Deku | Izuku Midoriya (
fullcowl) wrote in
thenearshore2017-05-25 10:49 am
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Who: Izuku Midoriya, Naoto Shirogane, Shun Kurosaki
When: July 18, morning
Where: On the path to Johan's temple
What: The body is discovered
Warnings: A murder victim's body.
[It's been a little while since he's checked in on Johan. Even if he was only training him on the basics of self-defense and couldn't be a completely dedicated teacher, that's no reason to not check in from time to time.
It's especially a good time because of all the chaos that happened after half the heavens turned into children. Hopefully, he's just fine.
That hope is very quickly dashed when he notices a headless body off of the path. He can't even manage to say anything for a moment, a gasp of surprise and then he's stumbling back.]
Is that...?
[Is that real? Is that Johan? Has the murderer seriously not been caught?]
When: July 18, morning
Where: On the path to Johan's temple
What: The body is discovered
Warnings: A murder victim's body.
[It's been a little while since he's checked in on Johan. Even if he was only training him on the basics of self-defense and couldn't be a completely dedicated teacher, that's no reason to not check in from time to time.
It's especially a good time because of all the chaos that happened after half the heavens turned into children. Hopefully, he's just fine.
That hope is very quickly dashed when he notices a headless body off of the path. He can't even manage to say anything for a moment, a gasp of surprise and then he's stumbling back.]
Is that...?
[Is that real? Is that Johan? Has the murderer seriously not been caught?]
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Izuku-san, good morning.
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It's better, of course, to have more than one person dealing with a murder. But the fact there's a murder at all- that's awful.]
... Naoto, please turn very slowly around and don't do anything brash.
[From the angle she's in now, she won't be able to see it, but if she turns... That is definitely a headless corpse on the path to Johan's temple.]
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Izuku-san? What is it? What's--
[There's something odd in the corner of her eye. She turns. Her eyes go wide at the sight. A headless boy lying out in the open on the path to a god's temple. Naoto's mouth drops open, but no sound comes out.]
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It takes him a while to find his voice again, the horror is too real.]
... Five. There've been five murders now.
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But if he has to be the level-headed one here, he can do that too. If the approach it too hastily they might lose whatever clues the murderer may have left.]
Naoto...?
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[She's mad. She's upset that something like this, so gruesome a crime -- a beheading of all things, could be allowed to happen here. That after the first two bodies were found there hadn't been more immediate action taken to identify and apprehend the culprit responsible. That they continued to be left out in the cold when it came to the details as to whether even IF such an investigation was even going on. She was feeling all of this outrage right now.]
[If they weren't going to do their jobs to find the person responsible, then Naoto would do it herself!]
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Did whoever this was really have somebody who hated them so much? Not to just murder them, but to go so far as to behead them as well? He can't even think of what kind of point this is trying to make. Was this connected to the other murders? Are there more bodies hiding out of the way?
Do the Heavens really have no way of dealing with this?]
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[The first thing that catches her eye is that the victim's shirt appears to be torn rather peculiarly. As if part of it was torn off to tie up something, yet there do not appear to be ligature marks or signs on the victim's arms that they were bound.]
[However, the second thing she notes immediately becomes more significant -- the trail of blood leading away from the corpse. She turns to go follow it. Her fists still clenched, and her eyes determined.]
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He can't look away from the blood trail though. If there isn't an ongoing investigation into these murders then... then it falls to them to figure something out, for the peace of this soul. For continued peace in the Heavens.
Again, he follows Naoto's lead, and his eyes drift steadily upward, almost afraid of what he's about to see. If there's blood and the head is gone then the reasonable thing to see here is... the head.]
Johan?
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[Despite her shock and horror at the display, Naoto wills herself to look at it, to try and spot any details about it that might serve as clues. She notes the blindfold around his eyes, which now explains the odd tearing of his shirt, and the bruising on his face. Other than that, she marks no other significant details about it. At least, none that she can determine with taking a closer look...]
