Tomoe | TFSU? More like TSFU. | Chapter 5 Motive | Closed (Alice)
From the moment the motive had kicked off, it rapidly made itself apparent what they were attempting to do. To actually âwitnessâ the murder of Kasai, itself, as opposed to the aftermath caused Tomoeâs blood to run cold. The anticipated nausea accompanied it, but not entirely due to the act itself. Rather, it was the sudden and horrifying realization just how thorough the surveillance they were under was. Maybe they'd known, maybe they hadn't given it much thought. But, one thing was for certain - if they were going to show that, they surely had others. Watching the murders actually play out⊠would that actually drive someone to kill again? Regardless of how gruesome it was to witness, surely it would be tolerable. There were only so many people whoâd died, and it wasn't as if they hadn't watched through four of those already⊠right?
And then, after some time again, the second clip rolled around. A brief moment of fear that this was a âfreshâ clip was quashed almost immediately - the old costumes were a brief moment of respite. But then, if Baiko wasn't about to die- oh, Christ, Alice. Is- was, dear GOD the accounts of what had happened after she had bailed with Kiyoko had not done that altercation justice. Watching two- no, wait, technically, three- of her friends fight like that, and the uncomfortably loud snap following was something else, indeed. It also introduced the concept that they were not, in fact, only going to be reliving the murders. Crap, theyâd probably accumulated enough painful memories- and had those recorded, for some sick voyeuristic reason - to torture them with for at least a couple solid days, considering how long theyâd been trapped.
Another hour. Another clip. What, pray tell, could have Otone looking so- oh, yeah, GREAT, cool, fun. Great. Considering this is more or less little more than filler detailing thoughts and shit on the other videos before actually starting and thereâs no way to tell at this time what the future holds, maybe that oneâs just going to be it for that, particular death. Hahaha yeah right but really letâs just pretend for a moment that maybe life will be tolerable for more than about twenty minutes at a stretch for now. Any tiny, desperate hopes that she wouldnât have to see any more of Kaiyaâs death was foolish at best, but dammit, if she was going to attempt to stay strong through this then those comforting lies were all that could numb the pain.
Amarenteâs execution, from another angle or not, with more gratuitous gore or not, had no more effect on her than it had the first time. Needless to say, unpleasant for sure, but nothing that especially tormented her either. Tomoe hadnât had enough time to get to know the confectioner as well as sheâd have liked, but⊠thereâs never enough time. The dismemberment of Seikatsu did little more than make her angry, tightly clenched hands trembling as a certain Letâs Player did their foul work on the poor Biochemist. Never stood a chance. Maybe it was the lingering shot of the young girlâs remains that did it, but the following replay of the execution left her feeling almost⊠vindicated? Ugh. No, no, no, horrible. Horrible! No one deserved to die here. No oneâŠ
God, every passing hour seemed to be going by even faster. Maybe it was just being so tired of everything, maybe it was how horrid the clips were versus how dull everything else transpiring seemed in comparison. And yet, the second that the next clip flickered on, her heart practically dropped into her stomach. The results of the first half of the clip previous were still in frame- and, God, there he was. Knowing exactly what transpired wasnât exactly something Tomoe had found herself wanting, ever, just the fact that Kaiya had died was bad enough. There was a knife, for Godâs sake, how had she missed the knife, as if it would have made any difference in the trial but still god dammit there was so much about this that she hadnât known, too much that had been left up to interpretation and imagination like every other trial and every other desperate gambit to pin a murder on someone. Part of her didnât want to watch the actual act, to curl up and sob and desperately try to block it all out but the noise, god, the noise, would have been so much worse on its own. It, surely it wasnât like she hadnât seen the wound, not that this would make watching it any better but how bad could it beOKAY IT WAS VERY BAD. Every part of her wanted to cry out, to express the revulsion and horror and heartache that anyone else would have felt themselves and expected from her, and yet little more than choked sobs and silent tears could be forced out from the emotionally and mentally exhausted mortician. No matter how much she wanted to hurt, how much she knew it hurt, an appropriate reaction failed to make itself present and she hated it.
The next hour was spent mostly moping, trying to forget what sheâd just seen, minimally recuperating, anticipating and dreading what theyâd be shown next. Trying to live normally had no meaning when life would be permeated by reminders of every single horrible thing that theyâd endured. Much, much sooner than sheâd have liked, the next video rolled along and already she knew exactly what was coming. Actually seeing the unbridled fury contorting her own features would have been sufficiently horrifying. And then, goddamnit, Tomoe just had to go and open her god damn mouth. Spewing violent, seething hatred with every syllable, tearing even further into an already sobbing Nime, cruelly spilling salt into the many metaphorical wounds. It was hateful, it was cruel, it was wrong, and the worst part was that she had meant every word of it. Even now, even today, no matter how much she didnât want to admit it, she meant it. That repressed, nauseating knowledge was quite possibly the worst thing about it. Obviously, it was something that she regretting doing - being that harsh was something that sheâd never have been able to see herself doing, and yet it was set in stone, caught on camera, tangible proof that she was kind of a terrible person.
Abruptly, a sharp pain shot through Tomoeâs chest - leaving her her heart pounding furiously, desperately gasping for breath and trying to maintain a foothold in reality. Was this what going crazy felt like? Not years of virtually no proper, healthy human interaction, not from being around not-actively-violently-murdering-teenage-friends death all her life, but this was what was going to send her over the edge? It certainly felt like it. No matter how hard sheâd tried to be at least cordial towards everyone, somewhere, that sort of burning hate laid underneath. Between that part of her, the wretched secret revealed to everyone so long ago (which people were surprisingly chill with), and every other time sheâd lost her patience, it was unthinkable to her that anyone would still want anything to do with her.
After all, you are who you are on your very worst day.
Anything less is a comforting lie you tell yourself to numb the pain.
Any thoughts of being even remotely prepared to perhaps talk about recent events were pretty much thrown out the window almost right away. Tomoe found herself relentlessly fidgeting with her hands, sort of wishing she had something to distract from the topic at hand, but no. It already hurt to hear the names of everyone whoâd died even within the context of a trial, and that was even before those she had been a little more personally involved with. Before it could become too apparent that she was tearing up again, she swallowed thickly and sniffled, preparing to speak. âAh, r-right⊠itâs not as if we made a huge announcement of it or anything, I suppose. Sorry.â She wasnât exactly up to date on everyone elseâs relationship statuses either - most notably, when all sorts of shenanigans came out following the conclusion of the second trial. Man, speaking of which⊠poor KazuoH GOODNESS THEREâS MORE SCREAMING NOW. OH GOD.
Baiko had said he was feeling fine physically, so what was up with the choking??? Oh no oh no oh no this is real bad, Scoob, what to do what to do ohhh nooo okay Tomoe donât panic, thatâs bad, you know how to not panic under pressure. Okay. Okay. Oh wait the problem seems to be.  Resolved. Man. False alarm, and frankly thank god. Good to know to know that could just. Sort of happen. The inhaler and outright statement of âit was an asthma attackâ cleared up any concerns that may have been unresolved about what had transpired. After taking a moment to make sure any lingering panic wouldnât manifest in her voice, she released a breath she hadnât really realized was being held and spoke once more. âYou said you were feeling fine physically. Can a new illness trigger something like that after nearly ten years of going without incident?â How does. Asthma work. ââŠAre you sure youâre going to be alright?â
Still. Maybe it was kind of a blessing that the topic was shifting. As opposed to going any deeper into how as her friend who she does care about he deserves better than to just be some second choice rebound- aaargh dammit no thatâs not helping right now stop thinking about that!! Focus more on the pressing matters at hand, like the unpredictable personality switching which would probably suck really badly and generally be a pain in the ass until it passed. Yeah. Good call. âJust let me know if I can do anything, alright?â That was likely a sufficient statement. Maybe. Heck.
