New Hope University School of Ultimates Campus, East Quad

The east quad, a hub of constant activity, is the most recently renovated area on campus. Unlike the vernal, natural landscapes in the other quads, the east quad is paved with layers of rich marble and a mysterious, apparently indestructible metal alloy obtained directly from the United States government. Matching its rigid, austere design, this quad attracts organized, conscientious students interested in direct, concrete action!

There are two buildings on the east quad:

FULWOOD SCIENCE CENTER
The Fulwood Center (or "The Box" as students affectionately call it) is the home of the natural and physical sciences on campus. Its distinctive cubic shape was designed to remind students of the importance of precision and measurement, and every day, countless students learn this lesson again through careful, scientific research. The Box has labs dedicated to astronomy, physics, chemistry, biological/cellular chemistry, and engineering. Note: Due to the fast pace of technological advancement, only the ground floor and the roof of the Box are currently in use; the other four floors are filled with obsolete equipment. The university will not be held liable for any injuries students may suffer in these areas.
Potential weapons: Chemicals!

HASKINS BUILDING
The Haskins Building is the home of one of the oldest and most prestigious organizations on campus: the ROTC! There are facilities for every kind of training, as well as for studying the history and tactics of the military. Students often wake up before dawn to make their way to Haskins Building for a grueling but rewarding day of discipline!
Potential weapons: eheheheheheheheehehehhehehehehehehehehehe

DORM: GIUSEPPE'S ROOM

I woke up slowly. The first thing I noticed was that my neck hurt; then I noticed a bizarre, growling sound that was like nothing I'd heard in nature. Then I opened my eyes, and I noticed a series of shapes that looked strange and alien. I blinked, my eyes refocusing, and I realized I was looking directly at Lucina's face. She was very close to me; I glanced down and realized she was literally as close as she could be without actually touching me. The growling noise continued.

I thought I should gently sit up, but I realized I wasn't able to, and my neck hurt more when I tried. I turned my head and realized Rocky was spooning me, his arm wrapped around my shoulder like an anaconda. I pulled at his hand, but he just squeezed tighter.

I strained against his arm, still trying to be as quiet and gentle as possible to not wake Lucina, and I managed to wriggled halfway free, but suddenly he grunted, "Fuck you!" and I felt a fist slam against my back.

It actually didn't hurt much, but is shocked me, and I shrieked. Lucina bolted upright, staring around for danger with wide eyes. Luckily, though, Rocky mumbled and rolled over onto his other side, releasing me.

I chucked embarrasedly at Lucina. "Uh, sorry." She just shook her head and very softly patted my hand.

It's not accurate to say I 'remembered,' Juliet making her loud, public reference to me "fucking Lucina," because that had been on my mind pretty much nonstop since it had happened. But I became much more aware of it. Lucina pulled her hand back.

I took stock of the room. Katy was curled up like an arctic fox on the couch, and Rocky lay sprawled next to us on the floor. Jane was nowhere to be seen.

Giuseppi lay face-up on his bed. I realized he was the source of the sound: his snores echoed through the room like what I imagine a polar bear sounds like. His one eye was wide open, staring up at the ceiling. It was really disconcerting.

"Um, want some breakfast?" I asked Lucina quietly. She nodded. We quietly got up and slipped out of the room.

STUDENT UNION: CAFETERIA

Thanks to a clock we passed in the dorm lobby, we saw it was past eleven. Still, it seemed as if most of our classmates hadn't been to eat yet... tepid breakfast items still sat on the counters. We decided on some cereal and coffee.

I had my shredded wheat and was already sitting down when Lucina sat down across from me, a bright rainbow in her bowl.

"...Are those Fruity Pebbles?" I asked.

She blushed lightly and pulled out a pencil and notepad. After some quick scribbling: I was never allowed sugary cereal at home! I've always wanted to try it.

I laughed softly. "My mom never let me have it either, but my dad used to let me have it at his place, back when I still went over there." I pointed with my spoon at the dark purple swirls in her milk. "It's fun for a novelty, I guess, but... bleh, I couldn't eat it every day."

