[Rat]: If the organizers of this game have half a brain they’ve sealed off all the doors and windows. So I’m seeing if there’s a way out through the elevator shaft.

The [Rat] stands on a small catwalk to the column’s side. He smacks the vent with a crowbar, prying at its slits.

[https://i.imgur.com/nIhjx9W.png]

[Yuri]: Smart enough to crawl through an elevator, not smart enough to crawl a comb through their hair in the morning. That’s a [Rat] for you.

[Rat]: Don’t insult my style.

[Yuri]: Style? Seriously?

[Rat]: The difference between a mess and a style is that a style’s a choice.

[Yuri]: Then you’d be better off with whatever a barber would choose for you.

[Rat]: I’m not interested in changing how I look for other people anymore. But y’know, if a cute girl like you really wants me to, an ugly mug like me can make an exception.

[Lily]: You shouldn’t lie. I think in truth, you’re quite good-looking.

[https://i.imgur.com/5elBpqf.png]

Lily has finally arrived. She’s breathing heavily, probably because she jogged to catch up to me. Not, I hope, because she’s attracted to the [Rat]. Her being interested in that celebrity before was bad enough.

I look at him closely. I had talked to him, but only through our room’s shared wall. Without the hood shadowing his face… ignoring the eye-bags from lack of sleep… maybe with a good combthrough and if he shaved the strange half-stache under his nose then actually he could be called handsome. But a surge of loathing overwhelms me.

[Yuri]: I don’t know. I think he looks awful.

[Lily]: I disagree. He's objectively handsome; Yuri wanted to look for tools, but I’ve also been meaning to find you.

[Rat]: I'm flattered.

The [Rat] pauses his futile clanging and his face stretches into a half-grin. But then [Lily] says something that causes him to go right back to prying at the vent.

[Lily]: Naotome Shinji. Does that name mean anything to you?

[Yuri]: I remember that name. It’s that guy your magazine cover; a teen pop sensation, who lived alone with his family in a cheap studio townhouse.

[Yuri]: He had a good voice, but was famous for refusing to move out. This is my home, he would say. And so he stayed.

[Rat]: I wouldn’t call him a sensation. A ‘sensation’ makes money, enough to move both him and his family to a bigger place.

The [Rat] speaks while facing away.

[Lily]: Yuri, what happened next? If not to this 'sensation', then to this ‘rising star.’

[Yuri]: That same apartment block caught on fire. He rescued his sister, but he was injured. That’s all I’ve read of him at least and he’s not in the news anymore.

[Lily]: I know just a little bit more. He was lucky because he survived without any scars. But he was unlucky because most of his injuries came from-

[Rat]: Breathing smoke. [Dog], I didn’t peg you as a gossip, but you’re surprisingly well informed.

[Lily]: That celebrity was treated at the hospital my father runs. Sometimes as a researcher he asks me to help with the bookkeeping.

[Rat]: Figures.

Lily grabs onto his shoulder.

[Rat]: Huh?

It’s the first time I’ve heard surprise in his rough voice.

Lily flicks his hood back over his head. And holds up the cover of the magazine she had taken from the lobby.

[Lily]: We know about your past already, Shinji. Can you tell us more about yourself? If we know everyone’s backgrounds, we might be able to escape.

He narrows his eyes. And sighs, a resigned heavy hiss.

[Rat]: I’m just called the [Rat] now. And I’m satisfied with that; people ignore worthless voices. But a [Rat] squeaks and people jump. Squeak squeak, paparazzi crew. Buzz off.

He gives up with the crowbar and pries at the screws with a bent-paper clip instead. I’m happy to take the box and leave with that tool, but Lily’s face is full of disappointment towards this frustrating creature. I can’t believe I’m competing for her attention with some Z-list hack! Even if he does have a tragic backstory…

[Yuri]: [Rat]. Can I speak to you privately?

He stays quiet, with just the scratching and tapping from the metal-scrapes reaching my ear.

[Lily]: I’ll leave the two of you here and wait outside. But it’s okay if Shinji, if the [Rat] doesn’t want to talk.

[Lily]: Everyone has the right to decide if their story should be shared. I just want to know more about him for everyone’s survival.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She leaves us. And I turn towards my ally-enemy-rival-archnemeis.

[Rat]: Well, well well. Are you here for some kind of heart to heart?

[Yuri]: You’re one ‘T’ off. I’m not here to give you my ‘heart’, I’m here to give you a ‘threat.’

[Yuri]: Tell us more about yourself, or tomorrow I’ll tell everyone that I checked you. And that I found you’re Wolf.

It’s a page out of the [Rat]’s own blackmail playbook; the so-called Seer threatening a false Wolf report. Since the situation is turbulent, if I say he’s guilty the final outcome isn't clear. It’s possible after a big debate he’d manage to survive and I'd die. But it’s equally possible that they’d believe me and execute him instead.

