Investigation time! Let's go! I'm actually very excited and I hope I do a good job! New part! Investigation time!

[This part has been edited and updated after the completion of Chapter 2]

DANGANRONPA: OFF THE RAILS

Chapter 1 – Freedom's End

Part 6 – DEADLY LIFE

Wally and Takeshi stared at the scene with horror as sounds of footsteps approached. Turning, they could see Koharu approach. "…Oh shit."

She stopped and stared at the dead intelligence officer with an unphased expression. A moment of silence passed before Wally shook his head and focused on the task at hand. Moving forward, he moved towards the ballet dancer with worry. "Emiko? Emiko! Are you okay?"

However, the ballet dancer didn't respond at all. She just stared at the dead body with fear as more footsteps approached. Stepping into the room first was Li-Wei, Ember, and Yokona. Li-Wei looked pale; Ember looked with pained expression, and Yokona looked at the scene with a serious expression. Slowly, the rest began to trickle into the room, everyone in different forms of dress. Some were in pajamas, some were dressed down, but overall, they were not ready for this.

However, it was then that the final three entered the pub. "Come on!"

First was Kanade who was dressed in pajamas covered in music notes as she pulled a messily dressed Satoru into the pub. He had his jacket missing, sleeves rolled, tie missing, and just looked tired. "Darling… slow down."

However, the two would stop as the final person, Chizure, would enter behind them while missing their baby blue jacket. All three of them stared at the dead intelligence officer for a moment…

Chizure stared in shock with slight tears, Satoru cursed and looked away, and Kanade… Kanade laughed weakly with tears as she pointed her dead friend. "This… this is a joke, right? T-This is a sick prank, right!?"

However, it was that moment when Conductorkuma popped up and landed on a nearby table.

"NOPE! Not a prank at all! We finally got our first victim! And… before you ask… nope! I had nothing to do with this!" Their yellow eye glinted with twisted glee. "This was all done by one of you! You all got an hour to look around and find what you can before we'll have our first train trial! Pupupupupupupu!" Hoping over to the sidekick, he placed a large tablet in Wally's hands. "Here you go! The Conductorkuma file! It can be accessed from your Kuma-Watch… but why not give one in person? Either way, Good luckkkk~" And with that, the bear disappeared… and reality set in…

This… was real.

INVESTIGATION #1 – START

...

...

Gathering his bearings, Li-Wei moved forward to the front of everyone. He still looked pale, but he had a serious expression "…We don't have any time to waste."

The others nodded and moved. Some left, some stayed behind. Either way, Wally stared down at the Conductorkuma File with a heavy heart as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he found Chizure standing there with a weak smile. "…Need a partner for now?"

Wally looked at the forger and nodded with a weak smile of his own. "Sure… I'm not the greatest detective… but…" He gained a serious expression. Chizure understood as the two turned their attention to the file…

CONDUCTORKUMA FILE-

Victim: Shunso Kamata

Talent: Ultimate Intelligence Officer

Time of death: Around 5:00am.

Time of discovery: Around 6:00am

Location: Pub Room Stage, Fourth Cart

Cause of death: Wound to chest are by sharp object

…Wally looked at the file before he turned to Chizure and sighed. "Well… it's a start…"

Bullet Added: Conductorkuma File

Placing the tablet on a nearby table, they checked and confirmed that the now named Kuma-Watches updated. And in the truth bullets, there was the file. Turning towards the room itself, Wally couldn't help but frown. "…It seems like a fight occurred. Though, we didn't hear anything…"

That appeared to be an understatement. The wall had slash marks, the bar was marked up, and some broken chairs. However, Chizure frowned a bit. "I'm… not so sure. Something about this seems off…"

Wally nodded. "Perhaps… but right now we need to keep moving on."

Bullet Added: State of the Pub

"But not only that…" Wally moved towards the door as he looked at the scattered stools and what remained of the former intelligence officer's wheelchair. "The door to the pub was completely blocked. We had to bust our way in… wait, wasn't the door locked?"

