The Fool and Her Groom (Part 7) (Deadly Life)
Truth Bullets
Monokuma File: The Victim is Silver. The body was discovered in the announcement room.
The estimated time of death is 1:09.
The cause of death is unknown. He has no external wounds. There is a trail of blood leading from his mouth.
A white powder substance can be found on his tongue.
Royal's Account: Royal entered the announcement room during Sage and Sunrise's fight to see what was taking Silver so long. Apparently, before Silver entered the announcement room, he had a worried expression. Royal noticed that the room smelt of tequila, despite Silver's drink of the night, a peach bellini, not having any. Lastly, Royal discovered Silver's corpse and screamed to let us know what was going on.
Noir's Account: Noir investigated Silver's corpse during the investigation. She determined he was poisoned, and that the glass shards next to him came from a shattered drinking glass. However, Silver wasn't carrying a drink when he went into the announcement room...
Bar Table: The bar table where Mauve made the drinks has everything laid out in the open, including all the syrups, mixes, etc.
Pre-Made Drinks: There's some pre-made drinks laid out on the bar table, close to where we played the trivia game. Also, there was apparently a bottle of Long Island iced tea that Mauve prepared yesterday. No one drank out it, however, because it 'smelt weird'.
Drunken Peach Bellini: Silver took a drink out of a peach bellini after the trivia game was over.
Loud & Long Song: An unusually long and loud song was playing during Sage and Sunrise's fight, and during the investigation. It is almost impossible to hear anything over it; you'd have to yell to be heard.
Number of Laundry Packets: The number of laundry packets is the same since I washed Cotton's clothes with Royal. Meaning, the killer took them before then.
Mono Pods Warning: The warning about Mono Pods being lethal can be found on the back of the packaging, which is probably what gave the killer the idea. (WARNING: Mono Pods are lethal upon ingestion. Death will begin to occur just one minute upon ingestion, so please, feel free to use this as poison!)
Poisoned Drink: A poisoned peach bellini was found on the bar table. It's unclear if Silver's killer and the one who poisoned this drink are the same.
Missing Keys and e-Handbook: Silver's keys and e-Handbook are not on his person. The killer probably took them.
Sage and Sunrise's Argument: Sage and Sunrise were in an argument at the time of the murder. Mostly everyone was focused on them, sans the killer...
Scarlet's Crying: I found Scarlet crying during the investigation. Poor girl...
Bodyguard Duty: Onyx came up with a rule where we'd have two bodyguards in the kitchen, making sure no one uses the kitchen knives for evil. The bodyguards we've had so far are as follows:
Day 6: Lava & Crimson
Day 7: Noir & Onyx (Onyx was then switched out with Merigold, per Sunrise's request)
Day 8 (today/party day): Diamond & Shadow/Cloud
A Star and the Sun by Edward Lane: A story about a ballerina, Lina, and a pilot, Dante, who get into a plane crash together and fall in love while in the hospital. Apparently, Dante was the assistant pilot of the planet that crashed, which Lina doesn't find out until later. Merigold found this book in the rec center and picked it up to have something to do while on bodyguard duty.
The elevator stopped, and we all slowly walked out.
The room we were now in was some sort of make-shift trial room. The walls were pitch black with shiny dark red stripes, and the floor was an elaborate carpet that looked like it belonged in a fancy hotel or something.
There were 20 trial stands, each with a name, arranged in a circle, with Monokuma sitting on a throne near the back.
I begrudgingly approached my trial stand, the one closest to the elevator, and took note of the trial stand order, starting from the left of me and going clockwise:
Scarlet
Diamond
Frost
Mauve
Rose
Azure
Sunrise
Cloud/Shadow
Silver (Monokuma cruelly put a black and white portrait of Silver's smiling face on his trial stand, with an even crueler bloody red 'X' drawn over it. The X was staticy, like a TV screen.)
Emerald (in front of Monokuma)
Noir
Merigold
Cotton
Lava
Onyx
Cherry
Indigo
Sage
Royal (on my right)
Everyone took their places, looking at each other uncomfortably and with anxiety in all of our hearts.
