Chapter 11: Ultimate Second Mystery

(Jaune Arc)

Jaune was already used to the way he woke up at this point: To the annoying announcement from Monokuma. For today, Jaune had a lot of things planned. First off, Jaune wanted to talk with Vigne about some of the rules they could establish. Then, he wanted to help out Aqua and Hakase by doing some errands.

Thus, he quickly put on his clothes, brushed his teeth, and left his room. He immediately went over to the dining hall. A good amount of people was already here, and Nano was apparently not done with the food yet.

"So, how's Mio?" She asked while sitting down next to Hakase.

"Oh, she's okay," Hakase said.

"Yup. Stable and the leg is coming along." Aqua added. "She'll be fit again in no time."

Jaune took a bite of his bread and realized something. "Where's Nano?"

"Don't worry," Aqua replied. "She said she wanted to visit the Archive. Dipper's talk about all the secret stuff in there caught her interest."

"Oh, okay. Are there really that many secret documents?" Jaune asked.

Kazuma shrugged. "Apparently. Could take weeks to read through it all."

Suddenly, the doors to the dining hall swung open, and Konata came running in. "Someone, come with me!" She yelled in panic.

"What? Why?" Sun asked.

"Just come on. To the pool!" Thus, Konata ran away again.

Jaune's mind immediately went over the possibilities of what was going on... and it stopped at the worst outcome possible. He, Gabriel, Kazuma, and Aqua sprung up and followed Konata to the pool.

They almost broke through the changing room doors and froze in shock. The normally clear, blue water of the pool was drenched in a deep, crimson color. There was no doubt, it happened again.

"Come on, get something to fish the body out!" Gabriel said, and Kazuma got a net from the nearby pool supplies. Though those things were normally used to fish out leaves and dead insects, it should enable them to at least detect the body.

He started to stick it into the red water until it was blocked by something. "I've found it!"

Using other supplies, they managed to get a hold on the body, and pull it out of the water, only to, once again, freeze in shock.

Even though the corpse was stained red, they were still able to make out who it was. The short, brown hair was wet from the pool, and her face looked like all life left her. It was Yuuko. She died, in the pool.

The silence that felt like forever was ripped apart by the monitors throughout the school came to life. "A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"

"But... How? Why?" Aqua asked in shock. "Who did that?"

For that, Jaune didn't have an answer. But one thing was sure. They had to find out who did this, once again, or they'd all die. Even if it pained them. And that wasn't the only reason. Jaune considered Yuuko one of his best friends in here. Hell, she even said that she'd do everything to get them all out of here. And now she was dead.

"Howdy!" Monokuma said as he appeared out of nowhere, once again wearing the bikini. "I've got a little something for you. It's... The Monokuma File!" He gave the file to Jaune. "Well, time to investigate again. Are you guys stocked already? Man, you must feel so pumped up!"

"Are you crazy?" Kazuma yelled.

"Of course he is," Gabriel added. "Anyways, can you leave us alone? We don't need your help."

"Oh. Okay. Looks like the students don't like their Headmaster. Bummer. Well, what can ya do? Good luck." With those words, Monokuma disappeared.

"This is insane," Kazuma muttered. The door opened, and everyone else came in, staring at the body in a mix of anger, fear, suspicion, and sadness.

"Yuuko..." Hakase said while kneeling down next to the corpse. "Who did this?"

"We'll find out," Jaune assured, gently putting a hand on her shoulder, and opened the Monokuma File.

"Victim: Yuuko Aioi.

The time of Death was around 3:30 am.

The victim was killed in the Poolroom.

The victim has multiple bruises and wounds on her body, evidence of a struggle."

"What? No cause of death?" Mabel asked.

"I guess that information might be crucial to finding the killer," Dipper replied. "Thus, Monokuma left out that little detail. Aqua? Can you determine the cause of death?"

Aqua crouched down at the body and started to look at it. "You're asking the goddess that guides people into the afterlife here. Yeah, I've seen enough deaths to determine it." She started to investigate the body and stopped suddenly. "I think I found something... disturbing."

"Which would be?"

