Spoilers for 999, Virtue's Last Reward, and Zero Time Dilemma exist in the timeline ahead. But of course, you already knew that, didn't you...?
Ughhhhh…
I shift on the surface I'm laying on, which is way too hard and cold to be my bed. It's very uncomfortable, and I'd gladly get off of it, if not for the fact that I feel like I recently got run over by a truck. I must have been really tired last night, because I don't know why else I would possibly have passed out on the floor. When did I even lie down? Is this what a hangover feels like? I don't drink…
Slowly, unwillingly, I lever myself up onto my arms, blinking groggily at my surroundings... which I don't recognize. What the- am I still asleep? This looks like the inside of a dingy elevator or something…
Finding myself more awake all of a sudden, I start to look around with some degree of actual alertness. The room I'm in is small, cubical, and made of metal. There's a fire extinguisher in one corner, a fire extinguisher box in another corner, a couple of weird posters on the walls, and a large machine with a screen on the front attached to the back of the room. Directly underneath it is an odd looking safe, and to its right is some sort of big red lump of cloth, with what looks like shifting machine parts peeking out from under-
The lump suddenly stands up and turns around. I nearly bang my head against the wall as I scramble back — staring down at me is a tall, yellowish-white robot, with glowing orange eye panels, an almost insectoid mask, and a long red cloth draped around its shoulder that falls down around the rest of its body like a toga. Before I can even really process its appearance, it begins to speak to me in a calm, measured tone.
"I see that you are awake. Please, do not panic. I know I must look frightening… though I admit, I cannot tell precisely what I look like right now."
…that voice. That… armor. Am I looking at K right now? K, as in the game character? How-
My thought process cuts off as I happen to look down at myself for the first time since I woke up.
Stockings. Short shorts. Spotted pink bra.
What the SHIT.
I don't scream, but I must make some sort of noise, because K begins trying to reassure me again. I don't hear a word of it. Why the hell am I in Virtue's Last Reward?! Why am I a girl- no, why am I Clover?! What- just, WHAT?!
I spend roughly 30 seconds freaking out before my mind calms down enough for me to think properly again. The conclusions I immediately come to, however, are almost enough to make my heart stop.
Please tell me this is a dream, or a simulation, or something, because if this is real, then I am utterly screwed. I'm sure that there are worse universes to be bizarrely and randomly dropped into, but at present none are coming to mind. Due to the way this game's plot is entirely reliant on a massive time loop, I am currently an unknown variable in a situation that is going to fail if literally anything about it is not known — if everyone doesn't do exactly what they need to do/did, then the information Sigma/Zero used to set it up was faulty. Except, it can't have been faulty, because his experience in the Nonary Game is what he used to set it up to begin with. In other words, I may literally break time here if I say or do the wrong thing — and the "wrong thing" is essentially anything.
"Miss? Miss, are you alright? I promise, I will not hurt you."
K is currently holding his hands up, having backed away and bowed his head slightly. He must think I'm not responding because I'm scared of him or something, since he seems to be trying to be as unaggressive as possible. Panicking aside, I suppose I should probably reply at some point…
"I… I'm fine. Just a bit… freaked out, I guess." I tell him as I stand up, my voice coming out exactly the way I remember Clover's sounding.
"That is perfectly understandable." K replies, sounding slightly relieved that I finally spoke. "I apologize for my appearance. I'm fairly certain that this is some sort of suit, but I'm not quite sure how to get it off."
Do I play along and act like I don't know anything about him? I guess that seems like the safest course of action, at least in as much as any action can be considered "safe" in this scenario.
"You're 'fairly certain'…?" I ask, feigning confusion.
"Hmm." K places a hand behind his head, appearing to be thinking. "I don't… remember… to be honest, I'm not quite sure who I even am. Are you perhaps experiencing something similar?"
I shake my head no, feeling Clover's long pink hair tickle my back. "No, not at all…"
I know who I am, I just seem to have been a bit bodily displaced is all.
"You're saying you have amnesia?" I continue.
"Well… yes. I suppose I do." If K could visibly frown, I'm certain he would be doing so right now. "If you aren't experiencing the same problem, perhaps you could tell me where we are, and why we're in here?"
"Ah… sorry. I have as little idea as you do." I tell him, blatantly lying.
"I see." K says, placing a hand on his chin. "That is regrettable. You do not know who I am, correct?" I shake my head no. "If that is the case, perhaps we have been kidnapped."
Not a bad conclusion, but not technically correct. I guess I — or rather, Clover — technically was, but you've lived here your whole life. Although granted, it was not inside this little cube we're currently stuck in.
"Are you familiar with that bracelet?" K asks, pointing at my wrist.
I hold up my arm. As expected, there sits the Nonary Game Bracelet, its face proudly proclaiming me to be a green pair with 3 BP. It's heavier than a normal watch, but not enough to be hugely impactful on my arm movement.
"No… where did this thing come from?" I make a show of trying to get it off by wildly pressing the buttons. "Does it come off? Who the heck put this on me?"
"I would assume the culprit to be whoever put us in this room." K notes. "Perhaps this armor was placed on me by them as well, as it appears to have been built to accommodate a bracelet of my own."
He shows me his arm as proof of this. Before I can respond, the hum of something flickering on suddenly emanates throughout the room.
"How're you feeling?" a smirking, self-satisfied voice asks.
K and I look as one at the small monitor built into the wall just above the "elevator" buttons. A small white rabbit wearing a miniature set of Chinese clothes has appeared on it.
Oh joy, look who it is.
"I am Zero III! The king of this kingdom!"
I listen to the half-deranged sounding AI talk for a short while, but it quickly becomes evident his message to the players at this stage is exactly the same as I remember, holding nothing of any real relevance beyond the announcement of his name and the Nonary Game. Deciding I'm going to get no new information from this, I return to my whirling, frantic thoughts.
Okay, I've got to calm down. In a situation like this, I need to be as logical and careful as possible, or everything could come crumbling down around me in a spectacularly short period of time. Let's think about this... the information on how the game eventually proceeds that Sigma-Zero used to set up this game in the "past" comes from the "present", wherein he went through the game himself. It's a classic self-fulfilling time loop, at least in that regard. So… maybe things have already changed retroactively, and my presence has therefore already been accounted for? Perhaps the scenario to follow doesn't have to be identical to the game's, since it will have been set up with my actions in the roughly 20 or so timelines "to come" in mind, rather than the original Clover's. In fact, now that I think of it, if we assume that this plan could only have been set in to motion if it ends up working in some reality, then I shouldn't even have to worry, right? Right! We're already in the AB game, and since time isn't broken, there shouldn't be anything to worry about!
…although then again, that's WHY time might break. I know how this situation is supposed to proceed, and in the VLR universe time doesn't retroactively change. You can "trick" it in a couple of ways, or alter the flow of parallel timelines which were initially going to proceed identically to the original, but you can't change things in an already defined timeline outright. Which means unless this is all taking place in an entire parallel set of timelines, which is a bet I can't possibly risk, any action I make that Clover didn't goes against the way this universe's time physics are supposed to work.
I bite the inside of my lip. While the fact that the stable time loop isn't already broken could be taken as a good sign, now that I think about it, Sigma/Zero never saw what went on inside Clover and K's cube, and since his viewpoint is the only important one here, it may not matter what I do regarding things that happened "offscreen". Time might actually only break when we get out of here, and I'm not still unconscious the way Clover is supposed to be. I guess I could maybe knock myself out again somehow, but K would surely tell the others about that, which also didn't happen in the game, and thus might just as easily... god damn it, this isn't fair! It's not like I had any control over when I woke up! And even if I somehow did, I wouldn't have known NOT to do so before-!
"Hey, you! Pay attention!"
My gaze snaps back to the monitor. Zero Three stares back at me with an unamused expression.
"I am a very busy bunny, and I do not. Have time. To repeat myself."
Er… sorry? Wait, is he directly addressing me? Did he do that at all in the game, before you actually escaped the AB room?
"And, as it happens, you don't have that time either!" Zero shrugs, continuing in a much cheerier tone. "You'd better get out quick, because that elevator you're in? It's gonna fall in a few minutes. Waaaaaay down."
"…oh dear." K says, sounding rather disaffected. I guess he always sort of sounded like that in the game, but it is kind of jarring to hear someone actually talk like that. Personally, I'm more worried about what might happen when we DO get out than what will happen if we don't, especially as these aren't even elevators. That being said, Zero Three could still "punish" us if we fail to even try, so I guess we don't really have much choice.
"So, hop to it! I'll see you later. Have a nice trick!"
The screen goes blank, and K turns to me.
"We should make haste to escape." he tells me, as if that isn't just stating the blatantly obvious. Although then again, since Zero pointed out how I seemingly wasn't paying very close attention, he might think he actually needs to.
"Yeah, we should." I agree.
Practically hearing the "SEEK A WAY OUT!" music play in my head, I turn to the wall and begin pulling the brightly colored knobs off the bar, my body moving almost on autopilot as I continue desperately trying to form a viable plan.
Alright, assuming I don't cause a critical spacetime error a few minutes from now, and ignoring the fact that I already may have nixed the viability of this idea by sheer virtue of waking up, do I just go along with the normal timeline as best I remember? As long as I don't reveal to anyone that I'm not Clover, and take the same actions she did, then by almost the same principles that Akane used to be "K" in the timeline where she lived, I shouldn't actually affect anything. But even if I somehow managed that, given that I really only remember the broad strokes of this game and thus can't even hope to replicate Clover's actions exactly, the best timeline ends with everyone besides Sigma and Phi left to deal with living in a doomed future. All others end with "me" either dead, stuck on the surface of the moon slowly running out of oxygen, or trapped in here forever with the others. Or rather, trapped until the Radical-6 everyone was secretly infected with takes full effect I suppose. Wow, okay, I hadn't even considered all that when I said I was screwed regardless; if time doesn't fall apart the second we walk out of here-
"Excuse me, Miss…?"
It takes me a moment to realize K is talking to me. I spin around to face him.
"Uh… C-Clover." I answer uneasily.
"May I ask what you're doing? I've no issue with it, but I imagine it will be easier to escape if we're working together."
"Oh, uh…"
To be honest, I don't really know why I'm doing this; I just remember that the knobs need to come off at some point in the process of getting the code you need to escape.
"I guess these knobs drew my eye since they're all so brightly colored, and they seemed to be loose, so I just sort of took them off?" I say. "I mean, it can't hurt, right?"
"Hmm… I suppose not." K concedes. "I'll get the other two."
K moves away to remove the other handles while I examine the rest of the chamber. I don't think I have to try too hard to recall how it worked in the game — this was the first puzzle room, and thus not particularly hard to get out of. Which is honestly something of an issue for me, as despite skipping directly from denial to acceptance in regards to my presence here, I still feel like I need more time to figure out what to do.
I suppose that in the short term, I just need to survive stepping outside this room, followed by the "game" that comes immediately after. Long term however, I ideally need to figure out how I ended up here, and somehow reverse the process. Consciousness travel is the obvious answer for that, but 1) Clover's body should have been occupied, because she's not capable of consciousness travel so far as I remember, 2) I'm not Clover, so even if she could transfer her consciousness I most certainly shouldn't be here, and 3) this is a VIDEO GAME! At least in the version of reality I exist in! How the hell can I even be here?!
My mind briefly stutters as I glance at K, suddenly remembering something else. Wait... there was a scene at the end of Virtue's Last Reward — a "secret ending", of sorts. A consciousness of unknown origin woke up in "Klim", which was heavily implied to be the player... does that have anything to do with this? It's not quite the same situation, and the ending got declared non-canon later, but maybe there's somehow actual precedent for this, at least from this universe's perspective?
Clutching tightly to that thought, I quickly review what I remember about that scene. If I recall correctly, Akane treated the player as a theoretically higher dimensional being, who could freely observe multiple timelines and travel between them — something proven by the fact that the player had been doing exactly that all game, through Sigma. She also vaguely hinted about how you'd be traveling to the Nevada test site soon, which was referencing the sequel of Zero Time Dilemma, again something that the player did in fact end up observing.
...implying that Akane may in fact know about "entities" like me, and thus may also know something about how I can get back to my own dimension.
Well, in that case, my plan is now to do everything I can to steer myself into the "true" ending timeline so that I can speak to Akane. She almost certainly won't be willing to drop the facade of being K before then, since that would cause the whole Schrodinger's Cat gambit that allowed her to live to begin with to fall apart, but at the end of the timeline she'll have already done everything she set out to do, and will have no reason not to help me. Non-canon or not, that secret ending is hope, at least, that maybe I'm not stuck here permanently.
…I just have to not die along the way, and also hope I don't cause spacetime to divide by zero the second I step out of this box.
I tell K to take the fire extinguisher pin out and use it as a key on the fire extinguisher box, which isn't a terribly difficult leap of logic, since there's a poster on the wall literally demonstrating how to do so. Meanwhile, I busy myself with the old people and babies poster, and move to punch the numbers of such into the matching railings, indicated by the tiny plaques on their sides.
The latter turns out to be a considerably more difficult task than one might imagine. The solution is all but self-evident, but it requires crossing the room to input — something that Clover's four inch heels are making very difficult for me. I'm basically walking on my tiptoes here, and as if that wasn't enough to throw me off balance already, gravity itself feels extremely wonky. Not completely off, which I assume is due to the tandem effect of the Radical-6 and the moon partially canceling each other out or something, but enough to make me extremely wary of falling over every other step. I end up having cling to the edge of the room to get to the other side, using the wall to support myself.
K quickly opens the extinguisher box, revealing four small socket wrench heads. While we're attaching them to the handles we pulled off the bars, I find myself lamenting something else as well — Clover's fingernails. I don't particularly care about how they're painted a pale shade of silvery-white; it's more the fact that her nails are less nails so much as miniature half-inch long DAGGERS. I don't feel like I remember her possessing near literal claws in the game, but apparently she does, and while I suppose it's good to know I have the option of gouging someone's eyes out if need be, they're incredibly difficult to handle anything with. Manipulating small objects with tooth-like points sticking out of your fingers is a real exercise in frustration. I'm fairly sure they're fake to boot, but trying to peel them off doesn't work, so they must be glued in place somehow... how incredibly annoying.
Regardless, we manage to get the socket wrenches together eventually. Given the literal color coding that's been done for us with the handles, it's immediately clear that they're meant to match the similarly colored screws on the elevator panel. Unscrewing and removing the panel reveals a tilting puzzle with a memory card inside, which also doesn't take long to solve, and a small green memory card soon pops out of it. I slip the card into Clover's shorts — good thing it's so small, because these pockets won't hold anything bigger — before turning to the elevator buttons.
Let's see here. The rabbit placard is supposed to represent Zero Three I guess, so...
I press the 3 button, and a similar memory card in red pops out from a slot in the wall. Satisfied, I wobble across the room and stick the two cards into the obvious card ports of the machine K was hunched over next to earlier, causing the screen to light up with a pattern of stars, suns, and moons…
Surrounded by blue.
"Well done. I believe we can enter this combination into the safe." K says.
"Yeah, I guess we can…" I agree vaguely, slightly confused, since I know what a blue code means.
Unsure of what I'll find, I slowly lower myself into a crouch and tap the buttons of the safe to create the indicated pattern. The safe clicks open, and I pull out the contents before standing back up.
"What is that?" K asks, looking confused.
"I'm… not sure." I reply, staring at the golden-colored folder in my hand.
Actually, I know exactly what this is, but from K's perspective I definitely shouldn't. Truth be told I'm not sure how I'd explain it anyways, because in-universe, it makes no sense for this to exist. In the game, Sigma can pick up a secret file from every escape room by finding a secondary passcode, which usually contains extra information relating to terms, science, and thought experiments mentioned in the dialogue. The other characters will see Sigma get the second combination and open the safe twice, even mentioning as such aloud, but they never comment on the files themselves, nor do they ask to see them, or really react to them at all. Sigma also clearly isn't toting them around with him everywhere, nor does he ever attempt to share them with anyone else — in other words, they have no plot impact, and once taken out of the safe they aren't even tangible items. They aren't supposed to impact the story at all… yet this doesn't seem like it's going to just vanish out of my hand, and K is asking about it, so it's clearly real. I'm not really sure what to think about this.