"This makes me feel like I'm in court, or something." Onyx remarked, nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Probably something you're used to..." I heard Royal mutter. Why did Monokuma have to put me next to her?!
Scarlet was quiet, and currently staring at Silver's portrait. Geez, she must be taking this a lot harder than I thought.
Sage was looking around the trial room, at the floor and the walls. "Interesting design choices..." He remarked, presumably to himself.
"Indeed." Diamond nodded. "In a different circumstance, this would be a lovely place to have a photoshoot."
The room grew quiet. True, if we weren't solving the murder of one of our friends, killed by one of our other friends, then yeah: this would be a great place to hang out.
But Silver's X'ed out portrait made it all too prevalent that this was a terrifying, live or die situation that we shouldn't take lightly. We had to solve Silver's murder. Not only for his sake, but also because all of our lives are on the line! If we make the wrong choice, then the killer walks away free with their chosen person, and we're all stuck here to be punished, whatever the fuck that means.
My line of thinking was interrupted by the unnerving and annoying voice of Pilot Monokuma.
"Now then, looks like we're all here!" Monokuma commented, looking at each of us. "...Well, except for poor Silverfish!"
I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to bang my head on the trial stand.
"Just get on with it, already." Sunrise demanded.
"Yes, I'd like to make it back to my bed before 4 AM..." Lava nodded.
"Me too," Cherry cried. She looked like she was about to fall over and pass out at any second, I guess she doesn't do too well with lack of sleep.
"Don't worry, after this is all over I'll make coffee for us all." Frost reassured. The poor man couldn't comfort his girl, as she was pretty far away from him.
"Hey, who's going to fix up the mess from the party?" Emerald questioned. "We're all here so there's no left to clean."
"Don't worry, I have it all under control." Monokuma claimed. "My expert team of Ultimate Cleaners are on the job!"
"So you're not the only robot thing on this ship?" Noir asked in surprise.
"Hey! I'm not a 'robot thing'!" Monokuma protested. "I'm an intelligent AI capable of making my own decisions!"
"Yeah, but if whoever built you hadn't built you, then you'd be a useless lump of metal." Cotton commented.
Monokuma sniffed. "Fine then. I'll leave you all and go back to my family in Madagascar. Though I wonder how they'll react to me being gone for over 400 years..."
"Aw, that's so sad!" Merigold started. "Said no one ever. Come on, let's get this trial started!"
"Geez, you're all so impatient!" Monokuma complained, crossing his arms. "The other groups were a lot more well behaved than you!"
"Ugh, can you cut it out with the 'other groups' crap?" I frowned. "No one knows what you're talking about, you senile old man."
"Wow, words can hurt y'know, Mr. Crimson!" Monokuma sniffed. "I should know! I was attacked by a gang of vowels once."
We all stayed silent.
"Anyways, let's begin: the class trial!" Monokuma announced.
I took a deep breath.
This is it.
We're going to avenge Silver!
...Or at least try to.
I feel like if we all put our intelligence together, we can solve this crime…
But at the end of the day, we're all teenagers with no real knowledge on how to conduct a murder investigation and a trial…
TRIAL START!
"Now then, a simple explanation of the class trial," Monokuma started. "Argue your hearts out and vote for who you think the killer is ! Your votes will determine the results of the trial. If you can figure out 'whodunnit' then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and they'll be given the right to return back home to Earth! In this very special case, the blackened will also get to take someone else with them as part of the savior perk!"
"Phew, a lot of info to take in at once." Onyx commented. "Where do we even start?"
"I know exactly where to start!" Cotton claimed, slamming his fist on his stand and pointing at…
Royal?
"Royal! You are our very first suspect!" Cotton continued, sounding like a rip off Phoenix Wright. "After all, you were the one who discovered Silver's body!"
Royal rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I've already told my dear Crimson I had nothing to do with Silver's murder…"
"Well, true." I nodded. "But Royal, you don't exactly have an air-tight alibi...Your claims are based on your own testimony."
"H-hey!" Royal scoffed. "Sunrise, please shut these air-headed heathens up!"
