I refuse to believe this.
This could be her bait. The one who has the power to use magic during the game. Could she have set everything up again?
She could have clouded his mind. Or maybe it's just a deception of the senses? There's no time to guess now. I must check the library as quickly as possible.
The young man rushed to the second floor toward the library. The door was open, just like last time. No one had closed it.
I want to believe he's not guilty, that he's not a killer. But can I truly think that way? Belief alone won't solve anything. Belief is hope, but not fact. And in her game only facts are needed, only they decide everything.
She used facts against me, and I? I used only belief and lost. Without chances, she didn't even leave me attempts. And I know for certain...
I don't want to experience this pain again!
When I reached it, everything was like last time. Bloodied bodies. Punctured head. Chest, all the same. Absolutely nothing had changed.
As if I'd ended up in the same moment again, the same day, like in a stuck loop.
Why? Why am I never in time?
Even if I had been in time... what would it have changed? I have no power, no ability. I wouldn't have been able to help them at all...
If I'd been a bit faster, I would have become one of them. A corpse in my own pool of blood. I even had a thought to laugh, just spit on everything. But... I couldn't.
I looked around, everyone's dead. No doubts. And I left the room, I don't know why. What was I hoping for? These wounds aren't something you can survive. Probably I just wanted to comfort my ego.
But he wasn't among them. That's exactly who I came for. I went down to the first floor, headed toward the living room.
Empty.
None of the participants were waiting for me. The girl who was nearby, she's not here either. Alone again, in this huge but empty mansion. One on one with myself.
My belief led me to where it all began. I don't know what to do... I was wrong. Completely.
I simply didn't want to see you suffer because of me, it's not your first time... But I lied. To myself. To you.
I need you more than ever before. Together... together we could have won.
Forgive me...
I don't know how to defeat the witch. Everything always ends with her victory, and I only lose.
Bang* — the sound of a shot.
Aragi, who had already completely despaired, suddenly heard it, coming from another room. This wasn't an auditory hallucination. This sound was real.
From the bathroom.
He jumped up from the couch and rushed there. What he saw struck him.
A corpse. The one everyone considered the killer. Head punctured, no signs of struggle. Everything pointed to suicide.
"I-it can't be..."
Aghah-hah-gha-ha!
This laughter, female, you can't mistake it. With anyone. With anything.
"You're probably very surprised, but discard these thoughts! Our game begins again, Aragi-i!"
After her words the world cracked. Collapsed. Distorted, like glass thrown against stone.
I found myself in her chains again.
But I don't want to, don't want to fight. Don't want to continue.
"Stop, I lost. I admit it."
A voice, like a dead man's exhale.
"Aragi, could it be you..."
A soft, almost tender voice. She came up to me and... embraced me.
What? Why?
Isn't she the one who craved blood and spectacle? But her embrace doesn't resemble cruelty. She seems to sympathize...
"I told you, discard these pathetic thoughts!"
Suddenly her face changes. And now she's already grabbing my hair, throwing me on the floor. Puts her foot on my face.
"We've only just begun, and you're already going to ruin everything with your appearance? Pathetic. If you don't want to play, then be my dog on a chain."
How could I have even thought she was capable of compassion? In her eyes only excitement. In her voice joy from others' suffering.
"Get up while I allow it. Don't disappoint me even more, it's disgusting to look at you."
"You're right. Sorry for allowing myself to break."
He recovered so quickly?
"Begin. This time I'll tear all your assertions to shreds!"
"That's how you should have started. Let's continue. I'll destroy you, just like back then, in the first game."
If I remain as I am now, I'll lose. It doesn't matter whether I have proof or not. I must go to the end.
Before us are fragments of the world. They showed everything that happened. Around her those same blades, like last time.
She's smiling. Confidently.
And me? I have nothing, but I must think of something. Anything at all.
"Results of the second night. All participants were shot in the library. The killer is Enua, do you have anything to say?"
As before, everything comes down to him. His alibi still hasn't been proven.
"And Morgana and Cheryl? They followed me, but after that no one saw them."
"I expected you to notice. Yes, they followed you, but you were too fast. When they came down, you had already entered. They decided not to interfere. To wait."
I remembered. I myself didn't know where they were at that moment.
"Then where did they go? Enua should have come out, they would have seen him. Or at least would have come in to ask what happened."
"They were killed! While you were floating in the clouds, he seized the moment. First killed them, then everyone in the library."
"But there were no corpses anywhere, no blood. How did he kill them?"
"With a knife. Approached from behind and that's it. The weapon could have been under a blanket or somewhere nearby. Simply put, Aragi... they died because of you. If you hadn't gotten lost in thought, you could have stopped him."
I remained silent, she's right. I got lost in thought, remembered the past, lost the moment. But I can't leave it like this.
"That's not all. Your arguments are too weak, where are the bodies? Why are there no traces?"
"He hid them. In one of the free bedrooms, and wiped the traces. For example, with a kitchen rag."
Finally. The moment I was waiting for.
"Except from the living room to the kitchen is a five-minute walk! In that time I already reached the library, and that's not all. He would have had to make the trip twice, first hide the bodies, then clean up the traces. That's too long."
She tensed. My move worked.
"You prepared well... But the rag could have been in the living room too. Napkins! They always lie there."
"You contradict yourself. Those napkins weren't used. I went downstairs first thing, and they were in place."
This is my chance.
"Yhyh..."
Suddenly a sphere appeared. It showed events without distortion. Real footage, not under her control. My arguments crumbled in an instant.
"How did he manage all this? But I..."
"You can't overcome one who lives for this game. You're not capable of understanding the taste of its essence. That's why you lose."
"What are you talking about?"
I interrupted, just said it. She was surprised and suddenly laughed. Joyfully, genuinely.
"We're only beginning! You think I'll give up?"
"Don't even think about it!" Mariana said with delight.
Come on then. Let's begin this damned witch's game!