"If it isn't Koya, then who the fuck is it?!" Hiroto asked with his voice rising. "Why don't you scan everyone here to find out who the hell the Impostor is?"

"With all due respect, Class Rep, are you fucking dumb?" Koji clenched his fist as his face was flushed with frustration. "I can only use the scan once every meeting. How the hell do you expect me to scan everyone?"

Hiroto threw his head to the side and mumbled that it wasn't his fault that Koji's class was useless while Koya simply let out a sigh staying silent and observing. Immediately, Yoru raised up her hand.

"Everyone, please calm down…" Yoru said clearly. The meeting table grew quiet and everyone looked over to the Class Rep of Class 3. "Hina was one of my classmates and a close one at that. While I would like to find the Impostor immediately, it's clear that they aren't just going to come out and say they are."

She took a deep breath.

"All this arguing amongst each other isn't going to lead anywhere at the end of the day," Yoru said. "So we're going to skip."

"Why should we skip?" Hiroto demanded. Shion was the one that countered him this time.

"Did you have someone that you were going to pick out?" Shion asked calmly. "And what are the chances of us making the right deduction? If Crewmates take out other Crewmates, aren't we supposed to keep each other safe?"

Hiroto looked around at the other faces staring at him, then sighed.

"No," Hiroto admitted. "I don't."

The table lit up with a soft blue glow and Tech Tube's voice sounded from the speakers above.

"If you want to vote, tabs will appear in front of you shortly…" Tech Tube announced cheerfully.

Sure enough, translucent tabs materialized in front of each person, displaying everyone's name in neat rows.

"Everybody must vote for the process of elimination to begin…" Tech Tube continued. "And if you want to Skip, there's the skip option right there on the tabs."

"We will be collectively skipping," Yoru said, tapping the Skip button on her own tab and everyone else followed suit.

A larger tab appeared over the center of the table showing the pictures of everyone present along with their names then a blue "SKIP" formed over the entire display.

"Round 1 has been skipped!" Tech Tube announced with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Round 2 will be starting immediately. Crewmates, the Impostors are already one up on you... Don't go ahead and lose. You're giving us good guys a bad name!"

Everyone clenched their fists in response to the mocking tone and Shion raised her hand hesitantly.

"May I ask a question?" Shion said.

"You may…" Tech Tube replied.

"If Crewmates eliminate other Crewmates, would Class Points be lost?" Shion inquired carefully.

"It's virtually impossible for Crewmates to eliminate other Crewmates without voting them out…" Tech Tube explained. "And even voting is a collection of decisions from everyone who's in various classes so no, Class Points won't be lost until you end up losing the game completely."

Then the man's voice brightened.

"Round 2 begin!" Tech Tube declared.

Immediately, everybody split apart again, heading in different directions through the corridors. It was even more confusing now. Who exactly were the Impostors? The only people that were clear were Hiroto and Koya with both confirmed innocent through different means.

Shion looked at the ground as everyone dispersed. She approached Koya with Miyuki trailing behind her and the Shiden clan heir bowed formally.

"I apologize for not defending you, especially when I knew that you weren't the Impostor," Shion said quietly. "But I still had doubts. I hope you can forgive me."

Koya massaged the back of his head with a warm smile.

"No, you don't need to worry at all," Koya said while picking up the guidebook he had left on his side of the table. "Why don't we keep exploring like last time? That was what we were doing last round, right?"

Miyuki nodded quickly.

"T-there are many rooms remaining for us to check out…" Miyuki said.

Shion perked up with a small smile.

"Let's check it out, why don't we?" Shion agreed.

…

They reached one of the rooms at the far end of the ship and Koya looked around with his eyes widening slightly.

"Damn, is this a camera room?" Koya asked.

It was a section completely white except for the dozens of monitors stuck to the walls displaying various feed angles.

Shion immediately stepped forward.

"It's like the cameras that my class lets me see…" Shion said and Koya sighed.

'She's too easy to fool.' Koya thought. In an attempt to make him trust her, Shion had told him about her Scientist role and the fact that she could access cameras automatically without needing this room but up until now, Koya didn't know exactly where these cameras showed or their blind spots.

