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"Oh will you now? You'll stoop down to his/her own level eh? Well, that's another crusade that I don't necessarily support." Sammy said with her eyes still closed. "You're too young to have such a scar marring the rest of your life. At least think about the consequences and be cool with them before deciding to do anything rash like that," she said again lying on her back. Most of the time, Sammy figured she gave really bad advice, but here she was. Giving advice, sort of. Advice for life. And kind of taking someone under her wing. Again. Damn it. I said I would stop this madness. Why do I keep doing this? Be at the very least a friend and not a mentor because you're a terrible mentor. And no temporary friends. You know what happens because of that. Sammy thought bitterly as she furrowed her brow remembering her mistakes.

 

​

In other words, it is to starve.

Starve while demanding the fair, and die.​

Erika ran after Jensen and Delilah. It was all she could do, she thought, as she ran one last check through her calculations while dashing down the hallway. The two were the only ones free. While it was unlikely that Jensen was the culprit if he were inebriated, it was possible that it was an act. In any case, if either he or Delilah were the culprit, Erika suspected that the other would now be killed. With everyone else locked up, murdering them would be far too difficult. Furthermore, if they were still locked and sealed, they'd be exonerated.

Erika arrived at the destination. A bedroom leading out onto a veranda with a balcony. Standing there was Delilah. More importantly, lying on his side in a pool of his own blood, was Jensen. A shot of pure ecstasy ran through Erika. Delight at a clue. Delight at a murder. Signalling Delilah to stand back, she made a hurried walk to the side of the corpse and began her investigation. Knife size and type were noted down mentally, again being careful not to touch the knife itself. The heart appeared to have stopped, but the body was still extremely warm, as was to be expected.

Time to get a move on, Erika decided, after spending a minute on the body. As with Angela, out came her own knife, and despite the large knife in his stomach, she slipped it across Jensen's neck. Leaving too many potential culprits free to play possum was a recipe for disaster, after all.

Job done, she turned from the corpse and ran. A full sprint, from Jensen's dead room to the other hall where she left the rest of the cast. The first thing she did was inspect the tape for blemishes. In both cases, the tape was 100%...

INTACT.

"Pffft. Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHA!!!" Erika couldn't believe it. It was intact. The killer had really, truly, 100% left the tape intact. She couldn't help it. She'd won this easily. She openly laughed. Her scornful voice filled the corridors, as she announced her triumph to the others. "It's okay; you can come out now. I'm ready to make my declaration. I can pinpoint the culprit. Jensen's death makes it all too clear."

Erika was ready. All she needed now was her audience, and they were behind the doors, going to come out any moment now. Then she'll explain her reasoning to them, they'll be forced to accept her logic, the culprit will be unmasked and the gameboard will crumble. She is, after all, the Detective. All mysteries end in such a way. Were you honestly expecting a different result?

 

Sammy was startled from her almost sleep by a sudden insane cackle coming from the hallway outside the room. She groaned and decided sleep was impossible while rolling out of the blanket and sitting with her elbows on her thighs. "Andrew, I think it's safe now. Finally," she said without turning to him. Hearing the great junior detective say it was safe, Sammy stood up and went to the door to shout back her reply, "Yo dude! In case you forgot what you forcibly did a few minutes ago, you taped the doors! How're we supposed to come out without a great struggle?" she asked. After pausing to think for a bit, "Unless you want that to happen," she added with her eyes narrowing.

 

​

In other words, it is to starve.

Starve while demanding the fair, and die.​

In any normal situation, Erika would have groaned, and berated Sammy for her stupidity. Now though, she simply grinned and cried out, "You want me to remove the seals for you, Sammy-chwan? You can't manage to break a line of tape? Okay dearie, I'll do it for you~

"I'm doing it. I'm removing the tape. I'm really gonna do it..."

Erika tentatively stroked the tape around the door, almost lovingly. Then...

"RIP! TEAR! HAHAHAHA! All gone now!"

She tore the tape off and shredded it, giggling all the while. She couldn't wait to see the look they'd have on their faces when they'd realise that she'd solved the case. The thought made her want to break out in song.

 

Putting up with the teasing from Erika, Sammy casually opened the door and walked out before stepping to the side to allow Alex to come through as well. She stared at Erika with apathetic eyes and waited for everyone else to either break through (which after thinking on now, probably wouldn't have been too hard, had she bothered to try to open the door) or ask for help or some other action. "So are you going to wait for everyone else or just start now?" asked Sammy going with the flow. While she waited for her answer, she noticed after glancing around a bit that someone was missing. "Hey where's that party boy you were with? I thought the two of you were supposed to stick together?" she added. However, after she said that statement, a dark thought occurred to her causing her eyes to widen in shock for a bit before reverting back to her previous uncaring look. As she has done many times before in her life, she pushed that thought away quickly thinking, No way. He's all right. Probably just downstairs somewhere. Everything's going to be okay. But she still felt a weight in her stomach, and as much as she wanted to put that thought in her mental recycling bin, she couldn't. For the possibility that that guy was now gone, was likely.

