Chapter 2: The Trial

[Exusiai]

"Oh, right!  I guess that does sound suspicious if I never explained how I got to the fourth floor.

I'm sure some of us remember when Satone was ambushed.  She ended up in the laundry bin of the fourth floor.
I decided to take the same route down the laundry chute!
It's easy to slide down there as long as you're small enough.
The issue is climbing back up. Because the elevator button to the fourth floor still wasn't working during the investigation, I had to climb back up the laundry chute to get out.
While you can enter the fourth floor from the laundry chute, the situation is a teensy bit more complicated if you want to get into the fifth or sixth floors. The hatches that lead to the upper floors are only capable of being opened from the outside. They only open inward and from inside the chute, there's no niche to grab them.
I managed to climb back out to the sixth floor by holding the hatch open with a broom.
. . . It might not have been worth all the effort, though.
The whole process ate up a lot of my energy and I didn't get any snacks afterwards!

Back to the topic, I used a pair of knives that I got as a friendship gift to get some traction while scaling back up the chute.
I think Ryo took them from the kitchen before the first death was announced. . . or that's what he said in the last trial!
It would've been possible for me to reach the seventh floor, but I'd be confronted by the same issue as trying to enter the fifth or sixth floor."

The boy smiles nonchalantly as his mind has somehow accepted the fact that Axel was somehow at the trial, voicing opinions and inquiring the living.


"Also, the arrangement of PVC pipes and duct tape I found in a spare set of clothes that resembled Itriot's was actually in the room labeled as Head Receptionist B."

[King V]

"From what I gather, it's only possible to move through the laundry chutes between the 4th floor, and the upper floors. Which means even if the culprit was able to use the laundry chutes as a method of transportation, they would still be stuck on the upper floors."

"Nothing has changed. If Caster is not the culprit, then the culprit must still be someone originally on floor 1."

[John Dark Souls]

Mishy looks at everyone confused.

"What is all this about scarecrows and Itriot's clothes everyone is talking about it? Mishy has never been to 4th floor or heard anything of Itriot's spare clothes, so could you teach Mishy what everyone is talking about? Mishy heard somebody mention PVC pipes... Is this related to PVC pipe cornerpiece lying around front entrance of the complex?"

"Mishy also wonders... Is that portal something that can be just poofed and opened anywhere? Mishy did find that portal was gone from kitchen during investigation, but, Mishy wonders, is there any preparation for it? Like having to erase portal in previous location before opening one in new one? Was portal there in locker room the day before murder?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Cessair shakes her head at the chaos surrounding the trial-

Cessair: "The structure of the building falls under my domain and any questions regarding it can be answered by me. There appears to be some confusion regarding the Laundry Chute."

-Cessair points her hand around the room-

Cessair: "The Laundry chute is big enough for everyone here, excluding Mishy, to climb inside and slide down. The current method publicly used to climb the chute, stabbing sharp objects into the walls to make handholds, only works with people who are fairly light as there is not enough room to swing anything with excessive force. The reason for the exclusion.... Mishy can't get inside as their gigantic head is far to big to fit in any of the entrances."

-Cessairs lowers her arm and then speaks again-

Cessair: "Also, regarding that portal in the locker room, allow me to clarify as you all seem to be attributing god like powers to it. Only one portal can exist at a time and the only person capable of removing it is myself. I only remove it after I conclude one of these trials."

[Chatt]

Well ... with all of this I would like to pose a theory. Let's say the murderer committed the obvious murder in the spotting act. Afterwards, he would need to escape. Now, given that Caster was allegedly forced to open the portal, and left a gap, suppose the murderer knew this fact. And during that gap, he went through the portal to the 6th floor. From there, he went to the chute, which is not in vision of the elevator, went down the chute to the 4th floor. At his point, the elevator wasn't working due to Rin, but after Rin left, it would have been very easy to just ... hit a button and use the elevator from the fourth floor. The only button that wouldn't work would be the one in the elevator, after all. I still think it was Days, by the way. Did I miss anything?

