DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

I spent the rest of the day to myself in my room, thinking about chess. I hadn't been able to do that for a while. There was something seductively comfortable about the near-infinite patterns that branched out of each game like a fractal, something I could lose myself in so easily.

I remembered how mom had encouraged me to get into chess. She never said it was because of the social benefits, but every time she picked me up from my chess club meetings, she was always so interested in talking about the other kids, and there was always a little disappointment when I just wanted to talk about the game. I never said anything about how it made me feel, because what could I even say? "I want to complain that you're being supportive but not in the exact right way?"

I mean, she wasn't like dad; she didn't just think I was...

...Anyway, here I was in college, and just like everyone said, it was a new start, and people were more willing to get me, even with all my weirdnesses. Of course, they might only be doing that to figure out how to kill me, which was not anything my old high school guidance counselor had said to prepare for.

When I finally fell asleep, my dreams continued their typical patterns. Monokuma brandished a meat cleaver, but he was utterly silent. Therion stood in the background, stoic and cold. He looked up at me. "Suspense."

He rubbed his throat as if it was difficult to talk and continue. "Suspense when inevitable happens, but it might not. Suspense is: dead cat, still dead." His voice faded and he bent over for a moment, wheezing. He recovered, stood upright, and resumed speaking. "Fell out of tree when I was young. Was falling for almost one full second. Remember that second. Waiting to hit ground. Waiting forever, within one second. Thought, 'Maybe I won't hit ground.'" He stared. "That's suspense."

I woke up groggily, slowly, feeling completely unrested.

FRAT HOUSE: MAIN ROOM

I walked in, expecting to see something different from before, but no: It was just the same couches and seats and dirty rugs. I guess it made sense... the space was already made for parties, so not much had to be done to prepare for a one.

I heard voices coming from the kitchen, so I headed in that direction, trying to keep myself from wondering what might have happened on these couches over the years.

FRAT HOUSE: WALK-IN FREEZER

JP wore a heavy coat, and he tilted a keg up so he could see the sticker on the bottom. "Nope," he said.

Jane stood nearby, folding her arms across her stomach uncomfortably. She looked over at me when I walked in, started to say something, stopped, and then sighed. "Saya."

"Yo, Saya!" JP greeted. "Have you picked out what beer you want, yet? Everyone gets their own pony keg!"

I glanced at the kegs, all lined up; a bafflingly enormous amount of alcohol. The kegs were each silver, blank except one small sticker that apparently indicated the kind of beer and the brewery. I wondered how anyone could keep up with this many variations. "Um, I'm not drinking, remember? I'm with Ashley and Rodrigo."

"Oh yeah. Well, that doesn't matter! You should still be able to have your favorite, even if you can't drink at the party! What do you like?"

"I'm not really sure," I answered. "I haven't had beer that often." I glanced over to Jane for help. "What do you like?"

Jane sniffed with vague offense. "I'm... a bit of a special case."

"I'm trying to find something non-alcoholic for her," JP added, sticking out his tongue in disgust.

"It's... not a particularly sound idea for me to drink alcohol," Jane grudgingly clarified.

"Yeah, she's a super lightweight, or something," JP added. He glanced over another keg's label. "Whoa, ok, no, that one's super alcoholic."

"I am not a lightweight," Jane replied, glaring. "My body's chemical make-up is... unusual. It's one of the consequences of my... ambition."

I squinted at her. "Um. What are you talking about, unusual?"

"I don't particularly want to get into the details," she said, still haughty. "Just suffice it to say, there have been times in the past, especially when I was younger, that I needed to perform some tests, and no other... subjects were available."

JP froze, then looked up at her in confusion. "Hold up. You experimented on yourself? Like, your own genes, or whatever?"

"Before one walks, one must learn to crawl!" Jane defended. She sighed and held up her right arm, still clad, as always, in her elbow-length glove. She reached up with her other hand and peeled back the glove about two inches.

Her arm was green. Like, garish lime green. "Whoa, holy shit!" JP exclaimed.

Jane rolled her glove back down. "I have a number of... peculiarities. I assure you, none affect my mental abilities in the slightest. But as one consequence, alcohol affects me in... ah. Unpredictable ways."

