Part 19: Lock-in

[BGM: Eyes of the Dragon]


Tiger was right. The room was filled with weapons. A pistol. Another pistol. A sniper rifle. An assault rifle. A sledgehammer, a taser, a vial of poison, a grenade?!

What the hell? Why is all of this stuff here? What, does Brian expect us to use this? Why on earth would we need it?

Hm. I get it.

What?

You can't use your tablet if you're dead, right? And you can't come in last if you're the only one racing.

That's...

It appeared Dragon had already thought of this possibility. If you're scared of losing, of coming in last, there was one real world option you could take to correct that. A brutal option, a horrible option, an unthinkable option. An option Brian apparently thought could happen.



Where would a kid like Brian even get all this stuff?

It's a lot easier to get a hold of weapons in this country than you'd expect.

Okay, the guns and the taser and whatnot maybe, but a grenade? Poison?

He's been planning this for a while. It's not impossible.

We... we should do something about this, right?

We definitely can't keep it from the others. We'll reconvene in the cafeteria and talk about what to do with it as a group.

Yeah, shit, actually, what's our time looking like? Yeah, we should go into separate rooms and then get back to the cafeteria, we don't have too much time.

Alright, let's do that.



And just like that, we left the makeshift arsenal unsupervised and entered separate classrooms. Without much thought, I pressed the 'RUN' button. No reason to do anything else, right? After that, I swiftly headed back to the cafeteria.



Pretty much everyone else had already gathered when I arrived.

Mouse! There you are. Hey, you won't believe this good news: two more Minor Trinkets have been found.

In no small part thanks to yours truly, you're welcome.

Wow, you're a veritable Trinket finding machine.

I try.

Two more Trinkets? That's great! We should be at a total of four now, right? We're a third of the way there in only two turns of searching!



Yes, yes, that's all very well and good, now could you all be quiet? They're about to show the race results.

Why does it matter? Isn't it obvious what they'll show?

Better to keep a close eye on them regardless.

Before that discussion could continue, the speakers cut on.

Round 3 has ended. Now, let us see how the race has progressed.

[BGM: Silence]

The Rat has RUN one space.

The Ox has RUN one space.

The Tiger has RUN one space.

The Bunny has RUN one space.

The Dragon has RUN one space.

The Snake has RUN one space.

The Horse has RUN one space.

The Sheep has RUN one space.

The Monkey has RUN one space.

The Rooster has RUN one space.

The Dog has RUN one space.

The Pig has RUN one space.



[BGM: Mousetrap]


Before Round 4 begins, I have an announcement to make.

What?

There is an additional rule I have yet to inform you all of. A quirk of the race, if you will, that you all may be interested in.

No doubt those of you who checked the information tab will have noticed you each have a 'personality' assigned. From the Rat to the Pig, each of your personalities are unique to you.

Most of you probably dismissed that, and for most of you that was the right choice. However, for two of you, this personality is an incredibly important variable.



First up, I'll talk about the AMBITIOUS personality. The ambitious personality wants to finish the race in first place, just like everyone else. However, this personality type isn't content in a big ol' shared victory.

For this personality to be satisfied, no more than three animals can tie for first. If this condition isn't satisfied, the animal with this personality will be treated as if they have lost. They will be punished accordingly.

Wait, but that means-

Are you kidding? That's crazy!

No...



The other personality to take note of is the HATEFUL personality. Unlike the other personalities, this personality doesn't actually wish to win the race.

The animal with this personality wants to be in last place when the race finishes. If that happens, all animals except those possessing the HATEFUL personality and those possessing the AMBITIOUS personality will be executed.

However, this caveat is not applicable if first place is a tie between 9 or more animals.

What a farce.

Does this guy think he's fucking with us?

I apologize for not making these rules clear from the start. I fear you might think this would've been good information to have from the start. And you know? You are absolutely right.



Therefore, to make up for keeping this from you until now this round will be extended by 15 minutes. Use that time to regroup. And as always, choose wisely. Heh heh heh.

This couldn't be happening, right? There was no way! That BASTARD! There was no way that that was unintentional! He let us foster a false sense of peace. And then, when we were sure about our safety, he introduced this bullshit rule which forced our hands! Now, no matter what, at least 2 people would have to die. This couldn't be right!

