Chapter 36
We heard Etsuko complain after a pause. “I don’t want to do this! This sucks!”
“We apologize,” Akira began. “We’ve come this far and so many sacrifices have occurred. We tried stopping them but it was never enough.”
“The circumstances here are so different compared to the hotel,” Isamu added. “Of course, that is no excuse. We promise we will get you out of here and expose the mastermind. We will find the secret place and stop them. So please, believe in us.”
“I know,” I agreed. “It’s not easy monitoring people when they’re all over the place. And of course there’s one that creates troubles.”
Akira nodded. “That’s good. Then let us begin the discussion.”
“How about you fill us in?” Amaya suggested. “I have no clue how this all went down.”
“Amaya, Satoshi, Yuki, and Isamu, do you remember the party?” I asked them.
They nodded.
“I believe that party is the root of this problem.” I said.
“Then whoever initiated the party is the killer.” Etsuko said.
“We have to discuss it to find out who did it.” I said.
“Wh-Whoever started it?” Hanako asked. “Didn’t we all?”
“Everyone was dancing, right?” Amaya asked. “Misaki, we danced together.”
“Yeah, but how does dancing transfer into you four individuals getting sick?” Akira asked. “It’s no coincidence. Something definitely caused it.”
“Maybe we all got germs somehow?” Satoshi suggested.
“Or maybe it was snot.” Etsuko snickered.
“Wh-What if it wasn't an item?” Hanako asked. “What if it was something they consumed at the party?”
“Hanako, I think you’re right,” I said. “I remember now, the party food!”
“What do you mean?” Amaya asked.
“Recall what was at the party,” I began. “Pizza and juice. Sure the pizza can be a thing for everyone, but isn’t it strange that there was only juice? There wasn’t even water.”
“What are you suggesting, Misaki?” Isamu asked.
“I’m suggesting there was a drug in the juice-”
“A foolish proposal.” Satoshi interjected.
“What?” I asked.
“Everyone ate different things at the party,” He explained. “Some just had pizza, some people had juice and pizza, some had no pizza.”
“What is your point?” I asked him.
“My point is clear, isn’t it?” He asked back. “There is no way, you can tell who actually drank the juice-”
“That’s wrong!” I cut him off. “I actually can tell what people ate and drank.”
“What?” He asked.
“Because someone wrote down a table of what people asked for,” I explained. “Right, Akira?”
“That’s right,” She agreed, holding it up. “I wrote this down during the party just in case. As you can see, the written names: Amaya, Isamu, Satoshi, and Yuki asked for juice. Everyone else on the list just had pizza. From this we can determine that the juice was the cause of you being sick. Which also means someone placed a drug, but got rid of the evidence.”
“I see,” Satoshi said in surprise. “I didn’t expect that. I guess I was wrong.”
“Akira,” I began. “Do you think drugging the juice was the killer’s intention?”
“Well, someone obviously did it,” She replied. “It can’t be done by accident.”
“E-Even so,” Hanako started. “Genki didn’t get drugged. He was with us.”
“The killer was probably trying to lower our guards by making us split up. “ I said.
“Well, we had to,” Etsuko said. “People were sick.”
“So the killer placed drugs in the juice and it was served at the party,” Isamu explained. “Four people drank it and because of that, we had to split up. So who did it? Who placed the drugs?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Katashi asked, crossing his arms. “The person cooking the food. Isn’t that right, Amaya?”
“Me again?” She asked with irritation.
“Weren’t you the one who made the food?” Yuki asked.
“So?” She asked exasperated. “That doesn’t mean I placed anything weird!”
“I-If Amaya did do it,” Hanako began. “She would be able to drug anyone without them knowing.”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?” She snapped. “I got drugged too, y’know!”
Katashi sighed. “You could’ve just drugged yourself to pull yourself away from suspicion.”
“I never heard such a method so stupid before,” She said. “If I were to drug someone, I’d shove it in their mouth before they could do anything.”
