Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward Part #203

Part 203: [continued]

VLR OST: [Clarification]

Phi...?

...
...

Hey, what's going on? You're really harshing the vibe here.
Would it really kill you to smile? We just saved everybody.

...
...

Oh, also, not that I need it or anything, but it sure would be nice to get a thank you or something.
"Oh, thank you Sigma! You're the greatest! You're so awesome!
I'll dress up in that swimsuit for you just like I promised!"
I mean, just the swimsuit thing would be fine really, but...

...
...

[Music fades out]

Are you even listening to me?

Listen in: [English/Japanese]

I am.
You said you wished there was another bomb, right?

W-Well, I mean, I don't really—

Wh-What?

I remembered something too. Just a glimpse...
We must have confronted Dio about the bombs... I'm not sure how, but we got him to tell us about them.

There are the ones numbered one, two, and three, but there's also one more.
Bomb number zero.

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
Suddenly I remembered it too.
I'd heard Dio say those very words in the floor B warehouse.

999 OST: [Trepidation]

Looks like you remember it too.

Y-Yeah...

How much time do we have?

R-Right!

I yanked the input device out of the bomb, and turned to chase after—

What are you just standing there for?! Go! Show me where the bomb is!

Are you telling me you don't know where it is?!
You have got to be kidding me!

How the hell would I know where the bomb is?!
_{Oh...oh shit. You don't know...?}

She bit her lip and nodded.

Damnit... What the hell are we supposed to do now?!
We can't deactivate the bomb if we don't know where the damn thing is!

You need to think, Sigma.
There has to be a clue somewhere.

Where would you hide something important?

Hide something...important...

Right.

Hide... Hide...
If I was Dio... Where would I hide—
Ah!

[Music fades out]

VLR OST: [Consternation]

Don't follow me! Go find the others!

Idiot! Do you really think I'd do that?!

I could hear her following me, but there was no time to argue.

Instead, I focused on my goal. There was still time...

The condition for unlocking this is having seen Luna's ending. This will be kinda sorta vaguely justified in a couple of minutes.

*Pant* *Pant*

Listen in: [English/Japanese]

*Pant* *Pant*
Here...?

Yeah... Should be...between these AB Rooms...

(Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid Of A Bomb)

How much time do we have left?!

About a minute!

Shiiiiiit!

Hurry!

I'm hurrying as fast as I can!

[Music fades out]

You'd think there might be some notable content for messing up here, but it's literally just Sigma saying "well this is an anticlimax" and then the clip of the place blowing up that we've seen like a jillion times plays and we cut to flowchart, so let's not.

Instead I'd like to briefly remind you that we learned this password during Dio's ending - the first "real" ending we saw in the LP and one of the very few endings that isn't behind a plot lock, and therefore canonically among the first endings Sigma experiences. And how did we get the password out of Dio? Because (as was pretty evident at the time even with what we knew then), Phi jumped in from another timeline and forced it out of him. In fact, it's quite likely she jumped from this timeline - there aren't very many where we know about the #0 bomb - even knowing she wouldn't remember and would have to rely on Sigma. That Phi has been jumping around independently of us and has experienced events in a different order is one of the game's most open secrets, but that only really becomes apparent in a few places, and whether or not the player winds up doing either Dio's path or the Cyan/Betray path first ends up having a huge impact on how the metaplot unwinds. It's real neat and a unique strength of meta-aware plots like this one.

Anyway.