Sunrise sighed. "...Royal, you know as well as I do that in this trial, I have no power. Everyone has the right to speak their mind…"
Royal looked as angry as ever, but kept her composure. "Fine. Then what do I have to do to prove my innocence?"
Non-Stop Argument
"Royal was the first one to discover Silver's Body. I don't want to point fingers so quickly, but c'mon we're in a class trial, after all!" Cotton explained, motioning at Royal like a mad man.
"Such an idiot…" Royal groaned, facepalming.
"Royal really killed Silver?" Indigo questioned. "But how?"
"Poison, duh!" Noir answered, sounding rather confident in herself. "She probably used his favorite drink: a peach bellini to do so!"
"Those things are good as hell…" Sunrise admitted.
" ...Thank you." Mauve awkwardly nodded. "I'll make them again sometime."
"Is there really nothing that can prove Royal's innocence?" Rose inquired.
"I guess not...I can't think of any other evidence that'd help her." Emerald shrugged.
Truth Bullet: Sage and Sunrise's Argument, FIRED!
"No that's, wrong!"
BREAK!
"There is something that proves Royal's not the killer!" I protested. "Sage and Sunrise's argument!"
"What about that childish event?" Diamond questioned. "How does it help her case?"
"Well, Royal knew about it." I answered. "If we're going with the theory that the killer used the fight to go into the announcement room and kill Silver, then they wouldn't have a lot of knowledge about the fight."
"So, Royal, when exactly did you leave?" Azure asked. "If you tell us what point in Sage and Sunrise's argument you decided to go into the announcement room and check in on Silver, then it could prove that you couldn't have killed him."
I nodded. "Exactly. There's about three important points during the argument I think someone like you would remember."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Royal frowned, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, to be blunt: you're someone who likes drama." I answered. "And like I said, there's about three dramatic points in the fight that you should be able to pinpoint...So spit them out and you're in the clear."
Royal sighed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "If I remember correctly...I can only think of two. One is when the artist boy suggested impeachment to get rid of my dear Sunrise, and then two is when he pushed Sunrise and suggested assassination was a 'better route'. It was then that I left and went into the announcement room to find Silver's body. I screamed as soon as I found him."
I closed my eyes, thinking back to Sage and Sunrise's fight…
"Then maybe you shouldn't be the leader, anymore." Sage yelled. "It's almost a week since you've made yourself leader. I think it's almost time for impeachment!"
Sunrise rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, I'll just get to Monokuma before you do and make myself leader for another week. And then a week after that. And a week after that. A week afte-"
Sage pushed Sunrise, to which everyone stopped talking, watching the scene with wide eyes. "...If you refuse to be impeached, then perhaps assasination is a better route."
Sunrise's eyes widened. You could tell he was seething with anger and rage.
Sunrise raised his fist, and he quickly moved it towards Sage's face until...
"AHHHHHH!" Someone screamed.
"Her timeline lines up perfectly with what happened." I nodded. "She entered the announcement room as soon as Sage pushed Sunrise, and then a few seconds later, at the same time that Sunrise was getting ready to punch Sage, she found Silver's body and screamed.
"OK, I'm satisfied." Cotton agreed. "Sorry, Royal, I just wanted to make sure."
"Wait, wait, wait, I'm confused." Onyx said, stroking his non-existent beard in thought. "How does Royal remembering Sage pushing Sunrise prove she's not the killer?"
"Sage pushed Sunrise, and then a few seconds later, Sunrise was about to hit Sage, which is when Royal found Silver," I started. "In that short amount of time, there's no way she'd be able to poison Silver, especially because the poison makes people writhe in agony for a little while."
"Ah, I see…" Onyx nodded. "So Royal is innocent. Good for her, except now we don't have anymore suspects."
I nodded. Yeah...and now we don't have a way to make sure the killer's alibi is reliable, since Royal and I just revealed practically all the details about Sage and Sunrise's fight...No worries, though, I'll think of another way to accuse them when I can think of more suspects…
"Are we finally done with this ridiculous line of thinking?" Royal questioned, giving me the evil eye. "I don't think we should start and accuse each other when there's still plenty of things we haven't discussed yet. Such as: the murder weapon."
