Chapter 1.4: Death of the Author

Chapter Notes

I'm sorry this took so long! Hope you like it.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

For the next few days, there was an uneasiness in the air that made it difficult of everyone, including myself, to relax around each other. Makoto has proposed that we still eat together for breakfast. His reasoning was that hopefully it would help the camaraderie, and also simply to keep people within eyesight of each other. It was a morbid thought, but I agreed and supported his reasoning.

I mostly kept to myself. I had always been somewhat of a reserved, so it really wasn't much different from usual. Even Junko wasn't one hundred percent herself. She did seem to be spending a lot time with me, something which I had actually grown to appreciate.

The person that I probably spent the most time with aside from my sister was Makoto. He was a very friendly person, and I found conversation with him to be engaging. Plus, he was surprisingly relaxed, despite being a hall monitor-which was definitely a breath of fresh air in comparison to the overwhelming majority of very strong personalities in this school.

I also was beginning I realize I had misjudged him. Upon first impression he seemed to be very soft spoken, but that is only in the day-to-day. He was actually an assertive and strong leader, and the more time I spent with him, the more I grew to respect him. In short, he was a really easy person to like.

In our conversations, he often spoke about his belief in trusting others and believing in the good of humanity and that is what gave him hope. He did once explain to me that that was why he received the title that he did: he really wanted to strive for that moral goodness that he believed in as well as maybe help others try to strive for that as well, even if he knew the goal would never be quite attainable.

Perhaps his beliefs were naive-after all, I had seen a lot of terrible things in my years as a detective-but his optimism was so palatable that it was kind of contagious. Even the grim, world-weary detective wanted to believe in this "goodness of humanity" when I was with him.

The unease that had settled in the atmosphere for the past few days was beginning to diminish, not just for me but for everyone. By this time, the group breakfasts were pretty much carried out from force of habit. Not to mention, if we tried to get out of it, Makoto would simply cajole us back into going. He was surprisingly effective in his powers of persuasion.

Regardless, even if we were adhering to the to the group breakfast agreement, people definitely did not feel pressured to change the pace of their daily routines. In general, there were three types of people: the early risers, the people that arrived approximately on time, and the people seemed to consider time as a non-issue. I usually fell somewhere in the middle; I'd always considered promptness to be at least of some importance, but, not being an early bird, it was hard for me to really seize the day with a sense of urgency.

Junko was one of those early risers. Which was at first surprising, but considering her profession and exactly how busy idols are known to be, it only made sense. On more than one occasion she had rung the bell to my room to come down to breakfast only to find that I was still sleeping. The fact that my sister could wake up and get herself fixed up and pretty and still somehow be done earlier than I could wake baffled my mind.

The other early risers consisted of Makoto, of course, along with Sayaka, Kyoko, Hina, and Taka. Next were the people who arrived around the same time as myself, and those were usually Sakura, Mondo, Chihiro, and Hifumi. Hagakure, while best intentioned, tended to get lost or sidetracked on his way, so he was late about as often as he was on time. Last ones to arrive were usually Toko, Byakuya, a Celeste, and Leon.

The morning of what would be our seventh full day together was the first time this changed.

Hina was the first to notice. "Someone is missing..." She looked around the room. "Where's Hifumi?" she asked, a note of alarm in her voice.

"He hasn't left his room all morning," replied Celeste, sipping on her tea. "I even tried ringing his room earlier, but he didn't answer."

That struck me as odd. A part of me was surprised she'd even notice something like an absense, since Celeste rarely showed great interest in others.

"I'd better check to see if he's alright," said Makoto, getting up from his seat. He bore an anxious expression on his face.

"I'll go with you," I said, almost on a reflex. I just had the strangest feeling. Getting up in a hurry, I followed him out cafeteria.

We stood outside Hifumi's room. Makoto hesitated before he knocking on the door.

"Hifumi?" asked Makoto, knocking again.

There was no reply.

I rang the bell. "Hifumi are you in there?"

Still no answer.

"Maybe he already left the room," said Makoto.

"Try the door."

"But it won't open from the outside without Hifumi's ID, you know that."

"Try it anyway." I had a sick feeling, but I was hoping against hope that I was wrong.

Rather than question me further, he simply nodded, trying the door handle. We both heard the click that indicated that the door was indeed unlocked.

