Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. Here, this will be the second part of the investigation, right before the trials. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.
Questions section:
Q: Can you make the past discuss about the future Makoto's sudden intellect in the cases?
L: It's not that he suddenly gets smarter in the class trials, Makoto really does have more intelligence than he seems on the outside. Whether he's conscious of it or not, he still has that "I'm onto something" feeling whenever he starts to figure something out, and he's usually right about it once he gets to the end of that feeling. Although, whether one wants to call that intelligence or intuition, is beyond me :P
S: I would say intelligence, with a bit of intuition.
Q: I've been wondering, will you be showing the ending credits? Where a group picture if the group is revealed with the killed classmates appearing in it? I think it would be a cool feature to add in.
L: I don't exactly remember when the first picture shows up, but I believe it's after the second trial.
S: If you're talking about the anime end credits, then no, I probably won't. There's not really any reason to do so, merely just reminder of who's dead.
Note: Late update is on me (A Lucky Soldier). Going into a new school semester meant adjusting to a new work schedule, and that also meant adjusting around the extra curriculars and hobbies I had to settle down. I hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long, but here's the next chapter!
Chapter 35: Watching Ch 2: Boys' Life of Despair Part 12
"I tried to talk to him several times as he walked…." The narrator Makoto stated, the scene showing Makoto trying to do just that. "But he didn't even look back, let alone say anything. He just kept walking towards his destination. Finally, we stopped at the second floor, inside the library. But it wasn't the library itself that Byakuya wanted to show me. The place he wanted to show…."
The camera switched to Byakuya opening the room inside the library, which is filled several books and files. "Was the archive." Byakuya said in unison with the narrator.
"The archive?" Leon repeated with a raised eyebrow. "You're interested in that old room?"
"Indeed." Byakuya replied back. Soon as he saw the archive, he quickly figured out what his future self want to show Makoto.
"Whoa! There are so many books and files." Makoto muttered in awe. Then he started coughing once the dust enter his lungs. "And so much dust, too."
"I would say there's enough value in this place to endure the dust." Byakuya remarked.
"Why? What's so valuable about it?" Leon questioned. Due to the opening of the new school building, most of Class 78th didn't really have a chance to explore the archive. Except for one student.
"You will see." Byakuya stated. "The information in the archive might surprise you."
Makoto then moved over to the one with the files. 'The shelf is packed tightly with files….' He then picked out a random file.
That caused Byakuya to then speak up. "Ah, you have a sharp eye indeed to select that file."
"...Huh?"
"That's the report on a presidential assassination." The heir informed him casually. "The original kept at a national library."
The mention of the topic surprised everyone. "Say whaaaa?!" Hifumi exclaimed, voicing everyone's thoughts. "A presidential assassination?!"
"H-He's joking, right?" Hiro hesitantly.
"No, I can assure you that he isn't joking." Byakuya assured him. "Now do you understand the value of that room? Of those files?"
Leon gulped. "Um, yeah, I think we're getting a clear picture." He was going to ask why such things were in the archive, but held himself back when he pictured Byakuya's response to his question.
"It won't be declassified for another thirty years. Are you sure you want to look at it now?" A smirk formed on his face. "There's no telling who's crosshairs you might wind up in for peeking in it…."
"..." Makoto slowly put the file back into the shelf, without saying a word.
"Wise choice, Makoto." Celeste stated, with several nods of agreement. With his luck, just touching the file would possibly get him into big trouble.
"As I looked at each shelf, Byakuya finally told me what's in here." Narrator Makoto stated as the camera moved to each shelf. "Classified government documents, police records, names of the most important people….things that no normal person would ever see."
"The hell?" Mondo cursed, mouth agape. Even Chihiro is temporarily distracted by the information given to them, her slightly red eyes wide with shock. "That kinda shit is in a school?"
"Hope's Peak is really that influential?" Taka questioned.
"So it would seem." Kyoko mused. Who knew that Hope's Peak Academy would have that kind of information, in the library of all places?
"This….can't be for real, right?" Makoto asked, in slight disbelief.
That earned a scoff. "That's your guys problem. Anything that doesn't fit into your preconceived reality, you label it a lie."
