Chapter 1: On Road to Despair (Deadly Life #3)
Warning: This fic contains intense violence, lots of OFFENSIVE cursing (thanks Monoyena, you fucking asshole!), character death, gore and blood, sexual innuendos, and possible spoilers for the Danganronpa series. But hey, everyone lurking in this fandom has at least played the first Danganronpa so no need to worry much there! Right?
With that said, please enjoy!
[MONOYENA INSULT EMPORIUM]
Monoyena swirled his shrimp cocktail glass around as he sat on the couch. He was alone. And he made a point to act like a total ass as he sat comfortably in his position. He toasted his glass once he was done swirling and grinned.
"Well, what did ya fucks think about that cliffhanger, huh?" Monoyena laughed. "Who knew the fucking bitch had it in her to do something as fucked up as that. Am I right?"
Monoyena chugged the drink down into his system. Then, he lowered his drink and cackled.
"Ya know, it kinda reminds me of some rich fuck who did something similar to a femboy," Monoyena chuckled. "Only, it's genderbent! Bwa… Bwahahahaha! Lacking originality there, are we, huh, fucking chump?"
Monoyena slurped up his shrimp from the drink.
"And yes, I was talking to the dope who made me," Monoyena flipped me off. "This ain't helping my itching hyena ballsack, fuckface. Try harder! I mean, hanging? Seriously?! What is this?! The Dark Ages?! It's fucking outdated!"
Monoyena smashed his cocktail onto the ground.
"If it were me, I'd have carved her back into four different pieces and made it so her flappy skin looks like butterfly wings and expose all the fleshy insides underneath it all!" Monoyena started to drool. "And then, I'll shove two knives in her heads to make the antenna and then–"
Okay.
Let's just go reconvene the Trial.
"Oi, I wasn't done yet, ya fucking pussy!" Monoyena snarled. "Fuck you! Let me at—"
[TRIAL RECONVENE]
Beauté Morose's laugh echoed in this funhouse of twisted tragedies.
The Playhouse Trial had taken a turn for the worst. Just now, they had figured out that Emmeline Swan did not truly die in Riku's Ultimate Attraction but rather elsewhere. An unknown location they had to figure out. Not only that, but what they had initially thought the crime scene to be was nothing more than a set-up by Beauté herself.
And what was worse…
She claims that she wasn't even the actual killer. So, then… why?
Alina frowned and pointed her conductor's baton toward the mysterious Ultimate. There was a grim look on her face, something she didn't exhibit too often. There was no smile on her face. Just a face of disappointment.
"Why?" Alina muttered. "Why did you move the body? Why go through all that trouble if you really weren't involved?! Are you trying to protect the real killer?! Is that it?!"
Beauté placed a hand over her mouth to contain both her smiles and her laughter.
"Protect the real killer?" Beauté questioned. "Now why on Earth would I do something so silly? I mean, it is my life on the line too. And it would be a shame if my life ended just as it was starting to get interesting…"
"But if you agree with that notion, then there really is no motive for you to do something so… unnecessary!" Kikuko frowned, giving the bitch a hard glare. "All you did was make everyone's job harder."
Beauté turned to the shrine priestess with a widening smirk.
"Ah heh heh heh…" Beauté cackled softly. "That's the point…"
"W-What?" Kikuko blinked, slightly taken aback by her response.
Beauté took out her hand fan, covering the lower half of her face as her eyes did most of the talking. Wild with all of this adrenaline pumping, her eyes had glazed over to her peers, clearly excited to share her reasoning.
"Making everyone's job harder was precisely my motivation!" Beauté exclaimed, removing her hand fan to show her crazy smile. "After all, what good is a murder mystery if it ends up being too easy? That would just be boring… don't you think?"
"So… the reason you moved the crime scene was because it was too easy…?" Kazuki was definitely taken aback by her reasoning.
"And to make it more fun and exciting!" Beauté cackled. "Consider it a test to see how well your deductive skills are! And I have to say, a lot of your detective works have been oh, so elegant! How fun it was, ah hah hah hah hah..."
Beauté covered a part of her face with her hands. Her eyes grew wild once again. Her cheeks flushed in hot pink. And her cackles rung throughout the Trial Grounds.
"AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!" Beauté laughed. "OH, SO ELEGANT INDEED!"
"You're horrible," Kikuko glared at her. "For you to desecrate a body like that... It's obscene!"
"No use arguing with crazy..." Riku scoffed. "But I would love to dissect her brain right about now…"
"That's it!" Fábio glared at the mysterious Ultimate.
He slammed his hands onto his podium. It was clear from his icy, cold stares that he was definitely disgusted by the woman in red's actions. And not only that, but everyone else seemed to have been taken aback as well. This was the first time they'd seen the cool and collected Fábio Barbosa exhibit a heated behavior.
"You are going to tell us everything that happened!" Fábio glared at Beauté. "And if you leave out a single detail, I swear to Christ…"
"Oh my," Beauté seemed intrigued. "I've never seen you so heated up like this before, Fábio. If you wanted me to testify, you could've just asked politely! Ah heh heh heh!"
"Just do what the guy says, or I'll knock the wind out of you…" Mara muttered, keeping her arms folded.
"Ah heh heh heh…" Beauté smirked. "Very well then…"
With the Trial continuing onward, Beauté set herself up to provide some testimony over what she had done. And despite the number of disapproving looks she was receiving, her smiles and voice never wavered. She was definitely enjoying this all too well. And frankly, it was just horrifying to think of just how callous she could be in her recounting of events…
...
"Hmm, you all demanded testimony from me but I'm not even sure if it will help you in the long run…" Beauté giggled. "As you all know, what I did was simple. I moved the victim's body to the yakuza doctor's Ultimate Attraction. From there, I simply took advantage of the pulley system in the show."
"If I may ask, how did you know about ze pulley system?" Manon pressed. "It took me a while to figure out zat zere was one in ze first place…"
"Oh my, what kind of Ultimate Actress are you to not even pay attention to the components of the stage on your first visit?" Beauté smirked. "This is a Killing Game. And as an avid fan of Killing Games, I knew that everything in a location can be used for the inevitable Trials. So, discovering the pulley system was child's play…"
"In other words, she be more observant than the gods watching the seas," Roderick muttered. "Please, go on."
"As you already know, I came up with the brilliant idea of making this look like a potential suicide," Beauté explained. "I untied the rope attached to the moon prop and tied it around the victim's neck. Then, all I had to do was wait…"
"And what gave you the brilliant idea of hanging?" Issac pressed, displeased.
"That's easy," Beauté widened her grin. "When I found the victim, I discovered that her neck was broken. Hanging was the only possible method of death that I could think of to hide her real cause of death!"
"But in the end, you failed to notice that her shock collar was broken, didn't you?" Fábio folded his arms.
"A poor oversight on my part," Beauté looked down, disappointed. "But then again, if I didn't overlook it, the solutions to the mystery would obviously be much more difficult, wouldn't you agree?"
Beauté started to fan herself.
"Ah, but alas…" Beauté continued. "The Playtime Jingle played, and I was forced to stay put. And as a result, I was locked inside the Auditorium until the next showing. How unlucky!"
"How'd ya find out what yer color was?" Yumi pressed. "Or did ya simply take the risk and shocked yerself?"
"The latter," Beauté smirked. "It was only a simple shock. Nothing too bad. But it was indeed painful. So therefore…"
"Even more unlucky was that there was a group who wanted to see the next showing," Beauté sighed. "And when I moved, my shock collar just so happened to be on 'Red'. Though I did remain as quiet as possible, clearly, I wasn't going to get away with it with the Ultimate Maestro in the room!"
Alina didn't say anything to that regard.
"Either case, that is everything I confess to!" Beauté gave a curtsy. "See how unhelpful this was?! This was all the information you already knew!"
She was right.
Her testimony thus far was everything they had already figured out in the last Trial Part. Consider it a review of what was already figured last time. But at the same time, despite her recounting being exactly what was deduced, there was still something wrong with it. Something was missing. Just what was it…?
Yukihiko shook his head, slamming a baby bottle onto his podium.
"Hold on there, honey!" Yukihiko frowned. "That may be all the information we already knew, but this isn't everything you're confusing to! There's something missing from your testimony."
"Oh?!" Beauté gasped. "And what might that be?!"
"If I'm not mistaken, we asked for a recounting of everything that you did," Yukihiko frowned. "With that in mind, you've neglected to reveal one thing to us."
"Wait, she did?" Yumi asked, confused.
Yes.
Yes, she did Yumi.
As mentioned before, Beauté was supposed to reveal everything that she did. So far, she's mentioned everything that she had done that was already deduced last time. Moving the body, hanging the corpse, even explaining that she was practically hiding from the group and trying to play off as if she had snuck in at the last minute. But…
"Yes, sweet pea," Yukihiko seemed slightly annoyed by how oblivious Yumi was. "There was something she should've mentioned first. And that is…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Where she found the body!"
Beauté's hand fan extended automatically, blocking away Yukihiko's wind of truth. She may have deflected it, but rest assured, the shot still landed. Even if she looked pretty damn confident, it was clear that Yukihiko was right on the money.
"Aye, that's right," Roderick realized. "That be the one thing she never told us!"
Alisa snapped her pocket watch shut, irritably.
"And I wonder why that is…" Alisa muttered, narrowing her eyes. "So, are you going to answer that or do we need to squeeze the information out of you."
"Ah heh heh heh," Beauté cackled. "There is no need for empty threats… I simply left it out because I thought you all wanted to know how I made the initial crime scene look like the real crime scene. My mistake…"
"Somehow, I don't believe that," Aidan frowned.
"Of course you shouldn't believe that," Mara shook her head. "It's clear that she's still playing with us like we're her playthings."
She tipped her head in a prayer.
"But Lao Shi says…" Mara began. "Those who choose to play with Life will in turn be the playthings of Life itself…"
"Sermon aside, Isolde thinks it's time you gave us a clear answer, Morose," Issac petted his toy caterpillar on the head, his gaze looking dark and serious. "Where the hell did you find Swan's body?"
Beauté chuckled to herself before extending her arms. Her smile was creepily genuine. That level of elegance and extravagance played off against that sinister demeanor hidden in those gothic lolita clothes of fake royalty. Then, with another curtsy, she answered.
"Very well!" Beauté exclaimed. "Since you have all proven to me that you are all worthy of finding the truth in our game, I shall give you the answer just this once! I found the body…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…
…outside the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction!"
Beauté curtsied.
"That is all," she smiled to herself.
Brief silence.
She found the body, outside the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction? Like, it was just there? Just sitting around there waiting for someone to grab her and use her for some sick side plot? The impervious thoughts that arose from that were overwhelming…
"W-Wait…" Daisuke spoke up, breaking the silence. "B-But… B-But that… Th-That… Th-THAT DOESN'T HELP US AT ALLLLLLLL!"
Daisuke started to foam at the mouth, his face turning purple.
"You just found her… outside ze Ultimate Doctor's Attraction?" Manon was trying to wrap her head around this revelation. "Non! You have to be lying! Otherwise, zis would mean… Zis would mean…"
"Her body would've been lying outside on Ultimate Doctor's Attraction grounds for who knows how long," Alisa frowned. "And if that's anything to go by… This would also mean that somehow, no one noticed a dead body in the open."
"Hey, hey, guys!" Aidan frowned. "Why are we putting so much thought into this? I mean, it's really clear what's going on here!"
Aidan pointed his finger toward Beauté.
"Beauté is lying!" Aidan exclaimed. "Just as she has been for the past hour! For all we know, she's probably doing another one of those stupid tests against us as we speak!"
"Ah heh heh heh…" Beauté smirked to herself. "So, you choose not to believe me?"
She shook her head and shrugged.
"Fair enough," Beauté remarked. "But I must warn you that disagreeing with me certainly won't help you in the long run. I played my part in revealing the truth. Now you must play yours… Unless you're so arrogant as to not trust a sweet young lady like myself…"
"There is literally nothing sweet about a pulpy-red IV bag like yourself," Riku muttered.
Was Beauté telling the truth or was this yet another one of her games and tricks? Thing about lying is that, after the first couple, the credibility of your testimony dies down. And that's exactly what was happening to Beauté here. However, there was a chance that she may be telling the truth.
But chances weren't as strong as pure evidence…
"...Miss Morose…" Kazuki spoke up, closing his eyes. "I think you're going to need to testify a little more about the body out in the open…"
"Oh my, more testimony from me?" Beauté smirked. "Oh, you shouldn't have…"
"What?" Aidan frowned. "Why are we asking her to lie some more?! We're just wasting time at this point!"
"I must agree," Alisa sighed, glancing at her wristwatch. "Wasting time is not something I can afford…"
"...But the fact of the matter is… we don't really have anything to go off with…" Kazuki explained. "If Miss Morose is lying… I think we can confidently call her out on it. But if not… then it may help us discover who on Earth the blackened may have been…"
Aidan and Alisa seemed reluctant at first, but then they noticed Kikuko raise her hand to allow herself to speak.