[But she doesn't move. This time it's not a feeling inside her that tells it would be best not to. No, this time she simply can't bring herself to approach, to examine the head, JOHAN'S head more closely. Instead, it's as if the totality of the moment finally catches up with her, and it's now Naoto's turn to feel like she's going to puke. She turns away from the sight, covering her mouth with a hand. Her other hand braces against a tree as she forces herself to stay standing.]
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The headless corpse lying on it is impossible to miss, though, and Shun stops in his tracks, paling but without any other outward reaction besides the briefest flicker of horrified surprise. He already has a good guess as to who the victim is just by his size and build, but it's best not to make assumptions until he finds something identifying.
He could stop to investigate it further, but he can see two others in the near distance who can't have missed the body - especially judging by the position one of them is in. Running over to catch up, Shun's eyes scan over the area as he gets closer to pinpoint the source of the upset over there. He spots the head from fairly far off, but it's not until he's almost caught up that he's close enough to identify it, and he pulls up this time with a bitter, resigned hiss, his suspicion confirmed. Of all the people it could have been...
But Izuku isn't moving. Naoto looks like she's about to be sick. Despite the instinctive horror of seeing the body, as much as he's clamping down on it, Shun grits his teeth and steps forward, the only sign of his own upset the fact that he's still a much paler shade than usual. The wave of fury that rolls over him in the wake of the realisation helps - the sudden desire to track down the killer now for what they've done and make them wish they were never born.]
Do you want me to check the head? [His tone is carefully level, the spark in his eyes long absent. Seeing dead allies isn't new to him, only seeing them this messily.]
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There's no doubt in his mind that murders happen. There's darkness in the world. But to be the person who finds the body- it's hard to really do anything useful at this moment. He can't tell what his feelings are doing, between frustration, anger, and the general revulsion it's hard to think. Aren't these the Heavens? Why is this happening?
What kind of hero are you? To be paralyzed in his own emotions when there's a victim right in front of him. Pull yourself together.
He takes in a shaky breath before answering.]
... Don't disturb it too much. The culprit might not have erased all the evidence.
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[Ultimately, She manages to regain enough of her composure to respond to Shun's offer as he steps forward. Her own voice hushed and a little choked, as she follows-up Izuku's recommendation with one of her own.]
Ma- Make sure not to touch it with your bare hands...
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Crouching down by the severed head, trying not to let the scent of blood this close make him ill as well, he starts scanning over what details he can see without having to touch anything.]
The blindfold's the same colour as his shirt was, that must've been why it was ripped. Face is bruised - there's a clear imprint of the fingers here too. None missing, large hands...and damn strong to have left bruises that clear.
[He's rattling the information off as soon as he notices it, as detached and professional about the whole thing as he possibly can be when he increasingly wants to be ill himself with possibilities of the scenario playing themselves out in his mind's eye. He doesn't want to admit it, but the blindfold helps. He's not sure how well he could handle those dead eyes looking back at him.
He has to duck and twist at a bit of an awkward angle to see the base of the neck without moving the head, but he manages - though moments after he does, he goes even paler, and swallows rather harshly before he can actually remark on what he can see.]
...Part of the wound is clean. Probably done with a sharp knife. The rest of it...is uneven and messy, like a tear. I think it was ripped off.
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Think, Izuku. That's what you're good at. Focus on the facts that have been given.]
If you had to jump to get up there, then the culprit has to be fairly tall. It would... probably be awkward jump with a head in their hands. Maybe... 170 centimeters? Humanoid hands without any defects. Strong. Skilled, or at least familiar with knives.
[Nobody else has come here- Nobody else has come here. It hasn't been checked over. Nobody's trampled over the scene. There might- there could be something on the ground. Something they overlooked when the body and head were too glaring to ignore. They saw the blood trail but what else?]
