Chapter Text
“Well, it’s obviously because I love you!”
Saihara stared him down, annoyance visible on his face.
“That’s a lie.”
Kokichi covered his mouth with his hand, giggling. “That’s for you to deduce, isn’t it, mr. detective?”
That was the conversation that buzzed loudly, overlapping itself in an incoherent mess in his head, in his ears , when Kokichi opened Akamatsu’s lab and saw blood spilling ostentatiously over the piano set in the center. His mind was racing as his eyes darted all over the body, Saihara’s body lying on top of the piano wires. He was unable to focus. He could feel himself breathe yet there was no oxygen in his lungs, leaving him to choke up on air.
That’s a fucking brutal way to go, was the only thing that managed to get untangled from his thoughts.
And, gods, was it ever. Blood that on the second look appeared to be already dry, making a mess all around, spilling from the inside of the piano and creating a puddle underneath it. The sunshine was streaming from the window, the piano's lid casting shadow over the figure underneath it. Saihara himself was lying curled up on his side as if in pain but unnaturally enough for it to be visible he was placed there. His arms were stretched out, his wrists slit open. No murder weapon in sight to speak of. When Kokichi squinted he could see bruises that formed on Saihara’s neck, but it was hard to see, with him being placed like that. He brought his foot up to step in closer, when he realized what was happening here.
He took one more look over the crime scene, trying to imprint it into his memory, before silently closing the door. He was not going to get caught here and get wrongly accused by these dumbasses. With Saihara gone, and wow when did his hands start to shake so much, no one was left to back him up with some actual logic when push’ll come to shove.
This trial was going to be disastrous. Well, entertaining. That was what he had to focus on, wasn’t it. He couldn’t let himself lose his composure, the show was still going on.
Alibi, think alibi. Where was everyone? He saw Gokuhara with Shirogane just walking around outside when he was entering the school to look around for, well, Saihara. Yumeno was probably just fucking around somewhere, but he didn’t know where. Iruma was usually in her lab at this time. Momota would probably be a good alibi, but Kokichi couldn’t think of a reason to hang out around him without raising suspicion.
He made his way downstairs, looping around to the staircase on the other side of the floor, quickly walking (but not running) towards the exit. He was just about to turn the handle when a voice interrupted him.
“Where are you off to?”
He didn’t need to turn to see Harukawa’s stiff posture and her intense gaze studying him. His hand quickly tightened around the handle, before letting it go.
“Didn’t know we already had a new student council! I will let you know, it seems like a dangerous position, seeing what happened to the last one.” He said in his cheerful tone and finally turned around. She was standing exactly as he thought she was.
“I’m not here for your games, Ouma. Have you seen Shuichi?”
Yes, his body is right upstairs.
He put a finger to his cheek, pretending to think about it, humming.
“You just missed him, he was here mere seconds ago!”
Harukawa’s eyes widened slightly, and she looked around quickly.
“That was a lie!,” he giggled. “I saw him at breakfast, if that’s of any use.”
She huffed in frustration. Her right hand tangled in her ponytail, playing with it.
“He was supposed to meet with us earlier, but he never showed up,” she explained, and oh wow, she might not want to be going around telling people that. “You follow him around like a puppy, thought you might know something.”
Kokichi was itching to ask for more details, but it was probably for the best to wait for the actual investigation to start, even if by then she probably wouldn’t be sharing them as easily. He shrugged.
“Nope, know nothing. Can I go now, miss?”
He didn’t wait for her answer (only getting murmured “whatever” anyway), already reaching for the door, when an alarm started blaring over them. Fucking hell, why can’t he just leave this place in peace.
“Fire alarm?” Harukawa asked aloud, more herself than him. As if to confirm her suspicions, sprinklers started raining water on them from the ceiling.
“Someone's probably let themselves into the kitchen,” Kokichi sighed dramatically, putting a hand over his face to cover it. “I don’t think I want those pancakes after all.”
But Harukawa was already moving away, heading towards the dining room.
Kokichi frowned. That was not good. Why would the killer set off the alarm? To make everyone gather at the school? Or maybe to keep them out? It always came down to the timeline, and this was for sure going to move people around.
No matter what was going on, if the killer was moving, he also had to move, because for now he was standing in place, already halfway soaked. Ugh, just how much power did those sprinklers have?
