At first glance, Jerome was a fearsome bacca to behold. He towered over everyone, intimidating those who didn't know him with his muscular figure. However, underneath all that was a heart of gold. His smile, although baring large fangs, was always friendly. Jerome had been loyal and always wanted to protect his friends and family. To see him like this... Dead and lifeless...

Murdered and betrayed...

Seto's heart dropped the moment he heard the announcement. So Ryan had been right after all... Another murder had taken place...

"Jerome's... dead?" Tyler whispered in disbelief.

The initial shock of seeing Jerome's body gave way to terrible realization.

"Oh god, not again!" Annie shrieked, horrified.

"No... No..." Bonks said quietly, shaking her head as she trembled on the spot. "This can't be happening..."

Seto moved towards the body, but then stopped once he realized that he was about to step in puddles of blood which had lapped up onto the deck. Once again, he couldn't suppress the shiver of horror that shook his whole body. There was so much blood... blood that had been shed from his murdered friend...

Steven was clinging onto Bart and Dave, unable to speak for a few moments before finding his voice. "This- This can't be real!" he cried out. "How can Jerome be dead?!"

"Is little Stevie here in denial?" MonoWither asked mockingly, appearing out of nowhere. "Get in the water for a closer look and maybe you'll see that it's the real deal!" MonoWither flew towards the body, but then Mitch reached over and lifted a diamond sword from the ground. The towel slipped onto the floor as he stood up.

Seto's face paled. "Mitch?!"

Mitch said nothing. His face did not change one bit as he mechanically stepped towards MonoWither. Blood (Jerome's blood to be exact) dripped from the blade as he pointed the sword at the machine with a trembling hand. Everyone moved backwards, startled and afraid.

"What do you think you're doing, Mitch?" MonoWither demanded. "Are you threatening us? You're getting dangerously close to violating Show Regulation #5! Put that sword down or you'll end up like Jerome!"

Mitch's resolve did not waver one bit.

"We'll give you the count of three! One..."

Ryan entered the room, having gathered everyone else, and gasped. "Mitch, what the fuck are you doing?!" he exclaimed, rushing over to his side. Ryan placed his hand on Mitch's arm and tried to lower it, but Mitch's stance remained firm. "Come on, put that down!"

"Two..."

"Give it to me, goddamnit! You're not going to die too!" Ryan uncurled Mitch's fingers from the hilt and took the sword from him before placing it back on the floor. Mitch didn't resist; he just let his arm drop limply to his side. Tears of grief and anger trickled slowly down his blank, shell-shocked face.

It suddenly occurred to Seto that Mitch had been trying to guard the corpse of his friend from everyone, not just MonoWither.

"Close call there!" MonoWither declared. "Remember, violence is never the answer unless you're trying to end this show! Which, as you can see before you, someone is definitely trying to do!"

"Someone killed Jerome?!" Bodil shrieked hysterically.

MonoWither cackled. "Wow Bodil, for the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Traceur, you're quite slow! Anyway, you guys know what to do now! It's time to start investigating! And, just like last time, here's a gift from us to you!" MonoWither passed a tablet to Seto. "It's the second MonoWither File! Hopefully this will help you during the investigation! Now go do your Sherlock Holmes shenanigans and whatnot. Good luck!"

With that, MonoWither left the crime scene.

"I thought we'd never have to go through this a second time..." Jordan murmured as he balled his hands into fists and looked away.

"Wh-Why?" Husky asked quietly as he stared at Jerome's corpse lying in the pool. "Why did this have to happen again?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ashley replied, gritting her teeth. "Someone here gave in to MonoWither's motive. Someone here murdered Jerome because of it."

"But who would do such a thing?!" Jason asked, panicking. "Who would murder Jerome?! Why would they kill him?!"

"Stop." Everyone fell silent as they turned to Seto. "Everyone needs to calm down. We're wasting time. This is neither the time nor the place to be letting our emotions get the best of us, even though..." Seto looked down at Jerome and swallowed painfully. "...even though Jerome's dead. We cannot mourn now. We need to focus on finding clues that will lead us to the killer." Seto turned to Ryan. "Ryan, please tell us what happened and how you found the body."

