#iustice

Welcome to sandy Isola Radiale, Kogami!

You’ll be staying in HOUSE 117!

You will receive a BB gun.

Enjoy your stay!

It was something he learned from the drama club-- from his upperclassmen, before they graduated and left.

Everyone has a nervous tic, no doubt about it. Whether it be shaking their leg. tapping their foot, readjusting their glasses...

Or something subtle like clearing your throat, looking away, picking the dirt under your nails...

If you want to be a good actor, you have to hide these habits. When you're upstage, make everyone believe you're confident that you're someone else.

They had a whole exercise about it and everything, where club members each had a turn performing a subtle sort of fidget that everyone had to notice, point out, and guess what the habit was. 

Ever since, Katashi had been attentive to stuff like this. He'd pay more attention to someone's mannerisms before their character, and it was able to get him far. It helped him pinpoint who was lying, who was anxious, who was scared-- after the exercise, his memory would point out that Nico would always run his fingers over his nose, as if trying to feel his freckles. That Takuma would always push his glasses up, even when they hadn't even slid down.

Now, Atsushi would always play with his sleeves or pick at the tattoo on his wrist. Toshi would always be running her fingers across the many textures of her dress, something she won't be able to do if she wore pants. Akaji would always bring his hand to his neck, scratching it, presumably even if there wasn't an itch. Mugen always held his own arm, or he'd be picking at his nails or fingers-- a habit to break a worse one of chewing on them instead.

[♫♫♫]

Katashi barely reacted to the reveal, aside from fawning over how handsome Mugen looked when he went off. Something else he learned from drama club was that people like this-- those who act big and dramatic-- relish uproarious attention (how could he not notice when he was like that himself?) and-- ah, what was it? Don't feed the trolls? That was probably useful information here, too. But while he refused to provide the eye-looking head-turning acknowledgement that he assumed the mastermind wanted...

There was no need for theatrics. Katashi was paying attention in other ways, starting the moment he heard a voice waver ever so slightly.

He misses the extremely minute details naturally, he was only human, but he sees it. Looking away. Crossing and uncrossing legs. Playing with hands and nails. The self interruption. They were getting somewhere, and it makes him smirk.

God was afraid of idols because he was just as weak as humanity.

"Now, I don't mean to interrupt, but as we are bringing up all the things we "dead" have found now, it's best to get everything out of the way so we can theorize properly."

He speaks up after everyone else has had their turn bringing up what they found. And although he never really bothered to discuss or talk or even make himself known during the investigations (for once), it was still probably best to get everything out there.

"If the one we're looking for is in here right now, then this may help us narrow it down, perhaps?"

Unfortunately, against your will, you are brainblasted directly information from Katashi Aoyama's mind.

[ Incident Reports ]

"I think with all this, we can try to further determine the culprit's character and identity. What do we have so far?"

Great. Now that he has no murder to build a timeline out of, now it's all about building a character. What the fuck is with you and building

"Going in order of the evidence presented:

They are one of us in here, perhaps an employee of TAP.

They have an exceptionally good grasp on math, if the math was so solid.

The train time machine blueprints are written in Japanese.

Should our culprit be the CEO, then they are shit with money.

"There may be more to list from other pieces of evidence, but I'm still in shock of what happened mere moments earlier, so bear with me here. I'm thinking, for this piece in particular..."

"Incidents aren't reported for some candidates. What I'm thinking is that whichever numbers aren't mentioned might have a chance in being the one we're looking for; so 02, 10, 12, 15, 16, and 18, if I'm not mistaken. I've already deducted that 03 and 20 are Mugen and I respectively, 04 must be Sato, 07 Yanagihara, 06 Karasu, 08... Mercy?"

im sorry this is replying to old akaji posts too bc im just old and slow.

"Tch... do we look like your ex-girlfriend to you? You went and told your on-and-off girlfriend instead of your extremely stable friendships?"

kata vs enough about womens rights its time to talk about womens wrongs But what Katashi fails to see is that Akaji couldn't say anything due to OOC plot reasons, so please just ignore him. <3

Still, while Mugen's anger had sizzled down, Katashi was still pissed off. And it didn't take long for Katashi to realize that, ah, Akaji must see himself as the villain here... (He kind of was.) That he has to be hated for it. (He deserves to be hated, really.)

"You really want us to hate you so bad, huh?"

He could argue all day if he wanted.

But if there was something Katashi was really good at... it was acting out of spite.

