Monochio walked calmly back into the academy, justice successfully executed. With law and order restored, there was no cause for it to be angry anymore, so it wasn't. Instead, it casually reminded the students of the small nurse's office on the first floor in the hallway to the gym.

"There are medications for depression, anxiety, and PTSD," it said, "in the small cabinet in the back. Everything is clearly labeled."

"Knowing you, everything's laced!" Shinobu scoffed under her breath, crossing her arms. Monochio shot her a deadly, deathly red glare.

"As I stated Day One, there are no lethals in this academyavailable for student access. There are items that can become lethal, but I have done my best to limit objects that are inherently—or designed to be—deadly." For example, kitchen knives. Food prep was mandatory, so having proper tools was as well. But there were no hunting, throwing, or combat knives, and there were no swords or daggers. That principle applied to everything in the academy. "The medicines work exactly as promised and prescribed on the instruction label! Now, any other question, students?"

No one said a word. It was obvious they didn't trust Monochio one bit. So it flicked a disdainful tail at them in a farewell salute, and promptly exited the academy's entrance hall. As soon as it was out of earshot, the grieving began again in earnest.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Noa wailed. One minute, they were all wandering the second floor peacefully, the suddenly—

"RULEBREAKER! RULEBREAKER! SAKI IZUMO, YOU ARE BREAKING THE RULES!" Noa flashed back to the sound and shivered.

Towa clung to her and Ibuki, alternating between wailing and sniffling. Ibuki reeled, barely holding herself together as she also struggled to wrap her mind around what happened. It was just so quick… One second Saki was there, suggesting they go back to the main hall, then the next, Monochio was racing by, dragging a terrified Saki with it. There was a silent scream frozen on her face, and it would stay frozen in Ibuki's mind forever as well. That was the last any of them ever saw of Saki. It was just so quick… Not even the tiniest piece of rocket or body was left behind. All they had were all the dreams Saki would never achieve, and the few droplets of rocket fuel still staining the academy courtyard.

"Two executions… right in a row… Back-to-back…" Esora whispered, eyes hollow and unseeing. Ibuki heard her and winced.

That's what I was thinking… We thought we were safe… She felt like an idiot now, but to be fair, none of them expected an execution mid-Stage.

"What did she even do?!" Noa wrung her hands, yellow-green eyes agonized.

"Didn't you hear Monochio?" Ibuki asked, subdued. "She broke a rule… Broke into that room…"

"DON'T TELL ME YOU AGREE WITH IT?!" Noa reared back.

"Of course not!" Ibuki cried, a sob finally ripping itself from her throat. "That's not what I meant! I was just repeating what it said! Of course I don't agree with it! But I didn't see it! I wasn't there! I—" The enormity of her words hit her in the stomach like an entire wall of bricks. I wasn't there…

"Oh, so now it's our fault!" Noa mocked bitterly, misunderstanding Ibuki. The reason Ibuki wasn't able to be there for Saki was because she was looking after Towa and Noa. Saki actually factored their antics into her plan, and it worked too well. She knew how they thought and acted, even if they forgot how she thought and acted.

"No! I never said that! I—!" Ibuki waved her hands desperately.

"Guys? Just… stop. Please. Just. Stop." Towa's shoulders slumped. Her face and voice were so somber that it shut Noa and Ibuki up quickly. Ibuki felt ashamed while Noa worried for Towa. They both wrapped their arms around her, and she clung to them like lifelines. Soon, all three of them were weeping quietly, and they weren't the only ones. Photon knew Saki better than the others, but the others would still miss her too.

What little they knew of Saki was kind, even if a little socially awkward, and they all had seen how much she helped in the first class trial. For her to be executed so swiftly thereafter felt like foul play, injustice and a slap in the face on multiple levels. Related to the timeframe, Miiko's execution was fresh in their minds too. Saki's execution was very different from Miiko's, but the sight of one still triggered memories of the other.

"Kurumi…"

"Don't. Say. Anything. Haruna. I know. You were right. The memories were dangerous." Kurumi's icy voice cracked, revealing grief underneath.

"That's not what I was going to say," Haruna whispered compassionately, resting a hand on the Kurumi's shoulder. Kurumi flinched, but she did not pull away. Haruna was surprised, and she smiled sadly. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to protect you, or Miiko, or even Saki…

As ashamed as it makes me feel to confess this, I suppose I have been… prioritizing… Miyu, over others… That is why… I stayed close to her throughout all of Rinku's dinner party. If I had not done that, might I have perhaps been able to stop—to save—Miiko…? I love Miyu, I am afraid that that is something I cannot deny. And yet, I love Kurumi and Miiko as well! Although I have done a poor job of showing it…

In the days after the trial, Kurumi was even more estranged from Lyrilily, butting heads with Haruna in a way she never had before. But Haruna's hands weren't clean either. After the last time Kurumi yelled at her for being too overprotective, an Ultimate Tyrant, Haruna went to some of the DJs and VJs of other units, asking for help to track her friends' PheFos in case there was ever any suspicious activity on them. Naturally, her request was met with suspicion, but she was able to convince them that she was just trying to keep her friends safe, but not intrusively.

