There was a small silence as the last of the particles of Tech Tube's hologram disappeared into the air.

The digitized motes flickered out like dying embers, leaving the ten students standing in the sterile light of the virtual cafeteria and the hum of the spaceship's engine was the only sound that they could hear in the silence, even that was a vibration.

Immediately, Yoru placed her hands on the cold meeting table as her eyes swept across the group with the sharp look of a hawk.

"Tech Tube explained the rules, so now we need to act on them…" Yoru said as her voice cut through the tension immediately.

She didn't ask for permission; she simply occupied the space at the head of the table, naturally assuming the position of the Captain. "I hope none of you have any problems with me leading the command for now. If you do have a problem with it, then feel free to tell m—"

"Hold it right there."

Hiroto, the Class 4 representative whose reputation for being obnoxious preceded him, slammed both hands onto the table.

He leaned forward with his face twisting into a condescending smirk. He cleared his throat loudly, making sure every eye was on him before he spoke.

"In times like this, a real man is meant to lead the charge…" Hiroto declared, puffing out his chest. "Not a little girl like you. It's basic survival, Yoru. We need strength at the helm."

Yoru didn't flinch. She simply raised an eyebrow, her expression shifting from focused to vaguely amused. "Isn't that just straight misogynism, Hiroto?"

Hiroto chuckled. "It's not misogynism if I'm right. It's just common sense. We're in a high-stakes game so naturally we don't have time for playing house."

Before Yoru could even respond, a cold chill settled over the right side of the table. Shion, the Shiden clan heiress, was glaring at Hiroto.

Even without access to her lightning affinity in this virtual world, her presence was suffocating. She stood with her arms crossed as her eyes narrowed into lethal slits.

"You can barely lead your own class through a lunch line, and you want to lead us?" Shion's voice was like ice. "What a whole lot of talk… Maybe you should focus on not being the first one eliminated before you worry about who's in charge."

Hiroto took an instinctive step back with his smirk faltering as he met Shion's gaze. He clenched his fist and his knuckles turned white. "I'll have you kn—"

He felt a heavy weight on his shoulder.

Koya had moved silently, his hand gripping Hiroto's shoulder with enough force to be a warning but not enough to be an assault.

Koya was resisting the visceral urge to simply shove the man aside since Hiroto's voice was beginning to grate on his nerves like sandpaper on glass.

"Maintain yourself," Koya said with a sigh. "Or else you really won't like what happens next. We have bigger problems than your ego."

Koya let him go, stepping back into the shadows. Yoru nodded toward Koya and Shion with a small graceful smile touching her lips. "Thank you, both."

She turned back to the group with her voice becoming business-like again.

"Since we're all here, I'd like everyone to introduce themselves. Give us your full name and your assigned class. We need to know what tools we have at our disposal."

Ichinose immediately ran a hand through her blonde hair as her brows furrowed in thought.

"Wait, won't voicing our classes lead to the Impostors knowing exactly what to target? If they know who the dangerous ones are, they'll pick us off one by one."

Yoru shook her head.

"If we don't know the classes, the Impostors will be able to take advantage of the confusion more easily. We won't be united, and we won't be able to verify each other's claims. We don't have much of a choice if we want to win."

Ichinose looked down at the table as her shoulders slumped, she couldn't see any fault in that especially since they were going to be a team. "I... I guess you're right."

"If everyone is feeling shy, then I'll start with myself…" Yoru said while standing as tall as she possibly could which was still short. "My name is Kuroyami Yoru from Class 3. My class is Crewmate. That is why I have assumed leadership… I have no special powers, only my eyes and my ears. I can't completely promise you a perfect outcome, but I promise we will find those three Impostors and eliminate them to win."

The introductions began to move in a circle.

"My name is Asakura Hina from Class 3," the black-haired girl said, her voice sounded steady but her fingers were twitching slightly. "My class is Tracker… It allows me to track the last known locations of everyone starting from the next turn. If we all compile our locations every round, I can double-check if someone is lying. I think this is the best way we can find the Impostors."

Koya watched her carefully.

'She's just painted a target on her forehead…' He thought. Who in their right mind would leave her alive after learning of all this? She would probably be the first one to be taken out by an Impostor, if nobody would do it then he would.

Next was a boy with brown hair falling over his eyes.

