Part 55: CrRe

It's time to get started on another route!

This next one's actually also going to be very straightforward to start, as it's a path we've already seen! In Round Two, Mouse will go explore with Sheep and Horse in the workout room and find a Major Trinket, and then the group all votes to RUN once again. After this, Mouse goes with Pig and Monkey to the room with the kangaroo words puzzle, where they find a Major Trinket. After this, once again, the group all votes to RUN once again, and reconvene in the cafeteria, where we get Brian's end of Round Three message once again:

DESPERATE can only win if they finish first with no more than two other people, and CONTENT wants to finish last, which will result in only the two of them surviving.

The group is in disarray for a moment, but Monkey steps forward and confesses- she is the CONTENT personality. After comforting Mouse, who is distraught by this news, Monkey is tied up to prevent her from being able to hurt the group in secret. The DESPERATE personality does not come forward. With that settled, Ox encourages the group to split up once more to continue Trinket hunting, but Monkey speaks up, saying she feels it is unsafe to split up considering one of the traitors is still unknown.

Last time, we sided with Ox and split up, but this time...

[BGM: See No Evil]


Ox, I hate to say it, but Monkey has a point.

Seriously? Even you don't trust me, Mouse?

I'm not saying that at all! I'm just saying, uh, splitting up might not be the best idea. Just, you know, considering the circumstances and all. Why not explore in pairs?

… It'd slow us down quite a bit.

Oh, come off it, Ox. Who died and left you in charge? A lot of us were moving in groups already, and we were doing just fine.

We can always change course if it looks like we're running out of time.



In that case, let's move in pairs, while one person can go solo.

Um, if we're doing partners, could I move with Horse?

I don't have any reason to refuse.

Actually, I'd prefer Horse if you moved with Tiger.

What? Why?

To keep you in check. There's no point to this if we aren't trying to thoroughly limit everyone's actions, no?

And what does pairing me with Tiger change?

Hey, you wanna go?



Oh, just let Horse go with Sheep, Ox. It should be fine. I'll go with Tiger instead!

...Fine. In that case, Mouse, Pig, you two can look together.

Alright, sounds good to me.

Totally, for me too.

I'd like to keep an eye on Rooster, so you're with me.

Using your leadership position to partner with me? Smart moves, my friend.

...This may have been a mistake.



Is the solo spot still open? Because I'd like to go with that please.

Fine.

Hey, hey, hold on, that leaves me stuck with Snake. Fuck that!

Indeed. I have some objections with this arrangement.

Too bad.

Excuse me?

I've already had enough of a headache without having to worry about your petty squabbling. Suck it up and work together.



Neither of them seemed particularly enthused with that response, but neither of them had the energy to fight Ox when he was so clearly fed up with the group.

That should take care of things.

Just like that, Ox had devised our new marching orders. Everybody split up and got to searching. Pig and I decided to look around the second floor classrooms for a while. We spent a lot of time looking at some math classrooms, but we weren't able to find anything of use. Time flew pretty quickly. Before we knew it, we were facing the end of Round 4.



Alright, well, we might as well input our actions.

Right. Don't want to die, after all.

Yep. Man, dying from forgetting to put in your move must suck. Like, not only would it be super painful, but it'd also have to be super embarrassing. You'd be dying, and all the while, you'd just be embarrassed that this was the way you were going out.

Agreed.

But then again, who'd really not just input a move at least once a round?

I don't know, maybe if you couldn't...

[BGM: Silence]


Oh my God Monkey's tied up.

…Crap, you're right! We should fix that, right?

Yeah, we definitely should.

Okay, you stay here, I'll go run down there real quick and untie her so that she can input a move, then re-tie her.

You don't want me to come with you?

It's no big deal, I can do it by myself.



For the route we're going on, the choice here is...

Letting her go off like this technically broke the 'pairs' rule we had established. However, for something this mundane, it shouldn't really be a problem.

Suit yourself.

And just like that, Pig ran down to the cafeteria. While she was gone, I took out my tablet and pressed the RUN button. And then I waited.

…

[BGM: Slow Boar]


After some time, Pig returned.

Hey, how'd it go?

It, uh, it went good. Good, I think.

You think?

Yeah, it was good. I mean, I went and did the thing that I intended to do and I did it so... yeah, it went well.

Oooookay then, good to hear we didn't accidentally get Monkey executed. Time to keep searching then, yeah?

Let's.

And like that, we headed out to check some other classrooms. We searched for a while, but didn't find much of use. Eventually, just searching in silence began to feel awkward. I tried for some small talk.



So... lots of books around here.

Uh, it's an English classroom, so that tracks.

Right, right. Are you a big reader, Pig?

I used to be. I've kind of fallen off of that for the last couple of years.

I can feel that. I think part of growing up is no longer having time to read books.

That's a sad way of thinking.

...Yeah, it is.



You know, even with my busy schedule, I bet I could put enough time in my life to read books. At least once a month.

You know, I probably could too.

And it would be good to read more often.

It would, wouldn't it?

I enjoy reading a book whenever I get around to it.

Same.

And I know that reading is a much better hobby than just watching TV or whatever.

I read a study like that.



So it'd be totally possible for me to make time to read more often, it'd be good for me, and I'd enjoy it.

Absolutely.

…

It's a shame that there's absolutely no chance I'll go through with that idea, huh?

Not a chance in hell.

Not even when I have this exact same thought process in a few months.

No, I'll forget about it in the exact same way.



But I will be able to consistently make time to binge trash shows on the weekend.

Shows that I won't even really like all that much.

Right.

Right. ...But I'd imagine you still read some amount, being a journalist.

Oh, well, that's a different type of reading. A lot sadder type of reading.

