Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. So, here they'll be watching the second investigation. I hope you enjoy.
Dislcaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.
Review Response section!
Q: Regarding Byakuya getting punched
L: Hey guys, I don't think Byakuya getting punched for something he technically didn't do would be fair :P Although, whether he gets punched or not remains to be seen.
S: I have to agree. While it would be satisfying to read or write down, it wouldn't really be fair. Thought there's still a possibility of one of them attempting inflicting physical punishment at the present Byakuya.
Q: Gennai;s Acolyte, Which events will the second cast be viewing? (DR2 vs DR3 Despair Arc)
L: It will most likely be the DR2, with it progressing the same way this story is.
S: Yep.
Q: Gennai's Acolyte, regarding the harem
L: I think you don't have anything to worry about, that was just my own opinion on harems and has no bearing on this story at all. I fully support that Spirit is making this a harem story and if I didn't, I wouldn't be here editing it for him :)
Chapter 34: Watching Ch 2: Boys' Life of Despair Part 11
"So it was the rockstar wannabe that killed little Miss Perfect, huh?" Jill commented on casually. "And now it's Tinker Bell that got killed off?"
"That is correct." Celeste confirmed with a nod.
Jill let out a cackle. "Interesting! Very, very interesting! Never thought any of us would murder the heck out of that loli girl!"
"None of us did." Hina sadly said. "Why would anyone want to kill Chihiro, of all people?"
"Well, let's watch and find out!" She flopped back on her previous seat. "I want to see who cold-hearted enough to take out Tinker Bell!"
"Of course she's excited for this." Leon grumbled. Never the less, everyone pay their attention back to the screen.
'First off, I'd better check the Monokuma File to see exactly what's going on.' He began reading the Monokuma file. "The victim was Chihiro Fujisaki. The time of death is estimated to be around 2:00 a.m. The body was discovered in the girls locker room, on the 2nd floor the school. The cause of death was a blow to the head with a blunt object. She was killed instantly."
"There's less information than before." Kyoko noted. "But only a little."
"Would it hinder the search for the culprit?" Taka inquired, to which the detective shook her head.
"No, it shouldn't. It just means there isn't anything else to add."
'That's….all it says.' He mentally sighed. 'Well….it's not like there's any point in complaining about it. No matter what, I gotta do what I gotta do….'
As he lowered the file from his eyes, Byakuya cames towards him. "Hey, Makoto. Do you have a second?"
That was definitely an odd sight for everyone. "Strange that you would be the one to seek one Makoto." Mukuro said, narrowing her eyes, the suspicion clear in her voice.
"I swear, if you start insulting him again…." Sayaka growled towards Byakuya, not finishing her sentence, but her tone leaving her intent obvious. The scowl on Hina's face, along with the cold looks from Kyoko and Celeste, also backed up the idol's unfinished threat. Though Byakuya didn't react to them, his motion of pushing up his glasses was enough of a response for the girls.
"Huh?" Makoto looked at him in confusion. "Did you….need something from me?"
"Of course." The heir stated, as if it was obvious. "Life without purpose is quite dull, you know?"
"Um, so….what did you need?" Makoto asked warily.
"I'm going to let you cooperate with me during my investigation." Byakuya declared.
"...Huh?" (A shared thought amongst everyone else)
"I'm purchasing your talent." Byakuya explained arrogantly. "The same talent which allowed you to solve Sayaka's case."
"Wha-Wha-Wha-Whaaat? Master would choose him over me?" Jill cried out.
"So you want to use him for the investigation?" Sakura asked, ignoring the serial killer.
Byakuya nodded. "Out of all of you plebeians, Makoto and Kyoko are the most useful in these investigations."
"And since Makoto is more a pushover, you chose him." Leon called out. The heir ignored him while Makoto gave his friend a not-so-friendly look.
"S-Solve….?" Makoto repeated in surprise. "No, I just…."
"You seem to have limited use. Which is why I've chosen you." Byakuya told him. "You have the honor of contributing to my investigation."
"Honor. Right." Junko remarked dryly. "Do you really think that everyone in the world want to kiss your feet?"
"Anyone with common sense would feel honor to use their talents for my benefit." Byakuya stated arrogantly.
"I know I would!" Jill sighed dramatically. "If there's any cute boys master wants me to kill, I would gladly do it!"
"...Are you sure you didn't meant any person with no common sense?" Leon deadpanned.
'So….you're inviting me to come with you?' Makoto deduced. 'You're doing it in the most arrogant way possible, though….'
"What did you expect?" Mondo grumbled, still very pissed off at Byakuya.
The heir spoke up once again. "Now then, shall we get started?"
"B-But…."
