Forum Thread

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Sign-Ups


Oh, what a lovely day it is! The sun is shining through your windows, the birds are chirping all around you, and your pillow and blanket comfort you as your eyes slowly open.

Today is a day totally like every other, nothing different in the slightest. Nope, definitely didn't wake up with a throbbing headache, limbs that refused to work, a dry mouth, blood-shot eyes, and absolutely horrible memories followed by a single command blaring in your head.

"Go to The Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

Oh well, doctor's orders I guess. What are you waiting for, get to it! Chop chop, you're wasting daylight here!

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Kendo groaned, as he rolled out of bed. Literally. He fell onto the floor, and was pretty sure he heard something crack. Either way, he got up into a standing position. He groaned as he stumbled his way through the halls of the place he called home. He pulled himself into the bathroom, and splashed his face with icy water.

"Go to The Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

"... good luck, have fun my..."

He trailed off, clearly annoyed. He pulled on his hoodie, feeling terrible. He made his way to the door, tying his hair up on the way, and pulled on a pair of boots. He checked his watch, checking the time. It was pretty early. Plenty of time.

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Li Fengyu groaned, and stumbled out of bed, using his hands to brush his tangled hair back. Today was going to be a horrible day, he could already tell.

He barely made his way to the kitchen, while bumping his somehow sore leg against the counter, wincing.

"Go to The Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

"...Am I finally goin cra.."

He cut off his sentence, and squinted his eyes over the uncomfortable bright morning light, while getting his morning black coffee from the coffee machine. Was he finally going crazy, or was this 'so-called doctor's order' true? Li Fengyu groaned for the second time of the day, instead of the usual muddle headed blank stare Dr. Rain, his eyes were clear, and his head was hurting like [censored].

Does he have to go to work today...

Cause it seems like he ain't going to work today.

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Kaori rubbed her head. She had just woken up, unable to move and had a headache. Just as she woke up. Great. The day started off so wonderful, that she had to literally use a random cane she found to start walking to the garden, which was where she went whenever she wasn't 'happy'. Once she got to the garden and calmed down/ started regaining the use of her limbs, she started 'sorting' through her memories, trying to make sense of what she remembered. Mostly horrific memories, but also a message...

"Go to the Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

Kaori shook her head, confused. What was the Rotting Heart? Who gave the command? Where was the Rotting Heart? She was very confused, but when she checked the time, she was almost late. She immediately rushed up, washed her face quickly, and ran out, brushing her hair on the way.

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Jokes on all of you, Uyu never slept. Sprawled out on a ratty third hand couch with a can of sprite in hand and an arm thrown over tired eyes, Uyu blinked away the memories that demanded to be remembered. But reminiscing on the past just wasn't Uyu's style. Knocking back the fizzy sofa, Uyu cleaned up the mess from the night, trash swept into the bin and goods disappearing in a blink of the eye. Pulling the reflective puffer jacket over slim shoulders, Uyu patted down hidden pockets, false fingers, and all manner of concealed spaces to make sure that everything was where it is needed. Stretching, Uyu stepped out of the apartment only to spectacularly trip over the threshold and slam into the dividing bar, breath wheezing out of bruised ribs.

"Go to the Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

"Shut up, none of you are real anyways." Uyu spat at no one in particular, shaking off the dread that had blanketed the empty hallway. Glancing at trembling gloved hands, Uyu firmly grasped a wrist easily fitting within a hand in order to quell the cold sweat the had broken out before turning on a delicate heel. It seemed important, whatever it was and the voices hadn't steered Uyu wrong anyways, so what was the harm in checking it out?

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Kai woke up to golden beams shining right on his face, the rays of light that he dreaded every morning. He should probably get curtains for that, such an inconvenient spot for a window... Another lovely thing he woke up to was the feeling of every bone in his body aching, every muscle containing the feeling of being worked to death. Ugh... Seriously? Couldn't they at least give him some painkillers, Aspirin, an ice pack even? Speaking of them...

"Go to The Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

All those words did was echo in his newly awoken mind, filling the space that would've been his own thoughts. He had strange memories too... Memories of the past... Week? Month? Kai couldn't be bothered to remember that, but what he did remember was the fact that he was told about other "participants", others who had to deal with that hell too... That guy did say "tell no one", but they had all seen each other's faces, they knew each other's names, but... None of them knew what the wanna-be Frankenstein did to each other. Eh, oh well, he probably wouldn't encounter them until he reached the location he was kinda forced into, right?

With a pained stretch and a few winces, Kairien Bouuls finally managed to get out of bed and get in the shower. The running water made his thoughts rush as well, odd fragments of memories and sentences were pretty much the only thing filling his head. None of it was pleasant, and honestly, he got so tired of it that he made sure to get out as soon as possible.

