Chapter 2: Toxic Words, Venomous Actions (Trial Part 1)
Warning!
This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark and serious themes! And also expect some choice words that might upset people - thanks to a certain Gas Station Manager! But also expect fun and whimsical themes as well! I hope you enjoy!
[Pheme's Room]
"Hmph." Pheme frowned.
"Miss Pheme? What's the matter?" The Figure walked up behind her.
Pheme crossed her arms. "Hmph. I'm experiencing... what's the word? Oh yes! I'm experiencing a problem! That's the word!"
The Figure blinked. "...What's the problem?" For as loyal as they were to Pheme, The Figure had to admit that, she could be a bit scatterbrained at times.
Pheme eyed her desk. She had multiple papers strewn about... it was quite the mess. "My problem... is that... I...
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Oh! Nevermind!" Pheme triumphantly held up a docuement. "No worries! I think I have our seventh person now!" She handed the docuemnt to The Figure.
"...Okay?" The Figure took the document. "Joji Kaneshiro is it? The Ultimate Carpenter?"
"Indeed!" Pheme nodded. "How about it?" She spoke while pulling up a video that The Contact provided them.
"Well... let's see." The Figure sighed while he waited for the video to start.
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[Kaneshiro Residence]
"Welcome back everyone to another episode of Supreme Home Makeover! I am your host, Aren Timu! This episode, we're with the Syrene family! They've been going through financial trouble, so we at SHM are giving them a Supreme Home Makeover for free! We hope you stay tuned!"
"Wow! Aren Timu is so cool!" A preteen Joji Kaneshiro sat on his couch, watching one of his personal favorite home improvement shows, Supreme Home Makeover, starring Aren Timu, a personal idol of his. The show revolves around surprising a random family with a home makeover, and it had some educational elements in it too. He knew it was weird to see a host of a home improvement show as an idol, but frankly, he didn't care! He was going to enjoy whatever he wanted!
Home improvement shows seemed to constantly be the only thing even on TV, so he kinda grew to enjoy them whether he liked it or not. But he does legitimately like them! But that was enough inner monologue! He needed to pay attention to the show!
"Alright, the next area we're working on is the living room!" Aren came back on screen. "Now, you see here?" He pointed to the wall. "We've got a slight tear here! It could be from a lot of things... but that doesn't matter! Just know that we've gotta fix it!" He pulled out a toolbox. "Now, here is what you are going to need!" He started to pull out some tools.
"Oh!" Joji immediately stood up and ran to the supply closet. His home didn't really have an organized tool box or anything, so he had to scrounge around a lot! But he didn't mind.
He kept listening in to the show as he searched through the supply closet.
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"Alright, that's all the tools you need!" Aren held up what tools they were going to use.
"Got it!" Joji got as many tools as he could, then rushed back to the living room.
"Well, let's get started!" Aren started to walk the viewer how to fix the tear.
"Wait!" Joji started to frantically look around the room. He didn't exactly have his own tear to fix. He rushed around, trying to find something... and he managed to! He spotted a... small hole in the wall. One... that he knew... well.
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"I hate you mom! I hate you!"
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It certainly wasn't the first hole he's punched due to his... issues. And he knew it wasn't going to be the last. But he didn't want to think about that. For now, he just wanted to follow along with what Aren Timu was showing him. So, he did just that...
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"Okay! It's done!" Joji wiped his forehead of sweat and looked proudly at his work. The hole looked as good as new! No... remaining evidence. No... being reminded of it. Good! That's good!
"Alright! That's our first fix done! But we've got plenty more! Stay tuned!" Aren spoke to the viewers.
"Right... that's good for now!" Joji went to store the tools he used away.
Ever since Joji started getting into home improvement shows, he's been testing out what he's learned on his own house. He's fixed his sink, holes in the wall, and... that's actually kinda it. He hasn't done it too many times as of yet, but it's something he's taken to doing. And... he has fun while doing so. And as far as he knows, his parents don't particularly care.
And right on cue... Joji heard the front door open. He didn't hear anyone speak though, so he just patiently waited for whoever it was to pass through the living room.
After a few seconds... "Oh, hey dad!" Joji waved to his father, Yuuji Kaneshiro. Yuuji was an accountant. He wasn't particularly famous or anything like that, but he buried himself in his work. Joji hardly ever saw him, so he wanted to use the time he had with him wisely. "Hey dad! Did you see what I did? I fixed the hole in the wall!" He excitedly pointed at his latest project.
"Can't talk. Busy." Yuuji left the living room after abruptly dismissing his son. A few seconds later, Joji heard the front door open and close.
"Oh... okay." Joji smiled sadly as he sat back down. That's... fine. That's okay. He's busy! He gets it! He's working to support his family! Just like Five-Job Mura- :boom:
The show Joji was watching was currently on an extended commercial break, so he just quietly waited for it to come back on. He may have anger issues, but he could still be a very patient guy at times!
But as he waited... he heard the front door open and close again. He had a bad feeling about this one. "Ugh, I always hate coming home to this drab place."
Yep, Joji recognized the voice of his mother, Hana Kaneshiro, all to well. He instinctively got up and tried to go up to his room. He figured he could just continue watching the show upstairs. But as he reached he stairs, he passed by his mother. He didn't say anything.
"Joji." Hana said with a tone that implied she wanted to say something to him.
Joji kept walking up the stairs. He didn't want to bother with her.
"Joji Kaneshiro. Look at me when I talk to you." But Hana clearly wanted to bother with him.
Joji purposely loudly groaned and turned around. "What?" He crossed his arms.
"Tch." Hana scoffed. "Such a horrible kid. Taking that tone with your mother." She rolled her eyes.
Joji balled his hands up into fists. "Do you actually want something?" He was trying his damndest to not flip out at her.
"It's you I don't want." Hana had trouble controlling her emotions when she sees her wretched son. "You so clearly hate and insult me. Your own mother! After I gave up everything for you! Such an ungrateful son! You think I wanted to give up my career as a model?!"
Joji has heard this stupid fucking speech a million times now. Yes, Hana Kaneshiro was a former model. She had a good bit of renown too. But after her pregnancy with her surprisingly normal and lowkey husband came out, she felt like she had no choice but to abandon her career to help raise her son. But she grew to resent her son as a result. "You ruined my fucking career, Joji! And you show no remorse!" She started to yell.
Joji tried his best to control his anger... but you know what? You just gotta say "screw it" sometimes. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He punched the railing of the stairs, causing it to dent. He attempted to make a mental note to fix that later. "I DIDN'T RUIN SHIT FOR YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO RUINED YOUR CAREER BY BEING SUCH A MASSIVE BITCH! GET THE FUCK OFF OF MY CASE FOR ONCE!" He started to yell.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" And then Hana started to yell.
"I'LL SPEAK TO YOU HOWEVER I WANT! JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" With another punch to the poor dented railing, Joji stormed off up to his room and slammed he door as loud as he possibly could.
"DON'T STORM OFF FROM ME!" Hana continued to yell, but Joji didn't care.
He went and buried himself under his covers, just waiting for his mom to either leave the house, or fuck off. She really does ruin his mood...
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"Well, let's go check the mail." A few years later, Joji found himself walking outside to check the mail. It... was just another day. He had just came back to his empty home after volunteering with a local house building project. He had no idea where his mom and dad were, but he really didn't mind not seeing them. He knew his dad was probably just working... and the less he thought of his mother, the better.
"Alright... let's see." Joji took the mail out of the mail box and started to read it out loud. "We've got... some sort of scam... sent by someone named "Cam"... we've got a useless car dealership promo... we've got coupons... we've got Hope's Peak Academy... we've got... wait. What?!" He threw all of his other mail onto the ground as he clutched the HPA letter tightly in his hands. "What the fuck... no way... no way..." He eagerly tore into it.
And when the envelope itself was sufficiently destroyed, Joji read the letter itself. "...Ultimate Carpenter?!" It didn't feel real. Hope's Peak wasn't necessarily his dream or anything... but you'd have to be stupid to not instantly accept this!
It was a perfect opportunity to finally get away from this house! It was a perfect opportunity to perfect his craft! It was... perfect. He had a good feeling about this. The fame that'd come with... he didn't care. He just wanted to be himself. That's all that mattered to him. And... he felt like he could do just that if he went to Hope's Peak Academy...
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[Pheme's Room]
The video cut off.
"Oh! That was fun!" Pheme lightly clapped her hands. "Wasn't it fun?" She looked behind her, curious to see The Figure's reaction to it.
"Hm... yes. It is as you say, Miss Pheme." The Figure kept skimming over Joji's form.
"Right? I'm always right!" Pheme felt so proud of herself. "And... just look at him. A man like-"
"Miss Pheme?" The Figure held his hand up. "You don't need to give your usual "they don't deserve to be alive" speech." They cut off one of the funner parts of these flashbacks. "Frankly, I have no doubt. Let's go with him."
"Truly?" Pheme didn't seem to care that her usual speech got cut off.
"Indeed." The Figure nodded. "Joji Kaneshiro shall be the seventh person to join the Killing Game."
"Oh, wonderful!" Pheme shot her hands up into the air. "I already hope that a certain something will occur here with the presence of a man like Mr. Kaneshiro..."
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[Grand Court]
"Before anything..." Pheme stood up from her throne. "Let's first go over the rules, in case any of you have forgotten! All sixteen- wait. All ten of you shall argue and debate over who you think the blackened is! In other words, over who you think murdered Mr. Mashimoto! At the end of the Studio Trial, you all will vote on who you think did the deed! If you're correct, congratulations! Only the blackened will receive punishment by my own hands!" Pheme giggled. "But... if you pick the wrong person? Everyone besides for the blackened will be punished, and the guilty party gets to escape from this studio scot-free! Fun right? Aren't you excited?" She looked around, expecting a reaction. She didn't get one.
"Aw..." Pheme quietly pouted as she waited for the official debate to start.
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Well... here they were once again. The Grand Court.
Everyone... deep in their souls... wished that they would never have to set foot in this place again. The scenery might've been changed... but this was the same place they condemned Aelia to death. This was the same place they debated and suspected one another. And now... they were back. Why?
Because Genjiro Mashimoto was dead. The 6'5... 274 lbs of muscle... mountain of a man... was dead. And whether they liked it or not...
One of them killed him. But you know what? That wasn't all!
"Shit... this place feels real empty." Yoshino looked around the room.
"Indeed." Damien solemnly nodded.
Yes... due to the events of this case, six out of the remaining sixteen weren't here.
Kuroko suffered a seizure.
Aurora was poisoned.
Rosalind suffered a head injury.
And Alpha was severely injured.
All four of their ailments only added to the mystery!
Then Adam and Raiha stayed behind to take care of them for the duration of the Studio Trial.
That left a mere ten here to figure out what happened to the later Genjiro Mashimoto. But... they can do this. It'll be tough... but they can do it. They have to. Not everyone may have liked Genjiro... but they refused to let him die in vain. That... wouldn't be right.
So... they begun.
"Before anything important..." Kei looked around the room. "Pheme. You really don't care about half of us being gone?"
"Nope!" Pheme happily shook her head. "It makes the trial a little more interesting! And if the missing six prove vital to the case, I'll get them down here, rest assure!"
"Huh... okay then." Kei shrugged.
"So... how should we properly begin this? Not gonna lie, I'm fucking lost." Yoshino scratched her head.
"Yeah... a lot happened... didn't it?" Rival seemed tired, but he always seemed tired. So in other words, he seemed relatively normal. As normal as one could be after seeing three dead bodies within the course of roughly a week.
"We can't forget the motive too... we don't know how it affected all of this in the end." Joji scowled. How could it come to this...?
"Hold on." Ji-hoon stopped any other comments. "Let's not get overwhelmed. There's a lot to digest with this mystery... so let's take it one step at a time." They weren't timed, unlike a certain silly space Killing Game, so they had plenty of time to discuss.
"I hope... everyone else is okay..." Lake, not paying attention to Ji-hoon, slowly looked around at the six completely empty podiums.
"Lake... it'll be okay. And they'll be okay." Joji tried his best to reassure them. "We gotta get this done. No matter what." He could feel a fire burning in him right now... but he had to just be calm...
"Anyway, back to what Ji-hoon said?" Kei redirected attention back to the topic at hand. "If we're taking it one step at a time... let's start with the Pheme File. Make sure we all are on the same page yeah?"
"Wonderful idea Kei!" Damien praised his lawyer compatriot. "Let's see here..." He pulled out his Star-Phone and read the Pheme File out loud for everyone.
-The victim was Genjiro Mashimoto, the Ultimate Wrestler.
-His body was found in the Ultimate Pop Star's Studio.
-Genjiro's cause of death is unknown.
-Genjiro's time of death was 11:10 PM.
"Nyaha?" Cathy somehow made her laugh sound like a question. "Where do we even start with that minuscule information?"
"I'd say the location." Sensing that it'd be harder for him to be a background character with fewer people here, Darren chimed in.
"Oh?" Cathy raised an eyebrow at the bartender. "Why do you say that, bartender human?"
Darren shrugged. "It's the natural place to start. Besides, the cause of death and the time of death will be harder puzzles to solve. Talking about the location should be an easier start." He spoke probably the longest paragraph he's said in the story so far.
"Ah yeah... I get it." Yoshino nodded along. "Pheme talked a little about the COD anyway..."
"If you would hold on, Mx. Beaumont, I could explain why!" Pheme shook her head disapprovingly.
"Oh! Sorry!" Lake bowed their head. They didn't know what came over them there.
"So... as you all can see, Mr. Mashimoto's cause of death is unknown!" Pheme giggled as she looked over to his body. "It is listed that way because... if you knew his cause of death, the case would be too easy to solve!"
"Indeed she has my dear Yoshino." Damien narrowed his eyes, concentrating on something. "And the time of death is a complicated place to start anyway. So... the location." He nodded, before looked to his right. "My dear Ayaka? Are you feeling alright?" He wanted to check in on his dear Ayaka. She was acting strange during the investigation... though he couldn't really blame her. So he wanted to make sure she was feeling okay.