That was why he didn't want to dumbly start Shapeshifting until he had a firm grasp of the situation so this was perfect.

Shion sat down and studied the screens. Koya leaned closer to examine them, positioning himself just behind her shoulder.

'He smells nice.' Shion thought with her cheeks warming slightly. He knew how to bath and clean up, unlike her brothers.

Koya studied the cameras intently.

There were feeds showing the main hallway, the cafeteria, the engine room, the storage area, the medical bay, the navigation room, the electrical room, the communications room, the weapons room, and multiple hallway intersections throughout the ship.

"And these are all you can see on your remote screen too?" Koya asked.

Shion nodded.

"Mm-hmm…" Shion confirmed. "Maybe I'll stay here and watch. We have to keep watch to know who the Impostors are, after all."

Koya nodded in agreement.

"What about you, Miyuki?" Shion asked, turning to the shy girl and Miyuki puffed up slightly, gathering her courage.

"I-I'll stay here with you as well." Miyuki declared.

Meanwhile, Koya pulled back from the table and straightened up.

"I'm going to scour everywhere for a way to use those weapons in the weapon room," Koya said. "There has to be a way that Tech Tube isn't telling us."

"I suspected that too," Shion agreed. "Good luck. If you find anything, stand under one of the cameras and show it to me."

Koya nodded and backed toward the vent.

"Thank you. I will…" Koya said sincerely.

He gave Miyuki a polite nod as well, then opened the vent on the ground near the wall. He climbed down into it and disappeared from view, leaving the camera room behind. With all of this information in mind, Koya had a plan to eliminate two Crewmates with one stone but before he could put that plan into action, he needed to map where everybody was located.

…

Koji stood in the main hallway doing one of the wire tasks.

'I'm sure of it now,' Koji thought. 'Missions that Impostors do reset next turn.'

It turned out that most of the wire missions along the hallway had been reset by the following round and not only that, but more tasks had been added. He felt like pulling out his hair.

Koji was also extremely paranoid now. He had a feeling he'd be the next target, especially because of his Investigator ability… There was a very high chance the Impostors wanted him dead.

'And we, the Crewmates can't even defend ourselves,' Koji thought bitterly. 'What kind of unfair game is this?'

Then he heard footsteps approaching. Koji immediately got defensive, turning toward the sound. However, the person who appeared was his Class Rep… Hiroto.

Koji calmed down slightly but then stiffened again, remembering there was a Shapeshifter. As he was about to step backward, Hiroto cursed at him.

"If you dare fucking move, I'll kill you." Hiroto said coldly and Koji turned fully with a sigh of relief. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Great. It's just Class Rep," Koji said, though the next instant, he was pinned violently against the wall with Hiroto's hand wrapped around his neck.

"Class Rep, what are you doing?!" Koji asked as fear flooded his eyes as he struggled.

Hiroto spat directly in his face.

"Where did you get off calling me dumb?" Hiroto demanded with his grip tightening.

"A-are you offended by th—" Koji started. Hiroto slammed his head back against the metal wall hard, making breathing even more difficult as stars exploded across Koji's vision.

"Why the hell were you helping out Koya?" Hiroto asked venomously. "Did you forget that Class 5 is the reason we're tethering on the brink of being eliminated? So why in the hell were you helping the enemy?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Koji gasped out desperately, his face turning red from lack of oxygen. "It was my skill! If my skill didn't bring it out in a tab, then I would have framed Koya and gotten him out! I definitely didn't want to help the enemy!"

Hiroto's expression didn't change.

"Don't worry…" Hiroto said with a cold smile. "I'm going to do it myself."

In a flash of red light, a knife materialized in Hiroto's free hand and Koji's eyes widened in absolute terror.

"Class Rep, you're the Impostor?!" Koji choked out. "Then how did you manage to take out the Sheriff?!"

Hiroto grinned wickedly.

"I have a class that allows me to swap between Crewmate mode and my true Impostor mode…" Hiroto explained, clearly enjoying the revelation. "So at the end of the day, they won't know and I'll make this one precise stab in the forehead so it'll look like the Shapeshifter did it."

