I calmed down by the time the elevator reached the bottom, so I was mostly just feeling dizzy when we stepped out into the courtroom. It was decorated just like a classroom: white walls, whiteboards, white floor tiles, glowing fluorescent lights. It was ugly and humble and stark all at once.

Lucina's portrait was just blank. Like she'd never even existed.

After we all settled into place, a door at the side of the room popped open, and Monokuma waddled out, slamming the door behind him. He strode up to a raised platform in the front of the room and glowered down.

"Well," Rocky said. "This is it, I guess."

"Hold on," I said. I loudly recited a series of five words out loud, looking at Monokuma as I did so. Nothing happened.

"Uhhhh, what the fuck?" Rocky asked.

"Never mind," I replied. "Um... anyone have any inspirational remarks or anything?"

"Fuck inspiration," Jane said quickly, looking very unsurprised one of her classmates would spout nonsense. "Let's just get this over with. I'm done worrying about death. Now I'm just concerned with minimizing this pointless delay in my career."

"Ugh," Monokuma grunted sourly. "Shut up, all of you! You gotta listen to this!" He whacked his paw down on some device next to him.

A previously invisible plasma screen came to life on the wall. It showed a shadowy figure looming in a shadowy doorway. As it stood there, a fake computer voice, pleasant and benign like Siri, began speaking.

"Hi. It's me, the mastermind." The figure waved; it was impossible to discern anything about the body except it was just humanoid. "I only have a moment to record this while the rest of you search the admin building, but it's the end of the game, and I feel like I should have something to say. Now that the moment's almost here, though, I'm a little tongue-tied."

The figure shrugged vaguely, then fell silent for a moment. When it spoke again, it was in a casual, musing sort of way that made me a little infuriated. "I've always been confused about the whole 'everybody gets a trophy' thing. Do you know what I'm talking about? Some people... the kind of person the bear is programmed to be like... get so angry about that. It's completely intolerable to them that every kids gets a trophy, even the ones that lose the game. I never understood it.

"I think it must be existential. If rewards aren't 'deserved,' then you can't feel proud of yourself for getting rewarded. Even more than that, being rewarded can't be used as evidence that you're good. It reveals the whole thing is a stupid closed loop: being competent is only good because it gets you rewards, and rewards are only good because they mean you're competent. Some people will never be able to handle that, no matter how radical or extreme they get.

It sighed. "Anyway, you're all the survivors. Soon, you'll maybe be the winners, and you'll come away with money, success, and, of course, your lives. The bear would say that this means you're better than everyone who died in some meaningful way. Maybe he's right. Or, maybe it just means you started out with unfair advantages your departed classmates lacked. I guess I'm just saying... congratulations, survivors. I hope you beat me." The screen blooped mellowly to blackness.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Whoever you are, I can think of about five thousand reasons you can go to hell."

"I actually agree," Monokuma growled. "But enough of that! Start your exam! You have four questions, remember!" He spread out his paws and they appeared on the screen behind him:

1. Who is the mastermind?

2. What is the secret of the mastermind? (you'll know what it is it if you discover it, trust us)

3. What is the purpose of this program?

4. There is a dead man in one of the rooms of the administration building. Who killed him?

"I suggest we start with number three," Rodrigo said. "I believe understanding that will give us important context for the rest of the exam."

"Mm, yes," Jane agreed, sounding like she was trying hard to not sound like she was agreeing. "And it's an easy question. We saw files that spelled the answer out quite clearly."

EUGENE ALAMEDA: Devised the program and created government funding to create it. His stated purpose is to bring talented young people in line with traditional social values. Appears to be a genuine ideologue who believes our country will be ruined if young people are left alone.

"So it's obvious: this game was designed to make us quiet little cogs of society."

"Yo, but that's changed though, right?" Rocky asked.

"It never made any sense to me in the first place," Katy spoke up. "Why would anyone go along with a society that puts them into a game like this?"

"Ah, friends, I believe we have placed the cart before the horse," Rocky said. "Let us gather all the information we have before attempting to reach conclusions." He nodded to Jane. "I believe what Friend Jane said is correct, about the original intentions behind this program. We also know things have changed, but how?"

"Well, like... the guy who created it is super dead," Rocky ventured. "That's a big change from the start, right?"

"We also heard something about the way things are planned," Katy said. "In those emails. We saw something about a detective..."

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.

"...and then a Cassandra."

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.

"Huh," Jane mused. "So Morgan was the Cassandra, and I assume Saya was the Detective. Striking."

"Uh, I don't get it," Rocky said. "Cassandra? What's that mean?"

"'Cassandra' is from Greek myths," Katy explained. "She could see the future, but no one believed her. So... if Morgan was playing that role, then the mastermind made it so he knew things... but we wouldn't listen."

"Hmmf," Jane grunted. "Smart choice, at least. I certainly wouldn't be likely to listen to that dullard."

"And we already knew he had information the rest of us didn't have," I said. "A lot of it, actually. Because not only was there the roster sheet we knew about early..."

"The killing game is what this program is," Therion answered calmly. He stepped out from behind his lectern, ignoring Monokuma's protests, and walked directly up to me.

He held out a folded paper. Without really even thinking about it, I took it.

"Found this on the vandal," he said. "Don't know how he got it. Assume it kicked off his rebellion."

"...But there was way more. Earl found it and... I think didn't show anyone."

The room was filled with small pieces of machinery, mechanical blueprints, and tools. But Bepi led me over to the corner, where there was a small pile of paper. The top paper I recognized: it was the folded sheet that Therion gave me just before his execution. But underneath it were more official-looking documents, each one marked with the header New Hope University School of Ultimates: Killing Game Intervention

My mouth hung open as I flipped through the papers. Before I even read the words, I focused on the odd stains and spatters, colorful marks on almost every page. "Paint…" I said out loud. "Did… did these come from Morgan's room?"

"Must have," Bepi answered.

