We kept talking for a little bit before I explained that I wanted some time to think things over, and they left without any argument.Now that they both understood how I think, they also understood how much there was for me to analyse and strategise around.

  I’m done playing on the defensive.

  I can’t afford to wait for the traitor to make a move. What if that’s the move which is too devastating for us to come back from?

  I need to get closer with all of them until one of them messes up. It could be a contradiction in their story, an emotional read, even just a silly mistake - it doesn’t matter how, I just need to find it.

  I remembered Choko’s offer to hang out when we were in the canteen, so I messaged Choko and invited them over.

  As for Nobu, I decided to ignore him for now since I figured he could still be busy with addressing the roots of his insecurity, and there’s no point disturbing him now when I could be pursuing other avenues.

  I started analysing everything I could while I waited for a reply.

  I thought about asking Yori and Mei about who suggested karaoke but I decided against it. On the off chance that one of them was the traitor, I didn’t want to tip them off to the fact that I knew a traitor existed.

  I also don't want to use any other information from before the kidnapping. I’m fine doing so with Mei and Yori since I know them very well, but I’m less confident in my reads on everyone else.

  That meant that I could only use information that I gathered ever since we were brought together after our first game.

  I recalled the conversation we had after that first game.

  Nobu told Choko that there was no point in worrying about the kidnapping.

  Hibiki used her friendship with Choko to convince her.

  Choko’s reaction itself could have been faked.

  I started writing on a blank sheet of paper as I analysed those incidents in more detail. I sighed in frustration as I couldn’t remember the exact words, but there’s no point worrying about that now.

  I made sure to integrate every new piece of information I had.

  Nobu emphasised our safety - why would he assume we were safe?

  Sure, Keiko said there would be no penalties for anyone who lost, but why would he believe her when we were just kidnapped?

  This especially doesn’t make sense now that I know how logical Nobu is - he should have wondered why we would be offered a prize pool without an obvious downside.

  I thought back to his choice in ‘Democracy’s’ fourth round.

  He chose to check Yaeko’s point total and accused her of lying.

  His reasoning for why he chose Yaeko does make sense, but what about his actions following that?

  He said that Yaeko had 12,000 points when she claimed to have 17,000. I now understand that Nobu supposedly has a need for validation.

  In that case, no matter how badly Yaeko provoked him, why would he ever physically threaten her?

  Someone who craves validation shouldn’t ever be able to do that. No matter how much hatred they have, they wouldn’t be able to do something like that in public. It would damage their reputation far too much.

  He also would have anticipated that if he lied about Yaeko’s points, the group as a whole would grow skeptical of her while Osamu would defend her wholeheartedly.

  If he wanted to cause the most damage, he’d accuse either me, Yori or Mei of lying. That way, it would be five against three instead of six against two.

  What if it’s exactly because he’s so logical why he’d realise that wasn’t the best choice?

  He wouldn’t have a good reason to justify checking our point totals, so he’d be suspicious as a result. However, that wouldn’t be a problem with Yaeko. That increased safety from being found out was worth the decreased damage of a six against two situation.

  I thought about my final argument against him.

  Even despite Yaeko's provocation, would he really have such an outburst rather than just admitting his perceived silly reason for checking Yaeko’s points?

  What if he intentionally reacted that way because it was the perfect opportunity to create discord and fallout in the group?

  While it looks like it’s his fault on the surface, he knew it would be incredibly obvious to everyone else that Yaeko provoked him on purpose. That way, he could damage the group while making Yaeko his scapegoat.

  That being said, why would he ever show me how logical he was?

  That would be a massive risk since it would make me more cautious of him.

  What if he was trying to make me reveal some information about my own capabilities in return?

  I suddenly regretted my kindness to him when I explained how he could use psychology.

  I shouldn’t have shown my strengths so naturally.

  This situation is far too dangerous for me to be making careless mistakes like that.

  I quickly pivoted and switched to analysing Hibiki. I remembered thinking that she was very methodical in her approach to calm down Choko. I thought it was off, but I couldn’t detect any malice or deceit in her physical tells so I initially chalked it off to how close they are. After talking to them in the canteen and getting to see it for myself, they definitely seem close enough for this not to be suspicious.

  She was also going to incredible lengths to try and convince herself I was involved in our kidnapping.

  Maybe she wasn’t trying to convince herself.

  What if she was trying to convince Choko?

  She also sacrificed herself in the third round as soon as I’d made Yaeko give up on arguing. Was she doing this on purpose so that she could gain Osamu and Yaeko as allies?

  She was perceptive enough to pick up on the fact that Yaeko felt like she was being targeted over a relationship.

