[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnYv49EALzY]

7:50 PM

Ozaki arrives at the school with barely any time to spare. Kanamori had instructed them to meet inside Class 1-A, so it would be best if Ozaki went straight there.

>>9139
I do so.

>>9140
Ozaki goes straight to the classroom.

Inside he finds:

Marie Moriya
Takeshi Nonomiya
Yoko Numata
Michiru Sakurada
Tomoko Okada
Yuuki Noda
Aya Souma
Masaaki Yoshikawa
Yukari Sakaki
Reiko Osumi
Hikaru Nihei
Midori Kusunoki
Shuichi Arimori

...Also inside are both Kanamori and the Nurse.
The kids seem to be talking to each other, introducing themselves. Kanamori approaches Ozaki.

"Oh, just in time! It's 8:00, just as we planned. Do you think any other students will be coming?"

>>9141
"Hmm... this is every one who informed me they would be coming. I think it's safe to assume this is everyone."

>>9142
"Alright! I believe everyone has already introduced themselves. Welcome to the Mystery-Solving Club! Tonight we shall do our best to solve the school's Eight Mysteries!"

Michiru stands up.

"Sensei. I know not everyone may believe me... but I believe I have a sixth sense. If there's anything I can do to help, please tell me!"

>>9143
Suddenly the other students become interested in what Michiru has to say.

"...I believe I can talk to the Youkai. What does everyone think? Should I try contacting them?"

>>9144
After hearing other people's responses I add my thoughts.

"Although we are trying to provide realistic answers to these mysteries there shouldn't be any harm in trying. Give it your best shot."

>>9145

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm92_MLlazA]

The rest of the students agree with Ozaki's opinion.

"...Right. Well, here I go..."

Michiru closes her eyes and whispers a few words under her breath. The whole room focuses intently on her.

"...Are any Youkai here tonight? Please, come out and show yourselves!"

Everyone waits...

>>9146
"...Stupid."

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP3HUr2taRw]

"What?!" Michiru breaks out of her trance.

"You thought just closing your eyes and saying a few words would do something? I was expecting something better than this."

"See, I knew you wouldn't believe me! And you interrupted it! So now it won't work!"

"...You were relying on someone to interrupt you anyway. That way you could just blame the failure on them."

It seems these two are getting into an argument. Will Ozaki intervene, or let it progress?

>>9147
"Devil's Proof..."

I intervene

"When it comes down to it, not just this discussion but everything to do with the supernatural breaks down to one without evidence. When a claim has no evidence to prove itself, the adjacent claim follows suit. Youkai exist; Youkai do not exist."

I stand up

"Although this club is stationed around the whole idea of this devil's proof I do not want to see an ugly displace of emotions. Both sides have presented their claims whether direct or not. With the devil's proof one would say both are equal.
However the supernatural side has the hardest time, as it can only be proven by showing something impossible by humans means. However at the same time it is in the clear without any evidence due to the devil's proof. This was an excellent example."

"Anyway, this introduction is being apply directly to the main purpose of the club. When solving mysteries you must have an open mind. With these Eight Mysteries of the school you will have to keep an open mind for both sides to come to a perfect conclusion."

>>9148
"Spoken like a true science teacher, Ozaki! If the club members can't respect different points of view, then this won't be very productive at all. So why don't we do a little team-building activity?"

...A classic example of good teaching practices, the Nurse seems to know what she's doing. She suggests that the larger group is divided into three groups.

"You see, the less people in a group, the stronger the bonds become. And competition among the groups would give them motivation to do well, strengthening their bonds further."

Kanamori interrupts. "The only problem is who would go with who. Should we let them choose, or should we decide for them? Ozaki?"

I say we split the students up and I suggest the teams as such:

Marie Moriya
Michiru Sakurada
Tomoko Okada
Souma Aya

Takeshi Nonomiya
Yoko Numata
Masaaki Yoshikawa
Nihei Hikaru

Osumi Reiko
Sakaki Yukari
Yuuki Noda
Kusunoki Midori
Arimori Shuichi

"Seems either way one group will have an extra. Not much we can do about that."

>>9150
"That seems fine to me..."

The Nurse chimes in. "Although, if I were to make one change, I would switch Aya and Yukari."

Kanamori continues. "Very well. You can take Marie's team, Ozaki will take Takeshi's team, and I'll take the last team."

All of the students get into their assigned teams. Kanamori then explains what is next:

"We'll section off our teams into the three classrooms on this floor. After an hour, we will regroup, and the team with the best explanation for one of the Eight mysteries gets a prize."

