Part 2/Chapter 15

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 "What? M-Me?!" I asked, astonishment showing in my voice.

"Precisely. Don't you think it rather odd for you to leave out your own alibi? Unless you do not have one." Izumi stared at me.

"H-Hold up, I promise, I have-"

"... I suppose I could agree with that." Allie started. "After all, Sachi could have just killed Yukiya after she left Amy and I."

"No-! Th-that's not what happened...!" I started to frantically look around at others. "Someone, seriously, tell them that they're wrong!"

"... Can't do it. There's no proof." Ishibuko mumbled.

"W-Wha-?! You guys, you've gotta be kidding!" I yelled.

"Shall we put it to a vote?" Amy asked.

"Seems like it's about due." Allie agreed.

"H-Hold on, are you sure there's no proof that Sachi didn't do it?" Mirai suddenly said. "I mean... I just... I can't imagine her doing something like this... There's... No way she did..." Small sobs could be heard from Mirai's direction.

"Mirai..." I looked at her with a hurt expression.

"Maybe someone should re-cap the case." Aiko suggested.

"Hold on." Izumi said. "Don't be so reckless."

"What? Aren't you the one that started talking about Sachi being the killer?" Ishibuko asked.

"It was an assumption. We still need to go over how she did it. Otherwise it isn't set in stone." Izumi explained. "Now. Sachi, you said that Allie came to get you at around when?"

"Um... I believe it was around 11:20 P.M." I answered, sweat dropping.

"And so Allie and you rode on her motorcycle to Amy, who was at the thrift store. You talked about some things, like music and art, correct?"

Izumi inquired.

"Yeah, th-that's right..." I felt like I was being interrogated.

"And so, after you finished that, you headed back. Were you with or without Allie when you returned?" she asked, also looking at Allie.

"Like hell I was going to let her ride on my motorcycle again." Allie rolled her eyes.

"... I went back on my own." I slowly answered, realizing how suspicious it must've sounded.

"So you admit that you do not have an alibi from the time you talked to Amy to when you arrived at the hotel?" she raised an eyebrow.

"... I..." I didn't know what to say. If I said yes, then they would vote for me as the killer. But if I said no, then I'd be lying...

"Stalling won't help you." Allie looked over- no. She looked down on me, like she was treating me like a servant.

"S-Sachi... N-No..." Hikari sniffed. "You... You didn't do this, did you...? There's no way you killed Yukiya...!"

"I-I didn't!" I shouted. "Hikari, I would never take Yukiya away from you like this-!"

Amy scoffed. "A likely story."

"A-Amy...! I didn't do it! Please just listen to me...!" I yelled. They didn't reply to me after that. Instead, he just turned their head to the side, refusing to look at me.

"Now what...?" Chidori asked. "There's... No way it's voting time already, right? I mean... None of this seems right."

"... We still haven't gone over how she would've done it." Tomoka noted. "Without knowing that, we shouldn't move on with the voting..." she looked at me, a worried expression on her face. I mouth the words "thank you" to her. She smiled slightly and nodded.

"Wait, so how would she have killed Yukiya? I still don't really get it..." Haru scratched her cheek.

"I agree. All we know is that Sachi is a little suspicious. Everything else seems far-fetched..." Mars had a dim expression on their face. Marje seemed to be looking anxious and worried, and every time I looked at him, he squinted his eyes shut.

"See? I promise, I didn't do anything...!" I said, my voice starting to feel a little hoarse.

"That can't be proven until we go over the evidence." Izumi stated. "Continuing from where I left off... After Sachi arrived, she saw Hikari, who explained that Yukiya had gone missing. I believe Hikari also saw Ishibuko a little before Sachi arrived, too, correct?" Hikari nodded, as did I. "And he did not stop?"

Another nod from Hikari. "I tried to get him to stop, but he didn't..."

"Mhm. And then Sachi arrived and you told her what happened. That's when you woke everyone up that was in the hotel. The other people who were still out were Ishibuko, who was at the supermarket at the first area, and Amy and Allie, who were at the thrift store together at the second area. That's when we split into groups. Sachi, Hikari, Mars, and Marje were in one. Where did you four investigate?" Izumi continued.

"W-We investigated the f-first area. W-We went to the supermarket a-and saw Ishibuko... That's w-when the a-announcement went off..." Hikari answered.

"Okay. Chidori and I came across Allie and Amy while searching the second area. So that means that the other group, which consisted of Mirai, Tomoka, Haru, and Aiko, must have found Yukiya's body, which caused the announcement to go off." Izumi said.

"That still doesn't explain how Sachi murdered Yukiya!" Ishibuko shouted.

"I didn't murder them!" I yelled back.

"Okay. Well, that sums up the events anyway." Izumi said, finger on her chin. "Sachi, go ahead and tell us the evidence that you found."

I nodded. "Well... I guess I'll start with Yukiya's body and the things surrounding it... Their wrists were slit, which we thought meant it was suicide, along with the suicide note. I'm guessing that the killer went ahead and slit their wrists instead of Yukiya doing it on their own accord. There were also bruises below the slits on her wrists, which we don't know what was from."

"I-If it helps... Yukiya's wrists weren't like that when she was with me... So it was probably made by the killer or just a-at some time while they w-were out." Hikari commented.

"Thanks for letting us know." I said, and Hikari nodded. "There was also a knife in the shed that had blood on it, which was probably what was used to slit Yukiya's wrists." I scratched my cheek. "...I think that's about

all for the shed."

"After that..." Chidori started, "Sachi and I worked together on investigating. We went to the thrift store next. We saw both Aiko and Haru there as well when we arrived."

"Yep, yep, yep! That's true alright!" Haru jumped in the air and smiled.

"There, we found some things, like some already opened items, like socks, that looked like someone opened them and then returned them. There was also plastic bags to put your bought items in there. I think that's about all for there, as well." I said.

"Right. And then we went to the hot springs." Chidori said.

"Yeah. We immediately noticed the marks on the tile when we entered. I-"

Before I could continue, Aiko cut me off. "Sorry for interrupting, but I have something that I'd like to add."

"Hm? Oh, go ahead." I told them.

"You guys mentioned earlier that the scuff marks on the floor were drag marks, right?" Aiko asked.

"Yeah. What about it?" I inquired.

"If those drag marks were there..." Aiko continued, "Then isn't it safe to say that the killer may have dragged Yukiya into or from the hot springs?"

"Well, I mean, I guess, but I don't know why Yukiya and the killer would be in there." I answered.

"... I might know." Aiko said quietly.

"Huh? You do?" I raised my eyebrows, surprised.

"Yes... What... What if Yukiya was actually killed at the hot springs?"

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I PLAN ON FINISHING THE SECOND PART TONIGHT AND/OR TOMORROW!!! BE GRATEFUL FOR THE FOOD U-U/HJ

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