Aewin

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

---

Elias watched the ping pong battle of logic between the violinist and trickster- er, new trickster?- devolve into a silly insult match on Jezabel’s part. Weren’t the two girls trying to achieve the same thing? They both wanted to protect their friend, so why not look at other options. If Elias had a watch, he would’ve tch’d impatiently.

As the court began talking about the wallet, Braden hung Erica’s limp body against the podium carefully before sticking Elias out and trying to grab everybody’s attention. Braden showed everybody the inside of his trouser pockets, turning out till all that would come out was lint. “Before you start pointing at him~” Elias explained to anybody that was paying attention. “Now you may contin-”

The sound of laughter stopped Elias from continuing. It came from the absolute hottie of a politician. Elias barely had time to let out a strange moan before all hell broke loose. Gone was the calm, rational leader that was Cyrus and out came the beast. If Elias could drool, the puppet would. On the other hand, the outburst had caused… mild surprise from Braden. Mild? More like complete shock. Was this how a politician really was? Braden felt himself respect the politician less, despite agreeing with mostly everything the beast was saying.

What? It made sense. The girls were just going back and forth - Jezabel refusing to acknowledge proof and throwing out baseless theories to counter Krista’s increasingly weakening points - they wouldn’t get anywhere without a… “guiding” hand from Cyrus, no matter how unnecessary some of his jabs against the trickster and the archer’s relationship were.

“As such, it could’ve only been YOU, Alice Masson, the infinite recon.”

Alice? Well, this was just getting interesting. Braden slipped Erica back onto his empty hand before looking at the recon, who had been standing silently up until now. Cyrus’s points were reasonable, but the ventriloquist still wanted to clarify something before the hottie leads everybody away from the blackened.

“Waaaait, Mad-Eye Moody?” Elias gasped in surprise, then turned back to Cyrus, who’d thankfully returned to normal. “Oh sweetie, you’re hot but you’re also wrong. Shaun couldn’t get the wallet, yeah; but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was her either. You say that only two people knew about Parker, but how do you know for sure? Anybody coulda followed Mad-Eye or Shaun before they met Parker~

“Sooo, it’s possible that any one of ya followed her or Shaun, found out Parker exists, then done your evil misdeeds~ Unless… somebody can prove that Alice was at the study before the body discovery~?”

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

gonna post this here before dam dam does

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

---

Krista was completely stunned by the trickster's personal attacks. She didn't expect Jezabel to fall so low to begin questioning her skill with the violin, or use the blonde stereotype against her. But she looked to Shaun from the corner of her eyes. '...Better me than anybody else.'

"You're really not sharp, are you?"

Jezabel still left some holes in her story, one that Krista wasn't sure whether she was imagining or was Jezabel actually slipping. "But wait. You just said Geina told you about the thing with Zachary but didn't you also say earlier that Zach told you at the staircase about the event? So how did you find out?"

She thought carefully about the syringe. Krista was no doctor, nor an anaesthetist. She had no idea how it worked but she could take a guess. "We don't know how long he had been knocked out for. By the time I spotted him, he was already on the floor. But if he injected himself, how could he have killed Marianne? The anaesthesia would have slowed his body and he would definitely not be able to kill someone even as... dainty as Marianne and tie her up to the ceiling!"

Krista could admit she was wrong with considering Geina telling somebody else about the fifth sister, but something still wasn't right. She squinted at Jezabel at the next part, however. "How would Shaun even know Marianne had a buzzer? It's not like Marianne would admit to him that she had a buzzer for him to conveniently set fire to the room to. Everything was planned around the fire, so the buzzer had to be there already! Also, we checked Marianne's room and it was spotless, so even if Marianne did not carry the buzzer with her, who would have known where she would hide the buzzer and have enough time to rummage without making a mess of her room?"

