A/N: Here's Chapter Two Deadly Life Part Four. Please read, review, and enjoy!
Danganronpa 4: Next Generation Killing!
Chapter Two: A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell!
Deadly Life Part Four: Fratricide?!
"Now then, let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! During the trial you'll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for whodunnit. Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person…I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that person will graduate from this university! Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for someone!"
Don't remind me… Kiki deadpanned as she listened to Monokuma's obligatory instructions.
"Now, let's get this crazy, awesome, crazy-awesome to the max trial underway!"
Okay, the trial's officially started…but where do we start? We don't even know who the culprit is-
"…Clover seems su-suspicious."
Everyone's eyes widened at Teruaki's claim. Sweat dripped down Clover's face as she stammered "W-what?!"
"A-Ano…" Kiki tried to interject.
"Hey!" An incensed Lotus scowled, pointing fiercely at Teruaki. "It's bad enough that she lost her brother! How can you accuse Clover?!"
"…I don't want to agree with him, but Clover is the most suspicious." Kirumi sighed reluctantly.
"Snake died during Clover's magic show." Keebo hesitantly concurred.
"Is…is that…?" Kiki tried once more, only to be cut off again.
"His body appearing in the water tank leads one to think the escape trick played a part." Ace explained. "It's only natural we suspect Clover. She was the one performing the trick." Clover winced, her eyes clamping shut from the pressure.
"Screw you all!" Lotus spat. "I'll protect Clover! There's no way any of that is true!"
"It's true though!" Teruaki insisted. "Clover used the Underwater Escape trick to kill Snake. B-But I still don't have a clue how Clover did the trick…"
"Y'know, maybe it really was ma-"
"Oh, stop it." Sokyu cut Gonta off before he turned his glare towards the trembling Clover. "If you don't come up with an alibi now, then we'll vote you as the culprit."
"Stop picking on Clover!" Lotus growled. "A devoted little girl like her couldn't kill anyone!"
"I get that you want to defend her, but that might be a bit much…" Tsumugi sweatdropped.
So, everyone's suspecting Clover…but I'm not convinced… Kiki flashed back to Clover's emotional reaction to her brother's skeleton, her wails of anguish and tears of grief seared in her mind. She'd have to be a very convincing actress to pull that off on cue. I can't let this case get derailed by misunderstandings.
Kiki glanced over at Shuichi. The detective was still seemingly locked in indecision, his hands gripping the podium with a death grip as he bit his lip.
…I can't count on Shuichi right now. So, it's up to me. "Ano…" Everyone sans Suichi turned towards Kiki, who asked "Before we get hung up on a suspect, can we just take a moment to solidify the cause of death?"
"The cause of death?" Seven repeated.
"Is that really necessary?" Ace's brow furrowed in confusion. "We saw his death with our own eyes, after all."
"Not all of us saw the moment he died, Ace." Kirumi gently reminded.
"Yeah, Kirumi and I were late, so we only saw his skeleton." Ryoma concurred.
"And besides…" Kiki continued. "Some of us might have mistaken perceptions about what we all saw. I just…wanna be sure we're all on the same page, that's all."
"The logical course of action would be to double-check our work so that our verdict is free of accidental errors." Keebo nodded. "I also think it's wise to discuss Snake's true cause of death."
"Hmph, alright, I guess we can start with that." Lotus agreed.
"Very well, then." Ace concurred. "Let us determine once and for all how Snake died."
"The culprit used the Underwater Escape Trick…to pull off a sneaky switcheroo with Snake." Teruaki declared.
"After that, the time ran out…" Ace continued. "The tank above Snake opened and piranhas came pouring out…And he was eaten alive!"
There's the misconception! Kiki realized as she pointed her finger at Ace. "No that's wrong!" As everyone turned towards her, the heterochromatic girl argued "No, Snake's death was not caused by the piranhas."
Kiki took out her tablet and turned it on. She then scrolled through the information until it landed on the cause of death
She turned it so everyone could see, then explained, "The Monokuma File indicates the cause of death is drowning."
"So it wasn't the piranhas, then." Seven mused. "He was drowned."
"Oh, I see." Ace's lips tugged into a guilty frown. "I must have glossed over that part of the Monokuma File, so that's news to me."
