Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 1 Chapter 1 part3

Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 1
Chapter 1: Murder at the Sirius Observatory 1, part 3

I returned to where she was. Kyouko Kirigiri was still lying on the floor of the hall. Her head was still firmly connected to the rest of her body. There was no doubt that it would have been much easier to cut through her slender neck, as opposed to those of the other men. But she hadn't received any damage. And the very weapon that seemed perfectly suited to the crime had fallen by her hand...

If you asked me, just from looking at her, I wouldn't say she was anything but a pure and innocent girl. Could I really say that she went around chopping three men's heads off? That would be stupid... but...

I stepped back to observe her from a distance. She was a cute girl, but her features left me with the impression of enigmatic mystery. Talking with her, too, had demonstrated that she was wary, and concealed her true thoughts. Though maybe that was related to whatever reason she had for being a detective at such a young age.

As I was pondering what reason that might be, I suddenly saw something glinting in her left hand. ...A key? I had a flash of intuition. The key to the handcuffs!

If it could be said that "the person who murdered the three detectives" equalled "the person who restrained me with the handcuffs", then wouldn't the key in her hand serve as proof that she was the killer? If the key really was the key to the handcuffs...

I needed to make sure. And I wanted to get those handcuffs off of my right arm as soon as possible, anyway.

I approached her, softly extending my hand, trying to go unnoticed. If I wanted to steal the key, I first had to extract it from her grip. Her fingers looked almost like small white flower buds closing over it. One by one, I gently spread those fingers out. I discreetly removed the key, and then backed away from her. She still hadn't noticed me.

Immediately, I thrust the key into the keyhole by my wrist. It fit perfectly. I turned the key, and it opened the handcuffs.

The rush of freedom that I felt was joined by a simultaneous flood of despair. Is she really the culprit? I didn't know what had happened to her, but maybe she'd killed those men, and then restrained me, and then lost consciousness and collapsed? Maybe she'd hit her limit for physical exertion, or maybe it was anemia.

Testing one more time to see if the key was the real deal, I stuck it in the other keyhole and tried turning it. Just as I thought, the handcuff opened with a click.

At that moment, Kirigiri stirred slightly at my feet, as if in response to the noise from the handcuffs. She's waking up!

I immediately took half a step back. She opened her eyes while still on her side, staring down at the floor. At last, she shifted to sit up, rubbing her eyes, and looked up at me with a look of astonishment on her face. She was dazed and defenseless, sitting on the ground with her legs out to the side.

And then, she abruptly noticed the shears on the floor. All at once, her innocent expression froze over. She reached out her right hand to pick them up.

"Don't move!" I ordered her to stay still. But her hand didn't look like it was going to stop moving any time soon.

There was no other choice. I kicked off the floor to quickly jump towards her, locking her left wrist in the handcuffs. Then I tugged at the chain forcefully, attaching the other end of the handcuffs to the column of the nearby armchair's arm rest.

She was tied to the chair. It was only a one-person armchair, but her arms were so skinny, it didn't seem like she would be able to drag it along with her. Her right hand couldn't reach the shears anymore. She stopped trying, looking up at me, expressionless. But I could tell that her eyes were hiding just a tiny bit of aggravation.

"Why are you doing this, Onee-sama?" Kirigiri asked calmly, without raising her voice.

Onee-sama—so she said, but her eyes didn't show even the slightest bit of deference. Well, that was only to be expected. I'd just been tolerating her calling me that in the first place. Even though, when she said it with such an innocent face, I could mistake her for my real little sister...

I shook my head, as if shaking off my sudden burst of sentimentality.

"What do you mean, why? That's my line." I kicked the shears across the floor, further away from her. "I thought maybe I'd finally made a good friend. But you killed all three of them?"

"All three of them...? Killed...?" Her eyes went wide for a moment, before she looked down pensively. "I see... So I was too late..." She hung her head, still sitting on the floor. Somehow, she looked really downhearted.

"Don't play dumb. Why did you kill them? What were you planning to do to me?"

"Calm down. I am not the culprit."

