(mingle) cat herding, round two

[sisters]

( on february 2, transfer students will find that there are notes hung up around the dormitory with doctor's scrawl handwriting that a few people might recognize scribbled across it. it reads: )

TRANSFER MEETING
february 2, 5:00 p.m.
dorm common room

( the early-arrivers will find that amami is already set up in the common room, making himself comfortable on the far side of one of the couches with a sketchbook, but beyond a wave and a smile he won't offer much to speak of. it's only once it looks like there's a good handful of people that he'll glance around, grimace a bit, and speak up. )

So... I'm sure you guys already know why we're here, right?

( rest in piss, hiro. legend almost took two transfer students with him on his way. )

I know I might not be the person anyone wants to hear this from, but I figure everyone's had some time to gather evidence and any witnesses we might've had by now. I don't like the idea of this continuing more than anyone else, and if we want to keep it from happening again, it's probably best if we compile what we know.

( and unfortunately what he knows is nothing, because he was busy getting stabbed, so the floor is officially open. )

---

(ICly, this meeting begins on February 1. However, to keep us from trapping ourselves in another time cube, when things start to slow down, Amami will pitch that they regroup in a couple days. The details don't matter so much, but you can assume they'll come back for more discussion intermittently if anything new comes to light before Disney. This doesn't all have to be in one day! Feel free to PM/ping me anywhere if you'd like me to add any other helpful links. )

• IC Recap - Maya & VP's deaths
• IC Recap - Hiro Arisu's death
• OOC Recaps - Miro board & Google doc
• Meeting Recap - What's been covered
• Per mod guidance, the murder methods abide by Knox's commandments

Comments

[notsosou]

[...he's dead later. Which is not dead now at least, so he can do his best with the time he's got. There's a problem with the idea of the note being found as he was leaving, which was the nurse was taking him, but Shin's already stuck his foot in it so he's leaving that in his back pocket for now. He can bring it back out if he really has to.]

You've got it. The meeting place doesn't match up at all... and notice how it doesn't have a time, either. Kind of a pretty terrible meeting note, wouldn't you say? What if Hiro showed up too early, or too late?

[Got bored and left? Or... didn't show up during the silence, which is apparently the best time for murder?]

Ahaha, it's possible the note writer was meant to be the true victim... but there's a much simpler explanation. A scapegoat's exactly right.

[He can't see Hiro taking someone from the lockers to the Principal's Office unless something went wildly wrong with a knife plan for some reason... and if it was the idea of whoever he hypothetically attacked... would that be something it'd occur to do in the moment, without prompting or planning, all the way by the lockers?]

This wouldn't be the first time the handwriting of someone who's missing has shown up, has it...? We all remember what happened with Clamor, after all.

[Pages and pages of steadily more accurate handwriting... Creepy, honestly.]

Let's think about it. If you want to copy someone's handwriting, you'd need a sample, right? Hey, Nanami. [Wait.] Err... that Nanami. Would you say the size of the missing object was the same was the rest of the folders?

[waitingforplayer2]

Huh? [ She's been poring over notes, a bit at a loss, and hasn't been following the conversation completely for some time now. ] Oh... ahh...

[ Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she frowns and replays the question in her head. What was-- right. ] Mm... yeah, I thought it might be a folder or something... but there hasn't been any as evidence, so... that didn't occur to me... Do you think somebody took one?

[starrypoint]

[hm...... ........ ........

subaru's thinking about where he and komaeda slipped off to, the purpose of it (at least one, the one he's thinking of now that it's been brought around to meeting) and wriggles in his seat.]

Would it make a difference if it wasn't Yuki-chan's locker that was the meeting spot? Like... if it was one... say, 51 off of that?

[you know, just happened to be that number?]

[dereban]

Of course it would make a difference! It's a completely different locker, it'd have different implications. What, did you find something in a different locker?

[Inaba sounds frustrated but it's not directed at him entirely, just--the general overarching situation, she's so tired.]

[starrypoint]

Yeah. I'm a crime dog, so I sniffed out a clue and it led me to 253. It was a little ajar, actually, [it was not but he has nothing against lying,] and so I peeked into it 'cause I'm nosy, but there was a lotta dust and a notebook in there.

[that's all really. still--]

It had some pretty girly handwriting in it~.

