Take Responsibility.

[antitrust]

And when the door at the bottom of those stairs unlocks and it swings open gently of its own accord, allowing everyone back down into the courtroom, there are decidedly fewer of them than there were just a few days ago. The change in the podium circle is massive this time; Dio, Logan, Marty, Yuuri, Hibiki and Mordecai have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums adorned with black cloth and greyscale photographs. Furthermore, the mass of shadows in the pit at the center seems agitated again, shifting and breaching upward toward the glass if one looks at it long enough. It's been something of a bad week, to put it gently. Not that it's evident from the Conductor's behavior; as usual, the proceedings are being watched from behind that panel of translucent glass behind podium 30, and he'll speak as soon as everyone has found their place in the circle. His words are a bit more rapid than usual; he seems interested in this one. "Temporal, Lucent, Vivacious and Universal...all four of them have been taken from you. Does whomever is responsible for this really deserve your compassion? There can be no hesitation; you should offer no mercy. It's you against the guilty. Take control of your fate, and hold them responsible." Thirteen Participants remain. You've lost five people this week, and eight since the last investigation; we'll see how many more you lose today.

Comments

[sunsong]

Yo. [ Sol's only bordered by Giovanni today; it's kind of sad, but she's not glancing sideways at Morty's podium for the time being. She's split her hair into two braids - messily done, since she apparently hasn't gotten any better at neat ones since Luna's death - one finished with a kitty hairpin and the other with a flower clip. She's otherwise in a graceside uniform. ]

Okay, I took the game room and Yuuri's room for investigation...I also dropped by the bar. Uh, someone seriously needs help this week, because there was a "you lose" message in blood with a skull on one of the go tables in the game room..the fucker spelled you as "u", the letter, too. Not sure if that matters, but there you go. From the bar, looks like someone tried to clean somethin' up, but I reckon Jean can tell you more 'bout that.

[ She reaches into one of her uniform pockets and comes up with a letter. ]

Most importantly - I know why Yuuri was at the art room. Anyone got anything Hibiki wrote, or know her handwriting well? I got a note signed from her askin' him to go there, but I'm not real familiar with her handwritin'. I'd like to at least check if it's a forgery before we assume it was really from her.

[zomgboom]

I have, like. [waves the cow manifesto around.] I dunno what these are exactly, but Hibiki wrote them.

MOD CHECK

[sunsong]

Mind if I check it 'gainst them, then?

[ SHE'LL...SHE'LL HONESTLY JUST WALK AROUND THE CIRCLE TO GET TO TABBY, their passing system is shot to hell with all the dead people. Do the letters match up handwriting under close scrutiny? ]

[trustmods]

[They do!]

[blazeit]

She wrote me a note last week, so I could probably tell if it was obviously fake, but you'd probably wanna ask somebody else.

More importantly, what the fuck. Who does that even, holy shit.

[sunsong]

Tabby's got somethin' from her room I can use.

[ SO THAT WORKS. ]

And right? Like, what was even the fuckin' point of that? None of the bodies were even IN the fuckin' game room, so they basically had to just go in there to write the damn message, since that's all I found in there.

[blazeit]

And it probably happened after the murder.

... I wonder who the message was directed at. I mean, you'd have to be a real fucking piece of work to write a "you lose" message to somebody you just killed. They wouldn't even see it, so what's the point.

[openterrain]

Something seriously weird happened in the bar. There was a missing liquor bottle. There was also one that was smashed and tossed in the wastebin, but I'm pretty sure it was empty when it broke.

There was a mostly empty salt shaker and some drinks left out on the bar, but for some reason the shaker also had pepper in it.

... and there was a chicken. A dead one.

[icysemblance]

...that is bizarre. Was there anything weird set up around the chicken? I don't know what Team Seance used, but...

[openterrain]

Nothing like that. It looked like someone broke it's neck and was getting ready to slice it up.

[clearasmud]

[ wait. ]

Pepper?

[openterrain]

Yeah. Did you find pepper somewhere else?

[ninehundredlives]

I think I found the liquor bottle. It was broken near Marty's body. It smelled like they'd...used it...

[You know, for fire things]

[announcemyvictory]

...like those letters. Alcohol and flames.

[openterrain]

Probably to trying to burn his body. Guess they didn't know that cremating someone isn't that easy...

[sunsong]

There was a dustpan and shit that was probably used to clean up that bottle, then...

[ That's weird, though. ]

Uh, shit, I guess I didn't count chickens this mornin'...

[openterrain]

... that's weird. Susan said she found another bottle near Marty's body.

[blazeit]

It... wasn't Dorika, was it?

[ Bakugou doesn't even remember most of his classmates' names back home

but he remembers the chicken's name

RIP HIBIKI... ]

[openterrain]

It wasn't. That was the first thing I checked.

[perpend]

I found something strange next to Hibiki in the storage room.

[So he's just going to pull this out so people can take a look.

That sure looks like a D-pad drawn in blood, but Cabanela doesn't know what the hell it could be.]

[sunsong]

Kinda looks like a D-pad. Video gamin' thing? Maybe it was directin' us to the game room for...the ridiculous you lose message? But what's the point of that?

[withabigsmile]

...Did Hibiki like video games or something?

[Why the heck would she draw that of all things? ...Did she draw it?

[ninehundredlives]

She never really mentioned them. I'm not even sure where she'd get the time, with her music and as many pets as she has...had...

[sunsong]

The messages might not be from the victims.

[clearasmud]

Hey, Mordecai drew something in blood too! An "S".