Chapter 2: Will to Investigate (B)
First, Shigeo died right in my arms. Then, Yukio got "punished" by Monokuma and got himself killed without a second thought. There was chaos afterward when Monokuma gave us the "Monokuma File" or otherwise known as a brief autopsy report. I didn't bother to read it since I was paralyzed by trauma, so I wasn't sure how much help I could be. Saburo eventually took charge and stated Tatsuya and the panicking Yoichi were to guard the crime scene while everyone else could go do their own thing. Yukio's body was left alone on the floor; I couldn't face him without feeling sick. Chidori helped me walk to my room and Kazuhiro came along to "ensure I won't get injured" or something like that and offered to stand out the door. Meanwhile, Chidori and I were alone in my room, she sat me on my bed and began to pace around the room.
She seemed to be conflicted about what she should do. "First we should um... uh... no. We need to ahhhh..." She was panicking, trying to be a leader but failing. Was this girl really the "Ultimate Charisma"? "I got it! We need to get you cleaned up. So take off that hoodie and wash your hands." I refused to move, my body lost all will to obey my commands after experiencing that. The blood on my clothes and hands haunting me, stains that might never come out. "Kazuki." She said my name. I didn't bother to respond. "Kazuki!" She repeated, with a bit more agitation. Again, I refused to move. I felt broken, numb... Nothing that seemed logical could be made into action. "Kazuki, listen to me now!" She shouted as she yanked me off the bed and forced me to look right into her eyes. I could see they were watering but she was doing her best to hold back those tears. "We're all depressed and sad our friends died, okay!?" She kept shouting. "That doesn't give you the right to sit around and mope! I'm sure most of us are gonna try and solve this problem, together!" Chidori sounded determined to get me to say something, like she cared. Funny, right? "This is sick, I know... and it makes me sad. I just wanted to come to this school, not in this game."
"B-but..." I choked out at last. My hands were trembling. "There was nothing I could do to save him... And then Yukio died because I failed to think or do anything... I-I'm worthless..."
Chidori wiped her watery eyes and then looked at me with a dry annoyance. "You can't be serious." I was shocked by her statement as she kept going. "None of this is your fault. I'm positive you aren't the killer! More importantly, it was beyond your power. Monokuma was the one who killed Yukio and someone else killed Shigeo. So don't you dare think that any of this is your fault, understood?"
"Chidori, I..."
"Kazuki, listen. I have this weird faith you had nothing to do with this. And I hope I'm right about that. I need you to pull yourself together and prove your innocence and help the others find the truth." With that she left the room. I was left alone. How stupid can I be? I felt a sense of warmth return to my body as I finally forced myself to move. I changed my hoodie to a similar hoodie but this one was light gray and was my last clean one. I managed to get the blood off my hands, too. Now clean, but not truly clean, I had to make a decision. I then just told myself to grin and bear it, realizing that if we failed the class trial all our lives could come to an end. I made my way back to the Dining Commons where the initial murder took place and found only three people in the room: Tatsuya, Yoichi, and Yukino.
"Kazuki, are you okay?" Yukino asked me.
"Yes, Yukino. I think I'll manage." I told her.
"Jay, you're alright!" Yoichi exclaimed as he rushed over to me. "You had me worried, ya know!?"
"O-oh." I replied, with a mixture of bashfulness and discomfort. He was a little imposing sometimes and it has the potential to scare people badly. Lucky for him, I'm not one of those people. "Thanks." I told him. It made me feel relieved to know there were some who did concern over me, even if for a moment.
Now without a moment's hesitation, I finally opened my e-Handbook and read the Monokuma File carefully: Victim: Shigeo Kyou. Time of death: 8:27 pm. The victim suffered a major wound to the lower abdomen and bled to death. No other wounds on the victim's body.
That's it? It told me what I already knew (Save for the time of course.) Reading that only upset me, but I wasn't going to be deterred from searching for clues. Maybe Yukino found something while investigating the body. It made me pause for a moment realizing what I just thought; Shigeo was just another corpse now. Nothing made him unique anymore. He was gone from this place now, hopefully somewhere better.
