Chapter 358: Arc 5, - 52: Cause of Death?
How long had it been exactly? How much of the evidence was removed? How much had the crime scene been altered? How much could she glean and resist the temptation to pursue anything beyond this room?
"You’re back," Hotaru turned—her voice sombre. "Are you two okay?"
"Yeah, just lost him," Fumeko let the smell of blood envelope her without care as she walked in. She observed the wrists and avoided the face, "We’re supposed to be inconspicuous about investigating wolfy."
"I’m not a coroner, I have to try at least," the redhead gave a sigh. "It’s not like much of a trace is left behind."
Fumeko glanced back to see an elf who stood by the door. Asobi simply pouted and looked past the body, towards the window—her wand gripped in both hands.
The fresher-looking circles and squares on the carpet, cleared vanity and missing bedsheets—most of the clutter had been cleaned out. The circular wooden frame took up most of the room.
She had to force her head to turn to the body and examine it. The brunette had a task in mind, but someone already beat her to it, "Found something Alicia?"
"Something dreadfully curious, yeah," Alicia gave some space and pointed. The victim’s shirt had been open and above her navel, there they were—the dissipating runes. "Figured to check the thing we still can’t understand."
"How would you know about that?" Hotaru’s eyes narrowed.
"Oh, I have my ways," Alicia responded without looking.
Hotaru’s gaze went to Fumeko. Fumeko on the other hand, was much too focused on the faint crimson glow of the runes. These runes made up a much longer line than the ones they had discovered before and was disappearing slowly from the leftmost rune.
"Count the number," Fumeko whispered to herself. Sixteen she counted, before she spoke aloud, "The company still hasn’t decoded it. With six runes before, a word might’ve been harder to find.