There was also apparently a meeting, so maybe someone could tell us about that? And there are still multiple people who have not given alibis that I would appreciate.

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Pierrick raises his hand and jumps up and down-
Pierrick: "Oh! Oh! Me ME! Pick Me!"
-Without waiting to be called on he continues-
Pierrick: "I went up to my room after breakfast! To grab my card for the Arcade that I brought back with me! But after I went up I was stuck as the elevator button would not work! I cartwheeled around a little bit and even went to the 5th floor! But the elevator didn't work there either..... So I went back to the 6th floor and cartwheeled around my room until the 11:20 announcement when I went to the elevator and found it working again!"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Day Muriez: "Apologies. As others have stated, I was at breakfast but then went outside afterwards. I spent my time at Lord's Blessing examining the wonders made by souls from other worlds. I was there until just before 11 and I went back to the complex for the special announcement mentioned in the note. I never saw Mishy, but I did see Rikka, Shinka, and Yuuta pass by at a sprint with about 20-30 seconds between each of them. I am not sure what time that was though. When I returned to the complex I met up with Rikka, Satone, Yuuta, Shinka, and Mishy to find no announcement. We all tested the elevator and found it broken. Afterwards, I went with Mishy to look for everyone as they explained. We got most of the way to Lord's Blessing before we heard the announcement and ran to Iron Stars."

[Exusiai]

"I'll go ahead and explain for Mishy then!
First, let me recount what happened during my exploration of the fourth floor!
I was looking through the letters in the Head Maid's Office. Those letters seemed to be there before we arrived, since they were written by some of the staff members.
It was during this reading interlude that I noticed a copy of Itriot's robe and mask in Head Receptionist B's quarters.
The robes looked really cool, so I went to take a look at it, but as I picked it up, I noticed there was something stuck inside of it.
The stuff eventually came out.

It seems that someone stored some PVC pipes in the outfit.
The pipes were sticky and covered in some sort of icky stuff!
The same stuff also coated the inside of the robe, and it smelled like duct tape.
Of course, it wasn't just smell alone; I also found some scraps of duct tape and cloth on the pipes.
If I were to take a guess, then it seems like the PVC pipes were held up by the duct tape!

Now, it's my turn to ask some questions!
Didn't anyone find it weird that there was no actual special announcement at the Clash Commons?
I wasn't able to get down to the commons until after breakfast until a death was announced, but Mishy said that 'nothing happened' during the appointed time.
About the announcement, I also received the same note about a special announcement at 11:00 AM.
The line at the end of the note suggests that Cessair wrote it.
. . .
W-Was there anything important that you actually wanted to tell us before the body announcement, Cessair?

Anyways, I don't think that our Starless Overlord would miss out on giving an important announcement!
A lot of us were really determined to attend the meeting, so as mentioned by a few people already, they headed back to the Clash Commons as the scheduled time approached.
If Cessair didn't actually hand out those notes, then the person who set up the meeting could have been the culprit!
By using Cessair's name to declare an important announcement at an exact location and time, the culprit would know where most of us were in a specific timeslot."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Cessair laughs-
Cessair: "Me? Hand out notes? Slip them into your rooms? Ha! Why would I do that when I can just have my voice echo across the entire complex? Surely the body discovery announcement shows I have better ways to handle summons. I did not write nor hand out those notes."

[King V]

"I see, it's beginning to make a little more sense now. Cat person thing, you mentioned before that you saw something similar to Itriot standing in the commons with you, yes? Perhaps the scarecrow-like figure made from pipes and duct tape with Itriot's robes was placed there to make the meeting area look more legitimate, so that the culprit could lure everyone there. This witness has in fact received one of the aforementioned notes as well, stating that there will be a special announcement at 11am in the commons, and signed by Cessair."

