Part 34: Hope

[BGM: Cock a Doodle Doo]
So, that takes care of that.

Before we proceed, might I re-suggest that we move in pairs? I know we may seem less at risk than before, but my position on it hasn't changed.

This time, nobody really wanted to fight Monkey on this. I guess seeing a dead body in person made more people value security. Plus, the biggest opponent of that proposal was now lying on the floor. He wasn't in any position to be offering complaints.

Very well then, we'll group up.



I'll go with Dragon.

The hell you will!

What, not a fan of my company? Trust me, I'm a great conversationalist, many can attest.

That's a negative in my book. Why do you even want to go with me, anyways?

In the case that I'm assaulted, I figured I'd choose the person who'd be most adequate to protect me.

Uh, hello, I'm right here.

I stand by what I said.

You know what? Fine. You can tag along, just learn to shut up.

Alright!



Fine then. I guess I'll go with Sheep.

U-um, okay then. That's okay with me.

Pig and I can watch Monkey. It would be a pain to tie her up again, and she's already proven her worth.

How thoughtful of you to say. I have no objection with this arrangement.

Me neither, being with a group of 3 works just fine for me. The math works for me better like that!

Guess that means you're with me, Mouse.

Guess that means you're with me, Dog.

You don't sound enthused.

Matching your level.

Fair enough.



Um, guys? One little objection that I'm just realizing- how exactly are we supposed to input our moves for the rounds if we're tied up?

Right. If we are tied up, we will be unable to input our moves. Then we shall be executed.

Which, gotta say, I don't love.

Shit, they were right.

Oh, right, that is an issue, isn't it? You know what, Mouse and I will make sure to swing by at the end of every round to let you handle it. That cool with you, Mouse?

Yeah, uh, sure, but... Monkey, you were tied up too. What happened with you?

Ah, right, that. Luckily, Ox came to my aid before it was an issue. He allowed me to use my tablet freely before the end of each round. I must say, it was a good thing, too.



Had no one realized it, I would've been executed in a quite unfortunate manner. When I realized my predicament, I was already tied up. Needless to say, I was quite stressed before Ox showed up.

Oh, uh, sorry about that.

It is in the past. Now, let us face the future.

Let's.

And just like that, the search of the school resumed once more. It was cruel to think that just a few minutes ago, I thought there'd be no need to do this anymore. But that shortcut had literally gone up in flames. Now we had to fear and scramble once more.

Why?

It had to be the desperate personality. They must have done it to avoid an instant loss. But then, why kill Ox? That was a completely unnecessary step that only brought more suspicion. If they wanted to stop the ritual, there must've been easier methods. For instance... I hadn't thought about it before, but couldn't someone have pricked their finger, but simply not bled into the bucket? If they did that, it would be near impossible to tell who had deviated. Well, there's a chance the music would've instantly ended the moment the ritual had conclusively failed. Something similar likely happened this time. Still, there had to be other ways.

[BGM: Dog Days]


No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't rationalize things.

Boy, do you look depressed.

I looked up at Dog. We had been looking through an administration office on the second floor.

Well, I mean, duh. We were so close. We were almost done with this, and then it all just got fucked up! Why wouldn't I be sad?

No no, it makes sense. It's just bringing the atmosphere down in here.

Bringing the atmosphere down? I gotta say Dog, you don't look particularly bothered by all of this. You barely spoke up back there.

Yeah, well. You know what your issue is?

What?



You have hope.

Oh brother.

No no, actually hear me out. I learned long ago that you can really let a lot of emotions go to the wayside. And the one that hurt me the least to let go was hope. It's a functionless feeling.

I really don't need this conversation from some washed up emo.

Yeah, yeah, I get that I'm not the person you would trust on something like this. But actually think about it for a second.

What does hope ever get you? It's not a particularly enjoyable emotion all on its own. It's not unpleasant, but it's no substitute for actual happiness. But the main function of it is to create expectations.

Expectations that are either fulfilled, which will make you content. Or they won't be fulfilled, and you'll be crushed.

Yeah, that is how life works, Dog. Very insightful.



I'm just saying, if you don't bother with the expectations in the first place, you learn to take things for how they are. You never get let down. I'm not saying to not try things, to improve things. When things go well, savor it!

