A/N: Here's Chapter Two Deadly Life Part Two. Please read, review, and enjoy!
Danganronpa 4: Next Generation Killing!
Chapter Two: A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell!
Deadly Life Part Two: Kiki's First Investigation!
Well, here goes… Kiki took a deep breath and turned on the Monokuma File, scanning the tablet for information. "The victim is Light Field, AKA Snake. The body was discovered in the gym. The cause of death was drowning. His body was consumed by piranhas until only bones remained. No other injuries can be confirmed at this time."
"What?" Lotus complained "There's less written here than before."
"I've got a b-bad feeling about t-this…" Teruaki muttered, his lips curling into a scowl.
Kiki grimaced in agreement. "The time of death isn't written here…"
"Hm?"
Sokyu glanced curiously at the amateur investigator before she explained "The previous Monokuma File indicated Rantaro's time of death, right?" The Monokuma File in her hands briefly changed to the one for Rantaro's murder before she shook the bittersweet memory from her mind. Focus, Kiki! This is no time for your eyes to be playing tricks on you! "But the Monokuma File this time doesn't indicate a time of death."
"Did Monokuma mess up!?" Clover demanded, scowling in rage.
"No…I think it's safe to say that this omission was intentional." Kirumi deduced.
Kiki's brow furrowed as she mused, Why would that information be hidden from us? What would be unfair about it…? Suddenly, her eyes sparkled in realization. "Monokuma told us that he wouldn't give us any information that would reveal the culprit."
"That is most likely correct. This would imply that the time of death would eliminate too many suspects for Monokuma's liking, hence why it was omitted from the Monokuma File."
"So that means the key to this case is the time of death!" Kiki exclaimed excitedly. "Nice deduction, Kirumi!"
Kirumi smiled in amusement, shaking her head. "I am merely fulfilling my promise to aid in the investigation. Speaking of which…"
"Where are you going?" Keebo inquired as Kirumi turned around.
"I am going to see if I can persuade Shuichi to participate. Perhaps once he sees how hard everyone else is working, he will feel inspired to overcome his mental blocks and help."
"Ah, I see. Well, I'm not sure how much good it'll do, but do what you think you have to." Lotus replied, causing Kirumi to nod.
"Then I wish you luck in your investigation. I shall see the rest of you at the Class Trial."
"Yeah, see you there, Kirumi. Good luck." Kiki waved, causing Kirumi to acknowledge her with a soft smile.
"You as well, Kiki."
As she walked out of the gym, Kiki's eyes widened in sudden remembrance. Crap, I totally forgot to ask Kirumi what happened before they came in the gym. I don't want to suspect her, but I can't deny that her and Ryoma's disappearance is suspicious.
The heterochromatic girl glanced to the former tennis pro. The boy kept largely to himself, watching as the others conversed about their hypotheses.
Well, I guess as long as Ryoma's here, I can just ask him. Though first, I should investigate Snake's body…or what's left of it, at any rate.
Kiki gulped, shaking the nerves out of her head before she walked over to the collected remains that once belonged to the blind boy. Her knees wobbled as she knelt in front of the corpse.
Okay, other than the time of death, there's one more thing in the Monokuma File that catches my eye…Snake's cause of death. It says drowning. But if that's the case…We might be able to crack the case from there…but first I need to inspect Snake's bones and belongings.
Kiki slowly approached the tank, kneeling reverently in front of Snake's skeleton. Her eyes drooped, her lip quivering with sorrow.
Snake's body is nothing more than a skeleton now. Not even a shadow of what he was… "But just his bones don't corroborate the Monokuma File's cause of death…hm?" Kiki started sifting through the bones before she exclaimed, "Hey, what happened to Snake's left arm?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Kiki turned her head to see Lotus and a slightly more composed Clover approach her. The distraught girl wiped her eyes on her sleeve as she asked, "What do you mean, what happened to Snake's left arm?"