And act out of spite he did, as he takes a deep breath, and using all of his flaming anger...

...he uses it to be as gentle and caring as possible.

If Akitoshi Hibayashi wanted his best friends to hate him for what he did, then Katashi Aoyama will love him and care for him to the point of suffocation. Genuine tender loving care, all out of spite. He wouldn't let him save him then, and he won't let that happen again. He'll save him now.

"Oh, if you stabbed us yourself, I'd be a lot more angrier. But if killing each other meant progress for you to keep existing with us... then to hell with it, right? Plus, you said it yourself-- anyone would've done this. And I had a 80% success rate, so," oh so hes just gonna kin assign himself as candidate 20 now ok

Anyway; demeanor recovered, he flips his hair, and acts as though Akaji was never the mastermind to begin with-- if he had to be talked to for him to remember, he might as well talk to him like the friend he's always been.

(But not before a prompt fist pump and personal celebration over not actually being dead. He fucking KNEW it. And he WILL gloat and brag over being right after all this. He's so insufferable, even now.)

"...What do you mean it's not just you anymore? So we all have to remember or else we're all doomed? Seems pressuring, moreso since apparently you cannot be straightforward, so hm...

Then, if the class' involvement with TAP is also something we have to realize ourselves...Yes, it said in one of your notes-- it has to be us who recalls because connected to this field that keeps getting brought up. But how were we even put there in the first place?"

Ah, if only he had his butterfly knife to toy with as he pondered.

"And you say the memories coming to us after deaths wasn't a coincidence, hm? Was the killing game set into motion in order for us to feel the life-or-death experience needed to trigger then gain these memories? It's the only thing that I could think of to explain why we tap into the minds of those who've killed, been killed, or have been executed.

That people had to be killed in order to recall the missing pieces in full, am I correct? But why? Of all things, why is the feeling near-death a trigger?"

He sighs and shakes his head, in a way one would do after seeing their dog had messed the floor with muddy footprints.

Mugen had told Akaji to get away from him as their high school days were coming to an end...before they all graduated, he wanted to graduate alone. Katashi had broken his heart and he in turn lashed out at Akaji because he knew he didn’t deserve that good in his life. To be alone, he wanted to destroy all he held dear that last month…

Mugen’s breath felt completely stopped up, he reached hastily for Katashi’s hand again to ground himself into the reality that his brain was so vehemently denying. Complete rejection of a reality that he refused to accept had a possibility of existing.

When they met again...he looked just as Mugen had remembered...like not even a day had passed. With that meeting was the feeling of pure shame flowing through his body, the memories of how he destroyed his relationship with Akaji so vivid in his mind still. He just wanted to be his friend again. Mugen had missed his friend...he couldn’t be happier than to be able to go to parties with him, try his best to study with him, to feel that joy of friendship that he felt back in high school again…

Akaji disappeared though...it was because his grandpa died but...that wasn’t all of it...Akaji died...and Mugen never knew...he just saw him again one day when he walked into Ignition Point years later...Akaji was right there. He was fine. He never knew that Akaji had died!!

He squeezes Katashi’s hand ever so tighter…

Mugen...had never known the things that Akaji never told him...but it wasn’t like he wasn’t keeping secrets himself...secrets that Akaji had found out by accident anyway. A night on the patrol and he leaped from the building down right into someone’s skull. To defend the weak...to protect those that can’t protect themselves, that night Mega Super Ranger Red sprang into action. He didn’t know who he was saving till it was all over, he turned his head and...it was Akaji…

He felt closer to him...Akaji knew his secret but Mugen still didn’t know his...he didn’t know...the years continued to pass and Mugen’s life only deteriorated more and more...falling apart at the seams as every single hope he had for the future crumbled in his hands...being able to break away from the Kizaki family...being able to be together with Katashi...so many impossibilities flashed in Mugen’s eyes and disappeared...in those times...those times of need...Akaji offered an ear…

He listened...he always listened...every time that Mugen cried...every time Mugen wished he could change the past...could change himself...could change the world...Akaji was there...and Akaji listened…silently...without Akaji...Mugen never would’ve taken his first step into the life he dreamed...

So why..why...even after telling him every dark secret...after exposing his entire heart to Akaji...why…

Mugen gritted his teeth...and his eyes welled up with tears…

The crippling loneliness they both felt, that they knew belonged to their friend: the existential dread, the feeling, no, the fact that you just knew no one was coming to get you...

Because they didn't know...

