Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney – Prologue (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney) ▶ ▶

Lights out, the stars rise high. The stakes, higher.
Locked in the open, two figures stand opposed to one another.
Six bullets being shot, where logic contradicts facts.


Trust
Distrust

Trust

This choice will have consequences.

Nine pm strikes. “Assholes… I was a fool to hope for some truth…”
One insanity, left alone for too long. “No turning back now.”
A single muddied truth, ready to be uncovered.

“I’m sorry…”

Distrust

This choice will have consequences.

Nine pm strikes. “… Unbelievable. Even now you still…!”
One insanity, left alone for too long. “No turning back now.”
A single muddied truth, ready to be uncovered.

“I’m… sorry…”





April 20th, 2006 – Tokyo

BOX 15 (DANGANRONPA: Trigger Happy Havoc) ▶ ▶

Kyoko Kirigiri rubs the edge of her nose. Most people would panic, or even puke at the state of the alleyway she is currently in, but she doesn’t even flinch. Still, it may be far from her first time in the presence of such a scene, but it’s not as though one can fully get used to it.

Especially the smell.

“Officer Yamano discovered the body two and a half hours ago, at nine pm o’clock. When he arrived, the victim, Chitsujo Sekai, was already lying in what we assume to be her blood.”

Officer Itonokogiri is a spiky dark brown-haired policeman with broad shoulders and a pencil resting on his ear, who looks to be in his early twenties. He gestures to the large blood pool on the ground at the corner of the l-shaped alleyway. Floating above the viscous liquid is a pattern of white strips, undoubtedly indicating the position of the body when it was found. Confirming her theory, the officer in charge of the scene hands her a photograph of the victim’s corpse from a top view which, according to its printed timestamp, was taken twenty minutes after it was initially found.

The victim lies flat on her stomach, most of her body hidden under a thick brown trench-coat, her black taupe hair tainted with her own blood. Intriguingly, both of her arms’ positions are opposed: her left arm is laid just next the rest of her body, while her right one points upwards. However, as the detective notices just after, her open palm makes it clear that -if anything- she was probably NOT pointing at something at the moment of her death.

In which case, what was she doing at the moment of her death?

The first possibility that comes to mind would be some sort of surrender, with her hand raised in the—

No. She would need both her hands for that.

Perhaps she was trying to get someone’s attention? By waving her hand in the air to—

Possible. Perhaps the person whose attention she tried to catch was her killer’s?

Or maybe she was telling someone to watch out? By having her palm open in front of her and—

Plausible given the context.

She shakes her head. She doesn’t have enough clues to go down further this line of logic.

Returning to the picture, Kyoko finds her eye drawn to the only part of the victim’s body with clear defining features which could reveal new hints: her head. It is rested on its side, leaving both her face and back of the head visible. Her eyes and mouth are both open, her state of shock obvious to even an untrained eye. Meanwhile, the bottom half of her hair closer to the ground is soaked in blood, only visible due to the blood pool having spread all around her upper body. Yet, the gruesome parts are not what attract her attention most. Rather, it’s the one and most important detail in the middle of the woman’s face: a clean bullet hole.

The photographic evidence seems pretty indicative of the cause of death, although…

“Has an autopsy already been performed?”

Kyoko’s sight does not leave the photograph while she asks the officer in charge of guarding the crime scene. The man doesn’t answer, and hands her over an official document within a brown-vanilla folder. Not wasting time, Kyoko opens it and scans the report for its conclusion, which couldn’t be any more clear:

> Blood loss caused by the shattering of a significant part of the skull’s structure. Death was nearly instantaneous.

Well, that settles it. It certainly explains the amount of blood.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Head Wound
The victim’s death wound is on her head. It’s a small hole, around 8 mm in diameter. Though a fair amount of blood have leaked from it, the wound itself is relatively clean.

A similar hole can be seen on the opposite side of her head.



Kyoko pockets the photographic evidence, taking note that the report mentions the time of her death being precisely nine pm, and lets her sight wander to the rest of the crime scene. The alleyway they find themselves in is fairly secluded; nobody from the main street would be able to see what’s happening inside. It’s good fortune that the officer Yamano found it, as it could have gone unnoticed for days otherwise.

Beyond the strips making up the corpse’s ex-silhouette, she finds the path to be closed. A sign with constructions warnings had been placed at the top of the end wall, indicating that this way has been temporally closed off due to the beginning of the works on a vacant lot on the other side.

Why would the victim even come here?

A possible answer is the door present one the right-side wall. No nameplate, although it certainly belongs to the agency next door. This would look like your classic fire safe backdoor mostly used to take out the trash bins, if it weren’t for the latter’s lack of presence.

Was today the trash collection day here?

Something to look into for sure, so Kyoko makes a note of it. Focussing back on the ground itself, it’s all too clear this place hasn’t been very well maintained over the past few years: dust and bits of trash everywhere, glass shards that come from a broken lamppost, and even some bits of rocks have fallen from the walls. Even without the stench of blood, this alleyway would no doubt be fairly uncomfortable for the average person to be in. Even Kyoko herself certainly wouldn’t risk it at night alone.

Speaking of the walls, their rock material seems to have been eroded over the years. They’re likely to be the source of the pebbles on the ground, but it also makes them quite uneven surfaces. It’s something of a rarity you don’t find often in the modern over-polished parts of the city, but it’s not that uncommon in seldom visited sections like this one. Though strangely enough, there’s no street art to be found on the walls like you’d expect.

Do delinquents NOT come here?

Well, it could easily be explained by the fact that there isn’t much space here anyway. The alleyway is about ten meters long and two wide, so even if it’s out of the main street’s view, you wouldn’t be able to do much here.

Kyoko shakes her head. She’s getting distracted from investigating the incident, so she decides to concentrate back on the elements that are directly related to it. First of which, the OTHER strips. While the corpse itself is at the corner of the alleyway, and thus closer to the road, six other strips can be seen on the other side. The first of which lies at about the middle of the larger straight, although it could be said to be leaning closer to the closed off section. Shaped like an l as well and about twenty centimeters long, it likely represents some firearm, most likely a pistol.

The murder weapon?

Further away, five unevenly sized round strips lie grouped together. Closest to her, two slightly thin vertically oval strips are parallel to one another, and just behind them, a larger strip of the same height, but wide enough to cover both prior strips. Finally, diagonally behind the larger strip, two small perfect circle strips round up the count to five.

I think that about covers what I can see from here.

Kyoko nods to herself. She gives a side look to the officer in charge, before putting on her newly minted lavender investigation gloves.

Alright. Let’s get this investigation started.

🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🔎 Investigate🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk🗣 Talk👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move👞 Move
🔎 Investigate

Door leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading insideDoor leading inside
Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓Corpse silhouette ✓
l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓l-shaped strip ✓
Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓Five smaller strips ✓
Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!Glass shards ✓NEW!
Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!Alleyway's walls ✓NEW!


BackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBack
🗣 Talk

KirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiriKirigiri
Victim’s Identity ✓NEW!Victim’s Identity ✓NEW!Victim’s Identity ✓NEW!Victim’s Identity ✓NEW!


BackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBack
👞 Move

Hm… I think there is still more to find here before going elsewhere.

🔎 Mandatory clues found: 0112122312232334122323342334344512232334233434452334344534454556/6
Police Station ✓NEW!


BackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBackBack
Door leading inside

Kyoko walks to the side door on the right side wall. From up close, it’s obvious that, much like the rest of this alleyway, no one took care of maintaining the door’s appearance, making its dark greenish color look faded by grays and rust. The knob, unlike the rest of the door, seems in surprisingly good condition. The marks on the floor left by the bottom of the door are well-defined, meaning it’s been used recently.

Kyoko opens her small kit to take fingerprints on the knob. The murderer would have at least tried to flee that way, so this could be valuable evidence. Unfortunately… there was no fingerprint to be found on there.

Not even a single one?

Kyoko frowns. This door HAS been used recently, yet there’s no fingerprint on the door? That doesn’t bode well. Regrettably, that also means she won’t be able to progress on that front before interrogating the people working there.

Still, not taking a loss here, Kyoko decides to open the door and—

“It’s locked.”

She should have expected that. At this time of night, no normal building would leave their entrances open.

… or the murderer simply locked after they came through.

If that were the case, not only would that have required them to have the keys, but also to have a reason to lock it, neither of which she can determine for now.

But it also begs the question as to WHY the suspect didn’t at least try to go through there. If he didn’t wear any glove, then he should have left fingerprints.

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

Corpse silhouette

Kyoko crouches near the pool of blood with white strips on it with caution. Although some blood on the edge has already dried, most of it is still fresh. With the corpse already removed, she didn’t expect to find much here. Evidently, she is proven wrong: a pair of thick black curved glasses lie in the pool, on a part that has already dried up.

Considering their position, they most likely belonged to the victim, which means she was likely wearing them at the time of her murder.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Bloody Glasses
A set of thick black round shaped glasses with dried blood on them.

