Take Responsibility.

[transmittable]

The past several weekends have been an unrelenting barrage of death in particularly disturbing manners; either the method or the number of people, sometimes both, have been particularly extreme. This week has seen fewer dead than the last; however, the way that that one kill seems to have happened... It's not a particularly good tradeoff. Either way, however, expectations still need to be met and investigations still need to be carried out; once the allotted time has passed, those doors in the center of the second corridor slide open once again, the sight managing to be at the same time familiar and unwelcoming. The fluorescent overhead lights of the operating theater beam down, flooding the room with bright and steady light as soon as the first person walks in; the seats surrounding the podium circle in the center of the room remain as empty as ever. Four more are gone, their absence notated by their portraits joining the others in watching the proceedings through greyed-out and unseeing eyes, Kogami, Madison, Sakura Matou, and Osomatsu's podiums all draped in black. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, the public-address system comes to life once again in a light crackle of static; the Transmitter can be heard throughout the room shortly thereafter. "Fraternal is dead. You guys...you know what to do. Put together what you've found and try to seek out the guilty. You know what'll happen if you can't. Good luck." Eleven Patients remain. We'll see how many leave at the end of the day.

Comments

[cadmiums]

Why would he leave? Especially without his shoes.

[preciousking]

[ He thinks about that for a bit. ]

I guess if somebody came to his door sayin' they needed help.

[ The impression he got from a couple of their conversations and from watching him last trial was that Osomatsu wanted to help people, even if he was scared. ]

[cadmiums]

Whatever they said must have been urgent if he didn't stop to put his shoes on...

[preciousking]

If that's why, yeah.

[ He looks around the room. Anyone else got any idea why someone might leave a room without their shoes? ]

[cthulwho]

[He sees Mikoto looking around, so-]

That, or they forcefully removed him...

[preciousking]

[ Hmm. ]

Could be, yeah. If his door was open or he opened it for someone, he'd be vulnerable.

[crywiththesaints]

He told me at the gathering that he believed himself to be the easiest target should somebody attempt to escape. Wouldn't someone like that be more wary?

[ossifragant]

If it was someone he trusted....

[preciousking]

Depends. All we know is his door was open, not how. Honestly, Pizzazz might've been right when she said he was headin' to the bar and we wouldn't have any way of knowing it.

But if he opened up for someone, he either trusted them or they told him something he couldn't ignore.

[positivespin]

Yeah, can see either happening. If they told him he had to hurry, possible he could have run out without shoes.

[cthulwho]

Either scenario would explain both the lack of shoes and his room remaining unlocked...

Do you suppose he would open the door for anyone on one of the more...dangerous nights? Even for an emergency?

[preciousking]

Couldn't say for sure but there's a chance, yeah. Being scared of dying doesn't mean he wasn't naive or wasn't capable of doing something stupid.

[positivespin]

Uum... Is it possible he was knocked out at the door? Like...he took off his shoes to go change, then someone knocked. He opened the door, they took a swing and then dragged him off. Something like that?

[ She never took a close look at the body sooooo... Yeah, just throwing stuff out there. ]

[journalname]

I did not see any blood or sign of struggle. But I suppose he could have been removed without either.

[positivespin]

True, that's true... [ She hopes he got at least one good hit in. ] Was his key in his room?

[journalname]

I did not find it. Was it...with him?

[positivespin]

Danny would know answer to that.

[ In other words, fielding the question to the corpse toucher. ]

[doctorize]

[Corpse toucher is here to answer.]

Yes, he did. I found it in his pockets while examining him.

[positivespin]

Ah, thanks. [ Time to try to think about it more with that in mind. ] Probably means he was in a rush to leave then? Unless he has habit of leaving his door open.

[journalname]

I cannot imagine any of us do, after all this time.

[positivespin]

That's the thing, yeah.

[preciousking]

Hm. He might've. [ A significant pause. ]

More than anything, he might've wanted to make friends here. Wouldn't be odd if he left himself open so people would trust him.