After getting ready, which took longer than he would like to admit, he said goodbye to... His room, I guess, then grabbed his keys and walked out the door. Nothing in his mind in the past hour or two ever even thought about what might've changed while he was there. Or maybe... Kai didn't want to think about it. The man knew exactly what had become of him, what that snobby guy in a white jacket had done to him- no, all of them. It wasn't hard to figure out, especially with those prominent memories blaring in his head. Maybe it was best not to think about it, act like nothing had ever happened, maybe then he wouldn't break whatever rule he had been suddenly forced to follow.

Tell no one.

Got it chief, I'll just blare some music in the car, no big deal. Music would definitely drown it all out, and totally help me get to a location that isn't even on Google Maps safely!

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The first thing that Li Fenyu did was to do a double check that he wasn't actually going crazy, second was to analyze the so-called 'memories' he received, which in reality is more like torture.

He sat down on the couch in the living room, phone in one hand a pen in another, and a notepad on the low table infront of him. With the phone, he called his higher up that he wasn't going to work today, and had to make up more information than he liked to lie about. But it wasn't like he could do anything about it, after he was the best forensic investigator in town, and he held pride in that. Cause no matter how he seem listless when he was done with work, he liked his job, and was good at it.

Shaking his head, and sighing to no one in particular, he searched the place 'Rotten Heart" online hoping to find any, any information, but unfortunately, just like he thought, there was none, there wasn't even a building named 'Rotten Heart' in the first place!

Li Fengyu narrowed his eyes, he couldn't remember the faces of the so-called 'doctor' nor the scientist in his dream, perhaps, it truly was a dream?

But there was something in his head, that helped him solve many difficult cases in the past, that told him different, he couldn't ignore the weird hallucination in his head.

Perhaps.. he really was going to work today..

Just to search in the police database that's all.

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When Kaori reached her destination, she looked around for everybody else. She was the first one there. Oh well, she had a bit of time to spare. She walked around, and found some dying flowers, very dry and withered-looking. She immediately ran over to the flowers and gently touched their petals, checking on their life status: Not Very Good. She immediately pulled out her water bottle, and some gloves. Carefully uprooting the flowers, she took them to a sunny part of the floor, where she dug a small hole. Placing the flowers carefully in the hole, Kaori placed the dirt back. Watering the pile of dirt on top of the flowers, she crossed her fingers. Hopefully the flowers would release their seeds and grow new flowers soon. She carefully watered the 'flowers' for a couple more seconds and then stopped. Too much water would destroy them, and the flowers had suffered enough already. Keeping an eye on the mound for a couple minutes, she carefully patted the mound and walked away, smiling. Soon, a new flower was going to grow. She was sure of that.

She made her way back to the rendezvous point, where she started to worry about the herbs, plants, and flowers in her garden. If she was going to be gone for a while, surely she needed to set up a plant/herb/flower-friendly sprinkler system! Kaori immediately ran back to the garden, and checked on her plants. Luckily, they were doing good, but they were already fading a little. These plants were special ones that required a lot of watering, and if she was going to be gone for a while, she definitely needed to set up that sprinkler system.

Racing over to the sprinkler system controls, she switched the WATER WITH FERTILIZER switch to WATER WITH NO FERTILIZER switch. This would give the plants plenty of water without damaging their roots and internal systems. She sighed with pleasure. Her plants were going to be okay while she was gone on the quest to find the Rotten Heart, whatever that was.

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"Twang! "
The bow's string vibrated as Magnus loosed another volley of bullseyes, each arrow hitting the intended mark.
That morning Magnus had woke up with his head throbbing and a bloody mouth, along with whispers he couldn't make head or tail of...

"Go to The Rotting Heart. Tell no one, not even your family. One word and your fate will be sealed. Good luck, have fun!"

As he had gone to the weapon centre for practice, he met Fredric, the bulky swords master whom nobody could ever defeat.
As they assembled to fight, Fredric with his huge broadsword and Magnus with his sleek scimitars, the entire group assembled to watch Fredric pound someone again. But this time Magnus felt different.... as if Fredric moved slower than usual....

As Fredric rushed at him with a flash of steel in his hands, Magnus heard a whisper in his mind-
"He will step aside and I will feint towards his feet... Once he jumps I'll get his chin.... "

Surprised, Magnus raised his Scimitars in a cros, thus catching Fredric's broadsword and kicking his crotch. As he doubled over, Magnus sweeped aside his sword and flicked a scimitar up his chin, smiling all the time.

"How did he.... " Magnus heard numerous mental whispers as the audience applauded louder than thunder crashing down.

