>>18686
They tell you:

-Police will attempt to come
-Snow makes it difficult and might take a few days.

Other then that just the general stuff before you hang up.

As you leave the store front you see Isao walk up to you a bit out of breath.

"Here to use the phone as well?" Jiro moved out of the way to motion its free.

After catching his breath Isao confirms, "Yes, I need to make a business call. You see I'm afraid Ma'am passed during the night."

"Wha- another?" Jiro manages.

Isao looks at him then at you quizzically, "Another?"

>>18687
I tell him about the first death. Then I ask about the other.

"What happened?"

>>18688
"Well I don't know about that. She passed in her sleep. When I went to wake her up she was already gone. I found her in her futon. Anyway, if you would excuse me..." he would then go to the phone.

Jiro starts to walk back.

>>18689
You walk back and upon return see the body to be gone. Jiro parts with you and enters his house. You are current standing at the crossroad. You can see Isao's path of footprints heading off to the right, Masato's and Ichiro's to the left past Jiro's house. Doesn't seem like they have returned yet, nor has anyone else walked through.

>>18690
I will follow Masato and Ichiro's footprints to rejoin them and see what they are up to.

You walk up the hill following in the two sets of prints. As the road curves you can begin to see the large wall of the estate near the top. Along the road there are a few more power line poles that stop at the front of the estate. The door seems to be left open and you head inside.

Inside the estate you do a quickly look around and get your bearings. You see through a window Masato standing in front of a room.

>>18692
I will watch Masato until either he notices me or he is out of sight. Then I'll find a way to approach him closer and talk to him.

>>18693
BGM: Spread of the Lonely World

He notices you so you approach. You head into the house and down the hall. Upon doing you see that the body has been put inside what seems to be a dark guest room. Inside Koji is slumped over against the wall staring with a blank look in his eyes. Ichiro is also in the room.

Masato starts, "So, were you able to get through?"

There is a small table without any drawers. The floor is tatami mats like the rest of the house you presume. There is a closet and next to it a portable heater which is off.

>>18694
"Yes. Although the police said it might take a few days to get here because of all the snow. I also heard that... we've lost another person."

I do some mourning exercises.

"What an unsettling coincidence," Ichiro says while shaking his head. "I'll head over to tell Koichi," he says while walking out.

"I think we have done everything we can here... Do you... need anything Koji?" Masato asks him.

Holding his head and looking down, "No, just... leave... I'm fine."

Masato and Ichiro slowly leave the room and get ready to leave the estate as well.

>>18696
I go into the room with the body and inspect its surroundings, as well as anything on the body that may have changed or seem suspicious.

>>18697
The body seems to not be much different besides the absence of snow. On a reexamination you clarify the other wounds you skimmed over before. Along with the stab wound his hip seems to have been cracked or broken, and his left arm is certainly broken.

The surroundings are pretty much as you saw when you entered the room. Being a guest room there is not much here.

>>18698
I will check under the tatami mats to see if anything is hidden. Afterward I'll search the house for anyone and begin to ask them some questions if I can find them.

>>18699
Nothing is found under the tatami mats, and searching the house quickly reveals that there is nobody else in the house besides you and Koji now that the other two have left.

You get a vague idea of the house's layout, the building separate from the main house seems to be a dojo, but it is locked and unkempt. The garden is covered in snow and the pond is frozen over. You also could tell what some of the rooms were, but don't recall what was really in each one.

Last edited at 16/01/03(Sun)20:58:15

>>18700
I survey Koji's room, just getting a look around the place, and maybe noticing anything that seems odd or out of the ordinary.

>>18701
Without being told you can tell this is Koji's room.
There are various snack food bags lying around in a mess. There is some luggage in the corner with dirty laundry thrown on top and to the side. There is a small table with normal magazines as well as the gentlemen variety.

>>18702
Like the gentleman I am, I search through all of his magazines looking for anything related to the town, or the victims, etc. Additionally I'll check his luggage for suspicious things and look to see if he left his keys or any valuables in his room (in the furniture, lying around the corners, etc.) Also count the number of windows and air venets in his room for good measure.

>>18703
You try to turn on the light to read them but it doesn't turn on so you step out of the room into the hallway to use the sunlight.
It seems like most of them are actually from the city and you can't find anything related to this town or the people here. The normal mags are mostly about sports and celebrities. You find some nice shots of nude women in the other mags however. There are no air vents or windows.
Inside his bag you can find more clothing and some spare change. There is a padlock, comb, cold pills, nail clippers, deodorant, and hand-sanitizer is his bag.

>>18704
After finishing my literature I steal the cold pills just to prevent a situation where someone decides to kill via overdose later on. I will also take the padlock (without a key?) just in case I need to lock something up later. Then I leave the room and look around the dining room.

>>18705
You steal the padlock without a key and the cold pills.

The dining room has a kotatsu in the middle and various drawers with plates and china around the room. There is a old fashioned radio in the corner of the room and some books next to it. There is another door on the opposite end of the room from where you entered.

Opening the door reveals a stark difference to the rest of the house. The ceiling has large wooden supports and there is a hole in the middle with what seems to be a fireplace. There is a large pot hanging over it, and all around the room are various drawers and cupboards. Looks like you found the kitchen.

>>18706
I search every drawer in the dining room and the kitchen. I check to see if the books are interesting. I check the backdoor and open it to see what's outside. Afterward I'll go to the room adjacent to the washroom.

>>18707
In the drawers you find some more pots and various cooking tools. In another you find large bags of rice and dried and pickles, foods, and veggies. You also find various items such as dish soap, garbage bags, empty beer bottles, and steel wool. In another drawer you find some sweets and sugar. The bag of sweets has more of the candies that you found in his pocket. The back door leads out to more snow covered garden.

There are two books, translated to Japanese. "The Metamorphosis" and "Inside the Whale".

Before getting to what you now know as the storage room, the room before appears to be a hall, it looks more of one for a museum then a home. Along the walls are various different pieces of art and calligraphy. There is also small stands for other works such as pottery and metal work. There is even a sword stand with two resting in the middle end of the room.

There is also a door in the upper left corner of the room leads to the storage where there are various cardboard boxes that have been taped up.

>>18708
I inspect the sword stand and its swords to see if there is any blood on them. Also check each of the boxes, open them up and look inside. Then go to the washroom.

>>18709
You find the swords to be in very well kept condition and not a speck of blood on either. Opening some of the boxes and find there to be various old clothing and various old household stuff. In one box you find scotch tape, paper, pens/crayons, and two 6 sided dice.

Its a washroom, unlike the rest of the house it seems to be modernized for the most part. There is a sink, a toilet, and a door that leads to the bath. Inside the bathroom two shampoo bottles lay on the floor next to the shower hose. There are two mirrors and two stools placed in front of them.

>>18710
I leave the estate. If I can follow Masato's footprints, I will. Otherwise if I can follow Isao's footprints, I will. All else fails, then I'll just head back to Masato's inn.

>>18714
As you leave the estate you notice that along side the footprints of your party there is a distinct pair on the left side leaving down the hill. Following the path with your eyes shows that once it leaves the boundaries of the walls each step is only a faint divot in the snow and from where you are you can no longer see anymore.

From this angle however you notice one of the transformers on the poles is charred black on the back side of it. There are metal footholds in the pole.

You are currently standing directly outside of the estate still.

>>18715
I will closely examine the charred area of the pole, as well as the metal footholds. I will then climb the footholds to see if there is anything else to be found.

>>18716
You climb the pole to reach the transformer and examine it. The charred part spreads from the top near the top of the transformer and continues down the side for a bit. You can't see any signs of tampering, and nothing else of note.

>>18717
I will then head back to the inn.

>>18718
You walk back and return to the crossroad and decide to follow Isao's footprints as mentioned before. A short walk past another smaller house brings you to another similar estate. It doesn't look like Isao has returned yet either going by the prints.

