NEW HOPE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ULTIMATES: WEST QUAD
There is nothing in the west quad nothing. no thing not not

NOTABLE LOCATIONS:

Parker Library
i was alone here once many years ago it was empty hallways and the smell of books and i sat on the carpet and the carpet smelled like books i felt myself dying dying like flying i ran my hand on the spines of the books the books weren't real the books were just in my head the smell of books was ju

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After the sun came up, people started knocking on the door. The first was soft and hesitant, and no one tried to say anything, so I assume it was Lucina. She was sweet to try to check in.

The second was polite, formal little raps, three of them, and then a boistrous but uncharacteristically nervous voice, "Friend Saya? I have been speaking to others, and we are concerned about your well-being. 'Twould be best to seek comfort in friendship and not seclusion. Perhaps...?" But he didn't finish the question and heard nothing else.

The third set of knocking was impatient but oddly muffled. Jane's voice called, "Don't you think you should come out? Really, darling, think about your dignity. It'd be terribly embarrassing to survive this long and then to starve to death. Don't be dense." There was a pause. "If you commit suicide, then after I escape, I will tell everyone I solved all the murders on my own and you were just my dunderheaded sidekick." I didn't move. I guess she left after that.

Time passed. Eventually, I got another knock. "Hey, um..." It was Rocky, of all people. "Are you..." He trailed off. I sat in silence.

I fell asleep at some point, because a sudden noise caused me to jolt awake. I was dazed for a moment, which was welcome. It was dark outside.

I heard the sound again. It was someone knocking on the door, but it sounded odd. Piercing, but somehow musical.

"Hey, Saya," Juliet's sweet voice called. "Open up. I want to murder you."

I wasn't even sure why, but I stood up and lurched over on unsteady legs. I grabbed the handle and pulled the door open a crack, looking out at her.

She was in her business slut attire, again. Short, fancy skirt, tight, white blouse, chic glasses, hair sleekly held up with a clip. "You're into this, right?" She did a little twirl, showing off her outfit. "I don't have a lot of practice figuring out what girls like."

I was actually enormously into it, of course, but I glared. "What do you want?"

She glanced at an expensive-looking, silver watch I have no clue where she acquired. "It's been hours. Let's get you something to eat. I'll poison it. It'll be great." She turned and walked off without another word.

I spent a very brief second questioning whether or not to follow her. Before that moment was over, I had already walked out into the hallway.

STUDENT UNION: CAFETERIA

The trip over to get some food was silent, but Juliet kept giving me irritatingly knowing looks. When we arrived, we picked at the food left out overnight, and we tried to salvage a usable pair of seats from the wreckage Barrett had left.

I sat on a broken stool, poking my wilted spinach salad. Juliet licked up a small amount of the frozen yogurt she'd gotten. She kept looking at me knowingly.

"What is it?" I asked, annoyed. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

She paused, then shrugged. "You weren't in love with Giuseppi," she said.

I blinked at her in surprise. "...What?"

"You weren't in love with Giuseppi," she repeated. "I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

She waved a hand at me vaguely. "I don't think you're faking this. You're upset."

"Of course I am," I snapped. "He was my friend."

She frowned, taking another little lick of frozen yogurt. "You fucked him, but you weren't in love with him. You wouldn't fuck Lucina, but you are in love with her."

"What's your goddamn point, Juliet?"

She shrugged helplessly. "I don't understand it! It seems like such a waste! If you'd loved one another, then all of this would have been meaningful. Your pain right now would be meaningful. But without love... aggh." She shook her head, glaring. "I'm half intrigued and half infuriated."

"I did love him," I replied. "Just not like that. We were friends. It's not that weird a concept."

"Yes, but it's stupid!" Juliet looked like she was trying to explain sub-atomic physics to a toddler. "It's a waste! You're a girl, and he was right there! In your bed, even! How do you even expect to be a girl if you have an opportunity like that and don't even fall in love?!"

I felt myself growing irritated at her, which was an enticingly pleasant sensation. "I don't really think much about being a girl. I just kind of take it for granted."

"That's not true!" she snapped, almost petulantly. "Your father made it very clear he wished you'd been a son."

I made a fist and then released it, trying to relax. "That... didn't really mean anything. He just thought he'd understand me if I was a boy, but I know it wouldn't have made any difference. He can't understand anyone but himself. Like you."

"Gahhh." Juliet looked away huffily and then took a deep breath. "You don't get it."

"I really don't."

She crossed her arms, pouting. "Okay," she said eventually. "Let me try to explain it this way. Have you ever read that story 'The Lady or the Tiger?'"

This was a strange enough zigzag that I immediately found myself distrusting her intentions, but I just replied, "Um, yes. A long time ago."

"Good." She straightened up, acting for all the world like a literature professor. "Humor me: tell me what you remember about it."

I shrugged. "It's about this guy who's condemned by the king, and he's put in like a gladiator arena, and he has to walk through one of two doors. Behind one is a beautiful woman he'll marry, and behind the other is a tiger that'll kill him. And then it doesn't have an ending. It just stops and the author goes, 'Hey reader, what do you think happened?'"

Juliet nodded smartly. "But it's more than that. It's not famous simply because it had a clever gimmick. It does have an ending; it's just simply an ending that differs from reader to reader. Because, miss photographic memory, remind me what else happens."

