Dangan Ronpa: Unser Sommerende/Chapter 3 - Class Trial

Continued from Chapter 3 - Deadly Life.

[1]

“Alrighty!” Monoyaki said. “I’m just gonna recap the rules of the class trial one more time.”

“Why?”, Mary asked. “Everyone remembers the whole shtick, just vote for the killer or everyone else dies.”

“Well, when you say it, it doesn’t sound as fun, huh?” He leaned into the side of his chair and sighed. “You guys are just sooooo grumpy...”

“Um... We’re sorry...” Amber said, seeming genuinely sad about it. “You can still say it if you want...”

“Oh, but what’d be the point? What’d be the point?”, he moaned with melodramatic flair. “... Yeah, whatever, if you’re really bored of being reminded, you can just start off and try and figure out whodunnit.”

“For the last time,” Molly said, “Who DID it...”

“Whatever, just get to the bottom of everything and we’ll see whether or not you guys get to live or whatever. Whatever, whatever, whatever...” The goat did his usual click, followed by the dropping juice carton, just as last time. “And in case anyone forgot, I can end it at any time if I get bored, so chop chop chop...”

[2]

The trial began with someone slamming their hands on the railing, which was somewhat uncharacteristic of Archie, but he had done so anyway. “... I have to ask what happened immediately, before the group descends into chaos.” His speech sounded slightly distracted, ironically enough, probably because his hands were in pain. Whatever the case, I could tell he wasn’t used to having comparatively little information for the trial, so...

“What... Happened?” Rocky said to himself, before speaking up. “We ain’t anywhere near ‘chaos’ yet, first of all... And second of all, ‘happened’ refers to the... Bag, right?”

“Just anything, just, just tell me everything. Anyone who knows anything, o-okay?”

“So like...” Mia started, “Where does ‘everything’ start? Like, what are we supposed to be talking about first?”

Without much of a clue exactly where to begin, I just thought about the first thing that was apparent when I first saw the state of the garden... “Well, yes, the case is pretty disorganised at the moment, Archie’s right about that, but to start... We have a lot of alibis, at the very least. Everyone who was knocked out at the party wouldn’t have been able to open the bag, so that means that at least those five people are definitely innocent.”

“Wait, wait, five?” Charlotte asked. “But there were six of us there, right?”

“Yes, however, when we first saw the scene, Dan hadn’t fainted, as I’m sure he can verify.”

“...” I suppose he didn’t actually feel like speaking, and I was somewhat worried he wouldn’t, at least for a moment. “I just went there to observe. I am unaware as to what caused the fainting, and didn’t witness anything during the night due to a state of induced detachment via meditation.”

“In that case...” Archie resumed, “The next question is why we ended up unconscious in the first place.”

[3]

“That question’s easy enough, too.” I glanced over at the blue vial on Lucy’s belt, and wondered if the chemical actually had a name I could refer to it as... But I figured that I could explain it with or without a title for it. “Lucy and I focused most of our investigating on the beverages that were served last night, since Lucy thought it was similar to one of her... Medicines. When we visited the cafeteria kitchen, we managed to find two spare drinks, which clearly looked discoloured with a blueish tint... The same colour as the original chemical.”

“But you weren’t at the gathering, were you, Attebury?” Mary interjected, with a strangely exasperated look. Less like suspicion, more like disappointment. “After all, you weren’t knocked out at the scene, so I’m under the impression you didn’t end up going... And you weren’t the one making the drinks, either. I don’t see how you would know what they originally looked like... So how you’d be able to tell if they had been tampered with is beyond me.”

“No, I believe she’s right.” Molly said, but not really with conviction, she seemed mostly annoyed at Mary’s question. “When I was cooking the food, making the beverages, and etcetera... I left the drinks in the fridge for most of the day. Their original colourings were definitely somewhat off by the time I retrieved them before serving them...”

[4]

“And you’re sure that it isn’t just a false memory? You could be second guessing what you originally saw.”

“I most certainly am not, and if you waste any more of my time I’ll-”

“I could smell them though.” Lucy said, before doing the head tilt thing that she didn’t seem to do outside of trials much. “... The potion has a very distinct aroma.”

“Uh, whether it does or not...” I cleared my throat, trying to get back on track. “... We can say with a high amount of certainty that the dose would have been enough to knock out anyone who drank them until the next day.”

“Hold up.” Rocky said, quite suddenly as if startled like a wild animal. “What you just said, Lucy... Go over it.”

“Well... I could smell the chemical in the drinks when we were looking for them. That’s how I found them, in the cupboard.”

[5]

“... That’s impossible. There’s no way that’s right.”

“Perhaps it sounds unbelievable...”

“I’m serious. None of the drinks had a lick of smell to ‘em.”

“But, uh.” I said, somewhat confused. “Lucy made the chemical, she must be more acquainted with that sort of smell.”

“And two years of military school’ll teach ya ‘that sorta smell’ too.” He shut his eyes for a second or two, shutting out the world. “... Don’t see how bomb chemicals would smell, but they taught us anyway. Sure, the drinks weren’t explodin’, but... Cactus juice doesn’t have a distinct smell. Any weird stuff in it would’ve filled the room.”

“H-hey, so...” Mia said, tacking on to this new info, “How did Lucy know where the drinks were without smelling them?”