Something was different, Magnus realized as he flicked his scimitars and they turned into rings.
Twisting the ring on his left hand, Magnus wondered what was rotting heart and where.....
Something was indeed different....

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Li Fengyu chugged down the last bit of his now cold coffee, and sluggishly stood up and went to grab his car keys near the entrance of his door, trying and failing to not bump into anything along the way. He inwardly blamed himself for not grabbing any painkillers when he woke up. But soon he went inside the driver's seat in his White Mercedes and started up the car.

Since he forgot to wear a scarf when he went out, Li Fengyu could only turn on the heaters in the car. Due to the fact that it was way past rush hour morning, there luckily wasn't any traffic, thus Li Fengyu was able to quickly arrive at the police station.

After he parked his car, he didn't bother to grab his badge before stepping inside the building.

"Hello this is the Police Station how may we help y-" A female voice spoke, before abruptly cutting off, staring wide-eyed at the Fengyu in the entrance.

"Dr. Rain?!" the women exclaimed in surprise, didn't the team leader say that he wasn't going to take a day off today?

"...Hello Miss Olga" Li Fengyu stared back at the middle aged women who was in good shape, without his usual blank stare that seems to chill others spines.

"D-Dr. Rain, aren't you suppose to be on a day o-off today..??" Miss Olga spluttered, clearly embarrassed, at the handsome man in front of her.

Even though, not many people could get along with Li Fengyu's unique personality, that doesn't refute the fact that the man himself is handsome, even though he doesn't seem to take care of himself very well.

Li Fengyu expected that she was going to ask him that, so he gave her a shallow smile and a already prepared response that he made in his head when he was in the car. "Well, I forgot that I left something here, so I came back to get it, now if you don't mind me..." He gestured toward her.

Completely flustered, Miss Olga gave way to Dr. Rain, before quickly settling back down in her little office.

Unfazed at the completely flustered Miss Olga, he stepped to his own office on the second floor of the building. The inside were much bigger than the office on the lower floor, with white walls, covered with books on the left side of the room, floor to ceiling window in the front, a small sofa and table to the right, and a huge work table in the front center, with multiple files and more. The office seemed more like a study from a wealthy family than a office. Nothing was out of place, symmetrical on the desk, a perfect setting for someone who might have OCD, a perfect setting for Li Fengyu, who has OCD.

Li Fengyu sat down, and opened the desktop computer on his desk and entered the police system. He quickly glanced past the files of other buildings that wasn't known to the public before going to the buildings that start with a R, as Li Fengyu was about to lose hope, in the corner of his eye, he saw it!

At the speed quicker than when he'd usually pull out a gun, he click on the name with his mouse.

It didn't show a image, but it did have a address, but unfortunately for Li Fengyu, there wasn't any other descriptions in the file.

Now he found out what he needed, he was confident that the voice in his head wasn't a dream. Now the next step, is for him to find out the missing piece in his memory, in which, his instinct tells him will unravel a huge part of the mystery.

But before he go to this address, he must be prepared.

Thus, is the reason why, he is currently pushing his shopping cart around Walmart looking for supplies, before seeing a man with a large frame and black hair, infront of him.

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Kaori looked over at the sprinklers, making sure that they were working. Guess what? They weren't. Of course they weren't. They were almost as old as the total age of all the plants in the garden, which was about twice as old as her. Checking the sprinklers, about 90% of them weren't working, which meant that she would have to go to Walmart and buy new ones. And with her luck, she would have enough money saved to buy about 663434 sprinklers.

Carefully setting the sprinkler system to AUTOPILOT, she ran over to the bank, where she checked her account details. She had $1611481187 saved. Which was good! After buying all of the sprinklers, she would have a dollar left in her account, which was plenty for later. She would just sell some more plants to get back on her feet, even if it would break her heart to be separated from her precious plants.

With the money in her credit card, she made her way to Walmart, where they sold pretty good and cheap sprinklers. In the Gardening Aisle, she looked through each of the sprinklers carefully, checking for a specific brand, which was called Nelson RainTrain Traveling Sprinkler. Unfortunately, Walmart was completely out of stock of sprinklers. Except for one, which was the most expensive and trashy brand of them all: Totally The Best Sprinkler. Sighing, she grabbed all 663434 sprinklers that were in stock and made her way over to the checkout area.

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Magnus slung his bow over his shoulders, sweat dripping of the holes in his shirt like dew from leaves at dawn. He ran out of the weaponry centre and aimed for his home under the bridge. Running speedily, his mind wandered as he heard all sorts of whispers from the people walking on the streets.

Turning from the crossroads, he headed towards the walmarts back entrance where there were no guards at that time.

