After just four days, our numbers had dropped from twelve to six.
[https://i.imgur.com/bIro2nI.png]
[https://i.imgur.com/1QNZJAZ.png]
The [Rat] shifts restlessly where he sits. His eyes dart between each and every one of us, as if expecting someone to leap out of their chair and attack him.
[https://i.imgur.com/C0yvN6a.png]
The [Rabbit] is, for once, attentive. Though she still props up her head with her arms, her gaze is steady and lucid.
[https://i.imgur.com/HDO42te.png]
The [Horse] keeps bouncing one leg. When she catches my gaze she stops, and mumbles something apologetically.
[https://i.imgur.com/aBw9Xvs.png]
The [Ox] tilts his head up pridefully, arms folded out in front of him. And the [Dragon] simply speaks.
[https://i.imgur.com/K3bf5Ld.png]
[Dragon]: It’s time to begin the fourth Trial. And to end it just as quick.
[Dragon]: We will be going with the survival plan we discussed. No one will be executed today, and the Wolves will murder until there are four players left. Any objections?
The [Rat] stands and spits on the floor.
[Dragon]: Is that an objection?
[Rat]: Do I seem like the kind of guy who would change his mind so easily? Yeah, I object.
My chair groans as I rise.
[Yuri]: I also object. Though I’m not going to spit. That’s just gross.
The [Dragon] nods, as if he had expected our little show of resistance.
[Dragon]: You’re free to vote whoever you like. But myself and the [Rabbit] will vote for the [Rat]. And the [Horse] and the [Ox] will cast votes for the [Snake].
[Yuri]: Whoever we like? That’s a nice joke.
A clever plan. Even if the [Rat] and I work together, the most we can do is have the vote tie at 2-2-2, and then the Wolves will kill us at night.
[Dragon]: Understand that this isn’t a statement about whether the Wolves will murder you. It’s just that we trust you two the least.
[Dragon]: I’ll decide fairly on who’ll die when the time comes.
Oddly the [Rat] doesn’t protest. Perhaps he knows when he’s beat. But I still have one ace up my sleeve.
[Snake]: [Horse]! Don’t believe him! Vote for the [Dragon]!
[Horse]: Why are you shouting? You’re being too loud!
She cringes and holds a balled fist against her ear. There’s nothing else I can say. In fact, there was nothing else I should say.
I had guessed the [Dragon] would propose a 2-2 split plan. If they were only going to cast votes between me and the [Rat], and didn’t want us to die by execution, then this was the best strategy.
The [Dragon] thinks the votes will look like this:
Dragon - Rat
Rabbit - Rat
Horse - Snake
Ox - Snake
Rat - Dragon
Snake - Dragon
For a 2-2-2 three way tie where no one dies.
But he doesn’t know that the [Horse] is wavering. While we were together on the beach, I gave her a different plan. At the very end of the trial, right before time runs out, I told her to quietly change her vote to him.
With that betrayal the final tally would be…
1 vote Snake
2 votes Rat
3 votes Dragon
slaying the [Dragon] in a 3-2-1 vote!
But she’s wavering, not won over, and her expression worries me. She’s not so much an Ace up my sleeve as she is a Joker.
With one hand she clutches at her head, pulling out strands of hair. She has the other in a clenched fist.
[Horse] :I don’t know if I can kill someone. I don’t know if I want to become a killer!
[Dragon]: In this plan, you won’t need to. The Wolves will do all the murdering at night, as we’ve discussed.
[Horse]: I know that… but… if I make a mistake, I won’t be able to change it…
[Horse]: I don’t worry about most of my choices, because I can always go back and make them right… but for this…
The [Horse] sighs. And opens her palm.
In it are six thin pieces of driftwood; at one time she had suggested building a raft but obviously these sticks are for a different purpose.
[Horse]: Let’s draw straws. I brought sticks from the beach. Whoever draws the short-stick, Wolf or Town, we’ll leave behind. If we all agree, that’s what’s fairest..
