Dangan Ronpa: Unser Sommerende/Chapter 6 - Class Trial

Continued from Chapter 6 - Prelude.

[1]

“Hum, dum, it’s time for the last trial.” chirped Monoyaki, lying back with his arms behind his head. “I guess that means I should explain the rules of the Class Trial?”

“You did that earlier today...” Archibald pointed out.

“Uh... Well...” Mia mumbled something, looking off to her right, before piping up, “... It’s been a while for me, sorry...”

“This isn’t really a normal trial though, huh?” said Jo, crossing his arms and tilting his head. “If there’s no entrepreneur, then there’s gotta be some difference to the usual rules, right?”

“Point taken!” Monoyaki said, sitting upright now. “The idea, it seems, is just to pinpoint the mastermind and kill ‘em, which is probably best done with a gun on hand!”

“We’ve been through this too.” Cody said, already eager to get on with it, but I mean, he had a point.

“Just don’t try anything until we’re completely sure,” I said, giving a quick glance in Rocky’s direction, “since the wrong one would mean instant death for the lot of us.”

“And what if I’m the mastermind?” He said with a miniature grin, glancing back at me.

“This is a serious situation.”

“But he has a point,” Dan conceded, “although it would bring up the question of why he doesn’t just shoot all of us right now, since we’d be posing a threat to him.”

“Bingo, I’m innocent.” Cody chuckled.

“... You’ve been waiting to shoot someone, I take it? I would’ve thought you’d change your mindset by now, in that regard...”

“Not really. Not when it’s someone who actually deserves to be shot.”

“Wow, it sounds super harsh when you put it like that...” Mia commented.

“Can’t blame him.” Jo said, with his usual, easygoing shrug.

Archibald shook his head. “We don’t have time to deal with the ethics of it, all we need to know is that it’s the only way any of us can leave this place for good. Everyone aside from...”

“The mastermind themself!” Monoyaki nodded vigorously. “Don’t go thinking you’ll have an easy time tracking them down, though! I’d say you just barely have enough to figure this one out, but you’ve been through worse, right guys?”

“Unfortunately.” I semi-involuntarily said.

“Yeah, superb misfortunes have plagued ya! Anyways, it’s high time we start he show! Yes, the group against the individual who started everything! The grand finale!... Well, it wasn’t supposed to be the finale, but... It begins riiiiiiiiiiiiiight NOW!” He slammed his head on the gavel block, catching his juice carton while still face-down.

[2]

“... And how are we meant to figure it out?” Mia asked.

A good question.

“Well,” Archie started, “If everything Monoyaki has said is true, we don’t have a large catalogue of suspects; just the six of us.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Dan interjected. “After all, the only thing he said was that the mastermind was in the same class as us. It’s entirely possible that our target has already been killed, by their fellow student, or by execution.”

“There’s a problem with that...” Rocky said, adjusting his cap, “Since Monoyaki would have disappeared without anybody to maintain his wacky spirit connectiony thing. And he’s still there, clearly.”

“A fake death isn’t out of the question...”, Mia whimpered.

“O-oh yeah.” Archie nodded. “Makes sense. With the cinematic nature of the executions, it’s entirely likely that any of the previous entrepreneurs could have been pulled out of their respective situations.”

[3]

“No, that’s wrong!” I yelled, full of the same energy I felt when I first said that weeks before. “When I escaped the trial room earlier, I had to go through the rubbish dump where all the corpses are stored, and while I was there, I could see Robin’s body, as well as the remains of what I assumed were Molly and James. Since Mary’s execution seemed to obliterate her completely, I don’t think it’s suspicious that I didn’t see any sign of her.”

“... Jane?” Jo said, tilting his head excessively far with a distressed expression. “What do y’mean, ‘where all the corpses are stored’?!”

“We still haven’t told anybody, huh...” Archie said, brushing the back of his head, before looking up at Monoyaki. “Can we get some confirmation that the bodies of the executed are kept in the same place as the murder victims?”

“Mhm!” The goat finally raised his head off the block. “I didn’t see any reason to put them somewhere else.”

“And can you explain the ‘corpse pile’ to me?” Jo continued.

“No time, uwehe. On with the show.”

[4]

“So, if we’re sure it’s one of us...” Archie resumed, tapping his foot, “Then the only lead I can really think of is the fact that the mastermind was well acquainted with Lucy before the Mutual Killing Venture. But since our memories were erased, we don’t really have any evidence linked to it...”

“And there’s nothing we can glean from the photos, either?” I asked.

“Nothing we don’t already know, I guess.”

“There’s gotta be something we’re missing.” Mia proposed, somewhat retracted. “Maybe if we just retrace our steps, we’ll find something? I dunno.”

“I guess there’s no other option?” Cody checked, unenthusiastic.

“Well, if it jogs anybody’s memory...” I wiped my brow, summing my thoughts up. “Lucy simply summoned Monoyaki through an arcane ritual, before forging huge amounts of gold to sell in order to purchase the school. We can be sure of this, thanks to a noticeable drop in the value of gold due to inflation... And after that, she used two chemicals, amnesiacs and happiness, to set up a killing game by removing most of the school’s attendees, and wiping her class’s memories of each other, so that they’d trust each other less.”

“That seems complete, but...” Dan said, looking away for a moment, before focusing in on me. “I’d like to verify something again. The newer mastermind went about this same process, no? Assuming that Lucy could no longer remember the events of the first killing game, due to the memory repressors she administered to herself, the mastermind easily would have tricked her into repeating the same steps as before.”

“Right on the money. That’s why happiness and the amnesiacs have been so heavily present in the school, along with the documents surrounding the school’s purchase. Everything seems to be a part-by-part repeat of the first venture, most likely with Monoyaki sharing the plans with the mastermind.”

“If that is the case, then the drop in gold’s value would have happened twice over, would it not?”

“Yeah, uh, I’m pretty sure that was the case.”

“And do you have any dates to these economic shocks? I don’t keep close track of worldly affairs like these, and I don’t know how you found them... But if we have particular dates attached to them, we may be able to properly frame a time the purchases of either branch of the school took place.”

“Well, she’s not the one who found the charts,” Cody said, with a tip of his hat, “But to be frank, I’m not sure how I found it. It was on one of the PCs in the school, since the news channels in the rec room usually just showed the prices of gold and stocks on any given day...”

“Y-you’re in stocks?” Mia said, not majorly shocked, but sounding intrigued, if anything.

“Well, I’m considering it.”

“... You’re better off investing in crypto, honestly...”

“I mean, I’d say that’s more of a fad if anything-”

[5]

“Hang on.” Archibald said, to the point as usual. “Now, I’m sure that conversation’s semi-important, but I’m very confused at what you said earlier, Cody. If it was on the PC on the fourth floor, then why are you saying that you’re not sure how you found it?”

“Well, it was in that little mouse-over thing in the corner, the one that shows you some news and things. And yeah, what I don’t get about it was that I don’t think that the computer was ever connected to the internet? It’s really suspicious, because the charts seemed really different from what I remember before I came to the school.”

“Mm!” I nodded, pleased to be getting somewhere. “Because of the amnesiacs, yeah?”

“Spot on, probably. And before I forget, the canyons in the price of gold were dated to six months back, and eighteen months back, so a year in between.”

“Everything matches up, huh?” Jo said, hands in his pockets. “Seems weird that the news and stocks were up to date without an internet connection.”

