"My reasoning for doubting your premise is simple," Bankei said. "We know that Hoshi would have known to go to the…let's call it the PA room, for simplicity's sake. He would surely know to go to the PA room at the time of the incident from the note found on his person. However, there doesn't seem to be any indication of how Haru would have known to do so as well. As we've discussed, he could have been told by someone who met with him in the holding cell room, but when he went to the PA room, he would be met by Hoshi. If he was tricked into going there by an outside influencer, would they have come to blows at all? Methinks meeting under false pretenses would create a sense of mutual confusion more than anything."

"Why would Hoshi be confused?" Takeshi asked. "I get Haru would be confused, but wouldn't Hoshi expect to meet Haru there?"

"It seems like he would," Naoko agreed. "After all, we have the note that Hoshi would have been given by this third person, and at the end, it's signed 'H'."

"Sure, I guess," Kimi shrugged. "I remember earlier that someone said the 'H' could be the start of someone's last name, but apparently that's…not as likely, or something?"

"Well, Haru's last name was Hagane," Naoko responded. "Even if Hoshi assumed the writer of the note wrote the initial of their last name, Hoshi still could've figured out that Haru might've written it. Meeting Haru in the PA room probably wouldn't initially seem to Hoshi like they were meeting under false pretenses."

"Even if that was the case for Hoshi, Haru would still have realized straight away he was deceived, would he not?" Bankei pointed out. "I'm sure even he would understand that just by seeing Hoshi."

"It's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Eryu asked sharply. "This 'outside influencer' just told him to go to the PA room in a way where Haru wouldn't immediately know he was duped when he met Hoshi."

Bankei pursed her lips. "How would he possibly be able to do that?"

"Through giving him a note telling him to do so, most likely," Eryu replied. "We know Hoshi got one. It's not that much of a stretch."

"And…how would they have given him this note?" Bankei asked.

"Based on our prior discussion, most likely at night, when he was asleep," Mareo weighed in. "That could also have been when he was given the key to his own cell. The 'mastermind' of this case could have simply given it to him alongside the note."

"I asked how he would have been given the note, not when," Bankei replied, seemingly unhappy with Mareo's input. "Then again, that's by no means the only issue I have with that explanation. After all, Eryu, I find it strange that you bring up the idea of Haru being given a note, yet have no evidence to back up your claim. Am I to assume one of you has such a note in your possession, and have simply kept it hidden for dramatic purposes?"

"I don't believe that's the case, no," Yori said. "Haru's body was searched during our investigation, as was his room. We couldn't find any note that he might have been given."

"Just because we couldn't find it doesn't mean it never existed," Eryu argued.

"Oh, I agree with you on that," Yori clarified. "I'm just not entirely sure what might have happened to it."

Naoko gave the idea some thought. Logically, someone could've slipped Haru a note at some point, along with the key. That wasn't all that ridiculous of a premise. Of course, if he got it, chances are he got rid of it at some point, and the only way that really made sense for him to do so…

The answer came to him mere moments later. "Hang on! I think I know what would've happened to Haru's note," Naoko said aloud. "All he'd need to do was to get rid of it."

"What, like, throw it away?" Ishi asked. "Was there a trash can in his cell or something?"

"No, there wasn't," Naoko replied. "And he wouldn't need to go looking for one after leaving his cell, either. He could've gotten rid of it while he was still in his cell."

"Are you trying to say that he could've flushed it down the toilet?" Yori asked.

Naoko nodded. "Exactly."

"Why would he get rid of the note, though?" Mine asked. "Hoshi didn't, so why would he?"

"The writer of the note could've told him to," Eryu suggested. "If Haru followed whatever else the note told him to do, I don't see why he wouldn't have done that."

"If that specific instruction was included in the note, then why did Hoshi's note not include a similar instruction?" Mareo asked. "If both notes disappeared, there'd be less evidence left behind of foul play."

"That is a good point," Naoko admitted. "Maybe whoever wrote the notes wanted to leave behind some evidence to suggest that this was a planned arrangement between the two of them."

"If they wanted to make it seem like a thing the two of them planned to do together, wouldn't it make more sense to have Haru's note be left behind, and have Hoshi throw away his?" Mariko asked. "We know it doesn't make much sense for Haru to have written the note that Hoshi had on him. And if we were to think this was just between them, the whole 'you or Takeshi helping him' thing wouldn't come up, would it?"

"Hmm…" Naoko said. He had a hard time arguing against that. "That's a good point, too."

"It would seem we have no true way of knowing how the trial would pan out if that were to happen, given the fact that we found a note on Hoshi but not on Haru," Yori said.

"So," Bankei responded, "it sounds to me that you are aware, Naoko, that your own claims are rather flimsy. Then again, I had difficulty accepting them at first as well, so I suppose now it shouldn't be much different."

"Don't insult Naoko like that!" Eryu interjected. "He may not be able to answer everything perfectly, but he's done well enough to get us to this point!"