"Well, it's not that." Makoto reteirieted. "It's just….it's not like I totally refuse to believe it, but, I mean, there's just so much. How could anyone have put all this together?"
"Hope's Peak did have ties to the government." Kyoko remembered. "We just didn't know how strong those ties were."
"Yeah. No kidding, there." Leon snorted.
"I suppose it goes to show just how much power Hope's Peak truly wields." Byakuya mused. "Or perhaps, the mastermind may have wanted to provide us with enough entertainment to keep us from getting bored."
"He has some messed up views of entertainment!" Hina stated, horrified.
"This killing game, clearly tells us this, Hina." Celeste remarked, her voice a bit dry.
'U-Um….' Makoto shook his head. 'It's no use. I can't keep up with all of this. It's just too unreal….'
"I don't blame you." Kyoko said softly. "It's not something most people will be able to process properly." Several of the others nodded in agreement.
"What's wrong? You still can't believe it?" Byakuya questioned.
"What about you?" Makoto shot back. "How can you believe it so easily? Things like that are usually impossible…."
"What do you mean, usually?" Byakuya asked him, frowning. "Usual? Normal, ordinary, simple? Those things don't exist anywhere in the real world. If you don't understand what they actually represent, you don't understand the nature of anything."
'You don't pull your punches, do you….?' Makoto thought blankly.
"No. No he does not." Taka agreed.
"I would be surprised if Mr. Pompous actually does do that." Junko sighed.
"Besides, what you consider 'usual' is based on your common sense, right?" The heir continued. "But what makes you think your own 'common sense' applies to me at all? The documents gathered here are genuine. I have reviewed them multiple time, so there is no doubt."
"What?!" Taka exclaimed, shock and aghast. "You read classified government information?!"
"As well as the police records?!" Hina added in.
"Multiple times?" Sayaka concluded.
"Yes." Byakuya confirmed, not perturbed at the least. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes, something is definitely wrong!" Taka stated, glaring at the heir. "That information is restricted to the government and law enforcement! You shouldn't be reading those, even with your status as the heir of the Togami family!"
"Oh, on the contrary, it's because of my status as a heir that I'm allowed to read this." Byakuya shot back, shocking the others.
"W-What?" Chihiro stuttered out.
That caused Makoto's eyes to widen. "H-Hold on a second!" He stated. "You're saying you've read all these documents, and more than once?! But….all this has to be like top secret, confidential stuff, right? So why….?"
His was response was this. "My family has a reading room just like this at our home. Ours is bigger, of course. And not as dusty."
"...What did the asshole say just now?" Mondo questioned in disbelief. He wasn't the only one shocked by this, everyone else sat there agape in shock.
"His family have these kinds of files?" Hina breathed out in shock. "And even more of it?"
Makoto blink in pure befuddlement. "Huh….?"
"Members of the Togami family have access to any variety of government-related documents." Byakuya informed him. "That includes foreign powers as well as domestic."
"H-How is that possible….?" Makoto shakily asked.
'That's what we want to know!' Was the incredulous thought of just about everyone.
"There's a secret council that controls the world from the shadows, that has the real power." Byakuya informed him. "My father is a member of that council. And I have within me the bloodline that will allow me to one day bend the world to my will…."
That stunned several of the people here, their mind trying to process the information given to them. Even Kyoko and Celeste are shocked at the amount of influence given to the Togami family line, and had to will themselves to keep their individual masks on.
Finally, after a moment of silence, Jack was the one to speak. "Wow! My master is even cooler than ever!"
"Cooler? More like scary!" Hiro exclaimed, looking freaked out.
"H-How come you never told any of us?" Makoto asked the Togami heir.
"Cause I have no reason to." Byakuya replied with an eye roll. "There wasn't a point in any conversation I had that I needed to bring it up, so I didn't." While he loves to boast, he's not a fool. He doesn't tell anyone that kind of information unless he have reasons to.
Which makes him wonder why his future self revealed such information to Makoto. Sure, Makoto is probably one of the few people he actually respects, possibly even calling him a friend, but he wouldn't reveal that kind of info lightly.
