#second verdict

[culttvblog]

Second Verdict: Who Killed the Princes in the Tower?

In October 2023 I published a post about an episode of the police series Barlow. I made the mistake of commenting in it that Stratford Johns played exactly the same character in numerous shows over the years and listed the ones I thought he was in. Naively I hadn't realised that I still didn't have the whole list of his appearances as Detective Chief Superintendent Barlow, and have since found that he was teamed up with a co-star in the Softly Softly series (Frank Windsor, who played Detective Chief Superintendent Watt) in other shows as well.

So these two actors played the same roles (I'm going by IMDb here) in Z-Cars (1962 to 1965), Softly Softly (1966 to 1969), Jack the Ripper (1973), Softly Softly Task Force (1969 to 1976),and Second Verdict (1976). These come up to a total of 345 episodes, and honestly they must have felt like they could do their job blindfold. In addition Johns played Barlow in Barlow at Large/Barlow (1971 to 1975) to a total of 374 episodes, playing the same character for 14 years! He even drifted into the role while a guest on the panel on Whodunnit and spoofed the role in The Two Ronnies.

I hope you're not that bored of your job.

In Second Verdict they come together as these fictional characters dramatically to try to solve long-standing mysteries. I'm fascinated at this format of having fictional characters solving real mysteries, and unfortunately it only lasted for six episodes (there was another series about Jack the Ripper which I will come to in a separate post). There is a mystery of studio and location filming for our fictional detectives and the testimony of the real people is acted out. It's clever television, and I'm afraid I can only echo what so many of the reviews on IMDb say, namely that you couldn't possibly make this nowadays. The reviews refer to this sort of TV as 'two men talking in a room', but I don't think that is that much of a problem when so much of the 'content' on the internet is people talking in a bunker echo chamber to their base nowadays. Rather I suspect that viewers (nowadays and possibly even then) wouldn't want to watch a show where they feel they are watching a conversation. This TV is more like watching a symposium or discussion than being told something.

The subject of the episode I have chosen is the disappearance of the deposed King Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, from the Tower of London in 1483. There has always been an assumption that they were murdered, probably on the orders of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who ascended the throne as Richard III. Just to be my normal annoying self I'm not going to say what Barlow and Watt conclude.

Even if you don't follow the line of reasoning and evidence that closely (and I'm sure there are endless enthusiasts of the subject who watched this with notebooks and screamed at the screen) this is delightful television. It takes us back to a former age of England, and anything with any scenes set in the Tower of London can't fail to do that.

There is a possible criticism of this show that it is possibly misnamed because they don't always reach a second verdict on these cases: clearly if you are considering a suspected murder committed in 1483 there is unlikely to be any evidence which hasn't already been extensively chewed over in the search for a solution.

Other cases reconsidered in the series are the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Henri Desire Landru murders, John Alexander Dickman who was hanged for murder, Lizzie Borden, and the arson attack on the Reichstag in 1933. Some of these are currently available on YouTube on a channel which is adding new contact so they may all still be available online.

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[ind1c0lite]

(Basic context is that AU of Duel Desinties where the phantom impersonates Phoenix to get him found guilty of Clay's murder, I talk more under the cut abt it jkhlj)

-Basically meant to be a parallel to turnabout trump, cause if you can have ONE boss get found guilty of murder, why not a second one?

-OK basically: everything in DD happens normally until like- a day before clays murder, Phoenix gets yoinked by the phantom somehow (he is still alive, just being held captive), Phantom is still Fulbright, but they've decided to be silly goofy (target Phoenix and get him found guilty of murder, escape police custody and then murder phoenix and make it seem like Phoenix accidentally died while on the run, thats why they didn't kill phoenix right away unlike the real Fulbright) there is an imposter amo-

-I dont have the logistics as to how this affects solving Metis's murder, and how it effects what evidence is used n whatnot and turnabout for tomorrow as a whole, so im just going nuts HGJKHLJ

-Originally I was actually imagining this taking place during turnabout for tomorrow and I wanted that case to be apollo v klavier instead of phoenix and edgeworth and thats why klav is in here instead of Simon (I decided that Simon got badly injured and couldn't stand in court for the retrial, so klavier was asked to step in)

-The courtroom bombing still happens the same way it does normally, but Apollo decides to take up the case again instead of taking a leave, instead of like, you know, healing from the traumatic event that just happened, turnabout countdown still happens as well

-Apollo and Athena do not find out about the phantom's existence until well after this trial, so they have no idea that Phoenix could've possibly been replaced, though simon, after hearing about the trial, might be suspicious about whether or not that was the real Phoenix

-The Phantom had been not only keeping an eye on Simon for a while, but was also stalking Phoenix and Edgeworth after they both started looking into UR-1, so they were able to impersonate phoenix so well that not even his own daughter thought that anything was up (though while Trucy did find him a *little* bit off, but she figured that it might've been the bombing that caused him to act ever so slightly weird, so she didn't pay much mind to it until she heard about his confession in court and realized it might've been because he possibly, ya know, killed someone)

-it's pretty much just switching Athena being framed for murder with Phoenix, and instead of the trial ending on a cliffhanger, it continues on (probably with Klavier insisting on it) ending with soloman being found innocent and Phoenix being declared guilty

-There's a couple days inbetween the end of the cosmic turnabout and the start of turnabout for tomorrow, so Athena, Apollo and Trucy all get a little bit to process the fact that "oh god my boss/my dad killed someone" (simons execution date is pushed back a bit in this au) and they probably get to talk with Klavier and eventually a lil bit with Simon after he gets out

-Im not sure how it all winds down in turnabout for tomorrow (Phoenix escaping and being at large is basically the perfect cover for the phantom to resume being fulbright for that trial) but they do eventually realize that the phoenix who confessed wasn't the real one and now there's a search on going to find out where the real one is being held captive, hes fineeee just ready to take a week long nap and a good vacation (along with every other waa member)

-I dont have anything else to add on rn but if you want to add something or just throw in a scenario feel free to!! this idea has been bouncing around my head for like a month now and Im very happy to finally show yall it

[sleepinglionhearts]

hhhgh. Robin.

[mrslatifi]

idk much about how f1 works but this is how I understood the logan situation

[eirianerisdar]

Here's why Daniel getting a three-place penalty for the next race is yet again evidence that the FIA need to review their regulations:

These are the regulations for overtaking under safety car:

The stewards were right in that Hulkenberg could pass both Lance and Daniel under safety car under Article 55.8 (h), because Lance had crashed into Daniel and they were both cars with obvious problems.

But, glaringly, there is nothing in the regs that state what happens if the car that was passed quickly gets back up to speed and tries to put themselves back into the correct order, which is what you usually do if you get out of order behind the safety car, whether because of pit exits or otherwise.

I'm not saying the stewards could have changed their verdict, but it's only on paper that Daniel had no leg to stand on, because logically, that was his spot and he was very quickly back on Hulk's tail after his wheels hit the ground again. Clearly this is yet another gap in the regs that should have been logically addressed because a situation like this would eventually come up.

It's a similar gap that "stopping on track during qualifying" needed clarification for, and last year, with the 20-place grid drop Carlos suffered for the drain cover that smashed through his car and necessitated changing its components.

Needless to say, a missed gap in the regs causing what would be a logical regaining of a spot to lead to a three-place grid penalty and 2 penatly points for a driver reflects rather more poorly on the FIA regs themselves than the driver who got punted then tried to put himself back where he should have been behind the safety car.

[happiwaffles]

Chronic shipper brain disease aside, my greatest hope for the HD re-releases of AJ, DD, and SoJ is that it reels in some more naruodo enjoyers / tolerators.

Not shippers, per say (although that would be nice), but at least people who see their fun broken-but-then-mended hero worship dynamic across all three games,

look at the fan art and fan fics made about it, and go, “It may not be my thing, but I get the appeal,” instead of picking up their metaphorical pitchforks because of an 11-year age difference between two unrelated adults who met as adults.

[kindahoping4forever]

Calum @ The 5SOS Show Tour NYC - 21 August 2023

[scrunglepaws]

Doodles to songs in an attempt to wake my eepy ass up

Tycho - Coastal Brake Anna Nalick - Forever Love (Digame) Sean Paul - Temperature

[faustiandevil]

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 11, day 4

Can't believe I hadn't remade this texture yet. Well, better late than never!

[good-beanswrites]

Haruka getting possessed and while he is he’s causing chaos and he throws Shidou like a rag doll

👀👀👀 Ohhh this got my brain spinning... (I went for ghost possession scene before hearing your angel/demon thoughts, but both have so much potential omg) Thank you for the ask pal!!

Shidou rolled over in his sheets, perfectly prepared to continue sleeping until the shadow staring at him from outside his cell jump started his pulse.