Aqua sighed heavily. "You know how the Monokuma File mentioned bruises? Well, they are getting more violent as one goes down the body..."

"What?" Satania gasped.

"I think someone... took advantage of her."

"Okay. Someone, get Hakase out of here and start investigating with her somewhere else." Vigne replied.

"No problem. Come on." Konata said and left the pool together with Hakase.

"I can only think of one person here who could've done something like that." With that, Aqua glared at Kazuma.

"Wait, what? Are you saying I-?"

"Exactly," Aqua said. "You're the most perverted out of everyone here."

"She's right," Sun said.

"Come on, does everyone here believe that I did this?" Kazuma asked.

At that, everyone glared at him, except for Jaune, Vigne, and Gabriel. "Seriously, he'd never do that!" Gabriel yelled. "He may very well be a pervert, but he'd never do this!"

"Yeah, something seems off," Vigne added. "But I can't quite place what it is."

"Then let's start to prove that Kazuma did this..." Satania said angry, and everyone scattered, searching for any clues.

"So, you two are on my side in this, right?" Kazuma asked, looking at Gabriel and Jaune.

"Pretty much. I don't believe you'd do something like this." Jaune looked around and saw Sun and Satania sitting on the benches. It seemed like those two were watching the crime scene this time.

"Still, this crime seems rather peculiar," Gabriel said. "Who'd even try to do something like this with cameras watching them."

With that, Jaune started to take a closer look at the body. Once again, the Monokuma File was completely accurate. She had multiple bruises on her body.

As he took a closer look at the throat and wrists, he noticed something. Both had deep cuts, at the exact position of the main arteries. This was probably the reason the cause of death was left out of the file. They didn't know how they died, and it would be a vital part of the evidence.

And then there was the thing which Aqua assumed was due to some heinous act. Her clothes around the waist were completely torn as if someone forcefully removed them, and there was a higher amount of bruises between her legs, almost third times the amount on her upper body. But something didn't seem right, although Jaune was yet unable to guess what it was.

Gabriel kneeled down next to him, and it seemed like she noticed something. "Kazuma? Sun? Can you come here for a sec?"

Both came to her and kneeled down. "What is it?"

"Well, I have a little question. Do you have deodorant in your locker room?"

"Yeah. In fact, I sprayed around a couple of them during the party. Aren't there any in the girls' locker room?" Sun asked.

"No, there aren't. But look what I found in her pocket." She pulled out a can of deodorant, which was buried in Yuuko's pocket, and shook it. "It's empty."

"That's... weird," Kazuma said. "Why does she have this?"

"I can think of a number of reasons, but the culprit most likely tried to knock her out with it," Jaune replied.

"What?"

"There." Jaune pointed at a bruise on the side of her head and held the can next to it. It matched perfectly.

"But then that means one of us guys did it..." Sun said.

"Unless one of the girls burrowed a Handbook from us." Kazuma pointed out.

"Didn't happen," Aqua stated. "When you look into the rules, it states that using the Handbook of another student is prohibited."

"Damm. So it really was one of us." Kazuma said.

"Kazuma? Wanna come along for the investigation?" Jaune asked as he stood back up.

"What?"

"Well, I think you want to prove your innocence, so..."

"Right. I'm gonna tag along. Gabriel? You want to come too?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Satania, Sun, try to look around the crime scene once more. Aqua, look if you find some more evidence on the body."

Thus, the three went outside of the pool, and first checked the girl's locker room for any clues. Luckily, Monokuma unlocked the rooms for the time of the investigation. Just as they thought, there wasn't any trace of deodorant around. However, one can was missing in the boys' room.

"Okay, where should we continue?" Gabriel asked.

"Maybe we should pay Nano a visit," Jaune suggested. "We could need her help."

"I'm sure she already knows," Kazuma said. "I think we should check the first floor instead. That's where we found all the stuff last time."

"He's right." Gabriel agreed. "There should be clues down there."

The three went down, and started in the warehouse, to make sure there wasn't any deodorant there. To their dismay, there wasn't. It really looked like the only place where those could be found was the boy's locker room.

