Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration Chapter 28: Misalignment in the Stars (Part 8), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 3: Misalignment in the Stars (Deadly Life Part 2)

Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. Things can be pretty bad, especially regarding gore and the foul language used. Although, if you've made it this far, I don't think that kind of stuff bothers you anyways, sooooo…

Ugh…

Maybe they shouldn't have done what they did, because now they for sure as well was being put to work for it.

Not that they actually minded, but still, it took the time away from things Lorelei actually cared about.

Right now, she was stuck fixing the home security system that her parents had worked so hard on making.

Except Lorelei was very quick to find that the system had a lot of vulnerabilities. How she came to know such a thing wasn't important.

Letting out a small sigh, Lorelei leaned back in her chair, having fixed the last issue that she had found. "There~ It's done." They called out.

After a few seconds, Jakob, her father, walked in to see it. Looking it over, he began nodding his head. "Yeah, that's… That's perfect! I don't see anything wrong with it."

"Well, you didn't really see anything wrong with it before, so…" Lorelei immediately opened up with some sass. "So I don't really expect you to see anything wrong with it now."

Normally, a father wouldn't take their child talking back, but after the help Lorelei just did, he didn't see a reason to. "Honestly, at this point, the company is pretty much going to be yours when you grow up."

Ah…

Yeah…

The company. Honestly, Lorelei didn't really have much of an interest in such a thing, especially after what she just discovered. "I'm looking forward to it." They told a blatant lie, turning to look back at their computer. "Do I get the rest of the day for myself?"

"Yeah, there's nothing else for today." Jakob nodded his head before leaving her alone in her room.

Making sure that he was gone, Lorelei then turned their attention back over towards the monitor. "Alright… Let's have some actual fun…"

…

…
Honestly, with how easy Lorelei's job was, they always ended up having way too much free time on their hands.

Which lent itself into her doing one of her favourite things.

Harassing people in chat rooms. I mean, what better fun could anyone ask for? Joining into one, she watched as some of the messages poured through.

Lancaster47: Hey, I was wondering where I could go for a website full of free games. I'm kind of new around here, so.

Calytrix: Fed

Otterplay2: Fed

Goldemblem45: I trust him completely :D

Lancaster47: Man what the fuck, I'm being serious.

Someone like that was probably not someone she wanted to talk to in general. Obviously they had to be some kind of authority.

Lorelei could just fuck with them more, but nah… They were other more gullible people they could mess with.

Leaving that chat, Lorelei eventually found another chat to join. This time, there seemed to be an argument going on.

DeltaOnyx: That's not what I'm saying at all. You're just taking my point and misconstruing it completely.

Cirisly21: No, no. I understand your point completely, but that doesn't mean I can't disagree with you about it.

DeltaOnyx: Then you don't really understand it. If you'd understand it, you'd see it's pointless to think otherwise.

Now what the fuck were they even arguing about? The nature of this chat room prevented Lorelei from seeing the history, so honestly, it was just a shot in the dark at this point.

Still, she had to have some fun here.

Calytrix: No, im agreeing with Cirisly here. we don't have 2 agree with the point just because we understand it

DeltaOnyx: Hey, I don't need to be ganged up on here. Besides, you don't seem like you know what we're even talking about. You joined about three minutes ago.

Ha… They got her there. Still, Lorelei wasn't going to give up that easily.

Calytrix: Honestly, i dont even need to know what ur argument is to know its fucking stupid. u just have that sort of energy around u

DeltaOnyx: Hey, listen here alright. Stay out of this argument, or else I'd make you regret it.

This caused Lorelei to audibly laugh, covering her mouth. "Aww, look who's taking all of this so seriously." She sure as hell wasn't.

Calytrix: aww, u sound so manly when u say that, loser. KYS

Honestly, Lorelei was ready to keep doing this for a while.

Unfortunately, that's when they heard their mother calling out. "Dinner!"

"UGH!" Lorelei leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling.

Supper was the last thing they wanted right now, given it would take them away from the computer. Honestly, it would appear like they ran away from the argument.

Then again, the odds of her running into this person again was next to none, so Lorelei didn't really care.

Standing up from their chair, they stretched a bit before heading over towards the dining room.

After that conversation, Lorelei didn't really think about it much. Since it was supper time, they had to go get their food.

However, it was when they came back that they noticed something had changed. "What the hell?"

Her entire profile had been completely changed. Her username. Honestly… Everything. "Who the fuck did this…" At this age, they didn't swear very often, but sometimes it was needed.

It took a bit for Lorelei to get their profile back to normal, but now their mood had been ruined. "It was probably that asshole from earlier…"

Joining back up into the same chat room as before, she waited a bit for that person to speak.
.

DeltaOnyx: Actually yeah, the recent episode wasn't that bad.

That's all Lorelei needed to see. Clicking on his profile, they were able to access it. "Now, what should I do to you?"

Honestly, there was almost an endless stream of ideas that came to their mind, but the one they eventually landed on was…

Typing some things into a separate monitor, Lorelei got busy for a bit. She had put some music on, ready to work away for however long it took to do this.

Of course, for someone like them, it wouldn't take too long to do much of anything. "Here we are…" Seeing the name that appeared, Lorelei couldn't help but snicker. "Waylen? That's about the dumbest fucking name I've ever seen…"

From the information she was able to gather off of him, he was about her age. "Interesting."

That's all the information Lorelei would need to continue.

Switching off that, she moved back over to the same chatroom she knew he'd still be in. And, they waited for a few seconds to see if Waylen was still around.

DeltaOnyx: That's the only part of the episode that I disliked.

Really? Still talking about that dumb show? Whatever.

It was time for a little payback. Without any warning, Lorelei let out all the information she knew about him in the chat. Full name, age, address. Honestly, anything of note that they could find.

DeltaOnyx: Woah! What the hell!? R u out of your mind!?

Ha… They had even stopped talking in such a proper way. That was fun.

That was… Until Lorelei got a private message in her DM's.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who did that.

DeltaOnyx: Was this because of me hacking your profile?"

Calytrix: Lol, no. This was because i was bored

DeltaOnyx: Well, I didn't know you were like me, so my bad, i guess.

Calytrix: Good, you should be sorry

While Lorelei had encountered one of the most annoying people on the planet, they hadn't expected to form a friendship over a shared interest such as that.

Honestly, actually getting to know them, he wasn't really a bad person either. Waylen loved trolling people just as much as Lorelei did, so they ended up doing that in games or chat rooms whenever they had the opportunity.

Lorelei wasn't one to make friends, so it was a welcoming surprise to have someone like him to talk to.

Of course, they were still leagues above Waylen, and it would remain that way forever.

But this was the start of a new joy that life brought to Lorelei…

Trial Grounds

Once again, everyone here was gathered for another trial.

After the last one, it was hard to imagine they'd ever be here…

And yet… Here they were…

Like normal, the room was filled with silence; Nobody wanted to be the first person to speak in this trial.

So that's why, Monokawa floated over, hanging above everyone else. "Seriously, you think you'd know what to do by now?"

Oh well! Couldn't be helped!

"Welcome to the-"

Not giving him the chance to finish was Gigi. "Yes, yes. We know the rules of a trial. We already experienced it. We will have two hours to discuss who the murderer will be. Once we reach a verdict, or time is up, we will be forced to vote for who we think the blackened is. If we're right, only the blackened is punished. However, if we're wrong, then all of us except the killer will be punished, with the killer escaping."

After that explanation, Monokawa remained silent, before slowly turning to look at Nova. "They're taking my fucking job. I can't live like this."

Nova, however, ignored him completely. "Bravo Gigi, thank you for remembering the rules." Now she could fire Monokawa for real.

"What?" Monokawa seemed ticked off at this. "Don't thank her! She's ruining my job! I only get to actively do things for the trial, and maybe every so often from a motive. Don't take away my sole purpose of survival."

"Hmm…" This was something that Nova would have to consider. "Let's put a pin in it, and talk about it later."

No, no, no! Monokawa was having none of this. "First of all, she's not even as marketable as me." He pointed off to Gigi, who only raised an eyebrow. "Second of all, I can float around! You know how iconic that is?"

"Technically, we can all float if you remove gravity." Edison adjusted his glasses.

Floating over towards him, Monokawa had a dark gleam in his red eye. "Zip it…"

"O-OK!" Edison took a step back out of fear.

Floating back towards his normal spot, he continued on. "And lastly-" However, Monokawa stopped talking inexplicably. Instead, choosing to stare into the wall like he was drilling a hole into it.

"Huh… Yes?" Seira looked up at him.

"Someone… Someone already voted." Monokawa did not seem happy.

Winter frowned at hearing that. "Who would willingly vote right now?"

Monokawa chose to remain silent. Instead, slowly lowering himself down to be next to Nova.

Letting out a small laugh, Nova shook her head. "Wow, it appears that someone believes they already know the answer to this case."

Swirling around his flask, an idea popped up in Edison's head. "They refuse to help us, so it must be Lorelei!"

"Dude, what the fuck?" Lorelei placed a hand on their hip. "Why the fuck would I vote? More importantly, how would I know the answer?"

All fair points! Which meant Edison was simply not going to respond.

"Well…" Gennosuke let out a small chuckle. "You could have always have-"

Nope! Not dealing with him today. "Gennosuke, shut up." Lorelei tilted her head to the side. "I don't know anything."

"We're wasting time…" May hummed out, pointing at the timer, which had already started.

Two minutes had elapsed.

Seeing that time was being lost, Gemini decided to jump right on the gun. "Alright, let's go over what we know from the autopsy report." Seems he was the one who always had to fill this role. "We know Dae-Hyun died at an unknown time, due to asphyxiation. Not only that, but he seemed to suffer blunt force trauma to the back of the head. No bleeding was found from the wound. Lastly, he suffered a puncture wound through his left shoulder, leaving bleeding."