“I suppose.” Dan noted. “However, the mastermind felt safe giving us access to live television. Perhaps they simply found a way to only let a particular app access the internet?”

“That’s... Not how computers work.” Mia said, a tone of disbelief.

“Oh really now?”

“... Yeah.”

“Go on.”

“... Uh... Well, it’s just not something that would work. I don’t know much about this computer since I wasn’t around to see it accessed, but I do remember Archie telling me that it wasn’t connected to a power source, and that none of the other computers in the room were powered... So I’m assuming the mastermind didn’t have any ethernet cables connected. Wifi’s out of the question, since that wasn’t available to me on any of the other floors... The only way it could have an up-to-date news feed was if the mastermind had it pre-installed, maybe just before the floor was opened up.”

“Then they’d intend for us to see it...” Archibald thought aloud. “Why would they try to stop us from accessing the computer, then?”

“I guess they wanted to supply power later on? I don’t get it...”

“Whatever.” Jo shrugged it off, frowning. “Either way, it’s starting to seem that the meowstermind somehow wanted to drop hints about the killing venture, if that’s what happened. Hm... That could just mean the entire thing is meant to mislead us. It’s a red herring... Honestly, I always wondered how red herring tastes.” He gave a toothy grin for a split second or so. “... But if we’re really sticking with it, I guess that means you’ll have to wrap your head around the fact that Cody’s memory is a teensy bit foggy.”

[6]

“... Pardon?” I squeaked.

“See, I keep up with the charts myself...”

“I’m starting to feel left out.”

“... And I went up to look at the computer after you got it running, so I looked at the stocks. It was exactly how I remembered it before everything started.”

“Funny.” Cody coldly said.

“Aaaand if the school year started in February, then the inflation in gold happened in August, six months before. You remember the date of ‘Derek Frankson’s’ purchase, yeah? 02/11, that’s how it was written, kitten.”

“The second of November...” I pondered to myself.

“If the graphs are up to date, then that inflation happens in February, months after the purchase.”

“But then the mastermind must have waited months before buying the school... Why?”

“No clue. It’s a hell of a lot more likely than purchasing the school BEFORE getting the money, unless they took out a loan, and come on, why would they have to do that?”

“As much as I hate to be wrong...” Cody sighed. “I wouldn’t be caught dead going into debt.”

Archibald crossed his arms, harshly shut eyes. “So that means the news wasn’t replaced... What does that point to, then?”

“Nothing that comes to mind.” Dan said. “Have we hit a dead end?”

“... Maybe...”

“Boo-hoo.” Monoyaki sneered. “I told you it wouldn’t work.”

“Hey, give us more time, please.” Mia pleaded.

“Nah.”

“Pretty please?”

“Man, all you gotta know is there was maybe a path or two that would have led you to the mastermind, but you’ve already blown it. There’s no use in trying once you’ve passed this threshold, trust me.”

Archie whimpered. “That can’t be right... What’s stopping us from figuring out the answer?”

“It’d be cheating if I told ya. I dunno, just make your choice and get ready to die!~”

... If I didn’t say something soon, then we were kind of fucked. Rather than dwell on if it was a mistake to bring us down here, I focused on what Monoyaki could possibly be talking about. That was the key... He suddenly launched into this little speech about how we had screwed up and were doomed, so... Maybe he was bluffing? Maybe we were on the right track, and in an effort to save his client, he was just trying to strip us of motivation. But he had no reason to save the mastermind at this point, did he? He was planning on just leaving the school, and going back to the underworld or wherever the hell he came from, he had no vested interest on whether the mastermind survived or not past this point. No, he must have had a point... Something we did set us on the wrong track, and chances are, we went down it not long before Monoyaki interrupted us. I was running out of time... This was the last thing I had to figure out, the last shot I’d have to call before whatever crazy scheme were had found ourselves in would fall apart. With everything I could think of rushing through my head, the one point I could centre any confidence on was...

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

That’s it.

“Jo?”

“Shoot, cheddar.”

“When you first read the document recording the purchase of Wish’s Apex Academy... What did you first think of the date you saw?”

“Come again?”

“It said 02/11. When you read that out in your head for the first time, what did it sound like?”

“... November the second, duh.”

“That’s awfully strange, Jo... That’s not how they do things on the other side of the pond, is it?”

[7]

“Ah... Ahaha... Are you going somewhere with this?”

“I mean... You’re from the U.S.A, aren’t you?”

“I guess you could tell. I’m from Tucson in Arizona, but you’re asking for a reason, huh?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“T-tch...”

“If we go about that date using the American dating system in place of the English one... Then that date comes out to being the eleventh of February. The same day the calendar ends... The same day we arrived at school... The one that corresponds to six months before today, and therefore, the same day that was marked out by the price of gold.”

“That graph was outdated, dumbass.”

“If the computer was turned off in February. But if we spent six months living a regular school life, then it still would have been connected to the internet until August... So if anything, the likelihood of the purchase having happened in November is zero. The purchase took place on the eleventh of February, and the mastermind, who would obviously would have handled and even signed those documents, recorded the date with the American dating system.” I smirked, trying my best to mirror the usual smirk he always gave me. “Do you know what that means?”

“This is a misunderstanding.” He was straightening out a bit, like a frightened cat. “... This is a HUGE misunderstanding. See, I think I know what’s going on here, this is an act of deception. The mastermind saw this coming, so they decided to play a trick and frame me by writing the date like that. Either that, or, or-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

He was interrupted by an instant stab through the air, resounding about the room and stinging my ears.

... There was a hole in Jo’s shirt, right through the heart shape drawn on his pocket. It quickly blended in with the growing red stain that came to cover a significant portion of his shirt. It just kept spreading and spreading, his heart pouring out to us. His face seemed frozen in that panicked state.

We got him. We got him, right?

Nothing was happening.

Nothing was happening?

Nobody was saying anything and Jo was just standing there.

[8]

And he grinned.

“You thought I’d die that easily? Lame.”

“... You’re...” I tried to think of something to say. I just kept staring, the red trail over his shirt slowing until stagnation.

“Yeah, y’see, I didn’t exactly plan to let anybody actually kill me, because, well, duh. Wounds can heal pretty quickly when you have a suPURRnatural entity on your side.”

“I’ll stop healing you if you keep making those lame jokes.” Monoyaki grumbled.

“It just comes out. Can’t help it.”

I heard another two gunshots, and the redness grew again. Jo didn’t even flinch.

“What?...” Cody said, under his breath.

“Gee, you can’t take a hint, huh? I said that I can’t be killed right now. Dying’s not really part of my plan.”

There was a surreal, dream-like quality to the situation, slowing my thought process. We’d obviously found our culprit, but... What now? Jo was just standing there, not even paying attention to us, sharpening his nails and the like. I guess he was waiting for us to ask him what was happening? I just...

Okay, okay. So... Jo’s behind this. Jo? Jo. Yeah, it’s him.

... Why can’t I wrap my head around that? It makes a lot of sense. His initial worries about the killing game, how they gave way to his insane gambits throughout the middle of the venture, and how he switched so seamlessly back to normal at the end... He can do that without even thinking. He’s the Ultimate Actor. Even if I had no idea why he was doing this, or how he found Lucy’s notes on demon summoning... The one thing I could say for sure was that every interaction, every word and action he’d said and done up to that point was fake, through and through. Maybe he was even acting at that very second. How are you supposed to know when someone like him is being genuine?

... Did he even have a genuine side left?

