Return, Retry, Restart...Continue? (Danganronpa V3 X Reader)

Chapter 69

EDIT: I MADE A MISTAKE WHEN I FIRST WROTE THIS, I won't tell you what changed but stuff did. Yep. Sorry to anyone who saw the first version. 

Shuichi, Rantaro and you all started making your way to Shrine of Judgement, obvious tension brewing. When you arrived almost everyone was already there. And it didn't take long for the elevator to appear. Everyone started heading in, only you hesitated a bit. You weren't too sure about this case after all. And this feeling was... still as stressful as ever. 

"(Y/N)?" Ryoma's voice broke you out of your daze, "You... never went back to your dorm after the magic show did you?" The way he asks sounds more like he's looking for confirmation rather than a real answer. 

You look at the tennis player in confusion. "No? Why?" 

He tugged his hat down a bit, "It's not important now. Come on." He left to follow the others into the elevator, and soon enough you joined him. You were curious, but you had a feeling Ryoma wouldn't tell you anyway.

You made your way to your podium as the Elevator finally hit the ground. Almost everyone appeared a bit dazed, until of course... 

"Heyyy...! Monokuma~ You should reallyyyy add chairs to this place ya know? After investigating having to stand for a trial for hours kinda sucks ya know?" Kokichi broke the tension almost immediately. You and a few others huffed in amusement and exasperation at his attitude. 

"Shut up you! Don't question my court design!" Kokichi simply pouted at the refusal and made his own way to the podium. After grumbling a bit in anger, Monokuma continued with his usual spheal about the rules, before jumping to his place again, leaving the rest of you silent. 

"So... We're back here again..." Tsumugi started, "I'm still... not sure how to start something like this." 

"We should probably start with the state of the body first yes?" Rantaro glanced at Shuichi, "Do you mind going over the body Shuichi?" 

Kokichi interjected, "Actually! I think we should just accuse people~ Going over the body is soooo boring. Especially since we were all given a file about it in the first place!" 

He's not wrong. But still. "...Well just to clarify things I think Shuichi should go on ahead." 

"Hm. Ah right. Yes." Shuichi leaned forwards a bit on his podium as he began to talk. "Keebo's main cause of death appeared to be the damage to his head. He was found in... Ryoma's lab. His head was near, but separated from the rest of the body- likely falling off due to force but..." 

"So Ryoma's the killer!" Kokichi cheered, "Woo~ Guess he couldn't help reverting to his old ways huh?" 

"Nyahaha~ Is that true Ryoma? I would ask Atua but right now it's his naptime." 

Himiko yawned, "Eh....? The culprit is Ryoma...?" 

Ryoma's podium was pushed forward, and yet he stayed silent, simply pulling his hat down a bit. 

"Ryoma? Say something, defend yourself man!" Kaito filled the silence, 

"Hmph. What do you want me to say? I didn't do it." The response is obviously lackluster, "I was off doing my own thing during the murder." 

"Kuhuhu... but what were you doing during it Ryoma? The body is in your lab after all." 

Ryoma shrugged, "I left that past behind me, I didn't go in there." 

You sighed a bit, "Ryoma has a point, well... kinda. Just cause it's his lab doesn't mean no one else couldn't access it. It's not enough to clear Ryoma, but I don't think he's our only suspect." 

"(Y/N)'s right. We can't just focus only on him." Rantaro chimes in, "Maybe we should look at the other evidence for now." 

"Should we discuss when we last saw him then?" Shuichi questioned, "A majority of us saw him at the magic show- but what about after that?"

A couple of people glanced at Miu, only for her to talk "The last fuckin- time I saw him was that too. I wanted to do some maintenance on him, but he declined. Saying he had some shit to do or whatever." 

"...About that Miu..." Shuichi began, "Do you know what happened to Keebo's antenna? It was missing this morning at the show this morning." 

