#erik a

[zombiearkham]

erik.j.a [x]

Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

One Day at a Time | Erik A Epilogue

Ever since the killing game experiment had ended, Erik A had been both incredibly busy and finally taking a break at once, especially in the first few months. First, despite his aching ribs and the delay in getting out, staying on site to assist with the transferring of AI was undoubtedly the right call, he thought. For one, Erick Weiss was in no state to do physical tasks just yet and Kenshin was down an arm which would understandably slow his speed. And for another, he really wasn’t kidding about both his personal expertise in software engineering and his FBI connections and general high knowledge of government legalities that he was able to successfully keep any of the forces present from seizing the data.

But finally… it was done, and despite all of the times during the experiment that he was sure he’d never make it out of that facility, Erik A would get to go home.

‘Home’ was a strange thing to think about, all things considered. Though he first entered his own apartment, empty of anyone else other than his own creations now mostly shut off for whatever trip he’d originally planned for, among his own things again as he was forced to sort through some things in the immediate… there was a sense of isolation to it, and of not being quite where he wanted to be. He can tell right away that locking himself away in this place for too long will just make his newly recognized as questionable mental health spiral.

And so instead, for the first time in years of being terrified to associate his family home too heavily with him from his own paranoia… Erik A allowed himself once more to be with his family, cared for and with support for the next month and a half of time while he recovered, and for once was finally given some proper time off from his government job in the wake of the experience he’d gone through, left only to sort through the other legalities and fallout of everything else going on, not to mention all of the things he wants to do for himself and for the dead. But at least, with a sense of warmth and care in the air from his moms and even his sisters and Uncle Ben as they come home to visit… It’s nice, and despite the mental struggles he still had both new and old piling up, he can feel himself relax a bit and accept that care, even if just a little.

And finally, a full month after being home and settling matters further, Erik A even finally makes his first therapy appointment since he’d quit going as a teen. It was weird and familiar at once being back to it, but… He was as ready as he’d ever be for it now, and even told quite a few friends to be sure to hold him to continuing to go just like he’d keep holding them to it too.

He also comically crashed his old bully’s wedding later that year just as he’d planned to, only to be pulled aside and by Eric M once spotted and formally apologized to a full decade later, and even thanked for both coming and helping him figure out more about himself so that he eventually met his now husband. Though surprised… Erik A was relieved, rather than resentful, and it was almost as if another part of him could rest now knowing. They’d stay in touch, even if not regularly, and years later, Erik A would still receive yearly family Christmas cards from Eric M and his husband (and, eventually, little girl), which he’d read each time, Jewish or not. 

Romantically for himself, and especially following the frankly traumatizing situation that was most of the game surrounding them before now, Erik A had requested to take a break from any sort of relationship with Adrik and Akito so that they could focus more primarily on letting the adrenaline of the life or death ordeal fade as they slowly recovered and developed healthier coping mechanisms. They would all still stay in contact of course, but time would be given this way to make certain that things would be done properly if they happened at all, slower like he’d wanted to start with, and this time with more certainty that it wasn’t just the danger of the situation talking either.

The first of the two he rekindled things with was Adrik a half a year after gaining their freedom, at first over longer distance, a new experience for them both. And once their own family and other situations abroad had been settled, Adrik made their move to Miami after the one year post-experiment mark, not to live with Erik A initially, but to be nearby to him and accessible, as the two began to spend significantly more time together in person again. Though slower things were now that they didn’t have the risk of dying any day now… it was wonderful to have that close connection again, to share comfort and growth alike. 

And only just barely after Adrik’s move was Akito’s first visit, of course with the intention to romance them both properly this time, one and a half allergens of Erik A’s in hand- And the feeling of being serious both about dating the two of them and for making things more healthy this time, which both Erik A and Adrik would ultimately accept, spending that trip and future ones beyond it together and finally a little more free of stress, before committing to a co-living space for themselves much further down the line.

There were plenty of others from the experiment that remained important to Erik A as well, of course. Every range of occasional to frequent contact and keeping up with many of those both dead and alive that he’d met during the ERIKA experiment, and in some loved ones of the living and dead alike that he had the chance to meet as well. 

