Hello, everyone. :)

Important note: This chapter contains references to sexual assault. While there is no particular imagery associated with assault in the chapter and nobody makes any thought or attempt to sexually assault someone, there's no shame in turning back if the topic itself is painful. I personally think that Isaac pointing his gun at Claus at the Drago plateau was a bit more disturbing, but I know that sexual violence has a long and painful history. Oh, and there may or may not be death threats involved in this chapter as well.

And uh... the whole chapter isn't quite that dark. :( I hope you guys like it.

After making an escape when Pippi wasn't looking, Ninten had to cross campus to get from Ana's apartment to his own. They encountered a few passerbys as the orange sun blazed in the west. As they were passing by the moldy humanities buildings on the far side of campus, Ninten spotted a boy wearing a baseball cap walking in the opposite direction on the concrete sidewalk.

Ninten squinted. Yeah, definitely Ness.

Moments later, Ana shouted and waved at Ness. Ness looked up and smiled at Ana before looking down at his feet. He continued walking forward, and he eventually halted in front of Ninten and Ana.

"Hey hey," Ana said, grinning. "Look who it is."

Ness turned away. "Hello."

"Aw, come on. I know that you're embarrassed to be seen in public with someone as uncool as Ninten, but we all have to get used to that feeling sooner or later."

"Ann." Ninten nudged Ana with his elbow.

"Hey, it's true and you know it. We're both way out of your league."

"Can't you give him a break after what happened last night?"

"After what happen-Oh." Ana's eyes widened. "Oh. I'm so sorry. I can't believe I forgot-"

"Must not have a good memory, then," Ness said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Or maybe my dad doesn't matter that much to you. I guess that's all right."

"Ness…" Ana bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"I apologize as well, for both of us," Ninten said. "I don't want it to feel like I'm trying to defend Ana, but I think we're both a little out of it after what happened to Lucas. It's horrible to forget the news you told us just last night, and I'm sorry. I think we'll be more on top of our game once everything settles down."

Ness looked over at Ninten. "After what happened to Lucas?"

Ninten exchanged a glance with Ana.

"What happened?" Ness repeated.

"We found him dead in a forest," Ninten said, "Just by chance."

Ness flinched. "You're joking."

"Check your U-psyweb inbox," Ana said. "Dean George sent out a message this morning."

Ninten frowned. The amount of posturing and defensive language that the message likely contained if it had indeed been written by George would almost certainly make the situation worse. In fact, Ninten was surprised that nobody had mentioned anything about Lucas' death today. Maybe someone had mentioned something and Ninten had been too tired to remember.

"You're actually serious." Ness' face blanched.

"Like I said, check the-"

"No, I believe you." Ness shook his head. "Wow."

"I'm sorry if I made everything worse," Ninten said. "I wish I could bring you good news. Is there anything you need? Should we leave you alone?"

Ness paused, and then slowly shook his head. He looked over at Ninten and managed a weak smile.

"No on both counts," he said. "It's actually nice to have it out with you two, since I haven't told most of the people I know. And I'm glad you told me about Lucas. I wasn't ready to accept any excuses about how Ana forgot my dad's cancer-"

"I'm so sorry," Ana said, her eyes widening.

"-But finding Lucas' corpse qualifies as one for me. Now I'm just feeling bad about how you elbowed her, Ninten."

"Oh, don't you dare worry about me," Ana said. "Ninten didn't elbow me. He just… gave me a love tap."

Ness' eyes widened. "Love tap? Are you two…?"

Ninten sighed. "No. We're not in a relationship. This is just like that time yesterday when she tried to 'ship' us."

"The point is that I am fine," Ana said, "And what I did to you was not."

"It's all right, Ana." Ness shrugged. "Shit happens."

Ana gulped and nodded. After a moment, her shoulders tensed.

"Wait," she said. "Why are you back so soon?

"Ann…" Ninten sighed.

Ness looked over at Ninten, his gaze tightening. Ness shook his head and looked back over at Ana, clenching his fists.

"My dad… told me to leave," Ness said. "He said that school was important, and that I should make the family proud by working hard over here."

"Oh." Ana's expression fell. "Well, I guess it's at least good that he values your education, right?"

