Part 105: Circle Gets the Square

[BGM: Mousetrap]


I hurried over to the classroom which I woke up in. There, I found the computer with the Mouse image attached to it. Looking at the computer again, it was clear that someone had just cut out a generic mouse logo and attached it to the computer. This... it felt a lot cheaper than the previous production. Well, I guess that was to be expected; this whole thing had a different vibe. It would have to, since it was being hosted by somebody else. It had to be. Because Brian was dead. ...Right?

No, Ox told me that they had positively identified him in the explosion. The police had guaranteed it. The police...

…

Before I could think about it any more, the screen in front of me flashed to life. Time to input an action! Immediately, I was a bit taken aback by how barebones the whole production was. It was just a black screen with green text I could mouse over and click on. This really was a rushjob, clearly not made by the same people. However, there was no time to focus on such details. The input window was only 33 seconds! Shockingly low. So low as to prevent you from thinking clearly.



First things first, time to read the communal table.

-Mouse of Hearts
-Ox of Hearts
-Tiger of Hearts
-Tiger of Clubs
-Tiger of Diamonds
-Tiger of Spades
-Bunny of Hearts
-Dragon of Hearts
-Snake of Hearts

This was... The results of this communal pool were very disturbing. However, I didn't have time to contemplate it too much. My job was unchanged. I saw a Mouse card, I needed to grab a Mouse card. I clicked TAKE, then scrolled over Mouse of Hearts. And like that, the computer shut off. Task done.

[BGM: Silence]


Now, time to deal with the fallout of that communal table. I already had some thoughts about it, but I imagined the group would have plenty more–

*BOOOOOM!*

The hell was that? I made my way to the source of the noise – a classroom on the second floor – and after looking inside, immediately turned around. The classroom was nicely decorated. The walls were all marked with directions on the compass rose – an eastern wall, a western wall, et cetera. There was a big bookshelf by the door, desks for the students, and a desk for the teacher with a computer. But none of that was what drew my attention.

What drew my attention was Dog's flaming corpse. A few others had gathered around the scene, and were experiencing similar reactions as mine. What... was this? A moment's thinking led me to the answer. Of course. Failure to input an action would result in execution. Dog, being dead, couldn't exactly input a move. Circle gets the Square. Without the space in my head for another thought on this subject, I turned around and made my way back to the library, where people were meeting.

[BGM: Final Squeal]


What the hell was that?

You mean Dog's corpse getting blown up?

No, not that, who gives a shit about that? I'm talking about the dealt cards! I mean, what are the odds?!

Is everything doomed?

Okay, okay, hold on now. Let's figure things out first.

Tiger, Horse, Sheep, Rooster, Monkey, you five were supposed to take Tiger cards when they were placed on the table. Additionally, seeing the predicament, Snake or Pig might've decided to help out by also taking a card. So, could everyone state specifically which cards they took?



I just grabbed the Tiger of Hearts, since it matched with the other ones.

I also simply grabbed the first Tiger card I saw. That is, the Tiger of Hearts.

Um, I thought we needed to try and rip up Tiger cards, so I chose the Tiger of Diamonds.

I decided the best was often saved for last. Hence, I took the Tiger of Spades.

I also took the Tiger of Spades. I thought it the least likely card to be taken.

U-um, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be seen as suspicious or anything, so I didn't do anything, I just checked Snake. He didn't have a card.

Hm, I wonder if that action determines the number of cards someone had at the start of the round or at the end. That point was ambiguous.

At any rate, I realized the predicament we may be getting ourselves into, and I decided to pick a Tiger card. Specifically, the Tiger of Diamonds.



Okay, so... It sounds like everything worked out, right?

Multiple people took three types of the Tiger cards, so those should be destroyed. And nobody took the Tiger of Clubs, so we can destroy that next round. Then everything will be great!

Alright!

Good, good. So we're not screwed.

Oh, Bunny. Must you always act so deceitfully?

Huh?

Oh, you're a clever one, aren't you? You should be aware that what you just described couldn't have happened.

Wait, it couldn't have?

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


Let's start with a simple fact – the distribution of those cards were anything but random.

Well, I suppose The Cat never explicitly stated that they would be random, so this is still above board.

At any rate, they very specifically flooded us with the type of card we wanted to destroy in order to reduce our ability to destroy it.

That's also the reason why the other cards were all ones that people were tasked with collecting – to reduce the amount of potential crossfire.