I was getting extremely suspicious, but I complied. "Well, he's in the arena because he was caught having an affair with the king's daughter. And the princess is there, and she knows what's behind what door. And she tells him to go through the door on the right, and he does."

"Mmm hmm," Juliet agreed, tilting her head. "So. The ending isn't simply one of random chance. It depends on whether the reader thinks the princess would rather see her true love torn apart... or marry another woman. And that depends on what the reader brings to the story. The reader's beliefs."

I nodded. "Yeah. About love, right? If I think love is good, then she directs him to the lady. If I think love is selfish, she directs him to the tiger. I can see why you'd be into this, but..."

"Ah ah ah," she chided. "That's one thing. The story may be about love. But I didn't think so, when I read it at first. I assumed the story was about women. If the reader thinks women are cruel and unreasonable, he goes to the tiger. If women are pure, he goes to the lady."

She regarded me thoughtfully, an index finger pressed against her chin. "And that makes a huge difference to me. You see, if the story is about love, then of course she sends him to the lady. But if the story is about women, then he's torn apart by the tiger. Without love, I'd relish seeing him die. With love, I couldn't bear it. Do you see?"

"No. Completely not."

She shook her head disdainfully. "Stubbornness is the greatest of your many flaws, you know."

"Juliet..."

"Love is what saves women," she interrupted, then she paused thoughtfully. "Or rather... love is what truly creates women. Before love, women are shells. They can fill up with anything, and it's usually something terrible."

I just shook my head at her. I realized this feeling of annoyed, frustrated anger was exactly why I'd come out when she knocked on my door. It was distracting. "You know this is completely screwed up, right?"

Instead of answering, she licked her frozen yogurt and regarded me coolly. "What did you think happened in the story when you read it? Did he go to the lady or the tiger?"

"I... kind of didn't think about that?" I answered, scratching my head. "I was mostly thinking about the lady. She's trapped and might have to marry this guy she doesn't even know, and she didn't even do anything! So I thought I wanted it to be the tiger. But then I realized, she's probably trapped. They just use her over and over until someone opens her door. So I think I eventually decided it doesn't matter."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Really? You thought about..." She trailed off and shook her head in contempt. "Ugh. You're just so... weak. You struggle and fight, but every time you just submit to the temptation to be good, like a weakling."

"I do not..." I began to argue angrily, but then I realized what she actually said. "Wait, temptation to be good?"

Grimacing, she sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just pathetic." She shifted her gaze above and behind me, giving off a smirk. "Hey, which do you think, cutie? The lady or the tiger?"

I swiveled around and jumped in surprise. Lucina was standing right behind me, glaring with obvious rage at Juliet. She'd come up so quietly, I hadn't known she was there.

After a moment of glaring, Lucina strode around my chair and positioned herself between me and Juliet. I know I was in a chair and she was standing, but she looked even taller than normal. She quickly wrote out a note I couldn't see and held it up.

Juliet snickered. "Why should I? You don't own her."

Lucina scratched out another message; her movements were firm. I'd noticed that she was actually pretty toned and muscular despite her beanpole frame, but I don't think I'd ever really seen her tensed up like this. She looked like Wonder Woman.

Juliet shrugged. "Because I want to keep living here."

Lucina shook her head in disgust and turned around. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to my feet. Her face was so serious and worried, in a way I'd never seen before, I didn't think to resist as she dragged me out of the room. Juliet didn't make a sound as we left, and I didn't look back.

MAIN QUAD

As soon as we got outside, Lucina threw her arms around me, hugging tight. I immediately froze and sputtered a little, and she noticed my reaction and pulled away. She blushingly looked down. Sorry, the note she held up said.

"Uh. It's okay." I was blushing quite a bit myself. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at me quickly, as if I was nuts. Jane said she heard you leaving with Juliet. I was so worried she'd done something to you.

I snorted, waving my hand dismissively. "She just wanted to talk about literature, or something. More insanity about love."

She suddenly slapped her notebook into the palm of her other hand; I was so startled I yelped. The idea of Lucina making a loud noise was so odd, I couldn't really wrap my head around it.

Staring seriously, she jotted out another message, She's Juliet. You can't trust her. Why did you go with her?

I was leaning back a little, still very startled. "I... I don't know. I kind of felt like I couldn't handle anyone else."

She goggled her eyes at me as if that was the most ludicrous thing she'd ever heard. But instead of responding, she pinched the ridge between her eyes and took a deep breath.

Her next note was a little shakier than most. Just stay safe. OK?

I couldn't keep myself from blushing. Mumbling, I looked down at my feet.

I felt a soft jostling, and I looked up in shock. Had she just... punched my shoulder? I looked down, as if there'd be evidence there. I looked back up. It had been very soft, but yes. She had just punched my shoulder. I couldn't believe it.

She held up her last message right in my face and tapped her index finger against the word OK?

"OK!" I said, too startled to do anything else.

She nodded smartly. Then she blushed slightly and scribbled out, Sorry about hitting you.

"I... have to admit, I didn't think you had it in you," I replied.

She raised an eyebrow, then showed me, I'm full of rage, so watch out!

I laughed; it felt nice. "Hey, as proof I'm not planning to die, I was going to go try to buy a book about sign language. I want us to be able to communicate better after we get out of here."

She smiled beautifully, looking genuinely pleased.

"Plus," I added, "I'm super jealous of Katy. I want to be able to talk to you like she does!"