If Ninten had known that Ana would say something like that, he would have slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Ann, seriously," Ninten said. "Ness' dad hardly saw him in life, and now when he's dying he still sends his son away. How is that to be a good thing?"

The sidewalk fell silent under the fading light of the sun. Ninten looked over and couldn't quite meet Ness' gaze. What had he done?

"Ness," Ninten said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound like that. Ah, I'm so out of this…" Ninten shook his head. "No excuses. I'm really sorry."

Ness looked away.

"Ness?" Ana said.

"Why are you apologizing?" Ness said. "Everything you said is true."

"I learned recently," Ninten said, "That there can be a difference between knowing something's true and having someone tell you that something's true. I don't want to force any of this pain on you, Ness."

"I…" Ness inhaled sharply. "I guess that's a good point."

Ness turned back around to face Ninten, and his cheeks were wet with tear stains. Ness sniffled and tried to wipe the moisture away.

"He never…" Ness' voice quivered. "My dad never wanted to know me, and he would never let me know him. Even when he's dying, I'm not important enough to talk with."

The street fell quiet a second time, Ness' muffled sobs the only sound cutting through the silence. Ninten and Ana exchanged a glance. What could they say? That his father didn't mean it like that? Neither of them knew Ness' father well enough to judge.

"Hey," Ana said. "Do you… want some time to yourself?"

Ness shook his head. "Tell me about Lucas. How did he die?"

"Are you sure that you want to hear-"

"Please." Ness' eyes widened and his body trembled.

"After he failed the PSI test, he decided to take a hike," Ana said, "Maybe to clear his thoughts. He must have accidentally tripped over a cliff and died."

Ana said the words quickly. Perhaps she thought that the truth would sting less if she got it off of her chest in the span of a couple of seconds. Or perhaps it was the only way for her to hide the unspoken truths hidden within her words.

"Or he could have hurled himself off," Ness said.

"He didn't," Ana said

"How do you know?"

"He didn't." Ana took a deep breath. "Please, just trust me."

Ness met Ana's gaze and hesitated.

"I promise that Lucas didn't kill himself on purpose," Ana said. "I just can't say how."

Ness frowned. "So you said you found Lucas' body by chance, right? You just… stumbled on it?"

"Yeah," Ninten said. "Why?"

"In the middle of the forest?"

Ninten nodded.

"After dark when I left?"

"We found him today while we were out hiking," Ana said.

"On a school day?"

"We did it after our classes."

"Ana, please don't lie to me."

"I'm not-"

"You just said that George sent out the message about his death this morning, and I know you have at least one afternoon class today."

Ana's eyes widened. She looked over to Ninten for help. Ninten shrugged, and Ana rolled her eyes at him.

"You knew he was going to be there," Ness said.

"We, uh…" Ana grimaced.

"We did," Ninten said.

"What did you find in his psyspace? Did you ever figure out that V-game?"

"We can't tell you," Ninten said. "I'm sorry."

"Did you tell the cops about the Nowhere Islands V-game and the other files you found in his psyspace?"

Ninten looked over at Ana, who shrugged at him with a smirk on her face.

"We didn't," Ninten said.

"And do you think they're going to start asking?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"And if they do, what are you going to tell them? Are you going to keep the truth from them as well?"

"I might," Ninten said. "It means that much to me."

"I'm glad that your personal values involve hiding information about a potential suicide from the authorities," Ness said, turning away.

"We dug into Lucas' secrets and found every one," Ninten said. "We know exactly who he was, what he did, and how he died. And from that knowledge, I don't think he would want us sharing that information with anyone."

"Then he wouldn't have wanted you to know in the first place."

"He wouldn't have," Ninten said, "But it's too late to change that now."

Ness sighed, his shoulders relaxing. "Fair enough. Maybe we should talk when I'm in a better mood. I might call you over if I need to talk, since my dorm room's going to be pretty empty."

"Ness," Ana cut in. "I'm sorry again for everything I said. And I don't know if you want to be alone for a while, but Ninten and I were thinking about grabbing ice cream sometime soon after all the dreary stuff that's happened. There's no pressure, of course, but you're welcome to join. And I'll pay."

Ness looked back over his shoulder. "I don't know. It might feel weird to have a girl pay for me."

