Even in hard times, Jason had often been the one to offer a smile or make a silly joke to lighten the mood. True, Husky's death had hit him hard, and he had lost his way for awhile, but eventually he had found resolve and forgiven himself. Jason had been one of the few sources of light in this dark, dismal place...
...
...So why...?
Seto couldn't stop asking himself this as he stared up at the mangled, bloodied corpse hanging from the ceiling like a butchered scrap of meat.
...Why...? Why would something like this happen to Jason, of all people...? Why...?
Seto gasped raggedly as his body finally reacted and he staggered backward, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. Where was everyone? Why wasn't anyone here?
"So... There you have it..."
Seto whirled around to face MonoWither.
"Wow, you totally slept through everything!" MonoWither declared. "We can't believe you didn't hear the body discovery announcement and missed the whole investigation!"
"Wh... What...?" Seto whispered slowly in confusion.
"Yeah, everyone's waiting for you down by the basement! Shame on you, we had to give the MonoWither File to someone else!"
"I- I slept through- What?!" Seto's shock was quickly giving way to panic.
"Yeah, yeah, you slept through it all somehow! While you were taking a little nap, someone went and murdered poor Jason! Isn't it just shocking?! How unexpected!"
"But how-?! What-?!"
"Got any ideas? It surely has to be one of the participants! Maybe... your dark side took over and-"
"That didn't happen!" Seto shrieked. "Slotty didn't do anything! If he did, I would know about it!"
"Ooh, so certain of yourself! But if it isn't him, then who did it?"
"I... I..." Seto stammered frantically as his mind raced without direction.
Who could have done this? Surely it wasn't one of them? Tyler, Bonks, Bodil, Annie... They would never do something like this to Jason, he was certain of it!
"It has to be you!" Seto shouted. "Only you could have done it!"
"Oh?" MonoWither asked, tilting their heads curiously. "Whatever gave you that idea? We would never interfere with a murder like that! That would ruin the whole point of the show! No one likes staged reality TV episodes!"
"You tried to kill Tyler!" Seto yelled angrily. "That's more than enough proof that you killed Jason! I saved Tyler, so you decided to kill Jason instead! Isn't that right?!"
MonoWither giggled. "So angry! So vicious! But you have no evidence to back up your claim!"
"You- You- You're a horrible monster!" Seto shrieked, tears streaming down his face as he glared at the machine. His vision started to turn red as the pain in his chest started to spread all over his body. "How dare you?! How dare you kill Jason?!"
"Woah, are you going to transform?!" MonoWither asked suddenly.
Seto's eyes widened as he realized that a fiery purple aura had surrounded his body. Upon this realization, the aura quickly died down and dissipated.
"Oof, that was a close one! If you had transformed, you might have attacked us and broken a rule!"
Seto clenched his hands into fists, still seething with rage. "I... I'll make sure you never get away with this..."
"Seriously, how do you even know the masked person was us?" MonoWither asked. "You still haven't proved that! Your accusation is baseless!"
"Who else would have attacked me in that room?" Seto retorted. "Who else would have used the hidden passageway?! It has to be you, the Puppetmaster! And I have Tyler as my witness!"
"Interesting, interesting... Are you sure it wasn't the spy who's still among you all?" MonoWither asked, grinning.
Seto's eyes widened as his face paled.
"Hah! Didn't consider that, huh?! You're all talk and no bite! We'll be perfectly honest with you; as the Puppetmaster of this whole show, we swear on our dead family's bodies that we didn't kill Jason! It was one of the participants of this show! To be precise, it was the spy!"
"You're a filthy liar!" Seto spat back. "There's no way one of us did this! And there's no way one of us is a spy for despair, no matter what you say!"
"Upupupu... If Jason's ghost was able to, he could confirm that we didn't kill him! Unfortunately, he can't, but this is the truth that will certainly be revealed at the trial!"
"No... I refuse to believe you..." Seto hissed. "I'll prove to you that you're the killer, I swear! For Jason's sake, I'll bring the truth to light!"
