Part 21: Shocking Developments

[BGM: Dog Days]


As we started to disperse, beginning to Trinket search again, I found myself walking with Dog and Bunny.

Jeez. That was real freaky, huh?

Certainly unpleasant.

Unpleasant? Someone just died!

And you'd call that pleasant?

What? Of course not!

Then what's your issue?

…



By the way Bunny, and not that I care, but what the hell was up with giving the other key to Tiger? Anyone who thought about it for more than a second would realize that the only person who could've killed Sheep was Tiger.

You just gave sole access to a closet of weapons to a muscled up psycho.

It sounds like you very much should care then!

You think Tiger did it?

Of course.

She had her own key, right? She probably went in on her own to get a weapon. Maybe Sheep had the same idea, and caught her in the act.

Then Tiger shut her up with the poison, and locked the door after leaving.



You think Tiger would make things that obvious? She's not too smart, but she's not that dumb.

Smart or dumb, she's the only one who could've done it.

Not true. There's actually one other possibility.

Really?

If you noticed, we never actually saw Sheep's key inside the room until after the chain was unlocked. It's entirely possible that the real killer had it on themselves until after Tiger was brought in, and then the key was put on the scene then.

A pretty common trick third-rate criminals like to use.

Wait. But that would mean...

Yup.



It's entirely possible, and I would argue probable, that when Dragon 'found' that key in Sheep's pocket, she actually just had it in her hand the whole time. It would explain why she rushed over to Sheep's body like that, right?

I mean, it's not as if scum like that would actually be that concerned about a stranger's death.

'Scum like that'?

What do you think, Mouse?

What do I think?



This isn't a choice that influences the route at all, it's purely for flavor, but I had the thread vote regardless on which they thought was most likely, and they went with someone else.

I think it might be someone else.

Someone else?

Like who?

I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

Oh, so you're just throwing out nonsense.

No! There's thought behind my guesses. I don't think poison is Tiger's style. And I don't think it's Dragon's, either. Hence, it's someone else.

Not the most convincing logic.

Eh, I'm sold.



The conversation died down as we made our separate ways. I decided to try searching the second floor. That place had plenty of classrooms. However, I wasn't able to concentrate on the search at all. Thoughts of Sheep's death, of Sheep's killer, haunted me. What could have happened? Who would do something so horrible? Was it Tiger? Dragon? Brian? Someone else? Why would they want to kill someone as sweet as Sheep? Deep in my heart, I had a suspicion. If someone was dead, there was one important thing they couldn't do. Participate in the race. It was entirely possible that either the person with the ambitious or the person with the hateful personality type was responsible for this. They might be feeling helpless, knowing that if things proceeded naturally they'd be executed. Self-preservation was certainly a strong motive for murder.

But if that was really it, just killing Sheep wouldn't change anything. That is to say, killing her alone wouldn't change anything. No, stop thinking about that. Keep looking through the classrooms. Focus on the search. The only way out is through finding these Trinkets. These Trinkets are a lot more important than your stupid theories. Trinkets, trinkets, where could they be... My search was blanketed in silence. I wasn't finding anything, just fumbling around in empty rooms. And in those empty rooms my mind wandered back to places I had shielded it from.

[BGM: Silence]


Killing Sheep alone might not change anything. But killing many people? That would be an opportunity. Much worse, there were two traitors. Two... killers? At the very least, the traitors didn't know each other, so they couldn't coordinate anything. Still, something was afoot. The unease in my stomach grew.

And grew.

And grew.

And then I heard a lot of commotion.



Kick with the leg!

Shut up.

A thud. The sound of a door hitting the ground. An even louder commotion. I didn't want to see what it was, but I had to. I ran down the hallway towards the noise. A group of participants were gathered around the entrance to a classroom. They seemed frightened and angry. I didn't get all the way there before Ox stopped me.

[BGM: Rat's Awakening]


Mouse, I don't think you want to go over there.

Why not?

Because I don't think you want to see another corpse.

I knew it. Fuck. Things weren't going to stop any time soon.

Just tell me who it is.

It's Dog.

No...



Perhaps it's inappropriate to say, but there are worse people it could be.

Uh, yeah, it's incredibly inappropriate for you to say something like that. What the fuck are you talking about?!

Sorry, sorry, just... The crime scene disturbs me.

Is it brutal?

No, no, not that. It's another case of unusual circumstances.

What?



There was an origami cat found outside the classroom door.

Another one?

Yes. And that's not all.

What else is there?

The door to the classroom was locked from the inside. Not with some weird chain and keys, but with the door's built in lock. And even worse, unlike last time we can't figure out what his cause of death is. There's no outwards sign of injury.

That's not possible!

Indeed.

Is... Are we... Are we going to die?

What?



I tried to push them back, but tears started to form in my eyes. It was all too much. I wasn't built for this. I could handle deaths in theory, but this? Having them happen all around me? It was just a little too much.

Aren't we all screwed?! Aren't we all going to be killed off, one at a time?

Mouse, Mouse, we're going to be fine. I think you need to rest for a little bit.

Try sitting down in a classroom and taking some deep breaths. I'll be trying to control the chaos over there. Come over when you're ready.

Ox then started to walk over to the others. I wanted to protest that I was fine, but he was right. I was in no state to do anything.

