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( he looks ticked for just a moment, just a flash, but it mellows out to one of new understanding: the rules and requirements to graduate are just one and the same.

...what a stupid system. )

And I thought my old school was rigoROUS. ( a sigh, waving his hand. ) Requirements that aren't always clear and ebb like the TIDE... This is quite the SCHOOL.

How lucky we are to be students in IT. ( a little dryly said, and he glances at shuichi briefly. hmmm. ) I suppose culling the competition is a valid moTIVE, but wouldn't you think that murder is a little MUCH? And to put that kind of note on her body as WELL...

( natsume shakes his head, fully aware maya doesn't know what he's talking about. this is transfer student meeting rights. )

Wouldn't you agree that it's gaRISH, Saihara-kun?

[ He knows that stare too... Someone else used to do it as well, every time he was silent or hesitated to draw his conclusions, and he almost expects the accompanying "Do you want to die?" to follow for a second. It doesn't though, of course, and he's only left with a stupid-looking half-expectant expression as the rest of the conversation moves on and he's forced to return to the present. ]

Ah... r-right. I do think so too, but that's assuming... the killer and the person who dropped her were the same.

[ He's been thinking about this for a while -- and it ties into what he wanted to ask; if he'd had more time, he'd thank Natsume for the cue but he doesn't right now so he only pulls something out from his pocket. As he holds it forward and his fingers part to show it... it turns out to be an armband, yellow and clearly marked with the words "student council". Sorry, Natsume, this is probably news to you too unless Izumi felt the need to mention it for some reason. ]

...I found this in my locker the day after the body turned up. And I suppose the most obvious thought is the person who murdered her tried to frame me, but... think about it for a minute.

[ Shuichi has his doubts about that. This is why he needed a student who isn't a transfer, someone with more insight of the school. ]

I don't have a connection with Okane-san, nor an obvious motive. And there wasn't any additional evidence set up either... So did this really come from her killer?

[ It's a stupid system, but it's the circumstances they all have to work with. Competition is a bit much, but it comes much easier— much more naturally— than cooperation does amongst groups of people split by class, or by familiarity, or by grade, or by club, people banding together in small groups but never as a cohesive whole. That level of cooperation is simply impossible with so many people. ]

What note?

[ She asks the question sharply, staring at the armband same as the one pinned around her own sleeve. Her gaze flickers to Natsume for a split second, but then trains on Shuichi again. Does he think more than one person was involved? It's possible, but she can't say for sure without knowing all the details. It bothers her, though, to see the armband away from its owner. ]

...and why you? What makes you so special, Saihara?

[ If not to frame, then it must be to send a message. Something only Shuichi can figure out. ]

( To her credit, Natsume's staring at the armband too — Izumi never tells him anything because they're two pissy cats at each other 90% of the time, so he hadn't realized this is what Shuichi meant.

But why you? what makes you so special?

The only thing that does make them special: they're not supposed to be here, despite everyone's memories of them to the contrary, but how that makes sense with figuring out a mystery -

is it such a coincidence that it turned up in the hands of the so-called Ultimate Detective?

He purses his lips and answers her first question evenly, eyes narrowed at the armband. )

A note that said "donation" on IT. Either someone thinks of that doll on stage differently than the rest of YOU, or they know something you DON'T.

( not we. )

...This note.

[ If it's that slip of paper they want, then well... they're in luck since Shuichi was also the one who took it, when they were checking against the materials available in the art room. And so he has it on hand, able to pull that from his pocket to back Natsume as well. There's one more distinctive feature about it too, which he doesn't think he needs to mention for Maya to notice: the letters are cutouts, so whoever did it was trying to mask their handwriting in that manner. ]

Sakasaki-kun is right. I don't think the fact it was placed on the body was just coincidence. Not when you consider where it was dropped... The staff found the bloodstain, right?

[ And Maya's proven collected and smart in this conversation, so after Natsume's hint, he doubts there's more need to explain. But who of the transfer students... would even be qualified to discern what sort of message that's trying to give? They've been having a hard time even making sense of where they are, what with the fragmented memories that barely feel like they belong to them -- and don't even fully overwrite the ones that do. ]

As for why me...

[ This part's more difficult to say, and his voice ends up softer, more meek. ]

That might be... because of my job. I can't say for certain, but... it isn't exactly a secret I work at a detective's office. I'm only an apprentice... and I might not be any good at it, but even so... If this wasn't in my locker to frame me, then it's a clue. I'm sure of it. Someone trusted me to find something.

