AUTHOR'S NOTE:

THIS CHAPTER HAS UNDERGONE A MAJOR EDIT AS OF 6/23/2018. MORE CHAPTER EDITS TO FOLLOW.

ONE

"A Digital Reality."

"Wisteria, how are you feeling today?" Her hand was firm against her pad of paper as her pencil began to jot down the little things. Where we could improve on my function and how I could live my day to day without letting my impulsivity control me. This office smelled of disinfectant and cleaner. It wasn't something that bothered me much but it was all I could focus on this whole session. She started and ended every session by asking me how I was feeling at that moment.

The clock on the wall read a quarter past three and that meant we were coming to a close for this meeting.

I leaned against the table in front of me. My hand sinking into my chin as I closed my eyes. "I'm alright. I have had some alright days this month. I haven't felt... acted on the need to purge since my release. Sorry I didn't mention that at the beginning... I've been following my meal plan that we worked out to a tee thanks to my family."

"I'm glad to hear that. You've been doing a very good job lately at keeping up with that. Has there been any change in your mood? In regards to what you were struggling with about your father? You seemed upset during our last session but are you ready to talk about it?" She asked, the quirk of her eyebrow lifting just enough that it caught my attention.

My shoulders lifted into a shrug. "Let's give that a little more time, Karen. I'm doing that on my own right now - there's still a lot I want to think about before I open up about that. It's not bothering me as bad as it was before. I just don't want to deal with that can of worms right now."

"That's understandable, but you know we'll have to deal with that eventually. Just think about how we can better address it for next time." She reminded me, as she set her pen down against her desk. "Let's meet again in two weeks to discuss any more changes... but in the meantime, you can call me whenever you need to talk about anything."

"What would you do if I told you that sometimes growing up feels like you're burying your childhood and kicking it for good measure?"

The phone was on speaker so I didn't need to put the effort into holding the device in my hand. My older sister was on the other line, she was listening to me this evening since I had managed to catch her at a good time. Lucy had such a lot going on lately in her life - and I did as well, that meant that we couldn't just talk to each other like we used to be able to do. While I felt like this was a heavy weight upon me - I never expressed it to her completely... not when she had a small child on to tend to.

On the other end of the phone, she let out a small scoff at the question I inquired. "Have you been binging Disney movies while you're feeling the height of your depression again? That's kind of a weird way to deal with all you're going through right now, but if it's helping go for it."

I rolled my eyes. This was her attempt at trying to tease me - to make me feel better about myself. "There's nothing wrong with indulging in fairy tales as long as you know how to separate fantasy and reality. I know that. Sometimes I think it would be more interesting to know that you can expect your life to work out like that... life is a little different than being a Cinderella case, where your misfortune can lead you to something better you weren't expecting along the way, but hey, I can dream."

It was ironic that I spent a lot of my time trying to illustrate paintings for people that wrote stories like that.

"And I'm still dreaming I can actually fly." Lucy joked. It was always great to know her sarcasm was holding up ever since she had her daughter - as if I could ever believe that it was going to go away just because she had a mini-me in the making. I grumbled under my breath and she just laughed. "What's got you feeling like that anyway?"

"Oh..." I shrugged my shoulders as if she could see it. With a little sigh, I admitted to her just a little bit of information. "A little of this, a little of that... you know the deal. It's just one of those days, Lucy."

Lucy gave a soft hum in response. "How's everything holding up other than that?"

"I've been rocking a killer headache today, but I just took some painkillers that might be able to knock it down just enough that I can get some rest later if I try. Really, other then that it's been kind of a decent week if you ask me over." I grimaced as I remembered the one point bad point of my week that I wanted to forget. "Mom did drop by, but that's not worth mentioning."

"Oh." Lucy didn't really have to say much else about that.

It was coming out like word vomit. This feeling that Lucy had heard something from the woman that I already knew. "If she told you that I hadn't cleaned up the place, she's exaggerating like always." I paused as my eyes darted around the living room of my apartment with a grimace. "A few magazines on the floor is enough to start World War Three in her opinion. You know how that goes."

