First blood, First doubt

POV – ???

"Over there, Hoiri! I can hear her meowing…"

I pointed down the hallway swallowed in darkness. Hoiri dashed forward without hesitation, her footsteps echoing against the cold tiles.

A few seconds later, her muffled cry shattered the silence.
Her cat was there, bound with a rough rope. The girl's eyes welled up instantly.

"Oh no… Who could have such a dark heart to do something like this?"
I stayed behind her, completely silent. My hand gripped the blade until my knuckles turned white. Warm tears streamed down my cheeks, but the pain gnawing at my stomach was far crueler. That insatiable hunger… it forced me to commit these horrors.

"I'm sorry… Hoiri."
The metal slipped through my fingers. A wet sound, a gurgle. Then nothing.
I stepped back into the shadows just before a piercing scream rang out somewhere in the distance.
(The game truly begins now.)

POV – Natsuki

A full week without a single death. Every evening, the vote passed in an almost suspicious calm. Yet an icy knot had been twisting in my stomach since I woke up — today, something was going to snap.
Math class droned on as usual. 

Some students were taking notes, others dozing with their heads resting on their arms.

Then, suddenly—
"KYAAAAA!"
The shrill scream from the stairwell pierced me like a blade. Mr. Sato calmly set down his papers.
"Go see what's happening."
At that, the entire class rushed into the hallway.

The moment we arrived, horror hit us like a wall. Several students covered their mouths. Others looked like they were about to be sick.

I stood frozen, my hands trembling slightly. A girl's body lay on the floor, bathed in a still-fresh pool of blood. Her eyes were wide open, staring into nothing — as if she hadn't understood what had happened to her. 

My phone buzzed. Then another student's. Then every phone belonging to everyone present at the scene. I pulled mine from my bag, and the moment I turned it on, it automatically opened the Sakkaku app — with a light opening jingle that hadn't been there before. 

A blue banner appeared, and a robotic voice suddenly chimed:

"Body discovered. Your quest for today: find at least 4 clues."
I let out a small sigh and slipped my phone back into my pocket. I looked at the victim's body one more time and noticed…
A cat, grooming itself, perched on her stomach. Some students tried to grab it, but it dodged them and bolted deep into the school building.

"Is anyone here from the Inspector class?" asked a teacher as she arrived, her voice unsteady.

No one raised their hand. A deathly silence filled the hallway. Some students looked away, as if they could erase the scene by ignoring it.
"I am!"
Mikami stepped forward, trying to play it tough. Her fingers trembled slightly. Even so, she knelt down and carefully examined the body.
"She was stabbed multiple times on the left flank… The killer knew exactly what they were doing. Precise. Clean. Professional."
She gestured at the surroundings. The Sakkaku World's hidden cameras were everywhere… except here. A perfect blind spot.
"And above all, the weapon used is nowhere nearby… but judging by the wound, it was most likely a knife."

(Well done, Mikami… but that means the killer knows this school inside and out.)
I stepped forward in turn and discreetly pressed my collar.
"Hey… exact time of the strike?" I whispered.
Kuroyuki's tiny head emerged, miniaturized through her space manipulation. Her clock-eye spun backward.
"Four minutes and twelve seconds… I need to go back on standby. Don't bother me again."
I nodded softly, knelt beside Mikami, and touched the body.
"The body is still warm. I think the murder is very recent — it happened four minutes after each of us entered the classroom."
A student shot me a sharp look.
"How can you be that precise? You wouldn't happen to be the killer's accomplice, would you?"
Before I could respond, Mikami cut in:
"We all studied anatomy in biology, didn't we? Body temperature, coagulation… It's basic stuff."
(Thank you, Mikami. I owe you big time.)

She sighed and slowly stood up.
"The most unsettling part is that the killer is hiding among us right now — and is even pretending to be shocked," she said, crossing her arms.
Her gaze swept across the area, carefully studying the expression of each student.
A flash suddenly lit up the scene. 

