Danganronpa Kirigiri

Chapter 3: Murder at the Sirius Observatory 2, Part 4

"Ryuuichirou Kiba. He's a big name in the underworld. Right now, we're headed to a private observatory that he personally oversaw the construction on. Ain't that right, driver?" Inuzuka called over to the driver's seat. The driver, however, remained silent. Maybe his hands were tied by an order not to answer any questions.

"It said Sirius Observatory in the letter," said Amino. "I wonder what sort of place it is exactly. Perhaps you would be knowledgeable on that subject, Inuzuka-san..."

"You didn't even look into that before showing up, greenhorn? I guess I'll have to be the one to explain." Inuzuka didn't sound half as put-out as he was pretending to be. Apparently he was completely on board with Amino. "If you look at it from above, Sirius Observatory looks like a five-pointed star. Apparently, the telescope dome is in the part that makes the pentagon in the middle of it."

As much as Inuzuka was talking like he was an expert, I'd already learned all of this in my own investigation. If even I had been able to easily access an astronomy periodical article on the subject, then maybe all the other detectives were also just pretending that they didn't already know this.

"The name Sirius itself refers to an extremely bright star—the brightest star in Canis Major, and one of the vertices of the Winter Triangle. But actually, this star—"

"Is actually what?" humored Amino.

"It looks like one star, but it's actually two—it's what they call a binary star."

"S-Say what?!"

"The especially bright one is called Sirius A, and the smaller one is called Sirius B. Sirius B is blocked out by Sirius A's light, so it wasn't discovered until telescope technology progressed far enough."

"If Sirius Observatory was named that way... then could it be that it was also constructed with two buildings?"

"Sharp of you to notice, Amino-kun. That's right—just like the stars, Sirius Observatory has two star-shaped buildings, with one of them bigger than the other. Sirius A, the bigger one, is the main building, and Sirius B, the smaller one, is a separate building that serves as the entryway. If there's one thing you can tell for certain from how strange the owner made the buildings, it's that he's a total loon."

"That's just what I'd expect from a Class 3 detective! Who could have thought that you could do such exhaustive research prior to your arrival?"

"I know, I know." Inuzuka smiled in satisfaction.

His self-congratulatory explanation continued on from there. Most of the information had been written in the periodical, so I ignored it, gazing out the window at the pure white scenery. It had been probably over an hour since we'd started driving. It was snowing pretty hard outside, and the forest was covered in white. As we drove down the narrow mountain road, the snowy branches formed an arch overhead.

Abruptly, the van stopped, right in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey driver, what's the deal?"

"We have arrived at our destination," said the driver, turning to face us.

I peered out the window. The road was surrounded by trees, but there wasn't a single building in sight.

"What do you mean? Quit joking around!" Amino shouted.

"Are you saying we need to walk from here?" asked Enbi, in a low voice.

"Yes. Ooe-sama has provided instructions along those lines. If I am to drop you all off here, there will be arrangements made for your return."

"There's no reason to drop us off here. You'll be inconveniencing Inuzuka-sensei as well." Amino had lost his own volume control. "I get it, I'll pay you, so just bring us all the way to the Sirius Observatory. Just go on and reset the meter."

"I regret to inform you that I am unable to fulfill such a request."

"You're not going to let me pay for your taxi service? Ohohoh, really? What kind of taxi driver are you? Inuzuka-sensei, what do you think we should do with this here fellow? I think we should teach him what happens when you insult a detective..."

"Now, just calm down, greenhorn. It looks like our client doesn't want anyone other than the detectives getting up close. As detectives, it's part of our job to intuit how our client feels when they pull something like this." Inuzuka smiled, self-satisfied, grabbing his bag and opening the door. And so, he left the first footprints in the pristine white snow.

"You had a close call just now," Amino spat at the driver, as he also got out of the van.

Enbi followed, wordlessly stepping out of the vehicle. He adjusted his sunglasses on his face, hoisting his small overnight bag onto his shoulder.

"C'mon, we'd better get out too," I prompted Kirigiri.

She stood up, bag in hand, but paused on the step out to peer over at the driver and ask, "How did Yoshizono Ooe give you your directions?"

"Can you clarify what you mean by... how?" asked the driver in return.

"Did you meet them in person?"

"No, I simply received my directions over the phone. I have not met them in person. I also had this minivan provided and pointed out for me."

"What was their voice like?"

"What... was their voice like... I judged it to be a standard male voice, but I could not tell you anything further than that."

"I see," said Kirigiri, clipped, before she got out of the van as if nothing had happened.

What was all that about? Did she want to know who the proxy was? Either way, it seemed as if the driver was only taking a job and following orders.

I was the last one to get out of the van. And then, with all five detectives out, it heartlessly drove back down the snowy road, leaving only tire tracks that quickly disappeared under the falling snow. We were left completely deserted out in the mountains.