vivarium | DOUBLE BLIND

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DOUBLE BLIND

Shortly after the conversation with Zero ends, Zero opens the doors of the Garden and allows everyone to leave. However, the rest of the warehouse isn't better than the Garden:

The lights are still off, leaving everyone surrounded in darkness. The temperature just keeps on dropping, reaching near freezing point. The air feels more and more polluted, making it difficult to breathe without coughing, and nothing seems to be working as they should be. The electronic doors refuse to open without any power source, cutting off access to the cafeteria and dorms. At the very least, Zero has managed to open all the doors leading to puzzle rooms and has informed the group that new areas are now accessible to them, but they're on their own should they want to enter any other rooms.

Before the screens in the Garden turn off, Zero finally informs them that a new feature has been unlocked on their bracelets: any test subject wearing a bracelet may communicate with one another with the bracelet acting as a communication device. Holding onto the left button will enable the line to open just like a walkie-talkie. As long as test subjects are in the warehouse, they will have no troubles speaking with one another. What if they wish to talk to Zero? Zero's time is not be riffled, but they were generous enough to appear whenever anyone found a screen and pressed the on button a total of three quick successions.

And with that, Zero disappears from the grids and finally leaves everyone in complete darkness, leaving only one last piece:

"Best of luck, Test Subjects."

BASIC INFO ✖ MISSIONS ✖ MINGLE

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Y-yeah. Good save, Hershel.

"You got me," said Heiji, "But come to think of it, ain't it odd? If he's Ukranian, how come he sounds like an American all the time?" Neither of them knew how to pronounce anything. They were going to end up asking Jake if his ducks liked hot tea, that's what was going to happen.

Let us never speak of this terrible book again...

"Oh, actually-" Hershel lit up a bit, the light of fresh gossip to chat about. He's literally the worst. "Ema and I thought that was very odd too, but the other day I accidentally woke him up and he most certainly had an accent that wasn't American." It was awesome. "I don't really know why he must make a point of hiding it, but for whatever reason he does. Maybe he doesn't want people to know where he's from?" Mysterious.

Until someone needed to be called a shitlord wanker, of course.

"You mean if we bug him while he's half asleep, he might do it again?" Heiji seemed rather amused by the idea. "It does make sense, though. If he just talks with an American accent, everyone'd think he was just some tourist. People let their guards down around sightseers -- even store owners."

Just above the Ukranian book was another language guide. Hmm. Heiji took it off the shelf. "Oh, it looks like this one's about Japanese."

He opened it to a random page; maybe some kind of huge nerd had written this one, because it was some entry about tsundere individuals and examples of being tsun. "...Wait, what's this garbage?"

"Possibly. I wouldn't recommend waking him but..." Hey, if they happened to find him when he was sleepy? Could anyone blame them? Absolutely not, look at their faces. "Maybe he spent some time in America too, I imagine it's easier to pick up accents that way. What a strange bunch we have here."

"Oh? Let me see." Hershel peered over, skimming the bit about tsunderes with a furrowed brow before suddenly it shot up again. "Ah! That's like you, isn't it? What's it called- tsundere?" Imagine that pronounced completely wrong.

"It ain't like me at all!" said Heiji, whose reaction to being called tsun was apparently to tsunly deny that he was tsun at all. "Who's 'irritable'? If anyone here runs hot and cold, it's Snake!"

Heiji was suddenly fuming. "You know what he did when we were down in the basement? He just ran off and took a bunch of those robots with them. 'Good luck with that generator manual', he says. Then when I finally find him again, he's got himself cornered. And what's he say when I ask him what he was thinking? 'One of us has to be logical'. Oh, so it's okay when he does it, is it? But when I do it, I'm bein' irrational? Logical, my foot!"

Uh.

Hershel wasn't exactly shocked by the response, it was properly tsun and all. He did keep quiet as Heiji said his piece, peeking over at the definition again. Yeah, well. Yeah.

"I see..." Good answer, Hershel. He stopped himself from pointing out anymore tsun shit, for now, instead shaking his head. "That sounds exactly like the sort of thing you would do and then say it was the best option or what not. Not that he was right to be so flippant about it. You two really do need to be more careful." He sighed, then paused.

"Does that make you both tsundere then? That doesn't seem quite right."