“Yawn.” Jo said, rather than actually yawning. “Stop staring like that. I get that you have no idea what to do next, but it’s making me totally nervous right now. Or are you the nervous ones?”

“... Is there anything you expect us to say?” Dan asked.

Archie muttered something, sounding hesitant.

“Yes?” Jo said, with a raised chin, apparently ignoring Dan’s query.

“... I think we just didn’t have a plan for if the mastermind was... Immortal?”

“Not immortal, nah. I just don’t really FEEL like dying, yeah?”

“You’re being super casual about this...” Mia pointed out, seemingly in a vain attempt to mirror the casual energy. “... So, uh... Do you have any plans?”

“Plans?”

“Yeah. Like... What now?”

“E-everyone.” I involuntarily said. “Can we take a moment to actually process the fact that this boy, y’know... Killed two thirds of our class?” I didn’t believe it myself, but it felt as if nobody was even acknowledging it. I looked back into Jo’s visage, who just couldn’t stop looking smug about everything.

“I never killed anyone.” Jo chuckled, “You guys refused to stop killing each other.”

“That’s... Wrong...”

“Meh. Maybe it’s not the full truth, sure, but doesn’t change the fact that we’ve gotten to this point, eh?” He paused. “... Any questions? I’m not gonna start my villainous monologue without a prompt, right?”

“What are you even talking about?... This is real life, do you really think this is some sort of movie?!”

“Well I guess I’m the director, huh?” Jo said, shrugging yet again, as if there hadn’t been a single thing to care about throughout this entire ordeal, which may well have been the case for him. He glanced around at the rest of us a few more times, as if to keep up the suspense, before continuing, “I guess I’ll start with the basics on how I even found out about Monoyaki, yeah, right at the start... See, I made it a point to get to know some of my classmates before the year started. It’s not like there was anything else for me to do in the meantime, so... Well, one of those students was Lucy. She’s super gullible, by the way, I mean, she was. Like... She handed over her notebook within a few days of knowing her, just because I was curious. I accidently opened the back of the book, and yeah, all blank, but see, if you look reeeeal closely, you can kind of make out the bumps and grooves left by the pen. She wasn’t busy, so when I asked if I could borrow the notebook, she gave in pretty quickly, and y’know, it’s not THAT hard to figure out what brand of invisible ink pen she used, and, real talk, invisible ink? Seriously? Just make a password protected file on your computer or something, invisible ink sounds like something some teenage girl would use. Oh, wait...”

“Look, slow down.” Archibald groaned, “I think we’re less interested how you set the killing game up, since we already know so much about the process. What we have no idea about, though, is... Wh-why, you know?! Why?...”

“Why not?... Okay, it’s not that simple, I’m just being stupid. I’ll just be straight with you about this...” Cocking his head to the side, Jo placed his hands in his pockets, whistling for a second. “Simply put, I’m getting in some practice.”

“For what?!”

“Jeez louise, can you give me a second? Thanks. See, there’s two kinds of people in this world; people who want to make a brighter, safer world for everyone around them, and the people who’re more interested in looking out for number one. You can get into real long debates about which one is right, but I’ll cut to the chase and spell it out: I’m the second one, who could’ve guessed? Now, what always happens is that the second type of person comes out on top, go figure, but it’s always a question of WHICH second person’s gonna get his way. The two main factors are plain old brute force, ooooor, the way more efficient way, convincing people to use brute force on your behalf. Now, are we all keeping up?”

“Nope.” Mia wheezed.

“I understand, yes,” Dan acknowledged, “but either type of person turns to dust eventually, no?”

“So you’ve gotta make the most of your time, catch?” Jo brought out one hand, and clicked his fingers into a pointing shape. “And make it snappy.”

“Make what snappy?” Cody said with an air of exasperation. “I get that there’s a point you’re trying to make, just make it already.”

“Yeah, well basically, I wanna rule the world. How cliché! And to do that, I need to charm my way into being able to manipulate enough corporations and governments that I can pretty much get my way through wit and charisma and whatever. I’ll have unlimited PAWer. And to do THAT, I gotta, hear this, I gotta understand what makes us tick.” He tapped his cranium a few times, to demonstrate. “That’s what I get out of the killing game. Monoyaki gets a tasty soul harvest, and I get to... Observe you guys. Not just observe, but to mess with the investigations, and see how much you’re able to handle. I needed, more than anything, to figure out how people act under pressure... What does it take to coax somebody into betraying their friends for their own gain? How far do you need to push someone until they’ll spill blood for you? Plus, the experiment isn’t just for ANY group of people, but for the most talented of our generation, the personality types that shoot up to the most important spots in society... The people who matter, yeah? The people I need to be familiar with.”

[9]

“... I see.” I said, my breath somewhat erratic. The entire time I had known Jo, I was trying to figure out what made him tick. I just figured that he was insane, and I mean, that’s not far off apparently, but... He isn’t deluded, far from it. He sure sounds deluded, and he was telling me these things when all of this began, I would have called him deluded. But so far, he’d been right. We all killed each other for our own gain. Stating the obvious, I know, but I can’t think of any stupid flowery metaphors, that’s just what happened. We killed each other. I wasn’t sure if Jo was really going to be able to control the world without them realising it, but damn, could he control us. As I concluded that thought process, that realisation of how stupid I had been, I started paying attention to reality again. He was looking at me. Smug. The sort of face that dared me to tell him that he was wrong.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Any questions?” He said, his lecture concluding.

“No. I think we understand.”

[10]

“Good, good, then we’ll get on with the finale. Basically...” He paused, ran a hand through his hair, and stretched his arms, before relaxing himself with a perky smile. “You’re all going to grovel at my feet, and then I’ll kill you. Simple!”

“Grovel?...”

“Groooovel? Yeah, grovel. I don’t have any real reason not to just take all of you out right now, so just for fun, I figured I’d convince each one of you that you basically deserve to die, since life’s a competition which you’ve pretty much lost already.”

“What the hell are you on about?” Cody barked.

“What, not straightforward enough for you?”

“No, I get what you’re saying, it’s just that it doesn’t make sense in the first place! The only person who deserves to die here is you!”

“Well, that’s step one out of the way, the idea that someone can deserve to die. Easy!”

“Yeah? And how many steps are there?”

“Depends. See, the next part is to establish that people don’t really give a shit about anything aside from themselves, and once that’s done, it’s pretty easy to accept I’m a winner and you’re, ahem, not a winner. Now, that doesn’t mean you MORALLY deserve to die, but if one of us has to live...”

“Hang on, isn’t there no point in killing us? If you’re scared of us reporting you to the police, you can just wipe our memories, so-”

“That’s no fun, though. I mean, I guess I could do that, but see, none of you are any real use to me, and the less people I have to manage, the better, so... I don’t really value human life much, I know, super edgy, but the thing is, you don’t either.”

“There’s no way I’ll believe that! You remember how I reacted to Amber’s murder, right?! You remember what I almost did?!... Never in my right mind would I just shoot people who deserve to live!”

“So if you shot someone who you didn’t like, you’d have no regrets, huh? What gives you the right to take lives as you please?”

“Well, what gives YOU the right to do that?!”

“I dunno, maybe it’s just that I don’t follow any meaningless moral structures. You barely even talked to Amber, right? You just didn’t like the thought that you killed someone who ‘didn’t deserve it’ and was ‘defenseless’... Honestly, she probably could have taken someone out, people always let her guard down around her, but I’m getting sidetracked... Point is, it was never about her, it was about how it made you feel, boy. You couldn’t stand the idea that you’d become just like your old man, and that brought up some rough and rocky memories, huh? Hope having a bazillion guns makes you feel better, kid.”