My eyes lingered on the flowers that sat on the corner table next to my lampshade when they reached them. It was a simple pot and a big array of flowers that my Mother preferred. They were a shade of yellow that I wasn't fond of, they reminded of something that I wanted to forget desperately, however, no matter how hard I glared at the floral arrangement it would spontaneously combust. My Mom didn't listen whenever I told her not to drop by flowers if she wasn't going to remember the ones that I couldn't stand. "You know what kind of flowers she dropped off when she visited though?"

"Sunflowers?" She asked.

I rolled over on the couch so I wasn't facing the vase. "Nothing can be that yellow and be genuine about the light it gives off, who do those flowers think they are, the sun?" I said.

There was a pause on the other line for a moment. Lucy sounded like she was shifting something in her hands and then set it down onto something like a table from the clank in the background. "You've said that before but I'm not quite sure that I understood what you were getting at when you told me. I'll try to remind her to pick up something different if she wants to bring you some next time. alright?"

"Much appreciated, sis."

The light from my phone diminished into darkness.

It was the late evening I found myself outside as I wandered from my second story apartment into the nearby park that garnered a bridge walkway to the other side of it. It was a spot that I found myself visiting a lot in my spare time to get some fresh air and get free of my stuffy apartment for a change of scenery. This was nothing compared to the land that my Grandparents owned - cared for, and tended to. That was a vibrant garden that boasted a lot of travelers when things were in bloom in the spring.

My hands leaned against the safety railing of the bridge as I propped myself up to take in the view of Earth's atmosphere. It was hazy tonight but I knew the cycle by heart enough that it didn't bother me so much that I was unable to see it for myself.

It would be bright waves of blue and white during the day and a cascading wave of black and far galaxies and nebulae naked to the eyes would give hints of purples and blues during the night time if you looked hard enough. At dawn break, it was guaranteed to be soft hues of any color covering the land, and during sunset, the sky would transform into a sea of reds and oranges. It was always changing and at no point would it ever be the same view for you once that moment's passed.

The sky above us was never the same, yet, many of us just liken it to be being just dark and light. The night and the day were two sides of the same coin, that's how the saying goes anyway. There's more to it than just two points of view. My point is: What most people don't notice is the edges between the coin; The in between of the in between. If you aren't looking for it there's a chance you might miss what you're searching for, but rest assured there's more to the night and day then just that.

Sometimes I would find that I liked the sun more than the moon, and vice versa.

Lately, I had been thinking a lot about the world and how the way things worked. There was a lot of time for self-reflection that you could go from when you were bound to a hospital room - or gently taken to the countryside so you would be unable to do harm to yourself. What is good and what is bad? These things don't always have a big meaning. Sometimes what you think is good for you is actually bad for you and I had long been trying to pull myself away from what had caused me so much trouble.

The mist of this night was eerie but strangely comfortable.

The time on my phone indicated that it was just minutes before sunrise... that meant that this mist would soon break and give way to the sunshine. I slid the device back into my purse and decided to take a step back from the edge of the guard-rail. The water was calm but the current was steady as always. If you looked hard enough then you would see the way leaves from a nearby tree descended into the water and flowed down the stream at along the lines of the waves. A slow but ever so meticulous rate.

"Huh... The last remnants of winter appear to be leaving," I mused.

If I was put on the spot to pick one of the different phases of the Earth's rotation, I don't think I could tell you an answer. Be it the seasons or the change of our sky there were things that made each of them intriguing and things that left less to be desired. Although, it felt to me that winter had been hanging over my head along with the foggy sky for quite some time now.

Winter, a cold and unforgiving day after day of surprises that you couldn't expect; It wasn't the winter when the first snowfall made you feel excited to step out your front door and see it twinkle from the sky. I had grown restless in the past few weeks with my Mother checking up on me periodically throughout the week, her barrage of attention and advice were overwhelming to deal with since it came almost daily - despite how hard I was pushing my own independence and freedom again. That could have been the reason I left my home after a night of tossing and turning in my sheets.

It was uncharacteristically abnormal for me to leave my house these days during the daytime, much less come out for a stroll on the nearby bridge that overlooked the riverbed.

But, I went out to leave my cloudy thoughts.

I had thrown on the nearest outfit that I had and left my house into the vastness of the night to search for the answer to this aimless feeling in the back of my head. When I was still in high school, I would peer out my bedroom window to watch the stars and search for that one that would float across the sky. It wasn't often that I would locate a shooting star, but when I did it left me feeling a sense of satisfaction. I would often make a wish on it... it would be something that you could expect, a girl wishing for something different then what she was living.