"My name is Kitonaka Koji from Class 4. My class is Investigator. I can scan one player per round and get a suspicion readout though it is during Emergency meetings." Koji said and he had immediately become another target, first one was tracking and the next one was actually getting readouts on suspicion?

Why the hell were these people stacked?

"My name is Shiden Shion from Class 2," Shion said as her voice gained a bit of pride. "My class is Scientist. It lets me use the cameras in the Camera Room from anywhere on the ship."

Everyone nodded, and Shion allowed herself a small smile. She was the Scientist, yes, but she kept the full details of the passive heart-rate monitor and specific camera blind spots to herself. In this game, nobody was dumb enough to tell the full secrets of their class.

"My name is Hyōga Reito from Class 1, and I'm the Sheriff…" The flamboyant Class 1 boy said.

Suddenly, a sleek, silver lasergun appeared in his hand, and he began spinning it between his fingers with ease. "I can shoot stuff. Tech Tube already said enough about my class, so there's nothing more to say on that. Also... Koya-kun~?"

Koya felt a vein pulse in his forehead. "What?"

"Why don't we go on a date once we're done here?" Reito winked with the light catching the barrel of his gun.

Koya's face twitched in pure disgust.

He couldn't tell if this guy was genuinely serious or just a sociopath trying to throw him off his game. "Not interested."

"Aw, man.." Reito sighed, continuing to spin the gun.

The next person was Miyuki.

She cleared her throat with her face turning a soft shade of pink. Koya looked at her and felt a pang of pity. She was cute… too cute for a game like this.

A manipulative, psychological bloodbath was the last place someone like her belonged, she'd be eaten alive.

"M-my name is Aozora Miyuki from Class 2," she whispered as her voice trembled. "And I have the class of Guardian. It lets m-me protect one player in an Emergency Meeting... but just once."

Koya sighed internally. 'That's even worse. They're going to pressure her to use her one-shot protection the moment things get heated.'

"My name is Ichinose from Class 5, and my class is Crewmate," Ichinose said, keeping her voice neutral. The group nodded; she was just like Yoru… she was a basic piece on the board, compared to the others, it really wasn't worth much.

Then came Hiroto again.

He smirked. "My name is Tanaka Hiroto from Class 4, and my class is Engineer. It allows me to move through the vents, just like that hologram said. If I see anyone else in there, I'll know they're an Impostor."

The group looked at him with immediate suspicion. After all, moving through vents was the primary method of traversal for the Impostors.

"My name is Amagi Koya from Class 5," Koya said, stepping forward. "And my class is also Engineer. Like Hiroto, I can move through the vents."

The suspicion in the room doubled instantly.

Two Engineers? The eyes of the group darted between Koya and Hiroto, evaluating who was the more likely liar.

Koya had already thought about this… Claiming a mundane Crewmate role was too limiting… If he was caught near a vent, he needed the cover and the final student spoke.

"My name is Kagutsuchi Ryouma from Class 2, and my class is Alerter…" Ryouma said. "My class is inherently useless in a fight, however, when I'm killed, my body makes a high-pitched noise to alert everyone nearby to find the killer immediately."

Ryouma had pulled that entire description right out of his ass.

'Alerter' didn't exist but the way he said it… so nonchalantly made everyone else nod.

It sounded like a perfectly plausible "balanced" class but in reality, Ryouma was the third Impostor, and he had just secured himself a "safe" status as a victim no one wanted to touch.

"Thank you all for introducing yourselves and your classes…" Yoru said, placing her palms together. Her gaze was normal but Koya felt a prickle of unease. "Despite the fact that there are three Impostors among us right now, we have to start somewhere. I say we should start thinning down the list. What do you all think?"

Hiroto scoffed.

"Thinning down? How? We haven't even started the round. You want to just guess?"

Yoru turned her head slowly toward Koya. He felt a sharp chill go down his spine. 'Is she doing this? Is she actually trying to get me eliminated right now?'

They were both Impostors so they were on the same side but Yoru was playing a much deeper game than he had anticipated.

"Someone between Hiroto and Koya is likely an Impostor…" Yoru stated calmly, as if she were discussing the weather. "Having two Engineers is a massive statistical anomaly or so I think, Tech Tube didn't say so. Reito, you're the Sheriff. You have the power to eliminate a suspect. I suggest you shoot whichever one you think is the Impostor between the two."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Hiroto shouted with his face turning pale. "It's showing on my status tab! Why do I need to prove it? I'm the real one!"