We looked at each other with confusion, even if I had been preparing myself mentally for this what this possible outcome could mean. I heard the static, indicating the speakers being turned on as Monokuma's voice rang throughout the room.

"Attention! All doors required for investigation have been unlocked. Be sure to search to your heart's content!"

The monitors went static, and then the air went dead again.

Makoto looked at me, worry apparent in his wide eyes. "That can't be good."

For a moment, we said nothing, just stood there in silence. He sighed. "I guess we have to go in, don't we?"

I didn't answer.

He shuddered, turning the door handle. It clicked again, creaking ominously as it slowly swung open.

Even bracing myself, I could feel my heart sink at the sight before me.

Line of work be damned, nothing could have prepared me for Hifumi's corpse laying there, slumped against the wall, a knife impaled in the middle of his chest.

Makoto went pale. "Oh no..." His voice was barely above a whisper

"Mukuro!" I heard Junko's voice calling from down the hallway. "Are you alright? I heard the announcement on the speakers." She poked her head through the doorway. "Are you guys—" Her eyes fell upon Hifumi's dead body, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The monitors clicked on once more.

"Ding dong bing bong! A body has been discovered!"

If I hated Monokuma's sickening screech of a voice before, it was nothing compared to now.

What seemed like the rest of my classmates entered the room, pushing and shoving as they went.

"What on earth is going on?" asked Taka. "We heard screaming!"

Silently, Junko pointed a shaky hand to Hifumi.

Eyes falling upon the body, Taka let out a horrified, bellowing scream. Several of the others cried out as well.

Chihiro began to cry. "This is so horrible. What are we going to do?"

"Oh sweet, you're all here!" a familiar voice called with a cackled. We all whirled around to see Monokuma grinning broadly at us, no longer behind the monitor and instead present and in person. "So I don't have to rush you all down to the gym. Such a pain. Puhuhuhuhu! That wouldn't been such a waste of time. Imagine having to devote all the time and energy to moving locations just so that I could deliver some exposition!" He laughed again.

"You!" said Makoto, hands balled into fists at his side, already looking like he was ready to take a swing. He glared at Monokuma, furious, more angry than I'd ever seen him. "This your fault!"

"My fault?" said Monokuma. "I'm not the killer here!" That stupid grin etched upon his face seemed to mock us. "Don't shoot the messenger! I just came to deliver a present!"

"Present?" asked Sakura, her tone stern, short, like she was losing patience. "What present?"

"My Monokuma file!" He beamed at us, to which we could only stare back blankly in return. "Isn't it just sweet of me to give you so many hints in a helpful little file?"

"Perhaps, but I suppose I do not see their point," said Celeste. "After all, if you enjoy to watch us suffer so much, why help us at all?"

"Gotta even out the odds somehow! No one likes stacked odds! Where is the tension? The drama? The intrigue?"

Leon scowled. "So the big guy in charge hates the idea of a power imbalance. Yep. No irony there."

"Plus, I'm sure it's more fun to draw out the game of cat and mouse if we don't die right away," said Byakuya. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll manage."

"You're a confident one!" said Monokuma. "Okay, so I take it this is everyone. Well..." He did a quick count. "Gloomy isn't here, but that's a given. Just fill her in later, will ya? I'm a very busy bear!"

"Gloomy?" asked Sayaka.

"He must mean Toko," said Celeste. At seeing the others urgent looks, she added, "Toko is fine. She is standing in the hallway. I don't think she handles gore particularly well."

"You say it like its a horror film," muttered Leon.

"Enough, already!" said Monokuma, finally snapping with impatience. "Basically here's the lowdown. You guys get to do some investigating for... a period of time."

I didn't miss the pause.

"How much time?" asked Kyoko, as if she could read my thoughts.

"As long as I feel like!" he snapped again.

"I'd feel much more comfortable knowing the parameters of our investigation," said Kyoko. "That includes the time limit."

Monokuma feigned a yawn. "But that's so boring! I like it much more like this. Keeps you all on your toes. As I was saying, when time's up, I'll call you all down to the court for a class trial. You discuss and argue and deduce and it's all very exciting and rivetting, yada yada yada. And at the end, you take a vote on the culprit. If the majority is correct, then you live, and I execute the culprit. If the majority votes wrong, the culprit goes free, and everyone else gets executed instead."

