Danganronpa vG: Goodbye Magic

by witegrlninja

A Guide in the Darkness - Deadly Life 1

A minute or so into Silver and I screaming our lungs out, I heard a series of cottage doors slam open and shut, and footsteps quickly running close.

"What is it?!" Mountain yelled. "What- ...oh." She froze in shock and horror as her eyes found Dr. Hooves' body.

"ARE YOU LADIES OKAY?!" Kotenage shouted as he thundered towards us from across the campground. He nearly tripped and fell over as he saw. "...AAAAAAAAAH! PLEASE TELL ME HE'S NOT DEAD!"

"D'oh... I asked you guys not to kill each other!" Memento whined as she exited her cottage, sighing with a grimace. "Aw, man... least I didn't know him very well."

"I fucking knew it!" Sugarcoat shrieked, her hair full of shampoo suds. "I knew someone was planning a murder!"

"Oh, come on, guys!" Button angrily threw up his hands. "What did I tell you about giving in to the motives?!"

*ding dong bong bing*

A loud chime echoed from the speakers as the monitors around us buzzed to life. The sudden noise caused a pure jolt of fear and dread to course down my spine. On the monitor, Monokuma was sitting in a fancy chair, with a desk covered in expensive foods before him. He sipped from a glass of champagne before speaking.

"A body has been discovered!" he announced gleefully. "Everyone, please meet at the Fire Pit outside! ...I'll give you all a few minutes to get properly dressed." Before anyone could say anything to the image of the bear, the monitors shut themselves off.

I had no idea what to think or do next... I didn't really want to move from this spot, but my robe and pajamas weren't exactly warm enough to continue mulling it over. I sighed in resignation as I trudged back to my cottage and put my clothes on, rejoining the others a few minutes later.

"Fuck," Button spat. "...guess we're really doing this now, huh? Shit..."

"Oh!" Sonata leaned over the corpse, tilting her head and looking as though she was examining a dead butterfly on the ground rather than a body. "Geez, that's too bad..."

"A-Are we sure he's really dead?!" Indigo shivered. "S-Somebody, get a stick a-and poke him!"

"No... no..." Sunset whispered, her eyes wider than dinner plates. "S-Seriously...? Did someone really...?"

*boing!*

"Hoo boy! It's finally started!" Monokuma leapt out from the roof of the Activities Cabin and plopped down right in the center of us all, startling everyone.

"You... what is the meaning of this?!" Sugarcoat shouted, angrily pointing a finger at the black and white bear. "Explain yourself!" But before anyone could say another word...

*Rise and Shine, Ursine!*

The Monokubs quickly appeared, leaping down from the rooftop in succession.

"Ugh... I'm not gonna look... I don't wanna look at a nasty dead body..." Monophanie whined, immediately facing away from the corpse and shuddering.

"Nothing beats crashing a funeral! It's way better than wedding crashing!" Monokid roared as his abnormally-long tongue wiggled out of his mouth. "I'll throw in a wedding every now and then, but funerals are insane, like fishing with dynamite!" Out of the corner of my eye I could see Memento frowning, but she held her tongue.

"Goddamnit..." Button growled, his head bowed low to the ground as his fists shook. Then he sighed and let his hands fall open. "...Welp, let's get this started, I guess."

"Uh... get what started?" asked Juniper nervously.

"Like we said before... we're gonna hold a class trial so youse bastards can find Dr. Hooves' killer," Monosuke smirked.

"Get it right, and only the blackened will be punished," Monotaro grinned. "But if you get it wrong-"

"Simultaneous surgery! Brain and knee!" Monokid howled, drooling with a crazed look in his robotic eyes. "Then brain surgery again!"

"Everyone besides the blackened will be punished!" Monotaro finished.

"...No, that's not right! Daddy said he'd let everyone else continue camping here peacefully if the blackened won!" Monophanie argued.

"Yea... that's right!" Flash gasped, the horror lessening on his face.

"Oh... oh yea," Monotaro put a paw to his chin. "...Gee, when you say it like that, it's not really all that high-stakes, now is it?"

"No, but it's not like any of you losers can leave afterwards," Monokuma shrugged. "You still gotta do the investigation and the trial, and either way, you're all still stuck here until someone kills again."

"Oh, yea, like that makes it all better," Sugarcoat snorted.

"But before we can hold the class trial, you gotta investigate first," smiled Monokuma. "If you don't investigate the murder, you won't be able to argue over who did it!"