His hand instinctively shot to the side of the bed before he realized he wasn’t in his home, and this wasn’t an intruder. “Wh-what –” the hell? “What is the matter?” Thanks to years of practice his voice stayed entirely steady.

There was only silence in reply.

He placed a palm on his chest, taking a steady breath. He squinted at the shape of the silhouette against the bars. “Kusunoki-kun, is that you? Is everything alright?”

Her head shook. 

“...Okay. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” He got out of bed, looking around for his first aid kit.

“It’s Haruka-kun,” she said, her voice hushed. It was as if she were afraid to be heard, but they both knew the warden was asleep by now.

“Is he injured?” It was a good sign that Muu hadn’t seemed frantic, but middle of the night doctor calls were never good. 

“He… hasn’t been himself. The way he’s acting, the things he’s doing…” She paused, trying to choose her words. “Muu is scared…”

Grabbing his supplies, Shidou joined her in the doorway. He placed a hand on her shoulder, offering a warm smile. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s always frightening when someone you love is going through this. Depression and stress often cause people to act in strange ways. They seem like they’re entirely different people.”

Muu shook her head again, this time with more urgency.

“Shidou-san. Do you…” she looked like she was getting up her courage. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

“Ghosts?” He blinked. “If Sakurai-kun is saying it was something otherworldly that hurt him, he probably wants to spare you the pain of the truth. That he –”

“– That wasn’t Muu’s question!” She clasped her hands together, looking over her shoulder at the empty panopticon. “Do you believe they exist?”

Shidou frowned. He wasn’t the spiritual type. As any grieving man, he’d catch glimpses of his son around the prison now and then. It was a natural, neurological response to the guilt and distress they were under – even Kazui admitted to thinking he saw his wife around the dark corridors. 

Shidou opened his mouth to reply. 

A scream echoed into the dark. Yuno’s. 

Muu ran into Shidou’s cell as he tried to leave, pushing him back. “It’s not him!” She cried as Shidou tore himself away. “It’s not Haruka!”

He burst out, making it only a step or two before he froze.

Haruka stood a few feet away, an arm raised post-strike. Yuno scrambled away from him on the ground. She made it to her feet, running to Shidou. She had no visible injuries, but her eyes had never looked so panicked before.

“I just wanted to help. I saw him struggling and I just – and he –”

Muu’s arm reached out from the cell and pulled Yuno inside. Shidou let her go, turning his attention back to Haruka. The others were just coming to their doors to see what the screaming had been about. 

“Friends… All these friends…” Haruka’s breathing was heavy. Shidou cursed himself for letting Muu’s words cloud his judgment, but it truly did sound as if it wasn’t his own voice, as if he were playing a part. “All these friends and it still wasn’t enough? Greedy… You’re so greedy…”

Psychological breaks look different in everyone, Shidou reminded himself. Haruka was scared. That was why he hit Yuno. That was why he was speaking strangely now. He was doubting who was friend or foe and lashing out regardless. Shidou had seen this countless times. 

He didn’t know why he felt the need to rationalize things.

“Why…” The boy was hugging himself. “I was your friend… so why?”

Shidou stepped forward. Haruka’s head snapped up to look at him. “Stay back!”

“Sakurai-kun, it’s alright. I’m going to come a bit closer.” He placed the first aid kit on the ground, showing Haruka his empty hands. “I’m not going to harm you. It’s dark, so I would like to get a good look at you. I want to be sure –”

Haruka howled with laughter. It was unbearably bitter, and quickly dissolved into more heaving breaths of rage. “That’s what this has always been about! You want to look? LOOK!”

The floor beneath Shidou trembled. The lights in the panopticon flickered. The guard’s tower in the center, which had laid dormant along with Es, now rumbled to life. The huge spotlight moved on its own. It flashed through the room, the blinding beam landing on Haruka.

He certainly didn’t look like himself, either. His eyes were wild, and the light reflected oddly in them. His body was held with more confidence. More anger. His frown twitched, as if he wasn’t used to using those muscles in that way.

Shidou was having a harder time rationalizing things. 

“I just want to help you.”

“That’s all I ever wanted!” He shrieked. He balled his hands into fists. “All I ever wanted was to be there for him! And look what happened to me!”

 He screamed once, and the prison bell rang along with him. It shouldn’t have been ringing at this hour.

Then, a sudden calm settled over him. His arms dropped at his sides. The tower light flickered once, then shut off. The prison was plunged into complete darkness. The others, who’d been watching in stunned silence from a distance, gasped.

“It’s what will happen to you, too.”

It was the last thing Shidou heard before he felt something slam into him from the side. His feet left the ground. Haruka hadn’t laid a hand on him, nor would he have the strength to throw him like that, and yet he careened through the air until connecting with the guard’s tower.

His head throbbed. He couldn’t draw himself up. He groaned in pain. The prisoners called to him, and he heard running footsteps.

Shidou made a sound of protest as Haruka’s hands wrapped around his throat. 

Not-Haruka spoke again. “If I wasn’t good enough for him, no one is.” 

“You won’t look at him ever again.” 

[moeblob]

Third crime child is Shidou, thank you for the interest and reading my tags. He's the third.

@ladylolalilly thank you for being curious

[schreibvibe]

Jack Reynor as Liev Schreiber's son is the most genius casting decision I've seen in recent years, it's so Ctrl C+Ctrl V sometimes it's borderline uncanny

[linagram]

[ 𝙺𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚒 𝚁𝚒𝚔𝚞'𝚜 𝚃𝟹 𝚅𝙳 ] 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙸𝚝 𝚊 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚠

RIKU. OH RIKU. enjoyed writing both his mv and his vd a lot! hope y'all like it too :) (his mv and vd destroyed me)

Warnings for Riku's VD: descriptions of toxic relationships, suicide, bullying and self-harm.

Warnings for Riku's MV: same as his VD, not counting the bullying part, Riku also gets to be really violent in this one and there are a lot of mentions of blood.

(sounds of footsteps)

Miki: .. So..

Miki: It's time for us to interrogate your brother.

Hinode: .. Yes.

Miki: .. Hinode-san, how can you be so calm even though your own brother is one of the prisoners here?

Miki: How can you just.. be so calm even though your brother has murdered someone?

Miki: And not just that, you voted him guilty too. Again, I understand Eiji-san's situation, but-

Hinode: Because I always knew it will end up like this.

Miki: Huh?..

Hinode: I knew that their friendship will end with someone's death. I knew that it will either be Riku or it will be Yue. 

Hinode: I.. I always knew it.

Miki: .. Why didn't you help him? 

Miki: Why didn't you stop them? Why didn't you tell your own brother that this friendship will only hurt him? 

Miki: Do you even love-

Hinode: NOT ALL OF US ARE AS OBSESSED WITH SAVING OTHERS AS YOU ARE! 

Miki: ...

Hinode: .. I'm so sorry, Miki-san. 

Hinode: It's just.. Haha..

Hinode: Who knows. Maybe I really don't care about Riku that much.

Hinode: .. I was too focused on my own pain to think about his pain too.

Miki: .. Sorry.

(the door opens)

Miki: .. Hello, Riku-san.

Riku: I heard you two arguing. Did something happen?

Riku: And, um.. Hello.

Miki: I-it's nothing. Please don't worry about it.

Miki: .. How are you feeling, Riku-san?

Riku: .. A little better, haha.

Hinode: ...

Riku: (to Hinode) .. Are you not going to say anything?

Hinode: .. I'm sorry about.. that.

Riku: *laughs* You're this scared to talk about your brother's suicide attempt?

Riku: .. No. No, that's not the right way to say it.

Riku: You're so used to my suicide attempts that you don't feel anything at all anymore. 

Hinode: ...

Miki: .. Hinode-san..

Miki: .. You really are a terrible brother.

Hinode: .. I know.

Riku: Hey, hey, come on, let's talk about my crime instead.

Miki: B-but don't you want to talk more about how your life in Milgram has been? 

Miki: I just want to know how you are-

Riku: I'm fine.

Riku: T-thanks to Akio-kun.. I'm fine.

Miki: But what about-

Riku: Guard 002.

Riku: Don't you think you should stop asking prisoners about things other than their crimes? Especially things that trigger them and make them uncomfortable?

Riku: If you care so much about us, why don't you respect our privacy?

Miki: ...

Miki: "His attitude towards me has.. completely changed."

Miki: "It's like he's not trying to make me trust him anymore."

(the sound of a screen turning on)

Eiji: That's what I like to hear. If you want to talk about your crime so much, let's start with your murder method.

Eiji: Guard 002 asked you about it the last time, but you didn't give a proper answer. 

Eiji: So, how did you do it?

Riku: .. I thought you would have seen something like that in my video.

Miki: "Hinode-san told me everything about it, but I can't just tell Riku that I've heard it from his brother."

Miki: .. Did you.. use your reputation to make everyone hate Shiozaki-san?

Riku: ...

Riku: Yep. That's what the popular guys do.

Eiji: Popular guys don't just drive someone to suicide.

Riku: Hmm, I disagree. Our whole existence makes others wish they were either just like us or simply dead.

Riku: I'm sure at least one person was close to committing suicide just because of how great I am.

Miki: .. And you're proud of it?

Riku: Sure. I had the same thoughts every single day, why wouldn't I be happy that someone feels the exact same way because of me?

Riku: It's like.. a compliment, really. Like wow, I'm so cool that someone would rather die than continue living their boring and pointless life that has me in it!

Eiji: .. We should've voted you guilty twice.

Riku: But anyway, yeah, I just used my popularity to spread gossip about him and told everyone how bad Yue is and that it would be better if the guy just killed himself already..

Riku: And it worked! Yay~

Hinode:  .. You're not actually that happy about his death, are you?

Riku: .. What do you mean?

Hinode: Sure, you still have your band, your friends, your classmates, but..

Hinode: Yue understood you like no one could. He gave you as much attention as you needed. 

Hinode: It could've been overwhelming, but it was the exact amount you needed. That's why you couldn't have just ended your friendship like a normal person would.

Riku: .. Why don't you just continue to sit here and not say anything?

Riku: You never understood me, Hinode-

Hinode: Your whole family doesn't understand you. That's one of the many reasons why Yue's death will only make your life more miserable.

Hinode: Your main source of attention and affection is gone. 

Hinode: Who will you start feeding off this time? Akio-san?

Hinode: You don't see people as people, you just see them as pairs of eyes that are supposed to only look at you.

Riku: .. Says the guy who stole all of our parents' affection.

Eiji: Shut up, you two.

Eiji: First of all, I don't want to know anything about what was going on between Riku and Yue. I'm only interested in the murder.

Eiji: And also..

Eiji: If your parents pay more attention to only one of their children, it's their fault. The other child is not the one to blame. 

Eiji: And.. maybe the child that gets more attention is not the one to blame either.

Riku and Hinode: ...

Riku: .. Yue was planning to jump off the school rooftop.

Riku: And not just that. I was the one who suggested it.

Riku: I left a note for him that said I'm tired of everything and that I want to end it all, but I'm not doing it without him.

Riku: Of course, he agreed and came to the rooftop, but..

Riku: This wasn't supposed to be double suicide. It was basically supposed to be.. murder that would look like suicide.

Riku: Me and my friends came to look at it and.. taunt him a little, I guess.

Riku: Like, we were just going "Jump! Jump! Jump!"

Miki: Were your friends really.. okay with all of this?

Riku: Eh, I don't know and I also don't care.

Riku: Maybe they really are this cruel, maybe they just didn't want to lose their status. Who knows.

Riku: But then.. I walked up closer to Yue. 

Riku: I just wanted to continue making fun of him, nothing more. Maybe, also, um.. Push him a little.

Eiji: Making fun of him and pushing him are two different things. You weren't trying to get him to commit suicide anymore, you were trying to kill him yourself.

Riku: Come on, I was just.. bullying him a bit. Like all friends do.

Miki: ".. Sometimes I forget how insane Riku-san is."

Riku: B-but.. Um..

Riku: Then, Yue hugged me. I thought that maybe he wanted to hug me for the last time before he jumped, but..

Riku: .. H-he wanted to fall with me.

Riku: H-he wanted us to jump together.

Riku: Y-you don't understand, he even pulled out a boxcutter that we used to-

Riku: A-and he said that he was going to stab me if I didn't jump with him.

Riku: He was that insane. I was the victim. Please trust me.

Eiji: So he was so obsessed with you that he was okay with dying, but only if that meant you kept your promise and you two committed double suicide..

Eiji: .. Heh. Things are getting interesting.

Miki: T-there's nothing interesting about it! It's just.. it's just..

Riku: So anyway, I tried to fight back, but he hugged me again and..

Riku: W-we almost fell off the roof. 

Riku: And then my friends tried to save me and..

Riku: T-they did. A-as you can see, I'm still alive.

Riku: My shoe fell off, but it's.. fine.

Miki: .. So Shiozaki-san ended up falling, but you survived?

Riku: .. Y-yeah.

Riku: Stop looking at me like that! Do you think it would be better if I died with him?

Eiji: Yes, actually.

Riku: What-

Eiji: You deserve it, like a murderer that you are.

Riku: How- H-hey, Hinode! Don't you want to protect your little brother?!

