This story is about playing a game commonly referred to as “Are You a Werewolf?”, “Werewolf Game”, or “Tabula’s Wolf”.
Therefore, it might be hard to understand without knowing the original game rules.
I think it’s a bit much to explain the game rules here, so if you’re interested, you might find happiness by searching “Werewolf rules” or something similar.
– We’re using the typical roles.
– The roles are assigned randomly. (The system starts with only the bare minimum understanding of the village’s composition)
The timeline is chapter 113.
The perspective is from Hagasaki.
Don’t get your hopes up too much.
“……It’s boring.”
Beyond the iron bars, through a small window fitted with iron bars in the wall that separates the outside and the room, on the stone corridor, the sky visible is blue.
Occasionally, the angle of the sunlight changes, and far away, clouds move.
……It’s been almost 15 minutes since we were “imprisoned”.
“How long are we going to be stuck here? Huh?”
“Who knows. We can’t do anything until there’s movement on their side, so we just have to wait.”
Honestly, with these iron bars, Suzumoto could easily cut through them, and characters like Kadomi and Toriumi could bend them with their bare hands.
I could break through the stone floor with ice to escape on my own, and President could do the same.
Katori could melt the iron bars with a beam, and Hariu could go anywhere through shadows.
Kariya could probably destroy the wall with some kind of light magic if he tried.
Maito could just “teleport” in one shot. If not, a slap from her or calling that giant wolf or something would do the trick.
……But we can’t do that.
We have no idea what the situation is in this country. The only thing we know for sure is that the queen of this country is gathering students from the same school as us… foreigners.
So, for the sake of gathering information, we’re staying inside these iron bars.
“Being able to escape but not doing it, it’s incredibly boring.”
When Hariu rolled around on the floor, his kicked leg hit the iron bars and made a loud noise.
“Hariu, be careful not to accidentally break the cell; it’d be troublesome.”
“But it’s boring. So very boringโ”
Leaving them alone, the physically strong ones who get bored might end up breaking the cell, which would be troublesome.
And, honestly, I’m getting bored too.
Sleeping would be fine, but it’s scary to think about the physically strong ones messing up their sleeping positions in a place like this.
(In the classroom, their bad sleeping positions aren’t really dangerous since it’s unnecessarily sturdy. But here, it’s a bit scary.)
“……We don’t know how much time we have, but we might be able to play one game.”
That’s why, I think it’s unavoidable that we came to this conclusion.
“Let’s play. ‘Werewolf’.”
“We don’t have cards, though. What should we do?”
“I’ll make some.”
President immediately created cards from the floor stone material.
It seems the stone was reprocessed to be uniform. There are no differences in color or pattern.
The plain side is the back. And on the front, words like “Werewolf”, “Villager”, etc., are carved in relief.
“The font is beautifully in Ming style.”
“Typical of President.”
The overly precise and somewhat eerie font is also typical of President. It would have been funny if it had been some weird font or scribble.
“Two werewolves, two madmen, two fortune-tellers, two mediums, two hunters, two villagers, and one fox spirit, drawing 9 from these to use. Let’s use the usual pattern where at least one werewolf and one fortune-teller are included.”
“How about adding roles like Cupid, Tanuki, Crow, or no? Coffin master?”
“It would get complicated.”
Maito seems to like werewolf games full of third parties, but those are interesting because they’re played occasionally, right?
“Well, for now, why don’t we play the plain version and if we have time left, we can try those?”
……And so, the roles were decided.
Now, it’s finally time to start the game……
“Well then, these handcuffs are starting to get in the way, so… there!”
“……Hn!”
“It’s foolish to try to restrain foreigners with mere iron chains.”
As we wanted to look at and distribute cards, and sometimes even gesture, being handcuffed behind our backs became a nuisance.
So, we casually broke the handcuffs to free our hands.
“……Help me, supernatural beings…”
Of course, Maito couldn’t do it by herself, so Kadomi helped her break them.
“……It’s really strange… to be able to break handcuffs with bare hands…”
Maito, dangling the easily torn chain from her wrist and looking distant, was somehow funny.
“Ah, what should we do about the GM?”
That’s right, we were planning to play with nine people, but we need a GM.
“Oh, Tokoyo says she’ll do it.”
A maid doll emerged from beneath Maito’s skirt, eagerly gesturing that she’d take on the role.
“Wait, wouldn’t that allow Maito to cheat endlessly? She can see what the doll sees, right?”
“How rude. Did you really think I would do such a thing?”
……Well, when it comes to games, Maito is unnecessarily serious, so I don’t think she would.
“Why not? It would be great to have Tokoyo as the GM.”
“But Tokoyo can’t speak, can she?”