“Is Amaya really the killer?” I asked. “Is she the one who killed Genki?”
“Of course,” Katashi replied. “She also knows how to slice, after all.”
“That’s right,” Akira agreed. “Genki’s pieces were smoothly cut. Clearly done by a professional.”
“Then it’s her!” Yuki cried.
“That might not be it,” I said. “Because Amaya left the dining hall to get something, right?”
“Yeah!” She agreed. “I left the dining hall, and that brat probably put the drug in when I was gone!”
Etsuko scoffed. “That was obviously a lie!”
“No it isn't,” Satoshi said. “I saw her leave before I went to transport some things.”
“Hah! See? I’m not the killer!” Amaya yelled.
“O-Okay so the killer was the one who sneaked in the dining hall.” Hanako said.
“Maybe it was Hanako herself,” Amaya said. “After all, she was the one who suggested that we should have a party.”
“I-It was just an idea,” Hanako cried. “I even s-suggested that you should decline.”
“Anyway,” Isamu began. “It seems we know very well what happened at the party, let’s move on to the hospital days to find out the clues.”
“Right,” I agreed. “The next day the four were found sick with a high fever and were sent to the hospital for three days. Including the day where Genki’s body was found. Which was the third.”
“Misaki and I monitored the hospital while Akira monitored the healthy group.” Etsuko explained.
“Even when we found him on the third day,” Satoshi started. “The Monokuma file never specified when he died.”
“That was why Misaki and I investigated his pieces.” Akira replied.
“His body was cold and hard,” I started. “So he was dead for a while.”
“However,” Akira said. “The blood was still fresh, so it couldn’t have been that long. Maybe a couple of hours ago.”
“You can tell how long ago it was by just the blood?” Satoshi asked.
“I can at least estimate.”
“W-Wait,” Hanako said, with raised eyebrows. “I remember now. I met up with Genki an hour after dinner yesterday.”
“You did?” Isamu asked. “What happened?”
“W-Well, I saw him walking, s-so I asked him what he was doing,” She explained. “B-But he just laughed and said he was just going to work out and told me not to worry.”
“I see,” I said. “That’s probably when he got killed.”
“What!?”
“He was probably saying ‘workout’ as an excuse but in reality, he was meeting up with someone.” I said.
“Are you serious?” Etsuko asked. “Then why would he lie about it?”
“Maybe it was a secret talk,” Akira replied. “Like something personal and someone trusted Genki about that.”
“Then it’s safe to say he died there too,” Satoshi said. “After all, it did say he died in the Antique store.”
“They probably lied about the secret talk just so they could meet up,” Amaya said. “Because they killed him right? But if you think about it, it’s kind of impossible. Genki is the tallest out of all of us. How the hell are you supposed to dismember him?”
“The bottle.” I answered.
“Huh?”
“There were two bottles at the scene. One full and one at least half.”
“Ah, just like last time!”
“Except not really,” I said. “This time, there was no poison. If there was then the cause of death would be different.”
“What else could it be then?” Etsuko asked.
“I thought the same too,” I agreed before explaining. “That’s why I asked Satoshi to take a sip of it. I knew it wasn’t poison so I asked him to do this favor. Once he did, a few moments passed and then he fell.”
Hanako gasped. “B-But he’s still alive!”
“He didn’t die,” I began. “He fell asleep.”
“He fell asleep?” Akira asked. “Then that means-!”
“The killer put Genki to sleep before dismembering him.” I finished.
“H-How awful.” Hanako said.
“But how is there blood in the box but not on the floor?” Satoshi asked.
“They did it on the floor, but not directly on it,” I explained. “I found a bloody towel in the washer that proves it.”
“So they dismembered his body on a towel in the antique store?” Etsuko asked before gagging.
“Why didn’t they turn on the washer?” Yuki asked. “It would’ve gotten rid of the blood.”
