Accused

The gaming table of Ravel’s group grows hushed as Lordo takes on the role of the game's narrator, setting the stage for a battle of wits and deception. The players, now fully immersed in the intriguing game of 'Accused', lean forward with anticipation.

Lordo distributes the cards among the nine players, assigning their roles. Four players belong to the evil darkness faction, while five were part of the light faction, with one player granted the role of Detective.

Ravel receives one of the standard light faction cards, therefore he is not aware of the remaining people’s roles or factions.

Lordo instructed everyone to remember their assigned cards and close their eyes. He allowed the evil darkness faction to open their eyes briefly to acknowledge their allegiance. After closing their eyes again, they were instructed to raise their hands, allowing the Detective to identify the darkness faction members without being seen.

“Alright, you may open your eyes, everybody! Carlos, you have the honor of being the Chief first,” Lordo continues in his narration of the game.

“It’s Yutaka.”

“Oh, sorry. Yutaka, choose the mission, as well as the people who’ll be sent to clear it.”

“Wait. This game is boring without any actual punishment for the losers,” Silveria chimes in.

“I agree!” Yutaka eagerly expresses ‘his’ opinion.

“We’re now divided into two factions, so whichever group loses, will have to obey any orders from the winning side tomorrow during our final day of the school year.”

“Oooh, that sounds exciting!” Eleona chuckles.

“I’m in!” Seko agrees.

“Now all that’s left is to pray that Ravel is in the opposite faction and loses, hehe,” Fantasia remarks playfully.

“What are you, a domina?!” Ravel’s terrified by her demeanor.

After everybody accepted Silveria’s proposal, the Chief started his round.

“Let’s start with the mission involving only three people.” Yutaka makes his decision and places a button on the gaming board representing the first mission.

“Good, now who will you send to clear the mission? Of course, if you’re good, you’ll have to try your hardest to not invite somebody from the darkness faction, or the mission’s doomed.”

“I will go and I’ll be glad to have Silveria join me!!” Yutaka places the buttons with ‘mission’ written on them in front of himself and Silveria.

“Can I refuse the mission?” Silveria turns to the narrator.

“Unfortunately not, Chief’s word is absolute!”

Silveria looks disgusted by his response.

“Too bad, forest fairy, you’re coming with me!” Yutaka relishes the power he holds over Silveria, even if only in the context of the game.

Silveria, however, abandons her disgusted and defensive stance, and opens her eyes wide as if something dawned on her.

“Now who should be the last one to go with us? Must be someone who doesn’t ruin our date,” Yutaka grins from ear to ear, momentarily believing in the possibility of a real date.

“Can I come, too??” Seko begs to be picked.

“Hey, I wanna go on adventure! Take me with you! I’m from the light faction!” Fantasia raises her hand excitedly.

“Can she do that? She just revealed which section she’s from!” Eleona raises the question.

“Of course she can do that. You don’t have to believe her and you can all say whatever you want. Deception and lies are a powerful tool in this game,” Lordo reminds the others.

“You’re not coming anywhere with us, Fantasia, sorry. Li’l Joe, come,” he throws the last button to Ravel.

“The ones chosen will now receive two cards each – one labeled ‘Mission Cleared’ and the other ‘Mission Failed’. Secretly give the card of your choice to the Chief, while returning the other to the table. Remember, the light faction can only choose the 'Mission Cleared' card, whereas the darkness faction can decide between the two."

Grabbing the two cards, Ravel chooses the ‘clear’ card and passes it to Chief Yutaka.

I wonder if Fantasia is in the faction with me.

“Chief, shuffle the cards you got so that nobody is aware of which one came in first or last and reveal their contents!”

Yutaka takes the cards from himself, Ravel and Silveria,and places them on the table.

‘Mission Cleared’.

‘Mission Failed’.

‘Mission Failed’.

What? Only the first round and two ‘fail’ cards already? The points go to the darkness side.

Great! Now I am certain that Yutaka and Silveria are from the evil faction, since the ‘Mission Cleared’ card was mine!