“Wait...” I could see what she was implying, and to be perfectly honest, I felt a little insulted. “The only way she’d know is if she spiked the drinks herself, since she has primary access to the chemical. However...” I straightened my beret, and tried to word my thoughts out. “If she was the tamperer, she would have simply gone straight for the fridge. That’s where Molly left them before they started looking strange, and that must be where they were spiked. Whoever the tamperer is would have no way of knowing the spare drinks were in the cupboard, unless they just happened to stumble across it by pure chance.”

“Well how do you think she found them, then?... If it was impossible to smell them, then-”

[6]

“How idiotic.” Jo said with a nonchalant smirk. “You guys aren’t gonna get over that, are you?”

“’Cus it matters!” Charlotte quickly answered.

“It could’ve, Char. But it doesn’t.”

“How?!”, she asked, volume rising. “This is our main link to the culprit, what do you want us to talk about?!”

“Well, there’s plenty of other stuff lying around the bag, but if nobody cares...”

Rocky, shaking his head, shot a glare over at Jo, who didn’t bother to look over at him when he started speaking. “If you’re just trying to mess with us again...”

“Nah. Nah, nah, that got old real fast, just...” He stretched his arms behind his back. “... Going on about the smell would be beyond stupid.”

“Um...” Amber spoke, with hesitation albeit. “Can you at least tell us why you think it’s dumb?...”

“Oh, no no, it’d be oh so confusing, huh? Just think... The smells would be EXACTLY the same in both situations, right? So if they aren’t, that means the smell IS important, right?”

“... So you don’t think it’s dumb?... Yay...”

“Not dumb in the slightest.”, he snickered.

“That’s...” I paused, honestly a little humiliated. “Jeez, maybe we really are dumb.”, I said to myself discreetly, before trying to explain things clearly. “Thing is, the drinks only spent a few minutes in the garden before they knocked out everyone, and then the person who spiked them must have taken them away, which is why there weren’t any cups left. But the two cups in the kitchen just sat there overnight, not moving whatsoever. Even if the smell was tiny when initially presented at the party, if it were left to build up over time in an enclosed space, it’d be way stronger, right?”

“Yep, finally... And you make it sound so complicated, Jane. Bit pompous, if you ask me.”

“As if you don’t do come across like that...”, Molly said, rolling her eyes.

[7]

“Whatever, whatever...” Archie said, sounding more aggravated. “If we’re not able to figure out who actually altered the drinks, we should be able to find something relevant by examining the actual scene of the... ‘Murder’.” He kept rubbing his forehead. “Just to verify, what was even there?”

“Well, there was a bunch of stuff around the bag...” It was somewhat hard for me to remember each little thing, but I got a hold of it eventually. “... A moved chair, a pair of scissors, a pencil, and a strange poem written on a note on a nearby door.”

“So there’s a lot to discuss, isn’t there...” Mary said, with a hint of frustration. I don’t know why everyone seemed so angry during this trial... Since nobody had actually died, it felt less like solving a murder case and more like sorting out some dispute over snacks. But, nevertheless, the person who broke open those crisps did so with full knowledge that they’d get the rest of us killed if they were to get away with it. “... I suppose the chair is the first thing that comes to mind, since it’s after all, the largest of the items.”

“Yeah, but Lucy and I already talked about that. It seems a lot like it was moved by someone short to try and reach the bag better... But we decided that, if that were to happen, they would have just moved it back. So, the culprit probably just left it there to mislead us.”

[8]

“Yeah, well why do you two know so much, huh?” Charlotte asked. “You weren’t the only ones awake, can’t you let the others say something?... Whoever the other ones were?”

“That’d be Mia and I,” Mary said, “I was examining other locations at the time. I admittedly didn’t find anything noteworthy.”

“... I didn’t either.” Mia added. “I was resting. I stayed up a while last night, and the case just seemed like it’d tire me out. But... The poem thing sounds important, right?”

“Well, it was highly intriguing.” Lucy recalled, smiling like she was entertained by the thought. “Odd and interesting word choices, clearly it was crafted by a master wordsmith...”

“No, I mean, were there any, like, hidden meanings that would link to the murder?”

“... Probably not so.”

“You’d have to remember it well, anyway.” Dan said. “But memory is ever so fleeting, like our very lives, so it doesn’t quite matter.”

“I’d rather not die, at the moment, though...”

“As if we don’t matter...” Mary leered over at Dan, who probably didn’t even notice her. “Is nobody going to question how he was there the entire time and didn’t see anything happen?”

“It’s just the truth.” He said, adding nothing more.

“But really, if he was just meditating there, he could have... Just, done that anywhere else. Why just do it right there?” She was speaking less in an accusative tone, more one of genuine confusion. “I’m just trying to understand what you’re trying to pull off.”

“There wasn’t a reason to move.”

“There wasn’t a reason to stay, either?”

Everyone just focused on Dan, which wasn’t unsensible, I’ll admit, but... My mind was still fixated on that poem, just because of how off it came across. The complexity of the words was something that seemed honestly unnecessary, and although I kept getting distracted by the thought of it... I started to be more honest with myself that it probably meant nothing. That was the point of it, it was a distraction. I mean, what does it mean to ‘talliate a cloison’? What on Earth was a ‘jangada of burlywood color’?... Wait. That’s...