"Ooh, you're back to your protagonist self! But we promise you're not going to avenge Jason that way! Because we didn't kill Jason, the spy did! And that's what we're sticking to!"
Seto opened his mouth to retort, but MonoWither cut him off.
"Anyway, we've waited long enough! Get your ass moving to the basement! You'll get all the juicy details there!"
Seto glanced back at Jason's body, breathing heavily as he tried to force himself to concentrate... Surely there had to be clues left somewhere?
"Hey Seto, hurry up! It's not our fault you slept through the investigation! That's cheating! Also, take this pill while you're at it!"
Seto flinched as the pill glanced off the side of his head and clattered to the floor.
"Agh, why didn't you catch it?!" MonoWither shrieked.
"Well you just threw it at me, how was I supposed to-"
"Fine then! We guess we'll just have to suppress your magic with a more direct method!"
*FWIP!*
"Ah!" Seto cried out, reaching up to his neck and feeling a dart sticking out of it. "What the- Why-?!"
"We are just so tired of you making us wait! So damn tired! Your constant defiance makes us sick to the core! You're so stupid, you would dare continue to defy your gods even after everything you've done? We could kill you right now!"
Seto winced as he tugged the dart out of his neck. "You're crazy... Somehow you've gotten even crazier than before..."
"Huh, we wonder why?" MonoWither asked sarcastically. "Now for the final time, go to the basement so we can start the Show Trial!"
This time, Seto didn't waste any time in leaving the room. MonoWither shut the door behind him somehow. However, it was only then that Seto realized it was the last time he would ever see Jason again...
Jason... I don't know why anyone would do this to you... something this horrible and cruel... But I'll avenge your death. I'll make sure I bring the truth to light! I'll expose your killer, no matter how hard that task may be!
While being closely followed by MonoWither, Seto finally reached the basement and saw everyone else gathered in front of the elevator door. When they turned to look at him, Seto stopped in his tracks. For a few moments, they stared at each other with tear-stained faces, completely silent.
"...You..." Annie muttered under her breath, her body tensing up as she balled her hands into fists.
"A-Annie! Wait!" Bodil cried out, trying unsuccessfully to stop her as she stormed over to Seto so fast, he didn't have time to even defend himself.
Seto gasped as she forcefully seized the front of his cloak with her hands and yanked him closer so that their eyes were mere inches away from each other.
"Why didn't you keep Slotty under control?!" Annie shrieked, shaking Seto violently. "How could you let him do something so horrible to Jason?!"
"I- I didn't-!" Seto choked out desperately, grasping at her hands to no avail. "It wasn't Slotty!"
"You really expect me to believe that?!" Annie shouted back, her green eyes poisoned with a tearful, bitter rage. "All the evidence shows that Slotty did it! It could have only been him!"
"No, stop it!" Tyler wailed. "It wasn't Slotty, I already gave you his alibi!"
"I told you, that alibi doesn't work! He could have easily killed Jason after what you claim he did!" Annie shook Seto again. "Just confess and end this whole thing! It's already decided! The proof is all there!"
"No! I swear it wasn't me- I mean Slotty! I swear he didn't do anything at all last night!"
"And I said I wouldn't believe you!" Annie screamed. "Just admit it already, Slotty killed Jason! MonoWither ordered him to do this!"
"Annie, stop!" Bonks pleaded in anguish. "Please, no matter what happened, we shouldn't be fighting like this!"
"And even if Slotty did it, it's not Seto's fault!" Bodil said. "You can't blame him for denying it!"
"Why aren't you all listening to me?! I have proof Slotty didn't kill Jason!" Tyler continued to declare.
"P-Please, Annie..." Seto begged in a hoarse voice. "Please believe me... I didn't kill him... Slotty didn't kill him... If he had, I would have admitted it already... Please..."
Annie glared at him, seething through her clenched teeth, before finally shoving Seto away. She didn't say anything, however.
Seto drew in several shaky breaths as he struggled to suppress his overwhelming panic. He hadn't realized that the others would immediately suspect him like that... Had the Puppetmaster made it seem like Slotty had done it?
