𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇few living things ◇

"rotting fast in their sleep of the dead."

"the fifth trade, if i'm right, must've been keiji and q-taro. they probably found out sou gave the sacrifice to sara and had to come up with something... and if you were with sou, you knew, at least something.. did you.. take my sacrifice, kanna? is that why sou wants us to vote for you? he's actually trying to protect you, is that it?" sou laughed. "that's all a load of-"

"no. it's all correct.." kanna didn't let sou finish his sentence. "y-you idiot! don't say anything!" you ignored him, focusing on kanna. "kanna did the fifth trade...! she won't.. hide the truth anymore! will you listen carefully to what kanna has to say..? with the sixth trade, kanna switched her card and f/n's card." your heart raced, on the verge of hyperventilating. if you didn't know any better, you were sure you'd be crying.

"once she knew escape wasn't possible anymore.. she had no idea what to do.. then she looked at the phone.. seeing her sister's words calmed her heart. and.. she came to despise herself for not being able to do anything. this whole time... kanna had just kept betraying.. her sister.. the others.. f/n... she just had a feeling sou sent the sacrifice to sara.. and then she saw sara go to f/n's room and.. kanna doesn't get the complicated trade talk.. even so, she was certain of one thing... because f/n is so kind, she was willing to die in everyone's place... even kanna.. kanna...! kanna didn't want to let f/n die! and.. she didn't want to make sou a murderer..! that seemed more painful than her own death.. so she traded..! her commoner for f/n's sacrifice!"

"kanna.. you shouldn't have- you can't- you... have to be.. you.." you couldn't get a full sentence out. "but.. the card she recieved... was a commoner!" you swore your heart skipped a beat. how..? "what's goin' on here, kanna?!" did she end with a commoner? "kanna doesn't understand either! she's sure she traded cards with f/n.. but it wasn't the sacrifice! it's all true..! please believe me!" gin grabbed your hand. "i can't believe bucket girl, woof! she's lying to try and confuse us, meow!" you shook your head, slowly remembering right before the main game. turning, your eyes landed on gashu. "miley's transgression..."

"hm.. quite the off-mark inference. is it alright for you to be using your time on this?" just as you were about to form a rebuttal, sara jumped in. "gashu.. if you haven't engaged in any misconduct.. then promise us. i know the floormasters code.. if we can expose your transgression.. this main game won't count, we demand a second attempt twenty four hours later!" after a moment of thinking, gashu burst out laughing. "you just know everything, don't you? as to be expected from ms sara chidouin and ms f/n l/n. promise or no promise.. i will simply carry out my duty as per the code."

"he said it! with twenty four hours, we could even reattempt our escape!" gashu hummed. "..but are you certain? if you cannot prove it, you will only be losing time to spend on another reasoning.." you bit your thumbnail, thinking. there had to be some sort of clue, something you had yet to use. "sara. what possible clues do you have on you right now? anything." she thought for a minute, humming. "umm, i have the tapes, um, the roster from the first floor, and-"

"the roster, give me the roster." she seemed a bit confused, but handed you the four sheets none the less. "we haven't used this yet, it has to have some-" gashu cut you off, seemingly panicked. "why..?! why do you have that!? oof..! miley! curse her! handing internal documents to participants?!" you blinked at him, taken aback by his outburst. "you did good, f/n. gashu just made a slip of the tongue... you freaked him out. kai was a whole lot better at playing dumb, huh?"

"let's see.. there are names of people that are and aren't here.. just like the blackboard of the first floor. that would be..." you took a deep breath, beginning to count on your fingers. "f/n, alice, kai, kazumi, keiji, shunsuke, sou, naomichi, mai, megumi, reko, q-taro, anzu, kanna, gin, kugie, sara, joe, nao, hinako, and ranmaru. that's twenty one people." everyone stared at you for a minute, seemingly shocked. "...i have a good memory. not the point. now on this paper, not listed, based on those on the blackboard there are five people missing; kai, sou, kugie, joe, and nao. and there are seventeen people on this roster, so seventeen plus five is twenty two. one too many, if we go based on the blackboard."