"If you don't want to come, then we won't force you," Ninten said, "But Ana's paying for me as well, so we'll at least be in the same boat."

Ana grunted, and her eyes told Ninten that she wanted to say something along the lines of, "Yeah, the same boat of getting free ice cream. Boo hoo."

This time, though, the words didn't make it past her lips.

"I…" Ness turned back away. "I think I would like that, if Ana honestly doesn't mind paying." He started to walk away. "I don't think I've had ice cream in months. Thanks."

"See you there," Ana said, waving goodbye.

After a few moments of silence, Ness took off walking. He didn't turn back as Ninten watched disappear behind a building.

"Well," Ana said, turning back to Ninten. "I fucked that up."

"I think Ness understands," Ninten said. "We just need to give him a little space for now."

"Would you consider telling him about…?"

Ninten shook his head. "I made a promise."

"But look at how sad he was."

"I think he's stronger than he looks. Let's just try to keep tabs on how he does in the upcoming days."

"All right."

Ana continued walking off towards Ninten's apartment, and Ninten followed alongside. During the walk, she continued to shake her head.

"Fuck," Ana said. "Why did I have to be so stupid?"

"There will be time to make it up," Ninten said. "For now, let's focus on getting you to see Lucas. Besides, I don't think that Ness is the type to hold grudges."

Ana grunted, but she held her head slightly higher for the rest of the walk. When Ninten eventually spotted his apartment complex, Ana looked over at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Ninten," she said. "You know how Ness mentioned feeling bad that you elbowed me?"

"Yeah?"

"Please." Ana's eyes flashed with anger. "The next time I say something stupid, elbow me a lot harder."

It didn't take Ninten and Ana long to find the wooden waterfall carving in Ninten's apartment. And thankfully, Ninten's roommates treated Ana like a regular person. Ana even demonstrated her telekinetic ability to slice fruit without physically touching the knife, which garnered a round of applause. She left with the waterfall carving saying that they should definitely meet up at Ninten's apartment from then on.

Afterwards, Ninten locked himself in his room and entered the psyweb. He stood in the same café-style room that he had when asking Ana for physics help yesterday. The same glass table stood in front of him, And Ninten sat down and placed his palms on the tabletop.

After spending so much time in the Nowhere Islands V-game, Ninten expected to feel the smooth touch of glass after his palms. The jarring lack of any tactile sensations removed some of the psyweb's immediacy. He wasn't really here. This body and all of the other bodies at the different tables were empty projections, nothing at all like the diverse yet fluid environments of the Nowhere Islands.

Ninten shook his head and looked down at the table. The people in the psyspace at least represented real-life humans, unlike Claus and Hinawa within the Nowhere Islands. So why did this café seem so lifeless? He swiped his hands over the glass table and the list of his contacts came up. He cycled through the names until he saw the contact with the avatar of a smiling corgi, Carol Kim.

Ninten tapped the avatar and the corgi picture enlarged. He closed his eyes and pressed his palms into the table.

"Can we talk?" he sent telepathically. "It's urgent."

After a few moments, Ninten heard a ding and looked down at the table.

"Sure."

A woman appeared in the air in front of him, wearing a silk scarf and leather boots. She cocked her head and smiled as she sat down across the table from Ninten.

"Hi, mom," he said.

"Hi, sweetie." She looked around at the orange sky. "Ugh, who chose this background?"

"Ann claims that adding anything else in the horizon will increase upkeep costs for the domain," Ninten said. "I don't really know why."

"Well, next time I'll call you over to our psyweb plaza like normal," Carol said. "But you said that something's urgent?"

Ninten blushed. "Well, I guess it's not urgent anymore. But I thought I should tell you about it, even though I don't know if you'll believe me."

"I do trust you," Ninten's mother said, smiling. "And I won't judge if it has anything to do with you or your friends."

"No, it's not like we got into trouble or anything. I just…" Ninten sighed. "I'll tell you the full story later, but for now I'll give you the quick run-down."

Ninten explained what had happened the day before, explaining first his conersation with George. His mother applauded him out loud for standing up to George and refusing to accept the presence of constant security guards. He moved onto how Mary requested him to keep an eye out for Lucas, and Carol nodded along.

