Jericho: Town Square

The sun re-rises as the clouds fade away, leaving apart the aftermath of the heavy rain. It's nothing too bad, as everyone has mostly been on concrete now, and there are many paths around the square that will not let anyone step on the most-likely muddy dirt, but some people are a little too occupied with their own thoughts to care about such a thing. Sure, you're.... probably knowing what we're talking about.

As Y/N idly taps on the bleachers, considering a way to just ditch the band segment of this entire handshake, his eye catches Wednesday as she walks past him without much choice. "You find what you were looking for?" He quietly asks her without even really thinking, causing her to abruptly stop.

She turns around and stares at him with that same dead expression, however, there's a slight darker shade to it than normal. "I'd admire your subterfuge." She seemingly compliments him, which makes Y/N blink. "For most of this Outreach Day, you almost had me think that you didn't see me as a spoiled rich girl who causes pain for the fun of it, which is only half-correct." She notes with a slight hum as if actually trying to be impressed by it. "I'm glad to see I was wrong."

 She then walks away towards the 'band' she's forced to perform with. Y/N's twists his jaw before he hears someone's voice calling out to him. "Yo! Y/N!" Ajax quickly chimes in as he walks up next to him with an excited smile, more excited than even someone like him normally is. "Check this out, right? I finally asked Enid out to go meet with me behind the greenhouse, tonight!" He shares with him, causing the boy to blink in slight surprise.

"Oh, really?" Y/N responds with a interested brow, mighty proud of the guy if he can say so himself. "Asked her out, or did she have to blatantly explain all of her strategies she was using on you because you were too high to see the obvious signs?" He then asks as if double-checking, causing Ajax to happily open his mouth, only to pause before he can even respond.

"Wow, you really are a psychic...." Ajax comments as he stares at Y/N in awe, who nods sarcastically before tapping his buddy on the shoulder with a loud laugh. 

"Get out of here...." Y/N jokingly pushes him away as Ajax heads to a random spot on the bleachers, laughing about what is going to happen later tonight. He then hears footsteps and glances back to see Xavier casually walking up to him, joining him in watching the Gorgon. "You think he knows that Divina and Yoko are already using that spot tonight?"

"They broke up yesterday, it's Kent and Beth now." Xavier calmly informs, causing Y/N to blink rapidly and turn towards him with a look of honest shock. "What? Did you think the garlic incident at dinner was really gonna slide?"

"No, I'm just.... surprised." Y/N responds with a small exhale, having thought that those two were actually good for each other. Xavier slowly nods with a hums, before a thought from earlier then crosses his mind.

"Hey, um, listen...." Xavier crosses his arms as he looks at Y/N with a slightly anxious look. "Did you really mean what you said earlier, about the Nightshades?" He asks him, a question that he actually seems worried of what the answer will be. "You really think we're all rich kids who like to show off?"

"What? No, I-" Y/N cuts himself off, quickly realizing that he lied with the second word. "It's just, Bianca, Wednesday? Will? I don't know, it's like I'm always wrong and they're right, even when I 'win' something or help someone out, it's never enough, and even I think that way about me." He expresses to Xavier as they step closer towards the blenchers.

"Wednesday?" Xavier raises a brow as they name gets put on the list, causing him to turn towards Y/N. "Does this have something to do with you suddenly running out of the Weathervane earlier?"

"Yes and no?" Y/N somewhat answers with a sigh. "She thinks I'm responsible for what happened to Rowan." He eventually shares with Xavier, who process that for a moment before letting out a whistle.

"Yikes."

"Yeah, you'd think someone who's constantly in a 'normal is overrated' mood would eventually hear your side after a couple of weeks....." Y/N sarcastically remarks with a bitter shake of his head, wondering why he kept putting himself in the same room in the first place, why he stood up alongside her in the Weathervane, why he helped step in at the Harvest Festival. "She's been spoiled way too much. You'd be luckier to get along with a Stoner who's drunk..... on piss."

"Yeah, Wednesday kind of has that certain way with people, I guess." Xavier comments with a slight nod, completely understanding why he feels that way. But then, he wonders just how well their communication is actually going. "Still.... spoiled is not the word I'd use. Has she ever told you about Nero?" He curiously asks, prompting Y/N to glance at him with a perplexed look.

