Continuing off of their visit to the game room, Naoko and Yori stepped into the pool room where they had previously spent a good amount of time attempting to enjoy themselves, to mixed success. Mostly everyone that had been there was there when they arrived, though Kimi and Mine weren't in sight. People were fairly inactive, for the most part, though Yasuo and Haru seemed like they were in the middle of talking to one another, as they stood next to the folding table, which had been set up again in the same spot and had on it a scant amount of small snack food bags and soda cans that Yasuo had previously brought back with him to replace all that they had lost.

"I dunno what to tell you, man," Haru said to Yasuo, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's not like I meant to knock it over."

"I understand that," Yasuo replied with a patient smile. "Perhaps, after all this is over, you can give everyone your sincerest apologies. That would certainly help smooth things out between us."

Haru scoffed. "Yeah, maybe. Somehow, I don't think that's gonna cut it. I was told I couldn't swim in the pool for the rest of the party, and it's not like we're havin' a party during all this. Somethin' tells me they're gonna try to throw some other punishment my way."

"Well," Yasuo began, beginning to look troubled, "I suppose that's a possibility, but..."

Yasuo stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell upon Naoko.

"Oh, good, it's Naoko and Yori. Come over here, why don't you?"

"Hey guys," Naoko said, moving closer to them, Yori not far behind.

"Ah, Naoko," Haru said, looking at him curiously. "Good to see ya. How's that whole investigatin' thing goin'?"

"Thus far, we've made some progress," Yori informed him. "I...sincerely hope you've all been holding out well enough."

"Well," Haru replied, "I'd say that things have been pretty consistently shitty for us for a little while now. Not much else to say. We're still holdin' out, though, I guess."

"Hmm," Yasuo said with a frown. "I'd like to agree with you, Haru. However...that's all very negative, isn't it?"

"Is there some sorta problem with that?" Haru asked.

"I wouldn't say I have an issue with agreeing with people," Yasuo explained. "However, at the moment, doing so would be very negative of me. I simply don't like to be negative. Not when I feel I don't have to be, anyways. In this case, as, um...poorly as things have been, we've all worked hard to make this happen, so I'd rather not bad-mouth it."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Naoko said.

"Oh, well, thank you," Yasuo replied. "I...suppose I've just been dealing with quite a lot of conflicting emotions recently."

"Shit happens, man," Haru commented. "Anyway, you're gonna want to talk to us about what happened, huh?"

Yori nodded. "Yes. Any information you can provide, please."

"Not much to say about me," Haru replied. "The only time I was even outside of this room was when I went to go take a shit."

"You were in there for quite some time, if I'm correct," Yori commented.

Haru grimaced. "You're seriously gonna pry into a guy's bowel movements? Is that what you're tryin' to do?"

"No, that's not what I had in mind at all," Yori replied matter-of-factly. "I just thought that you could verify if anyone else had visited the bathroom while you were there."

"Huh?" Haru asked. "I mean, I went straight to the men's room on the first floor. Y'know the one, right? It was close, and like hell I was gonna go all the way to my room to do my business. I didn't see anyone there the whole time."

"You didn't?" Naoko asked. Given some previous testimonies, that claim seemed...strange.

"Nope," Haru answered. "Not a soul."

"Well, that's interesting," Yori said, looking over to Yasuo. "Yasuo, you stepped outside of this room yourself, didn't you?"

"I did," Yasuo confirmed. "I was worried about people not having access to food and drink, so when the accident with the folding table occurred, I went directly to the pantry in the kitchen to get more. It took a bit longer than I initially thought it would be, however. Carrying all of those goods back in one trip required me to be careful how I carried it all. It was a good thing I did not spill anything on my way over."

"Did you see anyone on your way back?" Naoko asked.

"I didn't see anyone, no." Yasuo answered.

"Us in the pool room left kinda one at a time, didn't we?" Haru asked. "I guess that's not too weird."

"You mean after the folding table accident occurred?" Yori asked.

"From what I remember, four people left after that happened," Naoko replied. "Bankei, then Yasuo, then Haru, and then Kimi. The rest of us had to clean up the mess."

"Well, I've said this to Yasuo already," Haru said, "but it's not like I meant to make a mess. How was I supposed to know that the legs of the folding table would give way like that?" He then quietly began to mutter. "Dollar-store hunk of junk."

"That did seem strange to me," Yori noted. "Could there have been something wrong with it in the way it was set up?"