Did- Did either of you see if there were footprints? If they're feeling bold enough to do this, maybe there's more we can pick up.
[They can't go around accusing every single person in the Heavens (they could, but it's a bad idea), maybe they can narrow the suspect pool.]
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[When Izuku then speaks up, Naoto turns to him. She was starting to get some strength back in her own legs now and confident enough to no longer need to brace herself against the tree. She starts to stand more straight again, as she listens. His note about the killer's height is rather perceptive.]
[Watching and listening to the two of them, Naoto feels she can't let herself be the only one of the three to lose her cool. She, too, needs to contribute somehow. For Johan. She takes a deep breath before speaking up, her voice less shaken than before.]
Along the blood trail from the body to the... tree... I noted several footprints in the dirt. They looked to be about 27 centimeters in length.
[Naoto's eyes dart around the ground momentarily.]
It looks like... both the blood and footprints stop here however...
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170 is shorter than me, so tall, but not tall enough that they're going to stand out. Considering that and the size of the feet and hands compared to it, we're probably dealing with a male. [The strength isn't really an object here, because if there was anywhere they were going to have women with the strength to rip off someone's head, it'd be here, but the proportions are off.] This isn't much to go on. There'd be plenty of males here in that kind of height range who'd have the skill and the strength to pull something like this off.
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That's an... incredibly average size. Maybe that's why they've been able to get away with this for so long...
But at least we can cross out anybody who isn't at least 170. Just because they're probably a male doesn't necessarily mean it is. I'm not comfortable crossing that option off right now.
[As much as he'd like to narrow their search, blindly considering people innocent on a maybe sounds like a poor choice.]
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While the few details we have right now do seem to favor a more masculine build, I agree with Izuku that we should not necessarily disregard females who may also be close to fitting the profile as well.
[She opens her eyes again, but keeps them fixed to the ground.]
There's lots of blood covering the ground at the body which would imply the... beheading... was done there. In which case, why then carry the head to this particular tree? If it was purely for display purposes, the killer could have picked a more public location, create more of a scene...
The other thing that bothers me is the inconsistency between the level of brutality and the amount of blood here... This kind of gruesome act would have caused much more blood to spill, likely coating the killer. How is it then that there isn't more blood leading away from this tree? Moreover... how has the killer remained unidentified? Even if the murder was committed late at night, someone would likely notice a person arriving home covered in blood.
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[So it'd make things fairly easy if that was the case...though he doubts any of this is going to be easy. Naoto certainly has a point about moving the head, and Shun considers the possibilities of both of those points.]
If it's someone who has experience with this sort of thing, it's possible they wanted to make a scene but without the risk that a more public place would've created. Sticking the head up there meant someone was definitely going to spot it eventually, but they didn't have to risk revealing themselves.
As for coming home covered in blood, either their god doesn't have a problem with this or is too oblivious to notice it. That's the only way they could've gotten away with something like that so many times over.
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[That's not a thought he likes. But if Souji said that one of the people he knew was also a criminal, then it's completely plausible that whoever's bringing in the new shinki and gods isn't vetting them. Or maybe they want this chaos, it's hard to say for sure.]
People here have a lot of different powers, don't they? Maybe they're using one to cut off the blood trail. It's either that or they're... experienced enough they know how to stop leads and or banking on whoever came across the body to ruin the crime scene. There's a lot of options we could consider.
[He looks away from the scene and pinches his bottom lip as the gears keep turning.] It could be a god or shinki. If it's a god, then the obvious reason for the trail disappearing is teleportation. But a shinki doesn't necessarily have that power unless they're teleporting down the to Near Shore to their god's shrine and cleaning up there. It's not like any living humans would pick up on them. But if that's true then shouldn't they be leaving a blood trail there? Even if they're hard to pick up on, blood with no reason is going to cause alarm. If the shrine is somewhere out of the way, then maybe they could do it without panicking anyone. But at the same time, what's liking all of these murders together? I don't think Johan made any enemies of this level-
[He has not realized he's mumbling intently to himself.]