Lucina stopped smiling, but she didn't look upset. You're still jealous?

"It's okay," I promised, smirking. "I'll deal with it. I just can't change who I have feelings for this quickly."

Yeah, she wrote. I get it. Me too.

I started to reply and found I couldn't. She seemed to realize what she'd written and pulled her message away quickly, diverting her gaze to the ground and blushing.

Still not looking at me, she held up, I'm going to go meet Katy.

"Um. Yeah. Okay." I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. "I was going to try to go for a run, I think. If... if you both want to come work out, that'd be nice, I think."

She nodded, finally catching my eye again with a tiny smile. Not even really knowing how to say goodbye, I just stiffly turned and walked off to the gym.

STUDENT UNION: CAFETERIA

They did come to the gym, but we didn't work out together. After giving me a huge, extended hug, Katy went to the weight room, and Lucina bowed into a studio to, I think, do some yoga. I headed to the treadmills as usual. It was good to work out, but I couldn't clear my mind as well as usual. I kept thinking about Bepi. I guess that's normal.

I made sure to finish up and shower before the others, and I waited for them outside. When they came out, they very nicely asked me if I was hungry, and I said yes. I have no idea what time it was, but it was probably getting pretty late. Too late for dinner.

But weirdly, most of my other classmates were in the cafeteria when we arrived. Rocky and Rodrigo sat together, both laughing. Jane sat actually kind of near them, poking at a plate of french fries.

Everything got weird and silent as soon as I walked in, but thankfully it was only a couple of seconds before Jane let out a derisive snort. "Well well, thanks for actually joining us out here in the land of the living," she remarked snidely, probably convincing herself she was successfully hiding her relief.

Rocky just waved cheerfully. But Rodrigo somberly stood up, walked over, and knelt down right in front of me. "Friend Saya!" he cried, staring down at the floor. "I failed in my duty to protect Friend Giuseppi! Please accept my humblest penitence!"

I took a half-step back, honestly startled. The dude was just radiating intensity somehow, and I had no clue what to do. I glanced over at Lucina and Katy, and they were no help.

"Just say you accept it," Jane called out, rolling her eyes. "He did this to me when Emily died."

I looked down at Rodrigo, quivering with shame. "I... accept?" I said, as gratefully as I could. He stood up and immediately threw his arms around me, squeezing tightly. Then he pulled back and looked at me with the most serious gaze I had ever seen on anyone.

"Friend Giuseppe used his God-given free will for vice and evil," he intoned. "We must remember Friend Barrett, who, like us all, struggled with his nature in order to do good in the world! But." He pulled back and placed a fist across his chest. "The fault is this evil place."

I nodded, catching back up. "Yeah. I think so, too. I'm mad at him, but it's Alameda's fault."

"Hey, why were you all here so late?" Katy asked, seeming happy about how well people were getting along. "It's almost midnight."

"None of us could sleep," Rocky answered as Rodrigo sat back down across from him. "We were all spooked. The campus just suddenly feels really empty, you know?"

I blinked to realize Lucina was holding out a plate with a hamburger on it. I took it, smiling at her, and the three of us sat down at a nearby semi-reconstructed table.

"That isn't the only thing," Rodrigo said. "If the same pattern continues, then we are soon to have access to the area of campus to the west. That is the final door that could be opened."

"Yeah, and that means... this is over, right?" Rocky piped up. Nothing else to open up after a new murder, so no more murders."

"And, as I was just saying, that's a foolishly hasty assessment," Jane drolled. "It does seem likely that we're following a preset course, and at some point, there will be no more of the campus to reveal. But I'm not convinced this is over."

"Why not?" Katy asked.

"Because of what the bear said during that asinine 'class' we were supposed to attend," Jane answered. "There's ten buildings on campus, and escape is only possible through the administration building. But..." She held up a gloved hand and raised her fingers as she recited her list, "The dorm, the student union, the classroom building, the gym. The frat house, the art center. The ROTC, the science building. That's eight. Counting the administration building... there's still one more mysterious building."

"Hmmmm," I mused. "Yeah. I don't think it's likely we'll just open up a way out. I think there's more."

"Gah, this sucks," Rocky moaned, shivering. "It's like we're on rails, just going towards... something we don't know what it is."

Lucina signed something, and Katy nodded. "That's not the worst part," she said. "Lucina just told me how creepy it is the mastermind already has us knowing what to expect. She's totally right, it's really scary."

Rodrigo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it," Katy answered. "The mastermind, like, sets patterns, and we learn to expect them. We think we know how everything's going to go. We're thinking just like the mastermind wants us to." She waved her hands around vaguely. "And, I mean... that might be smart of us? We should have some kind of plan. But we can't think ahead and surprise the mastermind at the same time."

I felt a chill, and I glanced around the room at everyone. "I think this is probably on everyone's mind already," I said, "but unless Juliet is the mastermind... you're right here with us."

We all got quiet, just staring at one another.

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

I had thought that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep, since I'd slept away a lot of the day already. But I was practically staggering by the time Katy and Lucia walked me back to my room, and when I got into my pajamas and my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

Even asleep, I was dreading this one. I'd been spared somehow when I passed out earlier, but this time, the dream came up bright and realistic and detailed. It was some kind of giant, well-decorated living room. Nicole sat on a couch facing me, reading a magazine. JP sat on the other end of the couch, very clearly deciding whether he should scoot closer or just stay where he was.

