I am Haru Ichinose, sixteen years old, and this is my official account of the Massacre that occured at the Black House. I offer no explanations, no form of resolution, for I am just as stymied by these horrific events as the police whom I am writing this to. I simply write what I have witnessed, and I pray with all my heart that someone will be able to make sense of this madness.

It all began when I awoke in the Black House. But first - a bit of background. It is necessary in order to understand the rest of the story.

I was born into a rich family, and a rather influential one at that. Perhaps you have heard of us. Being one of the more powerful families in Japan, there was, of course, political intrigue and power games present in every facet of our lives. It really wasn't pleasant at all. I lived in constant danger everyday. And it wasn't just something as simple as worrying about conspiracies and the like. The main thing I had to contend with were attempts on my life.

Yes, my family was deeply enshadowed in the world of lethal contracts. Assassins, to put it crudely. My family regularly used them and in turn our enemies used their own against us. At least once a month, the blood of my brothers and sisters would drip down the sidewalk.

As a result, I was assigned a bodyguard at the age of five. His name was Takeshi Azuma.

He was only slightly older than me back then, only by five years, and yet he could slit a man's throat as cleanly as any of his adult counterparts could. He was always there, wherever I went, whatever I did, and I grew up knowing he was my entire world. I respected him, I admired him, and - I might as well admit it now - I loved him. Although he didn't return my feelings, he neverthless stayed by my side, and I was content.

All that came crashing down when one morning, I woke up and Takeshi wasn't there. My father found a suicide note in Takeshi's room. It said that Takeshi had tired of the bodyguard life and the bloodstained killings that came with it, and he was to throw himself off a cliff that morning for penance for his crimes. When I heard about it I couldn't believe it. Takeshi wasn't that kind of person. But nevertheless my father immediately sent a troupe of servants to the cliff in question, even though it was afternoon by then, and Takeshi's suicide deadline had long passed. Indeed, there was nothing left of him, except for a few hairs and patches of blood on the rocks below. DNA testing confirmed it was Takeshi's.

For months I lay sprawled in depression. Takeshi had been my first love, he had been my entire world, he was the only person I could trust. For weeks I wandered my family estate a zombie. I don't remember much of theae days of dark depression. But what I do definitely remember is the Black House.

It was built by my eccentric uncle on the day of his beloved's death. Grief must have made his mind unstable, for what came to be known as the Black House existed as a sort of guesthouse with a few peculiar oddities - more on that later. One day I saw the Black House, entered it, and went to one of the rooms and slept. As I said, I wasn't in my right mind in those days, and I had become dangerously whimsical. In any case, even then I had no idea what would happen next.

I was awoken by someone shaking me, and I opened my eyes. It was a girl with messy red hair and baggy school uniform.

"And who the hell are you?"

"Huh…?"

"Hey, do you know how to get out of here? Don't mind telling you, the others are getting seriously fucking pissed."

"What's happening? Who are you? What's going on?"

"Oh, you don't know as well?" the girl sighed. "Let's go to the dining room to meet the others. I'll bring you up to date."

As we exited the room together, she did a brief introduction. "I'm Sagae Haruki, by the way. Speciality, Fishing line. Kills, Six."

"Six… what..?"

She gave me a funny look, and then we reached the dining room. There were four other girls standing there. When they saw me they gave their introductions one by one.

"I'm Kouko Kaminaga, speciality, grenades, kills, four."

"I'm Hitsugi Kirigaya, speciality, poison, kills, seven."

"I'm Otoya Takechi, speciality, knife, kills, twelve."

The last one I knew. My father had hired her multiple times.

"Isuke Inukai, speciality, revolver. Kills, thirty one."

"I might as well introduce myself again. Sagae Haruki, speciality, Fishing line. Kills, Six."

"Fishing line?" Isuke smirked.

"What? Never heard of a garotte before?"

As the two bickered, I couldn't help but feel a curtain of dread descend upon me. Yes, you might have figured it out by now. This was the standard way professional assassins introduced themselves to one another.

In other words, all five of the girls standing in front of me were professional assassins.

Isuke seemed to recognise me too - and she frowned. "Why is she here?"

"What's wrong?"

"She's the daughter of the Ichinoses! She's the only one of us that isn't an assassin!"

