The chapter opens with an unsettling conversation between the listener and the shadowy figure of a nondescript man. He asks if the listener knows what a majority vote is. He explains it using two figures-- Mr. Blue and Ms. Red. The former loves majority votes, the latter hates them. The man asks whom you agree with more, and whomever you pick, the other person dies. Presumably, the listener says they wouldn't have picked if they knew someone would die, and the man says that's not how it works.
The man says they should hold a majority vote-- his vote against theirs.
In the present, Sara Chidouin wakes up in a classroom late in the evening and decides to leave while there's no one else around. She notices a figure at the school gate-- it's her best friend, Joe Tazuna. He excitedly regales Sara with the tale of his date with their mutual friend, Ryoko, as they walk home together. After their conversation peters out, Joe asks about Sara's stalker. It's the reason he walks her home after school.
A figure appears in the light of a street lamp, and the two-run to Sara's house. When Sara enters, the house is dark and quiet, and she finds her mother passed out in the living room. She grabs a key from the table and runs into the foyer, where Joe is waiting. She walks upstairs and unlocks her room. Hands reach out to grab her, and then everything goes black.
Sara and Joe wake up strapped to a terrifying death trap in their First Trial, with strange collars around their necks, strapped to beds. Sara wonders if her stalker is behind this. Joe finds a phone and a voice from the other side tells them they have five minutes to escape, lest they die trying. Joe unlocks himself with a key and sands it down with a piece of sandpaper, then unlocks Sara's restraints. The two walk along a dark, long hallway, and then the ground opens up under them, and they plummet below.
Sara comes to her senses in a large hall, awoken by a blonde man, where she and Joe meet up with nine other people who also had various First Trials, all wearing the same collars. None of them seem to have any idea where they are, and are varying degrees of flabbergasted. After getting her bearings, Sara goes to speak to Joe, revealing their camaraderie to the others. The blonde man thanks her for letting him know his name, and suggests they introduce themselves. He has Sara lead the discussion. A number of the others are hesitant to give their names.
Sara meets Kazumi Mishima, a high school teacher, Reko Yabusame, a singer-songwriter, Kai Satou, a homemaker, and Q-taro Burgerberg, a baseball player. In talking to Kai more, Sara gets the impression that she knows him, though he doesn't seem to recognize her. She tries to coax information out a frightened girl and manages to calm her down a little.
The blonde man introduces himself as Keiji Shinogi, a police officer.
Joe wonders aloud to Sara if there's a traitor amongst them who helped kidnap them, and she figures that's why he was so hesitant initially. This suggestion seems to greatly amuse Keiji.
Nao Egokoro, a former student of Mishima's and art college student, introduces herself to Sara. She explains that she and Mishima were in the same First Trial as Sara and Joe were, and Sara wonders if the point of the trial was to test trust. A seemingly petulant grade-schooler named Gin Ibushi introduces himself, and quickly takes to calling Sara "big sis" (nee-chan, or just nee, in Japanese). A timid man introduces himself as Sou Hiyori, a job hopper. None of these people have any memory of the kidnappers.
Finally, the frightened girl introduces herself as Kanna Kizuchi. She talks about her sister in a fashion that suggests the two of them were kidnapped, but only Kanna is present. When Sara probes, Kanna has a breakdown, tortured by memories of her sister, who died in the First Trial. She passes out.
The group decides on what to do next, and Q-taro shows them a box he got during his First Trial. They unlock it using keys from their own First Trials and find a doll head. A note attached tells them to "find [her] body." Although wary and reluctant, with no other information, they proceed to find the doll's missing limbs. The group break up to explore, and Sou asks Sara if they can search together.
The two begin to explore, and in the cafeteria, find a dart and a lighter on the tables. In the back of the cafeteria, there's a dark room with an eerie red lamp above a door. The door isn't locked, and inside the walls are pink and stuffed animals line the sides. Most notably, though, there's a doll torso leaning against the back, which Sou and Sara connect to the note. Amongst the stuffed animals, Sara finds six bullets, which Sou identify as dummy bullets. He recommends they show them to Keiji.
