Chapter 8- Rule Breaking Punishment

I finally felt light enter my eyelids. A small ringing sound enter my ears as I felt something hard on the back of my head.

I opened my eyes and gazed up confused as I saw a light shine down at me from a ceiling at least thirty feet above my body. I looked beside me to see Aoi hovering over me while looking down at my body. When I opened my eyes, she shines bright smile down at me.

"Finally! You're awake!" She said happily as she helped me sit up right and I looked around to find myself sitting on the bleachers inside the gym.

Everyone else was there as well. Along with Makoto who was still passed out and was laying on the bleachers as well. That's when I remembered everything... Sayaka's dead body flashed passed my eyelids as I gazed around scared hoping it was a dream but found no sign of Sayaka among everyone. She was really dead...

"I-Is Maizono really..." I could barely form the words inside my mouth as I tried to get the disgusting image of Sayaka's dead body laying against the bathroom wall with blood splattered all around her as a knife hung out of her chest. I wished it wasn't real. I wished she wasn't actually dead... But some part of me knew it... And I couldn't bare the fact that my friend was now dead.

"I-I'm afraid she is," I heard Chihiro's small voice as I gazed at her as she gave me a worried look.

I looked down at the gym floor to avoid anybody else's gaze. I couldn't believe it. One of my friends were dead. A friend I made while here. Somebody that I enjoyed the company of and in return, she gave me her friendship.

Somebody here was ruthless. They were ruthless enough to stab a knife through her heart and have her die so they can get out of here. Selfish people... They don't care who they might affect by doing this and I was going to avenge Sayaka, she would want that... I would do it for her.

"Why are we here?" I asked while trying to sound calm to hide my emotions. Hide the sadness rushing through me. The anger towards whoever did this. I always was good at deceiving people. "Somebody was murdered... Are we just going to shrug that off!" I raised my voice as I looked at everyone in the gym.

They all were going through different emotions. Sorrow. Sadness. Anger. All but one person who wanted this to happen. I couldn't tell who it was, but I'll find out who it is one way or another.

"Monokuma asked us to come here after finding the body," Celeste explained as she twirled a piece of hair between her fingers.

"It's about an announcement or somethin'," Yasuhiro said while scratching the back of his head.

I nodded silently to show I understood. I didn't want to say anything unless tears came out of my eyes on accident.

Monokuma wanted to explain something to us. That was why we were all here waiting. Makoto wasn't awake yet so I expected that it wouldn't start until Makoto was fully awake.

A few minutes passed as everyone kept silent throughout the gym while waiting for Makoto to wake up.

I spent this time glaring at everyone in the room. I tried to see if I could tell if anybody was acting suspicious. It was a hard task.

Everyone seemed sad or worried or angered. Perhaps somebody here was mimicking an other to make it seem like they are innocent through all of this. I couldn't trust anybody... Not when one of them murdered my close friend.

I couldn't believe one of us would kill a classmate and friend. Some people here didn't surprise me if they were the ones to stab the knife through Sayaka's heart. But anybody could be a suspect. Could I even trust Aoi? My closest friend here?

I didn't expect Aoi to murder someone but I didn't know what appeared in her video. Perhaps something dark appeared on that screen which made her kill... No... Aoi wouldn't kill somebody.

I sighed as I shook the thought from my mind. Trust your friends. The one rule I made. I needed to trust Aoi, along with Chihiro, Sakura, and Makoto and know that they weren't the ones that did it. Because I trusted them the most.

After a couple more minutes. I heard a moaning sound and I directed my attention towards Makoto as I saw him open his eyes on the bleachers and look around dazed and confused as I once was only a few minutes ago.

"What the...?" Makoto moaned confused as he sat up and gazed at everyone in the room. "Where am I?"

"The gym," Chihiro answered with a relieved look.

"We carried your here after you passed out," Aoi explained as she moved over to Makoto's side. I expected they did the same thing with me when I passed out inside the cafeteria after seeing the sight of the body. Dead bodies always made me like that. The image of her dead body still made me feel uneasy, but I felt a bit better from it.

"Well, Ogami did the heavy lifting, actually," Chihiro said with a smile. Of course Sakura carried us here. She was the strongest one out of all of us. It didn't surprise me that she would be the one to carry our bodies to the gym.

"So what I saw... was real?" Makoto asked in a frightened voice as he seemed to remember Sayaka's body. He then gasped softly. "How's Maizono?!"

Everyone stayed silent. I didn't know how to explain to Makoto that his closest friend here was now dead and that one of us killed her in cold blood.