"With the way you're complaining," Yoru countered, "I'm inclined to assume you're the one lying. None of us can see your tab, Hiroto. We only have your word."

Reito stopped spinning his gun. He gripped the handle and a predatory smile spreading across his face. "This sounds fun. Everyone else, clear away. I don't want any 'accidental' collateral damage."

The other seven students backed away, forming a wide circle around Hiroto and Koya. The two "Engineers" stood side by side in the center of the cafeteria.

Reito leveled the barrel of the lasergun at them, moving it back and forth.

"Convince me you're actually an Engineer, or I'll shoot you~" He paused with the gun stopping on Koya. "Actually, Koya-kun... if you say something sexy to me, I'll just shoot Hiroto instead. What do you say?"

Koya's eye twitched. "I have nothing to say to you… Assume what you want."

The best way to get someone to believe you in a game like this wasn't through frantic over-explanation. Desperation smelled like guilt so he remained silent and indifferent.

He was betting everything that Hiroto would fail the vibe check.

"Well... you see... I can see the fact that I'm an Engineer on my Status screen!" Hiroto stammered with his voice reaching a frantic pitch. "I can even show you! I'll climb down the vent right now and—"

PEW!

A bolt of crimson light erupted from Reito's gun. It was a blinding flash, aimed straight at Hiroto's face. Hiroto screamed, raising his hand instinctively to deflect the shot.

The laser hit Hiroto's palm and then something impossible happened. The light didn't pierce him. It hit an invisible barrier, crackled with white static, and then bounced.

The laser shot back with double the speed, hitting Reito square in the chest.

"Fuc—"

Reito didn't even finish the word. His body fragmented into glowing white pixels and his eyes went wide with shock as he was forcibly deleted from the server.

"Contestant Hyōga Reito has been eliminated..."

Tech Tube's voice boomed from the speakers, echoing through the empty halls.

Hiroto collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. "Hah... see? I told you! I told you I was the real one!"

The room was silent.

According to the Sheriff's mechanics, if he shot an innocent Crewmate, the shot would reflect and eliminate the Sheriff instead. Hiroto was confirmed innocent but the logic was a double-edged sword. If Hiroto was the real Engineer, then Koya who had claimed the same role was almost certainly an Impostor unless there were actually two engineers.

Suspicion hung over Koya like a shroud and he could feel Shion as well as Koji's eyes boring into him.

Yoru immediately bowed her head. "I am so sorry. It was my fault we lost the Sheriff… I made a grave tactical error in judgment."

"It's not your fault, Yoru-san!" Hina said quickly. "You were just making a logical decision based on the information we had."

"Yeah," Miyuki added. "We couldn't have known."

Even Shion nodded.

"The logic was sound. It's the Sheriff's fault for being too hasty."

Yoru slowly nodded with her eyes downcast. "Thank you for your kindness. I will do my best to make up for this."

Inside, Koya was reeling.

'She's a monster…' he realized. 'She just eliminated the only person who could kill us, confirmed a loudmouth like Hiroto as innocent so he stays in the game as a distraction, and managed to make everyone trust her even more. She used me as bait to clear the board.'

But then again, that was what this was right? A game to take advantage of people… The meeting table lit up again, a holographic display forming in the center.

[Tasks]

Electrical: Fix Wiring (0/20)

O2: Clean O2 Filter (0/5)

Weapons: Clear Asteroids (0/20)

MedBay: Submit Scan (0/2)

Navigation: Chart Course (0/2)

[Task Completion Rate: 0%]

"These are the tasks we have to do?" Ichinose asked, blinking at the screen. "They look... simple enough."

"Attention Everyone, the first round will begin in 30 Seconds!" Tech Tube's voice boomed again. "Please get ready!"

Yoru looked at the group with her face firm once more.

"Everyone, focus on the tasks. If we finish them all, we win automatically. Don't go anywhere alone if you can help it. We need to corner the Impostors."

The students began to shuffle toward the exits of the cafeteria.

"Let the game begin!" Tech Tube shouted. "Try not to get killed by an Impostor!"