Chapter 12: XI.

. . .

Diana wanted to play as Peacock because she’s the blue character. Which was fine by me. Akane was Scarlet, because she’s the red one. God, why is everyone choosing their favorite colors and I’m sitting over here, not caring who I play as.

Goryo chose Orchid, and Hibiki chose Green. Then, Akira chose Plum, which left me with Mustard. I did not care.

We, and by we, I mean Akane, because she was the only one who knew how, shuffled the cards and put the culprit, weapon, and location into the sleeve, mixed the rest of the cards together (which Akane shuffled again), and passed them out.

The cards I got were Plum, Candlestick, and Billiard Room. Okay, I can check those off of the list. I used a pencil because my strategy was simple. Check off what people might have with a question mark under their initials, so that I might be able to confirm what they do have later in the game without it being my turn to be shown a card. Also, I like to keep track of what people do and don’t have. Because if someone was to guess, let’s say Green, Dagger, Dining Room, and say Hibiki has something, but I’ve already confirmed he doesn’t have Green or the Dining Room, he has to have the dagger.

Of course, with this strategy, sometimes it doesn’t work how you think it would, but I usually get lucky.

“Okay, let’s roll the dice and see who goes first,” Akira announced, giving Akane a die and rolling her own. Akira got a three and Akane got a five.

Then Akane gave Goryo the die and Akira gave Hibiki the other die. Rolling it, Goryo got a one, and Hibiki got a six.

Then Goryo gave it to me and Hibiki gave his die to Diana. We both got a six.

“Oh, well, uhm…” I chuckled as I rolled the die again, and got a six again. “Ha! I’m gonna go first-”

Diana got a six too. Then she gave it to Hibiki who got a five. Which meant Diana and I would have to roll again.

“...good luck,” I said as I shook my die and she took the die that Hibiki had rolled. She shook her die in her hand and rolled and got a 3.

Then I rolled mine onto the board, and as it left my hands I hoped that I would be going first.

I got a 5.

“Hooray!” I cheered as I took both dice and rolled them, I got a 1 and a 6. That was 7 steps.

I decided to go to the Dining Hall and guess Plum, with the Rope, in the Dining Hall.

Since Diana was to my left, she would have to show me a card. Since I had Plum, I knew she wouldn’t be able to show me that card.

“I don’t have anything to show you, King.” I heard her speak as I looked at my sheet.

“Hibiki?” I asked calmly as he looked at his sheet. “Do you have anything?”

After a moment, he nodded and came over to me to show the card. It was the Dining Hall.

That checks that off.

Now it was Diana’s turn, she rolled the dice and got a 1 and a 6, just like I did. What is going on with me and her getting the same rolls?

She went into the conservatory and asked Hibiki if he had any of these cards.

Plum (copycat), with the Lead Pipe, in the Conservatory. Hibiki shook his head and she asked Akira who also shook her head. Akane knew she had something and went to show Diana.

I put question marks where the Lead Pipe and the Conservatory were, I didn’t put any near Plum’s name because I have that card.

Now it’s Hibiki’s turn. He rolled the dice and got a 3 and a 4… which is 7…

“Stop rolling sevens!!!” I jokingly cried out and we all chuckled. Hibiki moved his character and went into the ballroom.

He guessed Green (his own character), with the Revolver, in the Ballroom.

Akira nodded her head yes and showed Hibiki the card she had. I wasn’t sure which one it was so I wrote question marks on all three of the guesses.

“...hm,” Hibiki murmured as he wrote down which card Akira had shown him and put his notepad down, which meant Akira could finally roll.

If she gets something equal to seven, I might just end it all right here and right now.

She rolled the dice and got a 5 and a 4.

“Haha! Not a seven!” She chuckled as she moved her character, which was in the conservatory as Diana had moved Plum into there, and went into the billiard room, taking advantage of the fact that she had a large roll.

“...hmm, let’s see…” She muttered to herself as she started her guess. “...Peacock, with the… candlestick,” she blurted out.

I had the candlestick and the billiard room, so if someone else shows her a card, I know it will be Peacock.

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Akane didn’t have anything. But Goryo swiped through his cards and showed her the card, which was most certainly Peacock.

I pretended to mark off Peacock and the candlestick and the billiard room with question marks, but in actuality, I marked down that Goryo had Peacock.

I sighed as it was now my sister's turn to roll the dice. She took them both, cupped her hands together, and shook them. The dice rolled around in her grasp as she tossed them onto the board.

She had rolled a 6 and a 4, earning herself ten spots to move.

“Alright! Let’s see…” She mumbled to herself as she investigated the available options for rooms she could move into.

She spotted one option and started to move her character into the room she had chosen, which was the lounge.

“It would be quite terrifying if the murder happened in the lounge, considering we are in one right now~” Diana teased as I, along with Akane, chuckled.

While Akane was in the lounge, her guess for who the culprit may be and what the weapon could’ve been was Green, with the revolver, and the lounge, obviously.

Goryo nodded as he showed Akane a card. Considering I didn’t have Green, Revolver, or Lounge, as well as not knowing who could’ve had those cards, I had to suffice for more question marks in the empty box.

Now it was Goryo’s turn. He rolled and got a 6 and a 2. He proceeded to go into the kitchen and guess Plum, with the Candlestick. Great, two cards I had.