Climbing the ladder to reach the vent hole at the roof, magnus groaned as the sharp rungs cut a slit across his thumb.

Dropping in from the roof as silent as a cat, Magnus observed a person searching for sprinklers and then creeped to the food section, picking up titbits on the way. His pockets and clothes full of stuff, Magnus silently jumped out through the vent and ran towards the bridge, cramming as much biscuits as he could into his mouth from a torn packet.

He slipped through the railings, wincing a little as his cut finger brushed the hard,cold steel and drooped onto the Moss pad he and his homeless buddies had made to land in such emergencies.

"Hey buddy!" a short fat dark guy with white hair shrieked, running towards Magnus like a Walmart trolley rolling at breakneck speed.

Magnus shot a glance and saw that it was Khamba, the only guy who had been his friend ever since his dad died and he started living on the streets.

"Hey Cam....." Magnus greeted him, devoid of any emotion. Sliding his hand into his pant pocket, he pulled out a packet of chips and tossed it towards Khamba, who caught it and started eating it like a starved rabid dog.

Smiling, magnus dropped all his food under the loose stone below his alcove under the bridge and then tied a piece of cloth around his finger, so that it won't losses any more blood.

Sitting down on his sheet in the alcove, Magnus closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, wary of his new powers. He felt chaos envelop his consciousness as he felt a torrent of selfish thoughts from the people around, each demanding his attention solely for themselves.

"People can't really think anything except about themselves..." Magnus observed. The world was indeed selfish. Everyone thought about themselves and at most their own families.

Tossing about his thoughts like a clown juggling balls. He once again striked upon the name of rotting heart.....
"What can it be?" He wondered, trying to figure out a plan to find out.

Finally arriving at a conclusion, he climbed back on to the road and headed towards the police station.
He saw a white Mercedes and stopped for a while, thinking if he could steal it.
" Never mind, its too flashy and I'd be caught in a week." He thought and forged ahead, arriving at the police station doors.

Pondering over the problem of getting in a place with such a high level of security, Magnus went around the building about 5 times. Unable to find a solution, he headed back to his street home, trying to find out a solution and the cause of his new powers

Shaking hands gently dabbed concealer under heavy eye bags as Uyu stared at the stranger glowering back at him through the mirror. Perfect hands, perfect face, perfect face. All as it should be. Nothing less, always something more to be done. A brush gently pressing against pale column of his neck, the black dot it left peeking just over his high collar as a teasing snippet that invited the viewer to trail their gaze down. As he applied subtle make up, gentle eyeliner and blush that looked almost garish in his eyes, the palate clattered out of his hands and he squatted down with a drawn-out sigh. His hands were shaking too hard to hold too much and Uyu clutched his hands close to his chest. He hated it whenever this happened, his tremors unavoidable even on the best of days where his body and mind co-operated with him.

"You're cold. All this time you've gone out in the dead of night in sheer clothes is catching up to you." The nothingness lamented, cradling his ruined hands in its. It was nice to pretend that it was something kind and warm that was comforting him, something that cared. Uyu knew better. The nothingness was not something to be trusted, nor listened to; best ignored and unheard.

Jamming on his gloves, Uyu kicked the pallet under his bag, hands trembling too badly to properly fit his fingers in. The thick leather did little to help, tangling scars and sinew up into a mess of frustration and discomfort. But it was well worth the trouble when the gloves finally sat flush on his ruined skin, hiding everything that prying eyes would never see away under a safety web of leather and familiarity. Tying up his apron, Uyu picked up his list of chores for the day. It consisted of pretty standard fare, from getting groceries to paying workers, nothing quite different from other days despite the rough start. Though, some of the items on the grocery list was unfortunately unavailable with their usual bulk seller. It was, however, available in Wallmart which was fine, yeah it was fine. It wasn’t like Uyu was on the verge of walking out and not working for the day because his mind and body refused to co-operate with him today. It wasn’t like anyone could even stop him. Who would? The owner?

Oh right.

He was the owner.

Scooping up the keys with a twirl of his finger, Uyu checked to make sure that his employees weren’t going to accidently starting a fire or anything before sliding into a sleek car that blended in perfectly with the cityscape. It sped through the roads and back alleyways, the black matte exterior protecting it from any praying eyes and the lights dimmed to the point where only the ground before the careening vehicle. It seemed to appear out of nowhere, smoothly sliding into the nearby Walmart with nary a scratch or dent on any car. It was almost way too cool how Uyu stepped out of his car, heels clinking on the concrete as if he was going shopping in Balenciaga instead of Walmart and he certainly acted like it. Slightly jarring to see in a run of the mill chain store catered to the masses, but hey. At least Uyu looked damn fabulous doing it. Thanking the security by the gates, Uyu picked up a cart and began walking the aisle for coke of all things. Apparently, there was a supply chain issue something about a phantom thief always stealing cases upon cases of coke which was honestly ridiculous. Steal Sprite if you had to steal. Sprite was objectively better, fight him.