"Pfft…" Lorelei couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Why did the killer feel the need to hurt him so much?"

"This isn't a laughing matter!" Melody called out, a bit of aggressiveness in her voice. "Dae-Hyun is…" She couldn't even bring herself to say it…

Rolling her eyes, Lorelei stuck out her tongue. "Yeah, yeah, we know. Can we get on with the actual trial, instead of moping around?"

"The part I'm the most confused about…" Edison began speaking. "How did Dae-Hyun even get to the airlock?"

"Yeah…" Michael slowly nodded his head. "Five of us, including him, saw the body in space… And yet he was the one who ended up as the victim."

"Not to mention…" Edison just thought of something. "Something strange occurred on our way towards the communication room."

"Was there?" Gigi didn't really seem to recall.

"Yeah!" Edison seemed to think so. "The strange thing about our walk back was…"

…

"We never encountered Dae-Hyun on the way back."

Thinking for a moment, Gigi realised that was true. "Wait a second…"

That meant another trek back through the ship in almost complete darkness. "On it!" And of course Edison would be alright with this…

With a long trip back, Gigi and Edison made it over to this side of the ship, having only run into Gemini and Michael carrying Atlas.

Now that Gemini thought about it, that was true. "Right, I never saw Dae-Hyun when we were carrying Atlas away."

"But…" Winter hummed out. "I thought the path to the airlock was a rather direct path."

"The only part where it splits off is the circular hallway." Gennosuke pointed out. "But if you missed something there, I'd have to call you stupid."

Edison slowly shook his head. "No… We… We didn't see anything?"

"Come on now." Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying he just completely hid? The vents were locked, it's not like he could have jumped into a vent."

Thinking about it some more, there was one idea that popped up in Michael's head. "Wait… There is a place he could have hidden to avoid all of us…"

"Oh?" Gennosuke seemed pretty interested to hear that. "And where would that be?"

"Dae-Hyun hid…"

…

"In the shuttle."

Now, it was time for Michael to explain his answer. "The shuttle would have been the only place Dae-Hyun could have hidden in. It was connected to the docking zone at the time… But none of us had a reason to head there."

"Yeah, you and I brought Atlas to the communication room as soon as Gigi opened the door for us." Gemini remembered.

"So, after you four went through the door, that means Dae-Hyun left the shuttle and headed towards the lower airlock?"

"If nobody stood between him and the airlock, then it would make sense." Hae-Won slowly nodded her head along. "But what reason would he have to do that?"

"I…" That's where Michael was no longer confident in answering questions. "I'm not too sure, honestly…"

"Because, from the looks of it, he was trying to get to the airlock without anyone else." Hae-Won pointed out, crossing her arms. "And then we all know how that ended, y'know?"

"Maybe he just wanted to get himself killed." Lorelei suggested, without a hint of sorrow in her voice. "Pretty fucking stupid, if you ask me."

"Dae-Hyun would never try and get himself bumped off." Melody quickly came to his defense. "He… He must have had a reason."

Had a reason… Gigi knew that Dae-Hyun must have had some reason in mind. She was about to speak up, until someone spoke up.

"You're right." It was Gennosuke. "Dae-Hyun did have a reason to try and avoid everyone while he went to the airlock."

Of course Gennosuke would come up with an idea, which at least reassured Melody in the slightest. "What is it?"

Seeing her expression on her face, a small grin appeared on Gennosuke's face. "The reason he went to the airlock was…"

…

"To murder someone…"

Just as quickly as the smile formed on Melody's face, it quickly left her face, leaving her with a rather lost expression. "What…?"

Letting out a small chuckle, Gennosuke shook his head. "You heard me quite clearly. The only reason Dae-Hyun would have been secretive about his movement, is if he was aiming to kill someone. Unfortunately, it seems like his target must have killed him instead."

"No! No! You don't know from nothing!" Melody quickly said, choosing to fight against his theory.

Letting out a sigh, Gigi glanced away. "I have reasons to believe this theory as well." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a knife. "We found this in Dae-Hyun's pocket."

Looking at it for a moment, Melody slowly pointed at it. "But that's… Tatiana's…"

Slowly, she nodded her head, looking away. "Gigi already asked me about it. My knives were all easily accessible from my Ultimate Station. So anyone could have grabbed them."

"But still!" Melody was looking around frantically, hoping someone would come to her aid. "Dae-Hyun wouldn't do something like that!"

Unfortunately, that aid never arrived.

Instead, another voice spoke up. "Sorry to say, but I think that Dae-Hyun intending to kill is true…" Out of all the people, Melody hadn't expected Laki to be the one to talk.

"What…?" Out of all people, her?

"We found something that proved just why Dae-Hyun had to resort to murder." Laki wasn't going to back down from this. "That evidence is…"

…

"This letter." Laki held out the letter in question.

Seeing it, Seira nodded along. "We found it floating outside, where Dae-Hyun's body would more than likely have been ejected."

"What did it have?" Winter tilted her head to the side.

"It contained a map, with several lines leading from the docking zone, all the way to the kitchen." Laki explained.

"Tsk… So what?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "His goal wasn't even the airlock?"

"That explains nothing!" Melody was quick to jump on the attack here. "That just showed him where to go."

However, Seira was going to be the one who had to bring bad news. "That would be true, if it was the only thing on the letter. Unfortunately… There's more to it." She would have loved to read the letter, but that was still with Laki.

So instead, she read it!

"You have a choice to make here, Dae-Hyun. A sacrifice has to be made, and it can either be you, or it can be Melody. If you would like to offer your own life, please meet in the kitchen of the repair ship. After the asteroid hits."

Hearing that, Hae-Won gritted her teeth. "So what? This fuck knew there was going to be an asteroid?"

"There shouldn't have even been one…" Seira mumbled out, but most people ignored her.

"So that would explain…" Gigi began to think about when they were on the station.

When Gigi's focus moved away from the window, she could faintly see the reflection of someone else looking through. When she turned to look at them, it was Dae-Hyun. "... Why are you looking out?"

Placing his hands into his pockets, Dae-Hyun turned away, his frown intensifying. "It's none of your concern… Just worried about whether they can do it or not."

As Gigi stood by the side, she eventually glanced back at Dae-Hyun, who had been staring off into space again. "Are you sure everything is fine?"

Still, no answer.

No answer, until his neutral expression slowly shifted to something else. He was staring… Intently at… Something.

Before Gigi could even ask him what was wrong, Dae-Hyun turned towards the others. "There's an asteroid coming."

"It's almost as if he was waiting for something…" Gigi glanced the other way.

Even with all of this information being presented to her, Melody still had to refuse to believe it. "Then… Then…" But with so much evidence, it was getting harder and harder to do. "The shiv was what was used to stab him."

"No, that can't be it." Gennosuke shook his head. "The blade is completely clean. Except for maybe Gigi's blood, she pricked herself on it."

"My blood did not get on it." She wasn't even going to bother looking at him. "Besides that, his wound was too small for a blade of that size."

"But what else would have been used?" Melody quickly urged.

"I think I know what was used to stab him." Seira had the answer in her mind. "He was stabbed with…"

…

"A tattoo needle."

Hearing this, a large frown appeared on Hae-Won's face. "What? What the hell is that doing here?"

From the sounds of it, she didn't know. "We found it floating around in space." Seira quickly began to explain. "It's likely that the killer placed it in the airlock after stabbing Dae-Hyun to try and get rid of some of the evidence."

"Using something from my station…" Hae-Won shook her head.

"Hey…" Tatiana let out an annoyed sigh. "How do you think I feel?"

"None of this makes any fucking sense." Atlas jumped up. "So the person who sent the letter to Dae-Hyun told him to meet up in the kitchen? I was in the fucking kitchen, and I didn't write any letter."

"Well, obviously not." Lorelei rolled their eyes. "Honestly, I don't think the letter was taking into account you being there."

"What?" Atlas barked in her direction.

"I'm saying…. That you being there…"

…

"Was completely unplanned."

"So Atlas was just in the way?" Winter hummed out, holding back a little laugh.

"Fucking what?" That's not something he wanted to hear. "But then how did they manage to take me down? That doesn't sound like something someone could do without taking me into account."

That did raise a fair point. "Hey, it's just a theory." Lorelei let out a small laugh. "Don't take it as the truth."

"For the time being, it doesn't seem like we can factor in Atlas to how any of this played out." Gemini pointed out. "From the sounds of it, it seemed like the killer wanted to meet up with Dae-Hyun in private."

"But that raises the question." Gigi was the next one to speak. "How could they even guarantee a private meeting, especially with the rest of us showing up shortly after the asteroid hit?"

"I wouldn't say shortly." Edison corrected. "It took us about five minutes to get from the entrance to the repair ship, all the way to the kitchen."

"Still, my point still stands." Gigi was going to mostly ignore his point. "There would have been no way for the killer to know exactly when Dae-Hyun would arrive."

Running a hand through his hair, Gemini seemed to have an answer. "It's entirely possible that the killer simply hid in the room, it should have been dark enough, and Atlas was already knocked out by the time we arrived. They could have been hoping that when we headed back, Dae-Hyun could have slipped in right after."

Honestly, none of these thoughts seemed to be getting anywhere, so maybe it was time to pick a different topic to talk about.

"I think we should come back to this later, when we understand more of how this case even worked." This time, it was Seira leading the conversation. "There's something I want to ask.

There were a few things she wanted to know. "Nova, I'm not sure if you can answer this, but… Which doors are affected when all the doors close?"