[9]

“Jo wrote the poem.”

... That was supposed to be one of those moments where I make a big statement and everyone looks, but they didn’t even hear me because of their own bickering.

“... The poem! Pay attention!” Yelling it out made it a little awkward, but... “... I’m not claiming I’ve cracked the meaning of it, but I can tell that he wrote it.”

“Um... Is it his handwriting?” Amber asked.

“No, but uh... It would probably be a good idea to record people’s writing styles, just in case-”

“Just say what it is, Attebury...” Mary said, clearly tired of talking about the previous meditation debacle.

“Well, it’s quite simple actually... He spelt colour without the letter U. And as far as I’m aware, he’s the only person here from America, so-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“That’s it?” Jo said, looking kind of stunned. “That’s it?!”

“I mean, if you’re denying it, then-”

[10]

“No, no, I’m NOT denying it, but... That’s it?! That’s how you figured it out?!”

“I knew it all along!” Rocky exclaimed. “You’ve gone and done it again, you-”

“That’s besides the point, just let me finish-”

“So is he the killer?” Charlotte interjected, “I mean I know it wasn’t a ‘killing’, but-”

“Let’s not jump to con-”

“But you’re just-”

General disorder, it was inconvenient. As if there wasn’t enough distrust the first time Jo did something like this, the second time caused people to go completely off the wire.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Can everyone just calm down?!” Archie yelled, before wincing to himself and muttering something. “... Too much...”

[11]

“Right, right...” Jo cleared his throat. “... Y’see, the first letter of every fifth word on the odd lines starts with a ‘J’. The first letter on each fifth word on the even lines starts with ‘O’. That’s ‘J’, ‘O’. Jo. That’s what my name is, that’s the solution.” He sighed. “I was gonna do the whole smug boasting charade about throwing you all for a loop, but... Really?! The spelling’s what gave it away?”

“Uh, yeah.” I said, not really able to elaborate much. “I mean... How was anyone supposed to figure out the rest of it...? I never realised you knew so many long, obscure words...”

“I don’t. I just grabbed a dictionary and chose random stuff out of it.”

“That’s... Lazy, though.” Lucy murmured, disappointment lingering.

“... And before you guys ask, yeah, I did some other stuff. Just tugged the bag off of the rope and got rid of the eyes.”

“Wait,” I said, “what’s the point of removing the eyes?”

“Just to give something to talk about, I guess. And y’know what? I wasn’t even planning for there to be a trial or something, I didn’t open the bag.”

“You... Didn’t?” Molly asked. “And yet you did everything else?”

“Mostly everything else, I didn’t visit the garden after the body announcement, so I can’t vouch for everything.”

[12]

“That’s not the point, but... May I verify if you were the one who tampered with the drinks as well?”

“Yeah, that was the main thing I was focusing on. Knock everyone out and make it look like someone was gonna eat the chips, but changed their mind. Just for the sake of effing with everyone’s sense of security, yeah.”

“I don’t exactly appreciate that...”, she scoffed.

“But wait, how, how did you...” Lucy started.

“The chemicals? Yeah, you gave them to me, remember?”

“R-remember?...”

“It was when we first got here. I asked for some since I get insomnia sometimes... Well, that’s the excuse I told you.”

“But I don’t remember-”

“ANYWAYS! That’s all I can say, don’t know about a single other thing that happened.”

[13]

I nodded, a little dazed by all the sudden information. “Uh... Okay, let me process that for a second.” It was really impressive, I have to admit, how he managed to set that situation up so well. Nevertheless... Was he telling the truth when he said he didn’t open the bag? Even if his apparent goal was just to mess with us, there was no knowing for sure just what was going on in his mind, or what he could be planning. I wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he’s using this to distract us from the possibility of him being the actual entrepreneur... Either he opened it himself, or someone else took advantage of his setup. “Jo, was anyone else aware of your plan?”

“Nope, not a soul. I’m thinking someone just planned to go up there last night and open it anyway, so I guess they just got lucky with the timing, heh.”

“That’d be idiotic, wouldn’t it?” Mary asked, a slight bit shocked at the prospect judging by her confused tone. “Why would they try to open the bag on the night where they’re most likely to be caught in the act? There wasn’t any set time for everyone to leave, so it’d be extremely risky to try that. It doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s a lot of stuff in the world that doesn’t make sense, y’see.”

“And that includes you...”

“Yeah!” Charlotte affirmed, pointing into the air, at nothing in particular. “So, do you just expect us to trust you then? How can we know if you’re just telling PART of the truth and not the whole thing?”

[14]

“That’s the point,” Jo said with a snicker, “you can’t. You can never really be sure what’s true and what’s fal-”

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Molly asked, surprisingly not that angry about it. “Genuinely. Are you forgetting that you’ll die too if the entrepreneur succeeds?”

“I guess I will... Unless it was me all along.” He paused for dramatic effect. “But it isn’t.”

“Everyone...” Archie said, without banging the railing this time, “Interrogating him isn’t going to make any progress. He’s just trying to stall. Whether or not he’s the culprit is only going to show through hard evidence.” Though there was no railing slam, his hands were gripping tightly around it.

[15]

“So... Can we please talk about the actual evidence?!”

“I know!” yelled Amber, arm in the air. “I know something!”