"Then do your homework instead of jumping to conclusions!" Lotus spat.
"S-so what?" Teruaki stammered. "Snake drowned, Clover switched p-places with him, and then the piranhas a-ate him. R-Right?"
"No, Clover only had 60 seconds to escape from the tank…" Keebo reminded him. "Even if they changed places at the start of the show, that's still insufficient time to drown someone."
"If that is the case, then when did he drown?" Kirumi pondered, resting a finger below her lip.
When did Snake drown? Kiki pondered. It was obviously…not during the show, not after the piranhas dropped…that's the one! "Snake was already drowned before the show started."
"…Agreed." Sokyu nodded. "Before being eaten by the piranhas, he made no attempt to escape the water. To be precise, he made no movements whatsoever. Yes…By that point, he had already joined the ranks of the dead."
"Could that mean his body was hidden until the culprit made it appear in the tank?" Keebo wondered.
"Hidden…where?" Gonta pondered.
"The culprit would have had to hide the body near the tank, and then show it during the act." Kirumi hypothesized.
"Easier said than done!" Lotus rejected.
"Was there a place on stage where the culprit could've hid the body?" Ace questioned. "Oh, wait. Clover should know since she performed the Underwater Escape Trick."
"Wh-Why is everyone still picking on Clover?" Lotus spat.
"Man, we gotta figure out how the trick works to find where the body was hidden." Seven muttered, ignoring Lotus's outburst.
"But Clover has not yet told us how she performed her act." Kirumi sighed.
"A-Ano…" Clover quietly mumbled, opening her eyes before being cut off.
"Then let's work together to reveal the secret behind Clover's trick!" Ace emphatically proposed.
"So…not real magic?" Gonta asked.
"O-of course not!" Clover scowled, pointing angrily at Gonta. "You must be one big nitwit if you think I could perform magic, especially with only a day to learn!"
"Yeah…it's not like she went to school at Hogwarts." Tsumugi mused "I wonder what house she would have been sorted into…?"
…Anyway, we first need to perform how Clover performed the trick. Kiki sweatdropped. If we can't figure that out, this case is going nowhere.
"How did Clover escape the water tank…?" Keebo hummed in contemplation.
"Maybe she just c-climbed out and no one no-noticed." Teruaki volunteered.
"No, she definitely would've been caught." Ryoma countered with a shake of the head.
"Perhaps some mechanism was set up on the stage." Kirumi suggested.
"The curtain covering the tank was certainly suspicious." Ace commented.
"What about that square pane of glass we found in the tank?" Lotus suggested.
"Maybe the tank had a secret hatch?"
Kiki narrowed in on Sokyu's musings, causing her to snap her fingers in realization. "I agree with you! I think Sokyu's right; there must've been an escape hatch on that tank."
"I see, so it did have one."
Kiki nodded. "That's right. I investigated the portion of the tank that was visible behind the curtain. There was a small indentation in the shape of a door behind the stairs that were directly connected to the tank. I bet that she used that to make her escape."
"I'm gonna get you for that!"
Kiki tuned towards the angered Lotus. Steam seemed to emit from her nostrils as she glared angrily at the heterochromatic girl.
"No! Your logic is all wrong, Kiki!"
"Hm?" What's with her? And why is she angry at me? Kiki smiled nervously in an attempt to placate the strangely furious woman. "What do you mean?"
"Hmph! And you don't even know why you're wrong, either! I didn't think you'd be so dense."
Okay, that hurts, Lotus… Kiki thought as Lotus seemed to growl at her.
"Kiki, you'd better apologize to Clover for what you said!"
Rebuttal Showdown –Truth Blade-: Lotus vs Kiki!
"The presence of a hidden door in the stairs…"
Which changes our whole understanding of the case! Kiki thought as Lotus continued her rant.
"doesn't have anything to do with Clover's escape!"
Yes, yes it does!
"She didn't use an escape door!"
How else would she have gotten out of that tank?!
"I know she didn't do that!"
You couldn't have known unless she let you in on the trick!
"Now…take back what you said!"
"W-Wait a second!" Kiki stammered, holding her palms up in a gesture of peace. "B-before I take back what I said…What makes you so sure she didn't?"
