Yui Samidare

**Spoiler warning: *Plot and/or ending details follow. Read at user's own risk!***

## Aliases & Titles

### DSC Number

885
886 (Former)
887 (Former)
888 (Former)

## Characteristics

### Family

Mayu Samidare (Younger sister) †
Unnamed Parents\*

## Personal Status

### Affiliation

Detective Library
Victims Catharsis Committee\*

## Debut

### Novel

*Danganronpa Kirigiri* Volume 1

**Yui Samidare** (五月雨 結 *Samidare Yui*) is one of the main protagonists and a participant of the many Duel Noir murder cases featured in *Danganronpa Kirigiri*. After the Sirius Astronomical Observatory Murder Case, Yui aligns herself with Kyoko Kirigiri in order to work together to stop the organization responsible for the Duel Noir: the Victims Catharsis Committee.

## History

#### Early Life

Yui is the elder sister of Mayu Samidare. When Yui was nine, she received an in-school detention, thus leaving Mayu to go home by herself with friends. With both of their parents working, Mayu was home alone. However, during this period someone came to their house and asked Mayu to let him in. When Yui came home, she found the door open, but when she went further inside, the intruder had attacked her. Yui tried to fight but was knocked down. However, aside from giving the man a gash on his leg with a carving knife and even deducing their gender based off the hand they grabbed, she was unable to stop him from taking her sister. The man later demanded ransom money and organized to take the money to a public park restroom. However, when Yui's father got there, Mayu was already dead. The case eventually became cold with no one able to find the perpetrator. This fueled Yui's desire to become a detective, registering at the Detective Library at the age of 13. Her desire to solve cases and save others (as well as the rest of her body being weaker than her legs) would eventually result in her turning down the potential of attending Hope's Peak Academy with her talent of jumping, so she could further her skills as a detective.

Yui boarded at an exclusive all-girls' combined middle and high school, which is known to be an extremely popular missionary school for wealthy girls. Since attending high school, Yui has been living in the school's dorm rooms. Yui is also one of the few detectives in her school. While at the school Yui was sent two love letters in her first year; one was a squirrel-like girl, whom Yui rejected, and the other by a person Yui couldn't find. While part-time jobs were against the school rules, the school would give permission to anyone if they requested it beforehand. Yui was the first student in the school's entire history to ask for permission to work as a detective in her high school years. In order to prioritize her work as a detective, she didn't have a lot of social life and didn't attend any school clubs.

#### Sirius Astronomical Observatory Murder Case

While attending high school, Yui received a black envelope that contained two letters. There was a letter from "Yoshizono Ōe" who said that he was speaking on behalf of his client and that he wanted Yui to meet him at Hatesaki Station on December 22nd at 3 p.m. to be picked up. She received an interview with the client at Sirius Astronomical Observatory and, upon his approval, became privy to details of a very important case. In order to solve the puzzle written on the letter, Yui searched information about Sirius Astronomical Observatory online at the data processing room found at her school. As for the other letter, Yui was confused when what she read was a black letter that listed location, weapons and even a 'trick' alongside yen cost. While befuddled, she chalked it up to the requester trying to test her. From there she researched more of the Observatory, learning it was a private facility owned by Ryuichiro Kiba. She tried to learn more about him, but couldn't find anything else relevant, thus ending her day by only getting surface level progress.

Yui took absence from school and arrived at Hatesaki Station; at this point is when the snowstorm slowly began to fall. Because the station was empty, she quickly learned that the other people who gradually joined her there—Eigo Amino, Shiita Enbi, Kou Inuzuka —were other detectives who had also been called to the case. However, as the taxi driver arrives to take them to the Observatory and hands out cans of coffee, Kyoko Kirigiri arrives to be the fifth detective to join them. She ends up sitting in the back with Yui, whose in amazement of someone from her school's junior high also joining her. Given that Kyoko was relatively unaware of the Detective Library's ranking system due to only recently registering, the others take their time to explain for her, all before being forced to listen to an explanation by Kou on the Observatory (which Yui knew already from her research).

When they were ready, the Taxi Company Minivan Driver dropped them off a bit away from the Observatory, telling them his orders were to drop them off there, and that the group must walk the rest of the way. Kyoko thought something was wrong and suggested to Yui that they leave, but seeing the three men walking ahead in front of them, she whispered that she couldn't "abandon ship" and decided to stay.

While on their way, Kyoko discusses the possibility of Yoshizono not even existing, with Kyoko pointing out his name written a different way could be pronounced Yueen. To be exact, U.N Owen, a reference to the 'And Then There Was None' novel. However, Yui is skeptical of the whole thing, believing Kyoko was just thinking too much. As they walk, they discuss why Kyoko chose to be a detective, which she says its less that she chose, but more along the lines she was born as a one - the heiress to the Kirigiri Family of detectives. When Kyoko wanted to know why Yui was one, she responded that she became a detective to be an ally of justice. Their conversation turns into Yui, realizing she's older, requesting to be called 'onee-chan', but Kyoko opts to go for a more formal route with 'onee-sama', exasperating Yui.

The group encountered a sign that read “Welcome to the Picturesque Sirius Astronomical Observatory” had graffiti over it to read “Welcome to Despair-esque Sirius Astronomical Observatory.” After the team arrived, they tried to wait for their client. However, the client never showed up, with Shiita revealing that the previous owner had lost the building due to it being seized for his tax evasion, thus putting more mystery into who exactly called them to the Observatory. They decide to go for deeper investigation, searching the rooms, but not finding really anything suspect. Due to the snow outside, the group can't leave the Observatory and all five decided to rest in their rooms for a bit. When Yui came out, she found Kyoko by the controls for the rooftop's ceiling and thus witnessed her opening it. This got the others back into the main hallway and the group to decide to split up again. Teaming up with Kyoko and Eigo, they head towards Building B to investigate, but find nothing. When they reconvene with Kou and Shiita, the latter is convinced that this was a sham. However, right as they were about to break away at 8 PM, smoke started to fill the room and people had begun to collapse, including Yui.

Yui later awakens on the ground with tears streaming down her face and her right arm handcuffed to a bed. She doesn't remember if she is crying because of what just happened or because of dreams of her sister. She tries to gather her thoughts and remembers that she arrived with four other detectives at Sirius Astronomical Observatory to their client that never showed up. Yui frees herself by lifting the bed a little and releasing the chain and goes to examine her surroundings. However, she spots one of the other detectives who had accompanied her, Kyoko. She was found by Yui lying unconscious on the across the floor. When expecting her, she found next to her a blood-stained hedge clippers and spots the key for Yui's handcuffs in Kyoko's grip.

While investigating, Yui finds the other detectives lying on beds; decapitated with their bodies switched around. With a heavy snowstorm outside to prevent anyone from getting in or out, and the fact that only she and Kyoko are the only people alive, Yui suspects Kyoko of killing them. Kyoko later awakens at the sound of the handcuffs click, and after spotting the clippers, slowly reaches out for them. Yui quickly handcuffs Kyoko's left hand to a chair, afraid of what Kyoko would do with the clippers and confronts Kyoko on her suspicions of her being the murderer. Kyoko denies killing anyone and begins recalling what she remembers from before her current situation.

While Kyoko was tied to a chair, Yui investigates in Kyoko's place. While investigating, Yui learns that the corpses of the three bodies were actually cut into smaller pieces— the arms and legs are cut into three pieces, with all body parts rearranged. Yui later decides to investigate the roof. Yui is put up to play the role as a detective, while Kyoko was set up to play the role of the murderer. Yui and Kyoko later investigate the main building, closet room and various rooms to find clues that could lead to the culprit. Kyoko later suggests that one of the three detectives is the murderer. Yui points out that this is impossible, but with Kyoko's thought process, they conclude that another man — someone who looked exactly like one of the three men they'd seen — was murdered beforehand and cut into smaller parts for easy transportation. Then when the murderer killed the other two men, he could use these smaller body parts he'd transported to succeed with the three-body crime. In addition, they conclude that the coffee that they drank likely had slow-acting fainting drugs laced in them, thus explaining why they all eventually passed out.

However, after investigating in detail, there seemed to be no place inside the building for the culprit to hide. Yui searched everywhere, and even when the rest of the detectives were alive, they had searched the building thoroughly to find no place for a full-bodied man to hide in. Kyoko later reaches to the conclusion that the culprit isn't a full-bodied man. To prove her point, she asks Yui to trust her and untie the ribbon around her right hand. Yui, without hesitating, listens to Kyoko. Kyoko, still sitting with her left arm chained, takes a bottle of whiskey from Kou's bag and pours it over her legs. Then she takes a lighter from Eigo's bag and holds it up, saying that she will light herself up in five seconds unless the murderer reveals himself. Yui thinks she's gone crazy, but Kyoko assures her to be quiet and counts down. Just as she reaches one, a man's voice calls out and heard by Yui and Kyoko, standing up, tells him to come out from there. A man, who looks very much like Shiita, comes out from inside a small chair. Both of his legs are amputated from the thighs down because he lost them in a fire.

The culprit who revealed himself revealed that he was just another participant in this “game”. The man who looked identical to Shiita, revealed his real name was Tadashi Asakura and his plan before meeting with the other detectives. He sent a letter with a different time to the real Shiita Enbi, before the other detectives. When both of them meet, Tadashi killed him and dismembered him and hid his body in the telescopes and in the chair. When Yui and the other detectives arrived, Tadashi was setting his plan in motion and began when the detectives fell unconscious on the floor, he began by murdering Eigo and Kou, when finished he tried to frame Kyoko by placing the handcuffs key next to her and make Yui suspect Kyoko.

After Kyoko finished revealing Tadashi's plan, Yui apologized to Kyoko for suspecting her of being the possible murder and unlocked her handcuffs connecting Kyoko's left hand to the armchair. Yui started to question Tadashi about what he has done, but it becomes clear that Tadashi never intended to start any game by killing them. Tadashi wasn’t the real mastermind behind this game, but another player who was forced by the real mastermind. Tadashi bought the locations, the weapons, and the tricks that he needed to pull off this incident from the mastermind and used those weapons to fight against the detective. Tadashi agreed to spill the beans, though wanted Kyoko and Yui to fight back against the Committee so those like him couldn't be used for entertaining those watching.

Tadashi summarized the Duel Noir to Yui and Kyoko, without hiding anything. Once the letter of challenge was opened, Tadashi had been given 168 hours to indict the culprit. If he had succeeded, he would have received all the money indicated that was used to buy the tricks and so on, and on top of that, he'd be given the privilege to start a new life as a different person. However, his plan had failed and has just become a murderer now. In the end, he wasn't any better than the person he had resented for so long. The true culprit of Tadashi's incident was revealed to be Kou, who framed an astrologer for his arson crimes.

Tadashi called Shiita because he looked just like him in order to make him as a body double. Eigo was used in order to complete dismemberment trick. Lastly, Kyoko was called because she was the newest detective and was going to be used to play the role of the pitiful criminal.

Tadashi was later arrested by a crowd of police officers who stormed into the Sirius Observatory. Before he is led off, Tadashi asked Kyoko and Yui to stop these games and gives them a hint that they choose detectives for investigations in the Library by rank. He is then shoved into a black car and driven away from there. It was then that both realized those who took him away, were not actually police officers, but personnel for the Committee who took away Tadashi to execute him. Later that day the news would report Tadashi's death. An hour later, the true police arrived and returned both back home.

#### Daily Life

After the events of Sirius Astronomical Observatory Murder Case, normality returned to Yui's life despite such a severe murder case. Kyoko attends school like normal, and Yui corners Kyoko to set up a date at the Detective Library. From their talk with Tadashi, Yui is interested in finding out more secrets on the Committee and thinks looking up info at the library will be a good start.

At the library, Yui and Kyoko learn that they have increased in rank, with Yui and Kyoko now being rank 7. Kyoko states to Yui that she aims to be zero-class. If she is to be acknowledged as a detective, and in order to raise in rank, she will have to solve four more cases similar to the Sirius one. Yui is ecstatic that both have ranked up, though Kyoko is as stone faced as ever. By now, Kyoko has thought of a new way to try and get to the Committee. Namely, by reaching out to those of higher ranks, such as the Triple Zero detectives. However, when that search turns out to be a bust, they set their eyes on the Double Zero detectives. After combing through, they settled on seven of the twenty and left a note for them to contact Yui.

While waiting for contact, Yui spent most of her time getting to know Kyoko and become even closer. Yui learns that she was born from a family of detectives and was raised by her grandfather, Fuhito Kirigiri; according to Kyoko, she has no father nor mother.

Yui calls Kyoko's residence to ask her to meet her at the school to celebrate Christmas Eve at 7 p.m. Yui takes Kyoko to the school rooftop, showing her a brilliant sight of the campus. There, Yui reveals to Kyoko her childhood and her younger sister who was murdered and the reason she became a detective. Yui sometimes feels that she is unable to see her reason for continuing to be a detective, but seeing Kyoko and how she acts inspires her. Yui tells Kyoko that if, one day, Kyoko is also troubled like her over her reason for being a detective, then Yui wants Kyoko to stay her true, pure-self.

Yui gives Kyoko a present, Rose In Vitro, which Kyoko is very pleased with. Kyoko asks Yui if she sees Kyoko as a replacement to her sister, which Yui denies. Kyoko is Kyoko, and no one can replace her dead sister, Yui says. While Yui is grateful to Kyoko, Kyoko also says that she is grateful to Yui for believing in her during that murder.

The two shake hands when Yui's phone goes off. Yui answers it to hear Wagner's Die Walküre playing on the other end, including a live trumpet. A helicopter arrives above them, where this song is being played. A man's voice on the other end tells Yui “Merry Christmas,” and the owner of this voice jumps out of the helicopter onto the rooftop they are on. Yui recognizes him as Suisei Nanamura, whose ID number is 900. Yui guesses that this has to do with the Committee, and Suisei agrees, taking out a black envelope from his inner suit pocket. Suisei invites them to join him, which the two agree. Another case was about to be explored, this time addressed to Suisei Nanamura. Because this Duel Noir came at such a high cost, Suisei says it is a sign from the murderer that they fully intend on winning.

### Volume 2

#### A New Case

Immediately after the helicopter landed, Suisei takes the girls to the top-floor restaurant of a really fancy hotel. The total cost of staying on that floor for one night is ¥74,450,000. Suisei takes a look at Yui and estimates the value of her glasses, coat, and shoes, telling her that by knowing the value of what a person wears, they know that person's true nature. Suisei is able to determine that there is a tragedy in Yui's back story from how she has good quality shoes that support her leg power but decided to be a detective instead of an athlete.

Suisei invites them to dinner while they discuss the case. He drops a Santa hat on Kyoko for no reason, which Yui lets slide because it's cute. Plates and plates of food appear before Suisei, disappearing rather quickly. This is Suisei's fifth Duel Noir, which he credits to bad luck. Normally, not many detectives know about Duel Noir or the Committee. Suisei tells the girls that the Duel Noir is broadcasted to the viewers as a "closed circuit" event, where people watch the events. While he doesn't know specifically who those people are, they seemed to be very rich people.

Suisei asks both of them why they are chasing after the Committee. Yui says she can't let evil run free, but Kyoko says she doesn't really care because she was only interested in developing her detective skills, although she does admit she was feeling frustrated about being used by the Committee. Their clash of ideologies gets them arguing a bit before that's broken up by Suisei blaring a horn he got from his servers. He views a detective that acts without a client, as well as one that doesn't have ideals to be rather worthless, causing both to fall silent.

Soon after, Suisei tells Yui and Kyoko what he knows about the case. So far, there was some Double Zero detectives who have gone missing during investigations of the Committee. Suisei says that the Committee actually has an office inside a large building, where people can freely walk in and out. To the public eye, they are an open, non-profit volunteer organization. Suisei says that a detective investigating the Committee has told him that the Committee has a true purpose that isn't just about posting on a murder show for some rich people. However, Suisei tells Yui that the detective has been missing since, and he assures that he does not know if the detective was gotten rid of because they came too close to the Committee's secret.

Suisei asks Yui if she thinks the Committee is an evil organization. Since those that they target were murderers and they run free without being punished, all while those who have lost everything are forced to go back to living a normal life. To their victims, what the Committee offers is indeed catharsis because it fits their idea of getting back at their wrongdoers and fixing this unfair world. Yui wonders if that is the Committee's true purpose, to be a necessary evil. Yui assures borrowing the power of an evil organization to change one's life is very selfish. No matter what despair there is, it's just meaningless if it isn't conquered on its own. Suisei proceeds and tells Yui that the Committee is led by only one person, called the chairman.

The chairman founded the Committee 10 years ago and it has been active since. The Duel Noirs involve unsolved cases or cases that did not really accuse the real criminal. When the Committee finds the real criminal when the police weren't able to do it on their own, this took a lot of deductive skills that only a detective possesses. And it would have to be a rather high-ranking detective. Kyoko says that, among the four detectives of the 000 class, one had deleted his record from the DSC and it could be possible that they are the chairman. Suisei thanked Kyoko for explaining that thought process. The only people who would know that person's identity would be the three other detectives who share the 000 class or the founders of the DSC. One of them was also apparently involved in the founding of the DSC as well. Yui remembers that Kyoko's grandfather, Fuhito, was one of the founding members and starts to wonder if he was the chairman behind the scenes.

Suisei says that despite knowing that much, there is nothing he can do against the Committee because it is all conjecture. Even making a protest against the 000 class cannot be done because the abilities of the 000 class are so vast that one cannot compensate for them with time, money, and talent. If any of the detectives of the 000 class were to “fall from grace” and become criminals, they would need a national level of security to confront them. Yui is awed because if a detective of Suisei's rank easily admits to his loss against the 000 class, they must be highly formidable. The closest the three can get to the Committee is by capturing the Duel Noir criminal and getting info from them.

Suisei puts on a rucksack that a waiter hands to him, and explains that he wants the girls to join him on his Duel Noir. Except this time, since they are not the detectives assigned to it, it's very possible that they will be killed. Yui agrees readily to help him, while Kyoko gives Yui a look but agrees as well. The Norman's Hotel where the Duel Noir will take place in a dilapidated hotel deep in the mountains and far from civilization. They will be setting out for it the day after tomorrow because Suisei has something to do tomorrow that he cannot get out of. He doesn't think letting a day pass by will be a handicap. Then he opens a window of that top-floor restaurant and jumps out, bidding them good luck, opening a parachute on his descent.

Yui and Kyoko continue their dinner. Kyoko says she won't die easily, and Yui says, of course, she won't, silently adding to herself that Yui will protect her if that time comes. She doesn't say this out loud because she doesn't want Kyoko to think that Yui is seeing her dead sister in Kyoko. Yui isn't confident that the ghost of her sister doesn't haunt her, because somewhere in her heart, she still feels a desperate need to atone and save the girl she couldn't save.

A waiter goes to them with the check for the dinner— 62248 yen. Suisei hadn't paid for them. Kyoko takes out her credit card and puts it all on the card, while Yui looks at her in awe.

