Memory 16

[itsalluseless]

Memory: Dinner and puzzles with Erika [ep6] (Trivial Positive)
Game: Storytelling with Scheherazade (not played)
Day: 197
Form: A little book with five empty pages. Pull a page out to get a memory! 2/5 uses left (shared with Raven and Beatrice).

The sixth game is starting, and Erika has joined the visitors on Rokkenjima as an unexpected guest. After dinner, everyone is having a pleasant discussion which turns to the subject of the mystery genre. Erika is happy to display her knowledge and disparage people who are less well-read than she is. Battler butts in to disagree, and despite his laughing claim that he "doesn't read books", Erika is well aware that he reads more than even she does. The mood is turning a bit sour, so George changes the subject to puzzles and quizzes, since Erika claims to have great reasoning skills. Using a puzzle book Maria brought, the dinner party start engaging in puzzle-solving, but Erika quickly takes over, solving everything befote anyone else gets a chance and bragging more and more.

KYRIE: ......Since you're a great detective, you don't really need to take this so seriously, right?

ERIKA: Good point. Even though these are just childish questions, I've been taking them a bit too seriously. ......I'll take more care, so let's hear the next question please.

BATTLER: Alright, I won't lose this time. Maria, next question please!

MARIA: Umm, ......you have one large piece of cheese. A single slice with a knife can split it into two parts. So, what is the lowest number of slices you can make to cut it into eight parts? Uu-!

GEORGE: Oh, I know this one. So I guess I'll stay quiet this time.

George, acting like the adult he was, set up a mood that would prevent people from answering right away even if they knew the answer, in effect sending a warning to Erika. It seemed that Erika understood, and she averted her gaze, snorting derisively.

NATSUHI: ......To make eight pieces, four slices would be enough, right?

EVA: That's dumb. It would hardly be a puzzle if that was the answer.

KRAUSS: Hahaha. That's right. These are usually set up so that a smaller number than you'd expect is the answer. But still, how exactly could it be done?

RUDOLF: ......Oh, got it, got it. You can only do this because it's cheese.

KYRIE: True. If you tried to do it with a birthday cake, there'd be a huge fight.

HIDEYOSHI: Wahahaha! That's right. You might be able to do this with cheese, but you'd never cut a cake like this.

BATTLER: Huh? Huh? All of you know the answer?! Dammit, am I the only one who doesn't?!

JESSICA: Oh, I've got it! I see, so you have to think three-dimensionally.

BATTLER: Wait, even Jessica?! I don't get it! What should I dooooooo?!

MARIA: Kihihihihihi, I know the answer. It's written right here. Kihihihihi.

ROSA: You didn't know the answer until you looked, right? *giggle*, get it? Battler-kun?

NANJO: I see, I understand it as well. This is something you can do because it is cheese.

BATTLER: Gyah?! Even Doctor Nanjo gets it?! Could it be? Am I the only one who doesn't get it?!

ERIKA: ......If we tried cooking your brain a bit, it'd probably become as flexible as cheese. *giggle*giggle*......

BATTLER: It isn't something like 'use zero slices with the knife and break it apart with your hands', right?

JESSICA: Of course not. It's impossible to cut this cheese with anything other than a knife.

GEORGE: Think of the cheese in three dimensions. If that's hard, it might help to draw a picture on a paper napkin.

BATTLER: S, so, we have one large piece of cheese, right...? Then we use a knife to make eight pieces...... ......Can the knife only cut in a straight line?

ROSA: Yes, that's right. The knife only cuts in straight lines. ......Oh, but here's a hint. You can only cut in a straight line, but you're free to cut it wherever you want.

RUDOLF: Try thinking of various ways to stick the knife in.

KRAUSS: You should probably try to think out of the box a bit. Show us what you've got, Battler-kun.

You have a large piece of cheese. How many times must you cut it with a knife to make eight pieces?

It's obvious that you could do it in four cuts. Can it be done in even fewer cuts than that? The hints said that it was something that could be done because it was cheese. If it was a birthday cake, you really wouldn't be allowed to do this.

BATTLER: .........Cheese. ...Cheese. ......Something you can do because it's cheese? ......Oh, ...ooooooooooohh!! I've got it, I've got it!! I was totally tricked! This isn't something you can think up with a stiff head...!

ERIKA: Seems like you've finally hit on it. Hopefully it is the right answer.

BATTLER: It's impossible to cut the cheese with anything except the knife, right? The knife can only cut in a straight line, right? There aren't any other rules, right? Right?!

MARIA: Uu-. Not really.

BATTLER: Alright, then that's got to be it! Wheeew, that was a tough one...it's almost like a riddle!

