I mean, that’s fair enough. Again, it more comes down to people paying more attention to each other and their own food in my mind than a letter nobody really cared about. While they would of course see it and subconsciously take notice of it, because nobody else had brought it up and because every person already had something else on their mind, they wouldn’t register it to the point where they would immediately notice something was wrong. That’s how I viewed it, at least. Then again, it could just be the fact that I’m the kind of person that probably wouldn’t notice something like that so.
Regarding the questions:
Truth be told, it didn’t really matter when the letter was taken, given that there were clear passages of time after the letter was brought up. Krauss really could’ve just simply misplaced it or dropped it; possibly even while moving Kinzo. It’s not a detail I harped on too much given that the narrative itself kind of takes it for granted it was kind of gone.
Genji could’ve figured it out mainly because of what Hideyoshi had been distracted by when he wasn’t looking - he would be fiddling with the chain. Obviously, some grunts and comments by Hideoyshi as he did it, plus the sound of the chain itself would’ve been enough of a tip-off to give Genji the green light to move quickly. Alternatively, perhaps he managed to peek through the gap the mirror would’ve made with the little passage the door was in.
Whatever sound she could’ve made would’ve been drowed out by Krauss freaking out and the commotion at the door. And the fact that she wouldn’t have been noticed, coupled with the fact that she knew Genji would come back to finish her off if she simply did nothing, pretty much ensured that she would try going for broke and reaching for the gun. Alternatively, you could argue the conditions of the game included her not being allowed to make any noises or something of the sort.
Regarding the other comments:
My idea of a reliable observer is one that makes no omission when it comes to events themselves as they are playing out. Beyond that, any thoughts and genuine surprises the narrator lets the reader in should serve as a way of the narrator letting the player into their genuine emotions, and more or less telling the player whether or not there’s something fishy going on with those specific events. Since Krauss indeed was innocent and omitted nothing regarding the actual events, I can’t personally consider him unreliable. And even then, I can’t particularly think of a point where him going “well, shit, they know about Shannon”. Even when the detective accused him, I think it’s more natural, as someone as prideful and emotionally devastated as he was, to be more questioning the absurdity of the general overall accusation rather than have him reflect on the whole affair. And even then, keep in mind that the entire story was basically being written by Krauss as him representing the story to a third party. And given his situation, I can’t imagine him writing about his affair so openly. Is it misdirection? Perhaps, but not one I consider a breach of the player’s trust. I do admit there was a game where I did stretch it, but I’ve never resorted to a flat-out misrepresentation of the situation or the basic chain of events.
Nah, the image in the background of Aftermath is actually just Black Battler, who I threw in for shits and giggles because of the fact the suspicion was initially so hard on Battler’s shoulders, and figured it’d be neat. Plus, y’know. Black Battler. The inclusion of Virgilius was me just throwing in something I found interesting while reading about what Land could’ve been.
Regarding the drop-down thing, it’s something I learned myself recently. When making the post, click the little options gear and select ‘hide details’. That’ll give you a block to work with.
Regarding Rune’s point…
While it’s true it couldn’t have been completely silenced, I imagined all the doors and windows would’ve been closed, it would’ve been significantly less noticable than the gunshot Jessica had fired off. Not an ideal explanation, admittedly, as I wasn’t actually aware of that (I once saw a silencer attached to something that looked like a revolver in Payday 2 and thought “oh alright good enough”).