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The steps landed on the cracking wooden planks, as a smell of wood-shaving was dashing into the nostrils. Mirii's nose wiggled, as her stare was resting on an oval, short-legged table with a vase on it containing a group of flowers, either colored red or yellow.
Her eyes steered to the right, now visualizing stairs going up towards the darkness…
"Hunley, I have a suggestion." She turns behind, with her arms stretching down. "Before venturing out of this house and searching for those Stingrays, we shall explore this house and find any evidence which could lead us over the owners."
"Uhm…" Hun's head lowered, his eyes closed, his fingers were under his chin. "… I don't know about this, Mirii." He rose his head back to normal, his arms moved up and down a bit. "Is it going to take a lot? We don't have all day, unfortunately."
"Time shouldn't be that important to consider." Her left foot slides a bit forward. "If we are not fully prepared for fighting against those mutants, we will encounter situations impossible to face."
"That's true… after all, those scientists might have a solution for this." He nods. "But are you really sure we should check everything around? Those Agents went away with their hands empty."
"If I wasn't sure about this decision, I wouldn't even brought you all here…" Mirii slowly turns behind. "They may have experience, but they don't have the sharp eyes of perfection."
Her head slowly rose a bit. Hun closes his mouth, as he turns behind seeing Grina and Bars staring at the girl at the front.
"That's why a mere failure isn't enough to make me walk away."
Hun returns forward, seeing Mirii's head turned to the right with her right iris resting on her right eye's right corner.
"… I'll do that if my eyes were a failure."
Her right irises moved forward…
INVESTIGATION
Alright, before I begin my investigation, I need to remember my objectives… so far, the only points I care about are: finding any clues connected to those two scientists, finding a solution behind the liquid crisis… and last, finding the plan behind the creation of this liquid.
The last point is very crucial for the situation… that's because I strongly doubt the Stingrays created this liquid for nothing. They will utilize this new weapon for attacking Inkopolis… but the problem is not knowing how they are going to utilize it, exactly.
Is it going to be through aerial tactics? Covered delivery? I can't stop asking myself about this whole situation… but for now, I must leave this point as a reminder for later. The next step I'll do is choosing a starting point.
The main hall has different items scattered on the ground… I can even see shards of glass on the carpet.
"Uhm…" Mirii's face was staring at the shards, as her right knee was touching the carpet and her right fingers were carefully picking up some of them, putting them a bit way. "Interesting."
"Really? You are interested in junk?" Grina grins a bit.
"No." Mirii stands up with her eyes still staring down the shards. "I was talking about those shards of glass."
"Like, did that dude knock it off for fun?" Bars opened his arms, shrugging.
"I don't think he would waste his time ruining others' items…" Her right forefinger rested on her right cheek. "In fact, I believe he didn't even noticed this hazard."
"Yeah, otherwise he would had blasted 100 hundred bad words all across the forest!" Grina's arms opened wide, as her head shakes left and right at the same time and her cheeks puffed.
Bars and Grina laughed, both with their eyes closed. Mirii's right hand stood in front of her eyes, as she sighs loudly. Her right hand went down, as she turns behind.
"Those pieces of glass might prove that a fight took place in this house." Her eyebrows were a bit down. "If we find more clues regarding broken objects, then we can claim such conclusion."
"A fight…? Here?" Hun's right hand scratched the top of his head. "Why? Why attacking two old people?"
"Maybe because they got an antidote in the turf?" Grina turns over Hun, as her left hand pulled her left tentacle behind.
"An antidote?! It could be!" Hun bends forward, pointed towards Grina, with his eyes expanded.
"In other words, smashed stuff brings smashing theories in our case!" She turns over Mirii. "Am I right, genius?"
Mirii nods.
"But that doesn't mean we should ignore other evidences." She turns behind. "The truth might be deeper than any ordinary expectation…"
That's a lesson I learned from my brother: cases where it was obvious who was the culprit… at the end, it was that one person who kept that good alibi for so long. Let's see around…
The sofa has scratch marks on its backrest… it makes me think of a seacat who kept scratching and meowing loudly. I… I would immediately return that beast into the wild. There are some faint stains on the cushions… their color seems to be yellow…? … no, that's not relevant to the case.
The flowers on the vase have bright colors, either red or yellow. I can imagine someone feeding water to those plants with a small watering can… I would. The small table has nothing interesting, otherwise… in front of the table, I can detect a CRT television on a small drawer.
… what's this? Cracks?
"Look there, Barsy: that thing is even older than our dear TV back at the treehouse!" Grina grins with her arms folded. "At least, we can keep up with the fresh trend!"
"Girl, like I would be much more fresh with a LED TV, 84-inch!" He nods, while smiling. "Add some pop-corns on the left, fresh soda on the right, Turf War Station's Mini-Max Speakers right around the TV… and we can say goodbye to the theatres!"
"Ih ih, but then you can't be called yourself retro fan." Grina bends forward, with her left wrist on her left hip, her right forefinger touching Bars' tip of his nose, while grinning and giggling a bit. "Didn't you told me that hardcore was hidden deep into the past and nowadays people can't grow any skills?"