“... That isn’t... That’s...”

Everyone watched as the two exchanged verbal blows, with Cody, the presumably strong-willed lad he was, quietly conceding each point, until eventually, he... Shut down... He stopped responding entirely, and looked at the floor in resignation.

“One down.” Jo yawned and slicked back his hair. “Hey, Mia.”

“I-I’d rather not have a chit-chat.” She winced, still staring at Cody’s drained expression.

“Woah, rude. All I wanna do is talk! But, I can’t say I expected anything different. You hate talking to other people, dontcha?”

“W-well I don’t hate them! I-I mean, what makes you s-say that?”

“Guess.”

“Uh... Can I have a clue?”

“Hmph.” Jo turned his head, profile view side smirk. “Really now. You don’t know what I’m talking about?”

“Look, I... I just enjoy being by myself most of the time, and I-I’m not hurting anybody, okay?”

“Never said you were.”

“Then what... What are we t-talking about?”

“Baw, don’t give me that innocent treatment. You’re too precious. Whether you hate people or not, point is, you at least don’t care about anybody else.”

“Don’t say that... If I really didn’t care about other people, then why did I try to help Terry with-”

“Ohhhh, HELP Terry? Even though he clearly didn’t want to be replaced by a robot, yeah. You were taking away the one reason he had to live, to help others out... Ahh, bless his soul, I think he was the only one in the whole class who cared about his buddies. Poor thing, huh?”

“Hey, so that means, uh, that... That there are plenty of people who care about others, and you’re wrong about all of this!”

“I never said that altruists don’t exist, just that they’re a bunch of schmucks, silly. I’ll admit, I don’t think I could convince him that he’s a self-obsessed douche like the rest of ya, but there was no chance he’d survive this long, he’s way too trusting... And that just proves my point, no? Take care of others, and they’ll leave you behind when you’re no longer useful to them.”

“I mean... Yeah, I guess... So... That’s all?...”

“Yep. Good girl.”

Mia gave a weak nod, and drooped with another empty look. I probably should have started thinking of a way to stop the one-by-one mental shutdowns being pushed on us, or whatever the hell you’d call it, the mind tricks Jo was pulling, but... They weren’t really tricks, he was just pointing stuff out... So...

“So, Dan, it’s your turn now.”

“We don’t need to make this long.”

“Aw, boring. You’re giving in right away?”

“If I need to say anything...” Dan closed his eyes, his cloak contracting as he seemed to put his arms together. “... I do not disagree with any of the claims you’ve made so far. Our world is comprised of individuals who only seek their own gratification, which sometimes leads to them helping others, and sometimes leads to them harming others. What I don’t agree with is that your solution seems to be embracing the latter, when both of them should be dismissed entirely. Gratification is the problem; if human desire is extinguished, the need to dominate and use others for empty self-fulfillment would vanish with it.”

“So you’ve never wanted anything?”

“I seek not to want anything.”

“But you haven’t got there yet, huh?~”

Dan opened his eyes slightly, reading Jo’s face for a good few seconds. “,,, Don’t give me that look.”

“What, the look I give everybody 24/7? The world is pretty insane, sure, but I’m not gonna throw it all away and starve to death in the rain to freeee my miiiind... Can I ask what’s so bad about embracing human nature, please-and-thank-you?”

“Because it leads to suffering.”

“And I’m not the one suffering.”

“... It’s impressive how you can say that with such a lack of self-awareness. Don’t you realise how cruel that sounds?”

“Oh, so suddenly morality matters, Mr. ‘Nothing Matters, Surrender to the Void’? Yeah, we can talk about self-awareness, sure. New Age Spiritualist isn’t even a real talent.”

“Acknowledged.”

“No, no, but you knew it all along, Dan. You just mumbled your mumbo jumbo to the shrivelled old men who choose the students, and they were none the wiser. You don’t know a single thing about the cosmos, though, right? You’re a conman, Dan. You know it’s true... So why not embrace it? I mean, of course you can’t, since you’re about to die and yadda yadda ya, buuuuut that’s fine! Maybe you’ll scam some more schmucks when you’re reborn into the next life. Give it your best shot for me!” He winked overenthusiastically, and Dan’s reaction was a very muted head shake.

“There’s no use, I suppose. I tricked myself into believing many things before, so that I could retain a sense of security... I thought that this time it was different, and that I’d finally solved-”

“Therapy’s over, that’ll be two hundred dollars, or uh, pounds or whatever. I’m joking, by the way, you don’t have to pay me.” Clearly done with his third victim, Jo swung his head to Archibald, and gave him a finger gun motion, topping it off with a “Kyaa!~” which kind of made me want to vomit because of how stupid he was acting, knowing that he was the only person here who didn’t have to take this seriously.

Archie’s reaction was an easily expected flinch, followed by a more cross expression. “Okay, I don’t know how you’re able to convince people this easily, but... I can tell there’s something going on, with the way they’re shutting down and all... There’s a trick, and I d-don’t know what it is, but... The only thing I can do is to not listen to it.”

“Wimp.”

“E-excuse me?”

“What are you gonna do, cover your ears?”

“If I have to, then I’ll do it.”

“I thought you were better than that.” Jo yawned again, even fanning his open mouth as he did. “You’re not even going to engage with my argument?”

“You haven’t made an argument yet...”

“Maybe.”

“... But I know what it’s going to be. You’re making the same point for everyone, just that they’re self-centred for not wanting to die, and I’d like to just point out that... Y-you’re the one who started all of this! You forced these rules and conditions on us and planned out all of these motives, in order to directly coax us into murder, so none of your points are valid!... None of this would have happened outside of a killing game...”

“Depends on what you mean by ‘killing game’.”

“Wh-wha?...” Already, the boy was looking scared and a little vexed.

“See, it’s obvious that none of you would kill each other in a civil society,” Jo continued in an overblown posh accent, “but you’re quite possibly BOLD to assume that such a civilised state of being is a permanent fixture. Hmhmhm... Yeah, maybe it’ll last the rest of your lifetime. But if it doesn’t?... There’s a lot of stuff you and me need to live that just shows up on store shelves, and we never ask where it comes from. If some kinda CATastrophe happened, and all of that fell apart, you’d start trampling each other to survive, right? That’s all I’ve been simulating; a dire situation where there’s only enough for one person to survive. You’re a very smart boy, Archie... You can grasp that.”

“... I know...”

“It’s just a shame that you didn’t use that information to save yourself. If only you weren’t such a sissy, maybe you could have pulled off a kill or something. Archie... You regret that you missed your chance, don’t you? Just admit it. Nobody will be angry at you, and you don’t have anything left to lose at this point.”

... He winces. Just winces, staring at the floor, the glint of tears.

“Just say it. I promise it won’t hurt.”

“... I... Should have... Done it...”

“Done what?”

“... Murder... I should have... Killed someone...”

“Man, that took forever. There there, boy, it’ll be over soon.”

Archie nodded, just barely, before sitting down in a fetal position.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

With nobody else left, Jo turned his head to me. Just his head, over his shoulder, no need for him to rotate his body, and he gestured to my head.

“So, what’s going on in there now?”

“Nothing much.” I spat out, not wanting to be silent. Of course, I was lying, but I don’t know how he expected me to sum up my thoughts about a situation that was out of my control and going too fast and I was going to die. That’s the one thing that really got through my head in that moment, that I was going to die. How helpful.

