(Slow, short chapter.)

Your Saturday rolled by as you searched for employment. You discussed this with Rage, the only business owner you were probably going to meet.

"Uh... I can't say I can afford help right now," he said. "Outta the people we know... I think Zero would be the guy to ask. He works at a hospital a couple blocks away... you worked as a janitor, right? They might need one of those at his place."

… Who the heck was Zero? You politely asked Rage who Zero was.

"Oh yeah, he probably never said anything to you yet," Rage started. "Sorry. He's that quiet guy with the silver hair. And if you still can't find him, look for his flashy clothes. And if you still can't find him," he chuckled, "he's probably the only guy who purposely won't talk to you." He stopped laughing but still smiled. "I'll introduce you two next time we go to the arcade. We hardly ever see him otherwise. I think after his first week he's taking more measures to avoid us." He shook his head, but was laughing about it.

He poked at his takoyaki and flipped some of them. As the food finished cooking, a few hungry customers came up to his stand. You saw that he was busy, so you waved goodbye and explored the town more.

You didn't meet any new people along the way. You noticed New York was full of people, but they were all incredibly busy. It was like your home town before you went to Inaba... the hustle and bustle of this city was familiar to you, but the human traffic seemed less organized than in Japan.

Streets of crowds later, you walked by the TV Tower. You tried to remember where you last heard of it... someone at the arcade your first Friday had said something about it, but you couldn't quite...

Ah. This must be where Alice worked. You realized this when you looked ahead and saw her exit the building. You weren't sure if she remembered you, so you awkwardly stared in her direction.

"Oh, hello," Alice greeted upon noticing you. She hurried her way to you. "Um... you're Souji, right?"

You nodded and asked her how her day was.

"It's been busy," she said. "I've been rehearsing here, and I just stepped out to have a break. In an hour I have to go back and meet with some agents about another live show." You noticed her smile and a blush on her cheeks. You asked if she was nervous.

Her chuckle certainly sounded nervous. "Sometimes, I am. But there's always someone out there to support me." She nodded to herself. "I really am grateful for my friends." Then she looked at your face. "I hope we can be friends, too."

You felt her gratitude... but something stopped her from forming a bond with you. Some sort of distrust...

"I'm gonna go meet someone for lunch," she said. "I'll see you on Friday, okay?"

You told her you looked forward to it and said goodbye to her.

You were back to having nothing to do for the day... you decided to go to the arcade and get one of those cards you saw everyone using. When you got to the worker, you received a point card. You dug through your American dollars, unsure of how much to put on the card, and you wound up putting five dollars on it.

There were a few people at the DDR machines, but no one you knew. You spent your day practicing on what looked like an older machine (apparently DDR Extreme) so that you could do better next Friday. You couldn't help but think it would be more fun with the others, but when you were finished, you couldn't wait for Friday to come.

(I smell plot in the next chapter.)