Normally he wouldn’t bother that much with his alibi, knowing they, or Saihara specifically, would eventually figure out what really happened, but whatever was coming had a high chance of being a mess. And as such he followed Harukawa walking down the corridor. If she could vouch for him, Momota would as well, trusting her blindly as he always did.
Speak of the devil. Of course, that’s why she was actively going deeper into the burning building.
“Makiroll? What’s going on? Did you find Shuichi?” Momota emerged from the dining hall, a worried look on his face. His now wet hair was sticking to his forehead.
“Don’t know. No. Nothing in the kitchen?”
He shook his head.
“No, no one’s in there.”
Her hand once again tugging on her hair, Harukawa huffed in thought.
“It could be triggered manually, I think I saw some emergency buttons. Had no idea they still worked.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Kokichi rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, getting their attention.
“Sorry to interrupt this lovely conversation, but maybe we should leave before we all get carbon monoxide poisoning, or get soaked to death?”
“What is he doing here?,” asked Momota, narrowing his eyes.
“Very pointed question, Momota, that’s not nice! If I didn’t know you any better, I’d say you don’t enjoy my company! And after everything we’ve been through!” He let a few tears drop from his now squinting eyes, which only seemed to rile Momota up more. He moved closer to him, now towering over him.
“What are you playing at, Ouma? What did you do?”
Harukawa stepped in between them, which surprised Kokichi, even if he didn’t let it show.
“Kaito, back off from him, he’s right. We should go.”
He did seem to be backing off even if scoffing. The three of them walked back to the entrance and emerged into the courtyard. Wind breezed through Kokichi’s soaked clothes making him shiver. Keebo was already there, shaking with distress alongside Gonta and Shirogane, both of whom didn’t look too happy either.
“Is everyone alright?,” Keebo asked, his voice high-pitched. “I heard the alarm from my lab!”
“Can you translate it for us?,” Kokichi asked, smiling brightly and running a hand through his wet hair to stop them from covering his view. “I assume you’re fluent in annoying electric noises, since you speak in them all the time.”
“Cut it out already,” Momota spat out, before turning to the robot. “We’re fine, we don’t even know if there really is a fire inside. Have you seen the rest?”
“Talking about us, cockheads?”
They turned their heads to see Iruma walking down the aisle from the left with Yumeno at her side. Both of them were dripping with water, still in their swimsuits and with towels wrapped around them. Iruma was violently shaking her left hand which looked weird, but Kokichi wasn’t going to question her on it.
“The fuck going on with this blaring?,” she asked, fixing up her high ponytail. She didn’t look too worried, but he couldn’t remember if she was ever worried about anything.
“Something triggered the fire alarm.”
Iruma squinted and raised her head to look at the building, inspecting it.
“You mean that?”
Kokichi followed her gaze to the black smoke surrounding one of the higher floors. Oh. That settled the question about manual triggering, at least.
Alarm stopped blaring about ten minutes later, girls already gone by this point to get changed. Monokuma appeared to let everyone know the school was now safe to enter, since the fire was extinguished and the smoke cleared out. Kokichi was somewhat skittish to enter but figured the killer probably already got what they wanted with all of them gathered in one place. All he had to do was wait.
The floors inside were covered in water, but it seemed that Gonta made it his mission to go around with a mop, swiftly swiping the more drenched areas.
Kokichi bugged Harukawa for a while longer, following her around before fucking off to mess with Keebo. He wasn’t too pleased with Kokichi’s presence, but indulged him either way, talking about his past and someone called Idabashi (as if Kokichi cared), even if Kokichi kept interrupting him every three words. If it was anyone else Kokichi would say they seemed agitated, but Kokichi felt no such feeling.
He felt a weird and very unfamiliar pang to give Keebo a robot magazine he had found earlier, but luckily before he could analyze this feeling their conversation was interrupted by the loud sound of the school announcement. About the damn time. How hard was it to find a body?
Monotaro and Monophanie appeared on the screen in the dining hall, the latter looking very close to vomiting .
“A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather at the Super Highschool Level Pianist’s lab.” The screen turned black again.
Straight to the point, then. Probably for the best.
“A body?!” Keebo exclaimed, abruptly standing up and already shivering again.
