September 14
Courtroom No. 5
11:30 AM
Victoria von Graye
James settled down at the witness stand after he was called, and he rested one hand atop the podium as a gentle smile appeared on his face. I could tell that he was nervous, but he was still doing his best to hide it. My heart was pulled with quiet sympathy, and I wished that there was more I could do to make him feel better about all of this. I supposed that finishing the trial as soon as possible would be my best option though, so I allowed myself to focus back on the situation at hand as soon as I was able to snap myself out of my trance.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Frost instructed once James was in his proper position behind the witness stand.
"My name is James Devine," the young man responded. He tilted his head to the side as he continued to smile, and all of his nerves were shoved to the back of his mind in favor of focusing on the current situation. "I work as an actor, but for the time being, I'm focusing on my life as a student first and foremost."
"You were at the crime scene the day of the murder," Prosecutor Burke began. Her tone was far from being accusing, instead simply being a state of fact. "The court would like you to testify on what you saw when you first discovered the defendant standing over the body."
James nodded in response. "Of course. I'll go right from the beginning," he said simply, not taking even a moment to consider the situation at hand. I could tell that he was just as anxious to get this over with as the rest of us, and I couldn't exactly blame him. After all, his previous courtroom experience had been far from optimal, so it was only natural that he would feel on edge while in the area. I just hoped that everything would turn out alright with what he had to tell us about the scene of the crime.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Finding the Defendant and Victim ~
-"I was at the school the day of the murder because I was set to be enrolling as a new student so that I could start classes soon."
-"I came with Mukuro and Anton to see the building. We were meant to be meeting with two other students who would be in my class, Yuri and Niamh."
-"We never found Niamh though, and Mukuro wound up leaving to look around with hopes that she could find her."
-"The rest of us headed up to the main office, and we waited for Mukuro and Niamh to come back."
-"However, all of that came crashing down when we heard Mukuro scream. We followed the sound and saw her standing above the body when we arrived."
-"Mukuro never found Niamh... We later learned that she had gone home, but I still find it strange that she left when she was supposed to meet with us."
I frowned to myself at his words. I didn't hear anything that really stuck out to me as being a contradiction from the facts of the case. In all honesty, the only subject that really made me think there was something going on had to do with what he mentioned about Prosecutor Wood.
"I think we should ask about what happened to Chrysalis and Prosecutor Wood," Sky whispered, and I wondered for a brief moment if he had somehow found out how to read minds before banishing the thought as ridiculous. "James didn't mention Chrysalis, but we know that she was supposed to be at the scene of the crime that day too. It's weird how she never crossed paths with them or anyone else."
"You're right," Lily agreed with a nod. "I think that's a great place to start from too. If I'm being honest, I have no idea where it's going to lead us, but I'm positive that it's going to lead us somewhere. We weren't able to talk to Prosecutor Wood or Chrysalis yesterday, but I think that it would be a good idea for us to see if we can learn anything more about them that we aren't already aware of."
"In that case, I suppose we should just get started," I said with a small, hazy smile. I glanced up to Judge Frost, already knowing what he was doing to say next. Since we were finished talking about the testimony, that left only one step for us to take from here.
"Go on and cross-examine the testimony," Judge Frost announced, easily meeting my expectations. After he was done giving us directions, he looked down to James with a kind gaze, a silent way of reassuring James that everything was going to be alright despite his nerves. "Please repeat your words at this time, witness."
James seemed to appreciate what Judge Frost did for him, and he nodded in response. "Alright. I'll get to that now," he replied. He took in a deep breath, and then he took it from the beginning once again.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Finding the Defendant and Victim ~
-"I was at the school the day of the murder because I was set to be enrolling as a new student so that I could start classes soon."
-"I came with Mukuro and Anton to see the building. We were meant to be meeting with two other students who would be in my class, Yuri and Niamh."
-"We never found Niamh though, and Mukuro wound up leaving to look around with hopes that she could find her."
-"The rest of us headed up to the main office, and we waited for Mukuro and Niamh to come back."
-"However, all of that came crashing down when we heard Mukuro scream. We followed the sound and saw her standing above the body when we arrived."