"I-I'm fine." Ayaka let out a deep exhale. In case it wasn't obvious, she was feeling a lot of anxiety right now. The fact that so much... there's no good word for it. But the drinking party didn't at all go how she wanted it to go... and she felt responsible for it. She knew that was silly. But...
"My dear Ayaka." Damien took his dear Ayaka's hand. "Please... just know that this'll go alright. I know you may be apprehensive, and I understand why. But know... I'll be in your corner the whole way. No matter what. So..." He gently lifted his dear Ayaka's chin up with his other hand. "Please face this obstacle with me and everyone else."
"Damien..." Ayaka didn't know what to say. Every time he talked to her, she severely underestimates how smooth he can be. But despite that... he's right. She knew he was right. It was hard... but..."
"Gag!" Cathy audibly gagged. "Beautician human, now isn't the time to put on your manly wiles for the violinist human! We have a mystery to solve!" She wagged her finger at the beautician human.
Damien merely chuckled. "I am aware, my dear Catherine. I was merely propping up the spirits of my dear Ayaka." He put a hand on her shoulder. Man, it's convenient these two are next to each other alphabetically!
"Right..." Ayaka took a deep breath. She just decided to ignore whatever Cathy had to say. "S-So... we're talking about the location right? Bessie's Ultimate Studio?" She got the conversation back on track.
Joji suddenly slammed his podium, causing Lake to jump a little. "Hang on! I have an idea!"
"W-What is it Joji?" Lake nervously chuckled as they recovered from that scare.
"Oh! Sorry Lake!" Joji apologized. "Anyway, I got a question. How about, instead of Bessie's Ultimate Studio... we talk about a different place?"
"...Are you going to say what that place is?" Ji-hoon hated when people were cryptic like that.
"Yeah!" Joji added with another slam of his podium. "The entire second floor! I think we should leave Bessie's Ultimate Studio for last. We should start by sorting through what the fuck happened!" He also wanted to do that because he wanted to know what happened to his own Ultimate Studio.
"Hm... fair point." Sharing in Joji's sentiment, Damien nodded along. He also wanted to know what happened to his own Ultimate Studio.
"And there was blood everywhere... all over the floor..." Lake got chills just thinking of it.
"Nyaha! Not to mention that somehow had broken into the boarded-up room there!" Cathy was admittedly a little piffed that someone had snuck in there before she had. "What even was that room? The Ultimate EMT's Studio or some such nonsense?"
Pheme interjected with a cough. "Don't worry about the details Ms. Munchkin! Please just move on!" She didn't even try to hide the fact that she was hiding something from her glamorous stars.
"Okay! Again! Not everything at once!" Ji-hoon groaned. "But I see your point Joji. Let's do it that way." He agreed with Joji's idea.
"If I may then?" Damien cleared his voice. "I'd like to talk about my Ultimate Studio first, if that's agreeable?"
"I think I'd l-like to talk about Damien's Studio first too." Ayaka agreed.
"Well we gotta talk about something first." Kei shrugged. "That sounds good. So... Damien's Ultimate Studio. It got pretty demolished didn't it?"
"Yes... it wasn't a very pleasant sight." It was Damien's own personal room suited to his tastes... so it makes sense he was a little disappointed. "Just to confirm Pheme?" He turned his head towards the goddess. "There's no chance it can be rebuilt or anything?" It wasn't like it was completely destroyed, but it wasn't exactly something he could repair himself.
"Nope! I'm afraid not!" Pheme cheerily answered. "It's just not in the budget!" She shrugged.
"Hmph. I see." Damien sighed.
"Anyway..." Lake felt for Damien here, but they wanted to move on. "Along with being destroyed... the smell was... ugh. It wasn't very pleasant." They couldn't believe it when they entered there.
As soon as Lake entered the Ultimate Studio, it felt like it was an assault on their nostrils. "O-Oh my god!" They immediately went to plug their nose, because Damien's Ultimate Studio reeked. It was the strongest and nastiest mix of smells that Lake had ever had the displeasure of smelling. And... they didn't have to think too hard about where the smell was coming from.
"That's just a mix of the smells from all the make-up products." Ji-hoon crossed his arms. "I don't think that itself is relevant... it's just a side effect from the carnage."
"Hey... humans? What's the point to this?" Cathy wasn't getting it. "Shouldn't you be talking about... I don't know... evidence?"
Ayaka coughed. Not a Rosalind cough, as she was currently knocked the fuck out. "T-This... is evidence though. It we're going to figure out what happened, it's g-good to go over everything."
"Nyaha! An awful boring way to do it!" Cathy giggled.
"...Do you have a better idea...?" Rival sighed as he tried to find the best way to stand comfortably.
"Don't pay attention to her Val!" Yoshino slammed her fist down on her podium. "She's just trying to derail the debate!"
"...It's barely even started though." Rival shrugged.
"Can we please try to just... talk? About the case?" Ji-hoon didn't want this debate to be filled with mindless fluff. He wanted the trial to be nice and concise!
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Yeah, like that would ever happen.
"C'mon guys, Ji-hoon is right. Let's not pay attention to Cathy. She's not gonna add anything worthwhile anyway." Joji tried to tell everyone else. Honestly, for all intents and purposes, they essentially had nine people here, not ten.
"Nyaha! You're awfully rude carpenter human! But that's to be expected from a-" Cathy was about to hurl out a good insult to Joji... but she got cut off.
"If we're going to focus on evidence..." She got cut off by Lake of all people. Normally, they'd have their own interjection here, but they wouldn't want to raise their voice. "There was one thing that stood out to me when Ayaka and I were investigating."
Ayaka widened her eyes a little, both at her name being brought up and by Lake being pretty serious here. But she took a second to catch on to whay Lake was putting down. "S-Something that stood out... well, there were two things in there that stood out to me."
"And what were those things my dear Ayaka?" Damien waited eagerly to see his dear Ayaka's answer.
"Well, there w-were really only two noteworthy things in there anyway." Ayaka adjusted her mask a little. "They were the...
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Nail gun... and Alpha's sunglasses."
"...Hey. What's that?" And they didn't even have to dig through anything, as Ayaka immediately noticed something of interest. She bent down to pick it up. "It's... Alpha's sunglasses? Is she missing t-these?"
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"What's what?" Lake turned to see what Ayaka was starting at. "Oh!" They then bent down and picked it up. "It's... a nail gun. I think I remember seeing this when I explored Joji's Studio with Joji!"
"Oh! No shit?" Joji seemed interested. "I was wondering where they were! She didn't have them on her at all!" He added with another podium slam. "So they're in Damien's Studio then...?" He started to think about what that might imply.
"You said... a nail gun?" Darren was curious about the second thing. "Was that supposed to be there? Or was it seized?" He asked a valid question.
"It was taken." Ji-hoon, Kei, Damien, and Joji all answered in unison, causing them to look strangely at each other.
"But uh-" Ji-hoon had to recover from that weird moment. "I want to come back later to the nail gun." He brushed that aside for now. "Right now, I'm more interested in Alpha's sunglasses. Because those being there... implies a few things."
"Y-Yeah... I think I get it." Ayaka had an inkling on what Ji-hoon was thinking about. "Then... should we move on to Joji's Ultimate Studio next? T-That should be essentially everything important in Damien's Ultimate Studio talked about... I think."
"That sounds agreeable." Damien was alright with moving on. "Now... Joji's Ultimate Studio was rather destroyed too, yes?" He raised an eyebrow.
Joji grunted. "Yeah... it was." He knew what Damien was feeling right now. It sucks to see a room like that get trashed. No cleaning a mess like that up :pensive:
"Yeah... it was." Lake echoed Joji's sentiment as they started to think more about it. They were the one who investigated the place itself after all. Along with Ayaka. "Maybe a weird way to word it, but it seemed, like, on the same level as destroyed as Damien's Studio was. Does that make sense?"
"Nah... I getcha." Yoshino agreed. Especially after seeing her own Ultimate Studio and what happened to it, there was something fishy about how lightly destroyed these Ultimate Studios were. But that's something for later.
"I get w-what you mean Lake." Ayaka nodded in agreement. "I think... both studio must've been destroyed by the same people." The violinist claimed.
"And what makes you sure of that my dear Ayaka?" Damien liked seeing his dear Ayaka take initiative.
"Well... because of something t-that Lake and I found there." Ayaka continued. "We found...
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a piece of Genjiro's cape." Ayaka pulled it out of her pocket. "O-Or, I guess his shirt? Just... whatever."
"Oh... I see." Kei realized what she was implying. "You're saying Genjiro and Alpha destroyed those rooms then?"
"N-Not necessarily?" Ayaka couldn't seem to have her mask sit comfortably on her face for some reason, so she kept on adjusting it. "M-More like... the main struggle happened there. It went from Joji's Studio, to Damien's Studio, then to Bessie's Studio."
"Ah! Wonderful observation my dear Ayaka!" Damien praised his dear Ayaka. "I myself am still wondering how those two ended up in a struggle. Genjiro was easily the strongest man here, and my dear Alpha is no slouch herself."
"I am too!" Joji crossed his arms. From the beginning, he knew how strong Genjiro was. Hell, he arm wrestled him! He somehow won that too! But that's not the point. For as much as Joji wanted to know exactly what happened... "Right now, we gotta accept that some freak... something happened to those two. We can figure out what it was later. Let's keep moving."
"Right!" Yoshino approved. "So... my Ultimate Studio next then?"
"...Oh yeah. It was barely even destroyed huh. At least compared to the other two." Rival recalled as he explored it off-screen in the investigation. "Guess those two... held back a little for you." He slowly shrugged. "They didn't really destroy anything at all."
"I'm... not sure that's right." Ji-hoon slowly shook his head. "Yoshino? You said it was essentially just the horror figurines toppled over right? Nothing was actually destroyed?" He wanted to confirm.
"Yeah. Pretty much. I saw it when I first found Rosa laying in there." Yoshino scowled at the thought of what happened to Rosalind. She didn't even know what happened... but she didn't like it.
"Right then... I highly doubt Genjiro and Alpha tore through your Ultimate Studio then." Ji-hoon claimed. "Honestly, in the grand scheme of the case, I doubt they even went in there."
"Agreed." Darren decided he needed to make another cameo. "Genjiro and Alpha... they wouldn't hold back that much. So whoever toppled that stuff over is a different person."
"Huh. Makes sense." Rival could see that. "Oh hey. Unrelated, but did we ever figure out... the deal with the buttons in Yoshino's Studio? Below the posters?"
"Oh shit... I kinda forgot about those." Throughout all the times Yoshino had gone in there to hang out, those hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Anything else..." Yoshino had to think. "Uh... yeah actually! There were a bunch of horror-themed posters on the wall, and some had buttons under them. Didn't do shit when we pressed them. Not sure what they mean." She shrugged.
"Uh... huh. I don't know." Yoshino didn't have an ideas about them.
"...So what's the point then? The goddess planting random things for fun then?" Cathy wasn't sure if she approved of that or not.
"Well why not ask her?" Kei smirked. "Pheme? What's the deal with those buttons?" He boldly asked.
"Buttons...?" Pheme couldn't see the flashback, so it took her a second to recall what they were talking about. "Oh! The ones in Ms. Akiyama's studio?"
"...Are there any other buttons?" Joji frowned.
"Tee hee! Silly Mr. Kaneshiro! I can't tell you that!" Pheme wagged her finger. "But... ah yes, I remember! Those buttons did have a use. But now... likely not." She shook her head.
"Likely not? What does that mean?" Lake tilted their head.
"Well, you weren't there for it Mx. Beaumont. But the reason why those likely will not be doing anything now is because of what happened two days ago! You remember? If not, allow me to trigger a flashback for you!" Pheme kindly offered.
"Y-Yes... is this t-the puzzle? Simply b-breaking out of here?" Adam surmised.
Pheme wagged her finger. "Not... exactly. You see... I know I never said when you stars could attempt this room. But... you all stepped foot in here a tad early."
"Early? What do you mean?" Aurora had calmed down from witnessing the cat fight, and now just wanted answers.
"Well... in an ideal world, eight of you stars would've gone in here after... the second motive." Pheme dropped that on them. "The second motive would've made the puzzle a lot more apparent and fun! But... oh well! Things happen!"
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Pheme snuck a glance back at Alpha and Genjiro, who were both still attempting to break down the door. "Don't worry Mr. Lux! I will!" She kept pacing around. "This originally would've been structured a tad bit differently... considering the motive of course!" She added with a wink. "But... let's do this." She stopped pacing. "I'll tell you all how to escape. There was a whole puzzle here planned, but it's alright! We don't need to worry about it!"
"Those buttons would've been a part of the original puzzle in there!" Pheme revealed. "But now... I guess they won't be used! Oh well!" She didn't seem to care that much."
"Oh. Uh... okay?" Yoshino wasn't sure how to feel about that. "As long as they're... not dangerous?"
Pheme giggled. "Don't worry Ms. Akiyama! They aren't! ...I think." She dropped that ominous little comment.
"What?!" Yoshino didn't want to let that slide.
"Hm... I don't think it's relevant." Darren got another cameo. Crazy! "Probably just stick to... whatever is relevant."
Yoshino frowned. She didn't know why Darren assumed that, but whatever. "Fine. You're probably right anyway." She gave in. "So... if we're going to stick with what's relevant..." She mentally prepared herself to talk one of the many... complicated things in this case.
"Relevant... right." Lake might not of been the one to discover it, but it still chilled them.
"Yes..." Well, lucky for everyone here that they had Damien, who is such a good guy, he's willing to talk about heavy topics when no one else can. "If we are to talk about what's relevant in my dear Yoshino's Ultimate Studio, then we must bring up...
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Rosalind." For the sake of dramatic effect, he dropped the "my dear" for now.
"Yeah... Rosa." Yoshino of course wanted her to rest and recover from whatever happened to her, but without her here, it's hard to know what exactly happened to her.
