Makoto decided to start by reading the Monokuma File [The victim was Sakura Ogami. The time of death is estimated to be around 12 noon. The body was discovered in the rec room, on the 3rd floor of the school. There is evidence of a strong blow to the victim's head. No other injuries were noted. However, it seems that at some point, the victim suffered from violent vomiting of blood.]
🎵 Morpho Knight - Traditional Japanese Version
[Hyuman]
-="Well a blow to the head could cause someone to cough up blood, but the way this is worded makes it seems as if there's more to it"=- Makoto heard a voice in his ear, but as he looked around he couldn't find the source -="If you keep looking around like that they'll think you're crazy. Relax, I planted an earpiece on you. Even if I don't need the investigation, it'd still be good to help you especially since Kyoko is also limited. And speak of the devil..."=-
Kyoko walked over to Makoto "I think the case this time might be...a challenge."
"Why's that...?"
"The only way into the rec room is the door we just came through. And that door had been jammed shut with the chair from inside the rec room. Which means the killer would have had to escape somehow, after barring the door."
"So if the door was blocked from the inside, and there was no way in or out till we broke the window... There's like...zero escape, right?"
"In other words, this is a classic locked room murder."
"L-Locked room murder...?"
"Are you curious to hear more about what a 'locked room' murder entails?"
"S-Sure, if you don't mind..."
"When you break down this type of murder mystery, there are four basic types. The first type is when the locked room is created after the actual crime is committed. This simply means that the killer commits his crime, then through some special method seals the room. This mainly involves some sort of trick involving the 'locking' of the room. Basic approaches include using a string, or simple mechanism. There are a number of variations. The second type is when the locked room already exists before the crime is committed."
"Oh...?"
"Basically, the killer uses a special contraption or tool from outside to target the victim inside. You push a switch and it fires a handgun, you shoot an arrow through a gap in the door, something like that."
-="We can fairly easily eliminate that as a possibility. There's not much in the school you could use for that, let alone the gap in the door wouldn't let much through"=-
"The third type is when the killer stays in the room until it's opened up."
"What do you mean by that...?"
"They stay hidden, and when the door is opened, they use the confusion to blend in with the group. They pretend they showed up along with everyone else, and that's that. And the fourth and final type is when it wasn't actually a locked room at all."
"Not a locked room...?"
"By that I mean, there actually is an alternate escape route somewhere within the room. You see this a lot in novels and things, but in reality it's generally not possible."
-="That can likely also be crossed off the list"=-
"So there are four possibilities... Then...Kyoko, which of those four choices seems the most likely in this case?"
"That's a good question. Answering that should be our primary focus during this trial. But right now...I can't really say."
"I see..."
-="There is also a fifth option she didn't mention, but it's not one you're going to want to think about. For now, at least. Why don't we start investigating the body"=- As Makoto walked towards the body Quill started his analysis, sounding almost robotic -="The body itself is leaning forwards, but the way the body is positioned it seems as if she sat of her own volition, I doubt the body was moved... I doubt anyone could move the body. There's still blood around the mouth, yet no visible injury around it. getting a better view of the head it would seem she suffered two head injuries rather than one. There's also a yellow powder substance on her instep"=-
"Maybe her getting hit on the head somehow caused her to start vomiting blood?" Makoto guessed
Byakuya started talking before Quill could answer "Not a chance."
"B-Byakuya..."
"However, your eyes have landed on a most interesting location."
"Interesting...?"
-="Just ignore him, he found something I already pointed out and thinks he's better than everyone for it."=-
"Yes, most interesting. Don't you agree?"
Listening to Quill's advice Makoto just ignored him and moved on. -="Get a closer look at that wrapper by her foot"=-
As he picked up a white wrapper with red polka dots Hina came over, realizing something "Ah, that's-!"
"Do you recognize it, Hina?"
