Deep within the Abyss, after reconciling with Alice and briefly meeting a mysterious boy, you relocated to a new area with Alice and were currently in the middle of relaxing together.

You were sitting on the ground with Alice curled up sleeping on your lap when you suddenly heard a familiar melody play from the sky.

Alice: "What a nostalgic melody."

Surprised, you looked down at her, "You're awake?"

Alice: "Yeah, the music woke me up."

She adjusted her position so that she could see the sky; apart from the sound of a melody it was pitch black like always. You followed her gaze and looked up as well, listening to the tune, thinking how similar it sounded to the song you were singing a while ago.

Alice: "I don't know why but somehow it feels like….it's calling me."

You smiled, "Yes, it does sound a bit familiar doesn't it? Who knows, maybe it's a sign that we'll get to leave soon."

As soon as you spoke those words, Alice sprung right up and looked at you, all traces of tiredness gone from her face, "Really!? You really think so?!"

You blinked, "I−I don't know but it's never happened before so−"

Before you could finish, a ray of light suddenly engulfed the area near you, causing the two of you to stare up in surprise.

You: "W-What is this?"

Alice: "A path has opened."

You turned to her, "A path?"

Alice: "It means someone is being sent here."

You: "A human? Then…."

Nodding, Alice stood up, eyes focused on the bright light.

Alice: "I'm going to go out and see what's happening up there."

You shot her a worried glance, "What? Are you sure?"

Alice: "Yeah, it should be fine. I'm the mighty B-Rabbit after all!"

You sighed, knowing that she was going to go whether or not you wanted her to.

You: "Fine−but on one condition."

Alice nervously stared at you, "W-What is it?"

You smiled and hugged her, "Be careful up there and make sure you come back safe and sound. Your safety takes top priority, okay?"

Surprised by the sudden hug, Alice blushed and slowly nodded as you let her go.

Watching her leave, you patiently waited for her, thoughts drifting back to the blonde haired boy you encountered a while ago.

'I wonder who he was. He seemed a bit….familiar. I wonder if I'll ever see him again.'

(Time Skip)

Arriving back from the real world, Alice reported what she saw to you. The human contractor was a young blonde haired boy, who was forcefully being sent over by a group of hostile red-cloaked men.

Alice turned to you, "He's here."

You nodded, "Then let's go."

With Alice leading the way, the two of you quickly rushed towards the area where the human contractor had landed. It was crucial you found him before the other chains as a newly arrived human was extremely vulnerable.

As you arrived near the estimated area, you spotted him just seconds away from being eaten by the trump chain.

Rushing ahead, Alice quickly got her scythe out and confronted the chain.

Alice: "Don't get carried away, you lowly trump! This is my prey!"

Destroying the chain, Alice turned around and smirked at the boy, who stared back at her in surprise.

Unknown Boy: "You….You're the one from before−the Sexual harassment girl!"

Feeling deeply insulted by his words, Alice harshly kicked him in the face, causing him to pass out. You paled at the sight and quickly caught him before he fell to the ground.

You: "Alice! What are you doing!? He's out cold now!"

Alice turned to you, pouting slightly, "But it was his fault for calling me that!"

You sighed and looked at the unconscious boy in your arms. Looking at his face, you were surprised as recognition hit you since he looked exactly like the mysterious boy you previously encountered.

'Oh? How interesting.'

(FW)

Relocating to a safer place, Alice jumped up and sat down on top of a half demolished building, keeping a look-out while you sat on the ground and carefully placed the boy's body next to you with his head on your lap.

Seeing you do this, Alice scowled "{Name}! What are you doing?! There's no need to treat him so nicely!"

You frowned at her words, "Alice, this boy is your future contractor and our only way out. It's only fair that we treat him well. Besides I wouldn't be doing this if you hadn't knocked him out in the first place."

Alice pouted, "But that was−"

You: "Hm?"

Feeling the boy stir from his sleep, you looked down and smiled at him, "Good morning."

Opening his eyes, Oz was surprised to see a girl with gentle {e/c} colored eyes staring down at him. He unconsciously blushed and barley managed to utter a reply to her.

Oz: "G-G-Good morning."

Unknown Girl: "How are you feeling?"

Oz: "Eh? Oh! I'm…um…fine I think?"

Relieved by his words you smiled, "I see, that's good. I was worried."

Alice watched as the two of you interacted with each other, feeling slightly irritated.

Alice: "Hey you! If you're awake then hurry up and get away from her!"

Oz blinked and turned to the person that called out to him, immediately recognizing her. He then turned back to look up at the other girl, finally noticing he was lying on her lap.

Flustered by his realization, he quickly sprung up from her lap and began apologizing.

Oz: "I-I-I'm so sorry!"

You chucked at his flustered apology, finding it cute, "It's fine, don't worry about it."

