I win

The culprits ended up being the ones leading the investigation.

What a twist.

"I know for a fact it's not the student council." Miteki Bless said.

The Kamiya twins were smug. Their statures radiating of snide remarks.

"Simply put, the only way for anyone to win? Is through worshipping me!"

"Mite-chan, stop bluffing." Muroaka Rii nominated herself.

Stepping into the circle, she spread her arms as an invitation.

Miteki Bless nominated herself as well.

The Grand Gesture.

Muraoka Rii bowed. "I invite you to this dance, madam."

"You have to do something, for me to accept."

"That is what?"

"Answer one question of mine."

Muraoka Rii didn't rush to answer.

It took time.

Their nomination time was draining.

"Alright. Hit me."

Miteki Bless took it literally. She took a few steps back. No, I won't hit you.

"Currently, how high do you think your chances of winning are?"

Muraoka Rii let out a breath. "I can answer truthfully when I know the time. Mr. Ino?"

"The round ends in 25 minutes, missy!"

Someone was jolly… Miteki thought.

"100%."

"You think there is no room for error?"

"Unless you are God, there is no room at all." Muraoka Rii laughed. "Oh, wait. You are God."

"… Rii-chan, do you think I'm a liar?"

"Months of observing have told me otherwise."

Miteki Bless came closer. "Can you recall what I told you before the game started?"

Muraoka Rii's voice became grave and heavy, deep and airy, twisted and exaggerated. "'It hurts to make of you my first minion, intimacy in human form.'"

"You said that."

"I said that."

Muraoka Rii nodded.

"I meant it, Rii-chan. It's not too late for you and everyone else. Join me."

If at this point Muraoka Rii wasn't doubting herself, she'd be a fool. Something was off.

Miteki Bless was undoubtedly too sure of herself. It wasn't rare to see this trait on her, it inherently lived on her.

We have similar levels of intelligence, that's where lies the groundwork for issue.

Around me, Mite-chan should be more careful.

Exactly three seconds from the nomination time being over, Muraoka Rii arrived to a hidden treasure, covered in the mud of muddled thoughts and cockiness.

"Did you rig my game?"

She hadn't overestimated Miteki Bless. She underestimated her.

"…" Miteki Bless smiled at her.

The crowd only perceived her staring at Muraoka Rii with a cold gaze.

Her composure managed to convince a few people to join her wing.

A few, catapulted to 2/5 in the room.

Muraoka Rii found it hard to map out where the rigging started.

A kiddies pool turned into an adult's pool. One look down and the adult pool was no longer a pool.

The pool that was her game, turned into a consuming sea.

"Are we ready to vote?" Mr. Ino spoke when the girls merged back into the circle.

"Yes!"

"Since you're all divided, I will let you choose three representatives."

It didn't take long to choose who.

Uyehara Eme was voted because of her school mascot-potential, her face was the type you'd see at the front of magazines to draw in readers for serialization. A face stamped on things the company worried wouldn't sell well without a pretty face.

Muraoka Rii was chosen for… Well, it didn't need to be explained. She was the perfect girl, a hexagonal warrior whose attributes maxxed out in everything. She would breathe and gain a skill. She was everything a person wanted to be in life, and could never attain. She maintained the perfect amount of proximity. At arms distance, you thought you could do everything; hugging, talking, holding hands. The harsh reality was that no physical act could reach her heart, the deepest stabbing wouldn't reach her heart.

Miteki Bless wasn't chosen for any meticulous reason.

People chose to believe her. Those that had nothing to lose.

Those who knew this was a game, listening to the directions Miteki Bless gave them for once in their school life wasn't a risk.

"The culprit is Muraoka Rii!" Though Uyehara Eme had a bounce to her, no one raised their hands just yet.

Until Ketsukira did.

Until Ketsuhiko did.

Until Higura did.

Her charisma was thrown to the ground by the overwhelming presences of her council members' hands high in the air.

Even a portion of the girls who believed in Miteki Bless changed course, involving their hands in the votes against Muraoka Rii.

Wada Sui stopped resisting against her temptations and voted for Muraoka Rii.

Muraoka Rii found herself a bit disappointed. As the lead detractor, she expected herself to win. Yet, her club members betrayed her.

Or was it planned?

She shrugged. She bluffed her entire way throughout the first round. She expected more duplications, a small mishap on her part. Miteki Bless would have had a harder time guessing it was her.

Oh well.

Why aren't you voting for me, Mite-chan? Are you overestimating my intelligence, thinking the answer is more complex than the obvious one?

Cute.

"I, vote for… Muraoka Rii! Myself!" Muraoka Rii stood proud, her chest pounding.

It swayed more of Miteki Bless believers.

It was truly a minority left.

Miteki Bless had no more miracles.

She would lose at this standstill, knowing what's right in her heart.

She is leading people to a devastating loss.

The development was not something that could be fully predicted. Obvious clues were different from their outcomes. Some felt as if they should happen, while others felt disjointed and incoherent.

"Wada Sui is the lead detractor."

Pffft.

The followers she had garnered retracted their hands. This was too far-fetched. Wasn't she trying too hard to be different?

When even Mr. Ino snorted, the room understood how full of it Miteki Bless was.

After his snort, a small chuckle sounded.

It infected its neighbor, whose chuckle was the loudest.

It spread at contagion, on eardrum contact.

Eardrums rumbled and jaws clicked.

It would be impossible to say no one was laughing when the entire room was.

The Wada Sui herself, teeth degenerating Miteki with a glimmer.

Miteki Bless was on her own, standing in the middle of a circle, being treated as the jester.

Perhaps she deserved it. This outcome was the worse puzzle to be completed.

A carrot with legs. An upside down child.

Delirious.