"…hang on a moment."
I walk back over to the elevator buttons, still using the bar on the side of the wall to support myself. Usually the difference between getting a green escape password and a blue file password is just a single difference in how you solve the final step, and since the baby and old man buttons are locked in, and the sliding puzzle is already finished, this is the only thing in the room that can still be manipulated. Seeing as how there's no penalty for being wrong, I decide to just press the buttons in one by one without bothering to think about it.
I start with the button at the very top, and a blue memory card immediately pushes its way out of the slot. Wait, the answer was zero? Why-
Oh, right. Duh. Not sure why that didn't come to mind first, actually.
I slot it into the machine alongside the green and red cards, and this time the screen turns green, displaying a different pattern. Closing the safe, I input the new pattern and reopen it, this time finding a key inside.
"A different code results in different contents?" K notes as I hold it up for him to see. "How does that work? A trick back, perhaps? And what exactly is the purpose of that folder?"
"I dunno." I tell him, trying to sound confused. "It doesn't look like we needed it to escape though. Let's just get out of here, we'll look it over outside."
K nods in agreement, and I walk over to the elevator panel again, finally starting to get the hang of doing so without a hand on the wall. The key opens the plastic door covering the button (couldn't we have just smashed that open), which I press, causing a hatch in the ceiling to open.
I look at K. He looks at me.
"Hmm. Miss Clover, if you would step over here for a moment?" K asks after a few seconds, positioning himself beneath the hatch.
I comply, assuming he's going to tell me to climb up on his shoulders. Instead, to my surprise, he bends down and lifts me off the ground in a bridal carry.
"Hey! W-What are you-"
I don't have the time to say anything else, as I'm instead forced to cling on for dear life as K leaps off the ground and out of the hatch…
Yeeeeep, it's another SI from me, and one in a very similar vein to the one I'm already writing. Mostly because this was actually written BEFORE Stand-In was ever conceived- I just haven't uploaded any of it until now because VLR isn't that well known, and I wasn't confident it would find an audience. That said, I've got like 30000 words written for this already, so I may as well put what I have out there regardless, and if anyone likes it, hey, maybe I'll continue. This is certainly easier to write than Stand-In, so I definitely wouldn't mind if it happened to get more popular.
Hope you enjoy this mess of time loops, escape rooms, and constant internal panic.
It's not so much timeloops as it is conciousness' jumping between multiple parallel timelines when theyre put in a dangerous enough situation. Plus there's a whole sub thread of shared human conciousness/observation changing how physics work which may be what's allowing the jumps to happen in the first place (after all IIRC the more people that can jump the easier it gets for it to happen in the first place). The 3 games in the series are all on Steam as the Zero Escape games, though you could probably find playthroughs on Youtube too.
Anyways I personally love the games and VLR was my introduction to the series, so I'm excited to see where this goes.
The thing to know about the Zero Escape games is the plots of all of them are really convoluted, overcomplicated, and don't make much consistent sense on the whole.
They tend to rely on pseudoscience for their background plot, and badly understood pseudoscience at that.
Plus they feature a lot of characters that don't remotely act like actual humans act. Though some are actually pretty well written fun and reasonable characters.
A lot of the plot twists are really dumb. Like, really really dumb.
Despite that they're pretty fun games? Sort of the visual novel equivalent of watching a bad horror movie.
Amusingly I think the Clover Insert is way overthinking things here. Half the plot is complete ass-pulls that don't hold up to any close inspection so she shouldn't need to worry so much about trying to make things go right.
Edit: If you want to know more about them I'd recommend watching SuperGreatFriends playthroughs of them. He streamed all three games and he has the best deadpan responses to some of the stupidity.
Hmmm, i've never really liked bad horror movies. But, that said, i might try to give this series a shot anyways! I just have to rope somebody into playing it with me... And drinking! Possibly? We'll see.
Also thank you for the recommendation, it makes for a good backup plan in case none of my friends wants to join me!
Hoo, and here's the barrier of entry. I highly, HIGHLY recommend you have a basic grasp of VLR's overall plot before reading this; it will make no sense at all otherwise. Glad you're looking forward to it all the same though!
The thing to know about the Zero Escape games is the plots of all of them are really convoluted, overcomplicated, and don't make much consistent sense on the whole.
They tend to rely on pseudoscience for their background plot, and badly understood pseudoscience at that.
Plus they feature a lot of characters that don't remotely act like actual humans act. Though some are actually pretty well written fun and reasonable characters.
A lot of the plot twists are really dumb. Like, really really dumb.
Despite that they're pretty fun games? Sort of the visual novel equivalent of watching a bad horror movie.
Amusingly I think the Clover Insert is way overthinking things here. Half the plot is complete ass-pulls that don't hold up to any close inspection so she shouldn't need to worry so much about trying to make things go right.
Edit: If you want to know more about them I'd recommend watching SuperGreatFriends playthroughs of them. He streamed all three games and he has the best deadpan responses to some of the stupidity.
I feel the need to step in and defend the series a bit from the accusations leveled here. Yes, it's a lot of pseudoscience, but that's sort of the point. Same with the characters being so wildly "out there", particularly in VLR where at least half of them have a very good reason for that. I personally found the series to be more believable in a lot of ways than similar visual novels, ex. the Danganronpa series to which I've heard it compared before. If you could believe the twists in that, the Zero Escape series probably won't lose you. The world is actually pretty engrossing, and while I agree that a couple of the twists are kind of dumb, there's a LOT of them, and more than a few hit their mark pretty solidly.
All told, I think it does what it sets out to do pretty well on the whole. Maybe it's just a different level of ability to suspend my disbelief.
K's suit must assist his jumping ability, because even accounting for the moon's lower gravity, he easily goes over 20 feet up, over twice the height of the AB room itself. When we land, with a remarkably soft impact, I'm almost surprised he doesn't bounce off the floor.
"…I could have done that myself you know." I tell him as I push myself out of his arms, crossing my own irritably. "And some warning might have been nice."
"Ah. My apologies." K says, seeming about as apologetic as his tone ever gets. "I assumed this would be the simplest solution, but I suppose I should have asked first."
I look over at the people clustered around the number 9 door, bracing myself, until I realize that the crowd appears to be two people short. Dio, Quark, Luna, Alice, and Tenmyouji… apparently, we aren't the last to escape as Clover and K were initially supposed to be, which I guess means we're postponing the moment of truth until Sigma and Phi actually manage to get out here.
Everyone is staring at us, which I'm not sure how to react to. Shock is evident on most of their faces, though Tenmyouji seems to be alternating between looking warily at K and squinting at me, while Alice…
"Clover!" she calls out, sounding worried.
I do my best to smile. "Alice!"
I walk over to her as fast as I really can in heeled shoes, inwardly grimacing. I've already decided on playing the part of Clover for now, and keeping events as close to how they went in the game as possible so I can reach the true ending. However, Alice knows Clover better than anyone here, so she's a lot more likely to notice something wrong than the others. I'm not sure how, or even if I can bluff my way through this…
I don't have any time to really come up with anything, as Alice meets me halfway to her, grabbing me by the shoulders in a semi-embrace.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she asks, looking me over.
"No, I'm fine… a little off balance, and kind of sore from lying on the floor, but otherwise fine." I reply.
Alice looks over at K, flinching at his appearance, before turning back to me.
"Who or… what is that?!"
"Oh, uh, that's K." I tell her, watching as K begins approaching, and the others start tensing and backing away. "I was kind of scared of him when I woke up, but he seems nice enough, armor aside."
Alice pulls me in close, suddenly choosing to whisper in my ear. "Don't think like that Clover. You of all people know that in a situation like this, we can't trust anyone, especially not someone wearing something like that."
Crap, that's right. Alice doesn't have any idea what's going on beyond that she thinks the Myrmidons are involved, and as a member of her organization Clover would naturally be suspicious too, especially of the 7 foot tall guy who can't even be confirmed as a person.
"Right, sorry." I whisper back.
"We'll talk more later, when we're alone." she continues, looking over at K again. "For now, keep the airhead act up in front of these people. It'll help keep attention off of us."
Oh, lovely. She's planning a private meeting, where I'm going to have to act exactly the way Clover would in front of a person she considers a very close friend. Even if I know VLR's story, these two would know way more about each other than just what the game showed. In fact, given how long it's been since I played it, I probably can't hope to replicate even what little conversation we did hear between them. It's not like I took the time to memorize every single line of dialogue. Damn, I should have told K I did have amnesia, if I hadn't already told him I didn't it could have covered for so much-!
My internal lamenting is interrupted by the sudden noise of a hatch opening on top of one of the AB rooms. Everyone briefly turns away from K as a white haired girl leaps out the hatch and lands on the roof, crouching to pull up an old man in a jumpsuit with gray, neck length hair. They quickly spot our little group, and after a moment of discussion they drop to the ground and begin walking over.
Well, I don't FEEL as if the universe is collapsing…
I let go of a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding. Thank goodness. There are plenty more pitfalls to avoid here, but at least the one I was most worried about doesn't seem to be an issue.
As the pair gets closer, I can't help myself from staring at Sigma's bionic eye. Seriously, how does no one ever bring that up? The metal eyepiece jutting out of his head is pretty obtrusive, and you'd think someone would question it, especially given how distrustful everyone is of K for looking like a robot. Not that I'm planning on saying anything about it either, since that could mess up quite a lot of things, but really? Then again, I suppose no one ever questions Dio's ringmaster outfit, Clover's (currently my) lack of an actual shirt, or Alice's… ring either, so I guess they're only interrogating K because his appearance is obviously intimidating. Everyone else is free to be as weird looking as they like.
"Uh… hey there! Any of you guys know what the hell's going on here?" Sigma asks the moment he gets close enough for any of us to hear. His voice is surprisingly strong for someone over 60 years old, which I guess is why he never noticed a difference in the game. "And… what's with the guy dressed like a robot?" he continues, squinting at K.
"That's what we'd like to know." Alice says as K lingers near the outside of the group, keeping his distance.
"I assure you, I am not a robot." K protests in a rather robotic tone that does not remotely help his case. "At least, I don't think I am."
"You don't think?" Phi repeats, raising an eyebrow.
"I can't seem to remember who I am… or anything else, for that matter."
There's a round of shocked faces for everyone again, besides me.
"Seriously?" Sigma asks, disbelievingly.
"Yes. I have no idea where I am, who I am, or… even what day it is. If any of you happen to know any of those things, I would very much appreciate if you shared that information. Not knowing one's identity is… vexing."
Dio immediately starts going off on K about how we can't take a guy wearing a robot suit and whose face we can't see seriously, and asks if we're supposed to assume someone forced him into the armor, which sounds vaguely familiar to me. K's response and Tenmyouji's follow up about how calm he seems are equally so. Is this the normal dialogue? I'd say that's a good thing, since it means less changes I have to worry about potentially affecting the path to the true ending, but no one's introduced themselves yet, and that was supposed to happen first, so it can't last.
"Hey, you. Clover, was it?" Tenmyouji suddenly speaks up, looking at me. "Do you believe this guy?"
I definitely don't remember that line, which makes sense since Clover was probably still unconscious during this scene. Since the "normal" course of events is already ruined to some extent, I guess I'll just give him my honest opinion.
"I guess? I mean, I don't really know him, but he was perfectly nice while we were stuck in that room." I answer, shrugging. "I don't think he's going to hurt anyone at least, and I do think he's telling the truth about his memory."
That doesn't exactly satisfy everyone, but it does seem to lower tensions a bit. Tenmyouji in particular seems to lose most of his accusatory tone, even if Dio still doesn't seem remotely convinced. After that, the group begins asking K questions about pretty much every personal subject under the sun: his birthday, his favorite food, even the last time he went to the toilet (which I imagine might be rather difficult in a suit like that), but as expected he doesn't remember a whit of it. Luna concludes he has generalized amnesia, which K attempts to make a very bad joke about, and which Dio continues to call bullshit on.
"Well, whether it is or not, it doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere with this." Tenmyouji concludes. "Since the rooms should all be empty now, I assume this is everyone. We might as well introduce ourselves."
Everyone seems to either agree with or have no issue with that suggestion. Tenmyouji goes first, followed by Quark. My eyes wander over each person as they announce their name, recalling everything I know about each of them in turn. There are so many secrets between this group's nine members, and I know virtually all of them… not that I can use that information, or even really mention it since that would probably screw a lot of proceeding events up, but it's kind of weird to consider.
"I'm Alice, and this is Clover." Alice says, introducing me simultaneously.
"Huh. I take it you two know each other?" Sigma asks.
"Yes. Clover and I are… coworkers." Alice finishes vaguely. I notice Sigma squint and mutter something under his breath at that, but decide to ignore it.
"And just what are we supposed to call you?" Dio asks once we get around to K.
"Hmm…" K places a hand on his chin, clearly giving it some thought. "Well…"
"If you're not gonna admit you're lying about this amnesia shit, just make something up." Dio snidely comments. "Call yourself 'Asshole' for all I care, just pick something."
"…I suppose you can call me… K."
Everyone seems a bit nonplussed. "K?" Dio protests, looking caught between being annoyed and confused. "The hell does 'K' have to do with anything?"
"I don't know." K answers. "I feel as if it's somehow important, however…"
…whoops. I just realized I told Alice his name was K before he actually had a chance to come up with it. Hopefully she didn't notice that…
"Alright then." Tenmyouji says, looking around at everyone. "Now that that's settled, I'd like to make sure of something. Besides those of us that can't remember, we were all gassed and grabbed, right?"
Weird that he'd be the one to bring that up, since I know that he himself wasn't.
"Yeah, sounds about right." Sigma replies. "I got in my car, tried to start the engine, and white smoke started pouring out of the AC…"
"I believe we all experienced something to that effect." Luna chimes in. "The smoke seems to have acted as some kind of general anesthetic. When I woke up, I was in one of these 'elevators'."
Sigma then chooses to ask the rather stupid question of whether we all woke up in the same elevator (would we have even fit?), leading to the "reveal" that Alice, Luna, and Tenmyouji woke up alone, while Quark woke up with Dio and I woke up with K. They start talking about the bracelets and what the solo/pair assignments could mean as something occurs to me — come to think of it, how did Alice manage to get out of her room without realizing she suddenly had super jumping powers? Tenmyouji and Luna already know where we are, so it wouldn't have surprised them, but Alice doesn't, and I don't recall her ever bringing it up in the game. Sigma never does either, despite how I believe he explicitly notes Phi's incredible "flying" abilities at one point, which Phi herself doesn't even seem to question. Is that a plot hole, or just something none of those three found interesting enough to mention for some reason? Should I ask Alice about it? I don't really want to rock the boat any more than I already have, so probably not…
Discussion eventually ceases, with no one really knowing what else to say. Phi wanders off towards the "Two milkmen go comedy" graffiti written in what looks like blood at the back of the warehouse, while Sigma begins fruitlessly trying to open the magenta Chromatic Door, which is honestly kind of funny given that it doesn't even have a handle. I've no idea what exactly he thinks he's going to accomplish just shoving on that thing, but perhaps he simply feels compelled to at least give it a try. I'm about to go join Phi, since I don't really remember what the message was an anagram of or if it was remotely important, until I'm suddenly interrupted.
"Hey. Clover, right?"
I turn around and almost wince. Dio, everyone's least favorite character, appears to be attempting to talk to me.
"What's that folder you've got?"
I blink, honestly having forgotten that I've been holding that at my side this whole time. The others turn to me as well, most of them apparently having not noticed it until now.
"You mean this?" I say, holding the folder up. "I'm not sure. It was inside the safe in our room, but I haven't really looked at it yet."
"Well why not? There could be important information in there." Dio points out. "Hurry up and-"
"He he he… eee he he he he he he… eee he he he he he he he he he…"
Everyone looks around wildly as Zero Three chooses to giggle manically over the intercom for a few seconds before projecting himself onto the wall.
"Welllll now. Looks like someone found one of the secret archives! Congratulations, Cleaver!"
I startle at the rabbit AI directly addressing me again.
"You'd better not tell anyone what's in there yet! I do have a plan here you know, and I can't just have you revealing things out of order."
