Torment and Lies (New Danganronpa V3 x OC)

[26] Do or Die 2

Ichika burst out laughing. "Ah-hahahaha, don't be ridiculous Saihara-san!"

Shuichi blinked. "Huh?"

"Geez, do I really need to explain? I was locked in the storage room the whole time, remember? It was locked from the outside, and there were no windows in the room. How could I have possibly gotten out?"

Himiko nodded. "That's true... The door could only be locked from the outside as well."

"..." Shuichi looked deep in thought. "What if... you weren't actually 'trapped' in the storage room?"

"Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense!" Tsumugi cried out. "The room could only be locked on the outside!"

Kiibo nodded. "Aki-san had no way of getting out of the room. She tried to kick the door down but not even that worked."

"No, Aki-san did not try to kick the door down." Shuichi interrupted.

"H-Huh?"

"When I investigated the room she was 'trapped' in, I found that the door in the room is made of material, that if kicked to hit, leaves marks behind easily. I even tried kicking at it and it left a small, but definitely noticeable, mark in the door. When all of us first entered the room, the door was spotless. It had no dents or footprint markings."

"Now now, how does that prove I know more than I'm letting on?" Ichika asked, tilting her head. "Alright, I admit... I lied about trying to kick the door down, but that was because I didn't want Ouma-san to find out what I was doing and try and stop me."

"That does seem like a logical course of action to take..." Kiibo muttered.

Shuichi narrowed his eyes. "...But why would you lie about that?"

"..." Ichika looked at the ground. "Because I was worried that... you guys would think of me as a coward for not trying to get out at all. Especially when a murder happened right under my nose."

"But, with Ouma-kun right outside... I doubt any of us would do that." Tsumugi commented.

Ichika sighed. "Besides, aside from the door, there are no other clues-"

"Yes, there is." Shuichi interrupted. "Aki-san, if you really have nothing to do with this case, then... can you repeat what you said when you were investigating the shutter?"

"What? Why?"

"If you really don't know anything, you should have no problem saying it again, right?" Shuichi narrowed his eyes at the girl.

"..." Ichika raised an eyebrow. "I said, 'Then she probably has something to do with the murder then... Anyway, let's move on'." She tilted her head. "Is that what you wanted?"

"What did you mean by... 'she'?" Shuichi asked.

"Hm?"

"We separated when we were outside the hangar. You weren't there when Kiibo-kun told me about Yumeno-san going to the hangar and I used the pronoun 'they' to tell you about it... So how did you know that the person who went to the hangar was female?"

"S-She knew!?" Himiko gawked.

"That is... rather strange..." Maki muttered.

"It was a simple process of elimination." Ichika crossed her arms. "Kiibo-san was the witness, and he told you what he saw, indicating that you weren't the one who went to the hangar. Ouma-san and Momota-san were both *in* the hangar, so that means it was only possible for a girl to be the one he witnessed."

"Maybe, but that's not all. On the topic of Yumeno-san, how did you know that she only brought one arrow?"

"Eh?"