A/N: Here's Chapter Five Deadly Life Part Two. Please read, review, and enjoy!
Danganronpa 4: Next Generation Killing!
Chapter Five: United We Stand, Divided We Fall!
Deadly Life Part Two: Investigating the Crime Scene!
Despite their agreement to investigate, the survivors stood around awkwardly. They glanced at each other, sharing confused gazes.
"So, ah…" Tsumugi began. "I know we said we'd all investigate…but where do we even start?"
Shuichi sweatdropped. Oh boy, we're in trouble…
"First and foremost, it would be prudent to search the Monokuma file for clues." Keebo suggested.
"Yeah, good idea."
With a shaky hand, Shuichi took out the Monokuma File and tapped the screen. Once it turned on, he scrolled down the screen with his finger. His nausea grew as he absorbed every single detail of Kiki's death.
The victim was Kiki Naegi. The body was discovered in the 1st Floor hallway. Approximate time of death is 12:30 a.m. The cause of death was cranial trauma and blood loss.
"Makes sense…" Ryoma muttered. "You could tell that just by looking at her."
"But what could have caused her to get hit on the head that hard?" Sokyu pondered.
"There will be time for speculation later." Kirumi advised. "For now, we must investigate her body and the crime scene for clues."
"Ah, speaking of which…" Shuichi turned towards the young maid. "Kirumi, there's something I'd like to ask of you during the investigation."
Kirumi's brow furrowed in curiosity. "And what would that be, Shuichi?"
"If it's not too much trouble…I'd like you to be the one to examine Kiki's body for injuries."
Kirumi tilted her head in confusion. "And why do you want me to be the one to do that?"
"Well, you said that you had some training in autopsies during Clover's investigation." Shuichi reminded her. "So, I figured you'd be the perfect candidate to investigate her body for evidence."
"Why don't you be the one to investigate it, though?" Ryoma questioned.
"Yeah, you are a professional detective." Gonta chimed in.
"I know, but…" Shuichi bit his lip, averting his gaze from the others.
A moment later, Tsumugi's eyes lit up in realization. "Oh, I see! Because you and Kiki were so close, you don't want to search her body without her permission."
"Y-Yeah…" Shuichi hesitantly nodded, causing the others to frown in sympathy. "I just think…she'd prefer for a girl to examine her."
"Oh, how tragically romantic! The struggle of a detective needing to find his lover's killer, only to be held back by his desire to respect her privacy!"
Shuichi's cheeks heated up in embarrassment. "Th-that's not-"
Sokyu huffed, interrupting their argument. "Are we just gonna stand around and waste our time, or are we going to actually fuckin' pick a coroner already?"
Once they had quieted down, Kirumi nodded. "Very well, if you wish for me to do so, then I shall happily fulfill this request."
"I shall stay and help too." Keebo volunteered. "I can use my X-Ray function to scan her bones for possible fractures"
"Th-thanks, you two." Turning to the others, Shuichi directed "The rest of us should search the other areas of the school for clues. We still don't know what path Kiki and the culprit took to get to where we're standing. I'll check this floor while you guys divide the other floors."
With simultaneous nods, Gonta, Ryoma, Tsumugi, and Sokyu hurried up the stairs. As Kirumi and Keebo knelt before Kiki's body, Shuichi turned and began to make the rounds of the immediate crime scene.
Makoto smiled proudly at his former student. "Even given the circumstances, Shuichi still respects Kiki so much…he doesn't want to violate her privacy if it can be avoided."
Kyoko's brow furrowed in concern. "Let's just hope Kirumi and Keebo are up to the task. As much as I appreciate his concern for her privacy, this isn't the time for luxuries like that."
"Right…" Makoto nodded, recalling her revelation that she had inspected Chihiro's body to discover the secret of his gender, and how she casually informed him that she had searched through Hifumi's pants.
"It can't be helped, I suppose…" Maki sighed. "At least he's taking charge and directing the others to play their part."
"Hopefully, with Kirumi and Keebo covering Kiki's autopsy, Shuichi will be able to focus on covering more ground during the investigation." Mokubo commented.