"Fuck...!" Joji stomped his foot. He's been holding it back ever since he heard about what happened to her, but... "God I... that makes me so mad! Rosalind is a weak girl... and the killer just... what?Wacks her on the damn head with the board or something?! It's fucking heartless!" He stomped his foot again. "I hate seeing shit like that. Someone who was a victim-"
"Objection!"
Kei suddenly pointed an accusatory finger Joji's way, sending a strong gust of wind his direction as well.
"Wha-!" Joji shielded his face with his arm, luckily nullifing most of the impact of the wind. "Kei! What's your deal?!" He didn't appreciate the sudden gust of wind.
"Woah! That was cool! Wait-" Lake shook their head a few times. They probably shouldn't focus on coolness right now. "Um, what's up Kei?" They widened their eyes. They didn't understand how they were able to summon gusts of wind down in the Grand Court, but they didn't question it.
"That was pretty cool wasn't it?" Kei brushed off his suit, even though it wasn't dirty. He had always wanted to do that before. "Anyway... I wouldn't speak so soon Joji." He wagged his finger, in a similar fashion to the :kei_fingerwaggle: emote I plan on getting for the OD discord server eventually.
"Wha- why?" Joji frowned and shook his head as he thought back to his last statement. "What's the problem?" He calmed down a little.
"Well... it was a word you used." Kei smirked. "Victim. You called Rosalind a victim."
Yoshino frowned. "What's wrong with Jojo calling her that? She is one, isn't she?"
"Heh." Kei chuckled and shook his head. "Funny you chime in Yoshino. Because both you and Joji should know why Rosalind may not be completely blameless here."
"Why would Jojo and I- oh." Yoshino realized. "I getcha. Honestly, it slipped my mind a little." She sighed. "Jojo? You got them don't you?"
"Do I got-" Joji cut himself off. "Fuck. I know what you mean now." He'd been focusing a bit too hard on that Rosalind was attacked... that he almost forgot something else. "The reason why Rosalind isn't a victim... it's these isn't it?" He pulled two things out of his pocket.
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"Bessie's Star-Phone and Remote." This wasn't really a dramatic reveal or anything, considering everyone had already been informed of this.
"Now you see my point?" Kei slowly placed his hand down on his podium. "Rosalind is apparently our culprit for stealing those. Shame Aurora can't be here." He shook his head. He didn't mean for that to sound ominous, it just kinda came out that way.
"Nyahaha! I'm impressed!" Cathy smirked in approval. "I'd never expect the cinematographer human to be able to pull off a heist! She's the slowest human here! Nyahaha!"
"Yeah... Cathy might have a point." Rival actually agreed with her. "Rosalind... she doesn't seem like the type to steal." It wasn't like he was particularly close with her or anything, it was just his own opinion.
"Nope. Can't think like that." Ji-hoon immediately shut that line of logic. "Saying that someone didn't do something because it "seems like they didn't" is a stupid way to think here." He crossed his arms.
"But..." Lake didn't really like hearing that. "Why would Rosalind steal them in the first place?"
"That's what we're here to find out." Ji-hoon stated. Truthfully, he could see where Rival was coming from, in a way. But with what he knows about Rosalind... he couldn't be sure if those events changed her or not. Perhaps she has a hidden side to her. He's not one to put blind faith in people.
"B-But, is there any evidence about that?" Ayaka questioned. "We don't know if it's r-relevant at all. And we likely can't f-figure out anything without Rosalind here."
"Hmph... fair enough." Ji-hoon realized he might've let his biases blind him for a moment.
"If that's the case, then how about we circle back to what Joji was initially talking about, yeah?" Kei checked his hair to see if it was getting spiky or not. "We know Rosalind may or may not be blameless... as the fact that she had Bessie's Star-Phone and remote on her is strange. Instead of that though, how about the "victim" part here?"
Joji scowled as he got reminded of what he was angry about a few minutes ago. "The fact that she was knocked out. Unconscious and still is."
"Yeah... fuck." Yoshino felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered the scene. She was the one who found her after all! "For now, fuck Bessie's whatevers." It was probably going to be relevant somehow, but she didn't want to think about it right now. "How and why was Rosa attacked in my Ultimate Studio?!" She was admittedly a little piffed it had to be hers.
"The how and the why may be trickier to figure out..." Damien narrowed his eyes. "At least, compared to who attacked my dear Rosalind."
"Right..." Ji-hoon knew what Damien meant. "From what it seems like, one of two people... or more like one of three people could've attacked Rosalind."
"...Oh shit... I get it." Yoshino groaned. She came to the same conclusion that Ji-hoon had. "The first thing that you'd think of is that the killer attacked Rosa... but there are two more suspects...
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Genjiro and Alpha." Yoshino groaned again. God she hoped those idiots didn't actually do that.
"Wait what?! Why would they attack Rosalind?!" Lake didn't get it. "Wouldn't Rosalind's attacker... just be the killer?"
"You'd think that wouldn't you?" Kei stretched his arms. "Sadly, these cases are never that simple." He shook his head. "I mean... there is a chance that Alpha is the killer... but it's hard to say that definitively." Will Epi get a W? Like Kei said, it's hard to say that definitively.
"Yep. That's a bridge to cross a little later." It's weird seeing Darren talk this much.
"Okay... but why would they attack her?" Joji repeated Lake's question.
"There's always a chance... she got in their way somehow." Rival shrugged. "Those two were clearly... up to something. Maybe they needed to knock Rosalind out... because of that."
"Nyaha! Or it could be similar to what the lawyer human said! Perhaps the cinematographer human attempted to kill the wrestler human or gas station manager human... then perhaps they struck back at the cinematographer human?" Cathy offered an actual valid idea.
"Hey... that kinda made be think of something." Yoshino couldn't believe that Cathy was actually being useful, but she wasn't going to object. "Don't mean to derail the topic... but how did Genjiro even die? If Cathy's idea is right, we'd have to know how Genjiro died first right?"
"I f-feel like we're doing a lot of topic shifting." Ayaka sighed.
"Well my dear Ayaka, one of the main struggles of these trials is figuring out the correct order in which to tackle these subjects." Damien placed a comforting hand on his dear Ayaka's shoulder. "Perhaps we started in the wrong place... shall we shift to Genjiro's mysterious cause of death?"
"That... may not be the worst idea." Ji-hoon adjusted his glasses. "I didn't click immediately for me... but I think I know how Genjiro died." It didn't come to mind when he was inspecting his body... but just now, he remembered a certain conversation he had with Aelia. Back when they were investigating K.M.'s body.
"Wait really? You know how he died?" Joji widened his eyes as he slammed his podium. This was probably the thing he was the most curious about in this case. He knew a man like Genjiro Mashimoto wouldn't go down easily.
"Yes... I think so." Ji-hoon had to think more on how it even happened in the first place, but nevertheless... "Genjiro died from...
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poison." Befitting the chapter's title of course!
"W-Wait... really?" Ayaka didn't like hearing that.
"...Poison... huh." Rival thought of Aurora for a second. "Same as Aurora then...?"
"Well I'm not sure if it's the same poison. I doubt it." Ji-hoon shook his head.
"But wait... why are you sure Genjiro died from poison?" Lake tilted their head with a concerned look on their face.
"It was when I was investigating his body." Ji-hoon took out his Star-Phone and went to his notes. "I remembered what happened with K.M., and I got the idea to smell his breath."
After Ji-hoon noted that, he moved Genjiro's neck to where he could see his mouth. The celebrity detective sighed and duck down to the wrestler's mouth and took a whiff. He immediately knocked back by the strong smell of chemicals. But also... "Pineapple?"
"Uh... why the fuck would you do that?" Yoshino was confident that Genjiro would have some nasty breath.
"I just explained why. Because of K.M." Ji-hoon sighed. "But the fact of the matter is, I caught that Genjiro's breath smelled like chemicals and pineapple. He actually reeked of pineapple, but that's likely just due to the drink he had."
"Genjiro had some Four Seasons Rum: Winter. It was pineapple flavored." Darren was legally obligated to chime in when it came to alcohol. "...But that shouldn't have any chemicals in it. ...As far as I know."
"So... someone's breath smelling like chemicals... means they've been poisoned?" Lake didn't know that.
"I guess s-so?" Ayaka blinked. You know, it's fair enough not everyone would know that.
"Well it's not applicable all the time... but yes, it can definitely mean poisoning." Kei crossed his arms as he answered in Ji-hoon's place.
"Well shit... I guess that makes sense." Joji sighed deeply. "A guy like Genjiro... it's hard to imagine him going down in a fight. You'd have to weaken the guy first... and poison would sure do that. Damn it." He stomped his foot. He recognized it didn't necessarily matter in the grand scheme of things, but Joji didn't like that the killer used such a coward's way of killing.
"Well hold on." Yoshino held up her hand. "I mean... I get what you're saying here. Genjiro dying from poison... I see it. But where did the poison come from? Jiji and them hid it away right? How'd the killer find it?" She crossed her arms.
Damien and Joji gave Kei and Ji-hoon a look. "Did...?" Joji narrowed his eyes.
"Is...?" Damien also narrowed his eyes.
Ji-hoon and Kei silently nodded.
And everyone else felt like they were being left out.
"Am I missing something here?" Yoshino was confused.
"Are you guys... h-hiding something?" Ayaka looked around. "Damien?" She looked up to her dear Damie- wait! She doesn't refer to people like that!
"...If I am correct, this would be better explained by Ji-hoon or Kei." Damien closed his eyes.
"Guys... seriously?" Joji was afraid of this happening...
"Nyaha? Can you humans just explain whatever it is you're hiding?" Even Cathy was getting impatient.
"Alright... I can do it. I was the one who checked on it first anyway." Ji-hoon took a deep breath. "So... everyone. You remember back when I told you that the dangerous items in Damien's and Joji's Studios had been taken care of?"
"Yes... I do!" Lake nodded.
"Right..." Ji-hoon continued. "So we didn't say it at the time... but by "taking care of them," we meant that we stashed them in my room."
"Oh...?" That was all Darren had to say to that.
"...Makes sense. Storing them in the room of... our leader." Rival stuck his hands in his pockets. "But you didn't think to tell... everyone else?" He didn't seem particularly mad at that or anything, he was just curious.
"Our glorious leader wanted to be on the safe side. That's all." Kei shrugged. "Everyone who knew was myself, Joji, Damien, and obviously Ji-hoon."
"Huh. I don't like keeping secrets like that..." Lake slightly frowned. "But... I guess it's okay. As long as nothing was stolen or anything right?" They looked around expectingly.
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"Guys? Why are you quiet?" It didn't click for Lake yet.
"So... Joji built a box for the items to he stored in. And we stored that box in my room." Ji-hoon looked around as he spoke.
"Yeah? What're you... trying to say?" Rival narrowed his eyes.
"Sorry. I'm just trying to work it out in my head." Ji-hoon shook his head. "But to get to the point... the box was broken into."
"Oh boy..." Kei was doing his best to tank the smell. "Looks like Joji's box didn't work... whoops." He sighed and shook his head.
In case it wasn't obvious, the box that Joji had made to store all of the tools from the Ultimate Carpenter's Studio and the poison from the Ultimate Beautician's Studio... it was demolished. So many different tools and so many shards of glass lined the floor. The box was dragged out of hiding into the middle of the room as well.
"Indeed it was!" Pheme decided to chime in. "Believe me, I never expected to be called to fumigate one of your rooms!"
"W-What?" Ayaka blinked. "Fumigate?"
"That's correct Ms. Naganohara!" Pheme winked. "Mr. Jo has stashed away all of the poisonous perfumes I had so loving given you all! But-"
"I can explain what happened Pheme." Ji-hoon cut the goddess off. "You aren't a part of this debate."
"Oh! So be it!" Pheme giggled as she relaxed in her throne and stayed quiet.
"Alright..." Pheme really got on Ji-hoon's nerves sometimes. "So I said the box got broken into. And I mean that literally. It was demolished."
"What?! That's bull! I know I built that nice and sturdy!" Joji shouted.
Kei chuckled. "We know you did. But it was destroyed. Including the perfumes. His room smelled... not good, gotta be honest. And there was of course poison in the air. So that wasn't good."
"S-So Pheme did fumigate it right?" Ayaka wanted to make sure. "It didn't like... s-spread to other rooms right?" She was worried.
"I'm sure Pheme did do that my dear Ayaka." Damien gave his dear Ayaka a comforting smile. Though even Damien couldn't be 100% sure. "You... did, right Pheme?" He wanted to be sure.
"..." Pheme stayed silent. "Oh? Am I part of this debate now? Can I speak?"
Ji-hoon rolled his eyes. "Oh my god..." He groaned. Pheme could go from acting neurotic to acting childish in a second... frankly, it was pretty interesting. It only made him more curious about her... but it wasn't the time for that. "Yes Pheme. Did you make sure my room is safe?" He did honestly want to make sure of that. It was his room after all.
Pheme giggled. "Of course I did! There should be no more poison in the air, and there's no way it could've spread! The nearly soundproof walls are thick, and the doors are thicker! Rest assured, there's no way it could've spread anywhere else! So don't worry Ms. Naganohara!"
"...Okay then." Ayaka wasn't exactly comforted by anything Pheme says, but she knew that she'd likely just have to take that.
"Getting back on topic..." Damien redirected everyone. "The box being demolished... and Joji's proclamation about how sturdy it is forms a certain conclusion in my mind."
"What do you-" Joji widened his eyes. "Fuck! Really?" He jumped on the same train of thought Damien was on.
"Joji? What is it? What did you figure out?" Lake wasn't on the train of thought yet.
Joji scowled. "Yeah... I'm confident only one person could've broken into the box and demolished it. It could only be...
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Genjiro. Only he would've been strong enough. I'm confident of that." Joji firmly nodded.
"Hold on though... Genjiro shouldn't have known where the box of shit was though right?" Yoshino kept internally groaning as more of Genjiro's possible shenanigans kept coming to light.