"We need to get moving. There's no time to be standing around." Byakuya told him rudely.
Makoto was silent after that. 'I don't really know what just happened….' He admitted to himself. 'But it looks like I'll be working with Byakuya on this one.'
Leon patted Makoto's shoulder sympathetically. "I pity you, man. I truly do."
"Ditto." Hina added in, with some of the others nodding, looking sympathetic for their favorite luckster.
Makoto couldn't help but sweatdrop at this, while Byakuya merely let out a scoff.
"I began the investigation in the girls' locker room." The narrator Makoto began summarizing. The scene showed Makoto kneeling on the ground, looking at the dumbell. "The first thing I noticed was the dumbell, which has a bloodstain on it."
The scene switched to Makoto looking at the bloodstain on the carpet. "Next, was bloodstain on the carpet, followed by the blood on the poster and of course, the word BLOODLUST, written with Chihiro's blood." The camera moved towards the poster and the bloody words.
"So we can assume that a dumbbell was used to kill Chihiro." Kyoko deduced. "After all, the cause of death is a blow to the head, and there's no other possible weapon in sight."
"Plus, the blood on the dumbbell seems to mach the wound on Chihiro's head." Mukuro added. "Although, we would need to have a closer look to check."
The thought made some of the others sick, especially Hina and Makoto, the two of them being the most emphatic of the Ultimates. Chihiro herself especially looked uncomfortable at the thought of someone looking at her wounds so closely.
The next scene showed was Makoto and Sakura talking to one another. "Then, I heard Sakura's account about the scene of Chihiro's death. I thought there was a possibility of Chihiro being killed somewhere else and moved here, but she thought otherwise."
"She's been talking a lot lately about how she wanted to get stronger." Sakura told him.
"So you're saying she came here to excerise?" Makoto inquired. "But according to the Monokuma File, apparently she was killed around two in the morning. Would she really exercising that late?"
"A good point there." Celeste agreed. "Why would anyone want to exercise at two in the morning?"
'….To avoid getting spotted.' That's the conclusion Makoto, Leon, and Chihiro made. After all, if Chihiro tried during the day, the risk of getting caught was high. So night was the only possible option.
'But how on earth did Chihiro get in there?' Makoto thought to himself. The best thing he could think of was that Chihiro managed to hack into the handbook, but that didn't seem likely. Failsafes were probably put in there to stop something like that from happening.
"Hina or myself are usually in the locker room during the day. So she was probably avoiding it then." Sakura theorized.
"Avoiding it….?" Makoto repeated in confusion.
"Although we invited her to join us more than once, she never showed up." The martial artist explained. "So I can only assume she was trying to avoid us."
"And instead, she came to exercise in the middle of the night?" Makoto guessed.
"Perhaps. But's it difficult for me to imagine she would have come alone." Sakura said. "She did want to exercise, but she specifically mentioned she couldn't do it by herself. She needed support from others."
"So you're saying she could have come here in the middle of the night to train in secret…..but that she would have come with someone else." Makoto summarized.
"That's certainly, plausible." Kyoko mused. She turned to the programmer in question. "Chihiro, would you have brought someone with you to help you exercise?"
Chihiro looked at the detective, her cheeks stained from crying. "Probably." She said weakly. She doubted she would have been able to exercise by herself since she had no idea where to start.
"So that would create one theory." Byakuya stated in thought. "Possibly, she asked someone to help exercise, and that someone used that opportunity to kill her."
"But who?" Celeste questioned. "That is the question we're wondering. Only the girls are able to go in the girls locker room, and I doubt she would ask me or Toko to help her."
"Are you saying that either Sakura or Hina are the only choices?" Taka questioned.
That had Hina protesting. "Hey wait a minute-"
"Let save the accusations for when the trials come," Kyoko suggested. "Pointing fingers now is going to lead nowhere." After a moment, the group began to settle down.
Meanwhile, an unpleasant feeling got into Makoto's head. He has a feeling that Sakura's account could pinpoint who the culprit is. For now, he ignored it, saving it for class trial like before. He'd rather not think on who could've done it.
"It's a possibility, I think." Sakura agreed.
As Makoto moved away from Sakura, Mondo spoke up, overhearing the conversation. "Dude had a real complex about being weak." The biker said sadly. "You heard Chihiro talk about it, right? All 'I need to get stronger!'"
Kyoko made a note of Mondo's statement. True, Chihiro had been pretty insistent about getting stronger, but something else about that statement was just rubbing her off in the wrong way. She took a peek over at the biker, who seemed rather rigid for his usual self.
"Yeah, I do remember she said that more than once…." Makoto agreed softly.
"Sure did." Mondo said. "Which….I guess explains the trip down here…."