They head to a Game Room, and in the hallway preceding it, Sara finds a cigar in the vending machine dispenser. The game room itself has a dartboard, a red door, and a blue door. The red door is locked.
In the blue room, there's a number of chairs, some empty, some with dolls attached to them, and a painting on the wall, with Joe, Keiji, Kai, and Q-taro investigating. Joe finds the painting peculiar, and Keiji gives Sara three bullets he found on the chairs. Sara herself finds a revolver between one of the dolls and its chair. Sou asks what she's going to do with that, noticeably dropping the miss/-san he usually refers to her with. He asks if she'll give him the gun, but Sara doesn't feel comfortable handing it over.
Sara asks Keiji why the kidnappers would give them a weapon such as the gun, and he posits it may be to introduce tension into the group. He says they won't fall into the trap because they've got Sara with them, and she asks why he trusts her so much, despite only just meeting her. He tells her it's because she's cute, which she finds to be a dubious explanation. She hands over the dummy bullets for him to investigate.
Just as they're about to leave, bars shoot up from the floor to cover the door, separating Sara and Sou, and trapping Sara, Q-taro, Joe, Kai, and Keiji in the room. The painting on the wall begins to speak, explaining the game they're about to partake in. Before telling them the rules, he instructs them to choose someone to be the Challenger, or the gun-handler. Joe asks if the Challenger will be safe, and then elects Sara upon hearing they will be. Keiji agrees, but the others don't seem entirely sure, Q-taro especially. Kai suggests they hold it to a vote.
It's up to Sara to convince the others of her trustworthiness.
Q-taro says he has experience handling guns, so he should be the Challenger. Keiji says that even with that, he can't trust Q-taro. Kai says he feels uncomfortable placing all of the responsibility on Sara.
Keiji says he can't imagine the game requires skill with a gun-- probably something about shooting a human or a doll. He says what's important is keeping a cool head, which he thinks Sara has. Since Sara has the added burden of protecting Joe, she'll be the most focused. Q-taro asks Keiji why he shouldn't be the Challenger, since he's a police officer. Keiji reveals that he shot a person once, presumably in the line of duty, and now can't bring himself to shoot a gun. Q-taro remains uneasy, and now Sara has to debate him in a War of Words.
She brings up points from earlier in the conversation to get Q-taro to believe in her. Made aware of her determination, the debate comes to an end. The group votes, and Sara wins majority. The rest of the group settle into the free chairs. The painting begins to describe the rules-- Sara can load her three real bullets and six fake ones into the barrel in any order she wants. After she loads it, the barrel will spin and start on a random bullet. She'll then be tasked with shooting the targets, though she can't shoot the same target twice. Since Sara can waste two dummy bullets, the ideal pattern is two dummies and then one real. Shooting two dolls first will solidify the pattern.
Sara successfully gets through Russian Roulette, much to the relief of every participant. They get a doll arm as their prize. After the rest leave, Kai stays behind to voice his gratitude for Sara in taking on the role, but warns her that she shouldn't shoulder too much on her own. At this point, Sara comes to the realization that Kai is her stalker. Just as she begins to panic, Joe rushes in to help her, offering her his arm. Once out of the room, she manages to calm down.
The pair leave the Game Room to find Kanna wandering around by herself. She wants to ask Sara about her sister-- since Joe and Sara had the same First Trial as her, and they're both alive, she's wondering if she could have saved her sister. Before Sara gets to answer, Mishima intercepts, and tells Kanna that they had to remove some of the restraints by force. Since Kanna and her sister are young, slight girls, they didn't stand much of a chance. Kanna continues to express her crushing guilt, upset that her sister used the key on Kanna, not herself. Mishima gently tells her that she was loved and that her very existence brought her sister happiness. He tells her to live for her sister's sake, at which point Reko shows up to admonish the professor and take away Kanna. Sara thanks Mishima for his kind lie, who asks in return for her to act like Kanna's sister for the remainder of the Death Game.
Sara and Joe then return to the Game Room, where Sara uses the gun to fire the dart into the dartboard. The dart bypasses the airflow which would have previously pulled it down and the two receive a left leg for their troubles.
