"May I join your group?" Koya asked.

Shion blinked at him.

She was currently with Miyuki since they were from the same class, and Shion was also trying to protect her. The Aozora heiress was sweet, trusting, innocent with all those qualities making her an easy target in a game like this.

Shion raised an eyebrow with her pink eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Are you trying to isolate us somewhere and then kill us off?" Shion asked bluntly, being very cautious about his intentions. "You're the one that's most suspected of being an Impostor, so what are the chances that you won't kill us off while we're separated from the others?"

It was a fair question.

There was a chance that anyone else here could be an Impostor as well, but she doubted that Miyuki was one. The Aozora heiress wasn't one to lie after all… her entire personality was built on honesty and kindness but that wasn't the same for Koya.

It really didn't matter if he was friends with her half-brother Ryuji. She still didn't trust him unconditionally. After all, in this kind of game, misplaced trust got people killed… all the time. That was the entire point.

"Well, if I was an Impostor, since I'm under suspicion," Koya said with a casual shrug, "I personally wouldn't start killing everyone instantly, that would be incredibly stupid."

He met her eyes directly with his expression looking reasonable.

"But I'm not an Impostor…" Koya continued. "I'm an Engineer and if I start climbing through those vents to do my job, everyone will immediately accuse me of being one anyway so I need witnesses or allies, people who can vouch for me."

Miyuki clutched onto Shion's sleeve and dragged it down a bit, looking up at her with those wide, trusting eyes. The gesture was clear… she wanted to give Koya a chance.

The pink-haired Shiden clan heiress let out a sigh of acceptance, though her guard remained firmly up.

"Sure, you can come along," Shion said while looking forward with a stern expression. "But we'll be behind you, and you'll have to stay several meters in front of us at all times. In case you decide to turn around and kill us, we'll be prepared to run or fight back."

Though honestly, Shion didn't know how Impostors were even going to kill people in this simulation. With weapons? With their bare hands? Some kind of special ability? Since the Sheriff… Reito could literally materialize his weapon out of thin air according to his class description, could the Impostors materialize weapons as well? Or did they have some other method?

"Thank you," Koya said simply.

He walked ahead without complaint, accepting the terms. Shion and Miyuki followed from behind him, keeping a careful distance.

Once he had gotten a considerable distance forward… at least ten meters, that was when Shion and Miyuki started walking, maintaining the gap.

Koya let out a quiet sigh of relief as he walked.

'At least I have an alibi now…' Koya thought strategically.

At the very end of the day, he now had people that could vouch for his location and actions including Miyuki, who had the Guardian class that could apparently protect people, so he would most certainly survive the first round of voting. As long as they could testify he was with them, he had plausible deniability.

The part of the ship that they were in was like a long winding tunnel with white metallic walls and LED strip lighting along the floor. It led to another hallway that branched off to the right, creating a maze-like structure. Koya was already thinking several steps ahead, planning his next moves.

'So I'm thinking Yoru is trying to get rid of me…' Koya thought, analyzing the situation carefully.

But based on the contract she had signed with Misora about helping Class 5, Koya didn't know the full details of that agreement. Not that he was defending her actions or anything, but to solidify the fact that she wasn't immediately classified as an Impostor herself, she'd had to point out that there were two Engineers in the game.

It wasn't like she could have just told Reito the Sheriff to shoot at Hiroto randomly, because then she would be the one classified as an Impostor for giving false information.

So though she did throw him under the bus by mentioning Engineers at all, he didn't think she was actively trying to eliminate him from the game, at least not directly.

Well, there was still a percentage of a chance that she was trying to eliminate him, and to that, he would respond appropriately.

Koya didn't actually grasp all the mechanics of how the game worked yet… like how Impostors killed exactly, what the other abilities were or what limitations they had but for the first round, at least until someone died and revealed more information, he had to stay low-key and build credibility.

"Oh, look at some wires…" Koya said while turning around to face them.

There was a maintenance panel on the wall where wires were sparking, clearly disconnected and in need of repair. The panel was open, revealing a tangle of colorful cables.

"I'll fix them," Koya said. "You two don't need to worry about it."

He had to prove he was a Crewmate by doing tasks after all.

So far from what he could see, the wires were all disconnected in a specific pattern. The same colors of wires that were on the left side of the panel were also available on the right side… he just needed to match them correctly to complete the circuit.

As Koya reached out for the wires, a red tab appeared in front of his face that only he could see.

[Note: Tasks that Impostors do will not affect the Mission Completion Rate]

He didn't say anything or react outwardly, keeping his expression neutral but internally, he filed that information away as important. So Impostors could fake doing tasks to blend in, but it wouldn't actually help the Crewmates win.

That was good to know.

He connected the wires anyway… red to red, blue to blue, yellow to yellow, green to green and a small beep sounded as the task registered as completed, and the sparking stopped as power was restored to that section.

Shion looked at him with her expression carefully neutral. She stepped back slightly, and he gave them a friendly smile.

Her face twitched.

