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As soon as she was hooked up to the video call and the game, Marinette let herself fall on her bed. She wiggled her toes under her soft comforter. “Okay, everyone! I sent out the code. Make sure you’re on the right server.”
She heard different distracted replies from her friends. “Since it’s Gami’s first time playing, we’re just doing the Skeld,” Marinette explained.
“Thank you for the consideration, Marinette,” said Kagami, “Though I don’t know what this ‘Skeld’ is.”
“It’s the simplest map to go around, Gami, so it should be easier for a beginner like you,” Allegra piped up, combing through her long blonde locks.
“I see.”
Marinette let her flower-headed avatar roam around the lobby as she waited for the others to enter the room. She watched the number of occupants fill up to a complete ten.
Adrien’s voice sounded. “Can we agree—Plagg, lay off the cheese! Can we agree to vote out Felix first this time?”
“Excuse me?” Came the offended statement from Felix.
“Felix is dangerous,” Adrien said in a serious tone, “He should be ejected right away. Or else he’ll win again.”
Felix rolled his eyes, “I have only won six times out of the eight games we have played before. What if I become a crewmate?”
“A necessary sacrifice! If we vote you out at the start, we’ll get rid of an impostor right away. If you’re a crewmate, it won’t affect the numbers that much.”
“You will lose an extra brain in figuring out who the impostors are.”
Adrien stuck his tongue out. “I don’t care, we don’t need you to find out who the impostors are, you impostor.”
“Just admit you still have a vendetta against me for killing you several times.”
The blonde boy sputtered. “No—no! That’s not what this is about, I’m just—just taking precautions!”
“God, stop it!” Chloe cut in, “En, I don’t think it’s fair to target Felix right off the bat. We should show Kagami a proper game since it’s her first time.”
Adrien huffed. “Hmph! Fine, then I’ll follow Felix everywhere so he can’t kill anyone. If I die, you all know who to eject!”
“Oh?” Felix challenged, “What if you become an impostor?”
“You can watch me, too! If you die, they can be sus of me.”
“If you keep on following me around, how do you expect to do your tasks?”
“I’ll—I’ll! After you finish with yours, you have to follow me around while I do mine!”
Marinette spoke up, frowning. “Break it up, boys! Jeez, the game hasn’t even started yet.”
“Sorry to interrupt, but how do you move around?” Kagami asked.
“There’s a controller at the bottom right,” Allegra answered.
“Wait,” Alan scratched his head, “If it’s Gami’s first time, won’t she be at a disadvantage? She’ll be confused about how to play crewmate or impostor.”
“It’s easy,” Claude drawled, leaning back smugly. “If you’re an impostor, don’t get caught. If you’re a crewmate, catch the impostor.”
Chloe snorted, “Helpful.”
“I have read up on some rules beforehand,” Kagami told them.
“Let’s still give you a crash course, Gami,” Allegra offered and began explaining the buttons and the goals of each role. Kagami listened eagerly, nodding at important points.
“Thank you, Allegra. I think I have it in my head but I will still need to play to master it,” Kagami said determinedly afterwards. Allegra gave a small smile in return.
“Oh, since this is Gami’s first game, the impostors better not kill her off right away!” Marinette warned.
“Protect the precious child!” Claude agreed.
Marinette wrinkled her nose, looking down at the chaotic lobby. Everyone was running around and none of them used their real names except for Kagami, who was just named ‘Kagami’. “I thought we were going to use proper nicknames!” she said.
“But you’re not using your name either,” Adrien pointed out.
“Because it’s obvious?” She looked at the words above her avatar, which read: HeadBugInCharge.
“ Argh,” Marinette squinted at the lobby, which might close if they didn’t start the game soon. “Can we at least wear our hero colors so we can tell who’s who? Gami, you can take the red. I’ll go pink. En, take green and give black to Marc.”
Everyone shuffled around to alter their wardrobe. Marinette went over each player to check their color and nickname.
- Pink - HeadBugInCharge
- Green - AmeowUs
- Orange - IllusionMaster
- Yellow - Buzzbuzz
- Cyan - GuitarHero19
- Black - WriterKid
- Red - Kagami
- White - Melodia
- Purple - Cloud
- Brown - RaggedStone
“Okay! Shall we start?” Marinette said.
“Don’t forget to turn off visual tasks,” Alan reminded her.
Marinette groaned, “I did! And that was one time I forgot!”