"You're not the culprit...? Who else is gonna be the culprit?! Three out of five of us were killed, and you and I are the only ones left. If I'm not the culprit, then you must be!"

"Where is the proof that you are not the culprit, Yui-oneesama?"

"Proof? You've got a witness standing right here!" I pointed at myself. "I was passed out unconscious until just a little while ago. When I came to, three people were dead. I'm as certain that I didn't kill them as I am that I'm a sixteen-year-old high school student, and that I'm as virginal as Virgo!"

"In that case, I also plead innocence, calling myself as a witness."

"Nuh-uh, that's not gonna work for you! You're the one who had the shears that are probably the murder weapon, and you had the key for the handcuffs that were on my arm. The evidence is stacked up against you. How are you gonna refute that argument?" I crossed my arms, looking down at her. She stretched out her legs, sitting up with her back to the side of the armchair, shifting to look up at me. I'm clearly superior both in terms of physical position AND morality, here.

"I only just laid eyes on the shears. I have absolutely no recollection of any key to any handcuffs..."

"You were holding it in your hand."

"Someone made me hold it." Kirigiri shook her head slowly. "It seems that while I was unconscious, someone set me up."

"Someone like...?"

"Who knows who it was? Perhaps it was one of the detectives who accompanied us here, or perhaps it was you, Yui-oneesama."

"I'm telling you it's not me! I'm a victim!"

"If you were to ask me, I would say that your suddenly attacking me makes you the more likely culprit." She raised her left hand, showing off the handcuffs.

"That wasn't attacking you. I had to do it out of self-defense. Because you were trying to pick up the shears, right?"

"If you see a bloodstained set of shears on the ground, isn't it natural to want to pick it up and examine it?"

"That's not natural! I would never do that!"

"Even though you're a detective?" she asked, tilting her head and turning her eyes up towards me.

I bit my lip, at a loss for how to respond. "Mmmmph..."

"People have been killed, haven't they? If that's the case, then that's all the more reason to examine the weapon. Does the shape of the weapon match the wounds on the victims? Is anyone able to use this weapon, or are there limitations? Are there any notable peculiarities about it? How heavy is it? How long is it? The list goes on..."

"I know all that," I cut in, obstinate. "But you shouldn't go touching them with your bare hands, Little Miss Detective. You're gonna leave extra fingerprints on them, aren't you?"

"...Yes, that was careless of me. I was still a little drowsy at the time. I'm sorry," she apologized obediently.

"Or maybe those shears are already covered in your fingerprints. You were thinking you could trick me by touching them now."

"Perhaps you could take it that way." She narrowed her eyes, looking down at the shears. "Are you absolutely sure that these shears are the murder weapon?"

"Probably. It looks like they'd be good for quick decapitation."

"Decapitation...?"

"Right, the three of them had their heads separated from their bodies... Wait, you're the one who did it. I bet even with your scrawny arms, you could still do a number on someone's neck with sturdy pruning shears like those."

There was a momentary silence, where she showed no reaction to my words. I thought maybe she would feel a little down when I suspected her, and maybe she would show a little grief in her expression, but she looked as unruffled as ever. In fact—

"It seems as if something very inexplicable has occurred." She looked flawlessly sparkling, with such clarity in her eyes that you might call it innocence.

"Yeah, I almost can't comprehend it," I shot back. "To think a girl like you would be a twisted murderer..."

"I hate to repeat myself, but I am not the culprit. Do you still not understand, Yui-oneesama?"

"Then who is the culprit? Everyone else is dead. There's no way they're just faking it. They were all decapitated. Are you just trying to say that you still think I'm the culprit?"

"No," she replied without hesitation. "Despite what I said earlier, I don't think you're the culprit."

That was a surprise. In a situation like this, she shouldn't have had any valid counterargument besides naming me as the culprit. Or does she have some ulterior motive behind excluding me from the pool of suspects?

"Why would you think that?"

"Remember what happened right before we fell unconscious. I believe the time was around 8 o'clock. All of us were gathered here in the hall, discussing what should be done about dinner."

She was right...

Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!

Chapter end