Script Breaker (2)

White silence.

Nonsensical, Miteki thought. There was nothing in this world that would be worthy—ahem, crucial enough to warrant getting a hug from Uyehara Eme.

"The hug is assuming you're truthful in your every answer. If you have a guilty conscious, it'll be visible on your body once given a hug. That's standardized logic behind the experiment. It's up to you, viewing classmates, to figure out who's lying before we get the finger samples."

Kamiya Ketsuhiko looked back, her face hidden from the class. She gave Miteki a crude smile. "Are we clear?"

At the end of her sentence, Ketsukira synced with Ketsuhiko. She gave Miteki bless a Cheshire Cat smile, casting a river of teeth from temple to temple, covering more than half her face.

With such natures pulverized in her direction, Miteki found herself frozen.

That creepy look befits you, Kirakira…

She stood lined beside Akemi Michi and Tanaka Midori, who moved two steps in distance from here.

She pretended not to notice and stood up straighter.

"I don't like this, Ketsuhiko." Every time Miteki spoke, her position in the eyes of everyone lowered.

Dropping honorifics for someone as charming as Ketsuhiko, were you even that close, you disrespectful chump? Heavy on the p.

Pop. "Why? You guilty?"

"… No. Respectfully, unless these two are family, someone of Uyehara-senpai's level shouldn't be hugging these two."

"Oh?" Kamiya Ketsuhiko waved her eyebrows. "And you're worthy?"

The class cheered.

"That's right!"

"Don't be so high and mighty, Miteki-san! At the end of the day, we're all human!"

"Uyehara-sama can hug whoever she wants!"

Miteki Bless stomped repeatedly. Wagging her invisible bunny tail, thump-thump-thump. She lost balance and bumped into the lectern, she didn't seem to notice as she blankly yelled. "It isn't right!"

"We? Don't involve me, I am God!"

"Eme-chan, cannot-not-not-NOT! Hug anyone! Who are you? What are you? I say no, so she cannot."

Miteki Bless broke the lineup.

She turned her back to the class and stepped in front of Kamiya Ketsuhiko.

"I'll do the hugging. You got that!? I'll hug them when they lie."

"Haha, fiesty! I like that." Ketsuhiko did anything but respond.

Miteki looked up at her. Her soulless expression cut off Ketsuhiko's laughing. "You want me to hug you?"

Ketsuhiko silently shook her head.

She mouthed a sad little sorry to Muroaka Rii. "Gomen, Rii-chan."

Rii shook her head with a light grin.

Ketsuhiko quietly retrieved her spot next to Ketsukira.

"She did you in good, hm?"

"Ha." Ketsuhiko replied disinterested.

Ketsukira hummed acknowledging the disinterest, dreamily sighing and gazing ahead at her steamy show.

She chewed air, her expression of delight convincing the immediate radius that she was “munching chips.”

Starry-eyed at the show in question, "Eme-chan. Give me a hug."

"Okay, there, there." She suppressed her giggles as Miteki buried her face into her.

"Hey? You know, that's some crazy betraying right there, Eme-chan."

"You mean?"

"Trying out something so, so, very useless."

Eme scratched her cheek sheepishly. "Actually… Rii-san did this because she knew it would force your hand."

"Useless! Useless, useless!" Miteki shook her head inside Eme's embrace.

"Stop, stop! That tickles!" Reflexively, Eme pushed her away.

As Miteki's head retracted, Uyehara Eme thought she finally saw a semblance of emotion on Miteki's face. When she blinked, it was washed.

"I must've been mistaken."

She thought she'd finally been able to communicate with Miteki Bless. Words weren't enough to communicate, an understanding was the true blessing.

This time, Bless stood lined up beside Higura and Eme.

"Hey, why doesn't Miteki get questioned too!? Just because she's on the student council doesn't mean she deserves special treatment!"

The class was in awe at Tanaka Midori. Daring to stand up against the student council for her friend, Michi.

"O.K? You can't hide the admiration you have for Ketsuhiko. If she was up here in my place you would be fine. It's not that I'm getting special treatment, it's that I'm me."

"That's your problem, right?"

The class seemed to have remembered something.

Miteki Bless went to the nationals for debate.

A debate with loose rules—which was a normal argument—was rigged in her favors.

"That's not true! I would've said the same thing—"

Miteki's fingers groped and tickled the air. "Fail to comply, I'll hug you!"

"Eek!"

As Hosoo Higura asked the questions, Miteki answered them as well. She completely bypassed her attention over the two other subjects, delighted she was the only ‘combatant’ getting hugged per question.

The experiment failed deeply, because why would Miteki, the biggest suspect be the only one getting hugged!?

The experiment succeeded deeply, because Miteki, the biggest suspect was the only one getting hugged!