"Unpredictable."

"Yes. Unpredictable." She apparently had no need to explain any further than that.

"Hm. Why don't you just drink soda, or water?" I asked.

"Because then I'd have to have this exact conversation a thousand times at the party, and I didn't even like having it once." She huffed. "I've told Emily, because she has the proper scientific orientation, but..."

"Aha!" JP suddenly yelped. He grabbed a keg and dragged it out into the open, then rubbed his hands together to bring back the warmth. "Check it out, non-alcoholic! Some kind of pale ale. Do you like pale ales?"

"I suppose it'll do."

JP pumped his fist. "Yeah! Tri-chi!" He looked at me. "C'mon Saya, what do you like? We got like everything."

"I don't know... what's everyone else having?"

JP indicated a row of small kegs set up in a line, pointing at each in turn. "Earl's got something called 'dunkel,' Juliet has some kind of fruity lambic, Barrett's got a stout, Nicole took a lager, Emily has an IPA... dude, we got everything."

I blinked, then threw my hands up helplessly. "I have no idea."

"I'll figure it out!" JP said cheerfully. He squinted at me in concentration. "I'm thinking... Guinness. But I don't know for sure! I'll let you know."

Jane rolled her eyes and left without another word. But JP was so cheerful, I couldn't feel much but appreciation. "Thanks."

ARTS CENTER: VISUAL ARTS SUITE

I decided to head back to the painting studio, where I'd run into Bepi and Ashley. I felt a strange impulse to remember Morgan. I was apparently in no danger of forgetting Therion, but Morgan... he had been such a mystery; he splashed into my life and just as quickly was taken away.

Even if the Vandal was a part of him, I needed to remember the kind, odd boy who never got to grow up into anything.

I found myself in front of an abandoned, half-complete painting, sitting lonely on an easel in a corner. It had a vague face-shape, just a blob of grey. I wondered what Morgan would do with something like that; how he'd see it with his artistic eye.

I picked up a couple of mostly-empty tubes of paint: red and green. I squeezed a little of each onto my fingers and left dots scattered all around the top of the head... little blips of multicolored hair.

Morgan had believed that if he just played by the rules, then eventually, somehow, he'd be rewarded. The gatekeepers of art would just swoop down and notice him and discover his genius. But the Vandal had thought the only worthwhile thing was to destroy all the rules, just cause chaos and fear and confusion.

I picked up another tube of paint; this one was black. I squeezed it onto my hands, but this time, I just threw it at the canvas. It splattered onto the face-shape, leaving just an ugly splotch.

Of course, neither one got what they wanted. Morgan was never noticed; he just struggled and struggled, and the art world ignored him. And if Monokuma was right, the Vandal's chaos was embraced by the art world. The gatekeepers and experts weren't cowed or alarmed; they championed him as a revelation.

I suddenly felt so, so sad he was dead. He was stuck in this bind, and he never was able to find a way out.

I somberly walked over to a big, metal sink in the corner and rinsed my hands off as well as I could. As I turned the water off, I was surprised to hear sounds coming from a nearby door. Curious, I walked over to it and hesitantly pushed it open.

ARTS CENTER: VISUAL ART COMPUTER LAB

I found a computer lab, much smaller than the one in the dorms, but with more expensive-looking computers and a bunch of weird scanner/printer devices that looked extremely complicated and intimidating. Nicole sat at one of the computers, clicking away on a mouse, muttering to herself.

"Oh, hey Saya," she said when she saw me. "Has your hair always been like that?"

"Like what?" I asked.

"Oh!" she exclaimed instead of answering me. "I haven't forgotten your turtleneck outfit, I promise. But I just gotta think some more about the shade of black for it, you know? Pure black, you'll look like a mime or something. You need, like, navy blue or purple-black."

"Uh, okay, wow," I said, scratching my head idly. "Thanks for putting so much thought into it."

"I gotta! You won't." She paused, then resumed clicking. "Was that an insult? Sorry if that was an insult. I just meant, you think you won't ever look cute, so you don't try." She paused again. "Wait, that's worse. I mean, you're scared of being a sexual being, so you artificially lowered your own self-esteem." She paused again. "Wait..."

