Part 63: Curious

The thread mostly agreed we shouldn't go deal with Dog yet.

[BGM: That Pesky Rodent]


Maybe, if Dog was really this monster, I'd be justified in striking first.

But... is Dog really behind it all?

I would assume so. After all, he's the only one left, right?

Just because he's the only one, doesn't mean he did it. I mean, that makes it more likely, but you can't ignore all the evidence just to fit a narrative. And the evidence just doesn't add up for Dog being the killer.

Why only use a gun when killing Pig and Horse? He certainly doesn't seem the type to be able to crush a windpipe, or beat Tiger in a straight up fight. Why would he leave the pistol in the library?

Dragon and Snake weren't wrong that Bunny and Rooster's responses were suspicious. It just... doesn't fit.



Maybe, but I don't think anything you just said is definitive. Dog might just be deceptively competent. At any rate, if it wasn't Dog, then it has to be someone already dead, right? So who? Bunny? Rooster? Dragon? Snake?

… Well, we should start from the beginning, right?

I needed to really think things through. The whole world started to break when Pig was killed. If I wanted to piece things back together, I needed to start there. So then...

The person who killed Pig...



Unlike in the previous route where we could see Mouse's different justifications for her accusations, this one is basically just a straightforward logic puzzle between who has a solid 'I literally had eyes on them the whole time' alibi plus what has been said previously about Pig's murder (Horse couldn't have done it due to his height and how the bullet hit her); therefore, we're just skipping straight to the answer, which is...

Sheep killed Pig. That's the answer.

Sheep?

Yeah, Sheep. It's the only thing that makes sense. Height matches. Modus operandi matches. But most importantly, she doesn't have an alibi for when Pig was killed. In fact, we have explicit confirmation that she wasn't around when Pig was killed.

She went and killed Pig. I don't know why. Perhaps she was the other traitor.

But if she was the other traitor, Mouse, how'd she end up dead?

I'm getting to that.



The mistake here is thinking of this as the act of one individual. Rather, this is a sequence of isolated incidents.



Next comes who killed Sheep. Knowing what we know, I think the only likely suspect would be Tiger. Perhaps she figured out that Sheep killed Pig, although how I have no idea.

But judging by Sheep's cause of death and the information on the other suspects, it has to be Tiger who enters the library and kills Sheep. She thinks Sheep is still alone, but Horse is actually searching the same area as Sheep, just in the library's other room.



When he returns to the scene, he is then enraged. A brawl with Tiger ensues, Horse winds up the victor. Of course Horse killed Tiger. It's the only thing that makes sense.

But when Horse checks Tiger's tablet, he discovers that she's not the traitor. Maybe he fears what will happen if he admits to killing someone who wasn't a traitor. Maybe that's why he quickly comes up with the lie about being hit over the head.

Would've saved all our asses a whole lot of trouble if he was just upfront then, but whatever. I don't know exactly what was going through his head. I never will. Whatever the motive, he doesn't fess up to his kill, so Bunny and Horse are left to their own devices.



Now Bunny, he's awfully suspicious of Horse. Continues to investigate. And there, he finds the silenced pistol- which Sheep somehow had to begin with- on her body. What happens next... judging by the fact that Horse was shot in the back of the head, maybe it went something like this.

Perhaps Bunny asked to check Horse's head, to examine the supposed wound. When he looked, and saw no injury, his suspicions of Horse being the traitor were confirmed. He knew that if Horse was the traitor, this was the best chance he'd get, so right then and there, he fired.

Upstairs, I had just informed Ox and Rooster about the mysterious deaths going around. And for one of these two men, this is an opportunity.



I don't know why Rooster had the desire to kill Ox. But I'm guessing it's for reasons unrelated to the game. It was a personally motivated kill. It happened much as Snake deduced. A quick slash through the neck from behind.

Rooster decided to use the chaos to his advantage, and pin this kill on the other murderer. Unfortunately, Snake would later see through this ruse, and when Rooster tried to get away, Snake wouldn't hesitate to punish the guilty party.