"W-well…All of Snake's bones are here…except for his left arm. It's completely missing."
"Hmph, maybe the piranhas ate that one too." Lotus postulated. "They did eat all the flesh after all. Who's to say that one of them didn't get a little hungrier and chomp his left arm to bits too?"
Kiki bit her lip, furrowing her brow as she mulled over Lotus's words. No, that can't be it. If the piranhas ate bones, we wouldn't even have a skeleton to investigate. But if that's true, then why is only the left arm missing…?
"Wait…" Kiki glanced towards Clover, who asked, "Was there anything metal in the tank?"
"Well…I remember seeing the handcuffs on his wrists…but we should double check the tank just to be sure. It did happen pretty fast."
"Alright, let's go check out the tank…" A reluctant Clover muttered as Kiki stood up.
"Did you guys really need to break the glass?" Lotus asked with clear disgust on her face, shaking her foot. "Everything's soaked now."
"Well, if we had left Snake's body there, we wouldn't have been able to investigate." Kiki pointed out, causing Lotus to sigh.
"I guess it woulda taken way too long to just empty the whole tank with a bucket."
"It was a lot of clean up…but at least we can investigate the tank now."
"There might be a clue around here. Let's take a closer look." Clover sighed.
"Yeah, you're right." The three of them stepped inside the tank, glass shards cracking under their feet as they glanced around the glass boundaries. The fragments of the broken glass water tank have been piled up. There are so many tiny pieces…Gonta and Seven certainly didn't hold back when they threw Keebo at the glass. Because we broke the glass, there isn't much of anything left in the tank. But I should investigate the area thoroughly. There's bound to be something. "Hm?"
Kiki's eyes centered on a large rectangular prism of glass sitting flat on the bottom of the tank. Curious, she cautiously approached it, fiddling with her braid.
"There's a square pane of glass at the bottom of the water tank…"
"So what?" Clover questioned, fiddling with her fingers. "It probably just landed there when Keebo collided with the side of the tank."
Kiki shook her head. "It doesn't look like a broken piece. The other fragments are far more random than this."
"Ah, I see." Lotus mused "It would be nearly impossible for the broken water tank to produce such a perfect square of glass."
"Then what exactly is this pane?" Clover interrogated, a hint of frustration and anger bleeding into her voice.
"I'm not sure…" Kiki admitted. "But I have a feeling it's important to solving the mystery." She stood up and sighed, "Come on, let's investigate the rest of the tank. We need to check and see if there's anything metal in here."
"Well, we were right." Lotus concluded as she held up a pair of metallic handcuffs. "It looks like Snake was wearing handcuffs when he died."
"Can I see them, Lotus?"
"Sure, go ahead. I'll keep looking around the tank." Lotus decided as she tossed the cuffs to Kiki.
The heterochromatic girl held them close to her eyes, which narrowed as she inspected the cuffs from every angle. "Hm…" She hummed as Clover tried to peer from her side.
"Do you see anything?"
"Well…they're still locked…And there are small scratches on them." Kiki observed. "I don't know what they're made of, but they don't feel that hard. It probably wouldn't be that hard to scratch them. They must have been scraping against something hard or sharp."
Clover's eyes narrowed, focusing on the metal cuffs before her eyes widened in realization. "Wait…I've seen those cuffs before!"
"Really?!"
Clover nodded. "The day we got here, Snake and I investigated the Warehouse, and one of the things we found was a box filled with handcuffs, just like this one."
Kiki frowned as she realized, That means anyone could have taken them…these won't be useful in narrowing down any suspects. Still…if Snake's cause of death was drowning, and something happened that caused these cuffs he was wearing to scratch…maybe there will be some evidence showing where he was drowned!
"Hey, girls!" Kiki and Clover turned to see Lotus approaching them, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry, but I couldn't find anything else made of metal in this tank."
