Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

The time allotted for this week's investigation passes fairly briefly, but not easily - what with the state of the body and the things that have been found, the mood is perhaps oddly sobering. Either way, eventually the elevator will be waiting for you at the exit of your floor of choice, bringing you up to the courtroom swiftly and easily. There are so few of you now. Two more portraits have joined the ranks of the dead, watching over the proceedings. Gangrel and Orihime's images watch over you with with eyes that see nothing, all colored in greyscale and set up on their places in the podium circle, black fabric draped over each setting. As always, the lectern remains empty and unaffected by what's happened here. After a while, however, once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith can be heard addressing the group, voice audible throughout the room. "Sacrificing one to save many—that is ostensibly why Harmonious is no longer among you. Truly, that is the most pragmatic of options in a situation with no chance of victory. I may even come close to commending such a decision. But I must also wonder if the dead can be said to have been 'saved', when they have passed beyond your reach in all but mere messages. Unless you should wish to follow Harmonious and join them, hold the guilty accountable for their practicality." Eleven Apprentices remain. However many leave this place is up to you.

Comments

[sportadork]

[gently] You know what things start to look like, when you talk like that.

[see: everything last week was]

[elepe]

...Hanyuu...

[...weeks prior, she didn't care about anyone. Fewer weeks prior, she only cared about her people, but...]

[matchbreaker]

Guzma!

[ She shouts this from across the room: ]

You know I do not say such thing lightly, and know that my words carry weight because of this!

... You are the finest among us.

[foundfate]

[Oh.]

...well in this case, it's good to be a wimp.

[feistytrader]

There's a difference between being a wimp and being a decent person.

[Which is kind of weird to say to a team leader, but you know what. Guzma's been nothing but good this whole time, and he's not the one that helped murder someone.]

[oyashiromama]

I...

[She's still not- she can't quite look at him? Because well, she didn't, and Orihime's...]

All I'm saying is... I know I'm not the only one to have asked that, this week. I... I'd understand that line of thinking. If anyone had it here. To save the rest...and count on the rest of you saving us.

[foundfate]

But someone didn't take that line of thinking. They killed Orihime instead. That's what we have to find: the person who would kill someone else for this motive.

[firstaid]

Thank you, Silver.

[tsugomori]

No, of course not. I just don't want to...I can't...!

[... damnit. For a moment, he just ... he doesn't know what to say. ]

It wouldn't make sense for three of them, one right after the other, to kill!

[ Three of his close companions, that is. It's probably a weak defense, but he feels he's out of options. ]

[matchbreaker]

If you were informed about her plans before now, did you see her on Thursday at all?

[feistytrader]

[...Alright, that prompts Silver to climb up on his podium and shout at absolutely everyone here.]

In case this didn't get through any of your thick skulls yet, I'm here to make this abundantly clear to everyone: we care about you. We're going to miss you if you die. A lot. And if you're dead, you can't do something anymore, so stop treating your lives like they don't matter.

I miss some of the people that died as much as everyone else, but I'd greatly appreciate not having to add more dead people to that number, so knock it off.

[oyashiromama]

...I wouldn't have let you flounder so. [She can bring herself to look at Estelle, at least.] I had...been preparing letters.

[She sighs.]

It's- it didn't come to pass. I just... It wouldn't be right of me not to say, the incentive bothered me.

[tsugomori]

[ He hates this. ]

Yes, I do, I suppose. But it's not like that, either.

[acherontiastyx]

...so like, maybe someone was trying to frame you? I mean, if they got ahold of Orihime's list, well, none of that stuff about you is secret.

'Course, now I'm just pissed, because really.

[firstaid]

[She shakes her head.]

I promise you, I didn't know anything nor did I see her.

[tsugomori]

[ ... ]

... I'm glad you didn't do that, Miss Hanyuu. It would've been something we'd been unable to have coped with, I think, if that had been the case.

[firstaid]

Why... would someone frame me? I... I mean...

[Her hands fall and she just looks.... sad.]

[acherontiastyx]

...

Yeah, I mean, between you and poor fuckin' Jasper this place just needs to lay the fuck off.

[matchbreaker]

[ Promises, man. ]

We do have no evidence to the contrary.

[firstaid]

Thank you, Mikazuki. All I can do is promise you that I did not do this.

[oyashiromama]

...

[She looks at him now, at all of them. Someone here- someone- She tries again-]

If it was to save our friends, please! Tell us...please. [It dies off weakly.]

[acherontiastyx]

Yeah, I don't get it at all. Like, unless part of the deal is you actually have to try and get away with it.

[firstaid]

What evidence is that? Please show me.

[iaspis]

[amen to that]

[matchbreaker]

I actually asked Wordsmith about that. He said that his wording was precise but it would be up to us if we believed that the need to "win" the game was implied or not.