Danganronpa: Frozen Mayhem

3-4: Deadly Life (Investigation)

Seishiro stumbled over himself, falling sideways in an attempt to put some distance between him and the body.

"Holy crap," hissed Yuji, having finished his ascent upstairs. "That's...she's not dead, is she?!"

"What do you think," glared Komi, voice cutting into them like daggers. "I would've thought the body announcement or copious amount of blood might have tipped you off?"

"Y-you did it, right?" Katsumi shouted, pointing a finger at Komi. "Weren't you trying to find and kill the mastermind?!"

Seishiro pulled himself up, still trying to avoid looking at the body. He didn't think he'd ever get used to it. "But...Ichisada wasn't the mastermind, was she? The announcement did mention a trial, and if she was the mastermind then we wouldn't have to do one."

"Didn't you hear her before? She didn't know who the mastermind was! She was probably guessing," accused a distraught Katsumi.

"Hey, don't accuse her based on nothing," shouted Amaya, getting between her and Komi.

"I'm right here, you don't have to talk like I'm not," said Komi bluntly. "And no, I didn't kill her. You have to take my word for it, and I'll prove it. Motive alone isn't the only piece of evidence this place can have."

In an unsynchronised group, the remaining five thundered up the first floor stairs. Seishiro cleared a way for them to see, dreading the reactions.

There were some yells, some hushed whispers, but the person who reacted the most explosively this time was - surprisingly - Takehiko. He stared at Hitomi's body for a moment - not at it, but almost through it - as if coming to terms that this was real, this was what happened. He turned sharply on his heel and roughly shoved past Misaki, who yelled at him in frustration.

"Tell Monokuma he's not going to have to prepare an execution," he spat. "I'm going to rip apart whoever did this, personally."

"What's your problem?!" Misaki shouted, storming over. "You're the only one who's allowed to be distraught over a murder? What the hell were you saying last investigation, to Katsumi-chan? That she had to stop being emotional and instead start investigating? What are you doing now?! You're the one being emotional now, aren't you?"

"Unlike her, I plan to actually find the killer through the investigation and trial. I will find the culprit and make sure they're dead. You've done nothing these past trials but hurl groundless accusations at anyone that you don't like. You're a hindrance to everybody." It was obvious that he was struggling to keep his voice even and his outburst at bay.

Misaki gritted her teeth. "You finally think it's okay to be emotional now that someone important to you is dead? Was she even important to you? It's time someone called you out on your bullcrap."

"You're the one who's hypocritical and judgemental. You're absolutely worthless, and you've made an enemy of me for no reason. You're a bully who refuses to see her faults."

With a wordless, aggravated yell, Misaki closed the distance between them and slapped him hard across his left cheek. Takehiko didn't flinch, only turning his head to the side a little, to display the faint mark left behind, just visible above the mask covering his lower face.

A moment passed.

"Don't-" began Keiji, but he was cut off as Takehiko grabbed Misaki's wrist and twisted it, pulling her roughly inwards. She shouted and brought her heeled boot down on his foot, hard. Keiji immediately dove between them, trying to pry off Takehiko's vice-like grip.

And after that, the scene devolved into chaos. Amaya tackled Takehiko, which made him stumble a little, Komi joining in to try and restrain him. Misaki was yelling wildly, and pelted a makeup brush from the bag at her waist at him using her free hand, before being grabbed by Etsuko. Yuji wrenched the next brush she was about to throw out of her hand, but ended up being elbowed in the neck.