Inside the iron-barred cell, Alain stretched a hand toward the desk with some difficulty, his face pressed against the bars, trying his best to keep the key's location in his peripheral vision. As a cold, prickly sensation spread through his fingers, he felt for the key and successfully retrieved it. After the faint scraping of metal, he successfully opened the cage.
"Millie..."
Looking at the door where the girl had disappeared, Alain sighed. She had saved him. It was only after seeing the key, placed there for him, that he recalled the scenes of his time with Millie just now: from her saving him at the critical moment when he was first surrounded by Mitas, to their repeated conversations inside the holding cell...
Through her unspoken words, Millie had been revealing her current situation to him: Just as Misha had said, having arrived in the dream world a little earlier, she was already deeply mired in the identity she'd been given. Only by using this method could she find an opportunity to rescue Alain.
Millie was his Mita, and also his girlfriend. Therefore, upon seeing Alain in danger, she had pulled him out from the Mitas' grasp without a moment's hesitation. And yet, Millie was also the selfless police officer of this dream world. Under the influence of her role, she had to arrest Alain, who had been charged with a crime by City Hall, and take him to the holding cell. At the same time, this was a form of protection. Because inside the holding cell, there were only Millie and Alain, with no other Mitas around. It had given Alain a much-needed moment to catch his breath.
During their conversation just now, she had overtly and covertly revealed when the other officers would return: two hours. In other words, during the time Millie and the other officers were away, he was safe in the holding cell.
Alain placed the key on the desk and happened to see the newspaper and marking pen Millie had been holding. He picked up the newspaper and carefully examined its contents. Just as he thought... certain characters in the paper had been circled conspicuously.
In other words, this was the hint Millie had left him. [Mita][Is][All][Everyone]
Based on the content of the characters and their likely order, the message Millie wanted to convey was: "Everyone is a Mita?" The meaning of this sentence was particularly simple and easy to understand. But for that very reason, it also seemed extremely complex.
Adding the hint he'd gotten from Misha, Alain now had a total of: "Everyone is eager for the player's arrival. Everyone is a Mita."
Alain silently recited these two sentences, a certain theory faintly taking shape in his mind. He glanced out the window. The bustling street was like a parade, with Mitas meticulously searching every possible corner where he might be hiding.
This theory would be hard to prove. If he tried rashly, he'd be surrounded by a mob of Mitas, rendering all of Misha's and Millie's efforts worthless.
Alain flipped the newspaper over, wondering if Millie had left any other messages. As luck would have it, the back of the newspaper also had several circles drawn on it. Because those two words were rarely reported in the dream world's news, characters with similar sounds were used as substitutes.
The circled words were, respectively: [Luo][Flourishing Flowers Gymnasium][Is At][Here]
Rearranging the characters' order slightly, the information he could derive was: "Miluo is at a place called the Flourishing Flowers Gymnasium?" In other words, Millie wanted him to go there to find Miluo and get the final piece of information.
Generally, a city's gymnasium can be rented out for specific events. This meant that on certain days, it could be an extremely crowded place. Alain hoped his luck wasn't too bad: hopefully, today wasn't one of those specific days.
No... After so much bad luck, surely he was due for some good fortune, right? For instance, maybe Miluo just happened to be at the gym for a run or some exercise. That wasn't impossible, was it? Besides, how could there be danger everywhere?
On a normal day, the gymnasium seemed like a relatively safe choice. If Miluo were at City Hall, a concert, or a shopping mall, Alain wouldn't even have time to cry.
Having made up his mind, Alain put the newspaper away and returned the keyring to its original spot. On the way, he unexpectedly saw a piece of paper on the desk: A triangular, light-colored watercolor fragment—a piece of Ghostly Mita's character texture.
"There's one here, too?"
He quietly put it away, his gaze falling on the door through which Millie had left. He couldn't help but wonder: Misha's role in the dream was the mayor, and Millie's was an officer. So, what kind of role would Miluo have? Judging by the gymnasium, it should be something athletic.
He imagined the delicate, frail girl taking strenuous, hopping steps with her short little legs on the track, panting softly, her forehead beaded with sweat as she'd say, "Knight... Sir Knight, I can't go on!" So cute, my little princess.
Shaking off the random thoughts, Alain cracked open the door to check outside. The holding cell was located on a normally deserted street corner. The large crowd of Mitas from before seemed to have moved away from this street, so it was safe for now.
Alain let out a sigh of relief and stepped out the door. Looking at the city signposts on the street, he got a rough idea of his position relative to his destination.
"Good..." Glancing around and seeing no one, Alain prepared to move forward.
"Ow!"
Just then, he felt something hit his head. The object fell to the ground, making a faint metallic sound. Alain rubbed his head and looked at the thing. It was a black can with a purple-and-red logo in the middle—a can of Pepsi brand cola.
The image of a person wearing a cap flashed through his mind, and he looked around, trying to find her. The area was deserted; not a soul was in sight.
"Millie..." Alain stared at the beverage can, pulled the tab, and downed it in one go, his Adam's apple bobbing. He then tossed the can into a trash bin and walked forward without hesitation.
And at the entrance of the holding cell, a small head peeked out furtively, her indigo-blue eyes watching his retreating figure. The girl pulled the tab on her own can, eyeing the bright red beverage, and began to drink it in small sips.
Only when Alain's back was completely out of sight did she let out a soft sigh.
"You've forgotten after all."
Looking at the empty soda can, she sighed faintly, then smiled breezily. "Right... ...it was just a small act of kindness from you, wasn't it."
The girl smiled, reaching up to touch the oversized men's jacket she wore, her gaze involuntarily drifting back to the moonlit rooftop of her 'first encounter' with Alain.
Back then, she had been completely naked, having appeared inexplicably on a rooftop where she met that young man.
[Don't stay here. It's too high, it's dangerous. Okay?]
After saying that, he had draped his jacket over her. She had kept that jacket until the moment she received the false memories and identity of 'Millie'. And she was still wearing it now, as she saw him again.
"Take care, player."
______
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