Back in Tsubaki's room, Yuno was slowly processing what just happened.

"So, uhm, anyway, Yuno, now that you've stopped screaming and throwing up...is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

"What...in the name of FUCK...was that thing?!"

"Well, King George is a Ghoul. HP Lovecraft wrote about them in some of his stories."

"But wasn't he a fiction writer?"

"Fiction, reality...not much difference, honestly. Once you give something a face and a name, well, who knows what could happen? I mean, how do we know we're not just words on a page? And if someone's reading us, how do they know they're not just a product of someone else's imagination? And if someone's reading them...well, you get the idea."

"Damn. So, how did you meet King George?"

"I was twelve years old. I had managed to escape the cult for a little while and ended up in the temple basement. Bastards had the nerve to call themselves the 'Neo-Omekatans'. They turned a perfectly good religion, MY PARENTS' RELIGION, into something...twisted. Anyway, I was in the basement, and I found a tunnel, like the one in our basement. I ran in and got lost. I found myself in the Dreamlands, where I saw...something. It looked like a rat, but with tentacles on its snout. I learned later it was called a zoog. It jumped at me, and I thought I was gonna die. King George found me and killed it. He led me back to the basement, and that's how I became interested in the occult. Soon after I moved in here, I went down to the basement and looked for a tunnel, and I found King George again."

"That's such a nice story. You found your friend after two years by yourself, going through unimaginable-"

"He was the first thing I had consensual sex with."

"...What?"

"Well, I figured I'd finally had a chance at controlling my own sexuality, and I wanted to thank him for saving my life. I was a little disappointed that he didn't have a knot, like in some porn I watched online, but he was still REALLY big. And so strong! It felt like he could tear me apart at any minute, but that just made it hotter~ Normally, I'm the dominant one, but he was just so masculine."

"He's a human-eating monster from another dimension."

"He gave me the second orgasm I've ever had. And the third. And the fourth, and the fifth. My first orgasm was a few hours after I killed all the Neo-Omekatans. I had just settled into my room, and I read on the Internet that orgasms were apparently a lot of fun, so I masturbated for the very first time, and...don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"That mixture of disgust and arousal. Stop looking at me like that."

Yuno continued to look at her like that.

"Yeah, Yuno, I'm a degenerate. Also, the sky is blue. And you fucked Yuki literally hours after you met him. You have no right to judge me."

"That's...really not the same thing."

"And I resent you calling him a monster. Ghouls have their own religion and society! They're just as civilized as-"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Christ. Anyway, since meeting King George didn't help, do you have any other ideas?"

"Well...there is the Carter Method."

"Let's do it."

"Alright, you sit down, I'll get some opium."

Tsubaki got the opium ready.

"This method is purely cerebral. Eyes closed, we imagine ourselves atop an enormous staircase..."

"Well, I guess that's easy enough. So this is the Carter Method?"

"Oh, there's much more than this to successful dreaming. Rigorously keeping dream-journals, for instance, trains us to remember more of our dreams. The seven hundred steps are just a way of lucid dreaming, where we're fully conscious despite being asleep. We descend the steps into dream. Count them to keep your attention focused."

"Yes. Yes, I see what you mean. It's quite an effort to visualize the steps without getting distracted. Fifteen, sixteen..."

"Like anything, it gets easier with practice. It helps to engage the senses. Be aware of the stairway's cave-like acoustics, its subtle odor of wet stone, and the uneven texture of rough-hewn treads beneath our feet. Thirty, thirty-one..."

"This is weird...I can see underground layers of rock and dirt. And the staircase is changing shape..."

"That happens when we get near places where ideas are less fixed. There are different levels to sleeping. We're now in the hypnagogic state, which is...weird. One hundred and forty-nine. One hundred and fifty..."

"Y-yes, and then the weird shit starts talking to you. Is this whole thing underground? One hundred and sixty. One hundred and sixty-one..."

King George poked his head out of a hole in the whole. His eyes were glowing read, and the lighting made his skin look grey.

"HELLO. HELLO, YUNO. I AM HAPPY TO SMELL YOU."

Below them, another hole in the wall was on fire. A balding old man with a goatee, wearing white robes, was burning inside of it.

"Tsubaki, you fucking whore! DON'T PRETEND YOU CAN'T HEAR US!"

"Ignore them. One hundred and seventy-three, one hundred and seventy-four..."

"Nnn...now...now all the colors...getting brighter. Five hundred forty-seven. Five hundred forty-eight..."

"It's...it's an indi...indication we're almost there. Five hundred and fifty-three. Five hundred and fifty-four..."

"This is amazing. Everything feels so real. Six hundred and ninety-six. Six hundred and ninety-seven..."

"It's like reality, just more flexible. Six hundred and ninety-nine, seven hundred, there. Now, let's explore the closer reaches of Hypnos' realm."

They walked into a hallway. The floor tiles looked like tiles on a chess board. A black cat walked beside them. Up ahead, two men were sitting at a table. One was in a blue uniform, while the other was in a business suit.

"This is so vivid," said Yuno.

"These are only the Upper Dreamlands. It's where memories are stored. Well, distorted versions of them, anyway. In front of us in Brigadier General Albert Pike, along with a member of the Church I mentioned, Whipple Phillips. The Church believes that the Dreamlands physically existed in ancient times, and can be reborn in the future."

