"Hold on," Rocky said. "The killer got away with lying to the machine... because of something dumb? That doesn't make sense."

Juliet just shrugged. "Well, it relates to... let's just say it relates to a talent one of us has demonstrated proficiency in."

"Um, like our special talents?" Katy ventured.

"No. Something different." Juliet sighed, looking annoyed. "Something I didn't think could ever be useful for getting away with murder, but here we are."

Bepi grunted. "I think I know what she's talking about," he said grimly. "And she's right. It is stupid. So let's start with the other lie, okay? The smart one."

"If you insist." Juliet looked right at me. "When you're ready to take the lead, just jump in, will you? I feel desperately uncomfortable in this savior role, and..." She glanced left and right, then leaned in. "...and just between you and me, I don't think anyone here trusts me!"

She glanced at Bepi. "Or... well, you seem to know a lot! Do you want to do it?"

He glared. "No. We're listening."

Juliet chortled. "Fine, fine. So, let's think about the rules of this machine. We've already established some. Jane, dear?" She looked at the geneticist with a slightly submissive expression, blinking dewy eyes over the frames of her glasses. "Please remind us?"

"Uh." Jane was clearly affected by Juliet's act, but she gathered herself quickly. "Indeed. As we've established, the machine lights red when someone lies. A 'lie,' to the machine, is a statement someone knows to be untrue."

"Correct." Juliet was getting into her prim schoolgirl character. "The machine does something else. Something you all... used against me quite a bit. Anyone?"

"It causes terrible pain when one is asked a yes or no question," Rodrigo answered seriously. "The pain does not abate until the question is answered, truthfully or not."

"Correct." Juliet holds up a finger. "Now. Does the machine care about your mindset or your wording when identifying a lie?"

"Uh, wording," Rocky answered, clearly suspicious. "It takes you literally, even if you're using a figure of speech or something."

"That's wrong," I said.

Everyone looked at me, surprised. "Um, no it isn't," Rocky argued. "It got you for that, when you said you were 'across the quad!' ...Is this some kind of mind game to catch the killer? Oh man, sorry if I screwed up your mind game, Saya!"

I blinked, but just decided to continue. "Er, no. It is wrong that the machine only cares about wording. It also cares about your mindset, because if it didn't, it wouldn't be able to tell when you're saying something you know isn't true."

Lucina held up a card: There's limits to that. Remember? You can't just convince yourself you think something is true.

Lucina held up a new message, My name is Lucina. She frowned. She scribbled a new note, I was trying to doubt it, but it didn't work.

Bepi spoke up. "I don't know for sure that George Washington existed." Red light. He nodded. "Yeah. See, it's technically true that I don't know for sure, but I guess I just can't make myself really believe it."

"Good point, child," Juliet said, curtsying slightly to Lucina, whose written response was so foul, I don't even want to repeat it. Juliet paid no attention, just smiling blithely.

"It also doesn't just go by wording alone," Bepi pointed out. "It has to know what you're responding to. Otherwise it couldn't flag anyone for responses to yes/no questions."

Katy tilted her head at him. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it." Bepi shrugged casually. "'Yes' just on its own can't be a lie or the truth. It doesn't mean anything. But..."

Jane hmphed and turned to Juliet. "Did you hurt Emily because you really wanted to save JP?"

Juliet didn't move for a few seconds, her pupils dilating as I watched. Finally, she burst out, "Yes!" Red light. She doubled over, breathing hard.

"...the machine has buzzed people just for that."

Jane rubbed her chin. "So, the machine considers two kinds of context: other things people have said, and our knowledge."

"Right," Juliet replied, smiling. "With that in mind, let's consider our string of denials one more time."

Saya: No.
Bepi: I did not kill Barrett.
Lucina: I didn't do it either
Katy: I didn't kill him.
Juliet: I killed Barrett. (lie)
Jane: I did not kill Barrett Wood.
Rodrigo: I did not and would not kill Friend Barrett.
Rocky: Me neither.