"But to become such a ruler, I must he know all levels of this world backwards and forwards." He continued. "So whenever I have time, I like to review whatever documents and materials that interest me. Which is why I can proclaim, without a doubt, that the materials gathered here are the real thing."
Makoto could only stare at Byakuya. 'This is beyond believing or not believing.' He thought. 'Byakuya is actually starting to scare me more than the actual mastermind….'
"Yeah, no kidding." Hina agreed shakily. "I don't want to imagine a world where Byakuya is ruling it."
"I don't think any of us does." Leon remarked.
Byakuya, in response, smirked at this. While he isn't planning to become a tyrannical dictator, it was an interesting response.
"And what always interested me the most were the most were the 'cold case' police investigations reports." Byakuya told him. "Reading through those reports has always been a hobby of mine, ever since I was little."
"That's a hobby of yours?" Junko asked in confusion. "I would've thought it would a hobby of Kyoko's."
"You don't have to be a detective to be interested in cold cases." Byakuya said with an eye roll.
"It's an excellent mental exercise. I've solved more than a few of those cases just by reviewing the reports. And among all those reports, one of my recent favorites, is the Genocide Jack case."
"Genocide Jack?" Mondo looked at the blonde Togami heir incredulously. "You were actually interested in that psycho?"
"I was interested in the case itself, not the person." Byakuya clarified. "Especially now that I got to know her."
"Oh, master! Always washing me with compliments!" Jack sighed dreamily.
"How about stabbing you with insults?" Hiro muttered under his breath.
As he spoke, he picked out a heavy file from one of the shelves. "This is the complete case file." The heir displayed to the luckster. "Every single report surrounding the Genocide Jack case has been complied in here. Feel free to look at it in here, but you can't take it with you."
With that, Byakuya handed him the file and Makoto began flipping through, with tense, nervous fingers. He stopped when reached a certain page. "In those files, I saw the collected pictures of each crime scene." Makoto narrated. "The names of each victim ran on for several pages."
As he spoke, pictures and names of the victims were shown. "Ken Harada, Tetsuhiro Honda, Shoji Gaku, Kanno Isei, Takeshi Yoshida….the list just ran on."
As the narrator spoke, and as they saw each scene, the group began to feel more and more sick. Some covered their eyes, some looked close to barfing, some were just white as a sheet. Only Kyoko, Mukuro, Celeste, and Byakuya had neutral faces on. The first two because they've seen more than their share of grizzly stuff, Celeste because she doesn't want to show any weakness, and Byakuya because he seen the files more than once already.
"Ooooooh, a slideshow of all my kills!" Jill exclaimed eagerly. "My favorites are the younger ones, like Kanno! Those are always the more adorable!"
"Please, Jill, just stop talking." Makoto pleaded, looking pretty pale. He's pretty sure the images will burn inside his head for a long while. It's probably the same for everyone else.
"The next thing I saw was profiling results, where it explains that all of the crimes all the crimes took take at either weekdays at night, or during holidays, during day or night." Narrator Makoto continued. "That the most common time for the killings were during the holidays, which suggest that the suspect may be a student. They linger on for a moment before, but when they leave, they're in a panic. The behavior suggested…."
"...that the suspect may potentially suffer from dissociative identity disorder." Makoto read out loud.
"The key point here is that the culprit may well have a split personality." Byakuya pointed out.
'A split personality….?' Makoto thought numbly. 'Like the kind of thing you see on TV? So I'm part of another unbelievable story….but this one way more unbelievable than anything else up till now.'
'Or….maybe it really isn't.' He continued thinking, almost absentmindedly. 'I dunno, I feel like my mind has gone numb….'
That had the others concerned. "Are you okay, Makoto?" Sayaka asked in concern.
Makoto rubbed his head sheepishly at this. "Pretty sure. The amount of information given to him is probably too much for him to process. I still remember the first time I met Jill."
"I'm surprised you didn't faint." Junko remarked. "Would've thought you would hit the ground after all that."
"Makoto proves to be resilient whenever he needs to be." Kyoko stated.
"Alright, we should get going soon." Byakuya spoke up.
"Huh?" Shaking off his numb state, he looked at the heir in confusion. "Where are we going?"
"Anywhere but here." Was his answer. "We finished our business here, haven't we?" With that, Byakuya left the room.