"Okay, so it really was one of us," Kazuma said.

"Well, it's getting more and more obvious that it was your doing." Konata and Mabel, who apparently investigated together, said.

"I'm telling you! It wasn't me."

"Right. And then what about this?" Mabel held up a tracksuit, wrapped in a plastic bag. "This is yours, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. Why is it in a bag"

"Because it is pretty disgusting to touch," Konata said. "There's... stuff all over it."

"Wait, you mean..." Gabriel wondered.

"Yep. White Stuff dried up. Kazuma tried to hide the evidence under the other tracksuits." Mabel said and showed it.

"Can I take a look at it?" Jaune asked.

"Sure. But try not to touch it." Mabel said and gave it over. She was right. White stains were all over the suit, especially the crotch region.

"Great. Not only is Yuuko dead and someone tries to frame me, now someone came onto my suit too. Time to burn the thing after this trial."

"Well, would you look at that. Cumzuma is even disgusted by it himself." Konata scoffed. "At least he isn't a complete maniac."

Gabriel chuckled. "Okay, that one was good. Cumzuma."

"It wasn't me!"

"Right... Keep telling yourself that." Mabel said.

"Anyways, is there anything else in here?" Jaune asked, trying to prevent a fight from breaking out.

"A duffel bag is missing," Konata explained. "As well as a couple of ropes, for some reason. It probably relates to how everything went down, but I'm not sure how. Or where they went."

"Maybe Yuuko was strangled with a rope?" Gabriel suggested. "Do the bruises fit?"

"I don't know. The blood made it hard to see." Jaune said. "But I'm more concerned about the duffel bag."

"Could Kazuma used it to transport the ropes?"

"It wasn't me, dammit!"

Gabriel sighed. "Okay, and this was everything?"

"Yeah. Everything else is like always." Konata said.

"Well, thanks. Try to look around again."

"Will do."

Thus, they left the warehouse. "Okay, what next?"

"I think we should look around in-"

"NO!" A female voice suddenly echoed through the hallways, coming from the Bathhouse.

They instantly ran in and saw Hakase pounding on the door to the Sauna with all her might. "What's going on?"

"You gotta help me!" Hakase yelled. "Nano's in there!"

"What?!"

"We need to break open the door," Kazuma replied.

He didn't need to say it twice, and the three started to hit the door with everything they got. Eventually, it broke out of its angles, and they were able to get the Robot out of the Sauna. She wasn't reacting to anything, and a bad feeling grew in them. "Is- Is she..."

Hakase instantly pressed various points on Nano and sighed. "She's alive, but on standby."

"Standby?" Kazuma asked.

"A safety feature. Nano is waterproof and all, but she had her problems with a lot of heat over a long period of time. Thus, when it gets critical, some of her systems shut down, to keep her from overheating. It's like... being unconscious."

"Can you help her?"

"Of course. I only need a screwdriver. There's a button on her neck that should bring her back."

"Okay, Gabriel? Can you fetch a screwdriver?" Jaune asked.

"Sure. Kazuma? You have a toolkit, right? Can I use that?"

"S-Sure. My room is open."

With that, Gabriel ran away to get the tool, while the others looked at Nano. "Why was she in there?"

"Hmm... That's interesting." Hakase stated, and pulled something out of Nano's pocket. "This is her Handbook... It's not turning on."

"Is it broken?" Kazuma asked. "But I thought they were indestructible."

"Apparently not," Jaune said. The door opened again, and Gabriel came in with Kazuma's toolkit. Hakase took it and started to work on Nano.

"This will take a couple of minutes. Try to investigate more in the meantime." Hakase explained. "Gabriel? Can you stay here to help me out?"

"Sure thing. Good luck you two."

"You too," Kazuma said, and they left the room. "That's weird. Why was she in there?"

"It definitely relates to our case," Jaune explained. "The question is how it all fits in."

"Hey, Jaune?" They looked to the right and saw Sun. "I think we found something."

"Really? What?"

