Part 88: Threes High

And with that, we're done with Ox's route – though it's funny how it was hard to tell whose route it was at the start, huh? Honestly, looking back at the LP so far, I think this actually might've ended up being one of the best orders we could've gotten for the routes. Unlike a lot of VNs, there's no actual “recommended” order, just because of how diverse the routes are, and because of how good of a job Themis did with seeding information, no matter what order you do them in, you'll end up getting information that recontextualizes stuff in later routes.

That said, Themis has mentioned they feel Ox's route might be one of, if not the weakest routes just for how short it is – and the fact that Ox himself isn't around for most of it. Personally, I think it's an interesting set-up, and the fact we hit it so late means while we have a lot of context for stuff already, seeing these connections defined this late in the game also recontextualizes stuff we learned in the previous routes. Themis says that their main issue with the route is that, out of the whole cast, Ox is the least capable of being a proper antagonist, which is why this one's more about him investigating the traitor identities.

This route was also an experiment to try and create a set-up where you have limited investigation attempts, and based on what you found out (or didn't find out), you could end up solving all, some, or none of the mystery. And, as I said a few updates ago, the other endings you can get on this route are directly tied to what combination of investigation flags you do or don't get.

However, before we see any of those endings, there's actually two investigation paths we didn't see in the route proper, as neither of them trigger any investigation flags and end up being a complete waste of time (as well as locking out the best outcome by default). To that end, we'll now see what both of those conversations end up covering...

[Talk to Snake.]

[BGM: Silence]


Let's go and try and find Snake. I mean, Ox was poisoned, right? Then it might have something to do with Snake.

That makes sense. And I always thought that dude was shady.

When we woke up in the same room, he didn't panic. Like, at all. He could totally sentence another person to death without batting an eye.

I don't know about that... but regardless, we should go find him.

And just like that, we had our interrogation target.

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


It didn't take long to find Snake. He was in a classroom on the second floor. He was in the same room as Rooster.

Snake, would you mind if we talk with you for a minute?

Ah, Mouse. What a nice surprise for you to join me in Ms. McNamara's classroom. You may absolutely talk with me, but whatever about?

Hold on a minute, where the hell's Tiger?

Her? I believe she's examining one of the neighboring rooms.

You mean you're not all together during the search? We had a system, assholes, you guys have gotta follow it.



Please, no need to get dramatic. I'm making sure that no one in our group goes too far from the others. However, allowing a bit of a spread improves our searching prowess by quite a bit.

Tch. Well I don't like it.

Then you have my apologies. Now, you had something to ask me?

Right, yes. Ox has been poisoned. ...Uh, that is, not literally, but in the game. Someone has used some sort of Trinket on him, and if he doesn't figure out who did it in time, he'll die. Do you know anything about this?

Ah yes, Ox's predicament. Funny, he actually already approached me about this. I suppose since it's a 'poison', I'm to be suspected.

Ox truly has become a modern day Damocles, hasn't he?

Damocles? Who's that?

Damocles was a man who wished to sit on Dionysus' throne. Dionysus granted that wish. However, due to a rather bizarre leap of logic, Dionysus had previously set up his throne so that a giant sword hung directly above it, held up by only a single horse hair.



It was to represent the weight and danger of being king, supposedly. After a short period, Damocles begged Dionysus to let him off the throne, having learned the burden of being a leader.

However, the 'sword of Damocles' more generally refers to an inevitable seeming, impending doom. It, metaphorically, functions much in the way that the pendulum does in Poe's 'The Pit and the Pendulum'.

Okay, I get it. I asked for an explanation, not a damn English lecture.

I was simply providing you an appropriate amount of context. I feel knowing the full story may let you further appreciate just how apt my comparison was.

I don't give a shit about how 'apt' the comparison is, I care what you know about Ox being poisoned. Now start giving me useful info before I start breaking things.

Ah, well, I'm afraid you will have to start breaking things.



Unfortunately, I know nothing about this poison ability you speak of. I don't know what I can do to help.

I don't believe you!

