Chapter 3: Removing Redundancies

Double Despair

No sooner had the words left Maya's lips than a second body discovery announcement played, truly confirming Leon's death.

Ding-dong, bing-bong. "Another body has been discovered! Body one is in the storage room in Fey Manor, and body two is at the beach! All students, report to body one immediately!"

Phoenix shakily pushed himself to his feet, sand sticking to his bloody fingers. He looked down at Leon, fully taking in the scene for the first time.

He was lying on his back next to his chair, as if he had fallen out of it. His plate of food had dropped from his grip and lay fallen in front of his chair. One of his hands was tucked inside his right pant pocket, and the other was on his chest, as if he was trying to cover the wound on his throat.

But nothing could suppress the enormous stab wound which had punctured his larynx. His expression made the pain he had experienced all too clear.

It was horrible. And one of his friends was responsible. Not only that, but one of his friends had also killed Ema.

Despite his mind screaming at him not to leave Leon again, he had no choice but to walk away from the baseball star's corpse and towards Fey Manor. After rinsing his fingers in the lake, hardly noticing that he was soaking his shoes and socks, Maya and Apollo silently accompanied him, all of their faces completely blank with shock.

His legs felt like lead as he walked into Fey Manor and down the hallway. Every step brought about an eternity of questions and regrets. When he finally crossed the threshold into the dimly lit storage room, he saw seven students and Monokuma standing at a grim mirror of the scene of Leon's murder.

Ema's throat had been stabbed in exactly the same way as Leon's. Blood covered her neck and upper chest, and her face was stricken with fear.

"Finally, you three made it!" Monokuma chastised. "Were you having a shindig with a corpse or something?"

"Give us the Monokuma file." Apollo's voice did not waver. He was not afraid or sad. He was angry. Malice dripped off of every word he spoke. "We'll play your demented game one more time."

"Oh no, you're going to play this game at least 3 more times," Monokuma corrected cheerily. "Sorry, but them's the breaks. Now, as for the Monokuma file…"

A chorus of chimes rang through the room.

"There's two of them! Enjoy!" Monokuma clapped.

"So does this mean the class trial will only be thirty minutes?" Nagito asked with no tension whatsoever in his voice.

Monokuma giggled. "It might be, or it might not be!"

"You aren't going to tell us?" Chiaki seemed dumbfounded. "How will we know if we're doing an any% or a 100% trial?"

Phoenix had no idea what "any percent" meant, but he understood the gist of what Chiaki was saying. Knowing whether or not they had to rush would have been a crucial boon.

"Upupupu… That's your problem, not mine! Better get investigating!" Monokuma snickered before vanishing.

Once Monokuma left, Kyoko took charge as usual. "We must operate under the assumption that we will only have 30 minutes in the trial. Additionally, with so few of us remaining, I do not believe we can afford to guard both bodies."

Suddenly, Chihiro dashed out of the storage room. Phoenix didn't see tears or anguish on her face— he had no idea why she had left so quickly.

The class stood quiet for a few moments as they processed what had just happened.

"Ah… Should someone stop her?" Klavier suggested.

Apollo moved to the door, but before he stepped out of the room, Chihiro was back, breathing heavily. She held a laptop at her side.

"What was that?!" Apollo demanded. "You can't just run off like that! Do you know how suspicious you look now?!"

"O-oh…" Chihiro whimpered. "I just thought… Maybe Alter Ego could…" her voice decreased in volume with every word until she was barely audible. "Maybe Alter Ego could watch Ema's body."

The programmer opened the laptop to reveal her digital double displayed on the laptop screen.

"I am sad to hear about Ema," Alter Ego said morosely, its facial expression matching real Chihiro's. "Please, allow me to watch over her body. I will inform you if anyone tampers with it or obscures my view."

"It is a good idea, Chihiro," Kyoko gently praised. "Place the laptop on one of the lower shelves."