âAsthma is incurable. It can go into remission, but thereâs always a chance of it popping back up if thereâs something in the air, like smoke or an allergen. I dunno. I have a lot more doses just in case, but I should be fine.â He said. âGeez, I havenât thought about my health in like⊠eight years.â He said. âAfter overcoming that stuff, I put it out of my mind.â He said.
âAnd Iâm sorry for bringing up Kaiya.â He said. âI suck at comforting people. Caused my relationship with Jin to crash and burn.â He said. âFor what itâs worth⊠Iâm going to do whatever I can to get you out of here. Even if I have to help you kill me and cover your tracks, Iâll do it.â He said, smiling.
Oh. Yeah, okay, that made sense. Was that common knowledge? Her familiarity with what illness did to the living was mostly limited to the few times she or her father had gotten sick. The aftermath, maybe, but she wasn't a coroner or anything. âAh⊠right. At least youâre covered in that regard. I apologize, I am not especially familiar with illnesses and such pertaining to their effects on the living.â It would be nice to be able to just put past events out of oneâs mind. Goodness only knows Tomoe would appreciate not having everyoneâs deaths breathing down her neck all the god damn time. At the mention of Kaiyaâs name again, she found herself fidgeting with the ribbon around her collar in an effort to distract herself from getting overly emotional about it in front of anyone else again.
âYou don't need to apologize for that. And, if it means anything, you're doing just fine.â She shrugged, attempting to play it off as though thinking about her late friends wasn't considerably painful. âItâs not as if there was any malicious intent behind bringing that up, and once weâre out of here, Iâm sure it will only continue coming up. Weâre almost certainly going to be asked about them and everything that transpired here, andâŠâ Yikes. Even if they did get out of here with their lives, they'd always be stuck reliving and recounting the hell, wouldn't they? Double yikes, speaking of getting out of here⊠what. Maybe it was the direct contrast with the previous pleas to be spared that caught her off guard, maybe it was the fact that she hadn't even considered murdering someone let alone one of her closer friends, but the idea of not only acting on the mere idea of killing Baiko but being helped to do it was downright chilling to her.
That much was evident by how much sheâd tensed up before speaking. âPlease, don't talk like that⊠Neither I nor anyone in here is any more or less worth everyone else dying for the sake of them being able to leave. I want everyone else I care about to live more than I want to escape at this point.â Her tone carried a grave seriousness that was very clearly masking how damn frantic she was starting to get. There was still work needing to be done today, she'd have to hold it together for everyoneâs sake. Just breathe. Breathe and stay calm. Tomoe shook her head gently, exhaling softly. âI⊠appreciate the sentiment, I suppose, but itâs really not worth it. I donât have anything out there thatâs worth murdering a friend to get back to.â
Any thoughts of being even remotely prepared to perhaps talk about recent events were pretty much thrown out the window almost right away. Tomoe found herself relentlessly fidgeting with her hands, sort of wishing she had something to distract from the topic at hand, but no. It already hurt to hear the names of everyone whoâd died even within the context of a trial, and that was even before those she had been a little more personally involved with. Before it could become too apparent that she was tearing up again, she swallowed thickly and sniffled, preparing to speak. âAh, r-right... itâs not as if we made a huge announcement of it or anything, I suppose. Sorry.â She wasn't exactly up to date on everyone else's relationship statuses either - most notably, when all sorts of shenanigans came out following the conclusion of the second trial. Man, speaking of which⊠poor KazuoH GOODNESS THEREâS MORE SCREAMING NOW. OH GOD.
Baiko had said he was feeling fine physically, so what was up with the choking??? Oh no oh no oh no this is real bad, Scoob, what to do what to do ohhh nooo okay Tomoe donât panic, thatâs bad, you know how to not panic under pressure. Okay. Okay. Oh wait the problem seems to be. Â Resolved. Man. False alarm, and frankly thank god. Good to know to know that could just. Sort of happen. The inhaler and outright statement of âit was an asthma attackâ cleared up any concerns that may have been unresolved about what had transpired. After taking a moment to make sure any lingering panic wouldnât manifest in her voice, she released a breath she hadnât really realized was being held and spoke once more. âYou said you were feeling fine physically. Can a new illness trigger something like that after nearly ten years of going without incident?â How does. Asthma work. â...Are you sure youâre going to be alright?â
Still. Maybe it was kind of a blessing that the topic was shifting. As opposed to going any deeper into how as her friend who she does care about he deserves better than to just be some second choice rebound- aaargh dammit no thatâs not helping right now stop thinking about that!! Focus more on the pressing matters at hand, like the unpredictable personality switching which would probably suck really badly and generally be a pain in the ass until it passed. Yeah. Good call. âJust let me know if I can do anything, alright?â That was likely a sufficient statement. Maybe. Heck.
Holy crap, it was like a light switch. A strange, emotional lightswitch that was being flicked at random intervals behind the scenes by someone who just really, really wanted to screw with people. With how suddenly angry Baiko had become, and the fact that this seemed to be indirectly her fault Tomoe couldnât help but flinch slightly at the raised fist- which, oh, alright, was just aimed at the wall. Phew. âAh, Iâm⊠really sorry about that. I was hoping to avoid something like this - well, I probably didnât particularly care at that point whether or not anyone else became ill - but still.â Yikes, yikes, yikes.
When it came to the matter of not taking everything said at face value, that had already been considered in all fairness.âOh, of course! I certainly wouldnât want anyone remembering some of the things I presumably said while I was under the effects of that illness.â There was sufficient evidence and cloudy memory to suggest that it was pretty damn nasty. âMost of it is fairly hazy, but judging by some of the recorded banter between myself and Otone⊠it was not pleasant for anyone involved. Still, though, if thereâs no physical symptoms Iâm at a loss for what to do nowâŠâ she trailed off, gazing slightly down and off to the side in thought.
âI donât blame you at all, Tomoe. I made my choice to care for you out of my own free will. This is the fault of whoever locked us in here.â He said. âYou couldnât have stopped me if you wanted to.â He added. âDonât blame yourself.â
âAs for what you said, you didnât say much. You yelled at me for trying to help you, before you gave up. You assumed I was going to murder you. I accidentally hit on you, and we agreed that even if we werenât in a murder contest, rebound dating you would be a bad idea.â
âAAAAA! Iâm sorry I tried to ask you to date me while you were sick! Hit me or attack me if you want, but please donât kill me!â
âAh, well⊠if you insist so vehemently, Iâll try.â Was she still going to feel bad about it? Absolutely. Was she going to be as vocal about it? Definitely not. At the very least, apparently, she hadnât been too harsh. Tomoe nodded thoughtfully as Baiko recounted a brief summary of what had transpired, not processing anything perhaps slightly out of the ordinary about it right away. âStill. It canât have been pleasant to put up with that on top of--â And there goes the realization. What was that about getting hit on? She became visibly perplexed as this information finally processed and visibly flustered a few moments after that. âI- you- what??â That was too seemingly out of left field to be a joke. Given her previous condition, that might very well have been what set her off getting so pissed. âOh, goodness...â
How was she even supposed to react to this? Everything was still far too recent and still hurt too much to even consider trying something again. âJust, um, wow, Iâm flattered I suppose?? I just --â Aaaand there he went again. He seemed to be under the impression that she was a lot more upset by this than she actually was. It was almost pitiful to see her friend in this state, honestly. Still, she was fairly taken aback by the fearful desperation. Maybe theyâd have to talk about it later when they were both back in their right minds. Or maybe itâd be better to just. Not address it. Who knows? âW-what?! No, Iâm- Iâd never do that! I really donât want to hurt you, no matter what. Iâm not going to kill you and neither is anyone else. All I could ever ask is that you do your best to stay alive as well.â She might have tried to offer a physical gesture of comfort as well, but given recent revelations that might end up kind of being taken the wrong way and for now she opted against doing so.
