Incoherent
Japan Sleuth
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2024
- Messages
- 223
- Reaction score
- 1,731
Yes the theory as to why Yasuko took Niina down the ladder is because they thought the killer had gone, but he had actually just gone to the kitchen for another knife as the sashimi knife had broken and wasn’t effective anymore.Looking at her final resting place, it seems the killer ambushed her a 2nd time as she was about to enter Rei’s room or exiting from it, both of which would mean she was checking in on him. Ofcourse it could very well be that someone ( the killer/Nina) told her about Rei’s deatg and she went in to confirm.
Then once at the bottom of the ladder whether they looked into Rei’s room or not just speculation, but I’m going to guess since they had both just been stabbed and Mikio was dead at the bottom of the staircase, if she had even 0.5 seconds of time before the killer reappeared she looked into that room for her son. Rei was making no noise, no movement, and from the landing Yasuko would see at least that the room had been disturbed. I think at this point it’s pretty obvious to her that her son was not ok, whether she could physically see him or not.
Here is an image I posted earlier of the ladder position in relation to its surroundings:
![IMG_3035.jpeg IMG_3035.jpeg](https://www.websleuths.com/forums/data/attachments/480/480637-81212a51e33fb7824d05635f728fe234.jpg)
You are right that the diagram has it pushed too far back.
Yasuko would have seen Mikio dead at the bottom of the stairs while she went down it IMO.
But it is worth noting that the landing area is incredibly cramped, so even just Niina and Yasuko lying on the floor would stretch into Rei’s bedroom and as far as the staircase.
At the bottom of the ladder there is blood that could not be scrubbed off and soaked into the wood, which is where Niina finally died.