May 18

Detention Center

3:30 PM

Deirdre Brigit

I don't know what exactly was going through my mind when we saw Chrysalis on the ground of her cell, but I knew my mind was screaming something. It was like a spinning tornado of confusion and terror had taken firm hold of me, and my stomach only continued to twist into a deeper knot as the seconds ticked by. I couldn't tear my gaze away from where Chrysalis was stretched out on the ground no matter how much I wished to, and I couldn't help but swallow nervously. This didn't even seem real, but I knew that it had to be.

Time seemed to pass in a blur as medical professionals arrived. Yuri and I were pushed away from the scene, and Mukuro followed us out. There was a sad smile on her face, but I didn't get the chance to ask her about it. She pulled her phone from her pocket and passed it over to me, stealing my attention prematurely.

My eyes went wide when I realized what she was trying to show me. It was a picture of the detention cell that Chrysalis had been. In other words, it was a photo of the crime scene. Realizing that phrase was true only made me feel more sick to my stomach, but I did my best to shove such concerns down. I didn't want to have an extreme reaction when things were awful enough as it was. The last thing we needed was for things to somehow get worse.

"It's a picture of the crime scene," Yuri remarked. I hadn't realized that she was peering at the phone from beside me until she spoke, and I nearly jumped in surprise. I passed her the phone to give her a better look at what was on the phone's screen.

"Yeah. We're going to have to do quite a bit of digging if we want to figure out what all of this is about," Mukuro told me. "But I'm sure that we'll be able to figure it out sooner or later... That's what I'm hoping, at the very least. She was somehow attacked while in the detention center, something that shouldn't be possible given the high security of this place. On top of that, there's the matter of the name written in blood..."

"Blocker," I murmured. "We know that Hannah Blocker is involved with this case, but there's not exactly anything that points her to the detention center aside from the fact that her name is written there. I don't understand it in the slightest... Nobody has been able to get into contact with her since the case started, so why is her name popping up now?"

"Most importantly, is she going to be okay?" Yuri questioned, looking to Mukuro solemnly. "It's not exactly a good starting point to see someone collapsed on the ground with blood everywhere..."

"She'll be fine," Mukuro replied. "That's what I heard from the medics working on the case, anyways. They said that the knife didn't hit anything vital, and she likely passed out from shock at being attacked in the first place rather than blood loss. As for the message in blood... We're pretty sure that she wrote that herself."

"I would agree," I nodded. "Chrysalis is right-handed, but the knife was in her right shoulder. It would have been too painful for her to write using her right hand as long as the knife was in there, and she couldn't exactly pull it out without getting hurt further."

"The writing would have been neater if the culprit was using her hand to write," Yuri continued. "She's not experienced with writing using her left hand, so that's why it all looks so messy. She was working with her non-dominant hand."

"That's important to know, but I still don't understand what it could all mean," Mukuro murmured with a shake of her head. "How could someone sneak into the detention center to attack her? The security here is tight to ensure that nobody can get in or out to cause problems. That's how it's always been, so why is it that this was able to happen?"

"If anything, I would say that this is just another reason to contact Hannah Blocker. There has to be a reason that her surname was written in blood," Yuri remarked. "I wonder why we still haven't heard anything about what she's been up to... If she's as heavily involved in this case as it's sounding, you would expect us to have heard at least something."

"Blocker... The fact that it's Hannah's surname makes a connection too blatant to ignore. I can't imagine that it would mean anything else," I said softly. "But why would she be connected to this? She pulled out of the show at the last minute, something is strange enough on its own, and then this happened."

"I wish we had a way of getting into contact with Prosecutor Lin," Yuri sighed. "I mean, Mr. Morix is the one with her phone number, and it's not as if we can just go into the hospital to take his phone and then leave. He was a victim of a crime, and that crosses far too many lines to be allowed."

"Maybe we could go down to the hospital anyways," I suggested. "I doubt there's much of anything else for us to look at here..."

"Actually, I would object," Mukuro said. "I'm going to try and get us into the detention center cell. We can at least give it a brief examination before leaving. How does that sound?"

"That would be amazing," Yuri grinned. "There has to be something else that catches our attention around there. The culprit wouldn't have had much time to commit the crime if they wanted to avoid being caught, so something must have been left behind."

Mukuro nodded our direction before dashing off. I looked to Yuri after she had departed and let out a sigh. "There are a lot of shifting pieces to this investigation... It feels as if nothing has been answered from the trial," I admitted.