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The four boys had nothing for that.
"That's what I don't get yet..." Ji-hoon impatiently tapped his foot on the ground. "But... I think I have proof it was him who did though."
"Wha- really?!" Yoshino widened her eyes.
"No shit?" Joji was confident in his proclamation, but he didn't expect actual proof for it.
"Yes... but first, I want to ask Damien something." Ji-hoon turned to look at the beautician. "I trust your memory more than mine on this topic. But do you know all of the scents of the poisonous perfumes off the top of your head?"
"The scents..." Damien had to think back for a second. "Yes... I believe I do. I remember discovering them with my dear Ayaka. The scents were Orange, Citrus, Orange Citrus, Grapefruit, Vanilla, and... Lavender."
Something about that list Damien gave... sounded weird to Ayaka. But she was probably just imagining it.
"Right... okay." Ji-hoon nodded. "The air around Genjiro's body reeked of grapefruit. There were something resembling a glass bottle in his pocket too, though it was broken. Adam can back me up on that." He got right to the point.
"Woah." Before Ji-hoon could get any closer, he felt his nose scrunching up. "The hell is that smell? It's so strong." He sniffed the air around him. "Is it... grapefruit?" He was no grapefruit connoisseur, but he could still recognize the smell. "Why would the air smell like... ah." He realized it quickly.
"Oh shit... so Genjiro stole the grapefruit poison?" Joji was worried about what the wrestler might've been up to.
"Well... it'd have to be him or... maybe Alpha?" Lake thought.
"If the integrity of the box is to believed, then yes." Kei gave Joji a smug look. "I don't see a reason to doubt Joji... after all, given what we know, it's unlikely he poisoned Genjiro."
"Fuck yeah! I'd never do that!" Joji wasn't sure if he and Genjiro could really be considered friends... but he still wouldn't poison the guy!
"Yeah, no way Jojo did it." Yoshino firmly shook her head. "But damn... guess Genjiro was planning on poisoning someone himself yeah? But he got got first by... whoever the fuck poisoned him. That idiot..."
"Man... having Alpha here would answer a lot of questions." Rival did a half sigh/half groan. A grigh, if you will.
"...W-Wait a second." Ayaka suddenly spoke up.
"My dear Ayaka? What is it?" Damien was always eager to let his dear Ayaka speak.
"Well... I'm still w-wondering about something." Ayaka quickly eyed Ji-hoon and Kei. "...When did Genjiro steal the poison?"
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Ji-hoon copied Rival's grigh. "I'm glad you brought that up Ayaka. Because... I'm not sure." He shook his head.
"You're... not sure?" Ayaka blinked. Frankly, given how Ji-hoon likes to hog all of the brain cells of the group, she would've expected him to immediately know.
"Yeah... same here actually." Kei lightly chuckled. "Ji-hoon and I guarded the box all day. And it obviously hadn't been broken into then. And then... we got to the party after Genjiro and Alpha. Then after... we sat in the grand lobby, talking about what happened. We had a clear view of the VIP Quarters. People came and went... but no Genjiro or Alpha. We did that until the ol' handcuffs came off. After that, we went right to the second floor. But by that time, it'd be a bit too late for Genjiro to commit any shenanigans." The lawyer summed up their alibi. "So yeah. Not sure when they got that."
"But... it was indeed demolished yes?" Damien wanted to confirm.
"Yep." Kei nodded.
"So... the carpenter human is wrong then? How amusing!" Cathy laughed at Joji's presumably wrong assumption. "So it can't be the wrestler human/gas station manager human that broke it then! Nyahaha!"
"No! Fuck that!" Joji slammed his fist down on his podium. "The shit I build is sturdy! Not trying to be mean here, but the only person who could've broken that shit is Genjiro! Nobody else is strong enough!"
"Heh." Darren held up his arm and looked at it. "He's probably right."
"Yeah! I believe Joji!" Lake took no offence at Joji essentially calling everyone weak. And they would've believed him no matter what honestly.
"That's nice and all... but when did Genjiro and Alpha get in there then?" Rival also didn't particularly care about being called weak.
"There has to be something we're missing..." Yoshino believed Joji too. "Some sort of timeframe we're not accounting for... right? Any ideas anyone?" She was unfortunately at a loss.
"Fuck... I don't know!" Joji slammed both of his fists on his podium. They already know that Genjiro and Alpha were up to something... but they had to prove that they were indeed the ones who broke the box open. Joji was confident only they could break it open. But now... when? When did they...
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"Damn it." Joji muttered. "Am I... wrong-"
"Even I wouldn't steal that logic!"
"Nyaha... Nyahahahahaha!" Cathy gave her longest laugh yet as she pointed an accusatory finger at Joji, causing a swift gust of wind to be sent the carpenter's way.
"Ah! I swear to god Cathy..." Joji had to resist his second gust of wind for the day. He wasn't in the mood for Cathy's BS right now.
"Sounds like you got something Cathy?" But Darren didn't really care about Cathy's BS. He didn't really care about much, but you get the point.
"Indeed I do!" Cathy put her hands on her hips. "I wouldn't steal that logic, carpenter human... because I think you're correct!"
"Wait... really?" When Cathy interjected, Joji expected her to fight him, not agree with him.
"Mm hm!" Cathy smugly nodded. "I didn't realize it at the time... but I know exactly when the wrestler human broke into the carpenter human's shoddy box!"
"Hey! It's not shoddy!" Joji focused in on that diss.
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"Wait- you know when?!" It took the carpenter a second to realize the point of Cathy's statement.
"Really...? Not just pulling our collective leg?" Kei was curious too.
"Nyaha! You really want to know?" Cathy didn't deny the leg-pulling allegations. "How badly huh? Will you humans beg for the information? Ugh, you humans are so desperate!"
"Alright, so let's start thinking on when Genjiro broke into the box." Ji-hoon didn't even acknowledge Cathy.
"R-Right. Any ideas...?" Ayaka followed suit.
"Hmph. I see how it is! Nyahaha!" Cathy didn't seem bothered. "Fine fine! You'll get the information for free! Don't come to expect this kind of charity from me in the future!"
"Really? You're not just going to trick us?" Lake didn't like being suspicious of others, but they were rather suspicious of Cathy here. It's almost like Lake was channeling their creator!
"Eh, you humans ignoring me ruins the bit... but at the same time, you unobservant humans likely wouldn't ever figure this out on your own! So I'll provide for you!" Cathy smugly stretched her arms out in the air.
"Kindly, my dear Catherine, could you please get to your point?" Damien tolerated Cathy's antics a little more compared to the others, but he just wanted her apparent answer.
"Yeah Cathy, get on it!" Yoshino stomped her foot.
"Hm... very well!" Cathy stole some air while she prepared to state her groundbreaking revelation. "As for when the wrestler human and gas station manager broke into the celebrity detective's room... there is only one possible time! It was when...
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"You humans arrived in the infirmary with the starlet human!" Cathy announced.
"Wait- what?" Ji-hoon didn't expect that. "How? Everyone left after Aurora got poisoned didn't they?"
"Indeed, everyone did leave. I'm sure of it." Damien confirmed.
"Let's go!" Damien called out to the remaining people in the Comedy Studio. He could tell that his dear Ayaka was feeling especially down, but he'd have to soothe her later. Now... there were more important things to do as everyone left the Comedy Studio.
"Nyahaha! Is that so?" Cathy covered her mouth as she laughed. "That only solidifies my deduction!" She stated proudly.
"Wha- how? What are you getting at?!" Joji didn't get it.
"Silly and foolish unobservant humans..." Cathy snickered as she shook her head. "You didn't notice? When you all charged in with the starlet human in hand..."
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"The wrestler human and gas station manager human weren't there!" Cathy announced again.
"Huh? Really?!" Yoshino sure didn't realize it if that was the case.
"...Wait. Hold on! Hold on!" Joji widened his eyes, as if he got a revelation.
"Joji? What is it? Is Cathy right?" Lake was getting anxious.
"She... she is!" Joji slammed his poor beaten-up podium once again. "When you all charged into the infirmary with Aurora... Genjiro and Alpha weren't there!"
"Move! Out of the way!" Ji-hoon charged into the infirmary, Aurora in hand.
"What the fuck?! Aurora?!" Joji immediately turned around at the sight of nearly everyone else entering.
"Hey... guess Cathy wasn't pulling our collective leg after all." Kei retracted the leg pulling allegations.
"Really? Huh..." Ji-hoon honestly hadn't noticed at the time. "Fuck." He was simultaneously annoyed and impressed. Genjiro... actually outsmarted him in a sense. Alpha too. "Yeah... I guess I didn't hear them speak when we were in there either."
"If i-it was just Cathy saying it... I don't know if I'd believe her..." Ayaka spoke honestly. "But if Joji says it too... I b-believe it." She showed a little bit of actual trust.
"Indeed my dear Ayaka!" Damien smiled. "I'd consider it proved then! Genjiro and my dear Alpha, sensing an opportunity, went and broke into Ji-hoon's room to steal the poison."
"Hmph." Cathy chuckled as she watched the humans immediately go back to debating. "Typical ungrateful humans... not even thanking me! Nyaha!" She shook her head.
"Hey Cathy. Thanks for that." Darren didn't even look her way as he thanked the cat burglar.
"Hmph!" Cathy crossed her arms as she also looked away from Darren. "I don't need your thanks D-" She stopped herself. "I don't need your thanks, bartender human!" She corrected herself. She couldn't be actually saying someone's name now! She hasn't had enough development yet!
"..." Darren didn't react to that.
Anyway... "Hey, I'm happy we solved another mystery. But that just opens up another one doesn't it?" Kei closed his eyes.
"It does? Like what?" Lake didn't get it.
"Well we have to figure out how Genjiro knew where the box was stashed right?" Kei opened his eyes.
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That... was a valid point. Eyes instantly landed on Ji-hoon, Kei, Damien, and Joji. Did... did one of them tell Genjiro, or even Alpha about it?
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"While I'd like to know that myself..." Damien sighed. "Personally, I don't think that's particularly relevant at the moment. Shall we not just continue discussing what Genjiro ended up doing? Besides, even if we were to talk about which of us evidently told Genjiro about the box, I can't imagine there'd be any evidence." He gave his take.
"T-That... I think I want to do that." Ayaka agreed. She didn't want to doubt Damien. She... believed in him?
Ji-hoon eyed Damien. Then Joji. Then Kei. An idea popped into his mind. It'd explain things... "I think Damien has a point." He'd keep the idea to himself for now. "I'm fine with moving on for now. Even if it proves to be one of us, we're bound to circle back to it later."
"I guess..." Joji felt uneasy about it, but he decided to roll with it.
Kei shrugged. "Works for me." He wanted to continue talking about whatever Genjiro was up to anyway.
"Well... back to where we were then." Lake tried to get the debate back on track. "Genjiro broke into the box and demolished it while we all were in the infirmary. And he stole poison. Did he take anything else?"
"Oh!" Ayaka exclaimed. "I t-think he did!" She remembered.
"Hm? My dear Ayaka, what else did Genjiro take?" Damien really did enjoy seeing his dear Ayaka taking initiative.
Ayaka actually giggled a little. "W-Well... it was brought up earlier in the trial."
"It was- ah. Right." Ji-hoon remembered what Ayaka was talking about. "You mean the...?"
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"Nail gun... right?" I'm not gonna flashback to something that was earlier in the same chapter, so just scroll up if you doubt Ayaka's point!
"Y-Yeah." Ayaka nodded. "Lake and I found it laying in the wreckage of Damien's Ultimate Studio. You four..." She motioned to Ji-hoon, Kei, Damien, and Joji. "You four said that you took it. So if it was there, then Genjiro definitely t-took that along with the poison." She explained her reasoning.
"Ah ha! What a wonderful point my dear Ayaka!" Damien set a proud hand on his dear Ayaka's shoulder. "A nail gun... interesting. It's not what I'd call a conventional weapon."
"Well... it's presumptuous to call the nail gun... a weapon." Rival shifted to eyes to look at the beautician. "Like you said... it's not a good weapon. So... it likely wasn't used as a weapon."
"Then w-what was the use of it then?" Ayaka tilted her head. "Genjiro and Alpha must've took it for some reason. And... probably not as a w-weapon, like you said."
"Eh." Rival shrugged. "Don't know."
"Oh..." Ayaka expected a little more to be honest.
"The Goddess of Fame looks down upon your logic!"
Pheme unexpectedly stomped her heel-clad foot down on the ground, causing a strong gust to be sent Rival and Ayaka's way.
"A-Ah!" Ayaka held up her arms to shield herself.
Rival just stood still. He tanked it.
"W-What? What was that f-for?!" Ayaka got a little agitated.
"Ha! Forgive me, I couldn't help myself!" Pheme chuckled to herself. "I've always wanted to do that! Anyway..." She began to pace around. "Ms Naganohara! Mr. Seizon! And also Mr. Lux! You all calling the nail gun unsuitable as a weapon is rather interesting!"
"Why... is that interesting?" Damien narrowed his eyes.
"Well, it just so happens that the nailgun is rather... special!" Pheme posed with her dagger. "When I was organizing what to order and supply in the Ultimate Studios... there was a bit of a miscommunication in regards to that nail gun."
Oh? This caught Ji-hoon's interest. "Miscommunication you say?
"Yep!" Pheme happily nodded. "When my merchant was going around collecting the items I requested... he didn't get a nail gun! Or- no. He did get one. But it's more a nail gun that functions like a gun. Does that make sense?"
Joji slowly blinked. "So... the nail gun. I never actually got the chance to use it. Are... you saying it fires nails like they were bullets?" He was so confused.
"Yes! Exactly! Gold star for you Mr. Kaneshiro!" Pheme gave a metaphorical gold star to Joji.
"What... the... fuck?" Joji couldn't believe that. "Fuck type of merchant gets a literal nail gun?" That was one of the strangest things he's ever heard.
