Danganronpa: Digital Daze

Eventually, Kenchikka was able to wake up Kaede, who stirred, grabbing the back of her head. Kaede eventually stood up, dazed, and leaned on Kenchikka.

To my horror, that meant Sayaka was gone. I glanced at her crumpled-up figure on the floor, a stone forming in my stomach.

Kaito returned, his gaze turning to Kenchikka and Kaede. Relief briefly spread across his face, before he turned to me, standing by Sayaka.

"So, we have to do this again?" I lamented.

Kaito turned his eyes to me. "There's only one way to get through this awful feeling. Wait for Monorakun to give us the Monorakun File, get our evidence and testimony, and find out what happened here."

Chiaki was the next to show up, followed by Celeste and Mukuro. While Mukuro went over to Kaede, taking over her care for Kenchikka, the others showed up, with Monorakun scurrying along behind them.

"Alright, shitbags. Here's your Monorakun File," Monorakun stated, as our E-Handbooks went off at once. "Looks like Sayaka's Reunion Tour isn't happening. Pity."

Monorakun glanced over at Sayaka. "Ah well, we can release your tribute album later. Now, get to work!"

As Monorakun scampered out of the room, Celeste and Mukuro were already bickering with one another. Our E-Handbooks went off, and we took a look at the Monorakun File.

"Victim: Sayaka Maizono. Cause of Death: Stage Dive. Time of Death: Around 3pm. Sayaka's head made contact with a speaker prior to her death. A harness was found attached to her body. No other notable injuries found."

"How do we know Kaede's not faking her injury, hmmm?" Celeste queried Mukuro.

Mukuro responded, with very little emotion in her voice, "Because you cannot easily fake having different sized pupils, as Kaede currently has."

Sure enough, as Kaede looked at the both of us, her pupils were different sizes, and she seemed to look through us instead of at us.

"Whatever happened here, Kaede's concussed," Mukuro concluded. "I'll tend to her. Someone examine Sayaka. The rest of you know what to do by now."

I volunteered to look over the scene. Theo went to examine Sayaka. The rest started speaking with one another, or left the room, likely to search other rooms for clues.

My eyes first went to the damaged speaker. Examining it, it looked like something struck it from above. There was some blood on the speaker, too, and it was very close to Sayaka's body. I concluded that Sayaka must have struck the speaker, somehow.

I looked up, and saw a cord dangling directly above me, on a pulley, with some sort of attachment connected to it. I remembered seeing one of those in a play before; Peter Pan. It was usually attached to a harness, and then it was made to look like Peter Pan or Tinkerbell were flying through the air.

Remembering that Sayaka had some sort of harness on, I wondered if maybe she was connected to that harness, and perhaps fell, hit her head on the speaker, and died.

That raised another question, though: How did it happen? How did Sayaka get up there, and plummet down? Or did something else happen, perhaps?

My eyes moved to the stage. There was a built-in ladder to the top of the stage, likely for easy access to change light bulbs, fix wiring, and the like. There were a few platforms going across the top, as well. I decided to climb up there to investigate.

"Do be careful, good sir," Theo called out.

"I will," I replied as I climbed the metal rungs to the top.

As I made my way to the top, a thought crossed my mind. I had no idea how high I was, once I was up there. I didn't know if I'd have time to get my measuring tape from my room, or if we'd run out of time before I could measure it myself.

Who would be able to help me figure this out?

Maybe Mukuro. She was an Ultimate Soldier, so she might be experienced with sighting distances. However, she was tending to Kaede. I wasn't sure if...

"Hey! Why are you up there?" A female voice called. "Find something, searching for clues, looking to jump?"

It was Kenchikka. I didn't need...

Wait. Kenchikka was the Ultimate Architect. Maybe she could help me!

"Chikka!" I called down. "About how far do you think it is from this platform to the floor?"

Kenchikka looked at the platform, then the floor. Then the platform. Then back at the floor.