"But….did she really need to get stronger that badly?" Makoto questioned. "You already mentioned it, but….she was a girl, after all. Most girls aren't all that strong."
"That's true." Sakura admitted. "It took a lot of training for me to get my current form."
"I required a lot of training as well." Mukuro agreed.
Hina turned to Chihiro in concerned. "Chihiro….why did you want to get strong so badly?" In response, Chihiro merely looked away from her, not wanting to answer that.
"I dunno, man. I haven't really thought about that stuff." Mondo admitted.
Makoto frown to himself in thought. 'The cause of Chihiro's complex….I can't help wonder what it might be.'
'It's because he's actually a boy.' Makoto, Leon, and Mondo thought, looking at one another. They all know that the cause of Chihiro's complex is due to her true gender.
"Finally, I looked at Chihiro's body." The scene went to Makoto looking at the body itself. 'Another dead body….' Makoto thought, feeling sick. 'Chihiro's dead body….'
The others also felt sick, once again, at seeing another dead body. Chihiro buried her head in her feet, letting out small whimpers, while Mondo let out growls, the sight of Chihiro's dead body lighting up his rage.
"I don't think I'm gonna get used to seeing a dead body." Hina said, looking ready to hurl. "Especially one of my friend's."
"Yeah." Makoto agreed with the swimmer.
"Trust me. No one ever does." Kyoko said, Mukuro nodding in confirmation in the back.
Byakuya then spoke up from beside him. "But the more I look, the more strange it all seems. This must be Genocide Jack's work."
"Oh, so this is a copy of my handiwork!" Jack stated, staring at the crime scene with interest. Then she laughed hysterically. "Well, I'm flattered that they tried to copy my murders! But also offended! I mean, they didn't even use anything sharp to do the killing let alone scissors! This is an insult!"
"Shut the fuck up, you damn psychopath!" Mondo growled threateningly. The fact that Genocide Jack is a girl, as well as the chains that Spirit can summon, are the only things stopping him giving Jill a piece of his mind.
"Well, but…."
"But we're still not sure he did it. Is that what you want to say?" Byakuya questioned. He then let out a small snicker. "I wonder about that…."
"Byakuya seems dead set on pointing at Jill as the killer." Junko pointed out. "But why?"
"Why indeed." Byakuya agreed, wonder what his other is thinking. He could tell there's something his future self knows, that the others don't. But what exactly is it?
Jill let out a dreamy sigh. "Oh, master! You must think so highly of me!"
"As I would a roach." Byakuya muttered in remark.
After a small moment, he spoke up again. "Now I believe it's about time for us to move on."
"Huh? Already?" Makoto asked in surprise.
"New clues won't magically appear by standing around here." Byakuya said in response. "We need to check every aspect of this case."
"Th-That's true, but…."
The heir didn't let him finish. "If you're satisfied, let's hurry up and proceed." With that, he walked out of the room.
'He's so….pushy.' Makoto couldn't help but think. 'I got caught up with the wrong person this time….'
'No doubt there.' Several people thought simultaneously. None of them would want to have Byakuya as their partner, that's for sure.
With that thought, he followed him out the girls' locker room, and stopped at the outer locker room. "So, this is our next location." Byakuya stated.
"Huh? This place is related to the investigation?" Makoto asked in confusion.
"Figure it out for yourself." Was the response given by Byakuya. "It's no fun if you don't, right?"
"Or you could just tell him yourself." Sayaka grumbled. The accusations Makoto had to face in the previous chapter had lit up a protective side of her. So Byakuya's harsh attitude around Makoto made more than a bit angry.
Makoto thought silently for a moment before deciding to do what Byakuya said. As he looked at the card reader near the girls' locker room, a thought occured to him. 'Because of the card readers on here, only the guys can enter the boys' locker room and the girls in the girls' locker room.' He remembered. 'In other words, Chihiro's body being found in the girls' locker rooms means….'
"That one of the girls did it, correct?" Taka finished for Makoto. "Kyoko, Celeste, Hina, and Sakura."
Kyoko spoke up to that. "Like we said before, we need to wait until the trial starts before we start accusing people."
"Y-Yeah. So don't start accusing us!" Hina told Taka angrily.
That's when Byakuya spoke up. "I can see right through you, Makoto."
That gain the luckster's attention. "See right….through me?"
"Allow me to tell you what you're thinking…." Byakuya began. "Since Chihiro was found in the girls' locker room, the killer must have been able to get in there. As such, the killer must be one of the girls. Did I get it right?"
When Makoto nodded, Byakuya snorted. "Good lord, you're simple."