Well then, I don't know what to tell you.

Snake, are you sure? There's nothing you know about it? You haven't heard of Kavka's Toxin anywhere?

Kavka's Toxin, you say?

Uh, yes, that's apparently what flows through Ox's veins according to the announcement on his tablet. Why, do you recognize it?

I recognize the phrase. That's a very interesting name for Brian to have given the ability.

Why?



It references a very famous question proposed by philosopher Gregory S. Kavka in 1983.

Oh great, is this another diatribe?

He proposed the following puzzle: An eccentric billionaire places before you a vial of toxin that, if you drink it, will make you painfully ill for a day, but will not threaten your life or have any lasting effects.

The billionaire will pay you one million dollars tomorrow morning if, at midnight tonight, you intend to drink the toxin tomorrow afternoon.

To be clear, you need not drink the toxin to receive the money. In fact, the money will already be in your bank account hours before the time for drinking it arrives, if you succeed.

All you have to do is intend at midnight tonight to drink the stuff tomorrow afternoon.



Naturally, you would prefer to not drink the toxin. However, if it's for a million dollars, you are willing to deal with the pain for a day. Quite the interesting puzzle, is it not?

Puzzle? Where's the puzzle?

So you know what to do in this situation?

Ain't it obvious? Just convince the dude you're gonna drink the poison, then once you get the money, don't.

Ah, but this billionaire is incredibly perceptive, and will know whether or not you truly intend to drink the toxin.

No one can say that with guaranteed certainty.

This man can.

As simple as it might seem, some people actually argue it is impossible to get the money, even if you would drink the toxin for it.

What?



Kavka claims that since drinking the poison is never to your advantage, regardless of whether you are paid, no rational person could truly intend to drink the toxin once the money was received.

Thus, your only options are to drink the poison without payment, or refuse to drink the poison without payment.

That's bullshit!

Many would agree with you. In contrast, philosopher David Gauthier argues once a person intends on drinking the poison, one cannot entertain ideas of not drinking it.

To him, there are three options: drink the poison with payment, drink the poison without payment, or refuse to drink the poison without payment.

Still, others have argued against this. Even if you fully intended to drink the poison, there's no way that resolve wouldn't collapse once the poison has been drank.

Wow. This is pretty interesting stuff. But, um... does this mean you don't have any actual, uh, useful information for us?

Oh no, we've clearly got some useful information out of this. We now know that Snake's trying to waste as much of our time as possible by going off about random bullshit!



It wounds me that you dismiss all I say as 'random bullshit.' There is no way that the poison was called 'Kavka's Toxin' without reason. It is a phrase simply too charged with meaning.

I am confident that, in some way, understanding the name's origin should provide you some sort of clue.

Uh huh. Whatever you say. Come on Mouse, we're done here.

Dragon, just done with Snake in general, left the room without another word.

Uh, thanks for trying to help.

Don't mention it.

With that, I followed her back to the classroom we started in.

And now, let's go talk to the other person we skipped...

[Talk to Sheep.]

[BGM: Silence]


How about we try talking with Sheep?

Sheep? What on earth is the use of talking to someone like her?

Sheep seems very honest, so I don't think she'll try and hide anything. And she was also Amadeus Bowen's secretary, right? If there was shady business going on with him, she'd probably be the first one to know. I think it's a decent place to try and poke around.

Well, you're the one apparently calling the shots.

Fine. We'll talk with Sheep.

Great! Thanks.

And with that decided, the two of us began our search for Sheep. It didn't take long.

[BGM: Wool Over The Eyes]


We quickly found her searching a classroom on the first floor with Horse and Monkey.

Mouse, Dragon! What are you two doing here?

Hi Sheep. Horse, Monkey.

Hello there.

I echo Sheep's question. What are you two doing here?

Watch it with the attitude, will ya?

You're lecturing me about attitude?

Would the two of you knock it off? Dragon and I are just here to ask some questions.

Ask whatever you would like.



First of all, do any of you know anything about Kavka's Toxin?

The three blank looks immediately told me I was barking up the wrong tree.

