Danganronpa: Poisoned Hope (Fanganronpa)

Chapter 5 - A Traitor's True Anguish - A Hunt 2

"O-Oh my god!" I exclaimed, staring at the unusual scene in front of me.

Kei's cold, dead body.

I was so surprised and startled, I couldn't even bring myself to rush over to the body. I just stood at the doorway, confused as my mouth hung agape.

It doesn't make sense! Mei has to die for the rest of us to live. No one else had to. But then why is Kei dead in front of me?

And is Mei even dead? Or is Kei the only one? Is the time limit still going on?

Questions kept rushing in and out of my head while I waited for the body discovery announcement to play, but it never did.

I figured it made sense, seeing as only Mizuki and I had seen the body so far. It still would've helped to alert everyone of our findings.

I...I can't just stand here forever. I need to access the situation.

"Mizuki! What happened here?" I rushed to the other girl in the room. Her reaction to Kei's body was a complete contrast from mine: instead of being panicked, she was amused, almost bursting out into laughter.

Many people wanted Kei dead...Reina, Toshiro, Arashi, Mizuki. Anyone could've killed him! Even Ryuto or Mei.

"Oh, well I just found him here." Mizuki shrugged. "I'm not complaining though. He totally deserved it."

"No, he didn't! No one deserves this!" I argued but sighed to regain my composure. "Did you do this?"

"What? Of course not! I know I hated the guy, but I'd never break our promise, remember?" She replied, surprised I even suggested she could've been the culprit.

I'm glad to see she's still keeping that promise that we made ages ago.

"Well...Then where's everyone else? I went to the dining hall but no one was there." I interrogated.

"Oh, that's because we waited ages for you, but you never turned up. So we started without you! Anyway, I don't really know where everyone is." She replied.

"What does that mean?"

"We all split up after breakfast to find that traitor girl, but I just stayed up here. They could literally be anywhere. I didn't expect to see a body during my search though!"

I nodded, turning back to Kei's limp body.

Never in a million years did I expect to see him dead. He's been such an important yet dangerous member of the group. And it doesn't help that everyone could be a suspect. Along with that, the time limit might still be in place, so are we even going to have a trial, or are we all just going to die?

Even if the time limit expires, I still have the slightest bit of hope that we'll all live. However, seeing Mei's body is not something I would like to see. This situation is just terrible...

But if we do have a trial, I need to be prepared. No body discovery announcement has played yet so no one else knows about the murder, and it would take too long to find everyone. Am I really going to wait for another person to stumble upon the body?

No...I need to take the initiative. I'll start the investigation myself, without Monokuma's permission!

INVESTIGATION: BEGIN