"Ooh, that argument was pretty dramatic!" MonoWither teased. "Such tension and anger, Annie! That's the kind of despair we love to see! But let's save that for the trial, shall we?"
"Just hurry up and let us in the damn elevator so we can finish this," Annie muttered in a deadly voice.
"Roger that!" MonoWither flew in front of the scanner, which turned green, and the doors slid open.
Without another word, everyone entered the elevator, which now felt far too large for the five of them.
...Five...
Seto flinched as the doors slid shut and the elevator shook for a bit before finally descending down into the dark shaft. However, despite the dim bulb on the ceiling being their only source of light, Seto could feel Annie's eyes still glaring at him, her stare cutting through him like a volley of arrows.
Avoiding her gaze, Seto snuck a glance at everyone else and noticed that Bonks and Bodil were huddled together, unwilling to look at him.
Tyler inched a little bit closer to him and started to whisper. "Don't worry Seto, I have your alibi. We can prove it wasn't you or Slotty..."
Seto barely nodded, knowing that the task would be easier said than done.
Tyler placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I made a promise, and I'm sticking to it. You wouldn't hide the truth if it meant getting all of us killed, I know that for sure! We'll make sure Jason gets the justice he deserves!"
...Thank you, Tyler... Seto thought, unable to speak at the moment. He glanced briefly at Tyler, noticing that despite the Potion of Healing, Tyler's face was still covered in faint scars...
The elevator finally came to a shuddering stop and opened, revealing the trial room. This time, the walls and floor were checkered light blue and red.
"You guys know the drill! Get to your places! We're starting the trial without any more delays!"
Everyone did as they were told. When Seto reached his place, he couldn't help but cringe when he saw the two newest portraits. Steven's was crossed out by two dragon wings while Jason's had two shooting stars.
"We are here to discuss the murder of Jason, the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Electronic Musician. It's time for our Super Duper Minecrafter participants to solve this mystery and find the culprit/culprits of this heinous crime! If they choose correctly, the blackened alone will be punished. But if they choose incorrectly, then they will all be punished, the blackened will be free to leave, and the show will end!"
MonoWither swung the wooden gavel down on the podium and the trial commenced.
"Well, Seto? What's your defense?" Annie asked in an almost empty, defeated voice.
Tyler immediately spoke up. "His alibi is that-"
"I asked Seto."
Everyone apprehensively turned to face him, unsure how he would respond.
Seto sighed. "Before... Before I can answer that, I need to know what happened before and during the investigation."
"Well maybe you wouldn't have had to ask if you were in your room at the time," Annie replied scathingly.
"I was!"
"Oh really? Then why didn't you answer the door when I knocked on it? Why didn't you come out when the body discovery announcement happened?"
"I don't know what happened, for some reason I just-"
"Slept through it all?" Annie interrupted.
Seto went silent.
"That's a more pathetic excuse than I would have expected from you."
Tyler's face turned pale. "I'm telling you, he fought off someone to save me, of course he was tired! I didn't answer the door when you knocked on it either-"
"Well at least you woke up when you heard the damn body discovery announcement. Like any normal person would."
"Annie, it wouldn't hurt to at least explain what happened..." Bonks said softly.
Annie clenched her fists. "...Fine." She turned to Bodil. "You have the MonoWither File, right?"
"Y-Yeah! Here it is!" Bodil rushed over to Seto and gave the tablet to him.
Seto turned it on and the screen lit up to show Jason's silhouette, which showed bloody marks on his hands and legs.
"The victim is Jason, the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Electronic Musician. He died in the dance room on the third floor at approximately 6 am. There are multiple stabs and slices to both legs, as well as stab wounds through his hands. He was killed when his neck was twisted with violent force, severing his brain stem."
As Seto continued to read the file, Annie cleared her throat. "I woke up at around 5:30 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to take a walk outside. I happened to see Jason heading up the stairs, so I asked him what he was doing. He looked kind of embarrassed, but he told me that he was going to the dance room to think by himself. I was afraid something would happen to him, so I said I would stay outside and keep watch for him. I managed to get him to agree, so we went up to the third floor together. He was in the dance room for about... 20 minutes or so when all of a sudden MonoWither showed up..."