"Saya's response is ambiguous," Juliet said. "But in context, it's clear. Saya was asked point-blank if she killed Barrett, so that 'no' has to be referring to that. There's no way she could plausibly convince herself she was answering a different question or talking about something else."

Lucina held up a quickly jotted note. Rocky's response is the same. It looks iffy, but coming right after Rodrigo's, he couldn't have meant anything else.

Juliet just nodded and didn't say anything. There was a long, strange pause.

"Uh, well?" Jane asked impatiently.

Juliet tilted her head in confusion. "Well what?"

"Well, where's the lie!?"

"Oh." Juliet giggled girlishly. "Oh, I was waiting for people to name more rules. We're not done with the machine; there's two more absolutely key features we need to discuss."

"Um... okay," Katy ventured. "There's the writing thing, I guess? But Lucina didn't do it!"

"That remains to be seen," Juliet replied, grinning. "But yes, the writing thing. That's really important. The machine cares about when we write things, whether anyone else sees it or not."

"W...wait," Katy said, sweat clearly beading on her forehead. "I don't... this is getting really scary. I can't take this, anymore." She looked at me imploringly. "Saya, can you please do it? If you know, can you tell us who lied? It's too hard hearing it from Juliet."

She made brief eye contact with Lucina, then looked back at me. "I know we have to get it over with. But I'm going to go crazy unless you make it easier. Please."

I gazed back, helpless. "But I don't know."

"Saya." That was Bepi's voice. I looked over at him, still confused. "You're a brilliant, awesome bad-ass. Remember?" What he was saying was kind, but his face was harsh and angry. "The thing doing now doesn't help anybody. You're not weak. Stop pretending you are."

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I looked down at my lectern, my heart feeling like it was going to explode. This was the first trial I was really feeling anything during, and it was unbearable. Was this how everyone else felt all the time?

"That pathetic, deviant bitch can't do anything," Juliet's voice chirped happily. "Stop acting like she's your grand hero. She..."

"Stop."

I had opened my mouth, and I had thought it was my voice, but it wasn't. It's was Katy's. She was glaring at Juliet with anger and contempt. "Stop making things harder! Just stop!"

"It's okay," I said. I looked up and caught Katy's eyes. I smiled. "I'll do it. It's okay."

Rodrigo took a half-step back. "Friend Saya! Are you certain you know the identity of the killer?!"

"Yeah." I kept smiling, but I felt so exhausted. "I've known the whole time. I just... didn't want to."

I grabbed the front of my sweater, right in front of my heart, and I squeezed. My fist and the cloth pressed together, like a single object, and it was like I could see my horror evaporating away through my hand. My heart slowed. I breathed.

"There's one more rule for the machine," I said, my words soft. "It's what happened to Rocky when he was trying to remember if he saw anyone in the quad tonight."

"I dunno." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Huh, that's a good question. Could I have seen anyone? I…" His eyes widened and he suddenly shouted. "Agh! No! Yes! I don't know!" His light turned red, and he relaxed, panting. "What the hell just happened?"

Jane smirked at him; ideally she was not amused by the mere existence of his pain, but I couldn't rule it out. "You asked yourself a yes/no question. You should probably not do that."

"The Cricket doesn't just pay attention to questions other people ask you. It pays attention to questions you ask yourself."

"Wait." Jane held up a hand. "Even my brilliant mind is not following, which makes me worry the slower among us are even more confused. What is the point of all this?"

"It's all the rules the killer exploited," I explained. "Most importantly, the one we talked about before. The killer noticed how the Cricket turned red after Lucina wrote her lie, not when she showed other people. And from there, they built their whole strategy."

"Oh, shit," Rocky breathed. "The note papers! The notes! They used the notes!"

I nodded. "Yeah. They seemed to deny killing Barrett, but they didn't. Because of what they wrote."

Jane gave me a sideways glance. "Just from that?"

