"What are you doing, Holmes...?" Susato looked up at Holmes, who was still hanging upside-down from the ceiling like a slumbering bat.
"Is it not obvious?" said Holmes. "Since I've embraced my status as but a concept, I figured I might as well take full advantage of my inexplicable existence. As such, I have become a monster. You may call me... Barlock van Holmes."
Susato knew he must be desperate for pity.
"Holmes... you need to stop thinking you're only as valid as something silly like your ability to solve a murder."
Holmes stretched his hand out to the floor, then with a swoosh of his cloak, flipped over so that his feet were planted on the floor.
"But what is a Great Detective who can't solve a whole murder? Just knowing bits and pieces will get one nowhere."
"Well, why not share what you know? How much have you worked out up until now?"
Holmes stuck his pipe in his mouth. "I was afraid you'd ask, for I've only worked out... more or less the full picture."
Susato took a second to process this. She should not have been surprised that this whole conversation was a setup to that.
""More or less the full picture" sounds like you know everything to me..." she said.
"Ah, well. I don't quite see how everything links together just yet, and I don't make declarations I'm not certain of. However..." Holmes looked past Susato at Ooishi and Stroganov, who were still at each other's throats. "... the true nature of that "great detective" over there could not be any more obvious to me."
Holmes took a step past Susato, did a twirl and stopped himself right in between the two men.
"Do you mind? We're having a fight here," said Ooishi.
"Kuraudo Ooishi. You're a peculiar man on a peculiar ship, wrapped up in a peculiar case," said Holmes. "For a peculiarity such as yourself... I have two deductions."
Ooishi shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Holmes with a smug, expectant expression.
"Firstly, you, Kuraudo Ooishi... are no great detective. On the contrary, you are hiding a far more sinister identity!"
"Hoh?" Ooishi maintained a perfect poker face.
"And, secondly... as a sinister man, you have concocted a most sinister plot! One we have not yet uncovered!"
Ooishi let a glare appear on his face. He quickly went back to smirking, but not quickly enough for Holmes or Susato to miss it.
"Without further delay, let us begin..." said Holmes.
REASONING START
TOPIC 1: THE MAN'S IDENTITY
"Now then, Mr. Ooishi. The key to identifying you for the scoundrel that you are lies... there, peeking out of your pocket!" Holmes stuck his hand in Ooishi's right pocket and pulled out... "...a flier for a ship called the S.S. Balabrook! Your identity clearly has something to do with this ship."
A bead of sweat rolled down Ooishi's face as he stared at the back of the flier. "N-Na ha. So you've unmasked me as a sailor."
"Not just any sailor, though. You're quite a bit more sinister than Stroganov there, aren't you?"
In response to Holmes' words, Ooishi's eyes darted to the right. Holmes caught this and directed everyone's attention in the direction of his gaze.
"Your gaze is more honest than your words. Something on the wall has reminded you of your identity, yes?" said Holmes.
"Hoh?"
"You must be quite the appreciator of art, sir. For the clue to your true identity resides in that abstract painting on the wall!"
"That random mess of scribbles? What's a children's drawing gotta say about me?" said Ooishi. The painting was, as Ooishi said, just a random series of irregular, colorful shapes.
"If you rotate this work of art about 140 degrees and focus specifically on what becomes the top right corner, a secret image appears... that of a skull and cross-bones!"
Ooishi craned his neck upside down to process this, which made Holmes cackle as if this was all he set him up for.
"And so, you have carelessly revealed your true nature," said Holmes. "You are no great detective! You, Kuraudo Ooishi, are a grog-swigging, swashbuckling pirate! I've never met one with such a keen eye for art."
CONCLUSION 1: PIRATE
TOPIC 2: OOISHI'S PLAN
"So just what would a foul-smelling pirate like yourself be doing on a humble steamship like this?" asked Holmes.
"OHHHHHH SHIT!" Ooishi suddenly turned and stared intensely at a little chain on the wall.