"Who's Nero?" Y/N asks confused, causing Xavier to click his tongue as he points to him.

"Mmm, now it makes sense...."

Y/N squints at that choice of words before hearing drums and looking over to see that the Jericho band has arrived at the scene. "Ah, the calvary's arrived." He sighs as he remembers his 'involver' duty for the day. "Wish me luck...." He requests to Xavier he turns around to head to his spot.

"Try not to burn the whole place down, alright?" Xaiver jokingly pleads to which Y/N glances at him with a knowing smirk before fully walking away.

Wednesday and Y/N share a blank look as he is forced to sit somewhat close to her chair, part of Weems orders mixed with some dumb excuse that he's already forgotten about. There's a whole bunch of cheering from the adults until Mayor finally takes the stand. "Thank you!" He greets everyone as the press's cameras point towards them. "It is my honor to celebrate our town's history and Jericho's noble forefather, Joseph Crackstone." He begins as he gestures towards the statue, inspiring a few claps from the crowd. "Now, he believed that with a happy heart and an open ear, that there was nothing our town couldn't achieve. So, together, as one, our community and our friends at Nevermore Academy, we've built a monument to celebrate his memory." He states as Wednesday shares eye contact with Thing who then begins sneaking around the feet of the unsuspecting Normies and Outcasts. Meanwhile, Sheriff Galpin hears snoring and quickly finds a guy has fallen asleep during the celebration. He can say with certainty that he shares the same sentiment. "Now may the spirit of Joseph Crackstone be memorialized for eternity!"

That's Y/N's cue, as he sees Weems turn to nod at him, prompting him to mentally sigh before he walks over and steps in front of the statue. Though, before that happens, she and Noble have to take a picture/video showing them activating the waters of the fountain that the Crackstone statue has been moved onto. Meant to be the official beginning of the pilgrims, he guesses. 

Seeing all of the eyes now placed on him the second he's in front of, well.... everyone, Y/N takes a deep swallow as his he connects his guitar to the instruments. There's a painful silence as he clearly is delaying the inevitable before he strums the first string. That's when he suddenly feels the whispers of his secret friend through that negative emotion.

Don't worry.... they laugh.... we tear heads off..

Ignoring him, Y/N that oddly to be motivation enough to get this over with. Please welcome the kid who literally was given as much practice as three hours before all of this. Yay.....

https://youtu.be/9oDxynh7rG0

After ten seconds of starting, certain parts of the band having instruments to help him, he finds himself able to play the rest of the song a little bit better, the stage fright slowly going away as he finds himself not caring about the crowd and more about how he's reflecting everything back into the world. He was told he didn't have to sing the lyrics, but surprisingly, he finds himself using the microphone in front of him.

But then, once they get to the one minute and ten seconds mark, that's when Thing approaches a trail of cannon fuse and lights a match, igniting it all the way from his position to the behind of the fountain, and eventually, statue. A hotdog man narrowly avoids it from roasting his bum, as well as a band member who glances at it but doesn't say anything. 

Then, it sets off the gasoline in the fountain and creates a small explosion which catches everyone off guard with hit's shockwave. Y/N briefly pauses as he turns around, however, that's when she hears the heavy string. He looks over at sees Wednesday staring directly at him with a twisted smirk, playing certain lines that should be starting the more exciting part of the song. 

Meanwhile, everyone else is screaming and running away as the outline of the fountain is set ablaze, catching even the bronze statue on fire as well. Y/N should be running away as well, and definitely should not have any reason to be associating himself with this little prank of hers, terrifying everyone with a firecracker display.

But for some reason he matches her smirk and keeps playing. While all of the town representatives, aside from sleeping joe, flees to safety, Sheriff Galpin stands up and stares directly at both Wednesday and Y/N, wearing a face that can already that he's not surprised at all to find them in the literal center of this.

Mayor Noble hides behind a news van while Weems hides behind the bleachers and looks over to see the two unphased students throughout this whole mess. This makes her glare directly at Wednesday, who meets her gaze with guilty but shamless eyes. 

