[nope] - day 20, Shuichi

[afailedmurder]

[Once they get back to Akechi's room, his flirtatious mood completely disappears.]

This is bad. If no one is speaking up, that means they're not even pretending like it matters who killed whom anymore. There may a conspiracy in place even as we speak.

But I think we can salvage this. I have a plan.

Comments

[truthstranger]

Ah?

[unsure]

Mm, a couple of people have said some things, and I had an idea or two about how to go forward, but... What's your plan?

[afailedmurder]

We should coordinate with McGonagall. She's the only one I trust not to turn on us. That's three votes. As long as we don't choose Kaiba, he'll jump on board as well; for whatever else I could say about him, he's not an idiot. The same could be said for Ulaz.

That's at least four votes, no matter who we choose to vote for.

[truthstranger]

Ah, my thoughts were similar. I was planning on asking her if she would vote along with us. If we have three votes, and the others know that, it's likely they'll go along to prevent themselves from being a target.

As far as how to decide who we choose... I was hoping I could figure out who the four killers are for certain. Then we can pick randomly between them. That... seems like the safest and fairest option, and the one McGonagall is most likely to agree to.

...So long as she actually believes they killed, I suppose. It sounds like Kaiba has been talking to her...

[afailedmurder]

Oh? What does she think of him?

[truthstranger]

...She knew he was out with Hiyori Tomoe, so he's told her that he was, in fact, but that Tomoe was actually killed in some kind of raccoon trap. And she seems willing to believe that's plausible.

[afailedmurder]

[brightens]

Well, that's easy then. Four votes. And one of the remaining group is innocent, so it's unlikely they'll be able to counter-coordinate.

[truthstranger]

...It's true coordinating to vote for him would be simplest, but...

[afailedmurder]

For him? I want to vote with him. We're getting along now, more or less. And good riddance to Tomoe, as far as I'm concerned.

[truthstranger]

...

No one deserves to be murdered, and that shouldn't be our reason for choosing.

That said... Kaiba has definitely been the most open with me. He approached me, and while he didn't outright admit to the murder, he didn't deny it either.

But... rather than ending there, I want to use that. I want to question everyone else. They might not be willing to confess in normal circumstances, but if I convince them that some of the others have been honest, and we're planning to vote between the liars... it may be possible to reveal the full truth.

[truthstranger]

[ LATER... ]

...Well... so far, Ulaz has confessed to killing Illya, and said that Kaiba was trying to get Mae and Minako to team up with him to vote Ein out.

[afailedmurder]

That's impressive, Shuichi. You certainly got to the bottom of this quickly.

[truthstranger]

Ah... and Minako says that she and Grim Eyes came to an agreement ahead of time.

[afailedmurder]

An agreement? Meaning that Grim Eyes had volunteered to die?

[truthstranger]

Yes... because dying also prevents the 'sticks' the raccoons threatened from taking effect.

[afailedmurder]

Do you believe her?

[truthstranger]

...I do. Her Recyclr post supports that as well...

[afailedmurder]

Yes, that all adds up.

Then, the implication is that Mae committed the final murder.

[after the announcement]

[afailedmurder]

Shuichi, can I ask you something? Why did you pick Kaiba, of the four?

[truthstranger]

...Because... three other people I spoke with sounded like they were planning to vote for him, including McGonagall. I... wasn't confident picking anyone else would get sufficient votes.

[afailedmurder]

Was that my fault? I know you'd rather have done a lottery...

[truthstranger]

No... it seems like Kaiba's plan didn't go over well. McGonagall was upset at being manipulated, and two of the other culprits weren't happy about the suggestion to vote for an innocent party.

[afailedmurder]

So it was just a matter of getting the votes...

All right, I understand that. I was essentially trying to do the same thing.

[truthstranger]

...What were you trying to do, exactly...?

[afailedmurder]

Control the vote. I wanted ensure that the killers couldn't band together and take out one of us.

[truthstranger]

Ah, I also wanted that, but... it seems like the danger of that was actually pretty low, in the end.

I also wanted to avoid this being decided by lies and people's snap judgments about who was most deserving of death. So, for that reason, I wanted to reveal the full truth, and make a proposal that people could follow objectively. Though, I'm not sure I really accomplished that, ultimately... even aside from the fact that the vote went another way.