"Hey Annie! Whatcha doing up so early?" the three-headed machine asked coyly.
"Go away," Annie muttered.
"Aw, don't want to chat with us? That's fine! We'll just chat with Jason, then!"
Annie's eyes widened as MonoWither flew up to the scanner. "Wait! Stop!" she cried out to no avail as the doors opened.
Jason was lying on the floor and holding his star to his chest, staring up at the ceiling, before sitting up with a jolt as MonoWither flew through. Annie chased after them.
"Hellooo, Jason!" MonoWither called out, making Jason scramble to his feet and back away from the machine. "What are you doing up so late, huh? Are you having a secret dance party without us?"
"Get out!" Annie shrieked. "Leave him alone!"
"But we wanted to join in his grieving moments! After all, we miss Husky too! Too bad he totally failed to keep his promise to Jason, hahaha!"
"Shut up! You've said enough! Get out right now!"
"Hmph, fine! You're all big meanies anyway..." MonoWither complained, leaving the dance room.
"Jason, I don't want to rush you, but..." Annie looked around. "I don't know, I have a bad feeling-"
"Just a little longer, please?" Jason begged.
Annie looked like she wanted to object, but sighed. "All right, just a bit longer." With that, she left the room as well, shutting the door behind her.
Annie's eyes were filled with tears of anguish and frustration as she retold the experience. "I... I should have trusted my instincts... I should have made him leave... If I had, this wouldn't have happened..." She looked up and her gaze hardened as she faced Seto. "I waited for Jason to come out, but he never did. I waited for a long time, probably about 30 minutes, when I finally decided to check on him. I knocked on the door and called out his name, but he didn't answer. I used my e-Handbook to go in, and you can guess what I saw..."
Seto shuddered as he unwillingly recalled the gruesome image of Jason's body hanging there from the ceiling, propped up so disturbingly above the pool of blood beneath him...
"I panicked and ran back to wake everyone up. Bodil and Bonks heard me, but you and Tyler didn't. I showed them the body, and the announcement rang. I guess that's what got Tyler to finally wake up. But for some reason, you never showed up until way after the investigation was over! And you still haven't given us a proper explanation! Unless you do, you're the obvious culprit of this case! And yes Tyler, I heard your excuse for him, and I don't see how it proves he couldn't have done it! Do you even know what time that incident with the 'masked person' happened?"
"W-Well, um..." Tyler stammered.
"Annie, I know it doesn't sound believable, but I swear I slept through it somehow," Seto murmured. "Just please, hear me out. Listen to me."
"All right, I'm listening." Annie crossed her arms over her chest.
"...I'm not exactly sure when the incident with Tyler happened, but it was probably a few hours before Night Time ended, or maybe even less..."
"So basically, this 'alibi' doesn't work," Annie muttered.
"Not for the murder, no..." Seto replied.
"But the one who killed Jason is obviously the person with the mask!" Tyler declared. "Who else could it possibly be?"
"I guess that's pretty likely, but who is the masked person?" Bonks asked. "And why would they try to kill you?"
Tyler stared down regretfully. "I've been thinking... Maybe if Seto hadn't saved my life, I would be the one dead instead of Jason..."
"S-So you're saying the masked person wanted you to be the target at first?!" Bonks asked, appalled.
"That's exactly what I'm saying! So Slotty isn't the killer because Seto saved me from the masked person!"
"That... does make sense..." Bodil said hesitantly. "I don't know if this is relevant to the case, but can you tell me what the masked person looked like?"
"Um... They had this white mask on... The mask looked really creepy cuz it was smiling..." Tyler recalled slowly.
"A- A white smiling mask?" Bodil stammered.
"They had a black and white cloak on," Seto continued. "The hood of the cloak had these three cones, kind of like a jester hat. They were wearing tall black boots, too."
Bodil gulped, his face extremely pale.
"Bodil? What's wrong?" Bonks asked, concerned.
"I- I've seen someone wearing that before!" Bodil exclaimed.
