Naoko got a good look at the cabinet's lower compartment and saw that it was actually separated into two compartments. The one on the left contained a variety of glass bottles, each of which seemed to be filled with chemicals, and the one on the right looked to be full of folders, most of which had several post it notes sticking out of them.

It wasn't long before other people were examining its contents alongside him. Eryu and Mareo took the initiative to grab some of the folders and start rifling through them, while Yori decided to take one of the more odd-looking bottles and started to inspect the label.

"Hmm…Listen to this. 'Warning: Pyrophoric. Do not use outside of an oxygen-free environment'."

"Pyrophoric? What does that mean?" Takeshi asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Yori admitted. "However, it is definitely flammable. Presumably, we shouldn't open this unless we somehow find a way to create a vacuum."

Kimi picked up and put back multiple bottles stored in the cabinet, looking at the labels for each one. "These are some long-ass names. Not to mention all these scary labels. No wonder this shit's locked up."

"Should we really be working with these chemicals if they're so dangerous?" Naoko asked.

"With the proper equipment, I think we could manage," Yori reasoned. "Just as long as we knew what we were doing, of course."

"Well then, we're in luck," Eryu said. "Take a look at this, Yori."

Yori put the bottle down onto the counter and accepted the folder Eryu was holding. Naoko saw a little bit of it over her shoulder, but couldn't make much out of it. "What's that?"

"Hold on, I'll need a moment to read this," Yori said. "Hm…I see. It looks like these are instructions on how to utilize the machinery in this room."

"Really? That's great!" Naoko said.

"That's not all," Mareo chimed in. "If I'm reading this correctly, it looks as though this could also help explain how to utilize some of the odd equipment in the laboratory."

"So, basically, all the stuff we needed was locked up where we couldn't get to it," Eryu posited.

"All the stuff you needed, all in one place," Kimi said. "You just gotta read through what looks like about a hundred pages to get all the info you need. Glad I'm not you."

"Well, I don't think it's that many pages," Yori replied. "And besides, let's not make any assumptions. This is a lot of information, but not necessarily everything. We'll have to pour through this before we can be certain of everything."

"You mean, like, all of us?" Ishi asked. "Sounds like a lot of reading, and…experimenting, and stuff."

"You don't have to go through any of this if you don't want to," Yori assured her. "We can handle it."

"Nice," Ishi replied, relieved. "Still, I guess if you want me to help out again with whatever else, I'd be down for it."

"Same here," Takeshi added.

"Well, that's good," Eryu said. "We can get back to you two later, if you're both interested. For now, though…Like Yori said, we have to pour through a lot."

Pour through it they did. Their best lead thus far was plopped right into their laps, and they were going to do whatever they could with it. After a good while of trying to decipher the hefty amount of jargon and cross-referencing what they had there with what was in the laboratory, it looked like a lot of the necessary substances needed to create the chemical compounds described in that one binder in the lab could be created with what was in the distillery. It even explained how to utilize the machinery in that room, plus some of the odd equipment in the lab that they hadn't messed with yet. It really was just what they needed.

There were a lot of step-by-step instructions, and even some handy diagrams, on how the equipment worked and what every lever, gauge, and opening was made to do. That, and apparently the massive storage tank was meant to contain something that was to be pumped into what was called a fermenter. Apparently, their assumption was correct. It was meant to be used to distill ethanol. Hooray? Well, they'd need some other stuff for that, but not all of it was in the room with them. Besides, Naoko had seen and heard the word "ethanol" more than enough times within the past couple of days. That just wasn't what they needed, at least for the time being.

They spent a good deal of time getting acquainted with the machinery. It wasn't thrilling work, but it was definitely informative. With all their new insights, it looked like they'd be able to make use of it soon enough, and thus, their dream of creating a substance that could melt or blow up the shutter door on the first floor could indeed become a reality…theoretically, at least. There was just one very significant issue stopping them at that point: the truth serum. They still didn't know what compound it was. They didn't know what any of those strange chemical compounds were (aside from LITA-22, but there was no way they'd be putting up with that crap again). Clearly, if they were going to unravel the mystery of those strange compounds without fear of reprimand, they were going to have to figure out what the truth serum was. Fortunately, Eryu claimed that he had an idea. He looked like he wanted to keep it on the down low, but considering what that idea was, keeping things discreet seemed kind of hard.

"Here's what I have in mind," Eryu began. "Just go to the laboratory, and take note of everything in it. All the ingredients, and all the chemicals. Basically anything used to create those weird compounds."

"Everything?" Naoko asked. "You mean, as in, the amounts?"

Eryu nodded slightly, seemingly trying to hide it. "Basically, you just need to go in there and make sure you have everything memorized. Write things down if you have to."

"I guess I can do that," Naoko supposed. "I do have a good memory, generally speaking."

"I know," Eryu said. "That's why I figured you'd be perfect for this. Just do that, and that should basically be it for you, for the rest of the day."

"What about what you said to Ishi and Takeshi?" Yori asked. "You said something about how they could help somehow."

"Yeah, that's part of it," Eryu said. "I figured they could do it together. It'll probably be a lot better on the both of them if they did."

"Sounds like you're planning on having them do something rather unpleasant," Yori replied.

"It could end up being unpleasant pretty easily," Eryu confirmed. "That, and kinda hard. I'll try to track them down, and give them the best explanation I can. Hopefully, they'll be up for it."

