Faith
"In the third experiment, we all acted separately, so we had no alibi or anything. However, the head was probably placed in the third floor broadcast room during the second experiment. I think it was placed there after the broadcast that the violator had been found. At that time, everyone was running around single-mindedly, so they must have been too busy minding their own business and could not care where anyone went.
Then we found the head in the broadcast room and put it on the rooftop. The culprit who confirmed that, stated the result from the broadcast room. The five of us had an alibi for this time. In other words, if this series of murder games were all played by the same person and by one person alone, we are out of the suspect. But that... can only be proven if I survive."
It's as if the culprit is guiding us.
My own words repeated in my head.
"If I was intentionally chosen by the culprit and made to survive, those five people are suspicious. But if any of those five are alive, when did he or she broadcast the results? Plus, the culprit determined the number of students who survived in each experiment. To do so, multiple surveillance cameras must be used. But they all could not have disappeared from my presence many times…
"Damn. I don’t understand. Oh!"
I suddenly remembered something.
When Minami and Ms. Misaki fell, there was no more trace of the security guard's head. The culprit probably got rid of it in the middle of the night. But even then…"
I headed to the rooftop to check it out.
"I was right. I cannot find it."
I looked at the bottom of the pole with the rising sun erected on the rooftop and wondered.
"I think the contents of this morning's experiment could have been recorded in advance, during yesterday, and set on a timer or something. Come to think of it, when we went to the security room, Kazuhiro looked as if he realized something. I wonder if there was a clue hidden there too. Hmm…I thought it was pretty normal, though. Well, I can go back later.
Next is the fourth experiment. Everyone here was trying to work with at least three to four people, so the culprit shouldn't have been able to act alone recklessly. Me, Shōta, and Minami as one group. Mr. Nabeshima, Tsutomu, Ms. Misaki, and Hiroyuki as another group. Plus, our clones were often by our side. They didn't leave us around unless we gave them some orders. Minami and Ms. Misaki both had some time alone in the middle of the game, but about 20 minutes later I saw them on the roof."
Suddenly in my mind, the scene of me falling over and the two of us falling from the rooftop along with one clone came back to me.
"That’s right. I killed those two. And shortly after that, the status report broadcasted. They can't cause this series of crimes. Then is it the opponent team? No wait. There is Okisada. He could be…no, that guy should have been stabbed to death by Kazuhiro. I remember he was covered in blood.
Then the suspect is Kazuhiro, Risa, Ichirō, Kurumi, Hiroto, and those trio, Ryūichi, Mikado and Hiroshi. They all survived to their final experiment, and I never actually saw them die except Ryūichi. They could have made it look like they were dead and sneaked off to hide somewhere in this school. No, but it hasn't been decided yet that the culprit is one of those eight people. Maybe the killer pretended to be dead a long time ago and hiding somewhere all along. Then it wouldn't matter when the culprit put out the broadcast or what his or her alibi is."
I felt like I was back to square one again.
"But those eight…no, let's narrow it down to those fifteen who have survived to this day. Yesterday's final experiment was a treasure hunt. We must have searched every corner of the school, and there was a great risk of finding the culprit hiding there at that time. I don't think the killer would take such risk. Then who is it.
Oh, come to think of it, Kazuhiro and Hiroto told me. Uh, there's an outcast among us. Between B and M it was blue like the ocean, and between A and D it was red like blood, right? I still can't believe them a hundred percent, but I am sure that these two last words will reveal the truth."
I made a hard fist in my right hand.
