"So…" I say, breaking the quiet that seems to have descended upon the group. "Now what?"

"Yeah, we still have a while before the Chromatic Doors open." Quark adds.

Everyone checks their bracelets to see that we have 41 minutes left before then. Wow, only 41 minutes? A single timeline of this game really doesn't take all that long, does it? Ignoring the whole Radical-6 time perception thing, this game could be finished in less than a day.

"In that case, we should go and see if we can find any other exits." Alice says, holding her head with one hand. "Maybe there's a vent system, or a disposal shoot. Something Zero overlooked."

K concurs with her, as does Dio, surprisingly.

"Let's split up for now." Phi suggests. "Hmm… given the contents… let's look around for the next 30 minutes. We can regroup in front of the Chromatic Doors about 10 minutes before they open to share what we found."

"10 minutes?" Dio squints. "Ain't that a little early?"

"No. We'll need a bit of extra time to discuss things." Phi states cryptically. "Everyone alright with that?"

No one objects, so we all begin splitting off in different directions. I start making my way towards the crew quarters, wanting to be alone so I can attempt to SHIFT… except that Alice appears to be following right behind me. Ohhhhh dear, I think she wants to have that "talk" she mentioned earlier. And no one else is walking this way… crap, I'm not getting out of this, am I?

Resigned, I enter the cyan door and head into the front-right room of the crew quarters, figuring that I might as well get this over with. Alice walks in after me, an unreadable expression on her face, before shutting the steel door behind her.

"This is probably about as secure a place as we're likely to find around here." Alice says. "So let's talk, Clover."

I nod, sitting down on the thinly-padded metal bed chained to the wall. Before anything else, I should probably at least try to head off any questions about what Zero was implying back there…

"Alice," I start, "what Zero said back there about me knowing the rules- it turns out that the file we found in the lounge said something about that, but I'd only skimmed it. I didn't know, I swear I would have told you, I'd have told everyone-"

"Shhhh, Clover. I believe you." Alice says soothingly as she sits down next to me, forestalling my false confession. "More importantly — are you okay?"

Huh?

"Um… well, I guess I'm alright…" I mutter.

"Are you sure?" Alice asks, moving closer. "I can't imagine how you feel, being forced into yet another Nonary Game. You don't have to hold it in for my sake."

Oh… that's right. Clover was forced into not one, but TWO Nonary Games before this one, so she was really scared when she woke up in VLR and found herself in a third one… and I haven't been acting like it even remotely affects me. Damn. Maybe if I fake having put on a brave face, and then let it crumble in front of her, that'll be enough? I can't really cry on command, but it's the best idea I've got on short notice.

"I… no." I say, adding a bit of quaver to my voice. "I'm not… I'm not okay. I can't believe that this… that this is…"

To my surprise, my voice breaks for real, and true, genuine tears begin trailing down my face. With all the stress and panic this situation has been putting on me, maybe it shouldn't be such a shock, but somehow it catches me off guard. Alice hugs me tightly, which I return, crying into her shoulder.

"I'm scared…" I sob. "I don't wanna die… why is this ha- happening…?"

"I'm here, Clover." Alice whispers, rubbing my back in soothing, circular motions. "I need you to be strong, okay? We will get out of this alive. I promise…"

-~.~-

-~.~-

A few minutes later, I've managed to calm down, at least for the most part.

"Thanks, Alice." I say gratefully, wiping my eyes. "I really needed that."

"Of course." Alice says, smiling, only for the expression to fade a moment later. "I need you in work mode for the moment, okay?"

I assume that means she's going to actually ask me questions now. I sit up straight and breathe in deeply, preparing myself. "Right."

Alice's expression shifts, becoming more… professional, I suppose. "Have you tried to contact your brother yet?"

I nod, having predicted she would ask that much. "I tried almost as soon as I woke up, and a few more times after that. It isn't working. I haven't been able to contact Light at all."

While technically a lie, Clover really did have that problem in VLR. Unfortunately, in all likelihood it's because her brother was dead by this point, whether by Radical-6, the nuclear fallout from the response, or the chaos that ensued immediately afterwards.

I hug my arms and look away. "I hope he's okay…" I say, knowing he's probably not.

Alice gives me another quick, warm hug. "I'm sure he's fine. Sounds like we can't send a message to the outside though…" She brings one of her nails to her lips. "Do you still have those files you found? We found one in here too, and I'd like a closer look at the others."

I fish the pages out of my pocket and hand them over to Alice. She scans over them briefly, taking about a minute before handing them back to me. "Those seem a little more informative than the one from the crew quarters, but I don't see anything new."

"Some of it was new before we finished the AB game, but Zero just told us all of it afterwards." I reply. "So yeah, nothing helpful. I still should have noticed the bracelet point rule though…"

"I'm actually glad you didn't." Alice says, to my surprise. "Zero mentioned he would have penalized you if you told anyone before he did, remember? I wouldn't have wanted you dying just to prevent me from losing a few BP."