You did a double-take. "What!? I'm sorry I didn't notice that. What do you mean it was missing at the magic show?" 

"Gonta no notice it was missing either! And Gonta have very good eyesight." 

"But not very good awareness," Kokichi added. 

Shuichi glanced around the court room, a couple of people just as confused as you were. "Yeah. Keebo was missing his antenna this morning, I guess it's not very noticeable if you don't look too closely... and they did come just before the show started and left soon after..." 

You put your face into your hands. Wow, is this how side characters feel when they don't notice something the protagonist did? You groaned a bit in frustration, you felt the ever-present headache coming back. "Anyway... Miu?" 

"I...I- Alright! Fine you bitches. I took it off okay?" Miu suddenly confessed after moments of waiting, "I was doing some deep cleaning on Keebo. And... I dunno but.... his antenna was delivering signals to someplace! I took it off to find out where the bitch was but..." 

Your eyes widen a bit, that... the antenna was removed for that long? Last time... in the original when Keebo had his antenna removed, he went haywire and destroyed the school. Could that have something to do with what happened this time? 

"So it's irrelevant to the murder case huh." Korekiyo commented. "What a pity." 

"I dunno about that..." Shuichi muttered, "Did you see any other changes in him Miu?" 

"No you jerkwad, I would've said it already if I did!" 

"Well you did only tell us about the antenna now so who knows how stupid you really are hmm?" Kokichi commented only to get yelled at by Miu. 

"...So we're back to square one." Kirumi commented. "What should the next topic of discussion be?" 

"Oh! Oh! You knowww.... Himiko's magic show was right before the murder, how do we know she's not responsible for it?" Kokichi brought up. 

"Nyeh!?" Himiko cried at the same time Tenko shouted, "Degenerate male!" 

Ryoma tugged a bit on his hat, a notion that caught your attention but otherwise, he didn't say anything else. You listened in as a bit of rambling went on about Himiko's magic show, various people arguing about her being suspicious or not. 

"I believe Himiko has an alibi, as well as Tenko, Angie and myself." Kirumi cut in, "I was in the kitchen, while those three were in the cafeteria after the show. I was simply preparing for lunch for as well providing those three with food as well." 

"Oooh yeah!! Atua just told Angie about the alibi! Good for you Himiko~" 

"Alibis is a pretty good next topic of discussion. It could help narrow things down a bit." Rantaro nodded a bit, "Anyone want to start?" 

"Well I was with Gonta for quite a while before the murder, the two of us were just in the courtyard." You started. 

"Yes! Gonta was looking for very fast bugs in courtyard, but he no find any." 

"Kuhuhu... I was near the dorms with Tsumugi after the Magic show. " Korekiyo paused a bit, "I actually believe I saw Ryoma and Rantaro go to the dorm at some point, but they didn't stay." 

"Yeah! I had... overslept and missed the magic show so... I asked Korekiyo what had happened and then we got sidetracked..." 

"Miu? You were the last one to see Keebo." Rantaro gently questioned. 

She glared straight at him, "You think I'm the culprit!? Well I'll have you know I have an alibi. Even if it is that shota-con over there." Miu pointed fingers at Kokichi. 

Kokichi puts his hands behind his head, "Yep~ I unfortunately had to grace the pig with my presence all the way until the announcement. So it really couldn't have been either of us~" 

"God it really sounds like you're lying right now." Kaito mumbled. "The murder happened during the daytime-shouldn't most of us have alibis?

Shuichi shook his head a bit, "I believe most of us split up to do our own things after the magic show. " 

"Then we should question those who didn't show up at all! They could've spent the time planning a murder..." Kokichi grinned a bit, "Likeeeee.... Maki! She's been superrr silent this whole time!" 

Maki gave him a death stare, "Shouldn't you talk about the other pieces of evidence before accusing someone?" 

"Makiroll's right! There's still a lot of evidence to be discussed." Kaito claimed. 