"If I may, I too believe we should let this witch testify one more time," Kikuko shared a disdainful look toward the lady in red. Though she tried to remain as courteous as she could, she did allow one rude comment to slip through her words.
"Very well, if that is what everyone wants…" Beauté shared her gleeful smile once more. "Then I shall happily tell you about how I came to discover the body!"
With a curtsy, Beauté then began to recount her second testimony of events.
...
"I believe it was during the middle of the 2:00 PM Traffic Jam Parade that I first discovered the body," Beauté fanned herself. "I discovered the victim, Emmeline Swan, on the floor a little near the curb of the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side. When I went to check her body, I noticed she was dead. That's when an elegant plan came to my mind to make it look as if she had died from other means!"
"So… in other words…" Kazuki pressed. "...You don't know what killed her as well…"
"Afraid not," Beauté cackled softly. "I'm just as in the dark as you all are…"
"My question is that if you found her in the middle of the 2:00 PM Traffic Jam Parade, then that must mean that you were in possession of her body between let's say… 2:10 to 2:20 PM…" Alisa calculated. "Is that true?"
"Well, how should I know?" Beauté laughed. "I'm not the one possessing three different clocks."
She folded her arms in consideration.
"But I suppose that would be the fairest assumption…" Beauté chuckled.
2:10 to 2:20 PM?
Well, that time really can't exactly be verified but it did seem like a reasonable estimate. Either case, this time, Kikuko had some questions to answer the blood-colored witch.
"If I may ask a question," Kikuko began. "But because you found the body in the middle of the 2:00 PM Traffic Jam Parade at the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side, this would obviously mean that you were locked on that side as well, correct?"
"Yes, that's right," Beauté smirked. "That is how the Traffic Jam Parade works after all."
Yes.
As a reminder to herself… Kikuko thought back to the general idea of the Traffic Jam Parade.
"E-Eh, you mean…" Daisuke widened his eyes.
"Aw come on!" Aidan had hurried over to the sidewalk leading into the Pleasure Park but noticed that it was currently being blocked by the Lady Radiance Parade Float.
"Aye!" Roderick grumbled. "It seems this Parade be blocking our way of doing what we need to do…"
"And there's three different Parade showtimes?" Daisuke exclaimed, his mind sweating. "Th-That just makes exploring the park so much harder! Who designed the Parade like this?!"
"Oi, I did. Why do you think it's called the Traffic Jam Parade, fatso?"
The sudden appearance of Monoyena, no longer wielding his marshalling wands, and instead wielding his Barbie Blade and sharpening one of his exposed canines.
"H-He's HEEEEEREEEE!" Daisuke's face paled and his mouth started to foam.
"So, let me get this straight," Alisa narrowed her eyes, seemingly irritated. "You mean to say that the Traffic Jam Parade is meant to act as a barrier that can keep us locked in one location until the Parade is over…?"
"The Traffic Jam Parade works as a barrier to keep people locked in one location until the Parade is over," Alina reminded. "If that's the case, then that would mean that Beauté really would have been locked at Riku's Ultimate Attraction side."
"But what I want to know is if there was anyone else locked on that side as well…" Kikuko continued to question. "If there was, maybe there would be plenty of reasons to suspect them as well."
"Unfortunately, no," Beauté shook her head. "I can safely say that I was the only one on the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side. How else could I have gotten away with what I have done? And it's not like I'm entirely to blame. A handful of you all didn't even enter the park, did you not…? Perhaps if this place was a little more crowded as it usually was, someone would've stopped me! Ah heh heh heh. How cruel one's choices end up being, am I correct?"
"Needless to say, Morose found the body on the side of the road," Issac stated. "And if no one else was there…"
"Then, obviously Beauté is lying and she's the real culprit!" Aidan accused.
"I…" Issac was taken aback by Aidan's abrupt interruption.
But that did seem to be the case, didn't it? If Beauté was the only one on the side with the actual body, then that did mean she would be the only one who would have been capable enough to commit the deed. If they wanted to get to the bottom of this, they were going to need to press for more information.
"Yes, to reiterate," Beauté added to her testimony. "I was the only one at the Ultimate Doctor's side. Therefore, I suppose it could only be me who committed the crime!"
"Ah ha, she admitted it!" Aidan declared. "I knew it was her!"
"Ignoring Aidan," Alisa folded her arms. "If you were locked on the Ultimate Doctor's side, then could I ask what exactly you did?"
"H-Hey!" Aidan widened his eyes.
"The only thing I could do," Beauté smiled. "Watch the Parade."
"D-Don't ignore me!" Aidan exclaimed.
"And you watched the Parade the entire time?" Alisa blinked, ignoring Aidan.
"Never took my eyes off of it!" Beauté covered the lower half of her face with her hand fan.
She never took her eyes off of the Parade? With this information in mind, Alisa now figured out why Beauté's testimony felt quite off. A body just sitting out there in the open for who knows how long and only one person locked at the side where the fake crime scene took place…
Alisa snapped her pocket watch shut as she glanced at the Ultimate unknown intensely.
"Beauté, the more you lie, the more you waste our precious time," Alisa frowned. "You just claimed that you watched the Parade the entire time but if that's the case…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Then, how did you find the body during the middle of the Parade?!"
Beauté used her hand fan to block yet another winds of truth. She closed her eyes, bracing herself, before opening them up in excitement. Though, as excited as she was, she said nothing, allowing Alisa to explain to those that were confused.
"Well, ah'll be!" Yumi blinked remembering what Beauté.
"I believe it was during the middle of the 2:00 PM Traffic Jam Parade that I first discovered the body," Beauté fanned herself. "I discovered the victim, Emmeline Swan, on the floor a little near the curb of the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side. When I went to check her body, I noticed she was dead. That's when an elegant plan came to my mind to make it look as if she had died from other means!"
"She claimed dat she found da body in the middle of da Parade," Yumi pointed out. "But if she watched da Parade da entire time…"
"Indeed, she should've noticed the body a lot sooner!" Alisa confirmed. "So, please make up for lost time and answer us, Beauté! Why are you lying once again?!"
Beauté remained silent and shook her head. She allowed her hand fan to cover the upper half of her face, showing only her grin.
"But I am telling the truth," Beauté said. "I found the body in the middle of the Parade!"
"Yeah, as if we believe that!" Aidan jumped in. "Alisa makes a good point and you're already a liar! So therefore, anything you say has already been held and used… against you… Is that how that line works?"
Beauté closed her hand fan with a sigh.
"I don't know what to say," Beauté gave her signature chuckle. "I told the truth as you all wanted. And even now, you still continue to doubt me."
"With good reason!" Roderick muttered. "What Alisa says makes sense! Ye should've found the body much sooner! Why isn't that?!"
"I… I don't mean to choose sides here but isn't it possible that maybe she… missed the body?" Daisuke suggested.
"Missed the body?" Mara looked at him as if he were just as much of an idiot as Aidan was. "I'm sorry but isn't the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side relatively open? I mean, you can't just miss a body lying on the floor like that."
"Y-You're right!" Daisuke squeaked, burying his face inside his hands. "M-My idea is stupid! I'm sorry! I will never contribute in a Trial agaaaaain!"
"What a healthy statement!" Riku consented.
Riku gave a menacing grin toward Daisuke as he held up an apple in acknowledgement. It was clear that despite his own opinions of the large male, he was definitely very pleased with what he had said… Let it be known that this would probably be the only time he thought what Daisuke said was actually good.
"Oh my!" Beauté gasped, her face looking flustered. "Our first ever Consent?! I don't even think the first story was able to do Consents like these before! How fantastic! How marvelous! How elegant! Ah hah hah hah!"
"Once again, you annoy me with your constant drivels," Riku muttered.
"What's the meaning of this, Riku?" Alisa raised an eyebrow. "Why did you agree with Daisuke's statement?"
"Y-Yeah… D-Does this mean you're warming up to me…?" Daisuke gulped before slapping himself across the cheek. "N-Nope! N-Nope! Don't think like that Daisuke! No one will ever like you like that!"
"Tch, I simply agreed with the notion that it may have been possible for the bitch to have missed the body…" Riku muttered.
"What?" Alisa blinked, surprised.
"I second that 'what', didn't you hear what I just said?" Mara folded her arms. "Beauté found the body left on the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side. It's an open area. That body would've been the first thing anyone would've seen and paid attention to."
"Yes, fair point," Riku raised up his jacket collar. "But you can't ignore the basic fact that she still could've still missed the body, even if she never took her eyes off of the Parade the entire time."
"And how could that be…?" Mara placed a hand over her hip.
"Keh, isn't it obvious…?" Riku smirked. "She could've missed it because of…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the Lady Radiance animatronic."
Before he could continue, the next Parade Float arrived. This time however, the Parade Float was moreso a giant comic book with ripped pages featuring Lady Radiance and her many heroic endeavors. Tied above this Parade Float was a logically sized balloon of Lady Radiance, flying over the Parade Float. And leading this Parade Float along was known other than Lady Radiance herself, who had been standing on the Lady Radiance Parade Float and hopped off simply to approach the 16 playmates.
And unlike the other animatronics, this Lady Radiance one seemed much more refined than the others thus far. With smooth movements, the superheroine ran up to the 16 playmates...
"Divine Light!"
...and shined a bright light at them.
"Agh!" Riku covered his eyes. "What was that for?!"
"You look amazing today, citizens!" Lady Radiance saluted. "The evil Spellcaster won't be doing anything to you any time soon!"
"Ah, bravo!" Manon clapped her hands. "Zat's right! Ze Lady Radiance shoots out a bright light zat blinds people! If Madame Morose was hit with zat at ze time… She would've missed ze body for sure!"
"I know this perfectly because I was the one who especially took that dreadful bright hit back then," Riku glared.
"Kah!" Mara slammed a fiery fist into the palm of her hands, her eyes flaming.
"Eeeep!" Manon gasped.
"So what?" Mara glared. "In the end, that changes nothing. Remember what made Beauté's testimony seem so wrong? It's the fact that she found the body during the middle of the Parade, when she was supposedly watching it the entire time. That body should've been found first before the Parade even started. And remind me… when does the Lady Radiance animatronic appear in the Parade?"
"She appears right after da Clucks Deluxe Parade Float and right before da Mrs. Claws Parade Float!" Yumi answered.
"That's right," Mara nodded. "And that's long after the Parade's already started!"
Riku glared at this disgusting flesh bag.
How dare someone of her nature disagree with someone of his nature? He knew exactly what he was talking about. He knew Daisuke, as much of a sweaty bulldog he was, had a point regarding Beauté missing the body. But what did it mean…?
Wait.
Beauté said she found the body in the middle of the Parade. That was the catalyst for this entire argument. Alisa pointed out the fact that Beauté mentioned she was watching the Parade the entire time. Mara doubled down on that with the argument that if she was watching the Parade the entire time, then that body should've been the first thing she saw. There was no way for her to have found the body in the middle of a Parade, in an open area… unless…
Riku started to laugh.
"You fool," Riku snarked. "I see what's going on here…"
"Oh yeah, what is it?" Mara got into a fighting position.
"What you described just now… When the Lady Radiance animatronic appears…" Riku began. "That is what I would call, the middle of the Parade."
"You still think this woman is telling the truth?" Mara narrowed her eyes.
"Why not?" Riku folded his arms. "She's been adamant that she found the body in the middle of the Parade. She's been adamant that she's been watching the Parade the entire time. So, based on this, what can we conclude…?"
Mara had to give it a thought.
Riku gave her no time to think and simply answered for her.
"It's easy…" Riku smirked. "We can conclude that…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the body suddenly appeared in the middle of the Parade."
"W-What?" Mara blinked.
"Let's put ourselves in Princess Fleshbag's perspective…" Riku began to explain. "She gets locked down at the theater side of the Hollywood area. With nothing better to do, she watches the Parade. In the middle of the Parade, the Lady Radiance animatronic shows up and blinds her. By the time she regains her vision, that is when she finds the body on the ground. Is that what happened, you fleshbag…?"
He turned to Beauté in order to ask that last part.
"Ah heh heh heh!" Beauté spun around, intrigued. "So, you finally figured it out! How elegant! For a moment, I thought my words would fall on deaf ears."
"Tch, idiot," Riku muttered. "Anyway, does this make sense now…?"
"No, it doesn't," Mara folded her arms, turning to Beauté. "I mean, how on Earth did you not think anything about the body suddenly appearing to be strange?!"
"Please, of course I thought it was strange," Beauté chuckled. "I'm not an idiot. But a body suddenly appearing out of nowhere was like a gift from God for me. As if he gave me permission to play around with Emmeline Swan's body!"
"Disgusting..." Mara muttered before turning back to Riku. "And what about this whole body suddenly appearing schtick? That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever!"
