A/N: I took a week off of posting to give myself a bit of a break. For some reason I thought writing this part of the arc would be easier than writing the parts before, but it looks like that's not the case at all. This chapter in particular was tricky due to being so damn long. I tried to keep it at a reasonable length, but it's still much longer than most other chapters. Anyway, with all that out of the way, let's just get into the final investigation chapter.
Though they had just put together one piece of the puzzle, there were still several pieces left out of their reach. For that reason, Naoko and Yori simply weren't done investigating Haru's cell. Though they hadn't found much on a surface investigation, it was still possible that there was something they weren't noticing. For example, perhaps there was something that Haru had hidden somewhere inside his cell.
That possibility is what led to the decision to start a more thorough investigation, just as Naoko had initially suggested. They investigated Haru's bed, flipped through the books on his shelf, and even checked the sink and toilet briefly. Of course, investigating the latter two didn't bear any fruit, but as for the bed and the books…
Actually, they didn't bear much fruit either. It was unfortunate, and maybe even a little odd, but there wasn't anything hidden inside the cell. What they saw was what was in it, it seemed, which didn't really help them all that much. After their search, they still didn't have any clue as to what could have led to Haru exiting his cell. Clearly, they'd need to look elsewhere for answers.
With that, they'd investigated both the crime scene and Haru's cell, with no specific indicator of any other locations that could potentially have played a role in the case in front of them. This was concerning to both Naoko and Yori, obviously, but it wasn't bad to the point that they didn't have anything else they could potentially do. In fact, it was still possible that the others had information that they'd find insightful. They just had to find them and start talking to them…Problem was, nobody was in sight as they left the holding cell room.
Fortunately, Naoko still had a direct line to Mareo. One quick message sent with his transceiver later, and he was told by Mareo himself where everyone was: in the library. Their next destination being crystal clear, Naoko and Yori only had to walk a short distance before arriving at it, and when they went inside, they noticed that things were fairly quiet in the room. The atmosphere was no better than it normally was in the middle of one of their investigations, and it seemed hard to blame them for being unhappy.
The occupants of the room were spread out quite a bit. Ishi, Mine, and Bankei were sitting at the tables, the latter actually being in the process of reading a book at that very moment. In fact, to Naoko, it looked like it might have been the same one he'd seen her read from yesterday. Aside from them, there was Eryu and Mareo, who were standing a ways from them having a private discussion of some sort. Kimi was near them, actually, sitting on the floor and looking quite upset. She wasn't the only one, of course. On the couch, where Naoko had seen her before, was Mariko, and she looked flat-out miserable, which worried Naoko, especially since he had a feeling he knew just why she'd be upset.
Finally, there was Takeshi, who was leaning next to a protruding bookshelf opposite to the door they came in through. Seemingly just due to his proximity, he ended up being the first to greet them. "Hey, you two," he said, closing the distance between them. "Mareo said you were coming here. Does that mean you need people's testimonies?"
"Precisely," Yori replied. "I don't mean to worry you, but currently, we don't have much evidence as to how exactly this incident occurred. We're going to need people's help with this."
"Well, alright, I get it," Takeshi replied understandingly. "I'm sorry things aren't going well for you so far. I'll try and help however I can."
"That's good to hear," Naoko said. "We're actually going to need you to answer some questions for us."
"Ask away, then," Takeshi replied.
"Was there anything that you noticed or that stuck out to you about Haru within the last couple of days?" Yori asked.
"Huh?" Takeshi responded confusedly. "I don't think so. I only ended up doing stuff for him a few times, and he was actually pretty relaxed, for the most part. I don't know if that's strange, given why he was in that cell in the first place, but he didn't seem like he was doing all that badly. He mostly just seemed bored, being stuck in there."
"So, you didn't get any indication he wanted to escape his cell?" Naoko asked.
"I mean…he didn't really bring up the idea," Takeshi shrugged. "It wasn't like he was asking for anything weird, either. I gave him his meals, and stopped by to give him a book he asked for once, but that was it, really."