"Hmm?" She seemed confused that something like this even had to be asked. "All the normal doors."

That was weird. "Wait? What about the airlock doors?" Seira felt like she was getting somewhere.

"The airlock contains three different sets of doors." Nova began her explanation. "The first one is the one to actually enter the airlock space. This one is a regular door, and would have been affected by the doors locking up. The other two would have been unaffected by it. However, you can't have both doors open at the same time. If one door is open, it must close to allow the other one to open."

Wait… Then… That raised some questions. "I thought the doors locking up is what caused our tether cords to break."

"I thought so too…" Hae-Won hummed out. That's why she had spoken to Dolly during the investigation. "But then that means it's something else entirely."

"Actually… I do have a question about this." Gennosuke was the one to speak up. "How did the killer even get Dae-Hyun outside?"

"What do you mean?" Seira tilted her head.

Slightly annoyed, Gennosuke decided to keep going with his idea anyway. "Well, for Dae-Hyun to be ejected out of the airlock, the killer would have needed to have found a way to press the button or else they'd be ejected out the airlock as well."

That's true.

"Tsk." Atlas scoffed. "Why are you over complicating this entire thing?" Slamming his heel on his podium, he glared at Gennosuke. "Let me get this straight. You all saw a body out of the airlock, but when you finally found the body, it turned out to just be Dae-Hyun? Sounds to me like Dae-Hyun was never actually ejected, and the killer just dropped his body into the airlock to give the illusion that he was the one outside."

That would be a rather good idea, if Gemini didn't have anything to say about. "No, I believe that would be impossible."

Clearly, Atlas wasn't a big fan of this. "What the hell did you say to me?" He quickly glared daggers at him.

For a moment, Gemini was hesitant, but he wasn't going to back down. "It's impossible for Dae-Hyun to have died in the airlock itself… That's if you take into consideration…"

…

"His cause of death."

"Dae-Hyun died of asphyxiation, and there wasn't a method to do so on board the ship."

"Well…" Winter hummed out, but decided to let Gemini continue on.

"Any other method would have left some form of marks." Gigi decided to jump in. "However, investigating him showed no other injuries besides the ones we've already established. Which means that the only way that cause of death could have happened, was if he was ejected into space with a hole in his suit."

Seeing that he had been beaten, Atlas decided to back off. "Tsk…"

"But doesn't that bring us back to our old problem?" Gennosuke pointed out. "How did the killer even manage to eject Dae-Hyun out of the ship?"

"Aren't we missing the rather obvious answer?" Tatiana let out a laugh. "If the killer needed to press the button." She crossed her arms, closing her one eye. "Then they pressed the button."

"But then that would-" Seira had begun to say.

However, Tatiana wasn't done with the spotlight. "I surmise that the killer…"

…

"Ejected themselves out of the ship with the body."

"But then…" Michael thought for a moment, before turning towards May. "May… Did you see something like this?"

Humming to herself, she had to think for a moment. "We didn't really have a great view of the airlock entrance, so I couldn't see the whole thing…"

"But that raises its own issues." Hae-Won was quick to bring up. "If the killer ejected themselves out with Dae-Hyun, what was their next plan?"

"Couldn't they have just pulled themselves back onto the ship?" Dolly asked earnestly.

"No, they couldn't have." Seira slowly shook her head. "If the killer tried to do that, then Dae-Hyun would have been cut loose."

"Then doesn't this make this method seem incorrect?" Lorelei brought up, a hand on their hip. "From the looks of it, the killer would have just been stuck out in space with nothing to do. And since May said she didn't spot them, there's no way the killer would have stayed there."

"Then!" Laki was the next one to speak. "Maybe the killer's method was a little crazier than that?"

"Laki… I don't think everyone is like you…" Seira had to break the news.

But she wasn't going to let that stop her. "No! I'm being serious! I think the killer…"

…

"Ejected themselves without a hook."

"Laki, I just told you I don't think anyone is as crazy as you." Seira was quick to jump in.

Still, she didn't seem to be getting her point. "No! Please listen!"

Hae-Won shook her head. "I don't see how this would help prove anything at all."

"Pffft!" Lorelei let out a laugh. "For once I agree with her. That just sounds like a death sentence."

However, there was one person who believed her. That person being Edison. "Hey, let's not discount it right away. There's plenty to grab on in the airlock, so it's likely that the killer could have fought against the air exiting the airlock, and stayed inside."

"But even after that, what's their plan?" Hae-Won shook her head. "They'd still be trapped, unable to do anything about it."

And, this is where Laki's idea came into fruition. "I don't believe that the killer stayed in the airlock at all. In fact, I think the killer moved…"

…

"To the other airlock."

For a moment, the entire trial grew a bit silent, almost as if to register what was just said.

Then, Hae-Won gritted her teeth. "So that means…"

"Yup! The killer entered the upper airlock, and cut us loose." For someone like Laki, she said this rather seriously.

"Then! That means that the killer almost caused us to be lost in space forever." Seira seemed a bit angry about that.

I don't know why.

Laki nodded her head. "Yup! And May wouldn't have seen the killer, given that the upper airlock was on the other end of the repair ship."

"That makes sense…" May hummed out.

Running a hand through his hair, Gemini thought for a moment. "But then who was the one who did that?"

"Well, it would need to be someone on the upper floor, right?" Gennosuke brought up.

Narrowing her eyes, Hae-Won looked around. "Who was on the upper floor?"

"It was myself, Melody, and Winter." Gennosuke brought up.

Slowly, Gemini lifted his hand. "I started on the top floor, but I quickly fell down after the asteroid hit, so it can't be me."

However, this seemed to bring up its own problems.

"Hmm?" Winter hummed out, twirling a finger around a strand of hair. "That's odd… Last I recall, it would have been impossible for any of us three to have done that. Gennosuke and Melody both came from the left side of the ship, while the airlock was on the right side."

"Not to mention…" Melody joined in. "You were in the can as well."

Assuming it meant what she thought it meant, Winter continued. "And I was trapped inside the ship's core. So none of us could possibly be the ones to do it."

Hearing this, Gemini began to think of something. "Wait a second…"

It had to be… They were the only person.

"I know who did this, if that's the case."

"Oh?" Winter was rather happy to hear that. In fact, she had a rather gleeful expression on her face. "Care to enlighten us?"

Gemini nodded his head. "The killer would have to be…"

…

"Lorelei."

"Listen here you bitch." They were quick with the response. "Now why the hell would it be me? What would I have to gain by killing Dae-Hyun?"

"Freedom." Thank you, Dolly.

Gemini shook his head. "I'm not sure what you have to gain from killing him, but there's one thing I can't mistake. The fact that you were on the second floor."

Examining it closer, Gemini realised something. "Their tether cords are cut off-" Quickly turning around, he ran off towards the stairs leading to the upper level.

However, on the way there, he almost bumped into Lorelei, who was walking down the stairs. "Hey! Watch it fuck face!" They called out, seeing Gemini run up the stairs.

"I saw you coming down the stairs, so there's no denying that you were up there somewhere." Gemini was being serious about this.

"Hmm…" Gennosuke pulled out a lollipop, sticking it into his mouth. "That's odd. I could have sworn I checked everywhere, and only found these two." He pointed towards Melody and Winter.

However, it didn't take him long to think of something. "Say… Gemini, were you able to access the airlock?"

"Yeah? Why?" Gemini didn't really see an issue with that.

"Heh…" Gennosuke let out a chuckle. "I just find that odd, given that I never opened that door."

"Now that you mentioned it." Winter twirled a finger around her hair. "When we reached the stairs, the door leading to the airlock was still closed."

"But that's impossible. Only myself and Gennosuke had the keycard, so how could Gemini have gotten through the door? Who opened it?"

It didn't take long for all eyes to be on Lorelei. "What the hell? You think I could have opened the door? Get over yourself, please." They placed a hand on their hip. "You don't have any actual proof that I was there."

"Then what the hell was-" Gemini started to say, but he was promptly ignored.

Lorelei shrugged. "You have whatever fantasy you conjured up. Besides, you're making up some weird shit. You say I was somehow able to open the door?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying." Gennosuke let out another chuckle. "Gigi and I couldn't have done it, so that meant a third party would have needed to do it."

"Like, last time I checked, there were only two keycards, so there wasn't anything I could have done." Lorelei wasn't taking any of this.

While Gennosuke wanted to bring up Atlas as evidence, that would go nowhere, given he was quite literally in one of the furthest rooms from the airlock.

So instead, he would use a completely different card. "I'm sure something like this would be rather easy for someone like you…"

"What are you implying?" Lorelei crossed her arms.

Pulling the lollipop out of his mouth, Gennosuke shrugged. "All I'm saying, with a talent like yours, it would be rather easy. After all, you're the…"

…

"The Ultimate Hacker, aren't you?"

Letting out a huge sigh of relief, was Gemini. "Oh thank God, I'm not the one who said it."

"What the hell are you celebrating about?" Lorelei was quick to point at him.

Flashing a smile, Gemini shook his head. "Hey, I held up my end of the deal about your talent, so you do as you promised."

True, they couldn't exactly reveal what they knew. Even if Lorelei thought it would be fun. It just meant blackmail for later. "So what?" Her attention was back on Gennosuke.

Letting out another chuckle, he shook his head. "The doors are probably electronic in nature, given that you needed a keycard to access them."

"Oh? And you think I was able to somehow hack into something like that? You're out of your mind." Lorelei rolled their eyes, turning towards Winter. "Can you believe this guy?"

"I can believe him." She was very clearly NOT on her side.

"So!" Laki spoke up. "What most likely happened was after she arrived at the airlock, she waited inside until she could confirm that enough time had passed for her to move downstairs."

