Chapter 3a: Motives (18)

"How about we hold off from that question for a bit, Mondo? I don't think we are quite ready yet. Besides, I do want to get some clarification about something." Sheldon asked kindly, as he wanted to exhaust all of the available topics, before going into the 'big reveal'.

"What is it?" Kyoko asked calmly, as she knew that it was currently too early for verdict.

"I just want to know the reason for the switch taking place. You don't need to answer if the answer's anything awkward though." Sheldon requested with a slightly awkward expression.

"Oh... Well, it was Sayaka's request, as someone had tried to forcefully enter her room and was afraid the same thing would happen again." Makoto explained honestly.

"Good to know now." Sheldon added casually, as he used it as a reason to know about the switch.

"Since Saito has voiced out his question, does anyone else have any other thoughts or questions? It doesn't matter how trivial they may seem...." Celeste asked curiously, as she stared at everyone's expressions.

"Wait, I have one as well!" Hina exclaimed energetically.

"Ask away then." Taka requested, as everyone attention was on Hina: "So, I've been thinking for a little while and have been wondering about one problem. How did the culprit get in Makoto's room in the first place?"

"Hmm... A good question indeed. How did the killer manage to get inside?" Sakura added thoughtfully, as everyone's expressions became similar, with the exception of Kyoko and Sheldon.

"Maybe Sayaka just dropped the key somewhere and the culprit picked it up. It's certainly possible." Leon suggested first.

"I doubt it. Considering the reason the switch happened in the first place, I think the one thing Sayaka wouldn't do, was to drop or lose the key." Taka refuted swiftly, as he referenced Sheldon's question.

"Then... Maybe someone picked the lock?" Chihiro suggested next.

"Negative as well. Don't forget that Monokuma had made it quite clear that the doors are unpickable and can only be opened with their respective keys." Taka refuted similarly as before.

"Hmm... How about this then? What if the culprit managed to get inside through the easy way? They could've just knocked and said they wanted to talk or something, and Miss Maizono just... let them in." Hifumi suggested jokingly, as he wasn't expecting his answer to be the correct one.

"Not possible. Don't you remember Makoto's words about the room exchange or did it go through your ears or something?" Leon followed with an annoyed expression.

"...What if her being scared was all just a lie?" Kyoko suggested with a confident expression, as if she was awaiting for it.

"Huh!? W-What the hell is that supposed to mean!? Why would she lie about such a thing!?" Makoto asked with a shocked expression.

"I know you don't want to even consider it, but look at this and tell me... Can you still deny the possibility?" Kyoko asked, as she took out a shite of paper, whose one side has been blackened with a pencil and read as such:

'There's something I want to talk to you about, just us two. In five minutes, come see me in my room. Check the nameplates to make sure you don't get the wrong room, okay? Sayaka'

The moment Sheldon finished reading this letter, was the moment he remembered about Leon's reason for coming into Sayaka's room and couldn't help but feel like an idiot, since he had completely forgotten about such an important piece of evidence.

"I found a notepad during my search and I shaded the top sheet with a pencil. So these the words that appeared. And for your information, I found this notepad in Makoto's room." Kyoko explained calmly, as the sheet of paper was being passed around.

"Ooh... I've seen this one in a detective show! When you write, it leaves an imprint. Sketch over the next paper sheet and you can see the words!" Hina commented joyfully, as if she was proud of an accomplishment.

"It's a pretty old-fashioned technique, but even the oldest tricks in the book can be surprisingly useful sometimes." Kyoko added casually, before everyone's attention was grabbed by Mukuro's next question:

"Old tricks aside, what does this mean exactly?"

"It means that only someone who had been in Makoto's room before the incident, could have written it." Kyoko explained concisely.

"Then it was either Makoto, who lived there, Saito, who stayed there a few nights prior and Sayaka, who switched rooms for the night..." Byakuya explained the options curtly, as he looked at the Makoto and Sheldon.

"Dude, I stayed there for the first night and let me tell you, I don't have that kind of foresight or 4D-levels of thinking and planning. At most, any good plan that I pull, I usually pull it out of my ass and pray to Izanami that it doesn't go horribly wrong." Sheldon explained with annoyed expression.

"I see... Hold up, who did you say you prayed to?" Byakuya asked with a shocked expression, as he thought his ears were playing games on him.

"Anyways, what about you Makoto? Did you write the message?" Sheldon asked quickly, as he didn't want to dwell on that topic any further.

"No, I didn't. But-" Makoto answered, as he was still shocked from the revelation of the message and was immediately interrupted by Kyoko: "Of course you didn't, neither did Saito. Because the note also bears a perfectly legible signature, Sayaka's signature."

"But why...? Why would she write that?" Makoto asked, as he was barely holding himself from the shock he received.

"The note was most likely her way of getting in touch with certain someone. So she must have slid it under their door, to notify them to meet with them in secret." Kyoko explained curtly, before being swiftly followed by Celeste:

"But is this really how it happened? And even if it did, I don't think they were at all involved in what happened."

"What makes you say that?" Chihiro asked curiously, as Celeste stared her explanation:

"Sayaka and Makoto switched rooms, correct? But in the note, the place they were asked to come to says 'my room'. So, if someone read that note... Then they would have gone to Sayaka's room, the room Makoto was staying in for the night. Ergo-"

"Wait, that's wrong! The nameplates on both of my and Sayaka's rooms got switched." Makoto interrupted swiftly, as Kyoko chimed in next:

"That's right. The nameplates got switched, just like the rooms themselves. As such, the nameplate on Sayaka's room had Makoto's nameplate and vice versa. Plus, their rooms are right next to each other, so switching them would be no problem and as for the one who switched them... Well, of course it wasn't you, right Makoto?"

"R-Right..." Makoto nodded hesitantly, as he truly didn't wish to believe that was the truth.

"Alright... then who did it?" Leon asked calmly, as he was looking at Kyoko.

"...Sayaka." Makoto answered quietly, as he felt like he was slowly acknowledging a truth he didn't wish to believe, but could only keep going forward: "Me and Sayaka were the only ones who knew about the room switch. So the only one besides me, who would even know to switch the plates... was Sayaka."

"You can infer as such from her note, as she specifically tells the reader to check the nameplate. She would only have written that, if she knew that the nameplates were switched." Kyoko explained, as she pointed at the note.

"But... Why would she switch them in the first place?" Chihiro asked, as he had a puzzled expression.

"To understand that, we first need to understand what happened after she invited the person into the room. That's where the answer lies." Kyoko stated, as she put away the note in her coat.

'Finally we are done with the switch... How does the explanation about one switch take so long?' Sheldon thought to himself, as this topic had on for an unnecessarily long amount of time.