"What?! You have?!" Annie asked, also shocked.
"When, Bodil?" Seto demanded. "When did you see this person?"
"It- It was when I was still in the infirmary, after I fell down the elevator shaft," Bodil said. "I remember I would wake up sometimes and see that person... operating on me, I think..."
"That had to have been during the third trial," Seto murmured.
"Yes! That means Slotty isn't the killer!" Tyler exclaimed. "Seto was with us the whole time during the third trial! Therefore, he wasn't the one with the mask!"
"But then... who was the one in the mask? All of us were at the trial, too, except for Bodil..." Bonks asked.
"Eek! I'm not the killer! I swear!" Bodil shrieked.
"We know you're not," Annie muttered. "But... this is definitely strange..."
"I know who's the masked person," Seto muttered. "It's clearly the Puppetmaster themselves."
"Th-That's what I've been thinking too!" Bodil said. "The Puppetmaster must have been the one operating on me!"
"So why would the Puppetmaster kill Jason?" Annie demanded. "Why would they try to kill Tyler?"
"To trick us," Seto murmured. "I think they want us to vote for the wrong person and punish us all."
"You- You really think so?!" Bonks cried out, horrified.
"But why would they want to kill us now?!" Bodil demanded.
"...We're already down to five people now, aren't we?" Seto asked. "Maybe this is how they plan to end the show."
"That makes perfect sense!" Tyler said, exclaimed. "That's totally something the Puppetmaster would do!"
"I... I agree..." Bonks murmured. "MonoWither's gotten so much more... irrational lately."
"Yeah, they would definitely pull something like this off, I'm sure of it!" Bodil said.
Seto felt slightly relieved to see them agree with him. Yes, it was obvious! The Puppetmaster was behind all this! They had wanted everyone to vote for Seto and end the show, but he had shown everyone the truth!
"Well MonoWither? Who do we vote for?!" Tyler asked.
"What? Voting already?" MonoWither asked, tilting their heads curiously. "But one person still doesn't agree with you!"
Seto nervously looked at Annie, who had a shadow covering her stone-cold face as she stared down at the floor.
"...Seto, I know what you're trying to do," she said quietly. "I understand why you're doing this. I'm sorry you have to go this far. Maybe if I was in your shoes, I'd be doing the same thing to protect myself."
"...Annie...?"
"But I can't let you do that. I understand everything about this case except for one thing." She raised her head slightly, revealing anguish and remorse. "Why... am I the one still alive? The killer didn't need to go through so much trouble to sneak in without me noticing... They could have just killed me instead... Why did they kill Jason?"
She gritted her teeth and grasped the wooden podium stand. "I said I would protect him. I knew something might happen, so I wanted to keep watch for him, but I failed. I let him get killed under my watch. It's all my fault the killer got to him! This wouldn't have happened if I'd just been more careful! It's all my fault!" She gasped slightly as tears started spilling from her eyes. "It's all my fault..."
"N-No Annie, it's not your fault..." Tyler began.
"Please don't blame yourself!" Bodil begged.
"You were tricked, there wasn't anything you could have done!" Bonks said.
"There's only one last thing I can do for Jason now," Annie continued, wiping her face with her hands. "One last thing to atone for my mistake. And that's to bring his killer to justice. I won't fail him again! I won't fail my friends ever again! That's a promise I'm going to make! But you..." She pointed a trembling finger at Seto. "...you keep getting in the way! You keep lying to protect yourself! You'd lie, even if it gets the rest of us killed!"
"I'm not lying, Annie!" Seto replied. "I want to protect everyone too-"
"SHUT UP!" Annie screamed, her voice ringing in everyone's ears. "I won't listen to a damn thing you say anymore. Not unless you really prove you're telling the truth! I'll make sure everyone votes correctly!"
"Why do you still believe Seto did it?!" Tyler demanded. "Seto couldn't have been the masked person!"
"Tyler, you said the person drugged you with a Potion of Weakness, right? So how much do you really remember?" Annie asked.