"He's the one who needs to be careful," grumbled Heiji in a manner that was not tsun, not tsun at all. "That dummy coulda gotten himself really hurt. He almost did!" Clearly Heiji was the only one around here allowed to use himself as bait. CLEARLY.

"Neither of us are, okay? That's just something a bunch of weirdos that like dating sims came up with."

Have an unimpressed look. "You can be just as bad and you know it. How many times have I said the same sort of thing to you?" Tsk tsk. "If you expect him to listen you should try being more careful too- leading by example, you know?" This clearly would never happen but he can dream.

Hershel didn't look convinced, pulling the book so he could get a better look at it. "What's a 'baka' and a 'senpai?'"

"Yeah, but I don't insult you when ya do it." So there. Hmph.

"I can't believe I thought he was even a little bit -- oh. A senpai's like an upperclassman or a senior. Like someone who's in a class above yours or someone who's been in a job longer than you. They're supposed to help out the newer folks. Baka's just like... y'know, a dummy or a moron or somethin'."

"I'm not trying to insult you." Hershel had to smile a little. "But fair point. We're all a little daft, I suppose. A bunch of pots calling kettles black and what not." And a pause. "So he's alright? He wasn't hurt, was he?"

"I see." He frowned down seriously at the book. "'It's not like I like you or anything, baka.' You know this reminds me of Kuzuryuu too the more I read about it. I always though you-" two were kind of similar. He politely coughed and doesn't say that, you're welcome. "Well, there we are."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure he was," said Heiji, making a face. He slid his gaze away from Hershel, looking a little unhappy. "He did get hurt. That robot slammed him into the wall a couple times and he cut his forehead. I made sure to clean it, but...

But he'd still been worried about Snake, goddammit. Headbutting a robot, how ridiculous. He needed to take better care of himself and definitely not get into any more danger, what a total jerk. Not that he cared or anything, b-baka.

When Hershel said almost the exact same thing Heiji was thinking, Heiji froze a little but you know what he was resisting this messaging. Not tsun, nope. "...you mean me and Kuzuryuu were kinda the same? Of course we were. We both talk straight. Although he probably coulda used some more manners."

"Ah, well, Snake is rather... direct." Polite way of putting it. When Heiji went a little more downtrodden Hershel tried patting his arm. "I can see why you're so agitated then. I'm sure he'll be alright, he's a tough one, but if you like I could try talking to him about being more careful in the future. I doubt it will help much coming from me but maybe hearing it on more than one side will mean something."

That was the best he could offer to do, at least. And in the meantime, tsunderes. "Ah, well yes, basically." That's one way of putting it. "Kuzuryuu was a funny one, wasn't he? Half the time you needed to read between the lines to see how he really felt." Tsun.

"Makin' me worry like that," said Heiji, grumble grumble. "Don't even know why he did it; it's not like him to go haring off like that. If he messes with that bandage of his, I'm really gonna lay him out."

...So basically, a large part of Heiji's complaining was simply him worrying about Snake. Sorry bro, but now you knew why he acted like this.

"...Really? I understood him just fine, though." Tsunspeak, it was like telepathy. "I mean, there are some things you just can't come out and say. Know what I'm sayin'?"

He's not surprised, that's pretty Heiji. "I'm sure he won't, he's sensible in these matters at least." And he wouldn't want to be badgered into a hole with how people fret around here.

"I suppose so." Tsun speak is so mysterious. "Though what would you say those things are? Love and the like?" That seemed to be the sticking point for Heiji when it came to getting flustered and tsun.

"I guess. I dunno how you and Snake can just talk about that kinda thing. But as for Kuzuryuu... it's probably more than that. He don't want anyone to know that he really cares about certain things, y'know? Like that girl from his memories."

He waved a hand, suddenly cheerful. "He's just a little shy, that's all!" If you thought about it, it was kind of cute...?

"It's hardly an unpleasant topic, even if it's an embarrassing one occasionally." These westerners and their weird romance chatter. "That's true, I think he was afraid of having a reputation for caring rather than having one for being tough. Strange, but it did seem important to him." Yakuza...

He shook his head. "Well, this has been an interesting cultural exchange, to say the least." He was still totally behind tsundere being a thing, it just finally explained so much. It was clearly an important piece to the puzzle.

"It's not that it's unpleasant," said Heiji, looking a little... tsun. "It's just not something ya really talk about out loud. If ya like someone, you don't always have to say it out loud." Apparently Snake hadn't gotten that memo, as he talked about everything.