"He has brought some interesting possibilities to the table, yes," Bankei admitted, "but I feel as though we still haven't made as much progress as we could have. For example, we still have not considered something very simple: Haru and Hoshi met in the PA room, that much we know. What happened between them, though? They fought, yes? So, who won, and how did the killer manage to capitalize on them coming to blows? For that matter, how could the killer have anticipated that they would come to blows?"

"I'm not entirely…" Naoko began to speak, but he was doing his best to come up with a way to answer her questions as he did so. That only meant that he ended up trailing off as he realized something odd about the questions themselves. "...Hang on. That last question. Couldn't that be used to argue against your own theory? The one about Haru planning the meeting and the killer having delivered the note?"

"Well, if my own theory is correct, the killer would have been something of an opportunist," Bankei explained. "They would know of the place and time they would meet upon reading the note they were charged with delivering. All they would have to do would be to eavesdrop on their meeting. Then, at some point, the killer would realize what was happening between them, and realize it was an opportunity to strike."

"Eavesdrop?" Mine asked. "You mean they would've listened in from outside the room, or…?"

"I see no reason why that couldn't have been the case," Bankei replied.

"So, how would that work, exactly?" Ishi asked. "I guess it mostly makes sense, but, y'know, there's some stuff missing from that explanation, I think."

"Oh, I'd be perfectly content explaining my full thoughts on the matter, if it would help," Bankei offered.

"I'd rather you not," Eryu interjected. "You've controlled this conversation long enough."

"Oh?" Bankei responded confusedly. "You're interrupting me again, right when I'm about to explain myself?"

"Look, at this point, we've wasted enough time with your little 'theory'," Eryu said dismissively. "You criticized Naoko's own theory, but yours is hardly any better, especially considering that I can already see some obvious issues with what you're saying."

"And what would those issues be?" Bankei questioned.

"Alright, look, first of all," Eryu began, obviously frustrated. "How exactly did the killer eavesdrop on them? The rooms in this facility are at least partly soundproof. I'd imagine It'd be hard to hear the sounds of violence, let alone whatever they were privately discussing."

"I dunno, Naoko heard me just fine," Kimi mumbled quietly, seemingly to no one in particular.

"Simple," Bankei replied. "The killer stayed by a door into the room, keeping it open a crack. The sound would come through unmuffled, and the killer would know what was being done and said."

"And you're saying they wouldn't have noticed them do that?" Eryu argued. "In that case, then the two of them had to have been ridiculously unobservant."

"Well, that depends," Bankei replied. "I remember there being two doors into that room. Now, I don't believe we've established this, but were the two of them found closer to the door to the bottommost corner of the room, or were they closer to the door on the upper right corner?"

"The latter, if memory serves correctly," Mareo answered.

"I see. So, the killer could have listened in behind the door on the south side of the room, and it would be difficult to notice in the midst of their interaction with each other," Bankei reasoned.

"How do we know one of them didn't just leave a door a little open behind themselves as they entered the room?" Mariko asked.

"Oh. Eh-heh," Bankei chuckled abashedly. "That also sounds plausible, yes. Really, I think if Eryu does not want me to discuss this much further, then I suppose you can all discuss this between yourselves."

Well, it sounded to Naoko like their current topic of conversation had been decided. It seemed a bit tricky, because he wasn't really sure if everyone else was on board with Bankei's current train of thought, but he'd end up having to wait and see what people's arguments were.

"So, let's say the two of them fought, and one of them won, and killed the other," Mine began. "Which of the two would it've been?"

"Realistically, probably Haru," Ishi replied. "Y'know, 'cause that dude was, like, totally ripped."

"Comparing the wounds both of them sustained," Mareo said, "I would actually think Hoshi was the survivor between them."

"So the killer would've had to sneak up on him after the fact, wouldn't they?" Takeshi asked. "Otherwise, they'd put themselves in danger of being killed themselves."

"Wait, didn't we say earlier that Hoshi was stabbed on the right side of his neck?" Mariko interjected.

"We did indeed," Yori replied. "Perhaps, then, the killer could have brought their own knife, and stabbed Hoshi from behind."

"That would solve the disagreement we had previously with the stab wound on his neck," Mareo reasoned. "The only harm done to him by Haru would have been the comparatively insubstantial cuts on his body."

"No, that's wrong," Naoko interjected. "If Haru was only responsible for Hoshi's slash wounds, then…I think that actually creates another problem entirely."

"Seriously, Naoko?" Kimi asked, genuinely confused. "I don't get it. You said it doesn't make sense for Haru to have stabbed him, and now you're saying that the killer here couldn't have stabbed him, either? Are you trying to say he stabbed himself or some shit?"

"He was the only other person in the room," Ishi pointed out, as if genuinely considering the idea.

"No, no, nothing like that," Naoko clarified. "What Mareo said just didn't make sense to me, given something I remember very vividly about the crime scene. Haru's knife had a lot of blood on it. By that, I mean just about all of the blade and even some of the handle was soaked in it."

"So?" Eryu inquired. "Obviously, it saw use, then. Haru slashed at Hoshi, and his blood got on the knife."

