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

[heritrix]

[And with her piece said to Elda...]

What was it you were striving to get out here for, Ushiromiya-san? This might look like a dead end, but it's not. Your self-preservation instincts are second to none, so for you to say something like, "I must get out of here"... I think there's more to it.

What did you hope to find going forward?

[Because regardless of everything that's happened, those words did resonate with her.]

[chessturner]

Everything. A new world...a new home...and since our worlds are destroyed, a new family. Not that it matters.

I remembered all of our deaths. Rudolf, Battler...and now Ange, since the timer is over. They're all dead.

[And therefore she has clear space to start over, but she's not mentioning that]

[heritrix]

[Her son died before she could even see him again... Rin's eyes pinch with visible sympathy at that, but she holds her head high once again.]

Listen to what I'm telling Elda, okay? It might not be. And if it isn't... [She frowns, remembering the story Kyrie told her once. Honestly, in some ways their worlds are pretty compatible, so this might work.] Give me a message to pass on to your daughter, and I'll make sure she gets it.

[chessturner]

...if by some turn of destiny I die here and you see her, please tell her I'm sorry I won't see her again.

[Sure, why not, may as well keep Ange unaware of what happened]

[heritrix]

[She will. Just to prove it can be done, she will. And she'd probably say as much if not for that selection nonsense going on above and holy shit, Kyrie, what are you doing.

...actually, Rin has a good idea. Shit.]

I will! [Time to run.] Just you watch!