"So that folder IS important!" Dio exclaims, rounding on me.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Zero replies, waving a paw nonchalantly. "I just don't want its contents spoiling you all on what's to come. It's far too exciting! Eee he he he he…"
"Why you…" Dio's temper swings back around as he turns back towards the wall. "Show yourself you little bastard!"
As Zero begins mercilessly baiting Dio, I look down at the folder in my hands. Was that call out some sort of indication that Zero knows I'm not really Clover? I... kind of hope it was, since that would imply Sigma-Zero knew when he was programming the AI, which in turn implies I'll at least survive long enough for it to become known I'm not her at some point in the timeline. Since I only plan on revealing that when I talk to Akane, it would be near ironclad assurance that I'll be making it to the true ending. Unfortunately, that seemed more directed at my having found the file than anything to do with who I actually am…
"Ooooh, you mean you want to see the person who's controlling me?" Zero coos in response to Dio demanding to see the man behind the curtain. "Well, in that case, maybe you need to take a look around!"
"What are you talking about?" Dio scoffs. "This place is empty! There's no one here but-"
"What he's saying," Phi mutters, loudly enough for everyone to hear, "is that the real Zero could be one of us…"
"Well done, Phido!" Zero praises. "Minus points for needing a hint, however. You're cleverer than that, aren't you?"
The group looks more confused than surprised by this potential revelation. "How can that be?" Quark asks, speaking up for the first time since he told us his name. "You're speaking and responding to us right now…"
Zero goes on to tell everyone that he's an AI, before finally beginning to explain the Nonary Game proper. I start listening more carefully once he gets to that part — unlike in the elevator, I figure this time I should try to actually pay attention to him. Sure, I theoretically already know the rules here, but it's been a while, and I want to make sure I remember everything correctly. Though, annoyingly, Zero's… theatricality means he is not exactly doling out the information quickly. It takes him over two minutes just to explain the function of the number 9 door, which I feel could have been summarized in all of 10 seconds: here's the way out, it opens once and once only, don't get left behind.
I've never been the most patient person. By the time Zero starts explaining the bracelets, it occurs to me that I could probably get all this stuff from the file if I wanted to. The early ones were basically just term glossaries, and since Zero told me not to "spoil" things, this one almost certainly goes over what he's talking about right now. He just said not to tell anyone yet, not that I couldn't look at it myself, right?
I scoot to the back of the group and flip the folder open. There's a single sheet inside, which I quickly skim over. Yep, basically just a glossary of terms and objects relevant to the Nonary Game, though it's a lot less useful as a reference than I thought it might be. It does go over what the AB rooms are, explains what a quantum computer is, and mentions how and why the bracelets might kill us — well, actually it just heavily implies they will, oddly enough — but for some reason, it also covers the phrases Zero Three uses before he leaves, makes a joke about AI standing for Artificial Insemination, and pointlessly talks about how unsafe the elevator doors are, rather than utilizing the space for more useful information. Well, I guess these were mostly just meant as a "bonus" for the player to collect, so they're free to be a little silly… which only highlights how weird it is that they now seem to be included in the rather more serious plot.
Zero has moved on to talking about the AB rooms and the keycards needed to access them, which I'm fairly sure I haven't forgotten anything about, so I continue ignoring him. There's nothing else to gain from looking at the file any longer, so on another note entirely: what was that thing about "keeping up the airhead act" Alice mentioned? I guess she thinks my acting like a ditz will help us here somehow? Did Clover do that in this game? That's kind of distasteful to be perfectly honest, and either way, I think that ship may have already sailed. I solved the first room pretty much on my own after all, and while it was relatively simple, I was also the only one to get the secret file. Besides which, a lot of the people here are going to be suspicious of everyone else regardless, so it probably doesn't matter how intelligent I act in regards to drawing attention. That said, I don't want Alice to think I'm just ignoring her… but this is a minor issue all things considered, so I suppose I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it.
I tune back in just in time to hear Zero literally reviewing what we've gone over so far. Nice to know I've missed absolutely nothing by almost completely ignoring him.
"Cleaver, can you tell me what the three primary colors are?" he suddenly asks.
I tilt my head at the unexpected question. "I… assume you mean red, green, and blue, not red, blue, and yellow. But why ask me?"
"Because. You're the only person I haven't talked with yet." Zero snappily replies. "No reason to go mute around me, communication is a wonderful thing. And yes, of course I don't mean red, blue, and yellow. You're not in elementary school anymore Cleaver, you should know better!"
I glare at the projection for a moment, which Zero giggles at.
"Now, what colors do you need to make Magenta?" he asks, drawing out the name of the color.
"Red and blue."
"How about y-"
"You use red and green to get yellow and blue and green to get cyan." I say impatiently. I kind of want to sarcastically ask if we should just intuit the rest from that, but I can't think of a way to phrase it that doesn't sound stupid, and it probably isn't the best idea to tick Zero off, no matter how annoying he is. We shouldn't have to deal with him much longer anyways.
The rabbit sniffs huffily at my preempting him before resuming his explanation. Man, I forgot how long these little infodumps took. Didn't we just establish that we only have 10 minutes left before the doors open? How can this feel like an eternity? Can't be the Radical-6; that makes things seem sped up, not slowed down. I'm doing my best to look as though I'm still interested, but I'm increasingly less concerned that anything about this scenario is different from the one I'm already familiar with, besides my being in it. VLR lets you skip dialogue you've already heard for a reason, and this would be that reason.
I'm a little surprised the whole death penalty thing hasn't been mentioned yet. Does that come later? I thought for sure it was part of this scene, but maybe Zero doesn't explain that until the first AB game, which I suppose makes more sense now that I think of it. Honestly, I'm not all that worried about the bracelet killing me regardless — I'm far more concerned about all the OTHER potential causes of death this game presents. If I recall, just going by things seen onscreen, I could get murdered by Dio, blown up by antimatter bombs, or fall victim to plague-induced suicide. Lovely. Hopefully I won't have to deal with any of those, but each of the three main timelines beyond the first Chromatic Doors has one of those as an overall theme, so that's probably not really possible.
An activation sound suddenly plays, and the Chromatic Doors slide up into the walls.
"Chromatic Doors have opened." Akane's voice rings out over the warehouse. "Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close."
I glance over at the doors in question. Zero still isn't gone yet, but I guess that means it's time to move on. I should- shit, I should have started thinking about this sooner. I need to get to the true ending, which means I need to end up in the bomb timeline. How did that one start? I think Sigma and Phi went to… darn it, it definitely wasn't the lounge… I'm pretty sure it was the crew quarters? Yeah, the first bomb was under one of the fold out beds, it was definitely there. It may not actually matter who goes there as long as someone discovers the bomb, except that I don't remember if Dio even planted them in the murder and sickness timelines. Much like how Quark somehow doesn't get sick in at least one of the timelines but does in the other(s), I don't fully understand the factors in play there. It's not worth risking.
So, I need to make sure I'm in the timeline where Sigma chooses to go to the crew quarters. Problem is, I have no way of making Sigma want to go to the crew quarters. The pairings are ultimately left up to him in the game, and he makes his choice at close to the last second every time, so I'm not going to have much chance to object if he chooses to go to the lounge or the infirmary. How would I even justify asking a team I'm not even paired up with to go to a specific door, unless- wait, there's a much easier way! If I insist on K and I's partner, then I can "choose" where the others go — once one team is decided, everyone else only has one option. I need Sigma and Phi to go through the cyan door, so they need to pair up with… crap, maybe I should have been listening to who had what color after all.
"Well… death." Zero says nonchalantly.
Everyone looks horrified. It takes me half a second to catch up with them, as I missed the context, though I think I can guess what it was. Sure enough, Zero finally begins explaining how the bracelets can kill us if we don't follow the rules. For the love of- he's choosing to do this NOW of all times?! Oh wait, of course he is, he wants us all as stressed as possible. It's only natural he'd choose to run down the time we have to decide who goes where.
Once Zero finishes lighting a fire under everyone's collective backside and finally disappears, Phi quickly starts going over our options, which means I get to hear everyone's colors again. In order for Sigma and Phi, the red pair, to access the crew quarters behind the cyan door, they need to go with Alice, the red solo. Which means K and I, the green pair, need to insist on… Tenmyouji. Damn, what reason can I give for that? A 19 (I think) year old girl requesting to pair up with a strange dude in his 60s. Right, no one will question that whatsoever, especially since Clover would probably be far more likely to want to pair up with Alice… hold on, maybe that's it!
I tap Alice lightly on the shoulder from behind, and begin whispering in her ear.
"Alice, we should try to gather information on these people. Don't request me. We can find out more on different teams."
Alice seems surprised, as one might expect. "I agree that we need to figure out who and what we're dealing with, but are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I'll ask to pair up with Tenmyouji, you ask for Sigma and Phi. We'll have a better chance of getting our choice that way."
Alice slowly nods, and I back away, just as Phi finishes explaining the option I'm hoping we take. Luna frantically begins asking that someone pick, deferring to Sigma at first, but conveniently proceeding to suggest that either I or Alice pick once he protests being put on the spot. It sounds like she's going to go on to suggest any of the others as well, but I don't think I'm going to have a better time to make my move.
"I'd actually like to pair up with Tenmyouji and go through the magenta door." I say, cutting Luna off.
Several people, including both Tenmyouji and Sigma, turn to give me bewildered looks. Multiple "Huh?"s go unheard as the announcement that we only have one minute left plays over top of them.
"Now there's a choice I didn't expect to hear…" Phi murmurs, crossing her arms.
"And as it happens, I'd like to pair up with Sigma and Phi to go through the cyan door, so that works out perfectly." Alice continues, which seems to shock Sigma.
"Wha- wait, why would you want to go with-"
"What, am I not good enough for you?" Alice pouts indignantly, placing a hand on her collarbone and giving him a sly look.
"No, I just don't understand-"
"We don't have time to argue about this." Phi interrupts. "That's two people who want Option C. Does anyone have any objections?"
"That means me, Mister Dio, and Miss Luna would be going through the yellow door, right?" Quark asks. "I'm alright with that."
"Yeah, think I'm all right with that as well." Dio says, giving Luna an appraising look.
"Don't see a reason to say no." Tenmyouji mumbles, still looking at me with a puzzled expression.
"Ten seconds remain until Chromatic Doors close. Nine… Eight… Seven…"
"We need to hurry!" Luna cries, prompting everyone to make a break for it towards their doors. Thank goodness the magenta door is the closest one to where we were standing, because I don't think I could have run to the others quickly enough in Clover's shoes.
"Three… Two… One…"
We slip into the room, just before the final announcement plays.
"Zero. Chromatic Doors closing."
The door descends, and the three of us are swallowed by the darkness.
With the way Zero talks, recapping all of his explanations would take forever, so I'm not going to even try. While I wish I could make this less impenetrable for reading by people not familiar with the series, with the way the game works and the many, many twists involved, that's just not realistic. Sorry.
If you're noticing similar themes to Stand-in... just remember, this technically came first.
For a few moments all three of us are completely blind, since the tiny room we're now standing in has no lights. Then a dull white glow of some sort moves over the room, presumably scanning the bracelets present, before a door opens up in front of us. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I move out into a relatively clean grayish-teal hallway, K and Tenmyouji following just behind me.
Okay, I managed to make it into the bomb timeline. Just gotta hope things keep going right.
"Oh yeah, sorry for not asking for your input back there, K." I turn and say apologetically.
Truthfully, it didn't even occur to me to do so, but doing so may have made things more difficult anyways, so I don't really regret it. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission and all.
"It's quite alright." K replies evenly. "I had no particular preference on who to go with in any case."
"Yeah, on that subject," Tenmyouji interjects as we continue moving, "not that I really mind, but why exactly did you want to pair up with me?"
I place a hand on the back of my head, idly rubbing Clover's weird hair ornaments. "I dunno… you… kinda feel familiar, for some reason? I guess I just sort of wanna know why…"
Given that Tenmyouji is in fact Junpei from 999, and knows that Clover is the girl he went through the second Nonary Game with, I think this is a pretty decent justification. Telling him he seems faintly familiar should make perfect sense, at least to the man himself, and quite neatly explain why I'd want to pair up with him.
Sure enough, Tenmyouji nods, seeming slightly cheered. "Well, I can't say why you'd feel that way, but I do appreciate it. Thanks."
I smile in response. Tenmyouji may be familiar with Clover, but to a much lesser degree than Alice, and a hell of a lot less recently. Any personality quirks I may show that he doesn't remember Clover having he can probably explain to himself as having been picked up between now and the last time he saw her. Thus, I can probably relax a little.
The Lounge is just up ahead. I walk up to it, the door opening automatically upon my approach, before suddenly freezing in the doorway as several things occur to me, followed by an extremely unfortunate conclusion:
I just forced my way into the bomb timeline, in order to set myself on the path to the true ending.
In order to get here, I essentially took the decision out of Sigma's hands at the primary timeline divergence point.
Sigma and Phi need to be able to access all of the timelines possible in order to train their consciousness shifting to the point that they don't lose most of their memory upon arrival.
They also need to access all the available timelines to obtain the four passcodes that can stop Dio's bombs.
Because Sigma did not get the ultimate say on who went where, the main timeline will not have split, and the other two primary lines will have been prevented from forming.
Therefore, Sigma and Phi will not be able to access them.
Therefore, they won't be able to stop the bombs.
Therefore, SHIT.
"Is something wrong, Clover?" K asks.
I don't say anything in response, instead simply moving into the lounge so that K and Tenmyouji can enter. Plopping down on the nearby couch, I place the stupid folder I'm still toting around beside me and put my head in my hands, trying not to stab myself with Clover's fingernails.
This is bad. If Sigma and Phi can't access the timelines where they interrogated the bomb passwords out of Dio, we're all doomed. I certainly don't remember them, they were all just random strings of letters… actually, I think some website I checked pointed out they were key shifts of specific phrases come to think of it, but I don't remember what those phrases are and I don't think it was ever even mentioned in the game proper, so that doesn't help at all.
"I'm fine. Just… give me a minute." I answer, waving him off. "I need a moment to process things."
Tenmyouji seems to quietly accept that, and turns away, leaving me to continue thinking about how to fix my self-made crisis.
Can we maybe interrogate all the passwords out of Dio in just this timeline alone? No, that won't work, the only reason he was willing to give singular ones up in disparate timelines was because he knew Sigma and Phi couldn't stop the other bombs even if they stopped one. Frankly, that was pretty stupid of him regardless, but even if we did somehow manage to get the first three passwords out of him, there's also the one Sigma-Zero provides, which Dio manages to never even let on about. Maybe if we prefaced the interrogation by telling him we know there are four bombs… are there enough places where the timeline splits left that Sigma and Phi can still potentially get the passwords in separate lines?
I think it over. There's the ally/betray choice, then the second Chromatic Door choice, followed by the second ally/betray choice… so, theoretically, yes. Except that without the information from the murder and sickness lines, Sigma and Phi might not even know Dio is responsible for setting the bombs until it's too late. If they could split the timeline at will then it might be okay, but they probably can't do that unless the Nonary Game does it for them, since their memories don't tend to show back up at all until...
I frown. Hold on, I can't have screwed up that badly. Like I reasoned before, the Nonary Game clearly still has to come to a successful conclusion somehow, given that it's happening in the first place. Meaning that for whatever reason, the timeline must still split enough times for everything to work out, despite my press-ganging my way into this one. Does that mean I can stop worrying?
…no, probably not, but let's cling to that thread of hope and assume as much for the moment, since I don't really know what else to do about this otherwise.
I stand up, feeling at least slightly less apprehensive, and see that K and Tenmyouji are still examining the room. Specifically, they're looking over the door that refuses to open, despite K's best attempts.
"It does not seem we will be able to proceed without the key that unlocks this door." K notes as Tenmyouji gives it a try, scowling as he also fails to budge it.
"It's probably in the safe on that shelf, like the key to the elevator was, dontcha think?" Tenmyouji says, rubbing his back. "Clover, are you up to helping?"
I nod. "Yeah, I'm okay now."
"Alright. Then let's find that password."
