inspiring.

"So what, then?!" Faqir cried. "We don't get to kill Ysabel and she just keeps taking us all down one by one?! Why would you--why?!"

"Calm down," Romano repeated, raising his voice slightly. "Please, everyone stay calm. I know it is difficult to process, but yelling will not fix anything. I believe we should be focused, instead, on why it is Miss Ysabel is so determined to see us all die." Drawing in another deep breath to maintain his composure, Romano faced Ysabel. "If you do not mind, Miss Ysabel, I am rather curious to hear your take on this."

---

Somehow, hearing everyone's reaction only served to distance Faussin further. Closing his eyes, he clutched the edges of his stand, attempting to calm the voices that raced through his head.

She's right. You do deserve to die.

It should have been you.

The truth is out!

How painful do you think Lottimelia's death was?

"You want me to explain?" Ysabel asked, chuckling. "I thought I already did, but very well. I'll repeat myself: you all deserve to die. The world is better off without every single one of you, and that is a fact. This was true of the vermin that have already left us as well."

"And what makes you say this?" Vivara questioned, standing stiffly.

Ysabel folded her hands together. "Plenty of things. Would you like examples?"

Mercy narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, examples?"

"I'm not sure what you don't understand. 'Example' is a very straight-forward word," Ysabel replied. She scanned the students briefly, "let's see. Shall I point out our dear friend Romano, who is in servitude to the mafia? An awfully proud man, our Ultimate Butler. Or would you all rather hear about Faqir, who robs people daily through his fudged jewelry prices? I'm sure the crimes of some people here are downright obvious, of course--Graham, our resident thief, or Mercy, who kills for sport."

"You--"

"And let us not forget the fallen. Xhevona was a murderer, Bonnie was a bitter and far too proud human being, Eriko ruined lives for the sake of her silly little puzzles, and Braeden--well, I can't even begin to recite his crimes. And as for lovely Lottimelia, she was far too mentally disturbed to be allowed to live. If anything, I did her a favor."

That's probably what she thinks of you, huh?

Spare yourself the pain.

This world doesn't need you.

Die.

Faussin's grip on his stand tightened, now holding onto it for balance. The voices wouldn't stop. They never stopped. They'd keep talking, and talking, and talking...

"How do you know so much?" Mercy questioned. "You..."

Realization flickered in Mercy's eyes; she slammed her fist against her stand. "You're in on it!"

Ysabel smiled. "I suppose you could call me the 'Ultimate Traitor.'"

So that was it.

It had felt odd to Romano--if everyone incorrectly guessed Ysabel as the murderer, wouldn't it get her killed too? But if she really was in league with Monokuma, her actions made perfect sense--Monokuma wouldn't want to kill his own accomplice.

Admittedly, he wasn't concerned that the others had learned about his involvement with the mafia--or even that they realized the depths of his pride. He had already made peace with that when he'd spoken to Clair and Faussin in the nurse's office. Even so, judging by the reactions of the others, Ysabel's words had struck a deep nerve.

For a moment, the trial room was terrifyingly still.

Then, with an unexpected, bestial roar, Faqir launched off of his podium at Ysabel, reaching out to wrap his hands around her throat. Romano jumped, surprised by the sudden change. Oni screamed, stumbling back.

"You f*cking b*tch!" Faqir nearly screamed. "You knew! You let them die! You're with that f*cking bear!"

This cannot happen. We just need to stay calm...

"Master Faqir, please," Romano nearly begged. "Release her. This will solve nothing."

"Screw that!" The rage had never been more clear in Faqir's eyes--even when he had grilled Clair in the conference room, he had at least had the control to refrain from physically attacking her.

Here and now, however, as his hands tightened around Ysabel's neck, it seemed all traces of who Faqir once was had vanished in a single moment. One by one, the students had begun to shatter--and this time was Faqir's turn.