“You two are in this together, huh?!” Silveria suddenly accuses Ravel and Yutaka, “This little bastard knew from the start who he’d choose but chose me as well to throw dirt on my name! How could you? I thought you liked me…” Silveria feigns offense and devastation.

“Huuh? How can you say that??” Yutaka’s face turns red.

He had no idea his own kind would suddenly attack him like this.

So that’s how you want to play, eh, President?

“That’s okay, we’ll just have to skip these three and the next Chief will send somebody else on a mission,” Bisha tries to calm down the situation.

It’s now turn for Leanna to be a Chief.

“W-well… I’ll choose the… the mission for f-four people, please,” she places the button on the board.

“Hey, exercise girl, pick me, pick me!” Seko pleads to be included on the mission again.

“I’m not just an ‘exercise girl’! … I’ll try to go with myself… and Fantasia.”

“Two more spots!” Lordo reminds her.

“Oh, uhm… then… somebody who didn’t go the first time around,” Leanna chooses Bisha and Eleona next.

“Bullshit! Objection!” Zhang raises both his hand and his voice.

What Lordo had forgotten to mention was that after the first mission, each player could raise an 'Objection' once per game if they disagreed with the team selection. Voting would then commence, and if the majority accepted the objection, the Chief would be ousted, and a new Chief would take over. Zhang, having played the game before, was aware of this rule.

“Why would you object? Do you know something the rest of us don’t~?” Bisha hints at the possibility that Zhang might be the Detective.

“Fantasia is chosen, she’s in the darkness faction. Choose ‘Disagree’,” Zhang explains.

“Whaat?” Fantasia’s shocked.

Unless you’re a Detective, you have no chance to know that! Are you doing this on purpose?

“Alright then, you all have these little cards in front of you, saying ‘Agreed’ or ‘Disagreed’. Choose one and you’ll reveal them all at once!” The narrator continues to guide the players.

Ravel, Leanna, Eleona and Fantasia all choose ‘Agreed’, while Yutaka, Silveria, Zhang, Seko and Bisha choose ‘Disagreed’.

This renders Leanna’s decision invalid and therefore a new Chief is selected, this time it’s Zhang’s turn.

Zhang chooses the same mission as Leanna intended to pick, distributing the buttons among himself, Ravel, Seko and Leanna.

As nobody objects, they all take the mission cards and secretly pick the ones they want and pass them to Chief Zhang.

Zhang then shuffles the cards carefully and reveals the results.

Four times ‘Mission Cleared’.

“You see? Now that Fantasia’s not there, we cleared the mission,” Zhang proclaims proudly.

“But how did you know? Are you the Detective?” Eleona mischievously smiles at him.

“Quasi,” he blushes, delighted by Eleona’s smile.

If he really is the Detective, then he just blew our chances to win! He’ll be killed!

Ravel becomes the next Chief. With the score tied at 1:1 in terms of missions, the final mission will be decisive. Ravel has to select all the players from the light faction if he wants to secure a victory.

“I’ll send myself. And the other three from before will join me,” he places the buttons in front of Seko, Leanna and Zhang. “But who’ll be the last one? I’ll avoid Silveria and Yutaka, since from the first mission it’s clear they’re evil,” Ravel logically concludes.

“H-how can you make such a baseless accusation against your President, you peasant?! You’re the evil one!” Silveria’s ‘other’ personality has resurfaced for the first time since the Beauty Contest.

“I’ll be a peasant for you anytime~,” Yutaka tries to flirt before meeting with Silveria's demonic glare.

“It’s not baseless! I saw your cards! Have you no shame, Ms. President?!” Ravel stands his ground.

“Stop picking on her, Ravel!” Yutaka intercepts aggressively.

“Guys, please, it’s just a game, let’s not raise our voices like this,” Fantasia attempts to calm the situation.

“Bullshit! I’m not going to serve anybody’s demands if we lose this!” Zhang stands up and yells at them.

“What a lively bunch you are, hehe~,” Bisha chuckles under her breath, amused by the unfolding scene.

CHAPTER 34: END