"If we assume it was the culprit who set all of this up, that would mean that the culprit must have executed their crime at approximately 11am when they knew everyone would be in the commons area. This witness has not seen confirmation about an Itriot figure standing in the commons from anyone other than Mishy, but if the culprit did dispose of this evidence, then they must have taken the Itriot figure after everyone had left the commons, and gone up to the 6th floor somehow to throw it into a laundry chute, which is how it ended up on the 4th floor."

"As for how they managed to get up there, this witness supposes that's where the portal comes into play, and the culprit used the opening provided by Caster at 11am when he went up to check on the elevator to sneak up to the 6th floor unnoticed. It's all very convenient how this crime went on, isn't it? This witness believes that it's too convenient to be true, but that's where the evidence is leading to right now."

[Satori]

"Alright. I the Tyrant's Eye shall give my alibi. I woke up at around 8 am but just as I was about to head to breakfast, I found a note by the door to my room and it read "Come to Commons at 11 AM for a Special Announcement!" apparently written by Cessair. I had no idea what the announcement could be about but I just went on to breakfast. At breakfast. Everyone was present and we ate until 9 AM and then all went our separate ways afterwards."

"Yuuta, Shinka, Satone and I all decided to head to the arcade. While we were going down the elevator, we also saw Mishy Owen and Days. As me and my friends headed to the arcade. I saw Days go into the Lord Blessing, Owen went into the Iron Stars while Mishy was picking up trash in the streets. We finally arrived at the Scoring Stars where we started playing games until 10 AM and we managed to unlock the 3rd area. As we were about to enter the third area, we heard a loud thump and then we turned and saw a figure in a black cloak. We then heard a "tch!" and then the figure then sprinted away. At that moment, we realized that Satone was missing and thought the cloaked figure kidnapped her so we pursued them. We chased the figure through the Starless Streets and then through the alleyway and then passed just outside the Lord's Blessing. Yuuta tells us to split up to try to cut the figure off. Yuuta heads west while continued to chase the the figure up north. The figure went into an abandoned building just north of the Lord's Blessing and then chased them up a few stories until they jumped out a window to a neighboring building. I couldn't make the jump so I gave up the chase and then met up with Yuuta and Shinka again."

"Having lost the figure. We continued searching around the area for Satone. I searched around the area where we lost Satone while Yuuta searched the southeast area and Shinka searched the northwest area. I searched for awhile but still couldn't find Satone. I then decided to head back to the Clash Complex at around 11 AM for the announcement. There I saw Yuuta had found Satone while Shinka joined us moments later. We then waited together until 11:10 AM but nothing happened. Days and Mishy also arrive at the complex which I assume they were also waiting for the announcement. With still no announcement, we then decided to look for the others. We checked the elevator and pressed the button but the door wouldn't open. We pounded the door but still nothing. Unable to use the elevator. We all decided to search around the area. Mishy and Days searched around the Lords Blessing while me and my friends searched the scoring stars and then Iron Stars where we discovered the body of Owen and triggered the announcement..."

[Chatt]

Well ... shouldn't this be simple then? If everyone grouped for a certain meeting, don't we just need to find out who arrived there at the alotted time? That and the group stuck on the 6th floor should provide a rather nice way to narrow down the list of suspects.

[Ryo Asuka]

Ryo shook his head at his imaginary ghost Axel.

"It would be that easy if we knew that's when the murder occurred. Considering everybody but Satone, who was captured, Rin, who was in the elevator, and Owen, who was dead, was accounted for during the announcement, I do not think it can be used to narrow down the suspect list. In fact, I think the announcement was used by the culprit to fake an alibi."

[Ryo Asuka]

The more Ryo thought about it, the more he started to agree with the faceless person.

