You noticed the tears forming in Maki's eyes. "I-I killed Kaito..."

You knew what Kaito was to Maki. He was like... what Kokichi was to you. You walked over to Maki and wiped her tears with her thumb.

"I know you didn't do it with ill intentions. None of us are mad at you." You whispered. You remembered what Kaito said. He didn't want anyone to kill anyone and become the blackened in the class trial... he wasn't protecting Kokichi. "He was protecting you."

You stepped back and put your hand on your arm. "Sorry, I invaded your personal space."

"No..." She wiped away her swelling tears. "It's alright."

You walked away and back to your podium. Maki took a deep breath and continued.

"Kaito told me to run, but I didn't want to give up. I tried to get in by breaking the control panel with my knife, but that didn't work. I returned back to the washroom window, but I didn't see anyone inside. The bathroom door was closed. I called out, but nobody answered."

"But why did Kokichi still hide your crime?" Kiibo wondered.

"Well, Kaito wanted Maki to be spotless. So as his friend, I felt obliged to help her." Maki looked at the exisal with murderous eyes. "You dare make fun of Kaito?! YOU ENJOY WATCHING US SUFFER, AND YOU CALL US YOUR FRIENDS?!" Her eyes flickered to you for a moment, but then right back at Kokichi.

"Well, you have two options." Kokichi began. "You either vote for me and you die with me, or you vote for Maki and only she dies." You tilted your head. "Wait, Maki, quick question. When you went to the control panel, wouldn't the alarm system go off?" Maki thought for a moment. "You're right. I wasn't really thinking about it at the time, but it is odd."

"But, the alarm would definitely go off, wouldn't it?" Kiibo asked. "Maybe..." You began. The reason you and the others were able to go into the hangar this morning was because of the electrobomb. "Maybe it was the cause of an electrobomb?"

"But Maki only had one, right?" Kiibo asked. "Yes, but Kokichi still had the other two, right?"

Kokichi, or rather the exisal, made a confused motion. "But why would I need to disable the alarm system? That would put me at a disadvantage!"

"I don't think disabling the alarm system was your objective." Shuichi said. "You wanted to disable the safety function, right?"

Maki put her hand to her chin. "Deactivate the safety function?" You nodded. "The safety function prevents the hydraulic press from crushing a human."

"But then, that wouldn't line up with Kaito's cause of death. If he died from the crossbow, then Kokichi wouldn't have needed to deactivate the safety function." Shuichi pointed out. "So maybe he died because of the hydraulic press after all!"

Himiko seemed to catch on. "If that's the case, then it wasn't Maki who killed Kaito..." "It was Kokichi!"

Everyone looked at the exisal, except for you. "Yes, well... there's really no way for you to know the true culprit!" Kokichi reminded. "You have no evidence to properly conclude your statement!" You and Shuichi looked at each other.

"You made an unsolvable murder..." Shuichi admitted.

"Monokuma." You began. "You know who the culprit is, right? Since you always do." Monokuma began sweating bullets. "Of course! W-Why wouldn't I?" You smirked a bit. "So Kokichi even made a murder that Monokuma couldn't figure out."

"But why would that matter? Kokichi controls Monokuma." Himiko reminded.

"Monokuma has known every detail about every case, most likely because of some sort of hidden camera." Shuichi said. "If the electrobomb disabled the alarm system and the safety function, then they probably disabled whatever Monokuma was using to watch us. And the exisals weren't guarding him... they were watching him."

"Yes, if the exisals were guarding him, they would be facing outwards, to keep watch of us." You added. "But they were facing Monokuma." You looked at Maki. "That's why you were able to steal an exisal without the other three attacking you."

"But why would that matter?!" Himiko asked. "Kokichi's the one controlling Monokuma!"

Shuichi shook his head. "I don't think so.." Tsumugi pointed a finger at the exisal. "But, Kokichi's the mastermind, so wouldn't he be able to-"

"KOKICHI ISN'T THE MASTERMIND!" You finally yelled. You were unsure before, but with all this evidence, you knew Kokichi wasn't lying to you. You took a deep breath.

"The only reason you think Kokichi is the mastermind is because he told you. Monokuma hasn't protested, but he hasn't agreed with that statement either."

