Their heart is thumping with adrenaline. With feelings they can’t quite understand nor put into words settling into their heart, their steps are almost careless. Kou walks over to the diamond and accepts their fate. There’s nothing more to do, after all, nothing left to say. They’ve never been one for flights of fancy. Maybe that’s why they couldn’t lie if they tried. No excuse would ever have any imagination nor believability to it. The elevator goes down and takes Kou away to their demise. Their mother, if she was still out there, would never see her child again.
You have no choice but to accept that they’re gone.
And watch, if you have the heart.
CULPRIT: KOU TSUKINO, SHSL TATTOO ARTIST. [♫♫]
For a moment, you can’t see anything. The dim orange lights barely illuminate anything and would make anyone feel at least a little claustrophobic. Within the dancing lights, you can spot gravel-y walls and long wooden floorboards, a web of narrow passage-ways. Kou’s face comes into view, no real expression on their face. If they’re supposed to be scared, it doesn’t show. They just get to their feet, placing a hand on the wall for support and begin to walk.
Walk... where?
Forward, they suppose. There’s nowhere else to go. Their senses feel trapped in this place, with so few sounds, in this much gloom.
Long black kanji strokes are painted onto the walls, a fact that becomes clearer as Kou moves. The light seems to move with them. Those characters all read as emotions.
Happiness.
Sadness.
Regret.
Anger.
Fear.
All the things Kou Tsukino never understood.
As they walk past the character of anger, they feel a burning sensation on their skin and they freeze, confused. On their wrist, the character begins to write itself there, burning itself into place. They wince at the pain, blood surging out of the fresh marking. They continue on, undeterred. With each character they pass, yet another tattoo is burned into their skin. It’s a stupid time to feel, but feel things they do. The regret from killing Ayaka. The worry they might never see home again. The odd sort of happiness that comes from finally understanding. And...
The fear that their time might be up for good.
Mark affter mark, burned into place. On their fingers, on their legs, around the neck and all over their face. The pain brings tears to their eyes as blood pours out of every fresh tattoo. Their footsteps become dizzy and their vision blurred as they walk down endlessly narrow corridors, each one looking like the last, their mind buzzing.
Just up ahead, finally, there’s something different up ahead. A figure, clad in a snow-white kimono, wrapped in a purple robe. They open their arms, beckoning them into their safe arms.
What... is this... feeling? Relief? Warmth?
Kou stumbles towards the figure, their head light from blood loss and crumple to their knees before they can make it. The figure approaches, their sandals echoing through the corridor as they wrap their arms round the wounded child. They pull them into a hug.
Their skin is clearly fake, cold like plastic. And yet, there’s a sense of familiarity in this hug. A sense of home. Kou’s eyes gently close... and then shoot wide open when a new sensation takes over their aching body. A cold pain, right in the back.
They shakily turn their head back to try and piece it together and the pain hits them again. Blood, pouring onto the floor. Oh... that was it. They were being stabbed. Stabbed in the back. They try to form some words but it only comes out a sharp gasp.
Pain.
It’s real pain.
Their fingers clench into fists as they look down at a pool of their own blood. So many expressions you’ve never seen on their face before. Tears pour down their tired face, marred with scruffy tattoos. They fall to the ground, blood splattering all over their face.
The explosion of the Camellia Guesthouse has left many of you shaken. Two bodies becoming one body and the mysteries of this island have some of you utterly baffled. But things still need to be done and so work you must. You do so until LISE’s voice can be heard, beckoning you over to the facility, as they are wont to do.
“Good morning. Evening. Afternoon. Night. Are you suitably prepared for your changed living conditions? You should be. You do not have a choice in the matter, after all. This is the reality of your situation. Even if you dislike it. Even if you would rather not. This is something you must accept, if you are ever going to get anywhere in life.“
A pause and LISE fizzles a bit, as if something is interfering with them before fizzling back to their perfect square shape.
“If you have anything to deposit, please place it on the . Only solid, non-living items will count. Do not think about trying to escape the proceedings. It is easier when you comply. When you are done, please enter the elevator so we begin. Do you not want justice? This is, after all, what society says is ‘correct’. Therefore, we must.“
There’s nothing else to say. Any of you that wish to bring items with you down to your apparent ‘new life’ have the option of sending it down a little ventiliation shaft pointed out to you by LISE. For the rest of you, the elevator beckons. One by one, you all enter the elevator and can’t help but notice the emptier spaces that much more...