"Unfortunately, she must have miscalculated." Hae-Won hummed out, nodding her head. "And that's when she ran into Gemini."

"You guys are all parading this around like it's fact." Lorelei was going to try and play it off. "So what, I managed to gain access to the doors? That's all just conjecture. You haven't got any proof that I actually did any form of hacking at all. Now, if you did, then maybe you'd have some ground to cover."

"But we do." Gigi was very quick to respond.

"We… Do?" Michael didn't recall seeing anything.

Gigi kept her eyes on Lorelei, like a hawk. "In fact, we saw some effects of your meddling via…"

…

"A system attack."

As soon as Gigi said that, Edison's eyes lit up. "Oh! Right! That's where we wasted most of our time!"

As they rounded the corner, there was another door, blocking them off from the circular hallway. "Really…?" Now it was Gigi's turn to be annoyed. Like normal, she swiped the card, only for this time…

A message popped up on the screen, denying her access.

Not because the card didn't work, but because the entire system was doing a reboot. "Huh?" Edison quickly read the display. "A reboot? Why?"

Almost as if to answer him directly, the display changed. "An attack on the system?" He mumbled out, making sure he was reading that properly.

"The system wouldn't have needed to do that unless someone was messing with the coding." Gigi pointed at them with her black glove. "That's the evidence pointing towards you messing around with the doors."

"Fuck-" Lorelei didn't think anyone had actually witnessed that. "What the hell kind of shitty system is that?"

So it was true…

Lorelei would be the killer in this situation, right?

"Heh…" Gemini let out a little laugh. "It's nice to have that off my chest."

"You've known this for a while?" Seira felt a bit sad that he didn't tell her.

Shrugging, Gemini closed his eyes. "There wasn't much I could do, especially since she was practically blackmailing me."

They were what? Seira had to find out more about this. "What do you mean they were blackmailing you."

"The part I'm more hung up on, is the hacking part." Gigi narrowed her eyes. "You've had that the entire time, and not once did you use it to benefit us?"

"Oh please, I've had enough of these bullshit conversations in the past." Lorelei wasn't going to be lectured by someone like that. "What I do with my own talent is up to me."

"But! But!" Edison tried to think of a reason it could be used for good. "You could have hacked in more coins! Or take down Monokawa."

"Genuinely, are you fucking stupid?" How could a scientist be this dumb. "If I just generated that many coins, they'd know something is up."

"You've been generating coins?" Nova was completely lost.

"That was my life savings, you fucking whore!" Monokawa raised his fists in the air, before realising that it was too harsh. "Actually, I'll just stick to calling you a bitch…"

"As for Monokawa…" Lorelei trailed off, looking over at him. The thought had definitely popped up in their mind, but it was quickly dismissed. "I'm not trying to get myself killed anytime soon.."

"And yet…" Gennosuke trailed off. "You went and killed Dae-Hyun?"

"No the fuck I didn't." Lorelei let out a laugh. "Honestly, most of what you've been going off for the past several minutes has been fucking wrong. The only thing you've gotten right recently is that I messed with the doors."

"Are you saying you're not the killer?" Hae-Won found that hard to believe, especially after they closed the door on them. "What reason would you have to do any of that if not to move away from the scene of the crime."

Looking around the room, Lorelei was getting increasingly angry.

Not because they were accusing them.

But because someone here knew she couldn't be the killer, and wasn't saying anything. "You know what, if I'm getting called the killer, I'm bringing one of you bitches down with me."

"Wait, do you mean that there's someone else?" Gemini raised an eyebrow.l

With a grin slowly forming on Lorelei's face, they pointed towards someone else. "Sure as hell! I'm talking about…"

…

"Winter!"

Immediately, Winter began to twirl a finger around a strand of hair. "Oh my, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shaking their finger slightly, Lorelei grumbled something under her breath. "Don't act innocent, bitch. You know I didn't fucking do it!"

Covering her mouth slightly, Winter tilted her head to the side. "But they bring up some rather good points." Soon, a smile appeared on her face. "I'm compelled to agree with them."

From the looks of it, everyone was against Lorelei at the moment. They had the most evidence pointing against them already, and they didn't exactly have an alibi during the murder. "Listen here…"

"Oh!" Winter hummed out, reaching for something. "I've been meaning to ask, but I think we found something that belonged to you."

As soon as that was said, Lorelei had a bit of a scowl on their face, not saying anything.

Pulling out something, Winter presented to her. "This is yours isn't it?" In her hands, was a blaster.

After looking at it for a few seconds, Lorelei looked away. "Oh my, I have no idea what you're talking about." Almost mocking what Winter said earlier. "What reason would I even need for a blaster? And why would I just drop it?"

"Where did you find that?" Now Hae-Won was a bit curious.

"We found it in front of the stairs." Melody pointed out. "Right before the airlock."

"Was that before the lights came back on?" Hae-Won had an idea in her head, but she wasn't sure if it was correct.

Putting the blaster away, Winter shook her head. "It was after the lights came back on. Why does that matter?"

"Oh, because as far as I'm concerned, the blasters should have a special property to them…" Hae-Won let out a small laugh. "In fact, they…"

…

"Glow in the dark."

Clapping her hands together, Nova let out a rather amused laugh. "Yes! All blasters glow in the dark. After all, the ones you bought are based on the one I have."

"Hmm?" Gennosuke hummed out, realising a weird phrasing there. "Is that so?"
From the looks of it, it didn't seem like Lorelei or Winter were going to admit to anything, so instead, he would need to dig a bit further. "Lorelei…" He looked over at them. "You claim that Winter should be your alibi, right?"

"Obviously! Why the fuck else would I mention it?" They rolled their eyes in annoyance. "And this bitch won't accept it."

In fact, Winter was just humming to herself, as if nothing was wrong.

They were being difficult… They both knew something, but they were refusing to tell them anything…

Letting out a small sigh, Gennosuke closed his eyes…

It's been clear from the get go that they've been hiding things. Honestly, ever since the trial. It's that look on Winter's fucking face. She's been lying to us since the investigation.

But before I go over that, I should figure something else out… Lorelei isn't lying about the alibi. She isn't trying to produce something out of nothing. Her and Winter were definitely together during one point of the murder. Now, it's just figuring out what room they were together in…

All things considered, they were together in…

…

The ship's core…

That's the only place that makes sense after all, that's where I found Winter, and unless Lorelei somehow opened the door for Winter, she wasn't going anywhere.

But then, where exactly did Lorelei go? I mean, it's pretty obvious with anyone with a brain… Lorelei was in the…

…

The upper airlock…

That's why the door was open when Gemini went there, because Lorelei had to open her way there. But since it was closed when the three of us passed by, it means she must have locked herself in the airlock on purpose.

That raises entirely different questions. Lorelei wouldn't be the one to run away and hide somewhere, so there must have been a good reason.

And to figure out that reason, I think we must take a few steps back first.

When we first found Winter…

What made me notice Winter was even there…?

…

The light…

Right, I remember now…

After a few seconds, he had to stop, because he could have sworn he saw a light that shouldn't be there.

Quickly, a silhouette could be seen, raising her hands. "It's just me…" It was Winter. Seems she was stuck here during the entire ordeal.

I only looked in that direction because I saw a light coming from there. But it's also exactly where she was…

It was pitch black, so I shouldn't have been seeing any lights.

So, what exactly was that light?

…

A blaster…

Right, as Hae-Won just mentioned, blasters should glow in the dark. It's likely that the only reason I saw Winter was because she had a blaster on her.

That only raises one further question. If the blaster she had on her was hers, then what about the one we found in the hallway?

Well, that's pretty obvious, actually…

That blaster belonged to…

…

Lorelei…

She's the only one who would have gone in that direction, so the blaster had to be hers.

So that meant both girls had a blaster with them…

But what does that change then? If their alibi is each other, then that means when the lights went off, that the two girls were together…
Oh… Hahaha… I see how it played out now…

What would happen right after the lights went out…?

…

They'd know the other had a blaster…

Because it glowed in the dark, it would be the only source of light in the entire room, so it would be pretty obvious what they were coming from.

At that point… Haha… It all becomes so obvious what happened…

The reason they are being so secretive is because…

…

Finally opening his eyes, Gennosuke let out a small chuckle. "So is that how it is?"

For a second, Lorelei was worried. "What the hell are you going on about?"

"I think I figured out why the two of you are being so secretive." Gennosuke announced rather proudly.

For a moment, Winter glanced away, twirling her finger around a strand of hair. "Oh? You sound delusional when you say that."

"I can assure you I'm anything but that." Gennosuke pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "After all, the blaster we found in the hallway wasn't the only one I found."

For a moment, brief panic appeared on Winter's face, but it quickly subsided. "I assume you took the blaster with you, then?"

"Oh, no." Gennosuke placed his hands in his pockets. "Impossible for me to do such a thing, given the original owner still has it on them. Isn't that right, Winter?"

For a moment, she was quiet.

She could continue to lie, or she could just stop wasting time. "Alright, yes." Winter reached over, and removed her own blaster, closing her eyes in the process.

Now she had two blasters in her hands.

"But what exactly does that change?" Winter opened her eyes to look directly at Gennosuke.

"Heh…" He let out a small chuckle.

Finally, some honesty.

"Now that it's confirmed that you both had blasters, let's just lay this all out, then." Gennosuke put the lollipop back in his mouth, taking on a rather serious expression. "The thing you two are trying to hide from us is…"

…

"You two tried to kill each other."

Hearing those words, Winter quickly closed her eyes, a frown appearing on her face.

On the other hand, Lorelei crossed her arms, looking the other way.

