Chapter 3: The Trial

[King V]

"What you are proposing is that the culprit pushed Pierrick into the water, and the impact from striking the spikes at the center bowl of the sewers was what killed him. However, according to our current knowledge, the fake gunfight was only fabricated after the culprit realized he had killed Pierrick. Therefore, the culprit would have had to enter the center bowl in order to take some of Pierrick's blood."

"By this point, the southern handrail was broken, either by the culprit's attempt to carry Pierrick's body out of the bowl, or by Dayz's suggestion that Pierrick broke it during his fall. Therefore, the culprit would have had a very difficult time getting out of the bowl. It would not be impossible to climb the sides, given enough time, but both climbing the sides of the bowl while carrying a handful of blood seems like an incredibly difficult task. If the culprit had done something like this, they would have at least have used some sort of tool to assist them, yet no such tools have been found during our investigation."

"How then, pray tell, would the culprit have gotten out of the center bowl while carrying Pierrick's blood? It seems much more likely to this witness that Pierrick had been wounded by some kind of weapon, and the culprit simply ensured that the spikes struck in such a way that the wound was impaled over by them."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Day: "I have an answer for that too. If Pierrick crashed into the stakes and died, while the blanket was hiding him, something would have to happen to reverse the order to match what Yuuta and Rikka found when they discovered the body. After the culprit dropped into the bowl, they just pulled Pierrick, along with all the stakes running through him, out of the center grate. They did this so that they could pull the blanket off. In this theory we even cover the area of the blanket that is slightly bloody and has larger holes. If Pierrick crashed down atop it then the blanket would no doubt also be pierced and soaked in Pierrick's blood. After removing the stakes from the central grate, the culprit could slide the blanket off the stake's lower edge. The culprit then just takes the blanket and throws it out of the central sewer along with the rope. They climb up with difficulty once and reset the rope somewhere else. They take th blanket to where the bloodstain should be and intentionally squeeze out some of it there before returning the blanket to the central sewer and setting up the body to be as it was discovered."

[John Dark Souls]

"Hmmmmm, Mishy feels like this trial is trying to go everywhere, but is just getting nowhere... How about we try thinking in the most simplest way possible? I think we all agree that Pierrick tried to murder culprit first. Pierrick probably planned to frame Satone in one way or another with this murder, but that's not very important. What's important, if you were Pierrick, who would you choose as your target? Lets try picking but only among the 4 main suspects Mishy brought up earlier, Days, Lloyd, Ryo and Caster. Mishy, Lloyd, Days and Pierrick had lots of fun together in casino, and Mishy thinks we were getting relatively well along, so its hard to think Pierrick would choose one of those first... Caster is... Well, Caster... But then, there is one person in particular, who Pierrick never got along with, and quarreled a lot with. Seeing as its Pierrick we are talking about, don't you think he'd choose Ryo who he didn't like most to murder?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Ryo lets out an irritated groan before responding-

Ryo: "Yeah, cause if I got a note telling me the person I hated was about to die, I would rush off there to watch, stopping only for popcorn at the kitchen."

-Ryo glares at Mishy as he drops the last of his sarcastic remark-

Ryo: "If Pierrick wanted someone who disliked him in the sewers, that note would not have cut it. And no, I didn't send the note to someone hoping they would turn the tables on Pierrick and kill him. Even my machinations can only go so far."

[King V]

-RIN finishes searching everyone and returns to her place-

"This witness has confirmed that no injuries exist among us, except a small cut on Dayz's hand. This cut also matches in size with all of our numbered daggers."

"This witness believes it is clear now how this murder took place. However, just in case it's not clear enough, I will spell out the murder for all of you."

"This whole incident began when Pierrick decided to murder someone for whatever reason. Pierrick took off sometime at night after 10:45pm when Nanashi took the elevator down to the 3rd floor. Pierrick also left a note to someone who he was certain would come after him, stating that he would be killed in the sewers. Upon seeing the note, this person knocked loudly on Pierrick's door and called out his name, but to no avail. Then this person left and went down to the sewers. However, this person didn't know that Pierrick had spent some time carving stakes out of one of this witness's wooden barricades, and planned on murdering them using these."

-RIN holds up a piece of wood that she had been keeping with a star design carved onto it-

"Here is the proof that it was the barricade being used, this type of design is carved onto all barricades this witness has made."