Baiko Kazehaya | Not Again | Chapter 4 Murder | Open
Since a few hours before the body discovery, Baiko had been bouncing between two states of mind, and he was internally freaking out about it. He was sitting outside of his room, and currently crying his eyes out.
âWeâre all going to die! Weâre going to kill and kill until weâre all dead! Why is this happening?!â
He then looked up, growling.
âWhat the hell is wrong with me? WHy am- oh.â He realized something. âGod Damnit.â
He walked up to the nearest person. âHey. Iâm infe-â He suddenly burst out crying.
âIâm infected! Please donât kill me!â He begged.
If youâd asked Tomoe who, out of everyone left, sheâd anticipated being drenched in tears, her answer certainly would not have been Baiko. And yet, here this was, happening as it does. What was more, he seemed to be not just worried, but outright panicked. There was considerable reason to be alarmed at this point, considering⊠pretty much everything, but still. Even when heâd confided his fears about snapping and killing someone to her, it was more of a âcalmâ apprehensiveness. Her own recovery had been coming along, more or less. The fatigue was still lingering somewhat, as was a slight fever and hints of irritability but otherwise one might have never guessed sheâd ever even been afflicted. Tomoeâs recollection of what, exactly, had transpired was hazy at best, but she definitely remembered him tending to her (and subsequently getting pissed about something, but that was probably the illnessâs fault), which likely would have been sufficient to spread the despair disease.
Before she could even say anything, the mortician was met with a plea for mercy, something that sheâd never have thought would be directed at her. âW-what? Youâre⊠oh, dear.â Abrupt response is abrupt. Following up on that reassuringly would be wise. âI wouldnât raise a finger to harm anyone in here, much less kill them. Especially not if the individual in question was a friend of mine, infected or not.â Great. Good. Thatâs probably fine. Only problem is the follow up. What, exactly, is one meant to do with sick people who ARENâT dead yet? The only thing she could think was that sick people need to rest, right? âHere, um, should⊠do you want to lie down or something?â she inquired, gesturing back towards Baikoâs room. âRest is important more than ever when one is ill, after all.â Nailed it.
Baiko cried for a few more seconds, before they abruptly stopped and his face went from sad to angry. âFucking stupid disease! It mutated! I mustâve gotten infected by being so close to you! I feel fine physically, but I keep slipping into Cowardly Masochist mode! God damnit!â Baiko punched the wall. âPlease take anything I say with a grain of salt.â He asked. âI really donât need to have you remember if I say anything.â
Holy crap, it was like a light switch. A strange, emotional lightswitch that was being flicked at random intervals behind the scenes by someone who just really, really wanted to screw with people. With how suddenly angry Baiko had become, and the fact that this seemed to be indirectly her fault Tomoe couldnât help but flinch slightly at the raised fist- which, oh, alright, was just aimed at the wall. Phew. âAh, Iâm⊠really sorry about that. I was hoping to avoid something like this - well, I probably didnât particularly care at that point whether or not anyone else became ill - but still.â Yikes, yikes, yikes.
When it came to the matter of not taking everything said at face value, that had already been considered in all fairness.âOh, of course! I certainly wouldnât want anyone remembering some of the things I presumably said while I was under the effects of that illness.â There was sufficient evidence and cloudy memory to suggest that it was pretty damn nasty. âMost of it is fairly hazy, but judging by some of the recorded banter between myself and Otone⊠it was not pleasant for anyone involved. Still, though, if thereâs no physical symptoms Iâm at a loss for what to do now...â she trailed off, gazing slightly down and off to the side in thought.
Baiko Kazehaya | Not Again | Chapter 4 Murder | Open
Since a few hours before the body discovery, Baiko had been bouncing between two states of mind, and he was internally freaking out about it. He was sitting outside of his room, and currently crying his eyes out.
âWeâre all going to die! Weâre going to kill and kill until weâre all dead! Why is this happening?!â
He then looked up, growling.
âWhat the hell is wrong with me? WHy am- oh.â He realized something. âGod Damnit.â
He walked up to the nearest person. âHey. Iâm infe-â He suddenly burst out crying.
âIâm infected! Please donât kill me!â He begged.
If youâd asked Tomoe who, out of everyone left, sheâd anticipated being drenched in tears, her answer certainly would not have been Baiko. And yet, here this was, happening as it does. What was more, he seemed to be not just worried, but outright panicked. There was considerable reason to be alarmed at this point, considering⊠pretty much everything, but still. Even when heâd confided his fears about snapping and killing someone to her, it was more of a âcalmâ apprehensiveness. Her own recovery had been coming along, more or less. The fatigue was still lingering somewhat, as was a slight fever and hints of irritability but otherwise one might have never guessed sheâd ever even been afflicted. Tomoeâs recollection of what, exactly, had transpired was hazy at best, but she definitely remembered him tending to her (and subsequently getting pissed about something, but that was probably the illnessâs fault), which likely would have been sufficient to spread the despair disease.
Before she could even say anything, the mortician was met with a plea for mercy, something that sheâd never have thought would be directed at her. âW-what? Youâre... oh, dear.â Abrupt response is abrupt. Following up on that reassuringly would be wise. âI wouldnât raise a finger to harm anyone in here, much less kill them. Especially not if the individual in question was a friend of mine, infected or not.â Great. Good. Thatâs probably fine. Only problem is the follow up. What, exactly, is one meant to do with sick people who ARENâT dead yet? The only thing she could think was that sick people need to rest, right? âHere, um, should⊠do you want to lie down or something?â she inquired, gesturing back towards Baikoâs room. âRest is important more than ever when one is ill, after all.â Nailed it.
âOh. Huh.â It sounded pretty childish as far as nomenclature went, but otherwise nothing worth any more thought. Cool. Hydration. Guess thatâs important. Not as important as addressing this second thing now, though. How was she even supposed to respond to that? As if she wasnât thinking straight already... âHey, if you say so. Mâtoo tired to argue over that right now. Not like shit  is gonna rapidly go downhill or anything now that thatâs come out.â Tomoeâs tone turned bitter towards the latter half of her response. Between all the shit that had already happened, recent events, pretty much most of the physical symptoms and now this, it was getting to be a bit much all at once. âYouâre damn right it doesnât matter right now. Iâm not about to go on the rebound or any shit like that so soon after Kaiya went and got his ass killed.â Jesus, that was fairly contemptuous sounding. Was that watering in her eyes from the fever, or getting a little too worked up over all this? Either way, that was⊠probably a little excessive, but presently she didnât really care.
Before any more snappy retorts could be flung, thankfully, a fairly violent fit of sneezing overtook the mortician. Whatever it was sheâd been mad about was pretty much forgotten as a mixed result of all the sneezing and tiredness. Shuddering and curling up more tightly within the confines of her blanket, Tomoe begrudgingly found herself accepting defeat, for now. She could probably yell at Baiko more later once sheâd regained some energy, assuming she was still annoyed or even able to recall what had transpired by then. â...ugh, just forget it. Iâm gonna try to sleep this off or something.â she grumbled, âStay, or donât, or whatever. Not like I can stop you either way. I donât even give a shit if you were lying about not hurting me because at this point death would be better than this shit.â There was barely even a vague hint of anger lingering in her voice. She just sounded beyond exhausted.