Lotus let out an exasperated breath of air through her nose as she pinched the bridge of it. "Because! If she escaped from a door connected to the tank…"
Like the one we were just talking about?!
"…The water would have gushed out with her!"
Would there have been?
"There would have been water everywhere!"
That's where you're mistaken, Lotus! Kiki focused on Lotus's last statement, narrowing her eyes and pointing at the raging woman. "Let me cut through your words!"
"There was a reason the room wasn't flooded with water…" Kiki explained. "The staircase that was attached to the water tank. Try to remember how the staircase was positioned…the water tank was probably connected to the inside of the staircase."
"Inside the staircase…" Gonta paled. "His body was in stairs?!"
"With that in mind, it's clear how Clover made her escape from underwater. There was a curtain covering the tank during the performance…allowing Clover to enter the staircase from the hatch undetected. Any water that spilled out would've simply funneled into the staircase."
Clover nodded. "Yeah, there's a hidden hatch that I had to align the staircase to in order for this trick to work."
"So how do you get out from the staircase?" Tsumugi asked, still a little puzzled.
"As I said, the staircase also has an escape hatch, one facing away from us. It's the indentation that's shaped like a door, and it's placed so that the water would not drain from the staircase."
"In which case, a person could exit and leave water inside the staircase." Keebo reasoned.
Kiki nodded. "However, that person would be soaked, meaning that some trace should be left… That would explain why there was a puddle around the stairs…"
"So when Clover came out from the stairs, her wet clothes dripped water all over!" Seven realized.
"But…Clover's clothes should've been wet when she left the water tank…" Lotus argued.
"Her c-clothes were definitely not w-wet!" Teruaki realized.
No, and magic had nothing to do with why her clothes weren't wet… We all saw her go into the water, there's no way she could have dried off that quickly…that's the one! "…It's because she changed her uniform." Kiki realized.
"The dormitory is stocked with uniforms." Keebo realized. "Did you hide one behind the stage in advance?"
"Huh, now that you mention it…" Lotus mused "After Clover said she was going to the gym, I saw her carry a uniform and a towel."
"She may not have had time to fully dry her hair…" Kirumi mused. "But in the spectacle of the performance, we probably would have been so entranced, we would have been none the wiser."
"Of course!" Clover exclaimed. "I had just changed into my spare uniform and re-tied my hair when I heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on! Now can we please move on, already?! We've been wasting so much time dissecting my magic trick when we should have been trying to find who killed my brother!"
"Yes, let us proceed." Kirumi suggested. "Where did the culprit hide Snake's body? From our discussion earlier, his body could have been in the space inside the staircase."
Gonta pursed his lips. "But that's where Clover would escape from, right?"
"So Clover went in the stairs with the body?!" Ace exclaimed before Keebo shook his head.
"That seems unlikely. There isn't enough space for two people to fit in there."
"Yeah, those stairs seem pretty cramped." Tsumugi concurred. "It'd be hard to fit even Clover and Ryoma in there."
"Who says they went in t-together?" Teruaki scowled. "She could've made the switch as she was leaving the tank. At the s-same time, she could've p-pulled out the body from inside the s-stairs. That way, she'd have r-room to put herself in there. S-See how easy that is?" Teruaki pointed accusingly at Clover. "I think that explains how Clover changed places with Snake's body."
"Hey!" Lotus spat once more. "Why did you automatically assume it was Clover?!"
"W-Who else but C-Clover could've done it?"
Clover squirmed as her podium suddenly pulled to the center, her eyes darting around at the others as they stared at her. Kiki frowned empathetically, having been in the hot seat herself not that long ago.
"Ughhh…Why are you accusing her?! Didn't you learn your lesson with Kiki?"
"You may think you're protecting Clover…" Ace interjected. "…But what if she really is the culprit?" Ace glared at Lotus as he warned, "We'll all die, and it will be all your fault…Are you okay with that, Lotus?"
"I'm totally fine with that!" Lotus exclaimed without missing a beat, causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.
What…? Kiki nearly gasped as she stared at the passionate, maternal woman.
"I don't care what anyone says! Clover would never murder someone, let alone her own brother! It's completely illogical and the only evidence you have is circumstantial…and it's flimsy at best! I need to believe in her, and stand up for her! If I can't defend a little girl in need, how can I ever look my daughters in the eyes ever again?! So…I'm gonna keep believing in Clover!"
"Lotus is definitely a devoted mom." Maki commented, causing the three children in the room to nod in agreement.
"Yeah…any parent would want to believe in their child until the very end." Makoto concurred.
"Indeed. As a mother, I sympathize with her." Kyoko frowned. "Still, siblings aren't immune to murderous thoughts."
As Makoto and Kyoko's minds flashed back to the two Ultimate Despairs, Koto asked "So, is Clover guilty or not?"
"…I don't know, Koto." Makoto admitted. "I don't want to believe that Clover's a cold-faced killer, but they've yet to prove that she's innocent."
"Ace has a point." Mokubo reluctantly commented. "If she is the killer, and they all vote for someone else, they'll all die for nothing."
All of them felt their stomachs churn with dread at the thought before Kiri shook away her nausea. "Well…I know Kiki will find the truth!"
"Yeah!" Koto agreed. "Kiki's gonna solve this mystery! If Clover's innocent, she'll prove it!"
"Indeed." Kyoko smiled along with her husband. "As long as she keeps her mind focused on the debate at hand, she'll pull through."
"Well, we're about to find out if she can. It looks like the debate's about to continue." Maki gestured to the TV screen as Teruaki countered Lotus's devotion.
"The only one who could've switched out Snake's body…is Clover herself."
"When Clover was escaping the tank…" Ace contemplated. "…She dragged out the body hidden in the stairs, and simply switched places with it."
"Are you telling me you saw that happen?!" Lotus demanded.
"No one could have seen that." Kirumi commented. "It would have occurred in the middle of the show…when the tank was covered with a curtain."
"So basically, no one saw anything."
Kiki clued in on Sokyu's exasperated sigh, narrowing her eyes and pointing at him. "No that's wrong! Someone did see inside the tank! It was Gonta!" Kiki stared pleadingly at the bug enthusiast, not even noticing how her hands were gripping the podium with vigor. "Gonta had climbed onto the stage and was looking into the tank from above. Isn't that right, Gonta?"
"Y-Yeah…" Gonta stammered as he crossed his arms, frowning pensively. "Gonta saw down into the tank. But…Gonta saw no one in there."
"…No one was in there?" Sokyu asked curiously.
"Yeah, no one. Guess that clue was no good, huh?"
Kiki shook her head and countered "No, that's actually a great clue. Because…if Snake's body was hidden inside the staircase…Clover would have had to pull him out before she went inside. There certainly wasn't enough room in the staircase for both of them. But that means, if the tank was empty when Gonta looked…Snake's body must not have been hidden in the staircase."
"Are you an idiot?!"
Teruaki's forceful interjection shattered Kiki's focus, cutting her explanation short. "W-why are you calling me an idiot?" She asked, her lips tugging into a pained frown.
"S-So what if that big lug couldn't see anyone in the tank? Th-that still doesn't prove that C-Clover's i-innocent."
"But how could she have moved his body into the tank without the staircase?" Kiki pressed, causing Teruaki to gnash his teeth.
"Y-you s-stupid little g-girl! F-Fine, I'll e-explain it s-slowly, so you can u-understand. Yes, you'll understand…you'll understand why that m-manipulative little g-girl is g-guilty!"
Rebuttal Showdown – Truth Blade-: Teruaki vs Kiki!
"G-Gonta's testimony means n-nothing!" Teruaki spat, causing Kiki to clench her fists in anger.
No, he's our sole eyewitness, so his testimony is everything!
"The water in the tank was murky…"
You're thinking of the piranha tank, not the main tank.
"…and Gonta wears g-glasses…"
Okay, that's low, Kubota!
"So he could have m-missed Clover as she m-moved around in the t-tank!"
I don't care how murky the water is. You couldn't miss a person swimming around in a tank that shallow!
"So as far as I'm concerned, C-Clover is still g-guilty!"
