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[sup]A lot of thought and barely any action. Would recommend skipping this if you want action instead.[/sup][/center][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent]Despite the surge of pride she felt as Max and Felix agreed with one of her many desperate attempts at theorising and defending Shaun's innocence, the moment did not last very long as Ice placed his hands on Krista's podium, with an aura that did not feel very... [i]welcoming[/i]. One by one Ice picked out the contents of the wallet, letting it spill across her podium with little care, leaving Krista no room to argue.

There was no denying that Shaun was the owner of the wallet. Or was it Erin now? Krista could not tell whether she could call the web designer Shaun anymore. [color=6c9b8f]“I…”[/color] What? Did she want to apologise for being so horribly wrong? To stop Ice from mocking her desperate need to protect? Krista shut her mouth , feeling it fail her in that moment. She couldn’t say anything, there was nothing [i]to[/i] say. She was wrong, and everybody else knew it too. Her eyes remained lowered in shame, glued to the identity cards left on her podium as Ice began to retell his encounter with the mafia, the awful group responsible for murdering and butchering Ice's younger brother so heartlessly- the group [i]Shaun[/i] was a part of...

Was she really defending such a cruel person...?

And why was it always her that was being used in such cruel a way...? 

Krista was barely around to listen to the entirety of Zach's rant, unable to think past Ice’s story. All she could imagine was being in Ice's position: losing Herman in such a cruel way until she was left with nobody to turn to... Her hands wrapped around her body, clinging on as if she were trying to give herself little comfort from such dark thoughts. Would she even be able to live without him? Krista was only suffering through this death and despair to return to Herman... without him... Krista would have nobody... She could barely imagine the pain Ice went through, her heart was hurting too much to even begin to imagine it and yet...

[color=SlateGray][b]"Ha..."[/b][/color]

The chuckle was so dark, so full of despair and insanity... Krista shivered as the chuckle grew into something more sinister. Tearing her eyes from the cards on her podium, she finally looked at Shaun and felt her body grow cold at the sight. The innocent boy she was trying to protect was no more... instead, a [i]monster[/i] was in his place. This was not the boy that reminded her so much of her precious brother... [i]This[/i] was what Ice was trying to tell Krista.

The trickster did not even seem the least bit ashamed of his past actions, taunting Ice and even Davis with a cruel sneer. Every reveal was no less horrifying than the last. It took Krista so long to realise what she had been trying to defend so passionately and yet the smallest part of Krista could not help but wish that this was all just a dream...

But alas, no matter how many times Krista pinched the skin below her elbow until it bruised and bled from the pressure under her nails, she would not wake up. She had been so blinded by her need to protect a friend, someone she so suddenly had come to think of as like a little brother, that she had ignored the evidence and vehemently argued as if Shaun could do no wrong.

[colour=SlateBlue]"Pl-please..! T-tell them I didn't d-do it! I-I didn't k-k-kill anyone..!"[/colour] The monster in Shaun’s clothes then directed his attention towards her, his eyes pleading her for help the way it had done back in the dining hall. Only this time Krista realised that it was not innocent, but all just a trick.

Krista immediately looked away, feeling her stomach twist in guilt and shame for falling for the act so easily the first time. Jezabel really was right, she really was stupid. [color=6c9b8f]“N-no… stop it… I won't do this again... please...”[/color] Krista’s grip on herself grew tighter, till all she could feel was pain to avoid looking into Shaun’s eyes and get fooled by his innocent act. Calvin tried to help: Krista acknowledged his outcry telling Erin to stay away from her with a surprised look, but everything was [i]still[/i] not over…!

There was a clash beside Krista as she snapped to look towards Ice’s podium, only to realise the blood donor had disappeared sometime before, and when she finally spotted him she could see the hunger for revenge in Ice’s action, filling the air with tension and…!

[color=6c9b8f]“Calvin!”[/color] Krista cried out in surprise as the dark-haired metalsmith stood in Ice’s path, and she felt absolutely terrified for him. There seemed to be no stopping the blood donor and yet he stood in the way to protect E- no… to protect [i]Ice[/i]. Calvin’s actions began to make sense as he tried talking Ice out of his plan to hurt the gleeful trickster, only to be shoved away. Krista wanted to leave, to help, but her legs didn’t seem to want to listen. Both infinites hit the ground, both looking in rough shape but there was no time to celebrate. Krista turned on her heels, the heels on her boots making a squeak against the flooring as she looked at Mercy, then at Dr. Killgood desperately.

[color=6c9b8f]“Help them! Ice is bleeding…! Calvin is hurt!”[/color] She urged the plague doctor to help, the only one with the skillset out of the rest of the group to do so. She looked at Monokuma, expecting the bear to shine the spotlight onto the infinite she asked for help from, to give the doctor permission to leave her podium.[/indent][/indent]