Everyone just stared at me from their places around the circle, but Monokuma clapped his paws and jumped up and down in glee. "What drama! Very well, you may continue the trial, but it's well past this old bear's bedtime, so get a move on!"

Rocky waved his hands around in confusion. "What do you mean, 'Emily told us?'" Is it..." He trailed off, then pointed at Jane. "There really are ghosts! Emily's a ghost and Saya's a spirit medium!"

"Oh, fuck!" Bepi yelped, ducking his head for some reason.

"I am trained to exorcise spirits from beyond the grave," Rodrigo offered.

"Ghosts!" JP screeched.

Ashley slammed her hand into her podium over and over; it made a surprisingly loud slapping sound. "Shut up!" she yelled, louder than I thought her tiny body would be capable of. "Christ, you all are idiots. Who's not an idiot? Is anyone not an idiot?"

"I'm an idiot," Juliet offered, twirling aimlessly in her chains.

"God, shut up," Jane said, sounding more tired than angry by this point. "I volunteer as not an idiot. Saya should explain."

"I second the motion!" Ashley agreed. "All in favor?"

"Aye!" Ashley, Jane, and for some reason Nicole all said in unison.

"Motion passes!" Ashley yipped, "please continue!"

I tried not to think about if she was just making it all up as she went along. "Um. Okay. So, I think..."

"Aye!" Bepi said. We all stared at him in confusion. He looked around proudly, oblivious.

"Uh, so... anyway..." I continued as smoothly as I could, "I think I just put a lot together in my head about the case, so let's take a couple of steps back. Do we all agree the most likely story here is that Juliet acted as an accomplice for her sweetheart?"

"Uh, I guess so," Nicole said. "It makes more sense than anything else. But this means one of us has been her, like, high school boyfriend this whole time?" She shuddered. "Goddamn, how psycho must he be?"

"But who could it be?" Earl asked.

"It's certainly not JP," Rodrigo said. "Because she attempted to frame him for the crime, yes?"

Earl nodded. "And our friend the DJ is psychologically and biologically ineligible!"

"If he's really gay..." Ashley mused.

"Dude, I will make out with Rodrigo right now!" Rocky argued.

Rodrigo took a step back, but after a moment stood straight again. "If it must be to determine the truth of this horrible murder, so be it."

"I... don't think that's necessary," I interrupted, trying to ignore Nicole's disappointed glare. "Let's just assume for now Rocky's telling the truth. That leaves Rodrigo, Bepi, Earl, and Barrett."

"But which one?" Rocky asked.

Jane glared at each of them in turn. "Whoever he is, he's smart," she remarked. "If he helped design this plan, he must be."

Barrett sneered. "I suspect the officer," he snorted, looking at Earl. "Plan took timing, right? Coordination. That's right up his fucking alley."

"Earl is not Juliet's secret boyfriend," Ashley snapped.

"Oh, just fuck him already and shut up," Nicole said, rolling her eyes.

"I beg your pardon!? I..."

"Um, everyone?" I interrupted. "Please, let's focus." Nicole made a suggestive gesture at Ashley, who was thankfully composed enough to ignore it. "I was thinking about what you just said, Barrett. About coordination. Why do you think the plan required that? Unless we're misunderstanding things a lot, Juliet pretty much did everything. She captured Emily and restrained her, tortured her, arranged the way she died, created and planted fake evidence... what did the sweetheart even need to do?"

"Oi, he had to sneak out past everyone, right?" Barrett pointed out.

"Oh, but my goodness!" Juliet suddenly burst out. "It's just impossible to sneak out of the party without going past everyone, and the front door is the only way out! Oh dear, I'm not quite smart enough to figure this out; someone help! I like chess."

She grinned, leering at me. Bepi and Lucina looked very uncomfortable, and I almost lost my track.

I sighed. "Secret passage. Right? Everyone knows about the secret passage? It wouldn't be difficult to sneak out of the kitchen most of the time?"

FACT 15: SECRET PASSAGE
According to Bepi, most people knew about the secret passage leading from the kitchen to the bedroom. He's not sure exactly who JP told, but at a minimum it was Bepi, Earl, Rocky, and Jane.

