Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And after a given amount of time, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up; as it was last week, the ride down is smooth and quick-moving, even if there are less of you this week. (Technically, you're only down by one in the elevator; Bruce has ensured that Pearl is with you in some way, albeit unconventionally and by the grace of Ziploc.) However, when the doors open up to the podium circle standing in the middle of that black void of a courtroom, there's no mistaking the fact that there are fewer people present than there were last week – Kamui and Pearl have joined those with podiums draped in black, their framed profile portraits watching the proceedings in shades of grey. It's still impossible to tell exactly where the Kingmaker is watching the proceedings from, though it's obvious that he is; he'll wait until everyone is settled before he speaks, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Devoted has been taken from you. All of you know what the stakes are now, but this happened anyway – looks like someone's determined. Whether they succeed or not is up to you." Twenty-four Survivors remain. We'll see how many are still standing by the end of the day.

Comments

[capyper]

That seems pretty likely at this point.

[ ... Guess who's wearing white ceremonial robes, haha. ]

Well, I'm not the killer here, but you can check my robes. No tears or anything, I promise!

[prismbloom]

I did find a towel in the storage room. It didn't belong there--and when I went to the laundry room, there seemed to be a missing towel.

[captainobnoxious]

You have your methods, I've got mine.

[wokeupdead]

[WELL. That's good to know.]

Thank you for sharing. Do you know where it is now? Was there any chance it could have been taken?

[She won't jump to accusations right off the bat but he has been leaving his door open. But he and Pearl are also the two people around here that don't need to sleep. Not like she knows that right now.]

[ratingspoint]

Why else would I admit anything? It'd be boring if I'd actually done it and then went and gave myself up that quickly! There's no dramatic tension that way.

[garudynamic]

Wait, really?! Do you still have it?

[amygdalae]

[He will do his best.]

Thank you, Detective.

[happysweets]

Even Misa-Misa didn't know her well enough to know about that..

[ratingspoint]

It's where I left it, in my room. I think I would have noticed someone walking out with something that large, don't you?

[pokexplorer]

That could be. There were other pieces in the Laundry Room, correct? Were there any fibers on those?

[He looks to Yosuke since he reported about those.]

[capyper]

Well, consider this! The culprit might not have been aiming specifically for the gem. Like Tarrlok said earlier... if you bonk somebody on the head really hard, they're, uh.

They're not gonna get up after that, generally speaking.

... And, well... I didn't really wanna go here? But where else would you hit somebody with a blunt force weapon for a sure kill? You could just mangle the person and not kill them.

[ ... such important input ]

[lackinginfaith]

[Caren's bandaged hand goes to her shell pendant again. She frowns.]

In that case, what do you think is important about someplace else?

[garudynamic]

Gross. Fair, but gross.

[isafraid]

In here, I'd hope not.

[That's worse then giving someone a knife.]

[capyper]

... First off, when we're done with this, you should show me your cool hammer moves!

[ oh god, the priorities... ]

Also, I don't think the person who did this necessarily had to be able to swing it well. If Pearl were on the ground... then you could just let gravity do its business.

[prismbloom]

[ OF COURSE SHE DOES

She pulls that out to show. She also has a towel from the storage room, and one from the laundry room. (They're marked, ftr.) ]

See? This is what I found in the storage room. It's slightly different than the ones that are usually found there.

[capyper]

Huh... it's pretty amazing that the handprint stayed intact like that...

[cherryblooded]

Not entirely sure. The handprint, maybe, but you'd think if that was noticed the culprit would have cleaned it up first.

[By the way, is Caren wearing white?]

[notjustawriter]

[.....]

How'd you get that injury?

[wokeupdead]

That's good then! I'll be sure to add that one down to my list for the future. A sledgehammer safely in Mettaton's room.

[Unless this is all an elaborate ruse, Mettaton.]

[garudynamic]

[He takes the towels, thanking Aqua softly]

Hey, anyone got a light?

[captainobnoxious]

She was picking up glass I smashed for a message in a bottle.

[capyper]

I did say I didn't really wanna go there...

Anyway, the point being! I'm pretty sure the killer didn't need to know about Pearl's nature. It would help, sure, but it's not a surefire way to narrow down the list here.

[amygdalae]

It is pretty hard to ignore it.

[Anybody walking around with that would have immediately drawn attention.]

[notjustawriter]

I see. You should be a bit more careful, gettin' cut by glass can be pretty severe.