Then Hiroto struck but his hand trembled. Instead of hitting Koji's forehead cleanly, the blade plunged directly into the center of his face with a sickening crunch.

Koji's scream was cut short as the knife tore through his nose, splitting the cartilage and bone, driving deep into his skull. Blood exploded from the wound, spraying across Hiroto's hand and arm in hot spurts.

The blade scraped against the inside of his skull with a horrible grinding sound and Hiroto's eyes widened in shock at the miss.

He yanked the blade free with a wet tearing sound. Flesh and fragments of bone came with it, hanging from the metal in stringy chunks, more blood gushed from the ruined cavity where Koji's face had been.

Koji's body convulsed once, a horrible gurgling sound escaping from what remained of his mouth and throat… his eyes, still intact on either side of the massive wound stared blankly at nothing then the light faded from them completely.

Hiroto released his grip and Koji's lifeless body slumped to the ground, hitting the metal floor with a heavy thud. Blood pooled beneath him rapidly, spreading across the polished surface in a dark crimson circle.

Hiroto stared at his blood-covered hands for a split second, then turned and ran down the corridor, his footsteps echoing as he disappeared around the corner.

Unfortunately for Hiroto, everything had been caught on camera. Shion and Miyuki were seeing it happen live on the monitors and Shion's face had gone completely pale, one hand covering her mouth in horror.

'So Hiroto is the Impostor?' Shion thought and then stood up.

"Miyuki… let's go report the body."

…

Several beams of light came down in the meeting room and everyone materialized around the round table with surprised expressions on their faces.

"Why was this meeting called?" Yoru asked while clutching her fist. She hadn't been able to take any kills at all yet since she'd been waiting on her prey to be isolated.

Tech Tube's voice sounded from the speakers.

"Kitonaka Koji has been killed…" Tech Tube announced.

The meeting table lit up with a holographic projection. A detailed image appeared floating above the center, showing Koji's body in graphic detail.

His corpse lay in the hallway exactly where it had fallen. The massive wound in the center of his face was clearly visible… a ragged hole where his nose should have been, the edges of torn flesh curling outward grotesquely. Shattered bone fragments jutted from the wound at odd angles and blood had pooled beneath his head spreading across the floor in a wide circle, some of it already beginning to dry at the edges.

His eyes stared blankly upward, still open with his expression frozen in a moment of pure terror. The image was disturbingly graphic, just as Hina's had been.

Several people turned away, unable to look at it directly.

"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~"

The cheerful tone had returned to his voice, which made it somehow worse.

"So who the hell did this?" Hiroto asked, looking around at the others and Shion's gaze locked onto him immediately.

Hiroto noticed and frowned.

"Why the hell are you looking at me?" Hiroto demanded defensively.

Shion didn't reply immediately. Instead, she cleared her throat and addressed the room.

"Tech Tube…" Shion said clearly. "Is it possible to play what happened in Cam 3?"

Immediately, a large tab opened up in the center of the table, replacing the image of Koji's corpse. The video feed began playing, showing the hallway from the camera's angle.

Hiroto was visible on screen, holding Koji by the throat against the wall and Hiroto laughed nervously in real life.

"How can that be tru—" Hiroto started to protest but then the Hiroto in the recording began speaking, and the more he spoke, the more the real Hiroto's eyes widened in shock and horror.

That was exactly the way he talked… The same speech patterns, the same aggressive tone, the same mannerisms then the Hiroto in the recording spoke the damning words clearly.

"I have a class that allows me to swap between Crewmate mode and my true Impostor mode…" The recorded Hiroto raised his knife.

"So at the end of the day, they won't know and I'll make this one precise stab in the forehead so it'll look like the Shapeshifter did it."

Then he struck but his hand trembled visibly on camera, and instead of stabbing Koji cleanly in the forehead as he'd intended, the blade plunged directly into the center of his face.

The recording captured every horrible detail… The way the knife tore through flesh and bone… The explosion of blood… Koji's brief convulsion before death… Hiroto yanking the blade free and fleeing.

The recording ended. Everyone was silent, staring at Hiroto with expressions ranging from shock to disgust. The real Hiroto chuckled nervously, taking a step backward.

