trusthell | Take Responsibility.

There's a door at the juncture of the building, to the south of Room 10 and to the west of Room 16; it blends well with the wall, and it's difficult to notice unless you're staring directly at it. Either way, however, it's just appeared to be dead space – after all, were it something vitally important, surely it would have been unlocked before now, wouldn't it? The Wordsmith has promised to provide for you all.

That door is open now.

It's hard to say when it opened; it simply...seems to have, without anyone visible unlocking it. But the fact of the matter is that it's open, and the room beyond seems to be a holding area – somewhere to wait while the elevator beyond the threshold arrives.

Its doors opened without it being called; it seems it was sent from elsewhere, given that there are no call buttons anywhere to be seen. The doors slide open, revealing enough space for all of you; it won't be terribly comfortable, but it'll be safe – the ride itself is fast and smooth, without any alarming shaking or noise that implies you should probably be concerned about the contraption.

It's noticeable, though, that the elevator is bringing you upward.

The door opens into what seems to have been, appropriately enough for a university, a grand lecture hall – it's all polished wood and no windows, with several rows and aisles of seats to be occupied by students set behind long tables for note-taking and doing assignments. Each individual area is outfitted with vaguely outdated-looking lamps designed to make it a little easier to see exactly what one is writing. The front of the room, though, has been cleared out and remodeled, in a big way, and that's where the aisles lead you, clearly where you're supposed to go - in the center of the room is a circle of podiums, thirty in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium.

(They're all the same height, but the smaller among you will find that there are a couple of steps behind your podium, leading up to a raised platform for you to stand on so you can see over it. It's a little more dignified, at least, than needing someone to fetch a box.)

All of the podiums are identical, outside of the abovementioned physical accommodations, except for the one intended for Adelina. The podium that should bear Securing's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Adelina's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale.

To the north of the podium circle, behind where everyone is standing, is the lectern – a tall podium raised several feet off the ground, presumably where the professor delivering the lessons for the day would stand such that they could be seen and heard by everyone in the room. For the time being, however, that particular podium is empty.

That doesn't mean you won't be addressed, however; once you've all found your places, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard above any ambient noise that may be present.

'In accordance with Rule Seven, the party responsible for the death of Securing must avoid detection in order to end the exercise here at the university. Which means, naturally, that you will all be given a fair chance to foil that attempt. That is why you are all here today.

To the innocent: seek justice for your fallen Apprentice. To the guilty: be prepared to take responsibility for your actions, should they succeed.'

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Depending on the course of events, who had the knife, and when, it could easily be a mixture of both possibilities as well.

Yes...

[ Hmm... ]

If it was a mixture of them both or simply a form of B, we'd also have to consider that she may have opened the door for someone as well, right?

I imagine she would have had to, wouldn't she? That or it was left open when she walked into her room.

Her room key was on her trunk, so it's probably safe to assume that she just left her door open when she left to go make a bowl of canned tomatoes. [ Ass...uming that that's really wanted happened in the first place. ] I'm pretty sure it's her key, at least.

[ It was in her room after all? It's not like these things have numbers or anything on them, so. ]

[ He thinks about what they discussed earlier, hmm... ]

Then, let's go with the scenario Adelina left her room by herself for a late night snack, and left the door open. As you have proposed, Kira, Adelina may have tried to open the can with a knife on her way back to her room. Some of the mess sprays on the walls, but then around this time she's attacked by her assailant. The assailant boldly tries to grab the knife out of her hands as they're wrestling around with each other in the hallways. In the middle of this, somehow the can of tomatoes also makes an impact on the door, or something else, but I'm not sure how that happens or what it may be entirely.

Then, at some point, Adelina's dress is torn a little at the bottom. Maybe it was caught on something, which could be the knife. The knife is eventually is caught in the wall, making a mark, but becoming chipped as a result. Then, this person probably goes for strangling her while still in the hallway...?

Any thoughts?

Why would an empty can be in the kitchen if she was opening it on the way to her room?

That's an excellent question. If I had murdered someone my first thought wouldn't be 'I should put this can back in the kitchen, better not make a mess'.

Even if they did think of it, there would be a pretty small window for them to do it, since the kitchen is locked at night.

A very small window indeed. It's possible that they could have returned it while we were all making a commotion over towards Adelina's room, but that would be risky if someone didn't want to head in that direction. And otherwise...

I know we found her body almost immediately after being woken up by the chiming of the clock. Wordsmith, does the kitchen unlock exactly at that time, or does it unlock sometime earlier?

The kitchen unlocks at that time.

Hmm, I guess that conclusion is out if the kitchen unlocks exactly at the time the body is found.

[ Since there was an answer given regarding that. ]

If that's the case, then it wouldn't make sense for the killer to have brought the can back with them to the kitchen. It'd have been too late by then and silly to try to take it during investigation.

So we can probably assume the can was left in the kitchen? But that leaves the question what hit the door... doesn't it?

[ He might have an idea in that case, but it may sound ridiculous?? Who knows... ]

[ Hmmm. ]

Silver mentioned the kitchen had a bowl of crushed tomatoes and an empty can, so it's more likely that she was carrying the bowl, or... Maybe she made a mess crushing the tomatoes in the kitchen and she went back to her room to change into something else? Her school uniform was set out.

[ ...she isn't a detective person, she doesn't put things together, that's not her job!!! ]

[ Considering a change of career isn't entirely a bad thing!! ]

I think that does solve the mystery of why she had taken the clothes out, at least. Does it make sense to assume she anticipated she'd be making a mess of herself and set her clothes out beforehand?

Take Responsibility.

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paging wordsmith!

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