Remember when bunnies were simply cute and fluffy? Me neither. Let's Play Virtue's Last Reward!

Strap yourselves in, guys, and prepare for a blast from the past with some super happy fun(yarinpa) time!





Clover refuses to disclose the exact relationship she has with Alice, yet reveals something like that? Man, are her priorities are out of whack.



Or maybe she's simply a troll.









B-but the end of 999! It all made sense then! Sort of!



Because 999. :C





Necklace. How do you work.



Seriously. Is it moulded into that shape or...?

I think at this point the more questions we have about Alice's boobs, the less answers we get.

Maybe Alice is actually a statue so the necklace is part of her body and then people mistook her for a mummy queen when they found her.
I think that makes sense.

Well, Alice, you wear nothing on top except for a vaguely sentient gold necklace, a white jacket, and gold bangles.

Nobody else in the modern world would do that without feeling at least a bit self-conscious. We're onto you.

It's possibly a sign of how jaded I've become to JRPG fashion that the biggest question I have with Alice is, y'know, isn't that cold? And chafing? I know I wouldn't want metal up against my nipples as I'm wandering about. Also, it's one of those outfits that just lets you know that the character designer was male.

Popping in to say that the artist/character designer, Kinu Nishimura, is a female.
And now I got back in to lurk mode.

Wow. I stand corrected! Also very confused. That is not an outfit that I would have ever considered a woman coming up with.

Not gonna lie, I can see how a woman could've come up with it - at least in the context of these games:

"I'm ready to get to work on the character designs. Got the notes on the characters ready?"
"Yup, got them right here. Might want to be a bit careful with how you handle Alice though."
"Why? Lemme see her notes...attractive older woman, references to Ancient Egypt...what would I need to be careful with?"
"Oh, she's sort of a spiritual successor to Lotus, and her outfit design was considered a little...risque, if you will. It's gonna be tough to reference that without making them look too similar."
"........CHALLENGE ACCEPTED."

Or maybe that's just me, I dunno.

Google image search Kinu Nishumura and Alice's outfit starts to not look so bad. :p
Maybe Nishimura just likes the female body?

For example:

I don't get skimpy armor on females. It's impractical and you never see it on guys. The guys get heavy armor that can protect them from dragons while the girls get armor that will cause them burned to death by the same dragons. It's really unfair toward women.

I've never understood it either. And the more revealing you get in the three basic forms of Skimpy Lady-Armor the dumber it becomes. Midriff-baring chainmail and leather miniskirts are impractical, metal bikinis are ridiculous, and thongs and metal pasties are so pointless that the woman'd probably be safer naked! *grumbles and goes back to designing she-warriors in lamellar*

That outfit just broke my brain. How? Why? Are her vital organs located in her neck? Were those metal pasties melded straight onto her boobs while still hot enough to be pliable? HOW IS THAT BELT EVEN STAYING UP?

Now that I look back in the other pictures, Alice's necklace is slightly curved and molded over her chest. Maybe it's just a really life like tattoo? Or a piece of clay she molded when Clover took her aside about her lack of shirt under the jacket. At least with the necklace everyone has something else to look at.

Edit: Re: The belt. It is totally not staying up, thus why she has her leg half raised. She probably has to run around and fight on one leg or something.

Then that means she's not wearing a shirt and running with her boobs out, scarring Quark. Yeah, great role model Alice!

Honestly, I doubt we'd be paying as much attention to Alice's chest if she did just go around with her boobs completely uncovered. The necklace pretty much compels us to keep staring at it so that we can figure out how it works, and by extension, we stare at a 3D model's boobs for far longer than is probably acceptable.

That is especially weird for me because I'm a gay guy. Boobs don't interest me. So the fact that I am staring a woman's chest is all the more stranger.

What kills me about the picture up above is that the lady in question has heavy gauntlets and a full gorget, both of which are attached to nothing. And all her vital organs (not too mention the boobies) are just hangin' out there for the stabbing. Not to mention the posture and expression says 'sex object' and not 'women with honking big sword who is gonna stab you'. Sigh.

Anyway, it does make Alice look outright reasonable.

And this is why females with full body armor get all of my respect and 50% increase in the probability that she will end up my favorite character.

