Torment and Lies (New Danganronpa V3 x OC)

[24] Misleading

Ichika and Shuichi first headed over to the hydraulic press. "The hydraulic press is down and there's blood in the area." Shuichi muttered to himself.

"The hydraulic press is controlled by those buttons up there, right?" Ichika pointed to the blue and grey panel. "If we use it to lift up the hydraulic press, we should be able to check the body."

"I... don't... really want to do that, though..."

Ichika sighed and gave him a knowing smile. "I don't want to either, but you need to do it. You have to keep pushing forward."

Shuichi nodded and walked up to the panel. "I should be able to use the 'up' button to raise the press and check the body..." He shivered. "...I don't want to see a crushed body, no matter who it is... but I have to do it."

"Don't worry, you can do this, Saihara-san. I believe in you." Ichika cheered.

Shuichi pressed the button. "...Huh? It's not moving?"

"Maybe it's just a malfunction? Try again." Ichika suggested.

Shuichi tried again but the press still wouldn't move. "Strange... it moved when we investigated it last time." Shuichi looked around and his eyes widened. "The power cord. It's cut!"

"Huh? It is!?" Ichika exclaimed.

"Without power... The press can't move." Shuichi hummed. "This can't be a coincidence. The power cord was cut on purpose..."

"Then it must be the work of the culprit!" Ichika finished.

Shuichi nodded in agreement. He looked back down at the cord when he noticed something strange. "Huh...?" He leaned in and took a closer look at something that was tangled in the wires. A brown piece of hair...? His eyes widened. "Th-This is...!"

"Saihara-san? Is everything okay?"

"..." Shuichi remained silent.

Ichika titled her head. "Did you find something?"

"No, don't worry about it." Shuichi rushed out, standing up quickly. "Anyway, we should take a closer look at the controls. There must be some kind of clue there..."

"O-kay!" Ichika nodded. The two students went to the control panel and took a closer look together.

Shuichi hummed. "In addition to the controls, there's an emergency stop button..."

"Well, I don't think it was used at all." Ichika said bluntly. "If the culprit was planning a murder, then they'd have no use for it."

"True... but what concerns me more... is the safety function."

"Oh yeah!" Ichika gasped. "This hydraulic press should have a safety function.'

"That's right. If the infrared sensor detects a living thing, the press stops automatically..."

"Theeeeeeen... Is the hydraulic press really the cause of death?"

Shuichi blinked in shock. "H-Huh?"

"Think about it. On the Monokuma file, it didn't specify what the cause of death was, right? So then was the press really the cause of death?"

Shuichi's eye's widened. "That... is a possibility."

Shuichi and Ichika then walked up to the press's side.

"This sleeve... it's sticking out of the press, so then the victim of this case must be..." Shuichi trailed off then shook his head. "No, it's too early to determine that."

Ichika tugged on Shuichi's sleeve like a child and pointed at Kaito's sleeve. "Look, Saihara-san! The sleeve has a single hole."

"A hole in the sleeve... What could that be?"