Take Responsibility.

[antitrust]

After a while, 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; it's not as bad as it was last week, but again, there are decidedly fewer of them than there were last time. The podium circle has changed once again, with Rick, Tabby and Sukuyo joining the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped with black cloth and adorned with greyscale photographs. The shadows are quiet down in the darkness of the pit; for the time being, it's hard to say what the pit itself looks like after the explosion last week. One way or another, we'll find out by the end of the day. As usual, the proceedings are being watched from behind that panel of glass behind podium 30; he'll speak as soon as everyone has found their place in the circle. "Familial has been taken from you. Regardless of what her affiliation was – whether she was with me or the lot of you – you know what you have to do by now. 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." Ten Participants remain. However many more we lose today is up to you.

Comments

[announcemyvictory]

[Elise usually walks into the courtroom shaking and looking away, trying to cover up stress with her usual acting superior. This time, she's got her head up, doesn't even look at the Conductor's window when she takes her place at his side, and is looking to all the world like her only emotion is Done.

It helps that she's wearing a green dinosaur suit. Looks like she took your advice, Giovanni.]

We can assume that this disaster is because of that ridiculous incentive, but given what we've gone through every other week, whatever the situation is has to be more complicated than it appears. Let's run through what we've found. The body announcement went off when Bakugou, Weiss, and I discovered the body, just before Susan arrived, so that absolves three of us. What have all of you found?

[withabigsmile]

[Blue walks in with Wiggly by her side today, and- oh man.]

Nice outfit!

[oftheland]

[...bless you, Elise.]

Erm... Well, I found this in the garbage can of the women's restroom on the sixth floor?

[He sets a jam jar with a ball of toilet paper in it on his podium, and it... has some kind of white substance on it...]

I think whatever's on this was on the rim of one of the toilet seats, too..

[blazeit]

... Nice costume, princess. [ HE SEEMS TO REALLY MEAN IT... ]

Anyway, I remember this coming up in a previous trial, but I don't remember the details... can we refresh on the rules on when an announcement is made?

CONDUCTOR

[openterrain]

Hold on. that's what I remember.

[ He glances to the Conductor's podium. ]

Hey, Observant! The body just has to be discovered by three people aside from the killer in total, not three people all at once. Right?

[ninehundredlives]

I've found a letter by the body. I'll pass it around, but...I wouldn't take it too seriously.

[Jean is closest, so Susan will hand the folded letter over to him.]

It says that it's from Sukuyo, and that she killed herself. It's very insistent.

[icysemblance]

[So many people are gone. Weiss looks around, trying to at least take a little strength from them all before things start.]

Sukuyo didn't look dead. She looked asleep.

[openterrain]

There's something else that makes me think this might not be a suicide.

The incinerator was used again last night. It was used to burn something pretty large, but all that was left behind was a scrap of cloth, about the size of my hand.

[announcemyvictory]

Why would cloth be used in a poisoning?

ROUND UP

[openterrain]

Hold on, everyone shut up for a second! We got sidetracked. We'll talk about who betrayed who later. Right now we need to focus on the murder.

So far we know that Sukuyo was one of Observant's spies. We also know she was found in the dining room, with rat poison in her tea, bruises on her face, and a suicide note. We don't know if the note is faked or not, but there was no pen in the dining hall.

Katsuki looked in her room. He found an unsent letter to Observant crumpled up in her bed. Her chair was knocked over but there wasn't any sign of a fight.

There was some white stuff in the women's restroom on the sixth floor. Elise found a bottle missing from the chemistry room, which is probably where the rat poison came from.

And I found a scrap of cloth left over from something way bigger in the incinerator. I don't know if it's connected to the murder yer, but if no one claims it I think we can assume it's connected.

[announcemyvictory]

Do you think... she wrote the note, but she was forced to by someone else?

[sunsong]

What's the scrap of cloth look like? Can I see?

[ she'd answered the incinerator question but SHE HADN'T ASKED TO SEE THE THING, SO... ]

conductor!

[icysemblance]

Observant, can you confirm something for us? If we were to run an analysis, would the white stuff in the ladies' room match any residue in the bottle Elise found?

[perpend]

[For a moment, he's still and silent. And then he starts to shake, gripping the podium with both hands.

Are those... tears?

