Danganronpa: SHIFTED

-Z-Zeto?! What are you–

-I-I’m not gonna let anyone get away with this bullshit! S-Shiroga’s innocent, you hear me? S-She’s innocent..!

-Zeto… what’s wrong with you? Why are you so desperate for her to be innocent..? I understand that she was your best friend but-

-But this, but that, Shut up! She’s innocent, INNOCENT! A-And I won’t let a bunch of teenagers accuse her for nothing!

-I-I’ll show you, she’s innocent, listen to me, now. LISTEN TO ME!

[REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN: START]

I won’t let a stupid small girl tell me what to believe or not! She’s innocent, INNOCENT!

I know that… because I was her best friend.. I adore her. I adored her until the last second.

I know everything about her… she knew everything about me… she’s innocent… I know that.

INNOCENT! SHIROGA. IS. INNOCENT!

Why are you insisting so much on her being innocent..?

It’s not like it’s your fault that she tried to commit a crime, right?

Then why, Zeto? Why are you getting so desperate? Please tell me!

I already stated my reason. This– girl can’t say some shit about my Shiroga! She never cared about her anyway!

Y-Your… Shiroga..? I’m not saying that she’s a serial killer or anything… I’m just saying that the clues are pointing to her being the one with the knife.

W-Well, you’re wrong! There’s nothing that she could’ve done if she actually killed Memopo!

T-The hidden door! That door only opened because the killer probably had the key, right? Then how could Shiroga kill someone like Memopo and escape without a key?!

It’s SO obvious that she’s innocent, c’mon! We already know that the killer was the one with the key! SHE’S INNOCENT!

I’LL MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT… DISAPPEAR!

-What stupid phrase is that?! What are you even saying?!

-I’m saying that we still don’t know anything about the key holder! The one that Monobot sent the key was never revealed!

-Eeexactly! I never once told you all anything about the mysterious key! But I assure you all that I sent it to one of you guys!

-Well, then tell us now! We need the answer to continue our discussion!

-Nooope! This is for you guys to discover by yourselves! Oooh, I love being a headmaster! It’s so fun!

-There he goes, talking about the headmaster stuff.

-W-Well, if you don’t know anything about the key holder, then..!

-What if Shiroga was the key holder?

-K-KHGH–!! W-WHAT?!

-You just answered my question. But what if Shiroga’s the key holder?

-I agree with you, Miya! Then it would make sense for her to… do something like that.

-Y-Yeah, she could probably use the key to escape after killing Memopo! Oh, maybe that was her plan after all!

-It… also gives the killer a motive to go after her… maybe the killer… wanted the key, somehow?

-Yeah, it sure does. She probably wanted to escape with Zeto, so she planned to kill Memopo, making her think that Makoto wanted to talk to her, and when Memopo entered the storeroom, she would attack her with the kitchen knife.

-N-No, y-you don’t understand, y-you– Kgh!!

-And.. that’s probably what she wanted to talk to you, am I right, Zeto? You’ve been acting strange since we mentioned that Shiroga wanted to plan a murder.

-I-I… N-No, she’s.. S-She’s inno–

-You… knew about her plan after all, didn’t you? And you wanted to help her, because then both of you would escape together.

-K-KGH!!

-…Zeto… we need to find Shiroga’s killer. Everything that happened before… we shouldn’t worry about it right now.

-Of course I’ll be shocked, she tried to kill me! But at the end of the day, I’m alive… and she’s dead. We need to find the killer, so please, tell us the truth.

-I-I….

-S-Shiroga… I-I’m…

-Zeto, please. Don’t make this harder for anyone else.

-…I-I’m sorry… Shiroga…. I should’ve… I should’ve been there for you… I-I….

-I’m such a bad friend… aren’t I…

-H-Heh…heh…

-Panna is really taking his time….

-…Alright. If we need to continue this discussion, then…. I confess.

-W-What?! A confession?! T-Then Zeto really killed her?!

-What? No, stupid asshead. I confess that we had a plan. She was going to kill someone, and at the trial, I would pin myself as the killer, so we could escape together. I planned everything, not her. She was only going to kill someone.

-So you were the bitch one, huh? Not a surprise after all.

-Shut up. I know that most of you guys are already judging me for trying to escape, but… I couldn’t let her suffer in a place like this.

-I needed to protect her, I NEEDED to protect her. I needed to protect her. I needed to protect her.

-I… I should’ve been the one. I should’ve died instead of her. She… should’ve been alive, right now. Discussing about the killer.

-…

-But… she’s gone… right? My… Shiroga is gone… and she won’t come back. I… I really… I really liked her… she neutralized my talent, and I neutralized hers. It was perfect…

-Z-Zeto… you really liked her, didn’t you..?

