Inflection Point
"That's everything. The whole truth we wanted you to hear."
"That's..."
"It's a lot. Enormous, and almost impossible to believe, I know. So take a minute. Get your thoughts in order."
"....."
It had been a long, messy road to get here — but in the end, we had done it. Nanami was on our side. I had laid out every truth I knew, and she had listened to all of it. She looked thoroughly, viscerally shaken.
"My head won't stop hurting... and there are all these feelings I don't understand..."
"What kind of feelings?"
"Happiness... longing... sadness... pain... they're all crashing in at once..."
"That's probably your memories coming back, now that you've heard the truth. It happened to me the same way."
"Nngh..."
"Close your eyes. Breathe in deep. Don't try to fight it — just let the feelings come. Go on. Try."
"Okay. Hooooo... haaaa..."
Nanami sat with it for a long time, drawing one slow breath after another. Then a smile found its way onto her face.
"Thank you. Both of you. Really. For telling me the truth."
The smile faded into something steely. Her eyes were clear now, and deadly serious.
"So... what do we do from here?"
"Well, first..."
"...we start growing our side. Right?"
Kirigiri cut in over me.
"That's the plan, isn't it, Kei?"
"Y-yeah. But how did you even—"
"Because I've been watching you this whole time. That admirable little habit you have of slowly winning people over, one by one, until somehow everyone's on your side."
"....."
The compliment came out of nowhere. I lost every word I had, went red to the ears, and scratched the back of my head like an idiot. Kirigiri sighed.
"Please stop making that stupid face."
"Hehe..."
"So. The plan?"
"I'm going to use something that worked pretty well for us last time."
"Last time?"
Nanami tilted her head, lost. I grinned at her.
"We're calling a vote."
".....?"
"We did pretty well for ourselves with a vote last time, too."
— Knock knock knock.
"Uh... hey, guys...? I brought food..."
Hanamura's voice drifted in from the other side of the door.
— Creeeak...
"All right, you three. No moping. This Hanamura whipped up a little something special just for you, so eat up and get your spirits—"
"Hanamura."
"Hm...?"
"Could you do something for us?"
"Uh... huh...?"
All three of us were staring at him with the same dead-serious expression. He stammered, visibly rattled.
"L-look, you can stare a hole through me if you want, but that's not gonna give you X-ray vision..."
"Could you take a message to everyone for us?"
"T-to everyone...?"
"That's right. Everyone."
Curiosity crept across his face.
"Well... I don't know what you're asking yet, but... I suppose I can hear you out..."
The second he said it, I jumped in before he could change his mind.
"I know you can't fully trust us right now. I even understand why you locked us in here."
"Well... yeah. For the record, I was against isolating you, but..."
"And I appreciate that. Here's the thing, though. Isolation might be the right call right now — but if it just goes on and on, the distrust is going to take root in everyone. Honestly, I think the seed's already been planted. After what happened."
"Hmm..."
"We don't want this group splitting apart. We want everyone standing together. And for that to happen, we need to put an end to this situation."
"...How?"
"We vote. A vote on whether we can be trusted or not."
"A vote...?"
Hanamura squinted at me, not quite following. I kept going.
"Yes. A vote. We settle it the democratic way. If more people vote that we can be trusted, we walk out of here free. If they vote that we can't — we stay locked in. Indefinitely."
"Hmm... I get the idea, but... if you held that vote right now, there's a decent chance it wouldn't go your way, you know? Plenty of them don't trust you."
"We know. That's why we want a one-day grace period."
"A grace period...?"
"From this evening to tomorrow evening. Twenty-four hours for us to make our case. After that, we abide by whatever all of you decide."
"Hmm..."
"Anyway — can you take this to everyone at dinner tonight? Oh, and... there's one more thing I need to ask..."
I put on my most apologetic face. Hanamura's mouth curled into a greasy little smile.
"...Sure. I got it. That much? Please. Easiest thing in the world."
He agreed so readily it caught me off guard. It was a lot to ask of him, and he just... stepped up. I was genuinely grateful.
"Uh... so, um... in exchange..."
"Yeah...?"
His eyes flicked from Kirigiri, standing right beside me, to the personal safety alarm hanging around my neck. Then the nosebleed started.
"If you do get out of here... you gotta tell me everything..."
"....."
"And that is the position of the so-called 'traitors.'"
"A v-vote? To settle all of this...?"
"...Hah."
"A vote, huh..."
Word had gotten around that Hanamura had cooked something so good it could make you forget yesterday had even happened, and the others had filed into the cafeteria ready to lose themselves in the food. Then Hanamura opened his mouth and said that, and the whole room froze.
"Well... it is something we have to resolve one way or another, but a vote..."
"So we are to borrow the hand of the Goddess of Judgment and try their innocence ourselves, is that it..."
"Those bastards... what the hell are they playing at? They're the ones who locked us up here in the first place, and one's a would-be murderer—"
"But there may have been a reason they confined us. And Nanami-san did not do it on purpose, did she...?"