[this man would look in someone's diary if they left it open i'm sorry]

[taketori]

[ ??? That's such a random locker-- and what was that about it being 51 off? Akehoshi......!

Sigh. He's getting tired. ]

Was there anything of use written in the notebook?

[ Girly handwriting aside. Maybe. ]

[starrypoint]

Not unless you're into CompSci.

[like shin]

[notsosou]

[Like him.]

It didn't belong to Kouji, did it?

[Maybe Kouji has girly handwriting, who knows. Shin doesn't think the hypothetical handwriting sample ended up in the 253-or-151 locker, but it pays to check.]

[starrypoint]

Probably not~. Anyway, tell me I did a good job before I cry. ☆

[please he wants to be complimented]

[notsosou]

[He really is like a dog...]

...

......Good job.

[starrypoint]

[yessss!!!]

Thank you~! I'll let you know if I think of anything else, Yori-chan! ☆

[dereban]

If there was a lot of dust, that means the locker hasn't been used in a while... does that mean that the note didn't matter at all, actually...?

No, rather, if it was ajar...

[mumble mumble mumble]

[notsosou]

Guys... we're all getting sidetracked. The exact locker doesn't actually matter. Komaeda proved that by changing the number, ahaha. [For those unaware that sudden blocky handwriting is his.] It could have been any of them... it's not like a meeting involves rifling inside, does it?

[Not unless that was the particular point, or it was to be used as demonstration... but given Hiro's ultimate destination was the Principal's office, Shin's fairly certain it wasn't.]

Speaking of... Komaeda, where exactly did you find the note?

[Komaeda only helps if it amuses him, but there's something of the Floormaster in him as well. That's what Shin's leaning on for his answer.]

[dereban]

. . . A meeting could totally involve rifling through a locker though? Although I have a feeling that the note and the fact that the locker was ajar in the first place might be 'traps' anyway.

[Although she'll wait to hear the answer to that next question to see if she needs to amend her thoughts.]

[commences]

Oh, were you the one that found it?

( calling him out about the note and such, and even going as far to point out that it's his handwriting. he's not upset about it, but he is staring at shin which is a little disappointing because he went by handwriting and not by finger prints... sighs, he really doesn't want to use his new skills.

he's not being difficult, but it's a genuine question. )

[notsosou]

[Oh he's getting to the fingerprints. He's leading up to it... but he needs to do some groundwork first. Just pointing the finger and turning everything into a yelling match has gotten things nowhere as far as he's concerned... Shin really does do better when he can attempt to set a trap.]

Pay attention, Komaeda. Nanami was the one who found it from where you left it, if you didn't hear.

[One of the Nanamis... the one he isn't rooming with currently. He knows about the 202 scrap on Hiro's body, but as far as he knows nobody else does yet because he currently has it with him. Komaeda can work it out if he wants.]

Do you really want to get into a whole tangent about how it's definitely your handwriting, or are you going to just say?

[He's already got it, so give up already. He solved your evidence tampering puzzle.]

[commences]

( how lint had to explain to me what was going on and now it all makes sense. okay, komaeda recalls everything, but stares at shin as if the answer is written on his face. )

Oh, good for Ultimate Gamer! Figuring out mission quests like this is truly unique to her talent. Now... you already had one Ultimate help you, so you can figure out the rest yourself, right?

( even if his puzzle had been found out, what else is there? cooperation for what? )

Though, who is to say it wasn't there all along?

( maybe shin will give him this thorough explanation so komaeda can just watch him feel confident in himself for once. that sounds nice. )

[notsosou]

...Urgh. Forget it...

[If he's playing tug of war like this... then they're not going to get anywhere and Komaeda isn't going to say anything at all. Shin's not in the mood at the best of times... it's always like this with him.]

It doesn't really matter where Hiro found it, or even when, anyway. The note itself is a red herring... even without having been tampered with. Because it still doesn't answer the question of why Hiro was at the Principal's Office that early at all.

[He's really wishing Sara or some other curious protagonist type would jump in here. It's not going to look good if he's doing all the heavy lifting himself.]

[samuraiwomen]

[ WTF DO YOU WANT WITH HER, YOU HATE HER!! SHE'S BEEN SHUTTING UP AND LETTING YOU TALK ALL TRIAL AND NOW UR UNGREATFUL? ]

[dereban]

. . . Is there another note still?