You find the door to be locked. There is a doorbell to the side of the door. There is also a small tree to the left of the door rather close to the wall too...

>>18719
I will climb the small tree to maybe look through a window or something. If that's not possible then I'll just act like a normal person and ring the doorbell.

>>18720
You climb the tree and get above the wall. The inside looks similar to the other estate, although there is no dojo.

You can see someone hunched over in the hallway to the right, in front of a room with its doors wide open.

>>18721
I will jump over the wall and enter the house, trying not to be noticed by the person as I sneak up on them.

>>18722
You fall into the garden and your feet smash through the ice off the pond and get soaked. Your feet are now freezing.

You don't notice any immediate action resulting from your fall, or at least nobody has come to see what the noise was. You stand up and head over to the person and open a side door to enter the hall. Shizuka is the one you saw, and now inside you can see another. The old man you presume to be her father is on his knees facing away from you in the room. In front of him is the mother in a futon. If you didn't know any better you'd say she is asleep.

The room is a standard one, with tatami mats on the floor. There are two doors, the one you are standing next to and the other to the right. This is minus the closet door to the left. There is a short desk in the corner, and on the other side some dressers. There is a faint hum coming from the light on the ceiling, and directly below is the bedding and body. Shizuka doesn't seem to even pay attention to you as you walk by, she is mildly shaking and staring off into the distance. The old man hasn't turned around or said anything yet.

>>18723
I will get Shizuka's attention.

"Excuse me miss, are you doing all right?"

>>18724
"..."

She makes some sort of noise and looks up at you. You make eye contact with her but don't feel any connection. The man seems to have heard you however and is looking behind.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?" His eyes are red around the edges and doesn't look too happy to see you.

>>18725
"I'm Doctor Shirozaki. I'm here to check up on your wife. Heard she wasn't feeling too good this morning."

>>18726
"...I don't know who called you but Saeko is... already..." he trails off looking back at the futon silently.

>>18727
I approach the old man to get a closer look at the body.

>>18728
The women's hair is down and her eyes are closed. She rests in the futon and a blanket covers her. She is laying on her back mostly straight save for her foot which is off to the side almost out of the blanket. From where you are you can see is that she is wearing some undergarments and her head rests on a thin pillow.

>>18729
"I see. Is there anything I can do to help?"

>>18730
"Just go. Leave us," he says dryly.

>>18731
I do as he says and leave him. I wave goodbye to Shizuka and return to the inn.

>>18732
You leave without much response, and make it back to the inn without seeing anyone else along the way.

Entering you smell breakfast, although its almost lunch, and you enter the room to see Masato and Yuuichi.

"Welcome back Kinzaki!" Yuuichi calls out happily clearly unaware of what has happened. Masato gives you a small sympathetic look. Your feet are hurting from the cold and you are hungry.

>>18733
"Hey Yuuichi! Breakfast smells great! I could use a meal. Let's dig in!"

>>18734
You enthusiastically start eating with them. Breakfast is as good as ever but it was a bit colder this time around. Unlike usual the tv is on and playing some movie that you aren't paying much attention to, some slice of life with a kid and their parents on the screen. Nearing the end of the meal idle conversation dies down and the sound of the movie plays. At this point Yuuichi looks are you quizzically and asks, "Hey Kinzaki, do you have a girlfriend?"

>>18735
"N-no. Why do you ask?"

>>18736
"Oh, I thought you said something about it," he says a little confused.

Masato and you clean up everything for breakfast and Yuuichi goes to play games. Masato pulls you off to the side out of hearing range of him.

"So what do you plan to do? I understand if you don't want to get involved, but if the police aren't going to get here any time soon then, well..."

>>18737
"Past experience tells me the police won't get here soon enough. So until then... I'll do my best to solve it. Before anyone else gets hurt. They don't call me The Small Yet Large Box Whisperer for nothing!"

>>18738
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