With that, our search begins. By unspoken agreement, K and Tenmyouji seem to decide to cluster around me so we can examine the room as a single unit. This leads to a lot more commentary than I'd honestly expected.
"Ho ho, looks like we picked the right room." Tenmyouji smiles as we look over the bar at the many types of alcohol on display. "The door said this was the lounge, right?"
"Correct." K answers.
"Well, if we get any free time later, I know where I'm coming back to." Tenmyouji says, turning to me. "Say, Clover, are you old enough to drink?"
Good question, since I have no idea what the minimum drinking age is in Japan. Not that it's all that relevant when it comes to me.
"I'm nineteen, but it doesn't really matter. I can't even stand the smell of most alcohol, let alone the taste." I tell him, crossing my arms and raising one eyebrow as I stare at him. "Why? Were you about to invite me to do something… untoward?"
"Oh, uh, not at all…" Tenmyouji grins with closed eyes, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
Rolling my eyes, I grab the gold needles and the little fastening piece sitting in one of the martini glasses on the bar, followed by the martini glass itself and its two brethren. Seeing no reason to hold on to the glasses for the moment, I move them over to the nearby drink mixer, placing one inside to be filled and the other two at its side.
"What do you suppose this is?" K asks, referencing the mixer.
"It's a-" I start.
"It's a limited edition space crusader helmet from the Clash of the Galaxies series!" Tenmyouji interrupts. "Man, I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid."
"…somehow, that doesn't seem quite right to me." I deadpan. You'd think that out of the three of us, he would be the one most qualified to know this. "I'm pretty sure it's actually a machine for mixing drinks."
Tenmyouji's grin doesn't waver in the slightest. "Even better!"
I snort. I think I was set up for that.
Since we're already working with the drinks, I move behind the bar to take the ten bright bottles of alcohol down, placing them next to the mixer as well.
"So many varieties…" K muses. "I wonder how they taste? Not that the option is even open to me…"
"Don't worry, I'll test them out for you." Tenmyouji says, grabbing up the container labeled 'ISLAND'. "Ooh, this stuff looks nice… don't mind if I do." He motions to take a swig straight from the bottle.
"We probably need that for a puzzle." I tell him while grabbing the globe piece squeezed to the right of the remaining bottles. "Let's please not trap ourselves in here by accidentally chugging the solution."
"Aww…" Tenmyouji pouts. Wow, Junpei is still just a giant child, isn't he?
We haven't found the actual instructions for the drink mixing yet, so I steer our little trio over to the room's sole table. As this is where the full globe is eventually going to sit anyways, I place the piece of it I have on the table alongside the other two.
"What's this, an oversized hook?" Tenmyouji asks, looking genuinely confused about what the object at the center is.
"I believe it is some sort of stand." K explains, conveniently preempting me. "These pieces appear to be parts of a small model of Earth. I would assume that once we have them all together, this is where it will be placed."
"Ah, I see." Tenmyouji smirks, holding his chin with his thumb and index finger. "That reminds me of my youth, back when I was on top of the world…"
"Were you now?" I ask.
"Yep. Course, then I got in trouble with my geography teacher for standing on the class globe…"
I find myself giggling under my breath at that, despite how lame it was. Weird, why is Tenmyouji being this... well, goofy? I don't remember him being like this in the game, though I suppose I don't remember a lot of the dialogue that happens in the escape rooms. Is it just because he's trying to come off well to Clover? I'll admit that the lighthearted nature of it all is making me feel a bit better… maybe that's the point? He's trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit; make things seem less dire. He'd probably be doing it if Quark were here too... that's honestly kind of sweet of him, in a grandfatherly sort of way.
I move over to the back left corner, grabbing the globe piece brazenly lying in the middle of the floor. Meanwhile, K stares deeply into the couch I sat down on a minute ago, apparently really trying to find something notable about it.
"If any of us get tired, this couch could probably be used as a bed in a pinch." he notes. "Look, it even has pillows."
Tenmyouji hums, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before turning a smoldering gaze towards K. "Right you are. Wanna lie down and share one?"
The straightfaced eyebrow wiggle he proceeds to add causes me to actually bust out laughing. Alright, that one was legitimately funny. Tenmyouji looks pleased.
"I'll… pass. Thank you." K holds up a hand, looking up at the ceiling as if embarrassed.
I decide to pass on checking out the weird sun-clock thing for the moment and move on to the final section of the room. The back right corner contains a medium sized shelving unit, with the room safe sitting on it at about shoulder height. At the bottom is a two door cupboard, which I open to reveal the final globe piece and a small piece of paper. Tenmyouji picks up the page, which seems to have been ripped out of something, while I grab the final fifth of the model Earth and move back to the table to assemble it.
"This paper appears to have been ripped out of a bartender's journal." K says, looking over Tenmyouji's shoulder at the page. "I assume this is meant to be part of a puzzle, though the specifics escape me at the moment."
"Can I see?" I ask, placing the now-complete globe on its stand.
Tenmyouji hands me the paper, which I scan over. Ah, I remember this.
"Okay, so we probably just need to figure out where everyone was sitting and which drinks they had." I say aloud. "I guess we're just supposed to ignore the fact that the kid was also getting smashed... anyways. With the alcohol and the mixer over there, we can make those drinks, place them on those little pads the same way the page describes, and that'll be the end of it. So, if someone is lying-"
"Actually, would you mind if I solve this one Clover?" K unexpectedly interrupts. "There is no need for you to do everything by yourself."
I look over at him owlishly. "Um… sure…" I say, gingerly handing over the sheet. "Go right ahead."
K nods, and begins looking over the page. I continue to stand and stare at him for a moment, still a little stunned, before backing away and seating myself at one of the table's chairs. I guess I could go fiddle with the sun-clock, but… well, it seems kind of wrong to leave K out now, so I guess I'll just wait for a bit.
While K continues to try and work out the logic puzzle, Tenmyouji sits down next to me, causing me to tense slightly.
"Looks like we've got a moment to relax." he says casually. "Feeling any better now?"
"A little, yeah." I reply, internally frowning. Damn, an unprompted conversation. Not good.
"I'm glad to hear it." Tenmyouji smiles sincerely before it fades into a more quizzical expression. "Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?"
I hesitate for a moment, then shrug, not having a justifiable reason to say no. "Not really, I guess. Go ahead."
"That woman, Alice. She said you two work together?"
I simply nod, not wanting to say anything that could be contradicted later.
"This might sound like a weird question, but... that jewelry she wears is real gold, right?"
I blink at him for a moment, not seeing what that question has to do with anything. "I've… never really asked." I eventually reply. "I guess it could be? I hope you weren't planning on trying to steal any of it."
"No, it's not that." Tenmyouji says, looking contemplative. "It's just… do you know where she got it from?"
I don't get it, what is with this line of questioning? What difference does it- oh, right. All-Ice. The only big question in the series whose answer I remember being utterly disappointed in. Honestly, I guess that's sort of a good thing. With the way that whole mystery ultimately ends up going nowhere, and is brought up all of once in this game, it probably doesn't matter what I say about it. In fact…
"You know, now that you mention it, I don't really know." I say, placing a finger on my lips and looking at nothing in particular, as if trying to remember something. "She's worn it for as long as I've known her, so you'd think it would have come up at some point. Weird, huh?"
Tenmyouji nods to himself, his expression stern. I hear him mutter "Thought so…" under his breath and mentally snicker. Yeah, he definitely thinks she brought it with her from her tomb.
"Why'd you ask?" I continue, figuring I'm sort of obligated to ask that as a follow up.
"Just trying to confirm a theory." Tenmyouji mutters, waving me off. "Don't worry about it too much."
I let the subject drop after that, and return to absently watching K as he begins mixing drinks. Unfortunately, that little discussion has brought to the forefront of my mind something I've been trying very hard to ignore — namely, that it is freezing in here. I guess that makes sense, given that outside this base is nothing but the cold vacuum of space, but I wish I at least had something more to cover myself. Why the hell does Clover wear this?! Or rather, NOT wear this, seeing as how her clothing encroaches on the nonexistent. Meta-wise it's for the sake of fanservice I'm sure, but that doesn't make it any less stupid in-universe, and I don't recall it ever being explained why she went from a perfectly reasonable outfit in 999 to essentially stockings and her underwear in VLR.
I hiss under my breath, rubbing my arms in a futile attempt to warm myself. I suppose it's possible that Clover could be modeling herself off of Alice, who's somehow wearing even less than she is, at least around the torso. Her outfit only got a pass from me during my playthrough however because it actually played into the mystery of her character — if Alice truly was All-Ice, formerly frozen Egyptian princess/queen/whatever-it-was preserved into the modern age by virtue of having Ice-9 in her body instead of water, then she would need to always keep her body temperature relatively high to keep herself from "refreezing". Her outfit, however, is notably about as far away from the concept of heat preservation as possible, and the inherent contradiction this posed made Alice's ridiculous outfit potentially justifiable as a literal plot point. One naturally assumed that it would eventually be explained, perhaps by some sort of inherent cold resistance, or some other supernatural element not yet introduced by the series... but, as it turns out, there is no mystery. Alice is NOT All-Ice, which explains why she isn't a frozen stiff throughout the game, but also means that she has absolutely no good reason to dress that way. She does, however, have every reason to be just as cold as I am right now, if not more so. So I hope she's silently suffering like me over in the crew quarters, because it's likely her fault that two particular parts of Clover's upper anatomy feel REALLY uncomfortably hard right now-
"Oh hey, how'd we miss this before?"
I turn around to see Tenmyouji looking at a series of partially faded black and red letters painted on the wall behind us, which make no obvious sense in and of themselves.
"Is this some kind of code?" Tenmyouji wonders aloud, scratching his head. "RLRL could mean right-left-right-left… but what does the rest of it mean?"
If I recall, it's actually just a bunch of letters hiding the name of one of the drinks we need to mix for the password K isn't currently working on, which will be revealed after we do something else. I don't particularly want us to waste time on a wrong assumption, so I'll have to say something.
"Maybe, but I don't think so." I reply after taking a second to organize my thoughts. "The stand is stuck to the table, so the globe must be needed in this particular spot for a reason. I have a feeling it has something to do with those letters, since they're the only other thing nearby." I don't actually remember how that specifically works, but I'm fairly certain of it.
"Hmm…" Tenmyouji looks unsure, but before anything further is said, we're both interrupted by a robotic sounding noise of puzzlement coming from a few feet away.
"Strange…" K says, looking over the martini glasses he's arranged on the bar. "I am certain that my logic is correct, yet nothing seems to be happening."
"Can I see the page again?" I ask, getting up from my seat.
K hands over the journal page. "From what I can gather, the mother has a mix of Red and Planet, the father one of White and Island, and the son one of Blue and Ocean."
I look over the page again, taking a minute or two to work out the logic from scratch. Yeah, that seems right… weird, what's the issue?
"You have them in the right order, right?" I ask, puzzled.
"They are arranged as described." K answers. "I re-mixed the drinks, in case I had made one improperly, but there is no reaction. Perhaps there is a button or switch that must be pressed which we are not seeing?"
"Actually, I think you just have to flip the left and the right glasses." Tenmyouji interrupts. "The bartender is the person describing this, right? He's on the OTHER side of the bar."
K and I look at him, then each other, before K experimentally exchanges the positions of the two martini glasses. The screen on the right instantly lights up.
"Oh. I hadn't even thought of that." K says, sounding ever so slightly embarrassed. Honestly, seeing as how I didn't remember that bit, nor did I notice it upon actually examining the problem, I don't really think he needs to be. VLR is tricky like that sometimes.
Briefly wondering how the tech here even works that it can detect different kinds of mixed drinks (some sort of chemical analysis?), I move to the right to take a look at the screen. The screen around the code is blue… which means we somehow found the secret file password before the escape one. Again.
…how do we keep doing that?
Yes, I do know the reason Alice and Clover supposedly wear what they do, but in-story me has totally forgotten. It's not an explanation I'm certain I buy anyways, to be honest.
Opening the safe finds another dark gold file waiting for us inside. Funny, for some reason I half expected it to change to a silver file because K and Tenmyouji helped out. Admittedly, without the framing of a video game around this scenario that would be extremely weird, since the safe most definitely does not have the space for a triple back. But it's weird that the folders exist without that framing at all, so I don't think it was unreasonable of me to anticipate that.
"Another one of these…" I murmur as I remove the file from the safe. "Do we wait to look at this until later, or do it now?"
"Hmm…" K looks at me. "Come to think of it, we still haven't even looked over the first one, have we?"
"No, I did." I reply. "I took a quick look at it while Zero was wasting our time back there. It only has one sheet of paper in it, and all it does is explain things we already know and give useless little pieces of trivia. Feel free to take a look if you want." I gesture in its direction.
"Actually, I don't know if I trust that we're not working on some sort of secret time limit." Tenmyouji says, looking up at the ceiling. "Unless we actually need that to get out of here, I think it can wait. Do we?"
I flip the file open and scan it over. It's a slightly better reference than the last one, but bestows roughly the same amount of new information, which is to say none at all. "I don't think so." I say, setting it down on top of the other before stepping forward into the corner. "If we do, it'll only take a second to find out though. We've only really got one obvious item left."
Removing the small gold needles from my pocket, I take a moment to attempt to place them in the little sun-clock thing hanging on the wall. However, even in heels, Clover is not tall enough to reach it, forcing me to stand on the couch.
"Are you certain those go there, Clover?" K asks, just as my foot nudges one of the pillows and reveals a magazine, which Tenmyouji picks up.
"Pretty sure." I answer absently, finding a new challenge in trying to balance on the unstable surface of the couch in Clover's shoes. "They look like clock hands, this thing looks like a clock, and I don't see anything else in the room they could go to." The needles click in with the fastener, proving the theory. "See? They fit."
"Hmm. Take a look at this." Tenmyouji says aloud, brandishing a magazine that was lying nearby. "Total lunar eclipse, December 31st, 2028, at 4:50 PM…"
I don't even bother listening to the rest of what he says, because that's all I really needed. I rotate the now very obvious clock needles around to 4:50, which leaves them on "Green Sun". To my confusion however, there is no reaction whatsoever. Hmm, I'm certain that was supposed to do something. Maybe I need to activate it somehow-
An extremely bright beam of light abruptly shoots out of the center of the clock, striking me directly in the face. I cry out and flail backwards, losing my already tenuous balance as I begin to topple off the couch. My fall is thankfully arrested midway by a cold metal hand, letting K gently push me back up into a position where my face is NOT directly in front of the light.
I hear Tenmyouji stifle a laugh as I groan and sit down, squeezing my eyes shut tightly, but still seeing a big bright blob in the center of my vision. Alright, that was dumb, and not a little humiliating. How did I manage to forget that would happen when it's probably the most memorable part of the room?
I shake it off after a few seconds, and stand up to see that the intended path of the light beam takes it right into the semi-transparent globe, which refracts it into five distinct circles of light over the letters on the wall. The globe now has the words "Blue Planet" lit up from within, while the wall reads "Red Moon"… though the four red letters spelling out "Lion" are also still visible.
"Well, looks like we have our answer." Tenmyouji says cheerfully. "No idea what that 'Lion' is there for though…"
Me either, truth be told. I can't remember all the places the whole "lion eating the sun" thing is referenced in VLR, but I feel safe in saying this is the one that makes the absolute least sense to me. If it was a solar eclipse it would be fine, but trapped inside a lunar eclipse, the "lion" it is about as far away from eating the sun as it can possibly get. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it…? Whatever, it's not that important, and K is already mixing the next set of drinks.
A minute or so later, I key the second safe password into the safe. "Let's see… a map…" I hand that to K. "Two keycards…" I hold on to one of them and give the other to Tenmyouji. "The key we've probably been looking for…" I slip that into one of Clover's mini-pockets. "And a list of additional rules… written in Rabbitese." I sigh lightly upon seeing that. Zero Three's ongoing attempts at lapin based wordplay are already starting to get on my nerves.
After giving the "rules" a quick look over (which just say that any doors we've already opened are free for us to use after we escape the room, and anyone can go through them), we grab the secret files and move to the exit.
"According to this, we are currently on Floor A." K notes, staring at the map. "Shall we attempt to proceed forward after escaping, or move back to the warehouse? I have no strong opinion regarding either option."
