Purple hues and shadows painted the air as sunset fell and the contour of the clouds ignited into a hazy gold. Two girls joined her in the same attire, their brooding reflection piercing into a puddle. Three moons. The humming grew to a roar, heaving her out of sleep.

Above her glowed a faint orange from outside. Her body readjusted to the more familiar temperature, and Lip soon realized where she was. Her knees still felt pain from landing on the dirt the previous night. She slammed her fist slammed against the mattress, a low vibration shooting up her arm. Not only had their progress been lost, the fact that it could have been Lip's fault brought a wave of dread and shame throughout her body. Eventually she'd end up face to face with all them again, so she resolved to not ruin it the next time around.

~ ~ ~

Out of the corner of her eye, someone was staring at her; waiting for the school day to begin, Lip made an effort to not crack a grin.

"So… it's a secret?"

"Yes."

"What, did you meet a guy?"

She gave her a look. "That's not the only thing worth keeping a secret over."

"It's the only thing that ever happens at this school." ViVi scratched her head. "Well… today's different though - guess why."

She glanced over, holding back her irritation. "There's a new girl, and she rode your bus this morning."

"Okay, that's too much. Are you stalking me, or what?"

Before she could reply, a thought dawned upon her. The quicker she could get to ViVi with that can of cherries, the quicker she could discover where Jinsoul is and learn as much as she can about what else is out there.

~ ~ ~

Now beginning to understand the amount of time they'd waste before getting back to business, class couldn't be less interesting. Whether it was the occasional remark from the teacher about her mastery of today's topic or insignificant noises becoming more and more piercing, Lip began her search for the true ViVi.

When the last bell of the morning dismissed them for lunch, Lip grabbed her bag and shot out of the door. Taking her spot at her table, she rested her chin on her hands and scanned the river of students entering. After a short while, she noticed Jinsoul on the edge of a group, taking their place at the end of the line - Lip got up and walked over.

Noticing her, the true ViVi smiled and waved. The recent encounter with Jinsoul left a tense atmosphere, and being in that presence again was hard to ignore.

"Welcome back," she chuckled, nudging her in the arm. "You made a pretty good first impression there, taking the initiative pretty early. I'm afraid you'll have to get used to this whole system of resetting, though."

"Was it me? With the whole plan of finding Jinsoul and letting that other girl go?"

"I can't say for sure, but I didn't see anything go terrible on our side. You didn't do anything wrong, you'll be okay. How do you feel?"

Lip's mind went blank. "Feel? What do you mean?"

"No, it's nothing" ViVi continued, "but it's normal to feel shaken up or even a little nauseous the first few runs." She tilted her gaze down, then over to the tables. "Do you have your food already?"

"Oh… I thought I'd wait until we got back to grab something."

ViVi smiled. "That's fine, too, but we have food right from the start here, so most of us end up leaving after lunch," she said, leaving the line to grab a couple napkins. Returning, she slipped them underneath her water. "Let's just share it at the table."

After they ate, ViVi took the lead, taking her down the halls towards an empty staircase. They walked up until they reached a landing against the window, halfway between floors. She took off her bag and pulled out a plastic bag of cherries.

"I always find these in my kitchen at home, so I'll always be able to get us back," she explained, opening it up and handing one over. "Ordinarily, it'd just be a cherry, but not when we're intertwined as a part of this team we have going on."

"Aren't you sick of cherries at this point?" Lip inquired, mentally preparing herself.

"Not yet. If we don't find some other way of getting back and forth, though, it'll become an issue at some point." ViVi nudged her to her right, taking a couple steps while her eyes were fixed on something outside. When the moment came, ViVi took her own cherry and ate it, Lip soon after.

~ ~ ~

"So, what happened?" Lip asked.

"Wasn't me," Hyunjin scoffed, taking a bite of her sandwich. They had all settled in the living room, tossing up plans they could aim for next. Heejin took one couch sitting up while Haseul stretched her body length across it, resting her legs over Heejin's lap. Lip took the other couch and Hyunjin and ViVi sat on the carpet.