"But I am the mastermind!" Kokichi said. "I'm controlling Monokuma." You crossed your arms and looked at Monokuma. "Well? Is he right?" Monokuma looked down. "I need to keep this trial fair and-" "The more reason to tell us!" Shuichi interrupted. "Does being Kokichi's accomplice sound fair to you?"

Monokuma gave in and admitted. "Kokichi doesn't control me, because he's not the mastermind."

"W-wait, but if he wasn't the mastermind, then how did he control the exisals?" Himiko asked.

"Well, with the remote control Miu made, of course! She made the electrohammers, electrobombs, and a remote control that can hijack any electronic device!" That's our Miu. "I told you that out of spite." Monokuma admitted. "Out of spite for you!"

He glared at Kokichi. "Well there's no point in defeating the enemy without a little fun."

"Well, we should get back to the trial. You're supposed to figure out the culprit, not the mastermind." You turned your head towards Monokuma.

"But how are we supposed to figure it out if you can't even confirm it?" Kokichi assured that he would be deciding that part. "But... from here on out, you have to participate in the class trial! You can't play judge anymore!"

Monokuma decided that he would join forces with us. "We shall go against Kokichi and prove that he cannot triumph!" You looked at him and squinted your eyes. "Right..." Everyone was rather sceptical of the sudden ally, but didn't think much of it.

"From my experience, once one thing is revealed, another thing is revealed as well." Monokuma said. You and Shuichi looked at each other. "Well... the video Kokichi showed us didn't line up with anything we discovered."

"Was it to confuse us on the cause of death?" Kiibo asked. Shuichi disagreed. "If that were the only objective, then he wouldn't need to film the video. He was somehow trying to confuse us and Monokuma... "

"But there has to be a reason the video was shown..." You thought, aloud.

"Nah, that's just my personality." You looked at the exisal with Kokichi inside and bit your lip. His personality? Get real.

You thought back to the video, and you realised, it really only revealed, "The victim."

Everyone looked at you.

"The video only showed the 'victim,' and revealed nothing else. Or... it showed the believed victim. The video was to prove that Kaito was the victim, but why would that help him? And from that... I don't think Kaito was the one who was crushed."

"W-What?!" Maki questioned in shock. "Were the bodies switched?"

The exisal shook its head. "Nope! There was no chance for the body to be switched! The video wasn't edited, and Monokuma said that there's no signs of the camera being connected to any computer. And the camera only has a record, pause, and stop button, so you can't edit it from there either."

Maki looked down. "No... there has to be a way to prove that it was edited." She gave a hopeful look to Shuichi, then you. "Right?"

You nodded and looked at Shuichi. "We all just need to find out how." Maki slightly nodded. "I need to know... if Kaito's still alive. I don't like thinking... that I killed Kaito."

You heard that familiar voice crack, that happened before all your patients burst into tears. You walked around and held Maki by her hands. "We will prove that he's alive, I promise. Together." Shuichi faced the ground and smiled. "Together..."

"There has to be some catch to the video." Shuichi muttered. Himiko nodded. "Right! It was made by Kokichi after all!"

Kiibo brought his hand to his face. "Well... it did stop for a moment before crushing Kaito..."

"Right... it didn't do that when we were testing it with you. Right Shuichi?" Shuichi hummed in agreement. "And we watched the video multiple times. It couldn't have been a glitch." You looked at Kiibo. "And the only way to stop the hydraulic press was the force stop."

"Right, but no one can switch the bodies that fast." Kokichi pointed out. "Right, and if someone did, it would've been caught by the camera that was still rolling." Monokuma added.

You thought for a moment. "Maybe... the camera wasn't rolling." Himiko's eyes were filled with confusion. "Nyeh? But how did we watch the hydraulic press move, then?"

You shook your head. "No, it was rolling at that time, but I don't think it was rolling at the time the bodies were switched."

You demonstrated your thoughts with your hands. "I think Kokichi paused the video and stopped the hydraulic press at the same time, and while the camera was off, Kokichi switched the bodies. Then, the hydraulic press and the camera continued simultaneously." The exisal with Kokichi inside doesn't seem to be protesting.

"The camera angle did seem strange to me." Tsumugi stated. "But I guess the placement was necessary for this to work."

Monokuma tilted his head. "Wait, what?"

Shuichi put his hand on his chin, his thinking face on. "Well, the camera and the switch had to be set up near each other, so they were both pressed at the same time."

