#mmnopen

[theshslseamstress]

The King said, this dream will not end || OPEN

If Hina had any bit of hindsight at all, she would have certainly seen this coming. Why would anyone in this town be believed at face value, especially with so much at stake, after all? Surely she would have seen that lies flow from people almost as easily as blood does and then she would be able to protect herself better.

Unfortunately, she does not have that much hindsight stored up so the aftermath of Hokori’s execution ended up hitting her pretty hard. Sure she might not have known or even gotten along with Hokori all that well, but it’s still a hard thing to see someone you knew, even just a little, die. Almost as soon as she is able to, she runs right out of the courtroom, into her house-not bothering to see who she’s staying with now-and to her room.

And she’s stayed there ever since. Sure, she went out for breakfast, the first few times, but after the third morning she all but gave up-seeing who her housemate was didn’t exactly help matters either-and stayed in her room sewing small animals, and having to write those friendliness essays as punishment. Which was silly, as she mostly just wrote the same essay every time and put it in the mailbox. But it was better than nothing, and it was miles better than having to actually talk to anyone.

Of course, that wouldn’t last very long. She’s finally reached the double digits in the number of small animal plushies made when there’s a knock at the door. She stops trying to thread her needle, frozen into place. It comes again. It...It must be for Tadao, right? Was he still here? Nobody had ever knocked on the door before, what was going on...?

She hopes, prays even, that the knocking will go away. It doesn’t and she begins to panic. Tadao doesn’t sound like he’s home-or isn’t bothering to answer-and it won’t stop. She doesn’t want to leave her room but she doesn’t want to hear the knocking either (and some part of her feels bad for whoever is outside as well), oh what a dilemma...

It takes her a bit to compose herself (the knocking continues even then; someone clearly is in no rush to stop) and carefully walk down the stairs to the front door. She pauses in front of the door. Is this really such a good idea? Hmm, maybe not, better to be safe then. So she merely moves closer to it and speaks as loudly as she can, hoping the person on the other side can and will hear her.

“U-Um...Mister Tadao’s not...he’s not here.”

She adds a soft “...Sorry.” as an afterthought-or is it out of habit?-and steps back from the door. Hopefully that is enough.

[theshslseamstress]

Secret Stitches || OPEN

The robots work fast, it seemed. As did Mister Mayor, for hardly any time since the storm had passed before he’d called them all in to impose another motive on them. As one of the robots slapped a bracelet onto her wrist, she felt herself shying away from the contact. What was this thing...? Was it like those ones that would inject poison and kill her? Or, or, those ones that wiped your memory and knocked you out after a certain amount of time?

...Mister Mayor’s explanation put both of those thoughts to rest in favor of raising up an entirely other one. It was not a pleasant thing either, threatening to expose her secrets if she broke the rule written on her bracelet. Taking a small peek, one word caught her eye and she bit her lip to stifle a small cry. Why did it have to be this way...?

Everyone dispersed and she was left to think of her situation; something she really didn’t want to do. Mister Mayor was far too cruel this time. All the other things, motives, she could’ve just put out of her mind and just watch her back. But this time, she had to actively think about this and it was troubling, to say the least. The added threat of a mole was also incredibly unpleasant. But that, that, she could ignore.

She decided that maybe heading back to her house-right, it was solely hers now since her roommate was gone, wasn’t it?-and sorting this whole mess out would do her good. Of course, she was a bit too hasty in actually doing so and this is how she nearly managed to plow right into someone standing around the town center. The method of doing that, unfortunately, was to try to skid to a halt, fail to do so properly, smack right into and past them and ultimately topple over for Mister Mayor and everyone to see. 

“Eep-!”

That could have gone better. She looked up at the person she’d tried so valiantly to avoid, an embarrassed look on her face.

“I’m um-! Um, very sorry, are you okay? Gh...”

[theshslseamstress]

Two Birds, One Storm || OPEN

Tiramisu Town was not a fun place to be.

Well, not that it was really very fun to begin with but after the storm hit, Hina could now say with absolute certainty that it was not fun at all. Not that she would ever actually say it, but she could.

The storm had done a lot of damage and it had ended with her blacking right out. Thankfully there was no lasting damage and she next found herself waking up in her room. It took her a while to sit up, but once she had, she found her head swimming and memories coming back in confusing and loud fragments. 

Suishouryuu carrying her from possible injury.

The rocks crashing down.

Hokori screaming as the fire spreads.

Takehiko...

Her body shook and a hand went to cover her mouth as she remembered the sight that had greeted her after she had stepped outside. Takehiko, the boy who had seemed so cheerful, had been...oh god, what had happened to him? Had he gotten caught up in the storm and tossed into the...? She didn’t want to think about it, shaking her head side to side furiously as if to shake the awful idea from her brain.

The next thought wasn’t any better, though. Miss Takahara...Katsumi had gone missing. Though she hadn’t even seen her when she’d first entered Puri Puri Land, Suishouryuu surely wouldn’t have lied about something as serious about her being there and then vanishing. This was terrible-what if she was injured?

She had to find her; the sooner she was found, the sooner her worries would go away.