Oh, right. Not a rule that existed in the game, for obvious reasons. That's… sweet of her to say, considering that her life is on the line now instead. She really cares about Clover…

"In any event, how did information gathering go?" Alice prompts me. "Did you learn anything?"

I look down. I could tell her a lot of things about K and Tenmyouji, but I think I'll just stick to what was actually said. "Well, K is as hard to get a read on as you'd imagine. He always sounds kind of emotionless, and he still either doesn't remember anything, or is acting like he doesn't. He was able to solve the puzzle to get the file, so he has decent reasoning skills at least, but I couldn't really figure out much about him."

"That's fine, I doubt I could have done much on that front myself." Alice says. "What about Tenmyouji?"

"Tenmyouji seems… nice, I suppose." I tell her, hoping my "analysis" won't be too sparse for her. "I'm guessing you already figured out he's probably a pretty regular drinker, and that he's most likely related to Quark somehow?" Alice nods. "Well, he wasn't much help solving the puzzles in the lounge, but he did seem to be making a serious effort to lighten the mood. He kept cracking jokes about stuff, which I think was mostly for my sake." Er… what else… "Oh, on that note, I'm not sure why, but he really seems to trust me."

"Hmm? What makes you say that?" Alice asks.

I place a hand behind my head, wondering how to go about explaining this. "Well… remember back when K and I first came out of the AB Room, and Tenmyouji asked if I thought K was telling the truth about his memory? I said I did, and he calmed down a lot right after that, like my word somehow meant more than anyone else's. And he said some stuff in the lounge that kind of implied… well, I dunno. It was why I figured he'd ally, and he did. I don't really get it, but for some reason he just… believes in me, I guess."

"Strange…" Alice says, not seeming sure what to think about that. "Well, we'll tentatively call him trustworthy for now then, but if you get the chance, try to find out why he'd act like that."

I nod, essentially giving her the non-verbal form of lip service. All these lies don't exactly feel good, but I can tell her the truth if the need actually arises, which softens the blow a little.

"Now for what I found out." Alice pronounces. "Sigma is somehow both intelligent and clueless at the same time. He managed to figure out the passcode to get that file, and solved quite a few of the puzzles, but it took him a while to figure out a few really basic things for some reason. He's also a bit of a perv. He was practically drooling over Phi and me, as well as a poster in the other room with scratch-off clothes. Why that was incorporated into the escape method I don't know, but if you want Sigma to do something, seduction might be a decent bet."

…yeah, not happening, but I'll be sure to keep that in mind, thanks.

"There's also something else about him that's incredibly… you know what, I'm sure Phi will be bringing it up, so I'll let you find out with everyone else in a bit. It's hilarious." Alice says, stifling a laugh. "As for Phi… she was a lot more difficult to get a read on. It didn't help that we were all investigating separate rooms. Sigma was in and out a lot, but I barely saw Phi. Honestly, at the moment I'm more wary about her than anyone else here. Try not to get grouped with her if you can help it."

I nod again. That's probably fine. Not exactly difficult this round, since it's literally impossible with us both being solos.

"That's about it, I think." Alice concludes as she stands up, her back to me. "But… there is one more thing, Clover."

I don't like the tone she said that in…

"What's that?" I ask nervously.

"When you and K first came out of the AB room… you told me his name was K. But when he finally introduced himself, it sounded like he'd only just come up with it."

Shit. I've been praying she hadn't noticed that...

Before I can try to babble out some pathetically inadequate excuse, Alice continues. "Also, just now you walked directly here, without any prompting from me. How exactly did you know this is where I wanted to speak with you? I hadn't told you yet, and this should be the first time you've even seen the crew quarters."

My mouth hangs open. I didn't even think about that — I just walked to where I remembered Clover and Alice talking early on in the game automatically. I screwed up… there's nothing I can really tell her.

Alice turns and focuses on me, causing me to cringe. "Clover… are you seeing the future?"

…

That was not the question I was expecting. Is she thinking that…

"I… maybe?" I start tentatively, latching on to her idea. "This does all feel kind of… vaguely familiar, actually. And you're right. I don't know why, but I somehow just sort of… knew K's name, and that we'd be coming here to talk… do you think it's esper related?"

Alice smirks. "I think I can say for certain it is, actually. Congratulations, Clover."

I look up, doing my best to seem confused. "Congratulations?"

"Up until now, you've only been able to resonate with Light through the Morphogenetic Field." Alice states. "This is the next step up. You're resonating with yourself through parallel worlds."

I'm not sure what expression is appropriate to make in response to that, so I just keep my look of slight confusion plastered on.