"Well... no. They were clever in their phrasing and they made sure to set up their denial in the way they wanted. But the writing was the key."

I sniffled suddenly. My nose was runny. I brought my hand up to my face and found, to my surprise, that it was wet. I was crying and I hadn't even noticed.

"The killer is the one whose idea it was to have notes in the first place," I said. "The killer is the one who drove the initial denials. And to see how they did it, we have to look at their behavior, and then look at their notes."

For a moment, we all looked around at each other, apparently hesitant to start talking. Finally, Bepi spoke, clearly and loudly. "Saya, did you murder Barrett?"

I felt the pain begin in my head, but I was still grateful for the direct way he'd begun things. "No." He caught my gaze and nodded. "Giuseppe, did you kill Barrett?"

He stared down at his lap and took a deep breath; he apparently couldn't resist the chance to milk the moment for drama. But he looked up, confident and stark: "I did not kill Barrett."

Why was I crying? It was weird. Who would be crying at a time like this?

note pronouns, pronouns can be ambiguous.
and helping verbs. language! clarity, machine cares about language, note ambiguity

yes

what is a lie?

"And then we put them together. We put them together, so we can see what the killer did."

note pronouns, pronouns can be ambiguous.
and helping verbs. language! clarity, machine cares about language, note ambiguity

For a moment, we all looked around at each other, apparently hesitant to start talking. Finally, Bepi spoke, clearly and loudly. "Saya, did you murder Barrett?"

I felt the pain begin in my head, but I was still grateful for the direct way he'd begun things. "No." He caught my gaze and nodded. "Giuseppe, did you kill Barrett?"

He stared down at his lap and took a deep breath; he apparently couldn't resist the chance to milk the moment for drama.

yes

what is a lie?

But he looked up, confident and stark: "I did not kill Barrett."

"'Yes.'" I felt nothing. It was all so odd. "And then, 'what is a lie?' And he answered his own question with a perfect example of a lie. Because he did kill Barrett."

"Wait what?!" Katy shrieked. "Giuseppi?! But..."

"I mean, is it really all that surprising?" Bepi asked, so casual it was almost shocking. "I'm a killer. It's what I do."

"It couldn't be anyone else," I heard myself saying. "He's the only one with something like that in their notes."

"Wait, but... hold on!" Rocky snapped. "He denied it again, remember?"

Giuseppe: I've done improvised weapons before. Uh, let me say very clearly though: I did not have anything to do with Barrett dying.

"He can't be the killer!" Rocky wailed. " Unless... there was there note weirdness there, too?"

"No, there was nothing in the notes that explained that," I replied.

"This is the dumb part," Juliet commented.

Bepi chuckled softly. "I actually... totally didn't think this would work. I thought it'd get me right there. I kinda can't believe my special skill would beat the machine."

"What special skill?!" Jane growled. "What about being a child soldier could possibly have helped you there?!"

"It's not being a child soldier that he means," I said.

"What? But..." Jane trailed off and stared into space for a moment. "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me."

I did not have anything to do with Barrett dying.

Rodrigo, Rocky, and Barrett were already there when we arrived. I waved, but I paused when I saw that Barrett had a towel around his neck, and the top of his head was coated in some kind of white paste.

"Uh," I said, "you okay, there?" He gave me a thumbs up.

"Oh, we're changing his look," Rocky said, grinning. "Dude needs highlights!" He yanked gently on his own scraggly, blonde hair. "I'm natural now, but when I wanted to make a big change, I dyed my hair. Symbolic, you know?"

"ARE. YOU. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME." Jane was absolutely livid. "You almost got away with a murder because of your goddamn DAD JOKES?!"

Bepi just shrugged. "Hey. I really didn't have anything to do with Barrett dyeing. That was all Rodrigo and Rocky."

"If you weren't about to get executed, I'd fucking kill you just for that," Jane grumbled. Bepi just grinned.