-"Mukuro never found Niamh... We later learned that she had gone home, but I still find it strange that she left when she was supposed to meet with us."
"Hold it!"
"I have to ask... Is there anything that you can tell us about what happened with your friend?" Lily questioned, tilting her head gently to the side. "Any details that you have in mind will help us out. We want to know why she didn't meet with you just as much as you do."
James paused for a moment, considering her prompt. "Hm... I don't really know what to say about it, honestly. The only one who could really tell you about it would be Niamh herself. She was supposed to see me after school so that she could help me get settled in with Yuri. However, she never wound up meeting with us. I don't know what could have made her want to leave the school instead of talking to us. She never even gave us notice that she was going to be doing that. It's because we didn't know that she was leaving that Mukuro even decided to go searching for her in the first place," he replied.
"It's strange that she just left out of nowhere like that. You would expect her to let you all know if she wasn't able to make it," Lily frowned. "Do you know if she had a specific reason for not showing up? Did something happen at the last minute to make her have to go home?"
James shook his head. "No. I have no idea what happened. I asked her over text what made her want to leave the school, but she just said that plans changed. She never went into detail about it... I don't know if something is going on there, but this isn't like her. If she doesn't want to talk about something, she usually just comes out and says it, but she was rather secretive when I asked this time," he went on.
"It sounds to me like something is wrong with Prosecutor Wood," I whispered to Sky and Lily. "I have no idea why she would want to leave the school out of nowhere like that, but I feel like it's suspicious. Why would she change her mind when James is such a good friend of hers? The fact that she isn't even trying to explain it is only making me feel worse about all of this."
"I feel like we all know that this case is going to need more time of investigation. There are too many holes in the current explanation of what happened for this to be considered as perfectly factual. Anyone who looks closely enough knows for sure that Mukuro couldn't have done it. All we have to do is make sure that everybody else here is aware of that," Sky said. "When we get the chance to investigate the case in more detail, we should go and see if we can ask her about what happened. If we say that it could be related to the murder, then she'll have to give us an answer. It will help to free her friend of suspicion, so I can't imagine that she'll continue to hide it."
"A member of our agency was supposed to meet with you at the school building at the time of the crime as well," Lily commented once Sky had finished speaking, her full attention on James. "She was meant to pick up Yuri after she was finished with an extracurricular activity, but she never showed up either. Do you happen to know anything about what she was doing at the time that the body was discovered?"
James shook his head. "I'm afraid not. We heard that she was with Niamh, but we aren't quite sure of what happened for her to get there. She spent much of yesterday sleeping, but when Yuri was able to get a response out of her about what happened, the only thing that she heard was Chrysalis forgot about what happened," he explained.
That caught me by surprise, and my eyes went wide. "She forgot?" I echoed. I knew that James wouldn't have lied to us about this, but it still bothered me. What could have made Chrysalis forget? I somehow doubted that this was simply a matter of her forgetting to pick up Yuri. If she had simply missed out on bringing Yuri back to the agency, then she would have returned to Morix Law Offices rather than winding up back at Prosecutor Wood's house. There had to be something else here to explain why she had changed her plans so drastically, but I didn't have the slightest idea as to what it could have been.
James nodded. "That's what Yuri told me she said anyways. Chrysalis said that she remembered going to the school to pick up Yuri, but afterwards, everything goes fuzzy. When she next fully recognized what was happening, she was back at Niamh's house, and they were together. Chrysalis has been spending a lot of time sleeping since then, but I can't say that I'm sure as to why she would be so tired all of a sudden. There's a lot about what happened with Chrysalis and Niamh that I don't understand. I don't know if they're deliberately trying to cover it up or if something else is going on, but... It's bothering me," he confessed.
"I can see why," Lily murmured with a small nod. "It sounds to me like there's something that happened to connect them to this case. Even if they weren't at the scene of the crime, they have to tie into this mystery somehow. We're going to need to find a way to speak with them when given the chance to see how they factor in with what happened the day of the murder."
