Extract from interview conducted with Kazutaka Oomori (remote), 3rd May 2019, 22:08
In attendance: Officer Gabriel Matsumoto (remote, with Detective Shizuka Onoe supervising)
K.O.: So, you haven't had much luck in finding them yet?
G.M.: I'm afraid not, Oomori-san.
K.O.: Well, in that case I am certainly happy to help, though I don't imagine what information I can offer up (laughs).
G.M.: Well, as someone who knew them while at Hope's Peak, we're hoping that you might be able to provide some insight into how they were seen there, how they were treated. I know, of course, you did not work at the school, but given your close connections you might have picked up on something.
K.O.: Well, I do like to claim that given my interest in film, I have a keen eye for detail, making sure that every last aspect of a scene conveys something. For example, if we imagine this situation now as if it were a movie-
G.M.: (clears throat, looks off-screen at Detective Onoe for brief moment before returning to screen)
G.M.: I'm so sorry, if we could return to the students. So, I assume you must have talked particularly with Seiko Yamamoto, then?
K.O: Ah yes, of course, given our shared passion. She's even specialising in my favourite genre and let me tell you, she has a lot of talent in her and I'm sure that if she is found she will go onto great things, as would the rest of the class. Of course, that's why you're pulling all the stops to find them. I wonder, if these were children from any other high school, would you be putting this much effort in?
G.M.: O-of course we would (abruptly pauses, takes a deep breath) for at the end of the day they are still children. Their Hope's Peak titles are impressive but are just one aspect of who they are. We're sure that it does play into how they've been targeted, so anything that you could tell us would be helpful.
K.O.: Well, I do suppose that in the movies, they usually say that 'anything you tell us could help, you won't know until you do' right? So, let me think…
G.M.: Of course, of course, take your time.
K.O.: Unfortunately, I cannot, as I have a work meeting very soon but thank you, nonetheless. So from what I can tell you, they were all a very pleasant class. Colourful personalities, some of them, but that I understand is par the course for Hope's Peak. I could tell, however, that they would all grow up to be successful members of society. Yamamoto-san, I would say, that she is overall one of the most 'normal' seeming. Clean-cut, all-Japanese girl from a good family and all that.
G.M.: (clears throat, looks mildly uncomfortable before smiling again and nodding to encourage him to go on)
K.O.: Well, I suppose the horror movies is a bit unconventional, but who am I to judge about that? Besides, maybe she'll be what they call a Final Girl?
G.M.: I'm sorry?
K.O.: Oh, no, I'm not saying that I think that some of them are going to die, just that if they were in that situation, she might be able to be one of the lucky ones, since she knows the conventions inside out-ah, I am sorry, Officer, but I must cut this interview short. My meeting is about to start. I'm sorry I couldn't help you that much in the end.
(K.O. ends call)
…
From an email chain saved by Jin Kirigiri between June and July 2019, discovered by his daughter Detective Kyouko Kirigiri and forwarded to Detective Evalynn Dupont on 20th July ,2039.
Message written by Detective Kirigiri when messages were forwarded:
Dear Detective Dupont,
Many apologies for not getting back to your earlier attempts to contact me. As I am sure you're aware, the demands of the job can be quite onerous and additionally there are the complications surrounding my father, which is what I am emailing you about. As I have been in the process of sorting out his affairs (with some help from my younger brother, Shuichi), I have had to go through his computers for important files and have come across a large amount of correspondence relating to his time as Hope's Peak's principal. A lot of it seems, as far as I can ascertain, fairly mundane for someone of his position. However, one set of emails between himself and the former principal Kazuo Tengan have given me pause.
As you will see, they are all very careful to not explicitly name what they are talking about, but given the time period they were sent in and the nature of the emails I am convinced that my father was at least aware that something bad had happened even if not the nature of it and that he kept quiet. Indeed, as a teenager at the time myself I had similar suspicions-however at this time I had a much worse relationship with my father and cannot say that I had any concrete evidence at that time. In hindsight, some of the interactions I had with him at the time do also point to my current suspicions holding weight.
Regardless, I might be able to come down to Towa City to make a statement about both what I remember of my father back then as well as what I have seen in his personal effects. Indeed, I will forward over the rest of his Hope's Peak correspondence from the time of the Class 78-B disappearances and murders as well as immediately before and after and contact you should I find anything else.
Regards,
Detective Kirigiri
A selection of the messages that were forwarded on by Detective Kirigiri:
To: KAZUO TENGAN
From: JIN KIRIGIRI
Date: June 13th, 22:58
Subject: No Subject
Tengan-san,
We're in big trouble now, the police and the media are out for blood. They want more than you are letting me give them. I have to tell them something. It looks as if we do not care that thirteen of our students died, and on our watch and I do care. You care too, don't you?
