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juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Chiemi was acting like she was up to something the entire time.
But now we have to add something else into the equation.



"Well fine. By the way, did you happen to sneak any pictures of the scene?"
"Ah."
Tsukasa reacts, finally realizing it, and bites her lips as she goes "drat".
She was so shocked of the incident that she wasn't in any state to.

"Ah, well... I didn't bring my camera either"
Tsukasa looking like defeated, makes Marunouchi feel a bit at ease. These days cellphones can take pictures with quite a bit of quality. She seems to have prospects of being a cameraman, but she doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a reporter at least.

The reason for Marunouchi's apprehension is because it would be bad if murder photos were leaked to the net or sold to magazines. People generally forget the words of what people saw in cases, but they remember shocking images for a long time. Even if the case itself is ordinary.

If the investigation were to prolong even a little bit it's clear as day that the public, the media and eventually the top brass would come to pester, so it would be best to avoid that as much as possible. There are circumstances and paces to follow in crime scenes.

"That's good. You're more suited for taking pictures of your family at amusement parks"
Marunouchi smiles and turns to Chiemi.
"Well then Nitsuru Chiemi, I'd like to ask you about the situation."

Chiemi timidly talks about last night from when she talked with Shinobu. Secondly Tsukasa testifies the same thing. There were a few discrepencies in their stories but it's within the realm of error. However when Tsukasa gets to the part after they found the body,
"Wait a minute. So then you opened the window?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?"

"That girl is one thing, but you've encountered many murders. Don't you know not to mess with the scene?"
"But it smelled so bad. It would be bad if it was poisonous gas. And Shinobu could have still been breathing"

She has a way with words. There was a strong wind blowing at dawn. From the time of the crime until 7 to 8 hours, the window was closed the entire time keeping the inside in order. That is what gave Marunouchi an itch in his head.

"Well whatever the case, you can't be the culprit"
"Are you going to trusting me?"
Tsukasa's eyes lit up. But Marunouchi coldly shakes his head, and explains the profiling he did.
"How mean. Then if I'm so unrefined, then what about senpai? She's the type of girl who buys things at the supermarket infront of the train station without putting any make up on"

"You called me unrefined! You're the mean one, Tsukasa. You keep tofu in your fridge for a year. I almost ate it yesterday."
"You would probably be fine eating it, wouldn't you senpai? You look like you have a barbaric stomach that can make vitamin c out of it anyway"

juicedup fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Jul 23, 2017

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juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Lately I've been thinking that Marionettes really may have something to do with the trick. Aki is so good at marionetting that she can be in two places at once.

anyways on to the update...

Chiemi's face becomes red, they then begin to argue. It seems her and Tsukasa are just like each other. Moreover, they they both think they're better than the other. In a disgusted tone he says,
"If you two are going to fight, then do it elsewhere. I'm busy"
""You're the one who started it!""

Not just Tsukasa, but Chiemi too glared at Marunouchi. They were like sisters in synch. He wanted to throw a beer bottle that were scattered around the table, but he stopped when he remembers his position. Then Tsukasa looks like she thought of something, and with a somewhat obsequious tone says,
"But, isn't it possible that the culprit tried to take back the glove?"
(Tsukasa is asking that they tried to take back the gloves from getting burned, I think? And trying to imply the culprit isn''t as cautious or smart as Marunouchi thinks he is)

"What's this? You want me to suspect you that much? But that approach is weak. Seeing as how there were kitchen gloves hanging by the stove. And they were conspicuously pink. What the culprit feared most was to be faulted by getting seen the moment they entered the scene. Especially since college students are an unhealthy bunch who are prone to staying up late,

and since it's Saturday then they would stay up late even mores. And it would be safer if they just used the gloves hanging on the kitchen wall. Leaving aside using the gloves when stabbing them to death, if it's just to use them to cut off the sheet then they would use them. Somone like you would do that, wouldn't you?"
She nods and says, "I guess" reluctantly.



"So then, when you opened the window, was it locked?"
"No, unlocked."
"I see. Then let ask again. Did you mess with anything else? Like a ventilation fan?"
"I didn't touch anything. I tried to perserve the crime scene, you know. I just couldn't the air, so I aired it out that's all."

The fan ventalation wasn't on when the police arrived. Because it's an old kind of fan, the vibrations tramsmit through the walls and make noise, making it impracticle to use at night. It could be that the culprit ignored the stench while he burnt it, or maybe opened the window, then closed it when he was done. If the window was opened for a small while, then the order of the room should be fine
(I don't know what the narrator is meaning by "Order of the room" The japanese word is seizen 整然 which means orderly, regular, systematic)

Marunouchi had an expression that looked like he had something lodged in his throat for a moment.
"More importantly, there's one thing that I want to ask you"
Tsukasa asked changing her expression into one of nervousness
"You've been asking a lot of questions, oh well, what is it?"
"Was Hayato Aki truly in an accident?"

"Oh, that? Unfortunately the rescue work is still underway, it's still uncertain if they're alive. And the snow is making the work difficult. The winters here are nothing compared to the one's up in Hokkaido. ...Don't tell me you think that was part of a murder plan and not an accident. You think too much. I've confirmed with the police that it's just a simple landslide with no relation to the case"

"No, not that"
She goes actually, and talks about the fight between Aki and Shinobu. Marunouchi listens as he strokes his boastful stache, but says

"What you're trying to say is that Aki was never on the microbus. Of course we have no way of knowing wether or not until the rescue work is finished, but it's obvious she isn't the culprit. Seeing as how the culprit never left after the crime."

Marunouchi talks about the footprints in the snow. With Tsukasa's testimony, the three sets of footprints have to be of Tsukasa, Chiemi, and Shinobu.

"So the culprit is somewhere in here, you mean?"
"It seems so. I asked the manager lady to let me investigate the empty rooms and Aki's room, but it seems no one was in there"

Chiemi's expression becomes stiffened. Having only small thoughts that the culprit may be within them, and having those thoughts declared true by a detective must be quite a shock. Or could it be that she's panicking that her plan came to nothing. Marunouchi pays close attention to her expression.

He then says,
"Of course, you two aren't an exception. Even if you two were in the same room, one of you could sneek out while the other is sleeping"
"How mean. First you say we aren't the culprit, then you say we are. I think you're getting too old for this job, detective"

"If I have to keep seeing your face every case then I'll gladly retire. Is that all for this conversation? Well then go, get gone. I'm busy"
"How mean. You just listned to my question and then oppress it with excuses. And there's still something I need to ask you."
"Didn't you say you needed to ask me one thing before?"

He gives an order to Shibata by pointing his chin. Tsukasa gave it her all to resist against Shibita, but he somehow kicked her out.
...The calm after a storm.
After thanking Shibita who looked down and out with his glasses out of place, he gives him his next orders.
"Now, bring the resident of room 201."

juicedup fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Jul 23, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
What if the Shinobu that they saw was actually a marionette?
The culprit used their drunkeness to make them think they were talking to Shinobu, when in fact she was already dead.
...anyways update time:


What resulted after hearing everyone's testimonies was that Marunouchi learned that at the night of the case, no one had an alibi.

Mitsue from room 201 in Saturday returned home at 7. Her and other archeology students in friday to Saturday, spent the night when they went to an ruin excavation at north Gunma(a prefecture in Kantou), when she got back home she confined herself to her room and looked through documents through the night until 2 AM, but she didn't hear a single suspicous sound the whole time.

Takitani Sayaka of room 202, went out shopping for doll supplies with her marionette friends, she says she got back home before 7 at night. She says she got tired from walking around Shibuya all day, and slept at 11 because she was tired. Same with her she heard no suspicous sounds.

Kamijou Mari of room 203, an eccentric one, seems to have been in her room all day trying to make Okonomiyaki. At 7PM, Wakamiya Yoshino of room 204 brought some cooked natto celery to put in. Afterwards she stayed up until 12AM, and drank 3 whole cans of beer.

That Wakamiya Yoshino was up until 5 at dawn it seems, binging a foreign 2 hour drama DVD. At the time of the crime she says she thinks she heard something fall down, but doesn't remember the exact time.

It's a drama where the later half is made up of action, and it's possible the sound could have been mistaken for surround sound. Ending up predicting one third of the developments that would happen, she wasn't focusing too much.

Moreover, the victim was on a date with her boyfriend since the day before, it seems they spent the night at a hotel in Chiba at Urayasu land. After her boyfriend brought her back by car (The time she returned to the great swan matches with Tsukasa's testimony), she went straight back home, and is confirmed by her neighbor's alibi. It was also confirmed that the boyfriend has absolutely no acquaintance to any of the great swan residents.

When it comes to the motive, everyone was hung up on it being about relationships, and each and every one of them testified the same. However, each and every one of them had a grudge against her. Naturally, none of them were all that sad about her death, it almost seemed like they were more worried about the accident Aki was caught in with the landslide.

No one has an alibi, everyone has a motive, no one is saddened of her death.

From the scene no notable fingerprints came up, in turn leaving no clues. The knife was Shinobu's, the inscription on the knife shows that she bought it when moving into the dorm from a local seller. On the other hand the origin of the gloves, as expected couldn't be found.

Marunouchi begins to feel that whittling down the suspects will prove to be difficult in this investigation. If only the dying message was still there. He begins to feel frustrated with his bad luck with culprits. If the culprit hadn't burned the gloves on the stove and left immediately, it's highly likely the first witness would have found the dying message.



The next time there was an update in the investigation was 2 days later. The results of the blood reaction revealed that the blood on the scissors was not of man, but of animal. The blood could have stuck on the scissors when used during cooking to cut meat.

On the cut parts of the sheet have blood on it, even if it's a minuscule amount there should be a reaction with the blade. Also when the cut section was compared with the sheet, minute differences were found. The scissor blade should have been longer, like shear scissors instead.

Within the scene were two other pairs of scissors found, yet none of them had a luminol reaction. Which means the culprit left the knife, yet took the scissors with him.

Hurridly in that evening, they investigate the other resident's scissors, many were found in unexpected places. There were sewing shear scissors found in a drawer in the lounge, blood was found on the blades, it's possible that human blood can be on those scissors by their nature, but it can't be said until a more detailed investigation is held on the scissors.

However the blood type matches with the victim, and the fingerprints are all wiped off of them, there's no doubt about it. By the way everyone knew of the location of those shear scissors.

"Why did the culprit go out of their way to use the lounge's and not the one in the scene?"
Marunouchi complains and Shibita answers with a carefree tone,
"could it be that they didn't find the scissors in the scene?"

"Ridiculous. The kitchen scissors were right by the sink where you can see them. And there were shears in her room on the table. There's no way they couldn't. Even so they took the ones in the lounge. Can you explain why they took such a risk?"

Immediately Shibita's eyes widen past his lenses, he stutters.
This one's still got a ways to go... Marunouchi sighed that many times today.

That ends chapter 3
One more chapter left, surprisingly this book has 200 pages. We're more than 80 percent done with it. And still no good clues.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Jul 23, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

LonelyMudkip posted:

Yeah, this one has me stumped. I'm currently suspecting Chiemi, but that's more due to narrative convention than any actual evidence.

This feels like a case that'll end up being surprisingly straightforward (especially compared to the last one) but it's mired in extraneous details.

Exactly how I feel. Either the writter doesn't know how to write a mystery, or we're all just too dumb.
I think this book scared everyone away. There's hardly any room to implement logic.
We only have like 20 pages left of the book, who know what's going to get revealed, if anything.

I just hope this just makes the feeling when we solve it that much more satisfying.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

Antivehicular posted:

I feel like we really need to see the highlighted facts here, just because it'll give us something to focus on. Right now I feel like it's hard to divide the big pile of facts we've been given (everyone's shaky-rear end alibis, the almost-certainly-nonexistent "dying message," the entire marionette bus accident... thing?) into "relevant and important" and "red herring," and there's not much to even start with there.

I wanted to hold off on the keywords to add some challenge, because the game doesn't give them to you until after you read everything so it kind of felt like cheating.
I didn't want to figure it all out so fast. But I think I'll just stick to doing Keywords first from now on since it's getting harder.


SSNeoman posted:

Yeah it's definitely looking like the message is not a thing. BTW the trope came from the first Sherlock Holmes story, where the victim wrote "RACHE" on the floor in their blood. spoilers for a 100+ year old story: the characters think the victim was writing Rachel, but in reality he wrote rache, which is German for revenge.

Interesting. I actually don't read much of detective literature. I'm new to the whole thing, but I find it fascinating. I like clever well built mysteries. There's a lot for me to catch up on.

Here's the last chapter:

Chapter 4
1/24 (fri)
5PM



"Senpai, today you have to let me go home. I can't just keep spiking school, I have to go to school tomorrow."
Tsukasa stands upright and imposing in front of the kotatsu, pointing her finger, she drops her last warning on Chiemi.

Chiemi hunched over the kotatsu, picking at yanagawa loach stew with chopsticks, says "how could you" in a pitiful voice. Ever since the case, Tsukasa learned that Chiemi has been getting scared. No, it's almost just pitiful cowardliness.

Maybe because the scene of the crime is right above that it's effecting her. Making Tsukasa check the footsteps at night, thinking there's blood dripping from the ceiling, seeing Shinobu's face in window, Tsukasa was forced into this kind of 3 day roommate lifestyle.

The curtains are always over the window, there's cloth laid over the ceiling, blood wouldn't even drip down, since the great swan is well built, you wouldn't hear a sound from the second floor unless someone jumped up there.
They were all figments of her imagination.

For what it's worth, Tsukasa decided stayed as long as her interest with the case allowed her to, naturally if she weren't to show up tomorrow her grade would be in danger. To top it all off lots of homework was left over from the weekend.

"don't worry there won't be any ghosts."
She tries to play it cool and turn around, just then out of nowhere her foot is caught by an arm. With such great force she felt like she would fall.

"I'm begging you, stay just for tonight. You can go ahead and leave in the morning, ok"
A very desperate look. She looks like she's about to cry any minute, making it impossible to reject her. Lately it's been hard to tell who the senpai is.

Tsukasa let's out a big sigh and says,
"I guess I don't have a choice. Seriously just this last night"
"Yes yes. I'm visiting a friend tomorrow so it will be fine. Just tonight"

Tsukasa hopes that doesn't mean she will end up going to her place. While anxious of that, Tsukasa sits next to her.
"Thanks. Now, why don't we drink. There's still lots of beer"
Looking like she's very happy, she goes to grab a beer from her fridge.

"I'm fine. It's still evening"
Up until yesterday she has intaked about 2 months worth of alcohol, Tsukasa unlike Chiemi who drinks like a fish, has an actual human limit.

Within those five days, the image of the senpai she respected crumbled and shattered like glass. Surely even the tower of babel which was struck down by god's rage didn't fall so magnificently. However, she mysteriously also began to like her more and more.
"I see. Then let's have some yanagawa."

"...But, who do yo think killed Shinobu?"
Tsukasa throws out the question. Just a while ago the detective came asking something like "are there scissors here?" like some namahage demon, going by that paniced expression, that means the development of the case isn't going well.

Chiemi leaves the spoon in the stew, and stares flabbergasted for a moment, and comes back to normal, and says,
"Right. The culprit is still here. But I don't know who did it. Actually I'd rather not think about it. The way I see it, none of them can kill someone, I want to believe that the real culprit is somewhere else entirely."

The feelings from living together for so long, are terribly known. Tsukasa too, once had to suspect her own friend in a past case. At that time her heart was being split in two, by an angel and devil that wispered words of trust and doubt into her head.

"But you see," Chiemi says dejectedly, "Yoshino says she's going back home tomorrow. Mitsue wants to move too. Everyone's already scared of each other. And me too, even though I try to make it sound better than it is. I might actually be more scared of the culprit than I am of ghosts."

"If you're so scared, why not move back in, Senpai?"
"Are you trying to tell me to take the bullet train from Nagoya all the way here?"
It certainly is useless advice.
"Tsukasa, who do you think is the culprit? You've been in lots of cases haven't you?"

Well I do have experience. But, I think Aki has something to do with it after all. How do you call it, the timing is just too perfect. I can't tell unless we know if she's dead or not... You probobly don't like that answer though, senpai.
Going by the news, the storm got worse, making them afraid of another disaste, putting a suspension on rescue work.

"Aki, huh..."
She sadly picks up the sushi mascot next to an ashtray full off cigarette butts like a pincushion.
"I shouldn't have gotten this, I should have gotten a Zenkoji charm to give her before she left. She was even going all the way to finals."
"Senpai. What if at that time, someone was hiding Aki in their room..."


Right then, there was a knock on the door. Tsukasa answered and opened it instead of Ciemi.
Standing there was Mari. Wearing her yellow kimono as usual, she couldn't help but look like she was in distress about something

"Um hey, there's something botherin me. I thought it'd be best to talk to you. Seeing as how you know that detective. I could talk to him directly, but it looks kinda secret..."

Is she perhaps thinking they're on opposite teams? Ever since the incident, Mari's attitude seemed a bit distant, this may be the reason.
"Me him aren't not so friendly, actually. We're more like rivals or mortal enemies."
"Well, either way's fine. It's not like me to keep quiet." After brushing that aside she says, "I heard the scissors in the lounge are related to the case..."
Tsukasa knew about the detective making a fuss about scissors aswell. She was immaturely pleased about it.

"The thing is, I saw Sayaka take the scissors from the lounge on Friday afternoon. She said something about using them to make new doll clothes. That her old scissors were getting dull. You know that girl is part of Marionette club like Aki and rivals too. When there was a schedule clash for the tournament when her parents invited her to a trip to Europe, she declined and instead worked harder.

Because of that she got all depressed when she lost, then when the new year started, she put her all in order to aim for the next competition. She said that while Aki is on her way to the competition, that she would start preparting..."
"So those scissors..."
"Beats me, but Sayaka hasn't said a word of it yet. But what if she ends up hiding that"



"I've already looked into it"
All of a sudden, a cheeky boar voice can be heard from the hall. He said, swaying his shoulders angrily as he walks toward them.

"Ah it's devil stache!"
"Who are you calling devil stache?"
Marunouchi glares at her while sternly stroking his mustache. However, his expression isn't wholly annoyed. He took it as a compliment it seems.
"I heard of Takitani Sayaka borrowing that from herself a while ago. She says she returned them in the evening"
"How rude of you to evesdrop. Could it be that you're fond of listening in on girl's conversations, Mr. Detective?"

"No, sorry. There's something I needed to inform all of you." The detective immediately gets into a serious expression, and with a heavy tone says, "I am sorry to say, that earlier, Aki-san's death was confirmed. From an employee's testimony, they say that without a doubt, she stayed the night of saturday in a travel lodge"

And that's literally where the book ends. I'll try and upload the main character's conversations tomorrow aswell as add in the keywords.
I kind of like how this one is proving to be a difficult one.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Jul 23, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
The conversation after the Akasha
: I guess that ends the details of the case of this Akasha.
: Looks like you had a part aswell, Marunouchi
: Our investigations are usually on the point
: Thanks to that we've learned a lot about the situation of the case.
]: By the way, the possibility of the crime being committed from someone outside the lodge is not likely.
]: Do you remeber why I came to that conclusion?
: of course
: Going by the state of the body, and the time of death having to be at night, from 12 to 1
And snow only falling, that night only until 11
: It snowed the following morning, but it was a small amount and wouldn't cover footprints.
: Basically, if it was from someone outside, it is peculiur that there were no footprints leading to the front door
]: Exactly
: But, the only footprints were only of people entering into the front door
: Me, Senpai, and Shinobu's
: Moreover, from the dorm resident's testimonies none of them have an alibi
: With this, there's no other choice but to suspect the people who were inside
: Well, that's true.
: Anyway, about that cut off sheet...
: That's it, that's where the problem is
: Why the culprit didn't use the scissors that were in the scene....
: What they used was...
: The lounge's scissors
: In there were sewing sheers, and everyone in the dorm knew about them.
]: Right.
]: And, and the last one to use them was Sayaka
: It was in order to make a new doll for the next tournament...
: It's very curious that she used them right before the incident
: I'm curious about Aki's accident aswell, but...
: Hmmm...
: It was confirmed that she died in the accident when she was in Hokkaido.
: I think Aki's incident is unrelated to the case's incident... but what do you think, Yoshikawa?
: Nothing yet...
: For now, we need to get out bearings one what is and isn't important.
: When we have what is important, the the case will become clear.
: The culprit too, right!
: Of course.
: Now, let's deduce.

I've done half of the bolding for the keywords. I also edited and retranslated some lines, so give it a re-read. link
A couple of things stood out to me, but it's nothing concrete.
The manager cleaning everything on monday.
Chiemi and Shinobu's balcony door frame.

I'm also begning to suspect the trick involves some sort of chemical reaction, that includes polyvynl and alcohol or something.

Also I think Mari made a contradiction about Aki's trip date?

juicedup fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Jul 22, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
I have no idea what I'm doing.

Here are the questions the game asks
The colors are important





I've tried messing with some keywords
Going away party mystery
This one is formed when the keyword "the only ones were Aki, me, and Yoshino" was deduced

Yoshikawa The ones who participated in the going away party were Aki, Mari and Yoshino. Just those 3.
Tsukasa: Did the others not know about it?
Yoshikawa: Maybe the ones who didn't participate didn't know about Aki's tournament?

Frozen window frame mystery
This one was fromed when the "frame seemed to be frozen over, and didn't want to open." Keyword was deduced

Yoshikawa:From dawn to morning it seems it was the coldest in the year
Tsukasa: It was really cold. Any window would be frozen
Yoshikawa: Would all of the windows be frozen and unable to open?

Why was Chiemi's curtain open mystery
This one was formed when " The room was dim yet bright" and "
The curtains are always over the window"

Yoshikawa: On the morning of corpse discovery, Chiemi's room was a bit bright
Yoshikawa: It could be that it's because the curtain wasn't closed
Tsukasa: Ah you're right
Yoshikawa: Why wasn't Chiemi's curtain closed on the day of the incident?...

The culprit escaped from Shinobu's window epiphany
This one was formed when the frozen window mystery reacted with "Tsukasa opens it up easily with her other hand" keyword


Yoshikawa: The day of the incident was the coldest in the year.
Yoshikawa: Yet, Shinobu's window wasn't frozen and easily opened, did the culprit open it once?
Tsukasa: The problem being, why.
Yoshikawa: Right... the reason for that has to be connected to another epiphany

Here's the list of characters the game gives.

Hayato Aki
Resident of room 101. Was caught in a landslide while riding a microbus during her trip.

Niitsuru Chiemi.
Resident of room 103. Around 6 feet tall. Was recently brokenhearted, brought Tsukasa to drink

Takemaru
Niitsuru Chiemi's ex boyfriend. Had 3 girlfriends at the same time including Chiemi.

Amano Tsukasa.
College student. Niitsuru Chiemi's kouhai.

Honna Mitsue
Resident of room 201. Archeology student. Fair skinned with long black hair and lady like.

Takitani Sayaka
Resident of room 202. Part of a different college's marionette club than Hayato Aki's.

Kamijou Mari
Resident of room 203. Her violet hair makes a mismatch with her kimono.

Wakamiya Yoshino
Resident of room 204. Was watching drama at the night of the incident until 5AM.

Tagokura Shinobu
Resident of room 206. Was stabbed in the stomach and back, died in her room.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Jul 23, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Rather than using the scene's scissors, why did they use sewing sheer scissors?

Made when the keyword "There were sewing shear scissors found in a drawer in the lounge" and "Within the scene were two other pairs of scissors" Keywords react.