"Nothing…?" Clover asked before Lotus shook her head. "That means…" Clover's eyes seemed to blaze as she exclaimed, "That means my brother's left arm wasn't eaten!"
Kiki and Lotus's eyes widened in shock before the elder woman demanded, "Hey! How could you possibly know that from just the absence of metal?"
"Because…on the day that Snake lost his sight…he also lost his left arm…"
"N-Nani?!" They exclaimed before Clover nodded.
"Snake got banged up really bad in the car accident we were in. In order to save his life, the doctors had to amputate his left arm and give him a prosthetic one."
"I see…so that's why you asked if there was any other metal in the tank." Lotus realized as Clover nodded. "I didn't even realize his left arm was fake."
"Yeah, it's not something he likes to talk about…anyway, if his left arm was eaten, then there'd be scraps of metal left behind. But since this tank is clean, then there's no way that the piranhas ate his left arm."
But still… Kiki pondered. If it wasn't eaten, then why isn't it here? Where did the culprit dispose of it? Or…did they even dispose of it at all? We have to find that arm; it'll probably prove where Snake was drowned! Taking one last glance around the tank, Kiki suggested "Why don't we investigate the rest of the gym? I think we've found everything we'll find inside the tank."
"Sure, come on, Clover." Lotus agreed as she nudged Clover out of the tank, taking care to step over the shards of glass beneath their feet.
As Kiki followed them, she changed directions and knelt back in front of Snake's skeleton.
"Maybe his belongings will give some kind of hint." Kiki's eyes glanced to the right, focusing on the scraps of Snake's clothes and his other miscellaneous belongings that the piranhas had spared. Snake's belongings are all gathered together. What's left of his clothes, his e-Handbook, the key to his room…
Kiki gasped, covering her palm with her hand. Her eyes widened in realization as the gears in her head began to turn.
"That's it! If I use this key, I can investigate Snake's room! At the very least, I can find out what was on Snake's motive recording. I don't know if it played a role in his death, but I should check, just in case." To be honest, I'm not looking forward to finding out. After all… Kiki closed her eyes, the memory of her family in her motive video flashing in her mind before she forced herself to open her eyes and shake the memory away. …if his motive was anything like mine, someone could have taken advantage of it.
Forcing herself to focus, she picked up the room key before she reached for the scraps of dark-pink fabric. She stared at them as she opened her fist, inspecting them in the palm of her hand.
"These don't look like Snake's normal clothes…so, what are they?"
"Maybe those are Snake's pajamas." Kiki stood up, turning around as Lotus walked up to her.
"Oh, Lotus. How's Clover holding up?"
"Considering the circumstances, as well as we can expect her to be." Lotus glanced over her shoulder at Clover, who seemed to be fiddling with her hands again. "Anyway, you said the clothes Snake was wearing weren't his regular clothes?"
Kiki nodded and held out the scraps. "Yeah, the color's completely off, and Snake's always worn much fancier clothes, almost like a prince."
"Let me see those…" Lotus took a scrap, rubbing her fingers on it as she squinted her eyes. "Yeah, these feel too soft to be day clothes. I'd say they're definitely pajamas."
So if Snake was wearing these when he was killed…that definitely means he was drowned during nighttime. Kiki realized. "So assuming these were Snake's pajamas…"
"Th-those aren't S-Snake's pa-pajamas…" Both women turned to see Teruaki hesitantly walking over, averting his eyes. "They-they're m-m-mine…"
"Wait, they're yours?!" Kiki exclaimed in shock as her eyes widened.
Lotus scowled and demanded "Hey! What do you mean they're yours? Why was Snake wearing your pajamas?!"
"H-he came by my room the other night." Teruaki stammered. "He said th-that the pajamas he was given were a l-little small, and a-asked if I could loan him a pa-pair of mine."
"He asked to borrow your pajamas?" Kiki asked curiously, furrowing her brow.
