Information is gold

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

— ...

— Silence is a weapon too. It can be used against you.

— I-I don't know what you're talking about...

— Ho? So why did you scream that at the top of your lungs? For curiosity?

— Leave me alone...

— Hey, let me see your hands. Why are you keeping them behind your back?

— That's none of your business.

The pink-haired guy grabbed her wrist.

— Hey, let go of me!

— First things first, switch back our visions.

They closed their eyes. After opening them again, her power deactivated.

— I need to know who the culprit is. If you don't cooperate, your situation only gets worse.

Hogure rushed towards them, and grabbed pink's arm.

— What are you doing? You're going too far, mate.

— We need to go far to leave this situation. Do you want the murderer to keep getting away? 

— Of course not, pal. I just think that harassing someone is not the answer.

— They can kill our friends, but we can't use force to make them talk.

Kamado stepped forward.

— Calm down, guys. I think we're forgetting something important here. I understand why the nobody noticed the no-bra freezing. She was at the back of the classroom. Bu why didn't anyone realize that the airhead became transparent?

— That's easy, triangle. The suspicious green head shouted to make everyone look at her. The airhead had her back turned to you, so her hair and uniform covered her skin. — pink

— But what about the nerd girl? She called us out for being too loud.

— That...

— That's because I noticed something wrong with our fellow green head! — airhead

— Really? I was right all the time. — pink

— What did you see? — Kamado

— She was faking a smile... I know that because I smile all the time!

— Why would she do that?

— I don't know, but when she screamed, she released all her suffering at once.

— I guess we'll just have to ask her. Gently, alright? Wait, where is she? — Hogure

They looked at where Urihime was. The door was open, and she disappeared.

— Good job, triangle, you distracted us. — pink

— T-That's not my fault! I didn't think she was that suspicious to begin with. — Kamado

— Now you understand my point of view. Someone, go catch her, quickly!

— Leave it to me! — Hogure

He left the room. Soon after, the gyaru returned.

— W-What did I miss? Why is everyone in a hurry?

— What a perfect timing! Go after the green head, use your power and track her! — pink

— O-Okay! I'll talk about the redhead later!

She left again.

— Alright, triangle, do you have something more to say? We can't waste any time here, it's almost night.

— Yeah, I do have an important question. As for the weapon, what could cut a neck so deeply? We're in a school, there aren't many sharp things here.

— That's where you're mistaken, fellow geometric shape. — nerd guy

— How many nicknames do I have?!

— Many tools used at school are necessarily sharp, otherwise they will not do their job correctly. Such as scissors, box cutters and metal rulers.

— You're being very specific, four eyes. Do you have those tools to show us how they could be used as a weapon? — pink

He stopped to think for a moment.

— I must return to the darkness now, because I have said too much.

— I'm not saying you're suspicious... Do you think I'm a detective now?

— You're acting as such. — Misota

— Alright, does anyone have a box cutter? It's the most lethal tool a student could legally have. — pink

— How about this? — insomniac

She was crouching down to see inside a trash can. She stood up and showed a box cutter. It was full of blood. On the other hand, she held another bloody used blade.

— It was easier than we expected. — Kamado

— Wait, this was a bit too easy... Was the box cutter on top or bottom of the bin? — pink

— In the middle. But the blade was at the very bottom, so I had to take out some papers.

— That's strange... We're starting the year now. Why would the bin have papers already? Is the cleaning staff that bad? — nerd girl

— What if they stopped working after the final day of the last year? The students simply forget everything after school ends, so they could just have left some dust around. — bully girl

— That's not possible. The papers are crumpled to fit in the trash can, but they're new. — insomniac

— So the killer used someone's notebook to hide the blade... That doesn't make any sense either. — pink

— They left it at the most obvious spot. There are countless cabinets and drawers in this sole room. It's almost like they wanted us to find it. — Kamado

— Does anybody recognize that box cutter? The killer probably stole it from someone. Otherwise, they would at least try to hide it.

— What if they wanted us to not look into the trash bin, since it was too obvious? — nerd guy

— If the papers weren't there, that would make sense. 

The nerd guy went to his schoolbag and opened a zipper.

— Yep, the box cutter's mine. It's not here.

— This can't be true! Why did you do that? I thought you were our friend! Not cool... — airhead

— That's why we call you an airhead... I just said the killer stole it from someone. — pink

— That's a terrible attempt at framing someone... — Kamado

— Maybe they didn't have much time to think of a strategy? — nerd girl

— That raises another question: who was the first one to wake up? — pink

— When I woke up, I only saw the ice girl sleeping with her eyes open and the two dead bodies. So I think it was her. — Misota

— She passed out for seeing blood, so she can't be the first one to wake up. Unless she's lying about her trauma. — pink

— I-I'm not lying! How can I prove that?

— You just saw blood in the box cutter and didn't pass out.

— It's because I can't see gore, not exactly blood! If it resembles a red paint, it's not that traumatic to me.

