We stepped off the elevator into one of the most boring-looking hallways I'd ever seen. There was nothing strange or suspicious about it, just off-white walls and humming, fluorescent lights. It was so not creepy, I felt a little creeped out.

"Here it is!" Monokuma announced sourly. "The grand final playground whatever whatever who cares. If a door is closed and locked, then it's not relevant to your final exam, so don't both me about it!"

"Uh huh," I replied skeptically. "Locked doors to nothing we shouldn't worry about, huh?"

"Well, one of those locked doors is the way out, but c'mon, we're not letting off that easy," he growled. "Other than that, there's a lot of storage rooms, and visiting faculty needs office space... when we have visiting faculty. There is more than enough evidence out in the open for you to pass the exam, if you're smart enough."

Rocky and Jane had already wandered off, and Rodrigo seemed to be heading that way, too, but I raised my eyebrow. "Is that it?" I asked.

"Grrrph..." He mumbled something under his breath, then turned to me. "I'm supposed to tell you to pay special attention to the two... I mean, the three offices that are open. They're three different sizes; we call them the baby bear, the mama bear, and the papa bear. Together, they're the 'home base' of this whole operation."

"Hmm." I glanced back at the elevator we'd just emerged from. "How'd you open this up, anyway? Is that remote the only way you can do it?"

"Hah!" he sneered. "You aren't getting any information out of me!"

I reached my hand out to him. "Okay then, let me see that remote."

"Wha?!" He pulled the remote control in and clutched it possessively. "No!"

"I'm supposed to search this place!" I argued. "You can't just keep me from examining something right in front of me."

"Ghh!" He stomped his foot. "I'll answer your questions, just don't mess with my remote! You'll break it!" He glared. "You're supposed to be scared of me!"

I decided to ignore this last comment. "Is this elevator the only way to this part of the building? And is the remote the only way to open up the elevator?"

"There's a whole network!" he answered, almost proudly. "Tunnels and hallways and tubes, running all through campus! There's elevators like this one in a couple of different buildings!"

"So when you revealed this elevator, you also revealed elevators in... say, the science building?" Katy asked. "The whole campus has a part for the students, and then a whole other part for you?"

"Yes, but there's nothing anywhere else that will help you on the exam! All you need is riiiight here!"

I glanced at Katy. "Remember when we told you about the hidden door and the shaft we found in the ROTC?" I explained to her. "There was, like, a hallway at the bottom of it, and Monokuma was there. That must have been part of this 'network.' He's got a bunch of those little shafts all around he can use to get in and out, but they'd be too small for us. I couldn't fit my shoulders through."

She nodded. "So that remote really is the only way we could get in."

"Uhhhh..." Monokuma piped up. "There's also technically the trial elevator, out in the main quad."

"Hmm. The courtroom is 'your' space?"

"Of course! I'm working practically nonstop to make those personalized executions, after all! But that elevator only opens up when I'm in trial mode. Every other time?" He held up his remote proudly. "This is the only way you'd be able to get through from one side to the other!"

"It's kind of a big production," I remarked. "It's really loud and takes forever, and it moves walls around. If it happens all over campus, there'd be no way to do it without everyone knowing."

"Yes, which is why we wait for the exam!" Monokuma snapped. "Your professors have reasons for doing things, y'know! We don't just make stuff up to mess with you!"

"So Nicole was right," I muttered. "A certain number of people really did just have to die before it was even possible for us to escape."

"The world is a harsh place!" Monokuma shouted.

I was done with him. With a nod of my head, I indicated to Katy that we start exploring. We left him there, glaring after us.

But, he called after us. "Hold on! One thing."

I turned, raising my eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Grrph. I do not approve of this. But." He crossed his arms across his chest, pouting. "I'm supposed to give you a hint."

"A hint?"

"Here it is." He absolutely hated doing this, it was obvious. "In order to solve this mystery, you'll have to remember the clue that you never used."

I blinked and glanced at Katy, who looked equally perplexed. "The clue we never..."

"I'm not saying it again! Just go!" He turned his back and huffily faced the other way. It was almost cute.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: PAPA BEAR

We came to a huge office containing a huge desk and a filing cabinet not much else. On the top of the desk was a few papers and a laptop computer which looked comically tiny on the huge, oak surface. Rodrigo was at the filing cabinet, flipping through papers a bit helplessly.

Katy chuckled slightly. "It's kinda endearing," she remarked. "It looks like they didn't know how to use all this room."

"I wonder if they meant for more people to be working here than ended up happening," I said, then I paused. "Sorry: we're just gathering evidence now, no interpretations." I glanced up at Rodrigo. "Find anything?"

"I am not sure." He glanced at the papers. "Mere nonsense, I'm afraid. Unless the name 'Major Kindschwall' might mean anything to you?"

Both Katy and I froze. "Um," I said. "Nnno. Why?'"