"I say we go forward." I reply. "Dunno how far we'll be able to get, but we may as well try." We can't get past the second set of Chromatic Doors, but we can at least see them in advance.
"I'd like to get back to Quark, but as long as it's quick I guess I don't really mind." Tenmyouji says. "Let's just get out of here first."
I nod, take out the key, and turn it in the lock. The door slides up, allowing us to step outside into a hallway not much different from the one we entered from. K and I immediately begin proceeding down it, but halt when we notice Tenmyouji has yet to exit the room. Just as we're about to walk back to see what's wrong, he finally emerges and swiftly walks over to us.
"Sorry about that. Let's go."
I raise an eyebrow, glancing down at the martini glass in his hand.
"What? We already got out, and I didn't hear any rules against taking it." Tenmyouji protests, taking a small sip of the martini. "Mmm… that is pretty good. Can't quite place the flavor though."
I figuratively throw my hands up and start moving down the hallway again. He has a point, there aren't actually any rules against removing objects from the rooms they started in. I just didn't think he'd really try and drink any of that stuff.
At the end of the hallway is an elevator. Before any of us can comment on it, the sound of loud panting, as if from a team of wild dogs, comes running up behind us. We turn to see both of the other two teams sprinting in our direction, thankfully slowing down before anyone actually crashes. Sigma is holding a golden file under his armpit.
"Uh… hey…" I greet as most of them put their hands on their knees. "Why are you guys in such a rush?"
"What, you ain't in a hurry to get out of here too?" Dio snipes, still out of breath.
"I am, but somehow I don't think running around like headless chickens is gonna help that much." I reply.
"How strange… we all managed to meet up." Luna comments, having regained her breath first. Probably by virtue of not actually needing to breathe.
"Not that strange." Phi says. "Let me see that map."
A quick exchange of information occurs regarding how everyone found a map in their respective rooms, and all of them exited to hallways that ultimately led here. Phi urges us into the elevator immediately after, declaring that we can share our findings later.
"Huh? Where the hell'd you get booze in here old man?" Dio asks, noticing Tenmyouji's martini as the surprisingly spacious elevator starts heading down. "I know I could use a drink."
"We went to the lounge." Tenmyouji nonchalantly replies as he takes another sip. "Turns out they've got a whole bar in there."
"You're not worried about that being poisoned?" Alice asks, hiding her probing with a semi-teasing tone.
"Eh, if we're stuck playing this game to begin with, and whoever's doing this went to all the trouble of making these bracelets, I doubt they did anything to the drinks. If they wanted to kill us outright, they'd have done it while we were all unconscious."
Quark looks like he wants to say something, but is interrupted by the elevator door sliding open. We step out into a small room, and are confronted by the next set of Chromatic Doors. As expected, this is as far as we can go... and Dio, as probably should have been expected, immediately starts complaining about it.
"Oh, what the… this is exactly the same as the last floor!"
Well, if you think magenta is green, yellow is blue, cyan is red, and imagine this tiny room as a giant warehouse, sure. Exactly the same.
Sigma makes another pointless attempt to open one of the doors by force, followed shortly thereafter by Alice informing everyone that according to the watches, we have over two hours before they're scheduled to open. Dio proceeds to throw another miniature temper tantrum about how we have nothing to do until then, which everyone else proceeds to largely ignore.
"Looks like we don't have a choice. We have to head back." Tenmyouji mutters. "Clover, could you show everyone that page we found?"
"Er… I don't think I actually picked it up." I sheepishly admit. "K, did you grab it?"
K rubs the back of his armor covered neck. "I'm afraid not… eheh…"
"If it was a page titled 'Supplementary Rules', we found a similar one in a safe in the infirmary." Luna says.
"Yeah, I've got it right here!" Quark exclaims, fishing a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and holding it up.
"Same here." Phi says. "According to what it says, we can get back into the warehouse now. Which only makes sense, given that we found these." She holds up two keycards with a sun and the word 'Ambidex' on them. Weird, I thought Sigma was usually the designated item bearer. "Did anyone else?"
Everyone nods assent. "Just as I thought…"
"Well, since we're on the topic of sharing things, what's that under your arm, Sigma?" Dio asks, his tone calmer now, but still containing the suggestion of a sneer.
"Oh, this?" Sigma asks, bringing the folder out into plain view. "There was a second safe password in the crew quarters, which got us this. We think it's like the one Clover found back in the elevators. In fact, looks like she found another one too."
All eyes turn to me. "Well, actually K got us this one, but yeah." I hold out the folders in my hand, displaying them like a pair of playing cards.
"Great. Either of you two care to share the contents with the rest of us?" Dio prompts. "We still ain't even seen what was in the one from earlier."
"We already looked over the one we found." Phi says, crossing her arms. "Sorry, but the contents are effectively useless."
"Same here, for both files." I add. "They pretty much only tell us stuff we already know."
"I'll be the judge of that." Dio replies disdainfully.
"Fine." Phi says with ill hidden irritation. "There is at least one thing about them worth discussing, I guess. But let's get back to the warehouse first. If we want to get enough BP to leave, we'll have to return eventually, regardless of what these have in them."
"What, and do what Zero wants?" Dio sneers. "You think I'm gonna just keep dancing to the tune of a damn cartoon rabbit?"
"Well, feel free to stay here then." Tenmyouji remarks, looking like he'd very much like to toss the rest of his drink in the fake ringmaster's face. "If you want to stick yourself in self-imposed solitary confinement for the next two hours, I really can't see anyone here objecting."
"Tch… at least it would keep me away from you, you self-satisfied old turd."
"Well, make a decision." Alice says as she presses the elevator button, showing that I'm obviously not the only one who thinks we don't need to hear any more of this, "because the rest of us are leaving."
Everyone boards except for Dio, who after several seconds of stewing wordlessly climbs in as well. When we get back upstairs, we decide to pass through the lounge to let everyone skip a bit of walking.
"So this is the lounge…" Alice remarks as we enter. "Looks like we managed to get in here easily enough. Which means the crew quarters should also be open."
"The infirmary too, I'd assume." Dio adds.
"Huh. Why are all these rooms so dark?" Sigma wonders aloud. "You'd think whoever is running this place would install better lighting."
Well, the sun beam in the corner seems to have turned itself off while we weren't looking, but if you'd been here when it was on? Trust me, there was light aplenty.
"The infirmary is better lit, but… I kind of like this room as it is." Luna says, smiling and bringing her hands beneath her face. "It seems… cozy."
"It's well stocked, I'll give it that." Phi comments, staring at the bar. "These do look nice… maybe Tenmyouji has the right idea."
After Sigma drags Phi away from the alcohol and Quark and Tenmyouji have a small, sweet little bonding moment about root beer, we exit and return to the warehouse. Zero Three is projected on the wall again, laid out with his eyes closed and a little snot bubble at the tip of his nose. Once everyone steps fully back inside and the door shuts behind us, he pretends to snap awake, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Cute.
"Oh, you're finally done? You were taking so long I hopped off for a little nap."
I settle in for another wait at explanation junction, hoping that this one is shorter than the last. Having to act interested as Zero slowly sprinkles bits and bobs of information in between his casual insults and name calling is not going to be easy for me if this goes on for too long.
Thankfully, the AI ends up being a lot more succinct this time, and after a few minutes claims we'll probably learn better by doing than hearing, prompting the group to distribute the keycards and head over to open the AB rooms. Everyone just sort of picks at random, which lands K and I with the 3rd room to the left — the one Sigma and Phi came out of.
I swipe the keycard, and Akane's recorded voice rings out over the intercom that we have 45 minutes to finish as the door slides open. I wonder why we're given that long? Was that a planned feature before Sigma-Zero knew that the players would always need those 45 minutes for something, or- wait, no, he always knew, but only after- gah, nevermind. We really don't need them in this timeline anyways, at least not right now, so-
"Hey! Guys!" Sigma's voice yells out just as we've stepped inside. "Guys, get over here! We found someone!"
My veins turn to ice at the shout as K immediately rushes back out of the room. I run out after him, only to trip on Clover's shoes, almost twisting an ankle as I just barely manage to catch myself on the side of one of the rooms.
No... it can't be...
My stumble ends up resulting in everyone besides me making it over to the room first. I make it there a few moments later, just in time to see Sigma and Phi turn over a prone old woman in a purple dress, revealing a bloody, lethal wound.
Thankfully, the shock and horror in my expression is not remotely out of place, given that that's how most of us seem to be handling the situation.
Akane is dead. Which means that I'm in either the murder timeline or the sickness timeline, NOT the bomb timeline. What did I do wrong?! Sigma, Alice, and Phi all went to the crew quarters, and I'm almost certain that was the line where Akane was still alive and in K's armor. Were we supposed to find the bomb first...? No, I don't think Dio could even have planted it yet, he hasn't had the chance! In the bomb line the body wasn't found, so everyone spent 45 minutes trapped in the AB rooms twiddling their thumbs before finding the bomb while exploring. I know I have that order of events right, so what the hell?!
Is it because I forced the choice for the Chromatic Doors? Assuming I outright prevented the divergence still doesn't make much sense, but I can't think of anything else I could have possibly done to cause this...
I slump. And ultimately, I guess it doesn't really matter, does it. Whether by my presence or my actions, this can only have been because of me. Regardless of exactly how, I've screwed myself out of my only chance to live. The Nonary Game still clearly succeeds, but the timeline it eventually "concludes" in must have changed — I can't reach the true ending anymore.
The others are currently tossing around theories as to who and what killed Akane, with Phi suggesting that K could have shoved his hand into her heart to kill her, Mortal Kombat style. Considering how obviously wrong that seems looking at the wound and tear in the dress, I'm not surprised when she quickly claims it was a joke, then changes the subject and suggests we do an autopsy in the infirmary. Everyone seems to agree on that, and thus Dio, K, and Sigma pick up Akane's body before we all head towards the yellow door. I stay at the back of the pack, trudging after the others with my head tilted down in depression.
I'm not dead yet, but it's just a matter of time. Same for everyone else for that matter, besides those two of us here with convenient timeline jumping abilities. For Sigma and Phi, even if they don't know it, this is just another doomed world that they'll eventually have to vacate from. The rest of us, however, lack that option — we can only move forward, and make the best of the timeline we're in. Unfortunately, the "best" we can hope for in this scenario is just slow, stagnating death as opposed to an immediate one.
Or perhaps I have that the wrong way around.
When we get to the infirmary, Akane's body is laid down on the table with her hands clasped over her stomach. After "finding" and briefly explaining the function of the ADAM to everyone, Luna uses it to scan the corpse, which turns up exactly the kind of results one would expect: death by exsanguination, caused by a knife. Or at least by a "short, single-bladed instrument", which amounts to roughly the same thing. I wonder where that knife is now? Dio tossed it behind one of the AB rooms in one line, and if I managed to find it, I could at least end this on my own terms…
I almost slap myself. No, absolutely not. Suicide is something I refuse to resort to, regardless of the circumstances. Think, me — it seems kind of futile to even consider it, but is there any, any way out of this? I'm pretty damn certain that every ending sans the true one will inevitably, inexorably result in the death of everyone here, and I can't really change that. I could maybe stop Dio if we're in the murder line, since he's the cause of most of the deaths, but even if I somehow managed that I still can't stop the Radical-6, nor can I stop the antimatter bombs if Dio planted even a single one of them, which he likely will have given that it was why he was here to begin with. I suppose if I could learn consciousness jumping — I think the official name was SHIFTing — it would be a different story, but even assuming I inherited Clover's esper powers, she could only send information through the Morphogenetic Field, not her consciousness.
Although... I haven't played Virtue's Last Reward in a while, but I think it's mentioned that stronger espers sap the abilities of weaker ones in their nearby vicinity, which is why Clover, Tenmyouji, and possibly Alice (was she an esper? I can't remember...) were wanted in the game at all: to strengthen Sigma and Phi. As a clone of Sigma, I assume K was also good for that when he wasn't Akane, and Akane herself probably provided the same benefit. However, in Zero Time Dilemma, the sequel I played much more recently, it's said that espers strengthen others in their vicinity, boosting each other's abilities beyond where they can normally reach. Which... if true, means I may still have a chance. But those are mutually exclusive ideas; which one is-
"…you and Clover."
I snap back to attention upon hearing my current name. "Huh? What?"
"I am currently being accused of murder." K explains succinctly, apparently understanding that I've been in my own little world for the past couple of minutes.
"Actually, I'm accusing BOTH of you." Phi elaborates, her gaze shifting to me. "I admit, it's a bit of a stretch to think of you two as accomplices. But until now, you were the only ones who'd been in that room."
"Wha- hey, wait a second! I didn't kill her!" I exclaim, taken aback at the sudden turn this has taken. "Neither of us did!"
"I will vouch for Clover as well." K says. "The room contained only myself and her when we awoke within it. The woman must have been put there later."
"But… the doors were all locked, weren't they?" Quark asks, the question innocent but damning. "I don't think anyone could get in without a key…"
K points out that someone could have gone in through the ceiling hatch, which Luna responds to by noting Zero said he locked them all. Of course we had to have the room Akane was found dead in. One would think this event would go better than it did in the game, since "Clover" was conscious this time and can confirm K's innocence, but evidently it just means I'm now a suspect as well. Figures.
"You fucking bastard!" Dio snarls in K's direction. "Why'd you kill her?! I knew it, you're him, aren't you! You're the real Zero!" His gaze flips to me. "And I guess that makes you Zero's pet bitch, huh? His little fucking helper?"
I take an involuntary step back, legitimately frightened. I don't think I've ever had that much raw contempt directed at me before. I know it's fake, HE was the one who really did it, but still…
"HEY!" Alice moves in front of Dio and slaps him across the face hard enough to drive him stumbling backwards. "Back off! Clover would never do something like this. And don't you dare call her that again!"
Dio scowls, holding his quickly reddening cheek. "So, you're in league with them too, huh? You fuckers, I'll kill all of-!"
"Dio! You're crossing a line!" Sigma yells, looking ready to try and restrain him.
"Can we all calm down for a minute, please?" K asks the room. "Let us think about this logically. Suppose Clover and I are both Zero. That would mean we are the ones who brought everyone here, and set up the game we are all being forced to play. But in that case, what reason would we have to murder this woman? If we did not want her in this game, we could have simply not brought her here to begin with. Additionally, why would we leave her body in our room? All it does is draw suspicion upon ourselves."
"Uh… well…" Dio grits his teeth, desperately searching for an answer. "Maybe you wanted her here at first, but realized she was a problem for some reason when she woke up! So you killed her, and thought you could hide her body outside, but it took you too long to get out! We were all outside already, which meant you couldn't get rid of it!"
"Yes, but if we were the real Zero, we could have escaped before any of you by simply telling Zero… Jr., I suppose, to open the hatch." K calmly retorts. "The AI can open any of the doors in the facility, remember? We would have had no need to take the time to find the escape passcode, and thus would have had plenty of opportunity to move the body out of our own room."
Dio doesn't seem to have a response to that beyond scowling.
"I do believe you are correct in at least one regard, however." K continues upon hearing Dio's silence. "Namely, that the killer is almost certainly the real Zero."
K goes on to explain how the only logical conclusion as to Akane's murderer is 'Zero Sr.', as they can open any door, and thus easily could have accessed our room. He further points out that Zero Jr. has not stopped the game, despite ostensibly being able to see everything in the facility, and thus knowing exactly who truly killed the woman. Thus, Akane's death was an intended part of the game all along.
It's a good speech, and his logic makes sense for the most part, even if he's wrong. But there's a flaw in it — sure, Zero can open any door, but from what we know, no one besides K and I have had any opportunity to do this. No one could have done it while we were all in the warehouse, since we were all in plain sight of each other. Since then, we've all been stuck in groups of three, making an unnoticed return to the warehouse impossible. Based on the information we have, K and I are technically still the most likely killers, unless we assume that Zero Jr. was lying and Zero Sr. isn't actually part of the group at all... not that I point any of this out, for obvious reasons.
"Ten minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes." the intercom states measuredly. "All players, please enter your votes. If no vote is recorded before the deadline has passed, any non-voting parties will automatically ally."