"It's... chilling," Rodrigo said. "Friend Morgan and Friend Vandal were attempting to warn us, in their way. But because of their illness, we didn't rally behind them."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Jane snapped. "Instead of just saying what he knew, the kid blew a hole in the lawn and poured red paint into it. That shit isn't on us."

"Um... regardless..." Rodrigo said hastily, "it seems as if we understand the Cassandra role. But it remains unclear why the mastermind would give away such important information about the school."

"Well... what about this detective role?" Rocky asked, glancing up at me. "I mean... like, yeah, Saya pretty much solved all the murders, but how is that a role? And why do they have a backup? Like, yeah, if Saya bites it, then we need someone else to figure shit out, but why's it gotta be, like, one person?"

"Very good questions," Jane said. She folded her arms across her chest, glancing sideways at me. "You wouldn't happen to have any insight, darling?"

I squinted back at her. "I'm not sure yet," I answered truthfully. "But... we know more about the way the semester is scripted. Because of the information we all got, right?"

FINAL EXAM INFORMATION: Packets of personal information meant to be discovered by us after the fifth murder, but which instead were released to Juliet early. Most of these packets seem to involve us being betrayed by a person, institution, or ideology we had previously fully trusted. Juliet softened the impact of each one with mitigating information.

"Uh, but that didn't end up doing shit," Rocky argued. "I mean... right? When you told me about mine, I was kinda mad, but it wasn't a big deal or anything."

"Yes, but things could have been different," I replied. "And they were supposed to be. ...Right, Monokuma?"

"Right!" the bear snapped. We were all a little taken aback by his quick agreement, but he just shrugged. "I will obey legitimate authority, but nobody can keep me from getting mad when there's deviations from protocol! I don't care why!"

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Hm, my trust in the veracity of all this just went down several levels. But if we were to take it at face value, then our secrets were leaked to Juliet early, by a mastermind who's gone off-script. We were supposed to find just the shocking parts much later."

"Last night, in fact," I said. "We were supposed to find them, and then almost immediately get thrown right into this trial."

"Hm." Katy nodded seriously; she had almost certainly put together this whole part. "And... speaking of which, we know how the trial's supposed to end, right? We heard it."

TRIAL RECORDING: We were given a recording which apparently consists of the end of the Final Exam for a previous class. One of the students was identified as the mastermind and seemingly executed by the surviving students. Two of the voices were electronically altered, presumably because we would otherwise recognize them.

"Whoa, wait," Rocky said. "That's... like... wait. That can't be how things are supposed to go, right? Because they kill the mastermind! The mastermind sets themselves up to get killed?"

"And you're forgetting something else," Jane added, glaring at Katy. "The recording clearly states the mastermind is working with Dr. Alameda, and that Alameda is still alive!"

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

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."

"Therefore, this recording must have happened before Alameda died!"

"Hm," I said, rubbing my chin in thought. "I actually would have agreed with you, but luckily, Katy knew something I didn't."

Katy whipped her head over to me in surprise. "Uh! What?" I noticed both she and Jane looked pretty bothered by the idea that Katy knew something important.

"About the video, remember? You recognized one of the voices."

"Oh, yes!" She nodded eagerly. "Right. Well, one of those voices was someone I've heard talking before. He has a pretty distinctive voice."

"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."

"Oh!" Rodrigo exclaimed. "You are correct, Friend Katy! That voice did clearly belong to Sir Rufio Johns."

There was a very strange pause while we all just stared at him. "Um, how do you know what a youtube nail art guy's voice sounds like?"

"I heard him speak on the aeroplane!" Rodrigo defended, looking confused about our confusion. "My seatmate was a twelve year-old who was quite enthusiastic about telling me of the political wars of the handheld faces she was showing me." He shrugged. "I have no interest in vanity, so the beauty tips were meaningless. But the drama was fascinating."

"Humf," Jane grunted, obviously wanting to change the subject. "You're certain? Because I know the Ultimate Nail Artist graduated two years ago, and I certainly hope there's not two of them among the vaunted alumni."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Katy replied. "So yeah, this means that video was recorded two years ago. Which is after Alameda died."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Rocky interrupted. "Because the whole thing about the final exam is you search the administration building, right? And Alameda's dead body is just sitting there!"

"That's true," Jane agreed. "Even without the information telling us the corpse's identity, we would have known something had gone wrong." She paused in thought. "Ah! I see." She nodded smartly and pointed at Monokuma. "It's perplexing why anyone would design an AI that performs slips of the tongue, but in this case, I'm glad of it. Because remember what he said earlier?"

"I'm supposed to tell you to pay special attention to the two... I mean, the three offices that are open."

"In previous years, the classes never find his body." She smirked. "It's a bit delightfully chilling to imagine them dutifully searching, unaware of the dead man rotting away behind one of the locked doors."

"Yo, real talk though?" Rocky mused. "It's pretty fucking weird someone just left his body sitting there."

"You're right, and let's remember that for later," I said, nodding gratefully to him. "But the point we were on is about the recording from two years ago. Because Alameda was long dead already, we know whoever said he's not was lying. And since that person's voice was disguised..."

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."

"...then it's reasonable to assume that person speaking is... the mastermind." I looked around at everyone, gauging their reactions. "Especially when you remember how this person is so vocal about keeping the program running."

"Um, there's a fairly obvious hole in your theory, darling," Jane pointed out. "In that same recording, we hear the mastermind getting executed."

"Indeed!" Rodrigo agreed. "And even though the graduates agree to let the program continue, they are certainly not on the side of Eugene Alameda! In fact, they're more dedicated than ever to fight him and all he stands for!"

I started to reply, but Katy's moan cut me off. "Ohhhh." I looked at her with some alarm, but she was just holding her head in her hands. "Oh, of course."

"Um," Rocky said. "Of course what?"