"Aw, do we really have to...?" Silver trembled, still swaying a little from the discovery.

"Of course! The investigation is what makes the killing game so good! Riiiiight, Button?" Monokuma sneered. Button didn't answer, only growling in frustration.

"...We're going to investigate this crime and uncover the truth," Sunset affirmed, scowling darkly at the body. "To think one of us has actually murdered another... that is unforgivable! What the hell is the matter with you?!" she yelled.

"We cannot have a murderer living among us," Mountain nodded once. "I will hunt you down and find you myself if I have to!"

"SOU SOU! HOOVES-SAMA MUST BE AVENGED!" Kotenage agreed, punching a fist into his other hand. "WE NEED TO DO THIS SO HE WON'T HAVE ANY REGRETS IN THE AFTERLIFE."

"Alright! The trial will begin soon, so please give the investigation your all!" Monokuma cheered. "...Oh, right! I'm supposed to give you all this." After a few moments, my Monopad suddenly beeped once and vibrated. "The Monokuma File is a detailed report that summarizes-"

"All the info about the dead body, we know," Button glared. "I played through all three games, I told them all about it, we know what's up. Now just get the hell out of here, would ya?!"

"D'oh... fiiiiine," Monokuma slumped over dejectedly. "Man, you're so mean. Aren't you excited to be a part of Danganronpa 4? Of all the people who enjoyed the series, you'd think you-"

"FUCK OFF!" Indigo screamed in rage.

"Okay, geez, I'll fuck off..." Slumping even lower, Monokuma waddled off out of sight. We stood in silence for a minute or two, unsure of what to do first. While the threat of our own deaths if we failed was abated for now, it was still terrifying to know that one of us... had actually killed Dr. Hooves.

One of us was a murderer.

"Goddamnit... fuck!" Button shouted suddenly. "Fuck, I was hoping this would turn out different from the games! Why did one of you have to kill him?!"

"One of us did it... one of us really killed him..." Silver gulped.

"And now we must investigate this gruesome scene," Sunburst sighed sadly. "Oh, Dr. Hooves, my dear colleague... I barely knew thee."

"...Do we really have to investigate, though?" Sonata piped up slowly.

"What do you mean?! One of us murdered Dr. Hooves!" Sunset snapped. "Besides being a crime and illegal everywhere, the fact is that... that's just... horrible!"

"Yea, but... think about it," Sonata continued calmly. "The price we had to pay to get out of here was one death, as opposed to everyone if everything went as Button said it was supposed to. No matter what happens, the rest of us will not be harmed."

"...What are you getting at?" Flash's eyes narrowed.

"If the killer fools us all, they get to leave," she stared pointedly at us. "...They can go get help for the rest of us once they're free, while we just sit back and wait for that help to get here."

It felt like a bubble had popped in my mind. I stood straight up, my eyes wide and lips thinned. "That's... actually? Kind of a positive way to look at it."

"Yea, but... someone's still dead," Juniper cringed. "One of us still killed him."

"And who knows if they'll actually make it back to civilization or not?" asked Soarin'. "And even if they do, they'll probably still get thrown into jail for the murder after help's come."

"True, but one chance at our rescue is better than none," said Mountain.

"Who knows? Maybe the dude sacrificed himself so the killer could get out and get help," Ocean added.

"I... don't know about that..." Sunset pursed her lips. "It just feels so... wrong... not to investigate it and find the killer."

"I mean... what's done is done," Button looked away. "Nothing we do's gonna bring him back."

"It... would be the best course of action to take right now..." Sugarcoat frowned, staring at the ground in thought. "Don't get me wrong, I don't feel great about this, but..." She trailed off as we all began wondering what our next course of action really should be.

"...Ya know, ya do still gotta investigate and stuff," Monosuke finally spoke up.

"Oh, crap! You're still here?" Memento jumped.

"We never left," Monotaro grinned. "But Father does expect his campers to investigate and participate in the class trial."

"Daddy will be reeeally mad if you don't even try," Monophanie warned. "He hates laziness."

"He might even change his mind about the whole thing if ya piss him off too much!" Monokid laughed. "I know I would! We still wanna see you guys get it wrong!"

"Or if you guys get it right! Pops really loves it when he gets to execute someone!" said Monosuke.

"...Well that settles it," Indigo took an uneasy step back as the execution was mentioned. "I ain't doin' shit."

"Yea, why would we get our only chance at help executed?! That doesn't make any sense!" argued Sugarcoat.

