(AN: tell me how i'm doing? i'm having fun writing this, but yknow itd be cool if you guys liked it too pfft) (also, sorry for the wait, life got kinda busy)

Because I'm dumb and don't know how to say no, Junpei corralled me into allowing him to give me his company as we walk to the station. I think I mentioned this before, but he's not really my favourite character. In fact, he's the guy who I never really liked having in my team, so he was always under levelled by, like, twenty points. But, y'know, in real life, he's not too bad a guy. He's pretty amiable.

As I was at the shoe lockers, fumbling with my lock, Junpei popped up behind me and asked if I could be so kind as to allow him to escort me back to the stations. I think I said something along the lines of "I don't need your help", but he probably didn't get the hint and decided to just chatter away as I swapped shoes.

Outside, the sun was bright and hot, and we paused to let a team of joggers cross our path. He whistled low, watching them as they made their rounds. "Dang, clubs already?"

"Do they always start so early in the year?" I asked. At my school, extra-curricular clubs could start and stop whenever, but sports clubs were always really regulated in their sign-up periods. Never at the beginning of the year, though, dang.

"Not really," Junpei says as we continue on our way. "Normally it's in the second week of school when they start meeting up, but I guess our track club senpai are really dedicated."

There's another honorific. I'm so confused by everything. Maybe when I meet Igor, I can ask him questions about the mechanics of… this. This game-world thing.

We're paused again, at a stop light. Junpei looks at me, searching. I make an ugly face and he looks away, laughing. "You interested in joining a club, Celia-tan? You'd have to wait for a few weeks before they let you sign up, since you'd be a newbie and all."

"I'm not athletic," I admit as we begin walking again. I mean, I've played a shitload of sports, but I'm just not a naturally athletic person. I'm also not really competitive, which makes playing sports absolute torture. "And I don't like competitions. I'd be a horrible team member."

Junpei scratches his ball cap, scrunching up his face in thought. "I'm sure there's some team you could join that doesn't compete. Or maybe just forgo the sports and join one of the art-type clubs?"

I stare at him until he stares back at me, then look away. "Nice to see you think I'd be an art-type."

"Wait, so you aren't?"

"No, I am, but I don't see what makes you think that."

Junpei laughs and I elbow him in the ribs.

We walk in a comfortable silence for a while, crossing a few blocks until we reach the station. Junpei follows me even after I try to keep him from crossing the ticket machine, reassuring me that he really is going the same way, just a couple of stops down. I don't really know how much I trust him on that, but after he points out there really isn't any other way off the island, I decide to stop subtly trying to trip him.

He tells me a little about the island and monorail as we wait for the train to roar into the station, little delicate bells announcing its arrival, and, luckily, it's not too crowded, so we get some seats.

"So, you're living in a dorm, huh?" he asks me after a while. I groan openly, expecting this question. "Hey, don't be like that! I've just never lived in a dorm, so I wanna know what it's like."

"It's like living at home," I lie. "But with a lot of people you aren't related to."

"That's a very creepy way of putting it," he tells me, making a sad face.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you?" I admit, shuffling my bag to hold it in-between my arms. "I haven't been there that long, so I can't really give you a good estimation of life in a dormitory. I'm sure you can fill in a lot of the blanks."

The announcement comes on, warning us of our next stop, my stop, and I stand. The ride seemed much longer in the morning, but that may have been because of all the icky businessmen crowding around us.

I look back at Junpei, who has a positively perverted look on his face. I kick his shin and he flinches, and when he bends down to nurse it, he demands, "Hey, what was that for?"

"We don't spend all our time rubbing each other's boobs in the bath, you idiot," I scowl. I'm actually not very angry, just really used to his kind. But I don't know how to be nice to people, so my first instinct is to insult everyone. "I mean, we might, but that's only if you admit guys compare dick sizes."

He opens his mouth to object, then gets quiet again. The train stops and I motion slowly towards the door, not wanting to just turn my back on him and leave. When he opens his mouth again to respond, I stick my tongue out at him and head off. Oh god, do guys actually do that?

When I got back to the dorms, Yukari was already there, seated in the lounge area with some guy, and it took me a moment to recognize his hair as the chairman guy, Iku-something. Ikutsuki, I think. Yukari stood up at my arrival, saying something along the lines of, "oh, she's here" and I had to wonder how on earth she got back to the dorms before me as I signed in. Was she lying when she said she had archery club stuff? I mean, me and Junpei didn't take that long coming back. She could've just said she had stuff to do at the dorms and I wouldn't have jumped up to rush along with her. Oh well.