Text chats and visits to the VR once he had the chance to, the live stream marathon that he’d promised to do for fundraising in collaboration with Kenshin, Kori, Byrne, and a number of other invited guests to raise money… Even his first ever permission to leave the country for vacations and other endeavors given to him by his superiors, one of the first of which being to Austria for the VR and work related reasons, and then to Canada for a road trip of self fulfillment and a fun cake delivery. He even kept close contact with Erick Weiss himself as well, working closely with him on the VR primarily in some specific projects from a distance, though with the occasional drop in to pester him in person as well.

Events passed by, one after another over the next months and years: His parents met both of his partners, welcoming them with open arms (but teasing Erik A mercilessly for the deviation to his usual taste). He finally released DISFRAY, the game he’d made but never finished the ending to for over a decade, now finally out in the world for a purely optional price tag, the funds of which going to donation in Adrian’s name, since Erik A himself hardly needed the money. 

He began to develop his next game as well, born from his proof of concept project of a rhythm game he’d made for Kori, now fleshed out with boss fight concepts with some pointers from Kori herself on many factors, and an original soundtrack in part by himself (as he’d been happily getting into more music writing with the help of Byrne as of late) and in part by Cosette, who he’d offered the chance to have leave her mark on the world with a boss she’d get to assist in designing herself, and a song more core to her being than the others she’d been writing for years. The end result was beautiful, and successful too after the promoting from his friends alongside his own channel, with the fun AI map making tool he’d installed for future endless games of play allowing for replayability beyond just the main gameplay mode. 

Some of the dead opted to have their existence erased, Cosette, Marlene, and Ae-ra included, and he did what he could to be there for them or to help them in accomplishing all that they wanted to before the day came, wherever he could.

His oldest sister Amelia married her then girlfriend, and soon enough, he found himself being an uncle, his first real experience with helping care for a child and definite practice. Aria was her name, and he did his very best to learn how this child rearing thing worked and be a cool uncle, while still maintaining some level of responsibility.

His youngest sister, Sarah, graduated college with her decision to ambitiously pursue astrophysics and seek a master’s degree in the coming years after some long talks with Erik A like the two of them had, a decision he couldn’t have been prouder of her for, and who’s journey he was fully willing to help fund in part, just as he’d wanted to reach out and assist Eureka’s youngest clone sister as well if she ended up needing it after her injury.

Erik A had even managed to convince his government superiors to finally allow him to work more part time fromthe two years point on, and eventually after nearly a full decade (15 years since the start of his job, in fact), he’d been set finally free entirely, able to pursue what he liked with greater ease than he had before, though he certainly didn’t wait until then to start. He took more care to not overwork himself as badly as he had previously though, of course, sticking to a lenient streaming and video schedule to make way for his passion for game design to finally flourish as well. And just in time, too, because now with a ring on his finger, well… it was looking more and more likely that he too might be a first time dad in the near future, and by now, he had plenty of other experienced friends to talk about that possibility with too. Before anything else though, he was absolutely dragging both Adrik and Akito to some proper parenting classes, because he knew full well that they would need it if it was going to be a possibility.

It was funny, though, how time marched on without stopping, and how slowly but surely his doom-like thoughts had become less and less intense over the years, now that he knew how to pick them out and give them a good kick or pie in the face, metaphorically, of course. It wasn’t perfect, and neither was he, but… he could finally look back on that time in the experiment all those years ago and the scrambled time in his life both before it and after, and see how far he’d truly made it since then.

…

Erik A finishes up the letter he’d been writing, detailing the latest year of his life down with a sense of humor and levity as well as mixed in genuine sentiments and ideas for what he might do next, just as he had with many before on previous ones. The would be recipient was long gone, both physically and digitally, but he’d kept up with his promise to write to her all the same, and to keep her memory in his mind just as he had with others in their own ways, a worn color, through games and music, through learning to bake, and more. The small ways could matter without taking over your life dwelling on the past constantly in a bad way, or at least that’d what he’d always thought. No matter how things changed, some would stay the same, huh? 

He signs off his letter to Marlene with a sigh of satisfaction, his session of rumination over the last year drawing to a close with a small doodled drawing of the tattoo idea he’d been thinking about getting for himself finally. The handwritten letter is folded neatly and put into an envelope, before he gets up and stretches.