[ And he's already failing them... That does feel pretty bad. ]

Ugh.

[ Her distaste is immediate upon seeing that note, and there's no need to comment on how inappropriate that is, especially at the disgusted look she gives Natsume at calling the body a doll. ]

Don't be rude. That's a person in there, no matter what anybody else says, or wants to pretend otherwise.

[ Scrunching her nose a little, she leans in to look at the note, letting Shuichi keep holding onto it because that thing touched a dead body? she's not touching it. ]

Anyways, I don't know anything about you being a detective, unless you just picked up that job over spring break or sometime recent. Is that supposed to be common knowledge? It's obviously not as apparent as you believe, at least not outside your circle of friends.

( Oh, she's acknowledging it -

maybe she knows who it is, too. Natsume tilts his head back against the wall, thinking, and he doesn't look at Maya when he asks: )

Arisu-shi, how much do you actually know about US? Either of us - it doesn't matTER.

( This is kind of related, but it's also a bit of a tangent. Sorry. )

We're all in the same YEAR, so I assume we have some familiarity with each other thanks to last year at miniMUM, if not any time beFORE. Can you actually state any facts about us that you haven't discovered since this year starTED, and are they actually accuRATE?

...

[ It's not as apparent...? Outside his circle? The way Maya phrases that gives Shuichi pause, to the point he shrinks back from the flinch he'd initially given, a normal reaction as she calls out the body in the display for what it is. Not a doll. Or actually... she didn't even call it a body. He's thought about that himself -- he'd have more to say on the matter had this happened before. But right now, there's only the cold shiver he feels down his spine as he freezes in place, and the all-too-familiar sting of doubt in his head.

Was he wrong about the armband after all...? Maybe it was just the culprit attempting to frame him -- there's a part of him that most certainly wants to run there, wants to hide from the rest of the implications he'd have to think of instead. ]

...Right. I think Sakasaki-kun has a point. No matter how you look at it, something like a job I've been doing for years is... ah, I mean, I might not be anything special... but isn't this level of discrepancy kind of odd?

[ ...Maybe if some explanation for this comes, then he doesn't have to think about it. He doesn't have to consider he shouldn't be doubting his deduction, and anything that comes after. It's fine. He's not panicking internally a little or anything. He doesn't even care how weird this all sounds anymore. ]

We're not friends.

[ Why should she know anything about them? How much are you supposed to know about other people in your grade, honestly... ]

If you've been a detective for years, I won't know unless you advertise that fact around the school and offer your services, but why would you? I would suggest against it, actually. The more nosy you are, the larger target you'll become. Who here knows you're a detective?

( —That's fair, he supposes. He'd consider himself knowing a lot about the people in his year, but if he really narrows down who he knows the most about, it's only the people who've interested him prior. He has a passing knowledge of most people, but he'd never be able to tell you anything endlessly. )

I'm hurt; I thought we got along quite WELL. ( :') ...he's not hurt but he's acting it, oh boo hoo, just drop another book on his foot one day. ) But to answer your quesTION, more people than you think DO.

( He glances at Shuichi, then shrugs and holds out his opened, but otherwise untouched, custard-filled bread to Maya. It's either a peace offering for the conversation, which is a slightly nicer gesture than the end of their last conversation, or it's part of the payment for giving them the time of day and some things to think on to boot. Either way: )

Thank you for sparing us your TIME, Little Wolf, especially with how stressed you undoubtedly must be with everything on your HANDS. We appreciate the chat — we'll let you go a few minutes early in recomPENSE.

( If nothing else it's given them more to consider so, you know, it wasn't too terrible. )

[ Natsume's right... stuff happened, like Komaeda shouting it from the ceiling for everyone in the auditorium to hear, Ouma telling others, etc. But... Maya has a point too. None of the regular students had seemed to mention it on their own; whatever's going on with them seems to overlap for the most part with other things -- things that Shuichi isn't sure he remembers as well as them in the first place.

It's something to think about. ]

I-I don't know if that's much of a recompense...

[ Natsume, please. ]

But... it's true that this did help a lot. Maybe more than you think it did. Thank you, Arisu-san.

[ He'll add that, and tbh I'm mostly tagging this because he'll stare curiously to see if Maya even takes the custard bread... Does she even like sweets? Very important plot clues that are very needed. ]

[ She takes the custard bread but she's going to take it home and give it to her brother, Shuichi doesn't get to know. ]

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