You are led down a corridor, to another sleek room, this one a bit dimmer than the last one. Beyond that, it’s near impossible to tell the difference. All of these corridors and rooms begin to look the same. You all step by your podiums and prepare yourself for what’s coming next...
Yet something might enter your mind.
Is this... right?
Can murder and execution be considered any kind of justice?
An uncomfortable air settles in as thick plumes of grey begin to devour the white clouds above. And yet, there’s no sign of any autopsy reports. And there’s... no sign of LISE in general. There’s just this sharp silence that almost stops you from moving as a whole. As if you’re waiting for something.
After a small pause, LISE flickers to life in front of those around the Guesthouse. Or... what used to be the Guesthouse, anyway, as smouldering pieces of wood continue to sizzle and blacken away into nothing.
“I must spare you the usual morning, evening, afternoon and night. There have been some... complications. If we are to obtain truthful results, what we are doing cannot be interfered with. Every outside force contaminates the validity of what we are doing here. I cannot risk my data being corrupted. So the threats that have now suffered must be taken care of.”
The words LISE share are repeated in your IDs. That means no matter who you are or where you are, you see what is written.
"Unfortunately, due to my energy being diverted, I have delayed on giving you the necessary information to solve this particular matter. One of you, once again, did what was natural to you. You murdered. As calculated. If you do not want to die getting it wrong, then, no matter the outside circumstances, you must investigate.”
A pause.
“However.”
LISE flashes crimson. Although their tone is as neutral as ever, you feel the subject has become more ground.
“You may also wish to keep your eyes open. Because these grounds are now contaminated, you will have to live a bit... differently from here on out. Do not panic. Although this is not a part of the procedure, I have no reason to doubt it will provide enough until the problem is solved. As such, on top of investigating, you might want to prepare some items and goodbyes as, until I have properly eliminated the disturbance, you will not return to this place. You may also be in danger whilst investigating. Of course, this is all moot if you all die. There will only be one of you to assist, in that case. Will you succeed? I wish both parties the best of luck. I will update my files to give you the data you require as soon as I can.“
With those vague and ominous words, LISE flickers back out of existence and leaves all of you with an empty feeling of dread. What threat? Where are you going? You barely have time to consider it when there are two bodies you need to investigate...
It took a while for Matias to stop coughing. In his weakened state, the incredibly thick smoke was doing anything but wonders for him. Before any of them can consider Lotus and Madoka, they’re forced to find Chuichi, who’d been thrown back by the explosion. There was... no way he was alright. He had landed with such a strange, loud sound.
Ryoka, Satoko and Matias all approach the far-off, unmoving body of Chuichi Genda... but the closer they come, the colder they all feel. Sometimes, no matter how grim it is... you have to accept the truth. And accept what you’re seeing is real...
Chuichi Genda is lying there, not moving.
Until!
Just for a second, his lids flutter open, catching something out of the corner of his eye... as one last memory passes through his head before his head tilts away from you all, unresponsive once more, unable to even get a word out before his life seems to fade away.
... Yet for some reason... your IDs aren’t updating. There are two dead bodies, unbeknownst to some of you, but there’s no notification out of a jingle you heard a while back...
The Therapy Centre was a welcome change of pace for many of the children here. Given the things they’d seen and suffered through, perhaps that wasn’t too surprising. For Lotus, she had much on her mind. She had a wounded body and a troubled mind... very little gave her confidence or hope in these times. She heard sounds in the wind every now and again as she walked by herself... but it wasn’t worth paying attention to. At least, she didn’t think so.
She continued traveling. She didn’t want to stay any place for too long. Her tired feet took her to the Frosted Dunes and her eyes fell upon the facility, where many of her injuries came from. Bad memories. She turned away, readying herself to go back. Maybe eat something.
But... something was off.
Or rather, something caught her eye. The slightly ajar door of the Moonlight Bar nearby. Was there something irritating about it rattling in the cold wind? Or did she just have a bad feeling? Maybe one. Maybe both.
She approached, with caution, her body tense.
The sounds of the howling winds stopped as she entered. It seemed the building shut out all sound. A vague jazzy tune plays, presumably from a jukebox. It felt... deceptively normal. Mirrors and mirrors reflect different angles of the bar... and... something glistens on the floor.
