Tomorrow's Sleuth: Abnormal Days

Ichijou couldn't help but let out a groan of disgust as he looked over the ravaged corpse. It was sickening, even more so than the others so far. Ichijou just couldn't fathom it: how could anyone do such a thing? Nagasaki didn't seem pleased either once she got a look, tensing up and turning away.

The group stood in silence for a moment, before Ishihara asked, "Er, where's everyone else?"

Trying to remember, sorting through his scrambled thoughts, Ichijou said, "Er, Saruta-kun and Ganaha-san are on the First Level: they were too drunk to help. Uzatei-kun and Furugori-kun should be on their way, I suggested they get a rope and come down from the Hot Springs, since the other one was cut."

Minami asked, "Wait, how did you know that?"

Ishihara explained, "I said I talked to them, didn't I?"

Ichijou mentioned, "You didn't say the door was electrocuted though."

Puzzled, Kirigiri asked, "What do you mean?"

Ichijou explained, "There were wires from the lighting panel to the door. When I grabbed the handle, I got burnt." As he spoke, he flexed his hand, which stung as he moved it. Next to the cut on his other hand from the last Trial, he was just getting more and more banged up.

Minami shook her head, saying, "Shouldn't it have shorted out? Unless..."

Kirigiri offered, "We'll have time to investigate, we just need to wait." No one objected, but as Ichijou stood there in the dark, he couldn't help but feel at fault: he had been the sober, and he was meant to look over the others, but it he'd been incapable of resolving the situation fast enough. But even so, he'd done all he could. Maybe he should wait for testimonies before he started blaming himself.

The group waited for several minutes, until Uzatei and Furugori came from the slope to the middle path, where the drop-off was. Furugori asked as he approached, panting, "What happened? Who-"

"You!" Came the sudden voice of Monokuma. Flashlights spun around, eventually illuminating the bear, whom stood on one of the nearby rocks. Once he had the desired attention, he shrugged, "You: are kinda fat. Sorry, I was trying to make a joke, but I jumped the gun a bit."

Too disheartened to retort, none of the Students said a word, until Kirigiri demanded, "Give us the Monokuma Files."

Monokuma scoffed, "Pushy pushy! Being so rough: you must have sobered up. It's such a shame too: drunken Kirigiri was so silly and clumsy. I thought it was pretty 'moé', if you will."

Kirigiri frowned in confusion, "What? Are you insulting me?" Looking around, none of the others had an answer.

Monokuma sighed, "Oh well, all good things must come to end, they say. Bad things too! I mean, look at Mikage over there: yeesh! Does it get more brutal? I hope so, but let's see if you can live past this Class Trial first." Unfurling a stack of books from midair, he passed around 'Monokuma File 3'. Ichijou took the white book in his hands, once again wishing he didn't have to see the number climb higher.

Looking around, Monokuma left the last two copies next to Mikage, saying, "If those two drunkies decide to investigate, well, they can have at it! I imagine you guys would get pretty mad if they vomited all over the crime scene though, so choose your allies wisely. See you at the Trial!" Giving a quick wave, he turned, but stopped, adding, "Oh, and one last thing. The Monokuma Gas is being purged as we speak: no need to fear! Upupu."

Kirigiri interrupted, "Wait a minute. Speaking of the Monokuma Gas, you mentioned a trigger: what was it?"

Monokuma chortled, "Simple! The trigger was whenever I wanted you to have a hallucination!"

Kirigiri grumbled, "How cheap."

Monokuma shrugged, "None of my business. Now, have fun!" With that, he bounded away, leaping into the darkness.

Taking a breath, Ichijou said, "Okay, let's get started."

Nudging Ichijou, Nagasaki mentioned, "Your hand."

Holding his File under his arm and checking it out with the flashlight, he could help but notice it was a bit red, with a few blisters. Thinking for a moment, he said, "I'll check it out with Saruta-kun before the Trial." Nagasaki simply nodded in response.

Ishihara let out a sigh, before suggesting, "Well, we've got to get somewhere. Should we get our testimonies straight while we're all here?"