"And finally... you still have not refuted the fact that I have been with Shaun the entire time since he's been found. Unless you're suggesting that I'm lying about everything." She bit down on her lip. "Jezabel... you have a voice changer... doesn't that implicate you more than Shaun? I mean... you could have also gone into the study with a male's voice setting. Now I can admit that this is a very presumptuous guess, but just for the sake of your point..." She turned to Shaun. "Can you please turn out your pockets to prove to Jezabel that you have no such thing?" Krista hoped he'd listen. She wasn't sure whether anyone would regard her side of the debate, and thus her, to be reliable after everything Jezabel said. She also left the floor open for anybody else to interject should they have... better ways to shut Jezabel down.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

---

The debate continued beyond what Krista could contribute. She felt like she knew nothing in a room of smart people, prepared for their job. She listened quietly, chewing nervously on her bottom lip as everyone answered everyone's questions. Even as Shaun and Alice began to explain who Alice Parker was and how they met the fifth Carnage Sister, Krista just did not know what to do. Monokuma claims that Parker's testimony, in this case, could be trusted, especially if she really wants the blackened to be caught to escape this torture, but Krista couldn't trust the carnage sister herself. It was just too convenient...

And then Jezabel began her dirty accusations. In her attempt to protect her friend, Jezabel pinned everything that could have happened on Shaun, despite it just not being possible...

"Your logic is so out of tune!"

Krista gripped the podium hard, her knuckles turning white from the strain. She looked directly at Jezabel at this point, almost challenging the trickster. "I believe in Shaun! He couldn't have done it!" It just couldn't be him!

"Now... let's begin with Marianne's room. When Shaun and I checked her room earlier, we found nothing; no handbook, no note, no buzzer. And we found absolutely nothing in her room, so the buzzer found in Shaun's room had to be carried by Marianne herself! Shaun couldn't have gone into her room without her permission or handbook right? But Shaun didn't even have his own handbook until now!" Off to a strong start... right? But onto the wallet... now that was something Krista knew how to argue.

"The truth bullet even says so! Parker knew Shaun already, but the truth bullet states that the person that COLLECTED the wallet was unknown! A MALE unknown! And unless Zachary will tell us that he's met PArker before, it can easily be him that collected the wallet!" Krista gave a quick beam towards Shaun at this point, giving the poor guy a thumbs up. "Two! Even if you're still doubting that irrefutable evidence, I have another thing for you! Ever since we found Shaun at the staircase, he's been with me the entire time, and we never went anywhere near the study!"

"Aaaand three! Isn't it possible that Geina told someone else about Parker too? I mean, if she was willing to break the rules and talk to Alice about her sister, then surely she would tell anyone else that she likes!" Krista then crossed her arms over her chest, feeling satisfied but not quite done yet.

"Buuut~" Elias interjected, Krista's head immediately snapping in the puppet's direction in surprise. "He could still be the killer. You haven't refuted that~"

"Of course I have! Shaun was attacked when I found him. Mercy can even confirm that the thing in the syringe is anaesthesia! He was attacked and I was with him the entire time after-"

"And what if he was faking his attack? All you gotta do is pretend to have a silly little headache, right?"

"Well... maybe... but there isn't any proof to suggest that he faked his attack! Look at him now, he's still pale as hell! Shaun isn't the type to lie about things that happen to him, unlike some." While she didn't mean to be too harsh on Zachary for omitting his run-in with Geina, she still had to prove her point. "I found him lying face down on the stairs like he was drugged then pushed from the top, that's a lot of thought into something that is faked."

Still... not quite satisfied. Her eyebrows furrowed. There was something that Jezabel had said during her accusation against Shaun... She turned back to the trickster, still concerned.

"But... Jezabel... I want to ask you something... You said that Shaun could have stolen the arrows from the dojo right...? But didn't Zach already tell us that they were in his room? He never confirmed whether they were in the dojo after his... thing with Geina... so... how do you know they were in the dojo?" She ended it on an unsure note. Did she miss something, or was that a slip...?

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

>this case has me like

Minutes to Manhattan

---

Despite Harvey responding to Ava, Anna decided to input her own opinion. "These parties do not necessarily have to be glamorous!" Analise chirped. "I'm pretty sure you know this since you're here but this party is hosted by Miranda Priestly. Audrey's grandmother would never host any ordinary party, she is too... posh for that." Anna played with her fingers. "But New York has a lot to offer if you know the right people, there are all sorts of parties and get-togethers that happen around here!" Feeling like a tour guide more than someone responding to a simple question, Anna slowly grew quiet. Feeling like she'd lose people if she kept talking, Anna decided to look around.