Michael was quick to jump in. "W-Why would they try to kill each other?"

Gennosuke just shrugged. "I'm getting there, so calm down."

However, before he could say anything else, a voice spoke up.

"Let me reprogram your thoughts, loser."

It was Lorelei who was speaking.

"Pfft? You assume I wanted to kill Winter? What kind of dumb ass plan would that be? What reason would I even want to kill her?"

Before anything else could be said, another voice jumped in.

"You and being wrong go so well together"

Now it was Winter's turn. "Exactly, I share the same sentiment. There should be no reason for me to want Lorelei dead."

Now they were just playing difficult. Letting out a sigh, Gennosuke had to fight both of them now? "You may say that, but I'm willing to bet things went about differently than you're trying to portrait."

Lorelei let out a small laugh. "Oh, he really is fucking delusional!"

Gennosuke wasn't going to let that bother him. "The reason I think you two tried to kill each other is because…"

…

"You thought the other person was going to kill you."

"Why would I assume Lorelei would kill me?" Winter twirled her finger around a strand of hair. "That seems like a rather large leap to make. It doesn't sound rational at all."

"Yeah, duh." Lorelei placed a hand on her hip. "As if Winter would kill someone."

These two girls… Gennosuke couldn't help but let out a sigh. "You might not normally kill someone, but in the state of the repair ship, things would have been different. As soon as the lights went off in the ship's core, you both would have realised that the other was carrying a weapon."

"Heh…" Hae-Won let out a chuckle. "Honestly, if I was in front of Lorelei, and I knew she had a weapon on her, I would assume she was going to kill me."

Placing a hand on their hip, they rolled their eyes. "Do you have no confidence in me?"

"You literally snapped our tether cords." Hae-Won made sure you fight back immediately. "Without a care about what would happen to us."

"Ugh, you're still stuck on that? Would it make it better if I said sorry." Lorelei seemed exasperated.

"It would be a start…" Seira mumbled out.

"Alright." Lorelei looked over at Gennosuke. "So what, you just assume that because we both had weapons, we started trying to kill each other?"

"Wait- You didn't even say it-" Seira started to point out. Typical Aries.

"Yeah, that's about what I think happened." Gennosuke flashed a smile. "Especially if you thought the other person was trying to kill you."

"But, isn't this under the assumption that we both even had weapons?" Winter twirled her finger around a strand of hair. "I can understand Lorelei having one, but why would I have one? They are quite expensive. I don't think I would have been able to earn the money in the casino in a timely manner."

"The casino did close down after the watches went offline…" Michael pointed out.

"See?" Lorelei pointed out. "If she was to buy a blaster, she would have needed to buy it two days ago. Hardly enough time for her to amass the money. She's not Ian."

"That's not true…" Seira spoke up, realising something. "I think that Winter could have gotten enough money…"

"Oh my?" She covered her mouth. "And how would I have done that?"

Frowning, Seira looked right at her. "That's because…"

…

"People paid you."

"In fact…" Seira pointed to herself. "I'm one of those people…"

"Where do you think you're going?" Winter called out, tilting her head to the side. After a few seconds, she opened up her watch. "I told you that this session comes with a fee."

"O-oh…" Honestly, Seira was hoping that she would have forgotten about all that. Moving back, she opened her app up, transferring 200 coins over to Winter.

Bowing her head slightly, a small smile tugged at Winter's face. "Thank you for your cooperation."

"And that wasn't the only time someone paid you."

One look at the audience, and it was clear who had thrown the tomato. "Heh." Thank you Lorelei.

"Are you getting paid for this as well?" Winter hummed out.

This prompted Lorelei to give her a dumbfounded look. "Wait, you're getting paid?"

Whistling to herself, Winter didn't answer the question.

Now her actions were starting to make a lot of sense.

"Both myself and Benjamin paid you throughout the last few days." Seira pointed out, before turning towards Dolly. "How much did you give?"

"About three hundred." She shrugged. "There wasn't any use for the motive, so I gave her the rest of my coins."

"That's already half of the coins…" Gemini crossed his arms. "And you already had coins to begin, so it's not like you'd have to gamble too much."

Instead of actually saying anything, Winter only hummed to herself, looking away.

Which meant it was Lorelie's turn to jump in. "Alright. So let's get this straight. You think the two of us fought, and then I ran off?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Gennosuke nodded his head.

"There's only one problem with that." Lorelei narrowed their eyes. "If Winter was trying to kill mem, why the fuck would I drop the blaster, the one thing keeping me safe?"

"Heh…" Hae-Won let out a small laugh. "Actually, that answer is rather easy… The reason you dropped it was because…"

…

"It glowed in the dark."

"How does that change anything?" Lorelei said with a rather mocking tone.

Placing her hands in her pockets, Hae-Won closed her eyes. "Because it was glowing, having it on you was just like painting a target on your back. Getting rid of it made it so that Winter wouldn't know where to shoot."

"Then wouldn't I just go back for it when I confirmed that Winter was still stuck in the core's ship?" Lorelei was bringing up a good point.

Gemini shook his head. "If you thought of ditching your weapon, it's likely Winter could have done the same, and been waiting outside in the hallway. You couldn't take a chance like that."

"Urg-" Lorelei was running out of arguments.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Winter looked the other way. "Well, I know we promised we'd keep this a secret, but there's not much use to doing that anymore."

Then that was it, huh? "What the fuck…"

"All of this to prove that Lorelei wasn't the fucking killer?" Atlas blurted out, rather infuriated. "You could have saved us so much time."

"Well, Lorelei tried to shoot me." Winter shrugged. "I wanted her to suffer just a little bit before I revealed her alibi. Unfortunately, you weren't supposed to figure everything else out."

Placing a hand on their hip, Lorelei narrowed their eyes. "Hey, asshole. I might have shot first, but you pointed your blaster at me first."

"You know…" Winter hummed out, twirling her finger around a strand of hair. "For once, you've actually been helpful. Is this you turning a new leaf?"

"Literally shut the fuck up."

"Tee-hee."

It seems Winter and Lorelei have grown closer.

However, this moment didn't last for too long, given that the ship shook violently, sending both girls onto the ground.

Suddenly, the lights turned off, replaced by a red light, and the doors slammed shut moments after.

"What the hell?" Lorelei was the first to get back on their feet, followed closely by Winter. "You didn't hit your head, did you-"

"No… I'm fine…" When Winter gained her bearings again, she froze, looking directly at Lorelei.

Not like she actually sees her. Instead, her eyes were focused on the glowing emanating from something.

It didn't take long for Winter to clue in to just what exactly it was. Thinking quickly, she quickly pulled her own blaster, aiming it directly at Lorelei.

Seeing the movement, they responded in kind. "Put it down." They ordered.

"What are you doing with a blaster? You aren't planning to kill anyone, are you?" And if so, is that why Lorelei had chosen to be next to Winter the entire time.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "I've had this with me for a while. What about you? You didn't have one before."

"I bought it after the show, simple as that." Winter didn't have any reason to hide that. "It was for self defense." Especially with how people have already been on this station.

Weighing her options, Lorelei wasn't exactly sure what to do. They didn't trust Winter at all, but killing here wasn't beneficial at all.

But she had to play it safe, with a single trigger pull she shot the spot right next to Winter-

"Are you insane?" Nova quickly stood up, for once acting serious. "Why would you fire in-" Realising that she lost character, she quickly sat back down. "If you managed to hit something important in there, the entire repair ship would have exploded." A sad expression appeared on her visor.

"I mean, I would welcome it." Monokawa shrugged. "Sounds like a lot of fun, honestly!"

Letting out a sigh, Gemini shook his head. "So let me get this straight, you almost killed us all?"

"Haha, I would have been safe." Edison quickly answered.

Twirling a finger around a strand of hair, Winter looked away. "Why do you think we wanted to keep this a secret? Not only that, but what happened with the two of us had nothing to do with the rest of the ship, so it didn't feel important enough to mention."

"Exactly!" Lorelei placed a hand on her hip. "Who cares about any of this?"

"You're downplaying such a monumental waste of time." Gigi narrowed her eyes, pulling out a yellow card.

Of course, Lorelei didn't really seem to care. "You're all the one who thought I was the killer, so honestly, this is entirely your fault."

However, Hae-Won wasn't done with her quite yet. "And what about the part where you almost killed the three of us?"

"Oh? That?" Lorelei could only shrug. "I thought the tether cords would have been strong enough to withstand a fucking door closing. Didn't know they were cheaply made."

Hae-Won was about to respond, but someone else spoke over her.

"Fucking Christ…" Atlas was starting to get more annoyed than normal. "Can we just forget about those fucks? I thought we were actually onto something here, but we just went in fucking circles. I'm still not one step closer to figuring out who attacked me."

"That's not the priority right now." Hae-Won crossed her arms. "Finding out who killed Dae-Hyun is-"

"The fuck you going to do with him? At least with me, I can tell you what fucking happened. Besides, this guy ended up killing Dae-Hyun anyways, so figuring out what happened to me is important too."

Letting out a sigh, Gigi couldn't see a reason not to go down this path. "We covered the wrong side of the ship, and Atlas was the only person we know interacted with the killer. It might be wise for him to say what he knows."

"But…" Gemini trailed off. "I asked him about it when we were in the station, and he didn't really give me anything useful."

"That's because I gave you a dumbed down version." Atlas glared at him. "I knew I would just need to explain myself again, so why bother mentioning everything."

"Why are you like this…" Michael mumbled out.

"Tsk, whatever. You got all the important things anyways, so stop complaining." Atlas barked out.

"What even did happen to you?" Lorelei just wanted to save some time here. "I heard you were knocked out, but I don't know how."