-Alright… I won’t hide anything anymore. I’m gonna find this fucking culprit. And I will take my revenge on her.

-I’m… not gonna let you escape, asshole! I will KILL YOU!

-So… any other topics? I think it would be better if we all finish this topic by saying that Shiroga and Zeto had a plan to escape together. Just so we… can focus on other mysteries.

-Oh, I do have a question. – Hmm, Nia? A question? – As you may know, Memopo, I told you about the closed garden, didn’t I?

-Closed garden…? Oh…!

IT’S THE POWER OF MAGIC!

-I see, now! We should talk about the garden and the clogged water, it is another mystery that needs to be solved.

-Clogged… water?

-Yes! When we were investigating, Memopo and I found out that the water from the garden was clogged! And there was some kind of pink fluid coming from inside of it!

-The garden water… clogged?! Hey, Monobot, can you tell us more about that?!

-Oh, yes, sure! The Garden water has a shredder inside! Since I thought about something like that happening before the killing game started, but…

-But…?

-Well, y-you see… it’s not a strong shredder, per se. If you put a lot of stuff inside of it… yeah, it might clog.

-Wow, that’s so useless coming from you! You can’t even be a good headmaster!

-I-It’s not my fault! I bought the cheapest one I could find! The garden isn’t a trash can, it’s a secret place meant for relaxing and murdering!

-So… then, since it’s clogged, are you saying that the killer dropped a lot of stuff inside of it?

-Yes, with his testimony, it seems like it. And it can also explain the thermostat.

-T-The… MY THERMOSTAT?! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! This culprit is one hell of a participant!

-And, since it has some pink fluids coming out of the water… is it safe to assume that this was the murder weapon? Because I think that this thermostat could be pretty bloody.

-Yes… you’re right. Then the sharp object that the Monobot File was talking about wasn’t a kitchen knife, but in fact… the thermostat!

-M-My thermostat… it was my treasure… it was one of the most recent ones, too..! What the hell, culprit?! I hope you don’t survive this class trial!

-I see… so that’s what probably happened between the rooms, too.

-Huh? What do you mean, Nia?

-The killer, using the secret passageway, probably threw the thermostat first, and then placed the kitchen knife inside the Audio Room, so then, when I tried to open the garden, it was locked, and when I tried to open the Audio Room, it was also locked.

-It makes sense! But… wasn’t this already at the investigation?

-Yes, sure, why?

-Because then, the killer would have bloody hands because of the knife, since they disposed the knife after the thermostat.

-But they could just- Oh, I see, they couldn’t clean their hands at the kitchen, because it was full of witnesses, but also they couldn’t clean their hands at the garden, because it was clogged!

-S-So confusing, so how did the killer clean their hands..?!

-…I don’t know, I think we should discuss a little bit more about that.

-Hmm… but I’ll keep that in mind, for future reference, am I right Memopo? – She looked at me, smiling. Hmm..? That’s strange. –

–Y-Yes? Keep that in mind.

-Alright, so… anything else now?

-U-Uh, Me-Po, I’m confused about something.

-Huh? What is it, Hoshi?

-Can we go back to that… struggle thingy? How… harsh was that struggle?

-Oh, yes, Mr. Nakanaka is right! A struggle can be determined by it’s harshness!

-Hm? How so, Ms. Nikada?

-It’s simple, Mr. Inuma! I saw once in a novel that if the victim was weaker than the culprit, but still had some strength, then they could defend itself, but not enough as a victim with the same strength as the killer!

-Oh? I thought you hated novels, Ms. Nikada.

-N-No, Mr. Inuma, I already told you once, in your house. I really love novels.

-Anyway… that’s actually something pretty smart! Congrats, Ms. Nikada!

-Oh? Thank you so much, Ms. Sakagara, you’re also very smart.

-So, how harsh was that struggle anyway? She had some cuts around her body, and some marks in the wall, but nothing was out of place.

-I agree with Chokakku. The room was messy and bloody, but besides that, a rope and the bloody buckets, there wasn’t anything out of place.

-So… a small struggle, then?

-Maybe..? We never determined our strength before this trial started. Who knows who might be stronger or weaker than her.

-At least we can all agree that there was a struggle, right? So at least Ms. Nikada and Hoshi can’t be the killer.

-A-And me, too! I’m not that strong anyway…

-W-Wait, Maisake, what do you mean bloody buckets?! That could be useful since the start of the trial!

-Hey Teru, I think I know what she’s talking about…

IT’S THE POWER OF MAGIC!

-Yes! She’s talking about two bloody buckets inside the storeroom! One had her glasses and some bloody glass shards! The other one had a bloody mop, with some bloody water as well! Am I right?

-Exactly, that’s right. Maybe Shiroga, after discovering the killer entering the storeroom and not being Memopo, tried to defend herself..? Got the mop and used it as a shield?