third trial

[facultwist]

"Good hustle, everyone, time to get you down to the trial room. I'm willing to bet this is one where you want to know who did it. Head to the conservatory."

Isabella is waiting for you all there, candelabra in hand. She doesn't have much to say, but... perhaps that's to be expected. What is there to say?

It feels like a longer walk than usual to the trial room, but maybe that's just a function of your dwindling number. Much more of this and you're liable to dip below half of your original number. But you must press on, because answers will await you before long. They have to... right?

Yet more desks draped over to show those you've lost. But there's a job that you must do. You have the evidence. You are prepared against whatever it is that comes next.

... Right?

Comments

[ergine]

[ ...There's something about her that makes her look like she's about to laugh, but she controls herself. ]

I see. Well, why don't we compare hand-writing, then? We can both copy a segment of the notes I found — once the way we would typically write, and once writing each letter as slowly and precisely as we can.

[sweetsynergy]

Fine. Give me a pen.

[With the usual conviction reserved for 'BRING ME MY PISTOL AND SWORD'.]

[goldendoll]

[ on all levels but physically this is like when a streamer just ragequits and walks out of the room and you hear their voice get more distant and a door slams and then dead air. you know what, fuck it, she was literally just saying how this would be easy to falsify but who listens to the dog barking right girls and dagr ]

[rednails]

While we're on the topic of sharing.

Kohaku... would you be willing to share a segment of what you were writing in your notebook earlier this week?

[She likely wasn't able to glean a peak at it herself. But she seemed very focused at the time. And this handwriting copy looks practiced, after all.]

[ergine]

I'm sorry, Mariko, but that information is very private. More to the point, though, I'm not carrying it with me, so I don't know how I would be able to share it with you.

[rednails]

I think we've established by now that evidence presented today is private. [metaphorical side-eye] But if it's not here, it's not here.

[Inch Resting.]

[goldendoll]

It's private if it's not evidence, Mariko.

[rednails]

[Repeating herself;]

It was just an idea.

[thanoptical]

[Whispering to herself:]

Was she always this much of a snoop?

[curdle]

[ Frowning!! (But also literally yes.) ]

[thanoptical]

[Thomasin, you have to admit that asking for someone's diary is weird and invasive!]

[curdle]

[ oh it absolutely is but this is basically the mariko equivalent of backing down! someone needs to be the kabru to her niina! ]

[goldendoll]

Okay. [ she says it... genuinely kind of conciliatorily, like fair enough. look, we can both play the defense position freak, mariko-san. ]

[bellpepperexercise]

Why do you need to see her diary? Let her just write a sentence from the journal.

[STOP READING PEOPLE’S PRIVATE LETTERS, MARIKO!!!!]

[rednails]

[Sighs.]

It was just an idea, calm down.

[Was "intense and singularly devoted writing could possibly be suspicious" not relevant exactly 7 days ago?]