Danganronpa: Obscurity’s Disgrace (SYOC) Chapter 26: Toxic Words, Venomous Actions (Part 9), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 2: Toxic Words, Venomous Actions (Epilogue)

Warning!

This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark and serious themes! And also expect some choice words that might upset people - thanks to a certain Gas Station Manager! But expect fun and whimsical themes as well! I hope you enjoy!

[Grand Court]

A few seconds later after the group witnessed Yoshino destroying the final book in Adam's barrier, the three Stardom Finale attendees all suddenly reappeared in the Grand Court. Pretty much everybody still had so many questions about how these Stardom Finales even worked... but everyone decided to save those questions for now.

...

Adam reappeared at his podium. He was on his knees, his whole body shaking. Tears flowed like he had sprung a leak. His glasses were fully cracked. He was done for.

Joji and Yoshino reappeared at their podiums as well. Both were of breath... but with also fairly melancholy looks on their faces.

"Adam...?" Aurora felt a pain in her heart at this reveal. It wasn't like she was extremely close with the academic, but he was the first person she met here.

"Hmph." Ji-hoon crossed his arms. He honestly didn't think it'd come to this.

"Nyaha! You know, I think I want to be in one of these Stardom Finales! It seems like fun!" As expected, Cathy wasn't taking this seriously in the slightest.

"As a victim or killer?" Kei smirked, leaning back against nothing.

"Hm... I'm undecided! Nyahaha!" Cathy kept on laughing.

But not everyone was enjoying this situation as much as the cat burglar.

"So... Adam? You done?" Yoshino finally caught her breath. The adrenaline rush from that was just... insane.

"...Y-Yeah..." Adam squeaked out, his voice barely audible.

"Alright." Joji slowly nodded. "You did good Adam. But... let's do this." It'd be hard, but he knew what he had to do.

"Indeed. Now that Brooks' guilt has been proven and that Lux's nonsense proved to have gone nowhere, I'd say we are sufficiently satisfied to end the trial." Nozomi's face showed no apparent remorse for the guilty academic nor the bitch beautician next to her.

"Excuse me?" Damien raised an eyebrow, sounding offended.

"Enough! I don't want to hear you guys word-fucking each other!" A still weakened Alpha slammed her podium, then turned her attention to the guilty nerd. "I've got shit to say to you. But let's vote and shit first."

"Oh? Are we sure?" Considering what happened last time, Pheme just wanted to be safe.

"Yes. Let us *cough* commence with the vote." Rosalind closed her eyes.

"Very well!" Treating Rosalind's word as enough, Pheme restarted the voting procedures. "Alright, my glamorous stars... I think… it's Voting Time!" She snapped her fingers.

All of a sudden, everyone got a notification on their Star-Phone. As soon as everybody pulled theirs out, they saw a familiar Voting App. When they opened it up, twenty pictures appeared. One of those pictures was merely Pheme at the top, winking. The other nineteen pictures were of the glamorous stars. The pictures were in alphabetical order, with a red X over Bessie's, Aelia's, and Genjiro's faces.

Compared to last time, the votes came in fairly quickly. Most everyone had known and resolved themselves for this. Some held back tears, and others had no emotions on their faces at all as they went to condemn one of their fellow stars to death.

...

"Okay! It looks like everyone has voted!" Pheme cheered. "Now... let's see the results shall we?" With another snap of her fingers, Pheme caused a monitor to descend from the ceiling behind her. A monitor that showed the votes. The votes...

...

Adam: 13

Genjiro: 1

...

"Fascinating!" Pheme clapped her hands. "All of you, barring one, seem confident that the killer is Mr. Brooks! It's also interesting that one of you chose to vote for Mr. Mashimoto! How fun!" The goddess snapped her fingers. "Now... let's not waste any more time! Let's see the results!"

The lights in the Grand Court darkened a bit. Then suddenly, a spotlight appeared above Pheme's head. But it didn't stay there for long, as it suddenly started to spin around the podiums of the glamorous stars, just like a roulette wheel. The spotlight started on Cathy, and it rapidly spun around for a few seconds. Until it finally landed on...

...

Adam Brooks. "Mr. Adam Brooks!" Pheme pointed at the killer. "You are guilty!"

...

The spotlight disappeared. The lights in the room returned to normal. Pheme clapped her hands.

"The Studio Trial... is finished!"

...

[Grand Court]

"Damn it..." Yoshino felt so many emotions right now... the primary one being frustration. "Damn it! DAMN IT!" She kept slamming her podium.

"...Yoshino...?" Lake shakily asked.

Yoshino kept her head down. She had been suppressing these feelings during the trial. But now... "Adam! Did you... did you... FUCK!" She felt so damn frustrated.

"Adam?" Aurora understood Yoshino's emotions right now, but she wanted to take a more sensitive approach here if she could. "Is... everything as Yoshino says? You killed Genjiro... to get back at him...?"

...

Adam slowly started to stand up. He held onto his podium tightly.

"Is everything... right? Adam?" Joji was afraid he was going to break his fingers with how tightly he was clenching his fists.

...

Adam was still crying as he got to his feet. He was still visibly shaking. "I..."

"Don't tell us it's true! Adam!" Lake was the type of person to care about everyone no matter what, so this was going to hit them hard, no matter what.

...

Adam looked up and forward at nothing. "I..." He clenched his hand into a fist. He slowly started to stare at a certain someone.

...

Everyone stayed silent. This was already a whole different feel than when Aelia had been found out as Bessie's killer. I mean... they already knew the motive. But despite the display they all were witnessing, one person just couldn't keep her mouth shut.

Alpha audibly scoffed at the sight before her. This little bitch killed Genjiro? This little fuck got the upper hand? And through some chicken-shit means? "You're fucking ridiculous." She rolled her eyes, ignoring Adam's emotional and mental state. "You think you have the right to-"

Alpha got cut off by an extremely unexpected sound.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALPHA!" Adam yelled as loud as he possibly could, inhuman fury taking over his being.

...

"You want to say that again?" Alpha spoke completely emotionless.

"Adam...?" Aurora widened her eyes. She never would've expected to hear that level of rage coming from a boy like Adam.

"I'M SO FUCKING SICK OF IT ALL! I HATE IT ALL!" Adam slammed his hands down on his podium. "GENJIRO! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH!" The well of tears falling from his eyes renewed. "EVERY DAMN DAY! EVERY DAMN SECOND! HE JUST MAKES FUN OF ME!" He kept slamming his fist down on his podium.

Nobody knew what to say. Adam... he must've had this bottled up for a while. Everyone, even Cathy, chose to just let the kid rant. After all, why interrupt him? They had no reason to.

...

Well... one person had a reason to.

Alpha, still clearly injured, stomped out from her podium and went over to Adam. She didn't flinch in the slightest at the sight of the enraged academic.

"MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE! EVERYONE LOOKS DOWN ON ME! THEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME! I'M SO FUCKING SICK OF IT!" Adam slammed a book against his podium. "GENJIRO! THAT MOTHERFUCKER! PIECE OF SHIT! WHY?! WHY COULDN'T HE JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE?!"

Alpha continued to watch Adam rant. She was disgusted by what she saw. "You are so fucking stupid." She didn't hold back her words.

At the sound of her voice, Adam finally turned his head. "ALPHA!" He charged forward and grabbed onto her shirt. "YOU'RE EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME! WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE?!"

So, Alpha was planning on saying some choice words to the academic here. And she still will. But she couldn't simply ignore what he just said. "I'm nothing like Genjiro." She crossed her arms, clearly not threatened.

"BULLSHIT!" Adam held onto Alpha's shirt tighter. "ALL YOU FUCKING DO IS INSULT EVERYONE! YOU DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANYONE BESIDES FOR YOURSELF!" He tried to lift Alpha, but he obviously couldn't. "YOU'RE A BITCH, JUST LIKE GENJIRO! DON'T DENY IT!"

Alright, now Alpha was getting a little pissed off. She swatted Adam's hands off of her shirt with ease, even in her injured state. "Don't. Say. That. Shit." The idea of being compared to human garbage like Genjiro appalled her.

"OH YEAH?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?!" Adam shifted to being more aggressive. He was certainly... standing up for himself. "YOU'RE ALL BARK AND NO BITE! YOU JUST INSULT AND BERATE PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU'RE WEAK!"

Alpha was close to losing it. "Shut... your... mouth...!" She closed her eyes.

"FACE IT! YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT JUST LIKE GENJIRO! THAT'S WHO YOU ARE! JUST A MISERABLE PERSON WHO SPREADS THEIR MISERY TO OTHERS! FACE IT!" Adam grabbed onto Alpha's shirt again.

"Adam..." Alpha's voice took on a frightening tone.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! YOUR JUST A BITCH WHO HATES ON OTHERS BECAUSE YOU CAN!" Adam was relentless.

"Adam...!" Alpha raised her tone. She was this close to losing her shit.

"YOU JUST INSULT AND INSULT, NEVER THINKING ABOUT THE IMPACT IT HAS ON OTHERS! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! YOU JUST KNOW MISERY!" At this point, Adam had nothing to lose. Yelling at this bitch felt great.

"ADAM...!" Alpha wasn't Joji-level anger issues, but she was starting to see red.

Adam wasn't about to stop. "I FUCKING HATE YOU! YOU JUST EXIST TO PUT OTHERS DOWN! YOU..."

"SHUT-!" Alpha was about to-

"DON'T..."

"THE FUCK-!" Alpha was going to-

"KNOW..."

"UP!" Alpha reeled back, and...

"ANYTHING! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, MABEL JANE!" Adam screamed out.

*SLAP*

Alpha slapped Adam across the face, then picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "YOU FUCKING IDIOT! YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY MY NAME!"

*SLAP*

Alpha slapped Adam again, showing no remorse in the slightest.

Adam didn't care about his now twice-stinging cheek. "YOU'RE A NASTY HUMAN BEING, MABEL!" He kept using Alpha's real name as a means to taunt her.

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!"

*SLAP*

Alpha kept slapping the nerd. "YOU'RE THE STUPIDEST FUCKING PERSON HERE, ADAM!" She shouted right in his face.

"I'M SMARTER THAN YOU! AT LEAST I DIDN'T ALMOST F-FUCK GENJIRO!" Despite his enraged state, even Adam couldn't get that one out without a stammer.

*SLAP*

Yep, another one. "DON'T YOU DARE BRING THAT SHIT UP!" That was something Alpha hated being reminded of. "AND THAT'S NOT EVEN WHAT I MEANT, DUMBASS!"

Adam kept tanking the slaps. The local nerd truly was too angry to die. Or in this case, to feel pain. "OH YEAH?! THEN WHAT DID YOU MEAN?!" He scoffed, expecting more of the usual garbage that came from Alpha's mouth.

Alpha growled. "YOU LET GENJIRO WIN!"

...

"W-What?!" Adam finally lowered his tone at that baffling statement. "W-What the fuck does that-"

*SLAM*

Alpha threw Adam onto the ground and then took a deep breath. She never liked getting that angry. "You let him win!" She stomped her foot. "You are so fucking stupid!"

"Stop just saying t-that crap!" Adam shakily got to his feet. "The h-hell do you mean I let Genjiro w-win?!"

Alpha grabbed Adam's collar once again but didn't lift him into the air. "I'll tell you why!" She got right in his face. "Genjiro Mashimoto was a pure utter scumbag who got his rocks off at picking on people! His sole desire was to prove he was at the top of the world! He didn't give a shit about anyone here!"

"G-Get to the point!" Adam tried to struggle out of Alpha's grip but to no avail.

"Shut it!" Alpha didn't like being interrupted. "Adam... my point is... you fell for it! You gave in to it! You gave into his bullshit!"

"I d-don't..." Adam didn't know how he was feeling.

"You realize that because of that piece of shit, you're going to die? Huh? You realize that?" Alpha spoke of Adam's impending execution. "You gave into his garbage! So, he wins! Even in death, he'll be laughing at and bullying the fucking idiot who killed him! Why? Because that fucking idiot is going to be joining him real fucking soon!"

He... was going to be joining him soon? Adam... was going to be joining Genjiro? Adam... he was going to die? "...E-Even still!" He knew that Alpha had a point... but still! "Y-You don't get it! You don't get it Alpha!" He somehow managed to wriggle out of her grip. "Every damn day I've been bullied and picked on! Then the next day, I'm just used for my smarts! It's fucking infuriating!" He felt himself start to cry again. "You don't get it! You don't get the feeling! You don't know what I'm feeling! You haven't experienced anything! You just live a cushy life where you can hate on people just because you can!" His initial wave of rage was gone, but he was still surprised that he didn't stammer on a single word.

"Oh yeah?" Alpha's tone suddenly got frightening. "You think I haven't gone through shit?" She casually picked up the academic again. "You think so, huh?" His tone kept being scarily deadpan.

"I- uh-" Adam's rage started to melt into fear.

"That's what you think, huh?! HUH?!" Alpha pulled Adam's body closer to her. "Tell me! Have you seen your own fucking dad get run over by a car in front of your eyes?! Have you seen your naked mother covered in baby oil, fucking the twentieth new guy this week?! Have you ever had your best friend betray you and steal your greatest dream?! HUH?! HAVE YOU?!"

"Uh- um-" Adam started to hyperventilate. He didn't know what to do.

"NO! You fucking haven't!" Alpha threw the nerd onto the ground. "You haven't gone through shit! You live a great life, with great parents, and great fucking friends!" She motioned to Yoshino and Joji.

"F-Friends...?" Adam widened his eyes as he looked over to his currently silent friends.

"Damn right!" Alpha let the kid stay on the ground this time. She was getting tired. All of this yelling was putting a toll on her still injured body. "You're one of the lucky ones! You have fuckers like them who are willing to go through this goddess's shit to support you! And it's not just them! You have Asher, don't you?!"

"Asher..." Adam muttered the name of his lost friend.

"You see my point?" Alpha was starting to look a little ragged. "If you had said a single word to your friends about this idiotic bloodlust in you to kill Genjiro's bitchass, you would've been fine! C'mon man! You have so fucking much! And you gave it up because of Genjiro! Genjiro! Do you see it now? Do you see?! Do you see how stupid you are?! You fucking wasted it all because of Genjiro! And-" She staggered a little. "Ugh... fuck it." She took a few deep breaths, then hobbled back to her podium. "I've said what I've wanted to say." She started to hang onto her podium as a means to support herself. God... she sure didn't think she'd be yelling at the kid like that today.

...

The entire room was still enveloped in silence, besides for Adam's muffled cries. Nobody knew what to say.

...

"Alpha...?" That was the last thing Yoshino would've expected from a girl like Alpha. Or...

"Adam... Alpha..." Aurora struggled to hold back tears.

"Holy shit..." Joji muttered.

Lake just kept crying. They didn't say anything.

"Alpha... your name... it's Mabel?" Rival didn't read the room.

"That's..." Ji-hoon's mind was swimming with thoughts right now. He wanted to ask both Alpha and Adam some questions. But this seemed like a decent place to start. "That... was a lot to witness, everyone." He sighed. "But let's recollect ourselves... and ask some questions."

Upon the order from their leader, everyone in the room took a little bit to just... recompose themselves. Pheme didn't say anything. No one could tell how the goddess felt about what was happening right now.

...

"...Okay," Nozomi spoke first. "Jo, you said you had questions to ask?"

"Yeah." Ji-hoon nodded, before looking over to assess Adam. Judging by the distant look on his face... he was in no state to talk. Nobody was ever sure of what would comfort him right now. So... they started with Alpha. "Alpha. First question."

"...The fuck is it...?" Alpha's face started to grow pale. She felt herself getting weaker. She needed to rest. But she knew she wasn't getting out of this place until some bullshit execution happens. So she decided to grit her teeth and bear it. "What is it...?" She asked again, having no energy for snappy comebacks right now.

Ji-hoon was semi-grateful for how weak Alpha was because that meant that she might be more cooperative than she usually was. "First question for you." He repeated himself. "Mabel Jane? That's your real name?"