It had been a while since I had seen the night sky begin to leave and the sun rose above the horizon in person. Sometimes moonlight would pour into my bedroom and it would make it harder for me to get some rest.

Today it wouldn't be possible to see it clearly.

That was ironic... how I usually avoided it but the time that I went looking for it, it wasn't to be found. There was a fog surrounding the bridge that kept me from seeing either end of the city when I darted my eyes back and forth. It would have left anybody else feeling uncomfortable at the unknown all around them. That was the way that life worked sometimes.

There was no gratification guarantee for any of us. "Well, I got some fresh air at the very least." I reminded myself.

My older sister was my closest friend but she had responsibilities of her own to tend to which left me stuck in a cycle I wasn't fond of keeping anymore, and my father. I didn't like to think about him anymore. It may have been the fact that I was standing on the very spot that he stood in before his body dangled over the edge and tipped over into the water down below for the last few minutes - but there was a lot of grief there that I didn't want to address just yet.

Pain... wounds that still had not completely come to heal.

My mother was always overbearing and you couldn't tell her no when you spoke with her because she would make you see things her way sooner or later.

Mom had been reminding me ever since my health had begun to deteriorate that I take some time to smell the roses and not exert myself too strenuously when I felt my limits slithering up the nape of my neck like a snake. She would be pleased when I told her I wasn't just wasting away in my bedroom playing video games. I did have work later this week to focus on so she wouldn't have the chance to get on my case about how I was feeling if I was busy during working hours.

Those days when I wasn't dealing with my problems I had found something new to do... and I was more than willing to throw myself into video games, Otome games specifically. I had been playing a lot of them since I had wound up in the hospital and it continued after my treatment.

It was nice to have somebody care about you even if they were digital. It was a boost to your self-esteem, and I always was searching for that validation. I hadn't been playing games for the past few days. I had been dealing with elevated nausea and headaches, spurned from my problems that I hadn't been able to totally move on from emotionally and physically. There were many that I spent my time playing - but Mystic Messenger was definitely one that I could easily access from my phone and play whenever I wanted.

I had been playing it for some time but I had only finished playing the Deep Route just recently. There was news of a new route coming out that would change the way we thought about the characters but I couldn't know what they meant by that. A V route... maybe? It didn't seem likely that they would make a route for him, and it was even slimmer for someone like Unknown. Wouldn't that be interesting? The chill air against my skin reminded me that I should turn back head for my apartment.

I counted the cracks in the pavement as I headed back - when I counted the last crack, I lifted my head up and looked around to see if the dense fog had begun to clear just yet.

"Huh?"

I couldn't recognize my surroundings at all.

The morning fog was strong enough that I couldn't entirely make out the surrounding buildings but they were clearly not the ones that should have been here. Now, I had experienced periods of fatigue and confusion that left me confused about myself or my environment at times, but this was a different feeling that I was experiencing. This wasn't like my town. I pinched myself and that proved that I was awake and - yes, this was happening. Grabbing my bag, I tore through it to find my phone.

When I looked down at my phone I noticed an application was installing.

My apps usually updated by themselves during the might when I slept, but this one had a name I wasn't familiar with... Against my better judgment, I decided to see what it was. It opened on my screen and gave me the option to input some fairly basic information and then it gave me one more option.

I plugged in my alias as the nickname.

The application didn't give me any option but to enter a mysterious looking chatroom.

Wisteria has entered the chatroom.

Unknown: Hi! Finally, someone to talk to!

I stared at my phone screen uncertain if what I was seeing was real, had I accidentally opened Mystic Messenger and started a new game? The static of the background reminded me of the first I didn't remember doing that... Might my phone be on the fritz? I thought.

The background of the chat room was of data and code but it wasn't exactly like the one that I had put to my memory. I clicked the dialogue box. My keyboard sprung open... And the line flashed as if it was really waiting for my input into the box. It didn't give me a choice. It wanted me to input something as a response... Nervously I began to type a message.

Wisteria: Oh... hello?

Unknown: I hope I didn't surprise you. Don't be nervous I'm just an "ordinary person".

