“B-Venus-san…!”
Without a doubt, Mina was the most shocked. Mina had been with Venus all along. That meant the shock must be even greater.
Tama gently stroked Mina’s back as she broke down in tears. Yo and Tsuchiya looked at Venus with pained expressions.
And Baka was simply dumbfounded.
…Three people had died all at once.
Hibana, Kaito, and Venus were all good people. And yet, three of them were gone, without even knowing the cause.
“W-why… why did they die?”
Baka muttered in confusion.
“Why… Venus, Kaito, and Hibana too…”
It wasn’t that he wanted to know the reason. He couldn’t put it into words. Baka didn’t know how to express this frustration. Nor did he know how to accept these feelings.
A little while later, when Mina had calmed down.
“…That’s right. We need to think about why they died…”
Tsuchiya said, his expression bitter, as if speaking to no one in particular.
“Who was it that killed Venus… and harmed Kaito and Hibana? Let’s think about it for a moment.”
“First… assuming that Venus’s death was caused by a doll… then Kabashima-kun is not the culprit.”
“Huh!? Me!?”
Well then.
Baka was surprised when the conversation suddenly turned to him. But the other four, Tama, Yo, Tsuchiya, and Mina, were all nodding in agreement.
“Yes. The first room Kabashima-kun entered was the one with the Lion, right? And the key there was the Sun Key, and Yo’s doll was in the room.”
Baka confirmed, thinking, ‘That’s the one from earlier,’ and nodded. He understood that much, to show that he was keeping up.
“Next, Kabashima-kun entered the aquarium room with me, Mina-san, and Venus. …And in that room was Kaito’s doll.”
Baka understood this too. He nodded. But he hadn’t reached a conclusion!
“In other words, Kabashima-kun had no opportunity to get Venus’s doll. On the first night, while everyone else was resting, Kabashima-kun was agonizing over the team divisions… He wouldn’t have had the time to go back to a room that another team had cleared.”
“Well, that’s based on the assumption that there’s only one doll per room. …But since there are nine game rooms, it seems correct to assume one person per room.”
Baka nodded, “I see!” at Tsuchiya and Yo’s words. He understood this time. Probably.
“…So, that means it’s either me, Mina, or Tama-san or Yo.”
Tsuchiya sighed, as if to say, ‘Oh dear.’ The atmosphere in the room tensed up again. Baka fidgeted uncomfortably.
“Now… there’s one soul in the lantern, right? That means Kaito, Hibana, and Venus died after the bell rang…”
Tsuchiya looked up at the lantern. And the number of souls there was still one.
…The souls, starting with the bell on the first night, are updated every time the night bell rings, he had heard.
In other words, Hibana, Kaito, and Venus all died ‘after’ the night bell rang.
“Of course, Venus, who likely died because of a doll, and Kaito-kun and Hibana-kun, either team could have committed the crime…”
Tsuchiya held his head as if to say, ‘I’m stumped,’ and then glanced at Tama and Yo. But Tama and Yo just looked troubled.
“For now… the possibility that Hibana or Kaito killed Venus still remains, though.”
“That’s… right. There’s no rule that all the culprits have to be the same person. It’s better to think of Venus’s case and Kaito and Hibana’s case as separate.”
“But, the barricade that was built in front of this room, there’s no doubt that someone from your side did that. And I don’t think either of you would be unaware of it.”
“B-barricade? I’m hearing about that for the first time… Ah, are the debris scattered around here, maybe, that…?”
Well then.
…And so, Tsuchiya, Tama, and Yo mainly started talking, and Baka was just left with nothing to do. He was bored, and even more uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, Baka didn’t have the brains to do any reasoning, so at times like this, he just tried to follow the flow and keep up as best he could. Even then, he couldn’t keep up and was struggling.
In the midst of all that, Baka suddenly noticed Mina.
Mina didn’t seem like the type to actively participate in these discussions either. She was flustered and looked down. In other words, she was in the same struggling state as Baka.
When he stared at Mina, she noticed Baka’s gaze and smiled slightly. Baka felt a sense of relief and smiled back.
When they smiled at each other, they felt a little better. And since Baka felt a little better…
“Hey! Isn’t there something to look for? I’m better at that than discussions! If there’s anything, tell me! I think I can be useful that way!”
That’s what he decided to offer.
Baka was a Baka, but he was a Baka who wanted to work properly. He was a good-natured, valiant Baka!
“…That’s right. What Kabashima-kun says is reasonable.”
Tsuchiya smiled at Baka’s offer, and then, as if he had regained his energy, he raised his head.
“Let’s look for information that hasn’t come out yet. Even if one team knows something, we have to look at things that can’t be proven to the other team.”
