THE FIRST INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

THE FIRST INVESTIGATION

[Good morning, Titled.

Well, it's mostly a good morning. Those who are waking up in their bedrooms wake up to another boring morning. At least as boring as this place can allow, but even so, everything seems perfectly fine in that wing. Perfectly normal.

However, that feeling of normalcy might not stick around for too long. Especially as people start approaching the stairs going down to the food court...]

Comments

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[There's a lot of batteries there. However, there is something out of place: a radio is missing.]

[notgentle]

[Great, he has to take a photograph since typing "it's missing" isn't good enough... what kind of radios are the ones among which one is apparently missing? Does it seems like it would function at all without some type of wire or cord? Maybe those are out of place also...]

[beguiledcard]

[ He's approaching in time to look at the radios with this guy. What a great bonding experience. Hm...?

Yeah, he'll join photography and mentally ask similar questions for now. ]

[strangerpeople]

[Those dumb loud ones.

No actually it's a plug in kind that's missing.]

[notgentle]

Oh, hey, Akira.

[He nods at him in greeting and lifts up the other plug-in radio.]

I guess you heard about the shit that happened? I don't know why someone would want to listen to music now of all times, but...

[beguiledcard]

Hey... How are you holding up?

[ He's tilting his head at that radio. There's a thoughtful hum, hand lifting so he can twist his bangs in thought. ]

.......

[ That sure is his expression tensing a whole lot. He's walking over to study one of those radios closely for a moment. ]

They said he was electrocuted, right...?

[ If there's nothing else noteworthy about the radio, he's going to be glancing around for anything else that might catch his eye. ]

[strangerpeople]

[Akira has a good thinking process. The question now is what else was needed to commit the act? Have any thoughts?]

[notgentle]

........................

[Dio follows his gaze down to the shelf below the radio, to see if anything else is missing; the brim of his hat is hiding his eyes even more, but the visible portion of his face looks very tired, without any other prominent emotion.]

It doesn't feel real until you see the body, you know...? You shouldn't worry about me.

[He puts the radio down and shrugs.]

Well, we're touching a radio right now and not getting electrocuted. This couldn't be the only electrical thing that the murderer used.

[beguiledcard]

Still... it was one of us. If we don't find a way to come together, our group will fall apart from the inside out.

[ He's thinking back to an earlier conversation. He releases a slow exhale, and then shakes his head. ]

I was talking to Goro earlier, and he said it was caused by a stripped wire being around their neck...

[ He's turning to look at Dio for a moment, his jawline tensing as he goes deeper into thought... If they took a radio with a wire, they would have had to-- ]

What if they took the radio to cut the wire off, and then strip it?

[notgentle]

[Dio puts his hand on his hip, tilting his head at Akira, extremely confused by something he just said.]

Why would you cut and strip the wire off of the radio? Where there's wire strippers, there's real wire, right? I guess we can look for that...

[So, like Goro said, in the hardware section!]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Good job, boys! +2 cookies!

Upon reaching the Hardware section, the first thing that may catch their attention is that there is real wire.]

[foolishjustice]

[And hey, guess who else is headed for the hardware section! Well, he did tell Akira he was on his way, so...it shouldn't be a surprise to him when he sees Akechi waving. It also shouldn't be a surprise that he's looking very serious, bordering on grim.]

[beguiledcard]

[ (... Listen, Dio. Some days you just can't help bad dialogue options from a player who needs to eat.)

He's not going to protest. He's nodding and heading that way, not the least bit surprised at seeing the good detective. Or at the fact that he seems serious and grim. ]

Hey... How are you feeling?

[ Once they're inside, he definitely does notice the wire. Do any of them match what was used for the crime...? ]

[notgentle]

[Dio was not explicitly informed that Akechi would be right there, but he is aware that they're (generally) in the same boat investigating things, so he sees it as socially appropriate to acknowledge their coexistence with no more and no less than:] Hey.

[Akira has been trying his best and Dio is kind of rude with a level of experience and impatience that will remain undisclosed at this time. So, he's with Akira on this looking for wire thing. The existence of "real wire" still doesn't mean that the real wire was actually used.]

[foolishjustice]

Tense, and quite angry, but that much is to be expected. Really, I'm more concerned with how you've been feeling.

[Having seen the wire in person, he'll also take a look at what's here to see if it matches.]

[beguiledcard]

[ That question of how he's doing...? Met with a brief lowering of his gaze, though he tries to disguise that as nothing more than holding a blink. He shakes his head. ]

I'll be fine.

[ But, as for that wire... ]

[strangerpeople]

[You bet your mask it does. Not only that but there seems to have been a lot more before than now. As in now there's very little wire left according to the spool in front of them.]

[beguiledcard]

[ Hey, he just got that mask back, so no thanks on betting it.

In any case, he's leaning forward a bit to frown at the wire. ]

Guess... that answers the question of where they got it...

[foolishjustice]

They most likely used wire strippers from here, as well. They would be near what I'm looking for, so shall we check together?

[He moves to rest his hand lightly on Akira's shoulder.]

[beguiledcard]

[ He's glancing back over to Goro, and then he's nodding. Then, reaching up, he rests a hand on the detective's shoulder. ]

Yeah. Let's go.

[ After glancing from Goro to Dio, and then back again, he lowers his hand and starts in the direction of where the wire strippers should be. ]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[And Akira will come to the wire strippers which look all nice and clean and pretty and-wait a second. One of the strippers doesn't look right. It's all skewed and set up differently.]

[foolishjustice]

[He gives Akira's shoulder a light squeeze at the return touch, then follows him to the area of the wire strippers. His attention, however, is currently on wire cutters.]

[strangerpeople]

[What else would Akechi like to know about them?]