Therion's calm, confident voice interrupted me. "What if Saya did it?"

There was a very long silence. People did not seem to know what to make of this, and I think I was most nonplussed of all.

"Left breakfast early," Therion continued finally. "Noteworthy. All alone. Had enough time to do anything."

"But that doesn't make sense," Katy argued. "She was in class when the impostor was pretending to be Morgan!"

Therion shook his head. "Whole narrative came from Saya. Suspicious."

"Hey, that's not true!" Rocky argued. "We all figured this out together!" I desperately forced down an urge to triumphantly smile. "She talked a lot in the trial, sure, but there was stuff she was wrong about, too!"

"Very simple," Therion said, staring at me. "Certain she was alone for period of time directly before body was found. Should account for it. Else a suspect."

He was not on solid ground here, I knew that. But I was also lucky. Very lucky. "I actually can account for it," I said.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. I handed it to Ashley, who was next to me. "Could you please tell everyone what that is?"

Ashley uncrumpled the paper and looked at it. She raised an eyebrow. "It's a receipt from the student stores. You bought a stun gun at 10:02."

"That's right in the middle of my time alone," I said. "That cuts in half the time I'd have to do anything, and when you consider murder, arranging a body, planting evidence... whatever I needed to have done... it's not enough." I looked around the room, making eye contact with as many people as I could. "It's possible I gave someone my tablet to impersonate me. But why would someone help me establish an alibi?"

Therion was silent. His expression did not change at all.

"I was, I think, making an important point before I was interrupted," I declared. "If Morgan was killed in his room, it's impossible for the killer to have gotten his body to the tunnel without being seen. So there's only one conclusion we can draw: They didn't." I avoided looking at the culprit directly. "They did it in plain sight."

Juliet gasped. "But... how? Anyone who saw the body would have done something!"

"Yes," I agreed. "So the killer must have had a way to keep the body from being seen." And that's when I looked right at him. "Therion, do I have to keep going?"

Therion said nothing.

I opened the door. Therion, indeed, stood there, his big laundry cart next to him. "I need your sheets," he said.

"It's stupidly obvious, at its heart," I said. "Therion was going into people's rooms, and he had a method of transport. But he did a brilliant job at making the murder seem like it happened long after it actually did."

Therion hung his head. He took a deep breath, then looked up at me, his face blank. "Evidence?" he asked.

I nodded. "It's possible whoever set the fire escaped down the elevator. But that's not the only place they could have gone."

"Shit!" JP yelled. "What the hell?!" He stripped off his shirt and tossed it into the waste basket. He shrieked as his shirt caught fire. "Aaa! What do we do!?"

The door nearest to the elevator opened up and Therion stuck his head out, looking very annoyed. "What is going on out here?"

Therion frowned. "Circumstantial."

"I also noticed something else," I said. "I saw you with your laundry cart twice. The first time..."

Therion gave me a blank look. "Trying to make a game of it. Not easy." Without another word, he gave a gentle push to his cart and smoothly wheeled it in the direction of the locker room.

"...but the second time..."

He positioned himself behind the cart and shrugged. "Both wrong, probably. Nothing close to safe here." He waved. "Good night." He strained against the cart, lurching it forward down the hall.

"If you just had sheets in that cart, it wouldn't have been so hard to move," I said. "Something heavy was in there, too."

His blank look continued. "Circumstantial."

Nicole slammed her hand down on the lectern. "Circumstantial, whatever! It makes sense!"

"But no proof." Therion looked around, almost disappointed. "Really? No proof?"

"Well," I replied, "there was the huge mistake you made."

He tilted his head. "Yes?"

"It doesn't prove you're the killer, but it proves you're lying about last night."

"Aauugh!" Rocky yelled. "Just tell us, just tell us! Stop dragging it out!"

I nodded. "Your huge mistake."

The Ultimate Vandal flung himself against another wall, staining it. "This place is full of lies. Lies and lies and lies." He flopped his body down onto the bed and rolled onto the floor, leaving smeared colors behind.