“Finally, some fun!” That earned him a glare from Keebo, but not much he usually said didn’t. Kokichi stood up as well. “Come on, Robocop, we wouldn’t want to miss the show .” Then, after a beat, “I bet our dear detective is already all over the scene.” Haha, smooth.
They made their way to the first floor, Keebo reluctantly dragging his way behind Kokichi. Yumeno was standing beside the door to the lab, clearly having already seen what’s inside. Tears in her eyes, she was clutching her arms.
He ignored her, walking straight into the lab, where everyone besides Yumeno was already investigating. Iruma and Gonta were discussing something in the corner, as she tugged at a bandage wrapped around her hand. Huh.
Almost immediately Monokuma appeared.
“Since everyone is finally here, I can begin to distribute the new Monofile! Don’t put too much trust in your detective with this one!”
He disappeared as quickly as he appeared with the same mocking laughter. Kokichi chose to ignore the Monofile for now, in favor of sizing up the crime scene.
And, okay, some things have changed. Sprinklers didn’t spare this room either, even if a limited amount focused on the main attraction in the center. The piano was still wet, as was Saihara’s body. The blood, previously in visible lines and puddles, was now washed all over the place, mixing with water. But that seemed weird.
His train of thought was interrupted by Harukawa suddenly appearing in his personal space, furious. He took half a step back and immediately regretted it, Harukawa now towering over him.
“You’re too comfortable. What do you know?” She asked slowly, venom dripping from her voice.
“I heard there was a body, so I came and now see a body.” She didn’t move so he sighed dramatically. “I also know who the killer is.” He giggled. “That was a lie! I don’t know a thing!”
She glared at him but backed off thankfully, clearly understanding she wouldn’t drag any information from him. She brushed shoulders with him, exiting the room.
There was no easy way to access the body, because of the watered down blood covering most of the floor. Someone seemed to lay down a wooden plank, leaning it against the platform with the piano to avoid bloody footsteps all over the place. Under the plank he saw a book, lying open with the cover facing upwards, all soaked up with bloody water. It was a detective novel, from what he could see. How ironic.
Now with a closer look at the body he could confirm there was something that looked like a slightly bruised rope burn on Saihara’s throat, which Monofile corroborated. His wrists were indeed cut, but they were absolutely tarnished. Deep and raw wounds and Kokichi couldn’t imagine what could have caused these. There were also bruises on the back of his wrists. Monofile didn’t seem to provide a clue for any of these wounds either, but it did specify that the cause of death was the blood loss. No time of death was provided.
He was about to turn around when he noticed something under the body. Through the piano wires that still had drops of water on them, he could see a familiar knife lying on the soundboard. He could swear it had traces of blood on it but couldn’t figure out a way to get it through the wires. Something to keep in mind for later.
Harukawa might have had a better clue about the wounds, but Kokichi didn’t love the idea of asking her about it, she would probably share it either way in a given time. When he finally turned from the body, the only people left in the room were Gonta and Shirogane. Both of whom were not worth talking to.
It was probably a smart thing to check out what caused the fire in the first place. He made his way to the fourth floor, (he really wished this school had some sort of elevator; the constant walking was exhausting), where he once again met up with Keebo.
“The fire seemed to have happened in one of the small rooms,” the robot informed him, completely unprompted. “A candle has tripped.”
“Oh, you finally got downgraded to an electronic assistant! Maybe you’ll actually be useful now!”
Keebo seemed to take offense to that, furrowing. The bad lighting made the screen on his collar cast a greenish shade on his face.
“I am the most advanced AI ever made, I cannot be ‘downgraded’.”
Kokichi made a thoughtful face, tapping a finger on his cheek.
“Can you set me a timer for twenty minutes?”
He was caught off guard by that, responding immediately.
“Yes, I can measure time perfectly-” he stopped himself, furrowing again. “Wait a second-”
“Thank you, assistant.” Kokichi sent him his most cheerful smile, and with a mock salute, he turned away from him and walked towards the small rooms. It was quite obvious which one it was, with Momota standing by its door, peeking inside. He tried to sneak past him but Momota stopped him with a stretched arm.
“Came to admire your work?”
