mineo

[dotcom]

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week 5, friday

[dotcom]

Are you busy right now or can we meet up?

[sengokus]

Can you stop by the Opium Den and try something for me

[dotcom]

On my way.

[ and a little bit later, he'll walk inside. ]

Is there something strange here?

[sengokus]

[well.

given that mineo just looks confused when takeru walks right past him, and the door closes behind him! meanwhile mineo is still out in the hallway, and there's going to be the sound of

him literally slamming against the door from the outside.

hard.

it does not budge!

and from the other side of the door:]

... yup.

[dotcom]

[ ah

he walks back out. ]

It's locked for you?

[sengokus]

Not locked...

[and mineo will try the handle - it seems like he can move it, but when he pushes there's an invisible resistance that keeps him from opening.]

So I thought I could just nudge aside whatever could be in there but...

[he pauses before he moves to firmly kick at the door - which just leads to him cursing softly under his breath before shaking out his leg]

No dice.

[dotcom]

Huh...

[ he glances back at the door, then to mineo. ]

The bathroom in the house is locked, and there's water running in there. There's also a... sloshing sound?

[sengokus]

[his brow furrows at that]

Huh... Did you see anything in the security room?

[he looks down at his own forearms and holds them out to takeru as if for inspection]

You don't see anything on me, right?

[the answer is no.]

[dotcom]

No, nothing's on you.

[ hmm ]

When we woke up, the Pink Panther theme video was playing on one of the screens. Last night, we couldn't move body parts randomly. Plus, we couldn't see video for the fields, the medbay, the planetarium, the library, or the spa. I assume that may be where people were staying?

[sengokus]

I think that everyone who stayed in the Planetarium last night woke up scarred - which is either a hint to Mahito-san, or anyone else who normally has scars. Me, Gu-san, Childe-san...

[so that's already an early lead? but he'll frown at the explanation. pink panther. why. is it because aoi is pink.]

Satoru and Lenore-san were in the library. Mahito-san was with us in the Planetarium. Maybe Aoi-chan stayed in the Medbay.... but that makes the fields and the spa weird.

[a beat]

Also, there's something I need to tell you, but I think that until tomorrow, it needs to stay between us until we figure out what's going on.

[dotcom]

It could have just been blocking out places where people were staying in general, even if they weren't related to the murder. But we'll know for sure tomorrow when we ask where everyone was last night.

[ well, that's concerning. ]

What is it?

[sengokus]

Satoru woke up with injuries that aren't his. A bunch of cuts and bruises, and something that says '100' with a heart next to it on his side. He said that he wants to preserve the evidence so he hasn't tried to heal, and I doubt he'll bother hiding it at trial tomorrow when it's more in his favor to come clean.

[a beat]

I've decided I don't think he did it - even with his complicated relationship with Mahito-san. So I need to use both of my votes tomorrow, and neither of them are going to Satoru.

[he still doesn't mind takeru telling him what to do or how to use his second vote - but apparently gojou specifically is off limits]

I just don't want to risk it - when he's come in second place a few times, and people voted for Amane-san even though she wasn't responsible for Eleanor-san. [because of her new phantom injuries]

[dotcom]

... people voted for Misa because the only reason she didn't kill Grace is because she was cursed not to. Don't act like she was actually innocent.

[ it's said coldly, but he'll move on. ]

But fine.

[sengokus]

I'm not saying that - I don't forgive Amane-san for putting Grace through that either. The injuries were just the primary lead we had and they weren't even real.

But I figure Satoru can just tell people this on his own tomorrow. I don't want to put too much suspicion on him when I don't think it's necessary.

[dotcom]

[ he looks like he still wants to argue, but he just focuses on the second topic instead. ]

He's going to have to eventually. It's not like we're going to skip strip check, so the longer he waits the worse he'll look.

[sengokus]

[they're going to butt heads forever but there's still some layer of annoyance on mineo's face before he also moves on]

I don't think he plans on waiting that long - I told him that it'd be easier if he just started with it like Yi-kun. We took pictures of the injuries fresh and then I helped him bandage them.

But I think that means there probably was a power to transfer injuries around and someone felt like making Satoru their target.

[dotcom]

He would be the most likely suspect for Mahito's case, right? So it would make sense that whoever killed him would try to frame him.

[sengokus]

Yeah. They even fought as recently as Tuesday in the tea room.

[he just

closes his eyes. he hates............. gojou satoru.]

But that also means whoever transferred their injuries could keep up against Mahito-san in a fight.... even if I also think taking the time to carve out numbers and a heart is.... weird.

[like. what. why are none of these murders fucking normal.]

[dotcom]

So, the main suspects would be the combatants, unless we also consider the potential use of powers.

Even if you're not super strong, if you handicapped him, it could still even things out.

[sengokus]

[he nods....]

I don't know what powers like that are in play - a bunch of our usual fighters don't have any geared toward affecting another person... unless they got one from an Avatar.

I can ask Endorsi if she knew what Mahito-san's power was but...

[ . . . ]

I think people are going to care more about finding Lenore-san and Aoi-chan's murders.

[glancing at takeru, at that]

[dotcom]

Yeah. Mahito isn't that high of a priority for me, other than just wanting to catch a killer in general.

[ he will flat out admit to that

and then does not really touch the. aoi thing. ]

[sengokus]

[ . . . . ]

Endorsi wants to catch his killer, and I figure she'll assume it's Satoru early. Just so you know.

[mineo is................ tired but is preparing for the worst.

but then he'll tilt his head at takeru]

.... how are you feeling? Are you okay?

[dotcom]

[ takeru also doesn't care about endorsi but he won't say that...... ]

Shouldn't I be asking that to you? Didn't Lenore just confess to you? And then there's the whole mess with Mahito.

[sengokus]

You're just trying to deflect.

[he'll point that out first but - ]

.... I'm gonna have a rough time any Friday, Takeru. At this point, I lose friends and people I care about every week. Lenore-san even asked to stay with me last night, but I was so freaked out about Endorsi, I told her that she could go with Satoru and I'd just make sure to stay with her next week. [and that.... that inspires a certain type of guilt to him.]

But I'm an idiot who cares too much about everybody. [it's a given that he's going to be in pain.]

I know you're more specific about who's worth your time.

[dotcom]

[ ... ]

I'll be fine. I just want to catch who did it, and then be done with it.