Part 111: Speak No Evil

[BGM: Weak Pig]


A wave of unease washed over the crowd. It was a strange blend of indignation, surprise, and fear. But for me, there was an added element.

It's a shame, though. Now that the chaos was starting to sink in, I planned on having some more fun with you all. Preying on your weaknesses, getting you to turn on each other...

But I suppose that's no longer possible.

...Why? Why, Monkey? I trusted you. You were always a good therapist to me.

And that means I'm innocent?

No, of course not! I guess I never knew you well enough. But still, at this point, don't you at least owe us an explanation?



I thought you just gave us an awfully long-winded explanation. Are you sure you want to hear from me?

I want to know what would drive you to something like this.

Okay then. I suppose it could be a nice exercise to run through things a little more cleanly. Now, where to begin...

I suppose I should start with my childhood. This will seem irrelevant, but trust me, the full story is somewhat warranted in understanding my perspective.

So then...



When I was a young child, I learned that my brain had a defect. I didn't experience emotions in the same way as other people did. ...That is to say, I had difficulties experiencing emotion in the first place.

I learned pretty quickly that my reactions weren't like the others. That I was viewed differently than the others. To remedy that, I got better at leaving my emotions 'on' all the time.

For a time, that was perfectly suitable. I was able to 'blend in', more or less.

However, that was just one aspect of my life. The problem came with my parents. My... incredibly overbearing parents. My parents, who controlled every aspect of my life.

You could be generous and say they worried about my life, since my brain worked so differently.

But I know that, no matter what, they would've acted the way they did. That's just who they were. I know now that that's simply how things were – they were like that through forces beyond their control.

The end product of all this was that I lived an extremely controlled life. Devoid of much freedom or autonomy at all.

Luckily for them and me, I turned out to be something of a prodigy. I chalked it up to a side effect of my unique brain chemistry. When I finally went off to college, it felt like I could finally breathe fresh air.

Unfortunately, that didn't last for too long.



Very soon after getting there, I found myself in a relationship with a rather despicable man. Certainly, from the outside, he seemed a suitable partner. However, he was by most metrics what one would consider an abusive boyfriend.

Incredibly controlling. Our relationship was anything but healthy. ...However, at that time I wasn't able to see things clearly. I wasn't mature enough.

And I had gotten rather good at keeping my emotions 'on' all the time, which also colored things. We went out for a time... but he eventually broke up with me. I was 'too emotional'.

Ha.

Having rather thoroughly opened myself up, this blow came like a dagger. That was the first time in my life I learned what it was like to really, truly feel upset. Needless to say... I was not in a good state.

And then, at that time, I had a rather fateful encounter.



Hey, are you alright?

...Because you kinda look like shit.

Right at my lowest point, I met Rooster. He wasn't exactly the most reassuring person in the world, but it's clear he tried.

…

Seriously? That guy seems like a total asshole! The type that needs to take a little walk down a long pier.

That's not how the saying goes.

Sayings are like species – they evolve over time. Anyways, look at it like this: you're finally free!

Free?

Yeah, you've no constraints anymore. You can do whatever you want to. Follow your passions unfettered!

I... suppose that's a way of looking at things.



It's the only way of looking at things. Take me for instance. I'm going to be a famous actor one day.

That's just a fact.

But if I was stuck answering to boring people all the time who didn't know what they were talking about? I wouldn't reach my goal until I was, like, an old man or something!

Don't get me wrong, there can be some kick-ass roles for old men, true. But that's a lot more of a niche market, they're more often mentor figures or some shit.

Am I making myself clear here?

...In a way, yes.

Talking with him actually helped me out quite a bit. It... recalibrated me, as it were. From there, I got my priorities in check. Firstly, I had learned from this whole experience that it was far preferable to keep my emotions squarely turned 'off'. I also decided that Rooster was right – I needed to find a direction in life. Something I actually aspired towards. I settled on studying psychology. After all, the way the brain worked had always fascinated me... since mine didn't quite work the same way as everyone else's.

It didn't take long for me to get a handle on things. Once you read through all the literature on the subject, you get the gist of things pretty quickly. Humans are a lot simpler than people like to admit. You hear so often about people doing 'illogical things when they're emotional'. That you couldn't count on people to act in the way you expected when feelings were involved. But... that's a reductionist's point of view. Human behavior is actually incredibly methodical and predictable. It's just that the logic it operates on isn't as straightforward or universal as most types of logic. Each brain's logic is its own world. But most of these logics resembled each other, and you could learn the patterns without too much work.

