It always kind of felt like Aidan would be the one to break us out of here. But is it right to bring back a murderer? Can I really act like he did nothing wrong just because it was for our sake instead of his? I don’t know, it’s too hard to think about right now, just... We were friends enough, and he’d be a good asset.
And...
...
Today. Did Aki really just pick a book at random? If that was her final message... Scientific geniuses, huh?
Aidan’s the one you wanted to live in your place, right? You already asked for that once. This time, will we let you?
“Okay…! All the votes are in! Let’s see who the winner is! I’m so excited…!”
The voting screen display flickers enthusiastically, as usual. I don’t really watch it. I don’t want to know the results. I don’t want there to be results. Can we just cancel the trial? Right now? I have no reason to hope for that, but it’s the only option that doesn’t leave such a horrible, bitter taste in my mouth.
The flickering stops, at some point. I shut my eyes, as if never seeing it means it won’t be there.
“It looks like today’s winner is... Otoya Tegushi! Congratulations!”
“And the majority vote iiiis…”
“Correct!! Otoya was the killer! I’m so proud of all of you…!”
“............”
“......................”
“O-Otoya...”
“...Thank you.”
...
He doesn’t respond.
“There’s not much left to say, is there...?”
“Yeah, he’s not exactly a gifted public speaker, so there’s no use waiting on him.”
“Can we get this over with? This stupid trial’s gone on way longer than it needed to.”
“Okay...!”
“N............”
Only when Monochap heads this way do I realize I’m right by Otoya. Guess I should get out of the way, huh. I shuffle over some and grip my stand for support.
Is this really... Is there nothing I can do? Attacking Monochap is against the rules. What else... There has to be...
“....................”
There’s nothing. Not if I don’t want to get more people killed.
Monochap pulls around and steps up to Otoya.
“O... Okay! Let’s do this...!”
He waits a moment, like he’s expecting Otoya to just up and agree to follow him to the execution chamber.
“............”
“...”
He makes a fan-whirring sigh noise and stoops to bodily haul Otoya off the ground.
“W—W—W-w-wait...!”
Not even slowed by the extra weight, Monochap takes a few steps back and starts going around towards the other door.
“NononoNONONONO LET ME G-G-G-GO!”
“S-sorry! I can’t until we’re in the execution chamber...!”
With a few more panicked “no”s, Otoya writhes in Monochap’s grip. It sets the two of them wobbling, but it doesn’t stop the forward motion. He scrabbles for purchase, but getting a better grip on Monochap’s upper half isn’t impeding anything, either. It’s almost too pathetic to watch.
“..........”
Yet I’m still watching as Otoya wrenches himself around—
“LET ME GO!”
—and rips Monochap’s arm off.
With an ear-grating screech and the tearing of fabric, the arm tumbles away like a poorly-thrown javelin. Gasping for breath, Otoya rolls onto the floor, too.
“!”
“!”
“...”
For a moment, the whole room is stunned silent.
But only for a moment.
“U-uwaaaah...! M-my arm!”
Otoya scrambles to his feet, off-balance with his head swinging around like his surroundings have suddenly changed. The arm falls from his grip with a clang as he stumbles and takes off running for the only other door in the room. The elevator. It’s not far, but...
Could he actually escape?
“G...”
“GO GO GO!!!”
I lunge to grab the fallen arm, if only because it’s the one part of Monochap I could successfully grapple. Sparks zip off the severed end from time to time, but there isn’t so much as a twitch from the parts themselves. I don’t know how hard it is to reattach this in the first place, but I can at least make it harder.
“W-wait, don’t go!”
Otoya doesn’t stop. Monochap finally stops fretting about his own injury long enough to start after him. Otoya’s already at the elevator. The button isn’t lit—it’s probably not working right now—so he’s straining to pry the doors open himself. Kanagi runs over to lend a hand.
“What’s going on...?”
“We’re getting him out, c’mon!”
“No you’re not...!”
While Yuki looks between the two of them blankly, Mahavir throws himself in front of Monochap.
“Stay back!”
“Wh-what?!”
I can hear metal creaking, but the slot between the elevator doors doesn’t seem much wider.
“Kaich, get over here!”
“Kay?”
