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

[fivepints]

[...Brady, at the very least he likes you enough to not want to rip your fucking head off, congratulations.]

...You've got to play to advance the trial. Win the game, move on to the next part, yeah.

[middaymoon]

... Mallick. You said earlier you weren't sure that allowing someone to win would be a bad thing. Right?

How long has that thought been on your mind?

[fivepints]

[...Ah...]

Since...I don't know, maybe the day after we got here? It's. It's how these games work, it's how mine worked.

[middaymoon]

And you had no reason to believe otherwise, correct? There was nothing to make you think you couldn't spare many lives by sacrificing one?

[fivepints]

It's not going to...it's not going to spare anyone, doing it like that. You fucking sacrifice somebody and move on, yeah, but there's no saying that everyone else won't just die in the next room over.

[flagitate]

So you sacrificed Sayaka so you could move on.

[myfedorarocks]

That's the point of this game, the rules say as much.

[fivepints]

Okay, first of all, I didn't sacrifice shit. No such thing as guilt-free killing.

[oasisrose]

[... ... ...]

[That hits a bit of a chord with her, as her earlier outburst about the execution would suggest. Her words are strained, as if she's trying her hardest to make sure they stay soft.]

Mallick, please. I don't want to believe you did this, but... the more you yell and swear at us, the more everyone is going to suspect you.

[meanttobe]

[Probably not gonna like him much after this.]

So before we found out it was the killer versus the group if you get away with it...if you were thinking like that, and someone tried to kill you... It'd be a lot easier to kill them in self-defense. Because you'd think, you can still get out, and it'd work out for everyone.

If that happened, we'd side with you after all was said and done... [He swallows.] Because you'd be working off those rules.

[fivepints]

It's got nothing to do with people siding with me or not. You fuck up, you're probably next in line if you're not smarter than everyone else.

[meanttobe]

Alright. So that part doesn't matter, but. Man, it doesn't change that if you were going by those rules, it actually makes sense that you'd've...you know. That if she came at you, you'd be thinking...it's an opportunity. Even more than any of the rest of us.

[fivepints]

Oh my god - fuck you? It's not an opportunity, murder isn't a fucking opportunity...

[He. He does not take things like that well, um.]

[meanttobe]

So what happened?

[Oh, wow, he's feeling kind of lightheaded.]

If- I don't think of it like that either, but if you didn't do this, if this isn't how I'm laying it out, tell us what happened last night, step by step, and I will be the first to believe you, Mallick. Why are you dodging all these questions? You're clearly really messed up about this, if you can make it easier, please. Try.

[andneversaydie]

I... I want to believe you too, Mallick, because I don't really want to believe anyone here did this. But... you are acting kind of shifty and even I'm noticing, s-so... just give it to us straight, okay?