Alpha's expression instantly darkened as the sound of her real name being spoken.

"Interesting name." Darren decided that he wanted to say something.

"Yes... it's *cough* nice." Rosalind steadied herself using her parasol. Her head injury luckily didn't have too much of an adverse effect on her.

"Shut it, anexoria. Drunkard." Alpha had the energy to speak some insulting nicknames at least. "...To answer the question, yeah. It's my real name." She seemingly didn't like admitting that.

"Oh... why did you hide it...?" Rival didn't get it.

"Because it's fucking stupid...!" Alpha started to sweat. Not from nervousness, she's just starting to feel the brunt of what Genjiro did to her. "It's so fucking plain and boring. Who the fuck wants to be called "Mabel Jane"? "Alpha" is just... better."

"Nyahaha! What a silly reason!" Cathy laughed as she shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it, pussy!" Alpha didn't even look Cathy's way. "Fuck kinda... name is Catherine Munchkin anyway?" Honestly, Alpha would prefer going by Mabel Jane than by Catherine Munchkin.

"Nyahaha! A classic human deflection!" Cathy started to play with one of Darren's rings. "Anyway, I like my name. Besides, I don't know my real name! And I don't care to learn it!"

"...What? ...Really?" That caught Darren's attention, of all people. How does a person not know their real name?

"Nyahaha! Don't worry about it!" Cathy wasn't in the mood to explain her lore. Besides, she isn't even the focus of this chapter!

"Anyway..." Ji-hoon made sure to note down what Cathy said, but he wanted to move back to Alpha. "That's all, Alpha? You merely don't like your real name?"

"That's what I said, wasn't it?! Fucking listen!" Alpha took out a lollipop and stuck it into her mouth. "And none of you fuckers better call me that! I'm going... by Alpha. End of the fucking story." Don't worry Nathan! I'm not going to change the name a character regularly goes by in the middle of the story!

"Hm. Fair enough." Kei shrugged.

"Yes... that's understandable, Alpha." Aurora nodded in understanding. Yes... she understood that well.

"Alright then." Ji-hoon decided not to question it as he noted that down.

"Hold on..." Lake couldn't stop their hands from shaking even now, but they wanted to try and contribute still. "How did Adam even know it?"

"Uh... um." Alpha didn't know what to say to that. She didn't have a clue.

"I think I know why." Joji raised his hand. "Alpha, you ever say your real name out loud or something? When you're talking to yourself, maybe?"

"The fuck? I ain't schizo! I don't talk to myself!" Alpha wasn't about to be called crazy. "...But maybe once or twice." She admitted.

"There you go." Joji nodded. "Adam probably used the motive apps on Bessie's Star-Phone to figure it out."

"Oh... that makes sense." Lake wasn't in the mood to end their sentences with an exclamation point.

"That little shit..." Alpha groaned. "Gotta watch what I say..."

"Hm." While Darren watched the rest of the group talk about whatever they were talking about, he pulled out the note that Pheme had dropped in the Comedy Studio.

"Darren? Why do you have that out?" Damien wasn't sure why that might be relevant anymore.

"This?" Darren held the paper out. "It's interesting. Look." He held the paper out to remind the group and the readers of what it said.

A/G - 11:00 PM

Y/A - 11:10 PM

C/K - 11:12 PM

J/K - 11:14 PM

A/R - 11:15 PM

J/L - 11:15 PM

D/D - 11:16 PM

A/R - 11:17 PM

"Oh... good point, Darren." Kei got it without the bartender even needing to say anything.

"Yep." Darren kept the sheet out in case Pheme was going to yoink it back. Just to save time. "We've established that A/G is Alpha and Genjiro. But it's interesting that this technically uses her nickname instead of Alpha's real name."

"Huh... shit." That never crossed Alpha's mind.

"Fascinating." Damien started to think about that. "Pheme? Will you provide us with an answer for this?" It was always a toss-up on if Pheme would answer any of their questions, but it never hurt to ask!

"An answer...? For...? Oh, wait! For the paper?" Pheme's mind was still lost in the excitement of Alpha's real name getting revealed, she'd been kind of zoning out. "Well... I can tell you!" She skipped down from her throne and over to Darren's podium. "I'll be taking that back now!" She snatched the paper.

"Okay." Darren showed weak promise as a thief as he just let his haul get snatched away. Cathy shook her head.

"So... about the names!" Pheme pointed to her now recovered paper. "It's merely what you glamorous stars choose to go bye! I did consider having the first letters of some of your real names, but I decided it was too early for that! You're welcome, Ms. Jane!" The goddess taunted the gas station manager by changing how she referred to her.

"Fucking bitch." Alpha would've ordinarily tried to beat the shut out of Pheme for saying that, but she wasn't Genjiro. And there was no easy way of changing the goddess' mind like that. So she chose to deal with being called "Ms. Jane" by the goddess now.

"But Pheme?" Kei was curious about something. "Is it not a pain to make sure you go by our preferred names compared to our real names?"

"Oh! Good question!" Pheme appreciated her favorite showing concern for her. "It's not too hard! Besides, out of the soon-to-be 15 of you, only 5 of you go by fake names!"

"Oh? That's interesting! Thanks for telling us that!" Kei winked at Ji-hoon. The lawyer got exactly what he wanted from her.

"Yes... very." Ji-hoon started to note some things down.

"Five of us, hm?" Damien began to do some basic math. "That would be... Alpha, my dear Catherine... and three others."

"Hm... I wonder who they are..." Rival narrowed his eyes.

"Yes... but that's not the point right now, right?" Aurora tried to move on from this point.

"Right you are, Aurora." Kei couldn't help but notice the starlet wanting to brush past this point. "Let's get back to it. We were questioning Alpha, as I recall."

"Oh boy..." Alpha rolled her eyes. "What's next, huh? My cup size? Haven't I explained all of Genjiro's bullshit already?"

"No, you really haven't." Yoshino shook her head. "There's some shit I've been real curious about. We barely even brought it up in the trial."

"What is it, Akiyama?" Nozomi was... being Nozomi. Yeah. That's it.

"The grapefruit poison." Yoshino reminded the group. "The hell was up with that? Genjiro did steal that shit, right?"

"It's likely," Ji-hoon remembered what happened during the investigation.

"Woah." Before Ji-hoon could get any closer, he felt his nose scrunching up. "The hell is that smell? It's so strong." He sniffed the air around him. "Is it... grapefruit?" He was no grapefruit connoisseur, but he could still recognize the smell. "Why would the air smell like... ah." He realized it quickly.

...

Now... he had one more thing he wanted to check. Ji-hoon brought his hands down to Genjiro's pockets. Thought he might as well check to see if he had anything on him. There was nothing in his left pocket... but in his right... "Ow!" He accidentally pricked his finger on some glass. Learning his lesson, the celebrity detective slowly pulled out the glass out of Genjiro's pocket. "Hm..." There seemed to be small droplets of something on the glass shards. Perhaps against his better judgment, Ji-hoon managed to take one of the droplets and put it in his mouth. Well... whatever it was, it was nasty. Didn't feel like it was a beverage or anything like that.

"You... put a random droplet of something in your mouth, Ji-hoon?" Aurora wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Um... that sounds a little gross." Lake couldn't imagine themselves doing something like that.

"Uh- it's fine." Ji-hoon realized in hindsight how strange that sounded. "Anyway, I'm assuming the broken glass in his pocket was from the bottle of grapefruit perfume. Which, like Yoshino said, we never discussed."

"Yeah... Genjiro and Alpha broke into the box to steal the nail gun to get rid of the hidden cameras, but why the hell did he take the grapefruit poison?" Joji was lost.

"Heh. So, Alpha? You're the only person here who can answer this." Kei raised an eyebrow.

"The... grapefruit poison?" Alpha narrowed her eyes. "Yeah... he took it. I remember that."

"...And what else? What... did he do with it?" Rival wasn't sure why Alpha was dragging this out.

"Uh..." Alpha seemed stumped. "...Fuck."

"Alpha? What's the *cough* problem?" Rosalind tilted her head. Surely Alpha didn't forget what happened with the poison, right? Surely?

"Are you okay, Alpha?" Lake copied Rosalind's head tilt.

"...Um..." Alpha seemed frustrated. "I... can't remember."

Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, you can't remember?" That sounded convenient.

"It's... a fucking blank." Alpha held her head in her hand. "I remember charging out of the Comedy Studio after Aurora started having a period from her mouth..."

Aurora shook at the mention of that. She didn't want to imagine that.

"Then after we left..." Alpha continued. "The big guy wanted to-"

"Stop." Ji-hoon suddenly said. "If we're doing this, can we get a full account of what happened with you and Genjiro?"

"Ugh... really?" Alpha didn't want to talk more than she had to.

"Yes. Really." Ji-hoon knew that Alpha was a victim of this case to an extent. But he didn't care too much about that right now. Right now, he wanted answers.

"I'm curious enough about it." Kei shrugged.

Nozomi pulled a piece of paper out of thin air. "The more I can note down for Ayaka, the better."

Yoshino sighed. "I've heard enough about Genjiro to last me the rest of my fucking life..."

"Which may not be very long!" Pheme chimed in.

"Shut it!" Yoshino gave the goddess a firm glare. She didn't appreciate being interrupted. "Anyway... I've heard more than enough about the guy. But I'll admit, I'd like to know what he was up to."

Alpha groaned. She couldn't get why everyone even gave a shit. They basically knew everything already. But she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid this. "...Fine. Whatever." She gave a distinctly non-Rosalind cough before starting a full account.

"Uh... I guess it starts..." Alpha had to think about where to begin with this. "Some of this shit is just shit that Genjiro told me, so let's hope that motherfucker was telling the truth."

"That ain't likely..." Yoshino rolled her eyes.

"You're telling me..." Alpha chose to roll her eyes too. "But... Joji!" She snapped at the carpenter.

"...Huh?!" Joji blinked. He didn't expect his name to be brought up suddenly. "What's up?"

"Did you uh..." Alpha wasn't usually this lost with her words. "Did you ever see the little goon cave with the wooden boards in your place open?"

Joji had to take a second to decipher what Alpha just said. "Oh... you mean the wooden board storage? Yeah, a few times!"

But as he did, he noticed the door that held the wooden boards in his studio was open. Did he leave that open? ...Eh, it was probably nothing.

...

"Huh?" Joji shook his head like he was getting out of a trance. "Um... hm." They didn't really have a purpose when they went in here... so now they didn't know what to do. Joji kept looking around the room... until he spotted something. "Lake? The room that stores the wooden boards." He pointed to it.

"What about that room?" Lake tilted their head.

"Was that always open? I remember talking with Kei the other day... and it was wide open then. I don't think I did anything with it that day. But I closed it then. And now... it's open again." Joji bit his lip. It seems random. But...

"Was that Genjiro then?" Joji inferred what Alpha was going to say.

"Yep." Alpha cracked her neck. "He was coming and going there to get some wooden boards."

"Why would the wrestler human need some wooden boards?" Cathy purposely played dumb.

"Bitch, why are you playing dumb?" Alpha immediately realized the cat burglar was playing dumb. "Genjiro stole those boards to block you and Kuroko in the Hypnotist's whatever room. Think I brought it up during the trial."

"Makes sense..." Yoshino groaned. "He put those boards up to make sure Kuroko would be the last person there. To assure everyone would get distracted when he threw her the letter opener."

"Um..." Lake had a thought. "That means that... you just watched him put those boards up, Alpha?"

"Yeah. I did." Alpha shrugged.

"...You claim to hate the guy... but you go along with the plans he makes?" Rival noticed the contradiction.

"You're such a fucking idiot." Alpha rolled her eyes. "At the time... I just didn't care. And I didn't know it was a step in this bullshit."

"You didn't know?" Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow. "That almost sounds like you weren't complicit in his actions."

"I can't imagine how that'd be possible?" Nozomi was a little confused.

"Well, I obviously was complicit with the latter half of his bullshit." Alpha felt like she didn't need to explain that part. "But I wasn't complicit with the boards and with little Roro's poisoning." She mocked the nickname the starlet received from Yoshino. "Or... more like I wasn't complicit with the poisoning of the BDSM goddess up there."

"You... weren't? Really?" Aurora knew it wasn't their original intention to poison her, but that still made her feel a little better.

"Nope." Alpha shook her head. "Before Genjiro grabbed all those fucking boards, we stopped at Damien's studio. Bitch said he needed to grab something. I just assumed he was feeling a little zesty, but I guess fucking not. I saw him pocket something, and I guess it was the nail polish. At the time, I had no idea what he was about to use it for."

"Damn... okay." Joji was almost impressed by Alpha's apathy.

But upon hearing that someone was challenging his apathy, Darren started to tap his fingers against his podium. "That's interesting. You still didn't do anything when he went through with poisoning Pheme."

"Well, I remember being really fucking confused by what he was doing. After he threw the letter opener to Kuroko, I mean." Alpha recalled.

"I... I... I... I... I-I-I-I-I-I-" Kuroko's whole body started to shake. Blood started to trickle out of her nose.

"Holy shit! Roko?!" Yoshino quickly stood up.

"W-What- W-What is happening?!" Adam didn't expect this.

"Oh?" Pheme stared intently at Kuroko, a curious expression on her masked face.

"What the fuck are you doing?" It was unclear if Alpha actually cared about what was happening.

"Kuroko?!" Aurora held her hand over her mouth.

"For the record, I did not care about what was happening," Alpha confirmed what the narration had said. "I saw Genjiro reach over and swipe something into Pheme's drink. I couldn't have given two shits about Kuroko there."

"And yet you didn't say anything? What if I died, Ms. Jane?" Pheme saw another opportunity to mock Alpha.

"I'll rip your fucking mask off and stuff it in your mouth if you don't shut it." Alpha hated that Pheme was going to call her by her last name now. Fucking Adam's fault.

"So you really weren't complicit with that. Shit... okay." That was strange for Yoshino to accept, but it made enough sense.

"I mean, after I realized that the bitch was trying to poison Pheme, no way I was going to stop him. Heh." Alpha chuckled. "Besides, if it failed, he'd be the one being punished. I didn't do shit there."

"Hm... that's true!" Pheme giggled. "Gee, you truly didn't care a whit about Mr. Mashimoto did you, Ms. Jane?"

Alpha just zoned Pheme out.

"Brutal... but I get it." Kei couldn't exactly fault thinking like that. "Alright... with that, we move on to you two getting to the box."

"I'm still thrown off by how Genjiro even knew that was there..." Joji couldn't comprehend it.

"Did he ever explain why he knew it was there?" Lake was curious to figure this out.

"Fuck no. And..." Despite Alpha choosing to zone Pheme out, she couldn't help but notice the goddess doing something up on her throne.

"Ms. Jane!" Pheme waved to the gas station manager. "If you'd like, I could show a video of what happened before you and Mr. Mashimoto broke into the box!" She twirled a remote around in her hands.

Well, Alpha can't exactly zone her out now. She'd appreciate the rest for her voice, and unlike Aelia, she didn't give too many shits about Pheme stealing her spotlight. "Fine. Do what you want." She tried to relax while standing at her podium.

"Okay! Sounds good!" Pheme jumped up and down. "Very well then! My glamourous stars, I ask you to direct your attention to the monitor!" Once all of the attention was directed, Pheme clicked a button on her remote... and what looked like a video feed from a camera started to play.

...

"Keep it moving! Get Aurora to the infirmary!"Ji-hoon, Kei, and Raiha held the shaking, sickly, and poisoned starlet in their arms as they charged forth to the infirmary. Everyone else followed behind them, mortified looks on mostly all their faces. Well, besides for a certain pair at the back of the group.

Genjiro and Alpha, the ones who generally didn't care as much for the rest of the group, were trailing behind. "Christ they're fucking insane."

"Who?" Genjiro casually asked.

"Them." Alpha cocked her head to the rest of the group as they entered the infirmary. "Like god, I get it's a Killing Game but don't start screaming like a madman."