Whoa. What an entirely new pressure to unload on us. Now we had an additional fear to worry about-a fear that could motivate but also cloud our judgement. I could see the uneasy looks of everyone throughout the room.

His red eye sparkled. "Isn't it great? Either way, someone's getting offed tonight. Puhuhuhuhu! And about time, too. I was beginning to think it would never happen. Alright, well get to it. You only have so long, so investigation start!"

He disappeared.

Everyone was in various states of distress and grief.

"What are we going to do?"

"Oh dear..."

"How in the hell are we supposed to figure this out?"

"This is so horrible. Please tell me this isn't happening."

"Please, everybody calm down."

I paid little attention to them, their reactions nearly fading into just being background noise.

I could feel the grief, stronger than I had expected, washing over me, but I did my best to let it pass. Emotions clouded judgement, and now was not the time for that. I was devastated by the loss of our classmate, but if we didn't figure this out, there were going to be even more people in danger. Right now, I had a job to do. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little heavy-hearted at the loss of one of my classmates, even one I didn't know particularly well.

For a moment, I just stood there, not really ready to move.

I was experienced with crime, yes, but this was a lot more personal. Possibly even more real. Hifumi wasn't always nice. He wasn't always pleasant. But he was a person. And he was a part of our class. It felt like only a second ago that we were having casual smalltalk. It was only a few days ago that we'd chatted in the kitchen. We barely knew each other, but he'd felt trusting enough to tell me about his sister.

As a detective, my job was always to discover the truth, no matter how painful it may have been. But on a private note, I at least hoped seeking justice for Hifumi could afford him some peace.

I knelt down beside Hifumi's corpse, ready to examine it. In the background I could register Makoto suggesting that there should be two people assigned to keep watch of the crime scene at all times. We needed volunteers.

Mondo raised a hand. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Mondo," said Makoto.

"We ought to have two guards," said Kyoko. When the others shot her questioning looks, she added, "Just in case."

"Makes sense," said Byakuya. "They can keep an eye on one another."

"You saying I'm not trustworthy?" asked Mondo.

"Absolutely," said Byakuya. "But if it helps you sleep at night, you're hardly more suspicious than anyone else here."

"Yeah, homeboy's just paranoid," said Junko.

"All the same, I think Kyoko is right," said Makoto. "Believe me, I do trust you guys, but but I think as a whole it would make us feel better if we had two people keeping guard."

For some reason, when Makoto explained it, it seemed to have more of a convincing effect on the others.

"Fine," grumbled Mondo, but his fists were still clenched tight.

Hina looked to Sakura, and she shook her in response. It was a strange moment; something unspoken seemed to pass between them.

"You have me," said Sakura. "I will make sure nobody interferes with the crime scene."

Makoto nodded. "Thank you, Sakura."

If Makoto felt that he could entrust them with this task, then so could I. I had my job. Others had theirs.

Looking at the body, the cause of death appeared to be the knife wound in his chest. examining the handle, it looked to be a cooking knife, so it must have come from the kitchen. However, he also appeared to have suffered at least one blow to the head, judging by the large bruise that was dripping with blood. That could mean that the culprit had used something to hit him over the head.

I made a note to check for anything that possibly could have ever been used for that purpose. Murder weapons could be crucial pieces of evidence.

Upon examining his body more thoroughly, I found no more injuries inflicted upon him nor any objects upon his person.

I'd been so entrenched in my work that I hadn't even noticed when Makoto approached me. He was beside me to the left, and he actually caught something before I did.

"Mukuro," he said. "Come look at this." He pointed to something on the wall behind Hifumi. I leaned over to see symbols painted on the wall and blood. There were three, two circles and a line, rather sloppily done. It looked like... a name.

I glanced down at where Hifumi's hand lay limp. There was no blood.

Strange.

There was definitely something conflicting there.

"Hifumi wrote this?" asked Sakura. I hadn't even realized she'd been watching us.

"It's possible."

I didn't want to give too much away when I didn't know the whole story myself. I didn't want to put ideas into people's heads. They could be led astray. People were meant to come to their own conclusions.

