Part 56: A Preemptive Confession

It was a very close vote, but ultimately the thread decided to stick to the original plan and just RUN!

[BGM: Silence]


What was I thinking about? If I randomly decided to use my ability, it'd signal to the group that I didn't trust them. 'Just testing it out'? What was I thinking? What was Pig thinking? Without another thought, I chose to RUN.

Well, time to meet up again, like promised.

[BGM: Rooster Style]


I would've preferred to walk with Pig, but she seemed to have gone ahead without me. No problem, I'd just go down by myself. I took a staircase down to the first floor.

…



Ah, Mouse. There you are. Where's Pig?

She didn't come ahead by herself already?

No. That's odd.

Who cares? The results are about to be announced!

We all turned our attentions to the TV, where the race results would be shown. There shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary here, though.

Round 6 has ended. Now, let us see how the race has progressed.

[BGM: Silence]


The Rat has RUN one space.

The Ox has RUN one space.

The Tiger has RUN one space.

The Bunny has RUN one space.

The Dragon has RUN one space.

The Snake has RUN one space.

The Horse has RUN one space.

The Sheep has RUN one space.

The Monkey has RUN one space.

The Rooster has RUN one space.

The Dog has RUN one space.





The Pig has used 'Loser's Desperation'. The Pig moves 11 spaces.

Now, Round 7 has begun. Do your best, and choose wisely.

…

…

What? What the hell?

[BGM: Final Squeal]


What was Pig doing? The answer was obvious, on a second thought. She was trying to win the race. That meant that the person with the desperate personality was the very person I had just spent that much time with. I kicked myself for not noticing it earlier. Pig had been acting strange. I just didn't think... Well, that's it. I just didn't think.

Th-this is...

Pig betrayed us.

It appears our other traitor has shown themselves.

Yo, this is bad, isn't it? She's way ahead of all of us!

Indeed, for the person with the desperate personality to have such a powerful ability, and for Pig to use it so effectively...



This is perhaps the rare case where a single agent can effectively gain such an incredible lead.

So, are w-we...

Everyone, settle down.

Ox regained the group's attention.

This is not a cause for alarm. Rather, this could be viewed as a good thing. After all, we now know who the enemy is. Admittedly, Pig has gained a rather impressive lead on us. However, that is a move she can only utilize once.

[BGM: Ox's Logic]


At this point, her movement options have been severely limited. We should just focus on capturing her.

Say, Snake. You said your ability would be good to help prevent if somebody went off on their own. Do you think you can turn things around?

Alas, I fear things may not be that simple, Mouse. The scenario I pictured was if several people acted out. With a single frontrunner gaining such a lead, I am regrettably limited in my usefulness.



Figures.

Hey, this is where my 'Dragon Breath' should be used, yeah?

Indeed, Dragon, you may come in handy here. After all, Pig only has one option in how far she can move at this point. She'll run one space. If you Dragon Breath that lane, we can prevent her from winning.



Are we sure that'll work? What if she has items?

She doesn't. I've been with her the whole time- she hasn't gotten any items. Well, I did hand over the Minor Trinkets to her...

You what?

How was I supposed to know?

Um, how many Minor Trinkets does she have?

Two...

Oh, okay. So if we subtract her and Monkey, we still have enough.

Sure, that's nice to know. But the important thing is that all she has are Minor Trinkets. She can't use more than one herself, so she's still limited to moving one space.



Dragon, you use your ability to block off the space in front of her.

Sure.

As for the rest of us, we need to split up and search for Pig physically.

Right.

There's one way to stop her that doesn't involve any games- we prevent her from inputting any moves by force.

I know this is something none of you will like to hear, but at this point, it's us or her. I think in this situation, we're authorized to use lethal force.

Hold on! We're still not 100% sure that Pig is, in fact, the traitor. It could be, uh, a misclick or something!

If that was the case, why'd she be hiding out?

…

[BGM: Stampede of Truth]


For a moment, a thought passed through my mind. Is she really hiding right now? Or... something else.

That's a good point, Mouse. We're not entirely sure at the moment, so if you get the chance, try and ask about her motives. But the number one priority is stopping her by any means necessary.

This is a large school, but it's still just a school. If we all split up and search carefully, we'll find her soon. This isn't some trinket we're looking for, it's a human being. A lot harder to hide. So, we search for her, and reconvene at the end of the round!

And like that, everyone understood the mission. Not everyone liked it, but everyone understood it.

Might I be untied at this point? It's clear I bear the group no ill-will, and I believe I could be an aid in searching for Pig.

Fine. But you're searching with me.

It would be my pleasure.



I also decided to search with Ox. I wasn't particularly scared for my life, but still, Ox and Monkey were probably the two people I trusted most at this point. Although, Pig was on that list a few minutes ago, so perhaps I wasn't the best judge of this sort of thing. The three of us began to search the left wing of the first floor. Not having to spend nearly as much time searching, we covered far more ground. Towards the end of the round, we had briefly gone over the majority of the first floor.

[BGM: See No Evil]


And yet, Pig was nowhere to be found.

How are we not finding her? It's not like she can hide in some super secret spot or something.

Like Bunny said, we're looking for a human, not a Trinket. That means that they can move from spot to spot.

They can listen to where people are moving. It's basically a large game of hide and seek.

Seems like Pig's pretty good at hide and seek, then.

For all we know, some other group has found Pig already.

Were that the case, wouldn't we have heard something already?