Not going to let her suffer alone? Jeez. What kind of feel-good friendship bullcrap was that? Huffing indignantly, Tomoe cocked an eyebrow as Baiko rolled up his pant leg, eyeing the scars almost suspiciously. âUhhh huh. I see.â On pretty much any other day, sheâd have definitely appreciated the touching gesture, but she was far too short-tempered and grumpy to give anything even close to half a shit. âCool, I guess. Shit sucks.â Iâm just going to take a moment to apologize in the narrative now for how unpleasant and disagreeable she is. Iâm so sorry. Tomoe didnât have to be told twice that lying down was a good idea, but she was going on the defensive about it regardless. âIâm lying down âcause I want to. Not âcause you told me to or any shit like that. Just a coincidence that I chose to now.â
And aaahfuck holy fuck that cloth was like a gift from the heavens or something. Short term relief, maybe, but it wasnât like they could do jack shit for the long term anyways. âOhh fuck yes. Fuuuck yeees. You could literally murder me right now and I would die happy.â Thatâs the closest thing youâre getting to a thank you right now, man.  For a while, the silence was permeated by the occasional sniffle or various other illness sounds that donât really warrant a loving description. While definitely used to extended periods of silence, it was still a little weird having someone else actually be there for them⊠and like, be okay with that. When symptoms came up, she adjusted herself so that she was more propped up, better suited to conversation (or really, having her voice heard more clearly since she was not about to repeat herself.) âItâs like Iâm reliving that fucking hangover, but this time it also ended up giving me influenza or some bullcrap. That good enough?â Hopefully so, because sheâs just kind of. Flopping back down with a quiet groan. Tomoe does not do sick well. Grumbling from her now-lying-down again position, she tacked on a very clearly angry âMânot angry⊠Iâm appropriately snappy for someone in my position, god damn it.â
He nodded. âSo no swelling, itching, stinging or other symptoms for me to help with. Gotcha.â He smiled softly as she practically moaned when the towel touched her forehead. âYeah, Miss Marian always did this trick whenever I had a fever. That, and taught me how to make âghostsââ he used air quotes. âWhen I needed to get water into my system but was too sick to drink without throwing up. I can make sure youâre comfortable for now.â He smiled. âGotta keep the cute- my FRIEND comfortable.â He said, interrupting himself. He wiped some sweat off of her neck. âEven if you hate it, Iâm going to keep an eye on you.â No one was going to murder her.
Irritation was beginning to give way to resignation and exhaustion. Tomoe was certainly still far from pleased with the situation, and also really really confused as to who Miss Marian was, exactly. And what these âghostsâ were. âThâ fuck is a âghostââŠ?â Well, whatever it was, it probably involved water, somehow. Especially considering that it was just stated very explicitly to involve hydration good fucking god get it together Tomoe. She was still considerably grumpy, but the towel had cooled her temper somewhat as well as her forehead. Not literally of course, but it seemed to be an apt comparison. Sheâd definitely be grateful for all this once she stopped being such a fuck courtesy of Despair Fever Hell post-murder. Not that⊠there was going to be another murder. Guess theyâd just have to collectively get used to living with being sick as hell forever. Yep. Noooo murder.
Less murder, more verbal self-interruptions. âDamn,â she murmured absentmindedly, âIâm the cute friend.â It was evident that, somewhere along the way, the groggy stupor had overridden any urge to be combative or contradictory. This was getting incredibly silly. Fair enough, considering she probably looked about as halfway to passing out as she felt. And- shit, next thing she knows thereâs a hand quite close to her neck and sheâs immediately tensing up. Fuck, she should have known, it would be so easy to kill her in this state, she was going to get fucking choked to death and there wasnât a thing that she could do to stop it like this - but, as soon as that fear was introduced it was promptly alleviated. It⊠wasnât anything bad. Rather, it was little more than yet another misinterpreted gesture of kindness.
âChrist,â she groaned weakly, âif you want to stick around so badly, donât fucking scare me like that.â
Not going to let her suffer alone? Jeez. What kind of feel-good friendship bullcrap was that? Huffing indignantly, Tomoe cocked an eyebrow as Baiko rolled up his pant leg, eyeing the scars almost suspiciously. âUhhh huh. I see.â On pretty much any other day, sheâd have definitely appreciated the touching gesture, but she was far too short-tempered and grumpy to give anything even close to half a shit. âCool, I guess. Shit sucks.â Iâm just going to take a moment to apologize in the narrative now for how unpleasant and disagreeable she is. Iâm so sorry. Tomoe didnât have to be told twice that lying down was a good idea, but she was going on the defensive about it regardless. âIâm lying down âcause I want to. Not âcause you told me to or any shit like that. Just a coincidence that I chose to now.â
And aaahfuck holy fuck that cloth was like a gift from the heavens or something. Short term relief, maybe, but it wasnât like they could do jack shit for the long term anyways. âOhh fuck yes. Fuuuck yeees. You could literally murder me right now and I would die happy.â Thatâs the closest thing youâre getting to a thank you right now, man.  For a while, the silence was permeated by the occasional sniffle or various other illness sounds that donât really warrant a loving description. While definitely used to extended periods of silence, it was still a little weird having someone else actually be there for them... and like, be okay with that. When symptoms came up, she adjusted herself so that she was more propped up, better suited to conversation (or really, having her voice heard more clearly since she was not about to repeat herself.) âItâs like Iâm reliving that fucking hangover, but this time it also ended up giving me influenza or some bullcrap. That good enough?â Hopefully so, because sheâs just kind of. Flopping back down with a quiet groan. Tomoe does not do sick well. Grumbling from her now-lying-down again position, she tacked on a very clearly angry âMânot angry⊠Iâm appropriately snappy for someone in my position, god damn it.â
Baiko Kazehaya | Timeout, Player Down | Chapter Four Motive | Closed (Tomoe)
The second he had heard that one of his only two friends had been infected, he instantly looked through the building to locate her. Â It took some doing, but he sighed in relief once he finally managed to track his friend down.
âThere you are. I was worried about you, you know? Canât leave one of my two friends to deal with a weird, mind altering disease alone, can I?â He asked, sitting down next to her. âIâm going to stay by your side until youâre cured, okay?â He said, determined
Having left Otone comfortably passed out in the pile of pillows in the seating area, itâd have probably come as no surprise to anyone that Tomoe had immediately left to isolate herself elsewhere - naturally, as many would expect, this ended up being her own room. Probably not the best spot for the now-extremely-pissed mortician to be, as thatâs where everyone would be anticipating her to have gone, but⊠honestly, she just didnât have the energy to try and come up with somewhere better to hide, much less actually get herself there. Besides, at least here she could sit on her bed and sulk while wrapped up in the bedding. When she heard someone entering the room, she was anticipating it to have been the more predictable Alice - especially given that it was also kind of his room. But, no, much to her surprise, it was actually Baiko. Of course, this didnât change the fact that she was glowering at him. That was just the greeting anyone could expect coming in here.
Wrapping the blanket more tightly around herself, a soft annoyed grumble and roll of the eyes was more or less all Tomoe could initially muster in response to Baiko sitting down. The incredulousness of her stare only increased as he stated his full intentions, given her current  âFUUUCK AAAALL YAAAALLâ mindset - and why would he want to be anywhere NEAR such a sick person, friend or not?! After delivering that definitely thorough and kickass thrashing to Otone that certainly wasnât more of a pathetic slap-fight at best, in combination with her recently and rapidly onset illness, Tomoe had no strength left to argue. She opened her mouth to protest, but all that came out was another bout of mixed coughing and sneezing. Wiping her face haphazardly with her sleeve and sniffling, she contemplated whether or not it would be worth getting pissy and demanding that Baiko leave. Despite her current condition, it was pretty obvious that it wasnât going to do anything but consume more of her rapidly fading energy if she DID do that. â... Fuck, fine. Whatever. Not like itâd make a difference if I told you to fuck off if youâre that goddamn set on it.â If sheâd been in anything remotely resembling her right mind, this gesture would have been vastly appreciated.