But then, here's a question: why go through all this trouble if we're all working together?

Um...

If there's already a traitor in our midst.

Wait... really?

Last time, the 'traitors' were assigned with a public announcement. But we have no assurance that this will play by the same rules. And this game would be far too easy if there were no such traitor.



Exactly. I'm surprised Horse, of all people, was the one to catch on.

…

At any rate, if The Cat is willing to deliberately send out cards in order to mess with us, there are various other things that wouldn't explicitly be against the rules.

For instance...

There's no rule against The Cat monitoring everyone else's choices and informing the traitor of which 'Tiger' card was left unclaimed.To put it simply, we are once again facing off against an unknown enemy.

...So I have to suspect, Bunny, why you wouldn't point all this out.

Well, uh, that's...

It's a little thing called 'tact', Snake. I would think a man like yourself would know about it.

Oh, is that what that was?

My apologies.



Rushing to the assumption that there is, in fact, a traitor can be dangerous. For all we know, the cards were sent this way in order to cause chaos and disruption amongst ourselves. Let's think about how to proceed very carefully.

Um, I have an idea. Couldn't we just transition to another animal being our designated winner? I mean, it's not like there was any good reason for it to be Tiger in the first place.

Hey!

We could easily make it Horse, who hasn't had any cards dealt yet.

But The Cat is clearly watching our plans, and is trying to mess it up. Who's to say they don't do the exact same thing again?

Well this time, we can come up with a more concrete plan on how to make sure the cards are destroyed?

No, there's a simpler method.



Look, next round, we'll check if there is, in fact, a Tiger of Clubs on the communal table. If there is, then there's nothing to worry about. If there isn't, we just need to find out who has it.

Since the other 3 types of Tiger cards were taken by specifically 2 people, if one person didn't take the card they claimed, the other person would have received the card they attempted to take.

Therefore, if next round you have the card you attempted to take, you know who took it. With that in mind, the six people who took Tiger cards should Check the six people who didn't, to see who has something they're not supposed to.

Tiger, you can check me. Snake, you check Dragon. Rooster check Mouse, Monkey check Pig, Horse check Bunny, and although its likely a moot point, Sheep can check Dog. With this, we'll know exactly what happened to the card.

The rest of us will give Tiger our cards to try and raise her score. Even if all four of us do it, she'll only reach a score of 8, so we don't need to worry yet.



Hell yeah, Ox, that's how you do it! New plan in place. We'll show this damn traitor that the Zodiac Animals don't go down easily!

The Zodiac Animals? What are we, a sports team?

No, it's just, you know, a group name. But I mean, we could be a sports team. We could. We should!

I'll pass. But Ox's plan makes sense. I think, uh, we should go with that.

Very well then, this sounds acceptable.

I guess we can go with it.

And like that, the group order had been re-established. However, it felt markedly more fragile than before. Like it was a hair's breadth away from shattering. ...But that couldn't be helped. As the group split up, I decided to resume my investigation.

Horse's role in all of this was heavily suspect. Why was he there in the first place? I felt like getting to the bottom of this would be an important point.

...

[BGM: A True Foal]


You really want to talk about this?

Why wouldn't I?

Aren't there bigger concerns at the moment?

This and that are connected!

Horse merely raised an eyebrow.

If you say so. Anyways, what are you asking me about?

Why were you meeting with Bowen in his office so early in the morning? I know you said you were discussing construction going on near his building, but that isn't the truth, is it? Nothing I know about Bowen suggests that that's how he'd handle such a matter.

…



I suppose there's no harm in telling you, here, now.

In the past, I used to be a very different person. Because of that past, Bowen had, on several occasions, tried to scout me to do a certain type of work for him. I refused. I explained to him that it wasn't really me who did all that stuff.

He pushed the matter. And that morning, he had finally found the pressure point he needed to get me to agree to his unreasonable requests.

He called me in to discuss it because it was the type of thing that needed to be discussed face-to-face. When I left his office, I was convinced I would have to work for him.

...And then he died a few hours later. How lucky for me.

… Could you tell me... what that pressure point was?

Horse stood there in silence for a couple of seconds before responding.



Mouse, if you had committed a grave sin in the past, would you be able to live with yourself?

...Yes. I mean, I'd definitely have to hold myself accountable. But... assuming I grew and changed from that mistake, I think I could continue to live.