When he got to the part where he and Ana went to Lucas' dorm room, Ninten left out the part about Lucas' Magicant and the Nowhere Islands V-game. Instead, he said that the posters in Lucas' room made Ana think that he had taken a hike somewhere, and that after asking around they had found someone who saw someone who looked like Lucas heading to Sullivan Park days earlier.

And as Ninten looked around at nearby conversations at other glass tables, he decided to omit the part about discovering Lucas' consciousness in his psyspace post-death. To distract himself, He focused on describing his own shock at seeing Lucas' body and how Ana comforted him. He nearly cried a second time. Carol nodded along and flashed a sad smile.

"I'm glad Ana was there to help," she said. "And I'm sorry you had to see something so disturbing."

"It's all right," Ninten said, looking down at his feet. "I just always thought of death and tragedy as things that happened to other people. I never guessed that death would strike so close and feel so real."

"Yeah, I don't think I would have been prepared to witness what you saw, either," Carol said. "If you ever need help, I'm here to talk. I don't want you to feel like you have to take on the world alone."

Ninten managed a weak smile and looked up into his mother's eyes. "Thanks."

"Of course, sweetie. And I'm sure that Mary is thankful for what you did as well."

Ninten blinked, and then laughed. "I never told her about what happened. Maybe I should head over to George's office after I finish talking with you."

"Oh, sorry." Carol frowned. "I just assumed that she would have known, even if you hadn't told her. Didn't you say that George issued a campus-wide statement?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if Mary knows about what Ana and I did."

And with the weight of the world pressing down heavier and heavier on Ninten's shoulders, he should probably talk to someone who had been thrust into the same position of power. He took a moment to contemplate what questions he would ask Mary about technology and responsibility without giving away Lucas' secret before shaking his head and turning back to his mother.

"I don't think she responds to her messages, either," Ninten said, "And George doesn't either. Have you been able to get through to them in the past?"

"I know, ironic for the CEO of a PSI company," Carol said, rolling her eyes. "I have been able to message them in the past, but they responded far more consistently when you were little. I don't think that they want to admit it, but I'm guessing that they're having trouble keeping up with their messages in their old age."

Ninten frowned, remembering how George had looked at him with the stern, why can't you just obey like a good little boy expression when Ninten refused to allow guards to follow him around. He remembered as Mary tossed her hat off into the ocean and looked out at the horizon with a wistful gaze.

"If they're starting to get senile, they're doing one hell of a job of hiding it," Ninten said. "But I guess it doesn't matter why they don't respond to their messages. I think I'm going to head over to George's office before the doors close."

Carol frowned. "Are you sure that you're okay talking to him? I can try to get through to Mary and tell her about the news if confronting George makes you anxious."

Ninten sighed. "I can do it, mom. But thanks for offering. I might take your offer if I can't get past George to talk with Mary."

"All right." Carol smiled. "Are you going to head out now?"

"Yeah." Ninten stood up and pushed his chair in. "Thanks for talking with me."

"Of course."

Nitnen closed his eyes and prepared to bring himself back to the real world. Right as he felt the tingling sensation of leaving the psyspace, he opened his eyes and looked back over at Carol.

"Mom," he said. "When's the last time you've seen George and Mary in person?"

"I think you were four or five and we visited them," Carol said. "We haven't gone since. That's part of why I think they're starting to get sick. And you know how George would never want to admit that anything's wrong with him."

Yeah, sick. It was definitely possible, and it was the reasonable possibility.

"Have you ever offered to come and visit them after that time?" Ninten said.

"Oh, all the time. I stopped in the last few years after they kept saying no and George kept pushing you to practice PSI some more or whatever. It's probably for the best. You seem to get plenty of them without seeing them at all in person."

"Do you know anyone else who's seen them in person recently?" Ninten said.

Carol frowned, knotting her brow. "No, I don't think so. Maybe you've figured this out, but George became the dean of the university because he stopped showing up at the company. And after the switch, I think that he and Mary stopped taking personal visitors. Hopefully your dad and I will make better social connections and keep ourselves open to the world."

"All right." Ninten gulped. "Thanks for answering my questions."

"Ninten?" Carol cocked her head and frowned. "Is everything all right?"

"It's nothing." Ninten took a deep breath. "I hope."