Minami nodded, "That would be wise. Someone tampered with things, and it was most definitely not Mikage Naoki. It was most likely to be Ishihara-san, Kirigiri, or myself."

Not wanting to descend into arguing, Ichijou began, "Okay, so! First thing I noticed was that Kasumi-chan went into the Ranger Station. Then later, while I was dealing with some of the others, we felt a rumble from down below."

Kirigiri nodded, taking over, "Well, from my perspective, the four of us were relaxing in the Ranger Station when Minami-san claimed to hear something coming from below. We had a couple flashlights, so we lifted up the cover and gave it a look, but there was nothing. Minami-san insisted she heard something, and went to give it a look. Ishihara-kun wasn't sure about letting her go alone, and I decided that it might be worth checking out after all. Mikage..."

As she trailed off, Ishihara continued, "Er, he just wasn't making any sense. He thought Kirigiri-chan was leaving him and came with us."

Kirigiri frowned, "I should have stopped him, but he was acting like...a lost child, almost. I'm surprised he made it down the ladder without falling, honestly: he drank far too much."

Ishihara nodded sadly, before resuming, "Well, we got to the lower level of the Mine, and we all got hit with a hallucination at once. I started seeing rats move in the darkness, Mikage-san started freaking out and ran, trying to find a more open area, while Minami-san and Kirigiri-chan just froze. We were too distracted to see where he ran. When we all started to get ourselves together, Mikage was gone, so we split up to try and find him. Minami took the elevator up, Kirigiri went across the lower part, and I took the slope up to the middle level. I didn't find him though. I did hear the cave-in though."

Kirigiri nodded, "When I finished my search of the lowest level, I took the elevator up. Not this one, however, the one on the other side. I felt the rumble of the cave-in around then."

Minami noted, "That would have been after I took it down, no?"

Kirigiri asked, "And when was that? You would have noticed had we not pressed the button at the same time, and I highly doubt we did. I won't accept a coincidence like that."

Ichijou sighed, "Er, we can work it out. I mean, the elevator was down when you got here, like it is now, so the other one must be up." Quickly turning to Uzatei, he explained, "When one goes up, the other goes down, that's just how it works."

Uzatei grumbled, "This is going to get confusing. How about this: let's label this 'Side A', and that one 'Side B'. This side has the cave-in blocking the ladder to the Ranger Station, and the other side has the drop-off from the Hot Spring, where we came from. Likewise, we can use 'Elevator A' and 'Elevator B'."

Ichijou nodded, "Okay; that sounds good!" He tried to go over the layout in his head, remembering from when they looked around. This side, Side A, had the cave-in nearby, blocking the ladder that went upward to underneath the Third Level Ranger Station. Nearby was the slope from the lower level up to the middle level as well. Up above, Ichijou swore the lever was situated near that locked door. Then, on the opposite side, Side B, the drop-off to the Hot Spring was on the middle path, near the slope from the middle to the upper level, while the tunnel to the Auditorium was down below.

Thinking to herself for a moment, Kirigiri looked at Ishihara and asked, "So, where did you go after you heard the cave-in?"

Ishihara explained, "Well, since I was in the middle part, I went back down, where I ran into Mitsuzi-kun and the others. They said they'd try the other way up, so I went to go find everyone else so I could get a handle on the situation. I took the elevator up-"

"On which side?" Uzatei interrupted.

"Er...here. Side A," Ishihara answered.

Kirigiri nodded, saying, "Likely after I had already gone up myself on Side B. I then went to the middle level, heading down to Side A."

Ishihara said plainly, "That was where I went next." Turning to Minami, he said, "You were lower down, right? Weird, where was Mikage the whole time?"

Kirigiri sighed, before saying with a tinge of annoyance, "Isn't it obvious? One of us is lying." She paused, letting that sink in for a moment, before continuing, "However, our testimonies seemingly add up, so far. We'll see if they can stay that way."

Ishihara said, "Well, anyway, on my way over, I heard the elevators moving, so I figured that since there wasn't anyone up above before, I'd head back and see who was coming."

Kirigiri sighed, "As did I. Did you run? I didn't see you, and you didn't see me, though when I heard the elevators, I was on Side A." Looking over to Minami, Kirigiri said, "I suppose you were on one of those elevators?"

