Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration Chapter 18: Dual Disposition (Part 7), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 2: Dual Disposition (Deadly Life Part 2)

Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. There's going to be a good amount of blood, violence, gore, and a little more intense subject matter. You have been warned properly.

The sweet aroma of tea quickly filled the room as the pot was brought down onto the table.

Winter always liked tea. It was about the only thing she actually enjoyed about what was ingrained into her.

Tea like she was having was of high quality, so it was viewed favourably to have some. "Do you want some too?" She offered to the person across from her at the table.

The boy, who looked to be slightly older than her, slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I'd love some." Despite that, he seemed to be pretty casual.

Once Winter turned to look at the door, making sure it was closed, she let out a small sigh. "This is becoming problematic…"

She hated to complain, but the person across from her felt like the only person she could reasonably complain to.

The boy, named Genkei, let out a small laugh. "They're really pushing for this, huh?"

Slowly, Winter took a sip from her tea. When that was done, she placed the cup down delicately. "They say they want to make it official when I turn eighteen." Which wasn't too far in the grand scheme of things. About the time she'd be finished with school.

Genkei let out a sigh, watching the steam leave the cup. "Have you tried persuading them?"

"Of course. However, they refuse to listen." When Winter looked at the boy across from her. She didn't see a potential husband. No, she saw someone she considered family.

Ever since Genkei's family moved in, she had begun to view him as an older brother. And he viewed her as a sister. It was a mutual bond.

Both of them wanted to remain friends, and yet their parents had different ideas in mind. "Do you know why they even want to do this?" Genkei frowned. He never bothered to ask his own parents. Mostly because he felt as if he wouldn't get any form of answer.

Winter put her cup down, letting out a sigh. "The exact reason you might be able to surmise." Looking at Genkei, she could understand why her parents wanted this.

Genkei was from the Kinoshita family, who is currently one of the wealthiest families in Japan. If

Winter could get with someone like that, then life for her would be pretty set, wouldn't it?

They were leagues richer than Winter's family, so most girls would jump at the opportunity to be in such a marriage…

Every girl except for Winter, it seems. Being forced into a marriage like that? It wasn't love. Glancing off to the side, she shook her head. "I don't want to be controlled anymore."

Genkei frowned slightly, placing his tea cup down. Winter had mentioned this to him before, but she never truly went into details. "In what way do they control you?"

Winter smiled slightly, sensing the concern in his voice. She had always avoided going into details, but today felt different. With everything that was happening, she just wanted to talk to someone about it.

And Genkei was the person to talk about.

"They make me feel like a person… I'm not." Winter let out a sigh. "All my actions haven't felt like my own." She adjusted her kimono, frowning slightly. "Even down to what I wear."

Sure, she liked the kimono. But only because she grew to like it with how much her parents got her to wear it for events.

Just like everything else. "The way I speak, the way I act…" Winter trailed off, cutting herself off with tea.

Not because she was thirsty or anything, but because she just wanted to stop talking.

It was conflicting to someone like Winter…

Because she didn't view her parents as horrible.

In fact, she knew she should feel blessed to have such loving parents. Parents who want the best future for her.

They were always looking out for her. Winter couldn't deny that fact. And yet… She couldn't help but feel some form of… Resentfulness after all these years.

Slowly, Winter glanced over at Genkei, waiting for what he'd say.

Crossing his arms, Genkei's frown deepened. "I know what you mean. My family was the same way. With you is the only time I feel like I can be myself."

This did put a smile on Winter's face. "And they want to ruin this bond we have." Once again, it wasn't that Winter disliked Genkei.

But this sibling bond was at risk of being threatened if the proposed marriage went through.

Soon, silence filled the room.

The two were just content with enjoying the quiet.

That is, until Winter spoke up. Her tone of voice was different from the rest of the conversation. This time, it felt a bit more serious. "I've been thinking…"

"Hmm?" Genkei glanced over at her. Despite the shift in tone, he didn't seem too concerned with what she would come up with. "About what?"

Winter's eyes focused on her cup of tea in her hand, watching as it swirled lightly around the cup.

"Of a way to get back at them." She finally answered, tearing her focus away from her drink. Instead, looking back at the ceiling.

A way to get… "What exactly are you thinking?" This did concern Genkei a bit, but he wasn't about to stop her either.

Now, Winter didn't exactly have any ideas, so she could only frown. "I don't know… I didn't think that far."

She didn't know how she wanted to do it… She just knew that she wanted to do it.

"Why not just start with something they hold dear?" Genkei suggested. Besides that, he didn't have anything else in mind.

Something they hold dear… Soon, a small smile appeared on Winter's face. "I like that idea a lot." As her eyes shifted to the side, an idea formed in her head. "You know the app my father runs, right?"

Obviously Genkei knew about it, so it felt more like a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question he answered anyways. "Love Letter?"

Nodding her head, Winter continued. "I was wondering if there was something we could do about that." Just like her current situation, she knew many other arranged marriages happened via the app.

Genkei looked at the ground, deep in thought. Then, a smile formed on his face as he looked over at Winter. "Well, if you're going to do something about it. Then I'm here to offer my full support."

"H-huh?" Winter had just been talking, so she wasn't expecting Genkei to jump at the opportunity to help her out.

But that's why she liked him. Winter knew she could always count on Genkei whenever she needed it.

"You don't have to, you know." Winter glanced off to the side, shaking her head.

However, even she knew that once Genkei had his mind made up, he wasn't going to back up.

And as she suspected, Genkei shook his head. "You've told me what you must do, so I have no choice but to offer you my help."

Someone she could always count on. Winter let out a happy sigh as she glanced off to the side.

Despite all that was happening, she hoped that the arranged marriage wouldn't go through.

She wanted to find someone on her own, someone she could love more than anyone else.

Winter knew a man for her was out there somewhere.

She just had to find them.

It was a haunting atmosphere, being here… In the trial ground.

So much so that they all stood around in silence, not wanting to be the first one to break it.

At one point, Monokawa was content in just letting them waste their time doing nothing. But still, he didn't want his time wasted as well. "Alright! Alright!" He floated over towards the center of the podiums. "Let me tell you how this is all going to work. You are here to debate on the death of Benoit. You do so by throwing arguments back and forth-"

"Yes, I get it." May let out a yawn, interrupting Monokawa's rant.

"..."

"Anyways! Once you figure out who the blackened is, you will all vote for them to end the trial. Or…" Monokawa trailed off, thinking of an idea. "Ah, who am I kidding. I just got a wicked idea!" Slowly, a monitor rose up behind him. "Honestly, I should have made this a rule a while ago." He shrugged, revealing a two hour timer. "From now on, all trials will have this timer. Once it reaches zero, you aren't allowed to debate on who is the killer. You can have a little extra time to talk about the vote, however."

"Two hours?" Gemini mumbled out. That wasn't great.

Gigi opened up the rules app, noting that it was now there. "There wasn't a notification for this?"

Monokawa shrugged. "Yeah, sorry. The watch doesn't notify you when a change to the rule occurs. Nova or I are supposed to tell you."

Looking back at the rule, Gigi read it out loud.

Rule #17: Once a trial begins, a two hour timer starts. Debating on who the killer is can only happen during this time. If you push your luck, I will force you all to skip the vote."

Gigi frowned slightly at it. "Any reason you want us to have a time limit."

Monokawa shrugged. "Not really. But I thought it would make it so it's impossible to stall."

Closing her watch, Gigi let out a sigh. "Very well."

Now that people were finally starting to talk, Gemini decided it was best to take the lead from here. "From what we know, the victim is Benoit, he was found dead in the Ultimate Referee Station, with the cause of death being electrocution, and the time of death being 4:30pm." All information that was readily given to them from the Station Report. "Beyond that, we don't know much else."

"Wouldn't it be best to figure out what everyone was doing at that time?" Hae-Won suggested. "If we get a sense of what everyone was doing, we can probably eliminate a few possibilities right off the bat."

Atlas sneered a bit. "I'll save everyone some time right now. Because during that time, a rather important event was happening. Namely…"

…

"The soccer game."

"Right." Gigi crossed her arms. "From 4:00pm to up until the body was discovered, many of us were stuck playing soccer. Those people being Ian, Benjamin, Laki, Atlas, Hae-Won, and Melody were all there." There was a brief pause. "As was myself." She didn't want to be left out of this. "Thus, it would have been impossible for any of us to have gone and kill Benoit."

Gennosuke grimaced slightly. "That's already a lot of people off the suspect list." Almost half the people to be precise. "Then, where was everyone else?" He flashed a smile.

Letting out a small yawn, May spoke up. "I was sleeping… Not that it helps much."

Gennosuke shook his head. "No, it doesn't really."

"Well…" Gemini trailed off. "How about before we get alibis, we worry about exactly how Benoit died, then we can work from there. We'd probably save ourselves a lot of time."

"Right! That may be the best course of action! Who was the first person to discover the body?" Tatiana glanced around the room.

Slowly, Edison lifted up his hand. "I was… I discovered the body when I was heading to the Ultimate Referee Station for a planned meetup."

Gigi slowly nodded her head. "The planned meetup was supposed to be at 5:00pm, but of course, that didn't end up happening."

"What was the state of the body like when you found it?" Hae-Won closed her eyes.

"Huh… Well…" It's not really something Edison wanted to describe, so he took the easy way out. "It's the same when everyone came to do the investigation." He explained. "I discovered that he was covered in water."

"Huh?" Tatiana tilted her head to the side. "Water? Where would there have even been water? Last I checked, there wasn't any water source in that station."