Katy sighed. "I thought Nicole was right, that this place was just made us to turn us into cogs. But it never made any sense to me how that was supposed to work. They want us to, like, support the government and old people's values, and they do it by having the government and old people force us into the most horrible experience ever?"

"Hmm," Rodrigo said, clasping his hands behind his back thoughtfully. "You are correct, Friend Katy, it seems implausible that would have the desired effect."

"Yo, maybe it's just a stupid idea and it doesn't work?" Rocky suggested.

"No, that can't be true," I argued. "Because every single alumnus has stayed quiet about it. This place is doing something. We just have to consider that it's not meant to accomplish the same goal it had when Alameda first designed it."

Katy nodded. "It's supposed to do the opposite. Those graduates we heard in the recording were brainwashed, because they were completely committed to fighting people like Alameda, and that was the goal all along."

There was a pause as we considered that. Of course, it's what I was suspecting, but actually hearing it all beginning to get spelled out clearly was unsettling and eerie, somehow. Or maybe I was just anxious because I knew I was going to have to spill the beans about my secret, soon.

"I... don't get it," Rocky admitted, scratching his head. "Alameda wanted people fighting... himself?"

"Alameda's dead, darling," Jane reminded him. "Someone has been running the game for the past six years: the mastermind. And I do agree it seems likely that the mastermind designed this whole thing as a reaction against what it was originally made to do."

"Yo, but how?" Rocky protested. "How do they know how people are gonna react? It's a killing game. Anything can happen!"

"Ah, remember the evidence we discussed earlier!" Rodrigo stated. "Some parts are carefully planned out! The mastermind makes sure that certain 'roles' are always in play!"

"And that's probably why the mastermind is a participant, even though it puts them in danger," Katy said. "They can push everyone in the direction they want."

Rocky shrugged. "Still doesn't make any sense to me. That recording ended with someone getting executed, and, like, every single person was sure they were the bad guy. No one could plan that out so perfectly, especially over and over again!"

"Well..." I spoke up. This was it. "Yeah... I think they could. Because... I was the one person who was supposed to get executed at the end of this trial. You were all being set up to think I was the mastermind."

Everyone gaped at me, Katy hugging herself with what looked like sympathy. "Friend Saya!" Rodrigo yelped. "What is this madness you're saying?! We would never suspect you; you were our savior time and time again!"

"Yeah," Jane added, looking kind of queasy. "And... you already have a role, right? The 'detective.' Someone else must be the fake mastermind."

I shook my head. "No, because that's the whole point. The detective and the fake mastermind are the same role. Remember the recording?"

"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..."

"But how do you know?" Jane argued. She seemed to be getting a little upset. "You can't possibly be certain. You're the one we trust the most!"

"Oh, shit," Rocky said, turning white. "Yeah. Yeah, she is the one we trust the most. Which means, if I really did think she was the bad guy, it'd totally wreck me." He shuddered. "Can you imagine? I'd be, like, madder than I've ever been at anyone. And I've been pretty fucking mad."

"No," Jane insisted, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't believe it. Saya's just speculating."

"Well..." I said, shyly averting my gaze from everyone. "I kinda know this for certain, because I got some evidence I never told you."

"Whoa, what?" Rocky exclaimed. "That's pretty sketchy, dude."

"I think you'll get it once I tell you what it was!" I said quickly. "I'm sorry I hid something important from everyone, but I didn't know what to do!"

"Hmmpf," Jane muttered, giving me a sideways glance. "Well, go on, then. Tell us what this mysterious new evidence is."

My throat was tightening up from anxiety, but I barreled through. "Um, well, did everyone see those files in the big office, all about Major Kindschwall?" At their nods, I gave a nervous and hopefully endearing smile. "That was the information I got from Juliet. One of those files, but... about me."

SAYA'S MEMO: An internal memo supposedly between people running the killing game. It exposes Saya as one the daughter of one of the higher-ups behind this program, and that she has been placed among the rest of the students as the mastermind. This was supposed to be found in the lead-up to the final exam, but the mastermind, for unknown reasons, released it to Juliet early.

"Exploring tonight, you were all supposed to find a file exposing me as the mastermind."

There was a silence as they all took that in. I noticed they all looked kind of angry, and I hoped against hope that's because we really somehow were all on the same team.

"Think about it," Katy said. "Jane, you'd have gotten that thing about your parents tonight. Rocky? That thing about New York. Think about how you'd feel if Juliet hadn't added more. And then you also find a thing proving Saya was a traitor?"

Jane took a deep breath, nodding slowly. "Looking back, I do remember suspicious things about those Kindschwall memos. They all found a way to state or suggest the person's name and talent... because they were specifically written to implicate someone."

"Mine talked about 'Wild' being an implausible fake name," I remarked. "Which... it's no 'Mountebank,' but fair enough, I guess."

"Yeah, speaking of that... 'Kindschwall?'" Katy looked up at Monokuma, raising an eyebrow. "Was that some kind of stupid joke?" Monokuma tilted his head at her uncomprehendingly.

"Joke?" Rocky asked. "Uh... what do you mean?"

"Well... Kindschwall. It's..." She rolled her eyes. "It means 'child flood.' You know? 'Child spate.'"

I blinked at her. I always hated foreign language classes in school. "Uh, yeah? It's kinda weird, but why's it a joke?"

"Saya." She glared up at Monokuma, then looked back down to me. "It basically translates to 'baby boom.'"

"Oh, for..." Jane pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh. It's mockery. The mastermind puts it there, staring us in the face."

Rodrigo glowered down at his lectern. "Does this suggest Friend Earl was never to have survived to the exam?" he asked. "He would certainly have known the meaning of the word."

"Uh, I don't think they had a baby boom in Germany like we did here," Katy answered. "So he probably wouldn't know it was a thing. The only people who might notice are Americans who speak German, which is... um. Just me, I think." She stared off into space a moment. "I wasn't supposed to make it this far," she said, very matter-of-factly, although clearly just thinking it for the first time.