“Probably because it was night,” Isamu replied. “It would make some noise to those who were sleeping.”
“Besides, I bet they squeezed most of the towels' blood into the box along with the corpse pieces.” Etsuko said.
“Yeah, but most of the blood was from the body itself.” I said.
“What happened next?” Amaya asked. “If the killer dismembered the body, they would’ve gotten blood all over them.”
“They must’ve washed it off somehow,” Akira replied. “More importantly, what happened after the crime? Did the killer just return to their room?”
“Maybe they were trying to kill off witnesses that were near the room of the crime.” Etsuko suggested.
“If that’s the case, I know who the killer is.” Yuki said.
“You know who the killer is?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
“How about it, Katashi?” He asked. “What was your reason for trying to kill me?”
“W-What?!" Hanako asked, shocked.
“That’s true,” Akira began. “Misaki, Etsuko and I found Katashi holding a knife in Yuki’s hospital room.”
Katashi sighed again. “Don’t make such a dramatic scene.”
Yuki giggled. “Hehe, make a scene? You’re the one who started it, you moron!”
“Katashi,” Hanako said. “Wh-Why did you try killing Yuki?”
“If he was trying to kill Yuki after killing Genki,” Akira started. “Then Katashi was the one who placed drugs in the juice.”
“You sabotaged the food!” Amaya yelled, pointing her finger at him.
“I’ll comclean everything under one condition,” he said. “Everyone must believe what I’m going to say.”
“Ew no!” Etsuko screamed. “We can just vote for you!”
“But he said he’ll comclean,” I said. “Which means, he’s confessing somehow.”
Amaya sighed. “Fine. Let’s hear it.”
“I did drug the food,” He began. “As you said before, I snuck it in after Amaya left. But I was not specifically aiming for Genki. Someone was going to drink the juice, so my original plan was to kill one of the drugged patients. Of course I didn’t do it earlier during some trouble, we’ll not discuss that now. And decided to kill Yuki in the night, since he was the most annoying and least reckless. Satoshi was too obsessed with Misaki, Amaya was too crazy, and Isamu was too loud. So Yuki was the best choice-”
“Excuse me, I was obsessed with who?” Satoshi asked.
“Nothing, it never happened.” I quickly said.
“Anyway,” Katashi continued making that word loud to get everyone’s attention again. “His stupid room was unlocked so I went in an he was asleep. So with the knife in my hand, I was going to stab him right there, but some type of gas went around the room and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw Yuki awake and he screamed.”
“So you really tried killing Yuki, huh?” Amaya asked.
“About that gas,” I said. “It must’ve been sleeping gas.”
Yuki gasped. “What was that doing in there?!”
“Well, it wouldn’t have affected Yuki,” Katashi began. “Because he was asleep in the first place. But it would make sense if it got me down.”
“Yeah about you and your lame story,” Etsuko started. “How are we supposed to believe everything you just said!?”
“Why would I lie now?” He asked. “And if I am lying, then what took me so long to try to kill Yuki? Like I said, I had the knife with me. I raised my arm up. It would've taken two seconds to stab him there. But several hours passed and the knife was still in my hand, while Yuki remained uninjured. How do you explain that?”99Please respect copyright.PENANAplGHV7Uonl
"W-Well-”
“He has a point,” I said. “He’s confessed this much. He won’t gain anything from lying.”
“Right,”Akira said. “He even confessed to drugging the juice. However, the killer and the person who drugged the juice weren’t the same.”
“Who is it then?” Amaya asked.
“Well, we can exclude the patients.” I said. Then something struck me. Exclude the patients. What’s wrong with that? Now I was starting to feel sick. Exclude the patients. Something’s not right.
“Misaki?” Akira asked. “Is everything okay?”
I closed my eyes and thought back. Those previous trials meant something! We have people who have experienced cutting before… “I got it!” I called out. “It has to be the patients!”