"He will, he'll find the evidence!" Koto clasped his hands together, desperation evident in the young boy's eyes.
"Yeah…" Kiri nodded, wiping her eyes as she leaned her head against her twin brother for comfort. "He's…he's gotta avenge our sister…since it's…too late to save her…"
The room fell silent, the family reminded of their shared grief at having lost the beloved girl. They struggled to keep themselves composed, evident by their tense postures and how they subtly leaned into whoever was closest to share the burden of their anguish.
Let's hope so, you two… Makoto and Kyoko prayed. Let's hope so…
Okay, so we know that the cause of death was cranial trauma. Shuichi thought as he circled around Kirumi and Keebo. But what could have caused it?
As Shuichi was lost in thought, his eyes wandered down to a spot on the floor a meter or two away. Curious, he walked over and kneeled down in front of a metallic object.
…It's a wrench… Shuichi realized, picking it up and turning it in his hand. And the head is soaked in blood… Could the culprit have hit her over the head with it…? Shuichi shook his head, placing the wrench back where he found it. I'll have to check in with Kirumi and Keebo after the autopsy to see if Kiki's head wound is consistent with the marks a wrench would make…
Standing back up, Shuichi continued to circle around his two friends, his eyes scanning the floor. Not seeing anything more in the immediate vicinity, he began to turn towards one of the hallways. He had barely taken a few steps when he spotted crimson marks.
Footprints…well, shoeprints, I guess…and they're coated from blood. Did Kiki walk away somewhere after being injured?
Deciding to investigate this potential lead, Shuichi followed the footprints down the hall. He took great care not to step on the bloody trail so as to not disturb the evidence.
"The…Nurse's Office?" Shuichi blinked in surprise as he stepped inside. "Did Kiki come here to try and treat her wounds? But if that's the case, why did we find her body at the foot of the stairs?"
Shaking the thought from his head, Shuichi looked around the office. He walked up to a bookshelf, running his thumb along the spines of different books.
"This place is stocked with all sorts of books on treating illnesses and wounds…" Shuichi frowned, lamenting, "If only we had found her sooner, maybe we could have used the information and supplies to save her life…hm?"
Shuichi's thumb landed on a book that didn't seem to fit in with the others. It was more colorful and appeared smaller than the other books in the room. Furrowing his brow, he pulled it out and examined it.
"It's…a manga." Shuichi realized. "Did Kiki come here after all? Did this belong to her before she died? Maybe Tsumugi might know…I'll ask her after I regroup with the others."
Filing the thought away for later, Shuichi pocketed the tankobon in his jacket. He continued to look around the Nurse's Office. However, he grimaced in disappointment when nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
"Other than the out-of-place manga, it doesn't seem like anything in here has even been touched…" Shuichi's eyes widened as he repeated that sentence in his mind. "Wait…nothing's been touched…so does that mean Kiki never came here to treat herself? I'll ask Kirumi and Keebo if they found any kind of medical supplies on Kiki's person when I talk to them again. Before I go back, though, just to be safe…"
Eyeing the trash can in the back, Shuichi walked up to it and leaned towards it. His disgust at sifting through the trash not even registering in his mind, he reached in and began searching.
"Let's see…there don't seem to be any bandage wrappers or gauze strips or any kind of medical supplies in here. Guess Kiki didn't use anything in…hm?"
Shuichi's eyes widened as he pulled out a small, clear plastic bag the size of his hand. The top appeared to be sliced off, leaving an uneven, jagged shape at the top. Traces of red liquid could be found still inside the container.
"This is…a blood bag! Did Kiki try to give herself a blood transfusion to…" Shuichi shook his head. "No, she'd need immense medical training to perform a blood transfusion on herself, and it's unlikely anyone helped her in the dead of night. So…what was this used for?"
His brow furrowed in confusion before Shuichi pocketed the blood bag and walked back towards the door. He knelt down at the start of the shoeprint trail.
"There's something else, too…these shoeprints are aligned in a way to suggest that Kiki started bleeding in the Nurse's Office and walked to where we found her…but why would she come here if she wasn't already injured? There weren't any prints that would have suggested that she walked to the Nurse's Office after bleeding though…so what really happened?"
