What?

  Stay calm.

  If I dodge the question and ask why she’s asking, it’ll imply guilt.

  If I deny the accusation and can’t counter her reasonings to suspect me, it’ll confirm guilt.

  If I tell the truth, they might not believe that I figured it out as an innocent victim. Ignoring that, I’d rather hide that I knew about the kidnappings anyway.

  Most people would admit they knew about the kidnapping. Failure with any other option would be too devastating.

  Not me.

  I took a quick breath.

  I don’t back down from a challenge I can win just because I’m scared of failure.

  Not with the knife, and not now.

  “Of course not.” I gave her a confused look. “What makes you ask?” I watched her closely, trying to discern just how much she knew.

  “This might be in my head, but…” She turned to look at Choko before making eye contact with me for a brief second.

  “The way you talked to that employee didn’t seem like you.” She looked at Choko again, who gave her a quiet nod of encouragement. “You were overly aggressive when she said she had no bottled water. I didn’t think much of it in the moment, but that makes much more sense if you knew we were getting drugged and kidnapped.”

  I watched as she slowly took a deep breath.

  “Again, I know that might be in my head, or I might be making a big deal over nothing, but the thought that you might have something to do with the kidnapping was too terrifying for me to keep quiet about.” Her voice started shaking as she finished her sentence.

  She’d turned my knowledge of the kidnapping into a confirmation that I facilitated it.

  I had to create a plausible explanation for my hostility.

  “Well…” I looked down and started rubbing my thumb against my hand. “You know how I told you guys I was having ice cream with a friend before karaoke?” They both nodded, so I softened my voice as I continued.

  “I told everyone that my friend was a guy… but…” I intentionally slowed down. “She was actually a girl.” I looked at them both to read any tells, before instantly looking away to feign embarrassment. I knew they wouldn’t interrupt, so I paused for a second.

  “As you guys can probably tell… she wasn’t just any girl…” I took a deep breath out and started tracing the rim of my bowl with my thumb. “She was my crush.” I hesitated and swallowed to convey a sense of unease.

  “I’d rather not explain any further, but, you guys get the idea…” I took another deep breath. “I know it wasn’t right of me to take it out on someone just doing their job, but genuinely, it just bewilders me. How can you be out of bottled water but have everything else in stock…? So yeah, I guess I was a bit meaner than I should have been.”

  We sat in silence for a few seconds.

  I thought of tying this into the “personal” conversation I had with Mei that cheered her up to make it even more believable, but I decided against it since I’d be creating an unnecessary loose end.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that, Akira.” Choko sympathised with me, but I didn’t answer. I just looked her in the eyes and smiled while nodding my head.

  We both turned to look at Hibiki.

  She hadn’t said anything despite her getting an answer to her “terrifying” fear.

  She wasn’t done.

  “I’m also sorry to hear that.” Hibiki avoided looking at me as she kept going.

  “I know this is really insensitive, but this is eating me up inside, I need to get it out.”

  I watched Choko as she turned to look at Hibiki.

  It was no longer an innocent encouragement. She realised that Hibiki was probing too far, but she silently let it happen.

  I couldn’t blame her.

  Not after hearing how deeply these concerns are affecting Hibiki.

  “If you didn’t know we were being drugged, why did you walk out of the room when we were getting ready to sing together?” She paused. “I’ve been thinking about it, and it all seems too coincidental. It’s like you wanted to spit the drink out without us seeing it.” Choko looked at me waiting for my answer while Hibiki continued staring at her bowl.

  “Well, I’m not sure what exactly you want to hear.” I paused to make my next point land with a greater impact.

  “It sounds like you’ve already decided that I’m guilty of something.” I made sure she knew that she’d already chosen I was guilty, since I could leverage that to build my entire counterargument.

  “I wanted to use the restroom, but I doubt that’s enough to put you at ease.” Now that I’d pointed it out, the actual reason why I left the room wouldn’t matter if I could provide a logical explanation showing I didn’t know the drinks were drugged.

  “If I planned on spitting out the drinks anyway, then why would I have asked for bottled water in the first place? That would just draw unnecessary attention to myself.” Hibiki looked up as I finished my point.

  “Even if that’s still not enough to convince you, I took two gulps of my drink. Even if you’re right and I only left the room to spit out my second gulp, I still would have drank the first one.” Choko, seemingly satisfied with my answer, turned her gaze to Hibiki. I watched, waiting for how she’d respond.

  “You say that asking for bottled water would just draw unnecessary attention to yourself… but isn’t that even more reason to do so?” I quickly realised she was implying another ‘wine in front of me’, but I let her continue.

  “Like, if you knew the drinks were drugged, and you asked for bottled water, you’d be able to say “why would I ask for bottled water if I was going to spit the drinks out anyway” and it’d make you look innocent.” This is the exact recursive thinking I thought about when I analysed ‘Tactical Rock, Paper, Scissors!’. I was about to answer, but she kept going.