He looked pissed, furious even and it was a new thing seeing that expression turned onto one of his classmates. Saihara’s death must have hit him harder than Kokichi anticipated. If he allowed himself to think that, he would admit that somewhere inside him he felt the same kind of anger Momota was displaying, but it was not the time for this. They had a class trial to survive.
He had a distinct feeling that his joking might not help him get into that room. He might have to show a few of his cards. Not all of them, of course, where would be the fun in that?
“Harukawa was with me when the alarm started. How could I have set it off?”
The other boy was not backing down.
“This doesn’t prove anything. You set it up so it started the fire later.”
Kokichi tilted his head, putting on an innocent face.
“Set it up? Kee-boy there told me a candle tripped.”
Momota blinked when he realized his slip-up. He was an interesting guy, some may even call him brave. But smart he was not.
“Let him in, Kaito. We need him to cooperate.” Harukawa appeared at the door. She looked like she calmed down a little. “You realized it already, didn’t you? Who’s being set up?” It was only obvious that she had noticed it as well, then.
“That knife of yours really sold it. Couldn’t get it back up from between the wires?” Kokichi smiled mockingly. “Did he fight back too much and knock it out of your hand?”
“You don’t scare me, Ouma. You’re not making it easier for yourself, either. Without Shuichi there to keep the conversation from trailing, everyone’s eyes will be on you first before they even think of accusing me.”
Like he didn’t realize that already. Oh, but admitting defeat was such a bitter taste on his tongue.
“It’s all a part of the game.”
Harukawa squinted at him, waiting another second for him to reconsider but when she met his eyes she just huffed and walked past him.
He wanted to leave it at that, let them leave him alone. He needed to leave it at that.
Momota glared at him one more time before following her.
“Wait.”
He heard their footsteps stop.
“Look at his body from above, that will tell you what to look for next.” Gods, what has he become, a riddler? This was pathetic.
He could only imagine that Harukawa nodded.
“Focus on how the candle fell,” she said before continuing walking.
He waited for them to reach the stairs before finally walking into the room.
It definitely smelled like burned wood inside, and there was a clear scorch mark on the floor starting at the right wall and growing towards the middle of the room. Some of the panels were completely burned through and broken. There was a plastic sheet in the corner of the room closest to the candle holder, even if it melted on the edges. There was a medium-heavy-looking rock on it.
Kokichi carefully walked up to the right wall and examined the candle holder. Oh, that’s interesting. There was a thin but sturdy-looking string tied around the handle of the holder. It looked like it caught on fire but the fire stopped when it reached the knot. The candle itself was laying on the floor, now looking more like a deformed piece of wax than a candle.
Harukawa seemed pretty sure that the fire really started because of that candle. But even if someone tied the candle with a string, how did they make it fall with a delay? He focused on the string, tugging at its knot. When he managed to untangle it he noticed that it had layers. Under the wrapped thread was a cord. Oh.
This wasn’t a string, it was a fuse. A slow burning one if he had to guess by the greenish color. That surely explained some things. He once again looked at the plastic sheet in the corner of the room. Picking up the rock he found out it was indeed heavy but turning it around revealed a dark line that could be a burn mark.
When he decided he had a pretty good idea of how the fire had started he exited the room, hoping Harukawa had better luck finding the missing piece of the puzzle.
He found her on the fourth floor next to the Super Highschool Level Tennis Player’s lab, clutching a bucket. Bingo. He clapped his hands in a pleading gesture walking up to her.
“Please, please, please , tell me there’s a suspicious chemical bottle and a rope inside.”
“Not quite a rope,” she answered with something that he suspected was her idea of a grin. She pulled a dangerously pink plastic gun with a grappling hook sticking out of it. “As for the bottle…” She passed him the bucket, and he heard glass shards shattering against themselves as she did so. Fuck.
Kokichi took the bucket and shook it trying to sort out a bigger piece with a label, but the dark shards didn’t reveal anything. Out of desperation, he reached his hand inside trying to look through them but Harukawa’s fingers curled around his wrist, holding it in place.
“Don’t. There’s no chance of identifying it. You’ll only hurt yourself.”
He blinked, letting tears slip from his eyes, staring at her intensively.
“But that was our only chance!,” he choked out.
He waited for her face to darken, before bursting out laughing and fanning himself with his hand.