Tsumugi agreed. "That's why the video was recorded in that odd angle! If they were recording it normally, they would've used a better angle!"

"The camera angle, huh?" Himiko said. "Finally, your cosplaying skills are becoming useful."

You nodded, awkwardly. "A-anyways, the moment the camera stopped, you couldn't really identify who was under the hydraulic press." You placed your left hand under your right to demonstrate. "That's why it was placed at that high of an angle, right?" Shuichi nodded.

"Then... the logic is correct then, right?" Maki asked in a shaky voice. "If that's the case, then Kaito is-" "Before he was crushed by the press, he was switched with a different body! And Kaito's still alive!" Himiko yelled.

You put your hand on the back of your head and looked at the exisal. I don't think it was a different body... "But... Kokichi doesn't know where the other bodies are. H-He's not the mastermind."

"Well Monokuma? Are you allowed to reuse a dead body?" Kiibo asked. That's... not a question I expected to hear, ever in my life. "No! It's impossible! The bodies have been thrown away!" Monokuma told you. "Thrown away like... cremated?" You asked. "Of course not! You would've smelled that if they were, since you're in this enclosed space. That would've been a difficult smell to get rid of if I had to do it almost every week." You slightly nodded and looked back at everybody.

"But where'd Kokichi get the body to replace Kaito, then?" Maki wondered.

You covered your mouth and glanced at Shuichi with glossy eyes, and he seemed to get the idea.

"Maki..." He began. "I think we're forgetting some vital information here." Shuichi thought for a moment. "There were only two people in the hangar at the time. That means they worked together. The culprit was the one who was operating the camera and hydraulic press first. Once both stopped, the culprit and the victim swapped places, making the culprit the new victim. An impossible trick, unless the victim and the culprit agreed to work together beforehand."

"Is that... even possible?" Himiko questioned.

"Yes... it's a crime so confusing that it would even confuse Monokuma."

"Then did you figure out whodunnit?" Monokuma asked. "The person who had to have done this... would be Kaito." Shuichi concluded.

Everyone seemed to be in denial. "That's what my detective work has brought me to, no matter how much I don't want to admit it."

"I'm the culprit." Maki blurted out. "I-I saw it with my own eyes. Kokichi drank the antidote for the poison, so Kaito had to have died from my poisonous arrow."

Kokichi reminded that he still could've killed Kaito with the hydraulic press. "So... Monokuma, you know the answer, riiiigghht? Those are the only two options."

Shuichi tried to deny that Kaito was killed, but Maki fought back. You turned your head back and forth between Shuichi and Maki when you realised what was happening. You did the same when Kokichi was being accused of murdering Miu. Is Maki... trying to protect Kaito? You looked at Shuichi once it was silent, and he seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"But Maki, you don't know if Kokichi actually drank the antidote." Shuichi stated. "No... it's impossible... I KILLED KAITO!" Maki argued. You were speechless. You knew how much Kaito meant to Maki, but you didn't know it was this level. You thought back to the bottle back in the washroom. You assume it was the antidote, but you noticed something when you picked it up. It wasn't properly screwed on, also meaning that whoever drank it... was rushing.

If Kokichi drank the antidote, then he would have no problem with closing the cap, since he wasn't rushing.

"You don't think... Kokichi pretended to drink the antidote?" Everyone looked at me. "And gave it to Kaito, right?" Shuichi asked. You nodded and looked at the portrait of Kokichi next to you. No one else in the room knew... but Kokichi genuinely cared... about everyone. You put your hand over the area that got wet when Kokichi started crying into your chest the other day. You blinked to make the tears forming in your eyes go away.

Shuichi explained what happened as you looked at the exisal. Is there even... anyone in there? "So Kokichi died... to execute his plan?" Kiibo asked. Shuichi nodded. "Yes, only Kokichi would do thi-" "If you're about to make a comment on Kokichi's personality, save it." You suddenly snapped.

You weren't making eye contact with anybody when you said this. You didn't want to.

"Or it's just a delusion."

You heard the familiar voice of the boy you knew. "Kokichi... if I can even call you that anymore, the point of this... was to make sure the game can't function anymore, right?"

The exisal almost stumbled back in surprise like a human would. You looked up at Shuichi with emotionless eyes. "Kaito... I believe in you."

