Time eventually finds Ryuu in the music room. There are new places to be and look around, and investigating is more important than ever now that the threats Grandpa was making weren’t just empty words no one would take seriously - two people took them seriously all at once. Any hint they could find was important…
But he leaves the new area for later, and ends up in the music room. He had never spent time with Sayuri here, but she had been so excited about it - as she had been the entire school area. With such a love for learning, he didn’t have the heart to tell her he didn’t…
She was never going to get to do that.
Running his hands along the piano, he frowns down at the keys. Apparently this was among one of the last things she did, right? According to Tohru, they spent time here, and then… Maybe it wasn’t actually a room filled with happy memories, but his feet had took him there, anyway. And there he remained for a while, until the sound of the door opening brought him back to reality.
“Oh, hey… I was just… Uh, not doin’ anything, actually. Just thinkin’, I guess… How’re you holdin’ up?”
hey wait these are not snacks, these are scissors || Tohru || Open
Not one step closer!
Tohru demands, pointing her pair of sewing scissors. Well, that's no way to say "hello" to someone. To be fair, she hadn't expected to run into anybody at this hour in the first place. Geez, after confirming through the phone's tracking app that nobody was outside of their own rooms, too. She must've taken too long, and now somebody else is here for a midnight snack.
Too bad! Instead of delicious untimely meals, this kid gets an improvised weapon pointed at them!
She's panicking. She said that she wouldn't appear before anyone again. She's been trying to disappear! Please, let her disappear! Trash that's hidden away so that everybody knows about it but since it's not visible nobody cares to get rid of it, either. She can get used to an existence like that. She wishes she didn't have to, but, but! If everyone is going to hate her...! She hugs a loaf of bread close to her chest. Easy, Jean Valjean.
It's the day after the phone call, so Tohru sure as hell hopes that the others have a plan put in motion to keep Isamu contained. If she recalls correctly, the one from before had come in just after she decided that Sato-san would be the safest bet, so then, someone has to have their eye on that guy... She thinks. That a stubborn dude, though. Between his pride and her victim's unwillingness to trouble others, Tohru's not sure what she hates more. What a pain. Everything is a pain.
Especially that wrist of hers, all reddened and in a makeshift sling cobbled together with purple cloth. Now, it's been a few days since she appeared in public, but still, anyone else could say with fair certainty that she was not wearing that before. She doesn't offer any explanation for it, either. Just one word:
Ice.
as she trudges out of her hell closet. Is this early morning or late afternoon or night? Hell if she knows without the sun, she hasn't even slept in, what, two, three days? All she knows is that she's going to go crazy if she doesn't get some ice, passer-bys be damned.
Ryuu had seen Yuuna in a few different situations throughout the last little bit - at all their little meet ups, during the trial, of course, and the New Years event arranged by Grandpa. Things had certainly changed, but something that hadn't was the fact that she was his friend, and was clearly not... or...
Well, something was up with her, and it was hard to tell exactly what it was, if he was being entirely honest. As her friend, it was up to him to at least check in on her and see how she was holding up!
The trial was just stressful, right? No wonder she had reacted that way. He would track her down and talk to her. It had been a while since it'd been just the two of them.
Once he finds Yuuna - call it a lucky guess, but he really didn't have to look at the nifty trackers on their phones to figure out it was one of the labs. He knocks on the door as he enters, and regardless of whether or not she looks up at the noise, he gives a wave and his normal smile.
"Yo, Yuunya-chan! Long time no talk... kinda! I was gettin' worried 'bout you, so I decided to swing by and see what was up. So... what's up?"
Her laughter, demented and yet childish, was remarkably odd for someone having been caught for being responsible for such horrible, horrible acts.
And yet a smile remained plastered on her lips, as the screen displaying Altheria’s form began to flicker, changing in preparation for her demise.
She knew what was coming, she knew that in a short few seconds for now, chains would be wrapped around her neck, tugging, strangling her and pulling her to the room where she would see the end of her short lived life.
But she was glad for it! Eyes glowing a blinding red and giggles echoing throughout the room.
This was to be the most exciting day of Shu Yu Wei’s entire life!
“Aww, looks like this is itl! I guess I was never a good liar in the first place, huuuh... Boohoo.”
“Well bye-bye!! Thanks for inviting me Althy! It was fun watching them cry, hehe!”
She poked her tongue out, thumbs to her ears and hands waving; pulling a silly face at a time like this?!
One last sinister giggle escaped her lips before she muttered the very last words she would ever speak.
As quickly as it shot out of the open doors of the trial room a metal claw reached out and tightly fastened itself around Shu’s neck. While being pulled back at an unforgiving speed, her grin remained on her face, eyes shut and beaming, and one single hand waving to the group before disappearing into the door”
SHU YU WEI, ULTIMATE TRAITOR HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY! COMMENCING EXECUTION.
[CW: General Gore & Decapitation]
The chain had pulled her into a lonely room filled with glistening spikes on every single wall, the ceiling only to have almost hundreds of drills attached to it. The floor was the only space where she would be free’d, however it was made of glass, and could easily be seen through.
The bottom of it though, was plain out of sight.
She sat upon a chair in the middle of the room, nothing extraordinary, just a simple classroom seat. With the claw detached from her neck the awaiting class in the trial room would see a small rocket tied to the back of her neck. Easily seen by the guiltless mastermind swaying her head to and fro, feet kicking playfully as she waited for the execution to commence.