"After the person entered the sewers, they were ambushed by Pierrick. However, the person fought back and pushed Pierrick into the water, causing him to fall onto his own spike trap set in the central bowl. The person went to check on Pierrick but only found him impaled on the spikes. They went down to try and carry Pierrick's body back up, most likely so that they could hide the body somewhere, but the weight was too much for the handrail and it broke. The culprit was then forced to leave Pierrick's body impaled in the central sewers and came up with a new plan."

"The culprit took possession of several guns and unloaded them, setting them in key positions within the sewers. Then they returned to the apartments and left notes for the delusional quartet so that they would enter the sewers and trigger the body announcement. At the same time, the culprit faked a gunfight by shooting the ceiling of the black market with a rifle and tossing it into the water. This was done so that the culprit wouldn't be seen as suspicious for having their clothes soaked. And so, everyone arrived at the crime scene and had their clothes soaked through investigation, diverting attention from the culprit."

"Now, what we can tell from this murder are two things. First, the culprit is really stupid. The culprit's entire plan basically hinged around throwing random distractions at us and not getting rid of crucial evidence in order to try and give those distractions more weight, when simply getting rid of that evidence in the first place would've been far easier and less elaborate with less room for error. Second, the culprit must be wounded, either from the ambush with Pierrick, or from faking the bloodstain to better set up the fake gunfight. The blood found at the scene was not diluted in any form, whereas carrying up a blanket from the central sewer bowl would have mixed in a lot of water with the blood. And we've already established it would be difficult for the culprit to have carried up pure blood by hand."

"The only person who is significantly wounded enough to perform a stunt like this would be Dayz. There's also circumstantial evidence, such as Dayz being the one to suggest passing the notes around and such, but this witness digresses. Dayz is the culprit. I rest my case."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Day scratches his chin and ponders for a minute before shrugging-

Day: "The answer is right, but you have a large portion of events incorrect. Well, that's fine. I had hoped you all would find me out by digging up what really happened instead of following the chain of clues I left behind intentionally. This will work however."

Lloyd: "Interesting, I take that as an admission then?"

Day: "Indeed. I killed Pierrick. Though as I said, Rin has the majority of what happened mistaken. Since I know the Starless lords will explain what happened anyway, I'll go ahead and steal that spotlight before exiting the stage."

-Days reaches over and grabs the once wet note that was slipped in with the others and holds it up-

Day: "As you expected, my part in this murder began when I received this note. For those of you clock tracking, I received the note at 12:30 AM, significantly after Nanashi returned to his room. I left my room and checked on Pierrick, I knocked before returning to my room to get my lockpick set. I broke in to Pierrick's room and found him to be missing. At that point I decided to head down to the sewer to look for him."

Ryo: "So you went down, he attacked you, and you kicked his butt into the water right?"

Day: "Wrong. I went down and ended up spotting Pierrick before he saw me. I saw him heading into the northern sewer tunnels and followed him. At the first intersection there was an.....event. I cannot explain why, but at the time I believed Pierrick's life was truly in danger and I shoved him into the water to get him out of harm's way. Though as you all know, that act ultimately sealed his fate. While I resolved the...situation in the northern tunnels, Pierrick was swept down into the Central sewer and died upon the stakes which he had setup."

Yuuta: "An...accident then. Though Pierrick may have deserved it in a twisted sort of way since he was clearly planning to use it later."

Day: "I finished up in the northern tunnels and went to the central sewer to help Pierrick get out, but found his dead body instead. At this point I could have just walked back to my room and this would have been a much different case, but the events in the northern tunnels....led me to a different path."

Rikka: "The fake gunfight?"

Day: "And all the distractions, as Rin referred to them. As the culprit in this trial, with no intent to get away with it, I decided to test you all and prepare you all for what trials are to come. Plus, I needed to setup something or it would have been nigh on unsolvable. I decided to falsify the time, and location, of death and setup the gunfight. To do that I claimed two pistols from the Black market, those which appeared to have been fired, and unloaded them to match specific bullet counts. At the time I didn't bother worrying about the one bullet that was already missing as I expected the argument to merely swap to someone had loaded it when they picked it up. After all, the first thing I would do when taking a gun for violence or protection would be making sure its loaded."

