Chapter 1: The Trial

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Pierrick: "Haha! Indeed! Silver Mask was serving us drinks in the restaurant! I was there in the morning then went to the Casino later!"

[John Dark Souls]

"Then how about I follow your advice and do just that. Mr. Silver Mask, would you be so kind as to tell us just how this lady here bothered you after breakfast on the first day?"

[King V]

"This witness has been in their room the entire time, since the game began. If that will satisfy you, then this witness has nothing more to say here."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Silver Mask: "I cannot answer that question. I would not be able to provide testimony should I witness a murder, as it would provide unfair disadvantages. That being the case, the reverse is also true. I cannot confirm or deny anyone's alibis, unless they are public knowledge already."

[Daiwa Scarlet]

"Pierrick, what time did you go to the casino and on which day?"

[John Dark Souls]

"Perfect, now we have all alibi for the period since breakfast until afternoon. And with all of those testimonies combined, what we get is that: nobody could've approached Satone from behind and chloroform'd her while she is facing Axel. What this means is: A.Somebody is lying. B.Somebody could still do it while maintaining their alibi. C.Satone is lying about whole kidnapping business."

"Lets try to move the trial along under presumption that Satone is lying. What we get is that, Satone was missing for whole day, Axel was missing until afternoon, appearing briefly and then going missing again. At that point it becomes questionable if it was really Axel sawing the holes at all. Back to square one?"

"But lets try thinking of ridiculous D. choice first instead. D.Axel managed to kidnap Satone alone while somehow making her delusion that she was chloroform'd. Satone was feeling bad enough to be unconscious for whoooooooole day and night even unable to hear a washing machine going off while supposedly hanging right above it. How possible does that sound? Way too ridiculous, I know."

"The more I think about it, the more whole kidnapping thing sounds sketchy to me. But if we assume Satone to be lying, that would instantly brand her a culprit. So, the point is. Would it still be possible for Satone to be culprit even if she lies? There are few important points about murder: 1.It was a closed room, with only way out through the closet up into Ryo's room. So Satone who is short person would need a way of going up. 2.Satone would need to be unnoticed by anyone throughout whole period of murder execution. 3.Satone would have to actually be able to murder Axel the way he was murdered. 4.Satone would have to stop the elevator from going up to buy enough time to finish murder before Ryo returns to his room."

"So, anyone else who can fit Satone into those points? Or rather, how about we even leave Satone aside and discuss HOW the victim was killed first?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Owen: "Satone's story is just...out there. We have no evidence of any of it. There is also no evidence the person who did it even exists. The only result of that whole thing is Satone has no alibi for the entire two days. Could someone really prepare a crime without being spotted by anyone? ESPECIALLY someone who had three people trying to find them?"

-Owen sighs-

Owen: "I truly have no idea how to start unraveling who that person is if it really did happen. Back on track with the murder. Someone hit Axel in the head, alot, with something. So Axel went into Room 7 for some reason. Either the culprit was already there or came later and attacked Axel. Not sure what could have played out to get Axel in the position he is now. I didn't see any drag marks while investigating. Perhaps we can recreate the scene?"

[Exusiai]

"I've been thinking about Ryo's situation for a while. 'Why was the empty apartment room below his turned into a crime scene?'
From what Satone mentioned, she found Axel in the first empty apartment room. This was probably very early during Axel's sawing adventure, and it would make sense that he would go numerically from there.
He already intended to do some renovations to our rooms, so why go through all the trouble of sawing through the empty apartment rooms randomly.
Let's say—Axel and his newfound partner get into some discourse after the partner had also sawed into Axel's room. Even if he did make a system of holes, I don't think anyone would like the possibility of someone potentially discovering a secret entrance to their room.
I certainly wouldn't."

The middle-schooler's confident expression quickly deteriorates into one of bewilderment. His eyes dart furtively to the possible nooks and crannies for hiding in the casino. Even after confirming the position of every slot machine, Nanashi remained vigilant and optimistic.

"At this point, Satone suggested that the two then happened onto the room below Ryo's after some rushing, but the seventh empty apartment room is three doors past the abandoned room that respectively leads to Axel's quarters.
Given that none of Ryo's possessions were stolen permanently, it wasn't like they were searching for something in Ryo's room...
Wouldn't skipping one room be enough? If it's about the possibility that someone else could have heard them sawing, then that would also be difficult to believe. The three people whose rooms were spared: Pierrick, Mishy, and Yoff were supposedly not in their rooms for most of the day.
If anything, I think that Axel and his partner wanted to avoid those three rooms more than wanting to jump to Ryo's instead."