Alice scoffed, "About time you noticed; but you sure are weak. I didn't think you would get hurt this badly from that kind of chain. Well, I guess human bodies are pretty fragile."

Oz turned to her, confused by her words, "What's a chain?"

You: "B-rabbit wait, before we talk about that let's introduce ourselves first."

Standing up, you turned to the boy and curtseyed, "Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier; my name is {Name}. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Oz blushed, and quickly bowed back, "O-Oh…it's nice to meet you too. I'm Oz Bezarius."

Hearing his last name, you frowned, "Bezarius?"

Seeing your expression, Oz stared at you worriedly, "I-Is there something wrong?"

You shook your head, "No, it's nothing. Oh!" You turned to Alice, "B-rabbit, introduce yourself as well."

Alice: "What? Tsk, fine! The name's B-rabbit. Remember it."

You: "Now then…" You turned to Oz, "Where should we start? Oh! Yes, first off do you know where you are?"

Oz: "The Abyss….right?"

You nodded, "Yes. We're currently trapped in the Abyss, another dimension separated from the real world."

Oz: "Another dimension? Separated?"

You: "Of course. How else would you explain the existence of chains?"

Oz: "You mentioned that before. What are chains?"

You: "It's what we call the creatures that were born in the Abyss."

Alice: "That's right, and among them the one you encountered, the trump, is at the bottom."

Oz turned to Alice, "Are you one of these 'chains' too, B-rabbit?"

She smirked, "That's right. Don't let my appearance fool you, brat."

Oz scowled at her, "Don't call me brat! You sexual harassment girl!"

Alice glared at him, "What did you say!?"

You: "B-rabbit!"

Alice flinched and immediately stopped fighting with Oz as you narrowed your eyes at her, as a warning. Taking the hint, Oz also backed down.

Oz: "Hm? Wait a minute−" he turned to you, "Then are you?"

You smiled, "No, I'm human just like you."

Oz sighed in relief, "I see."

You: "Moving back on topic, chains are extremely dangerous so it's a good thing we found you before you were devoured."

Oz: "Do all Chains have a habit of attacking humans? Because when I first met you B-rabbit, didn't you want to kill me? What's up with that?"

Both Alice and you blinked, confused by his words.

Alice: "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Oz: "Eh?"

Alice: "The first time I met you was when I saved you from those cloaked men. You must have confused me for someone else. Also I can't forgive you for lumping me together with those Trumps. After all I−"

Ignoring her, Oz's attention was shifted to somewhere else as a nearby cabinet suddenly opened, revealing a box. Looking at what it contained, Oz beamed in pure happiness, "Whoa! Yes! I made a cookie discovery!"

Annoyed from his interruption, Alice glared at him as he continued to ignore her and grab a nearby table and two chairs. Holding out a chair for you, he waited for you to sit down before joining you on the other side.

Oz: "Do you want to share some with me Miss {Name}?"

You blinked; surprised by how normal he was acting after just being thrown into the Abyss for the past hour.

You: "Just {Name} is fine, and no thank you, I'm not hungry."

Oz: "Okay, more for me then. It's a good thing I found these, I was really hungry!"

Alice: "You sure are weird. You were so freaked out earlier but now it seems like you've gotten use to this place. And you're not even afraid of me."

You silently agreed with her and continued to watch as Oz stuffed cookies into his face while Alice tried to get his attention. Giving up, she threw a book at him in frustration, hitting him in the face.

Oz: "Ow! That hurt! What did you do that for?!"

Alice looked away, "Hmph, serves you right."

You sighed at her childish behavior, deciding to let it pass for now.

You: "Still I'm surprised, you adapted so easily. Most people would have started freaking out by now."

Oz: "Well I've seen some pretty unbelievable things in the past hour so I'm pretty use to it by now. It's my policy to accept everything, so you can understand the situation better. My uncle Oscar told me this once when I was almost kidnapped. He said, 'At a time like this, it's important to keep your cool.' "

You smiled, "I see. No wonder you adapted so quickly."

Oz: "And besides, it's not like we're enemies either, right? You did save me from that chain earlier. Having someone explain the situation really helped me calm down. Oh! And B-rabbit."

Alice looked down at him, "What?"

Oz smiled, "I forgot to mention this earlier but thanks for saving me."

Alice blinked, surprised by Oz's words, "{Name}, this guy is an idiot; he just thanked a chain for saving him."

You chuckled at her words, "Yes, I heard him. Isn't that nice? Getting thanked by someone. It shows that they're grateful to you. Aren't you happy we saved him?"

Alice: "But…It….It feels weird and…kind of a bit gross."

Oz cried, "Don't say that! You'll hurt my feelings."

You laughed at his words, as Alice stared at him, presumably making her mind on something.