  If she was perceptive enough to notice that, and she was perceptive enough to notice all of those reasons for thinking I knew about our kidnapping, what else is she capable of?

  More importantly, if she’s so perceptive, why was she so silent during ‘Democracy’? She wasn’t adding to the chaos, but she wasn’t doing anything to diffuse it either. If I was a traitor, I’d definitely consider this strategy. I’d’Let the entire group do all the damage without leaving a single trace of my involvement.

  My hand suddenly froze as I remembered something truly chilling.

  I couldn’t remember the exact words, but Hibiki said something about how we’d always be friends.

  There’s no way she’d say something so obvious… but again that’s exactly why she would.

  It’s another wine in front of me. There’s no point logically analysing this type of scenario so I shifted to reading Hibiki’s emotions and physical tells.

  Could the girl that was crying from fear in the canteen really say something so innocent in such a warm expression, if she was the one trying to tear apart our friendships?

  Could she really have the courage to make such a coy move?

  I ran out of things to analyse about her, so I decided to move onto Choko, and I know that I still need to learn a lot more about her.

  She’s already shown me how perceptive she is in the canteen. As of now, she’s the biggest threat by far.

  I still remembered her words vividly.

  “Hmmm. Seems like you’re a pretty quick thinker!”

  She also mirrored how I dodged her questions.

  That perceptive and calm demeanor doesn’t match the panicked Choko during that conversation after the first game. She was faking her fear, but why?

  To seem innocent?

  Or was being kidnapped genuinely enough to shake her?

  I didn’t want to believe that - my gut was telling me otherwise, but I couldn’t rule it out entirely.

  I started thinking back to our conversation in the canteen. Ignoring the relentless pressure she put on me, she lied when it was my turn to ask the questions.

  Her physical tells made it clear that she was lying, but why?

  She stepped in and said that Yaeko should lose points.

  She stepped in before Yori was forced to say it.

  Her justification was that it would be better if Yaeko was mad at just her rather than both of them, since Yaeko was already mad at her.

  The excuse she gave me perfectly explained her actions in the context of protecting group dynamics, but I know that she lied about it because of how she hesitated before answering, and how she broke eye contact after.

  If her lie was the perfect way to protect our group… that implies her real reason must have been to damage it.

  But how?

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  How did protecting Yori lead to a damaged group?

  If she’d used that as leverage later on, then sure, but that’s not the case. She only told me and Hibiki about it because I pressured her on it. Sure, she could have used it for leverage later, but would that even be the right choice?

  I looked down and reread what I’d just written. I don’t know how, but things suddenly clicked.

  Choko almost read me like I was a book. I knew that Yori would be a key mediator throughout that game, and I have no doubt that Choko figured it out as well.

  Could it be? She wanted to preserve Yori’s status as the mediator so that she could choose the perfect time to tear it down when the stakes were even higher? If that’s the case, what possible moment could be more dangerous than that?

  I switched to analysing Yaeko as I thought about how she interrupted Osamu when he started talking about how the karaoke bar was part of the kidnapping. Perhaps that was to stop us from realising that the kidnapping was targeted via the coupons? Or even to hide who the traitor was so we didn’t talk about who initially booked karaoke?

  She was also the first to suggest that everyone talk about their first games. She even said her own point total - wait, didn’t she also talk about how the group couldn’t trust me during the fourth round of democracy because I kept my point total hidden? What if she initially got us to start talking about our games so we’d all reveal our point totals and she knew who she could target?

  I leaned back in my chair as another, more sinister thought dawned on me.

  What if Yaeko wasn’t just trying to find out all of our point totals so she knew who to target.

  What if she was trying to bait people into lying about their point totals before anyone knew it was possible for that lie to get proven?

  If that’s the case, then what if she never cared about making me seem less trustworthy? What if she was baiting me into a lie so she could try to expose me later on?

  If she was the traitor, she’d be acutely aware of how much trust and social control matter in these games. Even when I mathematically proved I had fewer points than her, she still used arguments designed around those very constructs to try and isolate me from the group.

  I shifted my attention to Osamu as I thought about our recent encounter.

  I thought about how he threw a punch at me.

  Even when the group was arguing against Yaeko in Democracy, and when Nobu physically confronted Yaeko, he never resorted to throwing the first punch.

  He was a diplomat that told Yaeko to calm down and consider our view points, and then he turned into a human shield to protect Yaeko, but to also protect Nobu from doing something he’d regret.

  Throwing a punch at me wasn't like him at all.

  It could’ve been the climax of his emotions building up, but that doesn’t seem right. He’s shown himself to be far too mature.

  What if he did it because he knew that beating me up would create a rift between our two sub groups?

  I finally switched to analysing Yori - he took on the key role of mediator, but he never betrayed us with it.

