The trial room didn't look too different from what it was before. The only addition was two gray portraits where Patricio and Aleksey used to stand, portraits with a large bloody X drawn on them. Azalea stared at them for a moment with determination before standing on her podium, where she put all the golden tin pieces she had recovered from the Library. While Monobear gave his spiel about the rules of the trial she opened the tube of glue, preparing everything for her to start assembling whatever object that was. Sshe'd have to divide her attention between trying to make sense of several dozen pieces and the trial, but she thought she'd be able to do it.

Spots and Stripes were at their places to the sides of the courtroom door, staring forward as if they were no more than statues. "Remember that you'll have one single chance to ask for our help" Spots said "Make sure to use it wisely"

"We won't let anyone beg for a second chance" Stripes added. Now that the protocol for the start of the trial was finished, they could all commence the discussion. Chrysanthe took out her Monobear File, reading it with disgusted expression.

"Uh, alright, let's see...the victim was Aleksey Seryogin, and he was killed at the Library. He was killed because someone hit him with something cold enough to cause frostbite. What could we talk about that?"

Vittoria crossed her arms and closed her eyes, thoughtful "Frostbite? Are we certain that could not be something else?"

"I checked the corpse. I'm positive it was frostbite" Thioro said.

"But that can't be right, there's no way something can be cold enough to cause frostbite" Kamiya weakly tried to refute, the lenses of his mask fogging up.

"I'm telling you, it was frostbite. I can't be wrong about it"

Lucien put away his Monobear File. "So let's see what's the crime weapon. Something like a large piece of very cold ice?"

Matthew, who seemed to be feeling better but still had a dazed look in his eyes, shook his head slowly. "Something so cold it'd leave frostbite would have hurt the killer's hands too. They'd need something thick and resistant to not suffer any cold burns." There was something that could have been used to hold a freezing weapon, wasn't there?

Monobear File #2

Grease on the Body

Injection Wound

Grease Stains on a Beam

Smudged Grease Fingerprints

Footprint on the Shelf

Stone Claw

Fabergé Egg

Three Glasses

Trophy Base

Missing Bottles of Soda

Liquid Nitrogen

Missing Bicycle Chains

Matthew's Testimony (being knocked out)

Piece of Paper

Warped Wood

Sticky Residues

Pieces of Metal

Leather Gloves

Leather Gloves

Azalea took out the gloves out of the pocket of her cardigan, showing them high. "Chrys found these buried in the Garden. These gloves are thick enough for someone to hold a deadly cold object...maybe?"

"If it touched something that cold then it should still be cold" Joanna pointed "How does it feel?" Thinking that Joanna could be right, Azalea prodded the palm of the gloves with a finger, grimacing at the filthiness of the objects.

"It's wet, but don't know if it's because it grabbed something cold" While Azalea said that, Thioro approached to take a closer look at the gloves. Once the detective was close enough to take a look, his pupils dilated, having recognized those objects. He immediately turned to face Matthew.

"Matthew. Can you explain why your gloves are clearly linked to this case?"

Matthew looked like a deer in the headlights, suddenly facing inquiries as if he was linked to the case. They didn't last long before Elaine intervened, talking calmly but with an underlying threat in her voice. "My brother can't be the culprit. He was drugged and left in the Stadium. He can't have done this."

"Are you sure?" Azalea dared to ask, applying glue to the edges of a few pieces. Elaine grit her teeth for a moment before haughtily staring at everyone.

"Tell me, how exactly do you guys propose Matthew drugged himself and managed to faint without leaving any clues?" Nobody could answer that. Satisfied, Elaine made a smug face. "That's what I wanted to hear: silence. Matthew isn't the killer"

Kamiya tilted his head. "So...does this mean he was knocked out so the killer could steal his gloves?"

"Th-That's what it sounds like...did he see who did that?" Khotso said, but Matthew was clueless. Seeing that they had gotten to a dead end, the astronomer decided to change topics "Okay, uh, let's see...leaving aside the gloves...do you guys know what's the weapon in this case?" There aren't that many options of what it could be. What I don't understand is how the killer managed to kill Aleksey with that object...

Nonstop Debate

Footprint on the Shelf / Missing Stone Claw / Pieces of Metal / Grease on the Body / Grease Stains on a Beam

CHRYSANTHE: So, if Aleksey died in the Library...

CHRYSANTHE: Would that mean the weapon came from the Library?

MATTHEW: Aleksey didn't get hit by a thesaurus or something!