Because she was only asking for notifications when something went wrong, it was not the same as round-the-clock surveillance or GPS tracking. She was still met with skepticism, but her reputation was good, and some of the DJs and VJs were intrigued enough by the idea of a safety app that they agreed to help her test-run something. Once they managed to program it and send it to Haruna, they slipped it onto Miyu and Kurumi's devices as well before deleting the icon to conceal the fact that it was there. It made Haruna feel dirty, but after Saki's execution…

I take no pleasure in saying this, but perhaps… my desire to keep a closer eye on my unit-mates… is not entirely out of line…

ooo

The seven third-years were swift to take it upon themselves to try to lead the rest of the class. As the shock of Saki's execution finally began to subside, even if only a little, they carefully herded all the underclassmen back to the dorms and lounges on the west side of the first floor. They sat near the hall, guarding the entrance as they discussed what to do next.

"Should we resume the search for the Implememor-Es?" Hiiro asked quietly.

"So soon?" Dalia raised a doubtful eyebrow. "Not casting a vote, though. Would be glad to accompany anyone who goes back up there."

"Let's compromise," Aoi suggested. "We can rest here for a while, take time to process and regroup, then we can reassign smaller search parties."

"Good idea," Marika nodded. "It may be easier to keep an eye on one another if groups are smaller and slower, and sent out more methodically."

"Still, should we even be trying to see more of the memories at all?" Tsubaki asked. Hadn't Saki's execution shown them the power of the memories? What else could've triggered that sudden chain of events? Honestly, we're damn lucky Saki didn't commit a murder.

"But Tsubaki, we can't let Monochio keep us down forever!" Rika frowned, and for once, she wasn't just saying that to sound badass. "If we know there are dangerous memories out there, shouldn't we try to collect them just so they aren't just… hanging out there…?"

In Rika's mind, they would all watch their Implememor-Es at the exact same time and immediately report back about everything they saw so they could work together to piece together the story of the academy, and how they got there. It sounded doable on paper, and even noble if they could all agree to it. And it wasn't impossible, although Rika wasn't afraid to admit how hard it would be.

"S-s-so, y-you probably wouldn't want someone like… me trying to help out with… any of that…" Saori murmured, looking down self-consciously "I- I- I- I'm not very good at… being persuasive, or keeping people grounded…" If her depression, anxiety, and low esteem didn't make it clear, Saori wasn't even good at keeping herself grounded, let alone the peers she was too scared to talk to almost half the time.

The other three members of M3 shared knowing looks, smiling sadly at Saori, shaking their heads. But even though Saori's protest was more centered around herself than anyone else, she was on the right track in doubting the difficulty of Rika's plan. She was making a huge assumption that even if they could consciously agree to share everything they saw, that they would actually uphold that oath. And it wasn't even just distrust that made Saori doubtful. After all, what else could have prompted Saki to think breaking into a locked room was something she should do?

Yes, the memories were the catalyst, but that implied that whatever she saw was either so commanding or terrible that her next move was to do something that ended in her execution. Even more unsettling, they could call it a psychotic break, but it was clear from the way she had to actively sneak away from her unit that she was still capable of calculation and cunning until the very end. Unless she somehow forgot that breaking into locked rooms was against the rules. But that shouldn't have been, because the Implememor-Es implemented memories, not removed them.

"Do you think it was suicide?" Marika whispered, and everyone's faces darkened. They all had different opinions on that theory, but what they could agree on was that all of them had thought about it at least once before.

ooo

The students finally elected to put the search for the Implememor-Es on standby, at least until the next day. For the rest of that day, though, even those anxious to find more memories had very little real motivation to return to the second floor after what had happened there earlier. Instead, they spent the rest of the day on the first floor, shifting from the west side to the east as dinnertime drew near.

"Isn't tonight supposed to be your night off?" Hiiro giggled as she brushed into the kitchens, past Maho, tying an apron around her waist.

"Couldn't I say the same for you?" Maho teased right back, gesturing to the Chore Chart on the door. It was a common sight, six names under the dinner shift for that day, neither of them Maho's or Hiiro's, and yet both of them still in the kitchen 15 minutes before everyone else.