  “And, did anyone even see you swallow? You’re saying that to defend yourself, but can anyone confirm it?” They both looked at me, waiting for an answer.

  Hibiki was asking me to prove something unprovable, which was impossible.

  She didn’t realise that I could simply ignore it.

  “Well, I doubt anyone would remember such a random detail, but that doesn’t actually matter.” I paused, before making my voice more assertive.

  “I can’t prove my innocence, just like you can’t prove my guilt.” I raised my voice ever so slightly as I made eye contact with Hibiki.

  “Your point is that all these coincidences keep adding up, so it’s too unlikely that they’re innocent coincidences. Therefore, I’m guilty.” I paused, giving her a chance to correct me. She said nothing, so I continued.

  “Well, I’ve explained how all those coincidences don’t mean anything. Sure, you could counter and give another reason on why they do show my guilt, but each of these counter arguments become more far-fetched, ultimately making your premise pointless.” I paused again.

  I’d said a lot, so I summarised.

  “With each coincidence becoming less and less likely malevolent, the fact that they all add up doesn’t mean much anymore, since they barely sum up to anything.” Choko and I stared at each other for a few seconds while Hibiki looked at her bowl.

  “I’m sorry Akira, but I don’t understand what you mean. Wasn’t my question a simple one?” She looked up at me. “Why did it need such a convoluted explanation…?”

  I took a sharp breath in as I couldn’t tell whether or not this was genuine.

  If she understood my logic was irrefutable, it could be a tactic to point out the absurdity of my response in an attempt to undermine it.

  On the other hand, she could be genuinely distraught at the idea that I knew or facilitated the kidnapping.

  Not knowing which headspace she was in was took a huge toll on me as I had to constantly reevaluate my moves for each scenario.

  “He’s saying that if each piece of evidence, or “coincidence” needs an increasingly improbable explanation, then the cumulative weight of all these coincidences actually isn’t that significant." I took a breather as Choko explained. She understood my point perfectly.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “He understood that he couldn’t give you a simple yes or no answer. You were asking him to prove something improvable.” She paused, looking at me as she continued. “That’s why he needed to give you such a “convoluted” example to explain why your questions didn’t actually matter.”

  Choko understood that Hibiki was biased against me, and that she was seeking reasons to view me as guilty, rather than objectively analysing the facts. I’m not sure why she chose to step in, but I was grateful for it.

  If that explanation came from me, Hibiki may have thought of another reason to deny it. I decided to use her momentum and to keep going.

  “Exactly, it’s like me saying Choko’s guilty because she was so eager to open the door and get our drinks. She must have been communicating with the employee to make sure the drinks were properly drugged.” I shifted my attention to Choko as I spoke.

  “Then, Choko could argue something along the lines of “Why would I do that? I would just trust that she managed to spike the drinks or think of a back up. It wouldn’t be worth blowing my cover.”” I looked back at Hibiki.

  “Sure, I could counter by explaining how intentionally acting suspicious could be used to defend herself later on. It would be the exact same argument you used against me - she could say “why would I do that”, and I could say she did it to look innocent. Or I could also say that Choko was the one that actually added the drugs to the drinks.” I paused, giving her time to process everything.

  “Think of each of your arguments being a single card. These cards are the foundation for a house of cards.” Hibiki gave me a confused expression, but I kept going. “I can explain each coincidence in a guilty light, but they need decreasingly likely explanations. That’s the equivalent of the cards becoming thinner and less stable.” Choko nodded as she understood the analogy.

  “That means your point of “there’s too many coincidences” would no longer apply, since each individual coincidence is such a stretch. In other words, the house collapses despite having numerous supports, because each support was so weak.” Hibiki stared blankly at her bowl. A few seconds passed before Choko filled the silence.

  “He’s basically saying that your reasoning for suspecting him could be applied to anyone.” She paused, holding Hibiki’s hand. When she looked up, Hibiki turned to face her with watery eyes.

  “That doesn’t mean he’s innocent though.” She looked back at me and Hibiki followed her gaze. “It just means that what you said isn’t enough to suspect him.”

  She paused and turned back to Hibiki. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like we were teaming up on you.” Hibiki took a sharp breath in.

  Choko understood exactly why Hibiki started tearing up, and directly addressed it to make sure she didn’t take it personally.

  “I promise that wasn’t my intent. You had a serious accusation against Akira, and I just wanted to make sure we were being fair by listening to him, so I tried to explain his logic in a way that was easier for you to understand.” She held Hibiki’s hand as she started to smile through her tears.

  I stood up and walked towards the counter, and I smiled as I once again grabbed a tissue and took a glass of water. I handed them both to Hibiki and sat back down.

  “Thanks…” she sniffled. “Why are you being so kind to me after I just accused you of helping them kidnap us?” They both looked at me, waiting for my answer. I never knew enough about Choko or Hibiki to figure out what their insecurities are, or how I could help them grow past their insecurities.

  I still don’t.