Everyone nodded. Juliet had a sickening parody of pride on her face and I decided to just keep going. "So, the sweetheart would have a way to sneak out of the party and back, but I don't think they panned ahead of time when and where to go." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath: this was my big leap. "In fact... I think it's possible he didn't even know anything about this at all."

There was a minor outcry, and Ashley slapped her lectern again to get order. "I don't know this for sure," I explained. "But there's evidence at the party that suggests it. Lucina found it; it was too subtle for me to see." She blushed, which I did my best to ignore. "In the freezer, frozen to the floor, there was what looked like the remnants of a note."

FACT 17: PAPERS IN FREEZER
There were pieces of torn paper in the freezer, saying SIC STUD and LIET.

Jane frowned. "'liet' is Juliet, of course, but sic stud?"

Earl laughed. "Perhaps the note was about myself! I am a sic stud!"

"I... think it's the middle part of another phrase," I said quickly. "One that's very important to this case."

"Jurassic Studmuffin?" Bepi offered.

I blinked at him. "Why would..."

"Classic Studebaker!" JP yelled.

"Intrinsic Study hall!" Nicole added.

"Anaphasic Studfishes!" Monokuma chimed in.

"'Music studio,'" Jane said, thankfully putting an end to that nonsense. "The note was telling the boyfriend where to go."

"This is pathetic!" Juliet snapped. "My sweetheart is the smartest person in the world! He planned this all out himself; I just did everything he told me to do, step by step!"

"She's lying," I said, avoiding looking at her. "Juliet wrote her name and a little heart symbol. If this was something the two of them planned together, why would she bother to leave her name? That doesn't incriminate her, like some of the other evidence. It just muddies the story she's trying to tell."

"Girlfriends don't do anything on their own!" she snarled.

I kept ignoring her, but it was getting more difficult. "I don't think her accomplice even knew a murder was supposed to happen tonight."

"You wouldn't understand, Saya, you've spent your whole disgusting life trying to be a man." She glared at me, her blood-encrusted hair spilling down over her face. "Fucking Lucina won't turn you into the son he wanted. It can't change nature. You'll always be weak, sad, little... you."

Now that she had finally made her attack, I felt more pity than anything else. She was just... pathetic. Just obsessed and miserable and afraid. It felt stupid to even respond.

"Anyway, I think we can assume Juliet planned this on her own," I continued. "So her challenge was to communicate the details to her sweetheart without anyone else finding out. To accomplish this, she went into the freezer before the party to leave her accomplice a note," I said.

FACT 19: PRE-PARTY EVENTS
In the time just before the party, Rocky was setting his equipment up. JP, Ashley, Juliet, and Earl were also there for at least a few minutes.

"...and something else happened in the freezer, too." I glanced down at the blue liquid on the floor. "Something, uh, we saw evidence of pretty clearly in here. Jane said she couldn't drink

alcohol because 'unpredictable' things would happen, and, well..."

FACT 9: JANE'S CONDITION
Jane has been acting bizarrely, and she now has stripes. She again mentioned seeing a ghost, but she also is likely hallucinating.

"Ugh," Jane muttered. "Was I rapping? Wait. Don't tell me, I don't want to know." She sighed. "JP, you fucker, you said my beer would be non-alcoholic."

"It was!" JP defended. "I showed you myself, remember?"

"Kegs were just labeled with sticky notes," Bepi said. "Woulda been easy to switch 'em."

Rodrigo frowned. "So... foul demon Mountebank goes into the freezer, leaves a note for her paramour, and also swaps friend Edwards's label with another keg?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

"But why?" Jane asked. "Why get me drunk?"

I glanced at Juliet, who was expressionless, and then back to Jane. "Well, I've been thinking about that. And maybe the point wasn't getting you drunk. Maybe the point was making sure your keg was being used by someone else. You got switched to real beer, but that was just a side effect."

Ashley clenched a fist. "Of course. If she needed to get a message to someone during the party without giving herself away, the best thing to do would be to leave a note in a place she knew he would look."

"Gragh, what are any of you even talking about?!" Barrett growled.

"Think about it," I explained. "If someone got their keg switched with Jane's, what would happen?"