"Well yeah. I mean, I gave it to her... That's a candy wrapper. Sakura got super upset when she found out Genocide Jack had attacked me, right? So after we left the nurse's office, I gave it to her. I thought it might help her calm down a little..."
"So you gave that candy to Sakura..."
"I found a big box of it in the warehouse. I...really like 'em... Actually, as soon as we could get into the warehouse, I took the entire box back to my room. I made sure nobody else could get their hands on 'em."
"You really like them that much?"
"But I wanted Sakura to get a chance to try one for herself. That's why I gave it to her... But now...they've lost all their flavor." she started cry
"Hina..."
-="I have a feeling that'll be more important than it seems, remember that. Let's move on. There's a sizeable bloodstain in front of the magazine shelf"=-
"It must have come from Sakura, right? But that doesn't make sense... Why is it so far away from where she died?"
-="That's the question isn't it? Look, one of the magazines are upside-down, flip through that"=-
Makoto didn't really understand why, but flipped through anyway until "Th-This is...!" On one of the pages, near the center of the magazine, a word had been written in bold, bloody letters [Toko] "...a dying message!?"
-="Well, it is the usual presentation of one"=-
Hina came over as she saw the message "H-Hey... Is that...? That says...Toko, right?"
"Y-Yeah, it looks like it."
"Then...she's the killer! Right!?"
"W-Well, it hasn't been confirmed yet..."
She just ignored him "It's settled! She's the killer for sure! That's conclusive evidence, right!? We can use it to corner the killer!"
As she angrily walked away Makoto mumbled "I can see why you would think that, but... It just seems too easy. If anything, it makes me that much more suspicious..."
-="Good. If you remember- or just look back over, Sakura's hands are clean. Not a drop of blood. Let's look at the locker"=-
Walking to the locker in the corner of the room, Makoto noticed that it was not only open, but "It looks like someone touched the inside of the locker, and it left a handprint in all the dust..."
-="It would seem so. It would also seem the handprint in fairly recent. Considering our situation, I doubt whoever it was would leave it there if they noticed... They're pretty small"=-
"So then...! Maybe the killer hid in here until the locked room was opened, don't you think? And during all the confusion, they popped out and joined the rest of the group!"
-="That would be an easy solution, but no"=-
"Huh? Why not?"
-="You got a look in the room while it was still 'locked', right?"=-
"Oh yeah... And the locker was already open at that point..."
-="Ergo they couldn't have hid there until we opened the door. Now, the glass you stepped over to get here"=-
On the floor behind Makoto there was shattered glass "There are shards of glass scattered all around the chair Sakura was sitting on. The glass is all...red. And... These are...the top and bottom sections of a bottle, right? So this must have originally been a bottle..."
-="Good. Aaaaaaand..."=-
Makoto noticed the small figure near the glass, a small Monokuma holding the knight piece of a chess board "It's a figure... It fits in the palm of my hand. It's...a Monokuma figure."
-="Now, where would a bottle and figure like that come from?"=-
Makoto walked over to the shelf that held four red bottles, each having a Monokuma figure inside "What I'm wondering is, how'd they get those figures inside the bottles...?"
-="I fail to see how that's relevant to this investigation, but its the same as a ship in a bottle"=-
"...Huh?"
-="Have you never seen one? Those old antiques of bottles with tiny openings but an entire model ship inside"=-
"Oh, yeah...maybe I have."
-="If you're calling the figures 'Monokuma figures' why don't we call these 'Monokuma bottles'"=-
"I feel like I'm finally starting to make sense of things, little by little... The Monokuma Bottles sitting on the shelf... The Monokuma figure we found on the ground... The red shards of glass, which probably started out as a bottle... Which would mean...Sakura must have been hit in the head with a Monokuma Bottle, right? The shards of glass and the Monokuma figure are evidence of that... So I think it's safe to say that the Monokuma Bottle was the weapon."