She didn't know what to think about that. Could Impostors do tasks as well? Could the completion be faked somehow? Was there any way to tell the difference? The game mechanics were deliberately unclear, which created paranoia.

Regardless, Shion sighed and gestured for them to continue forward.

They walked like that for several more minutes, maintaining their formation then they reached a new room, and Koya stopped at the entrance.

"Weapons?" Koya said, reading the label above the doorway.

Immediately Shion rushed forward, pushing past him slightly in her excitement. She saw it… there were weapons here, actual functional-looking weapons!

Guns lining the walls in organized racks, even futuristic laser weapons mounted on display stands and her eyes glittered with obvious excitement.

"No way, a room full of weapons?" she said enthusiastically.

She rushed inside toward the far wall where there were different shotguns lined up in a neat row, all different models and sizes. This changed everything! If Crewmates could arm themselves, they could actually fight back against Impostors!

Miyuki arrived at Koya's side near the doorway. Since Shion wasn't looking at them and was too focused on examining the weapons, the shy girl looked down at Koya's hand and took it gently then she kissed it cutely, her face turning bright red from the bold gesture.

Before Koya could react, she released his hand and ran into the room after Shion, leaving Koya standing outside the entrance chuckling quietly at her adorable shyness.

"You look way too excited to see these weapons…" Koya commented from the doorway.

Shion sighed, picking up one of the shotguns and testing its weight.

"Naturally I would be excited," Shion said, checking the weapon over with familiarity. "Now we can fight back against the Impostors properly. Starting with—"

She spun around suddenly, raising the shotgun and aiming it directly at Koya's chest.

"You…" she finished coldly. She pulled the trigger without hesitation.

…Nothing happened.

The gun didn't fire. There was no bang or recoil… nothing. There was just a soft click of the mechanism and there was an awkward silence.

"Starting with me?" Koya asked calmly, raising an eyebrow. "Are you at least going to shoot?"

Shion blinked as a blue notification tab appeared in front of her eyes that nobody else apart from her could see.

[Weapons cannot be used. This room is for decorative purposes only]

The shotgun suddenly disappeared from her hands like it had never existed, reappearing instantly back on its wall mount. A vein popped up on Shion's forehead as frustration and annoyance flooded through her.

"Why the hell would you add a weapons room if you don't even allow someone to use them?!" she complained loudly, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

She placed a hand on her waist and looked at Koya with an evaluating expression. If he was an Impostor, he definitely would have taken this chance to kill her while she was distracted with the weapons.

The fact that he just stood there calmly, not even moving closer, was actually a point in his favor.

"I, uh... will start moving now," Koya said diplomatically.

He began walking forward down the corridor, leaving the two of them still in the weapons room.

Shion grabbed one of the handguns from the wall despite knowing it wouldn't work. This time she didn't try to fire it. Instead, she crept quietly to the doorway and held it in her hand like a club.

If Koya was going to lean against the wall just outside and try to ambush them when they came out, she would hit him over the head with the weapon.

She leaned out cautiously to look but he was already ahead of them, several meters down the corridor, walking at a steady pace without looking back.

He wasn't waiting to ambush them at all.

She sighed as the gun disappeared from her hand, teleporting back to its mount on the wall.

"Come on, Miyuki," Shion said while looking at the Aozora heiress. "Let's go."

…

"So a lot of people are gathered in Electricals right?" Koya asked as he walked alongside the two of them.

They'd closed the distance now, walking more or less together since Koya had proven he wasn't immediately trying to kill them at every opportunity.

"Yes, that was what we could see at the Administrator table…" Shion replied.

They had done several tasks together over the past fifteen minutes or so, and she trusted him now... not completely, of course, since there was still a chance that he was an Impostor playing the long game but if he was an Impostor, then he could only be the most incompetent one in history, because he'd had multiple perfect opportunities to kill them in isolated areas and establish alibis with other people instead.

The fact that he hadn't taken any of those chances suggested he was telling the truth though she wouldn't trust him.

As for what she was talking about, the Administrator table was a special station they'd passed through earlier.

It wasn't the main meeting table in the central lobby, but rather a monitoring station that showed a map of people's locations throughout the facility.

It didn't display names, it just represented people as colored dots with room labels. The Electrical Station had shown a cluster of dots… at least five or six people all gathered there so Shion had shortened the name to "Electricals" for convenience.

"And it's up ahead…" Miyuki added softly while pointing.

They could see the room opening up ahead of them now. The doorway was larger than the others, and there was the distinct sound of electricity sparking and humming coming from inside the room. However, suddenly screams erupted from inside… panicked, terrified screams and someone ran out.

It was Koya!

The blonde-haired young man with crimson eyes was sprinting down the hallway toward them, holding a bloodied knife in his hand.

Koji and several others came rushing out of Electricals right behind him while shouting and pointing.

"It's him!" Hiroto pointed directly at Koya who was standing with Miyuki. "He's the one that killed Hina! Koya is the Impostor! Report the body!"

In an instant, crimson light surrounded all of them as they were teleported back to the meeting room. Koya… the real Koya standing next to Shion and Miyuki blinked in confusion as the world dissolved and reformed.