"Come on, you might wanna see this." They followed him to the pool and saw Aqua and Satania, who fished out another object. It was the missing duffel bag. "Aqua told me to get you. He and Satania decided to use the net to search the pool again, and found that."

"Is that what I think it is?" Kazuma asked, looking through the bag and put everything inside on the ground. "And there are the ropes inside too."

"And... Metal?" Jaune wondered and looked at the red-stained objects. They were cans, probably full of paint. "They were most definitely used as a weight to keep the bag underwater."

"Are they from the warehouse too?" Kazuma asked.

"Likely," Sun replied. "The cans in there are on the highest shelf. It's possible no one noticed that they were missing."

"So Konata and Mabel did a bad job searching?" Kazuma wondered.

"Can you see the color of the paint?" Jaune asked.

"They are both closed," Satania explained. "I doubt the color helps us."

"Dammit. Should we look for Hakase again?" Kazuma asked.

"Yeah. Good idea."

They went back into the bathhouse, were Nano was sitting at the wall, holding her head. "Nano!"

"Hey. What's going on?" She asked as she noticed their worried faces.

"Did no one tell you?"

"We wanted to wait for you..." Hakase said. "It looks like Yuuko... is..."

"No. No. Please no." Nano said. "Please tell me she isn't dead!"

"I'm sorry," Gabriel said. "We don't even know how she died."

"Not, that can't be! I have to find out-"

"We already have a lot of clues." Jaune stopped her and forced her to sit back down. "What's more important... How did you end up in the Sauna?"

"Actually... I don't know. I was just walking around the building yesterday, and then everything went black."

"So... You were knocked out?" Kazuma asked. "Is it possible to knock you out?"

"Well, yeah," Hakase explained. "All you'd need to do is hit the right spot, where some wires and electronics aren't as protected."

"Which would be?"

"There are some on my head, mostly were important wires run through, and on my back. Huh, I guess it's not too different from a human..."

"You could also use electricity," Hakase explained. "The output of a plug should be enough."

"A plug, huh?" Jaune asked. "You remember where you got knocked out?"

"It was... in the library... I think..." Nano muttered. "Maybe they somehow used the extension cord?"

"But wh-" Kazuma was interrupted by Monokuma, who came in through the door.

"Hey, you! The trial is starting!"

"What? Already?"

"I think you got enough to solve this mystery." The bear said. "Also, even I'm getting annoyed at everyone talking about Kazutrash over here."

"Hold on, did you just say that it wasn't Kazuma?" Nano asked.

"Oh, I didn't do that. It's just a tad tedious if all I hear is the same thing over and over again. Get's pretty boring, and I want the excitement of the blackened and spotless facing off. So come on now, I won't wait much longer."

"Wait, what about Mio?"

"She's obviously excluded from this one."

Thus, they all went to the elevator, while Nano ranted that she wasn't able to investigate. Thankfully, Gabriel and Kazuma explained the basic things to her.

Eventually, they arrived at the Elevator, and almost everyone glared at Kazuma. "Ready to receive your judgment?" Aqua asked.

"It wasn't me. And we'll prove that." Kazuma replied as the doors opened.

"We'll see. I kinda hope it wasn't you, but it all points towards it." Mabel said.

"Don't worry, we will find the truth," Jaune said as everyone stepped into the elevator. "The truth about what happened to Yuuko."

Students alive: 14

And here's Chapter 11.

Well, looks like someone got murked. Let's see if they can find out who the culprit is.

I know the topic of rape and rape allegations is a heavy one, but it is one that wasn't in any of the main DR games, and I thought it would make an interesting basis for a case. I just want to say that I do not intend to trigger anyone with it, nor do I use it as a cheap device to make people feel sorry and sad during this case. Rape is a serious issue, and if anyone is uncomfortable with it, I recommend skipping the Trial, as the topic will be heavily discussed in there.

Now to replies:

John Doe: Well, the time has come.

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Gravity Falls belongs to Disney; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; Nichijou belongs to Kadokawa Shoten; Gabriel DropOut belongs to ASCII Media Works; Himouto! Umaru-chan belongs to Shueisha; Lucky Star belongs to Kyoto Animation; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft