Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Chapter 4: Malnourishment or Murder - Part 5 (Deadly Life)

~ Ultimate Investigator Niamh Wood's POV ~

"W-Wait!!" Angelica yelled, her eyes wide with fear. "You can't just accuse him like that!! What reason could Orno have to kill anyone?!"

"I'm sorry, Angelica..." Akari whispered, biting her lip. "I really am... But..."

"There's no way he did it!" Angelica continued. "Tell them, Orno!"

Orno, however, didn't make any kind of response. He looked down to the floor, his hat causing a shadow to fall over his eyes. His fists were clenched as he shook slightly.

"Orno...?" Angelica whispered. "They're wrong, right...? You didn't poison Kazashi... I know you didn't... There's no way you'd do something like that..."

Orno stayed silent for a few more moments before looking up, smiling. "Sorry, Angelica. But they're all totally right."

Angelica blinked. "What...?"

"Like I said, they're right." Orno shrugged. "I did it. I'm the one who completed the Final Dead Room before Jordan. I took the poison and went to Kazashi, telling her that I'd found some water and she just so happened to be the first person I came across to tell. She believed it, drank the liquid and... you all get what happened next."

The room was thrown into stunned silence. Tears rolled down Angelica's cheeks as her lip trembled, struggling with forming words. Jordan showed little emotion, his arms crossed and his brown eyes narrowed as he glared at Orno. Akari simply looked to the ground.

"For the sake of completion..." I sighed. "I'll go over the entire incident again, just to make sure we all understand."

- CLOSING ARGUMENT -

"So..." I began. "While the rest of us were asleep, the killer snuck out of their room and went to the Final Dead Room. It was rather easy for them, since their room was already in the same house as the Final Dead Room. After completing whatever puzzle lay in wait for them there, they grabbed the poison and left. They entered Grape House, where us girls were sleeping, and met with Kazashi. They tricked her into drinking the poison, leaving swiftly afterwards. When the poison finally took effect, Angelica was nearby. She entered Kazashi's room and asked for the identity of the killer, but didn't get a response. That's what happened in this case, but... why did you do it, Orno Leiko?"

- BREAK! -

"Ugh, I am NOT happy!" Monokuma explained. "Not happy at ALL! The killer is supposed to argue and try and get away with their crime, not just blindly accept it! That just takes the despair out of everything!" He sighed. "Well, whatever... It looks like you've reached a conclusion, so vote on whoever you think did the thing... you freakin' losers..."

We all cast our votes and the rolling machine appeared as it always did, our mini pixelated selves appearing for a split second before dashing away again. Eventually, the slots landed on Orno, the word 'GUILTY' flashing.

"Yup, that's right..." Monokuma said blankly. "The one who murdered Kazashi Dai... was Orno Leiko... Woohoo... You have ten minutes to chat before I kill him."

Angelica was the first one to approach Orno, albeit on shaky legs. "You still haven't explained why..." She whimpered. "Why did you do it...?"

"You know what the motive was," Orno replied. "If nobody died, all of us would have starved to death painfully slowly, and then we would never get the chance to escape this virtual world. I couldn't just sit by and watch everyone give up on life like that."

"But... why Kazashi...?" Angelica sobbed. "Why not me...? Why didn't you use me in your plan... instead of her?"

Orno shook his head, the smallest of smiles on his lips. "I'm sorry. I know that she was one of your closest friends. In that respect, I made a huge mistake. But... out of everybody here, I couldn't have killed you. For reasons that... that I don't really have time to explain right now."