She just held her arm in the air for a moment without saying anything, as if waiting to be picked.

“I’m sure we’d love to hear.” Molly said with an overly caring tone.

“Y’see, after we woke up, I noticed on the poem that there’s a little thing in the corner saying ‘thank you’, and, uh... It’s weird, like, why would that be at the end of a poem, right? And it had different handwriting, so, yeah, I think someone else wrote that.”

“It’d make sense, but...” I went over what Jo said one more time... And crossing out what he apparently didn’t do... Aside from the scissors, the other thing he didn’t mention was indeed the ‘thank you’ left in the corner, and the pencil lying nearby. He remembered the rest of the poem, so the ‘thank you’ does seem additional, however... “Just because the handwriting looks different, doesn’t mean a different person wrote it. We don’t have records of everyone’s handwriting, so it’s possible Jo wrote it in a messy style on purpose, and that way he’d make it look like someone else wrote it.”

“Alright, so...” Lucy thought aloud, “That proves nothing though.”

“It does point to the possibility of Jo trying to make us think someone else broke the bag... Or it reinforces his own point of it not being him.”

[16]

Mia scratched the back of her head a little. “Is there nothing left to talk about?...” Though the mannerism was a bit casual, her eyes looked just as anxious as anyone else’s. “I think we went through everything, and if we’re still not sure... Should we just vote for Jo?”

“If your heart tells you to,” Jo added on in a sappy voice, “follow your dreams and vote!~”

“... Okay?...”

“If...” Archie began, only to hesitate, rack his brain for some sort of answer, and then continue, “If there’s no proof that he’s telling the truth, and no proof that he’s lying, then...” His hands were trembling, still gripping onto the railing. “There’s nothing I can say, if I had more time to investigate, I’d... I’d have...”

“He’s telling the truth.” Dan said, after glancing at Archibald for a moment. “It fits together if I remember correctly.”

“B-but you said!... You said you didn’t... See anything!”

“I didn’t see anything happen during the night, admittedly, but there was a moment when I was aware, and I believe this to be in between Jo’s visit and the entrepreneur’s arrival.”

“And...” I looked off to the side, a little awkwardly. “You didn’t mention this earlier?...”

“I was somewhat reluctant to admit that I was unable to achieve a perfect meditation last night, and hence I waited until I felt it was truly necessary to note what I saw after being interrupted.”

“But, um...” Amber said, seemingly thinking aloud to herself, before looking more directly at Dan. “Is it alright if you tell us what interrupted you?”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“... Hiccups.” The tone of his voice was noticeably ashamed, but only thanks to every other word being so void of emotion. “They forced me back into the earthly realm for a moment, and before I resumed physical detachment, I noticed a number of changes to the room. According to what I am able to recall... The only things that changed are what Jo has mentioned.”

[17]

“Yep, that’s the truth.” Jo said, yawning. “I’d thank you for clearing up my innocence, but I didn’t ask for it, huh?”

“I apologise wholeheartedly.” Again, the boring lack of intonation wasn’t very wholehearted, but...

“Whatever the case,” I said, “the whole thing about whether Jo’s telling the truth or not is solved for the time being, at least.”

“And what if DAN’S lying, huh?” said Charlotte, with a pout.

“... Well then Dan would probably be the entrepreneur, and Jo would still be innocent.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, yeah.” Jo said... Why does he keep interjecting like that? “Yeah, yeah, keep talking, whatever.” ... He then sat down on the ground, and just minded his own business. Everyone went on with discussion, though I stared at him a bit longer, confused. He glanced at me, noticed my continued gaze, and, probably in an attempt to stop me staring, he... He started licking his hands like a cat. I guess it was meant to gross me out or something, but it was just really, really weird. I don’t get his whole cat obsession, but...

[18]

I was clearly getting distracted from the case.

“Alright, just to check...” Rocky said, adjusting his hat slightly upward. “How many of us’re cleared up, then? It’s gotta be above half, right?”

“Well...” Molly started, with a hint of regret, “We haven’t actually made as much progress as we’d like, considering that it’s just the people who got knocked out at the party, and Jo, so... The possible entrepreneurs are Mary, Lucy, Mia, Dan, and Jane, I believe.”

Lucy, finger raised, said “Actually, Jane was asleep at the time too, so...”

“Hang on...” I rubbed my forehead a little bit. “Did we not mention that yet?...”

“That you took the chemical as well?” She tilted her head. “... I don’t believe so...”

“Did she now?” Molly said, raised eyebrows, finger to her chin. “And you don’t necessarily have an alibi for yourself, Lucy?”

“I suppose not. I went to sleep after visiting the party for a second or two, and not much else happened. I suppose that’s not verifiable...”

“I just find it rather strange that you decided to do that.”

“It’s nothing suspicious, uh...” I kind of had to think of a roundabout way to say what it was without revealing the whole... ’Date’ thing... “I was getting really stressed about how the party would go... So she gave it to me since she thought I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

“Whatever the case...” Archie said, looking a little calmer now, “There’s just four possible suspects now, so we just need to narrow it down further somehow. There have to be some things we haven’t discussed yet, right?”

“The scissors!” Charlotte yelled out, slightly louder than usual, even for her. “... Scissors suck.”