 

​

In other words, it is to starve.

Starve while demanding the fair, and die.​

Come on! How many people don't know how a mystery works? Is everyone is this story completely and utterly clueless? No wonder you die so quickly. Without me there, no doubt you'd try something completely absurd, like escape the closed circle. Completely and utterly clueless, all of them are. Don't worry though. I'll protect you all. After all, I'm the Detective, and I've got the answer to this story. All you need to do is lie back and follow along. Don't think too hard, you might get a headache. Don't get in my way. You'll just be a nuisance. I suppose I better not say anything like that to you though, right? It'd be a pity for you to stop trusting me now, of all times. Just a bit longer, and I'll have this all solved. Don't worry, I'll rip up this pitiful excuse of a mystery novel and shove it in the fireplace, where it belongs. Oh, but I'm getting off topic, aren't I? I'm not even answering your question. Let's get to that. I open my mouth and tell you, "We'll wait for the others, I think. That's how mysteries usually end. The Detective faces all the survivors and explains the truth of the crime."

I did mention that I've solved the crime, didn't I? Oh, that's right. You wanted to know about Jensen. Yeah, he died. Stabbed through the stomach on a balcony. The good news is— Wait, where are you going? Why are you running off? You're an idiot! You don't even know who the culprit is yet! Come back!

— Or not. You see, unlike you, I'm not mentally challenged. I have a full head of little grey cells, and then some. I know that if I tell you the truth, you'll run off and get yourself murdered. That's not in either of our best interests, so let's take a different approach, shall we?

"You mean our friend Jensen? He had a bit of a hangover, and I left him to take a nap in another room. We can go ahead without him. It'd just stir up trouble if he were here."

It's not even technically a lie. He did have a hangover, I did leave him in another room, we can go ahead without him, and it would cause trouble if his corpse were here. I suppose I was pushing it a bit with the 'nap' euphemism, but it probably passes Knox.

 

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OOC; Posts will get shorter at times, but at least I'll be able to consistently post with shorter posts. Less stress.

❝To be or not to be—I wish that were really a choice.❞​

As soon as the tape was ripped off of the door, Jessica pulled herself away from Jake, eyes glued to the door. That girl was there, and she grimaced slightly before pulling herself up and walking towards the door as the 'detective' rambled on in someone else's direction. What the hell was wrong with her? This is really when Jessica started to question this girl's sanity. She solved the mystery, huh?

She couldn't find the words to say, so she just stared blankly at the girl, waiting for her to continue her outburst.



​

 

"Are you serious? Weren't you the one that said that we should all stick together? Why would you just le-" Sammy froze and didn't complete her remark. What the girl said has confirmed her fear. There was no way she would leave another potential victim out in the open alone like that. Unless she was really that heartless or unless he was no longer living. Looking down with her eyes wide, Sammy sighed with sadness and despair. Taking a moment, Sammy stayed that way trying to contain her coming tears as remorse and blame on herself started rolling in. But after that, she took a breath and looked back up a little to face Erika. "Solve this case quickly, will you?" she said fiercely to her. She was their only hope now, whether they liked it or not. Turning away from Erika, Sammy found a nearby place to stand and wait. She decided to to keep what she inferred to herself. No one needed to find out that there was another victim.

 

​

DIE THE DEATH

SENTENCE TO DEATH

GREAT EQUALISER IS THE DEATH​

The last door opened, and the order was given. "Solve the case." Erika's entire body tensed as she replied curtly, "Yes! Let's begin!"

She calmed herself, and regained composure. She'd tear this entire gameboard apart thoroughly and completely. She'd leave no doubt as to the culprit's identity, and the Detective's intellect.

"First up, let's have a quick list of all the characters, and where they are now.

"Alex is presumably alive, in that room behind Sammy.

"Angela is dead, stabbed in the chest in the main hall prior to the start of the game.

"Delilah is alive, last seen on the balcony of a guest room minutes ago.

"Jake is presumably alive, in that room behind Jessica.

"Jensen is dead, stabbed on the balcony of a guest room minutes ago.

"Jessica is alive and currently with us.

"Sammy is likewise present.

"And I, the Detective, Erika Furudo, am alive, standing here.

"That wraps up the introductions. Now to summarise events.