Yui insists on walking Kyoko back home since it’s late, which Kyoko says she doesn’t need. She demonstrates this when Yui pretends to attack her from behind and Kyoko twists Yui’s left arm in a self-defense move. Yui says she wants to walk Kyoko home anyway because she wants to talk more with her. Kyoko wordlessly starts walking away at this, and Yui takes this as an invitation to walk beside her.

Yui asks Kyoko if it’s possible for the Committee chairman to be Kyoko's grandfather, but Kyoko says that it isn’t because her grandfather has never registered in the DSC. If he’s never registered, then he’d never have an account to delete in the first place. Her grandfather is very proud of the Kirigiri name and detests the idea of detectives raising their rank. He was the only one in his group against the establishment of the DSC. Also, since her grandfather mainly lives overseas and deals with people from various countries, Kyoko says that the Committee is probably a small-scale organization of one country in his eyes.

Yui thinks about how incredible the Kirigiri bloodline must be, judging from Kyoko. But since none of the detectives they've met reacted to the name Kirigiri, Yui thinks that the Kirigiri detectives must act behind the shadows, without bringing attention to themselves. She wonders to herself why Kyoko's grandfather allowed Kyoko to register for the DSC if he himself was so against it.

They arrive at Kyoko's residence, and Kyoko sighs that she is past her curfew because walking with Yui had slowed her pace. Yui offers to explain to Kyoko's guardian, which Kyoko accepts, saying that would be a big help. They walk onto the mansion grounds. Kyoko lives here with only her grandfather and three housekeepers. She started living here the past 2 months; before that, she had been traveling overseas with her grandfather for the past 5 years. But since she had no choice out of attending Japan's compulsory education, she came back alone.

Kyoko tells Yui to wait outside while she gets her grandfather. Yui tells Kyoko to take off the Santa hat first, which Kyoko had never noticed she was wearing. As Yui waits, it begins to snow. She thinks that Kyoko must be very close to her grandfather because she seemed really upset about breaking curfew. Meeting Kyoko has lightened the loneliness and nihilism that Yui feels as a detective, and she tries to imagine the two of them being together still next year. All she can imagine is pitch-black darkness.

A voice cries out from above her, “Are you the fiend trying to seduce my Kyoko!?” and she sees an old man wearing a haori. The old man jumps down behind her and hits her knees with his cane and pushes her shoulder down so that Yui ends up lying on the concrete. His cane is about to come down on her head when Kyoko cries out “No, grandfather, it's not her! She's female!” Kyoko's grandfather Tōhachirō Uzuchi, whom Yui mistakes for Fuhito, pulls away the cane, peers into Yui's face, and even gropes her chest to see for himself that Yui is indeed female. He got the wrong idea because he had heard that Kyoko was eating dinner with a man.

Yui explains to Kyoko's grandfather that she came home late because they were discussing a case, and to please excuse her for breaking curfew. Kyoko's grandfather says “Screw the curfew! If it involves detective work, I will allow Kyoko anything.” He tells Yui that being a detective is the infallible thing one must do as a Kirigiri. Even if they're faced with the death of a family member, a Kirigiri must prioritize their role as a detective.

While Yui still has Kyoko's grandfather there, she asks his permission that Kyoko leave home for a few nights to deal with the Duel Noir, which he readily gives. Yui is rather surprised by this since surely he must know that dealing with a Duel Noir means danger for his beloved granddaughter. She wonders if she should ask him questions about the Committee but he disappears back into the mansion before she can.

Before going inside herself, Kyoko asks Yui if what her grandfather said earlier is strange: to prioritize detective work even if it involves the death of a family member. Yui says she considers it strict rather than strange since it must show how much dedication the Kirigiri family has to being a detective. However, Kyoko says that isn't what it really means. What it really means is that, for a Kirigiri, their work as a detective is far more important than the death of a family member. This is a doctrine that must be adhered to, as if like a religion. Kyoko asks Yui again if she thinks that is strange, and Yui says it's not very normal, but she still thinks it's amazing because it shows how much pride they have in their abilities. Kyoko keeps pressing Yui, asking if it isn't normal, and Yui wonders if Kyoko is feeling doubts about what she's been taught as a Kirigiri. Yui asks Kyoko what she thinks, and Kyoko says that she doesn't think of it as strange at all, but that could only be because she's convinced herself that it isn't. Because if she doesn't think that way, she would end up empty inside.

Yui afterwards hugs Kyoko, reassuring her that as long as Yui is around, she won't let her feel that emptiness. Yui assures to Kyoko that she's fine just the way she is. Both afterwards split off to rest.

#### Norman's Hotel Murder Case

Meeting up with Suisei, all three take a Kyoko-funded ride to Norman's Hotel - a place that has been shutdown for about 15 years due to the negative reputation it gained after a hotel guest murdered 13 other guests under the belief someone was in the wall trying to strangle him to death. About to initiate the case, Suisei timed their arrival at the hotel so that the Duel Noir has 120 hours remaining. He reminds the girls of his nickname “Allegro Agitato,” meaning "furious and swift." He explained how he gained his nickname to Yui and Kyoko due to him solving his cases extremely fast. Yui was looking forward to seeing him work.

Walking towards the hotel, Yui and the rest come upon a sign that reads, "Welcome to Norman's Hotel. We will cater to your every desire." Someone yet again, has crossed out part of the word “desire” so that instead it read, "We will cater to your every despair." The similarity to their last case, the Duel Noir. Kyoko began to wonder if it is meant to be a sign that the Committee’s game is taking place, or if someone was just fooling around with them. When everyone reached the front door of the hotel, they open the thick double doors to find a small room inside with another set of double doors. They open this to enter the hotel lobby, which seemed to be as wide as a gymnasium. As Yui steps into the lobby, an old man appeared wearing a tuxedo and standing next to the sofa, shouts at them. As he shouted, "Wait, wait, hold that door open!" As they turn around to find the door closed and locked. The door doesn’t seem to have a keyhole and is instead locked automatically. Everyone inside were unable to open the door from inside.

There were six people around the sofa where the old man was sitting, and they had been locked in this place since yesterday. The seven people begin to stir because of the arrival of Yui and the rest have brought the total number of people to ten, and after asking if there is a detective among, Yui and the rest are set to start this case. Yui confused by their behavior until the old man in the tuxedo gives Yui a letter in blood-red ink that was addressed to the group. The letter read about Yui, Kyoko, and Suisei, along with seven people, were invited to Norman's hotel to participate in a secret auction. This auction was expected to last for 7 days.

Trapped inside the hotel, they meet seven people inside the lobby, Yūzen Minase, Akio Chage, Meruko Mifune, Mikado Shinsen, Sae Yozuru, Taehime Uozumi, and Seiunsai Toyano'ō. Yui introduces herself and tells to everyone that they are detectives who have come to capture a criminal, leaving out details about the Duel Noir and the Committee. Instead, she tells them that they received a notice that a murder was about to take place between the space of today and New Year's Day. Suisei decides to wait until 6 p.m. to come around and see what this auction is about. While the group decides to sit and wait until it's time, Yui is restless and takes a look around the lobby.

While investigating, Yui finds a small office room for staff is behind the front desk, containing nothing but a small office desk. There is another door inside, which Yui opens to find a bathroom. Yui is about to step back out when someone pushes her into the bathroom from behind, locking the door behind them. Warning Yui to keep her voice down, Taehime takes out a card from her apron pocket and shows it to Yui. Taehime reveals herself to Yui, that she was also a detective, although the rest don't know that. She's here on an undercover operation and wearing a maid outfit to disguise herself. Yui asks her if she's here about the Duel Noir, however, Taehime apparently has never heard of such a thing. Taehime specializes in cases that deal with counterfeits, and she has been after Seiunsai for the past few months. Yui tells Taehime about the Duel Noir, since they're fellow detectives, and Taehime thinks it's possible that Seiunsai may be the culprit. In any event, she had grabbed Yui aside because she wanted her to know not to touch Seiunsai since he was her case. Both eventually agreed to a promise and shake on it, promising to share relevant info with each other. Yui eventually returns with everyone and wait until 6 p.m.

#### Hotel's Auction

While waiting, Yui spends time reading a The Decagon House Murders inside the lobby along with everyone else. When 6 p.m. comes around, a door opens. Inside they find what appears to be a dining hall. There is a long table with a white tablecloth at the center of the room, five chairs on each side. Plates, forks, and knives were found on top of the table. The room had a high ceiling, with a balcony that circles all around the room so that people can walk up the stairs to it and view the dining hall below. All of the windows are locked down so they cannot see outside. There is no one inside the room. Entering the dining hall, they notice two strange things. On the left side of the room is an electronic billboard counting down in red numbers. The numbers read 111:57:48, Yui understood immediately that it's counting down the hours left of the Duel Noir. Next to the billboard is a booth the size of a telephone booth. There is a door in the front of it for people to enter it. Further along the wall, past the booth, is a fireplace. There is wood in it and appears ready to light at any time.

Some minutes later, a microphonic voice suddenly speaks up. This voice came from a portrait and the boy's portrait mouth seemed to be able to move. In that voice, he introduces himself as Norman and his position of being a serial killer who died a century ago. Yui thinks she must be dreaming. Suisei had gone up the balcony at some point and was already investigating the portrait. He says that it isn’t a portrait at all, but an LCD screen put into a decorative frame. The screen is running an animation whose mouth movement goes along with the voice so that it appears to be talking.

Norman starts to tell them to take their seats at the dining table to begin his explanation. When everyone takes their seat, he starts to tell everyone to empty their pockets and put all the money they had on the center of the dining table, due to the money not being eligible for the auction. Norman also asks everyone to body check the people on their left to prevent any cheating. Taehime afterward is ordered by Norman to collect all of the money on the table and throw it into the fireplace. Norman tells them not to fret, and to stretch their legs under the table. There they find heavy knapsacks, which they pull out. Each knapsack contains 100 million yen. Norman tells them that this money is a present given by him, which they can use freely for the auction.

Norman tells them that until the timer on the electronic billboard reaches zero, they will be holding an auction every day at 6 p.m. Since the time limit of the Duel Noir is until January 1st at 10 a.m., that means the auction will be held five times at most. No one will be able to leave the auction house until the auction is over. Also, there will be only one item, the same item, put up for sale at each auction. That way, if they miss buying it at one auction, they would have the chance to get it next auction. That item is the "Detective Rights”— the right for whoever has it to be detective.

The group is confused, while Suisei and Kyoko immediately look at Norman suspiciously. Norman’s face changes into a hideous expression and he reveals that there is a serial killer hiding inside the auction house, that isn't Norman. When night comes, that serial killer will kill one person per night. However, that serial killer has a weakness, and that weakness is the detective. The serial killer cannot kill the detective and they cannot kill in front of the detective in order to keep their identity secret.

Yūzen and Meruko are still confused, but the rest seem to have got it. Whoever wins the Right of the Detective in the auction gets to be safe from the serial killer for the night. Yui proposes to the group that whoever gets the Right that night can gather everyone and protect them all so they won’t be killed, but everyone is skeptical. Mikado says, apologetically, that they’ve only just met and he can’t be sure that Yui would protect him properly if, for instance, she was Detective for the night. She could double-cross him. Being Detective themselves would be the safest choice. Norman start to recap to everyone at the dining hall the rules of the auction that is about to begin.

Before beginning the auction, Norman suggests to everyone to have dinner before beginning the auction. Norman orders Taehime to step up in front of him. Warily, Taehime walks up the balcony to stand in front of the portrait. In a flash, Norman’s face changes into the evil look of a serial killer and a gunshot rings out. Taehime seems to falter, and there is another gunshot. Taehime stumbles backwards, over the balcony railing onto the table below. Taehime lands on top of her own knapsack, as her seat was the one closest to the portrait. There was blood stains all over her apron where she was shot twice and her face is pale. Yui is about to reach for her when Taehime suddenly bursts into flames, burning alive.

Suisei, Kyoko and Yui start to try to extinguish the flames with their coats. However, Yui and the rest were too late to try to save Taehime with Normal replying that for diner they will have a burned maid. Norman had sacrificed the maid to show the others that this auction wasn’t a joke. Also, her death does not count for the night because “she wasn’t killed, she was cooked”. Since the dead cannot participate in the auction, their money will also be confiscated and he orders one of them to throw her knapsack into the fireplace so there won’t be cheating— not that it would make any difference since she had landed on her knapsack when she’d burned so there was nothing left. With the participants suddenly reduced from 10 to 9, they begin the auction.

Ultimately, Suisei wins after causing the rest of the group, sans Yui, to not bid after seeing his bag become empty. This was because Suisei had bid all of his money in order to gain the Detective's Right. Yui, thinking there was a trick to it, opted to bid five million yen, to no avail. When it came to the their living arrangements, they decided based on the rankings of who bid and drawing lots with cars. With Yui being the only other bid, she'd got the room next to Suisei. Before she could enter, Akio approached her privately. Akio warned her about seeing Mikado before at scenes of grave incidents and is convinced he was the Grim Reaper who wanted to see how they react in a life or death situation. When Yui asked why he decided to tell her this, he said it was out of sixth sense. After that, Yui went into her room. Suisei would eventually let her and Meruko out when the time had come. However, it was then when they saw a figure dart into the empty room of 312. Leaving Meruko to stand guard, both give chase. However, when they enter, they find no one. They investigate for a period to check about any tricks, but otherwise, don't find any trace of them. Suisei briefly exits the scene to head into Akio's room, but Yui is trapped in 312 since, unless you are the detective or culprit, you can't leave your room. Suisei comes back but reports that Akio had been murdered. Yui follows him and sees his body for himself.

From there, Suisei sends Yui and Meruko downstairs, whilst he stays to let everyone else out of the room. Once everyone else is downstairs, they have a discussion over the events that had transpired before waiting out night for morning. There, Yui and Kyoko both give a thorough investigation of Akio and his room. It's through this discussion where they discuss potential culprits, but rule out Suisei given that he was the chosen detective for this Duel Noir. Prior to the start of the second auction, Seiunsai tries to convince everyone that the only way to win is to unite and boycott the auction. However, the others don't believe the magician is telling the truth in the slightest and most opt to bid. Yui bids 15 million yen, but ultimately fails and Yūzen takes the right this time. With his victory, Yūzen outright states he isn't going to bother protecting anyone and that he won it for himself, though seemed to be willing to reconsider for the likes of Sae and Meruko if this 'please' him. Such antics have left Yui exasperated and gloomy to Kyoko as she reports her failure. However, Kyoko reassures her that tonight they'll just have to set a trap for the culprit.

Prior to them entering their rooms Kyoko had placed some water down all over the hallways. Thus, when the culprit would come out they would end up marking the floor everywhere they step. That night, Yui nervously waited for morning to come, while hearing Meruko's cries next door to her. When morning came, it was discovered that Seiunsai was murdered and there was traces from his room '302' to '301', which was Yūzen's. Yūzen explains he did check on Seiunsai after hearing some noise last night, but ultimately, only found his body and strange doll left behind on his bed. Suspicion is then drawn to Yūzen since he was the only one that could have made tracks like that, which causes him to storm off. Thus, this leads Suisei to reveal his knowledge about the Victims Catharsis Committee and question the other remaining third party participants if they had committed any serious crimes that would cause the culprit to want to kill them. Ultimately, only Sae had anything of note with her marriage scams, thus making it likely for her to be the next victim. With that done, Yui joins Kyoko in investigating the crime scene, and gather the culprit couldn't have been hiding in any walls or there was any hidden scaffolding. For the third auction, both Yui and Kyoko come up with a plan to get the Detective's Right. Ultimately, Kyoko baits Yūzen into focusing her and thus prepping only money to deal with her. As such, when the results came in, Yūzen bet 51 million to overcome Kyoko's 50 million, but was too preoccupied with her to notice that Yui had used 52 million to acquire the right this time. That night, she since actually cares about the others well-being, she quickly went about freeing them, thus preventing a murder from occurring. As they wait for seven, Yui walked around to keep watch on everyone with Kyoko by her side. Kyoko urges her to sleep, but Yui refuses to just yet. Yui asks if Kyoko had a good idea on the culprit yet, and when Kyoko responds yes, asks if now was the time to collaborate with Suisei. However, Kyoko urges her to wait. When morning comes, Yui retires to room 301 to rest. That night, she had dreams of her dead sister.

Eventually, Yui was awoken by the presence of Yūzen. Kyoko had called him in there to discuss matters in private. On the fourth day, he was approached by Kyoko. She asked about his past, and after some prying uncovered Yūzen's scamming business. From there, Kyoko propositioned him to join Kyoko and Yui's side in order to gain victory and overcome the Duel Noir, but on the condition he surrenders all the money he has. He was initially skeptical of the offer, by Kyoko gave him the until the auction to decide. As Yūzen leaves, Yui asks Kyoko if it was alright to deal with someone who would probably betray them easily, but Kyoko thinks it will be alright since Yūzen knows what she was capable of since the last auction). Kyoko goes on to explain that the culprit gathered crooks, some of whom are their targets, and others as bait. When Yui wonders if Akio qualified, Kyoko notes that his articles would inspire those fearful of the apocalypse to throw away their livelihoods, which could lead to lives being ruined. Kyoko goes on to say she has something to tell Yui about the Duel Noir, and when Yui asks if they should include Suisei, Kyoko responds that he is useless. Kyoko makes it clear that the detective this time won't expose the killer and that its their job to protect the last target from getting murdered by the killer. Though, Yui is rather baffled by these turn of events.

Through their investigation, they conclude that the culprit never went into the empty room of 312 at all, and had merely prepared a decoy to lure those outside into it. Thus, while people would be distracted investigating it, the culprit would have been easily able to murder Akio during the down time. From there the investigation turned towards the staircase, in which Yui used her high jump prowess to get to the next floor (much to Kyoko's amazement) and continue on the next floor. There she finds a door that requires the Detective's Right to open, and once Yui opens the door, it turns out it leads outside on the roof, which also has a car on-top of it. Kyoko, who said that she was in 301, instructs her to get on her stomach and reach over to the window. They deduce that was how the culprit was strangling their victims and that the culprit managed to lure their victims to their window, had them stand ontop of their own bags of money, thus allowing them go get close enough for them to strangle.

However, with the bags of money missing, this means that the prior winners of the auction also used such means to steal the money off of the deceased, either for use in the next auction or for their own greed. Something that has Yui become infuriated as she realizes that Suisei kept her trapped or lured her away from the scene in order to get money for himself. When she asks if Suisei was in leagues with the culprit, Kyoko is doubtful of it and believes its just him taking advantage of the culprit's plan to gain himself riches. Kyoko moves the topic back to the murder method, and that the culprit had to use car's winch to move the corpse back to their bed without being heard. In addition, its noted that the signs for the hotel were misleading into thinking that they were on the third floor, but in actuality it was the fifth. When it came to deducing who was the killer, it was narrowed down by Kyoko for three reasons: the killer had to be a woman since a small body was needed to get out of the window to the roof, second in order to prepare to deceive the others for the first night they had to be in at least 307 and, thirdly, its doubtful that there would be more than one entrance to the roof via window. As such, only one room should have it and the culprit needed to be in it twice in a row. This only left one person as the killer: Sae Yozuru. In addition, Kyoko noticed that 307's bars were now sealed, meaning Sae didn't have use for the trick anymore. The reason being her target would be too short to even reach the window even with the boost from her money bag. Yui catches on that the only person that qualified it would be Meruko. Granted, Kyoko says she can't say for sure, but she could hear the Reaper's Footsteps. Yui says that is enough and vows they'll protect her, which causes Kyoko to brighten up and thank her.

