Danganronpa: Until Proven Guilty

Chapter Two - 9: Facing Punishment

As the projector screen descends, so does the sinking feeling in my stomach. I want to throw up but I try to swallow any of those urges. Yashira desperately protests as her portrait appears next to a tally, slowly increasing as more and more people vote.
It reaches twelve. We all voted for Yashira, apart from one mark next to my name that sends my heart icy cold.
Yashira voted for me.
"Bingo!" Monokuma yells, doing some strange somersault on his throne, "Wait, wrong game. I mean, congratulations! You have officially passed the second class trial. The Blackened was Yashira Kurosawa!"
Nobody speaks, just a lingering quietness in the room, apart from Aki mumbling to the fish that swim by.
"I-it's true then?" Haruka cups her hands together, tears forming in her eyes, "You killed Tory?"
Not a word from Yashira. Just that same, blank expression.
"So that volatility wasn't just your act," Shiro says, his face strangely content. Almost as if he's enjoying this, "You really were on the brink of something dangerous."
I glance at Kuroko, a lump forming in my throat. Let's hope that volatility isn't shared.
Kohi frowns, "Why would you do that? And why would you pin it on me?"
"P-perhaps she was aware of your niceness," Mamo tilts his head, "I-I understand that. People love to prey on those with the biggest hearts to break."
"But we still don't know her real motive," Ayana's face sours, "Why did she do it?"
Yashira looks up at her, "Wh-why?"

Suddenly, so swift I almost don't notice, Yashira leaps towards me, a flash of blue growing closer to me. She grabs me by my tie, pulling me in like a lasso, heart beating.
"Why did I fuckin' do it? Because I hated that bitch!" She screams, her face inches from mine,  "And I wanted that money. Why did you try and stop me, dirty maggot?"
"H-hey, lay off her!" Haruka cries, trying to wedge her off me, "She didn't want any of this to happen."
I can't even begin to speak, as if I'm frozen in place. Letting her grab me, slap me, cuss me out. I let it all go by as if it were a plane in the sky.
"You have no idea what this shit is like!" She grips my collar tighter, fists shaking from the tension. Specs of tears form in her eyes, though she does her best to blink them away, "You're just a prissy little rich girl who's gonna live off daddy's money for the rest of your life. You don't get it, so why would you try to stop me?"
"Hold on," Mitsuharu says, his tone-deafness as prominent as ever, "This came out of nowhere. We aren't gonna get anything out of this without an explanation."
Yashira turns to him, dropping me as she does. I feel the air flood back into my throat, my head clearing of the fogginess that her grip had caused.
"Money is all I need," She says, tears spilling from her eyes, "It's all I fucking need. And when that damn bear says he'll give it to me, I'm gonna take it, dammit!"
"Is she still going on?" Monokuma sighs, "Ya want me to explain? I've got all the juicy deets on y'all's lives."
"I think an explanation is well overdue, dude," Amai scoffs.
The bear clears his throat - though lord knows what would be clogging up a robotic voice box, "Ahem! Well, you've got your rich kids. Shiro, Ayana, and our best friend Kiki over there. And then you have your poor kids. Yashira is one of em! Strugglin' to get by, even had to turn to a loan shark at one point, and that really screwed the Kurosawas over!"
"Tory's parents were loan sharks," I say, breathless. All the students' eyes turn to me. All except Yashira.
"When did you find out about that?" Kuroko tilts her head, straightening those huge glasses, "I don't remember Tory saying anything about sharks."
"She told me a few days ago," I say, "Not long after Jin's execution." Those last few words come out more like a curse, as if they should never be spoken.
"Her parents are corrupt people who extort others for money. Loan sharks." I continue.
"I guess that explains an awful lot, eh?" Monokuma grins, "Anyway, it's my turn to talk!  Sadly, Yashira's circumstances weren't all that great, so someone ended up murdered, yadda yadda yadda. And her dad got blamed for it and all! Shock horror! Anyways, lawyers are pretty damn expensive, so her dad's pretty little arse is rotting in a jail cell forever."
"Fuck you, bear," Yashira mutters, barely able to stop the floods of tears.
"B-but did he do it?" Mamo says.
"Of course he bloody didn't!" Monokuma roars, "That would be too easy. But when the rich bitches got lawyers, you're gonna lose!"
"Oh my god," Haruka's face drains of colour, "That's horrific. I'm so sorry."
"Don't you dare apologise," Yashira growls, "You have no right to feel sorry for me. You tried to stop me."
"Ya didn't even get the money anyways," Monokuma chuckles, "You got the key instead! What bad luck. Oh well, not like it matters."
She turns to us all, "That money was all I needed. And when that bitch is just gonna sit on her ass while her parents extort people, she's got shit coming."
"And so you murdered the one who put the rain clouds in your brain," Aki prods the floor, analysing her own dusty fingerprint on the marble.
"Yeah," Yashira grunts, "Fuck her. I'm not gonna say sorry, I never will. I hate all of you, every single fucking one."
"That's so mean!" Monokuma starts to whine, doing his best to force out a tear, "I'm so hurt,
I'm gonna execute ya!"