>>11611
Haha, don't worry, I'm not entirely sure I'm ready either. But here we go regardless!

Note: My opening text is a little long, sorry about that. I can't seem to be consise with anything for some reason. The information in the last paragraph is really the only part that's important to the mystery.

October 5th, 1986. The morning of the second day approaches, and everyone is well rested, ready for the day ahead. ...Everyone, that is, but Ushiromiya Natsuhi. She lies with her head on her pillow, desperately wishing that she could just stay in bed for the whole day. But of course, that is impossible. As the wife of the successor to the family headship, she has responsibilities...responsibilities of which she must prove herself worthy, no matter what. ...After all, she has left her previous family behind her, and devoted herself fully to the Ushiromiya family. If she were to fail them too, then there would be nothing left.

Yet the previous day had truly almost been enough to bring her to despair. The siblings had been much more cunning than she and Krauss had anticipated, and their probing questions indicated that they were extremely skeptical about the supposed condition of the family head. In fact, they may well have ended up barging into the study by force, if not for...

......A knock on her door snaps her out of her thoughts. One of the servants, she assumes. They normally wake me up around this time, after all. But the voice she hears belongs to none of them. "Natsuhi-san?" Without even asking for permission, the girl enters the room. Natsuhi groans and stands up, fighting back another headache. The girl is, of course, Furudo Erika, the guest who arrived yesterday. ...Yes, the commotion caused by her arrival had been an excellent distraction from the topic of the inheritance. In that sense, this girl was someone that Natsuhi should be thanking, however unintended her help had been. But for some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that her unexpected arrival on this island was surely an omen of misfortune...

On closer inspection, Genji is standing behind Erika, silent and with his eyes closed. "I apologise for waking you," the girl says, not looking remotely sorry. "However, since Krauss-san is mysteriously absent, you would seem to be the next person in line to consult. Please come with me; this is a matter of some urgency." Without waiting for a response, Erika turns and leaves, gesturing for Natsuhi to follow. Genji gives her an apologetic glance, then turns to accompany Erika. Bewildered, Natsuhi gets out of bed and follows. Krauss is mysteriously absent? What could that mean? Is this some scheme of the siblings', or...?

Erika and Genji lead her through the corridors of the mansion, Natsuhi too busy fighting back her headache to muster the energy to ask what's going on. But the sight that confronts her as they stop in front of the VIP room immediately shakes away any remaining grogginess. Kanon is standing in front of the door to the room...which is adorned with an ominous magic circle, painted in what looks like blood. "What is the meaning of this...!?" Natsuhi exclaims. Genji explains the situation. "We found it like this while we were doing the morning rounds. We went to tell Krauss-sama immediately, but he was absent from his room and could not be found anywhere. That is why we went to inform you."

"And what was she even doing here?" Natsuhi asked. "Shouldn't she be in the guesthouse? Why is she even up this early?" Erika smiles and explains. "I just knew something was going to happen last night, so I got up as early as possible, hoping to be the first to investigate the scene. I immediately came straight over here, and was the first to discover the room. Unfortunately, it was locked, and I lacked the key to open it. That's when Genji-san and Kanon-san arrived...I asked them to open the room for me, but they said that they couldn't open the VIP room without Krauss-san's permission, so Genji-san and I went looking for him while Kanon-san stayed here and watched over the room. ...I didn't want anyone to disturb the crime scene while we were away, you see. However, we were ultimately unable to locate Krauss-san, so we went to get you instead. I assume that, in Krauss-san's absence, you are willing to give permission for this door to be opened...? ......Well, I'd have thought that it would be obvious that we would need to open it in this situation, but it seems that these servants of yours are real sticklers for the rules."

After taking a moment to absorb the situation, Natsuhi exclaims, "Of course you have permission to open it! Krauss could be in there!" Erika gives Genji an 'I told you so' sort of look as he takes a key out of his pocket. As he is opening the door, Erika asks Kanon, "How many keys can open and lock this room?" Kanon replies, "Each of the five servants holds a master key which can open almost any door in the mansion, this one included. There's also a specific VIP room key, which is kept in the keybox in the servant's room." Erika is about to ask another question, but as Genji opens the door, Natsuhi's horrified scream drowns out any further inquiry.

Situation:
The body of Ushiromiya Krauss was found in the VIP room. Erika's cursory examination of the body determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma. The key to the VIP room was found inside the room, and the windows were all locked from the inside, making it a closed room.

...For your game, let's see. The culprit escaped through a window and then locked it afterwards. In other words, the windows can be locked from the outside.

>>11613
The windows of the mansion cannot be locked from the outside!

