Word Count: 1,683}

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Upon opening the door before me, I was greeted with the faces of my classmates. Some were uneasy while others seemed to keep themselves calm. I stood awkwardly among them, the silence in the room causing my ears to ring a bit.

I noticed that a few eyed me suspiciously, most likely assuming that I was the murderer. I gulped, feeling a bit uneasy myself. Breaking the silence in the room, the monitor on the wall came to life, displaying Monokuma on the screen.

Clearing his throat, Monokuma spoke, "is everyone here? Perfect! Please head into the elevator before you; it will take you to the courtroom where the class trial will take place! I'll meet you down there!"

The monitor then turned off, leaving the room in silence once again. One by one, each of us scurried into the elevator. Some mumbled small words before stepping in, while others remained silent like myself. Once we were all boarded in the elevator, the metal doors closed and produced a small screeching sound. The elevator began to move downwards, the sound of the elevator the only sound present among all of us.

Finally, the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and revealed what seemed to be a courtroom. We all slowly stepped out into the room. We all took our places behind a podium and glanced around at each other with expressions of multiple emotions.

"Upupupu! You're all here!" Monokuma shouted, appearing out of nowhere. "What do you think? Does it feel like a real courtroom?"

"It's total shit," Mondo cursed as he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Monokuma frowned at his words, then proceeded to say, "alright whatever. Make sure you are in your assigned place everyone!"

We did as told and made sure we were in our correct spots. The podiums were arranged in a circle to where everyone could see each other clearly. Monokuma took his seat on what seemed to be a throne-like chair that stood above everyone else. From where I was placed, I could easily see Monokuma. His seat was straight across from me, his glare burning into me.

"Alright everyone! Let's start with an explanation of how this class trial will work," Monokuma remarked, crossing his legs. Monokuma then went into detail about how the class trial would work, making sure to explain everything before it officially started.

Before the class trial started, Kyoko pointed at the pictures displayed in the courtroom. Behind some of the podiums were pictures of Sayaka and Junko, each picture having a large "X" over their faces. "Monokuma, what is going on with those pictures?" Kyoko questioned.

"Well, I didn't want them to feel let out just because they died!" Monokuma asserted, letting out a small laugh.

"And why is there an empty space?" I remarked, pointing to the empty podium in front of Monokuma. "There are only fifteen of us, so why are there sixteen podiums?"

"Oh, no reason! I just wanted it to be an even number of podiums," Monokuma answered with a grin. "Anyways, let's get this started! Let the class trial begin!"

With those words, it became official. The first class trial had commenced. The debate about who the killer is had started.

It began with the first debate. We first started with reviewing what we already knew about the case, then we proceeded to discuss other topics revolving around that. The first topic was revolving around how Sayaka was killed, obviously that was in the bathroom. There was debate whether or not she was taken by surprise or not, but I presented evidence that pointed to the conclusion that there was some sort of struggle between Sayaka and the killer.

The next topic was the murder weapon, which it was obvious to what that was. Plunged into Sayaka's abdomen was a knife, which seemed to be the murder weapon. Evidence leaded to the conclusion that the murder weapon was no other than a knife from the kitchen.

The debates continued and the topics constantly changed as we continued to discover more about the case. Some claimed that I was the murderer, after all, I was the main suspect at first. However, as the trial continued on, the blame was slowly shifted off of me.

In fact, we discovered that it was Sayaka's plan all along to murder someone and pin the murder onto me. She had invited someone over and had planned to kill them, only for her plan to go wrong. We were led to believe that whoever she invited over was the true culprit.

Now who could that possibly be?

"Come on everyone! This is taking forever. You're running low on time here, better decide who it is soon!" Monokuma groaned, tapping his finger against his armrest in impatience.

"If we don't figure this out soon, we're done for," Kyoko spoke with a stern look on her face.

"Wait...what about Sayaka's dying message?" I uttered as I furrowed my eyebrows. "I found it odd for a while, since it just looked like random numbers..."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Leon questioned, seeming a bit uneasy.