She brought the first spoonful to her mouth, then paused thoughtfully. After a moment, she set her spoon down and picked her pencil back up. It's very gross, she wrote. I love it.

I smiled and realized it was real. Then I suddenly remembered... everything, and I stopped smiling. "You were right," I said. "What you said after the first trial was right."

She looked at me blankly for a moment.

"Uh... sorry to just jump into it," I said uncomfortably. "But I couldn't let it just keep hanging between us."

She set her spoon down and nodded at me.

"Okay," I continued. "You were right. I... feign ignorance and innocence, and it lets me manipulate people. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you for saying it."

She started writing, but I shook my head. "Wait. One second. I just want to say, I've never really thought about this part of myself. It's weird. I'm like... not confident enough to take a stand, but I'm confident enough to USE not taking a stand to control people." I sighed. "But after you confronted me, I decided I want to understand this better and own up to my behavior." I sighed. "And... look, I really don't take it well when I think people I care about are mad at me. I'm trying to get better at that, too."

She kind of just stared at me, and I noticed her cheeks were turning slightly red. She quickly jotted down a response: It wasn't fair of me. I've always been afraid to be direct and strong, and so I wanted you to be that way. When you weren't, I got upset. Please forgive me?

I put my hand on top of hers, literally shocking myself with my utter ballsiness. "Okay, okay, we're both sorry and we're both forgiven. Let's... try to help each other be more confident?"

Her smile was radiant. "If you're the mastermind," I said, "I will kick you in the shins so hard."

She laughed silently. She wrote something, but after tearing the page off, she hesitated showing me. She bit her lip, looking at her words pensively.

"Waaaugh!" a screech suddenly pierced the air. We whirled to see Ashley standing in the doorway, waving her arms around. She pointed at us, stomping into the cafeteria. "There, bother them!" she snapped.

"What...?" I asked, but the explanation waddled in after her, rubbing its paws together in sinister glee.

"Aha!" Monokuma bellowed. "More lazy, lazy students!" He walked up to us, pointing angrily. "You know, you can't be a productive member of society sleeping until practically noon! It's sleeping late that leads to fascism and totalitarianism!"

"Ugh, Ashley," I groaned, as she walked over to a pile of oranges, inspecting them critically. 'Why did you bring him to us?"

"I didn't exactly ask him for his company!" she grunted. "He's just been following me around all morning!"

"It's boring!" Monokuma complained. "Normally I just peep on you all, but everyone's just sleeping! I can't just sit around watching the creeping spread of neo-Marxism; it's dull!"

I sighed. "Ashley, there's got to be a way to make him go away."

"Oh, what's wrong?" Monokuma sneered. "Disappointed you can't break all the rules you want with the professor looking over your shoulder?" He chuckled. "Well, don't worry about that."

A slight crackle came from above, and then Monokuma's voice boomed out of a hidden speaker: "I'm always watching, kiddos!"

I glanced over at Ashley, who was peeling an orange with more precision than I would use to perform heart surgery, and then I glanced back at the bear. "If you're always watching, why did you act surprised when you saw us?"

"My programming involves a mimicry of social skill!" he grumbled. "And it's very rude to ask an artificial intelligence about something like that! I'd call it robophobic if that wasn't an example of the kind of horrible identity politics that's driving our country apart."

"Hold, monster!" a voice called from the doorway. We turned to see Rodrigo walking up to us purposefully. "I am no expert on modern technology, but that allows my eyes to be clear! You are no machine; you are a demon."

"A demon," Monokuma parroted mockingly. "I had high hopes for you, Mr. Diaz, but it seems you're committed to throwing away tradition just like the rest of your generation. Demons are beings of chaos, but I am a being of order! An angel!"

"Ay, a fallen angel speaking with a forked tongue," Rodrigo insisted. "I will fight to the death any who would violate the word of God or the wisdom of dogma! But I also follow the example of the great St. Thomas Aquinas, and I won't forsake my divine gift of reason to mindlessly follow any tradition!"