“That was a lie! We still have ti-”
Ding-dong, bing-bong.
How much bad luck can a person have. This was straight up embarrassing.
“All righty! The time for investigation is over! Everyone please gather in front of Shrine of Judgement in the courtyard, it is time for a long-awaited class trial!”
But Kokichi wasn’t really listening to Monokuma’s rumble, as the cogs in his head worked overtime to figure this one out quickly. Harukawa must have realized whatever he was planning got interrupted because she stood in silence, waiting. He didn’t know where the bottle came from, nor how it looked beforehand. The most obvious place was the warehouse but what if it wasn’t in there? It could be in Saihara’s lab, or Harukawa’s lab for that matter. Damn it, he wouldn’t be surprised if the killer found it in Tojo’s lab. They didn’t have the time to look through them all.
Kokichi mentally shuffled through his cards, gripping them tightly. You don’t win this sort of game by playing it out in the open.
But there was no person now who could follow the breadcrumbs, and he was damn sure no one would believe him in a class trial, even if their lives depended on it, and they very well did. This was so annoying.
He put the bucket on the floor.
“Walk with me, Miss Assassin,” he said, gesturing to the stairs. They started walking. “What do you use to get rid of the blood?”
“Bleach.”
“Bzzz!” he exclaimed, putting his tongue out. “Wrong! You don’t want to get rid of it completely, you just want to water it down, spread it.”
Third floor. Harukawa huffed in annoyance.
“Then you splash it with water.”
“Wrong again! Come on, Harukawa, our lives are on the line here!” He shook his head looking at her disapprovingly, before turning his face away. A beat. “The blood is already dry.” He felt her eyes drizzling into him. “That kind of thing doesn’t wash off with cold water, not to an extent that you can’t tell where it was originally.”
She fell silent, connecting the dots.
Second floor.
“How would you know-”
Kokichi interrupted her, pressing his words.
“It’s dry, Harukawa, focus, how do you water it down?”
First floor.
“Hydrogen peroxide, a watered-down one to not burn the wood underneath. But we would feel it, it’s still irritable to the skin-”
“Well someone placed down a plank for us to not walk on it, didn’t they.”
That shut her up. Now came the deadliest gamble.
“And what do you know? We found an empty bottle labeled hydro pero-something right in that bucket. Very careless, if you ask me, to just leave it there. If I were the killer, I would have shattered it to pieces.”
She stopped in her tracks, glaring at him. They were right at the entrance now.
“If you’re lying, we’re dead. If you’re telling the truth, but you’re wrong, we’re dead.”
“If they pin it on you, we’re dead too,” he reminded her cheerfully.
She gritted her teeth.
“If you pin it on them, we’re dead.”
Kokichi gasped, placing a hand on his chest, tears already in his eyes.
“Me? Pinning? How dare you Harukawa, I am always the one to seek the truth!” He took a breath, a smile forming on his face. “Isn’t that the thing that blondie bitch taught us?”
She didn’t really give him time to react before she shoved him against the door, her forearm on his throat, pressing down.
“Come on, now, haven’t we been over this?” he asked before she pressed down harder. “You can’t kill me like this!” he croaked.
“First come, first served.” She held his gaze. “Now. Talk. Did you kill him?”
“You won’t believe me no matter what I say.” He gasped for air. “Decide for yourself, Harukawa.”
“You could’ve killed him right before the alarm. I saw you going down from the second floor.”
“Yes, I could have. Maybe I did,” he smiled, even if it hurt to do so. Did she have to use so much force? “But what do you think?”
She measured him with her eyes.
“I think that you’re a brat,” she said, finally letting go. Kokichi wheezed, trying to get his breathing to normal and leaning against the wall for support. “And that I’ll kill you before they get the chance to execute us.”
“If I’m lying, that is. And I never do that.”
She glared at him one more time before opening the door and stepping through it.
It was time for the main attraction to start.
By the time they got to the shrine, everyone was already there. Kokichi felt Momota’s gaze as he placed himself next to Keebo.
“You didn’t let me know when the twenty minutes were up!” he pouted at him. “You’re useless after all!”
“I choose not to engage with your bullying anymore.” He didn’t even look at him, how boring.
