=========================Introduction============================

As we only have two chapters remaining with Wani, we're getting close to the finish line. That being said, we have once again found ourselves at a roadblock. Specifically, the contents of the climax chapter in regards to both content and pacing. In these writings the goal is to have an ideal chain of events present itself.

There are three big boxes that need ticking, the order is not completely set in stone. Firstly, Olivia's painting that's been set up since before Iadakan's death will be shown off. This is the capstone to that arc, and while pretty, is not as impactful as the next big thing, the dance. Olivia dances with Inco, using her tail as a third leg so she can 'stand' just long enough to do so. This will be conveyed via animated cutscene and is *the* high point of the story. Finally, we have the conclusion to ben and mia's arc, culminating in an event where the two split up, and it's revealed to the player that ben takes antipsychotics.

The problem here is that the conclusion to ben and mia's arc isn't strictly a positive development, it's at most a bittersweet one. Additionally, while the scene bears significance for Ben, there is not any for Mia.

=============Characters============

Mia
Firstly, I'll refer to Mike's earlier proposal regarding making Mia out to be an example of 'hostile masculinity', keeping people in check through fear for personal reasons rather than to the benefit of those she's affecting. Ben needs Mia for status, romance, and emotional support. In other words, across the four years they've been dating he's developed harsh stockholm syndrome, needing her support and attention.

Prior to the formal, Ben had gone directly against Mia's wishes, declaring he won't be doing her bidding at the expense of his other friends. Mia takes the fall for wrecking the place and tells Ben he'll regret this. Whatever happens in this closing scene of their arc needs to be in response to this.

One option is to have Mia tighten Ben's leash, so to speak. She reminds him who's boss, and limits or outright keeps his medication from him. This would culminate in the formal with Ben already being on-edge and stressed, to the 'final confrontation'.

Mia doesn't do things unless she feels she has to. She's mere months away from graduating, after which she plans on getting out of everyone's hair (or rather getting everyone out of hers). She's ordinarily not stupid enough to break the law, she only manipulates and threatens those around her with her astonishingly high social capital gained through high charisma. This is to say, ever since Mia started blackmailing Olivia, she's had to continuously double down so her entire operation doesn't go down, taking her with her. (And in a really roundabout way, it's also Ben's initial actions he took once he learned about his condition finally coming back to bite him by exposing that secret.)

In doubling down, this means she'd be acting in a deliberate way to tighten the leash on Ben, refusing to give him his meds and giving him the cold shoulder, yet still attending the formal with him for status reasons (and to gaslight ben into still being tolerant of the treatment). When found out, however, she would have to double down once more and attempt to throw ben under the bus by claiming victimhood (as it's incredibly easy to claim that against someone who is not fully autonomous) so as not to be caught breaking the law and potentially going to prison. She's already been backed into a corner, this would be her going over the line.

This order of events needs to point out this is the end result of Mia's constant doubling down on her aggression and need for control. She'd get incredibly aggressive on being found out, lashing at those around before suddenly having to pivot to her final backup plan, to throw ben under the bus to save herself.

Inco and Olivia
This is more a small aside, but the solution to the mess mia causes Ben should involve showcasing Inco and Olivia's character developments. 


========================Synopsis=========================

Inco and Olivia arrive at the formal. At the sign-in, they notice Ben is looking on-edge, to say the least. Olivia takes her painting to the memorial room right away, where she places the painting up and Inco sees it for the first time as it's unveiled to the world. Olivia fulfils Iadakan's 'last wish'. The two eventually go for lunch, and while Damien and Liz split off to dance, they're visited by ferris.

Inco sees Ben going backstage, and remembers Ben was going to talk Olivia. She says she hasn't spoken to him yet. Inco finds it strange, since it's been a month since they had that conversation. Inco gets Olivia to agree to go say hi.

Backstage, Inco finds Ben. He's still clearly on-edge about something, but he's able to have a conversation with Olivia, and properly apologize. Olivia accepts, but asks what's been on her mind the whole time: 'why?'. He simply says 'he felt bad for her', which surprises Olivia in a 'that's it?' way. He apologizes the answer isn't anything more satisfying, but is still hiding something.
Mia enters, complaining loudly that she's been looking for Ben and that she looks like a lonely chump with him running around everywhere. Inco asks if she's still upset, and she claims she isn't, what happened was all water under the bridge.
Inco asks if Ben had seen the painting Olivia made, he said no. Mia has seen it, however, and quips that Olivia should have made hers like that. She doesn't respond. They end the conversation talking about how there's only one semester left, they're almost at the finish line. Mia and Inco and Olivia agree to stay out of each others' way, and they start going their separate ways. It appears to be the loose ends here all tied up, and needs to have that finality.

Back in the main room, Ferris is busting it down on the dance floor. Inco is proud of him. Pass the time until it's time 2 danse. The slow dancing starts, signalling the formal is nearing its' end. Inco tells Olivia he's been having a blast. He internally accepts Olivia can't dance, but they go out on the floor for a bit anyway. Olivia gets it out of Inco that he *does* want to dance, and the cutscene plays.

After the dance, the formal winds down. Ben goes onstage and thanks everyone for their time and dismisses them. Inco, Olivia, Damien, and Liz start returning to the limo. Olivia mentions the painting is under special orders to be taken care of since blah blah she shouldn't have it in this scene. The night has come to a close, and everyone's happy. Just before getting in, Olivia remembers- weren't they supposed to give a speech? what happened about that? She and Inco go back in to check out what's going on. Scaler is on the speaker apologizing for 'technical difficulties', and is clearly annoyed at something. 

They find Mia and Ben backstage/in a side room, Mia is grilling Ben for his behavior, who is on the edge of a manic episode and begging for his medicine back (use careful phrasing so as not to reveal too early). Mia notices Inco and Olivia watching, and urges Ben to shut it. He doesn't, because he can't, and as Inco and Olivia grow more suspicious Mia grows more irritated until she flat out punches Ben in the face, giving him a black eye (Mia is an irritative, irrational person as shown earlier. Her brand of hostile masculinity, while calculated, is susceptible to breaks in judgement and low impulse control). She instantly knows she messed up, and her new priority is getting Ben out of there without anyone else seeing it. Scaler finds them, and urges Ben onstage. People see Ben's fresh wound that Mia caused. Scaler yanks the curtain back to see who did it, seeing Mia. She is now left with no option but to expose him and claim victimhood.

Mia claims that Ben's abusive, and she can't handle being with him anymore, that it's turned her into a 'monster'. She claims that he has her act the way she does around 'unsavory' students he doesn't want to deal with, makes her dress up like that etc., and how she just can't deal with him anymore, especially with his 'condition'. She brings up the bottle of pills she was keeping from him and scatters them around, revealing him as a psycho.

She starts off towards the door with Ben begging her to not leave him still. She ignores it. Ferris starts lumbering over to catch her, and she books it out of the place, barely avoiding his grasp. Ben's secret is out, and he sulks off in a different direction.
The crowd isn't convinced Ben actually did all that, of course, but the claim of him being on antipsychotics is substantiated.

Olivia signals to Inco to go after Ben and takes the speaker. We still follow Inco finding Ben in the memorial room while she talks about how Iadakan brought the best in his students (or something relevant to this development). Ben is sitting on the ground, looking up at the painting Olivia made. She was able to make something like this, while he's just been running around making things worse for himself. He and Inco have a one-on-one after Inco returns his medicine. Since his ride is gone, they end up taking Ben home and dropping him off at his place.