Itsuki's Side
With the aim of creating similar false information, everyone continued to take on the same teams as before and hang around with those they were close to. This time we were all together, the six of us trying to understand the situation and thinking. Shortly after, the old man's eyes widened and he spoke, as if he had figured it out.
"I get it now, guys!"
"What happened?"
"They must have done team swaps among their own teams."
When Itsuki heard the idea, he began to understand even better.
"I get it now. They're not entirely sure we each cast one vote, it just doesn't matter in this situation because the voting couldn't end. While they were fiddling with their phones, Rei joined the team of the person he voted for. This way, even if Hina had voted, there would have been at most eleven votes. Then, as the old man said, they figured out the team swap tactic among themselves and were able to take back the votes they had used. But it doesn't end there, only Rei would have thought of that there. We saw from a distance that Hina voted, she must not have been able to think of doing it in a hidden place because of the stress, since she had to act fast. Rei had also set a trap for Hina. Hina fell into this trap by using her vote. Hina is now in a helpless situation. Rei arranged the trap so that she would want to do a team swap with one of us. Since Hina used her voting right, she'll want to do a team swap with one of us to reset it in the same way, meaning she'll be in our hands. Rei set up the situation so we could do whatever we wanted with her."
"What do we do then?"
"Hina is a careless person, she could betray us. We can actually eliminate her."
"How would that work?"
"Think about it, she used her voting right, so she can't use her prediction right. After explaining this to the others and making a deal, we can eliminate her. She can't defend herself because she can't use her prediction right since she voted. If we all agree, we can eliminate her."
"I see, eliminating someone for free would be to our advantage. Come on, let's eliminate her!"
After understanding the situation, Itsuki started thinking to himself.
That bastard Rei, he even foresaw that Hina would be in such a cruel situation if she fell into the trap. Even these thoughts of ours stem from a part of his plan. Meaning he wants us to think this way and has laid a dinner plate in front of us. Whether we eat it or not is literally up to us. He's essentially asking us whether we should eliminate Hina together...
Rei's Side
While we continued searching for buttons, Ayame and I were in a different room together. Ayame looked at me and started expressing her opinion.
"Rei, the immunity right most likely went to either the old man or Itsuki."
"You're right, I think so too. After all, their group is based on self-interest. Self-interest-based groups start having disagreements when interests clash. The voting moment was a topic like that, their interests had started to clash. Probably the bald man and Zei would give it to Itsuki since he manages their three-person group. Even if they don't entirely want to give it to themselves or to him, they'd want the immunity right to be by their side. That's why those two gave it to Itsuki. The women next to the old man, on the other hand, voted for the old man because they trust him. Itsuki and the old man then voted for a random person from their team. That way, both of their votes are two. We, of course, didn't vote for the other side. You and I made eye contact and agreed, you voted for me and I voted for you. As for the other trio, the twins probably voted for each other, and the tattooed man voted for one of us at random. So one of us ends up with two votes. That leaves Hina. Hina probably didn't vote for one of us, she voted for either Itsuki or the old man from the other side, Itsuki being more likely. But she could have voted for someone other than those two as well, because she might not want anyone to have immunity. But she probably didn't do this because she can't be sure if the voting would end or be repeated if the votes were equal. For this reason, she either voted for Itsuki or the old man. The immunity right belongs to one of the two."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Yes, exactly. I'm thinking the same thing, it should be with one of them."
"Anyway, Itsuki must have received my message. I'll need to talk to him after we find the buttons on this floor."
"Are you talking about the events that will follow?"
"Exactly."
After all of us continued searching for buttons for a while, we found all the buttons. When we found the buttons, we were teleported to the second floor in the same way. When everyone was on the second floor, we waited for the robotic voice to announce the rule. Shortly after, we heard its voice.
"A special rule has been added to the second floor!"
"On the second floor, if a voting takes place, you can vote for yourself!"
John reacted to this rule.
"What kind of stupid rule is this?"
"Forget it, John."
"Alright."
After hearing the rule, everyone walked toward the cafeteria because they were hungry. Hina was a bit more tense. While everyone was taking food from the counters onto their plates, I was slowly coming into the scene from behind. Itsuki, who saw me, immediately came next to me.
"Rei, I understand what you want to do. I think we should carry it out now."
"You're talking about Hina, right?"
"Yes, let's make a deal and eliminate her. Tell your people too, have them vote, and we'll vote as well. She can't vote because she used her prediction right. At the same time, since she chose one of the two options, she's actually also used her voting right, so there are eleven votes left."
"How will we know whether she used her prediction right or not?"
"Are you playing games, Rei? I'm telling you, I saw it."
"If you saw it, let's do it this way. We'll use our prediction rights. Don't try to move to the third floor; if you go anywhere, no one will use their prediction right. You'll vote right in front of my eyes, then we'll use our prediction rights. Your votes will be enough to eliminate Hina."
"Alright, Hina seems to be trying not to show it for now."
"Go make a deal with the others, I'll make a deal too."
Meanwhile, Hina was watching our conversation from a distance. Shortly after the conversation ended, she secretly came next to Itsuki.
"Itsuki, shall we do a team swap?"
"Why?"
"For secrecy, I think we need to resort to some tactics."
"What kind of tactic?"
"A tactic, you know."
"There's no tactic. You used your right, so you're going to be eliminated."
When Hina heard Itsuki's words, her pupils widened for a brief moment. Hina had started getting even more stressed. To seduce Itsuki, she gently wrapped her arm around his, replaced her indifferent face with an emotional expression, and looked at Itsuki.
"Please."
Itsuki lightly pushed Hina away.
"No, of course not."
Itsuki walked away from her. Hina was struggling not to scream, she was sweating. She had only one option left, she would talk to Rei's team. To do this, she went next to the twins and asked them the same question, but they didn't even respond. She asked the others about team swaps too, saying there was no need to search for buttons, but no one answered her. Everyone was looking at her in silence. Meanwhile, Itsuki and the others came next to us to eliminate Hina.
"IF YOU ELIMINATE ME, YOU'LL ALL BE ELIMINATED! I USED MY PREDICTION RIGHT!"
No one cared about what she said. I gave Itsuki a signal with my eyes. Itsuki and the others moved in front of us, this way we could see whether they were casting votes or not. Right before our eyes, they cast their votes on Hina. It was our turn, we opened our phones and used our prediction rights. Everyone had now used their votes, and the robotic voice was heard.
"The voting has ended, time has been reset!"
The votes appeared on the board. Six votes had been cast on Hina. When Hina looked at the board, she was about to go crazy, she started screaming. Her indifferent and selfish attitude had caused her elimination. She fell to her knees, covered her ears, and kept screaming.
"One person eliminated! The eliminated person: Hina!"
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
"Hina will be teleported out of the game in a few seconds!"
As Hina kept screaming and crying, she disappeared from our side within a few seconds, teleported away. Everyone had silently watched her disappearance. There was a silent and cruel atmosphere, the same thing could happen to anyone.
"We will move to the third floor!"