And there’s that smell in the air, too.
There’s blood in the air. Blood in this bar.
Lotus circles the place, and begins to notice mirrors have fallen, and that many more shards of glass coat the shiny floor. And eventually she spots one particular mirror that confirms her worst suspicion...
Beneath one particular fallen mirror is... most definitely, a corpse.
No words exit Lotus’s mouth as she backs away. The others... they need to know about this immediately. She dashes for the door and as soon as she exits, she can see plumes of smoke from the Winter Flatlands. She doesn’t have the time to worry about that far-off smoke right now. She had to hurry back. She had to find someone... fast.
As she does so, another explosion sounds, somewhere far, far away and something horrible crashes to the ground. She barely checks behind her before continuing her search for life. What on earth is going on?
As she gets to the Traveler’s District, she notices a huge pile-up of snow blocking the Hiking Trail, making it impossible to go up and several other clumps blocking other routes. The cable car still seems to work, but, it’s definitely a slow option. The only option for now, it seems, however. She comes across a confused Yukari and Makoto who were together in the Crystal Cafe. She urges them to the bar and a signal for body discovery rings out across the snowscape...
Tatsuya, Lotus and Yukari lift the mirror up to reveal...
The bloodied body of someone they hadn’t seen in a while. Ayaka Tamura was dead.
And... yet... there was no autopsy report. And no LISE.
One bright, silent day disappears into another. Lost memories surface for some. Others get a more painful reminder of the world they've been trapped in. A world where, seemingly, anything can happen, as great mechanical beasts roam and grand locations house a variety of dangers.
And a world where you either kill or get killed.
But this day isn’t like the others, somehow. Perhaps you felt it subconsciously. In your bones. Or perhaps you swore you could hear something in the wind. Maybe for you it really was just another day. It’s easy to ignore the small things. That prickling feeling on your skin. The strange electronic sound you can barely parse. If you stay here long enough, as you have done, it’s easy for many things to vanish in the world of white...
"...llo... h... we... ends...”
The crackling sound in the wind begins to sound like words. For those of you who can hear, you can barely pick out syallbles and form them into what makes some sense.
The words gradually become clearer as they’re heard all across the land. You look up to the sky, curious about the sounds. It doesn’t sound like LISE... despite all the interference... it sounds... human. Does that mean someone else is here? Or that someone else is contacting you? Could it be... has help arrived? Your mind races with a million thoughts. And suddenly, the next few words are louder and clearer than any of the words before.
“Return them or die. This is your last warning.“
Return them... that must’ve been them. Someone was here for them.
Those words are clearly heard in the Camellia Guesthouse in those early morning hours. But it doesn’t seem to phase Chuichi Genda much as he snoops around the Camellia Guesthouse. There’s something that’s been bothered him. As he left his house in the Chalk Woods, left a sleeping Asao behind, he notices something glinting in the snow. He crouches down on all fours, resulting in a comedic image, the only thing missing being him literally trying to sniff something out as he nears the anomaly, only vaguely listening to what’s being broadcast. More robotic propaganda from LISE, no doubt. The blue menace to society.
But as he nears the object, something begins to glow red... and he begins to notice, it’s not just one thing glowing... it’s several.
[♫♫♫♫]
Satoko Ihara and Ryoka Umehara exit the Guesthouse together and more things glint red and a beeping can be heard. In one sudden motion, Satoko wrenches Ryoka’s wrist and runs away from the Guesthouse but Chuichi remains where he is, eyebrows furrowed.
“Genda-san!”
Ryoka’s voice calls out. She’s not quite sure what there is to worry about, but Satoko seems rattled. It’s enough of a reason.
Beep. Beep. Beep...
And...
The Camellia Guesthouse goes up in the a flurry of blazing orange flames, Chuichi hurtling through the sky and landing a ways away, with a sickening sound. Metallic clangs sound across the plains as debris flies every which way. The girls gasp at the image before remembering... Madoka, Lotus and Matias were also staying there.
Seconds later, another explosion can be heard, further in the distance, as a plume of smoke billows into the bright crystal sky and something, somewhere crashes to the ground with a horrifying clatter. Something big... maybe a building? It’s nothing you can see.
Matias, coughing, drags himself from the Guesthouse’s rattling, shambling remains in confusion and horror. When asked about Lotus and Madoka, he has no answer. He was the only one in there.
