Hee hee hee.

With perserverance, we made it out. I am so proud of everyone...I am grateful to them all for boosting my confidence. I...I deeply love them. Affiliated with Amnesia-ER

[crumpledbags]

[kikkawas]

[kikkawas]

[shslfairdreamer]

PART 1 of A Softer World edits.

[le-chevalier-oublieux]

bonne chance, mes amis

[heliotropicnightmare-blog]

Aftermath

[weloveshortvideos]

[zephyrocs]

so anyway amnesia er is lit tonight

[shslfairdreamer]

“Miss Kogasaka remembers little about you all. About herself. About anything. To tell you the truth, once we realized she could no longer handle the procedure, we worked on turning into a weapon in herself. I do not think she thinks or feels much of anything.”

But once, I’m sure, she must’ve felt something.

[amnesia-er]

Something flashes in your mind…

The gentle twitching of fingers and the feeling of control, a sensation that returns to Izo as he stares at the cat. That… familiar cat. He must’ve performed with it before. With his fingers, it’s so easy to control, so easy. There’s joy that comes in the small movements and in the delight of those watching. They gasp and they smile, laugh at all the right moments.

Here, his face doesn’t matter. He can entertain as well as anyone without being judged on the physical aspects of it all. Here, he is at peace, in a zone, in a place he can understand.

And it feels good. He feels good.

IZO OMORI REMEMBERS HIS TALENT. THE SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL MARIONETTE PUPPETEER.

[crumpledbags]

Yasu comes racing out of the Experimental laboratory, pushing a trolley, until they make a leap for it and land on top, zooming down the hall towards Izo. In their hands is a Photograph, and a stuffed cat. Just before they reach their friend, they launch themselves off the trolley and hit the floor, rolling to a stop by Izo's feet. "Iiiiizo!!!! Look what i found!" They hold up both [Kenta the Cat] and the Photo.

His eyes widened in shock as they hit the floor, but after they got up and zoomed toward him, there was very little opportunity to interject.

“Please do be careful with your landings, Komori-san.”

His expression softened upon seeing their findings.

“Ah, what is this, a gift? It is rather cute, if I do say so myself...” He gently removed the cat from their arms, examining its front and back, before taking a look at the photograph.

“Miyashita-san and Shimamoto-san...it looks to be a peaceful scene...thank you for showing me. It is nice to know that perhaps at some point, there weren’t heavy amounts of doubt among us.”

[kikkawas]

「did she give you what you hoped for?」· open ·

[crumpledbags]

Kikkawa-san was acting rather suspicious, but he didn’t want to judge any more of his friends. Just who else would try anything after all this? Although his thoughts were pure in intention, his facial expression contrasted with a raised eyebrow and thoughtful hand pressed against his chin.

“Someone else…do you not trust someone among us, Kikkawa-san? And you did not frighten me too badly, it is fine.”

Izo merely listened as she went on, until she stopped talking. Just what was on that photograph? He tried to lean over and look but his height failed him.

“…Of course. I do. Please do follow me.” He didn’t pry this time as he turned around and headed off to the safehouse. It wasn’t the most glamorous of places but it’d do for now.

[kikkawas]

Sachi Kikkawa was always suspicious, it was just the odd part about her. She stuttered her way through the conversation, although shy, she seemed a lot more open than she typically was. She was used to her company, and considered them all friends. It didn’t help with her typical nervous stutter she had though, habits were hard to break.

“N-no! Not among us.. almost as if they’re h-hiding from us? N-not apart of the group though, I trust everyone..! So..” She fiddles with her hands for a second. “T-that’s good, then.”

She slipped the photograph away, so she could fiddle with her hands as she walked with Izo, following him. 

“E-erm, thank you for helping me! I’m a bit lost, uh..” She couldn’t say she wasn’t surprised when she was greeted with a safehouse like this. But she was a little shocked their living conditions were so awful, after being treated in a nice and safe hospital.. it was almost like they weren’t even at one anymore. 

She took a step back, handing him the photograph. “H-here.. I.. don’t know what to think of it really, so..” Sachi didn’t like seeing her dead friends surrounded by someone who was alive with them. It made her feel.. she didn’t know how to feel really. Before she knew it, she was walking without thinking and stepped right on the trap door. Something.. weird pulled her close to it, an urge, a want.