Chihiro walked past Apollo and carefully lowered Alter Ego onto some empty space at a knee-height wooden shelf. She typed a few strokes on the keyboard, and the virtual Chihiro nodded.

"Unless anyone has objections, I will be conducting autopsy reports after we read the Monokuma files now that Ema is gone," Kyoko stated.

Phoenix clenched his jaw. Just two days ago, he had praised Ema for her assistance in their investigations. Now, she was dead. It felt like everyone he connected with ended up dead immediately after.

Dahlia, whom he had hoped to get into a relationship with? The first death in the village. Athena, whom he had tried to protect? Killed by Apollo's brother. Now, both Ema and Leon, people he had spent plenty of time with in the past few days, had both perished. A part of him felt it would be best to stop making any more bonds with others.

"I take the silence to mean everyone is okay with this," Kyoko said. "We'll need two people to guard Leon's body in the meantime."

Peko alone raised her hand. After a moment of no one else coming forward, Kyoko sighed. "In that case, I'll perform my autopsy on Leon first. Then, it won't necessarily matter if the body is tampered with."

Phoenix hated the way Kyoko referred to the mutilation of their friends' corpses so casually. Then again, her tone rarely ever changed from a calm, monotone declaration.

"Where do you propose we investigate?" Klavier asked Kyoko. "With two victims and only 10 of us, our resources will be somewhat thin."

"Let's look at the Monokuma files first," Phoenix reminded Klavier. His tone was harsher than he intended, but he couldn't help himself right now.

"I wonder what we'll find…" Nagito pondered aloud.

"You're probably part of this plot too," Apollo seethed. "I bet you already know."

"Not this time!" Nagito refuted in a cheerful tone.

Phoenix ignored the bickering and pulled out his student handbooks. The first page showed a photo which perfectly matched the current position of Ema's corpse. He bit his lip anxiously.

The first victim is Ema Skye, the Ultimate Forensic Scientist. The body was found in the storage room of Fey Manor. The cause of death is a single stab wound to the throat. Additionally, there is bruising along the right side of the victim, including their arm and legs. No other external wounds were found.

Phoenix sighed. It was about as much information as they were used to. Unfortunately, it didn't list a time of death, which clearly meant the timing was important to solving the case.

He tapped the screen, moving to the next page, which displayed Leon's body sprawled on the beach.

The victim is Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Baseball Star. The cause of death is a single stab wound to the throat. No other external wounds were found.

This was possibly the shortest Monokuma file yet. Once again, no time of death was displayed— but it didn't really matter in this instance, since there couldn't have been more than three minutes in between his death and his discovery by Phoenix and Apollo.

Phoenix checked the time on his handbook. It was currently 4:03PM, meaning they had likely discovered Leon's body between 3:50 and 4:00PM, putting his time of death around 3:50.

Most notably, the cause of death was worded exactly the same in both files. Was it a clue that the killer was the same in both cases, or was it an attempt by Monokuma to throw them off the trail of two separate killers?

"This does not provide much to go on," Klavier shook his head. "Though at least we can be assured the cause of death is the same."

"I'll go examine Leon's body now," Kyoko declared. "At least one other person will need to accompany me."

Klavier raised his hand. "Allow me."

Kyoko nodded. "This room needs to be scoured, but we should also check the kitchen and each of the victim's yurts. There's a lot to go over in a short amount of time. Investigate in pairs."

Having given her orders, Kyoko gestured for Klavier to follow and walked briskly out of the room.

"Peko and I will check the yurts," Apollo proclaimed. His tone was firm, and his voice fiercely determined— he seemed numb to the killings by this point. "Good luck."

The two of them left the storage room, leaving six people. Makoto and Chihiro offered to check the kitchen, leaving Chiaki, Maya, Nagito, and Phoenix to analyze the storage room.

"I think this room is big enough to warrant 4 people," Nagito rationalized. "Shall we begin?"