"A vote...! That's so tense, but also kinda exciting!"
Everyone had a different reaction. But on the two things that actually mattered — that this had to be settled fast, and that a vote was how they'd settle it — they all agreed.
"Fine. It's decided."
The Imposter swept a sharp look across the room, then went on.
"For those twenty-four hours, the three of them will be permitted to move about under watch and make their case to us. Whether you listen is entirely up to you. At the vote, if you believe what they said, you write 'I Trust Them.' If you don't, you write 'I Don't Trust Them.' And you submit it."
"....."
"That is an order from your leader. Questions? If not—"
"Hey... what about that crazy white-haired guy?"
"Komaeda is excluded from the vote. Obviously. So are the three of them — they're the ones being voted on."
"Yeah... that guy doesn't deserve a vote anyway..."
"Then we're done here. Spend the time however you like. That's all."
The Imposter finished, and the others scattered, each of them carrying a different thought out the door.
All right. Kei asked me to find out what each of them is thinking.
And so Hanamura — who happened to be very, very good at following people without being noticed — slipped after them, one by one.
"I don't trust those bastards. Not a chance. No matter how you slice it, they're the ones who locked us up here. Anyone who does trust them is an idiot."
"If that is your will, Young Master..."
"Peko. I told you to drop the formal crap while we're here..."
Those two... what exactly is their relationship...?
Hanamura lingered on their strangely loaded exchange far longer than he needed to, his imagination sprinting off in several unhelpful directions at once. Eventually he wiped the drool off his chin and filed Kuzuryu and Pekoyama under Against.
"Big Sis...! How are you gonna vote...?"
"Hmm... I get where they're coming from, I really do... but I still don't trust them. It's too soon."
"Waaah, that's my Big Sis! I was thinking the exact same thing! Not that it matters — even if I disagreed, I'd follow you no matter what!"
"I'd follow you no matter what"... that is a deeply, deeply dangerous thing to say...!
Hanamura barely wrestled his imagination back into its cage. Saionji and Koizumi: Against.
"You lot. A moment. Where do you stand on this vote?"
"Me? Honestly, I dunno for sure, but Kei and Nanami don't seem like bad people, and that Kirigiri girl... I dunno, she just feels reliable, you know? So I figure I'll trust 'em. Give it a shot."
"Ibuki believes in those three too! Distrust is the root of all evil, yeah!"
"...I agree. Distrust is the root of all evil."
Good. I'm on the yes side myself, so...
Soda, Mioda, Togami: In Favor. Hanamura added his own name to the list and allowed himself a little smile.
"And you, Lady Sonia? What will you do...?"
"I... would prefer to remain neutral for now. I was taught that no matter the circumstances, one must judge with the utmost care, until the very last moment."
"I-I haven't decided yet either... ah, no, that's not the same thing... Sonia-san is being careful, and I'm just... I'm just too stupid to make up my mind... I-I'm sorry...!"
"Even if the Goddess of Judgment has seen fit to place her authority in our hands, a power that I myself and the Four Dark Devas of Destruction would struggle to contain is not one a common soul should wield lightly — ruin would be the only result. Thus I, too, must practice the virtue of humility..."
Okay... I have no idea what any of that meant, but... they're neutral, I guess...?
Hanamura spent a long, painful minute decoding Tanaka, then cautiously filed Sonia, Tsumiki, and Tanaka under Undecided.
"Hah... hah... votes, whatever... I'd rather skip all the complicated crap and just punch something...!"
"When the mind cannot settle, it is best to set thought aside and let the body speak with all its strength..."
"That right? If you say so. Come to think of it... Nidai, where's your head at on this?"
"...I have not decided either. That is precisely why I am conversing with you through the body. When I speak this way, my thoughts grow calm."
C-conversing through the body...?
Hanamura stared at the two of them — soaked in sweat, still breathing hard — with a look of pure, glistening rapture. And then the words conversing through the body fully landed, and the nosebleed that followed went on for a very long time.
I... I feel dizzy... I can't die here... not like this, not this stupidly...
He had lost enough blood to start seeing spots. Hanamura snapped back to himself, jammed a hand against his face to stop the bleeding, and hastily classified Owari and Nidai as Undecided.
"And that's everything. Every conversation I overheard, and where they all stand right now."
"Hanamura, thank you. Seriously. This helps more than you know. But... are you okay?"
"Hm? Okay how...?"
"You've been staggering since you walked in, and your clothes are soaked in blood. Of course I'm going to worry..."
"Haha... no need. This is just the mark of my passion..."
"Don't push yourself. You did more than enough. Get some rest."
"Yeah... I should... I've got things to take care of in my room anyway... heheheh... oh! Almost forgot — Hinata still hasn't woken up, so I couldn't check on him. Anyway, I'm out..."
Hanamura lurched out the door. The three of us left behind looked at each other.
"Ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Yes."
"All right... we've still got time before nightfall. Let's go talk to the undecideds."
And so the three of us set out toward the inflection point of fate — the moment that would decide the course of the killing game to come.