"Ha! Fair enough!" Genjiro let out a hearty laugh despite the situation. After he settled, he started to stand there awkwardly, like he was trying to focus on something.

Again, Alpha didn't care too much about what was happening. She didn't make any movements to the infirmary. But watching them charge in there made her think of something. "Genjiro. You did poison Pheme's drink, right?"

"...Huh?!" Genjiro frantically looked around like he had broken out of a trance. "Uh... fuck yeah I did! You saw me do it!"

"Huh... guess I did." Alpha crossed her arms. "She must've switched it with Aurora's. That's kinda fucked." She wasn't appalled by it or anything, she was just stating a fact. "Your plan failed too." She stated another fact.

Genjiro didn't respond to Alpha's facts as he slowly put his hand to his chest. "...Fuck." He muttered.

"...The fuck you doing?" Alpha knew this guy was insane, but was he finally truly losing his mind?

Genjiro slowly looked up to the VIP Quarters. "...Alpha." He spoke without looking at her.

"...What?" Alpha honestly didn't know how to react here.

"I have an idea." Genjiro took a step towards the VIP Quarters. "In Ji-hoon's room. There's a box filled with poisons and tools. Let's... take some."

"What? Fuck you mean- oh. The shit the boys took?" Alpha connected the dots. "You wanna take some? For what? And how the hell do you even know about it? Didn't they not say what they did with it?"

"Heh." Genjiro chuckled. "Don't worry about it!" He took another few steps forward, dragging Alpha behind him.

"Hey!" Alpha hated how easily this fucker could just drag her around. "The fuck do you even want to take?!" She kept questioning him as she forcibly went up the stairs.

"Some poison." Genjiro seemed to have lost a little energy. "I got an idea with it. We're gonna use it to [REDACTED]. Let's also grab a nail gun. We're gonna use it bust up some cameras!" Despite having lost some energy, Genjiro casually broke into Ji-hoon's room and dragged a wooden box out of hiding.

"The fuck?!" Alpha didn't know what was happening anymore. "You want to use the poison on [REDACTED]? And what cameras?!"

"Just trust me!" Genjiro delivered a swift punch to the box, breaking it apart with ease. Damn. He was kinda disappointed that something Joji made broke so easily. And speaking of breaking easily... "Shit." He ended up breaking most of the perfumes that we're in there.

"Dumbass!" Alpha used her free hand to punch Genjiro.

"Hold on!" Genjiro dug through the wreckage and recovered an intact bottle of grapefruit perfume. "Got it! All part of the plan!" He then quickly spotted the nail gun he wanted. "Alright, let's get the fuck out of here!"

"God damn it! Genjiro!" Alpha fucking hated how this guy just does whatever the hell he wanted. But she also knew that poison was slowly filling the air of the room, so she joined him in running out. "Genjiro! The fuck are you doing?! What's the plan?!" She still had no answers.

"Ha!" Genjiro had a spring in his step as he ran. "Ain't it obvious?! We're gonna screw over Pheme!"

...

The camera feed cut off.

"Well... that lines up with what we figured out." Yoshino crossed her arms.

"No! Hold on!" Joji decided that his poor podium needed another slam. "The hell was with that redacted crap?!"

"Wow... real fucking funny, Pheme." Alpha scoffed. "Redacting the shit I can't remember? Absolute cinema!" She mocked the goddess.

Pheme merely giggled. "Well, it'd be no fun if I just said what Mr. Mashimoto's plan for the poison was!"

"So... you really don't remember what happened with it, Alpha?" This was a point that Ji-hoon had wanted to go back to.

"Ugh..." Alpha rubbed her head. She half-forgotten that she hadn't explained this yet. "I can remember everything that happened here... but the poison. I don't think I was roofied or some shit. Just... maybe Genjiro beating on me had a stronger effect than I thought." She still hated that Genjiro essentially won their fight.

For as convenient as that sounded, Ji-hoon was no stranger to memory problems here. Mostly everyone has shown some sort of memory lapse. "Huh... that's annoying. But there's not anything we can do about it."

"Hm? You simply trust the gas station manager human's words?" Cathy sure couldn't take that at face value.

"...I don't think we have a choice." Rival shrugged. "Even if she's lying... we're probably not getting the truth out of her."

"Well... that's just mean!" Lake pouted a little. "Alpha can't remember, then Pheme redacts what she can't remember from the video?" They were disappointed.

"Well Mx. Beaumont, I can't simply reveal what she has forgotten!" Pheme wagged her finger. "It's no fun that way! Besides, you act like this is important or something!"

"...How is poison not important?" Damien didn't get it.

"Yes, I admit I find myself perturbed by this." Nozomi diligently wrote down more notes for her other self. "I must tell Ayaka to stay wary..."

"Heh. Just another mystery to add to the pile then." Kei had no problem with that. "Let's not dwell on it. If Alpha can't remember, she can't remember. And if Pheme won't say what they did, she won't say what she did."

"Aw, you get me so well, Mr. Aikawa!" Pheme was flattered.

"I'm not sure how I feel about pushing this aside for now... but it very well might be the right way to go." Aurora didn't even want to think about the concept of poison anymore.

"Fine." Ji-hoon took down what they knew. "Then... it's back to you, Alpha. After you got the nail gun, you went up to the Ultimate EMT's Studio, right?"

"Yeah. God... that fucker had some crazy ideas." Alpha sighed and shook her head. "The fact that he was willing to risk his life to just fuck over Pheme is still wild to me."

"Oh yeah... Alpha?" Joji had a question. "Genjiro must've eventually told you that he could sense the poison in his body, right? I know we theorized that he kept going just so he could screw over Pheme, but was that all?"

"You think that wasn't all?" Yoshino didn't see how Genjiro could've had any other reasons there.

"I... don't know." Joji shrugged. "It just felt a little weird to me is all."

"Heh... funny you say that Joji." Alpha chuckled. "The big idiot did have another reason to avoid getting help."

"You don't say? Do tell, Alpha." Nozomi was curious.

"Well..." Alpha had a feeling she wasn't going to need to say anything. She saw Pheme preparing another video out of the corner of her eye. "The BDSM goddess is probably gonna tell you instead of me." She again had no problem with that.

"You are correct, Ms. Jane!" Pheme eagerly nodded. "Who would like to see the camera feed from Ms. Jane and Mr. Mashimoto's next moment?" She asked like she was expecting her stars to raise their hands or something.

...

No raised their hands. "Aw! You guys are no fun sometimes!" Pheme pouted. "You act like the one who hasn't spoken in a while is going to die!" She not-so-subtly pointed to the despondent Adam kneeling on the floor.

"Just start the video, goddess!" Cathy was getting impatient, as was everyone else.

"Fine fine! I'll start it just for you, Ms. L- ah. Ms. Munchkin!" Pheme purposely hinted at the first letter of Cathy's real last name. Cathy didn't care.

...

Genjiro and Alpha stood inside Joji's Ultimate Studio. Genjiro, with the literal nail gun in hand, was doing his best to pin down where all the hidden cameras that surrounded the currently closed-off boarded-up room.

"So... let me get this shit straight." Alpha groaned. "You can sense that someone poisoned you?"

Genjiro copied the groan, as he wanted to brush past this topic already. "Yes! That's what I've already fucking told you!"

Alpha rolled her eyes, noticing that Genjiro's skin had already grown a tad bit paler. "It's just... why the fuck don't you want help?? Those pussies downstairs don't like you, but they're kind enough to help a bitch like you!" She gave what could kind of be considered a compliment.

"Heh... you don't get it, do you?" Genjiro chuckled as he turned around. "If I'm gonna-" He cut himself off as he coughed up a little blood. "If I'm gonna die... shit, I don't have to be afraid of some stupid rules, right? If I'm going down, I'm fucking with Pheme's bitch ass first!"

Alpha was simultaneously amazed and appalled by that answer. "Do you even know who poisoned your rum?"

"Eh... nah." Genjiro shrugged. "Probably Ayaka? That little nervous chick. But hey, I'll thank her for the opportunity when we meet again in hell!"

"Jesus..." Alpha couldn't believe this guy actually existed. "Fuck... alright then. If you're suicidal, I won't stop you. Hell, I'll help out." Alpha had no problems fucking with Pheme. "I still call BS on this though."

Genjiro narrowed his eyes. "BS on what, bitch?"

"Your reason. For just accepting death." Alpha adjusted her sunglasses. "There's more to it. Don't bullshit me."

"..." Genjiro stayed silent.

"Listen..." Alpha half-playfully punched Genjiro's arm. "Genjiro... you're a massive idiot. But... you're also smart. With self-preservation skills to boot. And with how you lust after fame like it's prime jailbait, there's no way that you just casually accept the one way you lose your shot at more fame." She spoke surprisingly sincerely. "So, if you're fine with offing yourself like this, at least tell me the full truth here."

...

"You're gonna laugh." Genjiro turned away.

"Fuck yeah, I will." Alpha wasn't about to deny that. "Tell me anyway."

Genjiro groaned. Yeah... he saw no reason to hide this. He was planning on admitting this to Pheme anyway. "Fine. Fuck it." He took a deep breath. "My main reason for doing this is..."

...

"Aelia. That's the other reason." Genjiro sighed.

"Who the fuck is Aelia?" Alpha immediately answered.

...

"Uh... the chick who killed Bessie?" Genjiro wasn't sure if his motive partner was being serious or not.

"Oh yeah... that little ho." Alpha had honestly forgotten Aelia existed, which is fitting. "Why her? You wanted at that virgin puppet pussy?"

"The fuck? No!" Genjiro still found himself being surprised at how out-of-pocket Alpha could be. "It's because... she died."

"...? The fuck are you talking about?" Alpha didn't get it.

"Nah... okay. Listen!" Genjiro yanked on the handcuffs, ensuring that his captive partner was listening. "You remember her last words? The shit she said before Pheme murdered the fuck out of her?"

"Her last words?" Alpha had to think about that. "Oh yeah... wasn't it some shit like..."

"I didn't..." Aelia took another deep breath. "I didn't come up with this plan on my own." Alright, here goes nothing. If she was going to go down... "Someone t-told me to k-kill Bessie for them!" Aelia wasn't an inherently petty girl... but there was no way she wasn't going to let this person get off scot-free. Especially because...

...

Aelia got a little fire back. "I told someone... a-about what I heard... that f-first night. And they slowly gave me a p-plan... and they told me to k-kill Bessie!" Aelia bit her lip hard. A steady trail of blood started to leak.

"Yeah! Exactly!" Genjiro responded to the flashback within a flashback. "It's because of those last words, BS or not, that I'm doing this!"

"...I still don't get it?" Alpha couldn't comprehend this nonsense.

"Ugh... makes sense a bitch like you would get it!" Genjiro scoffed. "Alright, you remember that Aelia is fucking thirsty for fame yeah?"

"Well yeah. That was like her one defining character trait." Alpha lightly hit the fourth wall.

"Exactly!" Genjiro seemed to have fun explaining this. "She was so desperate for it... and with those last words, planting that seed of suspicion in the minds of who actually gave a shit, she got it! And that made me realize!"

"Realize... what?" For as much as Alpha hated this guy, she couldn't deny that he was fairly charismatic.

"I realized... death! Death! Death is the key!" Genjiro stomped his foot down on the ground. "Think about it! Think of all the famous motherfuckers who have ever existed! Sure, they were famous while they were alive! But after they die, be it suicide, shootings, or whatever, their fame skyrockets! So... that's the key I've been missing. To achieve true fame... I must die!"

...

"You are the most fucked up person I've ever met." Alpha once again couldn't believe this guy actually existed. "You're excited about killing yourself? Or... you're excited about Pheme killing you?"

"Nah..." Genjiro wagged his finger with a smug look on his face. "Listen. I have an idea of what's in that boarded-up room. Using that, we'll go through with my master plan!"

"And what's this master plan of yours?" Alpha knew this was gonna be nonsense.

"I'm going to kill Pheme!" Genjiro stated proudly. "I got the idea for the perfect bait for her. When she takes the bait, I won't be playing around like I was in the Horror Studio way back when. I will murder that bitch. But then! After I succeed... I succumb to the poison! But that's okay! Because... imagine it!" He waved his hand through the air. "Ultimate Wrestler Genjiro Mashimoto heroically sacrifices his life to save fellow stars in wicked Killing Game!" He gave an example article title. "It's genius! With that, even in death, I will reign supreme in the world! My name will be known as the hero of this Killing Game! The victims will be mourned, but me more so! I'll get statues! I'll get schools named after me! I'll become a household name! Even in the afterlife... Genjiro Mashimoto will be eternal. Even in death, I will never truly die, as the entire world will know me as a savior who defeated the Goddess of Fame!"

...

"I fucking hate you." Alpha had no idea how to properly respond to that.

"Ha ha! I know! But I don't care, because the people will love me!" Genjiro flexed his muscles.

"...Let's just get this going." Alpha didn't even want to grace his delusions with a response. She was going to pretend she never heard that.

"Ha ha! You got it!" Genjiro peeked out of the door of Joji's Ultimate Studio and readied his nail gun without delay.

After a few methodical and careful shots...

...

"There! Let's go!" Genjiro dragged Alpha out with him.

"Fuck! You don't need to drag me around!" Alpha didn't appreciate being treated like a rag doll. "But... what? We just destroy these boards?"

"Nope! I destroy these boards!" Genjiro started destroying the barrier to the soon-to-be-uncovered Ultimate EMT's Studio.

"Huh? You wanna hog it all to yourself?" Alpha wasn't necessarily objecting, but she just wanted to know why.

"No, dumbass!" Genjiro took a break from beating down the door to slap his motive partner upside the head. "This shit is a rule. She doesn't want us breaking in here. But since I'm going to die, I don't give a shit about rules! But you..." He poked her in the chest. "You're still a pussy who has to give a shit about the rules! I don't wanna strong chick like you breaking the rules by busting this down. You also ain't gonna be laying a hand on Pheme. Leave it to me, baby!" He went back to destroying the door.

...

Alpha felt a small blush come across her face. Not because she was flattered or any uwu shit like that. It was because... that was probably the most caring statement that Genjiro had said in this entire story. She was just... thrown back by that. "Right..." She huffed as she waited for Genjiro to destroy the door, so they could charge inside...

...

The camera feed cut off.

"My god... he's so fucked in the head." Yoshino shook her head in disbelief.

"Wanting to die... and to kill Pheme... just to be more famous? How... I don't even know how to describe it." Rival was at a loss.

"Jeez..." Lake already had an FTE with Genjiro where they talked about fame, but they didn't realize they were that deep in it.

"To be... so buried in fame... that you'd willingly want to die to achieve more of it..." Aurora held her hand over her chest.

"What an idiot! Nyahaha!" Cathy laughed as she mocked the dead.

Adam was still despondent, but he was visibly scowling at this reveal.

"Aelia..." Damien had an emotionless look on his face as he was reminded of his former dear.

"Aelia, huh?" Ji-hoon was pleasantly surprised a man like Genjiro even remembered her name. It's strange to say, but good for her. He also shared everyone's feelings of appalled disbelief here. He wasn't the type to support speaking ill of victims... but he might make an exception just this once.

"For as surprising as that opinion *cough* is, I believe I understand it to a small extent." Rosalind obviously didn't support the entirety of it, but wanting to be remembered for the quality of your actions was something she understood. Even if Genjiro's case was fairly superficial.

"Isn't it... appalling?" Pheme stood up from her throne. "Isn't it appalling that a man like Genjiro Mashimoto even exists?" She cackled to herself. "A man who acts like that and lives like that would be perfect no? A man that... disgusting and self-absorbed simply deserved death, whether he liked it or not. And the perfect part is that... his plan failed! How amusing! What a fool!" She kept cackling.

"Damn right, it failed." Alpha sighed. "Wouldn't surprise me if you just revealed his scummy ways to the whole world just to fuck with the guy." She knew Pheme well enough to predict what she'd do next.