Filing the thought away for later, Shuichi followed the footprint trail out of the Nurse's Office. Determined to find answers, he hoped that Kirumi and Keebo would be able to clarify this mystery.
"Shuichi!" Keebo exclaimed, him and Kirumi turning around as Shuichi approached.
"Did you have any luck in your investigation?" The young maid inquired.
Shuichi grimaced. "Well…I've found some clues, but I don't know how to make sense of it right now…I was hoping your autopsy would be able to shine some light on what I already found."
Kirumi nodded. "Very well, I shall summarize what I have found so far. The Monokuma File's cause of death is most likely correct; Kiki's most grievous wound is one causing the bleeding from her head. However…there were some other wounds of note I discovered."
"Other wounds?"
"Correct. None of them were life-threatening, but I did find numerous bruises under her clothes."
"Bruises?" So…either the culprit hit her multiple times…or she bumped into something during the incident… "Was she bleeding at all from these bruises? Did she have any cuts?"
Kirumi shook her head. "No, just bruises. Other than the head wound, she did not appear grievously injured."
Keebo nodded. "It is strange. According to my X-Rays, she didn't even suffer a single fracture."
"Wait, so…none of her bones were broken?" Shuichi inquired, his eyebrows raising in surprise.
"Indeed. If it hadn't been for the cranial trauma and the blood loss, it's likely she would have survived to tell us who attacked her…"
Kirumi's eyes lit up. "That reminds me…I noticed something else during my examination. There's no doubt that the head wound was the fatal injury…but despite the cause of death being blood loss…I did not see a particularly large amount of blood."
"Wait!" Shuichi gasped. "There wasn't a large pool of blood from her head?"
Kirumi shook her head. "No, no more than when Rantaro was killed, at least. Curiously, I did find blood on her shoes…but it appears to be impossible for blood to have flowed from her head wound to the soles of her shoes."
Shuichi cradled his chin in his hand, humming in contemplation. Kirumi says it's impossible for the shoes to have been covered with blood…but then…how did the bloody footprints get there…? Filing the thought away for later, Shuichi inquired "What about her belongings? Did she have anything on her?"
"No, she did not appear to have anything on her."
"By anything…" Keebo clarified "We mean, nothing. She didn't even have her room key on her. I thought that was strange, considering we all need them to get in and out of our rooms."
She…didn't even have her key? I feel like that's going to be significant, somehow… Shuichi asked "One last question…about Kiki's head wound…were there any kind of puncture marks on her head?"
Her brow furrowed in curiosity, Kirumi shook her head. "No…it appeared to just be blunt force trauma."
"I see…thanks a lot, you guys. I don't know what all of this means, yet, but this was very helpful. I'm gonna go see how the others are doing. Would you two mind guarding the crime scene, just in case?"
Kirumi nodded. "Very well, I shall comply with your request."
"Leave it to us, Shuichi, and complete your investigation."
With a serious nod, Shuichi walked past them and up the stairs. He snuck one last glance at his deceased friend before looking back up the stairs.
"…My head hurts…" Koto gripped the sides of his head, groaning in frustration.
"…Yeah, why can't the culprit have made a clear trail?!" Kiri demanded.
"…If they planned to make it easy, they wouldn't have killed her in the first place…" Mokubo deadpanned.
Maki nodded. "He's right, you two need to be patient. Shuichi's not a miracle worker, after all."
Kyoko returned with a nod of her own. "Be patient; investigations take time. I know it's frustrating…believe me, I want the culprit to be swiftly caught just as much as you all do…but if we want Kiki's…" Even now, she still struggled to say the word death, as though she could still barely believe her little girl was gone. "…if we want her to be avenged, Shuichi needs to take his time and carefully comb for evidence."
Makoto smiled reassuringly at his children. "Have faith, you three. You said you all believe in Shuichi to find out who took her from us. Let's show it by not getting frustrated at the first sign of confusion. He'll figure it out, so don't worry about that."