"We've figured out how the body was moved, but we just keep coming up with more questions. First, there was the other spot of blood within the bag. Afterwards, we found that weird conversation between Satoki and Stayge on the former's phone. On top of all that, we've got four people who were attacked by the real culprit," Yuri sighed.

"This does at least clear Chrysalis' name," I pointed out. "All of this happening while Chrysalis was still in the detention center makes it seem as if she didn't do this... But that begs the question of why the culprit went this far in the first place."

"I want to know who the fake Stayge is," Yuri frowned. "I mean, what if they were the one to attack Satoki? If he figured out that the Stayge we've been talking to isn't the real one since the actual Stayge left town... The imposter would want to keep that a secret, even if it meant going to drastic measures."

"It's as good a guess as any," I murmured. "It still seems as if there's too much for us to figure out at this point. I hate to say it, but... We're going to have to wait until the trial tomorrow so see what else has been found. I just don't think we're going to be able to make any significant progress with all of our witnesses in the state that they are. We're just as stuck as before."

"The least we can do at this point is wait for the blood test on the gray fabric to come back," Yuri shrugged. "Did we even request to have that done?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so... Everything has been moving too fast..." I said softly. "We'll have to figure out our next step after we look around the cell."

As if on cue, Mukuro came back into the room. She gestured for us to follow her, and when we did, we found ourselves back in the hallway that the majority of the guards had been in earlier on. Mukuro allowed us to step into the cell, and I cringed upon looking down at the floor.

The bloodstains remained, though they were much smaller than I expected. I could see the streak of a fingerprint where Chrysalis' hand had been writing out the word 'Blocker'. There was one other thing that caught my attention, though, and I decided to focus on it above all else.

A thin string of blood went from the spot on the ground over towards the bed. I decided to follow the trail, and I wound up standing right next to the bed. A gasp left my lips as I realized there was a small splotch of crimson on the covers, partially going onto the pillow.

"There's blood over here..." I murmured. "Why is there blood all the way over here when she was found on the floor? The only explanation I can think of is that..."

"That she was stabbed over here," Yuri answered. "But how could she have been stabbed on the pillow? The knife didn't go through her shoulder completely, so..."

"The knife must have been propped up against the back of the pillow," I declared. "If the knife was positioned so that the blade was facing up, when Chrysalis went to lay down, it would have gone into her shoulder..."

"The culprit could have set that up when she wasn't in the cell and then left to ensure that she had an alibi for the crime," Mukuro finished. "That would make sense, actually... We didn't see any traces of potential culprits when the guards arrived, so the one responsible must have already made their escape by that point in time."

"All that we can do at this point is wait to see what the medical examiners find, I guess," I murmured with a shake of my head. I opened my mouth to say something else, ready to set off for the hospital, but I was cut off by a phone starting to buzz within my pocket. I frowned and shoved my hand into the space before producing the device and accepting the call. "Hello?"

"I'm glad you picked up," Detective Erikson said from the other side. "Did you hear about what happened at the detention center? Chrysalis was-"

"I know," I answered with a sigh. "I was there."

Detective Erikson paused for a moment, considering his next set of words. "In that case, I think I might have something else that would surprise you... She was brought to the same hospital that the others are at, and I overheard something from the examiners looking after her. There was something else strange they noticed during the investigation, and you're going to want to hear about this," he continued.

I frowned at his phrasing before pulling the phone away from my ear and pressing the speaker button. "Go ahead," I prompted, already nervous about what he was about to say on the matter.

Detective Erikson took in a shaky breath before speaking once again. "She suffered from a concussion recently. Remember that headache she's been complaining about? It was caused by a head injury inflicted a few days ago. It's impossible to say how serious it was since they're still looking into it, but... I think we know why she's been feeling so sick as of late," he explained.

My eyes went wide as all the pieces began to click together. Chrysalis' complaints of sickness and her faded memories from the time of the crime... All this time, there was a second victim behind this case, and she was standing right in front of us. We had assumed that her migraine was simply a coincidence, but it was impossible to say that was the case now.

Yuri suddenly gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Deirdre! Remember the blood we found on the bottom of the bag?! The other patch that was on the gray fabric?!" she cried out. "I think we know who it belonged to now!"

