...

WHAT!?

Everyone is shocked into silence until Keiji voices all our thoughts. "Huh?" Gonbee- I mean Alice holds a hand on his chest as he speaks. "I'm Alice, I'm telling you!! Reko did nothing wrong!! It's a misunderstanding!!" Keiji gives him a disapproving look. "...Listen, we're in the middle of a serious discussion right now..." Alice cuts him off. "And I'm being serious too!! Reko... Reko is my little sister...!!" Q-taro shifts his gaze between the two siblings. "Y-You for real!?" Reko looks up to her apparent brother. "Couldn't hide it, huh... This guy's real name is Alice Yabusame. He's...my older brother."

OK, HOLY SHIT I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!

Joe starts to look a bit shaken. "Then...the "murderer"..." Alice finishes for him. "Is me! I lied about being a thief... I went to prison for killing someone..."

The words finally sink in.

"Well this is unnerving... I've never been in front of someone who went to jail for killing a person!" I say awkwardly. Suddenly Alice is a bit more scary than annoying. Joe nods to me. "Yeah! Isn't this guy some serious bad news...!?!?" Alice holds his fist. "Yes, that's right! Indeed, I am...a damned criminal!! And Reko cut me off as well, saying to never show her my mug again! And yet... It's not even funny!! To think we'd reunite in this place...!!"

That is one shitty way to reunite with your sibling...

Reko sighs. "Me and him are total strangers at this point. I didn't want Kanna and the rest being scared of me 'cause of this guy... So when he woke up, I told him to hide our relation. Right after (F/n) and Sara went to look for Nao...!" She confesses. Sara rubs her chin. "...So that's it..."

Alice speaks up after some silence. "...Hmph. I'm a simple murderer. But Reko is different. She's a good and proper person... That's all I wanted to say... Damnit all." Keiji turns to him. "So you deny any connection with the kidnappers?" Alice nods. "Right... Why I was brought here... I still don't know."

There's silence for a while.

Alice chuckles half-heartedly. "Mwahaha... Suppose I can't expect trust or anything else, can I...? It's just the ramblings of a killer... Hahahahaha..." Sou speaks up. "Despite us talking about Gin, we got some unexpected information here. There are still many more points of interest... But there's no time. I want to hear Nao's justification soon enough. What do you think?" Nao staggers back. "Eh...!? M-Me...!?" Sou turns to Sara. "That's fine, right, miss Sara?" She takes another glance at the paper. "There's still something... Megumi Sasahara... Detective..."

Right... Would Keiji know her??

Keiji is fiercely trying to avoid eye contact, looking anywhere but at Sara and me. "Keiji...??" I ask. He turns back with a forced smile. "What a surprise. Didn't think there'd be another detective here, besides everyone's favorite." He chuckles.

"He keeps repeating himself about his career... It's kinda unnerving..." I say to Sara. She nods. "I agree but we have no proof to disprove him. We should move on to the next topic." After Sara says that I look over to Sou. "Let's move on then..." I announce.

I wish all of our questions could be answered right away.

Sou nods and turns to Nao. "Well then, miss Nao. Please...give us your justication." He says with a smile. Nao gulps.

[PROGRESS]

"I see a lot that's illogical about Nao's actions." Sou continues. "...Illogical, eh?" Joe raises an eyebrow. "Aren't you curious about what she was up to in the kitchen, holding the box with Mishima? Tell me what you were doing then, miss Nao." Sou instructs. Nao rubs her wrist. "...Because of the body collection announcement...I went into a panic... I took the box...and just sat and hid in the kitchen. I didn't even touch anything in the room... I know I troubled you all a lot... But I...didn't want to lose him...!" I frown. "Nao, calm down! It's okay!" I try to reassure her which she seems to appreciate.

This poor girl! She's older than me and I still want to protect her from this world!

"After everyone else, I inspected the kitchen, and found no signs of any trickery. Perhaps she truly was just hiding?" Kai proposes. "But if none of you took the knife, then who has it? Did it even exist in the first place or is this empty box supposed to make us more suspicious of each other?" I hold my jaw in thought.

Sara puts a hand on my shoulder to signal me to pay attention. She turns to Nao. "Did you really not touch anything?" She asks. Nao looks shocked. "Huh...!?" Sara continues. "The kitchen had been locked until then. And after you left, Nao, we obtained this long, narrow box. There was nothing inside." Sara looks to me.

