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]

Yeah, we're the three most likely suspects in this case.

[ SO, THAT'S A THING. ]

[blazeit]

Well, the list of people who could swing a warhammer turned out to be totally useless, so...

[ That was his way of saying he doesn't think Sol is a murderer, btw. ]

[sunsong]

[ THANKS FOR THE BELIEF, BAKUGOU ]

Yeah. All the same, we should at least consider the "S" and try to figure out if any of the three of us did it. Right? May as well make sure it's not a possibility before discountin' it.

[openterrain]

Worse than useless. The guy I discounted right out the gate ended up being the culprit.

[ninehundredlives]

...he was right. I should have known he was faking before.

[She just sounds...sort of empty.]

[sunsong]

...He acted weird enough that we caught on, anyway.

[ninehundredlives]

No, I - I was there when he got the hammer. He acted like he couldn't lift it, and I...I didn't even think about it!

[sunsong]

Yeah, and I joked around that he was old and couldn't lift it, too! That - that doesn't fucking matter right now, okay? We figured it out. And now, we have to figure out part two, too.

[ They can't afford to get it wrong. ]

You always help out, you know. Mistakes happen. Hell, Jean and I did the same thing!

[ninehundredlives]

You -

[Susan sighs, running her hands over her face.]

- you're right. Now isn't the time.