Hinode: .. I knew that you were the one responsible for his death, but..

Hinode: .. How can I care about my little brother, when he's.. 

Hinode: When he's even more cruel than me?

Riku: .. Come on. Come on, at least someone in this room has to care about me.

Riku: Miki-chan.. Miki-chan, please..

Miki: .. Please, shut your mouth, Riku-san.

Miki: I'm so tired of you.

(the bell rings, machinery sounds)

Riku: .. You will forgive me, right?

Riku: You understand that I'm the victim, right?

Miki: I thought you changed, Riku-san. 

Miki: You could've died, but you were saved by the person you hated. I thought this would change you.

Miki: Even Miyagawa-san has changed. 

Riku: .. But I'm innocent.

Riku: I was just trying to survive. It was either me or him. It was basically self-defense.

Riku: You will just vote me guilty again? You want me to die this badly?

Riku: MY WHOLE EXISTENCE IS ALREADY THIS PATHETIC SO YOU JUST WANT TO KILL ME OFF?!

Riku: IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF SAVING ME?!

Miki: I-it doesn't mean that you will die-

Riku: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO TO YOU!

Eiji: You don't have the same power here that you used to have back in school.

Riku: WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? DO YOU WANT ME TO FALL ON THE GROUND AND SAY HOW SORRY I AM AND BEG FOR FORGIVENESS? DO YOU WANT ME TO JUST STAB MYSELF OVER AND OVER?!

Miki: "I should use the memory machine-"

Riku: DON'T MOVE!

Miki: ...

Riku: I know what you're trying to do.

Riku: If you use that memory thing on me, I will still find ways to hurt myself. And you don't want that, right? Because you're our savior, right?

Miki: You won't-

Riku: What, do you think my brother will stop me? Do you think.. uh.. I forgot his name, anyway, you think Guard 001 will stop me?

Riku: Nobody in this prison cares about me. I had to learn this the hard way.

Miki: .. But Miyagawa-san does.

Riku: ...

Miki: And I don't think he just sees you as a replacement for someone anymore.

Riku: .. He's just another source of attention to me.

Riku: .. Fine. Do whatever you want.

Riku: It doesn't matter if I live or die, I will still continue to suffer. It's like I was born to do exactly that.

Miki: .. Thank you for trusting us.

Hinode: Wait a minute, Miki-san.

Hinode: Riku.

Riku: *sighs* What do you want?

Hinode: .. I know that our relationship is impossible to fix. We'll never be as close as we should be. 

Hinode: You're mad at me and I'm mad at you. But..

Hinode: Sorry. I wish I could've been a better brother.

Riku: ...

Eiji: ...

Riku: .. I wish you could've been better too.

Miki: .. A-are you ready now?

Riku: Yeah. Guess it's time to sing my final song, haha.

Miki: .. How can you still make jokes in this situation?

Riku: 'Cause I'm too used to suffering. No matter what you choose, it will bring me nothing but pain.

Riku: I want to live, sure, but I want to live a better life.

Riku: .. I don't want to go home.

Miki: .. Prisoner 009, Riku, put all your heart into this song and sing your sins.

42% ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ 100%

[ Riku's Trial 3 MV: Sun Sets, Games End ]

The video starts with showing us many different scenes, all of them appear for a second or two. We see an orange sky with some clouds and then we see a seesaw, a swing, a bench, a merry go round and a tree.

We see little Riku sitting in his room and trying to do his homework, but it looks like it's hard for him to stay focused. He gets distracted again, sighs and walks to his window. He can see a playground next to his house from it. As he's looking at it, he gets scared when he sees a familiar figure playing there. 

"Press "START GAME" to begin

But I want this to end

Please go away, I don't wanna see you

Please go away, playing as your friend is getting tiring"

It's little Yue who notices him too, turns to him, smiles and waves at him. We see Riku still standing in his room and it looks like he's not sure if he should go outside. He looks at his homework again.

"But I am still lonely, my heart's about to break

This desire for attention is getting too strong for me to handle

I guess I'll play another round today"

Riku and Yue are playing on a seesaw now and Yue is having a lot of fun and Riku is smiling too, but his smile looks forced. 

"We're going up, look at us, we're still friends

We're going down, we're arguing again

No balance, this relationship is too unstable

Friends? Enemies? What role am I supposed to play?"

Yue is laughing and suddenly, he falls off of it. Riku is already standing not so far away from him and we can see that Yue is definitely injured. But for some reason, Riku isn't in a hurry to help him and it actually looks like he's hesitating to do so. 