Ikutsuki stays seated as I follow Yukari back to the couch and sit next to her, smiling pleasantly all the while. "So, this is our new guest! Good evening," he starts, reaching a hand out. I shake it very weakly, embarrassed by all the attention today. "My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school." He leans back, looking away from us, almost as if he were musing. The forced lips, though, make it obvious he's faking. I wonder just how much he fakes. " 'Ikutsuki'… Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes."

Bullshit you do, old man, but I laugh a little as Yukari rolls her eyes.

He leans forward again, entwining his fingers as he rests his elbows on his knees. "Anyway, I apologize for the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while longer before you receive your proper room assignment. Is there anything you'd like to ask of me?"

Only the same thing I'd like to ask of everyone. I shake my head. "Not really, no."

Apparently satisfied with my answer, he grins widely and stands up. Yukari and I stand up as well, I guess from politeness. "Then, I hope you'll have a successful school year. But, if you'll excuse me, I really have to be get going. You must be tired from all the excitement, though. You should go to bed early tonight."

I notice Yukari looking at me from my peripheral vision as if in warning, but I don't prepare myself quick enough for his pun. "As they say, 'the early bird catches the bookwork'!"

There's an audible groan from my soul, and Ikutsuki laughs. "Ah, please forgive the bad pun!"

Yukari mumbles in my ear, "You'll get used to his lame jokes,"

When I look at her, she adds, "Or die trying."

Yukari very lovingly introduces me to the rest of the third floor, since we hadn't had any time last night. And by very lovingly, I mean not lovingly at all. She's really very obviously uncomfortable around me, and I have to tell her twice I won't ask a thing about her gun before she decides to calm down some.

Turns out, the floor that we see in the game isn't the entire floor. There's the restrooms that I'm pretty sure are included, but there's also another side past the stairs where the bathroom is. It's a big room, all tiled, with a large bath in the back and little shower spigots along the side. It's not really spectacular, though, but there are little lockers in the front where Yukari tells me she and Mitsuru keep their shower stuff at. Not that they actually use the locks, she admits, but she doesn't expect any of us to take anyone else's stuff. I know I wouldn't take their stuff—Mitsuru would probably flay me and Yukari isn't my scent type.

Anyway, the bathrooms also have bags of their stuff lines up on the sinks, and it's with a red face that Yukari admits that maybe they've been a little lenient with keeping track of their stuff.

I shrug. "What's the problem? It sounds like a good idea—having our stuff in the bathroom so we're not always running back and forth for dumb stuff."

She joins my gesture, eyes glancing over the toothbrushes, face wash, cosmetics, and many other morning-routine things gathered along the mirror. "We try to keep things clean… I don't know," she sighs. "It's just been me and Mitsuru-senpai in the girl's hall for such a long time, I guess I forgot basic etiquette."

"Must be even messier in the boy's bathroom," I laugh. "Akihiko-senpai being by himself, right?"

The "-senpai" doesn't sound forced at all, and since Yukari just joins in with my laughter, I guess I've got this honorific thing down.

I go to my room after, to start unpacking some of the boxes, but I lose my patience trying to rip the tape without scissors, and I just decide to stab open my toiletries box with a pen I borrowed from someone at school (oops) before skulking off to the restrooms to brush my teeth.

The bathroom is intimidating, so I decide to hold off showering for another night, until I get the general grasp of bathrooms in Japan—that sounded dumb. Alright, well, it's not a whole bunch of isolated showers, but just one big room? And I don't have it in me to shower with the chance of Mitsuru and her perfect body bursting in and making my self-esteem wither up and die. Don't look at me like that.

After brushing my teeth, washing my face, and changing my clothes, I collapse into bed, still so very tired. The sun is barely setting, but I wrap myself up in the unfamiliar blankets and allow myself to drift off.

Before what feels like too long, there's a really quiet whisper in my ear, really soft and enclosing, like a blanket being laid over me, like hiding in a closet, and I can barely make out what it's saying. The voice is wavering, trembling, it sounds so scared, I want to just reach out and hold it close, make it safe. My breathing is still so slow, so low that my head feels like it's running out of air to think properly. Is it the Dark Hour right now…? Everything just feels so heavy…

"Master…"

I start, pitching forward, and when I'm aware enough to study my whereabouts, I realize everything is blue, deep, dark blue. With a really heavy heart, I look up and make eye contact with the terrifying black eyes of the owner of the Velvet Room.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

"How did I get here," I begin, very heated and very angry. "Did you bring me here? Why? What benefit do you get from me living and existing here?"