Minami nodded, "I had headed up on Elevator A, finding nothing on the lower level. Then, I ran into Ishihara, and we gave the upper level another look before going back down on Elevator on Side B."

Kirigiri nodded, saying, "I was on the middle level, heading back up. I heard you call the elevator, but I was too slow, and by the time I got back up, you had already gone back down."

Minami scoffed, "Taking your sweet time?"

Kirigiri glared, "That's why I asked if Ishihara-kun ran. He's quite speedy."

Ishihara nodded, "Yeah, I ran. I wanted to make sure I caught someone, and I did. Then, like Minami-san said, we went down, checked the first level, and found Mikage here in Elevator Shaft A."

Minami nodded, "Then we waited for everyone else to arrive."

Nodding, Ichijou said, "Okay, I think I got it...maybe." However, as far as he could tell, the testimonies all added up. Ichijou had to agree that someone was lying though: according to everyone, Mikage had vanished until he appeared in the elevator shaft, dead. More investigation was necessary.

Ishihara said, "I'll stay here and make sure no one bothers the body. I think it would be a good idea if we avoided using the elevators though."

With no objections, everyone began to get started. Uzatei and Furugori headed off, Monokuma Files in hand. Remembering his, Ichijou decided now was as good a time as any to give it a look. Resting the book open on his bad arm, he used the other to hold the flashlight. Firstly was the diagram, as usual. The first thing Ichijou noticed was that the head section was completely blood colored. The other parts that stuck out were two blood colored spots, one on the chest, and one on his left leg. The rest read:

The Victim, Mikage Naoki, was discovered under the ladder-side Mine Elevator at 10:37 PM, underneath the Third Level Ranger Station.

The Victim's skull has been completely crushed by the elevator, along with some of the neck. The Victim has two puncture wounds: one in the left leg and one in the chest. The Victim's body has traces of alcohol and Monokuma Gas. There are no other wounds or toxins present on the body.

Ichijou sighed: despite being the longest description yet, it didn't say anything. Trying to think like Kirigiri, he noticed that there was no time of death listed once again.

Looking around, Ichijou wasn't exactly comfortable about exploring the darkness alone. Looking around, he saw Nagasaki was a bit nervous as well. However, before he could approach her, he couldn't help but realize that Kirigiri and Minami were the only ones unpaired. They hadn't argued yet, but given the circumstances, between their occasional disagreements and the fact that they were both suspects, Ichijou wasn't comfortable letting them either go off on their own or trying to work together.

Noticing his hesitance, Nagasaki approached him, asking, "Er, I-Ichijou-san, would you like to help me investigate?"

Ichijou frowned, before answering, "I would, but I'm worried about Kirigiri-chan and Minami-san. Would you do me a big favor? I think it's best to keep them away from each other for now. Can I get your help?"

Nagasaki seemed puzzled, repeating disbelievingly, "You need my help?"

Ichijou nodded, asking, "Can I trust you?" Shaking his head, he corrected himself, "No, I know I can trust you, but can you help me?"

Nagasaki was silent for a moment, before reminding him, "The both of them...one of them might be a killer."

Ichijou frowned, replying, "I know, which is why we can't let them stay together. If one of them tries to kill the other out of paranoia, or to ensure their safety...but they wouldn't touch you! There's no reason to, and they know you can fight back." He felt a twinge as he thought about Tamura Ryunosuke, but pushed it aside.

Nagasaki hesitated, clearly thinking about it, but finally answered, "Okay, I'll help."

Feeling an unmistakable sense of pride, Ichijou smiled, replying, "Thank you, Nagasaki-chan!" With a nod, the Survivalist took a deep breath, before turning, flipping her flashlight between the points of light nearby that were Kirigiri and Minami. Making her choice, she ignored Ishihara and headed over to one, leaving Ichijou to head over to the other.

Approaching, he saw Kirigiri Kasumi looking over the rubble that blocked the way to the ladder. The girl heard his approach, and stood to meet him. She smiled, "Oh, going to let me help you with your investigation?"

Ichijou gave a short laugh, replying, "I thought it was going to be the other way around."