She wants me to finish her thought...

I tried to give this girl the benefit of the doubt but I don't see any other way...

I sigh. "I'm pretty sure you're the only person who could have the knife, Nao..." I tell her. She points to me. "I-I don't know anything about that!" Joe interrupts us by sticking his hands out to the sides. "Hold on... When and how did Nao find the key to the kitchen, anyway?" He asks. "Now that you mention it... Nao, how DID you get in?" I ask her. Nao starts rubbing her wrist again.

"It was open..."

Wait, say what?

"The kitchen door was unlocked at the time! So...I ran into it and locked it from the inside." Nao finishes and Gin jumps up so people pay attention to him. "Then somebody else went in first, meow! That's who took the knife, woof!" Sara rubs her chin and starts mumbling. "First...we carried Alice over to the Pink Room. At that time, someone dug through the kitchen...took the knife, and left... Finally, Nao went into the kitchen with the box and locked herself in. Does the timing...work out?"

I'm about to think more about it, until Sou speaks up. "Hmm... Maybe that's logical? It's super sketchy, though..." Nao points to him. "I-It's not sketchy in the least!! I-I'll tell you anything!!" Sou just grins. "Well then, miss Nao... Tell us what you were doing in the kitchen." I narrow my eyebrows at him. "Didn't she JUST tell you??"

He ignores me.

...

WHY ARE THESE DUDES IGNORING ME!?

[PROGRESS]

"The whole time...I just sat and held the profess... The box! I didn't move an inch!!" Her slip up breaks my heart. Keiji looks to Sara and I. "...Welp... Guess you two'll just have to break the ice." I raise an eyebrow at him. "With what? What do you mean?" I ask. "If she never let it go... Then wonder why the box was empty? We'll just hafta ask her." Keiji elaborates. My eyes widen. Keiji sighs and turns to Nao. "So you're lying, huh, Nao." She staggers back. "Wha...!?" Keiji looks at me expectantly. "There was...nothing in the box, Nao..." I gently tell her.

God that hurt to say...

"What!? T-That can't be right...!!" Nao exclaims. "It's true, Nao." Sara assures her. "What's that!? I don't know anything! The professor was with me the whole time!! Where did he go!?" Nao frantically looks around.

Oh goodie! We have a dissappearing head! How great!

"Hrm... Is this an act...?" Sou asks. I scowl at him. "Sou!" I yell his name in disbelief. "Yeah! Nao ain't that kind of gal! There's gotta be a reason it vanished!!" Reko exclaims. "The mystery of the vanishing head... If Nao is just acting, then... Can't really put together why she'd need to lie to us here." Keiji sighs.

He's got a good point there...

What the hell happened to that head??

[PROGRESS]

"I...certainly lost sight of myself... But I've done nothing suspicious! And I don't know...why it disappeared!!" Nao explains. "Nao respected Professor Mishima! Maybe her shock was so great that she unconsciously did something strange?" Joe proposes. "It must've gotten swapped at some point with another box the kidnappers prepared!" Reko adds. "The contents of the box warped, meow! L-Like a dimensional teleporter thing, woof!" Gin tries to come up with a good theory. "Miss Nao being manipulated by the kidnappers... Is that a possibility...?" Sou muses aloud.

I bang my head on the desk. "So many theories and so little time!!" I groan. "Let's listen to everyone one by one." Sara proposes. "Okay...sigh...sounds good! Joe can you elaborate more?" I ask him and he nods. "I mean it's not like we always act in the most logical way, right!? This was after that awful vote...! If I felt what Nao felt...I'd...!" He struggles with what to say so Sara cuts in. "Joe, if it had been you who lost someone precious in that vote, what would you do?" She asks. Joe crosses his arms. "If it were me... Rather than grieve...I might just snap..."

Really...? Well that shouldn't be as surprising as it is but damn.

Sara tilts her head. "Snap?" Joe puts his hands back on his waist. "Like, "who the hell voted for Sara!?"... I'd look for the culprit on the spot! 'Course, I'd know full well it was Miley to blame...but I might take out my anger on everybody else. That's what I mean! You don't always follow logic!!" He explains. "You're absolutely right!" I snap my fingers and turn to Nao. "Can you elaborate more as well?" I ask. She nods. "To me, Professor Mishima was... A very, very important figure..." I tilt my head. "Were you mad when he died?" Nao shakes her head. "Not so much mad... I was sad...! It was so depressing...and painful...!! I didn't want to believe it was reality!!"

