Danganronpa: Dark Despair

Chapter 6 - Bloody Discoveries

As everybody filed into the Research Lab, the monitors sang out. Ding dong, ding dong! After the chime, Monokuma showed up on the screen. 

"A body has been discovered! Please report to the Ultimate Librarian's Research Lab! Oh, wait, you're all already there!" With that, the monitor switched off. Immediately afterward, Monokuma appeared in the room, prompting a few screams. "Oh, calm down!" He seemingly cleared his throat and continued speaking. "As you can all see, our good friend Likasi has perished. Unfortunate. This means that a murder has occurred! All of you, please turn your handbooks on, for some new rules have been added." They did so and saw that Monokuma was telling the truth.

Rules

1. Leaving the school is prohibited.

2. Nighttime is from 10 PM to 7 AM. Multiple areas of the school are inaccessible during nighttime.

3. Students must sleep in their dormitories.

4. Students may only sleep during nighttime.

5. Students may explore the New Hope's Peak Academy to their heart's content.

6. If a murder takes place, the killer becomes "blackened" and will graduate, as long as they're not found out.

7. Injuring or attempting to injure Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited.

8. After three or more people discover a body, a body discovery announcement will be played on every monitor in the school.

9. Once a body is discovered, the remaining class will be given a certain amount of time to investigate around the school to find clues about the murder.

10. A murderer is referred to as "blackened". Innocent members of the class are "spotless". The murdered individual is the "victim".

11. After the investigation period has run out, a class trial will commence. All living students are required to show up for a class trial.

12. During a class trial, the students will debate amongst themselves in an attempt to figure out the blackened. When the students believe they have figured out who the blackened is, they will vote.

13. If the majority of the votes go to the blackened, then that person and that person alone will be punished.

14. If the majority of the votes DO NOT go to the blackened, then the blackened will graduate and everybody else will be punished.

15. Failure to comply with any of these rules will result in punishment.

16. More rules may be added later at Monokuma's discretion.

After everybody had read the rules, Monokuma spoke again.

"Now, you may have seen that a new tab has been made available to you on your handbooks. Please look at that next." They complied. "This tab is known as the Investigation Notesheet or INS for short. When a murder occurs, this will be updated with information about the murder that would help figure out everything that happened. Now, begin your investigation!" And with that, Monokuma disappeared.

"Alright, first, we should designate two people to watch over the body to prevent the culprit from messing with it," Sara began. "I feel like Suchi and Todakati are the most trustworthy and physically capable of watching over the body. All in favor?" Everybody raised their hands. "Alright then. Now let's begin investigating. Remember, we have a limited time to do this, so we need to be diligent but quick." Everyone agreed and spread out.

Kirin started by looking at the INS. It listed some basic information about the murder, including the victim, time of death, and cause of death. The victim was Likasi Natijo, the Ultimate Librarian. The time of death was listed as 4:30 P.M. The cause of death was a single bullet wound to the head. There were no other external wounds.

Clue got: Investigation Notesheet Information #1

Looking at Likasi's body, they were able to confirm that there was a bullet wound in the back of her head.

Clue got: Bullet wound

Kirin then looked at the area around Likasi's body. The ground had very little blood, but there was a small spatter near her head that had dried up. The desk also had blood spatter on it, albeit significantly more, mostly around her head.

Clue got: Blood spatter around body

Kirin backed away from Likasi and started investigating the rest of the Research Lab. The first thing they spotted between a pair of bookshelves was a broken broom. It had been snapped cleanly in half. They wondered how that had happened, but decided to save the questions for the trial.

Clue got: Broken broom

The broken broom reminded Kirin of the door jam, so they decided to investigate what that was about. Looking closely at the door revealed a small bullet casing in the hinge.

Clue got: Bullet casing in door hinge

Kirin assumed that the casing was from the bullet used on Likasi. Searching around the room some more revealed a duffel bag that also had some blood on it. Looking inside it revealed a sniper rifle. It was large and barely fit in the bag. It seemed like something Todakati would use.

Clue got: Large sniper rifle

Clue got: Blood on duffel bag

After looking around the room some more, it seemed like there were no more things to find, so Kirin decided to ask the few people in the room about alibis and other information they had found. First, they talked to Todakati.

"Hey, Todakati?" The sniper turned and looked at the scientist.

"What is it?"

"I'm asking around for alibis and any information people can give. Since you're right here, it seemed logical to ask you first."

"That's fair. You said you needed an alibi?" Kirin nodded. "The murder happened at 4:30, as you probably know. My alibi is that I was with Yigana at the time. We were discussing what to wear for the party in their room. I don't have anything else though. Sorry."

"It's alright. That was helpful, thank you."

"No problem."

Clue got: Todakati's account

Next, they decided to fact-check Todakati's claim by talking to Yigana, who gave them the same information. Good to know.

Clue got: Yigana's account

Clue updated: Todakati's account

They asked Suchi and Alana next, who had also seemed to be close. Suchi answered the question, with Alana agreeing with everything they said.

"Well, we were together in Alana's room. I asked her if she was seeing anybody outside of the school, and she said no. I asked her out right then and there. She said yes!" They seemed very excited. "But, to answer your other question, we don't have any other information about this. It seems we're just as confused as you are. Sorry."

Clue got: Suchi's account

Clue got: Alana's account

That was everybody in the room because everybody else had left to go check other areas of the school for clues. Kirin decided that was probably a good idea and left the room.

Remaining Students: 15