Meanwhile, Dragon walks in on the scene with Bunny. Bunny tries to placate Dragon, to show Horse's tablet, proving that he was the traitor. That Bunny was in the right. When Horse's tablet proves otherwise, this comes as a shock to both Dragon and Bunny.

Bunny realizes Dragon's ill-intent, perhaps killing-intent, right away. Maybe he pulled a gun on Dragon to placate her, to buy time for him to explain himself. Whatever the motivation, it results in a misunderstanding, and Dragon ends things right then and there.

[BGM: Silence]


I see, I see. That all makes sense. Well reasoned as usual, Mouse. But I must ask – what about Dragon and Snake's deaths? Surely those were caused by a Major Trinket, no?

No, I don't think they were. After all, if I'm right, Dog's had no part in these proceedings. He has no reason to target the two. I think what actually happened might've been a lot more petty and tragic than that.

Both their tablets were by their bodies, right? I think their fight might've evolved. One of them snatched and tried to operate the other's tablet to execute them.

Maybe Snake thought similar to me, and suspected Dragon as the traitor after her story. The executed one, in their dying throes, lunged back and operated the first person's tablet, causing them, too, to be executed. A battle of mutual destruction.

...Indeed, it's possible. So, then, is Dog not an enemy to be feared?

I don't think so. But... there's one thing that doesn't sit right with me.

Oh?



This question is actually a trap – there's a lot of unanswered questions here, even with the routes we've done, so multiple of these actually would normally work as an answer. But there's one thing that you also need to consider – which of these deaths or death pairs have unanswered questions that we could still get answers for? Almost everyone is dead at this point! But with the people still alive, there's one in particular that's worth bringing up...

If Snake and Dragon died like I said...

[BGM: Rat's Awakening]


There's no way you could've been ignorant of it, right?

Mouse?

I mean, I know you said you were focused on your meditation, but a conflict like that surely had to draw your attention. I just don't buy that you would calmly ignore when a dying person lunged at another with the intent to kill when they were mere feet away from you.

I'm sorry, Mouse, those deaths truly fall under my responsibility. However, it's sad to say, but I completely missed the scene you described.

No, you didn't just miss it. You said you heard them 'both cry out in pain', and that's when you looked to them. But that can't be what happened!

...Maybe I was confused. A lot's happened, you know, and it was awfully graphic. You know how unreliable memories get under times of stress!

That's not the only thing I noticed, Monkey.



A cold shiver went up my spine. Something in the back of my head was shouting at me to stop. To not push any further. What did it matter at this point? Learning the truth wouldn't help me at all. Let lying dogs rest. But I was just too curious...

Sheep went from Pig's murder to the library. She should've passed by the cafeteria. You should've seen her.

Mouse, that's not proof of anything. She probably deliberately took a route to avoid the cafeteria so I wouldn't spot her.

Maybe. But that's not what's weird to me. What's weird is that Horse said that she claimed to be going to 'let you free from your restraints again.' That implies she also let you free from your restraints to input a move the round before.

So did I. And I came right at the end of the round. Which means, when I helped you out, she must've already come to let you input your move. So, Monkey...



Why didn't you tell me that you had already input your move?

Th-that's...

And there's something even more telling to me. When Horse said Sheep left to free you from your restraints, Bunny didn't even bat an eye. Not a single question of clarification. Almost as though he knew what Horse was referring to.

Almost as though he just realized that Sheep was doing what he did and stayed silent, just like I did.

And that's not all – Snake's alibi of Dragon was oddly caveated. He made sure the shot happened on the fifth round, not the fourth, and that the murder happened on the first floor.



Using reverse logic on this statement, that means if the murder happened in the fourth round, or if it happened on the second or third floor, Snake couldn't provide an air-tight alibi. Now why would this be the case?

Perhaps, did Dragon come down to help you from your restraints in the fourth round, and Snake helped you from those restraints in the fifth round?

Mouse, what are you implying?

