Part 59: Press the Button (4)

Part 59: Press the Button (4)



Let's get the last acid bath out of the way.



Push that button!



*click*



Music: Aftermath (Decontamination Room)





Diana is also looking at her hand like it just moved on its own.

Are you kidding me?



What the hell was all that for...



Diana's hand is shaking.

Answer me, Diana!



I...don't know why I pushed the button...



What do you mean?!



Diana chose C-Team instead of going along with what was on the note.



Did we see that happen yet? I don't think so...



I know.



I'm saying I know what you don't know.





You made a wise decision. You sacrificed the lives of others in order to continue your own survival.



It truly is a natural human reaction. You simply made an emergency evacuation. The action is legally justifiable. There is no blame to be placed on you for your decision.



Now, I'm sure you would like to get out of here immediately, but before that... I apologize, but you must all sleep again.



19:29. Our time is up.



You have done exactly as I commanded. The memory loss drug will not be injected into the three of you. It would be...inconvenient if you forgot you caused the deaths of others...





Pleasant dreams...



And D-Team hits the floor.





Well, fragment complete I guess.



As usual, we have just one option here.



Just a single scene here, too.

Music: Sinisterness Phase 2



The C-Team part of this scene is the same as when Q-Team pressed the button.



And the Q-Team part of this scene is the same as when C-Team pressed the button. So I guess D-Team's scene is the only one that changes, to counterpoint whichever team they've being killed with.



Now that's a bloody mess.



Okay, moving on to new content now.

Music: Solitary Snail





It's after midnight.



Not just day, but year.







Welcome back, computer lady.









The shaky-cam effect is back on these shots.



[Computer Lady:] That is all.

SHIFT for Carlos, the lead SHIFTer on C-Team. SIX for Akane, for the bracelet number she had in 999. RING for Junpei, because he's weird and took a giant ring to Dcom with him. AGE for Q, because...? HEART for Mira, the Heart Ripper. LOVE for Eric, because his whole identity is wrapped around Mira. Note that these aren't the same as when they get killed by acid from C-Team or Q-Team pressing the button. Technically I guess that's a different action resulting in their deaths?







A bang and the screen shakes. Did Sigma just punch the wall or something?



Whatever, let's get out of here.



Or we can go look at the scoreboard first instead.

No...



She falls to her knees...

Diana, tell me one more time.



Technically, that's true. We made that choice, not her. What's Phi getting at here, though?



For a split second it was as if--



She's still shaking during this scene.





She just shakes her head.

Then maybe you hit your head somewhere...







What...? Alien hand?



hemispheres connect, is abnormal.



Remember, the right brain controls the left side, and the left controls the right. So if the communication paths that connect them are damaged, the left and right sides of your body may fall out of sync.



Like trying to put a shirt on with your right hand, but taking it off with your left... Grabbing onto a scalding pan with your right hand, while your left tries to make it let go...



Or something even stranger, when your right hand attempts to suffocate you, so you use your left to restrain it. I've heard of cases where it's happened.







When your right hand's choking you, and your left's trying to stop it, that would imply that the part of you that doesn't want to die is in the right brain.



But what if, in the left brain, there's another part of you buried inside that does want to die.



So if you ever ask that person, "Do you want to live or die,"



"Of course I want to live!"



Some cool visual shots to sync up with Phi's speech, showing the each half of her head one at a time.

If the center for speech is in the left brain, then I'm sure he'd say, "Hurry up and kill me!"



There's no way to know which one is the true self. Or, perhaps, it's more like they both are.





Have you ever considered... What if your body was split into left and right? In that moment, where would your consciousness go? Left, or right?



Uh, thanks Phi.











My mouth speaks for itself, regardless of what I want it to do.







Guess we can just look at the scoreboard again.



Well, like you said, it doesn't feel real... Hearing the announcement, or reading on the board...

You think these six might still be alive...?

Let's keep believing.

There's no point...



How do you know?

Well...



Another image flash from the morphogenetic field for Diana.



Music: Mischievousness (Consternation Remix)















Like Sigma said earlier, we shouldn't lose hope. Let's have faith that they're still alive. Besides...that's even more of a reason that we must keep going.



So we can go and bring back a rescue team?

Exactly.





One sec, let me scroll up.



There we go.





The X-Door slowly rises.



More weird fog coming out.



And it slams open with a bang.



All right, let's go!



Sure, let's run.

Music: Anxiousness 2nd Mix



Here's what's behind the X-Door when we haven't blown it up.



Suddenly, Diana stiffens.





Huh...?



Hey! Diana!



The X-Door has almost closed, is Diana going to make it?



There's a sound like Diana's tumbling along the floor to get under the door.

Music: Divulgation 2nd Mix





We can hear the TV's turn on.



Diana stands, recovered from her episode now.





It's an excellent strategy. Your actions in the Decontamination Room-- I'm surprised you thought of it so fast.

Is Zero somehow still here? Or did he pre-record this message, knowing this scenario would happen somehow?



At that moment, all you wanted was to get out quickly. To make that a reality, it just happened that the fastest way was to touch a yellow button and kill the other six participants.



However, pressing the button just like that would make you a murderer. A bad person. And even if you did escape after, in a court of law, what you did would be considered bad by judge and jury.





What you came up with was oh so simple. You simply needed multiple personalities.





But to casually bring up the topic of multiple personalities, no one would believe you. The only way to make it believable was to do something unbeneficial to you.



And that is why you refused to leave.



You saw all of that in advance...







Stabat mater dolorosa.



I will be awaiting that moment...



Yeah, I didn't think that one would end well, either.



And another fragment complete.



Two replays left. Going to revisit an Execution vote, or dive into one of the five new fragments left? Select the story fragment.




Extras:

Two new files from that fragment.



The translation of the Latin phrase. Another reference about Diana possibly being a mother?

The second file is just a long piece of text: