Chapter 16:
. Maizono screamed. A steaming corpse laid face-down in the sauna. Its arms were outstretched toward the door. It was Mondo Oowada. The SDHSL Outlaw Biker was dead. Everybody else came running over.
. "Who's dead?" Togami asked. "Oh, Kirigiri, you're back."
. "Oowada. And yes, I'm back. Monokuma told me that there was a murder, and apparently that was the key to let me out."
. "Two murders in one day." Celeste said.
. "Where's Hagakure and Yamada?" Kirigiri asked.
. "They're still guarding Ishimaru's body." Leon said.
. "Tell me everything anybody' s discovered about Ishimaru's body." Kirigiri demanded.
. "What? You can't just return here, and starting taking charge." Togami said.
. "What about Oowada? When was the last time anybody saw him alive?" Kirigiri asked.
. "He was the one that discovered Ishimaru's body." Fukawa said. "That was about 25 to 35 minutes ago."
. "It's not a suicide, is it?" Asahina asked.
. "No." Kirigiri said. "The sauna door was locked from the outside, and the switch is on the outside."
. "So Oowada's body has been here for about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes on the maximum temperature like that can definitely kill someone. Leon, Asahina, I want you two to guard the scene."
. "Alright." Leon sighed. "Naegi, can you explore the storeroom in my place?"
. "Sure."
. "Asahina?"
. "Not a problem."
. "Naegi, Maizono, take me to Ishimaru's body."
. Togami was glaring at Kirigiri.
. "Problem, Togami?" Celeste asked.
. "I'll be on the second floor if anybody needs me. There's something I need to consult." Togami said, examing the scissors.
. "Wait, before everybody goes their seperate ways. Here's something for you all! Monokuma File #2 is now available on your Student ID-s." Monokuma had appeared.
. "Hey, Monokuma, why didn't you give us this file when we found Ishimaru's dead body?"
. "I have my reasons. Let's just say I didn't want to interrupt anything."
. "Your reasons."
. "Wait." Kirigiri called out. "I have been informed that you opened Ishimaru's door to let Oowada in so that the body could be discovered. Since Oowada has now been killed, you're the only one we can that true?"
. "Absolutely. I opened the door for Oowada. Oh yeah, Ishimaru went very slowly. That's all I'm saying."
. "A slow death. That's absolutely horrible." Maizono said.
. "Nothing we can do about now." Kirigiri said, even more brisk than usual. "Maizono, Naegi. Walk with me. Give me the details."
. "Well, let's see. Oowada was last seen after he told us that he found Ishimaru's corpse." Naegi said.
. "No. Not that. I meant, was there anything strange that happened to Ishimaru in the days leading up to his death?"
. "Not that I'm aware of. You'll going to have to ask around."
. "Anything strange at all?"
. " As you know, Monokuma presented us with the motive to murder. However, the only person who didn't know about that motive was Ishimaru. He was feeling ill at by that point, and so missed Monokuma's announcement."
. Kirigiri's eyes widened slightly. "A slow death. It's like Ishimaru's death was already beginning even before the motive had been introduced. But if that's the case, could the motive have nothing to do with Ishimaru's death, and instead only be related to Oowada's death?" She thought.
. She reached Ishimaru's corpse and checked the Monokuma file.
. "Time of death: 8:43 A.M." She looked at the clock, it was about 11:15 now.
. But as she noticed the body, something seemed off about it.
. "That's strange. Monokuma's death says he died at 8:43 A.M., yet the signs of decomposition indicate that it's been longer than a day." Kirigiri said.
. "Where's Naegi?" she asked of Maizono.
. "He went to the storeroom. Do you remember Leon's request?" Maizono said.
. "Get him back here. He has sharp eyes." Kirigiri said.
. "Are you sure?" Celeste said. "The rules do say we are free to investigate as we choose."
. "Perhaps I could serve as his replacement instead?" Maizono suggested, shooting daggers underneath her voice.
. "It appears the rumors are true, and Monokuma's prediction was right on the money. Master Makoto Naegi is indeed becoming the SDHSL Harem Master." Yamada said.
. "Yamada, you are not helping." Maizono said.
. "What?" Kirigiri said, in the flattest tone possible. "Harem Master? He's the Luckster. Not the Harem Master. That's thoroughly unrealistic. Besides, there's still Maizono."
. "That's right! He's mine! And so help me if that doesn't happen, I will-!" Maizono suddenly stopped and clamped a hand over her mouth.
. You just went full yandere. Never go full yandere." Yamada told a blushing Maizono.
. "Shut up, Yamada."
. Kirigiri chuckled. "Right. So, have you two noticed anything off from this room?" She looked around. Not a single thing appeared to be out of place. The books were all there. The banners were neatly in line. The only thing off was Ishimaru's corpse.
. "So it appears Ishimaru's been dead for over 24 hours."
. "'Giri, are you serious?" Hagakure asked.
. "I'm dead serious, and ' 'Giri' ?" Kirigiri replied. "Maizono, can you do me a favor?"
. "Yeah?"
. "Check his lint roller, Fujisaki. Fujisaki?"
. "Fujisaki is with Celeste. They're seeing what Togami is doing on the second floor." Maizono said.
. Kirigiri continued to scroll through the Monokuma file.
. "Cause of Death: Internal Bleeding, and a broken rib."
. "So what could have caused it? Some cleaning detergent from the laundry room? I know where I'm looking next."
. "Kirigiri, where are you going now?"
. "Has someone been doing laundry?"
. "The only person who's done laundry while we've been in here that I know of was Enoshima."
. "Really?"
. "Yeah. It was that first night."
. Kirigiri walked over to the laundry room. She searched around. No liquid detergent was present whatsoever. There were some detergent packs, but no liquid. She'd have to take some time to double-check the laundry room.
. "That's strange. I'll have to check the storeroom."
. Naegi was not having any luck in the storeroom. He didn't even know what he would be looking for. The use of tape? A pair of scissors? Something that could have let them lock Ishimaru in without using his key? He spotted a sports bag with a blue jersey.
. "Wait a minute. Sports drinks. And it looks like some of them have been drunk."
. "Naegi."
. "Kirigiri."
. "Discovered anything?"
. "Maybe. When you get the chance, ask who's been drinking sports drinks."
. "Why?"
. "You'll see."
. "Fair enough."
. "You have your reasons."
. Togami was examining an old favorite file of his: Genocider Shou's case file. The circumstances had changed though. What was previously an odd pasttime of his now became essential to his survival.
. "No doubt about it. This is the same scissors Genocider Shou uses. We've got a homicidal maniac in here, but who could it be? I've got it down to ten suspects. Literally a ten percent chance of getting this right. Celeste looks to be the best candidate. She's the Queen of Liars."
. He re-read the file. ' 'Genocider Shou' looks to be some sort of alternate personality.' '
. "Alternate personality? Alternate Personality? Celeste can act, but she doesn't have an alternate personality..."
. "What now?" Celeste asked. "There you are."
. "Yes, here I am."
. "H-h-ave you discovered anything?" Fujisaki asked.
. "Yes."
. "What is it?"
. "That the scissors used to barricade the door belonged to Genocider Shou."
. "Genocider Shou? You mean that deranged serial killer that nobody knows the identity of. Does that mean Genocider Shou is inside these walls? That proves problematic indeed."
. Fujisaki squeaked in fear. "A serial killer inside these walls? What's stopping Shou from killing all of us before a trial even reaches the room?"
. "This!" Monokuma popped out. "I do have a new rule in place here you go. If you open up your Student Ids, there it is."
. "' No culprit may kill more than two participants in this academic colliseum."
. "Well, that takes care of that." Celeste said. "Though it begs the question why this rule wasn't implemented in the first place."
. "Because to be perfectly honest, I was kinda hoping Genocider Shou wouldn't be an issue." Monokuma admitted.
. "What?" Fujisaki said.
. "How interesting." Togami commented.
. "How so?" Celeste asked.
. "Well, I had been playing around with the idea that Genocider Shou was the mastermind, but this game doesn't fit the M.O of Shou, and based off of Monokuma's statement now, Genocider is probably one of the students. I'd actually like to meet Shou before this is all said and done."
. "Careful what you wish for." Celeste said.
. "Lot more interesting than say, Fukawa." Togami replied. "That girl won't leave me alone."
. "Can't you see that she wuvs her White Knight?" Monokuma cooed
. "Shut up with that accent. It's sickeningly." Togami seethed.
. "From what I see, it's clear that she also loves books." Celeste said. "As much if not greater than you."
. "While her tastes are better than say, Yamada's, romance novels are not my cup of coffee."
. "I thought the phrase was 'cup of tea'." Celeste noted.
. "But I don't drink tea. So the phrase is inaccurate. I drink Luwack coffee." Togami said.
. "Um-um-um-um."
. "Something to say, Fujisaki?" Celeste asked.
. "You just said that you thought Genocider was one of the students. Are we... just skating past that?" Fujisaki asked.
. "It'll come up at the trial, believe me." Togami said. "But for now, the other students shouldn't be made aware of it."
. "Why not?" Celeste asked.
. "Isn't it obvious?" Togami said. "I intend to catch the murderer in a trap. Only someone who knows that Shou uses these particular scissors for murder would be able to use them."
. "Perhaps they just grabbed them from the store room?" Celeste said.
. "They're custom-made." Togami replied. "All the more reason to believe that Shou is inside the walls of this school."
. Celeste sighed. "That's the last thing we need, an innocent serial killer."
. "What do you mean?"
. "I mean, suppose we figure out who did it, but it wasn't even Genocider Shou in the first place. It was just a student, but we expose Genocider Shou anyway. We've lost 4 students. We're down to 11. Down to 10 after we find the culprit. And one of those 10 is Genocider Shou. Who can kill two students of their own. So we've just been cut down to eight survivors at best."
. "That's scary." Fujisaki chimed in.
. "Are you saying you're Genocider Shou, Celeste?" Togami argued. "Because that's what you're implying."
. "I am NOT Genocider Shou, Togami." Celeste smiled.
. "We'll see." Togami replied.
. "' No culprit may kill more than two participants in this academic colliseum.' I wonder what's that all about." Asahina said, looking at her student handbook.
. "No idea." Leon admitted. "Maybe it's to prevent some student from just killing everybody else to get out."
. "Oh, I get it." Asahina said. "If there's no other students, there's no trial. No trial means the culprit can't be found guilty."
. "And if the culprit isn't found guilty, then they can leave." Leon finished. "Makes sense. But you would have thought an oversight like that would have been accounted for at the very beginning."
. "Hey, Leon."
. "Yeah."
. "Do you think we have a chance of finding the culprit this time? I mean, last time, it was so obvious what happened. There was no cover-up whatsoever."
. "We'll have to figure out who killed Mondo."
. "And Ishimaru."
. "And Ishimaru."
. "What if there are two separate culprits, who do we vote for?"
. "We'll cross the bridge when we get there."
. Asahina turned to look Oowada's body. "He looks so... so..."
. "So... so what?"
. "So scalded. I can't imagine how painful it must have been for him."
. "Unfortunately, something tells me someone will end up going a worse way."
. "Yeah, you're probably right. And that's horrible to think about."
. "We've been trapped in here against our will, and are told to kill the people whom should have been our classmates. If that doesn't leave a psychological mark, what does?"
. "Quite right." a third person said.
. "Kyoko!"
. "All right, you two. I'm done looking at Ishimaru's body. Now to move onto Oowada's. And since the two of you are the athletic talents in here, I have a quesiton for both of you."
. "What is it?" Asahina asked.
. "Have either of you been drinking sports drinks?"
. "I haven't."
. "I have." Leon admitted. "So did Ishimaru, Oowada, and Hagakure. We drank them all together a couple of nights ago. Why?"
. "I have one more question for you, Leon. Do you know if the package containing them had been open prior to the four of getting yours."
. "No. The seal was unbroken."
. "I see. I'll have to take your word for it."
. "You can ask Hagakure about it, he'll back me up."
. "I was going to... at the trial."
. Kirigiri began inspecting the door. She stepped inside the sauna, and closed the sliding door almost all the way.
. "Hey!"
. "Punch marks. And more importantly, punch marks that are even. Oowada didn't go down without a fight."
. "What do those punch marks mean?"
. "It means Oowada was conscious the whole time he was getting burned alive. And an odd note is that he was punching perpendicular to the door."
. "So?" Asahina asked.
. "It means that the force exerted by Oowada's punches was practically zero." Fujisaki said, walking in.
. "Fujisaki, I thought you were with Celeste."
. "I was. She went to explore the kitchen for clues."
. "Wait, I'm confused." Leon said. "I'm no good with physics. What the hell are you talking about exactly?"
. "It means that while Oowada's punches were denting the sauna door, he wasn't actually punching it open."
. "What?"
. "The door opens ninety degrees from Oowada's punches. Ordinarily, the force of Oowada's punches would be force times the cosine of the degree between the door and the punch. And it is. The problem is that the cosine of ninety degrees is zero."
. "Huh?" Leon said.
. "All I'm saying is that he might have stood a chance if he had punched at an angle, and also further from the door hinges. But I doubt Oowada knew about physics."
. "Wow, Fujisaki. That's impressive. When did you learn that?" Asahina said.
. "I perused that Physics textbook I found in the library." Fujisaki replied.
. "Well, how about that." Kirigiri replied. "It appears I've missed some developments."
. "Indeed, you have." Leon noted.
. Celeste was having no luck with the kitchen. There didn't seem to be any direct clues to Ishimaru's or Oowada's death.
. "The only thing I've noticed is that one of the knives from that knife set over there is missing. That may be a clue. But given the fact that neither of the victims have knife wounds, I wonder... is it possible that the murderer has a knife wound instead? But nobody was bleeding enough for that to happen."
. Her mind began to wander.
. "I haven't seen Fukawa since we reached the second floor together. We both went our seperate ways there."
. She contented herself with making some tea.
. And then Monokuma's annoucement that time was up.
. "Alright, everybody. Since you guys all know the drill, meet up in front for the door."
. Celeste sighed, and went in front of the room. She was the third person there after Naegi and Maizono.
. "And so it begins. Trial Number Two." Naegi commented.
. The anxiety only increased as more and more people showed up.
. "Without Ishimaru or Oowada, this group seems a lot more quiet now." Leon commented.
. "Cut the wistful reflection. We're going have to find the murderer." Togami said. "Or murderers."
. Kirigiri was the last one to show up with Fukawa in tow.
. "I don't want to go. I don't want to go. These trials. ARGH!" Fukawa said, clutching her head.
. "Well, being a part of the trial is mandatory." Monokuma said, popping out.
. "Yes, but..." Celeste started.
. "Yes, but what?"
. "Yes, but there's also a rule saying that there is no restriction in terms of movement around the school for exploration. That being said, it is NOT a rule that participation in the trial has to take place in the trial room itself."
. "What are you saying?"
. "What am I saying is that Kirigiri being isolated in between trials one and two wasn't something that could be done within the rules because you limited her ability to explore."
. "Oh, the trial room is special."
. "So are you saying that the rules don't apply in the trial room? If that's the case, then your rule saying that the losers of the trial have to die gets thrown out as well. And by that logic, we can all attack you with impunity once we reach the trial room."
. "Celeste." Naegi whispered. "I get what you're trying to do, but really, you want to play these cards now."
. "I have to play these cards now."
. Monokuma took a step back. "Well this is bear-y interesting. Bear-y interesting indeed. You are good. You are very good indeed."
. "Well, I did say we would have to adapt."
. "And that includes combining rules to your advantage." Togami said. "Well, that's inventive. I never would have thought to do that."
. "I can add a rules, you know." Monokuma said.
. "But can you add rules that go against other, pre-existing rules?" Togami said. "Otherwise, that kinda goes against your whole motive of proving us fallible. You can't prove us as fallible as you like if you have to use a number of exterior constraints to get us to murder each other. Kinda defeats the premise,
doesn't it?"
. If Monokuma could be surprised, he would be.
. "I never expected them to start using their own rules against me, by combining them! I underestimated their intelligence."