Wisteria: Usually when someone says that, they are anything but ordinary, Mr. Unknown.

Unknown: You're funny lol I can't really say that I'm extraordinary when I'm introducing myself. Shouldn't I be humble and modest?

Wisteria: I suppose I might have cracked a joke too if I was introducing myself to somebody for the first time too. I can understand the sentiment you're going for. Who are you, exactly?

Who are you, indeed. I clicked out of the chat for a moment to see the name of the application.

RFA...?

It was called RFA Messenger. That was suspicious enough for me to wonder what was going on. It didn't say Mystic Messenger despite looking damn-near identical to the platform with some minor visual differences. Why did it appear so much like it? I wondered. Was this one of fake versions that appeared on the app store? I didn't remember downloading anything like that - I certainly didn't put one on my waitlist. So... What the heck? "I saw one of those before but... this looks too legitimate..." I mumbled as I inspected the screen further with scrutiny. "What the heck?"

Another message came in.

Unknown: I'm the developer of this app

What do you think of it?

I was hoping you would like it...

In fact, I'm really excited. Because you're the first one to come in, Wisteria!

I was worried that no one would come in while I was making the app.

Wisteria: I'm not sure I'm made up my mind on my opinion just yet.

Though, I'm flattered the developer wanted to talk to me directly. Is there something that I can do for you?

Unknown: Oh! I'm so glad you asked!

cuz there is a favor I want to ask of you

Though, it is kind of much to ask from a stranger. There is something I really want you to help me with

Whoever this guy was I wasn't sure if I wanted to trust him. I had a hard time telling people no, however, so I decided to hear him out.

Wisteria: I guess I can. Sure!

Unknown: You already decided without hearing me out? My heart's fluttering... I'm so lucky that you came here. This app isn't just a messenger app, it's a game messenger app. I wanted to ask if you could test it.

Wisteria: Why you couldn't you test it yourself? Oh, are you so focused on putting it together that it's hard to look for bugs? I guess it would be easy to overlook something if you've been looking at it for a while. That happens to me sometimes when I'm drawing something.

Unknown: You could say something like that I also think an outsider's opinion like yours would be a huge benefit to my game, though as well.

Wisteria: Hm...

Unknown: This app... lets you chat with me but also good-looking AIs. I may be a good looking guy too. But that's for you to decide - The chats aren't everything. There are also hidden stories... Amusing stories that will stir your imagination. All you would need to do... is to play the game and tell me your honest opinion.

Unknown: These are the characters that come out of the game. ^^ They're not real people but characters created with AI. What do you think? Don't you think it will be fun?

If I had been holding my breath at that moment it broke past my lips into a gasp. That image! He had sent an image was of the... It was the original title screen of the game when it debuted in the app store! Somebody must have been playing a clever trick on me. Except... Nobody that I was close to knew that I had been spending a lot of time playing Otome games, be it Mystic Messenger on my phone or the few of them that were on my laptop. The only person that might have known about it was my Dad - given he was still around when I started playing in the hospital.

So that couldn't be the case. It was bizarre... yet, compelling. Even if it was some kind of joke, I felt like I should go along with it. Against the feeling in my stomach, once again, I decided to see what would happen if I were to agree to this. I didn't have anything to do except paint and submit my work to the publisher or the writer this week. If this was a joke or a game it would end soon if I did this.

Wisteria: Alright, sure, I'll help you out!

Unknown: Did you find a pretty face that you like on the poster? If so, you are truly fascinating lol

Unknown: I've studied real hard to make this messenger game. I hope you enjoy it. ^^ I think it will be better if we talk over the phone about the details. Let's talk over the phone. Don't freak out when you see an unknown number pop up, okay?

Unknown has left the chatroom.

The chatroom fizzled into darkness and disappeared from my view. I spun around to look at the bridge behind me. It wasn't the same one that I had just stepped off of at all... And the strangest thing was, I thought I saw a stream along the sky that looked like something had warped the space around the bridge just now.

As the fog cleared up and the sun began to overtake the sky above me, that was when I knew that things weren't as they should have been with a new sense of clarity. This wasn't my neighborhood. These weren't the streets that I knew like the back of my hand. These buildings were just as normal as any old city would have but they weren't the ones that should've been here.

