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I really like this moment, because Katei's accusation is so asinine that it's genuinely surprising. Considering that Atsuki just finished defending him and gave two much more plausible alternative options for a culprit it makes you wonder what on earth Katei could be thinking by accusing someone who couldn't possibly have committed the murder. Edit: Update last page.
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Apr 11, 2023 19:31
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AFancyQuestionMark posted:However, just the next day, Miiya died. We found ourselves in an incident that took her life, and Shiroya had to be hospitalized. There’s a lot about their thoughts and daily lives in this narration but the life-changing (and ending) incident is left incredibly vague. I’m assuming a fire maybe? Can kill one person, render another comatose for a few days (but with no signs of permanent damage) and leave a third seemingly unharmed. And ties in with Atsuki’s reaction to smoke. I have no idea why Katei suspects Atsuki though. Even if he wasn’t the PoV character Atsuki seems like the one with the least opportunity to kill Naomi.
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Apr 11, 2023 20:21
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I suppose he thinks Atsuki and Shiroya were working together? And the whole elevator stuff was their alibi?
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Apr 12, 2023 11:57
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Elite posted:I have no idea why Katei suspects Atsuki though. Even if he wasn’t the PoV character Atsuki seems like the one with the least opportunity to kill Naomi. It looks like he's been suspicious of the MC ever since he spoke to Naomi, even before her body turned up. Though it's possible he's trying to cover his own rear end, it's also possible that Naomi said something that made Katei suspect the MC of being up to something. Cloacamazing! posted:I suppose he thinks Atsuki and Shiroya were working together? And the whole elevator stuff was their alibi? Not sure if the story's going in this direction, but it would be an interesting twist if it turns out that Atsuki and Shiroya were Xyn all along, though they're not responsible for this particular theft. There might be a connection between the death of their mutual friend and the Ashiya corp (the description so far was very vague as to what actually happened), and the thefts they've been carrying out are intended as revenge. Or, at least, Katei suspects that Atsuki is part of Xyn because of something Naomi told him.
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Apr 12, 2023 21:17
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Katei posted:To tell you guys the truth, Xyn did actually attempt to steal the Sekimeiya once. Suripo had no reason to inform you of this, but almost as soon as its existence was announced, Xyn made a move for it. It'd be a decent twist if Shiroya, Atsuki, and/or Miiya were part of Xyn. Perhaps Miiya died in the attempt, and Katei assumes that Atuski and Shiroya are back to try again. Isla posted:She said it'd be me, Mom, three boys, and two girls. ...And that they wouldn't be bad people. I'm getting some Umineko vibes here (i.e., "no more than X people were alive"). Not sure who Isla's "friend" is, but if we take this statement as true, then I'd conclude that at least one of Atsuki, Katei, Akaro, or Sai should not be here. I've enjoyed the Sai vs Katei conflict, but I do not know where this is going to go after Katei vs Naomi and Katei vs Atsuki. The story is perhaps a little boring or hard to follow. There's supposed to be a test, yet I do not feel like I have any answers worth sharing. My first instinct is to say that the thief flushed the Sekimeiya down the toilet and that Xyn is on their way to pick it up in the sewers.
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Apr 13, 2023 08:19
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NeoRonTheNeuron posted:The story is perhaps a little boring or hard to follow. There's supposed to be a test, yet I do not feel like I have any answers worth sharing. My first instinct is to say that the thief flushed the Sekimeiya down the toilet and that Xyn is on their way to pick it up in the sewers. I wouldn't worry about that, the 'test' is very far away in the story. We're only a few hours in at this point. Also I had the exact same theory at this point.
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Apr 13, 2023 12:41
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Nephthys posted:I wouldn't worry about that, the 'test' is very far away in the story. We're only a few hours in at this point.  I admit that the barebones nature of the characters is making it tough to enjoy the story so far. Atsuki and Shiroya's past was enjoyable, as is Sai vs Katei. But it's hard to root for anybody.They had contact with Suripo but didn't establish ground truths or the will of Ashiya. The Sekimeiya has been lost. Naomi was found but died immediately. The group is floundering and failed to accomplish basic tasks. They might as well sit in the lobby and swap stories till the shutters rise. Nephthys posted:Also I had the exact same theory at this point. 