"Ah, wait! Byakuya!" And once again, Makoto hurried to catch up with him.
The scene switched to the two coming out the library. "Well….this is where we part our ways." Byakuya told the luckster. "I have some things I need to take care of before the class trial."
"Huh? Just all of a sudden like that?" Makoto asked in surprise.
In response, the heir merely looked at him in annoyance. "Come on, enough of your annoying misapprehensions. Did you really think we'd be together the whole time?" He asked in annoyance. "Take responsibility for yourself and do something useful. Move the investigation forward on your own." With that, he was gone.
"Damn. He cut you off as fast as he pulled you in." Leon whistled.
"That's Byakuya for you." Makoto sighed, not really bothered by this. He got used to this kind of behavior from the affluent progeny.
Kyoko, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes. Byakuya invited Makoto into his investigation, then cut him off after showing him the Genocide Jack case? She can tell Byakuya is trying to lead him into a certain conclusion. Most likely that it was Genocide Jack that killed Chihiro.
But why is that? It was hard to make a conclusion from the limited perspective they were shown, but she still ran several theories through her head. She frowned when most of them came to two common conclusions.
Makoto just stood outside the library before remembering everything he found out. 'Genocide Jack….' Makoto thought to himself. 'He's the one that killed Chihiro. And that murderous fiend….is one of us!'
"Oh, come on!" Jill scoffed. "You make that sound as if it's a bad thing!"
"It is a-"
Before Taka could finish, Mondo covered his mouth. "Don't waste your breath, bro. This demon has no fucking morals." Mondo sighed.
'But who is it….? I have to find out, no matter what it takes.' Makoto then began walking to the the pool area. 'And to do that, I need to check the girls locker room, one more time, as well as check the boys locker room, and see if there's anything the others have found out. Find out everything I can….'
"The boys locker room?" Taka questioned, slightly frowning. "Why would you need to work there?"
Makoto furrowed his eyebrow in thought before remembering something. "I think it has something to do with the posters…."
As Makoto began investigating, the narrator Makoto spoke up. "The first thing I noticed as investigated both locker rooms were the posters." He stated. The TV showed the luckster looking at both posters. "In the boys locker room was a poster of a boy band, Tornado, while in the girls locker room, was a swimsuit model."
"It seems you are correct, Makoto." Kyoko said, narrowing her eyes and resting her chin on her fist as she began thinking. "And that is bizarre…."
"How so?" Sakura asked curiously. While she did go in that locker room frequently, she didn't really pay attention to the poster.
"Cause usually, you would see a swimsuit in the guys locker room, right?" Junko casually remarked, not caring that she's helping them out by saying it. "And the boy band in the girls locker room?"
"Yeah, it wouldn't make sense the other way around." Leon agreed. He knows he would rather look at the….developed, swimsuit model, than the boy band.
"So what, you think they were switched?" Mondo asked them.
"It's possible." Kyoko answered. But if they were switched, then that would open up a whole new line of questions.
"After that, I went to ask Sakura about it, since she spends a lot of time at the locker room." The scene switched to Makoto talking to the martial artist. "Unfortunately, she didn't really payed attention to the poster. But there was one thing she noticed…."
"You see, I like to drink a little protein coffee every time I finish exercising." Sakura told him.
"We have protein coffee?" Makoto asked curiously.
Sakura nodded. "In the warehouse. It's not the highest quality, but I don't have a lot of other options. I mix protein powder with coffee, and down a glass of it after exercising. Anyway, the other day, I spilled some on the carpet in the girls locker room, and it left a stain."
"A stain….?" Makoto looked at the carpet under them. "But I don't see a stain on the carpet now…."
"Exactly." Sakura stated. "I noticed it earlier - the stain has disappeared. I can only assume someone came along and cleaned it up. But still, isn't it unusually clean? As if there was never a stain to begin with…."
The conversation drew the group's attention. "A stain….?" Taka repeated, furrowing his eyebrows. "Do you think it's the same stain in the boys locker room?"
"It probably is." Sakura said. "It's far too coincidental for it not to be."
"So does that mean the posters and carpets, along with anything else, were switched?" Sayaka asked. "But why?"