Alice tires of all the talk about her boobs being All Ice, so the six make their way to warehouse B and have a look around.



Yep, there's the ketchup graffiti.



And the white Chromatic Doors. Hopefully we'll live long enough to go through them this time.

With Dio here, there's no one to be a dick and open the AB gates prematurely, so the group have a decent opportunity to inspect the place before making their way back to warehouse A.



It's so nice when someone is happy to see us. Right, Dio?



That kid better not have a case of yandere eyes again.



Oh. That's bad. But at least it's not yandere eyes.

Tenmyouji freaks out and rushes to the infirmary, where Clover is watching over Quark.



No one knows what's wrong with him, and despite the infirmary being pretty well-equipped, there's not much they can do without a doctor.



But never fear, it's Luna the not exactly a coroner or a doctor or a nurse to the rescue!





And to help her out is our good friend, the conveniently functional medical scanner.







Y'know, I might have to start taking bets on what is going to kill us first.

According to the ADAM, the only way to counteract the Radical-6 is to inject Quark with an anti-viral serum called Axelavir. Unfortunately, none of the rooms the captives have been in so far have had any. Everyone is at a loss, until Phi mentions the pods in the treatment centre.



He can be healed through the power of technologies! Alas, Sigme's rare stroke of genius is suddenly interrupted by Luna.





Uh... I hope I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing...



The yandere eyes. It has begun.





I don't see how a scalpel is going t—



OH GOD WHY



Sigme. I'm so proud of you, man.

While the others are still standing around being all, "Quark? D:" Sigme dives in and manages to grab Quark's arm before the scalpel can do any damage.







Quark's voice gets increasingly desperate as he screams and struggles against Sigme.

What. NO! Why!
Good going Sigme!

And that armor... I was going to mention how all that metal directly on her skin has to make cuts, especially since she's probably supposed to have soft delicate skin, and her hair has got to get entangled with all that ornamental armor, which means she'll pull at least a couple hairs out every time she moves, and, well boobs still don't work that way. But there is actually no way she could keep those clothes on, even while standing still. And how is a person supposed to breathe with that around his/her neck?
Alice's boobs defy gravity. Even if they were glued to that necklace AND to each other, they just wouldn't look like that. And besides that, it would be extremely uncomfortable to walk around with boobs that big without a bra.

Oh god Quark stop it D:
You're my favorite STOP TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF

I wonder if his freak-out last time was due to the virus, too... And then he ran off and nobody could find him... meaning he would probably be dead by the time we got to him ...?

Go Sigme go! You may be terrible at opening doors, but if you can keep the obviously delirious/delusional kid alive then you're good in my book! Actually we're probably lucky it was Quark who got infected, I don't think Sigme could handle keeping anyone else at bay like this.

Quark. :(

The voice acting on this part is pretty heartbreaking, too. There's nothing like a little kid shrieking for people to kill him to give you the creepys.

No, :( , Quark can't die!

I bet that we are going to become infected with the virus, stabbed in the back by a knife, blown up to pieces by bombs, while we watch K walk out the door with a his adorable bunny ride, by himself.

Hey guys? Could use a little help here. Being a hero loses some of its awesomeness when a flailing suicidal kid stabs you in the face with a scalpel.



There's the scalpel taken care of. Now about the flailing suicidal kid...







Sorry little dude, but people like you so we can't have you dying.







Crisis averted. Now let's get Quark to the magical healing pods before he wakes up and tries to hurt himself again.





For the love of—

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

No no no.

First, we'll be infected. Then after going sufficiently loopy we will be stabbed in the back by Alice, because that's what Alice does. Then we will be jabbed by the bracelet and given the death drug (the sleep drug will fail to be injected because... because). THEN we'll get to see K leave. As the number 9 door opens, it will reveal a stunningly beautiful sunset, which K will swiftly ride towards on his trusty bunny steed. Then, with a knife (hilt-deep) in our back, delirious from Radical 6 and unable to breathe from the bracelet jab... the bomb will explode.

All's well that ends well~♫

So it turns out that Alice was the 'whoever it was' who took the scalpel off Quark.



But she didn't take it from him to prevent him from getting hurt.



Because she's Alice.