"Ha! I might!" Pheme took out her dagger and twirled it around. "But that's for a little later! For now..." She pointed the dagger at Alpha. "Ms. Jane, don't you have more of your account to give? I have one more prepared video to show off too!"

"Right... what happened after you two broke in." Joji personally didn't have much to say about his former friend's machinations.

"Yep. Let's hear it, Alpha." Kei was wondering in his mind what life would've been like had he gotten the chance to prosecute Genjiro himself. He didn't dwell on it. At least justice had been served in some capacity.

"Fine... just a little more." Alpha started to have trouble standing. These fuckers are merciless for information, aren't they? "Genjiro, through whatever fucking means, seemed to have known what was in the room. When we got in, he went right for the medicine shit. He pulled out the Adenosine, explained more of the plan, and I agreed."

"Forgive me, but you *cough* agreed to a plan that risky?" Rosalind wasn't judging, she was just curious about Alpha's thought process here.

Alpha shrugged. "Fuck yeah, I did! It gave me a shot to finally try and put that fucker in his place, even though I lost. Also, he took precautions to make sure I wouldn't be gotten for breaking the rules, so it wasn't like I was at risk anyway! Heh." She shot Pheme a smug look.

Pheme huffed and crossed her arms, both she and Epi were clearly annoyed that Alpha wasn't going to die in this chapter. "Just get on with it, Ms. Jane!" Genjiro doing something like that was a surprise for her. And without the camera feed, she can't even claim Alpha's story is nonsense. That little shit...

"Fine!" Alpha was grateful that she didn't have to explain much more. "So the big guy and I fought... and tore through Damien's and Joji's Studio. Bessie's too. When we got up in there, we reached the stage... then I took the drug. After that, it was only a matter of time..." She trailed off, sensing that Pheme was going to take over momentarily.

"It seems it's time for me to take over momentarily!" Her previous annoyance gone, Pheme eagerly clicked a button on her remote. "Now then, let's witness the last little bit of camera feed I've prepared for you all!"

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Pheme snapped her fingers...

...

And the camera feed started.

"Ha! Down... you go, Alpha!" Genjiro had a smug look plastered across his face as he watched his motive partner react to the pill she just consumed.

"You... fucker... you... holy shit." Alpha didn't expect the effect to be so quick. It was hitting harder than she would've thought. She tumbled down onto the ground in her sudden bout of weakness.

But due to their height difference, Genjiro was able to stay standing. "Don't you worry Alpha. Take your little baby nap." He looked away from his motive partner. "And when you wake up... you'll be free of this shit. Don't worry about thanking me. Ha!"

Alpha felt herself start to slip into unconsciousness. That itself might be more due to the effect of their fight, and not the pill. "You... bitch. You... got... this..." She muttered before losing consciousness.

A few seconds later...

...

"Attention my glamorous stars! It is now 11pm, and that means it's night time! It's time to go to bed, and get a good night of beauty sleep! Sleep well my stars!"

*CLICK*

...

"Heh. Fucking easy." Genjiro felt a wave of relief and satisfaction wash over him as he felt his handcuffs get disconnected. He gazed upon Alpha's unconscious body for a few seconds, before firmly nodding. "It's almost time..." He stood on the stage facing the entrance, just patiently waiting for her to arrive.

...

"Oh! Hello, Mr. Mashimoto!" And wait long he did not! Pheme casually waltzed into Bessie's Ultimate Studio. "Goodness... you and Ms. Jane sure did a number on this studio that I had so lovingly provided for you!" She put her hands on her hips.

"Ms. Jane, huh? That's this bitches real name?" Genjiro cocked his head to the side.

"Indeed it is! Mabel Jane, to be exact!" Pheme kept slowly strutting down the aisle, sensually running her fingers over the destruction. "But she doesn't matter! After all, she's not who I'm here for!"

"Oh yeah?" Genjiro cockily crossed his arms. "Who are you here for then?" He asked despite obviously knowing the answer.

"You, Mr. Mashimoto." Pheme slowly pulled out her dagger. "You need not play dumb with me. You have broken two rules."

"And what rules would those be?" Genjiro kept acting like he was in charge of the situation.

"Hmph." Pheme rolled her eyes. She was grateful Genjiro had given her this chance. And she was also very grateful she had taken this guy in the first place. "Must I say what those rules are?" She stopped in the middle of the aisle. "One, you broke into the Ultimate EMT's Studio! That was strictly forbidden!"

"Heh. I guess I did!" Genjiro shrugged. "What? Your bosses not too happy with that?"

"Second..." Pheme decided to ignore that comment. "You broke out of those handcuffs using an illegal method! Mr. Mashimoto, you broke another rule by doing that!"

"The fuck?" Genjiro narrowed his eyes. "How is that my fault? You're the bitch you made this shoddy-ass handcuff system! I just... manipulated it!"

"Third..." Pheme didn't even acknowledge Genjiro's defenses. "You attempted to poison me! That's an attempt on my life, Mr. Mashimoto!" She disapprovingly wagged her finger.

"Uh... yeah? I know?" Genjiro didn't see why she was dragging this out. "That's the point? I wanted to get your ass out of the picture! But you noticed, huh?"

"I'm not stupid, Mr. Mashimoto." Pheme sighed. "Anyone could've noticed that streak of pink on their drink from a mile away. And thanks to you, I almost got in trouble! If Ms. Beaufort had died due to the poisoning, I would've been the blackened!" Pheme definitely didn't want that to happen.

"Ha! Fuck, that would've been good! If only that little shit Adam didn't heal her up!" Genjiro couldn't help but laugh at the thought of that little fucker.

"Do you see now, Mr. Mashimoto? You have broken multiple rules!" Pheme giggled. "You know what that means, don't you?"

"...Punishment. Just like you, I ain't stupid." Genjiro turned away from her. "So what? You're gonna kill me yourself?"

"Yes!" Pheme gave a wicked chortle as she started to saunter a little closer to the stage.

"Ha! How cute!" Genjiro cracked his knuckles. "You don't got nothing like the past Killing Games, do you? You gotta do your dirty work yourself!"

Pheme shrugged. "I don't need what those miserable Killing Games had! The Goddess of Fame paves her own way and her own Killing Game! Besides, mine is fairly different from the past ones. Motive-wise, I mean." She twirled her dagger around in her hand.

"Motive-wise?" Genjiro didn't expect to hear that.

"Yep! Motive-wise!" Pheme reaffirmed. "But that's not something for you to know! After all, you're going to die soon! So why tell you?"

"Heh." Genjiro cracked his neck. For as much as he wanted to keep up this back and forth between himself and Pheme, he acknowledged that the poison was wreaking havoc on his insides. "Aw, c'mon! More like why not tell me?" He still played along though.

"Mr. Mashimoto..." Judging by Pheme's tone, she was getting impatient with this banter herself.

"Okay! Okay! Fine! You wanna kill me!" Genjiro held his hands up. "I get it! Punishment time and all that bullshit!" He got into position.

"Hm... I'm glad to see you accepting it!" Pheme couldn't help but be pleased with herself seeing one of the more nasty stars here simply accept death. She started to haughtily laugh. "Yes! Yes!" She started to get morbidly excited for what was about to come. "Mr. Mashimoto! I think it's-"

It happened so fast. Pheme didn't expect him to do this. But do it he-

*SLAM*

Genjiro launched himself off of the stage and shot straight at Pheme like a silver bullet. "Ha!" He full-on body tackled the goddess, bringing her to the ground with ease. The wrestler then straddled the goddess, holding her arms down with his superior muscles. "Ha ha ha! Is that all you got?" He didn't break a sweat while executing his sucker punch.

"Grrrr..." Pheme growled as she tried her best to fight against the wrestler's grip. "Mr. Mashimoto! Let me go this instant!" Her eyes flared with rage.

And it was a rage that Genjiro hadn't seen before. He liked it. "Oh yeah? The fuck you gonna do about it you puny bitch?" He started to taunt her. "Or what? Don't tell me you like this?" He started to get a bit too cocky.

"Tch!" Pheme scoffed. "How dare you even insinuate I'd be into men like you! I'm not Ms. Jane!" She threw a stray at the unconscious Alpha.

"Hm... fair enough! Ha ha!" Genjiro heartily laughed. "In that case, what kinda men do you like? Or women? The "Painkiller" don't judge baby! Ha ha ha!" He started to really get smug in this position.

"Mr. Mashimoto..." Pheme growled again, clearly not appreciating still being in this position, nor how smug the wrestler above her was. "Have you forgotten something...?" She asked cryptically.

Genjiro blinked. "Forgotten something? What? The "Painkiller" don't-"

*SNAP*

In Pheme's loudest snap in the story yet, she snapped the fingers on her right hand.

"Huh?!" Genjiro got thrown off by the sound. "The fuck was-?" He started to look around.

"There!" Sensing her opportunity, Pheme delivered a swift kick to Genjiro's back, actually causing him to fall forward onto her. Despite how much she despised being close to a scum bag like him, it allowed her a chance to slip between his legs and escape his grasp.

"The fuck?! How did you-?!" Genjiro, bewildered by what just happened, frantically looked around. He then jumped up to his feet and looked behind him. "You bitch!"

"Tee hee! You were a bit slow there, Mr. Mashimoto!" Pheme smugly twirled her dagger around in her hand. "Or... perhaps you're losing your touch? The poison doing a number on you?"

"Grrr..." Genjiro balled both his hands up into fists. He felt a storm starting to swell inside of him. "Nobody... and I mean NOBODY... gets the jump on Genjiro Mashimoto!" He struck a proper fighting stance.

"Ha! We'll see about that, won't we?" Pheme struck her own fighting stance. "No more sucker punches this time, Mr. Mashimoto?"

"Heh." Genjiro rolled his eyes. "All part of the performance! You gotta put on a show!"

"Yes... yes, I suppose you must!" Pheme understood that well. "Anyway..." She checked her Star-Phone. 11:05 PM. "Let's finish this, Mr. Mashimoto. I need to have good news to report to my glamorous stars come morning!"

"You wish!" Genjiro rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna be the one bearing good news. The news that Genjiro Mashimoto... is a fucking hero!"

"Hero..." Pheme narrowed her eyes for a moment before shaking her head. "Hmph. It's nothing."

"...?" Genjiro raised an eyebrow. He might've been about to kill her, but he's not one to object to some lore hints. "The fuck you doing?"

"It's nothing!" Pheme felt a distant memory gnawing at her... but she suppressed it. "We shan't waste any more time, Mr. Mashimoto!" She got right back to the point. "Let me..." She snapped her fingers one more time, triggering an intense and fun battle theme from over the speakers for them to fight to.

"Ha! Fine." Genjiro laughed for the last time. "You wanna die so bad..."

...

"Be my guest!"

Then it... started. Both the unstoppable force and the immovable object shot forth towards each other. Genjiro ran like a raging bull, but Pheme jumped to avoid his attack with ease. "That's all you got, Mr. Mashimoto?" She landed behind the wrestler and struck a pose. "It seems wrestlers are indeed all bark and no bite!" She got unreasonably cocky after dodging a single attack.

"You think that's all I got?!" Genjiro jumped up and turned around, unleashing a punch on the ground as he landed. "I'm just getting started!" He rushed forth, managing to hit Pheme in the stomach.

"Gah!" Pheme clutched her stomach. "Not kind to ladies, are you?" She jumped up once again and started to rain down daggers from above.

"Genjiro Mashimoto acts however he fucking wants to- FUCK!" He got cut off as a dagger hit the side of his neck, piercing it a little. "You fucker!" He pulled out the dagger and threw it back. "You expect me to be kind to you?! You're tryna kill me! A whore like you doesn't deserve respect!" He took up some of Alpha's lingo as he focused on dodging the assault.

"A whore?!" Pheme took offense to that and focused her assault on the big and muscular target. "You need not speak to a lady like that!" She took up multiple daggers and dove forth, landing all of them in Genjiro's back.

"Shit...!" Genjiro gritted his teeth as he knocked all the daggers out of his back with one clean stroke. "A little shit like you ain't no lady!" He noticed Pheme preparing to jump up again, so he grabbed her by the ankle as she did and slammed her body against the ground. "What, you telling me a lady kidnaps 19 Ultimates and forces them to kill each other?! You're no lady! You're a psycho!" He kept his grip on the goddess's ankle while she writhed on the ground.

"Me? A psycho? Please!" Using her superior speed and athletics, Pheme twisted out of the wrestler's grip and then regained her balance. "You're one to talk, Mr. Mashimoto!" Ditching her air strategy, she got closer to the wrestler, opting for closer-quarters combat.

"Ha! Oh yeah?" Getting smugger after seeing Pheme get up close and personal, Genjiro channeled all of his strength to deflecting the goddess's dagger strikes with his arms. "At least I don't fucking murder people!" He recognized he was being a hypocrite here, considering what he was currently doing, but he didn't care.

"You may not murder people..." Pheme managed to land a few quick stabs and slashes on Genjiro's lower body. "But you sure abuse and beat up people who don't please you! Your managers, for instance!" She dug up some lore.

"More than just that!" Genjiro attempted to grab Pheme's wrists. "I blackmailed those fuckers too!" He showed zero remorse for his actions.

"You're so heartless, Mr. Mashimoto!" Pheme mockingly said as she started to dart back and forth in and out of range.

"Ha! What if I am?" Realizing her ploy, Genjiro hit the goddess with a roundhouse kick right as she darted back into range, knocking her far into the ocean of seats. "I don't give a shit about what I do to people! If you ain't useful to the "Painkiller," I'll do whatever I got to do to make you useful!" He ran through the aisle of seats, hoping to reach the toppled goddess.

Pheme needed a second to recover from that kick. It was devastating. "You're... a monster!" She jumped up with a flip. "You're the reason I started this Killing Game!" She said with desperation dripping in her voice. "To eliminate pests like you from the world!" She lept across the seats the slashed down on Genjiro, slicing off a bit of his cape in the process.

"Pests like me?! No fucking way!" Genjiro responded with a quick heel turn, then landed a punch right on Pheme's mask, cracking it a little.

"AAAGGGHHHH!" Pheme let out a shrill scream and lept back, despite her mask not actually breaking.

"Yeah, like I'm the psycho!" Genjiro said sarcastically as he sensed he had a moment to be cocky. "Face it, Pheme! Scumbags like me are rampant in this world! Taking out a measly 19 of them ain't gonna do shit! They'll keep popping back up! People who grasp fame and keep it close... people who use and abuse fame... they're eternal!"

"And... yet you admit you are one?" Pheme slowly recovered from the critical hit she sustained.

"Fuck yeah, I am!" Genjiro flexed while taking a few intimidating steps forth. "Those people I mentioned... they're right! They're fucking correct! Fame is something to be abused! Something to use however the fuck you want! You can obtain anything with fame! Money, power, sex, anything you want! And I deserve fame!"

Pheme had to keep herself from puking while she was forced to listen to the garbage Genjiro was spouting. "All you're doing... is making me not regret my choice!" Having sufficiently regained her strength, she dashed forth.

"Aw, come on!" Genjiro shook his head and he prepared to counter. "You're telling me that a goddess of fame doesn't agree with me? Bullshit! You're a scumbag, just like me!"

"How dare you!" Right as Pheme was about to strike Genjiro, she sidestepped, messing up his counter. "I'm nothing like you! A goddess like me exists to eliminate people like you!" She landed a few good stabs on the wrestler's side.

"Bull fucking shit!" Genjiro jumped over a row of seats, attempting to get away from the agile woman. "I know you've fucked with some of our memories! I don't know if it's because death is about to take me... but I think I got some back!" Seeing Pheme stationary, he broke the row of seats in front of him and charged forth, managing to grab her neck and slam her to the ground.

Pheme grunted in pain as Genjiro started to slam her head against the ground. "I have no idea what you may be talking about!" She played dumb while she endured the pain.

"Don't lie to me!" Genjiro slammed her head down even harder. "Tell me! Does the name [REDACTED] ring a bell?" The camera noticeably censored out the name Genjiro just spoke.

Pheme eye's suddenly grew lifeless. She stopped moving.

