#dq ch4

[shslcosplayidol]

Wake-up Call | Kaya | Chapter 4 | RE: Motive Reaction

The NPC’s absence brought a multitude amount of feelings forth. Most of all, it was worry in Kaya’s case. After all, that had never happened before and therefore, one could only imagine the reasoning behind such an occasion. For all they knew, the NPCs could be up to something nefarious - not like that wasn’t the case already, but it could always get worse. By now, the cosplay idol knew that it would be foolish to believe that their captors would soften in their approach in any way. Instead, they would try to get under their skins even more - which disgusted her.

When the silence was finally broken at one day, Kaya sighed as she listened to Chihue ramble. The pink-haired girl made sure to pay close attention to what he said and couldn’t help but feel like as if that paid off; after all, they finally had confirmation about the mascots being actually robots. Well, not like there were many other possibilities to begin with, but having some answers was already a beginning.

That aside, the motive certainly did hit home.

Well, who wouldn’t feel their heart stop at the mere thought of losing a loved one? Almost immediately, the ones most important to her flashed before her very eyes - her parents, Shiho, him--

When she was shown pictures on her screen, the cosplay idol paled. Panic was starting to settle down and she wanted to scream at Chihue to not lay a finger on her loved ones or so god held her.

However, fortunately for her, a spark of rationalism managed to break through her panic, filling her mind with various questions - questions that helped her to get a grip of herself, to not give into this game for any longer. It was time for them all to resist these temptations for good.

“... Not this time, you fiends. You won’t fool me with your pathetic attempt. I know that they’re all safe... to dare and make me think otherwise is truly beyond disgusting.”

And with out - not like there was anyone around to even hear her words -, Kaya began to formulate a plan - to soothe everyone’s nerves and halt this mutual killing game for good.

...

At the very same day the motive was announced, everyone would find a letter in their room that was shoved underneath their door. It would read the following - with their own name written on it:

Well, someone was certainly trying her best, huh?

[shslcosplayidol]

Listen to the beat | Kaya | Chapter 4 | ATTN: Nyakuma

@nyahahakuma

Time sure flies by fast if you don’t pay attention to it. It’s an observation that most people made repeatedly for some reason, herself included. She wondered if there was any explanation to that sensation - why did they feel the need to ascertain themselves over something that wouldn’t change? It was... almost odd, but then again, she couldn’t really come up with a satisfying answer, so this particular question was left unanswered yet again.

Either way, as almost a week passed by since the trials ongoings, Kaya felt mostly fit at this point. Still a tiny bit exhausted, but overall, she couldn’t really complain. Her skin returned back to its healthy color and her eyes were full of life again... or well, as much as you could expect it to, given how much death these eyes had witnessed.

Shaking her head to clear her head from any negativity, Kaya finally entered the music room - although she’d been here before, it was back when she was still half-sick. Thus, it was time to give this room another lookover, so she could make sure that she didn’t miss anything out.

... However, soon enough, she found herself in front of the piano, the urge to play on it emerging victorious over being in business mode only. Granted, she didn’t really know how to play the piano - but that couldn’t try her from stopping, right? And she did know how to play Twinkle Twinke Star, at the very least!

Stretching her fingers out, she grinned as she started to play the easiest song that could be played on this particular instrument - and it didn’t come out half bad, if she said so herself! Sure, others could probably play it better, but at least it didn’t sound like a catastrophe. It was... decent. Yeah, that’s the perfect word to describe her performance!

Just as she finished playing the song again, Kaya saw something out of the corners of her eyes and flashed Nyakuma a welcoming smile, as well as a peace sign.

“Oh, hey there, Nya-chan! Hope my play wasn’t too bad to listen to, ehe~!”

[shslcosplayidol]

Overworking yourself | Kaya | Chapter 4 | RE: Execution Reaction(?), ATTN: Shiruku

@silken-misfortune

[TW: Insect mention in second paragraph]

Usually, Kaya would’ve observed the so-called execution, so she could remember their last, possible moments. After all, even though all culprits only landed in prison thus far, which guarantee had they that they’ll be kept alive? Aside from simply hoping for that to be the case, the mascots never explained themselves in that regard. For all they knew, prison here could mean a worser fate than death.

However, none of that mattered, as Kaya had passed out by the time the execution started. She’d been sick since quite a while and now, she’d finally reached her limit. Hell, she hadn’t even realized yet that Mikka had killed for two human-eating bugs that had camouflagued themselves as eccentric ribbons! At this point, the cosplay idol sincerely believed that she had hallucinated them and thus, was truthful to Shiruku when she said that she might feel a lot worse than anticipated.

Either way, the cosplay idol had absolutely no idea how much time passed before slowly, her consciousness returned back to reality. Stirring awake, the pink-haired girl attempted to open her eyes, but when she did, she almost immediately closed them. Not only was the light almost blinding, everything was such a blur that it made her dizzy.

However, if anything, Kaya was a stubborn one. Thus, she attempted to open her eyes again, whilst also realizing that she was lying on something... comfy. A bed? Probably.

Regardless, she blinked for a few times and soon enough, her view got a bit clearer - still not incredibly sharp, but what can you do? If you’re sick, you have to do with what you have at your disposal.

“... Huh...? Where...”

Her voice was hoarse and she felt thirsty. However, she was more occupied with where she was and why. What happened? She remembered going to the trial and... it happened. However...

“Hngh...!”

Ouch, her head hurt.

[shslcosplayidol]

Just two gals having fun | Kaya | Chapter 4 | ATTN: Zeycan

@shslbellydancing​

By all means, Kaya should’ve rested more than she did, but at least she seemed to get better nonetheless. Slower than it could’ve been with proper rest, but she was getting there. Her skin was still paler than usual and her eyes continued to have a glassy look to them, but it was nowhere as bad as four days ago when she’d passed out at the end of the trial.

Still, every other person would’ve still continued to stay in bed, but alas, Kaya was not someone who could stop from pushing herself, unless someone was finally there to stop here from doing that. Those who usually did... those back at home, they weren’t here to make sure of that.

Thus, she was rather reckless about her own well-being, which was certainly anything but advantageous in a mutual killing game.

Not that Kaya was really thinking about that, mind you. No, she’d finally been able to visit the arcade - she wanted to do that yesterday already, but alas, her strength wasn’t quite enough to go through the whole kingdom in a single day. Damn you, body!

Even though her main purpose for visiting the place was to continue finding a way out of this kingdom or find a clue about who is behind this, she would be lying if she didn’t say that she wanted to play games here as well. A bit of distractions was alright... others told her as much. And finally, it did get through to her - though it didn’t stop her from feeling a bit bad about having fun while she could do so much more...!

(It was strange, that feeling. Beforehand, she never minded having fun - if anything, she would always go for the more fun options, but alas, being stuck in a mutual killing game makes you more serious about certain stuff.)

Kaya coughed, her body still exhausted from the illness it has to deal with, but luckily, it wasn’t a coughing fit or anything - just that annoying kind of coughing that you have when you’re sick.

And just at that moment, Kaya saw someone from the corners of her eyes - and when she turned around, she couldn’t help but smile at Zeycan. They... haven’t really talked ever since Chouju passed away and... she felt bad for not checking up on her sooner (or anyone, really--).

“It’s so nice meeting you here, ZeyZey! Want to play some games together?”