"Wait, what?" Hiro said in confusion. "But he's right, isn't he? I don't see how else a guy could enter the girls' locker room."
"Without turning to swiss cheese." Leon added, remembering the machine gun.
"But am I wrong?" Makoto asked him.
"You should pay closer attention to the regulations." The heir advised. "The answer has been in front of you the entire time. 'Loaning your e-Handbook is strictly prohibited'. Only the act of 'loaning' a handbook is prohibited."
Byakuya's eyes lit up in realization. "So that's what my future self saw…." Kyoko and Celeste realized this as well, understanding hitting their faces.
Most of the others, however, didn't. "Okay, so borrowing isn't forbidden. So what? It still needs to be loaned by somebody, doesn't it?"
"Not if you borrow it from a corpse." Celeste retorted.
Understanding now dawned on Makoto's face. "So we could borrow the E-handbook of our dead friends?"
"Precisely." Byakuya confirmed.
"But we don't know if it's possible to access those E-handbooks." Sakura countered. "Where would they be at now?"
"The future Byakuya may know." Kyoko theorized. "Otherwise, he wouldn't be so confident on his theory." Byakuya nodded his head in agreement to this.
At that point, Monokuma popped, laughing evilly. "I would expect nothing less from the prodigal son of the noble Togami family! So you managed to sniff out the loophole in the regulations!"
"And Monokuma's statement confirms this." Celeste stated.
"But where are the E-handbooks?" Taka questioned.
"We'll probably see for ourselves soon." Mukuro stated.
"Knowing you, I would bet you created it on purpose didn't you? To add a little more excitement to things." Byakuya deduced.
Monokuma let out a cry. "You're treating like a puny little appetizer instead of the main course that I aim! Now then, since the dead can't actually talk, they're not people anymore - they're things! Got it? Got it? Good."
"Would people stop calling us things?" Leon growled in frustration. He's getting tired of that crap!
"Wait, hold on…." Makoto protested. "You're saying that's a loophole, but in order to borrow something from someone, then….that means someone would have to loan it, so….uhh…."
"So sleepy…." Monokuma said in slight frustration. "Just listening to you makes me wanna pass out! Be more like Byakuya and get your poop together! Or else I'll charge you with criminal negligence!"
'How am I supposed to know that our late friends' E-handbooks could be accessed somewhere?' Makoto thought in slight annoyance.
"No more questions! Figure out the rest your own damn self!" With that, the bear left.
"Well, I know you are unfortunately lacking in mental capabilities, so I'll fill you in myself." Byakuya told him. "Let's head to the main hall."
"The main hall….?" Makoto said in confusion.
"That'll help you understand what's going on." Was all the heir said.
As the scene switched to the main hall, the narrator Makoto spoke. "So, I went to the main hall, to see what Byakuya and Monokuma meant. And what I found…."
Makoto looked at the mailbox here, and opened, revealing three E-handbooks. "...was the E-handbooks."
'Three E-handbooks?' Makoto exclaimed in his head. 'But what are they doing here?'
"Wait a minute…." Makoto said slowly. "Are these Sayaka's, Leon's, and Mukuro's E-handbooks?"
That caught the others in surprise. "Why do you think it's ours?" Sayaka asked.
"Cause I don't see why Monokuma would have other handbooks available." Was Makoto's answer. "I mean, there's no one there but us, right?"
"A good point." Kyoko agreed. And if Makoto is correct on this, this creates a good theory as to who did it and what happened.
"So, you finally found them." Byakuya spoke up from behind Makoto.
"Huh?" The luckster turned towards the heir. "Did you know these were here, Byakuya?"
"I happen to find them by chance myself the other day." Byakuya answered.
Celeste narrowed her eyes. Something is telling her that Byakuya knows something the others don't. His response is too suspicious.
"It seems there's a system in place where the handbooks of dead students get 'delivered' into the mailbox."
Makoto's eyes widen at this. "So then, these three handbooks belong to Junko, Leon, and Sayaka?"
"You can go ahead and confirm it yourself." At Byakuya's suggestion, Makoto immediately turned one of them on. And when he did, it reveal Sayaka's full name.
"So it looks Makoto's theory is correct." Kyoko mused out loud. And this little info gave her a suspect as to who killed Chihiro.
"So, does that mean a guy could go to the girls' locker room using those?" Hifumi questioned.
"That seems to be the case." Sakura answered. "Which means anyone could've murdered Chihiro."
"Oh, man! We're back at square one!" Hiro complained.
"As if the trial would be easy." Byakuya scoffed.
"You're right! This is Sayaka's handbook!" Makoto exclaimed.
"Now do you understand?" Byakuya asked. "This is the key to the loophole that I revealed earlier."