Yoshikawa: There are many possible reasons as to why they would use the lounge's scissors.
Tsukasa: I know it's a situation where the culprit wouldn't grab the kitchen scissors but...
Tsukasa: What kind of situation is it?
Yoshikawa: Is there a clue that will show us the reason as to why the culprit would take the lounge's scissors...?

Why did Mari talk about Sayaka mystery
This mystery is fromed when the lounge scissor keyword and sayaka took the lounge scissors keyword

Yoshikawa: When you heard what Mari had to say, what did you think, Tsukasa-kun?
Tsukasa: I thought Sayaka had something to do with the incident
Yoshikawa: Naturally, you would think that when hearing that. Mari must have known that would happen
Yoshikawa: Even so, [b]why did she mention syaka took the scissors?


Did everyone know about the scissors mystery
This mystery is formed when the everyone knew about the lounge scissors keyword is combined with the scissors in the lounge drawer keyword

Yoshikawa: If someone didn't know about the lounge sewing sheer scissors than they wouldn't find them.
Yoshikawa: You wouldn't think to look there, normally.
Tsukasa: But since everyone does then we can't whitlle down the culprit...
Yoshikawa: Is it possible that one of the suspects didn't know about the scissors?


They used the sewing sheer scissors in order to blame it on Sayaka epiphany
Formed when the mystery what was the reason for using sewing sheers combines with Sayaka took the scissors on friday afternoon

Yoshikawa: The meaning of the fact that Sayaka took the lounge scissors changes based on how you look at it.
Marunouchi: Certainly, it does change based on who is the culprit.
Yoshikawa: Does sayaka taking the scissors effect the case?

They chose the lounge scissors becuase everyone knew about them epiphany
Formed when the mystery, they chose sewing sheers over the scene's scissors mystery combines with everyone knew about the lounge scissors keyword

Yoshikawa: Becaue the scissors can be taken by any of the residents, the culprit can't be identified.
Marunouchi: Isn't that the same thing as not being able to identify the culprit because they took Shinobu's scissors?
Yoshikawa: Anyone even a non-resident can take the scene's scissors, but only a resident can find the lounge's.
Yoshikawa: It's possible they used the lounge's in order to not be suspected.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
I've done some more playing around with keywords and I've come to a conclusion.
You'll see when you read the following epiphanys;


Why was the beer spilled mystery
Formed when the keywords room smelled like beer and the beer was spilled combine.

Yoshikawa: You would think that it's possible that you, Tsukasa-kun, spilled it while sleeping
: Hmmm...My sleeping posture shouldn't be so bad as to knock over a can of beer...
Yoshikawa: Leaving that aside, the fact certainly is strange.
Yoshikawa: Who could have spilled that beer...?

The beer was spilled when they left the room epiphanys
Sound effect: https://clyp.it/bav5v3xp
formed when the keyword one of you left while the other was sleeping and why was the beer spilled mystery combine.

Yoshikawa: The Akasha says the beer was spilled from night until Tsukasa-kun woke up.
Yoshikawa: It's entirely possible that when one of you left the room the beer was spilled.
Tsukasa: I slept the whole time in the kotatsu
Yoshikawa: It's just a possibility.



Why was the sheet burned mystery

Yoshikawa: The sheet must have been quite a hindrance to the culprit.
Tsukasa: But, that's no reason to burn it so that it stinks so bad...
Yoshikawa: The culprit certainly was scrupulous when burning it
Yoshikawa: They didn't just take it with them, they didn't even cut it up and dispose of it...
Yoshikawa: Why did they have to go that far...?


Sound effect: https://clyp.it/bav5v3xp
:ms:
Fromed when the why did the culprit burn the sheet mystery combines with plastic smell keyword
: The strong odor could varnish over another....
Tsukasa: If they went that far, what smell were they trying to cover?
Yoshikawa: That's what we need to think about
Yoshikawa: The culprit could have had a distinct smell, and used the stinging odor to block it out.

Now all the questions can be answered.
I can't believe they pulled "the friend did it" trope on us again!
I thought to myself that it couldn't be her because it's too obvious!
And it doesn't help that I kept thinking of ridiculous tricks over and over.
I'm a horrible detective.
Antivehicular and lonely mudkip guessed right. But they didn't figure out her trick, so let's call it a tie.

Should I even transcribe the verification? Or should I just sumurise what happens? I still don't know if the answers would be correct actually.
But If I do get it wrong I'll transcribe the whole thing, as my punishment

juicedup fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Jul 24, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Yoshikawa:: This case's victim was the resident of room 206, Shinobu

music https://clyp.it/v1gia0gs
Yoshikawa:: She died in her room's dining kitchen fallen face down
Yoshikawa:: The weapon, a carving knife. It was left lodged in her.

Yoshikawa:: The odd part of this case is that one part of the kitchen's sheet was cut off

Yoshikawa:: It stopped snowing at 12AM. The murder had to have occurred from 12 to 1.
Yoshikawa:: There are 3 sets of footsteps leading to the enterance.
Yoshikawa:: There were no other footprints around the great swan.

Yoshikawa:: As a forestatment, the culprit is one of the 7 great swan residents without a doubt.
Tsukasa: Am I one of the suspects too?
Yoshikawa:: Just like an apple falls, it goes without saying
Yoshikawa:Those innocent eyes may very well be a mask. Tsukasa
Yoshikawa:: Now, about who did it...
Yoshikawa:: Going by how the culprit cut off the sheet, that creates many mysteries
Yoshikawa:: The first one being, why did the culprit use the lounge scissors?
Yoshikawa:: The other one being...
Yoshikawa:8]: Why the exposed part of floor where the sheet was cut at, had no imperfections?

Then after Yoshikawa talks about how the sheet had to be taken off after the blood dried, because of the straight line of blood, the game says that I didn't answer why they took the lounge scissors.
Oh well.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 11:14 on Jul 24, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
I forgot to make an epiphany with one of the mysteries
I actually looked it up on a walkthrough because I got tired of this case
Personally I blame the epiphany system. Even though you have the answer irl, you still have to obtsuely tell the game with a keyword to support that fact.

The culprit revisited the scene epiphany
fomred when did the culprit go back to the scene mystery combines wiht the gloves and sheet were burned in two sets

Yoshikawa: It's possible that the two sets of gloves that were burned in two separate circumstances.
Tsukasa: What do you mean two different times? One at the time of the crime and one that wasn't?
Yoshikawa: Right... this fact shows the culprit came back
Yoshikawa: The culprit in order to cut off the dying message returned to the scene.

Then we return to the verification.
They were talking about why it took a long time for the culprit to cut off the sheet from the time of the crime
music: https://clyp.it/qpsglbzh
Marunouchi:: ...how well built is your house?
Marunouchi:: Normally windows can be opened with one hand.
Yoshikawa: Do you remember this epiphany

Yoshikawa: This is the part of the Akasha that lead to this.


Big mistake.
Tsukasa let's out a sigh as she stands, she grabs a cloth from the sink counter and began cloth mopping* up the carpet. The sink's water was so cold it stung, it was a miserable feeling, like being made to do public service. She tried to open the sliding window for ventalation, but the frame seemed to be frozen over, and didn't want to open.


When using both hands it somehow opened, and refreshing cool air enters the room. The outside sky is cloudy. The sprinkling snow is fluttering, and the temperature is quite low. Of course the flowing wind takes warmth away with it, but it's a much better situation than an alcohol filled room.

Tsukasa: Right right, the beer spilled and the room smelled like beer so I aired it out.
Tsukasa: Then I tried to open the window and... Ah!
Yoshikawa: Right, when you tried to open Chiemi's sliding window, it was frozen and wouldn't open.
Yoshikawa: At night when she came back home, Chiemi opened it once, but afterwards, the sliding window froze.
Yoshikawa: However, that wasn't the case with Shinobu's window.

"More importantly we should get some air in here. Smelling this is making my head spin"
It seems the shock of seeing a corpse dulled the sense of smell. When Chiemi pointed the smell out, Tsukasa's nose immediately came back to life. She puts her arm up to her nose as she goes to the back of the room.
Yoshikawa: In the room right above, when the window was opened for air, it easily opened.
Marunouchi:: H-hmm... The window being easily opened certainly is strange.
Yoshikawa: When you think about how cold it was at dawn, and how it snowed again at six...
Yoshikawa: Then the scene's window wasn't opened at midnight, but sometime before dawn.
Tsukasa: So the culprit opened it again?
Yoshikawa: Right, before daybreak, before you guys found the corpse, the culprit opened it.
Marunouchi: For what reason did they open the window.
Marunouchi:: Moreover, the culprit taking that much time is odd.
Tsukasa: Didn't they open the window to escape from?
Tsukasa: There's a concrete wall right by the great swan, couldn't they use it to move
Marunouchi:: If so, then maybe it's possible the culprit used the window to break in.
Marunouchi:: Or maybe, after the crime, and leaving, they used it to go back in.
Tsukasa: Hmmm, maybe, or a reason similar to mine?
Tsukasa: Maybe they couldn't stand the smell and aired it out.
Tsukasa: They probably didn't use the ventfan because it would make too much noise
Marunouchi:: Hmmm... there's lots of reasons to think why they would...
Marunouchi:: Yoshikawa-kun, what do you think?
Yoshikawa Of-course the culprit opened the window because...
question answer: to air it out
Yoshikawa: To air it out.
Yoshikawa: The culprit opened the window to let the odor of the gloves and sheet burning out
Yoshikawa: There was snow on the balcony, but there were no footprints whatsoever.
Yoshikawa: It's hard to think that they would enter from the balcony, or escape from the balcony.
Tsukasa: I though so. Not even the culprit would stand that smell
Yoshikawa: The culprit cut and burned the sheet after the blood hardened.
Yoshikawa: It may be that's when they opened the window
Marunouchi:: So, it was around dawn that the culprit burned the gloves and sheet?
Marunouchi:: But why that much time?
Marunouchi:: Someone could fine the body within that time...
Tsukasa: I got it!
Tsukasa: The culprit forgot something, or dropped something and they noticed in the morning.
Tsukasa: Then they came back to take care of it
Tsukasa: That's when they notice the dying message on the sheet.
Yoshikawa: In order to answer that, we need to think of the next mystery.
Yoshikawa: The next mystery being...
Yoshikawa: Why did they purposefully use the lounge scissors?
Yoshikawa: This epiphany shows the answer.

Yoshikawa: If they discovered the dying message after infiltrating...
Yoshikawa: Then they shouldn't have to go to the trouble of going all the way to the lounge and take a risk
Yoshikawa: It would be normal to find scissors in the room and use those.
Yoshikawa: Seeing as how the scissors were easy to spot in two places
Yoshikawa: One by the sink and one on the table
Yoshikawa: Yet, they use none, and instead use the lounge'scene
Tsukasa: Ah! Maybe they culprit had bad eyesight.
Tsukasa: Normally you would, but the culprit couldn't notice them.
Marunouchi:: There was no info on suspects with bad eyesight
] Tsukasa: That's true...
Tsukasa: What does it mean, Yoshikawa-san?
Yoshikawa: You're thinking backwards
Yoshikawa: The reason for borrowing the sewing sheer scissors...
Yoshikawa: Was because they wanted to avoid the risk of not finding one in the scene of the scene of the crime.
Yoshikawa: If they couldn't find one in the scene....
Yoshikawa: They would have to make another trip.
Yoshikawa: Either in the hallway or the lounge, there's no guarantee you wouldn't get spotted.
Yoshikawa: In order to decrease the chances of that...
Yoshikawa: Knowing there were scissors to use with certainty, and ones that are undeniably not their own, thye use the lounge's
Yoshikawa: This line of thinking leads us to think that...
Yoshikawa: With those circumstances, it wasn't after they entered the room, it was before.
Yoshikawa: Basically, they brought the scissors in order to cut off the dying message.
Yoshikawa: Then they infiltrate room 206, cut off the sheet and burned it.
Yoshikawa: They predicted that a message would get left behind.
Yoshikawa: And not on the floor, but on top of the sheet....
Yoshikawa: It's not that they had the gloves prepared just in case, like Marunouchi thought.
Yoshikawa: Again, they brought a spare pair of gloves from their room
Marunouchi:: m-mmm...They burned two sets because of that?
Yoshikawa: Yeah, they likely burned the first gloves when the murder happened.
Yoshikawa: The culprit re-enters the room and burns the sheet with the gloves.
Yoshikawa: At that time the blood was already congealed, blood wouldn't flow when taking the sheet off
Yoshikawa: Since the door was frozen it would have to be before daybreak.
Marunouchi:: I see...
Yoshikawa: Here's the important part
Yoshikawa: The culprit didn't infiltrate, notice the dying message and cut it off.
Yoshikawa: They infiltrated to get rid of the dying message.
Yoshikawa: They knew about the dying message before they re-entered the scene.
Yoshikawa: So then, when di the culprit know about the dying message being left?
Verifying: When did they know about the message
Tsukasa: When did they know about it?...
Tsukasa: If it's in such a conspicuous place wouldn't they notice right away?
Yoshikawa: If they noticed it during the murder, then they would have gotten rid of it right then.
Yoshikawa: Even if it was after they burned the gloves, they had scissors and gloves in the scene.
Marunouchi:: Which means, they didn't notice it during the murder.
Marunouchi:: Didn't they check up on the scene afterwards and notice it then?
Tsukasa: I got it!
Tsukasa: Shinobu didn't write a name, she left a code
Tsukasa: Then the culprit didn't understand it, but later it clicked
Marunouchi:: hmm... maybe...
Marunouchi:: Maybe they saw it, but left it alone
Marunouchi:: I don't know why though
Yoshikawa: At the time of murder the culprit...
Question: About the dying message and the culprit.
1. The culprit didn't notice it
2. The culprit didn't understand it
3. The culprit left it alone
I picked 3
Yoshikawa: At the time of murder, they of course noticed it
Yoshikawa: Then, they left it behind
Tsukasa: Isn't there a possibility they didn't understand it?
Yoshikawa: Not possible
Yoshikawa: If you were the culprit, would you let them just leave behind anything in that kind of situation?
Yoshikawa: Just because they don't understand it?
Tsukasa: I guess you would get rid of it just in case
Marunouchi:: Or they knew about it and left it
Marunouchi:: Then after a while they come back and get rid of it...
Marunouchi:: But I just don't get why they wold leave it.
Yoshikawa: The culprit knew about the dying message being left
Yoshikawa: Yet they don't erase it, and leave lots of time until they do
Yoshikawa: Why? after the time of murder, something caused the situation to change
Marunouchi:: What is that "something" you're talking about?
Yoshikawa: What caused them to cut off the dying message was...
] Tsukasa: What caused them?
Yoshikawa: ...
Music: https://clyp.it/ulppwdjk
Yoshikawa: (Odd... I still haven't deduced that part)
Yoshikawa: ...I need to think more
Tsukasa: Ehh~! Don't pull an after these messages type of thing!
Marunouchi:: Well, it is important. It needs to be thought thoroughly.
Marunouchi:: Something changed from the time of the crime, night to daybreak...hmmm
Yoshikawa: (What happened within that time?...)
Yoshikawa: (I should search for more epiphanies within the Akasha...)

Sound effect: https://clyp.it/nene3bdb
Then the game says I failed
What do you guys think happened?
I actually don't even know, myself. I didn't look that far in the walk through.
What made the culprit notice the message from somewhere else?
My theory is that they were hiding inside the room but I can't form any epiphanies from the keywords.
Let me know what you think I should combine with what.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

PlaceholderPigeon posted:

The only two things I can think about is that the weather changing, and Aki's accident.

The latter happened at 6:30 am which is very close to dawn. Is it possible that the culprit found out about that early and that meant that the dying message could only refer to them (because Aki was assuredly removed from the suspect pool?). If the suspect only found out about that Aki was away from the death...
"Aki-san's death was confirmed" + " after the time of murder, something caused the situation to change"? (or other aki in landslide related keywords)

The timeline is confusing too. This episode starts at 1:30 on Saturday, and then we don't see time pass until after Chiemi falls asleep sometime(?), with Tsukasa forced to join her- can we actually figure out what time Chiemi fell asleep?


Wow, I can't believe how close you were. You're on the right track with Aki's accident. I had to look it up in a walkthrough otherwise I never would have thought to use Aki's accident as
With this game, You would probobly like this game since you can play around with theories that float in your head, and you had lots of them. But unfortunately I've tried most of those but they don't bring anything up, which is disappointing, the truth of this case is much less interesting than my theories.
you can only combine keywords which are bolded in the LP together to form mysteries.
Those mysteries can be combined with keywords to form an epiphany.
Mysteries are formed when contradicting keywords are combined. Mysteries are more like questions. There are many questions you can find within the any book, most of them are useless though.

For example:

This one is formed when the keywords perfectly clean floor board combines with only a little bit of blood is spread on top of the sheet.
Mysteries or questions don't do anything by themselves. But they can turn into ideas
Epiphanies are formed when mysteries combine with a keywords that can turn a mystery into a logical idea, I think.
The game doesn't really explain it's system very well. Oh and you can't combine epiphanies with other keywords. You know if it's an epiphany when there's a color on its title.

Epiphanies are for answering the questions the game gives you.
I don't think this one is a very good example in my mind, but this epiphany is the epiphany we need to answer question 3, "What made the culprit the sheet off?"
The following epiphany or idea is made when we combine the mystery I showed before, "what caused the culprit to cut the sheet" with the keyword The 7:00 news was on
And we get this:


Some actually give you multiple versions like this one

: By the time the landslide news came on, the blood should have been congealed.
: The culprit hears the news, then goes to cut the sheet off.
: Doesn't Aki's name being written down, mean she's the culprit?
: We need to think about why Aki's name would be written down.

I can't believe I never thought of it.

PlaceholderPigeon posted:


The timeline is confusing too. This episode starts at 1:30 on Saturday, and then we don't see time pass until after Chiemi falls asleep sometime(?), with Tsukasa forced to join her- can we actually figure out what time Chiemi fell asleep?

That's actually a translation error of mine, I missed a 10 in the time.
It's actually 11:30 that the story starts, thanks for pointing it out.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 13:20 on Jul 25, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

PlaceholderPigeon posted:



Other weird things still lingering:
Whats the deal with the curtains? Is there something involving leaving the room or 'not being able to see the sun' that can be combined in? Or about the wind?
Secondly, is there a question you can get about the gloves being brought in when there were already gloves there? Or stuff about the knife being Shinobu's? Why would the culprit bring gloves but then grab the victim's knife? How would the culprit get the knife in the first place? (Shinobu was in the shower?)

Not all mysteries are answered in the game. Some are there to throw you off. The curtains are probably because Chiemi was drunk.

Anyways more verification:

We make this epiphay, and continue the verification were we left off.
The "Mitsue didn't know about Aki's absence epiphany"
This one is formed with the "did the people who didn't attend the going away party" and Mitsue being in a trip and Gunma I think?

Yoshikawa:: Sayaka probably knew about it, but Mitsue likely didn't.
Tsukasa: But, wouldn't she know if she saw the lounge in rambles?
Yoshikawa:: She would have known that there was a drinking party, not a going away party.
Yoshikawa:: Mitsue likely didn't know about Aki going to Hokkaido aswell

Verifying: What changed the situation
Yoshikawa:: What caused the situation to change?
Yoshikawa:: Remember this epiphany

Tsukasa: The reason the culprit took off the message has something to do with Aki's accident
Yoshikawa:: Yes, the only that occurred around that time was that the news was broadcasting.
Yoshikawa:: Therefore the culprit had no choice but to get rid of it
Yoshikawa:: Meaning what was left on the sheet was...
Question asking who's name was written down
Yoshikawa:: What was left on the sheet wasn't the culprit's name, but Aki's
Tsukasa: Eh?! But she was in Hokkaido, she can't be it
Tsukasa: So Shinobu, purposefully wrote someone else down?
Marunouchi: Besides, if it's not the culprit's name, then why would they erase it?
Yoshikawa:: Now, here's where we clear up who left the message.
Tsukasa: Isn't that obviously the victim? It is a dying message.
Marunouchi: But, if the victim wrote the wrong one, why would they erase it?
Marunouchi: Could the culprit have wrote it down?
Tsukasa: Ah! Or maybe someone entirely different wrote it down?
Tsukasa: And that messed up the culprit's plan!
Yoshikawa:: The one who left it...
Question: who left it
Yoshikawa:: The culprit
Yoshikawa:: If the victim did leave it then the culprit would have gotten rid of it right then.
Yoshikawa:: And if a 3rd party did leave it...
Yoshikawa:: The culprit wouldn't have a way of knowing.
Yoshikawa:: And in case they did find it
Yoshikawa:: They wouldn't go all the way to the lounge and get the scissors.
Tsukasa: Ah, I see... So that's it
Tsukasa: They would have searched for scissors and gotten rid of it...
Yoshikawa:: Not all dying message cases have the victim leave them
Yoshikawa:: There are times that the perp tries to pin it on someone else
Marunouchi: So that means, the culprit tried to frame Aki?
Yoshikawa:: Yes it does.
Yoshikawa:: The culprit left Aki's name as a dying message in order to frame here
Yoshikawa:: However, when they heard the morning news they returned to the scene
Yoshikawa:: In order to get rid of the message, they take the lounge scissors...
Yoshikawa:: That's why, even though there were scissors in the scene, they used the lounge's scissors
Yoshikawa:: Then they cut the message they wrote themselves that say Aki on it.
Yoshikawa:: Since the blood was congealed, the floorboard on the bottom didn't get covered
Yoshikawa:: Then, they take the gloves they used and the sheet, burn it on the stove, and opened a window for ventilation
Yoshikawa:: That's why Tsukasa was able to open the window so easily
Yoshikawa:: And her being able to smell it means the culprit didn't ventilate enough
Yoshikawa:: Once they finished burning it they closed the window and left
Yoshikawa:: ...This is the hidden answer to this unsolvable mystery
Marunouchi: Hm..hm... I see...
Tsukasa: W-Which means...
Tsukasa: When I was watching the news, the culprit was burning the sheet?
Yoshikawa:: Highly likely
Yoshikawa:: If you had woken Chiemi up sooner... Or if anyone else saw the news..
Yoshikawa:: The culprit wouldn't have the time to burn it.
Yoshikawa:: It's possible you could have walked in on someone burning it
Yoshikawa:: That means the culprit was lucky
Yoshikawa:: Just a tiny bit of luck after making a deadly mistake
Tsukasa: Deadly mistake?
Yoshikawa:: Pinning it on Aki who wasn't there.
Yoshikawa:: If the police see Aki's name written down, what would they think?
Yoshikawa:: After confirming Aki's alibi is solid, they would determine the message as a forgery
Yoshikawa:: Or you could say...
Yoshikawa:: The culprit didn't want the forgery to be known, so they got rid of it.
Tsukasa: But, Aki can't be the culprit
Tsukasa: So why not play along with it?
Tsukasa: The fact that it's forged wouldn't change everyone being a suspect...
Yoshikawa:: It's not that simple.
Yoshikawa:: Putting the blame on someone who is all the way in Hokkaido and they couldn't have possibly done it, is...
Yoshikawa:: A sign that shows that the culprit didn't know that Aki was in Hokkaido.
Yoshikawa:: That's why the culprit had no choice but to conceal it
Yoshikawa:: It's likely the culprit saw the light in room 101 and mistook Aki for being there.
Marunouchi: Meaning, the culprit was someone who didn't know of Aki's absence?
Marunouchi: Allright time to go talk to everyone
Tsukasa: But everyone knew Aki was gone when the news about her accident came on
Tsukasa: No one would reveal that they didn't know...
Tsukasa: They would just pretend they didn't
Yoshikawa:: Just as you say.
Yoshikawa:: And yet...
Yoshikawa:: Why do you think the culprit took the risk and cut the sheet?
Next time(?)Verification: The reason the culprit had no choice but to cut the sheet off?
Should I even transcribe the rest?

