Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 1 Chapter 3 part3

Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 1
Chapter 3: Murder at the Sirius Observatory 2, part 3

The van went up a snowy mountain road with no buildings in sight, let alone any people.

"Hey, you. Can we talk for a sec?" I asked in a low voice to the girl sitting next to me. "Do you know why we're in this car?"

She just barely tilted her head as she turned towards me.

"Are you a detective?"

She nodded.

"Really? I sure haven't heard anything about any middle school detectives going to my school..."

"I only recently transferred to my current school," she said, opening her mouth for the first time. She looked up at me with wide eyes that stared right through me. Though her skin was pale, the cold had made her cheeks slightly red, as if she were wearing blush. It was cute.

"Oh, okay, a transfer student... But wait, a middle school detective from the same school as me getting the same request as me... That's a weird coincidence."

"A strange coincidence indeed," the drunk old man said, turning around to face us as soon as the car started driving.

"Hey Uncle Badtouch, quit making passes on little girls when you're drunk. And don't give me any 'jokes' about cops owing favors to detectives. You don't even deserve to be a detective," the man in the suit interrupted forcefully. "Sheesh. Honestly. Drunkenly creeping on kids... I can't believe we're in a white van right now. Is this some kind of knockoff candid camera show?"

"Look who's talking, greenhorn." The drunk old man's expression suddenly became serious. "I've been a full-time detective for twenty-five years. I'm not just some loudmouth drunkard."

"Oh, well, maybe you should look at this. This might sober you up." The man in the suit pulled out some kind of photo ID card from an inner jacket pocket, and showed it off with a smirk.

Eigo Amino: DSC #367

"My name's Eigo Amino. My Detective Shelf Collection number is 367—so what's yours, old man? Don't tell me you're not even registered."

"Hmph," the drunk old man snorted, before starting to rummage around for something, sticking his hand in different pockets. Finally he found the card he was looking for, and showed it to Amino.

Kou Inuzuka: DSC #943

"N-Number 943...? You... No, you couldn't be... Number 9, Class 3? R-Really?"

"This ain't no fake ID," the man called Inuzuka said, taking a swig from his bottle.

"I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea that you were so high-class... Please find it in your heart to forgive my many transgressions!" Amino suddenly bowed his head.

It kinda felt like I was getting a glimpse of the sordid adult world here. Still, I never would have guessed that that drunk old man would be Class 3, either. They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover...

"What's Class 3?" the girl next to me asked.

"You don't know?"

"No," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Is it that remarkable?"

"As far as us detectives go." I took out my own Detective Library membership card from my wallet to show her.

Yui Samidare: DSC #888

"You don't have a card like this?"

"I only recently registered." She took a notebook out of her bag, and slipped a card out from between the pages.

Kyouko Kirigiri: DSC #919

"Whoa, you're Number 9 too. Number 9 in middle school... You've really got your work cut out for you there," I said in surprise.

All of the detectives registered with the Detective Library have a numbered card. The Detective Library—it's lined with shelves categorizing informational files on roughly 65,500 detectives. Information on the registered detectives is made available to the public, so anyone can come browse the files freely. If you're in trouble, you should definitely head on down to the Detective Library. You'll find out which detectives can help you with your problem, and view records of their past cases.

For detectives, the primary benefit of registering with the Detective Library is getting more requests sent your way. It's like a specialized dispatch registry. Though it's not their job to play the middleman or make any introductions, since the idea is that "The Detective Library is a database without bias." Detectives may lose their anonymity due to their data being freely accessible, but no information on a case is published until it's resolved, so I don't think it's that big of a deal. They only publish the most relevant information for past records and personal info too.

The Detective Library made its own classification system for their data, in order to sort the files onto the different shelves. They call this the Detective Shelf Collection, but what it really means is that all of the detectives get classification numbers. DSC classifications are three-digit numbers.

The first number is the most general sorting, designating a detective's field of specialization. Using Amino's 367 as an example, this would be the 3. It refers to white-collar crime—his specialty is cases that involve embezzlement, breach of trust, and so on. Number 9's like Inuzuka and Kirigiri specialize in murder cases, so you could say they're the superstars of the detective world. But there are also a lot of them who fail without ever fulfilling their requests. I hear that a lot of them die while working their cases, too.

Next, the number in the middle is the second level of sorting. It indicates even more specific specialties under the umbrella category of the first number. In Amino's case, I guess the 6 means he specializes in corporate espionage. Just looking at him, I wouldn't be surprised if he worked as a corporate spy himself.

And then—

"The last number indicates the detective's rank. Everyone starts at Rank 9. You just registered, so that's why you're a 9, too. The number starts going up little by little as a detective gets more recognition for their work. You can't just make it to Rank 3 overnight, so that old man must be an amazing detective, even if you couldn't tell just by looking at him. The highest rank is Rank 0, by the way. The zero is proof that you've mastered your craft."

Detectives with a zero in their classification have earned the respect of their peers. They're called things like Zeroes, or Zero Class. If Rank 0 detectives keep working their way up, they can get a 0 for their middle number too, which indicates proficiency in all specializations. They're called Double-Zero Class detectives, and their number tells you right from the get-go that they're at the very top of their field. It's the so-called Great Detective class. If they go even further, they can get a 0 for their first number that shows proficiency in all of those categories, and join the ranks of the legendary Triple-Zero Class. I've heard that in the fifteen or so years of Detective Library history, only four detectives have ever earned the number 000.

"So, would you say that becoming Zero Class is the same as receiving recognition as a detective?" Kyouko Kirigiri asked. Her eyes were full of innocence—like a child who'd found a map to some buried treasure.

"Well, I guess... But I'll tell you right now, it's not gonna be easy. Actually, I was around your age when I first became a detective, but this is as far as I've gotten in three whole years."

"Lemme see that." Amino forcefully snatched my card out of my hands. "What?! ...Y-You're Rank 8 in high school... W-Well, I'm still out of your league. Too bad, Detective Schoolgirl!" He seemed kinda jittery.

"What about you, Shady Boy? You've got a card, right?" Inuzuka asked the man in the sunglasses.

He silently took it out of his pocket to show us.

Shiita Enbi: DSC #245

"Wh-What...? Rank 5... You're higher-ranked than I am..." Amino was trembling. It's true that rank numbers are a good general indicator of a detective's ability, but I'm not sure it's worth waving it around the way he did.

"So we all have cards?" Enbi asked, idly.

"Nothin' strange about someone goin' to the Detective Library and findin' detectives there to send their request to," slurred Inuzuka. "But if I were the one makin' a request, I'd head straight for the Zero Class section..."

"That's certainly true. But perhaps they just thought they'd try inviting detectives from all different kinds of classes to see how it went," said Amino. He was evidently acting completely deferential to Inuzuka now. Maybe he was just really adaptable from going up against corporate spies all the time.

"Hmph... Guess that's true. Everyone's got different specialties too. Our esteemed host appears to be rather eccentric."

"Huh? You know who made the request?"

"Yeah, when you get on my level, you can figure out who's making a request right away, even if they're anonymous."

"Who exactly are they?"

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

Chapter end