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.

Akane is dead.

Fuck.