EXAMINE


With great care not to touch the blood, Kyoko grabs the pair of glasses and seals them in a small plastic bag, which she puts in her bag with the rest of the evidence. But as she prepares to move on, something else catches her eye. A few shards of glass near the edge of the blood pool, be it within the still fresh or dry sections, are not covered entirely in blood.

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

l-shaped strip

Kyoko approaches the l-shaped white strip in the middle of the alleyway. She turns her head to Officer Itonokogiri who had been observing her investigation for a while now.

“I take it this was a gun?”

The officer nods, before answering her silent request for information on it. “Right you are, pal. An 8.16 mm silenced pistol, in fact. The cartridge had two empty slots.”

Kyoko puts a hand to her chin, adopting a narrowed thoughtful pose.

Two shots were fired then?

If that were the case, then where is the second bullet? Has it been fired before the crime? Or during the murder?

No, wait. That’s not the biggest takeaway there.

With Japan’s heavy control of firearms, smuggling a gun here is a very difficult operation. Even within the Yakuza, only the higher ranking members are equipped with one, as bladed weapons are easier to smuggle. Clearly, either this murder has been heavily premeditated, or this is an accident involving a high ranking Yakuza with piss poor control over his emotions.

Considering the pistol is silenced…

Kyoko doesn’t like where this is going. The more she looks at it, the more it looks like an assassination rather than an accidental death. Why would this be a problem? Because assassinations means planning, means a way to deal with the police and the justice system afterwards.

Not to mention, the primary suspect being “a young boy” makes everything even more complicated. What kind of setup would involve framing someone so young to take the fall? Do they think the justice system idiotic?

Or is the suspect connected to the Yakuza in some way?

Either way, there is clearly more to this murder that meets the eye.

I’ll need more information on Chitsujo Sekai.

Kyoko shakes her head. That can come later. For now, what she needs is more information on the gun itself.

“Have the forensics already performed their analysis? Is that why it’s been taken from the crime scene?”

Honestly? She’d have liked to see it herself. Half the reason she’d brought her detective toolkit with her was to analyze every single nook and cranny of the murder weapon.

“A team came by an hour ago.” The officer supplies professionally, although with a slight twitch of disgust at the memory. “They… retrieved the bullet from next the victim’s head and were able to confirm that the markings on it matched the gun’s.”

Hm. Kyoko nods silently. Unless this bullet was planted after the fact and the original one taken away, the gun at the scene found really IS the murder weapon.

Is it possible for the suspect to have done precisely that? Probably not, with the rest of the evidence still being just as damning for him. And if the suspect is innocent? That would mean swapping everything just in front of him. Bold and unlikely, especially if the murderer was in a hurry.

Kyoko dismisses the theory from her mind. If you had the time and capacity to plan something like that, might as well use a single gun and use the remaining resources to hide your tracks better.

“As for fingerprints, apparently, they had trouble finding clear finger oil marks.” Officer Itonokogiri averts his eyes. “They took the gun back to their lab for further investigation. So far, I haven’t heard anything on that front.”

Well, it’s only been one hour, AND it’s late. Kyoko notes. I suppose all we can do is wait for now. I’ll take a look at it tomorrow, once they’re finished with it.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Silenced Pistol
The murder weapon is an 8.16 mm silenced pistol. It was fired twice since its last reload. One of the bullets was found next to the victim’s head, likely the cause of the victim’s death. No clear fingerprint has been found yet.



More interestingly though…

“Is there something troubling you about this, officer?” She didn’t miss the way his worried look when he revealed that information. “I know it’s uncommon for forensics to take evidence from crime scenes, but in cases like that, it’s understanda—”

“Nah, pal. It’s just…” He looks away with narrowed eyes. “The suspect we arrested wasn’t wearing gloves.”

Huh?! Kyoko rubs her temple. “That… certainly complicates matters.”

She might have liked a good mental puzzle, but this threw a wrench in the most probable theory she had right now.

If the suspect were the murderer, that would mean he somehow managed to dispose of the gloves unseen, BUT didn’t try to escape the crime scene, AND managed to fool the officers into thinking he wasn’t coherent anymore.

If this was a setup, either it’s a downright terrible one because it would mean the suspect saw everything, or a terrifyingly perfect one if they managed to somehow completely change the crime scene just in front of him without him seeing anything.

And considering she just ruled out the possibility of this murder being an accident…

In any case, it seems as though I’ll have to put the interrogation of the subject at the top of my priority list after I’m done here.

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

Five smaller strips

Kyoko heads to the other end of the alleyway, where the five smaller round strips lie. She can make a good guess as to what they are meant to represent, but she prefers to ask before making any assumption.

“At the time Officer Yamano found the body, there was already another person across from it.”

They already have a suspect? While she certainly loved detective novels, in most cases, with this much evidence and a suspect on the crime scene to boot, it’s a wonder why they would even call for a Kirigiri in the first place.

“I was didn’t really want to arrest him at first, but…” He eyes fly over the crime scene, before he scratches the back of his head. “Between the evidence here, the timing of the arrest happening just after the murder, and the emotional state he displayed, it was hard to believe that it could have been anyone else BUT him.”

So, he was arrested on the crime scene, right after the reported time of death, in a dead end alleyway. Kyoko summarizes in her head. If the door of the agency was closed, our scene would look like a locked room. Albeit, it’s the first time I see one in open air.

The twelve floor at least thirty meter high both old and newly finished buildings on all sides of the alleyway don’t have windows on this side. She cannot really blame them, as the sights are not exactly enthusing, but that also means that the closest someone NOT in the alleyway could fire from is AT LEAST thirty meters away. Aiming with a pistol at that distance just sounds ludicrous. Any murderer with access to firearms would have brought a sniper for that.

Before she lets her thoughts wander in that direction, Kyoko chooses to interrogate the officer about the other two bits of information he’d revealed.

“You were reticent? Why was that?” She probes. “And you’ve mentioned the suspect’s emotional state, but could you be a little more specific on that front?”

A heavy sigh escape the officer’s mouth, looking to her like a man who regrets kicking a puppy.

“Because he’s young and scrawny, pal. Not a single blemish or cut on his face, not wearing expensive clothes… When we found him, he was seated on the ground, his face white as a sheet, and hardly responding to stimuli.” His eyes narrow. “He’s a bona fide civi kid if I ever saw one.”

Kyoko’s brow scrunches. If this kid is as normal as the officer makes it sound…

… Then how did a gun get involved in the first place?

Being in the Yakuza at this age means that you’re either old and tough enough to know how to fight, or rich enough to be either an heir or one of their cash cows. Yet, this kid apparently fit neither bills.

In any case, it seems as though I’ll have to put the interrogation of the subject at the top of my priority list after I’m done here.

“How young would you estimate him to be?”

“Um…” Officer Itonokogiri scratches his jaw. “I’d say about as old as you are? Maybe a little younger.”

“A middle school pupil?” In spite of her own hypocrisy on the matter, Kyoko’s disbelief is high enough that she admitted her theory aloud.

“Yeah, pal.” The officer nods. “See what I mean now? It’s pretty hard to believe a middle schooler could have perpetrated a murder. HQ told us that he already has a file in our database, but…”

“He does?” Well, perhaps the possibility of him being the murderer wasn’t quite as off-base as they—

“I don’t know for sure.” Officer Itonokogiri’s whole body tightens. “When I asked, I was told I don’t have the acreds to get it.”

Kyoko raises a brow. While it’s common for policemen to be unable to access certain people’s files, the most frequent reason is due to district difference, or department rivalry. Yet, she cannot shake the feeling this suspect fits neither of those possibilities.

I suppose I’ll just have to ask when I get the time.

With a bit of luck, the Kirigiri name will be enough to bypass normal administrative procedures.

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

Glass shards

Kyoko narrows her eyes at the few bits of what she previously believed to be trash scattered in the blood. Just above her, the spherical lamp of the lamppost lies half-shattered, leaving curved glass fragments on the ground. Unsurprisingly, the ones with the hollow side to the ground are, or have been completely submerged in blood. But, strangely enough, this isn’t the case for all the other types of shards, especially the bigger ones lying on their flat side. Well, “big”, they’re three centimeters square top, barely larger than some of her fingers.

She delicately takes one from the section which had already dried, and fetches from her bag one of the items she didn’t expect to be useful in this investigation: a loop. While one might think this is an outdated gadget with forensics being able to use microscopes to carefully examines nano-precise residues, loops are way easier to have on-site and like in this case, examine blood at certain volatile locations.

… I knew it.

Just as she’d suspected, while blood had tainted the flat side of this pretty large glass shard, the hollow side was left without taint. She repeats the experiment several times to ensure this wasn’t a fluke, but the results remain the same.