"There are a number of papers with his name!" Rodrigo answered. "And they are all nearly the same. 'Tis perplexing!"

I looked over at Katy, who very subtly shrugged. We walked over and examined the paper Rodrigo was holding up:

TO: Maj. Kindschwall

SUBJ: Your son

Sir,

The upcoming semester is almost upon us, and before it's too late, I'd like to address some concerns about the inclusion of your son in the new class of Ultimates.

I have met him and have no doubts about his intelligence. However, our psychological profile has determined that he has a high need for independence. This is not a bad trait (indeed, in many cases it's good!), but we're concerned he may be difficult to control. His dedication to our mission is obvious, but he may want to do things "his way."

Under typical circumstances, I would find him easy to work with (particularly compared to some earlier classes' masterminds) and would be in constant contact. However, as always, I cannot guarantee his safety. Does he truly understand the risk? Do you?

His technical talents will aid us in case something goes wrong with the bear or with the security systems... especially useful since none of the other students have an Ultimate Talent remotely connected to computers. However, I did clear up one point of concern: 'Jordan' is one of the top 30 names of boys his age and demographics, so there shouldn't be any problem with using it as his alias.

Again, I am not concerned about his competence. Primarily, I am motivated to preserve his well-being. All previous masterminds have graduated safely, but we all understand it's especially important for the child of an administrator!

I was a little dumbstruck. This was almost exactly the same as the memo supposedly incriminating me, but the details were all different.

"There's a number of these messages," Rodrigo explained. "I know not how any man could have so many children!"

"It goes out of its way to mention the person's name and his talent," Katy pointed out. "Do the rest of them do that, too?"

We flipped through a few more papers: yes, each one contained the subject's alias and talent, just like mine had.

"There's at least a score of these," Rodrigo said.

I nodded thoughtfully. "I'm going to check out the computer," I said, indicating the laptop . "Let us know if you find anything else." He nodded, giving me a determined look.

I went over to the desk and sat in the very unnecessarily padded and expensive-looking chair. The laptop didn't look particularly new, but it seemed functional and in good condition. I switched it on and waited for it to boot up.

Katy leaned over my shoulder as just two icons appeared on the screen: a recycle bin (which we quickly confirmed was empty) and an email program.

"Is this all that's on here, or is everything else, like... blocked off somehow?" I asked.

Katy reached down and clicked the cursor around vaguely. "I... don't know how to check that." We glanced over to the only other person in the room as he struggled to reason out the concept of a manila folder. There was clearly no help there.

"They're not even making it subtle they're trying to to lead us somewhere," Katy remarked. "They're obviously picking stuff out to show us. Curating it."

I glanced at her, clicking on the email program's icon. "You think we can't trust what we find?"

A burst of static surprised me, and Monokuma's voice burst through hidden speakers. "Is someone doubting the veracity of my evidence?!"

"Uh." I wasn't sure what to say, but I shrugged to Katy and Rodrigo and glanced up at the ceiling. "Not... really? It's not a secret this whole thing is meant to do something to us; that was one of the questions on the exam! So how can we trust anything we find?"

"Respect your elders!" Monokuma rasped. "Of course, everything you'll find is..." he trailed off. "...Okay, I can't say it's all true, necessarily. But it's all real. If you find a document in a filing cabinet, that document was really used in that filing cabinet by someone working here."

"Hmmm. So..." I gestured to the computer. "If we found an email on here that seems like it was sent two years ago, and it says 'The mastermind's name is Jimmy,' then the mastermind's name might not really be Jimmy. But, it's definitely a real email that really was sent two years ago by someone using this computer."

"Yes! I think! Kind of!" Monokuma seemed tense. "Look, this is new to us all. We're doing it together!" With an audible click, he signed off the PA system.

Katy rubbed the back of her neck in consternation. "So. Uh, do we believe him?"

"I think we should," Rodrigo spoke up.

"...Yeah," I agreed. "I'm not sure what else to do."

"Hm." Katy thought for a moment. "I think he's telling the truth, because all of this would be pointless if he wasn't. Like... I remember one time, I was playing a video game, and I thought, 'Why is there even a path to the bad guy?' You know? Why doesn't he just go somewhere I can't go? And the only answer is: there's no game if he does that. This is the same deal: why would they do all this if we couldn't win? But... I think 'winning' might not be what we want it to be."

I nodded grimly. "Like what Bepi said right before he died. That's the brainwashing. They break us down and make us feel like nothing makes sense: here's a murder bear! Here's some death trials! Then they give us something we have to make sense of, and we grab onto it, it becomes our new reality."

"Oh dear," Rodrigo commented. "Do... do you believe Friend Bepi would tell us not to try to solve this mystery, because it's just what the mastermind wants?"

"Yeah, probably," I answered. "Bepi never thought things should make sense. But that's what got him killed, so I kind of don't feel like fucking with it."

