♥ 03

[celebrity_commentator]

[Video, Private to the Investigation Team]



Hey guys. I made it back. Has anyone seen Naoto-kun and Kanji-kun? I couldn't find them in the mess when we reappeared. If either of you hear this, or if anyone else has seen them, please respond.

And...yeah, I'm back. We're back, I hope. Whatever happened was strange and creepy, and I don't know why it happened, but we found out some strange stuff. I'm gonna try to keep this short, but...

Well, first of all, there's another world like this one where people get pulled from their homes and stuck there...only when people went back from the Tower, their worlds were destroyed. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on in the Tower to "save" them, but there were copies of people from our world. Us, too. Like how we're from different times, they're from different...versions of the world, maybe? Naoto-kun probably figured out more of this than I did, but there's other us out there, and they can't go back to their world. They're just stuck in a tower full of monsters.

The other thing was, toward the end there, there was...fog. It was like the stuff from the TV World, or last December, but even worse. People went crazy. People I'd made friends with.

From what I overheard...I think this Nyarlathotep person was causing it. And I don't think the people who found him stopped him. I just...well, what do you all think? I'm only good for getting information, I never know what to do with it...

[Some hours later]

[Video]

Hey, Hinoto-Ri! I've never been happier to be here, let me tell you. It's almost like going home, after the Tower...but anyway, that's not why I'm posting.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Rise Kujikawa. I'm an idol back home, which is a singer and an actor for people who aren't from Japan, and I got to thinking about something that my horoscope says I should bring up now - there's a lot of singers and performers in town! I've met plenty, and I know there's more hanging around, so I was wondering if anyone's ever thought of organizing a concert or something. After the last couple of months, I think people might need the kind of break some nice music can give...and I think most people have forgotten about that mess with the Jacks. I hope.

Anyway, I'm not a producer or anything, but I figure if enough of us got together we could figure something out! So...who wants to put on a concert?

Comments

[Video]

[second_destiny]

That's...that doesn't sound all good. Just what happened and where did you guys go?

[Worry worry.]

video;

[destinedwaters]

Hello, Rise-chan. It's good to see you made it out okay, too.

[Video]

[celebrity_commentator]

Well, I don't know if there's going to be an official report or anything, but we were sent to this strange Tower. A lot of it was beautiful or interesting, but a lot more of it seemed to just be dangerous. And you couldn't leave, or at least we couldn't.

Buuuuut that's not really what this post is about, and I don't really know how much I should say...

video;

[celebrity_commentator]

You too, Aqua-san. Were you okay at the end? I lost track of you when I went to find other people.

[Video; private]

[linefacingforever]

Rise.

[Oh man, he is happy to see you're all right.]

I was there looking for you all, but I couldn't find you.

[He found Adachi, but not you guys... he hated it.]

[Video]

[second_destiny]

Oh. Um. I'm sorry. I was just...well, you know...

[Worry. Worry.]

[Video; private] 1/2

[celebrity_commentator]

Senpai...

2/2

[celebrity_commentator]

Wait, you don't mean you went to the Tower too, do you? I'm sure I would have seen you. And there was no way you could reach another world just like that...

video;

[destinedwaters]

Mm. Better than the others, at least.

[private]

I wound up in the mirror maze with several others. Nyarlathotep is even worse in person.

[linefacingforever]

[Yu shook his head.]

No, I mean I was at the place you all reappeared here in, trying to find you, but I only found...

[He trailed off, not wanting to bring that up.]

Are you all right?

[Video, Private]

[celebrity_commentator]

[Suddenly a lot more serious.]

I just...don't really know what to make of it yet. Besides, I looked up my friends' posts on the network before I recorded this, and I'm not sure it's totally safe to post here anymore.

[celebrity_commentator]

I'll be okay. I think. It was really awful at the end. People I'd made friends with...well, it's really hard living in that tower.

[video]

[booyaka_boom]

*Selphie still feels horrific after everything she endured at the tower, but this video has made her smile*

I think that's a perfect idea, and I'd love to help out! I play a whole bunch of instruments, and I've put on concerts before. I mean, back in my home world...

Private forever

[celebrity_commentator]

You saw him?! What happened?

[destinedwaters]

He taunted us with our shortcomings, mostly...Used our own faces as he said all that he did.

[She'd... rather not go into detail about it because they're still in the first all-out attack in dat thread.]

Most of us didn't take it very well.

[celebrity_commentator]

Man, he is totally just cribbing from what happened in my world!

Except I think those Shadows just happened naturally...

[Video, Private]

[second_destiny]

Really? What about them makes you think that? Or...wait, is this about that garbled message?

[Video, Private]

[celebrity_commentator]

One of my friends posted something important, and it's the one thing on this network that doesn't go through perfectly? I'm not exactly a detective, but I can tell when something's out of place.

[video]

[celebrity_commentator]

[Selphie thus discovered most of the point of this.]

Ooh, that's good. I didn't really do any of my own setup, and...well, my manager wouldn't be here even if we hadn't kind of fired each other.

[She looks a bit sheepish at admitting that.]

And instruments are good too. Most of the people I know are singers.

[destinedwaters]

I would have said he got the yellow eyes from mine, but... [Wait. Shadows?] ...What happened in your world?

[Video, Private]

[second_destiny]

Yeah. I know what you mean.

But you know, I've got a way of communicating and storing info without using the COMPs or the network. The AGE Device and Haro can both store info, and they're linked to each other.

[celebrity_commentator]

Long story short, there was a place in our world where, if you wound up there, you'd end up facing the parts of yourself you didn't want to admit to. They called themselves Shadows, and they were a real pain. If you didn't accept them, they would kill you. The only reason I survived was Yu-senpai and the others coming to protect me long enough to admit what I was hiding...

...and ours had yellow eyes, too. I have to admit I didn't look bad with them when I wasn't being creepy.

[destinedwaters]

I see... [So basically "accept it or die"? Ouch, that had to suck. Though she had to admit, the yellow eyes thing is what freaked her out the most.] ...The ones who have yellow eyes in my world rely too heavily on Darkness and their own negativity. Most of them having turned into monsters, themselves.

[linefacingforever]

We do need to have a meeting about what happened there. I'll call for one as soon as we locate Naoto and Kanji.

Video

[all_wound_up]

Rise-san! Are you all right? Do you need anything?

[Nano has been saying this exact phrase over and over again to just about everyone she knows ever since they all returned from the tower.]