>>9151
[http://tindeck.com/listen/cdok]

The students all agree to Kanamori's plan.

Thus, the two other teams leave, and Ozaki remains in this room with Hikaru, Takeshi, Yoko, and Masaaki.

The first thing the team needs to pick is one of the Eight Mysteries to solve. What will they decide upon?

>>9152
Discuss which one first with my team.

>>9153
Masaaki: "I don't really know much about the mysteries here. I came here to learn more."

Takeshi: "I suggest the mystery of Uuu-san. I wrote about it in a news article, and it seemed interesting."

Yoko: "I'll go with Takeshi's idea."

Hikaru: "Uuu-san? That's a dumb mystery. The mystery of the music room's youkai is much more interesting! Haven't you heard about it?"

>>9154
"Hmm... So this Uuu-tan or the music room then. I have heard a bit about the first however nothing about the music room yet. What is the story behind that one?"

>>9155
Hikaru explains. "Supposedly anyone who enters the music room at night and stays too long, might hear the sounds of clicking castanets. And when they turn to look where they came from, they see a cloaked figure of a youkai, growing an growing, until they realize -- the youkai wasn't growing -- they are shrinking! And the sounds of castanets were merely the chattering of their teeth... their rabbit teeth! How do you think we got so many rabbits in our rabbit pen?! All of the misbehaving students ended up there!"

>>9156
"I see so the students apparently turn into rabbits... That one is interesting as well.

To refresh my memory what do you know about the Uuu-tan one Takeshi?"

>>9157
"Female students reported hearing cries of "uuu" in the bathroom. So people began to think it was a youkai, who was dubbed 'Uuu-san'. Later, Goldbar-sensei confessed to killing Maria in that very bathroom, and that Uuu-san had taken his own life. Ever since, I think all the girls were afraid to use that bathroom, fearing Uuu-san, or any other spirits in there..."

Yoko nods her head.

>>9158
"I see I see. Let me ask both of you then what you believe the truth of these events are. You both seems to have thought about it more than normal so we can pick which we will investigate based on your theories. If we have enough time we may be able to investigate more than one."

>>9159
Hikaru: "I have no idea what would be happening to the students who go missing... But the simplest solution is that the rabbits are normal rabbits, reproducing at a normal rate. You know rabbits have a high libido, right?"

Takeshi: "As for Uuu-san, any female could be imitating the "uuu" sound. But that would also mean it was a human who killed Kinjo, not a youkai... I don't know who would want to kill such a nice teacher, even if he had a bad reputation. It's weird thinking about it, as I never would've thought he was that kind of guy..."

>>9160
"Well then. With these theories it would leave the rabbit mystery solved while the uuu mystery asking even more questions.

For now let's head to the music room and we can take a look around. We can wait in the room to see if anything happens while we continue to talk about the uuu mystery.

Objections?"

>>9161
Everyone agrees, and the team heads to the music room.

Masaaki restarts the conversation: "...So, what would a human have to gain from killing Goldbar-sensei? I could understand if it was Maria's ghost taking revenge, but a human?"

>>9162
I walk around the room looking are various instruments.

"Money, revenge, fear, love, hate, or beneficence. If it was a human who killed Goldbar I can see many possibilities open before me. The question is figuring out which one it would be...

Actually, Takeshi you said you investigated this mystery right? Did you also investigate Goldbar's history by any chance?

>>9163
There are all kinds of instruments here. Drums, violins, tubas, trumpets, flutes, cellos, pianos, tamborines, acoustic guitars... and castanets.

"Ah, well if you read my article I did mention something about his history... Immediately after the Uuu-san incident, other kids came out to protest against him. ...It might be an invasion of privacy to tell you the details, as the kids are in the other groups, and I would feel bad talking about them."

Hikaru interjects. "Did anyone tell you about the things he did to the rabbits?"

Takeshi shakes his head. "Huh?! You mean that's what happened to the rabbits?! I'll have to write about that next!"

Takeshi begins writing into a pocket-sized journal as Yoko closes her eyes and holds her mouth.

>>9164
"Actually I was wondering if you knew anything from before he arrived at the school. After all if it was a human they could have wanted revenge and just sneaked into the school and left after Goldbar was killed.

Oh and while we are talking about it. I was meaning to ask about that rabbit case. How exactly do you know Goldbar did it Hikaru? I would ask about the actual incident however it would be best to leave out those details for now."