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If you've something more to contribute speak up, if not then keep it to yourself for now.
[Naoto's nerves are rather frayed at the moment. Please excuse her shortness of patience.]
[She turns to Shun, thought quite looking precisely in his direction. Her field of vision still selectively avoiding the head.]
Kurosaki-san, I would appreciate your analysis of the body as well... if you feel up for it.
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It's not enough to exclude anything, but if whoever did this could teleport, I'm not sure they would have risked leaving prints. [He points out one of the clearer footprints in the grass.] The way they killed him already left more identifying features than any experienced killer would want. Why risk leaving footprints as well?
[Then again, it could be a god trying to mislead them as well, which brings everything back to square one. Naoto interrupts Izuku's mumbling before Shun can, but he glances over to Naoto as she addresses him with a carefully neutral look.]
It's not my area of experience, but if you just want my observations, then I can deal with it. [He starts heading back that way immediately - it gives him an excuse to get away from the head for a moment as well.]
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Right. Sorry. [He looks at the footprints, the head, the blood.] A shape-shifter? Maybe they're trying to mislead us. [There are all kinds of strange quirks and all sorts of powers in the heavens.
He'll follow Shun. He really doesn't want to be near it for any longer than he has to.]
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I would appreciate an extra set of eyes to look over the corpse.
[Naoto turns back momentarily to call over her shoulder at Izuku.]
I would also like to hear anything you may have noticed on your first pass as well, Izuku-san. In addition, a second, more calmer inspection may yield further insights for us both.
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[No, Shun wasn't going to eliminate a potential suspect just on the basis of them being a literal unicorn/pegasus princess, why do you ask.
Naoto clarifying her request gets a short nod from Shun in return, and his eyes scan over the area even as he heads towards the body. He doubts they'll find any more clues that easily, but it's good to be aware of the state of the scene.
Once he reaches the still form, he crouches down next to it, letting out a low hiss as he takes it in properly.]
...However brutal it was, the killer must have caught him by surprise. Johan could summon his card spirits into physical forms, so even if he couldn't defend himself hand-to-hand, he could've set a monster on them if he'd had warning.
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[But the problem with Izuku investigating is that he comes from a world with plenty of powers, and each one of them has a downside. It's not impossible to believe there's a person who can only shapeshift into people.
He'll keep that to himself. God powers, shinki powers, powers from different worlds- none of them seem like they have the same limitations as a quirk.
He'll crouch on the other side of the body and study it. He doesn't have the forensic experience to really do much other than look it over and continue to be unsettled.]
None of the previous victims looked like there was a struggle. But the first two were clearly moved to their display later. It was a well-traveled area, others would have seen it.
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[As they stand over the body studying it further, Naoto kneels down for a moment to study the... stump... of Johan's neck. However, she looks no longer than she has to, and quickly stands back up, turning away from the body for a moment to recollect herself. She speaks loud enough for Izuku and Shun to hear her despite her back being turned to them.]
Is it possible that the beheading was postmortem? If Johan was able to defend himself as you say, it seems a surprise attack would have had to be necessary. In which case... the removal of the head, especially considering the inconsistency in method, would more than likely have taken some time and required that the victim be incapacitated and unable to resist.
[She turns her head to the side to talk over her shoulder.]
Do you see anything that look like defensive wounds? Or anything that looks like it could be an alternative cause of death?
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The point about the beheading being post-mortem is a good one, though, and Shun leans in a little closer for a moment to check for anything like what Naoto is asking.]
...I can't see either of those. But the original victims had their throats slit, didn't they? Maybe that was the cause of death and the killer went further from there this time. [It seems like a reasonable enough assumption to make to him - it's not like one needs to get that far into someone's throat to kill them.]
