#but by blocking them i have forever severed a potential connection a mutual bonding over being little haters | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mahouproject-one · 5 years

Text

though i regret using my own heart as a sheath | Miyu | MM Trial (re: Itona, Reiko, Tsuku)

Miyu hadn’t gotten along with Reiko for almost the entire time they were here; in hindsight, it was understandable why a forger and a detective would be at odds even without the killing. Even now, they would likely never become friends. But they had some kind of mutual understanding and respect going on nowadays.

“I think that platonic bonds are still a significant factor that can’t be ignored. For what it’s worth, I’ve been looking at people with romantic involvements, too. But I’d like to avoid completely eliminating people that we don’t have unambiguous statements about. Otohiko did tell me her little one was hiding their role well from people they are fond of.”

Itona and Airi, meanwhile, were getting into a conversation about whether or not to spare the traitor. And then Airi said something that surprised Miyu.

“Wait, really? I thought you and Izumi-san...”

But Miyu only heard that, what, second- or third-hand? Given the context she could have easily misinterpreted the exact nature of their relationship. She shook her head and decided not to press the topic further – unless either of them gave her reason to.

“Takenaka. I understand. I… don’t imagine I’ll ever forgive this person. I’ll never forgive a lot of people who’ve done even less to wrong me, but this person who could have stopped this at any time had they simply spoken up? This person who could have saved the people they called friends…? I don’t think there’s anything that person can say that will make me stop hating them.

But… Eigawa-san is right. It was our fighting last trial that empowered Otohiko this much. It fuels dark magic. I’m not saying we need to all hold hands and harness the power of love. For most of us, that’d be empty words. What I’m saying is, we don’t need to make this worse. Look: No one had to die today to bring us here. Let’s keep it that way – if only because I refuse to make any more blood sacrifices.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Hypothetically speaking, she’d be willing to make one more sacrifice if it was for the greater good. But she couldn’t reconcile such a scenario with everything else that had been said about the nature of love and magic.

“I also… agree with Eigawa-san that we should be taking a close look at Genbu. Not necessarily for the same reasons she said – I get the impression many people in this class were lonely – but because I feel that… certain information is very much pointing that way. But I’m keeping an open mind here. I think Suzaku would be worth considering, too. Seiryuu… maybe. I can’t write you all off, but there’s less bite to that theory.”

Tsukuyomi was asking for clarification about a certain piece of (mis)information Miyu had been a major player in spreading. Her head dipped slightly as she addressed him, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes for this part.

“Neither Otohiko nor her helper deliberately changed the shadows. The magic was out of their control. Otohiko confirmed that the cat shadows still held significance even back then. I believe that we… that I misinterpreted this information. I was wrong.”

And there it was: Miyu openly admitting she had made an error. A significant one, in fact, one that sent people on wild goose chases and threatened to tear apart their relationships. Miyu would have to own up to the consequences of this. She hoped that people had done enough independent investigations to come to their own conclusions, regardless of anything she had previously said.

“I went for the simplest answers: The tigers of Byakko, and the Feline Behaviorist. But there had always been other people with their own feline associations. People who claimed to relate to cats, or people who… otherwise cared for cats and their lives.”

Was that hesitation just now?

“…Cats, too, are carnivores. Cougars are carnivores. What I’m trying to get at is, we should consider people who have affinities with wildlife. And especially people who may have had an… encounter with dangerous animals while here.”

…She couldn’t keep avoiding this topic forever. If all she felt confident in doing was restating what everyone else had said thus far, so be it.

“We should go over what we’ve already said, to make sure we’re not missing something.”

Because information probably got lost in the Ohara Family Callout Posts.

“Eliminations first. According to the Labyrinth that several people have spoken of, the mastermind was still alive as of before the fourth motive. Myself and everyone who passed before me is clear. The Labyrinth also revealed that all of Byakko is clear as well. And finally, we know from the failed vote that it isn’t Miwa.

That leaves four people from Seiryuu, five from Suzaku, and five from Genbu that we cannot 100% eliminate.

Now to build a profile. The mastermind empathized with Otohiko and her loneliness. If they got away with this, they would try to create a world without suffering, you say? Otohiko suggested to me that the person would try to find some way to save us, too, even the dead. But there’s no guarantee we wouldn’t just be husks of ourselves.

Do you really think you can preserve us – our experiences, our memories, our feelings? Or would you be satisfied with whatever simplified creations you revive instead? Do you really want to do that to the people you love? Erase everything they are now and love a copy you’ll create to your own specifications!? She said you learned so much about humanity thanks to this killing game, so do you truly believe you know what we want…!?”

...Way to get sidetracked.

“...I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t sorry.

Miyu reached into her purse, slamming her sketchbook onto the rim of her pensieve and opening it up to a blank pages. She began writing.

“I’m going to state these in the simplest terms I can, and try not to embellish. We don’t have forever to keep beating around the bush. That we’ve even been given this long since the last trial is a ‘mercy’, but we can’t push our luck much longer.”

She began a bullet-point list, talking out each section.

“Crossroad shadows. They were first observed after the fourth trial, and took on solely feline forms. After the fifth trial, they took on the forms of a variety of animals. Carnivores, in general. There is a connection to the mastermind, though the exact link is still unclear.

The castle’s third floor. Several rooms up there have potential significance to them: The foyer, the art gallery, the natural sciences room, and the concert hall. One room pertains to them directly, and another room gained significance after an experience there. An important memory.

...If I may make an aside, I would like to discuss this further when we begin naming names.”

She needed to be very careful about when and how to present her notes on this. It would have been be very easy to make a red herring.

“Moving on. The mastermind could opt out of a motive, and has done so at least once. Any known inconsistencies in how a motive affected someone would be very helpful. Even just someone who was unusually chipper.

The mastermind is human, and a mahounashi. I’m including ghosts as suspects too, so I feel that’s irrelevant. This whole section is redundant in my point-of-view, but I’ll note it anyway.

The mastermind was told by Otohiko to make a sacrifice, but it was their choice to pick Ohara-sensei. Based on Kanamori’s testimony and answers from the Labyrinth, it seems that he was most likely killed by a kitchen knife, and… and his killer stood outside the whole time, presumably to block the closet door. That person stood there for twenty minutes to listen to him die.”

Not even Airi had managed that. Airi ran – Airi didn’t want to hear anyone die. It was Miyu herself who blocked the way out, wanting to block anyone from coming in.

“I’ve extracted a memory of his death, but since he couldn’t see his attacker, I don’t know if there’s much benefit in actually showing it. I also didn’t investigate the scene at all, so I could be missing vital information. And… Ohara-sensei, I apologize for being so insensitive towards your privacy while under the effects of Felix Felicis.”

Getting high on liquid gold seemed like a good idea at the time.

“Is there anything I’ve forgotten to say? The beast shadows, the motive immunity, the third-floor rooms… art, nature, music.”

Miyu decided to stop speaking then and wait to see who would bite onto this.

#mahouichi #chrono #chapter six #mm trial #miyu #submission

0 notes