"In her own blood, Sayaka wrote 11037. This seems weird, does it not? It has to be a hint as to who the killer is," I mumbled as I glanced over at Leon. "It seems to resemble a name."

"I agree. Rotate it 180 degrees," Kyoko spoke in a serious tone. I turned the e-Handbook in which the image of 11037 was displayed upon, the image now seen in a different perspective. I looked at the image, a small frown appearing on my face. I set the e-Handbook down on the podium in front of me and looked up.

"The numbers 11037 are actually the letters L-E-O-N, or Leon when put together," I announced which earned the shocked expression of none other than Leon himself.

"W-What?! It's just a coincidence!" Leon yelled at me. "You're lying!"

I picked up the handbook and showed the image to the entire courtroom. "Your name is clearly there. It's the same image as before, I am not lying," I hissed at Leon. "Just confess to your crimes already!"

"It just happens to look like my name! It's just a load of crap!" Leon argued as he clenched his fist tightly. "I'm not the killer!"

"I have evidence to prove you are guilty," Kyoko said.

"W-What do you mean by that?!"

Kyoko then explained further how she had more evidence that had pointed to Leon as the killer. She had explored all of the school before the trial, so she found more evidence then the rest of us. The more she explained, the more it became obvious that Leon was the culprit.

"Leon, do you care to object to anything that has been said?" Kyoko questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

"Do I object? Of course I do! I object, I object I object!" Leon practically screamed at the top of his longs. "This is stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Is that all you have to say?" Byakuya scoffed. He smirked slightly and adjusted the glasses on his face.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" Leon repeated as he tugged on his red hair,

"It seems that we are done here," Celeste sighed.

Leon's voice soon faded away and he just continued to stare at the ground in disbelief. His face was drained of color and sweat dripped down his face.

"Well, well, well! Are we ready to cast our votes now?" Monokuma asked as he sat up from his seat. He stood in front of the empty podium in front of him and threw his arms out as though he was celebrating. "Everyone! There is a lever in front of you, cast your votes using it! Make sure you vote for someone, you wouldn't want to get punished, right?"

Everyone casted their votes in silence. Monokuma eagerly waited for everyone to finish so he could announce the results. Once everyone had voted, Monokuma reached into his pockets, pulled out confetti, and threw it up into the courtroom.

"Congratulations! You got it correct! Leon Kuwata is the culprit!" Monokuma exclaimed in excitement.

"W-Wait...hold on a second," Leon whispered as he shivered in fear.

"Y-You killed Sayaka?" Hina gasped.

"I-I didn't have a choice...i-it was kill or be killed! That's why I killed her first!" Leon yelled. "You would do the same thing if you were in my position!"

"Well, it is timed for the blackened's punishment!" Monokuma announced. Leon gasped and shook his head. He spoke, "please! D-Don't do this! I'm begging you!"

"Shut up! Enough begging, these are the rules," Monokuma spoke and he stepped over to Leon angrily. Monokuma stared at Leon with no mercy in his dark eyes. A creepy smile made its way onto Monokuma's face as he spoke, "now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Baseball Star."

"No, no, no, no, no!" Leon screamed as he tried to back away from the other boy. Monokuma let out a laugh and turned to everyone else. He cheered, "everyone! Let's give it everything we got! It's punishment time!"

Monokuma pressed a large red button that rose from the ground, laughing as he did so. A large chain seemed to appear from nowhere, latching itself around Leon's neck. He let out a loud scream as the chain pulled him back and down a dark hallway.

Before any of us knew it, we were in a dark room. We were standing behind the gates of a large batting cage, Leon being locked inside. Everyone's eyes widened as we watched our classmate be brutally executed before our eyes. His screams and some of our own filled the room as the punishment continued on.

This was the reality of this school. Betrayal, death, distrust, lies, execution, despair. Watching this take place before me only made me feel terrified. The harsh truth is what scared me most about this reality, and as far as I was aware, things weren't going to get better anytime soon.