Hauling in a few cases into the cart, Uyu gripped the cart with firm hands even if they were threatening to slip off the handle. Composing himself, he began to push his cart towards the produce for personal shopping. Maybe he’d try and make some Sprite of his own. Who knows.

“I like Coke more” A petulant voice complained

Oh shut up, we’re getting Sprite and you’re going to like it. Plucking reasonably priced limes and lemons from the boxes (a rarity in this economy), Uyu examined what limited produce were available and frowned at the prices. Places were hiking things up way too much and minimum wage really just wasn’t cutting it. Perhaps he should raise some of his worker’s pay? Maybe.

Picking up a few miscellaneous items just to experiment with for his coffee house’s rotating menu, Uyu contemplated if he should pick up some alcohol. It was fall so something warm might be nice for the coming winter. Eggnog just universally sucked but mulled wine wasn’t bad and it did fit the whole café vibe that he had going on. Picking up some cheap wine, Uyu contemplated what he already had in his cart and shrugged, putting a few bottles in. Wouldn’t hurt to try.

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The disheveled, gloomy man walked through the streets, glowering. He did indeed get some strange looks. After all, he was wearing some sort of gaudy lab coat, which didn't match with his black-and-gray aesthetic. He was muttering to himself, not watching the way he was going, making strange hand motions into the air. Anyone who saw him would have thought he was a crackpot.

He muttered as he walked, not paying attention to the road ahead. He seemed older, much older, than he actually was, with his hunched back and tired, gloomy features. Nope. he was just 25, in his prime.

His head was pounding. He could barely focus on the machine in front of him, which he had been designing for a while. Most people didn't know this, but he was a illegal weapons dealer and had designed weapons of his own. The weapon in front of him was something straight out of a comic. A 'pen' that was able to fire small, superheated lasers. It probably didn't have any practical use other than for close-range defense and assassinations, but he didn't really care.

He examined his outfit. Every part had its use. His gloves had a magnetic feature, which was activated via a button on his watch. His watch was a state-of-the-art smartwatch, sending video calls and videos straight to his glasses, which were revolutionary by themselves, like the EDITH glasses from the avengers films. (Kendo had actually based them off of those.) His turtleneck was actually a custom-deigned one that was made out of very strong, thin, flexible material. It was bulletproof, but would only hold up from shots fired from pistols. A rifle or a shotgun and he's dead. His boots had a hover feature, which was quite useful for getting over ground traps.

He sighed. he needed some coffee. Or maybe some soda, with chocolate. He loved chocolate. And so, he made his way to a nearby convenience store.

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Kairien Bouuls, a world-class idiot, had no clue as to what he was going to do. All he thought about this morning was just making it to his car, that's it. And also... that fiasco, but he preferred not to dwell on it. He jumped in the car and leaned back in his seat, tilting his head back and closing his eyes with a sigh. The sun's warmth was amplified by the black, slightly messy interior of his... what, 16+-year-old car? He didn't keep track, but all he knew was that it probably wouldn't last the journey to "The Rotting Heart", wherever that was. Gas was low, and he wasn't going to pay the absurd gas prices, air conditioning and heating were on the brink of completely giving up on him, the battery was the cheapest one he could find and it wasn't willing to work on him, his oil was low, his breaks made the most annoying and loud noise known to man, and... Y'know, there was a lot wrong with it, but it got him to work and back and that's all that mattered.

Speaking of work... Wasn't he supposed to come in today? Oh...

Wait.

He left his phone on the charger, he also left his jacket, his wallet, and also his bag that he was taking for the trip... Ugh.

Kai groaned before throwing himself back out of his car and then took the trip back to his room, grabbing everything he forgot before taking a quick sweep of the area to make sure he didn't forget anything else. He powered on his phone and...

The first notification was definitely something he didn't want to see.

"Your base has been raided by 我有故事盔甲"

Well ain't that lovely. He'd have to remember to check back on that later... As mad as he was, and also as tempted as he was, he refrained from just sitting down and wasting the day away twiddling his thumbs playing a dumb mobile game. Instead, he took a look at his other notifications, shocked to see there were so many. Guess they just piled up after... A month? Really? That was... shocking to say the least, had he really been gone for that long? Since he was gone for so long without any sort of notice, Kai wasn't at all shocked to see that dreaded message from his boss. In short, they were fed up with Kairien's "Bulls***" and decided to lay him off. He was planning to take the day off anyways, maybe even the rest of the week, but guess that settled it... Yeah sure, he didn't have a job now, but he hated his boss and co-workers, and they hated him. He was glad to get away from that hellhole. He already got Friday's paycheck anyways, so he was fine for a bit.