I shook myself out of that trance and started speaking with Yukino. "Hey, Yukino. Can I ask you a question?"
"It's about Shigeo's body, right?"
"Well... yeah."
"I already told Kunio, and he said not to share with anyone." The doctor replied.
"What!?" I looked over to Yoichi with an accusing glare.
"Hey, it wasn't me!" He pleaded in his defense. I had a feeling it was the other brother to say such a thing.
"But... I'm not taking any chances of withholding any knowledge so, I'll tell you what I found." Yukino spoke up.
"Wait, why?" I asked.
"Well, I should at least tell two people so that way the investigation isn't put into anyone's advantage." Good idea, so long as no one is working together that is. "Okay, so the Monokuma File is correct with it's autopsy but it's not very accurate. So I went ahead and confirmed some other things. For one, the specific location of the injury."
"Wait, you can tell that precise?"
"Yeah. I used to look at wounds all the time in camps that I helped on when I was younger. I guess you could say I picked up these skills while helping out..." Looking at wounds at a young age? That would scar most people for life regardless of any circumstances. I guess Yukino is different from others. "Anyway, the wound looks like it hit him in his intestine, not his stomach."
"I remember he said it was in his stomach..."
"It's common to confuse where all those organs are since it's all in the general vicinity. But the stomach is closer to the upper half of the torso whilst all the other major organs are in the lower half." Yukino went on.
"So, what caused the injury?" I asked her.
"Something had pierced his intestine. That's what caused the injury which led to him bleeding to death." She replied. "I would've taken the object out if I had the proper technique and materials but..."
"It's alright, you did what you could." I told her. I should keep her analysis in mind. There wasn't much else I could do for the body if the Ultimate Doctor couldn't solve any more than that. I decided to ask if Tatsuya saw anything noteworthy.
"Hey Tatsuya. Do you think you saw anything that might help us?" I asked him.
"Nothing worth mentioning..." Tatsuya trailed off. "Sorry."
"Don't worry. I didn't see anything either." I told him in an attempt to comfort him.
"Well then, let's keep an eye out." Tatsuya told me. Somehow I felt comforted in the end. But now I was out of leads and ideas... wait, maybe not. The injury caused a piercing, right? So, was he shot with something maybe? Or he could've been stabbed if someone somehow slipped something sharp into the food he was eating. There's a place in mind now that I think about it. "Seems like you have an idea?" Tatsuya commented.
"Huh?"
"Your face became pensive for a moment. So I just assumed..." The larger male mumbled timidly, feeling out of character once more.
"Well, you're right. I do have a few ideas." I told him and then went on my way, to the back of the Dining Commons. There was a lot of storage units most likely full of food. I saw Saburo in here as well next to what looked to be a tripod but instead of a camera, it was a pistol. "What is that?"
"The murder weapon." Saburo answered in his usual cool tone. How could he be able to keep his calm for this long and not show even a crack of an emotion? This guy was seriously strange. If I had to describe it, he seemed almost bored with the whole investigation. Not that I expected him to be excited or happy; that'd be truly insane.
"How do you know it's the murder weapon?" I asked him. He sighed and didn't say anything. Was that his equivalent of saying 'Do it yourself'? If so, then this guy was very cold. Well, since he wasn't willing to cooperate, I took a closer look at the tripod and pistol. The gun seemed like one you'd see in movies, like a prop. Except this weapon had actual bullets inside of it. The angle of the gun was weird too. It was tilted a certain way. Maybe the killer left it positioned like that? Why? I grabbed the pistol and examined it carefully. How were they able to fire it if we were all sitting in the Dining Commons? My hands were roaming the weapon in an attempt to understand it better. It seemed like a smart idea at the time. Before I realized what was happening my fingers went over the trigger and-
"-Don't!" Saburo knocked it out of my hand and it skid across the floor. Right when it made impact on the floor a bullet had been fired. Everything that happened next felt like an instant. I was shoved to the ground and I think Saburo was shielding me with his own body, I couldn't tell since I was distracted by a banging sound. It must've been the bullet from the gun bouncing around until it stopped somewhere further away. Once the silence settled in again the wait on top of my body lifted and I could see the white haired student again. "You didn't get injured, did you Kazuki?"
