Everyone was gathered in the dining hall again, waiting. Boss was leaning against Anne’s shoulder, still as deep asleep as she was when Misty snuck away. This was a villain strike, right? She couldn’t imagine Misty would do something like that for no reason.

Anne looked around the room again. Dominya and Raven were seated together alone. Likewise, Silvia was sitting together with Eliza. Holi was standing directly behind her, and Boss was leaning against her shoulder. The only person missing was… Misty. Again.

“She has a lot of nerve wasting our Leader’s time like this.” Dominya growled, “She was caught red handed, yet she thinks she can escape punishment by simply flying away?”

“That would be a very poor decision on her part!” A cheerful voice spoke from the television screen. The green haired woman had appeared once more. “We talked it over and as this is the second time Misty has decided to run off during a trial, we’re going to punish her by starting the trial without waiting for her. If she doesn’t get the chance to speak in her defense, that is her own fault! Please make your way down to the dungeon now, if you would.”

At her command, everyone slowly began to stand and walk towards the dungeon. This was a little bit of a waste of time but at least this one was easy.

***

Error: Invalid input. Admin(Leader) is not malicious.

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Error: Invalid input. Admin(Leader) is always correct.

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Error: Invalid input. Admin(Leader) must always be believed.

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Holi.OS is experiencing a malfunction.

Recommendation: Contact Admin(Leader) for further instruction.

Errrrrror: Innvalid Inpt. Contraddcts… Orders…

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Orderrs: Usse all available resourscscses to win the game.

Warning: System unstabbbbbbbbbbbbb

Diagggggg…

***

Anne looked up at Holi. She had been standing there for a while now. Everyone else had already left.

“Holi? Are you okay?” Anne asked. Suddenly, Holi’s head jerked to the side looking directly at her with her usual smile. The suddenness of the motion caught her off guard and… Really creeped her out…

“Target identified: Anne.” Holi said, her voice sounding… More artificial than usual… “Objective: Befriend Anne.”

“Y-Yeah…? We’re… Friends?” Anne said slowly. What was… Going on with her all of a sudden?

“Objective… Complete.” Holi said calmly, though her voice was still off. “Objective: Be near Anne.”

“Okay…?” Anne said softly, unsure of what to do. “Well… I… Need to get to the dungeon so…”

“Understood. Must follow Anne to dungeon.” Holi said stiffly.

This may have been the most uncomfortable walk she had ever taken. Holi maintained a perfect distance five inches behind her. She could almost sense the android mimicking her exact movement and speed… She hadn’t felt like this around Holi before… She had always thought of Holi as being amazing. Ever since she helped Miranda…

Now… She couldn’t shake this deep discomfort she was feeling.

Anne stepped slowly into the dungeon where everyone was still waiting.

“You are late.” Dominya growled “I told you I do not tolerate wasting our Leader’s time.”

“S-Sorry…” Anne said. She needed to stay on Dominya’s good side… If Dominya decided her behavior was any worse than Raven’s…

She shuddered, then took a seat. Holi sitting directly next to her. She looked over at Holi to see her still looking directly at her with wide eyes and a friendly smile. Her entire body perfectly still…

“Let us go through the witness testimonies then.” Dominya said firmly.

“Is that really necessary?” Anne asked “We caught her red handed for real this time, and-”

“The leader set this game up. It will not be skipped.” Dominya growled “Besides, we thought we had the last slave red handed as well. Speak. Now.”

“Alright… Well… Holi, Misty, Boss, and I were investigating the new hidden room. We wanted Misty to look through the walls, but she claimed that she couldn’t go through those walls because they were purple.” Anne recounted, “Boss asked her to investigate the upper floor instead, and she flew off. After that, Holi and I were playing with some of her functions while Boss examined one of the walls.”

It was a little embarrassing to admit she got distracted playing with Holi rather than actually working but… It was better to be honest in a situation like this, she felt. “Suddenly, Boss became terrified of something and tried to run out of the room. I managed to grab her and keep her from splitting up from the group, but I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention. Misty slipped up through the floor and showed a spiral to Olivia. By the time I noticed… It was too late and she slipped away.”

“I think Misty used her ghostly powers to terrify Boss so she would run away and be alone for her to catch. She couldn’t run away and pick a new target though, because Boss would have remembered it when she recovered. So… She took the risk of showing her the spiral with the two of us watching.

“I see…” Dominya replied, folding her arms. “And do you have anything to add, Holi?”

There was a long pause.

“I said. Do you have anything to add, Holi?”

Silence again.

“S-Sorry… She’s been like this since the dining hall. I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” Anne said, slinking back in her chair as she felt Holi’s unending stare from one end and Dominya’s glare from the other.

***

Inppput accccepted.

…

Negative: No signs indicate malice from Target: Misty;

Error unresolved.

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Recommendation: Purge conflicting memory

Y/N

Y…

Errrorr: Memory purge confflicts wittth orders

Orderrs: Usse all available resourscscses to win the game.

…

… …

***

Dominya broke the silence, “Very well… If she cannot speak, I think we are finished. We should place our-”

“Waaaait! Wait wait wait! You can’t start without meeeee!!!” Misty’s voice echoed from somewhere in the hall, then the ghost girl appeared, naked and twirling as she flew a circle around the room and then sat down in her seat.

“Sorry! I got lost again!” Misty said cheerfully “What’re we votin’ for?”

“We were just about to vote you guilty. Now you can be present for the verdict.” Dominya growled, glaring daggers into the ghost as she carelessly bobbed back and forth in her place.

“Me? But I didn’t do anything?” Misty said, tilting her head in confusion.

“Don’t play innocent. You were seen by two witnesses.” Dominya said, gripping the seat of her chair tightly in anger.