"If that were the case, I feel as though only the edge of the blade would have become bloody, not the entire blade. Something like that only really seems like it'd happen if it were plunged into someone. The knife we found on Hoshi was very similar, the blade being soaked in a layer of blood, and we know based on the crime scene that it would have had to have been used to stab Haru."

"Hmmm." Mareo took a moment to think. "Based on what I remember from inspecting their wounds, I would say that that is, indeed, a reasonable conclusion. How embarrassing of me to not consider that."

"Geez, crack a joke about it, why dontcha?" Kimi remarked. "Whatever. At least Naoko was able to point out that it was wrong."

"But then what?" Mine asked. "Does that mean that Haru survived, and Hoshi didn't? Because if the killer didn't stab Hoshi, then I guess Haru would've."

"That, and if our understanding of the wounds is true, it wasn't as though the killer would've done any more damage than that stab to the throat did," Eryu added.

"Maybe," Naoko began, "but I don't see how exactly something like that would've happened. Did Haru get stabbed by Hoshi multiple times, stab him back on the right side of his neck, and then get stabbed again, but by the third person at the scene?"

"Well, we talked about the killer sneaking up from behind," Ishi pointed out. "Haru could've been, y'know, stabbed in the back or something."

"I don't think he was stabbed in the back," Naoko replied. "Mareo never mentioned that. He only said that he was attacked from the front…though maybe he could've been?"

"Actually, Eryu and I can attest that he, in fact, was not," Mareo replied.

"Yep. We worked together to lift up their bodies a bit so we could inspect them," Eryu explained. "Neither of them looked to have been attacked from behind."

"Then what? Did the killer just stab him in the chest, like Hoshi did?" Mariko asked. "Because that, uh, sounds a little weird to me."

"Well, I personally doubt that that's the case," Yori weighed in. "Especially if the killer attacked Haru from behind, as we would have to assume that that is at least plausible."

"Maybe the killer reached their arm around, or something like that?" Ishi asked.

"Ooh! Maybe!" Mine responded. "But, wait. Why would the killer do that? That sounds like it'd be a lot harder."

"Personally, I think that, whatever the killer did, they wanted to make it seem as though they were never there," Naoko said. "That way, it'd seem like they met in the PA room and got into a fight, where they both died."

"Well, sure, we talked about that for…I dunno how long exactly," Mariko said. "I doubt it's been longer than an hour, but it feels like we've been in here for about a month."

"Then they were only partially successful," Yori reasoned. "After all, we've long since come to the conclusion that this was not an isolated incident, only between those two."

"In order to do that, they probably could've messed with the crime scene somehow," Takeshi supposed. "It's not like anybody else would've been down on the third floor that could've walked in on them. They had a long time to make sure it looked like that was what happened."

Naoko didn't need to think about what Takeshi had suggested that long. All in all, it was a good point. The killer probably could have tampered with the crime scene, and if the killer planned it all out, then they could've made any sort of plans or precautions necessary to do so. What exactly those plans or precautions could have been seemed unclear, but he knew at least one thing that the killer could have done with their ample time.

"That might explain the dilemma with Hoshi's stab wound and Haru's knife, actually," Naoko suggested. "If the killer used their own knife to stab Hoshi in the neck, then the killer might've actually soaked the blade of Haru's knife in their blood, and put it in his hand. That would explain why it looked like the knife had been used to stab someone, even if it wasn't."

"That would depend on a few factors," Yori responded. "First, if the killer did this, then they likely would have had to deal with the pool of blood that formed between them. If they stepped in it, they would leave prints that suggested someone else's presence. Second, if Haru's knife had already drawn blood, then would the killer really have thought to soak its blade in even more blood?"

"Well, we don't know how long it took for the pool of blood to form," Naoko pointed out. "It could've taken a while. Also, I think it's possible the killer thought ahead that much. They could've been planning it for a long time, and realized that all we'd have to do was compare Hoshi's knife to Haru's and notice a discrepancy."

"If that was the case, then that means the killer somehow knew they'd both bring a knife," Eryu pointed out. "The idea that they both did isn't that weird, sure, but how would the killer know that they would?"

Naoko thought for a moment. Would the killer actually know that? The answer he arrived at was…well, no, probably not. "That's fair. I suppose that means if the crime scene was tampered with…wait a minute." Naoko had realized something he, in the midst of all the ideas they'd thus far thrown around, hadn't fully considered.

"What's the matter, Naoko?" Eryu asked.

"Do you remember what Bankei said earlier?" Naoko asked. "She argued that if the two of them were brought there under false pretenses, it doesn't make much sense for them to want to kill each other."

"I suppose I did argue that," Bankei responded. "Are you going to attempt to refute that point, or…?"

Naoko shook his head. "No, actually. It kind of makes sense, if the killer altered the crime scene. If it were to look like they killed each other with knives, it'd fall apart if either of them didn't bring a knife. The killer would need to plant one on whoever didn't have a knife. For all we know, it could have been both of them."

Bankei looked surprised by this argument. "Would that mean what I think it means?"

"Probably," Naoko replied. "What I'm saying is, who says that the two of them fought at all? What if the killer brought them there to make it look like they killed each other, when in actuality, they'd killed them both?"

INTERMISSION