Haru shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"You don't know, Haru?" Yasuo asked. "That's strange. You and Eryu were the ones to carry it here and set it up here."

"Oh, yeah, that's true," Haru replied. "You walked along with us when we did that. You're the one that brought along that blue cloth."

"That's correct," Yasuo said. "Would you say there's anything strange about the folding table?"

"Eh," Haru replied. "It's pretty simple, actually. There're just these two clamps on it that keep the legs in place. I made sure they were tight."

"From what I remember," Naoko weighed in, "the clamps were undone when we put it back up."

"The clamps came undone?" Haru asked very much unhappily. "It really is a piece of garbage."

"That aside," Yori said, "I'm thinking there may still be some information that either of you can provide us. Haru, what are your thoughts on the mallet?"

"The one Kimi was holdin'?" Haru asked, still unhappy. "It was one of the rubber-headed ones in the equipment room. If you want, I can show you around it. It's pretty sick." And with that, a smirk appeared on his face.

"We can discuss that later," Yori replied. "For now, perhaps we should focus our attention elsewhere."

Aside from the two of them, Naoko and Yori had quite a few people still that they could talk to. Bankei had an alibi that could stand to be questioned, having apparently gone to the bathroom around the timeframe of the murder. That was definitely suspicious. Still, Bankei had really been striking Naoko as aloof, at best, so whether she'd offer any useful insights was up in the air. As for anyone else, there were options, albeit questionable ones. Theoretically, Naoko thought, speaking to Ishi could provide some information, but, well, what kind of information would she provide? She had an airtight alibi, and it didn't seem at all that she did much. Then again, the two of them did have a conversation during the party, so that was something. It...wasn't an ideal conversation for him, though. It stuck out in his memory like a sore thumb.

"Is something wrong, Naoko?"

Naoko was snapped out of his own thoughts very quickly by Yori's inquiry. He supposed that it was only appropriate she'd be able to get him to do so.

"Sorry, sorry," he replied. "I was just thinking about a conversation Ishi and I had during the party."

"Really? What did she say?"

"She was acting pretty flirtatious," Naoko explained. "We got into a conversation about this love dodecahedron we're stuck in right now. She was very forward about how she's been affected."

"Do you think that the Lita-22 in our systems has something to do with what's happened?"

"Maybe," Naoko replied. "I'm not entirely sure how it'd be the cause of a murder. Could someone have, maybe, decided to kill in order to remove a romantic rival?"

"That seems like a distinct possibility," Yori responded. "The question is whether someone here would actually go to such an extreme."

"Didn't IMONO say that the chemical can lead to...unusual behavior?"

"That's a good point," Yori replied. "However, if IMONO was being truthful, emphasis on if, it's still a rare occurrence, and doesn't explain things very well if Kimi really is the killer. She seems to be immune to the chemical's effects."

"Are you saying you think Kimi is the killer?" Naoko asked.

Yori looked at Naoko with a gaze that was probably meant to be benign curiosity, but Naoko found oddly piercing. "What do you think? Do you think that she's the killer?"

Naoko wouldn't have time to respond to this.

"Hey, Naoko, Yori."

The two looked over to see Eryu heading their way.

"How goes the investigation?" he asked.

"It's going okay," Naoko replied. "We were just talking about Kimi."

Eryu frowned. "Oh. Then you must be planning on talking to her."

"Where is she?" Naoko asked.

Eryu gestured to the women's changing room. "She's in there. Mine's keeping an eye on her."

"You're keeping the suspect away from most of the others," Yori replied. "I'd assume that that's a safety precaution."

"Well, to keep her from running off, specifically, but yes." Eryu confirmed. "I don't think she'd want to be around the others, anyways."

"You're being really cautious with her then," Naoko pointed out. "Is that because you think she really did it?"

"I'd say that I do," Eryu replied. "The way I see it, there's little room for doubt. Why else would she have been trying to flee the crime scene, weapon in hand? That's basic logic."

"It's a logical conclusion, yes," Yori agreed. "However, it's by no means definitive, and that's why our investigation should continue."

"Well, I can't argue with that," Eryu said begrudgingly. "You can talk to her about this if you want to. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Naoko took a moment to think about what he could ask of him. "Hm...Did you notice anything about how people have been acting lately?"

"How people have been acting?" Eryu asked back.

"We had a conversation before you approached us," Yori explained. "We think that the Lita-22 in our systems may play a role in this somehow."