Easy enough, one of the five master keys was used by the culprit to enter and exit the room!

>>11614
Hmm, so many different ways of denying that...The servants remained in possession of their respective master keys for the entire game. The culprit is not a servant.

Kinjo locked the door from the inside after the culprit left and before he died.

>>11615
Kinjo did not lock his door after the culprit left Kinjo's room.

The culprit coerced a servant into opening the door for them with their key!

>>11616
None of the servants were coerced into using their master keys.

The culprit was hiding in the closet when Genji first entered the room. While Genji searched the bathroom, the culprit left through the open door.

>>11617
No one entered or exited Kinjo's room during Genji's search.

Krauss was just playing dead, and had locked the room himself!

>>11618
Erika confirmed beyond doubt that Krauss was definitely dead.

Kinjo's room is not in the mansion, therefore the previous red about the "windows of the mansion" does not apply.

>>11619
Kinjo's room is, in fact, inside the mansion!

One of the people who discovered the crime scene -- Natsuhi, Genji, Kanon, or Erika -- locked one of the windows during the discovery, forming an illusion of an always-closed room! In other words, that same person killed Krauss, locked the door, and then escape from a window which was locked later!

>>11620
The windows were all definitely locked at the time that the body was discovered. None of the windows were locked after the group entered the room.

There exists another key that can lock Kinjo's room aside from the key found on Kinjo's corpse.

>>11621
There are only two keys which can lock the door to Kinjo's room: Genji's master key and Kinjo's unique key, which were in their respective possessions for the duration of the story!

Krauss entered the room alone and locked the door himself. He was then killed due to some device or trap the culprit had prepared beforehand!

>>11622
Krauss died due to a direct physical assault by the culprit!

The room that Genji entered was not Kinjo's room! In other words, he entered the wrong room because he assumed the room with the magic circle painted on it was Kinjo's room!

Last edited at 13/05/23(Thu)14:07

>>11623
......Then how did Kinjo's corpse disappear?!

Krauss and the culprit entered the room together. The culprit killed Krauss and hid inside the room!

>>11624
Aside from Krauss's corpse, no humans besides Erika, Natsuhi, Kanon, and Genji were inside the room at the time that the body was discovered.

Kinjo's corpse was in the bathroom or the closet when Genji, Krauss and Natsuhi entered! It was never mentioned that the room was searched again when they arrived to find Kinjo's corpse gone!

>>11625
After Kinjo's corpse was discovered, his corpse was never moved.

Natsuhi's headaches were causing her to hallucinate someone's existence. She didn't realize it, but that person was the culprit who hid in the room, which muddles this story for any outsiders reading it!

Last edited at 13/05/23(Thu)14:19

>>11626
That solution is so beautiful that I almost don't want to deny it. Unfortunately, Natsuhi's point of view is completely reliable.

It was never moved? I think you might just have given the game away~

The room that Genji, Krauss and Natsuhi entered is a different room to the room in which Kinjo's corpse was found! The culprit scrubbed the magic circle off the door to the original room while Genji was fetching Krauss and Natsuhi, and he then drew a magic circle on a different door! This caused Genji to lead Krauss and Natsuhi to the wrong room!!

>>11627
Yeah, that's right. You win, Rika.

At 1 AM, Kinjo decides to have a drink with a friend (the culprit) who is standing outside his window. Genji brings the vodka over, just as Kinjo wanted.

However, after Genji leaves, Kinjo asks the culprit if they want some vodka too, and they do. Kinjo calls Genji for more vodka, and Genji brings it to him. Kinjo then sets the chain on his door and jumps out of the window toward the culprit. Then, after Kinjo hands the culprit the vodka outside, the culprit smashes the bottle against Kinjo's head, killing him instantly. Culprit drags Kinjo to their own room, which is next door, and shoots his head off. This obscures the true cause of death, the bottle.

The next morning Genji knocks at Kinjo's door, waking the culprit up. He tries to enter, but the chain is set, so he goes to get the cutters. The culprit draws a big red circle on their own door. They then go back inside the room and hide in the closet.

Genji returns to see the red circle, assumes it is Kinjo's room, and cuts the chains on it. Inside he finds Kinjo's corpse. Genji checks the bedroom, and then the windows, which are locked. He then checks the bathroom, and then the closet. During the time Genji checks the bathroom, the culprit hides under the bed. After Genji checks the whole room, he leaves. The culprit also leaves, taking the chain cutters Genji had left behind.

Finally, the culprit draws a red circle on Kinjo's door and leaves. Genji returns to this door, believing Kinjo's corpse should be inside, when it never was!