Kirigiri asked, "Then how are you going to improve?"

Ichijou couldn't really argue. Instead, he simply asked, "How should I then? I mean, I tried my hardest last time-"

Kirigiri interrupted, "And were invaluable. Thought, that might have just been luck."

Ichijou frowned, "What was lucky about stabbing myself with my knife?"

Kirigiri gave a short giggle, cryptically answering, "More than you might think." Looking around, she said, "If you really do want to improve, however, then how about I ask the questions?"

Ichijou cringed, looking over at Mikage's corpse: when they'd investigated last time, the two had taken on a similar role. Steeling his resolve to find Mikage's killer, Ichijou nodded, "Understood." With a smile, he added, "Sensei."

Kirigiri gave a slight smile, before her look hardened, and she asked, "First things first. The Monokuma File. Did you notice anything unusual?"

Ichijou grinned, nodding, "Yup! The time of death is missing."

Kirigiri asked quickly, "Was that all?"

Ichijou thought about it, before opening the Monokuma File again. Rereading the description, he didn't pick up on anything in particular. Looking back up to Kirigiri, he nodded his head. The girl simply gave a nod in response. Ichijou couldn't help but feel he was missing something.

Kirigiri didn't give him a chance to mull over it, crouching down by the rubble in front of the ladder again. She noted, "The rocks seem to be large, hard to move. Any idea on where they came from?"

Ichijou said, "The cave-in, right?"

However, at his guess, Kirigiri shone her light on the ground, and Ichijou couldn't help but notice that it was a little shiny. In fact, on second glance, there were small, shiny bits in a lot of the rocks: Ichijou hadn't noticed before because he was too focused on the situation at hand: he'd likely mistaken it for light from the flashlight.

Running his finger across the dust, he looked at it a bit closer, noticing the color. "Gold?" he mumbled. The word sparking something in his mind, Ichijou recalled, "Ah! Monokuma said that minecart had gold in it!"

Kirigiri nodded, "We should give that area a look then, no?"

Ichijou nodded, "Sounds like a plan." Looking at his hands, he noticed that he already had some on them, from when he tried to push past before, right after it had happened. Wiping the stuff on his yukata, he saw that it left a streak, shining a bit on his clothes. He didn't mind it too much, as it would just be cleaned anyway.

Panning his flashlight around, Ichijou asked, "Anything else around here? I don't see anything..." Kirigiri didn't answer, instead walking back over to Ishihara and the corpse of Mikage.

The Aeronaut smiled as they approached, saying, "Man, with you two giving things a look, I'm starting to feel a bit more optimistic."

Kirigiri nodded, "It might have been preventable, but none of us were in our right states of mind. But the blame falls on no one but the Culprit." Looking over to Mikage, she sighed, "He was just trying to help us get past the incentive and enjoy ourselves..."

Ichijou took a steadying breath, before saying, "Okay, as there anything we missed?" Crouching down by the body, he tried to give it a look, even checking the pockets. He dared not look at the head though, or what was left.

Kirigiri asked, "What do you think caused this leg wound?"

Ichijou looked closer, before suggesting, "Was there anything covered in blood? It could have been another mining tool, but where did it go? Or maybe someone used their knife or hatchet. We should ask."

Kirigiri suggested, "A thorough clothing check might be prudent: last time, we were able to tell Nagasaki-san was involved because she only had her one weapon. However, if the Culprit wiped the blood on their clothes and hid the weapon well, we might never know otherwise."

Ichijou nodded, concurring. Looking over the body again, he didn't have anything else to add. He didn't want to loiter around too long either; the sight was still a bit nauseating. However, as he gave the pickaxe another look, he noticed something reflecting in the light from the flashlight: more glittering dust. He pointed it out to Kirigiri, saying, "Hey, there's some gold dust on this handle. How'd that get there?"

Kirigiri looked herself, before asking in turn, "Indeed. How did it get there, I wonder?"

Thinking about it himself, Ichijou suggested, "It might have been near the rubble."

Kirigiri nodded, "Perhaps. The person behind this wouldn't have needed to go far if that were the case. Anything else?"