"You won't get anywhere following a hippie rebel like Thomas Aquinas!" Monokuma bellowed, shaking his paw at Rodrigo. "If I was less of an angel, I'd exterminate you disgusting creatures. But no, I have made rules and I abide by them."

"Your words are hollow," Rodrigo insisted.

"Rodrigo." Ashley's voice cut in as Monokuma fumed. "Don't be irreverent for its own sake." She primly dropped her orange peels in a garbage can and walked up to Monokuma. "I have faith in the system, and I trust you have something to teach us through this game," she said. "But your criticisms and insults of our generation, while correct, are getting tiresome. Don't you have anything else for us?"

Monokuma pressed his paws against his face and somehow blushed. "Yes! Oh, my contempt for you horrible students led me into unprofessionalism. Although, really, it's your fault for keeping me up all night. I'm cranky when I don't get eight good hours!" He rubbed his paws together, cackling. "Pu hu hu, I've got some very exciting educational opportunities coming up, though."

"To make us kill each other?" I asked.

"I said it was educational, didn't I?" he chortled. "Really, with death on the table, does any other kind of education really matter?" With a whirl, he disappeared.

Ashley rolled her eyes at Rodrigo. "You shouldn't dismiss everything you don't understand as a demon."

"I agree," Rodrigo stated firmly. "I only call demons demons." He crossed his arms, his head held high. "Friend Coelho, you are wiser and more learned than I, but I am trained to recognize evil."

"Ugh. How'd you get raised by Medieval monks and still end up spoiled?"

Lucina quickly held up a note for everyone to see, perhaps hoping to cut off an argument: What does he even want? I can't understand why he would put all these resources toward something so insane!

"He wants talented people who will follow rules, even under extreme circumstances," Ashley answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He wants to train us to trust the world previous generations have made for us."

Lucina frowned and scribbled something new. A killing game is the last thing that would make me trust that. I would never fight to defend a system containing something so horrible.

"Maybe that says something about you," Ashley replied. She turned and left the cafeteria without another word. Rodrigo, Lucina, and I glanced awkwardly at one another. It felt colder all of a sudden.

MAIN QUAD

As Lucina and I left the student union, we were surprised to run into Earl, looking completely unaffected by any of the events of the previous night. "Ladies!" he enthused.

"Hi," I said as Lucina waved shyly. "You're seeming... energetic."

"Hardly!" he bellowed. "I am in fact exceedingly somber. But it is necessary for a leader to act with determination no matter the circumstances!"

Lucina held up a note: That must be hard. We appreciate it.

"I am honored and will continue to do my best!"

I wanted to resent his enthusiasm but found myself unable. "What did you decide to do with Juliet last night?" I asked.

Earl scowled. "We imprisoned her. It's not an ideal solution, but it's the only one we could think of." He gestured behind him, across the quad. "Perfetto and I were, in fact, going to the cafeteria to get food for her. We need a third person for safety; would one of you care to come?" Bepi was indeed standing in the shade of the dorm, looking very displeased about being outdoors.

I looked at Lucina, who did not seem very happy at the idea of visiting Juliet. "I guess I'll go," I said.

Lucina widened her eyes and jotted out a quick note: Are you sure? After she attacked you?

I nodded. "We've got to live on this campus with her. Might as well get used to it."

"Excellent!" Earl yelled, beaming. Lucina put her hand on my shoulder and nodded to me.

"I'll see you later?" I ventured. She just smiled.

FRAT HOUSE: KITCHEN

I raised an eyebrow at Earl. "You put her in the freezer?"

"It seemed appropriate to cage her in a place she engaged in skullduggery!" Earl explained. He pointed at the freezer door, chained shut with a padlock. "And it easily locks from the outside."

He went to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a box of lime jello. "The key is hidden here," he explained. "We do not expect anyone to wish to free her, but still, we hope to keep the location hidden from the demolitionist. He is unpredictable."

He paused and frowned. "Truthfully, I dislike such machinations. A leader who tricks his own soldiers is no leader at all." He glanced at the door to the freezer "Much less one who imprisons them."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You think we should let Juliet be free after what she did?"