She looked over at Izo before opening the door with hopefully him not seeing her, and she was about to close it again once she saw a dark set of stairs, but she slipped right into the dark.

Sachi yelped in surprise as she happened to trip right on something, and she gently tumbled down. Once she actually stopped rolling about, she looked around the area. “W-what.. is this place..”

[crumpledbags]

“Hmm, that would be odd, but not impossible. If so, do you think that they could be hiding down here? Perhaps in that large room down the hallway...mysterious, indeed.” He mainly mumbled to himself but if Sachi wanted to answer then there was no opposition.

Izo took a long look at the photo. Nijino, Yuichi and Niki. Just seeing it could make him tear up again but he fought them back. As Sachi went off on her own, he tucked the photo away in his pocket.

He hadn’t exactly seen her open the door but the small yelp confirmed that she must have either ran into something or fell. Following the source of the noise, he ended up heading downstairs to where she was. “Kikkawa-san, are you all right?”

Then the horrible smell hit him. He covered his nose briefly before shaking his head. Eugh. His eyes then darted around the area before they caught onto the lab coat on the floor. Izo bent down to examine it further.

[kikkawas]

「did she give you what you hoped for?」· open ·

[crumpledbags]

Izo didn’t mind being on a new floor but what he did mind very much is the fact that said area was too familiar. Even the factor of being unable to return upwards was cast off to the side as he immediately started to poke his nose around the area, eyes falling on the dried stains, and then he peered inside the knocked-over trash can before straightening it up. 

Just as he was about to look at more, he heard the creaking of metal which directed his attention into needing to find the source, of course. Patting himself down, he took careful steps just in case it was–

No, of course not. There couldn’t be any more of those things down here, could they?

Thinking about them made him shudder and stop in his tracks. If this was actually the same area, then his friends could be in a great deal of danger. More importantly, he could be in a great deal of danger. Swallowing hard, he decided to ponder on what perhaps Nijino would have said in a situation as such.

‘Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll be fine, Omori-chi!’? Something like that, or at least he hoped so. The thought calmed him down and when he came back to reality he found himself at the entrance of the Data Lab.

The rough clank upon Sachi catching the cabinet surprised him but he relaxed quickly enough.

“I heard a sound, Kikkawa-san, so I came to investigate. Did I frighten you once again? My apologies…”

“What are you doing here? Did you discover anything interesting?”

[kikkawas]

She caught the falling cabinet, resting her hand on it as the impact caused for something to float down from it. Surprisingly, with ease, she slowly lifted the cabinet to stand up. 

“I-I’m sorry if that startled you! I didn’t know s-someone was going to walk in.. I thought you were someone else.. this place makes me feel so w-weird, like someone’s watching us..” She huffs out, kneeling down to pick up whatever fell. 

“O-oh no, you didn’t Omori-kun! Don’t worry, I’m n-not scared that easily!” She lifts up her arm flexing and then wincing a little at the motion. 

“Oh! I was uh.. t-trying to be useful for once, you know.. it seems ever since.. uh we lost.. our main strength, I should do s-something about it! So I picked up the file cabinet, and then I.. h-here let me look now.”

Now that everything’s settled down, she actually goes to look at whatever fell. 

And then, silence.

For a while, at least, as Sachi just stares at the photo. Her eyes go wide, but she doesn’t speak. “..Uh.. I think.. I need to l-lie down after that.. d-do you know where any of the beds are, maybe? Y-you can see once we get there too.”

[crumpledbags]

Kikkawa-san was acting rather suspicious, but he didn’t want to judge any more of his friends. Just who else would try anything after all this? Although his thoughts were pure in intention, his facial expression contrasted with a raised eyebrow and thoughtful hand pressed against his chin.

“Someone else...do you not trust someone among us, Kikkawa-san? And you did not frighten me too badly, it is fine.”

Izo merely listened as she went on, until she stopped talking. Just what was on that photograph? He tried to lean over and look but his height failed him.

“...Of course. I do. Please do follow me.” He didn’t pry this time as he turned around and headed off to the safehouse. It wasn’t the most glamorous of places but it’d do for now.