Looking over it again, Ichijou shook his head, standing, a bit glad to be moving on. Ishihara nodded, reassuring them, "I'll hold down the fort here."

Ichijou nodded, "Thanks for the help, Jouji-kun."

Heading away, Kirigiri suggested, "Would you mind if we headed down to the Auditorium later? I'm interested in the electrified door you were talking about."

Ichijou nodded, suggesting, "First we should go up though, while we're here." Kirigiri complied, and the pair headed up the slope to the middle level, before heading down the tunnel to the other side, where the slope went up to the upper level, near the drop-off, now roped properly by Uzatei and Furugori.

"Actually," Ichijou mumbled, stopping. Changing his course, he headed to the drop off, looking around below, finding the first rope on the ground. Checking the end, it was indeed cut, though Ichijou couldn't tell by what.

Looking up to the tunnel to the Hot Spring, Kirigiri mused, "Ishihara-kun or Minami-san might have been able to climb out, now that I think about it. I'm not so confident in my climbing skills, however, and Mikage..." Kirigiri sighed, wondering again, "Why did he need to follow me?"

Trying to think back, Ichijou remembered, "Well, I guess he kinda liked you."

Kirigiri frowned, "But why? I mean, he seemed interested in most of the girls here sure, but..."

Ichijou shrugged, "You sorta answered your own question there."

Kirigiri shook her head, admitting, "I just...don't want to believe I had a part in his death."

Letting out a sigh, Ichijou reassured her, "We'll figure out what happened somehow."

Kirigiri nodded, "The Trial..."

As she mumbled, Ichijou knew they still had work to do. Leading the way, he headed up the slope to the upper part of the Mine. Looking around with his flashlight, he saw the Side B elevator, raised up. Despite a quick search, there wasn't anything notable in or around it, however.

Moving on, Ichijou began to head to Side A. However, along the way, the pair noticed something atop the cart tracks: a pair fairly decent sized rocks and more dust, some of it shining gold. "Eh? How'd this get here?" Ichijou asked.

Kirigiri sighed, saying with a lack of seriousness, "Who knows?"

Realizing he was being challenged, he tried to put things together, thinking aloud, "The minecart was around here, wasn't it? But it was moved. To where though?" Looking around, he mumbled, "I guess over by the lever?"

Kirigiri nodded, "Most likely."

Heading over, the pair reached Side A after a few minutes. Naturally, the elevator was gone, still on the level below. However, a bit farther up, near the cliff, was the mine cart, emptied out. It wasn't level, however: the cart itself was tilted forwards, making it slant. The rusted lever was still nearby as well. However, next to it, was a sledgehammer, likely from the lower level. Approaching the out of place weapon, Ichijou checked it, but there was nothing notable on it. He'd been expecting some gold dust, but it just wasn't there.

However, there was still the matter of how the mine cart had been dumped, and the only thing he could think to check was the lever. Sure enough, something had changed: it had been pulled. Looking closely, there were a few bits of rust dust scattered around.

Leaning in, Kirigiri wondered aloud, "It was rusted before; and probably pretty hard to pull, and yet..." Kirigiri grabbed a hold, trying to pull it again. It seemed to budge a bit, even as she put her weight behind it, but it still seemed to resist. Getting next to her, Ichijou lent his good hand, and they gave it another yank. This time, it moved, shifting with a click. There was a creaking noise, and the mine cart rumbled, the cart section lifting off the wheels, before tipping over towards the cliff side, but only a small amount of gold dust came out, and the cart returned to its position, though still askew.

As it quieted down, Ichijou nodded, "I see, so that's what the cave-in was, for sure."

Kirigiri grumbled, "What's the point of having a lever? There are no mechanisms! There can't be! The mine cart isn't attached to anything! A button would do just as well." Letting out a groan, she sighed, "Sorry, I keep saying that I'm going to ignore the weirdness, and then..."

Ichijou laughed, "No, no, it's fine."

Done with the mine cart, Kirigiri noticed the tunnel next to the lever, and the metal door on the other side of that. Heading over, she tried to open it, but it remained locked. With a sigh, she suggested, "Well, unless there's anything else in the Mine we've missed, I say we head down." Ichijou agreed, and the pair made their way to the middle level again, taking that tunnel down to the bottom, and then crossing the rubble filled path to the other tunnel.

