Part 39: Chapter 2 Daily Life, Part 11

???: ...

???: ...morn...ing.

???: ...good...d...

???: Goo..d...morning...



: Good morning!
: Uwaaaaahh!





: Upupu! Nice reaction! I'm glad to see you didn't disappoint!
: Wh-What...!? What are you doing here!?
: I wanted to spice things up! So instead of a school announcement, I decided to wake you up in person!
: What the hell for!?
: Because it's fun.



: And as long as I'm here, I figured I'd let you hear it right from the bear's mouth.
: Hear what?

♪ Music cuts out. ♪

: Are you sure you should be acting this laid back? I mean, even though something happened to one of your buddy-buddy classmates?
: What...?





: Wuhwuhwuh-what? Your face is all blue, like someone on the verge of death!
: What...what happened? What are you talking about!?
: Puhuhu! That's for me to know, and you to find out! Good luuuck! *leaves*



Something's happened to someone... Is it...? Was it--!?

: No, it can't be... There's no way someone would...

But...what if...? No, "what if"s are pointless. Especially now, when...

: ...The dining hall. I need to get to the dining hall!







: Ah, Makoto!
: Are you okay?
: Did Monokuma talk to you, too?
: Hiro, Hina, Sakura, and...



: ...
: Byakuya... You're the only ones here? Where's everyone else?
: Either they're already off trying to verify what Monokuma said...
: ...or they've fallen victim to the "something" that Monokuma mentioned.
: The...something?



: It can't be... Has it happened again? Murder...?

After hearing what Monokuma had to say, the worst possibility forced its way into my mind... It took everything I had to drive that thought away.



: S-So if something really did happen... Does that mean someone did it cuz of what happened yesterday?
: It can't be! That stuff was just a bunch of old memories!
: "Just" old memories? Don't be so sure about that. Clearly someone felt it was more important than that.
: Huh...?



: To judge someone else's values based on your own outlook... Do you realize how dangerous that is?
: Wh--? Why didn't you say something yesterday!?
: Did you already forget? This isn't a co-op game. It's every man for himself.
: What good does it do me to go out of my way to help you?



: Stop saying that already!
: There's something wrong with him, for serious. Did he get brainwashed or something?
: That's not important. What matters right now is that we find out what happened...
: She's right. Let's all split up and begin looking. Hmhm... The game is afoot.





: We're given no directions where to search, so we may as well start with the 1st floor.



: Hina can be found searching outside the dorm hallway.



: I knocked on all the doors, but nobody answered. Did they all go to see...what happened? ...Oh, then what about the 2nd floor of the school? That's the one place that's new to all of us, so it seems like the natural place for...



: If we check the Trash Room, we can find Sakura looking around.



: There doesn't appear to be anything here.
: What are you doing here, Sakura? Did you...find something?
: Oh, no. It's just that...what you said the other day must have been lurking in the back of my mind.
: Huh?
: If something has happened, the killer might try to use this to destroy evidence again. I suppose that was floating around my subconscious, and it led me here.



: Hiro's hanging out in the 1st floor hallways.



: Hey, Makoto... Honestly, what do you think?
: Huh? About what?
: About Byakuya. You think he'd being brainwashed or what?
: I-I dunno. You'd know more about that kinda thing than me, right?



: What!? What's that supposed to mean?
: Well, I mean...you're some kind of psychic, right?
: Listen, Makoto, I think you've completely misunderstood what it is I do. Okay? Listen, fortune-telling is like...



: It's totally different from brainwashing or hypnosis or any of that pseudoscientific bullcrap!
: I need you to understand that.

So you expect me to think fortune-telling *isn't* pseudoscience? Sorry, but I don't wanna get yelled at.



: Upstairs in the library, Byakuya has pretty much nothing useful to tell us.



: There's nothing here of interest, don't you agree? You should go look somewhere else.
: Thanks.



: The classrooms are all empty on both floors, as are the remainder of the 1st floor rooms. The only places left to check are the pool and locker rooms.



: Nothing immediately in the pool hallway, so let's move on to the locker room.



Huh...? The door's open. But aren't these supposed to be locked...?

*Ding dong, bing bong*





: For this investigation, I have unlocked the doors. Please look around to your heart's content!



: I-Investigation...?
: Just as I thought.





: Byakuya--!
: Judging from what he just said, there can be no doubt a murder really has taken place.
: C-Come on...!



: And the locker rooms... They're suspicious. Very suspicious, indeed. Wouldn't you agree?
: Huh? Suspicious...?
: It seems nobody's searched the locker rooms. Let's start with the girls locker room...

He was muttering, as if talking only to himself.



Without waiting for a reply, he pressed his hand against the girls locker room door and the door swung open without a sound.

♪ Music fades out. ♪



In that moment, time seemed to freeze.

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: What...?

I don't know how long it took for me to fully comprehend the reality of what I was looking at. But as soon as I did...



: UwaaaaaaAAAAAHHH!!!

A wild, almost primeval scream escaped from my mouth.