danganronpa - deluded | fanganronpa

[ chapter 1 - to investigate or not? ]

"Oh my God..." Shinako muttured, face pale. "I-Is Ikue..."

Bing bong bing bong!

The loudspeakers around the fair burst to life.

"Fucking finally!" Hejjkuma shouted. "I thought you were all gonna die of old age! Shit!"

While he sounded relieved, Hoggokuma sounded close to sobbing. "I... I'm sad to inform all of you that a body has been discovered in the Ultimate Graffiti Artist's arcade..."

Within three seconds, Isamu was already in the arcade, his shoes loudly pitter-pattering against the sidewalk and letting everyone know beforehand that he was on his way. "What in all things pure and holy- oh. Oh dear..."

Kouta came in soon after, Tokihiko following quickly behind. "No, no, no- who is it?! Who's dead?!"

"Ikue," Rei deadpanned.

Kouta rushed in through the curtain, hitting his burned hand in the process, and dropped right next to the girl's lifeless body. "She can't be dead! I was supposed to protect her- so why is-"

"Wooow, what a sad state of affairs," Naoki huffed, "that bitch got what she deserved."

"Ikue didn't deserve this, you sicko!" Shinako argued through tears. "Nobody deserves this! Not even Eiko!"

(Speaking of Eiko, where had she and Mioko even been this whole time? They weren't in the arcade...)

Compared to everyone else who was either crying, in shock, or angry, Tokihiko seemed oddly calm.

Then, very slowly, he raised his hands and started clapping.

"Marvelous..." he muttered before breaking out in full-on laughter. "The killing game has begun! Oh, what an absolutely marvelous sight!"

"M-Marvelous?" Raizo asked softly. He looked paler than Shinako did - the only reason he wasn't panicking was because Banri was rubbing his back softly and facing him away from the body. "I-Is that a bad thing?"

"No! It's gratifying! Cogenial! Beautifully sterling!" Tokihiko cheered. "This will be the most genial phenomenon I have ever beared corroborator to!"

"Now I'm... more confused..." Raizo murmured.

"Don't worry about him, he's being a massive dick," Naoki complained, "seriously, dude. Something's wrong with your fucking head."

Tokihiko didn't reply.

Hoggo (Hejji?) Kuma popped up, holding a small device. "Hey guys. Sorry about the murder... we decided to help you out with the HoggoGuide. It's a pamphlet with all the basic information about the murder so you're ready to investigate. The rules of the class trial will be explained when you get there."

"Do we really need to investigate?" Rei asked, snatching the pamphlet and shooing the hedgehog away. "We already know who the killer is, correct?"

"Um... we do?" Kouta asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's either Banri or Tokihiko, clearly," she scoffed, "one has no alibi. As for the other one, we found the body in his arcade and it was hidden behind a curtain."

While everyone else argued, Akira took the time to clear her head and read the HoggoGuide.

[ INVESTIGATION - START! ]

The victim is Ikue Enomoto. The time of death is estimated to be around 8:30 P.M. The victim suffered a single blow to the back of the head, resulting in instant death.

[ TRUTH BULLET - HoggoGuide No. 1 ]

"So she died from blunt force trauma...?" Akira murmured. "Interesting."

"Everyone, listen up!" Kouta announced. "As much as I hate to admit it, one of us is a killer. Nobody can investigate alone - if I want to protect you kids, I need to make sure nobody hides evidence. Rei and I are partners. Everyone else find a partner."

Raizo immediately ran over to Banri, hugging the taller man's arm. Banri laughed and ruffled his hair. "Well, looks like you don't think I did it. That's pretty rad."

"Of course not!" Raizo shouted back. "Y-You... are really nice to me... even though I'm slow when I talk... you wouldn't kill someone."

Rei rolled her eyes.

Chiemi and Shinako partnered up, as expected, though Akira doubted they'd get any work done.

So that left Tokihiko, Isamu, Naoki, and Jutaro? Great. They were all bad, but at least Isamu was sane. He seemed to notice her staring because he walked over and declared them investigating buddies.

"Whoever this killer is..." Isamu stated with a huff, "they ruined the show. No way am I letting them get away with that."

It'd make more sense for you to want to avenge our dead classmate, but alright...

"...This is rude, but can you check out the body for me? I'm only askin' this because you're the one of the tougher missies here, you see, you see-"

"I got it, Isamu."

-

The two had started on the body. It was difficult to look at - especially knowing her tiny bit of concern was now justified. Still, she swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to continue.

Her head wound looked new and hard - it was still bleeding. Akira moved some of her hair to the side to examine it.

"Well, there are no other wounds," Akira noted, "so she didn't struggle. It seems to me someone surprised her and killed her instantly."

[ TRUTH BULLET - Head Wound ]

"So that means only one person knows who the killer is, right, right?" Isamu asked, somewhat sadly, "and that's gotta be the jerk who did this, you see."

"Yeah. Ikue probably didn't even know who killed her..." Akira murmured, "...that's why we need to find out. So she can be in peace."

Isamu nodded.

Akira continued to look at Ikue's body - something was bothering her. What was up with the blood on her outfit? If she had been hit on the back of the head, blood wouldn't get on her sleeves and the bottom of her dress unless the killer grabbed her there.

"Akira," Isamu was holding Ikue's sleeve. "look. There's a handprint on her sleeve."

"Oh. Nice find, Isamu!"

That doesn't explain the other bloodstains, though...

[ TRUTH BULLET - Handprint on Sleeve ]

[ TRUTH BULLET - Bloodstains on Ikue ]

Ah, none of this is making sense so far. The killer surprised her and killed her, yet there was a handprint on her sleeve? Why would they even grab it? Why are there bloodstains in odd patterns all over her?

-

All of these questions and more will [not] be answered in part 2 of the investigation!

Place your bets here if you're feeling confident, though it's a bit hard to with 4 pieces of evidence :V