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

[goodforsomething]

Ah, the kid's just bein' modest.

[Don't pick on the other twin.]

[penduli]

I'm going to have to respectfully decline.

[ don't make him do this........ ]

I can't handle blood at all anyway--it makes me sick to my stomach, honestly--and I have shaky hands. There's no way I could've done it. [ He would have totally stabbed her a few more times before he hit an artery correctly, is what he's saying.

...if he wasn't completely adverse to the idea in the first place anyway. HE'S A WUSS. ]

I think that's enough to exempt me from being a suspect this time, isn't it?

[capyper]

Since it's you, there's no need to, yeah.

[ It has nothing to do with his alibi. It's that nobody needs to look at Cherryblod's physique other than his wife!! ]

[penduli]

[ God Bless You ]

[capyper]

But he's being so cute about it. It makes me curious!

[isafraid]

[Hmm....]

Never touched a sword before, but I'm a bit versed in using smaller blades. I won't lie that I've gotten into some tough dustups back home.

[isafraid]

[thank god]

[notjustawriter]

[.....are you trying to incriminate yourself?]

[capyper]

[ ... Maybe it's the age range and blond hair, but something in the way that he says "I can't handle blood at all" reminds Yato of how Yukine used to be so afraid of the dark, and he loses his will to go on with the strip inquisition. ]

Well, I'll believe that you didn't do it, so I don't mind if you wanna pass over it if everybody else is okay with it.

[captainobnoxious]

Yeah, that's true. Just an idea.

[garudynamic]

It had to be before she died. So she was completely bled out before she was hung. I think you have to have blood to bruise. I dunno if you can get marks like that after you die, but I don't know anatomy well enough to say.

[penduli]

[ what's great is that they share an english voice actor too A SIGH OF RELIEF... his dignity remains intact for a few more seconds. ]

Thank you, Yato.

[ ...he's not sure if everyone else will agree with passing him over, but he sure hopes so. It'd be silly to waste time checking someone who's got a laundry list of reasons why he couldn't have done it. ]

[capyper]

Speaking of smaller blades, you were also in the games room, right? Did you see that little metal bit that was mentioned earlier?

[prismbloom]

In a high-tension situation, even the most composed peeson can lose their head.

[goingdigital]

Yeah it was inside the furence itself. Nothing else was wrong in the room and the furence was still cold.

[capyper]

[ HE'S LUCKY YATO DIDN'T IMMEDIATELY START TREATING HIM LIKE YUKINE ]

Hey, no problem! Like I said... I don't believe you did it. No point in wasting time on a pointless endeavor.

[ignorantly]

[ Shirazu shrugs off the top half of his shitty jumpsuit, and grabs onto the middle section so it won't drop and expose his undies.

He's got some decent-looking muscle on him, just saying. Also, he's clean. ]

[goodforsomething]

[Stan's wearing his orange prison jumpsuit today, but he unzips the front and shrugs off the shoulders, rolling it down enough to see the white undershirt he's got on beneath. It's clean.]

[notjustawriter]

[Since he's the one who brought it up, Gabriel will strip off his shirt after a few people do it, too.

He's clean.]

[capyper]

[ ... You know, he's the one who brought it up, so Yato supposes he can oblige too... it takes him a while, but once he has the top of his his robes suitably undone, he can go ahead and reveal... yep, nothing. ]

[sleepingkogoro]

[Sure, Gabriel's suggestion works. Mouri obeys and demonstrates he has nothing that could be useful for the trial]

[capyper]

[ ....... He's staring openly. ]

Whoa, that's better than I expected. [ Yato is now the time. ]

[capyper]

Uh... so, not that I mind the eye candy, but can I entertain another possibility here? Maybe the blood is Mion's.

[captainobnoxious]

So how many of us can actually do a knot this nice anyway? I'll tear up my sweater so we don't have to touch the evidence and we can see who's actually got the know-how.

[Bloodletting. Sledgehammer swinging. Knot tying. A weird idea every round.]

If you all are willing to go at it, I mean. We'll just do it one at a time.

[notjustawriter]

It doesn't look like it's any of ours.