"No. But in an ideal world..." He took his military cap off and ran a hand through his hair. He looked troubled, even a little vulnerable. "I am a man of hierarchies and structures. I have seen the glory of the military; I know without careful leadership, specializations, and efficiency, no one could ever build a tank, much less employ it in battle. It is everyone's responsibility, for the good of all, to follow the rules, and if Mountebank has dedicated herself to anarchy and viciousness, we have no choice but to contain her."

He glowered at the floor. "But at the same time, the rules must be responsive to the needs and goals of the group. A leader must be willing to adopt rules he does not understand, because they are important to his comrades."

"Isn't that a paradox?" I asked. "If your comrades want to wreck all the systems, you can't... make a system to help them do that."

"Indeed," Earl agreed. "It is a form of the age old dilemma between security and freedom. Consider this metaphor: the tank. It is a marvel of engineering, and it is constantly updated and improved. A singular, dogmatic vision would restrict that! But it is sometimes impossible to tell the difference between a creative mind, who wishes to innovate, and a gremlin, who only means to destroy and ruin." He glanced up at us. "Do you have this concept in America? The gremlin?"

"Uh, I saw a movie about them when I was a kid," I said. "I was really young, though, I don't really remember it."

"That is the curse of time," Earl said grimly. Then he fixed his hat back on his head, clenched his jaw, and nodded. "In any case! I bring up these complications because I hope to make a request!" He indicated each of us in turn. "Perfetto, your intuitions and instincts are a valuable tool! Wild, your canny intelligence has helped us all multiple times! I ask you both to serve as counsel on these issues in the future. I fear conflict may be brewing!"

I nodded and Bepi shrugged. "Seems like a lost cause," he said. "But sure, I'll do what I can."

"I can ask no more!" Earl enthused. "Now, let's delay no longer. Mountebank is a fiend, but she must be fed!" He walked to the padlock and opened it, then pulled the chain away from the door. He hesitantly opened the door, then, seeing there was no immediate danger, he beckoned to us and walked in.

FRAT HOUSE: WALK-IN FREEZER

I didn't see her at first, but both Earl and Bepi seemed to have a radar for her. They were staring at the corner of the freezer, tense and nervous.

Juliet sat on the floor, her knees pulled to her chest and her head down. She wore a large, heavy parka, and there was a glowing space heater next to her. She was muttering something, but other than that, she didn't move at all. She hadn't even seemed to notice we were here.

"It's time for your evening meal!" Earl declared. "It's healthful and delicious!" He nodded to Bepi, who crouched and set the food down on the floor. Juliet didn't move.

We stood awkwardly, which allowed me to catch a brief snippet of Juliet's mumblings. "...wizards, physicians, and alchemists came one after another, but none of the miracles of magic or science could cure the despicable princess..."

"Uggggh," Giuseppi grunted, looking at me helplessly. "It's like she's just trying to be as creepy as possible."

"She's failing," I said, surprising myself. I suddenly became aware that I was in a room with two extremely brave men, and I was the least tense person there. I gave Juliet a cold look. "She's just pathetic."

Juliet looked up at me, eyes nearly glowing in the darkness of the corner where she sat.

"You know something I noticed during the trial?" I said. "Even more than her being... horrible, she's fake. Everything she did and said was just fake. It was just put-on after put-on." I took a step closer; she hadn't even blinked. "The innocent ditz. Then the monstrous psychopath. Then the dedicated, self-sacrificing girlfriend. Now the creepy, skulking shadow. When every character got exposed, she started acting out another one." I tilted my head, considering her carefully. "I don't think there's even anything really there."

Bepi looked outright alarmed that I was being so challenging, but I couldn't wrap my head around what he could possibly be concerned about. "Was a single moment real?" I asked Juliet, my voice rising. "Was anything at all you said or did last night really you?"

She kept my gaze with a blank look, then just lowered her head again. "The princess had not known she was evil..."

"Ugh, what is that, is that some kind of creepy fairy tale?" Bepi asked. He threw his hands in the air in frustration. "God, Saya's right. That's pretty try-hard."

She didn't look like she even heard us.

