Michelle found herself back at the Alpha Dungeon the next day, starting relatively early. Nin, and later Reese, had helped her clear her mind the day before, as promised, but they wouldn't have ever promised that they could do anything or fix anything.

  The portal exterior and entrance lobby were the same as she had ever seen them, but when Michelle entered the Fool's Run lobby, she couldn't help stopping to stare.

  A man was lifted up off of the ground by a thin, translucent blue column, ending on just a slightly wider blunt tip at the top and bottom. He sat at the top, cross-legged, like he was meditating; aside from the pole, she didn't see any signs of energy or skill use, and yet there he sat. The few people in the area largely kept away from him, though plenty gave him or the pole strange looks as they passed. And Michelle couldn't help feeling like something even more than that was off.

  It wasn't exactly an active time of day, and nobody was hanging around the door, so Michelle moved down the stairs and found the first person who seemed to be paying attention to the man but who was otherwise idle. "What's with him?" she asked, not sure how to be anything but blunt about it.

  "Just some Soulforged," the man replied. "I've heard there's a Fairy Dungeon portal somewhere up there, but I don't think it's where he is. Sometimes people go looking for it, like there's going to be some kind of weird event if they just so happen to get close to it." He scoffed. "From what I hear, Fairy Dungeon portals are all over the normal Dungeons, and people don't get sucked into them at random. Not sure why it would be different here, except that Fairies sometimes visit him."

  Visit? Michelle looked up and around, wondering if she'd see or sense something off, but the room seemed normal. "Has he said anything?"

  "Who? The guy, or the Administrator?"

  The Administrator. Of course, most people weren't even on a first-name basis with him. "Either," she said, not entirely sure why she felt embarrassed, and yet she did.

  "I wasn't here when the guy went up, so I don't know. For sure Alpha hasn't just shown up out of nowhere to comment. Not sure why he would."

  I could make him appear just by saying his name. And he's definitely watching anyway. Michelle shook her head. Jenna's advice to talk with him, and her seeming insistence that Jerry was still just a guy who needed friends, had been itching at the back of her mind since she woke up. For the most part, when they'd talked in and before her Tutorial Run, it had been... focused. She hadn't been interested in pestering him, and he hadn't been pushy.

  "Thanks," Michelle said, still looking at the Soulforged's pillar, if not up at the man himself. In truth, her thoughts were elsewhere. After another moment of standing there awkwardly, she turned towards the practice area, wondering what she should say or do, not just about the Run, or this random dude, but about anything.

  And everything.

  Instead of worrying about it, for the moment, she moved towards the pair of assistants by the entrance, though she took the long way, coming close enough to get a vague sense of the energy behind the Soulforged's pillar.

  Nin would have said chi, or something. Michelle didn't know, or care. It's not like she was really interested in that kind of stuff. But she couldn't help feeling like it trembled within the column. Like it was strained. She glanced at it in passing, but contented herself with that. It wasn't like it mattered much.

  There was something else off in the room, and she thought she felt something ping, not with the pillar or the man on top, but somewhere else. She paused, but chose not to turn or look. Even so, she felt something shift behind her, like it had noticed the hesitation. Whatever it was, it seemed... rough, unpleasant.

  She tried to put it out of mind, and moved up to the Assistant. "Can I have a practice room again? Like last time."

  "Of course," the woman said, with a nod and smile. "Don't worry. You'll be safe."

  That... those words seemed out of place, or they would have at any other time. Michelle just smiled, nervously, and ducked her head in thanks, then moved straight at the nearest entrance. Even before she started moving, though, the strange sense behind her seemed to blur, and then fade away.

  She was surprised, and yet a little bit not surprised, that he was waiting in the room when she showed up. She was... more surprised at the way he looked.

  "Sorry about that." Jerry Applebee, Administrator Alpha, was doing a headstand, arms wide, legs spread and bowed like they were crab claws. "Technically, I allow that kind of behavior from them, but it's pretty rude."

  She just looked at him for a long moment.

  "Oh, right, the pose." The Administrator's body suddenly jerked, and then he flipped back onto his feet, looking halfway normal for a moment, before seeming to... dull again. "Sorry. It's the equivalent of T-posing for this body. I just chose something absurd to annoy people who can't take a joke."

  "I guess I heard about that somewhere." It... sort of sounded familiar. And now that she was thinking about it, she might have seen a picture of it. But it was very, very different to walk into a room and see an actual person doing it.

  There was a long, awkward moment, and Michelle realized she'd almost forgotten the topic.

  "So what was it? Back there."

  "There are some occultists who are trying to find others by basically making weird spiritual noises to see if anyone notices. They're usually also kind of cracked, but then, so was I." He sighed, though the motion came off as inauthentic, almost programmed. "When you seemed to be trying to sense the Soulforged projection, without any obvious skill use, he decided to test you."

  "I..." Michelle shook her head.

