[Dragon]: I’m serious about being Seer. We both know there’s only supposed to be one in the game.

He presses his hand firmly on the notebook the [Rooster] has left behind.

[Dragon]: [Snake], you understand what this means. Between the two of us, one of us has to be a lying Wolf.

[Snake]: Yes, I understand.

And I don’t like it. The problem is that I’ve role-swapped with scraggly hoodie boy, and I don’t know who the Wolf is between the [Dragon] and the [Rat]. Everyone else, meanwhile, thinks there’s a Wolf between the [Dragon] and myself.

But if I stop pretending to be Seer then the [Rat] might push for [Lily] to be executed… or I might just end up dead myself.

[Ox]: I don’t get it. Why would a Wolf pretend to be Seer? Can't someone just be making a mistake?

[Rat]: The Seer is the strongest role. They’re the one source of truth in this game.

[Rat]: If the Wolves can’t kill the Seer to stop that flow, they can have one of their own pretend to be Seer as well and muddle the situation. Making the real Seer’s information go from unquestionable to dubious and suspicious.

[Lily]: Dubious or not, each Seer should at least have a report. Who did you both investigate?

[Dragon]: Last night, I checked the [Tiger]. I found that she’s innocent.

[Tiger]: See? I’m a sweet little angel, aren’t I? AREN’T I?

[Pig]: C-can you be a little more quiet? You’re hurting my ears.

[Tiger]: I’m not as noisy as your whiny ass!

[Lily]: Yuri- um, [Snake], how about you? Who did you check?

[Yuri]: Ah, yes, the person that I checked was…

I glance at the [Rat]. He folds his hands and looks up at the domed ceiling, nonchalantly. ‘You pretend to be Seer and say that I’m innocent,’ he had told me the night before.

[Yuri]: I checked the [Dog] and she isn’t Wolf.

[Rat]: Really? I thought you’d check someone else.

It’s my turn to smirk. You can force me to claim Seer, but you can’t force me to confirm that you’re Town. Now maybe the Healer will protect [Lily], since she’s one of the four people between me, the [Dragon], the [Tiger], and herself, on whom we have information.

[Horse]: Argh! It’s impossible to get more info! Even though we have two Seers and two reports, we’re back where we started! Anyone could be lying!

[Tiger]: I'm fine with this. Let’s just yell at each other for the next two hours vote for someone. But not for me. I’m definitely not a Wolf cause he said so!

She swings her arm towards the [Dragon], her long hair ruffling as she does so.

[Rat]: What do you mean by ‘definitely not a wolf?’ There’s a world where both you and the [Dragon] are Wolves together.

[Tiger]: Hm…

She glances the [Dragon] up and down, head bobbing.

[Tiger]: He’s not my type. So us being together don't make sense.

[Pig]: N-not your type?

[Horse]: That’s interesting. I thought his face fit the golden ratio.

[Lily]: If his face really fit the golden ratio, he’d look like a Van Gogh painting. Um… [Horse], do you want me to tutor you when we go back home?

[Rat]: I think I’d rather teach the [Tiger] how to think like a normal human being instead.

[Tiger]: What the hell is that supposed to mean?

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The [Pig] raises her hand.

[Pig]: S-sometimes you cut people off and are too quick to sp-

[Tiger]: I’m quick thinking! Not too quick to speak!

Everyone stands, except for the [Rabbit] who still dozes half-asleep in her chair. Our speaking overlaps and echoes til one has to shout to be heard.

"You guys are just jealous of my smarts and good looks!"

"Okay, I’m free after school on Thursdays"

"Seer this, Seer that, this all gives me a headache. Why can’t people just be seerious?"

Everyone just needs to chill out…

[???]: Enough!

And then the speech dies down.

140:00

139:59

139:58

[Dragon]: I don't intend this discussion to devolve into a verbal brawl. Have we forgotten what our plan was yesterday?

[Lily]: To save everyone. To make sure that nobody dies.

[Yuri]: The [Monkey] may have been rude, but he was correct. If we never make an effort to hunt for Wolves in the Trials, the Town might as well surrender.

[Dragon]: But what if voting no one really is the best plan? We can gain more information if we vote to not kill anyone in two ways.

He holds up his fingers.

[Dragon]: First, the rules say that curfew begins when the timer hits zero, not when the Trial ends. So by ending the Trial early, we have more time to explore the building and try and escape. I bet even the Wolves would rather all of us survive.

[Dragon]: And second, if we wait another night, I can check the [Dog] and the [Snake] can check the [Tiger].

The [Horse] places a finger on her chin, thoughtful. Then she starts as if a light bulb had flashed above her head.

[Horse]: I get it! Right now we don’t have any information because we can’t trust the [Dragon] or the [Snake]’s reports on their own. The [Dragon] could be lying about the [Tiger], and the [Snake] could be lying about the [Dog].

[Horse]: But if both Seers agree that the [Tiger] and the [Dog] are innocent, we know that those two are Town for sure!

[Yuri]: I see. If we assume that at least one of us is telling the truth and we both say the same thing, then The town doesn’t need to know which one of us is telling the truth to trust that info.

[Rat]: Since the [Monkey] was the reason the tie-vote failed yesterday, if we wanted to we can still use that plan today and prevent anyone from dying.

[Rat]: If we don’t vote, one of the Seers might die during the night. But if that happens then we’d know for sure the other would be a Wolf. I’m fine with this plan.

He’s again putting all the risk on my shoulders. I don’t want to die uselessly at night, not knowing which of my eight ‘classmates’ will survive. But I look at the [Dragon], who stands eloquent and confident. If I force a vote between myself and him then I probably lose.

[Snake]: Let’s do that then. We’ll settle this another day.

[Ox]: As long as I survive I’m fine.

[Rabbit]: After this can I go back to my room and rest…?

[Lily]: Let’s halt discussion and vote so we can end this trial. We’ll have a few hours to investigate, so we should make the most of the time left.

[Lily]: Everyone vote for the person to your left. With a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote, the Trial will deadlock and everything will tie.

[Tiger]: What if somebody votes for me…?

She withers under everyone’s glare.

[Tiger]: Ahh, I’m just kidding, just kidding. I’ll vote with the group.

She speaks so flippantly that it’s hard to be convinced. Still, everyone secretly taps at their screen.

[https://i.imgur.com/Su5zgNx.png]

For a moment, I hesitate.

It’s not like I hate the tie plan. But if I follow this mindlessly, then one rogue vote could cause someone to perish. If I select someone that I’m not supposed to, I'd either get to choose who is executed (in a 2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote) or stop someone else’s plan from success (in a 2-2-1-1-1-1-1 tie).

My eyes meet the [Rat]’s.

Can I hurt someone like that? If it’s for [Lily], I can, but I feel like there’s some thought, some emotion, locked inside me that I can’t quite reach. I glance at the [Horse] - remember what she said - and lower my head.

We will now announce the results of the second trial.

[Yuri]: Ah, it's fine if it's just for today..

The results are as follows…

1 vote Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Dog, Pig, and the Tiger

and 1 vote for the Ox and the Rat.

[Horse]: Yes!!

[Lily]: As long as we can work together, we can keep buying ourselves time.

[Dragon]: Thank you, everyone.