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Chapter 1: Daily Life 5 (Kagura FTE 1)
[X] A Japanese breakfast of miso and rice. 2 Birdcoins
[X] A Western breakfast of bacon and eggs. 2 Birdcoins
[X] Kagura



I suppose if I were a writer or philosopher, I'd be able find some symbolism in selecting both Japanese and Western breakfasts, but since the most writing I'd done was on a letter home that they'd rewrote for me, I just sat and ate instead. The food was pretty pedestrian, but being in the military I'd had worse, and I doubted anything but rations were easy to find right now. And what decent stuff, yeah, I knew they wouldn't waste on some Killing Game contestants.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZjFanS6hUY


I noticed Kagura stop and lean in, inspecting what food was there. From her expression she didn't look in the mood for anything there, despite clutching her stomach.
Shaking my feet a little, I gulped before I said to her, "Hey, um, you can have some of my breakfast if you like. Think I may have over-ordered anyway..."

At my words, Kagura dashed over to my table and immediately began chowing down on the miso and rice. I hadn't given that meal specifically to her, but eh, I'd barely nibbled at it, so like I was one to protest.
Kagura's face had to clench up a bit as she finished, with her then saying, "Meh, I know, I know, rations and everything, but like... I was eating way better stuff than this at Izumo shrine," she then slumped down as she groaned.

"Oh yeah, the Izumo Grand Shrine," I said, trying to make conversation, "Um, it must be a real prestigious position, but like, I'd imagine it's a lot of pressure too, I guess..."

"Ugh, you don't gotta tell me," she moaned, but her frown flipped upside-down as she said, "Still, that's what I got my taiko for, I just keep on drumming till I forget all about my chores and stuff. Oh yeah, and for kami rituals, that too".

"Er, wouldn't all that drumming get in the way of chores?" I asked, not sure how else to further the conversation.

"Nope. If you work all time, you'll never get anything done. Gotta blow off some steam so you're not so freakin' miserable when ya actually do what you're 'sposed to do," she beamed as she leaned back in her chair, arms folded behind her head.

Huh, I'd been basically the opposite my whole life, especially in the air force. But I did say to Kagura, "Well, you're the Ultimate Miko, so I'll take your advice".

"Ooh hey, speaking of noise, I heard from someone that they heard you were the guy who broke the sound barrier?" she then said before she leaned all the way into me, "Wow, you gotta tell me was that was like! Must've made a really big boom, huh?"

"Oh yeah, that is true..." I said, blushing while I looked down, "Sorry, but I can't say much on that. It was during a practice flight, I ended up going so fast I knocked myself out, then only heard I'd achieved supersonic flight once I woke up on a stretcher".

"Aww," she just said, "Was hoping fer somethin' a little more impressive, y'know".

"Yeah, sorry. Oh, just thought of something. You drum, and Sakamoto plays bass, so maybe-" I began, but Kagura cut me off.

"What, Genpachi? No, absolutely not! Guy's a total weirdo who said he doesn't give a crap 'bout how I play drums, ugh," she spat out, then added in a more hushed tone, "Not to mention the guy keeps picking on Simeon for whatever reason, some philosophical hang-up, I dunno, couldn't make any sense of what he said".

"Hmm, I think Sakamoto's just scared of the thought that he may have no control over his life. No, not just he, we may have no control, what with the War and now this..." I mumbled, not sure if I really knew that much about Sakamoto to say all that for him. "Oh yeah, about Omura, you two are actually getting along, huh? Wow, kinda didn't expect that, what with, y'know, your faiths and all".

"Oh that, simple really," Kagura said and smiled, "I'm all used to Christian stuff from being to weddings, like my folks got remarried to my stepfolks and all. I can even name the different sects now, like Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, that kinda thing. Er, still not sure what sect Simeon is, some kinda Catholic I guess, if he's a Pope candidate.Birdcoin! x1
But yeah, once ya start talkin' to him, you stop seeing him as this preacher man, and as just a guy, y'know?" she went on, "Like, he's got this peanut allergy, and has climbed Mt. Aso seven times, bein' from Kyushu. Stuff like that".

Best to keep quiet about those torture instruments then, I thought... before I got chills from wondering if Kagura already knew of them. "A-anyway, um, I can recall hearing that samurai and swordsmiths would give weapons and armour to shrine as offerings, s-so that'd be where you got your nodachi from, I imagine?"

"Yeah, got it in a trade with Oyamazumi Shrine, like they're where you gonna go for all the real cool weapons and armour," Kagura said in, I thought, an un-Miko-like way, but what else did I expect by now. Suddenly, she then produced said nodachi from behind her back, making me twitch backwards on reflex.

"Well, um, i-it's good to know all these historical artifacts are still here," I said while shaking, "After, y'know, all the bombings. Er, do you think Seki's ever been to Oyamazumi Shrine? Sounds like somewhere they'd be into..."

"You mean Yoritsune? Eh, doubt it, seems more interested in prop swords and guns than the real things," she shrugged.

"Well yeah, but I'd figure they'd still want to see the actual historical items for authenticity's sake," I tried to defend them, before I noticed the time. "Oh no, Toranosuke's setting up a class for us, I nearly forgot! We have to hurry... all the way to the North building".

"Huh, why should we? Guy ain't the boss of us, no matter much he acts like he is," Kagura said otherwise.

"Yeah, but still. I-I don't wanna just disobey orders," I said. Well, it was more like I couldn't disobey orders, "Plus, he's already an accomplished guy, I wouldn't want to disappoint him".

"Meh, the whole idea of Hope's Peak is that everyone's accomplished," Kagura frowned and folded her arms, "I'm wagging this one, if he asks just tell him I've got a ritual scheduled. Besides, if he tries to come at me with a cane, I'll come at him with a sword!"

...Kagura was aware we were trying not to escalate the Killing Game, right? "Okay, um, yeah, I'll tell him you're busy" I just said.

"But hey, it was real nice meeting with ya," she then smiled, as she got off her chair and approached me, "Like, Simeon and Jeanne are really the only two people I've talked much with here, so it was cool getting to know another".

I had to blush. "T-thank you, Amano, I liked spending time with you too..." I blurted out.

"Hey, don't worry yourself. I can tell ya whoever dies first, if anyone, it ain't gonna be me" she smirked.

Kagura's Trust +1!



"Grr, I wanna be the teacher!" Etsuko hissed out, as she started pawing at Toranosuke. Given Etsuko's paws were of a kangaroo's, Toranosuke was proving surprisingly resilient.

"If I may so interject, Linguistics are a more than vital skill in communicating, so for a Language class perhaps I would be best suited to teaching, educating, instructing-" Kanji rambled, also right up in Toranosuke's face.

That was the scene I witnessed when I walked into that yellow-and-brown classroom. Personally I just tried to stay out of it, at least till Kagura was called, as I started searching for my designated seat.

"Ah, Enoshima, right this way if you will," Simeon said, guiding me to an old wooden chair in the middle of the room between Aoko and Yudai. "Hmm, by the way, you wouldn't have seen Kagura, anywhere?"

"Uh, Amano. Y-yeah, I just met her," I began, before I readied her excuse, "Said she couldn't come, had an important ritual to practice."

