#trial1

“Instead of wasting our time persuading a clearly uncooperate individual - one who also assisted a murderer, no less -, our time would be more wisely spend on discussing more important matters.”

Given how long this trial had been going on already, it was probably a surprise to suddenly hear Veronica speak up. If one had casted a glance her way beforehand, they may have seen that she had been massaging her head for quite some time. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to find this whole situation headache-inducing, huh? And the mun needed a reason for someone like Veronica to stay quiet for so long, but ssshhh.

“For the “dummy ritual circle” - as you all dub it -, it was either delibaretly set up that way or it tells us where Murakami-san was assaulred first. Either way, I do not think solving this particular puzzle will bring us any closer to the identity of our culprit - which is our first and foremost priority, all things considered.”

“I am also not quite certain whether our culprit truly needed to have bad eyesight - do not forget that the murder occured in the middle of the night - which means  that it was dark outside. Unless you have night vision googles, everyone would have trouble coordinating through a forest - especially if one wore a bedsheet as a means to obscure one’s identity.”

It’s also possible that someone is simply blessed with good night vision - or bought themselves magic that enhanced their seeing abilities, but tossing out too many possibilities at once may just end up confusing the others.

“I would also like to make a comment about the slashes found within some trees - as Katagiri-san already pointed out, they must have happened either before Murakami-san was stabbed to death or they had multiple knives with them... though it is also possible that they have acquired a dagger from one of the shops - or used magic to do such cuts to begin with.”

Well, so much for not tossing in too many possibilities at once!

“All that aside, there is one fact that we can be relatively certain of - unless Inaba-san is actually our culprit and has lied about seeing a ghost to begin with, but I do believe the chances of such a turn of events happening are relatively low.”

Not to mention, if it were to happen, she knew her headache would just worsen - so she hoped that she would be spared of such an outcome.

“Liu-san, GrimmZB-san, Deville-san and Noariko-san are too short for the description that we were given. I do believe that if they were around her height, she would’ve noted as much. Thus, we can tentatively sort out Valentine-san, Hanada-san and Amajiki-san as well.”

“This would leave us with Cracker Jack-san, Katagiri-san, Imamizo-san, Chiketsu-san, Suzunaki-san, Tsukasa-san and myself. Judging by the evidence that we have uncovered, none of them appear to link to Cracker Jack-san, Katagiri-san, Tsukasa-san or myself. If we can potentially count out those who have discovered the body - after all, the hydra never outright denied that the murderer didn’t count amongst them -, it would leave us with Imamizo-san and Suzunaki-san. If the murderer can be counted within the afromentioned group, Chiketsu-san would also become a suspect.”

At that point, she glanced towards Chiketsu, her face remaining ever-so aloof as she made her case.

“As you were my roommate, you would be well acquainted with my attire by now - so claiming that you can see my cross from afar wouldn’t amount to much - it isn’t that small, either. Regardless, given your talent, I do not think it would be strange to assume that you might wish to carry a knife around in case you wish to acquire some... fantastical blood from the otherwordly creatures here. Or for self-defense purposes, but that could be said about everyone.”

“It also doesn’t help that you appear to get along with Suzunaki-san - something that not many of us can claim, from what I have observed. However, Imamizo-san is also incredibly suspicious in lieu of possessing so many knives to begin with. On the other hand, she does not seem to regard Suzunaki-san in high-esteem and vice-verca - ‘lest they are simply acting it out. As for Suzunaki-san... well, I do think her actions and words speak for themselves. Self-framing is a thing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried her hand on that, as much as she wishes to deny it.”

A hand gingerly placed on her hip, she let her eyes wander around, looking at her classmates calmly.

“...Ah.  Ms. IVEY was the one who hunted down our sickly prey ... and destroyed her over a longstanding feud...?”

“How marvelously exciting if it were true!  But didn’t you see all of those terrible, awful knife cuts around  the place?  The lack of sharpening?  The wrong kind of blade for the job?  Did anyone try to explain that one -- or were we trying to fit a profile to a kill, without regard to our circumstance?  Oh, no, no -- and then....”

“...Well, wouldn’t that be giving the game away!  Unfortunately, you are mostly wrong on every avenue -- the whole lot!  But... was this because you wished to find Ms. GHOST DOG’S killer -- or... protect them?  Do be honest with yourselves, as many of you weren’t to the group.”

“Still, you’re all so delightfully entertaining!  And a whole slew of you -- well, you were right on the cusp of it.  Voting correctly and all!  And the rest of you -- protecting a friend, or so many theories!  You really are getting in the mood of it!  I couldn’t be more delighted -- it really was thrilling to see!  Made my heart all a-flutter....  I could never consider this a total loss!”

