Hiveswap is a game which occasionally gives the player dialogue options which don't affect the overall outcome of the story. For casual players, this is a chance for self-expression and roleplaying, but for our purposes these points are chances for optimization. Here are the optimal options for each choice that currently comes up in the run: (* = optimal)

JOEY: "wow." do you know where we can get tickets? - 9 boxes *good luck, i guess? - 2 boxes

JOEY: "what a monumental decision! which horns should i wear?" corns! - 11 cones! - 11

SKYLLA: "..there reallyy isn't anyy room for bellyyachin', is there?" you are so right - 12 boxes what's wrong with your lusus? - 12 boxes

MARSTI: "In fact I insist it's me - _ -" *is this your job? - 12 boxes can you please move? - 20 boxes

CIRAVA: "here add me" wow, you've got a lot of followers. - 41 boxes *THAT cirava? - 37 boxes

KONYYL: "my matesprit is being a total TOOL" be polite. - 25 boxes *be diplomatic. - 21 boxes

AZDAJA: "||| ...Why are you two still here? Are you not going to give up? |||" *i'm not giving up! - 52 boxes its hopeless... - 68 boxes

Finally, during the strife with Azdaja you have multiple options for what attack to use for Joey. Here's each choice's length, measured precisely from when you use it on Azdaja to when Joey begins her hit animation after the the counterattack:

Book: 2s 000ms Monster Pouch Thing: 1s 542ms Birb: 6s 833ms Spice: 3s 563 ms Treats: 2s 188ms Tap Shoes: 2s 083ms Ballet Shoes: 2s 063ms Flashlight: 2s 583ms Bee Dance: 2s 083ms

This means that the two (roughly interchangeable it seems) optimal items here are the Pouch (which is shortest) and the bee dance (which is on the lower end of things but closest to Azdaja's sprite).