“Didn’t you just say exclude?” Satoshi asked.
“I was wrong,” I said. “Like Amaya said, what happened after the killer murdered Genki? They had blood on themselves.”
“You got a point,” Amaya agreed. “But what does that have to do with a patient?”
“Think about it,” I began. “What do the patients all have in common?”
“They…all wear a uniform?” Satoshi asked, hesitantly.
“Exactly,” I answered. “Which means the killer could just clean themselves and change their clothes.”
Isamu raised her eyebrows. “Like they were wearing their original clothes to meet up with Genki, but afterwards, they changed back into their patient uniform?”
“Yeah, and they got rid of the bloody clothing,” I said. “And one more thing, Genki died on the second day, right? The patients were recovering at that time so the killer was probably feeling better and thought more clearly than the first. Especially since it was at night.”
“Ah, I see!” Amaya said. “So one out of the four, is the killer!”
“A professional patient,” Akira began. “Who might that be?”
A professional, I thought. Someone who can cut clean and mostly okay at the time.
“Yuki, Is it you?”
“What did you say!?" He asked, with a panicked expression on his face.
“Are you the killer, Yuki?”
“Didn’t you say exclude the patients?” He asked. “Why was that a wrong decision? And why me of all people?”
“Does that mean you deny it?” I asked back.
“Yuki…” Satoshi’s voice trailed off.
“Are you serious?” Yuki asked. “Do you…really think...that I’m the…killer?” His eyes began to fill with tears. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
“How is Yuki the killer?” Isamu asked.
“Th-The patients were still recovering,” Hanako said. “S-So maybe it was neither of them.”
“Yuki, you better fess up.” Amaya said.
“I didn’t do anything.” he cried, wiping his eyes.
“Well, we were technically alibis.” Katashi pointed out.
“Now that I think about it,” Satoshi started. “Yuki can easily dismember Genki since he’s the Ultimate Artisan.”
“But that’s impossible,” Yuki argued. “Because I remained asleep due to the gas Katashi mentioned.”
“Katashi, can I ask you something?” I asked. “What was Yuki’s position in the bed?”
“He was just lying by the side with the blanket up to half of his face.”
“I thought so.”
“What?” He looked appalled.
“That’s what it was,” I said. “Yuki knew about the sleeping gas, and that’s why he had the blanket covering half of his face. So he cannot inhale it.”
“Are you saying he knew about the sleeping gas beforehand?” he asked.
“Not only did he know it beforehand,” I began. “But he made a machine that would produce sleeping gas himself.”
Yuki giggled. “Hehehehehehe. You guys really think I’d do something so gruesome and disgusting? All of you need the hospital. Hahahaha! Man, I feel so embarrassed being surrounded by idiots. You’re just putting up some bullshit to please yourselves. Unless you can prove I did any of that. Or if there was even a sleeping gas in the first place and not Katashi’s delusions. Prove it then, prove it! Everyone is watching!”
“Does that broken device in the kitchen’s trash ring a bell?” I asked.
“Gah!”
“Why? Why are you doing this? Why me?” he asked. “This isn’t proof. This is crap! It’s meaningless. Your words are meaningless!”
“Then I will go over this case one more time,” I said. “And state every action you did to complete this crime. And we’ll see if that’s meaningless to you!”