Meanwhile, Tyler runs past everyone as he comes to stare and gawk at the madness in front of him. Then he notices Y/N, who stares directly back at him as if just shrugging. Seeing him and Wednesday play together makes the Galpin clench a fist so heard that it almost makes him bleed. His gaze tells Y/N that this isn't over as he's forced to flee with his dad.

By the time the extended version of the song ends, the statue has turned into dye for the fountain itself.

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Nevermore: Principal's Office

You wanna take a guess how everyone felt about that? More specifically, Principal Weems? Really, take a wild guess.

"That was a disaster!" Weems exclaims as she paces in front of the fireplace, angrier than she's ever been before. "The Mayor is furious! I've lost count of the number of angry phone calls, emails, and people in this town, alumni, and parents!" She rants before abruptly stopping and pointing an accusatory finger at Wednesday. "They want answers, and so do I!"

"I would lead the inquisition, but I left my thumbscrews and rack at home." Wednesday responds with a simple remark instead as she sits calmly at one of the seats, her arms folded politely. 

"Ms. Addams, you're already on thin ice." Weems reminds her with a hardened glare, hinting that her quips aren't going to be doing a very good job at helping her case. "Wafer-thin ice."

"I swear on my late scorpion's soul, my hands are clean." Wednesday promises Weems without looking away.

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Even though it was Thing who stole Y/N's canon fuse....

And put the gasoline in the fountain

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"I may not have hard evidence, but I see you." Weems tells Wednesday, holding the urge to call her out on her obvious lie behind her twitching smile. "You're a trouble magnet."

"If trouble means standing up to lies....." Wednesday abruptly stands up, marching in front of Weems with a determinately rebellious expression. "....Decades of discrimination, centuries of treating Outcasts like second-class citizens, or worse."

"What are you talking about?"

"Jericho. Why does this town even have an Outreach Day?" Wednesday queries with a raised brow, knowing even Weems to be less ignorant than she's playing as. "Don't you know it's real history with Outcasts? The actual story of Joseph Crackstone?" She questions her, causing Weems to drop a low sigh that indicates a sign of guilt.

"I do...." Weems half-admits as she still glares defensively about it. "... to an extent."

"Then why be complicit in it's cover-up?" Wednesday interrogates Weems, wondering what the woman is even thinking, trying to get a little too close to Normies like the Mayor and Sheriff. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." She quotes, however, this makes the principal chuckle quietly.

 "That's where you and I differ." Weems notes as if she's seemingly got the dynamic between the two of them figured out. "Where you see doom, I see opportunity." She says with a more optimistic face. "Maybe this is a change to rewrite the wrongs, to start a new chapter in the Normie-Outcast relations?"

"Nothing has changed since Crackstone." Wednesday retorts with a matter of fact-like tone, seeing more than enough examples to see that all they are doing is sucking up to the nobles that are spitting on the peasants they see as underneath them. "They still hate us, only now they sugar-coat it with platitudes and smiles." She points out, wiping the smile off of Weems's face. "If you're unwilling to fight for the truth....."

"You don't think I want the truth?" Weems responds as she stares down at Wednesday with her hands on her hips. "Of course I do. But the world isn't always black and white. There are shades of grey."

"Maybe for you." Wednesday venomously replies with a blank stare. "But it's either they write our story or we do. You can't have it both ways." She tells Weems, calling her out on her hypocrisy, and the woman seems to know it too.

"You're exhausting."

"I know."

 Their stare down lasts for about a couple minutes before Weems looks away with a massive exhale. "Good night, Ms. Addams." She tells the student, giving her, her cue to finally leave the room. "But you should know....." She chimes in really quick, causing Wednesday to stop and turn her head around. "I don't tire easily." She informs her with a smile, before allowing her to leave the room and take that as she wills. 

Wednesday glances down, processing that warning. Now's the time to go to bed....

But first, there's still one more thing she has to do.

________________________________________________

Nevermore: Boys dormitory

The flames were beautiful. They danced in the night like little devils, devouring that pompous statue and everything it stood for. Joseph Crackstone, patron saint of every hypocrite in this town, reduced to ash and embers. Watching it burn wasn't just satisfying—it was exhilarating.I didn't just like it. I loved it. Every flicker, every pop of the fire felt like a victory—a small rebellion against everything that tries to tell people like me, people like Wednesday, to sit down, shut up, and conform. But it wasn't just the flames that made my blood race. It was the chaos.