I thought... I thought he said that if we did everything right, everyone could escape!

It was our fault for believing that psycho for one minute.

Is he serious?

Probably.

This scene is mostly unchanged besides what personalities are mentioned- nobody ends up coming forward to reveal themselves as one of the two mentioned personalities, like last time, and the group discusses whether they should change their strategy (looking for Minor Trinkets) in light of this new wrinkle...

[BGM: Ox's Logic]


You all are being awfully naïve.

What?

Do you seriously think that those burdened with this rule would simply roll over and die? If they were willing to do that, they would've spoken up when we asked them to. Those with the will to survive will find some way to do so.

To think they wouldn't is to underestimate the desire to live.

Horse's words hung heavy. Of course he was right. If they hadn't outed themselves already, then the people facing harsher rules wouldn't be content with things operating smoothly. The air would now be plagued with a brutal sense of distrust. How could we, when traitors lurked in our midst? But we had no choice other than proceeding with the plan, even if we knew something was likely to go wrong.

[BGM: Eyes of the Dragon]


Oh, wait! We should probably talk about that thing.

What thing?

I was going to bring this up sooner, but then all of this came up. Dragon, Tiger and I found a locked closet in the gym. And there were a ton of weapons stockpiled there.

What?

Yeah, the place looked like a damn weapons shop. It's pretty wild.

Weapons? Here? Why would Brian give us that!

It is a curious decision...



That could be a problem. The last thing we want at this time is to give people a way to kill easily. The mere presence of those things is going to elevate the tension in here tremendously!

We should do something about them.

Yeah, but what?

You said the closet was locked? Could we re-lock it?

Nah, the lock actually fell apart. I guess Brian did that intentionally, huh?

Damn. I guess that idea is done for.

Actually, we might be able to salvage it. I think locking the weapons away is probably for the best.

I mean, of course it would be, the issue is that we don't have a lock.



Actually, I know where we could find one. Earlier, I was looking in a security office, and I found an odd bike chain. It was a chain connected by a lock, and it had two keys that went to it. We could probably use that to secure the weapons in a safe place.

Nice thinking, Bunny!

However, I must ask if a bike chain would be able to properly secure the gym closet. Couldn't that setup present us with some issues, logistically speaking?

We definitely could run into some issues there.

That's why I think we should also move the weapons to a room that can actually be locked with a chain. Come to think of it, I also stumbled across a sound studio.

If I remember the place right, I think it has the right build for a chain lock.

Hold on a minute, I don't like this. You're saying you found this before the rest of us?

And you're saying there were two keys to it, right?



How do we know there weren't actually three keys to it, and you didn't swipe one beforehand? If that was the case, you'd be able to enter the room freely.

I appreciate your concerns, I really do!

But I have to ask, why would I just grab some random key to a random bike chain? Seems a little ridiculous to me.

This all sounds like a major headache.

Tiger?

Look, there's a better solution than all of this.



We just get someone to guard the weapons.

Are you serious?

It's a lot simpler, right? Sure, this person wouldn't be able to help search, but it'd make sure no one could take any weapons, right? I mean, the guard would have all these weapons, so it's not like anyone could face them.

Moron! If we let the ambitious or the hateful personality guard the weapons, we'd be completely screwed!

What are the odds of that?

If we just choose the most trustworthy person here, there's almost no way that would happen!



It seems an unnecessary risk if the chain lock plan would work.

That plan seems a lot more complicated. Things could easily go wrong with it.

And it's not like the lock plan wouldn't make us trust someone with the ability to get the weapons.

Huh?

I mean, there are two keys to the lock, right? What would we do with those?

We could flush them down the toilet or something!

And what if a Minor Trinket is hidden in the sound studio? What if a traitor finds more weapons elsewhere and goes on a rampage, and we need to stop them? What if a third example of why we'd need to open the weapon closet happened?

I don't think it'd be wise in any case to completely cut ourselves off from the weapons. So if that's the case, why not just go with a simple guard system?

Mouse, what are your thoughts on this?

My thoughts? What were my thoughts?



We're in a different situation now because we discovered that weapons cache, and thus the choices that dictate what route we end up on in turn are also different. That being said, the choice that progresses us towards the route voted for is...

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


I think it makes the most sense to lock the weapons up.

Even if we need to give people keys?

