Take Responsibility.

[andexecutioner]

The door at the northwestern corner of the foyer is open. It's hard to say when it opened, but the fact of the matter is that it seems to have; it leads to a separate hallway that seems to run alongside the dormitories. The hall is long and dimly-lit, but it's illuminated well enough to make it plain that the walls and floor in here are different; they're far less designed to give off an impression of grandeur - if anything, it's claustrophobic back here: the walls are close and darkly-colored, and the entire area is barren until it opens up into the room serving as your destination. The room is circular and high-ceilinged, covered in more of the exposed wood that lines the rest of the building; there aren't any visible lights, however, which is...odd, given how bright the place is. It lends the entire area a sense of unreality; it's easy to distract yourself from it, however, once you notice this place's centerpiece. In the center of the room is a circle of podiums, thirty in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium. Affixed to the podium itself is a panel with buttons on it, and again, there are thirty in total; next to the buttons are smaller strips of engraved metal to serve as labels, bearing the titles of everyone that's been present in the facility, living or dead. All of the podiums are identical, except for the one intended for Sayaka. The podium that should bear Attentive's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Sayaka's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale. Juri is nowhere to be found in here, but that doesn't mean you're alone down here; the feeling that you're being watched is strong, and he'll wait until you've had time to take in what you're looking at before he addresses you - over the public-address system again, from the sound of it. "Attentive's dead, and somebody's to blame for it - but you guys get to decide whether Rule Seven's carried out or not. It's your job to hold them responsible for what they've done. Good luck in doing it."

Comments

[fittedgloves]

When did you take them?

[fivepints]

I don't...I don't really remember, probably sometime last night? I've been keeping a lot of stuff in my room.

[fittedgloves]

Can you remember if it was before or after dinner?

[fivepints]

Look, are you trying to fuckin' accuse me of something? Because if that's what you're doing, you could at least say it to my face.

[fittedgloves]

I would, if I were accusing you of anything. I just want to know when you went in case you saw any suspicious activity.

[fivepints]

[Goddamn if he's not fussing with his clothes again.]

No. No, I didn't, all right? This doesn't fucking matter, when I did or didn't do something or how I knew about the fucking incinerator, I didn't meet with that crazy-ass girl last night so I don't get why we're even pursuing it.

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...mallick she actually sort of likes you, but you made her life a liiiittle hard up there so it's about time to give you shit. ]

How do we know you're telling the truth about that?

[fivepints]

[Oh, for fuck's sake.]

I at least had an argument when it came to Walter. Let's fucking hear yours.

[meanttobe]

...'Cause the matches. The ones that were missing. If they were used to burn the blanket, which we're pretty sure about? There was one only one set missing, right? So, if you have the ones that weren't there, then no one else could've burned up the evidence.

[innocentloveholic]

People can lie~! [ ....look, there's her argument, and it's in the most sing-songy fucking tone in the world.

But he's totally not gonna be satisfied with that, so— ]

And it's not like you have an air-tight alibi! Well, none of us do, it's not like we're doing something as totally weird as sleeping together, and all our rooms are totally sound-proofed! We'd never be able to tell if anyone walked around anyway. [ ...give her a moment. ] You don't like murder, that's totally on your profile and I totally believe it! But if you killed her in self-defense, since it's already been thrown around that she was out to possibly kill someone herself...

Then it's not murder, is it? That's totally guilt-free killing!

[ ...god she is reaching but fuck it, she's tired of this. it's gotten super boring. ]

[oasisrose]

... ... ...

[Sorry to interrupt, but...]

Then what were you doing? Retrace your steps from last night?

[fivepints]

Does it fucking matter? I was alone last night, so the first thing anyone's going to say is that it's can't be verified by anyone else.

[gorira]

So no one was with you in the storage room when you took the matches, then?

[oasisrose]

Because if you're not making it up, it shouldn't be a hard question.

[fittedgloves]

Except it does matter when you might have done something.

[fivepints]

Then come the fuck on, Trixie Belden. If you've got an accusation, let's hear it, but I didn't fucking do anything.

[flagitate]

Then you'll let me smell your hands.

[ ... that's the weirdest goddamn thing she's ever said, probably. ]

[fittedgloves]

I wasn't going to accuse you of anything until you started getting defensive.

[andneversaydie]

...

[...she... god. she doesn't want to accuse people. she doesn't want to be here, so she's been quiet, but...]

You know... we've been talking about how she might've killed someone... but nobody's called her crazy for it, have they?

[gorira]

Not yet. She wants to get out of here, and she made her decision to go after someone, and it blew up in her face, if the current theory holds, anyway. ...But she's not insane for it.

[fittedgloves]

Exactly. She had her reasons for doing what she did, even if we don't agree with it.

[andneversaydie]

No, I don't think so either. It's... bad, definitely, and I'm having a lot of trouble thinking about her the same way...

...but then, I wasn't on the end of her knife. You can't really look at something the same way again once it's tried to kill you. I've mostly had this happen with animals, but... would it be the same with a person?

[middaymoon]

[ GOOD CATCH, MOZU. ]

Mozu has a point. You're the only one that's described her as anything but 'sweet' thus far.

[fivepints]

I'm fuckin' sorry if I don't think the girl who tried to kill me because I talked to her twice is Japan's sweetheart.

[seventhprogenitor]

Indeed. She seemed a little stressed at times and serious about her work, wanting to do her best in what she could -- but crazy?

[No one's called her that.]