Naoko almost instantly realized that what Takeshi said didn't seem right. It sounded like he was leaving something out, based on what he'd told them. He had to inquire further.
"That's weird," he said. "I brought him a book once, and so did you. So why are there three books in his cell?"
Takeshi seemed to realize something. "Ah, sorry. I guess I didn't mention it. Technically he only asked me to bring him a book once, and when I did, I actually gave him two."
"Why did you do that?" Yori asked.
"Hoshi gave me the idea," Takeshi explained.
"Wait, he did?" Naoko responded in bewilderment. "When did he do that?"
The day I started helping take care of Haru," Takeshi replied.
"Odd," Yori responded calmly. "Then again, this also sounds as though it may be convenient for us. I was interested in asking you about Hoshi at some point already. So, how did Hoshi give you the idea to give Haru two books instead of one?"
"Well, I remember he and I ran into each other that day," Takeshi recalled. "Apparently, he heard that I was gonna help take care of Haru, and we ended up talking about that for a little while. At one point, though, he started acting really interested in the fact that Haru was using reading as a way to pass the time. I guess since he was a writer, that'd be interesting to him?"
"So, this was when Hoshi gave you the idea?" Naoko asked.
"Yeah," Takeshi replied. "He recommended this book that was apparently really good. I hadn't heard of it before, but based on what he told me about it, it sounded nice, and even seemed like something Haru would be into. He told me what it looked like so I could find it if I wanted to give it to him, so I figured it'd be something to, y'know, keep in mind. Around the evening, that same day, Haru asked me to bring him something to read because he had already finished the first book he'd been given. Of course, he asked for something kinda specific, so I couldn't just bring him anything I felt like, but what Hoshi'd said to me was still pretty fresh in my head, so I figured I'd give him that one too in the hopes that he'd like it."
Yori began to look very intrigued by this testimony. Obviously, something about it was sticking out to her. "What exactly did he tell you when he told you what it was?" she inquired further.
"The title was kinda weird, but I remember he told me it had an image of a guy on a horse," Takeshi answered. "Just going off of that, it was pretty easy to spot."
"Duly noted," Yori replied. "So, is that all you can tell us about your experiences with Haru and Hoshi?"
"There's not much else that I can tell you about, I don't think," Takeshi said. "Not much else that's recent, anyway. There was that thing in the secondary storage room, but Naoko was there, too, so..."
"Yeah, I remember what happened then," Naoko replied.
"If you wanna know more about Hoshi, you should ask Mariko," Takeshi suggested. "I know they'd been hanging out together for a little while. Though…actually, Mariko isn't really taking this whole situation well, is she?"
"I didn't expect her to, by any means," Yori stated bluntly. "Regardless, I think you've been a great help. Just one more question: did you receive any sort of message via your transceiver last night?"
"No. Why?" Takeshi asked.
"We're considering the possibility of either Haru or Hoshi using their transceivers," Yori explained. "That should be all for now."
And that was their questioning of Takeshi put aside for the time being. It sounded like Takeshi didn't know all that much about Haru or Hoshi, but was able to at least point them towards someone who could've been a good source of information, albeit someone that seemed difficult to approach. However, Naoko still felt he had to try.
He sat down next to Mariko and tried to get her attention. "Would it be alright if I asked you some questions?" he asked politely. Meanwhile, Yori watched silently from a short distance away.
Mariko looked over at him, still obviously saddened by the current situation. "Okay. I'm sorry, It's just that, when we realized Hoshi was dead, I felt like…Actually, can I, um, ask you something?"
"Sure, I don't see why not," Naoko replied. He wasn't expecting her to ask him a question right off the bat, but like hell he was going to shut her down.
"Right now, I feel like I'm…I don't know, cursed? Is that weird?" Mariko asked. "I mean, first Sasa, and now Hoshi? I mean, both of them, I tried to be there for them, y'know, as a friend. And now they're both dead?"
Naoko frowned. He could definitely see the pattern Mariko was forming in her head, but didn't exactly agree with it. "But it's not your fault that they're dead."