“How delightfully entertaining -- to press your face up against the glass of truth, but for only so few to see it!  I quite liked that a lot, my friends.  Quite a lot!  But still, there must be winners and losers in these games of gangs.  And for the losers ... I will have to think of a suitable punishment.

“Do be patient as I dream of something up, won’t you?  I’ll let you all talk amongst yourselves.  I’m sure you’ve quite a lot to say! Hoo-hoo!”

“Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!”

Asuta applauded as the exact votes each person submitted scrolled across the podium screen like a credits sequence.

Kyoda Komadori - Kyoda Komadori

Naomi Nojiri - Okubo Sugimoto

Kiryuu Mutou - Okubo Sugimoto

Aite - Kiryuu Mutou 

Kaguya Gomi - Kaguya Gomi

François De Lune Morhange - Okubo Sugimoto

Tadao Sayuki - Okubo Sugimoto

Kama - Okubo Sugimoto {+1 SYNERGY BONUS}

Kiku Fukui - Kama

Keahi Alamea - Okubo Sugimoto

Ika Yukimura - Horus Pleasant

Kaeru Otaki - Kaeru Otaki

Keiko Satonaka - Keiko Satonaka

Possumhead - Possumhead

Horus Pleasant - Horus Pleasant

Okubo Sugimoto - Kama

Spydr - Okubo Sugimoto

Jasper Perry - Okubo Sugimoto

Shiloh Lee Hayes - Shiloh Lee Hayes

“You got it right! How cool!! The fun doesn’t end there, though…”

Kino nods in agreement.

“As you have successfully identified the culprit, he will now face the penalty for murder. Okubo Sugimoto, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers and are hereby sentenced to death. Your execution will commence in five minutes.”

There are... seventeen seats here.

Each seat has a large, laminated card set in front of it on the table.  The card... is of... you?

A gorgeous illustration, done in loving detail. Large and impressive -- facing out towards the rest of the group.  All of them seem to evoke your codename in some way -- CANDY CANE’s is of her designing a special device to help Santa pull his sled, surrounded by candy canes; BULLET’s, a depiction of her designing an animatronic that spits out bullets from its side; OBAMA’s....

....

You forgot someone here was deadass named OBAMA.

....

To... whoever designed this’ credit... that one is just... a girl sat on the steps of the White House, laptop on her lap and a drink beside her.

You’re sure the 44th president is snuck in somewhere.  Somehow.

....

At any rate, you’re all duly represented, and Gambit nudges you all to sit in your appropriate seats.  They’re plush.  Comfortable.

The seating arrangement is circular, and goes as so:

CRISPIN > DUCK > MONGREL > CASSINO > BULLET > JACKAL > DOLLY > PAGALLIACI > CANDY CANE > VALET > CAESAR > OBAMA > TIME > PINCER > TYPE > LOYAL > TROY > CRISPIN

....

And each seat seems to have... a deck of cards to the right, as well.

But that’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

Katsumi’s eyes widened in confusion. Before she could properly process those words, the wall behind her opened up, and a chain shot out, with a collar that fittingly clamped around her neck. Ahah, a collared cat. Rather than being yanked back, she felt a pressure on her windpipe as she was slowly dragged backwards through the door, making no sound other than choked squeaks. She grasped one hand at her collar, attempting to alleviate some of the pressure and struggled and reached the other out at her grandmother.

Eventually, she’s pulled through the wall, which is slid shut. A digital screen is slowly raised down from the ceiling in front of the wall, and a start screen boots up, emitting a soft glow as the rest of the lights in the trial room dim down in preparation. An old 8-bit tune begins to play.

[♩ ♪ ♫]

CW: Fingernail trauma

Ah… What? Katsumi was dropped onto a trampoline and bounced forward to a yellow platform. She looked around in confusion, attempting to take in her surroundings. What was this, exactly? She reached out to see her hands. Still in her avatar. Ok.

Oh wait… this was MAPPY, wasn’t it? She knew this game! Played it once a long while back, for about 40 minutes, then got bored. Old games were super simplistic and not particularly entertaining for long periods of times, even if she respected them as a medium. What was this about again? A police mouse who… Ah. Hunted down Yakuza cats who had stolen goods in their hideout. Haha. Oh the irony. Though, she DID start out in the cop’s position, so maybe SHE was supposed to be Mappy? OK!