Either way, it doesn't look like he's going to be doing much in the way of angry outbursts today. He doesn't look like he's going to be doing much of anything, really. The inspector that has been so full of hope, so determined to press on no matter the circumstances, no matter how bleak things get, just looks dead inside.]

Well done. I knew you all would do it.

I would congratulate you, but you are all still missing something incredibly important.

[icysemblance]

What would that be? The why?

[ninehundredlives]

[There's nothing but death between the two of them now. Susan leaves her own podium, moving past those of the fallen towards Cabanela. She stops at Dio's former station, hands curled into trembling balls as she looks up at him.

What can she say now? What does she want to say? She didn't really think this through.]

SELECTION.

[antitrust]

I think that's enough for now.

[The voice of the Conductor cuts through the discussion; there's not much left for it, is there.]

Hold the guilty accountable for their actions; make them take responsibility. As always, majority rules.

1/2

[perpend]

So this is how it ends, is it?

[withabigsmile]

>Ardent

[She can't die. Not after coming so far. Not for this.

She'll miss you, Cabanela...]

[sunsong]

> Ardent

[ Well, this was a Day. She's collected her shoes but hasn't put them back on, and hits the button without hesitation. ]

See ya, old man.

[openterrain]

Dumb bastard. You could have made your point some other way.

> Ardent

[blazeit]

[ After hearing Cabanela's words... ]

Fuck you. Like you even have to request something like that...

[ There's no heat in his tone, though, just frustration. ]

> Ardent

[oftheland]

>Ardent

...honestly, it'd been pretty nice not having to stand next to any empty spaces. I'm really going to miss it.

Re: SELECTION.

[icysemblance]

> Ardent

[She's wiped at her eyes, but those tears aren't stopping.]

ACCOUNTABILITY.

[antitrust]

[And when the votes come in, the lights go out; the room is cast once more into darkness and shadows and that sound of metal-on-metal, and when the pit illuminates itself in the center of the room, Cabanela is gone from the circle.

He's cautious when he enters the pit, the sort of wariness in his eyes that comes with the knowledge that something is both inevitable and about to be highly unpleasant, to put it gently. All his time on the force hasn't made him a hard man; it's made him a strong one, but not a jaded one.

He doesn't seem sure of what to expect; whatever it is, it isn't what's been done to the wall encircling the pit. It's lined with grooves and notches, small obstacles to be knocked over and switches to be manipulated – like a game, almost.

No, not a game.

It's a path. A track. A machine.

There's a small, light sound of a good-sized steel ball dropping onto the track, high up above podium thirty; it rolls around the edge of the circle heavily, knocking those small obstacles onto lower portions of the track along the walls, and as the switches are hit a thought seems to spring into Cabanela's mind, and he lunges forward to try to stop whatever progress is being made. The ball itself is still too high to reach, but disrupting anything else –

...Well, disrupting anything else isn't going to happen.

One of the shadows from low on the wall is quick to lash out, to wrap itself around his injured arm; it isn't long before another tendril reaches out, taking the other as soon as he's flinched from the pain of the first one grabbing onto him. He struggles a bit as they hold him in place, his expression shifting not into fear, but anger; meanwhile, more of those switches continue being pressed.

One of those doors in the wall is sliding open as they do so – the one beneath podium thirty. It seems the Conductor still has one of those massive spears from Undyne's execution in reserve.

Cabanela stares it down for a moment before he closes his eyes. Breathes in deep, despite the injuries to his ribs. Lets it out. When he opens his eyes again, he's calm in both countenance and expression.

Strong.

Justice, isn't it?

But not jaded.

Believe in them.

There's a sudden, loud click - ]

Good night, Ardent.

[...And the spear fires, catching him solidly through the chest.

For what it's worth, he seems to die instantly; there's no further struggling, no screaming. Just the body jerking back with the force of the hit, pulling against the shadows holding him still, perhaps unnecessarily toward the end; he's dropped a bit unceremoniously, blood pooling thick beneath the body.

After a long moment, the lights in the courtroom come back on, the pit fading back into darkness, and the Conductor will address all of you again.]

You've all done well today.

Return upstairs for now; there's nothing more for you to do here today.

[announcemyvictory]

[Elise watches this time, until she winces and turns away at the end. She hesitates, but walks away with the rest.

There's a lot to do now.]