Chizure moved closer and shook her head. "No… it seems that the door has no lock on it. Not only that, it turns inwards… so it would be impossible to lock it from outside."

Bullet Added: Barricaded Pub Door

Moving away from the entrance towards the bar, Wally noted that the soda bottles hadn't been restocked. But beyond that, there wasn't anything of note. That was until he stopped and noticed a bloody puddle in the corner. Not a puddle made of blood… but a mix of water and blood. Next to it was a garbage can that held an empty water bottle.

Standing back up, he turned to Chizure. "Find anything?"

The forger nodded as she brought over a list of items. "I looked around to see if anything was missing. And… two bar rags seem to be missing."

Wally raised an eyebrow at that. "Bar rags? That's… weird."

Bullet Added: Bloody Puddle

Bullet Added: Missing Bar Rags

Moving away from the bar, the two found themselves… in front of Shunso's body. Koharu and Takeshi were sitting nearby as Wally gathered his breath. "…So… anything you can tell us?"

Takeshi gave a grim nod as he rubbed his eyes. "O-Other then the kitchen knife in his chest… it seems he didn't have any other injuries… except light scratching on the back of his head and back. My b-best assumption is that he w-was tossed onto the stage."

Wally nodded at the combat medic as he turned his attention to Koharu. "I actually have a question… why was it that you got back first before the others?"

The pink haired sniper frowned but sighed. "That's the thing… I got there and tried to get Li-Wei… but the door wouldn't fucking open. And before you ask, yes… I tried other rooms as well. My door wouldn't open, Ember's door wouldn't open, and Yokona's door wouldn't open… and then when the announcement went off, they opened."

Chizure gained a look of understanding. "I see… that would explain how they got there first. Everyone sort of went in waves… I was actually in the middle of the group until Kanade got me to go back for Satoru. He was at his door when we found him. So we were the last ones to leave and arrive..."

Bullet Added: Takeshi's Autopsy

Bullet Added: Kitchen Knife

Bullet Added: Koharu's Account

Bullet Added: Chizure's Account

Takeshi would tug at Wally's sleeve with a worried look as he pointed to the doorway. "Emiko m-may take a bit before you c-can get something from her… Ember's going to try and c-communicate with Emiko for Katashi. Right now they've gone to the l-lounge room."

Wally gave Takeshi a smile and a thumbs up. "Gotcha. Thanks for the heads up. Let's look around Chizure."

The forger would nod. "Right."

Saying their goodbyes, the two headed backstage to search for more clues. Splitting up, Wally found himself investigating the instruments. Everything seemed to be in order from the piano to the guitars to the open drums to the- wait open drums?

Doing a double take, Wally noticed that the drum set seemed to be tampered with as the large kick drum was open. The covering on one side was off and from looking at it, you wouldn't be able to look into it if both sides were perfectly up. And inside the kick drum was what appeared to be two pieces of tape attached onto the side on the inside.

Bullet Added: Open Kick Drum

Moving around backstage, Wally stopped as he heard a slight sound which made him raise a brow. Moving closer, he found that Chizure was looking at one of the speakers. "It's still on… barely and not connected to the microphone… but still on."

However, she then pointed to the movement marks on the ground as Wally looked at her. "Wasn't it set up before the party?"

The forger nodded as she held her chin in curiousity. "While that's the case… Kanade said they got help to move the speakers out front."

Wally gained a look of understanding. "But… this speaker is all the way in the back." He then stopped as he noticed a gap between the speaker and the wall. "…Help me move it." Not sure what he was getting at but going along with it, Chizure helped the sidekick move the speaker to reveal… an open vent.

Bullet Added: Speaker

Bullet Added: Hidden Vent

Chizure frowned at this as she looked at the open vent. "The vent system… does this mean someone moved through the entire train?"

"Nope!" Popping out of nowhere was Conductorkuma as he puffed his chest. "You see, the vent system is limited! The first four carts are connected while the last four carts are connected! No connection in-between."