Eventually, I became a therapist. It wasn't hard. I lived a serviceable life. But it felt... as though I were missing something. There was an emptiness to it all, like just going through the motions. Until, years later... I re-met Rooster. He was doing worse than when I had met him last, but perhaps that's to be expected. Before, he was a youth with dreams. After, he had gone through a few flagging years. But he was far from giving up. Not even close. He felt the need to reconnect, so I accommodated him.

As I got to know more about him, I realized that, despite initial appearances, he was worthwhile. He was a lot more clever than he first appeared to be. He carried a certain type of charisma. He was the son of a rather rich family. Most importantly, watching his acting, it was clear he actually had real talent. He might not have yet made it big, but it was just a matter of time before his career picked up. Especially for someone as passionate as him. And so, I thought he would be worthwhile to keep around in the long-term. Dealing with someone as simplistic as him, it was remarkably easy to make him loyal.

Once he truly fell in love, though, and once I had convinced him he could trust me, he had a rather major confession to make to me. I had had the feeling something was up with him, but I didn't know what it was until that night.

[BGM: Mourning Crow]


So, I don't know how to really say this... I've lived a pretty privileged life. I get that.

My parents were filthy rich, and they supported my passions fully. However, I ended up having to cut ties with them. It turns out they were doing some really shady shit.

They were using their influence to prop up legislation being passed in our city that I just couldn't get behind. It was entirely against my morals.

We got in a big fight and, well, it ended pretty poorly. In an instant, I was cut off from them.

It was... pretty rough. I had spent my entire life able to pretty much do what I wanted, when I wanted. And all of a sudden, I was completely cut off from that control.

Obviously, I got through it. ...Somewhat, that is. Work's still tough. It's still uncomfortable living at such a lower standard of living.



And eventually, in another argument with them, I learned something. It wasn't actually my parents' fault. They didn't want to do what they were doing.

No, it was all Amadeus Bowen's fault.

Amadeus Bowen? You mean, that man that...

...So you see where this is going.

I looked more into it, I hired a private investigator, and it turns out that dude is a total sleazebag. I'm spotty on the details, but I think he's got a massive blackmail ring going on.

I was already angry at him for being a dick to me when I was trying to get work from him, but to learn that not only was he a huge villain, but he was responsible for my fall from heaven?

I couldn't forgive him. And I knew what I needed to do.



So, uh, to cut a long story short, I murdered him and pinned it on somebody else entirely.

You have to believe me though, I didn't intend for Aaron Morris to get executed!! Yeah, I put a lot of evidence on him, but how was I supposed to know that the body would be found so quickly?

That there'd be such an air tight witness at the scene.

I certainly didn't think they'd give the guy the death penalty for a single murder. That doesn't even seem like something you should be allowed to do as a judge, much less something you'd tend to do!

I don't regret killing Amadeus Bowen. He was scum that needed to be vanquished.

But... Aaron Morris... his soul weighs on mine. He clutches my heart, he lingers behind me... He knows what I did, and he reminds me that I can never be redeemed.

I was already well aware of this case. Namely because I had just received a client: one Brian Morris. Surely this must be fate. It didn't take much to calm Rooster down, to reassure him he did nothing wrong. When he regained a more stable composure, he talked about things in more detail.

He mentioned how he'd got a cut from Amadeus with this weird knife that he had smuggled out. About how he still keeps that knife buried to this day. He talked about how, after stealing the master card from Amadeus at some bar, some gang member went up to him and straight up complimented him for the theft. He had been caught red handed. He talked about how Aaron's son was convinced that the killer was still out there. That he was doing a dangerous amount of digging. He talked about how the artist who moved the body must have noticed things that were odd. Somehow, they didn't come out in the police report, but there was no way the artist wouldn't have noticed the oddities. He talked about sleepless nights, knowing that if he were to ever become a star, these people would be loose ends he could never take his mind off. Loose ends that could reveal his sin.

It was then that I had the idea. Why not make use of my client connection? Surely it would be a trifling task to convince someone as unstable as Brian into handling the loose ends himself. Luring someone so unstable into doing such drastic actions would force the police to publicly double down on Aaron's guilt, regardless of the truth. And, hey, while we're at it, we could even use this as an opportunity to boost Rooster's popularity, make him the star he always wanted to be. An event like this would certainly draw a lot of media attention. It was the perfect starting place. A plan that truly killed many birds with a single stone.