I had walked a few blocks ahead to see if anything might have struck a nerve in my memory but it was no use. I could feel the anxiety and panic budding in the pit of my throat. This was not the ideal situation but I needed to stay calm. I counted to ten... then took a deep breath. I looked at my phone and at whim, opened my Map app just to confirm the theory of my proximate location - the app surged to life and began to search for me, it dinged when it was finished and scrolled out to find my answer.

I was...

This wasn't home.

My phone started to vibrate and I fumbled with it in my hands before pressing the answer button. "H-Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, it's me, the one you were just chatting with." He said.

"...Unknown?" Were my hands shaking? Was my voice quivering? What was happening right now? My mind was whirling around at a hundred miles an hour and I didn't know what to do. I needed to talk. What did I say? My nervous laugh escaped my lips. "Oh. You told me not to be frightened but I have to admit the sudden call startled me."

"Yes, that's me. I hope I didn't startle you too much... Your voice sounds so cute over the phone, I can't wait to meet you in person." He paused for a moment. Unknown was someone I didn't understand entirely. I could guess his motives and what he doing from what I knew about him from Seven's route but it wasn't enough. "As I said in the chatroom, I called you to explain this app. And I thought talking to you like this would make me sound more, credible. Really, there's a tutorial in the game that can explain everything to the player... but it's still being modified, you see... Do you remember those characters I showed you?"

Did I know them? Yes. The five members of Rika's Fundraising Association that were accessible when I played the game. Yoosung Kim, Jaehee Kang, Hyun "Zen" Ryu, Jumin Han, and Luciel "Seven" Choi. The whole point of the Otome was centered around those characters and they were the components of the game. But did he know that I did as far I knew? No.

"I do," I said.

"Yeah, that image I sent you of the game consists of the characters that I've been developing. Those will your chatting partners... All five characters in the image are members of an association called the R.F.A." Unknown explained away his plans. He really believed that this was a game? Or was this some kind of ploy? "R.F.A is a closed organization with the purpose of holding fundraising parties... You've been set as the party coordinator, in charge of inviting guests. Just think of it as you being the one in charge of choosing who attends the party."

His voice sounded very familiar. Although, I wasn't sure if Unknown was who I truly assumed he was just yet. I couldn't just gauge by his voice through my cell phone.

"Whomever you invite as this coordinator will probably gain you more affection points with certain characters, right?" I said. "Though it would depend on how well you can pick up which answers are right and wrong."

"You pick up pretty quickly." There was a chuckle on the other end of the phone. "It would be pretty boring if all you had to do was just that, though, wouldn't you say? You will find out more of their secrets by chatting or calling with them. It would be faster to learn by playing it if I'm honest."

So what did he want me to do? He wanted me to test his game that wasn't really a game. These were real people with real problems and lives. That was the main purpose of Mystic Messenger from my world. You play the game and solve the problems for a character. Unknown leading MC to Rika's apartment was the only scenario I was aware of that lead her to the RFA.

This wasn't like that.

I was somewhere that I didn't know the lay of the land and I had no way of finding my way back home. Mystic Messenger was set in South Korea and that was leagues away from where my home was. This wasn't what I knew. I couldn't exactly refuse what he was offering If I did, that might run the possibility of something worse then being on the streets of a country that I didn't entirely know. If I was really in this game right now than I could cause a bad ending by doing something wrong.

That didn't leave much of an edge room to make any other answer than the one I had to. Was it possible this was a parallel reality to Mystic Messenger where Unknown was really just trying to make a game? That would be too easy of a theory to believe in. Something was going on right now that I couldn't be sure of. His intentions have to be similar to the regular story...? He wants me to get the RFA on my side, so they could be lured to Mint Eye one by one for his savior... Rika. How would I be able to do this, under the guise of an Otome? It didn't entirely make sense given what I know.

I had no choice but I decided that I would stick with it. My silence might have left him nervous about what I was planning - but I brought myself out of my head and gave him my answer. "Sure, alright, I'll do it for you."

"Thanks! I was worried you would refuse." His cheery response caught me off guard. I didn't remember Unknown coming off like this... He was supposed to brash and calculated. "Right, but the game hasn't been released yet and it cannot be revealed to the market. So, to perform the tests, you have to come over here." He said.

Come here? He couldn't mean what I thought. Was he intending to bring me straight to Mint Eye? "Where's here...?" I asked him.

