Chapter 3: Hollow Trust and Empty Alibis Part 6

"I think you might've just solved this case." I said, ready to end this.

"I did?!" Urkstin responded, shocked at the claim.

"H-he did?!" Jinju questioned, along with everyone else. I could see Jinju getting more and more upset, so I tried my best to hurry along.

"Jinju, you said that you heard a struggle going on in the cafeteria?" I questioned.

"Y-Y-YES!" He screamed out.

"I didn't see any signs of a struggle in the cafeteria at all…" Risa chimed in, causing Jinju to snap his head in her direction, before back to me.

"There's also nothing that connects the murder to the cafeteria. So what did he hear?" Mia asked.

"I know exactly what he heard." I proclaimed, making everyone turn to listen.

"He didn't hear anything." I spoke, determined to catch Jinju in the act.

"HUH?!" Jinju yelled, "WHAT D-D-DO YOU MEAN?!"

"Aka, I don't follow either…" Urkstin added.

"Are ya trying to say he was...lying?" Poppy asked me, glancing between me and Jinju.

"Unfortunately, yes, I am." I replied, closing my eyes briefly.

"H-H-HOW?! WHY?! W-W-WHY WOULD I LIE?!" Jinju continued to yell, trying his best to seem innocent.

"Well, for instance...If you were the culprit." Is what I retorted with, causing Jinju to stop dead in his tracks.

"NISHINZU," Mia spoke up, "How on Earth do you think that Hatsuda is lying? That's insanity! He's the feeblest person I've ever seen!"

"Well, I have three pieces of evidence against him, that I only realized after hearing both Jinju and Urkstin's alibis again." I announced, holding up my three fingers.

"Well? Spit them out, don't keep us waiting!" Jambo shouted, looking a bit excited to hear.

"Alright. Firstly, in Urkstin's alibi, he mentions that he had no idea what time it was." I started, presuming a more dominant and confident tone, "However, in Jinju's alibi, he specifically states that it was 11:45. Why is that?"

"There isn't a clock in the cell block whatsoever… Urkstin already mentioned that." Risa explained.

"The only clocks I've seen are in the cafeteria and the bathrooms." Mia added on.

"Th-That's how I saw the time!!" Jinju jumped into the conversation, "I-I-I-I saw the time in th-th-the cafeteria!"

"No, I don't think you did." I responded, ready to shoot through his contradiction, "In your alibi you specifically state that you did not enter the cafeteria."

"GH-" Jinju seemed to be nearing his breaking point, as we continued.

"But Ms. Aka, what does this mean? There aren't any other areas where the time is displayed." Liam questioned.

"That's where you're wrong Liam." I retorted, holding up the last page of evidence on this case, "On our way back to Ceáser's body, right down the hallway from his room, there was a clock on the wall." Everyone in the room collectively gasped.

"Y-YOU-" Jinju started, before I continued, ignoring his yells.

"Imagine this scenario with me for one moment:" I started, ready to explain most of this case.

"Our culprit goes on a walk, as he says, to calm his nerves. However, he discovers an alternate path on his walk. He walks down, and sees a clock on the wall, and checks the time to see whether or not it's almost Nighttime. He, however, moves on, due to him hearing something along the lines of blood curdling screams coming from a door he's never seen before."

"ST-STOP IT!" Jinju cried out, his hands covering his ears.

"He enters the room, and sees a gruesome sight. Ceáser Balad is crawling on the ground, and just smashing his foot to escape his shackles, blinded and feral from starvation. From there…" I ended, reaching the end of my ideas.

"From there what?" Mia asked.

"...I… don't actually know what happens." I admitted.

"PLEASE ST-STOP!!" Jinju cried out, pained and upset.

"Then how can you point this crime towards Jinju?" Mia retorted, "Sure, we know he lied, but can you link him to the murder?"

"...Unfortunately… I can." I said, flipping back to a page of the evidence.

"AKA PLEASE, STOP THIS!" Jinju's pleads were not going to stop me, as I held up a sketch of the knife that was lodged in Ceáser's shoulder.

"That's… the murder weapon." Poppy said, awaiting what I had to say.

"This knife...belongs to Jinju." My words fell out of my mouth, as I stared solemnly at Jinju, who was a broken mess on the floor, sobbing and holding his knees.

"To be precise, it's a sacrificial dagger, which he had sheathed in a pocket on his forearm." My explanation was met with gasps, and a feeling of sadness started to overwhelm the room as the truth came out.

"... Why? Why would Jinju do this?" Akira questioned, "He's too scared to hurt a fly, he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone unless it was an accident or something…"

"AH-" Akira's words, they hit me right in the place I needed to fully understand this case.

"... What?" Poppy asked, worried about my wellbeing.

"... That's what it was...it was an accident." the words flew out of my mouth, and caught everyone off guard.

"...An accident? What does that mean?" Urkstin wondered, waiting for me to explain. Meanwhile, I saw Jinju's head look up towards me for the briefest moment.

"... Let me finish the scenario I was explaining:" I realized I needed to explain, and continued the explanation.

"The culprit walks into the room, and witnesses Ceáser Balad, crawling on the floor after just smashing his foot to escape his shackle. Blind and feral from starvation, the creature that was once Ceáser hears the culprit enter, and assumes that it's the one who blinded him in the first place…"

"You're kiddin' me…" Poppy called out.

"From there, Ceáser goes to attack the culprit, catching them off guard. They don't know what to do, but luckily for them, they have a secret weapon, in the form of their sacrificial dagger sheathed on their forearm. They take it out, and attack Ceáser with it to get him to back off, stabbing it deep into his shoulder." I explained, feeling more and more sorry for both participants in this murder.

"The Culprit runs off, back into their cell, fearful of what they've done. After some contemplation, they gather the courage to go back and help Ceáser out. But something stops them; The Nighttime announcement. It prevents them from leaving their cell with the fear of being punished, and so, they are forced to stay in their cell, and think of a way to get away with the crime they had just accidentally committed. The culprit of this accidental murder...is Jinju Hatsuda." As I finished reluctantly giving my speech on what had happened, the only other voice came from Jinju, who was sobbing on the ground.

"... Jinju." I said, trying to calm him down, "This wasn't your fault."

"I wanted… to help… but… the announcement… and the trial… and… and-" In between sobs, Jinju tried to explain, but he didn't need to.

"If there's anyone to blame, we should blame the asshole behind all of this." I stated, "If the nighttime announcement didn't exist, we could've helped Ceáser. This isn't your fault."

His sobbing started to calm down, and Jinju looked up at all of us, who were all giving him melancholic, but understanding looks.

"I-I-I...I'm sorry." Was all he could manage, before silently weeping.

"... We have to finish this trial." Mia threw out there, "If we want to move on from this tragedy, we have to vote for him." We all nodded in agreement, and looked towards Jinju.

"Hun… are you gonna be ok with us voting for you?" Risa asked, in her calming and alluring tone. Jinju simply nodded his head, before burying it in his knees again.

"Hey! Asshole!" Poppy called out, waving her arms and getting the attention of the Loudspeaker, "We're ready." The Loudspeaker then came on, ready to start the votes.

"Alright, you may now point to who you think is the culprit, in 3, 2, 1!" As soon as the countdown ended, everyone reluctantly pointed to Jinju, including himself. After a short while, the Loudspeaker came back on, ready to congratulate us.