  What if he was just building his reputation so that he could betray our trust at an even more critical moment?

  I already thought about this, but what if the only reason he was willing to accept my broken mind was because he’s the traitor and he’s trying to manipulate me.

  What if… there’s more than one traitor?

  What if Yori and Mei are both traitors, and that’s why Mei was so understanding as well?

  What if they thought this was my weakness?

  What if they thought I’d be the perfect person to manipulate and get onto their side first?

  After all, why have I been operating under the assumption that there’s only one traitor?

  Wait, would it even make sense for there to be two traitors?

  The traitors want to tear apart our friendships - it’s impossible to know why. There’s too many possible motivations. The most obvious would be that they hate us for some reason, but if there’s two of them, why would they still be hanging out with us? They could just leave our friendship group and hang out with each other.

  I decided to work under the single traitor hypothesis for now since I wanted to finish systematically analysing Yori and Mei before entertaining this idea.

  I decided that Yori and Mei’s acceptance of me shouldn’t be a reason for me to suspect them.

  I realised this by making a simple deduction.

  I’m a broken mind, and they aren’t.

  Just because I think it’s impossible for a normal person to still want to support me doesn’t mean I’m right. If anything, they’d be the authority on that type of topic.

  I racked my brain for any other reasons why Yori might be the traitor, and I could only think of one other minor point.

  When he asked me why I thought our group might be targeted for the kidnapping, I mentioned that it’s because we’d have interesting social dynamics. I did this to hide the fact that I knew a traitor entered us into these games.

  I remember him waiting for me to list those reasons, but in reality, shouldn’t he have been smart enough to know them without needing me to confirm them? They were simple - the childhood friends, the lovers, the cliche ‘needs everyone's trust’ and then two other close friends.

  What if he was silent because he was waiting to see if I messed up?

  I moved onto Mei, and fortunately, she might be the only person I can test.

  After all, she was at risk of being eliminated in the last round of ‘Democracy’. A traitor would’ve done whatever they could to stay in the game so that they could continue sabotaging our friendships, but Mei was actually the opposite. She didn’t do anything while I strategised a way to save her with Yori.|

  Sure, she may have done it intentionally because she knew we would figure that out. That way, by staying silent, she could force us into a situation where Yori had to manipulate Nobu and damage their friendship, but I think that’s just too far-fetched.

  The only other reasons I had to suspect her weren’t very strong either.

  First of all, there was her public revelation where she said she felt like we didn’t trust her, but this argument lacked substance since this was actually a moment that brought the group closer together, and we showed how we can stick through this once I managed to comfort her.

  If she was doing that to sabotage the group, she would’ve doubled down and insisted on her insecurity instead of accepting my words. On top of that, this only happened because of the way that Yori tried to comfort her. There’s no way the traitor would resort to that as their main plan.

  The last point against her would be the fact that she brought Yori to my room when I invited her. Sure, she could have been trying to show Yori my “true colours”, but she already said that Yori told her everything.

  There’d be nothing to gain by bringing Yori if her intention was to create a divide between us. It made way more sense if she just brought Yori as moral support, and also a neutral mediator.

  I was well aware of the fact that I could’ve just been biased against my closest friends, but I genuinely couldn’t create a convincing argument against Yori.

  I couldn’t even create an argument against Mei, but doing this was still really helpful. It helped me realise that in a game where I can’t trust anyone at all, logic meant I could trust Mei.

  Logic can’t lie.

  Having one person I could trust would be a massive win, but what does it mean to trust her? All it means is that I can be confident she isn’t the traitor.

  But what if I told her a traitor exists?

  What if she told Yori and one of them leaked it? Then the traitor would know I’m onto them and I’d lose my element of surprise.

  All that trusting Mei meant was that I was one person closer to finding the traitor.

  No. I don’t want that to be true.

  Why does that have to be true?

  I know I can’t afford to make a mistake… but what if I could tell Mei?

  If I managed to convince her, then I’m sure I’d be able to keep her from even telling Yori.

  As soon as a smile formed on my face, it instantly vanished.

  I realised that was just wishful thinking.

  Even if I was 100% sure she’d try her hardest to keep it a secret, someone among us is a traitor.

  I haven’t been able to figure out who, which means they’re a good actor. I can’t risk telling Mei on the off chance that she gets manipulated into leaking information to the traitor.

  I was pulled out of my thoughts as I was interrupted by a sudden knock on my door. I grabbed my phone to check the time and I realised it was already six, and I also saw a few messages from Choko. She’d replied to my invitation so I assumed the knock on the door was her and Hibiki.

  I hurriedly hid the pages I was writing on and I opened the door to see Choko smiling at me.

  Hibiki was nowhere to be seen.