There are two types of people. One type, when lost, relies on his own judgement and tries and retries until he gets it right. The other type storms to the nearest passer-by and asks for directions.

That's me!

"Ikoma-san, some hints, please?" I beg. But Izumi nudges me in the elbow.

"He can't very well give you hints unless you tell him what we're looking for," she whispers. And as usual, Izumi is right.

"There's this guy, he's our friend and he got hooked to a machine like you did and he ended up turning into a wonky serial killer and when he is in someone's mind there's, like, darkness surrounding him and it's creepy. He tried to kill me. Mr. Kobayashi said there's a way to turn him back to normal but it's hidden in your mind, so here we are. Help?" I finish in one breath. I feel a bit like Daisuke, who talks nonstop if given the chance.

"Ah, but the guy—what his horoscope sign?" Ikoma Four asks fondly.

"Is this the right time for that?" I exclaim, wanting to bang my head on the wall. "Libra."

"You have it memorized?" Izumi asks in surprise and I give her a "duh" look.

"And you—what your horoscope?" Ikoma Four prods.

"Scorpio," I reply lamely.

"Ah. Libra and Scorpio not very compatible! Horoscope book say, they clash and they are opposite, no happy future. Too bad!" Ikoma Four says and he sounds like the wind and I feel increasingly disoriented.

"This isn't the point," I try to explain patiently. "The point is that we need to solve his psychokiller problem, and quickly. Would be nice if we knew what keywords to type."

Ikoma Four sighs deeply, and I feel blown away. Literally. I almost fly out of the box, but thankfully Moosie has stepped into it and curled up behind me, purring in pure bliss (he likes his boxy very much), so with that big of a furry rumbling thing behind me I can't very well fly anywhere.

"I know, I know what happen to Libra guy. A tiny baby peach he is. He like me. Info dump into his head. With it come virus. I have virus too. It take over your mind, ah, like slimy things, creep over my lovely buildings. It bad. Baaaaaad. It bad so bad."

I tremble, not only because the sheer wind Ikoma Four's rich voice creates but also because if Shun starts speaking like Ikoma Four even after he recovers I would have no idea how to cope with that. I don't want him calling me a tiny baby peach anytime soon.

"And?" Izumi asks, twirling a strand of her long hair on one finger. The wind doesn't bother her at all and I wonder why. I can barely move against it and am completely flattened over the cat's warm, soft body, while she's just standing there like nothing's the matter.

"And it take over sanity, it split you into pieces, so many pieces, you see? There are so many mes in this city, I lose track! Perhaps the monsters, the octopi, they all me—all me! I do not know, I no clue, there just one of me, so many of them!"

The winds gets stronger and whinier as Ikoma Four's voice increases, resonates. It's lucky that Moosie has a paw over my body now or else I'd be blown straight into outer space.

"So, yes so you must be fast, fast indeed. There is no saving me now, it too late, it already ten years, this city is me, I am the city. But your Libra guy, he only have virus one day, there still is hope. You unhook him, did you not? You did it fast, it all good."

He's talking to me now, I realize, and I try to reply, but my voice sounds no louder than a mosquito's as I am slammed backwards even deeper into the warmth of tabby cat fur.

"The darkness, it take over fast, but it can be beat," Ikoma Four continues. "How to beat? I cannot know."

"You don't know?" I shout in dismay.

"Yamada cannot know. Kojima cannot know. They all bad people, they not know. They create darkness, they tell you they know how to cure, but they do not. They only think about destroy, they do not think about heal. Why heal? It do no good. They do not know."

"Then who does?" I ask in desperation, having a good idea what the answer is already but still unable to bring myself to hear it uttered.

No one does. It's hopeless.

Ikoma Four, however, seems to think otherwise.

"Ah, but my baby cotton puff, you do. You know."

Huh?

"I don't," I tell him.

"Ah, of course, you think you not know. But you know! You small sausage dog, you know. I cannot know, but I know you know. You different. You not like other student. You awake when other student sleep. You different, so you know, you are baby cotton puff, you are sausage dog."

I want to retort that I'm no sausage dog, but that's really quite beyond the point. The point is what Ikoma Four is trying to tell me, and from what I can decipher from it, I have to say that it makes no sense.

I get the "you wake when other student sleep" part—it refers to me being the only one not being brainwashed. But it didn't happen because I was extraordinarily smart, or knew things that others didn't. It happened simply because I was a fluke. Because I, like most of the other students who failed the entrance exam, don't belong in this school. I'm actually a normal Japanese student with nothing to be proud about—my classmates, on the other hand, are the ones that are truly "different".

"I'm not different," I try to explain, "I'm just too normal to be in this school. It doesn't mean that I 'know' anything."

Ikoma Four huffs, and I am thrown against Moosie once again. He smells like sunshine and dry hay and black sugar buns. Ikoma Four doesn't seem to notice my plight, too busy elaborating to care about the fact that every time he speaks I sink further into cat flesh.

"Ah, but you know, you know! You see, if you know what I know, then you know! So first you must know what I know. Type and search. It is why I tell you type and search. You see what I know, and you see what you know."

I'm not sure if it's because Ikoma Four's grammar is just unfortunate or if it's because the wind is getting unbearable, but my head is a muddled mess of thin noodles and I can barely open my eyes, let alone understand what Ikoma Four's breezy voice is trying to tell me. However, Izumi apparently understands right away.

"What he's saying is that even though he doesn't know how to save Shun, you do. But you don't think you do, because you're not Ikoma-san. Ikoma-san is the only one that knows that you know how to save Shun, because he knows things that you don't know. Perhaps it's because he understands Shun much better than you do. Perhaps it's because he understands you much better than you do. Therefore, what we should do is google Sakai Shun, and Watanabe Tomomi."

Izumi's voice is calm and gentle and sounds like a flute and it draws me back to sanity. As Ikoma Four has finally shut up, I am no longer flattened against the cat, though I feel a bit reluctant to leave his soft body. Moosie is reluctant to let me go too; he has a paw over me and is snoring with pure happiness and content.

I envy him, because he's so happy with his boxy. I, on the other hand, is less than happy.

I understand what Ikoma Four means now, but I almost wished I didn't.

He thinks I'm the only one who can find a solution to save Shun, as long as I am provided sufficient information.

It's because I'm the anomaly. Because I don't belong in this school. Because I'm not good enough for this school.

I wish it weren't me. Izumi would have been much better at finding a solution than I am. Natsumi and Anna as well. And Katsuki. Basically everyone else. Not me. I'm so not cut for this. The only thing I'm cut for is sitting in bed and reading manga and eating Pocky all afternoon.

But the feeling of a warm cat breathing softly behind my back gives me hope, so I follow Izumi's advice and begin to type.