speaking of against the law - who wants to talk about murders?

[samuraiwomen]

Who: :3
What: Discussing the murders of 9/12 and 9/17
When: 9/18, Evening after all classes and clubs.
Where: The common room of the dorms.
Warnings: Will update...but we're discussing a murder!




[ Some times the next day, Sara starts finding as many people as she can and asking them to please try to be in the dorms this evening. Everything has been chaotic since Clamor's death, and she'd like some clarity.

By sometime after clubs, she's moved Narumi's body out in the common room (perhaps with Akira's help if he was willing), and has started a fire in the fireplace. It's getting chillier at night, and any discussion of a murder mystery plot deserves some ambiance.

She forgot to go get some snacks, but please, feel free to bring some. ]

Comments

[starrypoint]

It's not just 'cause Clamor-san can do magic, right? 'Cause there're other people who can do it too...

[that's sort of the thing he's stuck on, kicking his feet lightly as he thinks.

something strikes him, thinking of narumi, and he glances first at nene, then at shuichi. they'll get it, maybe. of anyone here, they'll get what he means.]

I wonder... if the person who took his body was a third year, like Rumi-chan.

[mermaidcursed]

They were... Running out of time to graduate...

( but then, why another third year? they'd be with just as little time as before, right? wait, sara had said- please don't let noah make this connection. )

Sara-chan, you said Ito-san had good grades, right? You can't... normally graduate without them... But he- Clamor-san was a first year. What happened...?

[samuraiwomen]

Right. Clamor isn't even the best at magic here...I heard Lucifer-san blew up half the void students. [ I heard Lucifer is shredded. ]

Mhm. Yes thats right. Narumi-senpai's grades were extremely high. [ A horrible realization is dawning on her. ] And the fake Clamor...He was...asking a lot about Noah's grades. If it wasn't Clamor, why would he care about how Noah was doing?

But that doesn't make sense! To steal someone's body just for grades? We just had exams!

[mermaidcursed]

... Because we just had exams. They... they probably didn't do so good. And given what this place is like... can you really say having bad grades by year three would be considered acceptable?

( in a place where the track kills you if you stand on it for too long? where there's a monster in the pool? where- where the student council elections was a massacre to ensure only one could walk away standing? )

[samuraiwomen]

Still...to jump bodies for a reason like that?

[ She's a first year, so maybe the danger doesn't feel so fresh, but still. It's school, if you're doing poorly, there's extra credit and friends and teachers to help? You could even try changing your grades in the office! ]

...It's hard to wrap my head around. Because Clamor...he didn't have the best grades either. And he couldn't graduate.

[Let her think for a moment. ]

So maybe the imposter only wanted to buy themselves time to find someone else? Like Narumi...

[starrypoint]

[subaru puffs his cheeks, then shakes his head.]

I mean, what if someone wanted another chance? What if it was a third year who wasn't going to graduate?

[maybe that's a better hint for his line of thinking to her...]

[mermaidcursed]

They were... 'beyond help'. They weren't going to get another shot, were they?

( which meant they'd cease to exist. not even disappear to anywhere they could, like the souls in the tree- just... gone.

... )

So then... a first year who could use magic- could keep going back... would sound pretty ideal, wouldn't it?

[starrypoint]

[it's the first time subaru's lit up all meeting, and he nods brightly.]

Right, right! Ahaha, I knew you'd get what I was saying, Nene~. So it's a probable motive for why they'd take a first year, right? Rumi-chan probably thought that Clamor-san was the real Clamor-san and wanted to help out, totally unaware. Poor guy~.

[mermaidcursed]

... But then, why is Ito-san currently in this state?

( nene was mostly glued to noah's side, she's missed a lot. forgive her subaru-kun. )

[silentabyss]

[He's... processing all of this. Instead of being dead, he just seems furious now. Way to reignite his will to kill, everyone! Not sure if this is better or worse than him being halfway gone.]

They targeted Clamor because they wanted to cheat?!

[And he can't do anything about it, because whoever took over Clamor's body has apparently vacated it now, and unless they jumped back to their own body... in which case, Noah has a throat to slash.

...he slumps, leaning forward to hold his head in his hands. Miserable all over again, it seems. It's not like he knows who did it anyhow.]

I... I don't know why this Narumi person is in that state. If you want to look through Clamor's and... "Clamor's" notes and see if you can connect the dots...

[starrypoint]

[a very apt way to put it, and subaru honestly thinks that fury looks better than the dead look before; he knows what it's like, to be complete put out that way, and it's only because of the people around him reignited him that he could stand again.

and if noah's way is justifiable anger, then that's how it is. at the very least, it's at the imposter and not whoever ended the imposter's life, which subaru thinks is probably better in the end anyway.]

Sure. I'm not like, super knowledgeable about magic and stuff like that, but maybe that'll help me out.