Naoko ended up going off as soon as he reasonably could. It didn't seem like it'd be particularly fun, but he figured he might as well get to it sooner, rather than later. It was simple, he just had to look and see what goes into all those compounds, and keep track of everything. Presumably, the amount was the main thing he had to keep track of. Was he supposed to just eyeball the amounts? Maybe, but it didn't sound easy. He decided to just write stuff down pretty quickly.

Obviously, some stuff had already been used. Among the twenty-plus compounds detailed in that binder, two had definitely already been created with the materials at hand: LITA-22, and the truth serum. Still, it looked like some might've already been used. If so, the ones that were apparently used didn't correspond to any of the compounds, from what he could tell. In fact, there were a couple of components that were either severely depleted or were nowhere to be found. The lab must've seen some use before it was cleared out and they were plopped into the facility.

So, it didn't seem like they could just deduce what the truth serum was yet. Apparently, whatever plan Eryu had in mind was what was ultimately needed in order to put this whole thing behind them. Naoko wrote down as much information on the components and their approximate amounts as he could, and kept it close to him. They were going to need it later. And after that, he was done. And apparently, that meant that he was free for the time being. Might as well hang out with people again, he figured.

Naoko didn't have to go far, it seemed. It looked like Kimi was hanging out on that nice couch in the common room again. She really had a thing for it, it seemed. At the very least, it didn't look like she was bothering anyone, so it seemed alright. Still, she herself actually seemed a bit bothered by something.

"Hey, Naoko," she greeted him. "Hey, weird question: you alright with me still? Y'know, in general?"

Naoko was a bit weirded out by this question, but figured it deserved an answer. "I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"...No reason. Was just curious, is all."

Naoko obviously had a hard time taking her at her word. He decided to stick around for a bit, feeling like she'd probably appreciate the company. It was quiet, for the most part, but Kimi seemed content to stay where she was. Nonetheless, she did seem very bored. At one point, she actually pulled out a rubik's cube and tried to solve it, something which she seemed to really struggle with. Still, with Naoko around, she actually seemed like she was in okay spirits. Perhaps this counted as them growing closer? Who could say.

Anyways, once she gave up and tossed it aside, Naoko figured maybe she'd appreciate something else. He had another one of those multi-color pens that he remembered giving to Sasa quite some time prior. Perhaps Kimi would appreciate it, too?

"Holy fuck, dude. This is actually a pretty sweet gift. Kudos to you, or however you say it."

"So, hey, Kimi," Naoko said. "I remember a bit ago, we spoke about your talent. Y'know, what you're good at?"

"Aha," Kimi responded, "is that so? Well, there's not much else to go over for that. I made comics and stuff."

"Yeah, of course," Naoko said. "So, do you like that old stuff? Are you proud of it?"

"Eh," Kimi shook her hand indecisively. "I mean, I guess since I started out with them, I remember them kinda fondly. That makes sense, right? It's like nostalgia, but for your own work."

"I guess so," Naoko supposed.

"But, I guess it doesn't matter much how well it stacks up to my newer work. Sure, I remember thinking it was hot shit at the time, but even if it wasn't…c'mon, I was only, what, nine?"

"Nine, huh?" Naoko said. "I guess if you started posting stuff online when you were ten, that's a reasonable timeframe of around a year."

"Yeah, and I got good real quickly," Kimi said boastfully. "Kind of a prodigy, as one might say."

"Well, yeah. You've echoed that idea in the past, I believe. But, now that I think about it, what was your oldest stuff, exactly?"

"Weird shit," Kimi admitted freely. "Sure, don't get me wrong, yours truly knew how to make it work. But when you're a kid, you have an active imagination, and it sort of…bends to whatever you think is cool and interesting."

"So, what did you think was cool and interesting at that age?" Naoko asked.

"Undead stuff, mostly," Kimi answered. "Ghosts and zombies and shit. That was the good stuff. I was all over that shit."

"Really?" Naoko responded. "Well, that's not that weird. After all, zombies are pretty cool, and I know that there's plenty of cool mythical spirits that people have come up with over the years."

"Yeah, it's good stuff," Kimi agreed happily. "'Course, it's best when you're a kid, honestly. These days, zombies and shit are everywhere. Sure, they're great, but it's easy to get sick of 'em. Fortunately, me and the other kids in my class back in the day ate that shit up…No pun intended."

"The other kids, huh?" Naoko said. "So, you shared your work with them, huh?"

"Well, yeah," Kimi replied, as if she were surprised he was asking the question. "Who else would I sell copies of my work to?"

"Sure, but…" Naoko stopped himself when he thought about what she said. "Wait. Sell?"

"Yeah," Kimi replied. "I sold comics and shit to other kids. I wasn't exactly sharing that shit on the internet at that point."

"I get that," Naoko said. "I just didn't know you made a profit off your work at such a young age."

"Well, yeah, I kinda had to," Kimi replied.

"What do you mean?" Naoko asked.

"Well…" Kimi seemed like she was going to explain, but stopped herself. "Actually, y'know what? That's for a different time. I ain't going into that shit right now."

"Oh. Okay?" Naoko responded hesitantly.

And then, suddenly, she left. That was a bit of a turn, for sure. She clearly was going somewhere, into a direction that he wasn't really expecting, but then she stopped. Why? Was it something she was insecure about sharing? She said she 'had' to get compensated for her early work, but that in itself was an odd choice of words. By 'had' to, did she mean she needed the money for something? If so, what? He made a mental note to himself to ask about that at some point.

Well, Naoko thought, that was nice enough. And it seemed like there wasn't anything else that was needed from him at the moment. That begged the question, though, of what exactly Ishi and Takeshi were supposed to be doing. He wasn't involved in that himself, so for the time being, he could only wonder.