Chizure nodded at this with a frown. "I see. Does that mean anyone can sneak into any dorm?"

"Also no! The vents connected to the vent system cannot access absolutely locked rooms like the kitchen or the dorms!" And with that, Conductorkuma disappeared once more.

Chizure frowned at that but understood what that meant. "So… one can't use the vent system to access the kitchen, cafeteria, medicine room, pool, or gym." She nodded at this before turning to Wally. "I think we found a lot here… I'm…" That smile on the forger's face turned into a frown. "… I'm going to stay by Shunso. Good luck Wally." And with that, the forger was off.

Now, the sidekick found himself standing there in front of the open vent alone… with only his thoughts to keep him company… and a shocked expression on his face.

…A vent system? What is this all about? Since when was there a vent system like this in place? This is worrying… though why is Chizure not surprised by this? This is the first I'm hearing about it… I'll have to ask about it later. For now, I should keep a mental note of this… and see what's on the other end of this…

Bullet Added: Vent System

Crawling through the vent, Wally found him shocked with how large the vent actually was. It truly felt like anyone of the train riders could fit through the vents. And so, this was how the sidekick found himself moving with decent speed. However, down the way, he soon found himself above a closed that, looking through the gaps, revealed… "…The pool?"

No doubt about it, Wally was looking down at pool as the vent seemed to be directly above the pool itself. Squinting his eyes, he noticed something floating down in the pool below… a black cloth of some kind. Not only that, but he could also smell a faint sweet scent… Either way, he looked at the vent and went to move it when- "NOPE!"

-BANG-

"OW!" Holding his head in pain, Wally turned his head forward to see the one that surprised him… Conductorkuma. "What is it this time!?"

"You can't enter! Not this way! It's still nighttime!"

"… What are you talking about? Why can't I enter?" The bear sat down in front of Wally like a teacher with a smug grin.

"Why, the pool rules of course! Here!" A ping could be heard on Wally's Kuma-Watch as he pulled it out.

Pool Rules!

Rule 1: No diving

Rule 2: No entering the opposite gender changing room

Rule 3: No swimming in the pool during nighttime

Rule 4: No dropping the pool key in the pool

Rule 5: No entry after hours is allowed unless you have the pool key

Rule 6: Failure to abide by these rules will result in your immediate death

"…Oh."

"Oh, indeed! You're welcome for saving your sorry butt! We already had one sorry sap kick the bucket… thought then again… he couldn't exactly kick anything else! Pupupupupupupu!"

And with that, the bear disappeared once more as Wally groaned and crawled through the vent. "…I really hate that bear."

Bullet Added: Black Cloth

Bullet Added: Pool Rules

Bullet Added: Pool Key

Travelling further and further through the vent, Wally soon found himself exiting into the third cart. An open vent hidden behind some of the random luggage… "…So there was a way in and out of the room."

Bullet Updated: Hidden Vent

Looking around, Wally noticed Yokona standing by the medicine room entrance. Moving closer, the sidekick tapped her shoulder as the strategist flinched away before calming back down. She then glared at the boy before sighing. "What do you want? …And where did you come from?"

Wally pointed towards the hidden vent as Yokona's eyes widened. "I came here from the vent… apparently there's a vent system in this train."

The strategist blinked before groaning. "Are you kidding me!? Since when was there a vent system!? …That throws a wrench in my theory… but no matter. It still holds truth to it."

This caused the sidekick to stop and tilt his head in confusion for a moment. "Theory?"

Yokona puffed her chest in superiority as she held a grin. "Correct. I believe I have found an incredibly important clue for this case!"

Wally's eyes widened a bit before he looked at the strategist. "Wait really?"

The strategist nodded as she pointed to the screen next to the medicine room door. "This holds the logs of everyone who entered the room."

Turning his attention to the list, what caught his eye more wasn't the times, since they were all during the day, but the names. "So… the day before the party had Katashi, Emiko, Koharu, Hastur, Kana, Li-Wei, and Satoru enter the medicine room… and on the day of the party…"

Yokona nodded and smiled. "Correct… only Katashi and Emiko entered."