My directness apparently left them at a loss for words for a moment, which I hadn't intended. "Um. Mail program works, but of course we're not connected," I pointed out, trying to change the subject.

Katy leaned closer to the screen. "Just three emails, all from 'eugene dash alameda at nhu dot edu.' And to..." She trailed off. "Uh. This is a joke, right?"

"I... maybe?" I felt like doing that thing cartoon characters did when they couldn't believe their eyes: rubbing them with my fists and looking again. But it was just plainly true.

"What is it?" Rodrigo asked.

"Uh, the other email here?" I answered, "It's literally 'holdover at nhu dot edu.'" Rodrigo stared at me uncomprehendingly, so I tried to clarify. "This person, like... named themselves 'holdover' online."

"Ah." Rodrigo crossed his arms, pondering this information. "So this person is... the holdover?"

"I mean, it sure seems that way," I replied. "But..." I sighed and shook my head. "No. Let's just take in the information and not speculate about it."

I opened up the first email. The message itself was from Eugene Alameda's email, and each reply alternated between it and the holdover email.

SUBJ: Monokuma

Fine, I won't play Fergalicious. But Destiny's Child falls under the Beyonce banner, and nobody can deny Beyonce.

-Can't we at least draw the line at Fergalicious? Or, for that matter, Bootielicious?

- -I can't help it. He sings what he hears. It's how he's programmed. And I'm not changing my music tastes. You can always leave.

- - -OK, the bear was just walking down the hallway singing Dancing On My Own by Robyn and it seriously freaked me out

"Uh."

I was legitimately unsure what to make of this, and based on the look on her face, Katy was in the same boat.

We opened up the next email. This one was very clearly more informative. Again, the email itself was from the Alameda address, and the responses alternated.

SUBJ: This fall's class

No.

-Noted. This'll be the semester I just tell them all on the first day and ruin everything. Wouldn't that be funny?

- -It's not a fucking joke. She's the most dangerous student we've ever had. Also, in case you care, I've decided Saya Wild will be the detective, with Emily Voss and Nicole Archina as the backups.

- - -her name is seriously 'Juliet Mountebank?'

- - - -Heads up: We dug up new information on this Juliet Mountebank person, and I can't stress enough how dangerous she is. It's probably stupid to even recruit her, but she'll be a huge asset if she graduates.

"You were the... detective?" Katy asked.

"I guess so." I frowned, wondering what this role of 'detective' meant.

The final email followed the same pattern as the others: alternating between Alameda and the holdover addresses.

SUBJ: asap help

Thanks. Last chance to leave before we start.

-christ okay I did it.

- -I'm busy getting the wheelchairs in place so I can move everyone to their rooms! You're not helping me, you're just keeping the first day from being a shitshow like last semester's was!

- - -I don't fucking work for you. Do it yourself.

- - - -I need you to get the Cassandra papers from the copy room and put them upstairs. they need to be there before he wakes up, and he'll wake up before everyone else. Remember: the Cassandra this time is Morgan Lee.

"Cassandra?" I mumbled. "Is that some kind of reference?"

"Uh, Cassandra's from Greek myths, I think?" Katy ventured.

"Aye," Rodrigo added. "She's the fortuneteller tragically doomed to correctly predict the future, but never to be believed."

"So, there's the Detective, who was Saya, and the Cassandra, who was Morgan," Katy mused. "I wonder how many of these roles there are."

I stood up. "I want to keep looking. Rodrigo, can you let us know if you find anything else in here?"

He nodded and I started heading to the exit, but I turned and found with a lot of confusion that Katy was nowhere to be found. "Uh... Katy?"

"I'm here!" A hand stuck up from behind the huge desk. "I got something, I think?"

Both Rodrigo and I went over to her. She was squatting next to the desk, poking through a waste basket. "It's mostly, like, old candy wrappers," she said, "but I also found... this."

She handed over a plain piece of paper, neat creases across it from having been folded. Written on it, in clear, sharp handwriting, was, New location: V's place. Same time we planned. Bring the item.

"It seemed important," Katy explained, looking a bit embarrassed.

"It might be," I agreed. I gave her what I hoped was an encouraging smile. Then, after a goodbye to Rodrigo, we headed out of the office.

ADMIN BUILDING: HALLWAY

Katy still looked uncomfortable, so I paused before heading to the next room. "How're you feeling?" She looked at me like I was absolute insane, so I clarified. "I mean, physically."

"Oh." She sniffed and shrugged. "I can breathe, now. It doesn't look good, though, does it?"

It really did not: her nose was still purple and red, and there were other bruises on her face. "You've looked better. Are the cuts hurting?"

"They're not too bad. Thanks for asking about it." There was a pause, and then she pressed her hand against her forehead. "God. I'm imagining how I'd feel if you were acting like this, and then I found that fake memo without knowing about it. It'd be... just chilling." She shuddered. "I've had to rely on you this whole time. I'd feel sick. I'd be so horrified by you."