Haruki turned on me. "Are you serious? Wait - does that mean you're the one that locked us up in here?"

I stammered that I had completely no idea what was going on. They told me.

Each of the five of them had received an invitation to the Black House, for a 'special contract' that had a large amount of money as a reward. As the sender was apparently from the esteemed Ichinoses, no one felt like turning it down. When the five of them arrived, they were shown to the Black House by the Ichinose staff, and everything seemed normal as they sat at the dining room waiting for whoever it was that called them.

However, no one showed up.

They then tried to leave, but the main door was locked. They were trapped inside. To make matters worse, their cellphone reception had been suddenly cut off, as if someone had set off a jamming signal nearby.

"And that was when we went looking for ways to get out, and I found you." Haruki said.

They all glared at me, suspecting I had all the answers.

"I ended up here by bad luck," I told them. "I was sleeping in one of the rooms, and I guess that was when you guys arrived."

"Wow, what a convenient story," Isuke snarled. "You're an Ichinose, right? I saw you here before. There's no way in Hell you don't know what's going on."

The assassins all threatened and interrogated me, and I could only vainly protest my innocence as they got angrier and angrier. I could even see Isuke's hand twitching at her revolver.

Thankfully, the girl with glasses, Kouko, saved me.

"It really seems she doesn't know anything," she said. "But first of all, why are we so jumpy about this? Just because we can't leave doesn't mean that the contract isn't valid. For all we know more information is yet to come. I need not remind you all a chance from the Ichinoses like this is too rare to be wasted on mere impatience."

"So what do you suggest we do?" the small girl with the teddy bear, Hitsugi, asked in a small voice.

"We simply sleep here tonight and wait for instructions in the morning. Surely there's no harm in just staying here for one night."

"Seems kinda risky," the cheerful looking girl, Otoya said. "For someone in our profession, sleeping in a strange place is a no-go. Yeah, for all I know one of you bastards will murder me in my sleep!"

"That's why we have the keys," Kouko said. She pointed at the pile of keys. Each one had a label stuck on it that labelled Room 1, Room 2 , Room 3 and so on.

"There are six of us, six keys, and six rooms. We will each take one key and one room. Of course, for each room, only that respective key can open it."

"And how do you know that, Smarty Pants?" Isuke said. Even up til now her glare still hadn't disappeared.

"I tested them all. The keys work exactly as described. Of course, you can feel free to test them yourself. Now, does anyone have any objections?"

"What about food?" Haruki grinned. "Next thing you know we'll be starving to death locked up in here."

"Not to worry. There's a kitchen stocked with food that will last us at least a few months. It seems staying here for an extended period of time is exactly what is expected of us."

"Wow," Otoya clapped Kouko on the shoulder. "You've really thought this out, haven't you?"

Having made their decision, the assassins each chose a key and headed to their respective rooms.

Isuke chose Room 1.

Otoya chose room 2.

Kouko chose room 3.

Haruki chose room 4.

Hitsugi chose Room 5.

They seemed to have already forgotten about me. But what else was I to do? I just took the last remaining key, the room 6 key, and went to the designated room.

By the time I got to the corridor, only Haruki was still outside her room. She appeared to be busy testing her key on Kouko's room. When she saw me she quickly walked over. For a moment I thought she was going to attempt to kill me like what any ordinary assassin would do, but instead she threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Heya, listen," she said. "I know there's a lot of suspicion on you at the moment, but hear this: I believe you're innocent. And I also believe innocents should never be allowed to be involved in our line of work. Rest assured, if you ever need protection, or you just need a friend to talk to, I'll be there."

She gave a self degatory chuckle. "I'm just one of them 'white knight' assassins, y'know? Take care. I'll be looking out for you."

I thanked her, and entered my own room.

Upon a more through examination of my room, I noted down that there was only two areas - a bedroom and a bathroom. There were no windows. The furniture was luxurious, like a five star hotel. There was even a mini fridge in the corner. I opened it, found a bottle of fresh iced whiskey, and gratefully downed the whole thing. But even as the warmth tickled my belly, the confusion and fear remained. I lay in bed thinking about this strange business for a good long while.

Since I had slept before, I was wide awake the whole night, and before I knew it it was already morning.