-="That's a good thought process, keep that going. I have an experiment I want to try, but first you should collect people's accounts, start with the other two in here"=-
Makoto decided to go to Hina first, who hadn't calmed down "We already know who did it...! Byakuya, Toko, Quill or Hiro-it had to be one of them! They couldn't stand the sight of her! You agree with me, don't you Makoto!?"
"U-Um, well...I don't want to say anything for sure without finding out more."
"...Then let me help you find out more. You see, Sakura asked all four of them to meet with her. You know where? Right here in the rec room."
"What!?"
"After I went to the nurse's office this morning, Sakura and I both left together, right? Well, eventually she went off on her own. But when I saw her again after that, she told me... She said she'd left a note for each of them. She asked them to meet her in the rec room by noon. I'm telling you the truth. I heard it right from Sakura herself. And...I tried to stop her. But she wouldn't listen. She said not to worry, that she just wanted to talk to them. And this is what happened... If I'd stopped her, by force even, this never would have happened..."
"H-Hina..."
As he walked away he whispered so Quill could hear "...Did you get a note from her?"
-="That must have been what that was. As I was in my room there was a paper slid under the door, however I was busy with other things, I never looked at it. Though, I don't remember ever stating any kind of opinion about this, I feel Hina just has some grudge against me"=-
"...Maybe..." It wasn't hard to guess why Hina would have a grudge against him, but Makoto just moved on to talk to Byakuya
"What do you want? You're bothering me."
"Um, there's something I'd like to talk to you about."
"Make it quick."
"Is it true that Sakura asked you to meet her in the rec room?"
Byakuya smirked "So you found out. Interesting."
"Then it's true?"
"I did receive a note to that effect, yes. But what fool would do what it said, and risk being killed by that monster?"
"So you didn't go see her?"
"Of course not. I ripped the note to shreds and threw it away. I haven't seen Sakura today at all." Byakuya suddenly turned angry "If you're all finished, please remove yourself from my sight." he stormed out of the room
"O-Okay. Thanks..."
-="Now the experiment. I need you to gather up as much of the broken bottle as you can, don't forget the smaller pieces"=-
"Huh? Are you sure it's okay to mess with the crime scene like that...?"
-="It'll be fine. Silver spoon is the only other one allowed in and he already left. Afterwards come meet me in the chem lab. you may want to collect the accounts of the other two as you go out. Pay attention to the door as you leave"=-
"I really don't know what this is about, but...what choice do I have? I'd better just do it."
-="Good puppet"=-
Ignoring what he hoped was a joke, Makoto found a broom and dustpan to gather as much of the glass on the floor as he could, including the Monokuma figure, and put all of it in a plastic bag. Taking Quill's 'advice', he walked to the door
This door is the only way in or out of the rec room... The door doesn't have a lock, and there's no evidence that the mountings have been tampered with. The only notable change to the door is...the smashed window. Which happened, of course, when Quill broke it to get inside... There's no evidence that any kind of string or mechanism was used on the door... In other words... I don't see anything suspicious about the door itself. The chair was shoved up against the doorknob, so we couldn't get the door open. There's no evidence that any kind of string or mechanism was used on the chair... there's no reason to think the chair had anything special done to it. Hmm... Having examined both the door and the chair, there's no doubt the reason the door didn't open was simply because the chair was shoved up against it. This kept the doorknob from turning, and the door from opening. And there was no evidence of the door or chair being tampered with or anything like that... So the killer must have created the locked door from the inside, not from the outside. On the floor infront of the door there was broken glass, unsurprisingly, but also There's some kind of plastic container rolling around near the entrance to the room.
-="It's an empty protein drink"=-
"Sakura must have drank it. Everyone knows how much she loved her protein... And she mentioned more than once how protein was good for all sorts of ailments."
-="I would suggest not trusting her on that"=-
"I know... But still, this protein can... It's got a label on it that says CHEM A-2. That reminds me... Sakura mentioned how the chem lab had all kinds of health stuff. So she must have gotten this from the chem lab..."
-="Its quite interesting though"=-
"Huh? What is?"