Igor is very calm, and that fucking creepy smile never leaves his face. "Why, dear Celia… This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place."

I see the contract on the table in-between us, but I ignore it in favour of standing up and stepping forward, pissed off.

"Don't fuck with me!" I snarl. "You know what I mean! I don't give a shit about the Velvet Room, I want to know how I got here! How did I fucking get sucked into this—this—this game!"

He picks up the contract and studies it as he speaks to me. "I know not of which you speak. I am only a person who lives to serve their honoured guests. Whether or not your perception of reality is skewed is not a matter of which I am concerned of."

Oh. My god. I am going to punch this smarmy little bastard, I really will. "Don't fuck with me," I repeat, unsure of how to continue. "You and Pharos are the only people who could know the name I wrote down on that contract, so it has to be one of you who brought me here, and I know you two must be working together, so what the fuck did you do?!"

My throat is ragged from the shriek my words turned into, and Igor is entirely nonplussed. "You were the only one suitable for the job, my dear Celia."

"Don't fucking call me your dear anything, shitface."

"You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will," he says, stressing my dependency in this horrible situation, finally looking back at me with his beady little eyes. "require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return."

"What, that I don't snap and kill Pharos in the middle of the night?" I laugh, feeling myself losing the argument and absolutely unable to do anything about it. "Or that I don't kill myself and release Nyx upon the world? What do you want, Igor."

"For you to abide by your contract, and assume responsibility for your choices."

I fell back into the sofa behind me, feeling weak tears well up. Oh, god, am I really stuck here forever? Until the game ends? When is that, in almost a year? What's happening to my body in real life? Do I just not exist anymore, or is time passing? Am I ever going to see my family again, my friends, anyone who I've ever cared about? Is there really no way back, no way out?

Before I can stop myself, I'm crying, actually sobbing, and I hate everything. I'm sitting in a fucking blue room in this weird dimension in a video game, in my pajamas, with this creepy fucking guy refusing to help me, and I don't know what to do.

Igor says nothing, staying completely silent until my breathing slows and I look up at him, angry and embarrassed. I know he's waiting for my response, so I croak out in a broken voice, "I understand."

He smiles, sending shivers down my back, and then reaches across the table and gives me a key. I take it, feeling its surprisingly heavy weight in my palm, and study the insignia, an ornate VR carved into the head. When I look back up, the contract is gone and his face is impassive, completely unreadable past his fucking creepy and eerie smile. "I see you've calmed down."

"Fuck you," I sigh, leaning back into the sofa once again.

"Well now, would you like to hear the rules of our little game?"

I stare at him, unsure of how to feel or what to project. "Rules?"

"Well, of course, my dear. Certainly, you wouldn't expect to live in a world so different from yours without a couple of rules to follow, would you?"

I… I, uh… What?

He can obviously tell I'm confused and shocked and just every synonym for those words you can image, and he spares a cackle at my expense. I lean forward again, my hand tightening around the key in my hand, and with deep breaths I ask, "What rules?"

He whips his hand up, holding up only his index finger and starts rattling off the rules I apparently have to follow in this world. "One: you shall not inform anyone of their future, regardless of how pressing or irresistible it may seem. Two: you shall not tell anyone the truth of your past. Three: there are certain things written in fate to occur, and you shall not change or attempt to change any of these events."

All these 'shall not's make my head ache, but I keep nodding, determined to ask questions once he gave me the signal.

"And, finally, rule four: there are no restarts."

Okay, I had kinda expected the last one, but the certainty in which he says it makes goosebumps run down my arms.

"So, about these rules, why—"

With another fucking enigmatic smile, somehow different from his usual one, somehow similar to Pharos, he cuts me off with a tut-tut-tutting and I can feel the air getting heavier again. My head starts to thud, really thick and hollow, my vision starts to blur, and I can hear Igor's voice telling me we'll meet again. My head begins to bob, and before I can stop myself or say anything else, my head hits the sofa and everything is black once more.

When I open my eyes again, it's morning time and I punch my pillow before crying again.