Dangan Ronpa

Chapter Ten

"Now that you mention it, I guess it does seem like the most reasonable answer..." Sully slowly consented with Sam. "But it's still confusing me a bit, can we just go over what we believe happened so far?"

"Sure, a recap might reveal some important information anyways." Night added. Everyone seemed to agree with the nodding of heads, but no one spoke. To break the awkward silence, I started from the beginning.

"So, Jinx was planning to prepare a brunch for everyone, so she set her alarm for 4:00 AM. I assumed she was ready and arrived at the kitchen sometime around 4:30 PM. From there, she began cooking food for everyone." I explained as clearly as possible. Surprisingly, Skai added onto my report.

"So at ap-approximately sometime around 6:00, the culprit c-came to the kitchen. Surprised to m-meet Jinx, they immediately qu-questioned why she was up s-so early."

"Jinx was forced to reveal what she was planning to the killer, and then I believe the murderer offered their services to her. Because the wound is so sloppy, it was most likely an attack caused by instinct, something that quickly triggered a nerve in the killer and made them act without thinking. From this, I assume that the two were cooking, striking up small conversation, and Jinx might have unknowingly said something about a sensitive topic. This lead to the culprit's rash actions, and before you know it, Jinx is lying in a bloodly heap on the ground." Night finished. It was impressive how much she could tell from just a wound.

"Wow, I didn't know that we'd be able to find all this stuff out from the little evidence we had!" Leo exclaimed. His smile slightly faltered. "But we still don't know who's guilty..."

"And we already expensed all of our evidence..." Veronica whispered, sounding dissapointed.

My ears perked up at hearing this - there was still so much to examine; we had several points to still go over!

"You're wrong; we need to figure out what happened after the murder occured. Like how the killer reacted." I started. "Leo and Sam discovered something odd about the cafeteria: how the tables were arranged. Unlike their usual scattered set-up, they were neatly connected in a straight row to make one huge table. I don't completely know why, but it feels like it's an important clue - I mean, doesn't it seem off?"

"Jinx most likely just organized it that way for the brunch, so we could all sit together; what's so strange about it?" Lux asked. Her expression seemed annoyed, maybe that I kept pecking at the unsignificant clues over and over again. But something about the arrangement of the tables seemed important.

"No, Jinx specifically asked me to be there in order to organize the kitchen, saying that she'd be busy with cooking. She said to be there by 7:00 AM, so I would have enough time to align them, as well as lend assistance in the kitchen. I arrived there on time, and it was already finished, so why?" I asked, raising yet another question. Raphael seemed really irritated with my inquiry.

"Why do you keep spouting the same useless bullshit!? Stupid details like that aren't going to give us the culprit, dumbass!" He sure had a short temper.

"But it could bring us closer to the answer." Night responded calmly. That seemed to cool down Raphael a bit. "If Tamaki didn't do anything with the tables, then there are only two possible answers, correct?"

"Yeah..." Delilah answered. It was a while since I heard her speak and she seemed upset. Putting a bit more confidence in her tone, she continued. "That means either Jinx or the killer put the tables that way, and since Tamaki already explained how Jinx was way too busy with cooking, it only makes sense that the killer did it..."

"But that doesn't make any sense - why would the killer do that!?" Peneloped interrogated Delilah. She seemed taken aback by the other girl's sudden outburst. "Has it ever occured to you that Tamaki could be lying to us!? He just manipulated the crime scene, I saw him walking out covered with blood and all."

Delilah tried to protest, but Penelope continued, directing her statement to me. "If you want us to believe you, prove your innocence first." Her steely glare sent shivers down my spine, but I held my ground. My fists clenched out of frustration, how long was this girl going to keep this up!?

"Fine!" I yelled back. "Take a look at this necklace. Sam and Leo found this wedged into one of the kitchen chairs; it was Jinx's." I held up the two dice by the chain in order for everyone to see. Haru looked up meekly, paying some attention for the first time since the start of the trial. "With Haru's assistance, I was able to open up the dice, and inside were two things: a picture of Jinx and Haru's family, and a digital clock. The one thing off about this is the screen; it's cracked and is stopped at the time 6:43 AM."

"It's obvious you're just trying to change the subject, I saw you covered in her blood!" Penelope screamed.

A smug grin formed on my face. "Exactly my point. So it is safe to assume Jinx was attacked at 6:43 AM - I don't know what else would have broken the necklace." Penelope reluctantly nodded. "And you caught sight of me covered in blood as I exited from the kitchen to the hallway around 7:05 AM, correct?" She nodded again with a tinge of confusion in her expression. "Sam and Leo - what was the cafeteria's condition?"

They responded in unison. "Clean!"

"And one thing I know is that the tables were set up the way they were after Jinx's death." I continued.

"What? But how?" Edward asked, seeming even more perplexed than before.

"We found the necklace in one of the seats, and it was broken. So that means the order of events was Jinx's death, the grabbing her necklace by accident, then arranging the kitchen tables and dropping Jinx's dice into one of the seat's cushions. The killer was in such a rush that they didn't realize it was gone - doesn't it make sense?"

Night's eyes widened. "I fully understand what happened now. It couldn't have been Tamaki whatsoever." I slightly smiled at this. "If the murder occured at 6:43 AM, and we arrived at 7:15 AM, that leaves the killer roughly a half hour to make their escape. And since Penelope caught sight of Tamaki at 7:05 AM, that only leaves him 20 minutes. When we saw Tamaki, only his hands and sleeves were stained with blood, so it wouldn't leave any kind of mess in the cafeteria if he was careful, however, how would he set up the tables like that!?" she asked, but making it sound more like a demand. "The tables were set up like that after Jinx's death, and if you think Tamaki did it, that means he had to complete this task without allowing a single drop of blood to get on anything."

"I understand." Josh said suddenly. His features were sharp, and made him seem much more mature than the rest of us. "The cafeteria was spotless when we arrived, but it was also set up in the strange order. So in order for Tamaki to have arranged the tables like that, he would have had to use his hands, which were drenched in blood."

"So it would be completely impossible for Tamaki to have killed Jinx!" Delilah yelled at Penelope. I didn't know why she felt such a strong urge to defend me, but it made me feel warm and protected. "If he had, the furniture would have been covered in blood, so stop trying to pin it on him!"

Penelope looked crestfallen. "Th-that makes sense... I'm sorry that I was so suspicious of you."

I just grinned in return. "It's alright; we have more important things to worry about. Now that we're done with accusations, we need to go over our evidence to discover the true killer."