KHOTSO: The killer m-must have brought the w-weapon with them

LUCIEN: Consider this:

LUCIEN: Aleksey was found on a shelf.

LUCIEN: He could have fallen from the top of a shelf.

VITTORIA: Those bookshelves are tall enough for the fall to kill him

JOANNA: That wouldn't explain the frostbite

JOANNA: It could have been ice.

LUCIEN: Fine. Let's check the evidence

LUCIEN: Stravopoulos, check the gloves.

LUCIEN: The grease may reveal something about the weapon.

"That won't be necessary" Azalea said, pushing the gloves further away from her "I think what killed Aleksey was the claw"

Lucien made a face of confusion. "The...claw? You mean like a crane?"

"No, like the claws of that bear we all know. There are statues at the plaza, and one of them lacks one claw"

"So you think the killer took that claw and bludgeoned Aleksey with it?" Elaine thought for a moment "How does that explain the frostbite?"

"Uh, it...it doesn't, but it's the only thing that'd make sense. Nothing else found could have been the weapon"

"Then show the claw to us"

"I don't have it"

Elaine looked at Azalea from over her glasses. "Then we can't say that's the murder weapon. If nobody found it, then—"

Vittoria sighed. "Are we going to start the same discussion from last trial about having the evidence right here with us?"

"Let's avoid that" Lucien said, taking out something from his pocket "I found this at the Library right before coming here. It must be the claw Stravopoulos is talking about" he raised the claw high in the air for everyone to see. The tip was broken, almost pulverized, and a lot of the claw was covered in blood. So that really was the murder weapon!

"But that doesn't explain the frostbite" Chrysanthe said. Khotso sank a bit into his galaxy-patterned thing on his shoulders, thoughtful.

"It could be because of something else th-that isn't the murder weapon. Let's put the f-frostbite aside for now"

"Yeah, there are other things to discuss. For example...what about the crime scene?" Elaine proposed.

Dalia frowned. "What about it? It was the Library"

"Look, I really, really doubt Aleksey died on top of that bookshelf. He must have been killed somewhere else and brought into the Library" Elaine isn't wrong; he can't have been killed up there. We should set the record straight as to where exactly Aleksey died. Azalea looked up from what she was doing.

"That's not so complicated. Aleksey died..."

At the Diner

At the plaza

At the Library

At the Stadium

At the Library

"...he died at the Library, but it wasn't on that bookshelf"

"Ah, so it was on the ground right to the side where h-he was found..." to Khotso that seemed like the logical conclusion, notion Kamiya hurried to dispel.

"No, that's wrong. We found a lot of clues on the other side of the Library, the real spot where Aleksey died!"

"And I suppose you got proof of it? What's this – this proof you're talking about?" Kouma demanded, cautious. Kamiya pointed at Azalea and Lucien, his eyes shining behind the gas mask.

"They can back me up, we all found a place where everything was cold and broken...and it showed signs of having been cleaned!"

Lucien raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware of that part"

"But you two saw it! The puddles, the everything, the killer cleaned the scene!"

"That wasn't someone trying to clean up, that was...I'm not sure what it was, but I don't think it was someone trying to clean anything"

"Why'd anyone leave that place wet if it wasn't to clean?"

"Where did you get that weird idea? Nobody tried to clean anything!" Azalea hurried to clarify, although it was true that was likely to be the crime scene, they couldn't tolerate any type of misinformation "What we found actually was..."

Soda

Water

Blood

Grease

Soda

"It was soda. Soda can dissolve blood...right?" she turned to Kamiya – the most likely person to know about that – but he shrugged. "Anyways, we're sure it was soda!"

"You said Aleksey died there" Chrysanthe said.

"Uh...yeah, I said that, I just also said I don't think anything was cleaned because soda—"

"He died there" Lucien interrupted. The absolute certainty in his tone didn't go unnoticed to anyone, but nobody tried to argue it. Runihura took off his cap, scratching his head.

"Okay, let's say he died right there...so that means the body was moved across the Library. I'm pretty sure that wound would have bled a lot, why was there no blood anywhere? I have a video of the corpse in my camera, I know that injury would bleed" Vittoria requested Runihura to give her the video camera, wanting to watch the video.

"That's a good question" Azalea admitted "There was blood dripping down from the shelf, it should have bled while it was moved" There must be an explanation for that...

