Sakura put her hand to her head. "Here's everything that happened in this case!

“It all started when we swapped our talents. It took some time for our talents to blossom, but the killer eventually found out what their own was--the Ultimate Cosplayer.

“The killer made two outfits in advance. One of the Dorothy costume that would fit Cesar, and one of Cesar to disguise themselves as him. The killer probably picked Cesar because he’s a quiet guy, and they wouldn’t have to talk much to pretend they were him and ruin the plan.

“The killer then brought Cesar to the tower with them, and when they got to the upstairs area, they knocked him unconscious. He was the osmologist, so it probably happened after just opening the chloroform bottle. Him falling forward probably caused the bottle to drop down to the temple floor. Before passing out, he probably grabbed the crane that Jay had left the night before. The killer then dressed Cesar up in the Dorothy costume and a mask, maybe a bodysuit as well. For the Ultimate Cosplayer, it should’ve been trivial.

“To complete the illusion, the killer switched handbooks. They took Cesar’s handbook for themselves, but couldn’t give their own to Cesar, as loaning a handbook to a student is against the rules. So they just placed it on top of the clock tower to fit with the supposed location of the murder.

“All of this happened before noon. When Ryuji unexpectedly showed up, the killer just hid in the elevator with Cesar. The killer placed Cesar’s body onto the clock hand, and let it do the rest.

“They went back to their room quickly to get rid of the outfit they were wearing, probably tearing it up among the rest of the material. They probably just got into their room without the handbook by leaving the door open. Or maybe they just went into Cesar’s room to hide the evidence instead. They dressed up as Cesar and then went to rehearsal to seal their alibi.

“At the same time, Crimson, the Ultimate Mystery Writer arrived at the scene. Having a new talent must’ve made her think with some warped logic, but she was there when the body fell at 12:19, just when the minute hand was slanted enough. She just missed Ryuji, but the killer was already long gone.

“She then moved the body into the temple and arranged origami cranes around it to lead people towards the Origami Practitioner as a suspect--a false assumption.

“Shortly after, everybody arrived at the temple to discover the body. The killer had to pretend to be Cesar, so they feigned passing out since they were aware of the presence of chloroform in the room. They even informed Van of the presence of blood at the real, and intended, scene of the crime.

“However, the killer made one critical mistake. While at rehearsal, they stepped inside the backstage area and didn’t know Ryuji, soaked in chloroform, was there. They didn’t pass out as they should’ve, because how could they know?

“The killer could only be one person--the only one left unaccounted for if Cesar is the victim: you, SiRReN!”

“Looks like you guys were...CORRECT! The one who killed Cesar was SiRReN! A much better result than last time if I do say so myself.”

“S-SiRReN?” Sakura’s face was blank, but tears were already rolling down her eyes.

The class turned towards “Cesar”, the quiet boy who hadn’t spoken a word the entire trial. “Looks like I’ve been found out.” An oddly feminine voice says. She grabs her mask and pulls it off, revealing SiRReN underneath.

There are collective gasps from the class. Slezak is the only one who stays silent, not even looking at her.

“Why did you...how could you do this, SiRReN?!” Amachi cried. “W-We promised each other we wouldn’t kill again!”

Arthur takes a deep breath. “It was the motive, wasn’t it?”

SiRReN nodded. “My talent…*it’s more to me than sewing clothes. I never had friends, I was always bullied, but cosplay was a way for me to love myself. It made me meet new people, wonderful people, connections I’ll cherish forever.”

“You can’t make some fucking excuse like that…” Crimson was in tears as well. “We all lost something big!”

“Usagi Tsukino, Sango, Cybersix, Misty, Soul Evans, Hitsugaya Toshiro...they’re all like a second family to me. My talent gave me a connection to them, something real, just as real as all of you.”

“You killed one of us because of fucking fictional characters?!” Matt was red and outraged. “You can’t justify that.”

“But we’re all fictional, right?” Alchie intervened. “At least according to Monokuma…”

“There are no excuses.” SiRReN is calm, as if accepting her fate. “I had to, and I deserve what’s about to happen to me. I hope some of you can at least understand why I did it, even if you didn’t do it yourself.” She looks over at Ryuji and Charlie, who look away uncomfortably.

“What happened?” Van asked. “Just start from the beginning.”

“I made a deal with Monokuma--I’d kill someone if he gave me my talent back. He fulfilled his end of the promise, and I had to do mine. I suspect me receiving my talent is what caused everybody else’s to begin to finally blossom.”

“T-That explains why we didn’t have our talents from the beginning…” Ryuji realized. “So then, you killed Cesar because of his talent?”

“Cesar…” SiRReN seemed to be lost in thought. “Cesar allowed me to kill him.”

“Huh?” The word was almost collective from the class.


“SiRReN, that’s enough.” Cesar says curtly. “I know what’s going on.”