Felix added, “And no impostor confirmation.”
“Yeah, fine. Now everyone mute your microphones.”
“Why are our cameras turned on?” Kagami questioned.
Marinette waved her hand dismissively, “It’s just a twist on it. We have to control our reactions too.”
“I see.”
“Okay, I’ll start the game!”
“Remember! Felix is automatically sus!”
“Adrien, be quiet!”
The screen finally changed as Marinette started the game. She saw the bright blue words of her role: Crewmate. She made a sour face, thinking how boring the round would be. At least I’ll get to see some drama unfold. Marinette wondered who the two impostors were, half-hoping poor Kagami wouldn’t be one in her first try.
The familiar cafeteria came into view and Marinette immediately moved upwards to empty the trash chute. She saw the rest scattering and true to his word, Adrien was following Felix. She hummed while pulling the lever, planning to check Security once she reached the left side of the map.
Marinette moved downwards to continue the task. Above her, she saw a purple figure running around in small circles. Claude lingered, even as she finished her task. Oh my God, is he going to kill me? Marinette thought.
She moved upwards quickly and saw Claude following behind her. What the heck is he doing?
Marinette reached the center table quickly and pressed the emergency meeting button.
Confused sounds went around as everyone unsuppressed their microphones. “Why the meeting?” Luka asked.
“Claude was acting sus,” Marinette relayed, “He kept hanging around me in Storage. Don’t you have any tasks to do, tiger boy?”
Claude’s eyes widened as he visibly tensed up. “Wait! What? I was there ‘cause I was scared! I didn’t want to die!”
“Uh huh.” Marinette wasn’t convinced.
“Let me explain!” Claude frantically waved his arms, voice an octave higher. “I think I saw someone vent in Shields! So I ran away because they might come after me!”
“Vent in or vent out?” Chloe questioned.
“I–I don’t know! I just saw someone there and–and I swear, someone vented!” The brunette stammered.
Marinette narrowed her eyes. “What color?”
“I . . . forgot.”
The group collectively groaned. “Claude,” Felix sighed, “You saw someone vent and ran towards Storage to panic until Marinette got suspicious of you and called an emergency meeting? But you forgot who you saw in the vent?”
“I’m not an impostor!” Claude squeaked.
“. . . Why did you not call the emergency meeting yourself when you saw someone vent?”
“I forgot you can do that.” Claude began waving his arms around faster, “Wait! I swear that’s what happened! Don’t kick me out!”
“Sus,” Adrien nodded, “Very sus.”
“Noooo!”
Marinette’s gaze moved over to Kagami, who had a concentrated expression on her face. “You okay there, Kagami?”
The small girl snapped out of her small trance. “Yes, sorry. I was lost—I kept bumping into the walls.”
Adrien raised his hand, “I’ll escort you, Gami!”
“I thought you were following me.”
“. . . Oh right.” A downhearted look clouded over Adrien’s face.
“I’ll come with you!” Allegra beamed, “We’ll do our tasks together and you can follow me when there’s a sabotage. I’ll vouch for you.”
Kagami approved, “Of course. I will stick by your side, Allegra.”
“If Kagami dies, it’s all on Allegra!” said Adrien, earning a sharp glare from the aforementioned girl. Adrien blew out a breath, “Take care of her, please.”
“By the way,” Allegra tapped her cheek, “I believe Claude on this one. Whenever he's an impostor, Claude gets dead silent. Obviously, he’s not quiet right now.”
Marinette’s memories of their previous games confirmed that. Alan snapped his fingers, “Yeah, I remember too. He’s just making himself sus when he’s not even the impostor.”
Claude nodded his head vigorously. Adrien pursed his lips, “Hmm, what if you’re being noisy on purpose to throw us off?”
“Must you be suspicious of everyone?” Felix chided.
“For now, there’s not enough evidence to accuse Claude. But I’m bringing it to the table: he definitely acted sus. Keep your eyes peeled for dead bodies and anyone acting out of place.” Marinette selected the ‘skip vote’ option as everyone else did the same.
The game resumed, with Allegra and Kagami pairing up. Adrien continued to tail Felix. Marinette was going towards MedBay after completing another task when emergency sounds went off: reactor meltdown. The others were filing into the Reactor room and in no time, the crisis was averted. Marinette headed for MedBay again when a dead body report flashed across her screen.
