Wolf Game Another: Chapter 1 Investigation

In the shower room, Yukinari examines Maki's dead body in the bathtub. He wonders if Ritsu was right about Kou killing Maki and then acting as though he'd been knocked out to deceive them. Aori and Yuuto are in the room with him, and after some side conversation, Aori says that with how much blood is in the tub, it's likely that the culprit stabbed her to death. She thinks it would be favorable to track down the weapon first, and asks where a bladed object would be.

In the armory, Yukinari finds the survival knives on the wall and wonders if the culprit used one to kill Maki. Miho and Shouma are also there, and at the mention of bladed objects, Shouma explains that he went to check the kitchen for knives. The knives in the kitchen were encased in a box, and the seal hadn't been opened yet, so it's unlikely they were used for the murder. Miho wagers that increases the chances that the survival knife was used, but points out that Takeo and Satoru were guarding the armory the night before. Even knowing how sharp Kou is, there was no way for him to get his hands on it with both of them guarding the room.

Shouma then brings up the scenario in which one of the two guards is the Wolf, but Miho quickly shoots that idea down, stating that if one of them acted suspiciously, then the other would've noticed. He supplements his first statement, asking if it's possible that both guards were suspicious, and Miho says it's too soon to make that assumption.

In the playroom, Yukinari finds Satoru drinking alcohol. He questions him on whether or not either he or Takeo left their post while guarding the armory the night before, and Satoru replies that Takeo took a break once during their shift, saying he wasn't feeling well. Yukinari then asks if he was alone during the time Takeo was gone, to which Satoru becomes defensive, thinking that Yukinari's suspecting him of killing Maki. Satoru claims to have an alibi, and tells Yukinari to talk to "the guy wearing glasses" to confirm his claim. Yukinari decides to go and find out if his alibi is solid.

He finds Osamu Nagai in the shower room with Aori and Misaki Mori. He asks if Osamu went to the armory the night before, and Osamu confirms that he did. Osamu then asks if Yukinari suspects Satoru of being the Wolf, to which Yukinari replies that Kou being the Wolf isn't a definitive thing, and he just wanted to check Satoru's alibi. Hearing that, Osamu tells Yukinari that his testimony might not be enough to prove Satoru's innocence. He wasn't there with him the entire time, meaning there was a span of time in which Satoru was completely by himself.

With Satoru still on the suspicion list, Osamu comments on how hard everyone's working on solving the mystery, then states that there was something about the body he was curious about too. He says that looking at the body closely, there aren't any signs of a struggle, and Misaki supplies that Maki's hair isn't even in disarray. Aori supplies that maybe Maki died instantly from a single stab to the heart, which leads to her noting that they haven't really looked at the corpse's wounds yet. She requests that Yukinari move the body out from the tub, and when he asks why, she cites that Osamu looks too weak and she doesn't want to get her white coat dirty.

He attempts to lift Maki's body out of the bathtub, but finds that he can't. He tells Aori that it's caught on something, and they decide to find another way to check the body's condition. Yukinari pulls at the bathtub's stopper, but something else is blocking the drain, preventing the blood from being emptied.

Yukinari finds a plunger in the kitchen to unblock the drain, but notices that Rintarou Iida and Takeo are in the kitchen talking and wonders what about. Rintarou asks Takeo who he thinks the Wolf is, and Takeo replies that Kou is the most suspicious by virtue of being at the scene and possibly lying about being attacked. Rintarou figured as much, but supplies that he thinks it's Ritsu. She was quick to pin Kou as the Wolf when they first discovered the body, and that might've been a ruse to get everyone to suspect Kou instead of herself. Yukinari considers that Ritsu is a possible suspect for the murder as well.

Rintarou calls out to Takeo again, this time asking if he's been rifling through the refrigerator because he's hungry. Takeo responds saying that he spent last night on guard duty and couldn't eat, and Rintarou remarks on how much food he's taking, wondering if he plans to eat all of it by himself. Takeo asks why he's staring so much, and Rintarou states that he's been in the kitchen observing people.

Yukinari thinks to himself that Rintarou is one of the participants to be on the lookout for, then realizes that he needs to go unstop the bath drain. Once back in the shower room, he sets about draining the blood from the tub with the plunger, and they search the body for wounds. On the side of Maki's corpse, they find a puncture wound, which leads Aori to suspect that she was stabbed and died from blood loss. Taking into account her cause of death being blood loss, Misaki figures that makes Kou the Wolf since he was covered in blood that was presumably the splashback from the stabbing.

Aori calls out to them again and points out that there are wounds on Maki's neck as well. Looking at the body, they find what looks to be bruising in the shape of hands. Aori suggests that she might've been strangled, which leads the rest of them to wonder why if she was killed from being stabbed.

In the common room, Yukinari finds Satoru and realizes that since he's a doctor, he could probably make a judgment on Maki's cause of death. He asks Satoru if he can check on the corpse, and Satoru hesitates, eventually revealing that he can't stand blood. Yukinari is surprised considering he's a doctor, but Satoru points out that he's a psychiatrist. He starts to hyperventilate at the thought of blood and takes some medication to calm himself down.

Satoru mentions that he can't stand the sight of the bathtub filled with blood, and Yukinari assures him that all of the blood's been drained before half-forcing him to the shower room. Satoru takes a look at the puncture wound on the body and judges that it likely isn't what killed her. Misaki brings up all the blood, and Satoru tells her that it was just the blood dispersing in the tub water, making it look like there was a lot.

With Satoru's statement, they determine that Maki died of strangulation and not from being stabbed. Taking that into account, Misaki states that if Kou killed Maki, then he would've had to strangle her first, then go out of his way to also slash her in the side. Yukinari wonders why he would've had to do that, then suggests that maybe he meant to kill her by stabbing her, but ended up having to strangle her instead. They take it into consideration as a possibility, and Yukinari decides to keep an eye on Kou to see if he does anything suspicious.

He finds Kou in the playroom talking to himself about having cleaned the blood off of his clothes, and Kou immediately notices Yukinari there watching him. Yukinari brings up the fact that he told everyone he'd heard a noise in the shower room and asks him to expand on that. Kou explains that the sound he heard was running water, and hypothesizes that it was when the culprit was filling the tub with water. Yukinari asks him why he's not sure, and he mentions that the shower room light was off when he went in. He figures Yukinari doesn't believe his story, but is adamant about not being the Wolf.

Merry appears shortly after to tell them that it's time for the Wolf Trial.