The others all looked over at Yaeko and Osamu, but I focussed my eyes on Nobu. He flashed me a wicked smile, knowing that I was the only one looking at him.

  It took me a few seconds, but I finally understood what was going on as Osamu and Yaeko turned to face each other.

  Surprisingly, Osamu just started staring at Nobu.

  “What are you doing?” His voice was deeper than usual, and his words had a heavier clarity. However, Nobu innocently tilted his head in confusion as we stayed silent for a few seconds.

  “Why did you do that?” Osamu doubled down, his words getting sharper, forcing Nobu to finally reply.

  “Do what?” I felt a huge sense of unease as I realised that he didn’t seem apathetic like he did yesterday. Instead, he flashed me that smile, and his voice was vibrant and energetic.

  “You just tried to make me think that Yaeko voted to play the game.” Osamu’s voice rose as Choko and I made eye contact, but I decided to let this play out for a bit.

  “What do you mean?” Nobu asked, maintaining his innocence. Even though I knew he was lying, I couldn’t see any signs of deceit or anxiety.

  How good of an actor is he?

  “I know that Yaeko voted to skip the game. Since there were only two votes, you must have lied about your vote… that only makes sense if you wanted to make it look like Yaeko lied.”

  Yori and I quickly locked eyes.

  “Why would he…?” I turned to my left as I heard Mei whisper the question.

  “He wants to get revenge on Yaeko by trying to turn me against her.”

  While everyone else was reacting, my eyes focussed on the one person being too quiet.

  Why isn’t Yaeko saying anything?

  “Wait, what?” Nobu reacted without missing a beat, making his face go blank as he absorbed the shock of the accusation.

  “Wait - how would you even know that I’m the one who’s lying?” He quickly counter attacked and we all turned to face Osamu.

  “Because I trust Yaeko, and because you have a motive to get back at her.”

  Nobu’s lips slowly separated and he started shaking his head, but it all felt a bit too intentional.

  “Back in ‘Democracy’, you said that you couldn’t trust Yaeko 100%. Nothing’s changed that, so the only way you could be this confident is if you knew she was lying.”

  I glanced at Choko, and she met my eyes with a sharp gaze as we turned around to face Nobu.

  Meanwhile, Nobu looked at the rest of us with a confused expression. He waited for a few seconds before he started focusing on Yaeko.

  “Wasn’t everything you did in ‘Democracy’ enough?

  Why are you manipulating Osamu to take part in one of your schemes? This is nothing like the Osamu I know.”

  I quickly looked at Osamu’s eyes, expecting a reaction like the one he had in my room, but this was completely different. It’s not just the lack of an explosion, but almost a lack of emotion all together.

  Does he know that Nobu’s just trying to get to him?

  And why does Yaeko look so calm?

  Do they trust each other that much?

  More importantly, Nobu’s premise was right. Something had to change, and I know it’s because of the conversation where Yaeko told him everything.

  Somehow, that conversation - that cause of her pain, it was something that made it so Osamu knew she’d never lie to him about this?

  More concerningly, did Nobu intentionally accuse Yaeko of manipulating Osamu, or was that just a lucky guess?

  If he truly hadn’t used psychology before, he never should’ve been able to see how devastating that would be to Osamu.

  There’s no way he’s simply just gotten that good within a single day.

  “If this isn’t a set up, then why didn’t Yaeko declare or show her vote like we did?”

  Yaeko and Osamu responded with silence.

  I could only tell what was happening because I had a good enough understanding of Nobu.

  The one thing that could overcome his logical thinking would be his sense of betrayal and his desire for revenge following the way that Yaeko treated him in ‘Democracy.’

  I’m sure his initial plan was to simply bait Yaeko into voting to skip so she also got a two point penalty.

  However, he pounced on their careless mistakes to paint them as vindictive liars.

  Yaeko stared at Nobu, but she still stayed quiet.

  Why?

  Nobu’s made them both sound guilty so It’s not like she’s just letting Osamu protect her right now.

  Maybe she knows they’re cornered? That there’s no point using an emotional argument?

  “Well, it’s not like she could’ve expected this to happen.” Yori stood up and tried to diffuse the situation, but he’d made a huge mistake. I quickly turned to watch Nobu and he immediately exposed it.

  “Are you saying I’m lying, Yori?”

  Yori instantly understood his error as I took a deep breath out. He’d heavily implied that he assumed Nobu was lying when he said this outcome was unexpected.

  Nobu picked up on this and challenged him to make Yaeko look more guilty when Yori failed to explain why he might be lying.

  But more devastatingly, he’d weaponised the feelings of guilt that everyone had been feeling towards him following ‘Democracy’, and he coldly used it to assert himself and to guilt trip us into trusting him.

  Yori took a swallow as he tapped my foot twice for help.

  Instead of helping him out, I briefly turned to make eye contact with Keiko.

  She had a calm expression, but I knew she was waiting for my move - waiting to see how I’d protect Yori without hurting Nobu.

  Why else would she be looking at me in such a critical moment?

  This was a tough decision, and I didn’t have enough time to find the perfect solution.

  If I prioritised the truth and explained that Nobu was lying, it would create an all out war between Osamu and Nobu. More than that, the rest of the group would understandably see this act as an unforgivable one, and would likely never forgive him.

  At the same time, it felt wrong to sit back and let Osamu and Yaeko look guilty, regardless of our differences.

  I caught Choko’s eyes as she waited for me to make a decision.