"But today it was different."

Bepi looked closer at the bed while Katy searched the bathroom. Bepi leaned in, thoughtfully. "Hey, check this out."

I went closer, noticing he was looking at a small speck of red on the otherwise pristine bed.

"You changed the sheets." I stared him down. "You said you couldn't get into his room, but you changed the sheets."

Therion clasped his hands behind his back and just regarded me. It was a long time before he spoke, but when he did, it was clear and confident. "Had to. Needed to wrap his body up to put in the cart. And was worried the bear would yell at me. Call attention."

"You've got to do your chores!" Monokuma chirped.

Earl's mouth hung open in shock. "Are you admitting to this crime?"

Therion shrugged. "Pointless not to. Got me."

I don't think anyone knew what to say to that. Therion was always hard to read but... he actually didn't seem to care at all that we caught him. "Don't you understand what this means?" Bepi asked him.

Therion looked at him for a moment, then he shifted his gaze to me. "But there's one element you never figured out. There's something missing."

I nodded. "The white thread came from the sheets you wrapped him in. You lay him on top of the sheet in the tunnel, and when you chopped his head off, you cut through the sheet and left a thread behind. So somewhere, there's bloody sheets that we never found."

"Oh my god, who cares!?" Nicole snapped. "What, this somehow clears you because we didn't find the sheets?"

"No." Therion blinked slowly. "Just proud of this part. Misdirection on top of misdirection."

"Proud?!" Rodrigo spat, baffled. "How could you say such a thing about a murder?!"

"Wait," I cut in. "Monokuma said you had to do your chores. So... you just washed the sheets, didn't you? You just brought them to the laundry room and put them in the washer." I smacked my head. "Oh my god. You weren't framing Ashley at all. Framing Ashley was the feint."

As we descended the stairs to the hallway, I noticed something very different than when I had been here before. There was a can of paint open and on its side. A large puddle of white paint covered the middle of the hallway. There were footprints leading from the puddle, down the hallway, past the doors to the storage closets and laundry room, straight to the elevator at the end.

"You were giving us a path to follow," I breathed, feeling legitimately amazed. "We walked right past the laundry room, because the footprints and shoes led us away. We never searched it."

"Wild! Stop respecting the murderer!" Earl sounded outright appalled.

"Murderer," Emily mumbled. "I still can't believe it."

Rodrigo raised his arm. "The villain has confessed, but I feel I still lack complete understanding of this crime."

"Yeah," Nicole agreed. "Can someone, like, take us through it, step by step?"

Therion nodded. "Saya should."

I felt like there must be some trick; this was so easy. But something in me decided to have trust in my deductions. I began:

"The culprit's plans probably started after class yesterday, when they tried to convince more of us to skip class, to increase the pool of potential suspects. After dinner last night, the culprit saw the Ultimate Vandal go upstairs, and they knew they had a chance to strike. They retrieved the laundry cart and went upstairs from room to room. When the culprit reached the Ultimate Vandal's room, he let them in.

"In an unguarded moment, they wrapped the bungee cord they had previously bought around his neck, strangling him. They bundled his body in the bedsheets, which they replaced, and hid it in the laundry cart. They also stole his tablet and a can of white paint. Then, they just proceeded down the hall as normal. They left the laundry cart in the underground tunnel and returned to their room.

"The culprit proceeded to make it seem The Ultimate Vandal was still alive. First, they set the T-shirts on fire just outside their room, then they sneaked out of their room (which was easy, since it was right next to the elevator) to buy the machete with the vandal's tablet, obtaining a receipt.

"The culprit cut off the vandal's head and finger in the tunnel, washing away the blood with soapy water they found in the cleaning closet. They then stashed the body in the projector room, put the sheets in the washer, and waited until morning. The culprit then proceeded to use The Ultimate Vandal's hoodie to impersonate him. First, they ran to his room, using the finger as a 'key,' to plant the receipt and tablet. After a normal breakfast, they hurried to the classroom, where they sat in the back row, again wearing the hoodie, keeping their head down on the desk.