“... I mean,” Mia started, “she’s right, we haven’t talked about that. I have no idea why those were even there... I mean, the rope didn’t get cut if Jo didn’t use them, right? There wasn’t anything else lying there that could be cut, so...”

[19]

“Actually,” I said, “I believe those were used to cut the bag.”

“A-and why’s that?”

“It just had a straight cut right along the top, like it wasn’t actually opened by hand. The only question left is why they didn’t do exactly that...”

“It ain’t sensible.” Rocky said with a mix of confusion and a little disappointment. “Nobody’s so weak they can’t even tear open a packet of tucker... It’s probably just there to lead us down the wrong trail.”

“... You sure? Come to think of it, there might actually be a couple of us who-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“H-hang on!” Mia abruptly shouted. “I-I think I know why the scissors are there!” She said, only to pause for a response.

“Uh, go ahead then?...”

[20]

“... Y-yeah. You see, I actually made another contraption like last time, b-but it was a lot more simple this time, yeah. Basically, hearing about the motive with the bag and the rope and stuff, I made this... Thing which connects a little camera, at the top of the rope, with a trip wire. When somebody pulls the role or cuts it, the wire detects it, and it takes a photo, so we’d know who opened the bag.”

“But...” Amber said, frowning slightly. “It would have just taken a picture of Jo then, and not the actual culprit...”

“Yeah! B-but, I felt like a case of someone breaking the rope and then hesitating could have happened, a-and so, I... I also made a blue-tooth connected sensor that I attached to the bag itself, a-and that would activate the camera. Uh, but it had some obvious wiring on the front, and that’s where the scissors come in, I think. The entrepreneur used them to cut the wire and stop the camera from doing anything.”

“Strange.” Mary said to herself. “All that effort for nothing, and I didn’t even see anything there...”

“Yeah, that’s the weird thing! All the devices were gone!”

“Well... Looks like that’s the explanation.” Archie said, with a sigh. “It just gets more and more complicated... Anyways, the next question is-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Wait.” I said, then I stopped for a moment to grasp what just happened.. “I... I’m surprised that passed by both of you.”

“Wait, what passed?...”

“It’s... Wait, I see. I guess that explanation works for you two since Mia didn’t tell you...”

“Uh...” She said, scratching her back. “Tell what?”

“That you didn’t know about the motive in the first place.”

“Oh yeah, I... Oh... Oh no, I... I didn’t... I forgot that-”

[21]

“Mia... If what you’ve said is true... What gave you the idea to do all that? Put all that effort again into machinery for something that you had no idea about? You didn’t pay any attention to Monoyaki’s announcement about the status of the crisp bag as being equal to a student’s, right?”

“Um...” Her breathing started to speed up. “I... I, I just overheard it. Word gets around, s-someone told me about it!”

[22]

“... Who?”

“Wh-who? As in, who, uh, who did this, who did-”

“Who told you about the motive, Mia?”

“... I forget! I forgot about who, okay? I just heard about it!”

“M-maybe she did!” Amber said, a little meekly albeit. “W-word does get around, so-”

“Actually, I, I remember! You told me, Amber! You told me about it, right? You did?”

“I... Don’t think so?”

“Well, uh... Haha, looks like you forgot as well! Hahaha, ha... I-isn’t that funny, guys?”

“Look, err...” Archie said, concerned. “If you’d like to just take a breath and explain-”

“No need, I’m fine! I’ve explained everything, Amber told me and we both forgot!...”

“But wait...” Rocky began, “Now that I think about it... You ain’t that athletic, huh?”

“Yeah, and, and what about it?!”

“Just sayin’... I wouldn’t be that surprised if all that time indoors made ya a bit soft.”

“S-soft enough to not open a bag? That’s crazy, man!”

[23]

“Is it?” I asked with genuine interest. “I don’t know your strength from first-hand experience, but... We know for sure that the scissors weren’t cutting wire, first of all. And second of all, while I wasn’t at the party... Did anyone even notice any cameras or sensors while they were there?”

“They didn’t, a-and...” Trembling, the masked girl snapped her fingers together a couple times. “That’s, that’s because I put the devices on AFTER the party, because, because I figured nobody would try to eat it during that time. That’s why I didn’t go, I was working on the machinery!”

“So you...” Charlotte said, her usual accusatory style replaced with a smidgen of bewilderment. “You stepped over all our unconscious bodies and set it up and didn’t tell anyone, huh?”

“If the story’s true, that is.” Molly said with an almost inappropriate smirk. “My, what a charade.”

[24]

“... Look, uh...” Mia shrugged and sighed. “You got me, the camera and sensor are made up, I was just scared that, uh, you’d all think I was the entrepreneur ‘cus of the scissors thing. Yeah, uh, I didn’t know about the crisp bag motive until today. But, that’s the thing! I can prove that I wasn’t the culprit, anyway!”

“How, may I ask?”

“Well... It’s that simple. I didn’t know.”

“Huh.” I sort of thought aloud for a second again. “Yeah, if you... If you didn’t know, that means you... Didn’t know.”

“E-exactly, heh. I didn’t know. And, since I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have known I could do that, so that means I couldn’t have done it, so, yeah, I’m innocent.”

“Yeah... Except, no, that’s not necessarily the case.”

“What?! How?!”

