Danganronpa: Return of Despair

Chapter 3, Part 6

I walked over to investigate the scene. I investigated Isamu's body first. She was underneath a table, her head was sticking out with a rope tied around her neck, she looked like she was strangled. I lifted up the tablecloth. There was no sign of any external injuries. There was a slight trail of blood leading from another area to underneath the table. I followed the trail. There was more rope over there in a pool of blood. I took note of that, it seemed important. Was the room really empty enough for a murder to happen? That seemed kind of weird. I walked back to the group. Shichiro approached me.

"Mamoru, you weren't in here at the time, correct?" He asked.
"I wasn't, I was out with a few others," I replied.
"Who were those others?" He questioned and got closer to me.
"Well, there was me, Koki, Shin, Takahiro, Kaz, and three of the dead people, so that might not help," I shrugged.
"You're right, but that lowers our suspicion list," He nodded, "I was out in the kitchen with Yokichi, since we couldn't leave each other,"
"Yeah, we're you two alone?" I asked.
"Yes, for the most part," He replied.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Well, Arisa came in, with Kunihiko, but it looked like she was followed, I couldn't tell who it was, but they were alone," He explained.
"So, whoever that was was probably the killer? Since they were alone, their partner had to be dead already," I noticed.
"That's the most likely possibility," He nodded.
"That lead me pretty far, actually, thank you, Shichiro!" I waved and went over to a table.

Arisa's body was laid across the table. It looked like she was cut apart, her eyes were closed. I was confused. People usually don't die this way with closed eyes. I reached for her, but Koki grabbed my wrist.

"Are you sure about that?" He looked at me.
"Yeah, why?" I looked back.

He pointed at the table. There was a pair of eyes on the table. I felt sick.

"That's why," He let go and went back to his investigation.

I shook it off and continued. There had to be a weapon around somewhere, but there was nothing. How was she cut up? I looked all around the floor around her, still nothing. I remembered Shichiro said something about the kitchen. I left the ballroom and started down to the kitchen. On the way down, I found bloody footprints down the staircases. Well, going up the stair cases. There were also a few areas that looked like blood was dripping. I ran down the stairs. There was another area with a pool of blood. There was no weapon there. I took note of the pool of blood. The footprints started from the blood. Daisuke walked out of the kitchen. He noticed me.

"Mamoru! I have something that might help," He ran over to me.
"Huh? What is it?" I asked.
"Did Shichiro tell you about how he was in the kitchen?" He asked back.
"Yeah, he did," I nodded.
"Great! C'mon, lemme show you!" He grabbed onto my arm and led me into the kitchen.

There were more footprints in there, but they looked like they came from the kitchen. I looked around, what was Daisuke talking about. He was standing by the sink. I walked over. There was a bloody butchers knife in the sink. I looked at him.

"I came down here after Shichiro told me he was down here and I found this, it would've been hard to carry all the way upstairs, dontcha think?" He pointed to it.
"Yeah, you're right, so it had to be done down here in that spot..." I nodded.
"Huh? Is that what you were looking at?" He asked.
"Yeah, there were footprints leading from it, but they led upstairs," I explained.
"Hmm, that's definitely where one of em was killed then, and by default wouldn't it be Arisa?" He questioned.
"Well, it does seem likely because she was cut up, you might be onto something," I nodded.
"I am?" He was confused.
I sighed, "Yes, the blood could be from Arisa, then there's the other question,"

Before we could continue, there was an announcement.

"Time's up! Please gather by the red doors again for the class trial!" Monokuma's voice rang through the speakers.