[Week 1, Friday: Eichi]

[doublecrows]

[WELL THAT WAS FUN!! narrator voice: that was not fun]

[after everything has calmed down from the investigation, Akechi returns to his shared room with Eichi and takes a seat on the edge of the bed. he still seems to be winded from the hedge maze minotaur race, judging by the slump of his shoulders and the way his chest heaves]

[give him a moment to rest, but. he is here! to be bothered!!]

Comments

[finethanks]

[Eichi is still siting in the bed like he had been when he woke up. The warmth may be returned, but he's still recovering from all the damage the cold had done. What he had said this morning to Akechi was: "I'd rather stay here than go wandering around looking for a body. If I found something like that, my heart rate could increase so much that I might go into shock, you know?"

And so, he had stayed put.

But now, he's shifting, leaning closer to take a look at how tired his partner is.]

Akechi-kun? Are you alright?

[doublecrows]

[Akechi certainly hadn't argued with Eichi when he insisted on staying home. but, never one to pass up an investigation himself, he had gone out anyway. he has regrets!! maybe]

[he does look tired, but despite the heavy breaths, he does pull up one of his patented charming smiles for his partner]

Y-- yes, I'm all right. I had a little run in with a. . . minotaur.

[it sucked]

[finethanks]

A minotaur?!

[What the fuck] You don't appear injured, so did you have to flee?

[doublecrows]

Unfortunately, we had no other choice.

[he ain't fighting a minotaur without his Persona, man]

But somehow we did manage to-- escape, with our lives.

[and a dead body, but that is neither here nor there]

[finethanks]

Wow. You're really out of shape, Akechi-kun. Someone with a healthy young body like yours should do better than that, you know?

[he's so rude] ...What was it that you found? Was there anything interesting, aside from the minotaur itself?

[doublecrows]

[THAT IS RUDE!! but also a compliment? sort of]

[his expression turns. . . not quite somber, not quite serious, but. pensively detached?]

There was a dead body in the midst of the hedge maze. Someone else killed last night.

[finethanks]

...

[For the most part, he doesn't react. He's silent, and he's clearly thinking, but he's staying composed.]

Who was it?

[doublecrows]

A young man named Soo-Won. I recognized his face from the tapestry. I can't say we ever spoke.

[anyway, Akechi doesn't seem too torn up about this]

[finethanks]

[Eichi is still quiet, but his eyebrows furrow a little for a split moment before he's forcing them relaxed again.]

You're... certain it wasn't the minotaur who did this? If he exists in that same area, then...

[doublecrows]

I doubt it.

[for many reasons, which he lays out logically, one after the other]

A first glance shows that the manner of death was likely a slit throat. It seems too clean for something as large and bulky as the minotaur to accomplish. Further, it's likely Soo-Won died last night.

The very same night Gi-Gan was killed last week.

[finethanks]

In other words, you believe it was the required murder of this week, after all.

[He brings his hand near his mouth, curling his fingers.] Clean... did it appear to be a quick death, then? I wonder if that's a mercy of some sort.

[doublecrows]

[watches each and every one of Eichi's movements from the corners of his vision. Akechi, on the other hand, stays even and methodical with his explanation]

It doesn't take long for one to die from a slit throat, but those few seconds are very agonizing. The victim usually chokes on their own blood, unable to breathe, unable to even speak.

I would say it was an attempt at a display of mercy. Likely from someone who didn't know how painful it would be for Soo-Won.

[finethanks]

Or perhaps it was someone who did realize that. A display of mercy to those unknowing, an attempt to cover it with the idea that someone less used to killing and more prone to sympathy might have been responsible.

[He frowns behind his hand, and then drops it, looking to Akechi more directly again.]

Did you notice anything else strange at all?

[doublecrows]

[a nod]

Many things. Several strands of dark hair covered in golden ink caught on the hedge maze bushes. Several strands of blond hair, clean and unmarked, also caught on same. A sharp branch with blood on it. A knife covered in golden ink. Half-covered footprints in the snow.

All of those are but smaller pieces in a much larger puzzle. I presume we'll be given the opportunity to put it all together tomorrow, just as we were last week.

[finethanks]

[Oh jesus... Eichi seems to wilt a little.]

Ink and blood both? I don't understand it at all... [He sighs.] I'm tired already and we haven't even begun to look at everything all at once. Doing this every week is a strain on my mind.

[doublecrows]

[a light chuckle]

This is the detective's playing field, not the idol's. It might be difficult, but if we made it through last week, I believe we can make it through this week as well.

[OFFER HIM SOME COMFORT, AKECHI YOU BUTT]

[finethanks]

Hmm. So we'll be the survivors?

[He wonders how to think of that. He wants to be, though, even if it means someone else has to die...]

[doublecrows]

[this pc is hilarious in hindsight]

Yes, of course.

[he says that smoothly, without hesitation]

After all, we did both admit that we wanted to live, didn't we?

[finethanks]

Naturally, we do.

[So. They'll live...!!!

By some fucking miracle.]

[doublecrows]

[THROUGH THE MIRACLE OF ANN'S FOOT MATCHING THE FOOTPRINT MOLD]

Then let's keep that goal in mind, and do our very best to achieve it.