"I'm afraid she's deceased. Homicide," Byakuya answered calmly.

Makoto looked over at Byakuya with widened eyes as I couldn't help but feel sorry for Makoto. Sayaka was his closest friend here. It must've been hard for him to loose a close friend like her.

So, it didn't surprise me as I watched Makoto get up from off the bleachers and started to run towards the doors of the gym in a frantic mess. He looked scared as his face was pale with fright and a tear fell down his face.

I quickly got up as well and rushed over to Makoto and grabbed hold of his sleeve to stop him from running. He didn't look at me in the eye as he tugged hard on his sleeve while my hand still clutched hard on his shirt.

"Naegi, calm down!" I said calmly with a stern look to try and hide my sadness still. Makoto was now in a mess, I shouldn't go down with him.

"Let go of me! I have to help her!" Makoto said as he continued to tug hard on my grip as I stood unmoving.

"You can't help her! She's dead! We can't do anything about it!" I yelled at Makoto as I felt him stop tugging against me and looked over at me with tears filling his eyes. It was hard for me to say those words. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as I continued to hold onto Makoto. I couldn't allow him to leave and see Sayaka's dead body again.

"Then why are we all standing here with our thumbs up our butts? Someone's been murdered! We can't just treat this like it's any other day!" Makoto yelled at us as I let go of his shirt when I realized he wasn't going to make a break for the door.

"Understand, Naegi, it isn't as though we chose to stand around," Kyoko said while looking down at the ground.

"So then what the hell's going on?!" Makoto asked in an angered voice.

"Ugh. It was the damn bear. The principal. He ordered us to meet in the gym. Something about a pep rally," Toko answered in her usual harsh tone.

"Believe me, we are all against the idea. 'How on Earth can you be so disrespectful,' we said. But then—" Taka began to explain but his words were cut off by someone else.

"Because they took my suggestion and complied," Kyoko interrupted with crossed arms. I looked over with a furrowed brow. What happened while I was out? "It's best if we just do as the bear says for now. We're his prisoners, plain and simple. Nothing good can come of us defying him on impulse. Unless we want more casualties, we have to play by his rules."

"He killed her..." Makoto said in a dark voice as I saw another tear fall down his cheek, he meant Monokuma. "She was vulnerable and he killed her... I know it!"

"BAAH!" I heard the familiar cheery voice at the other end of the room and I looked over to see Monokuma standing on his red podium while facing all of us. "As if little ol' me would do something like that!" He raised his nub into the air. "Scouts honor! It wasn't me!"

I knew it wasn't him. Everyone else seemed too dumb to realize that. Someone here was Sayaka's murderer. Plain and simple. And somebody here knew that they did it.

"You monster!" Makoto yelled at the bear as we all moved to the front of the gym to look up at him. Makoto still didn't realize that one of us did it...

"Use your head, Mr. Jumps-To-Conclusions. Why would I do something that goes against the whole point of this fine institution," Monokuma explained as we all glared at him. "You're supposed to do the killing, not me. Rules are rules. You should've seen me at the zoo when folks ignored the 'do not feed the bears' sign!"

"But then, who else?" Chihiro asked with a worried look in her eyes.

"It's obvious," I said in a sigh as I saw everyone gaze at me confused and worried. "It was one of us... One of us killed Maizono..."

Everyone then reacted to this as some gasped and looked at one another nervous and scared. Oh come on, mostly everyone here didn't realize that?!

"Ugh, really?! THAT pulled the rug out from under all of you? I thought you were supposed to be 'gifted' students! It's obvious! One of you sent poor Maizono to the sweet hereafter so you could breathe free air again. And that's okay! It's what you're supposed to do!" Monokuma explained in a laugh as I looked at everyone with an angered look.

Someone here was a selfish coward and killed somebody, specifically my friend, so they can escape this hell hole! We could've found a way out together without killing one another. Why couldn't anyone here be patient?

"This is horrible!" Chihiro said while cupping her mouth with her hands.

"He's lying!" Aoi said through gritted teeth. Come on, Aoi, I thought she was smarter than that. It was fairly obvious that one of us did it.

"Of course he's lying!" Makoto agreed with an angered expression towards Monokuma.

"Sorry, Charlie! I'm telling the truth. It was definitely one of you. And right now, someone standing here knows all too well," Monokuma said, his voice drifting off as he looked at everyone in the room.

"Is he telling the truth?" Chihiro asked everyone else with a terrified look. Perhaps she was scared somebody would kill her next.