"Yeah, I feel like I'm starting to get it…." Makoto confirmed. He thought about Byakuya's words back at the locker room once more. 'I see….yeah, now I understand.'
As Makoto put Sayaka's handbook back, Byakuya noticed something. "Hm? Hold on a second…."
"What's wrong?" Makoto asked curiously.
"That's strange." Byakuya murmured loudly. "One of the handbooks won't turn on."
"Huh?" Hiro questioned in confusion. "It broke, somehow?"
"But, they're suppose to be unbreakable!" Hina exclaimed. "How did one break? And which one break?"
"You know what? That's a good question." Junko remarked. She designed those handbooks to be unbreakable! Who managed to break it?
"Is it broken? Who is it?" Makoto inquired.
"The other handbook showed Junko's name when I started it up." Byakuya informed him.
"Then the one that won't turn on must be….Leon's, right?" Makoto deduced.
"It would make sense, yes." Byakuya agreed. "After all, he did get plummeted with dozens and dozens of baseballs."
The air grew cold at the reminder of Leon's execution. "Yeah….that would make sense…." Makoto said, a bit pale at the reminder.
A short and cold silence hung in the air until Jill processed what had happened.
Jill tilted her head. "Pelted with baseballs?" She tapped her chin in thought. "Creative. Never thought baseballs could be used to kill. This mastermind guy must more creative than I am."
"Probably more insane than you are." Mondo muttered. Jill, hearing that, scoffed.
"Oh, come on! No one is more insane than mwah!"
Junko's eyes glinted at that statement. 'Challenge accepted!'
'Pummeled with baseballs….' At the reminder of Leon's death, memories of his execution flashed into Makoto's mind. Being dragged out of the trial room, chained up, pelted with hundreds and hundreds of baseballs….
The memory flashes brought more chills among the group. Leon clenched his fist tightly at the scene, shaking a little, while the guilt from Sayaka increased. She made a point to look away from Leon.
Makoto, while still pale, looked at both of his friends in concern. He really hopes that they can talk about this to each other soon. He doesn't want this tense situation to continue between them.
Shaking the image out of his head, he responded back. "You're right. It wouldn't be surprising for the handbook to break during that kind of assault."
That's when Monokuma popped up. "Hey, hey!" He began angrily. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! HEEEY!"
That startled the others. "What does he wants now?" Hina questioned in frustration.
"Wh-What….?" Was all Makoto could say, startled.
"That e-Handbook is essential to student life here! Crucial, integral, instrumental, a super big deal!" Monokuma exclaimed. "There's no way it would break that easily!"
"But it broke, didn't it?" Hifumi pointed out. "There's no way around that."
"But it did…." Makoto pointed out.
"If it I say it wouldn't break, it wouldn't freakin' break!" Was Monokuma's retort. "It can withstand up to ten tons of pressure, and it's waterproof up to one hundred meters, okay?! I don't care how many baseballs you hit with it, it wouldn't do crap!"
"Then how the hell did Leon's brake, huh?!" Mondo exclaimed, his tone angrier than usual when dealing with the bear.
"Oh, but uh…." His expression then turned sheepish. "Even my amazing handbook have one single weak point."
That definitely got the other's attention.
"Huh?"
"It does?"
"What is it?"
Before more questions could be asked, Kyoko spoke up. "Calm down. It'll probably be explain during the investigation or trial." Though honestly, she has an idea as to what the weakness. It would explain a certain policy put in place at the sauna.
"It does?" Makoto said in surprise.
Before he could ask, Monokuma stated, "But it's a secret! I wouldn't want you to breaking any more handbooks!"
"Oh come on!" Junko exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "That's such a lame excuse!" She was a little annoyed that her future self kept this from her, but it did make things less boring. It must have been a later change considering she hadn't thought of it yet.
"Yeah! Why would any of us break our handbooks on purpose?" Hina agreed with the fashionista.
"Then Leon must have broken it somehow without realizing what its weakness was, right?" Byakuya theorized.
"Hmm…." The bear put his paw on his chin in thought. "Hard to say! You know what I think? I think his handbook isn't actually broken!"
"Huh?" Was the response made by several people. Mondo then spoke up for all of them. "Is the fucking bear playing with us?"
"It's really hard to tell." Celeste sighed. She really wished the mastermind actually showed themselves. It's near impossible to read a mechanical bear!
Meanwhile, Kyoko silently took down everyone's statements. She could feel the pieces slowly coming together, but it still wasn't enough to prove beyond a doubt who the killer is.
"But, you might ask, how could that be?!" With that, he left, leaving the question hanging in the air.
"Hey!" Hina shouted, shaking her fist. "Get back here and explain everything to us properly!"