Tragically, the violent vulgarity hell sickness left her unable to give a shit about mostly everything. Even if it werenât for the other symptoms that were setting in, such as the âcomplete and utter 180 on personalityâ the fever itself was harsh enough to leave anyone fairly irritable. Now that sheâd been sat down for a bit, though, she was⊠mostly just tired. Kind of resigned. âCanât fuckinâ believe it. Not only am I gonna fucking die in here, Iâm gonna die of some bullshit mind-fucking illness.â Harsh, strained laughter permeated by more coughing rang out. Tomoeâs eyes were beginning to water, though whether it was because she was actually getting upset over something or just another side effect of the fever was anyoneâs guess. Probably the latter though. âGo fuckinâ figure, that rat was a transmission vector or some shit. Hell, youâve probably already caught it by proximity. She was talking it up like it was super contagious. Whatâre we waiting for, letâs go cause a pandemic!â Forcefully standing up as if hell-bent on that (really fucking stupid) goal, she could barely stand for a couple moments before collapsing back down out of fatigue. This fever-disease-whatfuckingever was certainly taxing her energy severely. â...Ugh, fuck it. Maybe later.â
All she could muster was a murmur of agreement as Otone headed up to actually, like, get the drinks - probably just as well, given that they were older and there was probably some bullshit stipulation she didnât care about that stated she couldnât handle it herself. And yet, as the case was with most of the bullshit stipulations, as long as she didnât touch the bottle everything would probably be fine. If it really came down to that, Tomoe wasnât entirely opposed to the idea of just having her buddy pour the stuff directly into her mouth if it was absolutely necessary. What the hell were they gonna do about that? Not a damn thing. And if they were gonna do a damn thing about it, sheâd probably be drunk enough by then to give even less of a shit than she already did.
Propping herself up at the mention of The Stuff being really strong (HELL YES HELL YEAH HELL YES), Tomoe cracked a sardonic smile. âFinally, something good comes out of this place.â Hahaha, remember what happened last time you said something like that? Or, uh, had it narrated. Yeah. A whole metric fuckity-shitton of bad things went down. Sheâd probably just, like, inadvertently jinxed it or something. âGod, if you die now, or someone else dies in here again, I am going to be so pissed. If I can have one thing, then let it be underage binge drinking with a good friend, god damn it.â If youâd told her, or me, way back in chapter one that this is where her life would have gone, neither of us would have believed you. And yet, here we are, at stage 5 of Tomoeâs So Fucking Done - The One With Bad Life Choices. As Otone set the tray down and began pouring drinks for both of them - probably just as well since touching the bottle would likely result in full life consequences, such as being hit on the head with a cane - she couldnât help but reflect on where her life had gone, for just a moment. All this just because she thought accepting a Hopeâs Peak invite would be a good idea. And now here she was, about to drink her problems away after all sorts of âmurdersâ and âdeathsâ that wouldnât have been a problem if none of them had tried to go to some stupid school.
And. Man, wow, yeah, all there was left to do was start indeed. Tomoe wasnât really too sure what to make of it all, considering that it still all sort of felt, painfully surreal. While it smelled like something that could only be described as âfire if it hadnât started burning yet and was also vaguely sweet?â if they were so sure this would help even temporarily, then so it would be. âDamn straight itâs happening.â And without a second thought, the glass was raised to her lips and tilted back, and oh dear god it tastes like burning too why the fuck did she do this why why why why why auuuuuuuuugh. Still, like hell if she was going to back out now. Forcing herself to swallow the Pain Elixir, Tomoeâs hand with the glass was slammed back down on the table maybe a little bit more forcefully than sheâd intended - though, considering her lack of strength in general that was not exceptional by any means. She took a moment or three to cough violently a little bit, as one does in these sorts of situations such as having knocked back a shot of fairly strong alcohol when theyâve never had any before.
Sliding her glass along the table and back towards the bottle without even bothering to lift it again, Tomoe returned to resting her head in her hands. âItâs absolutely horrible.â she stated, rather bluntly. âKeep âem coming.â Yeah, this was going to end absolutely terribly, christ.
There was something incredibly humorous about watching probably the most mature and proper person left in this place taking a shot in her stride. In fact, Otone was softly giggling at the whole ordeal. They hadnât been able to laugh in a very long time, but they felt so disconnected from their entire situation that it just⊠happened. âHoly shit.â They murmured. Maybe it was kind of rude but it was just friendly banter, kinda. Social drinking, or whatever they call it. Well, social drinking with the intention to lose all consciousness.Â
They raised their own glass to their lips and downed it in one shot. Yes, it wasnât smart and they saw how Tomoe reacted but man it wouldnât be fair if she was the only one to suffer like that. They held back their coughs, for the most part, but a wheeze did escape them. It was disgusting but extremely compelling, damn. And hereâs where they realised their alcohol tolerance was next to nothing. They probably wouldâve recommended that they diluted the stuff but nah. Both of them arenât getting out of the deep end for sure. They lightly placed the glass back on the table, holding their head in their hand, arm perched on the table before their other hand reached for the bottle once more.Â
âI donât think Iâll ever understand how people chug entire bottles of thisâŠâ They commented, pouring a new shot for the both of them. âUmezawa, I have a feeling the bottle wonât be half-empty by the time we black out.â missinâ out the honorifics, that couldnât be the alcohol already could it? Regardless, they braced for impact and took the next drink. This was the worst idea theyâd ever had in their goddamn lives but man it was a good idea on paper.Â
On any other day, sheâd have been somewhat taken aback by the laughter. Given the nature of the circumstances, and the fact that the alcohol was already hitting them, and pretty much the absurdity of literally everything else at this point, had she not been preoccupied with dying a little bit internally Tomoe would have been laughing too. Honestly, the both of them would have already seemed to be pretty badly off. Presumably already to themselves, and anyone who would have happened to drop in on it. Thankfully, since this is closed thread, thatâs probably not going to happen anytime soon unless it would be funny for it to.
âGood. Means we, uh.. Donât gotta worry too much about running low anytime soon. God only knows how much longer weâre gonna be here.â Haha. Wow, that was. Was that even supposed to be a joke anymore? Had she become so resigned to this reality that she was content to start drinking her life away? Rather than dwelling on it too, she opted to simply pound back her next drink. Good fucking lord, it was still horrible, but at least she knew what to expect now. Thinking about stuff is for nerds, anyways. Getting absolutely shitfaced probably wasnât going to help anything in the long run, but god damn if it didnât seem like a temporary fix for now.
No longer too concerned with the whole âmurderâ and âdead friendâ things, the absurdity of their current situation (as well as the alcohol) finally hit her. Iâd say like a truck, but this was more like three trucks strapped together with a healthy amount of C4 glued on for good measure in terms of impact. Actually, I think that exact metaphor is why Tomoe burst into a fit of giggles, peppered with the occasional bout of coughing. With the Bad Life Choices Party now in full swing, there didnât seem to be any need to ask if there were going to be more shots. Yeah, it was⊠it was pretty obvious they were both huge fucking lightweights but even this wasnât going to cut how absolutely shitfaced anyone was intending to get. âGod, just-â cough âhahaha, oh my god, look at us!â She was struggling to get any words out that werenât unintelligible  with all the snickering (and coughing) going on. âWhat are we- what are we even doing, man? Sâno wonder that, uh. That.. that weâre gonna. Um. Scare off any murders. Iâd be all âoh SHIT no way in hell am I dealin with THATâ too if I saw this happening.â Was. Was she laughing, or sobbing? Actually, itâs probably both. Dear god, thereâs still more shots coming. Might as well title this episode âÂŒ of the gang dabbles with alcohol poisoningâ tbh. This is fine.
