I'm Late, I'm Late, For a Very Important Date || Kagefu || Trial Post: 1 || RE: Everything Really
"I-... I'm sorry for dazing off, this is overwhelming... But we are making progress, so it is okay. I will present what I have now."
Digging into his bag, he pulled out a few things.
A note, a book, and a piece of cloth.
The book was a fairytale book, but Kagefu kept that in his possession, not showing it to the court room yet. The cloth was blue plaid. It was clearly torn.
"I am sorry for not presenting this earlier. My mind was in a haze, and I could not think at the moment. I will not be presenting the book just yet, since Sato-san seems to be going off the note that was found by him, and not I. However, I must say this indeed. I compared handwriting earlier."
Holding up the note he found in Chloe's pocket, Kagefu frowned,
"The handwriting on this, the handwriting in the book, the handwriting on the notepad Sato-san found, and the book in Chloe's room, that Sato-san also found... They all were exact matches, down to the little curves in the letters. This means they were all written by the same person. Obviously this means one of two things.
"It could be that the culprit has written these things. However, that raises a few questions. How did the plants book end up in Rodgers-san's room. We seem to be missing her key at the moment, so it is a possibility the killer has it. But that also does not explain the details. Most likely, it seems, that Chloe found the note written for her, the one referencing the library book. That is the book I have with me, and was also the book I found the cloth in. I do not remember Rodgers-san to have worn blue plaid, and I do believe that the material of her outfit was different as well. The plaid is all cotton, and the kind of cotton used in it, fluffy, and rather insulating, is different than that of lab coats. Finding the notes in the book, as well as the cloth, she investigates the woods. This is most likely where she is ambushed, or could have been, no certainties yet. The syringes were used to knock her out, and then she was tied up. She was then brought to the pool, and thrown in. I do not know about the book in her own room, as this scenario did not pin her as the writer. But it could be a red herring, I do not know. When I investigated the poinsettias, I did not find anything case related.
"The other possibility is that Chloe wrote these things. I do not know where to go from there. It is most likely a path of traps and red herrings, so I will leave that to someone more keen, to discern for themselves. But while it is not an impossibility, it is most likely the first scenario. This means we still have some unanswered questions. I cannot answer at the moment, but hopefully it will become clear in time.
"This brings us to the cloth. It is blue. It is cotton, and just cotton. It is plaid. It is most likely from a shirt, being unsuitable material to make up pants. It is also most likely from the bottom of the shirt, since a tear of this shape and size is unlikely from the top or sleeves. This means someone who wore blue plaid shirts was likely in a situation where their shirt would tear. I do distinctly remember that Rodgers-san's cur-... Former roommate wore plaid flannel... I do not remember the colour, but he most definitely wore plaid flannel. But it remains that neither Amano-san or Izumi-san have been seen, by me, in plaid. I do not wish to suddenly shift the blame, but I do not believe that this note that was found is a suspect list, or a victim list, or anything of the sort. I believe it is a red herring. A list of people the culprit wished to tie into the case. Rodgers-san is the victim. Sinclair-san received the note, and it a plausible suspect. I would judge the handwriting to be more feminine than masculine, but we cannot rule out Roommate-san as a suspect.
"This leaves us with Amano-san, Izumi-san, Roommate-san, and Sinclair-san. We address the writing now. Isumi-san has already already provided a handwriting sample, so... Continuing with that, if we are the examine all possibilities, it'd be best to have all four suspects write for comparison. Either way, comparison or not, I think that an analysis of the writing would do us good. There is notes on the "Ic" of "Icing" and an "E" written over it. Hansel, Gretel and the Witch are all underlined. There is also the note that Kurokawa-san mentioned before. Now, the characters. They represent the people involved in this case. My mother mentioned something along the lines of association in stories, a long time ago, in one of my Language and Literature lessons.
