It had been three days and yet they'd found nothing. The Squip wasn't any help, refusing to even participate in their search of any information on the Squip's origins. Its lack of enthusiasm was almost starting to grate on his nerves and Michael wasn't fairing much better. He was on his second can of Monster, trying to write an essay while switching between a million tabs on anything that seemed even slightly relevant to the Squip. From across the room, Jeremy could hear Michael type, and pause, then frantically hitting the backspace key on his laptop.

"Well, that's the fourth time I accidentally started writing about the Squip in the middle of my essay." Michael took off his glasses and set them down, leaning back in his chair. "How's it going over there?"

"Uh, well..." Jeremy clicked through a few more tabs on his browser, trying to hide how frustrated he really felt. "I've... got nothing."

"Squip still refusing to help?"

"Yep."

"Did it say why?"

"I'm starting to think it's not allowed to know. Like in its programming or something. The good news is it isn't actively trying to stop us from finding anything." If there was anything to actually find. Jeremy had never researched something for so long and in depth in his life. He was starting to lose hope. In one more last-ditch attempt to uncover anything he went through his tabs one more time, scrolling quickly through the web pages, and closing them when they turned up nothing. Once his browser was clean he opened his bookmarks instead, looking through the make sure he hadn't missed anything.

Then he noticed it, at the very bottom of his list of bookmarked pages. He didn't recognize the link, but it had been added recently. Maybe he'd added it while half asleep? Jeremy clicked away and waited as a website that looked like it came out of the 90s slowly loaded up on his screen. It was ugly and outdated, with links at the top listed by decade, only going up to 1999. It was a site with scans of old newspapers, specifically from Alabama, and for the life of him, Jeremy couldn't understand why he'd bookmarked this. Yet he was out of options and it didn't hurt to give it a look through before giving up for the night.

He clicked the tab for the 1980s and dove in.

As he had assumed, nothing he found was particularly interesting or important. A couple hundred newspapers in and Jeremy felt like he was in a stupor, clicking through articles without fully comprehending what he was reading, only focused on finding the words "squip" or "pill" or something of the sort. He was going through them so fast he'd almost missed it.

He paused, hesitated, and then hit the back button a few times.

No. No. No. Wait. Maybe...

An article dated late 1989, from a town in Alabama he'd never heard of before. There was a picture of a man. Jeremy's heart was beating fast.

"Michael! Quick, I think I found something." Michael, who had his forehead pressed right up against his laptop screen, still typing away, pulled away and looked over.

"Hold on, let me see." Glasses shoved back onto his face, he moved over to Jeremy's side, so they could go over the article together.

"Local researcher found dead in his home office..." Jeremy read aloud, half mumbling in excitement. "Professor Ryoshi Sato was found dead in his home after failing to show up for his classes for a week. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound?" He and Michael glanced at each other.

"So why is this important?"

"That's... that's the guy from my dream." Jeremy pointed to the picture included with the article. The longer he stared at it the stronger the sensation of déjà vu took over his senses. "One of them, anyway. It doesn't say anything about what he was working on or... anything about the other guy."

"The one that looks like Squip?" Jeremy nodded.

"If this guy is... was... real, then the other one has to exist, too." Jeremy scrolled through the article a couple times, in case he missed something. It says he taught a college class? Maybe we can try to look up his students and see if they know anything. Michael?"

"I think we both need a break." Michael wasn't looking too hot. "We've been at this for three days and only just found something. Can we just have some instant noodles and play a game?" Jeremy wanted to say no. They were so close to answers now he could taste it. Why stop now?

-Squip, what do you think?-

About?

-The article. Do you recognize this Ryoshi guy? Think his students could give us a lead?-

I'm not sure what you're talking about, Jeremy.

-Right there, on the computer screen. Look!-

It doesn't look like anything to me.

Jeremy wasn't sure if the Squip was fucking with him or being serious. He looked at it, just as unbothered and chill as it usually was, then back at Michael, who was still waiting for an answer.

Okay. Fine. He could take a hint.

"You're right, Michael. Sorry." Jeremy shut his laptop and set it aside as he stood. "Let's get out of the dorm for a while. Want to try out that pho place? I'll pay."

"My lord and savior, Jeremy Heere." Michael's shoulders dropped, a relieved smile on his face. Maybe he was becoming a little too obsessed with this? Jeremy grabbed his wallet.

"Come on, let's go."

