10. Suspicion.

T: Warnings and disclaimers remain the same.

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"That woman, she is the one you told me of all those long years ago, isn't she?"

"The woman that Muraki one day plans to wed, yes," she responds as her eyes drift to gaze at the view visible out of his hotel room window.

Her emotions have tightened even further as she has spoken those words and, aware that he is venturing again into 'dangerous ground' he enquires,

"Why were you so very insistent on being alone with her?"

"Because I wanted to learn about who she was…about the sort of woman he wanted in his life. I did not get to learn such a thing, not directly in any case…"trailing she laughs a derisive laugh and, running angry fingers through her hair, she says, "Before I could say anything to her she gained the 'upper hand' by informing me that she knew who I was, who you were and, most importantly who her fiancé was. For a moment the thought that he could trust another so completely, that he was capable of such care and yet had treated me in the manner that he had, threw me and then…then a firm sort of clarity came over me and I asked her if her fiancé was a part of this."

"Yet why ask her such a question when you knew what her answer was to be?"

"It was a 'gut instinct', one that led in a very interesting direction."

"Meaning what, precisely?"

"Meaning that I've found the common thread in the lives of our murder victims."

"That 'thread' being the art course?"

"Correct."

"Then it seems that the initial hypothesis was correct and that Muraki is indeed our killer."

"I am afraid not." Her eyes fixing again onto his own, she informs him, "There is no possible way that Muraki is part of this."

"Has she provided you with some evidence to bring you to such a conclusion…perhaps provided him with an alibi?"

"All that she has done is look me in the eye and tell me that it is so."

"And you trust her."

"It sounds foolish, I know, and even I would put it down to my heart influencing my mind, however, she said something that stuck with me, something that has made me convinced that she is telling me the truth."

"And that something was?"

"'I know, beyond any doubt, that he would rather die than cause me even the slightest of grief…indeed I have come so very close to having that fact proven to me.'"

The moment the words have left her mouth a memory flashes in his mind, a memory of something Tsuzuki had said to him a month after the fires of Kyoto…

He is making a show of reading the book propped against his knees and yet, in reality, a great proportion of his attention is fixated onto the monitoring of the emotional state of his neighbour.

So lost has he become in this task that when the other remarks, "You know, he said something very strange during that time," that it takes him a moment to inform the other,

"You've started your sentence mid way through again."

"I guess I did." The other responds as he rubs a thickly bandaged hand against the back of his head. "What I was trying to say was that, as he lay on the floor before me, the blood draining from his body, he said a very strange thing."

At this point in time 'he' can refer to only one individual and, feeling suddenly tense and uncertain of himself, he enquires,

"What was this 'strange thing'?"

"'I am sorry…it seems that there is no way to keep my promise…that, even this choice shall inconvenience you somehow…'"

At the time he'd dismissed the words as little more than the incoherent mumblings of one suffering from extreme blood loss and yet now…now it was clear that the words had been entirely coherent, that even one such as Muraki was capable of selfless thought.

"Hisoka, is everything alright?" Tsubaki enquires as she slides forewords in her seat and sets her hands to his knees. The contact fills him with the warm press of emotions he has come to associate with the bond of friendship and, pushing away the darker thoughts clouding his mind, he responds.

"Everything is fine."

She retains the contact between them for a few moments after this then, assured that he is telling at least some form of truth, she says,

"My conversation with Sakuraiji-san has also given us a new trail to follow, though I am not yet certain of what we shall learn while doing as such."

Leaning down to open her handbag she pulls out a thin folder and, passing it into his care, says, "Sakuraiji-san named this individual as the only likely suspect in this case. Thus, though she also informed me that it was impossible for her to be involved, I decided to go and get her file."

The file contains; a single photo of a pale, thin, girl with lank, shoulder length blond hair. A memo written in Tatsumi's elegant hand which states 'Inou Mia was Anna Richards before 'cultural pressures' led to her mother changing her name.' Finally there is an account written, once more in Tatsumi's hand, detailing an 'incident' where Inou-san's candle had behaved in an 'unusual manner.'

"What is it about Inou-san that makes her such a certain suspect and why, if she is assured of her guilt, did Sakuraiji-san name it 'impossible' for her to be involved?"

"According to Sakuraiji-san she enrolled into the art course six months ago and it swiftly became apparent that Inou-san was 'not what she had claimed to be'. Sakuraiji-san asked her to leave and for the next month Inou-san made a nonsense of herself by loitering outside the house, writing to Sakuraiji-san each and every day begging to be allowed a second chance and, perhaps most telling of all, threatening the lives of each of the girls on our list. After the end of that month Inou-san vanished and Sakuraiji-san was made to believe that she had died."

"What convinced her of such a thing?"

"This."

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T: Next chapter wed at the latest. Review?