Class Trial - IN SESSION
...
I looked around to see there were two new memorial photographs where Tsumugi and Himiko once stood. While Rantaro's face was covered with a normal looking 'X', the seamstress' was a bit thinner. Himiko's picture was placed much lower than the other two as if she was still here watching from her podium. Her face crossed out with one normal straight line and one that was an oddly crooked squiggle.
Perhaps they're meant to look like a magician's wand and a 'real' one? I thought to myself.
"LET'S-BEGIN-WITH-A-BASIC-EXPLANATION-OF-THE-CLASS-TRIAL." Monodam began.
"During the trial you'll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for 'whodunnit'." Monotaro explained.
"If you vote correctly then only the blackened will receive punishment." Monophanie continued.
"But if youse choose the wrong person... We'll punish everyone except the blackened, and they'll earn the right to leave this academy!" Monosuke exclaimed.
"And refusin' to vote will result in your fuckin' death, so you bitches better vote for someone!" Monokid warned.
"NOW, LET'S-GET-THIS-TRIAL-UNDERWAY!" Monodam finished.
Kirumi was the first to speak up. "Do we even know for sure there was a murderer for this case? Himiko was found dead alone in the bathroom, with everyone else present and accounted for at the party. It could have been some manner of suicide, could it not?"
Tenko visibly recoiled at this suggestion, and even the glance Kiyo gave the maid had a bit more ice to it than normal. I doubted that Himiko would do something like that.
Especially since she's not the one whose motive video encouraged it. I thought.
"What are you talking about, what good reason would Himiko have to do something like that?!" The aikido master shouted.
Ryoma nodded in agreement. "Himiko knew she had people waiting for her outside and she just finished a pretty good show, nothing about her indicated she was in the sort of place mentally for this either."
"Guess you would be the one to know all about that, eh Ryoma?" Kokichi mockingly asked.
"You're not helping right now, so shut your mouth or I'll bloody do it for you." Tokuko scolded.
"I checked the body too, there weren't any sorts of weapons or nearby debris that Himiko could have used to do this to herself." Maki explained. "It was a small clean incision around the back of her neck, at a fairly unnatural angle for someone to have caused it themselves as the only tearing goes directly upwards. Unless you want to doubt my credibility now?"
"Maki's background in this sort of thing makes what she said fairly reliable. But how else could she have died in the bathroom by herself?" Shuichi muttered. "Everyone was at the party like Kirumi said, I checked it myself. Aside from Tenko at least, from when she went to get Himiko from the restroom."
"H-Hey, what are you trying to imply there?!" Tenko asked. "I'd never hurt Himiko, I wanted to protect her more than anything and you all know that! Besides, Kiyo's the one who started messing around with the body before Maki had a chance to check it, isn't that more suspicious?!"
"She's right, that is mighty suspicious. Mr. Doubtfire, why you getting handsy with a corpse in the ladies' room anyway, stiffs give you a stiffy or something?" Miu asked.
That wasn't a mental image I needed! I off-handily thought.
"I did nothing of the sort, all I did was close her eyes after I checked for a pulse and couldn't find one." Kiyo explained. "I understand actions done out of respect or supposedly common decency may be rather foreign to you but that's all this was. Her eyes didn't appear to be bloodshot or otherwise unusual given her state so I thought it wouldn't be terribly out of line to spare the others the sight of her looking that... unnatural."
"Gonta understand, Gonta often do similar things for animals he finds bugs living in. Makes them less sad to look at. Already hard to see someone... Small like Himiko hurt so badly, so Gonta thanks Kiyo." The entomologist responded.
That is a bit odd. I mean Maki or Gonta having experience with corpses makes sense with their talents, by creating them or the various bugs related to forensic work and all, but why would Kiyo get involved? I thought.
Was it just sentimentality considering he 'checked for a pulse' after we triggered the announcement? Besides, it looked more like he was looking at the injury on her neck than that to me. While he may be lying, I doubt there's any real chance he was involved with this, as he'd be the obvious prime suspect. Suspicious actions notwithstanding it'd already be incredibly easy for someone to try and frame him.
"Yeah. Besides, Angie, Tenko, Tokuko, Miyuji, and I were all watching him, that's really all he did, honest. I don't think she was really attacked in the bathroom anyway." Kaede admitted.