"Tch, how should I know?" Riku muttered.
"H-Huh?!" Daisuke widened his eyes. "But you were the one who came up with this idea in the first place!"
"Yes but figuring out the rest isn't my part to play," Riku bit into an apple like the asshole he was.
With Riku's deductions in mind, it definitely seemed like this was the best solution. Only, there was one problem. In Riku's scenario, the body just magically appeared. How on Earth was that possible? Was there a way for the body to just appear like that?!
"That's because what you are suggesting is wrong!" Mara shook her head. "There's no way the body just upped and appeared on the curb like that in the middle of a Parade. I mean, where would that body have originally come from?"
Yes.
There is an answer to this conundrum. One needed to think back to the scenario at hand once again. Beauté got locked on Riku's Attraction side. With nothing better to do, she watches the Parade. By the middle of the Parade, the Lady Radiance animatronic walks up and blinds her. Then, when she regains her vision, she finds the body and the rest is history. With this in mind…
…Where would that body have originally come from?
"W-What…?" Issac blinked, suddenly. "Isolde…? You can't be serious…"
Issac's voice forced everyone to look at him incredulously. Based on his widened expression, and how much he was speaking to his caterpillar, it seemed that he had an idea on what may have happened. Or actually… his caterpillar did.
"What's wrong, Issac?" Alina tilted her head.
"I think Isolde figured it out," Issac rubbed Isolde's neck with uncertainty. "I think… in the mystery of how Swan's body just came out of nowhere… I think she knows where Swan's body would've come from."
"W-What?" Mara blinked.
"Isolde says that if we think about this logically, there's only one place it could be…" Issac held out his ear for Isolde to supposedly speak into. "Maybe Swan's body came from…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the Lady Radiance Parade Float!"
"W-What?!" Mara blocked the winds of truth as she took a more defensive stance against Issac's reasonings- Er, Isolde's reasonings.
"Isolde says that if Arakawa's scenario is correct…" Issac began. "Then, what might have happened is the body suddenly appearing out of nowhere is probably just the body getting dropped off at the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side of the Hollywood section."
"The body getting dropped off?" Alisa blinked.
"Y-You mean…" Daisuke gulped. "Y-You mean the killer used the Parade Floats to dispose of the body?!"
"Yes, that's exactly what Isolde is saying," Issac nodded.
"Wait, but that means, Beauté was actually telling the truth?!" Aidan looked surprised.
"Ah heh heh, surprising, isn't it?" Beauté smirked at Aidan.
The killer used the Parade Floats to move Emmeline's body? That was a crazy assumption that was enough to get the 15 playmates to ramble amongst themselves over what the hell was happening. Some still thought that Beauté was lying. Others realized that this made a lot of sense. But no one was surer than Issac… mainly because what Isolde says, has to be right!
"Now, Arakawa's scenario makes perfect sense, doesn't it?" Issac leaned against his podium. "Morose finds herself locked on the Doctor Eternos' Attraction side. She watches the Parade. By the time the Lady Radiance Parade Float rolls around, the Lady Radiance animatronic blinds Morose. Then, the body falls off of the Parade Float. That's how it just suddenly appeared in the middle of the Parade–"
"Can't let that off the hook, lad!" Roderick interjected.
The deep-sea fisherman had lowered his beanie, directing a giant pointer finger in Issac's direction, and letting the winds of change guide his cause. It was clear that there was something in Issac's reasoning that didn't sit well with him. And he was going to explain why…
"Cutler, what's wrong?" Issac blinked.
"I'll be honest here with ye…" Roderick muttered. "Everything ye claimed thus far, makes sense, but there be one problem with it: How exactly did the body just 'fall off' of the Parade Float?"
"Well…" Issac turned to Isolde for assistance but given the silence and blank expression on his face, it was clear that the caterpillar had nothing for him.
"And there ye go," Roderick muttered, folding his arms. "Ye may have all the bait needed to catch the prize, but it still ain't enough for the smartest dolphins of the sea!"
"Well, maybe the body was just hanging out and about in an easier way to just drop off…?" Issac suggested.
Roderick stomped on the ground and directed a fist toward the toymaker's way.
"Nay!" Roderick declared. "Not even the most brainless of fish would dare do something as risky as that! If the killer let the body hang out and about, then someone in the park would've seen it during the Parade! Fact, Beauté could've seen it too shortly before she got blinded."
"And yet, I didn't," Beauté shook her head with a smile. "There was no body hanging out of the Parade Float or in any position to be propped up at my feet like that before I was blinded. I may have been locked in, but there was nothing that would have blocked my sight, you know."
"See?!" Roderick folded his arms. "Even the missy ye agreed with agrees with me! Therefore, everything ye said has to be wrong!"
But Issac didn't think it was wrong.
What Isolde had said had to be true! It was Isolde after all! She was always right, and she will always forever be right! But at the same time, even though Issac didn't want to doubt his best friend, he had to admit that Roderick had a point. So, perhaps there was something missing behind his reasoning.
There had to be another way for the body to have been tossed onto the curb without anyone noticing… but how?
…An idea popped up in Issac's head as he rubbed his chin.
"Well, maybe… Maybe it was the killer," Issac suggested. "Maybe the killer was on the Parade Float with Swan's body. If that was the case, then that would allow the likelihood of the body not being discovered until after Beauté was blinded. Like maybe the killer kept the body concealed..."
Yeah. Now that he mentioned it… that would be the most plausible situation right…?
"Nay!" Roderick shook his head. "Have ye forgotten the rules of the Traffic Jam Parade?!"
"Ya see, they just went ahead and added extra security measures to the actual Parade Floats," Monoyena grinned. "Now, whoever steps out into the road in front of a Parade Float, the entire Parade stops, and the entire show gets fucking delayed. While it ain't as fun as seeing stupid twinks get hit by cars, seeing that you've pissed off hundreds of visitors because ya decided to be a retard has gotta be a fucking riot.
"So, in other words…" Fábio began. "If you step out onto the road while the Parade is going on…"
"The entire Parade gets delayed!" Monoyena grinded his sharp teeth together. "Which normally wouldn't be a bad thing until ya realize we have a fucking tight schedule to hold up. So, don't let me catch ya fucks being an idiot and stopping the entire thing because if ya do…"
Monoyena pointed his Barbie Blade toward his subjects, drool spewing under his mouth.
"I'll ram those Parade Floats up your asses so hard that shitting is about to become the least of your fucking problems!" Monoyena snarled. "Fact, why don't I just add this to the rules right now?"
"If you step out into the road in front of a Parade Float, the entire Parade stops and the entire show gets delayed," Alina recounted. "And if you do that…"
"You get punished and killed," Fábio nodded. "Yes, I did bring that up before…"
"Damn, that is true…" Issac chuckled, sheepishly.
He scratched the back of his neck but as he did so, he thought back to the actual rules itself. If you step out into the road in front of a Parade Float, the entire Parade stops and the entire show gets delayed. If you delay the show, you get punished. Wait… But then…
He laughed stiffly, brushed his remarkable hair aside, and shook his head.
"...But…" Issac had an idea. "At the same time…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…there's no rule saying that you can't ride a Parade Float!"
"H-H-HUHHH?!" Roderick exclaimed, in shock.
"In fact, I think we've seen that before, now that I think about it," Issac rubbed his chin as he thought back to a particular incident.
The fifth Parade float was a relatively nice Parade Float. It was modeled after a classic red wagon carrying oversized child-like toys and trinkets of every kind. This included large letter blocks, toy soldiers and toy monkeys standing still, and to top it off, a throne where Stanczyk sat on top of, waving toward no one in particular. Truly, this was the Stanczyk Parade Float!
"Yes!" Stanczyk giggled. "Yes! And I love you too, random child! Hello! Hello! Oh! What a nice look you have on today!"
"W-What the fuck is that faulty sperm doin on that Parade Float?!" Monoyena gnashed his teeth angrily. "Oi! Stanshit! What the fuck?!"
"Th-That's right!" Manon gasped. "Monsieur Stanczyk rode ze Parade Float when we saw it for ze first time! But zat didn't delay ze Parade itself!"
"Exactly," Issac nodded. "Monoyena specifically stated that you would have to step out onto the actual road in order to delay the Parade! Riding it, as proven by the jester, will not!"
Monoyena slowly turned to Stanczyk, his jagged red eye glowing.
"You… fuckface…" Monoyena snarled.
Stanczyk chuckled sheepishly and whistled.
"In other words, my theory still holds true," Issac smiled. "The killer must've gotten onto the Lady Radiance Parade Float along with Swan's body. Then, they rode their way to the Doctor Eternos' Attraction! That's when the killer dumped the body there!"
"Nay!" Roderick shook his head. "There be no reason the killer would've taken that risk!"
"W-What are you talking about?" Issac blinked.
"Have ye forgotten who was there at the scene of the crime?!" Roderick exclaimed. "Beauté was there watching the entire time! If the killer dumped the body, she would've seen them!"
"Well, have you forgotten that Morose was blinded by the Lady Radiance animatronic at the time?!" Issac clashed. "The killer obviously used that to their advantage and dumped the body then!"
"Nay!" Roderick shook his head. "If that be true, then that would mean that the killer would have needed to time when exactly Beauté would've been blinded! A feat like that would have been impossible!"
"Not necessarily!" Issac shook his head. "Not when the killer had…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…a cue!"
"A what?!" Roderick exclaimed.
Before he could continue, the next Parade Float arrived. This time however, the Parade Float was moreso a giant comic book with ripped pages featuring Lady Radiance and her many heroic endeavors. Tied above this Parade Float was a logically sized balloon of Lady Radiance, flying over the Parade Float. And leading this Parade Float along was known other than Lady Radiance herself, who had been standing on the Lady Radiance Parade Float and hopped off simply to approach the 16 playmates.
And unlike the other animatronics, this Lady Radiance one seemed much more refined than the others thus far. With smooth movements, the superheroine ran up to the 16 playmates...
"Divine Light!"
...and shined a bright light at them.
"Agh!" Riku covered his eyes. "What was that for?!"
"You look amazing today, citizens!" Lady Radiance saluted. "The evil Spellcaster won't be doing anything to you any time soon!"
"Before blinding the guests, the Lady Radiance animatronic yells out 'Divine Light!'" Issac clashed. "That was the cue for the killer to dump Swan's body off of the Lady Radiance Parade Float!"
"Nay!" Roderick shook his head, starting to sweat. "Ye… Ye need evidence to prove that!"
"Well then, why don't we ask Morose herself?" Issac folded his arms, turning to the elegant Ultimate. "Did the Lady Radiance animatronic yell out 'Divine Light' before blinding you?"
"Well, of course she did!" Beauté remarked. "That is her trademark line after all!"
"And there you have it!" Issac said. "All the killer needed to do was listen for "Divine Light" to be said and then they had that short amount of time to drop the body off!"
"Aye, ye be making a whole lotta sense here, lad," Roderick clutched his heart as his face turned into an ugly shade of blue. "But there still be one thing I don't get! What about the killer? If the killer dropped the body off at the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side, then where did the killer drop themselves at…?"
Issac blinked.
That… was a good question.
"Remember laddie!" Roderick directed a finger toward him. "Beauté was locked in an open area with a dead body! There be no way that the killer could also be at the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction side as well otherwise, Beauté would've mentioned that! So, if that be the case, then where did the killer drop themselves off?!"
"Well… maybe the Lady Radiance statue?" Issac suggested.
"Nay," Roderick shook his head. "That be impossible because…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Yukihiko was stuck at the statue!"
"If you must know my whereabouts today…" Yukihiko spoke up. "I started my day by heading toward Clucks Deluxe for lunch at around 1:30… I finished at 1:55. By the time I reached the Lady Radiance statue, well… as you can imagine."
Yukihiko folded his arms.
"The 2:00 PM Parade began," Yukihiko said.
"Nay, so, ye were soft locked at the Lady Radiance statue?" Roderick blinked. "I didn't know being there didn't count for delaying the Parade."
"I didn't either," Yukihiko calmly said. "But nevertheless, I could've left at any time once the last Parade Float appeared…"
"Ye understand now?" Roderick argued. "Yer deductions sound good but it ain't the truth, laddie!"
Issac held onto Isolde tightly for comfort and support. Damn it! He knew for a fact that the killer was on the Parade Float. And they had to have been at the Doctor Eterno's Attraction area in order to drop off the body. But if Beauté was on one side, and Daisuke was on the other… then… Where would the killer have dropped themselves off…?
Issac widened his eyes.
Of course!
This is the only explanation but… That's… That's crazy!
"So is yours," Issac chuckled with a small smirk. "But I'm afraid it's your deductions that aren't truthful, Cutler!"
"N-Nay!" Roderick gritted his teeth.
"Morose kept an eye on the Doctor Eterno's side of the Parade… Yuki was at the statue…" Issac began. "And the killer had to have been on the Parade Float. So, in other words, the only place they could've dropped themselves off would've been…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…nowhere!"