"Well, that's that," Juliet said brightly. "Saya, care to take us through the murder, for anyone still confused?"

I blinked at her. "I can try," I said. "But... there's still a lot I don't know. We didn't solve this by figuring out the murder, we solved it by figuring out the lie. But all right..."

The killer must have begun their preparations earlier tonight. They got into the Secret Information cube for reasons I'm not sure of... maybe Monokuma set it up so they'd be able to get in to make them a target. But they realized it was a perfect, secluded place for a murder.

They got Barrett, who was an easy target thanks to his drugged state, and led him into the South Quad. Rocky was in the main quad, but they were able to sneak past him by walking through the shadows on the periphery.

Once they got to the Secret Information cube, they stabbed Barrett through the eye and left him in the secret room. Then, they set up shoddy traps they'd cobbled together both in the cube and outside... I assume they did this to make it ambiguous whether Barrett was killed directly, to camouflage lying to the Cricket later.

They then casually went back to the door and... I think... slipped a note under my door directing me to go to the South Quad late at night. Again, I think this was to muddy the waters, and to make sure Barrett's body was discovered before morning.

I don't know why they did what they did, but their actions in the Cricket make them the only possible suspect to be able to lie about killing Barrett. That means the murderer is... Giuseppi Perfetto, the Ultimate Cadet!

The room spun and I kind of lost awareness of what was happening around me for a moment. But I don't think I missed anything: everyone was just staring at Bepi in shock.

"Good work, Saya," Bepi said sadly. "I'll fill in some gaps, okay?" I nodded dumbly.

He cast his gaze around the circle as he spoke. "Barrett is the one who was smashing up rooms... maybe even while he was drugged. I walked into the cafeteria late last night and found him sitting on the floor, sharpening that table leg I used to kill him." He sighed. "He just gave it to me when I asked, though. I think it was just habit. Destroy things, make weapons, make chaos... it was just his nature.

"The traps were for the reason Saya said, to make it so someone could deny killing him and it wouldn't necessarily be a lie. I made them out of the wreckage in the smashed-up rooms as a little joke. And yes, I slipped the note under Saya's door. I... couldn't bear the thought of going all night before he was discovered; I had to get it over with."

There was another silence. Lucina held up a note, simply reading, Why did you do it?

Bepi paused a moment, then he sighed. "Because I'm a coward," he answered simply. "I couldn't stay here any longer. Not after almost getting my head blown off."

I looked up at him sharply. "Wait... wait, that doesn't make sense. You've been shot at your whole life, how could that have affected you so much?"

"I told you: because I'm a coward. That's how I survived so long."

"No." I shook my head at him, pointing angrily. "No, don't do this. You just expected to get away with it?"

He laughed genuinely. "Of course. What, you think if you hadn't caught me, I would have revealed myself? You think I resigned myself to getting executed a long time ago?"

"You're the one who collected everyone's notes," Juliet remarked. "And you showed them to Saya, our detective. The main evidence against you. You could have thrown it away, but you didn't."

"Yeah, because I'm an idiot!" Bepi snapped. "Just because I didn't do everything perfectly, that doesn't mean I secretly wanted to get caught."

Jane tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You said every death was a tragedy. In the cricket, so it wasn't a lie. But you..."

"This is stupid," Bepi grunted. "You're all little kids. Don't get mad, but you are. You've lived through nothing. You know nothing. You're in this naive little fantasy world."

Katy gaped at him. "But... but why did you..."

"Why!" Bepi suddenly spat, cracking his hand against his lectern. "Why why why! All any of you ever talk about is 'why!' There is no 'why!' There is nothing!"

He pointed up at Monokuma, who simply stood with his paws behind his back. "That's how he's going to ruin you! How can you be so stupid?!" He paused, rubbing his hand over his bald head in exasperation. "You had to jump through all those hoops in the new quad, remember? Each one meant to teach you, your senses are wrong. Things you think you see, you never saw. Things you think you think, someone else put in your head. There's your 'why!' And you get upset and lost and afraid, and the mastermind swoops in with the solution. This is the fucking brainwashing, and you're all just...

