Danganronpa: Digital Daze

Once everyone was gathered in the Laundry Room, Monorakun addressed us.

"Sorry, but the princess is in another...dryer? Who the fuck came up with this shit? Well, that's for you to find out! But first, the Monorakun File!"

Our E-Handbooks all went off at once. A new section appeared, after "Settings". It had a Monorakun face, and was labeled "Monorakun File". I tapped on the icon, and "Autopsy Report" appeared within it. I tapped on it, and it opened a document for me to read.

"Victim: Sonia Nevermind. Cause of Death: Falling head over heels. Multiple fractures, as well as minor burns, discovered on arms, legs, head, and torso areas. No other major injuries reported."

We all glanced at one another, bewildered. This is all we had to go on?

Mukuro asked the first question, in a even voice that bordered on annoyance and boredom. "What now?"

Monorakun perked his ears as he faced her. "Now, you gather evidence for the Class Trial! Search the crime scene, examine the body, gather alibis, go down on an promot- Oh, sorry, that was supposed to remain backstage, right?" Monorakun was looking at Sayaka, who seemed like she was hiding her embarrassment.

Monorakun continued. "Also, while I'm thinking of it, I took the liberty of going through all of Sonia's private messages that she sent to everyone. Rather than make you sift through all of it, I've filtered out anything that might, even remotely, be relevant to her dethroning. Make of it what you will."

Celeste cocked her head, suddenly interested in Monorakun. "So you mean to tell me that all of Sonia's private messages are now accessible to us? I wonder, is this to be our fate, too, if we are struck down in this place?"

Monorakun nodded. "Yep, but ONLY what could be considered relevant to determining a Blackened."

"And how is that determined?" Celeste was...smiling?

"In truth, I don't have to answer that question, but I will anyway. I run every message sent to and from Sonia through a program that determines threat assessment and suspicion levels. Anything that rates over a certain threshold, on either front, is saved into a file, which I have just sent to you all."

Monorakun continued. "Now, you're not gonna just jump in there, see one person messaging her, and know that's the Blackened. I always ensure several people's messages are included, based on the thresholds. In fact, the Blackened might not even BE any of them! Maybe they're the silent killer type who keeps everything in their head..." Monorakun shrugged. "Who knows?"

Mukuro spoke up next. "Could use two people to monitor the crime scene, too. I won't be able to inspect Sonia's body and prevent sabotage at the same time."

Kaito eagerly volunteered. "You can count on me, Mukuro!"

Theo agreed to stand guard, as well. Celeste offered to search the Laundry Room for any clues, and Theo agreed, under his watchful eye.

The rest of us split up. Kaede, Sayaka, and Makoto paired up, with Makoto asking Monorakun a question.

"Could we be permitted to search Sonia's room? There could be evidence in there."

Monorakun considered the request for several moments, then shrugged. "Eh, I have no logical reason to keep you out of there. Go for it." Monorakun's red eye flashed erratically for about three or four seconds, then went back to normal. "Door's unlocked now."

Kenchikka spoke up next, but not to Monorakun. Instead, she looked directly at Sayaka and moved towards her, catching Sayaka's attention.

"Sonia swam with you earlier, right?"

Sayaka's eyes went wide, but she nodded. "Y-yes. She swam with Bera and I for like 45 minutes or so, I think. Does that sound right, Bera?"

I thought for a moment. "Yeah, that sounds about right to me."

Kenchikka turned to Angie. "Angie. Pair up with me, search the Girl's Locker Room? Those three can't do it, all male." She pointed at Hifumi, Leon, and Yasuhiro.

Angie nodded. "Of course! Anything to help Sonia's soul find eternal repose."

Leon, Yasuhiro, and Hifumi agreed to gather alibis and check anywhere else that hadn't already had a claim laid to it, and each appeared to go their own separate way, as far as I could tell.

Chihiro spoke up next. "I guess that me, Chiaki, and Bera here can go through the messages, and look for anything we think is suspicious."

Opening the Monorakun file labeled "Private Messages", there were several names in here: Kaede Akamatsu, Hifumi Yamada, Yasuhiro Hagakure, and Leon Kuwata.

Chiaki, Chihiro, and I gathered together to discuss this.

"There are four names, but only three of us. How should we proceed?" Chiaki asked.

"Ummmm...one of us will have to do two of them, I suppose. Who wants to do two?" Chihiro responded with her own question.

I had an idea. "How about each of us picks a person, and whoever gets done first gets the remaining person."

Chihiro and Chiaki agreed with me. Chihiro went with Kaede, while Chiaki picked Leon. I decided to go with Hifumi.

I opened Hifumi's file. Only one conversation was in here.

Hifumi Yamada: Fear not, Miss Sonia, my interests are only for the 2D world! There is no one in the 3D world that catches my eye.

Sonia Nevermind: It is ok, Hifumi. By all means, please be your natural self around me. I do not wish to be treated any differently than any other student.

Hifumi Yamada: Request accepted! Of course, no one truly compares to Princess Piggles! I have devoted my time and life to her, and only to her!

Sonia Nevermind: Princess Piggles? I am unfamiliar with her. Where is this princess from?

Hifumi Yamada: You don't know Princess Piggles? From Demon Angel☆Pretty Pudgy Princess? One does not simply walk up to her. You must experience her, heart and soul!

Sonia Nevermind: Oh, I can't walk up to meet her? Is she not real, then?