"Save your breath. Even if he could hear you, I doubt he would answer." Byakuya remarked. "At worst, he would just spout more incoherent nonsense."
"Man, I hate riddles!" Jill huffed. "Snipping and stabbing adorable boys is much more simple!"
"Can you please stop talking about killing, Ms. Jill?" Taka pleaded.
After a moment of silence, the luckster spoke. "What just happened?" He looked at the e-Handbook in his hand. "Monokuma said it's not broken. But it's an undeniable fact that it's not turning on."
"Well, I don't see any connection to the case, so it doesn't matter for now." Byakuya told him.
'You think so?' Makoto remarked in his mind. 'Either way, something about it still bothers me….'
"It'll probably be something to keep in mind." Kyoko stated, noting that down.
"I agree." Said the affluent progeny. "After all, if it wasn't important, we wouldn't shown this." Makoto nodded in agreement as well.
"Okay then, this should be enough to get things rolling." Byakuya said, partly to himself. "Let's begin our investigation in earnest and track down the true culprit."
"Yeah. We need to find out who killed Chihiro!" Makoto said in determination.
'Damn straight!' Mondo thought in anger. Once they find the bastard who did it, they better have a good explanation as to why they killed Chihiro!
Byakuya, however, thought differently. "To be exact...not quite."
'Huh?' Makoto thought in confusion. "What do you mean by, 'not quite'?"
"Certainly I want to reveal Chihiro's killer," The heir slightly correct himself. "But more precisely….I want to discover the true identity of Genocide Jack."
"Oh, master!" Jill sighed dreamily. "You so desperately want to meet me!"
"As if." Byakuya muttered. He wished that the serial kill stayed in that disgusting head of hers.
That surprised Makoto a bit. "So, you truly believe that Genocide Jack is the one that killed Chihiro?"
"Absolutely." Byakuya answered. "I have no doubt that Genocide Jack is the culprit of the case. And I have a basis to believe that. I assure you, Genocide Jack is one of us."
Kyoko narrowed her eyes. She wondered why Byakuya is determine to point fingers at Genocide Jack. It could be because of the arrangement made, and his own arrogance lead him to think that he found the answer, but she doubts it. Something is telling her that it's something else.
"Is there really proof….?" Makoto questioned with a bit of doubt.
"There's somewhere I want to take you." The heir told him. "This will provide all the evidence you need. Evidence that Genocide Jack is the one that killed Chihiro!"
"Sorry to disappoint you master, but, for once, I'm not the killer!" Jack stated.
"Yeah. We all realize that." Hiro sighed. "Still, what this evidence Byakuya's talking about?"
'Probably at the library.' Byakuya mused to himself. That place is a treasure cove of information and apparently, that's the only other place where he would go to.
'Evidence….' Makoto frowned at this. 'Does something like that really….?'
Before he could finish that thought, a shout drew their attention. "Ah! Hey, you two!" Said two turned their heads to see Hina jogging towards them, looking panicked. "Big trouble! Need your help!"
Her panic expression made the group nervous. "Why is she's panicking, of all of sudden?" Hifumi asked nervously.
"Did Genocide Jack do something already?" Hiro guessed, just as nervous. "Like murder somebody?"
The girl in question answer that. "I only killed adorable boys, remember? And most of you aren't up to my standards."
"I still don't know if I should be relieved or angry." Hiro admitted.
"Try relieved." Leon remarked. He wouldn't want that psycho trying to kill him, or chase after him. He's already have enough of that with his cousin.
"We're busy. Leave us alone!" Was Byakuya's curt reply.
"But it's an emergency….! Emergency!" She exclaimed in panic. "C'mon, please! You gotta help me!"
"Just calm down, okay Hina?" Makoto attempted to calm down the girl.
Unfortunately, his words fell flat in her ears. "But….but….! It's an e-mer-gen-cyyy!" She stated, emphasizing the emergency part. "Something's wrong with Toko. She's acting super strange!"
"Strange?" Junko cocked an eyebrow at that. "But wasn't she already acting strange, when Genocide Jack took over?"
"You panic over the littlest of things, honestly." Celeste sighed. That drew a pout from the swimmer.
'Well, I mean….she was acting pretty strange earlier, right?' Makoto thought to himself. Reluctantly, he turned to the heir. "...What should we do, Byakuya?"
"Since it's Toko….I must admit, I'm intrigued." Byakuya admitted. "I suppose we can take a second to see what's going with her."
That caught the group attention. "Did you just say what we think you just said?" Leon questioned.
"You're actually interested in Toko?" Hina asked in disbelief.