"I know that," Mariko clarified. "It's just that I feel like now, losing them has hit me harder than it has anyone else here."
"Well…maybe," Naoko replied. "I don't know. I think people are just trying to get through this as best they can. I'd imagine they're not feeling any better than you are. I know I'm freaked out about losing Haru and Hoshi."
Mariko sighed. "Alright, I think I understand. It's just…Hoshi was a good friend."
"I'm sure he was," Naoko said. "You two were spending time together for some time, weren't you?"
"Uh huh," Mariko replied. "It was nice, for the most part. I think after a while, he started feeling more and more comfortable opening up, but it was still kinda obvious there were some things he didn't want to talk about."
"Like what?" Naoko asked.
"I don't know, he didn't tell me," Mariko replied. "I think that maybe he had an issue with Bankei, though. Whenever the topic of her and what he'd been doing for her came up, he usually ended up changing the subject soon after."
"Why did he do that?"
"Maybe he just didn't like her?" Mariko half-guessed. "He was still helping take care of her, since until yesterday, she couldn't really walk, apparently. I guess that he decided to help out regardless of how he felt. Maybe he volunteered, but realized he wasn't really comfortable with it, but decided to see it through anyway? That's my theory."
"I see," Naoko said. "So that's all you know about Hoshi, huh? What about Haru?"
"Nothing, really," Mariko replied. "I think I remember you guys taking him to his cell, but I can't say that I remember seeing him afterwards."
It seemed as though that was it, more or less. Naoko wasn't sure just how much information he expected her to share with him about Haru, but the insight into her relationship with Hoshi seemed interesting to him. Apparently Hoshi didn't quite enjoy having to help with Bankei, but why he didn't wasn't exactly clear. Still, this was good information, and Naoko made a mental note of it for later. For all they knew, this could've been important.
He thanked Mariko for sharing and went to speak to Yori again.
"That went fairly well, it seems," Yori commented. "I'm actually a bit surprised."
"Yeah, me too," Naoko admitted. "Now we know something about Hoshi that we didn't before. Now we need more information about Haru to work with, among other things."
"Finding information on Haru would likely be more difficult, given that he's had little contact with others," Yori pointed out. "Eryu and Mine may be something of an exception, since they were there when Haru was moved to his cell, but we were there as well, so their knowledge likely isn't much better than ours."
"That's a good point," Naoko replied. "We should talk to Mine anyway, though. She might know something anyways. She also had a transceiver, and we're still asking about them."
Thus, speaking to Mine seemed like the obvious next step. Of course, at the time, she was hanging out with her friend Ishi, while her other friend, Bankei, stood back and continued reading her book. The latter would have to wait, really. Speaking to two people at a time seemed like a good way to cover ground quickly, but three was maybe a bit much.
When Naoko moved forward to speak to the two of them, Ishi noticed him out of the corner of her eye right away, and responded to his presence in a way that seemed fairly normal for her.
"Hey, Mine, check it out. It's your not-so-favorite boy," she joked.
Mine sighed. "C'mon, Ishi. Now's not a good time for that." She turned to face Naoko. "Hey, Naoko. How's the investigation going?"
"Fine, I think," Naoko answered. "I just wanted to ask the two of you some questions."
"Oh, sure," Mine replied. "What do you want to know?"
"We're mainly interested in what either of you know about either Hoshi or Haru," Yori said, entering the conversation.
"Hoshi?" Ishi asked. "Honestly, I don't know much about that dude. I don't think I ever had a proper conversation with the guy after what happened in that storage room."
"Oh, yeah, I remember that," Mine said awkwardly. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I apologized, but…You know it wasn't like I intended to hurt him. After that incident with the transceiver, I can't say I spoke to him very much, either."
"So neither of you know much about him?" Naoko asked.
"He was spending time with Mariko, I think," Ishi replied. "Have you tried talking to her?"
"Yeah, I have," Naoko replied. "Right now, I think we're mainly interested in Haru."
