Battler, Maria, Rudolf, Kinzo and Nanjo were gathered in the living room. They had barricaded the door with furniture and boarded up the windows and were hiding under the furniture so that even if Ryuji Gohda managed to break in he'd still have to play hide and seek with them before he could kill them.
"This is all my fault, if I hadn't broken the phone we'd all have been able to escape," Battler was crying under the sofa and Maria wiped his tears with Sakutarou.
"He's right!" said Kinzo. "My family is worthless, WORTHLESS! But Battler, he's the most worthless of all! If a pawn shop paid me nothing in exchange for the rest of my family, I'd have to pay them myself to put him on their shelves!"
Kinzo got out from under the sofa, swept the dust off his cloak and marched away from his guests.
"Wait Dad, where're ya goin'?" said Rudolf.
"Up to my study, which is highly secure! That Ryuji Gohda vulture will never reach me from my perch! NEVERRRRRR!"
"Can we go too then, Kinzo?" said Nanjo.
"NO! For if you do, all Ryuji Gohda may do is knock on the door and you imbeciles would answer it!" he looked at Battler when he said that last part. "GOODBYE!"
Kinzo Ushiromiya swished his cloak and walked out through the door, but first he had to move all the furniture out of the way which nearly broken his back, but he got out eventually.
"Dagnabbit now we've got to set the barricade back up!" said Rudolf. Rudolf got out from under the sofa and dragged Battler out too, who was moaning about how tired he was but Nanjo was old and Maria was young so he had to help.
However, just as they finished stacking the furniture against the door again, they heard a loud noise upstairs!
"Battler, please tell me that was you dropping the chair on the floor."
"Nope."
"God FUCKING DAMN IT!" shouted Rudolf and he tore the barricade down again. Leaving Maria with Dr. Nanjo, Battler and Rudolf ran upstairs and stopped at the big iron door leading to Kinzo's study.
Rudolf hit the door a few times, and it went CLANG CLANG CLANG!
"Dad, are you in there?" he shouted, but he got no answer.
Battler tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.
"Dad installed these fingerprint scanners that open and shut the door to his study, so we can't get in," said Rudolf.
"Then if he was killed in there, how did Ryuji Gohda get in?"
Rudolf said nothing. Instead of answering, he went into the storage room next to the study and came out with a crowbar. He stuck it in between the door and forced it open a crack. Through that narrow gap, Battler peered inside and saw the old man collapsed on the floor, bleeding out of his back!
The windows were shut and Ryuji Gohda was nowhere to be seen inside, so how could he get in and out?
"For someone who doesn't care about mystery novel tricks he sure likes mystifying us," said Rudolf. "How did Ryuji Gohda pull this one off?"
"Actually I don't think this one was that hard either," said Battler. Battler was beginning to understand Ryuji Gohda's simplicity. "We saw the door being used earlier this morning and it opened and closed really slowly. So, what if Gramps opened the door, went inside, then just as he made the door close..."
Battler could imagine the events vividly. Kinzo had just used his fingerprint scanner after entering the study, and the door was beginning to close. And just as he did that, Ryuji Gohda appeared! With Kinzo's back to him, he took aim at the old man's back and fired! That was all there was to it!
"Gosh darn it, Battler... you're pretty smart when you want to be," said Rudolf, and he was right because Battler can be smart sometimes. But maybe he was giving him too much credit because this murder wasn't that hard to figure out.
"A-Aw, thanks, Dad!" he said with a big stupid grin. They are both stupid.
Rudolf checked the time. It was 11:57.
"We better get back to the living room. Nanjo's too old to keep little Maria safe from Ryuji Gohda."
"No worries, haven't gone anywhere near 'em!" said someone coming up the stairs.
"RYUJI GOHDA!" shouted Battler.
TO BE CONTINUED...