Kiki let out an exasperated sigh, wanting to tug her braid out of her head as she forced herself to calm down. "I trust Gonta to give an accurate account, and his eyesight is just fine! If he says Clover wasn't in there, she wasn't in there!"
Teruaki gritted his teeth before he jabbed "S-so what if she wasn't in the t-tank?!"
You'll have to do better than that.
"All she had to do was share the s-stairs with him."
But he's just as tall as the stairs!
"Th-that's the o-only place she could have h-hidden him!"
Is it though? Stop thinking so narrowly!
"Th-there was nowhere else in the gym to hide the b-body!"
Yes, yes there was! Kiki narrowed her eyes as Teruaki's claim repeated in her mind. She raised her finger and pointed at him, retorting, "Let me cut through your words!"
"No, there is a place you could hide the body other than the staircase." Kiki insisted.
"Then…Snake's body wasn't hidden in the stairs?" Tsumugi asked, a hint of confusion dancing in her eyes.
Kiki shook her head. "No, it wasn't."
"I trust then that you have another place in mind?" Ace pressed.
"Y-Yeah, I do…I think."
Everyone else sans Shuichi nearly fell over, just barely keeping their balances by gripping their podiums for support.
"Don't just go saying I think like that!" Clover nearly shouted. "This trial is riding on your words, Kiki!"
"Yeah, we can't just make up guesses." Seven muttered.
"Kiki, if you have a concrete idea as to where Snake's body was hidden, please tell us." Lotus pleaded.
"O-okay, just give me a minute to think." Kiki closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Let's see, I know this! It's on the tip of my tongue, but what is it?!
She forced herself to concentrate, shining clarity on her jumbled thoughts. As she made sense of the pieces and rearranged them into a concrete argument, she opened her eyes and gasped in realization.
P-I-R-A-H-N-A, PIRANHA! T-A-N-K, TANK! PIRANHA TANK! Now I get it! "Snake's body was in a tank, but not the main tank Clover was in…it was in the piranha tank!"
"Whoa! The piranha tank?!" Seven nearly shouted in shock.
"How would Snake's body even be placed in the piranha tank?" Ace gasped.
"Yeah, if it were in the piranha tank, the fish would have devoured him long before the magic show." Ryoma pointed out.
"Did someone cast a Protect spell on Snake's body until the start of the show?" Tsumugi pondered, causing everyone to sweatdrop.
"I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, it's possible that Snake was placed in the piranha tank before the magic show, and that the piranhas were kept from eating him beforehand."
"Alright, let's test this little hypothesis of yours." Lotus suggested before Teruaki pointed his shaky finger at Clover once more.
"Where were you hiding S-Snake's body?!"
"It wasn't really in the stairs, was it?" Tsumugi asked once more for confirmation.
Keebo nodded. "After all, there was only enough space for Clover."
"W-well, how about behind the c-curtain?" Teruaki stammered.
"If there was a way to enter the tank from there…" Kirumi contemplated. "…then it would be plausible."
"Or maybe the body was in the tank all along…but we just couldn't see it." Ace proposed.
"Impossible." Sokyu shook his head. "You'd need top-notch visual effects to pull that off."
"Well, what of the tank containing the piranhas?" Lotus finally mentioned.
"No way." Seven shook his head. "If you put a body in there…the piranhas would have eaten it way before we saw it!"
"But if the body and piranhas were separated…"
Kiki focused in on Lotus's proposition and pointed at her with a relieved smile. "I agree with you! Lotus's hypothesis is correct. The body and the piranhas were separated! This was accomplished using the square glass pane found in the tank!"
"Ah, so that's why that pane was in the tank during the investigation." Lotus explained "Using that glass pane as a divider, a safe space could be created in the tank. It is in such a space that the body could be stored, separated from the piranhas."
"Then that means Snake's body was hidden in the piranha tank the whole time!" Kiki exclaimed.
"So Snake's body fell into the water tank with the piranhas?!" Seven asked incredulously.
"Gonta knew it!" Gonta exclaimed in realization, startling everyone and causing them to turn towards him.
"What is it, Gonta?" Tsumugi asked curiously.