"I'm afraid he is," I answered while looking up at the robotic bear. "Some coward murdered Maizono so they can escape."

"I deman whoever did it come forward immediately!" Taka ordered with an angered expression as I rolled my eyes at him.

"Heh. Sure, that'll work like a charm. Do you ever listen to yourself!" Toko said while biting one of her fingernails.

"Look, whoever it is, I won't judge," Celeste said calmly while looking at everyone in the room.

"I don't think the killer would come out that easily," I said while rolling my eyes with everyone's thoughts and how they think that the killer will just reveal themselves because someone asked them too.

"I-It wasn't me! I swear!" Hifumi said while sweating nervously. I honestly didn't believe that he committed this. I don't think he has the guts to commit a crime like that.

"Nuh-uh! I know you're not looking at me!" Leon said nervously as well as I gazed at him with a furrowed brow. I didn't know why, but I found him suspicious.

"Silence, all of you!" Byakuya ordered us as everyone fell silent. I just fell silent because I didn't want to talk. I wouldn't follow a command Byakuya tells us to do. "Right, then. Let us assume the perpetrator is in fact one of us. By your own rules, shouldn't they have graduated by now?"

I then looked up at Monokuma as he laughed hard at Byakuya's question. "Well, aren't we a Glass-Half-Full kind of guy? I like your reckless optimism! Having said that, though, the main attraction is yet to come!"

"What's that mean?" Makoto asked confused as I seemed confused as well.

"Listen up! Freedom isn't straightforward; there are a few supplemental rules," Monokuma said as I tried to retrace every rule I read inside the handbook.

"You mean that rule in the handbook about graduating? When somebody kills a classmates may graduate but he or she must not get caught by anyone else," I said, remembering the rule that was stated inside the digital notebook. I was a little confused by it, but maybe Monokuma was going to add on to it.

"Exactamundo! Someone studied! Murder alone won't cut the mustard; the killer has to get away with it," Monokuma explained as I thought about this for a moment.

So, somebody did the killing already, whoever did it though would have to get rid of all the evidence pointing towards them so they will be able to leave this place... Perhaps I should check the body again to see if the killer left anything behind... If I could look at the body that was.

"In other words, to go free we must commit the perfect crime," Celeste said in a thinking position.

"After each homicide, you'll have time to investigate before convening to debate the guilt or innocence of those who remain. We call these debates— Wait for it— Trials!" Monokuma explained. So, I could avenge Sayaka at the class trial and make sure the killer gets what they deserve...

Then came the long explanation of how the trials work. "The trial format is loosely modeled on parliamentary procedure; fierce back and forth being the order of the day. If the guilty part is correctly identified, they will be summarily punished and the rest of you allowed to carry on under normal school conditions. Accuse someone wrongly, however, and the defendant goes free while the rest of you are punished. So point the fingers at your own peril! There you have it! High stakes trial by jury! Beautiful system really."

So, if I found out who the killer was, they would get punished for doing something wrongly. I could avenge Sayaka... That was all that mattered to me. I wanted to go now so I can find out who murdered my poor friend.

"Uh, sir... These punishments... What do they consist of?" Hifumi asked nervously as I thought about it. Did they get cut several times by a knife? Or perhaps thrown in some sort of prison cell?

"Ah, I suppose another name for them would be executions," Monokuma explained and I muffled a gasp as some others looked worried and scared.

"S-So if we find out who the killer is, they get death as punishment like their victim did?" I asked trying to hide how nervous I was about all this.

"Yep! You're lives are at risk, so make sure you make the right choice! These executions consist of: Electrocution, gas chamber, death by hurricane, which, yes, we CAN make happen," Monokuma explained as I looked at him confused. How could you make a hurricane happen inside a school?

"Wait. I want to make sure I understand. Decide incorrectly and the jury gets killed?" Taka asked while looking concerned by this odd court system. If I chose the killer wrong, than that means I'll get killed instead?! That meant I had to tread carefully when investigating.

"Let no one say you aren't the smartest chimp in the tree. Oh, and way to imply you're not the culprit in this case, by the way. Well done!" Monokuma said cheerfully as Taka looked agitated by this comment. Well, at least I could scratch Taka's name off the list of suspects. "You all get to play judge, jury, and executioner, quite possibly of yourselves, so proceed with caution!"

I had to be cautious about all this, Monokuma made that crystal clear. That meant I had to face my fears of looking down at a dead body... I swallowed a large lump in my throat as I tried to breath. It's alright... I could handle looking at a dead body... Sure, there is a lot of blood... And open tears of flesh and wounds... Along with a knife sticking out of their chest giving a clear view of their... insides... No! I couldn't look at a dead body! I was dead meat! I knew it! How would I be able to find out who killed Sayaka when I can't even look at her dead body?!