The train back to Puri Puri Land was terrifying and she almost turned around and went right back home when the train pulled into the station. But she managed to make herself step off the train and around various debris-being sure to avoid looking in the direction of the clock tower; she didn’t want to know if Takehiko was still up there-until she reached the wreckage of the house that had caused so much trouble . Stopping in front of it, she had the childish urge to stick her tongue out at it for being such a nasty, mean house. Even if it didn’t change anything, it was a small victory of some sorts.

A sudden noise gave her quite a start and she felt her shoulders shoot up and unfortunately with it came the unfortunate sensation of having bitten her tongue. Clapping both hands to her mouth with a small strangled shout, she spent a moment or making sure she hadn’t accidentally done any damage. This was karma for being so childish, she reasoned. 

She looked over towards the source of the noise, hoping for the best before speaking up.

“Ah...Miss Kats-, um, Miss Takahara...? Is that you?”

[theshslseamstress]

return the world you know || OPEN

The trial flew by. She hadn’t spoken up very up until the tail end of it and even then, only a few short attempts at sentences. What could she have said anyway that everyone did not? She’d been just as betrayed as the rest of them by Miss Onizuka-both before and after her accidental murder of Miss Waraizako.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel as if this town was trying to harm her in more ways than one. First it has been Mister Haku-comforting actions one moment, murderous intent the next- and then Miss Onizuka-the friendship bracelets were nothing more than an identifier under another name-and she didn’t like this pattern that seemed to be forming. 

Being lied to. Putting her trust in others and having that trust be broken. Feeling as if she couldn’t trust anyone or anything. 

Awful. These growing feelings were just awful and she wasn’t sure if she could hide from them this time around. Not that she wouldn’t try-her first thought, in fact, was to stay in her house for as long as she could. She only had one roommate anyway so it’s not like she was going to be disturbed at all. 

Well. That would have been her plan, anyway. Unfortunately, her sewing kit seemed to be lacking in needles and she’d been hoping she could just sew the days away; a task that couldn’t be done without said needles. She’d have to go get new ones and the idea of leaving the house wasn’t a very appealing one.

Which is, of course, how she found herself in the aisle of the supermarket picking out a pack of sewing needles from the shelf. She could run in, run out and be done with the whole “going outside” thing, right? It wasn’t a new concept, just one with an added level of potential dying involved.

She brought the pack to the counter, quickly placing the right amount of coins-nervously counted over and over before paying-on the counter and in her haste, didn’t notice someone entering until she turned, flinching a little.

“Ah-!”

She quickly stuffed the pack into her bag, hoping they wouldn’t ask her about it. Get in, get out. Hopefully, they wouldn’t want to chat or anything. She just waned to go back home.

[theshslseamstress]

Gymnopedie || OPEN

Horrible.

Everything was horrible terrible awful bad and she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a small ball and hide. Kirihito had been up to no good and because of it, Toshishiro had killed him. He’d lied to her, to everyone, and then had been killed for it. Now they were getting new housemates and new things were being unlocked and there was too much change to take it at once.

Which is why, upon arriving at her new living quarters, she made a beeline for her room and proceeded to stay in it-coming out for the mandatory breakfast, of course-for the next few days, refusing to leave it. If anyone said anything about her self-imposed isolation, they thankfully didn’t say it to her. She didn’t want to have to explain herself; really, it wouldn’t even be an explanation. It was simply force of habit.

As much as she was prepared and even able to stay cooped up for days on end, the new area intrigued her far more than her general regard for staying away from people and soon enough, she found herself boarding the train-after making sure she was the only occupant on it,of course-and taking in what the new area had to offer. Everything was so interesting, but it was the flower shop that piqued her curiosity and so that’s how she found herself at the back of the store, sitting in silence and surrounded by flowers. It was rather nice, actually. She could just sit here and look at the all the colors-if she got some thread and fabric, she could even imagine herself making some new crafts here. An unusual but calming workplace, really.

The sound of the door opening snapped her out of her calm state and into one of slight panic. Who was it? She didn’t see anyone around when she entered the shop. The thought that perhaps they might be here to kill her entered her mind and refused to leave. Oh dear, oh no, were they looking for someone easy to pick off? Drat,this was surely because she’d spoken up so much at the trial. 

She quickly scooted behind some decently-large flowerpots and hid behind there, hoping that whoever was there would leave. Or at least not notice her there. Whichever one led to her being left alone again.

[theshslseamstress]

Unravel || Reaction || Open

She didn’t know what she expected.

Literally, since while she knew the tapes were horrid and scary, murder was scarier and surely nobody would actually kill anyone? Everyone here was nice so far-even if some looked kind of scary, they’re surely nice people right?

Sadly, she was very wrong. Upon seeing the body of Kirihito she let out a small shriek, covering her mouth with her hands immediately. Oh no...oh dear, this is bad. He’d always look rather scary before but now that he was so still and there was all that blood, he looked even scarier. She backed up, the smell of blood making her feel slightly ill. This was horrible. Mister Mayor showing up didn’t really help matters. While one part of him seemed sad about it, the other, er, part seemed pleased about it. It was still very odd. They’d both gone on some tangent about investigations or something, but she wasn’t listening.