"It's something to figure out in the trial." Kyoko said. She has a feeling something is missing, something that would tie the entire case together.
Makoto, on other handle, figured out that someone most likely killed Chihiro in the boys locker room, and moved the programmer to the girls. It would make the most sense, and explain how Chihiro got inside the girls locker room. But who killed and tied up Chihiro is something he hasn't figured out yet.
Junko sighed as she figured out what had mostly happened in the case with her Ultimate Analyst abilities. "Well, that was boring... guess the only thing left is who dunnit." She thought.
Makoto furrowed his eyebrows at the new information. But before he could think more on it, he spotted Kyoko leaving in the corner of his eyes. "Hey, Kyoko?" Makoto called out, stopping the girl. "Have you made any progress on your investigation?"
The lavender haired girl turned around as Makoto walked over to her. "Generally speaking." She answered. "But I have to get going. I have something unrelated to take care of."
"Something besides the investigation….?" Makoto questioned with obvious confusion. "What….is it?"
"Nothing you need to worry about." She reassured. "Just concentrate on the murder."
"B-But…."
"Before I go, let me give you one piece of advice." Kyoko said, steering the conversation away.
It was rather difficult to watch the detective be so rejecting. "You're changing the conversation." Byakuya pointed out. "What on earth do you have to hide?"
"Probably something that I can't say in front of a camera." Kyoko said. "Or that I can't trust anyone with."
"Even someone like Makoto?" Sayaka asked her with a frown, to which the detective responded with a sigh.
"It's not that I don't trust him, I just don't give my trust easily, Sayaka. You know that. Especially not in that kind of situation." She knows that she have little reason to not trust Makoto, but those trust issues doesn't shake off easily.
"You should examine Chihiro's body one more time. Thoroughly." She advised. "Also, her handbook is missing. You might want to determine its whereabouts." She turned back around. "That is all. I'll be praying for your success." With that, she left the locker room.
"Um, what does she mean by thoroughly?" Hifumi asked nervously.
"She probably means the rope and the head wound." Taka guessed. "I can't think of anywhere else she would look at."
'I do….' Makoto thought. He knows how thorough Kyoko is when it comes to her investigation, and with the knowledge he knows about Chihiro, there's a high chance that his detective friend found out about Chihiro's true gender.
Judging by how tense Chihiro looks, she knows this as well.
Despite that, however, he isn't gonna say anything. And he knows Mono or Leon won't either. They'll respect the programmer's privacy till the end.
Like Makoto, Kyoko also knew that she meant something else. But doesn't quite know what exactly her future self wants Makoto to check. She would have to check the body herself to see what, and she doubt that Chihiro is in the mood to be touched right now. Or that Mondo would act calmly to the suggestion.
"I guess I'll take another look at the body, then…." Mumbling to himself, he went over Chihiro's body. He grimaced at the site of the programmer's corpse. "I know she said 'thoroughly' but I do have my limits…."
Chihiro, who was uncomfortable at the possibility of her secret getting revealed, slightly relaxed at Makoto's words. For now, she doesn't have to worry about that.
But in the back of her mind, she knows that the others would find out sooner or later.
He sighed. "Well, I'd better give it a shot anyway. Let's see…." As he inspected the body, he looked at the rope tied onto Chihiro. 'This rope was used to tie up Chihiro in this….crucifix position. But….huh?' He looked at the hanging part of the rope to see a plug. 'Wait a minute….this isn't rope! It's a plug!'
"A plug?" Celeste said in slight surprise. "Wait, isn't this the extension cord used in the library?"
"It is." Byakuya confirmed, his eyes narrowed. But why used that as rope? Was there nothing else to use?
That question was voiced by Mukuro. "Why a plug? Isn't there anything else suitable for the task?"
"Possibly not. Or they probably just went and got the closest thing to them to use as rope." Kyoko theorized. Personally, however, she suspects that Byakuya, at the very least, have something to do with the murder. There are too many red flags to dismiss him.
He then looked at the head wound. 'And the thing that killed her was a blow to the head….' He frowned as he thought about that. 'There's definitely something wrong with those two things….'