“You’re not an airhead, Jane, don’t be harsh on yourself.”

“Bite me.”

“Look, I know you’re angry... That’s your default reaction to adversity, or at least that’s how you want to come across, right?”

“It’s just because of the smile on your face. You’re getting a kick out of it...”

“You would too.”

“We’re nothing alike.”

“Yeah, it would be a bit silly to go into the ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ tirade, sure. We’re very different. You’re a lot more naive, first of all-”

“I wouldn’t have got this far if I was naive.”

“You would have been an entrepreneur if you weren’t naive.”

“Bullshit.”

“Why’s it bull?”

“... Murder’s wrong.”

He suppressed a laugh. “You have so much to learn about the world, Jane. Ah well, some folks never change... Listen. I’m going to tell you a secret... I mean, it’s a definite secret, since none of the others are listening. They’re a bit absorbed in their own failures and their sad fates right now, to put it lightly.”

“I guess that sad fate's also what you have planned for me?”

“No, no, it’s the exact opposite. See, I’m not actually going to kill you. The others, sure, but not you, and there’s a reason for that. Catch?”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to live at this point, but I nodded, signalling him to continue.

[11]

“See, this venture wasn’t just about analysing the human condition and whatever. I figured that, if I’m going to amass as much power as I can, I’m going to want someone to do the micromanaging, capiche? Not that I can’t do that, just that I need a break every now and then, since I’m huuuuuman. Of course, the person doing my work in my down time would have to be someone with a functioning brain, go figure, so I decided I’d want to pick out a member of our class, y’know, supposedly the best minds in the country? I’d pick one out and basically convince them to do my bidding, one way or another. Now, that was originally going to be the successful entrepreneur, the person most willing to do unspeakable things and do them well, but since they all screwed up their jobs, and out of the survivors, you’re the one who gets the most done... Hey, it’s not that hard-”

“No.”

“Hey, I’m talking here!”

“You killed my girlfriend.”

“... First of all.” He finally turned around, hands cupped with a smirk. “Mary did that. Degrees of separation, I know. Second... I killed ten people, and Lucy’s the only one who matters? Since she’s the only one who the oh-so-important Jane Attebury likes.”

“Look, I don’t have time for this shit. I’m not doing what you say, so just kill me.”

“Mm, I thought that was the answer... Good thing I never said that you had a choice!~” He leaned forward, hands on his cheeks and eyes up at me.

“What the fuck?...”

“Yeah, fuckity fuck fuck. I guess you didn’t realise I still have some amnesiacs lying around... You won’t remember a single event from the Mutual Killing Venture once we’re done here. You’ll just remember walking into the building, and oops! Suddenly, you’re outside, and the whole school’s exploded or something, and you’re waking up in my arms or some romantic crap. I just saved your life! You totally owe me, don’t you?~”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“... Okay.” I tried to steady my breathing, and adjusted my coat, hoping that my future self would have a shred of common sense not to trust this psychopath. But if he was able to convince the rest of us that they didn’t even deserve to live, even after all that he’s done, would I really stand a chance against him? I won’t know a thing about him, and judging by what he’s told us so far, he’ll know me outside-in. I’m going to be his tool, and there’s nothing I can do about it but suck it up.

At least I’ll be alive.

“Let’s get on with it.”

[12]

“Oh, uh, one more thing.” Jo leaned back again, one hand firmly placed on his hip, the other engaging in limp-wristed pointing. “I know you wanna get this done right away, but I still need you to grovel at my feet, remember?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. I’ve already come to terms with human nature, Jo.”

“Neato... Wait, no, there’s two human natures, remember? People who look after themselves, and dumbasses. Yeah, I put it pretty bluntly, but luckily for you, you’re mostly the former! Your constant attempts at keeping the group safe was obviously for your own self-preservation, ensuring your own safety by trying to prevent anyone else from killing ya. Oh, and of course, the only one you really wanted to take care of was Lucy, because of the warm, tingly sensations you got from her or something, I dunno how that works.”

“Yeah, I get that stuff. Maybe not the Lucy thing, but no, I’d say there’s just one human nature. I think even altruistic people are just altruistic either to make themselves feel better and useful, or because they feel useless without it, you know?”

“Jane... Jane, what you don’t get is that some people are just stupid. Some people buy into the idea that other people matter when they kind of don’t and stuff.”

“... If everybody bought into that idea, then would it become true?”

“No that’s stupid-”

“Hey, that’s actually kind of a problem with your outlook. You seem to see things in black and white... Are you sure there isn’t anybody between pure altruism and pure megalomania?”

“Yep, one-hundred percent sure. Most people are megalomaniacs who fool themselves into thinking that they’re altruists, got it? Like you. You constantly tried to preserve your group while acting like you cared for them, because you convinced yourself that you were an altruist, when you really aren’t.”

“But your definition of an altruist is somebody who buys into altruism as an idea. I’d have to be an altruist at heart, then.”

“Ugh... See, ‘buying in’ means you believe something with all your fibres, and ‘fooling yourself’ means that you’re in denial, but your actions and words show your true nature. The way you were always eager to call people out was useful in trials, sure, very confrontational... But it also reveals a critical, vindictive side, doesn’t it?”

“So vindictive, to be angry at murderers...”

“Sheesh. You’re missing the point, Jane, you said before that you’re not naive, right? Just get ahold of yourself already.”

“But if I’m not naive, I shouldn’t have fooled myself for a second. Considering this... I no longer think that human nature boils down to just self-preservation. If I can sum it up real quick?”

“Shoot, cheddar.”

“It’s a yin-yang sort of deal. Nothing’s fully pure in one direction or the other; an altruist has a lesser, selfish side, and an egoist has a lesser, compassionate side.”

“Except for me.” He stretched his arms behind his back, grunting in uncaring satisfaction. “That’s obvious enough, right?”

“... Are you sure?”

He glared at me, arms still behind himself, before rolling his eyes dramatically.

“I’d like to ask how you came to this point, Jo... How you came to these beliefs about the world.”

“They’re facts, not beliefs, but...” He threw his hands up, shook his head, and leaned his weight onto one side. “You want a backstory drop, right?”

“Whatever that means, go for it.”

“Well... Sorry to say, but I’ve lived a super normal life until very recently. In fact, I only really figured out how the world works super recently, a month or two before I met Monoyaki.”

“I’m still here!” Monoyaki said, waving his arms around.

“Yeah, yeah... See, there isn’t some dumb event or trauma or whatever that made me feel this way. I just sat down and thought about it for a while, and came to the conclusion. That simple.” He yawned, hand over his mouth.

“And you never thought like this up until that point?”

“Not at all. Weird how that works, huh? I guess my brain’s predisposed to a certain way of seeing things, and so’s yours.”

I did consider the possibility that he was lying about how he come to his worldview, but I don’t know why he’d do that. If he just realised it out of nowhere, then maybe he had a point that some people were naturally more selfish... But again, he kept saying that most altruists were just acting out of self-preservation, so...

“All of that aside... I still don’t think that you can split people into two distinct groups like that, especially since your logic isn’t consistent, what with how all selfless actions are apparently selfish at heart.”

“Gweh, fine. You sure are good at convincing people of things, huh? That’ll be useful in the future, ahaha. So, shall we wrap things up?”

“Wait... I just need to sum up my thoughts on our philosophical tangent.”

“For crying out loud, you won’t remember any of this.”