Idiot!
I admire she’s the kind of person who would make that proposal. It’s an offer Lily might make.
But Lily wouldn’t be dumb enough to present that plan now. Even though the [Horse] thinks she’s proposing a compromise, she’s actually signing my death warrant.
[Snake]: Sure, a random drawing sounds good.
But I have no choice but to go along. If it comes down to it, I’ll even accept random chance. But…
[https://i.imgur.com/K3bf5Ld.png]
[Dragon]: [Ox], do you want to draw straws?
[https://i.imgur.com/aBw9Xvs.png]
The [Ox]’s face twists.
[Dragon]: Do you want to risk leaving your family all alone?
[Ox]: No… I don’t want to. Sorry everyone.
[https://i.imgur.com/C0yvN6a.png]
[Dragon]: Rabbit, do you want to draw straws?
[Rabbit]: That’s too much effort…
[Dragon]: I see. That’s a shame.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
[Dragon]: Let’s do this instead. The [Ox], the [Rabbit] and I will all vote for the [Rat]. You three… all vote for whoever you like. [Ox], is that fine with you?
[Ox]: As long as you swear I’ll survive.
The [Dragon] nods, and the [Horse] blinks, blindsided.
[Horse]: Hey! You’re not listening to me at all!
There’s nothing we can do anymore. When the vote was split 2-2-2 then we could pull the wool over the [Dragon]’s eyes and sneak a 3-2-1 vote and ambush him.
But he’s switched it so 3 votes are on the [Rat]. We can do a 3-3 vote and tie, but any other way of voting causes the [Rat]’s death.
I suppose the [Dragon] has decided the [Rat] is just slightly more disposable than I am. If this is supposed to be a compliment, I’m not really that happy.
The current target meanwhile, is smirking and fearless. His hands are thrust deep into his hoodie pockets and he’s no longer slouching.
[Rat]: What an amazing plan.
[Rabbit]: …don’t rant again. Or spit.
[Rabbit]: Everything’s already prepared, so just let it end.
[Rat]: No, no, I agree. Let’s wrap this trial quickly. But first, can I just speak with the [Snake]?
[Dragon]: Why do you ask permission? It’s not like we have any power to stop you.
[Rat]: That’s true….
The [Rat] grins.
[Rat]: [Snake], why don’t you join me in this little corner?
When I first talked to the [Rat], it was through my bedroom wall. And now, at this crucial moment we are both talking to the wall. We’re side by side, facing the same direction, whispering towards the corner so no one can hear us or read our lips.
[Snake]: What’s this about? We’re going to die. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but in two nights we’ll both be dead.
[Rat]: [Snake], are you trying to win the game?
Does the [Rat] want me to lecture him? But no, the screen the [Tiger] cracked had been replaced; and on it is another countdown.
25:24
25:23
25:22
There’s no time.
[Snake]: I’d like to stay alive as the bare minimum. That’s a very weird question to ask at this stage.
He bites his lip.
[Rat]: Evasive again, huh?
[Rat]: I think I’ve been asking the wrong question all this time. [Snake], will you win the game?
[Snake]: If we execute the [Dragon] today, I’m 100% confident Town wins.
Even though the [Dragon] never said the second Wolf’s identity… I think at this point it’s pretty obvious who they are.
[Snake]: But with these votes, that’s not possible. So-
[Rat]: Good. That’s good. That’s all I needed to hear.
[Rat]: [Snake], I leave it in your hands.
The [Rat] shuffles away.
[Yuri]: What do you mean?
[Yuri]: Wait, [Rat], what do you mean? What are you trying to say? Shinji!
He gives me a freezing glare. Then he calls out to someone else.
[Rat]: I’m done with the [Snake]. I’d like one more meeting, then I’ll vote, is that fine?
[Dragon]: I don’t understand why you keep asking permission for these sessions. We’re all fine with them.
[Rat]: I need your good graces for this one cause the person I’d like to meet with is you.
The [Dragon] shrugs.