Gemini let out a small laugh. "Is that what you really think?"

What? "Yes, that's why I said it." Tatiana wouldn't say things she didn't think. "It was an Ultimate Referee Station, what use was there for water there?"

Gemini let out another laugh. "There actually was water in that station. If you just look at…"

…

"The water dispenser."

"Oh right!" Edison had forgotten all about it. "There was one in that room, wasn't there?"

Nodding his head, Gemini continued. "And when the body was discovered, the water dispenser was knocked over right next to Benoit. It isn't hard to consider that he might have been drenched by the water from that cooler."

"And then what?" Atlas raised an eyebrow. "They just electrocuted him? I don't see how that'd happen."

"I'm inclined to agree." Ian frowned slightly. "Benoit was a big guy, it would not only be difficult to drench him in water, but to get the jump on him as well. You're telling me he doesn't fight back after that?"

Hae-Won slowly nodded. "He was a soft guy, but I have to agree. He would have done something."

"Oh." Gennosuke spoke up, a smile on his face. "It would have been easy for anyone to get the jump on him. Even someone like May."

"Hmm?" May was hoping this wasn't some sort of accusation.

"Oh yeah? And how do you figure that?" Lorelei placed a hand on her hip.

Sticking his hands into his pocket, Gennosuke responded. "Guess for the most part, none of you were really affected by it, but it would have been easy for anyone to get the jump on Benoit because of…"

…

"The motive."

"Oh right." Ian, being the absolute king he was, had forgotten entirely about the motive, given that he had been gambling for the most part. "That would have knocked him out for a period of time, wouldn't it have?"

Edison slowly nodded his head, pulling out Benoit's bracelet. "Actually, Benoit had zero coins when I checked his watch."

"Question." Winter turned towards Nova. "But did the motive end once a body was dropped?"

"The motive ended after the body discovery announcement went off." Nova explained. "However, the watch of the victim would have been changed into an inactive state."

"So…" Michael trailed off, trying to figure out what that meant. "His coin total wouldn't have changed after his death?"

"Exactly!" Monokawa floated up. "What you see is what he died with."

Winter nodded her head. "Which means he was likely killed while passed out." Maybe that meant he didn't feel any of the pain from his cause of death.

Ian frowned slightly. "Well, you are only unconscious for about ten minutes, so there was still a chance he woke up during his death, if it happened later on in the cycle."

"Hmm…" Dae-Hyun hummed out. "But doesn't that mean the killer would have needed to know who Benoit was paired up with, or was this a murder in the heat of the moment?"

Right… To think they'd need to plan out for Benoit to become unconscious… There just wasn't much sense to it.

"So, there's the possibility none of this was planned out…" Hae-Won hummed out, closing her eyes. "That's likely…"

Edison quickly shook his head. "Actually, I think it's impossible for it to be a heat of the moment murder." He adjusted his goggles.

"Really?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "And what makes you so sure about that?"

"It's simple… It's simple if you take a look at one of the objects in the room… Namely…"

…

"The battery."

"Right…" Hae-Won slowly nodded her head. "The battery is what caused the electrocution after all."

Glad to know someone understood. "The battery, however, was not from the Ultimate Referee Station."

"Then where was it from?" Ian raised an eyebrow.

Quickly, the proud expression on Edison's face faltered. "Oh… Well… Huh…" He hadn't seen the battery until that moment, so he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "You see…" He looked around, trying to find anyone who could help him. That's when his eyes landed on Dae-Hyun, who had been staring at him for a bit. "You! Help me!"

That sounded like a bother. He was going to ignore him completely, except for the fact that he knew exactly where the battery came from. "Alright, alright…" Dae-Hyun removed his hands from his pocket. "The battery didn't come from the Ultimate Referee Station. In fact, it came from…"

…

"The Ultimate Soccer Player Station."

"Huh?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "I don't remember anything like that in my station. I checked the storage, asshole. Nothing like that there."

Was he? They had investigated together… so… "You must have simply missed it, but I found it when Melody and I were investigating."

"Oh!" Melody quickly remembered where it was. "You mean attached to the scoreboard, right?"

"Bingo."

"Oh!" Atlas went wide eyed. "I didn't bother checking back there. I figured you two had it covered."

Edison nodded his head along, acting like he knew that the entire time. "If we factor that in, then it becomes impossible for it to have been second degree murder."

"But that raises another question." Gigi pointed out. "If the culprit knew that Benoit was going to pass out, that meant they would also need to know who exactly his partner was. And, from what I can tell, there was no easy way to know this."

Michael shook his head. "No… We weren't even told who our partners were, after all."

Ian shrugged. "Hey, we've had the motive for a few days now, and people have had plenty of time to make observations."

"Actually!" Lorelei just spoke up. "The motive is over now, right." She turned to look at Monokawa. "Are we allowed to know who was paired up with who? It wouldn't get in the way of the motive now."

Slowly floating up into the air, Monokawa raised a paw. "Thank you for asking! People should do that more often!" He pulled out a remote control, pressing the button on it.

Slowly, a large monitor began to descend from the ceiling, playing intense classical music before stopping about halfway down. When the screen turned on, it revealed…

…

A large question mark.

The trial grounds slowly morphed into silence as they all stared ahead, trying to piece together what exactly it all meant.

"Huh… Monokawa?" Gemini wanted some answers.

"I forgor." Skull emoji. He made a dumb fucking face.

"What do you MEAN you forgot?!" Atlas slammed the heel of his leg onto his podium. "Stop playing stupid games with us and tell us!"

Nova let out a small sigh. "Poor you, Monokawa. Always so forgetful. And to think you are here working on this killing game. I might need to replace you at this rate."

They were getting nowhere with Monokawa, so Gigi figured it was best to move to the next best thing. "Alright, Nova, are you able to tell us?"

Quickly, she shook her head. "Oh. No. I don't remember either."

This trial was off to a great start.

"Really?" This was getting ridiculous in Tatiana's opinion. "How do you both not remember?"

"Hey listen up asshole!" Monokawa floated over to her. "There's like eighteen of you fucks. We just hit randomise and never looked back."

Letting out a sigh, Gemini shook his head. "It looks like this won't be an easy avenue to go down. Maybe we should put this on the back burner and focus more on the evidence we have gathered. Once we reach a better conclusion, we might be able to revisit this thread."

Gigi nodded her head. "It would probably be for the best. There's a lot of different combinations it could be." It was almost impossible to tell, and where the real trick of the motive lies. Especially since one party member could pass out with the other one being fine.

"Well…" Ian trailed off, placing his hands in his pockets. "Wouldn't it make sense for Benoit's partner to also pass out? At least once, right?"

Hae-Won hummed to herself as she thought of something. "However, if any of us had passed out, we would have brought it up by now."

"True…" Ian frowned slightly.

Glancing around the room, Winter decided to speak up. "What if Benoit's partner did pass out, but they just didn't know it was because of the drug?"

"Huh?" Dolly tilted her body slightly. "How wouldn't they know! They'd suddenly get very sleepy!"

"That's exactly my point." Winter continued, twirling her finger around her hair. "I'm saying it's entirely likely Benoit's partner did not even know that they were injected."

Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah? You're saying that like you know who his partner was."

Slowly, a smile formed on Winter's face. "That's because I do know who his partner was. Benoit's partner was…"

…

"May."

"Hmm…?" May hummed out, upon hearing her name. She wasn't too surprised, however.

Tilting her head to the side, Winter glanced over at her. "May, could you show us your coin total?"

"..." At first, May didn't move. She wasn't sleeping or anything, as her eyes slowly turned to look at Winter. Eventually, however, she simply spoke. "It's zero." She didn't even need to check her watch for it.

Gigi narrowed her eyes. "You knew your total was zero, and didn't say anything."

Choosing not to answer, May only looked away.

Seems like Winter would need to take it from here. "After the body discovery announcement went off, I found her sleeping in the cafeteria. I was worried that she might have perished, so I checked to see if she was still alive." She glanced away, twirling her hair around her finger. "However, when I approached her, I noticed she was breathing. I didn't want to leave her there, so I stayed by her side until she was awake."

"Yes…" May hummed out. "She was there when I woke up…"

"So…" Gemini trailed off, glancing to the side. "Benoit went unconscious because May was out of range."

"And it wouldn't have taken long… for someone to figure out Benoit was a good target…" May pointed out. "He had been at zero for a while…"

'He… Had?" Dae-Hyun raised an eyebrow. "And you know this… how?"

"I checked the totals every time it updated…" May shrugged. "Ever since last night… It has been zero."

"And not at one point did you think to tell him." Gigi narrowed her eyes. "Or inform someone who could have given him coins."

"..." Once again, May didn't answer. She only glanced off to the side.

As much as he knew that the others would want to get to the bottom of that, Gemini knew it was only going to cause further distractions. "As of now, I don't think it matters. If May was passed out because Benoit was passed out, it likely means she isn't the killer."

Seira nodded along with what he had to say. "Right, we should go back to worrying about everything else."

"Fine, fine." Gigi would need to talk to May when she had the chance. "So, what do we know so far? Benoit and May were partners, and he was electrocuted in my Ultimate Station."

Edison adjusted his goggles, having just come up with a new idea. "Actually… I have reasons to believe that the Ultimate Referee Station… isn't the crime scene."

"Huh?" Atlas raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"It's just…" Edison raised up one of his flasks to examine it. "Something feels off about the room…"

For once, Seira was actually coming to his aid. "No, I think I know what you mean. There's a part of the room that doesn't make sense if we consider he was electrocuted there." She could see where his mind was going, so she'd carry the torch for him.