I frowned. "Yeah. With the role I've settled into here, it'd be more of a betrayal than anyone else, huh?"

"Yeah," she replied, giving me a meaningful look. "Because you figured everything out. You saved us, over and over. You're the detective."

"Oh." I saw what she was getting at. "Let's... not speculate now."

She nodded. We kept going.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: COMPUTER ROOM

We went up a small flight of stairs and came to a rather large room full of sleek panels and bright lights. Smooth, complicated, futuristic-looking tech stuff was on these panels, and there was a vague hum all around us.

"Huh, it's like the top floor of the science building," I said, examining one of the panels and very afraid to touch it. "But... way newer."

"Yeah," Katy agreed. "I wonder if..."

"Who's there?!" barked a hoarse, gruff voice. We jumped in shock, but it continued, "Visitors? Well now, we ain't had visitors in a week of Tuesdays! Come set a spell!"

The voice was coming from the center of the room. "I keep telling myself I can't be surprised by anything any more," I remarked to Katy. "Right now, I'm saying, 'Whatever just talked to us isn't going to surprise me.'"

"I think it totally is," she said.

"I think you're right." Sighing, we made our way to the center of the room.

Katy was right. I was surprised. Because what we found was Monokuma sitting there in this ultra-modern room on a rocking chair. He had a long, white beard and a scraggly, floppy hat, and he was whittling.

"Well now!" he bellowed. "Some young-uns! What would pretty young girls like you be doing here? Didjer Pokeman Go tell you there's monsters here? I ain't a Pokyman, don't capture me!" He laugh-coughed.

Luckily, this was so completely weird, it went all the way around again and became comprehendible. "We're investigating."

"Investigating in here?" Hillbilly Monokuma asked. "Lord, the world keeps on a-changin."

"Why do you have a beard now?" Katy asked abruptly. "Are you Monokuma?"

"Oh! Well, now." He rocked back and forth a few times. "That's a complicated question, iffn you want to know the truth! I'm part of him. He's kind of all around us, and so am I!" He gestured to the panels around him.

"Oh..." I said, rubbing my chin in thought. "Are these the computers Monokuma runs on?"

"Yep! We're not as fast as the A.I. those yankee traitors got up at MIT, but we're more efficient! Their servers take up twice as much room!" He cackled.

"And... you're what... the guard?" I asked.

"Naw!" he answered, and I realized he wasn't holding a knife and was just using one of his claws to whittle. "I'm the safe mode backup! I ain't got any of the highfalutin features and intelligence that other Monokuma got, but that means I can just be hummin away all the time. I practically fit in a phone!" He paused. "A really good phone," he clarified, his accent slipping a bit.

"Yeah, but... what do you do?" Katy asked. "What are you for?"

"Whittlin, mostly! But also listening. I take care of all the automatic features and user commands, so the other guy can use his brainpower learning how to act human and coming up with executions."

That caught my attention. "User commands?"

"Oh, sure! There's a whole list over there!" He pointed over at a big poster up on the wall I hadn't noticed before. "But don't even try usin 'em! They won't work for you!"

I raised a skeptical eyebrow, but the poster was most important now. Examining it, I saw that it didn't look professionally printed: it was high quality paper and ink, but it wasn't laminated or anything. At the top there was a short set of instructions:

Hey mastermind, I updated the software to allow for basic voice commands now! It was a little tricky, because I had to work within the confines of the doc's original program, but I figured it out. You can use any command anywhere on campus, as long as at least two (2) of the recording microphones pick up your voice! Just speak loudly and clearly, and your command should be registered no matter where on campus you are!
Note: All command words must be spoken IN THE CORRECT ORDER and WITHIN A TWENTY SECOND TIME SPAN.

Next, there was a list of commands:

START - begins the game

ABORT - ends the game, sets Monokuma to standby mode; turns off security systems

IGNORE - brings the system out of trial/execution mode and ignores the most recent murder

RECALL - essentially undoes an IGNORE command: causes the system to consider the most recent murder again

RESET - quits and reboots the system; useful for troubleshooting problems with Monokuma

DUNCE - turns off Monokuma's human mimicry interface

TRIALNOW - forces trial/execution mode

OPENDOOR - allows exit from campus (warning: does not turn off security systems)

FINAL - forces final exam mode

These are the ones I think will be most useful. The full list is in the manual!

And at the bottom was one handwritten addition:

If you get in trouble:

execution + my initials

don't say I never did anything for you

Katy and I glanced at each other. Then we glanced at Hillbilly Monokuma, and we glanced at one another again. "Abort," I announced loudly.

Nothing happened.

"Oh, stop it," he snapped. "I toldja, it ain't gonna work! You don't know the secret, 'cause you're not the mastermind!" He paused. "...Are you the mastermind?"

