16 Chapter 3: Hollow Trust and Empty Alibis Part 3

The Loudspeakers then gave out our 'Autopsy Report'.

"Contestant Ceáser Balad. Status: Deceased. Time of his death: 11:45 PM. Cause of his death: Blood Loss Caused by a Fatal Stab Wound. Based on these facts, you may collect alibis and prepare for his...trial." Was the information given out by the Loudspeaker, before shutting off. I hurried to write down the file information, while everyone else looked among themselves and ate.

"...So, does anyone have an alibi for that time?" Mia spoke up, looking around for anyone to speak up and share their account. Once I saw no one start, I decided to speak up.

"I had fallen asleep before the nighttime announcement even went off," I explained, gesturing over to Poppy, "She was with me in my cell for a brief while, and left right before I fell asleep." I could tell not a lot of people were convinced, but Liam spoke up next.

"I wasn't aware that this small insignificant detail was important to this case until now, but I can, in fact, indeed, most definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, quite indubitably confirm what Ms. Aka is saying," He explained, sipping from his tea cup, "I witnessed Ms. Poppy leave Ms. Aka's cell, and enter her own."

"Did you see her leave her cell afterwards?" Risa questioned, and Liam simply responded with a shake of his head.

"Well that at least confirms this lass as innocent," Jambo chimed in, staring at me, "But we've got nothing on you yet."

"I-I-I have an alibi!" Jinju shouted out, obviously straining himself through this social interaction.

"That being?" Mia asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

"W-W-Well… I had l-left my cell t-to go on a walk, s-so I could get my th-thoughts together. A-and I had gone over t-towards the cafeteria! A-and a heard a s-s-s-struggle going o-on i-in there, so I rushed b-back to my cell out of f-fear!" I wrote down his alibi as he talked, since I had all of the time in the word with all of his stuttering, before asking a question of my own.

"Did you ever happen to catch what time all of this happened?"

"U-u-u-um, I think it was around… 11:45 was when I went on my walk." he replied.

"That late in the night? How did you not get caught by the nighttime announcement?" Mia retorted, finding his alibi suspicious.

"Um, actually… I can confirm Jinju's alibi." Urkstin spoke out, catching everyone's attention, "Pretty much like what Liam did with Poppy's alibi… I saw Jinju leave his cell, and then a little while later, he came back! Then, another couple minutes later, the nighttime announcement came on!" As Urkstin explained, Jinju looked a bit surprised that someone had seen him, but smiled at the backed up alibi.

"Well, that's good for you, Hatsuda. Does anyone else have any alibis?" Mia asked, before someone spoke up.

"What about yer own alibi?" Poppy asked, throwing suspicion towards Mia briefly. She simply gave a smug smirk and began to explain her alibi.

"Hale, I know how it feels being able to openly suspect people because of your own alibi. I know, because I have one." She explained, leaning towards Poppy with her cold, hardened glare, "Ri-Yutamoro and I were sharing a cell together last night. She was worried and I didn't want her to get attacked. Isn't that correct?" She explained, looking to Risa for confirmation.

"She's telling the truth, hun, she was such a doll. She even let me use her bed." Risa explained, obviously friendlier towards Mia than any of us.

"See? Now sit back down and let the grownups talk, okay sweetie?" Mia declared, a condescending and harsh tone forcing Poppy to shut up. While everyone continued talking, something was bothering me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about this wasn't adding up.

"I'm going to go investigate the body one more time, if anyone else wants to join me." I said, standing up, and cleaning off my tray.

Poppy, despite her obvious disdain for the body, joined me. Clearly, she didn't want to be around here anymore, not after being crushed by Mia's comments. Urkstin and Liam decided to join as well. Akira, Jambo and Jinju, still suspicious of me, made Liam and Urkstin swear to keep their eyes on me. Collectively, we walked out and towards the room again, while I looked around more than ever before.

"Hey, Poppy?" Urkstin called out.

"Hm?" Poppy replied, quieter than previously.

"I uh, I just feel bad about the mean things Mia says to you. I know she doesn't mean it, she's just upset over what happened."

"Yeah well, it kinda feels like she means it."

"Her unwaveringly violent attitude does paint the picture that she is just, pardon my language, a bitch." Liam expertly explained, "It is that, or rather, it is a coping mechanism of some kind, for her to avoid some kind of violent attitude from a prevalent member of her past life."

Poppy gave a confused look. "Are you implying she has daddy issues, Liam?" He gave Poppy a shrug and before that conversation could go any further I interrupted.

"So, you think it might be a way for her to cope with someone doing the same to her?" I asked.

"That seems to be a very prevalent possibility." While they continued to question Mia's bitchiness, I spotted something on the wall leading a bit away from Ceáser's room. It was a clock. I quickly jotted its existence down in the notebook.

"I just think she can stand to be a bit less of a bitch, if ya ask me." I faded back into the conversation after writing down my notes, and they were still focused on Mia being a bitch. Thankfully, something interrupted us; The sound of the loudspeaker turning on.

"Attention Contestants, your period for investigating for clues has ended. You must all now meet in the shower area, so that we may begin the trial."

After that, the Loudspeaker shut off, and left us without time to reinvestigate Ceáser's body.

"Well, shit." Poppy exclaimed, voicing what we were all thinking.

"I suppose we do not have any other option at the moment, since Ms. Aka has the notebook that has a surplus of the evidence for this case." Liam explained, "I personally believe that following this man behind the loudspeaker's instructions is the best course of action."

"You're right. Not going could either leave everyone in the trial at a disadvantage, or leave us alone, potentially getting punished as well." I said, explaining the risks to everyone else, who simply nodded and shivered at the idea of being punished. So, with some hesitation, we all made our way to the showers, ahead of everyone else.

At the showers, everyone gathered and we waited in silence, waiting for things to get under way, to see how this 'trial' would play out. After a few minutes of nothing, some of the more impatient few were already fed up.

"Man, what a great trial." Mia proclaimed, with the most sarcastic tone imaginable.

"Maybe the guy fell asleep." Joseph quipped, adding in his own amount of sarcasm.

"Well, if he doesn't show up in the next fifteen minutes we're legally allowed to-" Poppy was throwing out a joke, but before she could finish, a noise caught us off guard. It was a light hissing sound, coming from all over. When we looked around to find the source, we were all drawn to openings in the walls, spewing out some kind of gas!

"H-hey! Wh-what is that?!" Jinju cried out, trying to avoid the gas. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding it. Jambo ran to open the door to exit, but found that it was locked.

"What in the bloody hell?!" He screamed, trying to pry open the door. I, and a few others tried to cover our noses, afraid of what the gas might do, and we got our first example a few seconds later.

"G-guys…" Urkstin started to say something, sounding drowsy, before he completely collapsed onto the ground.

"U-Urkstin!" Risa called out, running over to him. After picking him up though, she also fell victim to the gas, and went unconscious soon after. We all started dropping like flies, and after five of us had already fallen, I could tell I was next. All I could remember was trying to stay calm, and feeling my mind go darker...

Darker...

Darker...

Darker...