"Hmm?" Gennosuke hummed out. "Mind enlightening us a bit?"

"Yes… What proves that the crime scene isn't the Ultimate Referee Station is…"

…

"The cart."

"Bit underwhelming…" Laki noticed. "I thought you'd say something more exciting."

Edison shook his head. "You have to put more energy into it. Like this!" He took a deep breath. "THE CAAAAAAART!"

Now that was exciting! Laki nodded her head. "Yes! Just like that!"

Now they were both ganging up on her? After she had just helped Edison. "I've learned my lesson." He would be on his own next time. Letting out a small sigh, Seira continued on. "The cart proves that the crime scene couldn't have been the Ultimate Referee Station. In fact, the cart was used to transport Benoit out of the real crime scene."

"You've got as much brain as you do talent." Dae-Hyun called out, hands in his pockets.

"H-huh?" Was he calling Seira brainless and talentless? What was with people and attacking her talent. "Oh yeah? And why are you so sure about that?"

The talent manager took his hands out of his pocket to grip onto the podium. "Because, saying that without adding anything else is meaningless. So far, it's the only place that the killer could have killed Benoit."

Stepping in to save the day, was Gennosuke. "Hey, lay off her, will you?" He flashed a smile. "All she needs to do is tell us why it's the cart and everything will be fine." Never mind, he was making her do all the work anyways.

Which was fine, this was Seira's battle. "You might not have noticed since you didn't investigate the Ultimate Referee Station, but the thing that was off about the cart was…"

…

"It was wet."

Dae-Hyun however, didn't seem too bothered by it. "It was wet? So what? We already know that the water dispenser had been spilled everywhere at the scene of the crime. What's stopping it from reaching the cart?"

"No." Gemini finally spoke up. He wasn't going to leave Seira to fend for herself right now, unlike a certain psychic in this room. "That'd be impossible, unless the killer did something unnecessary."

"You can keep talking all you want." Dae-Hyun crossed his arms. "But you know you've got to prove it."

Oh, Gemini was fine with proving it. "You can prove that the cart wasn't wet because of the water dispenser if you take into consideration the cart's…"

…

"Location."

"Exactly." Seira nodded her head. "The cart wasn't even near Benoit's body when the crime scene was investigated!"

Seira had knelt down to investigate the cart, she didn't know why she did this, but something felt off about it. "Huh…? What's this?" Inspecting it closer, she noticed that the games were hiding it slightly, but the cart itself was wet. "How did that…?" She turned to look at Gemini, who was on the complete other side of the room, investigating the water dispenser. "Do you think this is odd?"

Slowly, Gemini got up, walking across the room to investigate. After looking at it for a few seconds, he nodded his head. "It might be worth bringing it up during the trial."

Edison nodded his head along. "In fact, when I got into the station today, the cart was actually in front of the table. Which is even further than where it was now."

Realising just what they meant, Dae-Hyun quickly took a step back. "Fine…" He conceded.

"But…" Hae-Won spoke up, looking around. "If the Ultimate Referee Station wasn't the scene of the crime. Then where was it?"

"Oh…" Seira mumbled out, having not thought that far ahead. "I only really investigated that room, so I'm not quite sure…"

"Luckily, I was one of the few smart people who decided to investigate anywhere else." Lorelei spoke up, a grin on her face. "There was one more room where he was likely to have died in. That being…"

…

"The garden." She revealed. "It was the only other place that was nearby that would have had water."

"Hmm?" Gennosuke hummed out. "From the sprinklers?" He had a hard time believing that. "I know they were always running, but it seems like such a minute amount of water, I doubt that would have been enough to aid in his electrocution. Not to mention all of that water would have been absorbed into the soil."

"No, perhaps not." Winter spoke up, her mind already thinking of exactly what must have happened. "But there were two more water sources in that very room."

"Oh? Was there?" Gennosuke reached into his pocket, pulling out a lollipop. "Then why don't you tell us about them, don't you?"

"Gladly. The other two water sources are…"

…

"The faucet and ceiling sprinklers."

"Oh yeah…" Gennosuke tilted his head to the side, not really losing his smile. "I guess those were there."

"But were they both used?" Edison asked, thinking for a moment.

"Nope!" Lorelei spoke up. "I think only one of them was actually used." She placed her hands in her pockets. "And it's obvious which one it was. The one used was…"

…

"The sprinklers." Lorelei seemed pretty confident in their answer. "There's no doubt about it."

Edison slowly nodded his head. "So they activated those sprinklers and drenched the entire room in water!"

"Haha! What a fantastic act you've put on!" Tatiana called out, covering her eyepatch with her hand. "But what reason do you have to believe that those sprinklers are what did it?"

Really? She was going to fight Lorelei about that? "Because I know they were used."

Tatiana shook her head. "I find it hard to believe. There'd be no reason to have to use the sprinklers, when the faucet was right there!" She pointed over to Michael. "Take him as an example! I saw the aftermath of when he tried to use the faucet."

Winter slowly nodded her head. "Yes, it was very messy."

Looking around, Michael couldn't help but share the sentiment. "It would be nice…" But they still had some things they needed to check out. "We should follow the sprinklers." He moved over towards one of the many at their disposal. Following the hose, he eventually found where it led to. "Ah, here it is." Kneeling down, he inspected the faucet. He attempted to detach the hose from the faucet, only for water to start pouring out. "Ah-" He quickly turned off the water. "I should have thought of that."

Winter made sure to stay a distance away so she wouldn't get splashed by some of the water. "I guess that answers whether there's a faucet here or not." Not sure what use something like that would have, but it's good to know. "Is that everything this place has to offer?" Then again, it was more than some of the other rooms had, safe for maybe the Ultimate Talent Manager Station, which had an overwhelming amount.

Slowly, the hooded figure stood up, wringing his cloak to get some of the water out. "Yes… I think this might be it."

Tatiana had a cocky smile on her face. "Exactly, in a matter of seconds, he was drenched by water. He was still wringing his cloak out when I left the shed. An overwhelming amount of water like that should have been enough on its own. No need for the overhead sprinklers."

At first, Lorelei didn't say anything. She only smiled. "You really are stupid?" She let out a laugh, holding onto her podium so she didn't fall over. "Ohhhh you crack me up." She wiped away a fake tear. "There was a reason that the killer couldn't have used the faucet to fill up the room. It becomes obvious when you look at…"

…

"The cause of death."

"Electrocution…?" Tatiana wasn't sure where Lorelei was going with this. "How does that have anything to do-"

"Simple." Lorelei shrugged. "They couldn't risk being in the same room as the water began to fill up, or else they'd risk getting electrocuted."

Still, Tatiana wasn't going to back down. "Haha! You amuse me! But couldn't the killer have simply thrown in the battery after the room had begun to fill up."

Oh! That was a fair point. "They could have! But the real question is… Did they?"

"Huh?"

"That line of thinking is pointless if we can prove that they didn't throw the battery into the room, right?" Lorelei let out a yawn, growing increasingly bored of this back and forth. "Someone else cover for me. I've lost interest."

Winter let out a small sigh. Of course Lorelei would get bored of it. Then again, this was the evidence that Winter found, so it made sense for her to be the one to say it. "The evidence left behind to prove that the battery wasn't thrown in was…"

…

"The scorch marks on the ground."

Tatiana took a step back. ."What about the scorch marks on the ground?"

"Well…" Winter hummed out, playing around with her hair again. "Calling it just that isn't exactly getting the full picture. In reality, they were rectangular shaped."

"What's this?" Winter leaned over to take a better look in the ground. From the looks of it, something had been placed here before, but it had long since been removed.

Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "Are you losing your mind or something?"

Winter shook her head. "No… It's like… something rectangular was placed here…" She could see the edges of where the object used to be… But she couldn't make out what it was. But it was hidden behind a bunch of plants… "It's far away from the door." Winter finally noted, standing up. She had no idea what it was, though. "There appears to be faint burn marks on the floor." Well, it looked more like scorch marks, but who was really keeping track? That was the only other thing she noticed about the rectangle.

"It's more than likely that that's where the battery was planted." Winter continued on. "And, based solely on location, it was unlikely to be thrown there."

However, Tatiana wasn't just going to give up on her argument. Quickly, she had pulled out a knife, tossing it straight at Winter's podium.

Winter had to take a step back as the knife stuck itself into her podium. "W-Watch it!"

Laughter. "Lovely story you have formed there! It was almost enough to convince me. However! There are still some aspects missing, don't you think?" Tatiana placed a hand on her hip, using her other hand to point at Winter. "Namely, what they even used to activate the sprinklers!"

"Oh? That?" Lorelei scoffed at the very idea. They rolled their eyes with an amused smile. "I can easily explain that. All you have to look at is…"

…

"The glass shards."

"Glass shards…?" Tatiana mumbled out. She hadn't known about that, but what did it mean exactly?

"Right." Winter slowly nodded her head. "We did end up finding some glass shards at the scene of the crime."

"Ow! Fuck!" Lorelei quickly retracted her hand back, having cut herself on something.

Winter was standing above her, looking down. "What happened? Did you cut yourself?"

Wiping the blood off on a nearby plant, Lorelei slowly nodded her head. "Yeah… What the hell?" She carefully reached through the ground, pulling out some glass shards. "What the hell?" Not to mention they noticed that there were a few parts of the plants nearby that seemed burnt up.

Winter also took notice of it, examining the plants. "When did these catch on fire…?" More importantly… How? There shouldn't have been a fire in the first place.