Ryan stared at the floor, tears gathering in his eyes. "L-Last night... the three of us were staying in Mitch's room... and then we decided to sleep. I think in the middle of the night I heard something because I woke up at around... I don't know, it was too dark to see the clock. Mitch was still asleep next to me. But I saw Jerome standing in the middle of the room for some reason. I remember asking him what he was doing, but he just told me to go back to sleep, so I did..."

A shadow crossed Ryan's face. "When I woke up again, it was around 6:00. I realized that Jerome wasn't in the room anymore, so I panicked and woke up Mitch. We started checking the first floor, but he wasn't there, so we went up to the second floor. I took one look in the pool, and then... I saw..." Ryan swallowed and meekly raised a quivering finger to point at the body before dropping his arm limply by his side. "Mitch tried to get the body, but I had to stop him so he wouldn't destroy the crime scene... You- You might not believe me but... that's what happened..."

There was silence as everyone processed these words.

Seto closed his eyes for a moment. "...Thank you, Ryan." The sorcerer scanned the crowd. "We don't have any more time to lose. Who will guard the crime scene?"

"I will," Ryan muttered, his face hardening with determination. "It's the only thing I can do right now, isn't it? Besides, I'll do anything to catch Jerome's killer, no matter what... I'll make them pay for what they've done..." Without waiting for a response, he carefully steered Mitch over to the nearby bench and sat him down. Ryan found another towel and wrapped it around the shivering man, who weakly clung onto it, before taking his seat beside him. His blue eyes glared at the group, as if daring them to defy him.

Seto nodded sadly. "I guess that settles it. And... like last time... some of you will have to leave to find more clues outside."

There was a pause before several people gradually filed out of the room. In the end, Mitch, Ryan, Bonks, Husky, Jordan, and Tyler were left.

Seto turned on the tablet, which had "MonoWither File #2" on the screen, and swiped up to show an outline of Jerome's body. Bloodstains covered most of his chest area. The text next to the figure said, "The victim is Jerome, the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Axe Wielder. His body was found in the pool at approximately 7:13 am. He was killed by a stab wound to the right side of his chest and died from rapid blood loss lasting a few minutes. There were no other injuries sustained before death."

"Maybe we should take the body out now..." Jordan murmured.

With great reluctance, Seto reached out and used his magic to pull the corpse up to the surface. Husky and Jordan managed to haul the bacca's body (which was considerably heavier than normal) up onto the deck, gingerly positioning him so that he was lying flat on his back.

Jerome's face was strangely serene, and there was even a slight smile on his lips. It almost looked like he was still alive, but his wide eyes were far too vacant and his body was far too limp. This was only a lifeless husk of their fallen friend.

"Seto?" Tyler asked quietly as he knelt down beside Jerome's body. "Should I search his pockets?"

Seto stooped down as well. "That would be a good idea," he murmured in reply.

Tyler reached into Jerome's right pocket and pulled out a small black box. He held it in his hand, staring at it with bewilderment. Seto's face paled. "Is... Is that...?"

Tyler trembled as he slowly pried the box open. A diamond ring was inside. Everyone stopped and turned to stare at it.

"I'm really hoping that after all this, I can see Louise again," Jerome said, chuckling sadly. "There's something I've been meaning to tell her..."

Mitch patted Jerome's shoulder. "Like I told you before, I'm sure you'll get the chance to tell her soon enough..."

Bonks audibly gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Husky averted his eyes, clenching his teeth. Ryan balled his hands into fists, his fingernails digging into his palms.

Poor Mitch's vacant expression did not seem to change at all.

"It's tragic," Jordan said quietly, pain aching in his hollow voice, "but there's nothing we can do."

Seto nodded slowly. "...You're right," he murmured in reply.