— You're contradicting your past words. Lend me the cutter.

— O-Oh, okay...

She gave the crime weapon to him. He cycled the blades and took off the old one. He cut his thumb, making a drop of blood come out. 

He brought his hand closer to her eyes. She began to pant heavily and closed her eyes. She crouched down, holding her head in despair.

— It's okay, I believe you. — pink

— That's evil... but it works. — Kamado

She didn't listen and was still going crazy. Pink put his hand in her hair and started stroking it.

— It's okay now. Clear your mind.

She began to cool down, until she could open her eyes. Everyone stared at that scene in shock.

— A-Are you immune to her power? — Misota

— Oh, I forgot about that.

— How reckless, I must say. You keep saying about interrogating everyone, yet you help someone seemingly suspicious calm down. — nerd guy

— Hey, I'm not that cold-blooded... But I don't think I'm immune to her power. I can still feel the cool air around her, specially where I touch her.

— So... Are you saying that her power only works on specific areas of her body? — Kamado

— Exactly, and I think the hair is excluded. Though, if I deepened my touch, I could probably reach her head. Let me test something.

Pink touched her uniform. Nothing happened, except his hand becoming slightly cooler. Then, he stretched his uniform towards her face and her hand. They also didn't freeze him.

— See? Only direct skin contact can actually freeze people.

— Now that you mention it, something feels off... No-bra got frozen first, right? The killer saw that when they woke up. Why was Natalie also frozen? — Kamado

— I think they were testing her power, like we're doing now.

— But it backfired... or backfrozen? They had a hard time trying to unfreeze her. — nerd guy

— They probably didn't expect her to be frozen. Maybe we're forgetting another condition for her power to work.

— That's why they needed two blades... The blade got dull trying to cut all the ice. — depressed

— You're right... the first blade they used is slightly bent. — insomniac

— Let me test something. — pink

He went towards the bully guy, who was still frozen. He used the box cutter to slice the ice.

— This is weird... I'm using all my strength, but the blade will break before I reach his skin.

— So there's no way only two blades were capable of killing both of them... — Kamado

— Unless they used more blades that we don't know of yet, something is wrong here. — nerd girl

— What if they cut their necks before freezing her? — Misota

— Hey, insomniac, does you power work on corpses? — pink

— No... According to the email, I can only freeze humans while they're still alive.

— So, unless she survived for a few seconds after having her neck cut, that's not possible. — Kamado

— We're in the middle of a dilemma here. How can we know if the killer was really mistaken? They wouldn't risk freezing their victim before they're absolutely dead. — nerd guy

— Maybe they didn't expect her to last that long. — pink

Hogure and the gyaru returned with Urihime, holding her by the arms.

— We're back... her power distracted us for a moment, but we reached her... — Hogure

— I guess we'll just have to ask the number one suspect. — pink

He approached her menacingly.

— You two, show me her hands.

She resisted for a moment, but they managed to place her hands in front of her for the first time.

— This is harassment, stop! You're hurting me! — Urihime

Her thumb nail was bleeding. Not only that, the nail was a bit displaced, like it was almost falling off.

— Did you do that? — pink

— No. When she was running from us, I noticed she was already bleeding. — gyaru

— Really? So how do you explain this?! — Urihime

She reached a pocket from her own uniform and took out a hairpin with a bit of blood.

— That's mine... — gyaru

— What?! How do you have her hairpin? — Hogure

— She tortured me with that! She tried to rip off my nail!

— When? — pink

— Does that matter?! When I woke up, I saw her using that box cutter to cut their necks open! Then she noticed me and tortured me to keep me quiet!

— Then why were you hiding your hands? You could have just shown us. — Kamado

— Because she's lying. — gyaru

— Yeah, that's not true... When I arrived with pink, I noticed the right side of her hair was loose, even though her hairstyle is supposed to be a typical twintail. — airhead

— Speaking of that, she had both her hairpins on when we arrived... — Misota

— Did the green head arrive after you? — pink

— Yeah. That's probably when her hair went loose.

— She asked for my hairpin. I didn't think much and gave it to her. — gyaru

— So she used it somewhere... It can't be their necks, because there is less blood on the hairpin than on the box cutter. — Kamado

— I think she used it to wake up early. — pink

— Why would I do that?! My nail hurts so much... I couldn't have done that to myself, specially while sleeping...

— I didn't say you used it on your nail. Thanks for confirming my theory.

— What?! You tricked me!

— But she's right... she couldn't have hurt herself while sleeping. — nerd girl

— She used it before that. — depressed

— That's why she was faking a smile! She was trying to endure the pain! — airhead

— But I don't think a hairpin could cause this much damage... — Hogure

— Part of the nail's root is cut. Only a sharp object could cause that. — gyaru

— A box cutter, that is. — nerd guy

— You're framing yourself again. How could she have taken your box cutter without you realizing it? — pink

— I didn't say she used mine.