Just to prove to Michael, and to himself, that he wasn't completely obsessing over this, Jeremy declined to even mention Ryoshi, or the Squip, or anything else for a few days. Michael's mood was already improving, and despite it having been less than a week, Jeremy had forgotten how nice it felt to just relax after classes, playing video games with his friend. Even the Squip had eased into playing with them.

Well, sort of.

Jeremy was never a fan of grinding. He found it tedious and dull and preferred to just smash his way through things. The Squip, on the other hand, seemed to prefer it. The more tedious and boring a game was, the more the Squip seemed to enjoy it. Maybe it was a control thing. A completionism thing. Whatever the case, he was more than happy to let the Squip take control and take care of things he preferred not to do. It was kind of... like taking a nap but fully awake.

And a nap was exactly what he was looking forward to right now. He had a small gap in between his classes, enough to get a few Z's in before the Squip bombarded him with study sessions and practice tests. Jeremy was just about to enter his room, hand on the doorknob, when the Squip suddenly snapped at him.

Stop.

-What?-

Turn around and leave. Now. Quickly.

Confused and mildly alarmed, Jeremy pulled his hand away from the door, fully intending to turn around and speed walk down the hallway. Before he could move an inch further the door opened and someone reached out to grab his arm, grip solid and ironclad.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Jeremy stared, mouth halfway hanging open, at Alex. The Squip was shouting at him, but he didn't fully register what it was saying. Why was Alex in his dorm room? "Sorry about this part."

Before Jeremy could respond, he felt a sudden pain shoot through his left eye, cold and sharp, causing him to reel back and cover it with his free hand. Alex pulled him quickly into the room and shut the door behind them, not letting him go until Jeremy was standing in the middle of it. His eye was watery and blurry and he blinked it several times as he glanced around the room.

It was a complete and utter disaster. Trashed. Their mattresses upturned, garbage emptied all over the floor, every bag, box, and bin opened with their contents extruded all over the place. What. What.

"Are you robbing us!?" Jeremy rubbed his aching eye furiously. Alex just watched him and smiled.

"No. I am, a little yes, but no. I'm here to help you, Jeremy." Jeremy stared back, hands dropping to his side, incredulous.

"Help? H-how, what, how did you- What." Wait. Where was the Squip? He hadn't heard it say anything since...

-Squip? Hello? Activate! Hello???-

Nothing. Dead silence. Jeremy felt panic begin to coil in his belly.

"Don't freak out, it's only temporary. I can't talk to you while it's active."

"Y-y-y-you knew?"

"I knew before I met you."

"What do you want?" Breathe. Keep breathing. Don't panic. Don't panic.

"You opened the link I saved on your laptop. You probably have a lot of questions." Jeremy wanted to laugh. "You can answer them, but not the way you are. Not the way your Squip is." Alex tapped at his temple and took a step toward him. Jeremy reflexively took a step back. "Don't you want to unlock your Squip's potential? Don't you want to know its history? Where it came from?"

Alex continued to step closer and Jeremy moved away, trying not to trip over the mess on the floor until his back was pressed up against the wall. Fuck, Alex was crazy. He sounded like Rich in the bathroom back in high school, when he'd first learned about the Squip. They were inches apart now and Alex pressed his hands against the wall on either side, trapping him. Oh, sweet Jesus, why was this happening?

"I've got a solution for you." Alex carefully reached into his pocket, pulled something out clenched in his fist, then grabbed one of Jeremy's hands. "Think of it as an upgrade for your Squip. Take it with Mountain Dew. You know the drill." Alex's eyes seemed to twinkle in amusement. "But I would take it next to a soft surface if I were you."

"Y-you, have you... Did you, um, upgrade? Your Squip?" Alex leaned in close to his ear.

"I don't have a Squip, Jeremy." And then he pulled back, moved away, stepping over debris to Michael's desk. "I am one."

Jeremy watched dumbly as Alex picked up a stack of laptops. His and Michael's.

"Also, I'm taking these."

"What? Why?" His voice sounded strange and distant in his ears.

"I need to destroy them." Alex shoved the laptops into the messenger bag resting at his hip. "Later, Jeremy." He waved, back turned, and stepped out the door, closing with a soft click.

For a solid minute, Jeremy was unable to move, too dumbfounded to do much of anything. His mind seemed to finally register that his hand was clamped tight in a fist, so he held it up, carefully unfurling his fingers to reveal a red pill, shiny and oblong. It smelled like artificial cherry.

What the fuck.