"Rather suspicious she would tell you alone about this 'ritual' then," Toranosuke said as he brushed right past Etsuko and Kanji, "Well Enoshima, you are two minutes late, but to err is human I suppose. And my thanks to Omura for his assistance while I was, ahem, occupied," he glanced back at the Chimera and Conlanger.

"Really, Ishimaru, it's the least I could do," Simeon smiled and bowed, before he said, "Perhaps a prayer to start our first class off, even in this unconventional situation- Ow, who threw that?!" he yelled out as a paper plane crashed into the back of his head.

"Zat was I!" Jeanne jumped on top of her desk and brandished her sword, "Hope's Peak is a state school, is it not? Zerefore, I will not tolerate talk of religion within a classroom setting!"

"Yeah, what Jeanne said!" Dejan shouted out as he tried to jump up on his desk too, though with it wobbling more than Jeanne's did. "I ain't havin' some Vatican collaborateur tellin' me what to do."

"A foreign religion or not, the both of you are causing far more disruption to this class than Omura has!" Toranosuke exclaimed, with Jeanne leaping from desk to desk as he tried to reprimand her. Dejan meanwhile had sat back down, if only because he would've fallen off had he stayed atop his desk longer.

Looking around I could see Hildegard in the corner, taking this opportunity to quietly read a comic she'd smuggled in whilst Toranosuke and Simeon were looking the other way. Manami just sat next to hear and sighed at everything going on, though couldn't resist talking a peek at what Hildegard was reading.

"C-calm down everybody!" Momoka tried to say, only to start shaking once the eyes of the rest of the class were upon her. "Um, l-look, there's really no need to get angry..."

"My my, were I Fuhito, Genpachi or Kagura, I'd be regretting not showing up by now," Aoko chuckled right next to me, "This chaos is like a trainwreck, but I mean that as a compliment. I simply cannot peel my eyes away".

...Well, that was reassuring to hear.
Genpachi not being here, however, didn't surprise me in the least. I took it Fuhito was on Truant Officer duty, by process of elimination.

"Psst, hey Enoshima," the hulking Yudai said as he leaned in next to me, "Ya seem like a trustworthy kid, not one ta go blabbin'. So how 'bout it, why don't you and me sneak outta here while everyone's distracted?"

It was, well, hard to say no to someone like Yudai, but also hard to say yes, since the thought of how Toranosuke would react had wormed into my head.

Just a few seconds later though, it turned out I didn't have to make a choice. A loud rumbling came from down the hall, which made Dejan gasp and exclaim, "My tank! Argh, could've sworn I'd turned the engine off this morning! Everyone, quick, get out of the way!"

As we all rushed to the side, Dejan's tank rolled right on through the class, leaving gaping holes as it did, and further through the ground floor of Hope's Peak.
"What in the nine blood-soaked Hells is the meaning of this?!" Columbird instantly showed up in the room to survey the damage. "A tank just rolls on through this here Academy, and not a single one of you is crushed by it? Sheer mouse-brained incompetence is what this is! Why, in the army of the greatest nation on Earth, when we deploy tanks, we damn well expect to see some carnage!"

"...Albini, as this is your tank, you'll be accompanying me to stop its rampage," Toranosuke commanded of Dejan, before he turned to Manami and said, "You too, Yamato, I expect you'd had experiences with machines like these. Everyone else, try to find higher ground, or at least somewhere safe, and warn Kirigiri, Amano, and Sakamoto if you get the chance".

"Nyaa! I'm comin' too, you just leave that big, bad tank ta me!" Etsuko proclaimed. I couldn't help but sigh at her actions, but well, she may've had the strength to actually stop that thing, out of any of us.

While a single-file march outside the building would've been our best response to this, or at least my training had drilled into me, instead all of us ran off in every direction.
I thought to spend this time hiding out in Manami's Lab. Yeah, I hadn't gotten her permission first, but it seemed like the most secure place here. It... may not have been the most noble or valorous thing to do, especially since Kagura, Genpachi, and Fuhito were still out there somewhere, but well... I guess a failed kamikaze pilot like me just wasn't one for desperate measures.

Turns out I wasn't the one who'd gotten the idea to hide in Manami's Lab, as I was soon joined by Kanji, Hildegard, and Aoko. Not that any of us were in the mood to talk, given the thought of a tank on the loose.
Kanji looked like he was about to speak, but he got cut off when the monitor came back on.

"Got ourselves a Body Discovery! Finally the killin' my hard-earned eagle taxes have been goin' to!" Columbird announced, a fluttering US flag behind him on the screen.

As the monitor turned itself off, I could think No, please, no...



The four of us left the Manami's Lab to see the Ultimate Captain staring right at us. My first thought was she'd reprimand us, but instead she wordlessly beckoned us to follow her.

We were led down to a basement, well, technically we were underground so everywhere was a basement- I'm getting distracted. I could see a poster of an American woman lying on the floor, dirtied and torn by being run over by the tank, but I think I recognised her as the American actress Rita Hayworth.

Past where the poster had been hung, we walked into a storm drain-styled room which Manami told us was "Yudai's Lab". And there, on the floor...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfgTbtuAto


...was Katsu Yudai, clutching a chisel and file in his hands, run over by the tank which'd now stopped upon it crashing into a cave wall.
It wasn't just the tank treads though. Broken glass had been scattered all over him, having come from a nearby smashed radio, maybe knocked over by the tank? He had bled out, with some of the blood having formed into the shape of a pentagram.

All I could think was... Why Yudai? He was the Ultimate Jailbreaker, our best ticket out of here, and had always come off like a nice enough guy. W-who would even want to kill him?

I couldn't know, but I guess my first thought was:
[ ] Dejan, it was his tank after all. He would've known it'd roll down to the basement.
[ ] Momoka, the radio instantly made me think of her.
[ ] Genpachi, the guy was a clear troublemaker, given to unpredictably for the sake of it...
[ ] Simeon, that pentagram meant something in Christianity, right?
[ ] Aoko, she always acted suspiciously, and had been the last to arrive at Manami's Lab.
[ ] Manami, she'd been the one to bring us down here.
[ ] It could've been an accident, that tank seemed unreliable anyway...
[ ] ...Nobody, I just didn't know
[ ] Write-in
 
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Chapter 1: Deadly Life 1
[x] ...Nobody, I just didn't know
(Glass Shards(I>
(Blood Pentagram(I>
(Actress Poster(I>




View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlGbKK6VnM


As I steadied myself, my first instinct was to look at that shattered radio. "Is that one of the 'Birdbooks'? Aren't they meant to have our names on them?"

"That would be Momoka's name printed on, I take it," Manami glanced forward at it and muttered, "Makes sense, if anyone could use a radio as a potential murder weapon, it'd be our Ultimate Broadcaster".

"Wait, Momoka?" I gasped, before I shook my head. "No, absolutely not! Why should she all the people be the killer, what motive could she have?!"

(Momoka's Name on Radio(I>

"Well, if the Means and Opportunity match..." Fuhito's voice coldly entered, as the Detective walked up only to glare at us, "Enoshima, Schulz, Iwai, even Yamato, I'm afraid I will have to ask you all to leave. You are clearly out of your element".