"Ha! Did a strike a nerve?" Genjiro was relentless. "I remember it all! I remember hearing about what [REDACTED] did! I heard all about what a horrible person you are! I also remembered who Hazel Lenora was! And man, who would've thought she was-"

"Shut up..." Pheme muttered.

"Huh?!" Genjiro didn't expect a voice that quiet to come from the glamorous Pheme.

"Shut up... shut up... shut up... shut up!" Pheme started to violently squirm. "Shutupshutupshutupshutup! SHUT UP!" Using her revitalized strength, she took her dagger from the ground near her hand and struck Genjiro right through the hand on her neck.

"FUCK!" Genjiro reeled back a bit, morbidly curious as to what the goddess was going to say next.

"I don't know who the hell [REDACTED] is, but it isn't me!" Pheme's voice trembled as she screamed. "I... am a goddess! I am no [REDACTED]! I... as a goddess... have only one purpose! And that... is to torture hounds like you!" Without warning, the apparent goddess lept up and charged forward, slashing wildly in the process.

"Shit... maybe I did strike a nerve! Ha ha!" Genjiro held his bleeding hand as he watched Pheme charge forth like a woman possessed. "But that ain't enough to stop me!" He prepared for another counter.

"I've seen and heard about enough pieces of trash like you to last me a lifetime!" Pheme screamed as she kept slashing wildly. "That's why I do this! To wipe celebrities like you off of the face of the earth!" She suddenly stopped.

Genjiro, weirded out by how she stopped, stayed wary. "Really? What about motherfuckers like Lake then? Aurora? What about these nice pussies here? The fuck did they do?"

"You truly want an answer?!" Pheme dashed forth again. Instead of going straight to attempt to stab Genjiro, she switched it up and landed a kick on his chest, causing him to stagger a bit, and then fall to the ground. "It's nothing to do with how nice or rude you all are!" Using her position, she straddled the fallen wrestler and started to violently stab him in the chest.

"Gah! Fuck!" Genjiro found it harder than expected to struggle out of Pheme's grip on him. For someone so thin, she had some surprising strength! Or maybe it's just the poison taking its toll? "Then what the fuck is it then?!" He questioned while he was being turned into a human pin cushion.

"Ultimates! I despise Ultimates!" Pheme started to shank the wrestler with greater speed and efficiency. "It's the Ultimates that are a plague on this world! And it's a plague I aim to destroy!"

"The fuck?!" Genjiro grabbed Pheme's wrist with both of his hands. "How is killing 19 Ultimates gonna accomplish anything?!"

"It's simple!" Pheme struggled in fighting against Genjiro's grip. "You saw what the past Killing Games did and accomplished! The world needs a wake-up call once again! And I aim to do that with this one as well!"

"Wha-?" Genjiro faltered for a second at the answer, causing Pheme to land a particularly deep stab through his chin and into his mouth. "AGGHHH!" He let out a muffled scream as blood started to fill his mouth.

"So, because of that, I'm happy you chose to break the rules, Mr. Mashimoto!" Pheme started to stab wildly, with no real target. "It means I get to take out one of the greatest offenders personally!" Her tone and voice became frantic and excited like she was experiencing some sort of high.

"Grr... you..." Genjiro felt his strength start to wane. Stupid fucking poison! And stupid fucking Pheme! He was supposed to be winning by this point! What the hell?! Genjiro Mashimoto doesn't lose! It's not possible! Damn right... "This... isn't... possible!" He felt a sudden burst of strength run through him. He wasn't about to let this fucking bitch stab him like a maniac.

Genjiro launched a powerful kick to Pheme's back from the position he was in, sending her behind him at a rapid speed. Pheme crashed into the seats, becoming discombobulated. "Genjiro Mashimoto isn't about... to lose to a bitch like you!" He charged forward like a runaway train, tackling the fallen goddess, launching her even further down the row of seats. "Ha ha! How do you like that?" He took a moment to flex.

"D-Damn it..." Pheme shakily got up. She expected the poison to have done a greater number on him already. But... apparently not. Fine. He wants to play? She can play-

"No you fucking don't!" Genjiro, having flexed enough, made sure to run up, grab Pheme's neck, and lift her in the air. "You may of-"

*BLERGH*

Genjiro coughed up some blood on Pheme's dress. The look of rage in her eyes at that was pretty amusing. "You may have gotten the better of me... but only temporarily!" He tightened his grip around her neck as the goddess squirmed. "You see... Genjiro Mashimoto never loses!"

"What... about... your character?" Pheme let out through her strangled breath. "In wrestling... you're always the one... who loses...! You're the Goliath who always... gets taken down by the David. And because of that... you never get that belt... do you?" She decided to hit him where it hurts.

"You... BITCH!" Genjiro punched Pheme's mask, causing it to crack even more. She attempted to let out a scream of pain, but barely any air was circulating through her throat. "Ho ho! What, this your weak spot?!" He punched the mask again. And again. And again. He could tell that Pheme was in great pain, but he didn't care. Why would he? He was winning!

After another few seconds of relentless punching from Genjiro and struggling screams from Pheme, the wrestler decided to take a little peek. "Alright... let's see what we got here!" He used his free hand to attempt to peel Pheme's mask off of her face. "God damn... it's on... there... tight...!" He didn't know how the hell this thing was made, or how it almost seemed fused to her skin, but he didn't care! He was going to break it!

Pheme couldn't believe this was happening. This was the greatest physical pain she'd experienced in her life. And she couldn't even scream! The gross hands of Genjiro kept a firm grip around her neck, slowly tightening the grip each second. As the wrestler worked to tear the mask off of her face, her struggle picked up. She had to fight back! Somehow!

"Ah... here... we... go...!" Genjiro channeled all of his strength into his free hand, determined to tear this stupid mask off, no matter what. But because of that, his grip on Pheme's neck slowly started to loosen. But he wasn't worried about that right now. Because right now... "I'm... gonna... break... this... shit... apart...!"

...

And he did. With one final rush of strength, he tore the mask off of Pheme's face, breaking off a clean slab of the metal in the process. "Ha ha! How do you like that you-" He went to go and look at his soon-to-be victim's face as he taunted her. But when he did... "What the?! What the fuck?! What the fuck are you?!" In a show of genuine fear and shock, Genjiro dropped the goddess to the ground and staggered back a bit. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" What he saw... was the last thing he expected.

Though, only Genjiro was able to see underneath Pheme's mask, as in the camera feed itself, a large black censor bar appeared over where her mask once was.

Pheme quickly and wordlessly recovered, getting back to her feet instantly. She didn't want to waste any more time. She didn't want to stall anymore. The only thing on her mind... was killing Genjiro Mashimoto. She ran towards the wrestler at a blazing speed, a raw and feral aura surrounding her as her focus shifted to only one thing.

"H-Holy shit!" Genjiro of all people stuttered as he got to his feet. Was he... scared? No! No! There's no way! Genjiro Mashimoto doesn't get scared! He's the Ultimate Wrestler! He's a man who's gonna go down in the history books! He can't be scared!

So... he steeled himself. He wasn't going to be scared. He... was going... to... win!

After Pheme lost her mask, her speed and agility almost went primal. She was only getting stronger.

But Genjiro, due to the poison and the wounds that Pheme had inflicted... was only getting weaker. But he was determined to win! He was going to be a hero! No matter what!

The two of them clashed and fought in intense silence, wreaking havoc on the entirety of the late Bessie B. Blossom's Ultimate Studio while they did so. Pheme still sustained some wounds, but Genjiro more so. Pheme attacked him nearly everywhere on his body, leaving her marks across his miserable body. Rosalind had wandered into the scene, but neither of them noticed. Neither of them noticed her getting knocked out either.

After another minute... their clash made its way up to the stage. Genjiro felt he was losing his will. He could feel life slowly start to leave his body. Pheme had him cornered. He was kneeling on the stage, now having difficulty even getting up. His arms and legs were shaking. He was coughing up blood, as well as leaking blood from multiple orifices.

Ever since she lost her mask, Pheme didn't say a single word. All she did was point her bloodied dagger down at Genjiro. She didn't need to say anything she knew she'd won.

Genjiro shakily raised his head up to meet the raw and frightening look on Pheme's... face. "Heh... heh." He shakily laughed. "You... look at you! All... smug." Could he even call her smug? He didn't even know.

Pheme silently bent down. She poked Genjiro's neck with her dagger.

"Huh... what? What are you... gonna do? Ha...!" Genjiro focused all of his remaining strength on attempting to stand up. "Do you... not... realize... who... I am?" He managed to get to one knee.

"...Genjiro...?" Alpha muttered, slowly turning her head at the sound of her former motive partner's voice. She was still very out of it... she couldn't comprehend what was happening.

Upon Genjiro attempting to stand up, Pheme took a quick step back.

"I... am... Genjiro... Mashimoto...!" Genjiro slowly managed to stand up. As he did, the last little bit of rage rose up in him. He... couldn't... lose! "And Genjiro... Mashimoto... doesn't... lose!" He felt desperation start to swell up. "I... can't lose...! I can't... die like this...! I... can't!" He took a shaky step forward. "The world... they need to... know my... name! They need to... scream... my name!" He took another shaky step forward. "I... will reign supreme...! I will be... fame... incarnate...! Fuck those Former Ultimate pussies! I... will achieve true fame...!" He took another shaky step forward. "I need... more... fame! It's not enough...! I need... more...! I will be..." He took one more shaky step forward. "Genjiro... Mashimoto... will... be... I will... I will be... ETERNAL!"

*CRASH*

He didn't see it coming. Pheme didn't either.

All of a sudden, a spotlight came hurdling down... right onto Genjiro. In a flash, the spotlight hit him square on the neck, snapping it and killing him instantly. The wrestler fell to the floor, lifeless. Pheme could see a look of surprise and shock on Alpha's face, though the gas station manager didn't say anything.

Pheme though, was a little split. Had one of her stars taken her prey away from her? But on the other side... this did mean that a second studio trial could be held! Eh, she decided to roll with it.

But with Genjiro's death, that meant that the handcuffs should start unlocking now! Which is... kind of bad for her! She looked back at the carnage she sowed. Hm... she'd need to make a quick escape to preserve the mystery! And she felt like she was about to faint anyway, so she desperately needed to rest up. She jumped off of the stage, and almost left the room... before stopping. She... didn't have her mask! She frantically looked around for it... and found it! Or, well, just a part of it. She was still missing a slab of it... but she'd have to go without it! If she was correct, the killer would be entering any second! So she took one of her secret passages to escape, leaving behind two unconscious bodies... and one dead body.

...

The long camera feed finally came to an end. Everyone, including Alpha, stood there with shock on their faces. "Holy shit... that was... crazy." Joji looked on in awe.

"I... can't look!" It didn't matter that it was Genjiro. Lake just couldn't handle seeing someone die like that.

"It seems that Pheme's skill with a *cough* dagger is not to be underestimated..." Rosalind also admired the cinematography of what was just shown, despite it just being fed from the cameras.

"What a fight..." Yoshino couldn't help but be a tiny bit impressed with both sides here. "He did a number on you, Pheme!"

"Tch." Pheme scoffed. "I was merely toying with him! He should've known he never stood a chance against this..." She sensually ran a hand over her hip.

"Lord knows I couldn't do something like that." Kei couldn't help but chuckle a little. "But hey... a few interesting things were shown there, right?"

"Yes..." Nozomi tried to recall it all. "I couldn't help but notice more redacted things in this one."

"Indeed, Nozomi." Damien agreed with the girl he almost sentenced to death. "It seems as if... Genjiro knew or remembered Pheme's real name, perhaps?"

"Right... it did seem like that." Darren decided he wanted to say something. "He mentioned being able to remember... due to his encroaching death."

"That itself is fascinating..." Ji-hoon had a lot to think about from that camera feed. "But I'm more interested in the explicit confirmation that Pheme has messed with our memories."

"Right... I know I definitely have some gaps in my memories." Aurora didn't particularly like the feeling.

"Yeah... but I think some of us are more affected than others though..." Rival, as far as he knew, wasn't missing any particularly big memories. Just some small ones here and there.

"You got anything to say to that, Pheme?" Kei was the one to ask the goddess.

"Hm..." Pheme steadily tapped her heel against the ground. "It's very interesting that Mr. Mashimoto said that, isn't it?"

...

"You're not going to say anything, Pheme...?" Ji-hoon groaned. He knew he was missing some big ones, so he really wanted some answers.

"Are you really surprised, Jiji?" Yoshino crossed her arms. "You should know she just answers things on a whim." She didn't expect that batshit insane goddess to say anything about it.

"Ugh..." Ji-hoon rolled his eyes. He could see that Pheme wasn't going to say anything else at the moment, so he chose to begrudgingly drop it.

"So if we're moving on..." Kei tapped his finger against his chin. "How about Pheme's maskless face being censored?"

"Right... I'll admit, that piqued my interest." As a non-mask enjoyer, the scene stood out to Nozomi. "Pheme. Why censor your face?"

"It kind of... made her a little creepier." With each passing day, Lake felt themselves getting more and more freaked out by Pheme.

"Gasp! Creepier?" Pheme seemed offended as she audibly gasped. "Mx. Beaumont, I'll have you know that I am no creep! The choice to censor my face... it was very on purpose! But like the memories and Mr. Mashimoto falsely claiming to know my real name, I'm afraid I can't elaborate on it!"

"...Figures." Rival yawned.

"Is the matter of you claiming to hate *cough* ultimates off of the table as well?" Rosalind thought she might as well ask.

"Yep!" Pheme happily and firmly nodded.

"Figures..." Rival changed up where his ellipses were as he yawned again.

"Should we just move on then?" Joji scratched his head. If Pheme wasn't going to elaborate on anything, he saw no reason to keep going with this.

"Hold on Jojo." Yoshino stopped the carpenter. "I got one more thing I wanna ask."

"Akiyama? What is it?" Nozomi was curious.

"Yes, Akiyama! What is it?" Pheme plagiarized Nozomi's last line as she leaned forward in intrigue.

"I don't wanna keep talking about this scumbag..." Yoshino didn't even want to say Genjiro's name. "But I gotta admit, there's something I'm still stuck on. Why did Genjiro know so much shit? The box, the medicine, the cameras, the switched nail polish, how the nail gun worked, and probably other shit I forgot! He knew so many weird and strange things that he should not have been able to know! So... why? How?" This still plagued her.

"I'd... l-like to k-know that too." Adam finally spoke again.

"...Adam?" Aurora considered asking her friend how he was doing, but she assumed he was doing quite poorly.

"Yeah... I'm curious if my theory is right." Ji-hoon had his own theory for this, and he'd love to have it confirmed/disconfirmed.

"And if it's something secret, who cares? The wrestler human is dead after all!" Cathy just kept having fun.

"So, Pheme?" Joji crossed his arms. "I'm assuming the reason is pretty big if none of us know for sure. And... it's not like we could hate the guy even more." He demolished the Genjoji ship with a sigh.

"Hm... hm... hm...! You all make good points!" Pheme stood up. "Very well! I see no reason to hide it! After all, I'm the only person who knows the answer to this conundrum!" She quickly clapped her hands, dimming the lights in the Grand Court to something a little more dramatic.

"Alright then! You stars are desperate to know how Mr. Mashimoto was aware of all of this information! And I have an answer for you!" Pheme struck a pose. "The reason why Mr. Mashimoto knew all these strange things... is because..."

...

"Genjiro Mashimoto was the traitor!" Pheme revealed.

...

"Uh..." Yoshino was the first to speak. "I thought Bess was the traitor?" She felt like she was having deja vu.

"..." Rival didn't have anything to say.

"Oh! Well... yes! Ms. Yamamoto was the traitor!" Pheme confirmed again. "But perhaps it's more accurate to say... Ms. Yamamoto was a traitor!"

Lake felt their body freeze up. "A traitor? So there's more than one?" They didn't like that idea.

"So... Genjiro was another traitor then?" That intrigued Damien.