"Okay, I think I get it!" I interrupted. "Please, please stop trying to make it better."

"Cool." She focused back on the computer. "Hey, take a look at this, will you?"

I went over and glanced at her screen. She had some sort of photo manipulation program open, a huge, esoteric set of options sprawled across the screen. In the middle, looking odd and unimportant, was a page I recognized from Nicole's sketch book: a design of some kind of long coat.

"Fuckin' mac shit..." Nicole muttered. "Do you know how to use this thing? I'm just trying to, like, select stuff."

"Uh, no," I replied. "Sorry, I've never used a program like that."

"Ugg," she grunted. "It's like, super easy to do all this stupid filter crap, but I can't select anything." She clicked around on the set of options. "Ooo, look, I can make it all sepia-tone! Now it looks like a kid's crayon drawing! Now it looks all metallic!" She sighed. "If I wanted to make a coat out of crayon, I'd..." She trailed off, tapping her chin in thought. "Saya! Remind me that I totally want to make a crayon coat, okay?"

"Um... when?"

"When what?" She blinked, then growled in frustration and pushed back from the computer. "Ugggh, this thing is awful. Oh!" She looked up at me. "Glad you're not murdered yet, by the way."

I didn't know what to say, so I just went with, "You, too."

She smiled, so I guess it was okay. "You got a strategy for how to stay alive?"

"Not really. Just... hope there aren't any more murders."

She gaped at me. "No more... Saya!" She shook her head violently. "Don't think like that! Of course there are going to be more murders. There have to be!"

"Why?"

"Think about it!" She gestured around the room. "I don't think it's some coincidence this new stuff got opened up after Vandalman got killed. That's gonna happen every time. Someone told me the only escape is through some 'administration building,' and I don't see that around anywhere, do you? They'll open that shit up once there's only a few of us left."

I frowned; I had a difficult time arguing with her. "So... this 'escape' thing is a trick?"

"Nah, not a trick. Just not going to happen until more murders are pointless anyway. They make us play their game over and over, and by then..." She trailed off and shrugged. "Dunno. Something bad."

I sighed. "Maybe? I think the truth is, we just don't know anything."

"Well, I know I want to survive, and I don't see any reason this game won't go a few rounds before we're through with it. You want my advice, do the same as me: keep your head down, stay in the background, play along, watch your back."

"...How do you do all that?"

"Grey-black!" she suddenly exclaimed, startling me. "That's your turtleneck color. And it's easy. You just gotta teach yourself to do more than one thing at the same time."

I just looked at her for a second, then I sighed. "Thanks for the advice, Nicole."

"Any time! I mean it, Saya, you're cool. Fucking MAC SHIT!"

I decided to excuse myself while she was still raving.

DORM: LOUNGE

In the afternoon, I reported to the lounge as Ashley had directed. I found her with her arms crossed, annoyed. Juliet stood across from her, peering down at a piece of paper and scratching her head in confusion. Rodrigo sat nearby, looking uncomfortable.

Juliet looked over at me hopefully. "Um... can Saya help?"

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Ugh, no. This is all just common sense! You're at the party, and you see someone passed out in the corner, and you could murder them. What do you do?"

"Um..." Juliet looked up hopefully. "...Not...murder them?"

"Okay," Ashley replied. "And...?"

"...Stay with them? To make sure no one else hurts them?"

Ashley scowled, then sighed. "Fine, I'll accept it. You may attend the party."

"Yay!" Juliet squealed, clapping.

"But for the record!" Ashley grunted, "the correct answer was to go get a chaperone!"

"Ohhhhhh," Juliet said, in such a way that did not at all communicate she really understood.

Ashley waved her hand dismissively. "Just study the rules before tomorrow night."

"Will do!" She grinned at all of us. "Thanks so much for helping!" She bounced over to me and grabbed my hands. "Saya, are you absolutely positive you won't be able to party with us?"

"Yes, she's sure!" Ashley snapped. Juliet frowned gorgeously and, with a happy farewell, skipped from the room.

"The greatest tragedy," Ashley muttered to us, "is to have high standards in a world of low standards."