Suddenly, the front door slammed open and Bepi stormed in, waving his hands excitedly. "Guys!" he shouted. "I have a great idea to make money fast!"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Bepi, not another get-rich-quick scheme."

"This is foolproof!" Bepi insisted. "Foolproof! It's so simple! We just take something that already works and update it!"

JP sighed. "I hope this is better than your idea for radioactive scarecrows."

"Much better!" Bepi planted himself in front of them in a salesman stance. "Now, great literature. We all love it, right? But is it even any good? No one knows! Like... like War and Peace. No one's read War and Peace!"

"I have," Nicole said, not slowing Bepi down for even a moment.

"But you know what people today love? Choice! Immersion! I don't want to just read War and Peace, I want to interact with it. So I give you..." Grunting, he heaved an absolutely enormous book from behind his back. It was much too large to actually be behind his back, but he somehow pulled it out and slammed it down onto the coffee table, breaking it.

JP and Nicole looked down at the wreckage, nonplussed. "Um... what is that?"

"It's The Grapes of Wrath!" Bepi answered manically. "But see, it's not. See, every few pages, the reader gets to make a choice. And with each choice, they turn to a new page and keep going. If they choose to divert from the story, they can! New things happen!"

JP kicked the book lightly; it didn't budge. "Did you... write entirely new stories?"

"Yeah! Well, I mean, it usually turned into either dudes making out or marines fighting aliens. It kinda just became stream of consciousness after a while. I had to make a lot of content!"

Nicole started reading her magazine again. "This sounds absolutely terrible."

"But it's not!" Bepi argued. " This book can't possibly be any worse than The Grapes of Wrath, because The Grapes of Wrath is word-for-word in here if the reader follows the right path! That's the genius part. It doesn't matter what you add to great literature, because the great literature will always still be there, being all great!"

Nicole threw her magazine into the air in frustration. "It's a bad idea, Bepi."

"Only for people who reject choice!" Bepi snapped. "Only for people who want everyone else to make their decisions for them! Only for cowards."

"Only for cowards," JP agreed.

"Only for people who pretend not to know what they want," Bepi insisted. "Only for the damned." And I suddenly realized all three of them were looking directly at me.

I woke up tangled in my sheets, sweating, aching.

DORM: ENTRANCE LOBBY

I hadn't gotten two steps out of the elevator hallway before a blonde head stuck itself through the door to the ruined computer lab. It was Rocky; he grinned when he saw me. "Saya!" he called. "Hey! You're exactly who we need!"

I paused, scratching my head in confusion. "Uh... isn't that room all smashed up?"

But he ignored my question and just called, "C'mere! C'mere c'mere c'mere!" It turned into a chant. "Come here Saya! Come here Saya!"

"Oh good lord, stop!" Jane's voice called out of the computer lab.

Even more confused, I walked over.

DORM: COMPUTER LAB

The computer lab was indeed still all wrecked. No tables or recognizable computers were left, but someone had been able to salvage a few office chairs. Jane sat in one of them, delicately resting her chin on her hand. Next to her, on the wall, was a white board, which was a confusing mass of names and lines.

Rocky gleefully jumped into one of the chairs and rolled it over to the white board. "Hey, check it out!" he cheered. "We've been working on this all afternoon!"

"Please stop jumping all around, you utter nitwit," Jane grunted. Rocky appeared completely unfazed by her insult.

"Um." Before I could even look at what was written on the board, I had to address the two people in the room. "You two are... working together?"

"Unfortunately," Jane sighed. She tilted her head. "What?"

I squinted at Jane in confusion. "I just... I'm surprised you'd work with anyone here."

"It's merely self-protective," she replied, shrugging. "There's only six of us left, not counting Juliet of course. The DJ here is at least too much of a dunce to be untrustworthy."

"Y...yyyyeah." I looked in equal puzzlement to Rocky. "And... that doesn't bother you?"

Rocky turned around from something he'd been writing on the board. "Huh?"

"She just called you a dunce. That doesn't bother you?"

Rocky waved a hand dismissively. "No way! I don't even notice any more." He leaned over, as if telling me a secret. "I don't even think she knows she's doing it. It's just a habit."

Jane glared. "I can hear you, cretin."

"Ha!" Rocky clapped his hands in delight. "And she's, like, a walking thesaurus of ways to call me dumb! Hey, tell Saya that word you used before. You know, the funny one."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jane muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, you do!" Rocky argued. "The one that made me laugh!"

Jane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "...Mollycocker."

Rocky laughed out loud. Jane was pressing a gloved hand against her mouth, obviously trying hard to look annoyed. "It's archaic," she explained to me. A giggle almost escaped her lips. "I... am not the type to 'spend time' with other people, but I'm sad to say it's usually enjoyable when I do." She paused. "Plus, the DJ is far more daft, but his fancifulness reminds me of... individuals I've been close to in the past."

I found myself smiling. Almost ten people had to die for these two to become friends, but it'd somehow happened. "Okay," I said. "What's this you're working on?"

"It's the big mystery!" Rocky answered with excitement. "I'm writing down everything we know!"

"I've never encountered a final exam I wasn't completely prepared for," Jane added. "If it's so important we figure out what's going on, let's figure it out."

I stood before the white board, taking it in. It was... pretty disorganized and overwhelming, probably from Rocky's influence, but it was also very detailed, probably from Jane's influence. I held up my index finger. "Let's just treat this as a mystery, all right? Lay out the evidence we've been given, and leave speculations of what it means until later."