(Katashi reminisces too, that Akaji would just turn up to work like usual, and they'd bicker like nothing happened.)

they didn't know you were gone...

(A break-up would happen, and Akaji would've been invited to live with him, like nothing happened.)

they forgot, they forgot you exist, just for a second...

(They lived together like nothing happened. Akaji would just be there like nothing happened.)

Shouldering a weight. Like nothing ever happened.

He thought nothing had happened. He was sure that nothing had happened. One day he'd be scolding Akaji about his homework, telling him that he only wanted the best for him, yet refusing to admit he cared. On another, years later, he would be fretting and worrying anxiously on how Akaji was doing without him, to the point of searching for him and pinning him down just to give him a job. The trio, consisting of red, yellow and blue, would have gotten back together. Like nothing happened.

Katashi would be going to sleep, and he'd assume Akaji was fast asleep as well. The moment they had when they both realized they enjoyed each other's presence after years upon years assuming they couldn't stand each other-- Katashi thought he'd sealed the bag then. He would come home late at night from crime fighting-- he was a hero after all, someone whose job was saving those in trouble, in distress, and in need, and Akaji would still be awake sometimes, and Katashi always assumed he was fine staying home alone. Potential this, you matter that, he was supposed to be protecting people like him goddamnit and yet he didn't even notice a damn thing...

Yet, still, his face struggles to emote, but his heart is aching. And he feels like he should be doing something more than just stand there, but he doesn't. Why?

Because he knew, of course. Back when he recalled every past trial, he knew. 'You never told me you were jumped and saved, and you lived with your dad before I picked you up.' He was the only one who fit, and expecting the worst was something he was good at. And expect he did, but... did it lessen the blow at all?

He couldn't tell. He couldn't even be mad-- not at the one thing you'd expect someone to be mad at, anyway. Even among all the shock, the shock that Akaji had even done this, he knew Akaji was right: it was a fact that if anyone here were in his shoes, save for some exceptions--

"--it was written as notes, as success rates... that anyone would've done so--"

(as he believed himself to be Candidate 20, who had a 80% success rate, so who was he to speak,)

and this entire time, Katashi hadn't realized he was speaking everything he was thinking until now. And while he couldn't quite place his anger on him simply trying to keep himself tangible,

(But it was happening. And it kept happening, and it kept happening, and he'd just say nothing--)

Mugen and Katashi...their thoughts in perfect sync...speaking to each other through the link that they didn’t even need to share this thought with each other...this thought that they wished to communicate to the one they loved.

It doesn’t matter what you tell us, you are still you.

But those words don't leave their mouths…

“”WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US!?””

That was the epicenter of their rage.

Not that he did this.

Not that he tricked them all.

It was simply...that he didn’t divulge his heart to his best friends.

Katashi was not simple-minded. Katashi was not stupid. This is what he believed so strongly. So once he’s suddenly in the same room as everyone else– the living– there’s no doubt about it: he said he’d come back, and boy did he look so smug about being right.

And yet, people can only look upon the surface. Fine, he died, but he was still breathing, wasn’t he? Foolish.

But he digresses, he thinks, and while Mugen held himself from greeting his friend the way he wanted, Katashi has learned how to stop giving a shit and he gives Akaji’s shoulder a squeeze, along with a warm smile. Then, he watches in silence… because munny brain no worky

But it’s clear that Katashi has been paying attention the whole time, as he wastes not a second to address Audie.

“No worries,” he says with a wave of his hand, “It’s important to bring up as many fitting facts as possible. With that, including the secret Audie had brought up, I have experienced three near-deaths in total. In childhood, when I was 21, and mere months before we’ve boarded the train. But as we are looking for an event that happened 4 years ago, you’ll see that none of the three events matches with what was discussed–”

Then he clasps his hands together,

“–And, yes, correct! I am ”“”“”“DEAD”“”“”“. So it cannot be me.”

He exaggerates the word ‘dead’, dragging it out with finger quotations, He’s… really set that he’s actually alive, huh?

Katashi looks at Mugen tilts his head a little, 

“But… is the missing student trying to hurt us? They’re just trying to ensure they don’t get deleted from existence, right? Unless they’re the ones who starts the game to save themself, and not TAP doing whatever the fuck they’re doing. I’m still foggy on what exactly the goals are here, between both the missing student and TAP, but…”

He looks between Mugen and Lindsay, then finally settles his gaze on Akaji. He looks for a while, a little concerned, before he turns his head back to the rest of the table.