"Uh, they'd be drinking non-alcoholic beer," Bepi answered. "So. Um. Nothing?"

"Exactly." I smirked. "So if you're drinking your beer at the party, and you realize partway through that nothing's happening, what would you do?"

"Oh, shit," Nicole said. "You'd try to find out what was wrong with your shitty beer. You'd go to the freezer and look at the keg with your name on it..."

"Which is what we found. The label is on the bottom of the kegs, remember?"

FACT 16: PONY KEGS (revised)
Someone removed all the name labels from each of the pony kegs. Jane's keg was tipped over onto its side.

"So the place Juliet left the note..."

"...was under Jane's keg." Ashley crossed her arms over her chest, glaring. "She switched the labels, so her accomplice would unknowingly be drinking non-alcoholic beer, and then left the note where he'd find it when he went to investigate."

"This is boring," Juliet grunted. "Professor!" she called up to Monokuma. "This is boring! Saya delayed your vote with a biiiiig dramatic announcement, but then she changed the subject! I think she was trying to trick you."

Monokuma rubbed his chin in thought. "That's a good point," he said. "I agreed to continue this trial because you said the victim named the perpetrator. I want my grand moment! Miss Wild, you will provide my big dramatic courtroom reveal or you will stand aside and allow voting to commence!"

I noticed Juliet smirking, and I frowned. Maybe I was seeing patterns where none existed? Maybe I was just making it all up? But just past her, across the circle, I glimpsed Lucina. She looked... confident. I realized she trusted me.

I took a deep breath. "All right. I did say that Emily herself directed us to her killer, and she did. Emily was..." I paused for a moment, sadness almost crashing through, but I swallowed it down. "...She was very, very smart, and I think the killers underestimated her. Because in her last words, with her murderer literally staring her in the face, she found a way to tell us who they were."

I heard a footstep, and Emily's voice hitched. "P-please..." she stammered. "I-I don't ex-ex-exactly understand w-what you want, but please..." She sniffled and bawled. "I-I'm ex-ex-extremely afraid, please. Please d-don't. P-please." There was a pause. "I promise... I-I promise I w-won't ex-ex-expose y-you. I promise! Just please d-don't. D..." And then there was the sudden sound of running footsteps, a wet crunch, and a very short shriek. A moment later, Juliet's voice screamed, fading out into a moan.

I expected someone to get it, but only blank faces looked back at me. "Wait, that's it?" Rocky asked. "She didn't say anything there."

"Yes, she did," I insisted. "Think about it; that's a weird way to talk for someone who's been tortured and who's being threatened with a knife. 'I won't expose you?' 'I'm extremely afraid?' It makes sense she'd say those ideas, but the particular words she's using are... odd."

Jane got it. She stared directly at the killer, eyes cold.

"She says it three times," I continued. "A neon sign, pointing directly at her killer. And he didn't even notice."

Ashley got it, too. She placed her hands on her lectern and took a deep breath. "Ex-ex-exactly. Ex-ex-extremely. Ex-ex-expose. X X X."

Bepi blinked at me blearily. "Um, X X X? So... um, what? I don't get it."

"In the Greek alphabet, do you know which letter happens to look just like an X?" Jane asked, her eyes still not moving from the killer. "Chi."

"X X X," I said. "Chi Chi Chi."

JP was already so covered in sweat, his salmon-covered Polo was hugging his body. "Dudes..." he rasped, but that seemed to be all he could say.

"Wait, this doesn't make sense!" Katy argued. "Juliet tried to frame JP! Why would she do that if he's really the killer?"

"Because she's smart," Ashley answered darkly. "When we figured out the evidence was fake, we dismissed him as a suspect. Which was exactly what she wanted us to do."

Juliet spun lazily in the chains. "You're all just going to get killed," she said, but the spark was gone from her voice.

"Dudes," JP said again, "this isn't... this isn't true."

"We know the killer didn't figure out until later in the party that his beer was non-alcoholic," I interrupted. "Because Jane's keg didn't get tipped over until late. So the killer had to be drinking the same kind of beer as Jane's. And only one person fits that description."