So, the pieces which fell onto their flat side didn’t get any blood on their hollow side. Yet, being so close to the head means that at least some splashes should have arrived from the top when the victim fell down. This means…


The blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glassThe blood went through the glass
The blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporatedThe blood on top evaporated
The glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the groundThe glass fell after the blood pooled on the ground



The blood went through the glassThe blood on top evaporated

Athena Cykes ~ Courtroom Revolutionary 2016 (Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice) ▶ ▶

The revelation hits her like a ton of bricks. Shivers run down her spine. Somehow, someway, she managed to revolutionize the field of physics during one of her murder investigation.

“Officer Itonokogiri, quick!” Her head whips to the officer in charge of the scene. “Call back the forensics, right now!”

“H-Huh?!” The poor officer looked completely lost. “But at this hour, they’ve already gone ho—”

In an instant, the twelve years old grabs the large male officer by the collar, manhandling him into cooperation. “I don’t care how you do it, they need to come RIGHT. NOW! The world NEEDS to know what I’ve found!”

Without waiting for his answer, she drops him unceremoniously on the ground, turning back to the marvel she’d just discovered.

“Oww…” The poor man rubs his the back of his head, taking his phone out with a long sigh. “I thought being upgraded from part-time mover would mean I’d get yelled at less… I can’t wait to return to juridical. At least Mitsurugi won’t treat me like that…”

Three days later…

“And this is the reason why, the jury has decided to unanimously award the Nobel Price of Physics to one Kirigiri Kyoko.” The well-dressed announcer declares to the before the entire world’s television channels how the twelve years old managed to prove generations of physicians wrong by putting forward irrefutable evidence of a new property of glass when interacting with body fluids.

The scientific community is abuzz with excitement. Just where did literally everyone go wrong? Just how many theorems would need to be adjusted, if not outright reinvented for this to even BE possible? This discovery lit let a fire under everyone’s ass, as Kyoko became the face of the Girls for Science all over the world, changing its fate forever.

BOX 15 (DANGANRONPA: Trigger Happy Havoc) ▶ ▶

Everyone ignored the guilty verdict that came at the resulting trial where this evidence was discovered.

ENDING – [F]undamental Revolution, [F]atal Mistake

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

The glass fell after the blood pooled on the ground

“This is the only conclusion one can draw from this.” Kyoko whispers, slowly pocketing her loop back into her bag, and putting back the shard where she found it. Admittedly, it’s not a foolproof theory: some shards might have gotten stuck in the lamppost’s structure before falling down, or others were too far to be attainable with such a small death wound. But with the sample she’d chosen, the possibility of it being coincidence is minimal. She takes a picture of the glass shards in the pool, making sure the ones that aren’t soaked in blood are present and very visible on the picture, before picking one up and sealing it in a plastic bag meant for evidence.

But if that’s the case… just when was this lamp broken?

It had to have been broken tonight, after the murder was committed, or at the very least, during the murder. But since the police would have prevented destruction on public property, it would have had to happen before they arrived on the scene.

Which means it happened in the supposedly short time span where the suspect would have been alone here.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Broken Lamppost
The lamppost just next to the victim’s body is broken. Several pieces of glass coming from it have been found within the blood pool. Based on the fact that some curved fragments that were lying on their flat side didn’t get their hollow side filled with any blood, we can deduce the lamppost was broken between the moment of death and when the police arrived on the scene.



ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

Alleyway's walls

With the knowledge that the pistol had fired two shots, Kyoko begins her inspection over the surfaces of the walls. Unfortunately, in spite of the size of the alleyway being fairly small, finding a bullet in such a poorly maintained area is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. When she comes to that conclusion, she realizes that time must have been going faster than expected as the moon had already risen high in the sky. She might not be able to see any star due to the light pollution of Tokyo, but at least it provided better light than her simple flashlight—

Something catches her eye at the periphery of her vision. Embedded in the wall behind the suspectthe five small strips just under the sign, a small object shines with the moonlight. Curiosity and hope guides her to it. While her already cynical rational side tells her to expect a small glass fragment, or perhaps a small metallic can, what she finds is infinitely more interesting: precisely what she was looking for.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Second Bullet
Another bullet is embedded on the wall behind the suspectthe five small strips just under the construction sign. It’s roughly 8 mm in diameter, though it might have been deformed by the collision. The bullet is clean of any blood.



Kyoko immediately takes a picture of the bullet with the wall and its position, as well as a new picture of the scene with the bullet indicated. Like the glasses, sheShe seals them in a small plastic bag, before placing them next to the rest of the evidence in her bag. She doesn’t know how this new piece of evidence fits yet, but it’s obvious to her that it will be essential to the resolution of this case.

Did the suspect and the victim switch place during the exchange?

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

Kirigiri

With all the evidence she’d gathered, Kyoko makes a mental list of every single clue she’d already gotten and their precise location to form a proper theory in her—

“Still, when the precinct told us we’d be getting a Kirigiri, I didn’t expect to be sent someone so young. Uhh… no offense, but are you sure you should be here pal?”

Kyoko doesn’t let her eye twitch either at the fact that her mental process had just been interrupted by a meddling third party, or that said third party’s statement is both willfully misinformed and blatantly rude. Kyoko doesn’t let her eye twitch. Because, unfortunately, this treatment is already far too common. Despite being recognized for her talent as a detective in numerous cases already, most other members of the force continue to judge her based not only on her gender, but her age. Granted, she may fifteen years younger than most junior detectives, but they should know better by now!

“I am more than qualified to conduct this investigation, officer. Please return to your duties.” You asked for a Kirigiri, and you WILL get one.

Her grandfather had told her to take the case, assuming it to be ‘on the level necessary to consolidate your reputation’. Well, it does seem rather open and shut, though there are still some very muddy zones regarding the circumstances. Thus, she would withhold her conclusion until she gets more information.Well, it does seem rather open and shut, though she would withhold her conclusion until she gets more information. She’ll have to question the suspect later on, but for now, she needs to continue investigating the crime scene.Right now, she needs to continue investigatinginvestigate the crime scene.

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue

Victim’s Identity

Reviewing all the information she’d gotten, she finds something that bothers her. The only suspect they found was catatonic, the victim didn’t bear anything that could identify her, yet Officer Itonokogiri was absolutely confident about her name.

There’s something I’m missing…

“Officer, how did you identify the victim?”

The question visibly jolted him, before rosy embarrassment took over his cheeks. “Oh, shoot… I knew I forgot something. Here.” He pulls a small card from his jacket. “The victim had a small bag with her when she was murdered. We found her ID there.”

Kyoko constrains her balking at the fact the officer IN CHARGE OF THE CRIME SCENE forgot to tell her, THE LEAD DETECTIVE, about something as important as an ID CARD AT THE SCENE. She lets all of her anger and disdain out in a single look flatter than a pancake crushed by a block of concrete.

Still, evidence is evidence, even if it came in late.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Identity card
This is the identity card of the victim, Sekai Chitsujo. It contains some information about the victim, like her date of birth, address, job, past residences…

A photo lies on it: a middle-aged woman with short taupe-black hair, piercing dark eyes, and a pair of rectangular glasses on her nose. Her facial expression is severe.

It was delivered on August 6th, 2005 by the prefecture of Iwate.

EXAMINE


After thoroughly analyzing it, Kyoko pockets the piece of evidence, and returns her scathing look upon the officer.

“You wouldn’t have happened to… ‘forget’ anything else, right officer?”

“Um…” His fear of the twelve years old makes it all too clear that his brain is working in overdrive to find if he’s forgotten anything else. “I-I don’t think so. We’ve searched through the bag, but we didn’t find anything else besides middle school textbooks. We brought it to HQ if you want to see it.”

Kyoko keeps her narrow eyesight for about a minute before finally relenting. She turns back to the crime scene thinking:

Now, what was I doing again?

ContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue


Police Station

Before she forgets, she makes a quick sketch of the scene as she found it on her notebook. It would definitely be useful during the trial.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Crime Scene Sketch
A hand-drawn isometric sketch of the crime scene drawn with crude lines by Kyoko Kirigiri. The shape of the alleyway's bottom seem to match a horizontally mirrored L with the alleyway exiting orthogonally to the smaller line.

Near the L's corner, a silhouette of a corpse lying in a pool of blood is drawn under a lamppost, with shattered glass and glasses near its head. In front of it, at the end of the larger line of the L, five circular lines are drawn representing the hands, feet, and bottom of the suspect when sat down. Next to those, on the wall, a rectangular door is drawn. And behind the suspect, a sign is detailed on the wall, with a cross drawn just under it.

EXAMINE


It would help the judge, and both the prosecution and the defense to be on the same page when talking about the sequence of events. Satisfied with the results of the investigation, Kyoko turns away from the crime scene, intent on heading back to the police station to go interrogate the suspect.

But the moment she leaves the small alleyway and enters the main street, something else catches her eye. It might have been a trick of light -especially considering the number of those present in this street-, but its location is too peculiar to be ignored.

In a bin just outside the alleyway, remains of fabric have been burnt into the trash can. Her eyes widen when she realizes that she can still feel the heat now, as she plunges her head deep into the public bin, in hope of seeing whatever it was that had been burned. The smell is awful, but not any worse than the prior blood.