I was not quite sure how to respond to that. "Uh..."

"That was a trick!" he screeched. "Of course I know you're not the mastermind! That's the whole dang point of being the mastermind, is so Monokuma recognizes you and helps you out! If you were the mastermind, I'd recognize all your biometrics and everything. You are not the mastermind!"

Katy glanced at me. "Um, Saya, it's a little bit seeming like he's protesting too much about this."

"Yeah, I know." I put my hands on my hips and tried to sound firm. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Stop trying to confuse me!" he snapped. "There's only one mastermind at a time, max, and that ain't you!"

"Am I the mastermind?" Katy asked.

"Well, I dunno!" he answered sarcastically. "Didja register as the mastermind in the special Mastermind Room?"

He stopped talking, and both of us waited. Realizing he wouldn't continue, I glanced at Katy. "Well, did you?"

"Don't answer that!" Hillbilly Monokuma barked. "It wasn't a real question!" He began whittling faster. "I'm startin to get the notion you ain't welcome on my property."

"Um..."

"Git!" He waved his claws at us threateningly, still rocking. "Tarnation, you heard me, git! There ain't nothin else to see in here, anyhow!"

Bemused, I backed off a few steps. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so after a silent shrug from Katy, I turned to go.

"Hold on, one sec!" Hillbilly Monokuma called after us. "Somethin's been fryin my hide ever since you kids showed up here!"

Suspicious, I turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"What's the deal with you kids this semester and the letter J?"

"Uh." I blinked, and a glance to Katy showed she was no help. "What?"

"The letter J!"

"I don't... um..."

"Ah, fergit it!" He resumed slowly whittling. "Stubborn rugrats..."

Still perplexed, we filed out of the room, leaving him to his mumbling.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: HALLWAY

When we got outside, Katy stopped and looked at me seriously. "I didn't register as the mastermind in the Mastermind Room. In case you weren't sure."

"Yeah." I rolled my eyes. "I mean, the supposed existence of something called 'The Mastermind Room' was already challenging my ability to take that whole thing seriously."

"Okay." She somehow made her expression even more serious. "And I really don't think you're the mastermind either, despite how he was acting."

"Uh." I paused for a second. "Thanks." She smiled and kept walking. Still a little confused, I followed.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: MAMA BEAR

Unlike the papa bear office, it looked like this one had actually been worked in at some point in time. There were bookshelves, a nice desk, some pots I assume plants had been in at some point, even a printer in the corner.

There was also a very dead body sitting behind the desk.

Jane was glancing at the bookshelves when we walked in. "Oh," she said, and nothing else.

I took a step closer to the desk, noting idly it didn't even really smell that bad. I'd seen many dead bodies recently (and I had to stave off a flare-up of horror at merely reminding myself of that) but this body looked dead. All shriveled and flaky.

"It looks kinda... mummified," Katy observed, looking sick.

"It basically is," Jane replied, not looking at us. "It's all dried up from being out in the air conditioning. If you ask me, it's been sitting there, in place, since death."

I frowned, but nothing in my limited knowledge contradicted that. "How long do you think it's been here?" I asked.

"Ugh, read the tablet," Jane grunted, finally giving us a glare. She offhandedly indicated an electronic tablet sitting on the desk.

Katy was not distracted by Jane's newfound dismissiveness, so she went up, picked the tablet up, and turned it on, holding it up so I could see. Electronic text spelled out:

BODY REPORT: The victim is Eugene Alameda. He was killed 6 years, 6 months, and 11 days ago.

Cause of death is choking on a meatball submarine sandwich.

The body also has injuries on the wrists and ankles, and a small burn on the chest. No drugs or chemicals were found in the body.

"Eugene Alameda?!" Katy yelped. "This is..." She looked around in bafflement before gaping at me. "He's been dead for six years?!"

"And he choked on a sub. That is... not dignified." I stepped closer to the body. It was very difficult to tell much about it, since it was kind of melted into the fake-leather chair it was sitting in, but nylon apparently takes longer to decompose than flesh. "There's ropes tying his wrists and ankles to the chair. So I'm guessing this wasn't an accidental death."

"What a weird way to kill someone," Katy mused, shuddering. "Really awful."

"Look under the desk," Jane said, still not looking at us.

I glared at her. "Can't you just help out like a normal person? What's under there?"

She half-turned and glared at me over her shoulder. "Perhaps I want to see how you both react to the evidence here," she declared. Her eyes quickly shifted to Katy, then back to me. "One of us is a traitor, remember."

"Of course I remember!" I snapped. "But it doesn't do any good to be all weird and coy."

"Oh, please, there's nothing weird about what I'm doing."

"You two are fucking," Katy said.

Jane very quickly turned back to face the bookshelves, but not before I caught how red her face was. I was... weirdly unphased. "I don't know if the present tense is accurate. We fucked. And if we survive, uh, we might again."

"Probably," Jane said.

