Meanwhile
Deep in the city
After having said goodbye to Tearju a few days ago, splitting up from Sven for the moment, and scouting out the Sweepers' cafe for information on Creed (meeting fellow Sweeper, River, and the mysterious information broker, Glin, in the process), Train sat with Eve in their hotel room once more as they faced one of the greatest challenges yet.
"So..." Train began as he looked down at the newly purchased box on the bed between them. "This is a play-cube. The old guy at the shop said this is currently the most popular game console."
The pair stared down at the black box, eyeing it uncertainly.
"Train, have you ever played one of these before?" Eve asked and Train shook his head.
"How could that be possible?" He pointed out. "This is the first time I've seen this game system."
He dangled one of the control consoles before his face, eyeing it while scratching his head.
"It's just that… why did that guy with the glasses design a game?" He wondered, trying to figure out what their newly acquainted informant - Glin - had planned. He'd said that they would need to figure out the CD's contents if they wanted to join the Sweeper's Alliance he was putting together, set to meet in ten days… but what did he mean, figure out the contents?
"Just try it out first." Eve suggested.
With nothing left for it but to do as she said, Train set up the play-cube before inserting the CD that Glin had provided for them. Eve sat down beside him as he started up the game, and they waited patiently to see what would be in store for them.
"Hello Everyone!"
A cheerful little magician character that was clearly modeled off Glin with the low pony-tail hair, side bangs and glasses, beamed at them from on the screen.
"I hope you'll be able to join the Sweepers' Alliance! Welcome to my very own game, named 'Glin's Room'!"
Eve watched in silence while Train's eyes became crossed.
"What the hell is this?" Train groaned while the Glin character continued chipperly, "So, I'll hurry up and explain how to play the game! As a player, you have to break through the five rooms I've prepared! The type of game is determined by the slot machine that appears at the beginning of the game. It'll select from 50 possibilities. If you beat all the rooms, I'll tell you the meeting place for the Sweepers' Alliance."
Train perked up, his interest rekindled.
"So, that's what this is about." Train murmured. "Finding the message?"
On the screen, the Glin character was saying, "Furthermore, you have five chances! However, please be warned! If you get a Game Over, the contents of this CD will be completely erased."
Eve started at that, but the character was already moving quickly on and he said cheerily while pulling the lever on his slot machine, "Let's see what game will be for the first level!"
Train and Eve waited, barely breathing, as the slot machine rattled through before finally selecting a room.
"It's a 3D first-person shooter!" The Glin character announced gleefully, and Train and Eve stared.
"Huh?!"
"A 3D shooting game! Nightmare City!"
Train scrambled to pick up the console as the character host finished announcing the room and a door appeared on the screen, and he gaped, "Wh-why is it starting so soon?!"
Eve watched with him as the doors opened to reveal a city at night landscape, and the Glin character announced.
"The rules are simple! As long as you can eliminate 40 monsters that dwell in Nightmare City, you are considered a winner. Your weapon is a handgun! The game is played from the player's perspective. Using the cross-shaped button, you can move your screen freely."
Train stared from the screen to his console as the explanation for each of the control buttons' functions were explained, and his head spun as the Glin character finished.
"Each clip has 12 bullets, don't forget to reload when you run out! And so… the game begins!"
Instantly, the Glin character disappeared and the screen shifted to a first-person perspective of the street level… filled with monsters.
"Can you do it?" Eve asked, and Train replied while a giant sweat-drop appeared on his head, "I don't get it. What exactly is this supposed to mean?"
He stared at the console in his hands, bewildered, and he muttered, "Ehh… this is for movement… and this raises the gun… so this is… huh?!"
Train looked up at the screen just in time to see one of the monsters whack his player right in the face. The screen went blank except for the player lying in a pool of blood and blood dripped down the top of the screen as the words 'You Died' flashed on screen.
Eve just sat while Train watched, speechless, as the Glin character reappeared.
"Ah… dead so soon? How embarrassing." The character said with mock sheepishness.
The screen then switched to reveal a simple choice: 'Continue?'
Below were two options: 'Yes', and 'No'. And below that, in smaller text, showed the words: 'Still 4 chances left'.
"The answer is obvious!" Train snapped as he clicked on his console, and the screen switched to the city landscape once more.
4 minutes later
"Ahh..." The Glin character said cheerfully while the screen showed the words: 'Still 0 chances left'.
"Looks like you've used every one of your chances in the very first room. Is this really all right?" The character smiled slyly onscreen. "I mentioned it earlier. Once you get Game Over, this game will erase itself."
"Dammit." Train growled, dropping the console in defeat as he glared at the screen. "This is frustrating. I'm not used to games. I can't react quickly enough at the crucial moment."
Eve suddenly stood up behind him and Train looked over in surprise.
"Let me try it." Eve said and Train tilted his head.
"Little princess… aren't you also a beginner? Are you sure?" He asked, and Eve shook her head.