"Sir," said Brigadier General Pike, "with my KGC to perpetuate our mutual values, it is my fondest wish for that proud land to rise again."

"I take it, sir," replied Whipple, "that you are referring to your beloved South?"

A group of Klansmen appeared behind Pike.

"No, sir. I most assuredly am not."

The girls and the cat walked away from them, and through a door that led outside.

"I-I don't understand," said Yuno. "Did that really happen?"

"Who knows? It could've been symbolic for all we know. By the way, the cat is Nigger Man. Yes, that's his actual name."

"Reminds me of John and Aru's movie. How are things with Aru, by the way?"

"Oh, he's amazing! He's so nice. And picking up guys, and the occasional girl, is fun, too. You have no idea how many people are closet bisexuals. Three-ways every night, can you imagine?"

"I can do more than imagine it, I can hear it from my room."

"Well, tough shit. Anyway, keep your concentration, we're heading into the outskirts of the Dreamlands."

They found themselves in a field of grass. They were surrounded by abandoned railway cars."

"As to how these things represent incest, I have no idea," said Tsubaki. "Though, surely, Professor Freud would say otherwise."

"It's so amazing how clear and stable it all is. It's a coherent country, with its own consistent geography, its own plant-life, its own...oh, oh, FUCK ME RUNNING WHAT IS THAT."

Behind them, tending to the cars, was a man in a railway conductor's uniform. He had a long, flesh-colored tentacle where there should have been a face.

"T-Tsubaki, d-did you see, back there? There was some...some kind of..."

"Yes, I noticed. Things like that live here. That's why it's so disturbing that the Church wants this place to come back to our world."

"Is that a graveyard up ahead?"

"Oh, yes. There are some more Ghouls here."

They walked into the cemetery, where two Ghouls with red eyes were raiding graves for food.

"There eyes glow red in the dark. I think it helps them find food somehow. Anyway, Yuno, these two guys are George Washington and Mary Pickford. They're friends of King George...Yuno?"

Yuno had ran up ahead.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Hey, wait up!"

Tsubaki caught up to her.

"Don't fucking wander off like that!"

"Sorry, I just...I couldn't be around those..."

"Racist. Anyway, there's a tower over there. The Ghouls use it to as a stairway between here and our world, much like ours. It reaches up to the sky...well, not exactly 'sky'. Those twinkles up there could be stars or stalactites."

"But there's a moon up there. How can a moon be underground?"

"Don't ask questions you don't wanna know the answer to, Yuno. I've learned that the hard way."

A large group of white cats crawled out of some nearby bushes. They formed a wave of fur, pushing the girls towards the moon.

"Uh. Tsubaki."

"Don't worry. These cats are my friends."

The girls were grabbed by a swarm of black, faceless humanoids with bat-like wings, inward-facing horns, rubbery skin, hands where their feet should have been, and long barbed tails. Tsubaki was holding Nigger Man in her arms. Yuno screamed.

"These guys are more acquaintances. Don't worry, Yuno. The nightgaunts don't wanna hurt us."

"OH MY GOD! OH MY FUCKING GOD! WHY DO I LISTEN TO YOU?! WHY?!"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to explore her dreams."

"T-Tsubaki, they're...they're tickling me!"

"Yeah, they do that. It can be weirdly sexual. I don't even think it's intentional. Sometimes when I encounter the nightgaunts, I wake up feeling really horny."

Yuno stifled an involuntary moan. "I-I see what you mean. I-I'm not really sure how to feel about this."

"It's okay, just stay calm. If you freak out too much, they'll..."

The nightgaunts released their hold on the girls.

"...drop us. Goddammit, Yuno."

"WE'RE FALLING UP! WE'RE FALLING INTO THE FUCKING SKY, TSUBAKI!"

"Oh, fuck! We can't go up there! That's where the outer entities live!"

Ganger materialized beside Yuno. He grabbed her, and whispered into her ear:

"Murmur."

His breath smelled like blood and copper. He vanished as quickly as he appeared.

"TSUBAKI! TSUBAKI!"

"Remember, this is just a dream! All we have to do is open our..."

The two girls, along with Nigger Man, were back in Tsubaki's room.

"...eyes."

"Oh, thank God. It's over."

"And we have a new cat."

"Tsubaki, I saw something. It-it looked like Yuki, but it wasn't him! It said something about Murmur."

"Then it looks like your dreams are more than the product of your mental illness. I'll summon Murmur tomorrow, and we'll get some answers. As for now, I'll introduce our new friend to everyone." Tsubaki, Yuno, and Nigger Man walked out of the room and into the living room, where everyone except for Yuki, Aru, and Rei, who were hanging out with Ouja again, were watching TV.

"Everyone, this is our new cat,"said Tsubaki. "Karyuudo, keep your worthless mouth shut. His name is Nigger Man."

"I like him already", said John.

Yuki, Aru, and Rei walked in through the front door.

"I swear to Christ, Aru-"

"Dude, I'm not trying to fuck your mom! You're seeing shit that's just not there."

"A kitty!"

"Yuki, we got a cat!~" said Yuno.

"That's cool."

"His name is Nigger Man."

"That's amazing. So how did your dream-quest go?"

"I'm slightly traumatized, and I was touched in certain places by an eldritch monster, and I kinda sorta liked it."

"...Was he bigger than me?"