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So he'll stand and take a step or two away, crossing his arms as he considers what they know. ... It's not much, but they can eliminate everybody under 170cm. Whoever it is has to be strong to be able to twist off a head this way. A preference for knives and neck based attacks.]
That's right. The victims found after Tanabata only had a single stab wound to the backs of their skulls... So why the escalation after the last weren't so badly mutilated?
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A very good question. When you were mumbling to yourself earlier, I was at least able to make out what you said about how it was unlikely Johan has made any enemies willing to go to such brutal lengths. So the sudden escalation like this is odd and alarming.
There's also the question of the blindfold... Why tear off a piece of his shirt and fasten it around his head? Again, it seems unlikely that this was done while Johan was still alive, so then why... is it some kind of symbol?
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The blindfold is definitely a weird question, and Shun finally straightens up again as he considers it.] It could be. I agree it probably wasn't done while he was alive, especially since he doesn't have any marks to show he was restrained anywhere else. It meant extra time taken to set up the body when they could have been seen, so why they bothered to do that could be important.
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And then his thoughts turn to the blindfold around Johan's eyes. A reason? No reason?]
The first bodies had a very direct message. If this was supposed to mean something, why obscure it?
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Blind... blind to what?
[Naoto sighs, shakes her head.]
I'm sure it is mean to signify something, but it doesn't seem like we have enough clues at the moment to decipher its meaning. Though, the dissonance between the escalated brutality and the decreased directness of the message...
[An idea occurs to her, and she looks up at Shun and then Izuku as she shares.]
I agree that the increased degree of violence could likely be due to the killings receiving greater exposure. Consequently, so too could the decreased in message clarity. It could be the killer is enjoying the attention his crimes are garnering; however, this also means a greater risk of being discovered if their message is too direct. Thus, the ambiguity of the blindfold's significance could be attributed to the culprit wanting to prolong the exposure of their deeds while minimizing the potential for their identity to be discovered.
[Naoto again touches a hand to her chin.]
That said... it's not as though "Down with Amaterasu" allowed for all that much specificity as to its author.
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[Which continues to be the most frustrating part of this entire exercise. They have very little to go on here but what they can see, and what they can see is a lot of circumstantial evidence that might lean towards certain groups of suspects, but also might not.
Nodding slightly in agreement with Naoto's observation, he glances over the still body again, as if expecting to find another message. He did actually run across the first victims, so the message gives him a thought.]
The first message was "death to Amaterasu", so if this is a new god or shinki, it at least has to be someone with some kind of reason to want her dead. There's a lot who are dissatisfied with her leadership, but wanting her dead is much more noteworthy.
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Is there a reason for that?]
Death to... It's not as though somebody's written that on the BBS. They're not going to be that obvious. Is there a god that wants to rule the heavens instead of her? Or a shinki that thinks their god is more worthy?
The Heavens don't have files to look through. Shinki and gods could have been anybody in their past lives. Students, police, criminals, megalomaniacs. If they're killing here, they've probably done it before too, but it's not like they'll admit that either.
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A god that wants to rule the heavens... a shinki that thinks their god more worthy... That does sound more in line with what I've heard about the older, original gods and shinki. By that I mean, the way they treat those of us not originally from here, who are not like them. It doesn't sound like the kind of message or thinking someone who recently arrived here would hav--
[Naoto cuts herself off. Her eyes going wide in frightened realization as a disturbing theory on the killer's motive takes shape in her mind.]
But what if that's entirely the point? What if it's meant to sound like something an original god or shinki would write?
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[There's really no way Shun can put that but completely bluntly. If they're not writing off it being a god on the basis of the trail left or a man on the basis of size, they're not writing off the new gods on the basis of it supposedly not sounding like them. Especially considering Susano'o and Loki are already evidence enough that there are and have been new gods who'd be fully willing to pull something like this.]
It is most likely this is someone experienced with killing in their past life, whether they're god or shinki. I doubt anyone new to it could pull this off consistently without getting caught.