“And I’m proud of you for that, Kee-boy!,” Kokichi exclaimed, laughing. He patted him on his back.
The elevator ride was as tense as always, Harukawa murmuring something to Momota, which was honestly unfair, because as much as Kokichi could possibly, maybe, perhaps be glad he got Harukawa on his side, her worse half was never a part of their deal. But it was a small obstacle, as long as that idiot wouldn’t say anything unnecessary.
Monokuma welcomed them into the room, cheerful as ever, then proceeded to go over the class trial rules, which Kokichi was sure everyone was sick of hearing.
For a few seconds, no one spoke. The pink cross on Saihara’s portrait was staring at them, waiting.
“Uh, we should probably go over everyone’s alibis for right before the fire alarm first,” said Keebo, breaking the silence. He fidgeted with his hair nervously. “I think that’s what Shuichi would do.”
“Me and Gonta were taking a stroll outside the school,” Shirogane said, deep in thought. “We passed Keebo next to his lab about half an hour before the alarm, he was going inside.”
“Gonta can confirm that!”
“Were you together for the whole time?” asked Harukawa.
“Yes, we were checking out different kinds of flora,” nodded Shirogane.
“And as Shirogane said, I was inside my lab, I didn’t go outside until I heard the alarm.”
“Well me and Miu were swimming together!,” exclaimed Yumeno, correcting her hat.
“Yup!” yelled Iruma, outmatching Yumeno with her energy. “And you bitches better know, we were chilling the fuck out before this dumbass alarm interrupted us!”
“And that would leave you three…” added Shirogane, slowly switching his gaze between Kokichi, Harukawa, and Momota.
“Me and Makiroll were at school looking for Shuichi,” good old Momota. Honest to the core in his stupidity. Kokichi resisted an eye roll.
“And you… didn’t find him?,” questioned Yumeno, eyeing him with uncertainty.
“We were supposed to meet up next to the gym, so we didn’t really think to check out Kaede’s lab. We mostly kept to the first floor in case he showed up.” He made a nervous gesture of scratching his neck. “So no, we didn’t find him.”
“Gym?” Shirogane asked.
Momota shrugged.
“Looking for stuff to help us with our workout routine.”
“Right… And you, Ouma?”
“Oh, I was at the school.” He grinned.
“Doing…?,” inquired Yumeno, gripping her hat so it covered one of her eyes.
“This and that. Mostly, you know, planning a murder.”
But before he could have fun with their reactions, Harukawa huffed in annoyance and interjected.
“I ran into him, he was in the library, reading.”
Oh, that was a new one. Was this what having someone on your side was like? Kokichi cast a quick glance at Momota but as surprised as he looked, it didn’t seem that he knew she was lying.
“Well, he could've sneaked right past ya, that little shit!” Iruma exclaimed, sounding convinced. She tugged at her bandage.
“No. I was waiting next to the main door. I would’ve seen him.”
“It was you then! Your stupid fucking knife was even on the body!”
“Maybe let’s put a pin in that and return to it later,” Keebo proposed, sensing the straining situation. Harukawa sent Kokichi what she probably thought was a smug look. Dammit, now she thought she had one over him. No comradery in crime after all. “We have to talk about how, and exactly when he died.”
“It was blood loss, wasn’t it?” Yumeno asked, unsure.
“But Shuichi have a wound on his neck,” noted Gonta, putting his own hand on his throat to demonstrate.
“It is possible that the culprit knocked Shuichi out before killing him,” Keebo suggested, mulling it over.
“Why go to so much trouble?” Kokichi asked. “They had him where they wanted him, why not just choke him to death?”
“Why? Is that something you would do?,” asked Harukawa grimly.
“You know me so well!,” he laughed.
“No matter why, that bitchy detective bled to death. Monofile confirms it.” Interjected Iruma and pointed at the Monofile. “And it had to be right before the alarm, too!”
That made Harukawa turn her head at her, narrowing her eyes.
“What makes you think that?”
“Eh...!?? Why are you staring at me like that, Smallboobs? I thought it was obvious.”
“Because of the blood, right?,” Keebo wondered. “The water from the sprinklers washed it around the floor, it had to not have dried yet.”
Harukawa glanced at Kokichi and he shook his head lightly. Not yet.
“And the murder weapon?”