"That fuck..." Alpha muttered.

"I can see it." Nozomi had no trouble seeing that.

"That... f-fucking... it m-makes sense." Adam scowled.

"So my theory was right," Ji-hoon noted something down. "I'm assuming Pheme informed him of all of this information."

"Heh. Funny." Kei chuckled. "The traitor rebelled against their master, didn't they? And utilizing the knowledge he learned too!"

...

"This is... a rather muted reaction from you all!" Pheme was a little disappointed. "No screams? No special poses? No nothing?" She wanted to see them react with shock and horror at the reveal!

"Well... I don't mean to be rude to the dead..." Aurora sighed. "But given all we know about Genjiro... it makes sense."

"What she said." Kei pointed to the starlet. "A scumbag is working for a scumbag? It's expected." He shrugged. "I've had a feeling too. He's a self-preservation-driven man. It makes sense."

"Well... okay." Pheme frowned. "I wanted more vibrant reactions..." She pouted and sat back down.

"Aikawa. Jo." Nozomi got the attention of the two brain cell hoarders. "Enlighten us. You two already assumed he was the traitor?"

"Yeah, when did you get the idea? I mean, it makes sense! But when?" Genjiro becoming even more of a scumbag than he already was didn't surprise Yoshino.

"I'm not sure about Kei, but I got the idea a while ago." Ji-hoon whipped out his notes and turned to a certain page. "You all remember roughly a week ago when some of our morning announcements didn't play?"

"Right then." Kei and Ji-hoon had finished getting a list of everyone who didn't get an announcement. "So..." Kei looked at everyone. "So Ji-hoon, Alpha, Ayaka, Cathy, Rosalind, Rival, Bessie, Damien, Darren, and myself. Interesting huh?"

"Verily..." Damien was deep in thought. "So Genjiro, Joji, Adam, my dear Aelia, my dear Aurora, my dear Yoshino, my dear Kuroko, my dear Raiha, and my dear Lake (who got called back into the cafeteria) did receive a morning announcement. Fascinating." He looked up at Pheme. "Do you have an explanation for this?" All eyes soon landed on Pheme in suspicion.

"Oh yeah! I remember!" Lake looked back in slight sadness at the memories of all 19 of them being alive. "But... why did that make you think that Genjiro was the traitor?"

"You remember what Genjiro was doing during that little morning meeting, Lake?" Kei took over.

Damien looked at Ji-hoon. "But from what I do know... it appears that Genjiro is a tad unsatisfied with your leadership so far, Ji-hoon. I'd recommend you talk to him about that."

...

Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes. "I got caught up with something this morning that's all." He darted his eyes back and forth. "But what are you doing? What're you trying to pull here?" He wanted answers here.

Genjiro laughed boisterously. "I'm taking control of the group, that's what." His eyes and expression grew smug. "We ain't doing your pussy ass way of getting out of here anymore. No more investigating the little bullshit secrets. We're making a plan of attack now!" Genjiro glared directly at Ji-hoon. "You don't even know how to lead either. You spout shit about wanting us all to make it out of here alive, yet you question Raiha about traumatic shit from her past? I get what your talent entails, but what the fuck man? You ain't meant for this shit!" Genjiro's annoyance with the celebrity detective was clear.

"He was... trying to take over control?" Lake tilted their head.

"Ding ding! Correct!" Kei winked. "That whole thing rubbed me the wrong way. Who got morning announcements and who didn't... Genjiro pining for leader, then immediately not caring... it called to mind a certain answer."

"It called to mind Pheme having something to do with that. And why would Pheme help one of us? Why, she'd only help one of us if we were working for her." Ji-hoon gave his reasoning.

"Shit... I forgot about that." Yoshino couldn't believe she considered herself somewhat "close" to Genjiro back then.

"Damn... good memory, Ji-hoon." Rival, for obvious reasons, tried to block out most of Chapter 1.

"Yes... good memory, Mr. Jo!" Pheme slowly clapped. "Indeed, you and Mr. Aikawa are correct! I influenced the morning announcements back then! When I recruited Mr. Mashimoto to be a traitor, I told him I'd offer him protection on his life! And in exchange, he'd make the Killing Game more interesting! The idea of usurping Mr. Jo was one of his first ideas, so I worked with him on that!"

"M-Make it more... interesting." Adam couldn't help but think back.

Pheme dodged his attack. Quite casually in fact, just sidestepping him. She still hasn't said a word. "Hey!" Genjiro screamed, then charged again. Pheme dodged. "Stop fucking doing that!" He charged again. Pheme dodged again. "HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU SO FAST?!" He charged again. Pheme dodged again. "FUCK YOU BITCH!" Genjiro switched up his plan of attack a little, planning to get her when she sidestepped. Pheme still dodged. "Son of a...!" He kept charging at her, intending to probably just kill her once and for all, but to no avail.

"Was... G-Genjiro's little act after the f-first special event him making it... more interesting?" Adam recalled.

"Oh! Good memory, Adam!" Pheme dispensed with the formalities for the murderer. "Indeed! That was another example! Him attempting to kill me, in a clearly fake matter!"

"He... did try and kill you again a few hours ago, but in a clearly real matter." Darren exploded a drink into existence and took a sip. "He rebelled against you, it seems."

"Nyahaha! Who wouldn't rebel against the goddess after getting so much valuable information from her?" Cathy was so amused by how simultaneously insane and inept Pheme was.

Pheme rolled her eyes. "Yes... he did indeed rebel. And I don't understand why! After all, I let him choose who he wanted for the recent motive!"

"What?!" Alpha immediately reacted to that. "Fuck you mean he chose who he wanted?!"

"Can... you explain that more, Pheme?" Damien didn't quite understand what she meant.

"Of course!" Pheme twirled her bloodless dagger around in her hand. "A day before the motive, I let Mr. Mashimoto choose who he wanted to be paired up with for the motive!"

"Indeed..." The person chuckled with him. "Now... the second bit of information. It involves... something happening tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Genjiro raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Allow me to explain..." The person once again did their entire explanation off-screen.

...

"What... the... fuck?" Genjiro has been getting hit with a lot of crazy information. "So..."

"So... I want you to choose. I've given you the information. Now... choose." The person said ominously. "I can... make it happen."

"Uh... alright. Fuck it." Genjiro decided to roll with it. "I choose..."

...

"Alpha. That's who I choose." Genjiro firmly stated in this extended flashback.

"Oh? Why Ms. Alpha?" The person now revealed as Pheme, was curious why he chose her.

"If I'm gonna be paired off with any of these bitches, I want it to be her! Besides, I get the feeling she wants to try and beat the shit out of me! And I'm interested in that! So yeah, give me her! Rig the wheel or whatever, do what you gotta do!"

"Hm... as you wish!" Pheme had no reason to deny the wishes of her traitor.

"You rigged that wheel of fortune bitch ass wheel?!" Alpha had no strength to slam her podium anymore.

"Yes!" Pheme had no qualms about admitting to cheating. "I made sure that you Ms. Jane, were in a position where you'd only want to choose Mr. Mashimoto!"

"You... you're a fucking whore." Alpha was appalled at herself for falling into a trap Genjiro set.

"To think... I ever trusted him." Lake frowned as they thought back to their FTE with him. Again... they didn't like this feeling they were experiencing.

"Lake..." Joji didn't like seeing Lake looking like that. But he couldn't deny what they were saying. "To the end... he was a man who looked out for himself and only himself. Fuck..."

None of them, even Cathy to an extent, liked to think ill of the dead. But... wow. Genjiro was thoroughly and completely a scumbag. That's all there is to it. And... that brings them... to the person who killed him. Everyone had enough of Genjiro. So... they shifted over to another person.

...

Adam slightly shook as he stayed standing, his hands gripping tightly onto his podium.

"Adam...?" Yoshino felt so many emotions right now.

"...What?" Adam lifelessly looked up at his former motive partner.

"How... are you doing?" Yoshino didn't know how to approach this.

Adam balled his hand up into a fist. "You k-know... not as bad as I thought."

"Really...?" Joji wasn't sure if he believed that.

"Yeah. I'm... f-fine." Adam sadly smiled. "It was a w-while ago now... but Alpha y-yelling at me... helped. In a strange w-way."

Alpha didn't say anything.

"But even w-with that... I don't... f-feel regret." Adam took a deep breath.

"That so?" Ji-hoon crossed his arms.

"Mm hm." Adam nodded. "My whole life... I've b-been bullied. People b-breaking my pencils... b-beating m-me up... Kyle Maxim shoving m-me into lockers... it just built u-up... I guess. It... f-felt good... killing Genjiro. It felt g-good... voting for him too."

"Oh..." Aurora gasped at that.

"F-Fighting back... and killing someone w-who was a scumbag like him... it felt good." Adam sighed. "I k-know he won... but I don't c-care. I'm glad... I did i-it."

"Adam...!" Yoshino felt so damn frustrated.

"Pheme?" Adam shakily asked. "Can w-we... get along with it?"

"The fuck are you saying, Adam?!" Joji's eyes widened.

"Oh no..." Lake prefired covering their eyes.

"Academic human, slow your roll!" He was moving a bit too fast, even for Cathy.

"Are you sure, Adam?" Pheme thought it was a little abrupt to go right into his execution. "I still have plenty of things to share about you! Don't you want your fellow stars to learn about you before your demise?"

"I... want to get it o-over with." Adam was smart enough to know and accept what was coming. "Besides... y-you'll only say those t-things about my past to get a r-reaction out of me."

"Adam! C'mon!" Yoshino started to feel desperate.

"He's not wrong." Despite the whole killing another person thing, Darren couldn't help but admire the kid, in a way.

"Damn it..." Ji-hoon, like everyone else, hated how powerless they felt here. He... as the celebrity detective... should be standing up and defending these victims. So that Adams and Aelias aren't born. So that victims of life don't turn to drastic measures. But here he was... powerless. A fumble of a leader.

But... although he knew he couldn't stop what was about to happen, that didn't mean that he couldn't help Adam out. The academic was just silently standing there, waiting to hear Pheme's verdict. Ji-hoon started to note something down.

"Adam! I say, you're awfully eager to die!" Pheme stood up. "But you're not going to mess with the schedule! I'm afraid I have a show to put on!" She wagged her finger, essentially denying Adam's request at a quicker death.

"Adam!" Ji-hoon shouted out before throwing a crumpled piece of paper at the academic.

"Wha-?" Adam didn't expect the paper, so it hit him in the head and tumbled to the ground. Well, it's not like he would've caught it in the first place anyway.

"You're bullying the academic human too, celebrity detective human?" Cathy was amused.

"No I'm not. Read it, Adam!" Ji-hoon pointed to the crumpled up ball.

"O-Okay." Adam slowly bent down and picked up the crumpled up piece of paper. He opened it up and read it. "Oh... that's smart."

"What is that, Adam?" Yoshino tried to peek over the academic's shoulder.

"Heh." Adam had a satisfied smirk on his face as he ignored his former motive partner. "Pheme. T-This is... a show to you?"

Pheme tilted her head. "Indeed! This whole thing is a wonderful show! For me, that is!" It was blatantly obvious that Pheme enjoyed all of this.

"But a s-show... is usually enjoyed by m-more than one person... right?" Adam posed a question.

"...What are you getting at?" Pheme sounded a little annoyed. She wanted to get on with showing scenes from Adam's backstory already.

"It's just t-that... it'd be a shame if someone ruined y-your whole show." Adam felt like this had to be for the enjoyment of more than just Pheme. So... Ji-hoon gave him the idea to provoke the goddess. "B-Because... I don't think me pissing my pants at an assembly or losing it on my bullies like I did on Alpha is t-that interesting." He smugly brought up what Pheme was about to, completely ruining the impact of it. It's so anticlimactic, it wasn't even bolded!

"You..." Pheme widened her eyes. How... how? Why... that little... "You think you're funny, Mr. Brooks?!" She didn't appreciate her schedule getting messed with. "That ruined the narrative impact! It would've been some intense scenes! You ruined the reveals!" She huffed.

"I-I don't care!" Adam yelled. "Just... kill m-me! I'm not going to stick around to act like a t-tool for entertainment! I'm sick of being used as a tool! People using me for my smarts... then m-making fun of me behind my back... I'm d-done with it all! I r-refuse to be... a plaything anymore. N-Not to you... not to G-Genjiro... or anyone else."

"...Fine! Fine!" Pheme held her hands up in the air. She was annoyed that he messed up his own reveals... but that's fine! "So be it! If you want to die that badly... who am I to stop you?" It's not like finishing the trial a little ahead of schedule was the worst thing in the world.

"N-No!" Aurora yelled out. "Adam! How can you simply... accept this?!"

"...Aurora. Thank y-you." Adam smiled a genuine smile. "I'm sorry for stealing your Star-Phone and remote. I saw that they were still connected to the old motive apps... and I took them to experiment o-on them. I w-wanted to be q-quiet about it... in case Pheme didn't know. So..." He walked over to the starlet's podium. "H-Here." He gave them back. "I... r-really liked you. A lot. How p-pretty you are... how k-kind you are... everything." He chuckled. "You d-don't have to reply. I just... w-wanted to say it."

"Oh, Adam..." Aurora started to cry.

Pheme started to slowly walk down the steps to her throne. "Adam Brooks. The Ultimate Academic. Funny how you rush your demise... and yet here you are... stalling!"

Adam ignored her. "Ji-hoon." He turned to the celebrity detective next. "I... t-thank you. For being supportive... and for being a good leader. I e-enjoyed... working with you." He had no idea if he felt the same, but Adam really did feel like... friends. With Ji-hoon.

Ji-hoon crossed his arms. He was a little happy that he gave Adam a chance to mess with Pheme in the end. It wasn't like it was a risk either. But... that didn't make this any less difficult. I mean... what are you supposed to say to someone's last words like this? "...Yeah." He turned away.

"You truly just wanted to mess with me a little in the end, hm? Like victim, like killer, it seems." Pheme shook her head. "Again... I'm not going to object to expediting this a bit! You all must be tired! So..."

"Yoshino. Joji." Adam turned to the last two people he wanted to address.

"Alrighty everyone!" Pheme spread her arms wide open. "I've prepared a wonderful punishment for Adam Brooms, the Ultimate Academic!"

"Adam...?" Yoshino felt like she was about to cry.

"..." Joji shut his eyes tight. He didn't say anything.

"Alpha... w-was right. I r-really did have friends with me." Adam smiled. "I'm sorry... I r-really am."

"No! You don't gotta...!" Yoshino tried to keep it together.

"God..." And it was hard for Joji to keep it together.

Adam didn't really get the logic behind why he felt so accepting of this... but he was. It was like... he got his revenge, in a way. "T-Thank you, Joji. And thank you, Yoshino." He started to tear up. "I don't w-want either of you to f-feel bad. This... w-was my choice. It was... all me. I... f-fought back."

"God damn it Adam!" Yoshino felt herself start to cry. "Why?! Why the fuck are you so accepting of this?!" She shook the academic's shoulders.

"Get ready everyone!" Pheme was getting ecstatic.

Adam lightly chuckled. "I... d-don't know. M-My mind is a whirlwind of emotions r-right now. But... I-I feel good. I k-know it's morbid... b-but I don't h-have any regrets. I'd do it again."

"You..." It took everything Joji had to hold himself back here.

"Adam...! Please!" Yoshino shook his shoulders even more.

Adam just kept smiling. "Again... t-thank you, Yoshino. I r-really mean it. I know the m-motive wasn't the most pleasant for everyone... but I'm g-glad I got paired with you. And... here." He handed the sobbing horror novelist a note. "T-This is for any questions I d-didn't get to answer."

"Fuck..." Yoshino tightly gripped the note. "Fuck...! FUCK!" This was the worst she's felt in her entire life. She felt so fucking useless. She... could've done something. She should've done something to prevent this!

Adam, satisfied with his goodbyes, took a step back. "Everyone..." He wanted to address the group one last time. "Aelia h-had some last words to share b-before she died... and I do too."