They reason the only way to save Meruko now would be to acquire the Detective's Right. For the fourth auction, Yūzen and Meruko are on their side and have brought their funds with them as apart of Kyoko's plan. However, on Sae's side is Mikado and Suisei, who give her theirs. The former because he believes that Sae would be targeted, and Suisei since he and Sae came to an agreement that if Sae were to get out of this alive, she would pay him back tenfold. However, prior to hearing the latter's reason, she thinks Suisei was seduced by Sae, but the detective admits that he is gay (and turns down Yūzen when Yui tries to strike a deal in order to get Suisei back on their side). For the auction, Meruko's side gives Meruko their funds and, on Kyoko's orders, bets all of their money in order to get the right. In contrast, Sae doesn't bet. While she claims its because she couldn't part with money, it was likely because it would conflict with her status as the culprit. Still, without any funds, Yui and Yūzen are nervous to whats to come.

For the fifth and final day of the auction, Yui is somewhat convinced of Sae's victory with the lack of funds, but Kyoko is still confident. The duo arrived at the auction five minutes before the deadline and heard the news that only Sae already went in. It's then that Kyoko points out to Yui how Sae can't really participate in the auction and goes in. Yui is confused, but becomes shocked when the results are given. Kyoko had won the auction with one million yen. Sae becomes enraged and demanded to know how she could have done it, which she reveals she had swiped money out of Taehime's bag once she realized that her wounds were fatal. Kyoko announces that everyone will be gathered in the detective's room to prevent a murder from occurring, thus foiling Sae's plans. In her defeat, Sae explains she targeted Meruko, Akio and Seiunsai for their parts in ruining her family and life. When Yui pointed out that she could have had a normal life, Sae shoots back then she did everything honestly, even as her life fell apart. Though when Yui pointed out her marriage scams, Sae noted that it was merely a game for her to save money. If she were to win the Duel Noir, she would have had enough to go about as many 'lives' as possible, which causes Yui to angrily respond if thats how she could kill so easily. An angered Sae asks if she should just consider enduring her miserable life and that this was her way of finding catharsis. Yui, realizing that she can't save Sae, gives up. Its then that Sae reveals she'll use the funds from the machine and her husband to pay back the Committee for the Duel Noir, and then run away. When the others try to respond that they'll just capture her, Sae dissuades that line of thinking by pulling out a hidden gun. Thus, Yui accepts that they'll just have to let Sae go in exchange for being allowed safety. With their victory ensured, Kyoko goes up to Yui and tells her that she is a not detective because she wants to save someone. Yui responds that its fine and, with a satisfied expression on Kyoko's face, they continue onwards.

With everyone, sans Sae, heading into room 301, both girls snuggle up in the only bed and greet Happy New Years to each other before falling asleep. When they awoke, it was nine in the morning, but when they left their room, they found bloody handprints on the wall. Yui phone rings and on the other end was Fuhito Kirigiri. On speaker, Fuhito says that the Chairman has begun to play a dishonest game and would probably want to make contact with Kyoko in the near future, and admitting they were once close. He says that he is the master of disguise: The Variationist who has no true face. He warns that if they hear his name they should run. When ask who it was, Fuhito says that the Chairman's name is Mikado Shinsen, former Triple Zero detective. Fuhito believes Mikado will target him and warns both to not engage since they would lose, not realizing both were now becoming quite scared.

With that revelation, Yui wants both to split, but Kyoko reminds them that it isn't ten yet and goes off to follow the handprints. They lead to room 312 where the duo discovered Sae had been murdered thanks to the use of her own hammer, and that her gun was missing. Both head down to the lobby where they see Suisei and Yūzen in a bloody heep, the latter having a hole in his head from a gunshot. Yui, realizing neither could be helped, usher Kyoko to the door when Suisei's voice rings out. Turns out, he was playing dead to try to get both to come closer in order to kill them up close. Suisei then shoots Yūzen's corpse to waste a bullet before explaining his motives. He wanted the remaining money for himself, and when Sae tried to stop him, he killed her and began going about this plan in order to escape with it, with the bonus of no witnesses. Yui is about to charge him since, if he was gonna shoot, there could be a chance to avoid bullets rather than just stand around for him to fire. Kyoko tries to tell Yui to instead stall since the doors would open soon. However, Suisei's shot grazes her ear and he informs them that stalling won't work. Realizing this might be it, Yui stands in front of Kyoko and raises her arms, prepared to take both bullets to save Kyoko's life. However, before he could fire a bloody Meruko enters and orders the gun to bend before collapsing. Suisei turns to fire at her, but finds that the gun won't work and chucks it at her unmoving body.

Still, this distracts Suisei long enough that when the doors open, both girls run outside. However, outside is where they meet Mikado, alongside other Triple Zero detectives: Gekka Ryūzōji and Johnny Arp. The girls run past them, but when Suisei comes out he is left dumbfounded by their appearance. Wordlessly, Mikado takes Johnny's gun and hands it over to Suisei. Suisei gets the implication and commits suicide. The three men turn and begin to leave, but once Mikado sees the girls, he walks up to them. Yui covers Kyoko, but instead Mikado merely wipes away the blood from her ear where Suisei's bullet grazed her. Yui pulls away, frightened and notices Mikado's kind appearance. She asks what is Mikado's goal in taking part in Norman's Hotel. In turn, Mikado says he just wanted to welcome the new year, all while covering a good section of Yui's world with a handkerchief. As Mikado folds it smaller and smaller, Yui stares in horror as she finds Norman's Hotel has disappeared and other parts of the land were decreasing and disappearing. Kyoko and Yui hold each others hand in fright as they see a barren landscape surrounded by an iron fence and a path that goes downhill to an unknown direction. As Mikado and his subordinates leave, he pulls off his mask and gives a compliment for how Kyoko for how she handled the case. As well as saying that once he was done, it would be in a new face.

### Volume 3

#### Kyoko's disappearance

Shortly after the events of Norman's Hotel, Yui and Kyoko returned to their normal lives. A new year has begun and both of them return to school after the end of their winter vacation. Since the events of Norman's hotel, Kyoko has been completely absent from school. During recess, Yui goes to the middle school campus to find Kyoko. However, Kyoko's seat was empty. Due to Yui's and Kyoko parting ways after the events of Norman's Hotel, Yui felt very worried about Kyoko and decides to escort her home and returned to her dormitory room afterwards.

After those events, Yui's life was completely "normal". She hasn't done anything but live her normal days, devoid from any murder investigations or Duel Noirs. During her ordinary days, Yui's mind of those who died weighed heavily since the end of that case. Worried about Kyoko, Yui decides to call her and see how she was doing. However, nobody picked up. Worried, Yui decided to stop by her house in person. When arriving, Yui found her home very odd. When pressing the intercom button outside her house, it didn’t trigger any response and all the lights around her house were off, and nobody seemed to be home. Yui suspected that Kyoko was kidnapped, and decides to investigate.

Yui decides to first stop to the Detective Library, hoping that she would find a message or clue left for her. Yui remembered that the library had a lot of archived files with information from various detectives where she could freely browse at her leisure.

After exiting the bus, Yui steps inside the Detective Library to find clues regarding Kyoko's disappearance. Yui steps in front of the counter and asks the librarian to check if she had any updates. Yui to her surprise didn't seem to have any updates in her ID Detective Card. After being understandably disappointed, Yui made her way inside the library and went straight to the "homicide detectives" section to locate Kyoko's file. Yui couldn't find any updated information on Kyoko's file regarding Norman’s Hotel. Running out of ideas, Yui decides to check Suisei's shelf in order to find information regarding Norman's Hotel Case. In the end, Yui couldn't find clues relating to Kyoko's disappearance. The library's closing time drew near, Yui started making her way to the room's exit. On her way out, the library had a weird sensation. The lamp above the door started to flicker and a kid appeared in front of Yui, who believed he was to be a ghost. Something about that mysterious boy, who had soon disappeared, captured Yui's imagination, but she decided not to dwell on things any further, and left the Detective Library empty-handed and continues to search for clues.

The next day, there was still no sign of Kyoko. Yui brought up her concerns with her homeroom teacher and the nuns in charge of the academy about Kyoko's disappearance, but none of them took Yui seriously. That same day, Yui decides to stop again to the Detective Library to check if there were any new messages for her left behind. Yet again, Yui didn't receive any new messages regarding Kyoko's case. While in the library, Yui notices from 20 yards away the kid from yesterday whom she believed to be a ghost. The kid was looking directly at Yui with a smile in his face as if he was waiting for her arrival. The very next moment the kid disappeared into the shadow of another bookcase and was completely gone. Yui spotted a small iron door in the wall at the end of the aisle believe that maybe he ran there. Opening the door, a lot of brisk breeze came blowing through the door frame. Making her way out into the flurry of snow, Yui made her way through the arch to find that mysterious kid.

On the other side lay a parking lot. It was surrounded by a tall hedge. There, a long black limousine was currently parked there with that kid waiting for her to arrive. The kid opened the door car for Yui. Yui didn't trust that kid and didn't want to go with him. However, Yui thought that maybe Kyoko was kidnapped this way and decided to go along with it in order to find Kyoko. Inside the limousine, Yui meets the Triple 000 detective rank, Gekka Ryūzōji. Gekka and Yui sat facing face-to-face in the limousine. They were heading to his detective agency with the purpose of investigating the Duel Noir that she has participated in.

Gekka began delivering commands into his cell phone. "In precisely 60 seconds, change all of the traffic signals on Route 4 between Point A and Point C to red."

Gekka suddenly then pulled out a second phone and continued speaking. "The bus hijacking is not an act of terrorism; it is cover for a heist targeting valuables onboard the vehicle. An elderly man with a suitcase filled with 50 million yen in cash and an old woman with 200 million yen worth of accessories in her bag are among the passengers. No, it is not mere coincidence; it is all part of the thieves’ plan. The chaos has diverted the attention of the passengers from their belongings; in fact, the real suitcase and bag have already been stolen and replaced with fakes. The valuables will be transferred to an accomplice driving a convertible with the roof retracted, an unnatural sight in this frigid weather. Their plan is to toss the bags from the bus window into the convertible when the vehicles pass one another at the intersection." Gekka was thinking of stopping a busjacking in progress while on their way. After finishing this task, the police arrived and thanked Gekka for completing such a task without any problem.

After finishing, Yui proceeds and started to question Gekka if he perhaps had anything to do with Kyoko's disappearance. However, Gekka didn't know anything about her disappearance and revealed to Yui that the Victims Catharsis Committee was apparently also looking for Kyoko. Gekka escorted Yui for his personal desire without any knowledge from the others in the Committee. Gekka revealed to Yui that the Committee has already prepared a new Duel Noir, summoning Yui once again as a detective.

Shortly, they arrived in front of the marble entrance while everyone greeted Gekka in his wheelchair with the help of the kid. When arriving, Yui meet inside a lot of kids who worked for Gekka inside his building. Going up in the elevator, they entered Gekka's office with a lot of books, documents, and photos found all over the room. Taking seat, Gekka explained to Yui the role of the children who worked here. All the children are orphans that work for Gekka and served as detective trainees who helped him. When Yui asked if they also help out the Committee or know about Gekka's crimes, he merely shakes his head.

Yui is left with utter disgust at Gekka and asks why he would throw his lot in with a criminal organization. Gekka has no remorse for his choice as he believes that they really are giving the Victims 'catharsis' in what what they do. He goes onto explain that he had tried to go about things in accordance to the laws rules, but was let down by it time and time again. Thus, when Mikado approached him, he joined the Committee after sensing he was a man of fair play. He believes that sacrifice for the name of their Duel Noir, like roping in innocent people unrelated to the crime, is unavoidable, which Yui rebukes.

She says that way of thinking is wrong, but Gekka points out the similarities between her and Gekka. How both could never forgive evil being committed, but Yui has yet to make the commitment to make sacrifices. This causes Yui to hesitate and think about the meaning of being an ally of justice. Gekka tells her to focus and she'll be able to hear 'their voices'. Yui obeys and hears the voice of Mayu and Kyoko calling out to her, making her wonder what she was fighting for. Gekka remarks that she is one of them and goes changes the topic to the 'game'. Gekka presents the two envelopes as before and ordered her to take one then leave his office. After deciding which would lead to saving lives, she choose the black envelope (which causes Gekka to smile since he felt like she would take it) and departs.

After Yui made the decision to leave Gekka's office with the envelope, Licorne awaited her. When he asked about the reasoning as to why she would make such a decision, she responded that she wanted to meet her friend again with her head held high. When they left the castle, Yui asks more about his connection with Gekka and the Committee. He informs her that while he isn't apart of the Committee, he is helping Gekka and was made aware of the situation. In addition, Licorne is supposed to help Yui. After some more questioning, Licorne reveals how long he's been with Gekka and by Yui's request has her taken back to her dorm.

When she got to her dorm, Yui is informed by the residents someone had tried to pick her lock. This someone turns out to be Kyoko, who she is quick to hug and assure to others that they don't need to call the police. She takes Kyoko in her room and asks about her whereabouts. Kyoko informs her that she came back since Yui's dorm is the only place left to turn to and that she was hiding from the Committee, who was after her. Yui lets slip that she was in contact with the Committee's Gekka and informs Kyoko of what had transpired, as well as the envelope for the latest challenge. They planned to open it at noon tomorrow.

The next day, when they open it, they find that what was inside are twelve Duel Noir letters. This leaves both girls in utter shock, with Yui freaking out on how they will solve twelve locked room cases. Kyoko suggests that perhaps they could set aside some cases, and focus on only solving some of them. Yui, not feeling comfortable with such idea at all, wonders its just the Committee proving that trying to stop them was pointless. Kyoko tries to raise her spirits and suggests recruiting detectives from the Library, but Yui points out the Library couldn't be trusted since some of the detectives there could likely be members of such organization. Kyoko then suggests seeking help from Triple Zero detective, Rei Mikagami, since they never saw him with the other Triple Zeroes. Plus, if he is an enemy, its best to uncover his identity to let them know what to watch out for. Its then that the gift from Gekka, a cellphone, began to ring.

Gekka is on the other line and divvy's the situation in three parts. First, they can use Licorne to assist them by getting him to relay police records to them. Two, this Twelve Duel Noir Challenge was produced and directed soley by Gekka. He also adds a victory stipulation: if they managed to complete all twelve locked rooms, by prevention of them occuring or solving them, Gekka will step down as a member of the Committee. The penalty for Yui is merely just being called to fight the Committee without making much headway. With those stakes in mind, Yui accepts the challenge.

As for the third part, Gekka goes on to talk about Rei Mikagami, and that the Committee has just received word that he is to appear at Meyura Station, with word that two sets of organization agents and three assassins will also be awaiting to find him. He confirms that Rei is not a member of the Committee, and when Yui asks to why he willingly revealed such a thing, he admits it was to be fair to her. It is not a violation to have help in solving the Duel Noirs and Yui is free to recruit as many allies on her side as she wished.

Yui asked if facing off like this was necessary, but Gekka replied that has she took the other envelope things might have been different. In the end, he says he anticaptes a fine battle before hanging up. Ultimately, both Yui and Kyoko decide to trust in Gekka's words and head off to Meyura Station, with Yui calling Licorne to meet them there.

#### First Battle Of The New Duel Noir Challenge

At Meyura Station, they meet with Licorne, though Kyoko is wary. All three head to the women's clothing department by Licorne's request, though Yui is the only one happy about it as she likes shopping (much to Kyoko's chargin). Licorne points out there's quite the deal of mystery surrounding Rei Mikagami, with Yui chiming that she believed it might be a group of people operating under the name. However, the group gets sidetracked picking out a dress for Kyoko. As they cheerfully shop, Lico then includes just who amongst their enemies will be appearing and who would be their biggest obstacles. Namely, the assassins consisting of Copycat, Night Flyer and former Super High School Level Rock Climber, Tsurugi Hitomoshi. For all three he gives brief details on their methods of killing and relative infamy.

The first assassin their group runs into is Copycat, who takes Yui hostage after she tried to pursue her in an 'Employee only' staircase. Licorne entered soon after, but it didn't take a long for him to strike up a conversation with her, since he knew her native tongue. Both chatter away about their taste in manga, much to Yui (who was still being held captive's) chagrin. However, before the conversation could go further, Kyoko (who had taken another entrance staircase and made her way up from below) has snuck up on Copycat and handcuffed her to her own rolling suitcase. Kyoko then grabbed the suitcase and threw it down the stairwell, thus taking Copycat along with it. The assassin fell all the way down to the landing below and slammed into the wall. This left her incredibly hurt and unable to move from the ground. The trio used this opportunity to search her belongings where they found newspaper clippings about serial killers, publications of cold cases, and horde of manga and doujinshi, thus explaining how said suitcase was heavy enough to drag her down the stairwell. It's also shown the the weapon she used to hold Yui hostage was a fountain pen.

Knowing Copycat's methods, Licorne deduces she was merely scouting for Rei Mikagami and wasn't planning to kill once she found him, which relieves Yui. When Licorne asks if he should finish off Coypcat, Yui objects and reminds him that wasn't what they came here for. He stares at her but doesn't object. Kyoko's investigation says that while Copycat didn't know Rei's identity, she did know he was to appear at Meyura Station at four. With only five minutes until then, Kyoko took back her handcuffs and and trio continued onward, leaving the defeated Copycat on the stairwell.

As they continue on, they hear reports of a fire breaking out on the restaurant floor, which causes the customers to flee to the exits in safety. The trio tries to head to the employee only stairwell to meet Rei on the roof, but were caught by a guard who demanded they leave. Yui was willing to leave, having been fooled, but Kyoko and Licorne immediately caught onto the fact that he was an enemy. Yui tried to get them to go, but the guard soon grew impatient and thought they deserved 'a penalty'. Pulling out a gun, thus indicating this enemy was Night Flyer, the guard was prepared to fire when Licorne threw his umbrella and had the tip of it get stuck into Flyer's gun, effectively jamming it. As Flyer tried to pull it out, Licorne then snuck up on him and broke his right arm.

Screaming in agony, Flyer collapsed onto the floor where Licorne placed a foot on the back of his neck. Taking out a carbon steel hammer, Licorne was prepared to attack when Yui stopped him to ask what he planned on doing. Licorne's response was that he was just going to smash his eyes, throat and fingers to prevent Flyer from seeing, speaking and touching anything ever again. Yui objects to such treatment, whilst Lico defends himself by saying he's just doing this to prevent Flyer from coming after them for revenge. Flyer shouts telling him to finish it, or else he'll fly over again and again to try to get payback. Licorne was about to oblige, but Kyoko points Flyer's gun at Lico to get him to comply. Licorne packs away his hammer, but to incapacitate Flyer more he breaks his other arm.