After a minute of battling with the trash can, Kyoko pulls the fabrics remains out of the bin, confirming her suspicions.


TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Burnt Gloves
Found in a trash can near the crime scene, this pair of gloves has been burnt to the crisp. They’re still warm, meaning their they have been burned recently. They most likely belonged to the murderer.



She groans as she realizes that not only there would be no way to get any fingerprints from them, burnt as they are, but also that it’s unlikely that they’ll find any on the gun either. She takes a picture of the gloves, in fear of their deteriorating of the frail remains, before sealing and picketing the evidence.

“I will be leaving now, Officer.” She says, only glancing at Itonokogiri when he nods at her in acknowledgment.


Furio Tigre ~ Swinging Tiger (Ace Attorney ~ Special Courtroom 2008 Orchestra Concert) ▶ ▶

Upon arrival at the local station the suspect had been brought to, Kyoko finds herself nearly swept into the chaotic tornado of officers and detectives running around the reception room.

“TOO SLOPPY, NUMBER EIGHT! THREE MORE LAPS!”

“Y...yes s-sir!”

“NUMBER THIRTEEN! WHERE ARE THOSE GOD DAMNED IS-7 FILES?! IT’S BEEN MORE THAN HALF AN HOUR!”

“I-I can’t find them sir! I think they’ve been transferred to another department!”

“THEN GO AND FIND THEM! I WANT THEM IN TEN MINUTES!”

“S-Sir! That department on the other end of the district!”

“THEN GET GOING RIGHT NOW! BACK IN ANTIQUITY, THEY RAN DOZENS OF KILOMETERS IN SANDALS TO TRANSMIT MESSAGES, AND YOU DON’T HEAR THEM COMPLAINING!”

“… that’s because they died on arrival…”

A tall, big and bald officer in green uniform grabs the lanky officer by the collar, before shouting in his face.

“WHAT WAS THAT PRIVATE?!”

“N-Nothing, sir!”

“GOOD!” He drops the poor man unceremoniously on the ground, before storming off to a room in the back. “I’LL BE BACK IN FIVE MINUTES! NUMBER THREE, FIVE, AND EIGHT, I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU SLACKING OFF YOUR LAPS!”

“““Y-Yes, sir!”””

…

After the metaphorical sandstorm has passed, the few officers who had been holding their breath until now finally release it.

“Sheesh, I knew he used to be in the army, but I didn’t expect it to be that bad.”

“Apparently, he comes from overseas, and got demoted from lieutenant to drill sergeant before being shoved onto us.”

“Ouch. How much did he fuck up for that?”

“No clue. But why is it we always get the worst ones? Between him and the budget cuts, I don’t know how we’re gonna live to see the end of the week.”

“Maybe we should do like Shujin and resign…”

Kyoko finally catches herself from her stupor at the scene and looks to the downed detective, crouching next to him.

“Oww…” He complains, rubbing the back of his head which had hit the ground pretty hard.

“Excuse me, sir. Are you alright?” She crouches next to the man.

_{“… No. No I’m not.”} He coughs in his beard. “A-Anyway, miss. I’m afraid I’m a bit busy right now, so I don’t have time to take your complaint.”

She clicks her tongue in annoyance, before showing her temporary detective badge. “Detective Kyoko Kirigiri. I’m here to talk to the suspect on tonight’s murder case. Do you know where the holding cells are?”

His eyes widen in recognition from the badge. But a second later, a shudder runs through his entire spine. “Um… well…” He side eyes the room where the tiger just ran off to. _{“He wouldn’t dare do anything to someone that young… right?”}

“I see.” Kyoko stands up, shaking off the dust from her knees. Looks like I’ll have to take the bull by the horns.



“… AND FURTHERMORE! SLACKING ON DUTY?! AND TRYING TO GET AWAY WITH IT SO SLOPPILY?!”

Upon entering the next room, the dozen holding cells were all lined up. Now one would think the current station commandant was interrogating one of the suspects. Unfortunately, the person on the other end of the chewing whom she could see only from the back turns out to be yet another officer. Dark brown hair, tall and fit, he looks about as dejected as one would expect someone in his position to be. Even the few prisoners here are either sending him pitying or fearful stares.

“Yes, sir…” His head is hanging so low she cannot see his face, bowing to the commanding officer. It’s not hard to imagine why. If that commander’s focus was on him exclusively for the past minutes, his attitude might be a form of self-protection.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU, NUMBER SIXTEEN!” The commander mercilessly shouts directly at his face.

Kyoko can see his startle, and the sheer emptiness in his eyes when he finally raises his head.

“Y-YES, SIR!”

Honestly? She feels some pity for the poor guy. Left alone defenseless for a few minutes with this person as an officer sounds like a recipe for disaster. If this guy’s apathy has already reached this stage, then this is no doubt that this isn’t his first rodeo—

“But… my name is Yamano Hoshio! Not ‘Number sixteen’!”

Nevermind. Here’s a surprise.

The burning hot fire of anger in his eyes that comes from far too deep reflected the sheer guts needed to contradict such a massive superior.

“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT YOUR NAME IS, NUMBER SIXTEEN!” The lieutenant screeches at his face. “HERDING AN ENTIRE BIKER GANG DUKING IT OUT ON AN ICE RINK?! IF YOU’RE GOING TO CHEAT, AT LEAST TRY TO MAKE IT BELIEVABLE!”

Surprisingly, Yamano does not back down. Kyoko’s keen observation senses allow her to see the sheer grit in the officer’s teeth at his superior’s lashing. It’s clear he’s barely able holding himself back. “B-But they really were—!”

“SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, YOU PIPSQUEAK!” The man had reached beyond the table to grab the officer with his two hands by the collar “SLACKING OFF WASN’T ENOUGH FOR YOU, WAS IT?! YOU JUST HAD TO GO OFF AND—!”

“Ahem.” Kyoko coughs in her mouth to make her presence known.

Both men stop their argument to look at her in bewilderment. They exchange a single glance before—

“WHAT IN THE DEVIL IS NUMBER TEN DOING?!” The tiger roars at the door. “WHY IN THE FUCK DID HE AUTHORIZE A CIVILIAN TO ENTER HERE?!”

“… I think he turned his badge in last week.” Yamano supplies apathetically, still in the commandant’s hold.

Said commandant's inhales strongly, his face turning an unhealthy shade of red. His hands tremble in fury…

“THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING STANDING HERE?! GO DO HIS JOB, ASSWIPE!”

… and explodes so powerfully that even the ground shakes in fear. The officer -whose ears somehow didn’t get blown off- doesn’t answer him before scurrying off, sending her an apologetic look with empty eyes as a send-off.

Now that the two of them were alone, well as alone as being in a prison can be, the clearly too big to be man commander sets his sight on her.

“NOW, YOU—!”

“Private Detective Kirigiri Kyoko. I’m here to see the suspect in the murder case that happened tonight.” It takes all of her willpower and acting to maintain her poker face without flinching at the man’s tone. The rewards were plenty: the way the man’s face turned to green, before paling so much he makes her makeup appear healthy and the moon jealous.

Perks of the last name.

In the force, the name Kirigiri is as revered as it is feared. Between their reputation for solving many extremely complicated and high profile cases and her grandfather’s connections higher up in the force, there isn’t a single policeman in this country who would dare stand in her way. They bow in the same way a low ranking member of a Yakuza family would to the patriarch.

“R-Right this way, miss. I will ready the suspect for you.” He answers through gritted teeth, before stiffly walking to one of the cells before the slack jawed looks the rest of the prisoners alternated between him and her.


CHASE (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 2023) ▶ ▶

“What’s taking so long?” Kyoko tsks. It’s been a solid ten minutes since she had arrived at the interrogation room, and there’s still no sign of the suspect to be seen. Conversely, the time she was given was more than enough to begin inspecting the suspect’s belongings. Trademark gloves at the ready, Kyoko investigated every single nook and cranny she could. She had started with the suspect’s student notebook, which gave her plenty of fairly basic information about him.

Name: Naegi Makoto
Age: 12 Birth date: February 5th, 1994
Likes: Animals, making friends
Dislikes: Anything with too much random

Kyoko frowns, as these tidbits of information don’t exactly paint him as the kind of person to commit manslaughter. She opens his flip phone, only to be met with a lock screen. The crash course her grandfather gave her on them told her to try the most common passwords: 0000, 1111, 1234… No such luck. Kyoko creases her brow to increase her typing speed. Fortunately, the poor phone’s digicode was no match for her incredible hacking skills, and within a single minute, she cracked the phone’s password:

0001

She wipes the sweat off her forehead from the effort, and finally explores the secrets the phone holds. As she scrolls through his contact list, she takes note of every person he’s ever been in contact with and their phone numbers, to potentially call them later down the line. Is it a violation of his privacy? Sure, but he’s a murder suspect. Legal though…? Well, as long as no one finds out… Kyoko shakes her head, glad to be able to fall back on her grandfather’s lessons. As expected, most names didn’t exactly much to her, except one: Kuzuryu.