Jane shrugged. "Very well. According to the grant application, twelve years ago, Dr. Eugene Alameda was given funds by the Department of Defense to create this campus. Our group is experiencing merely the latest iteration of his killing game."

"Got it!" Rocky said. He indicated a part of the board, which showed, "EUGENE ALAMEDA created program, funded by US government."

I nodded. "According to the grant, this game was solely for the purpose of hurting the younger generation." Rocky added a note; 'Intention: Hurt young people!'

I tapped my chin in thought. "That intention is partly true. But the documents we found showed that he wanted to... train us to help society and follow the rules., or something like that. He does hate young people, but this whole thing is supposed to, like, fix us." Rocky added notes on the board as I spoke.

"Okay, that's the grant thing," Rocky said. "What else do we have?"

"The document Therion gave to Saya," Jane answered. "Suggesting that not only is one of us the mastermind, but also one of us is a holdover from previous semesters."

"Um, and there was the voicemail?" I ventured. "The one that played at night, and Monokuma acted like it was a mistake."

"Right!" Rocky said, jotting down notes. "The one from 30 Under 30 Media Luminary Gareth McGregor! So like... that said the alumni were... supposed to do something if they didn't hear from someone in time?"

"Yeah," I said. "The guy on the phone knew the killing game was happening, and he specifically referred to the mastermind as the person he was trying to reach."

Rocky wrote down and underlined the word ALUMNI and turned back to us. "Okay, and then there was the recording we heard the other night. Of the old trial."

"Yes, we heard some people having their 'final exam,'" I replied. "They exposed someone as working with Alameda, and then Monokuma executed them."

Jane crossed her arms over her chest, crinkling her forehead in thought. "The recording had a voice that was altered and unrecognizable."

"Two!" Rocky spoke up. "Trust me, I know sound, and there were definitely two different voices that were altered."

"Hmm, quite." Jane displayed only mild annoyance at being corrected. "Then... I know we aren't to make interpretations, but this is quite confusing."

I tried to take in the board and my eyes got a little blurry. "Yeah, this is overwhelming. I think it'd be good to highlight the big players."

"Awesome idea!" Rocky took a marker and stood ready. At my and Jane's suggestions, he drew a box around US GOVT, EUGENE ALAMEDA, MASTERMIND, HOLDOVER, ALUMNI.

"Now, just to help us organize, the relationships between them?"

Jane looked irritated that we were talking about human relationships, but she spoke up first. "The alumni are working for the mastermind. Correct? We learned that from the voice mail before the last murder." Rocky drew an arrowed line from the mastermind to the alumni.

"That means the alumni are also working for Alameda, right?" Rocky asked.

"Um, I don't know," I said. "I'd thought so, because we all got psych interviews from an alumnus."

Jane hmmphed. "Oh, that's who that was. Interesting." She paused and blinked. "But what about recording we heard after the last trial? If that really was a previous class of Ultimates, then they overthrew the mastermind."

"They were also clearly fighting against Alameda," I said. "They were yelling at the mastermind for working with him."

"'I'd been assuming that one of the distorted voices was that of the holdover," Jane pointed out.

Rocky nodded. "Yeah, me too. If they're here, we'd recognize their voice."

"But the voice there was one of the people getting the mastermind executed," I pointed out. "Are the holdover and the mastermind enemies?" I recalled the paper Therion had given me what felt like decades ago. "The people in charge didn't seem like they were too bothered about there being a holdover. And if this person was hostile to the mastermind, then why let them come back? Why not just kill them?"

We paused, frowning. Rocky drew a line between HOLDOVER and MASTERMIND with a question mark.

"I don't get this mastermind thing," he said. "Because like... if we heard the mastermind die, then why do we have one living here with us? And if they were one of the voices that was disguised, how'd they go from hating the killing game to running it?"

"And what about Alameda?" I pointed out. "We heard several people 'pass the final exam,' but they weren't ready to follow the rules of society. They were the opposite! What did Alameda do with them?"

"Maybe he eliminated them," Jane said. "The 'alumni' in question are only the ones loyal to his mission. 'Passing the final exam'... just gets one killed."

"But then why disguise any of their voices?" I asked, throwing my hands up in bewilderment.

I glanced back at the board. It was still very confusing, and I'd noticed Rocky had drawn question marks in a number of places while we were talking.

As we stood in our bewilderment, a chime suddenly went up from our pockets. Jane smoothly reached into her jacket and pulled out her tablet, beeping it on and gazing at it drolly. "Well," she announced. "Barrett's death has paid off as expected. The new section of the campus has been opened up. And no mention of an administration building. It's a library."

Rocky threw his hands up in frustration. "This was pointless!" he grunted. "We didn't figure anything out!"

"I don't think that's true!" I argued, giving what I hoped was an encouraging smile. "I just don't think we know enough to tie it all together yet."

Jane laughed humorlessly. "Indeed. The mastermind is clearly dropping little hints here and there as we go." She sighed and slipped her tablet back into her pocket. "Oh well. It's a good thing Saya will clearly be the next person who gets murdered."

I rolled my eyes. "Hey Rocky," I said, "Jane's accent is fake. She's from Canada."

Rocky's eyes lit up. "Oh! Toronto? There's a great music scene there, and..."

"Calgary," I interrupted.