While he was looking around at the cluttered excuse of a home around him after he grabbed his bag, he realized that he couldn't exactly take much for the trip, which was concerning... He only had 2 extra pairs of clothes, almost empty bottles of the essentials, a single bag of chips, and almost nothing else. Well... Guess he had some shopping to do, couldn't go on a seemingly very high-risk journey with little to no preparation right?

Speaking of "journey", he couldn't help but to think...Why the hell was all of this so sketchy, so ominous? Ever since he woke up, he had that feeling of dread drag him down like a weighted blanket, made it hard to breathe sometimes too. What had he gotten himself into, or rather, what was he forced into? The feeling that he was being watched overwhelmed him, to the point where it was extremely difficult to ignore the possibility that there was someone watching him.

Got it, be in constant fear and develop extreme paranoia, don't make any wrong moves, got it.

After his little moment of thought as he stood still in the center of the bleak and dreary room, Kai let out a massive sigh as he said goodbye to the little space and headed back to the car. As soon as he hopped in, he checked his belongings once again to make sure he got everything, then stuck the keys into the ignition. Of course, not to his surprise, the damn car refused to start. It stalled and stalled, making the same clicking sounds as he tried and tried again for what felt like forever. Frustration and anger began welling up in him, his movements continued to get more and more violent and reckless the longer this went on. After a few suggestable words and a smack on the wheel or two, he finally got the hunk of metal on life support to start. Finally... Good grief...

Taking a moment or two to calm down and take a breather, he attempted to turn on the radio, but he was only left with the deafening sound of radio static. Huh, weird... His radio was probably the only thing that actually worked in this thing, and it was highly unlikely that the signal was just bad. Oh well, guess he had to stick to the aux for now.

After fiddling with various things, probably in an attempt to postpone the rest of the day, Kai finally placed his hands on the wheel and made his way to his favorite Walmart. Oh fun, shopping. It wasn't a long drive, but it was long enough for Kairien to involuntarily start thinking about the circumstances he was suddenly thrown into. He couldn't stop thinking about it. The voice of that lunatic replaced his own that resided in his head, the single color he was forced to be surrounded by almost blinded him as he desperately tried to keep his eyes on the road.

But the color of the asphalt could only remind him of that one color, that one room.

Thank god he made it to the parking lot before he thought about it too much, that would've been an issue. The more he thought about it, the worse it would get, right? He gave yet another sigh as he sat in his idle, parked car for a moment before grabbing his wallet and keys, then hopping out.

We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of... Walmart.

Kairien quickly grabbed a cart and tried his best to mentally map out the store, trying to make the quickest route possible to get the things he needed then head out. He never really had any problems being out in public, but today was vastly different. A million eyes seemed to follow him as he walked around, and he swore he could hear their whispers. Did he seriously have a sudden case of paranoia? Did that warning the "doctor" gave him really scare him that much? Oh whatever, he shouldn't be worrying about it anyways...

As he was walking around, a sudden feeling came upon him, like the feeling you get when you feel the presence of someone you know. Well, that's pretty much what it was. There was a man in a white lab coat, long and flowing black hair trailing behind him that had a small red streak mixed in. He swore he knew him, but from whe-

Oh, right. Well wasn't that a funny coincidence.

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*1 hour prior*

Li Fengyu steered the steering wheel right, and made a right turn with one hand, and held his phone with the other. He was currently browsing any supermarket near him. Meijers, Kroger, Walmart, his thumb stopped at Walmart, there was something in head, his instinct telling him to go to Walmart, even though he could afford the choices that were much closer, and thus would give him more time for planning.

But unlike last time, when he felt that he needed to buy some equipment, he didn't feel there was anything wrong with going to Walmart. Instead, he felt like he should be going there, as if there was something guiding him. Perhaps, fate?

Or was everything just a script?

If it was a script, who is the script for then..?

Who was the audience?

Many question emerged in his head, but Li Fengyu couldn't rest on those thoughts for long, before he heard a hunk behind him, urging him to turn. Thus, he let that thought drift into the back of his mind, thinking that when he had time, we would think about it again, and focuses his eyes on the road.

He soon entered the parking lot of Walmart, and parked his White Mercedes in a open space before thinking what he should buy. It's not like he is lacking in any money right now since his last case made him quite abit of cash cash, so he might as well be over-prepared.