Tyler reached into Jerome's other pocket and took out his e-Handbook and room key. "There doesn't seem to be anything else..." he murmured. "Oh- Oh wait a minute, here's something." Tyler pulled out a small piece of paper, which was totally soaked. He delicately placed the paper on the floor, trying not to tear it.

"Can you still read it?" Seto asked. "Or is it too smudged?"

Tyler pursed his lips as he squinted his eyes, adjusting his glasses with one hand. "I... I think I can see it..."

Seto sighed. "I'll read it." He scanned the note, which fortunately for them seemed to have been written with a pencil and thus hadn't bled in the water.

Jerome,

Read this letter alone in your room and make sure that the camera can't see what I've written here.

I wrote this letter instead of telling you outright so that whoever's controlling MonoWither won't find out what we're planning. I've decided that you should meet me in the pool area at around 5:00 am tonight. I doubt the mastermind behind all of this will be watching us then, they'll probably be sleeping. What I wanted to say earlier was that one of steel plates covering the window by the pool doesn't seem to be screwed on tightly enough. With your strength, maybe we could break out of here! It's worth a shot, right?

I know this probably sounds suspicious, especially after the motive, but please trust me on this. You know I'd have no reason to kill you. You already know my secret, since I told everybody. So please believe me! If we can escape this place, we can all be saved! Don't you want to leave?

I hope you'll trust me on this, although I'll understand if you don't. But this might be our only chance, our only hope...

"It wasn't signed..." Seto pointed out.

"That- That was so obviously a lie..." Bonks whispered.

"How could Jerome have fallen for something like this? It doesn't make sense!" Husky asked.

"Yeah, Jerome would have been much more careful than that," Tyler said quietly.

"He must have trusted that person," Jordan muttered. "The letter does say that the writer told all of us their secrets. Jerome must have thought they had nothing to hide..."

Bonks glanced at Seto quickly before looking away, her face unreadable. Seto bit his lip, guilt weighing heavy on his heart.

"Wow, a steel plate wasn't screwed on tightly enough?" MonoWither suddenly cut in. "That's news to us! Who the hell wrote this bullcrap in the first place?! What kind of hosts do they think we are?! Not screwing on a plate tightly enough?! Only careless hosts would do that!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ryan yelled.

MonoWither promptly went silent.

"You... stupid robot..." Ryan whispered in a deadly voice. Then he shook his head. "Seriously, that's not important! What's important is that the killer told everybody their secret, right?" Ryan asked, a dark expression on his face. "Who told everyone their secret again?"

"That would be Jason, Jerome, Tyler, and Seto..." Bonks whispered. "And Jerome's already dead..."

The two who happened to be in the room both flinched. "N-No! Wait!" Tyler shrieked. "It wasn't me, I didn't-"

"Sure Tyler, that doesn't sound suspicious at all!" Ryan yelled back. "You even showed everyone your secret, right? You wanted to really drive in the fact that you supposedly had nothing to hide, right?!" His breathing grew heavier. "You're the SDML Drama Actor, aren't you? That means you could easily pretend to be totally innocent..."

"No, no I wouldn't!" Tyler insisted, wilting under Ryan's icy glare. "Please, Ryan! You have to believe me!"

"Why the fuck should I trust you?" Ryan shouted.

"Ryan, calm down and think rationally," Jordan murmured. "After all, Tyler is no different from Seto and Jason. They may not have shown anyone their papers directly, but still. Ganging up on one person won't solve anything."

"Oh, so you have proof he didn't kill Jerome?" Ryan asked.

"No, of course not," Jordan replied calmly. "And I don't have any proof he did, other than the fact that he told everyone his secret. The killer could very well be Seto or Jason instead. If we just focus on the investigation with a clear mind, then maybe we'll find the killer."

Ryan clenched his jaw and growled. "Fine... But I'm keeping an eye on you two, Seto and Tyler... I'm watching you very carefully..."