When morning came, I went to the dining room. Hitsugi, Kouko, Otoya and Isuke had already awoken and seemed to be frantically arguing. But when they saw they me, they abruptly stopped.

Hitsugi was the first to speak. "Umm, Ichinose-san, there's something I think you have the right to know…"

"Don't tell her, idiot!' Isuke snapped.

But she was ignored. Hitsugi turned towards me and passed me an opened red envelope. "Someone delivered each of us this outside our room."

I took the envelope and read the piece of paper inside. At once my heart turned ice cold.

Your target is Haru Ichinose.

The first one to kill her will receive the reward.

"But who delivered it?" Otoya was saying.

"I dunno, probably some bastard was sneaking around at night?"

But it was hard to register their words. Although I was no stranger to assassination attempts, it was another thing altogether for it to be delivered in such a direct fashion - and inside a locked house with five assassins thirsting for blood. For a moment the world swam dangerously in front of my eyes, and I thought I was going to faint.

Hitsugi noticed my discomfort, and said. "Don't worry, Ichinose-san. All of us agreed not to carry out the contract."

I looked at her in surprise.

"We might be bloodthirsty monsters, but we ain't stupid!" Otoya said. "It's all too fishy to me. No signature, they don't specify the reward, on top of that, why would the Ichinoses want their own heir to be bumped off?!"

"And you'd think the orchestrator of this whole game would at least show his face," Kouko pushed her glasses up her face. "In any case, we assassins are always meticulous about our contracts. For the moment, you can consider yourself safe, Haru Ichinose. We will not make our move until we find out more - for now."

"But eventually we might decide to kill you," Hitsuhi said. "Sorry. Just thought you should be prepared."

"Wait a minute," Isuke said, in a loud enough voice that we stopped what we were doing and looked at her.

"Where's Haruki?" she said.

Last edited at 14/06/08(Sun)02:28:49

THE FIRST MOVEMENT

Indeed, Haruki was the only one who hadn't come to the dining room.

"That girl seems like a late riser type,' Otoya grinned. "Maybe she just slept in."

"But at a time like this?" Isuke said. "It isn't right."

"Let's all go check on her. There's no harm in that." Kouko said.

They all went to Room 4 and knocked on the door. "Haruki? You awake?"

No response. On a whim, Isuke tried the door, but it was locked.

"I don't like this," she said. "This seems exactly like a horror movie setup."

"I agree," Kouko said. "There's a dining cart in the kitchen, right? Let's use that and break the door down."

As one, they moved towards the kitchen and returned with the cart. All this time, I stood by the door, completely lost and forgotten. Haruki had been bright eyed and cheerful the previous night. Surely such a ridiculous thinf couldn't have - ?

It took several tries to break the door - it was extremely thick, and the crashing sounds of our attempts echoed through the corridors. Finally, though, the door snapped off its hinges, and we all poured inside. Only to find -

Haruki, lying on the bed, her eyes wide open and blood running down her mouth. She was impossibly still.

Kouko ran forward and checked her pulse.

"She's dead," she said grimly.

While I bent over and fought with all my might not to throw up, the other assassins were bustling around the room looking for clues.

"The body has no external wounds…" Kouko ripped open the corpse's shirt. "None here, too. Was she strangled, maybe...?"

"What the fuck?" Isuke picked up a key that was lying on the desk. "How could the door be locked when her key was still here?"

"The key seems a bit burnt up though," Otoya said.

Indeed, the key was charred and slightly blackened, as if it been held up to a strong flame. Was this done by the stove in the kitchen, perhaps…?

"Guys…" Hitsugi's face was white. "Look at this…"

She was holding a note, which she had found by the body. We all crowded round to read it.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am Jack the Ripper.

The six(five now, lol) of you have been selected as worthy candidates for my killing spree.

There needs no explanation. All of you will die in terrible and painful ways. Just like that. There won't be any way to stop me.

I look forward to the terror and desperation you will show me as I pick you off, one by one…XD

As if by magic, the assassins faces all showed something I hadn't seen since meeting them - fear.

"Jack the Ripper? He's here?"

"So you mean that bastard's snuck in here to kill us all?"

"He even created a locked room murder?! What kind of guy is he?"

I was, once again, lost. Once all the panic had died down I seized the chance to ask Hitsugi, "Who's Jack the Ripper?"