As soon as he entered, the first thing he felt was the warm air conditioning, his cold hands (when he left his apartment he didn't bother wearing any gloves.) now given some warmth didn't sting anymore. He looked around, skimming past the mass of people who is coming in and out, and grabbed a huge cart, clearing determined to fill the entire cart to the brim with supplies.

He first went to the equipment section, looking for anything that could be useful for himself, anything. He skimmed through each isle, clearly unimpressed by the poor quality equipment that have supposingly 'low prices'. Is every store like this now?Trying to scam peoples money? Li Fengyu lampoons to himself inwardly. No wonder there are those mothers out there, using their calculators to double check if what their buying is worth their buck.

Perhaps he should just grab some consumables instead, and then head back to the police station to grab some actual equipment. It's not like anyone there could question him, actually it was quite normal for him to ask for equipments, like guns, knifes, bullet-proof vests ect-. Employees there have already gotten used to him coming every so often to ask for something.

A Bored Li Fengyu and his cart, soon arrived at the food section with little hope, skipping past anything that is fridged, or raw, he went to anything that is vacuumed packed.

Perhaps compact biscuits, and chocolate?

His eyes were tired from not only looking at a digital screen for a long time, but also long-termed focus, but as soon as he saw those 2 things, his black eyes regained focus once again. Pushing his cart, he grabbed a couple boxes of compact biscuits and chocolate.

These little goodies may seem very ordinary, but they are actually life-saving when you have nothing to eat and is suffering from hunger. Compact biscuits offer enough proteins, and vitamins for the body, and chocolate gives you sugar to make calories for your body to burn, in order to create energy. Both are great emergency food, that arent easy to spoil.

Why did he knew this, he suddenly thought to himself, none of the cases he has investigated or partake had him suffering from hunger. Nor was there a situation that he was so hungry that there was nothing around him he could eat..

He was a forensic investigator, so even then he rarely had to go out to field, even if he would like to. Li Fengyu furrowed his brows, clearly feeling that he was missing something, a another missing puzzle piece.

But this one was clearly much more important.

It was as if there was feeling engraved in his bones that made him remember the feeling of intense hunger, the hunger was so intense that he clouded his rationality, as if he is going insane. If the hunger lasted any longer he would rip off his arms if it meant that it will salivate this hunger. It drove his mind crazy, he hated that feeling to the deep end of hell, and the fact that he can't even remember when he even felt that, angered him, he hated whoever done this to him. Hence, was the reason why, the moment he woke up, the first thing he did was to cook a good meal for himself. He was afraid of experiencing that terrible hunger that seems to come any second and cloud his judgement and make him not a human anymore, but a beast.

The less he knew the more paranoid he grew, at this point he was just pushing his cart around randomly, not even looking at the contents of each isle, engrossed in his thought.

Before his cart bumped into a something, Li Fengyu raised his head, before his eyes immediately contracted, let go of his cart, and took a step back in alarm. His legs seem to go soft, but he forced himself to keep steady, in order to not show any weakness for the other.

Li Fengyu stared blankly at the bright green eyes of the man in front of him, frozen. There was something in the back of his head that is currently screaming, yelling at him, that he knows the taller male. Even though Li Fengyu knows that they should have never met before.

The thoughts about the earlier hunger was gone, instead more questions arose in his head, why does it seems that he knows this man..?

It's almost as if he is holding the pandora box in his hand, and the key in another. The box was tempting him to open it, so that he could gain the answers he thirsted for, but on the other hand, his rationality told him not too, or else he will regret it. Or else he could never step back anymore.

Keeping his eye contact, he slowly took a step forward, tilting his head up slightly to meet the taller male's gaze. Judging from his expression, it seems like this person knows him, but where?

He doesn't remember anything from a month prior, and that is the problem.

A couple more seconds of silence, before Li Fengyu got impatient, and opened his mouth to speak "...I'm sorry but do I know you from somewhere..?" He gave the other man a shallow smile, waiting for his response.

What was he expecting? He doesn't know, but what he is confident about is that the man in front of him, is definitely somehow involved in the events that happened last month.

How much does this person know?

Who is he?

What role does he play in this whole event?

So many questions, perhaps only opening the pandora box will give him the answers he desires, even if it meant suffering the consequences.

But what if his instinct was wrong?

He didn't let the questions nor doubt show on his face, as he patiently awaited for his response from the other.

---

Kaori had just reached the checkout line when she realized that she had forgotten to buy groceries and supplies to keep the garden open and growing. Digging through her pockets, she found what she was looking for. The super long and old list of groceries that dated back until 2022 January. The list of groceries that she had no time to buy for a totally short list.