"You want us to tell you about Haru?" Ishi asked confusedly. "He was locked up for what, like, four, five days? Not much opportunity to get to know him. I mean, I dunno if he took visitors, but I can't say that I visited him. What about you, Mine?"
"I don't know why I'd want to visit him, honestly," Mine admitted. "Besides, I had other things to do these past few days."
"Like decorating with flowers?" Ishi asked.
"Yeah! Exactly!" Mine responded.
"Well, that's all well and good," Yori said. "So, you don't have much in the way of information at the moment?"
"I guess not. Sorry, girl," Ishi apologized.
"You don't need to apologize," Yori insisted. "Before we move on, though, I'd like to ask one more thing. Mine, did anyone attempt to message you via your transceiver last night?"
"Message me?" Mine asked confusedly. "I don't think so."
"Alright, then," Yori replied. "Naoko, would you like to move on?"
"Sure," Naoko said. He figured it was time he spoke to Bankei. She was nearby anyway, and it seemed like it only made sense to ask her about Haru, considering why he was locked up in the first place.
Naoko stepped forward past Ishi and Mine and towards Bankei. He intended to call out to her to get her attention, but she actually spoke before he could do so.
"I must assume you're nervous about speaking to me after our last interaction."
Naoko stopped himself for a moment. That was not an ideal way for a conversation to begin. "Don't worry, I just want to ask a couple of questions," he replied.
Bankei looked up from her book to stare at Naoko. "Then you should know that I overheard quite a bit of what you discussed with Mine and Ishi. If you plan to ask me the same line of questions, there shouldn't be much issue."
"I didn't plan on asking anything too different," Naoko admitted. "It's just that, well, anything you know would be useful."
"Well then, let us begin our conversation by getting something out of the way quickly. I did not receive any sort of message on my transceiver last night."
"You didn't?" Naoko responded. "Alright. So, what about Haru and Hoshi? Do you know anything about either of them that could help us with our investigation?"
Bankei didn't look happy upon being asked this. "I know enough about Haru, I believe. He was, to put it bluntly, a belligerent man. Whether or not that claim is off putting to you, what he did to me is proof enough."
"What do you mean by that?" Naoko asked bemusedly. "Why would that be 'off putting' to me?"
"Well, it's just that the last time I specifically called him belligerent, you seemed as though you disagreed with me. Almost as if what had already happened to me wasn't worthy of consideration."
"It wasn't as simple as that," Naoko insisted. "I agree that what he did was wrong."
"Well, it's a very agreeable opinion, I'd say," Bankei replied. "Just considering what he's done to me - forcing me to rely on others, and walk with crutches, and so forth - it's not a good position for anyone to be in."
"You're not wrong about that," Naoko agreed. "But speaking of relying on others, I should also probably ask if you know anything about Hoshi. He'd been helping take care of you, after all."
"Well, I can't say I noticed anything particularly odd about him," Bankei explained. "I've asked for his assistance now and then, of course, but I can't say he acted all that strangely while doing so. It wasn't as if he was my sole caretaker, anyways."
"Well, what about the other two, Mareo and Mine?" Naoko asked.
"They've been fine, thus far," Bankei replied. "They fulfilled my requests well enough, and the two of them were generally available when I needed them. The only real exception was a couple of days ago, actually. Apparently Mine and Ishi were in the middle of some sort of beautification effort."
"Yeah, I know what you're talking about," Naoko responded. "Was that inconvenient for you?"
"Not particularly, no," Bankei replied. "Hoshi and Mareo were still on-hand. Besides, it was actually rather nice for me. Mine even visited me to ask if I wanted some flowers by my bedside. I agreed, and she ended up bringing me some very lovely purple flowers. Moth orchids, I believe she called them."
"That sounds nice," Naoko commented. "So, I guess this means you only know so much about what's been happening."
"Well, what do you expect?" Bankei asked rhetorically. "I haven't been able to move around until just yesterday."
Naoko nodded. "I understand. Thanks for sharing."
Bankei smiled. "Any time."
