Nobody says a word as we all sit in the hotel lobby. How can we, anyway? What just happened... it's unbelievable. I can't- no, I refuse- to believe that Zeben wasn't real. How couldn't he be real? He looked real, he sounded real, and he interacted with us like a real person. There's no way he was just an ai. It's just not possible.

"How about I get a kettle on the stove?" Dana offers, breaking the silence. "Anyone have any preferred tea flavors before I go?"

Nothing. I wish I could tell her something just to make her feel slightly less ignored, but I can't find the words.

"...okay, then." She turns and walks away without another word.

She returns a few minutes later with a few mugs on a tray, and carefully passes them out. One sip from mine tells me that I've gotten jasmine tea. Not my ideal choice of tea, but surely Dana would've known that. I mean, she clearly didn't, but she's normally spot-on with beverage-matching.

"Well, this may not be an idea scenario," Evangeline says after a moment of sipping her steaming tea. "But I do truly believe that we are finished with murder and tragedy. After all, the last trial was a result of a simple accident. Clearly nobody wishes to hurt another anymore. Perhaps we can finally achieve balance on the island."

At the mention of balance, all eyes shift over to Iris. He's zoned out and hasn't said anything, but his hands are trembling with nervous energy. I mean, his beliefs have really been tested during our time here on the island, so I'm just worried he's going to have a breakdown at any given moment. Not that he hasn't already, obviously, but still. His lavender eyes finally re-focus, and he makes eye contact with Will before recoiling slightly.

"What's everyone looking at me for?" he snaps, jumping to his feet. "Are you all planning to finish the job? Inspired by Mononity? Or are you guys finally going to put the blackmail into play?"

"What? No, no of course not-" Dana stops when she realizes what he said. "...blackmail?"

Iris's expression darkens, and with a little too much aggression, he unzips his bag and pulls out a folded piece of paper. His grip is tight as he unfolds the paper and shoves it towards Dana.

Startled, she carefully reaches out and takes it, her eyes widening as she reads the writing. "Iris, you should've said something earlier! This is horrible!"

"So which one of you wrote it?" he demands. I see that familiar crazed gleam flickering to life in his eyes again.

"Can I see it?" I ask the barista, and she hands me the paper. As I skim the words, my heart sinks.

Dear Iris,

You never fail to amuse me. Ever since we arrived on this pathetic island, I've noticed something off about you. Something very off. Now, I'm not one to make assumptions, but I can see that something isn't right with you. And I've picked up on the way you react to themes of "balance" and "justice". Such reactions are telltale signs of a fixation. So to connect that to the mysterious chess boards that have plagued two crime scenes now, I believe it is safe to say that they are connected.

Here is what I want from you. If you wish for our foolish classmates to continue trusting you and treating you as a friend, then you will listen to me. Otherwise, I will make sure that you take the fall for me and there is no way for you to even begin to defend yourself. Believe me, you do not want to take that risk. It will not end well for you if you decide to not take this seriously.

I shall disclose one last piece of information- we shall meet in the library three nights from now to discuss the terms and conditions at exactly midnight. One second late and your head will be on the next chopping block. I do wonder what your execution would look like.

You may be fooling everyone else, Iris, but you aren't fooling me. We both know that I have the upper hand, and what I know is the truth. It's your move, but I'm afraid you're in checkmate.

I'm mortified by what I've just read. Iris has been being blackmailed the entire time?

"This is sick," Evangeline says as she reads it over my shoulder. "Sick is the only word that can describe such a terrible thing."

"So did you go to the library?" I ask Iris.

He eyes my carefully for a moment. "...Yes."

"And who was there?" Dana prods carefully.

The flautist pauses, as if debating whether or not to tell us. And finally, he says:

"No one."

"No one?" I repeat.

"Then the blackmailer chickened out?" Evangeline guesses.

"Or it was done to just mess with Iris, which would also be terrible," Dana suggests.

Another mystery to solve. I sit there and dive into my own thoughts for a moment. The blackmailer without a doubt couldn't have been Rori or Tristan, because they were already dead. And if this was really such an important thing for the blackmailer, then they would've been at the meeting with Iris; after all, they were the one threatening him if he wasn't on time. So this could only really mean one thing.

"The blackmailer never showed up because they were already dead," I announce.

Everyone looks towards me, and so I continue. "It had to have been someone that was alive for Tristan and Rori's deaths, but not for the third trial, since only two chess boards had been used so far. And I think there's only one person that would have planned this, only to get involved in a much more deadly scenario before this plan could've been put into action."

"So who was it?" Dana presses. I know she knows, but she wants me to have the satisfaction of saying it- I can see it in her eyes.

I look at her and reply, "Someone who always wins. Except for when they end up dead in the Pharmacy."