A whole god damn lot of shit had just been happening so much. Tomoe never expected that sheâd  have legitimately considered what was about to happen as a coping method, but by this point it wouldnât be entirely true to say it was surprising. She didnât really know all that much about alcohol, her only experience with the stuff being that her father seemed to have taken somewhat of a liking to it about two years before sheâd received her letter from Hopeâs Peak. But really, by this point she was so exhausted by everything (namely, having not slept for one) that this seemed like it probably wouldnât be a horrible idea. Probably. Even if it did seem like a bad idea, at least it was getting her out of her room for something that wasnât directly influenced by the virtual materialism of an unknown yet innately charming omniscient third party narrator.
And on top of that, at least she was going to be with a friend. A friend whoâd been kind enough to not only provide her with a very certain something, but extend the invitation in the first place. Sheâd been a little on the fence about venturing into the bar for this reason, but damn if she hadnât been persuaded by the fact alone that they were going to be there as well. All the arrangements had been made prior over Titter, and as soon as sheâd finished stashing all her assorted trash from the ticket machine in the vacant room next to her own (including an unfortunate couple of choice items that would be harder to unsee than all the dead people ones) made off for the fourth floor. In world, this was probably like⊠I dunno, half an hour or so after the meeting had been finalized but itâs nearly five hours later real time as of writing. Be open minded about the time frame, I guess.
The first thing she saw upon arrival was that Otone was already there and waiting, looking more than ready to either fall asleep or get utterly fucking wasted. Maybe both. Fair enough, though, considering she wasnât holding up much better. Sheâd tried, at least, to keep up appearances but the fact that her hair was visibly messier (and notably, now in a low ponytail) more or less served as a dead giveaway. Normally, the idea of getting to spend time with a friend would perk her mood up at least a bit, but considering why they were here and everything that had happened⊠yeah. The sound of her footsteps was probably sufficient to indicate her arrival, and⊠there really wasnât much to say that they hadnât already said in their messages prior. Not entirely certain of where to start with the bottles, she sort of just⊠joined Otone at the table.
There were probably a good few moments of silence before, finally, Tomoe found the question she wished to ask. âHow are we⊠even supposed to do this? Or⊠where are we supposed to start? I donât really know how one is meant to go about kickstarting such blatantly terrible life decisions like this.â A pitiful, almost nervous laugh followed up her statement before she sort of just⊠slumped miserably onto the table. âGod, this is not the path I anticipated my life going down. And yet, here we are.â
Ready to get wasted was an understatement, really. Otone just really, really wanted to try this shit out, considering it kinda worked for one person they knew. Kinda.Â
Their head lifted slightly at the sound of pretty familiar footsteps, and there she was, Miss is-probably-suffering-more-than-i-ever-could. A weak smile of greeting flashed on their face as she sat down, and they finally sat back up straight-ish, theyâd have to get up in a sec, anyway.Â
Really, the entire situation seemed a little on the pathetic side, but thatâs why drinks existed. A nervous laugh escaped Otone following Tomoeâs own, âI didnât think Iâd be going for this either but⊠well⊠you took the words right out of my mouth.â The fact they werenât stumbling over their words or really pausing to think about what they were going to say really went to show just how goddamn tired this kid was, absolutely no care was going into what was said.
âWell⊠to start⊠glasses, right?â Otone stood up from the bench, and headed over to the main counter, ducking down and rising back up with two spotless shot glasses. âIf I read right, the stuff here is um⊠really strong.â They placed the glasses onto a tray on the counter, alongside a decorker before spinning around on their heel and picking out a lone bottle from the top shelf. âYep⊠Thatâs whiskey.â they murmured, they placed the bottle on the tray and brought the whole thing back to the table before they sat down next to Tomoe.Â
âAll thatâs left to do is⊠start.â Theyâd be lying if they said they werenât extremely intimidated by the hurdle ahead but man this was going to be⊠well better than moping. They grabbed the decorker and, surprisingly skillfully, opened up the bottle. Holy shit, this was happening. Two shots poured later and Otone was nervously swishing their shot around the glass, âThis is⊠really happening, isnât it?â
All she could muster was a murmur of agreement as Otone headed up to actually, like, get the drinks - probably just as well, given that they were older and there was probably some bullshit stipulation she didnât care about that stated she couldnât handle it herself. And yet, as the case was with most of the bullshit stipulations, as long as she didnât touch the bottle everything would probably be fine. If it really came down to that, Tomoe wasnât entirely opposed to the idea of just having her buddy pour the stuff directly into her mouth if it was absolutely necessary. What the hell were they gonna do about that? Not a damn thing. And if they were gonna do a damn thing about it, sheâd probably be drunk enough by then to give even less of a shit than she already did.
Propping herself up at the mention of The Stuff being really strong (HELL YES HELL YEAH HELL YES), Tomoe cracked a sardonic smile. âFinally, something good comes out of this place.â Hahaha, remember what happened last time you said something like that? Or, uh, had it narrated. Yeah. A whole metric fuckity-shitton of bad things went down. Sheâd probably just, like, inadvertently jinxed it or something. âGod, if you die now, or someone else dies in here again, I am going to be so pissed. If I can have one thing, then let it be underage binge drinking with a good friend, god damn it.â If youâd told her, or me, way back in chapter one that this is where her life would have gone, neither of us would have believed you. And yet, here we are, at stage 5 of Tomoeâs So Fucking Done - The One With Bad Life Choices. As Otone set the tray down and began pouring drinks for both of them - probably just as well since touching the bottle would likely result in full life consequences, such as being hit on the head with a cane - she couldnât help but reflect on where her life had gone, for just a moment. All this just because she thought accepting a Hopeâs Peak invite would be a good idea. And now here she was, about to drink her problems away after all sorts of âmurdersâ and âdeathsâ that wouldnât have been a problem if none of them had tried to go to some stupid school.
And. Man, wow, yeah, all there was left to do was start indeed. Tomoe wasnât really too sure what to make of it all, considering that it still all sort of felt, painfully surreal. While it smelled like something that could only be described as âfire if it hadnât started burning yet and was also vaguely sweet?â if they were so sure this would help even temporarily, then so it would be. âDamn straight itâs happening.â And without a second thought, the glass was raised to her lips and tilted back, and oh dear god it tastes like burning too why the fuck did she do this why why why why why auuuuuuuuugh. Still, like hell if she was going to back out now. Forcing herself to swallow the Pain Elixir, Tomoeâs hand with the glass was slammed back down on the table maybe a little bit more forcefully than sheâd intended - though, considering her lack of strength in general that was not exceptional by any means. She took a moment or three to cough violently a little bit, as one does in these sorts of situations such as having knocked back a shot of fairly strong alcohol when theyâve never had any before.
Sliding her glass along the table and back towards the bottle without even bothering to lift it again, Tomoe returned to resting her head in her hands. âItâs absolutely horrible.â she stated, rather bluntly. âKeep âem coming.â Yeah, this was going to end absolutely terribly, christ.