It took some time, but soon he went for the idea. After all, it was just getting rid of a lunatic, an old man, and some criminal scum. For my part, I just viewed the situation more as a challenge for myself than any thing else.

…



So, how's it going?

Certainly, Brian is both unstable enough and ambitious enough to be used. Empowering his trauma and feeding into his delusions was really procedural.

The specific implementation of the plan, on the other hand, I have fears about.

What do you mean?

The brat's really an odd duck. Instead of a typical hostage situation, he's coming up with these ideas about a “trial”, making it like a game, a test of people's character.

I've been trying to sway him in the right direction, but there's only so much I can do on that front. Ultimately, it has to be his idea. That's the whole point of the operation, that's the only way it'll be airtight.

So, the plan's not working?

No no, the plan can certainly work. It's just going to be a bit more... delicate, to get the outcome we want to occur cleanly.

More time passed.

…



How's progress going?

Well, things are definitely going forwards, one way or the other. I'm worried, though. Even if we take control of things, even with the two of us both in the building, will we be able to guide the group enough so that things work out the way we want it?

Even if we do, wouldn't it be a little obvious if we were the ones who made all the important decisions?

Uh, well... What are you suggesting?

Why not take advantage of another client connection I've found? Turns out, the daughter of Aaron Morris' defense attorney has also been seeing me.

Really? Small world.

Indeed. At any rate, I think we can use her. I've been curious for a while about hypnotherapy, and after enough pestering, I got her to agree to it.

And as a matter of fact, it works quite nicely. With a set rhythm and key phrases, I've got her becoming quite suggestible.



I'll continue to drill this in with all our future meetings. By the time of the death game, I'm sure she'll be a perfectly trained guinea pig. We'll be able to just guide her down a path that suits us... Makes our moves a lot less explicit, less suspicious.

Don't you think it's... a little much, though? Like, is it all that necessary?

I would like to try it out.

Ever since I'd had the idea, I couldn't stop thinking about the experiment. Just the idea of being able to control another human being directly... it filled me with an emotion I hadn't felt before. Self-reflecting, I would wager that something about my upbringing and own trauma combined with my unique brain chemistry had combined to give me a disposition where being in control of others gave me a... fetishistic pleasure. That's speculation, though. I'd need to analyze my own psychoses a lot more before I could say anything definitively, and that seems like a waste of time.

I mean, if you think it's a good idea. This is kinda your enterprise and all.

Brilliant. Of course, such an experiment would leave another loose end, so it'd probably be for the best to also settle that matter...

Huh?

Pay it no mind.

From there, things went smoothly. Eventually, I got a full scope of what the game would actually be. I shuffled through dozens of scenarios, until I found one that would be the most reliable. Then, we went forwards with the plan. I won't bore you with the details. Mouse could probably theorize the bulk of them, anyways. The point is, we put the plan in action. And words can't describe how exhilirating it felt, having control of so many lives at the push of a button. Watching every body push themselves to the limit, playing out exactly how I planned it. ...Well, I guess not everything went according to plan. Dog was sure a pebble in my shoe. But even that, in its own way, was a type of fun I had never experienced before.

I'm fully aware that this isn't a rational response to this sort of thing. Needless to say, I'd say I have developed multiple mental disorders which have morphed my motivations quite entirely away from those a reasonable human would have. But just because I value different things doesn't make me value them any less. If anything, I learned of a unique pleasure that most could never experience.

...It's sad Rooster couldn't see it that way.

…

[BGM: Mousetrap]


What the hell, Jae! I've been looking for a good opportunity to get a word in with you. Have you been intentionally avoiding me, save whispering the odd order to me?

Perhaps.

What is all this?

It's exactly what it looks like. A game I set up.

Why? What possible purpose could there be in this?

And why'd you have to kill Pig? How was that needed in any way?!

Rooster, you were the one who encouraged me so long ago to pursue my passions, were you not? This is simply that.

Huh?

Look, let me start from the beginning.



Ethan, you remember what Dog showed us the other day, no?

Huh?

He showed how that golden knife had a hidey-hole. Seeing that, I figured you likely never knew about that.