And Alice only looks out for numero uno.



Even when numero uno wants to kill herself.



Alice spins around and leaps through the door, and even Sigme is too stunned to stop the suicidal person this time. Probably because less people care if Alice dies.

By the time the rest of the group have unstunned themselves and leave the infirmary, Alice is already nowhere to be seen. Like when Quark went batshit and ran away, they decide to split up to look for her.



No Alice in the lounge.



No Alice in the treatment centre.



Bingo.

Can I just say that I love the voice acting in this scene? I get chills listening to Alice's cries. They're amazing.

Oh no, is she dead?

I liked her despite her miraculous boobies.

I will not comment on the necklace I will not comment on the necklace I will not comment on the necklace



Oh no. How dreadful. Not Alice. Anyone but Alice. Nooo.



Clover is looking as sad as I am about it. :D

Sigme brings up the treatment pods again, but Luna says she already went to take a closer look at them and found that while they can suppress the symptoms of Radical-6, they cannot kill the virus itself. Only Axelavir, which is derived from antibodies capable of fighting off Radical-6, can cure the infected. Without any Axelavir on hand, however, the group have no choice but to take Quark and Alice to the treatment pods anyway, so they could at least buy some more time to look for the medicine. Tenmyouji lifts up Quark's body, and a tinkle of glass catches everyone's attention.



OH HEY WHAT IS THIS THING THAT CONVENIENTLY ROLLED OUT OF QUARK'S POCKET







...did Dio's kleptomania rub off on Quark while they were in the AB room or something?





K, ever the gentleman when he's not abandoning you for a kiddie ride.

I know this is a serious situation and all, but I giggled at this line. It reeeeally didn't help that this was screenshot 69.



Don't fight, guys. Plenty of Luna to go round.



Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Axelavir.

The only way they have to administer the medicine is through an injection gun, which uses a whole bottle each time the trigger is pulled. In other words, they have no way to split the dose in two.







Oh hell naw. Protag-chan Sigme isn't having any of that.







BECAUSE OHANA MEANS FAMILY AND FAMILY MEANS NOBODY GETS LEFT BEHIND.





Lock No. 04
There isn't enough anti-viral medication!

That... looks like things would've gone pretty well for us if we hadn't chosen to ally with K the last time ó.ò

And can't we just let Alice die? No?
Damnit

Wow, came on today to a bunch of likes. Slow day, Alko? xD

I gave the likes that you deserve that I didn't give earlier. That is all.

Alko likes a lot of things. Too many things, if you ask me.

Aww, a "to be continued"!? I thought we were gonna have to choose!
Now we gotta redo it all from the start because Sigme's apparently capable of looking into alternate realities when he needs to figure something out...
...
Which is actually a neat power, but still!

I'd just look for a second glass bottle to pour part of the mixture into before using that vialgun, but I guess that might mess up the dosage so they're not cured? Though with the full bottle, Quark might still OD due to his young age...

Might as well end my dress-like-a-stripper day with an update. In order to solve the pesky little lock and continue on our previous route, we need to go back to the first set of Chromatic Doors and play a whole new route. On the bright side, we get to pair up with everyone possible for the first round. On the not-so-bright side, hrrrrng more updating to do. That and I will pretty much spoil the entire first part of the game for everyone planning to play it for themselves. Welp.



So, last but not least, it's time for Team STa(h)P. Named thus because we have two pervs in the group. And undoubtedly will be asking them to stahp a lot.



It's also time for the obligatory 'pretend everyone else's opinions actually matter'.



Dio still hating everyone with dangly bits.



Clover still smiling disappointedly about not pairing with Alice.



Luna still being too adorable for words. I CHANGED MY MIND CAN WE GO THROUGH THE MAGENTA DOOR PLEASE?

Unsurprisingly, we find the infirmary beyond the yellow door. I didn't bother to mention this in my previous escape posts, but Sigme never fails to wrestle with every single escape room door.



I only mentioned it now because for the first time, somebody calls him out on it. Anyway, where were we?



Good ol' infirmary. The place to go for mysterious items...



...terrible puns...



...and of course, drugs with terrible puns.

Phi: This thing is full of medicine. None of them have labels, though. I don't have any idea what's in them.

