“Tokigawa-san… it was Tokigawa Kou-san, right? Aren’t you supposed to be on leave today?”
Tokigawa’s eyes narrow warily behind his glasses. “What are you getting at, Shinoseki-san? What does that have to do with anything?”
Feeling a bit more confident thanks to his defensive reaction, you push on. “W-Well… I found your name written on a list of trainees who were supposed to be on duty… it is true that you were supposed to work today, as you told us. But you didn’t tell us you had already applied for leave beforehand. Per-perhaps there is a reason you came in today anyway?”
“What are you implying?“ Okuyama rises from her seat, visibly angered at your insinuations.
“It is… it is just such a coincidence isn’t it? I mean… Tokigawa-san, you took leave off today but ended up coming anyway, and it just so happened to be the day where all this happened?”
Okuyama bristles. “You-“
“It’s okay, Okuyama. Calm down.” Persuading her to return to her seat, Tokigawa leans back in his, his eyes closed and his face calm. “This is not a very pleasant situation we find ourselves in. I’m not surprised that people would jump to conclusions easily. To answer your question, Shinoseki Adachi-san… yes, I was supposed to be on leave today. I was not feeling well last night, and I called in sick for the next day. However, I felt much better this morning and decided I should show up to work after all. That is all.”
“Ah, I… I see…” You wonder if you should press him further - you get the feeling that he is not being entirely truthful with you - but Tokigawa continues to speak, taking the momentum away from you.
“I am curious, Shinoseki-san, about where you found that list. Were you digging around the hospital files before you came to the lobby?”
“I…”
“The body! That must be it! He found it on the dead body before we came in!” shouts Sakimura in realization before you can answer.
“Dead body?” Tokigawa’s eyebrows arch as he stares at you. “If you found the list there, then it would have belonged to one of the doctors in charge of supervising us trainees. I suppose they did not survive this disaster either…”
“I…”
“Shinoseki-san seemed to be scavenging stuff from the corpse,” Sakimura adds, talking over you. “We saw him with the doctor’s stethoscope. I don’t know what else he took.”
“Stealing from the dead, eh, Shinoseki?” Mori asks suddenly, his attention focused on you. “Why would you need a stethoscope? Are you trained in the use of one?”
“I…” You think you would know how to use one, but how is that question relevant to your current situation?
Without giving you time to respond fully, Mori throws out another question. “What else did you find on the doctor’s body? Was there something important that he was carrying? Something that… oh, I don’t know, people might kill over, Shinoseki?”
“I… I didn’t kill him,” you mutter quickly to defend yourself. “If that’s what you’re getting at. He died a few hours before I woke up.”
Mori scratches his beard, listening to you keenly. “How do you know that he died a few hours before you woke up? That seems to be a rather specific deduction.”
“I don’t think I could confidently identify the time of death myself without another semester in pathology,” says Tokigawa. “It would need experience and some modicum of medical training.”
“So, Shinoseki… you are either skilled enough to determine the time of death, or already know the time of death for another reason.” Mori gives you a thin smile that seems to say, I have you now.
“You mean… if he is the murderer,” concludes Maeda, a hard look in her eyes. “If he killed the doctor, it is obvious that Shinoseki-san would know the time of his death.”
It looks like the tide is turning against you: there is not a single sympathetic look in the entire lobby. You push up your slipping glasses - your finger twitching thanks to your nervousness - and try to think about your next step carefully.
***
01:00
A. “If… if you suspect me of doing it, why don’t we go take a look at the body for more clues?” They are free to investigate the ward: you are confident you didn’t kill the man and that they will find nothing pointing to you.
B. “Of course I didn’t do it… he was shot and I don’t have a gun. Here! I took pictures of the wounds!” The photos will prove what you are saying is the truth, without having to return to the ward.
C. “I-I know about medicine and the human biology,” you admit. The problem is that you do not remember how you came by this knowledge; you will just have to hope your explanation satisfies them.
D. “I didn’t do it! You have to believe me!” You throw yourself on their mercy. A full display of your nervous timidity might be sufficient to disarm their distrust.
E. “...” You say nothing. A sullen silence is perhaps your best bet here. They probably won’t believe whatever you say anyway.
F. You run away from them. They might get paranoid and attempt to attack you… it is probably better that you leave as fast as you can.
G. You leap over the table without warning and attack Mori. He seems to be the most dangerous one here. If you can take him down first, dealing with the others should be a piece of cake...