-Jin
To: JIN KIRIGIRI
From: KAZUO TENGAN
Date: June 13th, 23:00
Subject: RE: No Subject
I have advised you on exactly what to say, this is the best way forward. Look at this news article, they are focusing more on the homeroom teacher than anything, we should talk about getting her in for a disciplinary meeting and release the details to the media strategically afterwards. After all, they were her responsibility. If she was a responsible teacher she would have gone with them. Once we say that, they will see this to be true.
To: KAZUO TENGAN
From: JIN KIRIGIRI
Date June 13th, 23:11
Subject: RE: RE: No Subject
I don't think that will be seen as sufficient grounds, especially as we as senior staff have the final say in trips like this. Besides, something else that the media remembers well is that the trip was to get supplies for the party that we organised, so we do bear some responsibility.
I've thought of something we could say, to appease them. We do need to show them some heart, after all. And the families need to feel heard. I've attached a document.
To: JIN KIRIGIRI
From: KAZUO TENGAN
Date: June 13th, 23:12
Subject: RE:RE:RE: No Subject
Kirigiri-kun,
That statement is a bad idea. Tomorrow morning, we shall discuss how to handle the homeroom teacher. Follow my direction and everything will be fine, just as it has always been. Do you understand?
...
To: KAZUO TENGAN
From: JIN KIRIGIRI
Date: June 30th, 16:33
Subject: No Subject
You did not answer my question at the meeting-where was he really, during all those times? If he really had been working then there would be no issue. I am not stupid, Tengan-san. Where was he? If you know something, we need to say something. The students did not inflict those deaths upon themselves, this is no collateral damage. What benefit do we get from thirteen murders, circumstances unknown? This is nothing like anything that I have allowed before, nothing that makes use of Talents or connections to further us. Young Sonoda-san was not enough of a scapegoat, you must see that. So tell me, what other reason do I have to keep quiet?
To: JIN KIRIGIRI
From: KAZUO TENGAN
Date: July 2nd, 08:23
Subject: RE: No Subject
I do not need to dignify that with an answer. However, I would urge you to look into your bank account. You know which one. The money will be there, as it usually is. I trust that this is more than enough compensation for your continued silence. Of course, if it isn't, I am sure you are smart enough and experienced enough to come up with explanations for how you got that money that you will be using to pay for your own lawyers, rather than Kazukiyo Oomori. Explanations I am sure that the police will be more than happy to hear about, more than anything I may or may not have done.
...
To: KAZUO TENGAN
From: JIN KIRIGIRI
Date: July 20th, 00:45
Re: Closing
Tengan-san,
With all due respect, no I will not be showing you my statement. It is not as if we can salvage this situation in any way whatsoever and you know it. Do not worry, your secrets, whatever they may truly be, are all safe with me.
Regards,
Kirigiri
…
Selections from the personal notes of Detective Matsuo Amasaki:
(Note, these selections are not in the order that Amasaki wrote them in)
…It is almost ironic, the way that Kazutaka Oomori describes Seiko Yamamoto as a 'Final Girl', the definition of a survivor when by best estimates her death happens only a few days after he makes that confident prediction. Then again, her death does seem like, however it was caused, was extreme in a way that I suppose must be reminiscent of horror movies…
…A surprising number in the genre feature high school students, and many other movies of other genres are fond of putting groups of children of similar ages in such situations. Battle Royale is of course one such movie with enduring popularity but even that seems wildly different to what we are dealing with here. Well, it is not implausible that young people may be involved if we're taking horror movies as a serious avenue to pursue…but it does seem too fantastical, somehow, the idea that these students would be willing. Their current actions and behaviours do not suggest that type of callousness or psychopathy. I will not dismiss the idea, just in case, but I do not consider this a serious line to pursue and I doubt that those still on the case will…
…It has occurred to me that we were very lucky to get seven of them at all. That is less than half the class, but going by the gaps between all the deaths, if we had come any later I believe that we may have found even less of them. There was something about the look of them when we found them, as if they were close to breaking and the time between their deaths, and those of Teiichi Kazama and Takayuki Fujimoto….well, one was definitely due by that point, if not overdue. I wonder who, though, and why. There does not seem to be any particular factor that determines why the students died in the order that they did, although I suspect that Kiran Nanakai, being small and fragile, made an easy first victim and would have done so even if the following deaths occurred in a different order…
…Why won't they say anything? They must be protecting someone, either that or they fear that whoever it is will finish the job…