"That's at least two of us," I said. We made the briefest of eye contact, but it was long enough to share a soft, frightened smile.

"Yo, no fuckin' way I was supposed to make it!" Rocky said, almost jovially. "I bet they brought me in, like, exactly just to go nuts and murder someone! And I woulda, if it hadn't been for Roddy and the rest of you."

"I feel I may be in the same boat," Rodrigo said. "I am confused by this world and naive in its ways. Had I not been welcomed, I surely would have been lost."

"Yes yes, all of you would have died by now, I'm sure," Jane grunted, annoyed. "The important thing is, those of us who were always to be survivors would have been put through well-oiled machine to change our thinking!"

She crossed her arms over her chest, directing a challenging look at Monokuma. "Through this 'Cassandra,' you drop hints from the beginning about the nefarious intent behind this program, and the fact that it's endorsed by the government."

"Plus," Katy added, "you make that Cassandra someone we don't believe at first, and someone obviously vulnerable, so they probably get murdered. We can only think about their warnings later, when we're already guilty and scared."

Jane showed no irritation at being interrupted; she just jumped back in. "And you make us live through days of carnage, where we're forced to dole out a cruel, violent parody of established legal institutions, making us doubt our ability to know what's fair or just."

"Yo, and the whole thing is coming from some murdertoy acting like the worst boomer ever," Rocky added.

"And at the end," Jane concluded, "You shock and befuddle us with personal secrets, and then immediately allow us to 'discover' our trusted leader is the mastermind. Destroy our trust in everything, exploit our anger and confusion, and bam. A bunch of true believers dedicated to taking down an establishment that hurt them so dearly." She laughed dryly. "Isn't it just like Nicole, to have been so right and so wrong at the same time?"

Monokuma gazed down at us blankly. "...Is this your official answer to Question 3, 'What is the purpose of this program?'"

"No!" I jumped in quickly. "Uh, I think we're correct about the way it's usually supposed to go, but we have to ask why we even know all this. The mastermind didn't follow the typical plan. They wrecked it!" I paused for a moment. "Well... it's more like, they let Juliet wreck it. But that's even more confusing."

"So do we gotta talk about who the mastermind is?" Rocky asked. He glanced around the circle hesitantly. "I was... kinda hoping to put that off as long as we could."

"I believe we are all strong enough to face the truth," Rodrigo said, giving him a supportive grin. "No matter how difficult, these mysteries must be unraveled."

"If it helps, let's address the question of the mastermind from a different angle," Jane announced. "The murder."

"Uh... the murder?" Katy asked, looking confused. "You mean, Alameda's? Why should we talk about that now?"

"Why, because it's obvious the mastermind killed him!" Jane replied, grinning slyly. She listed off evidence, holding up a finger with each clue. "They took over from him after he died. They even took over his email address."

Katy leaned closer to the screen. "Just three emails, all from 'eugene dash alameda at nhu dot edu.' "

"His murderer was in the admin building at least long enough to write a note about it and tape it up to the door, like a weirdo."

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.

"A note which was clearly written by someone intimately involved with the workings of the program. It doesn't take a detective to recognize such distinctive writing."

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.

"And..." She paused. "Well. There's another reason, but let's get to it in a moment. I don't want to brag about having figured it out until it's been properly set up."

"Uh... okay," I said, deciding to just let Jane do her weird Jane thing without comment. "Um. I think it's pretty obvious how the murder occurred, right?"

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.

"The stun gun was used to incapacitate him, and then tied up. It couldn't have been a suicide or accident, because his arms were tied to the chair."

"Ugh," Rocky commented. "What a weird, gross way to kill someone. Stuffing a sub down his throat?"

Jane giggled lightly. "I'd accuse the murderer of having Freudian motivations, if only Freud wasn't a discredited lunatic."

"I find much about this killing to be bizarre," Rodrigo mused. "Why was he incapacitated and then tied up? Why did the killer not simply drop a heavy object on him while he was stunned?"

"I think the confession note tells us that," I answered. "The killer didn't want him dead, at first. They tied him up so they could talk to him."

"Which is weird, in and of itself!" Katy exclaimed.

"I believe we must conclude that the killer and Dr. Alameda had a close relationship." Rodrigo crossed his arms, staring forward grimly. "Their crime was passionate and cruel, suggesting deep emotions."

"Uh, I got pretty deep emotions towards this asshole myself," Rocky pointed out.

"Yes, but would you also be willing to 'give him a chance to explain?' The combination of deep rage along with hope for his good intentions suggests something very personal. Perhaps..." Rodrigo's jaw clenched; he looked terrifying. "I almost cannot bring myself to suggest such an awful explanation. But perhaps this is a case... of patricide."

"No shit it was a case of patricide!" Jane snapped. "C'mon, we all knew that, right? Alameda was killed by his own child!"

Katy nodded softly but looked hesitant. "I think you're right, but how can we be sure?"

"I'm not sure we can be completely sure," I answered, "but it makes a lot of sense. The document we found in the smallest office tells us a lot."

TO: Dr. Alameda
SUBJ: Your child
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.

"We know that Alameda put his own kid into the game, and he did not seem very bothered about it."

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."

"Indeed," Jane agreed. "And that document tells us two important things. First, it suggests how the mastermind was able to take over an entire government-funded project from just murdering a single person. Everyone but Alameda was gone."

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.

"And, the format of the letter looks quite familiar, doesn't it? Especially the beginning."

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.

"And this is the last piece of evidence suggesting the mastermind and Alameda's murderer are the same person," she finished smugly. "They based their plan to brainwash others on their own experience. The idea of a student who's the offspring of someone in charge. The brutal, sudden revelation that what you'd wholly trusted was a lie. The moment where you thought you were chosen and special and the world was your oyster, but you find out whole institutions are dedicated to wrecking you."