Shuichi looked up at the exisal with serious eyes. "I will prove to you that you're not the culprit, 'Kokichi.'"

"Last night, Kiibo saw Himiko going to the lab with the black case with the crossbow. When she entered the hangar, she gave the case to the culprit through the bathroom window. Inside the black case was the crossbow from Maki's lab, which the culprit assembled to use against Kokichi. After a while, Maki made her way to the exisal hangar. She was planning on killing Kokichi and saving the culprit, who was trapped in the bathroom. The hangar had an electric barrier preventing her to get to it, so she used an exisal to get inside, which was disabled by the electrohammer she brought. In the exisal hangar, when Kokichi went to check up on the culprit, the culprit ambushed him with the crossbow. However, the culprit wasn't planning on killing Kokichi, just disabling him."

"Kokichi was right-handed." You added. "That's why he was shot in the right arm."

"While Kokichi and the culprit were fighting, the shutter of the hangar opened and an exisal stepped inside. Both the culprit and Kokichi were surprised. Before Kokichi could use the remote to control the exisal, Maki jumped out and shot him with an arrow. But it was no normal arrow. It was dipped in a poison from my lab called Strike-9 Poison. Despite the poison in his veins, Kokichi still spat out his lies. Once Maki had enough, she shot another arrow to finish Kokichi off. But to prevent Maki from becoming the blackened, the culprit protected Kokichi with their arm. Maki remembered there was an antidote in my lab and ran to get it. The Strike-9 Poison slowly circulated through both of their systems, slowly killing them. But Kokichi thought up a lie, so that he could win the killing game."

"So that he could defeat Monokuma." You corrected. But you mumbled under your breath. "And to protect us." Shuichi heard this and his face slightly dropped. But he continued.

"Kokichi closed the shutter so Maki wouldn't be able to get back in. When Maki came back, she was forced to bring the antidote to the bathroom window. But after the culprit was given the antidote, Kokichi took it from them. Kokichi made it seem like he drank the antidote, making Maki panic. She tried to break into the hangar, even slashing the control panel. When she couldn't get the shutter to open, she had no choice but to leave. Once she left, Kokichi took out an electrobomb to disable the camera Monokuma was using to spy on them. After the electrobomb was activated, Kokichi gave the antidote to the culprit. In exchange for the antidote, Kokichi wanted the culprit to cooperate with his plan. Normally, the culprit wouldn't have agreed to this, but because Kokichi had saved their life, they felt like they owed him. They had to act fast before Kokichi died from the Strike-9 Poison. After making the scene in the bathroom, the culprit dragged Kokichi to the hydraulic press."

Shuichi looked at you. "The.. the trail coming from the... from the bathroom to the hydraulic press.. it was from that." You forced out. Shuichi nodded. He decided not to ask you to confirm anything, since it seemed like you really didn't want to.

"With the help of the culprit, Kokichi was brought up to the control panel. While the culprit lay down under the hydraulic press, Kokichi set up the camera next to the control panel. The culprit had their jacket draped over their shoulders, rather than their arm in the sleeve. Kokichi pressed the record button and the down button at the same time. The safety function would've triggered as the hydraulic press went down, but it was disable because of the electrobomb. Kokichi stopped the recording and the hydraulic press and switched places with the culprit. And then..."

Shuichi noticed your disturbed expression and didn't say it.

"Once the deed was done, the culprit tore the cord so that the hydraulic press couldn't be lifted to reveal the body. Another reason the victim was killed this way was because it would've confused the cause of death. Kokichi didn't want anyone to solve this case. Not even Monokuma. Now that the press was disabled, the culprit tried to flush Kokichi's clothes down the toilet. Finally, they hid inside an exisal, which I assume was the one that had the hatch closed. And now... they're pretending to be Kokichi. They're trying to confuse Monokuma in order to defeat the real mastermind."

"And that's it. And the culprit... is Kaito." Shuichi concluded.

You looked at the ground, so nobody could see the expression painted on your face. "Man, Shuichi has some cuh-razy deductions!" It was still Kokichi's voice. He still wasn't admitting it.

"No, I believe in Shuichi's deduction." Kiibo said. "Sure, there isn't any rock hard evidence that proves the bodies were switched, but there also isn't any evidence that they weren't."

Monokuma was about to start voting, but Shuichi raised his hand. "Can we have one last conversation before voting time?"