“Azrael! Lilin!” Shiria exclaimed, “Where were you?!”
“Ohh, don’t you worry, little stowaway. We were just investigating a couple of things on our own!”
“Investigating? What?” Lan’en asked.
“Ah...a way to get off of this cruise! We found it~!” Lilin hopped up and down happily, “But we’ll show you the way if, and only if, you all find the real murderer!”
Everyone just looked at each other, speechless. The two witches cackled mischievously.
“What?! That’s just mean!” Shiria shouted, “Just tell us who the killer is and save us!”
“Why would we? I follow Erisia! You could be all dead for all I care!”
“Why would we? I follow Dyosia! All I want is to have fun! And this...this is too much fun! I can’t stop!”
Kaeron crossed her arms and stared at Azrael, reminiscing her conversation.
“I thought those were your last words, Azrael,” She said, “Why are you still here?”
“Who knows?” She shrugged her shoulders, “So! Shall we keep the debate rolling?”
“Oh! Yes! Yes! I have something to say!” Lilin waved her hand happily, “Kaeron didn’t mention some things on purpose! To keep herself clean!”
Everyone looked at Kaeron once more.
“What is she talking about, Kaeron?” Alicia asked.
“You surely don’t believe her, right?” Shiria defended Kaeron, “I mean…”
“No. She is right. I know what she’s talking about,” Kaeron plainly admitted, “There are...some things I didn’t say because I didn’t want them to be a scapegoat for the killer to use. That’s all.”
“So? Which are these things?”
“First of all…”
Kaeron hesitated. She gulped down her anxiety and tightened her arms as she kept them crossed.
“First of all, Kaeron has the power to lie about her vocation,” Lilin helped her out with a giggle, “Her vocation is not Artelan.”
“What? How is that even possible?” Alicia’s eyebrows furrowed, “Nobody can lie about their vocation. It’s...it’s just impossible.”
“Which is it?” Lan’en asked her, stepping forward, “Kaeron, what is your vocation? Tell us. Now.”
image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yxsn5bjmxptc69u5s2ir9/artist_missile_228-amazing-quality-very-aesthetic-absurdres-black-backgroun-s-2249367723.png?rlkey=pxh7o7htdfvd4ntp7savjpszl&st=idb6lytb&raw=1]
“I...I am born as a follower of Xae. The god of nihility.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Azrael nodded, chuckling, “Finally."
Everyone looked shocked.
“Who is Xae?” Shiria asked innocently.
“Xae is the only god with no gender or identity. It’s a void that doesn’t care about its children. They’re born without a goal...without anything to believe in and they end up cursed. It’s worse than your case, Shiria. While you forgot about your vocation, Kaeron knows exactly which one is hers...and yet, she has no purpose in this world,” Tsukasa explained, "They are a very rare species of people already...plus, they have the power to lie about their vocation...which makes them even more unrecongnizable."
“Xae's nihilists usually kill themselves at a young age as far as I know. They’re hardwired to do that,” Alicia said, “Kaeron...I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need your pity,” Kaeron said, “And my vocation has nothing to do with this situation right now.”
“Oh yeah? It does, actually,” Lilin grins widely, “Since you’re a nihilist...you have a curse upon you, am I right? That sword bears it. That sword can’t be unsheathed by anyone besides you.”
The debate suddenly started running again.
“What? Really?” Lan’en’s eyes widened.
“Yes! Try it yourself!” Azrael invited Lan’en to approach Kaeron.
Lan’en did as suggested. She walked to Kaeron and grabbed her sword. Kaeron simply let it go and sighed with a defeated expression.
As soon as Lan’en tried to pull the blade out of the scabbard...she screamed in horror and let it fall to the ground.
“What the fuck!? I...I felt something horrible crawling all over my arm!” She brushed her arm multiple times as if she was trying to get rid of something, “It’s true!”
“So...what does this imply, exactly? That Kaeron is the only one who could have committed the murder?” Alicia asked Lilin.
“Who knows? I’m just pointing out the facts here,” Lilin shrugged.
“No. She’s finally helping us.” Tsukasa nodded, brushing her chin.
“What? Helping us? Her?” Lan’en raised her eyebrow, “Seriously?”
“She’s trying to tell us that the killer knew this, obviously. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have tried to frame Kaeron like that. Someone tried to unsheathe her sword to do the killing, but they failed to do so...hence, they realized it was the perfect evidence that pointed to Kaeron. Kaeron herself wouldn’t have been so stupid.”