I suppose.



God, I feel like such an idiot. How could I not have known Pig was the other traitor? I was searching with her.

Mouse, there's no blame to be assigned here. You don't know her as a person, so you're not adjusted to her personality yet. In your case, it'd be difficult to even tell what being 'off' looks like.

Additionally, in such a perilous situation, there are several reasons one could be 'off'. You'd need to also detect the guilt in her 'off'ness to truly determine the answer.

People greatly overestimate their ability to read strangers. Unless you're a trained professional, most people can only make informed assessments on people that they know, at least somewhat.

Why, my specialty is reading people, and I would not have been able to tell.

Well, that's nice to hear. You always know what to say to cheer me up, Monkey.



Like I said, I know you.

Regardless of whose fault it is, we just need to look towards the future. Looking back is a waste of time.

I note you conspicuously didn't take a side on whether or not it was my fault, Ox.

And on the note of looking forwards, we should input our moves and go back to the cafeteria.

Agreed.

With a nod of her head, Monkey entered the nearby classroom.

[BGM: Silence]


Say, Mouse. Hitch a ride on me.

Huh?

I'm going to Stampede to get behind Pig.

Why?

At this point, everyone's probably going to be looking to get as far as possible. If we capture Pig, we can reconfigure afterwards.

But being close to the end gives us leverage.

...Okay then.



I wasn't sure about this, but I went along with what Ox said. He seemed to know what he was talking about. I entered a nearby classroom, and hitched a ride on Ox. Then, the three of us went back to the cafeteria. There, people were lamenting their lack of progress.



Shifty little bitch, how did nobody find her? Was everyone searching properly?

Dragon, no need to get so upset.

The fuck are you saying to me?

U-Um.

She's saying that there's no need to get upset. We will find her soon enough. She will run out of places to hide.

She better.

And like that, the television cut on once more. Time to see the race's results.

Round 7 has ended. Now, let us see how the race has progressed.



The Rat has hitched a SNEAKY RIDE on Ox.



The Ox has begun to STAMPEDE and moved to the 15th space. Thanks to the SNEAKY RIDE, The Rat also moves nine spaces.



The Tiger has used DIVE. The Tiger moves two spaces.

The Bunny has begun to HOP and moved one space.

The Dragon has used DRAGON BREATH. Lane 17 is engulfed in flames!

The Snake has RUN one space.



The Horse has used STEADY GALLOP. The Horse moves three spaces.

The Sheep has used SWEET SLEEP. They can make two extra moves next turn!

The Monkey has chosen to CONFESS!



The Rooster has used ENCOURAGING CROW to move The Dragon four spaces.

The Dog has chosen to CONFESS!

The Pig has chosen to CONFESS!

[BGM: Hear No Evil]


Now, let us hear some confessions. First up... Monkey!

What on earth... Everyone's eyes moved towards Monkey.



However, she simply stayed silent. Her arms were firmly in her pockets, and her gaze wasn't even at the television. After a time, the Jade Emperor spoke up once again.

That confession was worth... zero spaces! You suck! Next up... Dog!

Again, attention shifted to Dog. But like Monkey, he didn't speak. It appeared those two deliberately chose confession just to move zero spaces. But Pig...

I suddenly got worried.

That confession was worth... zero spaces! You suck! Next up... Pig!

I wasn't expecting to hear anything, but very faintly, I heard a voice begin to speak.



_{I am responsible for the online perception that Aaron Morris was guilty!}

The voice came from a place not far from here. Immediately, several among the group, myself included, began moving towards the voice.

_{Initially, I planned to cover the incident from a totally opposite perspective. I planned on pointing out the holes in the case, along with other sketchy rumors about Amadeus Bowen.}



We made our way to a classroom not too far from the cafeteria. There, we saw Pig, nervously shouting, through the window.

However, I was approached by a very influential media company with an absurdly generous offer! They were prepared to pay me a big sum of money, as well as get me in touch with some of their connections, and even subtly promote my works!

Instantly, Horse went for the door, trying to force it open. However, for some reason, it wouldn't budge.

There was one condition. I had to do everything in my power to help promote the public narrative that 'Aaron Morris is 100% guilty'.

I moved closer to the window, and saw that somehow, Pig had found a bike chain. She had used it in conjunction with a fixture on the wall to completely lock herself in the room.



The media company seemingly had no connection with Amadeus Bowen, and yet, I knew this offer was shady.

Of course it was shady. How could it not be? But... I took it anyways! I posted article after article slamming Aaron Morris, talking about how incredibly guilty he was. I used sock puppets and false accounts to spread this work as far as I could.

And if I saw any online articles taking the opposing view, I'd spam them with garbage and flag them as 'misinformation' on social media sites.

My methods produced results, and when I showed them to my employers, they were pleased. I knowingly helped perpetuate a potential injustice simply to line my own selfish coffers.

I'm selfish, despicable scum who only cares about herself!

[BGM: Silence]


With that final cry, everyone went silent. Was this... was this true? To be honest, it sounded plausible. It sounded bad. Which meant...

That confession was worth...

[BGM: Metal Horse]


Five spaces! You're horrible!

That's all the confessions we have for this round! Now, Round 8 has begun. Do your best, and choose wisely.

Five spaces?

Damn it! We were played for fools.

Doesn't matter. We're ending this now.

Horse readied himself, preparing to slam down the door. He would rush headfirst into the room, and deal with Pig himself.