"So... There's only four of us left..."

Heather brought up the obvious as their numbers had shrunk extremely. It was only down to the strong-minded Mark, dramatic Heather, conniving Mae, and hothead Evie. Of course, Satsuki was there as well, but she was hardly considered one of them even though Evie had befriended the girl.

"...Yes, there are indeed only four of you," Satsuki herself pondered, her finger tapping against her chin in thought. Finally, she appeared to come to a conclusion as she took a deep breath. Instinctively, her hand went to her blades. "I'm getting rather bored of this game, to be quite honest. You all got boring, none of you want to kill anymore. So. I'll give you a new challenge... If you manage to find out who is behind this game that we play, I'll let you all go home free."

There was a moment of silence, a beat, and then a slight scream of frustration.

"You mean you're not behind all of this?" Heather questioned, confused. All along, they had assumed the redhead was the mastermind, but as she shook her head from side to side, Heather felt the color drain from her face. Someone else wanted this done to them as well?

The conditions got worse, as well.

"The mastermind could be one of you as well," Satsuki continued, and everyone immediately glanced at each other cautiously.

"I highly doubt it would be Heather considering the fact that her brother is deceased from this game," Mae spoke, still slightly disheveled from the previous trial where she had almost died, but her eyes had returned to pink and green and she straightened out her cloak. "I see no reason for a good little boy like Mark to manipulate all of us. I certainly did not do this. But Evie is a doll maker. Perhaps she sees us as her little toys."

"...That's not a terrible hunch," Heather admitted, shifting her eyes to the pink haired girl. "She did start befriending Satsuki, but perhaps she already knew the girl. Maybe she was discussing plans with her under the visage of a friend."

"How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" Evie scoffed. "I find this game rather interesting, but I was put into this school just as you all were. If you don't remember, I was targeted-"

"-And saved by Satsuki, who is a helper of the mastermind," Mark interjected, looking down. He wasn't trying to doubt her, but he was still so upset from Chloe's death that he didn't really trust anyone around him anymore. "Perhaps you are working with her."

"Stop jumping to conclusions," Evie huffed, crossing her arms. She hadn't really been close to many people in her life, and she didn't want to admit it, but those that remained? She felt like they were at least friends at this point besides Mae, so to get betrayed by them didn't feel good in the slightest. "I wouldn't conduct this game. You all are people, not dolls. Trust me, I'm aware of this. People are far worse than dolls."

"...However, I do not think Evie is capable of actually off this whole game. As we have all seen before, she is extremely hot headed. I doubt she would be able to remain collected
enough to orchestrate this whole plan," Mae backed off of her previous claim. "I really do not know who would have started this whole thing..."

"Why don't we all try to look around the school in pairs to find clues?" Heather suggested quietly. "Perhaps...Perhaps we're missing something."

"The whole school is open if you want to check," Satsuki responded to the question. "There's no time limit to when you guys can make your decision, just to let you know."

"Fantastic."

"H-How about Evie and I, Mae and Mark?" Heather suggested. Any other pairing would have had the two annoyed, as Mark and Evie were both hotheads. "Sound good?"

"Absolutely," Mae nodded, and Evie huffed a confirmed yes, while Mark just simply nodded as well.

"Alright then, let's all-"

"...H-Hold on," Mae interrupted before everyone could depart on their own ways. She nervously rubbed her hands together. "...I will admit that Libitina was right as well as Evie is. I have not been completely honest."

"Ha! I told you!"

"...The truth is, I do not fear anything or anyone," Mae continued, ignoring Evie's interjection. "This means I simply do not understand other humans quite as well. They do not understand me and my motivations. So instead of being who I really am, I conform to...whatever the person I am speaking to wants me to be."

"That explains why none of us really had a bad opinion of you," Mark muttered quietly. He gathered up his remaining strength to ask
the one question on his mind. "So who are you, then?"

"I-I do not know..." Mae replied softly. "I..I do not know."

"Then why don't you just try for once?" Evie snapped, not trying to be harsh even though her tone came across as such. Genuinely, now that Mae had admitted, she didn't really despise the girl so much. "Stop being so manipulative."

"I-I can try..." Mae said, her eyes both a pastel shade of green and pink. "B-But I am used to my observant ways. It will take me some time... And this is only if you guys will have me as a normal person. I understand if you all want me to conform once again."

The three others looked at each other, debating. They'd all gone through their own personal problems, and Mae had always seemed like the resounding voice. Now that she was admitting to not being the firm figure, they weren't sure if they wanted her to be that figure again.

But they also knew they couldn't be selfish.

"Don't conform. Be who you are."

hey everyone! i hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

question of the chapter: who's the mastermind? how many more chapters do you want until the end?

thanks for reading!