~Y/n pov~
"Four will advance to the final vote."
" Sou Hiyori."
"Kanna Kizuchi."
"Keiji Shinogi."
"Nao Egokoro."
"Now, please grasp your fate with your own hands.
May you not all perish..." Gashu finished.
~*~
"There were four trades made in total! That ain't that many!" Q-taro started our first topic of discussion....the card swaps.
"By the way, I've been a Commoner the whole way, woof! Didn't get traded with even once, meow!"
"Trading cards requires 50 tokens. It's not as if just anyone could do it." Alice commented.
"Honestly... It's all a mess in my head. Glad we got given more time to sort it out..."
"The token ranking, as I recall, put Cubetaro Hamburger in first and Gin Ibushi in last. Nao Egokoro was also low-ranking... Of the four candidates, I suppose Nao was the only one who lacked the tokens to make a trade?" Alice explained.
"There were five trades, woof!!"
"F... Five...?! W-Wait, uhh... By my memory, there were three trades... Then I heard there was one just before the Main Game..." Q-taro scratched his head.
"Wasn't Q-taro unconscious for a period of time? That would mean he missed some of the trades." I commented.
"Cubetaro Hamburger, when was it you passed Sara Chidouin the Sacrifice card? In fact, did you have the Sacrifice to start...?!"
"Nah... That ain't it. The first card I had... was Commoner."
"I get it... That tells me most of the trades." Keiji muttered.
Gin tilted his head, "Wha?! I don't have a clue, woof!! Why's that, meow?!"
"Because your friendly policeman made the first trade." Keiji grinned.
"What did you say?! Who'd you trade with, and what?!" Alice yelled.
"I gave Sara the Keymaster."
"Then what card did Sara start with?!"
"At first... I was a Commoner." Sara told us.
"Let's do a little sort-out. In the first trade... I passed the Keymaster into Sara's hands. In the second trade... Hmm, what got traded?" Keiji lead the discussion.
Sara answered, "Someone's Sacrifice and Q-taro's Commoner."
"Exactly..." Keiji nodded.
"Muscle gorilla! Tell us everything you can remember, meow!" Gin commanded.
"You have an obligation to properly explain to us the third trade...!" Alice agreed.
"At the time of the third trade, I was searching the first floor alone, meow! So I wanna know the situation, woof!"
"I shall tell you. The third trade occurred when everyone was sharing the laptop..."
"Remembering that photo on the laptop still makes my heart quake... But what's important now is that card trade. Hmph... In the end, it was mutual betrayal... Cubetaro Hamburger... Despite being right there, he traded his Sacrifice to you...! Such a cold-blooded man!! Don't speak of bonds to me...!! I don't put any stock in bonds, but... Damn it...!! What is this feeling?!" Alice growled.
~*~
"I meant to cooperate... with Sara... with everyone!! But I got used for convenience! I'm pathetic!! A pathetic adult...!! The third trade... My Sacrifice bein' sent to Sara... It wasn't me...! It was Sou's doing!!"
Q-taro yelled.
"Say what...?!"
"...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sou knew!! He knew I had the Sacrifice!!" Q-taro started to explain, "When everybody was sharing the laptop... Sou wasn't goin' to use the toilet...! He went to use a Ring-Up Box! To trade my Sacrifice and Sara's Keymaster!!"
"How do we know you're not lying?" I smirked.
"...Tell us your real reason for sharing the laptop." Keiji changed the subject.
"Ahaha. Such a deeply suspicious individual, Keiji." Shin chuckled.
~*~
"Hmm, well then... It must've been an ally who did it for you. Keiji, you took the Sacrifice from miss Sara, didn't you?" Shin smiled slyly.
"What's the meaning of this...?!" Kanna asked.
"It would make sense if the two of them were accomplices, right?" I smiled.
"Miss Sara and Keiji formed a terrifying plan involving the Sacrifice. To achieve victory in the Main Game... by way of said Sacrifice. They schemed to escape by working together and having Keiji win the vote. I suspect the fifth trade that followed was miss Sara and Keiji making a bluff. They just picked two random Commoners to have trade." Shin chuckled.
"Then you say Keiji Shinogi has the Sacrifice...?!" Alice yelled.
I'm pretty sure I know who the sacrifice is...but this makes things more interesting.
Sara was growing distraught, "That's all a wild fabrication!!"
"If my reasoning is correct... Keiji is the Sacrifice, and the Sage is... miss Nao, perhaps?"
"I-I-I'm the Sage?!"
"Yep. So it may well be fine to have miss Nao die this time."
"W-Wait a second!! At the start, you said you were the Sacrifice..."
