Chat

"Your plan is idiotic and is probably going to get us both killed," Sal said.

"Hi, Justin Ferin, have we me?" I replied. "You in or not?"

"We'll need to rethink some of it," he said. "There's no telling what we'll be in for."

"I know," I said. "But the Wooden Girl's got my hands tied on this."

"This won't be easy," Sal said. "I'd say we need help, but I don't know who here we can trust."

"Well, we do have someone on our side," I said, opening up my laptop. "Wake up, sweat-heart."

The laptop started itself up and started running an audio program. Rapid Japanese speak began pouring from the speakers.

"You're still speaking Japanese," I said.

"Gomen'nasai," the voice replied. "Is... is this better?"

"Much beer," I said. "Sal, I'd like to formally introduce you to V."

"Kon'nichiwa!" V said.

Sal stared a the screen for a moment before saying "It talks now...?"

"Yes," I said. "She does. The software is similar to what's used with Vocaloids. Allows her to create a purely synthetic voice for herself."

"I see," Sal said, rubbing his chin and considering this for a minute. "This... changes things. Getting the Thoughtborn involved could make this work..."

"My thoughts exactly," I said.

"Well, I'm going back to my room to think," Sal said. "We'll talk about this some more later."

Sal got up and walked to my door, opening it and revealing Anthony on the other side, with his fist up, ready to knock.

"Oh, um... hi," he said awkwardly. "I was uh... needing to talk to Justin..."

Sal grunted and pushed past Anthony, walking away.

"Hey man," I said. "Didn't realize you were still around."

"Well, the Game master did say surviving losers are allowed to stick around to watch the tournament continue," he said.

"I see," I said. "You know that puts you at risk, right? Since you're no longer a competitor in the finals, none of the remaining players are under any obligation to leave you alone."

"I'm aware," Anthony said, closing the door and taking a seat. "The only reason I accepted the Game Master's invite was for research purposes. I can potentially learn a lot from the upcoming fights. So I'll take my chances. Besides, I'm a big boy. I can handle myself."

"Research purposes, eh?" I said. "Is that why you were eavesdropping a second ago?"

"So you noticed?" he asked.

"Wasn't hard to figure out," I said. "How much did you hear?"

"Everything," he replied. "You're probably gonna die if you go through with that plan of yours."

"A Timberwolf doesn't fear death," I said. "We fear failure."

"I see," he said, opening up his satchel and pulling some folders out.

"What are those?" I asked.

"Information," he said. "Some of it might help you."

He set the folders on my bed and got up.

"I should be going now," he said.

"Why are you helping me exactly?" I asked.

"Why do you think?" he replied, before casually leaving.

"What kind of information is here?" V asked.

"Dunno," I said, opening o a random page. "Lots of numbers..."

I go up to check outside the door. The hallway outside seemed empty, but I wasn't about to take any chances. I closed the door, locked it up, and stuffed my jacket in the crack underneath, hoping to block out as much sound as I could. I sat on my bed, pulled V closer, and opened one of the folders.

"I'm going to start reading," I whispered to her. "I want you to transcribe as much of it as you can. IF Anthony thinks it'll be useful, then we should both try to memorize some of it."