"For a tough guy like Kuzuryuu, he can't just let on that he's got a soft spot. If he does, everyone's gonna try and get in his face. So part of it's maintaining his reputation. You already saw how people got on his case for bein' short, right?"

Yes, Hershel, but would you ever truly understand the true depth of being tsun.

"I wonder if it's a cultural difference." Hershel mused, yes, it was a cultural difference between the populace and the tsun, Hershel. "Maybe Japan frowns upon that sort of thing more than the west tends to. America has always been rather... well, vocal, I suppose."

"I suppose that makes sense." Man what a world you tsuns lived in. "That just seems like a rather unpleasant way to live, having to hide the things you may like to avoid ridicule. I can't imagine it made him very happy."

Heiji's face had turned a little red. "Well, we're definitely not like the Americans. I mean, they say 'I love you' at the drop of a hat, pretty much. And they're pretty loud about stuff."

He listened to Hershel, but then shook his head. "I don't think he'd live in that kinda situation unless there were things he liked about it. Taking care of the people younger than you, taking responsibility for your decisions, making gambles every once in a while... There's a pretty big sense of camaraderie, too. Assumin' he was some kind of gangster."

That's the best commercial I've ever seen. "Yes, they're certainly a lively bunch." Hershel had to laugh a little, poking fun at America was probably a British pasttime, let's be real. "At least Snake isn't quite so rowdy."

"Do you really think he was?" He still had a hard time wrapping his head around someone so young in gangs and such. "I think whatever he felt he had a real pride about his life. Maybe it's not something I can really understand but if it made him happy." And people didn't get killed all the time, please and thank you.

"Yeah. Maybe he would've been, though, if that accident hadn't happened to him when he was little." Snake was definitely a pricklier customer than he would have expected from an American. Didn't Americans just yell about hamburgers and wear American flag bikinis while fireworks went off in the background, that seemed legit. "But he does wanna talk about stuff all the time."

"Maybe. He definitely looked the part. Maybe someone born into one of those families, anyway. The only people that really dress like that are delinquents and people involved with some shady business." Unless of course Kuzuryuu was some kind of undercover narcotics agent at like 17 or something.

"Does it bother you that he does?" Clearly Americans just wanted to talk and shoot hamburgers out of guns that turned into red white and blue fireworks as they sailed through the air, very legit. "It could be worse I suppose, he may never want to talk about such things."

"I just thought he must have come from a very exclusive school." Yakuza in suits weren't really a British thing. "Does it bother you? That he may have been on the wrong side of the law."

"Well, it's... not bad, I guess. It's just weird. You don't need to say everything out loud, right? Sometimes you should just read the mood."

Heiji laughed. "Don't see many schools with pinstripes on their uniforms, Hershel, do you? As for your other question, though... it's kinda hard to explain. Yakuza kind of have this weird status in Japan. It's like... as long as they don't make too much noise, the cops kinda overlook them a little. I ain't sayin' that's the right thing to do; it's just how things are. Kuzuryuu ain't seem like a bad guy, but if we were outside, we might have a problem with each other. Know what I'm sayin'?"

"I suppose so, I guess it would depend on what the subject is. We're also in a pretty dire situation, maybe he wants to make sure you know what he means just in case." Hershel mused.

And have a sheepish look. "My school didn't even have uniforms from what I recall, so I can't say I'd know what's appropriate or not. Pinstripes is a tad extravagant now that you mention it." He nodded to Heiji's answer, that was pretty fair. "Yes, I imagine there'd have to be some friction, especially given your ties with the police in Japan. I suppose you never would have imagined making friends with a gangster before all this nonsense, hm?"

Heiji looked away, face flushed. "N-no point in gettin' all melodramatic about it. Not like I'm going to kick the bucket any time soon."

MOVING ON, THOUGH. "Oh yeah, you guys are a lot looser about school uniforms. Girls can even get their ears pierced, right?" IT WAS ANARCHY OVER IN ENGLAND. ANARCHY. And clearly Hershel had left behind a trail of weeping victims in his wake, just look at the way he dressed --

"...But if you don't have uniforms, why the tie?" Hershel did you get stuffed in a lot of lockers.

"Anyway, it ain't like criminals are a different species. They could just as easily be a friend or relative." I mean look at Alfendi, just look at how shady that motherfucker was.

DOUBLE BLIND

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