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Apr 14, 2023 05:53
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Update 18: I-It's here. I have no idea why, but it's here. Previously: Naomi’s dead body was found. Katei accused Atsuki of killing her. Scene: Darkroom (Part 2) BGM: Hicaz  …  “You're kidding, right...? Do you intend to accuse him?” “He absolutely could not have done it. You had the opportunity to at least accuse me.”I was still recovering from the most unexpected words I could've heard. He had, without warning, accused me of having killed Naomi… - “...I'm sorry, but how do you think I did that? I was always with Shiroya, and security cameras must've registered every one of my actions on the higher floors.”  “And not only that, but he didn't have a chance to make it down without being spotted.” “That's why I have to come to the conclusion that you're all lying to me. All of you.” “I'm sure of it. Atsuki was here when Naomi and I were on this floor. You guys are giving him a very solid alibi, one that's not possible to circumvent. That's why you must all be lying.” “However, it is as you say. Security cameras had to record what happened in this room and on the office floors. Your lie won't last long once the system is recovered.”- “What's gotten into you...? At least your lies earlier were well-thought-out.”  “He's right. This is almost disappointing. Try to convince anyone of that.”For the first time, one of Sai's retorts was well-received by everyone else. Katei had alleged they were all liars, but they knew the truth: I hadn't killed Naomi. “It's especially idiotic even for this guy. Why are you saying that Atsuki was on this floor?” “Because I saw him! After Naomi left, when she understood that I wouldn't believe her claims, I heard a noise. In this hallway, B, I saw Atsuki.” “It surprised me, so I kept silent and waited for him to move. However, trying not to be seen also made me lose track of him completely. I looked around a bit, but I couldn't find him or Naomi again.” “When I went back up, I saw him with the others, and you all said that he could not have been downstairs. That's what leads me to the conclusion that you've all been lying to me.”...That ridiculous claim, if anything, explained why Katei had insisted multiple times that the elevator group might've been able to sneak down. Naturally, though, it was met with silence and shared disapproval. “At least this proves you're nothing but a lying machine. Your fuel must've run out and now you can only fabricate these pathetic things.” “You think you sound smart, but I believe all of us here know that you are the one lying.”  “Let me just tell it to you straight. In the one in a million chance that you're either telling the truth or hallucinating, what you saw could not have been Atsuki. If you actually saw someone, it wasn't him.” “Incorrect. I am certain it was him. His clothes could've been borrowed, but borrowing a face and the size of someone's body is much different. I don't know why you're all lying and aiding a criminal, but I'm certain of what I saw.” “Then we're left with a hallucination. You get your brain checked recently?” “I will refrain from saying anything else. When this is all thoroughly investigated by the police, the truth will be proven.” As I knew I hadn't killed anyone, I hadn't been seriously considering any of it. I'd ruled it as just Katei's desperate, pathetic, and ineffective way of not being suspected. My attention had diverted to one of the cabinets present with us in the room. At first glance, it looked like every other cabinet we'd been seeing, but there was something unusual about it.  On its right side was what looked to be a small wheel. To get a closer look, I approached it, making sure not to step on any of the blood. As I moved to it, I was once again reminded of the inexplicable odor I had never smelled before, which was starting to blend in seamlessly.  “...Did you see something?”- “Yes, this. Oh, it's a temperature regulator.” “How interesting. What's it set at?”- ”Nothing. It says ‘room temperature’.” I turned around to meet Katei's eyes.  “...Some cabinets have temperature functions, like the Sekimeiya's. This room has them.”The white wheel looked a bit damaged, which was what had caught my attention. Anything could've caused that, but it went against the elegance seen everywhere else in the room. I kept inspecting it. Behind it, I quickly noticed another similar wheel, a bit smaller in size. - “And what's this one for?” “That one? It regulates the temperature.”- “I can see the degrees symbol, but this one isn't set to anything, not even to ‘room temperature’. I mean, why are there two of them?” “Well, I think that one regulates the temperature of the gems behind the glass while the big one regulates the temperature inside the cabinet.”