[Dragon]: I’m always open to talk.
He walks over to the corner of the room where the [Rat] stands. I don’t know what he’s going to discuss - and it turns out that they’re not discussing anything at all.
The [Rat] takes his hand out from his pocket - and in it gleams the butcher’s knife, the one missing from the kitchen block.
He raises it high, and plunges it
down,
down,
down,
into the [Dragon]’s neck.
[Rat]: Finally. To have a real win in my grasp - no more emptiness, no more dashed dreams, to see something in my mind and make it real - this is it!
He stabs him again. And again. The [Dragon] is forced to his knees, and then lies down on the floor, glassy-eyed.
[Horse]: S-stop! You can’t…
She reaches out helplessly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her cries choke off her pleas.
[Rat]: Why would I stop? Why doesn't anyone ever understand? This is our victory.
As if to emphasize his point, there’s a small explosion. It’s one that completely obliterates the [Rat]’s body.
[Yuri]: Rule 3. A player may not prevent another player from voting.
Just like that, he’s gone, they’re both gone. Twenty seconds for the end of two lives.
I’m disturbed to see the person I knew as ‘the Rat’ in pieces on the floor, but I have no doubt that he knew that this is what would happen from the moment he called me aside. Teeth are scattered on the ground, and somehow it reads to me as a strange sort of smirk.
But what makes this scene more horrifying is that the [Dragon] is still breathing. He might not be conscious, and he’s definitely not able to speak. But he’s rasping, half-alive in that pile of human debris.
And as always there’s nothing we can do. No one to save us, no inspiration that we could save his life or ease his pain. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing-
[Rabbit]: I’m voting for the [Dragon].
The [Rabbit] speaks flatly.
[Rabbit]: He told me that if he was ever in a situation like this, he’d rather be executed.
[Rabbit]: So let’s finish the Trial. Vote please.
She lightly touches her tablet and taps it, then walks over to the [Dragon]’s device and taps that one too.
[https://i.imgur.com/RdTt1y4.png]
No one else talks… but a few seconds later, the results arrive.
One vote…
The Rabbit.
Nominators: The Dragon.
Four votes…
The Dragon.
Nominators: The Snake, The Horse, the Ox, and the Rabbit.
There’s a thirty-second pause that feels agonizingly long. But soon, new text appears on the screen.
The [Dragon] will be executed and removed from the game shortly.
[https://i.imgur.com/nijtzQW.png]
He takes his last breath and lies silent. Of everyone in this room, he looks the most at peace.
[Horse]: …murder. It was murder.
The [Horse] is crying.
[Ox]: When I find the last Wolf… I’ll tear them apart!
[Rabbit]: Huh? What did the last Wolf do?
[Ox]: They gave us a plan that led nowhere. Of the five of us left, now only one or two of us are gonna make it! How am I supposed to survive?
[Horse]: No more! Please! We can’t kill another Wolf… not after this.
[Horse]: Please, we can’t… we have to stop…
The [Horse] is trembling, in a deep, unsettled shock. If this game keeps going, I don’t know if her mind can take it.
But tomorrow this will all be at an end. There’s just one Wolf left. And as for me -
[Lily] wanted me to survive so I could live my life,
The [Rat] wanted me to live to seal his victory,
Even the [Dragon] in his own odd way wanted me to live if it were “possible.”
I don’t really understand it myself, but with all these ghosts haunting me I feel a compulsion to finish this at least for them.
And the social detective in me wants to finish this puzzle, even if its pieces are awash in blood.
[Snake]: Ana. Everyone. I can’t say that things will be okay.
[Snake]: But if we just march onwards to the next Trial, one way or another the game will be over.
I turn towards the [Ox].
[Snake]: As for you, the Seer found you innocent so no one will vote for you. Relax.
Though he might still die during the night. As we leave the Trial Chamber, I can't help but feel as though I'm forgetting something important. But after all the chaos of the day, I just want to sink into bed and sleep like death.