"I don't think this could have fallen by accident," I said. I squatted down over the upset one and looked at the base. That label was still there. It had some German words I didn't understand and then "Non-alcoholic pale ale. Guaranteed high quality!"

JP strolled up to us, raising a fresh glass of his pale ale in greeting. "My friends! Everything good? Everything safe?"

"And JP even commented on things being weird."

JP shook his head. "Man, I dunno what it is, but this party just isn't as lit as it should be. I'm just not feeling it like I should! You know?"

JP was speechless, shivering. Juliet struggled with her chains for a moment, then relaxed again. "This isn't proof," she snapped. "You don't know, this is all just aprophenia, you're just..."

"There is proof," I stated. "Something I noticed at the time, but I didn't realize it was important until now." I could not help but give her a slight smirk. "Your unnecessarily complicated false ritual involved both of the daggers from the frat house."

First, it is necessary to create a slit in the chest of the Simulacrum by stabbing it with the bladed dagger. Then, place the imitation dagger into the wound. The Scapegoat must later be killed with the bladed dagger by piercing the heart. Therefore, at the end of the ritual, the Simulacrum and Scapegoat will have matching wounds: a real dagger in a real chest, and an imitation dagger in an imitation chest.

"When I saw the mannequin you'd planted on the altar, I knew the dagger in its chest was fake, because I'd been to the music studio and seen Emily. But anyone who hadn't been there? The reasonable assumption is, it's the real dagger. And JP?" I looked at him coldly. "You shouldn't have known about the other dagger."

"Saya," JP nearly implored. "Is Emily really dead? Ashley wouldn't give us any details, but this has to be a mix-up, right?"

"...And you, of all people, knew to be careful with the real dagger."

We must have looked pretty skeptical, so he frustratedly reached out for the daggers. "No, look, here's how it-OW!" He pulled his hand back; a small bead of red appearing on his fingertip. "Goddamn, that's sharp." He more carefully reached out and took the daggers.

"...But tonight?"

"Oh, goddamn it!" JP swore, taking in the sight before him. "Why is all this creepy shit happening to me?" He walked up to the mannequin and just waved his arms at it. "This is... who the fuck would do this?!" He grabbed the imitation dagger by the blade, bracing against the hilt, and yanked it out of the mannequin's chest; it made an awful squicking sound as it emerged.

"...You knew you could pull it out by the blade, because you knew where the real dagger was. You knew better than anyone."

JP was frozen, sweat almost visibly pouring down his face. He stammered something, but couldn't get any words out. Juliet struggled in her chains again, manic anger on her face, but I was past the point of being scared of her.

I looked around the circle: my drunk classmates looked confused and sickened, but I didn't perceive any real resistance. "Saya," Rodrigo said. "So we can be sure, and all of us can understand, could you sum up the timeline of this murder?"

I nodded. I had a very clear picture of it.

This murder is unusual, because the killer wasn't involved in most of the planning. Instead, the plan was Juliet's, and she acted to free the killer, who apparently has been her secret boyfriend this entire time.

Before the party, Juliet went to the walk-in freezer and switched the name post-its for Jane and the killer. Then she left a note to the killer under the non-alcoholic beer keg telling him to go to the music studio. On her way out, she must have stolen the ritual daggers from their place above the altar.

Back at the dorm, she helped Emily get ready for the party as if things were normal, but on the way to the party, she attacked and incapacitated her. She brought her to the music studio, where she... tortured Emily with the bladed dagger. She planted evidence of the ritual she'd made up, to 'frame' JP, and she left videos, to trick us by deliberately incriminating herself.

Meanwhile, the killer realized they weren't getting drunk and checked on their beer keg. Under the keg, they saw a note Juliet had left, directing them to go to the music studio. The killer slipped out of the frat house through the secret passage in the kitchen, made it to the studio, and, with Juliet's help, stabbed Emily in the heart. The killer then returned to the party as if nothing had happened, only being gone for a couple of minutes. To cover their tracks, they went to the freezer and removed all the name labels from the beer kegs, and they tried to remove Juliet's note too, but it was partly frozen to the floor.