“I mean... If you didn’t know that opening the bag would make you the entrepreneur, that... Doesn’t mean you didn’t open it, Mia. You could have open it by mistake.”

“Well, uh, what are the chances of that, Jane? Go on, tell me.”

“Well, rather small, but...”

“Yeah, small! And there’s nothing pointing to that being a possibility anyway!”

[25]

“That’s... That’s wrong!” I felt a rush of conviction as everything clicked together in my head. “In fact, it seems to almost prove that an accident was EXACTLY what happened that night! Remember the little note in the corner of the poem?”

“... N-no?”

“It said ‘thank you’, and when I first saw it, it seemed out of place at the time, but... I think it makes sense now. Let me just put it like this: imagine yourself up one night, and you’re famished... So you go out looking for food-”

“Nope! Wrong, I, I would have gone to the cafeteria!”

“The cafeteria that’s closed at night?”

“... Maybe?”

“... And, unable to get food from the usual spot, you’d go to the most likely place there would be leftover snacks... Namely, the party that was held earlier that night. If you had no idea about the motive, and you just saw a bag of crisps sitting there... You’d think it was just a harmless snack. After fetching some scissors from a classroom, you also decide nab a pencil to pay your gratitude on the nearest piece of paper. ‘Thank you’ indeed...”

“That’s...” Her shaking intensified. “That’s not what happened, that’s not what happened, it didn’t happen like that, I didn’t do anything last night, Jane. Nothing happened last night.”

“Well clearly something did happen, so... Who do you think opened that bag, then?”

[26]

“... YOU!” She pointed her finger at me, though it was so shaky that it wasn’t very direct. “You thought you could pin it on me, huh? Well guess what? Someone’s hat was in the garden that night, it was YOURS!”

“But she was asleep, though...” Lucy said, and then sighed. “Weird to see you get worked up like this...”

“Not to mention,” I resumed, “you didn’t hang around long enough when the investigation started to see me find my hat there, anyway. You know what that means, Mia?”

“... I d-don’t.”, she stuttered out. “T-tell me.”

[27]

“It means you remember finding my hat in the garden last night. You just thoroughly proved that you were there, and not only that you visited the garden, but that you searched each nook and cranny of it and found things hidden in tight spaces... I can’t think of a single other motivation to do so, other than an unsatiated appetite.”

“B-but...” She shook her head, side to side, though even when she was still it was shaking a little anyway. “That isn’t what happened! That just didn’t happen! I know that sounds like it did, but it didn’t! What am I s-supposed to say?”

“Sadly enough, at this point, I don’t think there’s anything you can say...”

“Well...” Archie said, pensive, “I’m still not completely sure Mia did it, though. She must have been there, but is there anything that proves she actually opened it?”

“Don’t think it’s anyone else. While it isn’t necessarily proven... I’d say there’s a 95% chance, given the circumstances, the remaining suspects, and the excess info she’s revealed.”

“W-well I d-disagree! N-not the truth!...” If anything, Mia was only becoming more reserved, a bit locked up, less desperate and more resigned. “... Nothing happened, okay?... Nothing happened.”

[28]

“If you’d like to hear, then I’ll tell you EXACTLY what happened. On the day leading up to the gathering, as the food and beverages were preparing in the refrigerator, an interloper altered the chemical makeup of the drinks: namely, Jo Leary, who, using the liquid he had borrowed from Lucy, made his move without a trace. Although Molly noticed that the beverages looked strange, she used them despite, keeping a couple spare cups in the cupboard in case more were needed. That night, half of the remaining students visited the garden for the prepared meetup; barring Dan, each ingested some amount of the spiked drinks, and all of them fainted. As Dan spent most of the night in meditation, the scene was now set for Jo to make further changes to the area. Clearing away the remaining drinks, he pulled the bag of crisps off of its rope, setting it on the ground and removing the plastic eyes, and leaving behind a cryptic poem as a hint to his involvement. After leaving, Dan momentarily came back to awareness, and noticed the changes; yet, as the bag was still intact, he simply went back into his trance for the remainder of the evening. This was when, finally, the true culprit became involved... Hungry and unable to access the cafeteria, they went up to the garden looking for leftover snacks, and, finding a bag on the ground, they tried to open it, only to fail due to a severe lack of necessary strength. Hence, they left for a nearby classroom, fetched a pair of scissors and a pencil, and used them to open the bag and leave an innocent sign of gratitude on the nearest piece of paper. Said culprit didn’t do a thing to try and cover up their involvement... After all... You had no idea about the gravity of your actions last night, did you, Mia Fudge?”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“... Um...” Her breathing was heavy enough that it probably would have been hard to speak. The mask probably restricted the breathing a little, so it must have exacerbated it.

[29]

“Alright, so uh... That’s not, that’s not what happened, not at all. I, uh, uh, I know that, um, that sounds like it... Makes, makes a lot of sense, but that didn’t happen. That’s definitely not what happened, okay? Y-yeah.”

“If you’re so sure that it didn’t happen like that, then can you show anything disproving that sequence of events? If you can’t, then...”

[30]

“And I, I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t have to, Jane! I shouldn’t have to, I’m, because I’m, I’m innocent, okay? I didn’t do anything, I, what am I s-supposed to tell you, Jane, what am I supposed to say, Jane? Jane?! You’re, you’re not giving me a ch-chance to defend myself, I, I already said everything I can!”

