Trial 2-3: Turnabout Defense

Hideki just stared blankly. "You think I'm the murderer?"

Tien scoffed. "I don't see why else you would fake an autopsy."

"Zhat's right!" Jackie agreed. "Ze obvious candidate, Sasha, being out of ze way, leaves Hideki as ze next most likely murderer!"

Hideki sighed. "I didn't kill Xiang."

"Care to back that up in a debate?" asked Tien.

He smiled. "Of course."

==Nonstop Debate!==

Weak points are in italics, break points are in both bold and italics.

==Begin!==

Ammunition loaded: Lab Coat, Knife, Papers in Pool

Hideki: Other than that baseless conjecture, what makes anyone suspect me as the killer?

Sasha: While I hate to agree with the person who just accused me, your show at breakfast shows that you do have a motive.

Hideki: You can't seriously be accusing me on motive alone!

Matthew: I mean, you're also one of the maybe four people here tops good enough with poison to kill Xiang...

Sasha: And you had access to the KKK's file. You could've framed me.

Hideki: This is all meaningless conjecture!

Hideki: There's no real evidence linking me to the crime.

==Counter!==

Jackie: Okay, now zhat's just outright stupid! (Fired: Lab Coat)

Jackie smiled. "Non, non - zhere is evidence. Or do you not call a bloody lab coat evidence?"

"To be fair to Hideki, Tien wears lab coats too…" said Nico.

"It does not matter who wears lab coats. In the medical room there are plenty of spares - anyone could have taken one," Faen said.

"Zis is a size large, though. Few of us would take one zhat size," said Jackie. "And coupled with ze motive and ze fact zhat he had access to ze files, Hideki seems ze only possible suspect."

Eric: You dare speak falsehoods? En garde!

As one we turned our attention to the source of the objection. Of all people, Eric?

"Hey, Hideki might look scary but I guarantee he's not the type of bloke to up and kill someone!"

"You seem pretty convinced," she folded her arms. "Are we to believe zhat's the case, though? Because I am pretty convinced otherwise."

"I'll duel with you for his sake!" he clenched his fists.

==Cross Swords!==

Usable Swords: Monokuma File #2, Poison, Tien's Suspicions, Piece of Wood

Eric: Hideki's no saint, but ==/== he's certainly no murderer!

Eric: Hideki is a good guy! ==/== Even I can attest to that!

Eric: He's a surgeon, for the ==/== love of tea and biscuits!

Eric: The Hippocratic Oath prevents ==/== him from killing anyone, least of all Xiang!

Progression!

Jackie: You think Hideki couldn't have ==/== killed because of ze Hippocratic Oath?!

Jackie: Zhen it is time we rename it ==/== the hypocritical oath!

Eric: Okay, I know we've done ==/== that joke before!

Eric: But my point about ==/== Hideki stands!

Eric: But there's nothing suggesting that ==/== he is the most likely suspect!

Jackie: Merde...And to think I thought you smart! (Chosen sword: Poison)

Break!

"...You actually thought him smart?" Maya drawled.

"I only had four, five seconds to think up ze line, give me a break." Jackie sighed, before turning back to Eric. "Now, Eric, let me explain."

Expanding on the truth bullet, Jackie brought up the word everyone expected to see: Poison. "Think about it, Eric. We're on an airship, and ze number of people with access to poison is woefully limited. Hideki is one of ze only people who could have utilized it!"

"Butbutbut!" Eric slammed down on his podium, and pointed at Tien. "What about that psycho scientist?! Surely she's even more of a likely suspect for a poisoner?!"

She held her hands up in a show of surrender. "But why would I kill Xiang then? I revealed my secret, while Hideki didn't - what else would motivate me to murder?"

"I...I...I-!" he visibly deflated, "I don't know. I'm sorry, Hideki, my man, I can't. I don't know how to fight that."

"...You didn't have to fight that." Hideki raised an eyebrow. "If Jackie wants to accuse me, I don't mind."

He turned to look at her with his good eye. "But you should know that I'm fairly certain I'm innocent, so you're not going to achieve anything with this."

Matthew tilted his head. "It doesn't get you out of the clear yet, though, unfortunately."

"Then let's get down to business." Hideki tapped something on his Electro-ID. "Pray, tell, how, did I even manage to poison Xiang?"

==Nonstop Debate!==

Weak points are in italics, break points are in both bold and italics.

==Begin!==

Ammunition loaded: Papers in Pool, Poison, Xiang's Diary, Marked Cup, Knife

Johan: Well, it's poison, so it only had to have entered Xiang's bloodstream.

Johan: By what means, that's the million-dollar question.

Lucille: Perhaps ze knife was coated in it?

Lucille: It would certainly be easy to poison him that way.