People did get sick. It was normal for old people to cloister themselves away from the world. Maybe Mary and George just didn't want to show their true bodies to the world. There were hundreds, probably thousands of logical explanations as to why George and Mary didn't respond to messages and hadn't seen anyone in years.

"When George and Mary stopped responding to your messages and didn't want to meet in person," Ninten said, "Did that process happen gradually?"

"It felt sudden to me," Carol said, "But maybe I just wasn't picking up on the right cues beforehand. Why, do you think something specific happened to them during that time?"

"No, I don't think so," Ninten said, "But I want to rule that possibility out."

"Well, it's always possible that their lives went downhill and they were forced to stop responding to messages and allowing visitors," Carol said, "But they seemed normal enough when I talked to them in their psyspace. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

Ninten released a sigh and nodded. No jumping to conclusions or conspiracy theories. He had known George and Mary for his whole life, and he knew basically what to expect from them now.

"Thanks," Ninten said. "It was nice talking to you, but I do think I should go now."

"Goodbye." Carol stood up and waved. "I love you, and I'll always be proud of you. I don't think I say that often enough."

"Yeah, mom. Love you too."

Ninten offered one last smile before closing his eyes and disconnecting his consciousness from the psyweb.

The men in suits kept their stiff posture as they led Ninten to George's office. Apparently, they had been instructed to let Ninten visit George's psyspace whenever he wanted, and Ninten congratulated them for remembering what must have been a request from over a year ago. If they found his antics amusing, they didn't show it in their expressions or words as they opened the door to George's office and gestured for Ninten to enter.

Ninten walked inside and heard the door click shut behind him. He looked over at the wooden turtle ship model in the middle of the room and smiled. He picked up the model and felt around for the ship's balance before setting it back down on the desk and sitting down. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind towards the ball of warmth floating above the desk. Ninten connected himself with the warmth and channeled his consciousness into the psyspace portal.

As before, the first sensation he noticed in the psyspace was the smell of salt mixed with wet, rotting wood. Then he noticed the feel of the breeze, followed by the sight of the waves crashing below the wooden deck. He turned around to look at the tables and chairs whose wooden frames had long been curled and morphed by the moisture. An oaken door at the inland edge of the deck led to the inside of what looked like a wooden shack, and Ninten took a step towards the building.

His great-grandfather George materialized a moment later, standing with his arms crossed. A drizzle started to darken the color of his suit as he stared at Ninten without speaking a word.

"Hello," Ninten finally said.

"Did you come to tell me that you've come to your senses and would like to reconsider my offer?"

"About the security guards?" Ninten snorted. "I want to talk with Mary."

"Why?" George frowned. "I'm here."

"And your name isn't Mary, the last time I checked."

George's shoulders tensed. "I always told your parents that they were raising you to be disrespectful. They would compare you to your truly disgusting peers, but being better than the masses is not good enough for someone as important as you, Ninten. You would do well to watch your tone around me."

George flashed a bloodless smile, and Ninten's heart pounded in his chest.

"And do remember," George said, "That you owe your entire future to me. Do you think you would be here if I had not encouraged your parents to adopt you? Do you think that without the environment you had been given, you would have even made it to a lesser school?"

"No," Ninten answered truthfully.

"Then maybe you can show a little more respect."

"I've been making an attempt to show respect," Ninten said, looking away, "To the people who actually created that positive childhood environment that you mentioned. And here's a hint. You're not one of them."

George grunted, and when Ninten looked back his fingers trembled with anger. Yet his eyes remained as cold and passionless as ever, and he made no attempt to advance towards Ninten.

"I anticipated that I would have an issue with rebellious adolescents in the family," George said, "But I'm disappointed that it's coming from you."

"Please. I just want to see Mary."

George paused. "She's not here. If there's something you can tell her, you can say it to me."

"And you'll make sure she hears it?"

George shrugged. "I might."

Ninten sighed, but maybe he could use the rough edges around George's personality to his advantage.

"Fine. Mary asked me to keep an eye out for Lucas, and I just wanted to tell her that Ana and I found his body."

"Ana." George frowned. "Is that the White girl you always talk about? She's a bad influence on you."

Ninten blinked.