"All except Delilah gathered at the scene of Angela's corpse this morning. In a group, we moved to a collection of guest rooms. Sammy and Alex, and Jessica and Jake entered two separate guest rooms. The doors to these rooms were then locked and sealed by tape with my signature on. Jensen and I then went to greet Delilah, a girl downstairs. Jensen ran from me, and Delilah followed. When I had caught up, Jensen had been stabbed in the back, and Delilah was at the scene. I then ran to this corridor and confirmed that the seals were intact before gathering you together like this."

Formalities out of the way, Erika puffed out her chest and stated the obvious truth of the matter.

"I name Delilah as the culprit."

It was rather lacklustre she thought. Such an easy solution to the mystery. This wasn't even a B-grade mystery. It was just plain bad. Even so, she had to finish formalities. The sooner the accusation got finished, the sooner she could bring an end to this tale. Who knows? Perhaps the why-dunnit would be more interesting than the who-dunnit. (Fat chance, Erika thought. It's a bunch of highschool drama.)

"She is the only one capable of committing the second murder. Any of us could have been the murderer of Angela, but only Delilah had the opportunity to commit the second one. This is proved by process of elimination.

"Alex and Sammy can provide alibis for each other, and thus neither can be the culprit.

"Jake and Jessica can do the same.

"Both pairs were sealed in these rooms. It is impossible to leave those rooms without breaking the tape on the door-frame. It is impossible to replace the tape, due to my signature.

"I confirmed Angela's death myself. Thus, she cannot be the culprit.

"Jensen's death was in such a way that it could not have been a suicide. As with Angela, I confirmed his death. As such, Jensen is not the culprit.

"This leaves only Delilah to be the culprit. There are no other possibilities in this sad excuse for a mystery."

Erika turned to the small gathering of people in front of her, and began to grin.

"So, what do you think, everyone?"​

 

​

o A terrible sight,
We're scared tonight.
Dying in a winter wonderland...

Jensen. Jensen. He could hear the name being said outside his door. And he didn't know what to make of it. Of course he worried about his best friend and Jess more then he worried about the rest of them. So he was almost to the door when he heard the detective's deductive reasoning. His heart beat wouldn't be heard by his ears. He was suddenly cold his heart in general felt wrong. All wrong. He brushed past Jess as he entered the corridor and glanced up and down for anys sign of the face he'd seen since they were freshman kids.

The nosense the dectective was spouting couldn't be true. Not for the goofy guy. Not for the man who was secretly kind and caring under that party hard exterior. Jake saw that each door was open except for nearly one. And that was the one he rushed too. His chest was heaving even though the distance to the door was short. He shook his head for there was something dripping from his eyes as he entered he room, which made him feel colder upon stepping onto the balcony.

"JENSEN! JENSEN! NO! ..NO! NOOOO!" It was a roar that turned into an anguished cry. This was his brother, his confidant and confider. His wingman when he was being a wingman. "Not you man..it can't be you.." He traversed the bloodied ground finally and dropped to his knees without a care. His left hand shakily reached out to touch the still face of him. Jensen looked like he was just sleeping in again. Jake couldn't do it. He couldn't touch him, he wasn't ready. His hand recoiled to his face and he just cried. And cried. And cried.

 

"Buh gra gaaaaah!" sputtered Sammy as she was in shock that Erika actually announced that another one had bitten the dust. I THOUGHT THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PRIVATE INFORMATION. thought Sammy angrily. She sighed in annoyance and wonder in what could possibly happen next as she facepalmed. "So what now, Miss Detective? What're we supposed to do next? Sure, what you've said makes sense, but what're we going to do? Lock her up in a room until we find undeniable evidence? Thus far, we have a theory, not undeniable proof," said Sammy. She still believed most everything would be all right. However, there was still the issue of rescue. For now, they can do nothing but sit and get cabin fever hanging around each other like this.

 

❝Making friends is hard...but partying never hurt this much.❞​

Alex peered his head out of the newly opened door. He saw Sammy talking with a so-called detective. He heard Erika's thoughts on the culprit and the crimes. Pondering the thought, Alex nodded his head in agreement and stepped out of the doorway. It all made sense: this girl, Delilah, wasn't there when the group first discovered Angela's body and was the only one with Jensen at the scene of the crime. It must be her, you couldn't argue with the evidence at hand.

Then the realization that someone else died- no, had been killed- crawled into his mind. Bowing his head low in memory of Jensen, a tear fell down his cheek and onto the floor. He then heard a masculine scream from the balcony. Alex ran outside to see a teen boy crying over Jensen's body. Alex got down on one knee next to the boy and patted his back. "It's going to be alright," he said sweetly, trying his best to comfort the teen.