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I need to inspect this television and its surroundings more: I'll start by checking behind this small drawer. It's very close to the wall… … actually, it's almost on it. This alone might be enough for a contradiction in favor for my case… but that wouldn't be a true, perfect evidence in my hands. I want to definitively settle my position…
"Bars?" Mirii's arms were down, her face was neutral. "Could you please pull this drawer away from the wall?"
"Uh… alright, girl!" He nods, walking towards the drawer.
His hands were gripping the furniture: the feet were walking backwards, the drawer was sliding on the ground following the same slow pace. It stops, as Bars' hands retreated back inside his pockets.
"Happy?" His right eyebrow went up.
"It's good enough." The girl walks behind the drawer, bending down on her knees.
… I knew it, this wall has a definitive contradiction!
"So, what are you finding over there?" Grina grins, chuckling a bit. "The marks of this antiquate technology?"
"A confirmation of my recent finding." Mirii stands up.
Her shoulders turned to the right, her eyes were staring at the girl, her face was still neutral.
"In other words, the television is just a scam?" Grina's head turns over the broken TV.
"I'm not claiming anything that far…" Mirii's head rose, her irises were seeing Hun. "But I can conclude that the television was indeed added at the last minute."
"How?" Hun's mouth opened a bit.
"Simple: the drawer was way too close towards the wall. The electrical cable needed to utilize this item can't pass through the small distance between the drawer and the wall… and as suspected, there is no power socket on this wall. Without it, you can't connect the cable with any electrical source." Mirii smiled.
"So… that means the thing couldn't there before?" His right hand was scratching the top of his head.
"Exactly." She nodded. "Without electrical"
"Hold it!"
Wh-what the?!
Grina's right hand was in front of the girl, with her right arm stretched forward, her left hand on her left hip, her eyebrows down and her smile wide.
"I have to admit, that reasoning there sounded very conclusive…" She clapped, while nodding. "… but I think you are leaving a little detail behind." Her right forefinger rose up.
"WHAT?!" Mirii's knees bended, her hands squeezed her tentacles. "Wh-what kind of nonsensical detail would escape my sharp eyes…?!"
Grina shrugged.
"Don't forget… we are talking about scientists here." Her eyes closed.
Mirii's irises shrunk.
"… no… n-no!" Her eyebrows went up.
"Yeah… that kind of finishing speech is good and all when talking about ordinary Squids… but those two ain't ordinary!" Grina's head shakes left and right. "What if they managed to create a television who doesn't even need a cable? Did you checked that thing behind…?" She tilts to her left, her head was pointing a bit in the lower-left part of the TV.
"Th-there must be a cable!" Mirii turns to her left, bending down a bit…
The girl jumped, as her hands went on her head and her face got paler.
"NO! THERE IS NO CABLE!" Her teeth gritted, her eyebrows went up.
"Heh… didn't need all this brain power to get that out of the way." Grina's right hand went a bit up and down. "Mirii, why are you forgetting points like those? Didn't you told me I don't rely too much on facts?"
Her right foot stands on tiptoes, her hands went on her cheeks, her mouth opened while making an oval shape, her eyes kept blinking. Smoke was coming from Mirii's ears… as she slowly turns over Grina, with her back bending forward, her eyebrows down, her eyes almost squeezed, her mouth flat.
"… I wonder if following acting lessons really improves someone's brain…" Her nose wiggled. "But still, I didn't declared defeat in front of my enemy… this small, untouched area still presents a severe contradiction."
"Yeah, I can see that actually…" Grina's right forefinger was tapping her forehead, as her head tilts up, her eyebrows went down, her irises were resting on the ceiling. "The vase thing, the sudden attack towards those scientists… that didn't happen without a reason!" Her head went back down. "Something is telling me that the liquid and this event are so correlated, I can almost see the whole reason behind this…"
"What I find illogical is the reason why this old CRT television is considered a piece of advanced technology!" Mirii's arms were down, her fists were clenching, her eyebrows were almost reaching her eyes. "It's just a pile of junk that deserves to be thrown inside a dump! That's what I would do by the way, since I HATE using primitive tools who can't grant any considerable advantage in entertainment or even during a mission!"
"Like, I'd so give Mirii a high-five there!" Bars' left step went forward. "If I was a scientist and a genius at the same time, I would make a large television with the newest features! Not to mention, making sure that the stuff is totally invincible!"
Mirii's mouth opened a bit. Grina's eyes grew a bit.
"… that's indeed a good point…" Mirii nodded. "Even by thinking about it, the existence of this piece of hardware is rather suspicious. Especially for the fact that the television itself is rather vulnerable like that."
"You could say that the guy is a retro fan too!" Grina's arms opened, her eyebrows went down. "And about that crack… uuuuuuhhh…" Her irises went up. "Maybe… maybe they didn't predict such mistake?" She grins with her eyebrows up.
"Maybe?" Mirii's arms folded, her eyebrows were down a bit, her eyelids were in the middle, her head was a bit up. "Showing insecurity in front of your opponent doesn't permit your claims balancing on themselves…"
"Alright, alright! Yes I admit, that motivation was a little too daring!" Grina frowns, as her right foot stomped the ground. "So what?! You are still clueless about the presence of that TV… in fact, what are you going to do at this point?! There is no way you can figure out the reasons behind this contradiction!"