Once the setting was clear in view, it didn’t take very long for room to vibrate suddenly. Deep mechanical noises could be heard, shifting of gears, moaning of bits and pieces of machinery being switched on, although out of the things present in the room, none of these things were immediately obvious as to what was the cause of the sound.
Although the class would soon find out it was everything. Everything in that room was responsible for the noise.
The walls shook a little, before very gradually, very, very slowly shifting a little toward her, inch, by incremental inch.
The power tools on the ceiling however, were not so forgiving with speed.
From the mechanical arms they were fastened to, they each came down closer toward the girl. Seemingly having a target at almost every part of her body.
Time for the acupuncture session!
The drills, once still, now made whirring sounds, each of the tens of hundreds of them whirring and powering up at the same time. Shu only continued to smile with glee.
Each of them one by one took a jab at her body, her chair shook and vibrated as she jumped up and down, eyes swirling and drool coming out of her mouth. The sensation….it was incredible!
STAB
STAB
STAB
Her arms, legs, knees, nose, eyes. Everything was at victim to the tools at work, drilling mercilessly.
Blood splattered across the ever closing in walls, they were getting so close now. The drills went through everything. It was unclear of what would kill the girl first in this ultimate punishment. The ultimate execution no sane person should ever have to endure.
It was unexpected that the walls closing in would continue, yet the drills would stop. The barely alive girl laid slumped on her chair, giggling, but holding onto life in an attempt to wait for the walls to hurt her even more. She wanted it, this pain, it was desirable, it was.
crack...crack…….CRACK
The glass floor beneath her could hold the weight of her and her jittering on the chair for not much longer.
SMASH
The walls nearly together, her broken body lies down in the blackened pit underneath the glass floor.
There was only one way out of this boring demise.
Clank!
surely the rocket attached to her would bring them up to wall level again, right?
The last thing the class saw, was a horrific scene. The rocket fired, and shot up quickly back to the room she was in before…
Leaving her body hurtling toward darkness behind.
Her newly severed head shot upward into the room, and the spiked needle walls closing in slammed shut, head pressed in between.
CONGRATULATIONS! THE KILLER AND TRAITOR IS NOW DEAD.
Well, more accurately Ulrich and Sayuri did it, but they all kept their cool in the face of yet another motive, and it looked like Control himself was struck silent. Faced with the jubilation at the circumstances, what was the Daredevil doing in the midst of it all?
Snzz...
Oh, he's...He's sleeping. You find him on one of the benches in the Waiting Area, calmly sleeping his worries away now that he's had one good night in the last five days to do so. The bags under his eyes makes it clear that he hadn't actually gotten any sleep in the days before so...I guess all's well that ends well.
But a one-sided conversation with a sleeping boy isn't going to get anywhere. There's an idiom about not waking a sleeping lion, but Neo ain't no Leo so... how about you get that slugabed up and talking?
Possibly being infected with rabies sure wasn’t going to stop Tsukasa Tamotsu from cooking and cleaning, for better or worse!
Worse. It’s almost definitely for worse. Someone make her stop.
Still, Tsukasa seems content enough to be chopping vegetables at the counter. Humming to herself, keeping a steady rhythm, like it’s all a game. Tsukasa had become so focused on the simple task, she almost didn’t notice the ache and fatigue–she almost didn’t catch someone else coming in the kitchen.
Her eyes stay on her fingers, continuing to chop. Now would be the worst time to get a cut, after all!
“Eheh, it’s easy to go straight for convenience food when you’re feeling bad, but in times like this it’s more important than ever to eat well, you know~? Tsukasa-chama wanted to try to make some food for everyone that’s easy to stomach, but…”
The girl sounds chipper enough to come off as healthy, but turning to speak to whoever came in would probably give away how exhausted she was. Still, it’s better to see who she’s talking to. If it had been Natacha that entered, for example, she probably wouldn’t have been able to hear much of what Tsukasa was saying to her.
Not that it really matters anyway. Still, she puts down her knife and turns to them, leaning against the island counter for additional support.
“Well, that’s probably not the best idea until we know who’s actually infected, huh? Handling food like this…. Tsukasa-chama didn’t really think about it until after she already started. Eheh, it really doesn’t feel right to sit around and do nothing while everyone’s suffering though…”
You’d sound a lot more convincing if you didn’t look like you were about to topple over, Tsukasa-chama. Please go take a nap.
“Are you eating well? Neo-kyun suggested everyone try to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, you know?”
The effects of this motive are seemingly immediate, which only makes Ryuu wonder how much worse it will get as time presses onward and they all collectively get less and less sleep. People are going to have to sleep eventually, whether they want to or not - it's just how the human body works.
Well, at least Yuuna had offered an idea of merely not sleeping for a long periods of time so REM cycles can't start in the first place. It was valid advice.
If people were really going to be trying that out -- Ryuu considering it himself, frankly -- they were going to need something to keep them relatively awake for the times they aren't taking 30 minute naps, which leads to... This.
He's never used a coffee maker. Ryuu has never made a pot of coffee in his life. He has never had any to drink, and he has no idea how this works, but it'll help keep the others awake, right? This is a thing people drink to stay awake?
... And so, when Neo enters, all he sees is the tall blond squinting at the coffee maker, peering at it as if it holds the worlds most dark secrets within the chambers. He's so immersed in the task that he doesn't even react to the sound of footsteps, instead tilting his head and crossing his arms with a slow hum.
"This isn't worth it... bet it doesn't even taste any good..."