"If you truly think that they're involved with this case somehow, then I'll be sure to give you the chance to speak with them after the day's trial has drawn to a close," Judge Frost declared. "I believe that we are lacking in critical details if we wish to find out the truth behind this case. Too much has been left unknown about the victim's identity and purpose for being at the scene of the crime. The mystery behind the disappearance of two key figures from the scene of the murder is concerning as well, and all of these matters will require further consideration."
I felt my heart swell with relief at Judge Frost's words. He was right in saying that we simply didn't have enough to go off if we wanted to find the truth behind this case, and I was glad that he agreed with me about it. There was a lot more to this murder than it seemed at a first glance, and we were going to have to dig deep if we wanted to figure out the full extent of what happened.
"Is there anything else that you think we should know about what happened the day of the murder?" Prosecutor Shield questioned from his place across the courtroom. Hearing his voice was enough to snap me out of my thoughts, and I glanced up at him with curiosity in my eyes.
James paused for a moment, considering if there was anything that stuck out to him. "Hm... I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I have been wondering about what could have been used to break through the glass found on the trophy case. I asked Yuri if she knew of any objects that could have worked as weapons to break through the glass. Still, if someone was looking for something heavy enough to break through, it leaves me wondering... If the culprit's intentions were always to kill, then why didn't they just use the weapon in question to hit the victim instead of aiming for the trophy case?" he questioned.
I had to admit that he was asking a good question there. The possibility had been brought up before that perhaps this case was an accident rather than simply being a murder, and I was beginning to consider that as well. However, if the culprit didn't want to kill the victim, then that opened a lot of avenues for questions. If the killer never wanted to end the victim's life, then what could their intention have been instead?
"I also want to know where the weapon could have gone when the killer was done using it," Prosecutor Cruz remarked, snapping me out of my daze. "I feel like something that heavy would have been found during the investigation, and yet, we didn't come across anything that could have been used to break the glass. It's strange that a weapon so significant and heavy went missing out of nowhere like that. The killer could have taken it with them, but you would expect to see someone walking with a heavy object away from the crime scene. Still, nobody saw anyone leaving the scene of the crime, much less someone handling a heavy object that could have been used to shatter the glass of the trophy case."
"I must admit that I'm wondering about that as well," I confessed. "What could have been used to shatter the trophy case? I don't think that something like that would have just broken out of nowhere that way. The glass likely would have broken already if it was unstable enough to only require a small little push to be shattered like that."
"In that case, one of our remaining questions is going to have to be what happened to the item used to break open the trophy case. We know that the trophy that hit the victim on the head was responsible for his death, but something must have broken the glass and caused the case to completely fall apart," Lily commented. "I'm not sure where we're going to find an answer like that, but we're going to have to try and figure it out."
"So, let's think about the subjects that we're going to need to address before the truth can be brought to light," Sky murmured. "We're going to need to find out what was used to break the glass on the trophy case. We also need to know why Prosecutor Wood and Chrysalis left the school behind when they realistically wouldn't have done that. Finding out more about the victim wouldn't hurt either."
I whispered the next words that came free of my lips. "Then there's the matter of who would want to pin this on Mukuro," I murmured. "Why would someone want to accuse her of this when it's clear that she wasn't responsible? Something must have happened to make others want to claim that she was behind this, but... I'm not sure about what it could possibly be."
"We'll have to be careful about how we handle that. If we let someone know that this is happening, bad things could wind up standing in our path, and that's the last thing we want right now," Lily pointed out. She was quiet when she spoke as well, and I couldn't help but think about the potential bad outcomes that revealing this knowledge to the world could have had. I knew well that the legal system was corrupt, but I had never been given the chance to see the full depth of it all. Since I grew up in Germany far from the local issues, I was far from being experienced with them. I didn't think I wanted to find out the truth though. The horror stories that I had heard from Chrysalis were more than enough for me.
"There's a lot that we still need to find out," Prosecutor Burke suddenly declared, and we snapped out of our small conversation to turn our attention up to her. "It's clear that there is much more to this case than meets the eye. That leaves us to figure out how the pieces come together. Is there anything else that you wish to mention about this case for us to investigate?"