Meanwhile, Juliet turned the costume she'd made inside-out and carried the mannequin to the side part of the frat house; Jane glimpsed her out the window as she did. Juliet planted evidence, including the mannequin, to incriminate JP, but did so obviously, hoping we'd see through it so we would dismiss him as a suspect. Then, she just sat against the wall and waited for someone to find her.

Despite Juliet's complicated plan, there were pieces of evidence indicating the real killer, including Emily's last words. Even though she was being tortured and afraid, she was able to help us find justice for her murder by leaving a coded message as to her killer's identity. Based on all of this evidence, it's clear who the killer is: JP Laettner, the Ultimate Fraternity Brother!

JP just looked frozen and confused. He kept opening and closing his mouth, but he seemed unable to find any words.

"It's time for us to vote," Jane said. "Yes? Voting time?"

"It is indeed!" Monokuma cheered. "Select the person on your podium who you believe is the killer! I hope you're not wrong..."

"No!" Juliet howled, struggling vainly against the chains. She kept shrieking, but she mostly just looked pathetic.

"Mr Diaz!" Monokuma called down to Rodrigo. "Would you be so kind as to reach over and cast a vote on Miss Mountebank's behalf? It won't do to have anyone abstaining!"

Rodrigo leaned over to Juliet's lectern. "Who do I..."

"Oh, just vote for the fratboy, it doesn't matter," Monokuma said breezily.

As the votes rang up, a screen opened up in the shelves, displaying JP's name in bright, colorful letters. Juliet's wails died down into a hopeless moan.

"Aha, you've all indeed voted for Mr. Laettner!" Monokuma said brightly. "And you're absolutely correct! He did commit this foul murder."

Jane's glare was murderous, but JP just looked at Emily's portrait, eyes wide and bewildered. "It's okay, honey," Juliet babbled. "I won't let them hurt you..."

"How could you do it?" Katy creakily asked him. "How could you kill her like that?"

JP kept staring at Emily's smiling face. "How could you be so cruel?!" Katy continued, voice rising in pitch and volume. "She was a wonderful, wonderful person! Did you always plan something like this?! Is that why you never told us Juliet was your girlfriend?!"

JP suddenly emitted a choking sound and turned to Katy, frantic hopelessness stretched across his face. "...Tell you?" he rasped. "Tell you what?!" He pointed at Juliet, tears beginning to flow. "I don't know this chick! I just met her when we all came here!"

"Honey, I love you so much, I love you..." Juliet kept cooing.

JP covered his ears. "Gaaugh, stop it, stop it! You're fucking crazy!"

"Wait," Barrett said. "You ain't this bird's 'sweetheart?'"

"I don't..." JP pressed his hands against his face, like he was trying to crush his own skull. "She called me that, but..."

"I'm confused," Earl stated. "If you aren't her Freund, why did you meet her in secret?"

"Because she said she'd fuck me!" JP spat. "That's what the note said! It said go to the music studio and... but when I got there, there was blood everywhere, and she just handed me this knife and costume and told me she would take care of everything! I didn't know Emily would be there! I didn't..."

"Yo, fuck this," Nicole sneered. "You still stabbed her on purpose."

"I couldn't feel anything; I couldn't think," JP moaned. "I just... she was telling me to do it, and she was telling me everything would be okay, and..."

"Everything I've done is for you," Juliet cooed. "I can't do anything for myself..."

"Shut up, shut up!" JP wailed, crouching and covering up his head, like he was in some sort of bombing drill. "Stop it! Stop stop stop!"

"See kiddos, this is why communication is important in relationships," Monokuma said, a touch of glee in his voice. "Well, enough stalling! It's time for our execution!"

Juliet screamed wordlessly, but JP didn't move; he just huddled behind his lectern. Monokuma slapped a button next to him, and the floor suddenly opened up under JP; he disappeared into the blackness and was gone. The screen on the wall flickered again to life, showing us... the execution. I didn't want to look, but I had to, I just couldn't stop myself.

BEARS WILL BE BEARS
the execution of JP LAETTNER

A spotlight came up on JP, his hands and legs tied together, spread out crosswise over a table. His pants were down; his naked butt thankfully pointed away from the screen, and two Monokumas stood nearby. One rubbed its paws together in glee; the other held a large paddle. With vicious glee, the second Monokuma reared back and whacked JP in the rear end with the paddle.