[BGM: A True Foal]


I walked over to a nearby classroom and sat at a desk. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Crying like this wasn't logical. It didn't help anyone. ...Funnily enough, this thinking didn't help me calm down. Fears and anxiety swirled around, a whirlpool in the pit of my stomach, sucking up thoughts from my heart before they could reach my brain. I couldn't think, or stand up, or anything.



I was in this state when I heard someone enter the room.

Well, isn't this a sad sight to see.

Snake sat down in a chair near me.

What, did you come to make fun of me?

Far from it. I actually came to make sure you were holding up alright.

Really? You?

Mouse, I might not come across like it all the time, but I'm actually quite the sensitive person. I couldn't just leave someone to grieve alone.



Plus, I'd take just about any excuse to get away from that crowd. It is not exactly a good situation in the group over there.

…

Anyways, I think what you're going through is completely natural; there's nothing to be ashamed of.

There are two fundamental fears that I believe all humans have. A fear of change, and a fear of permanence.

Death fulfills both those fears quite nicely. Seeing death with your own eyes forces you to face your own mortality. Regardless of how well you knew the victim, it can be scarring.



I honestly wonder why more people aren't having visceral reactions like yours.

…

I suppose you're then wondering why I am apparently unaffected then.

Being a soldier for a few years had many downsides, but it also forced me to grapple with the concept of mortality. I would say it was a very enlightening experience.

[BGM: Lamb to the Slaughter]


To make a long story short, you could say I'm more used to seeing people die. If it's any consolation, it doesn't appear either victim suffered. Both deaths appear to have been quick and relatively painless. There aren't even any graphic injuries.

…

Do you want to know what was discussed in the group?

Not much of substance, if you want to know the truth. There were some rather inelegant arguments about who the culprit was. Little was truly solved. There wasn't even much attention paid to the manner of Dog's death.

And somehow, the decision was reached that things were fine to continue as is. We'd keep in our search for Minor Trinkets.

Humans truly dislike changing plans, don't they? Not to say it's a senseless plan.



Apparently, we've collected 7 Trinkets as a group. While the deaths are most unfortunate, they actually reduce the number of trinkets we need by two. If we just find 3 more we can all gather in one place and end things for good.

At this point, everyone's on red alert that there might be a killer. So people will be more careful, and it'll be harder for another victim to pop up.

…

I am disappointed Dog's cause of death was skimmed over so.

It's a rather intriguing mystery, wouldn't you say? But we should be able to figure out how it was done, shouldn't we?



We have a number of clues to start with. For instance, we know that even though Dog was killed inside a locked room, the killer wasn't able to enter it. Why do we know that?

...The origami cat. Outside the doorway. If the killer could've easily gotten inside, they would've left it right next to the body instead of near the door.

Precisely. So we're looking for a way of killing someone on the other side of a locked door where you can't actually enter the room.

But we need more clues than that. People were saying they couldn't identify a cause of death, but there was actually a clear sign towards it.



There was a nasty burn all over Dog's right hand. A burn. And he was collapsed right besides the doorway. What happened to Dog?

...The killer somehow electrified the door handle. When Dog tried to open the door, he received an electric shock, and collapsed.

That's what I believe. Interestingly enough, there was an outlet not far from outside the door. It'd be more convincing if we knew the weapon used for this.

...Actually... I found a power generator earlier. It had its wire completely cut. Couldn't that have been used for something like this?

It certainly could have... It sounds to me like you've solved the case.

But... Isn't electricity a pretty imprecise way to kill someone?

True, it is not an exact science. Electric shocks vary in intensity and effect.



However, a jolt of electricity from an outlet through an exposed wire touching a metal handle would be incredibly intense. The killer could be safe in knowing that something like that would absolutely knock the victim out, and probably kill them, too.

But the door was locked from the inside. Are you saying that Dog did that?

Who else but him?

Then why would he grab the handle?

Perhaps the killer tricked him. Maybe the killer said something like...

'I know how the locked door trick could have been pulled off! Look, I can show you. Go in that room and lock the door. Try opening it to make sure it's properly locked.'

ZAP!



Would Dog really go along with it like that?

People are very susceptible to suggestions. If Dog trusted the killer, he would probably go along with these seemingly benign requests without much thought.

Though this does contradict my prior theory that the Jade Emperor may have been the culprit.

Did you really think that?

I certainly entertained the notion.

[BGM: Silence]


Anyways, I must rejoin the search for Trinkets, as I'm sure many of the others have. When you're feeling ready, you should, too.

Oh, and make sure to input an action on your tablet soon. Round 5's almost over.

Don't bother coming to the cafeteria, though, it seems we've done away with meeting up after every round. I'll be going now.

Hey, Snake?

Yes?

...Thanks.

No need.



I simply wanted an audience that I could self-indulgently bounce my thoughts off of.

And with that, he left. I think talking with him made me snap out of my funk. I wasn't fine or anything, but I knew what needed to be done. And the first thing that needed to be done was to pull out my tablet and press the RUN button. I was really cutting it close- Round 5 was nearly over. The second thing that needed to be done was to get off my ass and start searching for Trinkets. Apparently we had 7. 3 more and things could finally be over.

But where to search?