He starts hobbling over. Monochap hasn’t made it past Mahavir yet.
“Um, I need to get past you...! Please—”
“STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!”
“Eep!”
Until he tells Mahavir to go back to his stand, staying in the way isn’t breaking any rules. At least not on Mahavir’s part. Aidan managed to keep Monochap at bay, but Aidan was also cooperating with the whole getting executed thing. I don’t know how much time we have now.
Please, please...!
Monochap’s arm grows heavier in my grip as I turn back towards the elevator door. They’re starting to gain some ground. Do I help? Do I guard the arm? What do I—
Monochap gently bats Mahavir out of his way.
“Gh—!”
He stumbles aside from much less force than it would have taken a few weeks ago.
“Nonono!”
“Oh dear...”
Yuki wanders over to check on him as Monochap shuttles on past. Tsunyasha quirks an eyebrow at him but makes no move to help. Just as I’m about to do something—I don’t know what exactly—Kanagi leaves the elevator to the others and charges towards Monochap herself.
“...”
“You!”
“Just don’t attack...!”
“Um, please go back to your stand now!”
“YOU go back to YOUR stand!”
Crap—crap! Do I tell her to go before she gets hurt or tell Otoya to take him but he’s at the elevator still and how close are they to opening it and and...
“SHIT!”
I drop the arm and run over, maybe as a distraction, I don’t know, I don’t know.
Monochap attempts to plow straight through Kanagi, but she stands her ground. The elevator’s open a hand-width now.
“Monochap!! HEY!!!”
He doesn’t even look. He just flings Kanagi into the nearest stand. She topples it over with a crash and a cry of pain.
“MONOCHAP!!!”
What do I do how do I stop him how can we make this work what do I what do I...!
With a yell, Otoya wrenches the doors further apart. Maybe Kaichi could squeeze through, but not him, not yet.
Monochap lifts his remaining hand. Before I can figure out what for, two tiny wires shoot out and stab into Otoya’s back.
“No—!”
Otoya seizes up and topples. Kaichi barely dives out of the way as Otoya slams into the floor.
“S-stop!”
As Monochap closes in, I stumble back over to the amputated arm. Is there a taser in here, too? Can I—Would it even affect Monochap? Maybe if I aim for the stump, at least—!
I pry at the fingers, rip off the sleeve, but I can’t find anything to weaponize. The lack of an arm hasn’t kept Monochap from hoisting Otoya overhead again. Mahavir’s made it back to his feet, but he still leans heavily against a stand. Kanagi’s sitting up, but she’s grabbing her ankle and wincing. Kaichi’s still on the floor after his hasty dodge. Tsunyasha idly spins a knife in her hand with no intention of using it. Ichiriki just laughs.
I drop the arm again and hurry after Monochap, but... How am I supposed to stop him now?
Or was there ever a way in the first place?
“...........”
Frozen but twitching, Otoya sobs as he’s carried through the other door. It thuds with a tone of finality, leaving us in near-silence.
It all started last night. Yuki, Aki, and I met in the kitchen for just another one of our cooking lessons. But that wasn’t how Aki saw it. While our backs were turned, she swiped a kitchen knife and smuggled it out, probably under an armwarmer. But it was already late by the time the lesson was over, and her target wasn’t likely to be out and about.
Aki couldn’t hunt them down until the next afternoon. One of the few who frequented the library, they were minding their own business, reading at one of the tables. To blend in, Aki found a book of her own and sat across the table. And once her target let their guard down just enough...
...she took out the knife and lunged. Her target panicked and, unable to dodge, grabbed her arm and wrenched it around with enough force to break her arm. A simple break probably wouldn’t have killed her, but the broken bone damaged a major artery, and she started bleeding out fast. With that, she'd achieve her goal of dying, but her target wasn’t so ready to give up on her.
They grabbed the most obvious option available—one of her armwarmers—and used it to tourniquet her arm. But the material was too slick to work. So the killer sprinted downstairs to find a real tourniquet, but none were available. They just grabbed the first thing within reach and hurried back upstairs to see what else might work.
But it was already too late. Within minutes, Aki had bled out, leaving the culprit to deal with the fallout. Once the hallway door was safely shut...