With the announcement confirming that Zero Jr. really is pressing forward despite this, Phi suggests that we all head back to the AB rooms to figure out what this game is about. We move back to the warehouse and split into out pair and solo assignments again, naturally gravitating towards the same rooms we were planning on entering earlier. This is a good thing, as the first thing I notice when we step inside is the two gold files thrown carelessly on the ground. Whoops, must have dropped those earlier. I didn't even notice I wasn't holding them anymore.
I take a moment to pick them up as K and I move to the back of the room, noticing that the screen we got the passcodes from is lit up again. On it, there's a short little explanation about how we're stuck here until polling is finished, and a giant START button at the bottom. I press it, and the doors close, sealing us inside. Zero Jr. chooses that moment to make his reappearance, popping up on the panel above the elevator buttons.
"Hooray! Everybunny's finally here! I've been waiting…"
K pays rapt attention as Zero begins the explanation he explicitly said he wouldn't be giving us. "Learn by doing", right. Well, I'm supremely confident I remember everything I really need to know about the Ambidex Game in that it's essentially just the Prisoner's Dilemma, so I feel perfectly safe in just blatantly ignoring him again. I have a bigger issue on my hands that I have yet to actually solve, due to being interrupted by an unexpected murder accusation.
As glad as I am that Zero Time Dilemma disagrees with Virtue's Last Reward on the topic of esper power dynamics, thus granting me a potential chance at survival, I'm not thrilled that my life currently depends on the resolution to an apparent plot inconsistency. How do I resolve this…
Well, if I think about it, VLR had to be wrong if we assume both games actually happen/ed, right? Even in VLR, information seemed to occasionally get sent through time by people other than Sigma and Phi. Both Tenmyouji and… Alice? change their decisions at some point depending on what Sigma chose, which may not imply a full consciousness shift, but does imply that in the line they betray him, they were getting information from themselves in other timelines via the MGF. Neither of them can naturally do that, at least so far as the player is made aware. Even better, if Alice isn't an esper at all then it's almost certain that ZTD has it right, since power-by-vicinity would be the only way she would be able to use something like that, even unconsciously.
But if that's the case, then why did this game say more powerful espers drain less powerful ones? The person who says that is… shoot, was it Alice, Clover, or Akane? Hell if I can remember… if it was Alice or Clover, I think I can assume they were just wrong, since their organization still didn't fully understand esper powers when they were put in cold sleep. But if it was Akane… maybe she didn't completely understand them either, despite having so long to study the phenomenon? I mean, espers aren't exactly all that common, and once the world ended there'd be even less, particularly ones actually known to be so. It's entirely possible Akane just went off the research that already existed, particularly considering something like THIS is needed to spur most esper powers into use, so she and Sigma certainly couldn't have tested any theories all that easily…
It doesn't really matter. New plan: first, pray my conclusion that ZTD is correct is itself correct. Second, pray equally that I'm currently receiving the esper-vicinity benefit of Sigma, Phi, Tenmyouji, K, and possibly Alice, so it's possible for me to use more advanced esper skills than I should be able to (particularly since this seems like a "soul" sort of thing, and thus having Clover's body might not help me at all). Third, figure out how to SHIFT before something inevitably kills me, and get the hell out of this timeline. I mean, if I'm putting this much stock in the third game then it shouldn't be that difficult, seeing as how absolutely everyone manages it there, even the people with no natural esper ability whatsoever. It can't be that hard to grasp.
I finish finalizing my revised plan of action just as Zero Jr. wraps up, leaving K and I to look at each other awkwardly as the one minute remaining announcement plays.
"Hmm. To ally, or to betray…" K says, mostly to himself. "Allying is the riskier move, requiring trust in the opposing team, but building further trust if both parties choose it. Betraying is sure to lose you nothing, and has greater potential reward, yet it all but ruins any chance of allying with the opposition in the future. At least, assuming that there will be more than one round..."
Normally, I might be debating this too. I definitely don't remember how the AB game's first round went down for all the different combinations, and even though I know it probably doesn't ultimately matter in any timeline but the true one, it may still determine when this timeline ends up finishing. However, seeing as how Tenmyouji wants "Clover" to trust him…
"I think we should pick ally." I say, breaking K from his reverie. "We didn't get to discuss it with Tenmyouji before we started, but I think we can trust him on this one."
"Oh? But if we betray, and Tenmyouji allies, then we would only need 3 more BP to use the number nine door." K points out. "Surely it does not matter who escapes, so long as whoever leaves goes to the authorities about the situation?"
Ha ha, trust me, not happening. Unless the Earth invested in space police at some point, I can guarantee you there are no "authorities" to be found outside. I can't really tell him that, unfortunately… not without casting a LOT of suspicion upon myself, anyways.
"Just… please." I say awkwardly, crossing my arms and looking away. "You said it yourself, he's not going to trust us if we betray him. In a place like this, it doesn't seem like a good idea to be making enemies."
"True…" K admits. "It does not seem as though there is a truly right or wrong answer here."
That's debatable, but as long as you're wavering, we're going with my answer.
I tap the ally button before K can discuss it with me any further, locking in our choice. Unlike Sigma, I didn't press it at the very last moment, which makes Akane's subsequent countdown honestly seem a little silly, as it becomes more of a countdown to the elevator doors opening than an intense, last second choice of ally or betray.
"Round 1 of the Ambidex Game has been completed. Results will be displayed in the warehouse. Thank you for your participation. Ambidex Gates now opening."
Once said gates slide apart, K heads out to see the results. I almost follow him, but pause for a moment to remove the two sheets of paper within the secret files. I fold them up and stuff them into Clover's back pocket, placing the folders they came in at the back right corner of the room. There, much less of a pain to carry around now.
I walk outside to find that everyone already seems to have gathered near "Zero's Wall" again save Sigma and Phi, who are lingering near the entrance to their room having some sort of discussion. Zero for once seems to be waiting patiently, only calling out to the two of them once they've already started walking over.
"I do hope that you made the right choice, Clover." K says quietly to me as I walk up behind him. I merely nod in response, hoping the same.
"Let's get ready to rock!" Zero exclaims. "AM. BIDEX. GAAAAAAAAAME! Rouuuuuund one! The resuuuuuuults!"
You'd make a terrible wrestling announcer Zero, but good effort I guess.
"If everybunny would please direct their eyes to this monitor…"
A table with everyone's names and BP in it appears in place of Zero Jr., and slowly fills itself in:
I smile as I see the "ALLY" appear in Tenmyouji's square. Looking over at him, he seems pretty happy about it too, and is already making his way over to me and K.
"Here are the results from your game! Now, lettuce check the numbers on our bracelets." Zero says excitedly.
I give mine a cursory glance — as expected, it says I have 5 BP now. In truth the points are pretty much irrelevant, since escaping isn't really an option, but it still feels nice. Sure, I knew most of the factors involved here, but it's still gratifying to put your faith in someone and find out that it wasn't misplaced.
"So… you two picked ally, huh?" Tenmyouji asks rhetorically.
"Mmmhmm." I answer, feeling slightly smug.
"Thanks. Seriously." he says, looking from me to K. "For trusting me, I mean."
"I confess, I had little to do with the decision." K states. "Clover was the one who ultimately chose to ally with you."
Tenmyouji gives me a subdued smile. "Thanks, Clover. BP aside, I'm just glad we don't have to deal with something like… that."
He motions with his neck to the other two trios, whose members are currently at odds with themselves. Luna is just about in tears, with Dio smirking back at her as Quark apologizes and protests that it wasn't him who chose betray. Meanwhile, Alice is really going off on Sigma, who seems very confused about the fact that she selected ally. I'd feel sorry for her, but I think this was one of the times her choice is always the opposite of Sigma's.
I frown. I never liked that in the game — the fact that "pre-information" only ever seemed to result in someone betraying someone else was never not frustrating. Sigma allies with someone, only for them to betray him, so later he hops back and betrays them instead, only for them to have allied with him in that timeline, thus leading them to betray him in the original line due to that information being passed through the MGF. Or vice versa on all that, I suppose. Multiple pointless mobius loops of distrust, caused entirely by the fact that the separate options existed to begin with. Just… awful.
Once everyone is done arguing, Alice turns to ask Zero when the next round is going to start. I quickly assume the pose and expression of pretending to be interested in what he has to say, since I remember this scene going on for quite a while.
As one might expect, Zero first acts all coy about whether or not there'll even be another round, before finally admitting that yes, there will be, and closing all the AB rooms. Akane's voice speaks down from the ceiling to inform us that we need moon cards to open them now, which Zero follows up by explaining that we'll be having as many rounds as it takes until someone opens the number nine door. He also gleefully claims that point-wise, we might just keep going back and forth and back and forth, never getting anywhere, for upwards of hundreds of rounds.
I barely stop myself from speaking up and contradicting him. While I guess we technically could do that, it would probably take conscious effort to actually pull that off. A deadlock, where everyone does nothing but betray each other over and over because no one trusts anyone else, seems a lot more likely to get us "stuck" than the constant vacillation Zero is proposing.
When Sigma asks some clarifying questions about the stipulations surrounding the number nine door, Zero uses them to segue into how we don't really need three people to get through the Chromatic Doors, just three bracelets. Naturally, this leads to the others questioning how you can possibly take a bracelet without taking the person it's attached to, and the annoying little AI gets all giggly as he dances around the only way to get the bracelet off without outright escaping, taunting us with information that I honestly can't help but think is pretty obvious. Admittedly, Zero actually echoes this himself, before finally just telling everyone outright.
"You. Die."
Again come the shocked faces and sudden flinches, which I imitate alongside everyone as Zero begins detailing the heartbeat sensor. I wonder, is there a way to trick that without resorting to the cold sleep pods? If the infirmary has a defibrillator… though, I don't know how you'd stop your heart on demand, so maybe not. There was something else, wasn't there…?
Zero proceeds to make the audacious claim that we might see some of the bracelets come off during the next round, and of course everyone asks why that would be now that they know what that implies, letting Zero steer the conversation further down the proverbial… *ahem* rabbit hole. I'm not sure why they're letting him so easily dictate the flow of conversation, but I suppose this is kind of important for them to know.
"If I had to guess…" Zero titters. "I'd say it'll probably be either Moony or Alas. Yep, one or the other. Ooooooor… it might even be both of them! He he he he he…"
Thus begins Zero Jr.'s final big "reveal": anyone who drops to 0 BP or below gets pricked by the needles in their bracelets and injected with soporil and tubocurarine, which will cause them to fall unconscious and asphyxiate to death. To my surprise, there's no mass wave of shocked reactions this time — everyone looks unsettled, particularly Sigma, who gives Phi a wary glance, but there aren't any of the gasps or cries of horror I was expecting.
...not to say that no one is upset about this.
"What the hell?!" Alice yells. "This is important stuff! Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?!"
"Awwww, I'm sorrrrrrry…" Zero mocks.
"That's not going to cut it! I thought you were supposed to tell us the rules, not hide them!" Alice continues, perhaps rightfully furious. "Is there anything else you conveniently left out?! It's not fair to make people play a game without explaining all the rules!"
"I think it's fair…" Zero titters, "after all, it's not like anyone else knew… right? Right, Phido? Cleaver?"
…huh?
"Wha- what…?" I stutter out, legitimately shocked. Phi herself seems more surprised at Zero's implied accusation of me than the one leveled at her.
"I didn't- I didn't know about this!" I protest. "How would I have- what?!"
Why do I keep getting tacked on to indictments that were originally aimed at other people? First that thing with K and I both being accused of being Zero, and now this? I mean, this one is at least technically correct, but how the heck does Zero know that?! Phi may have told Sigma, but I've said nothing...!
"Well, maaaaaaaybe not Cleaver." Zero shrugs. "Maybe she's just a poor reader. That means I don't get to penalize her for spilling the beans early though, so lucky her!"
Poor reader? Reader of wha- the files.
I grab the loose papers from my pocket and unfold them, rapidly scanning over their contents. Nonary Game, Card Keys, Lunar Eclipse…
[BP: This refers to 'Bracelet Points.' The number of BP you have will be displayed on your bracelet. If your BP is greater than 9, then you can open the number nine door and escape. However, if your BP drops below 0, then the needles built into the bracelet will activate.]
And there it is.
"Oh…" I say weakly, under my breath. "I guess it does say that…"
"Huh? What's that?" Dio reaches over to snatch the page away from me, which I hurriedly back away from. "Hey!"
"Oy, B.O.!" Zero snaps. "I'm not done here! You can bicker with Cleaver later! Now, one last thing…"
Dio makes a sound of annoyance and glares at me, but backs off. Alice, however, gives me a look that tells me she will almost certainly be asking me about this later. Lovely.
Zero explains the bracelet color/pair/solo changes and makes us all check what we are. I'm now a magenta solo, while K and Phi are the cyan and yellow ones respectively. The pairs, meanwhile, are Tenmyouji and Alice (cyan), Luna and Quark (magenta), and Sigma and Dio (yellow).
That last one is… troubling. I'm very certain Sigma was never paired with Dio in the game (man, how would the decision in the AB room even go?), meaning I now have absolutely no way to predict what's going to happen next. Just another reason to figure out how to SHIFT quickly, before I inevitably get blindsided by whatever "ends" this timeline.
Finally, Zero bids us adieu, telling us there's nothing more he really needs to explain from here on out. He puts on a little fake crying show, while I internally celebrate. I never had any problem with Zero Jr. in the game, but having to deal with him face to face… yeah, he's really annoying. Mostly because he's deliberately trying to be, but still.
"Anyways, good luck!" the little rabbit exclaims. "I may be gone, but I'm aaaaaaaaaaalways watching. Maybe I'll see you again someday… Have a nice tragedy!"
With that parting contradiction, Zero disappears, leaving only silence in his wake.
Things are getting very interesting. I agree with Clover that this timeline isn't salvageable with Akane dead, so it's pretty much guaranteed that Clover's going to learn to SHIFT.
Things are getting very interesting. I agree with Clover that this timeline isn't salvageable with Akane dead, so it's pretty much guaranteed that Clover's going to learn to SHIFT.
Alternatively, this could just end a lot sooner than anyone would normally expect. I mean, it would be a convenient way to "complete" this fic quickly.
Well, if he does, at least there won't be any mystery who's behind it. Of course, actually stopping him if he does start a-murdering might be a bit more difficult than just pointing him out to everyone...
Fun Fact: There's something subtly off about the events of this chapter that in-story me didn't notice. Props if you spotted it.
"So…" I say, breaking the quiet that seems to have descended upon the group. "Now what?"
"Yeah, we still have a while before the Chromatic Doors open." Quark adds.
Everyone checks their bracelets to see that we have 41 minutes left before then. Wow, only 41 minutes? A single timeline of this game really doesn't take all that long, does it? Ignoring the whole Radical-6 time perception thing, this game could be finished in less than a day.
"In that case, we should go and see if we can find any other exits." Alice says, holding her head with one hand. "Maybe there's a vent system, or a disposal shoot. Something Zero overlooked."
K concurs with her, as does Dio, surprisingly.
"Let's split up for now." Phi suggests. "Hmm… given the contents… let's look around for the next 30 minutes. We can regroup in front of the Chromatic Doors about 10 minutes before they open to share what we found."
"10 minutes?" Dio squints. "Ain't that a little early?"
"No. We'll need a bit of extra time to discuss things." Phi states cryptically. "Everyone alright with that?"
No one objects, so we all begin splitting off in different directions. I start making my way towards the crew quarters, wanting to be alone so I can attempt to SHIFT… except that Alice appears to be following right behind me. Ohhhhh dear, I think she wants to have that "talk" she mentioned earlier. And no one else is walking this way… crap, I'm not getting out of this, am I?
Resigned, I enter the cyan door and head into the front-right room of the crew quarters, figuring that I might as well get this over with. Alice walks in after me, an unreadable expression on her face, before shutting the steel door behind her.
"This is probably about as secure a place as we're likely to find around here." Alice says. "So let's talk, Clover."