Stupidest.

Insidious.

Miteki Bless' logic had become invisible, faced with the laughter of Muraoka Rii in front of her.

Her best hugger, teary-eyed, latching onto Muraoka Rii's sleeve from uncontrolled spasms.

… This… is fine. Miteki Bless tried to comfort herself.

This wasn't the most humiliated Miteki Bless felt in her life.

It was fine, she repeated.

To humor her, Mr. Ino called Wada Sui to the front as well.

He made her hold hands with Muraoka Rii.

They bowed to the lab, as they filed back into their rows.

Miteki Bless stayed on the stairs alone, appearing stunned in stupor.

"Miteki-san, would you like to bow as well?" Mr Ino teased. This was good payback, perhaps they could even settle his grudges like this!

As expected, Miteki Bless did not reply to his cruelty.

He snorted as silently as he could. An action that couldn't escape Muraoka Rii's scrutiny.

Laughter and entertainment aside, Muraoka Rii was quite disappointed. She expected better from Mite-chan.

"Oh, well. Looks like I'll have to jump off a roof today."

Wada Sui next to her, was intrusively alarmed. Privy to thoughts she shouldn't be hearing, she tried shying away. Her hand being tightly grasped by Muraoka Rii, barely allowed her to put her other hand behind her.

"Muraoka-san, reveal your card."

"Okayyy…" She plunged into her pocket, pulling her card out of it.

"Now, present the card to the class."

Muraoka Rii didn't do so much as glance as the card, an action she figured was unnecessary.

Turning it to the class, the reactions she got were a hazard. Mixed looks of shock, confusion and frustration surfaced.

A counter in one of the rows was kicked, pushing forward.

"How's that possible!?" Ketsukira's outburst looked like the one Miteki had before class.

Brightly impossible words were on the student council president's card.

Defunct.

Mr. Ino's jaw hung. His saliva bubbled, sticking their own mini-prongs of tongues out to catch the species of flies know as shock. He perturbedly dried his sweaty hands against his tanned khaki pants.

He stammered clumsily, "W-Wada Sui, please, please show your card."

At Wada Sui's angle, the back of the card hid the front. The reactions around her disturbed her and made her less confident.

She flipped her card out of her pocket. The front met her face suavely.

Lead detractor.

Her legs nearly failing beneath her, she fumbled trying to turn the card around.

"Lead detractor." Miteki Bless said.

Miteki Bless blew on her nails, a hand on her hip. "Looks like I win."

"What did I tell you all?"

Every person had a different view of her angles. The guaranteed truth in their minds, across their different perspectives, Miteki Bless spoke this cockiness with a face as blank as a snowy canvas.

"Joining me was the only way to win."

She did not look up from her nails.

"Thank you, truly."

"It feels nice to be the winner."

She adjusted her words levelheadedly.

"The only winner."

Everyone thought she was gloating in their faces. Rubbing her loner win in their faces. A petty revenge for their unwarranted laughter.

No one was going to stop her if she wanted to continue.

They didn't know that she was on the gorge of tears. Repeatedly blowing on her nails to comfort herself with a breath exercise, deep and light, sigh and inhale.

She found a corner to sleep in.

Muraoka Rii sighed in broken relief. The class collectively followed in domino effect.

Miteki Bless was unpredictable, though it seems she was acting normal.

Everyday, she would sleep during the second half of the first period.

Miteki Bless enjoyed this process, somewhat.

Today, she expected nothing of the sleep. Upholding her habits like a scout on patrol. She knew she was incapable of sleeping off this salty-like feeling bubbling inside her throat. The ache in her head. Her shaking arms.

Adrenaline had frozen her earlier. The impact of its power trying to erupt throughout her body at this moment.

Misunderstood Miteki Bless resolved to brave through this rocky sleep.

It was unknown to her classmates that this was a ritual she performed since elementary.

Her mother would always leave early in the mornings. She never enjoyed waking up to silence and a cold empty space beside her. Without her heat, Miteki Bless wandered around in the cold.

One night, she had nightmares that her mother left her permanently. She was left unable to sleep for the rest of the night. She was glad she wasn't able to, her eyes dry from being opened all night, crying. Because she got to see her mother wake up. She got to enjoy breakfast with her.

That morning inspired her to commit to all-nighters, just so she could be with her mom.

It wasn't hard to figure out what her child was doing, including the reports she'd been getting from teachers. She knew how hardworking her child was, and had a good grasp on her aspirations. She wouldn't let her future be hindered because of her mother's neglect.

No, no. "Sweetie, you don't have to stay awake for me."

It took days to convince Miteki Bless to sleep earlier. It was the most stressful thing Miteki's mother had to do, as a nurse.

Yet, reports of Miteki Bless sleeping at school did not stop.

Miteki Amafuu pulled aside her daughter one day, bringing her out for fried chicken. She wondered and asked her if she'd been getting bad sleep at home.

Miteki Bless told her she no longer had any nightmares, excitedly bouncing, hugging her mother's hand tightly.

"Then, why are you sleeping at school?"

"Because mama, when I wake up there's a bunch of people around me."

Little Miteki Bless did not like to be alone.

Miteki Amafuu took more days off in order to wake Miteki Bless up. And when she couldn't, she'd offer up her shifts, lose out on pay and cover piled-up shifts from multiple different coworkers the weeks where Miteki Bless was flown out the country.

Childs were perceptive, a detail Miteki Amafuu did not account for.

As soon as Miteki Bless found out, she slapped her mother on the wrist with a high jump. "No, no, no! Take care of yourself, ma!"

Miteki Amafuu weakly mustered a sad, fragile smile on her face, hiding away the frightened look in her eyes.

My poor baby. The future ahead of you is so, so sad.