"Do you think... do you think science will save you?!" He spat the words to Jane in utter contempt. "Or stories?!" He moved on to Katy. "Or faith?! Or reason?! Or art?!" Rodrigo, me, Rocky. "Or love? Or suffering?" Juliet, Lucina. Finally, he glared at Ashley's portrait, the ugly black square blocking her mouth. "Or discipline?"

He shook his head, barking out a sarcastic, ugly laugh. "It's nothing. It's all just nothing. That's the only answer. The only way you'll get out of this is to accept that everything is just nothing, and Monokuma, I think it's time to vote for the killer, right?"

I started to say something, but Monokuma's shouting drowned me out. "That sounds correct! Please vote on the touch screens in front of you for the killer of Barrett Wood!"

I must have voted, but everything was just chaos and nonsense in my head. When I caught back up to the room, the readout showed that Bepi had received everyone's votes.

The familiar 'jackpot' sound effect was playing, but Monokuma scratched his head in confusion. "Huh? The system says you got it right, but you all voted for a...Giuseppi Perfetto? But there's no student here named that!" He suddenly slammed a fist into his other paw. "Oh! I see. You all mean Cadet #2! Well, you're correct!"

Bepi glowered, hate in his expression as he stared up at the bear. "Ready for your execution, Mr. Nobody?" the bear sang mockingly to him.

Bepi snorted with half amusement and half contempt. He reached into his pocket, pulled something out, and slammed it down onto his lectern. "You might have forgotten about this," he said to all of us in the circle. "But I didn't just find a nice murder room. I found the secret, special information. I thought y'all might be interested."

I found my voice, which was raspy and hoarse for some reason. "Bepi..."

"No." He glared directly at me, his single eye like a laser. "Saya, it doesn't mean anything. Nothing. I'm a coward. Everything else is just meaningless. Fear is the only thing real, and it finally killed me, and that's that."

Iciness filled up in my whole body and I suddenly found myself looking at him differently. He wasn't Bepi anymore; he was just a pattern of behaviors and traits like a chess game. "I don't believe you," I said.

"Believe whatever you want," he snapped. "Do you... you think it'd make you feel better to think there's some noble reason I did it, right? Some sacrifice?" He glowered. As if... as if I saw someone I care about close to committing murder, and I knew they wouldn't be able to control themselves forever, so I stepped in and did it myself first to protect them? Some deep, important story like that?"

I lost my iciness. I stared at him, my mouth hanging open.

I remembered that day in the module with Katy, when I stood across from her and reached out my hands and almost lost everything. And... in my memory, for a second, was there a flash of movement from outside? Just a tiny, quiet moment where I could see a person standing, listening? Or was I just making it up?

Giuseppi snorted. "That doesn't exist. It's naive. It's something a kid would believe. And thank god, because how fucking pointless, in the end. It wouldn't be a relief at all, it'd just be so fucking sad no one would be able to stand it.

"I'm ready for my fucking execution!" he shouted to Monokuma. Then he looked at all of us and pointed down at the thing on his lectern. "You listen to this. It's important. It's alpha-level important. You know what alpha-level means? It means the most important thing you can imagine. More important than any stupid motive a stupid nobody could have for killing anyone."

Rodrigo reached out his hand. "Friend Giuseppe..."

"Cadet 2!" Bepi corrected. He breathed hoarsely, tense and shaking. "I am nobody. I was never anybody. You forget about this shit with me, and you solve this mystery! You hear me?! I'm dead! I'm dead!"

"Do it!" He wasn't looking at Monokuma; he was staring right at me. "Do it, bear!" And the floor opened up beneath him and he fell.

SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM
The execution of CADET #2

The TV screens came up on Bepi, standing on a soundstage that looked like it was done up like a desert. He was in a combat stance, standing across from four Monokumas, all wearing headbands and bandoliers. One had a machine gun, two more had enormous knives, one had a shotgun.