I nod, sitting down on the thinly-padded metal bed chained to the wall. Before anything else, I should probably at least try to head off any questions about what Zero was implying back there…
"Alice," I start, "what Zero said back there about me knowing the rules- it turns out that the file we found in the lounge said something about that, but I'd only skimmed it. I didn't know, I swear I would have told you, I'd have told everyone-"
"Shhhh, Clover. I believe you." Alice says soothingly as she sits down next to me, forestalling my false confession. "More importantly — are you okay?"
Huh?
"Um… well, I guess I'm alright…" I mutter.
"Are you sure?" Alice asks, moving closer. "I can't imagine how you feel, being forced into yet another Nonary Game. You don't have to hold it in for my sake."
Oh… that's right. Clover was forced into not one, but TWO Nonary Games before this one, so she was really scared when she woke up in VLR and found herself in a third one… and I haven't been acting like it even remotely affects me. Damn. Maybe if I fake having put on a brave face, and then let it crumble in front of her, that'll be enough? I can't really cry on command, but it's the best idea I've got on short notice.
"I… no." I say, adding a bit of quaver to my voice. "I'm not… I'm not okay. I can't believe that this… that this is…"
To my surprise, my voice breaks for real, and true, genuine tears begin trailing down my face. With all the stress and panic this situation has been putting on me, maybe it shouldn't be such a shock, but somehow it catches me off guard. Alice hugs me tightly, which I return, crying into her shoulder.
"I'm scared…" I sob. "I don't wanna die… why is this ha- happening…?"
"I'm here, Clover." Alice whispers, rubbing my back in soothing, circular motions. "I need you to be strong, okay? We will get out of this alive. I promise…"
-~.~-
-~.~-
A few minutes later, I've managed to calm down, at least for the most part.
"Thanks, Alice." I say gratefully, wiping my eyes. "I really needed that."
"Of course." Alice says, smiling, only for the expression to fade a moment later. "I need you in work mode for the moment, okay?"
I assume that means she's going to actually ask me questions now. I sit up straight and breathe in deeply, preparing myself. "Right."
Alice's expression shifts, becoming more… professional, I suppose. "Have you tried to contact your brother yet?"
I nod, having predicted she would ask that much. "I tried almost as soon as I woke up, and a few more times after that. It isn't working. I haven't been able to contact Light at all."
While technically a lie, Clover really did have that problem in VLR. Unfortunately, in all likelihood it's because her brother was dead by this point, whether by Radical-6, the nuclear fallout from the response, or the chaos that ensued immediately afterwards.
I hug my arms and look away. "I hope he's okay…" I say, knowing he's probably not.
Alice gives me another quick, warm hug. "I'm sure he's fine. Sounds like we can't send a message to the outside though…" She brings one of her nails to her lips. "Do you still have those files you found? We found one in here too, and I'd like a closer look at the others."
I fish the pages out of my pocket and hand them over to Alice. She scans over them briefly, taking about a minute before handing them back to me. "Those seem a little more informative than the one from the crew quarters, but I don't see anything new."
"Some of it was new before we finished the AB game, but Zero just told us all of it afterwards." I reply. "So yeah, nothing helpful. I still should have noticed the bracelet point rule though…"
"I'm actually glad you didn't." Alice says, to my surprise. "Zero mentioned he would have penalized you if you told anyone before he did, remember? I wouldn't have wanted you dying just to prevent me from losing a few BP."
Oh, right. Not a rule that existed in the game, for obvious reasons. That's… sweet of her to say, considering that her life is on the line now instead. She really cares about Clover…
"In any event, how did information gathering go?" Alice prompts me. "Did you learn anything?"
I look down. I could tell her a lot of things about K and Tenmyouji, but I think I'll just stick to what was actually said. "Well, K is as hard to get a read on as you'd imagine. He always sounds kind of emotionless, and he still either doesn't remember anything, or is acting like he doesn't. He was able to solve the puzzle to get the file, so he has decent reasoning skills at least, but I couldn't really figure out much about him."
"That's fine, I doubt I could have done much on that front myself." Alice says. "What about Tenmyouji?"
"Tenmyouji seems… nice, I suppose." I tell her, hoping my "analysis" won't be too sparse for her. "I'm guessing you already figured out he's probably a pretty regular drinker, and that he's most likely related to Quark somehow?" Alice nods. "Well, he wasn't much help solving the puzzles in the lounge, but he did seem to be making a serious effort to lighten the mood. He kept cracking jokes about stuff, which I think was mostly for my sake." Er… what else… "Oh, on that note, I'm not sure why, but he really seems to trust me."
"Hmm? What makes you say that?" Alice asks.
I place a hand behind my head, wondering how to go about explaining this. "Well… remember back when K and I first came out of the AB Room, and Tenmyouji asked if I thought K was telling the truth about his memory? I said I did, and he calmed down a lot right after that, like my word somehow meant more than anyone else's. And he said some stuff in the lounge that kind of implied… well, I dunno. It was why I figured he'd ally, and he did. I don't really get it, but for some reason he just… believes in me, I guess."
"Strange…" Alice says, not seeming sure what to think about that. "Well, we'll tentatively call him trustworthy for now then, but if you get the chance, try to find out why he'd act like that."
I nod, essentially giving her the non-verbal form of lip service. All these lies don't exactly feel good, but I can tell her the truth if the need actually arises, which softens the blow a little.
"Now for what I found out." Alice pronounces. "Sigma is somehow both intelligent and clueless at the same time. He managed to figure out the passcode to get that file, and solved quite a few of the puzzles, but it took him a while to figure out a few really basic things for some reason. He's also a bit of a perv. He was practically drooling over Phi and me, as well as a poster in the other room with scratch-off clothes. Why that was incorporated into the escape method I don't know, but if you want Sigma to do something, seduction might be a decent bet."
…yeah, not happening, but I'll be sure to keep that in mind, thanks.
"There's also something else about him that's incredibly… you know what, I'm sure Phi will be bringing it up, so I'll let you find out with everyone else in a bit. It's hilarious." Alice says, stifling a laugh. "As for Phi… she was a lot more difficult to get a read on. It didn't help that we were all investigating separate rooms. Sigma was in and out a lot, but I barely saw Phi. Honestly, at the moment I'm more wary about her than anyone else here. Try not to get grouped with her if you can help it."
I nod again. That's probably fine. Not exactly difficult this round, since it's literally impossible with us both being solos.
"That's about it, I think." Alice concludes as she stands up, her back to me. "But… there is one more thing, Clover."
I don't like the tone she said that in…
"What's that?" I ask nervously.
"When you and K first came out of the AB room… you told me his name was K. But when he finally introduced himself, it sounded like he'd only just come up with it."
Shit. I've been praying she hadn't noticed that...
Before I can try to babble out some pathetically inadequate excuse, Alice continues. "Also, just now you walked directly here, without any prompting from me. How exactly did you know this is where I wanted to speak with you? I hadn't told you yet, and this should be the first time you've even seen the crew quarters."
My mouth hangs open. I didn't even think about that — I just walked to where I remembered Clover and Alice talking early on in the game automatically. I screwed up… there's nothing I can really tell her.
Alice turns and focuses on me, causing me to cringe. "Clover… are you seeing the future?"
…
That was not the question I was expecting. Is she thinking that…
"I… maybe?" I start tentatively, latching on to her idea. "This does all feel kind of… vaguely familiar, actually. And you're right. I don't know why, but I somehow just sort of… knew K's name, and that we'd be coming here to talk… do you think it's esper related?"
Alice smirks. "I think I can say for certain it is, actually. Congratulations, Clover."
I look up, doing my best to seem confused. "Congratulations?"
"Up until now, you've only been able to resonate with Light through the Morphogenetic Field." Alice states. "This is the next step up. You're resonating with yourself through parallel worlds."
I'm not sure what expression is appropriate to make in response to that, so I just keep my look of slight confusion plastered on.
"SOIS hasn't seen it much, but we know that it's possible." Alice continues. "Seems you're a stronger esper than we thought…" She trails off, looking thoughtful. "Unless…"
I tilt my head to the side. "Unless?"
"Do you remember what you were taught back at the base?" Alice asks. "About what happens if espers are placed in close proximity to each other?"
"You mean how some espers get stronger around others?" I say, trying to be as vague as possible about how I word my answer, as I have no idea the depth of Clover's actual knowledge on this subject.
"Right. But more specifically, the stronger ones absorb the power of the weaker ones, leaving only one person able to truly use their abilities. It's why we kept the other receiver-transmitter pairs almost completely separate from you and Light."
I shift uneasily at that, disliking the reminder of how VLR describes esper group mechanics. Given that I'm currently banking on that not being true, I can only hope that Alice is just plain wrong here. Guess this means it probably was either Alice or Clover who explained this to Sigma in the game though.
"Do you get it?" Alice asks. "If you're stronger than usual, then that means…"
"…that there might be other espers in this game." I finish for her, receiving a confirmatory nod in response. "Do you think that could be a problem?"
"Honestly, given the reasons the first two Nonary Games happened, I should have considered this before now." Alice says, berating herself. "But no, I suppose it shouldn't matter that much. If you're the one receiving the benefit, other nearby espers shouldn't be able to use their abilities anyways. I don't know why whoever put us here would want that, but we can definitely use this to our advantage. If you 'remember' anything else-"
The door swings open. Sigma stands there, obviously not having expected to find the two of us in here, at least if his stupefied expression is anything to go by.
"Oh, uh. Hi? What are you two doing in here?"
"Nothing that important." Alice says as she moves to leave. "If you'd get out of the way?"
Sigma awkwardly stands aside to let Alice by. She turns back and looks at me briefly, giving a parting wave.
"Talk to you later, Clover. Make sure to inform me if there are any new developments regarding what we discussed, okay?"
I smile and nod eagerly. "Right!"
Alice walks away, and I hear the door down the hallway open and shut behind her. Sigma is, quite irritatingly, still hanging around in the door.
"So, what were you two talking about?" he asks.
I raise an eyebrow. Like it's any of his business?
"I don't know Sigma. Girl stuff? Maybe co-worker stuff? Not to be rude, but it really doesn't involve you."
"Er, sorry. I was just curious…"
I roll my eyes. "Right. So are you just going to hang around in the door all day, or…?"
"Well, no, but could I talk to you for a bit?"
Ugh, he's not going to give this up, is he?
I check my bracelet for the time. Still 20 minutes or so until we need to head downstairs.
"Fine, I guess. What about?"
"Well…" Sigma casts his eye(s) around the room. "Have you found anything yet?"
"If I had, I would have told you when you walked in." I tell him. "I haven't really gotten to look much yet. I was too busy having a minor breakdown for the past few minutes."
"O-oh. Sorry. Guess being stuck in a situation like this must be hard on someone like…"
He trails off, probably realizing how insulting it would sound to finish that sentence. I let it go, since he's not really wrong. Someone that knows every bad thing that could potentially happen in this game, trapped in a body not their own, whose life currently rests on mastering a skill they have no experience with and which they might not even possess within a very limited time frame... yeah, this IS hard on me, thanks. And you're not making it any easier by wasting an increasingly large chunk of said time.
"Sigma, I'm sorry, but I really do have stuff I need to get done." I say in the ensuing silence, exasperated. "I know that sounds ridiculous given the situation, but I'm serious. Could you please go talk to someone else for now?"
"Stuff? What do you mean, 'stuff'?" Sigma asks.
"Just- stuff, okay?!" I almost shout, my temper beginning to fray. "I can't really explain it to you, so don't ask. You'll probably figure it out on your own eventually anyways — god I hope so, at least. Now could you PLEASE stop bothering me?!"
"Wait, what is that supposed to-"
I leap up and throw the door shut again, giving Sigma just a moment to move back and avoid having it slam into his face. Screw off already you overly-persistent jackass! I get that you're not trying to be a nuisance but you are really, REALLY being one right now!
I hold the door shut for a few moments, but the handle remains unturned. Presumably, Sigma finally figured out he wasn't going to be getting any pleasant conversation out of me right now and left. Finally…
I sit back down on the uncomfortable "bed" and close my eyes. Alright, I'm alone. Now how did they do this… I don't recall the specifics, but I need to think of both where and when I want to be, right? While I would love to skip straight to the part where I'm no longer in this game, I should probably start small if I want this to work — how about just before we entered the first Chromatic Doors? Is that exact enough? That's one of Sigma's "nodes" so I'm going to assume yes.
Concentrate… concentrate…
A short while later, I peek my eyes open, and am once again confronted with the dingy, dull green walls of the crew quarters.
Yep. I'm screwed.
So... until I wrote this chapter, I did not realize that given the proper prompting, I actually can cry on demand. Or at least get a few droplets going. Not something I was ever aware I had the ability to do until now. Yay, I guess…?
So... until I wrote this chapter, I did not realize that given the proper prompting, I actually can cry on demand. Or at least get a few droplets going. Not something I was ever aware I had the ability to do until now. Yay, I guess…?
I've only skimmed the wiki to see the mechanics behind SHIFTing, but I think it's more likely that she won't be able to do it until she gets into a lethal situation at the end of this timeline, since it is a near-death experience that kick-starts the ability in less experienced SHIFTers.
Of course, the problem then is that it becomes a 'do-or-die' situation
I force myself to breathe deeply through my nose, trying to calm myself down.
This is bad. I've now tried thinking of different times, different places, tried to envision my "soul" moving out of my body, and even attempted to recall the information from back when I was trying to induce an out-of-body experience in hopes that it might somehow help. I've gotten absolutely nowhere thus far, as the fact that I'm still here plainly attests. Damn it, am I really even doing anything right now? Or am I just sitting here ~imagining~ myself getting shot into a different timeline while not doing anything that would actually accomplish such? How would I even tell the difference for something like this? It's not like I've ever done this before; I don't even know what it feels like to "resonate" with someone, assuming it feels like anything at all.
Again the thought strikes me that this might not be working because esper powers don't work the way I'm reasoning, and I just plain don't have the capability to do this. But that's not particularly helpful, so I discard the thought almost immediately in favor of trying to figure out what else could potentially be the problem. Let's see… could it be the lack of pressing danger? That's supposedly what usually triggers a SHIFT, but given my foreknowledge of what lies ahead, I feel like this whole situation should qualify as danger aplenty. If not that though... I suppose in ZTD's penultimate scene, everyone was holding on to each other when they mass SHIFTed out. Do I need to be in even closer proximity to other espers for this to work? Maybe I should grab hold of Sigma and Phi or something, and then try. Now I kind of wish I hadn't chased Sigma off…
I check the time on my bracelet. Fifteen minutes left, so five minutes until Phi's meetup time. I guess I'm not making much progress like this anyways — I might as well head down now, and keep trying once I get there.
I stand, finding myself again thinking how nice it would be to kick Clover's shoes off entirely (if only the floor wasn't so cold), when my eye catches on the aluminum foil sheet covered by the glass top of the "table" to my left. It was presumably used by Sigma's group to solve some sort of puzzle when they were trying to escape from here, but something about it strikes me as important for a reason beyond that. Didn't someone do something with this at some point...?
My eyes widen as I remember. Yes, someone most definitely did — in Luna's ending, she used this to remove her and Sigma's bracelets. Aluminum foil can fool the heartbeat sensor. That was the method I couldn't think of earlier!
I open the glass cover and carefully pull out the foil underneath. I can't really take the bracelet off without causing a major commotion with everyone else, and in truth there's not any pressing reason for me to do so right now anyways… but, as Tenmyouji pointed out, there's no rule preventing us from taking things from the rooms. So, just in case…
I carefully fold the aluminum over on itself, trying to keep the sheet as intact as possible, and slide the resulting square into my empty back pocket. I gotta say, I'm getting way more use out of Clover's short shorts than I would have thought possible just a few hours ago. The rest of… her is still pretty inconvenient to be stuck with, but at least carrying things has somehow yet to be an issue. Plus the material is tight enough across the rear that I'm pretty sure the aluminum and papers won't get crumpled or torn, which is… alright, that's kinda reaching. I'm looking for any positives I can find at this point.
I briefly check out the other three rooms of the crew quarters before I go, making sure there aren't any bombs hiding under the beds, but find nothing. I suppose I didn't really expect Dio to set any, seeing as Akane is dead, but I'm glad I checked. Sure, I probably couldn't do anything about it even if I'd found one, but I'd still rather know than not.
