"So, how are we going to save Ace as you said?" Emilia asked, still feeling a little reserved about Ryu.
"Just like I said we need to go through that door," Ryu pointed at the closed door that still stood firm before them. "And even though I said save, it doesn't mean that he'll be fixed."
"Huh?" Emilia's eyes widened slightly.
"Well, yeah. If you thought that it was some kind of save his soul type of adventure, then you were wrong. That guy is already broken beyond repair. So fixing him is out of the question."
Ryu stretched out his arms and legs as he explained the situation.
"What we're gonna do is save the scraps. Or to be more precise the real Ace."
"I don't get it," Emilia stayed confused at his words.
Ryu crossed his arms and tilted his head back-and-forth as he hummed in pondering, trying to give Emilia an easier explanation.
"Forget it," Emilia came to a realization as words of the past came back to her like a knock on the door.
"…" Ryu stayed silent as a grin then drew itself on his lips and he approached Emilia. "Isn't there something you want to ask me?"
Emilia pondered, words of the past echoing in her mind.
If you wish to learn more about that vessel, you'll need to ask the being that resides within him.
Her mind remembered a vibrant and radiant sky that expanded into an ocean of stars. And with a cup of tea sat on a table, a white-haired being dressed completely in white stared at her with a piercing blue gaze.
"No. There isn't," she replied, Ryu seeming unconvinced by that answer yet letting the matter go.
"If you say so," he turned her back on her, walking towards the door that led towards Ace's whereabouts and standing right in front of it with hands clasped behind his back.
"So, Ladies First?" Ryu gestured towards the door with that same smile that harbored his face.
'There's definitely something about him,' Emilia had a drop of cold sweat running down her cheek. 'I don't know what he's hiding, but…'
A grayscale image of Ace's back came to her mind followed by hollow dark eyes.
'If going through that door will give me the answers I'm looking for, then…'
As she took a step forward, her outfit changed. White sleeveless blouse, black tie, black denim shorts, black boots, tights on her legs, and a hooded varsity jacket now clothed her.
She walked straight towards the door until it was right in front of her. She looked at it intently for a moment, her heart thumping hard.
What would she see once she went beyond it? What would she discover? The possible answers to those questions seemed to be heavy as her hand trembled with hesitation as she rested it on the doorknob.
She took one single deep breath and turned the doorknob, a clacking sound following it. And as she opened it, the space in which she and Ryu resided pulsed with a digital glitching wave that turned the space into a bedroom in a single instant.
"Huh? What…?" she glanced around the room, noticing the bed with it's squared white-and-blue bedsheets, deep-blue bedcover and white pillow.
"Where…?" she noticed the downpour of rain outside through the window and the posters of what seemed to be a video game on the wall.
A well-kept desktop computer was seated on the desk that was several centimeters from the bed. On the shelves right beside the desk, dozens of games of different types were aligned neatly as if they were precious. Whether it'd be MMOs, RPGs, FPS, RTS or any other kind of game, there were at least several different editions of the same games aligned in order.
It was quite evident that whoever's room it was, they were quite a hardcore gamer. But a question remained for Emilia.
'This room. Why did I end up here? And… who's room is this?' Emilia questioned as the items and overall vibes of the room didn't fit her image of Ace.
"Hey. Are you sure this is―eh?" her words cut off short as Ryu was nowhere to be found. 'Where did he go?'
"What am I supposed to do now?" she muttered, letting herself sit on the bed as she organized her thoughts.
According to what Ryu had told her, Ace was behind the door she opened, but from what was evident, that wasn't all as she ended up in a room and the one she sought was nowhere to be seen. Additionally, Ryu had disappeared. But after thinking carefully and rationally about the situation, it didn't seem as if it was unusual.
She remembered Ryu's words when they met and the significances they potentially carried.
I need your help to get inside that door behind you.
'He said he needed my help to get inside. Does that mean he is unable to enter? But at the same time, if the problem is that he couldn't open the door, then that means he could enter. So he was unable to enter on his own. Why though?'
Emilia stood up from the bed, sighing in frustration as it still felt like there were still some pieces missing from the puzzle.
"I guess the only way to find out what's happening is to do as he said. Find the true Ace," she said in a low voice as she stared at the closed door in front of her. 'But I still don't understand what that means.'
She took a step forward, her hand once again holding the doorknob that leads to the other side.
'I'll just have to move on to find out I guess,' she turned the doorknob, another glitching wave changing her surroundings in an instant once again.
"It happened again. I wonder where I am now," she asked herself, now standing in the middle of a giant crossing surrounded by high buildings on every side.
On one of the buildings, a 109 sign was visible, making Emilia more confused about where she was as she had no knowledge of a building with a sign such as that one.
But what unsettled her the most was the fact that there wasn't a single breathing soul anywhere in sight. The entire place was as eerily silent as the only sound one could hear was the rain drops that fell on the ground and drenched one's body.
And amidst her birthing restlessness, a holographic window screen popped up in front of her.
"Huh?" was her reaction as she read the message written on the screen as others popped up in succession.
[Transmission Commencing…]
[Restricting intervention of third-party user…]
[Process Complete.]
[Event Quest Initiated.]
As the last message appeared and then disappeared, glitching digital blue cubes formed from thin air as they were slowly replaced by a spectral silhouette.
"And there!" Ryu had both fists raised high in the air as he appeared from the cubes. "I'm finally in!"
"Now…" he put both hands behind his head as his spectral body floated in the air and an excited grin played on his lips. "Time to finish this little game of hide-and-seek."