CHOSEN ANSWER: Find light switches first

Given our two choices, finding the light switches and ensuring the safety of our friends in the Picture Room sounded like the better option. "I think we should find the light switches first," I informed them, looking closely at their eager eyes staring at me. "If we can find them and gain some control over them, we can keep Viantastic, Gabriel and Agent 4 out of danger,"

Beside me, Agent 3 nodded. "Alright then, let's find the light switches first."

Before anyone could do anything, VicVillon of all people stifled a weak laugh, covering her mouth with a hand. "Heh... light switch... 'lite switch'..."

"I... beg your pardon?" The words slipped out of my mouth without me even realising it. The act should have angered me, but instead all I could feel was confusion.

The purple inkling proceeded to explain. "Oh, it's nothing important. I just remembered a joke that Vian made on Twitter. He said that if they ever release a smaller Nintendo Switch, they ought to name it 'Light Switch' or something like that,"

At those words, my mind floated back to a conversation that I had with Agent 4 and Agent 3 the other day, when our youngest companion wanted to purchase an electronic device of that name for her room. Naturally, Agent 3 had disapproved of the idea given her work-focused attitude, but I was personally curious about the 'video game console' that Agent 4 wanted so badly. I suppose this means that these splatubers know about it?

Meanwhile, VicVillon continued. "Guess the company must've heard him, 'cause we have those now...! Hahaha... Heh..." Despite her initial laughter, VicVillon's outburst slowly dwindled in size until she was meekly chuckling to herself. "Sorry, usually Vian would be here laughing to a pun like that," She bashfully admitted before going silent, registering the fact that her little joke has done nothing to lighten the heavy mood upon us all.

Light switch... lite switch...

As I recognised the fancy word play in her joke, I let out a small giggle. "Heh, that was kinda funny," I turned to her, smiling warmly. " I'm going to have to talk with Viantastic if I want to hear more of it,"

At my words, VicVillon's face lightened up, a wide and grateful smile forming on her face.

*VicVillon will remember this.

"At any rate, let's search through the house," Sagaci said, bringing us all back to the task at hand. "If we can find anything that even remotely looks like a light switch, we could be one step ahead of our killers,"

Agent 3 nodded again. "I couldn't have said it better myself," She commended the splatuber with a short smile before her expression became serious again. "Let's look around this house from room to room, and we'll all stick together, okay?"

"Got it,"

~~~~~

"Welp, I'm out of ideas,"

To my disappointment, a full hour of searching through the entire house had garnered us with no results whatsoever. Now, with everyone was sprawled across the couches and sofas, out of breath and lethargic, my heart sank. With the night growing deeper and us becoming more and more tired, I was starting to feel that our efforts were useless against this faction of killers.

CallieMacN sighed. "We found nothing?"

"Zip nada," Etcesona replied in a puff of annoyance. "The only thing that I spotted that stood out was this weird painting of a tree in the storeroom, and even that place didn't have a light switch!"

Beside me, Sagaci clicked her lips. "So we're back to square one... Great,"

"Not necessarily,"

At the sound of her voice, everyone in the room turned to Agent 3, who stood up from leaning against the armrest of the sofa that I was sitting on. All eyes were on her as she crossed her arms and spoke slowly and clearly.

"We've been through the entire house, but we couldn't find any switches," She began, her eyes trained on everyone to ensure their attention. "That being said, the lights can't be turned on manually. But what about remotely?"

At that, the purple inkling girl raised her hand. "I don't follow, what?" was all VicVillon could say.

"Remotely... You mean like a fuse box?" As I connected the pieces together, I could spot Agent 3 nodding her head at me.

"A fuse box! Of course!" CallieMacN facepalmed herself. "The master switch of all the lights in the house!I think I saw something like that in the kitchen!"

Despite the uncertainty, that gave me hope. "Let's go!"

With our goal in sight, we all headed for the kitchen, spreading out to find our hidden key to the puzzle. Luckily, an excited gasp from VicVillon confirmed its location to us; a grey box hanging on the wall hidden behind the curtain of a window. Smart place to hide.

Only, there was no keyhole. "No keyhole... No key?" I muttered in confusion.

But before anyone could intervene, Etcesona stepped in front of me with a silver rod in his hands. "I got this," He declared before wedging the curved edge of the rod into the lid. After a few pushes on the other side of the rod, the box popped open with no hesitation.

"Where did you find that crowbar, Etce?" Sagaci questioned, pointing at the rod with a puzzled look on her face.

The octoling only shrugged. "It was lying on the ground near the sink,"

A momentary pause occurred in the room. Weird, but okay.

Taking a step towards the now-opened box, I lifted the lid off to reveal a multitude of yellow buttons and blinking lights, all arranged neatly in rows and columns. Above every button was a stick of tape with words on it, words that I failed to understand... and yet they look so familiar?

Although I could not read most of the labels, it wasn't long before my eyes fell upon a blinking sensor with the label of 'light sensor', Inklish words that everyone could spot simultaneously, given the sound of hitched breaths echoing across the room. Beside the

"That's it!" VicVillon exclaimed. "That's our switch! I think?"

"That's not just a switch," CallieMacN replied slowly, as if choosing her words carefully. "That blinking light tells me that this isn't some master switch for all the lights in the room, honestly,"

"And why's that?" I asked.

"I've read about this before, something called 'matter-detecting' sensors," She explained. "Basically, they were these mechanical devices that were made before the Mollusk Era, and they were super sharp in detecting changes in the environment, like the presence of light or temperature,"

"You're saying that it detects light?" Etcesona considered, a hand scratching his afro. "So... this thing is what tells our killers about the lights being turned on and off in every room?"

... ... ... Shut the front door...!

Everyone had the same idea in their heads as we turned to Etcesona, eyes wide in amazement and shock at the revelation that he had unintentionally discovered. Meanwhile, with so many eyes on him, the navy-haired octoling began to sweat. "I s-swear, that just came out of nowhere!" He stammered, holding up his hands in defense.

"Etce, it's fine, it makes sense!" Agent 3 reassured him. "If this fuse box is connected to every room in this building, it means that every room has a detector for light. And if the killers are able to see whenever the lights go out in the room-"

"They can come and hunt us," VicVillon finished in absolute realisation. "We'd be like rats trapped in a maze..."

In the silence of the room, CallieMacN studied the switch next to the sensor. "I'm gonna make an educational guess," She began, turning to me. "And say that this switch controls all the light sensors in every room. We can turn it off and the killers won't be able to see where the lights are turned on or off,"

I felt a bit uneasy. "Is there no other way for us to control the lights on our own?" Somehow, I was hoping for something better than this...

The pink inkling could only shrug. "I don't have any other ideas, sorry,"

At this, Sagaci turned to me, a hard look on her face as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "Agent 8, please tell me we're going to turn this switch off,"

Somehow, I feel a sense of foreboding with this choice...

~~~~

~ A DECISION TO MAKE ~

🦋

(Underlined and bold indicates the final answer determined by my Twitter poll)

Leave the sensor on

Switch the sensor off

BREAK IT!!