Danganronpa: Locked Doors of Despair

Ch.5 Deadly Life Part 1: Of Cobwebs, Calendars, and Cascades

[A/N] Thank you so much for being patient with me, guys. Everything should be in line now, so expect things to be coming.

Gou

I feel nauseous. You know, you'd expect that the more often you find a dead body, the less emotional impact it'd have on you, but it's not like that. Not for me, at least. My heart feels like some sort of corpse that someone keeps reanimating and forcing through hell over and over. I should never have agreed to come to the one-month program.

Agh. I'm being selfish. I need to be thinking of the others right now. From the way Azumi and Ren look, you'd assume they'd never find happiness again, and everyone else is almost just as horrified. Tozen was our caretaker, the one who was always up earlier than the rest of us making breakfast with a smile, always so happy just to make us feel good. And it seemed to me that, recently, he'd weathered through something really important and come out... different... more at peace.

Monokuma slides down the rope ladder. "Well, well, well! It sure took a while, but I see we've truly returned to form! I'm proud of you, my little chickadees! You're growing up!" He pretends to weep. I'm so done.

"Just give us the damn file and get out of here," I sigh.

"Woah, no need to be so rude! Oh well. Here ya go! It's the Monokuma File!"

"The victim is Tozen Chiba. His body was discovered in the Warehouse. The estimated time of death is 1:30 pm. Injuries include a cracked skull and a broken neck."

TRUTH BULLET: MONOKUMA FILE

I hold my breath for a few seconds. I don't see a definitive cause of death, and that's kind of troublesome. "Okay, guys. I think we should do things like last time. We should draw straws," I suggest.

"Laddie, there're se'en o' us," Wakumi points out, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"So what? We make one group of three," I emphasize.

She shrugs noncommittally. "Whate'er'll make ye barnacle-suckers feel better 'bout investigatin' works fer me."

"Mhm. We haven't lasted this long just to lose now. We need to make the investigation as problemless as possible. Is that a word?" Fujiko asks.

"I-Indeed, although the term problem-free tends to be favored in its place," Azumi answers, seemingly trying to distract herself.

"Let's go," Ren nods, tugging at his glove and biting his lip. We all follow him out and make our way to the kitchen, where I prep straws (in full view of everyone, so they see I'm not rigging anything) and hold them out. There's a thick, palpable silence as each person comes up to me and makes their selection. It feels like the auditory equivalent of wading through cobwebs.

"What's a pretty word for cobweb?" I whisper to Azumi as she draws a straw.

She gives the faintest of smiles and whispers back, "Gossamer."

Gossamer. That feels like a Sayuri word. I bite the inside of my cheek to chase away any tears that threaten to form.

The groups are formed: Ren and Fujiko, Chimon and Azumi, and Wakumi, Yuu, and me.

"Aye. One question."

"Yes?" I ask.

"What're we gonna do 'bout guard duty? If we're paranoid enough ta go outta our ways n' make sure there're no bad pairs, we can't just neglect the crime scene n' let it get tampered with."

"Umm..." I think for a few seconds. "I guess the group that examines the body can play guard duty afterwards."

"Oughta be us," she immediately interrupts, snapping her eyepatch.