I end up bumping into Luna and Phi on my way back to the elevator. Though it's somewhat hard for me to tell given that her default expression is a frown, Phi appears to be distinctly unhappy about something.
"Something wrong Phi?" I ask as I fall in step with them, vaguely curious.
"No." Phi bluntly replies. "Clover, you still have those files, right?"
"Yeah, they're in my pocket."
"Did you look at them already?"
I squint at her. "Of course I did. I mean, I just skimmed the second one at first, but I looked at the whole thing later. Why?"
"Just wondering. Can I see them?"
Figuring it can't really hurt, I pass the pages over. Phi raises an eyebrow.
"Where are the folders these were in?"
"In one of the AB rooms where I left them." I huff, starting to get annoyed. "Any reason for the sudden interrogation?"
Phi says nothing as we walk into the elevator and begin to descend, too engrossed in the documents to bother responding. Figures. I'm not getting those back, am I…?
Emerging from the elevator on the floor below, we find Alice, and surprisingly Sigma have beaten the three of us here. The latter gives me an odd look as I walk in, probably due to how our last encounter went. Yeah yeah Sigma, I'll apologize later, assuming I'm still alive to give you one.
"Hey guys." he eventually says. "Or, well, girls."
"Hello Sigma." Luna greets back.
I stay quiet, instead simply giving Alice a silent wave, which she returns.
To my surprise, Phi does in fact hand back the files I gave her, before finally looking around and noticing we're still short a few people. "We'll wait until the others arrive to start. No point in going over all this twice."
The room falls silent in record time. Shrugging, I put the papers away and sit myself down in front of the red Chromatic Door before closing my eyes to make another attempt at SHIFTing. Hopefully just having Sigma and Phi in the same room as me will be enough, since I don't really want to try justifying my sudden and inexplicable need to grab hold of the two of them.
Come on… come on… work…!
"…heh. Stuck in a small room, surrounded by four beautiful women." Sigma suddenly says, breaking my concentration. "This is like a dream come true. Don't worry ladies, there's plenty of me to go around..."
I open my eyes to glare at him for that. Phi makes a disgusted noise, Alice glares right alongside me, and Luna very quickly looks away. Sigma just grins sheepishly in response. Ugh, dude, even if you WERE still in your 20s like you think you are, how exactly did you expect a room of girls — well, three girls and one "girl" — would react to that kind of skeevy non-joke? Keep it to yourself, if you absolutely have to think it.
Thankfully, the awkward air Sigma just put in place is broken when the elevator door opens up again a moment later, revealing K, Tenmyouji, and Quark.
"Where's Dio?" Phi asks as they walk out to join us.
"Do we really care?" Tenmyouji "mutters" loud enough for the entire room to hear.
"We informed him that we were heading down here, but he did not seem to regard it as particularly important." K says.
Phi looks vaguely annoyed by that. "Fine. Guess we'll start without him then. First off, seeing as how no one has said anything yet, I assume that none of us found a way out?" she asks, waiting for everyone to regretfully confirm this to be so before continuing. "In that case, did anyone happen to find anything else that could be important?"
As the discussion begins, I resume my efforts, albeit with my eyes open now. It's hard to concentrate what with all the talking, but with everyone important gathered in one place this is my best chance to pull this off. Come on, SHIFT! Do it, me!
"Well, there was a newspaper clipping in the infirmary." Luna contributes. "It was an article that mentioned a plague called Radical-6 sweeping the land, killing off tens of thousands of people."
"A plague…?" Phi mutters, looking thoughtful.
"Does that mean we're in some sort of quarantine?" Sigma asks.
"I doubt it." Alice replies. "If this is all for our safety, it doesn't really make much sense that we're being forced to play a game that could kill us. Besides, a disease that dangerous would have made national news. Has anyone here ever heard of it until now?"
Silence and a smattering of no's is the response. Alice crosses her arms. "Didn't think so. For all we know, that article was planted by Zero to throw us off the trail of whatever is really going on here. On another note, K want to share what we found out?"
K nods. "It seems as though we may all have been unconscious for quite some time." he says solemnly. "While I cannot remember my own kidnapping, Alice and Sigma were abducted on two different days."
The statement prompts the pair to share which days those were, Sigma having been taken on Christmas morning, and Alice three days earlier.
"...and with no other frame of reference, it's impossible to know how long we've been out." Phi quietly notes. "Can't have been too long though, or our muscles would have degraded... anything else?"
"Well, the infirmary has both Soporil and Tubocurarine in stock, not that we need any more of those." Tenmyouji puts in. "Doesn't look like the place has been used too much. Far as I could tell, everything is fully stocked."
"Yes, I noticed that as well." Luna adds. "It's very well supplied. You should be able to treat anything short of a fatal injury there."
"Well, maybe you could." Tenmyouji replies. "None of the rest of us have medical training-"
The elevator door opens again, and Dio swaggers in like he owns the place, halting all conversation as everyone naturally turns to look at him.
"What? I'm here before the doors opened." he says defensively, shrugging. "I miss anything?"
Phi just looks at him for a moment, her expression unreadable, before replying. "Not really. We were just about to discuss the files you were so interested in earlier."
"Oh, so we're FINALLY going to be allowed to find out what's in those things, huh?" Dio places a hand on the tip of his hat and smiles smugly. "'Bout time."
"Unless anyone had anything else to add?" Phi inquires, eyes sweeping the room. "We've only got a few minutes left until the doors open, so make it quick."
No one has anything to say, least of all me given that I'm sort of occupied at present moment, so Phi continues. "Alright then." she says, withdrawing a golden folder from within her clothing… and immediately handing it to Sigma. "Sigma, you take over."
"Wha- why me?!"
"I've done the talking up until now." Phi answers plainly. "Now it's your turn."
In other words, she doesn't want to be in charge for the moment. Fair enough I suppose, I wouldn't want to be doing all the talking either.
Sigma stumbles over his words for a second before starting in. "Okay. Uh… if everyone remembers, Zero Jr. called these 'secret archives'." he says, brandishing the folder. "They seem to have been placed inside the room safes, and are accessible through an alternative combination you can find in each room. We have three of them right now... unless someone got the one from the infirmary?"
Phi speaks up again. "I tried, but couldn't. I'd guess we've been locked out since the initial team to go through didn't get it while escaping."
"Oh… I'm sorry…" Luna apologizes.
"It's okay Luna." Sigma reassures her. "I'm not really sure how helpful these are anyways…"
"What do you mean?" Dio says crossly, pointedly glancing at me. "That rabbit sure as hell kept acting like they were, didn't he?"
"Well…" Sigma waffles. "…you'll see. Anyways, inside each one is a single page of paper with small tidbits of information on it." An embarrassed expression crosses his face as he apparently considers something. "Uh, why don't we start with the ones Clover has, since she found the first one."
Everyone turns towards me, causing me to send Sigma another glare. Really? You're passing the buck to me now? I'm already racing the clock as it is. Gah…
I have a large sigh and stand up, pulling the files out of my pocket and unfolding them again. "The one from the AB room was basically just an overview of terms about the Nonary Game. It's literally all stuff Zero told us about immediately after we got out. Well, what isn't random trivia and bad jokes, anyways."
I pass the page to Tenmyouji on my right, with the intention of having the group pass it around to look at. "The one from the lounge is essentially the same thing — we all know pretty much everything in it already. If you were wondering what Zero was talking about earlier, it does mention the death-by-BP thing, but I didn't do more than skim it before leaving the lounge, so I didn't know. Tenmyouji and K can back me up there."
I pass the page to Luna this time, on my left. I probably didn't really have to mention the BP thing, since no one has even asked about it since the warehouse, but I'd prefer to cover my bases.
"Sigma, back to you." I say as I sit back down and resume my silent endeavor.
Sigma fidgets, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Er… could everyone just take on faith that the only important thing we found in the archive from the crew quarters is that there are seven types of Chromatic Doors? The rest of it is kind of useless, not to mention boring-"
"Oh but Sigma, that's not true at all." Alice cuts in, making Sigma appear to briefly panic. "It also mentions something called 'Erotic Units' and Tenmyouji's collection of adult films, doesn't it?"
Tenmyouji stumbles in place, while Sigma looks visibly relieved. "Well, yeah, but those aren't really that important, do you think?"
"Well, it also has that adorable little cat story, which I personally found very entertaining." Alice says with a devilish grin. "I'm sure everybody would love to hear it."
"Ah… I don't think-"
"Here, I'll even read it out." Alice says, swiping the folder from Sigma's hands. "Ahem: 'Sigma has a strange verbal and possibly psychological tic which causes him to make cat puns whenever he talks about cats…'"
The files make it back around to me, and I stow them back in my short shorts as Alice proceeds to regale us with a bizarre little tale explaining the "origin" behind the cat speak tic I'd forgotten Sigma even had, involving magic cats, curses, and a literal happily ever after ending. The room is quiet once she finishes, until Sigma suddenly decides to speak up.
"I know that all sounds crazy, but it's true! Really!"
Most of the group openly stares at him. I don't think anyone in here expected him to defend what Alice just read out, Alice included.
"Seriously?" Dio snickers. "You're telling me you can talk to cats, and can't help but talk like a cat whenever they come up in conversation? Have you gone senile?"
Sigma blushes like a schoolgirl, prompting Phi to interject. "Whatever the cause, he really does have a verbal compulsion. It came up while we were trying to escape the crew quarters. Funny as it may be though, combined with that bit about Tenmyouji's 'videos', I don't like what this implies. How many people have you shared that story with, Sigma?"
"…just the girl in the story, and my parents." Sigma mutters. "It was private…"
"In other words, it seems whoever put us here knows some very personal things about us." Phi concludes. "Things they probably shouldn't be able to know."
An uneasy air descends upon the group, though to my knowledge at least half of the people present pretty much have to be faking their unsettled expressions. Before the feeling can linger for too long however, an activation sound cuts through the room. I'm forced to stand again as the door at my back slides up, and the five minute warning announcement plays. Oh no, I'm running out of time!
"Looks like we're out of time to talk about this." Tenmyouji says as I attempt to double down on my SHIFTing efforts. "We need to decide who's going with who."
"Yes, but who should decide that?" K asks. "As with the last round, a single choice will automatically make everyone else's for them."
"I think those of us with the least BP should get to decide." Alice declares. "I mean, they're the ones at the greatest disadvantage, so it only seems fair."
"Convenient that you happen to be part of that group..." Sigma quietly comments.
"And whose fault is THAT?" Alice scathingly retorts, quickly shutting Sigma up.
"Hey, wait a minute." Dio complains. "Why should you pick? You got your choice last time!"
"Maybe we should at least go over our options before we start arguing." Tenmyouji growls.
God damn it, this isn't working, and all the noise going on around me definitely isn't helping. Do I wait until we finish these rooms and hope I get a less conspicuous chance to do this before somebody ends up dead, or just go for Plan Grab and pray I'm successful? Phi isn't even close enough to Sigma right now for the latter option to work, but I guess I could just forcibly drag one of them over to the other. Then again, I'm not confident that I could even manage that in this body, and how the hell would I explain myself it doesn't work? It would definitely make them suspicious of me, which would likely ruin any chance I might get to try properly later…
Phi is rapidly summarizing our options again, but I already know that my personal options for the round boil down to either going with Luna and Quark through the green door, Alice and Tenmyouji through the blue door, or Sigma and Dio through the red door, and so spend the time warring with my indecision instead. Unfortunately, I still haven't come up with my answer by the time she finishes.
"Now that that's settled, I'm going with Clover this time." Alice says, the mention of my current namesake temporarily pulling my attention back to the conversation. "I trust her far more than I do any of the rest of you."
"I like that option too." Tenmyouji adds. "After last round, I think I can trust Clover not to betray me."
I briefly acknowledge the two of them with a small smile, despite my inner anxiety. Sure, they're only partially basing that judgment on things I actually did, but it does feel nice to be the first choice.
"Afraid I can't say the same for you, K." Tenmyouji continues as I go back to attempting to debate the pros and cons of my options. "You did tell me it was mostly her decision after all."
"That's alright." K replies neutrally. "I would rather not go with Alice in any case, nor Luna for that matter."
"Oh… how come?" Luna asks, sounding marginally hurt by the comment. "I was hoping to go with either Clover or you, since you two chose ally last round."
"It's nothing personal." K assures. "Both of you only have 1 BP, so I highly doubt either of you will be willing to risk allying next round. Even if you promised you would, I would not necessarily be able to trust that. But if I betrayed to protect myself, and you kept your word, I could… kill you. There is much less risk if I pair up with Sigma and Dio, who both have 6 BP."
"Well, that's too bad." Dio smirks. "Because I want to pair up with Clover."
My head snaps around. What the heck? Alice, Tenmyouji, and even Luna I understand, but Dio?
"Like everyone keeps saying, she chose ally last round." Dio smiles, holding the brim of his hat up. "I think I like the sound of that. A round where I don't have to worry about being betrayed would be pretty nice."
"I didn't realize I was such a hot commodity." I can't help but say aloud. And if he thinks I wouldn't betray him in half a second, he's got another thing coming.
"You do want to come with us, right Clover?" Alice prompts.
I cross my arms and consider for a moment. By now, I think I've made up my mind — risking everything on a single chance is a last resort sort of deal. As dire as things will likely very soon be, no one's been knifed (bar Akane) or succumbed to the suicide plague thus far, and we haven't discovered any bombs, so we haven't reached that point just yet. By default, that means I'll be proceeding through the next puzzle room and waiting for a better opportunity. But, as I'd kind of been counting on having escaped this timeline by now, I haven't really thought about who I'd prefer to team with. I suppose since the Alice situation is mostly resolved, I don't need to be as worried about pairing up with her as before, so I guess…
"Yeah, I'd like that." I reply, trying to put some enthusiasm in my voice. "I mean, you're my first choice, but honestly I guess I'd be okay with Luna and Quark's group too. So long as I'm not stuck going with Dio, I think I'm alright."
"Hey!" Dio snarls. "The hell'd I ever do to-"
"You really think I've forgotten about what you said back in the infirmary?" I shoot back before he can even finish. "You've been nothing but rude and accusatory towards me this entire time; why would I ever want to pair up with you?"
"Then that's four votes for Option B." Phi notes as the one minute reminder plays. "I'm fine with that, so Sigma, Quark, unless you have something to add, that's what we're going with."
"I don't really mind." Quark says. "I'd be okay going with Miss Clover, Miss Phi, or Mister K."
"And I guess that means my vote doesn't really matter, huh?" Sigma says, looking away with a hand behind his head.
Uh oh. Sigma not getting to choose again? Maybe I should have betrayed last round after all, because I'm really screwing with the timeline splits now.
"Wait a second!" Dio objects. "That means we're stuck with the robot!"
"As I have said before," K states in a firm tone, "I am not a robot. I would appreciate if you would stop referring to me as such."
Dio glares scornfully in his direction. "Well, you sure as hell look like one. Either way, I don't see why Sigma and I should have to pair up with the walking tin can."
"Perhaps I was wrong to suggest this then. I will say that while you were my first choice, you are quickly making the others seem far more appealing." K responds in about as harsh a manner as I've yet heard him use.
"Just deal with it!" Phi shouts as the ten second countdown starts. "Time's almost up! Get through the doors!"
With no time left to figure out something else, our groups quickly hurry past the primary doors and into the small scanning rooms. The concluding countdown only serves to remind me of the noose rapidly tightening around my neck, and the sound of the door sliding closed feels a lot more final this time.
I hope I made the right choice…
I feel like I'm being kind of harsh on Sigma, but that really is how he acts at times. It seems worse when you're not seeing his thoughts and deciding his actions I suppose, but his innuendo laden "jokes" aren't really excusable, regardless of his age.
In any event, this is the last part I have finished as things stand- I have about 4000 words of the next chapter and two or three thousand of assorted bits after that, plus a lot of planning, but this was where I'd gotten to before I started posting this fic, and no more has been completed as of yet. If you want more, please tell me- I have to weigh fic priorities, so it would be helpful to know if anyone would rather see this continue over anything else I'm writing.
If you want more, please tell me- I have to weigh fic priorities, so it would be helpful to know if anyone would rather see this continue over anything else I'm writing.