But which one did I want to show him? Plum, or the Candlestick? I eventually decided on showing him Plum, because I felt like it, and also because, well, I like the Candlestick, it’s pretty.

He marked down the Candlestick and gave me the dice.

And now it was my turn again. I rolled a 3 and a 2. A five, hopefully that’s enough to actually get somewhere.

“So, for the party tomorrow,” Hibiki started. “Should we get alcohol?” He asked.

“If we do, it’s not going to be the alcohol here, my parents would kill me,” I responded slightly, though I will admit I did add some emotion, a monotonous voice; I tended to use that tone regularly.

“King, Mom lets you drink wine,” Akane jumped into the conversation without much thought, though I could only presume that was the case.

“She lets me drink because she knows that I’m almost 18 and she won’t be able to stop me then, Akane.”

“That’s really nice, King. Real nice.”

“Just fuck off and keep playing the game,” I snapped back before moving my character.

I could either stay in the hallways or go into the lounge. Obviously needing information, I sufficed for the lounge.

Since I was suspecting Goryo had the lounge, I needed a way to

confirm that suspicion; a way to learn multiple bits of information in a single turn.

But I don’t think it’s possible to put into action what I need to scheme on this turn.

“Hm, I’m not entirely sure what I should do…” I spoke out loud, though, as much as I hate to admit it, I wish I didn’t.

I glanced at my cluesheet and guessed Scarlet, Knife, and Lounge, which seemed to be a good guess, I think.

Diana nodded as she showed me a card. It was Scarlet. I realized I had 2 out of her three cards marked, it would be good to try and figure that out on everyone else's turn.

“How many people should we invite to the party?” Hibiki asked softly as Diana started to roll the dice.

“...hm, maybe…” I mumbled, “well, are we all going to be there, excluding Ann and Luna who are swimming right now?”

Everyone nodded as I sighed, “...so that’s…six. So… maybe… fourteen more? Twenty? Is that good?”

Hibiki chuckled, “Sounds good, I’ll keep in touch with who I’ll invite. I’ll try to get Celeste here so…”

Diana rolled a 3 and a 3, a six, fun! Since she was in the Conservatory, she could either go to the Billiard Room, Ballroom, or Lounge.

She ended up going to the Lounge and guessing Scarlet with the Candlestick.

This was perfect, perfect for me, and, well, not so perfect for her, I guess.

Obviously no one was going to show her Scarlet, as she had that card, or the Candlestick, because I had that card, which meant there was only one card that could possibly be shown.

The lounge.

It went past Hibiki, and then past Akira, and then past Akane. So if Goryo didn’t have a card to show, that would mean the lounge was the location.

I bit my nail gently as he looked at his cluesheet.

He then proceeded to secretly show her a card, to which I responded by marking down that he had the lounge, it was all going perfectly. I, who was very good at this game, pretended to mark question marks.

Obviously, I did not do that. I marked down that Goryo had the lounge.

“Hibiki’s turn!” Akane chuckled as he took the dice from Diana and rolled them in his hands.

A 5 and a 3. Eight total.

“Hm, that should get me somewhere, right?” He jokingly questioned; he very obviously knew that he could get somewhere.

Occupying the ballroom, Hibiki ended up going to the Dining Room where he would proceed to guess Scarlet, Revolver, in the Dining Room.

Akira, who was next to him, nodded and immediately showed him a card.

I already had suspicion that she had the revolver, so I ended up erasing the question mark, secretly, because then, of course, it would seem like I knew what she had, though, I mean, if someone suspected I knew what she had, they would be wrong, and replacing that question mark with an exclamation mark, meaning that after another turn, if she shows a card and there’s a chance of it being the revolver, it most certainly is, I would presume.

However, I would still have to be careful taking that approach because, if I was wrong, it would cost my whole game.

I put a question mark on the dining room and saw Akira take the dice from Hibiki, rolling them in her palms and then letting them roll onto the board.

It was at that point that I heard footsteps coming into the room. It was Hisa? Really? I would’ve thought my mother would’ve been the person, or maybe Ann and Luna, but my uncle?

“King, your mother is cooking right now, you’ll have to wrap that game up before she finishes, okay?” He spoke, his tone a little gruff, but he was usually like that when I saw him.

“Oh, okay! Thank you!” I responded as he walked away. I sighed as I paid attention to the game again. “...why would he come talk to me…?” I groaned as Akane’s head tilted slightly like a dog when they heard something they like.

“That was odd…” Akane mumbled lightly as she glanced at Akira. “Whatchu get?” She asked as we all looked at the dice lying on the game board.

“A 6 and a 4!” Akira yelped with slight excitement, which was pretty entertaining I guess, a little contagious maybe?

For the first time in this game, somebody didn’t move into a room, she moved ten squares, and seemed to either be making her way towards the hall or the study. Interesting. Two places that nobody had been to yet.

But, suddenly, Diana spoke up in a quiet tone of voice, “...I’m a little bored.”

Hibiki nodded his head, seemingly in agreement with her and spoke up, “I am too.”

Great, I guess we weren’t finishing this game.

I got up to grab the packet with the answer and pulled the cards out that were the culprit, murder weapon, and murder location.

Mrs. Orchid, with the rope, in the Ballroom.

What a waste of my fucking time.