Part 18: Super High-school Level Update #16

Inside the shower room, I didn’t find a dream or an illusion...

Instead, I found her lifeless body.

Maizono... san...

Tears, nausea and dizziness hit me all at the same time.

But... I can’t afford to be daunted by the sight.......
I must find out the truth...
Why Maizono-san was killed...!

That determination was what kept my faltering body straight.





There's not much to do here but go straight to business and examine the body.



Honestly... even looking straight at the body is difficult......

But.. it doesn’t matter how I feel. This isn’t the time...!

I began looking over the body, confirming what was written in Monobear’s file.



There’s a knife piercing through her stomach... So that’s the fatal wound....
But... where did that knife come from? After I finish here, I should go look for places knives can be acquired...

In addition, according to the Monobear File, Maizono-san’s right wrist should be broken...



As expected, her right wrist is swollen and bleeding, but the swollen area...
...some glittering substance was all over it.

On the right wrist wound... something is glittering...
Is that... important?

Let’s see what else I can find...



Hm? Her left hand’s index finger has some blood on it.
The palms of both hands are clean. It’s just that finger...






What killed Maizono-san was the knife wound to her stomach, so what’s with her broken wrist...?

It must have happened before she died. I mean, I can’t think of any reason to break her wrist after killing her.
She probably got it during the struggle... The culprit must have attacked Maizono-san in the room, where they managed to break her wrist...

And then... they chased Maizono-san into this shower room... and landed the final blow with the knife.

...........



I'm sure you're all dying to know what's written on the wall. You will not be disappointed.



I peeked at the wall hidden behind Maizono-san’s back.



Eh...!?

The number “11037” was written there in red letters.

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

Is that... a message Maizono-san left?

Sure. Okay, not much else to see here, and I'm sure Naegi will be glad to escape the sight of his dead not-quite-girlfriend. Let's exit.



Naegi-kun, it looks like you found it...
The message in blood on the shower room’s wall. That’s clearly a dying message...

dying message

Dying message...? What’s that?



It’s a message left by a dying person in their last living moments. Most of the time, its purpose is to reveal the killer’s identity...
...though usually, it’s not written in a very clear and concise way.
Since the victim doesn’t want to be discovered, they often try to hide the message, or write it in code.
Huh... I didn’t know that...



Don’t you know Ellery Queen?
...who?



Never mind...

message in blood

A message written in blood... That’s the first time I’ve seen one...
So it really is... her last message, isn’t it?
She wrote it with her last breath... as if clinging to life itself...



You’re just like a poet, aren’t you.
But, what does that message mean...?
I don’t think I’ve seen this number... “11037”... anywhere around here before.



That message... She left it on the wall behind her back, trying to hide it.
If we assume she wrote it while in her current posture, then...
She probably wrote it moving only her hand behind her back.
If you try to write that way, how will that message turn out?
I don’t get what you’re saying...?



You should think things out by yourself.
You won’t tell me...?



This murder’s mysteries... are up for you to unravel...
If you don’t, the case cannot be completed satisfactorily.

I don’t get what she’s talking about... but it seems she will not reveal much to me.




This dying message... I think Kirigiri-san knows what it means...

But I really have no clue.

...That’s it! If it’s numbers we’re talking about, there’s one person I can go ask.
That... Super High-school Level Hacker...



I have one more question I want to ask you...
Why is the door to your shower room broken?
Broken...?
Oh, you mean how it’s stuck?



Stuck...?
The door to the shower in my room gets stuck easily.
When we first got here, I even thought it was locked...
But if you know the trick to opening it, it opens easily.






I see... This door gets stuck easily...
But... what I was talking about was how the door knob is damaged.
Huh? The door knob...?



...Didn’t you notice? Go ahead, try closing the door.
You’ll see what I mean...



I did as Kirigiri-san said, and closed the shower room’s door.



...huh?

The door knob was...



...what’s going on here!?
The door knob is... screwed out...!!!
Eh? Why do such a thing...?



Someone must have used a screwdriver or something similar, and removed the screws from the door knob...
Anyway, whoever took out those screws clearly did it intentionally.
Eh? Intentionally...? But, why...?!



Maybe they wanted to break into a locked room...
But... this is a boy’s room. The shower room's door can’t be locked, can it?
I mean, only the girls’ shower doors are lockable, aren’t they?



For a short moment, she was lost in thought...
And then suddenly, as if realizing something, she turned to me with a new question.



Naegi-kun. There is one more thing I want to ask you.
You said before your shower door gets stuck easily...
...did you tell anyone about it?
Um...
Oh! I told Maizono-san about it. Yesterday night, just before we exchanged our rooms.
So only you and Maizono-san knew about the door...
I see...