My explanation of the murders is right, I think, but it doesn't account for why people have been acting weird. But there might be one common denominator.

You're hefting some pretty weight allegations there, Mouse, but I don't suppose you have any proof for what you're saying?

I'm sorry, Monkey. But I do. And it comes in the advice you just gave me.



'The chaos and darkness of this race will erase what happens here. The truth will be written by the survivors.' The moment I heard that line, I thought I recognized it. And then I remembered.

When Dragon was justifying murdering Bunny, she said 'After all, the chaos and darkness of this race will tear away all this shit. Us survivors will write the truth.'

And when I confronted Snake about his murder, he said 'This can all be erased by the chaos and the darkness. A truth can be written by us survivors.' That's not a coincidence, Monkey. Don't try to say it is.

…

Monkey... what did you do?

[BGM: Weak Pig]


I... was the one who made Brian the way he is.

What?!

The wild shift in tone threw me for a complete loop. Still, I wanted to hear what she was saying.

Well, that's not quite right. He was already heading down this path, but I, I... I didn't stop him, not when I could have at any rate. In fact, it's possible I... encouraged him.

What?

When he talked about all these conspiracy theories, about how his father was really innocent, it was fascinating to me. These weren't the standard crackpot nonsense, they were really well thought out.



At times I couldn't help but wonder where he was getting all this information from. And I... I indulged him. I heard him out.

I was well aware that it was wrong, it was wrong to enable him like this, but I was just... Curious. So curious, so so curious to hear what he had to say. It was just such a fascinating case.

So I engaged with him on this subject. I treated his assumptions as correct and talked through them, to see where it went. So instead of stopping his delusions, I enabled them. Until... until it was too late.

Towards the end, I finally realized that I had gone too far. That he had gone too far. That he was no longer simply in denial, that he was actively putting belief in fantasies, that his value system was corrupted.

I tried to backtrack, to stop it, to snap him into reality, but... That final meeting, the last one he showed up to... I really fucked it up.

Monkey, what does this have to do with anything?

When I sat here, tied up, facing down death, the void of nothingness felt so... overwhelming. So overpowering. So to distract myself, I started thinking of other things. Of past meetings. Of Brian's theories.



And I started thinking to myself... What if he was right? What if these people did deserve to be here?

My curiosity started eating at me again. Was Sheep really that naive? Was Tiger really that unstable? Was Dragon really that hateful? Was Snake really that coldhearted?

Mouse, you can't understand just how easy it was to push these people off the brink. I wasn't being some master manipulator, I was giving them the lightest taps on the back, and they fell so, so, so easily. It was incredible.

Heh heh. Heh heh heh heh. It's funny. I'm the one who's always preached about keeping your mental health in check, but...

In the face of my impending death, I think I was the one who went a little crazy.

[BGM: Mousetrap]


I looked at this pathetic, chuckling lady with pure disgust and horror. This couldn't be the person I knew. This couldn't be my therapist. This couldn't be Jae Hansen. This was... a demon. Someone who drove a group of people to murder from the comfort of a chair. And for what? Curiosity? Was she serious?

It was appalling. It was more crushing than anything else that had happened.

I... trusted you.



You did. You've always had a tendency towards codependency, Mouse. Make sure to note that to your next therapist.

You're horrible! I don't even know you!

You don't know me. Please, treat the 'me' you see before you as some pathetic stranger. I don't want to be remembered by you for this awful person this chair has made me.

This accursed, horrifying, mind-tainting chair. It's rotten. Rotten!

I just stared at her, as she squirmed. It looked like she was trying to get free, but she was tied up tight. I didn't know what to say.

...I'm going to go get Dog. And we're going to escape together.

You do that.



I started to walk away, but before I could leave, Monkey chimed up once more.

Mouse.

...What?

Before I finally, truly meet my maker... If I'm confessing everything, there's something else I think you should know.

About Brian?

No.

I wasn't in the mood, but God damn it I couldn't just not ask her to go on.

