...It's now the morning — quickly approaching noon — approximately eighteen hours after we were informed of the Professor's death. We were all understandably tense at the prospect of having a murderer in our midst, and it was agreed upon in a unanimous decision to reconvene after a night's rest, but now that it was finally the morn, our "discussion" hadn't been very fruitful even with those extra eight or so hours of sleep...

"—Are you saying I'm the one who killed him?!"

"No I am not, Abigail. I'm just saying that everyone else had an alibi. You don't. And it behoves us to—"

"Shut up with your bullshit, Connor! Figures you're the one to accuse me of something like that; I always knew you had it out for me!"

"I do not! I just care for you, Abby!"

"Hah! That's rich coming from you, ya fucking shut-in. I mean, at first you were all so gung-ho about screwing Maia over, and now you're suddenly pinning the blame on me?! I bet you're just looking for a convenient way to get rid o' me! In fact, I think that makes you suspicious!"

"W-What?! How could you—"

I tune out their argument once it became clear they were just shouting at each other. It's been a full hour since they started, and I have to admit, it was mentally draining to watch two people who I knew were as thick as thieves turn on each other because of me: their suspicions started, funnily enough, since I was victim to the Professor's "experiments" a few orders of magnitude higher than the others. However, that was cleared up pretty quickly when they realized I was out cold during the time of the murder. Hastur, Kim and Gin were outed for similar reasons.

Damien and Bonny hadn't awakened their Evgnomon yet and was therefore not suspected at all(Damien had the added benefit of being a baby), while Tsukiko's Evgnomon, Memory, wasn't combat-oriented by nature which 'disqualifies her from the race', so to speak.

In summary, that left only two possible culprits without an ironclad alibi: Connor and Abby. But even then, it wasn't up for contention as to who had the better case: Connor, who was surrounded by the dead-tired(but ultimately still conscious) Hastur and company, or Abby, the girl infamous for disappearing and reappearing haphazardly, with no one immediately privy to her location.

'It should be obvious!'

Right?

Well, if you ask me, I don't think she's the one. It just seems too perfect, like a well-thought-out plan; everybody but the girl who likes to go on and off the radar has an excuse. A little suspect, wouldn't you say? Of course, I could be completely wrong, and I'm just being manipulated by the murderer into adopting those exact set of thoughts, so at least temporarily, I'll be sitting this one out...

"Psst. Psst!" I blink, and turn my attention outwards to the person talking to me:

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"Tsuki?" Tsukiko, my older sister, shuffles a bit closer to me, "What's up?"

She just smiles, and I instantly get it. She's also sceptical.

"What do you think?" I ask, staring pointedly at Connor and Abby, who were still at each other's throats, "Is it a sham? Or is this whole debacle actually planned by the murderer to lead us off their trail?"

Tsuki took a second or two to reply, "There's no question that at least some part of this was planned, but to what degree, I cannot say," She frowns for a moment, "Nor can I know if there is only one murderer afoot. Father has done much to attract our ire over the years, and maybe after the last one, a dam could have burst in not just one of us, but multiple,"

True. Professor wasn't a kind man by any stretch of the imagination, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit giddy when the news broke. But hate was one thing; to be so strong-willed as to murder our only barrier against the outside world was another.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hold any hostility towards his killer, but it'd be wise to know who's who when we're out in the real world, no longer sheltered in this damp, monotonous cave of ours. Also, why would they want to hide in the first place? Assuming they were one of us, they should know full well how we'd react to his death: a slap on the wrist maybe— or hell, we could forego formality entirely and just pat them on the back for a job well done.

The point is, there must be another motive. That's what I'm — and the rest of us, really — are trying to figure out. It's the reason Connor's been so agitated lately.

He'll never tell you this, but since Greg's death, he's had an almost fanatical zeal to keep us out of harm's way; natural or artificial, if it manages to nick even one of us, is a bridge too far for him. This, now that we're in the present, apparently doesn't stop at us either if the argument happening right before our eyes is anything to go by. And it's not like we can just tell him to stop either. His Evgnomon, [Perceived Chaos], is for a lack of a better term: unfair.

It isn't a violent ability per se, though even being near him when it's active could spell disastrous consequences for the person in question. Think Scarecrow's fear toxin, but with the addition of a mind-control laser as a cherry on top. Now, the brighter few might already be ahead of me, but it doesn't take a genius to realize that with a little modification, his Evgnomon is more than enough to "convince" people to his side without turning their brains into vegetables.

Fortunately, [Perceived Chaos] carries the added condition of only affecting those he intends to harm. Of course, because we'll never actually know where that line begins and ends, it becomes cold comfort at best, and no one is particularly eager to test his limits...

"—Will you get the fuck off of my case?! So what if I like to spend some time alone? Everybody here's entitled to it, I'm just the only one to capitalize on that right,"

I snap out of my daze when one of her throwaway comments restoke my interest in their debate.

"Fine then. Say you are innocent, how can you prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you did not murder him?"

"Do ya think I have the power to even begin thinking of hurting the bastard? Because last I checked, no one here but Maia, you, and Hastur can put up a half-decent fight against him!"

"I know this perfectly well, Abby, but need I remind you that that precedent was established months ago? When you didn't have your Evgnomon yet? And do I need to also remind everyone here that we don't even know what that Evgnomon is? For all we know it may have allowed you to assassinate the Professor; he did die from a stab wound, something totally impossible to accomplish with mundane means considering the power he wields,"

"..." Everyone turned their gazes towards Abby, and you could almost see her physically shrink in the face of our combined attention, a mix of trepidation and desperation on her face as she struggled to satisfy his query.

This, as she would find out, only served to heighten our suspicions of her claims. But for now though, we waited for her rebuttal.