"You normals don't know him, but he's a famous serial killer in the underground. He kills assassins and only assassins."

"An assassin serial killer, in other words," Otoya said. "They say he kills for pleasure, that the terror of his victims, like, gets him seriously turned on!"

Despite the weight of her words, she still remained cheerful. "Of course, that's just a myth, isn't it?"

"It's not!" Hitsugi protested. "My friend was murdered by that monster!"

"There isn't a killer in the world that's more skilled than me," Isuke said. "I'm not scared."

Kouko pushed up her glasses and thought for a moment. "But Haruki was killed," she said, "and an assassin like her does not get caught off guard easily. From now on, we should stick together as a group. No one wanders off alone. It's likely there's a murderer who snuck in and is waiting for one of us to slip up."

"Why don't we search the house?" Otoya suggested. "If someone really is hiding here, then it wouldn't take long to find them."

Last edited at 14/06/12(Thu)04:11:44

Except for Hitsugi, who was still white faced, they all seemed calm enough, as per the expectations of their trade. Calmly and methodically, they began their search - whilst sticking together in groups, of course - starting from my room, Room 6, then from Room 5 to Room 4 and ending at Isuke's room Room 1. Then we went to the dining hall and took a brief look around, but there weren't any hiding spots, so we went to the last remaining location - the kitchen.

"Hey look," Otoya pointed to something on the stove. "It's ashes."

"Ashes?" Kouko frowned. "It wasn't there the last time I was here."

"The key was sorta burnt, remember? Maybe these ashes are what was burnt off."

I went to the ashes and studied it. "No, metal doesn't produce ashes like that."

They all turned to me, surprised that I had finally spoken up. But I simply wanted to get over this confusing business as quickly as possible.

"These ashes seem to be the remains of something like paper," I continued.

"Hmm," Kouko took a look. "I think you're right."

"But who would burn scraps of paper?" Isuke said.

"Because something was written on them, probably. Anyway, there's no point dwelling on it now. Let's continue our search."

The kitchen had the most hiding places - the closet, the fridge, under the counter - but again, we found nothing.

"Let's gather back in the dining room." Kouko said. "Remember, don't split up."

So we did, and we spent the next four hours trading theories, enforcing precautions, and when conversation ran out, glaring at each other. Finally, Isuke stood up.

"I can't take this anymore," she complained. "I'm not a people person."

Kouko stood up too. "Agreed. It seems we still don't fully trust each other yet. Why don't we all go back to our rooms for the night? We all have our keys, so we should be safe."

"Like Haruki was?" Hitsugi demanded.

"It was probably just a fluke. I see no logical reason why any of us would fall prey to the killer if we remained cautious and didn't let anyone into our rooms."

"Huh. How boring. But if Miss Leader says so, I guess it's the best course of action." Otoya said.

So without so much as a parting goodbye, the three of them exited the dining room and out of sight. I was left alone with Hitsugi. She was fidgeting and staring at a spot on the table, obviously deep in thought.

"Hey," I said, for this thought had occured to me way back when we had finished our search around the house, "Do you think the killer is one of us?"

She stared at me for a moment, and said, "I think it's obvious. No one dares say it yet, but since there isn't anyone here but the five of us, the killer has to be one of us."

She bit her lip, and continued. "Which means I have to be suspicious of you as well, Ichinose-san. Earlier on your explanation of you arriving at the Black House was too vague. I'm sorry, Ichinose-san, but could you go into more detail? I need to ease my doubts."

So I told her about my backstory with Takechi, and told her that a brief bout of depression had led me here on a whim. "I'm sorry that it sounds fishy, but I really ended up here by coincidence," I finished.

Hitsugi didn't seem like I had cleared anything up for her. In a small voice she said, "I'm going to my room now. You should do the same."

She went off, and I was left alone to stew things over. After a while, I went to my own room, closed the door behind me, and locked it. I double checked it was locked, then threw myself on my bed.

THE SECOND MOVEMENT

In the morning, I woke up cranky, and went to the dining room. Hitsugi was there, sitting quietly, and she offered me a small 'good morning'.

Otoya was in the kitchen, armed with a frying pan and cooking an omelette.

"Hey, sleep well?" she said.