It all seems so obvious now. I blame the writer for never stating weather or not everyone knew about Aki's trip. I thought no one joined the going away party because they didn't care, not because they didn't know.
Oh well It's all just excuses I guess.
I feel so dejected that I had to use a walk through aswell. But at least we're all on the same boat.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 09:45 on Jul 27, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
So, mystery solved basically.
Yoshikawa explains why it can only Mitsue, and how she mistook Aki being there because of the number of glasses in the lounge and her room light, then Tsukasa and Marunouchi thank him and leave
I didn't feel like translating most of it because not much happens, but there was one interesting part where Yoshikawa says to Tsukasa that it would be too much to ask her to find the murderer herself of someone she just met. Then Yoshikawa is all like, crimes must not be forgiven or sympathized. Then Tsukasa says "...right..." while looking down, which made me think that she will be the culprit one of these days and we won't expect it.
Then we have a nice conversation with the best character in the game!
Yoshikawa: What is the meaning of this?
Yama: Of what?
Yoshikawa: Another case that involves Amano Tsukasa
Yoshikawa: Are you doing it on purpose?
Yama:...This one kinda
Yama: It surprised me too.
Yama: That girl just keeps getting caught in cases
Yama: And it's only after you've come here
Yama: I don't really get it but there must be some kind of connection or something
Yoshikawa: I've never seen or heard of her before.
Yama: Maybe, saving her, could be for your own sake...
Yoshikawa: ...What does that mean?
Yama: Beats me
Yama: That's just what came to mind
Yama: The Akasha is said to be an article of occurrences in your people's world
Yama: But there's another way of thinking about it
Yama: The occurrences in your people's world is fated by the articles in Akasha...
Yama: Neither of which are preceding
Yama: The Akasha may actually be intertwining you and Tsuakasa
Yama: ...Now, I should start looking for the next article
Yama: Seeing as how your mystery solving is getting better, I'll get you a harder one.

And then we get the trailer for the next case
In a certain apartment room.
The severed body of a man was found in the shower with his head, wrists, and feet cut off.
A kinfe stab to the left of the chest.
Saw cuts to his head, wrists and feet.
For whatever reason, the culprit left the weapon, taking with them only the severed limbs...
Why did the culprit kill in such a way...?
To hide the identity of the corpse?
Or perhaps, a different reason?
https://my.mixtape.moe/xksuef.webm
What was the culprit's goal?

The Five Severed Limbs
By Ouyama Seiichirou
(I mistranslated it when I only the title when I started the LP, Japanese is hard that way)

The next one has a very interesting set up from the first few pages I read of it, I really liked the main character they introduce in the the next one
I'm thinking for the next case after I translate all the Akasha pages, I will just let the thread die if no one can figure out.
No sense in continuing this game if I'm not smart enough and have to resort to a walkthrough. It's a test to see if the last mystery was not solvable due to bad writing or just my own defective reasoning.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Yama:: I found one
Yama:: This one's a toughie...
Yama:: I read it over and over, but I just can't get it.
Yama:: I tell ya, Akasha is a real mystery
[ Yoshikawa:]: Let me see it.
Yama:: First of all, the way he got killed is just too gruesome
Yama:: Why would they do such a thing...
Yama:: Humans really are cruel creatures.
Yama: It makes me sad
Yoshikawa: And then?
Yoshikawa: Who are the assistants this time?
Yama: The familiar faces

Yoshikawa: As I thought.
Yoshikawa: And the other is the girl isn't it?
Yama: Good guess

Yama: Now you can really call this fate
Yama: Well then, good luck with number 4, "The Five Severed Limbs."
Marunouchi:...once again I've brought shame with me
Marunouchi: And to think my wishes for being transfered from jurisdiction to central have finally been granted...
Marunouchi: I thought I wouldn't depend on Yoshikawa-kun, and solve this case myself...
Marunouchi: I've thrown in the towel on this one
Marunouchi: This is a real puzzling case
Tsukasa: I thought that I shouldn't rely on Yoshikawa-san anymore aswell,
Tsukasa: I gave it a lot of thought but...
Let's just give it a read

Chapter 1
The unreliable detective

Hagimoto Ippei is a man of misfortune.
If he were to go out without an umbrella, a downpour would be sure to happen. Toast will always land butter side down.

Ippei works at a private detective agency, but he is know as a misfortunate man even there. If he were to tail someone he would fall in a manhole, and lose the target. If he were to listen in on someone, he would get bit by the house dog, kick it by reaction, then have to pay indemnities. Because of that, the chief declared that if he makes another mistake then he'll get the axe.

Ippei always lamented that he was born under an unlucky star, but he's about to meet his worst misfortune of all. That being getting caught in a murder case of all things. But it's not all bad, seeing as how he was able to get acquainted with the weird but charming Amano Tsukasa.


"S-Sorry for being late!"
It's January, 26th at 9:30 in the morning.
Ippei out of breath, jumps into Iwashita detective agency staff room. Where he thought he would hear the chief, Iwashita Kensuke's angry yelling, but what welcomed him was silence.

Looking around he sees that all other 10 staff desks are empty. The only one left is the secretary, Nagayama Junko.
"Late again?"
Nagayama stops tapping at her keyboard and looks at Ippei with an astounded look from the edge of her glasses.

"Sorry. I overslept because I got really into a videogame last night... Is everyone else out at work?"
"Yes. Everyone's already outside"
"U-Uhm, and the chief?"
"With a client. They've got a request."

Speak of the devil and whatnot, that's when the staff room door opens and Iwashita Kensuke showed his bulldog face. When he looks around the deserted staff room, and sees only Nagayama and Ippei, he starts to show a look of disappointment, then calls Ippei over to him an quite a reluctant way. Ippei stands with a tremble.

In an unenthusiastic tone he says,
"It's a client. Hagimoto, you're in charge of it. I'm afraid to say you're the only one available"
"U-Understood!"
I got a job. Ippei begins to get pumped up. Then Iwashita says to Ippei's face with a threatening voice,
"Listen, don't mess this one up. If you mess up, you're getting the boot"
"I-I understand"


Following Iwashita to the reception room, a smart looking woman in her early 30s is sitting on the sofa. Though plain, the navy blue suit she's wearing looks expensive.

"I have brought someone well fit for the job"
Iwashita brings out his courteous customer communicating voice,
"He's young, but capable. He doesn't look like a detective, that's what makes him suitable for a private eye"
"My name is Hagimoto Ippei. I will be the one taking your request"
Ippei tries his best to look capable.

"My name is Endou Ritsuko. Nice to meet you"
The woman said in a quiet and calm tone, as she takes out her business card. On there it says Central Hospital College of Internal Medicine.

"Endou-san's request is to keep an eye on her divorced husband."
Iwashita explained to Ippei.
"That's correct. I want you to see that the husband I left does not get close to my daughter."
"Not get close to your daughter, you say?"
Ippei tries to give solemn back channeling.

"Yes. We divorced one year ago. It was because of his drinking, frivolity, and domestic abuse that led to me having custody of our daughter, he gets to see her at the end of every month. Is what we decided but he broke the promise, almost everyday he has talked to my daughter when she's on her way to school, even asking her to go live with him.

I heard this from my daughter one week ago, I called my husband and threatened him not to approach her again, if not I'll stop letting him see her every month. He reluctantly agreed, and stopped approaching her, but I'm worried he will do it again...

So then, I would like you to keep an eye on his actions. I return home from work at night, so I will be together with her then, but during the day she will be alone."
"How old is your daughter?"
"8 Years. She is in third grade."

"What does your divorced husband do?"
"He's currently unemployed. 2 months ago he was a math teacher for an prep school, until he hit a student and got fired..."

"What time would you like to have an eye on him?"
"I would like for it from when I leave for work at 8 in the morning, to when I get back home 8 at night. Other than school she will be alone by herself, and he might try to get to her then. So please keep an eye on her to make sure he doesn't."

"Please leave it to us. You won't have to worry anymore"
Iwashita said, and looked to Ippei with a glance.
"Just as my manager said. I will keep a close eye on your departed husband, you won't have to worry for your daughter"
Ippei said with as much confidence he can bring to put his chin up.

"Please take care of it. And if you could call me to report what happened that day after the lookout at 8PM."
"Understood. How long would you like the look out to go on for?
"For now I would like one month."
This one is a vip customer, is the kind of look Iwashita had on his face.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Dec 29, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?




The divorced husband of Endou Ritsuko is called Haraguchi Shinichi, and lives in the north part of town in a residence sector. Takanashi Heights is the name of the Apartment he lives in. After Ritsuko left from Iwashita Private Eye company, she immediately had Ippei drive to the residential area.

Takanashi Heights is a 5 story apartment that faces a two lane street. It looks like it was built a long time ago, and a slight feeling of uncleanliness encompasses the entire building. There is no secured lock entrance system of course.

He goes through the entrance, and an open hallway stretches out, on the left side a chest high wall, to the right are five doors lined up. He looks through the gap of room 103 where Haraguchi lives, and notices that it's not locked. It seems Haraguchi is inside.

Now, where to keep an eye on him from? He looks around, he sees that there is a parking lot on the other side of the chest high wall, and a two lane road in front of that. He sees that there is a cafe called Charade on the other side of the road. The window seat of that cafe should be a good look out point to see the 103 room door.



Ippei crosses the street, enters Charade and sat down at the window seat. He orders a coffee, and begins keeping an eye on the door of room 103. He left the money for the coffee on the table, in order to be able to pay for it in case he needs to leave the store whenever he can.

There won't be any mistakes this time, Ippei said to cheer himself up. Being a private eye was his dream ever since he was a child, but due to the misfortune of looking undependable he has kept being turned down for work by private eye agencies, but he's finally gotten into Iwashita private eye company. He's kept making mistakes ever since, but this time a he has to do it right, in order to get on the boss's good side.

After 11:40, the door of 103 opens, and a man wearing a beige overcoat appears. An average sized man in his early 30s, with a pale sharp face.
Endou Ritsuko lent him a photo, so he immediately knew it was Haraguchi Shinichi

However, Haraguchi looked like he was smiling happily in the photo, but the Haraguchi that went through that door was like a dissolute shadow. He could imagine what life he led after the divorce.

Ippei gets up in a hurry, pays at the register, and begins tailing Haraguchi Shinichi.



Haraguchi took a relaxed pace walking for five minutes, and then enters a cafe in front of Kuin station. Ippei entered aswell. He sees Haraguchi sitting by the window in a box seat. He might take notice if he gets too close, so Ippei sits down at the counter instead.

Haraguchi starts fidgeting impatiently, and frequently looks out the window. It seems like he's waiting for someone.
All of a sudden he begins ready and adjust himself. He saw the person he was waiting for.
The person who entered the store was a woman in her mid 20s. Although she's quite thin, and has a long face, even so she is quite a beautiful woman.

Haraguchi waves to her with a smile. The woman gives a bearing of hesitation, but with an indifferent expression she walks to the seat and sits down.
Haraguchi Appeals something of her, to which the woman answers coldly. That continues a bit longer, until Haraguchi says one last thing with a grim look in his face, and stands from his seat. Ippei takes a drink from his coffee, then starts quickly following.



It seems Haraguchi was quite irritated,he quickly went back the way he came paying no heed to left or right. He angrily yells at a kid who almost ran into him. Haraguchi immediately returns to Takanashi Heights, quickly opens the door and disappears inside.

When Ippei saw that he returns to the window seat in Charade, this time he orders black tea and a sandwich. When the waitress sees that Ippei is back a second time, she gives him a dubious look, causing Ippei to force an awkward smile.

That day's afternoon was spent keeping an eye on room 103's door. However the only time Haraguchi went out the door was at 4PM to get the evening paper, he didn't come out after that.

When the designated time of 8PM arrives, Ippei gets up and stretches. Good grief, the first day of the job is finally over. His whole body was stiffened. Private eye work is not an easy occupation.



He returns to Iwashita detective agency on his scooter, then calls Endo Ritsuko to report about the day's events.
"He was having a meet up with a woman at a cafe, you say...?
That's could be who he's seeing at the moment. Haraguchi used to be pretty popular with girls"
"You say he's popular, but it looked like he was rejected."

"Well it's not hard to imagine seeing as how he's unemployed, and living a life of depravity.... Other than seeing that woman, Haraguchi didn't go anywhere else, I take it."
"Correct. There was no sign of him trying to close to your daughter."
Endou Ritsuko breathes a sigh of relief. Then says she'll rely on him keeping a look out tomorrow, then hangs up.



It's the next morning of the 27th at 8AM.
Ippei sits at the window seat of Charade just as the store opens, orders a coffee and keeps an eye on room 103. The waitress from yesterday gives him a suspicous stare, but Ippei doesn't let it get to him.

9:00 rolls around, and room 103's door opens, revealing Haraguchi. He's wearing a red checker pattern sweater with blue jeans. Ippei thinking he's going somewhere starts getting up from his seat, but Haraguchi only walks to the mailboxes at the entrance, takes the morning paper and immediately returns to his room.

Later, in the afternoon Haraguchi exits his room again. Because he's wearing a down jacket, surely that means he is going out somewhere. Ippei hurries and exits Charade, then tails Haraguchi.

With a relaxed pace he walks to a shopping district, and enters a supermarket. There was a slight feeling of sorrow given off from the sharp faced man by himself walking around the store while carrying a shopping basket.

Ippei takes a shopping basket aswell and nonchalantly follows Haraguchi. Haraguchi buys a can of meat sauce and a six pack of beer, then returns to Takanashi Heights. Ippei also returns to the window seat in Charade and continues his look out.



It's 3 in the afternoon, and a black coated man stands in front of the door of room 103, and rings the doorbell. Ippei sees the side of his face and is immediately bewildered, and though it was strange that Haraguchi was outside all of a sudden. But when he squinted his eyes, it was someone else. His body, skin and facial features resembled Haraguchi, but this one is wearing glasses, moreover there's a completely different aura about him.

Haraguchi opens the door, he exchanges words with the man and lets him in. Just who could it be? If he resembled him that much then it could be a sibling. The man comes out after around 30 minutes, then exits the apartment.

Later on it the exact same thing as yesterday happened. Haraguchi comes out once at 4:00PM to grab the evening paper, and is not seen whatsoever for the duration leading to 8:00 PM.



Ippei returns to Iwashita detective Agency, and calls Ritsuko to report.
"A man who looks a lot like Haraguchi? That has to be his little brother Kyouji-san."
"He has a little brother?"
"Yes. He works as a nurse, but unlike Haraguchi, Kyouji is a very serious person"
"Today Haraguchi went out to go to a nearby supermarket, he stayed at home the whole time afterward. It didn't look like he went to go see your daughter."
"I am relieved to hear that. I really am glad that I asked the detective agency for this."



Ippei is at the window seat of Charade the following morning of the 28th at 8AM. Unbearably dozy he yawns over and over. Having been engrossed in a game last night, he stayed up late. The waitress must have lost interest, since she pays no heed to Ippei.

At 9:00 AM Haraguchi comes out of room 103 like always, and goes to the mailbox like always, returning with the newspaper in hand. He goes back into his room as his pale face yawns.

Ippei thinks this is quite a bore.
Although it would be troublesome if the target moved all the time, but a static target is just as bad. It would be much more entertaining if he moved at least a little in order to test out some tailing arts. More exciting jobs would be appreciated since he's been looking forward to being a private eye.
Ippei would never have thought that Haraguchi would be killed two days later.

Chapter 2
The limbless body



There is a proverb that goes, the dog that trots about finds a bone, but in Amano Tsukasa's case when she trots about she finds a corpse. That is to say, she isn't part of the police in particular, but just a college student aspiring to be a cameraman. Since she is an impoverished student, she must earn a wage, she takes on various part-time jobs. While in the middle of one, she happens upon a murder almost as if it were predestined like something out of a mystery novel.

It is the 30th of Janurary, 10 in the morning. Tsukasa stops her bicycle in front of an apartment building called Takanashi Heights. Tsukasa is a part time subscription fee collector, and Haraguchi of room 103 is one of those subscribers.

Tsukasa rang the doorbell. She waited a while, but no one answered. No matter how many times she rang it no one came out. She peeps into the gap of the door and sees that the door isn't locked, meaning that there's no mistake about them being inside. So they think pretending to be away will work. Tsukasa thought so as she opened the door and shouted.
"I'm from Touzai Newspaper! I came to see about the fee!"



As soon as she steps inside, she was inside the kitchen, no was there. She could see a living room is in the back, but there was no one in there either. However there was a slight fishy odor in the air in the room.
Just what is that smell?
Tsukasa felt a strange sinister feeling arise for some reason. After being confused about what to do for a while, she decided to check and make sure.
"This is Touzai Newspaper! I came to see about the subscription fee!"

While holding up her collection bag like a shield , she takes off her shoes and steps inside. There's a shower immediately to the left, the door was halfway open. Right next to the door was an undressing basket, taken off clothes and a crumpled towel are tossed inside. Moreover, the fishy smell is coming from the half open door. Tsukasa fearfully looked inside, and instinctively let out a scream at what she saw.



On the floor of the bathroom laid the limbless body of a man in his pajamas. Not just his head, his hands, and his feet were all gone. Of course there's no way he's alive in this state.
Tsukasa put her shoes on in a panic, dashed out of room 103, and dialed 110 on her cellphone to report it.
"Excuse me, what happened?"



When she heard the carefree voice of a young man, Tsukasa let out another scream. When she looks at him, she saw a undependable looking young adult in the middle of his 20s looking at her suspiciously. He has a skinny build, and a dozy looking slack face.
"There's a dead body."
"A-A dead body? Who's? Could it be Haraguchi..."

"I don't know who's it is. Because there's no head"
"N-No head?"
The young man looked like he was about to faint.
"By the way, who are you? Do you know Haraguchi Shinichi-san?"
"No, I don't know him. I work for a private eye agency, and I took a request to keep a watch on him."

Tsukasa couldn't help but stare at him. She imagined private eye detectives wearing trench coats, as sulky looking middle aged men, but the one in front of her looks like some boring graduate student.
"You were keeping watch?"

"Yeah, everyday, from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, from the cafe across the street I kept my eye on this room's front door. Haraguchi always goes to get the paper at 9 in the morning, but only today he didn't show up, I thought it was mysterious why he didn't.

Next thing you know you go inside the room, then jump out like you've seen a ghost, and you started calling someone, that gave me a bad feeling so I came to see what happened..."

"If you've been keeping an eye on this door, then didn't you see the culprit?"
"Culprit? No, Ever since I've started keeping watch, you were the only one to go inside, besides
..."

If that's the case, then the culprit must have gone into room 108 to carry out the crime when this useless looking looking private eye wasn't keeping watch. That damned culprit killed him before I could collect the fee, so you think you can win against a newspaper fee collector? I swear in the name of fee collection, that I will stop at nothing to take down the culprit, Tsukasa vowed.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Dec 12, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

eating only apples posted:

What's the betting it's the brother who's dead?

Also I'm not sure if "limbless" is the right word here? The body has its limbs, just not head, hands or feet. Decapitated, maybe?

This case is interesting when it comes to who the body belongs to.

About limbless, in Japanese kubi can mean joint or neck, and they call the corpse "kubi nashi" meaning without limbs.
Not something that easily translates

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

PlaceholderPigeon posted:

Entering the the victim's apartment without permission when the door isn't locked? Tsukasa is serious about getting that money!

I wonder..seems like there's a big gap in the watch for something to happen. Alternatively, the victim is on the ground floor so I wonder about some back window shenanigans.

She even had the guts to look inside the shower, even though the clothes on the basket mean there could be someone changing in there.
Absolute madwoman.
Would she have just said "I'm here to collect"?

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
: A dismembered body with an unknown identity huh...
: When I remember this it really makes me want to cry
: I can't get the subscription fee, and I had to see a terrible horrific dead body on top of that
: So, what do you think?
: Did you get any bright ideas?
: No, nothing yet.
: All that I know so far is...
: The body was found in room 103 of Takanashi Heights, Haraguchi Shunichi's room.
: And the body...
Question: What part of the body was dismembered
Answer: The neck, wrists and ankles
: Right! If you see that kind of thing you'll never forget it.....
: Nobody in their right mind would even think about doing something like cutting up a body
: They're already out of the limits of being in their right mind at the point they commit murder
: Besides, cutting up a body is not an easy thing to do
: Since they did it on purpose, they must have had a pretty good reason for it
: You found the body in the shower room, didn't you?
: Yes.... When I looked inside the half open door, it was on the floor like duuuun....!
: The room wasn't locked and as you enter a dead body was on the shower room door
: The culprit had no intention of hiding the body
: Maybe they were hurrying to get out, and didn't have the time?
: Or maybe they wanted it to be found by someone
: I found it successfully....
: Well, that's all I wanted to confirm
: I'd like to see what the police investigation results were
: Now, let's go through the 3rd chapter

Chapter 3
Scene Investigation



It was 10:40AM when the first investigation team, led by Marunouchi Keiji arrived at the scene.

The scene was a cheap 5 story apartment building called "Takanashi Heights". The jurisdiction's detectives have taped off the surroundings to preserve the scene, making rubber neckers stick to it. The uniformed patrolman who was keeping watch next to the barricade tape gives a salute, however Marunouchi only gives a light nod, then goes under the tape and steps into the apartment.

"Thanks for your work, inspector"
The jurisdiction's detective greets him when Marunouchi steps into the entrance where the mailboxes are.
"This body's a crazy one. Seeing as how there's five decapitations"
"Five heads? What the hell. There's not just one body but five?"

"No, there's only one"
"Then why are there five decapitations? You saying it's a Hydra, how many heads are there?"

"There's lots of appendages in people that can be decapitated. The victim's-"
The detective points to his Adam's apple,
"Neck, arms and feet were all decapitated."

Marunouchi snickers.
"Know I get it, you mean dismembered. How's the investigation?"
"Forensics are working at the moment. I think they'll be done soon."
"Who found the body?"
"Those two over there"



The non-uniformed detective accompanies him to a man and girl who are standing idly bored. It was a lanky young man, the other a fair skin baby faced petite girl. Marunouchi immediately sighs when he sees the girl.

"Oh if it isn't investigator Marunouchi. Fancy meeting you here."
The girl noticing Marunouchi with her keen eye talked to him.
"...You again. Found another body did you?"
"Yup, that's right"

Tsukasa answered with a bright smile as Marunouchi sour visage stayed the same. She's supposed to be in her 20s but she looks younger because of her child like face. Although she's an aspiring cameraman college student, a broke one, therefore she's apparently doing odd jobs frequently in order to earn a living.

"Do you know her, chief?"
The detective asks with surprise.
"Kind of. It's an unsavory tie type of things."
For some reason Marunouchi keeps seeing her come up in murder cases. The case at the time was one that's inconspicuously like a mystery novel, making Marunouchi grasp at his head. Hence, the foreboding feeling Marunouchi felt when seeing her once again.

According to the detective's explanation, the lanky guy is Hachimoto Ippei, a private eye agency employee who has been keeping an eye on the victim, Haraguchi Shinichi since January 26 to the 31st starting from 8 in the morning until 8 at night. The client was worried about her divorced husband, Haraguchi following their daughter around, so she had his actions kept in check.