"H-HUHHHH?!" Roderick felt the winds of truth try to blow his beanie off, but he made sure to hold it steady and still in order to prevent that.
"That's the only way this makes sense!" Issac declared. "The killer rode the Parade Float around with Swan's body. The killer probably planned to dump the body at the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction but noticed Morose there. Luckily for them, the Lady Radiance animatronic has a habit of blinding people. So, all the killer had to do was wait for the animatronic to yell out 'Divine Light'. That's when they dumped Swan's body. After that, because both sides of the Parade Floats had witnesses, the killer had no choice but to stay in the Parade Float…"
"B-But when did the killer leave?!" Roderick glared at Issac.
"Isn't it obvious?" Issac questioned before slamming his fist onto his podium. "It's the same situation Morose faced at the Doctor Eternos' Attraction! The only time the killer could leave was when the next Parade show happened! Otherwise, they were probably locked in a supposedly secret holding area!"
"Yeah… that was something that was mentioned today…" Kazuki sighed.
That's not the reason at all!" Stanczyk exclaimed. "The truth is it got a little scary after each show… Heh heh! Can you believe it?"
"Scared?" Yumi blinked. "How in the Sam Hill can you be scared of ridin da Parade Float of all dings?"
"It's not riding the Parade Float I'm scared of," Stanczyk gasped. "It's an entirely different thing! After every show, the Parade Floats all line up into this one secret holding area! And it only opens after the start of every show! So, you can imagine how scary it can get being locked in a room every one hour and 30 minutes…"
"N-Nay!" Roderick placed his hands on the sides of his podium as he felt his own argument being dwindled away. "N-Nay! Where's ye evidence! Where's ye evidence that all this happened?!"
Issac didn't even need to think about this. He had exactly what he needed to prove that he was right! That he was righter than his creator ever will be!
"This is my evidence!" Issac declared. "Evidence that proves that everything I said did happen! It's this…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...this comic book page!"
What is it?" Issac asked.
"It's…" Mara began. "...A comic book page…"
In her hands was definitely a relatively old and dated comic book most likely from one of the many issues of the Lady Radiance comics. Wouldn't be surprising to find this lying around an area dedicated to Lady Radiance but… Or actually… Now that they thought about it… What was this thing doing here?
"A comic book page starring Lady Radiance on the Ultimate Doctor's side?" Issac blinked.
"H-HUHHHH?!" Roderick exclaimed in shock.
"When investigating the outside of the fake crime scene, Mara found this comic book page on the floor," Issac explained. "Isolde and I didn't know what importance it served, but after considering the facts and everything we talked about, it's clear now that this comic book page had to have come from the Lady Radiance Parade Float!"
"Nay!" Roderick exclaimed. "B-But there be no-"
"Did you forget what the Lady Radiance Parade Float consisted of?" Issac clashed.
Before he could continue, the next Parade Float arrived. This time however, the Parade Float was moreso a giant comic book with ripped pages featuring Lady Radiance and her many heroic endeavors. Tied above this Parade Float was a logically sized balloon of Lady Radiance, flying over the Parade Float. And leading this Parade Float along was known other than Lady Radiance herself, who had been standing on the Lady Radiance Parade Float and hopped off simply to approach the 16 playmates.
"A-Agh!" Roderick widened his eyes.
"I'm willing to bet that if Monoyena and Stanczyk allowed it, we can compare this comic book page to one of the ripped pages of decor from the Lady Radiance Parade Float," Issac explained. "Once we do that, we'll know for sure whether or not our deductions are correct!"
Our? Well, he was probably referring to Isolde, but no one was going to correct him on that. Especially not when he was on fire for cooking up such deductions to help move this case along! And Roderick? Well, he only had one thing to say in this regard.
"N-N-N-N-Naaaaaaaayyyyyy!" Roderick felt the winds of truth blow against him.
...
"So, this entire time, the only reason Beauté came to be in possession of the body was because of the killer dumping the body as they passed by on the Parade Float," Alina summarized. "And are we to say that the killer just spent the next hour and 30 minutes locked in wherever they keep the Parade Floats?"
"That would seem to be the case," Alisa nodded, glancing at her pocket watch. "Meaning… the next time they would've been able to leave that Parade Float was at some time between 4:00 to 4:30."
"Why zen?" Manon asked, curiously.
"Because that is the only time they could've ever left the Parade Float," Alisa answered. "Please remember when exactly the body was discovered."
"Directly after ze 5:00 PM show… so around 6:00, oui?" Manon answered.
"Precisely, and remind me, what exactly happened to the Parade when the body was discovered?" Alisa questioned.
"Ah, I suppose I'll have to explain that to everyone here as well!" Stanczyk boasted. "What you're looking at is the 6:00 Parade getting ready to come out for its last showing today! But with Emmeline Swan's death…"
Stanczyk wiped away a stray tear.
"...All rides and attractions have been deactivated for the time being until this case gets resolved!" Stanczyk declared, throwing his hands up in the air in celebration.
"The Parade was canceled," Fábio deduced. "Ah. I see where you're getting at."
"W-Where is she getting at?" Daisuke asked, confused.
"Retrospectively speaking, if the 6:00 Parade was canceled, that would mean that the Parade Floats wouldn't have come out," Fábio explained. "Only one that was even out in the open was the Police Parade Float. And we said our killer was on the Lady Radiance Parade Float... Meaning our killer would've been locked in the holding area for a long, long time. Probably even wouldn't have been able to participate in the Trial."
"But everyone was present and accounted for," Yumi tipped her hat.
"Exactly," Fábio rubbed his chin. "Meaning, the only Parade they could have gotten off was the 4:00 Parade. Or actually, it would be better to say that they had to get off at the 4:00 Parade."
"They… had to?" Mara raised an eyebrow.
Fábio paused.
Yeah. If they were stuck an hour and half in the Parade's holding area, the thought that the body being discovered at any time would've definitely been running on their consciousness. To avoid being found out, they would've needed to have jumped ship as soon as they could. They had to jump ship at the 4:00 Parade.
But how exactly would that help?
So far, all they've done was figure out the 'how' but they have yet to even go down with the 'who'.
Was there anyone they knew whose presence was a little unwarranted at the time? Was there anyone they knew that could be a viable suspect? Anyone at all? Fábio wasn't sure…
"...Urgh…" Kikuko felt her soul temporarily leave her body.
"Kikuko?" Fábio pocketed his hands. "What's wrong?"
Kikuko didn't say anything for a while. She had her eyes closed, her mind wandering as she contemplated whether or not she should say it right now or not. She had her suspicions but were they right? Were they really true?
"Please forgive me," Kikuko bowed her head, amicably. "But it seems that I may have a suspect in mind…"
"Y-You do?!" Daisuke gulped before shaking his head profusely. "It's not me is it?! B-Because I didn't do it! I didn't do it! Honest!"
"Y-Yeah, it's not me either!" Aidan added.
"Silence, both of you," Riku narrowed his eyes at the two idiots. "You're interrupting the peak of my curiosity…"
All eyes were on Kikuko now. She had a suspect in mind but why exactly was she hesitating. It didn't make any sense on why but after carefully considering what Fábio and Alisa had remarked about the fact that the killer needed to jump ship… It was clear that there was one person who was very suspicious.
"...The culprit…" Kikuko began. Then, she pointed her finger toward her suspect. "Could it be you…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Alina Summers?"
Silence.
There was a look of bewilderment as all eyes darted back and forth between the Ultimate Maestro and the Ultimate Shrine Priestess. The eyes toward Alina were of shock and surprise. That same expression was shared with Kikuko. Whether or not this was true though, none of them was sure…
"W-What?" Aidan started to sheepishly chuckle. "Y-You think it's Alina who did this? My second-in-command. All smiles Alina who looks out for everyone and makes sure no one gets hurt? That Alina?"
Aidan started to laugh in pure denial.
"Come on, you've gotta be joking," Aidan chuckled.
Kikuko said nothing in that regard. That's when Aidan's chuckle started to die as the track star realized all too well that what Kikuko was suggesting here was her being at her most serious.
"Y-You're not… Y-You're not joking…" Aidan concluded silently.
And throughout all of that, Alina just looked away, expressionless.
"I'm sorry Miss Unmei…" Kazuki began. "But could I ask why you think it's Alina…?"
Kikuko remembered all too well what she and Roderick had found.
Because what she was staring at was the unconscious body of Alina Summers, the Ultimate Maestro. Yeah, that's right. Probably gave someone a heart attack or something.
"Alina!" Kikuko reached Alina's unconscious body.
She shook her body. She had been erratically breathing. Kikuko felt her blood pulse. High to low. Wild. And her neck… There was a discoloration on her neck. And given that Alina was lying face-down, Kikuko had free reigns to check her shock collar:
Red.
No. What happened? Did she…?
"Alina, wake up!" Kikuko shook Alina. "Are you alright?"
"Because I found her knocked out on the ground in front of the Clucks Deluxe," Kikuko answered. "The back of her collar was Red. According to her, she stated that she was trying to avoid delaying the Parade... But after what hearing what had been deduced, perhaps there was an alternative reason..."
"...And what's that?" Kazuki pressed.
"That Alina may have been forced to jump off of the Parade Float as soon as it had begun," Kikuko stated. "And that the reason she did so was because she needed to get off before getting locked in the holding area once more."
"Nay…" Roderick widened his eyes. "So then, you be saying that she jumped off even when her collar be Red?!"
"Of course…" Kikuko nodded. "Because when else would she have the time to jump off…?"
"H-Hey, wait a minute!" Aidan clenched his fist. "You keep saying she was jumping but how do you know if her moving really did activate the shock collar? I mean, maybe she just tried to take it off or something!"
"She's not an imbecile, Aidan," Yukihiko pointed out. "There would be no reason for her to try to do something so stupid."
"O-Okay, but then what about her jumping off!" Aidan exclaimed. "Maybe jumping off doesn't trigger the shock collar to activate! Maybe it's just running! Yeah, that's right! Maybe she was running and-"
"Um, I'm sorry to say Monsieur Brighton..." Manon glanced away. "But jumping does activate ze shock collar. Zat is what I did in order to save Monsieur Nobukatsu yesterday... Remember?"
"I- I- Oh damn it..." Aidan widened his eyes.
The more they explained it, the more it was starting to make sense.
The scenario at hand was Alina jumping off of a Parade Float in order to avoid getting locked up. Her shock collar was Red and therefore, her constant movements would've made him suffer enough shocks to force her out of commission. Needless to say, it was sounding plausible but... Everyone just couldn't believe it.
"N-No… way…" Daisuke looked toward the silent Alina, incredulously. "N-Nowaynowaynowaynoway!"
"A-Alina…" Aidan turned to Alina, a betrayed look on his face. "H-Hey. Please tell me this isn't true."
Kazuki looked away, saying absolutely nothing.
In fact, everyone was sharing this sentiment right now. Alina Summers. One of the nicest people here was among the first to commit murder? And not just any murder but the murder of Emmeline Swan, one of their most innocent as well…? That just didn't seem right! That just didn't seem right at all.
Everyone looked conflicted. Desperate for answers. Desperate for this to be untrue. And only one was practically enjoying this, licking her blood-red lips in pure glee as she basked in the drama of this hopefully false accusation…
"Is that all…?"
"What?" Kikuko blinked.
Alina finally looked up. There was a smile on her face as she kept her hands clasped together at the front. It was that same smile she always shared with everyone. That same smile that told everyone that she was A-Okay. That everything was going to be alright…
"Kikuko, you said that what was most suspicious about me was the fact that I was passed out on the floor of Clucks Deluxe…" Alina began, smiling. "Is that correct?"
"Well, yes…" Kikuko remained unsure on where Alina was getting at.
"...And that supposedly, the reason why I was passed out was because of the back of my collar being Red at the time," Alina began. "I jumped off of the Lady Radiance Parade Float and suddenly, I got shocked into unconsciousness. And the only reason I did that was because I knew I needed to get off as soon as possible. That's pretty much the gist of it right…?"
Kikuko folded her arms, uneasily.
"If that's the case…" Alina pointed her conductor's baton toward the priestess. "...Then why couldn't I have just done that at Manon's Ultimate Attraction side?"
"W-What?" Kikuko blinked.
"Remind me again what the point of jumping off of the Parade Float would've been?" Alina asked.
"To get off as soon as possible…" Fábio answered.
"Exactly," Alina twirled her conductor's baton like a wand. "As soon as possible! So why bother going past the Ultimate Actress's Attraction and settle for the outside of Clucks Deluxe instead? If I really wanted to jump off of the Parade Float as soon as possible, shouldn't you have found me at the Ultimate Actress's Attraction instead?"
Alina raised a strong point.
If she truly did want to leave the Parade Float as quickly as was implied, then why settle for Clucks Deluxe? Why not just jump off at Manon's Ultimate Attraction. Was there something preventing her from doing so?
