Dangan Ronpa: Unser Sommerende/Chapter 1 - Deadly Life

Continued from Chapter 1 - Daily Life (2).

[1]

Sadie was... Dead. One of us had been killed.

It was a lot to take in, I suppose.

It wasn’t just someone who had died, it was Sadie. I knew this person... And yet, I barely knew her, didn't I?...

More people arrived in the gym, presumably looking around after the announcement, and they all ended up staring at her too. Every single one of us arrived, eventually. I didn’t even look at their faces to see their reactions, I was just staring at Sadie.

Sadie was dead.

“Yeah, nice gawking.” The goat was standing behind the crowd that had gathered, hands on his hips. “Never seen a dead body before?”

Nobody said anything. You’d expect the usual refutations like before, about how he was insane, about how we’d stick together. But there wasn’t anything like that this time. Monoyaki was right. Monoyaki had gotten his way.

“... This...” James spoke, trembling in much the same way as when he'd received the newspaper a few days ago. “This isn’t true...”

“Nope. She’s dead. Dead dead dead.”

“No, I mean... You killed her. This wasn’t one of us. None of us would do this...”

“Nope again! If I wanted to just kill people, all of you would be dead by now...”

... It was setting in that one of us couldn’t be trusted. Sadie wasn’t just dead; she was murdered. Someone had resorted to killing her to get out... Not just someone... One of us.

“Yawn! Why are you big kids always so mopey and edgy?”

“Because one of us is dead!”, I promptly yelled. “Why do you do these things and expect us to be fine with it?!”

“Eh, I dunno. It’s just a game.”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“...” Just a game. It’s just a game to him. All of this.

[2]

“Ahem! Point is, as mentioned in the announcement, the next stage of the game is where you all have to figure out who the killer is!” He snapped his fingers, and I felt my Monopad vibrate in my coat. Reluctantly pulling it out, I noticed some additional rules:

Rule #8: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.

Rule #9: If the killer is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule #10: If the entrepreneur is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.

Rule #11: Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.

... So... We just had to find out the killer... And then... They get executed?... And if we don’t find them, we...

All die...

I think that was when I figured out what this was all about. This wasn’t just about blood, cunning, despair or hope or something... This was about betrayal. This was about finding the one who felt it necessary to endanger the whole group for their own survival. But... Could any of us have really brought themselves to do that?...

“Well, that’s it!” Monoyaki gave a thumbs up. “Just get to it, and once I get bored, I’ll just call everybody to start the class trial!” And he whizzed away.

[3]

Sadie was still lying there, motionless.

It seemed that every time Monoyaki left, we were silent. This was the thickest, most frightening manifestation of the phenomenon yet. The time it took for someone to speak felt immeasurable.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Mary sighed, and walked out of the room. She... Did tell us, didn’t she? She... She had been right, then?...

“... That’s that, then.” Archie placed that pot plant he usually carries around on the ground, before turning to the rest of the group. “We have to move on now. We have to find who’s responsible for this.” His tone was of that same stern quality as when he spoke up during the entrance ceremony.

“But... Can we really be sure that it wasn’t just Monoyaki who killed her?...” Molly questioned.

“Although that could be true, as of the moment, we have to play by his rules and investigate.”

“Okay...” James said, looking at Sadie’s corpse again, longingly. “... But... I don’t know how to direct an investigation...”

“At this point, directions from a central authority aren’t going to cut it. If everyone searches on their own, we’ll be more likely to find evidence.”

[4]

Evidence... This really was going to be some sort of murder investigation thing. Fuck.

Most of us just sort of scattered out of the room again (Dan, still unconscious, had to be dragged out by Terry). I noticed that Rocky and Archie were still standing there. Archie was closely inspecting the body, scratching his chin. No idea how he’s able to stay calm that close to a dead person. Rocky was just there, watching.

“Uh... Hey.” I looked to the taller boy (like, he was WAY taller). “Are you?...”

“Keepin’ guard? ‘Course. Can’t let anybody be tamperin’ with the scene, right?”