Hachimoto Ippei was keeping and eye on room 103 this morning aswell from the window seat of the cafe across the street, however only today did Haraguchi not go to retrieve the morning paper, no matter how long, he thought it was mysterious why he that happened.

At about 10 in the morning Tsukasa, who was working as a fee collector arrived at room 103. Tsukasa became annoyed when she noticed the door was unlocked, yet there was nor response to the doorbell being rung over and over, causing her to open the door, and smells some thing's off and then finds the dead body. Ippei then notices Tsukasa dash out of the apartment when she dials 110, Ippei wondering what happened goes to her.



Before long the forensics leader arrives and informs of their work is done. Both Marunouchi and the police surgeon step into the scene of room 103.

There's a dining kitchen over the entrance, beyond that is a six tatami mat living room. To the left of the entrance is a shower room, to the right is the bathroom. The shower door is open, the dead body can be seen with a glance. Marunouchi braces himself and looks inside the shower room.



The dead body of an average sized man wearing long sleeved pajamas was laying face up. The man's neck, wrists, and ankles were all cut off at the joint, showing the dark red slice. The skin is quite pale for a man. The estimated age is from 30 to 35 years old, estimated height being 170cm tall give or take, Marunouchi thought to himself.

A knife was stabbed into the left side of the chest. There was a saw lying on the floor that's thought to have been used for the cutting, aswell as traces of large amounts of blood. It seems the pajamas were a grayish blue, but are stained by all the blood, there are reddish black spots all over.

The culprit probably dismembered the limbs in order to hide the identity of the body. Because without those parts, the identity of the body can't be determined through appearance, teeth, fingerprint, palm print, toe print or foot size. You would assume that the victim is the resident of the apartment, Haraguchi Shinichi, but an identity check will still be necessary.

There were splashes of blood covering the walls of the shower room staining it dark red. The bathtub was covered by a lid, he looked inside, but there was no water, it was completely dry.

Marunouchi leaves the shower room, the police surgeon steps inside. The surgeon undresses the pajamas off the body. The paleness of the body was unusually pale for a man. While the surgeon was inspecting the body, Marunouchi investigates the room.



By the side of the shower door was a clothes basket. Inside was a brown checkered long sleeved shirt, an under shirt, blue jeans, and a wet crumpled towel tossed inside. Someone undressed and took a shower.

That's when Marunouchi remembered the dry bathtub. Whoever undressed did not bathe in the bathtub. But taking into account that they used a towel means they must have taken a shower.

So then, who could have taken a shower. The culprit or the victim. Considering the victim was in pajamas, it seems likely that the victim took a shower. It's also likely the culprit took a shower to wash off the blood after dismembering, but in that case he probably wouldn't leave behind the clothes he had on and towel he used.

First of all, the floor of the shower room is taken up by the body, so there would not have been any room for the culprit to take a shower, and surely they wouldn't try to shower in a place where they just dismembered someone. With that, it can be concluded that the one who took a shower is the victim.



The dining kitchen's footing is made of flooring, there's a small table, two chairs, kitchen cabinet, fridge, trashcan, and a large LCD TV.
He opens the fridge and sees sauce, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, butter, and a six pack of canned beer. In the freezer was an ice tray and an insertable ice pillow bag.

The LCD tv is placed on top of a stand, in the storage space of the stand were various movie DVDs.
Under the sink were fry pans, pots and bowls, on the door were 3 knives hanging. There are quite serious cooking utensils that are assembled, oddly Haraguchi seemed to cook for himself which is rare for a man who lives alone.

Next to the sink was a garbage can with a lid. Opening the lid shows one ice pillow bag with the seal cut off thrown away with nothing else in the trash can.

Next Marunouchi goes into the living room in the back. A carpet is laid out, with a bed, drawer, and a luxurious audio system set up. Next to the bed was a plastic carbage can, but it was empty. Next to the audio system was a CD case, there's several dozen CDs inside.




Before long the police surgeon comes out.
"Doctor, what's the estimated time of death"
"Judging by rigor mortis and algor mortis temperature drop, it's between yesterday night at 11 to 12. A fat autopsy may shorten the time though."

Marunouchi remembers that Hachimoto Ippei said he was keeping watch on Haraguchi from 8AM to 8PM. Unfortunately the time of death is past the watch time, it's highly unlikely he saw the culprit.

"Cause of death?"
"The knife stabbed to the left part of the chest. It must have been close to instant death"
"Are we wrong in assuming the saw that was lying at the scene was used for dismembering?"
"No mistake about it. There's even fragments of bone on the blade when it was used for cutting."

"Is the culprit man or woman?"
"It can be either one. Certainly it requires hard work to dismember five limbs from a body, but even women have the strength to do that much."

"Did you notice anything else?"
"There's one thing that's bothering me. The position of where the wrists and ankles were cut, the position's match for both the left and right respective limbs."
"Both left and right match equally?"

"For example for the wrist's case, the left wrist and left wrist are cut about 23 centimeters measuring from the elbow. I've dealt with many bodies that had their arms cut off, every one of those bodies wrists were cut at varying positions. Naturally, no one dismembers with measurments."

However, this body's wrist cut position variation is only a couple of milimeters off. You can say the same thing for the ankles."
"The cut position varies only a couple of milimeters? What does that mean? Did the culprit dismember after measuring? Why would they do that?"
"Beats me. Isn't that your guys's job to find out."
Marunouchi snickers.

Next, Marunouchi calls Hachimoto Ippei to hear about what happened during the time he watched Haraguchi Shinichi from the 26th until today.

/that's it for this update. 100 pages translated 200 more to go!
Right now I'm guessing the culprit is Haraguchi himself, and he killed someone and hid their identity to make it people think someone killed Haraguchi.

I know what everyone's wondering though, "What about DNA?" They cover that later but I'll just put it in spoilers
All they say is the DNA of the body matches the clothes and towel in the basket

juicedup fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Dec 29, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

PlaceholderPigeon posted:

It seems to be the obvious thing that the best reason to present the scene like this is to misdirect, especially with the saw, knife, etc, left unceremonously at the scene.

One thing on my mind to is about the discovery; the fact that Miss Pushy Subscription Collector(who drolly complains about not getting the fee before complaining about the body) found it seems like something the culprit could not expect- so I wonder when they actually had an expectation on who they'd want to discover the body and when. But that might be attributing too much intentionality.

The cut precision is an interesting wrinkle - given the last story I wonder if it will just be a red herring, but I wonder why the culprit cared to be so particular
about that, especially if they were using a hand saw in a tiny room.

Some translation nuance stuff:
So the shower room is one where the whole room one big prefab shower/bath setup? (I looked it up because its not something you really see in north america - would ユニットバス be the right term?)
Also I'm curious about the decapitation/dismembered exchange. Was it some sort of pun?

About body discovery, If it's Haraguchi who's the killer than he could have not paid for the paper on purpose and knew ahead of time when they would send a collector, but who knows, I mean they must have left the door unlocked for a reason. However my theory of the killer being Haraguchi falls apart when you consider the fact that the victim is indeed the one who took a shower. Unless Haraguchi had a trick up his sleeve for that aswell.

The precision of the cut is indeed quite interesting, but pretty simple, I had a light bulb pop up in my head as I read your question, thanks.
I think the culprit used a trick in order to not get blood on them while cutting off the limbs.Like maybe a bag over the hands of the victim?

The shower room is a japan thing I think, they keep their showers separate from their bathrooms because they're germaphobes. The Japanese word for shower room was 浴室(Yokushitsu)

Edit:
The decap/dismem stuff was something I did because the word for limbs in japanese also means neck, so I just did some localization and had the detective not know what decapitation means which would probably never happen, but still.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Nov 15, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?


"Can you tell me about Haraguchi's actions yesterday? What did Haraguchi do yesterday?"
"Well not much... At 9AM and 4 PM he went to get the newspaper, and in the afternoon he went and bought things at a nearby supermarket. Afterwards he stayed inside room 103 the whole time."

"Did anyone visit him?"
"No, no one. Ever since I started my watch from 8AM to 8PM, no one came to visit. It was just so boring..."
As expected it seems the culprit must have come by after Hachimoto finished his watch.

"Umm, is it okay if I ask you. When the time of death was?"
"Yesterday night from 11 to 12"
"From 11 at night to 12..."

"The culprit must have come by after 8 when you finished your watch. If you stayed and kept watch longer, then you probably could have seen the culprit"
"I could have seen the culprit..."
The private eye employee turns pale. A useless man from beginning to end.



Marunouchi points to the brown checkered long sleeved shirt, undershirt and blue jeans that are in the clothes basket and says,
"Are these the clothes that Haraguchi wore yesterday?"
"Since he was wearing a sweater, I don't know what he wore underneath, but I do recall brown his collar, so I think that long sleeve shirt is it. He definitely was wearing blue jeans."

Haraguchi being the one who took off his clothes into the basket seemed more and more believable.



"It looks like Haraguchi was at home most of the time yesterday, but what about before yesterday? Did he go anywhere or meet anyone?"
"When I first started watching him on the 26th, he went out to a cafe where he met with a young woman, then on the 27th Haraguchi's brother came to visit him for 30 minutes, then went home."



"What kind of woman did he meet on the 26th?"
"She was in her mid 20s, a beautiful woman with a long face. Haraguchi begged her for something, but the woman responded with a cold expression. I think that Haraguchi was trying to get back with her after being dumped, but the woman refused."



"Anything else?"
"There's not much. Haraguchi didn't really go out much whatsoever. On the mornings and evenings he goes to get the newspaper, on the daytime he buys things at a nearby supermarket, that's all he does. He didn't try to follow his daughter at all, like the client was worried about.

Every night after my watch is over I reported to the client about Haraguchi's actions but it was just an unthrilling repeat of saying, 'on the morning and evening he went to get the newspaper, and went to buy things during the daytime' over and over"
Marunouchi remembers the DVD and CD collection, the luxurious adio system, and the professional cookware. It seems Haraguchi Shinichi was an indoor type.



Afterwards, Marunouchi calls for Amano Tsukasa, and said to her and Hachimoto Ippei,
"Now, I have a request for you two. I'd like you to look at the body and confirm whether or not it is Haraguchi Shinichi's"

Suddenly Amano Tsukasa waves her hands furiously in front of her and says,
"I don't want to that. I seriously don't want to look at a dead body."
"Aren't you always seeing dead bodies though?"
"I'm telling you I don't want to see what I don't want to."

Hachimoto Ippei gives a big nod in agreement and says,
"I-I pass aswell. I absolutely dread headless bodies..."
"No one likes them. But your testimonies might help in identifying the body. I ask of you as a citizen's duty."

Marunouchi was able to coax the stubbornness of the two, and had them confirm the identity of the body. Tsukasa while starring at the body grumbles 'why does this always happen to me?' While Hachimoto Ippei gets one look at the body and becomes pale and falls down flimsily. It seems the girl is more resilient. Marunouchi closes the door and asked.

"Amano Tsukasa-kun. Is this the body of Haraguchi Shinichi who you take the newspaper fee from every month?"
The baby faced college student tilts her head and says,
"I-I Don't know... I only see him once a month for only a few seconds, I don't really remember what he looked like. And to make things worse he's like this..."

"Hachimoto-kun. Is this the body of Haraguchi who you've been keeping watch on since the 26th?"
The useless looking private eye employee says, "Th-There's no head, so I can't tell." and doesn't say anything else, his eyes turn white and falls unconscious.

Chapter 4
One Doubt



It's the following evening of February 1st. Tsukasa had finished her newspaper fee collecting and entered a cafe in order to take a break, she notices the figure of a lanky young man. Hachimoto Ippei with a solemn look was drinking coffee.

"Umm, you're Hachimoto-kun right?"
Tsukasa talks to him, and Ippei raises his head and says,
"Oh, you're that newspaper fee collector from yesterday aren't you? Amano Tsukasa, right?"
"Yeah. Well to put it clearly, I'm a part time newspaper fee collector, but I'm a full time college student.
Is it alright if I sit here?"
"Ah, feel free"

"What's with the long face, something on your mind?"
Ippei sighs.
"Actually, since Haraguchi Shinichi was killed I got in trouble by my boss. Haraguchi dying caused the job to end immediately, we could only charge the client partially, if Haraguchi stayed alive longer we could have charged them for weeks worth of payment, is how he put it.

But it's use telling me, right, it's not like I killed him, and he died after I was keeping watch, so there's nothing I could have done to prevent it either."

"Looks like your boss likes to ask for the impossible aswell, huh. You see, my newspaper boss yelled at me too"
"About what?"

"Why didn't you go to Haraguchi's place one day earlier, he said. If I was one day faster then he Haraguchi would have been alive, and there wouldn't be a loss of a month's fee."
Ippei breathes another sigh.
"Looks like we're both getting tormented by greedy bosses huh..."

"Actually, there's one doubt about that case that I've been thinking about."
"What kind of doubt?"

"The body had it's neck, wrists, and ankles dismembered, right. Which makes you think that the culprit wanted to hide that the body is Haraguchi Shinichi's by dismembering the head, hands and feet. If there's no head you can't see the face or get dental impressions, if there's no hands you can't get finger print or palm print, if there's no fee you can't get toe prints and shoe size, all of that hides the clues for determining identification, right.

But it's odd if you think about it. You go so far in order to hide that it's Haraguchi Shinichi, but if you leave the body in Haraguchi's room then the identity of the body is clearly apparent isn't it? So then there's no point of hiding the identity of the body. If you're going to hide the identity then you would leave the body somewhere else other than Haraguchi's room, wouldn't you?"

Ippei taken aback says,
"It makes sense if you put it that way.... If the culprit dismembered the arms, legs and feet to hide the identity, then why leave the body in Haraguchi's room?"
"Maybe, that body isn't Haraguchi Shinichi's?"
"...It's not Haraguchi's?"

"Haraguchi Shinichi dressed someone who looks a lot like him in his clothes and kills him, cuts off his head, hands and feet, hiding the body's identity, and leaves it his room to make it seem like the body is his. If you think about it that way then it can explain why the body was left in Haraguchi's room."
"That's quite an interesting thought."

"Right? I'm thinking of going to the police and have a talk with them. Marunouchi, the investigator from yesterday is a friend of mine."
"I'm going too. Having the person I was supposed to keep a watch on get killed makes it hard to sleep at night. I need to know the truth of this case as soon as possible."



Tsukasa and Ippei go to the main office of the police station, and call for Marunouchi, who they state the theory of the body not being Haraguchi's. Marunouchi with a fed up expression says,
"Sorry to say, but that body is indeed confirmed to belong to Haraguchi Shinichi. Haraguchi's brother, divorced spouse, and a woman he was seeing were all called and they confirmed it."

"They could have been lying."
"Don't underestimate the police. It wasn't determined by their testimonies alone. We had DNA profiling done aswell."
"DNA profiling?"



"We took a sample of various hairs that were all around apartment 103, and compared them with the DNA of the body, the results were a complete match. We also had Haraguchi's brother provide a sample of his hair which we compared with the DNA of the body showing a sibling relation. With all of this it's safe to assume that the one who was killed is Haraguchi."
"Is that so..."
There's nothing else that can be done since there's a DNA profiling confirmation.

"Oh right, there were undressed clothes and a used bath towel in a basket in the scene, right. Did Haraguchi Shinichi take a bath?"
"Correct. The clothes were confirmed to be worn by Haraguchi with Hachimoto-kun's testimony, and Haraguchi's brother testified that they were Haraguchi's clothes when we showed them to him. Moreover we took a DNA sample from the hairs on the clothes and bath towel and they matched with the DNA of the body.

Since Haraguchi was wearing pajamas, that means he was killed after taking a bath. Although to be perfectly clear, you can't say he 'took a bath' however"
"What do you mean?"

"The bathtub was dry, and there's no evidence of bathwater. Strictly speaking, the victim did not immerse himself in the bathtub, but took a shower."
"Is there a possibility that the culprit took a shower in order to wash off the blood on themselves after dismembering the body?"

"There isn't. The body took up the floor of the shower room after being dismembered, there wouldn't be any room for them to take a shower, besides it's psychological difficult to believe that someone would shower in the same place of a body they just dismembered. It can be concluded that the one who showered is the victim himself."

"So then, what did the culprit do about the blood that got on them?"
"Even if there was blood on them they could just wear a coat to hide it since it's winter. As for the blood on their hand, they washed the blood off in the sink of the kitchen. Because there was a luminol reaction detected from the sink.
Now, the police are very busy. Can ask you two to leave soon."




: Thanks to the police investigation we have the weapon, time of date, state of the scene and basic information regarding the case all confirmed
: What was the weapon?
: The cause of death was...
Question: What was the weapon?
Answer: Knife found at the scene
: The weapon was the knife that was stabbed into the left side of the chest.
: uh huh
: it seems the stab to the left side of the chest was practically instant death.
: The knife was left stabbed,and the saw they used to dismember was left behind...
: If only they'd leave behind their calling card
: now's not the time for jokes
: well, it does seem like they had no intention of concealment
: Except for the parts they dismembered, remember.
: Hmm.... we still haven't found the head, hands and feet either.
: If you're going to take the head and limbs why not just take the knife and saw while you're at it?
: Maybe because nothing else mattered except for the dismembered limbs
: yoshikawa-san, do you remember the time of death?
: Of course, the time of death is January, 30 at...
Question: When was the time of death
Answer: From 11 to 12
: January, 30th from 11PM to 12AM, isn't it.
: Right when the date was going to change.
: If Hachimoto-kun kept watching after 8PM he could have probably seen the culprit but...
: The problem which comes up is whether the victim really is Haraguchi Shinichi.
: The results of the DNA profiling say there's no mistake that the victim is Haraguchi
: And yet Tsukasa incessantly implores that dead body is not Haraguchi's
: Ugh... We still don't know
: yoshikawa-san, Let's read the rest!
: And then, prove my clean handed innocence if you would.
: I wouldn't mind if you prove Tsukasa-kun's modus operandi
: It wasn't me I tell you!
: Can we at least read quietly?

Chapter 4
Endou Ritsuko Testimony



It's the following morning of February 2nd, at around 10AM, Tsukasa and Ippei go to visit Endou Ritsuko.
The police determined that the body is Haraguchi Shinichi's, yet Tsukasa simply could not accept it. That is because an inconsistency arises from the act of purposefully trying to hide the identity of the body by cutting of the head, hands and feet, but in spite of all that, they leave the body in Haraguchi's room.

Accordingly, on the way home from the police station yesterday, Tsukasa proposed to Ippei to meet the 3 persons relating to the case who stated that the body was Haraguchi's. Since the following day would be her day off college and her newspaper fee collecting job aswell, she was free. Ippei said "I've already embarked on this ship. I'll join you" and agreed.

That's it for all the evidence, guys!
Up next is testimonies.

I'd love to hear some theories!

What do you guys think of my writting?
A little pretentious? I've been having fun googling synonyms

juicedup fucked around with this message at 09:13 on Dec 18, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

SimplyUnknown1 posted:

So the police have concluded that there was a DNA match between the brother and Haraguchi. Isn't it possible that Haraguchi killed his brother and then stole his identity? That would explain the DNA match.

It would also explain why the murder happened so late at night. If my younger sister called me over in the middle of the night because she needed me, I would go. So the brother could have gone as well and then was murdered by his own brother.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that doesn't seem to be possible, as shown in this next update



Endou Ritsuko lives on the eastern district, in an apartment called "Villa Ginza" on Kurisu street.
All of the balcony were large, the entrance utilizes an auto lock system, and there's an exclusive use multi story parking lot. It was far and away much more high class than her divorced husband Haraguchi Shinichi, that's all it took to show the difference in their income.

Ippei calls for Endou Ritsuko from the inter phone at the entrance.
"This is Hachimoto Ippei from the Iwashita detective agency"
"Ah, you're the detective that I asked to watch over Haraguchi aren't you. What brings you here?"

"We at the agency all feel terribly sorry over loss of Haraguchi-san. It's just I feel that if only I kept watch more properly, then the death of Haraguchi-san could have likely been prevented. And so as a remembrance of the dead, I'd like to carry out my own investigation..."
A pretext that Tsukasa thought of beforehand.

"I see. Thank you very much."
Endou Ritsuko without doubting Ippei's words accepted it easily, and released the auto lock system for them. They take the elevator to the 6th floor, ring the bell to room 606, and the door opens.

Endou Ritsuko being in her early 30s, had a very intellectual look to her which left an impression. She had traces of being emaciated, maybe due to the shock of her divorced husband being killed. There was an 8 to 9 year old girl glancing from behind Endou Ritsuko, when her eyes meet with Tsukasa's she showed a bashful smile and withdrew away.

"Is that your daughter?"
"Yes. Her name Rina. We had it so that at the end of every month Haraguchi would see her. Haraguchi was supposed to see her the following day after he was killed. Haraguchi was a hopeless man, but it's true he adored Rina, he always looked forward to visiting day. It's kind of tragic of him to be killed before he could see Rina..."



Tsukasa and Ippei are led to the dining kitchen. Tsukasa immediately gets the ball rolling with a question.
"When was the last time you two met?"
"The last time we met was one year ago, at a courthouse when we were consolidating the divorce. I never met him once after that. Although, we talked on the phone a couple of times"

"Then, when was the last time you talked on the phone?"
"The 19th of last month. When I heard from my daughter that Haraguchi persistently talked to her on her way to school to get her to live with him, I called him that night. I told him not to follow my daughter around, or else the visiting days will be canceled, to which Haraguchi reluctantly accepted. That's what caused me to to request a private eye."

"Did Haraguchi say anything else when you talked on the phone?"
This time Ippei asked the question.
"No, nothing... I told him not to follow Rina around, to which Haraguchi argued... It was a back and forth of that."

"Do you have any idea as to why Haraguchi was killed?"
"No... I don't really know what kind of life he led a year after our divorce. I learned about him getting fired two months ago from the prep school he worked at due to an incident, and heard where he lives from his brother, Kyouji-san, I don't know much else... This may seem cold of me but I didn't want to associate with Haraguchi any longer."

"Do you keep in contact with Haraguchi-san's brother?"
Tsukasa starts asking questions again.
"Yes. Actually Kyouji and I work together in the central surgery college hospital as a nurse, I see him often. Kyouji-san sympathized with me about our divorce, he has given me lots of advice."

"Pardon me but, what was the cause of the divorce?"
"Haraguchi and I were in the same Medical class, and we had a student marriage. I successfully graduated and passed the national doctor exam, and was on my way to being a doctor, but Haraguchi couldn't graduate... When I think about it, that was likely where things went downhill.

Afterwards Haraguchi became a math professor at a prep school, and he had resentment for not becoming a doctor which he washed away with alcohol and women, he also raised his hand at me in his drunken rage, I held on thinking he would settle down but it only got worse. I couldn't stand it any longer so I cut it off with a divorce."

"It seems you were called to identify the body by the police. What was your evidence for confirming the body was Haraguchi-san's?"
"Haraguchi had a 3 centimeter long scar on his right shoulder, the same scar was on the body"
"A scar on the right shoulder?"

"Haraguchi loved baths, he had a habit for taking baths for 20 to 30 minutes, about half a year before we divorced, he took a bath for too long and became dizzy, causing him to slip in the shower room and hitting the faucet on his right shoulder which caused a laceration. That's scar from that time. Afterwards he still liked baths the same amount, and ended up taking much longer then me..."

"This is going to sound like a very rude question but, do you remember what you were doing the night of the 30th from 11PM to 12AM?"
"Are you asking for an alibi?"
"N-No, not exactly..."