“So now, at this point, how much do we know about the missing student? I know Katsukawa had listed what we know beforehand, but what else can we add…

They’re not readily rich,

they have a dad who is not only present in their life, but whom they refer to as 'father’,

they had an unexpected near-death,

and they’re supposedly the one who stole the train…”

They use technologic metaphors– but honestly, I think anyone can– and… I assume that the goal is for the missing student to 'win’? Are they trying to get away with what they’re doing or what? I agree with Noguchi, we’re trying to find who this individual, for what to happen? If this is they’re train now, then that means we’re their responsibility, right?

Huh… Do you think… they’re not saying anything, in fear that doing so will fuck up this attempt and have them erased for good?“

…

Unable to say anything… was a trait.

…” 'I’m not crazy, but I know how it sounds. That’s why I absolutely can’t tell anyone.’ It sounded like even if they wanted to say something, they assumed no one would believe them.

…

Akaji… Would you have told us if something was happening to you? You would, right? Mugen has to be right. We’re your best friends!“

He says, grabbing his hand, squeezing it.

Akaji, years before they boarded the train, never told him he was jumped then saved by Ranger Red, did he? Akaji was right. There wasn’t enough to successfully incriminate him. But if there was still something he’d learned from the trials…

(Guy would never clean up so sloppily. The single wipe belonged to him.)

(Mokichi would never kill someone, have you looked at him? The nail polish belonged to them.)

(There’s no way Alice would be able to swing around a huge sword. The syringes belonged to her.)

…

(How could Katashi and Mugen die so easily if they can fight back? It had to have been someone else. Their lives belonged to each other.)

No matter how little it was…

Four years ago, he hasn’t moved in with him yet. Four years ago, Akaji was living with his dad.

It was still… something, wasn’t it?

…

"Plus, this all sounds like too much work for him! Akaji hates working. And there’s no way he’d ever refer to his dad as 'father’ right? So, who else hasn’t spoken up yet? Has all the living outed their past experiences?”

Still selfish, he was. Maybe even denial. Of course he was going to be biased and give him the benefit of the doubt. Smiles were given to Akaji, and glares were offered to everyone else.

Not because he was scared of dying this time, but because he cared so damn much about him. 

You aren't listening to me.

It replays in his head again in two voices than one, overlapped each other, as Jinki reveals that he's uninjured. We didn't need to know this, he thinks, we had the answer long time ago.

He tries to shake his head off of the thought though, as he looks back up.

"...Oh. My apologies, I must have missed it or forgot after, er, all that ended up happening. Easy to jumble up the mind, and you have a rather quiet voice, don't you?"

Regardless, he does bow his head to further say he was sorry towards Lily, before looking down at the vote tally.

Everything seemed to be in order, the highest tallies were still seemingly correct, but...

You aren't listening to me.

You aren't listening to me.

You aren't listening to me.

Why was he trying to fight for this for the killer? Why should he care what she had to say?

Killers lie. That's what they do. For all he knows, this could be manipulation. A trick. A ruse. But that phrase just keeps fucking echoing.

...

Was this what it was like... to empathize, to understand, but not forgive?

He felt like he was in her shoes. That now, no one was listening to him.

...

...

...He can't risk innocents dying. He was doing it to save others, just like back then-- he wanted to save the innocent, out of the own child-like innocence of his heart. The more things get revealed, the more the answer gets clearer, so why aren't people seeing? Why do they keep questioning? Trust was a fickle thing, but he evidence, the facts-- he pleads: guys, the facts--

Katashi sits up tall.

"Ah, but do consider this... Sato still had a head wound. That could have made him pass out or weak enough to have been easily injected.

And if inexperience of injection isn't a good enough reason for the scratches, may I suggest the person was simply shaking too much out of-- of whatever emotion happens after a fight for your life. Also, answer me this: If a fight broke out, had there been a third party and only two started fighting, would they simply had been standing by and watching? No, they'd run out because they aren't stupid, and the one with the sword would chase after them after their first job was done.

The note explicitly said that the tools would be prepared and handed to the recipient. And, well. Just falling into an ice hole isn't enough to kill a person. But it'd open a very easy opportunity for anyone of any strength to deal a killing blow. Thank you, Mugen."

He can't let someone get away with this again.

"So... please, if you hadn't voted for Cloudspotter > Bigfoot, Frankenstein > Cloudspotter... please reconsider. We've been fed the answer. It's right there, in front of us."

It was never about justice, he thinks. Not completely.