Kyoko tied up Night Flyer and got to work investigating him, thus learning that he stole the guard's uniform and presumes by his looks that he fits the bill as Night Flyer. Licorne opts to ask him directly and, while the fearful Flyer initially says no, once he sees Licorne pull his hammer out again, backpedals into confirming his identity. With the second assassin defeated, the trio continues onward towards the roof.

When they got to the roof, they found members of organizations after Rei, murdered via neck snapping. During their investigation, Yui would later approach to the fence that lead to side of the building, having noticed a slight disturbance over there. With the jig up, Tsurugi climbs up, tears a hole through the fence with his fingers and approaches the trio. Kyoko takes aim with her gun, but before she could fire, Tsurugi charges at her, knocking her to the ground and sending the gun onto a nearby water tank. He rushed towards Yui and clamped his hands around her throat. Before he could kill her, Kyoko smacked him in the back of the head with a nearby sign. He bled, but didn't flinch as he released Yui and grabbed Kyoko by the throat.

Before he could kill her, Licorne tossed his jacket into his face and goaded him into coming at him. Tossing Kyoko aside, Tsurugi charged at him. However, when he went to grab Licorne, he wrapped his tie around Tsurugi's right arm. Due to the thin wire inside the tie, Tsurugi couldn't break free of it and moving it more just caused it to bleed further. Still, Tsurugi pressed on and Licorne was only barely able to dodge his left arm. Finally, Tsurugi cornered Licorne.

Right before he attacked, Tsurugi asked Licorne his name before he killed him. It was then that Licorne revealed that he was Rei Mikagami. Considering himself lucky, Tsurugi reeled back with the intent to kill Licorne with one punch, but suddenly collapsed unconscious. The wire that had cut into him was also laced with a poison. Licorne deduces that with his muscular body, Tsurugi wouldn't die, but he would be rendered unconscious and unable to move for a short period of time. Taking an injured Kyoko on her back, the trio left the station as authorities swarmed in to deal with the fire report. As they hailed a cab, Licorne asked if Yui was mad at her, which causes Yui to snap that she wasn't mad and had him get in. Thus, all three went back to the dorms.

#### Twelve Zodiac Duel Noir Challenge

Back at Yui's dorm, she questions Licorne on the validity of his claims and he assures her that he is Rei Mikagami, at least that's what the media calls him. During such an interrogation he ensures that the Detective Library and the Committee aren't connected given that the latter wants a fair deal throughout their Duel Noirs. He also assures her that he is on her side, though notes that he still holds Gekka to high regards. In addition to this, he also confirms several things about himself from the fact he became a Triple Zero at age nine or that he joined Gekka to gain access to mysteries that would pique his interest. Kyoko admits that she had suspicions of him being Rei Mikagami for a while since he knew her name without being introduced and that once she saw him take down those assassins, she knew that he wasn't a normal kid.

When asked if Gekka knew about his true identity, Licorne states that while Gekka didn't knew that he was Rei when he first hired him, he likely had suspicions since yesterday and today would have confirmed it. He believes that because he thinks that one, or all three, of the assassins was hired by Gekka and since they all survived they would report back to him. When Yui asked why would he go through such lengths, Kyoko theorizes that the Twelve Duel Noir Challenge‏‎ was partially a way to uncover Licorne's identity, since she was in such an unfavorable position and would go seek out Rei Mikagami for aid.

When Yui thinks that those Duel Noirs were just phonies, Licorne informs her that they were all real and were an example of Gekka weaving multiple plans together seamlessly. Yui asked if he would have known about the contents of the Duel Noirs, but he informs her that Gekka wouldn't have allowed it and even tries to claim that he wouldn't be able to spot them. However, Yui retorts that he likely would have and asks whether or not Licorne is on their side. Licorne admits he isn't so sure whose side he's on, and waxes philosophy over humanity's tendencies to categorize people into one or the other. Yui, at that point, tells him to save the philosophical lessons and asks to really be on their side.

Licorne says if that were to be possible, he needs a kiss from Yui. While both are caught off guard, Yui is willingly to do it, though Licorne admits he was just messing with them. He planned to aid them from the beginning. He also admits that he wasn't aiding Gekka to find great mysteries, but rather to investigate the Committee. He admits he would have joined the Committee if they piqued his interest, but since they're all about creating mysteries and his rank makes him too high to ever get called for a Duel Noir, ultimately he decides not to. Ultimately, Yui accepts his offer to help in fighting against the Duel Noir, though he notes Kyoko is distrusting of him. She claims its because of Mikado's ability to disguise as anyone, and that Licorne could really be the true Mikado with the one from earlier being a fake. In the end, Kyoko (upon seeing Licorne isn't bothering to alter his voice in anyway) decided to put 60% trust into Licorne and, with Yui's urging, both shake hands.

The topic moves to the Twelve Duel Noir Challenge‏‎, namely how to go about things. Yui suggests they split amongst themselves (meaning each gets four cases) and rebukes Licorne for trying to go the 'armchair detective' route and let the murders occur instead of physically going to the location. At Kyoko's suggestion, the Duel Noirs are instead rearranged by cost, but Licorne has started to get impatient. He urges Yui to just give him all the Duel Noirs, since he would have the skill to complete them within the time limit. Yui, having begun to doubt her importance, considers this, but upon hearing Licorne get pumped up to see what kinds of murders will occur, she didn't want to entrust everything to him. Ultimately, Kyoko gives a compromise: she and Yui will take half of the Duel Noirs, Licorne takes the other (thereby giving him two extra to play with). They decided to randomize who get what cards, and left the 'shuffling' to Licorne.

Licorne's version of shuffling is to take all twelve cards, toss them up in the air and throw six darts at the falling challenge cards. The darts continued to hit the nearby wall (and Yui's coat), with Licorne saying he'll take the six that he struck. When Yui tries to swap one of the cards for his, he denies it under the claim he won't be able to resist his desires and they'll waste time discussing trades. With his six in tow, Licorne begins to leave in order to transmit police information to the duo back at Gekka's castle. While Yui worries for his safety, he points out that Gekka isn't the type to kill someone in their sleep for being on opposing sides and that he'll be fine. With a last cheer for them to do their best, Licorne leaves the scene.

#### Takeda Haunted Mansion Case

As the time nears 9:00PM, both Yui and Kyoko make their way to the train station and head off to the Takeda Haunted mansion, rumoured to be haunted by spirits, located up towards the mountains. A taxi picked them up after dismounting as they finally arrived at a dead end, dropped off nearby what seems like an abandoned structure. After the taxi drove off the two made their way through an old gate, finding at least five pairs of shoes near the entrance. Making their way through the hallway it seemed that someone was calling for help. Nearing the door, Yui attempts to open it with no success as it couldn't budge. Another group of people were already near, consisting of: Hajiki Yaki, Sachi Mizuiyama, Korisu Kakitsubata, and Salvador Yadorigi Fukurō. Hajiki attempted to force open the door yet again, complaining about a resistance pulling back. Kyoko reminded Yui that the challenge card listed rubber bands as an item, and just as she was about to act, a strange noise emit from the room- An object crashing, a man's muffled voice, another heavy object collapsing on the ground with vibrations, then silence. Hajiki then attempted to pull open the door, which faintly revealed some rubber bands tied to the doorknob, in which Salvador cut open. After the door was forced open, a sight of an elderly man laid face down, a katana lodged deep in his back had taken his life. Two empty suits of armour surrounded the corpse, giving the crime scene a bizarre look. The man was then identified as Suntetsu Shirasu.

The investigation began, with the suits of armour inspected, along with the outside courtyard and the pairs of shoes as well. At midnight, police, officers and forensic officers streamed into the mansion, taking their own way into the investigation. The others claim they were lured to the mansion by a fake invitation, in which they arrived with no guest. When the officers question Yui and Kyoko's involvement, Yui cracks and admits they are detectives, though Kyoko wasn't as cooperative. It was then that call arrived from Gekka Ryūzōji and informed them that the two were Gekka's assistants. They both go along with it, much to Kyoko's chargin for being under his thumb.

As the officers then began questioning the group that came there earlier (starting with Sachi), Salvador then explained the timeline of the events to the two in full detail since the authorities were now out of earshot. As it turns outs, all five were detectives that came to the mansion with invitations tailored to their specialty (for example, Hajiki was told there an illegal gambling ring set-up in the mansion). When asked why the four didn't reveal their professions, they respond to explain that detectives and police usually have a rocky relationship that omitting such details would have been better. The group arrived at the mansion at 1PM, in which Yui unsealed the envelope an hour later. The group then waited until 3PM in which the host never showed up, in turn they explored the mansion themselves. They started questioning the legitimacy of the request at 9PM, in which they were prepared to leave until Korisu revealed herself as a detective, in which the rest did so as well. At that time, Shirasu had gone missing. At 10PM the door was sealed shut. In the next 30 minutes Hajiki, Sachi and Korisu appeared, sharing their findings. After that is when Kyoko and Yui showed up.

After the explanation, the duo of Yui and Kyoko continued on investigating, both inside and outside. Once they wrapped up, they joined the others back inside which the officer's conclusion of a suicide was refuted by Kyoko. She then measured the shoe sizes of the rest of the group, and went outside to the watermill to take notice in an interesting mechanism that was used for the murder. Concluding the search she makes her way into the mansion, explaining to the rest of the officers the tricks and structure of the murder trick. She explained that one of the group members took advantage of the trick. One of the officers requested that Sachi go through the small opening of the door to prove the theory, but as she refused she was lead out of the room by the officers. As the case concluded, the officers then escorted everyone out of the mansion, Kyoko then revealed to Yui that Sachi being the 'culprit' was an act to bring the real killer's guard down. As Yui, Kyoko, Hajiki and the police officers distanced themselves from the mansion, the real culprit was in the process of destroying the evidence not until the car's lights shone on them; revealing her to be Korisu Kakitsubata.

Korisu tries to refute the accusations of being the killer, but gives up after Kyoko pieces together the entirety of her murder plan. Yui asks why Korisu would do such a thing, and Korisu admits she killed Suntetsu due to him shutting the exits on her family and others during a fire at a mountain railway. As a result, they perished in the flames. Yui witnesses Korisu's breakdown and fear once Kyoko brings up that the Committee would be after her. As the culprit is arrested, Yui watches as she continues to have a breakdown, wondering if Korisu really did recieve 'catharsis' from her actions.

With the officers still under the impression that Kyoko and Yui were assistants to Gekka, they were booked into a nearby hotel to rest. As they sit on their bed, Yui wonders about and touches the wounds on Kyoko's neck after their fight against Tsurugi. This causes Kyoko to shrink away, and tell Yui that next time she might not be so lucky and expects Yui to protect her. After that, Kyoko curls up next to her friend and falls asleep. Soon after, Yui did the same.

#### Investigating the Kirigiri Household

When they return to Yui's dorm in the morning, they find five out of the six (The Otohari Island Case, the two Hades Aquarium Cases, the Ambition House Case and the Sawameki Nature Club Center Case) cases tacked on a wall, already solved by Licorne, with the culprit's information (From birth date to motive) listed. When Licorne calls, he claims he wanted to meet them, but since they were out, he left them there for them. He also said he was on the Cruise Liner S.S. Echidna Case, and planning to take his time with it in order to see the culprit's prep work for it. Yui warns him to be careful as they sign off.

Following that, Yui encourages Kyoko to get some rest after noticing that she was staring at a wall for too long. Kyoko is hesitant, but obeys and goes to sleep. As she watches Kyoko toss and turn in apparent fear, it gets Yui to wonder what could have happened that would make her not want to go home. Deciding to check our her friend's house, Yui begins to leave only for Kyoko to wake up and, upon seeing Yui leaving, wanting to follow her. Yui reassures that she would be back, and leaves behind the phone Gekka got her so Kyoko could call her at any time.

As she arrives at the Kirigiri household, Yui begins internally going over the apparent contradictions that revolved around Kyoko's grandfather, how he was against the DSC system, yet also signed Kyoko up to register in the Library or how despite being told he was overseas, she had met him in-person. Jumping their fence, Yui had snuck onto the property and peered inside the house where she had noticed a maid patrolling with a knife in hand. Unsure of the maid's intentions, Yui prepared to head on back when she tripped over something. Upon giving it a closer inspection, it was the dead body of Kyoko's grandfather buried in the ground. Before she could do much about it, the maid was outside and about to stab her to death when she was intercepted by another man joining the scene. The man hit the maid with a shovel and restrained her on the ground before taking Yui and running.

In the man's car, she asks for the man's identity, but he refuses to give it. However, upon noticing he's wearing the Hope's Peak crest, Yui believes him to be Kyoko's father, which would make him Jin Kirigiri. When he asks why she was here, Yui spills she came back since Kyoko refused to go home. Yui believes that Kyoko had found her grandfather's corpse, and thus went on the run following that to avoid being trailed by the Committee. When Yui asks if the man wanted to see Kyoko, he admits he was in no position to do that and takes her back to the dorm.

At the dorm, Kyoko is already awake and when they meet, Kyoko asks if Yui could braid her hair. Yui agrees, but as she does so, she finds herself fighting off tears for the world being so cruel to Kyoko and refusing to forgive anyone who hurts her.

### Volume 4

#### Kyoko's Father & Recruitment

More of Yui's conversation with Jin is explored, with Yui relaying her prior adventures with Kyoko in the past with Jin, and speculating on the contradictions about Kyoko's grandfather. Until it hit her that Kyoko had two grandfathers: a maternal one that she met in person and a paternal one that she heard on New Years. Jin points out it was a bad habit of Kyoko to not really fill in other about details such as that ahead of time. From this, Yui pieces together that Mikado killed Tōhachirō prior to Kyoko's arrival and had been disguising as him, with Kyoko not realizing until after Norman's Hotel. Once she sense something was off, she went into hiding. Jin expressions softens as he contemplates Kyoko's decision to fight back and seems convinced that she'll be fine since she is a true detective.

Yui mentally notes Kyoko might not have suffered if Jin hadn't left the family. Jin comments that he can't believe Kyoko is thirteen already, and that she was determined to keep going a down the bloody path of a detective with no one to understand her, but trails off (with it heavily implying he was going to point out that she now had Yui). Jin says he glad Yui's misunderstood since now he is aware that there was something rotten going about. Jin confirms that the body belongs to Tōhachirō Uzuchi, someone who he describes was a master of martial arts and had wits that matched the rest of the Kirigiri Family. This makes Yui realize Kyoko's self defense skills must have been inheritied from her maternal grandfather. Jin reveals information available on Mikado, including the likes on how he was trained to be the future heir to the Kirigiri name since Kyoko wasn't born yet, but after her birth it went to her and he disappeared. This makes Yui wonder if Mikado was trying to take the Kirigiri name for himself.

As they pull up to Yui's school, Yui wonders if Jin in Mikado in disguise and pushes Jin to reveal more about himself. Wearily, Jin replies that he doesn't really have a home to go to and the Steering Committee doesn't really have faith in him. It's then that he pulls out pictures of Kyoko when she was younger. He reveals the reason why he was at that house was that he had business to attend to and wanted to relive some old memories. It's at this point where Yui decides to put her trust in Jin. As she leaves the car, she turns back to Jin wondering if he'd like to help them. However, Jin responds that he can't contribute to their cause and that as long as Kyoko had talent she had a place in the Kirigiri Family, its only if she loses that would Jin have a place with her. Jin says that Kyoko has her, and request if she could stay by Kyoko's side from now on. Jin says that he'll handle the situation at the Uzuchi household and leaves Yui. She wonders by his comment about having a place in the Kirigiri Family if he didn't leave, but rather was kicked out for not wanting to go down the detective lifestyle. As such, opening the possibility he took upon being a teacher so that even his students could belong.

Back at the dorm, and after Yui fixes Kyoko's braid, Yui could only explain to Kyoko that she left to find general information on Mikado, but didn't find much to be of use. Kyoko believes it to be fruitless and they get to discussing the remaining cases, though Yui has become less confident in her own abilities as a result. Kyoko notices and goes to reassure her that she is more than capable since she never gives it up. Kyoko vows to assist her and wonders if Gekka is even afraid of Yui. Motivated, Yui tries to brainstorm how to go about the rest, but is taken by Kyoko to Meyura Station. At said station they find Hajiki there, and Kyoko explains she called the remaining detectives from the Takeda Haunted Mansion in order to request their aid for the challenge. Her logic is that since they were the third party in those cases, they shouldn't be connected with the Committee. Yui wonders if Mikado could be Hajiki, but the man mishears it as her calling him old, much to his dismay. Hajiki is somewhat annoyed by only him showing up, but tries to cover it up by saying they only need him to succeed.

It's then that Salvador arrives in his car and apologizes for being late since there was heavy traffic on the road. He invites them into his car, but just before they can drive off does Sachi appear. While the woman is rather angry at Kyoko for getting her arrested the other day, but is calmed down when Salvador and Hajiki both point out she would have been framed for real if not for Kyoko. As the five drive off, Kyoko asks for help with the challenge from the three newcomers. Hajiki notes that it doesn't seem fair to the Victims, to which Yui mentally notes that it really isn't fair that the odds were stacked on the detectives side for this one. Sachi initially turns down the offer since her specialty doesn't align with homicide cases, but Salvador takes the opportunity to asks a question to the duo. Namely, if they kenw someone named Taehime. Kyoko tells the story of how they met with Taehime at Norman's Hotel, but she died during the event. When Yui asked if Salvador knew her, he says leave it to their imagination and openly declares he'll help them. He claims that their description on the Duel Noirs matches up with what he heard from Korisu. Korisu herself was still alive since a clause for this challenge was that the Victims debt will be paid by Gekka, but they themselves will still have to face judgement under the law.

Hajiki offers his support as well since the gambler in him is interested by the game, plus he already gave his word. When Kyoko says that those who don't want to join should leave, all eyes lay upon Sachi. Giving to peer pressure, Sachi joins with the team as a means of repairing her wounded pride from yesterday. After Kyoko moves the subject from getting derailed by the adults wants to discuss a team name and leader, she suggests that they each take one of the remaining five cases and scout out information. In addition, Kyoko warns them to not engage with the Victims themselves since they could try to kill them if they feel as if their murder plot might be ruined. She suggests if they're in trouble, they should call Yui since she is the assigned detective for the challenge. Following that, the group agrees to call at seperate times at the noon hour to Yui to report in: Hajiki at 12:00, Salvador at 12:15, Sachi at 12:30, and Kyoko and 12:45.