"The Lita-22?" Eryu raised an eyebrow at this. "I'm as skeptical of IMONO's antics as you are, but I have no idea how it could lead someone to commit murder."

"I think that it could," Yori responded.

"Well," Eryu replied, "if that's the case, then I've only noticed so much. I've mentioned stuff about Mariko to you guys, and how she's been...strange."

"Funny you should mention that," Naoko replied. "We talked to her in the game room earlier. She was in a bad state after seeing Sasa's body, but otherwise, she seemed normal. She barely even mentioned you."

"Maybe that's because you cut her off," Yori reminded him. Naoko didn't much like being reminded of this, but didn't say anything.

"Then I guess not being around me helps," Eryu suggested. "If so, the feeling is mutual. Whatever that stuff's done to us, it feels almost intentional. If there's any other weird dynamics like that, though, I haven't really seen them. Not even in you two."

That last sentence struck Naoko as being quite interesting. While Naoko had thus far been able to handle himself okay, especially after he and Yori talked it out, he still had had some very distinct feelings about her. Then again, as for the others...Well, as for Yori, he had no idea. Same with some of the others, honestly. But he had some information about the others. For example, it seemed like Sasa had a thing for Takeshi. Haru also might've had a thing for Takeshi, actually, but he wasn't 100% on that yet. Bankei was getting especially friendly with Mine, who, according to Ishi, was eyeing up Yori. For that matter, Ishi had her eye on at least three people, Naoko included. There were so many possible attractions between them that Naoko actually had trouble keeping track of them all.

"There's a lot going on between us right now," Naoko noted. "I have some ideas from what I've seen and heard, but it's not like I've been seeking out the information."

"It's not like it was ever the best thing to dwell on," Eryu responded. "I can only imagine what everyone else here is dwelling on now."

"What else would people be thinking about other than the murder?" Naoko asked, a bit confused.

"Well, for example," Eryu began, "what about what happened with the remote to the music player? I got up from my seat, talked to you for a bit, sat back down, and the remote was on it, so the music got really loud, and we had our ears assaulted for several seconds."

"That was an unfortunate event," Yori agreed. "At this point, however, we have more important things to focus on."

Before the two of them went into the women's changing room, Haru stopped Yori, offering to take her to give the equipment room a good once-over. Yori agreed to this, letting Naoko take the reins on the situation with Kimi.

"Listen to her, and don't let her attitude get to you," she advised. "If she's innocent, she should be able to explain herself. If she isn't, then we'll talk about it together."

Naoko did his best to take her advice to heart. Even though he didn't tell her already, he was still unsure as to whether or not Kimi did it. It was time to find out what Kimi herself had to say.

The women's changing room was similar to the men's changing room, really. Some low benches went in a straight line across the length of the room, and at the end of the room were many blue-painted lockers containing various sets of swimwear. There was a little to help with privacy, mainly in the form of spaces that were partially covered by walls that kept peeking opportunities to a minimum. Otherwise, it seemed fairly communal. In the middle of the room, Mine was having trouble standing still, as she kept her eyes trained on Kimi, who sat down on one of the benches in the room's center and generally looked miserable.

Mine's eyes darted to Naoko as he entered the room. "Good! You're here," she said.

"Is there a problem?" Naoko asked.

"Huh?" Mine responded. "No, I was just expecting you, is all. You're investigating, right?"

"Yeah," Naoko confirmed. "I'm here to talk to Kimi."

"So you're on top of your work? That's great! You can talk to her all you want. Just, uh, be ready for her. She isn't in the best mood, and I can't blame her, what with the fingers pointed at her and that boneheaded thing that Haru did earlier."

"Finally," Kimi said, practically sighing in relief. "Good to know that someone is paying attention to how much of a jackass he's been."

"You've been kinda hard on him recently, Mine," Naoko pointed out.

"I have?" Mine asked. "Well, I guess I have, just a little. He's just being so...agitating! I can't help myself, is all."

"Really? Do you think it's because of the Lita-22?"

"What?" Mine looked confused. "I don't understand."

"Do you think that the reason that you're feeling agitated by Haru is because you-"

"Oh!" Mine interrupted him. "Right! Yeah, probably. And, uh...Oh, yeah, sorry for interrupting. When you started to explain, it just sorta clicked for me."

"It's fine," Naoko assured her.

