[CITY 4]

Masaru jolts awake at his desk.

Instantly aware, he looks up to his computer and looks for the Valerie drawing.

Not letting that happen again, he thinks with a sheepish smile as he pulls up the graceful, beautiful piece of art and closes it.

Behind it, however, he sees one of The Knight, which he closes too, and Yuna, which he closes as well.

He pauses for a moment after he does it.

I guess she… ‘made it?’ he wonders to himself as he squints at the monitor.

He shakes his head and gets out of his seat, taking a thin breath before looking out the window across the ruined streets over to the Vacation center.

As if by his attention alone, the lights click on in center’s third floor conference room.

Masaru squints at the challenge.

“Okay…” he starts, pacing a little to the side as if to a fellow dualist. “How am I going to understand you?”

It’s half rhetorical and aimed at himself, and half a true question. Something tells him there’s some kind of connected energy in this endless returning hell, and that The Enemy, whatever it truly is, can hear him at all times.

Masaru scoffs, takes a readying breath, and continues to the elevator.

He ignores the wreckage around him, the asphalt spilled out into curls along the sidewalks and streets, and heads straight up to the vacation center.

Come on over and visit Get Outta Here-

Masaru looks at the Getouttahere-Kun! standee, and resolves simply to give it a gentle pat as it continues its song.

Its muffled tones continue to sing as Masaru enters the center and sees that the elevator, surprisingly enough, is unblocked, operational, and ready to go.

He gives a brief thought to going around and suffering up all those steps to get to the roof access, but he’s starting to wonder if the element of surprise means anything at all in this situation.

Masaru places his hands on his hips as he leans his neck to the side.

Am I getting ahead of myself? Should I wait for the others? He wonders. The concentration of his gaze flickers in thought. Sato… he died before me… where the heck is he?

And then, almost on cue, he hears a dozen or more Getouttahere-Kun! Songs in the floor above him, conjoined with an unlikely amount of stumbling, screaming, and crashing noises.

Masaru pauses, nods, and decides to just meet him there.

Entering the elevator, he hits the button to the third floor before crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

Even in the closed elevator car heading up, he can still hear the occasional crash or “OUWHOA WHOA NO!” in Sato’s unmistakable tone.

Masaru closes his eyes and grins to himself, imagining just what the “perfect” Sato will seem like.

“Blonde, spiky hair at a minimum,” Masaru chuckles out, “huge muscles, giant sword, maybe?” he adds as the doors open to the hallway.

He steps out just as Sato rounds the corner, bruised, gasping for air, and pricked with a few thumb tacks.

“Wha- NO!” Sato screams as he pushes himself behind a watercooler.

Masaru stands there, jostling his briefcase in his grip. “Hey there,” Masaru starts.

Sato stops a moment, eying over Masaru from behind the water inside the clear cooler. He steps aside from it with a perplexed look. “Wait… it’s like, really you?”

“Yeah?”

“Whoa, uh…” He gets out from behind it. “Right from the start this place is crazy. Even the game shop’s gone!” Sato exclaims.

Masaru gets a slant smirk. “What, Aki’s place?”

“Yeah! It’s the only place to get Gunzons in the whole town!”

The Salaryman glances over to the door to the conference room, cracked to invite investigation, the room still lit and with the waiting shadow of a person.

“Very nice,” Masaru says. “I’m pretty sure the enemy of this area is in there-”

“Whoa?! The Killer!?” Sato interrupts with a shout.

Masaru pauses, and then gives a slow, affirming nod. “But last time the guy ambushed us from that office over there,” he says, pointing across from the hall.

“What is he?” Sato asks with bated breath, holding onto the water cooler as if to swing it forward at the first scary thing he doesn’t quite understand.

“Some asshole,” Masaru replies, turning for the door. “But this isn’t part of your loop, right?”

Sato flashes his wrist— a black tattoo on pale, oily skin. There’s only one dot, and Masaru raises a brow at the sight.

Really? Just one? he thinks, a little from jealousy, but mostly confusion.

“No, this one’s bad, but mine is way worse!” he sighs as he steps away from the water cooler.

Masaru gives a polite nod.

Moron. Probably a figure-building contest or something, he thinks to himself.

“Anyway, I’m going to go in there,” he says. “Keep a lookout for me, alright?”

“Wh- you’re going to leave me?!”

Masaru shrugs. “You can come with me if you like.”

Sato nods as he steps up to go through the door.

“Even if it’s straight to the thing that’ll kill you…” Masaru adds.

Sato pauses, clears his throat, and crosses his arms.

“Uh, maybe I’ll just wait in the hall.”

Masaru nods.

Damn right you will, he thinks as he steps up to the door.

“Just let me know if you see anything, alright?”

Sato clears his throat again with a reaffirming nod. “R-right. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Masaru pushes open the door, and turns to face the conference table.