Koto and Kiri reluctantly nodded in resignation, withholding their frustrated sighs. With that, the family returned their gazes to the TV, hoping that Shuichi's rendezvous with the other survivors would continue to shed light on the tragic mystery of their daughter's death.
"Ah, Ryoma, Tsumugi!" Shuichi exclaimed, seeing the two survivors congregated on the stairs between the second and third floors.
"Hey, find any clues?"
Ryoma waved with a grim smile. Tsumugi, on the other hand, grimaced and averted her eyes.
"Well…a few clues, but nothing conclusive, yet." Shuichi informed them. "What about you two? Find anything on the floors you investigated?"
"Well…" Tsumugi hesitantly began. "Ryoma investigated the second floor, and I investigated the third." Tsumugi sighed dejectedly. "I was hoping investigating the same floor as the anime collection would invigorate me and help me to find something…but I didn't find a single clue on this floor."
Ryoma hummed and nodded. "I didn't find anything on the second floor either…though I did notice something on the stairs themselves."
Shuichi raised his eyebrows in surprise. "On the…stairs…?"
Ryoma nodded and turned his head towards the nearby railing. "Look over the side of the railing. It's a little hard to see, but since you're a detective, you should be able to pick it out, no problem."
Pursing his lips, Shuichi peered curiously over the railing. His eyes widened at the crimson smears painted on the architecture.
"These…these are blood smears!" Shuichi exclaimed.
"Yeah, and they're not just in this spot." Seeing Shuichi's confused gaze, Ryoma explained "I wouldn't say that there's a pattern, but I found at least a couple of these smears on every floor's railing."
"On every floor?!"
"You must be really fast to have checked every floor's railing so quickly!" Tsumugi wondered "Could it be…have you mastered the Flash Step during your time here?"
Shuichi and Ryoma sweatdropped before the detective hummed in contemplation. It's probably safe to say that those red smears are Kiki's blood…but if that's the case…how did they get there? Was Kiki killed on the 1st Floor…or somewhere else…? Shuichi shook the thought from his head. I can think about that later…first I should go see if Gonta or Sokyu found anything…
Without another word, Shuchi solemnly walked further up the stairs. Ryoma and Tsumugi watched with a shared sadness as he disappeared down the 4th Floor hallway.
"Shuichi!" Shuichi nearly jumped as Gonta ran over to him. The gentle giant ran up to him, grinning proudly as he held his fist above his head.
"Ah, what is it, Gonta?"
"Gonta found a clue!"
"Huh? A clue? What did you find, Gonta?" Shuichi asked curiously before Gonta lowered his fist and uncurled his fingers, revealing a small, green sphere. "A…tennis ball…?"
Gonta nodded. "That's right! Gonta found this tennis ball in the hallway! And look, it has blood on it!"
His curiosity piqued, Shuichi picked it up and turned it in his hand. Let's see…there's a signature there…and… Shuichi's eyes widened at the coat of red liquid on the opposite side. "You're right, Gonta. There is blood on this tennis ball."
"Yeah, and it looks really wet, too. It's probably Kiki's…so it must be the murder weapon, right?"
"Ah, well, that's one possibility, I suppose…" Shuichi frowned, his brow furrowing in contemplation. Still, if it is what killed Kiki, then why isn't the blood splatter a little more…indiscriminate? And should it really be this wet if it was used in the middle of the night?
"What is it, Shuichi?" Shaken out of his thoughts, Shuichi looked towards the frowning Gonta. "Was Gonta's clue no good?"
Shuichi shook his head, assuring the worried bug enthusiast "No, this was an important clue. Thanks for finding this, Gonta."
Gonta smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of his head. "Oh, Gonta's glad to hear that. Gonta…going to look around more. Maybe Gonta will find more clues…"
With one final wave, Gonta turned around and walked down the hallway. Shuichi smiled with admiration at muscular man's dedication.
He's really doing his best to help us find out who killed Kiki…so I can't slack either. I should check in with Sokyu and see what he found…
With a determined gleam in his eyes, Shuichi walked in the opposite direction towards the staircase. Gripping the railing, he put one foot above the other as he continued his climb to the truth.