"W-what do you mean 'Out of our element'?" it was Hildegard who spoke up, "I had friends and family who were taken away and forced to play Killing Games! D-don't tell me to stay out of this!"

Fuhito sighed and her, then hissed, "It is precisely that hysterical outburst of yours that is why someone like you, someone who conceals their Talent, ought to stay out of these matters. Meanwhile, I am heir to the Kirigiri detective lineage, by far the most suitable person to investigate."
Then he looked to the side and admitted, "...Perhaps Mori too, if only for pinpointing the body's cause of death."

Aoko at first only perked an eye at Fuhito's approval, but when Hildegard started fuming at him, she leaned in towards her ear and whispered, "Don't worry, I'll slip you all the info once he's out of sight." Fuhito picked up none of those words, his gaze fixed on the crime scene.
"Anyway," she said in a normal tone, turning back to Fuhito, "Hmhm, you don't have to be the Ultimate Undertaker to know your blood doesn't naturally congeal into a pentagram shape. Could this be our killer's calling card, or some vandal tampering with the scene? I do wonder..."

Fuhito then muttered, "I can't make out any fingerprints on Sakakibara's radio. Assuming she's the killer, she may have used a rod to swing it around on the end, that is if the tank wasn't the cause of death and this radio, whatever it was doing in Katsu's Lab, merely fell down due to the impact."

(No Fingerprints at Crime Scene(I>

"Ah, then it would only make sense to discern the time of death, whether it matches with when the tank crashed down here-" Kanji began, but Fuhito immediately turned and glared.

"Didn't I tell you and the rest to leave, Iwai? I hardly need a thesaurus when inspecting a corpse," he snarled, regardless of what Kanji actually had to say.

"You know, you're still the UltimateLibrarian, not Detective," Hildegard stoop up again to Fuhito, "You don't have sole authority over this case, and Yudai was our friend too!"

"Indeed, and quite frankly," Kanji said as he adjusted his glasses, "Your Talent and mine aren't so different, Kirigiri."

"Out!" the 'logical' detective Fuhito was at the point of snapping, only for another figure to enter the room.

"Bah, the youth of today have no patience, I tell you! Thinking you can play detectives before I finish preparing my Columbird File," Columbird flew down and landed in the centre of us, holding a document in his beak.

Taking the file, Fuhito began to read out, "The victim was Yudai Katsu. The time of death is estimated to be around 1000 hours. The body was discovered by at least three innocents in Katsu's Lab, in the basement. Among potential causes are Dejan Albini's tank and Momoka Sakakibara's radio."

(Columbird File #1(I>

"Wait," I had to ask, "If the cause of death turns out to be Dejan's runaway tank, t-then... doesn't that mean...?"

"He'll be Executed, them's the breaks," Columbird proclaimed, "I don't give a damn about accidental or not, you're responsible for a death, you die in turn. So pre-emptively quit your bellyachin'!"

"Not to mention that this tank 'accident' may not have been so," Fuhito said, trying to assert himself as in charge of this case, "This is the lowest point of the school, so someone like Albini would've known his tank would roll down here."

"And the Ultimate Tank Commander would be better than to let his vehicle run amok by mistake, wouldn't he?" Manami observed.

"Absolutely not!" Hildegard had to shout out, "...Well, not likely anyway. Yudai was in class when the tank came loose. If Dejan even knew about this Lab, how would he know Yudai would've immediately run down here?"

"It is not a stretch to see someone as shifty as Katsu take advantage of chaos to make a break for it," Fuhito quickly came back with, "Anyway, didn't I tell you to leave?"

"Kirigiri has a point, you all have been getting in the way of him doing any actual detective work," Manami then said, before she began pushing us out of the Lab.

As we got forced out back into the basement, Hildegard immediately stamped her foot and seethed, "'As shifty as Katsu'? He was our classmate, yet our 'Great Detective' is treating all this like no more than a puzzle!"

I tried to console Hildegard with, "Hey, we can still try continuing our investigation in other places. I mean, Kirigiri can't be everywhere at once".

"Well spoken," Kanji swiftly added. I was worried his loud and overeager voice would immediately be heard again by Fuhito, but he wisely leaned and said in a hushed tone, "I believe I know just where to investigate".



"Momoka's Lab, right?" Hildegard said as we were led to a door located near the cinema.

"The very same," Kanji beamed, patting us both on the back from in between, "Now, I was scheduled for my very own interview right about now. If it hasn't been delayed what with the murder and such, and I do believe Sakakibara's nerves would be soothed by some sense of normality, then that is your opportunity!"

"Oh, so we just come in and ask her questions?" I took it.

"No no no, you have it all wrong!" Kanji then burst out, before he corrected, "You shall stay outside and ask questions via call. Something as sensitive as not merely a murder, but one she is a suspect in, would best be brought up to Momoka over long-distance communication, her preferred medium."

That being his plan, Hildegard and I put our radios on while Kanji headed inside. We then heard Momoka's voice, both on air but even through the walls, begin with, "Ah, hello everyone. Um, let's try our best and carry on in these times, for example I have this record here all ready."


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM8esuvEb8c


While we waited for any interview to begin, who but Kagura would suddenly pass us in the halls.
"Wow, first murder, huh?" she began perhaps a little tactlessly, then smirked and said, "Well, I'm doing my part! I've already been selected for guard duty, make sure nobody tampers with the crime scene."

"Guard duty?" Hildegard picked up on, "Er, I mean no offence, Kagura, but... don't you also need a witness for guard duty, to make sure the killer or an accomplice isn't accidentally selected to guard?"

"Witness right here," Genpachi then said, him appearing right on cue when Hildegard asked about a witness.

Oh, well, that was reassuring. I didn't say it to Kagura for fear of making her angry, but her playing truant this whole time, well, didn't that make her a suspect for meddling with the tank?
No, I already couldn't handle the thought of Momoka being the culprit, I didn't need to think of Kagura killing...

Kagura and Genpachi left to their new posts, and the time then came for Kanji's radio appearance. "Why hello there, Iwai Kanji. Ultimate Conlanger, I believe? My, I believe that's a term many of us here haven't heard of, I myself didn't know of constructed languages till today! Please, tell us more."

"Ah yes, more than happy, delighted, ecstatic too," Kanji began with, "Ahem, well you see I got started as a child when I wondered whether or not creatures like Tengu, Kitsune, Tanuki, and so on, spoke their own languages, or at least their own dialects of Japanese? In my daydreams I tried to synthesise just what such non-human tongues would sound like, but of course I've matured since, my current project is actually a Basque-Finnish pidgin..."

Hildegard and I nodded along as Kanji kept droning, him happy to answer each and every one of Momoka's questions. All except one, that was.
"I'm aware this may be sensitive, but I imagine constructed languages would be of much use in the field of cryptography, that being an essential part of the war effort you don't often hear talked about?" she asked him.

"...I do apologise, dear Sakakibara, but that is a subject I have absolutely no wish to divulge upon," Kanji's tone lost its joviality. I mean, I wouldn't want to spill military secrets either, but Kanji seemed to take it awful personally.