"This means that each person involved in this case is a character. Hansel is most likely Sinclair-san. Gretle is most likely Rodgers-san. The killer is likely the Witch. Our variable, if you will. Using this idea, we can eliminate Sinclair-san from the suspects list, and in my mind, I will be doing as such. This leaves Amano-san, Roommate-san, and Izumi-san. I do not know what this "F532L," means, nor the time. However, I think it is safe to say we missed out on a golden opportunity during investigation. The breadcrumb trail left by Hansel and Gretle, or in this case, Hansel himself. The note. Assuming we've lost our memories, it is quite likely that he did meet with the killer, along with Rodgers-san. Even if he did not, the note was likely planted to lead to something. This killer was very adamant about staying true to their little fairytale, I do not believe they would have left a detail about the trial unnoticed.
"I do not know any of the three remaining suspects. I cannot vouch for attitude, personality, or the like. From what I know in the trials, as well as the time I spoke with Roommate-san, he is energetic and optimistic. Amano-san seems to be level headed and cool under pressure. Izumi-san seems to be hot blooded, and rather ignitable, not to be insulting. We cannot eliminate from personality alone, due to our missing memories, But if I had to guess, our answer is laid out before us, and that is all we have left to fall back upon.
"11:00 am. A time that we are all unaware of. We have lost all of our memories of those times that have passed us at 11:00 am. However, if we assume it is related to this case, it could be one of a few things. Maybe it is the time that Hansel, Gretle, and the Witch met up. Maybe it is the time this plan came to fruition, the point of no return. Most likely it is the former, if the former even happened. This leaves the odd sequence of numbers and letters. F532L. It could be interpreted as all letters, making it FSEZL, but I do not know what that could mean. Maybe it is upside down? I do not know, it does not make much sense to me. But it is the only unanswered, and MAJOR question. So it must be of importance. I say we must pay it the heed it deserves. Could it be a book we missed? I do not know if the Dewey Decimal system, so commonly used, uses letters, but I do know a bit about it myself. The 800's are for Literature. I do not know what the specifics are, but it is literature in a general sense of the word.
"However, all of that was trivial, in light of the narrowing down further. The tallies on Rodgers-san's arm. The tallies were odd. They were Western. Now, two of our suspects are japanese, or it is my belief that they are. One, Roommate-san, is not. I do not know where he originates from, however, I remember seeing his name on the trial seating sheet. Joshua, I do believe it was? Most definitely not Japanese, or Asian at all, really. I cannot condemn you, once again, on the idea that you are the culprit, but for you to use Western tallies, or the culprit to have, is certainly condemning.
"Not only that, but the suspect in question, Joshua, is missing an arm... I do not wish a repeat of last trial, in which a handicap proved deadly to an innocent bystander, but in this case, it may be rather fruitful. Hopefully. But Joshua is missing much of his right arm, as can be seen, and would not be able to fight back against someone fully able. I do not wish to say he is weak, but when a large portion of your ability to fight comes from your arms, for striking and defending, and you are missing one, a fight becomes very difficult. This would explain why he did what he did. The rope, the anesthetic injections, the fact that one of his flannel shirts is most likely ripped, in what was the ensuing struggle. Obviously he could not hold Rodgers-san down before she was unconscious, and she would have fought back until then, ripping the shirt in the process. Why it ended up in the book, is rather suspicious, and I do not wish to say it was him while it remains unanswered... But...
"Unfortunately, as it lays out before us, Joshua-san seems to be a very likely culprit. I will be convinced it is him until someone can lay out proof otherwise. Izumi-san and Amano-san have very circumstantial evidence tied to them, and no proof to say such evidence is trustworth. Not to mention the evidence only says they COULD have done it, or VAGUELY HINTED at the fact. Both can be assumed to be second class suspects, in the shadow of the first class. A minor concern. Sinclair-san is even farther down. Which puts Joshua-san right at the top. I will place my vote for him. I apologize if this seems rash, but he is our only solid suspect right now, with damning evidence against him."
After his long speech, Kagefu sighed. It was hard, putting up a man on the stake, and then possibly condemning him. If he was wrong, then Joshua would die, just as Robin had. If he was right, they would only have the comfort of knowing they had killed the killer.
In retrospect, that was not much comfort at all.
But regardless, Kagefu didn't have much choice. This room was a room of death and damnation, and nothing that the students could do could prevent that. So they had to fight teeth against teeth, fist against fist. They had to play their whole hands, and lay it out on the table.
And that is what had been done. No shame in that. There couldn't be.