Hifumi Yamada: Not real? Of COURSE Princess Piggles is real! She's as real as you and me! Being a 3D princess like you is nothing compared to being a 2D Princess like her!

Sonia Nevermind: Bodacious! I feel a meeting of princesses, with you as a mutual friend, could be beneficial for the both of us! I look forward to you setting up such a meeting, if you could?

Hifumi Yamada: You want to meet my guardian angel? Of course!

Sonia Nevermind: Thank you! I can't wait to speak with her! Once we get out of here, the three of us will have to meet up somewhere, and have a real cowabunga time! The three of us shall lay the smack down at a real fleek rave!"

That was all that was shown to me. I looked at the others.

"Should I go ahead and take Yasuhiro?"

Chihiro and Chiaki both nodded, neither one glancing up at me.

I opened up Yasuhiro's folder. Most of his conversations circled around one sham idea or another. "Hey, let's sell this!", or "You should fund me for this idea!", or "Do you have anything in Novoselic I could sell for cash?" 

Stuff like that. Nothing outwardly hostile from Yasuhiro, but Sonia was clearly getting annoyed with Yasuhiro's ideas. However, she remained polite with Yasuhiro.

I finished up with Yasuhiro's deluge of messages, and looked up at Chihiro and Chiaki. Neither one were reading anymore, and were now speaking quietly with one another. I decided to join the both of them.

"Alright, I'm finished with Hifumi and Yasuhiro. What did you two discover?"

Chiaki spoke first. "Kaede mostly spoke of meeting up with Sonia to do various activities. She mentioned not wanting to meet up with Sonia and Sayaka so she could work on her piano playing. No red flags at a casual glance, but they sure spent a lot of time together."

Chihiro was next. "Leon's messages started with trying to date Sonia, who was not interested. Leon then kept trying to meet up with her, first at the Game Room, then in the Courtyard, and again in the Kitchen for a lunch together. Sonia declined each time, but always thanked him for the offer."

"Hifumi mostly talked to Sonia about Princess Piggles. Sonia seemed disappointed, at first, that Princess Piggles was not a real person. However, judging from what I read, Hifumi eventually agreed to let Sonia meet Princess Piggles. I don't know how he planned on making this happen, though, unless he meant to show off his artwork," I shared.

I continued with Yasuhiro. "As for Yasuhiro, he just gave Sonia one bad marketing idea after another, scam after scam. Sonia shot them all down, but was nice towards him with her rejections."

Chiaki nodded. "I see. So Kaede spent a lot of time with Sonia. Leon was flirting with her, but failed Sonia's Charisma check time and again. Sonia wanted to meet Princess Piggles, who Hifumi mentioned. And Yasuhiro just wanted money, either from selling things, being funded by Sonia, or other schemes. Sonia turned them all down, one after another."

"Yo! Bera! Mind if I grab your alibi?" Leon's voice called out from behind me.

Turning around, I spoke to Leon. "After breakfast, I went to the Pool with Sayaka and Sonia. Kaede was invited, too, but she didn't come with us. The three of us swam for about 45 minutes, before Sonia left Sayaka and I. I don't know where she went afterwards."

Leon eyed me suspiciously. "You didn't leave the pool when Sonia did?"

I shook my head. "Sayaka and I were together the entire time in the Pool. We didn't leave until the announcement went overhead, and we left together. Well, in different locker rooms, of course, but...you know."

Leon continued to look at me, lost in thought for several moments. "That matches up with what Sayaka told me. Alright, thanks man!"

Hifumi was already speaking to Chihiro, while Yasuhiro was asking Chiaki questions.

I decided to talk to Celeste, to see if she knew anything. She was over by the dryer, looking at the door mechanism, opening and shutting it repeatedly. She then glanced at the buttons for the dryer, her head cocked.

I called out to Celeste. "Celeste, can I ask you a few-"

An announcement went overhead again. "Alright everyone, time's up. Everyone meet up at the fountain in the Courtyard. I'll give further instructions there."

Celeste walked off from me, not even acknowledging that I had a question for her. Chihiro, Chiaki, Kaito, Theo, Mukuro, and I all left the Laundry Room together, and met the others at the fountain, as requested.

Monorakun was standing between the fountain and the group. Once we were all present, he started speaking, in his usual medium-low pitch, growling voice.

"Alright, time to head to the Courtroom for the Class Trial. Who killed Sonia Nevermind? Get it right, they die and you all live. Get it wrong, they live and you all die. Any topic goes at any time, so long as it's relevant to the case. And no, you can't stay down there and talk forever! If I feel like the proceedings are going nowhere, I will force a vote myself! So don't try to stall things out, got it, shitbags! Alright, let's go!"

The fountain suddenly dried up and slid backwards, revealing a staircase going downwards. Monorakun took several steps down, then glanced at the rest of us. Taking the hint, we all followed Monorakun silently down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs were a set of double doors. Monorakun's red eye started flashing (I couldn't see it directly, but it was reflecting off the door), and the doors swung open into the next room.

A round table, with 16 podiums all facing each other, was in the middle of the room. Higher up, another chair, white on one side, black on the other, rested. That must be where Monorakun would be. At one of the podiums, on the left towards the middle, was a poster or picture standing on a pole, but I wasn't at a very good angle to see it well.

Monorakun took his seat (as I had guessed), and addressed us.

"Alright, everyone's assigned a seat based on their last name, in alphabetical order. Find your seats, and let's begin!"

This was it. The beginning of the Class Trial. We would either flush out Sonia's murderer, or die trying...

Literally!