"I get it... you guys don't wanna be responsible for the killer's death," Monotaro waved a paw in reassurance. "It always happens in the beginning. But..." All at once the Monokubs' red eyes gleamed, and not only did they retrieve their guns from behind their backs, all of the sentry guns in the immediate vicinity suddenly spun around and whirred to life, aiming directly at us. I froze as I watched three glowing red laser dots slide all over my chest, neck and face, going crosseyed as one of the dots traveled up my nose and right between my eyes. All around me, everyone cried out in terror.

"H-HEY! Y-YOU SAID WE WOULDN'T BE H-HARMED!" Kotenage stammered.

"That's as long as you follow the rules," Monophanie huffed in excitement. "And right now, you're getting awfully close to breaking them. Daddy said so."

"Papa Kuma's even gonna make it official!" Monokid taunted. Not even a second after he finished speaking, I heard and felt my Monopad beep once and vibrate again. Somewhat sheltered from the laser sights by the rest of our bodies, Sugarcoat grabbed her Monopad and checked to see what had happened.

"...Great... so much for that plan," she groaned and whined at the same time. "Rule 7: All campers are required to participate in the investigation and class trial. Refusal to do so, or negligence in your investigative and/or trial duties will be punished accordingly."

"O-Okay, okay! We'll i-investigate!" Juniper trembled violently. "D-Don't shoot u-u-us!" We all echoed similar terrified sentiments for what felt like hours before I opened my eyes and realized the guns and lasers had deactivated. I glanced over to the Monokubs, who appeared satisfied as they stowed their own weapons away, and I sighed heavily as I allowed my body to relax.

"Good. We'll be watching youuu..." Monotaro grinned. And with that, they recited their catchphrase as they scrambled away into the woods, quickly becoming lost among the shadows.

*So long, bear well!*

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself, everyone around me doing the same. A few people even collapsed onto the ground, clutching their chests in an attempt to steady their hearts. Maybe I shouldn't have assumed the best and let my guard down after all... no more debating ethics and morals, or putting it off for later. I no longer doubted for a second these bears would kill us for not putting on some kind of crime drama show for them.

"Shit... now we really have to investigate, huh?" Soarin' gulped, still shivering.

"W-Where do we even s-start?!" Juniper wailed. "I-I haven't even played a detective y-yet!"

"AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANY DETECTIVE ANIME OR MANGA!" Kotenage panicked.

"Alright... fuck, alright..." Button paced, breathing through his teeth. "Uh... we need someone to autopsy the body... Memento, can you do that?"

"Eh?" Memento pointed at herself in surprise.

"Yea, you work with dead people all the time!"

"Yea, but I don't do autopsies," she frowned. "A coroner does that."

"Well... mortician, coroner, same difference!" Button threw up his hands in the air.

"Whoawhoawhoa, nooooo, buddy," Memento shook her head and her hands in front of her. "My job is to pretty up the corpse for viewing. I get autopsied bodies, yes, but as far as a mortician is concerned, we only care about whether the body arrived with all of the organs it was supposed to come with, and what the autopsy did to the body for embalming purposes. We don't poke around looking for the cause of death!"

"...Really? Well," Sunburst blinked. "Shows what I know of the mortuary sciences."

"Well, I mean... you are the one who's done this sort of thing more than any of us have..." Flash looked away in slight disgust. "Can you at least try?"

Memento groaned loudly. "Fiiiiine... I guess I do know a bit about anatomy and stuff. But I wanted to investigate, too..."

"Uh... we also need at least two people to guard the crime scene, so the culprit can't tamper with evidence," interrupted Button.

"I SHALL DO IT," Kotenage asserted. "NO ONE WILL DARE TOUCH THE DEPARTED WHILE I'M AROUND."

"I-I'll do it, too," Ocean swallowed. "I'm... I don't have the eagle eyes my sister has."

"Alright... that goes for the rest of us - everyone's gotta pair up so nobody can hide evidence or anything. Uh, after you've finished your autopsy, Memento, you can investigate for yourself, 'kay?" asked Button.

"You got it," she answered, already pulling her hair up into a ponytail. She dug out an elastic from one of her scrub pockets and secured it, then she pulled out some gloves from another pocket and slid them onto her hands. She then grabbed the other loop of the surgical mask dangling from her ear and put it on proper.

My vision began to swirl as the gravity of the situation fully hit me. My legs wobbled and threatened to buckle... but now wasn't the time to sit and mope around. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my mind to focus. It was up to us to try to find Dr. Hooves killer... even if some of us didn't really want to, or felt it was wise to prod any further. Monokuma had seen to that.