  Here, Hibiki was terrified of what it meant if I helped kidnap them. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I wanted to help her understand that.

  The problem was Choko.

  I’ve seen first hand just how perceptive she is. I won’t be able to hide anything from her, so I guess I’ll have to handle this like a “normal” person would, even if it makes it less effective.

  “It’s not like you were accusing me with any malicious intent.” I looked away for a second. “You saw a few coincidences and had a ‘what if?’ moment.” I paused again before turning back to her.

  "You were genuinely terrified of what it would mean if I did help them kidnap the group.” I took a deep breath and glanced at Choko. As I expected, she was watching intently. “I can’t blame you at all for accusing me. I probably would have done the same.” I noticed Hibiki’s lip twitch as I validated her actions.

  “To be honest, I’m just grateful that you brought it up now. It’s a lot better this way than if you let that fear grow and grow.” I took another pause and looked at Choko as I spoke to her. “It’s also good you brought this up with Choko here. She did a great job at making sure everything turned out ok.” I smiled as I finished.

  Normally, I like guiding people to understandings.

  This empowers them, and helps them understand why they feel insecure.

  Then, I guide them to actions. I help them figure out what they need to do to get over their insecurities.

  This act of guiding them leaves them empowered, and makes them both want and believe that they can grow.

  That’s why it’s so effective.

  With Choko watching, I couldn’t do any of that. I was forced to use a strictly empathetic and emotional response.

  It’s easier guiding people. Even when I care strongly about them, it lets me keep a sense of detachment during the manipulation.

  But using only empathy with Hibiki made me extremely uncomfortable.

  I knew why she felt fear, but I can’t truly say I know what a fear of that magnitude feels like. Using an empathy only approach made me feel a bit guilty, but I shoved that aside and forced myself through it.

  Empathy is exhausting, but that’s fine. If it’s to help, it’s worth it.

  “I see…” She smiled as she wiped away her tears. “Thanks for being so understanding.” I warmly smiled back.

  “Of course." I looked at Choko. She’d been watching me curiously, but her face had finally softened. “Don’t worry about it.” I picked up my bowl and glass and placed them on the counter, then refilled my glass. I decided to sit back down and wait while they finished their lunch.

  “They mentioned that was our last game for the day. What are you gonna do with all this spare time, Akira?” Choko asked as she got closer to finishing her soup.

  “I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it.” I wanted to keep my meeting at 8:00 a secret. “After that game, I’m feeling pretty exhausted. I’ll take a nap but I don’t know what I’ll do after that. “ I checked the time on my phone.

  12:30.

  It’d been an hour since I came here to look for Yuto, but he wasn’t here.

  Nobody else was here.

  Unless they intentionally staggered our games, it was safe to say we were in different buildings.

  I could keep waiting, but there wasn’t any point. If they intentionally staggered our games to keep us from meeting, then they might even have another canteen for the different groups.

  I started thinking about everyone else. Yori and Mei weren’t here, so I figured that they were probably hanging out. I wasn’t sure if Mei still needed comforting, but I was glad Yori was there for her.

  Yaeko still hadn’t come for lunch, so I figured that Osamu was still talking with her. That left Nobu.

  I was worried about him.

  “That’s fair. If you’re down, we could hang out when you wake up?” I looked at Hibiki as Choko asked. She nodded, agreeing with the invitation.

  “I’m not sure if the group would want to hang out after the last game. I think some of the cuts are too fresh…” My voice trailed off as I thought about ‘Democracy.’

  “That’s fine, I meant just us three.” She laughed for a second. “I know that the others have been through a lot, so I didn’t expect them to want to hang out anyway.” She wasn’t wrong.

  Nobu and Yaeko wouldn’t want to be anywhere near each other. Mei and Osamu are probably exhausted as well.

  On top of all of that, Yori and I also need to have a talk.

  “I’ll see. I want to check in on Mei, so I’ll probably be hanging with her and Yori, but I’ll let you know if I have any time.” I stood up and cleaned up after myself before grabbing another spoon and an extra bowl of soup as I started walking to the exit.

  “Why are you taking another bowl of soup?” Hibiki asked with a confused expression. Choko smiled at the absurdity of my actions.

  “In case I get hungry again.” I smiled and laughed it off.

  “Won’t it get cold?” Choko asked, unable to contain her laughter. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna eat cold soup!” Hibiki started laughing as well.

  “Nah, I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to heat it up.” I started laughing with them, but I needed to leave.

  I had something to do, but I didn’t want them to realise.

  “Anyways, I’ll see you guys soon.” I walked past them and continued heading to the exit.

  “Bye Akira!” Choko exclaimed.

  “Yeah, see you soon.” Hibiki said softly.

  I cleared my head so I could reflect on my final thoughts as I felt the heat of the soup against my hands.

  Empathy… is draining. I need to be careful about doing that again.

  If Hibiki had those concerns… then the others might have them too.

  Most importantly…

  I need to find out more about what Choko’s been hiding.