Heading down, however, when they reached the door, Ichijou noticed that it was still complete darkness. As they moved into the hallway, Kirigiri noticed as well, asking, "Strange. Why is it so dark? Is it because it's nighttime? I know some of the other lights are dimmed."

Ichijou gave an awkward laugh, before answering, "Er, no. Nagasaki-chan and I found a wire attached to the door that was electrifying it, and I took it out of the electrical control panel over behind the Auditorium. The one Sanada was messing with a week ago. All the lights turned off though."

Kirigiri sighed, "I see." After a moment, she unexpectedly shouted, "Monokuma!"

Looking around, Ichijou asked, "Would he-"

"You rang?" came a tired, sickeningly annoying voice from the darkness. Ichijou shone his light on the two toned Monokuma, whom impatiently tapped his foot (hind paw?).

Kirigiri, being sarcastically polite, asked, "Monokuma-sama, would you kindly turn the lights back on so we can do an appropriate investigation? My arm is getting tired from holding this flashlight."

"Hmmm..." Monokuma mumbled. After a moment, he demanded, "No, be cuter! More moé!"

Kirigiri let out a sigh of frustration, before demanding, "Tell me what that means!"

Monokuma hesitated for a moment, mumbling, "Er, uh." Then, in an instant, he scrambled away. Ichijou tried to follow him with his flashlight, watching as he ran up to the electrical panel and smacked it. There was some whirring, and the lights returned, dim at first, but brightening by the moment. "Well, there you are. And don't bother me unless it's important next time!" Monokuma growled. Before either of the two could say anything, he ran out of sight.

Turning off her flashlight, Kirigiri hissed, "But what does it meeeaaaan!"

Scratching his head, Ichijou shrugged, unable to hide his amusement at Kirigiri's reaction, "I have no idea!"

At the very least, with the lights back, the pair was able to investigate properly. Of course, the obvious thing that was out of place was the wire, still on the ground, leading back to the metal door. Following it back, Kirigiri examined where it was tied too. She noted, "Hmm, you would think it would short out..."

Ichijou, not exactly familiar with all the ins and outs of electricity, shrugged, "I guess."

Kirigiri explained, "Basically, all electricity seeks a 'ground'. For example, telephone poles, which have large amounts of electricity going through their wire, won't shock you when you touch the base wooden pole because it's insulated. However, grab a tall, metal ladder and touch that wire, and you become the ground, and risk serious injury when the electricity surges you on its way to the earth."

Starting to understand, Ichijou said, "So, the electricity was going through the wire, through the door, and to the ground?"

Kirigiri nodded, "Yes, heating up the door in the process. It didn't go through you because that would make a longer path. You should consider yourself lucky." Turning back to the door, he continued, "However, there doesn't appear to be a proper ground: the rock walls are fairly insulated, and there should be a crack under the door...oh!" Ichijou watched as she reached underneath the door, pulling out a slightly warped metal nail. She nodded, "Our ground."

Ichijou cringed, "I'm glad I didn't step on that..." He shuddered at the thought of that sharp, hot metal piercing his skin.

Kirigiri looked at the door again, before saying, "But it still doesn't make sense. Like I said, it would short out. Basically, with little resistance, all the electricity would flow out of the panel and into the ground. However, for some reason, that little lighting panel provided electricity for who knows how long without anything else electrical showing any signs of it. Like when one turns on a hairdryer when a television is on as well. Disrupting the current should have had some effects somewhere..." As Ichijou blinked at the girl, the country boy being unfamiliar to the phenomenon, Kirigiri shrugged, "You'll just have to trust me on this one, though I'm sure the others can attest."

Ichijou recalled something, saying, "Well, we didn't need our flashlights until the door was open."

Kirigiri corrected him, "But the flashlights wouldn't have been...never mind." Shaking her head, turned to head over to the lighting panel, before looking up at the lights, gasping and correcting herself, "Er, sorry, I didn't quite understand. Were the lights unaffected by the electricity then? Did you notice any of them dimming? Or flickering?" Ichijou shook his head, and Kirigiri stood in thought for a moment, before turning back to the panel, dropping the subject.