"I'm going to investigate with you," Phoenix warned. He wanted nothing more than to investigate with Maya instead, but he knew it was more important to watch Nagito to ensure he didn't tamper with anything.

The four of them began their search, scanning through rows of shelves containing everything from stuffed animals to canned food.

"So, Phoenix," Nagito said as he ran his hand along a particularly dusty shelf, "would you be willing to grace someone like me with your account of the incident? How did you discover Leon's body?"

Phoenix pursed his lips. He wondered if it would be dangerous to tell Nagito this, but the storage room was small enough that Chiaki and Maya would both hear him speak as well. If Nagito tried to twist his words, he had no doubt they would come to his defense.

"Apollo invited a few of us to a beach party at 3PM," Phoenix began. "The list of invitees was: Ema, Klavier, Leon, Peko, and myself. Ema never showed up, so it was just the five of us at the beach." He couldn't believe he didn't begin searching for Ema immediately when they found out she was missing. Would he have been able to save Leon if he had?

"We ate and talked for a while, then Klavier pulled out his guitar," he continued. "He was missing his 'capo,' so he and Peko went to look for it while Apollo and I cleaned up some of the dishes."

"Who was last to see Leon alive?" Nagito asked. "And, perhaps more importantly, when?"

Phoenix pondered the question. "Well, excluding the… killer… It must have been Klavier and Peko. Apollo and I left before them. We put our dishes in the sink and walked back to the beach, passing the two of them on our way. They would have left around 3:50."

"And I assume Leon was dead when you returned to the beach," Nagito finished bluntly.

Phoenix bit his lip and nodded. "The killer couldn't have had more than 3 minutes to kill him before we got back."

"Quite a short window of time," Nagito observed as he peered under a couch that was pressed against a wall. "This killer must be quite stealthy. Did you see anyone walking around either before or after you came back?"

"Just…" Phoenix paused. He knew what Nagito was insinuating, and it couldn't be true. "Um… No. I didn't," he lied. He heard Maya inhale sharply from across the room. They both knew that he had indeed seen her walking into the kitchen very close to the time Leon was killed.

Nagito turned around and looked directly into Phoenix's eyes, his expression uncharacteristically neutral. Phoenix stared back, not willing to give up an inch. He reminded himself that this was the person who had planned Athena's murder and attempted to frame Makoto for it.

Maya couldn't be the killer. He wouldn't allow anyone to even entertain the idea.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Nagito sighed. "If you had, it would have been a useful clue. Oh well."

"Hey, Nick, have you guys found anything?" Maya called across the room, her voice slightly anxious.

"No," Phoenix responded.

"I know Kyoko doesn't want us touching the body," Nagito said, "but we should at least examine the area around it. Let's be real, where else would we find a clue?"

Phoenix found himself reluctantly agreeing. The pair returned to the aisle in front of the doorway. He knew it was impossible, but part of him hoped it could have been a dream. They would walk back to the center aisle and realize Ema was never actually dead.

Of course, that's not what really happened. Ema's bloody body was lying on the wooden floor, in exactly the same position as it had been last time he had seen it.

"Where are the bloodstains?" Nagito asked as they walked closer to Ema's body.

Phoenix looked at him incredulously. "What are you talking about?"

"There's a lot of blood on her throat," he observed. "Some of it dripped to the back of her neck."

Phoenix realized where he was going with this. "So why isn't it on the floor?" he finished.

Nagito clapped his hands together in approval. "Exactly! If you ask me, we have a similar situation to last time on our hands."

Phoenix growled. "The situation you set up, you mean," he snarled.

"Remember that I never actually killed anyone. Nahyuta had every opportunity to not follow through with a plan he knew would end with Apollo's emotional torment regardless of if he succeeded or not."

"You're not free of blame here!" Phoenix exclaimed. "Accessory to murder is a very real crime!"

He heard footsteps behind him. Somebody grabbed his shoulder; he whirled around to see Maya reaching out, a tender expression on her face.

"Don't let him get to you," she whispered.