I considered her words for a moment, allowing my eyes to slip shut in my contemplation. I wasn't sure about if there was anything that came to mind immediately. I thought about it for a moment before my eyes shot open once again, and I remembered something important that we absolutely had to find out. "We need to figure out why the victim brought weapons onto the school campus," I explained. That sort of fell into the category of us needing to learn more about the victim as a whole, but it was still important for us to elaborate on.
Prosecutor Shield cupped one hand around his chin as he answered. "We can say conclusively for now that the reasoning behind such was far from being positive since weapons aren't allowed on campus. The gun, knife, and chloroform combine to paint a picture that is far from being pretty. There's something that pushed the victim the wrong way, and he took to violence to solve the issue rather than communication. I don't know who or what could have gotten him so upset, but we're going to have to figure it out."
"I think that the truth behind his target ultimately comes down to the person whose blood was found next to the body," Prosecutor Burke cut in. "If the victim did succeed in making his way towards his target, then that would explain the splatter of blood. Still, I suppose that we don't have any evidence regarding who it could possibly belong to. For all we know, the blood could belong to the killer. We haven't found a person whose DNA matches what was found in the blood yet."
"Maybe Prosecutor Wood or Chrysalis will know something," Lily commented with a loose shrug. "I'm not trying to say that they're heavily involved with this case or anything, but... It's at least worth asking them about. Their sudden departure from the scene of the crime strikes me as peculiar. Chrysalis is a very methodical person, and I find it somehow hard to believe that she would go somewhere and simply not do her given task. It's not in her nature. Her not remembering is a strange factor in all of this as well... What if something happened to make her forget?"
I found myself frowning as I thought back to what happened during the murder at her theater department's performance. Chrysalis had forgotten about what happened at the time of the crime back then too, and it was because she had been knocked unconscious. I didn't want to believe that history could have repeated itself, but the possibility was simply too great for me to ignore. I desperately hoped with everything I was that this didn't wind up being the case for the sake of both myself and Chrysalis, but my hopes weren't too high.
"The lack of identification on the body makes it seem to me like there's no question in the fact that the victim was planning on doing something unsavory. We'll just have to figure out what that specific action could have been. I feel like it's at the center of the case if we want to find the truth," Prosecutor Cruz remarked. A frown appeared on his face, and I glanced down to the bench at his words. As much as I hated to say it, he was right. The idea that there was a crime within this case didn't sit well with me, but I didn't exactly have a way to disprove it. After all, I was positive that all of us were sure that Prosecutor Cruz was right. The potential crime that had taken place before the murder wasn't sitting well with me, but we were going to have to find some way to find the truth behind it all.
"We'll investigate more about the victim when we get the chance to return to the crime scene," Prosecutor Burke assured Judge Frost as she looked up in his direction. "It took some time for us to find out who he was, but since we have a name now, that should make it easier to learn more about him. We don't have many details yet, but that's going to change as soon as I put my mind to figuring out what his goal was when he appeared on the school campus the day of the murder.
"I believe that now would be the perfect time for us to end the trial for the time being," Judge Frost declared, and I felt a smile of relief explode across my features. I liked that idea far more than I would ever be able to fully vocalize. We simply didn't have enough information to get anywhere close to finding out the truth behind this case. The killer was still a mystery, and the victim was just as much of a conundrum.
"The prosecution has no objections," Prosecutor Shield declared after sharing a brief glance with Prosecutor Burke and Prosecutor Cruz. He began to slide all of the papers on the bench in front of him together into a single stack.
"The defense has no objections either," Lily said next with a small nod. She began to do the same thing as her brother, and I silently began to help her out a moment later.
Judge Frost nodded. "In that case, I see no reason to prolong this trial for any longer than we already have," he told us. He reached for his gavel and lifted it before speaking once again. "I expect both the prosecution and defense to spend an adequate amount of time investigating as much as possible regarding the victim and killer over the course of the next few hours. All information will be considered useful tomorrow. With that said, court is now adjourned!" He hit the gavel down once again.
I looked over to Lily and Sky before pointing towards the door. They nodded in my direction before following me away from the courtroom. We couldn't afford to linger in the courthouse any longer than we already had. The rest of the investigation was still waiting for us.