“So, if you said everything you can... Then you had a chance to defend yourself, didn’t you?”

[31]

“Did I? Did I? Ahaha, ahaha, did I?... DID I?! DID I HAVE A CHANCE?! Everybody, everybody, did Mia had a chance?! Did she?! Tell me, tell me! Haha! Yeah, yeah, yeah, haha! Can’t, can’t think... I c-can’t think, I, I d-don’t have enough... O-okay, okay, calm...” She grabbed and lowered her facemask, and her breathing slowed down... Then, putting it back on... “I DIDN’T DO IT, I DIDN’T DO IT, I DIDN’T DO IT, I DIDN’T DO IT! I never, ever, EVER went to the garden last night, and, and I didn’t see ANYTHING there!”

“Nothing at all, no beret, no crisps, nothing... Even though you relentlessly claimed before that you were there and made extensive changes to the scene... And then you said you weren’t there... And then claimed to have seen the beret there. And now, you’ve apparently seen nothing at all. I can see that you’re clearly stressed by this, but with everything you’ve said here today... I don’t have any doubt left in the slightest that you are the one responsible for the murder!”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

A bout of silence.

“... It wasn’t murder, it was a bag of snacks...” Mia said, barely audible, as she stood there, drained. “... And I... Didn’t eat them...”

There was a pause as everyone just stood and stared, some at each other, others alternating between me and her... Until everyone was interrupted by the sound of some cardboard object tossed aside unto the floor.

[32]

“Everyone done?” Monoyaki asked. “My, was I on the edge of my seat this time...”

“... And why’s that?” Lucy inquired with a head tilt. “Nobody died for this one...”

“How dare you!” The goat turned a slight red as he raised his voice. “Crispy Crisperson was a valued member of our school community and he will be missed, if not DEARLY missed! I mean, I know I’m not supposed to pick favourites, but...”

“... He was your favourite?” Molly said, somehow genuinely irritated. “You like a bag of crisps... More than you like me?!”

“Come to think of it, Crispy didn’t complain nearly as much as you guys...”

“Get to the vote already.” Mary said. “This is a waste of time.”

“Look, don’t worry! We have ALL the time in the world! Well, one of us doesn’t have that much time left... Or the rest of us, if you pick wrong!~”

“So...” Lucy said, tilting the other way. “You really will die too, then?”

“... No.”

Once again, the Monopads buzzed, signifying the voting template’s arrival on our screens.

[33]

... Now that the tense conviction of the previous situation was toned down a little, I felt somewhat apprehensive. While I was almost entirely sure Mia was the culprit... She genuinely didn’t know what she was doing, did she? Just because of a simple mistake on her part... The last couple were a lot easier to vote for, I mean, they had killed someone, so... But this wasn’t even a murder, this was just some stupid... Crisp... Thing that Monoyaki pulled on us. And somehow, by some sheer fluke, it worked.

But I didn’t have a choice. It was either her, or the rest of us.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Alrighty, the votes are in!” The goat said, as the usual large screen lowered behind him once more. “Now, let’s have a looky-look at whether you’re on the money or not, shall we?”

[34]

The same slot machine as usual, beginning to spin and spin, picking up speed, becoming a blur of portraits, only to wind down, synchronise the pictures, slowing to a halt and landing on three portraits of Mia, and the same fanfare as expected, same as always.

[35]

“Uwehehe, right again... The entrepreneur, indeed, is none other than Mia Fudge, the Ultimate Lazy Student!”

“... Uh-huh...” Said entrepreneur seemed a little slow on the uptake. “And... That means I... Die, right?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Do you wanna just get it over and done with?”

“I’d, uh, I’d rather not.” Another bout of silence. “... I guess I have to?”

“Well...” Amber piped up, always so quick to reach out, “Everyone else said a few things before they...”

“But like, what am I supposed to say? Everything’s been explained. You got me, I did it, that’s... That’s everything, right? I’m dead now and that’s it.” She rested her forehead in her palm. “Stupid, stupid...”

“I mean...” I hesitated to speak for a second, since the girl seemed so insistent on it, but... “I understand how you feel, since this all happened by accident, and...”

“Look, don’t give me that sort of pity, I, I...” She let out a drawn out sigh. “Whatever. If I’m going to die, then I’m not going to die telling some dumb lie.”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

Despite the assertion that she was going to dispel whatever it is that hadn’t been true, she ended up waiting for about fifteen seconds or so, looking at the ground.

[36]

“... I knew about the motive. I wasn’t sleeping during the announcement. I’m surprised nobody even brought it up since I would’ve got myself killed if I was actually sleeping... I was just faking it. I wanted to hear what it was, but I was just so exhausted with everything that’s happened here, so...” She dropped the sideward stare and directed herself at me. “... You wanna hear why I did it?”

“... I assume you want me to say yes to that?...”

“... You’re going to be pissed off at me for this. But, I was playing a video game and... And I was just about to...” She clenched her fist. “I almost beat the last level on insane difficulty, and then I just died out of nowhere, and you know what I did? You know what I did, I broke it, I threw it on the ground and it was broken!...”

“... You serious?” Rocky said.

“See, I told you you’d be pissed off.”

“Not pissed, just real confused. You did that because your doggone machine broke?”