I looked at her. "If the world has high standards, then why would you need low standards?"

"You talk to Giuseppe too much." She huffed. "My parents taught me that only the very best is acceptable, and I'm not going to drop that just because I'm surrounded by idiots and slackers." She frowned. "Juliet is so smug. The only reason she looks like that is because her parents were easy on her. They spoiled her."

I glanced at Rodrigo; he seemed as uncomfortable as I felt. I didn't want to egg Ashley on, but I was also scared to leave her hanging. "Um. How do you know they spoiled her? Maybe they didn't."

"Because look at her!" Ashley fumed. "All... tall and developed. You know she got three meals a day like clockwork, no matter how good her grades were."

"Three... wait, Ashley, you think she was spoiled because she was given three meals a day? Your parents didn't feed you?!"

"Of course they fed me!" Ashley snapped. "I didn't starve, did I? They just refused to give me all I wanted to eat. They made sure I didn't grow up entitled!"

"Entitled to food?!" I felt like I was talking to some kind of hologram; this couldn't possibly be a real person describing her real life.

"Yes!" She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "You aren't going to start that whole 'oh, your parents were abusive,' thing, are you? As if kids should grow up expecting protein, even if they get an A minus?"

I stared at her, baffled, but Rodrigo cautiously stepped between us before I could speak again. "I... believe I understand what Friend Coelho is describing," he said gently. "My upbringing was not so different. I also sympathize with Friend Wild's perspective. I believe that at least for now, we must simply respect one another's experiences."

Ashley grunted. "Fine."

I glanced between them and paused when I saw the look on Rodrigo's face. He was angry, but it wasn't directed towards anyone else in the room. He was angry at Ashley's parents, I realized. But he knew it was bad for us to argue.

"Right," I said. "Sorry, Ashley."

Ashley nodded to me but did not say anything. She picked up a piece of paper. "These are the rules for the party. All the attendees have been given a copy, but we must post others in prominent places, in case any of these idiots loses theirs."

I thought she might still be trying to pick a fight by calling them idiots, but I did not take the bait. I just picked up some tacks and some pieces of paper, and the three of us left to hang the rules up all around.

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

That evening, I retired to my room early, still bothered by the conversation with Ashley. I wondered if Giuseppe knew about her upbringing; if part of his motivation in arguing with her so much was to shake her loose from her rigidity.

Around 9:00pm, I was surprised by a knock on my door. I walked over to the entrance, almost unconsciously grabbing my stun gun and slipping it into my pocket. "Who is it?"

"It's I!" Emily's shy but happy voice answered. Smiling, I opened the door.

She wasn't alone. Juliet stood with her, waving to me, and Jane crossed her arms over her chest, looking annoyed. "Oh," I said, "hi, everyone."

"We wanted to go stargazing," Emily said. "I don't have any equipment here, and my work doesn't really actually involve anything but computers and maths, but sometimes I just really want to go look at the stars. Do you want to come with us?"

I simply couldn't keep from smiling when confronted with such an offer. I nodded. "Do I need to bring anything?"

"We already got a blanket!" Juliet answered. "Just..."

"Time to go," Jane interrupted, walking off. Juliet pouted, but I guess we were all pretty used to her personality. We all just followed her.

NORTH QUAD

Juliet spread the blanket out on top of a small hill in the center of the quad. Neither the art center nor the frat house emitted too much light at night, and only the paths were illuminated, so we got a pretty good view of the stars. We all just lay down, looking up.

As usual, my mind found a way to race (multiplication tables), but I was comfortable there, with the others.

"Hey, Emily," Juliet spoke up. "Teach me something about space, okay?"

"Hm? Teach you what?"

"Anything! Just something you think is cool."

"Um." Emily's voice faltered a little, but just for a moment. "All right. Do you see those two bright stars just above the horizon?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, look above them and to the left. Do you see kind of a... squished square?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, you can just very barely see it, but right in that space is an entire other galaxy. The Andromeda galaxy. It's not all bound up with us; it's a totally different thing."

"Whoa..." Juliet breathed. "I wonder what it's like there."

"Me too." Emily's voice was quiet. "It's all just... gravity to me, most of the time. When I look like this, it's more real."