"Good! Good. Thanks for being cool," Mine said, giving Naoko a quick thumbs-up. "I guess I shouldn't be too harsh on Haru. He helped you guys with the party planning, right? You guys talked about it earlier, and I saw his name on that packet you slipped me."

"Right," Naoko replied. "To be clear, we all did different things. Eryu organized most of it, Yori and I worked with the decorations, Hoshi made most of the packets we handed out, Takeshi played his saxophone in the game room, Yasuo did a few different things, and Haru made some metal objects...though I don't actually know what he made other than those frames."

"Oh, well," Mine said, looking conflicted, "that's respectable, I guess. You guys worked hard for this, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Naoko agreed, frowning. "It's a shame it had to be this way."

"Mmm." Mine looked solemn at the thought, but she quickly bounced back. "Wait! We're forgetting something! Kimi, come over here and talk with Naoko, quick!"

"Alright, alright, geez," Kimi said, doing as instructed. "You don't have to rush me, though. You're the ones that got sidetracked."

"That's true, but it's time we got down to business regardless!" Mine declared. "I'll step back for a bit. Good luck, Naoko!"

Giving him another thumbs-up, Mine moved aside, leaving Naoko and Kimi to talk.

"So, you wanna know what I was up to, huh?" Kimi asked, still uncontent.

"I do," Naoko confirmed. "I want to know why you were in the music room."

"It's not like I wanted to be there," Kimi claimed. "You know what happened, right? During that shitty party, I was minding my own business, when I heard what sounded like a groan or something like that. I looked to see where it came from, but then Haru crashed into me, and his drink went all over my sweater, like the clumsy dipshit he is. Of course I was mad at him, and because I was up in his face, he shoved me, and that table fell. After that, Bankei peaced out, like the aloof little freak of nature she is."

"That's...harsh," Naoko commented.

"Well it's true, isn't it?" Kimi asked. "Anyway, after that, there was the issue of what I'd be doing about my damn sweater. Yasuo made a big stink about there being no food and left, then Haru got confronted and ducked responsibility like an asshole. Then I went to the laundry room, and...And then, uh…"

Kimi stopped and began to look rather distressed.

"Are you okay?" Naoko asked.

"I am, I just...Hang on," Kimi said, glancing towards the door. "Can we go to the laundry room? I think it'd be better if we talk there."

"I don't see why not," Naoko replied.

With Naoko in the front, the two of them snuck out and made their way to the laundry room. Inside was the same room Naoko remembered seeing previously. On the opposite side of the door were a line of washers and dryers that extended to the wall on the room's left. To the right side of the room, there were transparent plastic bags containing what looked to be clothes of various sizes, colorations, and designs. There were also shelves in the room where various cleaning products were kept, and there were also things such as brooms, mops, and buckets scattered around the sides of the room.

"Yeah, okay," Kimi said, walking in and looking around. "I came in here, and I, uh...I looked for something else to wear. Something nice, y'know? Also, it'd have to fit me, so…"

"I think I get what you're saying," Naoko replied. "How long would you say you were doing that?"

Kimi actually went pale at this. "I, uh...Shit. Maybe a...a minute? Maybe two?"

"You don't know?"

"Well...fuck." Kimi was holding her head in her hands in obvious distress. "I don't know. I...I forgot."

"You forgot?" Naoko was certainly intrigued by this.

"All I remember is waking up in a daze. I had trouble moving my body, and my head was pounding, so I just lied there. Then after a while I started looking around. I was in the music room, and...I saw her body."

The way that Naoko was acting really seemed different from what he knew from her. Seeing her after finding Sasa's body was one thing, but he couldn't help but think that he had thus far not seen Kimi looking so...vulnerable.

"What happened after that?" Naoko asked patiently.

"After that? I felt like screaming. I looked down, and I saw a mallet in my hands. I didn't understand what was happening. I was in a daze, and I tried to make a run for it...That's when you found me."

"You...felt like screaming?"

"Yeah." Kimi began to rub the back of her head. "It's just that...I didn't feel all there. I felt more like I was gonna throw up. You guys coming in and accusing me didn't help. So, at the time, I just sort of let out a loud gasp and scrambled to my feet."

"So, that's all that you know?"

"...Yes," Kimi said with great hesitation. "Not a great alibi, huh? You probably think I did it."

"I don't know if you did," Naoko admitted.

"You may not know, but you can think," Kimi pointed out. "Those assholes out there probably aren't even considering anything else."