Well that's exactly the opposite of what Joe said.

"...You were...sad?" Sara asks.

I mentally face palm at the obvious question.

"Yes...! You'd understand, right, Sara?" Nao asks. Joe catches the pink girl's attention. "Nao... I'm a little curious." She eyes him warily at that. "Huh...?" He continues. "Maybe I've just got a rough disposition... But why didn't you think about looking for the culprit? I mean, it wasn't an "accident"... That happened to someone you respected...because he was voted for... Ain't it...more natural to get angry?" Nao shakes her head. "I-I... I don't think so at all... Since I knew...no one's votes had any ill will..." Sou speaks up. "Maybe...you didn't respect him?"

...

Sou you little shit I swear to God!!

"W-What are you..." He cuts Nao off. "Maybe miss Nao and Professor Mishima didn't have any bond at all... Then I could understand her mindset of not seeking out the culprit." Nao starts trembling even more. "How awful... You're awful!! Just awful!! I truly did...!!" Keiji turns to us. "...what do you two think?" I answer straight away. "That theory is absolute bullshit to me. There is no way that their bond was fake. Nobody could fake the despair that Nao felt!" I say. Sara nods. "I agree. That couldn't have been an act!"

There's just no way! Nobody can change my mind about this except Nao herself!

"The collar..."

Everyone's eyes turn to Sou and Sara makes a confused noise. "Suppose miss Nao didn't stick Professor Mishima in the box out of affection for him... Rather, maybe her objective was to retrieve the collar on his neck...?" He says with a smile. I narrow my eyes. "How the fuck is he smiling while saying that?" I whisper to Sara and she just rubs her chin. Keiji tilts his head. "...In other words, information that Miley failed to retrieve?" He asks. "You tryin' to say Nao collected the collar in place of the kidnappers!?" Q-taro shouts in disbelief.

To be honest, I really don't think that was it. I really think Nao just went into a panic due to her grief.

Keiji shrugs. "...Dunno. However... I should note, your friendly policeman wasn't able to investigate that collar 'cause Nao was there." He points out. Q-taro is absolutely wide eyed. "H...Hey! Ya bein' serious!?" Nao leans over her desk. "What, what...!? What are you talking aboooout!? I don't know! I don't know anything! Please, just stop it!!" Joe slams a hand onto his desk which startles me. "Then tell us! Why didn't you care who the culprit was after the vote!? 'Cause Professor Mishima was killed by the people who voted for him..."

"You stop right there, Joe!!" Reko screams and pounds her fists on her desk.

Everyone is taken aback by her outburst. Joe actually looks scared for a moment.

Reko takes deep breaths to calm down. "Stop it...! Don't say another word... I'm beggin' you...!! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!!" Everyone's eyes are on Reko as she continues. "I overheard...all of it. It was just before the vote... Mishima said something...quiet enough that only somebody real close could hear."

[FLASHBACK]

"Miss Nao... Miss Nao..." Mishima puts a hand on Nao's shoulder to catch her attention. The girl turns to him with a confused look on her face. "Let us vote for each other, miss Nao."

[FLASHBACK END]

"He said that...?" Q-taro asks. "Thinking the vote was just a test... I'm sure Nao voted for Mishima just like he asked... But... Mishima voted for himself...!" Reko exclaimed. I hold my head in my hands to process this while everyone else keeps talking. "To protect his student...just in case?" Keiji asks. "That's...why Nao didn't look for the culprit... Don't bring up any "I'll will" crap, 'cause it doesn't matter...! His death was an accident!!" Reko finishes and Joe looks apologetically at the pink haired girl. "Nao..." She's shaking and sobbing violently. "I... Aaaah... If I...I...hadn't voted for him...!" I walk up to her and hug her tight. She latches onto me.

Joe looks as if he feels like the biggest scum on earth.

"I'm sorry...! I'm sorry, Nao...! All this time I'd been thinking, whoever voted for another person must've had bad intentions...!" He combs a hand through his hair. "Just 'cause I...voted for myself...!"

...what...!?

Sara and I look to each other, eyes wide, and then back at Joe. "You voted for yourself!?" We yell out. He's startled by our outburst. "Huh? Yeah..." I let go of Nao and turn to Sou. "Didn't you tell Sara you voted for Joe!?"

