I wasn't sure what was going on.
I'd never touched drugs, of course, and general educational materials didn't go into detail about how to tell the difference between white powder and flour.
Although the six of them had reached a consensus, I still didn't dare trust them. They were dying and turning into ghosts. In other words, they were already trapped in the game and had been caught by that ghost, which meant it could manipulate their senses at will. What they saw and heard might not be real. Even without all that, the words of a bunch of addicts and drug dealers were hardly trustworthy.
The six started arguing, trying to figure out who had switched the goods.
Crooked Mouth was the calmest. He waited until the others had argued for two rounds before speaking. "Didn't we all check the stuff when we picked it up?"
"You were there too, weren't you?" Nest Head snapped.
"Yeah, I was there too. They even treated us when we went." Crooked Mouth sneered, the corner of his split lip curling up. He looked sinister and terrifying.
The other five realized it too.
"Fuck those bastards! That bunch of sons of bitches tricked us!"
"Maybe they were the ones who tipped off the cops, too!"
The five of them seethed with anger.
In Akiko's memories, the events of the day they picked up the goods came back to her. The people who sold them that batch had approached them and offered it themselves. The six of them discussed it, pooled their money, and bought it together. They knew the sellers, but weren't close to them. They were the people one level above their usual supplier. During the deal, the sellers had been very courteous and generous, letting them sample several kinds of product