"Ah! As expected of the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Warden!" MonoWither remarked excitedly. "We're sure that nothing will escape your attention, just like how you didn't notice Jerome was about to leave the room because he had fallen into the killer's trap-"

"Shut up shut up shut up shut UP!!!" Ryan shrieked hysterically, a vein on the side of his temple twitching erratically.

Seto began to wonder if Ryan was starting to lose his mind completely...

...but then again, after seeing Jerome's body like that along with hearing what MonoWither had so cruelly pointed out, who could blame him?

"Anyway, Jordan's right!" MonoWither continued, heedless of Ryan's words. "Stop wasting time and hurry up with the investigation! Your friends are already making great progress while you're here just messing around!" The machine promptly disappeared.

Husky swallowed nervously. "Let's... continue then..." he whispered.

"We should start investigating the other rooms," Jordan suggested. "I will take the weight room."

"I'll do the locker rooms," Husky said.

Seto stood up. "Tyler and I are going to investigate the infirmary."

"No you can't!" Ryan yelled. "Both of you are suspects! You can't leave my sight! You're staying here! Bonks can go investigate there!"

"We don't have much time left, and we'll need all the help we can get," Bonks pointed out. "If you want, they can come with me. I'm not a suspect."

Ryan glowered at her. "...Fine."

All of them dispersed, moving quickly to make up for lost time.

"Thanks Bonks," Tyler said after Ryan was out of earshot.

"No problem," Bonks replied.

Seto had the feeling that saying something would make things more awkward. How could he apologize to her like this? Furthermore, why hadn't Bonks said a single thing to anyone about what he'd tried to do?

Seto suddenly stopped walking when his foot collided against a plastic bucket lying by the pool. What in the...

"Oh, there were some of those in the women's locker room!" Bonks exclaimed. "MonoWither told me that there were some in the men's locker room too, for 'ice bucket challenges' and 'imaginary sandcastles' or something like that..."

"What's one doing here though?" Tyler asked.

Seto noticed that there were still moist droplets clinging to the sides of the bucket. "...not sure," he replied. "Let's keep going."

They reached the infirmary. "All right, I'm going to help Husky with the locker rooms," Bonks said.

"What? Why?" Tyler asked, confused.

"He didn't realize that only a girl can check the girl's locker room," Bonks replied.

"But aren't you supposed to make sure we don't do anything since we're suspects?"

"I trust that at least one of you isn't the killer," Bonks said, glancing quickly at Seto. Tyler didn't notice, but Seto did. Did this mean...

...did this mean that Bonks realized Seto couldn't be the killer?

Bonks walked away, leaving Tyler and Seto behind.

"That's a little weird, but oh well!" Tyler said. "I hope Ryan doesn't notice, or he'll flip..."

"Yeah, we should hurry," Seto said. He pulled out his e-Handbook and scanned it. The scanner flashed green before the door unlocked. Seto pushed open the door and the two entered the room.

"Um, Seto?" Tyler asked. "I was just wondering... why'd you want me to come with you?"

"Because I think the infirmary is the most important room that could have clues," Seto replied.

"What makes you say that?"

"...I just have a gut feeling. Plus, there's a lot of supplies a killer could use in the infirmary, ironically," Seto said. "Anyway, start looking around for anything that looks out of place."

"Like this?" Tyler asked, pointing into the trash can.

Seto looked into the container and saw a bunch of discarded tissues inside. "What about that?" he asked.

"That's a lot of tissues..." Tyler muttered as he picked up the trash can and dumped its contents out. An empty packet of blood that had been hidden underneath the tissues fell out.

"...Huh," Seto remarked.

"What does it mean?" Tyler questioned. "Why would-"

"Don't ask, just find as many clues as possible," Seto said as he quickly took a photo of the blood packet using his e-Handbook.

"Y-Yeah, investigate first, wait for the trial..." Tyler said.

Seto walked over to the potion cabinet and looked inside. They were all still in orderly rows on the shelves, and none were missing. It didn't seem like any of the potions had been taken from there. He took note of this and closed the cabinet.

