Part 116: Super High-school Level Update #104

Let's see a man about a key.



Hey, Togami-kun...
I will listen to your excuses for not having an alibi later, when we're at the trial.
No, that's not it...
You have Kirigiri-san's room key, don't you? I want to borrow it for a little while...
............
...I can't just lend it to you. You're the main suspect.



It's fine if I'm with you, though...
...Do you want to come along?



Right now, I have other things I want to investigate. Come again later...
Depending on my mood then, I may accompany you.

Later, huh?

In that case, I'll go finish my investigation elsewhere first...
The investigation at that place.



As some of you noticed, we've seen something that looks very much like the shards just a couple of hours ago.





The dismantled Monobear is still on the floor of the gymnasium, but...

It's just as I thought... It's gone.



Look at what I just found in there. What do you think that is?
T...That's...!!
...What?
...It's a bomb. It seems it was built into the Monobear design.
A B...B...Bomb?!!



The bomb from back then... is not here anymore.

There's no question about it. The shards next to body back at the garden were...






That's all I needed to see in this place. Now all that's left...

...Is Kirigiri-san's room.
I should go ask Togami-kun about that key again...



Back to the garden.



Togami-kun, are you free now?
Kirigiri-san's room, was it? Let's go.
Ah! Wait for me, Togami-kun!



I chased after Togami-kun, who was already walking towards the exit. We headed to the dormitory area.







I'm opening the door.

Togami-kun took the key out of his pocket, and thrust it into the keyhole. Then...

* click *

...It's open.
Y...Yeah... Thanks...





So... This is Kirigiri-san's room...



She's not much for decorations, it seems. In fact, there's only one thing here that looks interesting.



There is something on the table...



A wooden tag...?



...What is this thing? Do you have any idea?
It's probably a key...



You know, the kind they use for the shoe cabinets in public bath houses... It looks just like them.



I wouldn't know. I've never been to such places.

Figures. I can't even imagine someone like Togami-kun at a public bath house.



So, it's a key. Now that you mention it, I think I remember seeing something like that before...
Eh? Where?
I'm pretty sure it was...
That's right. It was at the dojo. I think there was something like that over there.

The dojo, is it?






Since there doesn't seem to be anything else here, maybe Togami has an idea what to look for.



What did you even want to investigate at a place like this?
I don't really know... I thought we might find a clue here...
Something that will help us figure out what Kirigiri-san is all about...



Don't tell me... you brought me all the way over here for such a silly reason?
I...I'm sorry...



Don't just search at random. Even if we had hours it wouldn't be enough time.
Don't you have any concrete leads? Something that can tell us where to look?

Concrete leads...?

Oh! Now that you mention it...!



Then, she took something out of her pocket, and handed it to me.



Eh? What's that...?
It's something like a declaration of resolve. Don't open it yet.
Open it... if something happens to me.



It should still be in my pocket...



...Found it!



What's this envelope...?
I got it from Kirigiri-san. She told me to look inside if something happened to her...



Open it, then. Something did happen, after all.
S...Sure...

I opened the envelope, and looked inside.

There was a single piece of paper in there.



"Under the bed sheets"...?



...Is that everything that's in there?
Yeah... I think so...

"Under the bed sheets"... Is there something there?



One way to find out.



Is something hidden under the sheets?

I raised them and looked, half in doubt...

W...What's that...?

Under the sheets, I found a crumpled piece of paper.





"Hope's Peak Academy 78th Class Student Roster"...?

"Mukuro Ikusaba"...?



That looks like Mukuro Ikusaba's profile.
Yeah... I think you're right...

Kirigiri-san probably stole it from the headmaster's office along with that key...



I came here so I might as well tell you even though it's a worthless question! It was a key and a honyalala! That's it!



So that's what Monobear meant by "honyalala"...

That's what Kirigiri-san left for me... She said she wouldn't die without fighting...



We don't have time to indulge in sentimentality. What does it say?
S...Sure...

I pulled myself together, and turned my eyes towards Mukuro Ikusaba's profile.



Name: Mukuro Ikusaba...

Sex: Female...

Super High-school Level Soldier...

Despite her slim figure, she is a specialist proficient in the use of a variety of weapons.

She held a special interest in the military since she was a little girl, and let herself get completely immersed in that world.
As an elementary school student, she won several international survival game competitions. At the same time, she started writing columns for military-interest magazines.

But, just before she started middle school, she went missing on a family trip to Europe.
The incident was widely reported in the news as the "Japanese Girl Kidnapping Case", but...

...All efforts to locate her were fruitless.

Three years later, she suddenly came back to Japan.
She confessed she spent those three missing years with the "Fenrir mercenary group"...
She wasn't kidnapped, but joined them out of her own free will. She then undertook extensive training with them as a soldier.

Nevertheless, the reason why she suddenly returned to the country remains unclear.






............
Soldier...? Mercenaries...?

It's like I'm living in a different dimension. In the world I grew up in, such stories are impossible...

I can't even tell what's fiction and what's real anymore...

That's how much this world is different from mine...

Those were my thoughts. The thoughts of a normal person. But...



Fenrir... I never thought I'd hear this name at a place like this...
...Eh? You know them?



