Who are you?

So that was it. The 4 faces watched the final show of Rokaru Kenta, the SHSL Socialite. An air of bittersweetness lingered through the space as the others looked at eachother, eyes filled with tension, wondering what to do now. 

Tentatively, one of your compatriots opened toe doors to the trial room, perhaps to see the body for themselves or only to finally leave this wretched place, only to be stopped by a familliar voice.

   Rose opens their eyes in the exact same place where their last punishment left off, though they look a lot different now. The same doctor from last time looks shocked, and prepares to start sewing their mouth shut again, but Rose rips their arms out of the partygoer's grip and hits the doctor square in the jaw, knocking him back into one of the tables around the edge of the room. A few candles wobble dramatically, before falling over, and slowly, but surely, setting the table cloth on fire.

   The fire spreads quickly, and Rose is frozen in fear, the reflections of the flames dancing in their eyes. The rest of the guests have vanished mysteriously and without a trace. Smoke begins to fill the air, mostly floating to the top of the stage. Rose after a few seconds shakes their head and begins running around, checking everywhere for an exit. Any doors are either locked or fake, leaving them trapped and running around with no way out.

   Realizing this situation, and breathing harder and harder by the second, Rose walks calmly yet quickly downstage, standing near the edge, as if in the curtain call after a performance. They look conflicted for a few moments, hesitant, almost like they are uncertain whether to curtsy or bow, but before they can make any decision, there is a creaking sound from the edges of the stage.

   All at once, the missing guests storm out from the edges of the stage, just hidden behind the curtains. They form a crowded mass, smashing Rose in the center, before drawing out again, desperately grabbing onto them, and pulling as they spread out. Then there is another noise, and spears come flying from every direction, most of them aimed at Rose, but one single spear aimed at the chain keeping the chandelier hanging steadily above them. The chain breaks, and the chandelier falls on top of them, creating a huge clattering noise, and spreading even more fire from the electric lights in the many bulbs that cover it. 

And so the cult leader stopped to hear the reason behind the terrible game they all have been going through. She heard... And heard... And heard... But she couldn't believe what she was listening to. Rose did all that... Just for... ATTENTION? Irritation made itself present in the face of the godly woman's face, her fists tightening while Rose revealed more and more, changing from persona to persona, switching nonstop. Messiah was about to resort to aggresion, just to make the SHSL Socialite stop that. Sekai has gone beyond boredom and annoyance, willing to make that person shut up... Forever.

Suddenly, however, the masks were dropped and Messiah decided not to do anything. Something was happening at last! At long last!

"So, you finally come to your senses and understand that you made a really big mistake by letting your narciscitic behavior take the lead and get the more favorable outcome you so desperately wanted."

... Tch. "Last wishes," as if wishing means anything...

I wish you'd suffer in Hell.

Not for the return of those long gone or those who never deserved it, not for Oni to come back or not AnoN to be erased or for her hands to be returned or for Rose to get some goddamned therapy.

I wish I'd never met you.

"You still don't believe me? You really don't?"

Rose's voice cracks, obviously upset.

"I can try so many things to repent, but no matter what I do, none of you will ever forgive me. I guess that's just how it is, then."

Fourteen masks clatter to the ground around them.

"Fine then, there's no use hiding anything any more, I'll just have to be honest, right? Then that's what I'll do. You won't let me help you at all, I can't do anything right, can I? I could offer you the world, but I still wouldn't get through. I thought that somehow, I could get this to be a more favorable outcome, but I guess not. It was so foolish of me; to allow myself to get caught up in such a base human desire as the will to live."

Rose reaches for their book, writing something in it, then letting it close. A small podium rises up in front of them, with a large red button on top.

"Let me just be clear on one thing, if I die, then the book dies with me, so get out any last wishes before I go ahead and press this."

Albeit trying to keep a stoic facade, a few tears brim at the edges of Rose's eyes. They blink them away.

As if we'd believe you?!

Well, they haven't really given you a reason not to believe them, Sumire. Apparently, logic's been thrown out in the face of outrage, as she goes out shouting as if loudness is righteousness.

You say you can do that? You could've done this all along? You didn't mean for this to happen, and that, that warrants forgiveness?! Of course I won't understand! I'm not a psychotic!

You're asking us what we want? After all the bullshit you put us through, you're really asking that, as if we'd listen to you and sweep it all under the rug?!

She falls quiet and holds her head in her arms.

Fffuck, my throat's getting dry...

"You there! The so-called savoir! Do you know who we are? Do you really think it is a good idea to so foolishly insult a narcissist with the power to kill you?! Even if we will not die, you still may!"

"Ah well, dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres. Two of the four of you left, you really liked that fool, didn't you? I guess it only makes sense, with bad judgement like what you have shown so far."

"But, um, as for why I did it, nya~ This was all supposed to be a fun game for me to play that would draw the attention of a buncha stars from Hope's Peak and also the press, nya~! And, nya~! I figured getting a buncha people from Hope's Peak would just magnify the attention I was gonna get, nya~! That's what parties are for, right, nya~? And I just so happen to be really good at parties, nya~!"

"And everyone was having fun at first, right? But then, then people started dying. I never wanted anyone to die, so I tried to call it off, to get the game to stop, but they, they wouldn't let me. Granted, I was the one who set their programming this way, but I never wanted this to happen, I never expected all of this to happen. I don't expect you to understand..."

"That's why none of you are allowed to leave! If you all stay here, then I won't have to die, and I won't have to be alone ever again! It's simply the best option in my opinion. You see, you all staying here is the only way that no one else dies!"