"...I remember seeing the masked person... standing by my bed with a knife..." Tyler began hesitantly, grasping his trembling hands and wringing them. "They started cutting my face and hands... and I couldn't move at all because of the potion. They had tied my hands together too for some reason. My vision was fading in and out. I thought I was a goner, but then the masked person suddenly left the side of my bed... I heard Seto yelling, I think. The next thing I knew, the masked person was gone. Seto must have fought them off. He untied my hands and used a Healing Potion for my wounds... He stayed with me... And then I fell asleep..."
"Did you actually see them fight?" Annie asked. "And don't bother trying to lie. You won't help anyone if you do."
Tyler flinched as the blood drained from his face. "I... Um..."
"I fought them off, Annie," Seto said. "Tyler just couldn't see because he couldn't move."
"Well you can't prove that, can you?" Annie retorted.
Seto bit his lip.
"But there's no way Seto could have been the one in the mask, right?" Bonks asked. "Because... why would he change his mind and kill Jason instead of Tyler-"
"You're right about that. That's why I think Slotty was the one in the mask," Annie muttered.
"Slotty?" Bonks asked, her eyes widening.
"No, that's totally wrong!" Tyler shouted. "Seto was in the trial while Bodil was operated on, right?"
"When did we ever prove that the masked person Bodil saw and the masked person you saw were the same one?" Annie countered.
"Wh-What are you talking about?! Of course they were!" Tyler said.
"As if it's impossible for two people to wear the same disguise," Annie muttered. "Since Slotty is the Puppetmaster's servant, this cooperation is not impossible at all. Am I wrong?"
"...I... guess it's possible..." Bodil said hesitantly.
Annie, stop it! This is the Puppetmaster's trap! But how can I stop her? I can't disprove anything she's saying!
"MonoWither could have easily summoned Slotty while Seto was asleep and told him to wear the disguise and kill you. Then during the murder attempt, Seto returned and took off the disguise to heal you. Then he went back to his room, only to have Slotty be summoned again to kill Jason instead."
"... It's horrible, but I can see that happening..." Bonks murmured, shuddering a little.
"But why wouldn't Slotty just try killing Tyler again?" Seto asked. "Tyler would have still been weakened by the potion. It doesn't make sense why the target would change just because I stopped it once."
"Who knows? MonoWither might have just changed their mind! After all, they helped Slotty get into the dance room without me noticing!"
"And where's your proof of that?" Tyler asked.
"Isn't it obvious? Slotty had some invisibility spell on him or something like that. How else could he have gotten into that room undetected? When MonoWither went in, they were actually opening the door for Slotty so that he could sneak in and kill Jason!"
"But when would he have left?" Bodil asked, confused.
"He could have done it anytime after I found the body," Annie replied. "Well? Is there anything that contradicts what I just said?"
"B-Bonks? Bodil?" Tyler asked nervously, turning to face them. "What do you guys think? Don't you believe in Seto still?"
The two of them flinched and drew into themselves, glancing around uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry Seto, I- I really, really want to believe you, please understand, but..." Bonks winced and looked away. "...I don't know who else would be able to position a dead body like that in such a short amount of time... Someone would have to have a lot of strength, and..." Her voice sank even lower as she subconsciously reached for her neck. "...you almost killed me by twisting my neck, didn't you... Slotty probably knows that method, too..."
"Yeah, that's another thing! None of us here are capable of twisting someone's neck like that!" Annie pointed out. "The killer would need superhuman strength! Strength that could have been from magic!"
"The masked person also had magic. They used it when we fought," Seto said.
"And as I just said, we can't prove you're not making that up!" Annie replied.
"Well, what if that wasn't the killing blow?" Tyler countered. "What if he died instead from those stabs in his legs and the killer twisted his neck after he was dead! Wouldn't it be easier then?"
"No, Jason died from his neck being twisted," Seto murmured.
"S-Seto?!" Tyler exclaimed, shocked.
"So you'd actually refuse to lie about the facts of the case, even though it further implicates you as the culprit..." MonoWither suddenly said. "Wow! That's our noble Seto for you!"
"Our noble Seto?!" Annie echoed.
