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. You’d heard all of the jury’s votes—
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 Guilty—
but you couldn’t be sure what the judge would do with them.
“THE JURY’S VOTES ARE ACKNOWLEDGED. DEFENDANTS, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE STAND FOR THE READING OF YOUR VERDICTS.”
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 they’d 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 FINDS…
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?
“The defense has no objections, Your Honor.”
“Yeah, yeah, the prosecution believes this to be the case or whatever fancy wording we’re supposed ta use here.”
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 it—Fenna had killed Atsuko.
“THE GUILTY DEFENDANT SHALL NOW BE DELIVERED TO…”
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.
“WHAT IS THIS? THE PUNISHMENT CHAMBER? I…”
“…I CANNOT SEE, I CANNOT ACT, I MAY ONLY JUDGE. FORGIVE ME…”
With that, the statue’s voice trailed off weakly, and she returned to her original, intimidating pose. You heard a door creak open—the 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.
“……..”
…You weren’t sure you wanted to proceed that badly, anyway. Perhaps this was a better time to share some last words.