"Not only that…" Lorelei continued, that cocky smile on her face. "But it was apparent that some fire must have gone off in the garden, which would have triggered the sprinklers in the first place."

Dae-Hyun crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "Are you saying…"

"You! I am! These glass shards are more than likely from…"

…

"A molotov."

"Kg-" Tatiana gritted her teeth as she narrowed her eye. "Something like that had been in play the entire time?"

Winter slowly nodded her head, humming a bit. "With a molotov, they would have been safely able to activate the water from outside the room, causing the entire room to flood."

"Woah, woah." Atlas narrowed his eyes. "You're bringing up things we hadn't even heard of being around before. A molotov? Where the fuck would the killer even get something like that."

"Come on Atlas." Hae-Won shook her head, not even bothering to look at him. "You can't be this stupid, can you?"

"You want to go bitch." Atlas stepped away from his podium, ready to go fight Hae-Won at this very moment.

However, before he could make it any further, a loud voice stopped him from going. "Enough!" It was Gigi. "This isn't the time to try and settle a petty score. We have a trial to get too."

Mumbling something under his breath, Atlas quickly returned to his spot. "Fine. But tell me, where did they even get the stuff to make one?"

"Easy." Gennosuke pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "There was only one place where they would have gotten what they needed…"

…

"The bar."

Hae-Won slowly nodded her head. "Right. The bar was lined up with bottles of liquor behind the counter.

Ian frowned, hearing that. "But I thought we weren't able to pass behind there?"

"Yeah." Gennosuke let out a small laugh. "You remember what happened when I tried?"

Moving his focus back over, he noticed the robot who was preparing the drink. It was weird to have one here, but there was also one at the table earlier. Maybe this whole place was supposed to sell the illusion of an actual casino. "Guess it wouldn't be one if we had to serve ourselves." As he spoke, the robot slowly approached him, giving him a glass of alcohol. It felt intimidating, so he turned his attention over towards the back of the bar.

Without taking a sip of his drink, he slowly got up. "I'm curious about this, so let me try something out." The psychic moved over to the other side of the bar, where there was a small opening. As soon as he attempted to enter the back of the bar, however.

"Not another step!" A robotic voice called out, quickly making their way over to him. "You are not allowed beyond this point!"

Still, he wasn't going to give up without- SHOVE! He felt himself fall down from the force that the robot exerted on him. "Well…" He winced in pain as he had landed on his back. "No easy way around that." Standing back up, he wobbled over towards his seat again.

Dae-Hyun slowly nodded, recalling seeing that robot when he had gone to the bar. "And they don't bring out bottles to you. Instead, they only bring out the drinks you ordered in a glass."

"Not much of a molotov if it's in a glass…" Lorelei mumbled out, shaking her head. "Then how do you suggest they even had the chance to get a bottle?"

"Oh!" Dolly's eyes lit up, which was weird for a doll to be able to do, but whatever, I already wrote the line and I'm not deleting it. "I know! I know!" She lifted her hand up.

Given that nobody else was humouring her, Tatiana took the initiative. She had already backed away from her initial argument, after all. "And how would the killer be able to get the bottle?"

Dolly looked back at Benjamin, nodding to him, before looking at everyone else. "The killer could have easily gotten the bottle if…"

…

"They had an accomplice!"

Well, that was a big claim coming from Dolly. A claim they couldn't back up with evidence, but that wasn't going to stop her from talking. "You see, if the killer had an accomplice, the robot wouldn't have been able to stop them both! Surely one of them would be able to walk away with the bottle."

Gigi frowned at this idea. "But, what reason would the accomplish have for helping the killer? The rules state that only one person can leave, so it would be stupid to help."

"Oh…" Dolly lowered her arms. "I thought I was onto something…"

"Hmm…" Gennosuke hummed out before flashing a smile. "Hey, we shouldn't just discount an idea like this because of a rule like that. People are bound to work together inevitably."

"There's a chance that the accomplice didn't even know that they were helping the killer." Seira suggested. "For example, what if the killer managed to take the bottle without them noticing?"

"They'd be pretty fucking dumb to not notice that!" Atlas called out, but his expression softened slightly. "But yeah, I guess it isn't out of the question."

"Has anyone here had a run in with the robot?" Gigi looked around all the podiums. However, before she could take a look at everyone. "Put your hand down, Gennosuke."

With that same smile on his face, Gennosuke slowly lowered his hand. "Hey, I was just telling the truth." He stuck the lollipop back in his mouth. "I don't want to be called a liar, after all."

Ignoring him, Gigi continued to look around the room, but found nothing. "Nobody wants to admit to it?"

May hummed out, tilting her head to the side. "There might actually be an accomplice…"

"But we don't seem to have a way to prove it." Gemini pointed out, shaking his head. "Do we just move on to the next talking point?"

Hae-Won shrugged. "Knowing there was an accomplice might be good to know for later."

If they even had a way to prove if there was one. "Another method for getting the bottle might appear later as well." Gemini suggested. "We should be on the lookout for something like that."

Ian felt like they should bring up another talking point. "Oh, and as to not waste time on how the molotov was lit… There's a lighter you are able to purchase at the prize corner."

Gennosuke slowly nodded his head. "It was one of the limitless prizes, so it was impossible to see if anyone had purchased any."

Monokawa let out a sigh. "If someone had asked, I would have politely given a list of everything that was purchased."

Quickly, sparkles began to form in Laki's eyes. "Really? You would have done that."

"Pfft! Naaah!" Monokawa waved his hand dismissively. "Why would I ever do that?"

Pouting slightly, Laki crossed her arms. "You're mean."

Now they were severely getting off topic, and Tatiana was hoping to get back on track. She placed a hand on her hip. "Where were we again?"

"I think we were in the middle of a rebuttal showdown!" Dolly mentioned.

As soon as Tatiana remembered, she let out the same laugh she always did, before pointing her knife in no particular direction. "As I was saying!"

She had mostly lost her original argument from going on this side tangent, but she was going to continue to argue because Tatiana found it fun. "That's all good and all, but after the sprinklers go off, you say the room flooded? How could the room do such a thing, given that there was a drain!"

Honestly, Winter had to commend her about the act she was putting on. But first, she would need to tear down whatever argument she had. "Yes, there was a drain, you aren't wrong."

"Huh?" Laki tilted her head to the side. "But how about how the water stayed in the room? If water was always spraying around, wouldn't it just go down the drain?"

"Right!" Dolly lifted her hands up in the air.

Winter remained silent for a bit, her eyes closed. When she was ready to speak, she opened them, looking over at Laki. "There was a drain, however… I fear that even it wouldn't have been able to drain the water at that time."

Lorelei slowly nodded her head. "That's right." They crossed their arms. "In fact, the drain…"

…

"Was clogged."

"Clogged…" Dae-Hyun mumbled out. "I guess that would do it…"

So THAT was their angle. Tatiana could understand where their logic was coming from… And yet, she couldn't help but refute it. Someone had to do it after all…

Tatiana crossed her arms, smiling at Winter, given she was the one to respond. "You surmise that the killer used the molotov to flood the room, and then waited for Benoit to be electrocuted."

Winter didn't bother saying anything. In fact, she was far more curious to see what exactly Tatiana's argument here would be.

"But there's an issue with that." Tatiana continued on anyways, given that nobody spoke up. "As soon as the door opened, the water would come flooding out. The hallway outside would have puddles everywhere."

Nova decided to chip in this time. "That is true. The station isn't well equipped for draining water, given that… We live on a space station. The only problem water should cause is a lack of it."

Edison raised up one of his flasks in the air. "On a scale of one to ten, how likely are we to run out of water?"

Nova abstained from answering.

"N-Nova?" Edison began to panic a bit. "How… How much water do we have on this station?"

Back to what really mattered, Winter let out a small giggle. "Oh my, did you already forget about the layout of the room, perhaps?"

Tatiana couldn't hide the frown that slowly spread onto her face. "The… layout?"

"Yes, there's something unique about that room that would have prevented water from flooding out of the door. That being…"

…

"The steps at the entrance."

Twirling a finger around her hair, Winter hummed out. "Recall what we had to do when we first entered the room."

Stepping into the garden, the quarter was greeted by a completely different sight from the rest of the station. They needed to take a few steps down, given that the room was down a few small steps.

"Wow…" Winter hummed out, looking around at some of the flowers. "To think a place like this existed in this station."

"The room was at a slightly lower elevation." Winter continued her explanation, turning her body to the side. "Which meant that water could gather in the room without much trouble. It wouldn't be at risk of flooding out of the room."

"Haha!" Tatiana let out another laugh. "But that amount of water would not have been enough to cause Benoit to become electrocuted. His boots would have prevented any water from coming into contact with his skin."

"I wonder…" Winter frowned slightly, before it turned back to a smile. "Was Benoit even standing when he was electrocuted?"

"H-huh?" Tatiana crossed her arms, her smile gone from her face. "Why would he be face down in the water?"

If Winter had tea with her, she'd take a sip of it before delivering her next line. Alas, she wasn't fortunate enough to have that with her in the trial. "Recall what we had just discussed earlier."

Edison slowly nodded his head, pulling out Benoit's bracelet. "Actually, Benoit had zero coins when I checked his watch."

"Question." Winter turned towards Nova. "But did the motive end once a body was dropped."

"The motive ended after the body discovery announcement went off." Nova explained. "However, the watch of the victim would have been changed into an inactive state."

"So…" Michael trailed off, trying to figure out what that meant. "His coin total wouldn't have changed after his death?"

"Exactly!" Monokawa floated up. "What you see is what he died with."