"Can I have some?" I asked, for my stomach was growling. I hadn't eaten anything since the start of the first day.

"No way! I ain't giving my food to some rich softie like you! Make your own breakfast."

Isuke arrived next, yawning and stretching her arms. "Oh? Kouko's not here?"

"Thought a Leader type like her would always be an early riser." Otoya said.

The room temperature dropped by several degrees. Isuke looked at Otoya and said, "Well, we should go and check on her, shouldn't we?"

"Y-yup. Just in case."

"Just in case."

We went to Room 3 and called Kouko, but she didn't respond. The door was locked.

"Fuck," Isuke said. "Get the dining cart."

As with yesterday, we repeated the painful task of breaking down the door. When we finally managed to snap it off its hinges, we all dashed inside.

Kouko was in the bathoom. She was kneeling on the floor, her face in the sink. The entire back of her head was covered in blood.

"She's not breathing," Isuke said, checking the body.

Otoya found a charred key on the dresser. "The Hell? It's the key to this room? And it's burnt up like Haruki's!"

"Another locked room murder!" Hitsugi wailed.

I was still trying to make sense of all this, when someone ran up to me and slammed me against the wall. Isuke's face leaned in close to mine, burning with anger and fear.

"It's all you, isn't it? Ichinose!"

"Get off me!" I cried.

"I should just kill you here right now," Isuke said. "You think I'm stupid?! You think I didn't recognise you? It's revenge for that time, isn't it?!

"What are you talking about?!" I yelled back.

"I saw you walking around that night, you little sneak. And you still want to play dumb?"

A knife appeared in Otoya's hand, and she stepped forward. "Woah, woah, Miss Angsty. You do something funny and we'll start thinking you're the culprit."

"This Ichinose is a backstabbing liar!"

"But you said it yourself!" Hitsugi tried to placate the situation. "Ichinose-san isn't an assassin like the rest of us! How could she be the culprit?"

With all eyes on her, Isuke released me and stormed to the doorway. "You all get killed for all I care, but I'm going to survive."

She patted her revolver. "I'm the legendary Isuke-sama, y'know? Highest kill count that anyone else in this House. If anyone of you dare have a go at me, just bring it."

She strode out. A few seconds later we heard a door slam and the sound of a lock being turned.

"Looks like she's gone and locked herself in her own room now." Otoya said.

"We should still stick together, though," Hitsugi said. "Even if one of is the culprit - "

"Hey, we don't know that for sure!"

" - if one of us is the culprit," Hitsugi persisted, "she wants to remain unseen and keep up the illusion of Jack the Ripper. So she won't dare strike when all of us are together."

"…and if Isuke-san is the culprit - which is looking pretty likely in my opinion - even someone like her wouldn't try a 3v1." Otoya said. She grinned nervously. "Well, it's the best chance we have at surviving, I guess."

So the three of us trooped to the dining room.

"Hey, I never finished my breakfast," Otoya said. Since it was down to the three of us, she was the only talkative one left.

"I never started," Hitsugi murmured, and she went into the kitchen.

Otoya tried to engage me in small talk, but of course I wasn't in the mood, and she soon fell silent. Then she got up and began pacing around the table. Hitsugi came in with a plate of fried ham and listlessly began eating. As for me, I looked down and tried to think. Locked room murders? Was such a thing even possible? Was there really a serial killer hunting us down?

Suddenly the breaking of plates interrupted my thoughts.

THE THIRD MOVEMENT

Hitsugi had fallen out of her chair, and was leaning against the table and making some sort of wheezing and coughing noise. The sight of her was so surreal I sat bewildered for a few seconds. Otoya recovered faster, and rushed over to her.

"Hitsugi! What's wrong!" Otoya shook her by the shoulders.

Hitagui seemed incapable of speech - it looked like she couldn't even breathe. Her hands were scrambling at her throat, as if she were frantically trying to dig something out.

Otoya's eyes snapped to the broken plate and half eaten ham. "Poison?!" She shook Hitsugi frantically. "Did someone use your own poison on you? Do you have the antidote on you?! Fuck, Hitsugi, speak!"

It was no use. All at once, Hitsugi's arms fell, and her mouth lolled open. Her eyes fluttered and stayed there.

