There wasn't much else to find in Len's room to IA's disappointment. They'd spent a good half an hour or so looking for evidence and clues with little success, so IA decided they'd be better off pooling for other resources. The scene of ice evaporated into a chilling mist the moment they left the room, which was a shame since IA didn't know if Kaito could still recreate it or not. Still, it was better that it disappeared. It wouldn't have been good if Rin or her parents came home to find Len's death scene recreated in his room.

Just as they were lingering at the front door though, IA suddenly realized she'd missed an important factor. She grabbed Kaito's hand and quickly dragged him back to the living room, grabbing the remote control for the TV and turning it on to the highest volume.

"What are you doing now?" Kaito asked nervously. His heart was hammering for some reason after IA had suddenly grabbed him. Not because he was embarrassed or shy about having his hand grabbed by a pretty girl like IA. He knew enough about crushes and love to know this wasn't that. It was more of an anxiety that had suddenly taken over him, as if his body remembered a fear that his mind had forgotten.

IA didn't seem to notice Kaito's apprehension, her mind consumed with a new possibility forming in her head. She said, "I'll explain to you later, but for now, try talking to yourself as loud as you can."

"Eh? But isn't that weird?" Kaito asked, frowning at the idea of talking to himself out loud of all things.

"It's fine. Just try to listen for anything that doesn't sound right, but otherwise keep making lots of noise," IA said, giving Kaito a somewhat reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'll be right back."

IA quickly disappeared back up the stairs. With nothing else to do, Kaito could only glumly stare at the TV before sighing and attempting to talk to himself. Not knowing what to say, Kaito started with, "I really don't know what to say to myself."

After a beat and an outbreak of laughter from the reality show in the TV, Kaito said loudly, "It would be really nice to get my memories back."

Another pause.

"Like it would be nice to know who I was. But I also want to know how I spent the last ten years of my life in the Lost Woods and why I haven't grown at all. And I kinda hope the note I found doesn't actually involve Meiko because she seems like a really nice person. Though I hope no one was actually to blame for me ending up in the woods since they all seem like they used to be my good friends."

Kaito was distracted for a moment by the TV, laughing a little as the guests of the show began to teasingly argue amongst themselves. The program seemed to be mimicking a crime drama, trying to find out which of the guests were the culprit of the incident that occurred at the start of the program. The guests were all laughing as they tried to gather clues through games and argued over who looked the most guilty. Kaito wondered if maybe he used to watch these shows and laugh over them like he was now. As the show switched to a commercial break, Kaito suddenly remembered the task IA had given him. He looked anxiously up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what IA must be doing up there and feeling a bit guilty for letting himself get carried away.

"Oh right, I have to talk too," Kaito muttered to himself, nervously tugging at the collar of his shirt. He glanced again at the TV, waiting for the show to come back on. There was a faint thumping noise coming from somewhere, something that could easily have been the pounding in his ears. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but he didn't let it bother him. IA had asked him to listen for anything weird, and he wasn't too disturbed by the throbbing in his ears. As the show returned along with a faint high pitched whir, or maybe it was a shrill squeak, Kaito suddenly said, "I wish a crime investigation could be like this. With everyone having fun and working together to find the culprit without any real consequences. I have a feeling I don't really like seeing people fighting each other."

The show moved on to reveal the culprit, who'd managed to avoid most of the suspicion altogether throughout the show. Kaito was slightly disappointed he couldn't have deduced the culprit on his own, but in the end it was still all fun and games, nothing to be angered or emotional about.

"It would really be nice if Len's murder could be solved this peacefully," Kaito voiced aloud. "But I guess that's unlikely. This does involve murder after all."

"Exactly," IA said, suddenly appearing at the base of the stairs. "Unlike the shows you see on TV, murder is a serious offense in society. It's the act of taking another's life oftentimes for reasons we couldn't possibly understand. Especially in a small, secluded village like this, finding the culprit will tear apart relationships, make friends turn on each other, and reveal the darkest parts of humanity. You'd be naïve to think this could end peacefully."

