"He's gonna win," Furfur said as the ghosts watched Sophie, with Stolas's help, expose Iris. "Ain't no way Stolas doesn't win.  Iris is a freakin' psycho, so they're gonna vote him and lose."

"And it's not like Iris himself is really helping his case either," Rori agreed, watching the maniacal flautist try defend his actions with twisted logic.

"I wonder what happened to him," Ryn said thoughtfully. "Nobody's born like that, so surely something had to have made him that way."

"Well, chances are we get to ask him ourselves in a few minutes," Furfur pointed out. 

She couldn't lie, she was still pretty bitter over her murder.  How could she not be?  Ugh, this is why she hated men.  

"I personally shall go against the odds," En said after a minute. "I believe Stolas may get caught, now that I think about it."

"What?  How?" Ryn asked, surprised.

The dealer tapped their chin thoughtfully. "Well, for me it's the establishment of a murder weapon.  Typically, one would hide the cause of death to the best of their abilities.  But Stolas has deliberately hidden the knife at the scene for everyone to find. Why is that, you may be wondering?  He needed to establish that the knife was the weapon so that nobody would even consider a sword could be used.  Not that he used a sword besides when knocking out Marzy, but it was so the question wouldn't ever come up in the first place.  Of course, he runs the risk of someone figuring out why the weapon was left behind, but that's a much better risk than removing the knife.  Still, though, I have a suspicion that our junior detective may have learned more from Stolas than he'd anticipated..."

"Pssh, that's a reach.  Only you'd come to that conclusion.  No offense to all the living students, but you and Stolas are ahead by a bit of a long shot," Furfur snorted. "Yeah, there's some smart cookies, but I think Stolas has this in the bag."

En looked at her for a long moment but said nothing.  However, in saying nothing, this made her confidence falter slightly.  How the hell'd they-?  Furfur quickly composed herself again, but couldn't help but be impressed by the fact that En had been able to make a dent in her confidence with a simple look.  No wonder they were always boasting about their skills.  

...Furfur still thought they were a prick, though.

"Huh.  Iris's account confirms the time frame of the tree branch luring out Furfur and Marzy to the actual murders was only about twenty minutes," Rori commented as he watched the trial go down. "And given Sophie's just pointed out that Furfur, who died first, had to have been killed in the storage room..."

"Ah, so it looks like I was correct, wasn't I?  After all, the only one physically capable of achieving such a Sisyphean task is the Ultimate Combat Pro himself," En said, their tone an obvious sign that they were very smug over their correct guess.

Furfur rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, sure, Stolas might get caught or whatever.  You were right, is that what you wanted to hear?"

The dealer's lips curled upwards into a smirk. "As a matter of fact, it was."

"Well, on a positive note, we can find out what the hell Stolas was thinking if he gets caught," Ryn reminded the group. 

"I think you mean when he gets executed," Rori said, gesturing towards the ongoing trial. "I think Sophie just got him."

"Really?" Furfur's eyes shone with admiration. "Damn, that girl's more clever than I thought!  She's got mad skills.  I feel bad for underestimating her."

"Alright, how do we think Stolas is gonna get executed?" Rori asked.

"Hm, it'd be ironic if he got stabbed with a sword," Ryn thought aloud.

"Yeah, I'd say sword too," Furfur agreed.

"As do I, I suppose.  After all, these executions are based on the ultimate talents of the blackeneds," Marzy chimed in. "I mean, some of them are quite terrifying.  I think I found mine."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Since when'd ya find all that?" Furfur asked.

"Did you even notice I was gone for the last ten minutes?" Marzy inquired before shaking his head. "No, it's fine.  Follow me."

Furfur and the rest of the group walked with him through a wall into a room that seemed to be some sort of operating room.  In the center was an operating table with clamps near the arms and legs, and a tray of wicked-looking tools sat on the table next to it.

"Those are crude versions of tools used in dissections," Marzy explained.

"And what's this?" Ryn pointed to some sort of strange-looking IV stand.

Marzy shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I assume it's not good."

Rori peeked his head through the wall into the room next door. "Whoa!  I think I found En's.  I'm starting to wish you'd killed someone, En."

Now that made Furfur curious, and she hurried over to where Rori had just phased through the wall into the neighboring room.  This one was filled with flashy casino lights and slot machines, but the center of attention were two roulette wheels, one normal-sized and the other large enough to fit a person.  The life-sized one had five clamps on it, each with a number that fit in alongside the rest of the numbers on the roulette wheel.  And above it loomed a large gun of some kind, not quite a machine gun but way too large to be a handheld firearm.  

"Ah, I see what would have happened here," En mused, looking at the smaller roulette wheel. "The smaller wheel would be spun, and whatever number it landed on would be shot at.  Meaning if it landed on a number on one of the cuffs that would have attached me, the blackened, to the larger wheel, it would shoot that hand or foot.  Or it would hit the jackpot right on my forehead.  I do appreciate the fact that I would have been executed in such an exciting manner, though."

"I mean, I'd take it over a needle tree," Rori sighed, hugging himself as if remembering the pain he must've felt from all the needles.  It had been painful for Furfur just to watch when it had happened.

The five of them emerged from En's unused execution chamber to find someone back in the courtroom waiting for them.  Brushing himself off as if nothing had happened was Stolas, his expression as stoic and guarded as usual.  

Rori held out an arm to keep Furfur from trying to land a blow on the bastard that had killed her.