Everyone stood at the round meeting table again in the central hub. There were multiple glares directed at Koya from different people around the circle.

Tech Tube's voice sounded from the speakers.

"Asakura Hina has been killed…" Tech Tube announced in his neutral tone.

The meeting table lit up with a holographic projection, and a detailed image appeared showing her body. She had been killed in one decisive strike to the head… a brutal blow that had ruptured her skull completely, showing brain matter and blood splattered across the floor around her.

The image was disturbingly graphic.

"If you are sure about the Impostor's identity, you can vote them out immediately," Tech Tube continued. "Voting tabs will appear in front of you in one minute, discuss and decide~"

Once his voice disappeared, Hiroto's hand slammed against the meeting table with a loud bang.

"It was him!" Hiroto shouted, his face red with anger and certainty. "Didn't all of us see it? He was the one that stabbed Hina through the head because he knew her skill would expose him eventually!"

He jabbed a finger across the table directly at Koya.

"I say we eliminate this Impostor immediately…" Hiroto declared. "No discussion needed. We all saw it."

"I was standing alongside Miyuki and Shion the entire time," Koya defended himself calmly. "It's obviously someone that shapeshifted into my body to frame me."

The rest of them looked at him with varying degrees of skepticism and suspicion.

Shion wasn't going to say anything yet, and she remained silent.

There was still a chance that Koya was an Impostor who had been playing them this whole time, laying low and building trust. If she defended him now and he turned out to be an Impostor later when more evidence emerged, she could get eliminated herself for protecting him so it was safer to stay neutral.

As for Miyuki, she was far too shy to scream out her testimony while other people were shouting over each other. She opened her mouth once but immediately closed it when Hiroto started talking louder.

Koya, on the other hand, was genuinely confused. He glanced down at his red Impostor status tab just to verify what he already knew.

'I'm the one that has the Shapeshifter class,' Koya thought. 'So why the hell was someone else able to morph into me?'

He looked around the circle carefully, glancing at Ryouma and Yoru specifically, though he didn't make it obvious he was studying them. There was a small chance that Ryouma was actually the one trying to frame him with some kind of ability to copy other Impostors' classes maybe but there was a huge chance it was Yoru, given their adversarial relationship.

"Shapeshifter?" Hiroto laughed mockingly. "I know it's unfair for the Crewmates to not have all the information, but I seriously doubt they would add a cheater class like that to this game. That would be completely broken and impossible to counter."

"I must agree with Hiroto's point…" Yoru said. "I was not at the Electrical Station at that time, so I cannot provide direct testimony but if everyone present saw you killing Hina with their own eyes, then it has to be real, right? Mass hallucination seems unlikely."

Koya raised an eyebrow internally.

'So it really is Yoru trying to frame me…' Koya thought. 'But I'm very confused about how she managed to transform into me specifically. Does she have a Shapeshifter class too or another Impostor class that allows her to copy other classes' abilities? That would be straight-up unfair.'

Ichinose sighed.

"I don't think we should remove the possibility that Shapeshifter could be a real class…" Ichinose said reasonably, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "And if it exists, someone could definitely be trying to frame Koya-kun by using his appearance to commit murders. It's the perfect strategy actually."

Everyone looked at her with surprise. Was she trying to protect the Impostor? Why would she defend him so strongly?

Koya smiled internally… Ichinose was sharp, and her support was valuable then he cleared his throat. He would survive this round, how?

"Koji," Koya said, addressing the brown-haired investigator directly. "You said you had the Investigator class, right? Please come get a readout on me, test me right now."

Everyone's eyes widened with realization. Right! Koji's class ability could determine if someone was an Impostor! How had they forgotten about that?

The brown-haired young man with his hair covering most of his eyes walked across the circular table. He stopped directly in front of Koya with a serious expression.

"Stay still," Koji instructed.

He placed his hand firmly on Koya's broad chest, and immediately a holographic tab formed above the meeting table where everyone could see it clearly.

[Amagi Koya]

[Chances of Being an Impostor: 100%]

"Ah—" Hiroto started to speak triumphantly but his words died in his throat as the percentage began reducing downward rapidly.

90%... 70%... 50%... 30%... 10%...

[Amagi Koya]

[Chances of Being an Impostor: 0%]

A heavy silence swept across the entire meeting room and Koji removed his palm from Koya's chest and cleared his throat with a grim expression.

"I think there's an Impostor among us that can shapeshift…" Koji said seriously. "And it's not Koya since he's clean."

Like that, in one brilliant strategic move, Koya had not only solidified himself as completely innocent in everyone's eyes, clearing his name entirely, but he had also removed any lingering suspicion on himself of being the one that possessed the Shapeshifting class ability.

That meant from this point forward, as long as nobody actually witnessed him using Shapeshift with their own eyes in real-time, they wouldn't even consider the possibility that he was the Shapeshifter.

He'd just given himself perfect cover to frame literally anyone else in the game whenever he wanted.