I indicate to Yoko with the last sentence.

>>9165
Takeshi: "I don't know too much. But I know that a few years ago he got caught up in some twisted mass murder. It was all over the news... Maybe someone from back then wanted to kill him now? Did they escape prison?"

Hikaru: "...Anyway, I have no proof Goldbar-sensei used those rabbits other than my own experiences in biology class. He dissected our rabbits, and I know he took them home with him!"

>>9167
I play the first few lines of Moonlight Sonata on the piano while continuing to talk.

"Oh I think I heard about that incident. I believe the culprit received capital punishment for the crime, so it's unlikely they were the ones who did it. Which leaves even more questions.

Hmm... So you witnessed him taking the rabbits home then? Or found some other evidence?"

>>9168
"I saw him with my own eyes, stuffing those rabbits into his bag before leaving! It was very sickening!"

>>9170
"I see"

I finish the first movement of the song and decide to stop. I then get up and pick up the castanets.

"Anyway, it seems like nothing has happened yet. Should we wait a bit longer?"

>>9171
"...I think I know why." Masaaki says.

He points to the sign above the doorway. It's blank.

"The only reason I can think a youkai wouldn't show up here... is because this isn't the music room. Wherever they put the label for 'music room' must be the music room! It's total BS in my opinion, but that's gotta be it!"

>>9172
"So the sign is missing? That's odd."

I click the castanets in my hand. I then go over to the sign and give it a wipe in case the words are simply being covered. I then check to see how one would remove the sign.

"Still, with all the music instruments in this room one would have no other option to assume this is a music room."

>>9173
The sign isn't simply wiped. It's a totally blank sign. One would remove it like taking something off a hook. It's relatively easy for anyone to do.

"That is odd. I guess our work is done here, then?"

>>9175
I recall back to when I first entered the music room if the sign was there. I then put the castanets back.

"Looks that way. Should we regroup with the others or go investigate the uuu-san mystery?"

>>9178
The sign was there this morning, but was no longer there at night.

Looking at a nearby clock, you answer your own question. It's 9:15, so there really isn't enough time to do any more investigating before everyone regroups. Thus, you decide to return to the classroom, and your students follow.

>>9179
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP3HUr2taRw]

Only a few more minutes pass by, and the Nurse suddenly enters Ozaki's classroom in a hurry.

"Ah, Ozaki-san! I need you to come with me. Kanamori had gone to the bathroom earlier, and the students in his classroom are all wondering what's taking him so long to come back. But I don't have a key to unlock the door. If only my Nurse's Key was as good as a Teacher's Key...! Well, thank God you're here."

>>9181
"Oh so you already tried to go get him but the door was locked? That's odd, we might as well go get him.

You kids stay here while Nurse and I go get Kanamori."

I leave with the nurse however don't go straight to the bathroom. As we walk through the hallway I start talking with her.

"Hey before we go to the bathroom lets check the staff room. Before the club started tonight he was talking about leaving something in the staff room so he may have simply decided to go get it."

>>9182
"Yeah, the door was locked. Anyway, we can go to the staff room real quick. He might be there."

The two quickly arrive at the staff room. There is no sign of Kanamori anywhere inside.

>>9184
"Hmm looks like he is not here."

I check the key box for the contents and then the windows to see if they are locked.

>>9185
Inside the keybox are:
-Supplies Room Key
-Security Room Key
-Nafumi's Key

There are no windows in the staff room.

>>9186
"Alright lets head to the bathroom. Which floor is it?"

I make sure no one is hiding in the staff room and then I lock the door to the room when leaving.

>>9187
"...The first floor."

No one was found hiding in the staff room. Ozaki locks the door upon leaving.

He and the Nurse quickly arrive at the first floor bathroom. The Nurse grabs the door handle again, but is unable to open it. It's locked.

>>9188
I unlock the door and take out my flashlight and turn it on. I make sure to push the door back all the way so it hits the wall.

>>9189
Inside the bathroom are three stalls. All of their doors are apparently closed.

"Kanamori?" the Nurse calls out. No response.

>>9190
I glance behind the door and then check to see if the window is locked. I check the floor for anything and look at the mirrors and sinks quickly before turning my attention to the stalls. Regardless of anything on the ground I open each door one by one starting from the closest to the main door first.

>>9191
There is nothing behind the door. There seems to be a dark red substance on the dimly-lit floor, trailing into... no, out of one of the stalls. The mirrors and sinks seem normal although somewhat dirty. There are also some urinals opposite the stalls.

Ozaki opens each stall one by one...

>>9192
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F52K7Lln6UQ]

...Upon pushing the door open, Ozaki finds the corpse of Yoshihito Kanamori, lying on the cold tile floor. His face had been completely mutilated beyond recognition. Only his clothes indicated he was Kanamori.

After witnessing this, the Nurse closes her eyes and lets out a terrifying scream. The world freezes and time stops. Ozaki should know what to do here.

>>9193
I take a look at the whole bathroom in order to survey the room.

>>9194
There are three stalls, five urinals. A dark red blood trails out of Kanamori's stall into the center of the room (his stall being the middle one). There are also three windows, positioned close to the ceiling and opposite the stalls. As previously mentioned the sinks and mirrors (three of each) are rather grimy, as is the rest of the bathroom.

>>9195
I check the windows to see if they are locked.

>>9196
They are.

>>9197
I check all the stalls for anything besides the body. Also checking the walls for any writing. I check the urinals too.

>>9198
In the one stall that hasn't been checked yet, on the toilet paper dispenser sits a metal key with "KANAMORI" written on it.

There are various scribblings in the stalls, but they all seem to be typical toilet humor jokes.

The urinals are all rather dirty. Nothing unusual about them or inside them.

>>9199
I take the key.

I try the sink and look in the drain of each one as well as under them. I also try to move the mirrors.

I then look for any place in the room that isn't dirty.

>>9200
All of the sinks work. Nothing unusual is in the drains, or underneath any of the sinks. The mirrors cannot be moved.

The entire bathroom is crawling with filth.

>>9201
I check the lock on the main door. How it functions. I also check the hinges and back sides of each door in the room.

I check the ceiling for anything at all. As well as the condition of the lights.

While I am at it I check inside all of the toilets. Inside the bowls and the tank.

>>9202
The main door has a deadbolt lock. The hinges and back sides are fully intact, including each stall's doors.

The ceiling has nothing unusual on it. The lights flicker on and off repeatedly, telling their age.

All three toilets look incredibly filthy and are disgusting to look at. They are the old-fashioned Japanese-style squatting toilets. Despite being relatively easy to clean, the condition of the toilets show that no one has cleaned them in ages. The stall Kanamori was found in also contains a faint stench of human waste. Ultimately, nothing is found in either the bowls or the tanks aside from putrid filth.

>>9203
I check the body thoroughly.
Check inside clothing, inside pockets, inside of shoes, bottom of shoes, whole body for any other wounds, etc.

>>9204
The only wound is in his head, which remains an indistinguishable bloody mess. Regardless, blood has gotten all over the floor and even on some parts of his shirt, including his pockets.

The only thing found inside his clothing is inside his pants, which are soaking with feces and urine.

>>9205
Since we already entered I should know if the door is the type to close when you let go of it.

>>9206
The door does indeed close when let go, but it does not lock.
There is a small door wedge nearby to prop it open when needed.

>>9207
I check the door wedge to see if it is just as filthily as the rest of the room.

>>9210
It is.

>>9211
Judging from the filth this doorstop has not been used. Otherwise there would have been at least a small part of it that was marked by the lack of filth.

>>9212
"That is correct. Do you want a cookie?"

The girl laughs as she steps out from the shadows of a bathroom stall.

>>9213
"Oh, hey. I didn't see you there. Anyway you can keep your cookies I have something better in mind."

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYHy3VnZRp0 ]

"You see when Nurse and I entered the room neither of us touched the inside door. The reason for that being because I had opened it all the way and then it closed automatically due to the mechanics. Seeing how Kanamori was found, plus where the blood lay shows us that he didn't have a chance to leave this room either.

Now, because of all the filth in the room it is safe to say that nobody has recently entered here until tonight. Which naturally would mean the doorstop hasn't been used either.
In other words this means that the inside handle of the door could have only been touched by someone else who had entered this room before us!"

I take out the CaCO3, in other words chalk and use a combination of fabric from clothing and lock pick kit to effectively dust for fingerprints!

>>9214
"Are you sure you don't want one? I have a friend who can find some tea cakes if you prefer those."

Higanbana calmly watches, munching on her cookie as Ozaki works on the door handle. Eventually, he finds......

"Hmm? Can't you see? There isn't a single fingerprint on the door handle inside this room! You didn't have to use chemicals to figure that out!"

>>9215
"Oh is that so?"

