Looking over, they found themselves lying on the sidewalk. Judging from how few people were out, Lip figured it couldn't be too late in the afternoon. Across the street sat ViVi's bus stop, customers entering the café "Morning Flower" behind it. Jinsoul slowly got up, extending an arm out to help Lip. Once on her feet, Lip led the way back.

She twisted her bag around to the front of her body, to open the zipper. There, she pulled out her phone and checked the messages. Various texts began updating - 6 unread from Dongeun about missing school and various things that have been happening, as well as 2 very frightened messages from her mother. To what lengths she'd have to try and explain everything - a nightmare the longer she considered their reactions.

"Watch out, watch out," Jinsoul grabbed her shoulder, guiding her away from a collision with a tree.

To Shin, "I'll be back. Let's hang out sometime when I'm able to." Again, a surge of annoyance at this whole situation began to rise inside. No matter what happens, nothing will be the same - whether or not she stays with the girls or forgets this all happened, neither choice seemed much better than the other. Again, she had let the ball drop.

Reaching the house, she rapped on the door. Footsteps, then Haseul's face appeared on the other side, an inattentive expression across her face. They both walked in, the door suddenly slamming shut from the breeze.

"So -" Jinsoul started.

"ViVi's gone." Haseul stated.

Heejin turned to look, then held up her hands. "It's not your fault -"

"Oh, God …" Lip whispered.

"Listen, listen, they were going to have their way no matter what, you couldn't have seen it coming."

"What about you? You haven't seen it happen before?"

"Yes, but -"

"And it wasn't a problem, then?"

"If they don't think they're in control, they get reckless, so we had to make an exchange. We're getting ViVi back, obviously, and they'll be on our side when the day comes - they just need to be convinced, like the rest of you had to be."

Lip only managed to stay still for a few more seconds before shaking her head and marching upstairs to her room. Face first, she let her frustration out on the pillow... then the mattress... then finally sank into the bed completely. She let her body fall limp, growing drowsy and falling asleep soon after.

~ ~ ~

Flashes of light disoriented her, cycling her vision between a complete white and complete darkness. Someone's voice came through, but it was too far away for any words to be distinguished. Lip couldn't feel her body, suddenly coming to terms that she was watching from a distance, locked in this state. A wave of panic struck her, pulling her towards ideas of a seizure, a coma, or even death. When this had passed, her vision began to clear, opening up to someone's bedroom. ViVi sat on the top of a bed, sunlight filtering through onto the undone covers. She wore a dark, teal case on her back, as one would a backpack. Lip shifted her focus back on the room, entirely convinced something was important about it - entirely soothed by the dream, however, nothing gave her reason to worry.

To her right, she heard the click of a door open - alerts sounded off in a panic, but Lip made no effort. A couple steps, then ViVi turned to look - out of the corner of her eye, Yves stepped into her line of sight, sitting next to her.

"Nothing?" Yves asked.

ViVi shook her head, "She isn't awake yet."

Outside, a light snow began to fall from the sky, splitting the room into piercing light and shadow. Two kids in coats opened their umbrellas and marched down the street towards a bus stop.

~ ~ ~

At some late hour, Lip woke. A shiver came over her in a breeze - to her right, the window had been opened, lightly swaying with each gust. Feeling a numb pain at her shins, she looked up to see Jinsoul resting her head there. She held up her phone with her headphones plugged in, suddenly turning to make eye contact.

    "Had a nice dream?"

    Clearing , she dragged her palms down her face, tracing the outline of her nose and mouth before pushing herself into an upright position.

    "I… can't really remember."

    Jinsoul grunted, lifting her head to sit up as well. "They made dinner downstairs, if you want any. Oh," she realized, pulling her earphones out and looking towards her, "we're planning on going to some amusement park tomorrow, to clear our heads."

    At this, Lip was at a loss. "... Right now? With all that's been going on? With what just happened?"

    "Especially because of what just happened," Jinsoul remarked, although something about her expression wasn't entirely convincing. "I think we're all shaken up a bit, and we really can't trust ourselves to make bold decisions in the heat of the moment. It's always been a big mess."

    Unsure of how to process, Lip simply decided she was hungry.

~ ~ ~

    After dinner had passed, they all decided to pack for the upcoming trip - Lip was paired up with Hyunjin - Lip sat in her room as she packed. She was hopeful that the more energetic, playful side of Hyunjin might creep out as the day went on. Outside the window, a red sunset had died down to an empty black. All the while, Lip couldn't shake the presence that had made a home at the back of her mind - no matter what she did to move on, that missing key taunted her wherever she went. Gazing out into the night, it only seemed to grow more clear and impatient, yet still unrecognizable.

    She turned to Hyunjin. "Have you ever had a moment where you could feel an extra layer of… importance, in doing something? Like, that what you'd be doing would really carry out into the future?"

    Hyunjin was busy choosing clothes to wear, but she took a moment. "Well, I hope later in life I can experience it, in making things more worthwhile. But off the top of my head, no, I don't think I have. Why?"

    "I just had this dream, and I can't remember anything about it - but when I woke up, I still felt that it was significant. Either it was from my past, or about people I knew… but again, I couldn't put my finger on anything."

    Hyunjin zipped up her bag then placed it near her door. "I'm sure every dream feels real while you're in it. But dream or no dream, the subconscious is a very tricky idea to tie down. When a spark of inspiration hits or you finally remember something, your subconscious has probably been working tirelessly in the background, sifting through all that information your mind has taken in." Though she probably thought herself crazy as she continued going on, Lip let her words sink in. "It's a good thing our minds file away most of the information we take in, though. Once we adjust to one thing or another, we start blocking out repeated patterns so that we don't feel overloaded. If I asked you how many things I've put in my bag, would you be able to answer?"

    Snapping back into the moment, Lip shook her head.

    "Exactly. It's all I've done for the past ten minutes, and your mind at some point decided that it simply wasn't necessary to know. Personally, I don't know either because I always have everything important in my bag at all times anyway and all I've done is make it heavier. My point is - if you're looking for something, don't leave out information. Gather everything together, make the connections, and take it all the way back to the source. Ever since we've started this whole thing, I realized I've begun my search for something, probably important like your dream. Before this whole world goes back to anything more normal, I'd like to find it. I'd like everything I've learned about you all and how this world works to mean something."

She took a breath. "This all has to mean something, right?"