I know most of it's just how you present, yeah. I don't know what goes through your head, I barely know you. But optimism and faith is at least what you put forward. I've seen that much. [He shrugs. Live your life.
He just chews on his lip, considering.]
Well, for one, nothing in his fight with Rin was a complete and total lie, at least not from his perspective. Rin says Yukio's upright and moral, but Yukio obviously doesn't agree. He's a lot more cruel, bitter, jealous and cunning than I think Rin wants to admit. Of course, he still loves his brother. You can tell that just by the way the critters were cuddling while they were killing one another. But even when Rin was defending him, all his defences seem like we can conclusively say they're fragile at best.
I'm not judging him, for the record. I'm worse in just about every stretch of the imagination. But for one, his arm's not really broken, meaning he could've caught Rex unaware, he's telling Rin he's not a better or more moral person at all, and I think even if the kid's never seen a hookah before, he's probably at least read about it.
I know the footprint could've been planted, but it really was our only remotely solid clue for narrowing things down.
[Now that we are actually discussing theories, van Zieks is jumping back in.]
I have heard talk of people discussing the footprint, from which our list of subjects had been narrowed down, as potentially unreliable evidence. Is there any reason for that or simply a suspicion people had?
To me, it is simply that if our analysis is based only on the footprint, and doesn't take into account anything else that happened, it is potentially flawed.
He was the one to pinpoint the cause of death. I'm not sure why he would have given us that information if he were truly the murderer, but that he could name the manner of death based solely on the state of the body... It suggests that he is familiar with such methods.
Does a hookah need to be prepared in a particular way to cause its smoke? If it were simply a matter of lighting a piece of charcoal, the culprit's familiarity with the device is unimportant.
If he were the culprit, I do not believe he did it for self-serving reasons.
Was cruel, and awful. I'm not denying that. [His tone is gentle, and it's clear that he genuinely empathizes. With who? Who knows. But it's not his usual impassivity to human suffering.]
But I get it. Whether he's guilty of the other murder or not, I'm sure that's how he saw it.
So then, you suspect him based on the fact that he would be familiar with how to poison with carbon monoxide, assuming he could figure out the mechanics of the hookah on his own. [Hmm.] I don't think that's wrong. The hookah were rather simple devices, whereas it appears very few of our number understood that burning charcoal in an enclosed space that way would lead to that result.
However, I don't know whether I agree that Yukio Okumura-san would be the only person with such knowledge. Merely the only person who volunteered it.
I agree with you. The reason I further suspected Yukio is... [She pauses to find the words and frowns before looking back in Susato's direction.] ...Well. You already know I cannot say it.
But the combination of those two factors is why I thought the idea worth investigating.
. . . I don't think any of you were - doing something wrong by trying to solve this. I apologize for becoming so heated at execution; I couldn't bear the thought that Rin Okumura-san would die and then his brother would have been the subject of this sort of accusation, particularly when I felt rather strongly he did not do it.
You reasoning is sound. But in case Yukio Okumura-san wasn't the culprit, perhaps you ought to continue to look into it.
[He points a thumb at Zieks.] Voldemort said as much at the execution. Nobody was rushing to cut the kid's head off for it. Not even me, and I'm a self proclaimed evil monster.
It was a theory I had. And Zieks agreed with me after the trial. And during the execution, it seemed to become a lot more likely.
Some of them would be difficult to go into, and I think it would be better not to. I've discussed one of the reasons with Lord van Zieks, but I would prefer to keep it to myself as it might be possible to use in the future to rule someone out.
But also . . . even if he was faking a broken arm, he was not faking that he was wearing a cast. He would have had to have found a way to reset it.
You know, I have grown quite tired of you calling me that. [Surely this will only encourage Spike! Anyway.]
Mr Okumura is clearly someone who intentionally led us to have an incorrect impression of him. Why he did this we cannot say, and at this point it matters little. If things had... gone differently, I would have liked to discuss the matter with him regardless of his guilt in this case, if only to ascertain whether he potentially held a threat going forward.
But as miss Mikotoba says, she did share her reasoning with me. I believe it to be sound. While I still do not think we can conclusively rule Mr Okumura out, I believe at this point it is a much better use of our time to consider other suspects.
If we take the narrowed-down footprint results at face value; that leaves us with Mr Kaburagi, Mr Yoo, Mr Turner, and myself.
However there is also the question of the.... note that was left, which was apparently the most important piece of evidence. [HE IS TIRED.]
And Mr. Turner was ruled out by Mr. Yuri's quick thinking, if you recall. But I admit, I feel some distrust towards that footprint as evidence. It feels . . . [Hmm.] Everything was staged carefully, wasn't it? There was time to seal me in that room. Yet this meticulous killer tipped over some ashes, stepped in them, and failed to clean it up?
[It doesn't really sit right with her.]
. . . Yes, the message. If I recall correctly, it was scratched into the floor?
You may have a point. But even so, I . . . I would not feel comfortable narrowing our search that way. [. . .] You know . . . there was a story once in Randst Magazine where the detective catches a culprit by scattering cigarette ash on the floor and capturing the villain's footprints when he later crept through the darkened room. I always thought - my apologies to Iris - it was a little silly. Even in the dark, wouldn't one notice the crunch of ash beneath one's feet?
