Delusion is a weapon

— When will she wake up...? — said the dude with orange short hair, blue eyes and a blue hoodie.

— She doesn't look like she's sleeping... She probably passed out after seeing the blood. — pink-haired guy.

The tall girl with dark blue hair and glasses passed out after seeing Yako's and Natalie's dead bodies. She was the first to wake up, but now she'd be the last. 

— Man, why are you so wet? Did you black out facing the floor and sweat a lot? — pink

— I don't have a clue, to be honest. I've never sweat this much in my life, so it's pretty weird. I think it's actually water. — orange

The orange-haired guy was so wet that his hoodie weighed more than twice as much as normal. It was pretty difficult for him to move.

— Why don't you take it off? It must have something to do with the dead bodies.

The bully guy entered the circle of people, staring down at the pink.

— I'm so sorry to interrupt your talking about wet hoodies, but I'm getting tired of not knowing your names. Why don't we introduce ourselves first?

— We're in the middle of an investigation now, so back off! What if the evidences get stolen while we're saying useless shit? — pink

— I think you don't understand something, smartass. If we can't refer to our fellow classmates, we'll be wiping off ice. Or are you so sure your big ass brain can process everything that quickly and find the culprit? Point your finger to them, I dare you.

— I have an idea of who the murderer is, but I need more evidence. We also need to measure the corpses's temperatures.

The gyaru took a step forward.

— I can do that.

She touched the faces to feel their descending warmth. Some people were pretty disturbed, because she was touching dead bodies nonchalantly.

— They have died hours ago.

— What?! - everyone

— The boy's blood is at room temperature. The girl's is actually colder than that. She's also wet, for some reason. It's like she dived into an ice pool.

— H-Hey, something's really weird here. Why is everyone wet all of a sudden? — Hogura, the blond guy

The bully girl pushed the depressed girl forward, until she was in the middle of the circle.

— Tell them what you're thinking, loser.

— I-I'm sorry! I...

She looked at everyone, in clear discomfort. The bully girl stared at her with disdain.

— If you apologize one more time, I will kill you before anyone else does.

— I-I'm sor- I m-mean... people, c-can you look at your phones, please? I received an i-important email...

Everyone checked their phones, opening their mailboxes. All of them started identically. It said:

   "Welcome to another refreshing school year, dear students! I'm glad to announce that I'm your new principal. You can call me God of Distortion, or whatever you want. This year will be a bit different from the others, that's why there's no one else in the school! I'm pretty sure some of you noticed there was something strange happening.

   And I'm proud to announce the start of an exciting killing game! You're all the prestigious 18 players of this game. Each one of you has one very specific power to use at your advantage, so use it wisely! I don't recommend you share it with others, because they'll use that information against you. And remember, information is gold, delusion is a weapon.

   There's one more important thing to say. You're trapped in this school until only one survivor remains, and I'll greet them persoally, how marvelous! If anybody leaves the school and doesn't return until the beginning of the next day, they'll die! But only them, no one else gets punished. Also, nobody outside of the game can enter or leave the school.

   That's it. All the school rules are here. Have a great year!

   Your power is: ________"

— We're doomed forever! We'll die one by one until only one person remains! Don't worry, I'll sacrifice myself for you, so there are 15 now! — the depressed girl

— Shut your mouth, midget. I'm trying to think. — bully girl

— I-I'm sor- I mean...

Hogure walked towards her and crouched. He patted her head with a reassuringly smile.

— You don't need to sacrifice yourself, okay? We'll get out of this together.

— B-But I'm a dead weight!

— You're not dead yet, and you'll definitely not die here. Because we'll protect you.

— R-Really?

— Yes, I promise.

— That's why we need to get to know each other's names. Otherwise we'll keep rembering each other by "useless brat who cries all the time" or "annoying smartass who plays the detective". — bully guy

— But I won't remember every name that soon. We'll die before I get used to you. — Misota, Hogure's friend

— Guys, aren't you missing something? What if everything in the email is a lie? What if a serial killer broke into the school and murdered them while we were sleeping? — the light green airhead

— Ho, you're capable of critical thinking. You're now a bit less useless in a world where the line between usefulness and ostentation is nonexistent. — the nerd nihilistic guy

— People, am I seeing things or... is she invisible? — the purple-haired nerd girl

— You're technically not seeing things if she's invisible. — him again

They stopped to look at the airhead again. Only her shiny green hair and her clothes were visible.

