Danganronpa: Infinite Despair
Chapter 3: My Girlfriend can't possibly despair this much!? Part 2, Deadly Life:
"Hope's Peak Academy, where only the best of the best can go" a young man said while looking up at the gates.
"Somehow 'I' actually managed to get into Hope's Peak; honestly I guess it was skill kinda… Still I, Minato Shirogane one of the famous members of the Shirogane Family was accepted into Hope's Peak, well I'm different than the rest of my family. Ya see… They are all Private Investigators and me… Well I'm the Super High School Level Gamer, yeah it's not an impressive title but I can sure cause a controller to go ablaze if I wanted to y'know!" Minato thought to himself as he opened the gates to Hope's Peak; walking up the entrance way he was confused that there weren't any other students around. So he thought that he must have been very early or very late to the entrance ceremony.
Opening the doors to the entrance hall, he felt tired the whole room started to spin and he clutched his head it felt like his mind was being torn apart at the seams, looking up he saw Kaori and she screamed at him. "Minato watch out!"
He woke up screaming and Celeste grabbed his shoulders, looking at her and his surroundings. He noticed that they were in the infirmary, Minato looked at Celeste again and she handed him a glass of water which he chugged down in an instant. After letting his mind settle down for a moment, he looked over at the other medical bed and hoped that Kaori was in the other bed recovering like he was but sadly she wasn't, turning over to Celeste he was about to open his mouth but she nodded and looked down.
The Gamer sighed and stood up; grabbing his shirt and the orange tie he was wearing. Minato looked in the mirror and saw the bandage wrapped around his head, he shook his head and Celeste walked over towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder however when she grabbed him he winced and held the side of his face. He saw images, images of him meeting the other students in a classroom flashed though his mind, Celeste saw this and looked at him "What's wrong…? Is something the matter…?" She asked but Minato shook his head and walked for the door, what could he say to her anyways. She would think that he's nuts or that he lost his mind.
When she saw him walking for the door, she grabbed his arm and glared at him. "What do you think you are doing!?" She asked in a hushed tone, but Minato shrugged her off and opened the door. Looking outside he noticed that no one was around, he guessed that they were all investigating already so he made a run for the stairs but clutched his head again as he saw images of him, Matsu, Shoji, Toji, Shinji and another large student who was wearing the same tie that Minato was currently wearing, walking up the stairs with their bags and wearing an unfamiliar uniform. He saw that they all were laughing about something and the vision shortly disappeared from his eyes, Celeste ran over to him and asked again if he was alright. He nodded and continued to walk but Celeste decided to help support him up the stairs.
The two eventually reached the third floor where they saw the others looking around and talking, Kenji was there and he was the first to spot him and Celeste. Minato said hi to the others and turned towards the Lucky Student, "Give me all the evidence you have collected, I want to end this Class Trial myself this time." He said in a determined voice, Kenji looked at him and noticed the sudden change in attitude in Minato. Kenji nodded and gave Minato his notebook with all the evidence that they had collected so far.
~Investigation Time~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Deathbringer Hammer~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Re-coloured Justice Hammers~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File 3~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Takeshi's Autopsy~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Bloody Footprints~
Minato looked over the notes and opened up his own copy of the Monokuma File:
Monokuma File 3:
The Victim was Kaori Suou.
Time of death was around 2:15AM.
The body was found in the Art Room Supply Closet at 11:00AM.
Cause of death was a blow to the head that almost killed her instantly, the wounds were almost the same as Minato Shirogane's but more fatal.
Other than that the murder weapon was left at the crime scene.
He pocketed the notebook and pushed past the others. Minato entered the Art Room and walked into the Supply Closet. Celeste followed him and saw that he was inspecting Kaori's body; he turned the body's head slightly and saw that the left side was bashed in, almost like Hikari's head was.
~Truth Bullet Obtained: The Gash in Kaori's Head~
Leaving her body for now, he picked up the hammer and looked at it. The number '4' was still visible and both ends of it had blood covering each end; however the side that was closest to Kaori had the most blood.
~Truth Bullet Updated: Deathbringer Hammer~
Setting the hammer down, he looked down at the floor and saw the bloody footprints that had been left by the killer, he remembered the shape of them but couldn't really remember who had shoes like that.
Minato then turned to Celeste. "Listen, I know you want to come with me… Why is that?" He asked and she looked away from him and crossed her arms and sighed, Minato gave her a stern look and she looked at him with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm worried about you, you seem like you could go overboard and you just regained consciousness, and you were almost tumbling around plus you nearly fell outside the infirmary too." She replied rather bluntly, Minato had to agree with her on that. He felt half out of it and he did charge into an ongoing investigation knowing full well that he could screw something up quickly.
Closing his eyes and sighed. "You have a good point for the most part; follow me to the Rec Room… That's where Kaori and I were attacked…" He left the crime scene behind and Celeste followed him to the Rec Room, they met Takeshi, Kenji, Meiko and Akira. All four of them were investigating the area, walking over to the closet Minato saw that there was blood on back and side of it.
"This bloodstain… That must have come from me…" Minato muttered to himself as he touched the blood with his fingers, deciding to see if his theory was correct he walked into the closet and tilted his head to the side slightly. Celeste saw this and asked what he was doing, "Could you see if the bloodstain in here matches where my head is positioned?" He replied and she nodded, Minato tilted his head to the left and she gasped.