Reaching the small panel door, she swung it open wider as Ichijou followed. Ichijou had no idea what to make of the array of switches and symbols. And neither did Kirigiri apparently, as she simply shook her head and closed the panel. "I wonder if there's something in the Library, like an informational guide to use this," Kirigiri said to herself.

Thinking about it, Ichijou pointed out, "Well, if someone used something like that to do this, they would have needed it on hand, right? Maybe it's still here?"

Eyes widening, Kirigiri lit up, saying, "That's certainly possible. Let's take a look."

Splitting up, the two tore apart the two back rooms, but didn't find anything. Kirigiri, unsatisfied, checked again, while Ichijou went to the Auditorium, thinking about the benches. While there wasn't anything on or under them, he did notice there was some space under the Auditorium stage. Grabbing his flashlight, he found he could even crawl under. It was dusty, of course, but he didn't let that bother him, crawling in and looking around. He couldn't help but grin in satisfaction as he found not one, but two books. One was black and yellow, reading, 'An Electrical Guide to Arashimine Resort'. The other, a stark white, the cover reading 'A History of the Mutual Killing Game: Secret Volume: The Final Exam of Mutual Killing.'

When Ichijou realized what he had found, he let out a loud gasp, "Ahhhh!" The discovery had caught him off guard: it was like looking for a dropped coin and finding a bill. And the coin on top of that!

As he scrambled out from under the stage, books in hand, Kirigiri came around, asking, "Mitsuzi-kun? What's wrong?"

Grinning Ichijou stood, holding up the two books. Kirigiri's jaw dropped briefly, before she regained her composure, clearing her throat and admitting, "Right under our noses." With a shaky hand, she reached towards the white book, the words 'Secret Volume' no doubt tantalizing her. However, at the last moment, she grabbed the electrical book. She sighed, "Mikage and I gave this room a look too just yesterday..."

As she flipped it open, Ichijou couldn't help but to open the white covered book, earning a deathly glare from Kirigiri. Sheepishly, he closed it again, agreeing that there were more important things to worry about right now.

As she took a few moments to read, she admitted, "It looks like setting up the door trap would have been possible with this. It might have even mentioned that there wouldn't be a short. I'll bring it along to the Trial. That one, however..." She looked over at the Secret Volume (or Formerly Secret Volume) and suggested, "I would say the Resort Restaurant, but it's closed right now. I suppose we could just leave it at the Library with the other one for now."

Ichijou nodded, saying, "Okay, sounds good. Now that we've got all that checked out, what do we have left?"

Kirigiri mimicked, "What do we have left?"

Ichijou thought for a moment, but he couldn't come up with anything. Nodding, Kirigiri said, "Thank you for your help then, Mitsuzi-kun. I'm going to head to the Library then."

Flexing his hand, Ichijou said, "I should probably see Saruta-kun."

Heading out of the Auditorium tunnel, the pair reached the Ground Level, the lack of cicada noises implying it was past midnight. Climbing up to the First Level, the two parted ways as they passed the Medical Building.

"See you at the Trial," Kirigiri nodded, heading off, books in hand.

Ichijou nodded, "See you later, Kasumi-chan!" Turning, he headed over to the Medical Building. Once he reached the door however, he hesitated, knocking.

After a moment, he heard Saruta say, "Come in." Ichijou wasted no time, opening the door and going inside. He saw Saruta lying on one of the beds, the boy shifting his position so that he was sitting on the edge has Ichijou stepped in. Beyond, he could see the large window off to the cliff, the view being nothing but fog past the fence.

Standing properly, Saruta bowed his head, saying, "I apologize for my actions earlier. I should have kept better control of myself. As a professional medical worker, I'm truly ashamed."

Ichijou shook his head, insisted, "No, no, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you."

Blinking, Saruta looked up at Ichijou, his expression a bit befuddled. He smiled sadly, saying, "I'm afraid I don't agree with you. It helped me to restore me to my proper thinking. I should be thanking you." Ichijou looked him over. He wanted to ask what that was about. Why did he not value his life? Why did he consider himself worse than a murderer? What was it that he was worried he might have said well drunk? Or did he say it? Furugori had trailed off about that subject, after all.