  We both knew that I was better at managing social dynamics. She respected that and waited for my decision, and I could tell that she was ready to back it up, but I actually needed the opposite.

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  Back in ‘Democracy’, uncertainty had been a fatal weapon that devastated us.

  Here, it’s our only salvation.

  If we could introduce the idea of Nobu lying, then we could make it so the rest of the group didn’t know who to feel betrayed by.

  I felt the pressure rising as Choko silently urged me to make a decision.

  I smiled to myself as I thought about the timing of all this. If this was just a day ago, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about exposing the truth and letting Nobu pay for his scheme.

  At the same time, my goal has always been to protect my friends.

  Since I don’t have any proof that Nobu is the traitor, this applies to him as well. Especially since his heinous act came from an understandable desire for revenge after everything that Yaeko put him through.

  This is the choice that only the current Akira would have made.

  “Nobu, why didn’t you show us your vote either?”

  Everyone’s eyes were on me.

  Even Yaeko’s and Osamu’s.

  “You declared that you’d vote to skip the game, but you never showed your vote. Meanwhile, everyone else who publicly declared their vote proved what they voted for.” Yaeko’s tense expression eased up for half a second as she made eye contact with me, but she instantly looked away.

  Nobu tilted his head as he stared at me for a few seconds before answering.

  “Are you also accusing me of lying?” His body language was innocent, but the subtext behind it was explosive.

  During our conversation yesterday, I explicitly told him that I trusted him over Yaeko and I vehemently argued with him to prove it.

  Accusing him of lying now would be like telling him that I lied to his face just to manipulate him.

  This accusation is magnitudes more potent than when he accused Yori.

  “Of course not. I’m just saying that after the horrible things Yaeko did to you yesterday, it’s a possibility that you’re lying to get back at her.”

  Yaeko looked at me with a quiet hope, and Osamu leaned forward as he looked at me with caution.

  “It’s also a possibility that you never intended to make them look like liars. Maybe you anticipated that Yaeko would publicly declare her vote. What if you just wanted her to have the two point penalty in the next phase?” Choko and Hibiki watched me closely while Osamu turned his head to glance at Yaeko, before turning his eyes back to Nobu.

  “Do you think I’m lying, Akira?”

  I hesitated before answering the question.

  For some reason, there isn’t any desperation behind Nobu’s eyes.

  I deduced that he craves validation, but that isn’t the case right now.

  Does he think that I was manipulating him in our conversation yesterday?

  Is he trying to get revenge on me by forcing me to choose a side right now?

  “It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m just providing a potential alternative, exactly as I did when I was defending you yesterday.” I stared Nobu in the eyes as I answered, but he didn’t back down.

  “It’s incredibly painful to me how you step in immediately when it comes to protecting Yaeko, but yesterday you waited an entire round before protecting me.”

  What’s gotten into Nobu?

  This isn’t the Nobu that I know.

  This isn’t the Nobu that I talked to yesterday.

  I can see the hidden joy in his face.

  I can understand him getting back at Yaeko, but why is he enjoying targeting me?

  I looked at Choko and subtly shook my head. As much as I needed her help, we couldn’t risk making our alliance too obvious.

  Just as I was racking my head for any way out of this, I was distracted by the sudden clapping sound to my left.

  It was Mei.

  She quickly stood up and spoke with a gentle face.

  “This conversation isn’t getting anywhere. Let’s discuss the game.” She confidently asserted herself.

  “Since you guys kindly agreed to vote for me to gain points, I won’t argue for anyone else. I’ll let you all make your cases and I’ll vote on what I think is right.” Mei smiled at Yori who got the message and immediately stood up before Nobu could force me into answering his questions.

  “Okay then, why don’t we start with discussing how many points I should lose?” Yori’s calming presence broke the tension as it spread throughout the room. I took a deep breath as Mei sat back down, and I decided to tilt my head down so no one could see my smile.

  Maybe it’s safe for me to start relying on them.

  “If no one wants to say anything, then let me start by saying I won’t give Nobu my best ranking.” I don’t know if it was intentional, but Yori’s surprising announcement made everyone forget about my unwillingness to answer Nobu’s question.

  “I know that Osamu got into a fight with Akira. I also know that Yaeko confessed to her hatred of Akira right in front of me.”

  I was in complete shock as I looked up at Yori.

  I heard a movement in the corner of the room and saw that even Keiko stared at Yori, watching with a curious smile on her face before turning back at the cameras.

  “I know that both of them will give Akira the worst ranking, so I’ll be giving Akira my best ranking to try and balance it out.” Yori calmly sat down as he smiled at me, while Yaeko regained her composure as she stood up.

  I knew she wanted to attack Yori for implying she’d give me a low ranking for a “silly” reason, but it was incredibly difficult for her to attack Yori after he just defended them against Nobu.

  “Do you really think we’d give him the worst rankings because of our biases against him?” I instantly noted how her voice wasn’t as charged as it would be if she was speaking down to me or Nobu.

  This sounded much closer to an argument between respected peers.

  “I don’t know about Osamu, but I know for a fact that you would.”

  The room went silent.

  Yaeko was taken aback by Yori’s cold words, and Osamu looked hurt on her behalf.

  Choko and Hibiki both watched with soft expressions, yet Hibiki seemed a bit more guarded.

  As for Mei, she stared at me and Yori, not understanding why Yori would say something like that.

  As for me, I gently smiled at Yori.

  I silently watched as he made his move.

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