"Nu-uh! You're a nut job and I refuse to be part of this crap!" I was snapped out of my thoughts as I looked around for the sound of the snappy female voice and I looked over to see Junko looking pissed at Monokuma. This girl was an idiot. Did she not understand the circumstances that come with breaking the rules?

"Beg pardon?" Monokuma asked, clearly taken aback from Junko's sudden sassy behavior towards him.

"You heard me, you psycho hair ball. Far as I'm concerned, the whole trial thing can get bent!" Junko argued as she crossed her arms and gave Monokuma a threatening look. Sure, the trial was an insane idea with the execution rule... But we had to deal with it, because the killer deserves to die for killing Sayaka.

"Aw, but why?" Monokuma whined.

"Is that even a question?! I'm not playing juror if it means risking my damn life and that's that!" Junko argued and I looked scared if something was going to happen by Junko's arguing words with Monokuma.

"Oh, be reasonable!" Monokuma whined again.

"Don't even try to talk to me about being reasonable, you sadistic freakazoid. I'm out of the game," Junko argued again as she looked quite pissed at Monokuma.

What was she thinking facing Monokuma?! She had quite a bit of bravery to do that but she was stupid to think that Monokuma was going to let her out. It wasn't that easy... It couldn't be...

"Ooh-hoo-hoo! The presence of evil before me is so overpowering, whatever shall I do?" Monokuma said sarcastically as he then raised his silver claw to show Junko in a threatening way. "I shan't succumb. Perish the thought! No, ma'am. I'm stronger than that! When Monokuma fights, he fights to the last breath. I will not be defeated!"

I stepped back nervously as everyone else did as we watched Monokuma jump down from off the stage and started walking towards Junko threateningly. I knew who would win if those two fight. I saw the rule. The punishment that comes after it. I worried that would happen to Junko as well. I couldn't look...

"I'll nip this budding rebellion and reign victorious over—" Monokuma started as he walked passed everyone and towards Junko.

But, his words were drowned out as I looked in shock as Junko then stepped onto the Monokuma robot with her foot and kept the robot buried beneath her heels.

"I'm sorry. You were trying to say something?" Junko asked sarcastically as she gave a threatening look to Monokuma beneath her foot.

"Big mistake..." Monokuma's muffled voice said beneath Junko's shoe.

"Huh?" Junko asked confused as she furrowed a brow.

"Man-handling the principle in any way, shape, or form is strictly forbidden. The rules, remember? I know I warned you about breaking them," Monokuma explain as his face was being smooshed by Junko's awfully large shoes. "Activating summoning magic!" I then heard a siren buzz and I was worried if the Monokuma was going to blow up in Junko's face. "Save me, Gungnir Spears!"

I felt my heart stop at the next thing that happened. I felt my bones shake as my face turned pale white at the sight before me. A large slashing sound came from as if no where and I saw several pointed spears zoom pass all of us at the doors of sound and struck themselves in various stops of Junko's body. I looked at her in an uneasy feeling as I tried to balance myself from the sight.

Several spears were sticking out of Junko's body all around her chest as I saw blood drip from the various holes and onto the floor. My hands started shaking uncontrollably as I looked at Junko in shock. Her face looked shocked as her mouth hung open. Her eye twitched slightly as she looked down at the gushing holes on her stomach.

"Okay... Not gonna lie, kinda weird... It's, uh, I dunno really...." Junko started saying weakly as I felt myself stand in place unable to move.

Blood started dripping out of Junko's mouth and down her face as I saw the pink color start to stain her clothes as the spears made a sharp, SHWISH sound and blood started draining from Junko's body faster and faster as she finally fell to the ground dead.

The spears stuck out of her chest as her own blood stained the solid black color that stabbed through Junko's now stopped heart.

I felt myself shake like crazy as beads of sweat fell down my face at the sight. I felt the noises of everyone around me become muffled as I felt my mind become clouded by the image of Junko's dead body. Toko fell to the floor, passed out from the sight of blood as I wanted to do the same as her. But I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't do anything as I continued to stare at Junko's dead body. Something about it made guilt rush through my body when seeing her dead on the ground, as if I should mourn her death.

I felt my breakfast travel up my throat. I knew I was going to vomit sooner or later at the sight as I felt someone's hands clasp my shoulders as I stayed frozen in place. She's dead. She's dead. She's dead. She wasn't coming back.