September 14
Defendant Lobby No. 5
1:00 AM
Sky Amaya
As I settled into the defendant lobby alongside Lily and Victoria, I let out a small sigh. I would have been lying if I said that I knew what we were supposed to be doing. There were too many questions left unanswered, and while I knew that we had to start somewhere, I had no idea what point would be best for us to begin from. We needed to learn more about the victim, but I believed that we could leave that up to the prosecution for the time being.
Luckily, even if I was clueless as to where we should be starting, Lily appeared to have an idea. She was messing around with her phone, and I saw a small frown on her face as she scrolled down to read something. "I think that we should go and talk to Chrysalis and Prosecutor Wood for now," she said.
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Victoria agreed with a nod. "Do you think that they're together? I think it would be best if we could take care of them both in one fell swoop, but if we have to split up to see what they're up to, I suppose that we could do that as well."
Lily typed out a message to someone on her phone, and I assumed that she was communicating with Chrysalis. We waited in silence for a moment as we anticipated Chrysalis' response, and I found myself playing with the hem of my shirt to pass the time. I was anxious about all of this, to be perfectly honest. I needed to know what would help us to find the truth, but there wasn't exactly an easy place for us to start from, as much as I hated to admit it.
As soon as Lily's phone buzzed, my attention was immediately drawn to the device. Lily clicked on something before she smiled. "As a matter of fact, both of the girls that we need to speak with are together, so that will make it easier for us to knock out two birds with one stone," she told us before dropping her phone back into her pocket. "They're at the scene of the crime. Detective Hayes messaged Chrysalis and requested that she come by so that they could talk. It seems that they're finished speaking about the case now though, so that gives us the perfect chance to slide in and see if there's anything new that we can learn from them."
"Great," I smiled before starting to walk towards the door. Lily and Victoria trailed after me, and I let out a slow breath as I passed into the hallway. I was still uncertain about all of this, but I knew that being nervous wasn't going to get us anywhere. If we wanted to find answers, we were going to have to go out of our way to find the truth. There were many inconvenient blockades to our progress, but Chrysalis and Prosecutor Wood were our best bet at finding out more about what was happening.
We were stopped in the hallway by James and Mukuro. The latter seemed anxious, but she was doing her best to hide it when she spoke. "Are you three leaving already?" she questioned. After a brief pause, she continued. "I suppose that I can't get upset with you for that. I mean, I have to go in a minute too."
I nodded my response. "We're going to figure out what happened with Chrysalis and Prosecutor Wood at the time of the crime," I replied before looking over to James. "Thank you for bringing up their odd behavior. I think that it's going to somehow tie in with the truth of this case."
James let out a small sigh, and I saw relief flood his gaze. "I'm glad to hear that I was able to help you out," he told us. "Still, I want you to be careful while you're there. The killer is still on the loose, and we don't know when they're going to show up next."
"Chrysalis is with Prosecutor Wood down at the scene of the crime right now," Lily told him. "If you want to speak with one of them, you should probably follow us there. I mean, I assume that you want to talk to Prosecutor Wood about the strange way that she was acting the day of the crime since you were so worried about her, and I guess that now is as good a time as any."
James nodded his agreement. "I'll meet you there as soon as I can," he said, going to walk away along with Mukuro.
Mukuro kept walking, and she shot us a wave over her shoulder as she retreated, but James stopped when Victoria spoke up. "Maybe you should just go on and come with us," she suggested. "You know... Unless you already have a ride here or something."
James' face lit up, and he grinned at her words. "That would be great, as a matter of fact," he replied. I could tell by his response that he couldn't drive, and this would be the perfect way for him to get to the crime scene. Besides, there was undoubtedly room between the cars owned by the three of us collectively.
We continued our journey to the front of the building, and I found myself thinking about the case once again. I didn't know how we were supposed to solve all of this, but I had a bad feeling about it. The killer was sitting strangely with me, but the victim was the larger issue to me. Just what had he been trying to do the day of the crime?
Just who had he been trying to hurt?
Age of Calamity is pretty fun
-Digital