"We're supposed to be friends, so I'm supposed to help you

But I don't feel anything at all

My head is empty, I don't wanna do anything

Maybe this game will end if I just ignore you"

Now, they're on a swing. Yue's head is bleeding, but he doesn't care and even though Riku looks worried, he doesn't say anything. Yue is still laughing and enjoying this, but then, he falls again. And this time the fall is more serious. 

Riku runs up to him and sees that Yue is lying in a pool of blood coming from his head injury. He's visibly panicking and doesn't know what to do, but if you look closer, you can see that it looks like he's trying really hard not to smile. Suddenly, he sees that Yue is still able to move and Yue gets some of his own blood on his finger and starts drawing a heart on Riku's cheek. When he's finished, Riku is shocked, but Yue is still smiling.

"Let's play until the sun goes down, let's play until we see the sky turn purple

That's what they want us to do anyway

Hey, are you having fun? Aren't you tired? Don't you wanna go home already?

"Nope, I'm just getting started!" Well, let me end everything here"

We see the sky slowly turn pink. We see older versions of Riku and Yue now (17 and 18 years old) sitting on a bench. Riku is helping Yue bandage his arm. Yue also has some bandaids on his face and bandages on his other arm, but he looks like he's even enjoying the process and watches Riku do so with a smile. We can see their school bags on the bench as well and there's a box cutter and scissors sticking out of one of them.

"More years, more pain, more fighting

More attention, more joy, more love

Will this game ever end? Will it be as long as my life?

If that's the case, I know how to quit"

It starts raining and Riku is trying to get back home as quickly as possible, but Yue seems to be taking his time. Riku turns to him and tries to call him, but then we see a lightning flash. Yue gets excited and runs off somewhere and Riku tries to follow him and another lightning almost strikes Yue. 

"Why are you like this? Why are you doing this?

Do you want to end this game already, just like me?

Then let's press "QUIT GAME", please, this can't go on

With tears in your eyes, with blood on your hands, you smile again"

Riku and Yue are in Riku's room now and Riku is drying Yue's hair with a towel. The scene looks surprisingly peaceful. We can even hear rain sounds in the background. Yue still has the same happy expression on his face while Riku is really stressed. The door opens and we see a woman that seems to be Riku's mother and she smiles after seeing Riku and Yue together like this. Yue smiles too and holds Riku's hand. His grip looks really tight and we also can see that Riku's fingers have some bandaids on them too. 

The sky is purple now. We see the playground again. Riku and Yue are playing on a merry go round. Yue is having fun as always, even though he has even more bandages on his body now, while Riku's eyes look completely empty, his hair is more messy and he's not trying to hide his scars anymore. 

"It keeps going and going and going and going

I don't think I will ever be able to escape this hell

We keep playing and playing and playing and playing

Let me turn it all off, let me close my eyes and wait for the end"

The merry go round stops as Yue points at a tree we saw in the beginning of the video. 

Yue tries to climb it as Riku watches him. It looks like Riku doesn't want to join him, but he still follows him. They're climbing together now and Yue gets on the highest branch. He looks even happier than before as he watches the sky become a darker shade of purple, but when he turns to look at Riku, Riku quickly makes him fall off the branch.

"Let's play until the sun goes down, let's play until we see the sky turn purple

That's what you want me to do anyway

Hey, are you having fun? Aren't you tired? Don't you wanna go home already?

"Nope, I'm just getting started-" SHUT UP ALREADY AND LET ME END THIS!"

Riku gets down. There's even more blood than in the beginning of the video. Yue's eyes and face expression make it look like he really is dead. Finally, Riku shows a genuine smile for once, even though this smile makes him look more insane rather than happy. He starts laughing and he sees one of the branches on the ground and starts hitting Yue's body with it. 

"Beating you with my words, my power, my reputation

If I say "Kill him", they will follow me

Please, just die, just die already 

That's the only thing you have to do to make me happy"

But then, it's revealed that Yue is still alive and just like in the beginning, he gets some blood on his finger, but this time he puts his finger in Riku's mouth. Riku is shocked and disgusted, but Yue is still smiling. 

"No, no, what are you doing

We weren't supposed to end up like this

I'm not gonna follow you, you're going there alone

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, WHY WON'T YOU JUST END IT?!"

Riku continues to hit him with the branch, until he eventually gets tired and his body is just lying on top of Yue's now. Both boys are covered in blood and there's so much blood that it's getting harder to recognize them.