Phoenix closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning around.

"The body being moved would explain the bruising, too," Phoenix said, resuming their previous conversation.

Nagito nodded. He took a few steps closer to Ema's body and peered down at it.

Phoenix made sure to analyze every move he made, but Nagito seemed to have no intention of messing with Ema's body. Instead, he began scanning the shelves around her corpse.

"Bingo!" he exclaimed, his eyes resting on a bright blue canoe that took up most of the shelf second from the top. It was turned upside-down, with the oars resting on the shelf below it.

Nagito stepped next to Ema's body and lifted the canoe up, standing on his tip-toes to peer under the canoe. After a moment, he set it back down and looked at Phoenix. "Guess what I found?" he asked giddily.

Phoenix sighed. "Blood, clearly."

"Come see for yourself."

Nagito stepped aside as Phoenix looked under the canoe. He had to jump up to see the surface, but one glance was all he needed to confirm the existence of a massive bloodstain.

"Does that mean Ema was lying on the shelf when she was killed?" Chiaki pondered as Phoenix noticed her arrival.

"That seems unlikely," Phoenix responded. "The killer probably hid her body up there immediately after stabbing her." He felt sick to his stomach describing such a horrific death with such matter-of-factness. "If they left the weapon in her neck, she would have hardly bled at all until they brought her up to the shelf."

A new voice entered the discussion. "Depending on how fast Ema was moved, the weapon might not have needed to be left in at all."

Kyoko had returned. She walked forward, gently pushing Maya and Chiaki aside to reach Ema's body. "This room is full of tablecloths, napkins, and more. The killer could have wiped up any blood that fell from her wound as they lifted her up to the shelf."

Klavier entered the room shortly after Kyoko. "For now, we can assume this room is the scene of the murder, ja?"

"Indeed," Kyoko agreed. "Now, we should return to the investigation. I believe it's time I perform my second autopsy."

Phoenix held his hand up. "First, will you tell us the results of Leon's?"

"I will tell you before the trial," Kyoko promised. "Right now, I would prefer to focus on this, to make sure I have time to be thorough."

"Then, should we check on the others?" Maya asked.

"Nagito and I can go to the yurts," Phoenix put forward.

"In that case, Maya and I will go to the kitchen…" Chiaki's voice faded away.

"Let's keep moving," Nagito encouraged. "We've gotta use all the time we can!"

Phoenix glared at Nagito before exiting the storage room. He performed one final cursory glance, his eyes glazing over slightly as he took in the sight of Kyoko peering at Ema's wound.

He wanted to bring Ema and Leon's killer to justice. But, worryingly, he still had no inkling of who the killer was. The crux of the case was whether or not there were two killers. Either way, the person who killed Ema would be the one executed, but it was impossible to tell at the moment who was responsible.

Phoenix swallowed his pride as they walked through the halls of Fey Manor and out into the late afternoon sun.

"Nagito…" he began.

"Yes?"

"Who do you think the killer is?" It hurt to ask, but Nagito's intelligence had proven to be invaluable in the past. Last trial had shown that, even when he was on the side of the killer, he would always try to make it a fair fight.

"Why ask someone like me? I'm useless," Nagito lamented. "Plus, you hate me. As you should— someone like me isn't even worthy enough to shine your shoes."

"I respect your intelligence," Phoenix answered truthfully, sidestepping Nagito's final comment. "You're capable of analyzing situations from perspectives others wouldn't think about."

Nagito grinned sincerely. "If you insist, I suppose I can tell you my thoughts. Right now, we have yet to confirm whether or not the killer is the same in both cases. However, based on the identical wounds on both bodies, it seems like there is only one killer. Under this assumption, we can absolve you and Apollo of all guilt. In my opinion, the killer has to be someone who was around Fey Manor just after Leon was murdered and was aware the party was taking place. When I arrived at the storage room after Monokuma's announcement, there were five people already there: Chiaki, Klavier, Kyoko, Maya, and Peko. Klavier and Peko are rather unlikely, since they were in a similar scenario to you and Apollo. That leaves Chiaki, Kyoko, and Maya as my main suspects. Which of them is the killer, though, I can't say."

