Chapter 2: Issues with Shuichi’s Reasoning and Other Strange Things (DRV3)
Note: This post is focused only on the physical evidence and deductions of Chapter 2. I’ll take a closer look at other stuff—people’s lies, contradictions, the motive videos, etc.—of Ch. 2 in future posts.
The rope allegedly used to create the ropeway was found backstage at Himiko’s magic show. Angie mentioned that it had moved during the night, so it’s implied that the culprit had used it and moved it, but how exactly it got backstage was never fully addressed.
This is the theory that Kiyo made in the trial—that the rope was thrown in from the pool window—and everyone just sorta goes with it. But this theory contradicts what Shuichi deducts in his closing argument.
So he chooses to just... not address it. At all. His conclusion ends here, right after the rope falls into the pool.
The culprit can’t throw the rope through from the window if they had already untied the rope and jumped down from it.
So how exactly does the rope end up backstage? We don’t know for sure.
I guess the culprit could have thrown it through from poolside, but wouldn’t that risk disturbing the body and the scene?... Actually, better question, why would the culprit bother returning the rope to the gym at all?
The small section of rope tied to the inner tube came from nowhere. We can only assume the culprit acquired it from the warehouse.
But if the culprit knew that rope was readily available in the warehouse, why would they use the rope that was laying in the gym for their murder plan? It would only draw suspicion to themselves. And also, why would they bother using the wire from the tennis court net if they had extra rope to use in the warehouse?
This point is also not addressed in Shuichi’s closing argument.
It’s funny, because in the trial, they even have a discussion about how “there’s no other rope but the one in the gym.”
3. The Mystery of Ryoma’s Clothes
In the animation depicting him getting eaten by piranhas, Ryoma’s clothes are torn to shreds. It makes sense—the piranhas wouldn’t be able to get at his flesh without getting through the clothing first.
But during his investigation, his clothes were recovered completely intact? Huh?
Shuichi skips over this point in closing arguments as well.
Along the same lines, the ankle cuff that Ryoma always wears is missing from the recovered items.
4. Placing the Body in the Piranha Tank
They really stress multiple times throughout the trial that if this trick was to work, the culprit must place the body in the tank carefully to keep the glass pane from shifting.
But according to Monosuke, carefully placing it wasn’t an option.
(I ran out of image space so here are some quotes!)
Korekiyo Shinguji: “You say the culprit placed their foot on the windowsill? Isn’t that against school rules?”
Monosuke: “Last time we were asked that question, we decided it was okay. Stickin’ your body through the window is an automatic out, but standing on the sill is—” [interrupted by other monokubs]
Standing on the sill is fine, but reaching your body through is an automatic out. If ‘body’ also includes the culprits arms, the culprit would have no choice but to drop the body in from their place on the windowsill. Placing it in the tank carefully—“with their own hands,” even, as Ouma had said—wouldn’t be possible.
Granted, the culprit would only be dropping it a meter or so, but when it’s a dense, ninety-pound human body, any amount of distance would wind up causing a big disturbance to the water and, very possibly, the glass pane.
I ran out of picture space, but Shuichi’s deduction (you can kinda see it in the panels in point 1) shows the body gently floating down into the tank, where it doesn’t even make a splash.
Buuuut whatever. I may need to chock this one up to ‘video game physics.’
Even still, though... it’s kind of a big risk for the culprit to take if this trick was that important.
That’s not where the hinges were, bud.
From what we see, the staircase has a pretty large opening/door that contradicts the tiny space Shuichi imagines. Though we never get to see what the stairs actually look like, this calls into question whether Himiko’s trick was really performed the way Shuichi thought it was—which is a pretty big deal. Illusionists and magicians can do all sorts of crazy things, so when there’s a murder mystery involved, it’s kind of important to know exactly what’s going on with their trick.
It is strange that Shuichi just never investigated the staircase. Did he really just not notice it, or did he perhaps ignore it on purpose for some reason?...
Some other smaller issues/mysteries:
-The alleged culprit chose to use their own gloves as a brake, despite that fact that using literally anything else would’ve worked just as well.
-The alleged culprit, the Ultimate Maid, did not clean up after herself?... If it really was impossible during nighttime, then she could’ve quickly cleaned it up in the morning when the pool reopened. She probably would’ve risked getting caught by doing so, but considering how damning the evidence is, why wouldn’t she take that risk?
-What’s up with the piranhas? Even Shuichi said they didn’t look normal. Himiko said they were in her lab but we (as the player) never saw a tank of piranhas in there before.
-The weapon or object allegedly used to knock Ryoma unconscious was never identified.
-Ryoma’s skeleton has a crack in its skull that’s never addressed. Was it from being knocked unconscious? But a blow strong enough to break bone would probably just kill him, right?
