trustfell | Take Responsibility.

This particular investigation was likely a difficult one, for various reasons; whether through frustration or sheer disgust at the level of depravity involved, it's been a long day already.

It doesn't seem like it will get any easier by the time the door to the courtroom unlocks, gently swinging open to allow everyone downstairs.

As always, the stairwell is dark, but the courtroom is already lit up down below, a thin amount of light bouncing up the corridor to guide everyone downstairs; the podium circle stands stark and silent in the center, marking spots for both the living and the dead; by now, the latter far outnumber the former.

Kirei, Milla, Angel, and Susan have all had their spots altered, their podiums draped in black cloth and their portraits set atop them; they'll be joining those watching all of you in greyscale as you work today. Do you think you'll do them justice?

Either way and as always, the thirty-sixth podium remains empty and unadorned.

Once everyone has found their place in the circle, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he doesn't seem to have settled any from the investigation.

"Peerless, Edifying, and Adroit have all been taken from you - and hey, it looks like you found all of them, we appreciate that. But even if you hadn't, you'd still be down here, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you what you have to do as a result of everything that's happened. This is another one of those things that's either gonna be great or it's going to be terrible, though maybe I'll add in a third option of 'interesting' this time, just due to the setup.

As always, you know what's going on here - the innocent versus the guilty. Seventh time lucky, maybe. As always, do your best!"

Thirteen Participants remain. We'll see how many leave here at the end of the day.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You found a note too?

[ Hi, Alex hates this. She places one on her podium. ]

I think I found the ending. Just so you know, killer? Not funny! I- ...I investigated the music room, and there was, um...a severed hand on the piano. Wire was used to point the fingers- [ ugh. give her a moment. ] ...in the direction of the note. It was hidden in the string instruments.

[ Hoooo boy. ]

Besides all that BS. I found Susan's medical toolbox. It was open a little? There were...surgical gloves, gauze, and tape missing, and it had...blood splattered on its corner.

...Did we find gauze on any of the bodies? I didn't see it on Angel.

I did not find any on Milla. Nor did I see any medical tape.

[...so what does that mean, then? Hm.]

Two of the victims had defensive wounds however, yes? If the culprit really did come at Milla with a sword, well... Her weapon of choice was a sword.

...They'd have had to have been good with one themselves, if they intended to come at her with one, right?

If you're saying they had a sword duel, we'd be missing one and a half of the blades involved then.

Well, I don't know how many people actually happen to know that little fun fact. They at least had the confidence that they could take her.

You're following my train of thought, then. Our culprit might be injured as well.

Yeah. Maybe it'd be a good idea to look at people's hands and arms first, then.

[ Granted he usually just thinks of hands first, but maybe the secondary is likely as well. ]

We can also do a clothing check. Regardless of why the tourniquets were made, we found them.

[She holds up the scraps of black fabric she found.]

I'm not sure what these used to be, but I was thinking at the time they might have come from someone's clothes. I doubt they're still wearing the ripped up ones, but what everyone is and isn't wearing might be just as good to keep in mind.

...

[Kyrie thinks for a moment]

Don't we have a sewing room? It's more likely the fabric came from there.

Wouldn't they bother to cut it properly if they got it from there? This fabric is ripped.

We could. So I guess to get it over with, at the same time.

[ He's going to come along and do a check of those things, then. Though... he wouldn't mind having a second set of eyes as he does so. ]

I'm gonna go ahead and get right on that, then. If you want, you can look over too in the event I miss something.

[ Or anyone else can as well, but yeah. Off he goes. ]

Yeah, I'll follow behind you.

[To the check!]

[He nods.]

With two different people fighting back, one with combat experience, I would be surprised if they came out completely unscathed.

[Rin frowns.]

There's only one thing that bothers me about that. Well, two things actually, when I think about it.

[Rideaux tilts his head slightly, curious.]

Go on?

I've been half wondering if the culprit was injured this entire time, actually. When you revealed Milla was a skilled swordswoman I thought I was getting a clearer picture... Except... [Rin folds her arms, tapping her foot.] The entirety of her battle probably took place on the fourth floor, right? We found her body and her legs there.

But the thing that made me think the culprit was injured actually had more to do with the blood around Angel's body. There was a lot, as expected, but... She was pretty slight. I've been wondering if it was just me overthinking it, because it wasn't off by a huge amount, but I think there was more there than you would get from someone her size.

It made me wonder if the blood wasn't just hers, and if someone was injured while they were close by her.

...Now that is interesting.

[He thinks about it a little...]

I wouldn't say I found more blood than would be expected at Milla's scene, but I also couldn't imagine someone attempting to fight her if they had already lost enough blood for you to take special notice of it.

There's two possibilities to it, the way I see things. I think Susan tried to help Angel. Maybe she came across her body, and was attacked next to it, or she stumbled onto the crime and attacked the culprit. I can't be certain, but I do think it's one or the other.

There was none on Susan's body, either.

Take Responsibility.

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