What is it?

Go get Dog first. I think he'd be interested to hear about this, as well.

Fine.

[BGM: Silence]


And like that, I left Monkey, and began to search through the school more for Dog. It took a while, but eventually I found him lying on a couch in some student commons area on the third floor.

[BGM: Ox's Logic]


Dog! What the hell are you doing?!

Oh! Mouse! Uh, definitely not napping, that's for sure.

… You're telling me that all this shit has been going down, and you've been here, napping?

Mouse I literally just said I definitely wasn't napping, didn't you hear me?

I can't believe this! We're in a death game! You have to input an action every round, what if you slept through a round end and got executed?!

Well, first of all, that would be really funny. And second, it's not like I've been sleeping, just resting.



We were supposed to meet again in two rounds at the cafeteria!

So, full disclosure – I totally forgot about that until you just said that two seconds ago.

I couldn't even think of any other words. He was the only other person getting out of this alive? I could hear the gods laughing.

I imagine I'm in for an earful from Ox when I get back down there?

I wish.

Oh?

I filled him in on everything that had happened. He took it better than one would expect, which I couldn't even call surprising at this point.

[BGM: Silence]


That's... pretty fucking rough, huh?

Yeah, you're telling me.

You know, I think I wanna have a little chat with Monkey now.

So do I. Plus, she has something important to tell us.

Something important? Goodie.

And like that, the two of us made our way down to the cafeteria. There, for the final time, I was met with a shocking sight.

[BGM: Hear No Evil]


Where I expected Monkey to be tied up, I was met with an empty chair and jump ropes on the floor.

Are you serious? Are you fucking serious?! I can't leave anywhere for a minute without everything exploding!

That's, uh, yeah, wow.

Alright, so, a total psycho has escaped. What's our plan now?

Has she?

What do you mean? The ropes are off, she clearly got out of them.

But look at this.



Dog walked over to them and picked them up.

These were cut. Deliberately.

Okay, well, I guess she had a bladed instrument on her.

Mouse, you know that doesn't make sense, right? Between the traitor announcements and Monkey being tied up, she was under constant surveillance the whole time. She never had the time to grab a knife.

So fine, she got it beforehand.

But before the traitor announcements, was there any reason why Monkey would grab a knife? Or, alternatively, is there any way that she would just have a knife on her person beforehand?



Even if she is the complete nutcase you described her as, that just doesn't add up.

Well, she must've cut the ropes somehow!

Must she have?

Dog, you're not seriously going to suggest that someone else helped her escape, are you?

No. But I am going to suggest that someone else cut these ropes.

Who? Who could've done that?! Because I left her tied up, you were supposedly napping on the third floor, and everybody else is dead!

Pig was shot through the chest. Sheep had her neck snapped. Tiger bled to death. Ox's throat was slit with a knife. Horse was shot, point-blank, in the back of the head. Bunny was beaten and strangled to death. Rooster was stabbed, again, to death. And Dragon and Snake were executed by the collars!

So there's nobody who should've been able to free her!

Hey, I'm not here to give you an answer.

[BGM: Silence]


I'm just saying, it seems to me like there has to have been a third party involved. And it seems to me like they wanted to make it look like Monkey escaped on her own.

…I didn't know what to say to that. We were left with an unsolvable mystery in the wake of Monkey's disappearance. All that was left to do was to gather everybody's tablets and Minor Trinkets and finish the race. The whole time, I was on edge, expecting a final surprise, an attack from the escaped traitor. But in the end, nothing came of it. It was a peaceful finish. ...No, not peaceful.

Silent.

In the end, Dog and I ended the game alive. Ox, Tiger, Bunny, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Rooster, and Pig ended it dead. And Monkey... ended it missing.



[Ending – 10 of Spades]

A truly nasty path for Mouse to walk. Unrelenting, brutal, and shocking. More to the point, there are too many key sacrifices with this line of play. Not to mention... it's all a bit much, no?

On the whole, there's not much potential with this traitor pairing.