Danganronpa: Poisoned Hope (Fanganronpa)

Chapter 6 - Class Trial 2, Closing Argument

"Kuro, what are you saying?" Ryuto finally replied to my question, obviously panicked. "Of course I'm not the mastermind. There's no way I could ever do something like this!"

"That's very unlikely seeing as you are our top suspect now." Reina turned his argument down immediately.

"No he isn't!" Kei instantly defended him. "You're all suspects, not just him!"

"Since when?" Toshiro folded his arms and glared at Kei.

"Since this beginning of the killing game obviously! Ryuto's not the only suspect, so don't just focus on him." He answered.

"Hey, since when do you have that mentality?" Mizuki called him out. "As soon as the culprit is being suspected you go ham on accusing them!"

"That's different!"

"How so?" Reina asked, not looking convinced.

"Those trials are just us finding some killer. This one is way more important! Our lives are on the line! It's important that we pick the right person, so focusing on one suspect won't do us any good. It's unfair!" Kei argued, bringing up some excuse. But to me, it was obvious why he didn't want to suspect Ryuto.

They're so close...And Kei was so confident that Ryuto wasn't the mastermind, that he never thought of it. He's been so dead set on finding this mastermind, but now that we have a suspect, he's defending them...

I want to defend Ryuto too...He's practically been my closest friend here. We've relied on each other on multiple occasions. The thought of him being the mastermind is shocking to me too...But I can't defend him now.

"Our lives have always been on the line, idiot!" Mizuki pointed out.

"Yeah, and even if we do vote wrong, it's not like your gonna get executed. You get to waltz on out of here either way. So that's more fucking unfair than your shitty excuse for us not to accuse your stupid boyfriend."

"You think joining the mastermind isn't as bad?" Kei responded to Shiro's claim. "You guys just aren't thinking straight. We shouldn't accuse Ryuto like this!"

"Too late! He's already out top suspect!" Mizuki informed him.

"But...How? Ryuto is just the same as us! We're just as suspicious as him!"

"What? There's no way I'm going to be associated with the mastermind." Reina grimaced once she heard that.

"He's not the mastermind!" Kei repeated.

"And what makes you so sure, huh?" She stared at him, waiting for his argument.

"He's just not! My gut is telling me!"

"Oh, a gut feeling?" Toshiro mocked him. "You made fun of your boy toy when he defended you because of his gut feeling, and now you're using the same excuse? God, the 2 of you are gross."

"It's not an excuse! I know Ryuto! He...He wouldn't do this!" Kei insisted.

"Kei's right! I would never do this..."

"...Now that I think about it, Ryuto is different from the rest of us." I pointed out from Kei's earlier point.

"W-What? What makes him so different?" Kei demanded to know, now getting hostile towards me.

"It's a bit of a stretch, and I've had to go through all of the memories I've made here, but..." I thought about my point again, making sure it really made sense before sighing. "...We've all mentioned the masterminds of Danganronpa before. All of us except Ryuto."

"Well...duh. We've just mentioned them now!" Mizuki said.

"No, I mean before we even knew about them. Before we even knew about Danganronpa." I cleared up. "I could go through and elaborate on them if you want."