Well, it looks like everyone's banding together and trusting each other, at least long enough to investigate...

I glanced over to Sunset, who had recovered and now wore a determined look on her face. She nodded at me once, and my heart calmed in an instant.

Sunset... you and I swore we wouldn't let anyone die here... well, that didn't work out, but now it's our duty to make sure we save as many people as possible... we can do this... together.

"Let's do this," I nodded back at Sunset. "I-It might not be the greatest idea, but it's not like we have a choice."

*Investigation Start*

"Well... I guess we should start with whatever Monokuma sent to our Monopads," Sunset suggested. I dug out my Monopad and tapped on the newly-added Monokuma File tab. A silhouette of a generic human body appeared, slowly rotating to reveal one thin, bright pink line on its back. Some text followed beneath it.

"The victim is Dr. Time Turner-Hooves, Ultimate Investigator," I read aloud. "Time of death is estimated to be 2:00am. The body was found lying directly behind a log between the Activities Cabin and the Fire Pit. Cause of death is a puncture wound to the back."

"Ugh, so much blood..." Sunset quivered. It was true, the body was practically lying in a pool of blood directly behind that log. There was a little bit of a bloody trail that dripped down the front of the log facing the fire pit, and a large stream on the other side that grew slightly wider as it fell into the pool.

"Hmm... if the wound is on the back, how did blood get on the log like that?" I asked. "He's facing the log and he's right up against it."

"Whoever did this must've propped him up like that," Ocean grimaced.

"Why, though?" I mumbled.

"Dunno. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Memento sighed as she pulled off Dr. Hooves' scarf, jacket and shirt, then grunted as she pulled the body from its right arm onto its stomach. I felt a wave of nausea claw its way up my throat as I glanced at the dark blotches that stained the right side of his body. "Hmm... yep, that's a stabbin' wound right there," she pointed to a thin, bloody slit almost directly in the center of the upper back, just to the left of the spine. Then she stuck her pinkie finger into the wound and wiggled it around, much to everyone's disgust.

"ACK! IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?!" Kotenage whined.

"You want to know how it killed him, don't you?" she replied. "Hm... that's right about where the superior vena cava is, and that's a big artery... yea, that'd definitely do it. Might've even gone into his heart or left lung, but I'd need to open him up to be sure."

"Uh... you don't have to... do ya?" Ocean whimpered.

"Well, how much of an autopsy do you want me to do?" Memento asked as she withdrew her finger. "Other than that, all I can tell you is he's been outside all night, judging from the livor mortis and probable postmortem staining, and the lack of rigor mortis."

"THE... WHAT?" Kotenage gaped.

Memento sighed and pointed. "The dark areas where he's been lying dead all night, and the fact that he's not stiff. Cold environments make livor mortis and postmortem stains worse, but stops rigor mortis from happening. And it's fuckin' freezing out here, especially at night."

"I... see," Sunset cringed. While Memento poked and prodded at the body, Sunset and I turned to investigate the fire pit area. The fire had long since gone out, not even a single ember remained. There were remnants of pop cans and other metal bits buried in the ashes, but towards the very edge of the pit sat a scrap of blue plastic. Picking it up, it appeared to be part of one of the tarps that covered the firewood stacks along the sides of the Activities Cabin... and there were a couple streaks of dried blood on one side.

"Hey, this has blood on it," I showed Sunset.

"It looks like someone tried to burn it," she replied, pointing out the bubbled and blackened edges. "But this piece didn't burn up."

"If it has blood on it, the killer must've been trying to destroy it in the fire, then," I reasoned. "I wonder why...?" Sunset shrugged as I set it back down for the others to examine.

"Well, I don't think I see anything else suspicious around here... now what?" she asked. I hummed in thought, trying to think of what else we could do to investigate.

"...I did see Button, Indigo and Ocean still around the fire pit when I went to my cottage for the night," I remembered. "Maybe they saw something?"

"Maybe... though if one of them did it, it's not like they're gonna tell us."

"No, but maybe someone'll contradict them later on?"

"Oh! Right, right, duh..." Sunset slapped her forehead. We turned around to face Ocean as he watched Memento autopsy the body. I tried my best to avert my eyes from the sight, but the Ultimate Mortician sure wasn't making it easy.