"You probably won't know even if I told you. It's in the mountains and hard to see from Maps. To maintain confidentiality before the release, it's being developed in a sparsely populated area... Of course, you don't have to come here by yourself if it's too troublesome. I'll send a car over to you if you tell me your address. You could hop onto that and head this way." Well, that answered that question.

This was the kind of thing that your mother and father would tell you never to do when you're talking with strangers. It wasn't like I could get his location and head there myself. I doubted that that sort of liberty was ahead of me. "You're not ridiculing my map app or my sense of direction, are you Mr. Unknown? I'm very capable, you know."

"Oh, of course not! It would be easier for you is all I'm saying, and it keeps everything tied to the game confidential." Unknown was quick to reassure me of this. "Well, alright." I gave him the address. If I was going to find out how I got here and understand the situation at hand - It meant that I was going to have to through myself into the unknown... literally.

"I'll send a car there right now. Please be there. Keep in mind that the road there is confidential, so just do as I tell you and it'll be alright. I should hang up now. I need to get ready." He hung up.

I was left with my thoughts and the jarring realization that I didn't know what was to expect. What had I just gotten myself into?

I rubbed my eyes. What was worse was the colors of this city seemed muted, not as lively as it should have been. At first, I thought it was my eyes adjusting to the sun once again... But this was something not natural... Like it was not three dimensional - which our world was supposed to be but it suddenly was not for me.

My theory was confirmed when a driver appeared a half an hour later, with a blindfold in tow and the appearance of a two-dimensional person.

The driver drove for a period of time that I couldn't gauge, the roads twisted and turned so much that I would never have had a chance to make a mental map of the roadway if I wanted to do it. It was well outside of the residential area that I had once been in. It was at least an hour away from anything at most - no wonder it took so long for anyone to find out what they were running here. "We have arrived." The driver informed me when the car finally went silent and died down and was swallowed by the noise of nature. "You'll need to wait here for a moment, and place the mask back on."

I did as I was instructed to do. It was a few minutes before the driver spoke up once more: "Mr. Ray has arrived."

The door opened to my right. "Welcome. I've been waiting. Welcome to this wonderful place. It wouldn't have been an easy decision to come here... Thanks for trusting me."

It wasn't that I trusted him - this was the only thing that I could accept at the moment. I knew better than to say his name, his true name if it were him, instead, I opted for: "Unknown?"

"You knew who I was just by listening to the sound of my voice?" He laughed that off. It was the voice that I knew it to be from my time listening to him in the game. "Yeah. It's me, username Unknown. Didn't you think Unknown was a funny name? It was a default name because I didn't set up a username. No special meaning. My name is Ray. Thank you for coming all this way."

"I really wanted to show you around," He continued. "I prepped up this and that while waiting for you."

Show me around? This was new. The Unknown that I knew didn't play around like this. My fingers lingered against the edge of the mask. I wanted desperately to confirm his identity - the voice wasn't enough for me to accept my situation.

"Oh, don't take off the mask just yet. You can't take it off until you reach your room." He said.

"My room?" I echoed him. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. That meant that there was somewhere in this place that I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. He seemed intrigued by how well I was playing into this on the surface. "Yes, I prepared a comfortable space for you while you're here... I mean, while you're testing you have to stay here. I was worried though since I didn't know what you liked... I hope you'll like it." He said. "I'll hold your hand on the way down from the car."

I took his hand. "Thank you."

"Oh, no thank you. You are doing what I tell you to do." Ray said. "Here, I'll lead the way."

He lead the way into the building and I stayed close by his side. Ray, as he told me, didn't say much at first until we had been walking for a while around the jungle that was this massive building. This was no different than the roadways that lead to this place. You couldn't try to know how you were turning if you wanted to do it. An escape plan wouldn't be possible yet. "You have no idea what a relief it was when you said you'll help. What a relief, thanks to you. You'll be a big help."

I looked in his general location. "Well, you didn't give me any reason not to trust you," I told him even if it was only half sincere. "You seem like a nice guy, I honestly don't mind helping you." It was better to be on his good side. I didn't know how to predict his movements - I liked Saeran, as much as I liked anyone in the RFA, but I wasn't sure what to expect from him when I wasn't trapped in Rika's apartment. He was acting so pleasant and cheery compared to the twisted persona he had garnered from this place.