"Yeah. Probably."

Katy was beaming: a huge, genuine, bright smile. "Girl love!" she sang with absolute pure delight. "Girl love! Girl love!"

"I'm twenty-five!" Jane grunted. "And we're not in love."

"Not yettttt," Katy cooed. She wrapped her arms around me in a crushing hug. "I can't believe it! Among all this horror, the seeds of girl love still can sprout!"

"Grrph!" Jane still wasn't turning around. "Dead body! Dead body! Look under the desk! Murder!"

Katy pulled away, still smiling brightly. "I know it's serious, but thank you for letting me be happy about something for a minute, at least." I couldn't do anything but just nod back.

Finally, I got down on my knees and looked under the desk. "What is it?" Katy asked.

"It's... oh." I reached under and pulled out a small device. "It's a stun gun."

"Huh... oh!" Katy snapped her fingers. "The burn! He had a burn on his chest. That'd fit a stun gun, right? It also explains how he'd let himself get tied up."

"That makes sense," I replied, examining the weapon. "Too bad we can't see how big the burn was." Despite my general hard rule against speculating, this made too much sense to ignore. He was zapped, then tied up, then had the sub forced down his throat until he choked.

I started pushing myself up to my feet, and as I did, I noticed a piece of white paper tacked to the inside of the door; I hadn't seen it going in. It looked odd, like it wasn't supposed to be there.

"Huh." I walked over to examine the paper. It was a handwritten note, the letters big and very clear. It said:

This is my confession.

He's dead. I killed him.

I wanted to trust him. So badly. I was going to give him a chance to explain how this was a mistake. But when he saw me, he just asked how I was here.

The rest is just a blur. He's dead now.

"Hm," Katy said. "So yeah, more evidence it's a murder."

I nodded, leaning forward and looking closer at the note. I couldn't tell, but it seemed to be the same handwriting as the final note in the computer room: it was the same large, clear, confident script.

"This place is pretty sparse," I noted, glancing around the room. "Did you find any other evidence, Jane?"

Jane just turned around and looked at me silently, arms crossed. I took that as a no.

"Okay, let's keep searching, I guess," Katy said. "I'll be outside. Catch up with me in a second, Saya!" She left.

I sighed. "It's good she's happy, at least," I said.

Jane didn't reply. Instead, she pointed at her eyes, and then pointed out the door where Katy had gone.

I nodded, the message clear. "She was going to get us all killed," Jane hissed. "Do not trust her."

I frowned, but I nodded again. I turned and left.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: HALLWAY

When I got out and we kept going down the hall, we passed a restroom. Katy excused herself, and I waited outside, thinking.

It really wasn't impossible for someone to have two avatars in the simulator. At least, I didn't think so. I should be suspicious. It made sense for Jane to be suspicious.

But then again, maybe I should be suspicious of someone going around telling people to be suspicious? Even with a mastermind among us, we needed some kind of teamwork. Was Jane just trying to ruin that?

This was good. Thinking about this was very good. It made me icy. I could not think about other things.

I spotted Rocky coming down the hall towards me and waved. "Oh hey, dude!" he called. "You still searching?"

"Yeah, with Katy," I answered. "Waiting for her to get out of the bathroom."

"Awesome; there's some cool stuff back that way," Rocky said, pointing in the direction he'd come. "An office and, like, a radio room." He frowned. "Actually, make sure you check out that radio room, okay? It's all weird."

"Weird?"

"Yeah, like it's all military, you know? There's a map with lights on it on the wall, and the radio equipment is super high-tech. You know, super militaryish!"

"I... don't really have an image in my head of a militaryish room, I guess," I admitted.

"Um, like..." He thought for a moment. "There's a big american flag! And... there was a book of codes on the desk and everything used, like, that army alphabet. You know, alpha, bravo, charlie, that thing. All the codes are, like, foxtrot niner!"

"Huh." Made sense. Militaryish.. "But what's the thing you can't figure out?"

"Well, like, I tried to use the radio," he answered. "But I couldn't figure out how to make it work. It just kept repeating this message, but I didn't understand it. I need someone smarter to listen." He blushed slightly. "I'd ask Roddy but, y'know, him and technology."

"Okay, I'll make sure to listen." I paused, giving him slight side-eye. "How's the whole Rodrigo thing working out, anyway?"

"Hm?" He looked up, almost distractedly. "Oh, we're dating."

"Uh." I literally gaped at him for a moment. "But... isn't he straight?"

"Oh yeah, totally straight," Rocky replied, seeming completely unconcerned.

"But..."

"Look, we have our own thing, okay?" Rocky shrugged. "We talked about it."

I realized if Katy was here, she'd be delighted for him. I should be happy for someone I considered my friend, someone I'd gone through a hellish experience with. But all I could think was, "I wonder if the mastermind has an accomplice."