  "You probably don't see the point, and most people wouldn't. Some occultists tend to think of themselves and their kind as special. Not just people with a skill or ability, but chosen ones, manipulators of fate, conquerors of gods, shit like that. Some of them are pretty obvious liars, and some of them are just flat-out crazy. Others... who knows. If you start listening to their shit, it becomes hard to tell what's real or fake, not just about psychic stuff or Dungeons, but all of reality. I don't exactly want to be associated with them, but just throwing them out in the cold only makes them feel more rebellious." He sighed, and Michelle was sure it was exactly the same as the last sigh.

  She considered all of that, and shook her head. "So that person now knows... what? That I can sense things?"

  "He doesn't know anything. But for him and anyone watching who could also sense the pulse, it was pretty obvious you felt it."

  That... was creepy. A lot more than she was expecting, really. "Was there anyone else watching? That could sense it?"

  "He's part of a group, but the others weren't looking until after. I think the only other person who noticed was Arin." He paused only a moment. "That's the Soulforged who was on the pillar. He was just meditating. Mostly."

  Michelle filed that away, but decided almost none of that mattered right now. "Do you think they're going to bother me?"

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  "They'll try to talk to you. I've given them all a talk before about doing anything to hurt people or creep them out, and while Louise doesn't think they're all innocent – and I don't either – they all seemed to get the point that I know who they are and will know if they do anything bad." A third, identical sigh. "If you get confronted by them, insist on having a meeting in the Dungeon, mine or Trinity's. If you feel threatened, call for Slenderman. And if you know anyone else who might be sensitive, give them the same advice."

  That was Nin for sure; she didn't think Reese was the type. Her mother... given the way she often barreled into things, she wasn't the type that Michelle would have called sensitive, even if that wasn't the same thing. She looked away. "What about Nikki and Jenna?"

  "Jenna has no sense for it, though she's done a fair bit of reading. Nikki has just a tiny bit of a sense, but she's not really interested. Jenna asked me to test their whole group at some point."

  Michelle shook her head. "So, what... this is some kind of weird spiritual sense, then? And it's real."

  "I can tell you that it's real, and other things I figured out for myself. But as an Administrator, there are things I know that I can't tell you. Sorry." The avatar gave a well-practiced head tilt and sad smile, that reset itself very precisely after a moment. "Technically, I work for the enemy. Kind of. Not really."

  "This is all..." she turned at sat on one of the padded benches on the right hand side of the room. "I don't know what to say."

  "I know. Best advice I can give you is that life goes on. Everything that was true yesterday continues to be true. They're going to be weird about it, because they kind of want to think they're gonna end up the chosen heroes, but compared to Dungeoneer abilities, it's little enough. This isn't some Jedi thing where spiritual senses make you able to deflect bullets. What it really takes is hard work and practice." Another perfect sigh.

  "You sigh a lot," Michelle noted dryly.

  "When I'm not in my body, I'm basically texting, with a limited selection of emotes. If I wanted, I could make a whole lot of them, but there's no point. It's obvious I'm not in there, so all I really want to do is add tone indicators." Another sigh. "If I just said that this whole thing is exhausting, it would somehow come off as even more insincere than an obviously canned sigh."

  Michelle studied the Administrator's Avatar. In truth, it really looked very... NPC-ish. Standing perfectly at attention, in a kind of neutral pose, but somehow too... still. It didn't make sense, and she wasn't sure she cared, but...

  "Okay," she said, shaking her head. "Whatever. Can I ask a question?"

  "Of course." Jerry sounded sincere.

  She considered for a minute before simply asking, "How's your fairy friend?"

  A moment passed, and then Jerry's body obviously came to life a little, just enough to give a somewhat genuine, shy smile. "Merry's good. She and Louise – that's my Fiance, you probably heard about her recently – they've both been looking into some things, chasing down a mystery from a couple different angles. I guess I should say that when I became Administrator, Merry essentially became a Dungeoneer. That's not easy for fairies; even I can't just replicate the power source that makes her 'real', because we can't really understand fairies at all. When you met her, she was basically a kind of Dungeon spirit; she was real, but very foreign, and weirdly limited. Now she's as physical as anyone else, just smaller, and she's out making friends and exploring Dungeons."

  Michelle nodded. "Is it true there are basically, like... fairy eggs or whatever out there?"

  "Sure. Most Dungeoneer classes can't hatch them, on their own. Soulforged can, and some others. You might be able to swing it if you tried really, really hard, but it's dangerous, hurts like hell, and oh by the way, you wouldn't be able to bring your new fairy friend into the Fool's Run."

  "Why not? Because they're bound to your real body?" She'd seen Merry more or less enter and exit Jerry's body, back then.

  "That, and they're way too powerful in the Run. Even newborns." Another sigh. "I was kind of hoping that it would be something Merry and I could do together, but fairies... well, let's just say they would have to hold back, a lot. It pretty much wouldn't be fun for them at all."

  Fun. That seemed an odd thing to be concerned about, but Michelle just closed her eyes and tried to focus. Every word out of Jerry's mouth... it felt like there was a whole unspoken world that she was miles away from understanding, all of it centered around the man standing in the room with her. What the hell was she supposed to do in this kind of situation?

  A memory of Jenna in the yogurt place, mumbling to herself and turning away, flickered through her mind, and she glanced away, asking in spite of herself.

  "Jenna said people were trying to kill you?"

