Danganronpa Kirigiri

Chapter 7 : Daily Life, Part 2

"What do you mean?"

"The Victims' Catharsis Committee-we can't just leave them be! The way Asakura-san was talking, it sounds like lots of other games like that are happening. If that's true, we'd be turning a blind eye to a criminal organization."

"Yui-oneesama... You really do intend to be a hero through and through, don't you?"

I was actually a little happy to hear that she was still going to call me onee-sama. Once we'd left the crime scene, I had even thought that our relationship might have reset completely-but apparently not.

"Those who aim to play the hero are almost always the first to die."

"So you mean they put their life on the line," I replied with pride. "I have the resolve to risk my life as a detective, too. You don't own the rights to that one."

"I suppose..." Kirigiri looked up at me. Her eyes were right in front of mine.

"What's wrong? Does it make you anxious?"

"No." Kirigiri quickly shook her head, before hesitantly continuing, "Ever since that day, I've been thinking about the detective Inuzuka."

"A detective who solves his own crimes, huh? Just despicable."

"To me, a detective has always been... a disciple of the fixed and unwavering truth. So I took pride in being a detective. However..." There, she paused, and shut her mouth abruptly, as if chastising herself for saying too much.

"It's okay. You can tell me," I said.

Her gaze meandered for a moment before finally looking back up at me. Those anxious, entreating eyes were more weak and fleeting of an expression than she'd ever shown me before. "Detectives are not absolute... I had neglected that obvious fact far too much. I was simply a little surprised to realize it," she said, and ducked her head.

I ignored the girls who were peering over at us, clearly wanting to say something, and instead I set my hand on Kirigiri's head. "To me, you were nothing short of an angel who had descended with the truth. I was only able to return to my daily life because you were there."

"Daily life..." Kirigiri murmured, parroting the phrase as if she was unfamiliar with the term, before falling silent.

"Are you free after school today? There's somewhere I want to go, so do you want to come with?"

"Somewhere you want to go?"

"The Detective Library. The key to unlocking the secrets of the Victims' Catharsis Committee might be in there."

After a long silence, Kirigiri nodded.

"Then let's meet back here after school."

I left before I could even see her acknowledge what I had said, heading out through the front door. The middle school girls parted to let me through.

"A date-it's a date," I told them, and they squealed in shrill reply. I heard their voices behind me as I went back to my own school building.

I returned to that same entrance after school, and found Kirigiri sitting on the corner of the stairs, reading a book. I stopped abruptly to observe her. Her eyes ran over the words with enthusiasm. Her face from the side looked so innocent that I could never tell just by looking at her that she was a detective who had solved a bloody murder case. She looked perfectly like a page in a picture book, sitting there after school reading a book as other students hurried home all around her.

Kirigiri noticed my gaze on her, and looked up at me. "Were you watching me?"

"Aahh, sorry." I ran up to her. "You were just so cute."

"You like to tease, don't you?"

"What are you reading that you like so much? Wait, don't tell me! It's Soji Shimada's new work, right?"

"No. It's a notebook." She showed me the black cover of the notebook. Oh yeah, now that she mentions it, I did see her with that before. She stood up from her step, patting the dirt off of the back of her skirt. "Everything I learned about detectives from Grandfather is written in here."

"I'm amazed that even at a time like this, all you can think about is research."

"This is my daily life."

"Right, well, considering where we're going, it might be for the best to brace ourselves."