Nothing happened; the strike was so weak, it barely even made a sound. The Monokuma looked at the paddle with confusion, than tried again. Then again and again and again... nothing happened at all.

The other Monokuma raised a claw, as if getting a sudden idea. It wandered into the darkness and came back with an enormous jug of clear liquid. There was a label on the jug that just said "10,000 proof." It forced the lip of the jug into JP's mouth and poured; despite his choking and sputtering, the liquid began to empty down his throat. When that bottle finished, the Monokuma, as if in fast-motion, ran back and forth, collecting jugs, pouring them into JP's mouth, and repeating. JP's body began to impossibly inflate, like he was a tick filling up with blood. His skin grew tight and his body began to slosh and wobble like a water balloon.

Satisfied, the jug-Monokuma nodded to the other one, who reared back with his paddle, lined up his swing... and then struck. JP's body... well, I'm grateful to say I couldn't see very well what happened to it, but there was a bursting sound and both Monokuma's, and the whole room, ended up covered with blood and alcohol. They looked at one another and simultaneously held up two claws, then three, then two.

The next images were fast and confusing, like a montage. The two Monokumas, sitting glumly, while police-Monokumas milled around the room searching for evidence. An older-looking, male and female Monokuma standing next to one of the blood-covered ones, angrily shouting at a TV camera. Both of the blood-covered Monokumas, now wearing little suits, filing into a courtroom.

And then finally, a judge-Monokuma (wig and everything) sitting over them, pointing down sternly. He shook his little fist, monologuing and lecturing... then suddenly spread out his arms. The words NOT GUILTY appeared behind him in flashing letters. The blood-covered Monokumas celebrated, and behind them, the judge held up two claws, then three, then two.

Even as the horror on the screen played out, I found myself looking over at Juliet. When JP disappeared, she had howled and wailed and struggled, but almost immediately after the execution began, she fell completely silent. I glanced at her; her face was blank. She just watched.

The screen cut off, and the chains holding Juliet suddenly released her. She landed in a squat, hands flat on the floor, still. "This is what you get when you stay up at all hours of the night!" Monokuma ranted. "If you went to bed early, like good, disciplined adults, you wouldn't get into situations like this! You all think about that."

None of us were even listening; we just stared at Juliet there, in the middle of the room, not moving.

Then, slowly, she lifted herself up into a standing position. Her blood-encrusted hair draped in front of her face for a moment, making her look like a grotesque monster, but she flicked her head back and her hair settled back into its proper place. She was smiling.

"Oh, well!" she said brightly. "Like mom always told me: there's plenty of fish in the sea!"

"What," Jane said, "the fuck."

Juliet winked at her. "Well, I can't let myself get hung up on one guy! These college boys are so immature anyway, right?"

"Oh my god," Katy breathed, staring at her in horror. "You... you did all this, and you didn't even care about JP at all?"

Juliet laughed cheerfully. "Oh, of course I did! I loved him! But there comes a time to move on. I'm kind of a... what's the term? Serial monogamist."

"Uh, more like a serial killer," Nicole grunted.

"Actually, that's a common mistake," Monokuma pointed out. "A serial killer murders a whole bunch of people at one time. She kills small numbers of people across a long period of time, so she's a mass murderer."

"Not that this is the point," Bepi said, "but that's exactly backwards."

"Oh." Monokuma rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, okay then! She's a serial killer, yes."

"Wait, seriously?!" Barrett glared at her like she was a snake ready to strike. "She's seriously a fucking serial fucking killer?!"

"I'll do anything to help my sweethearts," Juliet declared primly. "Sometimes, yes, there's... another finalist for the scholarship, or a mean teacher, or a rival for the heart of the prom queen, and I have to... to do something. And sometimes my sweethearts don't appreciate it, but that's okay." She nodded firmly. "As long as I'm acting to help a man who needs me, as long as I'm acting for love, I'm happy."

"What are we going to do?" Rocky asked, sounding legitimately baffled. "How can we be safe with... her?"

