Bad news: it's retcon time again.
As it turns out, the violins supplied by Monokuma are all specially altered, and the usual '~' shapes on the front have been replaced by Monokuma-shaped holes. Curiously, despite how large the holes are it still sounds like a normal violin... the Hope's Peak Academy musical division has sure pulled off some cool stuff after the change in administration.
TOMOE: Akemi examined Saito, right? I bet she knows something interesting about the murder!
AKEMI: There's not much to say, really. Saito was killed by a blow to the head.
AKEMI: ... But if you're asking for my opinion, I say we discuss what the murder weapon was first.
DAISUKI: Now you mention it, I didn't see anything that could be used as a weapon...
MIHARU: It must have been in the room somewhere. We arrived too quickly for the culprit to have hidden it properly...
MIHARU: Unless the culprit took it with them and destroyed it, of course.
IZANAGI: It is difficult to believe the culprit could smuggle a weapon out of the room without raising suspicion...
IZANAGI: For now, we should assume the weapon is still inside the A/V room!
HISOKA: I agree. Let's review the parameters of the weapon, and resume discussion...
:==:| Nonstop Debate! |:==:
Useable Ammunition:
::| Monokuma File
::| Saito's Violin
::| Recorder
::| Thermos
HISOKA: What was the weapon? It was obviously some kind of bludgeon.
ERIKA: It came into contact with Saito's head...
ERIKA: Logically speaking, it should be covered in blood.
IZANAGI: But we did not find significant bloodstains anywhere!
ERIKA: Then the culprit washed them away.
AKEMI: By the way, the wound was inflicted by a corner or edge...
AKEMI: Which rules out a steel-plated beach ball as the murder weapon.
AURORA: We have steel-plated beach balls!?
DAISUKI: The only things with corners are the desk, and the recording device...
MIHARU: Don't forget the ||violin.||
AKEMI: ... Are we totally sure the culprit didn't move the weapon?
KURODA: I concur!
Ammunition used: "covered in blood"
KURODA: If the weapon was bloodstained, then there's only one thing that meets that requirement. Saito's violin.
AKEMI: Hmm... I'm a little skeptical. I don't think you can commit murder with a violin.
TOMOE: Yeah! Plus, Saito was playing non stop all morning...
TOMOE: If the culprit took her violin and killed her with it, I think we should have heard something.
ERIKA: Heh heh heh. You shouldn't say that like it's a proper counterargument, Tomoe.
ERIKA: If Saito was playing one violin, and another was used as a weapon... logically speaking, there are two violins.
TOMOE: Oh, good point... but we need proof that there's a second one, don't we?
KURODA: (That's easy enough. Proof we found a second violin...)
:==:| Present Evidence! |:==:
1 :| Monokuma File
2 :| Saito's Violin
3 :| Stopwatch
4 :| Recorder
5 :| Turned Up Music
6 :| Miharu's Testimony
7 :| Volume Control
8 :| Note
9 :| Tripwire Bomb
10 :| Timer Bomb
11 :| Glue
12 :| Bloodstained Violin
13 :| Thermos
14 :| Cabinet
15 :| Restriction on Tomoe
16 :| Tomoe's Testimony
17 :| Bomb Weakness
18 :| Akemi's Examination Results
KURODA: This is it!
KURODA: There's definitely another violin. Hisoka found one inside the music storage room.
ERIKA: Then it is settled. We are left with another question, however...
ERIKA: Which violin was played by Saito, and which was used as the weapon?
HISOKA: I think it's pretty clear that the weapon was the one in the storage room.
IZANAGI: And why would that be? Explain yourself!
HISOKA: Patience. I was just getting to that...
HISOKA: The violin I found was in no state to be played, you see. It was broken and covered in blood.
AKEMI: Well, that fits with what we think the weapon is. A violin wouldn't stay intact if you beat someone to death with it.
AURORA: I see, I see...
AURORA: Ha! That means the culprit is Tomoe after all!
TOMOE: Eh? Me again!?
IZANAGI: Aurora is correct! You are the only person who had access to the music room storage!
TOMOE: Huh? Oh, that's true...
TOMOE: Well, that violin can't be the murder weapon then!
IZANAGI: A-and why not...?
TOMOE: Because I didn't do it, obviously.
ERIKA: Tomoe... please provide reasoning, not circular logic.