Winter nodded her head. "Which means he was likely killed while passed out." Maybe that meant he didn't feel any of the pain from his cause of death.

Ian frowned slightly. "Well, you are only unconscious for about ten minutes, so there was still a chance he woke up during his death, if it happened later on in the cycle."

Michael slowly nodded his head. "Right… It's entirely likely that Benoit was face down in the water when he was electrocuted."

Gemini brought his hand to his chin. "Everything seems to point that this is all true…"

However… There was still one last point that needed to be brought up

And the one to notice this was Dae-Hyun. "I'm not going to let this go overlooked… You said the drain was clogged, right?"

Lorelei nodded their head. "Yup! Clogged." They pulled out the strand from earlier. "With this, actually."

Atlas had to narrow his eyes. "I can barely fucking see what it is! What the hell is that thing?"

"It was very hard to tell, given that it was shoved hastily into the drain, likely after the murder was committed… But there was no mistaking it, it was close to the colour white. Or at least, it was light."

"Do you… know what it is?" Hae-Won glanced over at her direction.

"Of course I know what it is, I'm not a moron." Lorelei continued, crossing their arms. "What clogged the hole could only be…"

…

"Hair."

Dae-Hyun had a slight face of disbelief before shaking his head. "Why do you figure… hair?"

Really? They were going to doubt her? Whatever. Lorelei slowly tilted her head to the side, a cocky grin on her face. "Because, what was used to clog the drain had to be small enough that it could fit into the drain to hide the evidence. Besides that, I was able to pull up a strand of hair while I was investigating."

"Whatever…" Lorelei looked deep into the drain. "What the hell… Something is at the bottom." They couldn't quite make it out, but it seemed to be a very light colour. "Can you see into this?"

Winter tried to, but she couldn't get a better look either. "No, I apologise."

"Hmmm…" Lorelei knew this had to be important, but they couldn't reach it, right?" She tried to open the drain, but was having no luck. However, their hand seemed to latch onto something. "What's this…" It felt like a strand of… something. Pulling it away, it felt like a long strand of something. "Does this remind you of something?" Of note, it seemed to be a light colour as well.

"There'd need to be… a lot of hair." Atlas narrowed his eyes. He was safe! Good for him!

"More importantly." Ian tilted his head to the side. "What colour did you say it was?"

"Right, right." Lorelei couldn't just ignore that part, could she. "From the looks of the strand I got, it had to be white, or at least a colour similar to white. Just anything light, honestly."

Ian tapped away at his podium, slowly nodding his head. "If that's the case, I think we have two very likely candidates right before us, no? Those being…"

…

"Gigi and Laki."

The former placed a hand on her hip, looking straight at him. "You think I of all people did this?"

Ian shrugged, frowning slightly. "It would make sense, right? The two people with white hair."

Laki raised her hands up in the air, almost as if to admit her own guilt. "You've got me! I did it!" It did not sound genuine.

Gennosuke let out a sigh. "Step down, will you?"

Lowering her head slightly, and closing one eye, Gigi continued to talk. "And? When would I have the time to do that? Don't you remember, I was refereeing the game during the time of the murder. I wouldn't have been able to kill Benoit at all."

Lorelei hummed out, tapping her chin. "That's true, but have you already forgotten a point we had just proven? The killer must have had an accomplice." They leaned forward on their podium. "What's stopping you from giving some of your hair to the true killer?"

With her facial expression resorting back to a neutral expression, Gigi shook her head slowly. "You think I would be able to do that? That'd be impossible. I have someone who can vouch for me… That person being…"

…

"Gemini."

Slowly, Gemini nodded his head. "She would never have any time to place the hair there, given I was with her the entire time, up until she went to the Ultimate Soccer Player Station. But even then, I followed her there."

"Don't think that's enough evidence." Hae-Won spoke up, looking over at his direction. "Don't you remember what was just said? It was mentioned that Gigi could have just handed over strands of her hair over to the killer. Wouldn't that make you the killer in this case?"

How did this get turned on him? "But… I didn't do it." Unfortunately that would not be enough.

"Now wait a second!" Seira called in. "Are you really going to turn this onto Gemini out of the blue?" She didn't like where this was going, so she had to put a stop to this. "I think Gemini is one of the only people who can be considered innocent for this murder."

That was an interesting fact to hear, so much so that Ian raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think so?"

"Because there's one fact we can't ignore…" Seira trailed off.

…

"The body discovery announcement."

Slowly, Gemini nodded his head. "Yeah, that's right. Both Seira and I walked into the room and discovered the body together."

"Actually." Edison adjusted his goggles. What a fucking nerd. "I was the one to have discovered the body first. You two walked in after."

Deciding to ignore his antics for the moment, Seira continued on. "That makes it so the three of us were the ones who discovered the body initially."

May slowly nodded her head along to the argument. "Right, and as we were told, the killers can't be part of the body discovery announcement."

That seemed to get the focus right off of Gigi, given that she always had someone watching her, and Gemini couldn't be the killer.

Which meant…

"Does that mean Laki must have done it?" Edison suggested, swirling his new flask around. "It makes sense, I think. Hypothetically speaking, that is."

"Unlike Gigi, Laki wouldn't have been locked to anyone." Dae-Hyun pointed out. "Unless Benjamin, you were with her the entire morning."

Slowly, Dolly shook her head. "Nope! However, we did go together to play soccer, given that we were partners."

Then they ran into the same issue again. Gigi decided to take control of the conversation again. "Laki couldn't be the killer because of the game that we played today. She would not have been able to leave the station without me noticing."

"But… She could be the accomplice." Dae-Hyun spoke up. "Because while she may not have been able to kill, nobody had an eye on her until the time for the game was growing closer."

"Nope!" Dolly jumped back in. "I might not have had my eyes on her the entire time, but there's one thing I know for sure! She couldn't have left the first floor without me!"

Dae-Hyun raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why would that be?"

"It's easy! She didn't leave the ground floor because…"

…

"Master's coin total never went down."

To prove a point, Benjamin opened up his watch, to reveal that he still only had a hundred and twenty coins. A fact that May already knew.

Now, it was time for Dolly to take over. "That means that at no point did Laki go upstairs unless it was with us! And we didn't go until the soccer game."

"Hmm…" Dae-Hyun hummed out. "But because of the accomplice you helped prove, there'd be no reason for Laki herself to directly go up. Laki could have just given her hair to someone else."

Dolly made an incorrect buzzer noise.

"Oh!" Nova called out. "That was really good!" She clapped her hands.

"That would be impossible, because while I didn't see Laki, I spent the entire morning in the cafeteria! I would have seen someone go through the elevator." Then there was a pause. "Well, I did see some people go up the elevator, but!" This was getting off topic.

May let out a sigh. How did the elevator become important again? "Who did you see…?"

"Well, only two people went up the elevator after the original group went!" Dolly continued. "Edison and Seira."

Something Seira could easily debunk. "The two of us made our way directly to the Ultimate Gambler Station, and we were also both part of the body discovery announcement. So we had nothing to do with this."

"Then, is it possible that this was set up last night?" Gennosuke suggested. "Let's take into consideration that Laki could have given her hair to someone who wasn't going to be at the game. They could have set it up during the nighttime phase."

"No…" May hummed out, tilting her head. "That would have been impossible."

Gigi knew exactly where this was going. "Right… You mentioned it to me earlier…"

"May." Gigi called out to her.

This caused the girl to stop in her tracks, and to look over at the referee. "Yes?"

Crossing her arms, Gigi looked down at May. "You entered the elevator when we went up to the soccer field, but where did you go?"

Tapping her chin, May tried to recall. "Oh… I went to the garden. Nova was there yesterday, so I was trying to see if I could run into her again…"

"And? Was she there?" Gigi tilted her head to the side. She wanted to make sure she knew where everyone was during the time of death .

"... No. She wasn't. I stayed a bit, hoping she would show up." May turned around, intent on leaving. "After that… I made my way down to the cafeteria and had a nap…" With nothing more to say, she left the room.

May nodded her head sluggishly. "Yes… I went to the garden to talk to Nova."

"Unfortunate that I was getting ready for the game at the time." Nova's visor changed to joy.

Ignoring her, May continued. "And while I didn't directly check the drain, it would have been obvious if something like that was set up hours ago. Because while the sprinklers on the roof wouldn't have been activated at the time… water would have accumulated from a different source… Namely…"

…

"The sprinklers on the ground."

Winter nodded her head. "Those were always active."

Humming out, May continued. "Right… And because not all the water reached the soil, it wouldn't take too long for the water to accumulate. And it would have been noticeable… However… The ground was normal when I arrived."

Playing around with his lollipop, Gennosuke shook his head. "But what's preventing you from being the killer?"

May didn't feel the need to, but she showed off her watch. "Like I said, I had zero coins. I went under around the same time Benoit did."

Gennosuke let out a small chuckle. "You say that, but what's preventing you from being the person who killed Benoit? You could have just gone back down to the cafeteria, and pretended you had fainted."

Winter frowned, tilting her head to the side. "That seems to be a few leaps here." But she couldn't deny the possibility."

"Actually!" Edison adjusted his goggles. "There's one thing that made it impossible for her… Namely, the fact that the killer had to…"

…

"Move the body."

Swirling around his flask, Edison examined it closely. "The killer might have used the cart to move the body, but it would have been impossible for May to do it."

Atlas couldn't see a reason to disagree. "I don't think that girl has an ounce of muscle on her fucking body."

"You never know!" Dolly raised her hands in the air. "She might have a sleeper build."

No one said anything, except for Hae-Won, who seemed to find some humour in it.