"Y-yeah. M-Monokuma gave us p-plenty, so I figured it'd be e-easier so he'd l-leave! So, I gave him a pair of my pa-pajamas to try, he changed in my ba-bathroom, and then he l-left. And that was the la-last I saw of him."
"So, Snake left your room wearing your pajamas…" Lotus mused, resting her chin atop her fist as she bit her lip in contemplation.
…Is that even significant though…? Kiki wondered. Does the pajamas' owner have anything to do with the murder?
"Wh-whatever…" Teruaki muttered. "I told you everything I know, so I'm l-leaving now…"
As Teruaki turned and walked away, Lotus closed her eyes. She hummed, causing Kiki to stare curiously at her until her eyes opened with a blaze of realization. She then leaned in Kiki's ear, causing her eyes to widen.
"…Meet me in the library after you finish investigating the gym. I'm gonna follow up on another lead."
"…The library?" Kiki's brow furrowed as Lotus walked away. "What's in the library?" She pondered before she shook the thought away. "I can worry about that later. Right now, I still have to investigate the rest of the gym."
She glanced towards the other side of the tank and walked over to the blue bucket Gonta had placed. She felt her stomach churn as her face turned a nauseous green color.
It's a bucket…full of piranhas. Gonta said that he picked up all the piranhas and put them here.
"When I think that Snake is inside their stomachs, I don't even feel like eating them…" Seven muttered as he approached.
"…Why would you even consider eating them in the first place?" Whatever humor Kiki would have felt from Seven's remark died as she saw Clover flinch. Poor Clover… Kiki thought sadly. She can't even grieve before we have to solve her brother's death. Kiki clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Damn, why does she have to suffer like this…
"…Something was weird about those piranhas…"
Kiki's eyes widened as she turned towards Clover, shaken out of her thoughts. "…What are you talking about?"
"Well, I noticed it right as the show started…it looked like there were more piranhas today than yesterday when Lotus and I were preparing."
"More piranhas?" Kiki wondered with a surprised tone.
"What, did they multiply overnight?" Seven wondered. "There's no way they could reproduce that fast."
"I know that, genius!" Clover angrily retorted. "But, compared to yesterday…the piranhas looked super crammed into that tank."
So they looked more crammed together… Kiki mused.
"But the water was really murky, so I couldn't tell how many more piranhas there were…But anyway, it was super super super super super crammed."
More piranhas than yesterday…there might be something to that. Filing the thought away for later, Kiki stood up and glanced around. Let's see…is there anything else about the tank I should check out before I move on… "Hm?" Curious, she walked over to the curtain, sticking her hand in the partition. "Is there anything suspicious about this curtain…? When Clover was performing her escape, this was closed to prevent us from seeing."
Kiki hummed, inspecting the curtain closely with her narrowed eyes. At last, she sighed and shook her head.
"I don't see anything suspicious about it. Still, given where Snake was found, it's likely that the culprit knew the secret behind Clover's trick and took advantage of it. If so…then I should investigate behind this curtain and see if the culprit left any clues here."
With that, Kiki walked behind the curtain, observing a hidden grey and yellow staircase that extended from the floor to the stage. Her eyes wandered downwards and spotted a small puddle of water leaking from the bottom of the staircase into an empty space.
"It looks to me like these stairs had something to do with Clover's magic trick." She mused. "Maybe there's some kind of hidden door that connects the stairs to the tank. That would have allowed Clover to avoid the piranhas once the timer reached zero." Kiki sighed and shook her head. "But that still doesn't point to who the culprit might be…huh?"
Kiki knelt down, picking up a pair of black gloves with silver rings attached to the backs of them that laid in the puddle. Kiki's brow furrowed as she began to inspect them, feeling the gears turn in her head.