Momoka finally announced the line was open for call-in questions. Hildegard was ready to phone in, but I had to wonder just what to ask. Not that I didn't have questions, far from it, it's just that I knew I had limited time, before Fuhito found us, before Columbird would be calling a Trial. What I asked, it had to matter.

[ ] "You would've heard of Katsu Yudai's death? Um, any guesses who his killer could be?"
[ ] "Given Katsu's passing, are there any last words you'd like to say for him?"
[ ] "A radio belonging to you was found by Katsu's death scene, was wondering if you could elaborate?"
[ ] "The Body Discovery Announcement plays after three innocents have witnessed the corpse, so did you pass by?"
[ ] "Could a radio even be used as a murder weapon? They're saying that, don't know how likely it is"
[ ] "What are your thoughts on that pentagram symbol?"
[ ] Write-in
 
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Scheduled vote count started by ArlequineLunaire on Jan 1, 2022 at 2:41 AM, finished with 10 posts and 3 votes.

  • [x] "A radio belonging to you was found by Katsu's death scene, was wondering if you could elaborate?"
    [x] "The Body Discovery Announcement plays after three innocents have witnessed the corpse, so did you pass by?"



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrTOPzy1_Wg
 
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Chapter 1: Deadly Life 2
"A radio belonging to you was found by Katsu's death scene, was wondering if you could elaborate?" came my first question, with me not being sure if it'd be the only question I'd get a chance to ask here.

"What the-who is this? If you mean my assigned Birdbook, I have it right here! And n-none of my other equipment has ever eft my Lab!" Momoka's voice rose to protest after I asked that.

"I was, look, this is Enoshima Tsubasa, it's just I was at the crime scene earlier and saw a Birdbook tagged 'Sakakibara Momoka'," I said. I didn't want to outright say my name over the radio in case Fuhito was listening; I figured how crackly this phone would hide my voice. That said, I don't think just saying I was at the crime scene would give away anything he didn't want people to know.

"Enoshima, I... still don't know what you mean. I have my assigned Birdbook right here, it says 'Sakakibara Momoka', and I was walking back over to my own Lab when I heard the... the announcement," she went on.

Well, guess that answered the other question that'd occurred to me. I didn't have further proof on whether to trust Momoka's words, but I figured the right thing would be to have faith her alibi, until I heard anyone say elsewise.

(Momoka's Alibi(I>

"Hmm, but our names are on the Birdbooks in plain text, aren't they? What do you think about the likeliness of someone forging your name on the other radio?" came Hildegard's question.

"Y-Yes, that could be it, b-but..." Momoka started to blubber, her natural radio confidence mid-crumbling, "Who... who would want to frame m-me?"

I couldn't guess right now. I thought to tell her, 'That's what we're trying to find out' but really, what would saying that do to help?

"I've got it! Is it okay if we asks for recordings of the interviews you've had here, it's likely the culprit was one of them if they swapped out your Birdbook," Hildegard picked up on.

"U-Um, look, I really need to think about this. H-How about we just go back to you, Iwai, I believe you had more to say about conlangs, after all..." Momoka shifted things to, instead of address Hildegard directly.

I sighed as we headed away, Hildegard looking downcast too. Not that we'd made no progress, we'd sorta-established an alibi for Momoka and talked about Birdbook labels being forged, but that was about it.

Though speaking of the radio, I also thought to turn to Columbird's own station, thinking that maybe any discoveries Fuhito had made might be reported there?
Once I did though, I instantly wished I hadn't, given the brass fanfare that blared first thing.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeD9Nk8-tY0


"Hmph, and that boy called his little sewer-scraping a 'jailbreak'? I ain't never heard anything more miserable in my life. Back at home on the sacred continental shores of... America, we knew how to launch a genuine goddamn jailbreak, I'll tell ya! Alcatraz, the greatest prison on God's green Earth, never knew what hit it, 'cause we also had the greatest goddamn jailbreakers on God's green Earth too! And don't gimme that birdscrap 'bout how You-Die Cat-Sue broke outta Alcatraz too, that's a technicality, it don't count!" Columbird was mid-rant on his own station, almost lost in his own little world, a theatre of himself.

I turned the station off, but I was wrong to think that'd be the end of voices blaring right at me.

As Hildegard and I left the South building, that mysterious Voice I'd last heard back at the 'entrance ceremony' flickered on again right in my head.
"Listen up, Enoshima, and listen good. You can waste your time playing amateur detective, or I can straight up tell you who the killer is. Sounds much better, doesn't it?" whoever it was buzzed inside me, like a fly had flown into my skull.

Keeping my voice low, else Hildegard think I was talking to her, or wondered why I was talking to myself, I just whispered, "How can I trust you?"

"Really? I've been with you from the start, Enoshima, and what reason do you have to not trust me, eh?" the Voice rang out.
Oh, I could actually think of a few reasons. Regardless, the Voice then flat-out told me, "It's Mori Aoko, she killed Yudai".

I staggered backwards, at which point Hildegard ended up noticing and ran up to me. "Tsubasa, is there somethingwrong?" she asked.

"You want Momoka's interviews? I intercepted them right here: Dejan, Aoko, Simeon and Kanji you've already heard, plus that call-in from Genpachi. Now out of those, who would do it just to see a death unfold, who would do it to watch the chaos among the students?" the Voice kept talking, "Oh, as for Simeon, guy has this thing about not drawing blood, which along with the pentagram rules him out, you know what Catholics are like."

(Simeon with Blood(I>

"What-what are you saying?" I asked out loud, especially since I knew Aoko was in class when the tank got loose, as I forgot for a second about Hildegard standing there. Not that it mattered, that was suddenly all the Voice said for now.

"I... just asked if something was wrong?" Hildegard repeated.

I looked at her, tried to say one thing, but instead said, "No, I'm fine, I just had a little, ah, mental strain processing all this." That was technically true, I guess, and I just couldn't tell anyone about the Voice because, well, I had no idea how they'd react.

"I know, we'll try and get in touch with Dejan next, I mean, if he's willing to talkabout what happened to his tank," she then said, leading me along through the cave.



"I'm tellin' you, I can't have done it!" Dejan was quick to blurt out as we confronted him by the North building, "The tank was left locked in place last night, someone had to have been meddling with it! I've been trained to handle tanks all my life, ya honestly think I would've made that simple a mistake?"

I knew better than to state that Dejan unmooring the tank on purpose was still on the table, as I didn't want to stress him out this soon. Instead I just asked, "Then, do have any idea who did?"

"Hmm," he got to thinking, before he replied, "When I checked the moorings I found quite a bit of rust and a little dampness on 'em, so whoever did it would've had some sorta liquid on them, little more corrosive though than just plain ol' water I take it".

(Rusted Tank Moorings(I>

"Wait, your tank looked rusty in general, ah, no offence," Hildegard then said, before she started running over our Talents, "Pilot has fuel, Captain might have water, Jazzman has resin, Jailbreaker would have some weird sewermuck, Miracleworker has holy water, Undertaker has embalmingfluid..."

"If whoever did it used the liquid to rust the hinge over time, then they might still've been in the class today" Dejan then figured.

"Yeah, meaning the suspects, for who set free the tank at least, could be more than just Kagura, Genpachi, or Fuhito," I concluded... but then that also meant Aoko was a suspect, just like the Voice said.