"Anyways…" Edison adjusted his goggles, eager to get back on track. "That too, would have been impossible…"

Gennosuke pulled out his lollipop. "It's nice to explore some hypotheticals every now and then. Why would something like that be impossible?"

"Because, May has…"

…

"Type 1 narcolepsy."

Slowly, May nodded her head along. "That… I do."

Edison had a confident smile on his face. "May and I spoke about it the other day, and she brought up something interesting…"

May wasn't dumb, so she noticed it anyway. "It's fine… Once again, I've grown used to it." She kept one eye open, that way she could focus on the game. "The real problem is the muscle weakness that comes with it… I can handle the sleepiness."

Right, that did come with it. "How often does muscle weakness affect your life?"

"All the time. Like that time with…" May remembered when she and Lorelei faced off in arm wrestling. Safe to say that she was easily beaten, but she found it best not to bring that up. "Let's just say I sometimes have a problem performing a basic task." It was almost embarrassing to talk to, but she was talking to Edison, so she didn't really care.

That made Edison feel a bit bad. "Ah… Well…" He adjusted his goggles. "I can't imagine having difficulties performing tasks and the likes…" Poor May. "What kind of tasks?"

He just had to ask a question like that. "Walking can sometimes be annoying, but it's nothing big."

"Due to her muscle weakness, she wouldn't have been able to move Benoit at all." Edison continued on. "So that prevents her from being the killer."

"Unless there was another accomplice." Gennosuke snickered before quickly shaking his head. "It's nice to add another person to the list of people who couldn't be suspects."

"But then…" Gemini hummed out, turning back to Lorelei. "Who else could the hair belong to?"

Rolling their eyes, Lorelei let out an annoyed sigh. "God, I said it didn't have to be white. It just had to be a light colour."

"Any light colour?" Gennosuke repeated, letting out a small chuckle. "Well, it isn't exactly white, nor is it something like silver, but I think I know someone who might fit the bill."

"Yeah, yeah." Lorelei didn't seem to care. "So do I, so shut up and let me say it. The only other person this hair could fit with is…"

…

"Winter."

"Oh?" Winter had a slight feeling that at one point, it might be turned towards her if all the other evidence fell through. "And why do you assume it has to be me?" She twirled a finger around her light blue hair.

"Are you kidding me?" Lorelei narrowed her eyes at her. "Your hair is light blue. It's the only other hair that could work."

That was true, but Winter wasn't just going to take the accusation without fighting back. "Sure, it could be my hair, but that's the only basis you have on me. I don't believe there's anything else that points me towards the murder. Besides, Dolly said she didn't see anybody else leave to go upstairs."

"Well!" Dolly placed her hands on her hips. "I'll be honest, I don't know where you went. In fact! You didn't even appear last chapter!" Then she turned to look at Benjamin nodding slightly. "Oh wait! You had one line before the body was discovered."

Winter wasn't sure what to make of this, so she just shook her head. "I never went to the second floor. In fact, I stayed on the ground floor the entire time."

"You know, why do we call it the ground floor?" Gemini just realised. "We're in space, not really much of a groun-"

Now it was Seira's turn to do Gemini's job, given he had already started to lose his mind. "Hey, let's not get out of focus here."

"Oh yeah!" Dolly raised her hands in the air. "Where's your proof?"

"My proof?" Winter hummed out, smiling slightly. "I have quite easy proof. If you just look at my…"

…

"Coin total."

When she showed it off, it showed 278 coins. "This was my total when morning time began, and it remains my total now."

May slowly nodded her head. "Yup… That's the total she had… This morning."

"Which meant that at no point did I find myself away from my partner." Winter continued her explanation.

Gigi crossed her arms. "The range on it is rather generous. I could be in the Ultimate Soccer Player Station while Gemini could be in the Ultimate Gambler Station. So you didn't need to be right next to them."

Edison adjusted his goggles. "In fact, I think as long as you were mostly in the same sector, you would be safe. Although… You probably couldn't be on the other end of the Psi Sector…" He should have tested the range!

Winter nodded her head along. "However, thanks to the one time I passed out, I managed to narrow down my potential list of partners." Glancing off to the side. "Thanks to Michael, I was able to narrow down my potential list of partners down to him, Gennosuke, May, Lorelei, and lastly, Tatiana."

"She can't be my partner." Tatiana was quick to point out. "I lost coins today."

Winter nodded along, a small smile on her face. "We've already established May's partner. And I doubt I was partnered with Michael. He was still in close proximity with me when I passed out."

Michael slowly turned to look at someone. "Which only leaves… Gennosuke and Lorelei."

Lorelei let out a small laugh. "And I have some news to break to you. I stayed on the bottom floor until the body discovery announcement was called."

"As did I." Gennosuke stuffed his hands in his pockets.

So once again… They had been given nothing.

All this work, only to have the avenue closed in front of them…

Gigi placed a hand on her hip. "Maybe it wasn't hair." She finally suggested. "We could have just assumed it was wrong."

"What?" Lorelei narrowed her eyes, gripping onto the podium. "Are you saying we're wrong?"

Gemini ran a hand through his hair. "But we've gone through all the possibilities for the hair, and all three people couldn't have been the ones to do it. We have no options left."

Suddenly, the sound of something slamming down onto the podium could be heard, which caused everyone to turn its direction.

The sound was Atlas slamming down his foot onto his podium. After a bit of silence, he lifted his head up to make eye contact.

"You're going to miss the goal, dumbass."

Well this was a bit unexpected for him to lash out like this. "W-what's wrong Atlas?" Melody mumbled out, a bit shocked at his sudden outburst.

Were they not getting it? "You're ready to drop that piece of evidence because it was impossible for Laki or Winter to be the culprit? You're much stupider than I took you for." And this was coming from Atlas himself, so you know it was bad.

"Just get to the point." Gigi crossed her arms.

"You're missing one person from your little deduction." Atlas scanned the room, looking for the specific person in mind. "There's one person who that hair could belong to… And they've been playing dumb this entire time… That person is…"

…

"Michael."

Bro needed to chill with accusing him.

Soon, all eyes fell onto Michael, who only turned his head away.

"You know." Lorelei had a smirk on their face. "We don't know what colour his hair is. It could be silver."

Winter glanced around the room. "And you believe just because of that, he should be the killer?" She didn't believe it to be the case.

"There's only one way to know for sure, y'know…" Hae-Won placed her hands in her pockets, before sending a look over at Michael. "Take off your hood. If your hair is a different colour, then we can drop the issue altogether."

"Take off… my hood…?" The very idea of doing so set off flags in Michael's head. He… He… He couldn't do that at all. "I…"

"Take off your hood, kid." Dae-Hyun narrowed his eyes at him. "This is a trial of life or death. I'm not going to let you stand in the way of that."

Lorelei turned towards him. "I can take off the hood if he doesn't." He was shorter than her, so it was easy.

Quickly, Michael took a step back. "Please don't…" He looked around the room, all eyes seemingly on him. "I'll…"

"Come on!" Laki called out. "Let us see!"

"Hey." Gennosuke said softly. "He doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to. We still haven't completely proven Winter innocent yet." He flashed a smile.

Winter… Michael thought for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "Alright…" Winter would be accused again if he didn't step in and do something. Slowly, his hands moved over towards his hood, gripping onto the edges.

And then… he slowly took off his hood, letting his hair flow down.

…

"Ah fuck he wasn't bald." Lorelei was almost disappointed.

Michael kept his eyes closed, thinking about his actions. When he finally opened them, he examined all of their expressions.

"OHMYGOD HE'S HOT!" Dolly blurted out rather quickly after that.

Looking at Michael, it was hard to say otherwise. His golden eyes and soft looking face gave him an angelic appearance. And the cherry on top…

…

Was his long silver hair.

"Bingo!" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Thought you could avoid us by hiding under your hood."

Lorelei took the hair she had, examining it closely to Michael's hair. "There we fucking go. It's almost the same."

"So… It was… Michael's hair?"

Gigi frowned, looking at him. "After he was taken away by Benoit, we lost track of where he went. It was entirely possible for Michael to place his hair in the drain."

"No… I.. I didn't do it…" Michael quickly looked away, a pained expression on his face.

Seeing that, Winter turned towards the others. "Can you leave him alone, please. Accusing him like that won't do us any good."

Lorelei rolled their eyes. "Oh, of course you'd come to the defense of your boyfriend."

Winter frowned slightly. "He's not… That doesn't matter. All you have for evidence right now is that the hair might be his."

Slowly, Lorelei lifted up her hand, which was holding onto Michael's hair. "Girl, it's a match. How much closer do you want to get? We need to find someone who fits the fucking bill!" The entire time, they kept pulling down on his hair.

"Please… Stop…" Michael begged.

For once, Lorelei actually listened to someone. Weird.

Tatiana shook her head, looking at Michael's appearance. "I see no need to accuse him. He simply doesn't look like someone who would kill someone else."

"Are you forgetting the part that he was the last person to see Benoit alive?" Gigi pointed out. "Michael, you said you didn't lie."

"I… I didn't kill him." Michael felt the need to repeat. He knew he was innocent. So why did everyone feel the need to accuse him?

"Fucking… Are you kidding me? Just get his ass already!" Atlas would have pointed at Michael if he could. But for obvious reasons… yeah!

Gemini shook his head. "Hey, I agree with some of the others, just yelling at him won't do us any good. We need to prove that he's the killer if we want to go anywhere."

Dolly crossed her arms. "Yeah! Yeah!" Long pause. "So, Michael, seeing anyone?"

