Part 25: Super High-school Level Update #22.2

Upupupu...
It seems you have reached your conclusion. Well then, let’s get to voting!



Please use the switch in front of you to vote, you bastards!
Oh, let me say it just for caution’s sake...
Don’t think of not voting for anyone!! You wouldn’t want to be punished for such a trivial thing, would you?



........



...Right! Well then, give it all you have!!
Who will be voted as the culprit!? Will it be the right answer, or the wrong one--!?
What will it be---!?

Judgement (Youtube via Polsy)







The court scene ends here. From now on we're back to regular graphics and not much speech.





What do you know! You hit the jackpot!!
The culprit who killed Sayaka Maizono...



It really was Leon Kuwata!!



................
.....huh?
H...hey... wait... a... second.......
Kuwata-kun...
Did you really...
Kill... Maizono-san?



I... can’t believe it...



You fucker!! Why would you do such a thing!!




I... didn’t have any choice.....
I was about to get killed myself...
Th...that’s why... I didn’t have any choice...



It would have been the same if it was any of you!
Just because I was Maizono’s target...
It suddenly... went all wrong...!



Shi...!!



Or... do you think I should’ve just let myself get killed?



.........
With that, it’s finally clear...

...the answer we reached was the correct one.

But what should I be thinking?
It’s as if... by acting the way he did, he saved me.

After all, if the conclusions we reached are all correct, it’s also true Maizono-san tried to frame me for a murder...

But...
Even if that’s the case...
I don’t think Maizono-san is to blame.
The only culprit here is...

It’s all because of... that video......





What was on it... managed to disturb even me...
It must have been so much worse for Maizono-san herself...



We’re locked in this place and can’t get out...
I’m sure... my friends are waiting for me...



I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR ANY OF THIS!!



Her dream and her friends were the most important things in the world for her...



Showing her that kind of video... showing her friends...
Maizono-san... must have been...



In order to make that dream come true, I was prepared to do anything.
Even bad things... Really... anything...



That’s why Maizono-san acted... for the sake of her precious friends...
She... betrayed me...
Her words that time...



Whatever happens... please always be my friend...



They were only meant to deceive me, from the very beginning. She was just using me...
Did she ever really want to be close to me?

I... don’t know anymore...

And there is no way to ask her anymore...
There is no way... to return someone from death...



As expected, show business is scary!
Those people can kill someone just for nothing more than “human relations”!



Beneath all those exemplary personalities lie their true faces, full of nothing but madness!
W...what did you say...?



Yes, I know how it is. Indeed, I do.
You must be in despair, being betrayed by Maizono-san like that?
Love, friendship, compassion... the stronger these feelings are, the deeper you fall into despair when they are broken!
Don’t play with me! It was all your fault, wasn’t it?!
Everything Maizono-san did...
Everything... everthing....
It’s all because of you!!

As if moving inside a dream, I made a lunge for Monobear.

But...



Please stop it.

Kirigiri-san held my shoulder strongly.
So gripped it so strongly it will probably leave a mark...



If you really want to defeat her true enemy... please let it go for now...
.........
...Shit!!



Aa, my heart is fluttering. I thought I was about to be attacked.



It was a close shave! Oy!!
...and so! You have splendidly discovered the culprit in this School Trial!
So now it’s time to get to Leon Kuwata’s punishment!



P...punishment...!





E...execution.....?
W...wait a second here!
I only killed her because I didn’t have any choice!
That’s it! It was self defense, wasn’t it!? I was just defending my own body...



What exactly was “self defense” about your actions?
In order to break the shower room’s lock, you used your own tool set, didn’t you?
That is, after that girl closed herself in the shower, you deliberately returned to your own room...
...used a screwdriver you got there to break the lock, and made the killing strike.
You had plenty of chances to stop yourself.
But you didn’t do so...
You really did feel like killing her, didn’t you.



N...no... I mean....
I’ve had enough...
Let’s just stop this.



Oh, would that be okay with you? You were Maizono-san’s best friend, after all?
Your precious Maizono-san... was killed... weren’t she?
I have no intention on blaming Kuwata-kun alone...
Of course, I’m not going to blame Maizono-san alone either.
I mean...



The only one who’s evil here is that thing!!

Huh...?
If it wasn’t for you... this wouldn’t have happened to either Maizono-san or Kuwata-kun...!
What we should be fighting isn’t one another...
...it’s that guy. The single person who planned all of this!



Oh, did your sense of justice suddenly awakened!?
But you know, there is nothing more immoral than a sense of justice.
Isn’t a bunch of guys brandishing their justice the reason we still have wars?
Is that the reason you suddenly have a sense of justice?
Shut up...!
Oh, well. Rather than argue...



We should get to business! Everbody is waiting!



Please, I beg you.....! Stop it.....!
I won’t hear no excuses!! If we want to keep the public order we must punish offenders! Those are our society’s rules!