— Oh, you're right! I didn't notice this before, thank you for pointing it out! — airhead

— You're now an actual airhead. — bully girl

— Technically, her head is only invisible, but it still exi- — nerd guy

— Shut up. — her again

She picked up the small book he was reading and threw it out the window.

— I must say that's rude. I challenge you to calculate the kinetic energy applied to the book and-

The bully guy, Okimura, covered the nerd's mouth with his hand.

— Now we know the airhead's power. How about we call her something related to her power? Like airhead, glass mannequin, clothes rack, western bush, drive-through...

— That last one was brutal... — hoodie guy

— Okay, we understand you want to nickname everyone! — pink hair

— Oh, you haven't heard half of my ideas yet. I have plenty for you, darling.

— Wait, where are you going? — nerd girl

They all looked at the hoodie guy, who was leaving the classroom.

— I don't have time for this shit. This God of Distortion is trying to trick us into not leaving the school.

— For what purpose? — Hogure

— I don't know, but it can't be a good one. What if they try to bomb the school or raid it while we're sleeping?

— Do you think they're that rich in the first place? And what about the powers he gave us? They're definitely not natural. — Urihime, the dark green hair

— Maybe they just used some psychedelics on us while we slept. I'm too old to believe in anime shit anymore. The world won't grace us with such powers, because there aren't such powers.

— You don't look very old to me... — bully guy

— I'm 17. I repeated one year.

— Hah, loser! I'm 18, suck it!

— ᴬʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ʳᵉᵗᵃʳᵈᵉᵈˀ Anyway, I'm going home. I won't die, I promise. If I do, this is how things should be. There must be several hitmans going after us anyway.

The depressed girl rushed to him.

— Y-You're saying there are people after us? Let me take your place, please! I'll be a good sacrifice, I promise!

— Leave me alone. You're only thinking about yourself. You want to die, admit it. You're not trying to help anyone.

The girl stopped to think. She became a statue.

— Anyways, people. It was good meeting you. I'd rather die disobeying overlords's orders than die as an entertainment slave. Also, if I die, you'll know that God of Distortion is being serious. Bye bye.

Before he closed the door, the airhead grabbed his hand.

— Please, don't leave us. We're scared. Two classmates just died, there can't be a third.

— You're the one scaring me, jeez. It's weird feeling something I can't see. Wait, I'm sorry for saying that. Alright, I'll be here before midnight, okay? I just need some time alone.

 — Are you telling the truth? Please tell me you are...

— ... Yeah, I'm saying the truth. I promise I'll be back, don't worry.

He closed the door. She stood there for a moment, thinking of everything. Misota placed his hand on her shoulder.

— Are you alright? He confirmed he will return, so no need to be worried.

 — Yeah... I'm okay. Let's go back to what we were doing! Nicknames, right? Let's think of a nickname, everyone!

— I'll tell you my ideas in no time, my dear friends! But first, we need to wake this sack of insomnia first. — bully guy

They all looked at the person he was pointing to. It was the tall girl with dark blue hair who passed out after seeing blood.

— Hey, wake up, sleeping bag. 

Okimura slapped her face to wake her up. He used so much strength that her glasses flew away. She did wake up, but something strange happened. His whole body literally froze after touching her.

— What?! — everyone

— Looks like we know another power... — pink hair

— Hey, someone big, go heat him up. — gyaru

They all looked at the tallest person in the room. The emo girl who had her eyes covered by her hair got nervous.

— Can you do that for us? — pink hair

She tried to say something, but no sound came from her mouth. She pointed to her mouth and made a cross gesture with her arms.

— Guys, I think she can't speak. — Kamado, the triangle hair guy

— Oh, really, Sherlock? Can you read her body language? — bully girl

— A little... Pyschologists need to know what their patient is thinking, so knowing how to read body language is essential.

He walked towards her. He was about 40 centimeters shorter than her, so he had to look up.

— Can you hug that big guy for us? If his body's too cold, you can rest from time to time.

She nodded positively, reassured by his kindness. She went to his frozen body and tried to cover the most she could to melt him faster. Since he was crouching before slapping the insomniac girl, her stance had to be very specific.