-="You can see what's around the can, correct?"=-
"Shards of light blue glass... They must be parts of the window you broke to get inside."
-="Well yes, but that's not exactly what I'm referring to. The glass is both around and under the can"=-
"Why does that matter...?"
-="Just... remember that"=-
"Can't you just... tell me?"
-="No. I can guide you, but you need to put the story together yourself. You won't have full confidence in your answer otherwise"=-
"And it's not just because you don't trust me...right?"
-="If I didn't trust you I wouldn't be guiding you at all, as I said, I don't need this Investigation"=-
"What do you mean by that?"
-="Nothing for you to worry about. Anyway, back on track."=-
Makoto made his way down to the dorms, infront of Toko's room *Ding dong* After a few seconds the door creaked open just enough for Toko to peek out. Agh, the most negative aura I've ever felt... An aura of total decay...
"Huh? Wh-Who's there? Well? What do y-you want?"
"So you're back to normal. Genocide Jack isn't around anymore..."
"D-Don't even say her name... It makes me s-sick to my stomach... I was in such a g-good mood, too...!"
She didn't look like she was in a good mood... "Hey, I was...hoping to talk to you about something. Is now a bad time?"
"... Kh...!" Toko grumbled as she slithered out into the hall "Wh-What do you want? You said you wanted to talk to m-me about something...?"
"I wanted to talk to you about the fact that Sakura had asked to meet with you."
"Wh-!? I-I-I don't know what you're t-talking about!"
"Byakuya already told me she had asked to meet with him."
"What...? She w-wanted to meet with Master, too? Ah! I just s-said too, didn't I...? I guess now it's t-totally obvious, huh?"
"Y-Yeah, pretty much... So, can you tell me about it?"
"I a-admit, I did get the note... B-But I didn't go see her! I was s-scared, so...I couldn't bring m-myself to go!"
Hmm... Toko claims she didn't go see her, but...can I really believe her? Well, until I can prove otherwise, I have no choice but to accept it as fact.
"Is that g-good enough? Then I'm going back to m-my room..." With that, Toko quickly retreated into her room.
Makoto moved on to Hiro's room *Ding dong*
Hiro answered the door "What's up, Makoto? Did you need something?"
"Yeah, actually...I just wanted to check something. It's about how Sakura wanted to meet with you..."
"H-H-How'd you know about that!?" Hiro panicked "Uwah! Did you maybe...gaze into my soul? Have your special abilities awakened in you!? B-But! I'm not the only one she wanted to meet with! Ogre told me herself that she asked Byakuya and Toko to come, too!"
"What? When did Sakura tell you that?"
"Oh-! W-Well...! When she asked me to meet with her, of course!"
"But...didn't she write you a note?"
"Yeah, uh...a note...she uh... She gave it to me in person! And she happened to mention the others, like, in passing!" Hiro quickly tried to defend himself
I gotta be honest, this is super suspicious... "So then you went and met with Sakura?"
"N-No way, I totally didn't! Why would I ever do that!? The last time I saw Ogre was when Hina got hurt and I took her to the nurse's office! I haven't seen her since then!"
Yeah...definitely suspicious. "While I'm here, could you show me the note she gave you?"
"Oh, um...do I still have it...? Let's see..." Hiro rummaged around in his pockets "Ah, sorry! Looks like I don't have it anymore!" With a big, goofy smile on his face, he pulled his hands back out of his pockets. But when he did a small white wrapper with red polka dots fluttered to the ground
"Huh...?"
"Ah... Aahhh-!" Hiro screamed as he snatched it back up again and shoved it back into his pocket. "Ehehe. Sorry, just a bit of trash I forgot to throw out..."
"Trash...?"
"A-Anyway! I can't deny that Ogre asked to meet with me, but I never went... So, well, if you'll excuse me...!"
Before waiting for a reply, Hiro quickly slipped back into his room.
As per the plan, Makoto went to meet Quill in the chem lab
"Welcome to the second part of the crime scene"
"The second part?"