"You do?" A solemn Kei slowly raised an eyebrow.

"What do you have to say?" As one of the few people not crying or being despondent, Darren knew he had to listen up.

"...Ji-hoon." Adam turned to his friend. "O-One more thing. Before... I g-go."

"...What is it?" Ji-hoon was of course curious about what he might say, but he didn't expect his own name to be called.

"Do you... remember? Back when you first spoke t-to me and Aurora." Adam looked sheepishly at his crush.

"Do I... oh!" Ji-hoon knew what he was referring to.

Aurora's eyes widened as she gave a quick nod. "Oh! Right!" She cleared her throat. "So, as I was saying, Adam and I woke up a little before Pheme's morning announcement. We were healed enough to walk around and such, and a... person went and got us. They told us where to go, and they made sure we were okay." Aurora stopped there at that insane cliffhanger.

Ji-hoon didn't like cliffhanger. "Okay...? Who was the person?" He looked back and forth between the duo with a confused look. But neither of them answered him. He started tapping his foot on the ground. "Alright, what's the deal here? It's not hard to say a name you guys." His confused look turned into an annoyed glare.

After an annoyingly long amount of time according to Ji-hoon, even though in reality it was closer to about twenty seconds, Aurora spoke up again. "I'm sorry Ji-hoon, but, we can't tell you." Aurora looked away and Adam slowly nodded.

Ji-hoon blinked. What... did she just say? "What... do you mean? How can't you tell me?" He couldn't comprehend any of this.

But Adam and Aurora continued to stay silent.

"That..." That's been on Ji-hoon's mind ever since they brought it up, yet they never elaborated.

"Asclepius. The man's name... was Asclepius." Adam sighed. He was glad he got that off of his shoulders.

"Asclepius..." Ji-hoon muttered.

"Wha-" Aurora widened her teary eyes. She didn't expect him to actually say it.

"Wha-" Pheme copied Aurora's reaction to the reveal. "How in the-!" She seemed stunned. "How do you know that name?!"

Adam chuckled to himself. He didn't even look Pheme's way.

"You...! I don't know how you know that name... but it'll be the last thing you say!" Pheme whipped out her remote and pressed a button on it, sending out a chain and collar out of nowhere. It quickly went and latched itself around Adam's neck and mouth, essentially muzzling him.

"No! Adam!" Yoshino tried to reach out for him, but he was already being steadily dragged back.

"Oh god..." Aurora couldn't look.

Nozomi looked upon what was about to happen with clear eyes. She wanted to make sure that she had this memory, not Ayaka.

"Shit...! Fuck! Adam!" Joji didn't know what to do.

"Are you ready everyone?" Pheme clapped her hands together. "No more delays! No more stalling! We are here for one thing and one thing only!"

"Fuck! No! Adam!" Yoshino kept calling out, tears falling out of her weary eyes.

They knew it was likely pointless, but Lake left their podium and went to hide behind Joji for comfort.

Cathy watched what was about to happen, with a notably serious look on her face.

Kei, Rival, Darren, and Rosalind all simply closed their eyes.

And Alpha had nothing to say. She simply crossed her arms, not looking away.

"It's punishment time!" Pheme shot her hands up into the air as she clicked a button on her remote.

As soon as Pheme clicked the button on the remote, Adam got shot up into the air.

"Shit! No! Please! Adam!" Yoshino tried to reach the academic in vain.

Adam watched all the varied reactions of his fellow stars. From crying, to closing their eyes, to hiding... it was a lot. But... it really didn't make him feel any different. All his life... he just wanted to be smart, helpful, and have good friends at his side. Bullies may have gotten in the way of that... but now... here he was. He... was proud that he fought back. He knew it was immoral. He didn't care. Killing Genjiro was such a strangely liberating feeling for him. And... something else that made him feel better... was that Alpha was wrong about something. She said that Genjiro won. While Adam agreed with that to an extent... Adam himself sure didn't lose. He didn't know if he was about to go to the same place Genjiro was... but if he was going there... heh.

He'd tease the hell out of the guy for fucking up his plan. A bully got thoroughly ruined... and Adam couldn't be happier. He felt... at peace. Hey... who knows? Maybe he'll even be able to see Asher again...?

"ADAM!" Yoshino yelled at the top of her lungs and reached out to the academic... but it was pure folly. She fell to her knees as she watched her friend get dragged away... to their death.

An Exam for a Sharp Mind: Ultimate Academic's Execution

As soon as Adam ascended out of the grand court, he found himself in the same classroom where his Stardom Finale took place. He got plopped down on a chair right in front of the only desk currently in the room. And luckily, unlike Aelia, his collar and muzzle actually got removed. After it did, he attempted to wait as patiently as possible for what was next.

...

"Ah! Hello, my student!" Pheme, now wearing a lanyard saying "Ms. Pheme" on it, walked into the room, and went to stand behind the teacher's podium. "How are you today, my wonderful student?"

"Uh... g-good?" Adam knew he was going to be nervous no matter what here... but he didn't expect it to start like this.

"Very good!" Pheme clapped her hands together, then took out a few pieces of paper. "It sounds like you're ready for your final exam then!" She walked over to her student's desk and gave him the pieces of paper. "Remember, this test is worth 100% of your grade! Pass it, and you go free!" She motioned to a door behind them that said Exit over it.

"W-What happens if I f-fail?" Adam felt like he knew what would happen if he failed, but he asked anyway.

"What happens if you fail?" Pheme repeated his question. "Simple! This!" She swiftly took out a large needle and stabbed it into Adam's hand.

"Gah!" Adam yelped as he felt the thin blade pierce his flesh. "That's a r-rather extreme punishment..." He watched a small trail of blood leak from his hand.

"Of course it's extreme!" Pheme thought that was a silly thing to say. "Anyway, to pass, you must simply get 101% on the test! It's simple! Especially for an Ultimate Academic like you!" She gently placed a pencil down on his desk before walking behind him. "You may start whenever you like!"

Adam... had a few questions before he started on his final exam. "You'll be... standing behind me while I t-take the exam?"

"Mm hm!" Pheme nodded.

"Okay..." That didn't help any of Adam's growing nerves. "Then... I-I have to get 101% correct? W-What's the extra 1%?" The concept of 101% wasn't exactly logical.

"Don't worry about it!" Pheme shook her head.

"Okay..." Again, that didn't help Adam's steadily growing nerves.

"That's all your questions? Very well!" Pheme snapped her fingers without waiting for any input from her student.

"W-Well hold on-" Adam didn't consider himself prepared yet.

"Let the final exam... begin!" Pheme didn't care a whit about her student's readiness as she commenced the final exam.

"Uh... fine! A-Alright!" Adam didn't appreciate being rushed into things... but he could deal with it. I mean... this was an exam. And getting perfect scores on exams was basically what he was known for! This would be easy!

Still the littlest bit unnerved by Pheme's presence over his shoulder, Adam started on the first question.

"In triangle ABC, the measure of B is 90, BC = 16, and AC = 20. Triangle DEF is similar to triangle ABC, where vertices D, E, and F correspond to vertices A, B, and C, respectively, and each side of triangle DEF is 1/3 the length of the corresponding side of triangle ABC. What is the value of sinF?" Adam read the question out loud.

"Math! I see!" Adam started to scribble down notes as he worked out the solution.

...

"I g-got it!" Adam confidently stated. "SinF = 3/5!"

"Correct!" Pheme clapped her hands. "Here's your reward!"

*STAB*

Pheme stabbed a longer needle right through Adam's forearm.

"A-AH!" Adam yelled out in pain as the needle went through his entire forearm. "T-This isn't a reward!" He went to remove it, but was quickly stopped by Pheme snatching his wrist.

"Ah ah ah!" Pheme stabbed another needle through his wrist. "You can't disobey the rules! Focus solely on the exam!" He then slapped his already stabbed wrist with a ruler.

"Ow! F-Fuck...!" Adam swore as the needle pierced his wrist. "This isn't h-how an exam-"

"Question two!" Pheme didn't have time to deal with complaints from her student. "What [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]?"

"...What?!" Adam's brain didn't even process the question. How did Pheme even manage to speak like that?!

"Aw... I'm sorry! "What?!" is not the answer!" Pheme disappointedly shook her head as she stabbed two more needles through Adam's thigh.

"AAGGGHHH!" Adam let out a yell as even more pain seared through his body. "W-What did that... this isn't e-even a..." He sure hadn't been a part of an exam where the teacher spoke aloud the questions.

"Question three!" Pheme kept moving. "Does Aurora Beaufort like you back? Does she reciprocate your crush on her?"

"H-Huh?!" Adam's face grew pale.

"What's the answer? You're on a timer, you know!" Pheme pointed to a nonexistent watch on her wrist.

"Uh..." A combination of pain and embarrassment prevented Adam from answering that.

"Aw... the timers up! You got it wrong! Too bad!" Pheme stabbed three needles into his left arm. "The correct answer is "No, there's no way she'd ever like you back"!"

"AGGGHHHH!" Adam let out another yell as he processed both the physical pain of the needles and the emotional pain of the truth Pheme spoke.

"Question four!" Pheme wasn't stopping. "What is my real name?" She then immediately stabbed four needles through Adam's back.

"AAAAAGH!" Adam let out another scream. "I d-d-didn't even..." The pain was making it harder for him to speak

"Question five!" Pheme had another! "True or False! No matter what, Adam Brooks is destined to be picked on, bullied, and manipulated!"

"...F-Fa...lse!" Adam couldn't believe how much pain he was in right now.

"Wrong! The answer is true!" Pheme cackled before stabbing five more needles into his body. Two into his ears, two into his eyes, and one through his chest.

"AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Adam let out a stronger and shriller yell as his hearing and vision got obfuscated. The pain was so intense, he couldn't even think anymore. Blood was steadily leaking out of all the places he had been stabbed, painting his body a gross crimson red.

"Question six! How many more needles are going to be stabbed into your poor, weak body?" Pheme jumped up from behind Adam and onto the desk. "Gasp! That's correct! Countless more!" Not even caring that he wasn't responding anymore, Pheme treated the academic as a pin cushion, pulling out countless more needles and stabbing them absolutely everywhere over his body.

After sufficiently stabbing the academic, Pheme jumped back to stand on the teacher's podium. "Question seven! Final question! When will you die?"

...

Adam, even now, was holding onto the last little bit of life he had left in him. He had lost all of his senses due to the barrage of needles... but he hadn't lost his mind. The one thing that kept him going through his life... his mind. The one thing he was proud of... his mind. The one thing... his mind. On his mind... were multiple things. His friends... Yoshino... Joji... and Asher. People... who stayed by his side... and supported him. Alpha really was right. He... was lucky. And... maybe... he was stupid. But even now... even after seeing the upset faces of his friends... even through all of this pain... he... finally... fought... back.

"No answer?" Pheme giggled. "I'll tell you when you'll die! Right now!" Utilizing who knows what, Pheme snapped her fingers, causing all of the needles to shoot out of Adam's body. Borderline geysers of blood erupted from all of the injuries across Adam's body.

As he felt his mind slowly get drained from his body... all he felt... was... satisfied.

...

Pheme watched blood erupt out of Adam's body with a smirk as all of the needles fell to the floor. After another second... his body was plastered with blood... Adam followed suit and fell to the floor.

Adam Brooks... had died.

"Aw... so close!" Pheme giggled as she sauntered up to the dead body and picked up a needle. Not caring about the blood falling onto her dress and hands, she had one last thing to do. "I'm sorry Adam, but you got an F!" She used the needle to carve a giant F into the fallen academic's chest.

After she was done, she threw the needle up into the air, and struck a pose. She caught the needle with ease as it came back down, and drew an A on the floor in blood. "And that's a perfect A for me!" Pheme gave one last wink.

[Grand Court]

"What... what... what the fuck?!" Yoshino couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen as she watched the execution, horrified. "Adam...! The fuck did he do to deserve that?!" She stayed on her knees as she kept sobbing.

Aurora had to hold back the bile in her throat as she shut her eyes tight. She didn't know how much more of this she could handle.

Joji kept taking deep breaths as he heard Lake sobbing from behind him. Throughout his entire life... right now... this was the hardest he's had to fight to hold back his anger.

"Pheme..." Damien shook his head disapprovingly. "No puppets this time, so you had to torture the fellow personally, hm?" He may not have been close with Adam, but that didn't mean he wasn't appalled by the sight.

"Heh... stupid kid." Alpha sighed.

"I... am glad I didn't have to witness Celani's execution." Nozomi slowly shook her head as she closed her eyes.

Kei had turned away from the screen a while back, refusing to watch the carnage. "Highly doubt they're gonna get better."

"Damn it Pheme? Why?! Why?!" Yoshino kept yelling. "The hell did Adam do to deserve torture like that?! The hell did any of us do?!"

"Yeah..." Joji couldn't keep silent forever. "Is it really like what Genjiro said...? About us being ultimates?"

"Nyaha! I see no point in questioning the machinations of the goddess!" Cathy shrugged. "She is clearly not one who acts with reason!"

"I take offense to that, Ms. Munchkin!" Pheme set her bloodied hands on her hips. "I sure do act with reason! If it's what I stated in that camera feed... who knows?"

"Are you... claiming what you said might not even be true?" That sounded strange to Darren.

"I have to keep the mystery going, Mr. Taylor!" Pheme proudly thrusted a bloodied needle into the air. "Anyway, are you stars sure you want to keep conversing? The trial is over, you know! And it's almost 5 in the morning! Staying up this late isn't good for you!" She wagged her finger, which still had Adam's blood on it.

"You're... fucking insane!" Yoshino screamed out the obvious. "Adam... god damn it! I'm so sorry Adam!" She felt horrible.

"Yoshino..." Rival looked on in pity. He... definitely felt similarly to that... after Bessie died. He understood the feeling.

"Hmph." Pheme rolled her eyes. "Such a drama queen! Here." She tossed the bloodied needle down to the kneeling Yoshino. "Ms. Beaufort has some relics of her lost friend, and now you do too!" The goddess let out an evil cackle, clearly pleased with herself for that action.

Everyone was appalled by the gall the goddess showed by doing that, even Alpha and Cathy.

But the one who was the most appalled... "Pheme!" Ji-hoon fiercely walked up to the still crying Yoshino and picked up the needle.

"...Ji-hoon?" Rosalind tilted her head.

"Jiji...?" Yoshino shakily looked up at the celebrity detective.

Ji-hoon, without wasting another moment, threw the needle back at Pheme. "We don't need your relics!" The needle shot past Pheme's head, narrowly missing her. He wasn't intending to hit her anyway.

"M-Mr. Jo?!" Pheme didn't expect the celebrity detective to throw that needle back at her.

"Just like Adam did and said!" Ji-hoon stomped his foot on the ground. "You're not getting a reaction out of us!" He pointed his finger up at the goddess. He still hadn't figured out the whole scope of Pheme's motives... but he was starting to see a little bit more of the purpose behind the things she does. "There's no point to you sticking around here! So just leave!" He took a firm stance. He had enough of the taunts and jabs.

"Heh..." Pheme chuckled as she looked at the faces of the now remaining 15 stars. Hm... he was probably right! "Fair enough, Mr. Jo! Fair enough!" She picked up the needle and twirled it around in her hands. "Very well! I'll let you all go! I won't bother you!" She got up from her throne. "Mr. Jo... I'm glad I convinced Asclepius to let you join me here." She left the man with an ominous statement as she walked behind her throne. "I'll see you all in Chapter 3!"

...

Pheme's presence faded away.

...

"Yoshino... are you *cough* okay!" Rosalind of all people was the first one to move to the fallen horror novelist, stretching out her thin hand.

"R-Rosa..." With tears still staining her cheeks, Yoshino took Rosalind's hand and slowly got up. "Ah... sorry. That wasn't a nice sight... huh?" She suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She still felt so upset over Adam... but what he and Ji-hoon said about not giving Pheme reactions... it rang true. So she worked up the willpower to simply... get up.