Nonstop Debate

Three Glasses / Leather Gloves / Missing Bottles of Soda / Fabergé Egg / Stone Claw

LUCIEN: Aleksey's body bled considerably.

LUCIEN: The culprit must have done something to avoid that.

KHOTSO: Couldn't they just...clean the blood later?

RUNIHURA: There were no signs of anything being cleaned.

ELAINE: Aleksey wasn't light, and there's no wheelbarrow involved this time.

ELAINE: He must have been carried by the culprit's own strength.

LUCIEN: Would your brother be capable of doing that?

ELAINE: S-Shut up! He couldn't have carried Aleksey, I'm sure of that!

"Wait, that's right! Lucien, thank you!" Azalea's momentary elation diminished a bit when she glanced at the dirty gloves in front of her "Maybe the blood on these gloves have something to do with how there's no blood on the floor!"

Kouma's eyes widened. "You mean – like what Patricio did?"

"That'd make sense! If the killer held their hand against the wound that's stop most of the bleeding" Matthew's shoulders slumped, he stared at his shoes "...why did the killer have to use my gloves, seriously..."

Not everyone was completely convinced about that explanation, though. Elaine was the most vocal one from that faction. "Chrysanthe, get over here!" she ordered. Chrysanthe approached, unsure of where this was going "I want you to lie limp, I'll try to drag you to the other side of this courtroom"

"Alright..." she obeyed, letting herself be caught by Elaine. The writer put her hand on the back of Chrysanthe's head and started dragging her with a lot of difficulty, having to press Chrysanthe against her body so the gardener wouldn't slip and fall.

"Do you all see this?" Elaine shouted "Look how difficult this is. I can barely hold onto Chrysanthe!"

"But that doesn't mean the killer had the same trouble than you..." Dalia said, sounding very uncertain. Elaine didn't mind, though.

"That's not the only problem. Look, I don't think that hand would stop all the bleeding. The culprit would be covered with blood once they were done"

Vittoria looked around. "It does not look like anyone changed their clothes or cleaned them recently. I do not think there even was time to do such thing"

"Exactly. Unless there's some easier way to carry Aleksey, there's just no way the culprit was completely clean"

After a moment of doubt, Vittoria looked at Matthew. "How did you do it, Sir Matthew?" the sudden question got Matthew stammering and Elaine dropping Chrysanthe to the floor. While the gardener dejectedly returned to her podium, the writer could only stare at Vittoria.

"What...? Vittoria, you don't really think Matthew..."

"I am truly sorry, Elaine, but I do. I suspect your brother from being the culprit"

"But you're not an idiot! Why'd you think that?!"

Vittoria showed Runihura's video camera "It is mostly because of his gloves. I have noticed the victim's body was rather sullied with grease, was not it?" the people who had seen it nodded "And the only clothing we see that shows traces of grease is those gloves. And given that your brother is the owner of these gloves..."

"But Matthew said he was drugged and his gloves were stolen—" Chrysanthe tried to argue on Matthew's defense, but Vittoria wasn't having any of it. She raised a gloved hand to stop her.

"That is what Sir Matthew says. He says he was drugged, but that could be something he is faking. Consider this: Sir Matthew committed the murder, got rid of those gloves, and went to the Stadium to pretend to have been drugged"

Elaine seemed to be recovering, glaring at Vittoria, sneering a bit "That has to be the most stupid theory I have ever heard"

"Does that mean you have a counter?"

The sneer was gone but Elaine wasn't any less cold. "I don't have a good counter, but common sense—"

"Then you can not say it is a stupid theory" Vittoria brushed Elaine off and continued "The lack of grease on the rest of us point towards Sir Matthew, being the only person with an article of clothing dirty with grease. He could not get rid of them or leave them behind, that would arouse suspicion. That is why pretending they got stolen was the only solution"

Thioro opened his mouth for the first time since the trial started: "That isn't an awful theory. I don't fully agree with it, but it makes some sense"

"What are you saying?! It doesn't make any sense!" Elaine protested, slamming her hand on her podium.

"I said I don't fully agree with it, but you have to admit it's not as outlandish as it sounds at first glance"

Encouraged by the detective's halfhearted approval, Vittoria continued. "You may be wondering why there is grease in the first place. I think it may be related to how Sir Aleksey's body was on the bookshelf. Sir Matthew lifted the body up – possibly with a rudimentary pulley system – and managed to place it up there, that is when his gloves got stained"

Something doesn't ring true here... "Can I watch the video for a moment?" Azalea requested, extending her hand. Once Vittoria passed her the camera, Azalea watched the video Thioro had taken, the video showed all the clues Thioro had taken note of. The mortal wound, the grease, the injection, everything that was on the body. The corners of Azalea's mouth twitched upwards, momentarily elated she had been able to find a hole in Vittoria's theory – or at least a hole she would be able to attack easily. "Vittoria, I don't agree. You're wrong!"