And Baka happily followed after Tsuchiya, who had started walking. When Baka was energetic, the people around him seemed to get a little more energetic too. Mina, Yo, and Tama followed, and the five of them went up to the upper level of the atrium.
“First of all… I want to see the room that Tama, Yo, Hibana, and Kaito entered. If we find a doll, great, if not… well, it raises the possibility that either Yo or Tama is lying, or that Kaito and Hibana killed Venus.”
“That’s right. I wanted to check the room that Tsuchiya-san, Mina-san, Venus-san, and Kaito-kun entered first, but… it doesn’t seem like we have the time for that.”
Tama said, glancing at the clock.
“About 30 minutes left. I think we have time to explore one room, have a short discussion, and then it’ll be over. But it’s better for everyone to stay together than to split up. Is that okay?”
“That’s right… I’d love to prove our innocence, but it’s true that we don’t have much time. And more than anything, we can’t afford to be separated here. Let’s all stick together.”
…And so. They decided to explore the game room that Tama, Yo, Hibana, and Kaito’s team had cleared earlier.
But.
“Huh?”
Baka, who had gone up the stairs and out onto the upper level of the atrium, tilted his head.
“What’s wrong, Kabashima-kun?”
“Hmm…? Where was the room that Tama and the others went into?”
“Huh? It’s over there…”
Tsuchiya was about to explain to Baka… but he seemed to have noticed it too.
“…There are a lot of doors open, aren’t there? Six are open? Huh?”
That’s right.
Next to the door that Baka and the others had come out of… buried in the debris of the barricade… the ‘exit of a room that no one should have entered’ was open.
“W-why didn’t we notice… Ah, we were completely flustered…!”
“And on top of that, it was buried in the barricade debris. Damn, this is bad…”
“Sorry! Was it me!? Is it my fault!? A written apology!? Leave the written apology to me!”
While everyone was shocked, Baka, trembling at the thought of a ‘written apology…!’, cautiously peeked into the door that shouldn’t have been open.
…But there was no one there.
He signaled to everyone, ‘It’s okay,’ and called them over, and everyone came over cautiously and looked around the room.
“Hmm… there are signs that the Antidote Device was activated, but…”
“All the antidotes are gone. We can’t tell how many people there were…”
Inside the parts next to the Antidote Device’s chair, there should have been glowing orbs that were the antidotes. The ones that had expired should have lost their light and remained there… but now, there wasn’t a single antidote left in the Antidote Device in front of them.
“…This is a serious problem. Could it be that there’s someone else besides us?”
“That would explain everything. If there was someone who wasn’t on our team or their team…”
Baka felt a slight chill down his spine. Everyone must have been feeling the same way as Baka as they exchanged glances… and then.
“…Could it be, Amagi-san…?”
Mina’s mutter was small, fading into the air.
…If Amagi, who had died first, was still alive.
If that were the case, then this situation would make sense. But…
“…No, that’s not possible. Because there was a soul in the lantern. If Amagi-san had survived, it’s unlikely that there would be a soul.”
Tsuchiya denied it.
As Tsuchiya said, beneath the open ceiling… in front of the Great Hall’s gate, a single, fiercely burning flame resided within a lantern. That was an undeniable fact.
If Amagi were alive, what would that soul be? At least, Baka couldn’t come up with an answer.
“Therefore, I suspect a Unique Ability first and foremost,” Tsuchiya declared, then looked straight at Tama. “Tama-san. What is your Unique Ability?”
“…I also want to know Tsuchiya-san’s Unique Ability,” Tama replied, unflinching, meeting Tsuchiya’s gaze. “I still don’t know Tsuchiya-san’s Unique Ability.”
Tsuchiya remained silent, returning Tama’s stare.
“Ah! I don’t know my Unique Ability!” Baka cheerfully announced.
“…Ah, yes, well, that’s true… Kabashima-kun remains the biggest mystery, but I think it’s best to just give up on that…”
However, Baka’s declaration was gently brushed aside by the kind, wry smiles of Tsuchiya, Yo, and Mina. Drifting along, drifting along.
“…So, Tama-san. If I explain my Unique Ability, will you tell me yours?”
“Hmm…” Tama hesitated in response to Tsuchiya’s question.
“You can’t tell me?” Tsuchiya asked, suspicious. Tama sighed.
“My Unique Ability is, once a day, to…”
Tama’s words were cut short.
It was because Yo suddenly shoved Tama away.
“…Eh?”
And before Tama’s astonished eyes, Yo’s body was pierced by something.
The object that pierced Yo’s chest was a spear. The spear flared up and vanished. Immediately, blood gushed from the gaping hole in Yo’s chest.
“…Are you safe, Tsugumi?” Yo whispered, smiling at Tama, then closed his eyes and stopped moving.