The culprit/accomplice knocked on the door waking Rudolf up. Rudolf got into his wheelchair and unlocked the door. The culprit/accomplice forced themselves inside the room, closed the door, and shot Rudolf (Kyrie didn’t hear a thing because she was under the influence of powerful sleeping pills). The accomplice and the culprit worked together to return Rudolf to his bed. The culprit put duct tape all over the windows while the accomplice painted the circle over the bed (or vice-versa). The accomplice left the room while the culprit locked the door again and returned the key to its original position. The culprit then put duct tape all over the door. The culprit then hid inside Kyrie and Rudolf’s bed and waited there until morning. Kyrie checked many places, but not the inside of the very bed. Once Kyrie left the room, the culprit followed her and escaped the room.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, my characters are kinda… ehh since it’s been so long since I read everything, so I just kinda wing it and go with whatever works. Kanon and Kyrie are out of character as well, anyway.
Now, onto your theory.
If that was the case:
◈ Why did Shannon not mention Kinzo having gun? Or see him fire it, for that matter? It’s strongly implied - practically stated, really - his episode started after Shannon entered the room. She would’ve seen him fire that thing off. If she’s innocent, she would’ve also had no reason to hide it.
◈ Why did the group seeing Kinzo freak out not mention him having a gun?
◈ Why did Kanon not mention finding a gun that was not supposed to be there while cleaning the place up?
◈ In this case, Genji would be considered an accomplice - because he took the gun from Kinzo and placed it back in the room. While he might’ve not thought much of it at the time, given the circumstances after the body was found, how would Kinzo not have been his prime suspect? Why did he keep quiet about this? From that point on, not saying anything does essentially make him an accessory.
◈ Most importantly however, remember - Kyrie looked at the ceiling and found nothing wrong with it. She would’ve found the bullet hole, had Kinzo shot through the room above.
I should note, perhaps, that the accomplice definition should be taken as broadly as possible. Meaning that one person had to have been responsible for every action taken in this murder, pretty much.
Putting aside the fact that there are no accomplices allowed (which in this case is fine, from this theory, there’s really no need for an accomplice anyway - these actions you’ve described could’ve been handled by one person just fine)…
There was nobody hiding inside of the bed.
Furthermore, a more important issue is the issue of alibis and the time of death. When could’ve the culprit possibly done this, if Rudolf was killed when he was?
Well, since his episode was described in rather vague and violent terms I have assumed that everyone who witnessed it just tried to describe it in just as vague terms for politeness sake, omitting the reckless gun usage for that very reason.
Am I supposed to take this as Red Truth? Only if you can guarantee that the ceiling had no bullet hole, I can withdraw my blue truth.
You can generally assume that there’s no reason for pleasantries. People will note the important stuff. There’s no reason to omit things that are ultimately relevant to solving the murder, especially since there’s only one guilty party.
It’d be pretty unfair of me to have the narration state that there was no bullet holes, EXCEPT THAT ONE SHE DIDN’T FIND MWAHAHA. But fair’s fair. There was indeed no bullet hole in the ceiling of Rudolf and Kyrie’s bedroom.
First of all Kyrie didn’t hear the shot because of the sleeping pills she stated herself to be the extra strong type, however everyone else heard it, Kanon mistook it for a thunder and so the time of death was between 11:40 and 11:53.
From here on, there are a few possible culprits, but this is my favourite theory: It was agreed that Nanjo should stay in the mansion in case anything else happened with Kinzo, however, trying to conceal the pitiful state of their Master, they decided to lie about Nanjo’s actions as if nothing strange had happened. Earlier that day, when Genji was cleaning the gun room, Nanjo stole one of the guns there, already with a plan to kill Rudolf, Genji didn’t notice the disappearance of the stolen gun. Around 11:50PM, Nanjo knocked on the door, Rudolf opened it and let Nanjo in, Nanjo shoots Rudolf and seals the room completely, he hides inside the closet, after Kyrie wakes up, he notices when she goes to the bathroom, leaves the closet and hides under the bed, it was never stated she double checked anywhere so there’s no guarantee the culprit couldn’t change their hiding spot. After leaving the room, Nanjo notifies Genji about a gun he found on Kinzo’s study, Genji, thinking it was another fit of Kinzo, puts the gun back on its place and pretends it had been there the whole time.