The murder weapon…
I already know what it is.
Question: What killed Silver?
Purple poison from our rooms
Mono Pods
Mauve's terrible drink-mixing abilities
"Haha, got it in one take!"
Answer: Mono Pods
"There's no doubt about it." I nodded. "It was definitely the Mono Pods."
"M-mono Pods?" Cloud repeated. "That's the laundry detergent's name, right?"
"Yup." I answered. "The killer mixed it into whatever drink Silver drank and got him to drink it somehow."
"A lethal laundry detergent?" Onyx said. "But when I was working on developing a laundry detergent for a company in Sweden, I did some research and found out that it takes 17 cups of detergent to go from nausea to actual fatal organ damage. Did the killer really put that much detergent in Silver's drink?"
"Now hold on just a second!" Monokuma intervened. "My luxurious Mono Pods are not like your regular household laundry detergent! They contain all the best ingredients to make your clothes clean and fresh, while also being able to kill you! Interesting factoid, am I right?"
"Interesting indeed..." Onyx deadpanned, looking uncomfortably at Monokuma.
"Wait a minute…" Frost said. "Laundry pods capable of killing people upon ingestion…?"
"That sounds awfully familiar…" Cherry admitted. "But no one would ever be dumb enough to eat a laundry pod on purpose, right?"
"You'd be surprised!" Monokuma protested. "It's a very popular delicacy, especially in America!"
"Hey, that's not true," Mauve claimed. "We don't do that stuff."
"Yeah, fake news." Sunrise agreed. "They even lock the laundry pods up to stop people from doing stupid shit like that."
"Locked up laundry pods?" Noir repeated.
"Only in America…" Scarlet muttered.
"So that settles it," Emerald nodded, changing the subject. "It was the Mono Pods that did Silver in! But how, when, and where did the killer get them?"
Merigold nodded. "Valid question. If we can find out when the killer took them, maybe we can also figure out who the killer is."
Non-Stop Argument
"How do we find out when the killer took them? I didn't see anyone carrying them around…" Indigo said, nervously twiddling her thumbs.
"Anyone could have taken them. We all have to do laundry, after all." Sage shrugged, crossing her arms. Wait a damn minute, is he still drawing in his notebook?!
"Isn't it obvious?" Sunrise sighed. "It was probably today. The killer took them on the day they were planning on killing Silver...
" ...And then mixed it into Silver's drink during the party…" Lava finished.
" Which killed him…" Cherry sadly frowned.
"Yay, murder solved!" Noir cheered.
"Case closed!" Onyx applauded.
Truth Bullet: Number of Laundry Packets, FIRED!
"No, that's wrong!"
BREAK!
"There's no way the killer took them before today." I claimed, shaking my head.
"Why's that?" Sunrise questioned, looking not at all happy to be proven wrong. Ooo, this was kinda fun...
"Because, Royal and I did Cotton's laundry this morning." I revealed. "And the number of laundry packets is the exact same from when we did it."
"So?" Sunrise sneered. "The killer just took them earlier then."
"Maybe yesterday, but not today." I argued. "This morning, after breakfast, everyone besides Cotton, Royal, and I were in the dining room, getting ready to prepare for Cotton's party. Maybe some people left around afternoon time to get ready, but that was after I had already done laundry, and I already explained about the number of laundry packets."
"Tch, what if the douchebag just took the laundry packets before breakfast?" Sunrise countered, continuing his assault on theory.
"There's no way they could." I disagreed.
"No, I told you before that we should all be in the dining room by 8:00. It makes everything go a lot faster when we're all there." Scarlet frowned, crossing her arms and glaring at Shadow.
"Well the thing is, I don't care." Shadow harshly quipped. "Just do whatever the hell you need to do without me. I'll get breakfast when I'm ready to, not when some dancing fairy princess tells me to."
"Mr. Shadow, it is not just you that you're affecting." Silver sighed. "We all need to be present in the dining room for when Cherry picks the names of the servers and bodyguards for the day. If someone is not present and their name is called, then it's not fair to any of us."