"Twenty feet. Give or take a foot," she replied. "Standard height for small stage, about 12 to 16 feet, but looks wrong here. I call it 20 feet."

So 20 feet, per Kenchikka's estimated guess. Sounded good as gold to me.

Mukuro, overhearing Kenchikka, walked over briefly to Kenchikka. She took a crouching stance, glancing directly up at me for several seconds before nodding.

"Reasonably accurate, around 20 feet," Mukuro flatly replied before returning to Kaede, who was being spoken to by either Chihiro or Chiaki. I could only see the top of their head from this angle.

Carefully, I walked the closest to the front, of the three platforms, and stood over where the broken speaker was. Kneeling down, I noticed a small, shiny spot, like something had rubbed there. It was where the harness would have descended from the stage if one were to land near the speaker.

So, Sayaka must have descended from this spot, but why?

And did she jump, or was she pushed? Was there some sort of accident? The tether that was supposed to be connected to the harness was still on its pulley, up at the top with me, but it should have been at the bottom, connected to Sayaka's harness.

I examined the tether, immediately noticing the rope was not cut, and no part of the metal was bent. However, it looked like part of the tether that dangled was missing, just above a button that was on the very end.

I glanced back down, and found it. There, attached to Sayaka's harness on the back, was a small part of the tether, attached to a metal clasp.

I glanced at the button on the end. It was wide, and had metal grips on it, presumably to hold part of the tether. Lettering on the top and bottom read "Emergency Release".

So, someone must have hit the Emergency Release, letting Sayaka go at some point. But was she already suspended? Was she standing where I was, and pushed? Or was it ever attached in the first place?

Finally, glancing around, I saw a damaged bass guitar on the ground. It looked completely bashed in, irreparable. Maybe that could have been a weapon?

But what of the speaker, then? Could it have been used another way, maybe dropped on Sayaka? Or even Kaede, to give her a concussion?

I looked at the speaker, and shook my head. No. From this height, dropping a speaker on Kaede would've likely killed her, not concussed her. I felt safe ruling that idea out.

Feeling like I knew everything I was going to know at this point, that I had all the puzzle pieces despite not knowing how they fit, I crawled back down the rungs.

"Bera! Now that you are on flat ground, may I have a word with you?"

It was Celeste.

"Ummm...sure. What do you want?" I was confused as to why Celeste was showing so much interest in me all in a sudden.

Celeste smiled. "Just your alibi. That will suffice for now."

I rehashed everything I had done this morning with Theo and Leon, then spending time in the Computer Room alone.

"Alone, you say?" Celeste smirked. "So you have no alibi for this time?"

I shook my head, and proceeded to go into detail on everything I found on the computer. The pictures of the empty dorm rooms, the MacroSoft programs, and the Games folder with the standardized games like Hearts, FreeCell, and Minesweeper.

"I see. How unfortunate that nobody was with you, however." Celeste seemed unimpressed. "So, what happened after you left the Computer Room, hmmmm?"

"Well, I met with Chihiro, who was depressed about being weak, so we went to the Exercise Room and worked out together."

Celeste was unable to stifle a giggle in front of me. She then quickly reasserted herself. "Pardon me, I do apologize. I must have misheard your words there, Bera. I thought you had declared that Chihiro and yourself went to lift weights together to get strong."

Celeste giggled again. "But that could not have been what you had said, right?"

Before I could respond, Monorakun's face appeared on the monitor inside the Jam Room.

"Alright, time's up! Everyone to the fountain in the Courtyard, to prepare their descent into the Courtroom. This Class Trial's about to begin!"

Without another word, we proceeded to the fountain, with Kaede's unsteady gait assisted by Mukuro.

I had a good feel for the location, but I didn't have time to speak to anybody. Not even Kaede, who may be the most important person in this Class Trial.

But with Kaede's concussion, her memory may be foggy, or she may have trouble answering our questions. Would she even remember anything at all? 

Or would our star witness be erased from the equation, potentially dooming our Trial before it starts?