You know what, forget it.

Wait, I want to know what you're talking about!

Trust me, you don't. ...How about this, do any of you know anything about corruption involving Amadeus Bowen or the trial of Mr. Morris?

This question actually provoked some interesting reactions.

Corruption? I must apologize, I do not personally know any thing regarding that matter.



However, speaking as Brian's therapist, I can say he certainly believed things were not right regarding the trial of his father. ...I suppose this is breaking patient-client confidentiality. But these circumstances warrant this, I would imagine.

Indeed they do.

Brian would often go on about how things weren't right with his father's arrest and execution. He was convinced there was something more to it.

I will admit, things seemingly happened more speedily than they would normally. However, there's no evidence to suggest this was a result of any malice. The evidence of his father's guilt was plain as day. Brian just was never able to accept this.

I feel his pain. Many boys idolize their father. A father's words can be deeply ingrained in a young boy's psyche, permeating their conscience.

If Brian's father earnestly told Brian that he was innocent, it's likely Brian would believe it, no matter what. What an irresponsible father, leaving his son in that state.



It must have been rough for Brian to go through so much at a young age. When a family member dies when you're young, it... i-it can definitely affect how you live your life.

Alright, what about you, Sheep?

M-m-me? I don't –

What do you know about corruption?

Corruption? O-oh, right, yes, corruption.

Well, I know I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but Mr. Bowen wasn't exactly, um... ...there were a lot of bad rumors about him. Some of which may have been true. He was a very powerful man with many famous connections.

But some say he got those connections through... a creative use of leverage?

So blackmail.



I can't say anything to that n-nature. But, er, nothing I learned from my position would exactly refute those allegations. He definitely had a lot of enemies.

Oh, but that's not to say that Morris isn't the killer! Morris had a deep amount of resentment for Bowen and the way he ran things. The two would often get in arguments. And it's clear from the case that Morris had to be the killer.

I mean, I was there the whole time, and Morris was the only one who met with Bowen during the time of death.

I don't think the trial was in any way corrupt, if that's what you're asking.

I... can't speak much to any of this. I was only a minor witness in all of this. I have very little involvement with either man.

Okay then. Well, this was all very useful to hear. Thanks for sharing.

No problem!

You still haven't told us why you came to ask these questions. And why are you not with Ox?

… Okay, see you guys later!

Like that, I grabbed Dragon's wrist and walked away. Despite Dragon's protests, I didn't stop walking until we got back to the classroom we came from.

While there's definitely some more broader-scale information we get confirmed here... not only is it information we already could've at least theorized about beforehand, it also doesn't directly help us in any way with Ox's predicament, which is why both of these options are red herring investigation paths that lock you out of the best outcome.

Now, it's time to see what the other endings you can get for Ox's route entail! To start, we're going to see the ending if Mouse doesn't get the investigation flag for either Bunny or Dog.

[Fail to get information from both Dog and Bunny.]

The point where the endings branch off, based on how your investigation went, is when Ox pulls a gun on the group in the cafeteria.

[BGM: Steadfast Gallop]


Ox, hold on a minute. Do you know who poisoned you?

Admittedly, I am not yet clear on the culprit's identity. However, that won't stop me from trying to save myself.

What does that mean?

It means I will have to take some guesses.

Hold on, is he just going to start k-k-killing people willy nilly?

You maniac.

Ox, Ox, hey, buddy, you can't just do something like that.

Ox, you're not seriously going to just start killing people at random, are you?



Mouse, surely you'd understand. I'm not going to simply guess at random. There are many basic deductive practices I can use to narrow suspects down.

For instance, Horse, being as strong as he is, has no need to resort to such technical tricks. Sheep has been scared, and consequently has spent most of her time in the presence of someone else, limiting the time she could have found the Trinket.

Dog lacks strong convictions, so he wouldn't grip to life so desperately. Combining all the factors, the most likely candidate for the poisoner, and the first I will kill...

Ox aimed the gun towards Bunny.

...is you, Bunny.