"Sounds like a you problem." Shadow shrugged. "I never agreed to any rules besides the one in the e-Handbook."
"It's not in the e-Handbook, but Sunrise has ordered us to make sure everyone is in the dining room by 8:00. And disobeying his rules will get you killed. Plus, he lent us his room key, and said we could use force if necessary..." Scarlet replied, twirling said room key in her hands. I could tell it was killing her to refer to Sunrise as an authority figure, but I could also tell that she just wanted Shadow to shut the fuck up so Sunrise wouldn't bitch at her later.
"Because of your rule." I continued. "Everyone was forced to go to the dining room as soon as they woke up and got ready, or Scarlet and Silver would come knocking on the door."
"Sorry about that, guys…" Scarlet softly stated.
"Fine, fine, whatever." Sunrise sighed, admitting defeat.
"If it wasn't today," Rose started. "Then was it yesterday?"
I sighed. "That, I can't tell you…I know that everyone involved in the team building exercises stayed in the dining room area, and only went out when we needed to get things from the rec center or computer lab, but that we did together. Oh, and Merigold went to get a book at one point."
"I didn't take a Mono Pod, I promise! I just went to the rec center really quickly, took a book, and went back to the kitchen for bodyguard duty." Merigold claimed.
"I believe you Merigold," I nodded. "Besides, you're not the only one without an alibi. Team Escape?"
"I can confirm that everyone in Team Escape stayed together." Diamond answered. "Yesterday, we were in the locked door room, trying to figure out how to unlock it."
"So that means the only people unaccounted for in that time are, Merigold, because of getting a book, and Lava, Sage, and Cloud, because they aren't in Team Escape or involved in the team building activities." Azure brought up.
"I'll have you know that I was actually with Lava and Cloud yesterday," Sage revealed, looking as composed as ever. "I needed their features to use for a drawing reference."
"I only went along with it because he promised he wouldn't talk to me…" Lava murmured.
"I-I just wanted to be nice." Cloud blushed.
"So the translator could be the killer after all!" Royal smugly smirked. "Case closed."
"Yeah, no…" I sighed. "Unlike today, we don't know what happened after party planning. So anyone could've taken the Mono Pod after we were done with all of our activities for the day."
There was a very slim chance that the killer took the Mono Pod today.
There's also a very slim chance they took it yesterday in the morning and during the setup of the party. But, yesterday, after we separated from each other to do our own thing before and after dinner, anyone could've taken it.
Furthermore, anyone could've taken it before yesterday…
Oh shit, I'm lost…
What now?
Sensing my worries, Azure looked at me and smiled. "You got this, Crimson! Just carefully think about the clues we have so far to figure out what to discuss next."
I nodded. "Right."
I closed my eyes and thought.
We talked about the murder weapon…
We discussed the time of the murder…
We didn't talk about...
How did the murder happen!
"We need to find out how exactly the murder happened." I brought up. "I'm still lost on a couple of things…"
"How the murder happened?" Noir repeated. "Ummmm, I thought he was poisoned?"
"Well, yeah, we know that part," I nodded. "But how did it happen? Like, what drink did the killer use to poison him, how did they give it to him and make him drink it, how did they go into and exit the announcement room without any of us noticing?" I clarified.
"Wowzers, a lot of questions…" Noir remarked, scratching her head. "Can we really answer them all?"
"Hell yeah." I nodded. "Everything we answer is one step closer to finding out who the killer is!"
"Well, if we're going to talk about how the killer put their poison in Silver's drink, shouldn't there be an obvious suspect?" Merigold commented.
"Who're you thinking of?" Rose inquired.
"Well, like Cotton, I hate to point fingers, but I can't deny that Mauve is suspicious," Merigold explained. "He is the one who made all the drinks at the party, after all." She reminded.
Mauve did not look phased. "I can understand how you could think that. But I assure you, I had nothing to do with Silver's murder."
"Well, as with Royal, we're going to need more concrete evidence," Diamond told him. "Not just your word."
"Well for one, how dumb would I have to be to volunteer to make drinks if I knew I was going to kill someone via poison?" Mauve questioned. "That'd just place all the blame on me, like what's happening right now."