"Hmm... does anyone have a pocketknife?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Uh... oh! Here, I got this one from the Storage Shed the other day," Ocean flipped open one of his vest's pockets and took out an ordinary Swiss army knife.

"Thank ya much!" Memento replied as she took it, quickly flipping the knife open and sticking it into the wound a third of the way before stopping; if she had pushed it in any further, the wound would have split open and distorted. "...Nope, that's not it..."

"Aaanyway..." Sunset drawled as she forced herself to look at Ocean. "Can we ask you something?"

"Sure, yea," Ocean nodded, grimacing as he leaned away from the corpse.

"So you, Button and Indigo were hanging out here last night," I spoke. "You guys were still out here when I went back to my cottage... you didn't see anything out of the ordinary, did you?"

"I think I would've noticed someone getting stabbed right across from me," Ocean pursed his lips. "Even after I dozed off for a bit and woke up, I didn't see anything like this."

"Wait, you... fell asleep out here?" Sunset shrank back.

"During the middle of the night?!" I added incredulously.

"Yea! We were all sittin' and passin' the bowl around... guess I smoked too much and fell asleep. Indy did, too... the Poison Joke must've been too much for her," he chuckled.

"But it's freezing out here at night!" Memento raised an eyebrow.

"I know... I woke up when the fire was startin' to die out, must've been pretty late. I woke Indy up and we went to bed... Hm, Button wasn't around then, must've left before we did."

Is that so...?

"Wonder where he went," Sunset frowned. I opened my mouth to reply, but then I saw Silver walking with Soarin' towards the main cabin out of the corner of my eye, and remembered that it was her screaming that led me to discover the body.

"...Oh! Hey, Silver, can you come here for a minute?" I yelled.

"Uh... sure," she answered hesitantly, lingering for a moment before finally jogging over to us with Soarin' right behind her. She warily eyed the log where Dr. Hooves had been discovered. "What's up?"

"So, uh... I think you were the one who first discovered the body," I chewed on my upper lip anxiously.

"Y-Yea..." she nodded shakily.

"It was kinda close to the morning announcement," I continued. "You were coming out of the indoor pool area, right?"

"Yea, I've been getting up at 5am to do some swimming," she swallowed a breath of air to calm down. "To keep in shape, y-you know? You have to be real fit to race the kind of cars I drive."

"So you didn't see the body when you started swimming?" asked Sunset.

"No... the sun wasn't even up yet, so it was almost pitch black out. I could make out the shape of the Activities Cabin and the other cottages around me, but that's about it."

"I CAN ATTEST TO THAT," Kotenage broke in. "I BEGIN MY TRAINING AT 5AM, AS WELL. I DID SEE THE DOOR TO THE INDOOR POOL OPEN AS I MADE MY WAY BEYOND THE MAIN CABIN, THAT MUST'VE BEEN YOU."

"Punching more trees, huh?" asked Ocean.

"IT WILL HAVE TO DO... I DON'T THINK ANY OF YOU WOULD MAKE A SUITABLE SPARRING PARTNER."

"True... I wouldn't wanna get in a fight with ya, big guy," he nodded.

"BUT ANYWAY, I DIDN'T NOTICE ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY," Kotenage frowned.

"I see... alright, then," said Sunset. Silver nodded, took a few shaky steps back and just about ran away from the fire pit as fast as she could, with Soarin' calling out for her as he tried to follow.

Geez... finding the body really traumatized her, didn't it...?

"Alright... now what?" asked Sunset.

"Um..." I considered the clues we'd already found... if the killing blow was caused by a stab wound, then where were there plenty of objects to stab with? "...I think we should try the Kitchen next."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go."

~

We made our way to the Dining Hall, searching it just in case on our way to the kitchen. Though we found nothing, we did notice that the breakfast buffet was ready and sitting out. We grabbed some food and drinks we could easily carry with us and began to search the kitchen. Nothing stood out to me until I happened to look at the magnetic knife rack.

"...Huh? That doesn't look familiar..."

"What doesn't?" Sunset asked, shutting a refrigerator door and coming over to me. It gave me enough time to make a mental count, just to be sure.

"...There's more knives here than there was last night," I frowned, pointing to a space between the bread knife and utility knife. In that space was a long, very thin knife.

"Isn't that the boning knife Kotenage was asking about?"

"I think so... and see how thin the blade is? That looks like it'd fit the wound perfectly." I plucked the knife from the magnetic rack and stowed it away for later. Memento would probably be interested in it. Finding nothing else of use, we left the kitchen and headed for the Camp Store next. Just inside, Button and Sunburst checking the shelves.