Otone | This might be a silver lining, if anything | Chap. 4 | Closed (Tomoe)
There is only so much you can take when literally half of your classmates are dead, as everyone already knew.Â
Otone knew that pretty well too, and after having just lurked Titter for what felt like an eternity, they finally got a sign to go out and do something when the new floor opened up. That something being drink. A lot.Â
And to top it all off, theyâd somehow roped Tomoe into all of this, and the two were going to drink together, astoundingly enough. Oh, and Otone had to give her something of importance but details, details.
They had that specific something of important with them though, as they waited at the bar, slouched over one of the tables. God, they were so tired of everything but this seemed⊠like a good idea, hopefully. Maybe. It was better than murder, at least. Now all there was to do was wait for Tomoe and⊠yep.
A whole god damn lot of shit had just been happening so much. Tomoe never expected that sheâd  have legitimately considered what was about to happen as a coping method, but by this point it wouldnât be entirely true to say it was surprising. She didnât really know all that much about alcohol, her only experience with the stuff being that her father seemed to have taken somewhat of a liking to it about two years before sheâd received her letter from Hopeâs Peak. But really, by this point she was so exhausted by everything (namely, having not slept for one) that this seemed like it probably wouldnât be a horrible idea. Probably. Even if it did seem like a bad idea, at least it was getting her out of her room for something that wasnât directly influenced by the virtual materialism of an unknown yet innately charming omniscient third party narrator.
And on top of that, at least she was going to be with a friend. A friend whoâd been kind enough to not only provide her with a very certain something, but extend the invitation in the first place. Sheâd been a little on the fence about venturing into the bar for this reason, but damn if she hadnât been persuaded by the fact alone that they were going to be there as well. All the arrangements had been made prior over Titter, and as soon as sheâd finished stashing all her assorted trash from the ticket machine in the vacant room next to her own (including an unfortunate couple of choice items that would be harder to unsee than all the dead people ones) made off for the fourth floor. In world, this was probably like⊠I dunno, half an hour or so after the meeting had been finalized but itâs nearly five hours later real time as of writing. Be open minded about the time frame, I guess.
The first thing she saw upon arrival was that Otone was already there and waiting, looking more than ready to either fall asleep or get utterly fucking wasted. Maybe both. Fair enough, though, considering she wasnât holding up much better. Sheâd tried, at least, to keep up appearances but the fact that her hair was visibly messier (and notably, now in a low ponytail) more or less served as a dead giveaway. Normally, the idea of getting to spend time with a friend would perk her mood up at least a bit, but considering why they were here and everything that had happened⊠yeah. The sound of her footsteps was probably sufficient to indicate her arrival, and⊠there really wasnât much to say that they hadnât already said in their messages prior. Not entirely certain of where to start with the bottles, she sort of just⊠joined Otone at the table.
There were probably a good few moments of silence before, finally, Tomoe found the question she wished to ask. âHow are we⊠even supposed to do this? Or⊠where are we supposed to start? I donât really know how one is meant to go about kickstarting such blatantly terrible life decisions like this.â A pitiful, almost nervous laugh followed up her statement before she sort of just... slumped miserably onto the table. âGod, this is not the path I anticipated my life going down. And yet, here we are.â
Kaiya could feel everyones spirits were being lowered by the minute. He had to do something to cheer everyone up right? After scribbling some ideas down he decided on a dumb but fun idea. He used some of the leftover paper in his room and scribbled up a sign. âCOME ONE COME ALL SEE HOW MUCH I CAN BENCHPRESS.â He tapped his chin and scribbled a bit more. âWhoever I canât lift gets a soda or something.â He always had a way with words. He taped the sign up near the auditorium and sat by the stage. Surely this canât go wrong right?
Considering the recently uncovered motive, it came as no surprise that many peopleâs spirits were dampened even further. While checking up on everyone seemed to have been going mostly okay thus far, or as well as it could have been, between the ridiculous competition they were forced into and now peopleâs loved ones were being used not to motivate them to stay alive, but to consider killing another. Pathetic. What should have been a heartfelt reason to live, being twisted so cruelly into this. Were it not for the odd sign taped up near the auditoriumâs entrance, Tomoe may very well have continued on down that train of thought. It certainly hadnât been there last she checked, and subsequently piqued her interest. Well, there were certainly a number of people it could have been--
Yeah come on who the fuck else was it gonna be itâs obviously Kaiya jesus christ.  Were it not for the addendum scrawled underneath the main body of the sign, it may have been⊠like, marginally less obvious, maybe. There really did not seem to be much room for possibilities here. Sheâd seen (and experienced) firsthand just how much he could lift, and frankly, it only made sense. Her suspicions were confirmed almost instantaneously as she entered the auditorium to see Kaiya and the audience currently consisting of Alice and a few others Iâm going to assume showed up. Assuming the chronology on this doesnât get absolutely fucked, there are PROBABLY more people who showed up sometime between when Alice did and when Tomoe did.
If not, then, well, disregard the latter half of that middle paragraph. Sheâs here, sheâs greeting everyone present politely, trying still to hide her amusement at the sign⊠you know, normal stuff. There was no way this could go worse than that party last chapter-  uh, week⊠or⊠whenever that transpired relative to this. Chalk that one up to perception of time being skewed due to âno contact with the outside worldâ and not some meta bullshit that really isnât deserving of its own paragraph. There hasnât even been any dialogue yet, for fuckâs sake. Though, considering the fact that there was the opportunity for shenanigans, that was soon to change. âI have my misgivings about this. I mean, are you absolutely certain that youâre capable of lifting even a single person here?â Spoken as if shenanigans hadnât occurred fairly recently that disproved that outlandishly hilarious claim-slash-jest. Blah blah blah literally swept off her feet or some equally cheesy crap that has no place in this post, because Iâm having trouble writing it to a close.Â
Tomoe pondered that for a moment - while Zaiga was posing in a manner that read more as if she were simply being dramatic, it was in fact incredibly suspicious that they had not once witnessed someone restocking their supplies.  But, then, going along with it as being a bit silly would probably just⊠be easier. Easier than trying to deduce how, exactly, it may be happening. âIâve been operating under the assumption that everyone had realized how unhealthy it was and was simply leaving it alone.â So silly. While she could certainly agree with the importance of staying positive, even with the bizarre fâloppy fishâ remark, when Zaiga smiled just so genuinely and stated that they were friends she couldnât help but absolutely light up.
âOf course! No matter how bad things have been, weâre going to persevere even in the face of this incredible adversity. Weâre stronger than those two jerks could ever have expected.â Of course, chronologically, the costumes and dance competitions havenât happened yet, and neither has the murder, buuuut⊠yâknow. No one has to suffer! That would be, uh, bad. And not going to happen at all. âI feel as though so long as we do not allow them to crush our spirits, we shall undeniably prevail.â And subsequently she, too, offered a genuine smile in turn.
Oh. Oh shit. Yeah, yep, even if Tomoe did have something lined up to be done after this this, those hypothetical plans were now going straight out the window. She wasnât altogether too certain what had set him off, but one thing was for sure - there was no way in hell she could leave him like this. No matter how hard Kaiya may have tried to feign composure, it was painfully blatant from his tone, from the fact that he was trembling, that everything was super extra not okay. Concern deeper than even her initial worries (which, for the record, were already pretty much set to âVERYâ) set in, and finally she ventured a couple steps into the room.