They then split off the remaining cases between themselves, with Yui in charge of tackling the Libra Girls Academy Case, since it was the second highest case of the remaining five. Kyoko is given the highest cost Duel Noir, the Twin Abilities Research Center Case. Sachi is given the Museum of Medieval Torture Case, Haijiki is given the Goodbye BAR Case, and Salvador is given the Kareobana Academy Case. Yui is nervous since this is the first Duel Noir she's taking solo, but is determined to see things through and rely on her own prowess. As Kyoko warns them about what to watch out for, she also adds to get birth dates of people they meet as well. As the group disperses, with Yui and Kyoko leaving for their respective cases at the train station, Yui wants to know why birth dates are important. To this Kyoko merely says that the criminal would probably be someone whose signs aligns with the case, with Yui's being a Libra. As Kyoko leaves first, Yui hugs her one last time before they both go their seperate ways.

#### Libra Girls Academy Case

Yui wakes up with tear stained cheeks and her glasses off when she sees a person wearing a black cape and bloody pipe. Figuring that they must've knocked her out, Yui backs up only to find a girl has been murdered right behind her. The culprit dashes away into the hallway, while Yui uses the time to find her glasses. After confirming the girl was dead, she curses herself for being unable to save someone else before giving chase. Her pursuit leads her into a room with two coffins. Upon seeing the movement from the coffins, Yui opens it up to find both in their trapped state. After taking a moment to frisk them for any signs of them being the culprit (namely having a black cape on them), she then freed both from the coffins, but they were still bonded without a key to free them. Tsukiyo Nada called for Nazuna Tōakitsu and when she said that Yui attacked her, it was met with the detective claiming otherwise. Yui grabs their student IDs out of their breast pockets to garner more information before asking, and getting confirmation, that both were actually classmates. When Yui asks about their knowledge on how they came here, they say they don't know. Tsukiyo becomes incredibly suspicious of Yui and wants them to 'judge her before God does'. However, Nazuna is more level-headed of the two and believes that if Yui was the culprit, she would have done something already.

As such, Tsukiyo quickly falls in line with that line of reasoning. Nazuna asks if Yui knows whats going on, but her memory only goes as far to the bus that would travel to the Libra Girl's Academy. Yui informs them that she appeared because of a warning a murder was going to take place, which unfortunately as the case as their classmate, Hana Takezaki, was murdered. Tsukiyo complains says they never even heard of Libra Girls Academy. When Yui takes out Hana's ID, both claim to not to have talked with her much. Internally, Yui notes if Kyoko was here she'd probably have a good grasp of the case by now and that without her it feels hopeless. Still, at the thought of Kyoko being in potential danger, Yui resolves herself to hurry with this case, and that both she and Kyoko will go home together.

### Volume 5

#### Ending The Challenge

Yui ponders what Gekka's true goal with this challenge and recalls Gekka's words on how they aren't different in that they both despise evil. Yui, however, brushes this off since Gekka's ideal of sacrifices needing to be made for justice to prevail, doesn't align with her own ideals.

Both of the other girls try their best to remember what happened before remembering and relaying their taxi exploit, which Yui reasons to have been caused by the Victims Catharsis Committee. Tsukiyo wonders if its because her parents have money is the reason why she was kidnapped which caused Yui to ask if they were rich. Ultimately, Tsukiyo says there a people richer than them and Nazuna replies it doesn't make much sense to go after Hana since she was in the poorest rung of their class. Yui leaves the two to go investigate some more. Such investigation leads her to find a key around a Virgin Mary statue. However, its noted that the key's chain is too small a loop that could fit over the statue's head. Yui contemplates breaking it, but her own religious education prevents her from doing such a thing. Instead, find a nearby kart, she transports the statues back to the room where the others are at.

However, when she returns announcing that she found the key, Tsukiyo tackles her and orders Nazuna to search her pockets. However, once its clear that that Yui doesn't have the key both are surprised. Frustrated, Yui shoves Tsukiyo off her and stands, introducing herself and stating that (once again) she was a detective. Yui calls a truce, with both girls nodding in agreement, and she uses the key to free them from their bonds. Nazuna wants to see Hana's body and convinces Tsukiyo to go along with it since they owe it to their fellow classmate. Yui leads the way while talking about the chapel of the place, to which they note that for a place that was supposed to be abandoned for seventeen years it was pretty clean. Yui thinks its because the Committee goes out of their way to clean each Duel Noir location.

When they reach, the body is nowhere to be found with a suspiciously clean room. Yui freaks out wondering if the culprit moved it, but Tsukiyo wants to head back so she can make it to her violin lesson in time. They try to turn back, but the door refuses to open no matter how hard they try to pull it. This causes Tsukiyo to freak out, complaining that she hasn't even gone to the bathroom yet and how there wasn't even food or soft mineral water in their location. Nazuna wonders how a door that doesn't even have a lock can trap them inside, to which Yui notices that the track on sliding was on the hallway side, not inside like the others time. Yui concludes that it must have have been a trick being performed by the culprit.

After some time debating, Yui concludes that the location of this Duel Noir was a scale of some kind, since Libra means scale. The building being that way would explain how the culprit can move a body and have a clean room, whilst being able to escape from it. Thus, all three try of a way to lift the scale so that they could get out. These attempts ranging from throwing a chair at the ceiling, to Nazuna going on Yui's shoulders, and to Tsukiyo suggesting they all jump at the same time. By then they have given up, though Yui reassured that her friends will come to save them and check in on her at noon, which prompts Tsukiyo to remind her that she has no way of knowing when noon is. Yui begins to ask if they know why someone would want to target Hana. While Tsukiyo has no clue, Nazuna has heard rumors that Hana drove one of her former friends to suicide back in high school. Nazuna went to explain that Hana was being bullied by some other girl who demanded 100,000 yen to move onto to another girl. Hana paid up and thus her former friend took the brunt of the bullying until she killed herself. Nazuna also explained there were also reports that Hana herself was the true leader of the extortion group, but there was no way of knowing what was true and false. When Yui asked about their zodiacs, Tsukiyo confirmed both were Leo's. Eventually, Yui thought to try and break down the door with the chair, but before that could happen Salvador Yadorigi Fukurō entered room. After confirmed with Naz and Tsukiyo that he was apart of her team.

Wanting to take them to breakfast, Salvador guided all three girls to the church of the academy which would lead them to the outside. Before that could happen, the culprit dressed in a black cape appeared and struck Salvador on the head with their pipe. The St. Anne Girls scream, but a furious Yui chases after them. Yui demands for them to give up, but when she gets closer a nail gun is pointed at her. It's then that she meets the culprit of the case and member of Yui's team: Sachi Mizuiyama. Sachi reveals that she killed Hana due to an altercation that happened before the Duel Noir. However, she doesn't care about losing the Duel Noir, but instead wishes to hold Yui captive so that she loses the Twelve Duel Noir Challenge. Thus, allowing Gekka Ryūzōji to remain on the Committee, since she was Gekka's devotee. Sachi goes on to say she knows what happened during the bar and museum cases, and says she has no plans of revealing such information to Yui. When Yui says that Hajiki can tell them about the bar case, its then Sachi reveals that she killed him. When Yui asks why Sachi is so obsessed with Gekka, Sachi asks who saves the hero and that Gekka was deserving of catharsis just like anyone else. Yui shoots back Sachi was just disturbing their showdown, which causes Sachi to become furious. It's during this talk that Nazuna and Tsukiyo had taken Salvador's body and left. Sachi doesn't mind since its merely Yui she has to hold up. However, as a result of the girls actions, this causes the scale to let in the Myst'ry Research Society that Salvador brought with him into the room.

Yui yells at them to run but their leader, Gorō Anbō, thinks Yui is signalling for help and orders his friends Kōsuke Kanzashīchi and Erī Wan to help charge against Sachi. Sachi fires, but with Gorō's orders, Erī blocks the shots and Kōsuke knocks out Sachi with a flying jump kick. From there, they free Yui and apprehend Sachi. The group reunites with the St. Anne girls who reveal Salvador is still alive, but needs to be taken to the hospital. With the culprit defeated and remaining parties safe, the case is closed.

#### Saving Kyoko Kirigiri

Yui returned to her dorm to rest, though noted that Kyoko wasn't back yet. At noon, she saw the news report that had Hajiki's death, thus causing her to become quite upset, blaming herself for his demise. At Salvador's time, Naz was the one to call. She informed them of the Kareobana Academy case details, and that while Salvador will have to retire from the front lines, he'll never stop fighting for her sake. From there, Naz gushes about how cool Yui was back there, and if there was any chance that Nazuna herself can become a detective. Yui says its possible, but her words does make her wonder about Sachi saying on who saves a hero. After that, Yui promises to meet with Naz and Tsukiyo during summer vacation.

At Sachi's mark, Yui is shocked and wonders if she broken out of jail. Sachi denies this and says its thanks to Gekka's having arrangements for it by having an officer give her a cell phone. With the intentions of being honest, she gives up the information regarding the Duel Noirs both she and Hajiki were assigned to. When Yui questions why she was giving up this information if her intention was ensure Gekka is the victor, Sachi says there was a small part of her than wonders if perhaps what Yui was doing was the 'Catharsis' that Gekka needed. Noting that it was likely they would never speak again, Sachi hangs up to await her fate under the law.

When Yui waits for Kyoko, at her hour is Licorne who informs her that the cruise liner case was solved, and the culprit Shiro'o Shima was captured. He also says he was outside her dorm. Both meet outside Yui's dorm, where upon meeting him she would hug him. Licorne informs her that Kyoko was with the Victim of the Twin Ability Research Center, Tōya Tsutsumi likely having been kidnapped. He also reveals that he had arrived back a while ago, but had refrained from helping out for the sake of the audience. Something that causes Yui to snap at him, before calming down and wondering what she should do with Kyoko missing. Licorne informs her that cases like these should be up her alley since her DSC number is 88X, with kidnapping being her classification. He encourages her to think logically and thus she comes to the conclusion that Tōya would seek both refuge and 'allies'. The only place that would grant him both would be at Gekka's castle.

Such logic would turn out to be correct as Tōya had holed himself up in Gekka's castle and were using the five prior culprits (Tatsutora Oboro, Seika Kumano, Hironori Hari, Kaei Kuchiki, and Otsuko Kuchiki) that Licorne had rounded up as his underlings to stop Yui from getting to him, under the condition that he split his earnings with the rest. These underlings would force the children there to block the entrances to prevent in any outsiders. Licorne, however, is unfazed by such and informs Yui that most were amateurs that could be handled relatively easily, especially in comparison to the assassins. As he and Yui go about their climb to Tōya, Licorne is able to dispatch about three of them, up until the run in with Tatsutora, who pulls out a gun on both of them. As a result, Licorne pushed Yui into the elevator so she can go on. However, when the elevator stopped, Yui would run into Kaei. While both were initially confused over who they were, it soon came to him and he goes to attack her with his diving knife. However, before he could, a mob of children attack him. Initially its just boys with helmets and bats, but once the others see Kaei dropped his knife, they start to swarm in and attack him. Thus, this gives Yui the chance to head back up to confront Tōya.

When she meets him, he has Kyoko tied up and holds a knife to her, and asks if Yui knew what to do. She does and says to Tōya that she's quitting in order to save her friend. Tōya says its a good choice and takes the two to see Gekka in order to tell him that Yui was quitting. Before that could happen, Licorne leaps out of the shadows to hold him at gunpoint and turns the tables, thus allowing the trio to capture him. While Licorne contemplates killing him, Yui dissuades him. With Tōya's capture, and Yui's assurance by Kyoko that all twelve cases have been solved, effectively it means that Yui won the Duel Noir challenge. Tōya complains that Yui already admitted defeated, but she brushes him off that they'll solve the problem when they get there. They tie him up and all three go to take him to Gekka, who they believe to be in a locked room. They enter, only to look in horror as they find his body covered up with a white cloth over his face, deceased. It was then that Licorne reveals that Gekka was terminally ill, and he had noticed it for the past six months he was working with him. When Yui asked if such illness was why he was confined to a wheelchair, Licorned replie that it was due to an injury he sustained on the force and that he would retire after his family was murdered by a killer who escaped prison.

The trio finds the video recording of Gekka, who asked for forgiveness for dying before their game would be complete, though noted to Yui had she been more flexible in her thinking, the cases would've been solved sooner. Kyoko points out that the culprits were those whose zodiacs lined up with their challenges, and had Yui noticed they could have been done faster. When Yui asked if Licorne was aware of this, he responded that he knew since the first one, but didn't reveal it for the sake of making things interesting (much to Yui's ire). When the recording went on, it focused on Licorne, with Gekka showing appreciation for him and giving him two choices via white and black envelopes. White: for Licorne to take the name of Ryūzōji and become the new heir to the castle. Black: become an official enemy of the Victims Catharsis Committee.

However, before Licorne could make a decision, Tōya reveals that he still had a gun that he had acquired from Tatsutora and holds Yui at gunpoint. He declares that once he takes the white envelope he would become the castle's new master. Yui orders Licorne to shoot, but he reveals that gun he had had no ammo. when Kyoko asked if Tōya's has ammo, he shoots her left hand (though, thankfully, it was shallow). He orders Yui to grab the white envelope, and evens hits her with the metal handle. However, before she could give it to him, Tōya is killed by a shot to the forehead from Johnny Arp, who arrives on the scene by destroying a nearby wall with a tank.

Johnny walks up to Licorne with a sheriff's badge and gives him an offer to come with him, stating that Licorne could spy on NASA or Area 51 as much as he would desire. Licorne, who couldn't decide on what to pick since neither really interested him, excitedly agreed. In turn, becoming both Yui and Kyoko's enemy. Before they leave, Licorne is ordered to give both a black case to the both of them. Johnny challenges both to a competition where whoever wins is right. With that said, both leave the scene in Johnny's tank. Once they were gone, Yui questions Kyoko about her hand, but Kyoko directs her attention to the case. Inside of it, is a long black sniper rifle.

### Volume 6

#### Shoot Down The Angel Challenge

Following the Zodiac challenges end, on January 19th, Yui and Kyoko were called to a family restaurant nearby their school, thanks to a note by made by Johnny. There, they met Licorne first, who remarks they haven't changed as he watched them chat about how to eat a bowl of ice cream. Licorne wanted to sit by both of them, but was ordered by Yui to remain where he was. When he asked if he could come back to them, Yui considered it, but Kyoko pointed out that he was just having fun. It was then that Johnny burst through the window of the restaurant on his motorcycle, much to the shock of the other bystanders there. Through their talk, they learn that Johnny isn't really opposed to them, but at the same time, he would like to challenge against them in a 'fun' game. Licorne pokes fun of him for being so childish in his motivations. While initially Kyoko was disinterested in their antics, even when Johnny was willing to hand over a valuable pass to get to Mikado, Johnny appeals to their pride as a detective to get them to stick around and listen.

Johnny orders Licorne to take out a box with rifle bullets and explains that they are going to play essentially a shooting game, with Johnny acting as his team's sniper and Kyoko's hers. These events are a best two out of three and take place at locations for on-going Duel Noirs. They will not know the detective of the case nor will they know the culprit. They will only know the item contents of the Duel Noir. They are not acting as detectives but rather outsiders, trying to influence the proceedings of the Duel Noir. Yui and Kyoko win if they can stop the Duel Noir before a murder can occur via their own rifle by any means necessary. Licorne and Johnny win by shooting Kyoko's ribbon. Both sides can only used three bullets per round and they are colored green, yellow and red. Such bullets are meant to be used in that order as well. Licorne hands Yui and Kyoko a timer that will count down the moment the detective assigned to the Duel Noir opens it. As a last minute addition, only the third bullet could be used to shoot at someone directly. Such challenge will happens two weeks from now to give the girl's enough time to prepare.

As Yui grills into Johnny to ask information about the Victims Catharsis Committee, Licorne interjects with his reasoning being that since they haven't lost yet, they shouldn't give out more information (which earns Yui's ire). After Johnny leaves for his date, Yui asks if Licorne really won't come back to them and if he had a plan for going through with this with Johnny. Licorne admits that he doesn't feel like he can grow or develop anymore talents, and that he has a hunch that in the future things won't get better. He goes on via an analogy that his skills would become gradually more useless and that eventually the only way to really proceed is to 'die'. In this case, he would prefer to go out in a duel. That said, he also said that after Johnny's game is over he is going off to study physics and astronomy and cosmic physics since he knows there are unsolved mysteries left in that area. Though not before sneaking into Area 51 to find out about aliens. When Yui asks about his participation in this game, Licorne responds he's the same as Johnny in that he's doing it for his own happiness. This earns Kyoko's scorn and claims she won't go easy on him. With that settled, he takes his team's half of the items and departs, stating the next time they meet, he'll be looking for them via scope.

To prepare, Kyoko and Yui practiced at a shooting range for a few weeks to hone Kyoko's sniping skills, while she herself supported Kyoko by acting as the observer for each shot her friend fires. After they were finished and they returned to their dorm, Yui comments that they have just finished wrapping up their own little detective club, but Kyoko says that as a member of the Kirigiri Family, such things like joining clubs wouldn't fly. This causes Yui to ponder how much Kyoko means it since she's publicly registered in the Detective Library. On that front, Yui has noted her rank has gone up to six and that Kyoko had passed her by being rank five.

During this time, Yui also asked how Kyoko came to know Johnny and she noted that he didn't make a bad impression on her, especialyl since he was the one that taught her to shoot. Yui comments on the fact that, while Johnny isn't hostile to them nor is loyal to the Committee, they still have to fight him at all. Kyoko responds that that its all because of Johnny's pursuit of personal happiness. Yui notes that while he can't quite respect him, she feels as though Johnny does feel closer than the other two Executives. However, Kyoko cuts her off and reminds her that its doubtful Johnny would ever convert to their side. Yui eventually presents her theory that Mikado was probably trying to take the name of Kirigiri from her. Kyoko says the Kirigiri name isn't really that valuable, but she does wonder why Yui is so keen on the idea. However, Yui (still sworn to secrecy on Jin's behalf) can't say a thing and Kyoko drops the matter. Kyoko says that Mikado can have the name if they want, but no can deny Kyoko is a true detective.

#### Wedeln Mountain Villa Case

On February 2nd, they recieve the letter for the Wedeln Mountain Villa Case and go off towards it. They head off towards the villa case, with their aim being to ruin the culprit's chances of winning. The culprit's plan was to use a frozen rope to kill their target instead of strangling. However, the rope itself was hidden by a large icicle, and said icicle would be used as a decoy weapon to make people believe the target would be killed by that. Kyoko and Yui target the icicle, not by it directly, but by shooting down a tree branch that causes a mini-avalanche that destroys the icicle.

However, during their attempt, Johnny had shot the branches next to them. When Kyoko had gone to inspect them, they discover what was carved in the wood 'NICE SHOT' meaning Johnny and Licorne had anticipated what they were doing from the start. They push past this and go to the villa where they learn the culprit was taken by the Committee already, meaning if they stopped the Duel Noir, it marks as an automatic loss for the culprit. Their talks with the assigned detective, Motosuke Suzuyari further revealed that the culprit was stopped before anything could really happen. Determined to win the next round, they left.