Sigma: Maybe we should just pick some and take them?

Phi: No. It's dangerous to mess with medicine you don't understand.

Sigma: So we'd be committing a medi-sin?

Phi: ...

Sigma: ...

Phi: Sadly, Sigma's joke was critically trepanned.

Sigma: Not very generous with other people's are you?

Sigma: Nice pillow.

Tenmyouji: [pervy old man look] Want to share it?

Sigma: Not...particularly...

If I remember correctly, Junpei had June to make suggestive comments at him when he examined a bed. Sigme is not so lucky.

Sigma: What the heck is this? It says "AED"...

Tenmyouji: It's an AED, just like it says.

Sigma: Okay, what's an AED?

Tenmyouji: It stands for "Adult Erotic Doctor."

Sigma: ...

At this stage I really wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the title of one of his 'grandpa videos'. Speaking of, I forgot to include this tidbit from the archives when 'grandpa videos' and 'EU' were first mentioned.





I'd just like to dispute the 0 EU given to Gilbert Gottfried. Obviously whoever wrote the files has never heard him read '50 Shades of Grey'. Warning: Will ruin your childhood. If your childhood is already ruined, proceed.

Aaaaanyway, derailment over. Back to the infirmary where poor Sigme is stuck doing everything again. Thanks a lot, guys.

Sigma: This looks like a power button.

Phi: Try pushing it.

Sigma: Why do I have to push it?

Phi: Well, it might be a trap or something.

Sigma: That makes me want to push it even less!

Phi: Fine. I'll push it then.

Tenmyouji: No, I'll do it—

Sigma: Gaaaah! Fine! I just need to push it, right?

Phi & Tenmyouji: Please do.

I'll spare you a third screenshot of the Floor A map, sun cards, newspaper clipping and key. You know what they look like, I certainly know what they look like, and Sigme knows what they look like even though he doesn't exactly remember.

I gotta say, I am so glad this will be the last time I have to cover this part of the game. Same information rehashed several times gets tedious. Luckily, a lot of what happens in this route is the same as when we went through the magenta door, so if you want to refresh your memories you'll have to do a bit of jumping of your own.

After escaping the infirmary, Team STa(h)P are the first ones to reach the elevator, shortly followed by the other two groups.





And they look even more horrified than usual to see us. Geez, Sigme, what did you do? Rub yourself in garlic?

Down the elevator, see Chromatic Doors, wrestle with Chromatic Doors, 2 hours and 6 minutes left, up the elevator.



Unlike the times when we were in the lounge or crew quarters, the other captives aren't all that interested in what the infirmary has to offer as it has neither booze nor boobs.



So Quark decides to bring the booze to the infirmary instead by talking about the lounge and its wonderful alcohols.



Quark always has that overly happy expression when it comes to Tenmyouji's vices. Kid, seriously, encouraging his alcoholism/pervertedness is bad. BAD.

Meanwhile, behind the partition that separates the beds from the rest of the infirmary, a more secretive conversation is taking place. Naturally, as this is a potential plot point, Sigme eavesdrops.





The League of Extraordinary Strippers know something, and they're not sharing.





They even have a headquarters. Holy shit, they might actually be legit comic book heroes. The world is screwed.

Then we're back to content we've already seen. Check out this post for Zero Jr. generally being unhelpful about the AB Game, and here and here for dead random old lady in elevator. Yep, she's back.

Again, Sigme is reluctant to enter the AB room because ew dead bodies. This time, Phi sticks around to hear his whining.



As expected, she's not sympathetic in the least.





She can make gravity-defying jumps, thinks crackers are important enough to be locked in a safe, and believes a drink mixer is a cat food dispenser, but ghosts? Pshaaaaw.



That's... true, but it's still pretty cold.



Quite sure that's what being cold is.

Time's running out, so Sigme and Phi enter their haunted AB room. Something catches Phi's attention, and she makes a thoughtful sound.



Yes, Sigme. And it says to stop asking stupid questions.



It's just the start button, Phi. Didn't have to make a 'huh I saw a ghost' noise for that. Sigme goes ahead and presses it, which of course closes the elevator's doors.



Even Sigme isn't surprised anymore.