I mean... to not do that almost seems more selfish, you know? To wallow in self-pity, when there's good that can be done?

Horse didn't respond to this. ...And once it became clear he wasn't planning on responding any time soon, I left him alone, leaving with more questions than answers.

…

Sheep was Bowen's secretary. She should've known him the best. Certainly, she had insights into the case.

[BGM: Lamb to the Slaughter]


You want to talk about that? I mean... I guess, yeah. I can answer your questions.

Awesome! First up – when was the last time you had direct contact with Amadeus?

It was a bit after Snake had come in. He talked with me a bit on the intercom, not really about anything productive.

He didn't even bother to talk to you face to face in the morning?

From the sounds of things, he was lying on the couch. He had a habit of doing things like that.

That's an... odd habit to have.

Yeah, well... I-I don't think people really understand what Amadeus was like. I've never met someone who was so confident at all times.



And he had good reason. Because, no matter the situation, he was always in control. He knew how to strike at your weaknesses. He certainly... he knew mine.

Oh?

Don't get me wrong, I could never condone murder, never ever! But I mean... I get why Aaron did what he did.

Amadeus did a lot of... a lot of things I don't like to remember. He was a very, very, very, very bad boss. I can't imagine how he treated Aaron.

Not too badly, I'd imagine, or else why'd the two go out to drink like that was something normal?

Yeah, well... It's not like Amadeus always had it easy, either. He had a pretty rough time of it when he was a kid.

Who gives a shit?



That's an understandable response.

… Say, Mouse? What would you do with a horrible past? How would you handle it?

Me? ...Forget it, I guess.

Just like that?

Just like that. You shouldn't let your past define you. If you always look backwards, you'll never look forwards. Come on Sheep, you know this! Why are you asking me about it?

Y-yeah, yeah, you're right. Dumb question, huh?

You're telling me. Anyways, I've gotta get going.

Oh, uh, okay then.

Curiosity stated, I left Sheep to herself.

…

I hadn't heard much from Rooster about the whole incident, but he was also there. Surely he had something to chip in to this debate, right? I found him wandering outside the auditorium, as though he was also looking for someone.

[BGM: Rooster Style]


Ah, Mouse. What is it? Want my autograph?

Rooster, I thought we've established at this point that I'm not just some fan.

Of course you're not just some fan. You're my number one fan, right?

…

I kid, I kid. You do know that a lot of this is a shtick, right?

It's hard to tell sometimes.

Anyways, what did you want to talk about?

The Amadeus Bowen case. Is there anything you can tell me about it?



Agh, that old thing? Don't get me started on it. Just thinking of that Amadeus asshole gets me heated. Look, I wasn't even brought in during the trial, so clearly nothing I saw was all that particularly relevant, huh?

But there's got to be something you can tell me!

I don't know what you're expecting from me, Mouse. I came in, sat down by Tiger. I had one of those water cups, because I was thirsty.

And I don't know, something just didn't agree with me. I had to get to the restroom – stat. After I dealt with that situation, I returned to the waiting room.

I was kept waiting for far too long. The time of a progeny is very precious, Mouse, don't forget that. So I stormed into his office, just to find he wasn't even there. I looked around the place, but then Sheep came in and started nagging me, telling me to leave.

So you just looked around his office? Just liked the architecture?

Well, you know...



So what if I was looking for something else?

What something else?

Look, my parents are quite wealthy and influential. However, I ended up estranged from them when I stood by my morals, when I couldn't condone something they were doing.

But from my conversation with them, it seemed like Amadeus might have been the real reason they were doing what they were.

So is it such a crime to look around the office of an asshole I was suspicious of? I didn't even find anything!

Okay, okay, settle down there Rooster. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything.



No, no, the fault is all mine. I apologize for losing control there.

It's just these damn death games, they're starting to get to me. I thought I was cooler than this...

It's a reasonable reaction.

Not for a hero.

And you're a hero?

Well, you tell me. Am I a hero?

...You're not a hero. No one is. It's not healthy to put that sort of pressure on yourself. We're all just, you know, people. Flawed, imperfect people, trying our best.



Yeah. That's the truth, ain't it.

Rooster smiled an oddly somber smile. It was a side of him I hadn't seen before.

...That it is. Anyways, I've got to get going. Lots of things to do, after all.

Well, good luck with all this Mouse. We need someone to sort things out. If it's not me, it should be you.

And just like that, our conversation was over.