"After class, they quickly put the sweatshirt onto the body and set it up in the same seat. They spilled the paint and planted footprints, to distract us from going into the laundry room. And finally, they just made their escape through the tunnel.

"Based on the evidence, there is only one person who could have completed this plan: Therion Suarez, the Ultimate Game Designer!"

Therion just looked at me. Then he looked at Monokuma. "Voting time?" He seemed so unconcerned.

"Voting time indeed!" Monokuma confirmed. "Everyone pick the portrait of the student you think is guilty! Remember, abstaining from voting is not allowed!"

It was all very anticlimactic. We voted, lights flashed, a jackpot sound rang out, and Monokuma burst out, "The winner of the unanimous vote is Therion Suarez, who was indeed the criminal in this vicious crime! Congratulations, my dear students!"

It was honestly just surreal. We had solved a murder and knew what that meant, but the condemned person was just standing there, arms clasped behind his back, looking around at us stoically.

Finally, Earl asked what I think all of us were wondering. "Suarez! Why? Why did you do this?"

Therion regarded him calmly, then shrugged. "I guess... it was ideological."

"Ideological?!" Nicole snapped. "What are you talking about? You killed someone!"

But instead of looking at her, he looked right at me. "Saya, you asked me once: most basic kind of game. Most stripped-down experience that's still a game. Didn't get to answer. Want to know now?"

I didn't know what to say, but he thankfully clarified on his own: "The murder mystery."

My mouth hung open.

"Player involvement is minimal," he continued. "Just words on a page, can't be changed. But still interactive. Reader questions, analyzes. Plays along. Win condition is clear: deduce killer before it's revealed."

He glared up at Monokuma, the strongest emotional expression I'd ever seen on his face. "Bear's game is terrible. Frustrating, because could be ultimate game. Stakes and immersion like nothing I've ever seen. But rules are ambiguous, and real life is messy." He looked back at me. "Had to intervene. Had to."

"Intervene?" Emily asked, sounding terrified.

He just nodded calmly to her. "If left alone, players become emotional. Stupid murders, just stabbing and leaving body where it lies; chaos. 'Investigations' just become haranguing obvious suspect until confession. Boring. A waste."

His face took on an air of odd serenity. "But now I've taught you all. Plan had layers of deception. Still left clues. Still was caught."

He smiled, vague but still noticeable. "Figured, won either way. If not found guilty, I escape; great. If found guilty, I set the model. Rest of you understand, to have chance of winning, must create even better mystery. Can you beat my high score? " He nodded smartly. "Game will live up to potential." He glanced up at Monokuma. "Taught the mastermind, too. Game is asinine without mysteries. Remember my example, use it to improve rules. Ultimate game designer. Worth dying for ultimate game."

"You're insane," Jane insisted. "You're absolutely, completely batty. Killing someone for a game? Dying for a game?!"

"Don't think I'll be the last person to do that," Therion said calmly, staring her down. He glanced up at the leering bear. "Know I'm not the first, either."

There was a tense, shocked silence. "What are you talking about?" Nicole snapped. "This has happened before?!"

"The killing game is what this program is," Therion answered calmly. He stepped out from behind his lectern, ignoring Monokuma's protests, and walked directly up to me.

He held out a folded paper. Without really even thinking about it, I took it.

"Found this on the vandal," he said. "Don't know how he got it. Assume it kicked off his rebellion."

I blinked, bemused. "Why are you giving this to me?"

He looked honestly puzzled. "Because Saya. You're going to be the detective."

Monokuma stamped his feet. "Enough of this chaos! It's execution time!" Even though his words were impatient, his tone suggested he was gleefully happy about absolutely everything that had happened. He pulled a lever next to him.

And before I even knew it, chains whipped out from the ceiling, wrapped themselves around Therion, and pulled him up and away. The last I saw of him was his unsurprised, unemotional expression.

KILL SCREEN
the execution of THERION SUAREZ

We found ourselves in front of a huge window with complete blackness on the other side of it.