“There’s an issue, though...what about the door? It was locked with Kaeron’s code, which I doubt anyone ever discovered. There were no signs of tampering with the door...I checked its electrical panel while we were investigating,” Alicia said.
“True…” Tsukasa sighed, “What about the vent? It ripped off with a slight touch of Youma’s body. Could the killer have crawled into the room through that? It didn’t look well sealed against the ceiling.
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“Don’t you remember what that stupid AI said? They’re too hot or whatever. Nobody can use them.
“Wait,” Alicia suddenly had a realization, “What that thing isn’t for ventilation? Chronos, are you there?”
Alicia’s communication system lit up, the AI responded. “Model CHRON.05 at your service.”
“What can you tell me about the...vent we all have in our bedrooms? Are they hot just like the rest of the air ducts aboard the cruise?”
“I shall correct you. Due to various policies, those you call “vents” are secondary emergency exits. A passenger may find themselves stuck or in danger inside a locked room, and the emergency button that releases the door’s pressure may malfunction. It is possible to open the grid with a slight pull. The passengers can get inside with a simple jump and crawl through a specific and safe path towards safety. If the passenger has physical disabilities, they can use the communication device to hire one of our reliable rescue bots and-”
Alicia muted the device, looking at everyone, “There you are, murderer. We busted you.”
“So that’s how it is...huh?” Lan’en nodded slowly, tapping her lips, “They tried to make it look like Kaeron used her code and killed Youma herself.”
“The cause of death is uncertain but...due to the lack of blood in the room, I’m guessing that the killer strangled Youma, carved their chest with another weapon, tied the ‘’rope’’ to the hatch’s grid, climbed up after placing my sword down and then closed it carefully, lifting Youma up.”
“From where did they get in, though?” Tsukasa wondered.
“Chronos, where do those emergency exits lead?”
“Model CHRON.05 at your service…”
image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8fff85amgagfu7veopvso/Lan-en.png?rlkey=b4sn2tceshrfyna6jh5nwuyvd&st=48fyg2ll&raw=1]
“The emergency exits are all connected with a duct that goes through all the dormitory’s rooms until the end of the corridor. There, a hatch that leads into the corridor is present on both sides.”
“Are the two sides of the dorm’s corridor linked in any way?” Kaeron asked.
“No. Both sides have their own duct and hatch for safety and crowd management in case of grave emergency.”
“Are the hatches accessible from outside the rooms?”
“No. Unlike the room’s exits, which are openable, the hatches only activate if there is an emergency alarm to avoid the ship’s design to cause discomfort.”
“What the heck? Design?” Lan’en scoffed, “Rich people’s problems, I guess.”
“So you can only travel through a duct if you have access to one of the rooms that are connected to it,” Alicia said.
image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/teqnvll3z9fnh5blcyofh/caca3.png?rlkey=r8d074730l228wl9pxqhdxu47&st=0pqraibc&raw=1]
“Servalia is dead and her room is definitely locked. My door was locked. Youma’s was locked by her before we imprisoned her. That leaves Shiria’s and Alicia’s rooms."
“The time of the murder was yesterday around nine. I wasn't back in my room yet. My door was locked too. So they must have gone through Shiria’s room.”
“My room...is always unlocked…” Shiria hung her head, “I’m sorry...it’s my fault.”
“Wait. We’re missing something important,” Tsukasa stopped everyone.
“What’s up?” Lane’n asked.
“Kaeron was guarding the hallway all the time. How could they have gone into Shiria’s room without her noticing?”
“Right. I didn’t think about that detail. I was guarding Youma’s room all the time.”
“Then the culprit must be you, no?” Azrael spoke up, looking at Kaeron with a sharp expression, “Or maybe...you dozed off and didn’t notice the murderer passing in front of you to go into Shiria’s room?”
Kaeron sighed heavily and crossed her arms.
She’s trying to make me think. At this point, it’s obvious she’s pointing at the killer.
“I didn’t fall asleep, of course. If the killer had to get into my room through Shiria, they probably did it while I was completely unable to see or hear anything,” Kaeron said, “Maybe the time of death is wrong.”
“Wasn’t your power able to detect it accurately?” Alicia asked.
“Yes. But it doesn’t make any sense, right? I was there all the time. I saw nothing. Are we sure there isn’t another way the murderer could have gotten in?”
“What if it’s Azrael and Lilin? Did you all not see how they appeared into thin air in front of us?” Lan’en suddenly said, “Isn’t it a dead giveaway?”