Byakuya himself was surprised for a brief moment, until figuring out why. He must have somehow knew of Toko's alternate identity. This whole thing was a huge misunderstanding. He sighed, things are going to get a lot more annoying.
"Why be interested in my gloomy side?" Jill huffed. "You should be more interested in meeeeee!"
"Trust me, I hold you both with equal interest: Which is little to none." Byakuya snarked.
The serial killer sighed at that. "Still playing hard to get. However, I will not give up on you!"
The heir sighed, just wondering what did he do to earn this.
"Are you sure?" The luckster asked him.
His response was a bland look. "Don't make me repeat myself." Byakuya told him.
'I….didn't expect that.' Makoto thought in slight bewilderment. I thought for sure he'd just say no, and that'd be the end of it.'
"Yeah, we thought so too." Junko stated. "Think he knows about Genocide Jack or something?"
"Who the fuck cares?" Mondo growled. "Shouldn't they focus on the fuckin investigation?"
"Calm down, Mondo." Makoto tried to placate the biker. "Remember that she's connected to the crime. She might give us something that could help us."
Mondo sighed, but settled down. "Fine."
"Okay, okay, come on! Hurry!" With that statement, Hina rushed off to the dorms.
"W-Wait for us, Hina!" Makoto ran after her, while Byakuya merely walked.
The scene switched to Makoto and Byakuya arriving to the dorms, the former holding his knees and breathing a bit heavily. "You guys are too slow!" Hina scolded.
"I think you're just….too fast…." Makoto breathed out.
"No argument there." Leon snorted. "Makes me wonder if your family are running in caffeine too." Hina chuckled sheepishly at that.
"So? What's this emergency?" Byakuya asked her.
"Well, after what happened in the girls locker room, we left Toko in her room so she could lay down." Hina explained. "After a while, we came back to check on her. Ya know, see how she was doing. But when we did….it was weird. She refused to come out, and she kept saying all this weird stuff."
That caught Makoto's interest. "Weird stuff….?"
"We should try talking to her ourselves." Byakuya suggested.
"Y-Yeah, good idea." He nervously went over to Toko's door. 'Might as well give it a shot….'
Makoto pressed the doorbell, and waited. After a moment, the door slowly opened, and Toko showed her head through the crack, shaking.
"Holy shit!" Leon choked. The others were also gasped, startled. "I can feel the negativity from here!"
"It's like poison trying to go into your lungs." Hifumi stated.
"It's almost making me depressed." Junko admitted. Honestly, she's feeling jealous of Toko right now.
"...What?" Toko spoke, both rudely and nervously.
"Oh, um…." Makoto stammered, trying to compose himself. "Nothing. It's just that….Hina was really worried about you, holing yourself up in your room…."
"Leave me a-alone…." Was Toko's reply.
"Um, yeah, sure thing…." Makoto replied back. "But….could you open up, just for a second….?"
She was silent for a moment before her shaking increased. "Won't a-allow it….."
"Huh….?"
"I w-won't let Genocide Jack have control!" With that statement, she slammed the door in her face.
In her response, Jill blew a raspberry at her other personality. "You sore loser!"
"Well, that's going to make her more of a suspect." Leon sighed. "Makes me wonder how no one found out about her sooner."
"Since she's reclusive by nature, she wasn't near anyone that would be able to figure it out. In addition to that, she only comes out when Toko loses consciousness." Kyoko explained. "Once she came here, and befriended all of us, the secret would've come out eventually."
"Especially since you're a detective." Sayaka pointed out. Kyoko nodded.
"That too."
"Wh-What was that….?" Makoto questioned nervously, as well as in slight beffudlement.
"She's been acting like that the whole time." Hina explained. "When I rang, she said something about driving out the killer. It doesn't make sense, right?"
"It does when you add multiple personalities into the equation." Mukuro pointed out. "Though I doubt that most of us would consider the factor."
"Yeah. Didn't even think about it until Kyoko and Byakuya told us." Hina admitted.
"I was afraid to leave her in there alone, so I tried to bust down her door, but it felt like something was holding it shut on the other side. I couldn't even budge it…."
Makoto looked at the door in concern. 'Toko was scared enough to even bar her door….?' The luckster thought to himself. 'Does she think the same thing as Byakuya? Does she really think the serial killer Genocide Jack really murdered Chihiro?'
"Yeah, she probably thought that once she saw the bloodlust logo." Jill stated nonchalantly. "Didn't even think about the fact that I didn't use my wonderful scissors!"
"Or maybe she was terrified that you got out when she fainted." Sakura added. "Probably a mixture of both."
'Is that's why Toko so scared….?'
"Whatever it is, I'm really worried about her…." Hina said, concern clear in her voice. "Isn't there anyone who might be able to persuade her….?"