They find a bar with a list of participants who can and can't drink, where Gin and Mishima are investigating. Joe and Sara find a cabinet in the counter, inside which contains a cigar cutter and the right leg. Sara gives the lighter, cigar, and cutter to Mishima, who makes a poor attempt at seeming unexcited. He uses the cutter on the cigar, which is actually comprised of a 1000 yen bill. He gives the money to Sara as well as the unused lighter.
Sara puts the bill in the vending machine and gets another doll arm. All doll parts assembled, Sara goes to the Pink Room, and Joe goes to call the others. Sou reveals that he found a hidden room. Keiji attaches the appendages to the body, causing a white gas to fill the room, making it so that they can't see.
The doll that they assembled comes to life, and says that she has revived to offer support to the participants, and guide them to the Main Game. Her name is Sue Miley, the Laughing Doll. In response to the participants' retaliation, she sets off Joe's collar to quiet them. She says she's going to make Joe's collar explode, causing him to freak out, before she shuts it off. She then begins to explain how they'll come to a Main Game, a situation where they will choose who among them will die by a majority vote. The participants are in disbelief, and Sara can barely register her words.
As a practice round, Miley hands out tablets to everyone and has them vote for someone. Mishima ends up with the majority vote, three of them. His collar starts going off, and begins heating up so hot it burns through his flesh and neck. The group panics, and Nao becomes hysterical. Mishima eventually collapses, dead, and Sara is sickened after witnessing it. Kanna wets herself and tells Miley that all of the participants are good people that didn't deserve to die, and Miley calls her a sister killer. Sara becomes enraged with how she so easily tramples upon the words that Mishimaleft her as Miley continues to antagonize her, before Kai hits her with his frying pan, causing her to bleed. Irate, Miley leaves, telling them she'll be waiting on the stage of the Main Game.
Sara, unable to wrap her mind around Mishima's death or Kai's identity, finds herself brimming with the determination not to die, no matter what the doll says.
Part 2 begins with a flashback from Nao’s point of view, back when Nao was still attending high school. Mishima drives Nao back home after one of his after-school art sessions. Nao panics about her future and Mishima reassures that any failures she lives through now won’t matter, for as long as she’s alive, there’s always a chance at happiness.
The flashback ends and we return to the aftermath of Mishima’s death. While everyone is dumbfounded over the death of Mishima, Sou finds a message on the back of the door of the Pink Room. The message explains that it was a practice round for the Death Game and if all the votes are tied, there would be no deaths.
Nao, still shocked from Mishima’s death, picks up and weakly shakes Mishima’s body, resulting in Mishima’s head falling off his body. Joe begins to angrily question who voted for Mishima, while Keiji calms everyone down, saying no one knew what would happen and that there was no ill will.
All participants separate in their own ways. Keiji, Nao, and Gin remain in the Pink Room, while Sara leaves the Pink Room to find Kai staring at the Kitchen door in the Cafeteria.
Sara questions on whether Kai is really her stalker and recalls how angry Kai appeared when he hit Miley after killing Mishima. While they are talking, the lights go out. They both look for a switch and Sara finds a Role Card glowing under one of the tables. She picks up the card and reads the rules on the card, which says that no one else should know the existence of the card or else the cardholder will die. When the lights turn back on, Sara looks at the back of the card and sees the role of Keymaster.
Returning to the Central Hall, Sara finds Q-taro and Sou there along with a new set of stairs leading up to the Second Floor. They all question how the stairs got there, and while Q-taro questions how strong the camaraderie of the participants can be after learning the rules of the Main Game, he promises to keep guard and prevent anyone from going up to the Second Floor by themselves.
Sou wants to show something to Sara and leads her to the Back of Cafeteria and shows her the Hidden Room. The room is dark with a desk and a laptop sits on top of it. Both Sara and Sou ponder what is on the computer, if it’s a trap, and what the password could be. Sou, thinking that the laptop could contain useful information, decides to stay and try to unlock it.