[kikkawas]

「did she give you what you hoped for?」· open ·

She should have paid attention.

She should have paid attention to her words, what Nijino said. What Niki said. She should have been stronger for them, the both of them. 

Why are you so hard on yourself, Sachi? She would ask herself this, almost everyday. Because she can’t remember? She can’t recall a single bit of information, unless she murdered someone for the benefit of memories. Sachi couldn’t even stand herself when she thought about murder itself. 

She was desperate, everyone was dying around her, willingly leaving her. The way Nijino worded it, it sounded like Niki had left her all alone, okay with just sacrificing herself for the greater good. Had she drank that liquid, saying goodbye to the others? Saying goodbye to Nijino, who would kill her later and eventually die for what she had done?

Had they both known what they were getting themselves into?

It haunted her. It haunted her so badly, all she could do was beg and plead for all of this to stop. The bloodshed, her friends going away one by one. She remembered the last thing Niki said about her hair.

She was in pain, wounded by the ones suffering more than her. She couldn’t help it, she was already hard on herself enough.

As they all descended to the fifth floor, she couldn’t help but silently stand there and just stare at the wall. She should have done more, hell, she could have done more. Things started to pick up in her mind, everyone was there for her, in the end. Nobody would ever hurt her now.

Not even herself. 

She felt a little startled and freaked out by the fifth floor they now found themselves stranded on, she wasn’t going to lie. Some of the things she found provoked tears, but she never openly cried. She doesn’t touch the weird markings, but she does find herself in the data lab. Sachi had always noticed she was strong.. but she never put it to the test. Upon seeing the knocked over file cabinet, she attempted to lift it up.

When she heard someone entering the room, she almost dropped the whole thing. 

“W-whwa– H-hi! W-what are you doing here?”

[crumpledbags]

Izo didn’t mind being on a new floor but what he did mind very much is the fact that said area was too familiar. Even the factor of being unable to return upwards was cast off to the side as he immediately started to poke his nose around the area, eyes falling on the dried stains, and then he peered inside the knocked-over trash can before straightening it up. 

Just as he was about to look at more, he heard the creaking of metal which directed his attention into needing to find the source, of course. Patting himself down, he took careful steps just in case it was--

No, of course not. There couldn’t be any more of those things down here, could they?

Thinking about them made him shudder and stop in his tracks. If this was actually the same area, then his friends could be in a great deal of danger. More importantly, he could be in a great deal of danger. Swallowing hard, he decided to ponder on what perhaps Nijino would have said in a situation as such.

‘Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll be fine, Omori-chi!’? Something like that, or at least he hoped so. The thought calmed him down and when he came back to reality he found himself at the entrance of the Data Lab.

The rough clank upon Sachi catching the cabinet surprised him but he relaxed quickly enough.

“I heard a sound, Kikkawa-san, so I came to investigate. Did I frighten you once again? My apologies...”

“What are you doing here? Did you discover anything interesting?”

[amnesia-er]

Safehouse: Bunk Beds

Izo Omori inspects the bedding…

Your conditions weren’t the best in the wards but this makes you miss them. The bed is like a board, stiff and tight, with thin sheets and a single pillow so rough you wonder why its there at all. It feels almost militaristic in its lack of comfort and colour. But you suppose you’ll have to get used to it as it appears to be the only bed around…

But… wait…

You feel like you’ve been in this bed before. Memories return as you recall laying in this bed. Your body stings with wounds you’ve gotten. Kimiko’s fault. You recall that much. Natsuki Midou leans over your face with a gentle expression.

“It’ll be alright. It’s okay now.”

A sense of relief.

IZO OMORI REMEMBERS HAVING BEEN HERE BEFORE.

[heliotropicnightmare-blog]

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend|| Open

Things…Were never as easy as one would hope. That was something Yasu had learned while living, surviving at the hospital. When LISE had been gone for a while, Yasu figured it’d be a perfect time to test out the computer password, and they and Izo had done it together. But…They’d only been able to learn about one of the highlighted files before it all shut down. But that would have been fine, if not for what happened next.

