Part 90: Uneasy Alliance

[BGM: Hear No Evil]


Wow.

That was... a lot.

You're telling me.

So... what's the plan?

I don't think we have a plan. Dragon just came in, found a completely disruptive Major Trinket, and unearthed everything.

I guess we've no choice but to join in on this absurd 'gang war' of hers.

Uh, I was hoping for a better plan than that. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly in peak fighting shape. And no offense, but your years as a prosecutor haven't seemed to toughen you up either.

Ouch.

I said no offense!

Oh, in that case I'm not offended.



You don't have to worry so much Mouse. After all, you have me on your side!

Well, thank God for small miracles, I guess.

Gosh, things have really gone bad, haven't they? I don't get what Dragon was saying at all.

She was afraid of the possibility that with two hidden traitors things would be surprisingly violent, in a complex way. Her argument is that this 'fairer', out-in-the-open violence is somehow preferable to the prior type.

I can see what she's getting at... if you assume that things would deteriorate without this change.

Do you agree that it would?

It's hard to say. I don't think it's a leap in logic to say that the people with the 'defeated' and 'victorious' personality types probably planned to sacrifice us. If they didn't, they probably would've confessed when we asked them to out themselves.



But that's not enough to say that they definitely would've been more deadly than this. The idea that it's going to be a clean, '6 people live, 6 people die' situation is a fallacy. There's real potential for only 3 people to survive, or even none.

I don't like the idea of this turning into a bloody battle.

Can we stop that from happening?

I... doubt it.

Then, like it or not, it's happening.

No one knew what to say to that. It was a cold, uncomforting truth. But it was the truth.

Uh, the Round's almost over. Should we input our moves?

Yes, let's. I would think it obvious, but if either of you have a special personality, might as well tell us now before we check for ourselves.

I don't have one.

Me neither!

Okay then. In that case, we should try to move as far as possible.



Don't we need to cross the line at the same time as the other group without a special personality?

We can worry about that later. It's not like anyone's crossing the line this round. Unless...

So what should our actions be?

...Who has a Minor Trinket?

I don't have one on me, but I remember the code that was on one.

I've got a Trinket too!

I remember the code on the Trinket Dog had. Let's try and use these three Trinkets. If we're lucky, all three of us will be able to use ours.

In that case, we're moving a minimum of nine spaces, and that movement will grow exponentially if other groups use theirs. ...Well, even in the best case we won't be able to finish this round, but we can try to get within striking distance of the finish line.

Got it! Sounds like a plan.

Alright. I'll use this restroom to put in my action. You two can use the nearby classrooms.

Right. This should take almost no time, so let's just do that and meet back here.



And with that, we briefly split up to input our actions. I was a little worried on whether or not my code would be accepted, or if someone else who saw the code could have entered it first. Luckily, it seemed to go through fine. I left the restroom, and a couple moments later Ox and Tiger returned.

Did everything go well?

It did for me.

Same here.

Great.

We should go down to the cafeteria and monitor the results of this round. It may provide us with a very useful clue.

Uh, not to be a Nervous Nelly or anything, but don't you think the others will also try and check the results?

They might, but so what?

They might try to attack us!

They might try to attack us here.



Conflict is inevitable. We can't be scared away from information just because we might be attacked.

I guess. Yeah, you're right. I was just being cowardly for a second.

Don't worry about it! Everyone has doubts. The important thing is that you overcame them!

I wouldn't–

Onwards!

Tiger boldly led the charge down to the cafeteria. So long as I followed her, I felt a little safe. Horse was probably the strongest person here, but Tiger had the second place title. She could protect us, at least for now. We got to the cafeteria without incident, and when we arrived there wasn't anyone there.



Phew. Well this is a relief.

Don't drop your guard. Just because there's no one here now, doesn't mean that there won't be anyone coming. The round isn't over yet.

We waited around for a bit longer, until the TV started to show the round results.

Round 4 has ended. Now, let us see how the race has progressed.

[BGM: Silence]


The Rat has used a Minor Trinket, and moved three spaces. Since Ox and Tiger are in the same pack, so do they!



The Ox has used a Minor Trinket, and moved three spaces. Since Mouse and Tiger are in the same pack, so do they!



The Tiger has used a Minor Trinket, and moved three spaces. Since Mouse and Ox are in the same pack, so do they!



The Bunny has RUN one space. Since Dragon and Snake are in the same pack, so do they!



The Dragon has RUN one space. Since Bunny and Snake are in the same pack, so do they!



The Snake has RUN one space. Since Bunny and Dragon are in the same pack, so do they!



The Horse has used STEADY GALLOP and moved three spaces. Since Sheep and Monkey are in the same pack, so do they!



The Sheep has RUN one space. Since Horse and Monkey are in the same pack, so do they!