“It’s just... If there’s only one human nature... And that nature is to serve one’s self at the behest of others... Then... Hey, wait.” I was motionless for about five seconds or so. I didn’t quite believe it myself, but I think I had it figured out, so... Might as well get it out before all of this is an absent memory. “... We may be individualists by nature... But who’s to say we can’t fight against that nature?”

“Hmm, well, you can fight against it as much as you want, but I’m pretty sure you can never actually beat it.”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“... Mind if I prove you wrong?”

“You’ve proven me right enough times now, girl.”

“You can demonstrate a theory being right as many times as you like... Once you demonstrate it to be wrong just once, it’s disproven for good!”

“Get on with it then.” He responded, averting his gaze as he fiddled around with his ‘cat ears’. “How are you even supposed to demonstrate your point?”

“Same way you demonstrated yours. All I have to do is prove to every person here that, not only do they have it in them to coexist and assist each other as a group, but that they’ve already done so in the past. That would be enough to convince you, right?”

“Have your fun.” He sat down, cross legged and observing me, occasionally licking his hands in a cat-like manner.

I adjusted my beret again, a moment in time to reassure myself that I was capable of doing whatever I had just said. Truth is, it was a spur of the moment proposition, but there was no longer any time to back down. Surveying again the faces of my classmates, I was doubtful that they’d even hear me if I called out to them, but was that going to stop me from trying?

[13]

“Alright...” I looked to my left, where the closest living student stood next to me, expressionless. “Can you hear me, Cody?”

His eyes contracted as I spoke, and he nodded while he continued to look down at nothing. It was a relief to know that I was able to get through at all, but I’d have to think and communicate quickly if I’d have any chance at pulling this off.

“I’ll try to be straightforward... What Jo’s said to you is based mostly on the idea that selfless actions are performed only for self-preservation or just to ‘feel good’. All he did was bring up your past to make you emotionally vulnerable, so he could sway you easier. It’s a trick, please see through it!”

“I guess he tricked me into seeing the truth or something.” He spoke markedly slowly and almost absentmindedly. “The result matters more than the method, I guess. I’ve never been able to trust anybody, anyway, so I haven’t done anything for anybody. Makes sense?”

“But for you to go as far as to threaten suicide in order to try and undo what you thought you’d done wrong... Were there no feelings of guilt?”

“It was a bluff. I only did it to try and get the class to vote for me.”

“And that would have been a self-sacrifice! Even if you were wrong in regards to Amber’s killer, your intentions were completely in the right!”

“... Why would I even do that?...”

“... Well, why wouldn’t you?”

“... Yeah. Ahaha. No reason not to. Just the right thing to do, yeah?”

“Sure.”

Cody’s lips trembled a little, the sort of bare smile that didn’t mind an early death or a short life preceding it. The sort that somehow persevered in it all.

“Suuuuure. How cute.” Jo was now lying down, and apparently cared enough to callously interrupt, though feigning an uncaring attitude. The sarcasm honestly forced me to hesitate, questioning if anything I had said was even real, but...

“Hey, Mia?”

“Hey, Jane.” A good start, lifting her head to pay a morsel of attention to me, though Mia barely ever paid super close attention to people.

“Hi. So, if I can try and get on your wavelength for a moment? You’re worried that you don’t seem to really care for or trust anybody right now, right?”

“Stop talking like a psychologist, it’s weird...”

“Sorry, but there’s really no way we can get to the problem if we can’t talk about it.”

“Nah... It’s too late to try and change anything. It’s been spelled out to me, and the only thing I can think of is how dumb I was not to notice. There’s no point in trying...”

“Come on, Mia, you’re better than this... Can you at least listen to me for a few more seconds?”

“Fine, go ahead...”

“Well... If I have to be concise, what someone wants isn’t always what someone needs, yeah?”

“... Huh?...”

“In reference to Terry, at least. He was worried about being made useless if there was a machine that was able to do all of his work, but he clearly wouldn’t have been able to just work forever without stopping, right? Machines might break down sometimes, but it’s worse when humans break down. He really did need a break, and if he wanted, he could have just started working again and have you deactivate his replica. Whatever the case, you knew that he needed something he didn’t want, and you went out of your way to help him. That’s not something you’d do if you really didn’t care at all, right?”

“... Sure?” She looked up at the dark, empty ceiling, lost for a bit. “... Sure... Hey, that makes a lot of sense. Th... Thanks.”

“Mm. I think that’s good enough...” I murmured to myself.

“It’s enough for you, ahaha.” Jo nodded, apparently hearing me. I guess the meaning of ‘enough’ can vary depending on the context. Nevermind, there’s no time to get sidetracked, I need to move on to what’s probably the hardest nut to crack of the bunch. (... I probably shouldn’t call him a nut, but we’re all mad down here by this point.)

“Now, how do I start this... I’d like to have... A conversation, with you. You, as in, Dan. Hello?”

“I’m not deaf.”

“That’s good.”

“... Go on?”

“Uh, I guess I should start by asking... What’s... Troubling you?”

“Nothing.” He unceremoniously returned to drooping in place, and I cursed under my breath.

“Well, you can tell that something’s different about you all of a sudden, right?!”

“Loud.”

“Ghh...” I was beginning to think that he hadn’t really changed at all, which raised the question of what I was even trying to do here. If I needed to figure out what’s really wrong with him myself... Jo seemed to be done with him after he accepted that his void-based cosmic theory or whatever was null and void, so... What, am I supposed to re-convince him of something I never even agreed with? There’s got to be another solution...

I tensed up, and took a slow, quiet breath.

“You don’t need the answers to everything, Dan.”

“... Because nobody has them, right?”

“No- I mean, that too, but... You need to take time to be... Open-minded and stuff, yeah? Don’t convince yourself that you ever have all the answers at any one point, and then you won’t come across as full of yourself.”

He lifted his head to gaze at me. I saw his eyebrows arch downward, a crossness I didn’t think he was capable of.

“Try taking your own advice.”

I tensed up just a little bit further, hoping he’d elaborate. His stare seemed to judge me for not knowing what he was referring to.

“All I can say is that, of all the people who were dismissive about my beliefs, you’ve been the most vocal. That’s not even getting in to the sort of attitude you showed me before I changed... Your sighs, your quips, your general exasperation when faced with someone who just needed reassurance from fear and anxiety... I really don’t think you’re the best figure to take advice from. I never wanted to say this outright, but since we have nothing left to lose, might as well.”

“... Shit, I...”

“Even if you became more serious about the killing game and the wellbeing of others once people actually started to die, I could tell that you only lost more and more faith in the class as time went on, until it was just about keeping Lucy and yourself safe. I’m sorry for your loss, by the way.”

...

“Thank you.”

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“... Just to ask for forgiveness.”

“Go on?”

“I can’t. I’d just repeat what you already said. Don’t feel pressured to forgive me, anyway. It’s your choice.”

“... Hm. Why did you start talking to me again?”

“I’m not entirely sure how to put it into words, but I guess I just wanted to reach out a hand or something.”

“I wasn’t falling.”

“A hand’s a hand. Take it or leave it.”

“... There’s nothing to lose and nothing to gain. It’s arbitrary. But if it reduces each other’s suffering, I have no option but to minimise that suffering. I suppose that means you’re forgiven.”

“That’s good, that’s... That’s super.” I smiled, a little involuntarily since I still had to keep a level head, but whatever, things were actually going really, really great? I mean, I had already lost sight of why I started convincing everyone that Jo was wrong about this stuff in the first place. Maybe it was out of spite or something... Maybe it was something more.