A weird smile appeared on her face...
...as if she just realized something very interesting.



...I got it now.
What did you get...? Because I have no clue...
Well, I’ll see you later.

Not even seeming concerned that I wasn’t done talking to her yet, she took her leave.




I don’t really understand, but...
...I think I’ve seen all there is to be seen in this room. I should go look somewhere else.

I need to look for a place where the knife could have been taken from... and also...

...that DVD in Maizono-san’s room...
Now that Maizono-san is dead, I guess there’s no escaping seeing what’s on it...

Apart from that, there must be other interesting places to investigate.
I should talk to everyone and see if they have any leads...



So that seemed to clear all the necessary flags in this room. Let's do as the game suggests and step outside.



Right outside our door, three dudes are standing. Apparently they have many interesting things to investigate in the corridor.





Why did Sayaka Maizono died in your room?
Are you the culprit?
I... I told you that’s a misunderstanding... we just exchanged rooms last night...



...........

His gaze... was full of suspicion.



Even if I accept the possibility that you’re telling the truth...
Shouldn’t you take responsibility for her death?
...eh?
Sayaka Maizono died precisely because you two exchanged rooms. Don’t you agree?
...!!



Maizono-san was killed... because we exchanged rooms?

Because I agreed to lend her my room for a night... she’s dead?

Maizono-san was killed... in my place...?



Well, all I’m saying is that’s a possibility...

T...that’s cruel...!

If that’s true, I...!







It’s strange, isn’t it?
For some reason... Maizono Sayaka-dono died in Naegi Makoto-dono’s room...
Naegi Makoto-dono. Let me warn you in advance...



I will not let you dispose of the evidence in the trash room! You have been warned!

Is he suspicious of me...?





Something is weird here, y’know?
It says in Monobear’s file that Maizono was killed in your room...
...but no matter how I look at it, it’s strange. The name plates don’t fit, do they?

That's a strange thing to say. But speaking of rooms, we should go into Maizono's to grab that DVD.





...Huh? This is the door to Maizono-san’s room, but the name plate has my name on it...

Oh? Let's check the door of the room we just left a minute ago.



...Huh? That’s the door to my room, but the name plate has Maizono-san’s name on it...

Our name plates are... swapped...!?

We kept room exchange a secret, so there wasn’t any reason to swap the name plates...

Who... did such a thing?




And with that clue out of the way, let's go do what we set out to.





As expected, there was something in the trash can.



...Maizono-san’s DVD.

After watching this, Maizono-san broke down...

What’s... recorded on this DVD? I don’t think it has anything to do directly with the case, but I think I should take a look...

I’m sorry, Maizono-san. I’m borrowing this DVD for a while.

Next on our check list is finding out where the killer got the knife. I'm sure you all know where we're going.







Asahina-san... are you investigating the cafeteria?



No... I’m just taking a break. That is, I’ve been on a break since we started.
It’s my first time doing this... I have no idea where to begin...
I know the feeling...



But this cafeteria... it makes me feel calm.
So I came here first, and then just stayed...
That’s also what I did yesterday evening... before Maizono-chan was killed...

We were on our way to the kitchen.





Knives in several sizes are lined up on the rack. But...



...it looks like... one is missing.
Was it always an incomplete set? Or maybe...?
I should find someone who knows this kitchen better and ask them...




I think I know just the person.





Hey, I thought maybe you’d know...? It looks like there’s a knife missing in the kitchen...



I know! I also thought it was strange. One knife just suddenly disappeared...
So... it was a full set before?



It was. When I looked at them before, they were all there.
When did you notice a knife was missing?



When I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea yesterday evening, they were all still there.
But after I was done with the tea and went into the kitchen again to clean up...
...the missing knife wasn’t there anymore.
So, the knife disappeared while you were drinking tea here in the cafeteria?
Y...yeah...

That means the knife was taken out while Asahina-san was sitting right here.
If that’s so, she must know.

At that time, I didn’t go in or out of the kitchen...
...so it couldn’t have been me who had taken the knife!




You know, I don't think Naegi is very good at this detective thing.



Hey... by the way...
Did you really... kill Maizono-chan, Naegi?
W...what are you saying?! How could I!!
............
Do you really think I did it...?
Maizono-chan was killed in your room, wasn’t she? If that’s so...
But... you two seemed like such good friends. Killing a friend like that...
It does happen a lot on television, though... Friends killing each other...
So if I think and put it all together...



...I really have no idea what’s going on........
.............

Next on our agenda...









I should be able to check it here...



...the DVD I found in Maizono-san’s trash can.

I sat in front of the monitor, and put the DVD into the deck.
I pushed the playback button, and stared at a dark screen for a few seconds, when...