Ichijou finally said, "Hey, Saruta-kun. Remember what you said about, er, patient-doctor, uh."

"Confidentiality?" Saruta filled in.

Ichijou nodded, "Yeah, that. Well, it's only fair if it goes both ways, right? If you want to tell me something, I'll listen, okay?"

Saruta gave another weak smile, before shaking his head, "I wish I could, Ichijou Mitsuzi. But I simply cannot. I admire you too much too..." He trailed off, stopping and scratching at the side of his face. Ichijou felt a bit sheepish all of a sudden: what was admirable about him? That he was stupidly Lucky? Before Ichijou could convince himself to pry, Saruta asked, "Was there something you needed?"

Ichijou blinked, "Oh, well, there was this electrified door, see?" He held up his burnt hand, some of the skin still red.

Saruta nodded, going to work immediately. He grabbed some sanitizer, burn ointment, and gauze, doing his best to treat the injury. By the time he finished, he also took a moment to check his minor stab wound from the other day, taking of the bandage looking it over. As he did, Saruta noticed something, asking, "What is this? Glitter? No, it's a bit larger."

Ichijou answered with a laugh, "Oh, it's some gold dust. I guess I didn't wipe it off well enough." Looking at his yukata, there was still some there too. He mumbled, "Man, this stuff just gets everywhere..."

Saruta nodded, suggesting, "As long as it doesn't get into any wounds, you should be fine. It could lead to an infection. Just be sure to wash it all off." With that, he cleaned the scab on his finger with yet another ointment (as the water was shut off).

Satisfied, Ichijou nodded, "Thank you, Saruta-san."

Saruta gave another smile, this one a bit warmer, as he said, "It's a pleasure to be of service."

As the two stood, they were interrupted by the chilling bugle playing, followed by the anxiously anticipated announcement, "Excuse me, your attention please! It is now time for the Class Trial. I hope you've studied! Please, make your way to the Courtroom Elevator Door on the First Level with haste. See you soon~"

Taking a breath, Ichijou readied himself as he headed out of the Building, Saruta at his heels. They went through the sparse forest to the Elevator, finding themselves to be the first ones on. Ganaha was next, still looking flustered, tired, and grumpy after the chain of events this evening. It took several minutes, but Minami, Nagasaki, Kirigiri, Ishihara, Uzatei, and Furugori arrived too, no doubt taking a while due to the time it took to travel around. Ichijou couldn't help but notice that Kirigiri held the black and yellow manual as promised. As the Elevator door closed, and began to rumble downwards, Ichijou considered the recent events in his head.

Mikage Naoki: though far from the brightest despite his skills, Mikage also couldn't help but to enjoy the company of the opposite sex. His attempts to impress others with his Talents, however, contributed to his brutal death. And the one who took advantage of it was here, on the Elevator: one of the nine here had snatched away his life, and now they descended into a Trial of Fact and Fiction, and Trial of Trust and Betrayal, a Trial of Hope and Despair.

Well, I took a few liberties with the electricity physics/ground here, but I doubt it's too major, at least, but some stuff should come up in the Trial. Speaking of the Trial, we will see that on the 27th! Thank you for reading.

In tangentially related news, I started replaying the first Dangan Ronpa with a different eye after having read a Let's Play of the second game and written, oh, probably over 400,000 words of Fanfiction (324,000 words of which you've read, so thank you!). However, literally right off the bat I found three bits that go against what I've written. Of course, it's not as if my fic is remotely canon in the first place, but I address the inconsistencies in the pastebin below. There is one thing I will be changing though, I miscalculated. I set the start of Naegi's first school year in 2009, the same year that the game came out. Turns out it was dated all along: 2010. The result is that I'll be going back and fixing the dates. I'll be explaining it more in the pastebin and I'll bring it up again when/if it becomes relevant in Despairingly Displaced. Mostly it means that Hopelessly Misplaced happened in 2013 not 2012. Likeitreallymakesabigdifferenceoranything.

pastebin(.com)/JfYigFEc