TOMOE: Well, I guess I do have another reason...
TOMOE: But are you sure you wanna hear it? It's not as foolproof as my other reasoning!
DAISUKI: Just get on with it already!
TOMOE: Alright! Both violins are covered in blood, aren't they? Which means either one could have been used as the weapon.
HISOKA: That may be true, but it's still a lot more likely that the storage room violin is the weapon. It is broken, after all.
TOMOE: That could be a set up too! I'm sure even Erika could break one if she wanted to.
AURORA: Erika!? How could you!
KURODA: Er, I don't think she's saying Erika did it...
MIHARU: We don't have any proof either way, I think. We'll need to find another way to figure it out...
AKEMI: Why don't we look at it from the opposite direction? Rather than proof which one was the weapon, we should see if we have proof that shows which violin Saito was playing.
AKEMI: Or failing that, proof that shows which violin she wasn't playing.
KURODA: (Something that proves which violin she wasn't playing, huh...)
KURODA: I think we have just that!
:==:| Present Evidence! |:==:
1 :| Monokuma File
2 :| Saito's Violin
3 :| Stopwatch
4 :| Recorder
5 :| Turned Up Music
6 :| Miharu's Testimony
7 :| Volume Control
8 :| Note
9 :| Tripwire Bomb
10 :| Timer Bomb
11 :| Glue
12 :| Bloodstained Violin
13 :| Thermos
14 :| Cabinet
15 :| Restriction on Tomoe
16 :| Tomoe's Testimony
17 :| Bomb Weakness
18 :| Akemi's Examination Results
KURODA: This is it!
KURODA: One of the violins is wet on the inside... which one did you say that was, Akemi?
AKEMI: The violin we found next to Saito in the A/V room.
AKEMI: What, is this some kind of trick question?
KURODA: No, I was just making sure...
KURODA: Because that's the proof it was the murder weapon!
TOMOE: I don't really follow, but I was right! Yay!
DAISUKI: Hey, Kuroda... what are you talking about?
KURODA: Let me explain... Hey, Miharu. Water is bad for a violin, right?
MIHARU: Yup. It messes with the acoustics and can damage the violin itself.
MIHARU: Her violin sounded normal when she was playing this morning... so she wouldn't have been using that one.
AKEMI: Does that really prove it? It could have just gotten wet after the murder occurred.
DAISUKI: Why would it have gotten wet after the murder, though? If it can prove which violin was used, I don't think they'd wet it deliberately...
AKEMI: Beats me. We don't even know why it was wet in the first place...
IZANAGI: I agree... Besides, if that is truly the weapon then why is it in such good condition?
IZANAGI: Akemi said earlier that using the violin as a weapon would have broken it!
MIHARU: That's true... The reason it's still intact is probably related to the fact it's wet.
IZANAGI: Yes, and I would like to know that reason!
MIHARU: Hey, don't ask me. If I knew the answer I would have said it already.
TOMOE: Hmm... At the very least we can say something was definitely put inside the violin, right?
TOMOE: Maybe it was something so big they had to lube up the violin's hole!
IZANAGI: ... What!?
ERIKA: I... feel a little dirty now. Please, never repeat that phrase again.
HISOKA: Seconded.
AKEMI: That poor violin. Saito's probably rolling in her grave right now.
MIHARU: ... Getting back to the point, wood absorbs water. If anything, that would've created more friction.
DAISUKI: But then... what? Did they actually fill it with water or something?
KURODA: (We're close... I can feel it.)
KURODA: (I have to think this through... We didn't find anything that could have been put inside the violin.)
KURODA: (If they did store water in it... how did they do it? It would just pour out if you tried to use it as a weapon...)
:==:| Flashing Anagram! |:==:
_/_/_/
...
...
...
I/_/_/
...
...
...
I/C/_/
...
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...
I/C/E/
KURODA: I understand now!
KURODA: It wouldn't make sense for the culprit to fill the violin with water...
KURODA: But what if they filled it with ice?
IZANAGI: I-Ice!? What reason would the culprit have to do such a thing?
KURODA: In effect, filling it up with ice would make the violin no longer hollow... and much more resistant to force.
KURODA: That way, it could be used as the murder weapon without breaking!
AURORA: Wow! It's like something out of MacGyver!
MIHARU: It sounds ludicrous... but I don't see why it wouldn't.
ERIKA: Indeed... However, there is a problem.