"Back off." Winter felt the need to be protective… And she wouldn't admit why.

Through all the sounds he was hearing around him, it all became a little too much for Michael. From people accusing him of murder, to people commenting on his appearance. The noises blended into a loud cacophony of noises.

However, despite how loud everyone else was being, one word was able to break him out of his focus.

One word, softly said.

…

"Astrophel."

Michael felt his entire soul freeze up, and his vision began to blur. He looked around the room in a panic, looking for the source of the sound. When finally, his eyes met with the person who spoke up. He hadn't expected much from this person, given they hadn't done much to begin with. "How… How…" He mumbled out, looking at them with horror. "What did you say?"

The person he was staring at was May, who had a rather indifferent look on her face. "Astrophel." May repeated. "That's your name, isn't it?"

Quickly, Michael looked around the room. "W-what?"

"Michael Astrophel." She repeated, a rather neutral look on her face. "The moment I saw your face, it clicked." May put her hands in her sweater pockets. No wonder he would try and hide his identity.

Gemini thought for a moment. "Astrophel…?" Why did that… almost sound familiar?

"Why would you want to hide your last name like that?" Winter tilted her head to the side. "I don't recognise it, so…" Although, clearly May did. "May, who is he?" The mystery was about to fully unravel in front of her.

May remained silent for a few seconds, before finally speaking up. "Don't trust him." She closed her eyes. "He's bad news." She had never thought something like that would turn out to be important in this trial.

Lorelei glanced over at Michael, raising an eyebrow. "Why? He seems harmless. Like I could bring him to his knees in one hit."

"I'd advise against that." May continued on, and yet… She never gave a reason. She was being vague about it all.

Atlas narrowed his eyes at her. "Stop beating around the fucking bush! Do you know who this fucker is."

"... I do." May hummed out. "Or… At least… I know what his Ultimate Talent is…"

"Wait…" Michael grabbed onto his podium. "You… You can't!"

"Come on!" Laki called out. "Tell us! Tell us!"

Gennosuke frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side. "Why are you so intent on hiding it from us?" Soon, a smile appeared on his face. "Oh, I get it…. If we find out who you are, we won't trust you one bit."

"No… It's…" Michael felt his entire body grow weak. This was already becoming too much for him.

May may spend a lot of time sleeping, but she always remembered a face when she saw it. And she had seen his face at Hope's Peak. "Wherever he goes, death surely follows him."

Gigi crossed her arms. "At this point, you are just stalling. Tell us, or stop saying vague things."

Winter glanced over at Michael, before looking at May. She didn't want to see him like this, but she also couldn't let Michael keep his secret. Not in a game like this. "Tell us, please." She offered a smile.

"He's…" May began to say, but her voice was quickly drowned out by Michael himself.

For once. Michael raised his voice. "Stop! I'm ordering you." The last part was said in a softer, more pleading voice.

Keeping her eyes closed, Michael had no effect on May. "He's…" This would completely change the dynamic of how everyone perceived him. But for the sake of this trial, it was going to be very important. "He's…"

…

"The Ultimate Cult Leader."

For the first ever, silence had completely engulfed the trial grounds. Not even the sound of someone breathing could be heard.

The person to break the silence was Winter. "W-what…?" Her expression remained frozen, unable to tear her eyes away from the wall she was concentrating on.

"Ultimate Cult Leader?" Seira felt the colour drain from her face. "What… Why…?"

Melody covered her mouth slightly. She had been standing next to Michael the entire time, and was unsure how she felt about all of this.

It was now all in the open. Michael felt all the eyes center around him. The pressure. "Please… it's not…" There was no use pleading.

They all knew now.

And they were all going to vote for him.

He wouldn't blame them. With a talent like that, and evidence proving they were at the scene of the crime… It just made sense… He knew it was his own damn hair. He just couldn't say it.

Ian leaned forward on his podium. "And here, you all thought I was the biggest threat here. Yet, look who roams around with us." He had a small grin on his face. "What to do about that…"

Atlas glared at Michael. "I fucking knew I couldn't trust you one bit."

Lorelei had moved over to stand on the same podium as Benjamin. "I don't feel safe standing next to him.

Dolly raised her hands off. "Hey! You're the wall protecting us! Get back to work!"

"Guys…" Michael pleaded softly. "I'm not… I'm not the-"

Dae-Hyun crossed his arms. "I'm finding that pretty hard to believe. We found your hair at the scene of the crime. Unless you can prove that you didn't murder Benoit, how are we supposed to believe you?"

"I… I…" Michael had nothing to say.

Letting out a sigh, Gemini leaned forward on his podium. "Hey, let's not forget that this is a trial. Accusing him like this without any further evidence is-"

"Look at him!" Lorelei called out. "You really think we can trust anything that comes out of his mouth."

"W-wait…" Seira mumbled out. "Gemini is right… Besides that piece of hair, we don't have any further evidence."

Hae-Won slowly nodded her head. "It wouldn't be wise to continue on like this if all we do is accuse him without providing further substance."

"Tsk!" Atlas glared her way. "Just like you to do the stupidest thing imaginable. You just want to put a little faith in him because I was right the entire time."

Edison adjusted his goggles. "Hey, without damning evidence, we won't be able to fully convict him."

Gigi crossed her arms. It looked like she wanted to say something, but she held back.

Monokawa looked between everyone. "Hey, they're fighting."

"When aren't they?" After spending only a few days here, Nova had gotten used to how they were with each other. "What are you going to do about it?"

Monokawa covered his mouth with his paws to hold a laugh. "I think a scrum debate is in order." He floated away from Nova, to hover above the circle of podiums. "Listen up fuckers!" He called up. "You guys just can't seem to reach a consensus! So I'll make it easier for you." He raised up one paw. "All in favour of trusting Michael, raise your hands up." After a few seconds, he counted out that eight people had lifted up their hands.

"OK, OK…" That was about what he expected. Less than half. "All in favour of not trusting a single thing he said, raise your hands up! This time, only six people raised their hands up. Plus Atlas. "Huh…?"

Monokawa ran the number through his head, but none of it made sense. "Well, look at this! Two people abstained." Guess those two just wanted to stay out of it completely. "That's fine by me! We don't need all of you!"

Slowly, everyone except two people would feel their podiums begin to lift up.

"Woah!" Laki seemed pretty happy about this fact. She didn't even bother holding on for life like some of the other people had.

Slowly, the fifteen podiums lifted themselves into the air, leaving only two people behind.

Winter and Michael.

Winter silent, her usual smile completely absent from her face. Instead, she just stared at Michael.

Michael found it hard to know what to say. There was so much he wanted to say, but the way she was looking at him made it difficult. "I…" Even after all this time…

"Ultimate Cult Leader, huh?" Winter's tone was neutral. She wasn't sure what to believe at this point. She thought she might have felt some kind of bond with him, but things turned out this way…

"I'm…" Saying he was sorry was the truth, but he still couldn't bring himself to say. "I don't know what to say." Michael admitted.

"You don't have to say anything." Winter wasn't even sure if she wanted him to say anything. Her eyes slowly drifted to the side. She already knew what he looked like, and she had been a good judge of character most of her life.

But a cult leader?

More specifically the Ultimate Cult Leader? The idea in her head was foreign, and she wasn't sure how to put it into words.

Winter thought she had found someone she could put her trust in. Something she felt was vital in a killing game such as this…

And yet…

Winter's grip on her podium tightened as she remembered the conversation the two of them had after she had fainted.

Her curiosity couldn't handle it anymore. "Make me a promise, will you."

"A… promise?" Michael didn't like the sound of that. But he wasn't going to say no to it. "Yes… I can make a promise."

In a game like this, Winter needed someone that she could put her trust in. And she wanted Michael to be that person. "Under that hood, you're a good person underneath." She wanted to trust him, but his secrecy was really throwing her off.

For a moment, Michael remained silent, glancing back to the side. Almost as if he was trying to formulate the best answer possible. After an agonisingly long time, he let out a sigh, turning his head to look back at her. "Whatever I might end up being, I promise to you that I'm a good person."

Hearing him say it himself was oddly comforting. Slowly, a smile formed on Winter's face. "Thank you, that's all I needed to hear." If she couldn't trust Michael, she doubted that she could trust anyone else around here.

And yet…

"Michael…" Winter said softly. "Promise me one thing." She frowned, making sure she kept her eyes on him. "You haven't been using me, have you?"

"What…? No! I-" To hear such an accusation. It's just what most people would say about the cult. "Please… I know the talent is…" Michael grabbed onto his podium. "I'm not… I'm not that type of man…"

Was there any truth to his words?

Winter wanted to believe him. The way he had acted so far proved it so.

And yet… When it came time to make a decision for the scrum debate, she abstained.

Winter couldn't find a reason to trust him or distrust him. "I think I'm going to need some time to think about this… Please be patient."

"Alright…" Michael knew he didn't have a choice in the matter. If he pressed the issue too much, he would just rub her the wrong way. "Take your time…"

As the podiums finally reached the peak of their height, Monokawa was getting ready to start the scrum debate.

That was until two people started to talk right now.

"Melody… What are you doing?" Dae-Hyun spotted her on the other side.

For a moment, Melody glanced away, before getting a determined look on her face. "I can't just throw distrust around like that! I just don't think Michael bumped off Benoit." She held onto her arm, her bright expression fading slightly. "It feels like we are throwing accusations too eagerly…"

Dae-Hyun didn't say anything in response. Only crossed his arms. Was this going to be how it was?