"N-no. I'm alright." I told him while he helped me up. He seemed to be... blushing? "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He told me, regaining his composure. He averted his gaze from mine. I couldn't tell why he was upset.
"So, what just happened?" I asked him, referring to the gun.
"The gun is defective." He told me. "It fires at the drop of a hat. Almost literally."
"Wait, so you don't need to pull the trigger?" That makes a bit of sense. But still, how did they fire it?
"Exactly. I think the killer realized this on their own, specifically when they got it." He went on. "Most likely this came from the Campus store."
"What makes you say that?"
"The insignia." He pointed to the gun and I saw that it had a Monokuma head on it. Good to know that.
"Okay but I have one last question. Why were you flustered for a moment?" I asked him.
He looked at me with a dead serious gaze. "Fine. Promise not to mention this to Mari. She'll be all over us if she knew."
"Knew what? And why would I bother telling Kohaku? This doesn't have anything to do with her."
"I did shield you from the bullet. Luckily neither of us were injured... but, your face..." He went silent again with his face becoming flustered.
"What about my face? Did something happen to it?" What was he getting at?
"It may have wound up between my..." He then motioned to his chest. Seriously? I know he has a defined and bulky body but it's not that embarrassing. It would've been worse if he was a girl. Either way, I wouldn't mind since he protected me.
"Oh. I don't mind. You did keep me safe after all." I beamed at him. That only seemed to make him even more flustered.
"N-not a word of this. To anyone." He demanded. This was the most expressive I've seen him. He must've been adamant about keeping something hidden, not just this incident. But I wasn't going to pry, so I just gave him my word and chose to forget this whole ordeal. After that... event, I had some decent clues now. First, the gun was definitely the weapon. It came from the Campus store, and is very sensitive to sudden movements. But the only question is how they were able to make it fire? Second, the killer must've known that someone would be sitting in that chair Shigeo was in, and he was just unlucky. Was their some kind of connection? And finally, Saburo was hiding something. But that didn't matter now. I noticed a slip of paper on the ground nearby and picked it up. Written on it was just some kind of chicken scratch and numbers I couldn't comprehend.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It looks like... math, maybe?" Saburo guessed. If it was math I could ask Masato if he knew anything. But where was he? I left the back room while Saburo stayed behind to look for more clues probably. Outside I considered my options of where he could be: the dorms, the main building, the gymnasium or the Campus store. I doubted he'd be in the gym considering his talent and relevance to the investigation. First I went by the campus store and saw Emiko, Chidori and Shinju wandering around inside. I approached the girls.
"What are you up to?" I asked them.
"We were just searching for clues in here." Shinju replied. "The killer must've gotten the weapon from somewhere, it might've been here."
"Actually, I think it was." I told them. I explained about what happened in the back of the Dining Commons, excluding the information Saburo wanted me to withhold, still not sure as to why but he did trust me so it'd be best to drop the subject matter entirely.
"Oh, so it might've come from here?" Emiko asked. "So, does that mean the killer grabbed their supplies from the firearms section?"
"It would explain some of the missing items." Chidori pointed out. "When I went over there earlier today, all the shelves were full. But when I went back, there was a space in the line of guns."
"Alright, that makes the most sense someone would take it and commit the crime with it. Thanks for that information. Just one last thing, have you seen Masato around?" I asked.
"I think he went to search the dorms with Kazuhiro." Shinju said. "You should check there if you're in a hurry."
"I will. Thanks."
"Ah- Kazuki. One last thing." Chidori said. "... Never mind. It can wait."