The sight of the dead body wanted me to pass out as well like Toko just did. I couldn't handle seeing a dead body, not even seeing them die themselves. It felt like my body stopped functioning completely. Like my entire system shut down when looking at Junko's dead body.

"Henka... Henka... Henka!" I heard the muffled voice against my ear drums say softly, but they were really saying this loudly as they shook my shoulders.

I blinked quickly and shook my head to snap out of my trans. I looked over at who grasped my shoulders and saw Makoto look at me concerned. I quickly shrugged his grip off me as I turned towards the stage.

Monokuma was gone. He probably said something to everyone but I was too focused to hear what it was. I looked back at everyone else and stayed silent. I was scared if I opened my mouth, my breakfast may come out as well.

"This is insanity... What do we do? If that was an example..." Makoto said while looking back at Junko's body. I didn't want to look back at her body. I couldn't or I might go into another trans. The sight of dead bodies just petrified me.

"At the very least we can rule out Enoshima as a suspect in Maizono's death," Byakuya said as he looked down at Junko's body.

"T-That barely n-narrows the list though," I said in a hoarse voice as I turned around to look down at Junko. Now that she was actually dead. It wasn't terrifying to look at. "There's still f-fourteen students here that c-could've m-murdered her..."

"I propose that we move forward with the investigation. Not to sound unduly harsh, but mourning for lives lost can only hamper chances of saving our own," Celeste explained to everyone.

"Sorry, but that was harsh," Makoto said in a sigh.

"The girl was warned; not least of all by me. Those who canning adapt are quickly swept away on the tide of their own obsolescence. In short, good riddance," Celeste explained. She was right. Junko was stupid to not take the warnings and rules that were given to her. Her actions caused this death.

"That is a terrible thing to say!" Aoi commented as she looked frightened by Junko's dead body.

"Our personal feelings on the matter are neither here nor there. The situation we've been tasked with is to unmask the culprit or die," Kyoko explained with a serious look.

"Y-Yeah... We should start looking," I said softly.

"Aw, crap. Heads up, guys! We got sent some new pages!" Yasuhiro said and when I looked over at him, he had his digital notebook in hand.

I took out mine from my purse along with everyone else and looked down confused as I saw something appear on the screen, The Monokuma Files.

"The Monokuma Files, huh?" Leon said while reading it out loud.

I opened the digital file to look shocked to see a fully descriptive screen appeared in front of me with Sayaka's dead body on one side of the screen along with information regarding her death. When looking at Sayaka's dead body again, it disgusted me to look at it. Seeing her with a knife sticking out of her chest made me a little dizzy.

"Woah. It gives a complete run-down of Maizono's cause-of-death," Hifumi said looking amazed at the file.

"I suppose this'll help during our investigation," I said while looking down at the information and reading it to myself. Skipping a few words and forming the summary in my head.

Sayaka was killed from a stab wound. Most likely used from the knife that came from the kitchen and went missing last night. She was killed early in the morning. As I read through the words, I saw a few words stick out to me, found dead in Naegi's room...

I turned towards Makoto in shock as everyone still seemed to be reading. Did he really...? No! There was no way Makoto would murder Sayaka! They were close friends! But still, it made no sense when saying she was found dead in Makoto's room... The sign above the door read Maizono...

"Apparently the room she was found dead in wasn't her own. But, quite tellingly, it was Naegi's," Celeste explained to everyone as she gazed up from her digital notebook along with everyone else to look over at Makoto.

"Should've known! You greased the poor girl, didn't you?" Mondo asked Makoto in an intimidating voice as Makoto gazed shocked at everyone.

"Hold on just a minute. It's not what it looks like! She came to me wanting to switch rooms for the night and I said okay. She was scared; she needed my help!" Makoto said in a panic. I couldn't tell if it was an excuse or not though.

"Oh, sure. We'll believe that line," Mondo said sarcastically.

"Stinks if you ask me..." Leon said as he crossed his arms and glared at Makoto.

"Oh, come on. You guys really think I did it?" Makoto asked while looking innocent. I wanted to believe him. I really did. I wanted to believe every word he was telling me. But evidence was stacked against him... There was no way I could speak in his defense.

"Naegi, put yourself in our shoes, what would you think? I'm sorry, but if you're innocent, the burden of proof is on you," Byakuya said to Makoto as he gazed worryingly at everyone else.

I looked over at Makoto with sadness filling my eyes. I didn't want to believe that he killed Sayaka. They were so close. Why would Makoto do that to her?

Or did Makoto really kill Sayaka?