Sara comes across Kanna and Reko at the Passage to Bar. Kanna’s clothes are still dirty after she wet herself from witnessing Mishima’s death, so Reko asks Sara to find clean clothes for her. Sara does, in fact, find exact replica clothes on an eerie life-size doll of Kanna in the Blue Room. When she gives them to Kanna they have a stilted awkward moment when the latter leaves quickly after asking Sara not to be kind to her anymore. Reko demands an explanation, so Sara tells her about Mishima’s kind lie. Reko reassures her that there had been no ill-intent and cheers her up.
In the Bar, Joe can be found sitting on one of the stools, sulking all alone. Sara approaches him and while Joe initially desired to be left alone, he remarks how being in the bar is calming. Joe brings up his suspicions of Keiji and on whether he is actually a cop. He asks Sara’s opinion about it and states that he can’t imagine one of their allies working with the kidnappers. Sara notes this discrepancy, remembering how Joe was one of the first people to suspect their allies for possibly being an accomplice. Joe asks Sara if she could look into Keiji, and she agrees.
Red Room door open, mysterious silhouette at door. Red Room puzzle. Sara finds one half of ripped up sheet of paper with mysterious percentages for participants. There are names that Sara doesn't recognize, noting the name Alice Yabusame. Upon finishing the puzzle, Sara finds a strange looking man in prison garb in a locker who passes out upon seeing her.
Joe and Sara take the unconscious man to Keiji in the Pink Room. Announcement for everyone to leave the Pink Room so corpse can get cleaned up, where Nao freaks out and puts Mishima’s head in the box that had Miley’s doll head in it and runs away. Gin chases after Nao.
Central Hall, Joe, Keiji and Sara. Q-taro isn’t there. They split up. Joe searches first floor, Keiji and Sara go up to the second floor to search for Nao.
On the second floor, there are two doors that both contain saunas behind them.
In the “Ro” Room. Gin is trapped in a cage. Birdcage Game where Gin is saved by Sara.
Keiji, Sara, and Gin return to 2nd Floor hall. Sara probes Keiji about his occupation, but Keiji deflects.
All three return to First Floor. Lights are out for the whole floor. They go to Hidden Room and Sou is unconscious, and the laptop has been stolen. Under the desk, Sara finds another Role Card but this time, it’s the Sacrifice Card. Sou, awake, asks what Sara is looking at, and she attempts to cover herself with a lie. Keiji assumes that Sou was knocked out by someone on the First Floor. They all decide to gather everyone together.
In the Cafeteria, Kai is there. Informs them that Joe wants everyone to meet up at the Bar. Kai tags along with them.
All participants are at the bar except Nao. The strange man is awake, and introduces himself as Gonbee Yamada. Gonbee refuses to cooperate because, after hearing the gunshots from the game of Russian Roulette, wrongly assumes Sara killed nine people. After clearing up the issue, Gonbee still refuses to work with the participants, but won't obstruct their investigation.
Everyone decides to search for Nao together.
Keiji and Sara go back to the 2nd floor. Sara solves the mirror room puzzle with Keiji's help, discovering that there's a lifelike doll of her in the same room where she found one of Kanna in the process. Solving the mirror room opens up another hall, where Sara and Keiji find the kitchen key. Along with the key, there's three doors-- a white door, a black door, and a central, larger red door.
Upon unlocking the kitchen, the three find Nao. After pacifying her, she leaves to go speak to Reko, and Sara and Keiji find that the box that once contained the head of Mishima is now empty. Sara obtains an empty knife box with six numbers inside. The two doors on the right and left sides of the hall on the 2nd floor, the white room and the black room, are opened with this code.
Keiji and Sara are both immediately unsettled by the white room, empty save for handcuffs and what appears to be a box. Keiji posits that it's because someone had died in there, which further disturbs Sara, who leaves the room after imagining the dead body. In the black room there's a paper shredder with several shredded documents that Gin decides to sort through.
Sara decides to go downstairs, but is interrupted by Sou, who infers that since Joe didn't vote for himself during the Second Trial, he likely voted for Mishima. Sou suggests she doesn't trust him.
Sara enters the bar, where she finds Joe sitting, looking at something in his hands. He reveals a photo of him, Sara, and Ryoko, and shares that on his first date with Ryoko, he was so nervous the only thing he could talk about was Sara.