"Okay then. Let's do our best to find that killer!" I replied. She beamed at me and nodded. With all that said and done, I was on my way to the dorms. In the hall I only found Kazuhiro who had been standing in front of my room door. He seemed upset when he saw me. "Kazuhiro, what's wrong?" I asked him.
"D... did you do it?" He asked me.
"Do what?"
"Kill Shigeo?" He seemed angered when he had to explain it.
"What!? Why would you think that!?" I was now genuinely confused as to why he would accuse me.
"W-well, Masato and I were talking. And we were thinking you were suspicious because you were holding Shigeo when he died. So we went to your room to search for the bloodied hoodie you had. Maybe you left the weapon in there...!"
"I-I didn't kill anyone!" I told him. "And I don't have any weapons. Wait, how did you get in my room?"
"Monokuma let us in. He unlocked the door." He said. That damned bear. He can't be trusted for anything.
"Where's Masato?" I asked him.
"Searching your room, right now. You murderer!"
"H-hold on! I'm not the killer!" I tried to explain myself the best I could but Kazuhiro was undeterred with his accusations. Just then Masato stepped out the room and saw us both.
"Oh, hello Kazuki." He addressed me. "You're lucky. We didn't find anything incriminating against you in your room nor in any of your clothes."
"Huh?" Kazuhiro seemed baffled but I had other things on my mind.
"Masato, can you tell me about this?" I showed him the paper and he seemed confused.
"Where did you find this?" The mathematician asked me.
"In the backroom of the Dining Commons. Do you know what this means?"
He gave a 'hmm' as if in thought. He then told me. "I don't see it often, but that's like a code for serial numbers."
"Serial numbers?" Now I was the one confused.
"Serial numbers seemingly work on a random number generator, but in fact it's a complex equation. Particularly for collectibles and other items of that nature."
"So like, plush toys or figurines?" Masato nodded to answer my question.
"It seems like Amaya would know more about it than I would. You should try seeking her help."
"Okay, and where would that be?" I asked.
"Try the main building. I saw her wander in with Natsuko not too long ago." He told me. I nodded and headed for the main building as fast as my legs could carry me.
I wandered the main building aimlessly, searching for Amaya and Natsuko. I eventually found them in the library. "There you are!" I called to them.
"Huh? Kazuki?" Natsuko replied.
"What's up?" Amaya asked.
"Do you know anything about this?" I showed them the enigmatic equation. The two seemed puzzled.
"That's math, right?" Amaya pondered. "What does it mean?"
"I was told this has something to do with serial numbers. Specifically for collectibles."
"I wouldn't know anything about that." Amaya stated. "I am in love with collectibles but I despise math. I was never any good at it." Was it possible someone got it wrong here? Now what was this paper? "Anyways, we found a clue!"
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, it might not be about this murder though..." She said, sounding disappointed. Then it wasn't a clue. She showed me a photo of some students in the Hope's Peak Academy uniform. Both were girls in a classroom, one had long pink hair that must've been dyed to look that way, and the other had orange-red hair tied up into two pigtails. They were looking happy in a classroom and behind them was a teacher at their desk. The teacher wasn't facing the camera and must've been working meticulously when this photo was taken. I only could recognize the girl with pink hair however.
"Is that... Akemi Hanako!?" I asked in surprise. Amaya seemed to light up at my question.
"Yes! I love her voice acting work in the reboot of 'Heretic Angel * Mochi Mochi Princess'!" Amaya was now ecstatic over the fact that she was reminded of anime. At least I think so. But she wasn't wrong. Akemi was very talented in various forms of media, including acting and voice acting. She always seemed upbeat whenever she would put on a role but I never met her. However, the fact that she was wearing the Hope's Peak uniform must've meant she would've been our classmate along with that other girl.
"She might've been our classmate, now that I think about it." I said out loud.
"Huh- seriously!? She must be a part of Group A then!" Amaya deduced. "After all, she isn't with us. And if what Monokuma said can be trusted, then she must be in Group A! I wonder what they're going through now..." She trailed off for a moment ranting to me about her thoughts on Akemi. It was nothing but praise. "Say, since you like her so much, why don't you hold onto her picture?"