Endou Ritsuko makes a sad smile.
"Since it's my divorced husband that was killed, I guess it's only natural that I would be suspected. I think I was here reading a book from 11PM to 12 AM. My daughter was already sleeping, so I don't think I have someone to testify..."

That's all for chapter 5.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Dec 27, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Chapter 6
Haraguchi Kyouji's testimony



Tsukasa and Ippei ask Endou Ritsuko the address of Haraguchi Kyouji and go do see him. His place of residence is on the south district, in an apartment called "Residence Kawasaki" on Kah Street. It's lower in value compared to Endou Ritsuko's apartment, there is no auto lock system.

Tsukasa rings the bell of room 405, and an average sized man in his early 30s appears. His face is pale and has a nose bridge which makes him have a sharp looking face. He looks very similar to the pictures of Haraguchi Shinichi that have been shown on newspapers and news on the TV. However, this one wears glasses, and his whole aura is completely different.
"You're Haraguchi Kyouji, yes?"
Tsukasa asks, and the man nods.

"You're the man of the private eye agency that took Ritsuko-san's request aren't you. She talked to me a while ago on the phone about this."
"I thought that I would hold an independent investigation of my own, as a little commemoration for the dead..."
Upon saying that, it gives him a genuine feeling, which was strange to him. Tsukasa and Ippei were led to the dining kitchen.

"When was the last time you met your big brother?"
Asked Tsukasa



"It would have to on the 27th of January. I had a day off of work that day, so I went to see him at 3 in the afternoon. You see, when Rina-chan was on her way to school, my brother...
Ah, she's the daughter that my brother and Ritsuko-san had... I heard from Ritsuko-san that, my brother kept telling Rina-chan to go live with him, so I thought that I would have a little talk with him.

Ritsuko-san said she had someone from a detective agency keep an eye on him, but I was still worried, I thought that I would check up on him myself."

"How was your brother at that time? Was he different than usual?"
"He was grumbling up a storm about how Ritsuko-san called him about not following Rina-chan around. He was saying things like 'I'm the one who loves Rina more, why can't she live with me, the family court's rulings are wrong'.
But the reason he didn't get custody was because of his own doing. It's true that he loves Rina-chan, but because of his problems with women and alcohol, it didn't make for an environment to raise a child on. Compare that to Ritsuko-san's serious and upkept lifestyle, and her much more stable income. My brother has no reason to have custody."

"Did your brother say anything else?"
This time Ippei asked
"He didn't say anything... Ah, that's right. It seems the girl he was seeing dumped him, and he seemed a little down."

"What kind of girl was he seeing?"
"An office clerk from the Kaishin Prep School that he worked at 2 months ago, it seems."
"Do you know her name?"
"If memory serves right, I think her name is Morikawa Kotomi. I ran into them while they were out walking once. I was briefly introduced to her, and that's how I remember her name."

"Is she a pretty long faced girl in her mid 20s?"
"That's right. My brother used to popular with girls long ago, and he was always walking around with charming girls."

"It seems your brother's divorce was due to alcohol, women problems, and domestic abuse."
Tsukasa starts asking again.

"Yes. Even with a wife like Ritsuko-san, he would frequently dabble in women, and hit Ritsuko-san when he drank. I just had to do something, so I advised Ritsuko-san to think about getting a divorce. I see Ritsuko frequently at the central medical college of surgery where Ritsuko-san works as a nurse, I couldn't stand seeing her being depressed more day by day, you see."

"Do you have an idea as to why your brother was murdered?"
"A reason to murder him huh... Brother was lousy with women and booze, but he's unemployed, he's basically a childlike person. I don't think he ever wronged anyone enough to kill him."
That's when Haraguchi wrinkled his brow.
"You don't mean, you think Ritsuko-san killed my brother, do you?"
"No no,that's ridiculous."

"Ritsuko is someone who wouldn't even hurt a fly. First of all, she has no reason to kill my brother. Since the one who has custody of Rina-chan is Ritsuko-san after all"
"Of course I wasn't thinking of something so rash. By the way, you were called by the police to confirm the identity of the body weren't you. What was your basis for confirming that the body was your brother's?"

"It's not much of a basis... Well, it was the whole aura. Seeing as how we lived together until college, I know what my brother's aura is like. And also I heard from Ritsuko, half a year before they divorced he slipped in the tub and had a cut injury on his right shoulder, that scar was on the body aswell."


"I know this is a very rude question to ask, but do you remember what you were doing on the 30th from 11 to 12?"
Haraguchi's face becomes stiff.
"Are you suspecting me?"
"No, that's not it, it's just for reference..."

Even having been told that, Haraguchi didn't seem to believe it, yet he answers sincerely.
"I think I may have been at home. If I was working a night shift I would have an alibi, but unfortunately not."


Chapter 7
Morikawa Kotomi's Testimony



The Kaishin Prep School that Haraguchi used to work at two months ago was located in the north district, in front of Kuin station. It's a ten story building, at first glance you would think it's a hotel. Tsukasa remembers that she heard that the prep school was ready to be re-used as a hotel due to the declining birth rate.

Going into the first floor entrance, a reception woman was telling something to a student looking child. She's in her mid 20s, has a body of a fashion model, a beautiful woman with a long face and sharp eyes.

"That's the woman that Haraguchi Shinichi met at the cafe on the 26th..."
Ippei said while looking at her. Getting closer and casually looking at her name tag, showed that it had the name Morikawa Kotomi written on it just as predicted. When the boy left, Tsukasa talks to her.
"You're Morikawa Kotomi, right. We'd like to talk to you Haraguchi Shinichi if we could."

"...Who are you two?"
Morikawa Kotomi starred at Tsukasa and Ippei with caution.

"We're part of the Iwashita private eye agency. We were actually requested to keep an eye on Haraguchi-san. However, Haraguchi-san was murdered. Feeling that if I kept a better watch then his death could have been prevented, and as a way to commemorate the dead, I'm carrying out an independent investigation."
Ippei answered smoothly.

"What brings you to me?"
"The truth is, I saw you meet with Haraguchi-san on the 26th of January."
Morikawa Kotomi's face became faintly red.

"... I'll let you know, I don't have a relation to Haraguchi anymore. We've already parted ways."
"Yes, I'm aware of that. It's just that we were wondering if we could inquire about Haraguchi-san as a person. Would that be okay, seeing as how it's almost afternoon, we could talk while having lunch..."

Morikawa Kotomi's co-workers begin gazing at them with curiosity. Feeling the stare, Morikawa Kotomi let out a sigh.
"... I get it. If you leave here and go left in about 200 meters there will be an Italian restaurant called 'Trattoria Eco'. Wait there."



Tsukasa and Ippei go into the appointed restaurant and in about 10 minutes, a little after 12:05, Morikawa Kotomi arrived in the store. Kotomi ordered lunch.
"Was the last time you met with Haraguchi-san was on the 26th?"
Tsukasa asks just in case, to which Morikawa Kotomi nods with a "Yes".

"What was it you met for?"
"It was about breaking up. I broke up with him on the 10th of January. Then on the 25th he calls me asking me to meet with him just one more time... I lost my patience to his persistence, on the 26th I met him on my lunch at a cafe close to the prep school.
Just as I thought he badgered me saying, please get back together with me, I flatly refused. I was just so fed up with that man to the core. Then he says 'just you wait' as a parting shot and left the cafe. If you were watching Haraguchi then shouldn't you have seen that?"

"Yes, well. What part of Haraguchi-san made you get fed up with him?"
"That man, he's just so child like."
"Child like?"
"Yeah. Haraguchi is quite handsome, and has another side to him, I was charmed by that, I was seeing him since the summer of last year, after a while his childishness started rubbing me the wrong way."
"Such as?"



"His competitiveness would work in strange ways. He had a cat and dog relationship with a fellow teacher when he used to work at the prep school, the other teacher had a sports car that he bragged about and brought it to the school often. Then Haraguchi goes and buys a sports car that's one rank higher and drove that to school. He even put down all his saving so he could get a loan on that sports car. What an idiot.
And then, the assault incident happened. A student objected saying that Haraguchi's way of solving a math equation was off and they got into an argument, Haraguchi lost his composure and hit the student. That was it for him. I got fed up with this and that, I said we should just break up on the 10th."
"How did Haraguchi react when he heard that?"

"He was shocked for a while and couldn't even talk. Then with a shaky voice he asked why, to which I cited everything child like about him. Then I told him upfront that I'm with someone else I like. That this one isn't child like, he's a serious adult. He works for a big company, and he's an athlete who's good at surfing, much different than Haraguchi."

"Wouldn't that make Haraguchi-san terribly depressed?"
"Oh he was. But it's best to put it bluntly for his own good"
Morikawa Kotomi said nonchalantly as she twirls her fork into the tomato sauce pasta that was brought to her. Tsukasa felt a little pitiful for Haraguchi Shinichi.

"Did Haraguchi-san say anything else the last time you met?"
This time Ippei asked.
"He just persisted again to get back together. He didn't say anything else."

"Do you have an idea as to why Haraguchi-san would be killed?"
"There's no value in killing that man. I don't know who killed him but they must have a lot of time on their hands to purposefully kill someone like him."

Wow, how bitter, Ippei frowns. Tsukasa goes back to asking,
"You were called by the police to confirm the identity of the body. What was your basis for confirming the body was Haraguchi's?"

"It was very pale, and the figure looked like Haraguchi's. Also he had a scar on his right shoulder, which was on the body aswell. If you're wondering how that scar got there, he says it's because he took a bath for too long and sliped. I remember that he loved baths, he would take baths for a couple dozen minutes."

"I know this is a rude question, but do you remember what you were doing on the 30th from 11 to 12?"
Morikawa Kotomi glares at Tsukasa.
"That really is rude. Listen, I broke up with him. It's not like I was dumped by him. So why would I kill him?"

"No, we aren't suspecting that you killed him, we are only asking for reference..."
"I was at home. I live alone, unfortunately I wasn't with my boyfriend, so I don't have someone to testify."


: I see, so you couldn't accept the police's view so you started your own independent investigation huh.
: Yes, both me and Hachimoto-kun.
: First, you met with Haraguchi's ex wife, Endou Ritsuko right?
: Yes, she really was a bit shocked and looked depressed.
: There was something important that came up in the discussion.
: Do you mean... The basis for her confirming the body is Haraguchi's?
: Yes, I do.
: The basis for her confirmation was...
: The 3 inch scar on his right shoulder, right.
: Haraguchi slipped in the shower room once and cut himself on the faucet, it seems
: It looks like it's safe to think that the identity of this body is Haraguchi Shinichi's
: There was also a testimony about Haraguchi Shinichi wasn't there.
: Haraguchi Shinichi and Endou Ritsuko had a student marriage, he dropped out and became a teacher at a prep school.
: And then he dabbled in alcohol and women.
: We also learned that his brother, Kyouji works at the same hospital as Endou Ritsuko.
: Afterwards, you met with the victim's brother, Haraguchi Kyouji.
: Yes, But there wasn't any new information.
: I don't think so...
: First, we learned why Haraguchi Kyouji went to visit Shinichi's apartment on the 27th.
: Going by the testimony, Kyouji went to visit his brother to talk about him following Rina-chan.
: It seems Kyouji didn't think it was good that his brother was following around Rina-chan since Endou Ritsuko has the custody.
: And also, about Haraguchi Shinichi's recent break up.
: Morikawa Kotomi, who works as an office clerk at Kaishin Prep School.
: This is one big piece of information
: We immediately went to go see Morikawa Kotomi after that, but I was taken aback by her bitter personality.
: On the 26th, Morikawa Kotomi and Haraguchi Shinichi had a talk about breaking up.
: We understood the reason for why he stormed out
: The rest was the same as the other two.
: The scar on his right shoulder was because he liked baths, just like how the other two answered.
: Endou Ritsuko and Morikawa Kotomi, why did they chose a guy like him, I wonder.
: Love affairs have no formality or sense.
: I've been on the battlefield so I know what I'm talking about
: Leaving aside Marunouchi's romance lecture...
: Morikawa Kotomi, and Haraguchi Kyouji both say there is no reason for Haraguchi being killed.
: Well Morikawa Kotomi says there's no value in killing him.
: Do you think he wasn't such a bad person to make people hate him that much?
: Maybe so.
: Moreover, we learned that all of them have no alibis.
: They all seem suspicious...
: Let's keep going... There's only a bit left.


Chapter 8
The Reason For Dismembering



Morikawa Kotomi finishes her lunch and says, "I answered your questions, so treat me" and gets up from her seat. Ippei and Tsukasa were both left in Trattoria Eco, and decided to continue reviewing the case.

"What did you think of meeting Endou Ritsuko, Haraguchi Kyouji, and Morikawa Kotomi?"
Tsukasa asked Ippei
"They all have the stance that the body in room 103 is in fact Haraguchi Shinichi's in common"

"But if the body actually is Haraguchi Shinichi's, then why would the culprit leave a body without a head, arms, and feet that's unidentifiable in Haraguchi's room? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of cutting the head, arms and feet? That's a contradiction."

"Maybe the culprit didn't think that far. Moreover, even though the body was in Haraguchi's room, the police are convinced that the reason for dismemberment was to hide the body's identity."
"I am not going to depend on the police's judgment. There is an obvious contradiction in cutting the body apart to hide it's identity and leaving the body in Haraguchi's room"



Tsukasa points her fork at Ippei,
"Maybe the culprit didn't cut the head, arms and legs to hide the identity. Because we think that they tried to hide the identity is why it causes a feeling of contradiction. Then rather, the reason for cutting the head, hands and feet was not to hide the identity.
Why don't you think of it that way?"

"If it wasn't for hiding the body, then what reason would there be for dismembering?"
"Maybe because it would be disadvantageous for the culprit if the head, arms and legs remained?"
"Meaning?"

"If the head, arms and feet had disadvantageous traces left on them for the culprit. Let's start by separating the traces that would be disadvantageous to the culprit by the possibility of them being ones that are innate or ones that are acquired.
"Huh? Wait a second. I don't get it."

"It's not really that hard. Innate traces that would be disadvantageous for the culprit would simply be put as, appearance, fingerprints, palm prints, foot prints, and foot size, stuff that would discern individual people. If the culprit was trying to hide the victim's identity, then those would be considered traces that are disadvantageous for the culprit, right?"
"But..."

"Right, the culprit wasn't trying to hide the identity right now.
Let's use that premise as we deduce further. So right now we don't need to think of innate traces as disadvantageous to the culprit.
Now let's think of the possibility of acquired traces being disadvantageous to the culprit. Basically a trace that's disadvantageous to the culprit that was inflicted to the victim's body."



"An acquired trace that was inflicted...?"
"Take this possibility for example,
It seems like the weapon that took Haraguchi's life was the knife, but what if before that he received an injury to his head, arms or feet by a different weapon. What if that weapon left a unique injury that it would show who the culprit is?"
"Something that would reveal who the culprit is?"

"Like a cane that the culprit always walks around with. If Haraguchi received a blow from a cane to his head, arms or feet, that would reveal who the culprit is. In order to prevent that, the culprit cut off all parts with the traces of blunt force."

"But, Haraguchi's head, arms and feet were all cut off. If you're theory just now is correct, then Haraguchi would have taken damage in all 5 parts. Can you really think that?
Wouldn't the culprit who's swinging a weapon focus on a specific part to hit. I don't think that his head, hands and feet which are all far apart from each other would all sustain injury from a weapon".
It's just as Ippei said. He looks absent minded, but he can be sharp witted, Tsukasa thought better of him.

"Then, what if Haraguchi had an illness, and the symptoms showed on his head, arms and feet,
How's that possibility? If that illness were to be found out, it would be disadvantageous for the culprit, so the culprit cut off all the parts were the symptoms showed."
"Why would Haraguchi's illness be disadvantageous to the culprit?"

"What if the culprit was Haraguchi's doctor? The culprit misdiagnosed, and when they realized it Haraguchi's illness was already at a point of being incurable. If they didn't do anything about it, then they would be held responsible for misdiagnosing. In order to prevent that, they kill Haraguchi and take away his head, arms and feet where the symptoms show. One of the people involved in the case is a doctor right."

"The ex wife Endou Ritsuko huh."
"Yeah. She's the culprit. She diagnosed her husband."
"But, if Haraguchi's illness was to the point of being incurable, then wouldn't symptoms show in various parts of the body, not just the head hands and feet, they would have been found during the autopsy. First of all is there even a unique illness where symptoms only show on the arms hands and feet?"

"I guess you're right..."
"Now that we've thought about it, there really isn't a reason why leaving the head, hands and feet would be disadvantageous to the culprit is there."
As Tsukasa became staggered by Ippei's rebuttal, she says,
"Then on the contrary. What if the head hands and feet had a merit for the culprit, and they took them because they were necessary?"

/
I'll just stop here, so far this is one crazy impossible murder.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Dec 28, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

PlaceholderPigeon posted:

Well that dismemberment discussion sure went far~

Still feels like the purported victim has the best motive for this, especially considering all the poo poo that went down in his life just before the time of the murder.

Looking at the meeting with Kotomi while considering that is quite curious. Having not seen her since the 10th, he calls her just before the time of the incident...for what end? If this was a planned identity swap, it would have had to been already in motion. Best guess I can say is because she would recognize him and say he was there - but wouldnt know his brother maybe?

Aside from that the ex-wife hasn't actually met him in a year, so the amount of people who know him and have seen him recently is very slim. Maybe a chance to use the time gap to make himself look more like his brother.

I'm aslo curious whether or not Haraguchi knows about the surveillance too~ and if theres a hole to be found there if not.

e: The idea of someone taking the limbs/head for..purposes is real weird too

The fact that the method of murder makes it seem like impossible to be self inflicted, could probably mean that Haraguchi used it to his advantage, and him having a brother that looks very similar to him just makes it all the more possible for a bait and switch.
The only problem is the scar on his shoulder. But still, in this game the more evidence there is to support something, means it's more of a possibility of a trick.
This would be like the third time we guessed what would happen before we even finish the whole story.
I hope that doesn't happen though.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
I'm very glad to present the following update, this one gives answers to some of our theories, and even puts a wrench in everything we thought would happen, too.




"You mean the head, hands and feet were worth something to them?"
"Let's say the culprit is someone of abnormal taste, and took Haraguchi's head, hands and feet for their collection."
Ippei makes a face that says he can't believe it.
"Who would want to have a collection of men's corpses?"

"What about Morikawa Kotomi. She says she broke up with Haraguchi, but it's possible that she was actually the one who was dumped. She couldn't let Haraguchi go, so she kills him, and as a way to remember him, she takes his head, arms and feet by dismembering them. Like a type of fetish"



"But on the 26 of January when Haraguchi and Morikawa Kotomi met, it definitely looked like she was the one who ended the relationship. She has no motive to kill Haraguchi."
"I guess so... Then, what if Haraguchi head, arms and feet had something valuable in them, and that's what the culprit wanted?"
"Something valuable? Are you saying he had like Romanov dynasty diamonds in him or something?"

"Unlikely, huh."
Then, all of a sudden an idea sparked in the back of Tsukasa's mind
"... I thought of something amazing. The culprit used Haraguchi's head, arms and feet to make it look like there was only one person."
"Huh?"

"They combine the head, arms and feet with stuffed clothes to make a type of doll. It makes whoever sees it from far away think that there's a person there, while that happens the culprit could be somewhere else committing some crime. Because the head, arms and feet are real that makes it totally believable, and if you look at it from afar it should seem like an actual person. That's how the culprit would establish their alibi.
Although the doll has Haraguchi's face, the only one who can make an alibi is someone who has a face similar to his; Haraguchi's brother, Kyouji"

Ippei starred in wonder at Tsukasa.
"You know, you say some unexpectedly crazy stuff for someone like yourself. However, there haven't been any crimes so to speak of around Kyouji that he needed to forge an alibi for. There would be no purpose for your so called doll as long as no crimes have occurred. If there's no purpose for it, then I don't think he would make the doll."
"I guess so..."

"There really isn't a thinkable reason that the culprit dismembered the limbs of Haraguchi Shinichi other than hiding his identity after all. An acceptable reason doesn't exist at all."
"But if you're going to hide his identity, then leaving the corpse in Haraguchi's room is wrong..."

Chapter 9
Who is the culprit?



"Let's leave the problem of why the head, arms and feet were dismembered up in the air for now, as we try to think about the problem of who the culprit could be."
Ippei suggested.
"From our examination just now about the reason for dismembering, 3 candidates who could be the culprit came up; Endou Ritsuko, Haraguchi Shinichi, and Morikawa Kotomi. Why don't we examine the possibility of the culprit being one of these 3 in more detail."

"Examining who the culprit is heavily relies on factors like alibis and motives, right."
"And neither of the three have established alibis, do they. All three of them said that they were at their house on the 30th from 11 to 12, but there is no one to testify that. Motive is the problem..."



"First, Endou Ritsuko, right. She was so worried about Haraguchi Shinichi getting close to her daughter that she killed him.
How's that possibility?"
"Isn't it odd that she would kill him in just five days after requesting Iwashita private eye agency to watch Haraguchi? If she wanted to kill him, then she wouldn't request a private eye in the first place, if she made the request she would want to keep a bit more closer track of his movements.
Moreover, ever since the request through the 30th, Haraguchi never tried to approach his daughter, because Endou Ritsuko acknowledged my reports I don't think she would have an intent to kill."

"Okay then, next is Haraguchi Kyouji. Since brothers usually don't get along well, it's not impossible that they got into a sibling fight that escalated into murder, however, the problem is if they've been living as brothers for at least 30 years, why would it happen now, huh.
Could there have been some sort of trigger for it perhaps... Yes. He felt sympathy for his ex sister-in-law, he even advised her to divorce his brother, could it be that Kyouji likes Endou Ritsuko? If that were the case, then when he heard that his brother is getting close to his daughter on her way to school and causing Ritsuko to become worried, that caused anger toward his brother to the point of exploding and killing him.
How's that possibility?"

"If he heard that he was getting close the daughter on her way to school and causing Ritsuko to become worried, then he also should have heard about her requesting to Iwashita Private Eye Agency afterwards. If so, then just like Endou Ritsuko, Kyouji should not have a thinkable reason for killing his brother."

"Then, how about Morikawa Kotomi..."
"She stressed it herself, she was the one who broke up with Haraguchi, Haraguchi didn't break up with her. Therefore it's unthinkable that would have a motive to kill Haraguchi. There's no doubt that Morikawa Kotomi was the one who broke up with Haraguchi from what I saw in the cafe on 26th."
It's possible that she couldn't stand Haraguchi persistently trying to get back together so much that she kills him, but from what I saw of Morikawa Kotomi, she seems like the type of girl who could easily manage."

Tsukasa sighs.
"None of them have a motive to kill Haraguchi in the end."
It was then. An unthinkable deduction lit up in the back of Tsukasa's mind.

"...I've just noticed something. There's a contradiction between what Marunouchi told us yesterday about the state of the scene, and the information we've just gathered."
"A contradiction? Is that true?"



"It's likely that Haraguchi took a bath because of the clothes that were in the undressing basket and the bath towel he used. And because the bathtub was dry, Haraguchi didn't actually take a bath, but likely took a shower instead
This is the state of scene that Marunouchi told us isn't it."
"Yeah, that's right"

"Yet, before when we visited Endou Ritsuko, she said, 'Haraguchi loved baths, he would be in there for 20 to 30 minutes'. Not just that, Morikawa Kotomi said that he loved baths so much that he would take them for dozens of minutes. Two women that he was intimate with said so, therefore Haraguchi loving baths is a proven fact.