As she shifted her eyes across the crowd, she noticed a familiar brown face swerving through the people and making his way to the bar. 'Yousef...! I didn't know he worked here...!' While Harvey asked his date for a dance (and making Anna internally excited for Ophie), Analise quickly excused herself to try tracking down the elusive waiter.

Like Yousef, Analise struggled to push through the crowd to make it to the bar. She even crossed by her father, who tried to stop her to talk to an old friend of his but Anna's sights were set on Yousef. Too bad by the time she did catch up, Yousef had already vanished in a direction unknown to her. Despite standing on her tiptoes to try peering over the heads, she couldn't make out Yousef's face from the crowd once again. Well, it did not help that she was still too short despite her high heels.

Abandoning her plan to make it back to her friends (yes, including Ava), she was stopped as she heard the countdown begin.

Ten!

The crowd chanted along. She joined in.

Nine!

She looked around at the happy faces, finally spotting another familiar one emerging from the glass doors.

Eight!

Analise waved her hand in Audrey's direction, hoping to catch her attention.

Seven!

When she felt the eyes of other partygoers watching her frantically wave at Audrey, Analise stopped and averted her gaze.

Six! Five!

She closed her eyes, trying to think of a resolution.

Four!

What did she want to do next year? It was something she didn't know what to think about. She was a live-in-the-present sort of girl, not a planner.

Three!

'Just make a wish... Anything you want will come true...'

Two!

Anna felt her face relax as she figured out what she wanted.

One!

She released a shuddering breath, her eyes fluttering open and looking around her again with a smile. It was going to be a fantastic new year filled with love and joy. Anna was sure of it.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

---

Krista felt so immersed in the action that it was almost a miracle for her to hear Shaun over the louder voices of the other infinites. "U-um... Kr-Krista..? Y-you never... g-gave me back m-my handbook... I-I can't see the cl-clues, s-so c-could I, u-um... h-have it back..?" She peered over to him, almost blankly before—

Oh! Of course! She quickly fished the handbook out of the pocket of her dress but halted in her step. Was she even allowed to run off to hand over the handbook? Admittedly she could remember doing so last trial, but Monokuma didn't seem too impressed with everybody in general. It was like the bear heard her thoughts, because he interjected with an update to the rules and shone a spotlight on the violinist. Trying to waste no time at all, Krista shuffled out of her place and past the few infinites between herself and Shaun, trying to be quick. She ensured that the handbook she was returning was Shaun's indeed as to not be murdered for lending her own handbook on accident, before shuffling back.

“I mean, there was plenty to start the fire. The fact that this thing was covered in blood says it was used for more than tinder, right? Unless blood dripped off and onto it, but even then, shouldn't it be all burned up?”

As Krista returned, she heard Calvin say his point for... or against Krista. She stepped back onto her podium, hands gripping the railing for support as the cogs in her brain turned. "But if something else was the starting point, wouldn't Monokuma tell us? In order for this to be a fair trial I mean." She nervously rubbed the back of her head. "But... that means we have to trust Monokuma and that sounds unbearable..."

To clarify, she started again. "I mean... I think what happened was that the killer wore the gown so that the blood would not spill on their clothes and possibly wiped the knife they used to stab Marianne-" She inhaled sharply before releasing a shuddering breath. "They wiped the knife on the gown, and then used it to start a fire. I'm assuming that the sprinklers came on fairly quickly so that's why the gown wasn't entirely burnt?" She still looked uncertain.

She looked to Felix as he began to explain his thoughts on the case, and she found herself agreeing. Especially with what Jezabel said, there would be no need for such a large conduct so why have almost two dozen of them? The club seemed like a fairly reasonable idea, even if brutal. Krista closed her eyes, hoping that Marianne was at least unconscious when she was finally killed.

---

Elias reeled back as Jezabel giggled to herself. Had she finally lost it? "So you're telling us that you wouldn't recommend using metal arrows as a conduct? AND that Frenchie had her own buzzer? Oh man this plot twist train keeps going on!" The puppet then turned to Calvin. As Ice questioned Zachary, the puppet thought to ask the metalsmith some of his own questions.