Though it may not be an ending, only still a relatively early point in his life… He’s ready to move forward once more today, and for as many days as he can after that.

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

Fallen Leaves - Endgame 4/5

“Phew.” Akito’s  shoulders sag in relief. “We have time, at least. I’m sure we’re all exhausted, but the grind isn’t completely over. Can we talk about how to help the dead? I would also like to request for any information on the other AI currently inhabiting the VR. They may not be as recently deceased, but with so many having gone missing before, their loved ones deserve some closure of their own.”

Weiss cleared his throat, raising a shaky and glazed-over gaze towards Akito. He lifted his hand to draw attention, only to quickly lower it back to the armrest of his wheelchair. Simply an action that small was enough to be laborious as he was then.

“I can set up-eck…” He stopped mid-sentence to continue clearing his throat, clearly hoarse and a bit on the dehydrated side. He took in another breath. “I can… start the process. For…. transferring data but… The… other AI. The… older ones. I do not… want to hand those over to people willy-nilly. In the wrong hands it could… be problematic. They also… are not quite the same… as those who died here.”

He paused in his speech to cough a few times, during which Akito had nodded his understanding.

“Though… I may need some help. With typing and… plugging things in at the moment. If anyone handy with coding and computers is willing to assist.” Weiss concluded.

Right away, nearly before Weiss had finished speaking, a certain tech savvy twink raised a hand, while also being mindful of his rib situation by not making it overly-enthusiastic.

"Pretty sure I'm qualified for that, last I checked! I'm Erik A by the way, in case that wasn't obvious. And also, I'm sure as hell not going to let the FBI and whoever else get their grubby hands on this without it being my personal oversight regardless," he says cheerfully in a room filled with FBI agents and a smile on his face as he glances towards them. His beloathed  <3 "Not to mention, I'd wanna be here to help negotiate things there anyhow, because I agree full stop with Weiss on the access point for any of em regardless, not gonna lie. I think I’d make a pretty good representative."

Weiss gave a nod of approval. It may have been a short amount of time that they had known each other, but it was long enough to at least determine Erik A meant the dead no harm.

“Very well. It will likely take… two or three days to transfer all of the data… so we will need to stay behind a little longer– ech– than the others, if that is acceptable. You can come pick us…  and anyone else who volunteers, up in a few days time.”

Kenshin flashes a small little wave as well. “If you need any more help, I’m here. Guess I should introduce myself too, Kenshin Tanji. While I’m not exactly as qualified as Erik-“ Gestures. “-I still do know a lot about programming due to being a game dev. Coding and computers, whatever skills you need, I should have. But hey, anything to help you out, I don’t mind having to stay a few more days.” A glance to a couple people, smiling softly. “I’ll be back soon enough.”

To both Weiss and Kenshin, Erik A gives a little thumbs up! A team...

Another hand is raised, coming from the pink-haired programmer in the room. “I can help if it’s anything to do with programming!” Noelle pauses. “Though I get it if I’m not, like, part of you all, so I’ll just be on standby if you need me. I want to explore this place too!”

Ah… Alright. Weiss placed his hand on his chin, lost in thought for a few moments over the additional volunteers.

“By all means, I will take Kenshin… on the team. However, miss… I do not know your name. Pardon me, but we have… never met and this is sensitive data. I would rather not hand over control…. to someone I have not met. Perhaps you should focus on… the evacuation efforts instead?” 

That was…. Reasonable, most likely? Nonetheless, the assembled team of volunteers began their work, with Weiss giving instruction to Kenshin and Erik A to gather supplies and relocate.

Finally, it was time to go. Everyone had packed up what remained of their possessions, and those who wished to depart in the first crowd brought their belongings up to the helipad, prepped to go. Some were given the opportunity to stay another two or three days to wrap up whatever work they still needed done in the facility first, but the remaining survivors were ultimately all lifted out to civilization within the first week of your savior’s arrival.