"Jailbreaker... then maybe Yudai was the one who set off the tank!" Hildegard gasped as her eyes lit up, "I've got it! Er, well maybe not quite yet, but the tank getting loose could've been done as part of Yudai's escape attempt, either he applied the liquid directly or got a helper to do it".

"Yeah well, it's about time I go see my own tank anyway. Sheesh, no idea how I'm gonna haul it back up though," Dejan mumbled as he walked off. I thought to myself he might not even have the chance to haul it up.

He headed down to the North building basement, a little cautiously too as I remembered the stairs had been shredded up a bit by the tank. Fuhito didn't seem to be around, so I figured I could get away with not telling Dejan about his... issues with us.

We saw Kagura and Genpachi standing by the body, being there as guard and witness to 'preserve the scene's integrity'. Kanji was also there, I took it Momoka had asked him to investigate that radio for her.

"Wait a minute, hold on a second, just one moment," Kanji suddenly said, getting to the point with, "Assuming this is indeed Momoka's Birdbook, then where's Yudai's?"

"Can't show ya," Genpachi smirked, "It's under his corpse. Poor soul fell down right on top of it as either the perp or the tank approached".

True, there were some glass shards poking out from just beneath Yudai, though still plenty of shards on top of him too.
"Er, any progress on what that pentagram means?" I then asked.

"Huh, pentagram?" Kagura just asked.

Hildegard nearly froze. "T-the one in blood, right by Yudai's body, remember?"

I looked to where the pentagram had been, only to see a less formed shape, obscured by dust and chalk.

(Blood Pentagram(I> Updated: Tampered

"Kagura, did you-!" Hildegard burst out.

"Hey, I'm the guard, I wouldn't tamper with anything! That blood was like that when I got here!" the priestess shouted back, before she had to admit, "O-okay, maybe I did do like one or two purification rites around here, but that's it. I never touched the blood!"

"Really, dollface, sweetcheeks, how could you be so untrusting?" Genpachi then asked, "I speak for integrity here, so when I say neither Kagura or I am the tamperer, I mean it. If you gotta blame someone for this, air yer grievances with Fuhito or Aoko".

Speaking of Fuhito, I spun around to see he had returned the room, just before Hildegard and I could leave. His face was fuming, but before he could say anything, another voice came on.

"Alright, you low-down, godforsaken, Americaforsaken punks," came Columbird's voice and image on the monitors, "I want you all in the Class Trial Courtroom pronto! You've been lucky you've been given so much time ta solve this case, I've known law enforcement that can catch miscreants in half as much time as you dawdlers!"

...Saved by our first Trial. I noticed Columbird didn't say anything about said law enforcement catching the right miscreants, but I guess that was besides the point.

I figured I had to get my theories about the case straight first:

How did Yudai die?
[ ] Struck with the Momoka-labelled radio
[ ] Run over by tank
[ ] Fell on his own radio which shattered
[ ] Write-in
[ ] Still don't know

Who set the tank loose?
[ ] Dejan
[ ] Yudai
[ ] Yudai's accomplice
[ ] Nobody, it was an accident
[ ] Write-in
[ ] Still don't know

Who tampered with the blood pentagram?
[ ] Kagura
[ ] Aoko
[ ] Genpachi
[ ] Fuhito
[ ] Write-in
[ ] Still don't know
 
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Vote closed
Scheduled vote count started by ArlequineLunaire on Jan 3, 2022 at 12:32 AM, finished with 14 posts and 2 votes.


Given the animation that goes along with it, you'll understand why I put this here:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNcHF5K3Tpc
 
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Chapter 1: Class Trial - All Rise
How did Yudai die?
[X] Struck with the Momoka-labelled radio
Who set the tank loose?
[X] Yudai
Who tampered with the blood pentagram?
[X] Fuhito



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOFG9TCTiG0


We were directed towards the school's main elevator. Where it was once used to travel between floors, so I assumed anyway, now it took us to only one place.

I wasn't any closer honestly to working out who, if anyone, killed Yudai, even if I had a few more leads on who didn't. Yeah, the Voice had flat-out told me it was Aoko, but given how secretive said Voice was, did that really solve things?

(Glass Shards(I>
A radio was found shattered at the scene of Yudai's death, glass shards all over him. Either this or the tank was the murder weapon.

(Blood Pentagram(I>
Someone, probably the killer but maybe a tamperer, even Yudai himself, drew a pentagram with Yudai's spilled blood.
Update: The blood pentagram has since been tampered with. It's unknown if this was sabotage or accident.

(Actress Poster(I>
A poster of US actress Rita Hayworth was found covering the entrance to Yudai's basement Lab.

(Momoka's Name on Radio(I>
Our names are written on each of our Birdbooks, and the radio at Yudai's death scene would belong to Momoka.

(No Fingerprints at Crime Scene(I>
If the radio was the murder weapon, the killer wouldn't have held it directly, rather swung it around on some sort of pole. This is probably what they used to draw that pentagram.

(Columbird File #1(I>
The victim was Yudai Katsu. The time of death is estimated to be around 1000 hours. The body was discovered by at least three innocents in Katsu's Lab, in the basement. Among potential causes are Dejan Albini's tank and Momoka Sakakibara's radio.

(Momoka's Alibi?(I>

Momoka says she was in her room in the time leading up to the announcement, and knew nothing about her radio being at the crime scene This may net a full Truth Bullet with another's confirmation.

(Simeon with Blood(I>
Due to his religious beliefs, Simeon has an aversion to drawing blood and Satanic symbols.

(Rusted Tank Moorings(I>
Some sort of corrosive liquid was used to gradually rust the tank moorings. Being gradual, this would give whoever set the tank loose time to head to class before it started rolling, widening the scope of suspects.

We were taken to a courtroom, its walls painted to resemble a sepia Art Deco cityscape, and its centre a ring of podiums, Columbird up on a gilded perch at the 'head'.

"Do I honestly have to tell the citizens of this country how a court trial's supposed ta work?!" Columbird barked at us, having assumed we needed to be told. "Argue whodunnit, then vote for whodunnit, been that way since Ancient Rome! You can thank the United States of America for giving you all majority vote, 'cause if most of ya vote correct on who the killer is, only they get what's comin' to them. But if you prove majority vote's wasted on ya and get the killer wrong, then ya got nobody to blame but yourselves when all of you but the killer get punished. Do I Make Myself Clear?!"

"I believe standard procedure here is to go over what we all know about the case," Toranosuke quickly took the lead, before he cleared his throat to say, "Students of Hope's Peak, fret not, should any of us indeed be the killer, they shall not long elude my natural genius".

"Tch, the harder they fall," Genpachi muttered.

"Katsu Yudai's body was found at 10AM. Objects at the crime scene consisted of Momoka's radio broken atop him, his own radio beneath him, a chisel and file in his hand, a torn poster just outside, and of course Albini's tank," Fuhito went over.

"Oh, so that means Momoka killed him, right?" Kagura exclaimed the very second Fuhito finished. "It's her radio and all. Ah, this is easy!"

"What?! N-n-no, absolutely not, I'd never kill, and not Katsu of all people!" Momoka then sobbed out.