...they put away the bloodied books—after all, one of them pointed to their identity. But in their haste, the books were accidentally switched, and it only got messier from there. To keep us out of the crime scene, the killer moved her into a more discreet study room, leaving a trail of blood in their wake. But Aki’s blood was all over the table, so that had to be moved, too.
But even with Aki’s body well out of view, the culprit had no way to know if their grand scheme would even work. So they tried to obscure what happened while they were there. Aki was set back on top of the table, and the knife she’d used to threaten the killer was plunged into her heart. Having used all the supplies at hand, the killer then left the study room, closed the door, and used a chair to bash the hinges out of shape.
They fled the library, managing to avoid the few of us scattered about the building, for the safety of their room. But the incident had gotten blood all over their clothing. If anyone saw that, the killer was finished... but how could they possibly keep us from finding it, especially if an investigation started?
It was then that they realized we couldn’t access the Art Room, but objects still could.
Bundling their clothes in an Apex Academy blanket from their bed, they threw on something less bloody and stuffed the bundle in their duffel bag. They chucked the blanket far into the Art Room, they retreated to the closest alibi available—the weight room. Good thing they hadn’t risked much more running around, because soon afterwards, Yuki and I realized Aki was missing and started scouring the building. When we found the ruined hinges, we actually called the very killer over to get us through. They refused, but when Monochap changed the rules, they were out of excuses not to cooperate.
And that’s how we came to find Aki’s dead body in the study room.
“It wasn’t about the second floor being far away from everything.”
“More like in the middle of everything.”
“But we, like, didn’t find anything murdery on the second floor?”
“Right.”
“What was on the second floor was the opportunity to dispose of evidence.”
“Ah, the art room!”
“It’s on the same floor as the weight room.”
“And the killer got rid of what must have been critical evidence. We aren’t allowed in the art room, but there’s no rule against throwing objects inside.”
“A worthwhile hiding place, indeed.”
“We still got n’ idea what ‘s actually in there, though, right?”
“Clothes. Duh.”
“Or what, you thought the killer could get blood all over literally everything but themselves?”
“Bloody clothes would be strong evidence... I think.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t possibly mistake this giant’s stuff for somebody else’s.”
“Shut up.”
“Ah.” He’s talking.
“Or what? You’ll kill me, too?”
“I SAID SHUT UP!”
“Otoya...”
“So now we’re just f-f-finding excuses for e-everything to point to me? When n-n-none of it even f-freaking does?”
“It’s weird that I was working out? S-s-s-s-so you have to m-make up something to i-i-implicate me?”
“That may be a halfway logical series of events, but it doesn’t pan out.”
“Why not?”
“When did we ever say it was aspirin he took?”
“Huh…?”
“Was it not…?”
I shake my head.
“He grabbed ibuprofen. Completely different painkiller, and I’ve never heard anything about taking ibuprofen for a heart attack.”
“Yeah, ‘s not a blood thinner.”
“That fact isn’t that important.”
“What’s important is what people think the facts are. The scientist knows that, but does Otoya?”
“I… Yeah? I mean, if anyone else does, it would be him.”
“Umm-hummm, probably…”
“………..”
“So no, even if a blood thinner was involved in the murder, it had nothing to do with Otoya’s infirmary run.”
“Then we’re left at yet another dead end…?”
“Like, what else do we even have to talk about?”
“Well, it’s down to you and the big guy for sure, right?”
“D-don’t c-call me that…!”
“Why is it down to them…?”
Ichiriki gives a world-weary sigh. Wow, commandeering the conversation must take such a toll on him.
“They’re the only ones strong enough.”
“You underestimate me.”
“Do you want to be a suspect?”
“Like, Iggy’s pretty strong, too, if we’re just going off that?”
“He also has a solid alibi. And considerable fire damage.”
“Y’ sure ‘s a solid alibi, brah?”
“What do you mean?”
“You thought y’ were with him ‘t the time ‘f the murder, but y’ also thought th’ infirmary clock was right, yeah?”
“That’s true…”
“I still stayed a little while afterwards, though. He wouldn’t have had much time to get to the library. Especially in his condition.”
“Like, it totes wouldn’t stop him from trying.”
“Fair, but.”