So I took it upon myself to find that damning knife you hid, and checked the hidey-hole. And you know what I found?

What?

A flashdrive. A flashdrive, filled to the brim with incredibly powerful blackmail material on the most influential people in this city, including the Chief of Police.

Seriously?!



That's right. A gold mine of incalculable value, sitting under your nose this whole time. The fact that you never discovered this, after all this time...

Well, perhaps that's to be expected. I've always had a habit of overrating your competence.

At any rate, whoever has this can basically run Hightower. With this, I can do whatever I want. Oliver, the police force, those with influence... they'll all dance to my song now. Do you know what this means?

It means... freedom.

Right.

What... are you going to do with that?

Whatever I want, I suppose. To start with, it'll be standard things. Money, for a bigger house, for a better life, for the finer things. Living a life of luxury. It sounds nice, right? I've always wanted to try it out.

And with complete financial freedom, I'll have time to try any number of passions.



If none of them work out, well, there's a lot more this little flashdrive will do.

How far will a famous actor go to protect his secret? How dumb of a law could I get passed with my influence? With the police under my control, I could try solving some cases myself, or creating them!

The world's my oyster.

I'll have to be careful, of course. There are quite a few opportunities for all of this to turn on its head.

But I'm a clever girl. And anticipating those Bad Ends seems like fun in and of itself.

Y-you're really going to do all of that...?

Maybe. If I get bored. But who knows, maybe being wealthy really is all that it's made out to be, and that'll satisfy me.

We'll have to see. At any rate, I'm certain this flashdrive will bring me true happiness.



There's only one thing that could get in the way of that. And it's the people gathered here. Snake, Dragon, Mouse... who knows what nonsense Dog filled their heads with?

Ox is a prosecutor with a surprisingly rigid sense of justice and a high work ethic. He definitely needs to go.

Initially, I'd thought Bunny was easily compromiseable. However, I've recently learned that he's been making moves against Oliver. He certainly has to go. Oliver's the biggest card in my deck.

Pig was a desperate journalist, eager to get any scoop of news. She came close to uncovering things before, she could've easily done it again.

Tiger's too dumb to be predictable. Who knows what she'll do, and she has the fame and riches to be a force to contend with.

Horse is a complete unknown. If he gets a whiff of the truth, he could very well come and kill me himself! And Sheep...

Well, to be honest, Sheep could probably be left alone. But you know, it'd be odd to just leave her out at this point.

All of them have first-hand experience with the first death game, with Dog, with the initial trial, with a lot of things. And none of them at this point are easily controllable.



You told me to deal with the loose end Dog provided. Simply put, if we're dealing with loose ends, that's what I'd call the whole lot of them.

But, to kill all of them... and, okay, putting aside all of that, sure, let's say you have to kill them all. Why do it like this? What's with the whole 'death game' set up?

How do you expect to get away with this?

Honestly, the idea that someone inspired by Brian would hold another death game in his honor is a far more believable story than everybody being individually killed at roughly the same time.

I'm sure Olly can find a suitable patsy to pin it all on.

But why actually run the death game?! Last time, we had to do it so that it matched with Brian's description and so the other survivors would be witnesses on our side.

But if the plan's to clean up all the witnesses, you should just blow them all up now and be done with it!

Where's the fun in that?

Fun?



There's no fun in murder!

Why not? No, seriously, think about it. 'The survivors of the past death game are back, faced with a new mysterious foe, and new challenges to face. With chaotic cards and a traitor lurking, will they band together – or crumble under the pressure?'

Doesn't that sound like a cool movie?

This isn't a movie!

The fact that you think there's such a difference saddens me. Besides, worse comes to worse, I just explode them all and be done with it. Really, the matter is already settled.

Does it really matter if I play with my food a bit?

Of course it matters! It matters because it's wrong!

Wrong?



Ethan, Ethan, Ethan. You continue to disappoint me in so many different ways. I must say, our time together was impactful. However, I far overestimated how much we were alike.

I believe you've long outlived your shelf life.

And if I'm going to be gaining true freedom, I suppose that includes doing away with you as well, right?

Hold on a minute... what are you doing with that book?

…

[BGM: Silence]


Th-that's...

That's what happened. I believe that should answer the majority of your questions with the incident. However, if you have more to say to me, please, do make yourself heard.

This.. this couldn't be right. I was, hell, basically brainwashed? There's.. no way, there's just no way.

...Right?