Heejin turned to face Kim Lip. "What happened last time? You came back late - I guess I had already fallen asleep waiting. Hyunjin?"

Her eyes wandered around the room, avoiding eye contact. "It looked like many had been there… but they left before we could talk to them." She looked at Lip, giving an anticipated expression. Lip raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

"Well, we'll have to go back sooner. Lip and ViVi can take a break for now, I'll go with Haseul and see if we can't find some answers." Heejin patted Haseul's leg. "We all exist, right? We're sitting here with a plan, pushing forward, trusting each other! If that means anything to you, we need to keep that hope burning bright - whatever happened to us, we've been played. I can't bear watching our efforts and our capabilities go to waste, and I can't bear living this life of injustice, where this act of… of psychological chaos goes unchecked. I live because of you all, and I'm going to get us out of this, okay? Let's burn ourselves, huh? Give them hell." She got up and jogged up the stairs, a spring in her step.

Haseul looked up from the carpet, giving off a smile and raising her fists, "Fighting!"

A chorus of "Fighting!" followed, ending their session on a bright note. ViVi leaned over and whispered something into Hyunjin's ear. Hyunjin's lips curled into a small pout as she shrugged.

"Alright, who's going to help cook," Hyunjin called out as she ran upstairs to send the two off. Lip and ViVi looked at each other, releasing themselves from their lying position and getting onto their feet.

"What?" Lip asked ViVi, still curious. She unfolded her shirt, the hem now covering her torso.

"Who's 'them'?"

~ ~ ~

From the kitchen, the sound of rustling plastic filled the room, followed by pops and clunks. Opened packs of ramen began to crowd the counter top.

"...One?" Hyunjin asked, referring to the lone pot on the stove.

"I've done it," replied ViVi, "but it's probably better with two. I mean, it's five people."

"I guess so…" she accepted, bending down to open the lower drawer again. Lip got the measuring cup, filled it up past 400ml, then set it in the pot. Doing it again for the second pot, she returned the cup to the shelf then went back to the couches. Again, a plan began to form in her mind, but the next step was out of her control.

Five minutes had passed. ViVi finished filling up the last bowl, and carried them to the table. Lip covered two with small lids to keep it warm until they came back. Hyunjin brought hers upstairs, as the time was approaching.

"Thank you all for the food," they exchanged amongst each other before pulling chopsticks out of their napkins. 

After they ate and began washing their bowls, a thud came from upstairs. Heejin and Haseul came down, a little winded. Heejin held a towel over her shoulder, dabbing her forehead.

"Nothing today, but we'll keep at it," she reminded. "Don't get your hopes down!"

Haseul retired at the couch, taking off her shoes. Lip went over to her, finding a spot on the carpet to cross her legs.

"Did you not find anything?"

Haseul peeked over at Heejin, now at the dining room table eating, before looking back. With a hushed voice, "We did, but we didn't have time. I don't think we were prepared either, it… it was a mansion, pretty far away from where we started. We had to jog most of the time, Heejin leading the way through trees and paths and hills. Something inside me knew it was the answer. It's probably where Yeojin is."

Lip took a moment to take it all in. "Then… how come Heejin doesn't do what needs to be done? I mean, if we're going to restart anyway, we should do as much as we can, see what it's all about. And if anyone's there and we show them more and more, then we can bring them back to us like we've always done."

"Heejin doesn't do anything rash. She swears everything has to be carried out the way it's meant to be." Haseul motioned towards Lip. "It doesn't have to be like that for you, though. You can teleport places, and all."

Lip chuckled. "What, with those things? You can't?" 

"Nope. Heejin's tried it on us all, and only ViVi had shown some form of success. She said it gave her headaches, though, so we've just played it safe with Hyunjin and her way of doing things." She pulled out her phone, "I'll text you a description of how to get there. Go with ViVi during the school day or something. Pack a lunch."

Haseul got up, looking at her dish of noodles. She looked back at Lip.

"And come back with something good."