[WEEK 4: Saturday, post-trial, lower floor hallway; Jake]

[nowyouseeit]

[it isn't until everyone starts heading back to their rooms that Kaito trots up to Jake, waving his good arm as he does so]

Oi! Jake?

Got a minute?

Comments

[potentite]

[Oh good, he's glad he gets to make good on his promise.]

Yes! Of course, um— [He just barely stops himself from starting to apologise right there.] What is it?

[nowyouseeit]

I-- [rakes a hand through his hair, exhaling deeply]

Sorry for getting kinda short with you. I really didn't want to have to resort to outing myself to everyone, but. . .

[he expected it, honestly, as soon as he found that bullet at Kaiba's crime scene]

[potentite]

No, I'm so sorry for outing you that way. When you sounded so sure about the role, I just spoke without thinking of the consequences of what it meant that you knew. [He hesitates and looks down.] I was just so certain that there only had to be one gun, that the idea that we could truly catch someone without doubt and so quickly...

[And then the entire trial went to shit.]

[nowyouseeit]

It was a mess.

[his smile is lopsided, wry and self-deprecating. they got one killer, two if Yukina is counted, but. . .]

Honestly. . . if I wasn't the Gangster, then I would've come up with the same conclusion as you.

The fact that some people can get extra weapons from. . . somewhere, is kinda worrying.

[potentite]

[He still feels bad but he relaxes just a little. Kaito has a relaxing presence in a lot of ways, he's noticed.] I poked at Craftly to see if perhaps Marty brought them in during past weeks but he wasn't feeling terribly cooperative.

[nowyouseeit]

. . . I wonder if he's drunk.

He had like, 25 beers during the whole trial.

[AS CRAFTLY THE ALCOHOLIC MURDERDAD DOES]

[potentite]

Probably. His mood seems especially foul, though I suppose I can't entirely blame him but, really, there is no such thing as a civil game of murder so I'm sure we aren't the first to damage things.

[Like he's just saying he's pretty sure murderers aren't going to care about property damage, even if this was really extreme.]

[nowyouseeit]

I think his mood was already pretty foul, even before someone destroyed half of his hotel.

[har har. . .]

I wonder if our killer is gonna be punished for breaking that rule?

[potentite]

I did wonder that myself. The rules do state clearly not to damage hotel property. And while the two who did seem to be on the side of this ritual, it's still a rule.

[Actually he's honestly pretty curious if the rules apply to them at all.]

Do you think it would be worth watching for two people behaving strangely next week?

[nowyouseeit]

[he nods]

I think it's worth it, yeah. Even if we didn't catch the culprit at today's trial, we might at least be able to catch 'em next weekend.

If we can pick 'em out of the crowd based on their strange behavior.