Ox! You can't be serious about this, can you?

Logically speaking, you're the most likely suspect.

You can't just say that!

I apologize for this, Bunny.

[BGM: Silence]


In an instant, Bunny's face hardened.

I'm not going to let you just kill me like this.

He pulled a knife out of his back pocket and dodged to the left.

*bang!*

Ox fired, but Bunny had already gotten out of the way. I turned around and realized Bunny had moved behind me, using me as something of a shield. Then he rushed at me! No, not me. The person behind me. Which would be–

*bang!*

The thing about being shot in the head is that the moment you start to wonder where a sound came from, you stop wondering about it. It's almost peaceful.



[Ending – 3 of Clubs]

Finding the poisoner will be a difficult task. Correctly interpreting the Jade Emperor's hints, even harder.

If completely devoid of hints, Ox will try to take his best guess. This will... not be a particularly effective tactic. But interrogating the right people may lead to a more fruitful outcome.

The next outcome requires you to talk to Bunny (and ask what classrooms they investigated in to get the flag), but not get the flag from Dog.

[Get information from Bunny, but not Dog.]

[BGM: Steadfast Gallop]


Ox, hold on a minute. Do you know who poisoned you?

Admittedly, I am not yet clear on the culprit's identity.

Well then, there's no need for you to worry. I've already solved who poisoned you.

Really? Go on then, please, tell me.

Bunny, Pig, you two told me where your group had searched. Would you agree that those searches were fairly comprehensive?

Mostly, yeah, I'd like to say we did a fair job at that.

Then I assume you stumbled across the locked safe in the Spanish classroom, then?

Locked safe?

Oh, that locked safe!

Yeah, well, we tried to crack it, but we just had no clues on how to open it. Ultimately, we just dismissed it as a red herring.



No you didn't. There's no way you thought a locked safe was a red herring. You know what I think?

What?

I think you already opened that safe. I think you found Snake's Major Trinket, and it let you poison other participants. I thnk you re-locked that safe, and you poisoned Ox.

What? That's ridiculous, Mouse. We searched that room as a group. If I did something like that, surely Pig and Dog would've seen it.

Oh, but they did. That's why you're keeping Pig at arm's reach at all times, right? Because you're threatening her to keep quiet, or else you'll stab her with a knife.

Ridiculous!

You're the victorious personality, right? That type can win with two other people. That's what you promised Pig and Dog if they cooperated, right?

Such wild theories.

Pig, Ox has a gun right now. If Bunny tries anything, he'll be shot. Tell us, is he threatening you?



…

He is! He totally is!

Bunny has a traitorous personality and he poisoned Ox and he told me that if I said a word about it he'd stab me with his knife and I was so scared but he prom-

Okay, we get the gist. Well, what do you have to say to that, Bunny?

Grr...

So you did it, Bunny? I knew it!

Ox angrily stormed closer towards him.

As soon as I heard 'corrupt tool' I knew it had to be you!

What are you talking about?



Brian said I'd be undone by 'a tool of corruption', someone who 'participated in a malicious coverup'. I should've known you were just as dirty a cop as that whole damn precinct. What did you do?

This is ridiculous! I don't know anything about a coverup!

No, you definitely do! Just come clean now, before I beat it out of you.

I'd love to see you try! I just made the arrest based on the evidence I found. If Brian should be blaming anyone for his dad's death, it should be you. After all, didn't you push for the death penalty?

That's–

[BGM: Silence]


In the instant Ox's gaze wavered, Bunny rushed in. No! I moved towards Bunny, to try and stop him. But before I could do anything, he plunged a knife he had been hiding in his back pocket into Ox's chest. Ox's eyes widened in surprise, and he dropped the gun. With his non-stabbing hand, Bunny grabbed the gun midair. Then he turned towards me, the person moving to stop him.

And he held the gun up to my eyes.

Oh, no. This can't be right. I'm not dying here. He surely wasn't going to–

*bang!*



[Ending – 3 of Diamonds]

Mouse should be able to find the poisoner's identity if she tries. However, correctly interpreting the Jade Emperor's hints is an even harder task.