The Monkey has RUN one space. Since Horse and Sheep are in the same pack, so do they!



The Rooster has used ENCOURAGING CROW on Sheep. Sheep moves four spaces. Since Horse and Monkey are in the same pack, so do they!



The Dog has RUN one space. Since Rooster and Pig are in the same pack, so do they!



The Pig has RUN one space. Since Rooster and Dog are in the same pack, so do they!

...

Now, Round 5 has begun. Do your best, and choose wisely.



That round was certainly more eventful.

To be expected. It's a free-for-all at this point.

But hey, we're in the lead! ...Sort of!

We're close to tying with Horse, Sheep, and Monkey. They were able to keep up thanks to Rooster's 'Encouraging Crow' thing.

Why'd he boost that group? Couldn't he have used it on one of his partners?

The fact that he forgoed crowing one of his partners means one thing. That group must have the 'defeated' personality. This theory is especially likely when you consider that Pig didn't use her ability, which would've singlehandedly moved her group 9 spaces.

They don't want to come first, they want to come last.

That makes sense, but–

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


Just then, I saw that someone had entered the back of the cafeteria. They'd actually been in the back of the room for a while.

Bunny, what are you doing here?

Sorry, sorry, I don't want to fight! I just wanted to check how this round went.

Dragon sent me to scout here. Good thing too, now I know who my allies are.

Allies?

Well, it has to be you guys.

Why would you say that?



Okay, so Dragon, Snake, and I don't have either the 'defeated' or the 'victorious' personalities. Our first order of business was to find which pack also didn't have either personality.

Judging by these results, I'd say that Dog's pack has the defeated personality. And since they decided to boost Sheep's pack, that group probably has the victorious personality type.

Hold on, you're making some assumptions with your logic there. Just because Sheep's pack was boosted doesn't mean they have a victorious personality type. Yeah, maybe those packs made contact and are working together now, or maybe Rooster doesn't care which other pack wins.

That's true, but I also eavesdropped on some of your conversation. To me, it didn't sound like you have the victorious personality.

Well your assessment is right! We're on your side.

That's great to hear!



...is what I wish I could say. Honestly, this is a bit of a disappointment.

Oh? And why is that?

Why do you think? I wanted our pack to be aligned with the pack Horse is in. If their win conditions are contrary to ours, that means we'll have to go up against him. Unless...

Unless...

Actually, okay, this might work.

What might work?

Tiger, are you willing to help fight?

Of course!

Great, great, the plan will work better like this.

What plan?



So currently, there's a room on the second floor that Dragon is hiding out in. It's likely that once Horse decides to move, he's going to try and defeat the other packs physically.

The idea was that I should scout out this round's results to figure out whether or not Horse might be on our side. She said that it'd be obvious who had the 'defeated' personality, and from there I'd be able to figure out who had the 'victorious' personality.

If it turned out that Horse was on our side, great. I'd go and try to recruit him. But if we were against each other, I was to act as bait, find Horse, and lure him to the room Dragon's in.

Then Dragon would leap out of her hiding spot and ambush him, then the two of us would try to kill him using some makeshift weapons we'd found.

Sounds like a dumb plan.

Yeah! There's no honor in a sneak attack!

Who cares about honor?

That's not what I'm talking about. Even with the element of surprise and weapons, I don't know if you two could beat him.



I don't know either, but we have to if Horse is against us. However, this'll work even better if you three help.

Help?

Instead of me being the bait, you three could. It even sort of makes more sense that way, right? You could get him to chase you into the room, then Dragon and I leap at him, and the five of us take him down.

...Ox, Mouse, no offense, but I don't know how much you'd help. But if Dragon, Tiger and I all went up against him together, we'd have a real chance.

Hell yeah we could! Mouse, Ox, let's do it!

Hold on, hold on. Why should we work with your group? Seems like a bit of a leap of faith on our part. After all, Dragon was the one who got us into this mess in the first place. I'm not exactly eager to help her at the moment.



Okay, Ox, buddy, I totally get you, I hear you, you're not wrong. Dragon made a real mistake the way she handled things, and you're not the only one annoyed at her.

But have you seen Horse? Speaking as someone with experience dealing with fighters, Horse isn't someone we can let run amok. If we don't deal with him early, as a group, efficiently, he's liable to pick us off one by one until we're all dead.

So if you want your pack to live, working with us is really the best option.

…

Ox, I think we should do it. I get the feeling Bunny's right. We have to handle Horse.

I suppose you are correct. Fine. Show us to the ambush room.

And like that, Bunny's pack and ours had reached an uneasy alliance. It was hard to full-on trust anyone under these circumstances, but Horse was a larger problem.

He had to be stopped, no matter what.