"It's probably just the same as what we're used to," Jane said. "The rules of chemistry aren't bound by galaxy. Life is life; rocks are rocks; energy is energy."

There was a pause. "That's sad," Juliet said finally. There was a longer pause, and then she added, "Sometimes I wish I could go to somewhere totally different. Someplace that doesn't have the same... everything."

"Hmm." I raised up onto my elbows and looked over at her. "I'm surprised to hear you say that. I wouldn't think you'd want to be far away from your sweetheart."

Juliet gave me a brilliant smile. "You're right! I'm so silly; I can't be a good girlfriend from a galaxy away!"

Jane glanced over at her. "Who is this 'sweetheart' of yours?" she asked with just a little snideness. "Someone from high school?"

"Oh, goodness. It feels like I've known my sweetheart my entire life." She sat up, biting her lip in thought. "My sweetheart is... everything. My whole purpose. I'm not sure what else to say."

"Uh." I sat up too, frowning. "Juliet, it's not... I mean, most people don't think it's really all that healthy to say things like that."

"I know! People tell me that alllll the tiiiiiime." She was still grinning. "And I know you think differently from me, and I still think you're wonderful and really, really smart! But I just have to believe that love is all that really matters. If I'm living for my sweetheart, that's the only way I'm really living."

I started to say something, but footsteps interrupted me. We looked over to see Rocky walking up to us, waving. "Yo!" he greeted. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Stargazing!" Emily replied. "Would you like to join us?"

"Stars! Hardcore!" That wasn't really an answer to Emily's question, but he threw himself down on the blanket anyway.

"Say," Jane said smoothly, "tell us the truth. Are you really gay, or was that just a trick?"

"Wha? No, I'm totally gay. That woulda been really smart, though, huh?"

"That's a shame," Juliet said, scrunching up her face into a frown. "You're so handsome!"

"Aw thanks, dude," Rocky replied breezily, his lack of any further reaction entirely convincing me of his gayness. "But I thought about it, and I wouldn't be too upset even if I was one of those guys. I can make my beats from a wheelchair!"

Emily looked around. "It is a bit odd. This motive is... it's certainly horrible. But I'd expect the mastermind to be scarier. Torture or execution or... something!"

Juliet shook her head forcefully. "Oh, no! No, you're missing everything about it. It's horrible because of who they are!"

She looked at us as if it was entirely obvious what she meant, but she frowned when she saw our baffled expressions "They're men," she explained. "Men need to do and act and... and do! I know being in a wheelchair wouldn't be worth killing for any of us, but that's because we're not men!" She glanced over at Rocky. "Straight men."

We looked around at one another; clearly, no one really knew what to say. "I'm... not really sure about that," I ventured.

"Men are men and women are women," Juliet insisted. There was another uncomfortable pause.

"What are you saying?" Rocky asked. "One of those guys is gonna try to kill someone?"

Juliet gasped. "Oh, no! Of course not! I believe in the men here. I believe in all of us! But we should just know... it's not the same for them. They're being so strong."

I thought of arguing, but Juliet was being such a weird mix of sweet and dogmatic, I wasn't even sure how. Finally, Emily just said, "Oh, Rocky, were you working on music tonight?"

"Yeah, dude!" Rocky grinned widely, as if nothing had ever been awkward. "I'm amped to give you guys something for the party tomorrow night! You're all going, right?"

We nodded, Emily blushing as she did. "I'm...a bit new to university parties, though. It won't be too overwhelming, will it? Just... just being around everyone? I admit to being a little nervous in such a big social setting."

"It'll be great!" Rocky enthused. "You shouldn't be worried; everyone loves you!"

Emily blinked. "They do?"

"Naturally they do," Jane said. "You're a scientist. And you exude charm, darling."

Emily was clearly bright red, even in the dim light. "...Really? I don't feel charming."

Juliet gasped. "Oh! I have a wonderful idea!" She grabbed Emily's hands. "I'll help you get ready tomorrow! I'll do your make-up and hair!" She emitted a sound that was dangerously close to an actual 'squee.' "When you make your entrance, no one will be able to look away! You'll feel like the beautiful girl you are. Those guys won't know what hit them!"

