second trial

[airlockedmods]

[You get a little time after your investigation is over, but not too long. Your Overseer is right there, after all, and he can tell when you're finished. But at least this time he's bringing breakfast in the way of Starbucks sandwiches and paper cups of coffee.

Xander will lead you all out the door near Fourt's, opening what had been impenetrable sheet metal with a few taps and swipes on his tablet. This won't take you outside either; instead, it leads to a long hallway. Like a walk-through aquarium, the walls and ceiling are all made of thick glass, giving you an even better view of the stars outside. There's no sign that the mall is attached to some kind of large-scale station. There's really not going to be an easy way to escape here, unless you get transportation.

You're led to a wide-open area, empty except for a circle of podiums in its center. They're labeled so you can easily find yours. Thomasin and Natsuhi's grey-scale portraits have joined Yuuri's this time in the places they previously stood. Three of the podiums remain empty and nameless. The walls here are equally transparent, and they seem to have lines of large hatches going along them, as if this is where one might park one's spaceship when going on a fun space mall adventure. Shame you don't know anything about those.

You already know what you're here to do. You'd best be getting along with it.]

Comments

Mods

[a10tionplz]

[So, have the stars outside changed from last week? Asking for a friend.]

I don't think we can count on this being any kind of accident or self-defense this time. But if anyone wants to consider forward, now's your chance.

[misanthropicprinciple]

You don't behead a woman by accident.

[airlockedmods]

[They have, in fact.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Okay, one of you fucking shits fucking beheaded a woman who didn't mean fucking any of you any god damn harm.

I'm coming for you.

In the meantime, Jane and I found the murder weapons in the weapon store. I found a dagger, and she found a sword [no he's not pronouncing the name] with some water and blood on them. Someone put them back where they went like no big deal. There was also a missing knife form the case.

[daughterofthemark]

Dame Jane...

[misanthropicprinciple]

...From the case, huh...

[o o p s]

You brought them with you, right?

[induality]

S-so her body was found by the fountain... b-but there were signs that N-Natsuhi was alive when she visited Starbucks. Right in the doorway there was a bunch of slime all o-over the doorframe and in the doorway. There was also a teapot and teacup. Both of them were about half full. That's... probably where she met them...

[She was more prepared this time.]

If... we try following the order of events... m-maybe it'll help.

[a10tionplz]

She had a corsage on. White carnation. That mean anything to anyone?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Just one teacup? So she was having tea by herself, not expecting anyone to join her.

[Sips his coffee. Thanks, Xander Claus.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

The slime was the prank she got from Dander's bosses, like my skates and bar. It apparently happened sometimes when she went through a doorway, so...

Was she, uh, slimy at the crime scene?

[daughterofthemark]

[Arianna has no evidence, but she's still handing out fruit and chocolate for anyone who didn't get any earlier. It's not really necessary with Xander's sandwiches but it's a good excuse not to stare at Yuuri's portrait.]

[tokencanadian]

[Yeah sure, she'll take some fruit.]

Thank you, Arianna. You're very kind.

[everylittlesecret]

[So Xander gets a few points for the whole coffee thing. He's still very in the negatives. Nari fiddles with something in her hands for a moment before taking a deep breath.]

Natsumi or whatever her name is didn't die from the beheading. That came after she was drowned and bled out. She was also stabbed in the back deep enough to penetrate her lung, and there were some strange bruises on her. The neck wound has me more than a little curious because of the implications.

[misanthropicprinciple]

The implications? What do you mean?

[induality]

W-what was strange about the bruising?

[daughterofthemark]

Natsuhi Ushiromiya.

[ffs dame nari]

[cyan_maid]

...Did anyone find her head?

[desperateprayer]

...Something's... Bothering me... If she was already dead, then why behead her at all? That's... That's a bit much, isn't it?

[a10tionplz]

To make certain she was dead? Or to hide evidence, but we found the head, so that can't be it...

[everylittlesecret]

[Okay discussions about swords aside, Nari has one more piece of evidence to show off.]

