Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

The elevator doors slide open at the end of the allotted time for investigating, and the ride down is quick-paced and smooth; there's a lot more space in here than there was at the start of the game, that much is obvious. But then, perhaps that's to be expected with almost a third of your original number dead. The doors slide open when the courtroom is reached, the podium circle waiting as always in the middle of what still seems to be an endless dark void; Yato, Taichi and Megumi have joined the ranks of the dead, their podiums draped in black, greyscale portraits set upon them. Watching the proceedings. And as always, they aren't the only ones watching. The Kingmaker waits until everyone is settled at their podiums to begin speaking; it's still impossible to tell where his voice is coming from – other than, perhaps, 'everywhere.' "Protective has been taken from you. Looks like the guilty thought their secret was worth more than her life... Or maybe they just wanted out and decided to be the one to succeed at Rule Seven where everyone else has failed. Whether they succeed or not is up to you." Nineteen Survivors remain. How many are still alive at the end of the day is your decision.

Comments

[cherryblooded]

Incinerator room had blood on the floor. Not to mention that the incinerator was on when I got there.

[garudynamic]

There was more blood too, and it went from her room to the incinerator then to the bar.

I can't say for sure, but it looked like that was the order of rooms from how the blood fell.

[captainobnoxious]

... Oh. The bar had blood too, but just near the entrance and on the knife.

[That's... secondary, okay. The alcohol was important.]

[cherryblooded]

If Yosuke's right about the order of things, maybe the entrance was where the fight ended? But that wouldn't explain all the broken things.

[captainobnoxious]

So it has to be the beginning. They could've smashed her on the noisepress.

[... Maybe...]

[cherryblooded]

Megumi's bruising is on the back of her head. Can you really break a piano with just somebody's head?

--Well, you could if you were strong enough, I suppose.

[ratingspoint]

...I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have the back of her head anymore, in that case.

[cherryblooded]

Right. Whatever bruised her, I doubt it's the piano, and I doubt the piano was broken with Megumi as the blunt instrument.

[...no pun intended there.]

[isafraid]

In that case, it would have to be something a fair bit stronger.

[.....]

Has anyone gotten any hammers from the vending machine recently?

[cherryblooded]

If they had, no one would admit to it. I haven't seen anyone else with hammers, either.

[captainobnoxious]

Honestly, didn't look all that hard at it. Probably should've.

[Her bad. Don't let her be an investigator.]

But from experience, things that big tend to get smashed when you hit bodies on them. Unless you were strong enough.

[cherryblooded]

If she had bruising everywhere, maybe, but it's just her head.

[garudynamic]

Or maybe not- it's possible they just went to town on the bar in a fit. Like... if they regretted what they did. And went to the bar to get hammered.

[captainobnoxious]

If they regretted what they did, they should speak up. They know the cost by now.

[penduli]

And be executed? They'd still prefer to live, I'm sure.

[captainobnoxious]

It's a matter of honor.

[garudynamic]

Unless it was an accident or a, what, crime of passion? I doubt that's happening. If the there WAS a fight in the bar that means they knocked her out, took her to her room to stab her then went back, trailing the blood from the knife.

That's way too much intent at least after the fact, right?

[captainobnoxious]

[crime of passion.....]

... Yeah, it is. Oh, but we found it stuck in the wall. I forgot to mention that. It was nicely in there too.

[Considering, you know. What this place is.]

[ratingspoint]

That's more of a reason to not speak up, if you ask me. Speaking up now would mean she died for nothing, after all.

[captainobnoxious]

[Mrrrrr.]

Well-- Yeah, but I mean... Eh.

[She makes a wavy hand gesture.]

It's honor stuff. At least, if it was an accident, which it's mounting up not to be.

[pokexplorer]

That may be the case.

When I observed Miss Megumi's room, I did not see blood coming into the room, only leaving it. I'm not so sure she was up herself.

[garudynamic]

Yeah that's what I thought too. So we can probably assume the stabbing at least happened there for sure.

The blood wasn't dragged through or anything like that, just dripped.

[amygdalae]

The amount of blood in her room supports that, at least.

[There was a lot of blood, after all.]

From what I can tell - again - the blood isn't very fresh, so a fair bit of time had passed between the killing blows and us discovering the body.

[sleepingkogoro]

...blood and a mess...

There's no discussion, then. The crime scene must have been the Bar, all the way to the fourth floor.

[Nice! We are making quick progress]

Why would the culprit carry the body all the way to Sakura-san's bedroom?

[cherryblooded]

Good question. I'd say 'something about the bar implicates them' but we were bound to discover that scene anyway with the blood trail.