Miteki sighed in relief 30 breaths per Eme hug.

"Can you give the class a hypothetical motive that would make you write another person's name?"

The class scribbled furiously on sticky notes, ears perked.

"I could admire that person? It's hard for me to answer. I really don't know… fun?" Akemi Michi answered as honestly as she could.

A few of her friends nodded, visibly supporting her answer.

People nearby them said, "Michi-chan is a victim in this, we should have her step down."

"Yeah."

"Agreed."

The words spread to the front of the class.

"Do the two other culprits agree with this verdict?" Hosoo Higura asked.

"Yes! She's innocent!"

"Meh. She can leave the classroom as well. Unless she allies with me."

"Miteki! Insult my friend again…"

"Insult?" Miteki Bless looked at Tanaka as if she were stupid, born out of a dumpster yesterday. "She was chosen by the lead detractor. It's clear she's a scapegoat. That's why I don't want her in the class. I accept if she joins my alliance."

"What's with the ego?" Tanaka Midori didn't coat the venom in her tone with sugar. Its full-potential toxin seeping out at the tip of her tongue. "Frankly, the way you manage to make even fun things like this annoying. You're such a nuisance!"

"… There is no reply to this in which I can reply peacefully. Are you sure you want to continue?"

"No."

Face to face with Tanaka, Miteki calmly said, "Then apologize."

"No."

"Do you want to win?"

"Yes."

"Then," Miteki would repeat herself for the very last time. "Apologize."

"No…"

"Then, I'm ready to be voted out. I'm ready to make you lose. I hold grudges, yanno."

If she wasn't sure before, she was somehow sure now… Miteki wasn't actually the lead detractor, it was all a waste of time.

"Wait!" Miteki's threat of being voted out was especially real. It was no exaggeration. And with her reputation, it was easy to get votes from people who hated her guts.

"I'm sorry." She bowed slightly, not reverent with respect. A courteous apology.

"Forgiven," she raised her hands, as if cheering. "Raise your hand if you think it's me!"

Half the class raised their hands.

She was about to ask another question when, Mr. Ino clapped his hands five times.

It's the first light switch.

"When the light turns back on, you have the choice to vote someone out now or skip it entirely."

The lights turned off, the darkness sweeping over the room.

This meant 25 minutes had passed by already.

Would the girls in the back have enough time to procure evidence before the voting session ended?

In the dark, Mr. Ito approached the hero.

She hesitantly chose to reveal Miteki's and Tanaka's roles.

Defunct. Defunct.

The lights turned back on.

"Wada-san, your name was written twice, right?"

"Y-Yes."

"Why hasn't anyone asked you anything yet?"

"…" Wada Sui looked incredulous, her gaze screaming, Why are you asking me!? "… I don't, I don't know?"

The unnamed classmate began interrogating furiously. Every question was met with silence, a question back or a huge, inflated 'I don't know.'

The unnamed classmate grumbled, joining the larger conversation.

The "forensics team" in the back, rushed with their results, trying their best to bring them to the rest of the class before the voting period could end.

The girls who knew it wasn't Miteki were speaking the loudest. "We need to slow down with ourselves!"

"None of the culprits so far seem to be guilty!"

An opposing side tried to oppress their voices.

"Who are you to say that? These are the logical options. If it's not them, who do you offer up?"

"How about you?"

"Guys!" A girl on the forensics team rushed to the front of the class.

She held samples of red fingerprints. The red spirals held up in each hand hanging on by two wrinkly gloved fingers, blared at the entire class.

"Please hurry and help me compare these fingerprints to the ones in the logs!"

The rest of the forensics team multiplied the fingerprint samples, sending them out one by one.

The front of the lab was a jazz of shuffling feet and unfortunate pushing. Ketsuhiko, Eme, and Rii focused on crowd-control, oddly uninvolved in comparing fingerprints.

After five minutes of nothing, Uyehara Eme warned everyone that the voting period would end soon and they'd all have to vote someone nobody wanted out.

The forensics team was given permission to stay and obsess over the logs. Eventually, they had come to a baffling conclusion.

Everyone sat down in a circle, organized by Mr. Ino.

The nominated people would go to the center and defend themselves for five minutes.

It was a silent gift. Everyone relaxed a bit more, Mr. Ito was secretly giving them more time.

"This game is hard!"

She hardly knew what difficulty was.

A girl with her hair in a pony tail stood up. She stretched, letting out unintentional noises. She cleared her throat to get over the embarrassment.

"The fingerprints found belong to Miteki Bless."

"I knew it!"

"Told you so!"

"What?"

"How is that possible!"

"But that's not all!" The loudest her voice had ever been. Shocked at herself, she had no time to waste.

She'd wait until after to be proud for herself.

"We also have the finger prints of the entire student council."