"I got jumped. By one person, or maybe two." Atlas began to explain.

"Wait…" Michael thought for a moment. "I thought you said it was two people…"

"Tsk, at one point it must have fucking been, but I'm not quite sure at the start." Atlas continued explaining. "I got hit with what felt like a stick of some kind. It wasn't hard, but I tried to fight back right away. But the killer had quickly vanished from that point on. They were pretty good at using the fucking lights to hide."

"Then it's likely to be what we found." Gigi looked over at Gennosuke, who only nodded. "The wooden pole with a hook at the tip."

"Yeah, although I don't know how it got broken."

"Could you give us some timing for the events that happened?" Seira wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"Tsk, alright… The attacker showed up shortly after the asteroid hit. Right before the lights went off, but by the time I realised what was happening, the lights and doors went off."

"How long did this scuffle last?" Winter tilted her head.

"Fuck man…" Hearing that question, Atlas was clearly annoyed. "How long do you think a fight can last when nobody actually hits each other?"

"Wait, I thought you said you connected a hit." Gemini hummed out in thought. "Were you lying about that?"

"As if I'd lie about that, but it didn't happen at the start." Atlas stomped his foot on the ground. "That's when it started to feel like there were two people!"

"How long into the fight was that?" Seira asked.

Thinking about it for a moment, Atlas had to count things out. "Probably about five minutes in, I'd imagine."

That wasn't at all what was mentioned earlier, which only frustrated Gemini a bit. "You honestly should have told us about all of this. Anything else we should know?"

Once again, Atlas had to think a bit about it. "Oh yeah, that stick thing? I'm pretty sure I broke it at one point by kicking. I felt an impact, but it didn't feel like a person, and it splintered."

"Could we get an actual order on this?" Even Tatiana was having a hard time following this.

Taking a deep breath, this only seemed to further anger Atlas. "Fine, whatever. When the asteroid hit, the person appeared in the room."

"Did they appear from the door?" Lorelei felt the need to ask.

Narrowing his eyes, Atlas shook his head. "No, I was watching the door. They appeared from behind."

Now, that was something new.

"How did they appear from behind?" Gemini raised an eyebrow.

"I don't fucking know… They just sort of dropped in from fucking nowhere. But that doesn't matter. Before I could react, the doors and lights turned off. I got hit by something, but it wasn't hard enough to do any damage." Pause to catch his breath.

What? Yelling is exhausting.

"After that, nothing happened for a while, before I finally managed to break their weapon, but I still couldn't see them, because they were making excellent use of the darkness. Next, after about five minutes, I heard someone appear behind me. Turning my body, I managed to deliver a kick to them. But before I could react… That's when the other fucker hit me in the back of the head."

So while some information had been missing, this was more so in line with what Atlas had told Gemini. "The way you made it sound originally, that it all happened rather quickly."

"Tsk, as if I'd go down in a few seconds. I've taken taekwondo…" Atlas sneered at him.

"But, if the weapon was broken, what did they use to strike Atlas?" Seira asked.

Thinking for a moment, an idea popped up in Melody's head. "Oh, I know just the thing! To dry-gulch-" FUCKING WHAT "- Atlas, they used…"

…

"The metal hook."

"Bastards…" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "How the fuck is that fair? At least fight me like a man."

"What if it was a girl?" Dolly jumped in.

"Well… Well then don't fight me." Atlas wasn't prepared for that response.

"It would explain why blood got there in the first place." Gennosuke began to explain, throwing his empty lollipop stick behind him. "Anyone would get knocked out from a hit like that."

"But then, who did Atlas knock out?" Hae-Won wanted that to be the next talking point.

"I mean, isn't there only one answer?" Winter tilted her head to the side. "Nobody else has appeared with an injury, so doesn't it make sense that Atlas hit…"

…

"Dae-Hyun?"

However, before anyone could say anything else about that, Gigi was right there to counter it. "That would be impossible. That doesn't follow the timeline we already established."

"Yeah…" Michael mumbled out. "Dae-Hyun would have needed to sneak past us after we opened the door to the kitchen… But by that point, Atlas was already being carried away."

"Hmm…" Then, Winter was at a loss. "Proceed."

Nobody else was found with Atlas, so that only makes it more confusing. "A hit like that…" Gigi mumbled out. Atlas could kick pretty hard, so there's no way someone wouldn't be able to brush it off… But nothing came to mind at the moment.

"In a similar vein… What was the weapon that the killer brought?" Gemini decided to bring up as their next talking point.

"It was a pole with a metal hook at the end." Gennosuke quickly explained. "At least from what we've gathered from the pieces of it."

"Where did they get that anyways?" Gemini didn't remember seeing anything like that.

"Oh…" Gigi hummed out. "Actually, they would have gotten that in…"

…

"The kitchen.."

"It was on the repair ship when we first explored it."

Hanging on the wall was a long wooden stick with a hook at the end. Picking it up, she moved it around in her hand. "What do you think this is for?"

Atlas hadn't really been paying attention, so he looked over towards her, shrugging slightly. "Fuck if I know." Why the hell would she ask him?

Placing it back, Gigi shook her head. "It's odd to have something like that here… I don't know what the use for it would be."

"Fuck! That's right!" Atlas stomped his foot on the ground. "They took it from the fucking room."

"But…" Gemini rubbed the back of his head. "What purpose did something like that have? It wasn't something used for cooking, so."

However, suddenly, Melody got a bright idea in her head. "Oh!" She seemed pretty happy about it. "I know what it was used for!"

"Oh? Look at you go." Gennosuke flashed a smile at her. "What was it used for?"

"It was used…"

…

"To open the hatch."

"There's a hatch?" Gemini rubbed the back of his head. "I don't remember that."

"Right…" Gennosuke trailed off, smiling. "There was a hatch on the ceiling with a ring."

"Oh! Haha!" Tatiana struck a pose. "I suppose that the hook was used to grab onto the ring."

"That doesn't exactly tell us what the hatch was, y'know?" Hae-Won hummed out, trying to get them back on the point.

"O-Oh!" Melody had been so excited by her own idea, she failed to even account for that. "Well…"

Adjusting his goggles, an idea soon appeared on Edison's face. "This might sound crazy, but I think I might just be able to figure out what that hatch is."

Letting out a sigh, Seira was going to stop him, but she didn't have any ideas either, so might as well see what he can come up with. "Go ahead…"

"That hatch… Was secretly…"

…

"A vent."

Before anyone could counter his argument, Edison continued on. "Atlas, when you said this earlier…"

"Did they appear from the door?" Lorelei felt the need to ask.

Narrowing his eyes, Atlas shook his head. "No, I was watching the door. They appeared from behind."

Now, that was something new.

"How did they appear from behind?" Gemini raised an eyebrow.

"I don't fucking know… They just sort of dropped in from fucking nowhere."

"Did you mean it literally?" Edison swirled around a flask of liquid, allowing it to turn orange.

"Obviously. Why the fuck else would I use the word? It's like they dropped out of nowhere!" Atlas narrowed his eyes.

Hae-Won's expression grew a bit more serious. "So wait, the killer dropped in from the vent above the kitchen?"

"May." Winter turned to look over at her. "You said you were collecting a list of vents on the entire ship?"

"Yeah… Not just that, but I tried them all to see where they went…" However, a frown soon appeared on May's face. "There wasn't one that led to the kitchen from above…"

"Not even any from the second floor?" Seira pondered.

Slowly, May shook her head. "No… There were no vents on the second floor. Although, had I known about this vent above, I would have explored it…" Maybe she should look up every so often.

"Heh…" Hae-Won let out a small chuckle. "That's not true at all."

"What…?" May hummed out, tilting her head up a bit. "What part…?"

"The part about there being no vents on the second floor." Hae-Won looked directly at her. "Now, I trust you enough to know you aren't lying intentionally, but you must have missed it."

Now that someone was challenging her like this, May wasn't going to back down. "I didn't miss anything… I checked every room…"

"Oh? Is that so?" Hae-Won let out a little laugh. "Then you would know that there's a vent in…"

…

"The supply room."

"Ah!" Edison seemed to have just remembered something. "She's right!"

"Nope!" Despite that, Edison didn't exactly seem to be in a bad mood. "It's a bunch of tools and parts in all of them. This will come in handy if ever a catastrophe strikes!"

Seems that once again, he was failing to understand the point she was trying to make. Shaking her head in amusement, Hae-Won let out a small chuckle. "Whatever you say, kid. I think if that's everything here, we can leave now." Glancing to the side, she noticed a vent. "Hmm…" Wouldn't be the first one they spotted. "Let's go."

"When we first looked at the room, there was a vent in the corner of the room!" Edison was coming to Hae-Won's aid.

"But…" May hummed out. "I didn't remember seeing any."

Winter nodded her head along. "After May investigated, we went in after her, and we also didn't find anything."

Letting out a laugh, Lorelei had to hold onto her own podium or else they'd fall to the ground. "Oh that's rich! The reason why we didn't see any damn vents was because…"

…

"There were boxes covering the fucking thing."

Hearing this, Winter's expression slowly turned into a frown. "You're right…"

Entering into the supply room, it was hard to see that May would have found anything, given just how the room was laid out.

"Why the fuck are there so many boxes?" Lorelei barked out.

And they weren't wrong, there were boxes on the shelves, on the tables, honestly… Everywhere, even scattered in the corner on the floor.

"They covered the vent…?" May mumbled out, a little irritated. She wouldn't have even moved the boxes.

However, hearing this, Seira began to look at the ground. "Then… If that's the case… I know who the killer is…"

Gemini tilted his head to the side. "You do? Then who is it?"