  She could almost feel a little shock in the air of the room, but Jerry laughed. It didn't feel like a perfect, canned laugh, either, though it wasn't fully real. "Yeah, well," he said. "Let's say I haven't exactly been making friends."

  "Like the thing with Administrator Ventos?"

  Jerry scoffed at that. "Vitor – sorry, Administrator Rosa dos Ventos – he and I aren't enemies, but we aren't friends. Tian and I are on much shakier grounds. No, it's mostly the USDA and a few painfully obvious conspiracies around the world, each of which have subtly different reasons. The USDA wanted me to be a puppet and are furious that I'm not a slave like Tian is to the Chinese."

  Michelle went cold. "The US government is trying to kill you?"

  "Well, a conspiracy of people that includes some of the higher-ups." He didn't even pause. "Don't concern yourself with it much. It's not like you could do much to help right now, and I appreciate that you and Jenna care, but believe me, my life isn't in jeopardy. My sanity..." He grimaced, not quite so mechanically. "I mean that dramatically, not literally. There are people who'll genuinely let the world burn if they aren't allowed to be the ones in charge. I've examined some of their minds, and it goes beyond not making sense. If not for the fact that the Star ate most of the world's ghosts and demons when it arrived, I'd wonder if it were something like that. They're just... twisted. Again, it's not your problem, and I'm not in any danger."

  "How can you be sure?"

  "I have my ways." He grinned, and the expression did fill his face, even if it didn't seem to extend into any other part of his body. "I know all of this is too much for you anyway. Believe me, I have my own experiences with getting dumped into an enormous steaming pile of someone else's problems. At some point you can only try not to get too much of it on you." He shrugged. "The USDA... to a certain extent, they really do mean well. They don't seem to be dragging anyone else into this, just coming at me directly. So you can put that all out of mind." He paused. "Nikki came in looking for you. Do you want to let her in?"

  Michelle blinked and looked up at him. "If you don't mind."

  "I don't. She doesn't usually chat with me unless she's with Jenna, but we do talk sometimes." He glanced towards the door, and a moment later, the door slid open and Nikki stepped out.

  "Oh, Jerry." She nodded, and looked to Michelle. "You're not unloading on her, are you?"

  "She asked." He shrugged, and after a moment, Michelle could kind of tell something snapped back into place. He felt... mechanical again, suddenly. "But you're right. Michelle, I'm sorry. I tend to be... a little too open with problems that nobody else should have to deal with."

  "I bet none of it is even anything she can tease her friends with." Nikki moved past and sat on the next bench over from Michelle. "You don't tend to spread the interesting secrets."

  "I have... a little." Jerry's voice was... guarded. "I didn't give her the fun one, though."

  Michelle couldn't help but be baited by that. "The fun one?"

  "Mm." For a moment, Jerry obviously snapped into his body, and he suddenly had a wry sneer. He leaned forward, almost conspiratorially. "Michelle Takoyaki. What would you say if I told you the fate of the world changed because I beat an eldritch being in a children's card game?"

  Michelle felt her mind freeze up at that. Was... no, she was sure he was serious. From context if nothing else. "What?"

  Nikki just threw her head back and cackled.

  Michelle kept staring at Jerry, who posed dramatically, in way that made no sense but seemed very... anime-inspired. "I heard there was an alien card game played by forces of unimaginable power, and because I'm a child billionaire in charge of one-fourteenth of the world's Dungeons, I obviously had nothing better to do than go check it out."

  Michelle was now quite convinced that he was quoting something, and wasn't exactly sure what to make of that fact. "Is this a reference to something?"

  "An old parody of an already silly show." Jerry stopped posing. "I'm not going to explain any of this, of course. I'm just going to secretly enjoy the fact that you are now aware that I changed the world by winning in a children's card game." He shook his head, ruefully. "Learn to embrace the craziness of the world, Chelle. It's going to be there whether you're ready for it, or not." He lifted his hand and headed for the door. "Let me know if you two need anything."

  Michelle watched him go, and then, with some dread, looked over at Nikki.

  "Is he always like this?"

  "It's that, or he clams up like an awkward teenager." She shrugged. "Not many people know the man, and I probably don't deserve to call myself one of them, but he definitely lives that advice about embracing the craziness. I think if he didn't, nobody would have ever heard of him. It made him an Administrator, and..." she paused. "I guess I shouldn't spoil anything. Not that it matters, anyway." Nikki leaned back into the bench. "I'm betting you aren't going to be in the headspace to be thinking about the Run for a bit, are you?"

  Michelle considered that question. It felt... mostly like shock. She stood up, shook her head, walked back and forth for a minute, trying to make her head engage, and for a long moment, it didn't want to. Slowly, she gathered enough of her senses to decide on a priority. She turned to look at Nikki, and asked, in a strangled voice,

  "A children's card game?"

  Nikki just laughed.

  Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. Which I, admittedly, have really not watched much of, nor have I watched the original show or played the card game itself. But I know that in the Abridged series, characters constantly refers to Duel Monsters as "a children's card game" instead of by name to highlight the absurdity of it, and that seemed like an excellent fit here, especially given that it is a lore-accurate description.