- “I see, to store gems that also require a determined temperature.” I tried to lift up the cover, but it was too heavy. - “How do I open it, though? I don't seem to be able to.” “I don't know, I've never opened one.” “And you've never seen anyone opening one through the cameras.” “...Perhaps I have. I think they first look behind the cabinet, but I'm not sure what the process is. These cabinets have an actual method of locking them so that the temperature inside is well-preserved.”I tried following his instructions. Behind the cabinet and next to the wheel, there was a very small plastic latch that I was able to open. - “I think it should be unlocked now…” I put my hands under the lid and brought it up while everyone else stared at me dubiously. Then, Sai began to approach me with curiosity. Like before, I was able to open it with ease. When I had fully opened it and kept the lid supported against the wall, I looked inside.  There was no appreciable change of temperature, as the wheel hadn't been set to anything. However, there certainly was something inside. At the bottom, covered by walls with a velvet texture, I saw the Sekimeiya resting, emitting a very faint glow. - “I-It's here. I have no idea why, but it's here.” *BGM Stops* Before the others could react, I stretched out my arm to grab it. With one hand, I leaned on the cabinet to support my weight while I put the other inside. As I slowly approached it, I thought to myself: what could anyone's purpose for leaving the Sekimeiya there have been? Without giving it much thought, I touched the surface of the egg-shaped object. A burst of heat flowed through my fingers, and the world broke.  The burning sensation vanished, and I was no longer stretching out my arm. Before me was a long corridor that I'd seen before. My body froze, and I broke out in a cold sweat. A heavy cloak of confusion was cast on me as my heart took off like a rocket. Something had happened to me—something that I hadn't ever experienced before. When I slowly began to discern my surroundings, I saw that I was in hallway A, next to the lobby.
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Aug 14, 2023 19:21
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Oh my loving god, are we dealing with time travel. Please tell me we aren't.
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Aug 14, 2023 20:29
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Since it's been several months between updates, I've decided that now is the time to actually use the second post. Please check it out to refresh yourselves on what's happened in the narrative so far.
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Aug 14, 2023 20:57
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That's a lot of buildup for the protagonist to
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Aug 15, 2023 02:26
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Update 19: There was nobody there. Scene: B-Side (Part 1)  Something had happened to me—something that I hadn't ever experienced before. When I slowly began to discern my surroundings, I saw that I was in hallway A, next to the lobby.  BGM: Twice As Dead I tried to calm down and think. I timidly moved my head and saw the huge shutter blocking my way to the outside world. Around the hallway A door, dark marks that had been left by the smoke were easily noticeable. Next, I moved my legs forward. I was still able to control my whole body; nothing seemed to have changed in that regard. I moved up to hallway B, which surrounded me with its dark, unsettling scenery and pure silence.  In the right wall, I could see the door of the room I'd been in a few seconds ago. It was closed, like all the others. As I gently approached it, I tried to think about what could've happened. However, it was as bizarre as it sounded: I had touched the Sekimeiya and appeared in the lobby. Not only that, but it had been instantaneous. Not an ounce of time had seemed to pass before the scenery around me had changed.  I gripped the knob. As soon as I started to open the door, I saw blood. On the floor, Naomi's dead body rested, wearing a distressed look. My senses alerted me of another change: the strange smell didn't appear to exist anymore.  