Cross-Examination: 09/16/2030, 14:20 ♪ BGM: Evil and Nightmares ♫  So not only did you not find a body, but you didn't even stop like you said you did. Why did you lie, hmm? ...!Watase couldn't answer that question. That's not all that's strange either. There's also the video's timestamp. '1:52 PM'. It seems you left the stairwell at this time-- However, you did not return to the factory until '1:58 PM'. What!? Mr. Ukita, is that true!? Yes, I checked my watch when he came back, so I'm sure of it.Now that he thought about it, Ukita did say, ''You sure took quite some time. Did something happen?'' when they regrouped in the factory. Watase had thought the time lag had been because he'd been shocked and out of it from finding a body, but--  A blue branch asking us about Ukita, who sits at 2, and Watase, who sits at 6. It's white because I had to set Watase's Sense of self back to 6 from when I had it at 0 to get past the gun part. Where were you and what were you doing in that six minute blank? W-well... I was really out of it after seeing that body... When I came to my senses, I was walking down the inner ring's hallway... but as for where and what I was doing... But that's not true. The archive footage even shows that there was no body in the first place! No, I know what I saw...!His memory of finding Yuuri's body was still crystal clear in Watase's mind. But his ''subjective'' memory had been smashed into pieces by Ukita's rebuttal-- and the ''objective'' video footage. Wh-what's the meaning of this, Captain...? Do you even need to ask? I believe it is quite obvious: he was lying. Ly...ing...? Right. He came back to the factory late on the excuse that he 'saw' a body that was never actually there. He probably took that opportunity to steal the AD under our noses. !!Everyone gasped at Ukita's accusation. N-no! I never did anything like that! Then what were you doing for six minutes? You knew we were in a race against time, yes? ...Watase instinctively fell quiet, overwhelmed by confusion. What's wrong, Captain...? Say something... Were you... were you lying to us...? N-no... I swear that I don't know what happened... I see now, so you can't even trust yourself? So you're chalking all this up to your memory impairment. Very well, so be it. But you know... that is also an admission that nothing you have said up until this point can be trusted. What...? When we were arguing over the disappearance of the AD earlier, you were the one who scolded us. You looked confident that you weren't the culprit. But how are we supposed to trust the words of a man who hallucinated seeing a body? Isn't it possible that you hid the AD somewhere and simply forgot about it? Th-that's impossible! No chance in hell! I'm sane! Sane? Then that must mean you're a liar instead. You lied about finding a body, and you're probably lying about not stealing the AD too. Ugh...It was then that Watase realized it. Whether he was sane or not, it didn't change the fact that either way, his words were no longer trustworthy. P-please wait... the question here is why he would ever tell such a bizarre lie like that... Who knows? But if you think of it that way, then that makes everything about him suspicious. Like, for example-- were the memories that he claimed he 'got back' really true to begin with? Wha...!? You claimed you went down to the basement to rescue survivors. But perhaps that's yet another lie-- And in reality, you came down for a completely different purpose. Wh-what different purpose...? Isn't it obvious? To kill. !!Watase gasped with shock. Ukita continued. Yes, this was not an act of terrorism, but rather a systematic murder. Take this theory for example: you wanted to kill your coworker 'Dojima' for some reason... So you decided to murder him during a dispatch to a disaster site. If he died at a site with a particularly nasty fire, his corpse would have been burned up. Then his death would have been dismissed as an accident. Once you came up with this scheme, you took this incident as the perfect opportunity to put your plan into motion. A blue branch with Watase at 6. ...! Hiyama barely managed to escape, but in the end he got burned to death. And if we think of it that way, then perhaps Yuuri and that girl who died by the lift... were also witnesses. Oh, and that's right, Louise-- you know, the one who runs away from you every time she sees you-- may also be a witness. Stop already! That's all bullshit! Why the hell would I ever do any of that!? I don't have proof that you did it. But there's also no proof that you -didn't- do it. That is something that you yourself have acknowledged repeatedly, yes? Khh...Watase looked around, seeking help. He looked eyes with Kazami. A troubled look rose to her face.  A blue branch with Jun at 8, Kazami at 7 and Watase at 6. I-I don't know... Then... do you at least know if I ever acted like I might...? I really don't know. I don't know because you never once talked about yourself...!Kazami looked at Watase with sad eyes. I never talked about myself...? No. Before you lost your memories, you were a man who put his distance between others... You never once told anyone what you were thinking, nor did you even attempt to. No one... Not even me...Kazami said that in a pained voice. Jun then spoke up. N-now that you mention it... I don't know anything about the Captain's private life either... I just know him on a work basis... ...Watase was astonished. He'd thought that Kazami and Jun would trust him. Just as he trusted them. Yet they didn't trust not only the Watase without his memories, but even the him from -when- he had his memories. (This isn't happening...!)Watase's feet started shaking. Jun glared at him and spoke. Captain... tell us the truth... Why did you really go down to the basement...? You normally would have never left a command post to begin with, so why...? Come on, tell me... Captain... did you really come here to save lives...? If you didn't... Then I swear I'll make you pay, you hear...?Anger was slowly building in Jun's eyes. No, it wasn't as simple as anger. --It was the intent to kill. Jun glared at Watase with bloodthirsty eyes. No, you're wr...He wanted to say she was wrong, but he couldn't. He knew anything he said here would sound hollow. Yet he tried to say something-- but just then...  ♪ BGM: Approaching Death ♫ Ena spoke up. ... What? You guys are acting a little weird. Huh? How so? Indeed. I believe we have made a truly sound argument. Nothing about this is 'sound'. Didn't Captain Kasasagi risk his life on multiple occasions to save you guys? And yet you turned your backs on him the moment the AD disappeared? What kind of sane person does that? That has nothing to do with this. Why are -you- on the Captain's side after hearing everything we've just said? I mean, you barely know the guy, right? Unless... the two of you are in cahoots or something? Wh-what are you talking about!?That sudden accusation left Ena with a confused look on her face. But Ukita kept up the assault before she had time to counter. I see, now I get it. I always did think you were acting strange...! Now I finally understand! You two are planning to just save yourselves and leave the rest of us to die! You were the ones who hid the AD, weren't you!’? All so you could have it all to yourselves! It was then that Watase finally realized it:  (Th-this isn't good... they really are out of their minds...!)Now that he thought about it, there were numerous factors that could be behind it. Their hours of built-up fatigue. The multiple strange happenings in this place. The feeling of entrapment from being stuck down here. The despair at not finding an exit. The fear from finding all those bodies. And then-- The loss of the AD had driven the final nail in the coffin. That one act had dramatically shortened the group's lifespan. (It's impossible to expect anyone to re main sane in these circumstances...!)Ukita and Jun prowled towards them. Just then, a voice echoed in Watase's head.   Watase came back to his senses and took Ena by the arm. But at that moment--  Trying to run!? Not good! Hold them down!Jun and Ukita sprung at them. But Watase and Ena barely managed to dodge them in time. Agh! Ghh!Jun and Ukita slammed into the monitors. But they quickly turned around and glared at Watase and Ena.  Watase instinctively looked away, only for his eyes to turn to Kazami. --Kazami was looking towards the exit. She then gave Watase a glance as if to say ''run''. Teach, let's get out of here! R-right!Watase took Ena's arm and ran out of the room. 
TheMcD fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Dec 26, 2016 |
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| ← # ? Dec 3, 2016 17:58 |
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