There was a stolen painting not to far off, and she easily bounced her way up to it, as the mewkies scattered around, not giving her a second glance. Easy enough. She reached out towards the painting and swiped at it. Her eyes widened as it phased through. Nyamco. Aha. Oh. SHE was Nyamco. NyanCo, rather. She grimaced.

So, her goal was different. She had to catch the mouse. What was all this anyway? What exactly defined this as a punishment? She was just playing a game, right? That was more fun than a punishment. There was no way this was all there was to it.

Oh, that sound. She turned around to see Mappy entering the ring. There was her goal. Immediately she began running straight at him, as he evaded with dodges and weaving around with clever precision via trampolines.

Goods were being recovered at an alarming rate at this point. Her eyes dialated, like a cat spotting her prey. Ok, she laughed nervously, trying to not have any semblance of fun, given the previous circumstances. She didn’t deserve fun.

Katsumi neared Mappy, waved her tail around, and pounced at him. Immediately upon contact with his weird pixelated fur, Mappy fell over, achieving a game over. Right, ok. The rules were different, but she won!

And the trampoline bounced one more. Ah… Aha. Extra. Extra lives. Right, ok.

How many lives did Mappy start with? Three, right? Well, if she could do it once, she could do it again. Her face hardened as she slowly reached her gaming zone. She was serious now.

Weaving around once again, harmlessly fading through mewkies, watching them be flown off to hit against the walls of the hideout, only to respawn. That… looked painful to say in the least. But they respawned. Frankly, Katsumi was expecting to lose more fingers, not insta respawn.

Soon enough, she tackled Mappy once more, as the mouse lost another life. Final life. She could do this just fine.

And things were going smoothly as usual, until one particular change. A door. Mappy seemed to have wisened up, and Katsumi seemed to have gotten a little cocky, as she pursued Mappy to a door. And he slammed it open directly colliding with her forehead.

With a loud yowl, she fell backwards onto the ground, needing a moment to recover as appy ran back around gathering more stolen goods. These mewkies were dang useless, weren’t they?

When she stood up, she found her vision off as something seeped into her eye. It was pink. Was she bleeding? As Katsumi tapped her forehead, she was indeed bleeding. Oh. Oh god. And the dizziness and off-kilter balance that came with the head wound clearly prevented her from playing as skillfully as she had prior.

Regardless, she kept trying, determined to beat this punishment, even as she nearly falls to the floor on multiple occasions. She comes to another door. An electric blue one. Mappy flies up on the other side, reaching the floor she is on. She stops as a dizzy spell catches on. Oh, oh god.

The door opens. A wave flies towards her.

The wave COLLIDES with her body, knocking the wind out of her and sending her back towards the wall a she had seen mewkies do before. She flipped herself around, sticking her claws outward. She could sink her hands into the wall, hang on like a cat would.

And she did sink them in. She whined in pain upon impact, trying desparately to allievated some of the weight of gravity pulling down on her nails. She felt the claws slowly ripping out of her skin. That cocky ass bastard Mappy was coming, she could see him clear as day.

And he jumped on the trampoline below her. Once. Twice. It was only in that moment that she realized what that damn mouse was doing. Thrice. The trampoline disappeared. She HAD to hold onto the wall now, despite the searing pain and blood leaking from her fingers. But… at the very least, it was working. She wasn’t falling.

She saw… her hands… morphing. Oh. OH NO NO NO NO. NO NONONONO DON’T… DON’T TAKE HER AVATAR AWAY FROM HER. NO!!! ABSOLUTELY NOT! Her avatar was the only shred of confidence she could EVER have as a person. Her safety blanket, her warmth, her love, her emotions, her depression her anxiety herworriesherhatred. She NEEDED it, and not JUST to hang onto the wall.

And it was gone. She was falling. She struggled uselessly, reaching out for the platforms, just SLIGHTLY not able to get a grip with her missing pinky.

And she fell.

Monokuma’s claws quickly swiped towards Chieko’s face, however it wasn’t flesh that his claws met… Rather plush, and metal. Monomi had placed herself in harm’s way, protecting the ontological coach.

Monokuma froze in place as his claws retracted. His normally shrill and obnoxious voice had become much softer. "No no no no no... I-I'm so sorry Monomi. I didn't mean to. I... I'll fix this. I promise. I'll-"

His red eye flared up as he jerked his head up towards Chieko. "GET AWAY FROM HER! You... You made me do this."

CURRENT VOTES:

IVEY - IIIIII

PIP - IIII

ROOKIE - I

MAVERICK - I

ORWELL - IIII

ANASTASIA - I

MOSS - I

THE WINNER IS…

…NOT SO FAST, KIDS!

GAMBIT’S CHOICE IS…