"She's dead!" Otoya cried. "Ichinose - "

I was standing up and slowly backing away from her.

"What's with that look - no, you think I poisoned her? Just because you saw me do a bit of cooking in the morning?! I swear I didn't touch her food!"

"Then the culprit is Isuke," I found myself saying.

At once Otoya's face darkened. "You're fucking right it is. She's the only one left."

Without waiting for me she ran out and into the corridor, stopped outside Room 1 and turned the knob.

It was locked.

Her anger suddenly faded, draining her face pale. "Don't tell me…"

She called Isuke's name, but there was no response.

"Get the cart," Otoya said.

THE FOURTH MOVEMENT

Now that it was only the two of us left, breaking down the door took at least half and hour. We were sweating and panting when the door finally gave way. Otoya stopped for a moment to recover her breath, drew her knife and went inside. Scared out of my wits, I hesitated before following her.

Isuke lay on her back - or at least, I thought it was Isuke. Her clothes were the only indication. For her face had been torn apart, mutiliated beyond comprehensibility. Otoya checked the body. "Dead." she proclaimed, quite uselessly.

There was a key on the bed. For some reason, it wasn't charred like the rest, but that fact didn't register much. I was too busy trying not to throw up my breakfast.

I crouched down and tried my utmost best to control my heaving. When I looked up again, I saw Otoya staning over me. For some reason she looked calm again, as calm as I had seen her the first day.

"Ah. I get it now." she twirled the knife around her fingers. "Ah, so simple. Making us run around like that. It's you, isn't it?"

"Huh..?"

"Don't think I'm stupid, y'know. There's only two of us left. And I'm obviously not the culprit. Which means - "

THE FIFTH MOVEMENT

Her face twisted with frightening suddeness, and she lunged at my throat. I acted on instinct - sprinting out the door and running down the corridor, not even daring a glance back to check if she was pursuing. Soon I was back at the dining room, next to Hitsugi's dead body.

I searched frantically for a hiding place, but realised that for some reason, Otoya hadn't followed me.

I heard her shout from the corridor. "Who's there?!"

She didn't seem to be talking to me - then, to who…?! Everyone else was dead, so who could she have been talking to…?

I peeked back into the corridor, and could out the faint shape of Otoya. She was gripping her knife, and was looking into Room 4.

"I said, WHO'S THERE!" she screamed.

I heard a gunshot, and saw blood fly. Otoya clutched her neck and fell backwards. She twitched once, twice, then was still. A pool of blood seeped out from around her.

I tore myself away and dove into the kitchen, and there I climbed into the cupboard and hid. It was clear now. Jack the Ripper was here. And I was the only one left alive. All I could do now was tremble in fear and pray he would not find me, and yet, what were the chances of my survival? I closed my eyes, hugged my knees, and hoped with all my heart that when my death came I wouldn't see it.

But it didn't come.

An hour passed, and yet I didn't dare come out. Then I smelt something. It was smoke. Something was burning. Not long after my hiding spot swelled with heat, and orange light flickered from outside. A fire had started, by whoever and for whatever, but still I dared not leave my closet. It didn't take long for flames to start licking at my feet, and it became so hot I took off my shirt. The heat made me dazed, and I started hallucinating Takeshi sitting in the cupboard next to me. I really thought it was the end. I really thought I was going to die.

But the next time I floated into conscienceness, I found myself on the ground with my father's face above me. Relief flooded through when I realised I was now outside the Black House, which had been burnt to a crisp beside us.

"Haru!" my father yelled, and hugged me. Once we had both wept our share of tears, he told me what had happened outside the Black House.

After I had been missing for a few days, the family had searched far and wide for me, and in the process learned from some witnesses that I had been seen entering the Black House. They found the door to the Black House locked, and they brought the family's best demolition team to blow the house open. By that time someone had started a fire going, for so long that the whole place was almost unrecognisable - it was almost a miracle that my hiding spot and I were found intact.

"There were some of my men who claimed that they had been ordered to lock you in there," I said, "Along with a bunch of assassins! And they used a device to jam all cellphone signals as well! They said that they were going to let you all out after they got the go-ahead, but the order never came. Idiots! They were questioned over and over who they were taking their orders from, but all they said they knew was that someone had paged them and that someone had claimed he was a high ranking Ichinose. Liars! Who would believe a story like that? Rest assured, I have had them executed."