>Momoka's Alibi?>>---X Momoka killed him

"That doesn't add up," I interjected, if somewhat hesitantly, "Sakakibara told me she had an alibi, that after class she ran to her Lab before the BDA, and she wouldn't have had enough to hit Katsu with her radio then head all the way back there."

"...You do know how alibis work, don't you?" Fuhito then scowled at me, "It doesn't mean anything if you only have her word for it".

"No, I can confirm," Manami then spoke up, "When Ishimaru, Albini, Kimura, and I left to track down that tank, Momoka did come our way to make it back to her base of operations."

>Momoka's Alibi>> [Reforged]

"Y-yes, I wouldn't have had time to leave my radio there, and if I left it there earlier, w-wouldn't Katsu have noticed?" Momoka found it in herself to speak up.

"Losing your radio? Then why did Columbird not reprimand you?" Toranosuke pointed out.

"I-I have more than one radio," Momoka said, though shrank back at Toranosuke's tone, "It... comes with my Talent."

"Additionally, Enoshima and I have theorised that this particular radio of Momoka's was infact stolen from her Lab by one of her interviewees," Hildegard then said, before she announced, "Who switched it out with their own."

"...And Sakakibara didst not notice this?" Yoritsune inquired, eyeing us closer.

"She did, but not immediately," Hildegard tried to explain, "Firstly, she'd have quite a few radios to go through. Secondly, our signatures are writtenon the nametags of our Birdbooks in print, so anyone could've forged her name on theirs."

"Grr, that's dumb, you're dumb!" Etsuko hissed out, "Just forge your name on your own noisebox and leave it at the crime scene, much easier, don't gotta steal anything," she then huffed.

>Cracks on the Radio>>---X Don't gotta steal anything

"That's not true!" I said in time, "Whoever planted that radio would need to steal their own back later, so they could present it if questioned. Else, they'd be left with a shattered radio, giving them away."

"Thus, we can deduce that whoever planted the radio was one of Momoka's interviewees," Hildegard continued.

"Is that so? Feh, I cannot believe we must deal with killing and stealing in the same case," Toranosuke sighed, "Truly, what is Hope's Peak coming to?"

"No, y-you've got it wrong!" Momoka then squealed out, clutching her head, "N-Nobody I interview on my show would be that bad a person, I refuse to believe it!" she then burst out with, pointing a finger at me.

[CROSS SWORDS]

"My guests are not bad people!"
"I'd never invite a killer and thief on my show!"
"T-this can't be happening!"

[ADVANCE!]

"Sakakibara... I'm sorry," I tried to tell her, "But look, we've barely known each other that long. It's harsh to say, but nobody's able to judge someone's character that quickly".
That made her catch her breath, but she still couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"B-but you can still tell someone that bad, right?"
"A-and logically, it couldn't be a guest of mine b-because..."
"We c-couldn't find Aoko, Dejan, or Simeon's fingerprints at the crime scene"​

o=||No Fingerprints at Crime Scene!>>

"We couldn't find anyone's prints at the crime scene!" I told her, before I caught my breath and said, "Look, Sakakibara, I'm sorry, but that doesn't let your guests off the hook."

"Got some nerve on ya to assume what we were all like before we even got here, doll," Genpachi chuckled at Momoka, "You honestly think us humans are inherently moral, or if so, that our morals match your own, on top of us all bein' tainted by a whole War? Sheesh, gimme a break."

"Even still, you're all missing that we don't have proof the radio was the murder weapon, or anything beyond a plant," Fuhito came in with, "This would make the planter suspicious, yes, but not necessarily the culprit."

"E-either way, don't turn your gaze at me!" Kanji spoke out, "I wasn't even on Sakakibara's program till after the murder!"

"Hold on a second... oh no, no, it cannot be so," Jeanne started mumbling, "Dejan, you are... both le tank's owner and one of Momoka's guests, no?"

"W-what? Jeanne, what the Hell are you saying?" Dejan gasped, "Argh, I'm the last person who would've set my tank loose! I mean, I'd just be sabotagin' myself when I went to help you guys round it up".

"No, that makes sense too," Manami glared at him, her arms crossed, "You helped us just to look like you weren't the culprit. Plus, the tank still ran over Katsu anyway, like the killer would've wanted, so you failed at even helping".

"Fascist!" Dejan then spouted out, "Of course you'd all accuse me damaging my beloved tank just ta kill!"

"Hah, not only do you match up with both the tank and the radio show, you cannot produce a solid defence for yourself," Fuhito smirked, "This case might as well be closed."

>Rusted Tank Moorings>>---X Defence for yourself

"That's not true! Albini himself told me that someone broke the moorings ahead of time," I said to everyone.

Fuhito looked at me only to facepalm, "...Do you realise what you've just said, Enoshima? Your words have only condemned Albini all the more. Before, he actually had an alibi, being with you in class. Now, the possibility that anyone could've loosened the tank up ahead of time, regardless of whether they were in class, has been opened. Do you finally understand why I said you were useless as a detective?"

"You've got it wrong, Fuhito. Tsubasa justsaved Dejan, not condemned him," Hildegard came to my aid at the very moment I thought was done for, "What he was trying to say was that this proves Dejan didn't setloose the tank, because if he did, then why would he tell us something that'd ruin his own alibi?"

"...That's assuming Albini wasn't being overconfident, let alone an idiot," Fuhito sneered, his influence challenged but far from crumbling.

"No, I would... like to believe Albini," Jeanne then said, "I knew I should not have doubted him, he would not simply lie when it came to his beloved tank."

"Are you going with your mere 'beliefs', Chevalier?" Manami spoke up, "Because doing so could risk the lives of everyone here. How could you be that irresponsible; this isn't about playing hero!"

"Nyaah, I still think nasty tank boy did it!" Etsuko scowled, Manami not reprimanding the Chimera's gut feelings when they backed her side up.

"Oh, is that so?" Aoko then smirked and let out a chuckle, "Tell me, do none of you take pride in your work? I wouldn't dream to be so careless with a corpse, so I don't imagine Albini would be so with a tank."

Wait, hold on... Aoko was coming to my aid? Even though if Dejan was innocent, that'd make her culprit status even more likely, being one of Momoka's guests?
No, this... didn't add up with what that Voice had told me. Only if Aoko wanted to be found out as the killer, for whatever reason.

"What's this? Do my ears pick up a Split Opinion in Court?!" Columbird then shot up, before he pounded down with the gavel clutched in his beak, "Alright ya lazy bums, do ya know what you've incurred? It's time for an old-fashioned, All-American Scrum Debate!"


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mlPcsrCYMY


With Columbird's words, our podiums sprang back, going from being arranged in a circle to two straight lines, all of us facing each other.

This narrows it down to Dejan! vs We still can't say who it was!

"Albini matches both the tank and the interviews!" Toranosuke opened with.

"D-does everyone think I'm that careless with who I let on my show? You believe in our morality too, don't you Ishimaru?" Momoka countered him, still not willing to give up on her guests' integrity.

"Hardly a defence, coming from the corrupt world of radio. If anything, going on your show confirmed that for me!" Simeon snapped out with.

"And the Vatican has never dealt with internal corruption? Why do you think Reformation and secularisation happened?" Jeanne spat out.