#### Katashiro Island Case

Three days later, they recieve the letter for the Katashiro Island Case. They notice the set up seems similar to the **And Then There Were None** novel given its set up, and wonder how to go about this since the Duel Noir would be on an island and there may be a chance they might have to sacrifice a few to save the rest. As they travel by boat to the island, Kyoko comes up with a possible plan they could take, by simply just dissuading those lured there to the island. As for dealing with Johnny, the plan is to use two ships, with the first arriving being Yui (whose rather reluctant about it) as bait to get Johnny to waste his green bullet. Yui thinks it might work out given that Johnny would think of the first two as being 'extras' instead of being necessary for him. They work to prepare, and when the black letter is finally opened by the assigned detective, does the Duel Noir begin. Unfortunately, before they can even enact their plan, Kyoko's ribbon is shot, thus meaning it is their loss. Johnny's skill with his rifle, which is effective in accuracy most at 800 meters but can go up to 4,000, means that achieiving such a feat was no big deal. While upset at their loss, they go to check out the island since they had a bad feeling. On said island, they find all nine people with their faces removed. They planned to investigate, but the assigned detective known as Ayako Saiko comes along and ushers them to move along. She wants the credit for solving this case herself, and notes they probably have something else to deal with. Thus, with the second round loss, they duo heads back.

#### Edenside Amusement Park Case

The third letter arrives, but unlike the others that had no seal of the Committee, this one had one. They open the letter to find Yui is the assigned detective for the Edenside Amusement Park Case. As they research, Kyoko points out the use of the weapons listed (aside from throwing knives) all relates to firearms, which connects to Johnny. She believes the Committee intends to interfere with this game, making it a three-way battle, and Yui believes it has to do with Johnny's antics clashing with the Duel Noir. As a result, the Committee tailored a Duel Noir specifically to get rid of both him and Yui, with the 'Victim' of this case being more akin to an Assassin who needs to kill them to win. Kyoko believes that, given there are five weapons listed, they'll have to deal with five people each, much to Yui's chagrin. Yui considers going to Johnny to get him to intervene, but Kyoko points out that Johnny would just find it interesting. Instead, Kyoko believes they should just not participate at all since there are no other partys that need to be saved or in danger, just Yui and Johnny. Thus, if Yui doesn't go (thereby putting her out of danger), it would really just be infighting between Johnny and the Committee. With their minds made up, they decide to remain at the dorm and let Johnny deal with the Assassins, though Yui can't helped but be worried for Licorne's safety.

As the duo watch a news report on the Katashiro case that announced it had been solved, they get a call from Licorne. He announces that Johnny was killed by the Assassins of the Duel Noir (with only three left as Dragunov and M60 have been killed by Johnny), and that he himself was critically wounded. Licorne apologizes for having to call since he knows that the two would come to rescue him, and that their attackers were banking on him luring the two there. Yui reassures him that they'll save them, and with that the call ends. The duo prepare themselves and make their way over to the amusement park. As they get there, they find a wounded Licorne, who managed to stabalize himself for a bit. However, that won't last long and Kyoko advises Yui that they need to defeat the other three Assassins hidden throughout the park first.

They head to the mirror maze first to investigate Johnny's body. Kyoko notices that its strange the mirrors are intact, since the bullet that killed Johnny should have continued to hit the mirror. However, neither the mirror nor the walls had bullet holes. What they found was that the shot hit the ground instead, meaning it came from the ceiling. There Yui finds a literal loophole for the shot to come in through. They deduces the one to kill Johnny was TAC50, whose line of sight would have to be from the ferris wheel. Kyoko investigates further and finds a hidden camera behind one of the mirrors. She explains that no matter how good of a shot one might be, they can't hit it if they can't see. As such, the camera there is to help line up the shot so that when the loophole is open, they can fire.

As the duo reaches to the ferris wheel, Kyoko realizes her mistake since the TAC50 was 150 cms too big for anyone to sit in the ferris wheel cockpit. As they looked through the camera they discover the M4 connected to a ferris wheel cockpit and seems to be floating in midair. They go to investigate and find M4 is actually on a tripod connected to a laptop, meaning one of their attackers was an unnmaned weapon. It worked that it was meant to fire as soon as someone's face was in view. To neutralize it, Yui moved the ferris wheel so that the top didn't have the cockpit and broke the controls so that no one can get it running again. Thus, this meant only two enemies left.

They stole the laptop of the M4 and checked inside of it. The creator of the program was Joshua Lindberg who had stolen other people programs to use for the M4 tracking system (including the likes of a junior high school student, heavily implied to be Chihiro Fujisaki). However, when they head back to the maze, they conclude that while only TAC50 could've killed Johnny (based on damage), they are unsure where they could've fired. Its then that Kyoko thinks of the security office and searches there, The place is clean, indicating someone was there recently. They work out that the culprit is hiding in an underground passage of the amusement park and fired from below, with the bullet stalling in the air for a few seconds before falling and hitting Johnny.

The duo heads into the underground passage after formulating a plan. Avoiding the cameras, Yui gets close to TAC50 who holds her at gunpoint. Her calls 'ugly four-eyes' and demands Kyoko because she was 'cuter' and wanted to violate her, then kill Yui, and then violate her in front of Yui's corpse. This causes Yui to snap at him, which causes him to get angry and fire at Yui. However, this was simply a trick devised by them. They had brought a mirror and angled it to make it seem like Yui was in front of him. This allowed Kyoko to take a clear shot with her rifle and knock away his gun with one shot. Kyoko demands he gives up, and TAC50 complies. Yui finds handcuffs on his table and then handcuffs him to the pipes, essentially defeating him (while also shuddering as to what he going to use them for). Yui notices a room labelled power management room and goes to inspect, only to see in horror what was Throwing Knives body. Her ghilllie suit was in rags, specifically the chest was open, and there was blood everywhere. When Yui asked what did TAC50 do to her, the man only laughs and tells her to take a guess.

They go to Licorne to find him regaining consciousness. Yui is relieved and goes to his side. However, it was at that moment that they are ambushed by Throwing Knives who was still alive, but before she can do any harm was killed by a headshot from a far away distance. Yui is left in shock over who took that shot, however it becomes clear when Kyoko's ribbon gently spreads open.

The next day, at 10 AM, Licorne checks out of the hospital with Yui and Kyoko, and all three deciding to visit a nearby park before he left. He went through with this as a result of his status of Rei Mikagami still making him sought after. When Kyoko points out that he should have known that Johnny was still alive, and he admits he realized that when Johnny's locator didn't go off when he found the body and his rifle was gone. The truth of the matter was that when Johnny ran into the mirror mase, chased by Throwing Knives and, eventually, Joshua, he came out on top. During this time, Johnny intentionally stood in front of the camera for TAC50 to take the shot. Once he heard the bullet coming, he stepped out of the way and let Joshua (speculated since they look alike) to take the hit, thus killing off another of the assassins. With Joshua dead, Johnny swapped clothes with the body to make it seem like the Triple Zero detective had died.

In reality, he was probably hiding in the mirror maze and eventually went out the back door when the time was right. It's presumed he let Licorne think he was dead on purpose in order to lure in Kyoko and Yui. Kyoko scolds him further and tells him to not find a reason to die once he reaches twenty or get people involved to fill up his inner emptiness. When asked if Licorne got in contact with Johnny, he shakes his head and notes that Johnny has probably long since left the country with the Committee after him. Licorne asked if they had fun playing the game, Yui responds that it was otherwise and notes how bad Licorne got hurt in it. Licorne says he's had fun, but he doesn't want to get stuck in the hospital a second time, instead choosing to go incognito and follow through with his plans for the future in the United States of America.

Licorne stared at Yui and asked if she would be lonely without him, to which she does admit and in turn, he says he'd be lonely too. Though the two of them shake this off with friendly banter. To see him off, Yui hands him a paper bag filled with gifts. Licorne called a taxi for them and once it arrives Kyoko says this is goodbye before departing. After noting how cool Kyoko was acting, Licorne hands a key off to Yui, stating that Johnny told him to give it to her only when she was alone. It was apparently a participation award for their little game. As she took the key, he suddenly hugged her and begged for her not to continue her fight against the Committee, noting that if she continued, she wouldn't be able to look back anymore. Yui is confused, but he slowly let her go and said to forget what he said. He shakes her hand and admits he was very fortunate to meet the two of them. Licorne and Yui say goodbye to each other one last time before they go on their separate ways.

As they went back, Yui noted the participation award was a key, but didn't tell Kyoko due to the ominous words Licorne left her. She eventually left Kyoko behind under the guise of buying something from the store. The key was for a station locker and when she opened it, inside a black letter. The front of a latter had a sticky note from Johnny that said 'life is what you make of it'. Yui peered inside the envelope, however, what was inside shocked her immensely. Bringing back some coffee from the store as cover, she tried to entire the dorm, but Kyoko stopped her from entering for five minutes. When Kyoko finally let her in, on the table was a gourmet choclate cake from a famous bakery. Yui wondered about the occasion until Kyoko reminded her it Valentine's Day. Yui is incredibly happy, but deep down can't help but think about that black letter. What was inside was the business card for Tōkichirō Endō.

### Volume 7

#### Confronting the Committee

Following a trip to the Detective Library, both girls ranks have raised to 912 and 885. Yui is in wonder since she would have never thought she would rise to such a rank, which Kyoko responds that she's more capable than she thinks and can achieve more. Kyoko then points out that despite how long they've been together, she doesn't quite know that much about Yui, who tries to refute that with a joke. Yui notes thay Kyoko isn't super thrilled despite being rank 2, which Kyoko responds that its only a milestone that she has to surpass on her attempt to become zero class. When Yui questions her intent, Kyoko says she's trying to get accepted into Hope's Peak in order to properly say farewell to her father. As the bus arrives, the duo enter. After a few stops, an old man enters the bus and asks if this was the right one to take for his destination. Yui internally remark about his impressive scar, unaware that the said man is, in fact, Tōkichirō Endō.

Because of the presence of Tōkichirō's card, Yui wasn't able to really focus on her final exams in March, thus earning her bad grades (which gets her scolded by both the teacher and Kyoko). She's hesitant to ever use it, but comes to terms that this might be their best chane of getting to Mikado and stopping the Committee. Heading into a fast food restaurant, she dials the number, only to hear someone's phone begin to ring. Sitting by himself is Tōkichirō, who picks up the phone and begins talking. He was wondering what Johnny left Yui, but notes it just moves his schedule further up. Yui interrupts and asks about his goal. Tōkichirō responds that his goal is to simply assist Yui, who quickly gets the hint she's supposed to be the culprit behind the next Duel Noir. Tōkichirō goes into how common civilians don't really make for good culprits, but since Yui has experienced multiple Duel Noirs, she would be perfect for it. Yui starts to refuse at once, up until Tokichiri reminds her that she has someone she has to kill: the one who killed her sister, Mayu. This causes Yui to be quite conflicted, but Tōkichirō reassures her that she has until tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock to talk out the details. Tōkichirō leaves the restaurant, with Yui heading to the table that he was at and picking up the paper he left behind. On said paper was a map to where the location would be.

At the day for the graduation ceremony for their school, Yui and Kyoko meet up. They head towards the shopping district and buy Kyoko a new ribbon for her hair. From there, they head up on the school's rooftop to talk. Kyoko wonders from Yui's behaviour if she had gotten a Duel Noir, but Yui denies it. Kyoko is worried about the Committee's actions, believing that they must be up to something by now, with Yui chalking it up to Mikado being responsible for killing her maternal grandfather. Yui wonders if they were being baited by the Committee, but as she looks into Kyoko's eyes, she knows the choice she has to make. She then takes both to lunch.

She heads to the park the next day, and scopes it out by looking at it from a nearby apartment building. However, as she climbs, she runs into a man. At first, she just dismisses him as just a resident of the building, but then he speaks. The man turns out to be Mikado Shinsen. He had Yui sat down on the park bench and begins to reminisce about Norman's Hotel, but Yui demands to know why he's after Kyoko, and if it involves taking the Kirigiri name. Mikado explains that he isn't obsessed with her, and doesn't care about the Kirigiri family name. Yui wants to know what is his main goal, but Mikado goes into how both Yui and himself are the same. Its just that Yui hasn't fully committed to going down the same path. Mikado then explains that he wants Yui to become the killer for the next Duel Noir. Yui refuses to do so and is adamant that she won't. However, Mikado points out that, ultimately, Yui hasn't grown from his point of view. That the person she cares about, Mayu, was ultimately replaced by Kyoko.

When Mikado begins to insinuate what Yui might do if something were to happen to Kyoko, Yui begins to feel utter shame as her expression tells Mikado all that he needs to know. Yui asks if he's going to kidnap her, but Mikado moves the subject along to what he told her back at the hotel. That he sees death, and eventually something catastrophic will attack the world. In order to save the world from such a fate, Mikado required the Apex Detective. He laments that while he doesn't have the skills for it, he does know Kyoko does, and finds it ironic that its his old master's granddaughter who can do it. That's what the Victims Catharsis Committee true goal was, at least for Mikado. While he admits he killed too many people, he believes that his actions will have been for the good of all later down the line.

Mikado says that Kyoko is on the verge of becoming the world's saviour, but notes she can't always stick to logic. Yui reminds Mikado that she's only thirteen, but he notes that as a detective she must put aside all emotions. He says that in order for Kyoko to be the complete Apex Detective, Yui must be accused of being a killer. Mikado begs for her to go along with it, that everything has already been arranged, but Yui isn't buying it. Thus, Mikado claims if she doesn't do it, he'll kill Kyoko and start again, though notes time is running out on trying to find the saviour of the world. Through viewing data from criminals, Mikado predicted a Tragedy in the future that would unfold throughout the world, and thus he seeked out the world's greatest detective that would deliver the catharsis that would save humanity. Even with this threat, Yui is left undecided on what to do, until she decides for a third option. She considers just killing Mikado outright, but Mikado notes her expression and tells her again everything has already been arranged. Mikado admits that because of Yui's actions, their organization has taken a hit. All that's left are pawns who can arrange and carry out the games. However, he also notes that even if he were to die, the game will continue. There's no point in killing him.

Still, Yui notes at least Kyoko would be safe, all in a calm and tranquil matter. Mikado spreads his arms out to give her chance, and smiles as he sees that she's looking ready to go through with it. From there, he goes into his pocket and takes out a handkerchief that contains a long, thin, knife. He puts the knife to his temple and says that, ultimately, he was just the supporting character. That he is not the one that will become Kyoko's enemy. That would be Yui. After that, he pushes the knife into his temple, killing him, all to Yui's horror.

Following his death, Fuhito comes rushing to the scene, saddened about the lost of his former partner. Fuhito said that he had been keeping an eye on Mikado, up until now, when he returned from Japan. Yui notes that Mikado is no longer breathing, when a bystander sees Mikado's body and runs off. Fuhito notes the police would be here in the hour and urges Yui to run away. Fuhito said that Mikado had sent him a coded message that morning to come to the park, which Fuhito assumes was so he can come here and confirm to Yui Mikado's identity. Fuhito notes that the face Yui sees is of the real Mikado and the knife he killed himself with was the one that Fuhito gave him. Since it has Fuhito's fingerprints, he'll be questioned by the police, but isn't worried since he has evidence to prove it wasn't him. However, he notes having Yui there will complicate things. He urges her to go, but notes he isn't worried about Kyoko since she has Yui (which causes Yui to become aware of her apparent status as the antagonist). In tears, she leaves and heads to the train station.

On the train, an old man goes to her seat. She stands up to offer it to him, but he tells she doesn't have to do that. The voice belongs to Tōkichirō, and causes her to sit back down. It was then he asked if she found her answer yet.

#### Final Duel Noir

The next day, Kyoko finds a black letter addressed to her. She is the assigned detective for a Duel Noir to take place, again, at Sirius Observatory. Kyoko notes this the first time she's the assigned detective for a Duel Noir and the weapons listed were seemingly from other, prior, Duel Noirs she and Yui faced. The duo packed their bags full of food and water in order to avoid the risk of being drugged like they were last time. As they leave for the observatory, a jeep drives up to them. The one driving is a Zero class detective known as Shiroko Yukimura (which causes Yui to gush since her specialty is the same as Shiroko's), who asks if they're heading to the crime scene. Kyoko doesn't want to enter a stranger's car, but when Shiroko mentions that its the Observatory specifically, it causes Kyoko to stop in her tracks and ask how was she aware. Shiroko states she is the best when it comes to information gathering, and declares that since they aren't strangers anymore, they can consider getting into her car. Kyoko isn't willing to budge, but Yui convinces her to go to at least get more information out of Shiroko.

They enter her car and she begins to drive off. When Yui asks what she knows, Shiroko admits she knows about the Committee's loss of its executives, and that the girls have been trying to stop them. She also informs them of Mikado's death, which causes both girls to be shocked (though for Yui its out of surprise that his death was already getting around quickly). When asked about her source, she says she can't give it out and rebutts Kyoko displaying her letter as proof, since she believes Mikado would have been the type to have his organization be still running, even without him being alive. Their talk also brings about Shiroko's reasoning for being there. She says she just wanted to help them out given their endeavors, but Yui isn't buying it, which finally makes Shiroko admit the other reason she's there. Namely, she's after Mikado's legacy, since running an organization of such stature as the Committee is bound to have made him rich thanks to his dealings with the Sponsors of the Duel Noir. Both point out how dangerous this would be, but Shiroko isn't daunted since traps are common when it comes to 'treasure' like this. Shiroko offers to split the share of the wealth with the duo if they help her find it, but Kyoko declines. Shiroko was banking on that in that in the end, and tells them to not complain if she finds it all for herself (as well as saying don't get in her way). Yui watches as Shiroko hums happily to the music, with her ears twitching all the way.

The group stops in the middle of snowy nowhere, with Shiroko stating that they have to walk from here and asks Yui for directions. However, Yui points out that the driver kicked them out before making it to Sirius and Kyoko points out that their location was different then usual. This causes Shiroko to panic since she swore she checked out the area beforehand. She goes to consult a map when the group hears something coming towards them.

Trotting up to them was anoter Zero Class detetive Kanji Yuhain, on a white horse and carrying a large portrait fame. He dismisses Yui and Shiroko as 'no's' and Kyoko a 'barely yes', before getting told off by Shiroko. Kanji claims that only a man of rank should be able to acquire Mikado's funds and goes off towards it. Shiroko explains that Kanji is an old acquaintance of hers and (aside from dressing uncool) it would be best to avoid him for the sake of her sanity. Still, they figure he's heading towards the observatory and trail him. On this way, Yui asks if Kyoko if she believes Mikado is dead now. Kyoko admits while she is reluctant, two Zero class detectives having such information makes it credible. She wonders what she should do now if Mikado is dead, but Yui notes that its her role to find the killer as the assigned detective. They arrive at the entrance and noticed Kanji's horse trotting out of the door and into the forest. Realizing that Kanji must be inside, all three enter.