Slowly turning her cart at a wonderful 360° angle, she hunched over, looking at the list which was about 20 miles long if she hadn't blacked out the groceries she had bought, which was about two or three. Sighing heavily, she walked over to the GROCERIES section, and checked her list.

CUCUMBERS

ZUCCHINI

TOMATOES

GREEN ONIONS

(etc)

Checking her grocery list again, and checking the stock that Walmart had left, she pretty much went through the aisles, grabbing whatever she needed and putting back what she didn't. Which was pretty much all of the sprinklers. She would come back another day to get better ones. And she did really need room in her cart thanks to her extremely long grocery list...

After a couple more minutes of buying groceries, she turned the corner at the MISCELLANEOUS aisle, and stopped walking in shock. She saw two men, whom both looked very familiar...

Racking her memory, she tried to remember who both of them were. They looked so familiar, like she's known them before, but why couldn't she remember them? She looked down, trying to remember their names as she bit her lip, a habit she had recently got into.

She looked back up, thinking that she remembered. But nope, she didn't. She started to turn back around to leave, when the slightest hint of a whisper of a name caught her mind. Turning around, she looked back at both men again, trying to remember.

---

Kendo pushed past the three, muttering to himself. He pushed a cart along with him, paying no attention to the three.

"Chocolate... where's the dessert aisle..."

He was looking at the signs above the aisles, trying to find a yummy dessert. In his cart were already a 16 pack of Sprite and around 7 cups of ramen. He was pretty hungry. He had skipped breakfast. He put a hand to his forehead, lightly brushing the hair out of his eyes. His pale-blue eyes darted around, looking for the dessert aisle. The only time where he was fully awake in any given scenario was when searching for his one true love, chocolate.

The disheveled roboticist made his way through the mart, attracting the gazes of 'normal' people and whispers about his appearance. Kendo paid them no mind. He hadn't had time today to clean himself up, and his normally neat hair was messy and jutted out in curls in every direction. His turtleneck was wrinkled and his lab coat looked like he had just pulled it out of the laundry. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He was tired.

---

---

---

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

His jade eyes blinked slowly as he turned to face the man head-on, since he was at a slight angle before. They moved up and down, scanning the person in front of him while his mind desperately tried to remember more details. Kairien didn't know this person's name, when they last saw them, that he actually did when he last saw him, or hardly anything else. Kai only knew the person's face, and the fact that they had met somehow in some way during the past month. The uncertainty of it all wracked his brain, to the point where he was getting a massive headache. He had already taken tylenol today, and he didn't feel like it was a good idea to take another one so soon...

"...I'm sorry but do I know you from somewhere..?"

They knew it too. They had that feeling too. It couldn't be a coincidence. The sense of familiarity was so close yet so far, just out of each other's grasp. Not one of them could reach it.

"...I could ask you the same," Kai responded, his expression slightly perplexed but also... wary. His tone was low and he talked somewhat slowly, like each word was just turning the lid to the cookie jar mom told you not to open. He was skeptical, paranoid even, but he was also very curious.

Just as he was about to speak once more, a whisp of purple flew into the corner of his eye, catching his attention. The owner of the "whisp" seemed to just turn around as soon as Kai looked, but she then suddenly walked back over to them. Odd, why were they-

Their face finally became visible, and it finally hit him. He also knew her.

That made Kairien wonder... Who else was there that was only a burning memory? People he knew, fragments of blurry faces, all probably waking up on the same day as him, living their lives with almost no recollection of the past month? The fact that there were two others here made him come to the conclusion that everyone else had the same objective. Guess they were curious (and stupid) enough to take on that stupid "mission" that blared in their heads as well...

"You..." He muttered, directed at the smaller girl not to far from him. "Are you...?" He was too confused, and too deep in disbelief, to even finish his sentence.

Wow, great job making a conversation Kairien, you're doing great.

---

---

When Kaori turned back around, she caught the man with the spiky hair looking at her. She opened her mouth to say something like: 'Wh-who are you? I-I swear I've seen y-you before." when the man spoke first. She quickly closed her mouth, biting her tongue.

"You... Are you...?" the man had said, muttering. Kaori looked back, still racking her memory, looking through the piles and layers of memories in her head, all unfamiliar except for a group photo, with her smiling with... the strangers that seemed so familiar?!

She stepped back immediately, trying to re-remember that picture/ memory fragment. Something about her, both men, another man that had went by them earlier, and a couple others, all smiling and standing together in a photo. But how long ago was this photo? Where did they take this photo? Why did they take this photo?

Confused, Kaori took another step back, trying to organize the thoughts in her head. Surely she'd recognize who the people are, remember their names, and where they were! But she didn't. Which was the problem at hand.

---