Isn't it weird that Haraguchi being that kind of person would only take a shower?"
"... If you put it that way, then yeah."
"If it was Haraguchi, he wouldn't just take a shower, we would have bathed as well. Yet him only taking can mean only one thing."
"What would that be?"

"The person who bathed was not Haraguchi."
"Huh.....?"
"Moreover, the hair and DNA on the undressed clothes and towel means whoever the dead body is was the one who used the shower room. If the person who used the shower isn't Haraguchi, the dead body is not Haraguchi's."

Ippei opened his mouth, flabbergasted.
"The dead body isn't Haraguchi's...? Then who could it be?"
"Someone as pale as Haraguchi, and someone with the same build as him.
His brother Kyouji."
"Ah.... But, the DNA profiling proved that the dead body is Haraguchi Shinichi's"



"I wonder if it really was proven. The body's DNA matched with hairs that were all around room 103. And when Haraguchi Kyouji submitted a hair sample, it showed that there was a sibling relation. The body was regarded as Shinichi's because of this.
However, what if the hairs around room 103 were all actually Kyouji's? Maybe the culprit purposefully placed Kyouji's hairs around.
Now, what if the 'Haraguchi Kyouji' who submitted the sample was actually Shinichi, and the body they think is Shinichi's is actually Kyouji's? Even in that case, both of their DNA would establish a sibling relationship between their DNA. The DNA profiling only proves that they are brothers, it doesn't disprove that they switched places."

"Ah, yeah.... But the body being declared as Haraguchi Shinichi's isn't just from DNA profiling. Haraguchi Shinichi has a scar on his right shoulder, and that was on the body as well."

"There's lots of ways you can fake that kind of scar. The one who had the scar in the first place was originally Kyouji. When Haraguchi thought about switching with his brother, he made the scar on his right shoulder too. Endou Ritsuko said that half a year before the divorce, Shinichi slipped in the bath and hit his right shoulder on the faucet making a scar, but Shinichi was planning on switching with his brother ever since then.

Shinichi is part of the medicine field, so he knows about medical science, so if he turns into Kyouji who's a nurse, he wouldn't have to worry about getting found out."

"I see.... Now that I think about it, on the 26 of January, when his brother Kyouji came to visit, I even thought that Shinichi went outside all of a sudden, that's how much they look the same. It may be possible that they switched, just as you say. If so... the 'Haraguchi Kyouji' we just met was actually Shinichi?"

"Exactly. He changed into Kyouji and talked badly about Shinichi, his own self, in order to give the impression that he is Kyouji.
Let's sum up Haraguchi Shinichi's crime. A few days before the crime he vigorously cleans apartment room 103 from top to bottom, then after a few days he makes his brother use room 103, and his clothes as well. By doing that, Kyouji's hairs are placed all around the room.

The police compared the DNA of hairs left around the room with the body when they discovered the body in order to identity the body, right. Haraguchi Shinichi thought ahead and had Kyouji live in room 103 for a while. Then, at the night of the crime, Haraguchi Shinichi visits room 103 and kills his brother and dismembers his head arms and feet, to make it look like his own body."

"He made Kyouji use room 103, you say...? Then...."
"Right, the Haraguchi Shinichi you were keeping an eye on was actually Kyouji."
"When exactly did they switch?"

"On the 26th of January Morikawa Kotomi met with Haraguchi, but we can safely asume that was the real Haraguchi Shinichi. If it were Kyouji, Morikawa would catch on for sure. Meaning the switch had to happen after that. On the 27th, Kyouji came to visit, I think this is when the switch occurred. He has his brother live in room 103 as Shinichi, and left in Kyouji's clothes."

"So, you mean they switched places right when I was keeping watch..."
"Haraguchi didn't go out much after the 27th except for getting the newspaper and buying food in the daytime, he would always stay inside, right? Because they switched places, Kyouji would refrain from going out in order to prevent from getting noticed by acquaintances of his brother, I think.

The only hole in Haraguchi Shinichi's plan is that Kyouji is different than him in that he doesn't like baths, but instead takes showers. That's how the body not being Shinichi's but Kyouji's was found out by this keen eyed detective girl."



"You're still married to that theory of the body not being Haraguchi Shinichi's?"
Marunouchi said annoyed 30 minutes later in a room of the investigating jurisdiction's headquarters after listening to Tsukasa's deduction.

Tsukasa nods and says,
"If you think about it, the results of the DNA test aren't reliable. If the hairs all around room 103 were all of Kyouji who was living there for a few days, and if the man who says is Kyouji is actually Shinichi, then the DNA results wouldn't work."

"Don't think lightly of the police. In order to further confirm the identity of the body, the police had an investigation to find any DNA of Haraguchi Shinichi."
"Huh...?"

"What we found was that a girl who was a student of Shinichi, had the hots for Shinichi when he was a prep school teacher, and took a hair of Shinichi's as a charm to pray for a passing score that she snuck into a locket. It was a complete match when we compared the DNA extracted from that hair with the body's."
"Maybe the hair that the girl took of Shinichi was actually Kyouji who was in disguise."

"That's out of the question. It seems the girl took the hair after a math lecture aimed for an entry exam for high level colleges. Kyouji could not have conducted that lecture. It seems Kyouji's math scores in college were poor. Basically, the hair the girl got was from the real Shinichi. Meaning that it's safe to asume that the body is indeed Shinichi."

"The body was actually Shinichi's..."
Tsukasa muttered dumbfounded. She felt like she heard her own dedction fall apart with a crumbling sound.

/That's the whole book of this case. All the rest is up to us.
I will bold keywords in the next update. The fact that Tsukasa of all people brought up the switch theory means that it's likely there was no switchery.
We're back to square one. I have no idea how to even start with this. It's like all possibilities have been discussed already in the game.

Kangra posted:

Rina-chan wanted to be with him so much that she cut off his head and appendages, then built a doll out of them (obviously she couldn't carry his whole body out). Check her toy box.

The odd insistence that only the victim could have taken the shower is a bit puzzling. It's hard to tell if this is just misdirection or not. I suppose it may just be pointing in the direction of how to discover evidence if some bloody clothes are discovered.

It's strange that they don't mention any other non-matching DNA hair samples. One would expect the brother, and possibly some women to be in the place too. Maybe even Tsukasa if she makes it a habit of wandering into people's houses.

I'd love to say it's possible, that Rina chan, but she has an alibi that she was sleeping, otherwise case closed.

And yeah it seems the shower plays a big part in this case some loving how.

juicedup fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Dec 28, 2017

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

Random_Username posted:

I won’t have time to look back over the details until later, but I was curious if we have any good hints that ignore the identity thing? The whole brother angle makes the case a bit too binary: either the body belongs to the brother and the “victim” is guilty, or it doesn’t and the case has actual suspects.

I know when I was reading through it, the last case tripped me up too since I was caught up on the fact that the alcohol was spilled and only the friend could have done it. Entirely irrelevant to the case.

It seemed to me like the writer is trying to throw the reader off by making us focus on identity when we should be focusing on something else entirely..






Apologies for the hiatus. Life, you know.


Yoshikawa: This must be the end of the Akasha article
Yoshikawa: The logic of ace detective Tsukasa-kun was quite something, I must say.
Tsukasa: Huh?
Tsukasa: So you're trying to say that my deduction isn't wrong, is it!?
Marunouchi: It's not out of the boundaries of conjecture.
Marunouchi: Seeing as how no evidence was raised to prove that Tsukasa is innocent.
Marunouchi: You haven't budged from the list of suspected people.
Tsukasa: That's unjust arrest! Help me, policemen!!
Marunouchi: I'm the policeman!
Tsukasa: ......
Tsukasa: Help me, policemen who're nice and understanding!!
Marunouchi: drat brat!
Yoshikawa: Now now... Calm down you two.
Tsukasa: I can't be calm!
Tsukasa: I'll be considered the culprit at this rate you know!?
Tsukasa: Are you okay with that? That's not good!
Tsukasa: Yoshikawa-san!
Tsukasa: Please solve this cleanly! Smoothly! And Pronkly!
Yoshikawa: ...Pronkly?
Yoshikawa: ...Well, at any rate, I cannot produce an answer on the spot
Yoshikawa: During reasoning, you must accumulate ample information, and discard information which is absolutely improbable.
Tsukasa: Then what'll happen?
Yoshikawa: Even that which is so unbelievable is left as the undeniable truth
Yoshikawa: That's why I have no intention of hurrying to a conclusion until I put all the information under scrutiny
Marunouchi: That's all well and good, but those aren't your own words are they?
Marunouchi: It's from Sherlock Holmes isn't it? Acting like a hot shot detective.
Yoshikawa: However the meaning of those words are deep... Don't you think?
(Yoshi, you're such a loving dork)
Yoshikawa: In order to reach the singular truth I can't let a single word get away
Yoshikawa: You never know what page hides a clue within it.
Tsukasa: I understand!
Tsukasa: Yoshikawa-san, I appreciate it!
Tsukasa: Cleanly accumulate, smoothly discard, and pronkly scrutinize to solve it, please!
Yoshikawa: ....Whether or not I do it in that sort of way
Yoshikawa: I will make the truth clear.



That's it for the dialog.

Might as well just translate the recap on the characters that the game offers, and hey, at least we get some sort of art of them.

First up,

Haraguchi Shinichi:
Ex spouse of Endou Ritsuko. Early 30s. His corpse was found in the shower of his home.
(I can't belive the game is stating as a fact that he's the victim!)


Haraguchi Kyouji:
Younger brother of Haraguchi Shinichi. Is a nurse at the same College Hospital that Endoo Ritsuko works as.


Morikawa Kotomi:
Mid 20s. Works as a clerk at a prep school. Used to see Haraguchi Shinichi, but cut off the relationship herself.


Iwashita Kensuke:
Chief of Iwashita Private Eye Agency.


Nagayama Junko:
Secretary at Iwashita.


Hagimoto Ippei:
Young staff member at Iwashita.


Amano Tsukasa:
An aspring photographer college student. Currently a part time newspaper fee collector.


Endou Ritsuko:
Surgeon in her early 30s. Divoriced Haraguchi Shinichi, lives together with her daughter.


Endou Rina:
The child of Endou Ritsuko and Haraguchi Shinichi. In 3rd grade.


We move on to the questions that the games asks us to answer.
I'm not doing images this time, there's no point and it takes too long.

Questions 1 (Red):
The victims head, arms, and legs were dismembered.
Pick one epiphany that explains why the culprit did this.


Question 2 (Yellow):
The victim's wrists, and ankles were cut at equal positions, this was caused by some person's "certain purpose".
What was that purpose?
Chose one epiphany.

Question 3 (Blue)
There were various unnatural aspects at the scene of the crime.
Based on question 2, chose 2 epiphanies that show the reason.

Question 4 (yellow):
What is, "the cause that lead the culprit to commit the murder in the first place"?
Chose one epiphany that show's why.

Question 5:
Who is the culprit

So yeah. Pretty complicated one.
I get the feeling that we are supposed to work backwards from the question.
I guess we should start with the first one, since we still don't know why they cut him up.
If we can answer at least that, then I'd say we made good progress.

Now, first thing's first.
Raise a question/mystery.

That mystery was created by using the keyword There's five decapitations from this update Where Marunouchi is investigating the scene.

Mystery: Why were five limbs of the body dismembered?
: The victim wasn't simply decapitated, his arms and legs were dismembered too.
: Just why did they have to go and cut him up and take it all for, I wonder
: Is it really for hiding the identity....
: ....What was the purpose of dismembering the five limbs? That's the point of this case.

Now that we have the mystery to answer the first question, I move on to making epiphanies or ideas.

Here's the first one I came up with, and the one we're all too familiar with.
Who knows, it may actually be the answer. Which would kind of be a twist in itself.

We combine the "dismember mystery" with the keyword dismembered the limbs in order to hide the identity of the body https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3817565&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post478365700] from the same update[/url]

Red Epiphany: The body was dismembered in order to hide the identity
The culprit may have dismembered the body in order to hide it's identity.
Meaning that there is a possibility that the body is not Shinichi's.
: Just as you surmised officer Marunouchi, it may be that the culprit dismembered the body in order to hide it's identity.
: Of course. Parts are parts.
: If that's true, then maybe the victim really isn't Haraguchi Shinichi, but someone else.


Red Epiphany:
The body was dismembered in order to put the body in the freezer.

made by combining the dismember mystery with an ice tray and an insertable ice pillow bag from chapter 4
(Ice pillows are apparently a japan only thing, it's self explanitory, they're just pillows with some gel in them that you put in the freezer to keep you cool in summer night)

: Maybe, because the culprit wanted to put the body in the freezer, they emptied it, and dismembered the body aswell.
: Did they plan to hide it and stall when it would be discovered?
: However, in the end they took the dismembered limbs and left the body in the shower room...

Pretty ridiculous, we can probably discard it. Unless freezing a body can throw off an autopsy report, but I wouldn't think so.

Red Epiphany:
Because there were disadvantageous traces left, they dismembered and took away the limbs.
If the purpose wasn't to hide the identity, then there must have been disadvantageous traces left on the five limbs, so they took them away.

Made by combining the dismembering mystery with limbs had disadvantageous left for the culprit from Chapter 8 where they discuss the reason for dismemberment.

: Because there were disadvantageous traces they cut and took away the limbs...
: They left the weapon, body and the rest didn't they.
: The disadvantageous trace they took away must have been something very important.
: There's no doubt that would show who the culprit is.
: We may have to think about what kind of tracce it was with a different point of view

Red Epiphany:
They dismembered because there was a unique wound
There may have been a unique wound on five of the limbs that would show who the culprit is.
It's possible that in order to hide those wounds, they dismembered them.

: It's possible that the culprit dismembered the five limbs in order to conceal a unique wound that would show who the culprit is.
: Maybe it has something to do with why the cutting positions match up.
: We need to think about how the culprit wounded the victim, don't we.

That's all the epiphanies that I could find on my own.
The last two are probably the most promising. But I still can't for the life of me think about how five limbs would get wounded in such a way.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

Random_Username posted:

If it’s implying there were 5 similar wounds to each of the limbs, then I have no clue. I was going to guess that maybe it was actually a suicide and the victim had cut his wrists? Insurance scam to get the payout?

The next possible guess is that the body was tied, then moved? Rope marks on 4 limbs, get rid of the head for identity purposes?

These are complete guesses. I’m not sure anything in the text would really support it.

Keep in mind these aren't all the red epiphanies, these are just the ones that I could find.

If you see any interesting keywords that you want me to combine with the mystery, then let me know.
I have the game on my psp so I won't have to fire up my pc.

Also, if anyone's in favor of me just looking up an answer that we get stuck on then I'll look it up so that we can move on.
I was thinking of doing a sort of time limit thing, like say 48 hours per question?
Then that way we'll be done with this LP within a week.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

Kangra posted:

The specific cuts makes me want to investigate the surgeon ex-wife. One could imagine that someone used to cutting flesh would know precisely where to cut. Can we combine with her or mentions of the hospital?

Alternately, there was some method used that resulted in them being cut that way as an incidental effect; that just doesn't seem likely given the crime scene, however.

The third option, somewhat suggested already, is that only one of the locations is important, but the limbs were cut in the same way to conceal which part it was. One possible thought I had is that the brother swaps identities but requires the fingerprints for some security reason.

Still no clue on motive, however. Possibly he wanted to back out of some ongoing identity scheme, and the killer couldn't allow that to happen.

Interesting, they did mention something about the limbs "having value" in the discussion, but we'll need to prove it somehow.


RedMagus posted:

48 hours sounds like a good time limit.

Would it be too much to ask for a keyword list, just for reference sake?

I ran the updates through text mechanic.com and used the "remove lines not containing" button with the bold code

I'll remove some of the fluff later if I feel like it.

chapter 1:link
Hagimoto Ippei is a man of misfortune.
Ippei works at a private detective agency, but he is know as a misfortunate man even there. If he were to tail someone he would fall in a manhole, and lose the target. If he were to listen in on someone, he would get bit by the house dog, kick it by reaction, then have to pay indemnities. Because of that, the chief declared that if he makes another mistake then he'll get the axe.
Ippei always lamented that he was born under an unlucky star, but he's about to meet his worst misfortune of all. That being getting caught in a murder case of all things. But it's not all bad, seeing as how he was able to get acquainted with the weird but charming Amano Tsukasa.
It's January, 26th at 9:30 in the morning.
Looking around he sees that all other 10 staff desks are empty. The only one left is the secretary, Nagayama Junko.
"Sorry. I overslept because I got really into a videogame last night... Is everyone else out at work?"
"Yes. Everyone's already outside"
Speak of the devil and whatnot, that's when the staff room door opens and Iwashita Kensuke showed his bulldog face. When he looks around the deserted staff room, and sees only Nagayama and Ippei, he starts to show a look of disappointment, then calls Ippei over to him an quite a reluctant way. Ippei stands with a tremble.
"Listen, don't mess this one up. If you mess up, you're getting the boot"
Following Iwashita to the reception room, a smart looking woman in her early 30s is sitting on the sofa. Though plain, the navy blue suit she's wearing looks expensive.
The woman said in a quiet and calm tone, as she takes out her business card. On there it says Central Hospital College of Internal Medicine.
"That's correct. I want you to see that the husband I left does not get close to my daughter."
"Yes. We divorced one year ago. It was because of his drinking, frivolity, and domestic abuse that led to me having custody of our daughter, he gets to see her at the end of every month. Is what we decided but he broke the promise, almost everyday he has talked to my daughter when she's on her way to school, even asking her to go live with him.
I heard this from my daughter one week ago, I called my husband and threatened him not to approach her again, if not I'll stop letting him see her every month. He reluctantly agreed, and stopped approaching her, but I'm worried he will do it again...
"He's currently unemployed. 2 months ago he was a math teacher for an prep school, until he hit a student and got fired..."
"I would like for it from when I leave for work at 8 in the morning, to when I get back home 8 at night. Other than school she will be alone by herself, and he might try to get to her then. So please keep an eye on her to make sure he doesn't."
"Please take care of it. And if you could call me to report what happened that day after the lookout at 8PM."
"For now I would like one month."

rest of chapter 1 + beginning of chapter 2: link

Takanashi Heights is a 5 story apartment that faces a two lane street.
There is no secured lock entrance system of course.
on the left side a chest high wall,
to the right are five doors lined up.
He looks through the gap of room 103 where Haraguchi lives,
and notices that it's not locked. It seems Haraguchi is inside.
he sees that there is a parking lot on the other side of the chest high wall, and a two lane road in front of that.
He sees that there is a cafe called Charade on the other side of the road. The window seat of that cafe should be a good look out point to see the 103 room door.
After 11:40, the door of 103 opens, and a man wearing a beige overcoat appears.
but the Haraguchi that went through that door was like a dissolute shadow. He could imagine what life he led after the divorce.
Haraguchi took a relaxed pace walking for five minutes, and then enters a cafe in front of Kuin station. Ippei entered aswell. He sees Haraguchi sitting by the window in a box seat. He might take notice if he gets too close, so Ippei sits down at the counter instead.
The person who entered the store was a woman in her mid 20s. Although she's quite thin, and has a long face, even so she is quite a beautiful woman.
Haraguchi Appeals something of her, to which the woman answers coldly. That continues a bit longer, until Haraguchi says one last thing with a grim look in his face, and stands from his seat. Ippei takes a drink from his coffee, then starts quickly following.
That day's afternoon was spent keeping an eye on room 103's door. However the only time Haraguchi went out the door was at 4PM to get the evening paper, he didn't come out after that.
That's could be who he's seeing at the moment. Haraguchi used to be pretty popular with girls"
"Correct. There was no sign of him trying to close to your daughter."
It's the next morning of the 27th at 8AM.
Later, in the afternoon Haraguchi exits his room again. Because he's wearing a down jacket, surely that means he is going out somewhere. Ippei hurries and exits Charade, then tails Haraguchi.
With a relaxed pace he walks to a shopping district, and enters a supermarket. There was a slight feeling of sorrow given off from the sharp faced man by himself walking around the store while carrying a shopping basket.
Ippei takes a shopping basket aswell and nonchalantly follows Haraguchi. Haraguchi buys a can of meat sauce and a six pack of beer, then returns to Takanashi Heights. Ippei also returns to the window seat in Charade and continues his look out.
It's 3 in the afternoon, and a black coated man stands in front of the door of room 103, and rings the doorbell. Ippei sees the side of his face and is immediately bewildered, and though it was strange that Haraguchi was outside all of a sudden. But when he squinted his eyes, it was someone else. His body, skin and facial features resembled Haraguchi, but this one is wearing glasses, moreover there's a completely different aura about him.
Haraguchi opens the door, he exchanges words with the man and lets him in. Just who could it be? If he resembled him that much then it could be a sibling. The man comes out after around 30 minutes, then exits the apartment.
"A man who looks a lot like Haraguchi? That has to be his little brother Kyouji-san."
Ippei is at the window seat of Charade the following morning of the 28th at 8AM. Unbearably dozy he yawns over and over. Having been engrossed in a game last night, he stayed up late. The waitress must have lost interest, since she pays no heed to Ippei.
At 9:00 AM Haraguchi comes out of room 103 like always, and goes to the mailbox like always, returning with the newspaper in hand. He goes back into his room as his pale face yawns.
It is the 30th of Janurary, 10 in the morning. Tsukasa stops her bicycle in front of an apartment building called Takanashi Heights. Tsukasa is a part time subscription fee collector, and Haraguchi of room 103 is one of those subscribers.
Tsukasa rang the doorbell. She waited a while, but no one answered. No matter how many times she rang it no one came out. She peeps into the gap of the door and sees that the door isn't locked, meaning that there's no mistake about them being inside. So they think pretending to be away will work. Tsukasa thought so as she opened the door and shouted.
As soon as she steps inside, she was inside the kitchen, no was there. She could see a living room is in the back, but there was no one in there either. However there was a slight fishy odor in the air in the room.
While holding up her collection bag like a shield , she takes off her shoes and steps inside. There's a shower immediately to the left, the door was halfway open. Right next to the door was an undressing basket, taken off clothes and a crumpled towel are tossed inside. Moreover, the fishy smell is coming from the half open door. Tsukasa fearfully looked inside, and instinctively let out a scream at what she saw.
On the floor of the bathroom laid the limbless body of a man in his pajamas. Not just his head, his hands, and his feet were all gone. Of course there's no way he's alive in this state.
"Yeah, everyday, from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, from the cafe across the street I kept my eye on this room's front door. Haraguchi always goes to get the paper at 9 in the morning, but only today he didn't show up, I thought it was mysterious why he didn't.
"Culprit? No, Ever since I've started keeping watch, you were the only one to go inside, besides