"Well, look around" Quill gestured towards the room as a whole "Things don't look quite as they should, do they?"
It wasn't hard to notice the giant spill of powder infront of the shelf, along with the broken bottle it seemed to come from. Makoto took a closer look at the broken bottle, which he now saw was labeled 'CHEM C-4'
"I doubt I have to say it, but the bottle or the powder weren't here earlier today"
"Then...this powder must have been spilled..."
"Right around the time of Sakura's death" Quill finished Makoto's sentence
In front of the left section of the shelf there were footprints in the spilled powder
"It seems that whoever left these only went to the left end of the shelf" Quill stated "Makoto, do you mind putting your foot near the prints? be careful not to actually touch the powder" Makoto did as told "The prints are to small to be yours, as expected."
Makoto took a closer look at the shelves, starting with the left most. Let's see... What's on this shelf? There are all kinda of dietary supplements and different medicines. The protein drink we found in the rec room probably came from this shelf... All the containers on this shelf are labeled with the letter A, and a number. So I guess I can consider this part of the shelving unit section A. "...Huh? But wait!"
"One of the bottles seems to be misplaced. labeled C-9 on the a shelf. Again, I don't think it needs to be said, but it wasn't there earlier"
Makoto looked to the middle shelf. All the containers on this shelf are labeled with the letter B, and a number. So I guess I can consider this part of the shelving unit section B. So...on this shelf is... It looks like...a bunch of chemicals that I have no idea what they are...
"They're reagents" Quill told him "They're the main thing used to create a chemical reaction"
Hmm...I don't see anything out of the ordinary here. In which case, I don't think I have to worry too much about this shelf. Now the right shelf. On this shelf is... One look and I can tell it's nothing but dangerous chemicals. These look like poisons and other powerful chemicals. All the containers on this shelf are labeled with the letter C, and a number. So I guess I can consider this part of the shelving unit section C. "I should try to find out more about this shelving unit." It looks like it's split into three sections. Section A has dietary supplements, section B has reagents, and section C has...lethal chemicals. Sakura must have gotten the protein powder from section A. But what concerns me is that in section A, there was a bottle with a label from section C... What was a bottle of poison from section C doing in section A? There's definitely something going on there...
"Now for that experiment. I need you to take one of the scales from here and bring it back to the rec room. It'll be easier to tell you what to do after that"
"I still don't know what this is about, but I guess I still don't have a choice? I'd better just do it."
"Good puppet." Quill repeated with an eerie smile
Once Makoto got back to the rec room with the scale he heard Quill's voice in his ear again -="Now we're going to compare the weight of the broken bottle that you gathered up and one that isn't broken"=-
"Why do you want to do that...?"
-="It'll make more sense afterwards. First put two of the unbroken bottles on the scale"=-
Unsurprisingly "It's...balanced."
-="Which means the difference of the figures aren't enough to significantly change the weight. Now, theoretically, what would happen if one of the bottles was replaced with the broken bottle's pieces?"=-
"Well, a normal assumption would be either they'll balance out, or the pieces I collected will be lighter. I did my best to get them all, but there's a chance I could have missed some here and there."
-="So why don't we test that?"=-
Makoto took one of the bottles off the scale and put the bag of the broken pieces on instead "Huh...? The broken pieces are...heavier!? H-How is that possible...?"
-="So I was right, to no surprise"=-
"What?"
-="Just put everything we know about the bottles together. As said I can't just tell you."=-
*Ding dong, bing bong* "......Oops! Ya caught me sleeping. Your investigation was just so boring, I couldn't stay awake! Should I do it? Is it okay? Can I? Can I can I can I? Okay, then let's begin the class trial! You know where to meet, right? Please go through the red door on the first floor of the school! Puhuhu. See you soon!"
-="Seems we're out of time"=-
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The Canary's Birdcage
Vanilla Valentine - Vanilla Vanguard
1/13/2024