#yeah so this absolutely doesn't explain why Gonta's timeline is off but that's fine we'll not worry about that right now

[wisteriasonthemoon]

Suspicion! is it a buff or debuff to perception checks in murder school?

my journey to maybe, probably, eventually complete DRV3 chapter 1 continues. I once again had to go over a scene multiple times because I got captivated by a small detail lol

the detail in question is an optional conversation with Gonta. it occurs on the 5th day of chapter 1. Monokuma has announced the first blood perk, imposed his devil time limit, and everyone is disjointed and suspicious of each other. Shuichi and Kaede's plan to trap the mastermind is in-progress

how I ended up interested in this conversation:

I have been trying to go everywhere accessible to me anytime the game gives me control. for most of the prologue and chapter 1, Kaede has an objective: run from the unidentified giant robot, follow Shuichi to the library, and so on. during these objective periods through the end of in-game Day 4, attempts to visit an area that is not on the path to the objective will result in a "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" buzzer

like so

so I was a bit surprised, when I emerged from the warehouse carrying some cameras and sensors with a directive to take them to Miu in her lab, and I saw that Gonta was in the dining hall

I tried the school store door and got buzzed by Shuichi

nope

then, the dining hall door. success

this was an intriguing break in pattern. why would the devs place Gonta in this room, when they could place him anywhere directly on the way to Miu's lab? immediately, I wondered if this had some significance to the murder mystery. character actions and locations in tandem with timing is evidence

and I was definitely suspicious after I spoke to Gonta

3 things struck me as weird

Gonta's statement that they met in the dining hall "yesterday morning (Day 4) and the morning before that (Day 3)" is factually inaccurate. the group met up in the dining hall on Days 2 and 3

Gonta's statement that he didn't see anyone but Kirumi seemed ... implausible. prior to the warehouse, Shuichi and Kaede had just been in the dining hall performing their very famous groveling to Miu to request she make them a camera-sensor combo. and Miu had been in there long enough that Shuichi had known where she was, aiming to go find her there with Kaede. not to mention, on the way to the dining hall, Shuichi and Kaede bumped into Korekiyo in the hallway. it felt implied that he had also been to the dining hall. he at least knew Kirumi had been there making breakfast

the two last points combined to make Kaede's statement of "Oh, I see ... So no one met up in here this morning." set off author misdirection alarm bells. girl, you're not going to question Gonta's totally wrong timeline? or ask about Korekiyo? what's going on here?

then the conversation continued and I just got more ... baffled ...

Shuichi seemed to do his job as a detective by asking about Kirumi, but again I got no further information about timeline because he was cut off by Gonta

and then the last weird thing happened

that's the end of the conversation

the last thing was weird not because Gonta got angry, or that he scared Kaede. I don't think he was necessarily as angry as his sprite implied, or even angry at all. I believe others have mentioned this, and I agree: I suspect he is mimicking an animal's "upset" face, and it's coming off more extreme than he intends. I haven't cut any dialogue, Gonta is instantly contrite

no, what was weird was that Gonta got upset on behalf of himself at such a tiny refusal. bugs weren't even involved. this gave me such pause that I stopped to consider why Gonta might already have been upset, and what was *probably* going on here clicked for me

Gonta wasn't placed in the dining hall for murder mystery reasons, but for the reader to pick up a story beat happening in the background

when Gonta said that he had only seen Kirumi, Kaede despondently thought:

but Kaede has it backwards! despite not having made an agreement to meet up, several people chose to come to the dining hall in the morning, the place and time where they had been working together. they just kept missing each other

one of the things that I haven't had an opportunity to mention was that Shuichi and Kaede also encountered Maki, of all people, at a different spot in the hallway from Korekiyo, on their way to Miu

based on the information I understood from the conversations surrounding this one with Gonta, I believe a plausible (but still assumed) series of events would be:

Kirumi goes to the dining hall to make breakfast, in case anyone shows up

Korekiyo shows up first, but refuses breakfast. he might even have argued a bit with her about his refusal, and either out of politeness or something else, left eventually into the hallway

Gonta shows up next while Kirumi is still making breakfast. he enters through door direct from the school grounds to the dining room and isn't seen by Korekiyo. he does accept her breakfast, but he either annoys her by trying to help or Kirumi grows restless when no one else to serve appears. she leaves through the grounds door, also not seen by Korekiyo, and heads to the dormitory

Gonta waits in the dining hall alone for some time. he stews on his interaction with Kirumi, and returns to the grounds for a while, probably trying to make himself feel better by continuing his futile search for bugs. alas, he will find no bugs, and the combination of these things will contribute to his temper later

after Kirumi and Gonta are gone, Miu enters the dining hall directly from the grounds. Shuichi sees her, and then heads to Kaede's room to enlist her help in persuading Miu about the camera plan he has concocted

while Shuichi is chatting up Kaede, pick your flavor of Maki. I could be convinced that she saw Miu enter or didn't. she could have gone to the dining hall to keep track of the competition that might kill her, or due to a tiny flickering spark of the Maki she was before she became an assassin. either way, Maki only encounters Miu, takes 5 minutes to decide surveillance in the hall is a better option, and probably threatens to kill Miu if she dares to follow her out

and we're back to what I the player saw: Shuichi and Kaede encounter Korekiyo and Maki on the way to the dining hall, ask Miu their favor, go to the warehouse, and when they exit, Gonta is back in the dining hall

this idea settles the group mood on the 5th day into an interesting middle ground between falling for Monokuma's traps to separate them, but not yet having completely been lost to him. maybe everyone went to the dining hall for self-centered reasons, with no real coordination, but isn't it interesting that they went at all?

Kirumi could have done important work elsewhere. Miu could have picked 1 (relatively) safe person to blabber enthusiastically to near the retreat of her dorm door. god knows Maki could just sit inside her dorm crouched in ambush position if she wanted

I'm blogging with a particularly bad memory of the latter half of Chapter 1. so, I might have just made up a story over something that gets explained. I don't know. but I do know that if I click on Gonta again after the conversation, he says this

Gonta stay here little longer. maybe someone else come

I wonder if I'll find some scrap of dialogue to that implies that someone else does. if Kaede spends the rest of this day consumed in the mastermind trap plan, it's possible everyone could stop by and Kaede tragically would never know

this has been a delightful piece of storytelling to interact with. 1 day until time limit. Monokuma hasn't won yet