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

[goodforsomething]

[Stan stalks into the courtroom, shooting a dour look over at Taichi's empty podium before returning his attention to the portrait of Megumi. Two people dead in one week; two people who didn't deserve it.

One hand is curled into the pocket of his suit jacket, and with the other he drums his fingers on the podium.]

I'm just gonna say right now that I hope this execution hurts a lot.

[cherryblooded]

[When Cherryblod reaches his podium, he empties a few things from his pockets - a bloodstained piece of blue fabric and a small pile of candy wrappers.]

The furnace was on when I entered the incinerator room. Whatever had been burned was ashes by the time I got there, but I did find these candy wrappers in the trash can, as well as this bloody piece of blue fabric on the floor, near the punching bag.

And some blood on the floor. There was that.

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri is ready.

He has key evidence with him and he knows it. He doesn't go to his podium, instead walking around the room and looking at some people's heads. He tries to be as subtle as possible, after all, he doesn't want to alert the culprit.

Whether that works or not remains to be seen]

Let's start. From my examination of the crime scene I have found out Sakura-san was murdered in her bedroom, apparently from being stabbed over and over. Bruce-san knows more details about that.

It is rather possible Sakura-san attempted to defend herself, but it seems she was unsuccessful, as the room doesn't show many signs of a fight.

The weapon of the crime couldn't be localized.

Were there other places that could be related to the murder?

[bloodisthicker]

[...Tarrlok is very obviously more angry and frazzled than usual, which is probably an accomplishment.]

I agree wholeheartedly, and you are going down, whoever you are.

[cherryblooded]

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

[amygdalae]

...whoever did this to Miss Sakura has to answer for their actions.

[Bruce's own words are quiet but firm; the loss of Megumi strikes him even harder now when he's standing at his own podium since she had been on his right. Now that she's gone her the lack of her presence is only more noticeable.

She truly didn't deserve what happened to her - her and Yagami both. They need to get to the bottom of this, no matter what.]

[captainobnoxious]

I got it! I got the murder weapon! Misa gave it to me!

[Please... please don't be so excited about your bloody knife, honey.]

We found it in the bar, which was recklessly trashed and there was so much booze gone it was just-- it was terrible.

[...]

And the noisepress was cracked pretty much in half. I couldn't even play it.

[notjustawriter]

Agreed.

She didn't deserve this.

[isafraid]

[Speedwagon's more on the depressed side of anger. What could they have done to prevent this? Why were they so unfortunate to lose two innocent people in one week?]

...Let's hope that this trial isn't too long then.

[They would find justice, somehow.]

[isafraid]

...."Noisepress"?

[um, Sigrun?]

I'm guessing you mean the piano?

[notjustawriter]

Miss Sakura was hit over the head.

The back of her head was bruised. Couldn't tell what was used to knock her out, but it looks like she was stabbed after she was unconscious.

[pokexplorer]

Agreed...

[Colress is gazing right across the circle at Megumi's portrait with a slightly empty yet determined expression. He's still unsettled by how close he was to everything that went down.]

[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.]

[captainobnoxious]

Yeah. I don't like the name since it doesn't make sense, so it's a noisepress now.

[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.

[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.

[captainobnoxious]

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

[... Maybe...]

[amygdalae]

[As usual, its time for Bruce to give his report about his findings on the victim.]

Detective Mouri and Mister Knight have their own findings, so I'll leave those to them. As for my examination of the victim...

[A brief pause. It never gets easier, really, despite the fact that this has happened more than thrice now. But he has to push on - for them, when not for himself.]

The cause of death, if not from extensive injury from her wounds, would most likely be blood loss. There are multiple stab wounds that are notably deep on her chest and abdominal areas, and the damage done to her clothes corresponds to the wounds inflicted on her. I'm no expert, but as far as I can tell the blood splatter on her clothes seem to be consistent from her wounds, too.

...in addition, I also found this in her pockets.

[And at this point he takes out the Kingmaker-given device that he found on Megumi, shows it to everyone and places it on top of his own podium.]

There was nothing else on her besides that device - I made sure to check thoroughly.

[ratingspoint]

[Oh, for fuck's sake.]

Nice to see that we're playing favorites when it comes to corpses now.

[isafraid]

But it does, and...

[....We could probably stand around and argue about this, but... you know. Dead person.]

Uh, in any case, it could be important that it's been broken in half.

[penduli]

Its original name was "pianoforte" before it was shortened to just "piano," and it referred to being able to have soft and loud dynamics compared to the instrument that came before it, the harpischord.

Pianoforte. Soft-loud. [ ...humans are dumb. ]

It just got shortened because "piano" sounds nicer. What doesn't make sense?

[captainobnoxious]

[They can make it their next dinner conversation.]

I think someone got smashed on it. Probably teach. We're gonna have to replace it.

[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.