“He would’ve had to have been gunning for the library right from the start. And he’d been downstairs long enough he would have had no way to know anyone was even in there. It doesn’t add up.”
“Really?”
“Oh, I’m not about to argue he has any form of clairvoyance like myself.”
Hooray.
“But he could easily know the victim was there. After all, she could have been waiting for him.”
“The two could have easily conspired—they were both rather close with one of the dead, yes?”
“You think they… worked together to kill her…?”
“I-I mean… She, uh, has a point.”
“…” Could they really have…
“…………………”
Is he not speaking up because that’s true? Or just because he’s tired?
He definitely looks tired, at least. So I can hope.
NONSTOP DEBATE START
“So you think they were trying to bring back Aid?”
“That’s correct.”
“Why th’ books, then? Lot ‘f stuff t’ set up.”
“P-probably to, um, give the impression th-that two of them had been in there for a while. Alibi… stuff. Y-yeah.”
“Then why would you put them away…? We may not have found them at all…”
“And Mahavir wasn’t investigating up there, so he couldn’t have ‘noticed’ them for us.”
“Yet we still found them, did we not?”
“Tru.”
“Hang on. If this was all prearranged, why move the body, either? That’s also a lot of trouble, and wouldn’t they WANT her to be found?”
_“Second thoughts about getting himself executed?” _
“It’s not like these guys are renowned for their planning genius, either.”
“…”
Is he waking up now?
“This is still, like, super sketchy, though?”
“If it was all, like, planned and stuff, why would he kill her like THAT?”
“By breaking her arm? Yeah, doesn’t seem that efficient.”
“That’s true…”
“And I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted to die slowly… if it didn’t work well.”
“I…”
“I would never… comply with a request like that…!”
“Any of it…”
“Uh… ‘S was all kind ‘f a rush. We don’t have guns ‘r anything, either, right?”
“Not anymore.”
“Maybe he couldn’t get ‘s hands ‘n anything that’d do ‘t quicker?”
“Breaking an arm, like, beats getting your head bashed in, I guess?”
This whole argument seems flimsy… Not that the rest of the trial has been much better. Still, surely something here is weak enough to tear apart for good.
Standard word bank disclaimer—some evidence may be used more than once, and some may not be used at all. Some evidence has been grouped, and some evidence that didn’t need to be found in investigation has been added.
Broken Chair: A damaged library chair was on the floor near the study rooms. There’s fresh blood spatter on the back and seat.
Blood Trail: A blood trail on the carpet stretches from the first study room to the middle of the library.
Switched Books: A science book and a fantasy novel were shelved in each other’s places. Both have blood smeared across some of the pages.
Monofile 5: Aki died of blood loss at 4:10. Her heart and arm seem to be her only major injuries.
Kanagi’s Testimony: Kanagi hadn’t set foot on the fourth floor since this morning.
Blanket Bundle: A tied-up Apex Academy blanket has been thrown into the Art Room beyond access. Others like it are in the back of the student store.
Gym Bag: Otoya’s gym bag was sitting in the weight room. There’s nothing inside but his workout clothes.
Yuki’s Testimony: A knife disappeared from the kitchen sometime after yesterday’s cooking lesson. The only people who stayed in the kitchen for any amount of time today were Yuki and Mahavir.
Painkillers: Otoya rushed into the Nurse’s Office to grab some ibuprofen at 4:25. He was rather frantic at the time.
Aki’s Arm: Aki’s upper arm is broken so badly the bone has gone through her skin. It’s soaked in blood.
Knife: Aki was stabbed in the heart with a kitchen knife. There isn’t much spatter on it at all.
Aki’s Armwarmers: Aki’s armwarmers are very slick. One of them is on normally, but the other lies awkwardly above the break in her arm.
Scars: Old scars cross Aki’s wrists and inner forearms.
Aki’s Blood: The table where Aki was found is covered in blood. More traces are smeared in a corner of the study room.
Hinges: The hinges of the crime scene door were dented too badly to move.
Otoya’s Testimony: When Otoya entered the weight room, one of the less heavy weights was missing. It was back after he took a water break.
Rule Change: Monochap had to change the wording of Rule 9 for students to feel safe entering the crime scene.
