I refuse to believe this.
This could be her bait. The one capable of using magic during the game. Could she have set it all up again?
She could easily cloud his mind. Or maybe it's just sensory deception? No time to guess now. I need to check the library as soon as possible.
The young man rushed to the second floor toward the library. The door was open, just like last time. No one had closed it.
I want to believe he's not guilty, that he's not the killer. But can I really think that? Faith alone won't decide anything. Faith is hope, but not fact. And in her game, only facts matter, only they decide everything.
She used facts against me, and I? Only faith, and I lost. No chances, she didn't even give me an attempt. And I know for sure...
I don't want to feel that pain again!
When I arrived, everything was the same as last time. Bloodied bodies. Shot heads. Chests, all the same. Absolutely nothing changed.
As if I was back in the same moment, the same day, in a stuck loop.
Why? Why do I never make it in time?
Even if I had... what would it change? I have no power, no way. I couldn't help them at all...
If I'd been a bit faster, I'd be one of them. A corpse in my own pool of blood. I even had the thought to laugh, just spit on everything. But... I couldn't.
I looked around, everyone dead. No doubts.
And I left the room, not knowing why. What was I hoping for? These wounds aren't survivable. Probably just comforting my ego.
But he wasn't among them. That's who I came for. I went down to the first floor, toward the living room.
Empty.
None of the participants were waiting for me. The girls who were with me, they're gone too. Alone again, in this huge but empty mansion. One on one with myself.
My faith led me back to where it all started. I don't know what to do... I was wrong. Completely.
I just didn't want to see you suffer because of me, it's not the first time for you... But I lied. To myself. To you.
I need you like never before. Together... only together could we win.
Forgive me...
I don't know how to beat the witch. It always ends with her victory, and I just lose.
'Bang' the sound of a gunshot.
Aragi, who had completely despaired, suddenly heard it coming from another room. It wasn't an auditory illusion. The sound was real.
From the bathroom.
He jumped off the couch and rushed there. What he saw shocked him.
A body. The one everyone thought was the killer. Head shot, no signs of struggle. Everything pointed to suicide.
"N-no way..."
Aghah-hah-gha-ha!
That laugh, female, unmistakable. With no one. With nothing.
"You must be very surprised, but drop those thoughts! Our game starts again, Araaagi!"
After her words, the world cracked. Fell apart. Distorted like glass thrown against stone.
I was back in her chains.
But I don't want to, don't want to fight. Don't want to continue.
"Stop, I lost. I admit it."
A voice like a dead man's exhale.
"Aragi, could it be that you..."
Soft, almost tender voice. She approached me and... hugged.
What? Why?
Wasn't she the one craving blood and spectacle? But her embrace doesn't feel cruel.
As if she sympathizes...
"I told you, drop those pathetic thoughts!"
Suddenly her face changes. And now she's grabbing my hair, throwing me to the floor. Putting her foot on my face.
"We've only started, and you're already ruining it with your look? Pathetic. If you don't want to play, then be my dog on a chain."
How could I even think she was capable of compassion? In her eyes, only excitement. In her voice, joy from others' suffering.
"Get up while I allow it. Don't disappoint me more, it's disgusting to look at you."
"You're right. Sorry for letting myself break."
He recovered so fast?
"Begin. This time I'll tear all your claims to shreds!"
"That's how it should have started. Let's continue. I'll destroy you like in the first game."
If I stay like this, I'll lose.
It doesn't matter if I have proof or not.
I have to go to the end.
Before us, shards of the world. They showed everything that happened. Around her, those same blades as last time.
She smiles. Confidently.
And me? I have nothing, but I have to come up with something. Anything.
"Results of the second night. All participants shot in the library. Killer — Enua, anything to say?"
As before, it all comes down to him. His alibi still unproven.
"And Morgana and Cheryl? They followed me, but after that, no one saw them."
"I expected you'd notice. Yes, they followed you, but you were too fast. When they went down, you'd already entered. They decided not to interfere. To wait."
I remembered. I didn't know where they were at that moment either.
"Then where did they go? Enua would have had to leave; they'd have seen him. Or at least gone in to ask what happened."
"They were killed! While you were lost in thought, he took the opportunity. Killed them first, then everyone in the library."
"But there were no bodies anywhere, no blood. How did he kill them?"
"With a knife. Came from behind and done. The weapon could be under a blanket or nearby. Simply put, Aragi... they died because of you. If you hadn't zoned out, you could have stopped him."
I fell silent, she's right. I zoned out, remembered the past, lost the moment. But I can't leave it like that.
"That's not all. Your arguments are too weak, where are the bodies? Why no traces?"
"He hid them. In one of the empty bedrooms, and wiped the traces. With a kitchen rag, for example."
Finally. The moment I was waiting for.
"But from the living room to the kitchen is five minutes' walk! By then, I'd already reached the library, and that's not all. He'd have to go the path twice, first hide the bodies, then clean traces. Too long."
She tensed. My move worked.
"You prepared well... But the rag could be in the living room. Napkins! They're always there."
"You contradict yourself. Those napkins weren't used. I went down first, and they were in place."
This is my chance.
"Heehee..."
Suddenly a sphere appeared. It showed events without distortion. Real footage, not under her control. My arguments crumbled in an instant.
"How did he manage all that? I..."
"You can't beat one who lives for this game. You're incapable of understanding its essence's taste. That's why you lose."
"What do you mean?"
I interrupted, just said it. She was surprised and suddenly laughed. Joyfully, genuinely.
"We're just starting! Think I'll give up?"
"Not even think it!" Mariana said with delight.
Come on. Let's start this damned witch's game!