After a tense vote with much higher stakes than the first, Iustitia held up a hand. You found yourselves at the edges of your (for some, metaphorical) seats. Youâd heard all of the juryâs votesâ
Jack: Not Guilty from all but Dexter, Jack, Matsukaze, and Taran;
Fenna: Guilty from all but Abel, Haruka, and Taran (and possibly Melvin, depending on how that got sorted);
and the sole consensus of R.N.A.: Not Guiltyâ
but you couldnât be sure what the judge would do with them.
âTHE JURYâS VOTES ARE ACKNOWLEDGED. DEFENDANTS, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE STAND FOR THE READING OF YOUR VERDICTS.â
With widely varying levels of readiness, Fenna, Jack, and R.N.A. finally left the jury box, though none of the rest of you could. Once theyâd made it to the stand, Iustitia verified they were all present and began.
"IN THE CASE OF THE MURDER OF THE PASSENGER KNOWN AS ATSUKO SAMUKURA, THIS COURT FINDSâŠ
THE DEFENDANT, R.N.A., NOT GUILTY.
THE DEFENDANT, JACK, NOT GUILTY.
THE DEFENDANT, FENNA VAN DAALEN⊠GUILTY."
It seemed the judge had respected your votes, or at least the majority of them. But what about Neko-Neko?
âThe defense has no objections, Your Honor.â
âYeah, yeah, the prosecution believes this to be the case or whatever fancy wording weâre supposed ta use here.â
Agreement, then. Neko-Neko had already mentioned their cameras watching you all, so if they were being honest, there was little room left for doubt. No use trying to deny itâFenna had killed Atsuko.
âTHE GUILTY DEFENDANT SHALL NOW BE DELIVERED TOâŠâ
Iustitia hesitated, as if caught off-guard by something in her script. She tried to move for a moment, but her legs seemed bound to the podium.
âWHAT IS THIS? THE PUNISHMENT CHAMBER? IâŠâ
ââŠI CANNOT SEE, I CANNOT ACT, I MAY ONLY JUDGE. FORGIVE MEâŠâ
With that, the statueâs voice trailed off weakly, and she returned to her original, intimidating pose. You heard a door creak openâthe wooden one on the other side of the courtroom. Those of you so inclined to experiment would now find yourselves free of the odd little forcefield keeping you in the jury box. But there was still something between you and the next room.
ââŠâŠ..â
âŠYou werenât sure you wanted to proceed that badly, anyway. Perhaps this was a better time to share some last words.