The most obvious assumption to make was that they were letters, but for the time being I was not sure of the full meaning behind them. Perhaps I would undersand once I got a better view of the whole picture.

Continuing my investigation, I found that there as no hair on the carpet or anywhere else in the room, not even hair belonging to the victim. Hair was usually a fairly helpful clue, but the fact that there was none did indicate something: the culprit had attempted to cover up their tracks between the time of the murder to now.

I searched through all his drawers and through every nook and cranny of the room, but I couldn't find anything. My main goal was to find anything that could be a prime candidate for the weapon that had struck Hifumi.

There were a good number of books, some of them fairly large in size. However, all of them were either linen-bound or paperback, and considering the amount of blood from the wound, using any of these books would have just left a stain. These were all clean even if they were more than a little worn. Their condition made it seem as though they must have been very loved by their owner. My heart sunk. Just the thought made me sad, but I pushed my feeling aside for the time being. More importantly, the fragility of the books made the likelihood of a secret murder weapon hiding amongst the many volumes seem even less possible.

Searching through his room, I also found his toolbox at the bottom of one of the drawers, still unused. I put it back. seeing as it was irrelevant to the case. None of the objects in the toolbox fit the weapon's profile. Along a similar vein, I eliminated the sewing kits from the possibilities as well.

"He was struck in the head," I muttered to Makoto. Normally, I preferred to work alone, but there were times when I needed someone with whom I could talk things through. "Which means there was probably something used as a weapon."

"Probably?" he asked.

"Yes. It's not certain, but considering what the wound looks like, it seems very probable. It would have to be something pretty heavy though. Does anything here fit that profile? It doesn't have to be in this room."

"Check the trophy room." It wasn't Makoto who answered, but a much gruffer voice.

We turned to address the speaker, and to our surprise we realized it was Mondo. He'd been standing nearby, still guarding the scene.

He shrugged. "There's tons of stuff in there. You're bound to find somethin'."

"Go check the trophy room," I told Makoto. "Let me know if there's anything suspicious."

Just this once, I figured I could cover more ground if I got some help. We had quite the limited time frame, after allI didn't like being to reliant on others, but I figured if he found something, I could always check to confirm it for myself.

I turned to leave the room.

"Where are you going?"

"The kitchen."

Before I left, I spotted Byakuya in the periphery of my vision. I hadn't even realized he was still in the room. He seemed to be reading over the Monokuma File provided in our student e-handbooks. I was surprised at his silence. Usually by this point there would be a haughty comment, but he seemed very into his own investigation.

On the upside, I was reminded to check my own Monokuma File. Taking a look at it, it stated: Hifumi Yamada died from a blow to the head with a large blunt object. His death was instantaneous. However, he sustained several additional blows to the head. It also stated that he was stabbed by a knife.

All this happened between Night Time Hours and this morning.

in the hallway right outside the room, I nearly bumped into Toko. She seemed to pay me no mind. Rather, she was keeping to herself, shaking her head and muttering.

"Are you alright, Toko?" I asked.

She looked at me with suspicious eyes. "W-Why are y-you asking?"

"Because I'm worried," I said, truthfully but shortly. I did want to make sure she was okay, but I had other matters to attend to.

She didn't seem convinced, but at least she stopped glaring at me.

"I-I'm alright," she stuttered, looking away and at the ground. "I'm j-just not very good at handling blood is all."

Not sure what to do, I gave her an awkward pat on the back. It didn't seem to do much. I spent a minute or two trying to help her calm down, but in the end I still had to go. I felt bad leaving her to her own devices, but I still needed to investigate the kitchen.

Entering the kicthen, I found that Hina and Chihiro were already there, in conversation. Upon my entering, they both said their hello's, to which I replied in kind

"Why aren't you investigating?" I asked them.

"Oh, I'm... taking a break," said Hina with an apologetic smile. "I wouldn't know where to start with the whole investigation thing in the first place. I figured I could grab something in the kitchen for Sakura while I'm here, too."

She seemed on edge, despite her smile. I chalked it up to our predicament. It was hard enough for me to handle; I couldn't imagine how the others were taking it.

"Right now I can't even bear to look at poor Hifumi," said Chihiro, head bowed sorrowfully. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

I shrugged. "Oh, it's alright."