“We could use two people watching,” said Archie, “just to make sure...” He looked around the room, and eventually, he noticed someone. Looking over, it was Lucy. She was just... Standing there. “Lucy!” The boy shouted, hands cupped to project his voice. “Is it alright if we ask you to keep an eye on the body?”

“... Mhm.” She nodded. Despite having her usual demeanour of spacing out, I could sort of tell she was distressed by this. I’m not sure how. Something about her eyes... They still looked really complex and fascinating, like a pair of kaleidoscopes...

“... Jane?” Archie tapped me on the shoulder.

“H-huh?...” Oh... Looks like I was, um, entranced... “Yes?”

“There’s something up with the crime scene...” He pointed to the ground, where I saw a **small knife with some blood stains on the tip.** The dry blood seemed to suggest that the murder happened some time ago, probably last night. “There’s a problem with this, though...” He rolled the body over a bit, onto her back. Looking over it... “There are **no stab wounds on the body**. Granted, the wounds could have been cauterised and masked by the burning, but... There are **no blood stains on the floor**, so it seems to suggest that the cause of death was the fire... Unless they cleaned the floor...”

“That’s... Weird... If they cleaned the floor, then they would have cleaned the knife, too...” I looked back at the knife. I could have sworn I’d seen that knife before... It has the same style as... **Robin’s knife**... The one he used to cut that bag open earlier. “Archie... This knife is... Robin’s...”

“It is? How do you know?”

“Me and Dan saw him use it to cut open a bag yesterday. Dan should be able to verify that... Once he wakes up, at least...”

“Alright...”

Looking back at the body made me wonder. If the cause of death was probably the fire, how did they manage to get her to burn to death without getting her to be unconscious first?... This was when I looked over to something that I was surprised I didn’t notice earlier. A bright red **fire extinguisher**, lying there on the floor. “Someone put the fire out prematurely...” And before it completely burned her. Her legs and head weren’t burnt in the slightest. Getting closer to the head... I got a little curious. If she wasn’t made unconscious through stabbing, then maybe... I rolled her onto her front, and parted the back of her hair. **A large bruise** was visible.

“... So she was knocked unconscious from behind, probably... And then burnt?” Archie was rubbing his chin, staring intensely at the body.

“So knocked out, possibly stabbed, then burnt, probably in that order. I don’t see why they’d hit her head after doing the other things.” There were still a couple of items left lying around. The next one I noticed was a tissue on the ground, with some sort of substance. Kneeling to get a closer look, I could see that **the tissue had lipstick on it**. Weird... The other thing I noticed was **a lighter** on the ground, likely used to light the fire. I don’t know why the murderer would just leave it...

“I think that’s everything... So... Sadie was most likely hit on the head, then possibly stabbed, then burnt, and then the fire was extinguished...”

“We can’t even be entirely sure of whether or not there was any stabbing.”

“But, that’s probably how the blood got there, right?...”

As he continued to hold his chin, deep in thought, I heard the doors open again. Looking over, James had re-entered the room, looking apprehensive.

“Hey there...” He walked up to us, gazing off to the side, as if not to look at Sadie again.

“Hello, James...” It felt pretty bad seeing him in this state. He was usually so confident... “Is there something you’ve come to tell us?”

“... I need to say something... About last night...”

“Yes,” Archie began, “anything you know is important.”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Well... I... It was...” He paused. “It was my fault...”

“You mean you?-“

“N-no, I mean, we were attacked! Last night!”

“H-hold on...” I took a short, deep breath. “Let’s... Take this slowly...”

“Y-yes...” James rubbed his face a little, and sighed. “I could’ve saved her, y’know... But I didn’t...”

“I-it’s not your fault, just... Can you go through what happened, start to finish?”

(SOUNDTRACK RESUMES)

“... Last night, Sadie and I went here to the gym on a... Date-sorta-thing, y’know. We were just sitting around and enjoying ourselves, and... **Someone charged at us. I couldn’t make out who, but I felt them cut into my arm with something sharp... I didn’t know what was happening, so I just... Ran...** I... I should have saved her... I should have-”

“Please stay calm.” Archie said, without much emotion.