If it really was something more, the least I could do was to extend it to Archie.

“Don’t bother.” Said a muffled and strained voice, and it’s Archie’s voice. I was caught off guard, needless to say, but within a moment I was already starting to question how he knew what I was thinking. I mean, since he was the only one left, it was obvious enough what had to happen next, but... The others didn’t seem aware of their surroundings until being directly addressed. Something was different about him.

“How much have you been able to hear?” I asked, perhaps a little too direct, but there was no dancing around it.

“Doesn’t matter. Please stop trying Jane. Please, I don’t want you to hurt yourself any further.”

“How exactly am I hurting myself? If I really have to die, lying down and rotting seems a lot less desirable than standing up for what’s right one last time.”

“I don’t understand.”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

...

“... Please elaborate, Jane.”

“I... I don’t see how to be any more direct than that.”

“So you really don’t get it, huh...” Finally, he lifted his face, dampened with saltwater, and blinked a few times as he hesitantly lowered it again by a miniscule margin, before shakily assuming an upright standing position. “... I should be where you are now. Y’know?... Your situation.”

“You’re talking about... Jo’s choice to spare me and erase my memories, right?”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“... I guess I wouldn’t have been able to complete every trial without you, yes, so...”

[14]

“It doesn’t go the other way though, Jane. Sorry. Every point you made, and every realisation you had... Every time I can remember, I already had it figured out. I just didn’t see the need to say it, since you’re, well... Louder. You have more charisma, so it was easier to let you handle things in the short term. I guess I get to die because of that now. Good job, I guess.”

... His tone wasn’t as empty as it could be. I could hear an inch of pain, a faltering plea for help. Even so, I could tell that he meant what he was saying. Maybe I would have felt the same way he does, but considering that, in all honesty, Archibald never seemed to make a connection with anybody... Yet, he apologises to me. He says that he doesn’t want me to exert myself pointlessly. I can’t tell if he’s even felt like that about somebody before, but I can tell it’s significant enough that the poor boy isn’t able to hide it.

So I figured that the best thing to do was to just go ahead and prove my point.

“If you’d like, I could give you my spot.”

“That’s not in your power, is it?”

“I could purposefully break one of the school regulations, like attacking the headmaster, and I’d receive whatever lethal punishment he has in store. Then Jo would have no choice but to brainwash you instead of me.”

“N-no, that’s okay...”

“I’m serious. I don’t have anything or anybody left, and let’s face it, I don’t have much to bring to the world, either. You’d thrive the best out of any of us, even if you didn’t have anybody to rely on, right?”

“Jane, stop...”

“Sorry, I’ve already made up my mind... This is goodbye, Archie-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“N-no!” He squeaked, hand outstretched as he took one step forward... Then he caught his breath, and stared at me.

“... You don’t want me to die, Archibald. I don’t want you to die either. Thing is, neither of us deserve to be in either of our places right now. Things are the way they are. Is that really enough to make us forget why we even came this far, though?... As many times as you tell yourself that you were willing to kill someone... It won’t change the fact that you didn’t. That’s made all the difference, hasn’t it?”

As I finished speaking, he was still in that same pose. It took a bit for him to process what I had told him, but once it finally worked itself out...

“... You’re not wrong... I just don’t think there’s anything left to say.”

“Me neither. Well, I guess there’s one more thing I could ask, it’s a bit stupid, but. Uh.” I cleared my throat. “... We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah. You’re... You’re my friend.” He smiled for the second time I’d ever seen, as if he’d never said those words before.

[15]

“... Awwwww! How ADORABLE!” Jo put his hands to his cheeks, softly sighed, and leapt to his feet. “Cute, cute, cute. That was pretty fun, huh?”

“...Really? What’s your definition of fun?”

“Hmm, well that was initially just me being sarcastic, but, yeah, it actually was a bit fun watching you all squirm and ramble and convince yourselves of your happy little hopes and dreams and stuff. You’ve made up your mind, I won’t try and convince you any longer, how’s that?...” He stretched his arms for a few second, twisting his neck around, before looking around at us with a little smile. “Anyways...

[16]

You’re all still gonna die, sorry.”

“Ah-...”

Shit. I got so carried away that I forgot that all of this bickering was just me trying to prove a point. There’s nothing stopping Jo from doing what he’s about to do, as always, so... Was there a point to any of this?...

... Yes. There’s meaning in everything, even the most dull and draining aspects of the universe exist for a reason. If it didn’t, then why would it even be there?...

I probably should have felt defeated, and completely empty, and yet, even in what was practically the worst case scenario imaginable, I somehow felt like I’d seized the day. Jo could have killed all of us, and made me his slave, but he still would not have won.

Maybe by his definition of winning, sure. Whether or not I could change his mind on a single thing, it was only right that I ejected the contents of my thoughts, as that was the only time I had to do it.

This thought process I just outlined happened in about a split second.

[17]

“So, Jo, I guess you’re just a sore loser, huh?”

“Mweh?” With an all too audible purr, he tilted his head and flanked at me? “Nice bait. You’re not buying time, just wasting it.”

“Same goes for you.”

“So edgy, tsk tsk. I won’t even ask you to explain the rationale behind me ‘losing’ since you clearly don’t have one.” He raised an eyebrow and paused. There’s no way he meant what he just said, he was enjoying every moment of what he thought of as my desperate throes preceding my submission. He wanted to hear the most hollow justification he’d ever heard, as eager as ever to play with me like yarn on a string.

“... If you can’t convince us of your worldview, how are you going to convince the entire world?”

“Go on?~” His smug expression twitched ever so slightly.

“That’s it. It’s not any more complicated than that.”

“Heheh, sure, you can’t convince everyone on the planet. You just have to convince the important people, and make sure the people you can’t convince don’t even realise that you’re controlling them. Which is, you know, what I’m going to do with you, go figure.”

“But it’s the fact that you had to resort to wiping my memories and killing all of us... It betrays everything you’ve espoused today.” I felt my joints tighten a little, a little more each second, my voice growing louder without even thinking about it. “... If the entire world boils down to a competition between isolated, self-serving creatures... And the most efficient way to dominate that competition is to convince everyone else to bend the knee to you without using force... Then it’s impossible for you to ever reach your goal! No matter what, you’ll always encounter opposition, you’ll always have to deal with people violently, as you already have, and sure, maybe that’ll keep people from ever opposing you again. Maybe people will follow you out of fear, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll actually manage to control the entire planet’s wealth and population... But as long as there’s one person who doesn’t bend the knee... One person who has the will to resist... Then you’ll never win, Jo. Because you can’t. People like you have come and gone, and they’ll come and go still, for hundreds of years to come... But humanity can never truly be conquered!”

“Holy shit, you’re dumb. One person? One person!” The boy stumbled and laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. “Ahaha, why should I give a shit? One person who doesn’t like me much who has literally no power whatsoever and can’t even express his grievances. That’s actually really funny that you think that matters somehow. Yeah... Maybe it’s time to wrap this up-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“But it won’t just be one person, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just-”

“And do you want to know why?”

“Stop-”

“Because of love.”

“... Wow, we’re actually going there? That’s s-super clichéd.”

[18]

“And there’s a good reason why it’s clichéd, it’s because it’s true! Love is what separates us from machinery, what drives us to build a better world, what brings us together to live in harmony... I won’t go on too long, but, Jo... If it wasn’t for love, none of us would be here right now. None of our parents would ever have locked eyes, and given us existence!”