My jaw dropped as I realized that she was likely right. What if Chrysalis had stumbled into the bathroom shortly after the crime took place? From there, she could have been hit by the soap container on the head, knocking her unconscious and injuring her head in the process. Afterwards, it would have been easy to smear blood on her clothing to frame her for the crime. She could have been put into the bag afterwards. If her concussion was severe enough to draw blood, then that would explain where the small patch on the other side of the bag came from. The fabric was placed down to prevent her from being covered in Saya's blood on the back where it wouldn't have belonged. It was all starting to make sense.

"None of the others are cleared to speak with anyone yet, and I doubt they will be until tomorrow. There's probably not all that much left for you to do, but if you have any requests for things that I should check out, say so now," Detective Erikson went on.

"As a matter of fact, there is something we want you to check out," I replied. "Check for bloodstains on the bottom of a soap container within the girls' restroom where the crime took place. After that, check the bag where Satoki was found again. There was a gray piece of fabric placed on the bottom, and we think that Chrysalis might have bled onto it around the time of the crime."

"I'll look into that as soon as possible," Detective Erikson replied. "Try to stay out of trouble until the trial tomorrow. I'll talk to you later."

He hung up soon afterwards, and I let out a heavy sigh before looking to Mukuro and Yuri. "That solves at least one more mystery... But there's still a lot for us to figure out yet. All we can really do is wait to see what happens at the trial tomorrow," I whispered.

"We can do this," Yuri declared boldly. "Everyone is counting on us. Between Chrysalis, Satoki, Shane, and Mr. Morix... Lots of people have been hurt by the culprit aside from just Saya, and we owe it to all of them to reveal the truth behind what happened. We can totally pull this off."

I nodded dully in agreement, but I couldn't help the bad feeling that was starting to rise up within me. We had to find a way to figure out this case, but I didn't know what to do in order to make the pieces start to fit together. We were going to have to figure something out sooner or later, but I didn't have the slightest idea as to how we were supposed to start. Even with a few of our questions answered, there were still far more inquiries that required attention, and it wasn't as if the information was going to fall into our laps easily. This was going to be difficult, but we'd have to figure it out somehow.

May 19

Defendant Lobby No. 3

9:40 AM

Yuri Rinko

The next morning, I shuffled into the defendant lobby with a sigh before flopping dramatically onto the couch. Deirdre followed behind me by a few feet since she had picked me up before bringing us both to the courthouse. She chose not to acknowledge my over-the-top actions.

"I didn't sleep well at all," I grumbled with a shake of my head. "I couldn't stop thinking about everything that could have happened while we were gone. Then again, if anyone got hurt again, we would have already heard about it, but... It's still stressful."

"On top of all that, we're not going to be seeing the rest of the group in the gallery today," Deirdre frowned. "Lily, Victoria, Sky, and Felicity decided to stay at the hospital to look after Mr. Morix and Chrysalis."

I nodded, remembering having heard about such through the agency's group chat. Still, it did little to make me feel better about the battle in the courtroom that was to come. I knew going into this case that it wasn't going to be easy, but the universe just insisted on making things ten times harder for us. I didn't know who the culprit was, but I was not happy with them in the slightest.

"What did you do with Satoki's phone, by the way?" Deirdre questioned. "I got a call from Detective Erikson before I came here. He was asking about it. Apparently, everyone's awake by this point, but none of them remember what happened when they were attacked."

"I took a screenshot of his conversation with Stayge and texted it to myself. I knew it wasn't going to be staying on the entire night, so I prepared a backup plan," I explained. "I think we can give it back at any moment... Maybe we can drop it off after the trial. After all, I'm going to want to go and see the rest of the group once this is over."

Deirdre nodded her agreement. "Same here... Last I heard, Chrysalis is doing much better compared to how she was in the detention center too. She was finally able to get some medication for her headache, but Detective Erikson mentioned that she's still been sleeping a lot," she went on.

"That's good to hear... I know detention center beds are hard to sleep in even on good days. I mean, good days don't really exist in the detention center, but it's only harder to relax when you have a migraine created from a concussion," I told her. "Anyways, what's our plan going to be?"

Deirdre hesitated before shaking her head. "I'm afraid that I don't know quite yet. There's not much that I've thought through as of now. Obviously, we need to figure out what's going on with the imposter Stayge, but we didn't run into them at all yesterday. Unless the prosecution was able to drag them out of hiding, there's not much we can do in relation to them. We should start off by showing the conversation between Satoki and the real Stayge though," she replied.

