Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

The ride up to the courtroom occurs, as before, after an allotted period of time for investigation; the elevator waits patiently for you at each floor - third, second, first - before sending you upwards and on your way to the courtroom high above. As always, the trip is a smooth one; granted, after everything that the morning had been, any small comfort that fact may bring is likely not helping much. There are three less of you this time around, a fact reflected in the podium circle standing in the middle of the room; Alani, Milla and Chiyuki have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped in black and their portraits in greyscale keeping a watchful eye over the rest of the trial circle. There's still no one present in the lectern above; however, once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard throughout the room. "I can see that matters are beginning to seem dire for you, Apprentices. I am sure that you all cared for Sympathetic in some measure—all except the guilty party. And now it falls to you once again to determine who that is. For your own sake as well as Sympathetic's, hold her killer accountable and have them take responsibility for their actions." Twenty-four Apprentices remain. We'll see how many remain at the end of the day.

Comments

[alchemicals]

Why are you insisting that he had to have been involved in this? He wasn't.

[foundfate]

I'm not! You know him better than me, and someone else expressed doubt. That's why I was asking.

[alchemicals]

Yeah, and you're taking everyone else's word at face value, aren't you? About who we told and what we know - you're listening to everyone else, why aren't you stepping off of him when he confirms things for himself?

[...apparently it's time to get defensive and just whiteknight the shit out of kira

watanuki i am so sorry you do not deserve]

[foundfate]

I work for someone who specifically uses double-speak to hide the fact that she's doing something that people wouldn't like. 'Not to my knowledge' is exactly the kind of language she uses when she's up to something.

[There you have it. Watanuki probably would have stopped questioning earlier, if not for that. Gj Kimbley.]

[alchemicals]

He wasn't involved in this.

[feistytrader]

[...]

Kimbley, did he ever show you his envelope?

[avoidcomplications]

...

[alchemicals]

No - he burned that. But the secret he told me wasn't something that he would admit to if it weren't true. It wasn't the sort of thing he'd make up.

[feistytrader]

I'm not saying he made it up.

I'm saying what was on the envelope could have been something worse.

[avoidcomplications]

...That's quite an assumption, Silver.

[feistytrader]

I'm not assuming anything. I'm saying without that envelope, it's a possibility.

[avoidcomplications]

I panicked and got rid of mine, I'm afraid. No one saw it except for me.

[foundfate]

[Sorry Kira, he's gotta back up his friend now.]

...

Remember that talk we had? The first week here?

[alchemicals]

He wasn't involved in this.

[iaspis]

I believe you.

Let's move on; there's not enough evidence pointing towards Kira right now.

[uncouthhatcher]

What, that he's actual into excitin' stuff and this whole "I wanna be average" snoozefest is a coverup for his embarrassin' pastimes?

[... like being a drag queen? or goblin king]

[plegia]

[evil laughter from the peanut gallery]

[alchemicals]

I'm not telling you what it was.

[uncouthhatcher]

Then he's definitely got an embarrassin' pastime, I ain't takin' anything else.

[you keep your secret, buddy]

[alchemicals]

[hey man kira was being a passive-aggressive asshole to him a few minutes ago

if you think he's not exactly petty enough to embarrass him like that then i don't know what to tell you]

[avoidcomplications]

Well, everyone should have some kind of hobby.

[uncouthhatcher]

Even a borin' guy like you has one?

[avoidcomplications]

Possibly.

[avoidcomplications]

You can't seriously think I have the capacity to be up to anything. I'm a salaryman at a department store, not a scientist or a murderer.

[foundfate]

I honestly don't know. I know a lot about other people, but not you.

This doesn't fit with what I know about the other people here, which is why I'm asking about the people I don't know. It's not that I think you're guilty or anything, I just...

[He looks down to Chiyuki's podium next to him.]

I owe it to her to try. Even if I get things wrong and make people mad, I have to try.