Reimu was barely aware of which direction she was going as Meiling led her to Remilia's room. The rooms and corridors of the mansion almost seemed to fold within themselves in an infinite loop. If she were left alone now, Reimu wasn't sure she'd be able to get out of this place without tearing a wall down.
?China, China, China~?
Cirno was still talking to herself, turning Meiling's new nickname into a strange, off-key song. The door guard grew more and more irritated with every verse, so eventually Reimu had to shut her up forcefully. She enjoyed it.
?Ow...?
Cirno rubbed her head as Meiling came to a halt again. If that wasn't enough to tell Reimu that this was Remilia's room, then the bright red door with an ornate bat-shaped handle would probably be enough to do the trick. She didn't need to guess which key served this door, either ? her hand naturally went for the gold-plated one. It fit in the lock effortlessly.
Guess our victim didn't really see the point in humility.
The interior of the room was just as elaborate as the front door had suggested. A dark scarlet paint hung on the walls, with a floor lined in velvet. A bed far too large for a girl Remilia's size was in one corner, along with a cupboard and chest of drawers made of an expensive-looking wood. The balcony door was well hidden behind an obscenely large pair of curtains, and Reimu noted that it was locked as well. Finding the key for it took a little more effort than the time before, but eventually she found it and stepped outside.
Looking down, she confirmed that the body had been found just at the bottom of the balcony. She could still make out the markings Cirno had left to indicate its previous location (a charming caricature of Remilia, with the words 'I am ded' hanging in some sort of speech bubble beside her). Meiling took a step into the room as Reimu returned from the balcony.
?We left it just as it was when the murder took place. No unlocking doors, no messing with the room, nothing.?
She stepped out and left the two to their investigation afterwards Reimu's brow creased as she thought over her last statement. On instinct she started to rummage through Remilia's drawers, and with surprisingly little effort found a pair of keys identical to the one's she'd used for the room's two doors. Cirno caught on to Reimu's discovery, eyeing up the keys curiously.
?Ooh, interesting. Verrrry interesting.?
She broke into another childish grin. Reimu sighed, already getting ready to refute the inevitable accusation.
?Well, ma'am, that just about wraps everything up, doesn't it? There's only one set of keys that the criminal could've used to lock the door behind them, and that's Miss Frilly-Maid. Case closed, the butler did it, Cirno strikes again!?
She punched the air as she celebrated, her feet never quite reaching the ground again afterwards. She fluttered about in the air, flying in a circle around Reimu who by now was clenching her hand up into a fist.
?So did I do good? Huh? Huh? Did I do good, ma'am? I figured it out by myself, didn't I? I'm the stronge-?
Cirno suddenly realised that Reimu had left her hand hanging out, still clenched, straight in her flight path. Needless to say, she wasn't very good at braking, and the inevitable collision left her with a pretty sore head.
It also nearly knocked Reimu's arm clean off.
Note to self. You are not a human roadblock.
?...Well, at least I got you to shut up.?
Reimu held her aching arm up with her spare one, wishing she'd managed to hold in her anger for just a second longer. The pain slowly dulled, and she hadn't broken anything, so overall it hadn't been a disastrous choice, at least.
?Look. She said herself that she went to bed early last night, right? And we've been told that she keeps her door unlocked, so anyone could've walked in and taken it.?
Cirno was shocked, almost offended by Reimu's words. She pouted.
?B-But come on! Claiming she happened to be asleep on the night of the murder? No alibi? How can you trust her?!?
?Call it a hunch.?
Without bothering to go into any more detail, Reimu got around to whipping out Nitori's latest invention. The bottle had a spray-head at the top, so it was easy enough to fire at the walls and floor of the room. Cirno was left with nothing to do as Reimu went about her business, flying over to Remilia's bed and falling on it with a flump.
?...Stupid Reimu...it's so obvious...?
Cirno let her head hang behind the side of the bed as she lay there having a huff. It took her a few seconds to realise something had fallen down there.
?...Huh??
Her hands clumsily reached out to grab at it, and as she pulled it out she realised it was a piece of paper. Quickly unfolding it and reading, Cirno's eyes bulged open.
?H-Hey, look at this!?
Reimu turned away from her unsuccessful blood-hunt, finally managing to resist her primal urge to knock out a few of Cirno's teeth. The fairy held the note out so that Reimu could read it with ease.
To Whom It May Concern,
It is with simultaneous guilt and relief that I inform you that I have decided to end my own life. After 500 years on this earth, I have reached the point where nothing excites me. Farewell to all of you.
~Remilia Scarlet
?See? This is it! Concrete proof! A bona-fide suicide note!?
Cirno was bouncing on the bed, hitting it with such force that Reimu was worried it would snap in two. She shared none of Reimu's enthusiasm.
?Doesn't make sense. How could she put it in a locked room? And why would she put it somewhere like that, where no-one would see it??
?Ah, well that's simple. Sakuya came in, found the note, panicked, hid it, locked the doors and left!?
It was a huge jump on Cirno's part, and besides that it was a stupid thing for Sakuya to do, but regrettably there was nothing Reimu could do to prove it was completely impossible. Right now there was a big lack of anything concrete in this case, and it was starting to piss her off.
?...Well, whatever. We need more info anyway before we can get anywhere. Bring that with you and we'll get moving.?
Cirno nodded, glad that at least one of her theories had made it through. She scrunched up the note into a little ball and stuffed it in a pocket before following Reimu out the door.
Meiling was nowhere to be found.
?Uh...you don't happen to know the way back, do you, ma'am??
?Nope.?
?...We're lost, aren't we??
?Uh-huh.?