"You're right there," I agreed. "I feel like it's going to be our first step to figuring out what the hell is going on here. We know for sure that there's some funny business going on here, and that conversation is our proof of such... We'll just have to figure out who the imposter is."

"On top of that, we're going to need to deal with Hannah Blocker as well. I spent most of the night thinking about how she would be involved with the attack in the detention center, but I still can't think of anything that makes sense. I just hope that the prosecution was able to contact her. We didn't get the chance to ask with everything that was happening," Deirdre frowned.

"We'll just have to see," I shrugged, unsure of what else to say. In that moment, all I wanted to do was go into the courtroom and get this over with already.

Luckily, I wouldn't have to wait for much longer. A familiar face appeared, and a grin appeared on my face as KJ Jett spoke. "You're needed in the courtroom," KJ told us.

I practically threw myself on top of him in response. "Hey! It's been too long since I've had the chance to talk to you," I smiled. "I hope that you're doing well."

KJ responded with a nod. "Yeah... Something came up last minute, so I was asked to fill in for the shift of the bailiff who was previously covering this case. I'm not objecting though; it gives me a chance to see you two again," he said casually before glancing around the area. "I would have expected to see more people from your agency though..."

"Will you be coming into the courtroom with us?" Deirdre questioned as we started moving towards the doors nearby.

KJ nodded. "As a matter of fact, yes," he answered. "Why do you ask?"

"You'll figure it out soon enough," I replied with a small cringe. "Anyways, we should get going. It was nice seeing you again, KJ."

Concern appeared on his face at my words, but I tried not to let that stop me. I kept walking into the courtroom, looking up to Deirdre as we passed over the threshold. I wanted to tell her that we had this all under control, but it was hard to find optimistic words in that moment. Everything that had happened the day before was starting to weigh me down, and I wasn't sure how I was supposed to deal with it. At the very least, we would hopefully be able to figure out the truth behind the case. It was what Chrysalis, Mr. Morix, Satoki, and Shane deserved.

May 19

Courtroom No. 3

10:00 AM

Deirdre Brigit

Judge Diaphan's gavel hit the bench before her once Yuri and I were settled in our places. The sound echoed as she spoke. "Court is back in session for the trial of Chrysalis Starr. Are the defense and prosecution ready?" she questioned.

I shared a brief glance with Yuri, though I could tell that she wasn't as prepared as she would have liked to be. I couldn't blame her in the slightest given everything we had gone through the day before. Still, I shook it off and offered my response. "The defense is ready," I told her, hoping nobody was able to pick up on how uncertain I was.

"The prosecution is also ready," Prosecutor Lin announced. When I looked over to her, I realized that she wasn't in peak form either. Her eyes seemed sunken and tired. It was easy to come to the conclusion that she had spent much of the previous night worrying about her older brother and younger sister. Prosecutor Lin was related to both Mr. Morix and Chrysalis, so that meant concern and anxiety practically ran through her veins. She may have hidden it better, but the issue was still just as present.

"I heard that much happened during yesterday's investigation. Prosecution, would you please offer an update on the matter?" Judge Diaphan asked, turning her attention to the trio standing on the other side of the courtroom. Meanwhile, she set down her gavel off to the side carefully.

Prosecutor Lin nudged Prosecutor Wood gently with her elbow, and the youngest member of the team cleared her throat before speaking up. "Yes... Of course. There were four other crimes that took place during yesterday's investigation. First off, one of the previous witnesses, Satoki Amaya, was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head and shoved into a prop bag backstage," Prosecutor Wood began. "Shane Carmen, another witness, was hit on the head as well in the deeper backstage area. Cotoli Morix, one of the members of the defense team, was attacked as well, receiving a blow to the back of the head and the ribs. All three were unconscious when they were found."

Judge Diaphan frowned deeply at her words. "I see... What else transpired?" she questioned. I could hear concern seeping into her voice despite her best attempts to hide it.

"At the detention center, the defendant was attacked. A knife was found lodged into the back of her right shoulder, and she was discovered unconscious in her holding cell. Nearby, the word 'Blocker' was written in blood," Prosecutor Wood continued. "At the time, there weren't any guards standing outside of her cell. There should have been a few people patrolling the hallway, but nobody was present. She was also found to have been hit on the back of the head around the time of the crime."

Judge Diaphan nodded in acknowledgement. "I see... Is there anything that the defense wishes to mention on the matter?" she asked, turning her attention to where I was standing with Yuri.