âItâs alright, donât worry⊠I promise you, Kaiya, that Iâm not going anywhere.â Sheâd have tried to hug him for further reassurance again, but considering he was sort in the middle of trying to patch up a wall it would have been poorly timed. Instead, she opted to simply head further in to grab the tape that was just out of his reach and pass it to where it was needed, before any fears that it may be intrusive could set in. After a moment of contemplating how to phrase it, she spoke again softly. âYou donât have to pretend that everythingâs alright if youâre hurting. Keeping it all to yourself is only going to make it worse, I think⊠You donât have to if you donât want to, but if you need to talk or anything Iâm always here for you.â
Kaiya smiled as he was reassured. âThank you Tomoe you have always been here to listen to my problems, something no one has done for me before.â He gives her the warmest smile he can muster. âYou are so sweet and kind and nice and I-.â He stops and takes the tape to cover up the wall. After a few minutes of work it looks like the walls were patched up. He slid off his bed and tossed the tape aside. He had done what he needed to do. âKiyoko would be proud of me..I hope.â He could feel the weight leave his shoulders ever so slightly, just enough for him to do something he had to do. âT-Tomoe there is something I have to ask you..I have to do it now or it might be too late.â He was rubbing his arm sheepishly. He was scared to do this but he knew he had to, he let it slip by with Kiyoko he wonât let it slip with someone else. He has to tell her how he feels.âTomoe IâŠWell itâs just.â He doesnât know what to say right now to the tall, caring and beautiful mortician in front of him. The words are there but he just canât convey them and he was getting more red by the second. âI-IâŠI..â He was never good with words so he better try what he is good with. He moved close and tried to move as high up as standing on his tip toes would allow. His eyes were shut and his face was red. He pressed into her for the best hug he could muster. âI want to be by your side forever Tomoe..I donât know how to describe these feelings but I want to be close to you. Is..this what love is?â  He looks up at her as the words finally came out.
It was relieving to see him smile. Though, the abruptness of his words cutting off was a little odd, but Tomoe chose to not question it. Deciding to simply observe as the remaining holes were covered, there was a comfortable silence accompanying the sounds of rustling paper and tape. Though, once that had all been dealt with, Kiyokoâs name mentioned was almost soul-crushing⊠would Kiyokoâs be proud? Not just of him, but of everyone now. (They could probably ask over Titter, but that would sort of kill the mood.) For a moment Tomoe felt as if she may falter, but after a second she managed a sad smile. âI am most certain she would be.â There wasnât really much else to be said about that, was there? Granted, there were a lot of things that were trying to be said. None of them were especially well articulated, and seemed to be flustering the poor bodyguard a good deal, but the attempts were there.
It wasnât until the hug that her face, too, reddened. Instinctively, she found herself hugging him back gently. Already uncertain of how much longer she could go without saying something, the heartfelt confession cinched her decision to finally go through with⊠well, she hadnât really planned anything. It was never especially anticipated that things would be reaching this point. After a few moments of breathless silence and staring back down into his eyes, in lieu of wasting any more time trying to come up with words she leaned down (somewhat awkwardly) to plant a gentle kiss on Kaiyaâs forehead. The gesture would be more than enough to fill the space while she came up with an appropriate response.
Aforementioned response did not take as long as expected to form. âWhatever it may be, I can happily reciprocate. No matter what else may happen, I will always stand by your side.â That was appropriately cheesy, probably, and frankly I canât believe Iâm actually writing this. Some next level trash, really*, but the time for vaguely meta narration is over. While everything might still be kind of terrible due to the whole âkilling gameâ thing, for now, it truly did feel like everything was going to be alright.
Kaiya lit up at the kiss and contact. âR-really?â He was so sure that Tomoe was going to want to leave him, he was so sure that Tomoe would turn him down but despite all that he must have done something right. All the times Kaiya has messed up and someone still wanted to be with him. Kaiya was..well he was elated but he doesnât know that word so really really happy was all he could think off. For this one moment all was right for him. With little thought he leaned back lifting Tomoe into the air. He may be small but he is still surprisingly strong. After a couple spins he set her down, his face still bright red. âThe best and cutest mortician around.â He pushed himself up in an attempt to give her a kiss but with those heels and his short height there was no way he was reaching. At least he tries his hardest.Â
One could liken the levels of elation in the room as feeling like flying, but in all likelihood that could be attributed to the fact that she was currently being spun around in the air. Despite his title (and all the previous damage), it was surprisingly easy to forget how strong Kaiya actually was, especially given their difference in height. The slight surprise did nothing to suppress the peals of ecstatic laughter emanating from the mortician, only tapering off once her feet were firmly planted back on the floor. âAnd the most steadfast, winsome bodyguard Iâll ever have the pleasure of knowing.â Canât chill with the damn wordiness for even a minute, apparently, even when she's about to get kissed.
Emphasis on the about, considering that in spite of his best efforts Kaiya couldn't quite seem to reach. Such is the way of natural height differences, made even more vast with the addition of three inch heels into the mix. The attempts were endearing, at least. Brushing her hair out of her face, Tomoe leaned down to bridge the gap between them. However long they may have stayed like that was irrelevant - moments like those feel like they're lasting significantly longer than they actually are, or so Iâve been told. I feel as if not enough things are on fire to appropriately reflect the current mood, in all honesty, but after last chapter I donât think any more rooms need to be on fire again.. After a nondescript yet fairly brief period of time (especially given that the door is still kind of open, that could get a little awkward depending how busy the hallways are) she finally drew back.
There were probably so many things that would have been better, or more appropriate, to say in the moment, but the only thing she could really think to say was âCute.â
âI think weâre all in the same boat. Platitudes do not help us remain resolute in the face of such extreme adversity. It wouldnât be beneficial to offer meaningless reassurances. Listening is the only thing I can really do for everyone at this point..â
she sighed. While there are actually some pretty significant things going on with her, Iâm not sure when theyâre actually happening in relativity to this so for the sake of chronology, Iâm gonna avoid mentioning them.
âNothing particularly riveting, save for whatever the hell an âAudrey IIâ isâŠâ she briefly shot a glance at the curious âplantâ still sitting in the corner âAnd frankly, Iâd prefer to pretend that it doesnât exist. This new expansion is comparatively tame, but admittedly Iâm rather grateful for that.â
I mean, that was ignoring the weird dental surgery thing. It was less outright encouraging violence than some other âattractionsâ the floor housed, but god damn if it wasnât weird. It was the torture room of this floor, no doubt, in the sense of âwhy in the hell would you ever need this and why was it included? please dont cover it in tomato sauce again if nothing elseâ. âI suppose nothing has really stuck out to you, then?â she inquired.
âIâve been a little too busy⊠having nightmares and some tiny hallucinations.â He said, quietly. âIâm worried that I might be losing itâŠâ He said, shivering.  âOther than that, nothing here really sticks out for me. Iâve tried to mend fences with everyone, and itâs going okay so far, though.â He said.
While the nightmares didnât surprise her (anyone getting enough sleep for dreams would likely be plagued with them by this point, really) the mention of hallucinations sent a slight chill down her spine. Could stress or anxiety induce those? If that were the case, it would be marginally less terrible and considerably easier to remedy, most likely⊠damn shame that no one present was qualified to deal with these sorts of things. âI⊠wish I knew what to say. That sounds dreadfully taxing.â Wonderful. Just go ahead and state the obvious there, why don't you? Thatâs exactly what was needed in this situation.
Maybe focusing on that would just make it worse. There wasnât anything that she could say that was going to be of any benefit, and subsequently she opted to not press at it too hard.  Hoping that everyone would get along perfectly would be unreasonable, but at least things seemed to be running a little more smoothly than they had been. Unfortunately, conversation did not seem to be coming easily for her right now.  âIâm glad to hear that the fence mending is going well, though⊠maintaining positive relations is the best thing we can do right now, right? As long as we continue standing together, things will only get better... (or something)â Yeah, she sounds totally convinced by her own words there. Definitely. Christ.