"Oh, uh, IA, when'd you get down here?" Kaito asked, jumpy and nervous that she'd overheard him talking to himself like an idiot.

That's right, that's all he was. An idiot.

Kaito had to pause for a moment, unsure where that thought had popped out from, but by then IA had replied, "Just now, but don't worry about me overhearing you. I did tell you to talk to yourself after all, and besides, if you'd seen me, you'd think I'd been doing something stupider."

"What were you doing upstairs?" Kaito asked, suddenly remembering why he'd been stupidly talking to himself.

"Well, let me ask you first. Did you hear anything weird?"

Kaito froze, realizing he'd gotten so lost with his own thoughts and the TV show that he hadn't really been paying attention. He mumbled, "Not really. I got distracted."

"Getting distracted is good, but you sure you didn't hear anything strange?" IA pressed on.

Kaito thought harder before saying, "Well, at some point there was this faint throbbing noise, and maybe a shrill whine or something, but I thought I was imagining it or maybe it was from the TV, so I wasn't paying too much attention to it. Should I have?"

IA sighed and scratched her head. "No, you reacted like I expected. Supposing this were the night Len died, with more people and even more noise, it'd be even less likely that anyone would've heard screaming or stomping or stuff being thrown about, or at least registered it."

Kaito stared long and hard at IA. "Is that what you were doing upstairs?"

IA shrugged. "I'm actually surprised this house is quite soundproof. I guess the buildings in this village are more stable than I assumed. Or maybe I wasn't screaming hard enough?"

Kaito tugged at the scarf wrapped around his neck, suddenly feeling a little nauseous. He mumbled, "Isn't that kinda sad though?"

"What is?"

"I mean, if even I couldn't hear you screaming upstairs when I was here by myself, those kids wouldn't have heard anything either right? But that would mean at some point during their party, while everyone was having fun downstairs, they couldn't even hear their own friend being brutally murdered right above their heads."

IA took a long look at Kaito's somber face, wondering what to say to cheer the teen (or was it man?) up. It wasn't often she was faced with the humane response towards murder investigations. After that accident, she had learned to treat cases with apathy over the years of studying to become a detective. She had thought there'd be no use to cry over the dead. An action like that only clouded one's judgment about who was guilty and who wasn't, but here was someone, sympathizing with the victims, both dead and alive. How did it feel to know someone you cared about had died even though you could've saved them? IA knew that feeling all too well, but…

"I told you this wouldn't be easy, but we still have to find the killer. As the investigators of this case, we owe Len at least this much," IA said, resting a hand on Kaito's shoulder. That's right, that's all she had to do, all she could do. Getting overly invested in human relations could only lead to pain and error. She just had to go about this case just as she'd practiced for years.

Ask questions, get answers, keep the persons involved at a good distance away.

And Kaito? What about him? This oblivious amnesiac you've picked up on a whim? Are you going to keep him from getting too involved in Len's case? In his own case? Can you even keep yourself from becoming friends with him?

IA paused at the thought her unhelpful conscience supplied. She'd almost forgotten. Kaito, with his determination to regain his memories, to find himself through his forgotten friend's case. IA had let him come along because he was the only person who was most definitely innocent, but did she have the right to keep him from getting too attached?

She didn't, not in the slightest bit, so she justified it too herself that Kaito was only along because he could be helpful. Whether he got hurt or not in the process was none of her business.

As if satisfied for the time being, the conflicted feeling in her heart settled down. IA let out a small sigh of relief. She turned to Kaito and said, "Well, now that we're all done here, let's move on then. There's one more place I want to go before we settle down for the night."

A/N: Well I said I'd update soon so here it is. Though I don't think it contributes much to the plot other than prove these village houses are stupidly sound proof for the sake of the plot... Sorry. Next chapter should have more substance so until next time!

Thanks for reading!