At that question, the group slowly turned to the heir himself. He huffed in response.
"It's unlikely." Byakuya stated. "We don't have the time we did before to coax her out of there."
When Jill first appeared during their time at Hope's Peak, Toko did the same thing as her future counterpart and barricaded herself in her room. It took quite a bit of coaxing from Makoto and Byakuya to get her out of ther.
"A good point." Taka admitted reluctantly. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to try!"
At that question, Hina and Makoto slowly turned to Byakuya. "Hey, Byakuya…." Makoto began hesitantly. "You think you could ask her? To come out of her room, I mean."
Byakuya was silent for a moment. Then, he said. "Fine, whatever."
"Huh? You're gonna talk to her, Byakuya?" Hina asked in slight surprise. "Wow, I guess you can be nice when you want to!"
"I have a feeling you're gonna be taking those words back." Junko sighed. "I just know it."
"It is Byakuya we're talking about." Hiro added in. The guy probably doesn't even know the meaning!
He ignored her and went in front of her door without a sound. After pressing the doorbell, after a few moments, Toko opened it once again. "Leave me alone! You're all s-s-s-so annoying…."
When she realized who she was talking to, she gasped in shock. "Backula!"
That got some people bursting out laughing. "Backula?" Leon wheezed out. "She seriously called you that?"
"That's hilarious, dude!" Hiro gasped. Sayaka took great pleasure in laughing at Byakuya, while even Mondo and Chihiro let out snickers and giggles, respectively.
"How mature of you all." Byakuya dryly remarked in slight irritation.
"It's Byakuya…." The heir corrected her.
Toko was silent for a moment before speaking again. "I-I'm sorry. I couldn't k-keep our promise…." She apologized shamefully. "But don't w-worry. Never again…."
"I….! I won't let Genocide Jack have control ever again!" With that, she closed the door once again.
The mention of a promise stopped the remaining laughter. "What on earth is she talking about?" Celeste questioned with furrowed eyebrows. "A promise?"
"Do you think she told Byakuya about Genocide Jack?" Mukuro theorized. "Is that why he's so confident about Jack being the killer?"
"It could be." Byakuya admitted. "Or it could be one of Toko's ridiculous delusions."
"Do you want to hear about some of my fantasies, master?" Jill asked eagerly. "Some of them are very steamy!"
"No." The heir said flatly.
"Even Byakuya couldn't pull it off…." Hina said sadly.
"There's nothing we could do. Let's get back to the investigation." Byakuya said shortly.
"H-Hold on!" Makoto protested. He turned to Byakuya. "What was Toko talking about just now? Something about a promise?"
"Hm? Oh, I have no idea." Byakuya said dismissively. "Another one of her delusions, I'm sure."
'It's probably that.' Kyoko thought to herself. 'But I'm not sure. Byakuya is definitely hiding something.' While she isn't sure Byakuya is the killer (Mondo is high on her suspect list), she's sure he's involved somehow.
"B-But…."
"If I say I don't know, that means I don't know." Byakuya cut off. "Just let Hina take care of her."
"O-Oh….yeah, okay." Hina agreed. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on her."
"Well then, let's go." Byakuya then speed walk towards his destination.
"B-Byakuya!" And Makoto hurried to catch up with him.
"You really chose the wrong the person to partner up with, Mr. Naegi." Hifumi stated.
"Hey!" Makoto protested. "It's not like I had a choice!"
"Hmph. You should be honored that I decided to give you my attention." Byakuya scoffed arrogantly.
"Yeah, right. Honor." Sayaka muttered to herself.
"Alright. So, what evidence do we have so far?" Taka interjected, turning towards Kyoko.
The detective didn't hesitate to answer. "We have the blood written word, BLOODLUST, the dumbbell covered with blood, and the bloodstain on the floor. We also have Sakura's and Mondo's accounts, as well as the e-Handbooks from the deceased."
"Let's not forget the fact that one of them is broken." Byakuya pointed out. "As well as what Monokuma told us. Those would probably be instrumental in the trial."
"That seems like all the evidence so far." Makoto mused. "I wonder how much we got left to find."
"We will see." Celeste stated.
And that's the end. I hope you guys like this chapter, and I hope that, like all the other chapters, this one stays true to the characters. Hopefully, the next chapter will finish off the investigations. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you guys later.
A Lucky Soldier: In other news... AWWW YEAH I finished V3! It wasn't the ending I expected or asked for, but oh well. That was a really nice despair ride and I quite enjoyed being in the dark again with the new game. Anyone who hasn't played it yet definitely has to play it. Don't even watch it on Youtube, experiencing it first hand makes it so much better.