Jane looked like she wanted to protest, but she caught herself and frowned. Oblivious, Juliet just grinned at everyone. "Do you want to come, too? Sorry, Rocky, boys not invited!"

"Uh, no," I said. "Sorry, I have to meet Ashley before the party."

Jane regarded Juliet with narrowed eyes. "I'll pass as well," she said haughtily. She glanced sideways at Emily. "But... please remember, darling, you said before you'd stick with me at the party. That's doubly true if you're planning to be all done up. You can't trust people here." She snorted.

"Oh, of course, Jane!" Emily replied, very sincerely. "It means so much you'll help me! And I remember what you said: Don't drink anything unless I pour it myself or you give it to me."

Jane nodded smartly, and Juliet clapped. "Hooray! This is going to be wonderful. Every day, we're all getting along more and more."

And then, as if irony was cuing it, Rocky spotted a figure walking across the quad and waved. "Hey, Luce!" he called. "Luce, over here, yo!"

Lucina paused, then walked over, hesitant but graceful. She was smiling until she got a good look at everyone who was gathered on the blanket. Then her expression went blank.

"You headed to the art building?" Rocky asked.

Lucina nodded, looking exposed and uncomfortable.

"We're looking at the stars," Emily said. "Would you like to join us? I'd be just wonderful to spend time with you."

Lucina hesitated. I quickly feigned a yawn. "Oh," I said. "I think I'm too sleepy to stay out much later. I'm going to head back to the dorm." I stood and gave everyone a hopefully believable smile. "Good night!" I scurried away.

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

I quickly went back to my room, hoping she was able to join them. I wasn't tired yet, but I had found a collection of short stories in the student stores written by someone named "Yuri Lilyheart." It took me about five seconds to realize this was actually Katy: it had every trope she'd mentioned in conversation. But still, somehow... it was really good. When the one cowgirl hung herself with her own lariat, I felt tears running down my cheeks.

When I finally fell asleep, my dream was the same. Monokuma stirred a cauldron, wearing a pointy, black hat. Therion stood in the background, hands clasped behind his back. "Mystery writers have decades of tricks that have been deemed unfair," he said. "Render the mystery so obtuse and outlandish, no reader could possibly have guessed them."

He glanced down at Monokuma, rolled his eyes, and continued: "For instance, if murderer has not been introduced until just before detective solves the crime. Or if crime depended on supernatural: killer can bilocate or victim made of elastic."

He shrugged. "But real life? No rules. Maybe killer is complete stranger. Maybe killer can bilocate. Maybe no logic to anything at all. See why games are better?"

Once again, when I woke up, I felt like I hadn't slept at all.

FRAT HOUSE: THE TOMB

Around noon, after an uneventful breakfast and slow morning, I decided to head over to the frat house to see if JP needed any help. I went into the side apartment (Earl had told me he was sleeping there now), but he didn't answer when I knocked. I stuck my head in, calling for him quietly, but he didn't respond.

I found him in that creepy hazing room. He stood with his back to me, standing over the stone altar. He did not move for a moment.

"Um, JP?"

"Aaugh!" He screeched, spun around, and threw his hand up into a salute. "Sir! Chi chi chi was first nationally sanctioned by President John Tyler in Princeton, New Jersey!" He blinked, then seemed to notice where he was, putting a hand on his chest. "Oh! Yo. Sorry. This kind of room brings back some memories from when I was first rushing! We had to remember every one of those facts perfectly, or they made us eat..."

"JP," I said, "please for the love of god do not tell me what they made you eat."

"No, it's not that bad," he argued, "it was just, you take some eggs, and some vomit, and you..."

"No! JP, no! No!"

He frowned but fell silent. Just for a moment. Then he mumbled, "It's called a vomlette."

"Oh my god, JP, stop!" I rubbed my forehead in irritation and sighed. "Nicer topic, okay? I came to see if you need any help with the party set-up."

"Hmm." He put his hands on his hips, thinking. "Oh! I think the only thing is, head over to see if Rocky needs any help moving his stuff over? We're already wired up for music, but he wanted to bring speakers and shit."