"Good point, but still not enough to not suspect you." Frost said.
Mauve thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I can't think of anything else that'd help my case…"
The room grew quiet again.
I desperately wanted to say something in Mauve's defense, but I couldn't think of anything…
I knew in my heart he wasn't guilty, but there was no other evidence to back me up if I started to say anything…
"Mauve could've made the poisoned drink at any time during the party, and no one would've noticed…" Cotton sadly frowned, seemingly not happy to be accusing Mauve.
"Then he snuck into the announcement room, gave the drink to Silver, and made him drink it…" Diamond continued.
"Finally, he snuck back into the dining room like nothing ever happened." Emerald sighed.
"I for one am satisfied," Royal smirked. "What a simple ending to a story we thought was so complicated."
"If you vote for me, I guarantee you'll be wrong." Mauve claimed, crossing his arms. "And we'll all be punished."
"Puh-lease you're just trying to scare us," Royal sneered. "C'mon guys, let's start the voting and knock this loser off the island!"
"M-Mauve really did it?" Cloud asked.
"No way, I think he's innocent!" Rose spoke up, surprisingly. I thought that she hated Mauve for beating her in cards…
"And what's your argument, flower girl?" Royal inquired, staring intently at the Ultimate Prodigy.
Rose immediately looked flustered. "W-well, because, I just don't think he'd do something like that…" She answered in a meek tone.
"Not a good enough defense." Royal sighed. "Remember, you were all so quick to accuse me but I provided evidence to prove my innocence. Now Mauve has none and you all don't want to think he's guilty?"
"That's because you're a roach and Mauve's actually a nice guy…" I heard Scarlet mutter.
"Well if you all want to die, then fine, I suppose we could consider other people besides Mauve, even though he's clearly the one most capable of being the killer." Royal frowned.
"Maybe she's right…" Onyx suddenly said. "I don't want her to be, but it does make sense."
"M-maybe this isn't as hard as we thought it was…" Indigo suggested. "Maybe it really was the person who had the easiest access to the drinks?"
"He did also know Silver's favorite drink," Emerald brought up. "Maybe he slipped it a peach bellini so Silver would drink it without question?"
I looked at Mauve, who simply stood with his arms crossed, not saying a word.
Damn it!
There's no way Mauve's the killer, I just know it.
I can tell when someone is acting, and Mauve is serious about not killing Silver.
But how do I prove it to everyone?!
They're all ganging up on him…
"Mauve isn't the killer." I said, with my best poker face. "He can't be"
"And why do you say that?" Royal questioned, sassily turning to me while flipping her hair.
"Well…" I started. "I, um, have evidence that he's not!"
"And what might that be?" Sunrise questioned, stepping into the argument. "You've been awfully quiet, why are you speaking up now?"
"I just remembered, that's all." I explained.
"Ugh, remembered what?!" Royal demanded. "You're just stalling for time here! Mauve is the killer, whether you like it or not."
Non-Stop Argument
"That card dealer guy is the killer, no doubt about it!" Royal accused, pointing her manicured fingers at poor Mauve.
"You couldn't be any more wrong, Royal…" Mauve sighed, shaking his head disappointedly.
"I don't want it to be him, but it does make sense…" Emerald sadly frowned.
"Aw, why couldn't it be someone like Royal or Sunrise?" Cotton groaned, pouting.
"Fuck off, little shit." Sunrise sneered.
"Face it, Crimson, you have no evidence to prove Mauve didn't kill the TV Host." Royal smirked.
"This has been the trial of the century!" Noir claimed. "I'm glad it's going to an end, though!"
"This isn't right at all…" Rose whispered under her breath, glancing at Mauve.
Lie Bullet: Sage & Sunrise's Argument, fired!
"Time to get into character!"
BREAK!
"I was right next to Mauve during the entirety of Sage and Sunrise's argument!" I said confidently. "We even laughed about it when Sage pushed Sunrise, because of how stupid we thought they were being."
"What?" Sage raised a brow. "I thought you yourself said that you were all so focused on our argument that you didn't see the killer escape, but you were able to notice Mauve?"