I think Tiger's right in that some people are probably safe to give them to. The bigger issue with the guard plan is that it would permanently take someone out of commission. Worse, it would take someone who was definitely on the group's side out of commission.

Our biggest enemy is going to be time. We need to find those Minor Trinkets as soon as possible, even this conversation is wasting that precious time. If we lock the weapons away, we'll be able to get them if we need them, but we can put them safely out of mind.

That makes sense. I also think we should try and go with the chain lock plan. Is anyone against it?

I still don't like it.



But it's starting to seem like I'm the minority in that opinion. So if this is what the group wants, then I'm fine with it.

I guess this'll be okay. I didn't really have a dog in the race either way.

Heh. Dog in the race.

If that's settled, we should figure out who the keys should go to, right?

Do we want to split them up, or give them to one person?

Giving them to one person reduces the risk of letting a traitor have a key.

However, it also consolidates power, which as a general rule is more dangerous.

I think it may be safer to split the keys between two candidates.

If that's the case, then I've got a nomination.



I think Sheep should be in charge of one of the keys.

M-Me?!

Think about it, if this girl was given the ambitious or hateful personality type, do you really think she'd hide it? Not a chance! She'd have outed it.

Also, and no offense Sheep, but she's not exactly intimidating.

Even if she did decide to break bad and grab a bunch of weapons, I'm pretty sure we could take her down.

Oh.

Well, I'm honored that you thought of me for the position. I promise I'll keep a close eye on the key if you give it to me.

I think Sheep is a good choice. Any objections to letting her have one?

A wave of silence went over the group.



If that's settled, I actually have a second nomination. I believe Tiger would be a good choice to have the other key.

Me?

Yes. I think given this conversation, you are the least likely to be a traitor. For one, you nominated someone other than yourself to have a key. The traitors naturally would want to get the keys themselves, so nominating someone else is completely unthinkable behavior to them.

If you really wanted a key, you could have made an argument such as... 'Fine, we can do the chain lock plan instead of mine, but only if I get one of the keys.'

That might have met with some resistance, but I bet you'd be able to convince people with that.

Additionally, you have been nothing but positive this whole time. I do truly believe that if you had been given an adverse personality, you would've admitted it to us.

Aw, thanks Snake! You seem great, too.



Tch. Well I for one disapprove. Giving someone as strong as Tiger access to the weapons is a death sentence for the rest of us if she turns out to be a traitor.

No. If Tiger tries to attack anyone, I'll be able to bring her down.

What's that? You think you can beat me in a fight?

I don't think that. I know that.

Would you two cut it out? Anyways, yeah, Tiger's probably fine to have a key. Let's go with Sheep and Tiger being the keyholders.

And let's quit wasting time discussing this anymore, we've already spent far too long on it. Now lead us to where the weapons are.

[BGM: Silence]


And just like that, we were decided. Tiger, Dragon and I led the group to the gym. We made sure to take careful stock of everything in the closet before anyone was allowed to touch anything. Then the group carried the items down to the recording studio Bunny talked about.

[BGM: Weak Pig]


We piled up all the weapons in the back room. An inventory was taken to make sure everything was there, and no one had pocketed anything. Dog noticed that the window to the audio room could actually also be opened. Luckily for us, there was actually a handle on the inside for the window that could easily be flipped to lock it.

The door opened inwards, into the audio room, which meant we needed to hold it back with the bike chain. We ran it around a column and double-looped it around the door handle. Finally, when everyone was outside of the room. Tiger leaned through the little gap in the door left and locked the bike chain.



When all was said and done, the window from the audio room was locked on the inside. The only way to enter would be to unlock the chain through the gap pulling the audio room's door back.

Alright, I think that just about does it, guys! The room's officially locked.

At least that's over with. Now, how should we go about searching this building?

Are we really going to go through this shit again? We don't have the time or trust to properly plan out these group things. Let's just hurry up and start searching.

I must agree. If we get lost in any more pointless discussions, we face a serious risk of not being able to find the Minor Trinkets in time.

Should we just split up and start looking, then?

That's...

You know what, fine, whatever. Everyone, just be careful, and let's try and gather all the Trinkets before things can go wrong.

And... break!

Just like that, the group split up. Ox was right, the sooner we found these Trinkets, the sooner everything could be better.