In turn, I told him of my experiences inside the Black House. His eyebrows shot up further and further.

"Jack the Ripper?! Here?! How did he get in - and he killed all five assassins?!"

His disbelief was understandable. I myself was still coming to terms with it. These nightmarish three days, trapped with a magical killer who could pass through doors and kill well trained assassins as if swatting flies..a single flashback to that terror in the cupboard made my blood run cold.

The police got involved, as they always did, but my father's investigators had searched the place and concluded that the fire had destroyed almost all traces of evidence. Even the bodies had been whittled out of existence - only the DNA of Hitsugi and Otoya have been found, as of this date, although I am sure there is more come. The only testimony of these horrific events lies in this document. For even though my family destests any form of communication with the police, I write this to you in the hope that someone among you, anyone at all, can possibly shed light on these events.

Because you see, every night I am terrified.

Every creak in the night is him. Every gale of wind brushing past is his breath on my neck. Every manservant knocking on my door is Jack the Ripper come to finish me off, the lock but a mere curtain to him. I know I am being paranoid. But without Takeshi, I am alone. And being scared alone is the worst hell on the living earth.

Who was the true mastermind if the events at Black House? One of us? An extra person? A ghost?

Please.

Someone, destroy this illusion for me.

Expose the true culprit.

- Haru Ichinose

As soon as you put down the letter, a blue haired girl steps out of the air and floats down to face you.

"It's brave of you to accept this invitation, but if you are expecting an easy runthrough, you are sorely mistaken. Here are the rules of this game - !"

There are five howdunnits - the murders of Haruki, Kouko, Hitsugi, Isuke and Otoya. Each howdunnit will be dealt with one at a time, and seacats will be allowed only three theories for each one. Once all the theories have been used up, the mystery will be unsolved forever, and we will move on to the next howdunnit.

Once(or if) three howdunnits have been solved, a boss stage will be activated. Here, seacats will tackle the whodunnit and whydunnit in text wall - length posts, in other words, they are to attempt to solve the rest of the entire mystery. (who called the assassins to the Black House, why the contract was for Haru, etc) This stage allows only three theories as well. If seacats fails the boss stage, it will be considered my victory.

"Since I'm so kind, I'll give you three reds to start with!"

The keys really did work exactly like Kouko described. Each key could only open their respective room, and no other rooms. There are no tricks here!

The cast may have been chock full of assassins, but even so only a single person did any killing in this entire game!

Oh, and the old favourite - Haru is not lying in her testimony.

"Without further ado, let's begin!"

THE FIRST MOVEMENT

The red-haired girl dies in her sleep behind a locked door.

I guess I'll start this off, then.

The key found on the desk is one of the other assassin's room keys. Before killing Haruki, the culprit burned the label off their own key, then planted it in her room after killing her. The culprit then locked the room from the outside and took Haruki's key with them.

As for the cause of death, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say Haruki was killed via poisoning or drugging.

Last edited at 14/06/08(Sun)06:08:11

>>15292

"Hoh...? Not bad."

It is exactly as you said. The culprit burnt the keys so they were unrecognizable, and placed his own key in the room.

"But don't get cocky! This was just the warm-up. One half of the mystery still remains - you may have explained how the culprit got out, but how did he get in in the first place?"

The assassins all distrusted each other! None of them would have let someone in without a good reason!

In addition, Haruki was not killed by poison nor drugs.

"The game's only just beginning!"

Heh, halfway done. I'll take one more stab at this before letting someone else take over. First though, can I get some clarification on how the locks on the doors work? Or is that something I'm gonna have to exchange a blue to get red for.

The lock works like any other normal lock. It can only be opened by its respective key and nothing else. When locked the room cannot be entered under any means.

"And that's just about all the free info I'm giving you for now ~ "

... Sorry, I need to just clarify something. I can't believe I didn't spot this before.
>>15281
>Haruki chose room 4.
>>15282
>They all went to Room 5 and knocked on the door. "Haruki? You awake?"

I just want to verify if this is a mistake or not before I toss out any more blues. Would suck if I wasted one just because of a typo.

Apologies, it's a typo. Just fixed it. In the meantime feel free to try the next blue.