They then meet Kanji and a fifth detective on the scene, Senshi Kadomi who is in front of a door. Senshi just dismisses three as just 'a woman and two kids' and is glad since it means less rivals for him. Kyoko deduces that Mikado's legacy is just a center piece for the true culprit's motives. Senshi says they can't proceed further until everyone registers in a device at the door. Such a device recognizes a vein pattern and once everyone finishes, does the door finally open. However, before they can proceed, Kyoko points out a buried light in the floor. Still even after she unscrews the bolt to it, it won't come undone. Instead it seems to be covered in ice instead of glass. Shiroko hurries them along the passage before they can delve deeper into it.

When the five detectives got to the next room, they see a pillar of ice encasing a black box. They try to keep their door open so that they can escape, but an intercom noise startings ringing so loud they close the door to silence the noise. They also notices handcuffs connected to long chains that connect through all rooms together. If they want to proceed with this game, they need to put on the handcuffs. Once all were wearing the shackles they gathered at the pillar of ice. Senshi asked if anyone had a lighter, but no one came forward (though Yui did have one on her). As such, he pulls out a gun and fires at the pillar. However, the ice is too thick and it fails. When Kanji and Senshi return to their rooms, the remaining three began talking together, concluding they needed to get to the box before the other two did. They began to chip at the ice with a screwdriver and Yui's lighter, but only small dents were made. Shiroko went back into her room as Yui and Kyoko investigated some more. This lead back to their own rooms and they discuss more on the case, from how there's a chance the other three detectives might be murdered like during the first round at Sirius Observatory or wondering about Mikado's inheritance. Kyoko also notes that everything in their room has been bolted down. When they went into one of the fridges, they discovered over 20 million yen in total.

They then heard a noise coming from outside and went to check it out. There, they saw Senshi standing over a dazed Kanji, having done so after finding that Kanji had a lighter on him. In addition, he noticed that Kanji's money had knocked away from him. Kanji told him to stop, but Senshi kicked him away and took the money. Using the lighter he lit a bill on fire, and it easily burned away. Proving that the bills were coated with some substance that made them burn easier. Senshi demanded Yui cooperate, but Shiroko defended her and told her to go with her own discretion. Angered, Senshi goes for his gun, but realizes its missing. Kanji stole it when he was kicked away and, while also holding his frame to line up the shot, was about to shoot Senshi. The shot, however, hit the wall and with that the gun was out of ammo. Kanji then destroyed the gun, thus preventing its use. Kanji states he's not giving up his money, but Senshi replies that he doesn't want to either, but that box contains Mikado's assets. Enough money to shake the world. Shiroko asked if he was out to rule the world, which gets Senshi to say he rather be on the side that controls rather than be the one getting controlled. The remaining four worked to chip away at the ice some more, but Kanji eventually grew frustrated and went back into his room.

With just the three left again, Shiroko admits that she no longer wants Mikado's legacy any more. She now had twenty million out of nowhere. It wouldn't be enough to last a lifetime, but it would help pay for the education of her two children. Kyoko offers up hers and Shiroko gladly takes the offer (and assumng Yui would give up hers as well), in exchange for revealing her information. Shiroko explains she learned about Mikado's death from her ex-husband who is a high ranking police officer and the police will eventually be able to confirm Mikado's corpse is actually his. After sharing a meal with Shiroko, she retires to her room as the common room becomes incredibly cold, with Kyoko and Yui heading into the latter's room. They discover the water will only come on between 7AM and 10PM. In addition, everyone has to head into their own rooms or the place would self-destruct. Thus, Yui is left alone in her room. Crawling into her fixed bed, Yui began to cry as recalled the day that Mayu was taken and killed, as well as a moment of her apparently stabbing someone to death.

The next day, both Yui and Kyoko came out of their rooms, though Kyoko was looking noticeably tired. When Kanji came out he declared he had a way to destroy the ice pillar, but was also asking for help, even promising to Yui he would make her secretary to the Detective King. Yui rejects the offer but wonders about the Detective King part. Kanji says that the Detective King was someone who ruled over all detectives, and that Mikado was the closest one to ever getting earning that, but fell short. Yui asked if Kanji wanted to be the second Mikado, but Kanji explains that while he doesn't like Mikado's aesthetics as a detective, as an artist he holds high appreciation for Mikado's sense of architecture and functional tricks he uses for his Duel Noirs. Kanji believes the Victims Catharsis Committee as a whole was a waste, and that only detectives should be using such assests. His main goal is to use Mikado's assets as a cornerstone for his own detective organization that he believes the world needs. Kanji offers both to join him, but Kyoko dodges the quesion by saying she found the means to destroy the pillar (and refuses to explain to Kanji when he asks what it is). After a while, Yui goes to wake up Shiroko (noticing some frost on the floor that leaves her footprints), but when she enters her room they find her dead, with a knife sticking out of one of her shoulders.

Senshi arrives on the scene since he took a while doing his makeup, but once he gather all four begin to investigate. They conclude that the knife was coated with the poison listed on the letter for the Duel Noir. Senshi believes a master key was used to enter the room by the culprit and kill Shiroko, but both Yui and Kanji believe that it didn't fit Mikado's style. Kyoko supports the other two and that the culprit didn't come through the door, citing the frost at the door didn't have footprints leading to Shiroko. Senshi refutes this by saying the culprit could have killed before the frost or the frost covered it up. Kyoko admits to that possibility but refuses to admit that the culprit could have killed through the door way. Senshi grabs her by the shirt and demands she explains why she's so certain. Kyoko reveals that she has been watching the doorways all night from the chain hoops, which is why she's so tired. Senshi, irritated, decided to drop the matter.

Kanji reasoned the culprit was still in the room, but their search turns up empty, aside from an empty water bottle by the door. It's then that Senshi has come up with a theory of his own. Basically, the culprit went outside in the blizzard, was invited inside by Shiroko and that give the culprit a chance to kill her. When it came to the method of escape, the culprit used the empty water bottle left as the scene to to stop the windows from closing, snuck out, and then pushed the bottle out so that it could close (though during this, Yui notes the room's length shouldn't have allowed the bottle to reach the door). Senshi believes that Shiroko wouldn't have invited a stranger into her room. Thus, the only explanation left is that the culprit is someone she was familiar with. Senshi points the finger to Yui being the culprit since, according to his reasoning, the culprit had to be in chain length in order to enter Shiroko's room. Yui tries to refute, but ultimately has to call on Kyoko to help. Kyoko defends Yui and reasons that its impossible since the chains would never be able to reach give anyone enough reach with the observatory's architecture in play. Thus, they are forced to consider that a third party might be in involved. When its suggested the culprit might be hiding somewhere near Building B, near its entrance, both Kanji and Senshi go off to investigate. Alone, Yui is grateful for Kyoko sticking up for her, though Kyoko just tries to downplay it as being supported by math.

Outside of their rooms, all four would investigate until noon, where they take a break to eat. When the subject goes about the black box, Kyoko brings up the idea of using their chains to use as a literal 'chain' saw. As such, the rest agree to it and begins to shave off the ice with such technique. However, midway to it, Senshi stops and says that he will be taking that box. Kanji protests, but Senshi knocks him out with a kick to the head. Yui tells him not to be violent or else she won't cooperate, but Senshi just says he'll get Kyoko to do it in that case. Yui wants to know why he is obsessed with Mikado's legacy, and Senshis responds that he wants to rule the world instead of being ruled over. He says he's been used so many times in the past, he just wants to get even and be on the dominating side for once. Senshi says he was once thrown in jail for five years for someone's else crime, causing Yui to be dumbfounded since he was a Zero class detective. Senshi responded that, while he doesn't know why he's so good at being a detective, he realized he can use such talent to try and rule the world, and even discovered Mikado. It's then that it hits Yui, that Senshi was one of the many people whose lives were ruined as a result of Mikado's actions. Senshi hopes that Yui realizes the 'truth': that its okay to use power to control others. Senshi declares he'll be the one getting that legacy and use Mikado's organization as he's sees fit, becoming ecstatic at the thought.

However, Kyoko points out that Senshi was nowhere near the level of Mikado since he lacks Mikado's 'crystal-clear' madness. Senshi heads back into his room, thus leaving the two girls about to continue the saw work whilst, Kanji slowly wakes up and heads into his room to recover. During their work, they discuss more about this case, being doubtful of the presence of a third party, Kyoko noting that the price of the Duel Noir doesn't line up with the method Senshi suggested and talks about Shiroko's body. Namely, Kyoko believes that the water was drugged and when Shiroko drank it, she was fast asleep in her bed. This would disprove Senshi's theory of the culprit coming in from the window. However, Kyoko notes this doesn't disprove the presence of a third party. Five other people could have arrived, gotten scared, and left through the observatory's ceiling being opened. However, one could have remained behind to hide, and wait for five other people to get entangled before killing them off, one by one.

They investigate the area some more, and its during that did Kyoko point out there was a sound akin to a motor last night. Kyoko reasons that it might be the roof of the obervatory opening, meaning its possible someone went out through that way. Eventually, Senshi ordered them to go back to work, thus making the two girls go back to chipping away the pillar. When they got to eat dinner, Kyoko notes that they could prove that the drugs were in Shiroko's bottle by drinking the remnants of her water bottle. Yui is against such an idea, but Kyoko is adamant and goes over to Shiroko's room. Yui chased after her, and when she found her bottle in hand, asked if she drank from it. Kyoko said she didn't, but only because she wants to ensure if something were to happen they would still be able to help piece together the case. Yui asks her to not think of her life so lightly, and to rely on Yui. Kyoko smiles, but collapses soon after. She has a fever from exhaustion and Yui hurredly takes her back to her room. From there, Yui goes back to working with Kanji as Senshi oversees them. When the deadline to head back into their room approaches, there's only 30cm of ice left to shave off. Senshi orders them not to touch it until tommorrow on his word. As they trio leave for their rooms, Yui checks in on Kyoko. Noticing her ribbon is kind of entangled, Yui entangled it and placed it by her pillow before leaving. That night, Yui swore that she would fight for Kyoko alone from now on.

The next day, Kyoko had recovered from her fever and met Yui when they got out of their rooms. She was ashamed of herself for getting sick, but Yui reassured not to be so hard on herself. They went to check up on the others, only to find Senshi dead in the same way Shiroko had been. They investigate and officialy conclude that Senshi's bottle theory was not how the killer was operating, though were unsure as to how the culprit got in anyway. This was when Kanji appeared, causing both to become on edge since he was the last one left. Kanji continues to say he is innocent of the crime and asks for a truce of sorts. He just wants Mikado's legacy, and they just want to go find the truth. He suggests they agree to mutually keep out of each other's way, with him working alone on the pillar, whilst the others keep to themselves in one of the rooms. Kyoko is fine with this, so long as Kanji isn't the culprit. As such, the two of them head into Yui's room for the duration of time (though Yui made a quick detour to grab Kyoko's ribbons). They disuss on how the culprit could have killed their victims, and Yui admits that she heard the sound last night, but the dome of the building was still intact. During their conversation, an idea occurs to Kyoko and she moves to check outside. She sees the roof of Shiroko and her own room, and notices that there was too little snow on Shiroko's roof. When Kyoko tried to uses a telescope, she felt as though there was something catching on the base of it, but ultimately couldn't figure out what. Yui thinks its because Kyoko needs more sugar for her brain to work, thus the duo has a snack party of sorts. She asks if Yui could do her hair, and as Yui agrees, Kyoko admits she's entirely grateful for meeting Yui that day. She feels as though without her, she would have been killed long ago due to Mikado's machinations and that Yui was a great detective to her. As Yui finishes the left braid, and goes on to the right, Kyoko says she feels dizzy. She picks up a water bottle, sniffs it, and comments 'why' before passing out on the bed. Yui squeezes her hand as she passes out as well.

As Yui wakes up with tear stained cheeks, she smell an odor and looks to see smoke pouring into the door. Frantically, she wakes up Kyoko and they both leave their room only to find that the pillar room was on fire as a result of loads of flammable money being burned. They also find Kanji lying on the ground, with an arrow in his left eye and his handcuffs off. Yui wants Kyoko to escape, but Kyoko notes that they both are still handcuffed. Kyoko notes the black box in the pillar is gone and goes deeper into the flames once she notices Kanji was clutching it. Debris seperates Yui and Kyoko, but as the former tries to go to Kyoko she gets handed a black card instead. The card unlocks the handcuffs and Kyoko urges Yui to go outside from her way while she finds a way from her end. As such, the duo make their way out, with Yui doing so from Shiroko's room. She contemplates saving Shiroko's body, but knows there isn't that much time. She tries to get the money for her children to have, but notes that they were all gone. Without nothing else to do, Yui leave the observatory.

She and Kyoko meet outside the observatory and hug for a few seconds. However, Kyoko is willing to share who she believes is the culprit of this Duel Noir. Kyoko's theory goes that to kill the victims, the culprit tilted the rooms of the victims (explaining why everything was bolted down) and as a result, the killer could enter through the room since the tilitng would open the the windows automatically. Kyoko theorizes that the switch to tilt the building was probably the telescopes given in each room. With the rooms now close together, the killer could now take a 'shortcut' to the victim by using the window instead of walking alongside the snow. Thanks to the drugs in their water, the victims should be fast asleep in bed (which is also fixed in position so the victim can't move) thus giving the culprit a way to get to them unopposed. The poison on the knife is to ensure that, even if the chain isn't long enough, as long as they stab the victim it would be enough to kill them. As Kyoko explains there are tears in her eyes and Yui realizes there's no coming back. Yui asks if Kyoko suspects her of killing Shiroko, to which Kyoko responds with how long has Yui been in contact with the Committee. Kyoko blames herself, since she had a feeling that the Committee would aim to go after Yui eventually, and she wished she had left the country beforehand. That way, even if they never see each other again, their relationship would still be in tact. When Yui asks again if Kyoko thinks she's the culprit, Kyoko isn't sure, but her own deduction has lead her to that point.

Yui steels herself and offers a rebuttal. She asks about Senshi's case since his neighbors are Shiroko and Kanji, she couldn't have been the one to kill him. However, Kyoko states that Kanji was the one to kill Senshi in order to get the legacy without having to fight for it. She believes that Yui got Kanji to do it by suggesting it while they were at work on the pillar, with there being multiple chances for Yui to suggest the trick to Kanji without her knowing. When Yui says says that it can't be true since Senshi would have made a commotion, even if Kanji took advantage of the trip, Kyoko notes that Kanji could mixed the drugged water with the regular water when they weren't looking since they were sharing the food and Senshi would've gotten the drugged water instead. Yui points out if this was a copycat, then how could have Kanji killed Senshi the same way without being the culprit, who was the only one with access to the poison and knives. Kyoko refutes by saying that Kanji could've taken the knife from Shiroko's body, stabbed Senshi and when morning came, after ushering the two of them out, took the knife to place back in Shiroko's body so that they would be unware that he had done somethine like that. Yui notes that this means someone who isn't the Victim of the Duel Noir had copied the murdered trick, which would be the first time its happened. Kyoko notes that the culprit could have planned for this copycat murder to take place, and says that the murder of Shiroko and Kanji must have been related to the death of Mayu in the past. Yui asks if Kyoko trusted her, which causes her to shout she's just trying to find the truh. Kyoko doesn't want to suspect Yui at all.

Yui moves the subject to the case of Kanji's case, where Kyoko believes Yui was the one to drug her. However, Yui retorts it could have been Kanji to do it and wonders why the hall was on fire. Kyoko points out that Kanji melted the pillar by using the dead's money, but after he took the box he got shot with the arrow. Yui responded that since Kyoko checked her bag on multiple occasions, and didn't find an arrow, Yui couldn't be the culprit. However, Kyoko retorts that Yui could've seperated the arrow into pieces and hid them in her writing utensils until the moment came. However, on the topic of the bow, with there being none, Kyoko suspects that instead, Yui pulled a similar trick like in the Takeda Haunted Mansion case. With the chains acting as a bow, she set up an arrow to fire at Kanji through the hole in the ice that they had been chippign away. Yui tries to point out how she had no string to pull off this murder, but Kyoko responds that there was something she could have used. The ribbon that Yui bought her. While Kyoko may have took them to that store, ultimately it was Yui that bought such a ribbon.

Unable to argue back, Yui goes silent, essetially admitting her guilt. Kyoko is angry and screams that she saw people die because of vengeance, and wonders if Mayu's death was really that important to her. Yui responds that, even if Kyoko was great at deductions, she couldn't understand someone's feelings. This causes Kyoko to scream that was the one thing she tried so hard to really understand. Yui hugs her and apologizes for things having to be this way. After a long while, Kyoko is aware that the Committee would becoming for Yui since she failed, though the Observatory's destruction would make that difficult. Kyoko snapped her memento handcuffs onto Yui, with the intention of handcuffing both together so Kyoko could protect her and see that Yui is taken into justice fairly. However, before she could do that, Yui is shot in the back with an arrow.

The attacker is a severely burnt and injured Kanji, holding a crossbow, and who wants the black card. Kyoko tries to lure him away, but Kanji is set on Yui. After kicking her repeatedly, Kanji takes the arrow out of her back, loads it into the crossbow and points at Kyoko. He demands that she give him the black card, whilst Kyoko demands that he get away from Yui or else she would destroy it. From her spot, Yui notices a knife in Kanji's hands. Yui warns Kyoko, but its too late. Kanji throws it at Kyoko. The knife sticks in her the back of her left hand, and Kyoko drops to the ground since the knife still had traces of poison that was guaranteed to paralyze someone for a while. Kanji aims the crossbow at Kyoko, intending to kill her, when Yui handcuffs his left leg. Given Kanji's condition, Yui is able to stand up and send Kanji to the ground.

From there, she turns towards the cliff the observatory was next to and begins dragging Kanji to it. Even when Kanji stabs her again with the arrow, Yui keeps her resolve and moves towards it, even while Kyoko begs for her to stop. As they reach the edge, Yui demands to know how many children Kanji had kidnapped in order to to get to his Zero rank, and that seven years ago he was the one that killed Mayu. Kanji denies having killed her and insists he was just apart of the investigation. However, Yui points out that he has the same scar that she inflicted on the intruder years ago. It was then that Kanji admits it, and wonders if he was set-up or if this was coincidence. Kanji also admits he didn't kill Mayu for money or honor, but rather because Mayu was a 'yes'. Filled with rage, Yui can't forgive him at all. Internally calling Kanji a filthy creature, she's about to kill him when Kyoko's voice rings out. She was dragging herself to Yui due to the poison, but Yui had insisted that she doesn't move forward. She tells Kyoko she didn't do anything wrong and to live a normal life. That's when the Observatory explodes, sending both Yui and Kanji careening off into the cliff.