Phoenix followed Nagito's logic, but he doubted the conclusions. None of those three seemed the type to commit murder. "This assumes the killer didn't wait to arrive— maybe they were intentionally late," he countered. By this point, they were nearing Leon's yurt.

"True enough," Nagito shrugged. He stepped onto the grass and peered into Leon's window. "They aren't in there," he said before returning to the path and continuing to Ema's hut.

Walking through the yurts was a harrowing experience— so many of their number had been depleted. And yet, their yurts stood unaltered, as if nothing had happened. Time continued moving forward.

They reached Ema's door. Her pixelated face stared blankly outward, and Nagito opened it, gesturing for Phoenix to enter before him.

Phoenix sighed and stepped through, followed by Nagito. They were greeted by Apollo and Peko rifling through Leon's drawers.

Apollo turned around to glance at the newcomers. "Oh, hey, Mr. Wright," he grumbled before returning to his search.

"I take it you haven't found anything?" Phoenix surmised.

Apollo shook his head. He turned to face the two newcomers. "Four murder cases, and not once has the victim's residence given us a clue. We're wasting precious time."

"The alternative is missing a valuable clue," Phoenix reminded him.

"Apollo, if it does not inconvenience you too much, would you mind sharing your account of the incident?" Nagito clasped his hands together.

Apollo scoffed. "Fine. I guess I'll start by saying that Peko and I went to the storage room to grab some board games at around 2:50PM, and we didn't see Ema then."

"You both entered the storage room?" Nagito clarified.

Apollo nodded in response. "After that, we left for the beach. Mr. Wright had already set up tables and chairs. We spent the next hour or so hanging out. Nobody left the group until Mr. Wright and I started cleaning up and Klavier searched with Peko for his capo."

"I see," Nagito placed his fingers on his chin. "That matches Phoenix's account. I wonder if Ema was killed during the party or before it?"

If Ema had been killed before the party, it meant Phoenix had walked past her dead body multiple times while he had set the beach up. If he had just looked under the canoe, he could have saved Leon's life, and possibly saved everyone else from a 30-minute trial. The guilt threatened to tear him apart.

He pushed these feelings away. Rationally, he knew there was no way he could have found Ema's body by accident. The best he could do was to bring her killer to justice and take down Monokuma.

But how long would that take?

"I believe there would have been little reason to hide her body if she was killed during the party," Peko rationalized.

Nagito nodded. "I agree. I think we can assume she was killed before the party."

"We don't have much time left," Peko observed, changing topics. "We should go to the beach and see if we find anything."

Phoenix dreaded seeing Leon's body in such a horrifying state, but he knew Peko was right. The four students left Ema's cabin and made their way to the beach. Phoenix intended on walking, but Peko broke into a jog, inspiring the rest of them to join her.

As they ran beside Fey Manor, Phoenix was reminded of the last time he had been running down this road— he had been chasing Nagito to the warehouse. This time, he was astride Nagito, chasing the truth.

They arrived at the beach. The remnants of Apollo's party were still there— tables speckled with bowls and plates, six chairs sitting on the beach, and Klavier's guitar sitting in its black case next to his chair.

Of course, the worst remnant of the party was Leon's corpse. Phoenix still felt a rush of terror when looking at it, but now that the adrenaline had worn off, he was better able to take in the scene.

Nagito's observation about the bloodstains had been correct. The stab wound in Leon's neck had bled profusely, spilling all over the sand. His plate of food that had toppled onto the ground made Phoenix grimly realize Leon's last meal had been Phoenix's cooking. Had he enjoyed it?

"Well, I don't see much to go on here," Nagito shrugged. "Phoenix, any ideas?"