P....please stop!!
This time, I prepared a special punishment for Leon Fukawa, the Super High-school Level Baseball Player!!
NONONONONONONONONO!!



Let’s give it our best! It’s punishment time!







Million Fungoes (Youtube via Polsy)





What occured before our very eyes...
...was true despair.

There really was no other way to describe it.



Woohoo!! Extreeeeeeeme!!
My body is full to the brim with adrenaline!!



Awa...wawawawa....



W...w...w...what was that.....!!



I... can’t take it anymore...
Do we... really have to keep on going like that...?
I can’t take it...!!



If you don’t like it...



All you have to do is cut your links to the outside world completely and live here quietly your entire lives.
That is, if you bastards can really do that... upupupup....
Hyaa hyaa haa hyaa!



Y...you bastard... what do you expect to gain from all of this?!



“Gain”...? You’re talking as if I’m a member of some kind of evil association!
Though in my case, I’m probably a memBEAR of an evil association, right?



Hey... why are you involving an upstanding citizen such as myself in such discussions?



Because, what are you going to do if you’re forced to think sensibly about things that defy common sense?
It’s just like trying to measure length with a scale, isn’t it? Well, not that that’s impossible...
Ah... I think I lost the flow of conversation somewhere...



...Shit! I don’t who or where you are, but I’m definitely going to kill you...



Upupu. You’re so mad... do you hate me?
Hating me is unjustifiable, though, you know.
The murder we just had occured because you bastards want to get out, wasn’t it!?
It’s you bastards, who can’t let go of the ourside world, who are the bad guys here!!



I...isn’t it natural? Suddenly being imprisoned in such a messed up place...



Oh, imprisoned, was it?
...but when you finally discover this school’s secrets, I have no doubt you will all reach the same conclusion.
“Living here our entire life is hapiness”!



W...what do you mean by that...?



I think he just said a very important thing. He did it once before, though.



We should get to business! Everybody is waiting!



Who are these “everyone” you were talking about?



Well then, that’s all you’re going to hear from me this time. We must leave some excitement for the future!
Hyaa hyaa hyaa...!!



And then, Monobear disappeared.

Leaving the rest of feeling as if they were beat to a pulp by a nightmarish reality...



Even after Monobear let us go, we stayed in that place for a while, unable to move.
No, it wasn’t “a while”. It was probably a very long time...

I think everyone was very scared...

...it was a unifying experience.





U...uuuuu...



.........



.........

No one even opened their mouth.
Everyone stayed quiet, their faces sank in a gloomy expression.

And then...



...Naegi-kun. Do you have a second?

She came all the way to where I was standing, and talked quietly, as if whispering in my ear.



Before we go back...
There is something I want to talk to you about...
….......
Is it... about Maizono-san?





.........
I didn’t think you’d know...
Do you remember what I told you before the school trial began?
It’s you who must unravel this case’s mysteries...
Did you want me to notice Maizono-san’s betrayal by myself?
She made a fool of me without me suspecting anything... I believed in her, and she made me a suspect...



It’s true that Maizono-san tried to frame you. That’s the unescapable reality...
But I think she had second thoughts until she died. You see...
She thought of you in her final moments.
In her final moments... she thought of me...?
Please don’t say such foolish things...
We have... no way of knowing for sure... after all...
There is no way... to ask her anymore...



Even though we can’t ask her, we can reason it out, can’t we?
Her last thoughts...
Were about how to save you.
...eh?



She used her last bits of strength to leave dying message. That’s the proof.
If she didn’t care what happened to you, she wouldn’t have left a message at all...
Maybe she just... wanted revenge on Kuwata-kun who killed her...?
You’re right. This is also a possibility.
But I don’t think it’s true, personally...



She was lost, that girl.
Her heart wasn’t in it. Not in tricking you, and not in killing another person.
That’s why her plan didn’t succeed.
Her feelings of doubt... led to failure.
It’s a little ironic, isn’t it?
........
Why are you talking to me about that?



You’re a person... who can get over things.
A person who can get over the death of his friends and continue walking forward.
If you aren’t, you will not be able to break out of the extreme situation we found ourselves in...
I can... get over my friends’ deaths?
I think you’re overestimating me...
That kind of thing is... impossible.



............
That’s why...
I will always keep them with me.
I can’t get over any of it... Maizono-san’s or Kuwata-kun’s deaths...
I will always keep them with me.
I will keep going forward holding everyone’s memories forever!!
.........
You’re choosing a road that is much more difficult than simply overcoming.



But I’m looking forward to it.....

Saying that, she smiled a little smile.



...Naegi-kun. There is one more thing I want to ask you...
How did you know I wanted to talk to you about Maizono-san?
Oh, that.
..........
I can read minds.



Eh...?



I’m just joking. I just have good intuition.



CHAPTER 1: END



Students still alive: 12