I cannot say. But you may be right. I simply felt we should take all potential factors of the situation into consideration.
But when I had asked Spike his reasoning, he did not only cite his interpretation of Mr Okumura's character, but of the others as well. He claimed we would all have been "more direct." I do agree that it would be odd for someone of Mr Yoo's physical ability to resort to such an indirect means of murder, myself included.
Yes, I don't think so either. And. . . furthermore, though it may not be evidence suited for a court of law, I know you would not have done such a thing to me, Lord van Zieks. There is no doubt in my mind about that. That would leave only Mr. Yoo Joonghyuk and Mr. Kaburagi, and neither feels right to me.
If we put aside the shoeprint for just a while, maybe something else will catch our attention.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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He just chews on his lip, considering.]
Well, for one, nothing in his fight with Rin was a complete and total lie, at least not from his perspective. Rin says Yukio's upright and moral, but Yukio obviously doesn't agree. He's a lot more cruel, bitter, jealous and cunning than I think Rin wants to admit. Of course, he still loves his brother. You can tell that just by the way the critters were cuddling while they were killing one another. But even when Rin was defending him, all his defences seem like we can conclusively say they're fragile at best.
I'm not judging him, for the record. I'm worse in just about every stretch of the imagination. But for one, his arm's not really broken, meaning he could've caught Rex unaware, he's telling Rin he's not a better or more moral person at all, and I think even if the kid's never seen a hookah before, he's probably at least read about it.
I know the footprint could've been planted, but it really was our only remotely solid clue for narrowing things down.
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I have heard talk of people discussing the footprint, from which our list of subjects had been narrowed down, as potentially unreliable evidence. Is there any reason for that or simply a suspicion people had?
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Does a hookah need to be prepared in a particular way to cause its smoke? If it were simply a matter of lighting a piece of charcoal, the culprit's familiarity with the device is unimportant.
If he were the culprit, I do not believe he did it for self-serving reasons.
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The only culprit we've had that did do it for entirely self serving reasons was the ghost king.
Rin also said he'd take responsibility for his crimes if he were guilty, so I do want to point out that he did just that eventually.
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Please, don't say that. What happened to the two of them. . .
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But I get it. Whether he's guilty of the other murder or not, I'm sure that's how he saw it.
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However, I don't know whether I agree that Yukio Okumura-san would be the only person with such knowledge. Merely the only person who volunteered it.
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But the combination of those two factors is why I thought the idea worth investigating.
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. . . I don't think any of you were - doing something wrong by trying to solve this. I apologize for becoming so heated at execution; I couldn't bear the thought that Rin Okumura-san would die and then his brother would have been the subject of this sort of accusation, particularly when I felt rather strongly he did not do it.
You reasoning is sound. But in case Yukio Okumura-san wasn't the culprit, perhaps you ought to continue to look into it.
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It was a theory I had. And Zieks agreed with me after the trial. And during the execution, it seemed to become a lot more likely.
...What made you so sure he didn't do it, anyway?
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[She pauses for a long moment.]
Some of them would be difficult to go into, and I think it would be better not to. I've discussed one of the reasons with Lord van Zieks, but I would prefer to keep it to myself as it might be possible to use in the future to rule someone out.
But also . . . even if he was faking a broken arm, he was not faking that he was wearing a cast. He would have had to have found a way to reset it.
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[Surely this will only encourage Spike! Anyway.]
Mr Okumura is clearly someone who intentionally led us to have an incorrect impression of him. Why he did this we cannot say, and at this point it matters little. If things had... gone differently, I would have liked to discuss the matter with him regardless of his guilt in this case, if only to ascertain whether he potentially held a threat going forward.
But as miss Mikotoba says, she did share her reasoning with me. I believe it to be sound. While I still do not think we can conclusively rule Mr Okumura out, I believe at this point it is a much better use of our time to consider other suspects.
If we take the narrowed-down footprint results at face value; that leaves us with Mr Kaburagi, Mr Yoo, Mr Turner, and myself.
However there is also the question of the.... note that was left, which was apparently the most important piece of evidence.
[HE IS TIRED.]
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[It doesn't really sit right with her.]
. . . Yes, the message. If I recall correctly, it was scratched into the floor?
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Like the fact that you're a bitch.]
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[Hmm.]
You may have a point. But even so, I . . . I would not feel comfortable narrowing our search that way. [. . .] You know . . . there was a story once in Randst Magazine where the detective catches a culprit by scattering cigarette ash on the floor and capturing the villain's footprints when he later crept through the darkened room. I always thought - my apologies to Iris - it was a little silly. Even in the dark, wouldn't one notice the crunch of ash beneath one's feet?
I could be entirely mistaken.
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But when I had asked Spike his reasoning, he did not only cite his interpretation of Mr Okumura's character, but of the others as well. He claimed we would all have been "more direct." I do agree that it would be odd for someone of Mr Yoo's physical ability to resort to such an indirect means of murder, myself included.
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Yes, I don't think so either. And. . . furthermore, though it may not be evidence suited for a court of law, I know you would not have done such a thing to me, Lord van Zieks. There is no doubt in my mind about that. That would leave only Mr. Yoo Joonghyuk and Mr. Kaburagi, and neither feels right to me.
If we put aside the shoeprint for just a while, maybe something else will catch our attention.