On the side that wanted to believe Michael, there was Gemini, Melody, Seira, Lorelei, Tatiana, Benjamin, Gennosuke, and Hae-Won. Meanwhile, on the side that wanted to keep accusing him of the murder, there was Gigi, May, Laki, Atlas, Ian, Dae-Hyun, and Edison.

Scrum Debate: Is Michael the murderer?

The first person to have to speak was Gemini, as his podium moved forward. "Let me just state the facts again. All we know for sure is that his hair was used to clog the drain. Besides that, there's no other such evidence that points to Michael."

Gigi's podium began to move forward. "I feel like I might have stated this fact before, however, if I didn't, let me say it now. During the soccer game, Atlas hit Michael in the head with a ball. Benoit then took him away. As of now, Michael is the last person to have seen Benoit alive. He refuses to tell what happens, so I have no reason to trust him."

Now it was Melody's turn. However, she didn't know how to counter Gigi's point. There was no denying that Michael had to be the last person who saw Benoit.

So instead, Melody was going to take a different angle. "I'm going to give the same reason you fellas gave for May." She pulled out a magnifying glass to look through it. "Michael couldn't have been the one to move the body. He wouldn't have been strong enough to move Benoit."

As her podium went away, it was now May's turn to speak. "I was only allowed to use that excuse… Because of my narcolepsy…" She pointed out with a hum. "Michael should have been able to move the body…"

As Seira's podium grew closer, she prepared her own argument. "I think that statement falls a little weak." Not that she had any other arguments. "He's barely taller than Edison-"

"HEY!"

"- So I know for a fact, at his height, he would not have been able to put Benoit on the cart at all."

With a shrug, it was Laki's turn. "Oh? Then where was Michael the entire time? Nobody had seen him, so clearly, he was committing the crime. Unless someone can tell me where he was."

Oh, here's an answer Lorelei knew for a while. Time to finally actually mention it. "Of course I can tell you where Michael was. It's the only place he could have been. Michael was trapped in the shed."

Good! It was finally Atlas' turn. He was about to yell at them. "How the fuck can you be stuck inside the shed? Just fucking scan your bracelet. Monokawa said you shouldn't be trapped inside any room."

Oh, how dumb he was. Gennosuke would have felt bad if he could. Instead, he let out a low chuckle. "You really think it's that easy?" Stuffing his hand into his pockets, he shook his head. "These doors didn't have a scanner, they were wooden."

Next podium moved forward, this one containing Dae-Hyun. "As if that would even matter. If the door was wooden, then it would have had handles. He could have just used that."

"Haha!" Tatiana was next as she laughed out. "Great observation! Unfortunately, it would be incorrect! As the door had its handles broken off!" She nodded to herself, happily.

Now, it was finally Ian's turn, and he's had something he's wanted to say for a while. With a frown on his face, he tilted his head. "And? That's all meaningless if you forget to account for one detail. Michael could have set that all up to make it look like he was held captive."

However, even then, something didn't seem to make any sort of sense. "Oh yeah!" Dolly called out, raising her hand. "It sounds like the garden was a mess! Why would Michael waste his time setting all of that up, when he could have cleaned up the garden, so we couldn't tell that the crime scene was there?"

Now things were coming down to the wire, with only two people left to figure things out. Next up, was Edison, who was humming in thought. "You know what." He swirled around his flask. "I kind of agree with the other side now." Not like he had much of a theory to begin with.

…

His podium began to tip, almost sending Edison over the edge.

Luckily, Edison was able to grab on, saving himself. "Alright! Alright! I'll argue." Adjusting his goggles, he got into serious mode… He really had nothing. "You're wrong-" He got flung out of his podium, hitting the ground.

He would be fine.

Probably.

Hae-won let out a sigh, the moment she saw that Edison was fine. "Backing up what Dolly said, I believe that there was a reason why nothing was cleaned up. The killer wanted us to know that Michael was there. Because…"

…

"They wanted to pin the blame on Michael."

As the podiums slowly lowered themselves back into view, Monokawa felt himself feeling discouraged. "All of that, and you decided that maybe Michael wasn't the murderer? I feel ripped off."

Nova tilted her head to the side. "Monokawa, you didn't even pay for anything."

"Exactly!"

Hae-Won slowly nodded her head along to her own theory. "Think of it. Why use hair to block off the drain when there were so many other things that could have been used? It's almost as if they wanted us to associate Michael with the crime scene."

Atlas wanted to say something. He wanted to yell at Hae-Won… But FUCK! She wasn't wrong. He could attest to that.

Gigi closed one eye, crossing her arms. "So, someone wanted to pin everything on Michael. Don't know why they would choose Michael of all people."

Gennosuke let out a small chuckle. "Have you seen him? He's very easy to blame."

Looking around, Michael let out a sigh. His eyes moved over to glance at Winter. What did she think about all of this?

Winter looked around at everyone else. Whatever decision they came up with, she would have gone with it for the trial. Seems they've decided to trust Michael.

Slowly, she turned to look away, facing away from the trial again.

Michael turned his focus back towards everyone else. "I…" He was surprised to say the least. He had expected everyone to be against him… Then again, it was always a constant in his life… Having people show support to him. So instead, he didn't finish his sentence, only looking at the ground.

May let out a tired sigh. "Well… This felt like a waste of time…" She revealed Michael's talent and all, but they weren't any closer to getting to the truth.

"Michael." Gigi turned to look at him. "If you were trapped in the shed, how did that happen?"

"I…" Michael felt himself shake up again slightly. "I can't… I…"

However, slowly, Michael began to realise something. His grip on his podium tightened, and his facial expression shifted over to a slight grimace. "Wait… I…" It's as if clarity had hit his mind.

He had been holding it in for so long, but now… Finally… "No… I can finally tell…"

"What do you mean you can finally tell?" Dae-Hyun narrowed his eyes.

"I… I…"

…

"I know who killed Benoit."

"What?" Dae-Hyun narrowed his eyes. "How did you figure that out?"

It was going to be hard to admit this, but Michael felt like he had no choice at this moment. With everything out in the open, he had nothing to lose. "I've known… Since the beginning, I think. Given I spoke to them before they killed Benoit."

"You've known… the entire time?" Atlas was furious, and rightfully so.

Gritting his teeth slightly, Michael glanced off to the side. "I didn't have much of a choice, did I? If I revealed who it was… Then…"

"Let me take a crack here." Hae-Won hummed out, her hands in her pockets. "Your secret would have been revealed."

At least Michael wouldn't need to explain it himself. "Yes…" He held onto his podium, leaning into it slightly. "I saw who might have done it, and they blackmailed me… But now that it's out in the open, they have no power over me."

"W-well!" Melody called out, turning to look at him. "Who did it?"

Slowly, his eyes focused on the circle of podiums, slowly scanning the area around. "The person who blackmailed me… Is none other than…"

…

"Ian."

Slowly, all eyes shifted over to the gambler, who was only marginally paying attention.

However, the moment that all eyes were on him, he opened his mouth a bit, almost as if in shock.

After only a few more seconds, his mouth slowly shifted into a grin. "Oh? Is that so?"

Silence consumed the room as the timer slowly ticked away, revealing that there was only one hour left before they had to make a decision…

Holy HELL do I already think this is a better start to the trial than the first chapter was. So much more interesting things happened so far in this chapter.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room right now. Michael. Originally, Michael wasn't sent in as an Ultimate ?, he was sent in as the Ultimate Cult Leader. A concept I really loved. However, I still wanted there to be an Ultimate ? to make it feel more like the games, so I held off revealing his talent until I was sure there wouldn't be another potential pick that would pop up.

When it became very obvious that I wasn't going to get that luxury anywhere else, I locked Michael in as the Ultimate ?.

The only problem is that his character was much more fun if people knew his talent. Thus, despite him being the Ultimate ?, I was planning on revealing his talent very early. I felt like chapter 2 was the best spot to reveal his talent.

As for how the rest of this trial turned out, I feel like it was much better paced than the chapter 1 trial. I had a lot more evidence going in comparatively, so it felt nice to have that all be played out.

Something that still makes me laugh is Gold saying that Benoit would drown in the garden way back when, and he was so very fucking close to how it actually turned out. The water did fill up as you predicted! But he did not drown. Instead, he was electrocuted!

Oops!

But now, what's this? Michael has accused Ian of being the killer? How will things shape up from here? I think you'll just have to wait until the next part to find out for yourself :D Until then, keep those predictions going.

Participants Remaining: 17

Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16]

Seira Natsume - The Ultimate Astrologist [WolfieRed23]

Winter Hibiscus - The Ultimate Love Guru [Grandma Sue]

Giustina "Gigi" Giulio - The Ultimate Referee [Nekoja]

Gemini Strela - The Ultimate Escapist [secretnobody]

Benjamin Mason - The Ultimate Ventriloquist [NSPunny]

Lorelei Kaiser - The Ultimate Computer Security Specialist [CandleFire45]

Michael Astrophel - The Ultimate Cult Leader [Omakin]

Melody Eleanor Hopkins - The Ultimate Tap Dancer [Prince PokePersona]

Kim Dae-Hyun - The Ultimate Talent Manager [oddlyillregular]

Lakshmi "Laki" Krishna - The Ultimate Lucky Student [Sempi]

May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova]

Ian Santiago - The Ultimate Gambler [Animeboy15]

Tatiana Novak - The Ultimate Knife Thrower [ExtraMeme]

Atlas Constande - The Ultimate Soccer Player [ComplicatedYetSimple]

Gennosuke Yagami - The Ultimate Psychic [theotakureader101]

Kim Hae-Won - The Ultimate Tattoo Artist [Weekaro]