The boy stifles a yawn. He wobbles erratically with half-hooded eyes.

[Daiwa Scarlet]

"The head wound was probably the fatal blow. The back and top of his head is covered in uneven marks like a meat tenderizer which could have been made with the sides of his chakram. His chakram has thick blood splatters on it, aside from where it had been held. It would take a strong individual to murder by striking with the blunt sides of the chakram, although something to aid it might work. He has no cuts on him, so the blades of the chakram were not used. He also has bruises on his chest from large blunt impacts which match fists. The broken rib may be a result of a kick or weapon, although he would probably have been down and not defending for a kick to work. The blood splatter goes off toward the bathroom and bed, while according to Ryo and Mishy, his body faces toward the closet and door. There is no spot which looks as if the blood splatter had been blocked. A blood pool is around Axel's head. No chloroform was on his breath and I found no signs of poison. There are blood splatters and light blood swathes that look like something wiped against the mattress, blanket, and pillows. There is sawdust on Axel, on the nightstand, and in the closet. The sawdust on the nightstand had been wiped off to some degree. There is a square free of sawdust in the closet. There is blood in the bathroom that leads from the door to the toilet.

Rooms 1, 2, and 3 also have sawdust on their nightstands, a hole in the roof of the closet, and a square blocking the sawdust on the ground. The nightstands had been wiped down here as well. The holes lead to the rooms of Nanashi, Owen, and Axel.

No other room on this floor has anything out of place.

Room 7 where Axel had been murdered leads to Ryo's room. Ryo's closet has clothing with dirty rags and hand towels in their pockets. There is sawdust on them. Ryo claims that all his toilet paper had been used and there was a wet spot. The comforter was soggy and has blood stains. there is also a long gash that required a sharp tool like the daggers everyone had been provided with. The gash does not go through the comforter and there is nothing hidden inside. Ryo had his dagger on his person when I checked.

Nanashi had three daggers and a cart filled with cleaning supplies and a suitcase, although the items seemed unrelated to this case. The daggers were Lloyd's, Axel's, and his own.

Owen's room seemed normal.

Axel's room was normal aside from the missing dagger.

Pierrick's room seemed normal.

Mishy's room seemed normal.

Yoff's room seemed normal.

Caster's room seemed normal.

Days' room seemed normal.

Lloyd's room was missing a dagger

My room seemed normal.

Mori Summer's room seemed normal.

The Tyrant Eye's room seemed normal.

Yusha's room seemed normal.

Rin's room seemed normal.

Monika's room seemed normal.

The list of requested items had Nanashi's lockpick set and my magic wand. There is nothing hidden in the commons.

Cessair does not reveal casino trades. There is nothing hidden in the casino.

The elevator compartment had been opened, but the wiring had been expertly done and it is impossible to tell if anything had been changed. Itriot says the fuse that blew was from the control panel which players cannot access and had not been touched by other Lords.

There is nothing in the restaurant that seems related.

The kitchen is missing two kitchen knives and a lot of handtowels. The oven has a Magician that connects to the sixth floor.

The storage rooms are not missing anything of interest. The washing machine had been used recently and has traces of blood.

The Head Maid's room has my bindings. They are made of torn and twisted sheets and blankets. The largest piece has a ragged edge that comes from neither the chakram nor the daggers. They are long enough to reach any floor above...”

Satone pauses in her trance like mumbles for a moment

“Did they... that also opens... too late now...”

She sighs and goes back to her monotone

“The only method to hang someone in the Head Maid room would be the chute, if there was something to support.

Head Receptionist A did not have anything of interest.

Head Receptionist B did not have anything of interest.

Casino Manager A did not have anything of interest.

Casino Manager B did not have anything of interest.

Casino Manager C did not have anything of interest.

The Head Chef's room did not have anything of interest.

The Bartender's room did not have anything of interest.

And that is every room.”

Satone goes off to the side of the room and curls up by the window

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo thought things over slower this time.

"It is possible for the culprit to not be noticed. The door to the room Axel was found in was locked. Meaning the culprit locked the door to keep anybody from interfering with the crime."

