Nobu was the main threat. He actively wanted to hurt the group. Neutralising him was necessary - but it wasn’t enough.

  We’re competing for 1,000,000 yen. Why wouldn’t someone else vote to eliminate Mei?

  I had to make sure every single person voted to protect her.

  Luckily, I had a few weapons up my sleeve.

  The first was simple: risk versus reward. Sure, you could vote to eliminate Mei. But doing that would put a target on your back - and everyone here was smart enough to realise it. I didn’t even have to say it aloud.

  Then there was self-preservation. When you're unsure, the safest move is to blend in - go with the group. Don't stand out.

  But my most important weapon - the one I was going to exploit - came from Yori.

  Social inertia.

  Social inertia is the tendency of groups to resist change once they start moving in a certain direction. Yori had done the hard part, since he’d already convinced Nobu of all people to vote to save Mei.

  That gave us momentum.

  Right now, the group is moving towards saving Mei. To stop that, someone would have to speak up and try to turn things around. But no one wants to be the first to suggest betraying a friend. What if the group turns on them? What if they’re wrong?

  What if they’re alone?

  And that fear only gets worse when the vote has to be unanimous. Anyone who wanted Mei gone could just pretend to support her - wait in silence - and let someone else be the villain.

  That’s the danger.

  If you speak up and no one follows, you become the villain. The one who pulled the trigger.

  And you did it alone.

  No one wants to be the lone executioner.

  Back in the fifth round, unanimity had been a curse. Everyone was too scared of the consequences to reach a consensus.

  Now, it was a weapon - something I would wield to control the group’s actions.

  That’s why I had to speak first. I had to turn that fear of being the lone executioner into a wall no one could break through. I was going to make it unacceptable to vote against Mei.

  Yori did the hard part. I was just adding the final touches.

  And this? This would be child’s play

  I stood up and grabbed everyone’s attention. I needed to build on our momentum to make it even harder for anyone to go against us.

  “Nobu… what happened with you and Yaeko wasn’t my fault, but I still feel responsible. I was the one who pushed for you to win the fourth vote. You’ve shown a lot of maturity by looking past how the group treated you, and by agreeing to save Mei. As one of her best friends, I truly thank you.” Everyone looked at me as I greeted him with a warm smile to show my thanks.

  Nobu quietly sniffled, looking me in the eyes with a gentle smile in return while Hibiki and Osamu nodded in agreement. Choko continued to observe, her expression unreadable. Yori and Mei both looked at me as Yaeko’s eyes glazed over the room, as if none of this mattered to her. I anticipated this, but I couldn’t address it just yet.

  I looked at Osamu as I waited for him to speak up. I’d spent time nurturing his growth. Now, I can use it to my advantage.

  I knew that Yori and Mei would be silent since they wouldn’t want to interrupt my plan.

  Yaeko was busy thinking about something else which I’ll address later.

  Nobu was mentally exhausted and emotionally drained.

  That left Choko, Osamu and Hibiki. I knew it would be Osamu, because he’d want to use this situation as a gesture of good will with Nobu.

  “Nobu… I know we haven’t exactly gotten along… but Akira’s right. I respect you a lot for being able to put that all behind you. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to.” Osamu had always been quiet, which meant I never got to see his strengths, but he clearly has more emotional intelligence than I gave him credit for. My gamble paid off as he said exactly what I needed him to.

  Now, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to speak up against her. All that’s left is to initiate the vote. I didn’t want to give people any time to think of a way to vote against Mei.

  One issue remained unresolved.

  There were two minutes left. I placed my hands on the table and leaned over, taking a dominant position. “Well then, Keiko. Can we start the vote on Nobu?”

  Seven of us turned to look at Keiko.

  I patiently waited for this bomb to detonate.

  “Of course you can. Please raise your hand if you want Nobu to win this vote and lose 4500 points.”

  Nobu, Yori, Osamu and Hibiki were the first to raise their hands, almost instantly. Choko waited a second, watching to see what we all did. Mei waited because of her guilt, but I warmly touched her hand, letting her know I was supporting her.

  This gave her the strength she needed. Her hand shook as she started lifting it off the table, but she steeled her resolve and cast her vote. Then, I raised my hand. I didn’t want to waste any time, every second could make the difference. Rather than waiting for the bomb to go off, I’d just detonate it myself.

  “Yaeko, your vote?” Everyone turned to look at her as I spoke.

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  She looked on with cold indifference.

  I was right. The reason she seemed so unbothered when I made my move was because she hated the idea of letting Nobu redeem himself.

  “This is ridiculous.” Her cold tone made her sharp words hit even harder.