“This is bad...oh, oh dear, poor Mister Sumeragi...uuu...”

Her head hurts and again, this is really too much for her to handle right now. She can feel herself crying but she really doesn’t do much but back into a wall, close her eyes...and promptly fall to the floor. Well, there she goes. Again.

Feel free to wake her up at any time. This murder won’t solve itself, you know?

[theshslseamstress]

Three Strikes, You’re Out [Motive Reaction ll OPEN]

As uncomfortable as she was being stuck in this town, with it’s unusually strict rules, lack of ways to tell her family she was okay, and mayor with a slight love for homicides, she wouldn’t say it was a nightmare. At least she had food and a roof over her head. And the students were nice-or well, the few she’d been able to talk to so far-so really, she hadn’t the right to complain. Things would be better once the authorities found them and took them back home. 

Of course, such wishful thinking never boded well and the first strike to her way of thinking came in the form of the sprinklers turning on. She’d shrieked and almost fallen out of bed in a panic. As it turned out, one of her roommates, Hokori, had broken a rule and because of it the entire house had woken up in the same fashion. Needless to say, the occupants of Pavlola Pad were a little late in getting out of the house. Her hair never did dry quickly...oh well, the Mayor had wanted to take them somewhere, so she could worry about it later. Which is where the second strike has come into play. She’d thought, rather foolishly, that maybe they were going to watch a nice movie. Instead, she stared at a film featuring her mother and herself. Or, as the Mayor has soon put it, a fake version of herself. 

The Mayor had made it quite clear what this meant; if nobody killed, then her mother would live with a fake Hina forever and she would be stuck here forever. Her mother would never know that her real daughter was trapped in...wherever this was. It was frightening, reminiscent of stories her mother used to tell her about kids being kidnapped in broad daylight. Well, this was a bit different than those stories. But wasn’t that scarier?

She clutched the video tape to her chest tightly before solemnly taking the train back. This was scary...really scary. It was like that one game a few years back-she didn’t remember much about it but wasn’t things like this why people died? And now she was living in their shoes, so to speak. Oh dear.

As soon as the train stopped and the doors opened she scampered off back to the house; she just wanted to curl up and pretend this was still a terrible, horrible, really long dream. The stress caused by all this was definitely getting to her, nerves were fraying and she felt really really ill-

Which is how she ended up darting home with her eyes closed and smacking right into someone and falling right onto the ground from the impact. Oh great. This must be the third strike. This meant she was out and down for the count.

“Eep! Oh-Oh I’m so sorry...!”

She felt her vision blur. Was she on the verge of tears, or was the shock setting in this badly? Whatever it was, it was very clear that today was just not a good day for Hina.

[theshslseamstress]

Of Night Terrors and Robot Jail [OPEN]

She’d always thought the world was a lively place; there was always a story on the news, people always found something to talk about, and rarely did she ever see the city quiet. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it was rather frightening and at times, chaotic.

These times spent in Tiramisu Town-all several days of them-could definitely be considered as such.

Having people to share a house with wasn’t so terrible-she hadn’t really talked to them much asides from the breakfast times, but they didn’t seem like bad people. Everyone else seemed interesting in their own nice and sometimes scary way but ultimately it was all okay. She supposed she could be worse off after a bus crash.

Of course, the police sirens startling her out of bed at whatever time at night it was, would try to end that line of thought. Looking out the window, she saw the police bots and...oh, was that Mister Monty? He woke up after all! That was good to hear-she’d felt a little sorry for him, just lying there. Was he in trouble? She opened her window to hear the commotion and instantly regretted it, as the yelling and sirens were a lot louder than she’d thought. What she managed to understand was that Monty was in trouble for sleeping outside the town and he was going to jail for it. But...he wasn’t awake for the parade, he wouldn’t have known! Did he even know what house he was supposed to go to? 

Whatever the answer, the policebots didn’t want to hear it, loudly blaring at them all to go to bed. The volume of their orders, combined with the rest of the noise and the confusion of the event that had just happened was all too much for her and she was barely able to close the window and curl back into bed before sleep overtook her.

The morning came swiftly after that and she still felt the night’s events gnaw at her, worrying her immensely. Was Monty okay? Robots operate on batteries and what if he ran out of batteries? Would that sort of treatment happen to her if she fell asleep outside of her home? Oh dear.

So caught up in worrying was she, that she didn’t hear one of her roommates yell about letters for them all-it was only when the letters were brought in and put on the table did she notice. Reading the contents, she was both nervous about answering the survey correctly and relieved that they could make sure he wasn’t punished. Nobody would punish him, right? Surely not. Her survey was answered and sealed back up fairly quickly and she left the house for the police station. The sooner the better-and punctuality was always a good thing.

Stepping out to the main plaza, she noticed someone else walking around. Oh! Were they also on their way to the police station? Wow, they must be punctual, too! Oh no, she’s made eye contact with them-now she has to talk to them since not doing that would be really rude. She smiled politely at them, offering small talk.

“Hi...”