"And we're still repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating

This cycle of pain and abuse and torture all over again

INNOCENT? GUILTY? Both options are too painful

Even though you're gone, my heart is still broken"

We see someone watching this scene from what appears to be a classroom. There's not just one person, there's a lot of students watching and we can't see their face expressions. One of the students turns to the camera. It's Riku, who is still covered in blood. He looks happy.

"I can't see the sun anymore, the game's finally over

Congrats, you're the winner, you got your prize

Haha, don't worry, I'm not mad at you

You got there first, but I'm okay with the second place"

The video ends.

[amugoffandoms]

uh hello friends i wrote a quick thing because it was on my mind ;;; Sorry if anything is out of character, I was just letting my brain write JIODAIJOWDJOI

So, here's...

Unwanted Pardon

“You can’t deem me unforgiven, can you, Es?” Yuno stands outside Es’ door, waiting for a response. 

Es stands there, a little shocked by the late-night visit from the prisoner. She doesn’t wake them up in the middle of the night, usually keeping to herself until morning. 

“Hah–?” Es mumbles. Honestly, they’re tired. It’s late and Kotoko’s interrogation and extraction recently is still on their mind. They were finishing some more notes on the prisoners and were planning to head to sleep after this.

Rubbing the back of their head, Es examines Yuno’s face for any emotion. 

She’s angry. They can recognize the expression from her extraction. 

“You’ve forgiven me twice now. I can tell.” Yuno stares blankly.

“Hm. So?” Es crosses their arms.

“What’s with this?” “Well, it’s my judgment. I can decide to forgive or not forgive no matter what.”

“Then, what does it take for you to stop making baseless assumptions about me?”

Es pauses.

“It’s funny. I would’ve expected you to see something different, something other than a naive girl.”

Es opens their mouth to speak but no words come out.

“Is that all you really see of me? Just some girl who needs saving? Is that why you want to forgive me?” Yuno watches Es’ face. They can feel her trying to see anything. 

“No, that’s not–” 

“Then, why did you?” 

“I deemed your crime forgivable. That is all you need to know, Yuno.” Es shakes their head and turns to shut the door.

“Is it? Because I can guess that no matter what I do, you’ll see just an innocent, pure girl who only wants love and saving.” 

Es huffs before throwing the door open and standing tall right in front of Yuno. “I can deem you unforgiven no matter what, so don’t believe you I can’t.”

The way Yuno immediately shoots back reminds Es of how unintimidating Yuno said they were. “You can’t. You know why? Because I can hear it. I can hear you say that no matter what I do, I am still a good person. That what I’ve done doesn’t change anything. That I’m still innocent. That I should have done it.” 

“Yuno, that’s not–” “If you can deem so many people unforgiven, then why not me? Do I have to commit murder and show no remorse for you to decide I’m guilty?” 

Es huffs. “Shut up. You know nothing about my thoughts behind your judgment.”

“Then, why can’t you figure out my guilt? Can’t you tell that every risk I take is of my own will? I’ve done everything I’ve done because I should. Can’t you see that I’m not as innocent as you believe?”

“I–... Yuno.”

“What? What? Are you going to lecture me or something? Because I don’t need it. All I need for you is to see the truth.” 

Es looks at Yuno. “I am seeing the truth. The truth behind your lies and cold demeanor.” Es turns around. “And, I have deemed you forgiven.”

Yuno stands there.

“It’s best if you go to bed.” Es mumbles. “If you have any other questions about my judgments, lay them onto me during your interrogation.” 

Es shuts the door behind them.

They can hear Yuno pause, laugh, and slowly walk away. 

Es sighs and walks over to the table, flipping through the pages of their notebook. They land on a page.

Kashiki Yuno - Prisoner 002

Easygoing, seems to enjoy MILGRAM and its prisoners. Seems to have a cold personality

Seems to change depending on the person

Cold and alone, seems to have isolated herself

Hates MILGRAM because of its baseless judgments 

(I can not change this fact.)

Compensated Dating

Abortion (Confirmed by Yuno personally)

Has opinions but doesn’t stick to them 

Wants more than baseless judgments

Doesn’t care about the verdict

Doesn’t want to be seen as pure or innocent.

Wants something other than forgiveness 

Es stares at their notes before jotting one last thing down.

Wants the truth behind it.

Must be why she asked me if she was alive.

“The truth behind everything will be revealed soon." Es mutters as they shut the book.

"I promise.”

[y-eontan]

fic: bad. plot twists: also bad.