"Neither of you have disproven Ishimaru's original point," Fuhito stated.

"His point isn't so solid. Aligning with both tank and radio may make our Albini a suspect, but doesn't clinch that he's guilty", Kanji told him.

"Yet he is the only one of us who knoweth how a device as newfangled as a tank wouldst even work," Yoritsune spoke.

"You don't have ta know how a tank works in order to set one rolling, in fact I'd say the opposite!" Dejan countered.

"And how do you just casually set a tank rolling?" Manami narrowed her gaze.

"Albini said a specific liquid had been used to rust the tank's moorings over time," I recalled.

"Yeah kid, a 'specific liquid' it'd make sense for a tank fink to have," the previously neutral Genpachi joined the other side at the last minute.

"Or any of us, almost. Quill ink, plane and ship fuel, holy water, embalming fluid, even bow resin, Genpachi, just to list the possibilities," Hildegard brought up.

"I-I don't geddit. Like, we were 'bout ta find out, now we're back at square one! How does this help?" Etsuko was just puzzled.

"It 'helps' as it gives us many new murder possibilities to consider, my dear little Kimura, not just the dead end we've been on," Aoko gently laughed.

"Oh, what would you know? Someone like you is festering with death, Mori, how can we trust ya?" Kagura blurted out, her side whittled down to name-calling.

Total Influence: 22 vs Total Influence: 21
21 + Roll d20 (18) = 39
"This is our answer!"


After that, our podiums moved back to their regular circle. Fuhito, his once sharp expression appearing drained and cracked, sighed out, "Fine, are you happy? We'll cross of Dejan Albini from the suspect list... for now anyway."

"For Chrissakes, what is taking you all so long?" Columbird blurted out, "were this a proper American trial, we'd have thrown the suspect behind bars long ago! Eurgh, I'll let ya pansy-asses cut to a Break, but if ya ain't found the culprit by this time next trial, I'm declaring a vote on the killer anyway!"

...We were already at halftime, yet I still feel there were some important points that hadn't been brought up. The instant we were back, I knew I'd resume with:

[ ] What the deal was with that pentagram.
[ ] Whether Yudai's escape attempt was a one-man effort.
[ ] What motive any of us could have for killing Yudai.
[ ] Who'd tampered with the crime scene.
[ ] Who else could've set off the tank.
[ ] Write-in
 
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Chapter 1: Class Trial - Resume
[X] What the deal was with that pentagram.



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu0A6yt0a7Y


"Hold on, there's something fairly noticeable we haven't brought up yet. Who drew that pentagram with Katsu's blood, and why?" I pointed out as soon as we resumed.

"I shall take this," Simeon was quick to speak up, "I see two possibilities. Either someone in league with Satan, at least in their own mind, trying to conjure his unholy spirit, or someone who realised too late the extent of their sin."

"Well, I certainly cannot imagine any citizen of Japan being a Satan-worshipper, our beliefs don't hinge on that sort of dualistic thinking," Toranosuke began, before his accusation came, "Therefore, this would narrow it down to one of our foreign students, Albini, Chevalier, or Schulz! And likely the first two, given what they've said about Catholicism."

"What the-!" Dejan blurted out, "Have you gone full Imperial, ya teacher's pet? I ain't taking no religious opiate, upstairs or downstairs!"

"Indeed! My France is a secular nation, much as some fanatic would mistake zat for Satanism," Jeanne snapped back at Toranosuke in turn.

"Not necessarily a foreigner, just someone in contact with foreign ideas enough to pick that up," Simeon then said, before turning at Genpachi, "Like one who made his name smuggling in the Devil's Music!"

At Simeon's words though, Genpachi laughed then said, "Cute, real cute. What, ya think in my travels I went and sold my soul at the crossroads? Feh, least I know enough about foreign stuff to know that a pentagram ain't just a Devil thing. It's also known as the Star o' David, ain't it?"

"No, that's wrong!" Hildegard shot out, "T-the Star of David's a hexagram! The pentagram's the stamp of Jerusalem."

"Now that sounds like an awfully specific thing to know," Fuhito said, then leaned in closer at Hildegard, "That, combined with your prior knowledge of Killing Games in Germany, well, one can only wonder..."

At those words, Hildegard's voice went ice cold, "Don't- you- ever accuse me of being a Nazi! My friends, my family, they'd all still be alive if not for them!"

"Hildegard... you are Jewish?" Jeanne had to ask, "S-sorry, I did not know."

Hildegard needed some time to compose herself again, but finally she said, "It'sokay Jeanne, it's only natural you wouldn't know. I... owe to my whole survival to disguising that very fact. Well, more correctly my mother was Jewish, my father Romani."

"And Hildegard's no killer, she's put in too much effort into solving this case for that to be just an alibi," I told everyone.

"But it also proves the perp wasn't trying to pin this on her, they'd have used a hexagram for that," Genpachi pointed out.

"And yet thou thyself couldst not discern whether the Star had five or six sides but seconds earlier," Yoritsune stated.

"Yeah, I dunno about any Demon Music, but you're still suspect, Mr. Sakamoto!" Etsuko then called out, "You were one o' the ones who weren't at class, wemember? That'd give ya heaps of time to pull this off!"

"Hah, ain't my style, doll-face," Genpachi said to her, "Ya think I'm gonna bring that much suspicion on myself by icing a guy this early in the game?

>>Blood Pentagram: Tampered>>---X ain't my style

"That's not true! The pentagram was tampered with on your watch, wasn't it?" I pointed out.

"Pfft, you'll wanna accuse the mortician broad of that, not me," Genpachi said, "The shrine dame and I, we just found the pentagram like that."

"I didn't lay a finger on that pentagram, my whole profession is about respect for sites of death," Aoko said.

"I can confirm. I was with Mori at the scene the whole time she was there, she had nothing but precision care for not disturbing a thing," Fuhito came in with, him being the last person I suspected to defend anyone.

It was those words that suddenly flared Simeon up. "Your attempts to defend that Reaper will only condemn the rest of us! Are you all blind to the fact it was obviously her?" he fumed.

"Oh? Do go on," Aoko had to chuckle at him.

At opposed to Aoko's bemusement, I had to say to Simeon, "I... think you might be jumping to conclusions here."

"She fits both the strange fluid that rusted the tank moorings and the radio interviews!" Simeon said, fire in his eyes and on his tongue.

[CROSS SWORDS]

"She's only in this for her amusement!"
"How to ensure more deaths? Kill the one best suited to getting us out of here!"
"Her entire livelihood revolves around death! What better way to drum up business and please Mammon?"

[ADVANCE]

"What? This Killing Game's far too elaborate for anyone to arrange just for profit," I brought up, "That's too much of a reach."

"Well, are you prepared to admit Dejan may be guilty?"
"Because Kanji was interviewed too late!"
"And as a man of the faith, I would never draw blood!"​

o=|Glass Shards!>>

"If you had to classify a radio as a weapon, it'd be a blunt instrument," I told him, "That means the glass shattering and blood spilling may not have been the intended cause of death, assuming it wasn't the tank anyway."

"And in the heat of the kill, moral codes tend to be easily forgotten," it was Yoritsune who spoke up, "History shows this."