I nodded. "Sure."

"But!" JP grinned at me. "First, you gotta come with me!"

"I do?"

Instead of answering, he just walked out into the hallway and gestured that I follow him.

FRAT HOUSE: BEDROOM

We stepped into a small, messy bedroom. "Eh, sorry about that," JP muttered, lightly tapping a discarded shirt with his foot. "I pretty much moved in here, and I already got laundry everywhere." He walked to a chest of drawers , grabbed one of the handles, and twisted it. A door squeakily opened up in a seemingly blank wall.

"Tada!" he announced. "Check it out, dude: a fucking secret passage! Isn't that awesome?"

"Uh, wow." I glanced into the passage, seeing only darkness. "Doesn't this creep you out?"

"Hell no, it's cool as shit." He strutted right in. I hesitantly followed him.

FRAT HOUSE: KITCHEN

The passage ended up being just a few feet long; it opened up into another door. We stepped out into the kitchen. "It's just a shortcut," JP explained.

I frowned as I watched the door close back up behind us, leaving behind some mundane-looking shelves. "I wonder if it has to do with this building, or if there's stuff like this all over the campus," I mused. "Monokuma keeps popping up from nowhere; maybe he's using stuff like this?"

"No, I'm not!" Monokuma's voice blurted from hidden speakers. "And I'm making a new rule: Students may not speculate about the mysterious abilities of their school mascot!"

JP rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever. C'mon." He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the beer freezer.

FRAT HOUSE: WALK-IN FREEZER

I noticed that a bunch of small kegs had been pulled out to the middle of the room, standing in a row. Each had some kind of device sticking out the top, with a handle and hose. "Is this everyone's kegs for the party?" I asked.

"Yeah! Everyone helped me move them and set them up in taps. Having a walk-in freezer is fucking awesome; we don't have to lug around a bunch of ice."

"How many glasses of beer is in each of those?" I asked, eyeing the kegs.

"Like a hundred? Better to have too much than too little!" He grinned. "You run out, you just come in here and pump yourself another glass." He pointed at the nearest keg, which had a pink sticky note on it that said JP. Looking closer, each keg had its own sticky note and name. "It was Earl and Ashley's suggestion! They said it was like important to know how much each person drank, which... like sure, gotta keep up."

He suddenly clapped his hands. "Speaking of which!" He led me over to a corner of the freezer, where two kegs lay on their side, isolated from the others. "I narrowed it down to two, for you! You said you don't drink beer much, so it's my responsibility to introduce you to it! C'mon, pick the one you like better!"

I sighed, unsure whether to be flattered or slightly creeped out. I leaned over the kegs; like all the others, they were just blank aluminum with one small sticker on the underside to indicate the brewery and kind of beer. One said Guinness Harp Lager. The other said Delirium Tremens.

I looked up at JP, raising an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Pick one at random!" He was so cheerful about this. "College is about new experiences, right? Well, come on, trust me. I'm a doof, but I'm all about helping people get stuff they want, y'know?"

I could not help from smiling at his sincerity. I stood up. "The Guinness, I guess."

"Hell, yeah!" He nodded smartly. "Tonight, you're DD, but some other night, we'll hang out and have some Guinness, okay? I promise, it rules."

"Okay, JP." I meant it. He actually made it sound like fun, even in the midst of this horrible place. "I'm going to go see if Rocky needs any help."

"Rock!"

I headed out, leaving him pushing the Delirium Tremens keg back among the rest of the beers.

ARTS CENTER: MUSIC STUDIO

I found Rocky sitting in a small studio, soundproofing on the walls and esoteric equipment everywhere. He sat at an enormous control board that could legitimately have been the most complicated thing I had ever seen. A bassline played from speakers, filling the room, and he nodded his head to the rhythm endearingly.

"Hey!" he said when he saw me. He pressed a key on a keyboard that was near him, and the bassline suddenly changed to a new set of chords. "You like this better?"

"Hm. Kind of? I'm not really an expert."

"Psh, you can't be an expert on house. You just feel it."

"Um, okay." I shrugged. "I feel this one more."