I'd imagine. Seems depressing to be a journalist.

Well, there's a lot more bad news than good. You get used to it, though.



Well that's, uh, good?

...Not really. You just go through so many horrible, horrible stories.

Right, right. Whenever I hear about any of those things I just feel so bad for everybody involved.

Yeah, well, not everybody.

Hm?

I mean, usually there's an asshole to blame for it all.'

Yeah, but I mean, it's rarely a good situation for them too. You have to wonder what's fucked them so badly to get to that point in their life.

[BGM: Final Squeal]


Just because they were fucked up in life doesn't mean they aren't a piece of shit for it.

I never said that. I was just pointing out that I feel bad for everyone.

Okay, but why are you feeling bad for perpetrators?

I mean, I'm not feeling bad for them in particular.

You don't feel rage at them?

Not really. I mean, it's not like I know them. Rage at what made them the way they are, perhaps.

Yeah, see, just because they were made the way they are because of some underlying system, doesn't mean they aren't a piece of shit.



Again, I know that. I'm just saying that what's really fucked up is what keeps producing the monsters in our society. I mean, if not for those systems, why would they keep showing up?

Uh, because evil people will always show up?

That's... I think I'm not explaining myself well here.



Okay, so, when you're writing a hit-piece on someone, what's your goal? Do you intend to tear down that one individual person? Or do you use it as an opportunity to shed light on some larger issue at play?

Hm. I don't know. Never really considered that.

You haven't?

Don't really have time to. It's a pretty fast-paced world.

Besides, in the end, it all boils down to the same thing, doesn't it? Take down the villain.

I guess.

A moment of awkward silence passed between us. After a pause, Pig spoke back up, seeming a bit defensive.



I mean, I get your perspective though. After all, you're a defense attorney, right?

I plan to be one.

Right, right.

You know you're usually going to be defending guilty people, right?

Tends to be the case. You usually don't take things to court, either, just look out for your client.

Right, you try to make the prosecutor doubt their case enough to let your client have as light a punishment as possible.

That's... a way of looking at it.

I get viewing it from the criminal's perspective. But what about the victim? Or the relatives of the victim? Them getting justice is a huge thing to give them peace.

I mean, sometimes.



Although actually, studies have shown that justice against the criminal actually ultimately doesn't tend to give those affected by the crime that much peace.

But that's not always the case. I mean, look at the situation we're in.

…

We returned to searching in silence. Before long, we had finished our search.

Well, the round's almost over. I should probably let Monkey use their tablet again.

You go do that. I'll input on my tablet, then give the room here another once over until you come back.

Okay.

[BGM: Silence]


And like that, Pig once again left the room. I pulled out my tablet again and chose to RUN. Then I looked around, waiting for Pig to return. It didn't take her that long.

Where next?

Well... Actually, why don't we go and check on the classroom I woke up in? I wasn't on the lookout back then, so it's possible I missed some stuff there.

Alright, lead the way.

And just like that, I took her to the classroom I woke up in. Ah, memories.

[BGM: Wool Over The Eyes]


It was only hours ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago. I was so naive back then. Just a child, ignorant of the ways of the world. True, there was some fear in me. But moreso, I was filled with... wonder, could it be? Back then, whe-

Mouse, are you okay? You've been staring at nothing for a bit now.

Oh, um, sorry. Let's begin looking around now.

We gave the laboratory a thorough sweep.

Man, this must be a pretty good school. There are ton of chemicals here, really, this stuff is top of the line.

Yeah, this place is nice.



Before long, we found a safe hidden in one of the cabinets.

Alright, this is something!

Yeah! Now we just need to find the passcode to it.

Well, there's only one place in this room that has a lot of numbers on it. The whiteboard still has a lot of equations on it. That probably means something!

Maybe? But I always sucked at chemistry, so I can't really make heads or tails of it.

Leave it to me then! I actually thought about being a chemist back in high school. I was great at it.

Really? Then by all means, go ahead.



Like that, Pig got to work, giving the whiteboard a thorough analysis. Meanwhile, my eyes were drawn to some odd graffiti written on one of the desks. 'CrRe'. By the looks of it, it hadn't been here for long. And the odd capitalized R...

We were in a chemistry classroom. It didn't take long for me to connect the dots. I found a periodic table and checked. Then I went over to the safe and input '2475'. As expected, it opened.

Hey, you got it open?

Yup.

I reached in and grabbed a token with the inscription 'Pig Minor Trinket' written on it.

Seems like we scored the jackpot.

How did you get that open?

Uh, I'm awesome.

That doesn't answer my question.

How does it not?

You know, forget it.



How many Trinkets do we have in total right now? Let's pile them together.

I did as she asked and put all the Trinkets I had on the table. There were a total of 2. Not great.

Alright, alright. Good to know. I'll hold onto these for now, keep them in one place.

Alright.

Like that, Pig put the Trinkets in her pocket.

The round's getting close to ending, right?

You're right. Let's input our actions then go back down to the cafeteria to meet up with everyone.

[BGM: Silence]


I thought things were settled, but just then, Pig spoke up.

Hey... Mouse.

Yes?

Your action should move you the same number of spaces as if you just chose to run normally, right?

Uh, presumably, if I hitch a ride on someone who just moves one space, yeah.

Is that really true?

Huh?



Don't you want to test it out, just to make sure?

I mean... it'd be nice to?

This round, why don't you try hitching a ride to me? That way, we'll get to see for sure if it works that way or not.

So, um, hitch a ride to me. That's my advice. Yeah.

Without saying another word, Pig exited the room, presumably to find another room to input her action in. It was certainly an... odd exchange. Pig was acting a little weird. So, should I take her up on her offer? The idea of testing out my ability was a bit tempting...