Bepi glimpsed to the side like he was confused by the odds... but he soon grimaced. More guerilla Monokumas emerged from hiding places all around, running in from far away, even dropping from the sky. They all stood across him: an army.

A small timer popped up in the middle, showing 05. It counted down, slowly.

As it hit 02, a huge sign lit up on the wall across from Bepi. It said: REMINDER: DAMAGING SCHOOL FACULTY IS A CAPITAL OFFENSE

Bepi laughed, dark and cruel. The counter hit zero. A buzzer went off, and they went into action.

He was a blur, jumping all around, dodging and flinging himself from spot to spot. He grabbed Monokumas and tossed them gently away, and he even seemed to be having some success using them to block attacks from others. Before long, a third of the Monokumas were broken on the floor, and Bepi hadn't himself damaged a single one.

One of them caught him in the side with a knife; he jumped away, but the spray of blood was still noticeable.

I noticed, above him, there was something slowly descending, lowered by some sort of machinery. It was big and ugly and metal. I realized it was an enormous bomb.

The Monokumas were throwing grenades, by this point. They were mostly taking out one another, but Bepi misjudged a dodge and was caught in an explosion. He rolled away and staggered to his feet, singed and bleeding.

He glanced up at the bomb. More Monokumas were crawling out of the floor and the scenery. I was watching his face, and I saw him make a decision. He suddenly lunged forward, smashing his kneecap into one of his enemies, launching the grinning bear's head into the air. A siren went off, a red light flashed, and a puff of steam came out from the bomb above him. He grabbed a nearby Monokuma's rail gun and pulled it away, spraying bullets into the surrounding robots. There was a moment of just him mowing them down, mechanical carnage all around, his wild laughter somehow louder than the gunshots... and then the bomb above him made a mighty thunk sound.

There was a flash of blinding, white light. When it was gone, everything had just been vaporized. There was nothing at all left. Nothing.

I had fallen to my knees at some point. I also couldn't hear, and the things I could see didn't make sense. It all just... got blown up.

TRIAL ELEVATOR

I began to regain my senses on the elevator, grinding upwards. I realized Rodrigo was holding one of my arms, and Lucina was holding the other. I tried to move, and it didn't work. I dumbly noticed that my legs were limp, and I would have fallen over without their support.

Juliet stood apart from us, eyeing me coolly. After a moment, she sighed. "What did you even expect?" she asked. "He was a man without love in his heart. He..."

"Shut the fuck up," Jane's voice snapped from somewhere behind me. Juliet complied.

MAIN QUAD

We all exited the elevator, still silent. Juliet skipped off happily, but the rest of us just stood in a circle, awkward and cold. It really did feel like Autumn by now.

Everyone was looking at me. I guess I was the only was he was close to since Ashley died, after all.

I found myself able to stand upright, and I gave Rodrigo and Lucina grateful looks as I stepped away from them. When I spoke, it was hoarse and echoey. "Did anyone get the secret information?"

No one answered for a moment, and then Rocky raised his hand. "Uh. I did. It's, like, an old mp3 player. Looks like there's only one file on it."

"Can you play it out here?" I asked, nodding towards his music equipment.

There was another awkward silence, and eventually Katy spoke up. "Are you sure, dear heart? Maybe we should just get some sleep instead..."

"No," I said, plainly. "I wanna hear it. Doesn't everyone?"

No one looked convinced, but eventually Rocky nodded. We went over to his equipment, he pulled out a loose cord and plugged the mp3 player in. Then he flipped a switch, turned a knob, and I could hear ambient noise and a gentle hum.

A woman's voice, nasal and odd, cut in suddenly, mid-sentence. "...not me! I promise..."

"Save it!" This new voice was electronically altered, impossible to tell anything about the speaker. "There's no one else it could be! You're the mastermind, you're the one working with Dr. Alameda!"