This response seemed to be good enough.

"That's very kind of you," Ray said. "I'll do my best to make you happy while you're here for your diligence." He stopped in his tracks right then as his footsteps died down "Oh. We're here, come I'll remove your blindfold." My eyes readjusted to the light and he came into focus at last in my vision. It was Saeran, it was him. Why was he referring to himself as Ray now?

"This would be our first time seeing each other face to face, right?" He was smiling. It wouldn't be for me. This was my first time seeing him in a light different than the dark demeanor and look he had as Unknown, the sole hacker against the RFA. Ray was much softer in appearance somehow - Ray wore a magenta overcoat over a grey vest and white button-up, a striking blue flower was pinned to the lapel of his overcoat. It was definitely a change to the leather and ripped clothes.

If he noticed any hesitation in me, I couldn't be sure. "I suppose it is." I murmured when I found the use of my voice. His character was one that had a lot of struggle. I could relate to his pain to many levels but seeing him in the flesh made me very... wary. "It is nice to meet you, you know."

"This is your room. I did my best to prepare everything in here to your liking... still, let me know of any inconvenience. You have full access to this floor of our headquarters, but you'll have to let me know before you go anywhere else. The reason... you know why, right?"

"Because it's strictly confidential like you said." I echoed his words from earlier.

"Correct. You have a great memory... I don't hate smart people. I get the feeling you'll pull this off quite well." He said. There was something in his tone that left me feeling like there really was more to this then he let on. If the RFA truly were real as Ray was, what did that mean for me? "We still have some time left, I'll explain a bit about the game. As I mentioned before, the purpose of the game is to hold a party with the RFA. All of the characters are the AIs that I have designed. There's one problem as I've tried to make it super realistic with the AIs."

Super-realistic? Was he just trying to downplay how they were really... real? "They aren't self-aware, are they? That would be a concerning bug to deal with." I cocked my head to the side.

He had a small chuckle escape him at my inquiry. "Aha... it's not like that per say. The AIs become just super suspicious when a new person comes in. Your concept is that someone hacked into your messenger and that's how you got into the RFA messenger. Quite suspicious, isn't it?"

"So, everyone is super cautious and it's a little out of hand right now for you." I pointed out.

"Exactly. That's the setting of the game, it's not fun when everyone likes you from the start, is it?" Ray nodded, clearly pleased with my assumption. "They'll ask you about this hacker, of course. But you can't answer them because you know nothing. They will try to pry information out of you though, like your location and this hacker, and they might even try to get information about the creator, me." He continued. "At that, you can't reveal the truth. You must keep the secret until the end. Can you promise me that you won't reveal what we've been talking about to the AIs?"

"It would be game-over otherwise, right?"

That look in his eyes told me my answer.

"I'll do my best," I told him. I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to able to keep that promise, however, I would be doing my best for everyone.

"Thanks! I'm so happy that you're so cooperative! Meeting you might have been... fate. Just remember to avoid a game-over, okay? Everything up until now is a secret, and who I am, the fact that they're AIs are obviously a secret too. Be careful, if the game goes through a forced shut-down, you have to start all over again from the beginning. There are slight differences depending on how you talk to them... but even if they don't accept you from that, just tell them: Someone called Rika sent me to hold the party."

"Rika, huh?"

"She's a character. The other characters will tell you what kind of character she is, but simply put, she's the one who founded the group in the game. And as I mentioned over the phone, your role in the game is party coordinator. Depending on how you talk to those potential guests means whether they will attend or decline." He nodded his head. The run-around he was giving me had my head spinning. It was like he was trying to drill the information into my skull over and over to make sure that I understood him.

"The number of party guests is also dependent on whether or not a good end is reached, right?" I asked. That was how it worked, after all.

"That's a good guess. It'll spoil the fun if I tell you in advance, if you wanna find out, you'll have to play. Inviting the guests is crucial, try to invite them with whole-heartedly. Don't forget that there will also be interesting events beside the party, within the RFA itself, depending on the choices that you make. You'll have to tell me what you think as you play... even the smallest things are okay. Tell me everything, how the party went, what those characters said to you... That way, I'll know how well the game is going... Your role is important."

