First Investigation

[airlockedmods]

[On Friday, C.E.C.E.'s morning announcement goes out as usual. But people coming out of their rooms to begin their day may notice a faint thumping sound coming from down the hall.

Investigate?]

Comments

[immaculacies]

[Oh, well then. LET'S CHECK THOSE FOOTPRINTS.

How big are they? And do they appear to lead anywhere?]

[airlockedmods]

[It's hard to tell exactly what's going on here. There's a smaller set of footprints facing the door and backing up a few steps, and a larger pair of prints approaching. No, you can't get an exact measurement.

There's also some partial handprints on the ground nearby.]

[immaculacies]

[Hm, so... Maybe she was already injured and then backed in here...

Anything interesting about the handprints to go with that information?]

[airlockedmods]

[Not really, no.]

[immaculacies]

[Anything else noteworthy about the blood spatter/smearing, or is it time to TOUCH THAT CORPSE?]

[airlockedmods]

[You touch that corpse, small child]

[immaculacies]

[Fantastic. While Kaiba sees what's beneath Chitose's head, Manaka is going to check her hands and other visible parts of her skin for surface wounds.]

[airlockedmods]

[There are bruises on her hands and arms, as if from a fight.]

[immaculacies]

[And... With that noted, it's time to move on to anything underneath Chitose's clothes. Manaka will start by pulling her shirt up, so she can get a better look at that stab wound.]

[airlockedmods]

[It's just a single stab wound in her abdomen. There's blood around it, as if something were pressed against the wound at some point.]

[immaculacies]

[How neatly-made is the wound itself?]

[airlockedmods]

[It's neat and even!]

[immaculacies]

[So a single, neat stab wound in the gut, that looks like someone had tried to tend afterward...

She's getting a better idea of what happened here, she thinks.

She looks up to Kaiba, and when she sees the rags in his hand, she addresses him.]

Hey, Kaiba-san... It looks like someone tried to stop the bleeding here. Do you think that's what those rags were used for?

[playthedamncard]

I think so. But I don't understand it. This is clearly deliberate, you don't simply accidentally stab someone in the gut, so...why bother? Why bother with this whole set-up?

[immaculacies]

The case file on these things, [she taps her P.I.P. with one finger] it says there are two victims. And one died hours later. Maybe she found Chitose and tried to help, but the murderer interrupted?

[A stab to the stomach isn't a quick death, after all. Chitose could have been lying here for hours.]

Did you find anything else?

[Manaka gives the room around her a quick glance over, and then Chitose's body receives the same. Anything else that might catch the eye?]

[playthedamncard]

That's an idea, but then why do...this with the rags? If you wanted to hide them for some reason, you'd put them in your room, or in the trash, not under her head like trying to give her comfort.

No, the room itself doesn't seem to be all that important, aside from this is where she was.

...Here. We know she was moved and there was already something under her head. [It doesn't feel right to just like...roll her over like a bag of bones, so he cradles one arm under her knees, the other under her shoulders, and lifts her up.

Anything under her body?]

[playthedamncard]

[While Manaka looks at the smear-prints, how about Chitose? Does it seems like she has anything on her, something on her clothes, something she'd holding on to, in her hair?]

[airlockedmods]

[It looks like there's something under her head!]

[playthedamncard]

[Jinkies, Scoob, a c-c-c-clue! He gingerly lifts up her hair, smoothing her hair away, and we find...]

[airlockedmods]

[It's bloody rags! They're the rags that are normally in the art room for the cleaning of paint and such, but now they're folded and pillowed beneath Chitose's head.

Also bloody.]

[playthedamncard]

[Nobody tell Luna someone was being weirdly respectful to a dead body. Is there anything folded in the rags, or they were just pillowing her head?]

[airlockedmods]

[Nothing! But there's no blood in her hair, or on the floor here.]

[playthedamncard]

[Maybe to clean something? Or to press against the wound? Hmmm. But since Manaka found bloody footprints, let's just make super sure here because this is airlocked and we trust nothing. Are the soles of her shoes bloody?]

[airlockedmods]

[They are!]