NORTH QUAD

After delivering the food and locking back up, we convened in the quad. Earl put his hands on his hips and nodded sharply to us. "Bravely done, friends! We will post a schedule for the regular feeding of Mountebank. Although this is not technically a battlefield, I insist that we treat her humanely, as a prisoner of war."

"Makes sense," Bepi mumbled. "Hey, how come you aren't hung over?"

"I am suffering terribly from a hangover!" Earl stated. "But it is mild distress compared to my horror and guilt for allowing a monster such as Mountebank to go unchecked."

Bepi grunted noncomittally, but then he looked sideways at Earl with a slight smirk. "Hey, you mentioned my instincts before. Well, my instincts are telling me something about you."

Earl blinked. "Yes?!"

"Ashley digs you. You should go for it."

There was a pause; Earl looked kind of frozen. But then, quite suddenly, he relaxed and let out a boisterous laugh. "Coelho is an able ally and a fine person! Although admittedly she is not the kind of woman to whom I am typically attracted, her strength of will gives her a genuine beauty."

"Does that mean you're gonna go for it?"

"It means I will consider the merits of such an idea!" He nodded to Bepi. "In any case, I am relieved she has a friend and supporter like you. I promise, no matter what I decide, I'll treat her with respect and compassion!" He saluted and stomped away.

DORM: ZEN GARDEN

After bidding Earl goodbye, Bepi and I walked rather aimlessly. The arts center and general education building both felt pretty tainted, so we ended up back in the dorm, sitting on a bench in the zen garden. We were near the glass wall, looking out into the lobby. I realized this was probably exactly where Lucina and Katy were sitting when they were the last people besides Therion to see Morgan alive.

It was probably naive to think there was anywhere on this campus that wouldn't be tainted.

Still, I tried to relax. I glanced over at Bepi with a raised eyebrow. "You actually look out for Ashley, don't you?" I said. "Even though you two do nothing but argue, you want her to be with Earl."

He looked back at me blankly. "Yeah?"

"It's just... nice," I explained. "In a nightmare like this, it's nice there can be friendships."

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm just being cynical and selfish. Maybe I don't trust Earl, and I want Ashley to be his target instead of myself."

"Um. Is that true?"

"I don't even know." He sighed, rubbing a palm against his good eye. "Earl's confusing to me. If there's one thing old soldiers can't get a bead on, it's young officers."

"Are you even any older than him?"

"After everything I've been through? Everyone feels young to me," he replied. There was a slightly uncomfortable pause. He chuckled. "Y'know, you can just ask me, if you want."

I blinked. "What?"

"About my past." He had a neutral, soft smile on his face. "I know it's kind of awkward to bring up, but you can just ask me about it."

"Oh. Uh." I played with my hands a little, finding it difficult to look him in the eye. "Actually, the truth is... we're friends. And allies. So, I want to know the history you think is important, and I want you to be able to talk about it. But ah..." I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "I, personally, don't mind really... staying ignorant about the day-to-day life of a child soldier."

Thankfully, he laughed. "Makes sense. Okay, let me think of the most important stuff." He leaned back, a slightly unsettlingly casual smile on his face. "Okay. I'm kind of processing it as I talk, so forgive me if it's a little unfocused. But... okay, I started living there at six and started training a year later. And I didn't know what was going on, but looking back, in the training, they really wanted to fuck with us. You know? Break us, make us little nobodies. We would only exist as soldiers. And they tried all these sophisticated mind-fucks that were all just totally wasted, because we were kids."

He sighed at my blank expression. "Okay... here's an example. Before we went out in the field, they put us in a room with a bunch of other kids, and we had to win."

I hoped that didn't mean what I thought. "Win?"

"Survive. Be the only survivor."

"Christ, Bepi. I'm... I can't imagine."

"No, see, this is my point." He was still very casual about all this. "After I won, they took me out and gave me this big speech about how I was a killer now and I had murdered my own comrades without remorse had no humanity left. They were trying to make me guilty. But... I'm nine. I don't have any moral rules except 'don't make the scary man mad.' I don't know what the fuck guilt is."