"...Oh! Hey Button, can I ask you something?" I spoke.

"Huh? Oh, yea... shoot," he nodded once.

"You were out with Indigo and Ocean last night, right?" asked Sunset.

"Yea... we had ourselves a little smoke out, why?"

"Well, did you see anything suspicious? And Ocean says you weren't around when he and Indigo went back to their rooms."

"No, I don't think I saw anything," Button furrowed his brow in thought. "I felt a bit tired around 1:00am, I think? I did nudge Ocean and say I was heading for bed... he mumbled what sounded like an okay and seemed to be waking back up, so I put some more wood on the fire for them before I left."

"I see..." I commented as neutrally as I could manage. A beat of silence passed before Button sighed deeply and bowed his head.

"Fuck..." he spat in a whisper, "...I was really hoping this wouldn't happen... I was hoping I wouldn't have to live this game. Have you ever played it? It's a great story, but if it happened in reality, it'd be super fucked!" He gulped and turned his eyes to the floor. "And unlike the games, there's no save file, no second chances... one wrong answer, and that could be it for us!" He then made a hand gesture of a gun firing right into his right temple. "...Although this is a motive I've never heard of before. It's like the game's on easy mode, if nobody's gonna die for getting it wrong... but it's not gonna last forever."

"I know, but... don't worry," Sunset reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "As long as everyone tries their best, and with your knowledge of how this game works? I don't think Monokuma will find any reason to think we're breaking his rules. We'll either make it through the trial, or... well, make it through the trial, but the killer will be found out."

"Yea, but... you do realize what'll happen to that killer if we find them?" he looked up. "Execution... bloody, violent and insultingly ironic. And we'll be forced to watch."

"So I've heard," I shivered, trying to shake the thought from my mind. "...I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Man... I-I don't wanna watch someone fuckin' die... not in real life," Button swallowed. "I-I gotta... just pretend this is a game... yea... investigate everything, just like the game. I-I can do this..." he quietly reaffirmed himself, taking some slow, deep breaths.

"That's the spirit," Sunset clapped his shoulder with a smile. "We'll make it through as long as we work together. You got this!" But Button seemed less than convinced, as the last deep breath escaped his mouth in a shudder.

"...It's despair, you know..." Button spoke quietly. "That's his goal... Monokuma. He wants us all to learn what despair really is... I bet that's why he's making us do the investigation."

"Despair...?" I repeated.

"He's forcing us to investigate and not half-ass it... he wants us to find the killer and lose our chance at getting help," he explained further.

"Oh... yea, that's... that's pretty..." Sunset clenched her jaw.

"It would definitely make you feel despair," I grimaced, a dark pit forming in my stomach. "Damn... no wonder that last rule was added."

Button nodded. "At this point, I think we can only hope the killer didn't leave enough evidence behind to find them out... otherwise, well..."

"We have to give it our best shot," said Sunset, "...but for our sake? I hope you're right." An uncomfortable silence suffocated the air as I lamented our situation quietly. Button sighed and gave a nod of acknowledgement before he and Sunburst returned to their search. Sunset and I searched as well, but found nothing suspicious.

Next we decided to check the Laundry Room. Inside, Indigo and Sugarcoat were checking the shelves of supplies.

"Hey, Indigo, can we ask you something?" said Sunset.

"What'chu wanna know?" she replied, Sugarcoat silently glaring as she watched our conversation.

"You, Button and Ocean were the last people I saw outside near the fire pit... you didn't see anything weird, did you?" I asked.

"Nah... I nodded off at some point, didn't wake up until Ocean woke me," she yawned, cracking her neck. "We went back to our rooms after that... I think it was like, almost 3:00am when I crashed for the night." That bit of information shook me to my core.

Dear Celestia... Dr. Hooves was lying dead just a few yards away, and they didn't even notice...!

"I-I see..." Sunset swallowed, perhaps realizing the same horrific thought that I had. "...Really? Nothing?"

"Really. Nothing," she parroted. "The fire was going out so it was kinda dark, but it's not like I tripped over anything on the way back. You'd definitely have heard me saying some real shit if I stumbled upon a dead body."

I don't doubt that.

"Okay... well, thanks anyway," I waved. Sunset and I did a quick search of the laundry room ourselves, but found nothing. Sugarcoat kept a careful eye on us right up until we left.