"I...also think the culprit is Caster. In fact, I can prove it! So, to recap, the wire that allows the elevator to go to the fourth floor was cut. Rin said that the elevator wire for the fourth floor was cut when she got inside, which was just after breakfast. Meaning the culprit probably cut the fourth floor wire before breakfast on on their way to the sixth floor after breakfast. However, when the wire was cut is not important; the implications of the wire being cut is. But, more on that later. Anyways, so, if we assume that the scarecrow Itriot that was found on the fourth floor was in fact used for the 11am meeting as others have suggested, it means that the culprit had to have gotten it back from the first floor to the fourth after the 11am meeting. This being said, it would be a task that is easier said than done.

"Since Rin was keeping the elevators from working, and since the fourth floor is only accessible from the elevator or the fourth and fifth floors via the laundry chute, the culprit had to have gone in through the laundry chute. This would mean that the culprit had to get to the upper floors by another means. Of course, one could argue that the culprit could have used a portal to gone to the fourth floor instead, which I would like to counter with Cessair's statement: Only one portal can exist at a time and the only person capable of removing it is himself; he only removes it after he concludes one of these trials. Which would mean that if the portal was created before the culprit realized this trick, the culprit would not be able to move the portal before the end of the trial. This would mean that the culprit would have had to have used the already portal in Yoff's room from the Locker Room.

"This is where it gets juicy. By using the portal in Yoff's room, the culprit could have sneaked into the hallway and then used the laundry chute to get to the fourth floor. However, it doesn't stop there. Since Rin was in the elevator from 9ish to 11:20, the culprit would not be able to leave the fourth floor before 11:20. Since the laundry chute can only be scaled, using climbing tools like knives method, by somebody small and even then, the laundry chute doors for the fifth and sixth floor can only be opened from outside the chute. So, the culprit was forced to wait until Rin went downstairs. In fact, this works in favor of the culprit. They could ride the elevator on it's way up to pick up the rest of us on the 6th floor. However, to keep us from seeing the culprit, they instead stopped on the fifth floor and used one of the holes from Owen's or Axel's room to climb back up. Then, they came out into the hallway to blend in with the crowd going down and solidify their alibi."

Ryo took a few minutes to catch his breath.

"So, now, why does this mean that Caster is the culprit? To deal with that, let me present you with some of my testimony. The only people to enter the 6th floor before Rin stopped the elevator are myself, Nanashi, Pierrick, Lloyd, Monika, and Caster. Which means nobody else would be able to enter the 6th floor until 11:20 except via the portal that Caster was supposedly watching. Then, Nanashi went in his room while Pierrick, Lloyd, and Monika went into rooms as well, though I'm not entirely positive which rooms they went in since I was focused on Nanashi. However, we know from Caster that he went into Yoff's room to watch the portal.

"As stated before, after 11am when everybody left the announcement from Itriot after realizing there was no announcement, the culprit would need to retrieve the scarecrow and hide it. However, I only saw Caster come out of the room twice: at 11am and 11:20am. In order for anybody to have entered the 6th floor, they would have had to enter at 11am and leave after 11:20am. But, as stated before, everybody outside of the hotel had alibis from 11am to 11:20am. Mishy and Days were together the entire time, and Yuuta, Shinka, Rikka, and Satone were also together the entire time. Meaning none of the outside people would be able to come back inside to hide the scarecrow. Since Rin was stuck in the elevator the entire time, it also couldn't have been her. Which means one thing: the culprit had to be somebody on the sixth floor."

Ryo made a fake gasp before making a giant grin.

"Of course, it could not have been me since I was in the hallway the entire time. It also could not have been Nanashi since I only saw him enter his own room. Even if Nanashi had used the hole in his floor to try and sneak into the portal in Yoff's room, I would have seen him come back out of either Owen's, Axel's, or my room as they are the only rooms with holes, which I didn't. I never saw Nanashi return to the hallway except after he was finished getting ready, at 11am and 11:20am, all times he went back into his own room. The same logic can be applied to Pierrick, Monika and Lloyd. I only saw them come out into the hallway at 11am and 11:20am, meaning none of them had an opportunity to sneak into Yoff's portal without Caster seeing. Even if any of them snuck past Caster at 11am, they wouldn't have enough time to murder Owen, get the scarecrow, and enter back through the portal before Caster went back. Which only leaves one possible suspect: Caster."