...MonoWither clearly wants me to look suspicious here... Annie, you're doing what they want! Please stop!
"H-How do you know Jason died from the neck being twisted?!" Bodil stammered.
"The wounds on his legs are postmortem. I won't go into detail, but it's clear they occurred after he died," Seto murmured.
"I don't know much about dead bodies, but... I've heard that wounds that are inflicted after death don't bleed as much..." Bonks murmured. "But there was so much blood at the scene..."
"With the way his body was positioned, gravity would have made the cuts bleed more," Seto replied. "I suspect that was why they put so many wounds in Jason's legs even though he was already dead. The culprit was twisted enough to want a more bloody scene. They might have wanted us to think that someone had tortured him to death, when in reality his death was mostly immediate."
"I was wondering why his legs were cut so much..." Tyler mumbled.
"So with everything said, isn't it too obvious?" Seto asked, forcing himself to keep his voice steady.
"What's too obvious?" Bonks said.
"If Slotty is the killer like you claim... Isn't it too obvious? Why would MonoWither make Slotty commit such an obvious crime?"
"In case you haven't noticed, MonoWither hasn't been the most rational lately!" Annie retorted. "Maybe that was the whole point! Maybe they just didn't care and wanted a death as soon as possible!"
"Well- Well how do we know Seto's theory isn't the right one?" Tyler countered.
"You keep asking for proof, Annie," Seto said softly. "But you haven't disproved my theory yet."
"No, I haven't. But I think my theory has more logic behind it! The Puppetmaster killing someone themselves? Why would they do that now? If they failed to actually kill someone, they could have been caught or apprehended! Would they really take the chance to leave wherever they're hiding and kill someone all for the sake of ending the show? How do we even know the Puppetmaster is in this building with us?!"
Annie glared at Seto.
"Well? Do you have any more objections?"
Seto didn't reply. He had to think of something else to save himself and prevent them from voting the wrong person. But how? He couldn't think of anything, no matter how hard he thought. Perhaps, he could-
"CUT!"
Everyone flinched as they turned to face MonoWither, who had risen from their throne.
"Cut, cut! We're running out of time for this episode, so it's time to vote!"
"What?! Now?!" Bodil shrieked.
"We barely got started!" Bonks wailed.
"Yeah, we still haven't convinced everyone who the killer is!" Tyler snapped.
"Too bad, so sad! Just vote for the top suspect! We just want to get the execution over and done with so we can get on with the show! We'd hate to just end it on Part 05!"
Seto's eyes widened in sudden realization. MonoWither wasn't going to kill everyone and end the show. No, they were going to frame him for the murder and execute him because he had spied too much! This was MonoWither's goal all along! How had he been so stupid this whole time and not noticed?!
"Hold on a minute!" Annie shouted. "When did we ever have a time limit?!"
"Well thanks to Seto, who was super late for some reason, our patience has worn thin! Go on, vote!"
"This is bullshit," Seto whispered. "MonoWither, I can't believe you'd actually do this..."
MonoWither cackled. "Come on Seto, don't blame us! This is all your fault! Unless you can come up with a convincing argument, your fate is sealed! Now hurry up and vote, you all have 60 seconds to come to a decision or everyone dies! 60! 59! 58! 57...!"
Everyone looked around, panicking wildly.
"Who do we vote for?!" Bodil cried out.
"I don't know what to do!" Bonks screamed.
Annie sweated nervously as she stared at the screen in front of her, completely silent.
Unless you can come up with a convincing argument, your fate is sealed!
Seto's mind was racing wildly. No, he couldn't die here! He had to do something! He had to prevent them from voting for him no matter what! He had so much valuable information, information that could save them all, he couldn't die here and leave everyone else to fend for themselves! But what the hell could he do?!
Seto glanced at Tyler, who was staring at him with shock. Suddenly, a horrible idea sank its way into Seto's mind like a lurking disease. There was one thing he could do...
But could he really do it? Would it be the right thing?
Seto's heart pounded in his chest as time continued ticking...
1. Accuse Tyler (Go to "Option 1")
2. Keep denying (Go to "Option 2")