~

We searched the rest of the campgrounds and found nothing suspicious, so we then decided to return to the fire pit and ask Memento her opinion on the boning knife. As we approached, I noticed Kotenage looking on with his face contorted into sheer disgust, while Ocean was covering his eyes. I steeled myself for what I could possibly see next... but it wasn't enough.

"Hey Memento, whaaaAAT THE HELL?!" Sunset stumbled backwards suddenly. The body soon came into my view, and I stood dumbstruck as I saw what she was doing.

"Hm?" Memento looked up innocently as some of Dr. Hooves' left ribs hinged back into place. Despite the fact that the decedent's torso had been cut open, his entire left rib cage had been separated from his sternum, and what appeared to be his left lung was sitting on a towel beside her, there was remarkably little blood on her scrubs. "What's up?" she asked as her hands dug back into the rib cage.

"I... uh..." I stammered, barely able to hold onto the boning knife any longer.

"...Oh! Is that the murder weapon?" Memento asked nonchalantly, taking it from my grasp. I took the opportunity to wobble backwards a good ways before falling on my butt, nearly losing what little breakfast I'd scarfed down.

"What... what the hell are you doing...?!" Sunset gagged.

"An autopsy, what does it look like?" Memento replied. "...Or, at least what I think an autopsy is like." She wiggled a hand around inside what I could only guess was the corpse's pericardium. "...Yep! Pierced the heart all the way through the superior vena cava! I was right!"

"...Did you really have to do that?" I spoke carefully, worried that if I opened my mouth too wide I might throw up. Memento didn't answer right away, instead propping the body up on its left side and carefully sliding the knife into the thin slit.

"Yep, that's the murder weapon!" she nodded after peering into the empty lung cavity. "Fits perfectly."

"WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME HAVE I JUST WITNESSED..." Kotenage lamented, his cheeks bulging as though he couldn't take much more of this.

"Oh, please... I've fixed worse bodies than this," Memento waved a hand dismissively as she wiped the knife clean. "Gimme a double curved suture needle and some dental floss and he'll be good as new!"

...

...

...

Silence.

Horrified silence.

"...Kinda. I mean... he's dead after all," she shrugged.

*ding dong, bing bong*

"Oh goddamn it," Memento huffed. The monitors buzzed back to life, revealing Monokuma feasting on his desk buffet and champange.

"Alright!" he beamed. "It's time for what you've all been waiting for... the class trial! Please assemble around the Fire Pit!" And just as quickly as they had turned on, the monitors shut themselves back off.

"Maaan..." Memento screwed up her lips in annoyance. "...Welp, better cover him up, at least. The others'll probably think I did it if they see the body mid-autopsy." Kotenage gratefully disappeared inside the storage shed momentarily, bringing out a plain sheet of fabric to lay over the deceased. "Alright, note to self: the pocketknives are sharp enough to pass for scalpels, but the screwdriver does not make a good aneurysm hook..."

I refrained from asking Memento what in Celestia's name she meant by "aneurysm hook" as the others slowly began to gather around. A few minutes later, and everyone was present.

"So, what? Are we gonna have the trial around the fire pit?" asked Soarin'.

"Ugh, like that 'Survivor' show?" Sugarcoat cringed. "Are we gonna vote with torches or something equally stupid?"

Suddenly, as if in response, the ground began to rumble. To our surprise, the concrete circle around the fire pit sank slowly until it was about a foot lower than ground level. The exposed earth was surrounded by slick metal.

"Is that... an elevator?" Flash asked.

"Sure looks like it," said Button. "And there's always an elevator leading to the Trial Room."

"D-Do we have to get on?" Silver whined. "T-The body is right b-behind us..." Everyone stared uncomfortably at the sheet-covered corpse, slowly staining the cloth with blood and bodily fluids as it laid near the edge of the elevator shaft.

"...I ain't movin' it," Indigo held up her hands.

"Just... just ignore it..." Sugarcoat looked away. "Right now, we need to focus on finding the killer... unfortunately."

"Ain't that a load of shit," Ocean muttered. "We really can't just let 'em go?"

"Not unless you wanna get shot full of holes," Mountain grimaced.

"Well... let's get this over with," Button motioned as he stepped onto the elevator. Sunset was the next to step aboard, a gaze of determination on her face. I watched as she stood there, trying to calm my nerves before I did the same.

This is it... not only has one of us been murdered, but now Monokuma's gonna make us try our best at the trial, and make us lose our chance at getting help... Celestia help me, what a terrible situation...