She gasped and covered her mouth. “Claude!”
Claude himself stayed muted, as he was dead, but looked devastated.
“Where?” Chloe asked.
Allegra, who reported the body, spoke up, “Gami and I moved down to the Lower Engine after the Reactor got fixed and that’s where we found him.”
“He was in the far corner,” Kagami confirmed.
“Poor Claude,” Adrien lamented, “Does that mean he was right about the venting thing?”
“He probably was,” Marinette speculated, “I think he was killed during the sabotage. Quick, where was everyone before the meltdown?”
Each one gave their locations while Claude sulked quietly. Felix and Adrien were in the Upper Engine. Chloe and Alan both came from the other side of the map and were a little late. Luka was already in the Reactor. Marc was watching the cameras in Security. Kagami and Allegra both had a task in the cafeteria.
Felix thought for a moment. “I do not think we can deduce the possible killer with this.”
“You were with me the whole time but you’re still sus, Fe,” Adrien chimed in.
“Wait!” An idea seemed to have reached Alan. “What if Allegra and Kagami are both the impostors and they self-reported?”
“But it’s Kagami’s first time!” Adrien protested, “If she were an impostor, she would’ve been caught already!”
“Stop being biassed!” Chloe told him off.
“What if she’s just that smart?” Alan shrugged, “I’d buy it.”
Marinette mulled over it. Kagami’s no idiot, but can she really pull off being an impostor on her first game? Allegra can be sneaky sometimes, too . . .
“ We just found the body,” Allegra coolly defended. “Kagami’s perfectly innocent, too.”
The voting timer counted down. As they couldn’t agree on one person to blame, the votes split among different people. There were two votes each for Kagami and Allegra, while there was one vote for Felix (from Adrien, no doubt). The rest skipped on voting.
“Rest in peace, poor Claude,” Marinette mumbled before turning off her microphone again for the game.
She finally— finally— did her MedBay scan. Marinette looked around MedBay, hoping to catch sight of any conspicuous activity. Unfortunately, no one was around. She made a pout and ventured out of the room when the lights dimmed.
Quickly, she headed for Electrical to fix the lights. In the circular spotlight, she could see a few colors, indicating the other players’ feet: brown, cyan, yellow. The panel opened up for her to fix the lights but the others seemed to be tinkering with it as well, so it took time to get all the lights to turn on.
After what seemed like forever, the wirings were fixed. As soon as the panel closed, Marinette spotted that everyone was there in a close pile, and the report button was lit up. She was about to press it herself but was beaten to it by Luka.
Adrien was dead.
“Okay, who killed the cat?” She studied each of her friends’ expressions.
Adrien himself looked like he was suffering. He was rolling around on his floor in frustration, hands over his face. Marinette forced down a laugh. This sad, sad kitty.
“Everyone was in Electrical that time, correct?” Marinette asked and the rest nodded in response. “That means everyone’s a potential killer.”
“A stack kill?” Marc guessed.
“Looks like it,” Luka said, “When the lights turned on, the report button was suddenly there.”
“What is a stack kill?” Kagami asked.
“It’s when the impostor kills when everyone’s huddled together, so it’s hard to point out who killed who,” Allegra answered.
“Oh my God,” Marinette put a hand over her head, “So everyone was in the stack? How are we supposed to figure the impostors out?”
“They’re pretty good,” Alan praised.
Chloe waved a manicured hand. “Doesn’t it put more blame on Felix?” She was met with confused looks. “I mean, think about it. Adrien’s been suspecting him this whole time, so he used the sabotage to get the cat off his back so he can go around freely.”
Felix scoffed, “First of all, I would not do something as petty as that if I were an impostor. Secondly, I was not in the stack.”
Marinette blinked. “What?”
“I was not in the stack,” Felix repeated, wearing an annoyed look, “I moved away but stayed in Electrical as it seemed that everyone was simultaneously fixing the lights.”
“Oh, I think I did see something orange that wasn’t in the stack when the lights turned on,” Allegra said.
Marinette hummed, “Felix might be innocent, but he’s not completely off the hook. His partner might be the one who stack killed.”
“But I’m a crewmate,” Felix grumbled.
“Speaking of not off the hook.” Alan spoke slowly. “There’s someone else who’s sus.”
“Who?” Marinette tilted her head.