The [Rat] stares at me, searching. Finally he nods.

[Rat]: Hahaha. I thought you were insane, but you’re really something else. Always willing to throw the game if it furthers your cause.

[Rat]: What will happen when Lily dies? Will you break? Or will I finally get to see you play for real?

…This guy!

[Yuri]: Is it wrong to want my friend to survive?

[Rat]: Does a ‘friend’ sneak glances at their BFF? Does a ‘friend’ sleepwalk night and day unless they’re at their bestie’s side?

[Rat]: No, [Snake], I’ve watched you during the Trials and I’ve noticed that you only come alive to protect her. You’re like a zombie, brainless, purposeless, unless it’s to call her name.

[Rat]: A psych ward, that’s where you belong. A good one, the kind you both think I can afford.

There’s a clatter. He had managed to pry away one of the screws, and twists at the three that remain.

[Rat]: Call your obsession back in here, I’ll tell you everything you need. Maybe you can edit a documentary together. I'm sure you'd like that.

I take a deep breath, twice. The first to calm myself down, and the second to call for her.

[Yuri]: Lily! The [Rat] wants to speak with you.

I hear Lily sneeze before I can see her.

[Rat]: Bless you. Allergy?

She walks in, her face red.

[Lily]: This whole shaft is dusty. The hotel probably never had it cleaned.

[Yuri]: Lily, we don’t want to spend as much time on the [Rat] as we did with the [Tiger]. Let’s wrap things up quickly.

Lily averts my eyes, but she does speed along the conversation.

[Lily]: The most important thing I want to know is where you were when you passed out.

[Rat]: I was just at home, after a lesson with my voice therapist. We did some basic breathing exercises and I did some half-assed scales. Sounded terrible, of course.

[Rat]: The funny thing is that the townhouse my family lives in, it’s in the same set of townhomes as before. The location, the cost, the convenience, it’s the only thing that makes sense even if it only has bad memories.

[Yuri]: Answer Lily’s question. Don’t go off topic.

The Rat glares.

[Rat]: How are you going to make a good documentary if I don't tell you my full life story?

[Yuri]: If you want to confide that much then just speak it through my bedroom wall. It'd help put me to sleep.

And remember the threat. I glare back and he sighs.

[Rat]: I started to feel woozy and I was gone. That’s all.

[Lily]: That should be enough. Thank you [Rat], for sharing.

Lily’s voice is soft.

[Yuri]: We’ll take the tool box since you’re done with it, too. The [Ox] and the [Horse] need it.

He slides it across the catwalk.

[Yuri]: All the tools please.

[Rat]: Sure, I’ll just use the paper clip. Oh, you’re serious huh.

He turns over a screwdriver he had withheld.

[Yuri]: Did the [Tiger] ask you for anything?

[Rat]: No, I don’t think she’s the crafty type.

[Yuri]: I think she might be crafty in a different sense; it's good if she hasn't taken anything. Then we'll be on our way.

The [Rat] scrapes the second screw with the clip, wiggling. He’s not making any visible progress.

[Lily]: Wait Yuri! Shouldn’t we leave him with something? Like a hammer, or at least an allen key?

[Yuri]: If he wants to use a paper clip, he can use a paper clip.

I heft the toolbox and pull on Lily with my free arm. Finally she allows herself to be led away. But before I leave the shaft, the [Rat] calls out:

[Rat]: Hey, [Snake] - I’m not your enemy. I just want to see us win. You understand that, right?

His tone isn’t pleading; it’s questioning yet it’s confident, like a diplomat who drawing up terms.

Yeah, I kind of understand. But I don’t know if he understands that threatening and insulting someone isn’t a great path to friendship. Even I know that much.

[Yuri]: We can talk later. Right now I’m busy with Lily.

[Lily]: …?

[Yuri]: Let’s go.

As we march back, I glance at her. Something about how she moves has changed. There’s a certain shyness about her, whenever she brushes against me, she reacts - either leaning in even closer, or jostling back.

There’s also something more mundane that I observe about her and her possessions that I don’t want to admit.

[Yuri]: Ah, Lily - you left your magazine cover in the elevator shaft. If you really want that, I guess we can go back and get it.

[Lily]: I don’t need it anymore. That was just so I could compare Shinji's face with the [Rat]’s.

She looks amused.

[Lily]: What? Did you think I hauled it around with me just because I liked that photo?

She pulls out her pastel-pink cell phone. She can’t call anyone, I’m a little confused. She holds it practically in my face; and pushes her thumb down somewhere in the middle of the screen.

*click*

[Lily]: That’s the photo I'm interested in. Thanks Yuri.

She shows her homescreen, and right there is a bewildered, blushing, me.