18 Chapter 3: Hollow Trust and Empty Alibis Part 5

I held up a page of the note book, with notes on when we found the body written on it.

"Please recall the moment we found Ceáser's body. Firstly, remember how we entered his room?"

"... Through the door?" Mia thought out loud.

"Ah, I see!" Liam shouted out, "The door was unlocked!"

"Exactly. On all other days, the door was locked, with a note explaining that Ceáser was being punished in there. However, the day we found his body, the door was unlocked. Why is that?" I explained, asking for someone else to answer for me.

"Oh oh! He was already dead at that point! He couldn't have been punished if he was dead, right?" Akira pounced up to answer.

"Correct." I replied, giving her a thumbs up.

"Ok… So what?" Mia asked.

"'So what?' What do you mean?" I responded.

"What does that change? We already knew he died at 11:45 on the previous day. What's changing that from being from his punishment?" She retorted, brining up a great point.

"W-Well… Uh…" Shit! I had completely forgotten about the file! I was trying to think of evidence to share, but I was beaten to it once I heard a gasp.

"...'Batsu.'" Came out of Joseph's mouth, with a wide eyed glare. Liam soon followed behind as he realized as well.

"It has multiple translations… 'retribution'... 'penalty'... and 'punishment'!" He shouted out, understanding the meaning of the papers.

"Y-You can't mean-!" Mia spat out, shocked and disturbed at the revelation we had just made.

"Those pieces of paper were found stapled to Ceáser's eyes, so it's safe to assume…"

"The punishment for breaking a rule is getting your eye slashed out?!?" Poppy screamed out, wincing from the thought.

"B-But! What if he died from the blood loss of his eyes?" Mia cried out, desperate to keep the blame on the one behind this.

"Then what's the deal with his broken foot, and the knife in his shoulder?" I retorted, causing Mia to back up from her lack of an answer. "Until we figure out the entire story, we can't say for certain that he died from his punishment!"

"Then, let us move on to the matter of his foot." Liam suggested, "It is beaten and broken beyond recognition."

"How did it get to be like that?" Akira asked, "I don't really see how it connects to the other things."

"It couldn't have been from his punishment, and I don't see why the bugger behind this case would do this…" Jambo explained, rubbing his chin.

"Ok, ok, hear me out," Poppy started, her eyes shining a bit from happiness, "Have any of you guys seen that old movie Saw?"

"Uh… Yeah?" Some of us answered, obviously confused as to where she was going with this.

"Ok, so, at the end of the movie, one of the dude saws off his own leg to escape his shackle, right? Soooo what if Ceáser did the same thing, but more so by smashin' his foot on somethin' instead!" Her theory had caught us off guard, mainly because...it made sense.

"That…" I stuttered, staring at her.

"Was a terrible reference, I know." Poppy replied, kind of bummed that no one laughed.

"...No, that actually might be what happened!" I called out, making Poppy jump a little.

"Huh?! I was just making a pop culture reference!" She admitted, looking shocked at her accidental genius.

"I know, but think about it. Ceáser's body was near the entrance, far away from the corner where he was shackled. His shackle doesn't even reach that far." I explained, visualizing with a sketch of the shackle and the body.

"...His shackle was covered in blood, as well as a stone slab next to it." Risa added on, making everything come together.

"Jesus Christ… you're joking." Mia said, gagging a bit, "He smashed his own FOOT to escape?!"

"My days, that poor guy…" Jambo said, remorseful over Ceáser's terrible predicament, "Slashed eyes, and a broken foot. What a fucked sequence of events."

"... Now we just need to figure out who stabbed him then." Urkstin pointed out.

"... Right…" I replied, although a bit mindlessly…

Something wasn't adding up here. Every piece of evidence leads to the idea that the murder and every event involved happened near the room where Ceáser was in… If that's the case, then someone here is lying about something...And I have to call them out on it.

"Wh-wh-wh-who else went out o-o-of their cell?!" Jinju questioned, louder than ever, and in that instant, I couldn't take it anymore…

I had to call them out.

"...Wait a minute, Jinju." I responded.

"H-h-h-huh?" He stuttered, shooting his attention over to me.

"Can we...go over your alibi again?" I suggested, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"W-w-w-w-w-why?!" He responded, obviously scared of giving it again.

"Yeah, I don't see the point." Mia said, backing Jinju up.

"I just, can we hear it please? I don't have it all written down." I lied as best as I could, in hopes that it would work. Mia simply sighed.

"Alright fine, Hatsuda, give us your alibi again." She commanded.

"I-I-I-I-" Jinju stammered, shaking a bit while I stared him down, "O-Ok!" And with that, he started to give his testimony, which is just what I needed.

"I-it was 11:45, a-and I had went f-for a walk around t-to get rid of my t-t-tension! I w-walked over towards th-the cafeteria, b-but I heard a struggle going on, so I ran back to m-my cell!"

"Did you ever enter the cafeteria?" I asked.

"N-no! I was too sc-scared." He replied.

"I see…" I added a few more notes to his alibi, before turning to Urkstin, "Could you give your alibi as well? I know it backs up Jinju's."

"O-oh yeah sure!" He replied, before starting his own testimony.

"I couldn't tell you what time it was, there's no clocks in any of our cells, and I was in mine all night! Anyways, I'm assuming around 11:45, Jinju left his cell, and left the Cell Block. A couple minutes later, I saw him run back into his cell, looking afraid, I assume because of the struggle he heard! After that, a little while passes, and the Nighttime announcement goes off."

"I see. Thank you Urkstin." I said, closing the notebook, "I think you might've just solved this case."

The time was now, and I had to solve this case before we get too far ahead of ourselves. With an alibi full of lies, and a culprit among us, I couldn't take the risk and avoid the truth. So I went through with it and started my explanation.