Jill scoffed. "Of course there's something wrong! My beautiful scissors wasn't used whatsoever! Just a plug and a heavy dumbbell!"
"Yeah, that's true." Makoto agreed. "This should help prove that the murderer isn't Genocide Jack."
"Agreed." Kyoko said with a nod.
"After checking the locker room once again and the body, I went out." Narrator Makoto stated as Makoto left the room. "I was planning to check the Genocide Jack case file one more time when Hifumi told me that Celeste found something worthwhile."
"Really? What did she see?" Makoto inquired.
"She refused to tell me." Hifumi told him. "It's like when a girl bullies the boy she likes, right? Right?!"
Leon snorted. "You wish, fatty."
'Like I would have feelings for the idiot!' Celeste thought with slight disgust. At best, he's a pesky servant that wouldn't leave her alone.
Makoto decided to ignore the question. "Okay, so….where is Celeste now?"
"The warehouse by the dorms." The fanfic creator answered. "She was there, but at the same time….not there."
"Huh?" Hina tilted her head in confusion. "What the heck does he mean by that?"
"Let's just consider it another of Hifumi's random dialogue." Byakuya sighed.
The narrator spoke up once again as Makoto left. "So, I went down to go and see what Celeste is doing, as well as what she knows." The scene switched to Makoto coming inside the warehouse, while Celeste is looking around.
"Celeste…." Makoto called out, drawing the gambler's attention. "What are you doing here?"
"This warehouse is amazing. It has absolutely everything one might need to live a full life." Celeste calmly gushed. "From food to clothes to towels….there's an endless supply to choose from."
"You're avoiding the question." Kyoko pointed out. "Does this mean there's something you know?"
"It's quite possible." Celeste answered. What her future self knows is only something she could guess.
"I see that, but….have you founding anything related to the case?" Makoto inquired.
That got Celeste serious. "I knew you were going to ask me that." She said. "I thought talking to you about the warehouse itself might misdirect you, but I see it was pointless."
"Why try to avoid the question in the first place?" Junko asked with a raised eyebrow. "Other than being the killer, there would be no reason for you to do that."
"I very much doubt that I'm the killer." Celeste dismissed. "But she probably knows something that would either make her a suspect, or because she doesn't trust the others with the information."
"Then did you find something?" Makoto inquired.
"Very well. I will tell you, and only you." Celeste stated. "Last night, I saw her here….Chihiro was in the warehouse."
That caught the others by surprise. "What, really?" Leon said in shock.
"Chihiro was at the warehouse?" Mondo questioned.
"What?" Makoto's eyes widen in shock. "Really?!"
"This was right before nighttime." She began explaining. A flashback of the event began showing.
"Hm?" Celeste spotted Chihiro carrying a large duffle bag. "What are you doing out this late?"
Her question startled Chihiro a little. "Oh, um….I was just…."
"Are you planning to go exercise, perhaps?"
"What?!" The programmer exclaimed. "H-How did you know….?"
"Because I can see a blue track jacket sticking out of the duffel bag you're carrying…."
"Oh, you're right….thanks." Chihiro quickly stuffed the track jacket into the bag fully. "Well….I'd better get going. I'm kind of in a hurry."
"And just like that, she was gone." Celeste finished.
"So Chihiro was exercising during the night!" Hina exclaimed in realization.
"And it proves that Chihiro was killed in the locker room." Byakuya stated. "But who was with her, I wonder?"
"Most likely someone she trusted a lot." Kyoko deduced. "Either that, or someone spotted go there, and use that chance to kill her." But personally, she thinks it's the former. Cause there was no trace of the duffel bag nor the track jacket.
"Either way, it doesn't sound good." Leon said with a grimace.
"I assumed she was merely stocking up to go exercise in the morning, but it appeared she ignored the nighttime rule, and headed directly to the girls locker room. If she hadn't broken our rule, none of this would ever would have happened…."
She let out a small noise of discontent. "You get what you deserve, I suppose."
"Celeste!" Makoto exclaimed. Chihiro flinched at this and curled up tighter, while Mondo growled like a raging dog. A part of him is really considering breaking his no hitting girl rule….
The gambler, who was slightly surprised at her own words, had the decency to look apologetic. "I'm sorry, Chihiro. That was disrespectful of me, especially under the circumstances they're in."
