ichika and her gender-bent version to soothe ur soul hehe

"...Let us pray for Yonaga-san." Kiibo looked at the ground. "So that God may guide her soul to the gates of heaven..."

"God... please take care of Yonaga-san!"

"H-Hey... Why did it end up like this? Didn't Yonaga-san have God with her?"

"Clearly, she didn't." Maki stated bluntly.

"Th-That not true! Yonaga-san said that God is always by our side!" Gonta cried.

"..." Himiko was silent.

"We don't have time to be talking about this!" Kaito barked. "Instead of talking about God-"

"Yeah! We gotta talk about which one of us is the culprit and win this killing game!" Kokichi interrupted.

"W-Wait, this... is part of the killing game?" Miu asked nervously.

"What else could it be?" Maki bit her thumb. "The fact that Yonaga is dead can only mean one thing... One of us killed her."

"B-But why would someone do such an awful thing!?" Gonta cried.

Ichika hummed. "Weeell, they could've done it for the obvious reason of escaping, but there are many different reasons why someone would commit murder and in this case. Because it's Yonaga-san, someone could've killed her to destroy the council OR maybe someone killed her just because they could OR-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Miu barked and Ichika looked up at Miu with a smug little grin. "That was a fucking rhetorical question you stupid fuckin bitch!"

"Is that really what happened...?" Tsumugi spoke up, trembling.

Shuichi looked at her puzzled. "...Huh?"

"It's possible that the one who killed Yonaga-san wasn't one of us, but-"

"Rise and shine ursine!" The Monokubs appeared before us and-

"BLRGHBLRGHBLRGHBLRGH!" Monophanie puked everywhere.

"Oooh... A vomit-soaked entrance!" Monotaro exclaimed. "How novel! And the puke is green again, too... That's a pretty ominous sign."

"Ughhhh... why did another murder happen? What's the deal, Monodam!? I thought you were gonna make everyone get along!"

"DON'T-WORRY... OVERCOMING-THIS-WILL-BRING-EVERYONE-CLOSER-TOGETHER. THAT-HAS-BEEN-THE-CASE-SO-FAR, YES? THEIR-BOND-GETS-STRONGER-WITH-EACH-CLASS-TRIAL, DOES-IT-NOT? MURDERS-ARE-NECESSARY-TO-BRING-EVERYONE-CLOSER-TOGETHER."

"Ugh... But how...?"

"SO... LET'S-GET-STARTED. CONDUCT-A-FRIENDLY-INVESTIGATION. THEN, WE-WILL-HAVE-A-FRIENDLY-CLASS-TRIAL. WE-MUST-DISTRIBUTE-THESE-FIRST." Monodam pulled out a Monokuma file.

"Oh look, the Monokuma file. I wanted to be the one to pass them out." Monotaro whined. "Didn't you wanna do it too, Monophanie?"

"..."

"By the way, I've been thinking... you guys should knock off all this killing and dying. Dying is, like, so lame! Living is all the range these days."

"...BLRGHBLRGHBLRGHBLRGHBLRGH!" Monophanie puked again.

"Ahhh! More green puke! This is really unlucky!" The Monokubs then finally left the students to their investigation.

"As there is no use complaining, we are better off beginning our investigation... So, everyone... We all know what we need to do, yes?" Korekiyo said.

"Yep." Kokichi agreed. "I mean, by the third murder, we should all be pretty used to dead bodies by now."

"N-Not me! There's no way I could get used to this!" Gonta cried.

Maki had a dark look on her face. "Trust me, you don't want to be used to this... No one should be used to this."

"Nee-heehee... That's nice and all, but it seems pretty insincere coming from an assassin." Kokichi grinned.

"..." Maki glared at Kokichi.

"...Let's start investigating," Kiibo said flatly. "It's not like we have any other choice."

"..." Shuichi nodded and took the Monokuma file.

"Alright, bro. I'm counting on you as my sidekick. Let's end this nightmare together." Kaito said.

"Yeah... but, are you feeling okay, Momota-kun?"

"We seriously don't have time to be talking about this... No way we're gonna die here... I'm definitely gonna find the culprit."

"The culprit... Is it really... someone among us that kill Yonaga-san?" Tsumugi shivered.

Kokichi rolled his eyes. "I get how you feel, Shirogane-chan, but do you have to repeat that tired old line every time?"

"Oh, no, that's not it... I mean, could this have been the work of the transfer student?" Tsumugi shivered. "Yonaga-san prepared the ritual in this room to resurrect the dead, right? And she made those wax dolls hanging upside down as part of the ritual... Maybe the ritual succeeded and the resurrected person killed her-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!" Kaito screamed.

"Oh, that'd be cool." Ichika said calmly.