After her heart-to-heart with Joe, Sara returns to the Central Hall, where Gonbee informs her there was a noise on the second floor. The red door is now open. When Sara tries to investigate, she's pushed in and loses consciousness. Upon reawakening, she finds herself in a dark room with a banquet and a screen with Miley on it. Miley then explains the rules of the Main Game-- that the participants must argue and decide who to be killed. She explains the roles of the cards. Most players have commoner cards, which have no special functions. There are three special cards. Whoever has the Keymaster card (in this case, Sara) cannot be voted as the one to die, or else everyone dies. The Sage, through divination, knows who the Keymaster is. The Sacrifice can only live if they're voted as the victim, at which point they can choose one other participant to save. The Sacrifice also has two votes.
After having only a little water to drink, Sara enters the stage of the Main Game.
The stage of the Main Game is filled with a number of waist-high desks, which are revealed to be reverse hourglasses that show how much time is left. The preliminary discussion is 70 minutes, and the final is 20.
Just before the Main Game begins, Kanna shows up late. Miley reiterates the rules, and the debate begins.
Sou starts off by saying he's the Keymaster. Sara, knowing that's her role card, refutes him, and it sends the group into an uproar. Keiji interrupts them by saying that their roles only become important in the final vote, and that they need to focus on the main discussion. [NOTE: This point will return later if not chosen before Q-Taro's]
Q-Taro states the they have to vote for the least cooperative person among them, and he expresses his desire to vote for Gonbee. The other participants reason that it's dangerous to vote unanimously for Gonbee in the preliminary vote, since he may be the Keymaster or Sacrifice. Keiji says that it's safest to elect as close to five people as possible.
Gonbee brings up the next topic: that he's going to vote for Sara. Most of the other participants jump to defend Sara, as she has been their de-facto leader for the entirety of the Death Game. Gonbee states that his reason for suspicion is that Sara possesses the only weapon amongst them-- the revolver. Sara refutes the claim with the empty box from the kitchen, and says that since only the impression of the kitchen knife is left, someone else in the group has the knife. She states that whoever owns the knife at the moment is irrelevant, and what's important is that Sara doesn't have it. This quiets Gonbee.
After this conversation, Q-Taro says it's most reasonable to vote for those who have been most burdensome up until this point-- Nao, Kanna, and Gin. Reko implores them to stand up for themselves, but they all have trouble defending their right to live. Keiji tells Sara that only she can pull their words out of them.
Gin remains quiet, Nao tries to calm herself, and Kanna seems hesitant. Sou watches her carefully. Kanna states that she doesn't care what happens anymore, not even if she gets voted for. She wants to see her sister. This enrages Q-Taro, but Kai thinks she may be acting. He says she may have pulled the Sacrifice card. Sara doesn't think Kanna is capable of playing such mind games, unless someone suggested it to her, namely Sou. Sou tries to steer the discussion away from Kanna, at which Sara will accuse him of trying to protect Kanna.
If Sou's point was not pressed before Q-Taro's, he will bring up being the Keymaster now. Instead of Keiji, Sou will deflect away from this point, and the group will continue with trying to get a statement out of Gin. He'll stay quiet, and Reko will say that Gin said he found something amazing in the shredded documents in the black room. Gin is extremely hesitant to show what he found, and lies that he doesn't have anything. Q-Taro accuses Reko of lying herself to protect him, which distresses Gin.
Gin and Q-Taro enter a Balance Battle. Sara affirms Q-Taro saying that no one will believe Gin if he doesn't speak up, denies Gin saying that he didn't see anything, and denies Gin saying that Reko got it wrong. This spurs Gin into saying that he didn't want to believe what the paper he found said. Sara encourages him to speak up.
Gin states that the hand-torn paper he found among the scraps said that Sara was a murderer. The paper in question has a list of four names, with a percentage and occupation next to them, like the one Sara found in the red room. Sara notices something is amiss as Q-Taro is listed as a high school teacher. Sara replaces Gin's name half with her own, and now Mishima's occupation tracks. Alice Yabusame is now listed as the murderer. Sara reasons that since her and Gin's name halves have tears that both match the occupation half, at least two of these same papers were torn in a stack.
