...And Gosh, They Paid The Price! / ryuuya + reiko / trial end
Ryuuya Okamura could remember it well, the way it felt in the house when it was just him and his mother. When two tremendous tragedies had rocked the household, one so soon after the other…
He never once imagined that he would have caused their biggest one yet, just a few years down the line.
The dancer eyed the podium where his sibling stood-- if not for the radio silence from his peers, her request for them to vote for her would have worried him more. Not that it wasn’t worrying, but the fact that no one made any move to harm her afterwards was… assuring. Didn’t do much of anything for his fear of what was to come for him, nor that sharp pang of regret as that edgy fucklord hosting this disaster game announced that they were correct, but win some lose some, he supposed. Reiko Okamura was safe, he’d done his part as her (barely) older brother…
...he wouldn’t be able to do that anymore, would he? He was leaving her here, with all these…
...his hands trembled, and with a few moments to pause and think, Ryuuya made his way around the circle over to Reiko’s podium, trying to subtly sneak by so as to not startle anyone who’d wanted him dead. Please let him be, he just wanted some time with his sister in peace before his time was up.
Eventually, he stopped at her podium, hands in his pockets. It took him a few moments to speak, and he struggled to look her in the eye.
“...heh. Uh… fucked it up real bad this time, didn’t I?”
That was a lie. The other Okamura couldn’t even say she made an effort. If she really tried, Ryuuya wouldn’t have been voted, she would have saved him, he’d be walking out of here alive. There were so, so many things she would have thought of if the culprit was literally anybody else in the room. She could have kept her composure. The very suggestion of her brother killing someone, her vague fears she was sure were unfounded that history would repeat, like Cain and Abel, except the victim here was her perception on the world, on the others in the courtroom.
It really wasn’t the hand of fate guiding her. Unless it enjoyed crushing her time and time again. Unless its mind worked in ways alien, unknown even to her. Reiko was tired of trying to understand, tired of putting her trust in others only to have it shattered. Above all, she was tired of herself, tired of how trying to make things right somehow always resulted in even bigger tragedies.
Then, it was Ryuuya approaching her. She wasn’t even the one to initiate, and as he drew closer, her gaze instinctively averted for a few moments before rising to meet his. One shaking hand reached up to brush hair aside as her one working eye met his.
And in that moment, Reiko realized her mistake as her thoughts slogged to a crawl, frozen in the amber of time.
She couldn’t rely on cruel Fate to do the saving.
She had to do something herself.
The one word that came from her mouth was numb, weary. A nickname she had used so many times before, in love, in jest, in teasing was the way she addressed Ryuuya at the beginning of the end. There was a lifetime of things she wanted to say, a lifetime that for the past 17 years, she regretted in that moment not speaking up more. Personal tragedy was never something she thought she’d experience since relationships were born and blazed and died as quickly as they came. She never thought she’d be leaving the room without her partner in crime.
The few minutes allotted before he’d be dragged off were far too few to say what she wanted to. All the promises, the teary farewells. No, Reiko had to use her words wisely.
For once, her mind drew a blank.
“...Ryuuya… I’m the one who should be sorry.”
She averted her eyes briefly.
“I… never thought it’d come to this. That you’d have to see your sister like… like that. I couldn’t have imagined… that you would have… but it’s still you. You were hurt, weren’t you.”
Wavering and cracking as the sentence neared its end, Reiko swallowed painfully before continuing.
“But this isn’t… about me. I… I’m not scared of what lies beyond, but you… it should pass quickly. The pain.”
That was the advice she decided to give? On dying?
“...Sorry. I don’t know how much time he’ll give us, and I just… wanted to offer reassurance. Man, I’m shit at that, aren’t I. Listen to me talk now, tcha.”
She trailed off. Seems like she didn’t have much else to say at the moment… either that, or adding more on was unbearable.
Ryuuya shifted on his feet as he listened to Reiko speak. The guilt only weighed on him heavier, not that it wasn’t already even before he reached this point. He shut his eyes and took a breath, trying not to cry again. He didn’t need to, now, he didn’t need to make her feel any worse.
The little bit of death advice managed to get a short laugh from Ryuuya, mostly because it was far from what he expected to hear. He wasn’t too sure how assuring it was in the long haul, but he definitely appreciated the thought. A small, weary smile crossed his face.
“I did somethin’ real bad, Reiko. I understand folks gettin’ mad at me… I appreciate the advice, though, definitely… g-gonna be needin’ it, heheh...”
Another deep breath, another period of silence. He brought his hands out of his pockets slowly, feeling them shaking, and turns his head to properly face his sibling. In spite of his best wishes, he could feel tears well up almost immediately.
He’d be leaving her behind, and after what happened way back with Hiroko… he didn’t think he’d forgive himself for that.
“...ya were always the smart one, y’know that, Sis? Don’t doubt that you’ll figure all this out and get outta here. Ya deserve it…”
He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.
“Listen, I ain’t… any good at all that, like… reassuring junk, either, so don’t sweat it. Just, like…”
He sighed, somewhat exasperated. He really wasn’t good at this, was he? Ryuuya looked off to the side again for a few moments, thinking, before turning back to his sister. He rested his hand on the brim of his hat for a few moments, before lightly removing it from his head and reaching up to set it on hers.
Half of him expected some sort of teasing remark, how he’s awful small for the big brother or something along those lines, but now…
“It’s kinda, like… cliche, and I dunno… if I believe in ghosts and all that… but you do, I think? Or something like that? So, like… I’ll always be here with ya, even if not… here here. I’ll always be rootin’ ya on, so don’t forget that...! You can… you can get through this. I know ya can.”
