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[Souji's outside in the garden, but the fog makes it difficult to tell where, exactly. It's very quiet, though, with the snow and fog deadening all the noise.

He's wearing a pair of black framed glasses. Unusual for him, since he doesn't normally wear glasses.

He stops peering at his surroundings and holds up the camera at face level to address whoever might be listening.]

Don't you think it should have snowed instead of raining yesterday?

[That would make sense in early January.

He takes a few steps through the snow and he doesn't seem to be having any trouble navigating through the fog.]

This isn't ordinary fog. Be careful.

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[ Naoto knows she's going to have to talk to him at some point-- it's not fair to avoid him. He's not the one that...

It was his mirror that killed her. Not Souji. Not him. So after staring at his network message for a while and steeling herself, she responds. ]

It's our memory. Correct?

My glasses work. It must be.

...Does this mean we've lost something? Some sort of memory?

Yes. But it isn't easy to figure out what, if it's not something obvious. I'm still not sure what we lost last time.

I see. [ dang. ]

Perhaps there will be clues somewhere. Either hidden in the fog or throughout the Mansion itself. I observed others having conversations with those two girls-- the ones who mentioned shadows throughout their riddles. They're involved, aren't they? [ she has no idea who they are though whoops ]

They sometimes announce events a few days beforehand. There are others who do, too.

Who are the others? [ Slipping into Naoto Interrogation mode. It's so much easier than actually dealing with her personal problems. ]

[Souji intends to ask how she did during that event, but he will answer her questions first.]

There's a cat, a mouse, a girl with no eyes, a turtle, and I think there's a gryphon now.

Are they all Alice in Wonderland themed, like the Queen of Hearts?

Yes. The two girls this time were Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

[...]

They aren't always girls.

................................................................................................................................................................................................................ That's curious. [ ................................ ]

[He's quiet a few seconds, letting her mull that over.

...

......

And now it's time to broach an awkward topic!]

Naoto. I haven't seen you around in awhile. How did things go at Christmas?

[With Mirrors running around, who knows what might have gone down.]

I've. [ It's really difficult coming up with a lie on the spot like this, especially a lie concerning something she's been obsessively thinking about for a while now. Instead, there's the sound of writing as she makes the notes about the Wonderland residents to buy herself time. ]

Um, what I mean to say is that-- [ breathe. ] I've been busy. Very busy. There's simply so much to investigate, and it seems time has completely slipped my mind. [ She conveniently leaves out the fact that she was dead for Christmas, as well as the fact that "investigating" was her marathon-reading every detective novel she could get her hands on for comfort. ]

[Souji can buy that, but how haltingly she answers sends up a red flag.]

Then you didn't run into trouble with the Mirrors.

[There is some relief in his voice, but he's still suspicious.]

[ She can't blatantly lie to a comment like that. It feels wrong. There's no more note-taking to buy herself time, and she can't help but trip over her own words. ]

I... [ just say yes, just lie to him, come on. She's pulling the brim of her hat over her face, even if he can't see her. ]

There was some confrontation, but nothing you need to worry yourself over.

Alright. [He'll trust her. She can handle herself in most situations.]

You know you can talk to me.

[ The sheer amount of guilt she feels right now could be comparable to Jean Valjean's entire Who Am I? sequence. But she can't. She can't tell him what happened. Mirrors are only allowed on the "Real Side" when the "Real" individual is on the "Mirror Side." Which means...

No, stop. Stop it, Naoto. Get out of there. Don't go down that road of thought. It's not his fault; it's entirely yours. ]

...I-I understand. Thank you.

[ She can't do this conversation. ]

I need to go-- Investigating and-- Well, I'll keep you updated. Please excuse me. [ And then she hangs up. Sorry, senpai. ]

[Well now he's sure something's wrong, but he'll try again later. She obviously needs space.]

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