[SHE MAY BE ALSO A CURIOUS PROTAGONIST BUT SHE IS ALSO A VERY EXHAUSTED ONE, LORD.

She feels like that Spongebob meme, with all the Patricks. Except it's notes.]

[starrypoint]

[looks away]

[futurebullets]

[Hinata lets things carry on longer.

Just a little bit longer.

Holding onto hope, until the very last second.

As the conversation continues, there's one point where he'll discreetly slip away to his room when he isn't needed, and has returned while others are still discussing. It's lucky, perhaps, that he's returned when he has, because it's precisely the thing he needed to be said.

It's... probably time to settle things, isn't it?]

...Alright, I think this has gone on for long enough.

[Firm. Resolved. Regretful.]

You're right, Inaba - there is, in fact, another note. I'm sorry for holding off as long as I did, but I wanted to make sure we've explored everything else as much as we could... because the evidence will be damning in at least one regard as soon as it's brought to the forefront.

[He had to explore every avenue. He had to be sure. Because he doesn't want to do this, but he knows that he has to.]

I've been exploring the school in the hopes of something turning up, but it wasn't until I checked here in the common room where so many of us are every day that I actually turned anything up. [He lifts his hands; a thin, slightly misshapen box that looks like it's been carved by hand resides there. Carefully, Hinata will lift the lid off.] I found this note in the fireplace. Burned, but not enough to obscure all of its words completely. Feel free to come look and confirm for yourself, but it's a letter to the younger Arisu. The time is burned away, but it's asking for him to come to the principal's office.

[It's burned and creased, but that part is clear as day.]

I knew the handwriting by sight, but Hiyori also confirmed it with me before this meeting with the fingerprints he'd taken earlier. [Yeah... About that whole part with Hinata and Hiyori confronting each other... Don't worry, Lint and I were just as fooled as everybody else.] Aside from fingerprints found from Hiyori and I from touching it, the fingerprints on the letter and the handwriting belong to the same person. Akehoshi Subaru.

[He could never forget it, even as he looks across the room at him with a sharp gaze. The words on a sign saying "happy birthday".]

Please be honest, Akehoshi. What were you meeting Arisu for?

[commences]

...

( aw, it's the backpedal that makes komaeda frown slightly, but with a small sigh... he can't let his meow meow get like this. when he was doing so well. )

In the trashcan ripped up, it took some time, but I managed to piece it together. That clue in itself is important, so please don't dismiss it.

( going to walk over to shin, holding out his hands. )

It was like a puzzle, if you put it together, it was certainly a meeting spot, and to draw attention of our victim was someone pretending to be the murderer coming forward. ( yes, that's what he thinks. ) Arisu-kun, who must have been in both sadness and a fit of rage wouldn't deny coming to that spot. If I told you easily, you'd think I was lying, but... I don't want to see you discouraged.

[protect]

[ The Ultimate Gamer in question has been watching you two. Anyway, she's going to come over and pat his head. She has to reach up to do it given how much taller he is than her, but she manages it just fine - pat, pat... ]

Thank you, Komaeda-kun. It's important to know where the note was in the first place... Maybe.

[ At the very least, they should know that it wasn't in the classroom. The fact that he was tampering evidence is less good, but... Well, unfortunately they have more pressing matters than someone coming clean about their meddling. The important thing is that someone had found it. ]

In mystery games you have to be getting all the clues that you need to solve it, right?

[ This isn't a game, but it follows the same basic principle: If evidence is hidden from them, the group won't be able to solve it. ]

[taketori]

[ Having been paying attention for the most part, there's... honestly something interesting about that question with what Hiyori's implied before... ]

If Arisu had been here overnight, he very much could have had the time to make it to the Principal's office early in the morning. You mentioned yourself that he had been attacked, shot even, a day prior. If the nurse got to him, then he would have been fine, but there's always a chance of him needing to stay here longer.

Hiyori, I have to ask. How is it you're so certain that Arisu went to school so early the day after he was shot? For that matter, can you be certain yourself that he hadn't been attacked as a result of the note?

[ Red herring, sure. But right now, he's focused in on this. Consider it payback for Miyuki getting stabbed.

And for touching his locker. ]