The new floor was like something out of a nightmare. Or was it a nightmare. Yasu was starting to have a hard time differentiating the two. They were so sure they’d dreamt of place just like this recently. Flickering lights, mysterious stains on the floors and walls. There was…Something so familiar about it all. But it didn’t quite click until they’d walked past the Glass Garden. Then the memories came rushing back and with them a sense of terror they’d never experienced outside of their nightmares.

They ended up back in the lobby, curled up next to the file cabinet, arms around their legs, and head resting on their knees. They knew this place. Or a place just like it. When they’d opened that trap door with Izo, and had fallen down. They’d ended up in a place like this, full of horrible plants… Memories were disjointed and they couldn’t remember everything they’d seen in that place but it was enough to scare them, and badly. They hardly even noticed the sound of approaching footsteps, they were so busy trying to sort out everything in their head.

[crumpledbags]

Izo personally had not fully recovered from Nijino’s speech nor letter He attempted not to sob anymore when they exited the trial room but to no avail. The only time he got a hold of himself was when Yasu showed up to examine the computer with him. Pushing recent memories back were difficult but the information onscreen appeared to be more important. Just when he went to ask them their opinion on it, LISE cut them off and shooed them all to a new floor.

It happened so quickly that there wasn’t much input Izo had to say about it. That was, until he reached this ‘new floor’ itself. Something felt familiar about it but he couldn’t put his finger on it yet. Izo took care not to step on any of the strewn files as he poked around. Chills occasionally ran down his spine but he kept searching and found himself at the safehouse. He took a look under one of the bunkbeds, when something caught him from the corner of his eye. He swallowed hard and got to his feet, heading closer to where it was and it confirmed his suspicions.

A trapdoor. It came flooding back--Yasu opening the door which caused them both to be dragged in--his heart sunk. Was this the same place? Were there even more deadly plants here? Was someone else going to get hurt? He ran out of there, his heart racing. His eyes  burned into the floor as he tried to calm down. Izo was completely absorbed into horrified thoughts, the only thing snapping him out of it being the sound of whining. It sounded like crying and it wasn’t his own, so he suppressed his own feelings to  find the source.

Eventually, he ended up back where he started except there was Yasu, curled up and in a much worse condition than he was. Without any hesitation he knelt down to them, pulling them into a hug.

“Komori-san, you remember it too...I can tell. There there, it will be all right. If anything horrible occurs, I shall protect you, I promise.” His voice was full of sincerity. 

[shslfairdreamer]

The Fifth Stage is Acceptance | Izo

[shslfairdreamer]

This is quite the adventure.

Izo really feels a bit lost. While some of her comments seem to reach him, he defaults to a kind of sleepy distance. Then there’s Katashi. Who’s… well, he’s dead in the first place. Dead as a punishment for murdering three. That happened so recently but the details feel so foggy already. Maybe the exhaustion is just catching up. She doesn’t even have the energy to do anything more than smile at the jokes thrown her way. Not good. She has to buck up soon.

“So dreary, you two! We’ll catch Niki’s killer and things’ll end up alright. That’s how it is. No need to focus on anything else, right? ‘Cause we’re all friends, no matter what happened before.”

Honestly she doesn’t want to hear Katashi’s drivel. Part of her doesn’t want to hear from him at all. More than anyone else, she’s the one who feels the most betrayed. But it’s better not to talk about that. Niki wouldn’t have wanted that. And in this world, the best thing is peace. That’s right, isn’t it? It has to be. She takes a deep breath, cloaking behind her hand before stepping over to the lockers herself.

“Where it all started, huh… god, that’s gonna be a lot of staircases to go down, huh? But that’s probably what she meant, yeah. That room…”

She taps at her cheek with two fingers, a thoughtful frown on her face.

“I mean. That room was special in the first place, wasn’t it? ‘Cause it was a secret or something, as I recall. We never did really find out how Shimamoto-chi found out about it, huh? Hm! Then, should we get crackin’ on the stair scaling? I’m kinda curious about all this!”

[crumpledbags]

Izo was with Nijino on that one–listening to Katashi was the lowest priority here. Even the coffee pun that normally would entice a chuckle, didn’t. “I appreciate the commentary and will try my best.” His response sounded automatic, lifeless, but the words were true if it counted.

