- This thread contains tagged spoilers and frequently asked questions concerning the ending!
Also, the questions themselves may be spoilers! -
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Oh goodness, this was a cruel game!
Perhaps we should talk about it? Yes, we should. It seems as though some points, and especially the ending, are potentially irritating.
Of course, you don't have to talk about it. You can cozily sip a cup of tea and read.
1. Who lives in the end, and who is deceased?
Out of the players caught in the main building, those who are alive after chapter 20 are:
Rei Hazama
Mitsuki Houyama
Then we have those who are last seen alive, but implied to enter a struggle at the very least:
Yuu Aikawa
Hajime Komaba
Fatalities:
Eiji Hoshi
Haruka Akechi
The man with the scalded face
2. What are the hints pointing to the true culprit?
The true culprit is Rei Hazama.
Rei is never confirmed dead or even touched by anyone. Hajime never explicitly says anything about her body, either.
Rei's barcode is on her right thigh. How would she open doors? Based on how far above the ground the authentication devices are set up, it is already impossible for her to use her barcode without anybody actively supporting her, unless she can walk, or at the very least stand up, which already makes her a liar.
In chapter 14, a flashback shows the group discussing the game "Rabbit Doubt" at the karaoke parlor. Rei states that she believes the reason for the method of execution in the game to be hanging is because leaving the body hung is a good way of making an example for the others to see. And once the real game begins - oh my, who dies first and how?
Rei's past as the hypno-maiden as revealed in chapter one: Most people had begun calling her a fake, so her life had been completely ruined to the point that she tried to end her own life - because everyone had been doubting her. Doubting. Doubt.
Upon the group discovering an unconscious, scalded man in the monitoring room in chapter 4, he suddenly ambushes Yuu. Hajime admits that it was his mistake not to check his vital signs sooner. Hajime. Does that mean that you may have forgotten to check Rei's vital signs, too? Well, not that it would matter, anyway, but even you would be able to tell the difference between a corpse and a fake, Hajime. (Unless the corpse budget amounts to 600 million yen.)
In chapters one and two, there are shown to be at least two vents in the floor of Rei's scene of murder. Quite explicitly, in solo panels. In later chapters, we see multiple vents in the ceilings of the floor below. Especially in the surveillance room. And they are quite large. Large enough for a person, or even two, to crawl though.
Rei is killed in chapter one before the main character, Yuu, wakes up, getting no chance to interact with him or the others. Why has the game begun before the main character - the detective of the story - has even woken up? - It hasn't.
3. There was no motive.
Rei had attained a considerable amount of followers on her hypno-maiden show, only to be turned into a complete laughing stock after a short period of success. Rei was not the only one mentally devastated. Her beloved parents even attempted triple forced suicide, that is killing themselves along with her daughter, because they couldn't live on any longer. And their daughter, Rei, is the only survivor of that attempt. This is not regular bullying at school.
In addition, there was a separate attempt of single suicide by Rei.
The fact that Rei succeeded in hypnotizing people over television, and over the phone, hints at the accusations against her being unjustified. And her family had been tormented and completely mauled apart by those accusations.
Money isn't always the motive. Sometimes it is... Doubt. And lies. Liars must die.
4. Why is Hajime not a real medical student?
It is already clear in chapter 2.
When Rei's corpse is discovered hanging on the wall, it is rather far away from the floor. While it would be possible for someone, especially medical student Hajime, to take her pulse from her right foot, he has not done it. Why? Perhaps in reality he has and is just not telling. Why? Because he is an accomplice. Really? No. Or perhaps he is and the author is just not telling. Or simply because Hajime is not a medical student.
When Hajime takes Mitsuki's pulse, he grabs her wrist with his whole hand. Unless Mitsuki has a very unnatural, deformed wrist, it is impossible to feel any of her arteries expand with each beat. Either Hajime is lying about her pulse for an undisclosed reason, or he is not a medical student.
Can a fake corpse deceive medical student Hajime? Yes, it would seem, because even my coconut-jam croissant has more medical experience than Hajime.
5. What does "Atonement for killing both legs," written in blood/paint in Rei's room, mean?
Oh, my. Even the translators are trying to trick Yuu. The actual writing reads:
"A crime which cannot be atoned for with the likes of two legs. Death to liars!" (or "the liar," depending on what the reader decides)
But what does this mean? That losing the ability to walk won't save you if you're a liar. Is it for Rei, or someone else?
Whose legs get stabbed by a combat knife and slashed by an ax respectively, rendering them unable to walk, only to be assailed with a rope and a knife respectively?
6. How does the true culprit move around the building?
On foot, equipped with the master barcode.
Through the ventilation system, which has been visually hinted at sufficiently.
Using the steel beams across the ceiling, which have been visually hinted at sufficiently.
7. Who is calling Mitsuki in chapter 1?
Mitsuki receives a call from her father, who asks her where she is. Rei, using her hypnotic abilities, has set up her calls in such a fashion that Mitsuki believes her to be her dad.
Goodness, this is rather unsettling.
The caller is not Rei. The caller is not Mitsuki's father, who is already dead. At the very moment of the call, Rei is heartwarmingly cuddling with Haruka in complete silence.
This implies an automated call, or one facilitated by the scalded man carrying a voice file and calling from the restroom prior to or after his ambush. It can also be her contact man from the forensics team, using Rei's voice data.
I hope you have enjoyed this therapy session thoroughly. I have! I've tried many sweets while writing this.
Please feel free to present or add to any point/discuss heatedly.