“We just need a signal for ‘The day has broken,’ then we can just wake everyone up by tapping on their heads or something.”
“Then, let’s also make a bell for signaling.”
President skillfully reshaped the floor of the cell again to create a small clay bell.
Tokoyo immediately started ringing it.
The bell chimed with a reasonably pleasant sound. This sound means “morning”. Alright, alright.
“Um, so, Tokoyo. The job of a GM is like… ah, it’s too troublesome. ‘Share’.”
……Well, Maito is bad at explaining, so being able to “share” like this is probably for the best at times like these.
The bell chimed.
This is the signal for “night”.
After checking the cards distributed to each, we face down and tap on the floor to make a noise…
“Ah.”
……
“Wait, hold on… Sorry, President, fix this…”
While tapping the floor, Kadomi accidentally broke it.
“This is no joke! Stop it! What are you trying to do, Kadomi, kill me?! You must be a wolf then!”
The cobblestone cracked, slightly bulging out.
The cracked stone jutted out sharply right beside Maito, nearly stabbing her if it had been slightly off.
“……Let’s be careful. This time, a little more to the right, and Maito would have been involved in a real death on day zero.”
……See? I really wish they’d be careful.
Due to Kadomi’s mishap, the game was temporarily paused, but we eventually resumed.
No one dared to tap on the floor seriously anymore. Kadomi was tapping gingerly, his actions creating a somewhat deflated noise.
As the bell occasionally chimed, Tokoyo seemed to be doing something.
When the bell rang loudly, signaling the “morning”, we continued.
“So, Tokoyo, who’s the corpse today?”
……As an aside, there was a time I drew the fox and was divined on day zero, starting the first day dead.
It’s really frustrating to die without doing anything.
In response to Maito’s query, Tokoyo floated up…
……and confidently pointed at herself.
“Oh, Tokoyoโ”
“We’ve lost a dear… person?”
“What a tragedyโ”
The GM becoming the “first day casualty” and everyone monotonously mourning her death became something of a template.
While I played along, I formulated my strategy in my head.
…The issue is how to quickly find the wolf.
“Shall we set the time like this?”
Again, President skillfully created an hourglass.
…It seems he extracted silicon from the rock to turn it into quartz for the hourglass.
His needless skillfulness is amusing.
“Let’s start the discussion.”
“Then, shall we follow the usual strategy? If there’s a fortune-teller who got a hit on a wolf, please come forward.”
“Here.”
The moment Toriumi called for any fortune-teller who found a wolf to come forward, I raised my hand.
“I divined Katori as black.”
After I announced the divination result, Katori looked at me without changing his expression.
“I see. …Um, actually, I’m also a fortune-teller, and I divined Hagasaki as white.”
“That sounds fishy.”
“But there was no other timing to come forward… It’s awkward to come out on the first day when I only found white…”
“Ah, um, can I also say something? …I’m a fortune-teller. I divined Hagasaki. He was white.”
Three fortune-tellers have come forward, but we’re not a group to be easily shaken… However, if the three of us, me, Katori, and Maito, are the ones coming forward… It seems like “any of them could be fake,” which is annoying.
From my perspective at this point, Katori is a wolf, and Maito is a madman.
To the others, I might seem like the fake.
“…So, who shall we hang on the first day?”
“How about hanging a villager? Since we have three self-proclaimed fortune-tellers, the truth will come out by tomorrow. If Hagasaki survives, then he’s a wolf. I think we can leave Hagasaki to swim for now.”
“That makes sense. It’s scary to accidentally eliminate a role.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“……I agree.”
…Not to brag, but I’m probably one of the stronger werewolf players among us.
That’s why I’m often targeted for elimination early on as a fox spirit.
And, it seems President thinks of me as “If he’s on the villager side, he’ll die soon anyway; if he’s on the werewolf side, just kill him,” which is a harsh way to deal with me.
It means if we leave it to President, I’m definitely going to die. I wish he’d stop.
“Um, so, I’m a villager. Please hang me today.”
For today, we decided to hang Toriumi, who volunteered as a villager, to end the day.
What to do from tomorrow on will be the question.
Toriumi was hanged by vote and died.
Then “night” came.
Tokoyo did various things again, ringing the bell, and morning arrived.
“Alright, Tokoyo, who’s the corpse today?”
Maito asked, and Tokoyo flew and sat on Hariu’s head.
“…Ah, does this mean I’m dead?”
“Seems so.”
Tokoyo made a praying gesture on Hariu’s head.
“We’ve lost a dear person.”
“Happy to have a companion in death.”
“Aw, I died without doing anything…”
Hariu grumbled as he moved to the corner of the cell with Toriumi. That seems to be the “morgue.”
“……Let’s start the discussion for day two.”