I kept looking inside the room. Everyone else had already left it, and the cabinet I'd opened had been closed. The haunting atmosphere radiating across the room was overwhelming, and it chased me out. I closed the door behind me and made an effort at breathing properly to calm myself down. What the hell was happening? Was there a blank spot in my memory? Had I forgotten about something past the last memory I had? Nothing made sense. It couldn't make sense. The others had disappeared, and I had, in the blink of an eye, moved from one place to another. ...Was I knocked out? I'd been keeping my back against the others when I reached for the Sekimeiya, but wouldn't I remember it? Wouldn't I feel pain in my head if I had been hit? And... when I realized I was somewhere different than before, I was standing up. If I'd been knocked out, I would've woken up on the floor…  No matter how I thought of it, it felt as if no time had passed between the Sekimeiya's touch and the change in what I was looking at. To put it bluntly, it felt as if I had teleported between places. However, that was impossible. There must've been a reason why it had felt like that.  I opened the door to the event room. Nothing but a single, ugly cabinet was inside. I couldn't see its contents, but I didn't care. I kept looking through every room in the hallway to find the people that should've been there—to know that I hadn't been left alone and to understand what had happened to me.  … … … I opened and closed every door in quick succession until I knew that I was on a desolate floor. ...Where was Shiroya?  In front of me was the elevator door. I wanted to see the others, so I called it. If they were somewhere above me, they would hear the sound and come down to find me. After I pressed the button, though, nothing happened. … ...Is it here? I reached to grab the handle of the big, metallic door. As I'd suspected, I was able to open it.  Since I wouldn't be able to draw people to me, I had to modify my idea. I boarded the tiny elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor. If anyone could hear it, I hoped they'd be lured to me. It was my second time taking a full six-floor trip in that gloomy space, and being alone only made it worse. Just what had happened? I hadn't stopped accumulating questions since we'd gotten trapped, but the situation I was in surpassed all of them. Being alone let me look inside the elevator freely. ...I stared at the red button with the word "stop" on it. Once again, that told me I was inside a fairly old elevator, as those types of buttons had recently disappeared to avoid criminal attacks. They would usually stop it abruptly, mostly in case someone got stuck on a door. Other times, they'd only play a loud alarm throughout the building. On the wall next to it, there was a little paper with instructions detailing how it worked. I took the time to read it, trying to calm myself down. ‘Pressing the stop button will instantly deactivate the elevator and contact an emergency line. It is strictly prohibited to press it without a good reason, and to prevent ulterior uses, the elevator won't be enabled again until a staff member consents. Keep in mind that you are being recorded’. I looked behind me, and sure enough, I saw a small camera in an upper corner letting out a green light. It seemed Ashiya had made sure the button would only be used during a real emergency. Regarding the contact line, it was likely it had been nullified by the alarm. The remaining seconds once again left me in awe at how unsettling that small and quiet elevator could get. Even though I could hear the friction of the ropes, that imposing and deep sound that was more than apparent outside couldn't be appreciated well from the interior.  I went to the highest accessible floor and hastily pushed the door open. The sight was just as I remembered. I remained solitary and was met with another silently overwhelming floor. While I hoped people had heard me and were coming, I had to know whether there was someone around. We'd seen how easy it was to inspect those floors, so I started the same procedure from before.  I looked at the empty left corridor. A door was hiding from my field of vision, but there was nobody to be seen.  Then, I made my way to the partitions to see if, for some reason, they weren't vacant. There was something I recognized in the first one.  The computer we'd powered on earlier still showed a lit screen and an empty prompt to input access information.  Without paying any mind to it, I entered the second partition. Being alone meant that I couldn't keep watch over the connecting corridor.  In the second and third partitions, my only company was a functioning camera recording my every movement. I sat on a chair and sighed deeply, despising the sudden turn things had taken. Did we not have enough already? What the gently caress had just happened!? My whole body hadn't stopped shaking for a second. I rejected the thought that any of it was real.  I left the three partitions once I felt ready to continue, but I still felt beaten. I was about to repeat my movements on the floors below when I heard a very distinguishable sound coming from my left. Footsteps. And ones I knew I'd heard many times in the past. I turned around and saw Shiroya coming out of the left corridor.  