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Whoa! Okay, I think I've got it.

[ The young man on screen looks rather disheveled, and very flustered. He tries for a smile, but it collapses into a sheepish grimace halfway, and he looks away from the camera. ]

W-well, I can say this wasn't where I expected to end up when I opened the door to my apartment... Man, maybe I've been overdoing it with all that overtime.

Umm, hi there, if anyone's listening. This place isn't dangerous, is it? Should I be worried?

[ He reaches up to rub at the back of his neck. ]

I hope this thing's on. Can anyone hear me?

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I've been here a long time.

[Which is a great segue into a very important question.]

What's the date at home?

How long? [ Time stops, does it? Then nobody would have noticed Souji missing. ]

C'mon, you're really just gonna leave it at that? I still don't know what's going on. Is the date really what's important here?

Six years.

[He has to be careful with that. If he's too nonchalant about it, it'll be suspicious. But the date really is important.]

We can come from different times of year here. And I'm only in Inaba for a year.

[If he leaves the statement at that, it might not be clear whether he's from the beginning or the end of that year.]

Listen, I appreciate it if you're just trying to lighten the mood... but now's really not the time to mess around.

[ Can you blame him for not believing? Souji still looks like a high schooler. ]

Jeez, is anything you said true? I get that it's probably funny to tease me, but give me a break.

I'm not kidding. I've been here for six years. People just don't age here.

[A beat.]

I'm not sure how that's less believable than being here in the first place.

I guess you have a point, there. [ He sighs, and then smiles. ] Haha! When they say, "kids grow up so fast", you don't really expect it to be so literal. Though it's going to be hard to think of you as an adult, with that face.

I don't really think of myself as one, if that helps.

[He wants to press the issue of the date, but knows it would be too much. He thinks, though, that it can't be December yet, based on Adachi's behavior.]

There's a lot more I should tell you about this place.

I agree.

[ Of all potential sources of information, Souji is looking pretty valuable. Six years of experience? Seems like a pretty good place to start. ]

You don't want to do it over the... [ Is this thing a phone? ] Over this thing?

We can meet in person, if you want. That might be easier.

[Is it strange that he wants to have Adachi where he can keep an eye on him?]

I can meet you somewhere downstairs.

Easy. I think I'm on the ground floor already.

If you can find the stairs, I'll meet you there.

I'll see you there.

[ He turns off the device, and starts looking for the stairs. It takes him a little longer than he expected, to find them-- this place is much bigger than he thought. Still, he finds his way eventually.

Wonderland, huh. ]

[Souji came straight down from the eighth-floor diner, so he actually beats Adachi there. When he shows up, Souji raises a hand in greeting.]

Are you hungry?

[Important things first.]

[ He can't help it-- he starts laughing. Six years in some other world, and Souji's still on him about the food thing? ]

Oh, man, you don't waste any time, do you? Hahaha!

[Souji shrugs. No, some things never change.]

Wonderland has some handy magic when it comes to food. I can show you.

[He gestures for Adachi to follow him to a nearby tea room.]

Hey, hey, was this all just a ploy to get me to eat dinner with you? Never took you for such a dishonest kid.

[ He is hungry, though. He'd just been coming home from work when he ended up here, and he'd skipped breakfast today.

He follows, but he rolls his eyes when Souji isn't looking. ]

[The eye roll wouldn't surprise Souji, if he'd seen it. He lets them into the room, looking around to see that they're alone.]

The dining room upstairs gives a bigger variety of food, so try that when you have a chance.

[But for now, he walks over to a table and a cup of coffee appears there.]

[ He sighs as he sits down. As funny as Souji's predictability is, it's not going to give him any more information on this place.

He looks down at the table, and the cup of coffee that just appeared. ]

Huh. So it really is magic. [ He doesn't look all that surprised; merely curious. ] Were you going to tell me anything else about this place, or is it just a glorified restaurant?

[Souji sits down as well and takes a drink of coffee.]

No, there's a lot to tell you. But you must have already gotten information from other people. I don't want to repeat the same stuff you already know.

[So what has Adachi heard so far?]

So efficient. That's good!

[ He pulls the device back out of his pocket, taking another look at the conversations he's had. ]

This place can be dangerous, but it isn't right now. We're not in mortal peril. If we die, we just come back, but if you die five times, you lose part of your identity and become loyal to the Queen of Hearts. We don't come here by accident. This place brings us here because it wants our memories. You don't have a police force, but your crime rate is pretty low, since you can't die, and the closets give you whatever you want. And then, something about Mirrors.

Oh, and there's a really friendly US Marine here.

Oh, him.

[That guy.]

That's all correct. The memories we lose are usually words or phrases, and they're related to the events that happen here. The events are the dangerous things people are referring to, but they're not always that bad.

Hmm. Is this related to what this girl-- [ He turns his communicator around to show his conversation with Monika. ] Said about people turning into kids?

Man, this is all so crazy, you know? I'm still half convinced this is all just a nervous breakdown from being overworked...

[ Crazy, but way more interesting than he anticipated. ]

[Souji makes note of Monika having talked to Adachi. He nods.]

Right. That was an event. There were also dinosaurs.

[That was one of the weirder ones just for that juxtaposition.]

Why would I be involved in your nervous breakdown?

Dinosaurs. Good to know. [ He almost wants to start laughing again. ]

I don't know. You'd think it would be Dojima-san, wouldn't you? Then again, you're the one who's always-- Ugh, nevermind. I was never good at that psych stuff.

[He's the one who always what, Adachi?]

Don't worry about it too much. Even if this were a hallucination or a dream, you'd just have to deal with it until it ended anyway.

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