"Nay!" Roderick folded his arms. "Maybe it's because of ye shock collar! It was Red so ye had to wait until–"
"Let me stop you right there," Alina looked at Roderick with a supportive smile. "If that was the case, then there was no reason for me to have jumped off to Clucks Deluxe either. Remember. Kikuko testified it herself. The back of my collar was Red, and I was knocked unconscious."
"Nay, so then…" Roderick blinked.
"That's not the reason she chose to leave the Parade Float at Clucks Deluxe, honey," Yukihiko sternly remarked. "If there was a reason she chose to jump off of the Parade Float at Clucks Deluxe then, we just simply have to ask this question. Why didn't she jump off at the Ultimate Actress's Attraction area…?"
Why didn't she jump off the Parade Float at the Ultimate Actress's Attraction area? A great question but was there a great answer to that?
"Well, dis be all sorts of crazy…" Yumi widened her eyes. "Could it be…?"
"You have something…?" Mara raised an eyebrow toward the cowgirl.
"Ya bet!" Yumi nodded, tipping her hat down. "Ah dink da reason she didn't jump off onto da rollercoaster side was because…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…of me, Issac, and Fábio!"
"What?" Kikuko turned to the three names mentioned.
"Hey, Barbosa," Issac sighed. "Don't beat yourself up over it. So, you didn't find what you were looking for. It's not a big deal."
"It is when the girl is going to die…" Fábio sighed to himself.
Both guys were stopped by Yumi, who had outstretched her arms to stop them. She didn't say anything for a bit, but when they saw what was in front of them, they instantly knew the reason behind her actions.
"Looks like the 4:00 PM Parade has just begun," Issac folded his arms. "Guess that means we're stuck here for another 30 minutes."
"Issac, Fábio, and ah had rode da Spellcaster side of da rollercoaster!" Yumi explained. "After we finished, da 4:00 PM Parade had already started!"
"I see…" Issac rubbed Isolde's neck for comfort. "So, you're saying that the reason Summers never jumped off at Levesque's Attraction side was because we were there at the time. If she had jumped off then…"
"We would've seen her…" Fábio grimaced.
"And da next stop to choose from would've been Clucks Deluxe!" Yumi deduced.
"And I would've been inside the restaurant when it happened," Kikuko widened her eyes. "So, the reason she chose Clucks Deluxe…"
"Was because at the time, no one was there to witness her jump off…" Issac nodded.
"N-No way…" Aidan turned to Alina, eyes pleading. "Y-You can't be serious! Alina! Come on! Tell them this isn't true!"
Alina's smile had faded as she avoided looking at the now clearly judgmental eyes of her peers. Her expression was shrouded in a hidden shadowy veil as her mouth struggled to formulate a response to that. Perhaps…
Perhaps they were right.
Perhaps they were…
…
"Come on…"
Alina had given herself a moment to breathe. She looked at everyone with genuine eyes but her smile was clearly forced. However good she had gotten at doing that, it was beginning to unfold. Her mouth was starting to twitch ever-so-slightly as took out her conductor's baton. Swinging it around, she acted as if she were in rhythm…
"Guys, are you really all so quick to think it's me?" Alina questioned, tapping her chin with her conductor's baton. "I mean, none of you even have any solid evidence to prove that it was me in the first place."
Alina pointed her conductor's baton toward her friends.
"And not only that, but no one has even figured out where the actual murder took place," Alina said. "So, without a clear crime scene in mind, how can you go and just start pointing fingers at me?! Frankly, I'm a little hurt!"
She was right.
They had nothing on her. There was no evidence that proved that it was her. Any and all evidence they had was purely circumstantial. And not only that but they didn't have a crime scene to boot!
Alina doubled down.
"With how much we have now, I doubt anyone would ever figure out where Emmeline really was killed!" Alina exclaimed.
"Well then, let's figure that out now," Yukihiko pressed, his gaze stern and serious.
"What?" Alina blinked.
"Let's all think to every single location we know of..." Yukihiko began. "Was there anything in any of those places? Anything new that may have been added or occurred? Anything that could help pinpoint Emmeline's whereabouts?"
Was there?
Everyone thought back to each of the locations they knew of: Pleasure Park, Police Station, Pit Stop, Lady Radiance statue, Ultimate Doctor's Attraction, Ultimate Actress's Attraction, Clucks Deluxe... In one of these places, there was a clue that could prove that Emmeline was there at one point and could've been theoretically killed there... Right?
"Of course," Fábio realized. "I think I got it."
"W-What?" Alina forced a smile. "Y-You do?"
"Yeah..." Fábio nodded. "I think the clue we might be looking for...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...is a pile of vomit!"
"Nay?" Roderick blinked. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"
"No, I'm dead serious," Fábio shook his head.
He stepped forward and felt something slippery and slimy on the ground.
"Oh, looks like you stepped in someone's vomit, Barbosa," Issac chuckled to himself, sheepishly.
Fábio recoiled in disgust and tried to wipe its content on the ground. As he did this, he caught Issac's smile. Whether it was from amusement or the fact that he knew he should've told him there was vomit on the ground was unknown, but it was clear that he was enjoying himself with what was happening.
"Yeesh," Yumi shook her head. "Looks like someone couldn't handle the ride."
"There was a pile of vomit at Manon's Ultimate Attraction!" Fábio explained. "Issac and Yumi can both attest to that! But I also have reason to believe that the person who threw up was in fact, Emmeline! And if this is true, then that would mean that the true crime scene had to be at the roller coaster!"
"A-And where's your evidence?" Alina's smile twitched.
"What?" Fábio blinked.
"Well, that pile of vomit could've belonged to anyone, right?" Alina smiled, pointing her conductor's baton toward him. "I mean, for all we know, it could've been someone who couldn't handle the ride. If I remember correctly, it was notable for making the riders uncomfortable, wasn't it?"
"You might be right about that," Fábio nodded. "But unfortunately, I have proof that it belongs to Emmeline..."
Alina didn't say anything.
She simply bit the tip of her conductor's baton as she waited to hear what exactly Fábio had to say. And pocketing his hands in thought, he did have a strong feeling on what exactly that evidence that was.
What evidence ties the vomit to Emmeline?
That was the question!
"Here's the proof that the vomit belongs to Emmeline..." Fábio began. "It's...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...the stains on her outfit."
"It's not that," Riku scoffed. "Didn't you realize what you just touched?"
He gestured toward the strange-colored stain on Emmeline's outfit. Something that Fábio's hands had clearly touched. And the moment Fábio realized it, he glanced toward Riku desperately. Rolling his eyes, Riku shot out some hand sanitizer on Fábio's hand for him to wipe off desperately.
"I… I didn't even notice!" Fábio wiped his hands, frantically. "W-What was it anyway?"
"A-Agh!" Alina covered her ears in shock.
"Ah, of course," Riku nodded. "Ice boy and I found stains on the brat's outfit. Because of his reluctance to examine it further, we didn't know what it was at the time. But the possibility that it was actually vomit... Yes... It makes it very likely and equally disgusting."
"Dude, you were the one who refused to examine it further," Fábio deadpanned.
"I see," Yukihiko smiled to himself. "You handsome men really pulled through with this one. So, with this in mind, I think we can virtually say that the roller coaster attraction has to be our true crime scene!"
"Ah hah, I don't think you can conclude that so easily..." Alina's smile twitched. "The vomit could've occurred at any point! Maybe hours before the murder! Like for say, when she was just passing by! Because other than, you don't really have anything to prove that Emmeline was killed there!"
There's no way you can prove that Emmeline really was killed there. Was she sure about that? Surely, there was some evidence at the supposedly real scene of the crime that proved that Emmeline had to have been killed there. But what exactly was it…?
Was there… anything else odd at the crime scene…?
"Unfortunately, I think that's where you're wrong Alina…" Fábio shook his head. "There is something that proves that Emmeline really was killed there!"
"A-And what would that be?" Alina pointed her conductor's baton, valiantly toward the figure skater.
"...Something odd at the real crime scene…" Fábio began. "And it had to be…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the dent on the Spellcaster cart's handlebar!"
"Ugh!" Alina bent her conductor's baton.
Her hands had covered her ears and the winds of truth had blasted at her. Her cape had nearly flown off of her and her eyes had remained covered. It was as if she had been blasted by the most incorrect note in the history of wrong notes.
His eyes trailed toward the handlebar before noticing a large dent on a part of the handlebar. That certainly didn't make things feel any better. He gulped as he trailed his finger on the dent. And oh yeah, it was a dent for sure. As if someone with super strength grasped just a little too tightly on the handle…
"Um, was this dent always here?" Fábio pointed out.
"Dent?" Issac blinked. "What dent? I've been in the front row several times. I've never seen a dent before."
"Well, there's one now," Fábio said.
"Right, the dent was something that wasn't there any of the times I rode the ride," Issac noted. "So, based on Isolde's guess, it had to have been made today… After all, you wouldn't have happened to see a dent either the last few times you rode the ride, did you, Summers?"
Issac gave the maestro a piercing stare. It was clear that like Fábio, he was also suspicious of her at this point. A lot of them were, but others remained quiet and defiant to this outcome.
After all... there was no way Alina would...
"Okay, fine," Alina said. "I'll admit it. You have a point with the dent. But you can't really say that dent came from Emmeline, now, can you?"
That certainly took Fábio and Issac off-guard.
"Well ah'll be," Yumi, the last of the rollercoaster group who had yet to contribute to anything, took off her hat and scratched the top of her head. "She's right. We can't really prove dat da dent belonged to da dead bambina now can we…?"
"That's right!" Alina continued to valiantly point her conductor's baton toward her peers. "You've all been making assumptions after assumptions! So please stop! It's not me! That dent didn't come from Emmeline! It had to come from something else! Maybe it's not even related to the case!"
Fábio looked down.
Was he wrong about this? He was at this stage in which he was beginning to doubt that everything that was deduced may have been wrong. Maybe he was falling for the real culprit's trap. That maybe it really wasn't Alina… But at the same time… It had to be her. Yet did he have anything that could prove it was her…?
"W-Well, maybe what happened was that you bashed her with the handlebar?" Daisuke suggested. "Th-That's the only way I could think of that might've caused the dent…"
"Handlebars don't come off like that," Kikuko closed her eyes.
Fábio grimaced to himself.
Right now, that handlebars' dent was the only thing tying Emmeline to the real crime scene. In turn, it would tie into Alina being the culprit. The only problem was figuring out just what caused the dent. Just how did a dent get created in the first place?
If he could figure that out, this case would be as good as solved…
Come on, Fábio! The entire case is riding on this! Come on!
Think! Think! Think!
The dent… Emmeline… Fábio began to enlist in his thoughts. Let's start with what we already know…
Fábio closed his eyes as he pocketed his hands. He escaped into his mind, getting ready to snowboard, ride a minecart, or drive a car in his mind… whatever the hell. (Though personally, I'd see to it that it'd be someone riding a rollercoaster). Anyway…
Issac mentioned that the dent wasn't there before, Fábio began to think. So, the first question we need to ask is: When was the dent made? It had to be...
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…today.
Right. The dent had to have been made today. Issac already confirmed that. And if this was the real scene of the crime, then this dent had to have some part in Emmeline's death…
Fábio felt time slow down on the outside as he traveled quicker and quicker on the inside. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing steady as he continued.
But for something to have caused a dent like that… Fábio grimaced in his thoughts. Whatever it was, it had to have been hard enough to cause any damage. Was there anything on Emmeline that was hard enough to cause the dent…?
Fábio shifted uneasily as a thought came up.
W-Wait! Fábio suddenly realized. Of course! Couldn't it have been…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the shock collar?!
Emmeline's shock collar was damaged. That was the key point that ousted Beauté's little scheme. But we never figured out what caused it to break.
Fábio shuffled his hands in his pockets as he took a deep icy cold breath.
If the handlebar caused the shock collar to break… Fábio began to think. Then based on what we know before, what role did the handlebar play on Emmeline's death?
Fábio kept his mind focused on the tracks.
Wait, but what does this mean…? Fábio seemed a little confused as he kept his eyes closed. The handlebar to Emmeline's death… The connection to the shock collar… The handlebar was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the murder weapon.
Alright. Cool. If Emmeline's shock collar caused the dent from the handlebar, then that would mean that what caused the shock collar to break was the handlebar. Then, we tie into what Kazuki had concluded earlier…
"Explain, now…" she simply said, her eyes blue.
"...As we know…" Kazuki began to explain. "Miss Swan died of a broken neck. Moreover… Her neck collar was broken as well. It's definitely safe to say that whatever had broken Miss Swan's neck had to have also broken her collar as well."
"That is a fine assumption, yes," Yukihiko nodded.
Whatever caused Emmeline's shock collar to break also had to have been the murder weapon. But that's where I'm confused. By Kazuki's logic, this means that the handlebar was the murder weapon. But how did that happen?