Chapter 3
It was 10:40AM when the first investigation team, led by Marunouchi Keiji arrived at the scene.
"This body's a crazy one. Seeing as how there's five decapitations"
According to the detective's explanation, the lanky guy is Hachimoto Ippei, a private eye agency employee who has been keeping an eye on the victim, Haraguchi Shinichi since January 26 to the 31st starting from 8 in the morning until 8 at night. The client was worried about her divorced husband, Haraguchi following their daughter around, so she had his actions kept in check.
There's a dining kitchen over the entrance, beyond that is a six tatami mat living room. To the left of the entrance is a shower room, to the right is the bathroom. The shower door is open, the dead body can be seen with a glance. Marunouchi braces himself and looks inside the shower room.
The dead body of an average sized man wearing long sleeved pajamas was laying face up. The man's neck, wrists, and ankles were all cut off at the joint, showing the dark red slice. The skin is quite pale for a man. The estimated age is from 30 to 35 years old, estimated height being 170cm tall give or take, Marunouchi thought to himself.
A knife was stabbed into the left side of the chest. There was a saw lying on the floor that's thought to have been used for the cutting, aswell as traces of large amounts of blood. It seems the pajamas were a grayish blue, but are stained by all the blood, there are reddish black spots all over.
The culprit probably dismembered the limbs in order to hide the identity of the body. Because without those parts, the identity of the body can't be determined through appearance, teeth, fingerprint, palm print, toe print or foot size. You would assume that the victim is the resident of the apartment, Haraguchi Shinichi, but an identity check will still be necessary.
There were splashes of blood covering the walls of the shower room staining it dark red. The bathtub was covered by a lid, he looked inside, but there was no water, it was completely dry.
By the side of the shower door was a clothes basket. Inside was a brown checkered long sleeved shirt, an under shirt, blue jeans, and a wet crumpled towel tossed inside. Someone undressed and took a shower.
So then, who could have taken a shower. The culprit or the victim. Considering the victim was in pajamas, it seems likely that the victim took a shower. It's also likely the culprit took a shower to wash off the blood after dismembering, but in that case he probably wouldn't leave behind the clothes he had on and towel he used.
First of all, the floor of the shower room is taken up by the body, so there would not have been any room for the culprit to take a shower, and surely they wouldn't try to shower in a place where they just dismembered someone. With that, it can be concluded that the one who took a shower is the victim.
The dining kitchen's footing is made of flooring, there's a small table, two chairs, kitchen cabinet, fridge, trashcan, and a large LCD TV.
He opens the fridge and sees sauce, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, butter, and a six pack of canned beer. In the freezer was an ice tray and an insertable ice pillow bag.
Under the sink were fry pans, pots and bowls, on the door were 3 knives hanging. There are quite serious cooking utensils that are assembled, oddly Haraguchi seemed to cook for himself which is rare for a man who lives alone.
Next to the sink was a garbage can with a lid. Opening the lid shows one ice pillow bag with the seal cut off thrown away with nothing else in the trash can.
Next Marunouchi goes into the living room in the back. A carpet is laid out, with a bed, drawer, and a luxurious audio system set up. Next to the bed was a plastic carbage can, but it was empty. Next to the audio system was a CD case, there's several dozen CDs inside.
"Judging by rigor mortis and algor mortis temperature drop, it's between yesterday night at 11 to 12. A fat autopsy may shorten the time though."
"The knife stabbed to the left part of the chest. It must have been close to instant death"
"There's one thing that's bothering me. The position of where the wrists and ankles were cut, the position's match for both the left and right respective limbs."
"For example for the wrist's case, the left wrist and left wrist are cut about 23 centimeters measuring from the elbow. I've dealt with many bodies that had their arms cut off, every one of those bodies wrists were cut at varying positions. Naturally, no one dismembers with measurments."

chapter 3+4

"Well not much... At 9AM and 4 PM he went to get the newspaper, and in the afternoon he went and bought things at a nearby supermarket. Afterwards he stayed inside room 103 the whole time."
"The culprit must have come by after 8 when you finished your watch. If you stayed and kept watch longer, then you probably could have seen the culprit"
"There's not much. Haraguchi didn't really go out much whatsoever. On the mornings and evenings he goes to get the newspaper, on the daytime he buys things at a nearby supermarket, that's all he does. He didn't try to follow his daughter at all, like the client was worried about.
"I-I pass aswell. I absolutely dread headless bodies..."
It's the following evening of February 1st. Tsukasa had finished her newspaper fee collecting and entered a cafe in order to take a break, she notices the figure of a lanky young man. Hachimoto Ippei with a solemn look was drinking coffee.
"Actually, since Haraguchi Shinichi was killed I got in trouble by my boss. Haraguchi dying caused the job to end immediately, we could only charge the client partially, if Haraguchi stayed alive longer we could have charged them for weeks worth of payment, is how he put it.
But it's odd if you think about it. You go so far in order to hide that it's Haraguchi Shinichi, but if you leave the body in Haraguchi's room then the identity of the body is clearly apparent isn't it? So then there's no point of hiding the identity of the body. If you're going to hide the identity then you would leave the body somewhere else other than Haraguchi's room, wouldn't you?"
"Maybe, that body isn't Haraguchi Shinichi's?"
"Sorry to say, but that body is indeed confirmed to belong to Haraguchi Shinichi. Haraguchi's brother, divorced spouse, and a woman he was seeing were all called and they confirmed it."
"We took a sample of various hairs that were all around apartment 103, and compared them with the DNA of the body, the results were a complete match. We also had Haraguchi's brother provide a sample of his hair which we compared with the DNA of the body showing a sibling relation. With all of this it's safe to assume that the one who was killed is Haraguchi."
"The bathtub was dry, and there's no evidence of bathwater. Strictly speaking, the victim did not immerse himself in the bathtub, but took a shower."
"Even if there was blood on them they could just wear a coat to hide it since it's winter. As for the blood on their hand, they washed the blood off in the sink of the kitchen. Because there was a luminol reaction detected from the sink.
It's the following morning of February 2nd, at around 10AM, Tsukasa and Ippei go to visit Endou Ritsuko.

chapter 5

Endou Ritsuko without doubting Ippei's words accepted it easily, and released the auto lock system for them. They take the elevator to the 6th floor, ring the bell to room 606, and the door opens.
Endou Ritsuko being in her early 30s, had a very intellectual look to her which left an impression. She had traces of being emaciated, maybe due to the shock of her divorced husband being killed. There was an 8 to 9 year old girl glancing from behind Endou Ritsuko, when her eyes meet with Tsukasa's she showed a bashful smile and withdrew away.
"Yes. Her name Rina. We had it so that at the end of every month Haraguchi would see her. Haraguchi was supposed to see her the following day after he was killed. Haraguchi was a hopeless man, but it's true he adored Rina, he always looked forward to visiting day. It's kind of tragic of him to be killed before he could see Rina..."
"The last time we met was one year ago, at a courthouse when we were consolidating the divorce. I never met him once after that. Although, we talked on the phone a couple of times"
"The 19th of last month. When I heard from my daughter that Haraguchi persistently talked to her on her way to school to get her to live with him, I called him that night. I told him not to follow my daughter around, or else the visiting days will be canceled, to which Haraguchi reluctantly accepted. That's what caused me to to request a private eye."
"No... I don't really know what kind of life he led a year after our divorce. I learned about him getting fired two months ago from the prep school he worked at due to an incident, and heard where he lives from his brother, Kyouji-san, I don't know much else... This may seem cold of me but I didn't want to associate with Haraguchi any longer."
"Yes. Actually Kyouji and I work together in the central surgery college hospital as a nurse, I see him often. Kyouji-san sympathized with me about our divorce, he has given me lots of advice."
"Haraguchi and I were in the same Medical class, and we had a student marriage. I successfully graduated and passed the national doctor exam, and was on my way to being a doctor, but Haraguchi couldn't graduate... When I think about it, that was likely where things went downhill.
Afterwards Haraguchi became a math professor at a prep school, and he had resentment for not becoming a doctor which he washed away with alcohol and women, he also raised his hand at me in his drunken rage, I held on thinking he would settle down but it only got worse. I couldn't stand it any longer so I cut it off with a divorce."
"Haraguchi had a 3 centimeter long scar on his right shoulder, the same scar was on the body"
"Haraguchi loved baths, he had a habit for taking baths for 20 to 30 minutes, about half a year before we divorced, he took a bath for too long and became dizzy, causing him to slip in the shower room and hitting the faucet on his right shoulder which caused a laceration. That's scar from that time. Afterwards he still liked baths the same amount, and ended up taking much longer then me..."
"Since it's my divorced husband that was killed, I guess it's only natural that I would be suspected. I think I was here reading a book from 11PM to 12 AM. My daughter was already sleeping, so I don't think I have someone to testify..."

chapter 6 + 7

Tsukasa rings the bell of room 405, and an average sized man in his early 30s appears. His face is pale and has a nose bridge which makes him have a sharp looking face. He looks very similar to the pictures of Haraguchi Shinichi that have been shown on newspapers and news on the TV. However, this one wears glasses, and his whole aura is completely different.
"It would have to on the 27th of January. I had a day off of work that day, so I went to see him at 3 in the afternoon. You see, when Rina-chan was on her way to school, my brother...
Ritsuko-san said she had someone from a detective agency keep an eye on him, but I was still worried, I thought that I would check up on him myself."
"He was grumbling up a storm about how Ritsuko-san called him about not following Rina-chan around. He was saying things like 'I'm the one who loves Rina more, why can't she live with me, the family court's rulings are wrong'.
But the reason he didn't get custody was because of his own doing. It's true that he loves Rina-chan, but because of his problems with women and alcohol, it didn't make for an environment to raise a child on. Compare that to Ritsuko-san's serious and upkept lifestyle, and her much more stable income. My brother has no reason to have custody."
"That's right. My brother used to popular with girls long ago, and he was always walking around with charming girls."
"Yes. Even with a wife like Ritsuko-san, he would frequently dabble in women, and hit Ritsuko-san when he drank. I just had to do something, so I advised Ritsuko-san to think about getting a divorce. I see Ritsuko frequently at the central medical college of surgery where Ritsuko-san works as a nurse, I couldn't stand seeing her being depressed more day by day, you see."
"Ritsuko is someone who wouldn't even hurt a fly. First of all, she has no reason to kill my brother. Since the one who has custody of Rina-chan is Ritsuko-san after all"
"It's not much of a basis... Well, it was the whole aura. Seeing as how we lived together until college, I know what my brother's aura is like. And also I heard from Ritsuko, half a year before they divorced he slipped in the tub and had a cut injury on his right shoulder, that scar was on the body aswell."
"I think I may have been at home. If I was working a night shift I would have an alibi, but unfortunately not."
Going into the first floor entrance, a reception woman was telling something to a student looking child. She's in her mid 20s, has a body of a fashion model, a beautiful woman with a long face and sharp eyes.
"It was about breaking up. I broke up with him on the 10th of January. Then on the 25th he calls me asking me to meet with him just one more time... I lost my patience to his persistence, on the 26th I met him on my lunch at a cafe close to the prep school.
Just as I thought he badgered me saying, please get back together with me, I flatly refused. I was just so fed up with that man to the core. Then he says 'just you wait' as a parting shot and left the cafe. If you were watching Haraguchi then shouldn't you have seen that?"
"Yeah. Haraguchi is quite handsome, and has another side to him, I was charmed by that, I was seeing him since the summer of last year, after a while his childishness started rubbing me the wrong way."
"His competitiveness would work in strange ways. He had a cat and dog relationship with a fellow teacher when he used to work at the prep school, the other teacher had a sports car that he bragged about and brought it to the school often. Then Haraguchi goes and buys a sports car that's one rank higher and drove that to school. He even put down all his saving so he could get a loan on that sports car. What an idiot.
And then, the assault incident happened. A student objected saying that Haraguchi's way of solving a math equation was off and they got into an argument, Haraguchi lost his composure and hit the student. That was it for him. I got fed up with this and that, I said we should just break up on the 10th."
"He was shocked for a while and couldn't even talk. Then with a shaky voice he asked why, to which I cited everything child like about him. Then I told him upfront that I'm with someone else I like. That this one isn't child like, he's a serious adult. He works for a big company, and he's an athlete who's good at surfing, much different than Haraguchi."
"There's no value in killing that man. I don't know who killed him but they must have a lot of time on their hands to purposefully kill someone like him."
"It was very pale, and the figure looked like Haraguchi's. Also he had a scar on his right shoulder, which was on the body aswell. If you're wondering how that scar got there, he says it's because he took a bath for too long and sliped. I remember that he loved baths, he would take baths for a couple dozen minutes."
"I was at home. I live alone, unfortunately I wasn't with my boyfriend, so I don't have someone to testify."
"If the head, arms and feet had disadvantageous traces left on them for the culprit. Let's start by separating the traces that would be disadvantageous to the culprit by the possibility of them being ones that are innate or ones that are acquired.
It seems like the weapon that took Haraguchi's life was the knife, but what if before that he received an injury to his head, arms or feet by a different weapon. What if that weapon left a unique injury that it would show who the culprit is?"
"Then, what if Haraguchi had an illness, and the symptoms showed on his head, arms and feet,

ch 8+9

"And neither of the three have established alibis, do they. All three of them said that they were at their house on the 30th from 11 to 12, but there is no one to testify that. Motive is the problem..."
"First, Endou Ritsuko, right. She was so worried about Haraguchi Shinichi getting close to her daughter that she killed him.
"Okay then, next is Haraguchi Kyouji. Since brothers usually don't get along well, it's not impossible that they got into a sibling fight that escalated into murder, however, the problem is if they've been living as brothers for at least 30 years, why would it happen now, huh.
Could there have been some sort of trigger for it perhaps... Yes. He felt sympathy for his ex sister-in-law, he even advised her to divorce his brother, could it be that Kyouji likes Endou Ritsuko? If that were the case, then when he heard that his brother is getting close to his daughter on her way to school and causing Ritsuko to become worried, that caused anger toward his brother to the point of exploding and killing him.
"The person who bathed was not Haraguchi."
"What we found was that a girl who was a student of Shinichi, had the hots for Shinichi when he was a prep school teacher, and took a hair of Shinichi's as a charm to pray for a passing score that she snuck into a locket. It was a complete match when we compared the DNA extracted from that hair with the body's."
"That's out of the question. It seems the girl took the hair after a math lecture aimed for an entry exam for high level colleges. Kyouji could not have conducted that lecture. It seems Kyouji's math scores in college were poor. Basically, the hair the girl got was from the real Shinichi. Meaning that it's safe to asume that the body is indeed Shinichi."

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

Kangra posted:

I'm still thinking there was a history of swapping lives. Can we combine Kyouji's poor math scores with yelling at a student for doing a math problem wrong, or is that too much of a leap?

I couldn't get anything to come up for those exact keywords.
But I was able to create a mystery.

The keyword "math lecture aimed at high level college" and "argument about math equation" formed a mystery called "why did Haraguchi Shinichi make a math mistake?"
There's some dialog with Yoshi and Maru and they point out that Haraguchi was working there for a year, so he shouldn't have made a mistake.

I'm on my lunch break at work right now, so I can't go into detail or test out other keywords, until later.
We're making progress though, that's for sure.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Here are some mysteries and epiphanies


MYSTERY: What was the intent of Shinichi saying "Just you wait"?
Formed when combining just you wait' as a parting shot and left with I was just so fed up with that man to the core
Morikawa Kotomi said Haraguchi's competitiveness works in strange ways, so for what reason did he say "just you wait"?

: "Just you wait" huh...
: it didn't seem like he had any intention to end it... but why do you think he said that?
: For what purpose did Haraguchi Shinichi say "just you wait"?



Combining the "what was the intent of 'just you wait'?" mystery with He works for a big company produces the following:

YELLOW EPIPHANY: Shinichi wanted to prove himself by working at a big company
Why did Haraguchi Shinichi say "just you wait"?

If you think about his personality, he would probably compete with Kotomi's current lover and prove himself by working at an even bigger company

: Haraguchi was unemployed
: it wouldn't be odd if he reacted in some way when hearing that Morikawa Kotomi's lover works for a big company
: surely he must have had thoughts about employment in his head



Combining the "what was the intent of 'just you wait'?" mystery with and he's an athlete who's good at surfing produces the following epiphany

YELLO EPIPHANY: Shinichi wanted to prove himself at surfing

Why did Haraguchi Shinichi say "just you wait"?
If you think about his personality, he would probably compete with Kotomi's current boyfriend, and try to prove himself at surfing.

: Surfing... that's a huge leap for an indoor person like Haraguchi, isn't it?
: He went as far as to lease a sports car just because his rival bragged about his own.
:It's probable that he would try to prove himself at surfing against Morikawa's lover
: even though she got tired of that childish crap... He's even as dumb as a kid



MYSTERY: Did Haraguchi Shinichi give up on living with his daughter?

It seems that Haraguchi Shinichi approached his daughter to live with him when she was on her way to school.
But when Ippei was keeping watch, he did not approach her.
Did Shinichi give up?
formed when combining see that the husband I left does not get close to my daughter with There was no sign of him trying to close to your daughter

hand: It looks like Haraguchi Shinichi didn't approach his daughter just as promised
tsu think: Could he have given up?
: is there a clue that shows that he gave up...?

then another mystery pops up after that one

What was the actual reason that Endou Ritsuko requested the investigation?

Endou Ritsuko was worried about Haraguchi Shinichi getting close to her daughter and requested a watch on him, however he did not approach her whatsoever.

: Endou Ritsuko's request for a watch was meaningless after all
: It's unbelievable to think the target would be killed in just a few days after...
: why did she actually request it in the first place...?
: what did Endou Ritsuko request the watch for in the first place....?
: maybe she wasn't worried about just her daughter


MYSTERY: Why were the positions of dismemberment the same?
Both arms and legs were cut at the same positions.
Why were the positions equally same?
hand: So, the cut positions of the arms and legs were identical to one another, huh....
: It's hard to believe it's just a coincidence
: There must be some purpose, and reason for it but...
: ...what was the reason for the dismembered positions of both the left and right side of the body being the same

Combining that with Central Hospital College of Internal Medicine makes the following yellow epiphany
The placement of cutting they chose made it medically easier to dismember
Why were the positions of cutting the same?
Maybe there was a medical meaning for the position.

: there was a medical meaning for the place of cutting...
: or maybe it was due to a habbit from working in the medical field
: medical field... There's two suspects that fit the bill

MYSTERY: What was the reason that Hachimoto Ippei yawned?

formed when combing "if he makes another mistake then he'll get the axe" with Unbearably dozy he yawns over and over

Hachimoto Ippei was informed by his boss that if he fails, then he'll get fired.
Despite that, he yawns while keeping watch, unreliably.
What was the reason for that?

: It looks like Hachimoto Ippei yawned repeatedly during his watch, huh.
: He's the type that I wouldn't want to work together with
: the reason for tne yawning...

When you combine that mystery with Having been engrossed in a game last night, he stayed up late. it produces the following yellow epiphany:
He dozed off during the watch
Why did Ippei yawn multiple times while keeping watch?
That is because he was engrossed in a game the night before and stayed up late.
It's possible that Ippei dozed off while keeping watch.

: It's possible that Ippei dozed of during the 28th where there is no entry in the Akasha.
: even in the beggining, he showed up late because he overslept from playing a game the night before
: It looked like he was a repeat offender of being late, it's possible that he did...
: it's possible that him dozing off has some effect on the case.


MYSTERY: Did Shinichi not take a bath because a body related reason?

Both Morikawa Kotomi and Endou Ritsuko stated that Haraguchi Shinichi likes baths.
However, there are traces that show the victim did not take go in the bath, instead took a shower.
Did Haraguchi Shinichi not take a bath because of some bodily related reason?

: The reason why Haraguchi Shinichi took a shower instead of a bath, huh...
: could he not take a bath?
https://i.imgur.com/igR6YAo.png[/img]not taking one, or was it someone else who took a shower?

combining that mystery with an insertable ice pillow bag makes the following 3 blue epiphanies:

He had a fever so he took a shower

He was hurt by blunt force so he took a shower

He was sunburned so he took a shower

: Maybe Haraguchi Shinichi had an illness that required him to cool down, or maybe he was bruised
: It's possible... but what kind of illness or bruise are you talking about?
: if that fact is related to the case, then thinking about it with another epiphany should make it clear.


When you combine the keywords Fridge with quite serious cooking utensils that are assembled the following mysteries are formed

MYSTERY: Did Haraguchi accidentally leave his freezer empty?
Haraguchi Shinichi had serious cooking utensils, which would make it seem that he cooks.
However, the fridge only had condiments and canned beer inside.
Did soemthing happen in order cause the fridge to be empty?

MYSTERY: Did Haraguchi purposefully empty his fridge?
Did Haraguchi have some reason to empty his fridge?

: Was the fridge being empty a coincidence or on purpose...?
: Hm... Whatever it is, does it have anything to do with the case?
: I don't know yet.
: Is there a clue that shows why the fridge is empty?

Combining that mystery with a can of meat sauce and a six pack of beer makes the following blue epiphany

Left the fridge empty because he would be away for a while

Did Haraguchi purposefully leave the fridge empty?
It's possible that he had plans to go somewhere for a while, so he avoided buying perishable food like meat or fish.

: It's possible that Haraguchi Shinichi had plans to go somewhere, therefore he didn't buy anything perishable.
: You mean he was killed right before he was going on a vacation?
: looks like we may have to think about when and where he was planning on going from a different point of view

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

Begin Verification

: Haraguchi Shinichi's body was found in the shower room of his home.
music


: The body had it's head, arms and feet all dismembered, an extremely unusual situation


: The police investigation states the victim is indeed Haraguchi
: For what purpose did the culprit cut the five limbs off?
: The mystery of this case surely revolves around this aspect.

: Marunouchi said it was for hiding the identity though...
: It sort of contradicts with the victim being Haraguchi Shinichi,
: Then what else could it be other than hiding the identity?
: It's because... Yoshikawa-san, the honors!
: well then, allow me to prove it.
: Let's begin by taking the following into consideration
: Why did the culprit dismember the five limbs?

VERIFYING: The Reason Why The Five Limbs Were Dismembered

Music
: If you think about why the five limbs were cute, then you will come across various possibilities.
: I thought that the culprit was trying to hide the fact that the victim is not Haraguchi Shinichi...
: But the DNA profiling proved that the victim is definitively none other than Haraguchi Shinichi.
: The body's DNA, and the hair that Haraguchi's prep school student kept matched.
: Yes, the victim was of course Haraguchi Shinichi.
: Which means the reason they cut off the five limbs was for something other than hiding the identity.
: Now, remember this epiphany

Because there were disadvantageous traces left, they dismembered and took away the limbs.

: Therefore, because of this reason, the culprit had no other choice but to cut off the five limbs
: If that reason becomes clear, then you would understand who the culprit is.
: On the contrary, if it becomes clear, then you will unfortunately know who it is
: That's why they dismembered and withdrew the limbs.
: Basically, the five limbs held inconvenient traces for the culprit.
: What could the incontinent traces be?
: You see it after searching through each and every single clue the Akasha leaves.
: Going by the reason the limbs were cut off, we move to the next part
: I want you to take into consideration...
: The matter of why there are traces of Haraguchi Shinichi having taken a shower

VERIFYING: The reason Haraguchi Shinichi took a shower
Music

: Haraguchi Shinichi's clothes and towel he used were thrown into a basket at the scene of the crime
: With that, it seems that Haraguchi used the shower room
: And because the bathtub was dry...
: It's likely he didn't take a bath but took a shower.
: But this contradicts what his ex wife and lover said
: They said that Haraguchi liked baths, and that he had a habit of taking baths for 20 to 30 minutes.
: Why would someone like him not take a bath and instead take a shower?
: if it were Haraguchi Shinichi, he wouldn't settle for a shower and instead take a bath...
: Instead him taking a shower means that it was someone else
: However the hair in the undressed clothes and towel match the body's DNA
: Yes.
: It's true that the one who used the shower is the dead body
: If whoever took a shower isn't Haraguchi Shinichi, that means the body isn't his
: It's someone who really resembles Haraguchi Shinichi; His brother Kyouji!
: That's my logic at least.
: However the body is indeed Haraguchi Shinichi's
: I guess you're right
: It was very wise of you, Tsukasa-kun to focus on clues concerning the shower.
: Unfortunately that interpretation was incorrect.
: Now, I will ask you both once more.
: Even though Haraguchi Shinichi liked baths, why did he take a shower instead?
: Hmmm....
: if you want to wash yourself, but don't have time, you take a shower, right.
: Ah! How about this for example?
: The culprit, before visiting, called him, and said they'll be there soon.
: Haraguchi thought to wash himself beforehand, but there was only a little bit of time
: That's why he didn't take a bath
: I see, you would normally think so, wouldn't you.
: In this situation Hraguchi would think to shower before meeting whoever the culprit was, so...
: You can assume that the culprit was someone that Haraguchi hoped to have a physical relation with
: That kind of person who's part of the case is...
: Morikawa Kotomi who wanted to get back with Haraguchi. She's the culprit!
: However, there's other likely possibilities why he would take a shower instead
: Maybe Haraguchi had an accident, where he got dirty
: He wanted to wash it off, but taking a bath would take too long
: Therefore, he washed it off quickly with a shower. That's a possibility.
: Certainly, that is a believable possibility.
: There's many likely ways he got dirty
: Maybe he spilled beer on himself
: Maybe and ink bottle spilled on him
: Whatever the case, he probably wouldn't take the time to fill the bathtub and bathe
He would take a shower to wash it off
: hmmm, if you think about it.... there's tons of possibilities
: Yes, there are many likely reason why he would take a shower instead
: However, in order to whittle it down, you have to use another clue together
: On a plane, there are many lines that can reach a point
: Bot in order for one point to reach another, only one line exists that can connect them
: Another clue...?
: Now I want you to remember this epiphany

He was sunburned so he took a shower instead



: There was a passage in the Akasha of marunouchi investigating Haraguchi's room
: this part

The dining kitchen's footing is made of flooring, there's a small table, two chairs, kitchen cabinet, fridge, trashcan, and a large LCD TV.

