The Arrow of Time

OSO

Kirby woke up alone. There were two others with him the previous night, and now there was no one. Wasting no time, he got up and headed for the dining room. He saw the other five people there, eating in silence. The tension was so thick he could practically hear the knife in Meta Knight's hand cutting it. He ate, and was about to leave, but the atmosphere didn't seem to let him.

Taranza scanned the room, looking each of the others directly in the eyes. "Well then. I believe it's time. Time to bring it to an end. Let's pin it down, right here, right now. Who is the OSO?"

Bandee leaned back in their chair. "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

The answer to that question came from somewhere no one really expected. Francisca. "Then, I suppose I'll start. I've spent pretty much this entire time trying to figure it out and I believe I've reached an answer. When Elfilin was in jail, I asked him a few questions, and the answers to that are what led me to this conclusion. You see..." The room was flooded with smoke. When it cleared, she was gone.

Kirby's pupils shrank. "I think this may not have been a good idea..."

"That just proves that it is." Taranza got out of his chair. "Everyone follow me. We'll make this much easier." They all left and went to Taranza's bedroom. "Now, block the door. We'll use the bed and the desk." They all obliged. "With that, we've ensured that there will be no interruptions until we're done. Now, I have three pieces of information to present. Number one: The OSO is absolutely one of the six people who went to the dining room today."

Meta Knight stood on top of the desk. "And how could you possibly know that?"

"Oh, that's simple. The night before last, I went with Magolor, Daroach, and Elfilin to several secret locations that only the OSO should be allowed to access. We started by going to the secret final floor, where we found a key to that hidden door down the stairs in the cold storage room. Inside we found cold sleep pods for the twelve people who had vanished, and a thirteenth with a person who had yet to be identified. It turned out to be the OSO. At that time, sixteen of us were accounted for. The only ones who weren't... were you three. Meta Knight, Kirby, and Bandee, as well as Francisca."

Kirby looked at the other two nervously. Meta Knight kept complete composure as he asked his next question. "You said there were three pieces of information. What are the other two?"

Taranza nodded, then pulled two things out of his cape. One was an envelope, the other a book. "These. One was written by the OSO, the other by Magolor. I'll start with the one the OSO wrote." He read the entire journal from start to finish. "Any questions?"

Bandee grabbed the journal and skimmed through it. "Hey! This proves that it's not Kirby!"

Elfilin's reaction was strangely deadpan. "Oh, does it?"

They didn't even notice. "Yeah! This definitely isn't Kirby's handwriting, which means that whoever wrote this- it's typed. Never mind."

Meta Knight was undeterred. "And the envelope?"

"Right." Taranza read the envelope out loud, paraphrasing parts of it to make it go faster. He omitted some things, like the name of the NEWS rooms and parts of the narration that catered to specifically Taranza.

Elfilin did have a reaction this time. "Are you okay, Taranza? That revelation seems like it should have been really upsetting to you."

"Of course I'm upset. But more than anything else, I want to find the detestable motherfucker who did that to him and tear them to shreds." Despite the content of the sentence, his delivery was filled with complete composure.

Kirby didn't seem to have properly processed all of that, but it was difficult to blame him. "Well, now that we know that... what should we talk about?"