Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

For the third time, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up at the end of the allotted investigation period; the ride down is, as ever, smooth and quick-moving. You're down by five. When the doors slide open, the podium circle still stands in stark contrast to that now-familiar black void of a courtroom, and once again, it's changed to reflect your losses – Caren and Mion have joined those with podiums draped in black, their framed greyscale profile portraits staring out at the rest of you. (The portrait of Pearl hasn't been removed from her room, but it seems the Kingmaker has replaced it with another; either way, her photograph is in the courtroom along with the rest.) As before, the Kingmaker waits until everyone is settled at their podiums before he speaks; he still isn't visible, but he can clearly be heard, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Capable has been taken from you. I'll confirm one thing for you so no one will waste time asking – the killer wasn't me. Looks like the guilty decided to take a shot at Rule Seven after all – and whether they succeed or not is up to you." Twenty-two Survivors remain. We'll see how many the group has lost at the end of the day.

Comments

[ignorantly]

Hmmm. Did the killer knock her unconscious before stabbing her thigh, then?

[amygdalae]

...I searched all the pockets of her clothes and found nothing in them.

[So Mion apparently no longer had the key to her room...? Why did they even take it?]

[sleepingkogoro]

Sounds like she was knocked out and then stabbed onto the thigh.

[A nod]

I have to agree with Cherryblod-san, the culprit must have known what they were doing, but I think it's also common knowledge the legs have an important artery.

It's strange it was severed in one single hit, though. No hesitation, just good aim and knowledge of where exactly it would be.

[ratingspoint]

Oooh - how authoritative of you, I'm impressed.

But really, darling, there's no point in setting it up like that if the person was just going to confess anyway... Other than maybe proving that they're the most disgusting person in the room? That's a possibility! A strange PR choice, but how should I know what was going through their mind.

[amygdalae]

That seems like the most believable sequence of events right now.

[captainobnoxious]

[..........]

I dunno, you'd have to ask him.

But that'd be pretty dumb if it was, because I know for a fact you can't burn metal. It'd melt it pretty well though, but if I were the killer I would've started the machine up first and then killed the person so it'd be ready.

[capyper]

[ Yato's back in his ceremonial robes; the casual yukata is a bit... too casual for this. Also rather drafty. ]

Miodori... that's a cute nickname.

... Anyway, more importantly, I guess she's not the type to be that messy, huh? It totally ruins the image of a high school girl.

[cherryblooded]

Just knowing that the legs have an important artery isn't enough for you to sever it in a single clean hit. You'd have to either have experience with combat or human anatomy in order to get it first try.

[sleepingkogoro]

Maybe it wasn't a planned murder.

Maybe the sword was just for self-defense in case they got attacked or something, and the culprit changed their mind at some point, choosing to kill Sonozaki-san.

[Because one doesn't just carry a sword for no reason at all]

[goodforsomething]

Might've been smarter to toss it in and not turn it on. Not like anybody would go pokin' around in there for no reason.

[ignorantly]

Then somebody probably took it...

[garudynamic]

It doesn't have to burn if we don't notice right away- once the trial starts it won't matter if it's gone or not. It's just has to be good enough of a hiding place.

[notjustawriter]

That's a pretty specific wound. It'd be difficult, even with a lot of knowledge. I agree, whoever did this knew what they were doing.

[goodforsomething]

I don't know about that. All kids can be pretty messy.

[cherryblooded]

I think combat experience is more likely than just theoretical anatomy knowledge - it's harder to put into practice than it looks.

[trustharder]

[It's saturated all over.]

[capyper]

Well, Mion's a lot of fun, but she's got her own sense of responsibility! I guess I don't picture her room as being the type to be a total wreck.

[ignorantly]

I came up with it during our speed date. [ But that's irrelevant right now, let's move on. ]

She didn't seem the messy type at all. I think the killer took her key and went through her stuff.

[sleepingkogoro]

How large were those bloodstains?

[bloodisthicker]

Let's be honest here -- at best, they didn't consider offering themselves as a sacrifice, meaning that once we learn who they are, we're down two instead of one.

I guess the Kingmaker could have nixed the idea of self-sacrifice, but if he didn't, the killer really should have been the only one who died.

[notjustawriter]

So we're lookin' for someone who has combat experience with a sword, or a similar type of blade.

[capyper]

Hey, detective! You and Lynne were trying to keep track of all the weapons here, right? You wouldn't happen to know if somebody had a sword, would you?

[isafraid]

If it isn't... then we could very well have an attempt at covering something up.

[garudynamic]

Yeah, about what I thought. Though if she was still... bleeding... and was on it with that wound who knows how much it might've spread around. Still, guess it's just a really big towel.

[He doesn't want to think any of them would haul her around while she was still alive, after all. That's a bit much]

[captainobnoxious]

Who can say. I mean, I won't say it's planned just in case it's not, but it could still be. That rope's a pretty nice knot if even it's totally useless.

[maybe everyone can give a shot at tying knots like that to see who matches it]