"Cool? Cool!? No way in hell would that be cool!"

"But then no one who is alive right now would have to be executed!" Ichika chirped.

"But there's no way the dead can be resurrected in the first place, dammit!" Kaito barked.

"I dunno, this whole situation we're in is already pretty abnormal..." Ichika grinned darkly. "So I wouldn't be surprised if someone dead rose from the grave as a ghost and using its paranormal powers snuck up behind Yonaga-san and-"

"STOOOOP IIIIIIT!"

"Shut up already." Maki snapped.

"I-It's her fault! Telling scary stories out of nowhere like that! Hrn... rrrrnnnnggggghhhhh!"

Shuichi blinked. "Momota-kun, are you okay?"

Kaito nodded. "I'll leave this to you and Harukawa. Do a good job, you guys." Then Kaito left the room, still a bit wobbly. Shuichi opened the Monokuma file and skimmed through it.

"The Monokuma file included the time of death this time." Maki said.

"2 a.m. Everyone must have been asleep... we probably can't rely on witness testimonies." Shuichi muttered in response.

"So... the murder happened at night time after all." Tsumugi shivered. "If everyone had followed the student's council's rules like Yonaga-san and God said..."

Korekiyo giggled. "Kehehe... What good will saying that do? The culprit may be one of the student council, yes?"

Kiibo's eyes widened. "A member of the student council? Th-That's-"

"Possible." Ichika interrupted him.

"We should go and figure that out! Let's start investigating and solve this mystery together!" Kokichi chirped.

"..." Himiko looked at the ground. "I can't... do it... I cant investigate Yonaga's body..."

"But... if we don't make it through the class trial, then everyone will die..." Tenko put her index fingers together nervously.

"I... don't care anymore..." Himiko grumbled. "Surviving... and everything else... It's too much of a pain."

"Pleeeease don't tell me you're going to become a burden to us again like the last trial." Ichika groaned.

"H-Hey! Yumeno-san is never, ever a burden!" Tenko glared at Ichika.

"Toujou-san's trial would like to speak now." Ichika deadpanned.

"If it's too much of a fuckin' pain, then why don't we just use your magic to revive Yonaga!?" Miu barked.

"This is no time for mean-spirited taunts!" Kiibo interjected. "Reviving her is clearly impossible!"

"We cannot say that with certainty, no?" Korekiyo spoke up.

"Excuse me!?"

"Well... of course resurrecting her is impossible, but I know a way we can speak with Yonaga-san. We can summon her spirit with a seance called The Caged Child."

"Seance...?" Maki sighed in annoyance. "What are you talking about? Cut it out already."

"Y-Yeah! This is no time for jokes!" Tenko shouted.

"Oh, I'm serious... This is for our investigation." Korekiyo explained.

"For our investigation?" Shuichi repeated.

"If we speak with Yonaga-san, we can ask her who the culprit is and bring this case to a swift close."

"First, a resurrection ritual and now a seance?" Kokichi grinned. "Are you messing with us?"

"Kehehe... I would appreciate it if you didn't compare it to Monokuma's foolishness. Seances are genuine occurrences. They are written of in literature all over the world. In fact, I myself have participated in seances a great many times..."

"M-Many times?" Gonta exclaimed.

"Well, you certainly have the spirit for it, huh?" Ichika snickered.

"..." Korekiyo sighed at Ichika's pun and just continued. "...On top of that, we have here a rare chance to perform the legendary seance, The Caged Child." He showed the students a rather tattered looking green book. "It would be foolish to not take advantage of this, yes?"

Tsumugi sweated. "N-No matter how you put it, now's not the time for something-"

"Oh? I suspect the only way to confirm your earlier theory is by performing the seance, yes?"

"My... earlier theory?"

"The possibility of the culprit being the transfer student... It is not wise to go into the class trial with such outlandish theories in one's head. So to prove such a thing impossible, I think we best consult Yonaga-san herself."

"Th-That logic is peculiar, to say the least!" Kiibo exclaimed.

"Holding a seance to find out about the ritual... So we're gonna fight the occult with the occult." Kokichi said. "Well, we can't worry about this forever, so we might as well go with the easiest solution. Okay, I'll help out! I was getting bored of investigating anyway!"

"...I'll help too."

"Huh!? You too, Yumeno-san!?" Tenko shrieked.

"A seance or whatever it takes... I'll do it."

"I-I'll help out as well! I can't leave Yumeno-san alone!"

"Do whatever you want."

"Okay... I will."

"So now we have four participants. Ouma-kun, Yumeno-san, Chabashira-san and myself..." Korekiyo said. "However, The Caged Child required five people. We're still one short..."

"Fiiiine, then Kiiboy can come, too." Kokich whined.