Fábio took his hands out of his pockets and leaned against his podium as he remained deep in thought. He could feel all eyes turn toward his strange silence.
What? Did Alina just bang Emmeline's neck onto the handlebar? Was that it? Fábio shook his head. No. That would be way too excessive. But there had to be a way Emmeline died to the handlebar. Is there any other clue on Emmeline that could help us figure out this in more detail?
Fábio thought about this intently.
Wait, yeah there is… Fábio thought. There was one thing about Emmeline that had yet to be acknowledged…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…her back bruises.
Wait. Back bruises. Why does that sound so familiar? Almost like…
Fábio suddenly found the next piece of the puzzle.
The back bruises… Fábio began. Wouldn't they have come from…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…The Lady Radiance cart?
"Hey guys!" Alina ran up toward the riders on the Lady Radiance coaster, with Issac and Beauté following behind. "How was the ride on the Lady Radiance side?! The Spellcaster one was so amazing! I really felt like I was a supervillain!"
"I agree, it was quite elegant!" Beauté was equally as content, placing her hands over her lips with a smirk.
"Though, Isolde didn't have a good time, I'm afraid," Issac sighed to himself. He had taken the toy caterpillar off of his neck and had begun petting it on its back. "Poor thing threw up…"
How does a toy cater- Nevermind.
"Unfortunately, I am willing to agree with the… caterpillar," Kikuko eyed the caterpillar uncomfortably. "I was unaware that Western roller coasters would be so rough…"
"I feel like a bone in my body got misplaced or something..." Fábio winced. "Lady Radiance really took a beating in that ride, I guess..."
"Ah saw nothing wrong with it!" Yumi shrugged before blinking slightly. "'Cept maybe it hurts the spine a bit..."
Yeah. That's right. The Lady Radiance cart was the most uncomfortable roller coaster ride I've ever dealt with. But wait… the dent was found on the Spellcaster cart. What did that mean?
Fábio felt as if his time of deductions was starting to run out. Whatever conclusion he needed to reach, he needed to reach it soon.
Need to start small, Fábio thought to himself. If Emmeline suffered back pains, then what does that mean?
He paused.
Then continued.
Huh. Doesn't that mean that…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Emmeline was originally on the Lady Radiance cart?
But if she was originally on the Lady Radiance cart, then how on Earth did she get killed by the Spellcaster handlebar? Was there something else about the Lady Radiance cart that I missed?
That conclusion needed to get to… It was well within reach. He just needed to get to it as quick as possible. What else was unique about the Lady Radiance ride…?
Ah, of course! Fábio noted. In the Lady Radiance ride…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…there was a moment in which we were about to fall out!
The ride had ascended until finally, Fábio, Kikuko, and Yumi felt as if gravity was trying to pull them out of their coaster cars, with the ride coming to a complete stop. This naturally made all three riders hold onto their safety handles with widened expressions that none of them could see.
"Agh!" Yumi's voice asked. "W-What in tarnation?! I feel like I'm about to fall out!"
"I-Is this part of the ride?" Kikuko's voice questioned. "And where are the others?!"
"I… don't know…" Fábio's voice stated, somewhat nervously.
The ride started to shake, with bursts of dim lights blasting in different corners of the room they were in, though it really didn't help them see anything in the room. And for a while, it felt like the blood and adrenaline was starting to rush to their heads at an inappropriate speed.
No way. If we were about to fall out of our seats during that moment… Then that would mean…
"Far from it, actually," Issac brushed his pink hair to the side. "There are many different types of roller coasters and coaster tracks. There's the mouse coaster which is smaller but utilizes smaller carts and sharper turns. There are loop de loops, which are the ones you see that completes a 360 degree turn. There are flying roller coasters, where it simulates flight…"
Issac chuckled.
"List goes on and on," Issac explained. "But dueling coasters are different. Dueling coasters are essentially two roller coasters combined into one. And the thrill of those is the fight-flight response of how close the carts are to one another. Makes you think the carts are going to crash into each other…"
Fábio felt his eyes widen, even when he was deep in thought.
No... Damn it! Fábio cursed in his own thoughts. How did I not see this before?! The Lady Radiance track! What was it really?! It was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…a loop de loop!
That's why it felt as if gravity was pulling us down! Because in reality, what was actually happening to us in that moment?!
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…
…
…
…
…
…we were being hung upside-down!
No way… Is that really how Emmeline died?! If the Lady Radiance track was actually a secret loop de loop and she was experiencing the same thing we were experiencing, then what's our final conclusion?! How did Emmeline really die to the handlebar?!
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Fábio?" Manon looked worried. "You've been silent. Are you–"
"Gah!" Fábio slammed a fist onto his podium. "I can't believe this!"
"W-What?!" Aidan widened his eyes. "W-What's wrong?!"
"I figured it out!" Fábio exclaimed. "I figured out everything! I figured out what that dent on the handlebar really is! And moreover! I figured out how Emmeline really died!"
Alina bit the tip of her conductor's baton, nervously. It was clear that Fábio's outburst had seriously caught her both off guard and gotten her back into that anxious side. Did he really figure out everything… Was that what that moment of silence really was?!
"Oh really?" Alina tried to smile. "And how exactly did she die…?"
"...The answer…" Fábio couldn't believe just how crazy this was but knew he had to give a solution to their dilemmas. "...Emmeline died from…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…falling!"
"A-AGHHHHHH!" Alina covered her ears once again as the winds of truth blew against her and her cape.
"W-What?!" Aidan widened his eyes.
"H-HUH?!" Roderick exclaimed.
"Sh-She what?" Kazuki sputtered.
Fábio kept his hands against his podium as he felt that icy wind radiates off of him. His eyes had started to twinkle with a burning desire to catch the culprit. And now, he knew for a fact who it was. He knew…
"The dent of the handlebar could've only come from something hard enough to cause good damage to the handle bars…" Fábio explained. "And the only thing I can think of that could do that is Emmeline's shock collar. And remember what conclusion we made about the shock collar?"
"...Whatever broke the shock collar had to have been the murder weapon that killed Miss Swan…" Kazuki reiterated. "So in other words… That handlebar was the murder weapon?"
"Exactly!" Fábio nodded. "But it doesn't end there! Emmeline also suffered back pains! It was a key highlight in the Stanczyk File! And I think there's only one place in the ride where she would have received those injuries!"
"...The Lady Radiance cart," Kikuko realized before narrowing her eyes. "Right. That was the moment in which our adrenaline levels became heightened. I also believe that is where our back pains ended up coming from…"
Kikuko closed her eyes for a moment before asking another question.
"But wait, how does the Lady Radiance cart tie into the dent of the handlebar?" Kikuko asked. "You're saying that Emmeline was riding the Lady Radiance cart but somehow, died to the Spellcaster cart's handlebar. That would mean our victim switched carts in the middle of the ride."
"That's where my conclusion comes in," Fábio explained. "Why do you think we felt as if we were going to fall out of our seats in the first place?"
Kikuko had no response to that.
"It's because secretly, the tracks that the Lady Radiance carts were leading up to was one big loop de loop track," Fábio explained. "Which means when we felt like we were going to fall out of our seats, what was really happening was that we were hanging upside down!"
"H-Hangin upside down?!" Yumi widened her eyes. "W-Wait. So dat's why our blood rushed to our head like dat!"
"Exactly!" Fábio nodded. "And think back to when we rode the Spellcaster cart, Yumi! When Spellcaster starts attacking Lady Radiance, what happens to us on the Spellcaster cart?!"
"Aha! You fell for my trap! How about it, Radiance? How's this for a magic trick!"
"Spellcaster, you–"
This was the moment in which Fábio and Yumi would've felt the adrenaline rush. But this time, that wasn't the case. Instead, their coaster carts kept shaking, as if they were the ones attacking the Lady Radiance cart. Dim lights blasted in different corners of the room they were in but like last time, that didn't help them see anything in this darkness.
"Take that! And that! And that! Hahahaha! What says you now, Lady Radiance?! Think you can stop me?!"
"We… stopped…" Yumi blinked. "We shake around a bit but dat's all… It wasn't anythin like da Lady Radiance cart..."
"And that's how Emmeline switching carts came in…" Fábio explained. "The back pain proves she was originally on the Lady Radiance cart. By the time she reaches the loop de loop, she would've been hanging upside down. But if she died from the Spellcaster cart's handlebar, then I think we can infer what happened next. Tell me, what would've been directly under the Lady Radiance cart at that time?!"
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"The… Spellcaster cart…" Issac realized.
"And if Emmeline was hanging upside down, what would've happened if she somehow fell out of her seat?" Fábio asked.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"She would've fallen… directly on top of ze handlebar…" Manon covered her mouth in shock. "Landing on ze other cart…!"
"And that is the truth behind how Emmeline really died!" Fábio deduced. "She fell out of the Lady Radiance cart whilst hanging upside down and fell, neck first, onto the handlebar! That was what broke her neck! That is what broke her shock collar too! That is what the secret touch really is! A murder contraption that anyone could've used to their advantage!"
Fábio then pointed his finger and icy complexion toward Alina.
"Isn't that right, Alina?!" Fábio accused. "You're the killer!"
Alina said nothing to that regard.
She just remained silent. The commotion in the room was getting noisier and noisier. And all the Maestro could do was just let the shadowy shroud hide her face. Hide her expression to how she really felt from all this.
And slowly… the room quieted down, expecting an answer…
…
"That's a really nice story you made up, Fábio."
After a moment of silence, Alina had leaned against her podium. She kept her face down. Her usual smiling and bubbly best girl demeanor had gone, replaced with a more defiant and grimmer look on her face. Not just grim, but it was a face that looked as if she was emotionally hurt by Fábio's accusations. A face that was all too familiar for Alina herself…
It's the face of the sad girl that she desperately tries to hide with a smile on her face…
"But after all that, you failed to do one thing…" Alina twirled her conductor's baton around, looking down.
"...What is that?" Fábio braced himself.
Alina stopped twirling her baton and pointed it directly toward the figure skater.
"Provide evidence," Alina stated. "Evidence is everything in a Playhouse Trial. All you've done is come up with a scenario that sounds really plausible, but you haven't the slightest clue on how to prove it."
Alina frowned.
"I mean, can you prove that Emmeline really did die from falling…?" Alina's expression looked pained. "Or that it really was the handlebar that killed her? I mean, that dent could've come from anything else. Maybe even someone gripping onto it really tightly. And if she did break her neck that way, shouldn't she have been bleeding...?"
"All the blood was internal," Riku pointed out. "Probably a courtesy of the shock collar lessening the blow..."
"...But even so," Alina rubbed her arms. "You still can't prove any of it, can you?"
Fábio kept his hands clenched.
"...So, is this really what you want, Alina?" Fábio looked down. "We could've ended it on a confession. But you're insisting that you didn't do it and you're insisting that I show evidence that it was you that committed the crime…"
Alina remained quiet about that.
"Alina…" Aidan suddenly spoke up, his face looking visibly distraught. "Is this… the real you? Wh-What… What happened? What happened to my second-in-command? What happened to the girl who was always smiling and who always made sure others were smiling too…? What happened to doing the right thing...?"
Aidan clenched his fist and slammed it, fist-down, onto his podium.
"I-If you really did kill Emmeline, then why aren't you confessing?!" Aidan exclaimed. "Why lie?! Why go so far as to hide the truth?! Are you really willing to go so far as to have us die too?!"
Alina said nothing in that regard. Instead, she opened her sad-looking eyes and looked at Aidan.
"Aidan… please…" Alina softly said.
"W-What?" Aidan blinked.
"So, what will it be, Fábio?" Alina bit into her conductor's baton. "Are you really sure you want to indict me as Emmeline's murderer? Do you really think someone like me could've pulled this off?"
Fábio glanced away.
He knew it had to be her. That little thing with her at Clucks Deluxe put obvious suspicion on her. But at the same time, Alina was right. He didn't have anything that outright proves that she did it. And it's not like he didn't want to believe it himself. So… Why was he so confident it was her?
Why was he so confident that it would have only been her that did this…?
He folded his arms and gritted his teeth.
"...Unfortunately, yes," Fábio said. "You're the only one…"
Alina looked down, disappointed.
"I see…" she muttered. "Then I guess I have no choice…"
"A-Alina?" Aidan blinked.
"IT'S TIME TO FACE THE MUSIC!"
[LAST STAND]
She twirled her conductor's baton as all aspects of her appearance changed for only Fábio to see.
For starters, her braided bun was now replaced with an actual golden crown sitting on her head. Her red cape had grown longer and tattered, as if she had gone through a war zone. Her fancy red dress shirt had turned into a military uniform. Her chest was adorned with medals, much like an army general's prized medal of honors. Cleverly, each medal was in the form of musical notes. Her conductor's baton on the other hand had grown longer, much like the bow of a violin.
She pointed her violin bow, as if it were her own conductor's baton.
