T̴H͠E̶̡̢ ̴F̶̴Í̸RŞ̴͠T̵͞ ͟I̵N͟͡͝V̕͠ES̶͝T̸IG҉͝A̡͠T̡IO҉̶͢N͏

[strangerpeople]

T̷́H̸̀͢E ̵̛F҉ÌRS̷̢̧T̸͜ ͘͜I͠N͞V́E҉S̀͜T͜I͡G̸̶A͏҉T͠I̢̛Ǫ̵N͏͝

[Good morning, Strangers.

How do you all feel today? Sad? Confused? Worried? Well, that's not the Hosts' problem. You guys are the ones being stubborn and obstinate, after all. In any case, it's time for all of you to get up and start moving.

It's Friday. Maybe you'll luck out and everyone's alive. But there's only one way to find out.]

Comments

[comesaround]

[ Of course it is. He's probably going to regret this but of course he's going to follow the trail. Where does it lead? ]

[strangerpeople]

[It leads...to House 14, where the door is wide open.]

[comesaround]

[ Lovely. Okay. He's going to go up to the front door and look inside. Is anything immediately horribly wrong? ]

[strangerpeople]

[Well.



There is a body near the door, but otherwise it’s all good, right?]

[comesaround]

[ ...Oh god that wasn't good.

Grimacing, Karma knelt down to check on the body. Who is it? ]

[strangerpeople]

[It happens to be the one who lives in this house.



Kazuaki Nanaki, The Embarrassing, is dead.]

[comesaround]

[ That's enough to make him curse under his breath and he straightens up, raising the tone of his voice to call out to the others. ]

Guys. It looks like we have a second one!

[poorlovefool]

[so now that pime taradoxes are confirmed eric is just going to be in his house poking his head out]

Second what- oh. Oh god.

[relieable]

[his head snaps up and he looks down the street at poor Karma over there alone. Osomatsu moves over to him to see if he's okay]

Two on the first week?

[now he's going to crouch down and get a better look at the body. blood anywhere? signs of a struggle? entry wounds? exit wounds?]

[backuphero]

[That is not a voice he wants to hear shouting something he doesn't want to hear from a location that practically screams "you're being set up again".

He should have gone back to bed properly instead of getting dressed. He should not have stepped outside, he should have slept - ]

Two!?

[unwittingking]

WHY DOES IT KEEP ESCALATING?!

[It took the train a month to have a double murder, and in this town it takes two weeks? Is it cursed?! Are they cursed?!?]

[poorlovefool]

Well, don't look at me! [he's like. panicking right now, excuse him.]

[relieable]

C-calm down. No one is lookin' at you!

[yet]

[carryabigstick]

Wha--

[If it wasn't bad enough that she found her own, she's close enough to hear that there's another by the houses.

...unfortunately, she knows exactly who's house that is. Fear sets in and she abandons her investigation long enough to see what's going on over here.]

Aidios, why?

[This is so much worse than everything they dealt with before. In such a short time not only one, but two people have died. She goes to her knees, shaky, and tries to take a moment. That moment however is just going to be her crying in frustration.]

...we were supposed to be a team...

[Why does she keep losing her partners? One runs away and the other one dies. Is it her? Is she the problem?]

[backuphero]

[He didn't expect to be having flashbacks to finding Barbara after Richard's death at a time like this but this is his life now, Jonathan sort of distantly supposes. This is that Bracer, Estelle, he'd meant to introduce himself but between distrust and everything else -

He kneels down next to her, unsure if a hand on her arm would be welcome or not.]

I'm sorry.

[carryabigstick]

[It's quite welcome. Being alone now would be much worse, she knows from experience. When you lose someone, it's the people around you that you need to help hold you together.]

...thank you. I know he was kind of weird but... he looked out for me. Bird or whatever... he was my friend...

[backuphero]

[He'll actually set a hand on her shoulder, then. Much more than that, men do not need at such times - but he's not Doc Seward and she's not Lord Godalming, she's way too much like Charlotte and this is just horrible. ]

Bird or whatever, he was a person, and he didn't deserve this....

[incendiarize]

Two?

[He hears this, as he's by Akira, and his head shoots up. Blood runs cold. Two. Two at once.

That'll make ten, right...? He's already at eight...]

No...