Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward Part #31

Part 31: [continued]

Luna was dead.

I blinked.
She lay there; still, dead, and pale.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes again.
Another breath. I stood up, and realized K was talking.

Listen in: [English/Japanese]

See here...? This device is some sort of syringe.

You can just put whatever you want in one of these vials, and then pull the trigger.

The drug they used is the same as well.

The muscle relaxant.

Yes.

Since it's empty, I can only assume Luna was injected with it.

I believe it is safe to assume that is where her attacker injected the drug.
Perhaps they chose the neck for the carotid artery?

Then your guess is probably correct.
Luna was injected with tubocuarine, and it killed her.

Should I go get them?

No, never mind.
I want to get your story first.

What do you mean?

When you left us, you and Luna went off together, right?

Yes.

But when we talked to Dio downstairs, he said he'd only seen you, not Luna.
Why is that?

Luna and I split up as soon as we got to floor B.
We determined it would be more efficient. Two of us working separately could cover more ground in less time.

All right... So why were you late?

What?

You didn't show up til 20 minutes past the time we were supposed to meet.
Sigma's asking what you were doing.

Uh... resuscitating?

Let me explain how I found her.
I had gone to the warehouse 5 minutes before our meeting time.
You had yet to show up, as had Luna.
I believe I was standing between the yellow and cyan doors.

It came from behind the cyan door, and sounded like a woman's scream.
...Well, it was actually quite faint.
It was several doors away, after all.
And as such, I couldn't quite make out what was being said.
Or even if I had heard it at all.
It seemed entirely possible that I'd imagined it.
I heard no other sounds for a few minutes following the scream.
Eventually the silence made me uncomfortable.
Perhaps something had happened.
So I made my way to the crew quarters.

That was when I first suspected something was amiss.
You can imagine the rest, I'm sure.
I ran into the room and found Luna on the floor.

Yes. I deduced that she had been injected with tubocuarine.
Her heart had stopped, so I attempted CPR.

Why didn't you tell us?

Because I had no reason to believe you would be in the warehouse.
If you weren't, I would have wasted precious time.
I chose instead to begin resuscitation immediately.
As you know, even a short time without oxygen can cause serious brain damage.
I felt time was of the essence.

But...

How much time passed between when you heard the scream and when you came in here and found her?

I'm afraid I can't say exactly, but I would hazard a guess that it was around 3 minutes.

Did you see the killer?

No, I did not.

Then, they had 3 minutes to escape.

That would have been plenty of time.
When you leave this room, immediately to your left is a door that connects to the hallway.
I assume they left that way.

No.
I examined the room thoroughly before I left to find you.

...

Listen in: [English/Japanese]

Yeah, sure.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with Luna, but there was something else I wanted to point out.
Look at Alice. Do you notice anything?

...

It's gone!

Indeed.
The wound suggests a knife, but I doubt we'll know now.

Then did the killer take it?

How would I know?

Maybe they took it before Luna was murdered...

Why are you asking me?

Hmm... Yeah, that would make sense...

What?

I wouldn't kill anyone.

This is hypothetical.

I would choose the injection gun.

Right? Most people would choose that.
The more you divorce yourself from the actual killing, the easier it is to kill someone. There's a big difference between stabbing someone and injecting them with poison.

No. I don't know either way.
They could have taken it afterwards. There's no way for us to know.

Could they have done that in the 3 minutes before K got here?

It's not impossible. Three minutes is longer than you think.

We came here to get Alice's bracelet, and then K came by later...
There was probably about a 30 minute window.
Anyone could have taken it.

They might not even have been the same person who killed Luna.
Or it could be. There really isn't any way to know. And if we don't know, we really shouldn't try and draw conclusions.
That could color our reasoning, and that's not good.
Conclusions without evidence are useless.

Well, I think that about covers it.
We clear?

...
Yeah.

Good.

...

About Luna, you mean?

Yeah.

We should go to the white doors, then.

Dio should still be there. Hopefully, Tenmyouji and Clover will be there as well.

Yeah, good point. Once it's time to open that door, I'm sure they'll show up.

Please, take this with you.

Listen in: [English/Japanese]

Is something the matter?
You and Phi are the magenta pair.
Without the green solo bracelet, you won't be able to open the secondary door.

I know... It's just...

Then...

If you don't wish Luna's death to be meaningless, then you must survive.
Or do you intend to die without catching her killer?

...
...Right. Yes.

[Music fades out]

Wait...

...?

Shit...

Did something happen?

No... Well... Not yet.

Ah... Excuse me?

God... What the hell is wrong with me?
How did I miss this...
I'm sorry. This is all my fault.
It's just... there was so much going on. I wasn't thinking...

What is it, goddamnit?!
What did you miss?!

...