Tien: No, the poison was ingested orally.

Nico: That means Xiang had to have eaten the poison?! But why would he do that?!

Faen: I don't believe Mr. Li would have known that he was consciously consuming it…

Eric: I suppose that rules out suicide, at the very least.

Sasha: Xiang didn't eat anything different from the rest of us that day…

Sasha: Unless he ate the poison in private, all he ate was a burger and drink from the Fast Food Place.

Matthew: But we all ate that and we're alright. So it wasn't spiked.

Eric: Then how could he've been bloody poisoned?

Maya: ...I can think of a way to poison Xiang easy. And it doesn't even have to be Hideki who did it.

Maya: Just look at what we have. One piece of evidence stands out.

Tien: ...Do you mean-

==Assent!==

Ashley: Wow, fantastic! I think you're right! (Fired: Marked Cup)

"Are you referring to this?" I said, as I brought up the cup Johan had found.

"No shit, sherlock." Maya tapped the interface, zooming into the mark. "Anyone can see that this cup's been previously pre-prepared, and it's highly likely whoever marked the cup was the one who put poison into it."

Nico tapped her chin. "But why would they have marked it then? Seems a bit impractical to let yourself be known like that."

Maya shrugged in response. "Hell if I know. Probably tried to ensure that whoever they were, they didn't get the marked cup. Would be stupid to actually poison yourself after-"

She stopped cold. "Wait a minute…"

"If you're going to insinuate that Xiang tried to kill one of us and poisoned himself by mistake, I'm personally going over there and smacking you in the face." Sasha threatened.

Out of nowhere, a fire extinguisher appeared to smack Sasha over the head.

"That running gag's getting old, can we retire it?" Ataru's voice sounded out from inside Monokuma.

"No! C'mon, Ataru, you know it always makes me happy when we drop fire extinguishers on that Comrade's head!" Yukari's voice responded just as fast.

"Yes, but where's the variety in that?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a bowl of some kind of broth appeared from the sky, before dumping itself and its contents over Sasha.

"There, have some borscht." Monokuma drawled - and neither of us could really tell who it was that was speaking this time round. "Carry on."

Sasha flicked the ends of their hair. "Ick, beets...I need a shower…I honestly preferred the blunt force trauma. Anyways, Maya, you were saying?"

"…" For the first time in a long time, Maya seemed...thoughtful? "If the killer was going to kill Xiang in the first place...why the hell would they not just poison his drink directly? Why go through all this trouble to mark a cup?"

"So that they don't poison themself, of course," said Sasha.

"They could have just drunk something else," pointed out Hideki. "I distinctly remember you doing so, in fact."

"My innocence has been proven in spades, Kenta," said Sasha, finally removing the bowl from their head. "This ship better have a dry-cleaner - regardless, that dot was obviously put there so that whoever poisoned Xiang could prevent themself from being poisoned." They paused. "Wait, but to have that actually affect anything they'd have to...serve the drinks."

"And I know for a fact we took our own drink cups…" Tien blinked. "So...how did the killer get to Xiang's cup in the first place?"

Faen perked up almost instantly, his eyes bright. "Perhaps Mr. Li wasn't the target - they just wanted to make sure they weren't the one who got the poison!"

"Zhat's...Zhat's brilliant!" Lucille acknowledged. "Zhat way, they didn't have to target a particular person - they only needed to ensure they weren't ze one who received the poison!"

"You mean we all had a one-out-of-thirteen chance of dying zhat afternoon?!" Jackie was wide-eyed. "Ze rest of us are all alive by pure luck?"

"One-in-twelve…" Matthew corrected. "Unless the killer had no qualms against poisoning themselves."

"But that still means anyone who had access to poison could have done so, right?" Tien inquired.

Matthew adjusted his glasses, not unlike how usually adjusted hers. "Yeah. And that's why Hideki still remains our prime suspect-"

Hideki: I'll need to suture your arguments up!

"Do you really still think me guilty?" Hideki frowned. "Not for nothing, Matthew, but I guarantee you I'm innocent."

"Oh, sure. You're the only lead we've got!"

Hideki sighed. "So be it, then. I'll just have to prove you wrong through debate."

An orange light surrounded the two of them.

==Cross Swords!==

Usable Swords: Motive, Poison, Calling Card, No Innocents, Kitchen Knife File, Hideki's Explanation (Personal Truth Bullet)

Hideki: I've been leading us all ==/== on this airship ever since we got on.

Hideki: Why would I have any reason at all ==/== to deliberately sabotage the peace I've been fighting to preserve on this ship?

Hideki: If you think I'd put myself on the line ==/== just to escape this godforsaken airship…

Hideki: Think again. You've ==/== got the wrong man.

