It's the most scared as I've ever been during a trial so far. Aoi is easily one of my absolute favourites, and her somehow being responsible for her best friend's death was a morbidly likely possibility in my mind. I was actually pinning my hopes on it being Yasuhiro. Mostly because I picked him out as 'most likely to die' at the beginning of the game and I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. But when it became obvious that he wasn't responsible (it'd be too easy, after all), I got this bad sinking feeling in my gut.
I wrote off Toko being the killer, because honestly, I think the revelation that she was Genocide Jill made her the least likely candidate to actually be a culprit in any further case. I was sort of vainly maybe hoping it was Byakuya, but honestly, I doubted that too. I doubted he'd be so insistent on arriving at the right conclusion if he were really the killer, although I thought maybe he was just making the case a little more 'interesting'. But I was desperate to consider every possibility other than Aoi, which started to feel likelier and likelier as Aoi's demands for a vote seemed less like an overwrought demand for justice and more a rush to arrive at the wrong conclusion. To that end, I actually more or less figured out a theory and flat-out never wanted to be more wrong about it.
What I assumed had happened was that Aoi had gone upstairs to the Chem Lab, and went to get the protein shake - though in some mishap, both the shake and the poison from the CHEM C shelf had both fallen on the ground - hence the huge spill, and by some quirk of fate, they happened to look identical. So, Aoi tried to scoop back in the protein, but didn't understand the implications of the poison powder, and gave it to Sakura to try and cheer her up. And when Sakura was attacked twice, she locked the door to try and make sure no one else could attack her, and drank the protein shake that Aoi gave her for the 'aches and pains'. And died. And Aoi would be considered entirely responsible thanks to the mastermind clause of graduation.
In hindsight, it doesn't make much sense, as it didn't account for the powder stain on her shoe, or why the bottle was found on the shelf, but at that point, I wasn't sure if I was thinking entirely straight. No one has any idea how hard I was marking out when Kyoko told everyone she didn't think Aoi was the killer. And ironically, when Aoi became all the more insistent that she killed her, I became all the more convinced that she didn't, and the game still had one more card to play. Maybe that sixteenth student that the game was hinting at previously? Maybe it was actually Byakuya, who seemed really insistent that the case had ended with Aoi?
Speaking of, it gratifies me to no end to finally put one over Byakuya, holy shit. Seeing him so flustered that someone figured out something he didn't felt unbelievably satisfying. Apologies for the continuing Ace Attorney comparisons, but it's a feeling not unlike outsmarting the prosecutor acting opposite to you, and I have to say, that feeling is all too great. Rubbing that in Byakuya's face, man. So good.
I really do feel for Sakura, though. Caught between a rock and a hard place, and she took the hardest way out for the sake of her friends.
But... man, that ending. Truly this game knows how to inspire so much hope and convert it to so much despair. I was legitimately getting hyped over the idea that, for once (and through Sakura's sacrifice) we'd outplayed Monokuma's game, and everyone dismissing his assertion that Sakura's death would somehow destabilize the group even more, and further his killing game. To hear everyone reject that, to say that they were even more resolved to betray Monokuma, that felt great. And I know that I spent a bit talking up how nice it was to humble Byakuya for once, I got really excited when he declared that he was exiting the 'game', and declaring that his efforts would go towards finding and punishing the mastermind responsible for it. Maybe not solidarity, but it's the closest that one could imagine you could get with someone like him.
But just when the outlook's looking real good...
...goddammit. Fuck. That was just spiteful. Alter Ego didn't fucking deserve it. Oh my god. Fuck you, Monokuma. I'm getting worked up thinking about it. This game had the gall to kill Chihiro twice. That might have actually hurt the very essence of my soul. All he wanted to do was fight for his friends. ;_;
Like, that slow, horrible moment of recognition when you realize who the execution is for. And then you see Alter, glancing around while trying to smile, before Monokuma fucking annihilates him. Oh my god.
And that 'present' we got from Monokuma, the 'Alter Lump'. Talk about salt in the wound. Although, I guess that's about as classy as you can expect Monokuma to be.
That end of chapter stinger was something else, too.
