in the 'Rest Area' room Mimi had entered, there was a place where the numerous lights didn't quite cover. in that corner, darkness began to converge and gather, forming the figure of a young girl with white hair and black attire. she seemed to be about Mimi's age, though she was a bit shorter.

she walked over to the healing machine Mimi had entered. looking at her sleeping peacefully in the machine, she took out a vial of strange liquid from her pocket. she placed it in a slot of the machine and entered a few commands, which made the liquid be discharged into the healing factor liquid.

Mimi began to thrash around in pain within the machine. her skin kept splitting and bleeding but the healing factor did it's job, quickly healing the injuries that would have been fatal outside. due to the sedation used, she didn't wake up, but she still struggled against the pain instinctively.

the black clothed girl stopped paying attention to Mimi and walked to one of the machines in the room. she entered the code and took out a change of clothes and a half-face mask for Mimi to wear. she then used the darkness to modify the clothes so they would have slots for her wings. she then pulled over a chair and placed the clothes and mask on it.

after doing all this, she covered herself with darkness and vanished once more.

---

a few hours later, Mimi woke up. she felt that her injuries had fully healed, and she even felt stronger than she was before. the healing machine, sensing that she had the desire to leave, began to drain until not even a drop remained on her body, then it opened up.

Mimi exited the machine, and what met her vision was a chair with a change of clothes and a mask. slightly surprised, she examined the clothes and felt relieved seeing they were female clothes. putting them on, she was surprised once more. they were a perfect fit, as if someone had intentionally picked them out specifically for her, while knowing her own needs.

the clothes were stylish but also would not hinder her if she began fighting again. it seemed they were also more durable than the combat armour she had before, which had quickly become scrapped.

having put everything on, she looked at the final remaining item, the mask. there was a note next to it, which basically told her to only wear it when she entered the next room. by now, Mimi had figured out she was in a trial, and these rooms were 'Rest Areas' provided for those who had passed. she had no idea when she had entered the trial, though she had a hunch.

after some pondering, she took the mask and held it in one hand, then approached the clearly labeled exit. she took a deep breath and exited the room.

soon after she left, the lights began to dim, and the sound of machines shutting down sounded. the door opened a small unnoticeable crack, which quickly closed again.

---

Mimi stood in front of the next trial. this trial was to hop on the various platforms and reach the final platform that held the exit to the trial. the platform was floating high above the ground and moved randomly. the other platforms in the room also moved around somewhat randomly.

Mimi put on the mask she had gotten from the previous room. the moment she put it on, a familiar darkness covered the room once more. the difference was that with the mask, she could see things within a certain range of herself.

at this point, she had come to the conclusion that the darkness was caused by the trial and come to accept it.

she decided to quickly head to the top. using her memory of the movements of the platforms she had seen before, she jumped forward.

and missed her target entirely. she fell down to the depths where only death awaited.

suddenly, her mask glowed with white streaks of light. she vanished and reappeared at the beginning of the trial. she was stunned for a moment, but then felt excitement, realising she could restart the trial as many times as she wanted.

---

on an non-moving platform high above the ground, the black clothed girl sat. dark strings extended from her body, touching every platform around her. one string in particular extended from the symbol on her hand to the mask Mimi was wearing. every time Mimi fell to the depths, she would wave her hand and the symbol would flash, teleporting Mimi to the start of the trial.

her legs were hanging off the side of the platform, and her eyes were focused on Mimi. every time Mimi approached some fast moving platforms, the related strings would glow, slowing down the platforms enough that Mimi could react. it also reduced the randomness of the moving platforms.

the girl had observed that Mimi was instinctively using her wings to assist her platforming, though she had not realised it herself. the girl smiled, seeing Mimi progress through the trial. though it was meant for people far stronger than Mimi was, she had decided to assist Mimi a bit by bringing it down to her level.

now, Mimi had tried thousands of times and was near the last few platforms. the girl was interested in how Mimi would solve those ones.

---

Mimi finally arrived at the last few platforms. the darkness high above was no longer as dense, and she could see all the platforms above and around her. after observing their movements for a while, she decided to take a gamble.

she readied for a jump, then leaped up explosively. stepping on the first platform, she instantly jumped off it to the next one. she looked like she wouldn't make it, but her momentum took her to the next platform, which she barely grasped the edge of.

she looked down, then let go of the platform she was holding. as she fell, a platform seemed to appear specifically to catch her, something she had predicted from it's movements. after a second to regain her bearings, she jumped once more, barely reaching some platforms and not waiting for more than a second on any of them.

soon, she was on the last platform. looking back, she shuddered at what she had been pushing to the back of her mind until now.

there was no more platforms. the platforms near the top were all "temporary platforms", ones that break 2 seconds after coming into contact with them. what made her nervous was that there would have been no way to retry if she had missed even a single platform from her attempt, since she could come back, but the platforms would not.

looking down, she saw the debri fall into the depths. after calming down, she walked to the exit door on the platform, which was really just a simple portal. just before she left, the darkness swarmed her and covered her body, causing her to be confused. unknown to her, a crest was carved on her back like a tattoo, which then vanished into her skin like it was never there. the darkness then dispersed soon after.

seeing nothing happen, Mimi thought it was just a malfunction in the trial and then exited the second trial, entering another resting room. she decided to use the healing machine again, though she wasn't really injured and only had some strained muscles.