Wednesday stood there, cool and unaffected, like a shadow in the inferno, and for a brief moment, I thought...maybe this is how the world should look. A little less order. A little more destruction. A little more...us.

Then, as if the night couldn't get any better, I saw Tyler Galpin. His perfect little golden boy mask cracked for just a second. I caught it in his eyes, the envy, the jealousy. He saw her smirking with me. Me. Not him. Not the guy the world wants to believe is flawless. I should feel bad about that, right? I should want to be the bigger person, to tell myself it's just petty teenage drama and it doesn't matter.

But I don't. I don't feel bad.

"That sure was one way to end off the day." Xavier chimes in as he steps into the room, prompting Y/N to instantly close his diary and turn his chair around. "You know, I wasn't actually being serious earlier." He then brings up, causing the guy to chuckle.

"As much as I wish it, that whole thing wasn't my idea." Y/N regretfully confesses with a small chuckle, putting is diary back where it should be safe, for real this time. He made sure to lock it so nobody, wink, wink, dug their sneaky paws into it. "I think someone took my stuff, I found my box half-open."

"Guess winning the Poe Cup comes with it's unwanted honors." Xavier quips as he begins taking off his uniform jacket, only to quickly remember something. "Ah, crap, I forget book at the art studio...." He mutters as he quickly turns back around and heads out the door he came from three seconds ago.

Then, there's a knock on the other door. Yes, the door that leads to the balcony. 

Squinting, Y/N stands up and tries checking the windows, only to see the shadow of the person behind the door without a clear view of who it is. It looks like a female though.... possibly.....  that female. Mentally shaking a bit, he walks over and slowly opens the door...... 

Finding Wednesday Addams on the other side of it. 

"Oh...." Is all that Y/N says as he's face to face with her memorable blank stare, honestly, who else was he really expecting? Another undead teenage girl? "Look, you're getting the wrong idea. I am not-"

"I know you aren't." Wednesday instantly assures him with a calm-serious look, apparently knowing exactly what he was going to say upon seeing her. "But after hearing the hypocrisy from Principal Weems, I believe we it's best we clear a few things about ourselves before we formally agree to keep a safe distance."

Y/N glances sideways as he processes her words for a second before nodding. "Yeah....." He agrees as he steps outside and closes the door behind him so Xavier doesn't catch him talking to an open door or something. "I agree." He replies as he gestures towards the chairs. However, Wednesday makes no move to step towards them, so he shrugs and just goes to lean against the railing instead, which she does join him in. "Huh.... a weirdly nice view tonight."

"I agree, the clouds look very sad and the lack of stars makes everything hideous." Wednesday comments as she looks up as well, to which Y/N nods in response. "What actually happened?" She then asks him, prompting Y/N to fully turn towards her. "With the boy and girl in the woods?"

Y/N sighs, knowing the eventual question was going to come up but feels too ashamed to tell it still.

Well, here he goes......

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The scared girl looks over and see Y/N's eyes changing shape for a few seconds, as if being possessed by something, before shrinking back to normal. As Will drops his hands to his chest, they eventually get to see that the douchebag's nose is bleeding. "Argh! You son of a.... you broke my-"

"Stop!" The girl cries as she sense the two of them about to engage in some seriously dangerous physical combat, knowing that it will make things worst. "Please... please... just stop."

"Oh, now you want him to stop?!" Will angrily questions her as he points towards Y/N, as if she's the reason he just got himself hurt. "You were the one who wanted him to 'help you' remember?" He brings up before groaning in frustration. "Geez, you are such a trouble magnet!" 

"Hey, that's enough!" Y/N roars as he starts marching towards Will, causing his expression to instantly change to fear as he steps back with his hands raised, not wanting to get hit again. "You need to leave..... right now." He demands, however, the rich kid doesn't move a muscle. Instead, he takes some time to think and seemingly comes up with something in his head.

"Oh, I don't think so." Will retorts with a shake of his head, suddenly now smirking despite a small part of his face being covered in blood. "No, what's gonna happen is you better apologize, and make sure you mean it." He demands, and Y/N stares at him as if he's insane.

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Your damn right!" Will exclaims with an angry point at him. "You ain't got the right to hurt me!"