Naoko turned and began to walk away from Bankei. It looked like there wasn't much more ground to cover. The only one in the room that Naoko hadn't talked to yet was Kimi, and he had a feeling she wasn't really up to being interrogated. She didn't care much for it last time. He was still going to try and talk to her, though, but he'd actually have to wait for a bit, because Yori stopped him beforehand.
"I overheard your discussion with Bankei," she said. "She shared some very interesting information."
"I guess she did," Naoko replied. "Do you think what she said might be useful?"
"I'm not sure," Yori admitted. "A couple of the things she mentioned seemed a bit strange, however. I think I'll speak to Mareo and Eryu for their own opinions on the matter. In the meantime, why don't you talk to Kimi?"
"Sure," Naoko shrugged. "That was what I was planning to do anyway."
"Good," Yori replied simply. "I'll leave you to it."
Naoko didn't feel the need to waste time. He took the opportunity to approach Kimi, who by that point seemed fairly well aware that he wanted to speak to her. For her part, she…didn't exactly seem thrilled.
"Oh boy," she sighed. "This better be smoother than last time."
"I feel like it should be," Naoko replied. "All we really need to know is whether or not you know anything about Hoshi or Haru. Any information you can give us about them would be useful going into the trial."
"Well, what exactly do you expect me to be able to tell you?" Kimi asked rhetorically. "I think we both know yours truly never got along with Haru. That's just a fact. Hoshi, on the other hand? Well…I dunno. I can't say I hated him, but I also can't say I liked him either. He just seemed kinda weird to me."
"What do you mean he seemed weird?" Naoko asked.
"I mean he seemed weird," Kimi replied. "Mainly just because of what dumb decisions he made. It seemed to me like he didn't like Bankei after the last trial, but she gets the shit kicked out of her, and suddenly he wants to help take care of her?"
"I don't know if I'd call that dumb," Naoko commented, "but I think I see where you're coming from. Mariko thought that was weird, too."
"Oh, and that's another thing!" Kimi said quickly. "Damn, I can't believe I didn't start with that. What was up with him and Mariko?"
"Well, Mariko is kind of the 'therapist' of the group," Naoko explained. "They started talking after the last trial, and they became friends."
"Sure, yeah, I gathered that," Kimi replied. "Not sure why any of you thought putting her in charge of sorting people's feelings out was a good idea. She's kind of a wreck right now."
"I convinced her to give it a try," Naoko admitted. "I guess it hasn't worked out as well as I'd hoped."
"I'll say," Kimi replied bluntly. "But, eh, if you do like you did in the last trial, I guess it should pan out a lot better than that, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Naoko supposed. "If that's all, I guess I should be going."
"Gotcha," Kimi responded.
That was just about it. Naoko had spoken to just about everyone at that point, and he had quite a few more interesting insights than he did before. The problem was, he still had to make sure the pieces fit together in a way that made sense. Even then, Naoko felt like there was a lot more to the case than it seemed on the surface.
At that point, Naoko had stepped away from Kimi and found himself approached by Yori and Eryu. "Is that everyone here?" Eryu asked.
"Yep," Naoko replied. "Actually, where's Mareo? I don't see him."
"I mentioned some things that had caught my interest and he offered to fetch them for us," Yori explained. "He should be back soon."
Just a short while later, the northwest door to the library swung open as Mareo entered the room, holding some items under his right hand. He approached the three of them and handed the items to Yori.
"There you go," he said. "The folder and the book you requested."
"Thank you," Yori replied. After saying this, though, she looked down and noticed something odd about him. "Is your left arm okay? You seem to just be letting it stay at your side."
"Oh, that?" Mareo asked. "Just a minor complication. I tripped while retrieving the book from Haru's cell. My left arm ended up taking the brunt of the impact."
"Are you alright?" Naoko asked concernedly.
"I think so," Mareo replied. "Some bruising, perhaps, but nothing too serious."
"Well, that's not as bad as it could've been, then," Yori replied. She handed off the folder to Naoko as she began searching through the book. It looked to be the one that Takeshi had mentioned earlier. "I'd like to take a closer look at this book, just in case. In the meantime, could you look up the moth orchid for us?"