"Like when, during the show? Wouldn't that make a certain sorceress's apprentice more suspicious?" Kokichi wondered.
Kokichi's probably having the same thoughts I was. Of course he'd realize parts of what Kiyo said was a lie, he wouldn't have even needed to have been there like I was to manage that with his experience. At least he's helping Kaede with her white lie enough to redirect our discussion to what really matters here. I thought to myself.
"Am I now? You were all watching us, when could I have possibly had the opportunity to do such a thing?" Kiyo asked. "For most of the acts I was the one having the various 'blades' pointed at my person as I recall, and I certainly never handled any of them much less had any directed at Miss Yumeno."
Then I heard Tokuko say the contradiction I was looking for.
"But you were the only one close enough to her to do anything, weren't you?"
"No, that's wrong!" I shouted as I pointed a finger at Tokuko.
"Huh? Something up, Sharla?" The actress asked in confusion.
"It's just like Kirumi said, not if this case doesn't have a killer." I explained. "It would draw too much attention to himself if Kiyo did anything to Himiko there, so I highly doubt he's the true culprit."
"If that's true, did something happen during the show that could easily been an accident, couldn't it?" Miyuji wondered.
"Yeah, it could totally be an accident! But who would we even vote for if that's the case?" Kaito asked.
Kaito really wants this to be true, doesn't he? It'd be nice if one of us wasn't actually a murderer this time around, but that is a rather dangerous question to have. I wouldn't want to have to execute one of my friends over something they didn't mean to do in the first place, unlike the... premeditated murder we faced before. But it looks like the Monokubs have something to say about this now, more new rules? I thought.
"THEN-BLAME-WOULD-GO-TO-WHOEVER-LEAD-TO-THE-ACCIDENT. THE-BLACKENED-IS-WHO-DIRECTLY-CAUSES-THE-DEATH. THIS-ALSO-APPLIES-IF-MULTIPLE-STUDENTS-WORK-TOGETHER-FOR-A-MURDER-OR-ASSISTED-SUICIDE." Monodam explained.
"No one asked you, can o'crap! Why not you just keep shit quiet to make things more interesting, huh?!" Monokid yelled.
"BECAUSE-THAT-IS-NOT-FAIR. THIS-IS-A-GAME. HOW-CAN-EVERYONE-GET-ALONG-AND-PLAY-TOGETHER-IF-WE-DO-NOT-TELL-THEM-ALL-OF-THE-RULE-WHEN-THEY-ASK? SHOULDN'T-WE-BE-HELPING-THEM?" The green bear asked.
"We don't need these dumbasses to 'get along' to play along, you idiot! We already proved that." The blue bear replied
"Hey now, come on there's no need to be so harsh on him! He's not doing anything wrong and it would make things run easier to just answer broad questions like that anyway, right?" Monophanie said.
"Yeah, you heard the lady! Knowin' the rules could also help give some of these kids some more creative ideas ya'know? This could still be plenty interestin' to see if this helps set anythin' into motion later." Monosuke agreed.
"I dunno, when you say it like that now, it does sound pretty ominous. Especially since you told them some of the side rules yourself awhile ago." Monotaro pointed out.
"YOU DID WHAT NOW?!" Monokid yelled. "COME ON MAN, I THOUGHT YOU HAD MY BACK HERE-"
"Would you keep your bloody traps shut?!" Tokuko shouted.
"At least they gave us some info to keep in mind." Miyuji admitted.
Kaito got the discussion back on track. "If it has to be who triggered the accident, then the 'culprit' in that case would have to be Himiko, yeah? She was the one activating everything."
Something as innocent as an accident would still be a welcome relief, but there's something too sinister here to truly believe it could be the case this time. The timing of it was too unfortunate for that. I thought.
"We don't know it has to be an accident yet. We still got a ways to go before we can prove that for sure." Ryoma muttered. "If someone sabotaged a trick then even if Himiko triggered it the blame still lies on the one who knowingly made it lethal right?"
"They wouldn't need to have knowingly done it but yeah, basically." Shuichi agreed. "If it wouldn't have been lethal otherwise, whoever changed it enough to make it deadly directly caused the murder to happen."
"That means Gonta, Ryoma, Angie, Miu, or Himiko have to have done it, right?" Tokuko wondered. "It's now clear that this was done to frame the person who was helping Himiko with her show, if Himiko didn't cause her death that is, so it can't be me, Sharla, Miyuji, Kiyo, or Tenko, right?"