"Huh, me?" I asked.
"Yeah, and if you find anymore you could start a photo collection of celebrities." Amaya said, hoping to inspire me to start a collection of my own.
"I-I might." I said, accepting the picture. If these are our classmates, then it'd make a lot of sense to keep track of this. It didn't seem relevant to keep this for this case, but important nonetheless. With no other leads I made my way back to the Dining Commons. I noticed Yoichi seemed to be looking at Yukio's corpse, now a bloody mess.
Yukio... He was killed because he punched Monokuma relentlessly. I didn't want to think this way, but it was kind of dumb to lunge at him. But, maybe to Yukio, it was bravery. To stand up against the opposing force to protect the rest of us survivors. "You miss him too?" I asked Yoichi.
"Y-yeah." Yoichi admitted softly. "He was like a leader for our little group. Sure, we were rowdy and maybe a little obnoxious... but Yukio made us feel like it was alright. He made us feel less depressed about our situation."
"He was trying." I said. "I know I was unfair, and I wish I knew him better now... But, what we can do now is find the killer!"
"Right. Saburo said something similar to me before he left somewhere else. To just focus on right now, all the other answers come later." Wow, that was deep for someone to say. "Although, you did seem to rile my brother up. Did something happen?"
"Nothing that I'm aware of." I replied.
"Don't mind him. Saburo's always been kinda shy around people." That must be it. He was probably shy that we touched. "And, I've been thinking. Maybe the killer planned everything?"
"How so?"
"Well, remember Yukio's note? We all were supposed to have dinner together. Maybe the killer took advantage of that and killed someone." Yoichi had a point I didn't consider. This all must've been planned way before the actual murder took place. Also, weren't the nameplates a factor for this party? I didn't want to suspect the dead, but Yukio's motives are now looking a bit suspicious. What happened here?
*Bing bong Bing*
"Hey, I'm getting kind of bored right now, so why don't we get started with the Class Trial? I'll be waiting for you all at the Shuttle Bus."
Students Remaining: (28)
Akiko S. - Ultimate ?
Hajime "Jay" Kazuki - Ultimate Luckster
Akemi Hanako - X (Former Ultimate Actress)
Ryota Takao - Ultimate Sports Master
Akihiro Junichi - Ultimate Merchant
Shinju Suzu - Ultimate Instrumentalist
Destiny Kiro - Ultimate Vocalist
Kazuhiro Hisao - Ultimate Heir
Kohaku Mari - Ultimate Medium
Tatsuya Raiden - Ultimate Combatant
Chidori Yukimura - Ultimate Charisma
Hiroaki Hisashi - Ultimate Fanfic Author
Shin Yuzuki - Ultimate Artist
Chou Ayano - Ultimate Gamer
Amaya Chika - Ultimate Collector
Emiko Kamiko - Ultimate Fashionista
Masato Osamu - Ultimate Mathemitician
Yoichi Kunio - Ultimate Web Star
Juku Kunio - Ultimate Chef
Saburo Kunio - Ultimate ?
Natsuko Ren - Ultimate Traditional Dancer
Shigeo Kyou -X (Former Ultimate Connosseiur)
Ikazuchi Michi - Ultimate Electrician
Miyako Usagi - Ultimate Hacker
Yukino Toshiko - Ultimate Doctor
Izanagi Katsu - Ultimate Gambler
Makoto Takeo - Ultimate Commander/Class President (If you want a better title)
Rei Naoko - Ultimate Student
Atsushi Tamuki - Ultimate Engineer
Hotaru Haruki - Ultimate Botanist
Yukio Yuudai -X (Former Ultimate Hero)
Note: The deceased characters will have an "X" by their name if they're dead. They're not technically an Ultimate if they're dead right?
So that ends the investigation for Group B! Unfortunately, we're all out of time. Will they find the killer? Or will the author sadistically kill everyone else?