"I assume you all want an explanation," Stolas said, not even batting an eye at Furfur's hostility.

"However," he added before anyone could speak, "My reasoning is not something I can disclose just yet.  I only ask you trust my judgement and have patience until the time when the truth is most useful.  Otherwise, things will only get more confusing."

Nobody spoke.  Furfur still wanted to beat his ass but mustered up the self-control to avoid doing so.

"Are you surprised you got caught?" En prodded.

"Are you surprised you got murdered by your own plan backfiring?" Stolas reflected without hesitation. 

En's face revealed the slightest flicker of surprise. "How did you know?"

Stolas crossed his arms. "Marzy had said that based on your injuries, you'd been facing towards the shelf your head got bashed in on, implying you were looking at something.  And the shelf you'd had to have been facing contained all the bottles of poisons and fatal medicines.  Anyone with a brain could put two and two together."

En dipped their head in the first show of respect Furfur had seen from them. "Touché.  But you still have not answered my question."

"I apologize, the opportunity to finally call you out was too good to miss.  After all, I do not see you as the type to follow a suspicious note just because your pride is hurt," Stolas said. "If you must know, though, I did not expect to be caught.  I suppose I taught Sophie too well, in an attempt to create a backup detective while simultaneously getting her to trust me."

"Well, you deserved it, jackass," Furfur said bitterly, hands on her hips.

Stolas glanced at her. "I do apologize, Furfur, I truly do.  I wish it never had to come to that."

"Hey, they're finally doing something about him," Rori said, staring over at where Dana and Will were leading Iris out of the courtroom. 

"Oh, that means we have to go too, otherwise we might not be able to get back up," Ryn explained to the three newer ghosts, motioning for them to follow her.

"Wait, how'd you get killed?" Furfur asked Stolas.

He paused for a moment. "...I believe I got impaled on what I assume must've been a large sword blade."

"WE WERE RIGHT!" Rori exclaimed, then faked a cough quickly after. "I mean, oh, that sucks, sorry."

Furfur snorted.

"May I focus our attention back to a different pressing issue?" Marzy intervened. "Tristan still isn't here."

"Maybe he missed the elevator?" Ryn tried.

Stolas frowned. "Was he here in the first place?"

"Yes, he was with us just this morning as we walked back to our cottages after watching you commit the murders," En recalled as they all filed into the elevator.

"Odd," the combat specialist muttered, but said nothing more.

"So, now that everything's calmed down, what have you been doing around here?" Marzy asked.

"Cards," Rori responded with little hesitation. "A lot of cards."

To further prove the point, En flicked their wrist, a deck of cards suddenly fanned out in their hand.

"Wait, how'd you do that?" Furfur asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

En's yellow eyes gleamed with satisfaction from seeing her react in such a way. "That's for me to know and you to find out.  My skills are not for any ordinary person like yourself."

Ouch.  That kind of hurt.  Furfur turned away, insulted, as the elevator doors slid open.

"Do you believe that it's all over now?" she heard Marzy asking Stolas as they all exited onto the central island.

To her dismay, she heard the combat specialist respond with, "I doubt it.  At least, not until..."

"Until what?" she couldn't help but interject.

Stolas looked at her, seemingly unsurprised by her butting into the conversation. "You've heard what Monokumace has stated about there being a class traitor, haven't you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," she answered after a second. "En, Sophie, Caim, Evangeline and I were told about it when we were at the Ruins.  Monokumace popped up and told us about some sort of group that trapped us here, and how they have a spy."

"Well, from what I've learned about Monokumace, I have a feeling that they will do anything in their power to prolong the killing game until they can eliminate the traitor.  After all, there's no point in having a traitor in their killing game if they don't do something about it."

"Maybe they'll just expose the traitor?" Marzy suggested.

Stolas shook his head. "Monokumace has proven repeatedly that they find murder much more enjoyable.  Especially with the executions- why make such a spectacle out of them unless you enjoy watching them?"

"Since you're so interested in this 'class traitor', do you think you know who it is?" Furfur prodded.

Stolas didn't respond, but she noticed how his hand seemed to subconsciously move to a spot over his heart.  There didn't seem to be anything there, though- more of a ghost of some accessory, if she had to guess.  She'd instinctively tried to touch jewelry she no longer wore before, so she didn't see why this couldn't be the same situation.  But Stolas didn't seem like the jewelry type to her, so that just made the whole thing weirder.

"You're staring, Furfur.  Is there something you would like to ask me?" She was jolted out of her thoughts, and looked up to see Stolas's amber eyes piercing into her.

"Just, uh, I noticed you tried to grab at something?  Did you used to wear something over your heart?" Furfur gestured with her hands to try imitating what she'd seen Stolas do.

The fighter nodded once. "I did use to wear a necklace, yes.  Given to me by a dear friend."

"What kind of necklace?  Was it a gemstone, or...?" As much as she was still upset with Stolas for killing her, she was too curious to not ask.  After all, she was a scientist- asking questions was an important part of her personality.

Stolas's expression darkened slightly, betraying some of the deep emotion he was clearly feeling inside. "...I can't tell you that.  It's... personal."

There were a lot of ways Furfur could take that.  She stared after Stolas as he went to go join En in a conversation with Rori, and wondered to herself what else the enigmatic combat pro could possibly be hiding from them.

***

(2120 words)

wooooo we got stolas