“...” I don’t think that helped... “Anyways... I can prove that this happened, because...” James pulled back the sleeve of his suit, and revealed **a couple of cuts on his arm**. They were healing, but seemed recent. “... I... If I could, I would have taken Sadie’s place...”

“You did what you could, James...” I sighed. It’s kind of hard to comfort someone when you’re feeling really stressed, too... But, thinking about this evidence...

“By the way.” Archie reached into his pocket, and pulled out a tiny green grasshopper. It was dead. “I forgot to return this.”

“Oh, Jolly Buddy!...” James took the bug off of Archie. Is there something I’m missing?...

Archie turned to me, and probably saw my confused expression. “It’s his lucky charm. **He gave it to me to look at earlier, but I forgot to return it to him**.” That’s... Kind of gross...

“Thank you...” James put it in his front shirt pocket. "I always try to keep him in here, so forgetting him would be..." He glanced over at Sadie for a quick second. “... I’ll... Get some rest for now...” And so, he left, looking towards the ground. Poor boy...

“... Jane. Is there anywhere else we should investigate?”

“... We should check with Dan, right? And Robin, if he’s responsive at all...”

“Mm. Since Robin’s just outside, we should check on him first.” I nodded in response, and we walked out of the gym.

Robin wasn’t sitting outside anymore, in fact, he wasn’t anywhere within sight. The hall was mostly empty, aside from Jo, who was leaning against a wall.

“Lemme guess... You’re looking for Robin, right?”

“Yeah...” How did he know?

“If you’re wondering how I know, it’s because of you looking around with that dumbfounded expression.” What a nice way to put it... “I think he’s in first aid now. Terry dragged him down there, I’m pretty sure.”

Archie looked at me. “Dan’s probably in there, too.”

“Mm...” All of this made me start to wonder what even happened with Robin... “I guess that means we’ll... Go there? Or something?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

We walked downstairs to the first aid room. Entering, we could see both of the beds taken up by Dan and Robin, with Terry sitting nearby. While Dan was seemingly asleep, Robin was staring at the ceiling, expressionless. Terry was gazing at the two of them, hunched over and tapping his foot on the floor erratically, until he noticed us coming in, and which point, he immediately stopped and straightened his back.

“H-hello! Welcome...” He was putting on a big old smile. “Gr-great to see you!...”

“Hi...” I sighed. He obviously wasn’t taking it well, although none of us were, but he seemed particularly stressed. “We were just wondering if Dan or Robin had become responsive yet.”

“They haven’t. I really hope they do, since there’s that rule about mandatory participation in the... ‘Class Trial’...” What even was a ‘Class Trial’, anyway?... I mean, it was probably best to just wait and see... “It’s really sad seeing the two of them like this... I’ve got to know them pretty well already, and-”

An interruption. Dan yawned noisily, and stretched around in his bed, groaning. He did this for about twenty seconds, before finally opening his eyes, and turning to the two of us, still tucked away. “... Was it real?”

“H-huh?”

“Just tell me. Did that happen?...”

“... Yes.” Archie sighed. “She’s dead.”

“... I... I see...” He gained that same look everyone else had when we first saw the body. It made me wonder if Robin knew about the death yet... I mean, looking at him... He was still basically catatonic.

“U-um, anyway...” I looked back at Dan, who was starting to get up. “We’re trying to figure out who killed her now, and we wanted to ask you something... There’s this knife at the scene, and we were wondering if you would recognise it...”

“Well, I haven’t seen it yet... And... I don’t really... Want to go... Back there...”

“I-it’s fine! I’ll just... Describe it to you.” I awkwardly drew out the shape of the knife in the air, muttering about its size and length and sharpness and stylisation and...

“... That’s... Robin’s knife. **That’s definitely Robin’s knife**.” If he wasn’t shaken before, he definitely was now. “He... No... He didn’t... That’s!...”

“It’s alright! We, um, we’re not sure yet. Just... Try to get some more rest...”