The Fenrir mercenary group... They're a bunch of insane warmongers.
That said, they have their uses from time to time. There's no harm in having them on one's contact list.
Yeah... I think I'd rather stay in my own little world...



But, something worries me... According to rumor, the Fenrir group is already...





Oh! I found the protagonist who looks like a small fry and the small fry who looks like a protagonist!!
M...Monobear...!



Huh...? What's that you bastards have in your little hands...?



What!? I see you found that profile!
I...It has nothing to do with you...



There's no need for panic. I'm not going to blame you or anything!
I won't even blame that shifty Kirigiri-san, who stole and hid it!
If you think about it, we don't even have a school rule about robbery, unfortunately.



But, I'll never forgive Sakura Oogami, who disregarded my rules and broke the lock to the headmaster's office...
I'm thinking of taking out her body, ripping it to pieces and having a nice meal. Bears are omnivorous, you know.



...So, even post-death breaking the rules is unforgivable to you. You're all about your little rules, to the bitter end.



That's right! A successful school life is built upon law and order!



That's why, as this school's headmaster, I have no choice but to enforce them!



Enforce them...? In that case, are you also bound by the same rules...?



Of course. I couldn't stand it if you bastards kept complaining about inequality!



And, in that spirit, I have something good to tell you...
...Something good?





It's about other people bound by these rules...
In other words...
It's about the participants in this school life of mutual killings.
I don't think I've ever made the number of participants in this game clear.



I think now's the perfect time to do so.



When you bastards first met at the entrance hall, there were 15 of you there, weren't there?
...I think that made you all come to the wrong conclusion.
T...The wrong conclusion...?



You were never just fifteen...



The number of students participating in our school life of mutual killings was sixteen from the very beginning!

Sixteen...?! So...!



Mukuro Ikusaba...
The sixteenth student in this academy...
The girl they call "Super High-school Level Despair"...
Beware Mukuro Ikusaba...



The sixteenth high school student... Mukuro Ikusaba...

She is also a participant in this game...

In other words, she is also bound by the school rules...!



............
Why...?



Did you say something?



Why are you telling this to us now?



Oh. You see...



As I said before, this school life of mutual killings is being broadcast live on TV!
We have many viewers, so the rules must be made clear.
We can't have any complaints coming in, can we?



...That's why.



............



That should be enough hints for now, but...
I'm going to give you a bonus hint, as revenge!
Revenge...?



That shifty Kirigiri-san is going to get what she deserves. I'm going to spoil her own profile!
K...Kirigiri-san's profile...?!



That girl has been wearing those irritating gloves ever since you came here, right?
I'll let you know one thing...
There is something on her hands she wants no one to see, and that's why she's wearing them!
...Eh?
Upupu, That's all for now! I'll see you later at the school trial!



Ahahahahaha!!










Kirigiri-san wears her gloves to hide something she doesn't want anyone to see...?

Could it be... that mark on the back of the body's hand...?



That tattoo...?



No, wait a second...

Monobear said there's something she wants no one to see, didn't he?
In other words, she wears the gloves to hide her hands from view.

In that case...



Those clip-on nails...



Are you still thinking about Kirigiri?
...Eh?



We don't have time for that. First, we must figure out Monobear's trap.
Monobear's... trap...?



...Your dim-wittedness must have been a punishment from god.



Try to think carefully about what Monobear just told us...
There are 16 students participating in this game... and that includes Mukuro Ikusaba...
That is, Mukuro Ikusaba is also bound by the school rules... that's what Monobear tried to say, isn't it?
But, why would Monobear tell that to us now?
It's so there won't be any complaints later... So that we know what the rules are.
Looking at it a different way, it must mean Mukuro Ikusaba has something to do with this case.
That's why Monobear revealed the existence of the sixteenth students ahead of the trial.
...It's so we wouldn't be able to complain that it was unfair.
So... Mukuro Ikusaba... has something to do with the murder?



The most obvious option is that she's the culprit who killed Kyouko Kirigiri...
...Eh!?



If she's the culprit, no one can complain about an unfair trial.
It's the same as it has always been - mutual killings between the students at this school.

Mukuro Ikusaba... is the culprit?

The culprit who... killed Kirigiri-san...?



...That's the conclusion anyone in their right mind can reach.
To tell you truth, that's exactly what I thought when we started the investigation...



But... after hearing what Monobear said, I changed my mind.



Mukuro Ikusaba isn't the culprit...!
Eh...? Why...?



It's highly likely "Super High-school Level Despair" Mukuro Ikusaba is also the true identity of the mastermind.
If that's indeed so, don't you think it's strange? Why would the mastermind let us know something that draws suspicion to herself?
Now that you say it... I guess you're right...
And so, the very same declaration that turns suspicion towards Mukuro Ikusaba...
...Is what, in fact, means she is not the culprit.
And that's Monobear's trap...
He tried to make us believe Mukuro Ikusaba is the culprit... Have us make the wrong choice...



Yes, that's what I think.

What he says makes sense...

But, if it's true...

If Mukuro Ikusaba, the sixteenth student, isn't the culprit... who is?



...Well, then. I don't think there's anything else useful in this room.
Let's head to the next place. We did discover one more location we should look at.
The dojo...
We have to figure out what that wooden tag opens...



Let's go.