Danganronpa: ReProgrammed

All-Star Apologies: Part 28 [Class Trial END]

"Damn...if there's one word I can use to describe that trial...it would be disappointing..." Monokuma sighed, appearing to have much less vitality than he usually did "anyway, good news ya'll...you got it right for the fourth time in a row...The one who killed Taeko Yasuhiro was Makoto Naegi..."

"No...!" Chihiro gripped his chest in emotional pain.

"...Why Makoto...?" Byakuya snarled "I've thought about it long and hard...and I can't for the life of me figure out why you'd so brutally murder Taeko...!"

"Indeed," Kyoko thought "I daresay this is extremely out of character for you." 

Makoto paused before he actually responded, almost as if he was trying to figure out that answer for himself.

"You wouldn't understand..." he said.

"Why didn't you just keep your mouth shut?" Byakuya asked again "if you'd simply remained quiet, then there was no way we'd have been able to deduce the culprit...but because you were insistent that Ikusaba wasn't the killer-!"

"And I was right, wasn't I?" Makoto cut in.

"Yes, but that's not the problem!" Byakuya snapped "just...what could have caused you to go this far?"

"Were you...trying to protect Mukuro?" Mondo asked. Makoto shook his head.

"This case has nothing to do with her..." he said "but she must have known I was the killer from the very start...That's why she didn't say anything..."

Mukuro grimaced, as if she was forcing herself to remain quiet.

"But why would she risk her life for you!?" Byakuya clutched his head "none of this makes any sense!"

"While I can't fully share Byakuya's sentiment, I must agree," Taka said "why would Mukuro protect Makoto of all things?"

"If she really cared about us..." Mondo added "wouldn't she have helped us out a bit more by now? Like...telling us the truth behind the Mastermind and the academy?"

"I already told you," Kyoko said "you're making assumptions. There's a reason why Mukuro couldn't have told us that."

"And why not!?" Byakuya snapped, before suddenly calming down and turning to Mukuro "sorry...please...tell me why? Tell US why?"

Mukuro remained silent, as if deliberating on making her next move.

"Go for it..." Monokuma sighed.

"Huh?" Mukuro's eyes widened.

"They may as well know by now. The fun parts over..." Monokuma yawned.

What came next was something that no one could have expected. Mukuro untucked her shirt and lifted it up to show her midriff. The shock came in what was revealed when she did. Strapped to her waist was a large, mechanical belt, that appeared to be hooked up to her.

"I can't take it off," she explained "the Mastermind put me to sleep and attached it in my sleep. This was the day before my identity was revealed to you all."

"What...is it?" Chihiro asked.

"It's a bomb" she said.

"WHAT!?" Taka exclaimed.

"N-No! Then you're saying-!?" Byakuya's glasses very nearly fell of his face in shock and horror.

"If Mukuro had said anything about the Mastermind or the truth behind the killing game," Makoto explained "that bomb would have gone off. She'd have been dead in no time flat."

"So you knew about this already?" Kyoko asked.

"I...I did, yes..." Makoto hesitated "seems you knew too though..."