"You just tried to-"

"No, I did not!" Will instantly cuts him off, that smirk still on his face. "No, no, what happened was that I had to go make a phone call and let my mom know I was coming home with Ruby." He corrects his story with one of his own as he points to the girl. "And while she was waiting in the woods, to clear her head after a small argument, you.... came after her." He says with a shrug and a smile, causing both teens to blink at him. "I tried to stop you, and that's when you busted my nose."

"No!" The girl instantly protests with a rapid shake of her head as she gets off of the rock and stands back up on her two feet. "I'm not going to just lie for you."

"Yes, you will." Will states with a matter of fact look. "Unless you want my dad to figure how about your brother's drug problem and get him fired from his job. I know he's the only reason you two are still able to stay in that broke-ass house of yours...." He then tells her with a threatening look, making the girl's face turn pale.

"You wouldn't..."

"You wanna bet on that?" Will questions with a challenging look, his eyes diminishing the girl's will by every second.

"That is bullshit!" Y/N quickly steps in as he marches over and glares into Will's eyes. "You can't just lie about this and expect everyone to believe you!" 

"I will if a girl tells the story." Will answers with a smug look on his face, as if wanting the guy to hit him again. Y/N clenches a fist, his body once again feeling some change as the Hyde yells at him to smack his head right off his shoulders.

"Hey!"

A loud, demanding voice then calls out towards all of them, prompting everyone to turn and see a police officer approaching the three of them, apparently having heard some of the shouting from somewhere. Or maybe, someone called about the situation before Y/N even noticed. "You kids, alright?" He asks inquisitively as he puts his hands to his hips, easily noticing the tense aura between all of them.

"What's going on here?" The cop then asks as he looks at all of them before his eyes fall on Ruby. "Young lady? Can you please explain what the shouting is about?"

"Well?" Will asks Ruby with an expecting look, causing her to shrink and for Y/N to silently plead with her not to do this with a look.

"M-M-Me and my boyfriend were fighting, and while I was in the woods to clear my head.... he suddenly came out of nowhere and pinned me to the ground.... and grabbed at my clothes." Ruby testifies, pointing at Y/N but keeping her eyes fully glued to the ground. 

"What? That's not-"

"Wrong young lady!" The cop quickly cuts him off before turning back to Ruby, allowing her to continue.

"Then Will.... Will came back to save me.... but Y/N headbutted him in the face, breaking his nose." Ruby continues, pinning all of the blame onto Y/N but keeping Will and her guilty-free. "That's when you all showed up."

"Huh...." The cop hums, his eyes turning towards Y/N who swallows.

"Listen, can I please tell my side of the-"

"Save it." The cops cuts him off again, forcing him around and slapping the handcuffs on him.

There, he's taken into the back of the police car.

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"I'm sure you can fill in the blanks." Y/N remarks as he concludes his story, his face still staring back into the moonlight. Wednesday has only stared at him the entire time, not even nodding as he told the entire story. But he was still able to tell that she was listening. "And that's what actually happened..... I swear to God."

"And it took until you were finally faced in front of this Will and Ruby's family where you were finally able to tell your side of the story? Nobody else would listen?" Wednesday asks to double-check, to which Y/N nods in confirmation. There was his lawyer, of course, but even he forced him to take a plea deal for the assault charge. The girl takes a moment to process all of this, thinking that her previous thoughts wouldn't change, but instead..... "I believe you."

Y/N simply nods in response. "Tha-" he opens his mouth only for a slight squeak to come out, pent up emotions for that day are finally breaking out of their cage. "Sorry..." He apologizes, embarrassed as he wipes the tears from his eyes. Wednesday blinks, perplexed.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not." Y/N quickly denies as he cleans his face, thankfully holding in the rest of his liquids that almost spilt out for a second there. "I was just..... somebody must've been cooking onions or something, I don't know...." He blatantly lies, causing Wednesday to give her a look. "Okay, whatever, I'm pissed, alright! It's been a year and I'm still pissed, okay?"

He lets out a loud exhale as Wednesday nods, satisfied that she's now actually heard from the horse's mouth. "I should go before-"

"Stop." Y/N quickly interjects as she starts turning around, forcing her to go back to leaning against the railing reluctantly as she knows what's about to happen next. "Now you gotta tell me why you constantly think the worst of everyone on first sight." He demands, though instead, Wednesday looks away with no response. "Is it because of Nero?"