It was a three-hour flight to make it to a city in Austria. One with an airport. Of course, before you were free to go, each participant was subjected to light questioning regarding the incident for the sake of finalizing the government reports, as well as mandatory medical checkups and assistance to those of you who needed it for your various wounds as well, with arrangements for possible future follow ups as wanted for both that and the implants you had within your brain. With the aid of the FBI and Akito’s tiny team, all of your plane tickets to get home were compensated, no matter where you lived or how far away it might have been.

Until once again, you made it home. Back in your own city, with your own connections, expected to resume your life as if nothing had happened before that month-long emotional journey you’d just taken.

The fall leaves were browning and reaching the ground.

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

Uncertain Outcomes | Erik A | Trial 5 Results Reaction

Jesus fucking christ, of course everything would still find a way to nearly go terribly wrong even with the trial result. Erik A is too far away, not quick enough to interfere as Adrik has their standoff with END, or when Adrik’s body jerks with what feels like a repeat of what happened to Kaguya-

But they’re alive in the end (hah). They’re ALIVE, and as he reaches their side as they lay on the ground he checks over them with an only slightly shaky breath, and speaks soothingly to them.

“Wow, that was a hell of a reckless fucking choice, Addy, please never do that again if you can help it. But… Hey, hey, you’re alright now, just breath. Help is I guess already on its way, so just… hang on and rest for now, okay…? I’m here too,” he mutters quietly.

He can hold off on the barrating for now, given he’s certain they’ve already had enough of that if they can even process anything right now. They're clearly panicking and in pain, so with what ability he has to, he holds them in what he hopes in a calming manner as they get their bearings. 

He gives a nod in particular to END too, for her part in this.

"Thanks. Both for the assist, and also for not shooting. Glad we talked about it beforehand too."

And then, there was all the fuck the rest of that too, huh? Erik A narrows his eyes for a moment at both Jae-min and Kenshin in particular for those statements, because god damn. Then, he sighs.

“First of all, Jae-min, I need you to understand that if they all get away with this and stay with Erika Foundation, which I’d bet they don’t feel they have much of a choice in doing because of what happened to Weiss when he tried to leave, they WILL continue to be used for shit like this, and fuck, if this experiment isn’t ‘approved’ or whatever, they might just die anyways."

"If not for this project, I can’t imagine that there wouldn’t be plenty more fucked shit that happens both because of and too them, because if their dad and the rest of it had always been willing to dispose of them like this, I can’t fucking imagine they’re going to stop now. Not unless greater intervention is had to help shit there.”

He flicks his eyes over to An and Calluna, giving an implication that they should really take some help there if they can, given it might just be their only way out too. But he looks back to Jae-min first after a moment.

“And let me make one thing clear; I’m not a fan of prison systems, especially the US’s of course, and fuck, I’m sure not a fan of co-orced working either. But with all the shit that the three of them have both put us through and actually gotten 9 other people killed for? I can say that I don’t want you to get killed and fused into a science project for your dad’s god complex, but fuck, the three of them sure as hell aren’t innocent either, so a goal of just a ‘happy life’ with absolutely no repercussions for this shit is way fucking farther than I think is warrented here either.”

“So I’m not letting you threaten me out of trying to get some there because it makes Erisu frown or something, Jae-min, even if extended circumstances of their own potential fates are taken into account too like I said. There are middle grounds between getting off scot free and paying for shit with your life, and they still have a fucking ass load of responsibility there to contend with.”

He turns to Kenshin too after a moment there.

“And Kenshin, don’t forget the reason why Kori was in danger of dying in the first place from their influence. I know this is a complex situation, so just… be mindful of all sides of shit too. I do want to try and work to stop all sides of this experiment however I can though, so I’m with you on that. Just stick with Byrne for now though if you can, I know you’re probably the best person for that.”

Because god fucking damn, that guy was going through so much unnecessary shit all of the time here.

Finally… he just takes a breath, trying to get his own fast beating heart back down and under control. What would be happening now…?

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

Playing Defense | Erik A | Trial 5.3 | Re: Jae-min, END, Akito, An

Wow, okay, that was a hell of a lot going on here. He’s not sure if he’s processing all of this fully on an emotional level yet, but he does know that he is grateful for END speaking up to at least try and oppose Jae-min on that, as well as Byrne later on despite absolutely not doing it for Akito’s sake.