Ryo was really exhausted by this point.

"So, to recap, here is my theory on how Caster committed the murder! Caster was early to rise and slipped the fake Cessair notes under all of our doors. Then, he went downstairs and had breakfast with us as normal. He convinced Owen to meet him at the Iron Gym later to help him work out. Then, he went up the elevator to the sixth floor, cutting the fourth floor wire on his way up to help him later on with hiding the scarecrow. Upon reaching the sixth floor, he made his way to Yoff's room. He then entered the portal where he was waiting on Owen. When Owen arrived, Caster led him over to the bench and spotted him while he lifted the 245 pound bar. However, instead of helping Owen, Caster instead pushed down on the bar and strangled Owen with it. After doing the deed, Caster got the scarecrow and snuck into the first floor of the hotel. With Satone kidnapped, the Chuunis looking for Satone, and Days in the store, the only person Caster needed to worry about was Mishy. While Mishy wasn't looking, he snuck by and set up the Itriot scarecrow. Then, he snuck back by Mishy and into the Locker Room, where he entered the portal back into Yoff's room. At 11am, he came out in the 6th floor hallway with me, Nanashi, Pierrick, Lloyd, and Monika. Downstairs, Rikka, Yuuta, Satone, Shinka, Mishy, and Days all met up for the announcement. Rin was still in the elevator and Owen was dead. This would solidify Caster's alibi and make it appear as if he could not have pulled off the murder. However, this also served another purpose. Caster used this opportunity to not go back to Yoff's room, but to go into Axel or Owen's room instead. He used the hole in their floor to go down to the fifth floor, where he used the laundry chute to get him and the scarecrow to the hiding spot on the fourth floor. Then, he tried the elevator but realized it still wasn't working. Since he couldn't use the laundry chute due to being too big and it not opening from the inside, he had no option but to wait for it to work again. After Rin took the elevator down at 11:20am, Caster immediately took the elevator back up to the fifth floor as it came to pick those of us on the 6th floor up. Then, he simply climbed back up through the hole in Owen's or Axel's room and covered the hole back up to make it appear like it was never used. Then, he simply joined the rest of us in the hallway as we went downstairs to find Owen. THAT is how I think Caster killed Owen. Any objections?"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

Satone hops around and waves, "The magical passage is not the only way out of the tower of twilight. There had been numerous sheets thrown into room 8 on the fifth floor and more in the laundry basket. Two of the sheets have holes in them. The one in room 8 has a gash with clean cuts alongside torn edges. The one in the Maid Room has a small triangular mark which does not quite match the scissors that had been hidden with it but is too small for kitchen knives. I believe that the hole was made by the scissors, but it had gone under pressure so it was stretched. It is obvious that the scissors had been used to cut duct tape, and there is slight remnants of residue around the hole. There is another triangular mark on the floor near two unlocked windows. This one matches the scissors quite well. Counting the sheets in room 8 and the laundry basket, there are enough sheets to climb down to the ground although the sheets themselves will not reach all the way to the ground. So there is possibly another way to escape this tower. On the fifth floor, there was another mark in the hallway which matches the shape of a dagger. I should note that these holes do not penetrate through the floor completely. Considering the PVC pipe in front of the tower and the set found in the black mask's clothing, they could form an 'H' shape or an 'A' if the dropped piece was used to connect the top. The pipes appear strong enough to support a person hanging from them. On the pipes, one can find duct tape, sticky residue, and pieces of cloth that appear as if they had been cut off. If we need another passage aside from the laundry chutes which everyone aside from Mishy can slide through, there is a way to reach the fourth floor from the third."