User blog:Seieireppa/Nanako’s Magical☆Mystery☆Adventure, part 3

When last we met, Nanako had arrived on the scene and prepared for her investigation. An air of dread hangs over the members of Fenrir's Far East Branch as Julius Visconti's murderer remains at large. Will Nanako discover the truth? Read on...

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Nanako dislodged Kota’s grip and turned to face the crowd.

“Let’s go over what we already know,” she began. “Kota was the first to discover the body, and when he did, the door was locked. By this time, however, the murder had clearly already taken place. However, since the door was locked, the culprit must be someone who has ready access to either Julius’ key or the master keys in order to be able to enter and leave Julius’ room at will. Therefore,” Nanako concluded, “that is where I will be beginning my investigation.”

From the gathered crowd came a snicker. “Please, gimme a break,” spoke one Shun Ogawa, former member of the Fenrir Far East Branch’s Third Unit and current member of Sakaki’s anti-Aragami Defense Unit. “Our murderer got in and out of Julius’ room and killed him without raising any alarms, and you seriously think any one of us will be able to catch him?”

Shun’s impromptu speech was quickly interrupted by a swift smack on the head from Karel Schneider, fellow Defense Unit member. The two of them were close friends and had been for years, their at times seemingly hostile interactions merely a sign of how close they were. Now, however, Karel was having none of it. A comrade of theirs, a friend, had been murdered, and now was hardly the time for snarky retorts.

“Shun,” advised Karel, “do consider the mood. A dear friend of ours has been murdered… you would do well to mind your tongue.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Shun turned his gaze downward and kicked at the ground. “So anyway,” he noted, turning towards Nanako, “who could have gotten into Julius’ room in the first place?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” replied Nanako in turn. “The obvious first suspect would be Dr. Sakaki, but…”  She turned towards Sakaki, who maintained his ever-present smile. “…there’s one important thing to consider:  the body was still warm when Kota discovered the scene.”  Kota gave Nanako an affirmative nod. “Considering this,” Nanako continued, “Sakaki would have to have unlocked the door to Julius’ room, killed him, and returned before Kota discovered the body…”  Nanako glanced at Kota, then back at Sakaki. “…which leads me to a very key fact – Julius’ extremities were still warm, too, not just his core. The extremities begin to cool after death within half an hour, which would make Sakaki having murdered Julius an impossible scenario.”

A reply came from within the crowd, the voice belonging to one Soma Schicksal, currently a member of the satellite branch Cradle stationed here at Anagura. “Say,” he began, “how exactly do you know all of this, anyway? Like about how long it takes for bodies to cool and all that. Is there something you’ve been keeping from us?”

Nanako shot back an irritated glare. “That’s entirely irrelevant to the current situation, but if you must know, it’s just… something I picked up before I came to Fenrir. Anyway,” she continued, returning to a pensive position, “Dr. Sakaki… now that you’ve been cleared of suspicion, there’s something I’d like to ask you – are there any members of Fenrir who regularly pass through your office?”

“None apart from the usual technicians,” Sakaki replied, maintaining his smile. “Of course, considering their status as normal humans like me, I doubt they’d be able to inflict anything close to a mortal wound on a God Eater, especially not Julius, considering his Singularity potential.”

“True enough,” replied Nanako. “In that case, Sakaki, can you possibly think of anyone else who’s been in and out of your office on a regular basis, or even recently at all?”

“Hmm… nobody in particular comes to mind…”  Suddenly, a lightbulb seemed to go off above Sakaki’s head. “Oh, wait, there was one other person.” He nodded in the direction of Soma Schicksal. “Soma there visited me yesterday. Can’t remember for the life of me why, though. He didn’t stay long, either.”

Nanako turned to Soma, addressing him. “Where were you around an hour ago?” she asked, staring directly into the latter’s eyes.

“I was training,” came the curt reply. “In the training facilities. They’re open 24 hours a day, so I thought I’d get some training in to work up an appetite before breakfast… which is where I was when Fujiki over there called me to tell me that something was up.”

“I see,” replied Nanako. “In that case, is there anyone who can vouch for your alibi?”

“Unfortunately, you’ve got me there,” returned Soma. “They leave the training facilities unmanned during off hours, so when I got there, there wasn’t anyone at the counter.”

“‘Unfortunate,’ indeed,” mused Nanako. Soma was still a suspect, unfortunately, but there was still an important matter – the fact that Julius’ extremities were still warm when Kota found the body. If Soma was the culprit, he would have to have made it back from Julius’ room to the training facilities in under half an hour. This was no mean feat – the training facilities are deep underground, and a good ways away from the Blood members’ floor at that. It would take a normal person well over half an hour to make the trek. If Soma ran the lateral portion of the trip, he might be able to make it… but, according to Kota, Soma didn’t sound the least bit out of breath when he called him.

“Soma,” Nanako called out, “do the regenerative effects of your P73 bias factor extend to healing fatigue?”

“Not as quickly or efficiently as with actual wounds,” came Soma’s reply. “Ask Sakaki about it – there’s no way I could have ran from here to the elevator and then back to the training facility in under half an hour and not be at least a little out of breath.”

“Sakaki, is this true?” asked Nanako. The latter returned a nod. “Even someone as integrated with his own bias factor as Soma is,” added Sakaki, “wouldn’t recover from prolonged fatigue of that degree that quickly.”

“I see,” stated Nanako, “so let me ask you this, Soma: how do we know that you were really still at the training facility when Kota called you?”

Soma’s expression barely shifted, but one could tell he was searching for an answer. “The walls of the training facility are lined with cuts,” he eventually retorted. “I can bring you to the facility and point out to you which ones I made earlier this morning.”

“No, that’s quite alright,” returned Nanako. “Sakaki here can have someone accompany you.”  Sakaki gave another nod, his smile ever-present.

Nanako thought for a moment. Tentatively, this ruled out Soma as a suspect, which brought her back to square one…

…or did it?

Indeed, there was an entire angle that Nanako had failed to consider. What if the culprit hadn’t killed Julius directly? What if a time-delay method had been used?

Following this thread, Nanako stepped into Julius’ room for a closer examination… but no matter how she searched, she could find no trace of any sort of mechanism. There were no openings in the door for someone to fit anything through while it was locked, let alone one that, excusing the time-delay theory for a moment, the culprit would be able to aim at Julius while he was asleep in his bed.

Suddenly, however, a further thought struck Nanako. What was the most obvious method of time-delay murder? What one modus operandi was the one that came to mind most immediately when one thought of ways to kill someone on a fuse?

“In that case,” mused Nanako, “I know who I must examine next.”

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What is this murder method Nanako has realized? Who is Nanako’s next suspect in the murder of Julius Visconti? Will the dead ever know justice? Find out next time, in the next installment of Nanako’s Magical☆Mystery☆Adventure!