JESSICA: Hahahaha, it's just that you won't get anywhere if you always cut down from the top. You make two cuts from the top to get four pieces. If you keep it like that and cut across the side, splitting it into an upper half and a lower half, you get four times two equals eight pieces!

GEORGE: It's an answer you can't reach unless you think three-dimensionally. In other words, the correct answer is three.

BATTLER: ......Huh? Really? I......thought the correct answer was one.

HIDEYOSHI: Wahahahaha! What kind of magic did you use?! There's no way in the world you could manage it with one.

ROSA: *giggle*. This isn't a riddle, it's just a normal math problem.

BATTLER: .........Huh? Oh, ......really? Nnnnn, I thought of the three-cut method right away, ......but I figured that was too easy, so I guess I tried to twist it too far......

MARIA: ......Battler's answer is smaller than the one in the book. Is Battler right?

ERIKA: Yes, he is. .........Battler-san is right. The right answer is one slice.

Battler was happy that someone had confirmed his answer. ......However, at some point, Erika's face had lost its cheeriness.

ERIKA: .........To think that a human other than myself would answer one...and that it'd be you, of all people.

BATTLER: Your answer was one too, Erika? ......I guess you were also thinking out of the box.

ERIKA: It would be truly foolish to arbitrarily decide the shape just because you heard it was a piece of cheese.

[...]

BATTLER: I get it... When you all heard 'a large piece of cheese', you thought of a flat cylinder, like Camembert. ......I was thinking about sliced cheese, like the kind you might put on your toast for breakfast. ......After all, I don't usually have anything to do with full blocks of cheese that you'd cut with a knife.

ERIKA: ......The shape of the cheese isn't specified in the rules. A mistake by the ones who made the book. I imagine there's a picture of a flat cylinder of cheese there in Maria-san's book.

MARIA: Uu-. There is. Right here.

[...]

KYRIE: ......That is right. When the problem was stated, it never said anything about what the cheese's shape was or how flexible it was.

BATTLER: Exactly. It seems that Battler-san was the more flexible one when it comes to both brains and cheese.

JESSICA: I, ......I don't get it. How does making it sliced cheese let you cut it into eight parts with a single knife slice?

ERIKA: Why not try it with that paper napkin. Pretend it's sliced cheese.

BATTLER: ......It's like this. You fold it accordion-style. ......How many times do you need to fold it to make eight sections...?

ERIKA: Six times.

To fold it accordion-style, you alternate between upward and downward folds. Once you've done this six times, it looks like the side of an accordion.

BATTLER: With normal cheese, it'd break if you tried to fold it like this, ......but the rules say that this cheese can't break unless you use a knife, right...?

ERIKA: Yes, no problems. After all, this is magic cheese that can only be cut by the knife.

BATTLER: After folding it, ......if you start at the top and make a cut right down the middle...

???: ......Y, ......you're right. ...There are eight parts.

???: W, wait a second. The parts aren't all equal this way, right...?!

ERIKA: ......All the questioner said was to cut it into eight pieces. They didn't say anything about them being equal. ......Well, if you change the way you fold it, it is possible to make them all equal sizes, but I wouldn't want to confuse you stiff-headed people with the explanation. Eheheheheheheheheheh......

NANJO: Oh, ......ooooooohhh............

For a while, everyone was stunned......

Battler had reached a far better answer than three by thinking of the problem as a riddle. Erika had already known both answers and had even spotted a mistake made by the book. ......The others could do nothing but stare at those two in surprise.

ROSA: I, ......incredible. ...So we were the stiff-headed ones...?

NANJO: What...a failure.

KYRIE: We were thinking in three dimensions, ......but it looks like Battler-kun and Erika-chan were thinking in one dimension higher.

ERIKA: ......It seems the game with the witch has toughened you up quite a lot. ......Puzzles without specified rules--in other words, all things not covered by the red truth--are left to the observer's interpretation. ......It's the most basic of methods for constructing gaps in the witch's closed rooms.

BATTLER: What are you talking about...? Is that a quote from some novel...?

ERIKA: ...............Well, let's call it that for now, shall we? Anyway, I guess this means that everyone's brains are as stiff as rock-hard cheese. *giggle*giggle*giggle*...!

Having recovered from her surprise at Battler's intelligence, Erika is back to insulting everyone. George changes the subject once more, distracting Erika into showing off her skill with chopsticks. This attempt is a lot more successful, and the atmosphere becomes cheerful once more.

What he learned:
+Hooray for solving puzzles and being smart!
+Especially when it involves throwing Erika off :')