"Come on," Hiroto said, his voice cracking slightly. "No way you guys believe that... right?"

Shion spoke calmly with her voice steady despite what she'd witnessed.

"I would have suspected it was fake…" Shion said. "But it's obvious through the whole recording that his hands were trembling and he missed the forehead, so he attacked the face instead by accident. An experienced killer like our Shapeshifer wouldn't do that"

She continued.

"Besides, who else would talk exactly like that?" Shion asked. "Do the Shapeshifters talk when they kill? Why didn't the last Shapeshifter say anything when they killed Hina?"

She'd brought out very reasonable points and everyone remaining in the room turned to look at Hiroto with suspicion and certainty.

"Come on, you guys can't seriously be believing this..." Hiroto said, taking another step backward with his voice rising in panic. "Tell me it's some kind of joke. My role is damn Engineer, not Impostor!"

Yoru cleared her throat.

"I'm inclined to believe that this is the truth…" Yoru said coldly. "Everything points to you."

Immediately, the voting tabs appeared in front of everyone.

"You can vote now~" Tech Tube announced cheerfully and everyone began selecting their votes… everyone except Hiroto.

"No! No, no, no!" Hiroto began yelling, his voice growing hysterical. "I'm being framed! This isn't real! Someone believe me!"

Nobody answered him.

Hiroto's eyes darted around desperately, looking for any sign of support or hesitation. Finding none, he ran down to where Miyuki stood and dropped to his knees at her feet, grabbing at her uniform desperately.

"Please, please, please!" Hiroto begged with tears forming in his eyes. "Use your Guardian role to protect me! You have to! If I go down now, Class 4 could be eliminated completely!"

Miyuki turned her face away, her expression pained. Even though it hurt her to refuse him, there was nothing she could do about it… The evidence was too damning.

Hiroto screamed and scrambled backward as if he was becoming hysterical.

"Then I won't vote!" Hiroto declared desperately. "We'll all remain here! The round won't progress if I don't vote!"

"Time's up~" Tech Tube announced immediately. "No more voting!"

A large tab popped up above the center of the meeting table, showing the voting results in clear numbers. The remaining seven people in this game had all voted for Hiroto to be eliminated.

Hiroto screamed but that didn't matter. The floor below him gave way suddenly as the metal panels slid apart with a mechanical hiss.

Hiroto fell through into the vastness of space below the ship.

The stars were beautiful… countless points of light against the infinite black but Hiroto couldn't appreciate the view. He was tumbling through the void… completely weightless with his body spinning uncontrollably.

He tried to breathe but there was no air. Nothing to fill his lungs except the desperate burning sensation of suffocation.

His body suit began disengaging automatically, the protective material retracting and leaving him in just a skin-tight undersuit that offered no protection whatsoever against the vacuum.

Hiroto clawed at his own throat instinctively, trying to hold onto the last bits of oxygen in his lungs, but it was useless… The vacuum pulled at him from every direction.

His face began to turn purple as the blood vessels in his skin burst from the pressure difference. His eyes bulged grotesquely, the capillaries in them rupturing and flooding the whites with red. His tongue swelled in his mouth becoming too large for the space choking him from the inside.

His lungs screamed for air that would never come. The pain was excruciating… worse than any physical injury. It was the primal terror of drowning combined with the sensation of his body betraying him at every level.

Frost began forming on his exposed skin as the moisture on his surface flash-froze in the absolute zero of space and ice crystals spread across his face like a grotesque mask.

His struggling grew weaker… His movements became more sluggish… The purple of his face darkened to a bruised black as oxygen deprivation shut down his brain function piece by piece then Hiroto's body went completely still, tumbling slowly through space like a piece of debris.

His frozen face was locked in an expression of absolute terror and agony as his bulging eyes stared at nothing.

He was dead… Back on the meeting table, a new tab appeared immediately above the center.

[Tanaka Hiroto is not an Impostor]

Silence fell over the room then shocked gasps and horrified whispers broke out as everyone realized what had just happened.

They'd voted out an innocent Crewmate… Koya maintained his expression of shock and horror perfectly, matching the others around him but inside, he was smiling.

'Perfect,' Koya thought. 'Absolutely perfect.'