“Then, should we start with the divination results? Thumb for white, fist for black, and point at the person you divined. Okay?”
I called out, and the self-proclaimed fortune-tellers nodded.
“Okay, here we go. One, twoโ”
“Two.”
“Two.”
“Two.”
“Two.”
“……”
“Hey.”
“Let’s listen to everyone’s results for now.”
First, it’s me.
“Divined President, white.”
Next is Maito.
“Divined Suzumoto, white.”
Next is Katori.
“Divined Kariya, white.”
…And finally, Kariya.
“I Divined Katori, black.”
Unexpectedly, there are four self-proclaimed fortune tellers, leaving everyone speechless.
“…Eh, why did Kariya come out now?”
“Because the first day was white!”
No, if Katori and Maito came out, you should too.
“Who did you predict on the first day?”
“Maito-san. It was white!”
Figures.
“Why Maito?”
“Because she was right in front of me.”
…Somehow, you’re already not credible.
“…Well, whatever. So, what now? Uh… for now, Katori has two blacks, right?”
…Talking about possibilities would never end.
“We have to consider the fox now.”
So, I propose here.
“Now, Katori has two blacks. One of them is black from Kariya, which is unreliable.”
“That’s harsh.”
“I think it’s reasonable.”
Overall, the trust in Kariya is low.
After all, it doesn’t make sense not to come out when three fortune tellers did on the first day.
So, let’s use this opportunity. If he’s coming out this suspiciously, he should be the one to hang.
“Even if I were a werewolf, Katori gave me a white, so he’s definitely fake. Assuming that, the true fortune teller would be Maito. Then, hanging Katori would eliminate one from the black side.”
“That’s harsh.”
“If Katori is a werewolf, I’m the true fortune teller, so it’s fine to hang Katori.”
“So, you’re going to hang me, huh?”
“…But, for now, as someone who knows there’s a werewolf, I’d rather hang the fox first.”
Pointing at Kariya, his behavior becomes obviously strange.
“It’s clear that Kariya’s emergence is too odd.”
“I agree that he’s not trustworthy.”
“Eh, eh?”
…Well, normally, the timing of coming out is too strange.
Now, what I can do is to stoke distrust towards Kariya as much as possible.
“Isn’t it possible that Kariya isn’t the fox?”
“But, those not Divined are Kariya and… Kadomi-kun and Maito. Me and Maito Divined me, Suzumoto, President, and Katori. If Kadomi-kun were a lurking demon fox, it’d be scary, but we don’t have time to care about that much. Here, if one person is hanged and six remain, one person is bitten at night, leaving five. If there are two werewolves and one madman remaining, they can set the game with a power play.”
…Now, I’m lucky that the talkative Toriumi was hanged on the first day.
And that President is keeping quiet. …Well, I can guess President’s role. Otherwise, he would be talking.
The only scary one is Katori, but Katori will agree to survive this turn, so there should be no objection to hanging Kariya.
“…Kadomi-kun sees Maito as the true fortune teller, right?”
“If not, we can’t care for the demon fox. I don’t mind if you want to propose Maito as the madman, but with four out, Katori being black, and Kariya obviously suspicious, shouldn’t we hang the suspicious one first?”
We might have two werewolves left, so if we don’t hang someone from the black side now, the villagers could lose.
In terms of impression, Kariya is at a definite disadvantage.
Information-wise, Katori is the most suspicious.
Others who are speaking, like me, and perhaps Maito, might also be considered suspicious.
…So, hanging one of them today should be the best course of action.
And as for me, I’d prefer to hang Kariya first.
“It’s annoying to be defeated by a fox, and even if not, hanging a madman means they can’t do a power play next turn, right?”
Maito probably can’t keep up with the thought process. Besides, as long as I pretend to believe in Maito, she should follow me.
Suzumoto is strong when given time to think, so I shouldn’t give him that time. I should keep talking and push to a conclusion to bring it to a vote.
Kadomi-kun… can be ignored. Anyway, we have already decided where the votes are going.
“…Yeah, I also vote to hang Kariya first. He’s obviously suspicious, and even if he’s on the villager side, he’ll just disrupt the discussions!”
Since Kariya was overwhelmingly at a disadvantage in terms of impression from the start, it’s no surprise that the quick-tempered Maito would jump to such a conclusion. She’s foolish, after all.
If we hang a villager side, we lose unless there are less than two werewolves remaining. But given this impression of Kariya, it’s hard to believe he’s on the villager side.
“Are you the real madman? I think that’s fine. Let’s decide on that.”
President agrees. …Well, of course.
“Eh, eh, that’s harsh, I’m the real fortune teller.”
“…He’s suspicious, so let’s hang Kariya.”
Kariya tries to defend himself, but he only seems more suspicious. Even Kadomi-kun has abandoned him.