Then he thought about why Axel was in his room.

"I mean, he was in Nanashi's, Owen's and his own room too. We know this because there are holes in their closets too. But, that does bring up something interesting. Why did Axel make the holes? I think I have the answer. Axel planned on killing somebody and framing the owner of the room for murder. Specifically my room. I mean. Can anybody think of any reason these holes would exist otherwise? Their only purpose seems to be that they are designed to make everyone assume the person whose room it is is the culprit. In this case, Axel wanted to frame me for murder. Does anybody have any objections to that?"

Then he thought back to the partner theory.

"I can also disprove that anybody helped him with the holes. Satone saw only Axel inside of one of the rooms, nobody else. The only person seen with the chakrams was Axel, nobody else. All holes looked like they had been sawed with something that could have been chakrams. Nobody else, besides Satone, Axel, and whoever knocked Satone out were on the fifth floor. However, we also have no proof that the killer was the person to knock out Satone, so that person is not relevant to this case. You could make the argument that the towels in my closet covered in sawdust were what the culprit could have used to wipe themselves off. But that can be disproven. Vinny only saw Axel with the towels, nobody else. The nighstands in the other rooms with holes had all been cleaned with something. I believe that Axel wiped the neighboring nightsands with the towels and then hid them in my closet as part of his frame job against me."

Ryo thought for a little longer.

"However, if my theory is true, Axel would have needed a victim. In which I propose that victim was Yoff or Mishy. Axel had gone downstairs and given lunch to Yoff, Mishy, and Itriot. What more perfect time to convince somebody to come upstairs with you than feeding them food. Then, the victim turned things around on Axel and killed him instead. Meaning whichever person Axel led upstairs is our culprit. Mishy and Yoff. Please explain exactly what you did after Axel brought you both breakfast. It is vital to this case."

[John Dark Souls]

Mishy? mechanically nods to Owen fully agreeing with him.

"Yes Owen, we cannot get anywhere if we don't first recreate the scene. Thanks to Satone, we know exact positioning of Axel, but I must add one more thing, when we broke into the room, Axel was lying face down. Just as you have noted, there weren't any visible drag markings, which leads me assume that place where Axel's corpse is lying is initial place where he was killed and his body wasn't moved around since. Blood splatters to bathroom and closet's directions still remaining further support this. That means, judging from his injuries and positioning, culprit dealt finishing blow from within deeper in the room rather than from entrance. Combining all of the facts mentioned above, we naturally come to the fact that the injuries on his chest must've been made prior to fatal injuries on the head. Any objections so far?"

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo shook his head.

"Not at all. In fact, my victim-turned-murderer theory supports this. Without a weapon to protect themself, Axel's victim would have had to first get Axels chakrams from him. The bruises on his chest and stomach were probably left by the victim-turned-culprit in an attempt to get his chakram. Then, the blunt wounds on his head that match the blunt side of the chakram would explain how the culprit knocked out Axel with his own weapon."

[John Dark Souls]

"Good. To say openly, I agree with victim-turned-murderer theory, but victim of what is the question here. Let's try recreating scene of what culprit and victim were doing shortly before the murder. Seeing as we know culprit must've been further in the room shortly before murder and that victim was close enough to get injuries looking like fists inflicted on them, we can surmise that both of them have been deep in the room near the bed around time the fist injuries were inflicted. No, maybe I should be more clear. Both of them must've been ON the bed when injuries were inflicted. I believe it is obvious that Axel has been sexually assaulting his 'victim' when they retaliated struggling to keep him away with punches until they finally managed to land a kick in, shoving him off the bed on the floor and breaking his rib in process."

[Ryo Asuka]

"Alright then. Let's assume Axel had either Mishy or Yoff pinned on the bed. Then yes, one of you could have kicked and punched him off and thrown him onto the floor into the position he is in now."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Yoff: "...Fine. I woke up at 8 AM the first day and went to breakfast. After that concluded I went downstairs to the Commons. I remained their watching the Koi fish. Around Noon, the buffoon came down with food and gave it to Itriot, Mishy, and Myself. It was disgusting. Afterwards I remained there until 5 PM, when I decided to go back to my room. I took the elevator up, went into my room, and did not leave until breakfast the next day. After breakfast I again returned to the commons and stayed there until the announcement."