Rocky closed his mouth. "Oh," he said.

Jane just closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Surrounded by fools," she muttered. I found myself laughing.

WEST QUAD

I ended up getting some food and hanging out in the student stores for a while before heading over to the new quad. Truthfully, I was dragging my feet. Finally, I sucked it up and just headed over.

The library was somehow both the most striking and the most conventional building I'd seen on campus. Every packet of admissions material I'd been sent featured an eclectic group of students hanging out in front of a building like this. Huge, marble pillars lined an intimidating set of stairs. The building itself was huge, made of dark brick, and ivy lined the walls.

Rodrigo stood in the quad, beholding the library in awe. I walked up and waved shyly; he barely noticed.

"Uh… hi," I said. "You… okay?"

"This is a library?" he asked, sounding exhausted just taking in that fact.

"Yeah." I spared a concerned glance to him. "Seriously, are you all right?"

"It is so… huge!" he breathed. "How can it…" He looked at me suddenly. "Is there really so much knowledge in this world, it takes a building such as this to house it all?!"

"I guess?" I answered, scratching my head. "I mean… this is a lot of books. I don't know if it's all knowledge. There's a lot of bad books."

"A book is a book, and knowledge is knowledge," he replied seriously. I had no idea what that meant, but luckily he kept talking. "I… I must control myself. Faust sold his soul for knowledge, of course."

"I never liked that story," I said offhandedly. "But I guess… we should be careful about anything we find in there. This isn't just any library."

"Indeed." Rodrigo breathed slowly. "Indeed. Yes. Thank you for your reminder, Friend Saya!" He smiled genuinely. "I will remain here and pray before entering; I must have a groundwork of faith before entering." He closed his eyes and stood stock-still.

"Uh. Okay." I waved, trying to be friendly but probably coming off as a creep. "I'll see you later?"

"Yes!" he answered, not opening his eyes. I waited another moment, and receiving no other gesture, I decided to just go into the library.

LIBRARY: ENTRANCE HALL

Everything was big and expansive, but otherwise, it looked pretty normal. There was a deserted check-out desk to my left and a set of computers to the right. Ahead of me I could see a door marked PERIODICALS and some shelves where the book collection apparently started.

The floor was a black and white chessboard pattern, which I did not like at all.

Lucina and Rocky were to my right, at one of the computers. They turned and waved when I came in, but as I approached, Rocky turned back to the computer, typing away.

"Hey," I said. "What're you…"

"Ha!" Rocky suddenly shouted. "There it is, there it is!" He pointed at the screen with delight. Lucina smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's my book!" he explained to me enthusiastically. "See?!"

I leaned over and looked at the screen: It showed a search result for the library's catalogue. The book's author was Harlan Horowitz, and the title was 11 to the Floor: A Guide to Incorporating Untraditional Time Signatures in EDM.

I had two burning questions I wanted to ask. Unfortunately, one of them was "You wrote a book?" which some of my brain realized was a very insulting question, but not enough to stop me from asking it. But I was able to switch it over to "You wrote a book?" which was merely confusing instead of offensive.

"Yeah, dude!" Rocky answered, luckily not picking up on my weirdness. "But I never met anyone who wanted to read it before Luce!"

Smiling Shyly, Lucina held up a message, It's exactly the kind of thing I'm interested in.

Not that this wasn't nice and sweet, but I couldn't stop myself from asking my second question. "Your name is Harlan Horowitz?"

"Hmm?" Rocky blinked in confusion, then glanced back at the computer screen. "Oh! No, that's fake. I didn't want all the theory stuff to mix with the dance stuff, you know? I dunno if anyone even knows I wrote it besides my publisher." He shrugged. "Sold like five copies, but I'm proud of it."

"Yeah!" I agreed. "This is really cool, Rocky! I can't believe you always call yourself dumb when you've written something like this. You should give yourself more credit."

He laughed with embarrassment, and the gesture was eerily familiar in a way I couldn't place. I was momentarily dumbstruck when I realized it looked like something Morgan would do. "I really am dumb! It's just, I get rhythm. I don't have to think about it." He laughed again, and it was very unlike Morgan and very like Rocky. "Which is good, because I suuuuuck at thinking."

Lucina swatted his arm with the back of her hand; the movement was playful, but the expression on her face was annoyed. I guess she didn't like him putting himself down.

"Ag! Okay, fine, fine!" He threw his hands up in the air, helplessly. "Either way, it's great you want to read the book, Luce."

I found myself smiling. I never got Rocky at all, but Lucina had a real connection with him, it seemed. I thought it'd make me miss Bepi even more, but I was just fine. "I'm going to keep exploring," I said. See you later?"

They waved, Lucina smiling kindly. I still felt all warm in my chest from that, but it was calming down.

LIBRARY: PERIODICALS ROOM

The room was drab and utilitarian compared to the grand entrance hall. The walls were grey, and fluorescent lights flickered overhead. Chest-high racks of magazines filled the room, narrow corridors between them.

Jane stood in a corner, examining a magazine. When I came in, she looked up and raised an eyebrow, then just kept reading.

I walked over as she made a big show of not reacting to my presence. She was reading something called Genetics Research, very academic and sciencey-looking. "Hi," I said, and I gave her a moment to pretend she cared to not dignify my greeting with a response.

"Hello, dear," she said, finally. "I've found something quite interesting." She turned the journal around and showed me the inside; there was an article with a title that was absolute gobbledygook to me.