Everyone needed to deal with the tragedy on their own terms. Pushing something as grueling as an investigation on those who were more vulnerable and sensitive would probably only hurt our chances, anyway.

I was able to confirm that the knife had indeed come from the kitchen; however, there wasn't much to find investigation-wise in the kitchen. At least the time wasn't a total waste.

Since there was nothing left for me to see in the kitchen, I made my way over to the trash room, figuring there might be some evidence to find there. However, I found my way barricaded by a locked screen.

"Hey!"

I heard a familiar voice call to me, and I turned around to see Monokuma standing right in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him crossly.

"Only the janitor can open the door."

"Alright, well who's that?"

I was already irritated, but I didn't have time for his games. I needed to find this janitor person as soon as possible.

"Only the janitor can open the door!" he repeated more forcefully. "They're the only one who has the key." He then left the room, disappearing from sight.

I sighed in relief. Just his disappearance good alleviate my mood. Still, my reprieve was short-lived. I knew he was bound to be back later for the trial.

Well, with the room locked off, my best bet would be to just take a look at it from where I stood until I could find this "janitor."

The first thing I noticed-in fact I had seen it when I first entered the room-was that the incinerator was actually still on, despite it being locked off.

To my surprise, despite the blocked gate, the trash room still had more for me. There were more clues! They were somewhat distant, near the incinerator, but I could still make them out. They looked to be a broken glass ball and a burned scrap of a white shirt. The broken ball sat below a large button that seemed to be "on" switch to the incinerator.

Now, if the incinerator was still on, I considered two possibilities: the last person who accessed it forgot to turn it off, or the last person to access it was not able to shut it off.

If it was the latter, I could see something like.. a bit metal grate obstructing the cuplrit.

However, this raised more questions. Why would the grate prevent someone from shutting the furnace off, but not prevent the person from turning the furnace on? Either the gate blocks the entire process, or the gate is up for the entire process. It didn't make sense.

I tried to think about it in another light. Not about turning the furnace off, but about turning it on. If the grate is in the way, how would the furnace turn on?

Perhaps, they were able to turn on the furnace using alternative means.

Means such as... throwing something.

The gaps between each bar on the metal screen certainly seemed wide enough to fit a ball.

The full picture was getting clearer. Putting together the clues from the trash room and the message on the wall, I was finally starting to develop a theory.

I headed back to Hifumi's room in order to find Makoto. He wasn't there when I checked, so he must've been occupied. Still, I needed to find him. I was itching to find him.

"Where's Makoto?" I asked Byakuya, who was standing beside Hifumi's body and appeared to be in deep thought.

"He left."

I huffed in frustration. "Yes, but where to?"

"How the hell should I know? He's none of my concern." He scowled at me. "I'm busy."

I decided there wasn't much more I would manage to get out of him, so I left to find Makoto somewhere else.

Perhaps he was still in the trophy room.

Much to my dismay, he was not in the trophy room. However, I did find Celeste.

Since I was already there, I took this opportunity to search this room for clues as well. Examining the trophy cases, I could see one of the glass cases was shattered. Inside, there were the remains of a trophy that looked snapped clean in half. It had been screwed to the floor. That thing had been nearly three feet long and was made of wood and metal. It definitely could have been the weapon I was looking for all this time.

However, it was gone. I had no idea where it went, and I had no clue if I would be able to find it.

Before leaving, I decided to ask Celeste something I had been wondering. "Celeste, in the incinerator room there was something that looked as if it could be a crystal ball. Was it yours?"

"Oh my," she said, hand over her open mouth in surprise. "However did it get there?"

"So then it was yours?" I asked.

I was surprised at her reaction. She was usually so impassive.

She nodded. "It must have been misplaced. Although if truth be told, it's actually made of glass. It's completely useless. It's more of a prop, you know?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I have a real one," she clarified. "My actual crystal ball I would never misplace. Although I haven't been able to find it the entire time I've been here." She sounded sullen. "Isn't that ironic?"

"Well, hopefully you'll find it," I said. "Although can you remember where you last left the glass one? If you don't, it's alright, but it could be helpful."

She shook her head. "I gave it to Hiro. He's been trying to get me to read his fortune ever since we got to this damn school, so I let him have it. I was hoping it would shut him up."