"N-No, it's okay." Chihiro said weakly. "It was your future self that said it, not you." Besides, Celeste did have a point. If she didn't try and go exercise during the night, if she was just willing to reveal her secret and get stronger during the day, she wouldn't end up like that.
But in the end, she was too weak to do that, and ended up getting killed.
Makoto decided to ignore Celeste for right now, and left the room. 'So, she went to the girls locker room last night in order to exercise without anyone knowing.' He thought to himself. 'But the strange thing is, there was no trace of the track jacket or duffel bag Celeste said she saw Chihiro carrying.'
Hina frowned. "Yeah, now that he mentioned it, I didn't see a duffel bag or track jacket either."
"Perhaps the killer hid it, so one could say for sure if Chihiro got killed in the locker room or not." Celeste suggested. "That's a possibility, isn't it?"
"Probably." Sayaka said. "It's a good thing Celeste saw her during the night, then."
"Definitely." Leon agreed. The case would've gotten a lot much harder if she didn't.
"Finally, I went back at the archive, to look at the Genocide Jack case once again." Makoto narrated. The scene switched to Makoto looking for the case in the Archive.
"Hmm….I know it was around here somewhere…." He murmured to himself. But after searching through every murder case, he didn't see any sign of the Genocide Jack case. "Huh….? It's gone!"
"Huh? It's gone?" Hifumi gasped in shock. "But the only one who knows about the Archive is…."
"...Byakuya and Makoto." Kyoko finished. "Byakuya must've taken it then."
"But why?" Taka questioned. "Is there any reason for Byakuya to do this?"
"I guess we'll have to see in the trial." The heir replied. Most likely, he's gonna use the file as proof for Genocide Jack being the murderer.
'Did someone take it out of the archive?' Makoto wondered. 'But there's only one person other than me who knows about the archive….' Before he could finish his thought, the bells suddenly runged, and the monitor turned on.
"Erm, so ah….I'm getting tired of waiting. Shall we just plunge right in?" Monokuma said. "It's the moment you've all been waiting for….the class trial! You remember where to meet, right? Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the school!" He let out his usual laughter. "See you soon!" With that, the monitor turned off.
Once again, everyone tensed. The second class trial is about to begin.
'I have a feeling this one is going to be a bit more chaotic….' Makoto thought with a grimace.
Makoto sighed. "It's about to begin." With that small sentence, he left the archive and the library.
The scene switched to nearly everybody close to the elevator towards the class trial. Monokuma quickly appeared right after. "Ahem, so….is everyone ready to- whaaat?!" The bear swiveled his head back and forth. "Am I blind, or are we missing somebody?"
When the bear said that, the group noticed that Toko wasn't there. "Is Toko still hauled up in her room?" Leon asked rhetorically. "Did she forget that we don't have a choice in going in the class trial?"
"She probably doesn't care at that moment." Sakura sighed. The young book writer was really spooked about her other side coming out.
"Yeah, Toko's not here." Mondo informed him.
"And Toko is….?"
"You really don't remember….?" Hiro asked, baffled.
"Kidding! I'm just kidding." Monokuma reassured. "How could I forget that little nutjob? She's a crucial part of the class trial this time!"
"More like Genocide Jack is the crucial part." Byakuya corrected. "But, considering they are basically the same person, we can call that true."
"Well, more like in the same body." Leon remarked, looking at the serial killer. "The two are night and day when you compared them together."
"Aye! Me, the confident, passionate, serial killer!" Jill declared, laying her hand on her chest and holding the other one out. "And Toko, the nervous-wreck, sullen, book writer!"
"Looks like Jill is gonna be staying for a while this time." Makoto commented to nobody in particular.
"So it would seem." Kyoko agreed with a nod.
"Okie dokie, I'll go ahead and drag her out here kicking and screaming. Just one moment, please!" After that statement, he bounced out of the room.
"Is he really gonna….?" Sayaka began, but trailed off as they saw the next scene.
A few minutes later, he came back, dragging a struggling Toko, just like he said.
"...He did." Leon deadpanned. "At this point, I'm not that surprised."