"Okayyyy…" I said, doing my best to understand what she meant. "Carrier gene 3U-B22 inhibits expression of cohedrition in mice. That sure is… something."

"Oh, don't worry about the content," she said, failing to even try to hide her delight at knowing something I didn't. "The important thing is the authors. Wei, Brooks, and Chin. They're my colleagues at work."

"Oh!" I leaned in, as if this new information would somehow help me understand the article better. "That's the sort of thing you do?"

"Oh, no no no." She turned the page back to herself and shook her head at it. "Carrier gene 3U-B22 is terribly boring. My work is much more important." She grimaced and mumbled, "Not that I could be published. In order for my doctorate to be valid, I need a bachelor's. That's why I'm here." Her expression darkened. "Agnes Wei, you smug little harlot, you just wait until I get out…"

"Okay…" I blinked at her, confused. "So, why'd you show me?"

"Well, this article had been accepted for publication, but it hadn't come out yet by the time I left." She closed the journal and tapped it smartly with her finger. "Which means, this really is new. It's come out since we've been here."

I frowned as I considered that. "Hmm. So, it is possible to get in and out."

She frowned back. "Well. It's at least possible to get in."

"This is ridiculous," I said, shaking my head. "Why even bother? We're just here to do the killing game. What's…"

"Waaaugh!" Monokuma suddenly fell from the ceiling, shrieking. "How dare you!" he snapped, wagging his paw at me.

I pressed my hand against my chest, trying to slow my breathing back down. "Why."

"I get touchy when ingrates ingrate all over my beautiful campus! Countless automated systems to provide amenities and conveniences, just to make your college experience a rich one! The collection here is entirely up-to-date, as is appropriate for an institution of this caliber!"

"Ugh." Jane was clearly as over this bear as I was. "I don't know what your purpose is anymore, little toy."

Monokuma stomped his foot. "Purpose?!"

She just sighed and shrugged. "I understand the original point. Horrible violence, but from a smiling, plush bear! The contrast is unnerving and bizarre. But that's worn off by now."

"Shut up!" he fumed, shaking his fist at her. "You weren't so smug when I was pointing a shotgun at you!"

I expected that to work, but she just let out a small chuckle. "Darling, Zayn Malik would intimidate me with a shotgun pointed at my face. That doesn't mean anything. Your strategy has simply gotten old. If you hit the same note over and over, how do you expect it to keep working?"

"Well, you aren't supposed to have been here this long!" he shouted back. "If you idiots didn't have to be so complicated and special, we'd have finished up days ago like normal!"

Jane just waved her hand at him. "Oh, just shoo. I'm done with you." She turned her back and began making a big show of reading the scientific journal in her hands.

Monokuma fumed for a moment, sputtering and then jumped and disappeared. I turned to Jane, my mouth hanging open. "Damn!" I exclaimed in genuine shock. "That was amazing!"

"Hmmph." She glanced at me over the pages she was reading, her spirally eyes smirking. "I'm simply telling the truth. I'm concerned about being murdered, of course, but I'm simply finished being afraid of that silly bear."

And, surprising myself, I believed her.

LIBRARY: MAIN ROOM

I bid farewell to Jane and headed back out, then went straight off into the main part of the library. The main room was enormous, with a huge set of stairs leading off right ahead of me, and another set of stairs going off to the side. Here, in the main room, things were grand and beautiful and elaborate, but ahead of me, there was a mess of shelves stretching off as far as I could see; there seemed to be no end to this building. A sign above the smaller staircase said "rare books" and up there, I could see a large glass window overlooking the room.

As I took it in, I saw Katy walking down the large set of stairs, looking a bit addled. When she saw me, she smiled widely and waved. "Saya! Hey, whatcha think of this place?"

I waved back as she approached. I reminded myself she was an ally. "It's… pretty overwhelming."

She laughed annoyingly. "I know! I just came from upstairs; it looks like there's three floors, all with just rows and rows of books! I would have loved this place when I was a kid; all I did was sit and read."

I reminded myself she might actually be the mastermind. "Hmm. Me too. I never actually liked it much, but I… well, I didn't really have anything else to do. My parents were gone a lot of the time, and I never really had a lot of friends."

Katy nodded. "I did have friends," she replied, "but I always felt kinda separate from them. I felt closer to the characters in books. I kept imagining myself with them."

"I guess I'm different," I said, raising an eyebrow. "My imagination has always been, like, patterns and numbers. Not stories and characters."

"Wow, yeah, we're totally different! I've always wanted to be a character in a book." She paused, then laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head. "Uh, sorry! That was a weird thing to say, wasn't it?"

"Uh… not really, but I don't think I get it," I said.

Katy looked like she was about to say something, but a thumping noise coming from above cut her off. We looked up in confusion.

Juliet was standing in the big window overlooking the room. She looked to be laughing uncontrollably. The thumping sound was her slamming her head against the glass.

"What on…" I started to say, but Katy was already running up the stairs. I followed.

LIBRARY: RARE BOOKS ROOM

The stairs and hallway to the rare books room were wooden and shiny, like well-tended antiques. Once we opened the big, gothic doors and got inside the room itself, it was the same: old-looking columns, big oak desks, expensive-looking carpets. Juliet was sitting on the floor, her back leaning against the big wall-size window, howling with manic laughter. She held a small leather book in her hand.

