Sometimes life changes for no reason. The interesting thing is whether these changes are good or bad.
Does waking up in an unknown world with many people who develop a crush on you count as a nice thing?
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“Oh, so the two boxes are connected by an underground tunnel and the person from the audience is moved together with the box they're in by an mechanism towards the other end. That makes sense. …No wait, it doesn’t.” Confused, you shake your head. “Generally speaking, your magic trick has an interesting concept, but is the effort you have to put into arranging it really worth it? I mean, even getting the permission to dig this tunnel must have been a great ordeal…”
Lyney smiles awkwardly, scratching his head. “Well… How should I put it…”
In a moment of silence you and the twins exchange glances which tell you the truth. “Perfect. If they are not gonna get you for murder, they will get you for vandalism or whatever you can call this…”
“If it helps to ease your mind a bit – in case that anyone charges us for vandalism it will be the topic of another trial and not this one.”, states Lyney.
“The thing is, in a situation where nobody can prove you either innocent or guilty, a good general impression could come in a clutch.” Sighing, you clap your hands. “Guess I shouldn’t be counting on that in the first place…”
Since the clock continues ticking, you three decide to thoroughly investigate the entire tunnel. That woman has to have went somewhere. After all, people don’t just disappear into thin air.
Noticing that you are technically left all alone with Lyney and Lynette, you tell yourself to stay alert for the meantime. It is not that you don’t trust them, but it is better to be safe than sorry. You honestly don’t know why the guards let you go off with the magicians just like that. As prime suspects to a murder case they would have a motive to escape, manipulate the crime scene or even kill you. And if they really were to pull such a stunt you wouldn’t be able stop them. It is probably for the best to inform Neuvillette of this once everything is over so that he can train the guards better to prevent them leaving the suspects all by themselves in the future. Such a security issue certainly isn’t necessary. For the duration of the investigation you decide to let Rosa watch over the twins while you are focused on gathering evidence.
Time passes but strangely enough you aren’t able to find that woman – be it dead or alive. What you did find are some things that are considerable as suspicious, like for example some knocked over prompts or a random puddle of water. Still, alone by themselves they don’t give you a clue about what might have happened here.
Lyney and Lynette aren’t a big help either. They do tell you when something is misplaced or different from the last time they checked, but other than that, they are rather impassive. Knowing that they shouldn’t mess with the crime scene, they let you do your work and stay close to you. This is probably the longest time you haven’t heard Lyney make any flirting attempts around you too.
If no proper clues show up in the next thirty minutes you will have to improvise and guess your way through the trial. Obviously, you don’t want to let that happen. Who is going to take you serious if your best ideas of who might have done it other than the twins are the woman from the audience, Cowell who accidentally caused his own death and a third party you don’t know of? All of these options are either dead, vanished or unknown to begin with. You wonder if things were to be any easier with Aether helping you… No, you will do this without his help like you promised to yourself. Therefore, you think harder about where else to look. As long as this woman can’t teleport herself, she has to be somewhere here. This is essentially a rat hole with two guarded exits. Unless… unless there is another exit you are unaware of. “Hey Lyney… By any chance, did you build in any extra exits or something like that?”
He tilts his head. “Hm? …Of course not. Why do you ask…?”
“Just clinging to straws, that’s all…”
Lyney gently touches your shoulder. “(Y/N)? You don’t have to beat yourself up over this, alright? Regardless what the outcome of the trial is going to be, we know that you did your best and we are thankful for that.”
“But that’s not fair… If you didn’t do any of this, then you don’t deserve to be punished for it. I- I should check all the walls and the tiles on the ground. Even if you didn’t dig any extra tunnels, somebody else could have done so. It is too late now to follow any other leads anyway…” Your faith in being capable of successfully proving Lyney and Lynette’s innocence is fading with every passing minute. Regardless, you don’t want to give up till the very end.
Focusing this time on the walls and the ground, you inspect the tunnel again. Just like last time, you don’t find what you are looking for. What is left is only the wall at the end of the tunnel where the entry from the stage is. A big picture is hanging there and if you think about it, isn’t it pretty unnecessary to hang a decorative picture in a place where essentially nobody passes by?
Walking closer to it by yourself, Lyney suddenly starts talking. “The time that which we were given is almost up. It's unfortunate that we weren’t able to find any big revelations, huh? But like I said earlier, don’t worry about the outcome of the trial, (Y/N). Shall we go up?”
Despite hearing the magicians words, you remain in your current position and continue starring at the picture. Last time you came close to it, Lyney was quick to redirect your attention as well. Back then you didn’t think much of it, but now you find it odd. “…Sure, just give me one sec’…” As you take the frame into your hands to hang it off, a small tunnel, wide enough to let a person crawl through, is revealed. “Oh shít… I actually found something…”, you whisper to yourself.
Your astonishment is met with mere silence. Why is everyone so quiet…?
Feeling the nervous taps of your little pink companion on your shoulder, you turn around. The excessively tense look on the twins’ faces give you a very, very bad feeling about this – as if you made a discovery you weren’t meant to make. All while you are alone with two prime suspects of a murder case, separated from the others above you.
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