"Well, I mean yeah," I chuckled. "He was right next to me, after all. I wasn't that hammered that I didn't notice him…"
Mauve immediately shot me a look, almost as if to say: "What the hell are you doing?"
But I simply shook my head and gave him a look that said: "Shhh, just let it happen…"
"And why didn't you mention this earlier?" Royal angrily questioned.
"I just remembered," I explained. "My mind was still a little foggy from the alcohol, y'know."
"So, that settles it." Rose nodded. "Crimson saw Mauve the entire time while Sage and Sunrise were arguing, so he couldn't have snuck away to kill Silver."
"Yes, exactly." Mauve nodded with a perfect poker face. "I also just remembered."
Royal glared suspiciously at us. "Hmph, whatever. At least we know that card dealer and I are off the killer list…"
I breathed a sigh of relief. That was a close one!
As good as it was that Mauve was in the clear, we still have no suspects…
Or so I thought.
"Crimson, you realized it too, right?" Azure asked me with a sad smile. "Turns out Royal accusing Mauve wasn't such a waste of time after all, huh?"
Huh?
Realized what?
Why would Mauve being accused not be considered a waste of time when I know there's no way he did it?
What the hell is Azure trying to tell me?!
Hangman's Gambit
"Why was Mauve accused in the first place?"
?-?-?-?-?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?
Azure's saying that Mauve being accused wasn't a waste of time…
M-?-?-?-?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?
But how? I had to lie to prove his innocence...
M-A-?-?-?-? ?-?-?-?-?
Uh-oh, I wonder if Azure's going to call me out…
M-A-K-?-?-? ?-?-?-?-K-?
Focus, Seizo! Let's get back on track…
M-A-K-I-?-? ?-?-I-?-K-?
Maybe Royal's accusation of Mauve makes her suspicious again?
M-A-K-I-N-? ?-?-I-N-K-?
Ugh, that's not it, there's no way she can be the killer; remember dumbass?
M-A-K-I-N-G ?-?-I-N-K-?
Hm, Merigold's the one who initially accused him…
M-A-K-I-N-G D-?-I-N-K-?
Wait, no...It's not Merigold that Azure's telling me about…
M-A-K-I-N-G D-R-I-N-K-?
It's...her.
Answer: MAKING DRINKS
BREAK!
"N-no, Azure...It can't be…" I sniffed. "There's no way…"
"I'm sorry, Crimson, but think about it," Azure sighed, his usual joyful expression replaced with one of despair. "It makes sense…"
"What the fuck are you two dumbasses talking about?" Sunrise frowned. "We all need to know, this isn't a game."
I couldn't get the words out the right way...I was in so much disbelief.
But Azure's comment made it feel all too truthful.
Mauve was accused for making the drinks...one of which poisoned Silver. But I know he didn't do it! Mauve is smarter than that, and he had no reason to try and kill anyone. Plus, I'm actually starting to remember Mauve being there during Sage and Sunrise's argument. Now right next to me like I said, but nearby so I could see him the entire time.
But someone else helped him make the drinks…
Someone who has reason to kill and get out of here…
Most importantly, someone who'd benefit from the Savior Perk.
I'm sorry, I did this to you…
Accuse: Who could've killed Silver?
Crimson
Scarlet
Diamond
Frost
Mauve
Rose
Azure
Sunrise
Cloud/Shadow
Silver
Emerald
Noir
Merigold
Cotton
Lava
Onyx
Cherry
Indigo
Sage
Royal
DECIDE: Scarlet
"The show's over!"
"Scarlet…" I sighed, turning to my left. "You helped Mauve make the drinks…"
"Which means you could've easily poisoned Silver." Sunrise finished, coming to the same realization as Azure and I.
Scarlet looked at me with wide eyes. "C-Crimson, I…"
Then her light blue eyes started to water...
And she started to cry
Just like she'd been doing since we found Silver's body.
A/N: New chapter time! The first part of the trial! This one is considerably shorter than what the next one will be ;)
So, a lot of bombshells were dropped, and Crimson, Azure, and Sunrise all think Scarlet is Silver's killer!
Stay tuned for the next one!