-Days looks over at Rin and shrugs nonchalantly-

Day: "I put one pistol down with Pierrick and the other in the tunnels within gunshot range of where I planned to have Pierrick 'get shot.' I did not get injured in the earlier confrontation and intentionally cut myself to leave a blood splatter and make conclusive evidence. Naturally I needed to not be obviously wounded so I could only use a small amount of blood. Though this was all the final steps of the setup. First I had to swap Pierrick's position in the central sewer. I moved his body from the northern part of the stake trap to the southern part. This was to support that he had fallen onto the stakes from the south. In setting him back up I added two extra stakes to him to hold him in place and make moving him back to the north side not a perfect operation if people went to try it."

Day: "After getting the sewer setup and the rifle prepared, I went back above ground. At this point you guys have it correct. I was still wet enough to leave a trail so I just walked around the 6th floor until I wasn't dripping anymore. Afterwards I made the note for Satone, intending for her to go down. I did her first as I thought her and Yuuta were my best two to target, but after she failed I added Rikka into the mix. I rushed down after them, fired the rifle, and rushed back up. Then joined everyone in our rush to the crime scene."

-Day steps back and does a slight bow-

Day: "And that is how this whole unexpected tragedy played out. Any questions?"

[John Dark Souls]

"I see, so Mishy should've thought about it the other way. The one Pierrick got along with more being more likely murderer, then it would've been just seeing if you or Lloyd were more suspicious, huh... Wouldn't have been to hard to figure it out from that line, but... But it still doesn't make sense then... Who is the one who gave you the note? Pierrick should've went down while Nanashi was on 3rd floor as we thought, but that means if you received note only after Nanashi went up, it means the note was sent by somebody completely else who is not Pierrick, *Mishy stares at lords for a moment before looking back at Days* unless Pierrick used the portal to send the note and leave, that is... In first place, what is this situation you are speaking of?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Day: "Someone else trying to kill Pierrick of course."

[John Dark Souls]

"Were you able to see who it was or at least how the looked? Any distinguishing features? Quite likely they are the ones who sent you that note and... Maybe that is overthinking things, but Mishy feels like they planned to make you kill Pierrick from the very start..."

[King V]

"So I was right, the culprit behind this murder was really stupid. None of your theatrics were necessary, stupid culprit. Even if you had left the crime scene completely as-is, there would've still been plenty of clues left to solve the murder. Or if you had never intended to win in the first place, you could've just come out and said so."

"Just admit it, you're an insane person who takes pleasure in building up some kind of worthless notion like hope. Just a deranged lunatic going around trying to spread this 'hope' like a narcotic. You sicken me, stupid culprit. This witness seriously doubts anyone else could possibly exist in the world who is like you, so let's end this stupid hope-charade and get rid of this insane person."

[Xaniks]

"My Master... Ah well. Our contract ends here. I am officially unemployed."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Day: "Unfortunately, no, I did not see any defining traits. Merely a cloaked figure, holding Pierrick at gunpoint."

-Day listens to Rin and gives a sad smile-

Day: "Perhaps that is the case, but that won't be a good thing for any additional cases. I suspect when faced with that individual in the upcoming cases, things will become more twisted and those people will not choose to assist as I have."

[John Dark Souls]

"What did the figure do after you got in between and dropped Pierrick in the water? Just leave"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

Satone eyes open wide when the cloaked figure was mentioned, "The angel was here again." She runs up to days, "Like Mishy said, what happened down there?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Day laughs abruptly and responds-

Day: "Now that is an interesting story! After shoving Pierrick into the water, I myself braced to try and close the gap between myself and the assailant. Much to my surprise they just lowered the gun and started talking to me. I was wary at first, but since there was no more immediate threat and I believed Pierrick to be safe, I listened."

Day: "They started asking me all these questions about what I wanted. Lots of, how far would you go, what would you sacrifice, kinds of questions. I guess my answers were satisfactory, because after that they started to explain themselves."

Day: "They admitted to being the one who sent a note to my room. So you are correct in that Pierrick was not the one who wrote it. He was well and truly taken by surprise. Then they told me that I should go straight back to my room and act like nothing happened. I guessed that they had set this up to ask me questions, but hadn't expected the extent of their goal."

Day: "I ignored their instructions and went to the central sewer to collect Pierrick and found him dead. It was here I realized what had happened. A murder had been setup, not by myself or Pierrick, but rather by the cloaked person. I suspect their intent was to have me get away with the crime and become a Starless Lord, though for what purpose....I cannot say."

-Cessair waits patiently through his explanation-

Cessair: "While you all ask any lingering questions I will be starting the Vote. Unless you all have reason to continue to debate the culprit of this case I see little reason to hold off the vote."