There’s no sky in this world.

Or at least, none he could figure out. The maze before him is long, and he found a long corridor with many other paths to go down. Whatever the walls are made of (a sort of plant? A hedge? A wall? Stones? Something else?) it is sturdy, enough to stretch up and up, and disappear into the darkness above him. No stars, no moon, no sun, but the wind is blowing, the air feels cold. It feels like he’s outside.

The corpse of a demon is tied to his waist, the foot at least, and what he managed to sever of it off. It drips blood everywhere. His reason being so that he could manage to see a trail on the ground of blood, or feel it with his feet, should the dark get so intense he cannot even see himself. For a normal human, this darkness would be potent enough, but his eyes glisten in the dark, like an animal, and he fills in the colors that should be visible.

It does feel like it’s getting darker, but his mind is playing tricks on him all the time down here. He saw the images of others. His brother. His mother. Running. He saw flames leaking through the walls. Now he wished he stuck around that flaming wall, (which suspiciously looked like slats in a louvered closet door) because it was cold in here, and getting colder.

Not snowing, not just yet, but it felt like it was a couple of moments before that. He can see his breath on every exhale.

“Sure would appreciate a demon or two to fight.” He mused aloud, in case any demon was listening, he looked upward, rubbing the stubble on his face. Even the leg of the demon he’d torn off was starting to stink -- how long had he been in here now?

The corridor before him is not smeared with blood, so he knows it’s new to him -- or at least he hasn’t been here since he fought those demons. He continues to let the blood smear along the ground as he walks a straight line. Ever so often, there’s a quiet noise that comes from a hallway, and as much as he tries to seek it out, by the time he arrives, it’s dead silent, and the halls are empty.

“Must be what it’s like to go insane...” He continued his chatter among the lonely halls. “You know, I’ve had a lot of different demons try to kill me in a lot of different ways, but this has got to be the first time a demon ever tried to bore me to death.” He huffed. “... Why are you doing this?”

No response. He can sort of tell when the demon is listening and watching him, because the world becomes a bit warmer, humid, it feels like someone is breathing on him, taking him in,  savoring him.

Dante couldn’t go insane. He couldn’t give that demon the satisfaction. 

That demon...

He was starting to narrow down what demon would be capable of this. Mundus always came to mind, but he quickly cancelled him out, that demon never knew what subtly was. Nightmare was capable of worlds like this... but Nightmare was long dead. That only left a couple he knew...

“You can’t keep me here for long... Sooner or later, my family is gonna get stir crazy! They can’t help it.” It’s a shame, he’d finally started to open Vergil up, but now he was stuck here, and he didn’t know if his brother would resent him for it. “My brother is gonna sniff you out pretty quick. And unlike me, he won’t go easy on you.”

“Ah... Not to mention him too. Kid’s not gonna like this at all. It’s his job to kick my ass, after all, that’s the promise we made after I got back... finding out someone else is trying to kick my ass? Lucky if I even cross paths with you at all after that...”

“I guess that’s what you want, huh? You want to lure my family here? Well, it’s probably gonna work, but trust me, you’re not gonna like what happens... so why don’t you just let me out already? I won’t even get mad at you. If you want a fight, I’ll give you one, fair and square. Just quit messin’ around!”

Nothing. All the words exit into empty air as he watches the fog of his breath disappear. The scent of dew clings to him. It’s hard to tell with the rotten blood stench he’s carrying around, but he refuses to part with the demon leg, he wants to mark where he’s going.

While talking, he walked, coming to a turn at the end of the corridor, which led to another turn. More walks. More paths. More mazes. Dante wandered and wandered, although now he’s finally silent and keeping to himself, observing the world around him.

First, they're all holding hands and stuff.

What's that?

And this? utter shamelessness.

Second, where did Koyuki come up with the idea to call Nene a radish? It's like not everyone would think of that. Mei said that she has legs like an elephant, and what if newborn Koyuki heard all sorts of lore bombs from the chatty Tsukasa and calls Nene that from his words, and he from Hanako's words, that is 😭 another parallel for Hanayuki — calling Nene names.

But you get to Mirror Hell from certain mirrors in the toilet... sewers again. This could even be tied more to Yugi, lol. Tsukasa's wife also lives in a toilet, and for some reason in the men's one, lol, really like Hanako situation. The phantom trio (Yugi and Koyuki) is like, ✌🏻huddled in the bathroom, finally like cool high school girls✌🏻

Thirdly, it seems like it's even too perfect with Koyuki. So much attention is paid to this introduction with Nene, the beginning of their friendship, some crumbs of parallels, the buildup of tension, that it feels like Neneyuki's sun-moon, when this is the introduction of Yugi's two assistants, when they can really be placed opposite each other in the same category and compared.

Mitsuba simply doesn't have that connection because of his latterly weak connection with Tsukasa. Mitsunene could have had a discussion, at least a friendly one, like, "Oh, that Yugi, that Yugi, you get it, right?"

But all those weirdly charged scenes just make so much sense when I say, "Oh, that's Neneyuki yuri," lol. You could even leave Yugi out of the equation, away with the male connection. I headcanoned Koyuki's crush in Nene while she was still alive, and this is like their reacquaintance — when Koyuki doesn't remember anything, and Nene... barely recognized her... Right person, wrong time. The volume starts with Neneyuki and ends with Neneyuki. They went from strangers to newly friends during their time, and Koyuki protects Nene from a collapsing wall and says, "we will meet again." It's still pretty Neneyuki-centric. So much time is devoted to them, really...

And this is the foundation for the development of Koyuki's relationship with Nene, for which Yugi will toil and self-destruct, like, is Nene worth it? What's so special about her? And Koyuki gets her answers in the same gardening club photo album, where Nene is again present— __This is the Neneyuki volume, the final point__