INVESTIGATION CHAPTER 2 [ Taro x Ignia ] - Hobby Shop

"Me 'n' Koji were here earlier." Ignia replied. "There's a whole buncha stuff in here. Ya can take it for free, but have to bring it back, or whatever ya did with it in 24 hours, else ya get punished by the bear."

With that, Ignia explored the Hobby Shop, treating it the same as the ? ? ? Room. Despite being tired, she kept her eyes open for anything that looked suspicious.

As she explored, however, Ignia felt a sense of dread washing over her. "Taro.", she said. "Stay put here. I'll be right back. I've got a bad feelin' about this. Gotta check if the others are doin' alright, ya know?"

"Well, this is really a hobby shop.  I mean, look at all the kits lying around."  He crouched down and searched through the CHEERLEADING KIT carefully, as it was the first thing that caught his eye.  While he was looking through every inch of the kit, Ignia expressed interest about the others.

"Glad someone hear trusts me enough."  Taro nodded and allowed Ignia to leave undisturbed.  

After being done sifting through the kit, he went down the aisles looking at all sorts of kits that didn't seem relevant, unless Saoirse's head was sawed off by a do-it-yourself fishing pole.  He then saw the BLOOD-SOAKED MANNEQUIN hanging on a peg.  

"Interesting."  He muttered to himself.  He took a few steps towards it when he heard a noise all too familiar to him.  

A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!  NOW, AFTER A FEW MINUTES, THE CLASS TRIAL WILL START.


"Wha......ahh.....WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ignia? Willow? Root? Mariko? Mugen? Iocus? Mamouro? Alexia? Nana? Koji? Who? Who? Who? Who?

He saw Ignia come back, rather shaken.  She's seen a corpse.  He knows that look anywhere.  He glanced at the Monokuma File #4 that was in her hand.  Nana Okabe.  Poisoned.  Damn...

He headed towards Ignia and put his hand on her shoulder. "The best thing to do for now is to focus on the evidence.  We can mourn Nana later.  Let's just hope we don't find another corpse..."  He put his hand back into his pocket and turned around to face the mannequin.  

"Anyways, check this out."  He pointed towards the mannequin while walking towards it.  "I don't know about you, but if this doesn't scream relevant, then I don't know what does.  Unless you can recall anyone else with massive injuries to cover this guy here from head to toe in blood, then all of this is Saoirse's blood.  Only question in, who moved Manny here from the ? ? ? Room, where the body was obviously cut-up, back to the Hobby Shop?  See if you can figure out any way to identify our culprit.  They have to be involved."

With that, Taro went back to the aisles and noticed the WOODWORKING KIT high on the shelves.  He used a step-ladder lying around in the shop in order to investigate it without disturbing it.  While investigating it, he heard a click.

It was Nana.  Another hallucination.  She held a gun towards Junpei.  A third hallucination.  "I think Junpei here should trade the permanent slumber in the literal sense with a permanent slumber in the metaphorical sense."  Taro watched as she was slowly pulling the trigger on the revolver.  Then the shot rang out as Taro could only watch.  Junpei's brains exploaded out the back into a pool of blood. 

Saoirse appeared next to Taro.  "It only cost me an arm and a leg, but it allowed you to suffer greatly."  She laughed.  A laugh so heinous.  But yet some sliver of truth muscled out from their speeches.  Taro started pondering on whether or not the pros out weighed the cons on that one.

Taro could only reply "Fine."

He went over to Ignia to see her crouching down next to the carving kit.

"I feel like we are done here.  I think our last stop is the Supply Store.  If we have time, we might be able to take brief glances at the East Gate rooms."