"Sweet!" He reached out and flicked a switch; a simple drum beat began playing. "This shit is amazing. I've never worked with anything like this."

I raised an eyebrow at the array of controls, screens, and flashing lights on the board. "It looks... really complex, to me."

"No, dude, it's simple!" He pointed to a screen with a woggling, green shape on it. "That's the visualizer." He indicated an LED screen with steadily increasing numbers on it. "That's the bar counter; it counts every four beats, see? Lets you know how long you've been running." He waved his hand over a mass of slider controls. "This controls sync for all the different tracks. Up to thirty-six different tracks. Thirty-six!" He pointed to another screen that indeed showed the number 36.

I chuckled. "Rocky, I don't know what any of this means, but it's good to see you so excited. I'm looking forward to finally hearing your work."

"Ah, well, you know. It's not my best; it's just some beats I made up in the past couple of days. You just wait another week and see what I got for you then!"

I grinned. "Hey, JP said you might need help carrying some speakers over or something."

"Oh, yeah!" He stood up and led me over to the other side of the studio, where there was a small push-trolley with a couple of fuzzy, black cubes. "I think I can get the speakers and most of my gear with this. If you just carry my loop station over, that'd be all I need." He pointed over at a piece of black electronic equipment over in the corner.

I walked over and began to lift it, but I paused when I looked closer. "Uh, this is all smashed up."

"What?" He glanced over, then snorted. "Oh, right, fuck. I threw it at the wall."

"Why did you throw it at the wall?"

"I told you, I get mad sometimes!" He huffily walked over to the large controls and began yanking wires off a similar-looking device. After removing what seemed like dozens of wires, he handed the thing over to me. "Here, take this one. Just leave it in the main room, okay?" I nodded. "Thanks, dude. This is gonna be lit!"

FRAT HOUSE: LIVING AREA

After dinner and a workout, I met Ashley and Rodrigo in JP's living area. I could hear music coming through the walls; the party hadn't officially started yet, but Rocky was already playing his music. It sounded really good.

Rodrigo was dressed the same as he always was, but Ashley had her hair in a long, precise braid, and she was not wearing her beret. I wondered if I should have dressed up, but then I realized that I didn't have any particularly dressy clothes to start with. I idly resented how skillfully Nicole had me pegged when she said I was scared to look good.

"Don't get in the way," Ashley was saying. "Just be normal! Pay attention to how much people are drinking. Try to see if anyone's close to unconsciousness; if so, they will need to be escorted back to their dorm room."

"My concern about this event has grown by the hour," Rodrigo said.

"We shouldn't be worried if a murder will happen right there in front of everyone," Ashley said. "We've made it so it won't be dimly lit (despite the fratboy's irritating complaints), and there is safety in numbers. The danger will be if someone leaves. Make sure everyone's there who should be, and certainly do not let more than one person leave together!" She wagged a finger at us both. "Be in constant contact. There should be at least two of us in the main room of the party at all times."

I pressed a hand against my stomach, which was suddenly fluttery. "This is feeling like a lot of responsibility."

"Well, grow up and take responsibility!" Ashley snapped. "Now: Let's party!"

Rodrigo and I glanced at one another. "Let us party," he said halfheartedly.

FACT 13: Each party attendee has their own pony keg of beer. Each keg is labeled only with a sticker on the bottom.

FACT 14: Jane has to drink non-alcoholic beer, because her molecular structure causes 'unpredictable' things to happen if she has alcohol.

FACT 15: The computer lab in the visual arts center has scanners, printers, and complicated desktop publishing software.

FACT 16: Juliet is going to help Emily prepare for the party. Jane does not seem happy about this.

FACT 17: There's a secret passage connecting the living area to the party area in the frat house.

FACT 18: The pony kegs for the party have been lined up for easy access in the freezer. Each is labeled with a sticky-note, and each has been outfitted with a pump.

FACT 19: The studio in the music part of the arts center has a huge, complicated control board. Rocky moved a lot of his other equipment and speakers to the party, but he left behind a loop station, which he'd destroyed in anger.

Author's note: I'm sure everything will be fine! But just in the crazy, outlandish case that there IS a murder soon, who do you think would be the victim? Who do you think would be the killer?