I had no choice. I stepped onto the elevator beside Sunset, and waited as the others soon followed. As soon as the last person stepped down onto the concrete, the floor rumbled and began sinking deep into the earth at a grinding pace. The sky above grew smaller and dimmer until the tunnel was almost completely dark, at which point the fire pit suddenly roared to life all on its own, nearly singeing those who had been sitting on its ledge just before. The deeper we traveled, the more the air around us moistened and warmed, filling my nose with sulfur. Soon the heat was sweltering, nearly painful, as if we were being condemned to the lowest pits of Tartarus.

What was going to happen next? Were we going to find out who the killer is, avenging Dr. Hooves' death, but then having our hopes of rescue executed before our eyes? Just how hard would Monokuma make us try to solve the case?

My mind was quickly lost within a maelstrom of conflicting emotions as we descended into the unknown.

Comments

[Dewdrops on the Grass]

Okay, here's my initial thoughts on first read:

According to Indigo and Ocean's testimony, they left the campfire around 3:00 AM, after Hooves would be dead. This plus the tarp and the location of the blood on the log suggests his body was covered by the tarp and was on the other side of the log. May very well have been where he was initially stabbed. This would go along with what Silver said about not seeing the body at first--if the body was covered by the tarp, there'd be no chance of seeing it.

This means the body was deliberately propped up to be seen after 5:00 AM, when Silver went to the pool area, or else she would've seen someone moving around. At this time the culprit must've also burnt the tarp in order to get rid of it.

The boning knife was explicitly mentioned as missing the night before, and looking back there's something interesting in the dialogue there. Button mentions having not found anything sharper than pizza cutters or what have you, which suggests he spent time in the kitchen, giving him an opportunity to pilfer the boning knife.

Button's testimony is inherently suspicious. Why put extra wood on the fire when it's 1:00 AM? Why not just wake them up enough to get them to go to bed? It feels like the act of someone trying to have people around who could potentially take the blame.

Silver's reaction to the body stands out as well. Like she was especially horrified by it, but why? Could be connected to the case, but it might be more hints of personal history to find out later.

But then there's the owl hoot from last night, suggesting a possible accomplice. I could see a reason for there to be an accomplice here, given that everyone was discussing having the culprit of the first trial successfully win, then go and try and get help. That could be enough to motive someone to assist in another person's murder. And... let's think about the way Sunset spoke to Button Mash. Her peppy speech stood out to me as a bit over the top. Like she was reassuring the person she worked with that he could succeed in deceiving everyone. Or maybe I'm just trying to see something that isn't there.

I'm going to have to think about this more after another read-through, but for now my prime suspect is Button Mash. He doth protest too much.

[RDDash]

"If the killer fools us all, they get to leave," she stared pointedly at us. "...They can go get help for the rest of us once they're free, while we just sit back and wait for that help to get here."

Why they always think that? In this type of situation people just want to escape and leave others behind in their own misery.

Don't forget that Monokubs are capable of doing and saying a lot of dumb things that will confuse people.

[Dewdrops on the Grass]

10710401
Well in this particular case the motive lends itself to this interpretation. The motive outright says even if the blackened wins, no one else dies. This means, if you look at things from a cold but logical perspective, it would make perfect sense for two or more people to work together, sacrifice someone for the group, and then fool everyone at the trial so the one getting away can get help. Killing the investigator makes the most sense to help accomplish this goal.

[RDDash]

10710819
I would have agreed with that, if not that now thanks to their own selfish attitude the culprit screwed everyone over for the rest of the game because the person with extremely useful talent dies first.

[Dewdrops on the Grass]

10710905
True. Killing the investigator makes sense in the short term but in the long term it sabotages everyone's chances. Which is why if this is what someone did, and they won the trial, they'd take time post trial to impress upon everyone hope important it is no one else dies.

Again, it's cold logic, but one person dying is a lot better than eleven. Or sixteen.

[superfun]

Aren't you excited to be a part of Danganronpa 4?

Wouldn't this technically be Danganronpa 5?
(obvious remark is obvious)

"If the killer fools us all, they get to leave," she stared pointedly at us. "...They can go get help for the rest of us once they're free, while we just sit back and wait for that help to get here."

I get the feeling that one way or the other, that won't happen.

[GRYFFINDOR123456]

love this. Hey, why does Kotenage shout?

[witegrlninja]

10716171
Appearance-wise, he's a cross between Nekomaru and Hifumi. He's a big boy with a big voice.