Okay. Sorry again. I haven't updated my other story with another improvement. It's just that I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and relaxing after finals.

...and definitely not because I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in my free time.

*cough*


And then I headed back to much apartment to get some well-deserved sleep.

By the looks of things, Jacob and I came to an unspoken agreement: he'd use the couch at night with his inferior regular sleep schedule, and I'd lock myself up in my room while everyone else was going about their lives.

I closed my curtains but there was still a crack that light was seeping through.

...I taped it with some complementary tape the building provided for some reason.

Then I woke up. At sunset.

Yay me. I liked the sky at night better anyway.

I asked Annie to come with me to Deepsea right after I told her they might come after her?

I didn't think about it too much since a part of me was glad I wouldn't be alone down there. She was the only person I could ask, really.

The old Cuttlefish guy wouldn't do me much good. All he did down there was not shut up. If it wasn't for Pearl and Marina, I would have gone insane.

Right! The captain! I need to head back there!

The communicator thingy was holed up in my drawer, like always. I turned it on, unlocked it, and noticed that he sent a message telling me to head over there at noon.

"Of course," I quietly muttered to myself. After checking the window again, I saw that the sun was technically still up, but not for long, though.

So I jumped out of my window again. It's sadly becoming a casual thing for me.


"Sorry. I was asleep. Did you find anything?" I tried to act casual, as if I didn't respond at a horrible time.

He stared at me with his gigantic eyes for a moment. "...Yes." He pulled the flash drive out of his pocket and handed to me. It smelled weird. I stuffed it in my own pocket. "I told them that Agent 3 found it. It took a while, but they... uh... decrypted it."

You'd think that he of all people should be at least a little computer literate, holding this sketchy secret agent business.

I guess I can't blame him. I'm no better with those things than he is. I just quoted Annie when I told him the problem.

"Oh, yeah. And one more thing. About those green sanitized girls we saw down in the subway? I saw some... lurking up here." I left Jacob out of the story since he'd probably want to interrogate him. I didn't want him to get mixed up in this.

He shifted his weight to his cane. "You did, eh?"

"Also, I'm trying to find a way back there to stop it. Any ideas?"

"Hmm..." He scratched his beard and I'm pretty sure something fell out of it. After a bit of thought, he said, "Would it be fine if you got in touch with Agent 3?"

The thought wasn't appealing, since the last time we met, we kinda fired guns at each other on an elevator.

...and the time before that, we fired guns at each other on an Octarian floating platform.

I still had no choice but to accept. Agent 3 seemed to have known the layout well. He was on the outskirts of the subway the whole time. Probably. "Fine. I said. He'd be giving me a message on this thing, or...?"

He nodded in confirmation.

"Understood. Thank you, Captain," I said flatly. I turned around, and immediately, my phone in my other pocket buzzed. Annie was calling me. I looked back to make sure the door was closed and jogged out onto the sidewalk before answering. "Hey." I walked back to my place as I spoke with her.

"Just to make sure, we're both day-sleepers now, right?"

"Mm. Hey, did you ever find out what happened to the teens that collapsed the whole cave?" I warily rounded a corner, keeping alert as I went.

"No, but probably the guy that nearly found us got them. I'm expecting to see a news report about it sometime soon. Anyway, about the flash drive..."

So that's why she called.

"Yeah, just got it back. I... ran it through with somebody I knew who was good with computers. You wouldn't want to see him, he's disgusting." I was desperately hiding my ties to the NSS. "I wiped off the flash drive, though. It still smells funny. I'll head over to your place now, alright?"

"Perfect. Meet you there... here. Bye."

She hung up.

I haven't seen a single thing on here. Oh no.

I'd have to keep my reactions indifferent to make it seem like I saw them already. Shouldn't be too hard.

I super jumped to Annie's building and found myself in the same situation as before. The doors were visibly locked. I sighed in disappointment and walked back to the side of the building, where the dumpster was still where I left it. I hopped on top of it when I head the window opening. Annie was poking her head outside of it. I stopped climbing and nervously waved.

"Ahh, so that's how you got up here!" She looked across. "Whoa, that's a wide jump. Did you really...?"

I looked at the gap again. "Not looking forward to doing it again, but here we are."

"Hmm." Anime put her elbows on the windowsill. "Wait a moment, I'll bring you something." And with that, she disappeared back into the unlit hall.

I hopped off of the slanted lid of the dumpster and leaned against the wall. Out of habit, I looked up. The moon wasn't overhead quite yet, but I saw a couple of stars that were particularly bright.

"Hey!" Annie whispered loudly. She threw one end of a rope out of the window. I could easily reach the knot.

"You... have this? Why?" I said. I grabbed it anyway and planted my feet on the wall.

She pulled me up. "Don't question it. It helped, didn't it? Now what's on the flash drive?"

I had already prepared for this question. "See for yourself." We headed into her apartment.

A total of one new box was opened, which I assumed the rope came from. My suspicions were confirmed when she threw it back in.

"Here," I said, handing her the flash drive.

Without a word, she plugged it into her computer and turned it on. "Alright, what do we have here?" She scrolled through the files and opened one while I pulled over the spinning office chair again. Didn't look like she wanted to sit, so I took it again. "This... is a lunch plan. Well. I guess it makes sense, but why the heck was it encrypted?"

"Secret recipes?"

"Whatever. Anyway, next." She opened another one.

This one caught my attention.

"Eileen Octrope." Annie read. It was a file on a soldier. One of the big ones, the daughter of Akash.

She kept talking and reading through it, but I couldn't stop staring at the image that wasn't there before. Was it somehow encrypted, too?

Eileen, in the picture, was wearing sunglasses, which was normal and great at hiding identity.

So why do I feel like I have seen her before?

The feeling was stronger than it was with Annie. Way stronger. I felt something itching in the back of my mind. Like if I just kept staring at it, it would reach out and pull something from my locked-up memories and show it to me.

As I sat there, wide-eyed, Annie clicked away from the file. "Hey, I know I just gave you this, but can I keep this for now? I feel like I need to explore this a bit more."

"Huh?" It took me a while to process what she said. That entire experience was surreal. "Yeah, go ahead," I said on a whim. "I-I should go now, sorry!" I stood up and walked out the door. I'm not sure if Annie followed.

I wasted no time in hopping out of the window and running away.

The image did give me something. Finally, after six long months of remembering nothing, I have one tiny remnant of my past.

But it scares me. All it is is another image of Eileen holding a hand out to me. I don't know why, when, where.

When I met Annie and felt that familiarity, I was afraid, but I had no way to confirm my fears

I have no doubts now.

I had a connection to the Octrope family. Directly. What did I do? Who was I?


Hoo, final Splatfest next month, huh? I must prepare myself for the lore dump that will almost certainly ruin some things I'm planning.