"What?! Why me? I just helped with Rock Star's performance and one trick on Himiko's show, that's it!" Miu shouted. "The boys and Artsy Fartsy here are the ones who actually set everything up and Drama Queen made the outfits. And why are we ruling out Tencrotch anyway? She could've totally snapped when she realized Himiko obviously wasn't interested in those sort of wet 'n wild activities you know. She probably didn't even like girls that way given how she acted when she thought you were-"
It was hard to tell if Tenko was more angered or upset at this accusation, given the tears streaming down her pained face as she objected. "I'd never do such a thing! My feelings for Himiko are-"
"Creepy, obnoxious, and annoying, believe me we all know. Honestly name one time Himiko was ever alright with that particular sort of 'attention' anyway, since she'd ignore you sooo much." Kokichi mocked. "It's really not a stretch to assume the local crazy stalker bitch flipped her shit over being slighted one too many times and planned to frame it on the most obviously 'degenerate' male we've got in hopes of getting out of here."
Tenko looked nearly heartbroken at the supreme leader's words. She clearly hadn't realized how she could be coming across before now and to see it made so bare was deeply disquieting. The fact the others could be heard murmuring their agreements with his view of her relationship with Himiko, or even just that she was this 'annoying' overall because of her repeated sexist accusations and actions hardly helped ease her mind.
Surprisingly enough it was Kiyo to come to her defense, speaking behind his hand again as if he were reaching to touch the brim of his hat but remembered it was gone midway through the action.
"I'm fairly certain that title would be more fitting for you, but I must disagree. Tenko wasn't nearly involved enough in the show to be considered a suspect for this, and most of her time was spent with Kaede, yes?" He explained. "Regardless of the attacks you just made against her character, which I'm also inclined to disagree with given the sort of person we know her to be. She hardly noticed Himiko's lack of interest in the first place, much less be angered by it, and her nature better suits going after a perceived rival like say Angie directly rather than turning on the object of her affections and blaming someone at random."
"Who's side are you even on right now?! It wasn't like that-" The aikido master's attempt at defending herself was quickly interrupted by Angie's support, as it was clear a third party's testimony would have more credible weight in this matter.
"Indeed, Indeed, and besides Himiko didn't hate her or anything. We three spent the night of the motive video viewing together and all got along simply splendidly!" The artist exclaimed. "Even if some of our comments made Himiko uncomfortable, but that was both of our faults really. I'm sure it was just a bit of culture clash-"
"This isn't the issue here at all, we proved Tenko couldn't be a part of this so stop losing focus!" Kaede responded. "Who of the ones helped set up the show have the most solid alibis?"
This conversation's obviously doing Tenko more harm than good. I'll have to help her later to make sure everything's OK. I thought to myself.
"Gonta went to Tokuko's room to get the suit she made for him. And no one really saw Miu until after she came in from the attack in her lab, which after that point she was mostly with me. Ryoma and Angie are easily the most accounted for of the bunch as most of their time was spent together where I could see them." Shuichi explained.
"Gonta was helping outside with Angie and Ryoma whole time, honest!" The entomologist exclaimed. "Gonta no tell lies. Gentlemen no do that."
"Must've been when you were up helping set up the pulley system, big guy." Kaito said. "Ryoma told me you were in charge of most of the climbing there, and Tokuko wouldn't be able to see you through the window at that angle. We don't even know which act was the one that hurt Himiko yet, so out of our options-"
"What trick was used to hurt Himiko then?!" Tenko asked in a panic.
She's really distraught, Kaito couldn't even finish what he was saying. I thought.
Could it have been the Incorporeal Vorpal Blades, if one of the blades got free or nicked her?
No that isn't it, they're too obvious. There would be more evidence if any got close enough to hit her neck and most can't even stab well. That would make more sense if Kiyo had been the victim here, not Himiko.
What about the Wyrd Maiden trick?
No, that had mostly Kiyo as the subject too and nothing about it really fits. So that leaves-
"I got it! It has to be the Levitation trick!" I exclaimed.
"I can agree with that. With how it knocked her hat off, there is a high probability that could be related to something hitting her neck. The lifting involved could also explain the upper tearing Maki noted before." Shuichi theorized.
"Was the disorientation she displayed after that point not part of the show then?" Kirumi wondered. "That was about the time she started rubbing at her neck and was the last act she performed before going to the restroom."