Vittoria stared at Azalea for a moment. "Are you sure about that?"

"Completely sure! I mean it, there's a fact you're not aware of, and that's why you're wrong!"

I AM PREPARED

"You sound confident, Lady Azalea. I like that" Vittoria closed her eyes, her face having a sweet expression "I am willing to cross swords with you. Are you sure you want to do it?"

"Of course I'm sure"

"Then I, Vittoria, shall accept your challenge. Let the best argument win"

Rebuttal Showdown

Warped Wood / Piece of Paper / Smudged Grease Fingerprints / Stone Claw / Footprint on the Shelf

VITTORIA: I admit the evidence against Sir Matthew is...tenuous

VITTORIA: But what we already have is enough.

VITTORIA: His gloves are the main clue against him.

VITTORIA: They are the center of this whole plan.

VITTORIA: They touched the blood, the grease...

VITTORIA: Of course he would be the main suspect here

AZALEA: But that'd only be if you think he's lying

AZALEA: If he's telling the truth he may be framed!

VITTORIA: There had to be easier ways to frame him.

VITTORIA: Supposedly drugging him to get to the gloves...

VITTORIA: That would be too much of a hassle.

VITTORIA: Besides, every clue in the Library...

VITTORIA: ...could be easily linked to the gloves.

VITTORIA: Until then we must suppose Sir Matthew is the culprit.

VITTORIA: Unless you can prove someone else was wearing the gloves?

"You shouldn't say it with such absolutes. Not every single clue is related to the gloves"

"Then I will amend what I said: every clue on and near the body can be linked to those gloves"

Azalea shook her head. "That's where you're wrong. There's one important piece of evidence that doesn't fit a scenario where someone is wearing the gloves" she pointed at Thioro "Thioro found handprints near the body, fingerprints made with the grease"

"Hand...prints?" Vittoria's expression changed, looking more uncertain than she did before "I do not recall any handprints anywhere in the video..."

Thioro clutched his tie. "That's because I forgot to film those. My bad"

"Thioro! How careless of you!" Vittoria shook her head, pressing her fingers against her temple "How did those fingerprints look?"

"Smudged and unidentifiable except for one thing" Thioro showed his hand and spread his fingers "They were too thin to have been made with those gloves. The person who touched the shelf wasn't wearing them"

Vittoria made a pained expression. "...I had no idea those prints existed...describe them more, please"

"The prints were made of grease, and held no identifiable marks. It looked to me like someone had been holding onto the edge of the shelf, like this" Thioro demonstrated with his own hand and hos podium.

"It sounds like somebody let themselves fall from the top of the shelf" Chrysanthe stared at her fingers "Then the killer should have grease stains, right?"

"Not really. They could have washed their hands" Thioro said.

"What matters is that now we have another clue" Elaine thought for a moment. There was something that didn't fit, now that she thought about the bookshelf and those fingerprints... "Why was the body on top of the bookshelf? Just to mess with us and ramp up the drama?"

"No way. Besides, did the killer catch Aleksey in the Library and decided to kill him with a surprise attack? Let's think about that"

Nonstop Debate

Three Glasses / Trophy Base / Footprint on the Shelf / Grease Stains on a Beam / Fabergé Egg

LUCIEN: Let's make things clear:

LUCIEN: There's no way Aleksey was prancing on the bookshelves.

KHOTSO: Does that mean the killer was?

LUCIEN: No! It means Aleksey wasn't killed up there.

LUCIEN: It was on the other side of the Library like I already said.

ELAINE: Forget about the where and think about the why.

ELAINE: There must be a reason to kill Aleksey.

ELAINE: If we pinpoint the motive, we'll start solving this case.

CHRYSANTHE: Would someone kill for their treasure?

KOUMA: Well – Aleksey was a thief...

KOUMA: He may have tried to steal a treasure.

MATTHEW: You forget a possible answer:

MATTHEW: It was self-defense.

MATTHEW: Or the killer just found Aleksey in the Library...

MATTHEW: ...and decided to kill him just to get out of here.

THIORO: What we need now is a way to narrow it down to one single motive.