"Wh-What the–" Fábio widened his eyes at this fanfiction reduction of a Bullet-Time Battle. He clenched his fist.
The only way he was going to defeat her now was through facts and logics. And this time, no one was going to be allowed to help. After all, this was a battle of wits between him and Alina only. A battle that if he loses, they all lose.
A Last Stand.
Alina swung her violin bow around to create a makeshift piano. She aimed the lid-side of the piano toward Fábio as if it were a makeshift shield. Piano keys started flying his way as Alina made her opening statement.
"Don't let the music deceive you, Fábio!" Alina began, pointing her violin bow directly toward Fábio. "In your scenario, you claimed that Emmeline was riding the Lady Radiance ride! But did you forget what Emmeline thought about the ride?!"
"W-Well, I was hoping a couple of us could ride the coaster together," Fábio fixed his sleeve, faintly sweating. "I mean, Manon and Emmeline were too scared to go on it so…"
"Excusez-moi?!" Manon gasped. She frowned and looked at the figure skater disappointedly. "So were you, Monsieur Barbosa!"
"And I have an upset stomach!" Emmeline pouted.
"Okay, well I'm not fond of the idea of riding a roller coaster all by myself," Fábio played with his ringlet locks.
"Her stomach wouldn't have been able to handle the ride and she knew this!" Alina argued. "So, tell me this Fábio, why would Emmeline even bother going on the ride in the first place?!"
Alina made a strong point.
Emmeline had a strong stomach. For her to even decide to go ride the rollercoaster to her untimely demise was highly out of character for her. And even if she really wanted to, her medical condition wasn't going to do her any favors anyway. So, why would Emmeline go on the ride willingly?
"The answer to that is simple!" Fábio pointed an icy gaze toward the maestro. "The reason Emmeline would be on the ride in the first place…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…there is no reason! She would've never gone onto the ride!"
Alina twirled her violin bow around to block his statement with a metaphorical piano. She acted as if she were letting her fingers fly against the keyboard.
"So, you agree how faulty your scenario is?!" Alina smacked her violin bow onto the piano's keys.
"Not at all," Fábio shook his head. "Emmeline still rode the ride despite the fact that she would've absolutely refused to go on it! And this is why…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Emmeline would've been placed onto the ride!"
"A-AGH!" Alina found that her metaphorical piano was smashed into a million ivory pieces. "N-NO!"
"Emmeline was very serious about her medical conditions!" Fábio explained. "Therefore, her willingly riding the Lady Radiance ride makes no sense! But what does make sense is if she rode the ride unknowingly and without consent! That's why I think she was probably unconscious when she was on the ride!"
Alina frowned and twirled her violin bow around. This time, the piano's keys were replaced by an army of brass instruments directed his way. Her violin bows became a type of sword, and she swung it around, like she would her signature conductor's baton. And the brass instruments: the trumpet, trombones, and tubas, all acted as either rifles or a cannon directed toward Fábio.
"Well, now you're going to explain that then!" Alina declared. "Why was Emmeline unconscious in the first place?! And according to you, it needed to be something that would've knocked her out for a really long time!"
"Well, isn't it obvious?!" Fábio declared. "What knocked her out was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…Her shock collar!"
"Her shock collar?!" Alina directed the brass instruments his way, ready to fire. "Ha! And what? I suppose she consecutively walked even though the back of her collar was Red? There would've been no reason for her to do something like that!"
"Maybe not for her to do something like that…" Fábio frowned. "But what if instead…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…she walked unwillingly? Like for say, she got pushed?!"
"S-Still circumstantial!" Alina exclaimed. "Or do you have proof that she did suffer those painful shocks?!"
"Do I have proof?" Fábio frowned before directing another point of his finger toward Alina's battle form. "Of course I do! The proof that proves Emmeline was suffering brutal shocks, it's…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the discoloration on her neck!"
"Though, there is something strange…" Riku muttered.
"Really, what?" Fábio asked.
"The rope on her neck is kind of covering it but…" Riku began. "...There's a slight discoloration on her neck."
"A discoloration?" Fábio murmured to himself as he pulled down on the rope over her neck and noticed what Riku was talking about.
"A-AGH!" Alina found that her tuba was shot out of the air. Her other brass instruments remained behind.
"A common side effect of being shocked into unconscious was a discoloration of the neck!" Fábio explained. "Think back to all of those people who got shocked into unconsciousness!"
"Based on his erratic heartbeat, blood pulses, and slight discoloration from the neck, it's clear that the idiot moved on Red when he wasn't supposed to and took one too many electric shocks," Riku grumbled. "He's going to be fine. He just needs plenty of rest, water, and a slap to the face for being unbearably stupid…"
"You mean, you don't remember?!" Emmeline gasped. "Is this amnesia?! Retrograde or anterograde?! Please hang in there, Miss Manon–"
"Non, non, my memory is just foggy," Manon chuckled sheepishly. "Zat is all…"
Emmeline glanced at her curiously. She noted the discoloration on her neck and bit her lip. She must've really taken a bad shock. She nibbled on her pills at a steady pace and sat next to her with solemn looks in her eyes.
"A-AGH!" Alina covered her ears as the rest of the brass instruments were shot out of the air.
"In fact, you have the proof right there around your own neck!" Fábio exclaimed. "Proof that Emmeline was undoubtedly shocked into unconsciousness!"
Alina held onto her violin bow tightly as she twirled it around. This time, woodwind instruments were by her side, and just like the brass instruments, they were all directed toward him and ready to fire.
"And yet, you still don't have any evidence that it was me who pushed her into unconsciousness!" Alina exclaimed. "And besides! How do you explain how Emmeline died?! You claimed that she fell out of her seat and broke her neck onto the Spellcaster cart's handlebar! Yet, there's no way for anyone to just fall out of their seat like that! You, Kikuko, and Yumi certainly didn't when you first rode the ride for the first time!"
"No, there is a way for anyone, not just Emmeline, to fall out of the seat!" Fábio declared. "And that's a fact made clear if you simply take a look at…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…the ride's control panels!"
"Well, I don't know how amusement parks work at your fucking mess of an island, Nip, but here in the West, we got something called ride control panels that we use to make sure guests get on rides safely and securely," Monoyena condescendingly stated. "Course, the Japs probably don't know anything about safety given the fact that they can't even handle a few quakes and waves here and there! Bwa… Bwahahahaha!"
Kikuko took a deep, deep breath and exhaled. It was clear that what the hyena was saying was seriously getting on her nerves.
"You're here to turn the ride off of automatic, right?" Fábio questioned.
"Hey, ya remembered, not bad…" Monoyena seemed genuinely impressed before his jagged red eye darkened. "...For a twink with a bad hairdo…"
"Automatic?" Issac questioned from the other side. "Like, as in, the ride just goes on in a loop if no one turns that option off?"
"Oi, can't fucking hear ya over there!" Monoyena cupped his ear, acting as if he were deaf. "Anyway. Automatic simply makes the ride just go on over and over again. All safety options are off when it's on automatic. So good luck climbing onto the ride when it's on automatic, get me?"
"I may not know mah tech well, but why have dat option in the first place, then?" Yumi asked, confused.
"For show purposes, dumbass!" Monoyena gnashed his sharp teeth together. "Ya ever go outside, see a ride in action and go, 'I wanna ride that too!'? Yeah. That's what automatic is for. But turning it off sets it to manual. Which is what it's on now. That's how I get ya fucks to board the ride and then I can do all the fucking safety checks and shit…"
"N-No!" Alina realized that her bassoon had been knocked out of the running, leaving only the clarinet, oboe, and flute by her side.
"There are two settings to the ride's control panels," Fábio explained. "Automatic and manual! In order to get Emmeline to fall out of her seat, all you needed to do was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…set the ride from manual to automatic!"
"A-AGH!" Alina felt the clarinet get shot out of existence as well. She directed her violin bow toward Fábio once again.
The three arrived at the Spellcaster side of the ride. The ride itself had their handlebars up but was clearly moving despite that. The ride was probably in automatic at the moment. But that was certainly something that Fábio had failed to consider. Because the control panel was on the Lady Radiance side…
"Shucks," Issac rubbed the back of his neck. "Forgot about the control panel now did you, Barbosa?"
"When the settings are set to manual, the ride maintains safety as its top priority," Fábio began. "But when you switch it to automatic, all safety options turn off! So, by doing that in the middle of the ride, there's no doubt that the Lady Radiance handlebar would've released, causing Emmeline to fall out of her cart and onto the Spellcaster cart!"
"O-Oh yeah?!" Alina pointed her violin bow once more. "Then what about after that?! Did you forget what happened afterwards?! The grand finish to the ride?!"
Almost immediately the Lady Radiance coaster car moved at a high speed. No longer did the three feel as if they were falling. Now, it felt as if they were being pushed back into their seats by an electromagnetic force. The coaster car had blasted itself through a relatively bright tunnel. The riders in the Spellcaster coaster were now side-by-side with them and all they could hear was…
"The power of my radiant light compels you!"
"N-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
In fact, that was the last thing they would hear before they reached a familiar sight…
"If Emmeline landed on the Spellcaster cart, she'd still have to endure the high speed to the end!" Alina countered. "How'd you think I countered that?!"
"That's easy!" Fábio explained. "Once Emmeline landed on the Spellcaster cart, all you had to do was...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...turn manual back on!"
Fábio slammed his fist onto the podium and pointed his finger toward Alina.
"That would've kept Emmeline secure in her seat to be brought back to the queue!" he declared.
Fábio had seated himself in the front with Kikuko sitting behind him and Yumi sitting behind her. Similarly, Alina had seated herself in the front of the Spellcaster car with Issac and Isolde sitting behind her and Beauté choosing to sit in the last car on the back. Monoyena had stationed himself at the control panels and pressed a button.
Slowly, the safety bar handles for both coasters had lowered themselves, keeping every rider safely tucked in their own carts. Putting on some headphones and a microphone, Monoyena acted as if he were a ride attendant and his voice echoed throughout the loading dock.
"A-ARGH!" Alina found that both her flute and her oboe were blown away by Fábio's deductions. She was one hit away from finally being defeated.
Twirling her violin's bow around one more time, four string instruments appeared, each of varying sizes. The double bass acted as her shield. The violin, viola, and cello acted as her weapon. She looked a little worse for wear as she grimaced.
"And you think I did all of that?!" Alina exclaimed, allowing her string instruments to screech in retaliation. "You think I just turned on automatic when she reached the loop de loop, waited till she fell, and then turned on manual again?! How?!"
"W-What do you mean?" Fábio blinked.
"I don't think you know this but there's no camera system, Fábio!" Alina answered. "What you're saying is that everything I did, I did based on intuition! The way you described how Emmeline died is something that requires extreme precision! Precision to make sure she arrived at the loop de loop. Precision to make sure the Spellcaster cart was directly underneath her. Precision to make sure the manual setting was safe to turn on after she had landed onto the cart…"
"A-AGH!" this time, it was Fábio's turn to get bombarded with attacks.
"So, tell me!" Alina pointed her violin bow at Fábio once more. "How on earth did I supposedly kill Emmeline in this way, when I had no way of seeing where she would've been at the time?!"
Fábio was taken aback by how quickly Alina had turned this around on him. He had figured out everything else, but this was the one that tripped him up the most. Alina was right. There was no mention of a camera system anywhere. So, how did Alina do it?
"You rode the ride many times!" Fábio argued. "You would've been accustomed to how everything worked!"
"This isn't like Riku's Ultimate Attraction, Fábio!" Alina countered. "You can ride the ride a million times, but you'll still never get the timing of everything correctly!"
"AGH!" Fábio gritted his teeth.
So, how did Alina do it?
"Maybe there was an… accomplice…?" Fábio started to grasp for straws.
"And who would that even be?" Alina conducted more string notes to attack him. "And how would we even communicate?"
So, how did Alina do it?
"Maybe there was another way to control the ride's control system…?" Fábio suggested.
"There's only one way to do it, and it's at the queue right on the Lady Radiance side!" Alina declared. "Admit it! You can't think of any reason on how I could've done it right? Well, there's only one answer: It's because I'm not the murderer!"
"AGHHHH!" Fábio felt the music pierce his body.
Damn it!
How did Alina do it?!
The answer had to be there. Fábio needed to think. Alina had to be the killer. So, she had to use a trick of some kind. This was the final thing he needed so he needed to think hard. What did she do? What could she have done? She didn't have a visual of the tracks or anything like that, so how did she pull off the near-perfect murder without sight…?
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"It's time to break the ice!" Fábio declared in realization. "Of course! So, this is it!"
"W-What…?" Alina was taken aback by Fábio's outburst.
"I know how you pulled it off!" Fábio declared. "The secret trick that isn't so secret now that I think about it! In order to precisely switch manual to automatic and automatic to manual in regard to the ride, all you needed was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
…your Ultimate Talent!"
