Danganronpa: Song Of Despair

Chapter 2: Investigation

His pale blue eyes were wide open, fear and agony clear in his still expression. Jirou laid in a pool of thick crimson blood, a steak knife still clearly sticking up from his chest. He was undeniably dead.

I couldn't believe it. Who could do this... who could be so heartless to kill not one, but two of their classmates?

We don't know that yet.

I backed away, and instead approached Orochi. He sat on the ground, back against the bar. Blood seeped down from the back of his head, a small trickle leaving his mouth. His eyes were closed, and apart from the blood, he could appear to be sleeping. Hesitantly, I moved my hand to his neck, checking for a pulse.

Nothing.

I stepped back, and that's when I noticed Orochi's head wound was incredibly fresh- blood was still pouring from it down the side of the bar.

I turned to Haru, who was still kneeled over on the floor. I felt a pang of sympathy for him, I knew how close he was to Jirou. But still, I approached him.

"Haru... did you see anything?" I asked him quietly.

Haru did nothing for a moment, as if he didn't hear me, until finally he opened his mouth to speak. No sound came out, and instead he simply shook his head.

"Okay... I'll get the others." I stated, before backing away, still in shock, and left the building.

~*~

"T-two of them?!" Natsumi exclaimed with a gasp. "I thought one murder was bad enough! What the fuck?!"

The monitors turned on, and Monokuma appeared on the screen. "A corpse has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a class trial will be held." He paused, letting out a laugh. "Actually, two corpses! The others took longer to kill so much, you guys are so much fun!"

The others...? I wondered, but shook my head. No, that's not what's important right now.

Monokuma appeared in the room, handing out the new Monokuma Files. "Here ya go, the Monokuma File! Investigate as much as you can!" He quickly left after everyone got the tablet-like device.

I looked to Jikkō, who was calmly looking around, before turning to the group. "I think we should all do our own investigations this time. We didn't have enough time working together last time to get enough clues, if Momo hadn't confessed...."

"You're right." Michio agreed, "we'll investigate on our own and go over everything at the trial."

There were a few murmurs of agreement, and immediately everyone got to work. First, I looked at the Monokuma File. Jirou's cause of death was a stab to the heart, and Orochi's was a blow to the back if his head. Both would have died quickly, so at least they hadn't suffered like Ichiro. I took notice that the times of death weren't stated, and that it was 1:15pm now.

I put away the file, and first headed to Orochi's body. I assumed that he was killed after Jirou, as his wound was obviously fresh. Looking over his body, I saw that there were no other wounds, but his clothing was disheveled. Was there a struggle?

The bar Orochi was leaning on had blood on the edge of the counter above him. I guessed that was the murder weapon- the bar itself.

I walked over to Jirou's body next. He was laying on the floor, his clothes slightly disheveled as well but not as much. The obvious murder weapon was still sticking out of his chest. There wasn't much else to see- as I looked him over, there were no other visible wounds.

It was still setting in that Orochi and Jirou were really dead, they would never wake up again. I pushed the thought aside; now was not the time. The class trial could start whenever Monokuma wished it, so I needed to focus on investigating.

Next to Orochi's body was a knocked over bar stool. I guessed it was pushed down during the struggle. I remembered before coming here, I heard-

Before I could finish my thought, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Satchiko holding up a folded piece of paper. "Kazuki, you're gonna wanna see this!"

"What is it?" I asked, and she handed me the paper. I unfolded it to meet neat handwriting, and my eyes scanned the words.

I've noticed that the memory Monokuma showed you has been bothering you a lot, at least I think that's what it is. Keeping it all inside will only make things worse, so if you want to let it out you can talk to me. It would help, I promise. I'll be at the new restaurant at 12:30 tomorrow, come if you want to talk.

Jirou Takahashi

"So... they met here." I stated after reading it. I didn't know if this would be much help, as they were both dead.

"Yeah, not just that though!" Satchiko exclaimed. "We now know what time they came here! So the murder had to happen between 12:30 and... what time did you discover the body?"

"It should've been around 1:10."

"So between 12:30 and 1:10. Wow, it pretty much just happened then!" Satchiko said. "It tells us even more than that too! But I'll leave that for the trial."

There was a moment of silence before Satchiko grinned. "It feels like we're real detectives! Well, I'll finish up here, and maybe you can check out their rooms."

I nodded, "alright, good idea. See ya later."

I was about to leave the building when Michio approached me. "Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Not at all," I replied with a small smile. I had been somewhat avoiding him since the first trial, since he was the one who called out Momo, but I realized it wasn't his fault at all.

The two of us made our way back to the hotel, and were mostly quiet on the way there. Once we were finally at the second floor of the hotel, I went up to Orochi's room first as it was closer. I tried turning the handle, but the door was locked.

I let out a small sigh. "Looks like we'll have to call over Monokuma..."

"There's no need for that." Michio said, taking a misshapen paperclip out of his pocket and kneeling in front of the door. Within seconds he had it open.

I stared at him in slight shock. "You know how to pick a lock...?"

The blond smirked at me, standing up straight again. "Guitar playing isn't my only talent, Kazuki."

We headed into the room, and the first thing I noticed was that it was a mess. Clothes were thrown everywhere and the bed wasn't made, it seemed like Orochi hadn't cared much for organization.

We started searching through the mess, and I began by looking through the provided dresser. All I could find was more clothes, nothing that could be a clue. After searching some more and finding nothing, I turned to Michio. "Find anything?"

Michio shook his head. "Nothing but signs of poor hygiene."

We headed out of the room, and went to Jirou's next. Michio picked the lock once more, and we went inside. It was much neater than Orochi's room, but again we found nothing.

I walked out with a sigh. "Where else could we look?" I asked Michio after closing the door behind us.

He shrugged, but before he could speak the monitors switched on. Monokuma appeared on the screen, and I knew what he was going to say before he had a chance to speak.

"It's time for the class trial!"