He shook his head. "Look, I'm not saying I'm not completely fucked up. But I'm not fucked up in the way they wanted me to be. On missions, all I cared about was making sure everyone in my battalion survived, and I was good at it. I like to pretend I did it because of loyalty and compassion. But looking back, the main thing I remember is, after every mission, we went to see the commanders. And they really liked more survivors, because a dead soldier's a wasted investment. But they hated that I wasn't the soulless monster they wanted me to be." He grinned. "And I loved putting them in that paradox; it was hilarious."

"Jesus." I knew he'd been a soldier, and I knew he was always talking about what a nihilist he was. But I hadn't really thought about any of it before. He suddenly seemed much older than everyone I'd ever met. "...How did you get out?"

"Oh, they knew I was a lost cause when I chose my name."

"You chose your name?"

"Yeah, you make it through a certain number of missions, and you get a name. That's another of their stupid little games; you're just a number, and then the army allows you an identity. But I came up with the most ridiculous thing I could think of." He smirked. "I hope you didn't think Giuseppe Perfetto was a real name. I just looked up at them and was like, 'Yeah, call me Joe Perfect.' Fuck names, fuck identities, fuck everything."

I couldn't help a giggle escaping my lips. "What'd they do?"

"I was too good to justify killing," he answered, shrugging. "They sent me off for special training, and then a couple of years off for R and R. Then this place."

"Do you think they knew?" I asked. "Your program, I mean. Did they know about the killing game?"

"Probably. For all I know, the army's behind all of this. This whole game feels pretty similar to those old mind-fucks."

"Wait," I said, drawing back a bit. "You think they're... child soldiering us? This is some kind of brainwashing?"

"It's possible, right? Why all the rigid rules? The whole thing reeks of military."

"Hmm." I squinted in thought. "Is that why you don't trust Earl?"

"I don't trust anyone but you and Ashley. Just gut feelings, but I can't ignore them."

I was silent for a moment. "I'm starting to get less hopeful about escaping," I admitted finally. "Nicole and Barrett are gonna come into conflict with Earl and Ashley soon, probably. And with Juliet and... Emily..." I sighed. "I can't see us all working together."

"I never could," he replied, nodding. "They told us we could kill the mastermind as a pretty obvious way to get us to murder each other, but that'll cut off the security to everything. It's really the only way out."

"Hm. Are you planning to do that?"

He laughed. "Me? Oh, hell no. I'm just going to sit around and hope someone else does it." He winked or maybe blinked at me. "My advice for you is to do the same."

I just regarded him. "I can't tell if you're trying to be darkly funny, or if you're giving real advice. It's both, isn't it?"

"Eh." He shrugged casually. "If I couldn't laugh at hopelessness, how could I get up in the morning?"

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

I spent the rest of the day trying to relax. I went for a run, failed at meditating, and tried not to think about the people we'd lost. Everyone mostly seemed to want to stay by themselves, which made a lot of sense to me. I didn't see Barrett or Nicole at all.

At night, Lucina found me and suggested we play chess again. We played a few games, and she was still really bad, but she seemed to really enjoy it. She even wrote something offhandedly about JP, and even though we both got sad, it felt like something we could deal with.

At the end, she hugged me again just like she had that first night, and it lingered just a moment.

That night, my dream was filled in with detail, like the colors and contrast were turned up. Monokuma railed silently off to the side, and Therion faced me, expressionless, hands clasped behind his back. JP sat behind them, hugging his knees to his chest.

"Apocryphal legend," Therion said. "Ernest Hemmingway challenged to write complete story in fewer than ten words. After moment of thought, he declares, 'For sale, baby shoes, never worn.'"

He shrugged. "Undeniably moving. Reason why is obvious: reader fills in details. Must engage. Reader imagines parents." He glanced back at JP, who didn't acknowledge him at all.

Therion paused, clearly was expecting JP to do something. Eventually he just turned his attention back to me. "So, Hemmingway wrote not only shortest story, but also most common story. The story everyone confronts whenever they meet someone new. 'Why is this happening? What happened to cause this?' Imagines parents."

He smirked. "Know the second most common story, right?" He looked back at JP and gestured to him to do something. JP did not move.