Last edited at 14/06/12(Thu)04:13:37

>>15297
So I noticed there hasn't been much activity on this game lately. The current problem is to figure out how the culprit got into the room? Seems like that has already been confirmed by the red.

>The assassins all distrusted each other! None of them would have let someone in without a good reason!

The victim simply left the room/opened the door for their own reasons.

Maybe to go to the kitchen to burn the letter that they found in the morning, or just to eat, who knows. This is probably how the second room was constructed as well. They could have opened it for someone who wasn't an assassin, or just for a good enough reason like you said.

With the door open the culprit would have the key at that point and could easily kill, set up the room, then lock the door with the real key.

"...Tch. Close enough."

Haruki was killed outside the room. The body was shifted inside afterwards.

"Now, moving on to the next howdunnit...!"

THE SECOND MOVEMENT

The bespectacled girl face down in the sink

"I'll acknowledge it! The same key swapping trick was used in this room! However as always the problem still lies with how the culprit got in! And it isn't the same with the first room either!"

After Haruki's murder the assassins were extra cautious! That night Kouko didn't willingly let someone into her room!"

And Kouko would never leave the safety of her room, either! She was killed inside her room!

"Not so easy now, is it..?"

Last edited at 14/06/13(Fri)17:28:45

>>15302
Lets try this.

Kouko opened the door for her own reasons rather than letting someone in. After doing so the culprit was waiting, so they killed her while they stood in the hallway and then set up the closed room after.

Thus Kouko was killed in her room and yet was attacked from outside of it.

That night Kouko opened the door only once, and that was to enter her room(she was still alive before and after doing this, of course). She never opened her door again.

"One down."

Last edited at 14/06/14(Sat)17:47:57

>>15305
There is a simple way around that red. Can you confirm that Kouko closed and locked the door once she entered?

I'm assuming she did so I'll give you another theory as well.
The culprit hid inside her room before she entered it(or before she closed and locked it depending on if there is a time gap between the two).

"...."

"Of course Kouko wouldn't have been so brain dead....hnnng..She wouldn't have overlooked the action of turning the lock to lock the door. "

"A-anyway, as for your other blue, no one was hiding in the room. "

This theory isn't dead yet!

Kouko didn't 'overlook' locking her door, she was unable to. Perhaps the culprit took her key when she wasn't looking, or her key was damaged and no longer worked.

Kouko always had her key on her until her death! The key was fully functioning and she could have used it at any time.

"In what way would she be unable to lock the door?!"

Last edited at 14/06/15(Sun)15:04:21

She was dead! Kouko was killed just after she entered the room, and she never had a chance to lock the door!

Last edited at 14/06/15(Sun)17:24:42

"Gnng...Kouko was indeed killed inside the room after entering it, however the space of time between her entrance and her death was enough such that she did not overlook the the action of turning the lock. "

Then what about this?

Kouko didn't overlook locking the door, but the door failed to lock despite her using the key. There might have been something blocking the mechanism, or something wrong with the door frame.

Last edited at 14/06/15(Sun)17:23:54

Gnnng...heh. But let me ask you, what would the culprit have used to block the door such that Kouko wouldn't have noticed it?

>By the time I got to the corridor, only Haruki was still outside her room. She appeared to be busy testing her key on Kouko's room.

Something was pushed into the lock from outside the room. That way, Kouko wouldn't have noticed anything wrong when she tried to lock the door.

"...I guess I'll have to give it to you."

Something jammed the lock such that when Kouko turned the lock, she didn't lock the door properly.

THE THIRD MOVEMENT

The little girl slain by an invisible hand

This one's a little murky, isn't it? Your task is to find a logical way how she died, because Hitsugi was as cautious as the others. She wouldn't have gotten poisoned easily.

That red is fairly vague. I'm having doubts if this death would merit a three theory limit, but I'll play along.

Whatever killed her was introduced to her body before she started eating(ie a slow acting poison). Perhaps it wasn't even ingested and entered via other means such as injection, or simply ingesting something other than the meal we have been shown.

While we are at it can we get confirmation that this is a murder?

Mod Note: Hey NewPlayer, I am locking this thread for now since it has been inactive for a few months. If you wish to continue just post in /teaparty/ saying so and I can unlock this thread.