99Please respect copyright.PENANADUqCnQD32s
[It all began when we agreed to have a party. Etsuko, Satoshi, and I went to get decorations while the others were cleaning. Except for Amaya, who was cooking. Amaya left the dining hall at one point, according to Satoshi who witnessed her doing so. Then, when no one was no longer in the dining hall, Katashi who had a drug with him snuck in and placed the drug in the orange juice that was already made and left. During the party, people ate and drank. Specifically, four people drank the juice. And then the next day, the four who drank the juice had high fevers and were taken to the hospital for three days. No one could think clearly during the first day, so the real culprit, which wasn’t Katashi, placed their device somewhere in their room. Probably the closet and then headed to bed. Just as they planned, someone did come into their room. Katashi with a knife. Katashi was aiming to kill this culprit, but the culprit themselves had something else in mind. The device then produced sleeping gas, and the culprit protected themselves by pretending to be asleep, while covering the bottom part of their face with the blanket. Once they heard Katashi fall to the floor. They changed from their patient uniform to their regular clothes before breaking the device and tossing it in the dining hall’s trash. From there, they grabbed two bottles of water and placed a seeping drug inside one of them that they had beforehand. And headed to the Antique store. It seemed that Genki already had a talk with Yuki before-most likely at the party and so he met him at the antique store. During their talk, Genki drank the bottle, and not long after, he fell asleep. From there, the culprit had already had the weapons and the towel with them in the Antique store. So they unfolded the towel, placed Genki on it, and disassembled him. After that, they placed his body pieces in the biggest treasure box at the back of the store. And squeezed most of the blood from the towel to the inside of the box to make the towel less wet. Once they did that, they headed to the third hallway, and placed the bloody towel in the washer. They couldn’t turn it on, because it was nighttime, and it would make noise, so they left it in that state. They quickly washed their face, and hands in the washrooms, and headed to their rooms to change back. Then they headed to their bed in the same position as before and waited for Katashi to wake up. Once it was morning, Katashi woke up with the knife still in his hand, and the culprit, who pretended to just wake up, saw him and screamed. Akira, Etsuko and I rushed to the hospital and saw the scene. This culprit played one big charade. It was you, wasn’t it, Yuki Ogawa, the Ultimate Artisan?]
99Please respect copyright.PENANA63mtXSlk7w
“What?...” He asked. “How did you see right through my plan? What kind of ability is that?...”
“So you’re the culprit then?” I asked him. “You killed Genki?”
“N-No…this isn’t…fair,” He said, tears rising again. “Wahhhhhh!!!”
99Please respect copyright.PENANARzSGHC1Cvc
“It is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!” Monokuma announced. “Now locate your lever and cast your vote. And once the votes are tallied, who will become the blackened?”
99Please respect copyright.PENANAV0wY9Sf3B4
The voting was over. And we were correct once again. Yuki was Genki’s killer.
“You’re so gross!” Etsuko yelled.
“Shut up!” Yuki snapped.
“Wh-Why did you kill him?” Hanako asked.
Yuki sighed. “It was the motive.”
“The motive?” I asked. “You mean you received an item.”
“Yeah. I received a letter from my sister and some photos.”
“It could’ve been someone else’s writing.” Etsuko pointed out.
“It couldn’t have been,” He replied. “No one’s writing is that cursive.”
“That aside, what was the letter about?” Akira asked.
“She was in danger. She was getting attacked and she needed help. I wanted her to be safe but I was trapped here.”
“Dammit, so that’s why.” Isamu muttered.
“Why did you choose Genki?” Satoshi asked.
“Well that’s an easy question I guess,” He replied. “He was just annoying.”
“Just annoying!?” Etsuko asked, aghast.
“Yeah, he just got on my nerves a lot.”
“What about that device?” Katashi asked. “When were you able to make that? Weren’t you sick?”
“Oh that,” He answered. “I made that the night after the party. The drug didn’t kick in, so I was able to make it.”
“Y-You’re making it sound like you were planning to kill Genki for a while.”
“Well, yeah,” He said. “During the party, I asked Genki if we could meet up in a few days, because I had some other suspicious things. He agreed and probably decided to come over when I was not that sick.”
“Then how did you know I was going to enter your room?” Katashi asked.
“I didn’t,” Yuki answered. “That was supposed to be used for Genki but I prepared the other drugs as backup in case something happened. So just as Misaki said, I hid the sleeping gas generator in the closet. If it detects someone else other than the builder in the room it will spray. And yes, I completely forgot to lock my room. But as you can see, bringing that device to me was a good call.”