"So... the mastermind started out on Alameda's side and then switched?" Katy sighed. "Yeah. I guess that whole thing would be pretty radicalizing, huh?"

"Ohhh." Rocky nodded enthusiastically. "And that's what the confession means when it says "explain how this was a mistake," right? They didn't want to accept he'd fucked them over, until they finally got pushed over the edge."

"Um, but that's the part I don't get," Katy said. "The confession says they wanted him to explain how this was a mistake, but then they get super angry when he 'asked how I was here.' That's... weird, right? Because if Alameda was confused about them being there, that does sound like a mistake."

I nodded, scrunching my forehead in confusion. "You're right, I noticed that 'asked how I was here' part stuck out for me, too. What could it mean? Why would that, of all things, set them off?"

"Darling," Jane said suddenly and starkly. "You're doing that thing you do."

"Oh, yeah," Katy agreed. "You totally are."

I blinked. "...What? What am I doing?"

"You're pretending not to have figured something out."

"Oh yeah!" Rocky said. "That Saya mind game thing!"

"Uh." I felt myself going pale and took an involuntary half-step back. "It's... not a mind game..."

"Mmm-hmm." Jane did not sound convinced. "But. You have figured out what that part of the confession means, right?"

"No! I mean... maybe?"

"I promised Lucina I'd call you out if I saw you doing that," Katy stated firmly. "So stop it. Just tell us."

I sighed, feeling more embarrassed than anything else. "Uh. Right. Okay." I tried to recenter, looking at the floor to avoid eye contact. "But let's get the background set, okay? So, let's say we're right. Alameda's killer is his child, they were recruited here six and a half years ago. They escaped from their killing game into the admin building, where they confronted him. And after killing him, they took over."

Rodrigo considered that. "Ay. I believe that's what we're thinking."

"Okay. So, Katy was correct. If 'how I was here' refers to the game itself, then it doesn't make sense that would enrage the killer. So maybe 'here' isn't the whole campus. Maybe 'here' means in the administration building."

"Oh," Katy said. "Okay. Yeah. He was literally asking how the killer got there. Like, how they managed it." She frowned. "But still, why would that make them so mad at him?"

"Well, let's think about how they actually did it," I said. "Monokuma told us there's basically two parts of this campus, both stretching across the whole thing. There's the 'student side,' where we've been this whole game. And there's the 'admin side,' where Monokuma is, and where Alameda was."

"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?"

"We glimpsed this 'admin side' before, thanks to Rocky," I pointed out. "He opened up that secret door in the ROTC."

We gathered around. There was a rectangular hole, about the size of small TV screen. It led to a sloping, smooth chute that appeared to open up into a larger, lit-up space; I could make out a concrete floor, a white wall, and the edge of something metal and cube-shaped with a single, green light on it.

"When the trash can hit that spot, it just... opened up," Rocky explained.

"What the hell is down there?" Nicole asked. "This building doesn't have a basement, right?"

"No," Barrett answered. "That ain't..."

"Wait, shh!" Rodrigo hissed quickly. Barrett glared, but we all complied; we huddled in silence around the open hole. I wasn't sure what Rodrigo meant, but after a few moments, I could hear it, coming from the space down below.

It was clearly Monokuma's voice, quiet but getting louder. He seemed to be... singing.

"Oh, those Monokuma tubes," Rocky said. "Right, those are how he pops up out of nowhere all the time, right?"

"Yeah. They're all over campus, and they connect the student side to the admin side. But it's unlikely the mastermind used those. I know I certainly wouldn't be able to."

I examined the panel. My head would fit through, but it was too small for my shoulders to make it; Monokuma would be a tight fit, but if he was squishy, he'd go through easily.

"Hmmf, okay," Jane sniffed. "What were the other potential methods?"

"Well, we saw one, right?" Rocky pointed out. "That remote control Monokuma had."

I realized, for the first time, he was holding a small remote control in his paw. He whapped his other paw down on it, and immediately there was a nearly deafening clamor coming from outside: screaming gears and clanking machinery. After nearly a full minute, it ended.

"Yeah, but that opens things up all over campus, and it's really loud. I don't Alameda would be surprised if someone managed to use it."

"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."

Katy nodded. "And the third way was the trial elevator, right?"

"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!"

"So... that must be it?" Katy frowned thoughtfully. "Wait... but Monokuma opens that up himself. Did the killer somehow convince him to let them use it?"

Despite having eyes locked in place, Monokuma somehow rolled his eyes at that. "I'd never do such a thing! The elevator is a sacred tool for trials only!"

"Yup." I shrugged. "So all three methods seem pretty implausible. And yet, Alameda's killer got through. And when I thought about that... well, that's when everything about the mastermind fell into place."

There was a pretty big clamor from that. "What?!" I heard Rocky's voice shout above the background noise. "You know who the mastermind is?!"

I just nodded.

"Who is it, who is it?" Rocky paced in place in his anxiety. "Oh god, it's not Roddy, is it? Is it?!"

"When did you figure it out?!" Katy asked, almost frantic.

"Were you thinking of ever letting us in on this secret?!" Jane barked, clutching a handful of her trench coat in distress.

"Smug kids, always thinking they know everything," Monokuma muttered.

Rodrigo just stood straight and tall, looking at me with fear but also trust. He nodded. That nod, and that look on his face, gave me the strength to take the leap.

"Alameda's killer is someone who wanted to give their father the complete benefit of the doubt, despite his cruelty."

"He just had high standards!" she nearly shouted. "He believes in me. It was probably abuse; I know that. But as long as he believes in me... as long as I know he did it because he thought I could be the best... I know what he was doing was right."

"Someone whose strategy was to put on a persona that was the opposite of the way they wanted us to end up, but to make it clear that persona is pretty unhappy."

"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."

"Someone with a seemingly supernatural ability to know when someone in the room with them might be dangerous. An ability that would be explained by getting tips from Monokuma, who's always watching everything."