“Ah? So that’s how you wanna play…” Lilin grinned. “What about our alibi for Servalia’s murder? Did you randomly forget that? We were with Shiria and Kaeron all the time, listening to their conversation about Kaeron’s dead lover.”
“True. But you don’t have an alibi for Noir’s and Youma’s death. One out of three,” Tsukasa said.
“And...you’re also very mean people, to be honest,” Shiria intervened, “Why should we trust your intentions? What if your appearance now is just a way to make our train of thoughts derail?”
“Watch your mouth, stowaway,” Lilin spat, abruptly growing offensive, “You’re just a dirty, stupid stowaway that doesn’t even belong here.”
“Woah, what the hell?” Lan’en stepped forward.
“Calm down, girls,” Alicia said, “Let’s think about it again. I doubt it was either Azrael or Lilin for more than one reason.”
“What are those reasons?” Shiria asked, crossing her arms and looking away with a pout.
“First of all, while Lilin and Azrael are very suspicious and rude...this is just a bias that shouldn’t really matter when it comes to logical thinking. If we really value our odds of survival, we have to treat every possible variable. Each one of us is still viable to be the culprit. And...well, if we leave aside their personalities, Lilin and Azrael are the ones who are less likely to be tied to the killing. One alibi out of three is enough if we compare it to someone who has zero. Second thing...they both could have disappeared with that ‘’escape’’ they are offering...which is a real escape, by the way. They didn’t...because they probably don’t even need to escape. Neither because they’re about to be found out as killers, nor because they are in danger.”
“How do you know it’s real? The escape offer.” Lan’en asked.
“Because I was invited for my engineering abilities. I did some digging last night because I couldn’t really sleep. I found that there is a specific alarm system that gives an escape pod the conditions to be released. I could trigger that alarm myself with some tinkering if I found the cockpit of this cruise. I was about to tell you guys this morning…and we ended up in this situation.”
“That is correct. In fact...you all need Alicia if you want to leave this stupid place early. So don’t let the killer catch her...”
“Doesn’t this mean you both aren’t able to leave by yourselves though? Maybe you are the perps...and you’re trying to make Alicia start the escape pod for you,” Lan’en accused Azrael again.
“Baseless accusation. I am able to start the alarm system by myself.”
“And what if what you just said is a lie?” Tsukasa sighed.
Lilin looked at Alicia and took out a small, metallic shard, “This shard I made is able to hijack any spacecraft that has a network under the SOTERI class. Basically anything high-end and filthy rich. This ship particularly has the SOTERI-13 sub-version...but it was a tag that I didn’t quite recognize. It’s “SOTERI-13.2.5”...it’s an experimental version of the 13 variation...curious, right? This is probably why you accepted the invite.”
“Alright. Yes. They could have escaped by themselves,” Alicia sighed, almost defeated.
“They’re not the culprits. I knew that already. Let’s stop doubting them...please,” Kaeron said, “Let’s go back to the point.”
“Okay...so. Who the hell could have walked in front of Kaeron without being noticed? Let’s think about it slowly,” Tsukasa said, “Someone passed through Kaeron’s guard, entered Shiria’s room after stealing Kaeron’s blade...and then they obviously had to do the reverse, right?”
Kaeron suddenly gasped and covered her mouth after a new realization.
“Wait. That’s right! My sword was stolen. It was with me all the time when I was guarding the door.”
“This means that...it all happened after that,” Shiria butted in, lighting up as well. “Last night, when we all parted ways, I went to check on Kaeron...and I convinced her to give her guarding place to someone else! We both went into my room and then we slept!”
“So the murder happened after Kaeron left. Who guarded her next?” Tsukasa looked at everyone.
“I did. Shiria came to the arcade and asked me this favor. I didn’t say anything until now because I thought that the murder had already happened when I got there…”
“But in reality, it happened between the time Kaeron left the door unattended to sleep and until you arrived at the door after Shiria came to fetch you!”
“This leaves only two suspects. Tsukasa and Alicia. Lan’en and Shiria were together during that crucial moment, obviously...Azrael, Lilin, and I are innocent because of other solid arguments,” Kaeron said, killing Alicia with her cold gaze.
image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/94pxtrskoh25p6ath6arj/artist_missile_228-amazing-quality-very-aesthetic-absurdres-dark-background-s-3316502978.png?rlkey=iaw87db8jr588ef8rr29wf1j1&st=k80h7kib&raw=1]
”Alicia, is it you?”