Progression!

Matthew: But you're the only one ==/== that checks all the boxes!

Matthew: You have the smarts and ==/== possible access to poison…

Matthew: And you had ==/== the motive to do it!

Hideki: You may have a point ==/== but still...

Hideki: I don't have a motive ==/== to kill Xiang. Not anymore.

Matthew: That's an infraction, and you know it! (Chosen sword: Motive)

Hideki: And I'll slice your claims wide open! (Chosen sword: Hideki's Explanation)

Break!

"Huh?" Matthew flinched. "What do you-"

"Mean?" He narrowed his eye. "Allow me to explain. Now that I have no fear for my father anymore, I can afford to reveal my secret."

"Hold on one moment." Maya raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean leading us all? It's outright anarchy here. No one's leading anyone."

"I have to agree with Maya," added Sasha. "You claiming to be the leader despite no transfer of power being given is honestly somewhat egotistical."

"Says the person who called me a leader just two days ago."

Sasha blanched. "Well...I certainly take it back?"

Hideki pressed a finger to his temple. "Look, could you please just let me explain myself? I've had enough with just telling Ashley about this."

"...You told Ashie what now?" Nico turned to me. "When...was this?"

"That's not important. What is, is that I wouldn't have killed anyone over my secret, but neither did I want to reveal it, okay?" He shook his head. "But if it's the only way to get any of you to believe in my innocence, then I'll take the road less taken."

I winced. How much was his secret really hurting him?

Wait. Why am I acting so worried? He tried to poison me.

But...he had a good reason, right?

"He tried to poison you?!" Sasha screamed. "How the hell do you still trust him?!"

"Poison!" added Jackie, "As in, ze thing zhat was used to kill Xiang?!"

Whoops.

I smiled weakly. "Well, he didn't actually-"

Jackie: Let's wipe zhat smile off your face!

"...He had access to poison. He tried to poison you too."

Jackie seethed. "So why are you still convinced zhat he never killed Xiang?"

"Because it just doesn't make any sense!" I argued.

"Nothing's made sense on zis airship so far!" Jackie screeched.

I know he didn't kill Xiang. And I now have a chance to use that ace-in-the-hole!

I'll prove Hideki innocent once and for all.

==Cross Swords!==

Usable Swords: Note (Personal Truth Bullet)

Jackie: He tried to poison you and you ==/== did not think zhat was relevant to zis trial?
Jackie: He has had ze opportunity to ==/== get close to Xiang before he died!

Jackie: He knows how to use poison! He had ze motive! ==/== Ze lab coat ties him to ze crime!

Jackie: It's crystal clear zhat ==/== Hideki is ze killer!

Progression!

Ashley: You can't definitively prove that ==/== Hideki is conclusively guilty of Xiang's murder!

Ashley: In fact, I can ==/== do you one better!

Ashley: I can prove that ==/== he definitely isn't the killer!

Jackie: Zere's no way you can ==/

Ashley: I'll make you face the music! (Chosen sword: Motive)

Break!

"I wrote this note before visiting Hideki's room, afraid that something bad would happen," I said, magnifying the truth bullet.

"Well, it did! He tried to poison you!" Sasha glared at the bullet, "Besides, what's this prove?"

"If it was written at 11:25, which is also around Xiang's time of death-" I started.

"Then Ashie is Hideki's alibi!" finished Nico.

"Exactly!" I state excitedly. "I was meeting Hideki in his room for the duration of about fifteen minutes afterwards - there's no way he could have broken into Xiang's room to fake Xiang's stab wounds in the meantime!"

"But he could have done so earlier!" Tien argued.

I faltered. "Wait-"

"It's alright. I have something else up my sleeve."

Hideki proceeded to bring up exactly just that - the bottle of cyanide in his sleeve, that is. "This is what I tried to poison Ashley with earlier last night. In case you all don't know, cyanide is a very fast-acting poison - if Xiang died because I poisoned him, I'd have to be in his direct vicinity and shove the cyanide down his throat. I wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble to mark cups or break his staff for wood."

"What's to say you don't have another stash of poison with you, huh?" Maya crossed her arms. "Just because you have cyanide doesn't mean you don't have anything else on you."

"Then would you mind telling me how I'd even get a different poison than cyanide? I'm a doctor, not an assassin."

"Hey, that's my joke. And you've got cyanide on you right now, how'd you get that?"

"..." His eye twisted with confusion. "It was in the Medical Room, actually."

"Someone just left that lying around?"

"I agree - that sounds rather dangerous," said Faen.

Matthew frowned. "They want us to kill each other, what did you expect?"

"So...Is Hideki innocent yet?" I ventured out.

"NO!"

I recoiled. Oops.