"Well, I don't know about that," Naoko commented. "Still, if you didn't do it, I'm sure it can be proven."

"Yeah, yeah," Kimi said dispassionately. "If you gotta tell yourself that, then keep it up, buddy."

Naoko frowned. "Why would you say that? That's not helping my self-confidence, you know."

Kimi sighed. "Sorry. If you're worried about self-confidence, maybe you can...I dunno, point your finger at someone and say that they did it. Seemed to work wonders for you last time."

"Uh, sure," Naoko said.

Naoko and Kimi walked out of the laundry room, and saw Yori and Haru passing by. The two groups were understandably quick to notice each other.

"Hi, Naoko, Kimi," Yori greeted them. "How are you two faring?"

"Could be better," Naoko admitted.

Yori didn't look happy to hear that at all. "I can only imagine. In any case, Haru and I's excursion to the equipment room went decently well."

"Yep," Haru said. "Somethin's still botherin' me, though. I'm sure that hammer was in the wrong spot. I don't know who did it, but they're officially on my shit list."

Kimi rolled her eyes at this, but managed to keep her mouth shut. Naoko and Yori, on the other hand, continued to speak to each other.

"It looks like there's not much else we can do at this point," Yori said. "Still, we should do what we talked about before. Make sure you pay extra attention while looking through the rooms of those of interest. This includes Takeshi."

Naoko nodded. "Got it."

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to find through their investigation of people's rooms. This was sort of to be expected, but Yori seemed adamant about being thorough, so they gave the task a fair shake regardless. Naoko was disappointed, though. Even Takeshi's room didn't have much information to go off of, at least not at first glance. Sheet music, some music-related books, a brown cleaning rag that showed signs of use, a couple posters he apparently found that depicted American musicians, and a box of reeds with two missing. Pretty basic stuff, for the most part.

The investigation was wrapping up, and they had new orders from IMONO: Instead of the gym, they'd be holding the trial in the meeting room on the second floor, and move to the gym once it was voting time. Other than having a large table and some different chairs, it seemed like a similar experience overall. Before sitting down, though, some of the group talked amongst each other.

"Eh-heh," Bankei chuckled. "Well, if it's any consolation, this room has a use for us."

"I mean, I guess that's a good thing?" Mine responded.

"Oh, I'd say that it is, dear," Bankei replied. "It's a nice room, don't you think? Very cosy."

"I can see why you'd say that," Mine replied. "It's just...I kinda preferred the gym. This place seems a little stuffy to me."

"Oh...that's unfortunate," Bankei said blankly.

Elsewhere in the group, there were some separate discussions that Naoko noticed, including one that showed off something he had gone a while only hearing about.

"Oh, Eryu," Mariko said fondly. "As terrible as this situation is, it's good to be with you again. I was feeling so lonely without you."

Eryu gave her a pained look. "Yeah...sure."

"Aw," she cooed, "no need to be so shy in front of everyone else. How about I give you something to relax? I saved some candy from the game room for you. You're a fan of dark chocolate, right?"

"Well, yes. Just save it for later, okay?"

Eryu apparently talked to Yori earlier, because where Yori sat last time, Eryu ended up sitting, and vice versa. This put Yori next to Mariko, since everyone else sat in the same place they did last time. Even Kimi, who was all the way next to Bankei, didn't switch seats with anyone. Perhaps nobody was willing to? Well, Naoko didn't mind where he was sitting, and was fine seeing everyone else in the spots they were in previously. He liked the sitting situation that they had last time. It just felt right. To Naoko it did, anyway.

There were more important things to focus on anyhow. They had a very serious issue on their hands. Sasa was dead. This was an unfortunate turn for sure. And, though they had a prime suspect, Naoko was yet to determine whether he really believed in her guilt. Something about the situation seemed wrong, like accusing Kimi left too many questions unanswered. Those questions would have to be answered eventually, he reasoned.

And the way they'd do so would, unfortunately, have to be through a trial.

A/N: Well, this chapter ended up being quite long. Still, I did my best to make sure the whole investigation thing wrapped up by the end, so next chapter will involve exactly what you'd expect. I've already started writing the trial, and, well, it looks like it's going to be a hell of a lot longer than the first one. Probably not too far off from the length of an actual DR trial (well, maybe). At present, I'm not sure if I'll go for more long trials later on or if I'll just keep them short. I'll probably play it by ear.