booksleeves | memshare 1: the locked room

Musical cue: The Heart of the Matter

Video clips: 1:30 to 22:24.

You are in the hallway of a steamship, at the crack of dawn, outside one of the first class cabins. Although it is early, your duties always begin this early. You are a judicial assistant to Kazuma-sama, and he always wishes to begin his training at that early hour. You have brought tea and your notes to practice with him. However, this morning, no one appears. You knock on the door of the cabin, but there is no answer, and the door is bolted shut.

A sense of fear begins to grow in you. Surely you are worrying for nothing, and he will tease you, but as the minutes tick by, you can't shake it. You go and find one of the Russian sailors who crew this ship. Two large men accompany you back to the cabin, and after knocking to no response they break down the door. Inside is the luxury cabin you have become familiar with, and on the floor of the cabin is the body of a man you are very familiar with. He appears to be dead. The overall emotion you feel is shock, disbelief, denial. Your head is throbbing; you feel disoriented and nauseated.

It feels immediate, though perhaps you were standing there for a long time, when you realize another man, a stranger to you, has let himself into the cabin somehow and has started to speak, examining the room. Some of the dialogue is hard to make out, but some is audible. He looks around the room, declares this a locked room mystery he intends to solve, and examines the body of the man on the floor. He notes the word written in ink - a Russian word, which he says refers to the wardrobe. He approaches the cabin's wardrobe, which has a notice on it in Japanese, saying 'Keep Out.' He peels back the notice and reveals, hidden inside the wardrobe, an unconscious man.

You know this man as well, though he is less familiar to you. This is Ryunosuke Naruhodo, the dear schoolmate of Kazuma Asogi, your adopted brother and the man you are traveling to Great Britain with. But it is Kazuma's dead body that is lying on the floor, and this man, a stowaway on the ship, who is being accused as the only person who could have killed him.

(You are familiar with the strange foreign detective as well - or at least his name, Herlock Sholmes, if not his face. Despite how thrilled you might ordinarily be to meet the great detective, at the moment you are preoccupied by the crime).

Naruhodo is placed in handcuffs, and gradually comes to consciousness; Kazuma-sama's body is taken away by the ship's doctor, and the detective follows after. The Russian sailors begin to interrogate Naruhodo.

"I'll tell you everything," Naruhodo protests.

"There's only one thing I'd like to know from you," you say, in an icy voice you hardly recognize as your own. "Why did you do it? Why did you take his life?"

Naruhodo appears startled, uncertain. "Miss Susato! Wait. . . what did you just say? Take. . . take his life?"

You're silent as you watch the confusion on his face change to fear and dread. "Where, where is he? Where's Kazuma?"

There's a wave of doubt that washes over you for a moment. You know Kazuma loved this man - dearly enough to defend him when he was accused of a crime back in Japan. And yet there is no one else who could have possibly done it, so you steel your feelings.

"Kazuma-sama - " you stop, and correct yourself. "Kazuma-sama's body was discovered not long ago. Here, in this very cabin that was bolted shut from the inside."

"Kazuma's dead?" Naruhodo asks. "But - he can't be. And these handcuffs - surely you don't think -"

"I have to know, why did you take Kazuma-sama's life?" You are trying to be calm, but your voice is shaking with anger. "Answer me! Please!"

But Naruhodo doesn't answer you. He screams, and then goes silent, wracked with grief.

"Stay silent, murderer!" one of the sailors shouts at Naruhodo.

"But I'm not a murderer, please! I mean, I did stow away on this ship, but murdering my best friend?" He glances at you. "Um. . . Susato-san. Please, tell me what happened!"

You consider the request in silence for a moment, the anger and grief you feeling beginning to displace that awful shock, but even so, there is still a small amount of doubt as well; you find it hard to write off Naruhodo's reaction as disingenuous. You find it hard to shake the memory of Kazuma's unwavering faith in his friend the last time he was called upon to defend him.

"Very well," you say, "I will tell you, but there is something I would like to ask of you, too."

"How did he die? What happened?"

You glance away from him. "The cause of death is still uncertain. The ship's doctor is examining the body, but of course he has no post-mortem examination experience. I don't suppose we shall learn more until an expert examines him at our next port of call."

"I don't understand it. Why would anyone want to kill Kazuma?"

"Presumably that's something you know better than anyone. After all, you were here in the cabin."

"That's true, but. . . "

You glance away again, and begin to explain the circumstances under which you discovered Kazuma was dead.

"I had no idea," Naruhodo says. "I, I must have been asleep in the wardrobe, somehow."

"I wish it wasn't the case, but . . . that's very hard to believe."

Naruhodo explains that he ate his dinner and fell asleep so deeply he didn't wake up - it sounds unbelievable that he could have slept through the murder, but it's exactly what happened. And then he mentions that since he woke up, his head has been throbbing. This startles you, brings back some of that doubt again, because. . . your head has been throbbing all morning, too? What can it mean?

Naruhodo also explains how he came to be on this ship - that Kazuma helped him stowaway, because he wanted to bring his friend with him to Great Britain. That Kazuma had decided against telling you what he had done. You shove down the pang of hurt this causes you. Naruhodo says something that jumps out at you - that Kazuma had wanted Naruhodo to join him in Britain to see the British legal system, and to accomplish something important.

"Kazuma-sama is - " you begin, and then remember. "He was always saying the same thing. That he wanted to change the Japanese legal system." You swallow another pang, glancing away. "Perhaps he thought he could do that with you."

"Maybe." Naruhodo seems uncertain. "Um. . . Susato-san. . . I'm sorry that we kept it a secret from you. My stowing away on this ship, that is."

"If I know Kazuma-sama, I expect he was trying to protect me," you say.

Naruhodo looks at the tape markings where Kazuma's body had lain, and looks for a moment like he wants to run away.

"Don't try to go anywhere," you say. "You're the perpetrator of this crime. No matter what, I can't allow that to happen!"

"Kazuma was killed right under my nose and I didn't do anything to stop it! And now I'm supposed to just sit around, my hands tied, while whoever did this walks free? No! I can't allow that! I'm going to investigate what happened. I'm going to find out who took Kazuma's life and how and why they did it! So I'm sorry, but you're going to have to excuse me!"

Naruhodo makes a motion like he plans to leave. You grip him around his waist and execute a Susato Takedown, throwing him to the floor.

"I'm going to need you to prove it," you tell him, looking down on him lying on the ground. "Your innocence. I need evidence. Have you forgotten what you achieved just one week ago? You successfully defended yourself in a court of law."

Naruhodo seems to consider for a moment, and then shows you a piece of paper - the one that was placed over the wardrobe, saying 'Keep Out' - and reminds you that there's simply no way he could have reapplied that paper from inside the wardrobe. Kazuma was the one who placed the paper there, before he was killed.

You close your eyes, considering his words. "Well . . . Even if you are sprawled hopelessly on the floor. . . I can see why Kazuma-sama thought so highly of you."

"Thank you! So you finally believe me," he asks.

"I'm sorry," you say sternly, "but no. I can't rule out that you used some conjuring trick to put the sign back in position. But at least I don't see why I should stop you from investigating, so I suggest you investigate as well as you can."