[ENTER THE PALACE]

[warpweft]

[You find yourself with a sensation like floating in water.]

[Above, the sky is dark. You can occasionally see things shifting, like gusts of wind, or perhaps waves of water. Is it…even a sky above you? Or is it some kind of giant ocean? Whatever it is, you can’t make it out very well. All around you, you appear to be floating in what appears to be water. It looks like a great, wide ocean of…space in every direction around you, with stars and lights twinkling in the distance. It looks like water and feels like water, but it doesn’t make you wet. You can reach your hand into it and pull some out, the purple and violet water and the tiny points of light inside it will even rest in your hands if you cup them to carry it, but once you’re not trying to hold it anymore, it’ll flow off of you, not a single drop remaining behind. You feel something similar if you go underneath the surface. The “water” doesn’t touch your eyes, mouth or nose when give the chance, it merely drifts around you, allowing you to breathe and see unabated. And you can see for a great distance, the twinkling stars illuminating the ocean of space all around you. Though perhaps less dark and empty, it feels every bit as vast as the sky above. You feel like you could swim forever and never reach the edge.]

[It’s quiet, here, with little noise around you but the starry ocean’s waves crashing back into its surface. It’s peaceful. In another situation, it might even be comfortable.]

Comments

[voidhearts]

[The library is about the same as ever with one notable difference….the books. You can find all kinds of books, from specific titles, probably ones that Nessa has read - these are mostly books she likes like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, and lots and lots of books about spellcasting and various magic users from across the multiverse, to….the less detailed titles like “this was kind of boring so I gave up after two chapters”, “books on how to clean a hotel that I had to read, boo” “something about car repair I saw while looking for something else”, “bad looking manga”, and so on and so on.]

[The annoying part is, no matter how detailed the title, the inside of the book itself is just nonsense garbled words. Oh well. Probably would’ve been nice to get some extra spellcasting knowledge from one of these, huh?]

[There is one book that’s not sitting on a shelf or a table….it’s in a corner, underneath a table. Nessa seems pretty respectful of books in general, so it’s pretty strange that one would be left in such neglected manner, doesn’t it?]

[cosplayed_out]

[she's going to take down Elliot's flag out of spite.] I claim this library in the name of cosplayers everywhere!

[Though she gets in and looks them all over and eventually gets the picture.] So these are all books Nessa experienced but forgot about or gave up on... well, that's okay.

[She does spy the corner book and bends down to take it out from under the table. Her hands sweat with excitement as she brings it up to read, adjusting her glasses.]

[voidhearts]

[The book opens up to the table of contents, which is...a list of names. Some of the names included are...

"Specter"
Kim, Dokja
Jiang, Yanli











Houghton, Caesar]

[cosplayed_out]

[She flips it over, curiously. Do they lead to bios or is it one of those "the book is full of indecipherable writing" books?]

[voidhearts]

[Not quite....indecipherable, but. Very short writing.]

[The first one, "Specter", has the following under it:

strange, but nice
said stuff to get a rise out of me, but was never mean about it
gave me good advice a couple times
wanted to get to know her better
this sucks]

[cosplayed_out]

Poor Specter...

[she turns to Kim, Dokja, she knows him.]

[voidhearts]

i guess technically
he was the first person I met here
he's....
really cool
I never let him know I thought that
I made fun of him all the time instead
I really wish I had let him know
fuck
I never asked him what he meant when he said he understood
I really wish I had asked him
I really wish I had told him I liked being on Echidna because he was here
fuck
FUCK!!!!!!

[cosplayed_out]

Are these people who left? I thought Dokja was still here...

[welp, turning to Yanli, Jiang]

[voidhearts]

The first time I met Miss Yanli, I found out that Zarya kicked her
that was really awkward. but, she didn't seem to hold it against me.
she's really nice. I'm not surprised she chose to join Echidna.
she was always doing stuff to take care of us, like making tea and food and stuff.
when she said she had a son, I was surprised at first, because she seemed so young, but, I guess she's probably not that much older than agnis?
so sometimes stuff like that just...happens, I guess.





she was teaching me to cook before she
went into solitary confinement
I guess I should keep trying to learn?
but it was fun learning with her.
huhhhh
this sucks

[cosplayed_out]

Aw... it's like they're diaries of her thoughts about people who were spirited away.

[she gets the idea, but might as well read Caesar's, for 100% completion bonus.]