"If we can't get you executed for killing Lottie, I'll kill you myself!" Faqir roared. "I'll kill you like you killed her! I'll kill you like you let everyone else get killed! I'll f*cking kill you!"

"ENOUGH!"

Before Romano could speak out to stop her, Oni leapt off her podium and raced to Faqir, yanking at his arms.

"LET HER GO THIS INSTANT! YOUR QUEEN DEMANDS IT!" Even through her usual loudness, Romano heard the sobs in Oni's voice and saw the tears in her eyes. "M-Mercy, help me! Help me get him off!"

This cannot be allowed to happen.

Even as the trial continued to unfold, Romano could sense the danger of the coming days. Something had to be done.

---

Faussin was briefly shaken out of his insanity-induced daze when he heard at least three people scream--head snapping up, he nearly fell over when he saw Faqir's hands wrapped around Ysabel's neck. Heart hammering in his chest, he watched as Oni cried for Mercy's help, frantically trying to pull Faqir away.

The Ultimate Hunter seemed hesitant--for a moment, Faussin was afraid she was only going to stand and watch as another person died.

Thankfully, that is not what happened.

"Faqir, stop," she said finally, moving to help Oni pry him off of Ysabel, "I couldn't care less if she died, but d*mmit, I'm not letting you die at the hands of that stupid f*cking bear!"

Ysabel squirmed, hands clawing at where Faqir held her throat. With each second that passed, she grew more and more desperate, kicking at him as her face turned red.

Vivara stared, noticeably struggling to keep her composure, "Faqir, please, release her! The last thing we need right now is more death!"

For a moment, Romano was convinced he would see more deaths in the next seconds.

Then, in an instant, Faqir's composure seemed to drop completely. His grip weakened, freeing Oni and Mercy to pry him off of Ysabel, and the Jeweler nearly collapsed into the other two girls, burying his face in his hands. Oni bit her lip, holding Faqir from falling. Faqir broke into loud sobs, convulsing every once in a while with loud screams.

This cannot happen.

Romano noticed his hands had begun shaking. He took a series of deep breaths, silently counting to ten.

"We should..." Had his voice cracked? Romano wasn't sure. He cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "We should not dwell on these things for much longer. It is beneficial for us to begin the voting as soon as possible."

Madoka moved to pull Clair into a hug. She leaned against his shoulder, sniffling.

This cannot happen.

They had worked too hard to let everything fall apart now. If everyone could just stay calm...

"Monokuma." Romano locked eyes with the bear. "The vote, if you may?"

This absolutely cannot happen.

---

"About time!" Monokuma exclaimed, crossing his arms. "Alright, twerps, time to vote! You know how it's done by now!"

There was a pounding in Faussin's head. Clutching his stand for balance, he closed his eyes, trying to even out his breathing so his heart could stop beating so quickly. It only made him more anxious, the voices louder, the pain in his head worse...

"If--if Lottimelia killed herself," Vivara started warily, "then she is the 'blackened', wouldn't you say? I would like to clarify before we vote."

"I-I believe so," Finnian muttered, his eyes downcast. He took a shaky breath. "Lottimelia is the one we need to vote for, yes."

Mercy helped Oni support Faqir's weight, expression mostly if not completely blank. After pulling him further away from Ysabel, she lifted him into a hug, tightly wrapping her arms around him. Ysabel, meanwhile, fell to the floor, gasping for breath. She was coughing and spluttering, tears forming at the corners of her eyes--watching, as his headache worsened and the voices continued to taunt him, Faussin almost felt bad.

But she didn't feel bad for talking Lottimelia into suicide. She didn't feel bad for trapping them all in this horrifying game of death. No matter what any of the people there had done, Ysabel was by far the worst of them all. She was a true monster.

Attempting to steel himself, Faussin pressed the button in front of him, locking in his choice.

At least, if Lottimelia killed herself, then she was the murderer--meaning there was no one to execute. They were only going to lose one student that day, or so he prayed.