Vouch Me Please

We've all prepared a simple funeral for Hirari after Manabu's investigation. Yukawa is still sleeping in the laboratory, alone. We didn't even bother him because he is already weakened, but we agreed to his first suggestion, that is we're going to watch each other overnight at the laboratory.

A day passed after that, we are still waiting for Yukawa to wake up so that Manabu can discuss his findings with us. Because we don't have any source of water anymore, some of us are already developing cracked lips. Even I cry without tears and a reason except for dehydration. My squeezed throat is already craving water.

As per the clock hands state, it's currently 8 AM on our fourth day. Yukawa said yesterday that in our current situation, we need to resolve the game within five days. Our current match sticks won't make it to the sixth day, and also, our source of water suddenly disappeared.

Yukawa wakes up as he sees us already forming a circle. I'm the one near him that's why I asked.

"Yukawa, are you alright now?"

"We've been waiting for you for ages," Manabu said.

"Not sleeping? It won't take you another day to be alive if you won't," Rise commented.

"Hirari? What about Hirari?" Yukawa asked with widened eyes like he was in a hurry.

"She vanished again, like the others. But before that, we've already prepared her a burial. I'm sorry that we didn't inform you about that," I said.

"Your man does have a huge snore while leaning on your lap," Rise said as she teases me, which made me and Yukawa blush.

"I… I told you. That's not it!" I squealed.

"You've caused such a ruckus yesterday, Yukawa. You've even changed the personality of some detective wannabe," Rise added.

"What did you just say? I don't care when you tell blunt lies, but I won't tolerate you calling me a wannabe," Manabu complained.

"Hey, take it easy! I can't follow. Wait… did you see all of that!? And you didn't use the match sticks in that funeral, don't you?"

"We didn't, both," Rise said.

"What a nightmare… It's alright. I'm already calm. Then what's the aftermath of the storm? Why are we circling like these?"

"From this moment on, let's not fight again," I said. "It's best to be calm to solve this quick."

Manabu took the lead in the results of his observation. "I'll try to be as objective as possible. I won't waste any time. There are only three possible scenarios that might have happened. The first is Yukawa's conclusion, suicide. Let's discuss those first. Which lead you to that conclusion, Yukawa?"

"Hmm… It's obvious actually. No strangle marks, no signs of resistance, nor even a drop of dried liquid mark on the ground since it's made of birch.

"And since I'm the one who got her vote, I have a grasp of her handwriting. I can prove that the handwriting is forged if you have any other suspicions than us. I'll tell everything afterward."

Manabu continues. "Moving on, the second point would be the most suspicious person who entered before the incident happened. Who is that?"

Suddenly, everyone looked at me in the stimulus. Even I knew that I'm the most suspicious right now, and I don't have any reason to get out of their suspicion.

"I am. But I didn't do anything to her. She was still alive when I left her, but she didn't even mention something about the stash and poisoning the water."

"There are poisons that took longer to take effect, and that's proven by the death of Hirari's two followers. What did you two talk about?"

"She… just said her past to me, including why she regrets living this moment… But I'm there to comfort her. She even smiled at me once… while crying." And I don't know if it's really a smile or a fake, because she seems to know we're parting ways already.

"Then what's your proof that you didn't poison her?"

"She's my friend! She's one of the rarest and special kinds of people for me."

"As I said, be as objective as possible."

"I… I don't know… I just brought her water. But I really didn't poison it! I wouldn't do such a thing to my friend, no matter what happens!"

"And I remember when you entered the laboratory after, you looked too down. Can you explain it?

"I… I'm sorry… I can't say the reason…"

"You look too suspicious now," Manabu said as he makes the final judgment.

"Hey, Manabu, I thought you were going to be objective? You're jumping to conclusions early," Yukawa said as he picks a paper from the voting paper we used earlier and gives it to me. "Write here the exact same words written in the paper."

I followed his instructions. Only Yukawa saw the content of the paper, but he told us what was written in it. I wrote it in my own handwriting and give it to Yukawa.

"Hmm… Not even a match," Yukawa said while pinching his chin.

"Then what are the odds that she might have forged the current writing?" Manabu asked.

"She should have forced her in poisoning Hirari, but we've found no strangle marks. And Hirari is an athlete, so she could fight back easily. There's no way she doesn't know the existence of poison."

"But when you told us about the handwriting, it is possible that she already prepared another method of handwriting. And it's the first time I've seen her left-handedness," Manabu reasoned.

"I thought you're trying to be as 'objective' as possible? Is your possibility impossible? We shouldn't be rash with theories, that's why being calm will help here. You can't forge unseen handwriting. Hers have no shakes nor hardness in the strokes, so that should prove that her handwriting is natural.

"You're the most observant here, Manabu. You have a sharp sense of details, and even check corners particle by particle. You should have been doing this matter, but you should know the reason why I can't hand the paper to you," Yukawa said as he shows off the folded paper.

"Not trusting me isn't my issue anymore. In fact, this game exists to make us find the right person to trust. Continuing, that might lead us to the final scene. Yukawa, you're the other person who entered the room before Saori. Can you explain this chronologically?"

"I don't need to explain. In fact, there is someone who peeked during our conversation. Is that right, Ryo?" Yukawa said as he looks at Ryo.

Ryo is the other silent boy besides Murata. He is very passive-aggressive and has brown eyes and short fine white hair. It's our first time seeing him step up the talk.

"I've heard their conversation, and I can vouch for him. He is innocent."