Blades of Despair

-Chapter Thirty-

Sacrifice and Execution

"Are you kidding me?" Mina exclaimed, dramatically throwing herself against her plinth. "We're back at the beginning?"

"It does seem futile," conceded Morihei tiredly. I knew we were all exhausted, but we had to press on, lest we all meet the executioner's blade.

"If Ouji and Tokunaga were both killed after midnight, then nobody has an alibi for the time of their deaths," I explained. "We should try and narrow down the list of suspects for Ouji's death, since the purpose of this trial is to find out who murdered her."

"Is that even possible?" Miyagawa scoffed.

"Yes, because we already talked about it in the trial," I told him irritably, "Ouji's killer cannot be someone who fulfils a number of criteria. Firstly, they cannot be someone who spent all afternoon and evening with another student, as they would be witness to one another's alibi. Secondly, they cannot be a student who was on the second floor during this time, as they would not have known Ouji's whereabouts."

"We can also rule out Morihei given that we already discussed whether she was the killer," Morino added.

"So, who is the culprit?" Iowa asked.

"Well, the list of suspects isn't one student," I admitted, "but the prime suspects are Miyagawa, Morino and myself."

"Huh? Why us three?" Miyagawa was clearly surprised to hear his name.

"We do not satisfy the criteria that Ori spoke of," Morino explained, "all three of us were alone yesterday. Ori returned to her room, as did I, and Miyagawa was also alone."

"Hold on," said Yoneda, "I saw Miyagawa in the library yesterday, and he was there for some time. Doesn't that fit your criteria of students who can't be the killer?"

"While that is true," Morino admitted, "the only person who can attest to that is you, Yoneda. If Tokunaga was still alive and testified the same thing, then Miyagawa would be cleared of suspicion. Therefore, you are also a suspect."

"Me?" Yoneda shouted. "Why?"

"While you were on the second floor, the only person who can confirm that you were there the whole time is Tokunaga. As he is no longer with us, you are a suspect."

"This is ridiculous," sneered Yoneda, "it's impossible that I would kill Ouji. Why would I kill her?"

"You could ask the same question of the others," Nishi pointed out. "That's what we need to figure out."

"But there's no evidence that points to the fact that I am the killer," Yoneda countered. "We're just basing these assumptions on that fact that we have no alibis during the day. Technically, nobody has an alibi for when the murders happened."

"But that's why we've been going around in circles throughout the trial," Saza complained, "because we couldn't figure out the circumstances to what happened to both Ouji and Tokunaga."

"It's almost as though this crime is impossible," Mina grumbled, "and that nobody could have done it."

"But someone must have done it," Miyagawa said.

"E-excuse me..."

"However, we don't have any leads on who that could be," Yoneda refuted.

"U-um... if I m-m-may..."

"There must be something," Saza cried, "I'm getting hungry."

"Everyone shut up!" Nishi roared. The discussion immediately died, and we all whirled to look at him in shock.