Therion shrugged and fixed his gaze back on me. "Boy meets girl."

I woke up slowly, groggy and disoriented.

STUDENT UNION: CAFETERIA

I was fifteen minutes late for our usual breakfast time, but it seems everyone had independently decided that wasn't a priority anymore. The only one there was Rocky, and he sat in table on the far side of the room, big headphones over his ears, staring angrily at his food. I tried to catch his attention and wave, but he just glared at me. I decided to give him space.

Luckily, Nicole came in soon after, and Rodrigo a few minutes after that, so the three of us sat together. We chatted, but I winced when Rocky stood up and stomped out of the room, knocking over a chair on his way.

Rodrigo stoically watched him go. "It pains me to be helpless in the face of my classmates' pain and anxiety."

"Gotta let it out somehow," Nicole said. "He's probably fine! Just stressed, because, you know, murders and snuff films and shit."

I nodded, unsure how I felt about it. Rocky seemed like a nice guy, but he was probably more or a mystery to me than anyone else there. I decided to change the subject. "Um, hey, Nicole. What are you and Barrett planning to do?"

She blinked at me cluelessly. "What?"

"After the trial, you said something about having a plan."

"Oh, right!" She leaned back in her chair casually. "Yeah, Ashley and Earl totally got Emily killed, so that's some bullshit. We shouldn't all be in even more danger because of bad leadership."

I frowned. "And... you and Barrett would be leaders, then?"

"No way!" she replied, still oddly cheerful. "Leadership is the problem. We can't fight Mr. Evil Rule Bear by making up a bunch of rules for us all to follow; that's how this stupid program probably works." She shook her hear with disdain. "The dumb robot won't shut up about the necessity of social hierarchies, and what do we do? Make hierarchies in our group. Can't believe it."

"Friend Archina, you speak with wisdom," Rodrigo said, and I'm not sure if I was surprised or not. "I am grateful for the expertise of all my classmates, and I will attempt to be helpful in any structure we deem to be wise. But I am uncomfortable with the way Friend Morale simply declared himself a leader. I've well learned the lesson that authority can be misused."

Nicole laughed. "There you go! You're a little anarchist boy after all. Didn't know you had it in you."

"Um, I'm not against this in theory," I spoke up. "Especially with one of us walking around as the secret mastermind, having leaders is dangerous. But shouldn't we try to avoid conflict? I don't really love the idea of a big confrontation when we're all already in danger."

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Um, duh, of course you don't; look at you."

I paused and literally looked down at myself. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, I looked back up at Nicole. "...What about me?"

"It's not a diss!" she assured. "But... like, you're Upper Middle Class White Girl. Nothing wrong with that, but you got some cultural stuff going on, you know? I have to know this shit with fashion. Like, I'm not going to make big, crazy clothes for someone like you."

I frowned. "Huh. I mean... yeah, I don't think I could pull off dressing like you do."

"Yeah!" she agreed happily. "So like, for you, conflict is this big deal, right? In your house, I bet no one ever yelled. Your mom yelled, like, once, and it scared the shit out of you, right?"

I had to admit, she had me nailed. "Yeah."

"Yeah, so, Ashley's gonna yell at us all mad, and you're gonna think that's the end of the world. But dude: my dad's Filipino and my mom's Black. We had people yelling and screaming every day in my house, and we all love each other more than goddamn anything. Avoiding conflict isn't the, like, cure-all. You just grew up thinking it is. You know?"

"I guess." I thought about arguing back, but at that moment, beeping went off from all of our tablets.

Nicole pulled hers out and glanced at the screen. "Ugh," she said. "Guess what? I was totally right: after every murder, they open up more of the campus. We got access to another quad."

"Maybe we shouldn't go," Rodrigo suggested, frowning.

"I think we should," I said. "I don't like doing what the mastermind wants, but we need to know if there's anything dangerous over there."

No one felt particularly enthusiastic, so we dragged our feet as we finished breakfast and headed over to the newly opened quad. I found myself wondering, despite myself, if I was just going to see new places where someone was going to leave a dead body.

