As Professor Rammsteiner continues to root through his mind, Jade experiences all those years of frustration once more, remembers running into dead end after dead end, the futility of it all amplified into a darkness that shrouds his mind. He had been getting nowhere on his own. That's why he had turned to Professor Eichel for help.

If this is the price he has to pay for that help...

For a moment, he wavers. The landscape of his mind turns dark and ugly, trying to ward off the intruder.

Then he holds himself in check. No, that's not a price worth paying. He'll accept Professor Rammsteiner's help. Again, he tries to retrace the path he had taken that night, stopping at the wall once more.

I've been losing time lately, he hears himself saying, his voice distorted through the layers of his subconsciousness. And I can never remember going to sleep. Did you have anything to do with that?