“Allegra.” The name from Alan elicited a dramatic offended gasp from Allegra. Alan began to list off his reasons. “She thinks of weird big brain plans all the time when she's an impostor. She might be using Kagami as an alibi and her partner could’ve killed Claude earlier and then she reported that kill.”
“Alan!” Allegra complained.
“You stack killed before!” Alan fired back, “I’m trying to avenge Claude here.”
Allegra rolled her eyes, “And you have the wrong person.”
“Do you have a defense, suspect? And don’t use Kagami.”
“Literally anyone could’ve done those things you said.”
“Yeah, but my gut feeling says it’s you.”
While Allegra let out a frustrated cry, Felix plucked a berry from a bowl and tossed it to his kwami, who wasn’t visible through the camera. The fruit hovered midair. “We have to vote someone off this time,” he said, “or else the impostors will earn more kills.”
“I vote Allegra!” Alan said brightly.
“Oh come on! Who’ll take care of Kagami if I get ejected?”
“I will,” Marinette volunteered as she pressed on the button to vote for Allegra. Alan’s arguments weren’t a hundred percent sound, but she couldn’t argue with the gut feeling. Alan’s gut feelings were reliable. It was also better safe than sorry.
“You’ll regret this!” said a ticked Allegra, seeing the unanimous votes against her. She muted her microphone as her avatar floated out in space.
Marinette flexed her fingers. And the game continues.
She playfully circled Kagami’s red figure, which went for Weapons. Marinette shot down some asteroids expertly in the room. When she finished, she stayed and stood on guard while waiting for Kagami to finish the same task.
Alarms blared again. It was oxygen depletion this time.
Marinette and Kagami rushed to O2 and they met Alan by the door who probably came from the bottom passageway. Marinette typed in the code swiftly, but the depletion was still ongoing. Her eyes widened. The Admin! Is no one going there?
She decided to go to the Admin herself but the alarms stopped after a few seconds. Marinette followed Kagami back to Weapons where the latter continued her task. Suddenly, her screen changed: a dead body was reported.
“Marc’s out,” Chloe said, “I saw him in the far corner of Electrical near the vent. Damn, I was going to call him out in the next meeting.”
Alan looked at her incredulously, “Why? What did he do?”
“He hasn’t been impostor that often so it might be him this time. Oh, and Luka, too. Sorry, babe.”
“You were going to accuse Marc and Luka over that ?”
“It’s always the quiet ones,” Marinette said pensively.
“. . . Can everyone focus?” Felix frowned.
“Wow, this is a mess.” The gears in Marinette’s head worked overtime. “First, who fixed the O2 in Admin and why did it take so long?”
Felix motioned to himself. “I did. I was taking out trash and I thought someone else would handle it. The alarms would not stop so I went into Admin myself and no one else was there.”
Alan piped up. “Let’s get everybody’s story straight. I was doing a task in Shields and I went up to O2 from there.”
“Kagami and I were in Weapons and we also fixed O2. We saw Alan there,” Marinette talked for herself and Kagami.
Luka made an unreadable face before saying, “I was in MedBay.”
Marinette gaped. “You were on the other side of the map?” The others wore strange looks.
“That’s why I didn’t bother going to O2. It was too far away.”
“Hmm,” Marinette narrowed her eyes into thin slits, “I want to hear from Chloe first. Where were you during the sabotage?”
“Comms,” the blonde girl answered, flipping her hair, “I saw Alan in Shields so I thought he’d go up to O2. I was going to Admin but Felix already fixed it when I got there. We tried to go back to Storage but the doors closed. I found Marc in Electrical after.”
“Yes,” Felix supplied, “Chloe entered Admin after I typed the code and the doors closed in on us.”
“Luka, you’re super sus right now,” Alan said.
The blue-haired boy winced. “Yeah, I know. But I really was in MedBay doing my scan.”
Felix appeared to be deep in thought. “I was not going to play detective during this game but I see the need to now.” He shook his head, as if bearing the responsibility of his genius. “There is a vent connecting MedBay and Electrical. If we assume Luka is an impostor, he or his partner could have set up the O2 depletion as a diversion. While everyone would be busy fixing O2, he will have enough time to kill Marc and escape to MedBay. He closed the doors of Storage after the sabotage to buy more time.”
“He or his partner?” Alan echoed. “We already ejected Allegra.”
“That is true, but I want to think under the assumption that we still have two impostors on board,” Felix explained.