— So there's another one! — insomniac

— That's why she hid his in a obvious spot! — Kamado

The gyaru opened her uniform without any mercy.

— Hey, stop!

She took a box cutter from her skirt, since there were no pockets inside. She also showed everyone how many blades were remaining.

— There are only two left. She probably used the others to cut the ice. — gyaru

— Where did you dispose of the used blades? — pink

— Does that matter?! You'll never find them!

— She probably used the toilet. That's where small evidences disappear. — Hogure

— Let me see if I understand. You cut your nail's roots with the box cutter to make the hairpin fit inside? Then, you endured all that pain while maintaining a smile? — pink

— I thought she was mad at something when she screamed... Turns out she was feeling unberable pain... I feel bad for her. — airhead

— Don't feel bad for her, she's not worthy of it. I don't think she shouted only because she needed to release her suffering. Why did you ask that?

— Isn't it obvious?! We all came from different cities. The only two residents were the most suspicious culprits of this whole event!

— What about depressed and the redhead? They were not here when you asked that. And guess what? The game is not even close to ending.

— I would kill them both too if the game didn't stop!

— That doesn't explain how you knew there would be a game and that we would fall asleep. — bully girl

— It's a cliché! Right after all the players are reunited, everyone blacks out! Why would only we have class today? It was clearly suspicious!

— I noticed that too. That's why I asked if everyone was here. — pink

— See?! You're all a bunch of spoiled kids who don't think about the future!

— But you clearly didn't think about your future as well. Do you know what are we capable of doing to a murderer? — Kamado

— Hah! I don't care what you say. You still don't know how I killed them!

— You used your box cutter to cut the ice, then used the other to finally reach their necks. — Hogure

— You're absolutely wrong! Try harder!

— She's right... There's something missing here. Whenever I try to kill myself in the sleep, I always wake up before I lose consciousness... — depressed

— Then you give up because you don't want to feel the pain... I understand that. — Kamado

— You're saying that both Natalie and the boy would have woken up if they were stabbed? — pink

— If the green head woke up after feeling the pain inside her nail, I think being stabbed would wake anyone up... — depressed

— I didn't wake up until more than a hour later. I had nightmares while feeling the pain, but couldn't wake up because of the no-bra's power!

— So she needed a minimal amount of pain to wake up. Still, being stabbed in the neck sounds the sufficient amount. — Kamado

— So she used an almost painless method of killing someone... Does anyone have an idea? — pink

— I have... I tried multiple ways of suicide in my life. The most painless and easy one was asphyxiation by covering the mouth and nose with something. — depressed

— Does anyone here have anything that could cover the mouth shut?

The nerd girl reached her schoolbag and took an adhesive tape roll.

— It looks like it's been used recently...

— That sounds plausible. But what about the nose? — Kamado

The insomniac walked towards Natalie's body. Everyone in the way avoided her, feared by her power. She touched her face and looked into her nose.

— There are tiny balls inside her nostrils. They look like paper.

— That answers it. But why did she use the box cutter? — pink

— When I killed the girl, I wanted to test the ice power... I made her clothes and hair touch the insomniac's skin multiple times, to make sure there was a way of avoiding it. I didn't know if it didn't freeze her because she was already dead or because direct skin contact was needed.

— So you decided to make her skin touch mine...

— Then, she froze. I also didn't know if corpses could be frozen or only living humans. But there was a chance she was still alive. I tried unfreezing her, but it took too much time. So I used the box cutter to cut her neck and guarantee her death.

— Turns out she was still alive. — pink

— She looked pretty athletic to me. Maybe she could hold her breath for minutes. —  Hogure

— You should have used Yako's body instead. — Kamado

— But if he was not frozen, I wouldn't know if the ice power was working. What if I touched her to prove it?

— You wanted to know everything about my power to use it later... — insomniac

— I tried looking into your phone to read the email description, but it was blocked. I should have expected it. Everyone from my age keeps the screen locked. 

— I guess the God of Distortion was right. Information is gold. If you had known how her power worked, you would have caught us. — pink

— Why did you stab Yako's neck? — Kamado

— I wanted to make it obvious that the same person killed them both. That's why I used the nerd guy's box cutter. Otherwise, you would suspect there was another and eventually see my nail.

— We would know you were the first to wake up... Tell us, do you regret it?

— What, killing them? Absolutely not! I would do it again if needed!

Hogure punched her in the face, knocking her body to the ground.

— I wanted to trust everybody... Why can't everyone get along?

— You're naive. Do you know how many people here wanted this game to happen?

— Are you one of them? — pink

— Of course I am! I didn't plan this game, but I love it! But it would be boring if the local ones knew everything about the school. They would have an advantage over the other players and ruin their fun. So I killed them to fix that!

They all looked at her in disbelief. Some of them were faking their concern, as they agreed with her. Others saw her as a true villain.