Phoenix glanced at Nagito before crouching down to more closely inspect Leon's body. His hands were in new positions; they now rested on his stomach— he had no doubts Kyoko was the one to do this.

He stood up after a few moments and sighed. "I'm not sure there's anything here. I don't see any evidence left by the killer. Apollo, Peko— do either of you see anything?"

Apollo's gaze was on the ground, but he did not appear dejected. Phoenix got the impression he was searching for something.

"Leon was killed second," Peko noted. "I have to wonder how the killer managed to conceal their weapon. There was hardly any time in between his murder and our gathering in the storage room."

"Don't forget where we are," Nagito tutted. "There's a body of water right next to us. The killer could have thrown the knife into the lake— there's no way we would ever find it."

Peko looked ashamed. "I suppose I did not think about that. My apologies."

Finally, Apollo spoke up. "I don't see any suspicious footprints in the sand."

"What do you mean?" Phoenix asked.

"A lot of us have been walking on the beach since Leon's murder," Apollo explained, "but we all came from Fey Manor. I was hoping to find a set of footprints leading from the warehouse, or something. But it looks like that's not the case."

"That means the killer came from Fey Manor?" Peko confirmed.

"It doesn't mean anything," Apollo shook his head. "I guess all it proves is that the killer is careful. They could have come from the warehouse, or Fey Manor, or somewhere else— they just made sure their footprints didn't stand out."

"We would have seen them if they had come from Fey Manor," Phoenix argued.

"What if they came from the other side?" Nagito pointed out.

"That…" is entirely possible, Phoenix realized. "Maybe we should check out the other side of the manor? See if the killer left any indication of their presence?"

Unfortunately, before they could decide on anything, the harrowing chime of a village announcement played.

"That's enough investigating!" Monokuma decreed over the speakers. "You know the drill! Channeling Chamber! Elevator! See you at the trial!"

The group glanced uncertainly at each other (excluding Nagito, who was as blithe as ever). They sped to the Channeling Chamber, joining the ever-decreasing number of students in front of the elevator. As usual, the folding screen was pulled aside. Phoenix pushed away his guilt for Athena's murder as he stepped closer. Today was about pursuing justice for Ema and Leon.

He searched for Kyoko— thankfully, she was among the four students who had arrived in the chamber before him. She was speaking with Makoto at the moment; unfortunately, what he had to ask couldn't wait. He walked towards the pair and bluntly interrupted: "It's almost time for the trial. What were the results of your autopsy reports?"

Kyoko shifted her gaze to Phoenix. "The weapon used in both cases was the same," she rattled off without prelude. "The wounds in both bodies were functionally identical, meaning death in both cases would take no more than a minute after receiving the wound. Ema had been dead for at least half an hour. The bruising on Ema was probably due to what you and Nagito discovered— a post-mortem fall from a few feet above the ground."

Phoenix blinked as Kyoko unloaded a wealth of information about Leon and Ema's deaths onto him. As his mind worked to catch up with his ears, Klavier stepped into the conversation.

"This means we are looking for only a single killer, ja?"

"I hesitate to make any guarantees," Kyoko warned, "but the precision and identical shapes of the wounds make it hard to believe otherwise."

Phoenix heard the door to the Channeling Chamber open, and the final two students— Maya and Chiaki— stepped through. They walked down the length of the room, the flickering candlelight illuminating Maya's fearful face and Chiaki's concerned expression. Once they reached the rest of the students, the door to the elevator creaked open, cutting Kyoko and Phoenix's conversation short. He didn't mind, though— she had told him what was important. The remaining ten students of Hope's Peak piled on.

Maya took Phoenix's hand as they descended into the earth. With each trial, the elevator carriage gained more free space. In around 30 minutes, there would only be nine students on the ascension back to the surface. How many would be left in a week? Two weeks?

As the elevator doors opened, Phoenix strengthened his resolve as he emerged into what would undoubtedly be the most distressing trial to date.