EAST QUAD

The new quad was different than the others; instead of grass, there was a shiny, smooth concrete spreading across the whole thing. It was larger than the main quad, with seemingly pointless steps and little paths, but there were just two buildings it looked like we had access to: one, directly in front of us, and a strange-looking cube, much larger, looming to our left.

But this wasn't what we found our attention captured by.

"...Do you think he's seen it yet?" I asked, gaping.

"We'd know if he had," Nicole answered.

Rodrigo scratched his head in confusion. "Um, friends, I don't understand. What is this large object, and why does it surprise you so?"

"Uh." I tried to figure out how to say this. "Um, you know Earl?" Rodrigo nodded. "You know that thing he really loves, which he won't shut up about?" Rodrigo nodded again. "Well... that's that thing. That's a tank."

And it was. There was just a goddamn tank sitting near the middle of the quad. It looked like the biggest thing I'd ever seen, enormous treads and somehow even more enormous cannon. "Okay," I said to Nicole. "I might be too afraid of conflict, sure. But he gets that tank running? Gonna have to insist on no confrontations."

She nodded.

SCIENCE BUILDING: LOBBY

We decided to explore the large building first. It looked ultra-modern, with clean, white surfaces. There were several hallways leading to the right and left, and a large staircase in front of us.

We heard a sound coming from one of the hallways, and we noticed there was an open door with a light on behind it. We headed in that direction to investigate.

SCIENCE BUILDING: CHEM LAB

We found ourselves in a large room full of shelves, counters, computers, and desks. Jane stood nearby, wearing a lab coat and carefully sucking up an odd, pink liquid with a pipette. "Don't touch anything," she said, before looking back down at her equipment and not acknowledging us any more at all.

"Uh, hi," I said. "Whatcha doing?"

"Working," she said, looking into a nearby microscope.

"Um. On what?"

"Work," she answered. "I said don't touch anything!" This was directed to Nicole, who, upon entering the room, had immediately started fiddling with everything within reach.

"Jeez, okay, okay," Nicole muttered. "Chill the fuck out, why don't you."

Rodrigo looked around, nodding. "Ah, if Friend Edwards has found work, this must be a building dedicated to science, yes?"

"Looks like it," I said.

But before I could say anything else, Bepi walked into the room, looking addled. "Oh, hey, glad I found you," he said. "Um, so, I was exploring the other building, and... uh, could I show y'all something?"

"What's wrong?" Rodrigo asked, tensing up.

"I think I should just show you."

ROTC: ARMORY

Bepi led us out into the quad and then into the other building. It was much more constricted than the other one, with winding hallways and dead ends. But it still was pretty easy to reach our destination.

"Holy goddamn shit," Nicole said.

I had to agree. Bepi had led us to a room that was completely filled with weapons. Guns, grenades, flame throwers, rocket launchers... all lined up and ready for use.

And every one of these weapons had Monokuma's grinning face plastered on it.

FACT 1: Monokuma can apparently monitor us all the time, even when his robot body is somewhere else.

FACT 2: Earl and Ashley locked Juliet up in the frat house's freezer. They'll put up a schedule about when people are supposed to feed her. They're hiding the key from Barrett, because they don't trust him.

FACT 3: Nicole and Barrett are planning something to end Earl and Ashley's status as leaders of the group.

FACT 4: Monokuma opened up a new quad. Thee two buildings are a science center and a ROTC.

FACT 5: The ROTC has an armory full of deadly weapons.

FACT 6: There's a tank outside the ROTC. Earl hasn't seen it yet.

Author's note: We have a tvtropes page, now! https (colon) /tvtropes (dot org) pmwiki / pmwiki. p h p/Fanfic/NewHopeUniversityMajorInMurder

Thanks to Theralion for making it, which gives me a great excuse to plug their own fanganronpa, which I highly recommend and which has served as an inspiration for this story: http (colon) fanfiction dot net/ s/ 12828432 /1/ Where-Talent-Goes-To-Die

Story discord: https (colon) discord dot gg /QxMS5db

Any thoughts on who's gonna get murdered?