Day 57: Sun Room
It figured that night would end before Rita and Taura could progress any further. Rita wasn't particularly disappointed to wake up abruptly, as they had reached a dead end. Really, the institute was doing them a favor by bringing them back to the starting point, where they could regroup.
What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time, ( Read more... )
What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time, ( Read more... )
"Visitors," Erika replied, though she frowned as she had to consider the true nature of these visitors once again. "The military has taken over, but we are the only ones who know. The rest of the world thinks that Landel's Institute hasn't changed the slightest. That is why the Doyleton trip still happened." Appearances for appearance's sake. Erika hadn't forgotten that the nurses mysteriously came back that day, and they were now back again. Of course most would think that things had reverted back to the way it was.
If only that were true. Too bad Erika was never wrong.
"At least, that's my theory. I'm assuming that these visitors are real in the first place. I wouldn't know, but maybe you would?" She left that question to hang in the air for Sync to answer, which he damn well better. The only way this theory worked was if the visitors were actual real civilians, but that implied that there were people here who were actually admitted for being delusional. That was entirely possible, yet... perhaps it just seemed strange, to keep the real patients around when this place was no longer a hospital (or really, had it ever been?). Maybe those patients were just kept elsewhere from the rest of the test subjects.
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Of course, any thoughts of 'commending' Erika were quickly forgotten when she began to inquire about his own experiences on the matter. He didn't want to talk about it, but it was either that or having to deal with the latter attempting to goad him and forgetting what was really important. So Sync decided to humor her, though it was obvious that he wasn't getting much enjoyment out of it.
"They aren't." One would think he'd stop it there, and he almost did, before continuing.
"I've had a visitor before, and they were once part of this place too. All of it is just a ruse to make you believe what they're telling you is true." And chances were good that Erika already figured this out, but if anything it could just solidify her theories. "I don't know if my case is special. Some people might get 'visitors' who've never been here before, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were just on reserve."
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Erika didn't expect her question to hit a nerve, but she might have when she noticed Sync's slight hesitation to follow up on his answer. Hm, so he wasn't too happy about his visitor... He told her what she wanted to know about this person though, something that just made her theory sound all the more incorrect. If the visitors were former patients, then what was the point of keeping up the charade? That said, former patients might not have realized the military's true ownership of this place; Landel was booted very recently, after all. But, even then...
"Even so, I don't think all of those visitors are fake." Erika wasn't looking at Sync, but past him and at the wall as she formed together the clues in her mind. It didn't make sense immediately, but she was already repairing her theory with the information Sync gave her. Erika was very good at that, a reason why she didn't outright lose the fifth game with Battler.
"The strangest thing is how a former patient would be allowed to come back. You said this was a ruse to fool us, but now that ruse is unnecessary - the military isn't trying to fool any of us anymore. The only reason they're doing this now is for the visitors. They even have a recording of Landel-san for that purpose." A recording was just Erika's guess of how Landel was able to talk to them again despite no longer holding his position, unless they had some other trick to disguising their voice. Of course! Erika looked excited now, turning her gaze back to Sync. It was fiercely competitive, almost like she was challenging him to shoot down her flawless reasoning. She placed her hands on the table sharply, making a slight thud with her palms.
"But a former patient coming back makes perfect sense. Landel was only fired a few days ago. Those who were here before, who were too stupid to figure out this place's true nature, they're the ones who need to be fooled."
Of course, even Erika knew her theory wasn't flawless. How come the former patients still accepted that this place was just a mental institute, even after being subjected to the illusion being broken at night? Still, Nunnally, her former roommate, came to mind. Nunnally had suffered one of those "sleep studies", and then was discharged shortly after. It made sense - the girl had been broken. Maybe the others had to. Getting people to accept a lie was as easy as just convincing enough people to believe it, and once enough did, no one wanted to speak out against it. The same concept worked for Beatrice, and it was just as flimsy and weak. Hah!
"Simply because of the visitors, this reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika," She grinned, tapping her temple with a finger as she leaned back in triumph. "What do you think, Sync?"
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