Wednesday snaps her head towards him at the slight mention of that name. "Who told you that?"

"Why? You're already planning to dump a toaster in their bath?" Y/N sarcastically asks, his way of saying 'what does it matter'. Wednesday glares at him for a few seconds before staring back into the moonlight. "What happened?" He asks her.  Wednesday's feet step and shift as she strongly hesitates to tell him this, but knows that she has to tell someone. 

"It was the week after Halloween." Wednesday begins, knowing the entire story like it's tattooed on the back of her mind. "I was six years old. I took my pet scorpion, Nero, out for his afternoon stroll when we were ambushed. At least four kids in bicycles drove by, they wondered what kind of freak would have a scorpion for a pet." She tells Y/N who swallows as he holds up a hand.

"I can connect the dots-"

"No, please.... let me finish....." Wednesday seemingly begs, much to Y/N's surprise, to which he goes politely goes silent. "Two of them held me down and made me watch, while the others ran Nero over until..." She pauses, seemingly unable to finish the story, it's the first Y/N has ever seen her actually be too emotional to tell the harsh truth. "It was snowing when I buried what was left of him, a tombstone carrying his exact replica on it. I cried my little back heart out, but tears don't fix anything..... so I vowed to never do it again, and to let every other human know the kind of 'freak' that they created, Normie or otherwise...."

Y/N takes a deep breath before nodding after a few seconds of silence. "I won't tell anyone." He promises her. "I still hate your guts, though." He informs her with a shrug, to which she turns towards him with a seemingly glad look.

"The feeling is incredibly mutual." 

She nods at him with respect before walking to actually leave, crawling down the rope she used to get to this floor. Y/N casually tosses the knot down to her once she reaches the bottom before heading back into his room, where he finds that Xavier still hasn't returned yet. Interesting....

As he prepares for bed, his eyes go over something that's been laying on his night stand recently, a promotionally poster of the Rave'N, which is sure to happen later this year now that Outreach day is finally behind them. It's pretty much a fancy way to call a winter dance.

He doesn't like the sight much of it though.

I'm not blind to what's happening inside me. I know this taste for chaos is dangerous. It's like fire, it's warm, it's alive, and it's so easy to get lost in it. And tonight, I realized something else. Fire doesn't just destroy. It creates. It makes way for something new.

He slowly opens up the stand's drawer, where he pulls out a sharp knife. With a deep breath, he takes cuts the palm of his hand open, wincing at the pain. 

Then, he smears his blood all over the ad.

And if this world is going to burn, maybe it's time I play with matches.

____________________________________________

Wilderness: Old Jericho

The old man shudders as he stands in front of the campfire he's made for himself in this new place he's made his home. The creepy little girl and her mutilated hand are finally gone, so hopefully, there's nobody else here to bother him.

What's on his mind right now is this camera. He's been trying to get it to work ever since he.... had it donated to him by Uriah's Heap. Now, he's finally.... acquired some batteries for it, which he slides into the slot the camera says it goes in. He then hears a mechanical whirl and a click, indicating what sounds like a now operating photographic device.

However, before he can take the moment to celebrate this moment, he hears a loud round of rustling coming from the nearby trees, something that doesn't just happen from wolfs or bears. "Who the hell's there?!" He yells anxiously as he stands up, not liking that another intruder has invaded his place.

That's the wall crumbles down in front of him, revealing the most terrifying monster he's ever seen. The squatter screams before the monster slashes at his foot, tearing off his toes.... then the rest of his body.

During this, the camera flashes, capturing everything.

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(A/N) New chapter! Finally!

Sorry for the slow updates. Episode 3 is not my favorite episode, and I think it shows here, despite my attempts to make it fun for me and for you, but I'd argue that this part was lacking a little bit. However, I think it's safe to say that Episode 4 will be the opposite, as there will be the love triangle and a new side of Y/N be shown, but a massive change in the plot will occur by the end of this episode. No spoilers though, so plz don't ask about it or ask me what happens in Discord.

Anyway, plz vote and comment, any kind counts as feedback, and I'll see you in the next one!