"Makiroll?" 

Maki tugged at her hair a bit, "Don't call me that." 


"Nicknames aside, Kaito's right." 


"That's my sidekick! Solve this case already would ya?" 


You cough a bit, "Alright then. Let's talk about the surroundings. There were scuffle marks and obvious signs of struggle. I'm assuming Keebo and the culprit got into a fight?" 

"Not to mention the rope and the broken shower door...." Rantaro pointed out, "But the signs of a struggle and the stuff in the shower room feel too separate." 

"This is boringggg..." Kokichi complained, "Maki's lab- the place where she's always at, is on the same floor as Ryoma's lab! She could be the killer, even more so then Ryoma himself!" 

"Do you wanna die?" The ever-familiar saying echoes from the assassin's mouth. 

"Ooooh... Scarry..." Not an ounce of fear is shown on Kokichi's face. 

"There was the blood on the knife found in the lab..." Shuichi pointed out, clearly trying to get the conversation back on track. "Miu? Was Keebo acting strangely at all before you parted ways with him after the magic show?" 

"I already said no didn't I? You dipshit!" Miu fired back, "He wasn't being much different, just complaining about not hearing some inner voice or something." 
 
"That sounds pretty strange to me." Kirumi commented, "Keebo spoke in high regards about his inner voice to me a few times. He said they guided him." 

"Nyeh... so what? They disappeared and that's why he got killed...?" Himiko murmured. 

Tenko's eyes lit up, "Himiko you're so smart! That's totally what happened!" You obtain this feeling of longing. Longing for the Tenko with the character development. You heave another sigh. 

"If they guided him..." Rantaro started, "I think Keebo tried to commit a murder." 

The questioning of Rantaro's assumption was almost immediate. 

"Nishishi! It only makes sense for the robot to go crazy and kill someone~" 

"No fucking way! Keebs wouldn't kill anybody!" 

You cross your arms a bit at the arguing, "I don't know... it seems plausible. Not to be er... robophobic or anything... but if his inner voice was sort of like a human's conscience if it was destroyed maybe he didn't really have one anymore. So he could... take drastic actions." Of course you knew what the antenna really did but you weren't going to reveal that. 

"That aside, I've been wondering something for a bit. Who discovered the body?" 

"Right! That was Maki and I." Kaito said, boasting, "I wanted to play some Tennis and I dragged Maki Roll with me but then we saw Keebo. The announcement played and soon enough people came rushing in. ." 

That was intriguing to you, Maki didn't leave her room except for very specific circumstances, you didn't think 'going to play tennis' was one. And not to mention there is another problem with that whole statement.... 

"That's only two people." Shuichi stated, "The announcement goes off after three people have discovered the body. Monokuma is the killer included in those three?"

Monokuma gave something in the mix of glare, "Upupup... I really do hate it when you try to get clues from things like that! But to answer.... It's whatever is most convenient for the killer~!"

"Hmmm... that's not very helpful." You say. "Maybe we should try narrowing things down a bit, by looking at those who don't have alibis?"

"Well..." Shuichi started, "The ones who don't have alibis are... Ryoma, Rantaro, and Myself. =" 

"Nishsihi~ Wow some realllll suspicious people here in the top suspects...! How not surprising." Kokichi grinned. "Well as long as no one here is lying...." 

"That's enough Kokichi. I don't need you causing anymore chaos here." Ryoma spoke up, "I'll confess. I did it. I'm the culprit. And just to prove it-" Ryoma half removed his jacket, revealing a darker shirt underneath but more importantly. 

...A fresh cut right above his shoulder.

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Words cannot describe how much I hate this case. It's one of the ones I planned out the least, (admittedly taking a six-month hiatus between the body and the investigation really messed things up) but I'm trying. Anyway. 

Hm. Confession. Interesting :D. Honestly, no matter who dies I think you all will be sad but... 

As always~ Leave your theories in the comments!