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:

Dio + Quark: BETRAY
Luna: ALLY
Clover + K: ALLY
Tenmyouji: ALLY
Sigma + Phi: BETRAY
Alice: ALLY

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.