“…The scary thing now is, could Hagasaki-kun and Maito be conspiring?”
“Ah, I still doubt Hagasaki-kun. I feel he’s more like a madman.”
Well, it’s fine if Maito pretends to doubt me. Anyway, she’s doubting the wrong person.
“But still, if we’re going to hang someone, it should be Kariya, who gave me a black.”
“Next is Katori, though.”
“Eh, no, let’s rethink that…”
…While this was going on, the sand in the hourglass ran out.
“Ah, time’s up. …Let’s proceed to the vote.”
Suzumoto tries to speak, but time is up. …Safe, I guess?
Naturally, Kariya is hanged that day, and night falls again.
…Fluffing and tinkling, well, morning comes.
“So, today’s victim is…”
…Tokoyo lands on Maito’s head. Then she clasps her hands together.
“…It seems I’ve died.”
Seems reasonable. …If it were me, I’d have definitely bitten Suzumoto for certainty.
Maito wouldn’t have the guts or brains to “pretend to be a fortune teller as a hunter.”
So, if they wanted to reduce the number securely, biting either Kadomi-kun or Suzumoto, considering one of them might be the hunter, would have been better… Well, maybe they wanted to leave a gray character. Maito seemed genuine.
Anyway, it’s practically game over.
“…So, the discussion, right?”
President flips the hourglass and raises his hand.
“I’m the madman. Werewolves, let’s power play.”
“Okay, then, shall we vote for Suzumoto? Hagasaki-kun is the madman, right?”
“No, I’m the true fortune teller.”
I’ll stubbornly deny it here.
“Let’s vote for Katori.”
“…Eh? Hm?”
Ah, Kadomi-kun starts to hesitate.
“…Ah, checkmate, huh?”
Suzumoto seems to have come to a conclusion.
…He looks somewhat resentful at me, so he might have realized my role.
“Then, shall we proceed to vote?”
“…So, we vote for Katori?”
“Yes. If Hagasaki-kun was the madman, it would be better to vote for Suzumoto, I think.”
Well, I’m the “true fortune teller” after all.
“Let’s proceed to the vote.”
“…We shouldn’t have hanged Kariya, huh?”
“Well, we should have hanged Katori first.”
“I never thought I’d survive this long. I was marked black on the first day and still made it to the third day.”
Suzumoto and Kadomi-kun cast 2 votes for Katori.
Me, President, and Katori gave 3 votes to Suzumoto.
Suzumoto is executed, and the game ends.
“Wow, thank you, Hagasaki-kun. You really lead the discussion well.”
“The way you revealed the whites was clever too. That made me realize you were the madman.”
As President speaks with a grin, Tokoyo comes down from above, takes my hand, and lifts it.
Maito, frozen for a moment, rushes over like sliding, and flips my card to check.
“Damn it!”
“Thanks for acting like the true fortune teller.”
My card is, “Demon Fox.”
“Ahhhhh! Demon Fox!”
“Eh, no way!? Eh, eh… eh, but Hagasaki-kun, you were Divined by Maito, right?”
“No! That’s why I’m the madman!”
“Hm? But Katori is a werewolf, right? And President is the madman, right?”
“Ah, I was a werewolf.”
“It’s confusing! …Eh? So, if Hagasaki-kun is the demon fox, and Maito is the madman…”
…The condition for this randomization was to definitely include a fortune teller and a werewolf, so everyone acted under the assumption that “there must be at least one fortune teller.”
But, of course.
“No way! That suspicious one, who definitely seemed like a madman or something with that emergence, Kariya, was the true fortune teller!?”
Nobody would think that Kariya, who was nothing but suspicious, was the true fortune teller.
Even I, being the demon fox and not knowing “I wasn’t melted even though Divined by Maito,” would have thought Maito was the true fortune teller and Kariya was a madman or something.
That’s impossible.
“That’s what I’ve been saying, I’m the real deal!”
“Wow! Wow! You’re the culprit! Not a werewolf or a demon fox, but you led the villagers to ruin!”
“Werewolf games with beginners are truly chaos…”
“…So. Can we just let this go, everyone?”
“We can’t, no way.”
“Next time, we’ll melt Hagasaki-kun!”
“No, it’s not certain I’ll draw the fox again.”
“Still no good. If Hagasaki-kun survives, we have to kill him.”
Wow, harsh.
“Shall we move on to the next game?”
…There seems to be enough time for another 2 or 3 games, maybe.
๏ฝRoles this game๏ฝ
Villagers: Suzumoto, Toriumi
Fortune Teller: Kariya
Medium: Hariu
Hunter: Kadomi
Werewolves: Tsuge, Katori
Madman: Maito
Demon Fox: Hagasakiโwin!