Looking around, Seira spent a few seconds looking at each individual, before her eyes landed on one person. "The killer would have to be…"

…

"Gennosuke."

Hearing that accusation, he let out a small laugh. "Me? Of all people?"

Seira nodded her head. "Yes… You. You were the one who set themselves up in the supply room."

Quickly looking at him, Melody shook her head. "But he would never do that."

"This fucker…" Atlas narrowed his eyes. Even if there was a chance it wasn't true, he was still going to be pissed off at him.

Shrugging, Gennosuke didn't really seem to mind the accusation. "Now why would I want to attack Atlas?"

"That, we have yet to figure out." Seira glanced away. But she was certain that it had to be Gennosuke, right? He was the only one in that room…

"Say you are right in your accusation." Gennosuke took out another lollipop, sticking it into his mouth. "What was my plan exactly? I wouldn't have been able to leave the room."

"You had a keycard!" Tatiana pointed out with a laugh. "You should have easily been able to escape."

"But…" Gigi trailed off, unsure about this path. "I'm the one who opened the door."

"Well, obviously you opened the door." Lorelei rolled their eyes. "Gennosuke knew he had to wait for you to show up. If he just opened the door himself, everyone would know he did it."

Letting out a chuckle, he shook his head. "That may be true, but then, waiting for the door didn't exactly sound ideal. If I knew that the vents would be closed, I would have considered a better alternative, wouldn't I?"

For a moment, everyone grew silent.

If this was the case, just how did Gennosuke get out of the room?

"Ha…" Gemini let out a small laugh, finally realising something. "I think I've figured out how you left the room."

Hearing that, the smile on Gennosuke's face faded away. "Oh? Is that so? Then please, enlighten us…"

"Sure thing…. You left the room using…"

…

"The door."

Long pause.

"Gemini, we used the door, and we didn't see him in there." Gigi felt the need to bring up.

"Let me finish…." Gemini let out a sigh. "I know you used the door, because I know something ran past me after the door was opened…"

With a deep breath, Gigi scanned the card, opening the door again.

The lights were off when the door was opened, but it almost felt like something moved past them.

Or at least Gemini thought so. "What the?" He quickly turned back to look down the hallway, but when the red lights slowly illuminated the hallway, there was nothing there.

"What's the matter…?" Michael mumbled out, having stayed behind with him while Gigi and Edison ran into the room.

"It's… Nothing…" Gemini shook his head. It must have been the wind.

"In the darkness, something must have run past us." Gemini placed a hand on his hip. "That must have been when you left the room."

"Oh? And what?" Gennosuke shook his head. "Then what? Where did I go from there? The lights weren't out for that long, and the hallway was pretty straight. I wouldn't have been able to hide anywhere."

That wasn't true, and Gemini knew that. "Actually, there was one place you could have hidden… That being…"

…

"The circular hallway."

Running a hand through his hair, Gemini continued. "It's the only place in that hallway you could have broken a line of sight. I think you could have very reasonably made it to the hallway, and hid in one of the curves."

"And? And then what?" Gennosuke still wasn't too worried about any of this. "I just magically teleported, lovely theory." He snickered.

"No, obviously not, why would that ever be the case. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. All you needed to do was go up…"

…

"The stair-"

Before Gemini even had the time to finish his sentence, May was there to shoot it down. "The doors leading to the stairs from the circular hallway had been closed the entire time. Nobody used them at all after the ship was hit."

"Oh!" Gemini let out a small laugh, looking the other way.

"See?" Gennosuke crossed his arms. "Despite that, I still found myself on the second floor, with no avenue of escape. I think you've got the wrong guy."

No… He couldn't have the wrong guy… Especially not since it was Seira's theory.

"Hmm…" Winter let out a hum. "The stairs might have been out of order, but I think there's still a way Gennosuke could have gotten up to the second floor. After all, the second floor is connected by a large hole in the center."

"Yeah… Don't I know…" Gemini let out a sigh. "I remember falling down today already… But that was far too high up to be reached normally."

"Normally, yes…" Winter nodded her head. "That's why the killer used…"

…

"A rope."

Quickly, Gemini reached over for his own rope. "Nope! Still there."

"Wait!" Tatiana called out, hearing the word rope. "A rope was found?" The fact she never asked was concerning herself.

Winter nodded along. "We found a rope at the bottom of the circular hallway, a place nobody would have looked."

"Ah, that's why it was there." Lorelei clued in. "That would mean Gennosuke set that rope up before he moved down to the lower floor. After the deed was done, he ran over to it and climbed up, untying it when he was at the top, and letting it drop."

"That doesn't sound reasonable." Gennosuke let out a small chuckle, shaking his head. "Surely, someone would have seen that rope."

Gemini ran a hand through his hair. "I don't remember seeing it… But I was only briefly in the circular hallway. And when I was… I couldn't see anything."

Now that Gigi thought about it, she nodded her head. "Most of our time spent in the circular hallway was spent in darkness. And if this timeline lines up, then the rope should have only been there on our first passthrough."

"That still doesn't make sense." It didn't seem like Gennosuke was going to back down anytime soon. "My door was open. So what? You think I stumbled my way through the darkness just to open my door?"

"I believe you did…" Hae-Won nodded her head. "For two reasons, actually."

Frowning slightly, Gennosuke rolled his eyes. "Two reasons, huh? I find that hard to believe."

Letting out a chuckle, Hae-Won found some amusement in her own answer. "In fact, both reasons were to counter May."

"Hmm…?" She hummed out.

Sticking her hands in her pockets ,Hae-Won continued on. "The first reason was that you needed to open your door to give the illusion that you walked out, and the second reason was to…"

…

"Cover the vent."

"You couldn't have done that until after you came back up from the kitchen, which forced you to spend time opening your own door." Hae-Won continued her explanation. Then, she looked over at him.

But instead, Gennosuke laughed. "Really now?" Why was he not giving up? Just how much could he counter this. "You expect me to do all of this in the dark? I'm not sure if you know, but on the second floor… It was completely dark. That's a lot to ask of me to do…"

"You're right…" Winter hummed out, with a small smile tugging at her face. "Well, you would be right if you were operating in complete darkness."

"Are you saying I had help?" Gennosuke pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "What would I have even used?"

Twirling a finger around her hair, Winter glanced off to the side. "We actually found them with the rope… You used…"

…

"Candles."

Glancing back at him, Winter continued. "We managed to find three splotches of something at the bottom of the circular hallway, and I'm willing to bet anything that they were candles."

Further below the lower hallway, there was a glass floor, and on top of that glass floor, was a rope. "Who the fuck ditches a rope here?"

But that wasn't the only thing that was down there. It was much smaller, but next were three melted splotches of… something white. "And whatever the hell that is…" Lorelei added a few seconds later.

"It's not a bad place to hide things, honestly." Winter hummed out, moving away from the railing.

"My guess is that you placed those three candles leading up to the supply room." Winter hummed out, swaying her head from side to side. "With that, once you were back on the upper floor, you could simply walk back to your room."

"Wait…" Gemini hummed out. "Three lights…"

It was the first time Gemini was hearing some of this, so he was listening to it. Until Michael stopped talking, which forced him to pick up the rest of the pace. "On the way to the lower airlock, their group ran into me, who had fallen off the second floor."

"How'd you manage that?" Tatiana raised her eyebrow.

Letting out a small sigh, Gemini felt a bit embarrassed. "The lights went out on the upper floor. I was completely in the dark, except for three lights. I tried to follow those lights… And fell right over the railing."

"And that's where we found you…" Michael pointed out.

As if he finally pieced it together, Gemini nodded his head. "Those are the three lights I would have seen while I was on the upper floor."

"After that… Winter continued on. "You covered the vent, got rid of the evidence, and made your way over towards where I was. All so you could avoid using the stairs on your side." She let out a small laugh.

However, in the face of all of this. Gennosuke's smile didn't seem to falter a bit. "You say I used those candles? Then what did I use to light them up?"

"Well, obviously a lighter." Winter wasn't going to humour him too much. "What else would you have used?"

"This entire plan involved us being on the repair ship, right?" Gennosuke tilted his head to the side. "Something that didn't become apparent until recently. In fact, this wasn't something until yesterday."

"I… Don't see the point you are trying to make." Which sucks for Winter, because she should realise just what point he was making.

"If I just set up things yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to get a lighter."

"Fuck…" Hae-Won mumbled out, understanding the point he was trying to make. "He couldn't have gotten a lighter because…"

…

"The casino was closed."

Now that that point was brought back up, the smile on Winter's face quickly faded away. "Wait…"

"If you say I went to get myself a lighter, I think you're asking for a miracle here." Gennosuke stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I couldn't have known days in advance what my plan would have been."

"Couldn't you just have bought a lighter sooner for no reason?" Dolly suggested. "It seems like a pretty bright idea!"

"Why would I waste money on something that I wouldn't need." Gennosuke quickly countered. "Especially after a motive like that."

"Then…" Gemini tried to think of something. "You used the lighter in Winter's Ultimate Station."

"No…" Winter shook her head, pulling out said lighter. "I've had it on me for a while…"

After a few small seconds, there was now a light source…

From Winter. In front of her, there was a small flame, illuminating her face. "I'm lucky I carry this around with me."

"Is that the lighter from your room?" Gemini hummed out.

Nodding her head, Winter continued. "Yes. I felt no need to leave it in my Ultimate Station, so I have it here with me."

Then that means they were running out or arguments in all of this.

After a bit more silence, Seira spoke up. "He's right… He wouldn't have ever needed to buy a lighter."

Flashing her a smile, Gennosuke nodded his head. "See, she's starting to get it."