— Ha! What a slut. — bully girl

— Does anyone here have a sound muffling power? If I hear one more word from her mouth, I'll go crazy. — gyaru

— You've just described my power. — Misota

— Really?! I was always meant to be a fortune teller.

— Yeah, right... Let's see, if I do this...

He went to the blackboard and picked up two chalks. He placed them inside his ears.

— ᵂʰᵃᵗ ᶦˢ ʰᵉ ᵈᵒᶦⁿᵍˀ ᵂᵃᶦᵗ, ʷʰᵃᵗ ᶦˢ ʰᵃᵖᵖᵉⁿᶦⁿᵍˀ — nerd girl

Every sound inside the classroom got muffled. Misota took the chalks out of his ears. The sounds came back to normal.

— Wow, that is amazing! I felt like I was in the moon! — airhead

— Looks like it's not useful to shut only one person's mouth, though... — gyaru

— Ha, how unlucky of you! — bully girl

— I swear, I'll wrap your mouth shut with a tape if you keep annoying me.

— Are you looking for a fight? I won't hold back.

— You're damn right I am, bitch.

— Hey, hey, girls, let's try not to make things worse for everyone. — Kamado

— You're not our pshychologist, dammit! — both of them

He looked at the bully girl's shirt. It was very wet, like the hoodie guy. He could see through it. she was not wearing a bra.

— W-What are you looking at, pervert?!

— Pretty bold, I must say. You should be wearing one if you're so flustered right now.

— I-I'm not embarrassed! I'll beat your ass up if you don't erase that memory from your tiny head!

— Hey, you.

Kamado looked at the pink-haired guy.

— You were saying water was related to the murders. This is not sweat. I would understand if that was the case for the hoodie guy, but she's not even wearing a bra. There's no way she could sweat in this temperature.

— H-Hey, quit talking about my-

— You're right, triangle guy.

— ᵀʳᶦᵃⁿᵍˡᵉˀᵎ

— Unless she had pervert dreams, there was no reason for her to sweat. Let's take a look at the mute girl, for example.

The bully girl never stopped cursing them to death. They looked at the emo girl. Her clothes were all wet, especially where she was touching the ice.

— I guess we found our culprits. Case closed. — Kamado

— W-What are you talking about? There's no proof yet... — airhead

— Of course there is. The hoodie guy left because he didn't want to be caught. The no-bra girl was too stupid to run away. They're both wet, and the insomniac girl caused Natalie's body to freeze. That's why she's wet and her blood is below room temperature.

— So you're saying the three of them are murderers? — nerd girl

— Wait, triangle, there's something missing from this logic. — pink

— The boy died in another way. Why would they feel the need to freeze the girl and not do the same to the boy? — nerd guy

— Not only that... Look at this. — pink

He walked towards their bodies and pointed to their necks. Almost all the blood was coming from a very large wound.

— They cut their carotid arteries open. It's the same pattern. So there's only one murderer here.

— B-But what if the killer is from outside? - airhead

— If the God of Distortion is telling the truth, nobody from outside of the game can enter or leave the school. — nerd girl

— I advise you to read the rules properly, greenie. — nerd guy

— T-That was in the email...? — airhead

— What makes you think the ice girl didn't help the killer, or that she's not the killer? — nerd guy

— First, the culprit had a very hard time trying to melt Natalie's body. They used the hoodie to heat it up, that's why it's so wet. I'm not sure about the no-bra girl, though. Second, she fainted for some reason, probably after seeing the blood. There's no way she could kill two people before that. — pink

— T-That's true! I have a trauma related to gore, so I can't see blood for much time. That's why I'm looking at the wall. I can smell it, but if the two are combined, I black out instantly. — insomniac girl

— See? So now we have plenty of options here, unfortunately. — pink

— Hey, will you hear me now? I'll say what happened before we all passed out. — bully girl

All attention was focused on her. They didn't noticed her wet shirt before because she's the type of student to sit on the very back of the class. She could see everyone, but nobody could see her. Like a ghost.

— I was trying to make some friends, after that dead loser kept talking to anyone like he owned the place.

