"Joe, Y/N, come here," Reko called.

Everyone had made their way out of the pink room on their own accord, and after the two of you had a chat with Sou behind the cafeteria, you made your way to the main room, where Reko and Kanna were standing next to the staircase that had emerged.

You and Joe walked over to the two girls, "What's up?" Joe asked.

"Kanna needs some fresh clothes. Could you look around to see if there's anything she can use?" Kanna was hiding behind Reko. She must've been embarrassed.

You nodded your head. "Yeah, we'll look for something for her. Don't know if we'll have any luck, but we'll keep an eye out."

~ * ~

"Oh." You said when you and Joe entered the game room. You walked in with just enough time to see the red door click shut.

"What?" Joe asked.

"The red door." You pointed, "It was open for a second. Did you not see? I think someone went in there." You walked over to it, Joe following.

"...No? Do you want to check it out together?"

"I'll check it out by myself. Kanna still needs a change of clothes. You can look for that while I check behind this door."

Joe seemed to hesitate, "Are you sure? It's a lot more dangerous here than we originally thought. If you got hurt in there because I left you by yourself, I wouldn't ever be able to forgive myself."

"Then see it as me leaving you by yourself." You opened the door easily. "Good luck with Kanna. I'll be in here." Joe didn't get a chance to say another word before you shut the door behind you.

The room was very dimly lit. You couldn't even see where the light source was coming from. It almost seemed like a junk room with all the random items in it. But there was no one in there. Maybe you were just seeing things. You reached for the door to exit, but it didn't budge. You paused, then pulled on the doorknob again to no avail. You groaned.

You'd played enough games in your life to conclude that you probably had to solve a puzzle to get out of the room, so you started by taking a good look around. To your left was a table with a torn piece of paper. You started by looking there.

The paper had names on it, though the only name you recognized was Kazumi Mishima. You couldn't think of any use the paper could have at that current moment, so you went back to scanning the room.

On the other side of the room was a bookshelf. On top of the shelf was a box. You sighed.

You walked over and tried to reach for the box, but your fingertips barely missed. Luckily for you, though, there were books on the bookshelf.

That's what made it a bookshelf.

You pulled out a stack of books and set them on the ground. Behind where the books had sat was a digital clock. You decided to ignore it for the time being. You stepped on top of the books and pulled down the box. You brought it over to the table with the paper and opened it. Inside were two needles, one being longer than the other. They were pointy.

Scanning the room again, there was an old grandfather clock. You could almost hear the ticking. Almost. The fact that you couldn't meant that it wasn't working.

"Well, no wonder it's not working," You said to yourself, "My guy has no hands!" You put the needles into the clock, pointing at random numbers, but the clock still did not work. "A specific number, maybe?"

You stepped over into the view of the digital clock. 28:75, it read.

"Well, that doesn't fit military time at all. I didn't know I'd have to do math when I got kidnapped. Maybe I would've struggled more if I was aware that numbers would be involved," You mumbled as you played around with the needles. "Short hand... five... long hand... three?" The clock rang out like a gong, and the room was filled with the rhythmic ticks of the second hand moving by. You heard something hit the floor.

Next to your feet was a screwdriver. You picked it up, looking around the room to see where you might need to use it. You noticed a painting that was screwed into the wall. You moved closer to see that each screw needed a different tool, so you set the screwdriver on the table and looked at the room again.

There was an unlit candle. You remembered Joe handing you the lighter after you'd talked to Sou about the laptop. You pulled the lighter out of your pocket and flicked your finger across it a few times before it lit. You set the candle wick on fire, but nothing of notice had changed. Until you looked at the corner of the room and noticed that the teddy bear was bleeding out of its eyes. You cringed out of discomfort.

You grabbed the torn piece of paper off of the table and walked over to wipe the bear's eyes. Once it was dry, the bear's mouth opened. Inside was a flathead screwdriver and a blue card. You pulled both out, but only examined the card. The front said Commoner, and the back had a longer message.

"This card will decide your fate. Do not show anyone, or you will die."

You stared at it for a moment before shoving it into your back pocket. You walked over to the table and set the bloody paper and screwdriver down. On a desk closer to the door was a locked box. You examined the lock and realized that the flathead screwdriver was what was needed to open the box.

Inside of the box was a wrench. Three of the four tools you needed.

The lights turned off and you yelped out of surprise. When they turned back on, you heard a dripping noise. A seemingly red liquid was falling from the ceiling. Instead of hearing a normal dripping noise though, when the liquid hit the floor, it sounded hollow.

You jammed the flathead in between two tiles, yanking out one of the panels to see that there was a hole in the ground. There was some sort of liquid that the ceiling sweat was falling into, but inside of it was the fourth tool you needed. You tried to reach your arm inside of the panel but the water level was too low.

"Dammit." You stood up and scanned the room again. On a shelf, you saw a bottle of water. You grabbed the bottle, poured the water into the hole, and grabbed the tool.

After wiping your hand on your uniform, you grabbed the four tools and started taking out the screws. You took the painting off the wall and threw it onto the ground. The lights turned off, and when they turned back on, there was a space in the wall between the clock and where you were standing next to the teddy bear. Inside of the space was a locker.