"Interesting..." Kei was rather amused by that. "Looks like we should consider it like a weapon then."
"Well... okay." Yoshino couldn't believe this either, but she could sense she'd just have to accept it. "But did anyone get shot with fucking nails?!" She looked around.
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"Guess not!" Yoshino slammed her palm down on her podium.
"So... was it used as a weapon or not?" As this trial went on, Lake was getting more and more confused. "None of the other six who aren't here had been shot with nails right?"
"Nyahaha! Are you blind, ballet dancer human? Of course they hadn't!" Cathy, who wasn't blind, knew that no one had been shot full of nails.
"Hm..." Darren closed his eyes. "Pheme says it's a weapon. Rival and Ayaka say that it wasn't used as a weapon. Maybe... they're both right." He dropped a cryptic hint.
"What does that mean?" Yoshino didn't get the hint though.
"Both are right...?" Joji started to think about that statement more. "...Lake. You and Ayaka found the nail gun in Damien's Studio, right?" He wanted to confirm.
"Yeah! We found it there!" And Lake confirmed for him.
"Huh..." Joji muttered.
"You got something Jojo?" Yoshino raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe..." Joji muttered again. "I'm just wondering if... where it was found has anything to do with whatever Genjiro and Alpha did with it."
"In Damien's Ultimate Studio...?" Ayaka narrowed her eyes.
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"Oh!" She got an idea. "A-Are you wondering if it has anything to with... that?"
"Yeah! Maybe that?" Joji kept speaking vaguely.
"Ah... that? I could see it." Kei slowly nodded.
"Nyahaha! That's a fair point! It might have something to do with that!" Cathy snickered.
"Okay, what the fuck is that?!" Yoshino slammed both of her palms down on her podium.
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"Wait. Hold on... I think I know what that is!" Yoshino slammed down again. "By that, do you mean..."
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"The Ultimate EMT's Studio?!" She kept slamming down on her poor podium.
Ah yes... the Ultimate EMT Studio. A room that Pheme was desperate to keep hidden... and now, it was exposed.
"Y-Yeah Yoshino. That's w-what I think." Ayaka confidently nodded. "I feel like... it makes sense."
"I see... my dear Ayaka's deduction sounds plausible. My studio and the EMT's studio are rather close. It's merely one room away." Damien nodded in agreement.
"But... we have to think about what they did with the nail gun." Rival wanted Damien to actually make some deductions himself, and not just agree with whatever Ayaka says. "What do you think... Damien?"
"Me?" Damien raised an eyebrow, sensing a little hostililty. "Well... let's see." He was rather interested in Rival singling him out... but he'd play along. "It's unlikely that Genjiro and my dear Alpha used the nail gun to break down the boards that covered up the room. They could've used their brute strength for that. We are in agreement that it was Genjiro and my dear Alpha that broke into the Ultimate EMT's Studio, yes?"
"I mean... yeah?" Yoshino shrugged. "Nobody else would be stupid enough to actually break one of Pheme's rules like that. Only Genjiro would be enough of a dumbass to do that. Not to mention that it kinda just doesn't make it sense for it to be anyone else."
"Yes... breaking one of my rules is rather foolish!" Pheme gigged as she wagged her finger. "Not saying that Mr. Mashimoto did! Just a reminder!"
"Yeah!" Lake eagerly agreed with that for some reason. "Genjiro would have the strength for it. Joji might also be strong enough to do it, but he obviously didn't do it! I can account for that!"
"Yeah, no way." Joji shook his head. "Way too risky."
"Right... so the nail gun was for something else." Damien continued to think. "Hm... ah yes! Kei? My dear Catherine? You both investigated the room, correct? Did you see anything that might've been a result of the nail gun?"
Cathy was just laughing to herself about something, so it was up to Kei here. "Well... the inside of the room? Nah. It was pretty spotless. But you know... there was something outside of the room that caught my interest. Wasn't sure what to make of it."
"Oh? And what was it?" Damien wanted the lawyer to continue.
"Well... I remember stepping on something outside of the room." Kei looked down to his shoe. "It was some..."
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"Small shards of glass! Nyahaha!" Cathy stole Kei's spotlight.
"Look down." Kei pointed down.
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Kei blinked. "Uh... no." He had no idea how she misinterpreted that to such a drastic agree. "Look down past your boots." He corrected what he said.
"Past them?" Cathy had a suspicious tone to her voice as she did as she was told. "Nyaha! I see..." She bent over more to get a closer look at the lawyer human's observation. "Black glass shards?"
"It was rather amusing seeing the lawyer human stab his feet! Nyaha!" Cathy looked back on the memory fondly.
"Hey now. I didn't stab my feet. It didn't even pierce these nice dress shoes." Kei defended himself.
"Shards of glass you say?" That caught Damien's interest.
"Yep. Black shards covered basically the entire left side of the second floor." Kei looked down at the ground. "No real big shards. All were kinda small."
"Hm..." Ayaka started to think about something. "G-Genjiro stole the grapefruit poison right? Could it be that?"
"Nope." Ji-hoon immediately shot down the idea. "Genjiro had the bottle on him. It was broken, and the glass was clear. So it can't be from that."
"I see..." Ayaka was a little disappointed seeing her idea get shot down so quick. ...But wait! She had another idea! "Could it possibly be from Damien's Ultimate Studio?"
"Hm... I'm sorry my dear Ayaka, but that's unlikely." Damien sadly shook his head. "None of the glass bottles of makeup in my studio was black. I remember that vividly."
"I see..." Another one shot down! Ayaka sighed. "Then... I'm not sure."
"That's alright my dear Ayaka, do not worry." Damien comforted his dear Ayaka. "These trials unfortunately aren't designed to be simple." He set his hand on her shoudler.
"Huh..." Rival narrowed his eyes. Something about Damien kinda... hm. "No ideas yourself... Damien?" He singled him out again.
"I'm afraid not." Damien swiftly shook his head. "Does anybody have any ideas what the black glass shards could be?" He extended the question to everyone.
"Black glass... no. Damn it. I wish I did." Joji shrugged.
"I got nothing." Darren plagiarized Joji's shrug.
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"Guess no one else has anything?" In a once in a lifetime moment, Darren got two lines in a row!
Is he right? They could always just move onto another topic if they can't figure this one out. But they'd obviously prefer to get the whole picture... so what were they missing...?
"Black shards... hm." Yoshino muttered. "Kinda wish I could ask Rosa something right now."
"Rosa? Rosalind?" Lake deciphered the nickname. "What do you- wait! I think I know what you're thinking Yoshino!" The ballet dancer suddenly exclaimed.
"Oh...? Are you two also thinking what I'm thinking?" Kei smirked an ominous smirk.
"Yeah! I think so!" Lake was rather confident.
"Uh... maybe?" Kei's vagueness threw Yoshino's confidence off, but she was still confident enough.
"I'd appreciate if you three just explained your thoughts instead of being vague about them." Ji-hoon impatiently tapped his foot on the ground.
"Right right..." Yoshino thought back for another moment. Yeah... yeah. This made sense. "Guess it's the moment of truth on if Monty, Kei, and I are actually on the same page. It'd make sense though, considering it's shit that we three have seen before. Alright... I'm wondering if those shards of glass might be from...
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the hidden cameras. Like in Roko's Studio and the Horror Studio!" Yoshino slammed her fist down on her podium.
Rosalind was about to tell her to not rush her, but she had actually already found something out. "Well... I can't see the model or brand of this... but I can see the black glass lens. I can also say one thing for sure."
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"Well, what do you know? It's a camera. Rocking a black glass lens. Kei tried to pull the camera out of the tree but it wouldn't budge. He immediately got reminded of something that he was told about yesterday.
"Yeah! I remember seeing the camera when and I talked with Kei in the Horror Studio!" Lake called back to their FTE with Kei in Chapter 1.
"Yep. Exactly." Kei kept smirking as he nodded. "That was my first thought. The hidden cameras. Black glass lens."
"Oh... I get what you mean." Joji knocked his fist against his podium. "So you're saying that Genjiro and Alpha ended up busting up some hidden cameras... to make sure Pheme didn't see them?"
"Yes... it wasn't only that!" Pheme suddenly stood up from her throne. "They went and destroyed all the cameras in the area! What an annoyance, having to get the staff to repair all of that. Those damned... bah." She sat back down. She just needed to rant for a moment.
"S-So... they did destroy them then?" Ayaka narrowed her eyes, not sure if Pheme meant to confirm that for them or not.
"Thanks for the confirmation Pheme?" Joji also wasn't sure if she meant to say that.
"I- oh." For the record, no. Pheme did not mean to say that. "Y-Yes! I totally meant to say that!" She tried to cover her tracks.
"Yep... real convincing." Rival yawned.
"I know right? I am very convincing, aren't I Mr. Seizon?" Pheme seemed to have taken that as a compliment. "Anyway... something that none of you seemed to notice were little holes in the walls and ceilings! Those were where the cameras were hidden, so those are also where the small shards of glass came from!" Knowing she kind of messed up, she decided to explain.
"Interesting." Kei nodded. "Guess I gotta be more observant."
"Wait... this hidden camera shit is weird." Yoshino looked away as she thought. "Because Genjiro knew where they were. And he knew about the box. And he knew about the nail gun worked. So what's up with the guy just knowing all this stuff?" In a fit of frustration, she slammed her fist down on her poor and abused podium.
"Huh... yeah. Man has been knowing about a lot of stuff..." Joji muttered.
"...I have my own idea on how he knows." Ji-hoon ominously stated before eying Pheme for a quick second. "But that's not something we have definitive evidence for. So I suggest dropping it for now."
"Oh... if you say so." The matter did concern Lake a little, but they trusted Ji-hoon's judgement.
Ayaka eyed everyone here. She felt rather weird about the "someone telling Genjiro this stuff" idea. Something about it seemed strange to her... but she knew that they likely didn't have any definitive evidence. "O-Okay... so we move on then?"
"I believe so." Damien tapped his fingers against his podium. He's not one to abuse his poor podium. "So we've proven that Genjiro and my dear Alpha broke into Ji-hoon's room, then stole poison and the nail gun. Then utilizing their brute strength and the nail gun, they broke into... the Ultimate EMT's Studio. Let's go from there then."
"Yeah... I've been damn curious about that room." Yoshino crossed her arms.
"Then it falls to me and Cathy to explain then hm?" Kei chuckled. "Cathy and I never got the chance to explain anything we found. Besides for the name of course, which Pheme lovingly shared." He smirked at her.
"Tch." Pheme quietly scoffed.
"I know! I know they broke into the Ultimate EMT's Studio! And they-"
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"I know that they broke into the Ultimate EMT's Studio! What do you want me to do about it! I can't go back in time and reverse what they did!"
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"Right. Yes, I know. Please, you know there's no way I can do that! ...We'll just have to see! C'mon, you know it'll make it more interesting! Can't you see that?"
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"Yes. Yes yes. Okay... I'll remember that for the future. That okay? ...Mm hm. Really? I'm glad! ...Alright. Bye!" Pheme hung up the phone, then turned around.
She obviously hadn't meant to let slip what the room actually was. "Just think of it... as a nice little gift! From me to you! Because you're my favorite!" Pheme again gave an excuse. She had mixed feelings regarding the development of her stars breaking into the room. She didn't appreciate her rules being broken, but the development itself is still fairly exciting. She just wished she hadn't let the name slip.
"Uh huh." Cathy was surprisingly deadpan, not at all convinced by the goddess. "Anyway... there was a lot of fascinating things in there!" She subtly smirked at Rival. "Including-"
"Hey Cathy. How about I talk yeah?" Kei cut her off, sensing that she was about to mention... a certain something. "I know what you want to say, but let's leave it for last." He just wanted to make sure the topic of that certain something was brought up carefully, considering Rival.
"Nyahaha! Sure, why not?" Cathy shrugged, not having a problem with that.
"Alright... good." Kei sighed.
"You done with the... back and forth now?" Rival groaned, not sensing Kei attempting to be sensitive around him.
"Yeah, let's get this going." Ji-hoon impatiently tapped his foot on the ground. Honestly, this was probably the topic he was the most curious about, regarding this case.
"Sure." Kei nodded. "The room itself wasn't actually super big. As soon as you walk in, you're greeted with a fake ambulance to your right. On the inside, as you'd expect, there were EMT supplies. Gloves, bandages, scissors, the works. To the left... was essentially a pharmacy. Whole lot of medicine. Probably good to check it out more after the trial. Don't wanna be morbid, but just in case our four girls aren't stable quite yet." He summed up what they found.
"Hm... oh yes! There was also a strange charm hidden in one of the drawers of the place!" Cathy decided to bring up.
"Yep." Kei didn't know why Cathy brought that up, but he didn't care.
"I see..." Ji-hoon noted some things down. "What else?"
"Hm..." Cathy over exaggerating her "hm." "Lawyer human?" She turned to Kei. "Wasn't there a key card in there as well?"
"Ah yeah. I almost forgot." Kei pulled it out of his pocket. "Cathy and I found this keycard." He started to pass it around. "Not much on it. Just Hazel Lenora - Ultimate EMT. And a picture of who I assume is Hazel. So... the owner of this mysterious Ultimate Studio."
"Hazel Lenora?" Joji scratched his head when he received the card. "Huh... weird." He didn't have any thoughts.
"Give me that." Ji-hoon took the card from the carpenter. "Lenora... Lenora... Lenora..." He kept repeating the last name out loud. "The name sounds familiar."
"Really? Have you heard of an Ultimate EMT before?" Lake asked, curious.
"I... don't know." Ji-hoon shook his head. Maybe he had or maybe he hadn't. His memories were still too foggy. "But this whole thing is just..."
"Weird." Rival finished the celebrity detective's sentence as he received the card. "Ah. Wait." He eyed the card closer. "Isn't...?"
"Val? What's up?" Yoshino noticed the look of concern on Rival's face.