He then walked by the gurneys, observing each one carefully by lifting each blanket and looking underneath. Seto stopped when he saw one in particular that caught his attention. "...Hey Tyler, could you take a look at this?"

"What?" Tyler asked, walking over to where Seto was standing.

"Notice anything strange about this?" Seto said, gesturing to the gurney.

"Uh... Not really?" Tyler admitted sheepishly.

"There's an imprint on the mattress," Seto remarked.

"Oh, you're right!" Tyler exclaimed. "I'm not going to ask what it means, though."

Seto gave him a wry smile before taking a photo of the gurney. He tried to resist the urge to piece the clues together. If he did it incorrectly, he could have a totally incorrect perspective on the whole matter.

Finally, he went into the bathroom and searched the shower room, but there was nothing worthy of note.

"Investigation time is over!" MonoWither announced over the speakers. "Now then, please head over to the basement entrance near the trash room!"

Seto felt panic build up within him. What if they'd missed something super important? What if they'd pay for it during the trial? What if-

"Let's get going," Tyler murmured.

 "Oh! Not yet!" MonoWither exclaimed as they suddenly appeared. "Seto here still needs to do something before the trial!"

"Do what?" Seto asked, squinting with suspicion.

"You still need to take a certain pill!" MonoWither pointed out. "Here, we have it for you!"

A brown pill suddenly popped out of the middle head's mouth and Seto caught it. "...what if I don't take it?" Seto questioned.

"Oh, well, defiance of the show's hosts isn't taken very well, if you know what we mean..." MonoWither said, their gleeful tone masking a rather menacing, deadly one.

"Seto... Just take it... It's not worth the risk..." Tyler whispered, afraid.

Seto glared at the machine before swallowing the pill dry. His face twisted with slight discomfort. "Fine. I took your stupid pill. Happy?"

"Yep yep yep! Now both of you head over to the basement entrance!" MonoWither said before disappearing.

~~~

The elevator shook as it descended down into the basement. The remaining 12 participants (along with Bart and Dave) stood there silently, each of them filled with nervousness of their impending fate. Seto gazed off into space, musing over the possible killer. He didn't have enough information though...

They'd made it through one trial, but could they survive another? Who would be the blackened one trying to escape while sacrificing their friends? Who would be capable of deceiving, betraying, and killing Jerome, the loyal one who'd done his best to protect and save everyone?

Why had this happened again?

The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. "Find your seats, everyone!" MonoWither ordered from their throne. They all obeyed. Ryan guided Mitch to his place before going to his.

This time, the courtroom walls were a cold and uninviting gray. It reminded Seto of a dark prison, trapping them all in this hellish place...

Seto noticed that Jerome's stand was now replaced by a black-and-white portrait of his face. The "X" consisted of two axes. "Hahaha!" MonoWither laughed. "Do you like what we did? We... axed out his face! Get it?"

No one laughed.

"Ugh, you're all so boring with no concept of true humor... Anyway, we are here to discuss the murder of Jerome, the Super Duper Minecrafter Level Axe Wielder. It's time for our Super Duper Minecrafter participants to solve this super duper mystery and find the super duper culprit of this super duper heinous crime! If they choose correctly, the blackened alone will be punished. But if they choose incorrectly, then they will all be punished, the blackened will be free to leave, and the show will end!" MonoWither recited. "Eeek! We're so excited we finally got here! We've been waiting for so long!" they squealed.

Seto continued to stare at Jerome's crossed-out portrait. None of them had thought they'd have to go through this again. Jerome himself probably never expected he'd be the next victim of this sick, twisted game that MonoWither was playing...

But he couldn't think about that right now. They couldn't change what had already happened. Musing about it at a time like this wasn't going to fix anything. Seto grit his teeth and hardened his resolve. He had to be focused. He had to, for Jerome. He had to bring his killer to justice, even if that killer was another precious friend of theirs...

It had to be done. There was no other way. Even if there was only despair waiting for them in the end, it had to be done...

MonoWither slammed the gavel down on the button. For the second time, the court was in session.