"Yep, that was a lie. I'm a Commoner."
"No way...!! Then... wouldn't you in the same boat as me?"
"Huh, I see... Guess choosing anybody but Keiji is the same in the end... Then let's vote for Kanna. Since she's the least valuable." Shin concluded.
"S... Sou..." Kanna whimpered, tears filling her eyes.
"Enough." Keiji growled.
Shin's facial expression went blank, "...Hm?"
"It's been a long time since I've hated somebody this much... Here's a friendly little police report... I long since used up all my tokens." Keiji frowned.
"Ahaha... And you want me to just believe that?"
"Sou, you're just dying to say I ended up being the Sacrifice, aren't you...? Unfortunately... I'm the Keymaster." Keiji exclaimed.
"Huh...? W... What are you saying...? The Keymaster is Q-taro, though..." Shin stuttered.
"...Looks like we got 'im good. My real role is Sage...!!"
Q-taro beamed.
I chuckled, "This is an interesting turn of events..."
"Let's tell the truth of the fourth trade, shall we? The trade between Mr. Policeman and Q-taro." Keiji laughed.
~*~
"First, when Sou betrayed me with the Sacrifice... I went stompin' around in a rage!!"
"When I heard what happened, I proposed to Q-taro that we team up."
"And so in the fourth trade... You two traded your cards?!"
"That fourth trade sure ended up punishing the loner now, meow..."
"Hold on! Q-taro, weren't you passed out during the fourth trade?"
"I'm sure Mr. Policeman was burning with the desire to see justice carried out, meow! He used a whole 50 tokens to trade cards with muscle gorilla just to defeat the loner, woof! ... ...Huh? Before, Mr. Policeman said he didn't have any tokens at the fourth trade, meow. Then he couldn't have traded, woof!"
~*~
"Come to think of it, didn't you tell me you found something while searching?" Sara asked Gin.
"Meow...? Yeah...There was a smartphone on the stairs, woof."
"What...?"
"But it wouldn't even make calls... It was useless for escape, meow."
"Kanna... Was it a smartphone you lost?" Sara turned her attention to the green haired girl.
Kanna looked panicked, "How did you know...?!"
"She must've just dropped it while we were all climbing the stairs, surely?" Shin commented.
"Are you protecting Kanna?" Sara accused.
"Me? Stick up for Kanna?" Shin laughed nervously.
"Think back for me. When we were climbing the stairs, Sou and Kanna were walking in front. If she had dropped the phone then... everyone should have noticed." Sara explained, "In short, this was only dropped after we all climbed up to the exit. Kanna dropped it while descending the stairs...!"
"What did she descend for...? Why did you try to hide this, Kanna?"
"Big sis Sara! There's a message on this phone, meow!!"
'Thank you
I love you, sister
Now it's Kanna's turn to protect her big sister.
Because that's how Kanna can atone'
"P... Please give that back..." Kanna cried.
"Stop it Sara." I frowned.
"It's referring to... her sister in heaven?" Sara asked ignoring me.
"That's not it..." Keiji sighed.
"I mean...!! If it's not that... This... this...!!.....Is Kugie your big sister?"
"Yes... Ehehe... I know, it's strange..." Kanna looked at me with her teary eyes.
"K-Kanna..." I felt shocked.
"Kanna wanted to protect Sara too..."
"Was it you who traded away Sara's Sacrifice...?" Keiji asked.
"To avoid using the Ring-Up Box in the Winner's Room, you returned to the third floor to trade."
"Ahaha... What worthless reasoning. That's all a load of..."
"...No. It's all correct..." Kanna cut Shin off.
"Y... You idiot...!! Don't say anything!!" Shin cried.
Please...stop it....I can't lose you too.
"Kanna did the fifth trade...! She... won't hide the truth anymore..."
"If Kanna had the sacrifice...surely she would've voted for herself...but I'm pretty sure she got voted for.." I reasoned, "We all know the reasons Kanna, Keiji and Sou were voted...but why was Nao voted...and she got 2 votes...."
"Huh?"
"What I'm saying is...maybe Nao is the sacrifice."
"I have proof that Kanna is the sacrifice." Sara stood firm.
"No...Kanna is a commoner...she's confused too.." She looked down.
"I see......I... I didn't access the role cards...! I didn't do any hacking to them!!" Shin yelled.
"Sou...!!"
"That's the truth, miss Sara... No lies, no tricks. Alright...? Let's quit deceiving each other. Let's work to expose Gashu's transgression...!"
~*~
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1535 words
A/n this main game was so long, so I split it into even more parts.