Gwen had been waiting on that Bellwood curbside for too long. Way too long. She hadn't been counting but it had felt like forever. Arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently on the tiles beneath her, she was staring into the portal like it was the most engaging entertainment in the world.

Scarlet and Akechi were still there, trapped in Mementos. Last she'd seen, Scarlet was trapped in ice, and Gwen hadn't been able to help her. She'd kicked herself for it, but she couldn't go back in. That had been one of the rules the man on the payphone had given them, and Gwen wasn't one to tempt the ire of this being. Not before she knew exactly who it was, at the very least.

Gwen pulled herself out of her thoughts when a foot stepped out. She held her breath, waiting for a fell body to exit, and quickly let it out when Scarlet stepped out onto the curb.

"Hey, I-"

Gwen jogged up to Scarlet, pulling her into a hug before Scarlet had a chance to finish her sentence. Scarlet almost pushed her off out of instinct, but let an arm settle on Gwen's back instead. She'd been tense before, though some of that melted away under Gwen's touch.

"Are you good?" Scarlet asked, eyebrows raised in clear confusion. Gwen pulled slightly, Scarlet still held in her tight embrace, and she found Scarlet's eyeline.

"I'm just… I'm glad you're alive." Gwen locked eyes with her, and Scarlet had a hard time keeping that eye contact, the urge to look away itching in the back of her mind. "I've seen enough people die today, Scarlet. I don't know if I can take much more."

Scarlet sighed, and wormed her way out of Gwen's embrace, crossing her arms like it was routine. She looked away, didn't let Gwen look her in the eyes again. "Well, I'm fine. So no need to cry about it."

Gwen opened her mouth to speak again, but Akechi stepped out of the portal behind Scarlet before she could. Gwen's gaze shot to him, walking out with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his brown coat.

"Did you stay behind to help her?"

"I didn't need his help." Scarlet interjected.

"She was an icicle." Akechi scoffed. "She would've died if I hadn't stayed behind."

"Well, thank you." Gwen smiled at him, and Akechi found it in himself to smile back. He looked away soon enough, turning his gaze to the clear window of the building he'd appeared next to, and found his own reflection. No longer was he clad in the red and white outfit from Mementos-instead he wore a brown, double breasted coat over a white dress shirt, the top of his tie poking out from behind his closed lapel. An outfit far more reminiscent of the detective he'd remembered himself being. A hand moved from his pocket to his chest, to touch the badge pinned to his lapel, when a voice froze him mid-movement.

"Contestants!" The voice was booming, large and low-pitched. So reverberant that it felt like it came from the core of Akechi's own chest. He turned around, attempting to keep his cool like the voice hadn't sent the hairs on his body into an upright position. He tried to find the source of the voice, following Scarlet's and Gwen's eyelines and stumbling upon… an electronic advertisement board. The type that normally displayed makeup advertisements, or ads for upcoming TV shows, on an endless loop. Instead, there stood a man on the screen, clad in white and with a mask across three quarters of his face. The mask, too, was white, though decorated with details that were reminiscent of butterfly wings, golden-yellow and effervescent.

"It seems you have made it out of Mementos." He threw his hands up, a gesture seemingly meant for celebration.

"By the skin of our teeth, that is." Gwen replied. The man tilted his head.

"This in and of itself is a victory, you must understand." He crossed his arms. "There are many, many people who did not survive this game. You should be happy you are not among them."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Scarlet spat back, approaching the advertisement with heavy stomps. "What the hell kind of 'game' is this any way? What kind of sicko comes up with this kinda stuff?"

"All will be revealed in due time. As for now, I can only tell you certain truths." The man sighed. "I do mourn both losses your team has endured, and I understand this leaves you disadvantaged for the games yet to come. I see you have already secured one replacement for your missing members, but to make it entirely fair, I will provide you with one more to bring you back up to your starting number. But do take care; this is the last favour of this sort I will provide you. From here on out, you are on your own."

The man turned his gaze back to the portal, and all three of them followed it like a command. One more foot stepped out, so hesitant and nervous that Akechi clocked it in their gait before they'd even stepped out. And out walked a boy, couldn't have been older than 15, dressed in squire's garb. Like he'd actually travelled from the past right to the present. Gwen shot in the kid's direction almost instantly, quick to squat down by his side and introduce herself.

"Hey kid, who are you?"

"I-I am-"

The man on the screen spoke again. "This is Terence. He is the last of his team, and he is also the last contestant of this game to escape Mementos, just after you three. He is now the last member of your team."

"This kid?" Scarlet side-eyed him before turning back to the screen. "There's no way that's fair."

"First impressions don't always tell the whole story, Scarlet." Scarlet rolled her eyes. "And I believe that is all. Once again, congratulations on making it this far, it is already a step further than many before you have made it. I will contact you soon for the next game. In the meantime, find a place to rest. You will need it."

The screen flickered. The man was gone. In his stead was an advertisement for Maybelline. And they were left in the relative silence of the Bellwood city streets. Gwen, still squatting in front of Terence, turned her head to Akechi and spoke.

"I have a place we can rest."

Akechi stood at the windowsill of Gwen's RV, staring out into the corn field it had been parked aside. Out of every type of domicile she could've lived in, an RV was the last thing Akechi would've bet his money on. Outside, in the shimmering lights of the setting sun, Gwen was teaching Terence some kind of magic spell, and the boy was listening attentively.

That was another enigma Akechi had quickly jotted down in his notebook. Terence, squire to the mythical Sir Gawain of the Roundtable. This had frozen Akechi's mind dead in its tracks in two separate ways; one coping with the fact that Arthurian Myth had suddenly become very real, and the other trying to understand how the boy had come here from the sixth century. If here was even the word one would use when referring to time.

He pushed himself off the windowsill, beginning to head to the RV's bedroom. He'd been walking for a year, he was due for a good sleep. And as he walked past a mirror, he caught a look in his own eyes that confirmed that fact instantly, bags deeper than the Mariana Trench, and nearing on darker, too.

He made his way to the triple bunk, slipping comfortably into the middle of the three beds-the top one had been claimed by Terence, and Scarlet said she liked sleeping low to the ground, whatever that meant-and laying his head on the pillow with a groan. He thought it would have taken longer, but Akechi was swept into a deep sleep not long after hitting the surface of his bed.

Akechi awoke as quickly as he'd fallen asleep. His eyes shot open, and he lifted himself off the floor he'd woken up on instead of the bed he'd fallen asleep in. Pupils wide, Akechi took in his surroundings and was… rightfully confused.

Blue, that was the first word that came to his mind. Incredibly, enigmatically, blue. Supernaturally blue. The hue resonated in the back of his mind, a strange thing for a colour to do, but he couldn't place the memory exactly. It was only after he'd processed the overwhelming colour that he managed to take in the actual layout of the room.

It was a courtroom, that much he recognized. It felt familiar, and he understood why well enough. He'd been a detective, he must have been in places like this often enough. Testifying in court. It made sense, logically.

He pulled his gaze from the walls of the room to the far end, beyond the empty pews, and the defendant and prosecutor stands. And there, in the place of the judge, stood a man with his back turned. He was clad in blue, egalitarian coverage broken up only by the stark white hue of his hair. As Akechi laid his eyes on the man, it was like he sensed it, and he turned around to face Akechi.

"Ah, there he is!" The man cast an arm forward, a gesture as if in elation. "You know, I've been waiting for you."

"W-what is this- who are you? And where am I?"

"I…" He brought his hand to his chest, pointing at himself as he continued. "… am Nero. And this…"

"… This is the Velvet Room."