I suppose this covers it all, but please feel free to ask for elaboration anywhere.
A “no accomplice” game is no fun if people can still lie to that degree. Had there been a conspiracy of any kind to lie about Nanjo’s movements, they would’ve immediately been labeled as accomplices. They’re not idiots - given the circumstances and Kyrie’s own words, Nanjo would’ve been the obvious suspect. Not speaking up makes them undoubtedly guilty.
In other words - given there’s no room for lying. Genji, Kumasawa, Shannon and Gohda are all people that should’ve been able to verify Nanjo’s movements. Just one of them lying (regardless of their intentions) and then going with it after the revelation about the murder makes them an accomplice.
Think of it like this. You give a nice white lie, thinking you’re helping a friend out - say that he was with you at a certain time. And then you find out that someone was murdered, your friend is a suspect, and he says to the police he was with you at the time of the murder - the time he asked you to lie about. If you confirm his story, you are an accessory. And in this case, had they been lying for Nanjo’s sake - who in this theory is the culprit - they are accessory to the culprit and his plans.
That’s basically what the definition of accomplice also includes.
Earlier that day, when Genji was cleaning around the mansion just as stated in the narration, Kinzo stole one of the guns there during one of his fits, Genji didn’t notice the disappearance of the stolen gun. Around 11:50PM, Kinzo pretended to be asleep, and when Shannon and Nanjo left the study, he escaped it and knocked on the door to Rudolf’s room, Rudolf opened it and let Kinzo in, Kinzo shoots Rudolf and seals the room completely, he hides inside the closet, after Kyrie wakes up, he notices when she goes to the bathroom, leaves the closet and hides under the bed, it was never stated she double checked anywhere so there’s no guarantee the culprit couldn’t change their hiding spot. After leaving the room, Kinzo steals the key of the gun room, Genji never said anything about the key staying under his supervision during that morning, and all ther servants were in a rush, so it’s possible that he used the agitated state they were in to get the key, return the gun to it’s place and finally return the key to Genji’s possession without anyone noticing.
Kinzo really was asleep when Shannon and Nanjo left the study. He would be asleep for hours afterwards.
And even so, seeing as how Nanjo and Shannon came down at around midnight, the murder would happen just by the skin of its teeth… but I suppose I could let that slide for the time being, even if it’s not quite elegant.
Thanks. Yeah, I just went back and re-read the line saying no bullet holes. I initially thought that odd because she also said that the ceiling was covered with one of Beatrice’s mandalas, so I actually thought it could be possible that the bullet hole was just painted over. Which of course makes no sense if you assume that Kyrie is the one painting it over.
Okay, fine, let’s go from a different angle. TsukiyoAlex is absolutely right that the gun shot was the thunder heard by Kanon and the siblings. Therefore everyone in the parlor and in the cousin’s room has an alibi. There is no accomplice, so if we assume Kyrie isn’t the killer but was knocked out by the sleeping pills, we just need someone to enter the room, kill Rudolf, paint the ceiling, put on the the duct tape and then ‘vanish’ somehow… Let me just spraypaint this whole story with blue in my best Battler-voice:
The culprit was still hiding in the room at the time Kyrie woke up!
When Godah left for the Guest House, he seems to be the only one out of sight of the other servants. At the time of the murder, Shannon and Nanjo were together with Kinzo, the cousins were together, Kanon was with the siblings and Genji was together with Kumasawa. Which means under the assumption that nobody is lying, Godah is the only one who could have committed the crime in the timeframe between 11.40 and 11.53
I will accept this as a possibility, coupled with Alex’s explanation.
There’s just one tiny issue… and it’s your very next blue.
Gohda was seen in the bar area of the guesthouse by Shannon and Nanjo as they returned from the mansion - which would’ve been after midnight, which would’ve been after Rudolf was already dead. The mansion was, in addition, locked up at the time, so he couldn’t have returned to it, much less Rudolf and Kyrie’s bedroom.
Meaning that, if you want to go with the idea the culprit was hiding in the room, Gohda can’t possibly be your man.
Except he could have left the window at the crime scene open. There was nobody awake to check that one.
Edit: Err, nevermind. I forgot if he had opportunity to kill people before midnight.