Katashi was stunned.
“Well, it didn’t really matter, my lock was weak anyway. But I really thought I would get away with this.”
“Now, I've prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Artisan!” Monokuma announced.
“Go away!” Yuki cried.
Monokuma laughed. “Did you already forget? If the culprit loses the trial, then they will be executed as punishment. And according to the votes, you were the culprit.”
Yuki ran to the wall and started pounding his hands on it.
“Yuki…” My voice trailed off.
“Get me out of here!” He was sobbing. “What have you done to my sister!?”
“It’s punishment time!” Monokuma yelled.
“Get away from me!!!!”
99Please respect copyright.PENANA35QLxiUaBk
A gray prison-like building formed as Yuki was in it. A huge drill was above the building.
-Lock Down: Yuki Ogawa’s Execution-
Yuki panicked and went to find stairs. Walls grew to close him in as the drill began to drill down. Yuki ran downstairs and the walls kept closing in. He tripped and fell and the walls came close and closer. And the drill was coming down. He ran to the main hall, panting. The walls came closer to keep Yuki in place. Yuki couldn’t move. He was trapped. The drill crashed down and through the ground.
99Please respect copyright.PENANAGbMbtSxngS
“Y-Yuki!” Hanako cried.
Monokuma raised up. “That trial was honestly exhausting but I’m glad it was exciting, so I’ll leave it at that. It’s very late.” He disappeared.
“I can’t believe it,” Amaya said. “They’re both gone…”
“Genki and Yuki.” Akira said.
“What now?” Etsuko asked.
“Same as usual,” Isamu said. “We sleep, and then we find an escape.”
“Wait,” Akira said. “Katashi, what incident were you referring to during the investigation?”
“I will explain it if you tell me something.” He said.
“What?”
“What is your Ultimate?” He asked. “I don’t recall you telling us what your talent is, yet you determined that Genki’s blood was fresh. What kind of talent possesses that power?”
“He has a point,” Satoshi said. “I mean, I overheard Isamu tell Akihiko that she was the Ultimate DJ. But you never mentioned yours. You also willingly checked Genki’s pieces without much disgust.”
“I felt grosser things.” Akira replied.
“If you want to know the incident,” Katashi began. “You have to tell us your talent.”
“We did have a conversation about it,” I said. “But she said it would make her sound like a suspect. So she uses it for good use.”
“S-So it’s something bad?” Hanako asked.
“Th-That’s…” Isamu began. “No, this is something Akira should say for herself. It’s wrong if I say it for her.”
“You know it, Isamu?” Satoshi asked.
“Yeah, but she puts it to good use.”
“So what is it?” Katashi asked.
“Hey, if she doesn’t feel comfortable telling it,” I said. “I’ll just talk about the incident. I was there.”
“What?” He asked. “Aren’t you curious too?”
“Well yeah…but-”
“Fine. I’ll tell you,” She said. “Even if it may portray me as a suspect.”
“B-But you’re a member of the Future Foundation,” Hanako said. “So it shouldn’t be that bad.”
Akira sighed. “I am…the Ultimate Assassin.”
“Y-You’re what!?”
“That explains why you said the blood looked fresh.” Satoshi said.
“I put it into good use by examining bodies and finding evidence.”
“Assassin?” Katashi asked. “I would have never known.”
“So what is that incident?”
“Right,” He said. “Let’s talk about it in the morning. Or we’ll be in trouble.”
“Are you serious?” She asked. Then she sighed. “Fine. I guess that’s what I probably deserve for being all secretive about my talent.”
“Then let’s have a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning and we’ll talk about it.”
“Alright,” Amaya said. “Honestly, I don’t mind Akira’s talent. It doesn’t scare me,” She smiled at Akira. “We’re cool!” We headed to our dorms and I immediately entered the darkness.
99Please respect copyright.PENANAHiFMNV1p8i