"Ji-hoon. The name Lenora. It's... familiar to me too." Rival set the card down on his podium, his tone growing a bit darker. "It... should be familiar to all of us."
"What do you mean?" Ji-hoon crossed his arms.
"Oh yeah?" Darren was curious to see where he was going with this.
"Familiar to all of us you say?" Damien raised an eyebrow. "You mean...?"
"Yeah." Rival looked down at the card. "This name... Lenora. It... it..." He didn't like remembering it, but he knew he had no choice. Ugh, of course he'd have to be the one doing this. "This girl... Hazel Lenora. She shares her name with..."
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"The girl who killed Bessie's sister." Rival didn't like remembering anything about the first trial. But... he had no choice here.
The picture on the monitor changed to one showing Ryuji yelling at three girls. "Hanako was forced to watch as these three girls were emotionally and verbally abused by her "father". They were forced to reach and perform at impossible heights, to even get a chance in the spotlight. We'll get back to those girls soon, but for now, just remember that one of them was named Gina Lenora, a foreigner."
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Pheme cleared her voice. "Do you remember Gina Lenora? Well, she felt an awful amount of rage after being kicked off of the team. So much so..." A creepy shade was cast over Pheme's face. "That she decided to kill Kioka. She sabotaged the show to make it so a spotlight would fall upon Kioka's head, ending her miserable life. Gina was quickly caught and jailed.
"Ah... I can't believe I forgot that." Ji-hoon went back through his notes, landing on what he wrote down during Bessie's trial. "That's... interesting."
"Oh... I see." Lake got saddened just by the fact that Rival had to remember something like that.
"Hm... ain't that something?" Kei got the card passed back to him. "That feels like it can't be a coincidence huh?" He looked up at Pheme.
"Likely not! Nyahaha!" Cathy took out the charm she stole from the EMT's Studio as she looked up at Pheme as well.
Following those two, everyone else looked up at Pheme, feeling awfully sussed out by this strange totally not a coincidence.
"Hm?" Pheme raised an eyebrow. "What's with all of the looks?"
"We're looking at you because this is fucking weird!" Yoshino yelled out. "What is it? Sisters? The sister of the girl who killed Bessie's sister has an Ultimate Studio like the rest of us? The hell is this?!"
"Yes... this is strange. This can't be a coincidence." Damien shook his head. "Pheme? Care to elaborate at all?" You might think it was futile to ask, but knowing that Pheme has a tendency to let details slip, he wanted to ask anyway.
"Hmhmhm..." Pheme hummed to herself. "Hazel Lenora... and Gina Lenora. Yes... it's fascinating isn't it?" She giggled.
"You're... not gonna explain anything are you?" Rival deadpanned.
"Nope!" Pheme cheerily shook her head. "It wouldn't be a proper Killing Game if it didn't have fancy and enigmatic overarching mysteries that eventually tie in and become relevant in the end! Is this one of those? Do the sisters here matter? That's for you to figure out! And besides, this isn't relevant anyway!"
"Oh? It's not relevant? Thanks for confirming for us." Darren held up his otherworldly drink.
"And they are sisters? Heh, I knew I was right!" Yoshino proudly smiled.
"Wha-" Pheme didn't realize what she was saying. "Just get back to the debate! Enough of this!" She huffed and turned away from her glamourous stars. She... really needed to learn to be more mindful when talking about these kinds of things.
"Well for the record, the Lenora sisters didn't seem relevant to the case anyway." Damien inadvertently ended up making Pheme feel a little better.
"Yeah. This is information to sort out later." Ji-hoon finished his notes, so he pocketed his Star-Phone.
"...Alright." Rival wasn't going to forget it so easily, but sensing that it wasn't going to be discussed anymore, he decided to move on. "Kei. Cathy. What else... did you find?" They got back on topic.
"Nyahaha! We found plenty!" Cathy took over explaining. "In the back of the Ultimate Studio... we found a secret passage!"
"Ooo! That sounds exciting!" Lake was more enticed than curious about that.
"Secret passage? Eh, guess I shouldn't be surprised." Joji glared at Pheme for a second. "Makes sense there's shit hidden in here everywhere."
"Where'd it lead?" Darren broke the spacetime continuum to steal a drink from another world and took a sip.
"Nyaha! That's the thing!" Cathy pranced around her podium. "The passage itself was a thing and narrow hallway... with plenty of doors! None opened, and I did not have time to open them!" She pulled a lock pick out of thin air.
"But... one door was opened." Kei stepped in. "The only one open... it led to... the boarded-up room on the first floor." He was going to pause for dramatic effect, but decided not to after realizing that the reader would already know this.
"W-Wait... what?!" It took Ayaka a second to process that.
"The... boarded-up room?" Joji flinched as he remembered breaking into that room with Genjiro.
"Keep talking." Ji-hoon needed to know more.
"Sure." Kei eyed Rival quickly. He wasn't usually one to be sensitive about this sort of thing. But... "The door was behind one of the shelves that held the trumpets. The shelf moved easily, and we could easily enter."
"Fascinating..." Damien muttered. "Was there anything else?"
"Yeah well..." Kei kept eyeing Rival. Ugh... there was probably no way around this. He'd at least make sure that he was the one who'd say it. Say it before-
"We found the backup dancer non-human's body in there! Still burnt to a crisp! Nyahaha!" Whoops, too late Kei. Cathy said it first.
"You found... what?" Joji didn't expect to hear that.
"W-Wha-?" Ayaka didn't know how to react.
"..." Rival didn't say anything.
"Keep. Talking." Ji-hoon repeated himself.
"Well... you heard her right?" Kei dryly chuckled. "Semi-blocking the entrance into the boarded-up room... was Bessie's body. And some other relevant evidence that Pheme took away."
"Oh dear..." Damien shook his head, having been reminded of his former dear Aelia.
"Oh no..." Lake shook a little.
"Ah..." Rival sounded surprisingly disappointed.
"You alright Rival? You sounded a little disappointed there." Kei wanted to make up for his mistake a minute ago.
"...I'm... fine." Rival bit his lip.
"Y-You sure?" Ayaka of all people asked, feeling a modicum of concern for her former motive partner.
"...When Kei was explaining... I thought it was shaping up like... Pheme killed Bessie. The secret passage and all. But... probably not." Rival looked down at the ground.
"Yeah. Wishful thinking." Darren got a drink he took out of another FF story and attempted to took a sip. But it was a molotov from a certain revolutionary's cell. So he put it back where he found it.
"Indeed Mr. Seizon! Wishful thinking!" Pheme wagged her finger. "I'd never kill one of my beloved glamourous stars! Besides, we know that Aelia was the one who killed Ms. Yamamoto! Are you implying that my verdict was... wrong?" She leaned in, a dark aura surrounding her while she did.
"..." Rival went back to saying nothing.
"So what's the deal with Bess's body then? And the damn secret passage too?" Yoshino asked the questions the people wanted answers to.
"I'd like to know that too." Ji-hoon glared at Pheme without a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Oh ho? Look at you being so bold! Fine then!" Pheme stood up. "I suppose there was no real reason to hide it. I have secret passages throughout the whole facility! It's how I get around in a flash! It's how I get to any of you stars that call for my presence! Those other doors Ms. Munchkin and Mr. Aikawa say were passages that led to higher and lower floors!"
"O-Oh god..." Ayaka didn't think her paranoia could get worse, and here it was, getting worse.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Damien slowly shook his head while placed a comforting hand on his dear Ayaka's back.
"Right. Not necessarily surprising." Kei shrugged. "But definitely good to know..." He muttered to himself.
"...What about Bessie then?" Rival couldn't care less about any secret passages right now. All he wanted to know about was Hana- no. Bessie. Bessie isn't Hanako. He knows that. He just had to keep telling himself that.
"Ms. Yamamoto hm?" Pheme sat back down and leaned her head in the palm of her hand. "Well..." She debated answering honestly here... but her stars don't need to know that she just forgot to move Bessie's body to the morgue! "Ms. Yamamoto body was there for... reasons. Reasons you don't need to know right now. So don't worry about it!"
Rival rolled his eyes. He should've known Pheme wouldn't say anything. "Whatever..." He tried his best to not be bothered by it.
"Hm..." For as much as Ji-hoon wanted to know more here, he sensed Pheme wouldn't be explaining much else. "I've noted down the secret passages. That'll be good to know." He spoke, not caring if Pheme heard him or not. "Bessie's body might just be an irrelevant distraction. It's interesting, but let's not worry about it."
"You're probably right there. Just wanted to bring it up." Kei shrugged.
"Indeed. I'm in agreement." Damien was in agreement. "I highly doubt this is even relevant to Genjiro's case."
"Huh... we have been getting sidetracked a little haven't we?" Yoshino realized. "Let's get back on track. This EMT Studio stuff is interesting, but it might just be a waste of time. We don't even know why Genjiro and Alpha chose to break into the place."
"Yeah... wait." Joji lightly slammed his podium for once as he remembered something. "The place... might not be a waste of time."
"Really? What do you have Joji?" Lake was curious to see what he was going to say.
"Oh! Oh shit! Yeah!" Yoshino remembered too. "I know what you mean Jojo!"
"C-Can you fill us in?" Ayaka was confused. She didn't like being left in the dark.
"Oh shit! Right! My bad!" Yoshino didn't mean to keep talking vaguely. "I remembered something that Kei brought up about the EMT's Studio. Something... that has to be important. No way it's not!"
"Oh? Do tell!" Cathy answered in Kei's place.
"Uh... okay." Joji didn't expect Cathy there. "So... I want to circle back to what Kei said earlier about the...
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medicine in the Ultimate EMT's Studio. You said there was medicine in there right?" Joji tapped his fingers against his podium instead of slamming it.
"Um... yeah. I did. There was a whole lot of it. Why do you ask?" Kei raised an eyebrow.
"Right Jojo!" Yoshino clearly shared the same realization as him. "I almost forgot... but Alpha had some medication on her! And it definitely wasn't shit she actually needs!"
"That's an interesting discovery, my dear Yoshino. So my dear Alpha stole some medication from the Ultimate Studio then? What was it?" Damien, and obviously everyone else, wanted to know.
"It was..." Yoshino started to dig around in her pockets. "It was... here!" She pulled it out. "It's Adenosine! ...Whatever the hell it is." She admittedly had no clue what it was used for.
"Adenosine?" Lake had a look on their face like they just heard an alien language.
"Yeah... it doesn't say on the bottle what the medicine is used for." Joji groaned.
"Really? Give it here." Darren of all people chimed in.
"Uh... sure?" Yoshino was weirded out, but she had no reason to refuse. "Here!" She tossed it over to Darren.
And Darren caught it easily. "Oh. It got scratched out." He pointed to a side of the medicine bottle that was apparently scratched out.
"...Well can you read it?" Yoshino was expecting Darren to continue.
"Yeah I can." Darren didn't even look at the bottle. "Apparently Adenosine can stop a persons heart by reseting their heart rates. Temporarily."
"Stop a persons heart?" Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes. "Give it here." He held his hand out.
"Sure." Darren tossed it surprisingly perfectly, the bottle landing right on Ji-hoon's hand.
"Let's see..." Ji-hoon read over what he could. "It's hard to make out, but Darren's right. It looks like it's medicine for stopping a persons heart." He set it down on his podium. "Kei? You think this was taken from the place?"
"Hm..." Kei looked over the bottle from a distance. "Cathy? You took a bottle of medication from the place didn't you? Mind bringing it out? Gotta compare." He acted very casual while exposing Cathy's theft.
"Did she really?" Yoshino groaned.
"I don't get why you're... surprised." The idea of Cathy stealing something wasn't exactly breaking news to Rival. "She just takes... what she wants."
"Oh? Whatever are you referring to lawyer human? That's an awfully bold accusation!" Cathy played dumb. While not-so-subtly twirling a bottle of medicine in her hand.
"Cathy! Just toss it to Kei for gods sake!" Joji didn't want to put up with this.
"Hm... okay!" Giving in surprisingly quickly, Cathy tossed the bottle of medicine she stole over to Kei.
"Thanks." Kei caught it with ease. "Now let's compare this... notimportantium..." He read out the name of the medicine Cathy stole. "To that bottle of Adenosine." He compared the appearances of the bottles. "Oh yeah. They're the same. Alpha probably stole those pills from the EMT's Ultimate Studio then." The lawyer casually confirmed.
"Right... good to know." Ji-hoon picked up the bottle. "The infirmary doesn't have anything like this... so there was only one logical answer anyway."
"W-Wait..." Ayaka shook her head, confused. "We know that Alpha got that from the Ultimate EMT's Studio... but why? I don't think s-she took it for fun..."
"...Well..." Rival thought Alpha might actually be the type to actually take it for fun, but he decided to keep that thought to himself for now.
"Yes my dear Ayaka... why is indeed the question." Damien crosse his arms. "Joji, just to confirm, the bottle was on my dear Alpha's person yes?"
"Yep! Right in her pocket!" Joji confirmed.
"Okay... was anything taken? As in, did she use any of it?" Damien asked something they probably should've confirmed already.
"Oh yeah! We checked that didn't we Jojo?" Yoshino remembered.
"Adenosine? The hell is that?" Joji took the bottle to get a closer look. But despite how much he looked the bottle over, he couldn't find anything saying what it was used for. "Weird..." He popped the bottle open.
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"Uh..." Joji lowered it down to Yoshino's level. "Was... was anything taken? I can't tell."
"Um..." Yoshino looked into the bottle. It seemed full. "Damn... I can't tell. Maybe?" She shrugged. "There's probably room in there for a few more pills. But I can't tell if anything was actually taken."
"Yeah, Yoshino and I did check." Joji sighed. "We couldn't tell if any of it was taken though. It seemed full, but man, I got no clue."
"I see." Ji-hoon stifled a groan as he check on the bottle himself. Well... they were right. It was pretty full... yet there could potentially be room for more pills in the bottle. "I can't tell either." He admitted. "Alpha would probably be able to tell us if she'd taken anything."