Okina, camera in hand, was smiling with an expression far too satisfied for someone who had just seen a corpse. Takano stood beside her, hands in his pockets.

"I documented everything. And took photos. Just in case," she said with a small, smug laugh.
It was then that Erisvelle's voice rang through the entire school — smooth and cruel, like a sadistic game show host:
"Hoiri Hikari is no longer among you… Dear inspectors, you have three days to gather your clues before the vote that will begin the trial. Nyahaha… Enjoy yourselves!"

A collective shiver ran through the group. The paramedics arrived shortly after. They took the body away with mechanical efficiency, their faces blank. You could tell they had already seen far too much.
Mikami walked up to me, wiping her clammy hands on her skirt."Natsuki… Did you hear that? She spoke like she'd just deleted a line of code."
She was right. The Sakkaku World was swallowing everything whole. If a murder had happened this fast, the body count was going to climb.

I turned toward the others. Okina was putting her camera away, looking almost excited. Takano was staring at the wall.
"Hey, Takano. Where were you five minutes ago?"
The silence turned electric. Everyone was watching us. In this game, a single question could make you a hero… or the next target.
Takano slowly pulled out his hands. Clean — not a single bloodstain. But that meant nothing.

"I was sleeping. You know biology bores me to death."
He stopped mid-sentence and finally caught the implication. He pointed at me.
"Wait… Are you actually suspecting me?" he growled.
The teacher clapped her hands, trying to defuse the tension.

"Back to class. Now."
Back in the classroom, the atmosphere was heavy. Okina was studying her photos with an almost unsettling level of focus.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she suddenly asked.
"Well… you didn't even panic when you saw Hoiri."
She snapped her notebook shut.
"Panic? That's a luxury I can't afford. If my hands shake, the evidence becomes useless. And if the evidence is useless… we all die at the next vote."
She zoomed in on a photo.
"Look at her shoe. Gym chalk. She wasn't killed here. She was dragged."
A student from the class turned toward Okina with a disapproving look.

"I'm sorry, but that's not entirely correct."
Koike, one of the top students in the class, inserted himself into our conversation.
"She was most likely summoned. Class 1-C had PE this morning. Nobody's dumb enough to kill someone in front of everyone."
It was a fairly solid argument — no one would be stupid enough to murder someone in the middle of gym class and drag their body across the entire school without getting caught.

"I agree with Koike. His theory makes more sense, Okina."
She said nothing and looked at Koike with interest.
The lunch bell finally rang. I stood up, immediately followed by Okina, who stuck to me like a shadow. But no other student seemed to want to leave.

We returned to the crime scene, now cordoned off with police tape bearing the Sakkaku symbol. I went straight for the trash can, searching for that shiny object I had spotted earlier.

— "Seriously, you're digging through garbage like some kind of vagrant?" Okina said, stifling a laugh.
I ignored her and kept searching.
— "You're looking for this, aren't you?"
I slowly raised my eyes. Arisa stood before us, holding a small bag containing a knife broken into several pieces.
Why break it? To avoid the recognition system? Or was the attack so violent that the blade just snapped?

Okina stepped closer slowly.
— "A little kid who's also an inspector… Are you sure you haven't gotten lost, little one~?"
(Great, another one going soft…)
Arisa looked at her with a bored expression, then stepped back slightly.
"My height really works against me, doesn't it…"
She shook her head, then flashed us a smile that promised nothing good.

"Anyway, let's get to the real point. In exchange for this clue, I want all of your SP."
Okina and I stared at her. Why demand SP when she was holding a piece of evidence that could shoot her straight to the top?
"Well then, you leave me no choice!" Okina exclaimed, raising her camera to photograph the knife.
No flash went off.
"Were you looking for this, by any chance?" asked Arisa, holding up the battery she was carrying.
"How did you take that?" I asked.
She simply smiled at me, looking down at me.
"Fate is always on my side~"

Okina crossed her arms, a small grin replacing her flustered look.
"Keep your battery. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to work locally with the Sakkaku system running in the background?"
Arisa tilted her head, her smile flickering slightly.
"Oh?… And what exactly are you implying, my dear photographer?"
"I'm implying that my camera syncs everything to the Cloud the moment I shoot. If I don't enter the code every ten minutes, those photos of you holding the murder weapon go public to the entire class."
I knew Okina was bluffing. The school's network had been cut since the game began  but she said it with such conviction that even I was starting to believe her.