I nodded my head and reaffirmed my words. "You can count on me."

"You're very confident! I'm also getting more confident thanks to you. I'll work even harder making his app. It was worth waiting for a tester." That last comment seemed to be more for himself than for me. He outstretched his hand towards me with a lift of his right hand. "Here, hand me your phone, I'll add the app for you."

"Here." I lifted the gadget from my bag and into his waiting hands.

"Thanks, it will only take a few minutes!"

I was definitely being used for something.

"Do you have any more questions about the game?" He asked.

"I'm actually a little more interested to learn about you, Ray." I inquired. The more that I understood about him - the easier it might have been for me to understand my environment. What was going on in Magenta? What year was it? What was the RFA going through if Saeran was like this?

Ray seemed startled by the admission. "Me? Hahaha... You're more interesting then I thought. Though I'm not a character inside of the game. I've always dreamed of someone who's a good listener to what I say. My voice is quite small... Most people don't seem to listen very well. Oh, I know I keep emphasizing this but... don't forget to keep the secret, alright? Don't ever... try to get game over easily, promise me that, please?"

"Of course."

I didn't want to face something grim.

He handed my phone back to me with a smile. "Thanks a lot! I want to talk to you some more, but I have to get going now Wisteria. I want you to give it your best, party coordinator." Ray made the move to head to the door after this. I turned around to watch him take a few steps towards the door and when his hand touched the knob - The words left my lips before I could stop myself. "My name isn't Wisteria, you know?"

"Oh?" Ray stopped in his tracks. He was staring at me from the corner of his vision - I'm sure he had his own theories if he hadn't found out already by going through my phone.

"It's not safe to give out your name over the internet so easily you know. That's why people use usernames in the first place." Anybody else with the right mind would have refused him and called the police about the operation. That was the realistic option. But if I dropped the line and did that would it really solve the problem? How would I know that that was going to do it? Was somebody watching me while I was on the phone with Ray? Would they have gotten me if I did? What was even a stronger thought was: I couldn't be sure that I even existed in this reality.

There was a heavy possibility that any attempts at searching for me would be filled with confusion and endless error screens.

"Is there a reason why you chose that one?" Ray asked.

"I guess you could say that, or it could no different than how you accepted Unknown as yours," I said. "It's just one of those things you learn the truth of after you've been friends for a while." I wasn't sure why I felt compelled to be honest with him. Somewhere inside of me, I knew that Saeran wasn't intentionally a villain in this story, he had been coerced and deceived by Rika for a long time and it took its toll and twisted him into someone he was not. I wanted to trust him, or maybe I just wanted him to trust me.

"It's actually Lila, Ray."

"Lila, huh?" With those words in his mind, he exited the room and went back to who knows where in the building.

This was different then the Mystic Messenger I had been playing, the last route I had completed was Seven - It had seemed to be the route that explained everything and cleared up all the answers that we learned along the way in the other routes with the RFA members. The fact that I was standing here meant there had to be something more to the game or this was some kind of alternate universe. The moment Saeran- no, Ray left me to my thoughts was the first moment that I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. I had to do a double take on my own reflection.

"It's me...?"

I raised my hand to the mirror- my fingertips brushing against the edge of the cool glass. It was as if I were me, but I wasn't me. As if it wasn't jarring enough to my vision for the world to appear two dimensional- it appeared as though I had been changed to match my surroundings.

My eyes and hair were the same color as always. My features were much more subtle here, I almost wasn't sure this was me. I was wearing the same dress that I had on when I left my house this morning, and a reassuring pinch lets me know this was more than mere fantasy. My figure was as thin as it had become... I knew underneath my clothes there was the body I hated and yet it still belonged to me.

My heart pounded in my chest at a resounding rate.

"It really is me."

My phone went off in my hand. I lifted it into view and saw the notification alerting me to an open chatroom that I could enter. That meant that my game had officially begun.

Wisteria has entered the chatroom.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

LIE-LAH. A girl who has got dragged into a mess she doesn't even know the first thing about.

So, instead of updating my other stories I got excited about a new idea and I found myself writing this... I wasn't sure if I wanted to post it or not, but I went ahead and did it. It may seem a little close to the original first day of Another Story, but there's divergence coming after this so get yourself ready for that!