"As a matter of fact, yes," I replied. "The defense found a piece of gray fabric at the bottom of the bag where Satoki Amaya was found yesterday. When it was removed, we realized that there was blood on both sides. We sent it in for forensic testing, but we believe that this bag was used to move the body the night of the crime. There was a large amount of blood on the bottom, enough to have easily come from the victim, Saya Kan, after she was stabbed to death."

"This would solve the issue of how the body was moved from the bathroom to the backstage area before it was displayed for the crowd," Prosecutor Lin murmured. "You said that there was blood on both sides though. What about the other side?"

"The fabric was placed down after the victim's body was moved," Yuri answered. "Saya's body was placed directly into the bag, but once she was taken out of the bag, the fabric was put in to make sure that nobody wound up covered in blood if they went into the bag as well. The defense thinks that this is because the culprit was planning on using the bag to transport a second person as well."

"A second person?" Prosecutor Umber echoed. "Who is this second person you're thinking of?"

"The defendant," I declared. "She was given a concussion the night of the performance. Your team has already mentioned such. She would have been unconscious after the hit, which we think was delivered by a container of soap made of metal found within the bathroom. That's why she's been complaining of a headache ever since this case began, and it's how she was covered in blood. While she was unconscious, the culprit used her clothing to wipe up the blood, leaving her stained by it when she went out onto the stage. The defendant was not in the right state of mind due to her head injury, and she didn't realize that she was covered in blood until it was too late."

"You keep on talking about a hypothetical killer, but you aren't telling us who it is," Prosecutor Umber pointed out with a frown. "Who is it that did all of this? Without solid evidence or a conclusive theory as to who did something of this nature, we aren't able to accept your words. They are little more than conjecture without proof."

I hesitated before looking away from him. "We haven't figured out for sure who the culprit is, but we do have one thing to point out to the court. Something peculiar happened after Satoki Amaya was attacked, you see. His phone fell onto the ground, and we found it. The screen was facing the floor, so it would have been difficult to see in the dark backstage area. However, the true oddity is what was shown on the screen whenever we discovered it," I began to explain.

I got the feeling Prosecutor Umber had more than a few complaints about our sudden changing of the subject, but he didn't say anything. He was cut off by Prosecutor Lin before he could get the chance to speak up. "What exactly did the phone show?" she questioned.

"It was a conversation over text," Yuri piped in. "To be more specific, the conversation displayed was between Satoki and Stayge Crewe. However, that's where things get to be a bit more shaky... I have a picture of the conversation here, should anyone wish to read it. I'm sure you'll see the problem as soon as you read over the messages."

Prosecutor Lin tilted her head to the side in confusion and held out one hand to show that she was intrigued. In response, Yuri dashed across the courtroom, phone in hand. She pressed the device into Prosecutor Lin's hands, the picture of the conversation between Satoki and Stayge already pulled up. Prosecutor Wood and Prosecutor Umber looked over their coworker's shoulders to see what she was reading. After they were finished, the phone was handed back to its proper owner, giving Yuri the chance to move the device up to Judge Diaphan's seat.

"That's... That's rather interesting," Prosecutor Lin murmured, but it was clear there was more on her mind than simply the term 'interesting'. She shook her head and closed her eyes. "If those messages are to be believed, then we haven't come into contact with the real Stayge Crewe during this case at all."

Once Judge Diaphan was finished reading the conversation, Yuri moved back to stand next to me. Judge Diaphan watched her carefully, a frown etched into her features. "Hm... How strange," she murmured.

"This conversation would explain one other thing that we found to be of note yesterday as well," I said next. "If the Stayge Crewe that we know is different from the person Satoki was texting, then that would explain the peculiar behavior of Stayge as of late. Perhaps the switch took place a few days before the performance began, and if that is the case, then... His sudden aversion to speaking with the rest of the cast would start to make sense. It wasn't a matter of shyness or stress. He had become an entirely different person."

The gallery burst into chatter at this explanation, and I looked over to Yuri with a frown. I felt like the truth was on the tip of my tongue, but I didn't know what to make of it. It felt as if I could reach out and try to grab at the real answer, but my fingers only barely grazed it, and I wouldn't get any closer without further evidence. Stayge's sudden shift in behavior made sense with the imposter theory, but that left one important question to be answered.

Who was the imposter Stayge?

When they dropped the disguise, what was their true identity? Why would they want to hide the truth about who they were in the first place?

I didn't know, but I had a feeling I was about to find out.

Final trial time woo

-Digital