"She has a knife in the left sleeve of her jacket," she said, turning to glare at Nicole. "Don't you fucking underestimate me. I pay attention. I know if I'm alone with someone who has a weapon. Just because I'm actually smiling for the first time in my fucking life, you thought I'd be an easy target."

Nicole just looked back at her for a moment then grunted in frustration. "I wasn't going to use it!" She slipped the knife out of her sleeve and held it in her hand.

"Someone who would be comfortable in that tiny office... and even who would need help sitting at the desk."

She led us into the computer lab; she marched to the front of the room and pulled out one of the rolling office chairs. She perched herself on top, her feet dangling over the floor.

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.

"Someone persuasive enough to convince dozens of very intelligent people to become radical extremists."

The room was eerily silent as she stopped talking. I legitimately felt like applauding. "Wow," Juliet said eventually, "that was... that was so inspiring."

"Of course it was, I'm the ultimate goddamn debater!"

"Someone small enough to fit through Monokuma's tunnels, even though most people couldn't."

I shrank back, despite her size. She was even shorter than I'd originally thought... maybe 4'8" or so. She was almost certainly small enough to be a dwarf, but she didn't have the body proportions of other little people I'd met; she just looked like an average young woman, except tiny.

"And, most importantly... someone who'd be driven into a rage when they realize their father doesn't even care enough to figure out how they managed to reach him... even though it was his abuse that allowed it to happen in the first place. And they'd get their revenge in the same way he hurt them: through food."

"Look, fine, let's just get it over with," she snapped. "My dad's a fucker. An outright psychopath. But." She crossed her arms and glared at me defensively. "He just had high hopes for me, and he wanted me to reach my potential. If he didn't think I was better than the rest of you lazy, worthless dirt, he wouldn't have done what he did. It was necessary."

"What did he do?"

"Just normal things!" she barked. "When I didn't measure up, I was punished!"

I took a step back. "With... lack of food and sleep?"

"Punishments with consequences, unlike whatever your spoiled little ass had to deal with. Growing bodies need nutrition." She glanced down at her own tiny little form. "If I'd been better..." She shook her head as if ridding it of an unpleasant thought. "...But I wasn't, so this is what I have to work with now. Consequences."

"It adds up," I concluded. "Alameda's killer... and the mastermind who brought us here... was Ashley Coelho, the Ultimate Debater." I laughed bitterly. "Or, to use her real name... Ashley Alameda. Something suggested to us days and days ago."

"Uh, hi. Hey, this is Gareth McGregor, Ultimate Podcaster, NHU class of 2016 (go bear cubs). Yeah, um, I'm trying to, uh… contact A.A. for some help?"

Everyone looked absolutely shocked, which I guess made sense. "But..." Rocky sputtered, and that was all he was able to get out.

"But..." Katy added, but she was also tongue-tied.

"But she's dead!" Jane finally burst out. You all saw her body with your own eyes!"

CLASSMATES: We clearly saw the inarguably dead bodies of Morgan, Emily, Ashley, Barrett, and Juliet.

I nodded. "Yeah. She's dead."

"So... so there's not a mastermind?! How can there not be a mastermind?!" Jane looked up at Monokuma in consternation. "Can there not be a mastermind?"

"Maybe!" he answered, unhelpfully.

"There can," I answered for him. "The... other Monokuma suggested it."

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

"That... explains the Cricket, right?" Katy ventured.

THE CRICKET: Every surviving student denied being the mastermind in the cricket, even though it apparently worked on everyone. (We THINK that we remember every student getting flagged for a lie at least once, but we can't recall.) Bepi proved the machine could be tricked, but it's still not clear how the mastermind got away with this.

"We were all able to deny being the mastermind, because it was true. None of us was the mastermind."

"There was also the note you found in the trash," I pointed out. "One that directly refers to Ashley's murder."

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

"Earl and Ashley were set to meet, and Ashley was supposed to bring an item: the unloaded gun."

"Ohh shit!" Rocky exclaimed. "And 'V's place' is the roof of the science building, right? Where all the astronomy shit was! V stands for Voss, and Earl always called everyone by their last names!"

Rodrigo's knees buckled. "Friend Earl..." he gasped out, placing a hand against his pale forehead. "He..." He looked up helplessly. "I condemned his memory. I besmirched him as a cruel, senseless murderer. But he was not." He looked up at us in wonder. "Friend Earl deduced the identity of the mastermind. When Friend Nicole saw him just before he died, she witnessed his fury at being betrayed. But she mistook it for malice."

She vaguely shuddered. "I saw him and Ashley meet up. They didn't know I was there, and they talked about the plan to meet up. I think they kissed, but I couldn't see. But I looked at the end. They were facing each other, and Earl had this big smile just like always. And Ashley turned around, and... his face just changed. He had the kind of hate and cruelty and... fuck, I can't even describe it. He charmed her and then behind her back he was just filled up with murder. So no matter what, I did good getting rid of him."

"Oh god," Katy groaned, looking queasy. "I... I even remember when he figured it out."

"...But Earl was acting... weird. Kind of stern and... I don't know, just weird." She shuddered slightly. "Rocky took him off to see that secret panel, and when they got back, he was all fired up about the tank. I think knowing about that passage spooked him somehow."

"And he did throw her off the side of the building," I said. "But then when he saw us... he was trying to explain he didn't kill her because he wanted to escape. He killed her because she was the mastermind."

Finally, he straightened. "Comrades!" he called, strongly and loudly enough to be heard even over the roar of the fire and the alarm. "You must not let your eyes deceive you! You must trust..." He suddenly turned, looking back behind him. He took a half-step back, as if fearful. "What..."

"And this explains something else: Why was the telescope dome padlocked? Earl was surprised to see Rodrigo, so Ashley must have locked it. And she did that because she knew Rodrigo was in there, and she didn't want to be interrupted."

