Danganronpa: ReProgrammed

All-Star Apologies: Part 25 [Class Trial]

"The reason our discussion stalled for so long is because we've failed to grasp the killers motives for their equipment," Chihiro said "but for the sake of discussion, I'll be blunt. I think the crime occurred at a much earlier time than we thought."

"You mean...Taeko died before 10:46?" Taka asked "does that mean the Monokuma File lied to us?"

"As if!" Monokuma snapped "the file might not always contain the best information, but it hasn't lied to you so far! Why doubt it now!?"

"You're misunderstanding me Taka," Chihiro told him "I said the CRIME happened at an earlier time, not the DEATH."

"I see!" Makoto said "you think Taeko was attacked first and then killed later?"

"It was something Mukuro said when we were talking about the possibility of Taeko committing suicide," Chihiro explained "if I recall...she said..."

"Taeko did what I did in my experiment. She sawed the leg off the Piano...and patched it up with super sticky tape. After a while, the tape lost its adhesiveness And Taeko was crushed when the leg gave way."

"Let's say that things go a little bit like this," Chihiro thought "the killer meets with Taeko at an earlier time, and possibly knocks her out. Then when she's out cold, that's when they position her body underneath the piano, just enough that her head is under the body. Prior to that, the killer used something to break the leg of the piano, then repaired it with the tape."

"Now that I think about it..." Byakuya thought aloud "the perimeter of the Piano leg added up to about 20cm. That's about how long the length of tape at the crime scene was, correct?"

"Exactly," Chihiro pointed out "now think about it this way. If the killer had all these things in place, left the scene, and simply waited for the tape to lose it's stickiness after a while, what would happen to the piano?"

"Well, it would collapse!" Taka said "and Taeko would...would be...Oh my lord...!"

"I see you finally understand what I'm saying..." Chihiro smiled confidently.

"Wait, so you're sayin' that the killer crushed Taeko usin' the tape as some sort of timer!?" Mondo exclaimed.

"If that theory is true," Kyoko said "that would then mean that the killer didn't need to be on the scene in order to kill Taeko. This was a trap that was designed to kill her remotely. All they'd have to do is knock her out and leave her there."

"Which means that all our previous alibis..." Byakuya smirked "have now been made redundant...So much for your innocence Ikusaba..."

He grinned as he glared in Mukuro's direction. Mukuro remained silent.

"That aside, in order for that to have happened, the killer would have had to have knocked Taeko out first..." Makoto chimed in "there were definitely signs of a struggle, but there was nothing on the scene aside from a few chairs that could be used as weapons."

"Hold on a second!" Taka cut in "one of the chairs in the room was broken! Could the killer have swung it at Taeko's head to knock her out, and it broke when it made contact?"

"No, I don't think that's the case..." Kyoko said "it's hard to say what the killer could have used to give Taeko blunt force trauma, considering her head was in a sorry state, but had they used the chair, she likely would have had other marks over her body from the other leg hitting her."

"But if it weren't used to attack her," Mondo thought "why was that chair broken? Did it break in the fight, or is it completely unrelated?"

"No, it probably didn't break in the fight. A few of the chairs are knocked over, but that's the only one that's actually broken," Makoto thought "the killer actually used it for a different purpose..."