“It makes sense.” Marinette couldn’t clear the others, but the plan was convenient for Luka. “Remember Claude? Luka said he was already in the Reactor when the meltdown started. He could’ve killed Claude in the Lower Engine and moved up to Reactor and activated the sabotage from there.”
She couldn’t tell what exactly happened in the stack kill, but evidence pointed to Luka at the moment. Marinette stuck out her tongue in concentration. Luka was too neutral, too good at controlling his expressions and too calm to be suspected of anything. He was also sharp-minded. It made perfect sense that he lasted as an impostor after three kills.
“Any last words, babe?” Chloe asked.
Luka had a cryptic smile on as he shook his head. On Marinette’s screen, the voting results popped up. All votes went to Luka. He coolly turned off his microphone, joining his fellow ghosts in silence.
The game still continued. That means we were wrong about either Luka or Allegra. Maybe Allegra? Marinette brought her lips into a fine line. She knew who to accuse next, but she had a few more tasks to do. When the game resumed, she moved to Navigation and Kagami trailed behind her.
She was steering the little rocket ship when an emergency meeting was called by Felix. No bodies were found, luckily.
“We need to eject our last impostor.” Felix said sternly, “The task bar is not filling quickly enough and we cannot sit around waiting for everyone to be killed.”
“I have someone sus in mind,” Marinette looked closely at her target. “He’s been leading the conversations since before and was dead set on voting off Allegra, who was probably innocent.”
Alan made a face, “I was serious about Allegra.”
“But you were the one who first accused Allegra and Kagami and you accused her again out of nowhere during the stack kill! You were weirdly quiet during Luka’s interrogation but you decided it was the right move to sacrifice your partner and kill the rest of us yourself.”
A gleam sparkled in Alan’s eye, “Hold on a minute there, missy. I think we’re all overlooking one important person.”
He paused and everyone waited inquisitively.
“The person who won seven out of eight games before! More times than Felix!” Alan declared, pointing, “Marinette, you also led the discussions during this game, being a clever ladybug to draw away suspicion from yourself.”
Marinette let her expression contort. “ Insulting! I’ve been a good crewmate all this time! All the others saw me at least once around the map and I’ve been doing my tasks.”
“Speak for yourself,” Alan posed in a self-satisfied manner, “I’m not letting you have a win again. All those things you said I could’ve done, you could also do.”
Marinette stuck her tongue out childishly. “I don’t know with you guys, but I’m voting for Alan. Don’t fail your fellow crewmate here.”
“Um, guys?” Chloe called out. “What about Kagami?”
Kagami furrowed her eyebrows. “What about me?”
“She hasn’t been suspected, like, as much. And she’s been quiet.”
Marinette gasped. “No, Gami couldn’t do such a thing! She stayed with me and Allegra during the game and she’s been an absolute sweetheart.”
Kagami only gave an ambiguous shrug, while Alan suddenly insisted that Marinette and Kagami were in cahoots with each other.
“Voting. Now.” Felix said, as the timer ticked closer to zero. Marinette confidently pressed the checkmark for Alan.
The results showed up. Alan was voted out by majority. Marinette let out a cheer, knowing they had won and she snagged another win for herself—
She nearly dropped her phone.
We lost?!
The screen glowed black and red, revealing two figures: one in orange and one in yellow.
“Check,” Felix uttered.
“And mate,” Chloe grinned.
The ghosts had turned on their microphones again and the call plunged into chaos.
“ Chloe! How could you do this to me?!” Adrien sobbed, “And I told you! I told you! Felix goddamn Culpa!”
“It was Chloe who vented! It was Chloe who vented!” Claude cried out.
“Alan, you little–! Look what happened to you in the end!” Allegra fumed.
“You scared me out of my wits, Chlo,” Marc said with a pout.
“Well played, babe, well played,” Luka chuckled.
“I know, I’m amazing,” Chloe haughtily flipped her hair again.
“I was so sure, it was Marinette. No, Felix played mind games on us again. But who killed who? I swear Chloe wasn’t the slightest bit suspicious. It had to be Marinette . . .” Alan rambled regretfully, burying his head in his hands.
“I barely had to do anything,” Felix muttered, bored.
“. . . Do we play again?” Kagami asked quietly.
Marinette remained speechless in the embrace of defeat. God, I was too complacent this round, she bitterly thought. A newfound fire lit up in her. Culpa, Bourgeois, you both are going down.