trusthell | Take Responsibility.

The allotted time for investigating comes to an end, and those elevator doors slide open at the end of the first-floor corridor; it's a bit of a walk down from the fifth floor, but at least the ride down is swift and smooth.

To say nothing of spacious. Your numbers are running low.

The podium circle, as always, stands out against the black-walled courtroom where it's encircling that pit in the center; Mettaton and Shirazu have joined the ranks of the deceased, photographs in greyscale watching the proceedings from their podiums draped in black.

The Kingmaker, too, is watching all of you; as always, it isn't until everyone has settled at their podium that he speaks, his voice sounding out through the room for all to hear.

"Sacrificial has been taken from you. Maybe this time the guilty party is going to actually succeed at Rule Seven - but of course, whether they manage it is still up to the rest of you."

Eleven Survivors remain. How many are still standing by the end of the day is up to you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[~~Starkphones~~ His phone is also nigh impenetrable as well, so Bruce doesn't expect anybody less from a hacker. All their most important data is stored in their electronics, after all.

So yeah, he doesn't really look much into it. There isn't a point, anyway.]

We've all been here for long enough. You should know better than to fall to his pushing.

[ About that...]

When I first arrived here, the first thing he showed me was her being kidnapped by my ex-partner. Anything he offered me at that point was moot, because she could still be trapped in that situation.

Last week he finally showed me that she wasn't. I've achieved everything I wanted to do [ His revenge back home, as it were.]. If I did nothing, and he actually had her here, then I couldn't risk her being injured.

If she's still safe, then it doesn't matter. I forced her to move far away, so she wouldn't see me anymore regardless.

[...

'They could be fake', he wants to say, but he also knows its probably a moot point. Aiden is smarter than that.]

...why him?

[Why pick off Shizaru?]

No particular reason, it wasn't personal. It was business. [ He was an easy target, being out so late at night.]

He didn't suffer. [ Because as much as he's killed people, Aiden isn't that type of person.] We fought for a bit, but I was able to get his abdominal aortic artery eventually. It was over fast.