Bullet Added: Medicine Room Logs

"But that's not all!" The strategist opened the door, which didn't cause any problem. Wally looked confused until Yokona turned to him and spoke. "Conductorkuma stopped by to inform that any door that was locked from nighttime is unlocked. So we can enter the medicine room…" Wally nodded at that as he followed the strategist into the room… where she pulled out a container that seemed to be missing some contents.

Wally blinked and looked at Yokona confused. "So… what is it?"

Yokona grinned and smiled. "…Chloroform."

That caused the sidekick to double take at the strategist. "Exactly. This container is missing chloroform! It's a sweet-smelling and with a slightly sweet taste. Apparently, this is a special brand called "Kuma-Brand Chloroform" which states that anyone knocked out by it will wake up after an hour."

Bullet Added: Kuma-Brand Chloroform

The sidekick nodded at this as Yokona smirked. "And so… I have a theory on who did it!" But she then frowned as she glared at Wally. "…But don't expect me to tell you it now. I'm saving it for the actual trial. So why don't you go explore somewhere else instead of standing here?"

Wally put his hands up in surrender as he backed away and turned to leave. However, as he moved to leave, he frowned.

So Yokona didn't know about the vents either… that's strange. Either way, not much I can do about it now. For now, I should try looking around somewhere else…

Bullet Updated: Vent System

Moving through the carts, Wally found himself passing the fourth cart and continuing into the second half of the train cars. Finding himself into the library research cart, the sidekick noticed Hastur and Ai looking around the workstations. Stepping forward, the cosmicism writer and astrologer turned to face the approaching sidekick. "So… did you two find anything?"

Hastur nodded with a smile as Ai grinned. "By the stars of Ursa Major we did!" She then pointed towards the workstation where… everything seemed normal?

Noticing the confused look on the sidekick's face, Hastur continued Ai's train of thought. "Why… look closer. What is there but seems unlike itself before?"

Wally was… still confused but looked closer as he noticed… "Oh! One of the beakers is missing." The two nodded as Wally turned to them. "Did you find anything else?"

That was when Ai shook her head. "No… we explored the observatory but there was nothing there. So we only found this." Wally gave her a kind smile and a thumbs up.

"Well… this is still a big find! So keep looking around here and let us know what else you find."

Hastur nodded with a smile as he sat on one of the chairs. "Will do our heroic friend! May your search prove fruitful~"

Bullet Added: Missing Beaker

Wally would give a nod as he would head off towards the final two carts. Reaching the yacht cart, he looked in the deck below to find a toolbox but not much else. Heading outside, he decided to climb up to the crow's nest to look for any clues as he notices a vent grate laying on the ground of the crow's nest. Looking up, Wally saw an open vent on the ceiling. "…Well… Guess it's back to the vents."

Climbing up into the vent, Wally found himself crawling closer and closer to a light as he found another open vent… only this time the grate was tucked inside the vent. Looking through, he saw the law court cart, the judge's seat, the back wall, the mess that was found in the cart, and that was about it. So, exiting the vent and landing with a flip, he looked up to see that the vent was pretty high up. "No real way to get up there…"

Bullet Added: Yacht Cart Vent

Turning his attention away from the vent, the sidekick began to look around the room but didn't find nothing of value. Other then the mess, all that caught his attention was the cells and the stopped timer… the timers that stopped around 5am… Shaking his head, he slapped his cheeks lightly as he moved to the small mess.

Looking closer, it appeared to be two or so broken bottles of soda from the pub. There was shards of glass, some more tinted than others, as a large sticky sweet-smelling stain resided around the area of broken glass. Realizing there wasn't anything else to look at, Wally left the cart.

Bullet Added: Broken Soda Bottles

Moving further and further down the train, Wally soon found himself entering the dorm cart when he heard some curses up ahead. Raising a brow, Wally turned to see Satoru, Kanade, Kuniyoshi and Kana outside the dorms… Satoru was trying his door, Kanade was looking worried, Kuniyoshi was cursing and trying his own door while Kana sat there outside her door.