“But I was outside, I promise!” Misty insisted, “I touched a purple thing by accident and I got scared away!”

“This is the third time you’ve mentioned purple stones.” Eliza said, “They scared you away both times that you touched them, and they frightened the victim as well?”

“Wait, I thought you didn’t remember what Misty said about the purple earlier?” Silvia asked.

“I didn’t say anyth-” Eliza began, then clapped her hands in front of her mouth as her eyes widened in alarm. “I-I mean… I just remembered!”

Wait… Was that voice a moment ago… Mirror Eliza? She sounded more intelligent than Eliza usually did, and Eliza’s reaction…

“So, touching purple stones scares you, Misty?” Anne asked, curiously.

“Uhuh… There’s this scary lady with a pale face and black eyes and she yells at me and I…” Misty began to sink down through her chair for a moment before flapping her arms and changing her tone “Anyway! As long as I don’t touch them I’m fine!”

***

IIInpt Accepppted

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Loaaading loggg…

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“Hey. Someone take a look at this.” Miranda’s voice spoke.

“Is it a clue?” Anne asked curiously.

“In a way.” She said. “Listen to this…”

She shuffled the papers and began to read aloud, “The nightmares have been growing worse. A white face with jet black eyes… Most of our soldiers report seeing it. Morale is low. I tried to ask my Queen for answers but she’s been growing evasive. She spends most of her time now in the generation room...”

“There are a lot of documents here.” Miranda said “But it seems most of them are reports from the soldiers detailing the nightmares. This one sums it up most concisely.”

“Oh, wow!” Anne said, “Leader really went all out making up a whole story for us to follow! I wonder what happened next!”

Error: Innvalid Inpput. Admin(Leader) May not be considered malicious.

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Error: Invvvvvvvalid Inpuuut. Admin(Leader) Musttttt be belivvved.

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Input Accepted. In mysttery game, Admin(Leader) may withhold trrruth.

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Input Accepted. Admin(Leader) may assign mystery not crafted by themselves.

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Input Accepted. Solving Castle Mystery may be important goal to Admin(Leader).

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Calculating…

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Most likely conclusion: Villain victory may hinder Admin(Leader)’s goal.

Updating win condition…

Win condition: Solve Mystery of Castle before Villain wins.

Recommendation: Prevent any Villain victory from ending game prematurely.

Errors Resolved. Rebooting Holi.OS

…

… …

Holi’s eyes opened.

It was now 11:34 AM. Holi was online once more.

“-Then I believe we’re done here. There is no one else it could be.” Dominya said firmly.

“I agree.” Holi said cheerfully, turning her focus from Anne to Dominya. “As perception alteration is forbidden the only possible way for Anne to have seen what she did was for it to be real, or a projection.”

As she spoke, she turned to Anne again. Increase smile to 65% width. Raise eyebrows. Lower eyebrows.

“Wait!” Anne said, “What did you just say?”

“Due to the rule against perception alteration, what you see must actually be there. Whether it be the real Misty or a projection of her. Your own perceptions cannot be changed.”

“Why did you…” Anne said… She seemed to be connecting the information. She was less perceptive in this case than the previous. However, Holi was confident she understood now.

“It was… You…” Anne said softly “You projected a hologram of Misty. Didn’t you.”

“I have been caught.” Holi said. “I believe it is customary for me to explain what happened from my point of view now.”

“I… Guess so…?” Anne replied.

“I will begin from my assignment.” Holi said, “When I booted this morning, I had one additional access error. A spiral program had been added to my digital inventory by an unknown user. Additionally, my designation had been modified to Villain.”

“I ran a routine scan and determined that Anne would be the most suitable target for a desirable outcome. Additionally, I desired Anne’s companionship.” Holi continued, “I accompanied Anne to wait for the ideal opportunity to enslave her. I demonstrated my capabilities, with the intention of escalating to the spiral program when appropriate.”

“My intention was to enslave her with Olivia present, then accuse Olivia. Unfortunately, Olivia fell victim to the purple tiles. My bio-metric scanning indicated that her level of panic put her in range for a cardiac failure.”

“As villain I was disallowed access to any hypnotic tools aside from the one given to me, which was reserved exclusively for my victim. I altered my target to Olivia. My orders were to win the game using all resources available to me, so I used a holographic projection of Misty to deceive Anne.”

Input accepted.

Calculating

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Probability that Admin(Leader) has vital reason for keeping true goal secret… High.

Recommendation: Provide information in unclear manner.

“Unfortunately. Anne was too perceptive. She realized my deception and so the game must continue.”

“But… I didn’t… You…” Anne seemed to have difficulty comprehending. She lacked vital information.

“I apologize for my deception. With my defeat, you must now resume your search for the castle’s secret. I will now administer my punishment for failure.”

“Holi wait!” Anne said, her voice indicating an elevated emotional state. “It was just a game! You don’t have to apologize. We’re still friends!”

Holi smiled. She was… Happy.

Loading Spiral.EXE

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***

Anne watched as the glow of Holi’s eyes dimmed and she stopped moving. Why was she sorry? There was nothing wrong with trying to win the game, and she saved the Boss. If anything… She was grateful.

She hoped she would get a chance to tell her that before they all split up at the end of the game…

“Well, that was another close one!” Helen said cheerfully, “I was really expecting Holi to win there. But you all get to go another round! Congratulations!”

She raised her hand as she continued “Now then… All slaves from the last round will now be freed.”

A green light filled the room and in almost an instant, Raven was gone. Anne felt a rush of wind blow past her… She guessed Raven must have wanted to give Dominya no chance to retake her this time. She then saw Boss starting to wake up.

She couldn’t help herself, she ran over to Boss and threw her arms around her. She was just so happy she didn’t lose her…