Chained Past (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 2023) ▶ ▶

This ‘Naegi Makoto’ has ties to the Yakuza.

She lets her eyes narrow. If this ends up as yet another of these Yakuza assassinations, she would be heavily disappointed. The case would be swept under the rug like every other one she’d investigated. Yet as the hypothesis enters her mind, she cannot help but connect the dots, and see just how glaringly obvious this scenario looks to be with the evidence at hand.

Perhaps too obvious.

Either way, he is no normal middle school student, that’s for sure. With this kind of connection, it’s not hard to see how he could have perpetrated such a murder. Yet something tickles at her mind. Or rather, weighs in her hand.

What in the world is… that?

No music

She grabs the heavy object out of the bag, and nearly gasps in surprise.

A… pocket-watch?!

Investigation ~ Middlegame (Ace Attorney Investigations 2) ▶ ▶

TRUTH BULLET OBTAINED!
Pocketwatch
A four centimeter square sized cylinder shaped gaudy-looking pocket-watch that weighs a ton. Belongs to Makoto Naegi.

Has a strange pattern up front and an even weirder dent on the upper left side.

EXAMINE


Now that’s not something you see every day. Of course, for detectives, pocket-watches are part of the attire and lore, but the average person today use either a normal watch or their phone to get the time. Pocket-watches are a stereotypical luxury only available to the upper echelons of society. However, nothing of what she learned on the suspect made her, well, suspect, that he would be the kind of person to have one.

“… Looks like I’ll have to do research on this ‘Kingdom of Novoselic’.”

Kyoko rummages through the rest of the suspect’s belongings that had been left with her. A small note at the bottom indicated that a part of Naegi’s clothing had been taken away as well, though no indication was given as to the reason—

The door of the soundproofed interrogation room opens.

Accompanied by a tall policewoman, a young boy is being shown into the room. Kyoko concentrates to take in every feature and twitch he might be making in the span of the few seconds before he eventually notices her.

Questioning ~ Moderato 2004 (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations) ▶ ▶

Brown hair, hazel green eyes, a short-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans constitute his attire. If it weren’t for that strand of spiky hair on top of his head, even she’d have difficulty picking him up in a crowd with how unremarkably plain he looks. Kyoko frowns at that: being considered unremarkable is one of the best traits an assassin could consider having. Yet as the thought enters her mind, his sloppy gait would probably give him away or make him trip before he could even attempt to escape a crime scene.

A single look at his legs tells her everything she could ever wish to know about his ability in sports or martial arts: absolutely zero. Even for a twelve years old, he’s clearly on the short and scrawny side compared to his pears. She would have no problem taking him down if this interrogation turned violent. Granted, she’s already taken out full-grown adults, but this is extra insurance he wouldn’t be able to do anything. A thought occurs to her while she checks out his arms muscles, or rather, his lack of.

He’d probably have a hard time handling the recoil of a gun.

Now focussing on his facial expression, Kyoko notices something peculiar: his lower lip is trembling, and his face is an unhealthy shade of pale, one that could rival the one created through her makeup.

Fear? Cold? Tiredness? Ecstaticness?

So far, it would be impossible to guess which one is currently afflicting him. To solve that, she chooses to take a proper look at his eyes. A few rings expend below his eyelids, while the irises of his eyes themselves are somewhat dilated and even; some might even call them empty. This expression is short-lived however, because he finally notices her, and his eyes snap to her in alarm, fear and surprise, forcing Kyoko to end her preliminary analysis.

Despite the suspect being a middle school student, she knows extremely well that nobody should make assumptions solely based on such a fact. He could be a hardened knife fighter, an experienced thief, or a professional assassin, especially with his ties to the Yakuza. If he managed to kill a grown adult, he had to be tall, smart, strong and morally bankrupt.

Yet, with what she sees right now, Kyoko can only draw one conclusion:

Makoto Naegi must have been taken in the act.

Because there is no way the police would arrest somebody so cute
innocent-looking otherwise.

“He’s all yours, detective.” The policewoman bows out of the room.

The next few moments are tense, with neither occupants saying anything. This part is crucial to Kyoko because, as her grandfather taught her, it gives her good insight on the suspect’s personality, including their reaction when faced by authority.

“U-Uhm…” The boy shuffles on his feet, breaking eye contact awkwardly.

Shy, or at least acting as such. Uncomfortable when nobody’s speaking, not one much for confrontation, open about his emotions. Seems to be easily intimidated too.

Ninety percent of communication is non-verbal. That’s how she managed to figure so much information out of a single word from the suspect. Of course, the suspect might be acting, but his behavior so far is nothing if not consistent. Were he an actor, he’d be a damn good one.

“Please, take a seat.” She motions for the chair across from her, making sure her face stays impassive. One look at Naegi face when he slowly pulls out the chair to seat on it tells her of both his nervousness and resignation. “My name is Kirigiri Kyoko.” Feeling a bit of pity for the boy, she throws him a bone in hopes to make him less nervous by introducing herself. “I’m the detective in charge of investigating the case.”

“U-Uhm… Okay.” He answers shakily. Kyoko finds her expectations overturned positively when she didn’t hear him making a comment about her age. “My name is Naegi Makoto. I’m a pupil at Black Root Middle School. I-It’s, um, nice to meet you.” He had tried to bow on that last sentence, but found the table to be a little high for him to be able to do so. “Um, by case, you mean…?” He trails off meaningfully.

“Yes.” Kyoko eyes do not leave Naegi’s form, ready to perceive every single bit of reaction his body will have to her next words. “The murder of Chitsujo Sekai.”

Ambivalence (Judgment) ▶ ▶

Said reaction is instantaneous. His posture straightens up, his eyes widen in alarm, while all the muscles on his face, arms, legs and torso become rigid. His lower lip’s trembling goes into overdrive for half a second before he hugs himself, his small form shrinking on himself. Following that, a few murmurs echo in the room.

“… s-so it wasn’t just a n-nightmare…” He hugs his knees, burying his face in them. His eyes aren’t even directed at her, but the horror and tiredness in them is obvious. “… Chitsujo-sensei really… did… die…”

Kyoko raises a brow for a second time. The officer had told her Naegi had been in a state of shock when he was taken in, but she didn’t expect it to be this bad. But intriguingly enough, it would seems that what shocked him was that she died, rather than that she was murdered. It means that he already knew this case wasn’t a suicide or an accident, yet is shocked by the fact she actually died.

“Yes.” She adds, slightly empathetically, before reminding him of his position. “And right now, you are our prime suspect.”

His head shoots up like a deer taken in the headlight.

Or a convict whose lie just got exposed in court.

“I-I-I am?!” That he needs to ask shows that he either didn’t expect to be caught -which would be strange, considering he was literally found at the crime scene-, or that he wasn’t aware he could have been considered a suspect. By the minute, this case gets more and more complicated.

“Of course…” He continues dejectedly with a hand to his mouth, not looking at her. “… I-I was the only one with her… wasn’t I?”

Kyoko’s eyes widen. That’s a terrifyingly big slip, and one that could be used to sentence him right here and then. But that he didn’t seem to realize the implication of his statement pulls her intuition the other way.

And yet, the one who murdered her must have been in this alleyway.

Recalling her prior thoughts on the buildings surrounding the location, it would have been illogical, if not impossible, for Chitsujo to have been murdered from either there or above them. And now, Naegi claims there was no one with him and the victim there…

It would seem there is a lot I still don’t know about this murder.

At the very least, the person in front of her seems cooperative. She should take what he says with a grain of salt, but if there’s a single individual who would know what went down there, it would be him.

Points and Lines (Trails from Zero) ▶ ▶

You and the victim ✓You and the victim ✓
Events of the day ✓NEW!
The murderThe murderThe murderThe murder


You and the victim

Alright, let’s go step by step.

Kyoko folds her arms, observing inquisitively at the young boy in front of her.

“What’s your relation with the victim? Did you know her?”

She already had a bit of information about the both of them, but its quantity was woefully insufficient. However, the little she already knows would be enough to catch him were he to lie to her.

Naegi doesn’t move from his prior position of hugging his knees and not looking at her, but his body shifts slightly on his chair. Be it a nervous tick, a way for him to recollect, or simply to get in a somewhat more comfortable position, Kyoko isn’t sure.

“Chitsujo-sensei… she’s—… was my teacher at school.”

Kyoko takes note this is the second time Naegi refers to her by that honorific. So, the victim was still a teacher before her death, hm? She takes a bit of time to observe his expression at his recollection about her. His shoulders had stopped trembling, and instead slumped downwards, pulled together in a way that makes him appear even smaller than he already was. Conversely, the fear and terror are replaced by something different: more tranquil, but no less powerful. It’s only when she looks at his eyes that she figures it out.


