[AC-Phoenix]

Since Relentlessflame already pointed to this thread being lonely and unwanted I think its time we actually use it.
e//: Looks like it took me too long to write this up lol - so ignore the first sentence.


EP 8 to 10 Mystery:

Spoiler for Mystery - Theory:

First thing I did after seing the Movie-within movie was making a floor plan(just to get pissed in EP 9 when I saw that they did the same thing...)

I was actually pretty pissed about the character's theories too as one can easily rule them out by just watching 30 seconds of the movie within the movie
(Especially about that blunt Umineko and Phoenix Wright parody...)

So allow me submit this as evidence.(Floor plan I made after watching Movie-in Movie)
http://tinypic.com/r/2ilhf75/6

As you can see there is already a small summary of one of my theories written on the lower right corner - please ignore that for now and continue reading.
I'd also like to add that I forgot marking one of the entrances as bared don't worry though i did recognize it as a closed room in that summary too (note the pic with the cobwebs)

First off we have to analyze the situation:
While the room does certainly have more than one entrance (the window included 4) all other entrances than the door are bared as seen on the picture.
Since I already mentioned Umineko(and Hyouka made a parody to it) I'll thus write facts in red and theories in blue.


The key to the crime scene was locked within the room.

The master key was unguarded the entire time
The office where the key is kept was in everyone's vision no one could have gone there without taking a great risk of being seen. I therefore conclude that the master key is just a plot device to: 1st open the room and 2nd cast suspicion upon Sugimura and Senoue, it is thus not relevant to the murder.

The window was hard to open - thus no way in and out, furthermore the grass there was left undisturbed.

All indoor entrances, bar the door were bared, thus leaving the window and the door as the only ways in and out.

The window was hard to open, and the grass undisturbed, thus I conclude that the window was not used in this crime.

The murder weapon is missing.
None of the characters has clearly outed himself as the detective yet,therefore all the characters are suspicious and Knox 7th has no use atm.

The Knox Decalogue is the key to solve this crime, as stated by the director.

Kitou is dead.




Summarizing all those facts, only two suspects remain - Katsuta and Kounosu.
Please note that there are only three solutions to closed room murders:

1st) It was no locked room in the first place
2nd ) Culprit hid inside and used the confusion of the discovery to slip out, just to appear at a later point pretending to be shocked
3rd) the murder has never happened.


Now lets calmly analyze the situations for both of them:

Kounosu:

She is the only one being able to move down there undetected by Sugimura, therefore a very likely person to pull off the crime.

1st Part - ruling out the master key
It is notable that she was the one having suggested said mansion as a place to look and also knew about the last key being the master key(It was easy to guess though since it had several keys on it)
She was also the one laying out the keys and took hers shortly after the victim.
There were several ways to pull this off, one would be by using the balustrade thus jumping down to the location of the crime. This can however be ruled out as she would have needed the master key to re-lock the door, which is impossible, since there was even a second person going with her later when she got it for the person having opened it.

2nd Part - how she could have done it
The room she searched was the room right above the crime scene. Please note that I already indicated that she might have been in that house before in part 1.

Now please take a look at the picture I posted above again, specifically at the sub-picture where the cobwebs are marked.
While the Cobwebs and the shelf are not important something else in this picture is, namely the food elevator/laundry chute (whichever it is doesn't matter). If we now take a closer look at our suspect we will note that she is rather small and could easily fit in there, we have thus created another entrance to the room.
Another thing is that she is apparently good at climbing (which is btw why it doesn't matter if its a elevator or a chute) I'll consider it a food elevator as it would also explain where she got the knife if the room above was a kitchen.

[can someone please confirm what the crime scene door(not the plan, the door sign) and the room where she has been in(from the plan) are about?]

If it's a laundry chute, she simply brought the knife with her - either way it's a new way inside.
Both Laundry chute and elevator chute would btw explain the script writer's request for a rope able to easily carry a person, which is another hint pointing to her as the culprit.


Katsubata:
Many will now ask how he is able to be the culprit when he had to pass at least two people's possible line of sight - I honestly have to say I don't know. Lets for now say that he managed to sneak by them by an unknown method X, having killed Kaitou

The rest of modus operandi is rather unspectacular.
He simply claimed that the room was locked while it was not.
He was also the one having opened it later using the key - please note here that he first turned the key left and then back to its original position there was no full circle.
It is also not that unusual for a culprit to lie - he and all the witnesses are btw even allowed to lie or interpret things in their own way.


Motive:
We don't really know much about the characters so one can onyl speculate. But considering how a girl might very well be the culprit I'd say its jealously.
She had a crush on him but he had a crush on Yamanishi, thus not wanting to go out with her. Which would make her a typical yandere character.

You can apply a similar theory to Katsuta - he had a crush on Yamanishi but she was interested in Kaitou, so he decided to get rid of his rival.

Conclusion:
While both might very well I tend to say that it was indeed Kounosu. She looked kind of down the entire time and there was also the issue of the script writer asking for a rope that 'can easily carry a person' Plus she seems to be good at climbing.
Its either her or the guy - those characters are the only ones having had a chance to temper with the crime scene enough to make it look like a closed room murder.
And while my first theory was indeed about the guy being the culprit using said method, I now tend to Kounosu having committed the crime as this is the only way to explain the rope and getting rid of the chance of being seen by anyone while getting to the crime scene.
Yes - the chute is easy to miss, and something most people will subconsciously dismiss, as you can see I didn't even mark it on the picture as I only noticed that one could go through there when I looked at the picture again for making my theory.

Quod erat demonstrandum. - The prosecution rests

Edit: It goes without saying that Kounosu has locked the room and went back through the chute she used to enter the room.

Edit 2:
Another thing we should take not of is the severed arm, which is imho best to ignore, as the amount of blood the scriptwriter inteded does not point incline that the arm was meant to be used in the first place and is probably a mental fart of the prop team.
Other then that it could be the cause of death.

An additional option includding the arm would bee that it is fake in the first place and Kaitou jsut faked his death, that would however beat the purpose of the rope , so I suggest just ingoring that arm.

In the other thread someone also mentioned that Konousu is a small girl while kaitou was the sporrt-type. This does not change anything regarding my theory as he must have been pretty surprised when she emerged from that chute. Another fact is that the victim knew his killer and probably trusted her.

Feel free to comment