ERIKA: As I am sure you realise, we did not find any ice in the A/V room. As long as there is no evidence, we cannot say for sure that ice was used in this murder.
KURODA: That's fine... because there is evidence.
ERIKA: Is that so...? Please show it to us.
KURODA: (There's no evidence of ice, of course... but if the culprit used ice, then that piece of evidence is definitely related!)
:==:| Present Evidence! |:==:
1 :| Monokuma File
2 :| Saito's Violin
3 :| Stopwatch
4 :| Recorder
5 :| Turned Up Music
6 :| Miharu's Testimony
7 :| Volume Control
8 :| Note
9 :| Tripwire Bomb
10 :| Timer Bomb
11 :| Glue
12 :| Bloodstained Violin
13 :| Thermos
14 :| Cabinet
15 :| Restriction on Tomoe
16 :| Tomoe's Testimony
17 :| Bomb Weakness
18 :| Akemi's Examination Results
KURODA: This is it!
KURODA: The culprit wouldn't want to risk being seen carrying an ice-filled violin... which means they probably filled the violin with ice inside the A/V room.
KURODA: To make sure the ice didn't melt, they would have to put it in something that can keep it cool... such as the thermos we found in the music storage room.
AURORA: But... we can't say the culprit definitely used that thermos, can we?
KURODA: It's not likely to be anyone else... If someone else put the thermos there, then they would have noticed the violin.
AURORA: Ah, that makes sense! So that's how the culprit made the ice violin!
ERIKA: Heh heh. Your theory is plausible, but tell me... what happened to the ice after the deed was done?
DAISUKI: The culprit would have put the ice back into the thermos after they committed the murder, right? The ice and the thermos should both be in the storage room!
HISOKA: No, that's not it... the thermos was empty. The culprit must have disposed of the ice somewhere else.
TOMOE: Hm... but didn't we just say the thermos was the culprit's way of moving the ice?
TOMOE: If they didn't use the thermos, then they didn't move it!
KURODA: Yeah, exactly. They must have disposed of the ice while still in the A/V room!
AKEMI: Your logic doesn't align!
AKEMI: Not so fast, Kuroda.
KURODA: A-Akemi?
AKEMI: I think your explanation has made sense up until now... but there's one thing I bet you can't explain.
AKEMI: Wanna hear it? Of course you do.
:==:| Cross Swords Battle! |:==:
Useable Swords:
::| Saito's Violin
::| Recorder
::| Akemi's Examination Results
::| Monokuma File
Your theory al==:/:==most ticks all the boxes, really.
But I think you'll find you're mis==:/:==sing something...
Namely, the ==:/:== ice. Where did it go?
No==:/:==body found any in the A/V room...
And the the==:/:==rmos was empty.
Or are you saying there's a way to smu==:/:==ggle the ice out under our noses?
...
DEVELOPMENT!
...
KURODA: The ice was disposed of in the A/V room...
KURODA: ... By melting it into water!
Ignoring the fact we ==:/:== didn't find any puddles at the scene...
You said yourselves that it took you less than a min==:/:==ute to reach the A/V room.
Violins are suprisingly spacious, you ==:/:== know. They would hold quite a lot of ice.
If you got th==:/:==ere as fast as you say, there should still have been some ice in the room...
There's no way it could ha==:/:==ve all melted so quickly.
KURODA: I'll cut that claim into pieces!
Sword used: Recorder
KURODA: You're right, the ice wouldn't have melted in time... which is why the culprit had to speed up the process.
AKEMI: And how would they do that?
KURODA: Heat, obviously. How else?
AKEMI: ...
KURODA: As I'm sure you know, machinery can become quite hot while running... and as it happens, the recorder Saito was using has been water damaged.
AKEMI: Which allowed them to quickly melt the ice... I see.
DAISUKI: So they sabotaged the recorder while also getting rid of the ice... killing two birds with one stone.
DAISUKI: That's... damn. Whoever did this seriously thought of everything...
HISOKA: No... not quite everything.
DAISUKI: Huh?
HISOKA: There's one last contradiction they didn't cover up... and it will lead us straight back to them.
Oh, Tomoe. As you can see, we keep the humour really high-brow around here :p
This chapter is kinda short, but I feel like this was the best place to end it - we're finally done with all the circumstances surrounding the murder, so it's time to catch the culprit!