 Arisa stayed silent, her scarlet eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. In the shadows behind her, a silhouette seemed to stir, ready to intervene.

"Hmm… such an elegant bluff deserves some respect. No need to step in, Hakugaku," said Arisa as her smile widened.
Footsteps approached. 

A police officer appeared, accompanied by Mikami and the student council president.

The officer snapped his leather gloves with a sharp crack.
"Who authorized you to touch that?"
His eyes were fixed on the knife in Arisa's hands.
The president adjusted his glasses, his expression unreadable behind the glare of the lenses.
Arisa let out a small, crystalline laugh.
"I'm sorry, officer, but you seem to be confusing the rules of the real world with those of the Sakkaku World."
She tapped the badge on her collar — the symbol of the Genius class.
"My hierarchy outranks yours. Here, my rank places me at the top of the food chain."
The officer groaned, rubbing his forehead.
"Damn kids… You and your delusions of grandeur — you'll end up getting yourselves eaten alive."

The president stepped forward, his face stern.
"Arisa, learn to respect your elders."
"Louis, that's not very kind of you. You're implying I don't respect my elders, which simply isn't true…"
She let out a sigh and crossed her arms.
"The fact that I'm responding to every word this officer says, rather than ignoring him, already shows my respect, dear cousin."
The announcement bell suddenly rang across the entire school.— "Ahem… A body has been found on the rooftop, near the school clock. As a result, classes are suspended for one week. Please proceed with your investigations, dear inspectors."
A heavy silence fell. No one seemed willing to move.

The president sighed and adjusted his glasses.
— "Mikami, come with me."
— "Of course."
They headed toward the roof along with the officer. Louis paused briefly beside Arisa.
"Whatever you do, don't let her out of your sight."
Then he left.

Arisa sighed and headed in the opposite direction. Okina and I made our way to the rooftop as well.
On the roof, we found Koike with a girl who had long white hair with red-tipped ends. She wore pilot goggles clipped to the side of her head and had her back to us.
A boy lay on the ground, bound by several ropes, his face frozen in an expression of pure terror.

"Is he the new victim?" I asked, stepping closer.
"Indeed. He was from class 1-C — a Lambda," the girl replied without turning around.
Okina stepped forward and took a photo. She handed me the image: a red light appeared on the victim's left leg.
"He injured his left leg… Maybe he was dragged up here," I said.
— "No. It was a trap," the girl replied simply.
She finally turned around, revealing a youkai mask covering part of her face. A silver crucifix hung around her neck. Her clothes resembled those of a ship captain.
"He was bound because he fought to escape. The injury to his leg came from his desperate attempt to get away. He simply wasn't fast enough."
Koike slammed his fist against the wall.
— "What do you mean, 'not fast enough'?! He was the fastest runner in every inter-school tournament!"
Koike's tone had turned aggressive — almost unrecognizable.
The strange girl clenched her fists.
— "For the love of Christ, keep your voice down! Listen ... I know he was the fastest… but in this world, being the fastest isn't enough. You have to be faster than death."

With those words, she walked toward the exit of the rooftop.
"Wait! Can I get your name?" I called after her.
"Preacher Lapis-Lazuli."
Then she was gone.

"And you're just going to take her word for it?" asked Mikami from behind me, making me jump.
I clenched my fists, staring at the spot where she had disappeared.
"I don't know why… but I didn't feel like contradicting her."
Two bodies in a single day.
The game had officially shifted into Deadly Life mode.