"Yeah, Nina's not really trying to act like a stable person," Eli said, "But I doubt she lying. Worth thinking about, but most self-proclaimed master criminals would at least try to have an alibi for their crime."

"Speaking of which, I'd love to get some kind of alibi list going, but I'm not really sure how easy that would be. We don't even know when the incident happened, right? In fact, we know next to nothing about what Siri was up to. Hell, who knows if the killer was even in the room when she died. It's possible the murder somehow occurred remotely."

---

Marshall frowns at Nana, biting his lip, "Well, maybe it was just a coincidence or something anyway. It is kind of weird though."

He smiles at Nina, "Thanks, and yeah hopefully this should be pretty quick."

"I saw Siri board the train with us alive at least, but yeah, it seems she might have gone to the back of the train pretty soon after we boarded."

"Oh," Eli said, "I don't think this was addressed. Kyoya, you said you left the toast by Althea...Did you take it back with you, accounting for its disappearance? Or did you leave it there?"

---

"Ah, actually, we might know something!" Althea shouted, "If Ms. Hall's body was crushed, she must've been dead in the storage room at the time of the crash, correct?"

"I've been saying that, you loon." Skylar said under her breath.

"I did see Miss Nina." Kyoya confirmed. "It was after returning to my room, but before discovering the body."

He then turned to Eli. "I did not take the toast with me. I ejected it at her, and it wasn't worth recollecting as it would require great maneuvering, precision, and persistence."

"Ah..." Althea sighed, disappointed and somehow catching Skylar's remark.
"Well, regardless, if we're looking for people who were unaccounted for before the crash, that would mean Mr. Okamura, Ms. Nina, Ms. Hoshiko, and Mr. Fournier, correct?"

"I-I guess so... Yeah. Um, thanks," Nana smiled weakly.

"So, uh, I think Mr. Marshall already explained where I was before the crash, and Mr. Taylor said what happened in the bedrooms. I don't think there's anything else to add, but I'll try really hard to remember something that might help, okay?"

---

"Nina and Siri shared a room at the hotel, and Hoshi and Siri shared a room on the train, if we're trying to establish motive. Though I guess anyone might have had some conversation with her at some point or something, so that's not really evidence of anything."

"I just really wanna know why someone would do this, you know? It's cruel."

Marshall sighs heavily, apparently caught up in the moment.

"Whatever."

"Hey, now that you mention it...there's a total lack of a motive, or anything! Any normal person wouldn't kill unless they had a really good reason to..."

Nicos gave a slight and somewhat insulting glance at Nina before shifting his gaze.

"This...er...killing game? No one knew of it until now?"

"That is a good point, Lord Nicos. Is it possible the robot told one of us about it in secret?" Honda said, seemingly calm after his outburst earlier. He glared at Eve as he spoke.

"I... I already explained why it wouldn't make sense for Eve to say anything..." she sighed, "Ugh, whatever..."

Skylar cracked her back and neck. "I have a question for Kyoya. Maybe I'm just missing something, but still, I want you to clarify something for me. You said you scared Nana upon leaving the vent and entering your room, but that doesn't make sense to me, since she was in another room? Again, correct me if I'm wrong."

"Oh, no, I was in Mr. Kyoya's room when he came out of the vent," Nana clarified. "We were searching all the cabins and that was the last one. Um... was that helpful?"

---

"Yeah, sorry. I must've just thought too hard about it and glossed over that. Thanks, I guess."

"Actually, there is something I think is suspicious." Honda said, turning his glare from the robot towards their teacher. "...Nick, you report to Alabaster, do you not? So you should have known about the killing game in advance, no?"

Marshall bobs his head for a few seconds with his eyes closed, perhaps humming to himself.

"The killer killed Siri by dropping a very large crate on her, right? Would the people in the kitchen have heard that? Plus, how would the killer have gotten Siri to sit or stand under it? It's not like whoever the killer was could have carried the crate unless Kyoya's the size of a mastodon. And also, how would the killer have known the crate would fall? They wouldn't have known about the train crash, so they must've known it would fall some other way. Eli did say he say scratches or something around holes which might have had struts in them for holding the crate up."

