Danganronpa: String Theory (DrV3)

3.17 - Intro to Investigations

A/N: The above art is my own work and for my own use only!

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With the wet photographs at hand and spring to my step, I push open the door to the Ultimate Maid's lab and shove my left glove in my pocket along with my right glove. Kokichi follows me in, bursting into a flood of dramatic fake tears behind me as soon as we're among the others of our group. Truth be told, he took the punch a whole lot better than I thought he would. Sure, he wasn't exactly expecting it or anything, but he managed to stay upright once his head whipped back a bit from the initial impact.

The second punch though...that one really caught him off guard since it was much harder than the first curious punch. Still, my bloodlust could hardly be sated after those sharp and cruel words of his. The guy doesn't know how to let someone down easy, does he? Even if he does have every right to place his own boundaries, there was definitely a better way he could have said what he needed to say. It would have made it a lot less painful for him in the long run.

"P-Prairie Dog is a big bully!" Kokichi sobs like a baby, even though moments before he'd been curled up in a ball on the floor with his hands over his face and a string of curse words flowing freely from his lips like a sailor. He's probably only doing this to make the others shun me now that he's in the safety of their presence.

..."Safety". That's cute.

"You want another? 'Kay, here comes the freight train-" Unappreciative of his attempts to get me in trouble, I turn and barely allow a moment of hesitation as I launch my fist up against his lower jaw in an uppercut. My hard knuckles slam into his chin hard enough to snap his teeth together and halt his fake crocodile tears on the spot.

The leech must have actually thought I had a limit to how many punches I'd be willing to dish out...I'm sure he regrets opening his mouth again now. I'm still so enraged by our conversation, and seeing the teen half slumping against the door behind him until he's on the floor just isn't satisfying enough.

One more wouldn't be so bad, right? For good luck.

I manage to punch him one more time right in the face so his head thumps back against the door with a force that makes him let out a boyish yelp. Unfortunately, a second later I'm lifted straight up off the ground by the back of my suit. I'm high enough that a guilty squeak is startled out of me in the process of looking back to see Kaito Momota with a dry expression. On the other hand, Rantaro ducks down from Kaito's other side to check on Kokichi in his dazed state, making a concerned frown as he tilts the shorter teen's head downwards to make sure I didn't do too much damage.

Considering the sound of his skull knocking against the door and echoing in the room...

...

Nah, he's fine. His skull is so thick he could survive a building landing on that melon, if going by how pig headed he can be with being such a know-it-all.

"Prairie, why the hell are you beating Kokichi up?" Kaito demands, up until Rantaro clicks his tongue and gently slaps Kokichi's cheek a few times to get his head out of the clouds. Once Kokichi seems to realize what's happening, he blinks a few times and lets the clearly annoyed Rantaro help him back up to his unsteady feet. A bit of a disoriented giggle escapes Kokichi despite the trauma to his face and head.

"We'll figure this out later, we don't have time right now. Have either of you two even done anything, or were you just horsing around?" Rantaro asks directly, looking from me to Kokichi and back.

"We developed crucial pictures...! As my cute rodent requested...my face hurts," Kokichi answers with a lazy but pleasant smile, trying to point my way and instead pointing in the complete opposite direction as I uncross my arms grumpily where Kaito is still dangling me by the back of my suit. Kokichi turns to where he's pointing when no one else looks that way, wobbling and then making a hum of confusion as he peers at the door and wall. "Hey...where'd Prairie Dog go...?"