  “He said I lied about my point total, he tried to turn you all against me… Why? Just because he doesn’t like me? You all keep calling him mature, but I’m not seeing it. Why are you forgiving him? Oh, he wants redemption, how touching. Just stop - he doesn’t deserve it.” Everyone looked at her in shock. Earlier, she’d argued purely with emotion, but these words didn’t have a trace of sadness, anger, or even spite.

  Nobu dropped his head and Osamu anxiously looked at her. Everyone else avoided eye contact. I hid my reactions and took a second to think.

  I expected something like this.

  I knew Yaeko would be the last obstacle.

  By turning Nobu’s sacrifice into a redemption, we introduced a reason for Yaeko to go against the vote.

  However, this was a necessity.

  It was the only way to get Nobu’s vote. We just had to figure out another solution for Yaeko.

  I had about a minute and a half to deal with her.

  “Yaeko, I understand how you feel. No one likes being accused of lying. But you do understand that Mei will be eliminated if we don’t vote for Nobu? Don’t you think it’s wrong that you punish her for Nobu’s actions? Especially seeing as she defended you?” Everyone turned to look at her, waiting for her response. She moved her eyes away from mine and onto Mei’s.

  “Mei, I’m sorry.” She unclenched her fists. “You defended me, and I appreciate it. But that’s not the point. He was about to hit me, and you guys want to act like that doesn’t matter?

  Do any of you realise that makes me feel worthless?”

  Everyone else broke eye contact, but I made sure to hold eye contact with Yaeko. After a second, she looked down at the table.

  When she goes on the offensive, she’s typically fired up and makes the situation more volatile, but this was the opposite. Her words felt slower and more intentional, as if they were carefully being calculated.

  My initial plan was to appeal to Yaeko’s pride and tell her to sacrifice her own points. That way, Mei would be saved without Nobu getting redemption, but Nobu could vote against it out of spite. I was willing to take that gamble since I thought it was our only chance to win.

  However, after learning to depend on Yori, what if I chose to have faith in Osamu?

  I saw Osamu rub Yaeko’s hand and realised that he’d be able to end this game.

  One of the good things about knowing someone’s weakness is that you’ll know how they respond to situations.

  It’s how I beat Yuto in the first game, and it’s how I’ll save Mei.

  Yaeko wasn’t the only person who had an obvious weakness. The exact same could be said for her crush.

  Now that I’ve seen Osamu’s empathetic reaction and his good will gesture towards Nobu, I had absolute confidence in what he’d do next.

  When I facilitated his growth, I didn’t expect to reap the rewards so soon.

  We waited in silence for a few seconds. Yori turned to me, looking at me, pleading with his eyes to do something.

  I just smiled at him.

  Things weren’t just going according to plan.

  They were going even better.

  I knew my argument wouldn’t be enough to change her mind, but it would be enough to change her attitude from anger, spite, or even apathy to something more manageable.

  I knew that when Osamu saw this, he would want to protect Mei. The problem was that I didn't want to rely on him to swing Yaeko’s vote.

  But now, it didn’t matter if my argument wasn’t enough, because it didn’t need to be. Instead, it was enough to set Osamu up to make the final push. The lovebirds’ feelings for each other would tip the scales. As the clock reached one minute left, Osamu finally spoke up.

  “I know that he lied, but look at him. He's obviously sorry.” Osamu turned so his entire body faced Yaeko. His voice had no traces of judgement. It was calm, unwavering and most importantly, kind. He held her hand as he continued.

  “Please, Yaeko. I know you're a kind person. Please let him redeem himself… and if that’s not enough…” he hesitated. It’s hard to ask so much from the person you have feelings for. He gathered all his courage as Yaeko’s lips started quivering.

  “You don’t want to be the reason Mei gets eliminated, not over something so small, do you? I know you love everyone. You don't need to hurt them. Please don’t lose us a friend.” And just like that, with 45 seconds left on the timer, the last domino had fallen.

  My logical argument may have failed, but that’s fine.

  When a logical argument fails, you turn to an emotional one. And who better to give an emotional argument than the person she has romantic feelings for?

  Yaeko smiled, with a single tear falling down her face. “Osamu…” She looked at him and held his hand as she let out a laugh. There were thirty seconds left, but I didn’t panic.

  “Ok, if it’ll make you happy… I’ll vote for Nobu as well.”

  Keiko started speaking. “To confirm that the vote is still unanimous, I’ll need everyone to raise their hands again. Please be wary, you only have fifteen seconds left.”

  The pieces had all fallen into place.

  We dealt with every problem systematically.

  Yori converted Nobu, then I made sure the rest of the group would support Mei.

  Lastly, Yaeko was swayed by her emotions. Osamu’s feelings had done the work. Now, the group was ready to move on.

  The vote would go as I planned. No one could stop it now.

  We didn’t waste any time.

  We all raised our hands simultaneously.