Keiko didn't take Sumire's ignoring her personally. She obviously had more important things to focus on.

She couldn't help but feel bad when Rose began babbling about how they wouldn't die. As terrible as this person and the things they've done are, they're still human, more or less. The fear of death, the fear of rejection, is just human nature. But when they snapped back to their usual personality, if it could be called that, Keiko's pity for the mastermind was shoved to the side in favor of more pressing matters.

With a loud sigh, the woman in white crossed her arms, looking at the other with a bored expression. That whole situation was already making her willing to sleep and, not to mention, that speech was already making her get tired. The woman wearing the silver mask wanted to find some place to sit down and sleep already.

"Fine then, I shall not talk. Why would I argue with someone as uninteresting as you are, Kenta?" If they were using the name she doesn't like, then the opposite was going to be applied. "I couldn't care less about your speech and your manner... And you, Sumire Momotani, you should be glad to still be alive. I was already planning on killing you."

"NO!" Rose shouts at the top of their lungs, leaning forward and clutching their own head around their ears. "NO! NO! NO! SHUT UP! SHUT UP ALL OF YOU! JUST SHUT UP!"

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT! I AM ALL POWERFUL! I AM IN CONTROL! IN! CONTROL!" They pound on their trial stand at the end of each sentence. "I DON'T DIE UNTIL I SAY I DO! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I CAN'T DIE! NOT YET! I! I, I don't... I don't want to die."

Rose collapses to the ground, head in their hands, wiping away streams of tears.

"I'm, I'm not an idiot, Hephaestus, I'm not him, he's an idiot, ugly, unwanted. I'm not like that." They blubber, more to themself than the rest of the trial room. "I'm sorry, I didn't want anyone to die, none of them deserved to die, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm, so s-sorry. Please, whatever I can do to make it up to you, I can give you anything just please, forgive me, don't leave me. Please, I don't want to be alone again. Don't leave me alone,"

Silently, Rose quits crying after a while, then stands up, wiping their tears away completely and fixing the rest of their appearance before speaking again.

"Well that was certainly something! Let's get back to business, then!"

Don't give me that shit! This was all your decision, your fault, you did this, the consequences are all yours, and like hell I'm going to spend another minute with you!

That miiight be the vilification they're talking about, Sumire.

She stomps her feet and turns to face Messiah next, tied with Rose for the title of "worst person in the entire world" right now.

And you! Acting all high and mighty, even now?! You still think this is just a game?! That kind of indifference, I hate it! I hate you! You're the same type of monster as both of them--!

The former patissier slams her metallic hand on the podium.

Sincerely, those mask changes, personality swings and pose striking was already making the cult leader more than bored. Amaterasu was so willing to show them good poses, but the woman in white needed to put on her heels first. After all, whenever she wasn't leading her cult, Sekai was teaching herself how to dance. The one wearing the silver mask was pretty good at it, but not many have seen that.

But returning to more important affairs...

"I'm afraid you don't understand, Salope. I am not exaggerating or lying when I say I cannot be killed. You can try if that is what you want, but you'll only end up like he did, I can't keep that from happening if I tried, though, I might not add the decoration."

"None of you dumbasses could ever understand anyways! Because when someone makes a mistake you vil! IF! Y! No forgiveness for anyone! Everyone gets exactly what they deserve! Let justice be served!"

"Off with their heads! And all of the rest of them too just to be sure! We only gave them each what they earned for themselves! Rules must be followed! And our rules are the law!"

"And since the rules say that the only way you get to leave is if I die, and I can't die, I'll just have to keep you here with me forever! I'll never be alone again! Isn't it great!"

"You see, none of you will ever understand, so I don't want to bother explaining. I don't need help, I am an all powerful being who cannot be stopped. I don't need your pity, I don't need disdain, I don't need apathy, I need your strongest emotions, adoration, hatred, send them my way, just don't ignore me."

The woman in white just kept watching the whole situation and the speech of the mastermind with an appathetic expression on her face. Pointing at them arms, the woman released a deep, deep sigh in annoyance over all that situation.

Don't fuck with me! You, you...! I can't even call you "human" anymore, not after everything you've done, but you, you're made of flesh and blood like the rest of us, and that means you can die. You'll die, you'll die just as horribly as everyone else you tortured, you sadistic megalomaniac slut!

“Cut the theatrics? The Red Death does not think you understand, Salope!” They boasted.

“Ya see, I’m still the one in charge here! You all think you’ve won but I can change the rules at any time I like! You’re still walking on shallow ice!” Their voice came out muffled through Bunny’s mascot head, but the tone was higher so it cut through.

“And I would never not take death seriously, you know, I’m actually very sad about everyone dying. If you had caught on you would know that. So, I would never mock the dead.” They dragged their voice lower, sounding sad as a small amount of tears dripped below Metus’s mask.

“And Mitsuru, he’s your brother, right? I don’t know what happened to him.” Their voice drawled. “I mean, how do we even know any of those family members were actually in danger?”

“So like, I think you all really should evaluate the situation, nya~” Then their voice was dragged up to sound overly cute. “Do you really know what’s going on here, nya~? Or are you just guessing like you did for everything else, nya~?”

Don't touch.

Sumire shrugs Higeki off without even turning to get a proper look at her face, and doesn't respond to her apology, either. Ice cold. Her glare is just as freezing as she stares straight ahead at Rose, Kenta Rokaru, SHSL Socialite.

... Cut the theatrics. We get it, you just love Poe, you'll die without attention, you just fucking love mocking the dead, yeah, yeah, fuck you.