Blades of Despair

-Chapter Nine-

Crime and Punishment

The room went silent. I'm so sorry, Iowa, but I can't lie to these guys.

"I-in mine?" shrieked Iowa in disbelief. "Why was it in there?!"

"I don't know," I admitted, "but that's where I found it."

"Ori! Are you saying Iowa's the killer?" cried Nishi.

"I'm not the killer!" shouted Iowa, tears forming in her eyes. "I would never do that! Why would I kill someone?"

"I... also find it hard to believe that Iowa is the killer," confessed Morino, "but we can't just ignore this. Iowa, if this towel was in your locker, that does cast suspicion on you."

"But I didn't put that towel in there, it was obviously planted there. This doesn't prove anything," Iowa wailed. I felt for her; I couldn't imagine how awful it felt to suddenly become the prime suspect, to feel like a million accusations were being thrown at you ceaselessly and unrelentingly.

"Guys," I said urgently, "we've not finished discussing all the evidence. Please, withhold your accusations until we're done."

"But doesn't this mean she's the killer? Let's just vote for her now," demanded Saza.

"Saza... I thought you were my best friend here... why are you...?" Iowa stared at Saza in shock. "This is too much... I'm not the killer... please..."

"I still have evidence to show you guys," said Miyagawa firmly, "so can we wait until we've seen that before we start to come to make any conclusions. I'm confident that this evidence will help us decide the killer." What did Miyagawa know? Did he really find something that would solve the case?

"What did you find?" demanded Saza.

"As you guys know, I searched the laundry room," began Miyagawa, "where I found this." My Seiko-pad flashed, and it took me a few moments to realize what I was looking at. Miyagawa had taken a photo of what looked like a mint green bathing suit. For some reason, it looked really familiar, as if I had seen it before.

"It seems that someone tried to wash this bathing suit at some point yesterday, and left it in the washing machine overnight," summarized Miyagawa.

"Isn't there a washing machine for each person?" asked Tokunaga, "so I presume that you're going to tell us whose washing machine you found it in."

"Don't tell me..." whispered Iowa.

"I indeed found it in Iowa's machine," said Miyagawa confidently, earning a howl from Iowa, who sank onto her platform in despair. "Furthermore, we have several witnesses, including myself, who can confirm that this was the same design as the bathing suit that Iowa wore to the pool party yesterday." So that's where I had seen it before. Did this really solidify Iowa's guilt?

"It wasn't me! I promise I didn't kill her," she screamed.

"Just admit it already, Iowa. Stop fighting us," commanded Saza coldly, staring at the Ultimate Chocolatier with utter disdain. "You killed Sanda and tried to hide the evidence by washing the clothes you were wearing and cleaning the blood off your body in the bathhouse. You're a murderer!"

"Saza... please, believe me..." Iowa was bawling now, "Miyagawa, please tell you don't think..."

"I'm sorry," was all Miyagawa said.

"So, I guess we've come to the end of the discussion," sighed Hatanaka.

"Iowa's not the culprit." My head snapped back to Miyagawa, who made that statement.