"Your line of sight has once again betrayed you!" said Holmes. "That chain you're gawking at must be highly topical to your plan. Your plan... is to capture everyone on this ship and sell us as slaves! Though I must say, that sounds fun. You can sign me up."
CONCLUSION 2: CAPTURE ALL PASSENGERS
Susato was speechless. At first, it was because she was in awe of Holmes' unrivalled powers of deduction and how he so elegantly revealed the unexpectable truth behind this case. Then it was because she realized this was dumb.
"So, what do you all think," said Holmes. "Pretty exciting to be in the presence of a real-life sea dog, wouldn't you say?"
"First of all..." Susato looked at the painting at the wall. "Where's the image of the skull and cross bones in this image? I can't even see the bones."
Holmes stared Susato down like she was stupid, then grabbed the painting off the wall, turned it mostly upside down and shoved it in her face, ignoring both the alarm that started blaring and Stroganov yelling at him the moment he touched it.
"There, in the corner! Just use your imagination and you can just about make out the outline of a skull!"
"...And what about the chain? It's much too small to imprison anyone with."
Holmes sighed, unable to believe nobody could comprehend his genius.
"Fine, let's see if you can come up with anything better."
REVIEW START
TOPIC 1: THE MAN'S IDENTITY
"Now then, Mr. Ooishi. The key to identifying you for the scoundrel that you are lies... there, peeking out of your pocket!" Holmes stuck his hand in Ooishi's right pocket and pulled out... "...a flier for a ship called the S.S. Balabrook."
Susato noticed how nervous Ooishi looked, which seemed to convince Holmes that he was on the right track. But, as she was also staring at the back of the flier, she could clearly see that what Ooishi was really nervous about was what was written on the back.
"A sketch of John Ryuunosuke! Your identity clearly has something to do with this ship!"
Holmes turned the flier around. "Absolutely. You're clearly someone with a connection to young John Ryuunosuke. But what possible ties could you have to someone not even a week old? What could you have in mind for him?"
Ooishi's eyes darted in the direction of the painting again, but this time Susato directed Holmes past the painting and at the crime scene.
"The clue to your identity resides in my cabin," said Susato.
"Yes, it's quite clear," said Holmes. "You boarded a ship looking for John Ryuunosuke, then somebody close to him died. You, Kuraudo Ooishi... are an assassin!
CONCLUSION 1: ASSASSIN
TOPIC 2: OOISHI'S PLAN
"So just how were you planning on going about this assassination of yours?" asked Holmes.
"OHHHHHH SHIT!" Ooishi suddenly turned and stared intensely at a little chain on the wall.
"Your line of sight has once again betrayed you!" said Holmes. "That chain you're gawking at must be highly topical to your plan."
Susato nudged Holmes to get his attention again.
"Don't you think Ooishi's reaction just now was a bit... exaggerated?" said Susato.
"Why, yes. That's because Kuraudo Ooishi is an imbecile!" said Holmes.
"I'd rather think he faked his reaction just to see if you'd fall for it," said Susato. "Although, I don't really see the point in using any tiny doorchains at this point, so what do we do?"
Holmes pondered this situation for a moment. "Ooishi bases his innocence off of the sailor's testimony, and how he couldn't have killed young Haori without getting any blood on him. You found a contradiction in the sailor's testimony, though."
"Oh, yes! Mr. Stroganov didn't see Naruhodou when Ooishi left the one time."
"So what does that mean?" Holmes nudged Susato for an answer. And then she had it. It was a highly implausible answer but it was the only thing that made sense. And so, she turned back to Ooishi.
"Your plan to assassinate John Ryuunosuke... started with the murder of Haori."
"Oh, this again," yawned Ooishi. "I told you the sailor was watching that door like a hawk the whole time and saw nothin' suspicious about me either of the times I went in there."
"It doesn't matter what Stroganov saw... because the crime scene wasn't actually a first class cabin of this ship," said Susato.
"Hoh...?"
"When I woke up and found Haori dead, when you arrived and arrested Naruhodou, and when I went to sleep in the other cabin... you, Ooishi, had taken us all onto a completely different ship!"