About 10 minutes later, Dalia arrived. "Oh, thank goodness you're finally here!" Maho sighed in relief.

"Maho, I'm five minutes early." Dalia quirked an amused eyebrow.

"Oh, shoot!" Maho slapped her forehead. If there was one drawback to always being early… "S-sorry, Dalia, you can wait outside until—"

"Oh, don't be silly, I was only teasing!" Dalia interrupted with a laugh. She'd come early to unlock the cabinet with all the kitchen knives. As a good-faith gesture, the students agreed to lock them up whenever they weren't in use. The key rotated hands every time the cabinet was opened. This was so that the burden of responsibility was shared among them, and no student ever had too much time to access the knives. That included Maho. Maybe under normal circumstances, it would make the most sense to just leave the key with her, but this was Monochio's Killing Game.

"My precioussss…" Maho hissed as she fetched a knife from the unlocked cabinet and grinned at it, gently caressing the shining blade.

And this is why we have the cabinet, Dalia smirked, even though she knew Maho wasn't trying to be creepy.

Dinner passed quietly, and the class was finally able to find a glimmer of hope, even through all of the despair.

"With the memories and the… execution… giving us so much grief, shall I read the future?" Hiiro asked, half-joking and half-serious. She was unsurprised to receive a hearty bout of "NO!" She didn't blame them. However… Hiiro shook her head with a soft chuckle. "Fortunes need not always be grim, dire, or dramatic. They could be small things, too, silly things…"

To some, it was still a rather tone-deaf and stupid idea, but Hiiro's heart was in the right place. Perhaps it could be a moment of escapism. They could pretend to be normal high schoolers again, if Hiiro had a way to ensure she wasn't going to go looking up their dates and causes of death.

She departed for her dorm and came back about five minutes later with a crystal ball in one hand and a deck of tarot cards in the other. In the end, everyone stayed to observe, even the most skeptical among them.

"Woah!" The students gasped and looked among themselves as Hiiro closed her eyes and lowered her hands over her crystal ball. After several passes, the transparent sphere suddenly seemed to fill with fire.

"But fire… Is that good…?" Saori asked nervously as she looked around the circle of faces to see if her emotions would be reflected back at her.

"No, these ones were… campfire flames…" Hiiro smiled gently at the crystal ball.

"What?!" Shinobu, Saori, and Tsubaki were just three of the disbelieved voices that cried out, but Hiiro only nodded calmly.

"I understand. It sounds unbelievable. But believe me; I can feel it. The flames are soft, warm, gentle; they are not at all violent or out of control."

"So… does that mean… we're going outside someday…?" Rinku asked quietly, barely daring to breathe, but already hopeful.

"I cannot say for sure," Hiiro bit her lip. I would assume a campfire somehow means we are going outside, but knowing Monochio… She did not wish for it to turn out to be something terrible after all, even though she felt fairly confident that it would be something good. There just wasn't enough proof yet for her to want to make a solid claim in either direction.

Hiiro switched to tarot cards after that, voluntelling Aoi to be her guinea pig. "Oh… oh my…" The Ultimate Diviner covered her mouth.

"What?! What is it?!" Aoi and Tsubaki were both alarmed as they tried to make sense of the jumble of cards cast across the table in front of Aoi. Only the Ultimate Diviner could see order and story from the primordial chaos, but even she wasn't perfect.

"As with all things, not just fortune-telling, the messages I am reading could have multiple interpretations," she said.

"Seems kinda like a scam then, doesn't it?" Someone muttered, but too quietly for most of the others to hear.

"It appears that you have a new beginning to look forward to, Aoi," Hiiro said, meeting her unit-mate's eyes with a smile. "More specifically, a deepening interpersonal relationship with someone you're close to…"

Reactions were fairly even, half the class laughing in disbelief and half secretly curious about how accurate that reading was.

"Oh, is that all? A romance in a Killing Game? Ha! I'd love to see it!" Aoi laughed, on the side of the former half of the class.

Y-you would…? Tsubaki thought, heart skipping a beat. Although she would never admit it, she was on the side of the latter half of the class. Then again, no one on that side would admit to being on it, that was all part of their feigned disinterest in Hiiro's magic.

My psychology skills are quite on par as well! Hiiro smiled. Fortunes aside, her little activity succeeded in bringing a smile to everyone's faces. The rest of the evening passed smoothly, Rinku, Esora, Noa, Marika, Aoi, and Miyu finishing it off as the six members of the cleanup crew. Once the final sweep was done, Esora met up with the rest of the team and an exhausted Marika was more than happy to lead them to the dorms.