"You don't gotta apologize, Yoshino." Joji shook his head. "That shit wasn't pleasant... for any of us." He knew he wasn't getting the image of Adam's body out of his mind anytime soon.

"Yes... n-no apologies needed, Yoshino." Aurora looked up, her makeup very messed up after crying so hard. "I think... it's understandable to feel like that."

"It's... fine to not be okay..." That was something that Rival needed to tell himself too, not just Yoshino.

"Jojo... Roro... Val... thanks." Yoshino wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. "Fuck... I have a lot to think about."

"Pretty sure we all do!" Kei chuckled, his casual smirk still plastered on his face.

"Yes... I say it's time we finally get some sleep." Nozomi checked Ayaka's Star-Phone. "It's 5:00 AM, and all of us are without sleep. A good rest will help us sort out any emotions we might be feeling at the moment."

"Good idea, Nozomi!" Damien agreed with a girl who hated him. "Everyone... let us depart."

Almost as if on cue, the elevator doors opened back up.

And most everyone, due to be both emotionally drained and drained of sleep, slowly walked onto the elevator.

But two people hadn't gotten on it just yet.

"Ji-hoon." Kei elbowed his former motive partner. "Good job. Getting Pheme out of here, I mean."

"...Kei." Ji-hoon looked at the elevator full of 13 people. "Can I ask for your help with something? I have a plan."

"Sure...?" Kei raised an eyebrow.

"Good. It..." Ji-hoon explained what he wanted offscreen.

...

"Oh... interesting. Yeah, I can do that." Kei agreed rather quickly.

"...Thank you, Kei." Ji-hoon lightly smiled. "Let's not keep everyone waiting then." He, followed closely behind by Kei, joined the other remaining stars on the elevator.

...

It was a short and silent ride they all shared as the elevator eventually reached its destination.

Everyone got off of the elevator... and dispersed, all eager to get a good night's sleep.

[Grand Lobby]

"Joji! Hold on!" Lake stopped the carpenter before he could go up to his room.

"...Lake? ...What's up?" The sheer tired feeling was slowly starting to hit Joji.

"I... well, this didn't get brought up in the trial..." Lake fiddled around in their pocket. "But... I wanted to give this back to you!" They pulled out a small wooden figure.

"This is cute!" Lake spotted a small wooden figure on the floor amongst the clutter and picked it up. "I... don't know what this is though."

"Let me see." Ayaka took the figure. "W-Well... it's a figure of a pretty woman. There are some letters done here too. See?" She pointed to the bottom of the figure.

"KA-?" Lake read the letters out. "Wait... the rest of the letters are cut off!"

"It was on the floor in your studio... so I wanted to give it back to you...!" Lake let out a small yawn as they held out the figure.

Joji, his mouth slightly agape, slowly took the figure from their hands.

"There! That's all I wanted to do! Good night Joji!" Lake waved as they went up to their room.

...

Joji didn't respond as he gripped the figure tightly in his hand. Man... he was grateful he was so tired. Because if he wasn't, he might've lost his mind upon seeing this...

...

Still in the darkness of the Grand Lobby...

"Aurora!" Raiha, in sheer desperation to get some screen time this chapter, caught her bestie before she went up to bed.

"Raiha...?" Aurora smiled at the sight of her bestie. "How are you? How's Kuroko?"

"Well... Kuroko woke up a little bit ago." Raiha looked down at the ground. "I got her up to speed... so we both know... what happened."

"I... see." Aurora slowly nodded. "Is Kuroko alright?"

"Yeah! I think so." Raiha nodded. "She seemed a little scrambled, but she understood what happened enough. She went to bed a little bit ago." Unfortunately, getting no screen time this chapter as a result.

"Okay... okay that's good. I'm relieved to hear that." Aurora thinly smiled. "Are you about to go to bed as well?"

"Uh..." Raiha suddenly blushed. "Yeah... for sure! But... um..." She seemed to want to say something else.

"Raiha? What is it?" Even while sleep-deprived, Aurora gave her bestie a gentle and comforting smile.

Upon seeing Aurora's smile, Raiha felt herself calm down. Man... she really loved her smile. "Okay... um... so I know this is like, weird timing and all that. But... after... some things happened... I have... a question for you."

"Of course. Anything!" Aurora was willing to hear her bestie out, no matter what.

Seeing Aurora so supportive made Raiha's heart beat a little faster. "Okay then... screw it." She knew she had to get this out. So she took a deep breath... and asked. "Aurora... do you... like girls?" The trendsetter's blush reached unprecedented levels.

...

"What?" Aurora blinked.

"Do you... like girls?" Raiha asked again. "As in... do you like-like them?"

Aurora felt a small chill run through her body. "W-Why do y-you ask?" She seemed oddly nervous.

"Uh... no reason! None at all!" Raiha frantically shook her head, the blush across her face betraying her words. "Just... curious. Yeah."

"You're... curious. Okay." Aurora took a deep and mentally painful breath. She was afraid of this happening. Damn it... why did she have to ask? "Raiha... I..." The starlet's hands slightly shook as she shut her eyes tight. "I-I'm... s-straight." She declared with some uncharacteristic stuttering.

"Oh." Raiha looked down at her feet. That... wasn't the answer that Raiha had wanted.

"I'm... sorry." Aurora couldn't bring herself to loom her bestie in the face.

"Nononono! It's okay! All good! I'm gucci!" Raiha nervously chuckled as waved her hands frantically. "Well, that's all I wanted to ask, Aurora! Good night!" The trendsetter dashed up the stairs to her room, a clear look of disappointment on her face.

...

Aurora just stayed standing there, silently cursing herself.

...

Still in the darkness of the Grand Lobby...

Rosalind found herself sitting on one of the sofas in the Grand Lobby. She was rather tired... but she needed to sit down a rest for a moment before she actually went and rested.

And Rival, ironically one of the last to move to go to bed, saw this. He considered stopping to ask her what was up... but he also really wanted to sleep. Does he ask her what's wrong... or does he sleep? Ask... or sleep? It was quite the conundrum.

"Rival? Is that *cough* you?" Rosalind solved the conundrum for the backing vocalist.

"Oh... yeah." Rival had to try and focus his vision so he could see the cinematographer in the dark. "What's... going on?" He slowly walked up to her and sat down next to her.

"Well..." Rosalind hadn't expected Rival to sit next to her. "I was *cough* thinking about something Yoshino said during the trial."

"Something... Yoshino said? What was it...?" Rival wasn't going to be able to remember what she was talking about from something that vague.

"It... was what she said regarding the *cough* BDA for Genjiro's body." Rosalind let out a large yawn. "Specifically... about me."

"Second!" Yoshino wasn't about to stop. "Again, considering what we have and what we know... the second person for the BDA is obvious! It's..."

...

"Rosa!" Yoshino treated that barrier like a punching bag. "In her testimony, she said she regained consciousness for a few seconds before being knocked out again! And in those few seconds... what did she do? She stood up and saw Genjiro's body!"

"Okay...? Is there... something strange about that...?" Rival didn't get it.

"Heh." Rosalind chuckled. "I didn't bring it up during the *cough* trial, as I never sensed a good time to do so. But... what Yoshino said was wrong."

Rival blinked. "Wrong...? What do you mean...?"

"I mean..." Rosalind got serious. "I never saw Genjiro's body. I never said I did."

"Wait... what?!" Rival raised his voice a tad, clearly not expecting to hear that. "Was... Yoshino lying then?"

"I don't *cough* think so." Rosalind shook her head. "She... was just wrong in her deductions. But I know I never saw Genjiro's body before I got *cough* knocked out for a second time."

"But... who was the second person for the BDA...?" Rival didn't expect to hear this.

"I don't know..." Rosalind answered honestly.

...

"Let's... leave that for the morning." Rival didn't have the brainpower to work through what that meant right now.

"Hm... yes. You may be right. Perhaps I am just losing my *cough* mind." Rosalind shakily got to her feet. "Forgive me for taking up your time, Rival. Do not let me *cough* keep you."

"It's fine... I don't care." Rival rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Right then..." Rosalind was glad that Rival wasn't bothered. "I'm going to go to sleep now. Good night, Rival." She slowly started to walk away, utilizing her parasol as a cane, like always. But... "O-Oh..." She didn't make it far before she almost fell.

"You... okay?" Rival managed to catch Rosalind before she fell.

"Ah... yes." A light blush came across Rosalind's face as she recovered herself.

"Are you... good to walk?" Rival still didn't know what exactly Rosalind's deal was... but she seemed to be sick in some way. So he wanted to make sure she could actually get to bed, and not just fall down the stairs on her way up.

"Um..." Rosalind tested walking a few steps, before almost falling again. "I don't believe I am. The sleep deprivation must be getting to me."

And whether he liked it or not, hearing that basically forced Rival to help her. "Here... let me." He took Rosalind's arm in a very platonic and non-romantic way, and slowly led her up the stairs.

"Thank you..." Rosalind's blush only grew as the backing vocalist helped her.

"No problem..." And Rival himself couldn't help but blush a little too...

...

[Pheme's Room]

"Ah... another day, another great Studio Trial!" Pheme relaxed in her chair, evidently not caring about her own lack of sleep.

"You should rest, Miss Pheme." Asclepius cared though.

"Oh please! I will in a little bit!" Pheme looked down at her hands and dress... both still stained with Adam's blood. "It just... felt really... good."

"I'm sure it did, Miss Pheme." Asclepius set his hand on Pheme's shoulder. "But I recommend you wash up and get to bed already."

"Ugh... fine!" Pheme groaned like a bratty teenager. "But first! Two things!" She turned around in her chair. "First! How did Adam know your name? How did he figure that out?" She still didn't get that part.

"Hm... I'm not sure." It was unknown if Asclepius was telling the truth or not. "Perhaps through the motive apps? But I cannot imagine how."

"Yes... it's so strange!" Pheme was thinking of an answer... yet she couldn't reach one.

"I recommend you put it out of your mind, Miss Pheme. Adam Brooks is gone, and good riddance. We need not worry about anything the boy said." Asclepius didn't want to dwell on this.

"Okay! If you say so!" Pheme shrugged. "Then I'll move onto my second thing!" She pulled a document out of thin air. "Here you go! My suggestion for the next motive!"

"...You know what?" Pheme went over to the filing cabinet and started to dig through some files. "My glamorous stars think they're so smart... ignoring me... ruining my fun... well let's see how they like it when I..." She pulled out nineteen documents. "Asclepius! I'll be taking these! And after the second Studio Trial concludes... I will have a wonderful idea. An idea to show my stars their place!"

"I see." Asclepius took the document from her. "Your idea was for a motive?"

"Yes! Of course!" Pheme seemed proud of it. "Ms. Miyahara's cheater answer gave me an idea! This way... she can't avoid fate and she can't cheat fate!"

"Fate you say..." Asclepius looked over the idea. "I see... it's an interesting idea. It's quite the double-edged sword though."

"I suppose it is..." Pheme couldn't deny that. "But you can't deny that it would be exciting to witness! And it wouldn't just be for Ms. Miyahara! It's for Ms. Beaufort! Mr. Lux! Mr. Taylor! For everyone! This motive... is something this show will need."

"Hm... you make a good point." Asclepius slowly nodded. "We didn't exactly have a solid plan for the next motive anyway..."

"Exactly! So it's a good idea isn't it?!" Pheme frantically pointed to certain parts on the document. "Please! This'll make my glamorous stars squirm! It'll make for a very exciting case! So... what do you say?"

Asclepius had a lot to consider with this. As he said, this concept was a double-edged sword. This motive could have wonderful results... but it could also have horrendous effects. The question is... do the pros outweigh the cons? He took a solid moment to think...

...

"Very well." Asclepius finally spoke.

"Very well? Does that mean...?" Pheme didn't want to celebrate too early.

"Yes. We shall utilize your idea. It sounds... wonderful."

"Yes! Thank you!" Pheme ran up and hugged Asclepius, the god of medicine not being able to dodge it this time.

"It's... fine." Asclepius didn't know how to react. He just stood there while Pheme hugged him.

Pheme kept holding the god of medicine in a hug. "Yes... this motive... it'll be... great!"

Happy new year!

Oh my goodness! The end of Chapter 2! Be aware that I'll say this during every epilogue, but it's surreal that I've made it this far! And I really appreciate everyone who has stuck with the story so far.

But before anything else... I have someone to thank!

Thank you so much PROJECT DRAMA for giving me Adam! I really did love the little nerd. He was similar to Aelia in a way... a simple but effective character. Someone who was made to be the butt of the joke. But he was still a very fun character to write! His bond with Yoshino and Joji was great, and him eventually fighting back was a moment I was really excited for. He was just a good kid who was trying his best... who was an unfortunate victim of the world around him. Which made him perfect for a Killing Game :D

So, whenever you end up seeing this Project, I want to give you a big thank you for letting me use Adam. And I hope you enjoy how his story ended! It was a little bittersweet and morbid... yet fitting.

Also, Adam wasn't always the Chapter 2 Killer! I had him as the Chapter 3 Killer and the Chapter 2 Victim for a time too! If you remember what I said about Genjiro's death, the you remember me saying he used to be the Chapter 2 Killer, right?

Well, at a time, Genjiro and Adam's positions were switched! It was during an old idea I had for the case, but it would've essentially been Genjiro finding out that Adam wanted to poison him, so Genjiro poisons the nerd first. I'm glad I didn't go through with this idea, as I like what I went with a lot better.

Speaking of cases, I felt so much better about this case compared to Chapter 1's. There were a few small things I wish I clarified and expanded upon more, but in the end, I thought it was pretty damn good, and it made for a good end to Genjiro and Adam's stories!

Onto the chapter title... yeah, pretty much everyone got it immediately. "Toxic" and "Venomous" were there because of the heavy involvement of poison in the case. But the main reason I chose the title was simple. Genjiro's toxis words invited a venomous action from Adam. Nothing much to it!

And I know this didn't end up the spotlight of the chapter or anything, but Alpha's real name got revealed! I planned to have it revealed relatively early in the story, and I thought now would be a good point! Yep! Good ol' Mabel Jane! I also changed Alpha's name in the Glamorous Stars Remaining Section too!

And there was Genjiro being the traitor too! Having Genjiro being a traitor to the group, then having him turn on Pheme was my first idea for the scumbag wrestler. I'm not sure if anyone actually guessed this, but yeah! I also loved writing Genjiro and Pheme's fight scene. It was something I was looking forward to for a while.

Man... I really did feel good about this chapter, and I think it ended up pretty well. One last time, let me thank Grandma Sue and PROJECT DRAMA for letting me use your great characters. But... they're dead now! And we're down to 15!

Who will drop next, come Chapter 3? Tell me your theories, because I am extremely excited to write Chapter 3. It's going to be a lot of fun!

So I hope you look forward to it, and I hope you look out for the Chapter 2 Intermission coming soon as well!

Glamorous Stars Remaining: 15

Aurora Beaufort - Ultimate Starlet [WolfieRed23]

Ayaka Naganohara - Ultimate Violinist [Sempi]

Catherine Munchkin - Ultimate Cat Burglar [Nekoja]

Damien Lux - Ultimate Beautician [oddlyillregular]

Darren Taylor - Ultimate Bartender [Otterplay]

Ji-hoon Jo - Ultimate Celebrity Detective [TheRoseShadow21]

Joji Kaneshiro - Ultimate Carpenter [SureJahn]

Kei Aikawa - Ultimate Lawyer [theotakureader101]

Kuroko Kurobara - Ultimate Hypnotist [MrUtenaHolic]

Lake Beaumont - Ultimate Ballet Dancer [KadachiNova]

Mabel "Alpha" Jane - Ultimate Gas Station Manager [Epifanio Therion]

Raiha Miyahara - Ultimate Trendsetter [Prince PokePersona]

Rival Seizon - Ultimate Backing Vocalist [SinWriter7]

Rosalind Reinhardt - Ultimate Cinematographer [Orlando Butler]

Yoshino Akiyama - Ultimate Horror Novelist [DeathlyJazzHands55]