Done wrong, this could lead to confusion which will aggravate Ox. Aggravated people are sloppy. Bunny preys on sloppiness. Only a perfect investigation wi ll prevent a tragedy.

The final outcome you can get happens when you both talk to Tiger (which is all you have to do to get her flag) and win the gamble against Dog (thus getting his flag), but fail to get Bunny's flag.

[Get information from Tiger and Dog, but not Bunny.]

[BGM: Steadfast Gallop]


Ox, hold on a minute. Do you know who poisoned you?

Admittedly, I am not yet clear on the culprit's identity.

Well, uh, I think I have something. I'm not sure how helpful it will be, but just... hear me out.

Go for it.

So, I tried to investigate who could've poisoned you.

Ahem.

Er, Dragon and I tried. In particular, I tried looking into what Brian meant when he was talking about 'a tool of corruption'. He said your death would come about by 'the one who helped a malicious cover-up'. And he called it ironic, which I thought was a particularly strange word choice.



How could something like that be ironic? And there was a lot of distancing words involved there... 'Your death will be caused by the one.' Why not 'You'll be killed by'?

What are you getting at, Mouse?

As I investigated, I found out many interesting things. For one, I heard that the Chief of Police, Chief Bowen, wanted to close the case quickly, without incident, no matter what.

That he did.

I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty fishy to me. I also heard that the Chief of Police and the Chief Prosecutor are very close. Close to a point where they'd cover for each other.

I am not supposed to lend credence to such rumors. ...However, I cannot deny the rumors, per se.

Anyways, that's when it clicked with me. I realized why Brian called the person a 'tool of corruption'. Because they weren't the ringleader. They were just someone used in a larger scheme.



They were you, Ox.

What?

In the grand scheme of things, you're fairly young for a prosecutor, Ox. And this case happened a few years ago. So how did such a fresh faced prosecutor land the lead prosecuting role in a fairly high profile murder trial?

Well, I showed a lot of promise from a very young age. I was top of m-

Ego talking. No one in the real world gives a shit about all of that.

How would you know, you're still a student!

Ox, I hate to tell you like this, but you were chosen because you were easily controlled. You were naive, and inexperienced enough that the Chief Prosecutor was easily able to rig the trial in your favor without you even noticing.

What?! There's no way that's true! Why would the trial even need rigging? Everything pointed towards Morris!

Exactly! I haven't heard of a single case which reached trial with a plea bargain that was such an open-and-shut case. To fight something like this, it's always because the defense sees weakness in the prosecution's case. And my father was not a dumb defense attorney.

So how was everything smoothed over so well?



I don't know, but that doesn't mean I did anything wrong!

Ox, I can't claim to know what's really going on with that trial. However, there was something fishy about it. And, like it or not, you helped cover it up.

That can't be!

Ox's face was flushed with anguish. I felt bad, but it was the truth.

But wait, you said Brian said that the poisoner was this tool of corruption. And now you're saying it's Ox? That doesn't make much sense.

Hold on, I didn't say exac–

Brian could've been speaking metaphorically.

Could be. Say, do we even know that Ox was 'poisoned'?

What?



I'm just saying, no one else saw this announcement on your tablet.

Bunny began to approach Ox.

What if this whole thing was just a ploy, to camouflage your real intention of killing us all, one by one, until it was too late?

That's not true!

Really? Then what was your plan if Mouse didn't have this big explanation?

I don't see how that's a relevant question.

I'd call it a supremely relevant question.



The two were really in each other's faces now. Then, I heard a snickering. I turned around to see Dog holding back laughter. What was he doing? What did he know? What did h–

*bang!*

A force came from behind. ...Not a force, but a bullet. Oh. I was dead now? How strange.



[Ending – 3 of Hearts]

The Jade Emperor's hints are very informative if correctly interpreted. However, they aren't actually that helpful.

If Mouse doesn't actually know who the poisoner is, they may do more to mislead the group than unify it.

Next update, we start on a different path towards a different route.