"I don't know." She replied, her hair glowing as it floated around her. "But… if we're going to capture Creed, we can't just give up now, can we?"
Train watched with wide eyes as Eye connected her hair to the game while she explained, "If I use my abilities to directly connect to the console, maybe the game will be easier to control."
"Connecting… with the game?" Train repeated in wonder as Eve closed her eyes.
There was a moment's silence as Train waited while Eve scanned the game… and then she was in.
"Train, direct my movements." Eve requested. "I don't know how to use a gun."
A grin spread across Train's face and he nodded.
"Okay!"
Meanwhile,
High up in a penthouse
It was silent for a long while in the room before Xiao Li's voice broke the darkness once more.
"Perhaps I should make you angry more often."
Lia shot Xiao Li a disapproving look, but he just gave her a lazy grin from where he lay naked beside her.
"You show emotion more when you're angry - it's a nice change once in a while." He continued and Lia warned icily, "Keep running your mouth like that and there will be a permanent change you won't like as much."
"So touchy."
Xiao Li's smile didn't even falter, even when Lia sent him another withering look.
"But let's be honest. This deal between us is mutually beneficial and too convenient for you to give up. I get good sex and you can work off your frustration without having to hide anything from your partner - or worrying that they might try and kill you."
Lia had rolled to her side as he spoke, and Xiao Li watched as she slid off the bed and walked - naked as the day she had been born - towards the coffee table in the centre of the room, her features lit only by the full moon that shone down into the room through the floor-length window.
"It may be mutually beneficial, but I certainly will not tolerate you trying to toy with me." Lia replied shortly as she fished out a small canister from her bag.
"I'm not trying to toy with you."
Lia made a slight noise of disbelief, and Xiao Li amended, "Well, my intention is more than just to jest at your expense."
He watched as Lia removed a few pills from the cylindrical container and she swallowed them dry with practiced ease.
"You still need your drugs to actually sleep, I see. No matter how many times you and I have sex. Not that I mind - as I said, I'm just in this arrangement for the sex you give freely."
"You're being unusually insufferable today." Lia shot back as she glared at the other Number still lying in his bed. "I'm beginning to think that, unlike what you clearly assume, bringing him up has a greater effect on your mood than on mine."
"Ah yes, deflect the scrutiny back on me." Xiao Li observed in a bored tone. "A rather amateur trick for someone of your level, don't you think Lia?"
Lia didn't deign to respond as she instead moved to stare out the window while she waited for her sleeping pills to take effect.
Xiao Li watched her with thoughtful eyes. Despite the high dosage she had just consumed - and after a rough tussle in the sheets with him, too - she was still not yet drowsy. More than that, she was incredibly tense and tightly wound - unusual for her given the activities she and Xiao Li had just shared. He knew she usually had trouble sleeping, knew what dreams haunted her; but after a good session of sex and with her pills, Lia was usually at least able to fall into a dreamless sleep for a few hours. But not today - and Xiao Li knew too well the reason for the change.
"If you were going to regret it, why didn't you just tell him the truth when you had the chance?" Xiao Li finally asked bluntly, and Lia exhaled sharply.
"It doesn't matter anymore."
She turned to fix her empty gaze on Xiao Li once more.
"I died that day in every sense of the word but the literal; and it was through no fault but my own. You know why I'm still here; why I continue to live. And it's not him. It never was, and now it never will be. We no longer have any connection, so why do you continue to insist on blaming him?"
"You tried to kill yourself because of him." Xiao Li reminded flatly.
The temperature in the room felt like it had dropped fifty degrees the chill that appeared around Lia was so palpable at Xiao Li's words. But he remained unaffected by her glare, his own eyes stern and piercing as he stared back at Lia.
"I may be sleeping with you purely for the sex, Lia, but you are still the closest thing to my friend. I know what Black Cat leaving did to you; what you did to yourself as a result. And I'm concerned you will try it again the moment your brother no longer needs you."
"I won't." Lia answered sharply as she turned away from Xiao Li and pulled on a shirt to wear to bed. "I made a promise with Jenos, and I do not make promises lightly."
"I still wish you wouldn't wear that shirt." Xiao Li observed, momentarily distracted as his eyes went over the oversized shirt Lia now wore. "It's rather dampening on my dignity when you wear your brother's old shirt to bed after we've just had sex."
"I know." Lia replied. "That's why I do it."
Xiao Li snorted; but his gaze quickly grew serious once more. Lia sighed when she saw it.
"Xiao Li, give it a rest." She half-warned, half-implored.
He shook his head.
"You can't run from it forever." Xiao Li countered and Lia snapped, "I am not running."
"You're lying." Xiao Li replied swiftly. "The past is already catching up to you. You'll have to meet it head on again sometime, Lia. And I'm worried you won't be ready to handle it when you see Black Cat again. That you will see him and you will break again."