"Yo, I'm gonna keep looking," Rocky said, waving casually. He strode past me, down the hall.

That had been a weird little moment, but I think it was my fault. I probably looked like I was doubting and suspecting him.

After another minute, Katy came out of the bathroom. There had been no toilet flush, and her eyes were red. She'd gone in there to cry.

I tried to casually act like I couldn't tell and probably failed. We kept looking.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: BABY BEAR

We came to an incredibly cramped, small office. A chalkboard hung up on the side wall, and there was a tiny window to the outside. A not particularly new computer sat on the single desk the room could contain, looking almost swallowed by stacks of papers surrounding it.

The first thing I noticed was the chalkboard, because scrawled on it, underlined twice, was Julius Caesar: Act 3, Scene 2. I thought it might be the same handwriting as in those other two notes, but since it was in chalk, I couldn't really tell.

"Oh, christ, not more Shakespeare," I muttered. I glanced to Katy. "Any idea what that could mean?"

"Hmm." She put her hands on her hips, thinking. "Well, that's the scene with the big, famous speech. Y'know, 'friends Romans countrymen?'"

"Oh." I felt kind of dumb not knowing that. "I know what you're talking about, but why would it be written up there?"

"I dunno," she said. "'Lend me your ears,' maybe it's a clue about ears?" She shrugged. "It's a really good speech, though. He has to convince all these people to hate Brutus, but he can't explain why directly, so he cloaks it all in saying nice things about Brutus."

"I hate Shakespeare," I grumbled. "I can't stand it when I don't understand something immediately."

"Like that writing?"

"Yeah. Exactly like that writing." Sighing, I tried to scoot over to the other side of the desk, where the computer was. I pulled the chair out and sat down.

I was trying to be careful, but apparently not careful enough, because I whacked my shinbone on a footstool, and when I reacted to that I bumped a stack of paper on the desk with my arm, sending it to the floor.

"Ag!" I tried to catch the papers, but I failed; they all spilled off the desk. "Goddamn it!"

"Are you okay?!"

"Yeah." I squeezed my arm under the desk and rubbed by hurting shin. "This place is really cramped."

Trying to recover at least some of my dignity, I turned my attention to the computer. It was on, but like the other one, there wasn't much there I could access.

"It's just two things," I said to Katy, because she couldn't fit on this side of the desk with me to see. "It looks like a pdf and... hm. An audio file, I think."

I clicked on the pdf. It opened up as a screenshot of an email program, one I was unfamiliar with. As I read the email out loud, I thought it was something I'd seen before, but I quickly realized it wasn't. Not by a long shot.

TO: Dr. Alameda

SUBJ: Your child

Sir,

The upcoming semester is almost upon us, and before it's too late, I'd like to address some concerns about the inclusion of your child in the new class of Ultimates.

You have already made yourself clear about this issue, and I know that you have said that you find it inappropriate for anyone to question your personal decisions.

I understand all that, and my purpose with this letter is not to criticize. I simply feel it's important to ask one more time: Are you absolutely certain? It is likely, according to simple base rates, that your child will not survive.

On a related matter, I must raise a serious concern. In discussing this, you said "These fucking brats are all the same. All of them, with no exceptions. Let them all burn." (I am including the verbatim quote to avoid any potential misunderstandings.)

This viewpoint is entirely at odds with our mission here, which is to rehabilitate those talented young people who can be rehabilitated. I speak for the entire staff when I say that we find your statements appalling, and we must address this issue before beginning the new semester. We refuse to be a part of a program conducted with malice, and we will leave if you do not explain your comment. All of us. Of course, we will abide by our non-disclosure forms, but you would have to run the entire semester just with Monokuma and yourself. All of us hope to avoid this unfortunate outcome.

"Um, holy shit," Katy said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Holy shit. It starts just like the others and then... goes in a very different direction."

I looked at the other icon: it was called Sumxx_examend_extended. I clicked it and as I thought, it was an audio file: it started playing. Again, I thought it was just old news... at first. It was the recording of the trial, the one Bepi had gotten from the special secret information cube. But it kept going after the last one ended.

"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!" It was Monokuma. "You passed your final exam, so it's time to graduate! Say goodbye to the mastermind-" There was a censor tone and someone's scream.

A man's high-pitched voice spoke, "What do we do now?"

One of the altered voices (the one who'd been speaking the most) answered. "We go home. But." There was a vicious, almost painful pause. "But we have to keep this going."

There was a huge clamor, voices all talking over one another. The voice-altered speaker somehow talked through it, getting everyone's attention despite their shock. "I know! I know how it sounds. But we have to. Because we never found Alameda himself, and there's more like..." censor tone "...out there. Killing her won't get rid of all of them. They're waiting to be recruited just like she was!"

"God..." a man's voice said." Censor tone "wasn't the only one? We trusted her. She saved us every time there was a murder. If even she could betray us..."