"Tell me about it." Junko huffed. "On another note, is Toko trying to get suspected? Cause she's looking like the culprit right now." Though, she does regret not making a punishment for not showing up on time. Guess that will be something she can note down.
"Especially with Monokuma's words." Celeste pointed out.
Toko groaned in protest as the monochrome bear dragged her inside. "I t-told him I didn't want to, but….h-he forced me! I can't believe you would d-drag a girl around…." She glared at him as she got up. "Terrible….! You're t-terrible!"
"She's saying that like he has any morals." Mondo pointed out. "Like hell it has any."
Monokuma ignored her as he let out a breath of exertion. "So NOW everyone's here, right?" He rhetorically asked. "Okay then, hustle onto the elevator and let's get this show on the road! I'll see you guys down there!" With that, he disappeared once more.
"So, shall we get going then?" Byakuya said as he moved towards the elevator. "It's time to find out who killed Chihiro."
'Chihiro….' Makoto thought to himself as everyone went on the elevator. 'Chihiro Fujisaki….she was so gentle, so calm and meek. Nobody had any problems with her….' A flashback of Chihiro was shown. 'Someone made a choice to kill….a girl like that….
Makoto's inner monologue made the others sick to the stomach, while Chihiro buried her face in her knees at the sight of her corpse. "Why would any of us decide to kill someone like Chihiro?" Taka questioned, trying to comprehend something like that.
"I don't know, bro." Mondo said, the anger returning once again. "But when we find out who, they better have a good explanation for it!"
"Yeah!" Hina agreed. "None of us should even think about killing someone as sweet as Chihiro!" Sayaka nodded in agreement to this.
"Well, maybe they saw Chihiro as an easy target…." Hiro suggested hesitantly. He yelped when felt several glares from some of the others, especially Mondo. "Nothing! Forget I said anything!"
"Idiot." Celeste muttered under her breath.
The scene switched back to the present, with almost everyone inside the elevator. 'And that murderer….is one of us.' Makoto thought. 'Someone standing right here….' He then spoke out loud to himself. "We have no choice, right? We have to do this…."
"Yes." Kyoko replied from beside him, to which he nodded. The two of them then entered the elevator with the others, and as soon as they did, the door closed.
The elevator began moving down like it did before, until finally, it arrived once again. As the door opened, the group was met with a redecorated room, the color being red and yellow. "What do you think? I redecorated! Isn't it so fresh? Isn't it so EXCITING?!"
"He redecorated the room?" Sakura questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Why go through that trouble?"
"I don't think we can understand the thought process of a deranged psychopath that wants us to kill each other." Byakuya remarked dryly.
'Well, having to see the same thing is boring!' Junko thought to herself. 'Changing it up makes it less boring!'
"Don't waste our time with stupid questions." Byakuya stated bluntly. "Let's get this over with."
"Good, good, you're rip-raring to go!" Monokuma said eagerly. "Gotta say, I don't hate it! Not at all! Okay then, let's get this show on the road! Everyone, please find your assigned seats!"
As the students went to their podiums, the narration began. "And so, the curtain opened once again…." Makoto narrated. "A deadly judgement….a deadly deception….a deadly betrayal…." The camera individually showed Hifumi, Toko, Celeste, Byakuya, and Hiro on their podiums.
"A deadly riddle, a deadly defense, a deadly faith…." The camera then showed Hina, Mondo, Toko, Sakura, and Taka on their podiums. Once again, Makoto was the last to be shown. "A deadly….class trial….!"
"And so, it begins again!" Hifumi said, both mysteriously and nervously.
"I'm guessing Makoto is gonna be saying those lines every time?" Junko questioned, remembering the same words being said in the first trial.
"Well, I don't mind seeing it!" Hina stated. "It's still make Makoto look so cool!"
Makoto was about to object, but only blushed in embarrassment when he noticed that his friends around him showed their subtle signs of approval.
Sighing and shaking off his embarrassments, Makoto turned his attention back to the TV. It's time to solve the mystery behind such a twisted murder.
And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Next up will be the class trial. That should be a roller coaster of emotions, for a lot of the students. Especially for Chihiro, Taka, and Mondo. Review, favoritre, and follow, and I will see you guys later.