Memory
"Five minutes have passed."
I've never felt time pass so slowly.
There is no one anymore.
There is no one who I can save anymore.
Alone.
"A, B, M and what was one more? Doesn’t belong to us? What does that mean? The truth…"
You found the culprit? That's Kazuhiro.
...I entrust the hopes of everyone who was at this school to you....
"Could I even do that?"
"Buzz…now, let's move on to the final experiment. The survivor, please find out who is me, Suguru Anzai. That’s all. If you win this game, I will return you to the world you came from."
I felt my breath catch for a moment.
"Suguru Anzai is still alive."
"The clones have all stopped and I have plenty of time. Let's think again from the beginning. I have to find out the truth for everyone who died."
I made sure my clone in the cafeteria had come to a complete stop and sat down in the cleanest looking chair that wasn't covered in blood.
"The first experiment was a confrontation with myself. The majority of high school students, myself included, were in the cafeteria. The middle school students were eating lunch upstairs in their own classrooms. Afterwards, everyone went to the library on the first floor. They were acting as a group, and since Tsutomu and Hiroyuki said everyone was in the library, so a middle schooler couldn't have committed the crime. That means the culprit is in one of high schoolers."
I picked up a pen lying nearby and took several layers of the paper napkins provided at each table, jotting down my deductions so far.
"The first experiment was communicated to us via email. Maybe an email sent to everyone at once. I didn't think anything of it at first, but if I remember correctly, at this time and the third experimentation were told via email. But during the other experiment details and all reports of the dead came through the speakers. There must be some meaning to this. Oh, and I remember a P.S. was emailed to me in the last time’s experiment. Surely the killer couldn't have made it to the broadcast room on these times. Why? Because there wasn't time?
I could understand the third experiment, but at the first one, everyone would have been free to go wherever they wanted. Perhaps the culprit is then a middle school student? They could not leave the library. So he or she sent it secretly by email."
"The first experiment could have been easily passes if the culprit had used the clone's characteristics in reverse, as we did. But in the other experiments, it would not have been so easy to complete. Even if the culprit had ordered the clones not to attack him or her, other students and teachers would be suspicious of the clone's behavior toward the perpetrator. In fact, I thought of that possibility and often observed the behavior of the clones carefully, but there was nothing strange about it. Rather I can't even make a guess as to who the culprit is until I am alone. That means...
I can exclude those that died in the experiments up to yesterday. Even if there was a chance to be revived in the third experiment, it was completely random, and it is even possible that the experiment would have failed. I don't think the culprit could have been certain he or she would be revived.
I thought everyone was dead except me, and now he or she is asking me to find the real culprit. I wonder if the culprit is very confident that he or she will never be figured out. But I've actually seen many people die, although not all of them. So there was actually someone who survived in there, and that person is the culprit. Based on the details of the experiments so far and Anzai's words and actions, I don't think there is any possibility of an outside culprit. He or she must have tricked us in the least suspicious way, by making me think he or she was definitely dead. Then the suspicious person would be someone who has not confirmed death by me. There are plenty of those out there."
I looked at the pieces of meat lying around, reeking of decomposition.
"Even when checking each person one by one, some are barely recognizable. Moreover, I do not recognize the faces and names of all the middle school students. This too may be one of the perpetrator's intentions. Conceal a fake corpse with a real one. Like the best place to hide a leaf is in a forest, I suppose. Damn, I lack the information about the perpetuator. The only place where information could be collected would be…"
I stopped writing down and looked up at the ceiling.