“Yeah, like other people have said, until we actually know who did what and everything else, or even once we do if it’d put more unnecessary risk or death out there, I’m asking you to hold off to. And personally I am in fact stupid enough to still try and get between you myself anyhow if it really comes down to it and other people can’t manage it alone, so count on having that to deal with fucking me first too if the electrocution doesn’t get to you first if it comes to that.” A promise for a promise HIUCDISH help. “But, at the same time, I’ll still give my best to give reasoning why it can’t be Akito too, as I think of them. I want to solve this too, to get a real fucking answer and not just a manufactured one in either direction.”

He also turns to Akito next, thinking about everything he’s revealed and said as he takes a careful breath. 

“…It’s a lot to process, even going by what I already knew beforehand. And to be clear to everyone else too, I did get Akito to tell me at least some things with notepassing and the like before this, but I didn’t know everything. But it seems… feasible to me, at least. I’m… trying really hard to trust you right now about what you’re saying, and fuck is it hard with everything. But like I said, I’m going to keep at it for now, because I really do think that SOMETHING fucky is going on. It’s just a matter of figuring out what.” 

He takes another breath, careful not to go too deep with it for the sake of his ribs, and clears his head for a moment… before settling on what else he wants to say here.

  “Okay, getting down to business on all that. First to END’s question to me: In my testing, the charger can charge the taser in about 10-15 minutes or so. It’s… POSSIBLE that it was mid fight I guess if they tussled for that long, but I didn’t really see any other injuries on Erisu but the bruising on her neck. Like I said, by best theory is a test shock, but if anyone else has an idea or thinks we really need to grill An more about it, feel free. Jae-min’s actually more likely to go down with a tase though, funnily enough, i think we had this discussion once before.” But that wasn’t important right now-

He blinks about the thermos thing END says, though.

  “Ah…? I saw the dented metal thermos in the medical floor group investigation too, but I didn’t see it in A Office, I saw it in the the hidden room behind the G Office in a cupholder. It was… I mean, I was kind of weirded out about that and the Fallout game in there since ‘Fallout’ was one of the phrases on that first note Akito admitted he wrote about Sibyl and then a note to me weeks ago, but that thermos looked… a lot older than the one I usually see him using. The normal metal thermos he keeps on him seems almost brand new, but this one had a bunch of small scratches and stuff that looked old, separate from that dent. It’s definitely the same type, though. I also saw him use his normal thermos after too and it wasn’t dented, so…?”

He looks at Akito with a questioning look there, asking him to answer there because he certainly doesn’t have more information than that on it. But he doesn’t hold on to that for long.

“And, I didn’t I didn’t know about Erisu being a vocaloid producer before now at all, if that’s really true. That… I mean, the vocaloid shit in this latest investigation is hardly the first time we’ve seen vocaloid related stuff, right? The first memory puzzle with Miku, then the music store having that vocaloid only juke box and the software for them in there as well as those snowglobes, then… I think there were the sunroom music boxes…??? I don’t know, it’s just been… VERY fucking consistant theming. Even that box of merch that seemed to be packed up in the stage, I don’t know where that was originally supposed to be, if it was.” 

He shakes his head though.

“Also, the library pictures that Akito took: He didn’t say it was to show Adrik, and I’m assuming he just happened to show them for some other reason, he said earlier trial that he was trying to take pictures to hold onto if we managed to get out of here soon. Which… I mean. That’s one thing to assume with the morning announcement, right? I have no idea if he was involved with that, but at the very least he was with me when it went off, so I don’t think he was messing with the lights or something himself. Actually- I wanna see the photos, to confirm something for my peace of mind. Hey, An, can I head over and look too? I know you said the times, but are those photos definitely from today? Because if they are… I have another idea.”

(An) “Mmmmmm…. Fine, but two is MORE than enough to confirm things, ok? That’s plenty, let’s not make a mosh pit by my podium." 

Erik A nods and gets up, and ends up taking the long way around the circle even though he doesn’t need to, just to offer Adrik a hand to squeeze for a moment as he passes, as well as a nod to Jae-min, he will not fear him- And finally, he gets around to Akito, looking at the offered phone. He gives a nod after a moment, offering some brief quiet words, before announcing it as he heads back to his podium. 