“It had to be that knife left on the scene, right?” Shirogane pondered. “The killer couldn’t get it back from between the wires.”
“You mean Harukawa’s knife?” Kokichi asked, tilting his head. He could feel her glare without even looking.
“Harukawa’s…?!” exclaimed Yumeno in surprise. “Is that true…?”
“Yes, it is a knife from my lab,” confirmed Harukawa. Everyone started murmuring among themself and, hell. Just so she wouldn’t say he owed her one. Kokichi sighed dramatically.
“But the wounds don’t match,” he said sadly. “The ones on his wrists were no clean cuts, but deep and messy, not something you can achieve with a knife and not something a trained assassin would do.” He gave her a pointed look. They were even now.
“There was blood on it, though, wasn’t there?” Yumeno pointed out.
“Yeah, but that’s more weird than it is useful isn’t it?” Shirogane said. “Everything else was wiped clean with the water, even Shuichi’s body was drenched.”
“What was the murder weapon then?”
Everyone wondered in silence for a second about it.
“Could it be the piano wires?” Proposed Momota, paling at the thought. “Oh fuck, they smashed his wrists against the piano wires, didn’t they? That would surely do that kind of damage. And the water got rid of the blood.”
“Oh my, you do have a brain in that thick skull of yours!” Kokichi wheezed.
“Shut the fuck up, Ouma,” Momota bit out, clenching his fingers around the wooden railing in front of him.
“That theory would explain the bruises on the back of his wrists,” added Harukawa quietly.
“With that assessed, we should probably talk about the fire,” said Keebo. “Do we all agree it wasn’t connected to the murder?”
Gokuhara shook his head.
“Too big coincidence.”
“Didn’t the fucking candle trip?,” questioned Iruma, hands on her hips.
“There was something else on the scene,” said Harukawa. “Keebo, didn’t you notice the string tied around the candle holder?”
“Yes, but I thought it was irrelevant. How would someone tying a string around the candle make it fall when they wanted it to?”
“It seems improbable,” agreed Yumeno, looking down.
“Oh you poor little dumb fucks,” Kokichi laughed. “It’s because it wasn’t a string, it was a fuse!”
Harukawa sighed.
“Just as Ouma said, someone tied it with a fuse and then set the fuse on fire. Depending on how much of the fuse they used they could have had a rough estimate of when the candle would fall.”
Keebo pondered that for a while.
“Doesn’t the fuse burn through rather quickly? Where could they have placed that much of it?”
“That plastic sheet in the corner,” Momota explained. “There was a rock on it, with a clear burn mark in the shape of a line. The culprit tied the fuse around the candle holder, then wrapped it tightly around the candle and weighed down the fuse with the rock. When the remaining fuse burned through till that point, the candle fell.”
“But why the fire? What did they achieve by that?”
“Yumeno,” Harukawa interrupted. “I have a question about your swimming.”
“Heh? What about it?”
“Were you and Iruma together the whole time?”
“Well, if you must know, when I arrived, and it was a long time before the alarm, Miu was already swimming,” Yumeno recounted, playing with her hat. “I didn’t plan to join her, because I wanted to read a book on the beach chair, but after we talked she convinced me to go get changed. But, ugh, everything in the changing room was broken. First, my locker didn’t want to open and then the shower didn’t want to turn on. So it took me a little more than ten minutes and I was rushed because of the alarm that started blaring when I was still in the shower. When I got back to the pool Miu was still in the water.”
Harukawa looked at Kokichi and that seemed like his cue.
“Ten minutes, huh?” he said with a smile.
“The fuck are you suggesting, fuckface?” Iruma exclaimed, getting angry.
“Yes, I’m not really following either,” said Keebo, fidgeting. “She couldn’t have run to the school, killed Shuichi, set the fire up, and run back in that time, especially with Harukawa in the main hall.”
“We found this in a container in the Super Highschool Level Tennis Player’s lab,” Harukawa showed everyone the pink grappling hook launcher. Yumeno looked shocked as she glanced at Iruma nervously. “And anyone could’ve used any rope to get back down from that window.”
“Tennis Player’s lab?” Yumeno asked, looking between the two of them. Harukawa nodded.
“That still not enough time,” Gonta questioned worryingly.