"I guess we can't be picky." Himiko sighed.

"Why am I being forced to participate AND being treated like a burden!?"

"So then," Korekiyo continued, ignoring Kiibo's outburst. "We need a place to perform the seance... Where shall we do it?"

"How about your lab?" Kokichi suggested.

"No... in order for The Caged Child to succeed, the room must be as dark as possible. My lab has windows, so turning the lights off won't make it quite dark enough."

"Then... How about the empty rooms?" Himiko piped up.

Shuichi placed a finger on his chin. "The empty rooms? The ones on the fourth floor?"

"There arent any windows there, so if we blow out the candles, it should be pitch dark."

"Sure, I'm fine with that."

"I agree with Yumeno-san!"

"However, there are three empty rooms. Which one shall we use?" Korekiyo asked Himiko.

Himiko hummed. "Um... the middle room. The middle room's always best for stuff like this."

"Very well. I shall begin the preparations at once. I shall have you four help as well. Let us carry all the necessary equipment from my lab."

"Oh! Can I help carry the stuff to the empty room?" Ichika piped up. "I don't really wanna be in this room for much longer..."

"Of course. The more people who help, the faster this shall be done."

"A-Are you really going to do this?" Shuichi stammered.

Korekiyo nodded. "This is for our investigation. I said as much, did I not? Kehehe... We need to use all our effort to discover the culprit, lest our lives be lost." Korekiyo, Tenko, Himiko, Ichika, Kokichi, and Kiibo all left Angie's lab and headed to Korekiyo's lab. Korekiyo, Himiko, Kokichi and Kiibo all helped pick up things like a dog statue and some salt. Tenko and Ichika were going to carry the cage.

Ichika and Tenko carried the heavy, metal cage down to the empty rooms, walked down to the middle empty room and placed the cage in the middle of the circle that Korekiyo had drawn. Korekiyo then sent Kokichi off to fetch a white sheet.

"Ah, I see you have brought the cage... Excellent. I applaud your strength." Korekiyo walked into the room.

"Thank you, Shinguji-san!" Ichika smiled and Tenko just clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Shinguji-chan!" Kokichi ran into the middle room with a white sheet, which he just dumped on the floor.

"What is it?" Korekiyo asked.

"Saihara-chan says he wants to participate in the seance!" As Kokichi said that, Shuichi walked into the room.

Korekiyo turned to look at Shuichi. "So... Ouma-kun tells me you wish to participate in the seance as well? Kehehe... You are most welcome to join us... Is what I'd like to say. However, only five, including the spiritual medium, may join."

"Aw maaaan, what a shame. Well, Kiiboy, you're out." Kokichi giggled.

"...Why me!?" Kiibo exclaimed.

"...I agree with Ouma-san." Tenko spoke up. "I was thinking this for a while... Robots and seances don't mix! They're like toothpaste and orange juice!"

"To be honest, I had the same thought. Your help was appreciated... Kiibo-kun." Korekiyo said.

Kiibo gawked at the students. "D-Don't any of you feel guilty for kicking me out after forcing me to come?"

"That's why we're apologizing!" Kokichi huffed.

"No one's apologized yet!"

"Fine, fine, our bad... Just don't get mad and start shooting electromagnetic waves at us."

"Why would I do that!?"

"Stop whining, Kiibo." Himiko grumbled. "I want to start the seance as soon as possible."

"F-Fine... But I won't forget this betrayal, Saihara-kun!" Kiibo gave Shuichi a glare then briskly walked out of the room.

Ichika blinked. "Well... that just happened."

Korekiyo then explained to Shuichi what he had to do before turning back to the other students.

"Well then, let us begin the ritual right away." Korekiyo announced. "Before that, let's choose a spiritual medium. It would work best with a girl..."

"Then I'll do it." Himiko offered. "I can't think of anyone but me that Yonaga's spirit should go in."

"... No, I'll do it." Tenko said. "Because if you're the spirit medium, you won't be able to talk to Yonaga-san. You wanna talk to Yonaga-san, right? Then I'll be the spirit medium... That way, you can say goodbye to her. After you've finished saying your goodbyes..." Tenko smiled sadly. "Keep your chin up and live life facing forwards! Survive with me and everyone else!"

"..." Himiko remained quiet.

"Also, Yumeno-san, let me say this one thing. Expressing your feelings is perfectly natural. You shouldn't feel ashamed at all. So... if you feel like crying while you're talking to Yonaga-san, go ahead and cry your eyes out. Well, I mean... laughing makes you feel better too... And venting your anger onto something can really cheer you up! Train your heart by crying, laughing and venting your anger Yumeno-san!"

"..." Himiko smiled. "I think you've trained too much..."