[voidhearts]

why

why
why
why
why why why why WHY ARE YOU HERE
oh my god
I thought everybody here was from different worlds
why are you here
I thought





please wake up
please wake up
please wake up


I'm sorry I made you leave
just
please wake up

[cosplayed_out]

...Wait a minute. Houghton!?

[IT FINALLY CLICKS, that's Nessa's last name!]

I think I'd better keep this one in mind. It sounds important.

[After committing this one to memory, she'll step back from the bookcase now.]

[voidhearts]

[That's the only legible book in the entire library...unless you wanna read a bunch of covers with garbled nonsense words inside, there's nothing left! What a letdown.]

[cosplayed_out]

[Then it's time to leave! What sections were left?]

[voidhearts]

[The clocktower and the motel!]

[cosplayed_out]

[Scissorman, or Norman Bates... let's try scissorman! To the Clock Tower!]

[voidhearts]

[The clocktower looks….off. The clock’s normal blue hue is gone. No chimes come from it no matter how long you wait, the hands seem to be stuck in place (even moreso than usual), it just looks like it’s…not working.]

[As you get close, you spot two doors. One is locked and the other is more of a hatch. Looking in the hatch, you see some of the clock’s inner workings and that pretty quickly elucidates the issue - there’s a big spot missing that probably needs a….gear or a lever or a pulley or something? Whatever, you’re not a clock maker.]

[Maybe the other door will open if you fix the clock?]

[cosplayed_out]

Guess I'll search for metal gear...

[Back to the motel!]

[voidhearts]

[The motel is a bit different. There are no doors to each dorm and no front desk. Instead, there’s murals depicting several monsters on the walls. Each one has a small table in front of it with something on it.

- A gray serpent monster with the lower half of a snake and the upper half of a woman. This has four bells in front of it.
- A dog with three heads standing before a gate. This has one bell in front of it.
- Stone statues made out of people standing before a giant serpent. This has one bell in front of it.
- Eight tentacles reaching up from the ocean to wrap around a ship. This has one bell in front of it.]

[cosplayed_out]

Oh, now this is definitely a Resident Evil puzzle! ...I just have to make sure to plain run from any zombie crows.

[she'll try the dog bell first]

[voidhearts]

[A soft ringing noise echoes through the lobby....]

[...]

[...]

[Minato is really special. He's always concerned about others, I think he spends almost all of his tokens purchasing The Lovers to heal people if they get hurt...he's really kind, but he's got this quiet strength to him too.]

[Also, his relationship with Akira is super romantic. They were pulled from different worlds and fell in love. It's like their hearts were pulled from across the universe just to meet each other...!]

[cosplayed_out]

Nessa is a protagonist-shipper!

[she'll set it down for the moment and try the ship one...]

[voidhearts]

[A soft ringing noise echoes through the lobby....]

[...]

[...]

[Tsumugi is...kind of weird, but. In a way that you really like. She says weird stuff, but she's a fun person. She's really, really, really into cosplay, but...as much as you try to be aloof about it, you think that maybe you could like that stuff too, with the right outfit, maybe...]

[It's kind of weird in a different way when she cosplays as that "Junko" person. Is she, like, LARPing when she does that? What character is that from anyway? Sometimes you get a strange feeling, based on a dream you had once and some stuff you saw inside her Palace, but... ...it's probably nothing. She's your friend. You're sure of it.]

[During one of the tasks....you feel like you really let her down. You tried to help her team with one of the boons, but, her team wound up getting attacked anyway. She kept saying you betrayed her. It really hurt when she hit you with that club, but, honestly, you can't even hold it against her. You still kinda feel like you did betray her.]

[You don't even remember what happened after that. Apparently you mentioned Nell's name...ugh...you don't ever wanna have to explain that. You're just glad she forgave you.]

[cosplayed_out]

I should've guessed it was Kraken, but I think I can use this.

[she'll keep that bell.]

This should be useful to show I have Nessa's trust.

...Wait, dream? Palace?

[dots connecting]

Oh no... I should tell her about Danganronpa before it's too late.

[still, she's going back to the countryside with the bell. Surely this will complete the quest.]

[voidhearts]

[The bell is suddenly attached to a little chain. A sign is suddenly visible:

'Please be considerate of the other visitors! Do not take the bells!'

But then....a little plastic replica bell is in Tsumugi's hand?

You obtained Replica Bell!]