Killing Game Quarter

Chapter 5: Burnt Bodies with No Clear Motive Part 5

“Oh yeah, there’s also the fact that there wasn’t a vent cover in front of the library vent!” Poppy added in, throwing even more suspicion, “Almost as if ya needed an easy entrance and exit.”

Risa couldn’t even respond properly. She was crouched down with her hands gripping her head, shaking and sobbing. It was a depressingly nostalgic sight.

“There was also another thing I noticed in the bathroom, that I just remembered,” Joseph added in, trying to give all of the evidence we had against Risa, “There were bloody marks leading from the vent to the exit of the bathrooms, which could’ve been caused by your leg injury!”

… 

That was it.

“Drag marks.” Was all that I replied with, my head finally starting to move up to meet everyone’s gaze.

“...What?” Joseph questioned me.

“They were bloody drag marks, not drops or a trail of blood.” I corrected, slowly moving my eyes along the body of my culprit.

“Does that…matter?” Urkstin requested an answer from me, and I allowed my homemade detective side to take over, leaving my emotions behind.

“It does matter, considering the fact that they were forged.” I replied.

“What do you mean forged? Do you mean that someone made those intentionally?” Liam interrogated, seeming interested in my line of thinking.

“Yes I do. Jambo had been stabbed in the side with a piece of metal, and there was a pool of blood next to his corpse inside the vent. Why do you think he was stabbed?” I asked everyone.

“Oh! They wanted to use the blood from his body to forge those blood marks!” Akira stated, slapping her hands on her stand proudly. I nodded in response to her, before Urkstin chimed in.

“But why go through the effort of forging that? That seems unnecessary…” Urkstin claimed.

“I don’t think that’s the only forged evidence. I think everything that we have found as convincing evidence against Risa has been forged.” I gave out, surprising almost everyone.

“B-but how is that even possible?” Joseph retorted, trying to make it seem impossible, “Do you have any way to prove that?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” I shot back, looking Joseph dead in the eyes, “Two big factors, actually.”

“Please explain.” Mia offered, looking confused as to what I meant.

“My main point of evidence has to do with Jambo’s body placement.” I explained, starting to unravel this mystery for everyone, “If he was dragged into the vent by Risa, and she had exited from the library’s vent, then his body would have been dragged through that vent as well. However, from what we could see, his body was pulled in the direction of the bathroom vent.”

“So you are saying that Ms. Risa could not have committed this because of that fact?” Liam questioned, glancing between me and the now staring Risa. She was staring up at me like I was her guardian angel.

“Most likely, yes. You guys couldn’t have seen his placement precisely because you didn’t get to see his front and side in the other two vents.” I justified,

“Well, what if she just left through the vent leading to the bathrooms?” Joseph brought up, desperate to keep suspicion on her, “That would explain the blood marks and my alibi!”

“Well, Lombardo, that’s where my second piece of evidence comes in,” I continued, realizing soon after who I was starting to sound like, “It comes in the form of Urkstin’s account.”

“Urkstin?” Urkstin questioned, before processing what I meant, “Ohhh, yeah yeah, the noises I heard!”

“Noises?” Akira prompted.

“Yup! After I ate, I went to the bathroom, and went into a stall. A couple minutes later, I heard a noise that sounded like the vent cover move!” Urkstin explained, before getting cut off.

“Ok, and? That could have just been Risa leaving the vent!” Joseph tried to explain, before Urkstin continued.

“Well, dumb dumb, like ten minutes later before Aka and Poppy showed up, I heard that noise again!” Urkstin shot back, catching Joseph off guard.

“YOU-” He stammered, backing up slightly at the revelation.

“From that, we can confirm that whoever killed Jambo must have entered, and exited from the bathroom vent, meaning that Risa is cleared of suspicion.” I concluded, staring at Joseph, harder and colder, “Because you saw her going to the library Lombardo, so she couldn’t have been in the bathrooms to enter the vent.”

“That just leaves the two of you then.” Mia added on, staring between Joseph and Urkstin.

“Well- Then it has to be Urkstin!” Joseph called out, “Risa backs up my alibi!”

“You backed her up as well, and yet that did not stop you from suspecting her, correct?” Liam shot back, surprisingly hard.

“Y-yeah but Urkstin’s alibi is flimsy as hell! He was in the bathrooms, he could’ve easily done it himself!” Joseph responded, trying to sound as civil as possible.

“But why would I do that?!” Urkstin shot back, “I have no reason to kill anyone here!” 

“What about your videos?” A single, cold, unforgiving statement came from Risa, who was tear stained and shaking, leaning hard on her stand, “Those would give you a reason, hun.”

A gasp came from Urkstin, before he waved his arms up in the air, prompting the Loudspeakers to come on.

“Are you prepared to vote?” They asked.

“No, not yet! But I wanna ask for something.” Urkstin called out.

“... I’m listening.”

“Can you let us show our motive videos in this trial?” Urkstin asked. 

“What?! Are you crazy?!” Joseph called out, slamming on his stand.

“Hm… Tell you what. If you have your video on you, you can share it. Otherwise, you will have to make do without it.” They explained, before shutting off the Loudspeaker. With that, Urkstin let out a sigh of relief.

“What was that for?” I questioned, before Urkstin reached into his back pocket.

“Well, according to Akira, I found out that these Motive Videos have a safety warning that shows up once when you first view it. Am I right in thinking that?” He explained.

“Oh, you’re right. There was a message that required me to hit a button to proceed. That only shows up once Natsumi?” Mia confirmed, before turning her attention to Akira, who nodded vigorously.

“In all honesty, I watched my video the night that they were announced. But once you guys told us about the meeting, I decided to rewatch it so I could fully remember what I had seen. That was when I noticed that the warning wasn’t there.” She explained, confirming Urkstin’s statement.

“Why does that matter, Urkstin?” Poppy turned back over to Urkstin, who was now holding up his motive video tablet, high up in the air.

“I can prove my innocence by showing my warning message.” He explained, “If I didn’t watch my video, then I don’t have a motive to kill Jambo, right?”