"I've looked through her psyweb posts," George said. "She talked about going to a party and getting drunk. I don't want her dragging you out to anything that would hinder your studies."

"She went to a party once," Ninten said.

"And did she invite you along?"

"She did. I said no."

George shook his head. "We can't afford to have you affiliating with people who-"

"Without Ana, we wouldn't have found Lucas' body. We think he fell off a cliff. Ana didn't notice any fatal injuries, so he might have died a slower death."

"Hmm." George's eyes narrowed. "No fatal injuries?"

"Did the police perform an autopsy?"

"They did."

"And what did it say?"

George took a deep breath.

"Grandfather, I think I deserve to know. Lucas was our friend."

"He's been dead for over a day, but the cause of death is unknown. They found evidence of physical trauma to many organs, but none should have been lethal. Perhaps he simply lost the will to live."

Ninten frowned. "You think people just die because they stop caring?"

"It's possible."

Strike one. Since when had George ever given a shit about the power of caring before?

"I also found some interesting data scattered around his psyspace," Ninten said.

George hesitated. "You hacked into his personal files?"

"Yeah. Does that bother you?"

"No." George smiled. "I'm glad that you used the different tools available to you in order to figure out where Lucas went. Mary would be proud."

Strike two.

"How do you know that we figured out where Lucas went?" Ninten said. "Ana and I told everyone that we found his body randomly."

George smoothed out his suit. "It just didn't make sense that you would stumble on the exact corpse you were looking for."

"Then how do you think we found him?"

"How did you find him?"

Ninten smiled. "The idea of Lucas dying without a reason is perplexing, isn't it? Do you have any ideas for how he died? It doesn't have to be an articulated prediction. I'm just looking for inklings that might have popped into your mind."

The color drained from George's face. "I told you, the police didn't find any leads."

"Also, my mom said that you haven't accepted visitors in the past few years, and you never respond to our messages through the psyweb. She thinks that you might be sick."

"Uh…" George gulped. "Yeah, you got me. Mary and I aren't in the best of health, and we've been dealing with this disease for the past few years."

Strike three.

"No," Ninten said, "You haven't."

George frowned, glaring at Ninten. "I'll give you ten seconds to explain yourself before I tell your parents about what you just said."

"I've known you my entire life, grandfather. Your pride would never let you admit to being sick. Besides, if you're active in your psyspace then you could just as easily log onto the psyweb and answer our messages."

George sneered. "I normally wouldn't admit that I were sick. Government hawks will swoop in the second they see anything suspicious and try to federalize our business. But I thought that you deserved to know, Ninten. I see how my kindness is repaid."

"What are you hiding, grandfather?"

George opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Do you want to know what I think?" Ninten said.

George closed his mouth and glared at Ninten.

"You and Mary seem like your mental health is perfect," Ninten said, "But you never show up in person or on the psyweb. I think that you're trapped inside of your own psyspace."

George slouched. "You're right. We accidentally got trapped inside of here and we're trying to get out. We had one of our employees use a similar program to try and isolate the Nowhere Islands V-game inside of Lucas' psyspace and relay its information back to us, but someone managed to break the program."

"Wait, that was you?" Ninten scowled. "Did you know that you trapped me inside of that game with no way to get out?"

"Uh…"

"Stupid question. Of course you did. And did you manage to get what was happening in the game relayed back to you?"

George's eyes narrowed.

"I'll take that as a yes as well. I'm not going to ask how you managed to get access to Lucas' Magicant in the first place, much less steal his data and bring it back to here. It's not important."

"You and Ana were the ones to hack into his psyspace to begin with."

"Like I said, not important. You probably saw me in that future-Earth scene where Namiko and Kim caused an apocalypse."

George sneered. "What gives you the right to interrogate me? I can't believe that I'm hearing this from my own great-grandson."

"You saw Namiko kill herself by transporting her consciousness over to her psyspace."

George frowned.

"And you were scared," Ninten said, "Because you knew what Namiko was going to do before she actually performed the procedure. You were terrified that someone else knew, even in a V-game. And now you're scared that I know."

"Why would I be scared?" George flashed a nervous smile. "It's just a V-game."

"Because you're just like Namiko."

"You're comparing me to a terrorist? This is your last chance, Ninten. You have five seconds to take that statement back."