"That's what I'm trying to understand, at least."

"I'm pretty sure Adam didn't know about this crazy battle royale bullshit..."

...

"O-Or did he?!"

"Negative. I was not aware of this 'Killing Game.'"

"Can you really put your trust in a computer, Lord Nicos? Something that can be programmed and controlled so easily? Something that has no free will of it's own? Who's to say Adam didn't know about this game the entire time?"

Marshall grumbles, "I mean, somebody on the trip was just a killer robot? Like, come on, you've got to be kidding me with that. How stupid is Alabaster? I'm not buying it."

"Probably pretty stupid, considering they hired Nick."

"Hey wait a moment, isn't the side train entrance to the storage car a fingerprint door? Kyoya, how did you discover the body if like you said you were using the car?"

Marshall furrows his brow at the RC vehicle.

The teacher blinked for a few moments, not quite sure how to react. It took a minute for him to process it, but when it hit...

"Mr. Honda, I simply do not know what to tell you. I do believe I mentioned this before, but I do not know the entire going-ons at Alabaster as a whole!" If he could have, he would have placed his hand on his chest, eyes blazing with anger... and regret. "And I, as a teacher, simply could not stand to harm one of my beloved students! We may not have known each other for long, but I by no means have any reason to harm any one of you! Indeed; I saw Ms. Hall as being capable of pushing you on your respective paths when you thought you could no longer move down them!

"In conclusion, Mr. Honda, the answer is a definitive no: I am in the dark just as much as the rest of you in all of this, and I will deny any such involvement until my last breath if I must!"

Say what you will, but the guy had some fire.

"And more than that," he added, "but you have yet to say anything in your defense! So do tell, Mr. Honda, where were you when the lights went out?"

Last edited by SaizotheSixth on Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

"But look at that smiley face. It looks so honest!"

He pointed at Adam's screen.

"Eve on the other hand..! G-Grr..! This is why technology is the bane of the world! They looove to make ancient arts like swordsplay obsolete..! If her body weren't made of that robotic metal stuff, I could totally slice through her and we'd be done with this..."

Nicos tilted his head.

"Marshall has a good point..! Maybe his toast is imprinted with his DNA..?" he offered seriously.

"Im not so sure that would make great toast if it did. Id say its probably just he has his fingerprint encoded in the toaster and can send that info to the scanner to allow him through." Vic said unsure of his answer, turning to the toaster. "Mind clarifying how you get through those doors?"

"How convenient. How very convenient!" Honda yelled furiously. "One of your students dies in this bullshit 'game' held by the company you work for, and you don't know a damn thing!" He grumbled to himself before continuing.

"Not that I owe you an answer, but I was in the lounge car when the lights went out. Lord Marshall and Nicos and Lady Nana and Annabella were there as well. I was playing my violin for them, when the train crashed. I hit the floor, hard. Pretty sure I broke my damn nose..." He winced, recalling the painful memory. "Afterwards Lord Marshall helped me up, and we made our way outside for the headcount. After that was over, I helped Lady Rose and Annabella move their belongings out of the train, and also made a quick stop to save some of Lady Skylar's collectibles. Besides that nothing really happened until Kyoya found the body. Is that good enough of an answer, 'Mister' Nick?"

"It will do, Mr. Honda," the teacher bit off, before he took a deep breath. "Allow me to apologize to you; my behavior was an affront, and I should have watched my tongue more. But know this; I do not know the meaning of this game. I will do what I can to protect you all, and..."

He trailed off, then looked down. "... By what right do I make these promises... I couldn't even protect one of their number..." He sighed, deeply troubled, and shook his head. "I... never mind..."

Evelyn had strangely now appeared to have a surgeon's mask over her face, perhaps from earlier after autopsying Siri's corpse. On closer look, it appeared to be the napkin she was wearing earlier, but it rendered the expression on her mouth absolutely inscrutable. She took a deep breath, shaking her head, not even bothering to wrestle with her bonds now. She looked at the others solemnly.

