Lightbulb gasped at that. I just sat there, unfazed. "Go on," I encouraged Mic. "Why her?"

Mic took a deep breath and began to explain. "Well, it's just that uh.. who else has this murderous intent? MePhone's long gone. Like, Cobs killed him, I think. Paper already overcame his.. evil side? I guess? And plus, he would've already came out to OJ if he'd done it, I'm sure of that. Knife really cared about Fan, so he couldn't have done the murders, because he knew Fan cared about Marsh and Apple. MePad isn't crazy enough. He's chill, like more of a business-oriented guy, right? He's still down over MePhone, too. And Pickle.. couldn't have.." And she fell silent for a couple of moments.

Upon hearing her defend Pickle, I remembered all those malicious acts that he'd done to me before he and I made up. I pushed them away. "No.." I murmured to myself, "He didn't. He couldn't."

"...And Test Tube has kinda always had this ambiance around her, anyways. Haven't you noticed?" Mic asked, turning to Lightbulb.

"No, I haven't noticed! Because she's never had an 'ambiance'! She's.. good! Plus, why would she spare you? She doesn't have a soft spot for you! I-.." she trailed off.

Mic looked away. "I know it's hard to believe. You guys are close. But you have to consider everyone."

"So why aren't you considering me? Why aren't you considering yourself?" Lightbulb yelled, stepping towards her threateningly. Mic took a step back and I knew I had to intervene.

"Look, we're not suspecting Mic because-"

"Because what? Because she's your girlfriend?"

"Because we were together at the times of the murders, and I didn't do it. You know that."

Lightbulb fell silent and backed away.

I looked at Mic. "And we can't suspect Test Tube just because she has some 'murderous intent'. We need more proof than a gut feeling."

Mic looked away, her face unreadable.

"We're not going to get through this accusing each other. We just need to think, right?"

Lightbulb and Mic glared at each other for a moment before nodding.

"Now, who has actual ideas on how we're gonna figure this out?"

We plotted until dusk. The attacker seemed to have a soft spot for Mic, so we decided to use her as bait.

We had her talk to everyone and take a "survey" on who liked being on Inanimate Insanity. In reality, though, she was testing on who liked her the most, talking mainly about herself, the whole thing. We came down to three main suspects:

Pickle, Knife, and Balloon.

"Why Balloon?" Mic asked.

"Because he could. He was a jerk in II, so I don't see past it."

She nodded and turned to Lightbulb.

"Have any other main suspects?" she asked, tapping her pen to her notebook thoughtfully.

Lightbulb shook her head. "Nope."

"Alrighty! That means we can get cracking."

We started with Balloon, because he seemed the least likely out of the three. Mic spent more time with him, sort of as an experiment. Balloon looked a little interested in her, which set off some red flags. He was really kind, and I thought maybe he'd changed. But during the 'dates', he didn't really seem too into it.

"I don't think he did it," I said. "He just doesn't have the.. what's the word.. like, guts, I guess."

Lightbulb nodded and crossed off Balloon's name.

In the days that followed, Pickle was spending more time with me. I didn't really think much of it, since we'd recently made up so it made sense that he'd want to catch up with me. But he acted a little.. off, I guess.

"And I mostly stayed in the shadows-.. Pickle, you listening?"

He'd perk up and look startled for a minute, then he'd sigh. "Wh-what? Uh, yeah, um.."

I'd eye him suspiciously. "Um, okay, anyway.."

I met up with Lightbulb in her team's cabin and told her about these experiences. She got to thinking.

"Look, I know you don't want to think about it, but.."

I shook my head. "No. He's distracted for another reason, I'm sure." I put my head in my hands.

Lightbulb stayed silent. I took a deep breath and continued.

"Maybe he's-"

But I got cut off. By screaming.

Mic's screaming.

I could barely make out the words, but I didn't care. I was already running out of the Bright Light's cabin.