"Yeah, as its shows there's been a whole bunch a' holy men who killed. The Crusades, the Inquisition..." Dejan went on.

"You dare insist I was the killer?!" Simeon lashed out, before he restrained himself and asked, "Alright, then tell me, how would I have even known the Ultimate Jailbreaker's Lab was down in the basement?"

"Because I told ya, preacher man," a smirking Genpachi then cut in. "Yudai boy was lookin' for accomplices ta help pull off his great escape. He said to meet me in the basement, but then when the holy fink caught me not headin' to 'class', I told him where the Lab was to explain where I'd been hangin'."

"...That does add up," I confirmed, "Katsu asked me in class if I wanted to help plan an escape, makes sense he'd seek out more than one person."

I expected another retaliation from Simeon, but instead he merely slumped back. "I... I can't avoid hiding my sins any longer, can I?" he said.

"Wait, no! Simeon, w-what are you saying?" Kagura spoke up.

"I knocked out Katsu with the radio I stole from Sakakibara, wielding it on one of my chains to not leave fingerprints. It was a radio I originally stole just to spite her, before any murder attempt entered my head," he told us, "And just before the tank came down to finish him off, smeared his blood to form that Satanic pentagram," he told us.

>>Actress Poster>>---X before the tank

"I can confirm! Well, some of what you said, anyway. That poster had already been thrown to the side, out of the tank's path," I said, "And I doubt Katsu would've treated it like that, since he'd need it to hide his lab entrance again."

"Huh, hold on? Then who set the tank loose?" Etsuko piped up, her eyes swirling around.

"Katsu himself, possibly," I spoke up, "We found him with a chisel and file in his hand, and well, there'd be a whole bunch of strange liquids down in a drain. And Simeon already knew of Katsu's escape plan from Genpachi."

"You've got that entirely wrong!" Kagura blurted out, "Simeon would never draw anything Satan-associated, n-no holy man would!"

"A holy man would if he was trying to pin the blame on another," Manami countered that.

"Or... he no longer believed he was so holy," Hildegard muttered, "When he looked down at Yudai's corpse and realised just what he'd done."

"I suppose I owe you my motive," Simeon then said, "I had to know whether this Killing Game was in God's plan, or if He meant for us to escape. Why else would He have appointed an Ultimate Jailbreaker among us if not for that? If Katsu lived, then I'd know this Killing Game wasn't what God meant for us, but... if he died..."

"Genpachi..." Jeanne then muttered, "You baited Simeon into doing this, did you not?"

"Damn right I did," Genpachi chuckled, before he went into a full-on ramble, "Listen, Jazz is everything! That improvisation embodied in Jazz is what allows us to break free of the society, nay, fate itself has set for us. It's our choices who define who we are, what we mean, meaning a world where some God decides everything for us, where nothing really happens because we say so, is a world without a meaning.
Yeah, simplest thing to do to get back at Simeon would just be to bump him off myself, but where's the artistry in that?" Genpachi kept going on, before his laughter started to build up, "No doll-face, you want a sucker to question fate and free will, you trick him into becoming a killer, see how his religion-addled mind handles that!"

I knew Genpachi wasn't the most trustworthy guy. Possibly from the moment we'd met, but definitely since Jeanne and I had overheard him and Simeon talking from that window.
"Genpachi, do you realise what you're even saying?" I had to get through to him.

"Frankly, sweet-cheeks, I don't, and I hope never to find out," Genpachi told me, seemingly having quietened down, "The moment you know everything, that takes away any reason or desire to know. Why break with fate if you know just what'll happen if you do?"
I couldn't tell if that was some longwinded way of him explaining why he just didn't tell us everything about the case in the first place, or if he was fully lost in his own musings. Either way, that Simeon had stolen Momoka's radio before his proper conversation with Genpachi wasn't contradictory, since he'd first stolen the radio for a whole other reason.

"NO! No no no no!" it was Kagura who then screamed out, "Simeon's innocent! If you have to blame anyone, blame me! I tampered with the pentagram so people couldn't trace it back to him, I'm the guilty one!"

"Kagura," Hildegard tried to say, "Yes, you were truant that day, and... I know you formed an early bond with Simeon. But still, no other evidence points to you."

"I'm the one who did it!" she blurted out, "I killed him! I killed Yudai!"

Was Kagura saying all this to protect Simeon, that she just didn't want to believe it was him? I had to get through to her:

[Battle of the Breakdown - Start!]

[Kagura's Forces: Paper shikigami and monstrous oni, armed with longbows and swords, and led by a taiko drummer]
[Tsubasa's Forces: A swarm of fighter planes, protected by clouds and wind, and fronted by a zeppelin]​

"Simeon's innocent!" [1d10 Roll: 10]
"Why he'd ever do something like this?!" [Roll: 9]
"It's totally Aoko!" [Roll: 6]

Tempo Up! Drum bursts!

"Or blame me, I was there too!" [1d8 Roll: 4]
"I tampered with evidence, that makes me the bad guy!" [Roll: 8]
"Just stop accusing Simeon!" [Roll: 1, Use up 10]

Tempo Up! Swords shatter!

"It's all my fault!" [1d6 Roll: 6]
"You can't- you can't execute Simeon!"[Roll: 3]
"Why couldn't it have been me?"

THE|IN|BUILDING|WRONG
IN | THE | WRONG | BUILDING!​


"We met in the South Building that morning, remember?" I told her, "You never came to the North building, Kirigiri would've seen you enter if you did. I mean, no offence, but you're not exactly that stealthy."

"S-Simeon," Kagura blubbed out, "Please... don't tell me it really was you".
The Miracleworker said nothing, he didn't need to.

"Let's... let's just try to get this whole case in order," I said, as all this had made me feel about ready to collapse.

*CLOSING ARGUMENT*

"Katsu Yudai, the Ultimate Jailbreaker, used a corrosive liquid to gradually rust the moorings keeping Albini's tank secure, then headed back to the class Ishimaru was giving just before the tank would be set free.
The killer knew the tank would roll down to the lowest point of the school, the basement, where Katsu Yudai's Lab was located, being told of its location by Genpachi.
Having exchanged radios earlier with Momoka after an interview, without her knowing, he tore down the poster in front of Simeon's lab before swinging the radio at him on a chain, to not leave fingerprints.
But the radio broke on impact, causing unintended bleeding. The killer, wanting to further frame on another, or possibly overcome with guilt, smeared the blood to make an occult pentagram shape before fleeing, a pentagram further smeared by Kagura in a rushed attempt to hide the killer's identity.
Katsu Yudai was doubly wounded when he fell on his own radio's glass, and if that didn't finish him, being unconscious when the tank crashed in did.

The killer being-
[ ] Aoko Mori, the Ultimate Undertaker!
[ ] Dejan Albini, the Ultimate Tank Commander!
[ ] Genpachi Sakamoto, the Ultimate Jazzman!
[ ] Kagura Amano, the Ultimate Miko!
[ ] Momoka Sakakibara, the Ultimate Radio Broadcaster!
[ ] Simeon Omura, the Ultimate Miracle-worker!
[ ] Katsu Yudai, the Ultimate Jailbreaker! (NMS Write-in)
[ ] Write-in
 
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