I didn't have time to act surprised or throw a bunch of questions at her before she spoke.  “Oh, you're here. I found something.”- “...Wh—”  Completely unfazed, she opened the transparent door and entered the first partition. I was left outside, bewildered and utterly confused. Without looking back, she stepped to the next door. How could that have been her reaction after seeing me? I was too shocked to follow her. Even though my confusion had only grown stronger, I was glad to see I wasn't alone, and she had appeared from the left corridor…  I walked to it. I knew an extra door was located at the end, so I approached it wondering if she'd come out of it.  But it was still locked, and nothing out of the ordinary could be seen at first glance.  Trying to decipher her words, I ran back to the door of the partitions and entered them to try to understand what was going on.  The first partition was empty. So was the second one. A chill ran down my spine when the third one didn't appear any different. I froze for a few seconds, questioning what had happened to me and Shiroya. I recalled having teleported from one place to another. She couldn't have disappeared from the partitions, could she? I exited them to look at the other corridor.  There was nobody there.  Dumbfounded, I went down the stairs.  There was nobody on the outer part of the fifth floor, so I looked through the partitions. The three of them were empty. As I was about to make it out, I stopped myself in the middle partition, lost and much more than confused. What the hell was my objective? Hadn't I just found Shiroya and been completely ignored? She'd acted as if I'd been a ghost and had moved on only to immediately disappear again. I hadn't stopped moving since we'd gotten trapped, but that was the first time I couldn't settle on an objective to pursue. I took advantage of it to sit on a chair for a little while, attempting to calm my alarmed heart down. But it was useless. I thought about what had happened and felt as if I was messing with myself. What could I make of Shiroya's behavior after feeling like I'd literally teleported? It was insane, and I feared there was something wrong with me. After a while, I knew I had to continue looking around, but no determination came to me. Since I'd seen Shiroya, everyone else should've been nearby, so I kept moving down the floors.  I went to the fourth floor and looked through it. I slowly moved down to the third and repeated the same process. I didn't see any signs of life.  I repeated the same inefficient movements on floor 2, and yet again, the result was the same. The crystal floor, where my lonely adventure had begun, was the one that remained. Surely anyone would've been able to make it past me while I'd been looking through the partitions, so I couldn't even be certain nobody was above me, even less so having spent minutes inside one.  I didn't know where to begin, but I quickly spotted an obvious point. After peeking at both hallways, I saw an open door in hallway B.  It belonged to the room where we'd found Naomi's corpse—where I'd last seen the others. I approached it, but I couldn't see what was behind it through the small gap. As I kept getting closer, I started to hear something. There were voices, sounding shocked and confused. The doorknob was finally in reach. I ignored it, simply pushing the door open, and a very familiar sight appeared before me.  “Wh-What...!? How did you...?” “Where the gently caress did you go?”Shiroya rushed to me and asked the same thing. Meanwhile, I looked at the six pairs of eyes focusing their most intense gazes on mine. ...On the floor, Naomi still lay in her own blood.
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Aug 15, 2023 22:41
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So that neatly explains the events of Ring Chain (scene 12). Interesting to note that it seems like the effect of the Sekimeiya lasts a relatively short time before you pop back to your proper spot in the timeline (but not to your previous location). Anyway, it's good to see this LP back!
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Aug 16, 2023 05:16
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So presumably that's something that only happens when you touch the Sekimeiya when it's not properly cooled. It also means that nobody has an alibi for the time Naomi was killed, because time travel is a thing now... 
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Aug 16, 2023 08:21
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How can they quiz us on this? This is terrible. I know nothing!