This has to be the end of it, you thought. Hesitantly, you opened the door and were met with a pair of magenta eyes. You stepped back out of shock. There was a whole ass man in the locker. His eyes rolled until they fell closed, and he came tumbling out of the locker, passed out.

"Oh, shit." You mumbled. You crouched down and poked his arm. He did not react. "Oh," You laughed, "Oh shit. He's dead. Holy shit, uhm." You chuckled nervously, "Fuck." You walked over to the red door to see if it would open and it did. Next to the door was Joe.

"Oh, my god, you were in there for so long but I couldn't get the door to open. I was getting a bit worried." He sighed with relief.

"Thanks for worrying, but there's a dead guy in here."

He blinked a couple of times in disbelief, "What?" You moved out of the way of the door for him to see the man passed out on the floor. Joe rushed over and took the man's hand and felt his wrist. "Jesus, you scared me. He's not dead."

"Yeah, I know." You smiled weakly at him.

Joe tried to lift the man, "Is that your attempt at humor?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's take care of this guy." Before you left the room, you grabbed the torn piece of paper off of the table.

~ * ~

Nao had run off with Mishima's dismembered head while you were in the red room. You felt bad for her. You couldn't imagine what she was going through. Keiji helped you and Joe carry the man's body to the bar, which is where everyone decided to gather.

"We need to look for Nao. I'm worried about her by herself."

"But shouldn't someone look after this guy?" Reko asked, "I mean, he's in a prisoner's outfit."

Keiji stood up from his crouched position next to the man, "I just tied him up. He's not going anywhere."

"Even so!" She grasped for words. "Even if he's tied up, he might be dangerous. He's gonna be confused when he wakes up, too. Someone should be here to explain what's happening."

At that moment, only you, Joe, Sara, Keiji, Reko, Kanna, and the unconscious man were in the room. You quickly came to a conclusion.

"I can stay. I was the last person he saw before he passed out, so it probably wouldn't catch him off guard as much as if it were someone else."

"Are you sure?" Sara asked, "I can stay with you if you want?"

"No, that's not necessary. I trust Keiji's ability in tying knots. He looks like he's done it many times in the past," You pursed your lips to keep yourself from chuckling. "I'm pretty sure I was the only one who wasn't around when Nao ran off, too. It's better if everyone else kept an eye out for her. The more help, the better, y'know? Thank you, though, Sara."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Joe asked.

You gave him an expression that told him, yes, you were sure. He nodded his head. "Okay, then. Let's look for Nao. Holler if you need help, Y/N."

You did not holler when the lights went out, even though there was a criminal in the room with you. The lights going out was not the strangest thing you'd witnessed since getting kidnapped. You were almost shocked that you were already getting used to the unsettling horrors of the building.

Probably the only thing that kept you from getting nervous was the fact that you could hear your allies talking and walking through the hallways and main room.

Allies?

You supposed so.

Eventually the voices all went silent. However, the lights came back on shortly after you noticed the radio silence. You sighed through your nose.

You turned your head to look at the prisoner, only to see him staring straight back at you with an unamused expression.

"Oh!" You said, blinking in shock.

"You..." He said in a slightly higher pitched voice than what you were expecting. Still deep enough to be recognized as a stereotypical "man's voice," but, still.

"Me. Yeah. I found you in a locker before you passed out. Does your head hurt? You fell on the floor."

He was hesitant to reply.

"Do you want to introduce yourself?"

"Since you brought it up, why don't you start first? It's only polite." His words carried no amusement.

You inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Yeah, sure. Sorry. I'm Y/N." You extended your arm, as if to shake his hand, but remembered that his arms were tied up behind him. He looked at you like you were dumb. "...Sorry. I forgot. It's just a precaution. You're wearing a prisoner outfit, y'know."

He didn't reply. Must not be interested in talking. You respected that.

When the rest of the group came back without a hint of where Nao might be, Joe tried to talk to the man. He tried to pass himself off as a salaryman, but ultimately failed because... Well, he's wearing black and white stripes. He went to prison for theft, and his name is Gonbee Yamada.

He had also insisted that he had nothing to do with the current situation or your kidnappers. One of the prison wardens said that he had a visitor. Though, after waiting for far too long without anyone showing up, he ended up passing out.

"Care to untie me now?" Gonbee smiled an annoyed, weak excuse for a smile. Joe hesitated. Sara, however, did not.

"It wouldn't hurt. My guy went to jail for theft. It would help to have some extra help looking for Nao, as well." She undid Keiji's knot, and Gonbee stood up.

"Help? As if I'll help the people who tied me up and forced words out of my mouth! I'll leave you be, but I will not help with your search party." He then made a very showy exit out of the room. No one said anything.

"...Alrighty. Let's get searching for Nao, then." Keiji said, leaving the room.

"Y/N," Joe said, "Do you want to search with me and Sara?"

"Oh... sure." You smiled.

"I don't wanna stay!" Gin shouted. He ran into your legs and wrapped his arms around you. You let out an oof sound on impact. "Take me with you! Y/N, Joe, Sara! Take me with you! I don't wanna stay with the loner!"

Sou made a hurt sound. He was sitting in the corner with Kanna.

"O-Okay!" You peeled him off of your legs. "You can come with us, don't worry, kid."

Gin settled for holding your hand. Or, as well as he could with the giant paw on his hand.

"Where are we starting with?" You asked.

Joe answered, "The second floor."