The maid was clearly bothered by the idea she and the others had been so quick to write off the possible signs of an injury. Given the sort of jobs she's likely done that would be an unusual oversight for her to make. Particularly towards someone who looks like the sort of little kid she might have needed to nanny. Gonta also started sniffling again at the reminder of how he and Tenko failed to protect her.
"So that would make the most likely to be involved... Miu for helping with the mechanisms of the pulleys, Gonta for being the one largely responsible for setting it up, and Angie for covering it with her banners, correct?" Keebo asked, though most of his attention was focused on Angie of his three suspects.
"What?! Me again? C'mon Keebo, you know me better than that! I'd never make this sort of rookie mistake like overlook something dangerous!" Miu loudly objected. "I wasn't even that involved beyond setting up the weight and height stuff to fit her specifically, to make sure it'd lift Himiko the right way consistently and do it fast enough to fool the eye without risking making her sick or giving her whiplash or anything."
"Aww, why you suspect Angie too? Atua would never forgive her if she got involved with something like this you know, no matter how merciful He is." Angie muttered as her expression turned dark.
"You were oddly insistent about hanging the banners up early, even before the paint had a chance to dry. No one was really out there looking at what would be going on behind the scenes so we didn't need to risk your work like that." Ryoma answered. "And with how little blood was at the scene there could have been some sort of poison on whatever struck Himiko. Ya'know. Like some paints or other art supplies of yours have in 'em."
I closed my eyes as I thought to myself.
I think I know who did this now, but there's still a question I want to have answered first. We've touched on it a few times already but we never sorted out who actually went into Miu's lab and destroyed her projects. We don't even know if it was a part of a murder attempt on her or not yet, that could be related to this case. Or if not it could possibly be connected to the new mastermind in general.
"It doesn't have to be paint you know, some of the chemicals Miu had in her lab might've gone missing too." I pointed out. "Not to mention at least one syringe was also missing. Whoever attacked Miu's lab might have done it to get something to help them in their murder plan and pin it on Angie."
"That's true. Perhaps they destroyed Miu's projects in order to hide their theft, with all the spilled liquids and broken beakers on the floor, it would be easier to hide if anything was taken. I'm not sure even Miu would be able to tell us what is or isn't there at this point." Miyuji added.
"Assuming they weren't just trying to ya'know KILL ME. Which they coulda, how should we know if we can't figure out who here did it and have them explain themselves." Miu said.
"Gonta not sure why anyone would want Miu dead, Miu good person!" Gonta exclaimed.
The statement would have probably been more comforting had it not made a lot of her other 'friends' look noticeably uncomfortable, awkwardly agreeing like there was a problem that was being left unsaid. Not that Gonta was wrong as much as he just glossed over how obviously unpopular the inventor is as a person. Little wonder why, given how often her humor turns crude and her random rudeness towards others.
"It could have been because of the 'EMProject' I was having her work on." Kaede theorized. "Those hammers she showed in the dining hall were meant to be Electro Magnetic Pulse generators we could have used to help neutralize the Exisals or get through the obstacles we faced during our earlier attempts at the Death Road of Despair. To see if there really was an exit at the end we could use to escape together."
The room went quiet again at that. After how badly things went there before it makes sense no one really wanted to consider that as an option to leave the killing game. Most of us wrote it off as nothing but a false hope made to mock them, given how even the athletically inclined among us couldn't even keep their bearings on such slick surfaces, much less try to avoid the irregular and hard to predict obstacles. I didn't go with them so I knew it might not help much and Miyuji and Tokuko had no idea what the pianist was talking about.
"Oh come on Kaede, is that lie really the best you can do? Even if the syringe was taken we don't know if anything else there is missing and Kirumi's lab makes potentially toxic cleaning supplies easily available to everyone anyway with a lot less fuss." Kokichi mocked. "Not to mention you two have been keeping this a secret so well you know there's only really one person who could have tried taking advantage of a motive like that. You didn't really think I'd let you make us lose focus like that with everyone's lives on the line, riiiight?"
No, I guess not. Not if you think both crimes were committed by the same person, not the new mastermind. Guess I still can't target them here yet. I'm sorry Tsumugi, you'll need to wait a little bit longer for us. I thought to myself.
...
Class Trial - INTERMISSION