So anyways. I found a picture of a baby in the dress pockets. Now, if anyone talked to her before she died, is this the person she was threatened with? If it was, then maybe some of use should be open about who was shown at the motive. [.......] I guess I'll start first. Mine is my older sister who I haven't seen in like........ at least nine years. I would not kill for her because she left of her own volition. It's her choice to come back into my life and I have no right to take that from her or to kill someone and take that autonomy away.

[desperateprayer]

...Riliane. She's... Someone I care about a lot. The only food friend I have left back home, unless you count a tree goddess. But you already... Know what my solution was... And I've never used a sword, there's been no reason to.

[ Yeah. Yeah. ]

[burninglight]

[god okay he's getting a headache]

We're not getting anywhere like this. We should check everyone's clothes for traces of glass shards or cuts and splinters from the mirror--perhaps hand injuries from sharpening a blade in a hurry.

[Ardyn's clothes and hands are clear and uninjured apart from the usual old scars.]

[induality]

O-our clothes?

[This... didn't happen in Hope's Peak. She looks anxious, but. Well. She's here. You can. Approach and check if you want. She's not like getting excited and showing off or anything.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Okay, this is going nowhere fast. We still haven't identified all of Natsuhi-san's injuries, have we? Weren't you guys trying to match something on her arm? Was that all of them?

[everylittlesecret]

She was beheaded after drowning and bleeding out... the bleeding out came from being stabbed through the back, puncturing her left lung. She had another bruise on her back and that one is just as unidentifiable as the bruise on her arm. It's not made by hand, so it has to be an object or possible fall trauma.

EMPTY YOUR POCKETS

[cyan_maid]

...So, um...since we couldn't find what made Miss Natsuhi's back bruise, I think...we ought to consider emptying our pockets for anything that could have done so. Even though it's possible the suspect stashed it in their kiosk room...we can't count it out.

[And so, Jane empties the contents of her pockets. It's just the closed and clean knife she showed before, and that's pretty much it - she even turns out her pockets for emphasis.]

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika pats the sides of her sparkly pink dress.]

I don't actually have any pockets.

[power_of_dominance]

[They believe in him. They're his friends, people he's come to know, to cherish. Even with his fear, even with his secret, so many of them accepted him.

His head hurts so much.]

I didn't... I couldn't....

[His heart aches so much.]

I'm not a killer! I'm not! I'm not....

[And he just repeats it over and over, a mantra of utter despair.

It's a horrible night to have a curse....

[burninglight]

You're not a killer, Soma. But something else is.

It's not...it's not your...

[Ardyn trailed off like he'd forgotten how to speak, the line of his shoulders finally giving way to trembling. He failed to speak entirely for a second or two, staring right at Soma as if looking through him...and then spoke as if he had latched on to some distant memory to keep himself from breaking.]

This is not your fault. And even should the whole world hate and curse you merely for existing, I will accept you.

Voting Time

[kingshaming]

[Xander doesn't wanna see this. He really doesn't. He chews his lip in thought.

But it is what it is]

It seems you all have decided who the culprit is. On the podiums in front of you, please select the Champion among you who has broken the peace.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I'm not doing this again. Thomasin made a choice. Soma didn't. Neither did Mai.

[>Champion Shield]

EXECUTION: WHIP IT REAL GOOD...?

[airlockedmods]

[Once again, as the votes all come in, the lights go down. Only the red lights on the portraits of the dead remain, a little brighter now than they were last week.

When the lights rise again, Soma is on the other side of the partition. He should know where the robots will come from, but for the moment, he's not looking for them; his eyes are still on the rest of you, Heart in particular. When the first of them arrives, a man in a swanky greatcoat holding a whip, he turns and takes a step back.

A few more emerge, each holding whips of their own. But - ]

[kingshaming]

[Xander whistles sharply from his podium, and the robots stop and turn to him, just as the juggalos did when Church was 'punished' for sleeping.

He walks out of sight on his podium for a few moments-

-and walks down on the other side of the partition. He has Siegfried out... and another sword in his other hand]

Hold! Stand down, you damnable machines.

Soma, tell me. Do you wish to live?