Danganronpa: Locked Doors of Despair

Ch.5 Deadly Life Part 4: Of Demonstration, Desperation, and Disclosure

Fujiko

The thing is, yeah, for sure, the traitor's in on it, I totally, totally buy it. But, like, how are we supposed to accuse anyone of that?! We've known each other for half a year now, and we've helped each other through a lot of awful shit! How heartbreaking would it have to be to learn that, after all that time, someone thinks you might've been conspiring and lying to the rest of the group all along?

"Nobody's gonna make any moves? I was expectin' someone ta try n' run a rig. Aright then. Ini, mini, miney, Azumi," Wakumi points, snapping at her eyepatch.

She blinks, stunned, and then draws her eyebrows together in bewilderment. "I-- Excuse me?"

"Ye're one o' the folks who knew the laddie's schedule. Ye coulda ambushed 'im in the gym, n' ye got the physical prowess ta pull off chloroformin' 'im. The murder also made use o' yer own equipment, n' ye, generally speakin', got a lot o' alone time with the laddie with which ye coulda used the flashlight doohickey on 'im. N' outta e'eryone, ye're the one 'e's most likely ta tell about gettin' that note." She crosses one leg over the other and gives her a threatening glare.

"But I--!"

"N' don't gimme any o' that, 'Oh, but I love 'im!' bs. If there's a traitor floatin' around causin' problems, we can't well rely on 'feelin's' now, can we?"

"Jesus Christ Wakumi, how are we supposed to hear ourselves think over the sound of your voice?" I snark, trying to give Azumi enough time to gather her thoughts.

"Like YE think any, wench!" she hisses back at me. She then takes several deep breaths. "Look, I know that the person who makes the first accusation is ne'er a particularly popular person fer a bit. But I'm just tryna get ta the truth o' the matter. We need ta address any suspicions without relyin' on pure emotion. If the lassie's got proof otherwise, I'll listen ta it 'bout as fairly as I can."

"Hey, Yuu," Gou mentions right afterwards. "So, about those bloody prints we found on the stepladder--"

"No," Yuu cuts him off. He looks really angry, all of the sudden! "I'm not gonna answer that question."

"You've gotta!" Monokuma sings with an obnoxious sneer. "Obstruction of evideeeeence!"

He grits his teeth. "Fine. Ask the question."

"If the bloody prints on the stepladder don't look like shoe prints or fingerprints, is it-- just hypothetically!-- possible for them to be footprints from bare feet?" he asks, holding his hands out in front of him in a gesture probably meant to calm Yuu down. Being right in the middle of those two is hella uncomfy right now.

He flexes his fingers a couple of times. The tiny squishing sounds of the leather punctu-- punctuate his shaky breaths. "On a purely hypothetical note, yes, maybe they could be bare footprints. I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to apologize for, Yuu," Azumi pipes up. Her voice is small.

"Guys, what the fuck?! She passed out when she saw Tozen dead! That's not a thing that happens if you're not shocked and surprised!" Ren shouts out.

After a quick silence, Yuu starts to hyperventilate. "Okay, okay, okay, okay, I'm really, really sorry, and I really hate doing this, but I'm supposed to be the reliable one since I'm the one who's positively not the killer, so I just have to ask this even if I don't believe the implications."

"Dude, what are you even talking about? Are you gonna try and claim that it's a fake? You saw her!"

"No! No, it wasn't a fake, but... what you told me, when she fainted, is that I needed to help with her blood pressure! Isn't that... a little familiar?"