#### Yui's Fate

At the bottom of the cliff, Yui is severely hurt and pinned by burning debris. As for Kanji, he was already dead, with his body buried under rubble. Her glasses had been knocked off due to the explosion and she begins to wonder if she had been a different person if she would have made it to the end. She begins to hear the voice of Mayu and, thinking she was already dead, that was her ghost trying to find her. However, it was actually Kyoko who was desperately moving away the burning rubble with her bare hands, uncaring how burned they get, in order to try and save Yui. Kyoko pushes Yui's glasses onto her face and apologizes for treating Yui like a criminal. She wants to correct her mistake and get them both out. Internally, Yui believes what had occurred wasn't a mistake and notices some cherry blossom petals falling. She thinks that they are so beautiful, and was about to call Kyoko that before trailing off.

Later on, as Kyoko is recoving in the hospital, Salvador informs her that when his team got there, another day had already passed. When they got to the wreckage of the site, they found both Yui and Kyoko, with Yui covering Kyoko's body. Meaning, Kyoko did eventually get Yui out, who returned the favor by protecting Kyoko from the cold elements of the night with her own body. Unfortunately, Salvador also informed Kyoko that Yui had succumbed to her own injuries.

After Kyoko was released from the hospital, she would head to the Detective Library. Upon asking for any messages, the staff informed Kyoko someone had left her a note. The note lead her to the file for a detective under DSC 813 and in it was a letter written by Yui. Yui wonders if Kyoko had made it home safely and says she can't reveal why she did things like such, but admits that she wanted to take some burden off of Kyoko's life as a detective. She says that if Kyoko was thinking of quitting detective work or was carrying too much weight, she should take a break and look back. There was bound to be other people who could help her. Yui apologizes because she believes she has caused Kyoko so much trouble and thanks her for everything. Kyoko's recollection of Yui protecting her from dying in the cold, combined with the knowledge of the note, causes her to finally drop to her knees and bitterly weep for her fallen friend.

### Kirigiriso

Yui is indirectly mentioned in the game if you pick the choice to have Kōhei Matsudaira ask Kyoko if she had any siblings. As Kyoko saw Yui as a big sister figure, and was a touchy subject, the question was brushed off. This question however remained truthful due to the presence of Kyōka later in the story.

### Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Yui was indirectly mentioned on Kyoko's last Free Time Event when Makoto Naegi asks what the gloves are for, Kyoko states "...there was a time when I grew attached to **someone**, and I made a bad decision. I was forced to learn a very powerful lesson, and **these gloves** are a daily reminder of that. So on these gloves, I swore to never make the same mistake again." This is a reference to *Danganronpa Kirigiri* Vol. 7 ending.

## Alternate Fates

### Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

Yui is mentioned in Kyoko's events on numerous occasions. Within this alternate timeline, the events of *Danganronpa Kirigiri* remain unchanged.

## Skills and Abilities

### Detective Prowess

Ever since Yui was a child, she had strong desires to become a detective since the death of her younger sister. While Yui isn't as intelligent like Kyoko or higher ranked detectives, she has proven that she is fairly capable at doing her job and providing invaluable support to Kyoko. For example, using her athleticism to leap over a to the next ledge of a demolished staircase at Norman's Hotel or often prepping supplies in her backpack that could aid her allies, such as storing food in case they were to be trapped (like during the second Sirius Observatory case) or measuring tape.

### Jumping Skills

As described by many people, Yui has powerful legs with very high jumping abilities. Through the use of her legs, Yui is capable of jumping extremely high and she was able to jump to high places without much problems, such as during Norman's Hotel Case investigation. Due to this prowess, she was able to break the vertical high jump recored at her high school. She noted had her body not been weaker overall, she might've been able to put her legs more to good use and get scouted for Hope's Peak. However, she doesn't regret choosing the path of a detective.

## Name

Her first name, "Yui" (結), is Japanese for "to tie" or "to fasten".

Yui's name could be inspired by the word 結論 ketsuron - whose first character is the same as her name's - which means "conclusion" (e.g. of a detective's investigation).

There could actually be a more clever wordplay behind Yui's given name, meant to imply at her being an essential part in the solution of the mysteries discussed in the novels. The wordplay goes as follows: The collaboration between 結 *Yui* and her detection capabilities and Kyoko with her deductive prowess of conjecture refutation = 論破 *ronpa* that allows the two to reach the conclusion = 結論 *ketsuron* of their investigations.

Her last name, "Samidare" (五月雨) translates to "early summer rain."

## Appearance

Yui is a 16-year-old teenage high school girl.

She is tall and has green eyes with backward question mark ( ⸮ ) irises, red glasses, and short brown hair with a few blonde streaks. She wears a dark green sweater on top of a white, collared shirt with a red ribbon. She is described by many including Suisei Nanamura as having very powerful legs. She usually wears culotte shorts instead of a skirt, unlike her classmates. Yui also wears leather boots as part of her uniform in school and detective work. She always carries a red backpack, where she keeps her important detective supplies.

During the Twelve Duel Noir Challenge, she wears a dark green coat.

## Personality

Yui's strongest trait is that she has a strong sense of justice and believes that detectives should always be people that fight towards such justice. Such mindset has lead to her becoming enraged to those who would harm those she sees as innocent and become frustrated throughout the story as comes into contact with those in her same profession that are morally corrupt or criminals who gave in to their temptation to murder. Such unwavering sense of justice has lead to her clashing ideals with multiple people throughout the story, from enemies in the Victims Catharsis Committee (who believe that good can come from their evil) to sometimes her own allies (such as Licorne or Kyoko's own pragmatic sense of dealing with their cases). This hatred of corruption and evil has naturally lead her to try and go against the Committee to dismantle it since she couldn't turn a blind eye to it.

In comparison to Kyoko, Yui is more emotionally driven and socially adept, being generally affable and willing to act more like a regular teenage girl than her partner. Such emotional empathy has lead to her be able to even connect with a generaly tight-lipped person like Kyoko and become fast friends. Compared to Kyoko, she is a lot more trusting in other people, and even willing to patch up rocky relations, providing the other party doesn't cross moral lines (such as being willing to invite Licorne back onto their side despite his betrayel). Such emotions has put her into jeopardy many of times throughout the story, with Yui's recklessness getting her trapped (such as in the case with meeting Copycat) or getting misdirected by the tricks of the culprit (such as the first Observatory case when she was decieved into thinking Kyoko was the culprit). Prior to Kyoko, her focus on her detective career has lead her to be rather lonely since it meant she couldn't have much of a social life. It was to the point Yui found herself eating cake by herself in her dorm on Christmas, isntead of spending it with family or friends.

Yui has also shown to be rather insecure concerning her capabilities as a detective, often feeling she can't quite measure up when comes to Kyoko or her other peers in her field and believing she's useless compared to them. However, such feelings don't usually hold her down for long and throughout the story, she becomes determined to try her hardest to support her partner. She takes her detective work fairly seriously, and always expresses a desire to to stop the culprit. While she's not quite as intelligent as Kyoko in reards to piecing things together, she is still fairly smart and she's always willing to lend hands in other areas to help solve the case. She holds quite a deal of confidence in her partner's capabilities and plans, to the point she's even willing to risk her life on them. Yui also has a large sweet tooth, often filling up her backpack with sweets to take alongside her investigations.

She holds a lot of compassion and care towards her loved ones, especially with Kyoko. With the latter, she often acts like a protective big sister towards her, often willing to throw herself in harm's way in order to keep her safe (such as standing in front of Suisei so he couldn't shoot Kyoko right away). Kyoko's safety becomes her driving force throughout the story as she comes to bond with the younger detective, to the point she was even willing to give up the Twelve Duel Noir Challenge and risk taking on a Duel Noir herself in order to keep her safe (to the point she sacrificed her life in order to save her).

### Mayu Samidare

When Yui was 9 years old, her little sister, Mayu was kidnapped and killed. It was her murder that fueled Yui's desire to become a detective since the case was never solved. Yui loved her sister dearly and after Mayu's death, she was severely traumatized to the point of still having nightmares about it in her teens. It was wanting to learn more about this murder that got her ensnared in the Committee's plans, and ultimately it was part of the reason why she took up a Duel Noir against Kanji Yuhain.

**Detective Library:**
### Kyoko Kirigiri

At first, when they met, Yui was very surprised that someone that young was a detective. Before starting the case, Kyoko tried to warn Yui that something was wrong and suggested to leave, but, seeing the three men walking ahead in front of them, she whispered that she couldn't "leave them to die" and decided to stay on board. Later when staring the case, Yui was very suspicious of Kyoko due to her being the only one alive after all the detectives have died. However, after discovering the true culprit, Yui apologized to Kyoko for being suspicious of her.

After resolving Sirius Astronomical Observatory Murder Case, Yui and Kyoko got to know each other even more. Yui also invites Kyoko for a Christmas party held in her school. Yui gives Kyoko a present, Rose In Vitro, which Kyoko is very pleased with. Kyoko asks Yui if she sees Kyoko as a replacement to her sister, which Yui denies. Kyoko is Kyoko, and no one can replace her dead sister, Yui says. While Yui is grateful to Kyoko, Kyoko also says that she is grateful to Yui for believing in her during that murder.

As the story progresses, the two gradually become close friends and partners in working together in stopping the Duel Noirs. She often acts as a big sister figure and insists that Kyoko call her oneechan (お姉ちゃん; "older sister" in a familiar, affectionate tone), but Kyoko calls her Yui-oneesama (お姉様; "older sister" in the most honorable yet emotionally distant tone). Despite their clashing attitudes, with Yui being more expressive and outgoing whilst Kyoko is stoic and emotionally distant, they form a strong bond with each other and care immensely for the others well being. Often when one is in trouble, the other would do whatever it takes to get the other back or save them from danger (from Kyoko stopping Copycat at the stairwell to save Yui, to Yui heading to Gekka's castle to free Kyoko from Tōya Tsutsumi). That said, there have been situations where their ideals have clashed, with Yui's belief that detectives must be paragons of justice not really meshing at times with Kyoko's overtly pragmatic and logical sense of handling things. Still, they are usually able to work past their differences and handle their issues together, forming an unbreakable bond.

Yui's care for Kyoko was immense enough that she risked taking a Duel Noir herself in order to ensure Kyoko's safety. Upon learning that Yui became a Victim for the Committee, Kyoko was incredibly hurt that Yui would go down the route that many other Victims had and blamed herself for not being able to prevent it. In turn, Yui holds no regret for being eventually found out and willingly gives up her life to ensure Kyoko lives to see another day. Following Yui's death, Kyoko would breakdown to tears after reading Yui's letter and recognizing Yui's sacrifice for her. Following the Final Duel Noir, Kyoko joins up with prior participants of the event to stop the remnants of the Committee and the 'fallen' corrupt detectives to prevent what happened to Yui from happening again. Even as Kyoko grew up into becoming the Ultimate Detective, she would still remember her scars on her hands as being reminders of the 'mistake' she made all those years that costed Yui's life.

### Licorne

While initially distrustful of Licorne given his affiliation with Gekka and doubtful on whether he was with the Victims Catharsis Committee, Yui quickly warmed up to her new ally during their hunt for Rei Mikagami by happily shopping with him and seemed to regard him as a friend. Licorne has shown to be quite comfortable with Yui and has no qualms with messing with her. That said, Licorne's indifference and willingness to allow people to become in grave danger if its for his own enjoyment has sparked Yui's frustration given her belief that a detective has to be someone of justice. She was also quite mad when he left her side in order to join Johnny's, though during the Shoot Down The Angel Challenge, it was clear she was willing to forgive him and make-up. When they were about to go their separate ways, Licorne breaks his usual carefree persona to briefly try and convince her not to continue on the path against the Committee out of fear she might get hurt, showcasing that he truly does care for her.

### Hajiki Yaki, Sachi Mizuiyama & Salvador Yadorigi Fukurō

While Yui was concerned about getting those three involved, she conceeded internally that having them join their team was probably the right call given the circumstances and seemed to trust in their capabilities as detectives themselves. Hajiki was willing to help her cause from the start, despite his rather rough demeanor with Yui being saddened when she learned that he died in his attempt to her aid them and felt like his blood was on her hands. Likewise, Yui was immensely grateful for Salvador for never betraying them and, that even when he got injured, sent his Duel Noir case information to Yui via Nazuna, showcasing his devotion to the group and desire to help see the Committee stopped. Seeing Sachi injure him caused her to become incredibly furious and chase her. Upon learning of Sachi's betrayal and true status as a Victim, Yui was left shocked and angered at her actions that stem from Sachi's devotion to Gekka. Sachi immmensely disliked Yui for trying to get Gekka to stop down as an Executive and its implied it was born of jealousy for not being chosen like her. However, in jail, Sachi would comply in giving up the information she gathered on the notion she was just trying to honor Gekka's decisions and even would wonder if Yui's cause could be the 'catharsis' that Gekka was looking for before parting with Yui for the final time.

**Other**
### Tsukiyo Nada & Nazuna Tōakitsu

Initially, Yui's relationship with both was rather rocky given how both were wary that Yui might be the culprit of the Libra Girls Academy case. However, as time passed, both were willing to work together with Yui in attempting to escape and came to see her in a better light, particularly Nazuna. When they were finally free, Nazuna willingly relayed the Kareobana Academy details to Yui in Salvador's stead in order to help her. Nazuna complimented Yui on her actions concerning the Duel Noir, and wished to hang out with Yui at the beach when summer rolled around. Even when Tsukiyo finally put her skepticism aside, she doesn't quite let up her snobbish attitude towards Yui, though was willing to cooperate if it meant her freedom. Both would be inspired by Yui to become detectives themselves, working to assist Salvador in taking down corruption among detectives, with both being immensely saddened upon learning that Yui had died during the second Sirius Observatory case, with Tsukiyo breaking down into tears as they spoke with Kyoko at the hospital.

### Tōhachirō Uzuchi

Yui initially thought of Tōhachirō to be rather strict and her first impression of him wasn't quite amiable, given how she was knocked to the ground and her chest groped to check to see if she was actually a girl, instead of a boy. Still, her thoughts on Kyoko's maternal grandfather changed when she saw just how well they got along and how understanding he seemingly was, eventually considering him a decent guy. However, such opinion would later be soured upon discovering that the person she met that night was actually Mikado in disguise, with Kyoko's actual maternal grandfather having been murdered months ago.

**Victims Catharsis Committee:**
### Mikado Shinsen

As The Chairman of the Victims Catharsis Committee and the creator of the Duel Noir, Mikado is the biggest threat deemed by Yui. While she was initially suspicious of him due to Akio's warnings, it wasn't until Fuhito reveal Mikado's trule role as the Chairman did she begun to become truly afraid and was left trembling of fright during Mikado's riddance of Norman's Hotel. Following that, Yui had been rather wary of the possibility of someone being Mikado in disguise, even further after the incident following the discovery of Kyoko's maternal grandfather's murder. Following the loss of Gekka and Johnny, Yui became determined to see Mikado brought to justice for his crimes. On Mikado's end, he shows no animosity towards either her or Kyoko once they figure out his true identity as Chairman, even protecting them from a murderous Suisei by having the Double Zero detective kill himself and wiping away blood from Yui's ear. He's even willing to answer her question concerning the reason as to why he bothered to participate in the Norman's Hotel anyway.

When they eventually meet again, prior to Yui making contact with Tōkichirō to decide on whether she takes upon a Duel Noir, he's almost affable to her like last time and is willingly to help clarify his motivations. Mikado tried to persuade Yui to become the Victim of the Duel Noir under the basis that its required to help train Kyoko to fit the requirements needed for the Apex Detective.

However, this time, he's more than willing to actively threaten Kyoko's life if Yui tried to refuse the offer, hurt her emotionally by claiming she hasn't grown from Mayu's death, goading Yui into getting into the attitude needed to kill and, to prove that everything will go according to his plans, he has no problems with killing himself just to show that the Committee would continue as per usual. All of this proving that, ultimately, he just sees Yui as just a stepping stone needed for the 'catharsis' of the world and doesn't truly care about her outside of it. During this final meeting, Yui was left feeling confused over Mikado's reasons for creating the Committee, in utter disgust at him for the pain he put so many people (especially Kyoko) through and was even considering murdering him right there just to keep Kyoko safe. However, when Mikado killed himself, Yui was left in horror and even called for him to stop showing that, despite her intense feelings, she actually didn't want to see him die at all.

### Tōkichirō Endō

Given his role at finding future Victims for the Duel Noir, even prior to his meeting with Yui, Tōkichirō has proven to be a serious threat towards Yui and Kyoko's mission of stopping the Victims Catharsis Committee. He had been steathily following Yui and Kyoko around since the completion of Johnny's challenge, wondering what he left behind for Yui. During his conversation with Yui, he keeps up his professional demeanor and promotes the idea of her fighting in the next Duel Noir, completely disregarding Yui's initial attempts at trying to ignore the Duel Noir. While Yui is initially appalled at his suggestion of the idea, the thought of knowing who killed Mayu is enough for her to become conflicted and, as a result of the next day's events, Yui accepts his offer of taking the Duel Noir.

### Gekka Ryūzōji

Yui is initially respectful of Gekka, and even considered him handsome, upon discovering his profile at the Detective Library. However, upon finding that he was aligned with the Chairman of the Committee, Yui saw him as a dangerous threat. Gekka sees himself in Yui given that he also shares her strong passion for justice, but is aware that Yui hasn't taken the first step like those in the Committee, and is even willing to give her chances to join them. While Yui keenly refuses, and heavily disagrees with his ideals since they required innocents to be sacrificed, even she becomes aware on how the odds of the challenge are stacked in her favor and that Gekka didn't truly seem to be trying to win. Before the challenge truly got under way, during their last call together, Yui wondered if they truly did have to fight, but Gekka pushes forward with the decision anyway.

### Johnny Arp

During her interactions with Johnny, Yui questioned his allegiance to the Committee, which he merely stated that he was just in it to find happiness, and pretty much thinks of it like a cult. Thus, aside from taking out those who break the rules of the game, he's content to do his own thing. This has lead to Yui wondering if she there was a chance Johnny could potentially defect to their side, but Kyoko noted that unlikely to happen. It's also hinted that Yui had a minor crush on Johnny given his looks. Following their challenge, Johnny had a left a business card for Tōkichirō to Yui, as well as leaving a message that life was what she'd make of it.

## Quotes

*Danganronpa Kirigiri* (Japanese)

**Volume 1:**

* "My name is...Samidare Yui, I'm 16. I'm a detective."
* "To me, being a detective and being alive are the same thing."

**Volume 3:**

* "The dawn of a new year. That was how he referred to it. What awaited us was quite possibly not simply the turn of the calendar year, but instead, the end of one era and the start of another."
* "Someone like you should despise crime and constantly be fighting against those who break the law."
* "I always wanted to be an ally of justice. I always wanted to save those in need of help. That was why I started walking down the path of a detective."

## Merchandise

The link below lists all official licensed merchandise featuring Yui Samidare:

* *Main: Yui Samidare Merchandise*

## Trivia

* Yui shares her birthday with Kiyotaka Ishimaru.
* At one point, Yui gives Kyoko a Rose In Vitro. In *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc*, the rose in vitro is one of Kyoko's favorite presents.

## References

1. ↑ Yui's Birthday confirmed on *Danganronpa Kirigiri Vol. 7* (Image of confirmation).