<div class="floatright">(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/744/21289895508_9dc4ffab99.jpg)</div>Hoshino allowed herself to be led to where the young woman - hardly too much more than a girl really - sat sobbing.  Hoshino didn't recognize her, which she considered somewhat fortunate, entirely unaware that the sobbing girl would probably know who she was right away.<br/><br/>Kneeling, she placed her hands on her knees and spoke in a soft, calm voice.  "Miss....I'm Kagero; this is Artemis.  Are you on your own here?  Did anyone come with you?"  It was critical to find out if she had friends here; at the very least they could get her to someone who might be able to...to do what?  they couldn't escape, not without becoming brain dead or just dead!  She put the thought aside, ignoring the chilling words of the game designer.<em><strong>If you die in the game, you die in real life.</strong></em>A bad American horror movie.  That's what this felt like.  Except it wasn't, it was real, and her life - her best friend's life...this young woman's life were on the line.<br/><br/>Looking up at Sara, feelign the jolt of recognition she wasn't entirely prepared for, she spoke up.  "If we can't find her friends, perhaps she can come with us?"<em>Safety in number; that's all.  No, no it isn't; she's afraid, and I would be too, if I weren't who I am.  If I didn't have...</em>She pushed the thought away.  "I'd feel safer traveling in a group; especially after what I just heard."