He offered a smile, but trying for anything past that small, sad one he’d started with was too much-- he’d found himself in tears again before he could stop himself.
(he could put on all the bravado he wanted, acted as brave as he wanted, but in the end--)
Ryuuya reached forward and pulled Reiko in for a hug. He wasn’t sure if it was to hide the tears or what-- with the way he shook, it probably wasn’t.
“...’ll always love ya, a-alright Reiko? You can do it…”
(he didn’t want to die. he really really didn’t want to die)
Reiko didn’t know what was worse. The anger the others displayed, the wishes from them that her brother was better off dead, the inevitable vengeance so long as Ryuuya was in close proximity to the others and their loved ones. But Ryuuya was hers, as much as she yelled at him, as bitter as her words came. The anthropologist knew that it was Morton’s Fork - the same bad outcome would result no matter what. And if she sacrificed herself?
And she hated that beyond all description.
Shame continued to weight heavy on her, pressing down on her back and into the very core of her being. What would likely be- no, were her last few moments (for now) with her brother, she wasted by giving him advice on how to die. But she wasn’t him. She couldn’t have possibly articulated it into words, except… well, it wasn’t so bad when it was all over.
Then why was she still sad?
“...We all did. Ryuuya… you… none of them, none of you deserve this. I… I realize that. I thought it would never happen to you, but… but I couldn’t do enough. I’m sorry, I’m… I’m so, so sorry.”
Her voice came as a breathy whisper to the end of her apology, as if she was on the losing side of the battle against tears spilling freely and hampering her ability to talk. Reiko couldn’t have that, not here, not now. Drawing her shawl tighter around her bony shoulders, the fleeting thought that she had come dressed for the occasion passed through her mind - like an unintentional mourner of some sort attending a wake.
Every word Ryuuya said caused the shooting pain in her chest to grow stronger, until a hand reached up to clutch at the fabric of her dress.
“...How can you… be so articulate at a time like this. How can you find the words to… gh. How can you tell me not to worry! You’re going to die, you’re going to…”
A violent shudder rocked Reiko’s body, and hot tears finally spilled out her left eye as Ryuuya placed his hat on top of her head. Automatically, she reached up to take it off and hold it to her chest, an object that should have protected him, that could have protected him if she would have been smarter, quicker-
“...There’s ghosts. But that scares me more, you know, what if they… what if they hurt you. I’d… I’d say to look after yourself, but… f… fool. I won’t be there all the time to watch over you either, so… you’ll…”
The thoughts flashing through her mind - of going to the tree, of interacting however indirectly with her brother as a ghost caused a round of violent sobs to wrack her body and render her speechless as she held her forearm up to her face.
“...don’t discount yourself, Ryuuya. I’m… I always looked up to you. Motivated me to… get my own talent. Even felt a bit envious when we were younger, you rising up the ranks and all… and me doing what? Being a nerd in my room. Tcha. I remember when we used to converse in that room, no matter what it was about. I… I thought I had everything. I thought I wouldn’t have any regrets, but… that’s obviously not the case.”
She let out a weak laugh.
“I never told you how proud I was of you, for one. How proud I was… and am to call you my brother. I never…”
“Told you that I love you enough. So… I love you, big lil’ bro Ryuuya. Heh… hehehe…. ahh…”
There she went, dissolving into tears again. When the second wave of crying passed, she looked back up at him.
“...I wanted to get out of here with you. I… I don’t know what I’ll do without you. Please… please don’t leave me, I…”
And then she was being embraced, and she returned it with every bit of strength in her body. She thought she was strong, if not physically, but mentally, but…
“I don’t know what I’ll do without you, Ryuuya. I… I love you too, and I always have. I don’t want… our last moments like this to be bitter. I don’t want…”
She managed to choke out one last thing.
“I don’t want you to go.”
And in that moment, perhaps she could have believed that if she thought long enough, that if she held onto him long enough, that they would wake up together in their house, in Hope’s Peak, instead of this twisted nightmarish realm that oh-so-delicately unfolded, petal by petal, and showed its true brutality.
She couldn’t do anything about it.
Ryuuya Okamura would die, and she couldn’t do anything about it.
(Couldn’t, or shouldn’t?)
(She didn’t want him to go. She didn’t want him to go.)
Ryuuya could feel himself freeze up at the last handful of words Reiko had said, and before he knew it he’d all but broken into sobs himself. He clung to her just as hard, desperately trying to calm down. He was supposed to have it all together, but now…?
He could barely speak for a while, only having a brief moment to hiss out a low, whispery,
“I don’t want… t-to go either…”
...before breaking into sobs again.
It took a while to calm himself down-- it was hardly even calm, really, just exhaustion. You could only really cry for so long… even afterwards, he was reluctant to let go. He was afraid to let go.
(he really didn’t want to go)
“...mm… well… guess if ghost stuff… is around here… maybe this isn’t… so much as goodbye, as it is… see ya later? Somethin’ like that…? Heh...”
A part of him doubted it’d be that simple, but he could hope. However little he may have had left, he could hope.
Reiko nodded through tears, though her grip only grew tighter. At least she was too weak to enable the possibility of pre-emptive ghosthood.
“...Right. See you later, Ryuuya. Until we meet again, whenever that is.”
...But that didn’t make this parting any less painful.
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