RegretRegretRegretRegret
GleefulnessGleefulnessGleefulnessGleefulness


Gleefulness

Distrust (DANGANRONPA: Trigger Happy Havoc) ▶ ▶

“I knew it.” Kyoko nods to herself, an angered frown on her face. “To think I was almost taken in by his act.”

“H-Huh—?!”

“You had the gall of murdering your teacher.” Kyoko stands up, handcuffs at the ready. She applies it without a second thought on the now obvious culprit. “And not only are you proud of it, you tried to lie your way out?”

“B-But I didn’t—!”

“Silence.” She forces him down on the chair. The policewoman who brought him in and who was watching the interrogation had rushed through the door to take him back to his cell. The trial would start in a few days, but the verdict is all but inevitable with the evidence on hand.

Another job well done.

Kyoko rearranges her gloves, satisfied with the outcome, though she is disappointed in herself by that she was almost fooled by the mask of this murderer.



His lawyer tried everything, but in the end, it was next to useless. With so much evidence against him, Naegi Makoto is found guilty on the charge of the murder of Chitsujo Sekai, beyond a shadow of doubt. For most children his age, the weight of such an act would fall onto his parent’s shoulders, but an exception is made since it was proven to be an isolated act of desperation on Naegi’s side.

He’s sentenced to twenty years of prison.

Of course, several undoubtedly criminal organizations that Naegi has connections to, have tried to get him out both through legal and less than legal means, but it only meant Naegi got transferred to a high security prison, where he wouldn’t see the light of day for a while.

Yet at the end of this trial, a thought occurs to Kyoko. Even discounting how fast the trial went, and how the whole case was closed almost too neatly at the end…

Why do I have the sinking feeling I messed up?

Five years later…

The sky had turned red. Humanity went mad. The school she went to in order to find her father’s whereabouts was the origin and is still the cornerstone of the apocalypse. Amidst all the carnage, another feeling occurs to Kyoko. She doesn’t know why or how a meaningless trial from five years ago comes to mind in the face of such a Tragedy, but…

Points and Lines (Trails from Zero) ▶ ▶

Yes. Definitely messed up.

ContinueContinueContinueContinue

Regret

Kyoko takes a bit of pity on the poor boy. It’s not the first time she sees so many conflictual negative feelings in a suspect’s reactions, but most of them had been caused by recalling trauma incidents that would never leave them as long as they live.

Maybe I should change my approach.

Her technique was meant to catch every bit of information she could extract out of hardened criminals trained against interrogations. However, with someone in such a fragile state of mind, continuing this way would only be detrimental to her investigation and limit the amount of information this boy could give her.

Nothing to do with the tight squeeze in her heart when she sees his broken face.

Thus, she rationally takes a more comforting tone of voice and a sympathizing look when asking her next question.

“Could you tell me about her?”

For the first time since the interrogation began, Naegi looks at her in the eyes, his very visible surprise likely a consequence of her sudden change in tactic. When her question finally sinks in, Naegi stares at the ceiling, a single finger on his chin. But the expression on his face is strange: his brows are both unfurrowed, while his frown turned one-sided. If she didn’t know any better, Kyoko’d say he looks confused.

“Um…” Naegi visibly tries to find the right words to qualify his ex-teacher he’s accused of assassinating. “She started at our school this year, teaching both English and Japanese. Even though she was our class’ head teacher, I… didn’t know her that well.” His frown deepens. “She was a bit harsh, but always fair. Her classes though… They were hard.”

His gaze flickers to the wall.

“Or maybe I was just bad at both English and Japanese.”

Kyoko looks up from her notes at the statement. While she couldn’t comment on his English, thus far, his Japanese is perfectly fine and within the norm of what she’d expect someone their his age to have. Of course, having been homeschooled by her grandfather, perhaps the expectations public schools had for their kids were different.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Chitsujo-sensei expected a lot from us, so she made her classes very tough. At the beginning of the year, everyone -even the smarter pupils- were struggling.”

That hard? In middle school?

She might not be the most well versed regarding the education system in Japan -and this would be the perfect opportunity to do some research about it-, but she knew that the classes in which all students are struggling are not supposed to come in middle school. College, prep classes, and maybe high school, but middle school?

Intriguing. Could the murderer’s motive be linked to that harshness?

It’s certainly an interesting tidbit of information that will be interesting to cross-reference when she eventually checks out the school in question.

“Oh, but she was really trying to help us though!” Naegi, realizing how he must have sounded rose his hands to catch her attention. “She offered everyone who was struggling extra lessons after school to help us catch on to the level she expected us to arrive to. So everyone eventually became good…” He retracts back on himself, averting his gaze once more. “… until I was the only one having bad marks in her classes.”

So she didn’t hand over bad marks out of some form of sadism…

It seems strange that out of an entire student population, Naegi would be the only one to struggle. He seems cooperative, and listens to others pretty well. Of course, he’s very visibly no top student, but he doesn’t exactly give her bottom-of-the-class feels.

“Did these additional lessons not work out for you?”

Maybe this isn’t the most pertinent information she could ask for regarding the murder, but the bits and pieces she’d gotten in this line of questioning are slowly lifting the fog on what kind of persons both the victim and her suspect were.

“Well…” Naegi rubs the back of his somewhat sheepishly with a strained smile. “I… didn’t exactly attend most of them.”

Kyoko’s brow furrow. Did he skip classes on fields where he was struggling?!

Maybe she’d read him wrong. Perhaps he really was a delinquent, just one that’s—

“B-B-But I really wanted to!” Naegi protests without prompting. “It’s just that every time she scheduled one, something comes up last minute.”

Let’s Solve The Mystery (Judgment) ▶ ▶

She levels him a doubtful flat stare. “ ‘Something came up’, huh.”

Naegi scratches his jaw, no doubt acutely aware of how his very apparent excuse sounds. “Y-Yeah. Like, every time, I swear!” He pouts. “Cats tripping me up while I’m eating ice cream, fire hydrant breaking down on me, cars running me over, getting in the middle of a mafia crossfire…”

Every even he mentioned got more and more ridiculous as time went on. Credit where credit is due though, he’s good at making stories up on the fly, meaning she ought to be even MORE careful about believing any word he—

“A-And I have proof!” Visibly, Kyoko’s poker-face wasn’t good enough for her doubt to NOT be apparent. “My sister sometimes took pictures of me while those happened, just look my phone’s photos! Oh, uh, maybe you’ll need the code—”

He hasn’t finished talking that she’s already rummaging though his flip phone’s photos. Surely enough, besides the family and friends picture, some strange photos were present there.

Naegi drenched in the sunlight next to a melted red iron structure.
Naegi perched on a tree crying for help next to a small orange and white cat.
Naegi covered in dirt with a plant pot on his head.
Naegi panicking while suspended on a lamppost by his hoodie’s hood.
Naegi faceplanted on the ground after tripping on his shoelace.
Naegi furiously chasing down a dog running down the street with a bag.

… and the list went on.

If one were to look at Kyoko right now, one would think she’s the picture-perfect example of stoic-ness. But internally, she’s terrified:

Either this twelve year old kid found a way to create photorealistic evidence from the ground up to the point where were the situation any less ridiculous, she’d believe in their veracity without a second thought…

… or these pictures are not edited.

And you know what’s even more scary?

Her brain is leaning more toward the second option. After all... Who would bother creating fake photos for such a ridiculous story? Kyoko rubs her temple to sooth the headache steadily growing in her head. Any other person would question their sanity, whether the universe’s is making a joke on them, or that they might be still asleep. But not Kyoko.

They say truth is often stranger than fiction…

“You know, it’s not like today was any different.” He remarks. “It’s only pure luck I managed to attend my first session.”

F-First session?! Before, he said he didn’t attend most of them. Kyoko didn’t expect that meant he didn’t attend any. She shakes her head at the ridiculous thought that these… strange occurrences happened on a weekly basis. She has to focus: for some reason, this time he managed to attend it, and his teacher was murdered during it.

Points and Lines (Trails from Zero) ▶ ▶

Looks like I’ll have to backtrack a little to understand what exactly happened.

ContinueContinueContinueContinue

Events of the day

“Could you tell me more about the circumstances that led you to be able to attend this ‘after school lesson’?”

From what he had told her, discounting the fact he is as mortal as he is lucky, it’s a miracle he was even able to attend a single lesson. Having expected her question, Naegi adopts a thoughtful pose, the same as he did when speaking about his teacher, expect for the wide happy smile on his face.

“Well, Chitsujo-sensei’s lessons generally start pretty late since she has to grade papers beforehand. We usually have some free time before they begin, so I went out to meet a friend—”

“With your luck, shouldn’t you have stayed at your school?” Kyoko interrupts him. Surely he could see that going out was inviting disaster—

“I tried it a few times.” Naegi frowns helplessly. “But every time I did, something terrible happened.” He starts counting with his fingers. “An army of rats invaded from the sewers. A parcel of radioactive waste was sent as ingredient for the cafeteria by accident. Thunder dodged our lightning rod on the roof to strike down the room in which our lesson was going to take place. Tax fraud agents came to collect information the people of the school…”

Kyoko’s poker face couldn’t exactly hold anymore. This kid had given her proof of his terrible luck, but this is just downright unbelievable. Except… she recalls reading newspaper articles reporting about three similar events happening in a middle school. Never in her wildest dreams did it occur to her that: one, it was the SAME middle school, and two, it matched the strange pattern of a twelve years old staying there for his after school lessons.