"SOIS hasn't seen it much, but we know that it's possible." Alice continues. "Seems you're a stronger esper than we thought…" She trails off, looking thoughtful. "Unless…"

I tilt my head to the side. "Unless?"

"Do you remember what you were taught back at the base?" Alice asks. "About what happens if espers are placed in close proximity to each other?"

"You mean how some espers get stronger around others?" I say, trying to be as vague as possible about how I word my answer, as I have no idea the depth of Clover's actual knowledge on this subject.

"Right. But more specifically, the stronger ones absorb the power of the weaker ones, leaving only one person able to truly use their abilities. It's why we kept the other receiver-transmitter pairs almost completely separate from you and Light."

I shift uneasily at that, disliking the reminder of how VLR describes esper group mechanics. Given that I'm currently banking on that not being true, I can only hope that Alice is just plain wrong here. Guess this means it probably was either Alice or Clover who explained this to Sigma in the game though.

"Do you get it?" Alice asks. "If you're stronger than usual, then that means…"

"…that there might be other espers in this game." I finish for her, receiving a confirmatory nod in response. "Do you think that could be a problem?"

"Honestly, given the reasons the first two Nonary Games happened, I should have considered this before now." Alice says, berating herself. "But no, I suppose it shouldn't matter that much. If you're the one receiving the benefit, other nearby espers shouldn't be able to use their abilities anyways. I don't know why whoever put us here would want that, but we can definitely use this to our advantage. If you 'remember' anything else-"

The door swings open. Sigma stands there, obviously not having expected to find the two of us in here, at least if his stupefied expression is anything to go by.

"Oh, uh. Hi? What are you two doing in here?"

"Nothing that important." Alice says as she moves to leave. "If you'd get out of the way?"

Sigma awkwardly stands aside to let Alice by. She turns back and looks at me briefly, giving a parting wave.

"Talk to you later, Clover. Make sure to inform me if there are any new developments regarding what we discussed, okay?"

I smile and nod eagerly. "Right!"

Alice walks away, and I hear the door down the hallway open and shut behind her. Sigma is, quite irritatingly, still hanging around in the door.

"So, what were you two talking about?" he asks.

I raise an eyebrow. Like it's any of his business?

"I don't know Sigma. Girl stuff? Maybe co-worker stuff? Not to be rude, but it really doesn't involve you."

"Er, sorry. I was just curious…"

I roll my eyes. "Right. So are you just going to hang around in the door all day, or…?"

"Well, no, but could I talk to you for a bit?"

Ugh, he's not going to give this up, is he?

I check my bracelet for the time. Still 20 minutes or so until we need to head downstairs.

"Fine, I guess. What about?"

"Well…" Sigma casts his eye(s) around the room. "Have you found anything yet?"

"If I had, I would have told you when you walked in." I tell him. "I haven't really gotten to look much yet. I was too busy having a minor breakdown for the past few minutes."

"O-oh. Sorry. Guess being stuck in a situation like this must be hard on someone like…"

He trails off, probably realizing how insulting it would sound to finish that sentence. I let it go, since he's not really wrong. Someone that knows every bad thing that could potentially happen in this game, trapped in a body not their own, whose life currently rests on mastering a skill they have no experience with and which they might not even possess within a very limited time frame... yeah, this IS hard on me, thanks. And you're not making it any easier by wasting an increasingly large chunk of said time.

"Sigma, I'm sorry, but I really do have stuff I need to get done." I say in the ensuing silence, exasperated. "I know that sounds ridiculous given the situation, but I'm serious. Could you please go talk to someone else for now?"

"Stuff? What do you mean, 'stuff'?" Sigma asks.

"Just- stuff, okay?!" I almost shout, my temper beginning to fray. "I can't really explain it to you, so don't ask. You'll probably figure it out on your own eventually anyways — god I hope so, at least. Now could you PLEASE stop bothering me?!"

"Wait, what is that supposed to-"

I leap up and throw the door shut again, giving Sigma just a moment to move back and avoid having it slam into his face. Screw off already you overly-persistent jackass! I get that you're not trying to be a nuisance but you are really, REALLY being one right now!

I hold the door shut for a few moments, but the handle remains unturned. Presumably, Sigma finally figured out he wasn't going to be getting any pleasant conversation out of me right now and left. Finally…

I sit back down on the uncomfortable "bed" and close my eyes. Alright, I'm alone. Now how did they do this… I don't recall the specifics, but I need to think of both where and when I want to be, right? While I would love to skip straight to the part where I'm no longer in this game, I should probably start small if I want this to work — how about just before we entered the first Chromatic Doors? Is that exact enough? That's one of Sigma's "nodes" so I'm going to assume yes.

Concentrate… concentrate…

A short while later, I peek my eyes open, and am once again confronted with the dingy, dull green walls of the crew quarters.

Yep. I'm screwed.