"Alright. Thank you, Celeste," I said, doing my best to suppress my amusement. Oh, Hiro.

"My apologies for not being a more helpful investigator," she added. "The whole idea of running around searching for clues is just not my cup of tea. Also, I am feeling a strong sense of grief at this entire situation that I cannot even explain myself."

"It's not a problem. You've been very helpful."

I couldn't bring myself to be truly mad at anyone who didn't want to investigate... although it was a little disconcerting that so many people seemed to be ok with pushing the responsibility onto me.

I waved to her on my way out of the trophy room.

Of course, the universe would never allow me to take my eyes off where I was going without being punished for it, so I ran directly into someone, causing us both to go crashing to the floor.

"Ow!" said the other person. "Ok, I take full responsibility for the door thing, but this one is your fault."

"Makoto!" I flushed with embarrassment, sitting up, as did he. "I was actually hoping I'd run into you although I definitely didn't mean it in such a... literal sense of the phrase."

He didn't answer.

"Sorry," I muttered, hurriedly standing up, offering out my hand to help him up which he gratefully took.

"It's alright," he said. "I was actually looking for you, but I guess you were doing the same. I wanted to let you know about the missing trophy, but I'm guessing you already know about that."

I nodded. "We'll look for it if we have time."

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"In the kitchen? No there wasn't really anything there for me to find. Although I've been meaning to ask you, do you know who the janitor is? I was hoping to take a closer look at the trash room."

"Oh! Well, about that... Monokuma actually gave the key to me. And I figured we could keep a schedule, so that every person could have janitor duty for a week."

"Then who's the first one?" I asked him.

"Oh... See, the thing is... It's actually Hifumi."

I didn't say anything.

"Mukuro?" he asked, looking at me apprehensively.

"Well..." I sighed wearily. "That changes everything."

"I don't understand."

"If the culprit knew Hifumi was the janitor—which is entirely possible—they could easily burn they're evidence."

I began heading back down the hall to the return to the trash room.

"Mukuro, where are you going?" asked Makoto, doing his best to keep up with me.

"I want to show you something," I said, not breaking stride or turning to look at him. "It's the perfect crime, don't you see?"

"What is?"

"Kill the janitor and you can get rid of anything without anybody finding out or any trouble."

"What are you going on about?" he said, sounding exasperated.

"I think it's a set-up."

"What is?"

"This." We had reached our destination. I opened the door, showing him inside the room. "What does it look like to you?" I asked him, gesturing towards what sat behind the metal screen.

He peered through. "It looks like... Someone used whatever that is to hit the switch to the furnace?"

"Exactly. Yet I searched Hifumi's room top to bottom as well as did a full body investigation and never found the keys."

"Full body investigation?" He grimaced.

"Yes Makoto, weren't you listening?" I said impatiently. "Now this could mean that he misplaced the keys, but I think the reason why they're missing is because the culprit took them."

"And that's why they left the furnace on, along with the leaving the crystal ball there?" asked Makoto. "Mukuro, I'm afraid I'm not quite following."

"Think about it, Makoto. Why would the culprit need to use any of this to turn on the incinerator if they already had the key?"

"Perhaps they didn't know," he suggested.

"That could be the case, but it does explain why Hifumi would be the victim, doesn't it? Kill the janitor and you can burn any evidence that you need to. That's what all this is about." I pointed again to the broken glass ball. "The culprit wanted to lead us off the scent. You know, fake evidence to lead us astray. All this time I thought it was..."

My mind was going a million miles an hour.

The dying message, the glass ball... I thought I had known what they meant. I had taken the bait.

I was wrong, so wrong.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "There's got to be more. Listen, don't say anything to anyone else about the janitor thing. At least, save it for the trial."

"Oh, well—" began Makoto, but I wasn't listening.

"Maybe there's something I missed? I... I need more time."

But just then, we heard the familiar static of the speakers and I could feel the dread creeping through me as they spoke the last two words I wanted to hear. "Time's up!"

Chapter End Notes

I know my writing is usually a lot more dialogue heavy than this, but I felt like this was more appropriate for an investigation. So I apologize this probably didn't have as many quips or funny scenes in it, but it is a game about murder, so I guess that should probably be expected?

Also I would like to apologize for being a cliche, since literally falling for each other is like the oldest trick in the book.