Correlation does not imply causation. Correlation does not imply causation. Correlation does not imply causation—

Kyoko repeats this mantra again and again, even though she knew it was useless. So, in an attempt to stave off the despair caused by the fact the universe stopped making sense when it came to this boy, she changes the subject.

“Alright, you’ve made your point.” She takes a deep shaky breath. “So, what happened this time?”

Naegi’s smile returns as continues his recollection. “So, I went to meet my friend…”


Beautiful Days (DANGANRONPA: Trigger Happy Havoc) ▶ ▶

A few hours earlier…

“Come on dude! Grab on, we’re gonna be late!” Pompadour hairstyle may have gone out of style nearly half a century ago, but it didn’t prevent Mondo Owada from wearing it with pride.

“A-Alright!” The poor spiky haired boy was already sweating. The last time he made the mistake of ridding on Mondo’s bike with him, his heart stopped at least three times on the way. “D-D-Don’t go too fast, okay?”

“And what, respect traffic laws?” The twelve-year-old biker spits on the ground. “Fine. Guess if we get arrested, we’re going to be even more late.”

Now, one might think: ‘Hold up. Why would a biker want to be on time? That’s like, the opposite of what being a biker means!’ The thing is, today, sacrifices had to made, and Mondo knew it.

“It’s finally Daiya’s big day, huh? You must be so proud of him!” In order to try and distract himself from getting more near-death experiences compared to the average day, Makoto attempts to make small talk with Mondo.

Mondo doesn’t answer, and just tries his best to avoid cop-dense areas where he could be checked for a driver’s license. Still, the small manly tear of happiness that escaped his jaw made his true feelings come through. After all, it’s not everyday you can see one of your big brother’s big step in making his dream come true.

The ride was surprisingly short and the both arrived on time to get good seats for the show.

Troupe Grimoire 2016 (Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice) ▶ ▶

“WELCOME, ONE AND ALL!”

As usual for this kind of events, a far too hyped up announcer made his voice boom in the entire marquee.

“TO THE ANNUAL NATIONAL ICE RINK DANCE COMPETITION!”

Cheers erupted through the entire audience. It was to be expected at one of the most prestigious ice rink events one could participate in.

“COMPETITORS FROM ALL JAPAN HAVE GATHERED HERE TODAY, AND I, FOR ONE, JUST CANNOT WAIT FOR THEM TO SHOW OFF THEIR TRUE SKILLS!”

But for Daiya Owada? This is his one and only shot at achieving his dream:

“… AND TO WIN THE TITLE OF ULTIMATE ICEBORN DANCER!”

The most prestigious title one can get in the ice rink dance scene. Internationally, achieving this title opens you nearly as many doors as being a regular Ultimate from Hope’s Peak. So this entry is very contested, as many of the participants already have at least ten years of experience under their belt.

Each candidate perform one by one, their actions entrancing the audience without fault. Their collective performances are so otherworldly they simply cannot be transcribed into words.

(No, this is not an excuse from the author who couldn’t be bothered to write dozens of ice dance moves because he doesn’t know the first thing about them—)

“… HERE COMES OUR NEXT COMPETITOR, THE YOUNGEST ONE TODAY!” The atmosphere would almost be magical if the announcer’s microphone quality wasn’t akin to someone screeching cutlery against their plate. “IT’S HIS FIRST COMPETITION OF THIS SCALE, SO MAKE SOME NOISE FOOOOOOOOOOOR~ … DAIYA OWADA!”

Noise levels in the room reached lethal levels, half of the reason being the Crazy Diamonds who had assembled in the audience to cheer on their leader with custom portative biking engine they brought specifically for this purpose.

Daiya steps on the stage, eyes looking everywhere while waving to the crowd. It takes a solid two minutes before the audience eventually calms down.

No music

He closes his eyes in concentration, and takes a deep breath. From the bleachers, Makoto holds his breath, and feels Mondo besides him do the same.

Daiya sets on foot forward, his touch surprisingly light compared to the bulkiness of his stature. But when the second moves forward, the true spectacle begins. Sometimes flowing like water, others turning sharply like ice, his movements are like that of a horseman riding in the wind. His passion is an inferno that ignites the admiration from everyone, as no one dared ruining such a bold experience by the futility of words—

Lunatic Warrior (Yakuza Kiwami) ▶ ▶

The tissue walls on the eastern side of the marquee are shredded by over a dozen bikes ride into the stage turned arena.

“T-The Mad Dogs!” Mondo shouts in a panic. The Crazy Diamond’s fiercest rivals have come to ruin this day— No. for their one chance to strike him down while he’s undefended!

Several spectators start to panic, while Mondo goes against the flow to try to reach his brother in time—

“W-Wait Mondo, look!” Makoto shouts for him while pointing the stage.

Daiya hadn’t stopped his performance. Rather, he increased his pace, incorporating the biker’s attempts at attacking him in his performance. One tries to strike him on the head with a crowbar, only for Diaya to lean backwards and let the iron go a centimeter above his face. Another goes for his legs, and the only mark he finds is the ice on the ground Daiya twirled around. His dodges stay just as smooth as the rest of his actions, to the point where the harnessed chaos becomes indistinguishable from the original performance.

… Or were they even separate in the first place?

“Oh, wow!!”
“It was all planned?!”
“That’s rad!”

The audience stands captivated at the display, many already casting their vote in his favor. But Mondo knows better: they really are trying to kill his brother! He just cannot let them get away with it—!

A biker launches himself in his direction engine blazing. Mondo almost shouts for his brother, but it was too late: Daiya had already gracefully front flipped above him. Unable to stop his bike on the glass, said biker ends up crashing on the edge of the rink, right under the audience’s seats.

The performance repeated itself half a dozen time, with not a single one being able to even touch a hair of the biker dancer. By the end, between the ones that had crashed each others, and the ones that did in the audience, not a single enemy remained in the stage turned arena.

Daiya stops his path at the center of the rink, his arms up in the air, before bowing to the audience.

“This is it! Thank you everyone for the support!”

Troupe Grimoire (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney) ▶ ▶

An ear-shattering round of applause erupts from the audience after everyone finally recovers from heart-thrumming experience they just live through. Mondo stands gaping at the sight of his triumphant brother in the face of the nation’s television, passing an attack from his rivals as a mere gimmick in his performance.

“WOAH!” Makoto finally exhales. “That sure was something! I had no idea your brother had planned for something like—!”

“POLICE!” Another voice booms throughout the atmosphere, breaking any feeling of exultation in the atmosphere.



“They brought nearly everyone to the station for questioning.” Makoto remarks, a half-frown on his face. “Since there wasn’t enough space for everyone, they only kept the people who were connected to Daiya. I didn’t stay in questioning that long because I’m not a member of the Crazy Diamonds, so one of the officers took me back to school. And that’s why I was able to attend Chitsujo-sensei’s session.”

He turns back to Kyoko who has been staying uncharacteristically silent since the beginning of his explanation.

“Um… Kirigiri-san?”

No answer.

…

Logic Suite (Ace Attorney: Investigations 2 – Orchestra Arrangement Collection) ▶ ▶

Now, there are few things in life that can stun one Kirigiri Kyoko. For over seven years, she’s been training her brain to make her thought process be as rigorously logical as it can be. Unlike another fellow twelve years old she has yet to meet, she is not able to anticipate events to an uncanny degree. But for events that have already happened? The logical flow becomes almost immediately apparent to her.

Naegi, who doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, is friends with biker delinquents ON TOP of the Yakuza?

Everything that occurs follows causality. People don’t do actions without reason, valid or not, or even conscious or not. Physics reacts according to its own laws, from which it never departs.

A biker gang leader trying to become a professional ice rink dancer?

And yet, from the moment Naegi Makoto started speaking, everything stopped making sense. From the lunatic stories he’d told her to the evidence proving it, and now… this… Kyoko simply cannot handle it anymore. She may not be as crude as her future fellow sent into the pit of madness that is Naegi’s life…

“How in the world did we get here?”

So, to try to reign in her thought process that had spiraled out of control, she makes a list of all events she knows about the murder in chronological order:

- In the afternoon, after classes ended, Naegi went to meet a biker delinquent friend.
- They went together to see an ice rink dance competition in which said friend’s brother was competing.
- This competition was interrupted by a rival biker gang who tried to murder said brother.
- After this brother singlehandedly defeated over a dozen bikers who had entered the stage, and managed to deal with the PR by passing it off as part of his performance, the police intervened and arrested everyone, including Naegi.
- Naegi was then released and accompanied to school to attend his very first after school lesson, which managed to stave off his luck for the time being.
- A few hours later, his teacher was murdered in an alleyway with him as the only witness.