"Hahaha, you're probably right."

"So now that we've decided on a spiritual medium, let us begin." Korekiyo spoke up.

"Alright, Yumeno-san! I'll see you later!" Tenko waved to Himiko and went to the centre of the circle.

"Now, I would like the spirit medium, Chabashira-san, to sit within the centre circle... Please be sure to walk on the path so as to not disturb the magic circle. We must place the iron cage atop Chabashira-san. I shall leave that to Aki-san and Ouma-kun." Korekiyo turned to Ichika and Kokichi, pointing at the metal cage.

"O-kay, you can count on me," Kokichi bounced his was way over to the cage, Ichika following closely behind. "I may not look like it, but I'm actually super-duper strong!"

"Are you now?" Ichika raised an eyebrow at him as they both lifted the cage up. He struggled to hold the cage up as we walked to the centre of the cage.

"U-Ugh... I shouldn't have lied... I'm way too weak for this kind of stuff..."

"Then don't lie about that kind of stuff." Ichika deadpanned.

"Hold on! Don't just drop it on me!" Tenko screeched.

"I-I know," Kokichi said. "It wouldn't be very funny if a body discovery announcement happened during this..."

"Geeez, don't jinx it, you chicken nugget!" Ichika pouted as they carefully placed the cage on top of Tenko.

"Phew, I'm tired." Kokichi panted.

"Yeah, no kidding. You look like a dog after it had a long run." Ichika smirked.

"Meeeeeeean!!!" Kokichi pouted. "So next, we cover the basket with a white cloth, right?"

"I shall take that role." Korekiyo walked up to the cage and placed the cloth over the cage. "Alright, everything is prepared. Chabashira-san, how are you doing?"

"Well... I can only see the floor from this position, but I think I'm fine!"

"The final step is to place the wooden statue of the dog god atop the cage... The five of us might need to do this together. The statue is quite heavy." The students all gathered around the wooden statue and lifted it up, making their way over to the clothed cage.

"Nyeeeeh! Nyeeeeh..."

"E-Even with five people... It's still really heavy!" Shuichi exclaimed.

"Krgh! Holy crap, this weights a ton!" Kokichi complained.

"No... It is not much more than 175 pounds..." Korekiyo explained.

"Geez... I really need to work out more..." Ichika mumbled as they carefully placed the dog statue on top of the metal cage.

"Phew, I'm totally wiped." Kokichi said.

"This is the point of no return, Chabashira-san. After this point, you mustn't speak." Korekiyo said. "The next time you open your mouth, it will be Yonaga-san speaking through you."

"Understood! I will not say a word until the seance is over!" Tenko responded. "Okay everyone! I will see you after the seance!"

"Well, I'll be going now. I wish you guys the best of luck with seance!" Ichika headed to the door.

"Ah! Aki-san!" Shuichi called out. "U-Um, can you apologize to Kiibo-kun for me, please...? You know... For kicking him out of the seance?"

Ichika giggled. "Haha, sure thing!" Ichika walked out of the room and headed back to Angie's lab. She found Kiibo wandering around the room, occasionally glancing at Angie.

"Kiibo-san?" Ichika called out to him, and he turned around, startled.

"O-Oh, Aki-san. You're back."

Ichika nodded. "They are performing the seance now, I believe. I came here to check out that katana." She gasped. "Oh yeah, Saihara-san also told me to tell you he's sorry for kicking you out."

"Well, at least one person apologized..." Kiibo grumbled. Ichika laughed nervously and went to investigate the room.

***

Ding dong, dong ding!

"H-Huh?"

"Eh? Another body?" Ichika exclaimed.

"Quick, let's go!" Kiibo ran out of Angie's lab, Ichika closely behind him. The two students ran to the middle empty room and found Tenko's lifeless body laying on the ground.

"Ch-Chabashira? S-Seriously!?"

"Wh-What is this? How did this happen?"

"Ch-Chabashira-san...! I'm so sorry... I couldn't protect you too!" Gonta sobbed.

"Saihara, explain the situation," Maki demanded. "I thought you were conducting the seance. What happened?"

"Rise and shine, ursine!" The all too familiar catchphrase echoed throughout the room.

"I'm surprised too!" Monotaro exclaimed. "I never thought a murder would happen during an investigation! U-Um, I guess for now... you should maybe start the investigation right away!?"

"Before that, I would like to confirm something..." Korekiyo stared at the cubs. "The culprit that killed Yonaga-san may be a different culprit from the one who killed Chabashira-san, yes? What happens in the event there are two murders by two people? What if there are two blackened? Will we need to find them both at the class trial?"

"Now that you mention it, that's a good point. What would happen in that scenario?" Kiibo questioned.