"This is truly a most regrettable occurrence. For our good friend to die like this...but it isn't something we should squabble on about." Her tone remained eerily calm as she spoke. ""As unfortunate as it is for this to happen, for me to perform my job on a day like this... We should remain calm and go over everything. So, I suppose we should start." She paused, straightening herself. "This is but a prelude to the truth. We are all but coroners delving into this case to find the truth hidden within this twisted corpse. ...So, with that said, let the surgery begin."

"Indeed, starting with my alibi is a good beginning point, so I shall go from there", Evelyn explained. "As our good teacher Mr. Anderson has explained, he escorted me, Althie and Rose through the VIP rooms. ...There, I went to take a peek into Mr. Anderson's room myself. It wasn't particularly anything special, albeit a little messier than the other rooms. Then Rose tried to do the same, and...well, we got into a bit of a struggle. Then the train halted, throwing both me and Rose back. And then as I got up..." She paused to look at Althea. "I realised my good friend was missing. But we had little time, so we had to escape and join the others in the clearing outside."

"Then, after a while it appeared clear that nobody else was going to exit. But she still hadn't come, so I was quite worried. So my immediate action was to look for her, which Skylar assisted me with." She nodded towards her. "We checked up on Eve first, but she assured us she was alright...which I find somewhat hard to believe considering her true nature", she added scornfully. "So we checked the other VIP rooms instead, and it turned out she was in the third room they checked- though the others didn't have anything else of interest in them. After checking on her and making sure she was alright, we explained everything to her. After that, we three and Nicos both searched the VIP cabins and the lounge but found nothing, ultimately. And that is all I have to report", she finished.

"The autopsy has already been made clear, of course, and I feel it speaks for itself. Now, in terms of discussion, I believe we have currently confirmed that Kyoya was in the vents...or at least, his toaster was. I believe Honda spotted the man himself hiding somewhere behind a tree. I have little else to speculate in terms of suspects. I suppose, logically speaking, if the murder occurred directly, then that would mean the suspects are Nina, Hoshiko, Althie and Eve. As Skylar has mentioned, it would be ridiculous for Eve to have committed this crime, and we can eliminate Althie as well on the basis of her being unconscious at the time. So that would mean either Nina or Hoshiko is behind this...if this murder was direct, anyway. If this was committed indirectly- of which there is a relatively high chance- then practically everyone is a suspect." Evelyn finished. "Let us hope we all get to the bottom of this and make sure the scoundrel behind this pays...as well as her." She directed a glare in Eve's direction, though still not struggling. Her voice remained monotone as ever, though, and her mouth being covered by her mask made it hard to tell how she was feeling, if she was feeling anything at all.

---

Last edited by Southern Corn on Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Rose inhales and exhales deeply, her face fuming with rage. "I swear to God, once I get out of here my Daddy is going to sue this disgusting "Corporation" for every filthy penny it's worth! Do you know how much money you're going to have to pay in emotional damages?"

She then takes another deep breath in attempt to regain her composure before speaking up once more. "Anyways, in case someone is dumb enough to think it's me, I was with Evelyn and Althie the entire time, and then I went investigating my room with Honda and that Annabeth girl. I think at one point I heard the sound of Kyoya’s RC from somewhere above, and noticed there was some kind of a ventilation shaft on the ceiling which the toy car was probably driving through. But besides that, not much happened until I heard Kyoya calling everyone to the body." She pauses briefly before frowning. "My perfume...My makeup!"

She points a finger at Nick. "I-if it's anyone, it has to be him! He's the one who's responsible for this trip, and he's with the Alabaster Corporation, so he has to know what's up! Oh, and he also didn't let me go inside his room, so..." Rose says, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Oh, not again!