Gin recognizes the name Yabusame, and Sara calls out Reko as having the family name Yabusame. Reko denies being nor knowing Alice. Sara reasons that Alice and Reko are different people, and Joe brings up that Alice and Reko are listed as separate people on the chalkboard in the bar, but Nao says she found chalk, implying that the list could have been changed. Reko says Alice is her brother's name, and Kai expresses disbelief at Alice being a brother, rather than a sister. The group continues to corner Reko, at which point Gonbee shouts out, and reveals himself to be Alice Yabusame, and claims Reko as his little sister, which Reko corroborates. Alice says he lied about being in jail for larceny, and actually was arrested for murder. Reko explains she instructed Alice to hide their relationship.
Sou tries to turns the discussion to Nao's justification, but Sara is caught up on the name Megumi Sasahara, listed as detective. Keiji feigns ignorance.
Nao starts to explain how she took Mishima's head in the box and left to hide in the kitchen, and didn't touch anything. Sara denies this claim with the empty knife box, and says only Nao could have taken the knife. Joe asks how she got the key anyways, and Nao claims the kitchen was open when she entered, and she locked it from the inside.
Keiji accuses Nao of lying about being with Mishima's head, since the box was empty when they found it. Nao claims she has no idea what happened to his head.
Joe says that if he had been in Nao's shoes, he probably would have snapped. He reasons that Nao could have done something irrational, and asks Nao why she didn't look for those who voted for Mishima. Sou reasons that maybe Nao didn't put Mishima in the box because she cared about him, but rather to recover his collar, on behalf of the kidnappers. Joe continues to badger her, at which point Reko interrupts him.
She says that before the Second Trial, she overheard Mishima discussing with Nao to vote for each other. Nao obeyed his request, but Mishima still voted for himself. That's why Nao didn't look for the culprit, because she felt like she shouldered some blame. Joe brings up that he voted for himself, contradicting what Sou told Sara during the investigation, that he voted for Joe, so Joe must've voted for someone else. Sou plays it off by saying he just told Sara he voted for whomever, and she just took it seriously.
Alice and Reko question if it's okay to leave the matter of the disappearing head to rest. Sou then states he remembers who knocked him out, and that it's Nao. Nao admits to being the culprit, and says that she was threatened by Kai into doing it. Nao explains that when she ran away after the Body Collection Announcement, she was pulled into the kitchen by Kai, and he protected her. Nao says Kai requested something of her, at which Kai cuts her off, suspecting her of lying.
Kai and Nao enter a Balance Battle. Sara affirms that Nao couldn't have gotten into the kitchen, affirms Nao saying that the key was thrown to the second floor, denies Kai saying he needed a weakness to threaten with, denies Nao reasoning that Kai had it out for Sou, and affirms Kai saying he wanted to steal something.
Nao says Kai agreed to help her on the stipulation that she recover the laptop. She was threatened at knifepoint by Kai, who gives her a frying pan with which to attack Sou. If she does not comply, he will give the key to someone else. Kai states that both he and Sara will be in trouble if the laptop's contents are revealed. Nao further reasons that Kai stole Mishima's head, as well.
Sou asserts that the laptop's password was easy to guess, and reveals that it was "chidouin." Kai asks if Sou read the emails, tentatively confirming that the laptop belongs to him. Sou reads four emails sent from Kai in this order, from the oldest: the first is about 17 people being secured for the death game, the second details his affection for and desire to protect Sara, and willingness to give himself up to the Chidouins, the third states that if any harm comes to Sara, he will even stand against the receipiant, and the fourth says Sara is looking forward to the games, and her friend is looking forward to them as well. Naturally, the participants are shocked by this reveal. Sou reasons that Kai, Sara, and Joe are with the kidnappers. Joe responds that there's no way they're on the kidnapper's side, because they participated in the First Trial, which Sou reminds them they cannot prove.
The other participants come to the defense of Sara and Joe, surprising and angering Sou, unable to think that the others trust Sara so readily. His amicable, nonthreatening personality is shed quickly as he insults the other participants for being so weak-minded, and states that he thinks the others are worthless, seeing only Sara as a worthy opponent.
