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

[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. ]

[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.]

[matchbreaker]

[ It's a calm walk, at least ]

[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]

[bloodisthicker]

[...

WHY DID HE LEAVE THAT BOOK IN THE LIBRARY]

[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. ]

[hesperos]

[ ... He doesn't trust that, though. Elda could very much lash out, so he's going to just kind of move over and quickly close the distance. He's not going to get in front of Elda just yet but he's placing himself nearby so he can basically jump right in the moment she starts to get violent or something. ]

[bloodbiter]

[Similar to Yuri, she’s going to move to stand nearby.]

[chessturner]

[Kyrie stays calm, even while Elda approaches. She even gets off her podium.

Everyone can see now she has a crossbow. How the hell did she get one here? Well, she has a long coat, yeah. She's even holding the crossbow in one hand, steady. Looks like she has practiced a lot]

Let's not do something we'll both regret, Marker-san.

[She'd have no qualms with shooting you, even though she does consider you a friend.

She even glances at Adelina and Yuri nearby. The same warning goes to all of you. Kyrie would definitely aim to kill]

[heritrix]

You realize there's no point in proving whether or not you got another stun grenade from elsewhere now, right? Only the culprit would go to the trouble of stopping by the shooting range, a room unconnected to any of this, to bring in a loaded crossbow.

[matchbreaker]

[ Well, that's... probably to be expected, but it's also what breaks Elda out of her reverie. She sort of raises her head for the first time this trial and he looks down the barrel of the crossbow with hard, cat-like eyes.

Would she mind dying? Would Kyrie actually kill her, especially if she was innocent?

But instead, she sort of gestures at Kyrie's podium ]

What's there?

[chessturner]

A knife. A kitchen knife. A weapon as lethal as any other.

[So yeah, long and close range. She wouldn't go down easily. Would anyone risk she having something else prepared, too? Since she seems to be so crazy prepared?]

[matchbreaker]

So it's not a drawing after all?

[ She wonders this aloud as she looks down the barrel again, her head tilting, as if this were some information she had to process. It was a wild guess on her part. Ah well. ]

The crossbow's a better weapon. You'd never kill me in melee.

[chessturner]

...

[Kyrie's grip on the crossbow tightens. Looks like she's trying to sidestep that topic]

I'd go down fighting no matter what. It's not in my nature to concede defeat, even in a match I'd lose.

[matchbreaker]

Clearly. [ Like right now she's looking down a crossbow and Kyrie's arguing with everyone. Elda can see the stage for what it is. Leave everyone else to logic it out, she's in no mood to do that. She's... she's in no mood to do anything. ]

I don't doubt I'd be injured. With that crossbow, you can probably kill me too. It's too bad you missed the timer.

[bloodbiter]

...If we see you use it on her, we’ll have no choice but to vote for you. Put it down, Kyrie.

[chessturner]

You talk as if your votes on me hinges on me not using this crossbow.

[She's well aware a majority here would vote for her, anyway]

[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]

[ 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]

[It makes him flinch, but he's not letting go.

Instead, he's going to hold on and speak up again, this time sounding a bit more solemn.]

"It's all or nothing". You said that to me, once.

Well, this is my 'all or nothing': I know I am not your family, and I am not "the one person who could subdue you", but perhaps a friend will suffice this time?

[matchbreaker]

[ She digs her nails in further, every intention of drawing blood. She... ]

Let me go talk to her, Luca. If you want to do the hand-holding thing you'll be a pincushion.

[notaccurate]

[Yeah that hurts, and his voice is a little strained while he speaks.]

Yes, talking is good. If that is where you would like to go, then let's go together.

[...yeah he'll walk over there with her. Holding onto her hand like that. Even while bleeding.]

[matchbreaker]

[ Well then, she'll let up eventually but uh, sorry to get you in the crosshairs here. ]

[bloodbiter]

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

[matchbreaker]

[ It's a calm walk, at least ]