Nasal voice spoke again: "But it's not me!"

A man's voice cut in, deep and clear. "Please don't make this any harder-" a tone blocked out part of the message. "-is right. It has to be you. Please just admit it." He sounded close to tears.

The altered voice spoke: "She'll never admit it! She's been a perfect liar all this time!"

Nasal voice was sobbing now. "No! No..."

"Don't try to make us feel sorry for you!" a rich, androgynous-sounding voice proclaimed. "You and Alameda have been trying to turn us into your little puppets, but it didn't work! We'll always fight you!"

A second, altered voice spoke; it was clearly distinct from the first, but it had the same odd, alien sound to it. "You tried to use us!"

"That's right!" the first altered voice agreed. A censoring tone sounded, and the voice picked back up: "-remember? She died trying to keep us from falling into your clutches! We'll never bow to you, and we'll never bow to a government that would murder to try to keep its young people in line!"

Nasal voice just whined out sobs. "Don't... please! Please believe me!"

The androgynous voice scoffed. "And now we've reached the end, and you know that not only did your plan fail, it backfired! Monokuma! Fulfill your programming! We're done with this garbage!"

"Well, fair's fair!" Monokuma's voice proclaimed amid the continual bleating of nasal-voice. "You passed your final exam, so it's time to graduate! Say goodbye to the mastermind-" and the censor tone bleated again. When it stopped, I could just hear a fading, woman's scream.

After a moment, a new voice spoke, a man's, high-pitched. "What do we do now?"

The first altered voice chuckled; it sounded grotesque. "We..." And then the audio cut off.

We all looked at one another in bewilderment.

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

Hours later, I lay in bed. I hadn't slept. I hadn't done anything except cry and stare at the ceiling. It suddenly occurred to me that I was broken over a murderer and felt nothing about a victim. My chest ached.

I glanced over at the window; it was still dark. I sat up, pressing my forehead into my hands. I was out of tears.

There was a soft thump from across the room. I jerked my head over and saw a short, round shape in the corner, staring at me.

I felt like I couldn't breathe, I jumped away from it. But Monokuma didn't move; he just laughed softly. "Hi, Saya."

"What..." I pressed a clenched fist against my chest. "What are you doing here?!"

"Hm?" He tilted his head mischievously. "Why are you acting like you know me? You don't know me. This is the first time you've ever heard me speak... with my true voice."

I stared at him, the pieces fitting together. "...the mastermind?"

"AI is amazing technology, but sometimes humans have to step in and offer guidance," he said.

I glanced around. "Where are you right now?"

"Ehehe. In my dorm room, just meters away from you. It's super dangerous and exciting, don't you think?" My gaze fell upon the shadowy form of the door to the hallway, and he held up a paw. "Oh, don't bother. I'm watching everything you do. Before you're even out of this room, much less to anyone else's room, I'll be all curled up in bed, ready to act so innocent, you'd never guess I'm lying."

I breathed. "Why are you here?"

"Hmm. Well, I was thinking about old movies."

"What...?"

"You like old movies, right Saya? You used to watch them ever week with your mother. And, well, this moment is like my debut. The first time I get to speak as myself. And that made me think of old movies, how they used to be silent and then they had sound. Do you know the first movie with talking in it?"

I answered automatically. "The Jazz Singer."

"The Jazz Singer, right! And so you know the first line audiences heard from a movie? The first thing anyone in a movie said?"

I stared at him, feeling more terrified than I'd ever felt in my life.

"'You ain't heard 'nothin, yet,'" he said. He stared at me for a moment, unmoving, then he stomped his little foot on the floor. A panel opened up, just like the one Rocky found in the ROTC. Monokuma jumped into the hole.

As the panel sealed up as if it'd never been there, I felt myself shivering.

Q: Tell me about your parents, please.
BP: I never knew them.
Q: Hrm. Do you wish you had?
BP: I have a lot of pointless wishes.