"You're dead, aren't you?"

George froze in place.

"Mary's dead too. You've both been dead for years. And because of the Nowhere Islands V-game, I know why."

George opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"You and Mary both transferred yourselves over to this psyspace, didn't you? Your body is dead, and now you're just code in this psyspace."

George took a step back.

"Tell me I'm wrong, grandfather."

George's fingers started trembling.

"That's what I thought," Ninten said. "How long ago did you transfer your consciousness over to the psyspace completely? Five years? Ten? Longer?"

George clenched his hands into fists. "I don't have to tell you that. I don't have to tell you anything. Everything that you have comes from me, Ninten, and you will obey."

"Lucas didn't want me to tell you that the same thing happened to him. He was afraid that you would use it to make millions and widen the gap between the rich and the poor. But of course you don't care if you're already dead yourself."

"Ninten." George's eyes blazed with anger. "You will never speak of this to anyone. That is an order."

Ninten forced a smile, reminding himself that George didn't have the power to control him any longer.

"I think I'm going to tell Ana and Lucas."

"If you do, I'll expel you from the school."

Ninten paused.

"Don't think I won't," George said. "I gave you everything, Ninten, and I can take it all away."

"And the formal reason you'll expel me?" Ninten said.

George shrugged. "Trumped up cheating charges. We'll give you a trial within the university. It will be a trial that I control."

"Even while dead?"

"Say that I'm dead one more time to anyone and I'll expel you."

"I'll find some way to make it work." Ninten turned away. "It probably isn't healthy for me to be at the same school as you, anyway."

"You little son of a-"

"Careful what you call your own granddaughter. She didn't do anything wrong."

"I'll go further to ruin you," George said. "I control the police force on campus, and I donated large sums of campaign money to all the criminal judges in the area. I'll get the police to arrest you for rape and get the judge to rule in my favor."

Ninten sighed, looking out at the crashing waves on the shoreline. Back and forth, back and forth. If only the rest of the world could be so simple. He clenched his fists and turned back towards George.

"Now it's my turn," Ninten whispered, "To give you ten seconds to take back what you said."

"I always say what I mean, Ninten. Speak one word of this to anyone, and I'll get you a life sentence in prison."

"On rape charges?"

"On rape charges."

Ninten sighed. In a way, he was glad that George hadn't given him an excuse to put up with just one more conversation. He looked up into George's eyes and forced a smile.

"You know," Ninten said, "It's because of people like you that we still tolerate rape culture in America. I'm not going to be fucking intimidated by a pathetic little man with a big ego. You know, rape survivors all over America are keeping silent because people like you keep spewing this bullshit about trumped up rape charges. And while I may never truly be able to understand how they feel, but I know that you're the type to pin everything on other people. And you know, I would have been okay if you had just taken your anger out on me. But people like you never stop there."

George's eyes narrowed. "I haven't done anything yet, you ungrateful little-"

"You would promote a system that silences women when they get sexually assaulted. You would use your power to indirectly cast doubt on the claims of rape survivors across the country. I put up with you for years, but I think it's about time for me to open my eyes. This is about more than just me. You are everything wrong with this country, George, and I'll do anything I can to make sure that your political influence shrivels up along with your corpse. My only regret is that you're not still alive for me to wring your little neck and watch the life drain from your eyes."

George recoiled for just a moment, his eyes widening. After a pause, his shoulders relaxed, the anger in his expression faced, and George adopted a superior smirk. When he looked at Ninten, George's eyes burned with icy heat.

"I see that your hormones are still controlling your body," George said, chuckling. "But I will have no mercy on you when you come to your senses. I will pick another child from a different orphanage to carry on the legacy of our PSI. You've never been anything more than a tool, Ninten. Everything that you have ever loved, everything that you have ever known… When you wake up tomorrow, it will all be gone."

"Then I guess I had better make the rest of today count," Ninten said. "I can truly say that I never hope to see you again. Even if I need to resort to what you and Lucas did."

George's eyes widened. "You can't possibly know how to-"

"Goodbye, grandfather. I'll make sure to tell the whole world about your death."

Ninten closed his eyes and felt the usual tingling sensation as he exited George's psyspace for the last time.