[hand it over... he'll take anything with his visible free hand and just keep it in his lap for him (and natsume) to look at. his bestie can give him a hand here for the basics anyway, he'll probably ask noah about any specifics though.]

They say the less you know about a subject the more open you are to it, right? I don't have any prior knowledge whatsoever to stop me from thinking, "that can't be it"!

[silentabyss]

[Noah hands it all over, indicating the page where the aforementioned soul-switching spell is, the notes leading up to it, and the fake handwriting...]

I only ever saw the spell used properly once, in passing. It's a long story... And I... I didn't go looking for any magic circles when I was... s-sitting by the pool that day.

[He did however wander around uselessly a bit with a broken smoke detector from fucking April, so there's that.]

[starrypoint]

[buddy... subaru'll probably look around it more in general, because

while he didn't get the Best best look at the circle, some of the runes are more familiar than others, and this is all very cool honestly. he's always enamored by natsume's magic (especially now that it's like, Real fantasy magic and not the magic of smiles as much as subaru loves that too) so this is next level. even considering the circumstances.]

I don't blame you~. It's rough, seeing someone important to you like that.

[and while the words themselves sound flippant in choice, there's a sincerely understanding tone to it.]

Rumi-chan's place in all this is kinda weird, since it seems like "Clamor-san" wasn't Clamor-san for a while before this all happened... So it's not like they'd even need the ritual done a second time, especially if we go on the thought of them just using Clamor-san for his extra time. Rumi-chan was a third year, with really good grades... He wouldn't have any issue graduating.

[... hmmmm... subaru tilts his head.]

Unleeeeesss... and this'll make you mad, probably... they were using Clamor-san to get to Rumi-chan in the first place?

[he's honestly just throwing out motives for faker-san now to fit everything together he's got not a Clue on this end of things]

[silentabyss]

...

[Internal screaming commences. Outwardly, Noah's fists clench, and that's about as much as he lets his anger show.]

It's... likely. Yeah. I wouldn't doubt it. I just want to know how this person knew about this spell in the first place. Clamor's... never said no to helping someone, so if this person came to him asking for help... why this spell, though? Idiot...

[mermaidcursed]

... Maybe he didn't know it was that spell... this person clearly was planning things out, right? So... all they'd need is to ask for help with something, and search the book while Clamor was distracted...

[silentabyss]

...fuck.

[Disrespect the late father by saying the fuck-word, why dontcha... But, really, what else is he supposed to say?]

This is a pretty thick spellbook. It's not impossible, but it would take dumb luck or multiple attempts to find this one spell... Either way...

[Noah needs to go out into the hallway and scream, but he stays there instead, still screaming internally.]

[decrypter]

...By chance, Noah, did Mr. Clamor...mark anything?

[a thought's occurred to her, and with the bag that she's brought into the common room - because why not do the same as the first time - she takes out the red, burnt ribbon.]

I kept wondering over and over if this was for someone's hair, but...there's a simpler answer, isn't there?

[silentabyss]

Ah, he... yeah, he usually has a bunch of bookmarks.

[Noah has... no idea that Helena is blind, uh, sorry, he steps aside to motion to the spellbook which is full of various ribbon bookmarks.]

...where did you find that?

[mermaidcursed]

( just, whispering- ) noah-kun, she's blind--

[silentabyss]

...

I'm so fucking sorryyy...

[decrypter]

It was left behind in the boys' bathroom, when we found the first body.

[the motion is wasted, but she holds out her hand for him to take it if he wishes.]

It was an odd thing to find in that area - I almost wondered if someone was tying something up, but as a bookmark, then it makes far more sense.

[silentabyss]

[There's a moment of pause, and then he very reluctantly takes it.]

...Thanks. I... I guess it was burned with the first body?

[The person who they don't even know who it is...]

I don't understand this detective stuff much...

[decrypter]

It's like a very large puzzle, and we just need to know all the pieces, to figure out where everything should be...

[she trails off, thinking about something.

Everything is where it should be.]

[starrypoint]

The hard part's knowing where to staaaaart. Like, with the latest and work our way back? Or less than a week ago and try and piece forward...

[subaru flips to the red bookmark, lingering on the fire spells for a beat, before he flips it back to the green one; the one that has the buildings of that incubator spell noah mentioned.]

You think it's possible that the first body was the faker themselves taking care of some loose ends? Clamor-san can use fire magic, and I think magic fire could probably scorch something pretty good... The body only came up after half of it got chomped, so maybe it'd been down there for a while.

[he........ wasn't anywhere near the body and only got second hand info so. and he has no idea how dead bodies work, much less ones that've been in water for however long.]

[decrypter]

...It would explain why someone would go to the trouble of putting Mr. Clamor's body in the pool. As if to say, no, this is where you're meant to be.

[she remembers the scent well.]

From all we know, we couldn't tell who that body was. And that would be exactly what they wanted - just in case it came back up. They wouldn't want to be themselves anymore.