: and this one...

Next to the sink was a garbage can with a lid. Opening the lid shows one ice pillow bag with the seal cut off thrown away with nothing else in the trash can.

He opens the fridge and sees sauce, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, butter, and a six pack of canned beer. In the freezer was an ice tray and an insertable ice pillow bag.

: There was an ice pillow in the fridge
: and in the garbage can was an ice pillow bag package
: Basically, the ice pillow in the freezer was not left over from summer
:: It was recent, it was opened and left to cool down in the freezer, that's what it means
: Haraguchi had just recently started using the ice pillow
:Now during winter, what would Haraguchi use an icebag for
: well, they're used to help with muscle pain too, but...
: however, Haraguchi doesn't work, and hardly goes outside
: and it's not like he had any exercise equipment
: It's unlikely that he used the ice pillow to soothe his muscles
: Maybe he had a cold or got a fever from the flu?
: Maybe he used the ice pillow to cool his fever...
: Then there would be tissues used to wipe his nose in the trash
: the trash by the sink was empty except for the bag, the trash by the bed was also empty
: then what would he use an icepillow for then?
: If you combine it with him taking only a shower, despite liking baths, then there's only one answer.
: Just one...? Just what is it?
: Haraguchi Shinichi was sunburned.

DUN DUN DUUUUN

juicedup fucked around with this message at 10:00 on Jan 2, 2018

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Sorry for the late response guys.

RedMagus posted:

Well that's interesting news. So if he never went outside, how did he get sunburned? did our helpful friend actually miss him going out, or something else?

Combine the sunburn statement with "the only time Haraguchi went out the door was at 4PM to get the evening paper" and see if anything pops out.

Sorry, the sunburn thing's not a keyword. I added that for effect. The dialog above was from "verification".

I went and looked up the answers, after you input answers into the questions, a verification dialog happens to tell you if you put the right ones in.

Now, about Haraguchi being sunburned, even though he never goes out.
Remember that the culprit can lie. The narration never stated that as a fact.
That's one thing I hate about this game, you can never tell if someone's lying.


Veriun posted:

Sunburn? Is it possible to combine that with [The skin is quite pale for a man], which was how the corpse was described? Either way, something ain't right here.

Nope, and apparently Shinichi being pale is just how he looks, weirdly enough.

PlaceholderPigeon posted:

One confusing thing - the investigation happens on the 30th right? because time of death says " yesterday night at 11 to 12" - I assume this is Jan 29, 11-12 pm? because Tsukasa finds the body on 30th of Janurary, 10 in the morning - so Haraguchi can't die at 11 on the 30th?

I really wonder about the sunburn The watch was from when [I leave for work at 8 in the morning, to when I get back home 8 at night] but somehow our subject got a sunburn - which is the peculiar part. The sunburn probably matches up with the exact length of a clothing item. But...why would the suspect care if the sunburn happened? Maybe because it is January - so I think combining the surfing with a date or it being january/winter might be useful? I dont think Haraguchi could just go to the local beach, so he had to travel. Thinking about that - I think we might be able to reconstruct some events in a timeline with the assumption that Haraguchi got a sunburn -sometime- before Jan 29/30.

We can take the following things into account -
Jan 26th- Ippei starts his watch. Haraguchi meeting up with Morikawa Kotomi. This is the real Haraguchi, because Kotomi would know if it wasn't. Haraguchi is currently pale skinned. Haraguchi then talks about showing Kotomi, implying he plans to surf, and leaves.
Jan 27th - Haraguchi goes to the supermarket buying some non perishable things. His brother visits. Ippei can tell them apart because of the glasses.
Haraguchi probably leaves on his trip today, and gets a sunburn sometime before the 30th.
Jan 28th- Ippei is really sleepy today, so he probably missed something.
Someone resembling Haraguchi is seen. This person is pale. I think this is probably the Kyouji pretending to be his brother.
Jan 29 - Nothing happens on the watch Haraguchi dies from 11pm-Midnight. My inference here is that Haraguchi comes back from his trip after 8pm, has a shower, and is killed by his brother.
Jan 30 - Tsukasa finds the body.

I think that the motive for this is Haraguchi coming back unexpectedly early, finding his brother at his apartment pretending to be him (as is established by the math score thing), possibly getting in a fight, and being killed. Kyouji didn't arrange the watch but probably knows about it due to being in a relationship with Ritsuko. If Haraguchi can be shown to actually have been away during this time, then it makes Kyouji's actions really suspect. Kyouji also probably removed any travel/surfing related things that would imply this.

Also, I think that RedMagus is on the right track with the siblign rivalry. Haraguchi was said to have hit a student and got fired over the math argument. If this is actually Kyouji loving up Haraguchi's life, then there is a huge reason for bad blood,

Ritsuko arranging the watch might be suspicious, but I dont think she would know that Ippei would be a lovely PI. If we look at the initial section, the only reason Ippei gets picked is because he's the last one left. Also, she would have no reason to be concerned with the sunburn, because Haraguchi getting over the custody battle makes the murder point to her even less.


Very interesting. I haven't read that far into the answers, so the whole swithcharoo business could have very well taken place if Kyouji let Shinichi know he was being watched, I think.


So far, I think we're on the third question, about the unnatural aspects of the scene of the crime.

And question 4 is "what cause the crime was committed "

Ya'll can go ahead an throw out theories if you want, unfortunately I already know.
The answer is quite something.

juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?
Final update!

: Even though he liked baths, he took a shower instead because the sunburn hurt so much that he couldn't go in the bathtub
: He started applying the ice pillow to the sunburned parts to sooth the pain and burning
: sunburned...
: Hm... Sunburn huh...
: Well... that happened to me when I was a kid actually
: During the middle of summer I went to the ocean and got sunburned, the pain was unbearable when I tried to take a bath that night
: Then my mom cooled it with ice
: Hmmm... Something's doesn't sit right
: Let me ask you a question, Yoshikawa-kun. Where was Haraguchi sunburned
(game gives a pop quiz)
: Haraguchi was sunburned on his face, hands and feet
: Remember this part of the akasha


Marunouchi leaves the shower room, the police surgeon steps inside. The surgeon undresses the pajamas off the body. The paleness of the body was unusually pale for a man. While the surgeon was inspecting the body, Marunouchi investigates the room.

: The body was unusually pale for a man...
: Meaning that Haraguchi's body had no sunburn.
: Yes, this is what was bothering me
: If the body wasn't sunburned, then where was he sunburned...?
: Above his neck, arms, and feet, is the only possibility.
: above his neck, arms and feet....?
: Wait, aren't those the parts that were dismembered and taken?
: The culprit purposefully cut off and took away the parts that were sunburned
: Exactly. Haraguchi was only sunburned on his face, hands and feet
: The culprit dismembered and took away the parts that were sunburned in order to hide the fact that Haraguchi was sunburned
: Basically, the disadvantageous trace that the culprit didn't want to be found out was that Haraguchi was sunburned.
: W-Wait
: If his face, hands and feet were sunburned, isn't it possible to take a bath?
: Your face wouldn't normally touch the water, and you just have to keep your hands and feet out and it'll be fine....
: If you raise your feet up then they will be out of the water
: It certainly is possible
: however, you have to put your feet in once when you go into the bathtub
: moreover, it would be an uncomfortable position to raise your feet out
: It would be fine if you could use your hands but since his were sunburned he couldn't
: you would have to keep holding on to the edge of the bathtub
: If you had to keep this position, then it would be natural to chose a shower instead
: With a shower, it's simple to not submerge parts that are sunburned in water
: That's... right...
: But, there still some problems
: You may not be aware in this world without a sense of reality or a sense of weather, but... It's winter right now
: How would he get sunburned?
: Allow me to explain once more how Haraguchi became sunburned
: Haraguchi Shinichi became sunburned, and the culprit dismembered and took away the sunburned body parts
: With that in mind, let's move on
:Why was Haraguchi's refrigerator empty? ...Let's think about that

VERIFYING: The reason the fridge was empty
: First I want you to remember this epiphany

"Left the fridge empty because he would be away for a while

Did Haraguchi purposefully leave the fridge empty?
It's possible that he had plans to go somewhere for a while, so he avoided buying perishable food like meat or fish."

: This epiphany was found from this passage of the akasha

"The dining kitchen's footing is made of flooring, there's a small table, two chairs, kitchen cabinet, fridge, trashcan, and a large LCD TV.
He opens the fridge and sees sauce, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, butter, and a six pack of canned beer. In the freezer was an ice tray and an insertable ice pillow bag.

The LCD tv is placed on top of a stand, in the storage space of the stand were various movie DVDs.
Under the sink were fry pans, pots and bowls, on the door were 3 knives hanging. There are quite serious cooking utensils that are assembled, oddly Haraguchi seemed to cook for himself which is rare for a man who lives alone."

: Haraguchi Shinichi cooked for himself which is odd for a single man.
: However, it was written that there was only condiments and canned beer in the fridge.
: Mean, Vegetables, eggs, none of that was written. Meaning... there wasn't any in there
: Isn't it odd that someone who cooks for themselves has no meat, vegetables or eggs.
: This is because he would be away for a few days so he didn't leave any of perishable food behind.
: A couple of days, do you mean a trip?
: Oooh a trip... If it were on this season it would have to be a skiing trip
: Since it's been cold for a while, the snow must be nice
: if it were me, I would be off to the hot springs
: Watching the snow inside an open air bath up in north east japan is the best
: Ah, and after the winter season is over, going overseas is fun too!
: I can't though since I have no money...
: Now that everyone's done travelling to their hometowns, it's a good time to visit mine
: Quit planning your vacations for a while, you two
: Where did Haraguchi Shinichi go to?
Answers:
1. Ski trip
2. Hot springs
3. Overseas
4. Hometown in the country
5. The location doesn't matter

: It's unknown where he went
: You don't know!? What do you mean?
: The location isn't important in the first place
: The fact that he took a trip is important in itself
: You mean, that wherever Haraguchi Shinichi went, has nothing to with the case?
: That's what I mean
: What Haraguchi Shinichi taking a trip has to do with the case will become clear momentarily
: Keeping that fact in ming, let's move on
: Let's think about...
: What Haraguchi Shinichi did in regard to Morikawa Kotomi

VERIFYING: Haraguchi Shinichi's conduct

: There was this epiphany regarding Haraguchi Shinichi's actions

" Shinichi wanted to prove himself at surfing

Why did Haraguchi Shinichi say "just you wait"?
If you think about his personality, he would probably compete with Kotomi's current boyfriend, and try to prove himself at surfing."

: Remember Morikawa Kotomi's words which created this epiphany

"He was shocked for a while and couldn't even talk. Then with a shaky voice he asked why, to which I cited everything child like about him. Then I told him upfront that I'm with someone else I like. That this one isn't child like, he's a serious adult. He works for a big company, and he's an athlete who's good at surfing, much different than Haraguchi."

: She broke up with Haraguchi and went with someone who's good at surfing
: Haraguchi became depressed hearing that
: Maybe Haraguchi practiced surfing secretly in order to prove himself to Kotomi.
: This anecdote that Morikawa Kotomi said about Haraguchi supports that

"His competitiveness would work in strange ways. He had a cat and dog relationship with a fellow teacher when he used to work at the prep school, the other teacher had a sports car that he bragged about and brought it to the school often. Then Haraguchi goes and buys a sports car that's one rank higher and drove that to school. He even put down all his saving so he could get a loan on that sports car. What an idiot"

: He would try to surpass opponents that he hates at their field
: That is Haraguchi behavior pattern
: If you think about it Haraguchi would surely practice surfing secretly
: on the 26th he said "just you wait" to Morikawa Kotomi at a cafe
: Which meant, just you wait and see for me to get better at surfing than your new lover"
: Th-That's the wrong way to utilize his effort...
: But why would an indoor person like Haraguchi Shinichi suddenly start surfing
: And so what if he started surfing?
: The fact that Haraguchi Shinichi started surfing...
: This is very important to the case
: When all conclusions tie together, that's when you will see itself
: Hm... Well I don't see it yet
: Well, officer Marunouchi, let's move on so you can see
: Let's summerise all the verification results
: 1, The reason the culprit cut and took away the five limbs was because the culprit wanted to get rid of disadvantageous traces
: 2, Haraguchi Shinichi was sunburned
: 3, Haraguchi took a trip
: 4, Haraguchi Shinichi had a rivalry with Morikawa Kotomi's new lover, so he began surfing
: All of these connect into one straight line... that is truth
: Truth you say... I don't really get it
: Do they really connect?
: They should...
: You don't look very confiden
(Apparently I got the location of the trip question wrong, it was actually overseas)

: Remember the places where Haraguchi Shinichi was sunburned



: Is there anything that comes to mind about his appearance
: Eh? Nothing really...
: I've never seen such an odd sunburn before
: Right, this form of sunburn is odd
: But there is a way to be suburned like this
: What would that be?
: You don't know?
: It's a wet suit
: A wet suit!?
: Wait, the thing you wear at the beach?
: That's it.
: A wet suit has long sleeves, they're also called body suits
They're worn on the whole body except for the head, hands and feet
: If you wore this and became sunburned...
: Only your head, arms and feet would be sunburned
: Get it now?
: Those are same parts that were dismembered and taken away
: The traces of sunburn on the five limbs shows..
: That Haraguchi went to overseas an overseas beach, wore a wet suit to surf
: U-Unbelievable
: I never would have though that the dismembered parts hid that kind of meaning...
: First, Haraguchi meets with Morikawa Kotomi on the 26th and begins to get the idea to surf
: Afterwards, he empties his fridge in order take a trip to practice surfing overseas
: It's possible to practice in Japan during winter, but he may run into Morikawa Kotomi's lover
: That must have been the reason to practice overseas
: Haraguchi took a trip overseas to practice surfing
: Then Haraguchi becomes sunburned on the parts that weren't covered by wetsuit, above his neck, arms, and feet
: Those sunburned parts were disadvantageous for the culprit
: That's why the culprit dismembered the sunburned parts at the boundary where the sunburn began
: The cutting position were all the same because
: The part that weren't sunburned matched with the left and right parts
: hm, hmmm
: I guess I can accept that reason for the cuttting position being the same
: I see...
: Haraguchi forgot to wear sunblock when he was practicing surfing then
: Then his head, hands and feet became sunburned...
: Since he's an indoor person he didn't think of using cream maybe...
: One thing to note is that while wearing a body suit, it becomes hot, and dehydration can occur shortly
:Thinking about that, the place that Haraguchi surfed was...
: A place that has better sun than winter japan, but a place that isn't too hot
: If it was in the middle of summer then Haraguchi would become dehydrated and wouldn't have time to become sunburned
: Even if it wasn't very hot, Haraguchi still became sunburned because he has weak skin
: Because he liked baths that weakened his skin
: hm...
: But we still don't know the importan part
: We've come this far and we don't knwo the culprit's motive, or their name
: That'll be explained by this mystery which will become important
: When did Haraguchi go overseas?

VERIFYING: When did Haraguchi go overseas

He went overseas from the 28th to the 30th

Yoshikawa refers to this part

Ippei is at the window seat of Charade the following morning of the 28th at 8AM. Unbearably dozy he yawns over and over. Having been engrossed in a game last night, he stayed up late. The waitress must have lost interest, since she pays no heed to Ippei.

At 9:00 AM Haraguchi comes out of room 103 like always, and goes to the mailbox like always, returning with the newspaper in hand. He goes back into his room as his pale face yawns.

Yoshikawa says that only Hachimoto Ippei is the only one to testify about Haraguchi's actions during the time period from to 28 to 30th

says, maybe the book just didn't include the culprit's actions
To which Yoshikawa says that it's a fact that Haraguchi went oveerseas on the 28th

That shows that only one person can be the culprit

VERIFYING: Who is the culprit

: Remember this epiphany

He dozed off during the watch
Why did Ippei yawn multiple times while keeping watch?
That is because he was engrossed in a game the night before and stayed up late.
It's possible that Ippei dozed off while keeping watch.

: Going by the sunburn, Haraguchi was away overseas from the morning of the 28th until the 30th
: During this time frame, Hachimoto Ippei reported Haraguchi's actions to Endou Ritsuko by phone every night
: "He only went to get the paper in the morning and evening, and went to shop in the afternoon"
: However, the reports from the 28th to the 30th were all a lie
: Because during this time Haraguchi was away overseas
: The following day, the 31st was when Haraguchi was goint to visit his daughter
: If the daughter were to see her dad sunburned, then she would likely tell her mom, Endou Ritsuko about that
: She would tell Endou Ritsuko that Haraguchi went overseas
: Then, Hachimoto Ippei's false report would get found out
: He couldn't let Haraguchi's sunburned figure be seen by Endou Ritsuko's daughter
: Hachimoto Ippei was told that if he were to fail this time, he would get fired
: If his false report was told to his boss, it would be over
: In order to prevent getting fired, he killed Haraguchi, then dismembered and took away the sunburned parts
: The culprit is...
: Hachimoto Ippei. I can't think of anyone else but him.


kenshou shuryou

: I can't belive Hachimoto Ippei is the culprit...
: It's just as it's written in the Akasha, on the morning of the 28th Hachimoto Ippei was so sleepy that he couldn't help it
: Maybe because of that, he missed Haraguchi Shinichi leaving
: Hachimoto Ippei must have turned pale when he realized his mistake, and thought Haraguchi would come back
: That night, in his report to Endou Ritsuko he says that Haraguchi was at home like usual
: However, Haraguchi didn't come back following the 29th
: Hachimoto Ippei must have been uneasy, yet he reports the same thing that night
: On the 30th he see Haraguchi come back sunburned from his trip, surely he must have been panicked
: I have to kill him before the visit on the 31st... That's probably what he thought.
: Hachimoto Ippei brings a knife and saw on the 31st and pays a visit to Haraguchi's house from 11 to 12
: I don't know what kind of excuse he have but it was probably something about a way to take custody of his daughter
: That would be a way to get his interest
: Hachimoto Ippei enters Haraguchi's house after he believes him, and kills him when he doesn't expect it
: Then he cuts off the parts that show that he went to a trip overseas and takes them away
: Haraguchi probably couldn't understand why a man he doesn't know killed him when he died
: Hmm... I see
: The culprit cut off the five limbs so he wouldn't get fired huh.
: There's something that's bothering me though...
: What is it?
: Look at the Akasah. The last part of the first chapter

"Ippei thinks this is quite a bore.
Although it would be troublesome if the target moved all the time, but a static target is just as bad. It would be much more entertaining if he moved at least a little in order to test out some tailing arts. More exciting jobs would be appreciated since he's been looking forward to being a private eye.
Ippei would never have thought that Haraguchi would be killed two days later."

: Since the Akasha doesn't lie, shouldn't this sentence be true?
: If Hachimoto-kun is the culprit, wouldn't he naturally know that Haraguchi would be killed
: It's a passage from the 28th
: Understand?
: Hachimoto Ippei thought to kill Haraguchi when he saw that he was sunburned from coming back on the 30th
: He didn't think to kill him on the 28th.
: That's why it doesn't contradict the sentence, "Ippei would never have thought that Haraguchi would be killed two days later"
: What this sentence says is...
: That Hachimoto had no intention to kill on the 28th
: Ah, I see... that makes sense...
: But what a dreadful story
: He stayed up late playing a game, becomes sleepy... and kills so it doesn't get found out
: I know it's bad to think simplisticly, but do games cause violence?
: There might be those types of games
: But it's the same for television, movies, music, novels, internet, home environment...
: I see...
: thanks, you saved me again
: I'd better drag out Hachimoto before he disposes of the head, arms and feet.
: ...if I can
: I'd like to give you a beer
: Well then, excuse me


: I'm sorry...
: It looks like because I tried to deduce this and that, it made the case hard to understand...
: I thought that I would try my best by myself...
: You helped.
: I actually had the same idea as you while reading.
: I would have been in trouble if you didn't do your type of deduction
: Gr
: ...but why did the culprit join me in investigating the case, I wonder?
: Maybe he was worried that Haraguchi told one of his acquaintances about going overseas
: If they did then Hachimoto's report from the 28th to 30th would be found out as a lie
: He wanted to find out if Haraguchi talked about going overseas
: He pretended to investigate with you in order to question Haraguchi's acquaintances
: Do you remember?
: when you were questioning Endou, Kyouji, Kotomi
: Hachimoto Ippei would always ask, "Did Haraguchi-san say anything else?"
: Ah, now that I think about it...
: He wanted to make sure that Haraguchi didn't talk about his overseas trip.
: luckily for Hachimoto ippei, Haraguchi didn't talk about it
: Haraguchi was probably too ashamed
: To say that he would go overseas to practice surfing in order to prove himself to the person who broke up with him
: I see...

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juicedup
Nov 9, 2016

You wanna get squirted?

eating only apples posted:

This is dumb as gently caress. The private detective fell asleep and missed the victim leaving? And to cover it up he killed him? To save his stupid job? After it set up the twin thing and the brother being bad at maths?

Video games bad???

I think this game is terrible, no matter who writes the stories. The stories may be okay (except this one) but the game is needlessly complicated.

Yeah, this system of solving murders from tons of pages and red herrings doesn't work very well.
The writters are purposefully obstructing logic by adding in tons of fluff.

I appreciate that they're trying to be different from Ace Attorney, but it just doesn't work.


PlaceholderPigeon posted:

I had wondered why the 29th was basically skipped over - and so we have a huge omission there on whatever happened. At least my timeline was mostly right, except Ippei was the one to kill him on the evening he came back.

I had briefly entertained the thought of Ippei being it but didn't think the game would go for it.

These last two stories have been signposted really awkwardly I feel like. I guess it is sort of real, like the last one, in that you really have to sort the logic out - its still not fun.


Yeah, if they just made the stories succinct and quick without multiple mysteries, then maybe it would be fun, but who knows.

I'm just glad to be done with it, there were some cool tricks but they weren't executed properly.

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