Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 1 Chapter 5 part1

Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 1
Chapter 5: Murder at the Sirius Observatory 3

"A game? This murder is a game? What do you mean by that?" I asked Kirigiri as she sat on the armchair.

"There are still several things that need to be confirmed," she continued, without answering my question. "It would be faster if I investigated myself, but... I don't suppose you would remove my handcuffs, would you?"

"I can't do that," I said, firmly. If you asked me how I felt, I didn't think she was the culprit. Or, to be more precise, I didn't want to think of her as the culprit. But from a logical perspective, no matter how I thought about it, the culprit couldn't be anyone but her. As a detective, I couldn't go against logic. "If something needs to be investigated, then I'll go be your eyes and arms and legs instead. That should be fine, right?"

"...It's fine."

"What should I investigate first?"

"Investigate the luggage of the people who were killed. Bring Amino and Inuzuka's bags if you can."

"Their bags, huh...?"

I went to Amino and Inuzuka's rooms as I was told, trying my best not to look at the bodies...

I set down Amino's briefcase and Inuzuka's carry-on next to each other in front of Kirigiri. The carry-on bag was so unusually heavy that I had broken a light sweat on my forehead.

"Good?"

"Look inside Amino's briefcase."

I opened Amino's briefcase and searched the contents. Inside were two files with writing that I couldn't really understand, one English conversation textbook, and then a handkerchief, cigarettes, lighter, wallet, and so on. Lastly, there was a side pocket with a black envelope inside.

"What's inside the envelope?" asked Kirigiri.

"The written request, right?" I said, checking the contents. "It's the same letter as the one they sent to me. The only difference is who it's addressed to."

"Anything else?"

"Nope. Nothing."

"I see..." Kirigiri pressed her lips together, deep in thought. "We should still investigate the others' bags, but for now, I'm willing to come to a conclusion."

"Hm? You figured something out?"

"The second request—rather, the challenge you received appears to have been sent to you alone."

"Challenge... You mean this?" The letter that started with "A Message for the Detective".

Not everyone got one of these?

"You didn't find one in Amino-san's luggage, did you? I didn't receive one, either," said Kirigiri. "I believe that you have been chosen to serve as the detective in this incident."

"I'm serving as the detective—?"

"Yes," Kirigiri said bluntly, an expression beyond her years on her face. "As it indicates in the letter. You were given advance warning regarding this incident in the challenge you received. You are the detective asked to solve this case."

"W-Wait a minute. You mean if I had figured out earlier that this was supposed to be a challenge, I could have stopped this before it even happened?"

"Perhaps so."

"N... No way! That's..."

I let murder happen right under my nose just because I didn't recognize the culprit's provocation?

If I'd just been a little more sharp... If I'd just been a little more cautious... If I'd just been a little more of a detective... then maybe I could have prevented this from happening. Maybe this wouldn't have ended with three people dead. Three people—I had never met them before this, but those were still three lives that I let be extinguished... Three detectives' lives, even. Three people who had been working to right wrongs in the world...

My hands were shaking. It felt like I had killed them myself.

"Thinking along those lines, some sense can be made of this inexplicable situation we find ourselves in currently. When I first awoke, my very first thought was—why wasn't I killed?"

I felt those words were the clearest demonstration of what a warped human being this little girl called Kyouko Kirigiri was. It was so easy for her to accept risking her life like it was a fact of everyday life and not an extraordinary circumstance. She lived with the presence of death constantly beside her. It even gave me a little chill just thinking about what might have happened to her to make her that way.

"The culprit had countless opportunities to kill me, so why did they allow me to live? The reason: I am serving as the culprit."

Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!
You are encouraged to comment and form theories on the mystery,

Chapter end