TRIAL 03

[thecomputer]

Attention, Citizens! You have ten minutes to proceed to the Loyalty Chamber. Anyone who is late to the Loyalty Chamber, or who brings any weapons into the Loyalty Chamber, will be immediately executed.

[Once you arrive, you will find a large chamber, with twenty podiums spaced around the room in a circle. On the ceiling, a massive screen showing the digital eye of The Computer, turning to look at whoever is talking.]

You have one hour to come to a consensus about who to eliminate. Ties will be broken randomly.

[The floor of the chamber begins to split apart, eventually only leaving the twenty podiums as safe places to stand, above a seemingly bottomless abyss. Each podium lights up with a touch screen showing twenty user IDs (the dead are grayed out), plus the word “ABSTAIN”. However, ABSTAIN has now been grayed out as well. The trial begins now!]

[[Vote here.]]

Comments

[angry_jerk]

INSULTING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING GENERALLY MAKES THEM ANGRY, THUS MAKING THEM MORE WILLING TO ENACT VIOLENT ACTS UPON THEM. THESE VIOLENT ACTS INCLUDE STOMPING YOUR FUCKING WORTHLESS FACE WITH IRON KLEETS, FORGED IN THE TEMPLES OF FUCK YOU FROM THE BRASS KNUCKLES OF PAIN AND PAINTED WITH THE DEATHLY CONTACT POISONS OF THE AMAZONIAN TRIBE OF EAT A DICK!

[standbyrival]

Point.






Is what I would say if anything that just came out of your mouth worth listening to.

[thefaceofjustice]

I agree, we shouldn't make this kind of move without a really good idea of a second suspect. ...So I'm wondering if we might have one. We can at least discuss it.

Ms. Rin wasn't allowed to give their names to us. Do you think that will be lifted?

[thefaceofjustice]

Saving it for the next trial isn't passing it up; she's not going anywhere.

You said yourself that Ms. Anthy was suspicious for being defensive of Mr. Newman. So that would make Mr. Newman suspicious as well.

[standbyrival]

And I still think she is. However, it's not guaranteed yet.

Keeping a known, active threat around is dumb. She may not have a role, but there's no telling how she contributes to their team. For all we know she could be their real brains. It's best to get rid of her now.

[thefaceofjustice]

I already voted for Ms. Sakura, but I can change it to someone else if this trial reveals convincing enough information about another suspect.

Do you have anything to add as a witness about Mr. Newman or any other suspects?

[standbyrival]

Not at the moment, but I'm sure I could make something up if you're that eager to off another kid. Is that it, detective? Are you that kind of corrupt officer?

[thefaceofjustice]

Mr. Newman is 18, that's old enough to be tried as an adult.

We don't have any lawyers here to read into anyone's testimony, so I'd rather you stuck to the truth...

[standbyrival]

Wow, he's a runt. [says this guy]

In that case, the only truth you need to know is that voting for Sakura makes the most sense. If we're wrong, then wow, one up for Tohsaka.

[schrodingers_man]

We can hope it is. If she's not a Communist anymore, then hopefully the rules won't treat her like one. Even if she can't just come out and give us the three names we need, she should at least be able to tell us if we're barking up the wrong tree. And we need that. Our Loyalty Officer is powerful, but they have to guess the right names first.

[plentyfriendly]

I'd be willing to take it. I was going to talk to her anyway.

[And all the Communists, bar Rin, were just people who drew short straws... there's no reason to not honor them, unless they were you know genuinely terrible people.]

[plentyfriendly]

Her exact words were "Sakura doesn't play an important role in this game."

[what, her memory's gotten a real good workout okay?]

I don't believe there are any roles in this game that aren't important, but that does point to Sakura being a Citizen.

[plentyfriendly]

Cloning is a thing, why not genetic engineering?

[respring]

[ STILL LOOKING SURPRISED..... ]

Ah, thank you. If something happens to Ikusaba-san's copy, there's another under the mattress in my room.

[plentyfriendly]

All right. That's probably where I'll be headed first then.

[She'll need to make that talk increasingly quick...]

[angry_jerk]

What would even be the point of that?

[plentyfriendly]

People do all kinds of things that don't make sense. Maybe someone just really wanted a daughter with purple hair. Or a son with purple hair.

[...says the white-haired 20-year-old...]

[in_plain_sight]

That's how I took it, too... if we think of an "important role" as one that can do something other than just vote at each trial, then even the normal Communists should count.

[plentyfriendly]

Then who would you vote for?

[in_plain_sight]

...I have no idea.


[Agree with the decision or not, Sakura might be their last lead, especially since the loyalty officer outed himself the day the defense officer died.]

[schrodingers_man]

If Rin didn't mean to be an only child by the time she came back, she would've been a lot clearer about establishing Sakura's innocence. Don't tell me she couldn't have done that. She made it completely clear that Kimbley and I were innocent and nobody can argue she wasn't telling the truth about that.

Sakura isn't even trying to argue for her own innocence. Kimbley said it yesterday: guilt complies, innocence flips out. Look at her, she's already accepted how we're going to vote. Don't waste your breath fighting for someone who won't even fight for herself, Phi. You're just going to paint a target on yourself, and I don't mean for the Communists. I can't speak for the Loyalty Officer, but I'm done playing nice. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who doesn't vote for Sakura tonight isn't to be trusted.

[fullonbraced]

That... kind of makes sense, man!

[plentyfriendly]

True, but except Rin, who was by her own admission indoctrinated, all of the "Communists" were just people that got unlucky enough to be assigned that role. They may not have had a choice to avoid killing.

I'm still going to vote for her, though. We don't really have any other solid choices; as much as I'd like to see certain other people here gone, one is provably an ally and the other seems like they wouldn't accomplish much..

[plentyfriendly]

But on the other hand, we don't have any other ideas as to who the other three Communists would be.

Who would you vote for other than Sakura?

[fullonbraced]

They must be hiding it really well, man! We need to look extra hard before anyone else gets murdered!

...Well, I guess I'd vote for Rin! Since she's supposed to come back to life, right? She could still be a communist!