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Words: 1156

Warnings:
Slight swearing

Definition Of The Day:
i d y l l i c

(especially of a time or place) like an idyll; extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque.

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Previously on pins and needles...

"Nn...nnnnnnnnnnnnnuuuu...!!"

"Ha...! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! The Super High-school Levels stand together and rise against the despair of their friend's death!
Aa, this is such a magnificent, beautiful sight...!"

    "What the actual fuck...." I muttered under my breath. "This guy is out of control..."

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       "Nagito! Cut it out!" Akane screamed.

       "I'm sorry for scaring you like this, y/n..If I may start from the conclusion, you are completely correct! That's right, everything was my doing! It was me who set up the knife under the table before the party started. It was also me who used the power cord to find the table in the dark. And it was also me who set up that power outage in the first place, of course. I mean, I couldn't just go and grab that knife while everyone was watching, could I?"

       "H...His character's completely broken down, hasn't it?" Ibuki shuddered.

     He ignored the girl's statement and continued on with the story, "But... I never imagined Byakuya would go as far as bringing in night-vision goggles. Thanks to that, we encountered each other under the table... and you know how that ended. But, I guess you could say that thanks to that unexpected occurrence, you had this interesting mystery to solve!"

      "G-Give me a break! S...Seriously, what the hell...?!" Souda cried or uh, fake cried. 'That's one ugly ass cry.'

      "Is... this what you're really like? Have you been deceiving us all this time?" Mahiru firmly put her arms on both sides of her hips.

     "I haven't been deceiving anyone! There's no way I could deceive you guys! I know better than anyone that I'm a lowly, good-for-nothing human being. Harboring my own hopes and dreams would be presumptuous... Striving to exert myself would be... impertinent... Yes, that's the kind of decidedly inferior, foolish human being I am. The lowliest, worst kind of incompetent human being....."

     They've continued on with the trial, my body suddenly felt tired. Slowly, I've pointed my attention to the wooden stand we were all standing behind. I trailed my finger all along the top of the wood, careful not to chip my finger.

     "IT COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN YOU!"

     "Hajime oh my god! My ears!"

      "TeruTeru... It was you, wasn't it?"

      "Huh?" I blinked. The tension in the room rises as Hajime accused the 0.5 foot man. Hajime extended his hand, his awfully bony hand.

     "What're you talking about?!" TeruTeru asked.

       "T-TeruTeru is the culprit...? Really?!" Sonia played with her fingers pointed. An uncertain smile danced upon her lips.

       "W-W-What're you saying?! There's no way it's me!"

        "This is just my theory right now, of course... so, if you have any counterarguments, by all means, let's hear them." Hajime explained to the entire group.

          "C-C-Counterarguments...? W...Why're you even treating me like a culprit...?"

       "Because... the portable stove that was used as a light was in the kitchen. "

        "T...T...That's why you think I'm the culprit?! That's just arbitrary!" TeruTeru debunked "It's cruel! You're far too cruel!!

    "Ah...TeruTeru.. This isn't like you at all. You're in possession of a wonderful talent... You're a Super High-school Level Cook. You can't just break apart like that... " Nagito pointed a finger towards the celing.

      "C...Chef... I'm a Chef... "

      "Nagito... Why are you poking your nose into this?!"  Hajime suspiciously asked the albino white hair man.

      "Let's assume the culprit did use light. And let's assume they used the fire doors to mask their actions... That would get them to the storage room and then allow them to crawl under the floor. But what then? The crawlspace is completely dark too. How did they manage to stab Byakuya?" 'That... actually made a lot of sense. Maybe Nagito up in that twited mind does have some knowledge to him?' "Don't try to tell me they had the stove on as they stabbed. If they did that, the target would spot them, and the game would be up!"

"T...That's right... What do you have to say about that?!"

Hajime stutters and comes to a hault. Nagito takes this as a perfect opportunities to swoop in "You can't answer, can you? After all... you never investigated the crawlspace yourself, did you?

"We can ask Gundham! He's actually been in there!" Mahiru suggested.

Gundham spoke lowly."Regrettably, nothing remained of the murderer's paraphernalia in that dark dimension. All was void, save for a ghostly phosphorescence around the blood pooled on the floor."

"W...What!" Mahiru gasped. "Didn't you say... there was light there?!

"Ibuki thinks that sounds That sounds super-important!"

"If there was a "glowing landmark", it was possible to move to that location even during the blackout...." sonia began.

"And after they moved to the designated location, they could target what that landmark was attached to, couldn't they? Chiaki continued

Hajime closed his eyes.

"Uhh...guys?" I asked, pointing to hajime. "What is he doing??"

"Like i know, he just closes his eyes and stands like that.... it's kinda freaky..." Fuyuhiko growled.

"THAT PROVES IT! "

"And he's back"

Hajime glared at me before focusing to the case; "The landmark was the glow-in-the-dark paint the knife was painted with, wasn't it?"

"Ah! Even in the dark, all they'd have to do is aim for the glow-in-the-dark paint!" Nekumaru agreed.

"Of course... the culprit didn't aim for a person... They aimed for the paint when it moved!" Hiyoko snorted.

"So... the same landmark I prepared so I could find the knife was used by the culprit for his attack... I see... and that's why Byakuya, who took the knife, was killed..."

"Wait a minute, Nagito. If the culprit used that landmark, it would mean they knew about Nagitos plan, wouldn't it?" I spoke up. TeruTeru opened his mouth to controdict me, but closed it again.

He lowly whispered "I... I know nothing... I really know nothing, I'm telling you...

"In that case, how about I pose a question for everyone?"

"Nagito, W...Why are you butting in again?! Give us a break, already!" Mahiru winned.

"Now, now! It's only fair to give everyone a chance to speak!"

'Of course TeruTeru would want Nagito to speak..Hes the only one out here who will somewhat defend him.'

"Let's say TeruTeru is the culprit. That would mean he went to the storage room during the blackout. In that case, what was that conversation Ibuki heard in the dark?"

"Waaah! Don't step on my feet!"

"Oy, what are you doing?! "

"Stop it!! "

"Ow!"

"Turn on the lights! It's hard to eat this way!"

"Hey, everyone! Where are you? T...This power outage... it isn't just in the kitchen? "

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