"I'm not coming to your defense." Seira narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't have needed to buy a lighter… Because…"

…

"You've had a lighter on you the entire time."

Seira knew there wasn't any evidence to support this, but she couldn't let that conversation they had go just yet. "Earlier today, you told me…"

"Well…!" What was the best way to put this? "Honestly, you go through a lot of lollipops." Ignoring the entire fact that he seems to have an endless supply.

Glancing down at his lollipop, Gennosuke shrugged. "Is there really an issue with that?"

Not… Really… "Just… Why? Do you have a sweet tooth or something?" For some reason, Seira sounded concerned.

"Eh." Gennosuke shrugged, putting the lollipop back into his mouth. "Not really. I actually use these for a different reason entirely."

"Oh?" That seemed to pique Seira's interest a bit. "For what reason, then?"

Frowning slightly, Gennosuke glanced to the side. "Honestly, it's to break a bad habit of mine. One that I had since I was a teenager."

After a few seconds, Seira seemed to clue in to what he meant. "Smoking?" It was the only thing she could see that would even be close.

"I know it's a bit of a stretch, but wouldn't it make sense for you to already have one?" Seira pointed out.

"Honestly…" Hae-Won let out a sigh. "With everything else going against him, I don't really think it matters too much, y'know? Everything points to his guilt. I think I'm just about ready to vote. Unless the fucker has anything else to say."

Silence had overtaken the room as everyone waited for Gennosuke to counter the arguments that were thrown his way.

Instead, a low chuckle came from him, before he reached into his pants pocket. After a few seconds, he pulled out a golden lighter.

Bringing it up to the lollipop stick, he tried to ignite it a few times, before it finally worked on the third time.

With that, Gennosuke lit the tip of the stick on fire.

Closing the lighter with a few swift motions, he placed it on his podium.

As the fire burned up, a trail of smoke slowly rose up from the lollipop stick.

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed onto the stick like one would with a cigarette, pulling it out of his mouth with the lollipop still intact. "Really now…?"

"Are you admitting to it?" Seira took a step back.

Shrugging, Gennosuke glanced the other way. "Maybe I am, but what does it really matter?"

Taken aback by his words, Seira began to stutter a bit. "W-well… I mean… That means you're the killer-"

"Does it now?" Gennosuke didn't really seem to care that much. Putting the lollipop back in his mouth, the flame continued to burn. "Strange. I don't remember killing Dae-Hyun."

"Hey, asshole!" Atlas slammed his foot down onto his podium. "You attacked me, and then you went to kill the fucker. It's clear as day!"

"Clear as-" Letting out another chuckle, Gennosuke shook his head. "I think you've mistaken. Your life was merely a distraction."

"A distraction…?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck do you mean by that?"

"You were simply in the way, and I was trying to get rid of you." Gennosuke flashed him a smile. "Unfortunately, you're still standing, so I'm a bit disappointed."

"G-Gennosuke- Ya can't just say stuff like that-" Melody seemed horrified. "A-And… Did you play a part in Dae-Hyun's death?"

Letting out another chuckle, Gennosuke took the lollipop out of his mouth. "Obviously I had something to do with it. It's not a coincidence that Atlas was knocked out so close to the scene of the crime. Like I said, I was merely there to deal with anyone who would end up in the kitchen."

Gigi narrowed her eyes, keeping them focused on him. "So… Are you saying you're only an accomplice to all of this?"

"Don't you remember the start of the trial?" Gennosuke flashed a smile at her.

"And lastly-" However, Monokawa stopped talking inexplicably. Instead, choosing to stare into the wall like he was drilling a hole into it.

"Huh… Yes?" Seira looked up at him.

"Someone… Someone already voted." Monokawa did not seem happy.

Winter frowned at hearing that. "Who would willingly vote right now?"

Monokawa chose to remain silent. Instead, slowly lowering himself down to be next to Nova.

"That was you…?" Hae-Won narrowed her eyes. "You voted because you knew who the killer was…"

"Obviously." Trying to light his lighter again, he let the flame appear a few times before discarding it back into his pocket. "If I knew who the killer was, why wouldn't I vote?"

"Then!" Edison had a bright idea. "Why not just tell us who the killer is? If we vote wrong-"

"No."

It was stern, and without any hesitation.

"Why would I do that?" Taking out his lollipop, he let the smoke wander around a bit. "Where's the fun in that? These trials are quite enjoyable, so I'm not going to end one early."

"Enjoyable!?" Hae-Won narrowed her eyes. "What the hell do you mean these are enjoyable?"

Shaking his head, Gennosuke couldn't help but laugh a bit.

They didn't see how great these things were.

"Someone dies, and everyone else spends the next two hours squirming, trying to find out a solution that I've worked out a while ago."

Atlas slammed his heel onto his podium. "There's no way in HELL you figured out whatever the fuck Ian and Laki did."

Letting out another chuckle, Gennosuke leaned his head back a bit. "You only think that because of your own inadequacy… I knew one of the two of them did it. It was just a matter of getting Ian into a trap to fully reveal who did it. You have to remember that I not only did not forfeit my vote, I also voted correctly."

"There's… There's no way you knew before." Laki quickly shook her head.

Shrugging, Gennosuke wasn't about to argue about such a moot point. "It's why I went to investigate with you last time. Just to see how you'd react."

"Hey…" Melody called out, rather sadly. "Please… Please don't tell me you were involved in Dae-Hyun's death…" Her eyes were shaking slightly. Losing Dae-Hyun, and having it be one of the people she trusted being the killer.

Looking at her for a few seconds, Gennosuke didn't have any discernible emotions on his face. However, a smile soon crept up on his face. "Obviously I was involved, and it was quite enjoyable too. The only downside was that I wasn't the actual one to do it."

"A…" Tears began to run down Melody's cheeks. "Awful…" She mumbled out, quickly wiping her arm. "How could you say that?!"

"Oh, quite easily, honestly." It wasn't much of a deal for someone like Gennosuke. "Now, are you going to stop crying? Don't you all have a trial to do?"

Seeing him push Melody around like that, Michael narrowed his eyes slightly. Looking right into Gennosuke's eyes, he spoke up. "Can you stop talking?"

However, the response he received wasn't the one he was expecting, as Gennosuke stared back at him. "I'll stop talking when I want to, so stay out of this."
For a moment, Michael felt himself freeze up.

He… Gennosuke just ignored him? He tried to help out Melody, but it didn't seem to work.

However, before Michael could register much of anything else, the conversation had seemingly gone off without him. "Why not just kill him yourself?" Atlas barked at him, glaring. "You fucker…"

"Oh? It's really easy, actually. You already figured out my part in this entire murder, so why would I want to actually be the blackened?" Gennosuke let out a small chuckle. "After all, that's just asking for me to get killed. I don't have any wishes to die anytime soon."

"You're… You're horrible." Tatiana took a step back.
Looking at her for a few seconds, a grin appeared on Gennosuke's face. "I wouldn't say I'm horrible. I was hoping to be uninvolved in this one, but the killer was so incompetent, that the trial probably would have lasted ten minutes if they did it alone. Honestly, I would blame the person who actually killed."

"You're just as guilty." Gigi held up a red card, narrowing her eyes. "You assaulted someone, and aided in murder."

Hae-Won began to frown. While Laki was involved in killing Benoit, it didn't seem like she fully knew what she was doing.

Gennosuke?

He seemed to enjoy this entire thing. "You're scum, you know that…" Hae-Won hummed out, closing her eyes. "I've never met someone worse than you." And she knew Ian, so.

"Still, it doesn't make me a killer." He let out a small chuckle.

Now they were at a standstill… Gennosuke was heavily involved in the murder, but he claims not to be the killer…

Hae-Won looked over at him… Watching him. She didn't believe that for a fucking second. "You think I'm going to easily relent that you aren't the killer? How are we supposed to believe you if you're this involved?"

"Heh…" Gennosuke let out a chuckle, holding out his lollipop like a cigarette. "Are you sure you can afford to waste time on something trivial like this?"

As he said that, the clock slowly ticked away, showing they only had an hour left before they had to decide on a killer.

"Yeah… I think we have the time for that." Hae-Won was not about to let him get away with this…

All the while, Gennosuke had a rather uncaring look in his eyes, as the smoke kept rising up from his lollipop stick.

Finally! I get to write Gennosuke like this. What a piece of shit. Hahahahaha. I've been looking forward to this since I've accepted him. Sad that it had to take so long to get to this point, but I personally think it was well worth it!

As for this trial, this starting part was the part I was most unsure about, and most of it wasn't really added until the last planning parts that happened over the course of the last two daily lives, so it might be a bit rusty at first.

Especially the part with Lorelei being called out as a hacker. I think I could have written that better, but it wasn't exactly much of a surprise compared to some other reveals. Honestly, it wasn't a matter of if with her, but a manner of when.

And that when was now.

Also, I think the parts with Winter were good. For some reason, I have this thing were I just like writing Winter specifically in trials for no fucking reason. Is she good at trials? Probably not, but she tends to shine more here than in the daily life with a few exceptions.

Next on the list, was everyone's theories. All three of these characters were high on everyone's suspect list, and with all but Gennosuke being confirmed innocent, it's going to be interesting to see where things progress from here.

Honestly, this is the fastest I've ever written a chapter. I literally wrote 14k in one day, you don't do that unless you're absolutely insane. Which I am, apparently :D I just wanted you all to read this trial I've been really excited for :D :D

See you all in the next part, where we get to find out just who killed Dae-Hyun!

Personally, I hope it's Michael.

Participants Remaining: 15

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 Hacker [CandleFire45]

Michael Astrophel - The Ultimate Cult Leader [Omakin]

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

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

May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova]

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]