"The blackmailer was En, then," Iris realizes, the glint in his eyes fading as he seems to get ahold of himself. "...it makes sense, now that I think about it."

"Come to think of it, there was something off-putting about them," Evangeline says thoughtfully. "It was like they were plotting something."

"Clearly your suspicions were correct," Dana tells her.

"What do you think En would've wanted from you?" I ask Iris.

He shrugs. "Probably for me to take the fall for them? I don't know. I didn't really interact with them all that much. They did sometimes look at me a little weirdly, I guess. But then again, they did always look like they had jaundice."

Dana promptly chokes on her tea.

"What? I think I reserve the right to trash-talk them a little after what they did," Iris says defensively.

"No, no, you're right, I just didn't expect that from you," she laughs.

It then gets serious again as we remember our current situation. Right. We're the last five still alive.

"I'm so bored just watching you all mope around!" Monokumace complains from the loudspeakers. "How's about I do one last little thing for you guys? Go to the ruins. Enter the code 6-0-1-0-8-3-5-6 into the keypad. And then explore the final area. Kapeesh? Alright, get a move on."

"...I guess we don't really have too much of a choice, do we?" Dana sighs as she gets to her feet, grabbing her mug as she stands up.

As I go to get up as well, I nearly bump into Will. Right, I forgot he was here. He's been so quiet and still that he totally slipped my mind. I mean, he hasn't said a word since the trial, so I completely understand why he's acting completely out of character. Without a word, he walks right by me. I stare after him, trying to figure out whether or not I should've said something, or if I should say something now. What would I say, anyways? Sorry, the person you trusted the most not only killed Caim and was just executed, but also was a traitor and AI and never really existed. Hope you feel better.

Of course, I do not say that, and end up just watching him disappear out the door.

"Well, looks like we'll finally get to learn what's behind that stupid safe door," Dana says, motioning for us all to follow her out of the hotel lobby and down the line of cottages.

"Perhaps it's somehow connected to a potential way off the island?" Evangeline guesses hopefully.

"Here's hoping," I mumble.

The walk over to the second island is almost entirely silent, save the birds chirping and waves crashing. I'm not one who enjoys social settings, but I'm starting to miss when there was more buzz here on Jabberwock. I guess there really is such a thing as "too quiet".

When we make it to the ruins, Dana approaches the keypad. "Okay, if I remember correctly, it's... 6... 0... 1... 0... 8..." She mutters each number under her breath as she punches in the code.

It almost seems like the numbers spell something out... oh. It dawns on me just as I hear a beep, and the keypad flashes green as the massive vault door suddenly swings open.

"Can you see anything?" Evangeline asks Dana, who shakes her head.

"Well, at this point, we don't really have anything to lose," the barista shrugs, and then vanishes into the darkness inside of the ruins.

She has a point; there isn't really any other option now. With that in mind, I follow after her. I see everyone else follow suit, and once we all seem to be inside, the vault door slams shut, encasing us all in pitch blackness. Then, ceiling lights flicker to life, illuminating a familiar-looking hallway. Where have I seen this hallway before?

"Is this... Hope's Peak?" Dana wonders aloud.

She's right. This is the hallway that I first entered into when I arrived at Hope's Peak. This is the hallway where I suddenly passed out only to wake up on this stupid island. But how the hell is Hope's Peak here? The school was located in a pretty urban area when I went there for my first day, and I'm fairly positive it wasn't planted behind a vault door on a chain of islands in the middle of the ocean. Something seems weird here.

"I guess we should just look around, then," Iris points out.

I have to admit, I'm really happy to finally be able to explore the school. It only took about two weeks or so. I hear my sneakers tapping against the cold marble floor as I make my way down the hallway. I pass by a few classrooms, a taped-off school store, and a video room before winding up by a bathhouse and a dining hall. A line of doors catches my eye, and I approach them to find myself in some sort of dorm hallway. Each door has an unfamiliar name on it, for example, D. DeMacury and E. Beaumont. Does this mean there's other students living here? All my introvertedness flies out the window as I reach out and knock on the door in front of me.

...no response.

Huh.

I finish walking down the rows of dorm rooms before turning back and heading towards where I'd seen a large stairwell. I do recall Hope's Peak having several floors, so I'm sure there's plenty more to explore around here.  I approach the stairwell and pause, finally stopping to think about what all this means.  I mean, I'm almost certain this isn't the actual Hope's Peak, so why is there a perfect copy of it here, then?  What does this mean?

For now, though, I decide to just head up to the second floor.

***
(2020 words (oh no))

Also me when nobody picks up on any of the name reveals besides Furfur's: ;0;

Yes I'm still slightly sad about it ok-