Suddenly, the lights started flickering. I looked up to see Monokuma flicking a switch on the wall up and down rapidly. "Hey, assholes, trial's over! Some of us have to get to bed! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!" Juliet grinned and walked toward the elevator. We all followed hesitantly. "Shoo," Monokuma hissed. "Shoo, shoo!"

ELEVATOR

We stood in a wide circle, hugging the edges of the elevator. Juliet stood in the middle, arms clasped behind her back, humming softly. I don't think anyone knew what we could possibly say.

"I can't believe how smart you guys are, to figure out my whole plan!" Juliet gushed. She chuckled to herself. "I guess it's silly, still acting all harmless when I've already given myself away, but I just can't help it! It's a habit."

And then Katy ran over and punched her in the stomach.

Juliet doubled over, wheezing. "You monster!" Katy screeched, tears streaming down her face. "You monster! How could you..." The energy sapped away from her, and she slowly deflated. "How could you..." Lucina walked to her, and Katy fell into her arms.

"We must find a way to contain her," Rodrigo said grimly. "I fear she'll continue to do evil for the rest of her life."

"NO!" Still clutching her stomach, Juliet reared back and stared at him with manic eyes. "No, I do not do evil." She looked around at everyone, pointing at us with a shaking hand. "I am a monster, yes. I know. All I ever want is to be cruel and to hurt and to kill and to ruin. My entire life,... corruption and iniquity has been with me, inside me. I'm a monster." She took a breath, composing herself, and her expression became calm again. "But I never do evil. Because everything I do is for love, and love can never be evil."

She looked at me with a serene smile. "Perhaps you were right, Saya. Perhaps the ritual I made was unnecessarily complicated. But... but look at it from my perspective. Because of that ritual, I got to torture an innocent, sweet girl. I got to do something... delicious, and I felt my heart singing." She gestured at us as if we didn't speak English. "But don't you see? I figured out the secret! I can do good, but still be what I am... I'm a monster, but I only make the world better! That's the miracle of love!"

Earl mumbled something under his breath in German, then pointed harshly at Rodrigo. "Diaz! Hold her! If she speaks again, cover her mouth with your hand!"

The elevator dinged, and Earl marched out into the quad. "Bring her!" he barked. Rodrigo dragged her away; Ashley followed. They headed in the direction of the student union.

MAIN QUAD

The rest of us walked out into the night, confused and cold and exhausted. Bepi immediately said "Good night!" and lay down right there in the grass. The rest of us were past the point of caring.

Barrett looked up at the sky, a surprisingly pensive expression on his face. He sighed. "Well, fuck," he said. "This right here was a complete failure of leadership, right?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Nicole replied. "Think it might be time to put that plan of mine into action."

Barrett nodded. "Tomorrow."

"Fuck yeah. Sleep forever now." They walked off together toward the dorm.

I looked back at the remainder: Jane, Rocky, Katy, and... Lucina. They all looked broken.

I sighed. Without a word, I bent down and tried to pick up one of Bepi's arms; Lucina read my action and moved to pick up his other arm. He was heavy, but we managed to get him over our shoulders. Nodding my head to indicate the others should come too, we started dragging him to the dorm.

DORM: GIUSEPPE'S ROOM

We managed to lug him all the way to his room and plopped him down onto his bed. No one said anything.

I sat right down on the floor and felt the carpet. It was soft enough. I fell down onto my side. Lucina looked surprised at first, but then she softened and lay down next to me. With some kind of tacit agreement, the others all lay down in various places around the room. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was the sound of a quiet sob. Someone was crying. I don't think it really mattered who.

Q: So, tell me about your parents.
JPL: Uh... I dunno what to say. They're fine? But I can't really say.
Q: Why do you say that?
JPL: Everyone in my family is always telling me that things are different when I'm around. Like, I went off to camp one year, and my mom and dad almost got separated. Fights and screaming and shit. I would like stay over at a friend's house and that same night, my little brother would run away, stuff like that.
Q: Hm. Do you know why that is?
JPL: No, no one knows. Just something about me. I bring people together. When I'm gone, dude, that's when everything goes to hell.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Congratulations to thatonefireemblemfan for solving the mystery over on Discord! This was a hard one, so mega-props.
Please leave a comment or stop by the discord if you have thoughts about chapter 3 or want more focus on particular characters!