"I..." Rodrigo actually looked like he was about to faint. He held tightly to his lectern, knuckles white. "There was something I never told anyone else. Something I witnessed that night. I held my tongue because I thought it was not important, and because I felt Friend Earl would not want it to be known. But now..."

He looked up around the circle, eyes haggard. "There was a space of ten minutes or so after I heard Friend Ashley's death, but before Friend Earl carried her away. And in that time... he was weeping." He took a deep, shaky breath. "I thought, 'how could a man who feels such guilt and sorrow possibly take a life?' And... now I understand. He believed it was the only way."

"And then Nicole fuckin' blows him up," Rocky growled. "If she hadn't done that, would we all be free?"

"I don't think that question actually makes sense," I said. "Because Ashley must have known that Nicole was planning to kill Earl that night. I think she was willing to meet up with Earl in such an intimate way because she knew it was her last chance."

Katy gasped. "How cruel..." But she nodded sadly. "She really liked him, I could tell. She was willing to let him get murdered, but she wanted to hook up with him, first. I want to hate how cold and brutal that is, but... she's been here for years. I can't imagine how lonely she must have been."

"Wait!" Jane suddenly yelled, startling everyone. "Wait wait wait!" She pointed off in some random direction, almost frantic. "Are you saying those security systems are just off, and we could have climbed that fence and gotten away at any time?!" She glared at Monokuma. "Or was that just a fucking lie?"

"Of course it wasn't a lie!" Monokuma snapped back. "Campus security is absolutely tied to the life of the Mastermind! Otherwise the game could just go on forever, and that's a huuuuuge waste of resources. When the mastermind dies, security shuts off."

"And the security totally works!" Rocky spoke up. "I test it, like, every other day! Big flame thrower pops out of the wall and everything."

"I saw the security system working that night," I added. "During the investigation."

Bepi paused for a moment. "Hmm, actually, let me try something." He took his shoe off and then hurled it at the fence at the edge of the quad. A scary-looking machine-gun popped out in response, then receded. "Shit. Yeah, I guess all the machines around here still work.

"So this is all wrong!" Jane argued. "Ashley couldn't have been the mastermind!"

"Well... I think I actually have an explanation for this," I defended. I glanced up at the bear. "Am I correct that vocal commands don't work during trials? If someone says a command, you'll ignore it?"

"I can't see why that sort of thing is any of your business," Monokuma answered cagily, "but no. The trial grounds are like any other!"

"Huh." I frowned, doubting my entire theory for a moment, but then I decided to keep going. "But I gave a command earlier. When we first came in. Why didn't it work?"

"Oh, well it won't work now," he answered breezily. "Vocal commands have been turned off since early this morning. Really, your generation is so nosy..."

I nodded smartly. "Okay. Then yeah, I'm pretty sure about how things went down. Ashley had a contingency plan."

"A... contingency?" Rodrigo still looked shocked by the Earl thing. "To keep us here even after her death? Using a... vocal command?"

"You mean, those things written up on the wall in the server room?" Katy asked.

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.

"But the code words only work for the mastermind, right?" Katy asked.

I shook my head. "No. Remember what the bearded Monokuma said?"

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

"You have to know 'the secret.'"

"Well, something is certainly odd," Jane remarked. "Those instructions make no sense. The commands were single words: 'ignore' or 'abort.' How can you say a single word 'in the correct order?'"

"You can't," Katy agreed, then paused. "Oh. Unless... you're spelling it."

"Is this..." Rocky smacked himself in the head. "Oh shit, of course. The clue we never used! The clue we never used!"

"Ugh, calm down!" Jane snapped. "What are you blathering about?"

"He means the note that Bepi found on Ashley's body," I answered. "The 'Dear Romeo' letter."

"I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about.":

"Grrph." I tried to ignore my irritation with her and press on. "Bepi found a piece of paper on Ashley's body and read it out loud. It sounded like nonsense, but there was a secret in there."

Bepi looked back at the paper, rubbing his temples in confusion. "Okay, it's... 'Dear Romeo, Do you remember the time you saw me and you told me that life is just an echo? I remember. It was snowing, and we lay together on the sofa under our favorite quilt, and we watched Treasure of the Sierra Madre. You finished the bottle of Merlot, and you stood up and stretched and you told me straight out: 'Life is just an echo.' We were alone, but not alone. The future and the past dance a cruel tango, and my hopes will never be free from my cruel memories."

"It uses the NATO alphabet... the one in the codebook from the radio room in the admin building. And it spells one of the command words: RESET." I gasped. "Oh, that's why the bearded Monokuma asked us that weird question, Katy! Remember?"

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

"He's always listening for NATO code, and so of course we said the letter J unusually often, because the NATO code for J is Juliet!"

"Oh my god..." Jane murmured, looking shaken. "We were safe. No security, nothing stopping us from just leaving. Until soldierboy read that note out loud... and reset the system."

"And that's why Monokuma was all fucked up for a while, too!" Rocky added. "He didn't know what was going on!"

Then he suddenly froze. He shivered for a moment and then turned to us, clasping his hands behind his back with a gentle and serious expression. "Greetings, investors and donors!" he announced. "My name is Monokuma. That's Japanese for "Monobear!" Or Greek for "One Kuma!"

He seemed to finally notice where he was, and he jumped in surprise. "Holy shit, a dead body!"

"I'm fine," Monokuma said. "I know what's going on. I'm... wait." He rubbed his temples as if suffering from a headache. "What?"

"We assumed it was from Barrett's fire," I said. "But that can't be, because Monokuma's servers are in our dorm, which is nowhere near the ROTC."

"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.

I glowered. "This is so stupid," I remarked, sighing helplessly, "but of everything, I'm maddest at Ashley about this. Bepi cared about her, and..." I paused, realizing I was clenching a fist in anger, and tried to relax. "I mean, she wouldn't know Bepi of all people would find her letter. But he was really her friend, and to make him the instrument for the game continuing, it's just..." I ran out of words and just scowled. "It's awful."