"As if we could really declare him innocent after all he's revealed!" Johan argued. "I may not want to see him convicted, but I don't see anyone else we can point the finger of blame to."

"Well. Then I guess I'll just open up the floor to any more leads?"

I don't know what freaked me out more - Hideki's odd ghost of a grin, or everyone else not even reacting to it.

Then again. Weirder stuff has gone down in this courtroom.

==Nonstop Debate!==

Weak points are in italics, break points are in both bold and italics.

==Begin!==

Ammunition loaded: Papers in Pool, No Innocents, Xiang's Diary, Marked Cup, Glass Shard, Piece of Paper, Washing Machine

Jackie: So, where do we even start?

Faen: Is there any piece of evidence we may have overlooked in the trial so far?

Lucille: Nothing I can think of in present time, no.

Nico: There has to be something!

Johan: We've already gone over the murder weapon, whatever it is.

Johan: And we've ruled out suicide...

Tien: See, there really aren't many other leads to go on-

...Oh, wait, there's-

==Counter!==

Ashley: Wait! That's not right! (Fired: Glass Shard)

"...I don't think we were able to bring this up before, because there wasn't an opportunity to, but…Sasha?"

"Yes?" They looked up. "What exactly are you-?"

"Scarf."

"Oh...right." They pulled their scarf down to reveal the scar on their neck.

Jackie clutched her mouth in shock, as Nico let out a quiet scream, before fainting dead away. Matthew turned several shades lighter, and looked really sick.

"It's just a scratch," muttered Sasha. "You people are acting like I slashed my throat right in front of you." They pulled the glass shard out of their pocket. "Which I could, of course, but won't."

If anything, Matthew just looked sicker.

"Oh, for the love of - this scar wasn't self-inflicted. This piece of shit mineral was in this scarf when I ripped it off of Xiang's cold, unfeeling corpse." They winced. "Well, when I phrase it like that it sounds awful, but regardless…"

"There was a shard of glass in the scarf?" Hideki's eye widened, before his ghost of a grin became an actual grin. "Perfect! Thank you, Ashley, you've given me the evidence I need to finalize my case."

I have?

"I mean, I have! Wait, but, how does that shard of glass tie into proving you innocent?" I questioned.

He shrugged. "You're a smart girl, Ashley. I think you can figure it out yourself, right?"

...Okay then. Well, I guess this shard of glass had to come from somewhere…

But where?

Looking through everything we've covered so far, there doesn't seem to be anything made of glass that could have been part of the case, so...

Where did the shard of glass come from?

==Epiphany Anagram!==

_/_/_/_/_/_/_

Trial 2-3 FIN

12 Students Remaining

A/N: So, yeah. Our trials will be of greatly varying lengths. This one dwarfs Act One's by comparison. So...you can't even predict the killer by who gets accused when. But you can predict this Act's killer, hopefully. If you think you've got it, there's a poll in my profile.

The Cards Against Humanity (or Cards Against AFoFD, if you will) game is tonight! So head down to the forums and stuff! ...We may have to delay the next chapter by a bit, but totally worth it.

Anyways, review replies.

Unicorn819: You should still play, though. It's gonna be great. Just come to the forum, and we'll get you started!

And yeah, for all we know it isn't Hideki. Of course, I would say at this point even Sasha still isn't entirely clear of suspicion. It could be anyone.

Asujoll: Maya and Todd seem to be fan favorites. (They're my second and third favorites, respectively, with my absolutely favorite being Tien.) And why do you dislike Sasha? This isn't meant to be rude or anything (seriously, I hate them as much as the next guy…) (Excuse me, what have we said about appreciating your OCs? - SD) (Can't help it if said OC is a colossal jerk who I would punch if I met them IRL - Lime) (Bluh, fine. But still. - SD) but I have yet to get someone really explain their feelings about them beyond a sentence and I would like the feedback. Conversely, what do you like about Eric, Maya and Todd?

Johan can't be the killer - he's the mastermind.

(I would like to state that Lime is probably being sarcastic. Probably. - SD)

SomeSnappyName: There is no situation in which we find reviews a negative thing in any way. Keep reviewing, my friend.

And yep, Sasha isn't the culprit, as far as you guys know.

It's not a suicide at all. In fact, that's the only impossible thing right about now.

And we were originally going to bring up his secret, but had to cut it.

A Dingus With Sweet Shades: Hmm...well, Xiang killing someone would certainly be OOC, but Maya vanishing would be super cool.

ezmonee6: Alright, then.

Penumbro: Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the reasons we killed him off.

HeroinOfDarkness: Okay, then.

QOTC: Suggest us another SYOC to read. We want to see what you guys like (and also what our competition is). So just leave those in the reviews and stuff.