“Yeah- It doesn’t say the date, because none of our devices do because of their meddling, but it says ‘Today’ before the times, so unless things are way fucking more fabricated, he was definitely at the Library at those times. So I have two ideas for some proof for Jae-min on that, then, since I know you’re still suspicious that Akito could have killed Erisu even without being the other sibling.”

“The first: When I got to the scene where Erisu was with Kori and then Adrik, the elevator door was stuck open already, and was specifically on the 4th red floor. I know, well, because I stepped into it and got stuck there for a good 5-10 minutes while other people were using the elevator. So if Akito was definitely in the Library at 12:30 PM according to the pictures, it doesn’t make any sense that it would be on the 4th floor and not the 3rd floor where the Library is if he was the last one to use it.” 

“The other defense I have is… way back when, Kaguya specifically ‘the three of you’, right? Not ‘the four of you’ when she was talking about the people behind the scenes. So… Unless she was just really fucking out of the loop about shit, I don’t know if there was someone other than that 3rd sibling working with them behind the scenes on shit from the start. And like we’ve said, it really does seem like that’s either Akito or Erisu at this point too, because Weiss sure hasn’t been up and about anytime soon given the state of his muscle decay.”

He is trying his very fucking best here, by god- He’s back at his podium again though by the end, going the short way this time. And… Man, there was a lot fucking happening at all times. He thinks for a moment to himself, seemingly done for now, but… He looks back at An again, a thoughtful look on his face.

“But… An said that all of her siblings are alive with the exception of Ericca Hartmann, and that she’d do anything to keep them alive. Didn’t she? So what does that mean?”

Was she really just bullshitting on that, then…? 

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

Like a Worm on a String | Erik A | Trial 5.2 | Re: Kenshin, END, Byrne, Akito | ATTN: Akito

First, Erik A looks to Adrik with a small frown at the mocking look on their face for That of all things, instead of the actual awful shit the hosts had done. But… for now, there were more important matters to figure out. He shakes his head in particular to some of what Kenshin says first.

  “I do have one thing to correct there, in that… I’m not sure if all of us were being tested as a potential ‘Vessel’, because it sounds like they already found one, and the woman who was picked was lying in the cell room. I guess she was also in the VR, and Jae-min said something about… her knowing about things that ER1K4 had done…? 

Point is, I still think that she might be the replacement ‘vessel’ they found, so the experiment they were doing NOW is… to find a replacement for all of the other color coded subjects that were raised for the project maybe? They seemed to want that same ‘ideal’ number, so… I can only assume at least. We didn’t find a clear explanation for WHY that’s happening, but… I mean, I can assume some things based on who’s running this.” 

He also gives a glance to a bit about what END said the post before last-

  “And thanks for the explanation- I wasn’t kidding when I said that that taser only has one tase between charges though, I’ve messed with it some before I passed it on to Erisu. So… if there were two uses, and the charger was THERE… was the pillow other people mentioned being burnt just… a test use of it then??? In the lobby???” He’s not sure if that makes sense, but it’s his best guess. Not like he saw it himself.

And then there’s Akito talking and… oh. Everything that Byrne says hits hard, and he can tell that even just expressing this much is painful for him to. Erik A gives a nod, acknowledging what he’s shared. Breath, Byrne…

  “...I can’t say I can defend everything that Akito’s said before, so I’m not going to try about that. I know… I know there’s been a lot of heart between you both and I’ll admit, that does sound suspicious to know, so it makes sense that you’d find it that way. I could say it could have been from other things or him just getting lucky, but I… would hope that now of all times we can get a real answer for that, for my peace of mind too if there is one. I know that I also knew shit about Eureka that I probably shouldn’t have, right? So… I dunno, it’s not impossible that it’s for a more benign reason too. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, especially when I was also able to get at least… part of that myself, even if not anything as detailed as that.”

 He takes a deep breath.