Satisfied from having finally found a bit of order in the chaos that had seeped into her mind from this case, Kyoko’s eyes widen when she realizes something about her summary:

Almost all the information she’d learned thus far is absolutely unrelated to the murder, and thus, USELESS!

…

Points and Lines (Trails from Zero) ▶ ▶

Kyoko resists the urge to facepalm. Naegi’s recollection had distracted her from the actual murder. With a Herculean effort, she manages to rid herself of the image of a big bad biker dressed in a leotard, and finally refocuses on the task she came here to fulfill.

ContinueContinueContinueContinue

The murder

Jumping straight into the heart of the matter, Kyoko asks the question she wants an answer to.

“What happened in that alleyway?”

“H-Huh?!” Naegi jumps at the inquiry as though someone flashed him again.

Did he really not expect that question?

Kyoko decides it would be wise to leave him some time to recompose himself. She crosses her legs and averts her gaze for a moment, deciding what little could be gained of observing his body language wouldn’t be worth it in the face of the information he could be giving her about the sequence of events that happened there. It takes him a full minute before he swallows heavily, holding his head in his hand.

“… It started when I was almost run over by a car again.”

Wait, what? Run over- wait. AGAIN?!

“Of course, Chitsujo-sensei managed to catch me before anything bad happened this time.” He rubs his right arm in recollection. “We needed to get back to the school so that I could get home, but the traffic at this hour meant my chances of not heading to the hospital on the way were pretty low.”

Kyoko ponders for a moment how he can speak so calmly about being sent to the hospital by a car crash from going back home from school.

“So, we took a shortcut. And then… And then…” He swallows again and again, probably in an attempt to psych himself up to speak.

“And then… And then… And then…”

But with his face becoming paler and paler as time went on, his prior shaking returned.

… I think I pushed him too far too early. I’ll just have to ask again later.

“Alright, Naegi-kun. Let’s switch subjects for now…”

ContinueContinue“So, you were brought back to school after being released.” It had taken a bit of time and quite a few detours, but Kyoko finally asks the question she wants an answer to. “If that’s the case, how did the both of you end up in this alleyway? And most importantly, what happened there?”

“H-Huh?!” Predictably, Naegi jumps at the inquiry, not expecting such a blunt query.

Kyoko waits patiently for him to recompose himself before answering her question. By this point, with how insane his stories were, she figured that if he had even tried to lie, he’d have made up stories which at least be believable. With that in mind, she figures what he’s about to tell her will sound no different less absurd the rest. Although, if what he tells her is even remotely believable to the average person, she’ll have no choice but to assume that there is a lie in there.

Still, at the very least, she now knows she’ll be able to handle what ever he throws at her. After a minute Makoto’s face had turned to a half-frown, his eyes far away from this place.

“Chitsujo-sensei has— er had a local out of school in which she did her lessons.”

Kyoko’s eyes narrow. Why would she bother renting a local to make lessons when the school had already fully prepared facilities to teach students?

Sensing her question, Makoto answers it while nervously scratching his jaw. “With the stuff that regularly happened to me, the director has forbidden me and another friend of mine from coming to school outside normal school hours.”

And suddenly it all made sense. With Naegi’s luck, chances are, a non-negligible part of Public Education’s budget would have gone into repairing the damage caused if the director didn’t take such an extreme measure. It does seem strange however that he seems to imply his ‘luck’ never acted up during school hours.

“Her lessons usually began at six pm, but this time, she started early because I was the only one there.” A shiver runs down his spine. “She was harsh, extremely so, when she taught me. It only lasted three hours, but I felt like I’d spent days there. So, when it was finished, I was dead on my feet.”

Naegi holds his arms together as brief bouts of terror course through his entire body, his eyes unfocussed.

“When I was brought here at the police station, I collapsed on the spot. I guess I just couldn’t handle it anymore.”

The dangers of overworking are something Kyoko is well acquainted with. She smiles understandingly before remembering that not only he’s still a suspect -no matter how unlikely him being the culprit seems now-, and that the few hours he’d probably slept were probably riddled with nightmares of his teacher’s death. Definitely not comparable with the few times she keeled over from exhaustion on her desk.

He swallows heavily, holding his head in his hand, and continues his story. “Chitsujo-sensei offered to bring me home since it already was pretty late. And that’s when I was almost run over by a car again.”

Wait, what? Run over- wait. AGAIN?!

Kyoko joins him in holding her head with her hand. At this point, she shouldn’t be surprised, but the fact remains he’d apparently almost got killed a few minutes before the actual victim did.

“Chitsujo-sensei managed to catch me before anything bad happened this time.” He rubs his right arm in recollection. “We needed to get back to the school so that I could get home, but the traffic at this hour meant my chances of not heading to the hospital on the way were pretty low. S-So, we took a shortcut.”

Turnabout (Judgment) ▶ ▶

This is the important part. Kyoko concentrates as to not miss a single word Naegi might utter or reaction he might have.

“And then… And then…” He swallows again and again in an attempt to psych himself up.

This interrogation had gone well over an hour now. This is the one information she was looking for: a proper recollection of everything that went down in this alleyway. The key to unlock all the contradictions which have been piling up until now.

In spite of her anticipation, Kyoko puts a hand on Makoto’s, adopting the most sincere smile she could in this situation in an attempt to calm him down. He looks to her, startled and bewildered at her expression, before he swallows one last time, and takes a deep breath.

“W-When we entered this alleyway, it was already pretty dark out. The walls made the passage pretty narrow, so she pushed me forward. But, as it turned out the alleyway is a dead end. I was about to tell Chitsujo-sensei, but then…”

PFEEWWW

“I heard a muted sound, and felt something burst through right by to my cheek.”

Kyoko’s eyes widen. The implications of that statements hanging in her head as her already rapt attention doubled.

“When I looked back… I-I-I saw… C-Chitsujo-sensei…”

He takes a deep trembling breath as shudders run all over his body.

“She…” His face contort in pain and terror. “S-She…”

…

…

And everything that had been accumulating up til now bursts out:

“S-S-She had a gun in her hand aimed at me!”

…

Kyoko’s jaw drops. Of all things she had been expecting, this was NOT one of them!

“Between the shock and the tiredness, I-I-I just couldn’t move anymore!”

Makoto’s voice has been rising above its prior volume, distress and trembling making Kyoko doubt he was even aware of his surroundings right now. That is, that’s what she’d think if she was able to, considering all of her prior theories have just been smashed to the ground.

“S-She asked me some questions, b-but honestly? I just… I just…!”

His hands grab his head on both sides, as he desperately tries to block the images of just a few hours earlier.

“I can’t remember what she asked from me, I can’t remember what I answered, I can’t remember how long it took—!”

He stops talking, as he tries to reign in his hoarse breathing and shakiness. He wasn’t completely successful, but at least his thoughts were in enough order to be able to continue.

“A-At some point, I-I guess she had enough, because she cocked her gun again to my heart…”

Kyoko’s had already been through recollections of murder, but the unexpectedness of hearing one from the other side left her completely blindsided.

“I-I don’t remember when, b-b-but I had fallen to the ground. I couldn’t move anymore, so the only thing I did is close my eyes… And then… and then…”

His shaking doubles back up, as Kyoko desperately tries to refocus on what he’s saying.

…

“S-S-S-S-She… S-She shot me…”

…

WAIT, WHAT?!

“… Five times…”

F-F-FIVE?!

“And… I was hit… once.”

…

At this point, Kyoko just couldn’t take it anymore. She abruptly stood up from her chair, and went over the boy’s side.

“You were shot?! Where?!” She shoots a glare toward the one-sided window. “What are you doing, call—!”

“I-I-I’m fine, Kirigiri-san!” The boy finally escaped the mental prison in which he was trapped, and waves his hands frantically in an attempt to calm his interrogator down. “I-I-I don’t know how or why, but I’m fine.”

It takes a few seconds, before Kyoko calms down, returns to her chair and eyes him in suspicion. “Why did you tell me you were hit?!” She berates him in order to avoid blaming herself for not having seen the obvious fact he didn’t have bandages nor that was he bleeding.

“B-Because she did!” Makoto doubles down pleadingly. “I’m sure she hit me…” He puts a hand to his heart a frown of horror on his face. “I can remember it all… The pressure on my chest… The whistling before the crushing sound right on myself…”

It hits Kyoko right here and then. The clock…!

Ignoring her inner turmoil, he continues. “When I realized that I… wasn’t dead…” He swallows again. “I opened my eyes… a-and I s-s-s-saw…”

Despair Pollution Noise Music (DANGANRONPA: Trigger Happy Havoc) ▶ ▶

“C-C-Chitsujo-sensei’s b-b-body… o-on the ground… w-with so much b-b-blood… a-a-and…”

He swallows one last time…

“…a h-h-hole through her h-h-h-head…”