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Aug 25, 2023 06:01
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NeoRonTheNeuron posted:How can they quiz us on this? This is terrible. The quiz is near the very end of the game and we're nowhere near that. For now just keep track of unexplained events and theorize about them as you get more information. AFancyQuestionMark: I noticed your update links in the second post are broken starting with Update 8, they're not opening the other pages in the thread. whitehelm fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Aug 25, 2023 |
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Aug 25, 2023 18:59
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Update 20: I'd seen it countless times: time travel appearing out of nowhere to construct crazy events. We then returned to the room with Naomi’s body and found the others in complete astonishment… Scene: B-Side (Part 2) BGM: Twice As Dead  “Wh-What...!? How did you...?” “Where the gently caress did you go?”- “...I-I don't know? What exactly are you asking me?” “Just a minute ago, you were looking inside that cabinet. How did you make it out of the room?”‘Just a minute ago’? Were they messing with me? There was no way Shiroya would… - “...You mean to say that I disappeared from in front of the cabinet?” “Atsuki, don't gently caress around. We don't mean to say that you disappeared, we're asking you how you did it.”- “...I didn't do anything. I touched the Sekimeiya and instantly appeared in hallway A.” “Excuse me?” “We were talking about how you were the true culprit of this murder. You clearly did something to shift our focus.” “Wait a second, though. What's in this cabinet is not the Sekimeiya.”- “Huh? I'm certain it was. I touched it and felt a burn on my fingers.” “Not the one we saw earlier, at least. Look.”He put his right arm inside the cabinet and removed it, holding an object that looked very similar to the Sekimeiya.  “Yeah. That's the only thing that was inside.” “I have no idea how you made it to the hallway. There's nothing else in the cabinet.”My eyes were still directed at the Sekimeiya in Sai's hand. It no longer glowed at all, and it was gray.  - “I'm telling the truth. Wh-What I found in the cabinet looked like the Sekimeiya we'd seen. I saw it glowing in the dark.” I had to explain myself however I could, but I had no concept of what had happened. “But this thing doesn't glow. Katei says he doesn't know what it is, even though that means nothing.” “...I'm saying what I know. This Sekimeiya was never here.” “Atsuki, let me try to understand what you're saying. You mean that when you touched that thing, you teleported outside?”- “...Th-That's what it felt like.”  Everyone looked skeptical, but they remained quiet. - “...You weren't here by that point yet, though. When I found myself in the lobby, I entered this room and only saw Naomi's body on the floor. I went up to the sixth floor to find you and eventually went back down. That's when I just found you here.” I felt strangely uncomfortable while I attempted to explain myself. I sounded crazy, and if I wasn't, they were the ones tricking me. The only explanation was that I'd been knocked out in some way and they were acting as if it had just happened seconds ago. ...Isla, still between Erina's arms, looked the least dubious of me, but she still seemed to be trying to process that her friend's prediction hadn't come true. Reminder: This was the mysterious friend who told her everyone would get stuck in the tower and that no one would die.  “So, you want to make us believe that you traveled to the past. That's impressive.”- “...N—” ‘To the past’, right. That was the conclusion to draw from what I'd said. Not only teleportation, but time travel too. It was a ridiculous claim even if they'd really seen me disappear. “Are you hearing him? I bet you all thought he was innocent before seeing his true colors. You can't honestly tell me you believe a word of what he's saying.” “Then how do you think he escaped from this room? I... I saw him vanish with my own eyes, and I believe we all did. You said there's no hidden paths in these rooms.” “Tell us, Atsuki. How did you do it? There is a security camera here, so your trick has been recorded. Will you claim ignorance and state that you traveled to the past?”BGM: Shiro  Did I travel to the past? I couldn't have. That's impossible. Even if such a thing were possible, would everything hold up? I have no idea what caused it, but if the others didn't knock me out, I must've teleported in some way. I guess traveling to the past only adds a bit more impossibility to that. At least, one thing would begin to make sense if that's what happened. Earlier, when I glanced at this room, Naomi was already dead. Didn't Katei say this? That I was on this floor during the time Naomi died? Through normal means, I wouldn't have been able to be on the crystal floor. I was upstairs, and I would've been noticed if I'd headed down. This would make it possible. It would be absurd to immediately justify Katei's accusation like this, but it would explain why he decided to make such a nonsensical claim in the first place, and it would make a lot of what he said believable. I'd seen it countless times: time travel appearing out of nowhere to construct crazy events. I'd experienced many stories that were ruined by such an exploitable mechanic. Thinking about it, I felt as if the same thing was happening to my reasoning. If I couldn't explain my own experience, did I have to assume that time traveling was possible? Had it been a factor the whole time? I thought about the full sequence of events up until that point. If they were somehow related to time travel, how were we supposed to think about that? What would be more reasonable? To deny its existence and ignore my unexplained experience, or to think that it could be possible?  