Alice: "…..Alice."

Oz: "Eh?"

Alice: "That's my real name. 'Black Rabbit' and 'B-rabbit' are just what others call me."

Surprised by her sudden change of heart, you turned to look at her, only to smile a second later. Revealing her real name to him was a sign that she was starting to accept Oz and that made you happy, since it showed that the two of them were starting to get along.

Alice: "You should feel honored; I am giving you special permission to call me by my name." She turned to you, "By the way, isn't it about time we told him about our goal {Name}?"

Oz blinked, "Goal?"

Alice: "Don't get the wrong idea. I did save you but I did it for the sake of my goals. I wasn't particularly thinking about you when I saved you. Although you could say that those cloaked men went through a lot of trouble to drop you down here, it would be a problem if you were to just die on your own."

Oz stared at the both of you sensing that something was up, "What do you mean goals? What do you plan to do with me?"

You frowned at his words; noticing that he was cautiously staring at you. To be completely honest, you had almost forgotten the reason why you had saved Oz, if Alice hadn't reminded you. Oz's you company had been enthralling and it had been a nice change from the bleak and gloomy atmosphere of the Abyss.

You sighed, "Yes, it's time we talked about that. You see Oz we didn't save you because you were in trouble, we did it for ourselves. Our goal is the same as yours, to escape from the Abyss."

Alice: "It's for that reason that we've been waiting all this time."

Standing up, Alice jumped down from the demolished building and stood next to you.

Alice: "We've been waiting for a human like you to appear. An existence with the potential to become my contractor."

Oz: "Your contractor? Do you mean you want us to form a contract? Why?"

You: "You remember our earlier conversation about the Abyss being another dimension from the real world right?

Oz nodded, "Yes."

You: "You see. There's a rift between the two worlds called the 'way'."

Alice: "It's a small space but if I hit it with my power, I can force open an exit. If I do that, we can get out of here."

Looking hopeful, Oz turned to her, "Really?"

You: "But it's not that easy. Alice has a limit placed on her right now so she can't fully release her powers."

Oz: "Eh? Then…"

Alice: "If I want to release my power, a contract is needed. All you have to do is call my name, and agree to the contract. Then we can all leave."

You: "A contract is a necessary ritual for a chain to maintain its unusable existence in the real world. It's the only way for a chain and human to both leave the Abyss unharmed. Of course being a human myself, I could have formed a contract with Alice as well but−"

Alice: "We weren't compatible so the contract couldn't be formed….but the two of us are."

Taking a deep breath, you locked eyes towards Oz.

You: "Oz, before you say anything let me speak. What I am about to say to you are my true feelings so please listen.

I have been trapped in the Abyss for as long as I can remember so I believe that my desire to leave is as strong as yours. In fact, the desire is so strong that I considered threatening and tricking you into forming a contract with Alice when we first met. However, I have decided not to do that. Instead I shall give you a choice and let you decide your answer; even if it isn't favorable I will respect your decision.

Also, I shall be very honest with you. If you decide to form the contract know that I am not aware what will happen to you once it is formed. You may even be putting yourself in more danger so I cannot guarantee your safety. What I can guarantee is that a contract with two compatible partners is the only way out of the Abyss.

That's why, you don't have to trust us; I can understand why you wouldn't. But do believe us when we say that we want to leave this place with you, without harming you in any way. As I said before I want you to be the one to choose to form this contract but if you still don't trust us, then I will even swear to take all responsibility should anything happen to you because of this contract. Therefore−"

You paused, slightly out of breath from your speech, before concluding your talk.

"Please decide, here and now. Will you form the contract despite all the risks or stay here and be trapped forever."

Silence surrounded the three of you as you concluded what you wanted to say. Your words were so genuine, that even Alice was awestruck by what you just said.

Taking in your words and flustered, out of breath appearance, Oz was stunned. He brought up a hand and placed it over his heart, feeling it beat rapidly as one word repeatedly echoed in his mind, 'She's so Beautiful.'

How honest were her words, how desperately did she want to leave but couldn't. She could have manipulated him when she had the chance but choose not to, even going out of her way to explain the dangers of this world to him. He would be a fool, not to help her.

Taking a step forward, Alice offered her hand out to Oz, "We both want to get out and so do you. Our goals are the same don't you agree? If you do, then why don't you shake hands?"

Eyeing Alice's hand, Oz watched her expression before turning to look at yours for a second. Taking a deep breath, he made his decision and hesitantly moved to take her hand when a voice suddenly cried out.

Unknown Voice: "You can't, Oz-sama!"

Before he could react, Oz was engulfed in a bright light and was teleported to another location. Surprised, you and Alice stared at the space Oz once occupied. Immediately taking action, Alice started running after Oz, leaving you alone and disappeared from your sight.