"You were right, Minato… Those bloodstains match where you had been hit on the head." Celeste replied and Minato nodded, the events of the night before were coming back to him now.
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Closet Bloodstains~
But if he kept investigating the room he might remember more about the night, walking over to the door he saw that the handle was broken off with a fire extinguisher lying beside it. Picking it up he thought for a moment when another memory came up, it was him and Kaori trying to keep their attacker from coming in the Rec Room.
"Minato… Use your tie if you can!" Kaori shouted as she was rummaging around for something that they could defend themselves with, he looked confused but then he remembered his usual red tie that he had around his head. He grabbed it and attempted to tie the door knob to the pool sticks that were beside the door, but the killer managed to open the door a bit and reach his hand through the small opening. The Gamer screamed and Kaori came running up with a fire extinguisher, she slammed it down on the attacker's wrist with a sickening crack they both looked through the small window and saw the head of Justice Robo peering at them through the window, both the gamer and the gang leader screamed but the killer crashed through the door releasing the tie and raising the hammer above their head.
Minato pushed Kaori out of the way and the hammer was brought down on his head, Kaori screamed and he told her to run which she did. The attacker tried to follow her but Minato grabbed onto their pant leg and tried to slow them down, but he was knocked out again by another blow to the head.
The memory ended and he glanced down at the fire extinguisher again, Kaori used to as a last ditch effort to protect them both if she could. Pulling out the notebook he began to add the next few pieces of evidence he had found or remembered.
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Fire Extinguisher~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Location of Justice Robo costume head~
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Killer's unique shoes~
"Oh yeah that's right, my… Tie…?" He muttered and looked around for it; there was no sign of the red tie anywhere in the room. Minato picked up the potted plant and looked under it but it wasn't there at all, turning around he asked the others if they saw his tie and they all shook their heads. That was strange indeed, why would the killer or someone steal his own tie? Minato pulled out the notebook again and scribbled down his latest piece of evidence.
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato's Missing Tie~
Walking over to the TV set, he noticed that the video games that he brought with him were all neatly stacked and placed in alphabetical order. If memory served him correctly both him and Kaori just pulled out whatever games they wanted to play and strewn them around the TV area, who could've taken their time to clean up and arrange the games in order in the first place?
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Cleaned up Video Games~
After collecting all the evidence they needed, both Minato and Celeste left the Rec Room. Looking down at Kenji's notebook that he had basically stolen at this point, he began to go over all the evidence. Glancing at his watch he noticed that they were almost out of time for investigating, Minato decided to zero in on the location of the missing Robo Justice Head first. Remembering that Matsu and him had both been playing with the costume the night before him and Celeste decided to run to the pool area where Minato and Matsu had returned the suit.
The duo reached the pool and they saw Matsu sobbing over by the locker at the far side of the pool, they both looked confused and walked over to him and Matsu clung onto Minato and began sobbing harder. "T-T-That person defaced a great work of art!" He cried out and Celeste walked over to the locker and started pulling out pieces of the Robo Justice costume until she found the head of it and she gasped, dropping it Minato pushed Matsu off him and saw the head of the costume.
It has specks of blood on it; the mask had also been defaced like the Justice Hammers. Minato then looked at the chest and saw that specks of blood were also on the chest armour too, he closed his eyes and sighed. The Blood had to have come from himself or Kaori, but judging by the amount of specks on the suit and mask it had to have been from her because of how brutal the wound in her head was.
~Truth Bullet Obtained: Specks of Blood on the Robo Justice costume~
~Truth Bullet Updated: Location of the Robo Justice Head~
Putting the mask down he turned to the shocked Celeste and the blubbering Matsu, he looked down and shook his head. That's when they hall heard the Monokuma announcement play on the PA system, they turned towards the screen and they all saw Monokuma appear on the screen and laugh at the students, "Upupupu~ alright I hope you gathered all your evidence since the Class Trials will begin immediately! Please make your way to the big red doors on the first floor, see you all there!" He said in a happy tone of voice that was grating to all their ears, Minato sighed and started to walk towards the exit of the pool where Matsu and Celeste followed him.
When the trio reached the red doors, Minato walked in and they all saw the others were there waiting for them. The remaining students all looked at him with a look of worry, Kenji and Meiko walked up to Minato and Celeste. Kenji then held out his hand towards the gamer and sighed, "Listen… You can back out of this trial now… Monokuma said that if you aren't doing well you can skip out on this one." Kenji said but Minato shook his head and looked at the elevator gates, pushing past Kenji and Meiko he opened the doors and was about to step off before Celeste walked over to him and patted him on the back and held his hand in hers.
The gamer smiled as the remaining students filed on the elevator and the Professor closed the elevator gates behind them all, Minato closed his eyes and thought to himself before he saw Kaori in his mind. She was smiling at him and waved before the elevator began it's descent into to the trial room; he opened his eyes and saw that Katsuya was looking at him intensely while Minato glared at him. Something seemed to be off with Katsyua as he kept looking at everyone with a look of deep suspicion and fear, but Minato ignored him and sighed.
Thinking about their current situation he growled and closed his eyes and muttered to himself:
"A trial of life and death, a trial which will decide our fates… This trial will prove if we have the guts to convict one of our own again… This is a game of life and death! Let's end this trial."