Noticing the busy boys and the worried pianist, Wally moved over to the survivor and sat down next to her. Kana raised a brow at the sidekick but sighed as she looked at the scene in front of her. "…Want to know what they're up to?" Wally nodded as Kana continued. "Apparently the dorm rooms were locked back up again. Something to do with the schedule stop."

This caused Wally to stop and look confused. "Schedule stop?"

The survivor nodded. "Yeah. Conductorkuma explained it to me once I asked. Apparently, every day at 6am, there's an hour-long scheduled stop. During this time, all locks are set to locked… that means all dorm room locks were locked."

Wally nodded along in understanding… but then gained a confused look on his face. "But wait… wasn't the doors unlocked so everyone could get to the crime scene."

Kana nodded at that. "Yeah… they were. But apparently that was only until the investigation started. Then the schedule stop aspect locked the doors again. Meaning that pretty boy idol Satoru couldn't go in and change since he's 'not in the right attire'… he's been trying while Kanade is keeping him company. Then Kuniyoshi came in and has been trying since."

Bullet Added: Schedule Stop

A look of understanding appeared on Wally's face as he smiled at the survivor. "I see… thanks for letting me know."

The survivor scoffed and nodded. "It's nothing… it's because you're one of the only ones I can trust right now."

The sidekick blinked at that and smiled. "Ah! Cause we're friends, right?"

This caused Kana to glare at him as he flinched a bit. "No you idiot… because of how body discovery works." This caused Wally to stop and look at her in confusion as she groaned. "This game is just like the previous ones done by Junko Enoshima. When I asked Conductorkuma about the locked doors, I also asked about body discovery. It occurs when three innocent people find the body. So that means you, Koharu and Takeshi are in the clear…"

Bullet Added: Body Discovery Announcement

Wally looked at the survivor for a moment before smiling and nodding. Standing back up, he looked at her with a hopeful smile. "Well… I'm glad you can trust me for this case. And I'm stilling going to try to be your friend!"

She just scoffed at that and shook her head. "…Not a good idea. Trust me. You'll be safer that way."

But Wally just shrugged and turned to leave before looking back once more. "Well… being a hero isn't exactly a safe job either. So I'm one to take a risk."

And with that, he headed off before she could respond.

Moving through the carts one more time, Wally found himself standing outside the lounge room. He couldn't think of anywhere else to look, so all that was left was to talk to Emiko. So, taking a deep breath in, he opened the door to the lounge where he could see Emiko sitting on the couch, hearing aid in her ear and other two off to the side.

Looking to the other two, they gave a nod as Wally moved over to the sitting Emiko with a smile. "…Hey Emiko."

The ballet dancer still had blood on their clothes but was no longer in shock as she looked up at Wally with her normal expression. "…Hello Mr. Wilson." Wally shook his head and smiled at Emiko. "I keep telling you, you can just call me Wally."

However, Wally then gained a serious expression. "I know this is going to be hard… but can you please tell me what happened? Or anything you can tell us?"

The ballet dancer was silent for a moment before she sighed and looked at the sidekick. "…Very well."

"To start… I must apologize for such a reaction. Emotions are not graceful… just flaws of a human and unneeded. But yes… what I know." The ballet dancer took in a deep breath before continuing. "It started at the end of the party. Whereas you and the rest of our shift went to keep watch, Mr. Kamata stayed behind and offered to assist me in cleaning up. We were there for a while but at one point, my hearing aid started to act up, so I removed it."

She then gripped her arm a bit tighter as she continued. "…I do not know how it happened but at some point, I felt vibrations of someone walking behind me. And before I could react… I was grabbed and soon unconscious. …When I came to…" Her eyes gained a bit of a hollow look as she gripped a little tighter. "…when I came to… I saw Mr. Kamata dead on the stage… with blood on my person. That was when I couldn't hold back those emotions and screamed."