But don't expect things to go well. That way, when they don't, you can just laugh at it.

You know, it's funny. You almost sound convincing.

Almost convincing, huh? You must've caught me on a good day.

Anyways, the round end isn't too long from now. Wanna go check on Bunny and Horse?

Let's.

And just like that, we made our way back to the third floor. As we opened the classroom door, I expected Bunny to be in a rather sour mood.

…

[BGM: Rabid Rabbit]


What the... What the hell?!

Ah... huh. I suppose this is a pretty good counterpoint.

Sometimes, you think you don't have any expectations, and life can still shoot lower. Well, not much you can do about that, though.

Would you shut up! Horse is dead!

Indeed, as surprising as it was, Horse's body was splayed on the floor, on top of his toppled chair. Cause of death was obvious- a bullet right through his head. Why hadn't I heard a gunshot?

Even more surprising than Horse was Bunny.

[BGM: Lucky Foot]


All that was left of him was the ropes that had previously been tied around him. In other words, he was gone.

This isn't good. Heh, boy oh boy, is this not good.

Could you not laugh?

Sorry. ...I'm actually sorry. Just a different way of coping.

Bunny... he must have gotten free, killed Horse, and escaped!

So I guess he really did kill Ox then? Weird.



I wasn't paying too much attention, but I thought Pig's story didn't make much sense.

I don't know whether or not Bunny killed Ox. I do know he's loose and likely dangerous.

Indeed. Although...

Although?

Ah, it's nothing.

You can't just say that!

I mean, I can.

Just spit out what you meant to say.

Okay okay, jeez.



All I was gonna say is that it's kind of weird that Horse's ropes were untied. After all, he was probably shot before he was untied, right? So then why untie a corpse?

Good point.

But it probably doesn't really matter all that much, so let's forget that for now. Like you said, the bigger point is the fact that Bunny's gone missing. Want to alert the others?

Did I?

Hold on, just... just wait a second.

Okay, proceeding to wait a second.

Dog seemed in no rush to alert the others. It was disturbing how passe he was acting about this, but for the time that worked to my advantage.

Before, it didn't seem like such a big deal. However, now that we have confirmed the fact that there are more killings, we need to look at what happened with Ox closer.



Right now, the obvious assumption would be that the killer is Bunny. But does that make sense?

I dunno. Does it?

I don't think so. See, the problem with Bunny being the culprit is that the way Pig proposed it, he had no direct control of when the fire started. However, thinking back, the music suddenly got super loud before things went down, not after. That can't be a coincidence.

Hey, you're right.

Also, we have to factor in the noises that happened when things went down. For the sake of my argument, Ox's shout of surprise could be him feeling the static shock happening below him. But I heard something else, something that sounded a lot like oil landing on Ox.

So you're saying Horse was the culprit?

I'm not saying that.



If we're under the assumption that Horse did it, it doesn't make sense for Bunny to kill Horse and flee.

So what are you saying?

I'm saying Bunny might not have escaped. He might also be dead.

I let the words hang in the air. I expected some acknowledgment from Dog, perhaps a look of surprise. But instead, he looked me in the eyes and answered me at my own level.

If that's the case, Mouse, then why kill Horse?

Huh?

Your theory goes that if Bunny isn't the killer, and neither is Horse, then it must be someone else. Someone else killed Horse, and then hid Bunny's body to make it look like he escaped.

Am I understanding you correctly?

That's the gist of what I'm getting at, yeah.



But everyone agreed that the suspicions cast on Horse held a lot more water than those cast on Bunny. People would buy Horse killing Bunny and escaping as the true killer a lot better than they'd buy Bunny doing that. So why set it up like this?

I couldn't give Dog the answer he looked for. It was a minor problem, but a surprisingly critical one. What could the explanation be?

So, now can we go tell the others?

I thought some more about the ritual. How... how perfect a crime it was. How well it was set up. And yet, how amateurish certain elements of it felt. That contrast... If the killer wasn't Horse, and it wasn't Bunny, there had to be someone else who could've poured oil on Ox and lit him on fire.

Thinking about the setup, there was one place I'd need to check in order to uncover the full truth of this incident.