"This is the point," altered voice declared. "I don't know if I can trust anyone who hasn't lived through this nightmare and seen it all with their own eyes."

"I can't believe you're saying this," a woman's voice nearly wailed. "After surviving this, you want to force other people into it?! How can you possibly..."

"We. Are. At. War." The altered voice was harsh, but it didn't sound out-of-control at all. "Did you understand how serious this was, before you came here? Did you understand how far they were willing to go? If someone came to your house and sat you down and tried to explain to you how cruelly and desperately they'll defend their status quo society, would you believe them, or would you laugh at how ridiculous they're being?"

Still, altered voice was forceful but calm. "We need to dedicate our lives to this. Could you possibly have wrapped your head around that before living through this game?" It paused; no one else spoke. "I know the answer for me. I would have been on their side. If this hadn't opened my eyes, I'd be fighting on the same side as those murderers. It makes me sick."

Another silence. Eventually, the other altered voice spoke up. "What do we have to do?"

And then the audio file ended.

"I think... I think I recognized one of those voices," Katy said, startling me. "Could you play it again?"

I complied. We listened until we heard the man that talked about "If even she could betray us." I did not like hearing this part, but at Katy's request, I played it a few more times.

"That's Rufio Johns," Katy said. "I'm certain of it."

"Uh, who?"

"He makes videos. He, uh..." She blushed slightly. "He does nail art. Really, really popular."

"Hmm." I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's him?"

"Yeah, I recognize his voice. And also, I know he graduated from here, two years ago." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Didn't you research everyone who went here before applying?"

I decided to ignore her comment. "Two years?" I asked, and she nodded. I had been trying to keep myself from putting any clues together, but that fact already was messing up some theories I was unintentionally devising. But one look at Katy told me she was pretty sure about this.

I leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. This was starting to all just become a buzzing in my head.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: RADIO ROOM

We were running short on time, so after squeezing my way out of the baby bear (and knocking over another stack of papers in the process) I decided we should quickly head to that radio room that Rocky had mentioned. It was easy to identify with the big flag and map (and he was right; it did look 'military' in a way that was kind of hard to identify).

I went up to the radio, already baffled by the array of controls. I flicked the largest switch I saw.

A voice started talking, so suddenly that Katy let out a little cheep of surprise. The voice was robotic and alien, and it was suddenly terrifying to be in this room.

"...holder response. Message two five five niner not received. Execution of protocol will begin automatically in twelve hours, three minutes, fifty-one seconds. Respond with message two five five niner to avert execution of protocol. This message will repeat. This is a placeholder response. Message two five five niner not received..."

"Oh holy christ that is creepy," I muttered, flicking off the radio.

"Yeah," Katy agreed, shivering a bit. "But... what's it mean?"

"Don't know." On a whim, I opened up the book of codes Rocky had mentioned, sitting on the desk in front of the radio. I couldn't perceive any sort of organization of the codes, so it took me a while, but eventually I found it.

"Here we go, 2559: All clear." I frowned. "So this signal is... waiting to be told 'all clear.'"

"All clear for what?"

"No idea."

We stood in silent thought for a moment, but suddenly Monokuma's voice blared out through the speakers, much louder than the radio voice had been. "All right, you brats! That's it, time's up! I hope you're prepared, because it's time for your final exam! I cannot wait to say goodbye to this nightmare of a semester."

It felt like we'd been there for about ten minutes, but a glance at my tablet showed that yes, it was almost 7:00 am. I did not feel ready at all.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "We're ready."

Katy, who looked like a wreck ever since Monokuma had spoken, cast her eyes to me hopefully. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She smiled. Luckily, she didn't ask for anything else.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING: HALLWAY

And on the way out, we actually found a door labeled Mastermind Room. It was locked, of course. I laughed. Then I kept laughing and kind of couldn't stop. It was actually called the mastermind room. There was just a sign that said it, right there in the hallway: Mastermind Room. This was all the most stupid, ridiculous thing that had ever happened, and I couldn't believe it was happening to me.

MAIN QUAD

I was still laughing by the time we reached the main quad. Katy looked very worried by that point, and I noticed everyone else did, too. This made everything even funnier.

"Friend Saya..." Rodrigo ventured, "...are you... all right?"

It took me a minute, but I eventually choked out, "An animatronic bear is going to murder us if we don't unravel a government conspiracy."

I idly wondered if I had gone insane, but I heard a snicker from Jane.

"He'll probably, like, throw chess pieces at me until I die!" I guffawed. "Isn't that the stupidest thing you've ever heard?!"

Jane started outright laughing, and Rodrigo and Rocky followed suit, tittering just a little. Katy was the only one who didn't.

How could anyone possibly learn anything from this? This whole situation was like a terrible dream where you feel like it's all symbolic but then you wake up and realize it didn't make any sense at all.

Monokuma was saying something. I barely heard him. My throat was aching from the laughter.