“Personally, I don’t think Akito did this. Or, at the very least, I don’t think he’s Az-8, and I’d… Like to trust be able to trust him on more than that too because I’m not sure how a third party would have gotten into things to kill Erisu otherwise. Because… I mean, it’s almost glaringly obvious that he’s suspicious, right? With the clues that we found. I don’t want to speak for him too much here, but the receipt for those items were about things I did in fact get in the gacha. The fact that… something that looked like his thermos and breath mints were by the surveillance cameras. The fact that the letter that Jae-min saw in VR by apparently matched Akito’s handwriting, and what END already said about who the ‘Vessel’ is supposed to be. It feels almost too easy, like they were left out on purpose. But I know we need to figure out more anything else about that.”

“If I’m wrong, if he has been stringing me along this entire time, I… I guess I’ll accept that if there’s actually way to prove it. But fuck, as it stands, I think it’s a hell of a lot more likely that he’s being framed for this for a number of reasons, and I’ve been trying my best to have some kind of level of faith for a while now because of a couple of things. I know we’ve talked about the possibility of this happening before, too.”

And a lot of those reasons, were… things that were personal too, weren’t they? Erik A turns to Akito, 

  “Do you remember what I told you once? About… letting more people in on whatever things you want to take on by yourself, because it can look more suspicious for you to not?? I know you think it would be more suspicious to let people know more things, and it can be sometimes, but now of all times where you’re already being looked at with it, some truth would be real nice.”

There are things he can say, but… coming from Akito himself with what he’s actually willing to say, Erik A thinks it’d be a lot better. 

Finally, he turns to END again, and gives a somber nod. He knows what she means, having talked about it already 

  “Yeah. The Kaleidoscope Project… It sounded like for all of those test subjects raised from before they were even born, it was intended for all but one of them to physically die, the last to have their mind presumably altered to house everything else. I don’t know how much they knew about all of that before recently, because it’s clear from TEXTS and interaction that Weiss… definitely only found out and tried to get away before of it in more recent years, before the Erika Foundation clearly caused what happened to him and then kept him in a medical coma for quite a fucking while.

An… and Calluna, and probably Az-8. I can only assume they were trying to escape that fate for themselves by bringing other people into it. Whatever the cost for survival, right? But now, we’re stuck in the same mess because of that.”

A rat in a maze making other rats run a maze, as he’d talked about with An once. Of course he can’t blame them for wanting out of that. But he can still be pissed about being dragged in alongside them.

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

This Bonus Level Sucks | Erik A | Trial 5.1 | Re: END, Adrik, Jae-min, etc

This entire case was… a lot. An unexpected murder, the information they’d found out because of it and the implications therein, the tension that occurred in the investigation itself. It was all so, so much, and he was still mentally trying to process a lot of it too. He looks over at Akito and Adrik in particular first with a bit of concern, having not seen them for most of the investigation, and nods to them both as they talk, but... well. Now He had to talk too.

Though first, he blinks at what END shows off and says, and what everyone else follows up with. Hm??

  “Wait, huh??? Where was that taser??? Lobby being a mess?? I don’t think Jae-min and I even looked in there before we were all called, oops, so if there’s anything else important about that all and what you found, let me know. But yeah, can confirm that the pink taser from Eureka is… is the one that I gave to Erisu, after I got its charger from Eureka’s room too. To my knowledge though, it can only be used once between charges.”

And man, didn’t that feel just great to have been the one to give her that? He shakes it off though, focusing on other things instead.

  “I’ll admit, I don’t have much of an alibi either in all of this. Woke up for the 6am shit, which I can confirm I had nothing to do with, and didn’t get up again after falling back asleep until a bit after noon, where I was the only person still in our room. Walked towards the elevator at around 12:30 and… saw Kori standing by Erisu’s body, so the two of us went and got a third person in Adrik from the eatery. First thing I did was step into the open elevator which was opened to that new red floor I’d never seen, but then the elevator started moving from other people using it so I was stuck there for awhile. Got back late cuzza that.” 

He pauses.

“...But… yeah. The curtain strip from the stage is a lot more solid of evidence than the paper, since we can’t say one way or the other if it was handwritten or written by that machine, but the outcome is the same there regardless. Whoever killed Erisu had to have had access to the 4th floor in advance. So… considering I’m pretty sure exactly none of us are clear this time alibi wise and I’m not sure what evidence on the scene would point to a specific person… we might have to analyze all the shit that we found up on the 4 and D floors to figure that out.”

And oh boy, wouldn’t That be a time.