Bullet Added: Hearing Aid

Bullet Added: Emiko's Account

Wally took a moment as Emiko finished her tale. As he moved to speak, a familiar noise rang through the train.

-DING DONG, DING DONG!-

"Investigation time is over! Everyone please gather in the observatory!"

…After the announcement finished, Wally turned and looked at Emiko as he gained a determined and serious expression. "…Emiko… just know that no matter what, I'm here for you." He then gave a small smile. "…And don't be ashamed for showing emotions… emotions aren't flaws of a human. They're what makes us human."

Emiko was silent at that as Wally turned and nodded to the therapist and lip-speaker. They gave a nod in return as the sidekick left the lounge… and took a deep exhale. "…Let's do this."

Moving to the observatory, Wally noticed that people were slowly filtering in. And soon enough, the final three of Emiko, Katashi and Ember entered as people turned to look at them… specifically the ballet dancer. However, before anything could be said, Conductorkuma popped up with a grin. "Well now! Let's get this started, shall we?"

Suddenly, the doors to the observatory closed as the walls and stars began to spin slowly… getting faster and faster as the riders could feel the train moving faster then normal… then suddenly… it stopped. The large telescope in the middle of the room then started to turn before it pointed to a wall… where stars moved and lined up to form a door.

The newly formed door then opened to reveal a hallway leading to… a train station. It was a simple train station with metal plates over the windows and no other entrance. And in the middle of the station was a large elevator. "Alright ya bastards! Everyone on!"

Not wanting to test the deadly bear, everyone listened and followed as they boarded the elevator.

And soon enough, the elevator started to move downwards. Lower and lower it went as Wally stood in the front of the group. And as the train slowly descended… the sidekick found himself lost in his thoughts.

… Shunso Kamata, the Ultimate Intelligence Officer. He wasn't the easiest to talk to. An intelligent soul who despite his disability, interacted and tried to help however he could. Despite that, he was always one to focus on something else… and never really let anyone close. He never found his lost passion from what he told us… and now he never can. Because one of us murdered him.

I wish that could have done more… that I could have saved him… but… his last words…

…

…

"…be the hero they need."

…

…

…I promise you Shunso. I don't understand why you gave me that final message… but I will keep that promise. I will protect them and find your killer. It's time to be hero I was meant to be.

…

The doors opened to reveal a large courtroom. The walls were covered with strange symbols, magnifying glass designs, and question marks. The ceiling held lights like the pub they had found the body and 15 podiums… stepping up to his spot between Kana and Ember, Wally couldn't help but glance at the picture of Shunso that was on the other side of Kana. A bloody X in what appeared to be a wheel covered his face… Taking a deep breath, Wally turned towards the others before a look of determination appeared on his face.

TRAIN TRIAL #1 – BEGIN!

Positioning in Trial Room- [Starting from the trial room entrance]

Emiko, Katashi, Yokona, Hastur, Chizure, Satoru, Ai, Shunso (X), Kana, Wally, Ember, Li-Wei, Koharu, Takeshi, Kanade, Kuniyoshi

-TO BE CONTINUED-

15/16 REMAINING

Hello everyone! Void here!

HERE WE GO! Investigation is over and now we're off to the races! The first train trial has begun! I hope you all are enjoying this so far. Cause I got that energy flowing!

Now, I hope you're all finding this chapter very enjoyable, and I hope to write more! This is honestly the furthest I've ever gotten when writing a Danganronpa fanfic… so here's hoping for the best! If you have a prediction about the killer or the trial in general, I'm curious to hear it!

But yeah… Swap to first names. I could explain "It's because it's Wally's POV now" or something like that but… nah. I'll man up and say it. I got lazy and wanted to just write in first names. Simple as that.

And lastly, there will be a bit of a bonus epilogue after this chapter is over! So it will go to trial & execution, and then chapter epilogue. Then we move onto chapter 2 where even more plans are prepared!

But… that's all for now! Until next time! See you all later!

VoidRebirth signing out!