Suddenly, bright lights flipped on on the other side of the window, revealing Therion sitting impassively at a small table. Monokuma sat opposite him. They both held pencils, and on the table I could make out a paper with a 3x3 grid.

A scoreboard emerged from the wall, reading MONOKUMA: 0. THERION: 0. TIES: 0.

Slyly, Monokuma reached down and, with his pencil, made an X in one of the squares.

Therion reached out and drew O in one of the other squares. They went back and forth until they had filled the grid with symbols. The scoreboard changed. MONOKUMA: 0. THERION: 0. TIES: 1.

Monokuma replaced the paper with a new one, a blank grid facing up at them. They looked at each other for a moment, and then it was on. With blinding speed they entered Xs and Os, flinging the papers aside and replacing them one after another after another. The number of ties climbed.

I noticed something else, too. Above Therion's head, emerging from the wall, was a giant mallet. It was impossibly distorted, covered in ever-changing, scrolling numbers and letters, and it was held by a white-gloved, mechanical hand. I saw Therion look up at it once, in the middle of his furious gameplay, but other than that, he didn't acknowledge it at all.

The numbers climbed faster than I could keep up. Completed game papers flew everywhere, the pencils moving so fast, smoke began to rise from the table. The mallet clicked closer and closer to Therion, settling just above his head, then beginning to arc back to the place where it could swing down... right on top of him.

The numbers continued to climb, but they slowed; Therion was pausing slightly between plays. Still, the numbers rose. TIES: 249. 250. 251.

Slower. 252. 253. 254. And 255.

The mallet was locked into place above him, the gibberish still splayed across it, flashing madly. Monokuma grinningly, slowly, filled in the second-to-last square. X.

Therion closed his eyes and took a breath. He looked back at the looming shape ready to descend. He reached out and deliberately, slowly marked: O. The mallet began to swing. Monokuma lifted the game sheet and tossed it away.

The scoreboard emitted a shrieking sound, sparks flying out of it. There was a burst of smoke and a huge crash.

When the smoke cleared, the arm holding the mallet was broken, uselessly hanging out of the wall.

But the scoreboard had fallen, and it had landed right on top of Therion.

The only sign of him was a single arm sticking out from under it, unmoving.

"Pu hu hu hu!" Monokuma laughed gleefully. "The wheel of justice continues to turn!"

"You're a monster," Rodrigo growled.

"Am I?!" Monokuma innocently placed his paws on his chest. "I merely enforce the rules! Society cannot function without rules! Our dear game designer learned that lesson in his final moments!"

He shrugged. "Oh well! You all have the rest of the day off! As I said before, classes will no longer be held. I'll send you a monomail tomorrow with exciting new academic opportunities!"

Ashley waved her hand like she was asking a question in class. "Dean, who is responsible for the laundry now that Therion is dead?!"

Monokuma waved his paw dismissively. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. The chores were just to help you murder each other. They're pointless now. Do your own laundry."

"What?!" JP yelled. "We stayed up all night for nothing?!"

"No, I told you! You stayed up all night because it helped there be a great murder! Remember, murder is all this program is!" He hopped down and walked towards us, shooing us with his arms. "Now, go, go! Trial's over! Get on the elevator!"

TRIAL ELEVATOR

As we slowly ascended, I felt a a hand on my shoulder. Too tired to be startled, I turned. Earl's handsome, stoic face looked back at me. "Good work, Wild," he said.

"Yeah!" Emily agreed. I smiled softly and looked around to see at least grudging respect or appreciation on everyone's faces... except then I saw Giuseppe. His gaze was icy, dark.

"What does the paper say?" Juliet asked, and I realized I had forgotten about it.

"Oh. Um, I don't know." I unfolded the paper Therion had given me and looked down at it. It was so shocking, I almost stopped breathing.

It was a printed-out pdf; it looked like it had been scanned. There was a list of all of our names on it in alphabetical order, along with the year and "Fall term" at the top.