“What if I told you,” said Kokichi, “and please, hold your applause, that she didn’t have to do everything Kee-boy just mentioned because Shuichi was dead for at least an hour at that point.”
“What?!”
Kokichi smiled at Shirogane’s shocked expression.
“Use your fucking head and think back to the previous question. Why the fire alarm? Sure, maybe it was a diversion, a way to make us all meet in one place. But, along the grappling hook launcher, we’ve found something else, a bottle labeled as a, uh, hydrinic, uh…”
“Hydrogen peroxide.” Kokichi examined Iruma’s expression, as her eyes widened for half a second. They were right. Harukawa continued. “It’s a chemical combination that is useful in cleaning up blood. In a watered-down version it can be used as a disinfectant, but the higher percentage you go the more burning it becomes. The culprit used it in its higher concentration to lift the already dry blood off the ground. Sprinklers did the rest, watering it down and hiding the chemical reaction.”She took a breath. “Iruma,” she directed her gaze at her, “you were the one to tell Gonta to put down the desktop over the blood at the scene.”
“Well, of fucking course you psycho! What, you wanted to step all over it?!” she was becoming agitated, snapping her fingers.
Harukawa shook her head.
“You needed to be sure we wouldn’t touch it because even that much watered down, there was a chance hydrogen peroxide would be irritable to touch. We would know something was wrong. Both this and the grappling hook, together in a container in the lab that can be accessed from the pool...”
“Is this true, Miu…?” Yumeno asked.
“Of fucking course not! Why are all of you ganging up on me?! Ouma’s lying as he always is! He probably didn’t even find any bucket at all and is lying straight out of his ass!”
Got her.
“Bucket?” Kokichi asked, tilting his head with a confused expression. “Who said anything about a bucket?”
She hit the wooden railing in front of her with her fist.
“Well you said-”
“Na-ah! We only said that the items were in a container. It could have been a paper bag for all that you know.” Her eyes widened in realization. “Oh, but do you know what you could do with a bucket?” he mocked. “Maybe splash Saihara’s body with water, cleaning up blood from the wires.”
“B-but, the sprinkles…!” she exclaimed.
“Do you think I’m braindead? There was a fucking piano lid over him!”
“You must be lying!” Yumeno yelled, stomping her feet. “I was only gone for a few minutes, and she wouldn’t have known-”
“Oh yes,” he laughed, “because you were so lost in the changing room where suddenly everything stopped working properly.”
Yumeno’s face fell.
Iruma closed her mouth, backing off as she finally understood that they knew. They knew everything. Silence fell over the room.
“I understand that you still have reasons to doubt us,” said Harukawa calmly, redirecting her gaze to everyone else involved. “We could be lying. But what would we gain from it? There are more than enough people who had a chance to kill Shuichi and no alibi to back them up. But there is only one person who had the means to set up the crime scene and gain something from it, by having themself seemingly a perfect alibi. Because yes, those ten minutes are not nearly enough to kill Shuichi and set up the fire, but they are enough to get through the window using the grappling hook and set up the scene. The fuse was probably already ticking by that point.”
“Miu…” Yumeno started, tears spilling out of her eyes. “When I got back from the changing room your hand was bright red. And now you have a bandaid over it. What happened?” It sounded like one last chance.
“Wha…? I slammed it too hard on the tiles when I was swimming.” Kokichi wondered if that excuse sounded good even to her own ears.
“No,” interrupted Keebo, something clicking on his face in understanding. “You were waving it all weirdly when we met up after the alarm.”
“You burned yourself with the chemicals, didn’t you?,” asked Harukawa. “You can prove that you didn’t. Unwrap it.”
Nothing. Iruma kept glancing between all of them, trying to think of another excuse.
They stood like that for a while, everyone either shaking with the revelation or quietly looking at the floor. Kokichi smiled. Shuichi would be proud of them.
“Anyone?” Monokuma asked, visibly bored. “Something?” After silence answered him, he decided, “if there’s nothing left to say then it’s voting time!”
Kokichi looked down at the screen, filled with glee. This was rightfully earned! But as he reached to touch the screen his vision blurred, his ears filling with static.
He swayed, his mind trying to figure out what was happening. Was he poisoned? When?
He heard someone call out his name before everything went black.