"Then you forget I detest him." Lia cut in sharply. "I may not blame him the way you and Jenos do, but he still left without a word after-"
She broke off, turning her head sharply and she exhaled. Xiao Li watched her as Lia composed herself before she looked back at him and finished calmly.
"And I despise him for it. I'm not lying." She warned when Xiao Li gave her a skeptical look. "Seeing him will change nothing, it changed nothing before, so just drop it."
She glared at him and Xiao Li finally conceded with a shrug. But as Lia stalked out of his room, he shook his head.
"You know, the opposite of love isn't hate, Lia." Xiao Li observed softly to himself. "It's indifference - and that's how, more than anything else, I know you're just lying to yourself.
Meanwhile in the hotel room
An hour later
"Wow, that's amazing!" The Glin character said as Eve finished the fourth room - Racing - having cleared all the prior rooms under Train's guidance and with her control. "To think you could clear all the rooms up to here."
The character pulled the slot machine yet again and he announced, "Next up is the final room! As long as you pass through this room, you will reach the destination!"
Train and Eve waited, watching the screen as the slot machine rattled… and stopped.
"The fifth room is… Glin's deluxe quiz!"
"A game of trivia?" Train asked, puzzled, while character Glin explained, "I'll present you with three questions. If you answer all correctly, you'll win! Question 1."
A picture appeared onscreen of a scholarly man and Glin asked, "What is the name of the chemist who discovered Panim's third law in 1872 AD? A) Padoric Wagon, B) McCain Gelmer, C) Dot Kiri, D) Kenchiki Yamune."
"What the hell?!" Train yelled, jaw dropping to the ground. "How would I know who that bearded man is?!"
"... I know." Eve replied as she already maneuvered to answer the question onscreen.
"Huh?" Train blinked down at her and Eve explained absently, "I recently read the book he wrote. The answer is C) Dot Kiri."
Onscreen, the character Glin trembled with his head down, holding two panels in his hands: 'Correct Answer' and 'Incorrect Answer'. He lifted his head and his right hand as he crowed, "Correct!"
He waved the 'Correct Answer' panel as he danced and Train brightened up instantly.
"Ooh, amazing! As expected from a bookworm!"
Eve didn't respond while onscreen, the character Glin said cheekily, "I have to tell you, this is still kids stuff!"
"Ugh." Train groaned, before he sat up again as the next question appeared along with yet another picture, this time of an ancient city.
"Question two! What was the name of this civilization, which existed 12,000 years ago? A) The Shiitopia Civilization, B) the Kasaura Civilization, C) the Asotras Civilization, D) the Amateras Civilization."
Again, Eve didn't even hesitate before she clicked D.
"That was correct!" The character Glin yelled, lifting the 'Correct Answer' panel again though he sounded put-out by the fast response.
"Ooh, little princess, you're too great!" Train cheered from behind her. "Maybe we can pass this room without breaking a sweat."
"Huh… you're pretty good." Character Glen said onscreen. "However, the final question is an extremely hard one."
The screen switched and Train's eyes widened at what he saw while character Glin declared, "The final question is either True or False! Is this equation correct or not?"
Train gaped at the screen while the character Glin added, "The time you have to answer is… five seconds!"
Even Eve started at that, and she read through the equation quickly; desperately.
38543x42+68342÷20x36-6539x7.5+8456÷40+43629-83254-80004x4=1333349.5
"5."
'Is this calculation correct or not?' Eve thought to herself, panicking as she tried to do the mental math.
"4."
'If I make a mistake, then it's all over. If I don't calculate it correctly...'
"3."
'Calculating it in my mind...'
"2."
'Isn't enough either! If I had at least five more seconds-'
"Pick True!" Train yelled suddenly, and Eve started - but trusting him implicitly, she clicked it just as the countdown hit '1'.
"Hpmh." The character Glin said onscreen. "Are you sure this is the answer?"
Eve watched, holding her breath, and the character Glin chuckled.
"Hohoho… Completely correct!"
Eve stared, honestly surprised they had cleared the room, before she turned to Train in shock.
"How did you know that it was correct?" She asked, genuinely curious. "Did you calculate it?"
"Are you kidding?" Train smirked. "It was my instinct! Seriously, who could possibly answer this type of question?"
Eve was rendered speechless and dumbfounded yet again at Train's brazenness while onscreen the character Glin smiled.
"Wow! You've won this game! Absolutely amazing! Very well, I will tell you… the location of the Sweeper Alliance's meeting is!"
Ten days later
Republic of Topirika
Inside a huge mansion, located in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by areas of lush green grass and orchards within the walled complex, Xiao Li stood before the window as he spoke on the phone.
"Sweepers that can come here, there should probably be six or seven groups? Don't worry, I'll take care of it... Yes, it seems Black Cat will be one of them... Yes, I've already informed Lia… She seems to think it won't affect her."
Xiao Li nodded his head.
"Of course… I'll take care of that too. Ms. Sephiria, you just have to think of a way to destroy Creed at last."