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Kaede took a deep breath to steady herself. The first, and only, class trial of this killing game had fallen out of her control for a minute, but she'd managed to get everyone back on track with a carefully placed lie. She didn't like it, but it didn't matter. She couldn't let everyone vote for Shuichi.
Monokuma cackled some nonsense about split opinions and morphing trial grounds. He pulled a comically large gavel from who knows where and hopped up on his chair. Taking a huge swing, he brought it down on the large red button in front of him. At least, he was about to when he stopped all the momentum he built up just a hair's width away from pressing the button.
"Is something the matter?" Kirumi asked, quick to spot Monokuma's hesitation.
"Yeah! I just realized that you rascals all made your opinions known… except one. I gotta have EVERYONE'S stances before I can split the room!"
Kaede furrowed her eyebrows. Everyone had already spoken, right? Kokichi, Miu, Korekiyo, Maki, Tenko, Himiko, and Ryoma all thought Shuichi killed Rantaro, while Kaito, Angie, Tsumugi, Gonta, Kiibo and Kirumi believed her lie. Wasn't that's everyone?
Monokuma leaned forward and pointed. "You! What do you think?"
Monokuma's paw was pointed at the ultimate detective, Shuichi Saihara. Of course, how could Kaede forget that he hadn't said anything for the past couple of minutes? Obviously, he wasn't the culprit, but he just refused to defend himself for some reason.
Shuichi took a minute to look up, likely not expecting Monokuma to be pointing at him. "E-eh?! Me?"
"Yes you! How's about it? You wanna argue for your innocence or do you wanna confuse the masses and argue for your guilt?" Monokuma asked.
"Um well that's… I don't…" Shuichi tugged the brim of his hat even lower over it eyes.
"Come on kid, we don't have all day! At this point you're not gonna have the fastest trial yet, you'll have the slowest, like a snail. And guess who just got a whole load of salt!" Monokuma said, tapping his paw with the mallet.
"I… it's just…" Shuichi said, jaw working in between words as he tried to figure out what to say.
"Why you acting so fishy, huh?" Miu asked, leaning over her podium a little too far. "You know if you did it or not, so just go with the true side. Or actually, just make our lives easier and call yourself guilty."
Shuichi bit his lip at that, looking conflicted as his face scrunched up. Kaede tried to meet his eyes to give him an encouraging smile, but he resolutely avoided eye contact with her. That wasn't super strange for him, but the fact that he'd just looked Miu in the eyes moments ago convinced her that something was wrong.
"Shuichi, look at me." Kaede said, ducking her head to try and see under the brim of his hat. Shuichi just turned his head, facing Kokichi rather than her. Kaede pursed her lips, stepping off her podium. She glanced at Monokuma to make sure he wasn't about to yell at her for not being in place. When he just watched, she continued, coming to a stop at Shuichi's podium.
"Kaede, whatever are you doing?" Angie asked, tilting her head as she watched. Kaede just shook her head in response.
Looking up, Kaede saw her desired result, the podium made Shuichi taller than her, so she could easily see under his hat. Shuichi combat this by squeezing his eyes shut, but not turning away. Okay, she could work with this.
"Shuichi, why won't you look at me?" She whispered, taking his hands in hers.
His lips trembled as he spoke, barely above a whisper. "I'm scared."
"Of what?" She asked gently.
“That your eyes will look like his.”
...So he knew. He knew she was the killer.
“Shuichi, please look at me. I need you to know I mean this.”
Shuichi cracked an eye open, and when it was clear her expression wasn’t one of hate he opened them both.
“I want you to find the truth, no matter what it may be. Please.” She begged him, looking him in both his eyes for the first time since they met. His hat always covered the other one. She hadn't noticed how piercing his gaze could be until now.
Shuichi’s eyes started to water as he nodded. “O-okay. Okay Kaede.”
She gave him her biggest smile. “Good. You've got this.”
Kaede returned to her podium quickly, brushing off the looks her fellow classmates were giving her. Shuichi ran his sleeve over his eyes before looking up at Monokuma. "I'm not the culprit, that's the stance I'm taking.
"Finally!" Monokuma said, somehow conveying an eye roll without actual eyes. "Let's just get this over with."
With that, he pounded the button, and the podiums began to rise.