Fanganronpa: Heaven Envy

The True Nature of the Toxicologist

-Chapter 2_Part 8-

INVESTIGATE!

"Quick question," Akemi asked the tall, green-haired boy. They had gotten everyone that didn't want to investigate out, leaving Themselves, Daichi, Usagi, and Touro. The engineer looked around the room, "Were there any knives discovered?"

"Yeah, just one," Orochi replied, "It's over there, and according to the Monokuma File, it matches most of the cut wounds on Osoro's body. Why?" Akemi nodded waved him over.

"Over here, I'll show y--" He was cut off when he bumped into a smaller girl.

"Oh, dear! Please don't be-- *gasp*!" It was Ahaki. She rushed right to the closet, falling to her knees. Her body shook. Touro knelt down and tried to comfort her, but she gently pulled away from him. He stood up with his hands in defense. Akemi chose to ignore her and led Orochi into the TechEd lab.

"I was exploring earlier, and I found this drawer," He opened the knife drawer from earlier, "When I found it, two knives were missing, now there's only one missing,"

"Must be the one at the scene," Orochi said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He picked up the one Akemi identified as previously missing and studied it, "Oh! There's some fiber stuck in the handle," He said. He then, very carefully, pulled it out. It seemed to be a piece of purple string.

"That must be from the cloth on her hips," Akemi pointed out. Orochi finished his sentence, realizing where he was going with it.

"The killer must have used this one to cut the cloth from something," He said. Akemi nodded.

"Exactly what I was thinking," He replied. Orochi looked the smaller boy up and down.

"Listen, man, if this is all, please let me finish the investigation," Akemi cocked a brow.

"What? Why?" He questioned. Orochi glanced away nervously.

"Because," The toxicologist started, "The trial's gonna start soon and Monokuma will punish anyone who shows up wet, remember? So you need to go shower," He gestured to Akemi's body. The engineer looked down and remembered, feeling bile in the back of his throat.

"Oh, yeah. You're right," Akemi replied. Orochi nodded.

"So you do that. I'll write everything down and tell you at the trial, 'kay?" He said. Akemi nodded.

"Sure," He began walking out, but stopped before he left, "You're actually a pretty nice guy, huh Orochi?"

"Sh-shut up! I just don't to die o-obviously..." Orochi replied defensively. Akemi laughed and nodded.

"Of course,"

Akemi took the quickest shower of his life in the large gym showers and rushed out just in time for the announcement.

"LADIES, GENTS, AND ALL REMAINING VARIANTS! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE MULTIPURPOSE ROOM FOR THE SECOND TRIAL OF OUR KILLING GAME SEMESTER!"

The brunette sighed and steadied himself, making his way to the aforementioned multipurpose room.

He was almost the last there, followed only by Tatsuya, Yutio, and a very depressed-looking Taro.

Yutio stood at their small, candy-covered podium, gnawing on their fingers worriedly. Taro glanced down at them and noticed, breaking out of his stupor only to help them.

Everyone seemed either annoyed, sad, or both. Akemi gulped.

Second class trial... Let's end this now!