"Yeah... Alpha is gonna be fine, but she wasn't exactly lucid." Yoshino never thought she'd be worried about Alpha of all people... but things happen. "Jojo and I couldn't get any information out of her. She was pretty beat up."
Joji just nodded in agreement.
"Oh... then where do we go from here?" Lake was a little lost.
"...I think we should assume Alpha took it." Rival offered his opinion. "Or... maybe Genjiro did. But... I doubt it's there for no reason. Those two must've... had a plan for it."
"Fair enough." Kei shrugged. "Even if those two did or didn't take it, it'll be good to talk about what exactly they were up to with it."
"Ah, that's a good idea Kei!" Damien complimented a guy for once. "Because... I wonder what they were trying to accomplish with it."
Hm... that's a good question. What would temporarily stopping one of their hearts accomplish? What were they trying to do...
"No one has any ideas?" Damien looked around, slightly disappointed. "Then should we move on to something else? Was this a faulty line of logic-"
"Your l-logic is out of tune!"
All of a sudden, Ayaka slammed her palm down on her podium, sending a small gust of wind to Damien... who was directly next to her, so she basically ended up hitting herself with the wind too.
"My dear Ayaka?!" Damien was shocked seeing her raise her voice as he held his arm up to his face.
"Ah- sorry." Ayaka shook her head, her eyes wide. "I'm n-not sure where that came from." She blushed a little, not intending for her interjection to be so loud.
"That is alright! Truly!" Damien couldn't help but chuckle a little. He truly didn't expect that out of his dear Ayaka. "But- um, what is it?"
"Oh yeah!" Ayaka almost forgot why she interjected. "Um... I d-don't know if it's right, but I think I have an idea... for the whole... stopping a heart thing."
"Oh?" Damien raised an eyebrow. "Do tell!"
"Yeah... I'd like to hear this too." Ji-hoon had thought of his own idea, but he wanted to see if Ayaka had the same idea.
"Right... so." Ayaka slowly turned to look up at Pheme. "Pheme? C-Can I ask you a question?"
Pheme's expression lit up upon hearing her name. "A question? Of course! Ask whatever you'd like Ms. No- ah, Ms. Naganohara!"
Okay, Ayaka was confident Pheme was just doing that to mess with her. Normally she'd get thrown off and shook by that... but being near a certain someone who was next to her kind of helped her feel stronger. Huh... maybe that's why she had the energy to interject like that?
"So... Pheme?" Ayaka began to ask her question. "Can you e-explain... how exactly the handcuffs unlocking worked?"
Ji-hoon smirked. It looks like Ayaka did have the same idea as him.
"The handcuffs? For the motive?" Pheme tilted her head.
"Are there other handcuffs?!" Joji hated seeing Pheme playing dumb like this.
"Oh relax Mr. Kaneshiro! It's merely a little fun!" Pheme stood up. "So you want to know how I knew when to unlock them then, I take it?"
"Um... y-yes." Ayaka firmly nodded.
"Nyaha! Even if the violinist human's idea proves to be a waste of time, even I must admit I'm curious to learn about this!" The more insider details they learned about Pheme, the better. That was Cathy's thought process.
"I see!" Pheme clapped her hands. "I'll happily explain! It's rather s-simple actually!" She stuttered a little for some reason. "When the staff becomes aware of a death, they unlock. It's s-simple! Like I said!" She stuttered again.
Kei couldn't help but notice those stutters. It's not hard to see that she was hiding something. "Oh well! It's simply that!" He said sarcastically.
Yoshino crossed her arms, also feeling sketched out by this. "So... everyone's handcuffs unlocked at 11:10 PM right? That was Genjiro's time of death. Right?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Of course they did! No need to act like that, Ms. Akiyama!" Pheme gave a rather nervous finger waggle.
"Hm..." Ayaka started to think. Everyone's unlocked at 11:10 PM...? Ah! That reminded her. "Hey everyone?" She slowly looked around. "I w-want to ask everybody here something. It might s-sound strange... but... uh... hm. Maybe- maybe not." She started to second guess herself.
"My dear Ayaka..." Damien set his hand on his dear Ayaka's shoulder. "No need to be afraid." He smiled. "We'll all listen. Even my dear Catherine! She's forced to listen after all!" He chuckled.
"Hmph!" Cathy pouted a little after hearing what Damien said.
"Damien..." Ayaka looked up at him. When she came into this horrible Killing Game, she never would've imagined being able to... feel like this again. She still didn't even really know why she trusted him. But she did. And... it didn't feel horrible.
"Okay." Ayaka nodded, a small smile forming under her mask. "Everyone." She turned back to face the rest of the group. "I k-know Pheme says that the handcuffs all unlocked at 11:10 PM. B-But... I wonder if that's true."
"Ms. Naganohara...?" Pheme sat back and crossed her legs, interested to see where this goes.
"Huh? You saying that the handcuffs didn't unlock at the same time?" Yoshino obviously noticed that Pheme was acting weird while explaining how the handcuffs worked, but she didn't know that there was proof. "...Is there proof of that?"
"W-Well... it's a gut feeling." Ayaka looked down at her podium. "We've seen Pheme mess up on a lot of t-things here..." She spoke bluntly. "M-Maybe... this did too?"
Joji widened his eyes. He knew where Ayaka was going with this. "Oh wait a second. Ayaka. You're on to something!" He slammed his podium again. Anyone keeping count?
"A-Am I?" Ayaka was a little glad that her idea might actually have some merit.
"Yeah! We haven't really shared our testimonies about when our handcuffs unlocked right? But... I thought back to when Lake and I's handcuffs got unlocked. Lake!" Joji got their attention. "I get if you were pretty sleepy at the time... but did you remember something weird?"
"Weird?" Lake tilted their head. "Weird... weird... weird..." They kept repeating the word over and over as they tried to think about it.
"Are you broken, ballet dancer human?" It was hard to say if Cathy legitimately meant that or not.
"No... I'm not." Lake shook their head. "But... hm..." They tried their best to remember something weird...
Joji had asked just in case, but he was more than willing to explain the weirdness himself. "Uh- if you can't think of it, then-"
"I got it!" Lake excitedly jumped up. "Joji! I think I know what was weird!"
"Oh yeah?" Joji cracked a smile. He liked seeing Lake... prosper? Is that the right word?
"I know you like to do this for suspense and all of that, but could you just get to the point?" Ji-hoon didn't appreciate these scenes being stretched out for the sake of suspense (and the word count).
"Oh! Sorry!" Lake bowed their head. "Okay... I remember when Joji and I were in the infirmary... and I think I remember the nighttime announcement too. And... I think I know what was weird. It was the...
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clicks! We heard too many clicks!" The weirdness finally came to Lake.
Joji chuckled. "You really weren't lying were you?" He looked down with a thin smile. "I'll let you sleep. This... was probably a lot." He sighed... and felt his own eyes start to close on their own. Maybe... maybe he could shut his eyes for a little bit too... and get some rest...
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"Attention my glamorous stars! It is now 11pm, and that means it's night time! It's time to go to bed, and get a good night of beauty sleep! Sleep well my stars!"
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*CLICK*
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*CLICK*
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Joji slowly opened his eyes. Shit... how long had he slept? The infirmary was currently shrouded in darkness. He tried to focus on Aurora and Kuroko. Raiha was still here... sleeping next to her partner. But Cathy was gone.
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"Joji...?" Raiha slowly opened her eyes. "What's the-" She stopped herself as she realized Cathy wasn't here. She looked down at her handcuffed hand and... they were off. "Wha- Wha- Wha-" She didn't know how to react.
"Everyone! When your handcuffs unlocked, did you hear a clicking sound?" Lake excitedly asked. They loved the feeling of figuring something out like this.
"Hm... yes. I believe so." Damien nodded as affirmation.
"Yep! Definitely!" Yoshino affirmed too.
"Okay then..." Lake didn't wait for everyone else. "When Joji and I were in the infirmary, right after the nighttime announcement. We heard two clicks."
"Well... what's weird about that?" Rival didn't get it.
"Think about it!" Lake tapped their pointer finger against their chin as they continued to think. "In the infirmary... it was me and Joji, Raiha and Aurora, and Kuroko and Cathy. If all of ours unlocked at the same time... wouldn't their be one click?"
"Oh... there you go." Kei seemed impressed. "That is a mite strange. But... it's hard to call that proof. Perhaps two of the pairs got unlocked a second earlier than the other?" He was pleasantly surprised to see Lake taking initiative here, but he needed to stay smart about this.
Man, missing six people really makes some of the quieter ones come to light huh? Including... "Well let's ask her." Darren cocked his head to Cathy. "Joji and Lake seem to be sharing the thought that some of the handcuffs unlocked earlier than others. Ayaka too of course. But I want to know what Cathy thinks about those double clicks."
Cathy chortled. It was always a strange sight seeing the bartender human speak more than one sentence. "Nyaha? You want to know what I think about those double clicks?"
"Fuck... I almost forgot. Tch." Joji scoffed. "Cathy was gone when Lake and I woke up. I assumed it was because she ran away as soon as she could but..." He was afraid to finish his thought.
"Nyahaha! The ballet dancer human, the carpenter human, and the violinist human are all right! The handcuff trapping me with the phony unlocked earlier than the others in the infirmary!" Cathy revealed with little to no fanfare.
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"Wha- WHAT?!" Joji slammed his podium with both fists, nearly breaking it.
"Fuck off! Seriously?!" Yoshino was so done with this already.
"Really? Then that confirms it!" Lake was just excited about the theory being confirmed.
"..." Ayaka was excited too, but she just had nothing to say.
"Well then... it appears you hide vital information again my dear Catherine?" Damien had a very tired yet expecting look on his face.
"Don't know why I'm surprised." Ji-hoon facepalmed.
"You humans have a problem with that? Why? No one asked!" Cathy took one of the bartender human's excuses from the first trial.
"No! That- gah!" Joji slammed his podium again. "Cathy! Explain!" He was so sick of Cathy hiding vital information two trials in a row. First it was about the shadowy figure she saw... and now it was her actually witnissing her handcuffs unlocking earlier than others.
"So be it!" Cathy was just having fun. "I see no problem with explaining!" She stomped her foot down to get everyone's attention, even though she already had everyone's attention. "I had somehow managed to fall asleep while being at the side of the hypnotist human. I had woken up to the goddess's nighttime announcement though! After that... perhaps... twelve minutes later, a click sound reached my ears! I look down, and the handcuffs were off! I immediately stood up and got away from the faker of course! I also realized the other the other humans hadn't been unlocked yet... but I escaped that place nonetheless! Following my daring escape, I made my way back to my room for a proper catnap!" She finished her confession.
"S-So I was right..." Ayaka muttered to herself.
"Ignoring the fact that Cathy hid information again..." Ji-hoon didn't want deal with that. "You said your handcuffs unlocked twelve minutes after the nighttime announcement? So two mintues after Genjiro's time of death?"
"Mm hm!" Cathy nodded. "I checked the time when I left! It was 11:12 PM! I would never lie!"
No one believed that last part. But it wasn't worth the trouble of questioning it.
"So... Cathy and Kuroko's handcuffs unlocked at 11:12 PM..." Rival thought out loud. "And... no one else knows the time theirs unlocked?" He looked around.
"I'm sure Ade and I's got unlocked at 11:10 PM!" Yoshino snapped her fingers, like she just then remembered that fact. "Ade had his Star-Phone out when ours unlocked! It said 11:10 PM! I'm sure of it!"
"That's two pairs... that are sure of the time." Rival blinked. "Can we... get anywhere with this? Figuring... out more times? Is anyone else... sure?"
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Guess not! "Okay then... guess not." Rival had participated enough, so he went back to being silent.
"I... wouldn't be too sure of that Rival." Damien shook his head, a look of realization spreading across his face.
"Oh yeah? ...Why's that?" Rival yawned.
"So we know the my dear Yoshino and Adam's handcuffs unlocked at 11:10 PM. And we know that my dear Catherine and my dear Kuroko's handcuffs unlocked at 11:12 PM. That... makes me think of something." Damien subtly turned to look at Darren, wondering if his former motive partner was on the same page as him. The bartender had an expressionless look, so he couldn't tell.
"That's assuming Cathy is telling the truth." Yoshino couldn't trust a word out of the cat burglar's mouth.
"Oh? You think I'm lying? Hm... perhaps I am!" Cathy loved see the humans confused.
"My dear Yoshino... I'm confident my dear Catherine is telling the truth." Damien now more blatantly turned to look at Darren. "And Darren has evidence of that. Evidence... that might add a new layer to this case." He forced his former motive partner to be a part of a reveal.
"R-Really? He does?" Ayaka was curious.
"...Oh yeah." Darren pulled something out of thin air. "This is the evidence... right? The..."
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"Piece of paper with times and letters on it?" Darren showed the papers to the others.
But before anyone could react... "Mr. Taylor! Why do you have that?!" Pheme quickly pointed her dagger at Darren.
Darren didn't flinch. "You left it in the Comedy Studio. That's how I got it." He showed no regret over his thievery.
Damien and Darren saw that Pheme dropped something as she left the room. The boys shared a quick look, before Darren went to go a pick it up. It was a piece of paper.
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A/G - 11:00 PM
Y/A - 11:10 PM
C/K - 11:12 PM
J/K - 11:14 PM
A/R - 11:15 PM
J/L - 11:15 PM
D/D - 11:16 PM
A/R - 11:17 PM
"What in the...?" Damien had no clue how to decipher this. "A bunch of letters and times?"
"Hey." Darren quickly pocketed the paper.
"Wha- you have the gall to lie to me?!" Pheme seemed overly offended. "You told me you didn't see it! Ugh, I knew I left it there!" Pheme slammed her dagger down on her throne. "How dare you, Mr. Taylor!"
"I didn't break a rule." Darren shrugged.
"Hmph!" Pheme pouted... then snapped her fingers a few seconds later.
Darren heard a notification on his Star-Phone. He was confident he knew what it was, but he checked it anyway.
