THIRD TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ Two bodies this week. As a result, it's a little longer before Mayor Fontaine's voice calls out over the loudspeakers. ]

All right, that'll do, all of you. Get to the bathyspheres. Trial time.

[ There's fewer bathyspheres this week, aren't there? It's starting to get really noticeable. One by one, alone or in pairs, you descend into the depths. The bottom of the seafloor, a place no human life was meant to travel to unassisted. It's dark, until it isn't, the same bio-luminescent slugs as before lighting up the area and revealing the great glass dome in which the trial takes place.

Within, three more podiums have gone dark. They remain empty as you all gather around into the circle.

The projector clicks on, and you see the silhouette of Mayor Fontaine above you. ]

We all know why we're here. Florida Man and Cryptobro got themselves got. Up to you to figure out who did it, or... well, you know by now.

[ Welcome to your third trial. ]

Comments

[allatonce]

Hey, Aiba: can you, like, calculate the probability this was one or two killers?

[She's just wondering.]

[pairtner]

Not with certainty. Analyzing both corpses to determine if the same blade caused the stab wounds could give more answers, but I didn't examine Yasuhiro's body. It's unknown to me. [She would have, but there's only so much time available for investigations. She probably didn't get to do it in time]

However...I do think that, if we determine the traces of fire in Yasuhiro's case were caused by Jason, then it would mean both incidents are tied together and were likely caused by one single culprit.

[Doing that without any doubt is going to be difficult, though]

[allatonce]

[Yeah, that's about what she expected. Still, good to know.]

Yeah, you're probably right. What's the timeline there, though, if we think that it was caused by Jason? Like, how do we get from the arcade to the lobby back to the church?

[pairtner]

According to Rossiu, the barricade was set on the inside of the lobby, meaning it was destroyed from the outside with fire. It seems likely it did go from the arcade to the lobby back to the church.

[Hm...]

Is there any proof of who was in the arcade? If we determine it was Jason or Hagakure or both, then perhaps the timeline will be clearer.

[bootyhunter]

[Pops back in here-]

Hey, sorry- You said you didn't look at his body, yeah?

Well, I did.

[From his crumbling expression you can tell this isn't gonna be fun.]

Whaddya wanna know?

[pairtner]

How were the stab wounds like? Shape, length, any details like those would be useful, even if it's just an estimate. If...you can handle it, please be as descriptive as possible.

[.......]

Will you be alright?

[bootyhunter]

[He's not going to answer that second question, thank you.]

It looked like they were all from the same weapon.

Couldn't really get a good idea of what kinda weapon it was, but it was definitely a sharp, pointy thing.

[Dandy snorts.]

Which he hated.

But actually, now that I think about it...

[And you best believe that he doesn't want to!]

The gashes were pretty big. Whatever they used to get his ass, it definitely wasn't a kitchen knife.

Y'know, I picked up a spear outta the vending machine a while ago. Seems like a whole buncha weapons drop through there. Maybe it was one of those?

[Dandy holds up both hands in a truce.]

I don't wanna go 'round pointing fingers until we've got more info, though. Not now, not again.

[He shakes his head.]

I've learned my lesson, baby.

[u kno from last time... gomen mielle]

[onemillion]

The vending machine also contains swords; I received one of those not long ago.

[So like. That would probably do it.]

[fuckingguy]

Oh, it does?

[ Don't sound so happy about it. Nandor! ]

[onemillion]

[listen, he knows some people are going to want swords now, that's just life.]

Yes. Which I suppose shouldn't be surprising, given how many other weapons are in there.

[fuckingguy]

Did seem like a bit of an oversight. I mean, there is nothing wrong with a mace, but apparently they're not even teaching kids to use those anymore.

[ thank u, hodaka ]

[inaclearing]

There's some bigger knives, too. The kind you'd take out in the woods. I think they were serrated, though.

[So you'd probably be able to tell if that was involved.]

[onemillion]

Yes, I think it would have been mentioned if the injuries had been made with something with a serrated blade.

[But it's good to confirm!!]

[allatonce]

They weren't. I checked.

[daimakaicho]

Well, it's not like only one person has been getting them, so it's not as easy to immediately point a finger.

[ He gets what he means, but like, still. ]

It's a good point to be bringing up, regardless.

[pairtner]

It could be a spear, although using those for so many stabs isn't an easy task. It's a possibility.

[Aiba nods, trying to draw as much information from what Dandy said. Bigger than a kitchen knife, huh...and all wounds were from the same weapon.

Thinking back to the corpse...Joy examined the stab wounds]

Joy, please confirm this is what we saw.

[She displays to Joy's eyes a pretty rough mock-up of a stab wound like Dandy described, and one from what she scanned on Jason. Pretty much only shows the shape and length, no idea about the depth -- but it's pretty clear it's likely both were from the same kind of weapon]

[allatonce]

Yeah, that's what we saw more or less. [She frowns.] So: one killer?

[hotpaprika]

I suppose it is possible that two culprits had the same weapon, but that's what seems most likely at this point.

[pairtner]

Yes. This does make it far likelier it's one single killer.

[Alright! Progress of some sort!]

[howveryglib]

It seems to be the most likely explanation for the evidence we have seen, yes.

…I am thinking about the “shrapnel” wounds, admittedly. It seems odd that it would all simply disappear rather than being stuck in the wounds. Did any of the abilities produce solid projectiles of any sort?

[fuckingguy]

It would appear so.

[bootyhunter]

Looks like it.

[pairtner]

[Alright! Now that wound comparisons have been made and Joy informed they were from the same kind of weapon, Aiba again turns to Dandy]

...you're doing well so far. Hold strong, Dandy. This won't end in any other way than the culprit getting revealed.

I'm glad you...you're able to hold your head up and cooperate as much as you can. Well done.

[She thought some encouragement would be fine]

[bootyhunter]

[He doesn't respond at first.

For a moment, for a split second, he is lost to time and space itself- Which is not an uncommon reality for him, as Dandy is being forced to remember. Thankfully, the thing that makes him uniquely himself, uniquely Dandy, it's...

Well, been shut off. So he can't go anywhere, not forever and not for long.

He promptly returns.]

Huh?

...Oh.

[He should say something.]

Thanks.

[pairtner]

You're welcome.