“... Jane,” Archie began, “do you think it’s possible to get Robin to snap out of his condition, and ask him if?...” I looked over at Robin again. He was still staring upwards, occasionally blinking.

“... Nope. I don’t see us waking him up, ever. Or, at least for a while.”

[5]

Promptly, a sound rung out from the school intercom - the same jingle as with any announcement, and followed by Monoyaki’s voice.

“Aaaaalrighty! Time's up! I’d like everyone to head to the back half of the hallways on the ground floor, thank you very much!”

[6]

As the announcement closed, Robin immediately stood from his bed, and headed to the exit, doing some sort of march. He seemed almost robotic, and he kept the same stare from before. He was gone in a few moments, leaving all of us staring in confusion.

“Did he just?...” Dan blinked a couple of times.

“I believe he did...” Archie scratched his head a bit. “... I guess we should head to where Monoyaki told us to, now...”

We arrived. Other people were also gathering, and soon enough, all of us were there... Minus Sadie. This part of the hall had the dorms on one side, and on the other side, a blank wall.

After loitering a bit in the middle of the hall, we heard a yell from further up the hallway.

“Hey, dummies! I meant up here!” The goat was a few doors down from us.

“Hey...” Charlotte pouted. “How were we supposed to know the exact spot you wanted us to go to?...”

“I dunno. You guys are all supposed to be teenage geniuses or something. Just get over here...” As we all reluctantly walked over to him, the little cretin knocked on the doorless side of the hallway a few times. As he finished, the walls slowly slid open, giving way to a large, red pair of doors. “... And this is the entrance to the trial room! Just... Go in, I guess.” Then he disappeared as he always did.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

We entered, the doors leading into a sleek, grey, featureless room, large enough to fit all of us without it being too tight. Once we were all inside, a couple doors slid to shut us in, sleek like the rest of the room, seemingly separate to the red doors on the outside. Promptly, we felt a slight imbalance, as it registered that this ‘room’ was actually an elevator...

... So there we were, waiting to get to the bottom. Waiting for it to begin. The beginning of our first game of life and death. My mind was racing at the time, since it was starting to set in again that failure meant death. No ifs, ands, or buts. Death. If we won, we would instead have the killer put to death... As if to sacrifice them for our greater good... Whatever. There wasn’t time to think about that. I was trying to get a hold of myself, when I felt a small jolt on the ground; the bottom.

[7]

The elevator doors slid open, and revealed an expansive, rounded room, built of smoothened stone bricks. In the middle of the room was a large stone fence wrapped around in a circle, with fifteen pedestals surrounding it. Within the fenced-off region was a garden, full of flowers and small shrubs, and a water fountain in the middle, made in the same stone style as the rest of the room. Opposite us, beyond the garden, was a cushioned throne upon a podium, on which Monoyaki was sitting, shaking with excitement. There was a wooden mallet lying on the arm of the throne, and a sound block to be pounded (one of those judge-courty things).

Everybody ended up taking a place on one of the fifteen pedestals, not really commenting on what was going on. I imagine they were just as worried as I was, and didn’t yet have the capacity to talk just yet. One of the pedestals was occupied by a propped-up portrait of Sadie, a cross painted over it in blood.

Amber, who was a couple of places away from the painting, cuddled her penguin toy tightly, looking distressed. “I... Why does that... Have to be there?...”

“Mmm...” Monoyaki hummed, swinging his legs casually. “Remember that rule about all students having to attend? I wanted to make sure that nobody broke that rule is all.”

“... She’s dead...” Mia rubbed her eyes, murmuring. “That’s kind of stupid... And...”

“Macabre.” Molly tapped her foot. “Absolutely macabre.”

“Look,” the goat resumed, turning a bit red and flailing his arms, “all I wanted to do was make sure that nobody cheats, okay?! The rules matter more than anything here! That’s just how society works! Even I can’t break them!... Anyway... I suppose everyone should take a moment to take a deeeeep breath, ‘cause we’re about to get underway!~”

And thus, it began; the first battle of our high school war, the first clash between the group and the individual...

The first...

Class Trial!

Continued in Chapter 1 - Class Trial.