"Ms. Péchard," the teacher began strenuously, "even if you wish to suspect me, there are numerous eyewitness accounts that would place me several cars away before the crash occured, one of which would be your own. Unless you'd like to admit your own testimony is faulty, which would throw us both under the proverbial bus, along with Dr. Agnes and Ms. Rosemary.

"And would you let guests into your room if it was even the slightest bit out of sorts?" Not that he thought the Perfumer had any idea what a room was like out of sorts.

"Having taken a look into Mr. Anderson's room, I can confirm that there wasn't anything off to me other than it being somewhat shoddy compared to the others", Evelyn added. "So I doubt there was anything he was actually hiding from us there. I think we can trust him here. Though, perhaps more importantly, we should try to figure out the victim's movements, as they might be crucial to the case. I'll ask this to you all- did anyone happen to notice Siri anywhere on the train sometime before her murder? ...Sadly, I did not happen to see her, but I believe tracing her whereabouts at the time might be crucial here."

---

"Fine, whatever. I still have my eye on you, though." Rose says to Nick.

"And as for Siri, I never actually got to see her, either." Rose tilts her head. "Huh, that is pretty strange, actually. Whatever, I'm sure you nerds should be able to figure this out. Don't we have a detective with us?" The perfumer says, checking her nails.

"I suppose, directing our attention to Siri's body, a few things don't feel quite right to me", Evelyn remarked. "I find it strange that the killer had to murder her in such a gruesome fashion, with 2 storage units. It was also rather strange that her body was mostly covered up with said containers. A possibility may be that Siri was killed with some other method, and then the storage containers were dropped on her to cover her bruises and hide the true cause of death. Though then the question arises why the killer would need to even cover it up, and what the true murder method was... Actually, the storage containers themselves are rather interesting."

She turned her head to the detective. "Elijah, what did you say about the marks on the wall again? The left and right outer marks were scratched up for some reason, yes? But the middle one seemed quite clean. I wonder...perhaps the killer took the containers off in a hurry. Or maybe they simply fell down due to the struts breaking. Still quite a curious conundrum, in any case."

---

"Other murder method, hmm...But what else could the killer have used? Do we have any blunt or sharp objects lying around?" She turns to Nicos. "Well, I mean, Nicos does have his sword, right? Unless Marshall is still being a nuisance..."

"He does seem to have it, yes", Evelyn noted. "But he also has an alibi- listening to Honda's tunes in the lounge earlier and then spectating the challenge between Kyoya and Vic. Unless his sword was somehow lost in these events, I doubt he's responsible. ...Though if this murder was committed remotely, I believe it might be prudent to consider everyone's actions, especially if they were with others. There might be a clue in their actions that could potentially point us to the perpetrator."

---

Nina switches her vote to Rose.

"So... has anyone even seen Siri today? Alive at least. When you're murdering people, predicting people's actions is one of the most important things."

"I guess the sword could have been stolen at one point? Or not, I don't know." She shrugs. "It feels like everyone here was with other people at some point...Ooh, we should make a timeline of events!" Rose lights up. "Did you guys hear my suggestion just now? I guess I'm somewhat of a detective myself!"

"The answer is quite simple." Kyoya assured. "Parts of the carriage were busted after the crash. It was trivial to navigate through the crevices."

[Misinterpreted part of my original alibi, Kyoya left his room on foot after the crash but the rest is correct because he did keep using the RC car for the investigation. Changing in the op anyway]

"I see," Eli said, at Kyoya's response. "That means, as some of you pointed out earlier, we have no explanation for why that piece of toast disappeared. I don't see how that could possibly be relevant, but it's too odd to be a coincidence."

"Yes, Evelyn, you're correct about those struts," Eli explained, "Though I think, if they were actually destroyed in the crash, they'd be equally damaged, right? This makes the whole thing look real deliberate."

"As for your theory about the cause of death, it's certainly a possibility. But unless she was actually burned, or the killer used a very recognizable weapon, I'm not sure how it could help us."

---

“Please. I’ve solved this mystery many-a-time before. If my toast disappears, it’s because someone ate it!”