Katy looked at me helplessly. "Saya, what… what do we do?"

I took a step forward. "Juliet…?" She did not react at all. She was laughing so hard, I don't think she could breathe. She finally looked as crazy as she is.

Monokuma suddenly jumped out from the main desk in the center of the room. "Hey!" he shouted, storming up to her and pointing at the book she carried. "Where did you get that!?"

Still laughing, Juliet gestured vaguely to a cloth sack on the floor next to her. Monokuma gaped at her. "You cheater! Cheat cheat cheat! You're not supposed to find those until…"

Juliet very suddenly stopped laughing. She stared coldly at the bear, a glint of insanity still in her expression. "You gave them to me, idiot. Ten minutes ago." She tilted her head at him in dawning understanding. "Oh, I see. That wasn't you, was it?"

Monokuma pressed his paws against his temples as if trying to remember something. "Yes," he intoned, buzzing slightly. "Yes, yes." He stomped his foot. "Well, I don't like deviations from protocol, but I can't disrupt the natural hierarchy of this school's administration! Enjoy your spoils, Miss Mountebank!" He darted off and disappeared.

Juliet laughed again, leaning her head back against the glass. I took a step towards her, and she suddenly grabbed the cloth bag and hugged it to herself tightly. "No," she hissed. "I get it now. I get it. These are what turn us. They're the final twist." She looked up at the ceiling, eyes wide. "I get it!" she called to nobody. "I can't…" and she broke off into chuckles again.

I looked closer at the book she still held under her arm. It was small and thin, and I could see pink lettering on the front. It looked like a diary… one a kid would have.

Katy frowned, pointing at the cloth sack. "What is it? What's so important?"

"Just secrets," Juliet answered. "Not tiny secrets, like the ones from earlier. Secrets for changing us."

Katy put her hands on her hips. "Don't call them little secrets!" she snapped. "Monokuma exposed Emily and Saya's pure hearts and left them hurting! That's not little!"

"Oh?" Juliet turned her gaze to me. "I remember you hurting, yeah. But Saya." She wiped a bit of drool from her chin. "Was your sexuality really your biggest secret? There wasn't anything else you expected?"

I felt ice in my chest, and I just stared back at her.

Saya stood on the front porch, not knocking on the door. She looked back at the lawn and hedges, well-manicured, obviously by a regular team of landscapers. It could have been any other rich person's house.

She kept not knocking. She knew he was home, because there were lights on, and she glimpsed movement through a window. Not for the first time, she wondered what on earth he did for a living, to afford all this but still be home in the middle of the day. To hear her mom tell it, he'd just disappear for weeks at a time, and the only story Saya ever got was "He's working."

The problem was, every time she thought about knocking, she thought about knocking, and that terrified her so much, she couldn't bring herself to knock. She tried to stop thinking, and it didn't work.

She tried to convince herself it didn't even matter. No one even knew she was here. It wasn't like she expected anything. This was just to try, one last time. Just to get closure, or something. She didn't know what closure was, but apparently it helped.

The door opened, startling her, and suddenly he was there. He almost plowed right into her, but when he saw her he froze. The surprise on his face melted into cold contempt.

"Um," Saya said, "hey."

He said nothing.

She kept trying. "I'm… I'm here because…"

But he just turned around without a word, walked in the house, and closed the door behind him.

Saya was stock-still for a moment, but then, like a sandstorm, she felt the anger. She didn't even know why she was angry; it was stupid to get angry about something you should have expected. But she was beyond caring about that. She opened the door and followed him in.

She saw him walking up a set of stairs, his back to her, and she went after him. "Hey!" she shouted. "I'm… stop! Stop walking away!"

He did stop, but he didn't turn around. She was bewildered for a second, not expecting this, but she quickly recovered. "I… I'm here to tell you that I got into New Hope University. The special program. I'm just one of sixteen in the whole country." She took a step forward, clenching both fists. "And I did it without you. You didn't have anything to do with it." Energy was building up; she felt swirly and hot. "This is the last time I'm ever going to talk to you, and…"

He resumed walking up the stairs, just turned into another room and shut the door behind him. With a wordless shriek of anger, she followed him and banged on the door, shouting. After a moment, she thought to check and found that it turned. He hadn't even locked the door.

She swung the door open. It was some sort of study, and he stood near a huge, wooden bookcase in the middle of the room. He was looking at the rows of books, making it as clear as possible his attention was fully captured by deciding what to read, and not anything else.

"Don't you…" she snarled, storming up to him. "Don't turn your back! Listen to me!"

Apparently deciding what book to read, he reached up and started pulling one out.

She noticed she had tears on her cheeks, and that, in turn, somehow led her to realize she was absolutely, uncontrollably furious. She was angrier than she had ever been in her life, angrier than she thought it was possible to be angry. She grabbed his hand firmly, screaming, "Look at me!"

He finally did.

Juliet smiled lazily at me, that madness still in her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "I don't have any secrets."

She just kept smiling.

FACT 1: Monokuma opened up the West quad, which contains a huge library.
FACT 2: New periodical editions have been brought to campus since we arrived, suggesting there is, in fact, a way to get on and off campus.
FACT 3:The mastermind gave Juliet a bunch of things which she calls secrets, and she says they're "meant to turn us." She was drastically affected by some book she read, a child's diary.
FACT 4: Lucina still has feelings for me, I think.