There was a pause as we all took in everything we'd just discussed. "So... that's the 'secret of the mastermind?'" Rocky ventured. "There isn't one?"

"Uh, no," Katy said hesitantly. "I... haven't been sure what to think of all this, but there is a mastermind. I'm positive. I talked to them!"

"Hm?" Missy Elliott glanced at herself. "Aw, shit. I was hoping to change this. Sorry about the avatar. It's me! the mastermind!"

"Holy shit, Missy!?" Rocky seemed more interested in this than almost anything else we'd talked about.

"Yes," Rodrigo said, hands clasped behind his back. "And someone was behind giving Juliet our information before we were intended to receive it."

"Oh." Katy took a deep, shuddery breath. "So. The secret of the mastermind isn't that there isn't one. The secret of the mastermind is there have been two. That's why the semester suddenly started going in a way Monokuma didn't like: someone new was in charge!"

"Psh," Rocky snorted. "I shoulda picked up on this just from the music! Remember what Monokuma said?"

"Holy shit," Rocky said. "Are you listening to Destiny's Child? Throwback!"

"Well, I have to!" the bear snapped, ignoring me. "We can't listen to it in the lab anymore! What else am I supposed to do?"

"He said Destiny's Child had been banned! But in the emails..."

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

...

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.

"...the mastermind said they loved Beyonce and refused to change their mind about music!" He paused thoughtfully. "Huh, Ashley liked good shit."

"Whoa, whoa," Jane argued. "Let's take a step back here. How do we even know this is possible? Can someone just flip a switch and make themselves the mastermind?"

"Yeah." I rolled my eyes. "It's fucking stupid, but they can."

"AmI the mastermind?" Katy asked.

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

"If someone could get in there and knew how to do it, then apparently they can become the mastermind."

"So... it's not over," Katy said. "One of us... is the new mastermind. One of us took over."

No one said anything.

"Okayyyyy..." Rocky offered. "So... we're right back where we started?"

"No," Jane snapped. "We know some things. Because it appears obvious the new mastermind has to be the holdover. That's the only person besides Ashley herself who would know how to control the system well enough."

"Yes." Rodrigo glowered at the floor, either angry or sad. "And given the relationship suggested in the magic computer messages, it seems plausible the holdover would want to do things differently. They appeared... ambivalent towards Ashley."

"Um, can I... say something?" Katy raised her hand hesitantly as if she wanted to talk in class. "This is... okay, something is weird, here. Because I totally agree the new mastermind was the holdover, but I still don't get it! We settled on Ashley as the mastermind partly because she was able to get to the admin section while a game was running, right? But in order to take over, one of us would have to get over to the admin section, because that's where the Mastermind Room was."

"Mm, you're right." Rodrigo frowned. "But none of us could. At least... in any way we can figure out."

"Maybe it will help to determine when it happened," Jane offered. "Because it must have been after we were all in the Cricket, but before Juliet got all our secret information." She cast a skeptical eye up to Monokuma. "...Assuming the Cricket really does work on the Mastermind."

"Oh, of course it does, those are two entirely different systems!" he snapped. "Why aren't you talking about the evil Major Kindschwall!"

"So... how could we do it?" Jane asked the room. "We couldn't take Ashley's path; none of us are small enough."

"Maybe Ashley didn't really die?" Rocky offered, but Jane rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, think about it for a moment. Several people clearly saw her dead body, and the new mastermind began completely undercutting her typical protocol."

"Perhaps..." The color drained from Rodrigo's face. "Perhaps... Friend Earl didn't really die."

I goggled my eyes at him. "That seems... unlikely."

"We never did see a body..." Jane mused.

"And Friend Katy found his note! Do you recall? In the large office!"

"But Ashley would have had that last!" Katy pointed out. "Earl wrote it, but it was for Ashley." She shuddered. "I think... I think Ashley really did fake her death somehow. Because how else could Earl's note have gotten there?"

And so. That's when I figured it out.

The events of that night reconfigured themselves into an entirely new array, the cruelest and saddest picture I could even imagine. It was decimating. I felt like I was bleeding, cut by pure horror.

I was still breathing, though. I was still alive. I wasn't cold and empty like I got during trials, but I wasn't shy and vague and scared like I was the rest of the time. I was both. It was like the world was suddenly in color.

"Saya?" I realized everyone had been talking, and they were waiting on me to say something. I looked around them blankly as all of them, all four of them, stared back with honest concern.

I looked up at Monokuma. "I have a proposal," I said. "Let us go."

He laughed. Not his typical evil laugh, something more manic. "Let you go?! This is a killing game!"

"Let us go, and we can stop all this right now," I said firmly. "No solved mysteries, no exposed mastermind. We all just... stop."

"Just like a spoiled brat of your generation!" he cackled. "Asking for coddling and mercy when things get hard!"

"I'm not asking for coddling," I replied. "I'm offering you a draw."

That caused him to fall silent for a few seconds, but eventually he shook his head. "No draws in killing games!"

"All right."

"...Friend Saya?" Rodrigo's voice was anxious, but he was standing firm. "Does... does this mean you know who the new Mastermind is?"

"Yeah." I felt hollow but somehow also strong. "Yeah, I know."

Again, everyone kind of freaked out. But I was confident. In chess, if you lose your queen, you can't ever get her back. Unless... one of your pawns makes it all the way to the other side.

I just looked up at the ceiling, trying to find a camera or something. I couldn't find any, so I just directed my plea to the air, hoping it'd be heard.

"Bepi?" I murmured. "It's over. Please come out."

He did. And when it happened, it was almost hilarious in how anticlimactic it felt. Just a door at the side of the room opened up, and he walked through, shotgun resting casually on his shoulder.

He walked to his space in the circle as we all stared at him. He'd gotten himself a new baseball cap to replace the one that had been blown off. He looked good.

"Cadets," he greeted.