"Oh. Sure," Naoko said. He didn't quite understand why she wanted him to, but he gave it a shot. He looked through the folder's various pockets, each one containing at least a page or two documenting the flowers in the nursery. It only took him about ten seconds of searching, fortunately, for him to find the page on moth orchids.
"Let's see…" He began to read the contents of the page for anything of interest. Unfortunately, he didn't see anything particularly amiss about it. Perhaps he didn't know what he was looking for. "I don't really see anything on here that's all that weird."
"So, it doesn't say anything about it being a poisonous flower or anything?" Eryu asked.
"Huh?" Naoko responded. "No, it doesn't look like it is."
Mareo gave Eryu an odd look. "Why exactly do you think Bankei's flower is suspicious?"
"Because, Yori said Bankei asked for a flower, and that was what she was given," Eryu explained, seemingly frustrated. "For all we know, she could've specifically asked for one with poisonous properties as a part of some sort of scheme."
"That sounds as though you're oddly suspicious of Bankei," Yori pointed out. "Granted, I understand you have been before. However, I believe you may have misunderstood me. Bankei did not say anything about specifically asking for any flower. Even if she specifically asked for a poisonous flower, there's no solid proof it has anything to do with this case."
"Yori is correct," Mareo chimed in. "I don't entirely understand why you think pointing fingers at Bankei is a good idea. Just consider the state she's in."
Eryu obviously didn't like what he was hearing. He must still have been wary of her, even after what Yori had said to try and dissuade him from accusing her of wrongdoing. Naoko was…concerned, to say the least. Eryu looked like he was going to make some sort of counterargument, but Yori spoke up before he could. It looked like she found something.
"Odd. These two pages near the front of the book seem to be stuck together," Yori said. She pried the pages apart easily and examined the inside of the pages. At first glance, it didn't seem like anything was odd about it, but Yori seemed to notice something on close examination. "This page. It looks like it might have some sort of residue on it." She touched the surface of the page and noticed something else. "There is something here. I can feel it when I run my fingers on the page. It seems as though it might have been keeping the pages stuck together."
One of the pages of the book had something on it that was…sticky? That was odd.
There wasn't much else to really do at that point, though. The only thing they hadn't done yet was investigate people's rooms, but really, the only two rooms that they were interested in looking into were Hoshi's and Haru's. Hoshi's room had a lot of writing material, as well as some very odd trinkets, but nothing that appeared to be related to the case. Haru's room was unlocked, funnily enough. Eryu must have not locked it, given he had the key. Inside, there, again, wasn't much. That storage bin with the items inside were gone, which seemed concerning, but apparently Eryu had come back to the room and taken it into his own room. Fair enough, he supposed. That being said, Haru's room wasn't too odd, from the offset, aside from one thing that stuck out. Haru's apron was still there, on his bed, which Naoko thought was kind of interesting. It looked fairly clean and in decent condition, and was made out of sturdy-looking leather. If he had been wearing it, he probably would've been less vulnerable to being attacked. Haru must not have expected what happened to him to happen to him.
But that was it, really. They must've done a decent job, because soon enough, IMONO's voice came through the facility's speakers.
"I MUST SAY, YOU ALL HAVE BEEN FAIRLY EFFICIENT IN REGARDS TO YOUR SEARCH. I WOULD BE CONCERNED THAT YOU ARE, PERHAPS, TOO USED TO THIS, BUT REGARDLESS, I AM GLAD TO SAY THAT YOU HAVE DONE ENOUGH AT THIS POINT. PLEASE COME TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM, SO THAT THE TRIAL MAY BEGIN."
Well, it was official now. Soon enough, everyone arrived at the conference room. Obviously, they had a lot of work ahead of them. Haru and Hoshi were both dead. What exactly transpired between them, and what could have led up to it, was still unclear. Still, Naoko had gathered a lot of testimony, and with the help of Eryu, Yori, and Mareo, they had come across some oddities that could very well have played some sort of role in the incident as a whole. There was only one way to piece it all together.
And that was through yet another trial.