Friends…that’s right, wasn’t it? They are still all friends–they were just forced to do unthinkable acts. From that perspective it didn’t seem as horrible (slightly less). 

“Right, right. We are keeping Ikutano-san waiting, are we not…? It will be fine, I agree.” Again, soft and almost near inaudible. If there was really a third party involved with her murder, then another one of the friends would be gone. Would that really be fine to them all? Thinking about it only made him frown deeply. This being one of many moments he wished he could hide once more.

“I have no objections on going. It will be rather warm for me but do not worry about that.” If they even did anyways. With that he left the room and started down the stairs, inspecting the area around them before he went too far. (He wouldn’t just abandon the two, after all. That’s rude).

[shslfairdreamer]

Now more than ever, things feel different. The jokes come off as obnoxious or try-hard and the laughs that come from them, should they appear, sound insincere and lost. She doesn’t actually know how to handle that. Things should be better, more positive. But her company right now is someone who seems dead inside and someone who is, quite literally, dead. Having murdered three others.

Honestly, what happened to them all?

Hopefully there was a good reason for it. A punchline. Either way, she hoped it’d be over soon.

“That’s ri~ght! We have to hurry up and find out what happened to her so she can rest easy.”

Her voice compliments Izo’s by providing the opposite flavour, boisterous and upbeat, not quite loud but strong, with meaning. She winks down at the Katashi AI.

“You think so too, right? The only way we can really end this is by finding out the truth. Then maybe… it’ll start to be okay, you know? Well, we’ve got to at least try and think like that anyway, kuku!”

With that said, she follows after Izo down the stairs, looking in awe at all the blood as she goes.

“Whoa… what happened? It’s not like Niki was bleeding, right? I wonder where this came from.”

Ah. Too morbid. And with Izo already feeling a bit out of it saying that sort of thing willy-nilly is just dangerous. It’s bad time; people are fragile. That’s why she has to make sure they hang in there. Nijino hops a couple of steps down ahead of Izo before taking Izo’s hands for a second.

“Don’t lose hope, Omori-chi. We’ll find out what happened and it’ll all get better. I know it.”

With that said, she goes back to her light-hearted self and hops down the right of the stairs ahead of Izo. She waits for him after that though so they can go to that room properly. Where it all started, huh…

Staircase after staircase. Until finally they arrive where it did truly all begin. As she walked down those stairs, it gave her time to think. Probably too much time. And too much thinking. And now that she’s finally here in this room, voices come back to her. Memories. Not ones of her previous life, the ones here.

“I’m too bright for this world- you’ll all see. You’ll all see… s….soon…”

Chuichi Genda.

“I think…my name…it’s Shimamoto Yasu.”

Yasu Shimamoto.

The first murderer; the first victim. She’d expected the room to be cleaned up, as has always been the case but the grim thing is, there’s blood right in front of them. Exactly where… well… exactly where… Yasu Shimamoto’s body was. A frown appears on her face.

“I guess… someone definitely went here, huh.”

She dips her fingers into the pool to confirm it isn’t dried and old. It isn’t.

[crumpledbags]

“Don’t lose hope.” The thought repeated itself as he went down the stairs. ‘It would be hard, Takajo-san, it would be hard, but not impossible,’ he responded internally.

No matter how horrible Izo felt, as long as he was given encouragement, there was no way he would break. Having support lifted his spirits slightly, encouraging him to make it downstairs and that’s when it crashed.

A large pool of blood on the floor, yet no corpse. His knees felt weak and stomach as if someone punched, hard. Once he saw it his eyes refused to dart around. There couldn’t have been another corpse, could there? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that it was not dry by Nijino’s test which only pushed the fear higher.

Screaming would do no good--in fact, he didn’t even know what it meant. Perhaps LISE just had forgotten to tidy up down there--he hoped that’s what. Something screamed at him that it wasn’t.

“T-This-this isn’t...old. If it belonged to Shimamoto-san, then I assume either...LISE would have taken care of it, or it would be...dry. Is it Ikutano-san’s...? Yet I did not see any blood on her body, however...” Izo trailed off, still muttering questions. They were all rhetorical as he was hoping the answer wasn’t what he assumed it was.