“Yeah, yeah, sounds real mundane on the surface, but... I don’t have anything else. I don’t have anybody, I just have video games. I just can’t... Talk to people normally. God, I’m so stupid...” She averted her gaze again, furrowed. “And so I figured that if I just made it look like I didn’t know about the motive... Nobody would even suspect me.”

“... But that doesn’t make sense.”, Archie said. “If you knew about it, and you made the conscious decision to do it like that... Why did you write the ‘thank you’ on the note? That only seems to imply that you did it, so...”

“... I didn’t. I never wrote that. I’m actually bloody serious, I didn’t do that.”

“Ah yeah.” Jo said, standing up again. “Forgot to mention I put that there. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything, just another dumb red herring whatever thingy... Guess it worked out fine though, huh?”

“Are you just lying again?” I responded. “That seems too coincidental... And didn’t Dan see the?...”

“What, just ‘cus he woke up, doesn’t mean he read the poem word for word. Wasn’t even that good of a poem.”

“... This is dumb.” Mia said, with a shake of her head, hair ruffling. “All of this is dumb, and I’m the dumbest, stupidest part of it. Y’know what? Just... Yeah, just get on with it, Monoyaki. Put me out of my misery or whatever.”

“Aww!” he said, drooping. “It’s no fun if you wanna die, though...”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Wait, does... Does that mean...” Mia’s eyes seemed to glimmer faintly. “You’ll... Let me live?...”

“NOPE! I put so much effort into the execution I have for you, Ms. Ultimate Lazy Student!”

“... About to die and people are still calling me lazy...”

“Yeah, yeah, insult to injury, whatever, IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME!!!”

[37]

The screen displayed a dark room with a minor source of light from a slightly parted curtain, the floor was covered in blankets and shoes and general stuff lying around. Mia, likewise, was lying around on a bed, slowly coming to, and she stood up, stretched, rubbed her eyes, and shrugged. She just turned on a PC and started playing video games. Nothing was happening. The exact same life as before. After a bit, she yawned, stood up, and immediately was forced back down; though it had been hard to notice up to that point, there were about twenty mechanical two-pronged claws grappling around her limbs and torso, all coming out the back of the computer.

**MOTIONLESS MARATHON (24/7 GAMING!)**

Pushed right up to the screen, she was still pressing the keys or typing, maybe out of instinct, since her fingers weren’t being controlled... She mustn’t have had real control over that, instinctual or not, since her pupils were contracting and her whole body was shaking against the constrictions. A yawn came from the throne, and looking over, Monoyaki had got out a remote control and pointed it at the screen. With a simple button press, the footage fast forwarded to unprecedented levels, to the point where you couldn’t make anything out whatsoever, until, pressing play again... Mia was still sitting there, still held in place, there was now an extra claw holding her head up. She looked pale and emaciated, didn’t seem quite alive, a machine for all intents and purposes. Without fanfare, the hooks let go simultaneously, and she slowly leaned forward until she fell into keyboard. No sign of life.

[38]

This would be the bit where I’d say ‘to be honest, after it happens a few times, the executions lose its impact on you!’... Yeah, they don’t. Maybe it’s the way they’re spaced apart, or how they always seem to integrate something that you’d never think of as a method of killing someone... I don’t know what sick mind is behind this, or how anyone could even think this shit up. But the answer to that question could be even more disturbing than the executions themselves...

“Well, that’s another one done, good job guys.” Monoyaki said, and then yawned. “Get plenty of rest, I’ll see you tomorrow or whenever...” With a second yawn, he zipped away.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

It’s honestly a little insulting how cartoonish Monoyaki is when you compare that with the gruesome nature of everything we had been subjected to.

Once again, not much talk after that. We all filed into the lift, all ten of us. It was always kind of funny that, after everyone had so much to say after the trial, not a thing was discussed afterwards. Perhaps it was some unspoken promise, that whatever took place in the court would be left behind for a while.

Maybe we were just ashamed that we failed once more to prevent this... Even with us taking measures to discourage it, the result was always the same.

... The vast majority of us simply returned to our dorms after we reached the top. I decided to just stand by the door after walking out, instead. Doing nothing, nothing to do.

Archie was standing to the other side of the door from me. He’d occasionally look at me, as if waiting for me to bring something up.

“Archie... If you have anything you’d like to talk about, just say it. My brain’s empty.”

“Okay.” He just stared for a couple more seconds. “... All I can really say is that we can’t keep prolonging things.”

“Prolonging what, exactly?”

“This. All of this. I know there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop the killing game or escape, but simply trying to wait it out and prevent any more death is no longer a viable strategy.”

“And neither’s the first option.”

“Yes, but...” He tapped his finger on the ground for a bit. “... Nevermind. If you find anything that seems to point to who’s behind the entire game, just try to make the most of it. And, one more thing...”

“Be less cold again, right? Too hard on the culprit again?”

“No, the opposite. Do whatever you can. The situation’s too desperate for symbolic gestures of kindness.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, the party was a crap idea in the first place.”

“... I’d try to reassure you, but... You have a point.” He stood, brushed some dust off his trousers, and left.

... So I left too. Went to bed. Tried to think of reasons to even continue living with all of this.

Only thing that came to mind was Lucy.

Then I went to sleep.

Continued in Chapter 4 - Daily Life (1)