I felt no enthusiasm thinking about either option, so I thought back on the previous few minutes. How would this even work? Whenever time travel comes up, the word "paradox" is usually thrown all around. Depending on its rules, the way time travel works can greatly differ. One simple type of paradox is the famous "going back to the past and preventing your birth". Would you instantly disappear, or would you live a life in a world where you never existed? Either way, the past was changed. On the other side is the bootstrap paradox: you find a key, open a door with it, find a time travel machine inside, use it to go back to the past, and finally place the key on the floor so that your past self can find it. In that case, did time travel matter at all? The past was not changed, so by traveling back, you only understood how it all came to happen. Essentially, it's a loop without a starting point, and it only occurred because it occurred. That's a concept far from sensible. It could come in handy to justify grand motives in a story, but it's nothing short of completely impractical. However, no matter how I feel, I think that everything points to this direction: that if I have just traveled to the past, I haven't actually changed anything. It seems like I just reexperienced the events I had previously lived. The starting point seems to have been making physical contact with the Sekimeiya. As nothing that I did once I arrived in the past directly led to my travel, I'm not sure I'd quite perceive it as that kind of paradox. Looking ahead, though, it seems that I unconsciously repeated the past I had lived with Shiroya.  ‘Just a minute ago, you were looking inside that cabinet’. According to this, I can draw that I supposedly went back about twenty minutes to the past. That's the time I estimate I spent confusedly looking around for people. By that point, Naomi had already been killed. Shortly after, I took the elevator that was on this floor up to the sixth. This cleanly holds up with what we experienced... At that point, the elevator was on the crystal floor, as it had probably arrived there when we'd heard it on the fifth. Then, when I went up to the sixth would be when Shiroya and I hurriedly followed it up. What the hell is this? Did I, without being aware of it, replicate the past I'd experienced? I think that something curious happened when we chased the elevator up. If the elevator hadn't been empty, we had to assume that whoever had gone up had entered the attic. The only other explanation was that the person inside had vanished. But... it seems that what I just went through explains what actually occurred.  I got out of the elevator and looked through the sixth floor. The corridor appeared empty, and I spent a bit of time inside the partitions. As I was there, Shiroya and another version of myself were chasing me. They called the elevator to the fifth floor, but as I saw earlier, that wouldn't have made a noticeable sound from where I was.  Then, as I remember, the previous me stayed next to the elevator while Shiroya looked through the two main parts of the floor. She also mentioned how she'd first looked through the opposite corridor. She and I saw each other when I was about to continue looking for people. She was about to look through the partitions. That's why she reacted the way she did. From her perspective, I should've been next to the elevator, but where she found me, my job still would have worked. From there, you could still prevent anyone from escaping, so she thought I had moved from next to the elevator to outside the partitions. So, to her, it appeared as if the floor had been empty. She didn't realize that she'd actually seen the person who'd brought the elevator up.  “Oh, you're here. I found something.”That was her reaction when she thought I'd slightly moved. Similarly, when she was done investigating, something she said did throw me off a little. “But look, this is what I wanted to show you.”She was referencing what she'd told me just a few seconds prior, unaware that she wasn't talking to the same person.  When she reacted coldly to my presence and said she'd found something in the corridor, I thought I had to look at it, so I went to check. During that time, she confirmed that the partitions were empty.  I didn't see anything of importance in the corridor because what she had found was the attic door itself. I entered the partitions to demand a further explanation, but she was already talking to the previous me, next to the elevator.  When I left, the two of them had gone around to inspect the door they'd just discovered.  And later, I spent a few minutes inside the partitions of the fifth floor, so I didn't notice Akaro going up or the three of us going down. After a while, I continued looking through every floor until I reached the point I'd traveled from. ...Even though I couldn't easily accept such a concept, it neatly explained many things. Was it all a ridiculous coincidence...? A trick, maybe?
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Mar 10, 2024 23:23
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Oh dear, I didn't review my notes, I hope there won't be a surprise exam, I am also genuinely puzzled.
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Mar 10, 2024 23:50
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Oh, what, i was just thinking "Hey, where did that one LP about a time-travelling rock go"
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Mar 11, 2024 15:03
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I ended up playing this and finishing it myself in the meantime, but I'm very excited to see everyone's guesses about what's going on in this.
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Mar 11, 2024 17:27
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| # ? May 3, 2024 19:22 |
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The time-travel timeline is consistent, so let's roll with it.
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Mar 14, 2024 10:47
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