"Gonta was above the stage when the piranhas fell! That's why Gonta saw something no one else could…When the piranhas fell, Gonta saw some big thing fall into the water tank with them." Gonta clenched his teeth, shutting his eyes and clenching his fist in guilt as he lamented, "Y'know, now that Gonta thinks about it…Gonta maybe saw Snake's body."
"When the piranhas dropped from the tank, I thought I saw something bigger drop as well." Lotus commented.
Kirumi's brow furrowed as she asked, "The water tank on the bottom is made completely out of glass, right? You can see what is happening through the glass. Can you really hide a body in the tank?"
Ace shook his head. "Even in murky water, a dead body would still be visible in a glass tank."
"Unless…a certain something was used to obscure the body." Kiki countered.
"…A certain something?" Sokyu asked curiously before Kiki nodded.
"We all agree that the glass pane was used to separate the body from the piranhas, correct? Well, that method has the added benefit of hiding the body from view."
"How could you hide a body like that?" Clover asked.
How was the culprit able to conceal the body in the piranha tank…? Kiki pondered, cycling through the discoveries she made during the investigation. Her eyes widened as her conversation with Clover and Seven echoed in her mind, causing her to realize, That's the one! "It was the piranhas. The piranhas were obscuring the body."
"Huh?! The piranhas?!" Clover exclaimed in shock before Kiki nodded. "That's right. Remember, Clover? You said it yourself during the investigation."
"Hmm…" Clover hummed before her eyes widened in realization. "Now that you mention it, I do recall saying something about there being more piranhas that morning than when Lotus and I rehearsed."
"So they increased that significantly?" Lotus questioned skeptically. "Did Monokuma sneak in and fill up the tank with more fish while we were sleeping?"
"Hey, I gave you all the piranhas I had!" Monokuma interjected. "And you'd better make sure they're still alive when this trial's over, or I'm suing your next of kin for property damages!"
Okay… Kiki sweatdropped. She shook her head and replied, "While I wouldn't put it past Monokuma, it wasn't that the actual number of piranhas increased. The glass pane divided the tank nearly in half, right? The piranhas got crowded together, making it look like there were more of them."
"The more densely the piranhas are packed, the harder it is to see past them." Ryoma mused.
"Because of that, it was difficult to see the body hidden in the tank." Kirumi realized.
"That glass pane was…the lid from the piranha tank." Clover concluded. "It was really easy to detach that lid, so it's no wonder they used it as a divider."
"Th-thanks for telling us that u-useless detail…" Teruaki muttered, only to earn Lotus's ire.
"What the heck are you saying?! That detail was super useful! Sure, the lid looks a little big. But if you set it diagonally, it would fit perfectly…Nice job, Clover! Your explanation was awesome!"
But…I did most of the work… Kiki deadpanned.
"With this much evidence, it seems like the body was definitely in the piranha tank." Seven concluded.
"Alright, now there should be no reason for anyone to suspect Clover." Lotus declared with a certain edge in her voice.
"Really?" Clover asked hopefully as her podium retracted from the center.
"Yeah! Cuz if you didn't switch places with the body, then you couldn't have killed him!"
"It only means we now have other suspects." Ace chided. "You are not cleared of suspicion just yet."
Lotus groaned as Teruaki smirked, taking Ace's statement as a partial victory.
Okay, Clover's mostly cleared. Kiki thought with relief. While it's still possible she might be the culprit, Snake's body being in the piranha tank makes her involvement highly unlikely. That leaves us open to pursuing other suspects.
"…Kubota-san is…a spiteful man…" Mokubo deadpanned.
"Agreed." Maki nodded. "I've run into more than my fair share of people like him in my former line of work."
"Yeah, why can't he just accept that Clover didn't do it?!" Koto demanded, pouting.
"Kiki's word should have been more than enough to convince him." Kiri agreed, matching her brother's pout. "So why does he have to be so happy that Clover still might be the killer?!"
"Some people just can't stand being wrong." Makoto commented, flashing back to the former Ultimate Affluent Progeny's arrogance in their early days as students.
"Indeed." Kyoko frowned worriedly. "Hopefully he can put his spitefulness aside and arrive at a logical decision with the others so they can all survive."
The others nodded anxiously as they turned their attentions back to the TV, hoping that everyone could keep their cools and focus on finding the true killer.