Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

This investigation seems to have been difficult for many; while your time here hasn't been particularly easy on anyone, it's been eight straight weeks of people dying, of losing those you care about - or at least, losing those you had some sense of solidarity with. There's only about a quarter of your original number left. Either way, however, there are some things that remain constant, even if your numbers do not - the corridor down below the dorms, the way the door sounds when it unlatches, the gentle outward swing of the door. The darkened stairwell that it leads to. The courtroom. The podium circle remains in the center of the room, the spots marked out from the dead having increased in number yet again; Aligula, Hibiki, Sayaka, and Alex all have had their podiums altered, draped in black with greyscale portraits set atop them. They'll be keeping an eye on the proceedings today, for better or for worse. As always, the thirty-sixth podium remains blank. 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. "Attentive and Submerged are gone - and trust me, for at least one of them, it's better for everyone that way. Maybe you disagree with that, maybe you don't, I don't really give a fuck - and at least for the guilty party, their deaths might be their ticket out of here. So it's probably better for them, anyway. Either way, I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you what you're here to do. Once again and as always, it's the innocent versus the guilty. Whichever side wins is mattering less and less every week, isn't it? Even so, you should still put some effort in, just to satisfy the dead - so you know what, do your best!" Nine Participants remain. However many leave here at the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[chessturner]

Well I guess you have a point. Nobody would blow their cover after setting a trap like that one.

[...]

However, there's something else: the cat. Do you believe that was part of some sort of grand plan? Would that animal listen to anyone here?

[heritrix]

...Sorry. What does the cat have to do with this?

[She showed up late and had to run across the library when she heard Alex scream, so she missed that little detail.]

[chessturner]

I never approached that armoire.

[How would that control anything?]

[chessturner]

We all gathered together to look at the cat and try to find out if there was something going on with it. Are you saying I planned that too, as a distraction to keep certain people from approaching a trap I didn't set?

[bloodisthicker]

Look. Anyone who knows anything about cats knows they're either going to roll in something or find someone and meow at them in concern until they make the confusing thing go away. That's just how cats are.

Furthermore, I don't really think it was part of the plan so much as a happy little accident that allowed you to come up with an explanation for the paint on your shoe.

[heritrix]

I'd have to know about it in the first place, so no, I'm not. That just sounds like a lucky coincidence to me.

[notaccurate]

No, you didn't. Which could be why you couldn't stop the trap from killing Sayaka and Alex. That is the only part of the trap that doesn't seem to fit in, so perhaps it could be a 'control' of sorts. But...mmm, it would make more sense if that is how the trap turned on, not off. If that is what it is for at all.

[Don't mind him he's over-thinking things over here.]

[chessturner]

[Kyrie looks around with satisfied expression. Wow, everyone's turning against her...what a surprise. She saw it coming the moment she noticed the paint smudge on her shoe at the beginning of the trial. Of course]

I see. So you think I set up a trap, the next morning I threw a stun grenade to get you all to go to the staircase, and tried to stop Alex-san from dying because I was the one who set the trap in the first place. Okay, that's...good reasoning, for the most part.

I'm glad I let you all chain this all up, because now I get to destroy such flimsy evidence. I'm sorry, Tohsaka-san...I lied. I had to see how far you all would go with your reasoning.

[With a smile, Kyrie reaches into her coat and takes out...a stun grenade. It's intact]

Stun grenades come in sets of two. I used one grenade long ago, to test its effects, therefore of course I'd have a grenade here. As you can see, this grenade hasn't been used at all.

I haven't received more grenades from the machine, and even if I did, what are the odds I'd receive more grenades, right before this trial?

In other words, I can't have been the one who used a stun grenade today -- and only the culprit would have a reason to do that. Do you see now that I'm not the culprit?

[Shall we play chess, Trustfell Round 6 edition]

[notaccurate]

If they come in sets of two, then there's no reason why you couldn't have two sets total. Or even more, I suppose.

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda sets down Ditty on her podium. She pats his head once.

And then she's going to start calmly walking over towards Kyrie. ]

[hesperos]

What the hell kind of crap reasoning is that?

[ He thinks you're full of shit, Kyrie. ]

Just because you have only one grenade on you right now doesn't mean you couldn't have used one today.

[chessturner]

I never received a second set of grenades

[She's not lying, she never did -- although she can't prove it]

[heritrix]

[Goddammit, Elda. Well Rin knows it's no use stopping her, but she's going to keep close anyways, and remove something discretely from her pocket.]

[bloodisthicker]

We have no actual proof you tested the other stun grenade long ago, considering you wanted to test one out mid-trial whenever a simple explanation would have sufficed.

[He sighs.]

Come on. The jig's up. You accidentally killed Alex and Sayaka, but if you got away with this, they'd be dead anyway, so there's no way you can say you didn't screw up here.

[chessturner]

So do you think I magically obtained a grenade? Can such a convenient thing really happen?

[She still talks rather calmly, as if she had done nothing wrong]

I testified about the effects of stun grenades last trial precisely because I tested one, long ago, and kept the other for protection. And here is the other grenade.

I didn't use any grenades today.

[chessturner]

[Kyrie glances at Elda. For a moment there's something in her eyes...remorse? Maybe it was remorse.

But her hand goes to her podium, placing a hand on whatever she put there not too long ago]

[hesperos]

[ How is he not surprised. ]

I don't remember you testing one 'long ago', so as far as I'm concerned without proof it didn't happen.

[bloodisthicker]

[...

WHY DID HE LEAVE THAT BOOK IN THE LIBRARY]

[notaccurate]

[She has to walk by his podium to get over there, so.

Yeah no, let's just go ahead and go for forceful hand-holding this time, instead of just offering his hand.]

Let's not be too hasty, Elda. After all, she does have a stun grenade in her hand.

[matchbreaker]

[ Honestly, Elda's not even sure what she's doing. The fact is, for all her grandstanding, there's no proof Kyrie's done anything per se. Her mind's a million miles away at this point though, she's just. Sort of walking towards her a lot slower than she normally would.

But assuming no one stops her, she's going to silently get up in front of the woman. ]

[bloodbiter]

[Adelina doesn’t make a move yet, but she’s watching her very carefully.]

[matchbreaker]

[ Like, do you think she cares?

Uh, his hand is going to get a sharp jab with one of her long-lady fingernails to try to break the hand holding so hopefully that doesn't break the skin. ]

[notaccurate]

Sayaka also carried stun grenades on her. How do we know that you didn't use yours, and then take hers?

[chessturner]

Are you going to stop because there's something you can't outright explain?

Come on, if you're so sure I killed them, then I dare you to prove it. This grenade here is my safety net. As long as I have it, you can't say I did it.

Or...are you going to tell me I could have acquired a new stun grenade before the trial started?

[Maybe, just maybe...you can really prove there was a way for her to obtain one]

[perpend]

I'm getting reeal sick of this posturing.