"Nnnnggghhh!" Mirii's tilted a bit backwards, her arms stands in front of her chest, her irises shrunk, her eyebrows were down with her right one twitching a bit, a single sweat appeared on her head's right side.
Th-that's right…! I don't have any clues who could help my case! I… I don't even know what I would do at this point!I really want to dig deeper on this matter... but if I keep doing that, not only I'd waste my time but I'd also walk on the wrong path!
I need to complete this investigation flawlessly… understanding exactly which direction I need to take in order to solve this mystery. There is only one strategy I can think of…
"It seems we can't do anything else… for now." Her feet starts walking towards the stairs. "It's time to visit the 1st floor." She stops in front of the stairs. "That's where more clues will pop out in front of my sharp eyes."
"Alright there!" Grina turns her shoulder to her right, her eyes were resting on Bars. "Looks like we got more searching to do!"
Bars nodded.
"I wanted to go out there and splat some mutants… you know, this braintrain game is getting a bit heavier by the minute!" He sighs loudly.
"To be honest, I would like to know what those 3 bozos are up to." She returns forward with her hands behind her back, as her irises went up and her mouth shrunk a bit while staying slightly downturned. "Maybe they know some important information… or even took some important stuff, which I'd steal right under their noses." She grins, chucking a bit.
"If it's true they took useful tools, it must be outside of this house." Mirii's feet were stepping on each step of the stairs. "I'll not move away, until I explored fully this whole house."
There is a window at the end of the stairs: I can see trees… and that's about it. Did they made this window just to bring some light source? Or perhaps, used to bring fresh air through this small hallway? It's certainly a versatile window… nice for most situations. I wouldn't mind installing one right here too…
I see two closed doors, one on each side. There is an opened one right in front of me. The floor is composed by wooden planks, which most of them have termite holes. It has many dark spots too… other than that, there is a round carpet in the middle, colored green.
Uhm… judging from the actual conditions, I don't see any important evidence in this room. This could be used as an evidence itself…
"Apparently, there isn't any signs of fight here." Mirii folds her arms. "It seems that the main hall was majorly involved."
"Now that I think about it, I never set foot on the 1st floor…" Hun's head was turning left and right. "I wonder why…"
"Perhaps, a little deeper investigation might solve your mystery." Mirii walks forward.
The first room is going to be the front one…
CRRREEEEEEEEEEKKK…
This door has different "wrinkles" so to speak… and the handle seems slightly rusty. I'll make sure to find a bathroom and wash my hands, before departing outside of this house. This room has a small, round window on the wall in front of me, closed.
Under the window, I can see a small desk and a very small door on its left: behind, a small chair almost completely under the desk. If I wasn't on tiptoes, I would track the top of it. On the desk, there is a piece of paper and a quill resting inside a small glass bottle with black liquid inside.
Obviously I would like to take that paper and read its words…
Journal number 43567
I woke up in the middle of the night, once again… my eyes were still red, my legs can't stop trembling. My adorable wife is not smiling anymore… she keeps hugging me and sometimes she sobs on my shoulders.
I'm barely using my voice in those days… instead, I get myself inside this room and sit behind my desk. My mind starts forming speeches… speeches about a major regret who keeps stinging my soul. Sometimes I slam on the desk and get up… only to sit back down.
I'm making my mind speak for me way too much. I need to talk once more
… there is a black stain under the words. From the looks of it, the man was interrupted during its journal writing.
"So, what did you find?" Grina's head tilted to her right, with her hands on her hips. "The lucky evidence?"
"No… just the words of a tired man." She turns behind, as her left arm was bending with her hand up while grasping the paper. "Although, it's incomplete."
"That's because he was forced to leave it as such?" Hun's arms moved back and forth.
"Correct." Mirii smiled a bit. "We can conclude that the man was in his room, before the fight took place. However, I cannot take the opened door as an evidence for the case, considering that Agent's previous presence."
"Good job!" Hun's right thumb rose, while smiling. "Did you find anything else?"
"Uhm…" Her irises fell on the paper. "The man wrote 43566 journals, as the 43567th one is left unfinished."
"Like, where are the rest of them?" Bars' right hand scratches the top of his head. "This room is kinda poor on details…"
"I can deduct that this room might have been the man's personal room." Mirii's head rose. "Before we explore the next rooms, I need to check behind the desk." She turns towards the small door.
I'm behind the desk: on the right side, there are two drawers. I'll pull the first one. Inside there are two bottles of black ink and another quill. I'm pulling the bottom one… there is a pile of white papers inside. There is nothing written on the first one. I'll take the pile and flip all the pages.
Blank, blank, blank… uhm? The last page has words written on it. The number 43567 has a strikethrough.
Journal number 43567
I woke up in the middle of the night, once again… my eyes were still red, my legs can't stop trembling. In my mind I still see that vase in the main hall… except it's in the middle of nothing. Suddenly, creeping in the scene… I can hear different voices.
Project Neo… Project Neo… they are still talking about Project Neo… ink was coming out of my ears… PROJECT NEO… PROJECT NEO… my mind is melting… my hands are desperately trying to take that vase… my eyes can't wait to see pieces of porcelain on the floor…
YOU WANT TO TAKE ME?! GO AHEAD, TRY TO STOP ME!
… I don't see anything else under those words. What I do see however is a definitive evidence.