Sara enters an argument with Sou. She retorts by asserting her innocence and uninvolvement, saying that the emails weren't sent to the same person each time, and denying any relation to Kai. Even though Sara manages to refute most of Sou's points, the other participants are suspicious and unsure what to think of either of them. As Joe starts to defend Sara, Miley jumps in by telling them it's time for the preliminary vote. Sara makes a last-ditch effort to remind everyone she's the Keymaster.
Five people proceed as candidates to the final vote-- Sara, Joe, Kanna, Sou, and Kai. Sara grapples with her own mortality and fear of death, and Keiji snaps her out of it, and reminds everyone of the roles. The participants realize the Sage is one of the candidates.
Kanna, Kai, and Joe remain silent on their roles, while Sou and Sara continue to assert they're the Keymaster.
Gin says he doesn't want to see a massacre, and Sara asks where he picked up the word. He responds that before the preliminary vote, Joe had said that if they voted for Sara, it'd be a massacre. Sara uses this to deduce that Joe has a strong possibility of being the Sage. When Sara speaks up about this, Joe says that he is the Sage and he will reveal the results of his divination, but his clause is that he doesn't want anyone to vote for him. He states that Sara is the Keymaster. Kanna comes out and says she is the Sage, and that Sou is the Keymaster, causing Kai to claim Sage and that Sara is the Keymaster, which sends the group into a tizzy.
Keiji asserts Kanna and Sou are working together, and asks Sara to find a way to determine the roles. He then calls a final discussion, and questions the potential Sages on the design on the back of the Keymaster card. Joe states that it's a key, Kanna says it's a lock, and Kai says nothing.
To deal the final blow, Sara presents the rulebook to Kai. She asks him about the design, and he remains silent. Sara points out that the Sage cannot lie about their divination, and that their divination only allows them to ascertain the Keymaster's identity, but nothing else. This makes Kai, who said nothing about the design, the Sage. This leads Sara to wonder why Joe lied about his role. She presents her deduction to Kai, who becomes unsettled. He states that he doesn't want to die, asserts that Joe is the Sacrifice, and pleads for the participants to vote for Sou. Kai admits to having contact with the kidnappers.
Kai ends up with the most votes regardless of who Sara chooses to vote for. Sou makes a jab at how everyone voted with logic over emotion.
Miley confirms Kai as the Sage, Sara as the Keymaster, and Joe as the Sacrifice, to die with his objective incomplete. Joe apologizes for tricking the group, admitting that he can't see any of them as bad people. Joe says that he loves Sara, and that she's his best friend, before Miley summons the Wrigglers to suck the blood from his body.
Miley gives a desperate Sara a button to slow the device used to kill Joe. However fast Sara presses the button, she can't save Joe, the exercise is futile. A heartbroken Sara continues to click the button, even after Joe has died. Keiji gently stops her.
To antagonize Sara further, Miley points out that with each button press, she prolonged Joe's suffering. Miley turns her attention to Kai, "the main event," who has slit his wrists with the kitchen knife to issue his own death. Q-Taro tackles Miley to keep her from activating the device to kill Kai, as Kai tells Sara his suicide is his final resistance against the kidnappers. He entrusts his regrets and hopes to Sara and expresses his satisfaction before dropping dead.
A flashback ensues of a conversation between Sara and Joe on his birthday, where Sara gifts him the same dog keychain he wore on his uniform throughout the Death Game. He promises to wear it to graduation.
After a splash screen showing the surviving characters, the game flickers between scenes of the characters coping after the Main Game. Gin, Nao, and Reko are looking over a fitful Sara in the Blue Room. Miley addresses a mysterious entity (which could simply be the player) and tells them to rest up before proceeding to the next floor. Q-Taro broods over Kai's alignment alone at the bar. Sou and Kanna speak alone in the hallway before the red door, where Kanna pleads with Sou to not further upset Sara. Finally, Alice speaks with Keiji in the secret room, asking him if he's aware of the case that landed Alice in prison. Alice reveals to Keiji that he was arrested for killing a person named Sou Hiyori.
Back to Home, The 12 participants, Floor Masters, The Dolls, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Part 1