“If… if you suspect me of doing it, why don’t we go take a look at the body for more clues?” If it somehow turns out that you did do the dirty deed, you would be signing your own death sentence, but you feel fairly certain that it wasn’t you. Probably.
Tokigawa seems uncertain. “The truth of these murders is something that concerns me,” he admits, “but right now I think our priority should be to escape.”
“Yeah, we should get out of here as soon as we can, then call for help!” agrees Okuyama.
“Actually, I beg to differ.” Maeda speaks up politely but aggressively. “We should be certain that none of us here are the killer. The murderer could easily sabotage our attempts to leave the hospital, or worse - pick us off one by one.”
“I have to agree with Nami-san,” murmurs Taketatsu quietly as he pushes his glasses up. “All our efforts will likely be in vain if we do not grasp the entirety of our predicament first.”
Tokigawa pushes up his own spectacles and nods. “Well, if that is the case… there should be no harm in investigating the ward. It is on our way after all. How shall we divide the group?”
“Shinichi and I want to take a look at the bodies,” states Maeda confidently on both her and Taketatsu’s behalf. A slight shrug is the only indicator of assent from the software entrepreneur.
“Bodies?” Tokigawa asks.
“Yes. If we are going to be undertaking an investigation, doesn’t it make sense to gather as much information as we can from different sources, Tokigawa-kun?” she lectures haughtily.
“The little miss is right,” says Mori. “It is quite likely that all of these people were killed by the same person… or persons. Focusing our search on one body will be too narrow.”
“I see. If we want to inspect the corpses, Midori-san and I should go along too, so as to provide what little expertise we can,” Tokigawa sighs.
“You will be going along with them, won’t you, Shinoseki?” asks Mori.
You nod reluctantly.
“Then I guess I have no choice but to tag along,” he smiles thinly. You wonder what he is… yakuza? He certainly looks grizzled enough to be one.
Tokigawa looks up and calls out to the others “Then-“
“Sorry, but I’ll be staying here.” Sakaki replies, his hand held up into the air as if he were a student in the classroom.
“Me too. Corpses and I don’t mix,” Juni-S claims.
“I’ll stay here with Sen- I mean… kukuku, such a mundane event will not sway me from my path,” cackles Amanozaki. It looks like she will not be going along either.
“If… if we’re going to be taking a closer look at corpses, count me out.” Kayano shivers – being a regular office lady, she does not seem to be handling the situation as well as the others.
Tokigawa turns and asks Sakimura and Uehara, “How about the two of you?”
“Me? I don’t know… I feel like I wanna go, but…” Sakimura casts a worried glance at Uehara. “Are you going to be okay with it?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Uehara shakes her head. “I’m not some wilting flower!” She looks at you and a grim smile fleets across her lips. “I think it will be better if we go too. Safety in numbers. Besides, staying here means I will have to be hanging around that gloomy, demented witch over there…”
Amanozaki responds with a litany of muttered, barely audible curses, which Uehara lets slide off her back with nothing but an amused, pitying grin.
“I suppose that is decided then,” says Tokigawa. “How should we proceed?”
“It would be more efficient to begin in the ward where Shinoseki moved the body, to see if there is any evidence that can confirm his guilt, since he is now our primary suspect. The rest of the corpses appear to be scattered throughout the hospital; we can get to them later,” advises Mori.
The rest nod their head and agree – they do not seem to have any problems with this course of action. With Mori hovering over your back like a shadow, you begin walking back towards the ward where all of this began.
***
As you re-enter the ward, you notice that Dr. Usui’s corpse is face-down on the floor. Did you leave it like that? You cannot remember. Maybe, maybe not. The room seems to be stuffier than you remembered it – you are finding it a bit hard to breathe, and the inklings of a headache is already building up in your skull.
“What is the matter, Shinoseki? You seem nervous,” asks Mori.
“It’s… it’s nothing.”
“Really? Perhaps you have seen something that you should share with us, but won’t?”
“No. Nothing at all,” you mutter softly. As you stare at the others, busy playing coroner with the corpse, you notice something out of the corner of your eye.
Under Mori’s worn-out trenchcoat, you catch a brief glimpse of a black holster.
***
A. From the size and shape… a Model 37? You revise your guess about his occupation: it is now more likely that he is a police detective. The criminal underworld, if they are to carry a gun at all, prefer to use semi-automatics; cheap Type 54s smuggled in from China. If he is undercover, however, he should usually be carrying a P230… perhaps he is off-duty, and not on an official assignment?
B. A holster? A gun!? Mori is carrying a gun – he could be a yakuza member or an undercover cop. You wonder which one he is…
***
“Hm? What are you looking at, Shinoseki?”
“E-Eh? No… I wasn’t looking at anything!” you say quickly, flustered. You gulp in fear, your heart pounding in your chest; the man has a gun… and wasn’t the dead doctor…
“He was shot!” calls out Tokigawa. “It looks like Dr. Usui probably bled out!”
“Shot, huh?” Mori narrows his eyes but does not move from your side. He folds his arms tightly, his right hand resting close to where the holster would be, under his coat. “Can you tell what calibre of ammunition he was shot with?”
“I’m sorry, Mori-san, that’s beyond my expertise. You would need a coroner with knowledge of ballistics for this. All I can tell is that these are definitely bullet wounds,” Tokigawa replies.
The wounds were definitely caused by small arms fire, in your opinion. In fact… could those wounds have been made by the one Mori carries?
It is possible.
***
01:30
A. “M-Mori-san… you have a gun, right?” You take the opportunity to quickly speak up, drawing attention to Mori. He has a gun, the doctor was shot – perhaps all the others too – and even if he is not the killer, this will help shift suspicion towards him and away from you.
B. “…” You keep quiet for now. You do not want to let Mori know that you know about the gun under his trenchcoat just yet. They haven’t finished their investigation at the moment; it may be better for you to wait and observe Mori's behaviour and how the overall situation develops, just for a little longer, before saying anything.