"Oh, it's you." Sokyu greeted, turning his head to acknowledge the young detective.
Shuichi grimaced awkwardly, inquiring, "Any luck, Sokyu?"
"Well, I haven't looked in the dormitories yet, but I did find this on the main floor."
"A…butterfly net…?" Shuichi raised an eyebrow in surprise as Sokyu held up the tool in one hand.
"Yeah, looks like something that Gonta would use."
"Ah…you think that Gonta might be the culprit?"
Sokyu shrugged. "Who knows? He did try and get us all killed last time. Wouldn't surprise me if he cracked again."
Shuichi pursed his lips and hummed. It's not impossible, I suppose…but still…I have a hard time believing he'd kill Kiki…especially after he learned his lesson. Though…maybe that's just what Kiki would say… Shaking the thought from his head, he offered "I'm gonna go check out the dormitories."
After a moment, Sokyu nodded. Without another word, Shuichi turned around and walked down the hallway, disappearing into the dormitories.
Shuichi's eyes widened at how easily Kiki's door opened for him. "Her door was unlocked? Does that mean the culprit had access to her room? Kirumi did say that she had nothing on her when she died…so…either she let the culprit in before they killed her…or they killed her outside her room and took her key to access her room later."
Stepping inside, Shuichi took a few quick glances around her room. He was able to make out a pink nightgown near her closet and the unkempt blanket and sheets on her bed.
"…So, it looks like she's neither a clean freak nor someone unusually messy. In fact, this room would look fairly normal for someone who just got out of bed. The room doesn't seem like someone who didn't live in it went searching indiscriminately through her belongings…nor does it look like it was cleaned to cover their tracks. So…did the culprit even come in here? And if they did…why? But if they didn't…then what happened to her room key…?"
Shuichi shook the thought from his head and proceeded to carefully sift through the room. He took great care not to disturb the scene more than strictly necessary. When he was finished, he sighed in disappointment.
"Well, there were no signs of violence or bloodshed. For all intents and purposes, it's completely clean. No bloody sheets, no signs of a struggle, nothing."
Shuichi hummed and closed his eyes. His brow furrowed as he reviewed his respectful search of Kiki's room.
"Still…I can't help but feel like I'm missing something. I'm not sure exactly what it is…but something feels…out of place…"
He shook the thought from his head, opening his eyes. He walked over to the door and opened it. Once he exited the room, he closed the door behind him.
"Maybe it'll be clearer once the trial starts…for now, I should investigate the rest of the dormitory area."
"Huh?" Shuichi tilted his head in confusion as he picked up a metal spatula from the drawer. "A…spatula? It…looks freshly washed, like someone stuck it in the drawer after using it…maybe Kirumi washed it before we went to search for Kiki?"
Shuichi closed his eyes again, sifting through his memories. Upon recalling their breakfast together, Shuichi opened his eyes and shook his head.
"No, we all left in a hurry to find Kiki, so Kirumi wouldn't have had time to wash this spatula. That means someone else washed and put it out of view! But who, and why? Maybe Kirumi knows…I should probably return to the 1st Floor and ask her. I don't think I'll find any more clues in the dorms."
With a heavy sigh, Shuichi turned and walked out of the kitchen. He steeled himself for the sight of Kiki's corpse one last time.
There's something I have to say to her before I go to fight for her justice!
"The culprit entered Kiki's room?!" Koto exclaimed in horror.
Kiri, meanwhile, gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in anger. "How dare they…it wasn't enough to take Kiki from us? They had to enter her room too?!"
"Well, it's possible, but we don't know that for sure." Makoto reminded them in an attempt to calm down his twins.
"…At any rate, it looks like Shuichi's more or less finished his investigation." Maki commented, causing Kyoko to nod.
"Indeed. Hopefully his last conversation with Kirumi and Keebo will bring answers for his unanswered questions to light." Kyoko sighed, clenching her fist in frustration. "I just hope he's up to the task."
Makoto glanced at his wife with empathy. The parents' anguish was interrupted by Mokubo's interjection as the boy pointed at the screen.
"…Isn't that…?"