One or more rules have been added!
New Rule: The Stars are not allowed to steal from Pheme. If they do, they will receive punishment from Pheme
"Oh. Well it's good I took this when I did then." Darren was unfazed.
"Indeed! Quite good!" For the first time, Damien was actually happy Darren did something. "I wasn't sure what to make of that paper when Darren and I spotted that Pheme left it behind, but now... It makes sense."
Seeing them just move on unfazed made Pheme even more mad, but ever since her breakdown in the Romance Studio, she's been practicing to control her emotions better.
"I really do think we need to be more careful about messing with Pheme..." Ji-hoon was still concerned about it. "But it's too late now. Darren? What does it say?"
"Here." Darren showed the paper so that everyone could see it. It said:
A/G - 11:00 PM
Y/A - 11:10 PM
C/K - 11:12 PM
J/K - 11:14 PM
A/R - 11:15 PM
J/L - 11:15 PM
D/D - 11:16 PM
A/R - 11:17 PM
"That's... weird." Joji wasn't sure what to make of it. "Buncha letters and times...? ...Oh wait!" He got the realization.
"I see you've realized Joji?" Damien smirked.
"I t-think I get it too." Ayaka widening her eyes, surprised yet satisfied that her idea was proved.
"Yeah! The letters and times! I think I see it! I see the connection!" With Lake getting it, everyone else started to catch onto it.
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"The letters are us... and the times are when the handcuffs unlocked." Ji-hoon nodded, a small smirk growing on his face. "Good find, Darren."
"Yeah... the Y/A is me and Ade... because ours unlocked at 11:10 PM!" Yoshino pointed to the second thing on the paper.
"And C/K must be our resident cat burglar and Kuroko huh?" Kei shifted his eyes to look at Cathy, who was just laughing to herself. "It lines up with the testimonies. And... J/K must be myself and Ji-hoon. 11:14 PM sound right?"
"It's hard to know for sure, but I think so." Ji-hoon was fairly confident on that. It's easy to tell who everyone else is. It looms like A/R and J/L got unlocked at the same time, so that lines up with Joji's testimony too."
"Fuck yeah it does!" Joji was excited seeing this evidence. "Ayaka and Rival arrived last to the scene too... and that was because theirs got unlocked last!" He realized.
"I... guess so." Ayaka blinked. "A-And... according to this... my initial theory was right." She stood proudly.
"Your initial theory my dear Ayaka? About the Adenosine?" Damien hadn't forgotten.
"Mm hm." Ayaka nodded. "My first thought... was that those two took the pills so that they could circumvent the m-motive. Look." She pointed to the first thing on the paper.
A/G - 11:00 PM
"Yeah... I had the same idea Ayaka. Nice job." Finally, someone other than Damien complimented Ayaka! Let's go Ji-hoon! "It's interesting. According to this, Alpha and Genjiro's handcuffs got unlocked 10 minutes before Genjiro's time of death."
"It's fucking crazy that their plan even worked." Yoshino sure wouldn't think a plan like that work. "But they got out early... only for Genjiro to die 10 minutes later."
"Hm..." Kei lightly tapped his foot on the ground. "So Pheme left behind a sort of report on when the handcuffs unlocked? Why did they unlock at different times?" Why they unlocked at different times seemed to be something Pheme did, so it wasn't necessarily relevant to the case. But he was still curious.
"Mr. Aikawa..." Pheme didn't appreciate her mistakes being brought up. She sensed that there was no hiding that she did mess up with the handcuffs. "As for why... I will not say. I ask that you splendiferous stars move on now!"
"Aw, you're rejecting the question of your favorite star? I'm hurt." Kei feigned being offended.
Pheme playfully rolled her eyes. "You may be my favorite Mr. Aikawa, but I'm not one to give out important answers like that! Now again, I ask you to move on!"
"Heh... alright." Kei shrugged. "We know that Alpha and Genjiro's plan with the Adenosine worked. Alpha took it... and their handcuffs unlocked right at nighttime. But... Genjiro died 10 minutes later." He gave a quick recap. "Hm... how did Genjiro die again?"
"P-Poison... right?" Ayaka didn't like thinking about it.
"Yeah... we talked about earlier in the trial." I'm not going to flashback to earlier in the trial, so just take Lake's word for it! "We determined that he was poisoned because of his breath..."
"Hm... we didn't establish how he was poisoned right?" Rival reminded the readers.
"Correct. We ended up determining that Genjiro and Alpha broke into the box in my room." Ji-hoon crossed his arms. "He got his own poison there... but that likely wasn't used to kill him. The grapefruit poison he took wouldn't kill him that quickly. Besides, that implies that someone somehow got the jump on Genjiro, and got him to down the poison. Which is something I highly doubt."
"Ha! Fair enough." Yoshino knew the big guy wouldn't go down easily. "You said that the air around him smelled like grapefruit... and his breath smelled like pineapple, right?"
"I did say that. It makes me think... the grapefruit poison likely isn't what killed him. His breath smelling like pineapple... that's the key. That's linked to what killed him." Ji-hoon had a determined look on his face. "So... I'm I think it's safe to say... how he was poisoned."
"Yeah... I-it is... isn't it?" Ayaka already knew where this was going.
Ji-hoon took off his glasses, indicating that this trial was about to take a serious turn. "I think it's logical to say that...
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"His rum was poisoned. How it was poisoned... I don't know. But it's the only thing that would make sense... and it's the only subtle way to poison him." Ji-hoon kept his glasses off for now.
"Mmf!" Ayaka flinched. Her idea... really did lead to death... that stupid drinking party idea.
"If his drink was poisoned..." Joji had a sinking feeling in his chest. "We... gotta look at who prepared his drink right?"
"...Oh..." Lake was dreading this part. The part... where they had to suspect their friends.
"Well... if we're to look at who prepared it..." Rival eyed a certain two people. "Then we look at..."
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"Damien and Darren." Rival even pointed at them.
"Oh? You suggest we poisoned Genjiro?" Damien raised an eyebrow.
"We didn't poison him." And that was Darren's defense.
"I-Isn't that a little hasty?" Ayaka didn't think they should be accusing others that fast.
"It makes sense though... right? Damien and Darren were the ones to prepare Genjiro's drink." Rival stretched his arms, still looking strangely casual about accusing someone of murder.
"Only I prepared his drink. Damien just watched me." Darren for some reason corrected the backing vocalist.
"That... is true." Damien also wasn't sure why Darren would implicate himself like that.
"So are you saying you poisoned Genjiro's drink then?" Kei was curious on where this was going.
"No." Darren shook his head.
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"T-That's your response?" Even Kei was little thrown off by that.
"That's... a way to defend yourself." Yoshino couldn't imagine the "one word" strat working, but what did she know?
"So it's really not you?" Ji-hoon put his glasses back on. If they were going to pursue Darren being the killer, it might be harder than he thought.
"Yeah." Darren gave another one word response.
"Okay this isn't gonna go anywhere." Joji threw his hand up in the air. "Darren, I swear to god you better-
"Your argument lacks a certain finesse!"
All of a sudden, Damien elegantly slams his hand down on his podium, causing a sudden gust to get sent Joji's way. Again.
"Gah! Every fucking time!" Joji kept getting hit with gusts of wind this trial. I mean, it is his focus chapter, so it makes sense. "Damien? What is it?"
"Forgive me Joji. I did not mean to assault you like that." It wasn't like everyone consciously summoned these tempests. "But I want to say... accusing Darren is a tad too hasty."
"Oh ho? The beautician human is growing to like the bartender human now?" Color Cathy impressed!
"Um, no." Damien quickly corrected her. "It's hasty because... there is another possible suspect."
"Is there?" Lake certainly didn't see who else could be a suspect.
"Yeah... w-who else?" Ayaka didn't see who else either.
"Well... just think back a bit... and it'll be obvious." Damien was both casual and confident about this impending accusation. "I personally can't believe Darren being the killer. I'm confident I would've noticed something up with him. So... there is only one... other... possible... suspect." He started to pace out his words as he started to slowly turned to look at the person he was about to accuse. "And that other suspect... is..."
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my dear... Ayaka."
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"Wha-" Ayaka said breathlessly. She felt her hands start to shake. "You..."
"Oh really?" Ji-hoon had a feeling this was coming eventually. "And why's that?"
"Yeah... how is it Ayaka?" Lake was saddened by the idea.
"Hmph." Rival rolled his eyes.
"Now you must understand I say this with a heavy heart." Damien shook his head, a saddened expression on his own face. "It hit me a few minutes ago. My dear Ayaka had the potential to take the poison from my Ultimate Studio. And let's not forget that the party had her idea. Not to mention, she had constant access to Genjiro's rum. She could've poisoned it at anytime she'd desire."
"That's... true." Darren couldn't deny that. He was the one who gave her pointers on bartending after all. "I've left her alone in there before."
"You see?" Damien heaved a heavy sigh. "My dear Ayaka... please tell me it isn't you. Please tell me that my accusation is false." He seemed genuinely concerned.
"Nah... there's no way Ayaka poisoned Genjiro. ...Right?" Yoshino could fully deny the possibility.
"Fuck that! There's... no way!" Joji couldn't fully deny it too.
"Well, violinist human? We're waiting for a response! Nyahaha!" Cathy was having fun with this, like one would expect.
More and more sound and noise reached Ayaka's ears. She was staying silent as he whole body shook. She... poisoned Genjiro? She... killed him. No... there's no way. But then... why? Why was Damien accusing her? Why... was everyone looking at her like that? What... what is this? Make it stop... make it stop! MAKE IT STOP! This can't be-
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Wait. Wait. ...Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait. He... he... he... he... he... what did he... he... did he really...
"My dear Ayaka. Please. Say something." Damien placed a gentle hand on his dear Ayaka's shoulder-
"You..." Ayaka muttered, barely audible.
"Hm? I'm sorry?" Damien didn't hear her.
"You... you... you... you..." Ayaka started to mutter more, this time a little more audible.
"Ayaka? You... alright?" Joji was getting concerned.
"My dear Ayaka? What's the matter?" Damien was getting concerned too.
"You... Damien." Ayaka slowly looked up to stare the beautician dead in the eye. "You... you... you... you... you..."
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"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
*SLAP*
Ayaka slapped Damien right across the face.
"A-Ayaka?!" Lake was scared.
"Whoa..." Rival widened his eyes.
"What- what the fuck?! What?!" Yoshino didn't expect that.
Damien held his hand up to his stinging cheek. "My dear Aya-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! DON'T SAY MY NAME!"
*SLAP*
Ayaka slapped Damien again.
"This... this was all...! I can't believe it...!" Ayaka clutched the sides of her head. "You...! It was...!" She started hyperventilating. "I'm so...! You're a...! I can't...!"
"What's wrong with her?!" Joji could only watch in shock and horror.
"You... you're... you are...
"AAAAAAAAAGHH!"
Ayaka let out a high-pitched scream... before letting out a low sigh... and closing her eyes. It was seemingly an attempt to calm herself down.
"...Ayaka?" Kei wasn't too concerned, he was more curious to see where this was going.
"..." Darren didn't say anything as he watched Ayaka have a mental breakdown.
Ayaka's shaking slowly started to stop... a strange aura overtaking her. After a few more seconds... it came to a stop.
Damien held his hand up to his now twice slapped cheek. "My dear Ayaka-?"
"No." A very resolved and calm voice came from Ayaka as she took a deep breath.
"I'm s-sorry?" Damien wasn't sure what to do anymore.
Ayaka held her hands behind her back, and straightened her posture. And with another deep breath... "Lux... I must inform you of something." She looked up at the beautician. "I am not Ayaka."
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"What?!" Damien narrowed his eyes. "Then... who are you?" He asked the natural question.
Ayaka seemed the epitome of calm. "I can answer that." She turned to face the rest of the group. "Everyone. I don't believe I've had the pleasure. My name is...
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Nozomi. Ayaka's... other self, you could say. Or as Lux calls me... her specter."
Oh my god! Here we are! Nozomi! Woo hoo! Look Sempi! Look! It's Nozomi! Look!
I won't say anything about Nozomi here... you'll have to wait for Part 2!
But enough of that! It's Part 1 of the trial! It feels great to not have any word count concerns! I feel a lot more confident about this trial compared to Chapter 1. Both case-wise and writing-wise. I hope you all enjoyed it too! I had trouble deciding on the start of the trial, but in the end, I think it's pretty good!
Also! Just so everyone knows, Part 2 is 40k words! Just a warning! I really don't know how it's so damn long!
And the "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" line was one I was looking forward to writing. That's all I'll say on that.
And that's all I got! Again, I hope you enjoyed and I hope you look forward to Part 2 and to finding out who killed Genjiro!
Glamorous Stars Remaining: 16
Adam Brooks - Ultimate Academic [PROJECT DRAMA]
Alpha - Ultimate Gas Station Manager [Epifanio Therion]
Aurora Beaufort - Ultimate Starlet [WolfieRed23]
Ayaka Naganohara - Ultimate Violinist [Sempi]
Catherine Munchkin - Ultimate Cat Burglar [Nekoja]
Damien Lux - Ultimate Beautician [oddlyillregular]
Darren Taylor - Ultimate Bartender [Otterplay]
Ji-hoon Jo - Ultimate Celebrity Detective [TheRoseShadow21]
Joji Kaneshiro - Ultimate Carpenter [SureJahn]
Kei Aikawa - Ultimate Lawyer [theotakureader101]
Kuroko Kurobara - Ultimate Hypnotist [MrUtenaHolic]
Lake Beaumont - Ultimate Ballet Dancer [KadachiNova]
Raiha Miyahara - Ultimate Trendsetter [Prince PokePersona]
Rival Seizon - Ultimate Backing Vocalist [SinWriter7]
Rosalind Reinhardt - Ultimate Cinematographer [Orlando Butler]
Yoshino Akiyama - Ultimate Horror Novelist [DeathlyJazzHands55]