— H-Hey, that's disrespectful to the dead... — airhead

— Like I was saying, I tried to talk to the insomniac girl, but she was almost sleeping. I slapped her in the face, like the big guy did. My body started cooling down and I lost consciousness slowly.

— Is that true, insomniac? — pink

— I-I don't know! I have problems with sleeping, so everything that happened after I sat down vanished from my memory... The first thing I remember after that was the blood.

— What is your power, no-bra? — pink

— You're doing that on purpose… If I sleep or pass out, everyone in the same room is also forced to sleep. — bully girl

— Now everything makes sense. You got frozen and lost conscious. Then, we all fell asleep because of you.

— Hey, that's not my fault!

— Did anyone see what happened after the no-bra girl got frozen?

— I-I saw! Me and everyone started falling asleep one by one... I looked at her to check if she was sleepy as well... — depressed girl

— So her power awakened in that moment. Did anyone else use their power before she got frozen? — pink

— I was not invisible before that! I remember noticing something strange in my perspective, and I thought my nose was gone. And it's not under my control, I woke up invisible and cannot go back. — airhead

— It's possible that not everyone had their power awakened at the same moment, but it's very unlikely. The God of Distortion probably sent the email and the powers at the same time. — pink

— You're right. The email was sent hours ago, a few minutes after the stipulated time for the class to begin. — Hogure

— That settles it. I don't think that the God of Distortion is the type of villain to lie all the time. They're probably cruel, but not a liar. Otherwise, they wouldn't waste their time typing a huge email just to trick us. — pink

— Do you have an idea of who the culprit is already? — Misota

— No, there's something yet. Do any of you remember what were the last words spoken before the freezing?

— I can help you with that. My power plays any sounds that happened up to 12 hours ago or 30 seconds in the future. — nerd girl

She grabbed her phone and opened a radio app. She closed her eyes and showed her phone screen to them. A frequency was being formed. The sound started:

"There are two students missing. But they're inside the school. WHO STUDIED HERE IN PREVIOUS YEARS? People, please be quiet for a moment. Our classmate wants to tell us something."

There were other sounds too, like people talking to each other, chairs being moved, the bodies falling asleep on the floor.

— We forgot the redhead! Where is she? — Kamado

— Right, there were two people outside of the classroom. I arrived late, who remembers who they were? — pink

— They were the redhead, like Kamado said, and the... sad girl? Can I call you that way? That sounds like an insult... — Hogure

— Y-You can call me depressed, don't worry! It's just the truth, so there's no problem... — depressed girl

— Did you see the redhead in the way, depressed? — pink

— N-No, I didn't see her... I left the classroom to grab a water bottle, but she was nowhere to be seen. She was probably in the restroom.

— I can attest to that. When Yako and I arrived in the classroom, she said she was going to the restroom and left. — Urihime

— Alright, can someone look for her? Call her, go into the women's restrooms or whatever. — pink

— I'll go- — Urihime

— My power's perfect for this. — gyaru

— Wait, are you sure? You would be more useful here than me.

— Yes, I'm sure. I can track footprints, so I'll find her no matter what.

— What if she's not wearing any shoes?

— The email said that my power is capable of reading any type of footprint, even socks. I can also distinguish between each footprint.

— That sounds broken... Are you really sure? I want to be useful...

— You're more useful here than I am. I don't know your power yet, but mine is perfect for this situation.

— ...

— Alright, here I go. If you need me, just scream or something. If she hadn't returned yet, this will be a difficult search.

The gyaru left the classroom.

— Do you know something we don't? — pink

— N-No, I'm just good at looking for people... — Urihime

— Alright, now the next important piece of this puzzle.

He approached her, invading her personal space.

— What is your power?

— Mine? I can exchange my senses for someone's else.

— Can you do a demonstration?

— Sure! Close your eyes, please.

They both closed their eyes.

— Now, open them again.

— Whoa, what is this? I'm looking at myself.

They were both looking from the other's perspective.

— Intriguing, isn't it?

— Alright, now...

He continued walking towards her. She started walking backwards, until she hit a wall. He put his hand on the wall beside her, trapping her.

— W-What are you doing? — Hogure

— Now, tell me. Why did you ask about who studied here in previous years? — pink

— ...

She opened her mouth, but closed it before saying anything.

— And why are the only two who raised their hands dead?