“W-What?” SiRReN asks.

“I can smell your killing intent.” He glared at her, disappointed but not angry.

SiRReN stood cold, unsure of what to do next.

“Well, go ahead.” He said.

SiRReN still stood still, now looking at him with confusion.

“I may be a murderer, but I’m not a hypocrite.” He looked down. “That last trial...the killer eluded me and because of that Subaru…” He closed his eyes in pain. “The penalty for murder is death. So get on with it.”


“W-What?” Sakura seemed completely empty on the inside. “C-Cesar felt that way...all this time? H-He just let you kill him?”

“No.” Van thought. “He may have felt he deserved to die but…” He pulled out the paper crane that was passed around during the trial. “He wouldn’t have grabbed this if he was gonna just let it all end. He wanted us to find this clue...he wanted us to find his killer.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Everybody turned towards the source of the noise--Slezak. “I-I can’t...this isn’t…”

“Slezak…” SiRReN smiled. “I know you’re upset, and I know you feel betrayed…”

“Betrayed?!?! You didn’t just kill someone…” Slezak closes his eyes. “Goddamnit, SiRReN! We grieved for you!”

“...I know. I saw all of it...I-I…”

“I don’t want to hear any more of this…” Slezak held his head in his hands. “I just want this to be over…”

“We have to hear what she has to say.” Charlie said. “Slezak...it hurts now, but this is the last time we’ll ever see her again.”

“I don’t expect you guys to shed any tears for me. Instead, grieve for Cesar. Cry as much as you can...and then get up and move forward. Trust me, nobody wanted this to be over as much as I did.” SiRReN sighed, then turned to Monokuma. “I’m ready.”

“Alright! I prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Cosplayer!” Monokuma gets his gavel ready.

“W-Wait…” Slezak spoke up again. “You can’t leave yet...I...when you ‘died’, I thought I had so much left to say to you but now…”

“It’s fine.” SiRReN smiles at him one more time. “I know your feelings, all of them. I know them because I shared them with you...with all of you. Those are feelings I’ll treasure forever.”

“Let’s go! IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME!”

“Goodbye, everyone…I’ll miss you.”

SiRReN finds herself tied down onto a large piece of fabric, a tight tapestry of yarn being knitted around her. Slowly but surely, she gets pulled down towards a sewing machine.

She cranes her head upwards and sees her favorite fictional characters being dragged under the sewing needle, each being torn apart immediately. Hatsune Miku, Sailor Mercury, Mei, all get completely obliterated.

Finally, a doll of Cesar goes under and is ripped apart, before SiRReN herself approaches. She closes her eyes in anticipation, as the needle gets dragged through her and...stops. Blood is spurting out, but it seems the sewing machine has been jammed.

Frustrated, Monokuma pulls the fabric through the needle and splits SiRReN in half.

Everybody stood still. It was over. They had put their lives on the line once again and this time they had succeeded but...the victory couldn’t have felt more hollow.

“I-I’m tired of this…” Crimson sighed. “I’m so tired...of doubting our friends and watching them die.”

“I...I won’t let Monokuma win!” Amachi resolved, wiping her snot away. “I will cry for SiRReN! She was our friend, and I’m not going to forget the memories she left us!”

Despite SiRReN’s last wishes, tears were shed for her. For her, for Cesar...for all that they’ve lost.

Slezak stood still as a statue. He didn’t shed tears, he just...stared into nothingness. He said nothing, there was nothing to say.

“Alright, then.” Flo sighed. ”Let’s all go home.”

“Home?” Alchie asked. “Y-You can’t be referring to this place, can you?”

“Hm.” Flo smiled. “Anywhere is home. We have our talents back, and we have each other. What more could we want?”

“Our talents?” Charlie’s eyes widened. She took a deep inhale with her nose. “Oh my god! I can smell everything...even Sakura’s BO! This is wonderful!”

Ryuji seemed just as elated, and quickly did a recitation of the captain’s speech from Macbeth. “Oh my god, it’s back! It’s back!”

“Looks like there’s nothing else to say then.” Arthur nodded. “Shall we plan another banquet? I’m sure I could snag some sake for us again.”

“I’ll get started on Cesar and SiRReN’s effigies right away!” Sakura declared.

The group headed out, forcing their spirits up, and heading towards a new tomorrow.

SiRReN - Ultimate Cosplayer
Cesar - Ultimate Osmologist
Ryuji - Ultimate Stuntman
Matt - Ultimate Firefighter
Flo - Ultimate Technophile
Arthur - Ultimate Wordsmith
Crimson - Ultimate Mystery Writer
Charlie - Ultimate Grandmaster
Sakura - Ultimate Actor
Slezak - Ultimate Origami Practitioner
Alchie - Ultimate Sociologist
Van - Ultimate Prosecutor
Amachi - Ultimate Coupler