Let’s try a new one instead: Shannon slipped out while Kinzo was having his episode. Kinzo was clearly not a reliable witness at that point so he didn’t notice. She went and shot Rudolf, then returned, but left the window open.
Later after going to sleep, she came back and hid in the room after taping everything up.
Huh. So he could’ve. I genuinely didn’t think of that.
Oh, well!
Let us say that the moment Genji locked the front door of the mansion, all of the entrances and exits to and from the mansion were indeed closed and locked! This includes the window to Kyrie and Rudolf’s room! Naturally, “the moment” here refers to the time Genji locked the mansion after Shannon and Nanjo. No deceptions there!
It’s not a terrible red to give, since I wanted to suggest as much in the story itself.
Okay, then allow me to probe something:
From the time of the murder up until Kyrie woke up, someone used the door of Rudolf’s and Kyrie’s room to leave and re-enter it.
I’m thinking that the murderer applied the seal only after an alibi was ensured.
I’m afraid this blue falls into the category of being too vague for me to respond. How would this change anything, if I were to confirm or deny it? It doesn’t solve the issue of the alibis - or the time of death, for that matter. Even if the seal was planted afterwards, what does it change? The murder still had to happen when it did, after all. And for that period, seemingly everyone has an alibi.
Therefore, you are free to assume whatever you wish. If you want to think the culprit did what you think they did, by all means!
Mmh… Okay, I used to know what I was doing with it, but now I forgot. So I’m trying something else. Kanon’s narration from the moment he left Genji and Kumasawa in the kitchen is unreliable and he went to kill Rudolf instead.
From here on I can craft another theory.
I can assume that Shannon didn’t notice Kanon being in her room when she arrived there and slumped down in her bed. In your recap of the servants’ alibis she never mentioned seeing him and he was never mentioned again after Genji sent him out of the kitchen. Therefore I can claim that he spent the night in the sealed room
Kanon’s own narration however puts him in the guesthouse well after midnight, when he himself witnesses the moment Shannon walked into the room. And at that point the entire mansion was sealed up, making it impossible for him to get back to it and into Rudolf and Kyrie’s room. Meaning he wouldn’t have been able to spend a night in it. So how would’ve the locked room been constructed?
Ah, sorry. Umineko broke my trust in regards to every POV, so I was looking whether there were still any gaps even after your insistence that both are reliable.
Fine… Willard is going to rip me a new one for that, but how about: The butler did it! Kanon met up with the cousins at 11.53 and before that left Genji with Kumasawa behind. Nanjo and Shannon left for the guest house shortly before midnight, with Genji and Kumasawa waiting for them together, but it is not clear whether the two of them remained together afterwards. So it is possible for Genji to have committed the crime. He then sealed the window and left through the door, stored away the gun, pretended to go to sleep in the servant’s room to get an alibi by Kumasawa and then returned to the crime scene to seal the door and hide in the closet.
The culprit was Genji. At the time the gunshot was heard, he should be cleaning the dining room with Kumasawa, but maybe he left for a while to get some cleaning products in the storage room, there was a gun there, he knocked on the door to Rudolf’s bedroom, Rudolf opens the door and is shot, Genji then closes the door and leaves, returning to his duty on the dining room as nothing happened, after all, he’s extremely good at not showing emotions on his face. Sometime before 8:15AM, Genji leaves the servants’ room and hides somewhere in Rudolf’s room after sealing it entirely, he entered the room because the door was either left unlocked or he took the key and put it back after entering the room a seconf time, after Kyrie wakes up, she starts searching the room while he keeps changing his location not to be found, after Kyrie leaves the room Genji leaves it too and keeps acting as if nothing happened.
Agh, I have no idea how to efficiently quote while on phone: this post is for the two theories above. I’ll cut through both of them simultaneously.
When we’re talking about alibis, you can assume that once someone was in a group, should they have left it any point, that absence would’ve been noted. If it was not, assume they were in the group for the duration of the interval. In other words, Kumasawa and Genji did check the mansion after locking it up together, and Genji was in the dining room cleaning it with others for the duration of that interval. I guarantee you this.
After all, someone just casually just not being around their group due to some arbitrary reason not even hinted in the narrative defeats the purpose of this little alibi shebang, doesn’t it?
I also saw it mentioned in discord, so figured I should cut through this as well: The only guns on the island are indeed only kept in the gun room.