“Yeah, and they spent all of their time caring for children who would never give a thing back to them! ‘Love’ isn’t real, Jane. Come on, can’t you see it’s just emotions blinding them into doing pointless shit?”

“And they were blinded by love! Even when something makes no sense from a logical standpoint, it’s blindness that forces them to do what’s best for everyone else, what’s best for the world! You can take as many things as you want for yourself, and hurt as many people as you need to, but you won’t snuff out the fire of love!”

“Look, can you actually shut the hell up?! I never said that I was trying to reprogram people to think like me, you’re just pointing out how everyone else is an idiot, and you think that’s going to convince me that they’re right and I’m wrong?!”

“... I know you made your mind up a long time ago. All I want to do is give you something to think about... Think about what it’s all for. What’s the point of gaining control over everything when you lose it all in death?”

“You lose all your ‘friends’ in death, too! Oh wait, no, that’s already happened, and you’re still alive! That must hurt an AWFUL lot, no?!”

“At least I had friends in the first place.”

“SHUT UP! Shut up, Jane! Nothing you’re saying is true at all, and, and.. Stop, stop, stop, stop, this is dumb... I’m going to a-achieve my goals by any means necessary, and, and it’s going to be FINE and I’m NOT going to fail because I’m SMART and I’m CHARISMATIC and...”

“And you can’t even convince a bunch of teenagers that you’re in the right. Maybe it’s because you aren’t in the right?”

“... So... You’re actually telling me... That your little ideal society, your entire proposed plan for the world, it’s not built on the back of people like me who try hard to earn their rightful place in control of humanity... It’s all hastily stuck together with ‘love’. That’s not real. Love’s not real! Not real not real NOT REAL! OKAY?! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP-”

“Love is all you need.”

“...”

... For the first time ever, Jo Leary seemed to break character. I can only guess that he had forgotten what his actual personality was even like underneath the layers of abrasive arrogance he’d wrapped himself in, but as the sweat poured down his cheek and he failed to steady his breathing, I could see that he was actually considering what I said for just a moment. A few more moments, and then a few more.

A regretful head turn, gazing at the floor...

... And, not wanting to spoil the show, he grinned his usual grin once again.

“Congratulations. You did it. You really aren’t kitten around, little girl... Maybe... If I really can’t trick you now, who’s to say I can control you without your memories as well?... Ah, whose time am I wasting? Blah blah blah blah blah, I’ll get straight to the point, if I can’t wrap the world around my finger, I might as well quit while I’m ahead!~”

Jo cocked his head to the side and pointed at Monoyaki, who was leaning at the edge of his seat. Monoyaki tilted his head for a moment, before his eyes widened.

“You don’t mean?...”

“I meown.”

“... You wanna make it big, right?”

“Bigger than everyone else’s, at least.”

“Uwehe, sure, no skin off my back.” The little devil straightened out his posture and swung his gavel in the air. “I don’t QUITE have an execution prepared for the Ultimate Actor, per se, but we’ll figure it out as we go along! That’s right, at long last... IT’S PUUUUUUNISHMENT TIME!!!”

[19]

Hanging lights focused on a single spot, and rolling cameras from all angles. Jo had his back turned to all of them, stretching his arms, and turned around with his usual smirk, not even bothering to look into the cameras that he was much too good for. As he did so, the walls of the set opened up behind him, showing that the set was a good deal off the ground, and below it were five more sets; a music stage with an audience full of masked fangirls, a gold-adorned palace with a set of gallows, an unassuming and messy bedroom, a belt of rubbish with an incinerator, and a damp and grey field. Jo, still trying to get the little aches and kinks out of his limbs, walked backwards towards the edge, and, stopping with his back to the air, finally looked into the camera, and shrugged with a smile.

**THE FUNERAL CUT**

Within a moment, he flung himself off, howling with laughter.

**STARDOM STAMPEDE, TAKE 2**

Jo, in a grey suit and a black wig, sinking and being trampled by countless overstimulated maidens, smiled from the attention despite the grievous bodily harm.

**THE COUNTER-COUNTER REVOLUTION, TAKE 2**

Jo, donning a dark green uniform and a little red book, waved to the camera with a raised chin, as the wood gave out beneath him, the rope nearly breaking as it tightened.

**MOTIONLESS MARATHON, TAKE 2**

Jo, with a mask, jumper, and flowing black hair, sat constricted and forced to type away at a keyboard by various robotic arms, though he slept quite peacefully within their hold.

**CHORE LIST’S FINAL ENTRY, TAKE 2**

Jo, in a maid’s dress with pure white leggings and a flower in his hair, fell to the flames as he flashed a grin, arms out like a flying squirrel.

**FAKE SOLDIER VS. AUTHENTIC WAR MACHINE, TAKE 2**

Cuffed to the metal wall in a bright red bicarb and coat, as the machine guns took their aim at him, Jo gave one final smirk, as if he had planned everything to turn out like this. The guns revved up, and the boy yawned loudly, before they unloaded their entire round into him. Five seconds and he was gone. The set was empty.

... And after it was all done, we looked at each other with no really interesting expressions, just looking at each other.

Jo was dead. What were we even supposed to say?

Apparently not much, since Monoyaki was already standing up and packing a suitcase with a bunch of blank white sheets, apparently his belongings, but I guess he was just trying to send a message. He whistled as he packed up, the casual whistle you do after killing ten teenagers.

Once the suitcase was all sealed up, the goat gave each of us a long, hard look, supposedly because he loved our faces so much, I don’t know. But he was smiling, ever so slightly more than he usually did.

“I bet you’re all feeling on top of the world right now just because one little powermonger’s died prematurely. But I’ve been around for a long, long time. I’ve done this before, and I’ll do it again. But, it didn’t have to be this way, uwehehe...” He picked up the case in both hands, held it in front of him, kicked his empty juicebox on the floor, and let his crimson eye sparkle a little. “I was born out of the greediness of mankind. So long as men exist, so will I... Buh-bye!”

And he was gone.

No Monoyaki, no killing game.

What did that even mean? No killing game? I had a life before this, and I mean, of course it happened, and of course I remembered it, but I think I had given up on trying to get out of here at some point. It was less about getting out and more about getting revenge for-

... Lucy’s gone. It actually hit me. I wasn’t able to let it hit me since I had to hang on for dear life throughout that day, I had to be strong for everyone else, yadda ya. But that didn’t change the fact that she was gone.

It felt like she was still standing in that spot across the room, the pedestal she was always in, waiting for the trial to finish so we could see each other the next morning. There was a portrait of her, at least.

...

“Jane, I think we’re leaving now.”

I felt Archie poke my side, and I nodded in acknowledgement. I figured that everyone else had boarded the lift at this point, but I wasn’t ready to leave.

... But if I didn’t ever leave, then what was the point of surviving?

... She wouldn’t have wanted that. She would have been proud of me.

“Jane?”

“Y-yes. Coming.” I turned to walk to the lift, but my head kept facing the portraits. Not only Lucy’s, but the whole lot of them. I guess that could just as easily have been my picture up there. I felt like I could have had so many more thoughts about every boy and girl whose faces I was seeing for the last time, not even in the flesh, but a mere record of what once was, and yet, just as fleeting as their lives were, the doors of the lift suddenly sealed off the court of Wish’s Apex for the last time.

Continued in Epilogue.