Even thinking that Aleksey was on the bookshelves while he was alive was ridiculous. Why would he do such thing? And while the crime scene itself a few bookshelves away did show the exact place where Aleksey was killed, nothing there showed the reason why he was killed. It was likely it all started at the Diner. "Uh, I don't have any good evidence, but I think there may be enough to...to maybe guess why Aleksey died?"

"Do we have such thing?" Joanna asked

"I mean – it's better than just staring at each other. There's something Kamiya, Dalia and I found at the Diner, pieces of something called a Fabergé Egg. We think it may have belonged to Aleksey"

"Are not those the expensive eggs Russian czars used to have? Why would Aleksey own one?" Vittoria wondered.

"He must have stolen it from somewhere" Runihura said "Why's it broken in the Diner? Did he break it?"

Something in such theory made Kamiya snap his fingers. Yeah, that could be it! "Wait, what if it was the killer who broke the egg? And then Aleksey...what if Aleksey tried to kill the culprit and was murdered in self-defense?"

The idea that Aleksey may have been killed because he attempted murder caused a disruption through the courtroom. "I knew his thieving would lead to this!" Dalia was shouting "It was matter of time!"

"I almost can't believe it myself...he tried to kill someone just for a virtual egg?"

"Do not say that. We have no confirmation Sir Aleksey tried such thing" Vittoria reminded them "This is no more than a theory right now. It does make sense, though. That would explain why Aleksey was killed, it is an explanation we can not ignore" But is it right? Did Aleksey die because he tried to murder the person who broke the egg? It does make some sense, but there's something odd about it all. Azalea glued together another two pieces, mulling the theory.

At least it seemed like that until Elaine took the helm. "Wait a second here. Before we continue I want to know everything that was in the Diner. Come on, lay it all on me" she said, taking her notebook to write everything she was going to get told. Being one of the three who saw everything, Azalea enumerated everything she had seen at the Diner, Elaine listening intently. Once it was done, Elaine tapped her pen against the notebook, frowning "Something is wrong"

Thioro smiled, as if he knew something the rest didn't. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, there's something that doesn't fit. It's weird that nobody has come forward and given us some kind of testimony"

"Because nobody saw anything" Kamiya added "Nobody can talk about something they didn't see"

But she isn't wrong, it's strange. That may have been what was bothering her not too long ago. "But someone should have seen something, at least the moment when the egg was broken. Did anyone see it?" Azalea inquired. Nobody said anything. After a pause of a minute, Azalea started feeling a disquieting and foreboding feeling "Come on, if you saw something then talk now!"

"No one says anything because nobody saw anything" Matthew said. He didn't see why they were pressuring like this for somebody to talk. Azalea left aside the pieces of the object she was assembling, thinking.

"It just doesn't make any sense. Our lives are at stake. Someone must have seen anything" before anyone else asked what she meant, she added: "I'm saying that because of this:"

Monobear File #2

Grease on the Body

Injection Wound

Grease Stains on a Beam

Smudged Grease Fingerprints

Footprint on the Shelf

Stone Claw

Fabergé Egg

Three Glasses

Trophy Base

Missing Bottles of Soda

Liquid Nitrogen

Missing Bicycle Chains

Matthew's Testimony (being knocked out)

Piece of Paper

Warped Wood

Sticky Residues

Pieces of Metal

Leather Gloves

Three Glasses

"There were three glasses at the diner: two on the table right to the side of the broken egg, and one on the other side of the dinner. That means there were three people at once at the Diner when the egg broke"

"Just because there were three glasses it doesn't mean they were all there at the same time" Dalia pointed.

"Uh, you're not wrong, but..."

"But Azalea isn't wrong" Thioro intervened, raising his voice. He tightened his tie a bit before talking with voice that denoted his experience in crime investigation "Those glasses aren't the only element that shows multiple people were involved at key times of the crime"

"Of the crime? You have proof, right?" Kamiya asked.

"I do. There are many clues that confirm my reasoning"

Dalia shook her head "But if there was any witness, we'd have heard about it. I don't get it, why'd anyone keep silent about it?"

"Our lives are at risk here. Anyone would tell what they saw, unless..." Elaine chewed the tip of her thumb "There are two possibilities: one is that this third person is protecting the culprit, and the other..."

"The other is that this third person is an accomplice" Thioro said "And that's what I think:

This wasn't the work of one single person. This murder was committed by a culprit and an accomplice"