"And you. You say you made 24 right? Did ya give them all to Robin Hood or nah?"

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

Also, the current size of everyone's gifs were bugging me so I kinda shrunk it a bit (works if display is at 100% zoom, not 130% like mine usually is... boy did I get a heartattack when I saw it still wasn't fitting after making 20 of these.......)

Hider

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

izuru:

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

---

Krista and Shaun arrived at Marianne's room on the second floor patient's quarters relatively quickly. Krista kept a quick, but steady pace so Shaun could keep up, flashing him encouraging smiles along the way like a proud mother duckling. The door to the room was opened, but Krista found nobody around in sight - did someone already investigate but forget to lock the door? Regardless, it was always a good idea to double check, right?

The two began their search of the impeccable room. There was nothing that seemed to be of any use for their investigation. It was as if Marianne was going to return to her room any minute. She sighed, knowing that that was not going to be the case. The desk in Marianne's room was organized into neat piles. Krista glanced at everything, hoping that something would tell them about what Marianne's note contained, but to no avail. Just as she picked up the final paper from the pile, the monitor in Marianne's room lit up to reveal Monokuma's dreaded face. The stuffed bear beckoned for everyone to get going, where Krista could only assume to be the court. She gave Shaun a nervous glance before gesturing for him to follow her. She was certainly not interested in being forcefully dragged away by the terrifying carnage sisters, and she was sure that Shaun felt the same way.

---

Braden squirmed uncomfortably as the carnage sisters began strapping everyone down onto the ride. The drama between Calvin and Alexandria flew right over his head, there was bad blood and as much as he knew Elias wanted to know why, Braden just wanted to be free from the restraint. Braden was taken by surprise when the roller coaster finally started, the adrenalin keeping Braden from letting go of his puppet, who was squealing with excitement throughout the ride.

Before they knew it, Krista and Braden stumbled out of the ride along with the rest of the infinites, Braden looking paler than before. Krista pressed a hand against her heart as if trying to physically stop the organ from leaping out of her throat. The last time she had been on this ride, she was too injured and tired to really be aware of what happened... but now? She didn't blame Braden if he threw up right there.

Everyone took their place in the familiar circle, and Krista noted the missing faces from last time. Braden was standing where Alice was during the last trial, and Noel had taken Lucas's spot. As if he was never there. She grit her teeth, lowering her eyes to stare at her podium. 'Please let us go home...'

The trial started with Bliss, Jezabel and Ice taking the lead. Krista felt thankful: she had no idea where to begin. She listened carefully, watching each speaker with interest whilst keeping her handbook out, scrolling through the list of truth bullets her peers had found during their investigation.

Braden, feeling unsatisfied with Max's response, let Elias take the lead. "Wait! Isn't it possible someone had a lighter on them? It's not easy getting that buzzer, ya'know. Unless..." Elias turned its body towards Jezabel and Zach, who were standing next to him.

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing! Nothing! Just a food for thought~!"

It was perfectly reasonable to assume that the buzzer had something to do with the ignition, right? Why else would there be two wires loose? She shook her head. 'No, it has to be right... why else would the buzzer and arrows be a truth bullet?'

Braden's puppet kept its body turned towards the infinite trickster. "Jezzie, why don't you tell us how that buzzer works? Is it even possible for it to be the cause of the fire?" The puppet expected to be proven right.

Instead of focusing on Braden, Krista listened to Cyrus speak. Hospital gown and note... So they did find Marianne's note? But was that even Marianne's...? "It's beary likely that the killer started the fire by burning something from Shaun's room." She began, trying to help. It was stating the obvious, but clarifying things from the beginning was surely the right call? "What about the bed sheet from Shaun's room? Or his clothes? The room was a mess and Shaun hasn't returned since discovering Marianne's body..." She scratched her ear, clearly thinking hard whilst scrolling through the list of truth bullets. "Or.... maybe the killer set fire to the hospital gown? I mean... It was found mostly burnt... and I'm sure that blood will not stop the fire from burning away at the material... But, wouldn't the gown be entirely burnt up if it was the starting point?"