Sympathy. Empathy. Similar, but not quite the same. He was putting in effort to understand it for once, and more-- to understand emotions, vulnerability, whatever else that came with it, so he could see where he went wrong.

But this?

This?

Yeah, he didn't quite have the energy for this. He didn't get it, and Katashi fell back into the cycle of apathy for the time being. (Or so, he thought.) All the energy was spent on reminiscing memories, but now he just wanted to lay down. (Just like a small child.)

(Was everyone always this dramatic? He thinks it was better when he was the only dramatic one.)

"Of course she'll remember you. She's going to be fully conscious by the time this is over, regardless of who dies now."

They could breathe. They could feel pain.

It was as if they were still alive.

It was as if no one actually...

His ear twitches. Something itches. Something scratches and claws at his brain, underneath the all exhaustion, and through the attempts to ignore it. The voice of something. Something like...

You… aren’t listening to me.

Yes, like a child.

'Why aren't you listening to me?'

No one listens to children.

'You have the wrong person! I showed you--'

No one listens when they think they know better than you.

'...I don't know where he went.'

Then, silenced. At one point of his lifetime, even Katashi Aoyama felt helpless. Useless.

He won't let that happen again. 

So again, he tries to understand. He tries, but only irritation overflows him.

"...Let us not completely shove what Kishinami has said to the side. What she's saying holds weight and now needs to be analyzed as well, especially so now that we know she's involved."

His memory goes back to his quickly whipped-up theory: running away from the explosion radius before detonation. Alice feeling before Kazu dies so the case file wouldn't be fucked up. He wonders if he was correct, then. He wonders if he should be wondering at all, but people always tend to get the wrong answers for simple question because of overthinking.

He wonders if, that if he was right, that he only got it right because he barely thought deep about the theory. But being right was still being right. And it felt good. He wants to be right again. It's all he's ever worked for.

And Katashi thinks about it again, and soon after the first thought, he realizes his theory was wrong. That he shouldn't have been wondering if he as right. Why? Because the culprit said so. Not directly, but through logic and proof. Alice Kishinami never gave the impression to prioritize emotions over fact, even now.

Wanting to do the right thing, like a hero would... Everything was clicking now.

"Now, I don't know what Quil is, but I assume the mess in the infirmary was not only the rush to get oneself patched up, but perhaps all the medicine that was out was to make whatever deadly concoction rests in that syringe. The mention of preparation and tools in the notes must have been this."

He sighs, and he goes over everything that was said the best he can, filtering out all emotions and filler and trash and what-have-you. Even if Katashi had dropped the judgement schtick, he was still obsessed with getting this right.

And what was right...

You… aren’t listening to me.

...To think he'd listen to a freak again.

"...I think whatever Kishinami had voted is correct. The scratching indicating inexperience with a needle-- Sato must have been injected before she died, it should be that obvious now.

One could argue that the reason he didn't know he was in danger was because he cannot feel things the same way we do. But, looking at the evidence again, and like what others have stated before, his struggled injuries matches Magnolia's, indicating a scuffle. Why Magnolia was the one to do it? Perhaps a ploy that we don't know of.

Keep going. Keep going off what you know. Keep going off on what you were told.

Listen. Listen.

But anyway, considering the state of the tavern again, the injection must have happened there, explaining the scene of a fight-- most likely Kazu fighting back to avoid getting injected. The wound on his head being a result of the fight, and it possibly knocking him out unconscious, the other two running out in a chase as they leave him there. And by the time he's woken up, Magnolia has probably already died, and so he forgets he was injected in the first place due to the murder. He has no time to look around the place as not coming to a body discovery has consequences."

He taps his cheek, deep in thought.

"Moving on to Magnolia's death. Well, the answer is right there, isn't it? Not quite sure how Kishinami was able to turn the tables and grab hold of the sword, but her injuries speak the truth. She's the only one with slash wounds, proving her involvement with the sword fight. This murder feels less planned and more a 'kill or be killed' scenario."

His leg crosses over the other, his stern face mismatching his racing heartbeat. He listened. And now he could only hope something good comes out of it.

"And now is where I ask for confirmation, but you look rather tired of our idiocy and tomfoolery, don't you, Alice Kishinami? You fed us, but we stubbornly insisted we weren't hungry." He looks towards everyone else again. "So we can't ask them anymore. We've tired them, so we'll just have to ask the evidence."

"And the evidence cannot lie."

 It all depends whether the evidence would be accepted.