I check the results again. With such a dirty surface and with this method if someone had touched it even with gloves it would still have been picked up. In other words glove-prints. Not to mention it would tell us the fabric of the glove.

>>9216
"Are you deaf or something? Including glove prints, there isn't a single fingerprint on the interior door handle! Here, have one!"

The girl throws a cookie in Ozaki's direction, missing terribly. It smacks against the wall and lands on the tile floor, partially breaking.

The moment Ozaki turns his gaze back to her, she has disappeared from the room completely.

>>9217
"You leave before denying marks at all? Well then."

Without relying on her I confirm that there are no marks whatsoever on the handle.

>>9218
Just to be safe, Ozaki tries one more time. There are indeed no marks indicating anyone had touched the interior doorknob.

With that, time resumes, and the Nurse speaks.

"...Kanamori... He's dead. Let's go back to the classrooms and protect the children! It's too dangerous for them to be here anymore!"

>>9219
"You are right lets hurry back."

I put away the remaining CaCO3 and go with the nurse.

>>9220
Ozaki and the Nurse quickly arrive at the three classrooms. Inside Class 1-C are Marie, Michiru, Tomoko, and Yukari. The Nurse dismisses them all and goes back into the hallway.

She then tries the door to Kanamori's team's room, Class 1-B... but it too is locked.

"Ozaki-san. You'll need to open the door again."

>>9222
I unlock the door and enter.

>>9223
http://tindeck.com/listen/lzml

Ozaki opens the door... and sees the corpses of five students. Aya, Midori, Reiko, Yuuki, and Shuichi. All of their faces are destroyed beyond recognition, just like Kanamori's. They could only be identified by their trademark clothing.

Time once again freezes.

>>9224
I go up and check each body to the same extent as Kanamori. However this time I also take one of the sharper piece of the lock pick kit and without being seen stab each body under the armpit trying to hit an intercostal nerve or some other one to check the body really is dead.

>>9225
According to the results of Ozaki's test, all five of these bodies truly are dead.

>>9226
As for what is found upon checking each body...

Nothing. They only wear their clothing, some of which don't even have pockets to put things in. Nothing is stuffed in their shoes or socks either. They genuinely don't have anything but their clothing.

>>9227
I survey the room.

>>9228
The five bodies lay in total disarray, just like the rest of the room. The chalkboard in the front is stained with blood. There's a large space in the middle of the room, and the desks have been cleared out to the sides. Blood is spilled all over the cold, dark floor.

There are two large windows lining the outside of the room. They face directly toward the pitch-black backside of the school. Various posters throughout the room are now coated in blood as well.

>>9229
Check to see if the windows are damaged in anyway. If they are locked too. Also check to see what one would see from looking directly out of the windows if anything.

>>9231
Both windows are perfectly intact and locked.

It's difficult to see anything outside. The moonlight hardly shines through the window.

>>9232
I check the chalkboard for anything odd. Also the blood on the chalkboard.

>>9233
Blood oozes down the chalkboard in an unnatural pattern. The chalkboard is also a good distance away from the corpses.

Aside from the blood, there isn't anything of importance found on the chalkboard.

>>9234
I stand in different parts of the room trying to see if the blood happens to be some sort of message needing an optical trick in order to read.

>>9235
Maybe it's just your imagination, but it does seem to spell something out...

>>9236
>Kinjo

Well then.

I check the area where the blood is on the floor. ie looking if there are any drag marks or if the blood is indeed only a huge puddle centered in the room.

>>9237
Blood has collectively gathered from the five corpses. It seems natural enough.

>>9238
Check the posters for anything odd as well. Also check behind all the posters.

>>9239
Check all the desks for anything. Also make sure no one is hiding in the room. Finally check the ceiling.

>>9239
>>9240
Nothing strange on or behind the posters. Just normal school stuff.

There is nothing on or under the desks. There is no one hiding in the room, and nothing unusual on the ceiling either.

>>9241
I check to door to see how it functions as with the lock on it.

>>9242
The door has a deadbolt lock. It functions like a door.

>>9243
Elaborate.
Most Japanese schools have sliding doors for classes. Does this one have hinges like western schools?

>>9244
It's a Western door!

>>9246
Alright that makes it less complicated.

One last time I check the floor to see if there are any footprints other than mine from the blood.

>>9247
There are no footprints to be found.

>>9248
Assuming the bodies are not drenched in blood I try to see if any one of them drew the symbol on the chalkboard by looking at the fingers for blood. I also check the door for any blood.