Danganronpa: Despair to Prodigy's

Investigation #6

(Bell POV)

Saying I was shocked would be an understatement. I was right, Ayanokoji most definitely was alive. Keyword was. 

Somehow, someway, he had been killed again. For real this time.

"This is...Insane." I heard Shinobu mutter.

I quickly flicked a switch in my brain, refusing to allow myself to start thinking negatively for right now.

"Everyone, let's inspect the body and solve this murder. Doing so can-"

"Can make us revive him?" Noell cut in, "Bell...The only reason we even thought we had a chance in the first place was because we figured that Ayanokoji could do something. There's...No way everyone here could outsmart the mastermind."

"But that doesn't mean we should take this lying down right?!"

"..."

Everyone just adverted their eyes, all except two. Subaru and Kyoko were the only ones who looked like they had a little fight left. Kyoko looked like she was gone though. Her demeanor and her way of standing already showed that while she would keep fighting, she knew it was a pointless fight.

Subaru though, his eyes still burned bright. Not to say he wasn't shocked, but he most definitely thought there was still a chance.

And if not for Subaru, I don't think we would have made it. If not for his next words, all of us would have fallen deep into the depth of despair.

"What are you guys even thinking about?" He started with an angry tone, "If you guys want to give up, then what about everyone else who had died? Those that were murdered while trying to escape, or those who were killed to try and get their freedom back? Do you want to just give up because we lost our smartest man? We still have 5 very capable people here! Noell, Shinobu, Bell, Kyoko, and me. All 5 of us are special, and all five of us can escape. If you were to give up, meaning dying, then do it with a memory that will make Ayanokoji and the others proud watching. If you can't do that much...Then none of you here are ultimates at all."

The air shifted. The looks of despair from a moment ago quickly turned to that shame. 

"Even if you don't have much faith in yourself, then trust other people. And if you can't trust everyone else, then at the very least trust me. I will take on this burden for you all of you. If we still manage to die and you want me sent to the deepest pits of hell, then I'll go with a smile on my face knowing I did the damn best I could!"

Then silence. There wasn't really something you could read in the air. At least, not with my level of skill.

"...Very well then." Shinobu said, speaking with a new light in her eyes, "Shall I inspect the body then?"

Subaru and I both let out smiles. That was the only cue she needed.

I walked up to Subaru while she was doing that, while Kyoko and Noell just stood there still in a daze.

"Sorry for making you say that stuff yourself. I...didn't have the courage to bring up the others from the past."

It would seem I still had a lot more room to grow as a hero and a person before I could be someone as amazing as Subaru.

Subaru had the speech I wanted to say, but he actually managed to put it into words.

"I just spoke about how important it was for all of us to work as a team. You don't need to thank me for this."

"I am finished." Shinobu said with a troubled look, "In truth...He has simply died. His heart has just stopped working."

"There's blood dripping down his mouth." Kyoko spoke, it seemed that those words from Subaru still hadn't affected her at all, "He has clearly died of poison of some sort."

"Yes, that is what I think as well...But there's no sign of poison in his body. The Monokuma file spoke not of the cause of death either, meaning this is likely a major key to finding the culprit."

"Let's all split up for right now then," I said, everyone's eyes turning on me. "I doubt this information here is all we have to go off of."

Everyone agreed and took off.

The first place I went to was the garbage room. The reason why was simple, I had already assumed that if Ayanokoji was anywhere, he would have been in the garbage room. When I went into the room, my suspicions were all but confirmed. There was a tile on the floor removed, and down the hole where the tile covered, was a long, long ladder.

I then started to go through the scenario in my head as I understood it so far.

He managed to escape the trash room and climbed all the way up. Once he reached the top, he went towards the other floors because that was where we likely were, and then he just died.

Something didn't sit right with that, and as I mauled over it for a little while, I couldn't find a solution. I decided to go ahead and leave the room.

I reached the outer hallway, and my heart stopped.

'...Where's Ayanokoji?'

His body was gone.

'Did the killer move his body? Did Monokuma move his body? Was...he somehow still alive?'

All these thoughts rushed through my head, and I couldn't land on which one was the most optimal.

Then the announcement came on, and it was like a death penalty to me. Everyone else would be in the school area and not by the dorms, so they wouldn't have known that the body has been moved. 

I eased my nerves and started thinking of how to best explain the situation to the others when I had to during the trial.

Just then Subaru ran into the room, sweat dripping from his face from running for a while.

"W-What's wrong?!"

He then looked at where Ayanokoji's body was and smiled.

"I caught their ass."

He then pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. A huge explosion happened on what seemed like the 5th floor. It was likely the furthest place away based on the sound

"W-What did you just-"

"I'll explain it later. Anyway though, I have our killer." He said while tapping the remote against his head.

He then turned to go into the trial room. I quickly followed him as well. When we arrived, everyone looked at us with prying eyes.

"Do you guys know what that explosion was?" Noell asked

I looked over at Subaru to see how he planned to make this, and he shook his head no. "Sorry, I heard it and ran over to check on Bell just in case that was a distraction or anything."

"I see..." Kyoko said as she continued staring at Subaru.

However, on the other hand, Shinobu seemed completely shaken by the explosion. She tried her best not to hide it, but it would almost seem like she was holding back anger from it.

We all then hopped into the elevator, and it took us all down.

Again and again, down we always end up going. I'm confident though that we can win. I took one last look at the photo that we had gotten as a hint. Ayanokoji still wasn't there, yet I couldn't help but think something else still felt off about the image.

I had no choice though but to accept it as it was, and I put it back in my pocket, without my noticing, Kyoko was observing me silently.

When the elevator landed, we all got off and went to our spots.

We had to solve two different cases for Ayanokoji. The first one to prove his innocence, and the second to catch his murderer instead. Maybe just solving one is enough to solve the other, or maybe even with all of our brains put together we may not find the answer.

But as Subaru has said, if I end up dying today, I want to make sure I go out knowing I did my absolute best.