"Ehm…" His right irises moved to the right, as his eyebrows went up. "… like, at least the"
"Aaaaaah!" Grina opened her smiling mouth.
The boy sighs with his arms down.
"… well, at least I'm a pro!" He smiles, lifting his posture back. "You can't deny that, girl!"
"Yep!" She nods, as her head turns over Mirii. "Anyway, why Miss Perfection is staring down at a black screen?"
Mirii was a bit bended forward.
"That's because there is a crack on this television screen." She lifts her posture back.
"I noticed that too." Grina's hands rest on her hips. "Not to sound like a butt or anything, but isn't it odd that the television screen has a crack and this part of the area doesn't look anything like a mess? That doesn't sound much of a fight they did! In fact, what if it was that guy having fun breaking something up?!"
"True… good observation." Mirii turned over the girl, raising her head a bit. "An observation that someone might ask when they don't rely too much on facts."
"Oh yeah?" She chuckled a bit. "I know how to do 1+1 too! The funny thing is that I didn't even need any help to reach such fantastic skill!"
Mirii squeezed her eyes a bit.
I can see her ego getting out of control… again. Hmpf, she really doesn't have any self-control or anything… because when you let an emotion get the best of you, that's the moment when you are becoming exposed to attacks.
All I need is just my logic… there is something extremely evident about this. Something which I need to confirm once and for all…
Her irises turned to her left, pointing down Hun which knees were bended down.
"Hunley, can I have your attention?" Her right hand took her right tentacle, caressing it.
The boy stands up, turning behind.
"Mirii, I found other shards here!" His right forefinger pointed down.
The girl smiled, nodding.
"Good job, Hunley." Her eyes closed. "Certainly such find will help us demonstrate how an attack took place…"
"Yaaawwwnn…" Grina's right hand stood in front of her opened mouth. "Come on, just say your little theory already!"
"Theory…?" Mirii frowns a bit. "… you were shouting a theory, ingrate." She snorted, returning her stare towards Hun. "Hunley, could you tell me if you remember to ever entered inside this house?"
"Yes, I can confirm that!" He nodded two times. "Why?"
"Then, do you even remember what items were scattered around this hall?" Her arms folded.
"Not too much…" His mouth downturned, his back tilted a bit forward.
"What about this item behind me?" The girl walked to the left, as her arms stretched towards the TV.
"Huh?" His right hand scratched the top of his head. "… actually… no, I don't." His right hand went under his chin, his irises went up. "In fact, one of the few things I remember is a large vase having a drawing. The drawing was… was… uuuhhmmm"
"That's enough, Hunley." Mirii smiles a bit. "Thank you for the cooperation."
"Pfffff, really?!"
Mirii's head turned over Grina, as her face got neutral. Grina was grinning.
"Oh my… that's a super twist that the television wasn't there before!" Her arms went up. "So?! What that would do? The situation didn't change an ink!"
"… tsk." Mirii's eyes were closed, her head shook left and right slowly. "I'd figure your ego would get the best of you, yet again."
"What about YOUR ego?!" Her right hand was covering her mouth, her cheeks puffed a bit. "You're still acting as if Judd said that you won already!"
Mirii sighed a bit.
"Grina… could you please take a look around?" Her arms folded.
"Look around where?" Her arms opened. "Everything you see here is a mess!"
"Of course it's… in fact, Hunley found other shards over there." Mirii nodded. "Also, I can see a broken window to the far left, a furniture cut in a half near that wall clock… yet, nothing here seems out of the ordinary."
"Except for that fat TV behind you…" Grina smiles with her neck bending a bit forward. "I know you are trying to make your theory so believable, but what if that Agent just went here and did some rampage?! You are getting nowhere with this!"
"… let me ask you a simple question…" Mirii's right forefinger points towards Grina. "Why the Agent didn't ruin this little area too?"
"Hmm…" Grina's irises looked towards the ceiling. "… maybe he got bored?"
"You are not sure?" Her right arm went back.
"Who cares!" She shrugged, frowning a bit. "This broken stuff doesn't lead us anywhere at all!"
"Unless you consider this logical path I found." She breathes silently, once. "All the areas of the main hall were wasted, except for this little area… because the responsible didn't wanted to waste this little area at all."
"And why they wouldn't do that?!" Suddenly, her eyes expanded. "Wait a minute… you are not seriously suggesting that"
"I see you are catching up with the facts…" Mirii smiled, as her head was nodding slowly.
"Like… that vase was that important?" Bars' head went down, his eyes were closed. "But why? What's so special about a vase?"
"Good question." Mirii's head turns over Bars. "The answer might bring us towards the two scientists…"
"Wh-what about that thing, Mirii?" Hun was frowning, staring down at the television. "Why that thing is there?"
"… that's also a very good question, Hunley." Her irises shrunk a bit.
… wait… that question… n-no! If they needed to take that vase down, then we would see nothing on that furniture at all! How could I forgot the CRT television so easily?! What I was thinking?! … unless… unless there is something else I'm missing. Something who might explain a previous situation…