"A-A-A-A-A-AGHHHHHH!" Alina felt every single string instrument break into a million pieces. Fábio's words had a huge impact against the maestro as she felt herself get knocked out of the battle space she had chosen to create for the figure skater…
...
...
...
...
...
...
…And now, back in reality, Alina was no longer wearing militaristic clothing or a crown or those musical-note shaped medals. Instead, she was just Alina, a sad girl hugging herself as Fábio finally found the single, damning evidence he was looking for.
"That's right…" Fábio muttered. "Your Ultimate Talent…"
"Well... Alina is the Ultimate Maestro... isn't she?" Kazuki nodded. "Therefore… her hearing should exceed those of the average human. I contend that the reason only Alina was able to hear the slam was because of her Ultimate talent. And I'm willing to bet that because it's become second nature to her… I don't think she would've realized it herself at the time…"
The philanthropist turned to the girl of the hour.
"Isn't that right… Alina?" Kazuki tilted his head.
"I… guess you're right," Alina blinked. "I mean, it's not that common for an Ultimate Musician of some sort have super good hearing. So, yeah, you're right! My hearing would be pretty advanced compared everyone else's!"
"Your hearing surpasses that of the average human," Fábio grimly explained. "You didn't need visuals to figure out where Emmeline would've been at the time of the ride. All you needed was your ears. And because the loop de loop section was relatively close to the queue line…"
"Alina would have no problem hearing when exactly Emmeline reached the loop de loop section…" Alisa began, before folding her arms. "...Or when she was dropped onto the Spellcaster cart."
Beauté shook her head with a small chuckle.
"Ah heh heh, such a shame," she smirked. "Alina Summers had nearly pulled off the perfect crime. There was no evidence that could prove her guilt. But in the end, it was her own Talent that ended up being the damning evidence. Only she could've pulled off this crime. No one else…"
Aidan grimaced, looking away.
This was an expression shared by many. But no one looked as guilty as Fábio, the man who had to endure a battle of wits in order to put her down. He looked at her, sympathetically.
"A-Alina…?" he asked.
Alina said nothing for a bit. But finally, she looked at him, giving him a forced smile. But there was something very off about it. Because this wasn't just any forced smile that she would give herself in the mirror…
...
"...Heh heh…" Alina chuckled softly. "Congratulations, Fábio. You win."
...
…It was a broken smile from a sad girl struggling to keep herself together…
DANGANRONPA: TWISTED TRAGEDY
Act 1: The case began at the Ultimate Actress's Attraction, at the top of the next Playtime Event Jingle. To recap, the Playtime Event was Red Light, Green Light. If the back of the collar was Green, you were free to move about as you pleased. But if it was Red, taking even one step would've given you a painful shock.
Act 2: For our victim, Emmeline Swan, this was exactly what happened. The back of her collar was Red and as such, she was unable to move for ten minutes. This is when the culprit met up with her and realized they could use this to their advantage.
Act 3: All the culprit needed to do was consecutively push Emmeline. This forced her to move and got her shocked. The aftermath of multiple shocks like that was her getting knocked out. This made it easier for the culprit to pull off the next part of their plan.
Act 4: For this next scheme, the culprit moved Emmeline to the Lady Radiance dueling coaster ride where they situated Emmeline to the Lady Radiance roller coaster. Then, they started the ride.
Act 5: Having ridden the ride numerous times and even having control of the control panel, the culprit obviously figured out the secret behind the Lady Radiance ride. That secret was that the roller coaster could be used as an easy murder contraption for anyone to use: One coaster cart leads to a secret loop de loop that pits their guests in hang-time and the other coaster cart below serves to catch whoever falls off the ride. This was why anyone who rode the Lady Radiance coaster was subjected to back pains and more extreme levels of adrenaline compared to those who rode on the Spellcaster coaster.
Act 6: This is what the culprit used to their advantage. Using their Ultimate Talent's main gift of advanced hearing, they were able to time correctly when exactly Emmeline's cart would've reached the loop de loop. And once she did...
Act 7: They turned the ride onto Automatic, which would have released the safety measures keeping Emmeline seated on the ride. Because she would've been hanging upside down at the time, this caused Emmeline to fall directly onto the Spellcaster cart. This would make her true method of death: falling.
Act 8: By the time Emmeline had fallen, she had broken her neck against the handlebars of the Spellcaster cart, creating a dent. But not only did her neck break but so did Emmeline's shock collar. Luckily for her, Emmeline died instantly, so she didn't really suffer the painful electric shocks in the end.
Act 9: Once Emmeline had landed onto the Spellcaster cart, that was when the culprit turned the ride back to Manual, activating the safety measures once more and allowing the ride to bring her back. Once there, the culprit grabbed Emmeline's body and headed elsewhere to dispose of the body, in hopes that no one would discover the real crime scene.
Act 10: Unfortunately for them, there was an obstacle in their way: The 2:00 Traffic Jam Parade. Delaying the Traffic Jam Parade was heavily against the rules and anyone who did that would have been subjected to punishment from Monoyena. However, luckily, there was a loophole to that rule.
Act 11: While the rule said they needed to step onto the road and block the Parade Floats in order to delay it, what it never said they couldn't do was ride the Parade Float. And that is exactly what the culprit did: They got on and rode the Lady Radiance Parade Float to their next destination…
Act 12: …The Ultimate Doctor's Attraction! The plan was probably just to dump the body on the other side but unfortunately, there was another obstacle in their way: Beauté Morose, who had been locked on that side of the Hollywood section.
Act 13: In order to bypass her, the culprit decided to utilize the Lady Radiance animatronic to their advantage. The Lady Radiance animatronic had a habit of blinding guests after yelling "Divine Light!". This was what the culprit used to time exactly when they could dump Emmeline's body without being detected.
Act 14: After Beauté was blinded, the culprit had hoped to escape to the Lady Radiance Statue side. Unfortunately, they were unable to as Yukihiko had been locked there as well. This left the culprit no other choice but to remain onboard the Parade Float, locking them in the secret Parade Float Holding Area until the next showing, one hour and 30 minutes later.
Act 15: But for Beauté, this gave her all the time in the world to make things difficult for the rest of us. Realizing Emmeline was dead, Beauté moved her corpse into the Doctor Eternos show and sat through the entire 3:00 PM showing. It was after the show that she enacted her plan…
Act 16: Because there was a temporary photo-op after every showing, Beauté used this moment to create a fake crime scene where she hoped Emmeline's body would be discovered. To do this, she used rope originally tied to a moon prop used in the show and tied it around Emmeline's neck. The point of this was to try to disguise Emmeline's broken neck as a hanging… but unfortunately for her, she failed to see that Emmeline had a broken shock collar as well.
Act 17: After setting up the false crime scene, Beauté's next plan would've been to leave. Unfortunately for her, the next Playtime Jingle began and after a painful shock, she would've realized that the back of her collar was Red. With no other choice, she was forced to remain locked in the Auditorium until the 5:00 PM showing.
Act 18: Speaking of which, our culprit, who was running late to their promised meeting after being locked up in the holding area for so long, realized they needed to leave the Parade Float the first chance they got. Unfortunately, Issac, Fábio, and Yumi were at the Ultimate Actress's Attraction at the time, so jumping off then would've been gotten them caught. This led them to the Clucks Deluxe side instead.
Act 19: However, even more unfortunate for them, was the fact that their collar was also Red at the time, so when they jumped out onto the Clucks Deluxe side, they were shocked into unconscious. That was when Kikuko found them. When they woke up, they concocted a lie, saying they had to get knocked out to avoid delaying the Parade.
Act 20: In the end, they still managed to gather up at the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction as planned with Manon and Daisuke. When the Auditorium opened up, Beauté, who's collar was still Red, realized she needed to blend in and acted as if she had snuck in, so she made her presence known. But as she did so, she activated her collar, forcing her to make a painful noise. That was what our culprit, with the help of their Ultimate Talent, heard at the time...
Act 21: Then, the show began. A thing to remember is that the rope that was tied around Emmeline's corpse was attached to a pulley system interconnected with a monster animatronic set to fall after the second musical number. When the monster fell, Emmeline would've been hoisted up into the air, thus creating a fake murder scene, just as Beauté wanted.
But, while Beauté may have created an entirely fake crime scene for us to solve, it was our culprit who was the one who committed the deed in the first place, using their own Ultimate to help commit the crime. The only Ultimate here with ears stronger than everyone else here… That's you, isn't it...
...Alina Summers, the Ultimate Maestro?!
And here we go! Trial Part 2! Chapter 1 Trial has officially ended! And yes, it was Alina Summers, this entire time ;-; To those who sus'd her, congratulations! To those who sus'd Daisuke... Sorry Candle. Too early :D To those who sus'd Yukihiko. Well well well, guess the Oddly Is Always Right Foundation has been defeated mwahahaha!
Compared to the five rewrites I had to do for Trial Part 1, Trial Part 2 had little to no rewrites XE Just small scenes here and there but goddamn, this was it. This was the cut. And compared to the Chapter 1 Trial in Corrupted Hope, I honestly think this one was much better in terms of story and stuff :0 And also, it wasn't stupid XD Like... come on.
And as you can see, the other game mechanics I implemented were Consent and Last Stand! Ughhhh, so much fun :D
Now, I know there's going to be some confusion. I do read your guy's theories on things, and I have noted some confusions that you guys may have had. So, I'm going to resolve them, not all, right now:
"Roderick didn't freak out over the Monster Parade Float!"
He didn't see the Parade Float. The Monster Parade Float is the last Parade Float of the six Parade Floats. He wouldn't have seen it even when it was paused, because the 6:00 Parade would've just started at the time the body was discovered. The only Parade Float that would've been out was the Police Parade. That, and as he said, he was napping so he didn't even step foot in the park during the previous two Parade showtimes.
"Daisuke and Yukihiko have the same alibi and didn't see each other!"
Daisuke was at the police station and Yukihiko was at the Lady Radiance statue, an 8-foot tall statue. They wouldn't have seen each other regardless. That, and there would've been a Parade going on at the time. If Yukihiko did look at the police station, he would've seen nothing but Parade Floats instead and vice versa for Daisuke! And it's also not like Yukihiko stuck around for long either XD
"Why did Daisuke go to the police station instead of leaving?"
Well, as Daisuke said. The 2:00 Parade had begun. If he went from Clucks Deluxe to Ultimate Actress's Attraction, he wouldn't have been able to reach the exit because the Parade Floats would be blocking them. So, the best course of action was go cross the street to the police station and go to the Ultimate Doctor's Attraction to reach the exit. But unfortunately, he had to stop because of the Red Light, Green Light motive.
"Daisuke's alibi is sus! Like, no one can be that unlucky!"
I know right? XD
"But Emmeline didn't suffer bleeding! She broke her neck from falling! So, she would've bled from her ears and eyes-"
First off, to you nursing students. I hate you so much XE I'll be honest. Did not know this :D Even when I researched, the closest I got was that the bleeding would be internal so that was what I was going off of. Midway through editing, I just said, "Yeah, shock collar lessened the blow" or some BS like that. I hear you doctors! I hear you ;-; Also, I liked it better when the bleeding was internal because then, the question of whether she really did die on the roller coaster would be a little more... questionable. Like: "Did she really die at the roller coaster?"
Anyway, if there's anything else that was confusing, well, either it will be cleared up next time or it's something I forgot and I can clear up on Discord :D Regardless, this is the truth behind the case and what a crazy case it was :D Lots to talk about next time but this is essentially it! And poor Alina... Can't believe she would do such a thing ;-;
As always, let me know how I'm doing! Otterplay gets no shoutout this time cause I already shouted him out today! And let's all look forward to the end of Chapter 1 ;D Like the Trial? Hate it? As always, let me know :) And I'll see you in Chapter 1 Epilogue!
Playmates Remaining: 15
Aidan Brighton - The Ultimate Track Star [Omakin]
Alina Summers - The Ultimate Maestro [Otterplay]
Alisa Zachary - The Ultimate Clockmaker [ExtraMeme]
Beautè Morose - The Ultimate ? [Grandma Sue]
Daisuke Kido - The Ultimate Fast-Food Employee [CandleFire45]
Fábio Barbosa - The Ultimate Figure Skater [Rayy12]
Issac Santiago - The Ultimate Toymaker [oddlyillregular]
Kazuki Nobukatsu - The Ultimate Philanthropist [emberblitz321]
Kikuko Unmei - The Ultimate Shrine Priestess [WolfieRed23]
Manon Vivienne Levesque - The Ultimate Actress [Sempi]
Marabel "Mara" Garcia - The Ultimate Karate Master [Epifanio Therion]
Riku Arakawa - The Ultimate Doctor [theotakureader101]
Roderick Cutler - The Ultimate Deep Sea Fisherman [Orlando Butler]
Yukihiko Yuno - The Ultimate Child Caregiver [Weekaro]
Yumi Gundo - Ultimate Gunslinger [MrUtenaHolic]