Where have I seen these before? They seem vaguely familiar, but… Kiki's eyes widened as she almost dropped the gloves. No…no way! But if that's true, then… With a heavy sigh, Kiki pocketed the gloves and stood up. No, something about this doesn't feel right. I can't put my finger on it…but something just feels…off… "Well, I've investigated everything about the tank." Kiki lamented as she stepped out of the curtain. "I should inspect the top of the stage too…but how am I gonna get up there…?"
"Will this help?"
Kiki turned and smiled gratefully as Gonta carried two ladders over to the side of the tank. "Gonta thought we should investigate the piranha tank too, so Gonta brought a second ladder so we could reach it."
"Thank you, Gonta. This is gonna be a great help!" Kiki beamed as Gonta smiled bashfully
He rubbed the back of his head once he placed the first ladder down. "Oh, Gonta's happy to help." He mumbled as Kiki began climbing up the first ladder. "Besides…" Gonta's eyes lowered as tears of remorse trickled down his cheeks. "Gonta coulda saved him…No, Gonta shoulda saved him…"
Without another word, Gonta followed her onto the stage. Kiki frowned as she asked gently, "Gonta, what's wrong?"
Once Gonta rested the second ladder below the piranha tank, Gonta lamented "When piranhas attacked Snake…If Gonta had dived into the tank…Then…Gonta coulda helped Snake. But Gonta got scared. Too scared to do anything." Gonta bowed his head as he cried, "Gonta's sorry! Really really sorry!"
"Gonta, it's not your fault." Kiki soothed, resting a comforting hand on his head. "Even if you had jumped in, they just would have eaten you too. And from what I read in the Monokuma File, you couldn't have saved him anyway, Gonta."
"Huh?" Gonta gasped, raising his head and wiping his tears on his sleeve. "Really? Does it say that in the Monokuma File?"
"You haven't even read the Monokuma File?" Kiki and Gonta turned to see Ace climbing up the ladder and on the stage.
Gonta shook his head and explained, "No…Gonta doesn't really understand it…Gonta isn't smart enough to be helpful…"
Ace sighed, shaking his head. "Gonta, I know how you feel, but just because we believe we can't help, doesn't mean we should stay silent. In fact, sometimes we're able to be the most helpful even if we can't realize it."
Kiki nodded in agreement. "That's right, Gonta! You're a huge help! There's some information that only you know, after all."
"Information…only Gonta knows?"
"Remember? During the show, you went up on the stage? That was about…20 seconds before the piranhas dropped, right?"
Gonta exhaled and crossed his arms, biting his lip in contemplation. "Y-Yeah…Cuz Gonta was worried about Clover…"
"Did you see inside the tank?" Ace pressed. "Did you see Clover or Snake?"
A moment passed before Gonta shook his head. "No, Gonta saw no one in the tank. Gonta was kinda surprised…"
"But…when the piranhas were dropped and the curtains opened, Snake was in the tank, right?"
"Yeah, that's right…"
"Then when did Snake get in there? You didn't see it happen?"
"Gonta dunno…" Gonta admitted, gritting his teeth in frustration. "Everyone saw Snake in the tank when the piranhas dropped in. After that…" Gonta shut his eyes as he apologized, "S-Sorry! Gonta shoulda watched the tank better!"
"Gonta…" Kiki's eyes softened, feeling Gonta's pain as if it were her own.
"But…this is a problem…" Kiki and Gonta turned to Ace, who muttered, "Now I'm even more stumped. Even if Clover disappearing was part of the Underwater Escape Act…How did Snake get into the tank? Was that part of Clover's trick?"
No, if that was the case, Clover wouldn't have been so worried about Snake's absence from the audience. No, I'm positive that mystery will be an important point of this case… Kiki's gaze wandered to the timer on the top of the tank, close to her feet. This is the timer that was counting down time escape trick…I didn't realize…it was also a timer to reveal Snake's body.
Kiki shook her head, refocusing her attention as she looked up at the piranha tank above her head. She observed the open floor hatch, her brow furrowing at the lack of a lid.