He tilts his head. "No way. I didn't say anything like that. I don't know why she told you that."

Wha...!!

...

THIS FUCKER!!

HE'S A LYING RAT!!!

Sara looks like she's been slapped. I'm sure I do too!

Joe looks warily at him. "W...What's this about, Sou?" I glare at Sou. "Yeah! That's what I'd like to know too, ya little prick!" He puts his hands up. "Ahaha, don't worry about it, everybody. Miss Sara asked me who I voted for, so I just told her whatever. She's so diligent, she must have taken it seriously." He says with his stupid smile.

I'm about to go off on him but Sara stops me and drags me back to our desk. She looks really pissed as well. "Don't. We need to wait for the right moment." I'm still glaring at Sou as she lets go off me. "I am beating that lying rat's ass the first chance I get!" I growl and she nods.

He is fucking dead for screwing with us in this situation!

"...So ultimately... Are we going to ignore the missing head?" Alice asks to change the subject. "That's still a big mystery... But seems like Nao did nothin' wrong, 'least." Q-taro shrugs. Joe scratches his cheek. "Maybe Reko had the right idea, and it got swapped out at some point." Gin groans and jumps to lean on his desk with his feet not on the ground. "Just discussing it is pointless, woof! Let's talk about that gorrila next, meow!" Q-taro's eyes widen. "F'real!?" Reko turns to us. "...You two okay with ignorin' it?" She asks.

I look to Sara. "I want to know what happened to it, honestly." I say. She nods. "Same here, I'm curious." We look back to see everyone's reaction and we see Sou mean mugging us. I stare him down and spread my arms like 'You wanna go!?'. He smiles. "...Seems only miss Sara and miss (F/n) have any sense."

Ok now I'm confused.

Sou fixes his scarf. "Hey, guys... You're never going to solve anything like this." Joe tries to interrupt. "B-But..." Sou doesn't let him finish and raises his hand to signal him to stop talking.

This bitch

"I think it's wonderful you can trust each other this much after just meeting, you know...?" I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow. "Where is this going...? Get to the point already." I say. "Well... Bad people always feign innocence." He says matter of factly.

Like you?

"You tryin' to say Nao's a bad person!?" Reko growls at him.

She's really protective of Nao and I can't blame her. This dude's the biggest liar I've ever met. A fucking rat.

He rubs his head through his beanie. "I just remembered something. That miss Nao's the one who attacked me." He flashes me a grin.

EXCUSE ME!?

"Whaaaaaaaaat!?" Q-taro yells. I scowl at him. "Oh how fucking convenient! You JUST all of a sudden remembered that very important detail! Very believable, Sou!" I mock applaud him. He does a mock bow. "Indeed. That was a close one. If I hadn't remembered that, she could've gotten away clean." He laughs. "You shut your mouth..." Sara tries but Sou glares at her and shuts her up instead. "Don't get in the way, Sara." I'm about to march over to him and beat his ass but Sara holds me back. Sou turns all cheerful again, probably from amusement at my anger.

YOU ARE SO DEAD YOU FUCK!

I stop trashing in Sara's arms and see Nao's completely silent and panicked. Sou leans against his desk tauntingly. "I'll hear out anything, miss Nao. Now's your only chance to tell the truth... If we're going to argue until one of us loses trust, I'll have to do my best too." His voice is so sugary sweet it's making me sick. He then glares at Nao. "Tell me, do you have that courage?"

Oh I swear to God I'm five seconds away from exploding and killing this man myself.

"I..." Everyone's gaze turns to Nao as she's struggling to reply.

"...I did...hit Sou..."

My eyes widen. "Nao!" I yell out in disbelief. "F...For real!?" Joe stutters. Reko turns to her. "You're joking, right!? Why, Nao!?" Nao raises her head and speaks up. "...I was threatened..." Q-taro's hold of the desk tightens. "B...By who!?"

I'm practically on the edge of my seat.

"...Kai..."

...

EXCUSE ME, WHAT!?!?

----------------

[Author's Note]

Plot twists on top of plot twists, am I right?

Good God, if the Main Game isn't the definition of anxiety, I dunno what it fucking is!

When I first watched a gameplay of this, by the end I was hyperventilating.

Wonder what kind of stress Chapter 3 will spring upon us, holy shit.

Anyways, Sou is a rat, but what's new?

Toodles~!

Kaja is finished here ^^

[Word Count: 3260]