Visually, Kouki didn’t seem to react that much to the news. “Oh. Fucking, wow. That’s uhh…” Kouki was taking a moment to digest all this information. It didn’t help that she was still in a mild state of fatigue. “That’s not good.” Damn, I couldn’t have said it better myself, Kouki.
As Kouki’s tired mind put the pieces of the puzzle together, she felt unease rising up within her. So, the ghosts knew everyone’s dirty little secrets now. Great. Fuck ghosts. Goddammit, what are they good for? She should’ve set the ones in the ballroom on fire when she had the chance. Her unease became anger, and she clenched her fists. She really wasn’t ok with the idea of these things getting inside her head. What did they know about her…?
So, the implications were clear. She didn’t want to believe someone would do it, but… she wasn’t too optimistic. She wasn’t used to assuming the best of people. Human beings often liked to think of themselves as above mere animals. But the reality was that we weren’t any better than them. We get scared, we lash out, and in fear, primal instinct can make people do less than honorable things. “…it might be a good idea to watch your back for now…”
She suddenly realized she had been a bit cruel. Matthew was, clearly, very upset about all of this, and she hadn’t done anything to help. She might have even made things worse with that last comment. “H-Hey, calm down.” She said, walking over to him and putting her hand on his shoulder. The poor guy was bawling, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. What could she possibly say that would help? She wanted, deep down, to say that everything was going to be alright, that nobody was going to be hurt.
But that would be a blatant lie. Everything was not alright. She knew it. Someone. Someone, was going to react to this. It was just a question of who, and when…
“D-Don’t worry. I… I’ll make sure to watch your back for you…”
That, at least, wasn’t an outright lie.
Matthew nodded vehemently, in very energetic agreement with Kouki. It wasn’t good! It really wasn’t good. “Y-yeah...! I-I’m glad you think so, too..!! It’s... it’s awful...” He wiped his eyes and started whimpering. “This is awful...”
He was... pretty certain he knew what the ghosts would end up revealing about him, when they got around to it. It was better to think of it as ‘when’ and not ‘if,’ right? An ‘if’ would imply that someone must’ve died... And, for all anyone knows, it could end up being him. He was a pretty easy target, wasn’t he? Weak, meek, feeble, stupid, annoying, pathetic...
Watch his back... Yeah. He was a target, now, right? Ideally, nobody here would be willing to kill over a secret that only, like, 15 other people would be learning anyway, but...
Matthew shook his head and wiped at his tears once more. It’d be nice if, maybe, just maybe, the ghosts would just give up eventually, before anyone would die, but... Matthew didn’t want to waste time being optimistic. He didn’t want to get his hopes up for anything, especially not in this hellish castle.
Ah, right. He needed to calm down. Matthew had started when a hand touched his shoulder, but he took in a shuddering breath in obedience. He was just being a nuisance as he was! Crying and sniffling and being stupid... He held his breath to try and stop his hiccuping and sobs, but, uh, it was failing. “S-sorry, I-I’m just... S-sorry...!!” He grimaced, more than he already was as a result of his crying.
Then, Kouki went ahead and offered, or, more like outright stated she would watch his back. That was just placation, wasn’t it? To get him to worry less? Of course it was. It had to be. Still. He didn’t want to voice that thought aloud. And Kouki was still really cool and it was nice of her to even try and placate him in the first place. The best thing to do would be to reciprocate, right?
“Th-thank you, I... I’ll w-watch, um, your back, too..?” Matthew was skinny, weak, and hesitant. He was not the person you’d want to be watching your back, and he knew it. “Um. S-sorry!!”