I can see the ceiling straight through. And only the front side is glass. The other sides are made of wood. So the piranha tank had no lid, and only the front was made of glass. "I…guess we didn't need the second ladder after all…" Kiki lamented.
"Oh…Gonta will carry it back down, then." Gonta hung his head as he grabbed the ladder and leapt off the stage.
I feel kinda bad for him, but I can't worry too much about Gonta right now. I still need to talk to Ryoma about where he and Kirumi were this morning.
Kiki climbed down the ladder and spotted Ryoma standing in a far corner of the gym. She walked over to him and waved in greeting.
"Hey, Ryoma!"
Ryoma nodded and asked, "What can I help you with? You need my alibi or something?"
"Well, not an alibi, but I was wondering where you and Kirumi were."
"Because we didn't show up for the magic show, right?"
Kiki reluctantly nodded. I don't want to suspect you, but the fact that you didn't show up until after we found Snake's body does make you and Kirumi look suspicious…
Ryoma shrugged. "It's okay, I know we look the most suspicious. As for my story…I couldn't sleep last night, so I went for a walk to clear my head. I must have felt really exhausted afterwards, cause I completely collapsed. After I woke up, I ran into Kirumi who told me that we were both late for the magic show. We rushed as fast as we could, but by the time we got here, you guys had already found Snake's body. And that's everything."
"Okay…thanks, Ryoma." Kiki nodded before Ryoma silently walked away.
Kiki frowned, her brow furrowing as she pondered, Ryoma says he went for a walk and fell asleep afterwards…but is that really everything? Kiki sighed as she lamented, I guess I'll have to ask Kirumi to confirm it.
Kiki took one last glimpse behind her before she walked away from the others. She took a deep breath, sorting all the clues she had uncovered in her mind.
I should go seek her out; I've investigated everything in the gym anyway. Maybe she'll have coaxed Shuichi out of wherever he ran off to. I'm doing my best, but we could really use his help. And I should meet up with Lotus, too. Maybe she uncovered a clue that'll be crucial in cracking this case. Plus, I should check to see what places in the school were practical to drown someone in, and Snake's room for his motive recording. Maybe there'll be a clue in those places that'll help us ensnare the culprit.
With her objectives now set, Kiki walked out of the gym, hopeful that she'd be able to gather enough clues to crack the case of Snake's death.
"So? Who is it?!"
Koto and Kiri stared expectantly at Kyoko. She and her husband sweatdropped, unsure of exactly what to tell them.
Eventually, Makoto cleared his throat and answered, "Well…it's a little too early to tell yet."
"Nani?!" Koto's eyes widened in disappointed shock as Kiri pouted.
"I thought detectives were supposed to be good at this stuff, and wasn't Mom the Ultimate Detective?"
Makoto scratched his cheek as he explained, "Well, she may have been good at her job, but she's not like a superhero from an anime." Even if that's exactly how I felt sometimes… "She can't just glance at the crime scene and decide who the culprit is."
"Indeed." Kyoko concurred. "Even I couldn't tell you who the culprit was immediately after investigating the gym. I'd need more clues, which is exactly what your sister is trying to find." She smiled proudly at her eldest daughter as she walked through the halls. "She's doing what any good detective would do. She's combing for any piece of evidence that will help her come to the truth."
"…This case is going to be difficult, isn't it?" Mokubo guessed as he glanced at his parents.
"Well, it certainly won't be easy." Makoto admitted. "None of these cases are ever easy. Still, I have faith that Kiki has what it takes to solve this case."
"Still, it would be nice if Shuichi bothered to help." Maki muttered. "Kiki's good, but she can't do it all by herself."
The Naegis nodded grimly as Kyoko prayed, "Hopefully Kiki will be able to help him regain his confidence, just like he did for her."
The others nodded as they joined her in silent prayer, hoping that Shuichi would get his act together in time for the Class Trial.