But the shocking thing was the handwritten part next to it. In neat, precise script, someone had written: "Participant DR-001333 once again refused to graduate and will therefore be re-enrolled in the Killing Game this term. Subsequently, only fourteen new recruits are required and the attached list is therefore complete."

Earl took the paper and read it himself, paling. Wordlessly, we passed it around the elevator.

"Only fourteen...?" Katy asked. "But..."

"One of us is the mastermind," Jane said softly. "But... someone else has been here before? Someone went through this before and decided to come back?!"

"Multiple times!" Rocky nearly yelled. "Who would do that?!"

"Someone here, right now," Bepi answered, his expression even darker than before. He looked around at the group. "'Refused to graduate.' It doesn't sound like the holdover and the mastermind are exactly on the same side."

Ashley put her hands on her hips. "I don't suppose the holdover wants to make it easy, do they? Tell us who you are?"

No one said anything.

"Maybe it was Therion or Morgan?" Juliet offered hesitantly.

"Maybe," Giuseppe agreed, but he looked as unsure about it as I felt. With a ding, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Despite the fresh air coming in from outside, I felt like I was suffocating.

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

It had been early evening when the trial ended, and I think everyone just wanted to be by themselves. I had tried to talk to Bepi, but he grunted one-word responses and left. I felt like it was understandable, but a piece of me felt slighted. Hadn't he appreciated what I'd done in the trial?

I was lying on my bed, trying and failing to sleep, when I heard a knock on the door. I rose and lurched over to it. "Who is it?"

A piece of paper emerged from the gap under my door. Even standing, I could read: Lucina.

Taking a slight moment to prepare as charming a smile as I could, I opened the door. She stood there, looking anxious and concerned. She held up a note: May I come in?

I stepped back and she entered, the door closing behind her. "Oh, come have a seat," I said, but she shook her head. Not staying long.

I paused. "Um... okayyy. What's up?"

She frowned, writing up a new note. You knew from the beginning Therion had changed the sheets. Why didn't you mention it earlier?

I paused, confused. "Uh. I was trying to build a case. I wanted everyone to understand the way the crime went first. We all had to talk it out."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. You also pretended to get things wrong so people could correct you.

Before I could reply, she wrote again. You let people think they came up with the ideas you were trying to lead them to.

I took a step back, feeling strange energy in my chest. "What is your problem? I'm the reason we're still alive right now. I did what I had to do."

Her response was quick: I appreciate and respect how you were able to figure it all out.

Her followup was even quicker: But you enjoyed it, didn't you?

"Enjoyed what?" I felt my forehead creasing in defensiveness. "Look..."

I didn't know I could be interrupted by a piece of paper, but she whipped it out so forcefully I stopped talking. You enjoyed knowing that you could manipulate everyone however you wanted. You enjoyed watching Therion twisting in your net. Right?

"This is ridiculous; I don't deserve to be criticized like this!" I snapped, anger beginning to take over.

I want to trust you. More than anyone else here, I want to trust YOU.

But you terrified me today.

I barely noticed that my fist was clenched so tight, it hurt. "What are you doing? I saved your life! What if I hadn't done that?" I glared. "Maybe I won't, next time! Maybe the next time there's a murder, I'll just let us all die! Do you want to die, Lucina?!"

She held up her hand, palm first. I was shaking; my cheeks were wet. She smoothly turned and just walked right out the door into the hallway.

I stood in my empty room, crying, cold.

Q: Tell me about your parents.
TS: Not much relationship. Normal people.
Q: What did they teach you? What's the most important thing you learned from them?
TS: Suppose... independence. Need to take care of self. Other people aren't important.
Q: What do you mean by 'not important?' You don't care about others?
TS: I do care. But it's agitating to have to rely on them. Tiring to deal with them. Part of why I make games.
Q: Hm? What's the connection to games?
TS: Game is way to relate that doesn't require presence. Can give the game to others, then get out. But I'm still there, in a way. Because my game, my mind, still part of their life. They engage, interact, play, and I can be gone. [long pause] It's a form of immortality, I suppose.