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

[prismbloom]

I suppose I didn't word that as well as I should have.

You said that you didn't care what happened to us, had you gotten away with it.

[ ... ]

That's what I meant. If you had gotten away with it, would you really have felt nothing? Would you really not have cared?

[capyper]

... I... I don't want to answer that question. This isn't how this conversation was supposed to go...

[prismbloom]

That you refuse is enough to answer it.

[ ... ]

Yato, you made a lot of assumptions earlier. I'm not relieved. I wanted everyone to leave this place--all of us. That's the only thing I truly want.

[capyper]

I know... I know that's what would've been for the best. But then we talked about it, and agreed that we would rather at least die on our own terms than leave this kind of thing up to chance...

... Well, it's already too late to regret it.

[prismbloom]

You didn't want to die at the Kingmaker's hands--neither of you did.

[ .... ]

It does matter if you regret it. If you don't regret it... Those who kill without regrets no longer have any sort of humanity about them.

[ She knows it's silly--because he's a god, but. Aqua hopes he gets what she's trying to say. ]

[capyper]

Well, I'm not a human, but... I know what you mean. Thanks, Aqua... don't make the same mistakes I made, alright?

[ Just the murder part, not the... botching everything afterward part. ]

[prismbloom]

... I won't.

I can't say murder is forgivable. But I'm glad for the time we spent together.

And I'm glad we met.

[capyper]

... Thank you. I'm glad we met too.