#sumiko ihara

[literallyjusttryingmybest]

shslvirologist

[shslembroidery]

Just close your eyes.

Their hands wouldn’t stop shaking long enough for them to think. A pile of weapons had taken up occupancy on the normally pristine shelves and table space in their room from knives to meathooks, the fruits of their labor—the first step in a plan to spring their escape. When fear forced their hand, some things weren’t this choice anymore.

Kaitaro Kobayashi had never wanted to be a murderer.

They were under no illusion they were strong, especially not strong enough to resist the lure of a motive so tempting, so generous—one life for three, simple enough. Mike TV would never agree to it, wouldn’t even buy his own freedom with blood on someone else’s hands, but Sumiko Ihara was another story. Three notes, a victim, and any choice of weapon the two of them wanted. That’s all it took.

That’s how Kaitaro found themselves at midnight hitting the elevator button and heading up with one hand stuffed into their pocket and holding a sharpened pair of sewing scissors, just in case one of the monsters that went bump in the dark happened upon them on their journey. 

How strange of Sumiko, to not only push their meeting time to a day earlier but also to summon them out here instead of going directly to their room—of course, subtlety with notes was a safer plan so no one would put clues together in the bloody aftermath but still—and something seemed off. Alright, her note has responded to their invitation to kill. Alright. A sigh, a nervous swallow, and they pushed open the doors to the prep room with trembling hands.

“One--Yasu-san…?”

[shslembroidery]

the feeling of letting go ✖ ☣

✖ hospital flowers - owl city ☣ two birds - regina spektor ✖ safe and sound - lizz ☣ the scientist - coldplay ✖ placebo - running up that hill ☣ wasting my younger years - london grammar ✖ rainbow veins - owl city ☣ white coats - foxes ✖ kiss the rain - lizz ☣

haha oh man cute sibling couple right?? if two siblings under the ocean tried to kill a man would that be fucked up or what. chapter three sure was fun

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ Memento Mori [Kaitaro&Harper&Sumiko]

It had become something of a daily routine—rise as soon as light broke the dark waters outside their window, shove the mattress back up onto the supporting beams of the bed (they still couldn’t comfortably fall asleep elevated, especially after they’d fallen out a few times), tidy until the entire area was factory quality clean and then head out to brew a cup of tea. Today’s flavor was sleepy time, appropriately; an air of relaxation seemed to have fallen over the entire prison, content in both improved relationships and at peace. Sure there were loose ends, like the drummer holding the blackmail to someone faultless or the nun with her misplaced anger but… those could be for another day. Kaitaro could feel that today was going to be special.

They found themselves aimlessly punching the next floor into the elevator, heading up to the floor lately revealed and with it the beach—one step further into the illusion of being free of this place. At the end of the day their imprisonment wasn’t even much to complain about save for the fact they were missing out on education while in here; they wanted for naught, weren’t really in danger, and had most everything they could ask for. If this was a vacation, they were set to enjoy it as others seemed to be doing. Even Miya herself, matchmaker extrodinare, seemed to be having fun already on the beach playing in the water with Nana and—

The teacup dropped from their hands, tea splashing out to dampen the sand and their boots. A shaky step forward, enough to see the body clearly and the blood clouding the water, before they fell to their knees. Tetsuo, Tetsuo, their… friend.

He wasn’t supposed to die.

They could still see him, arms crossed tight across his chest as they dragged him into the water. Smiling, as the surf lapped at his waist and they splashed him with water. Pacing in his room as Kaitaro sat on their bed, whiling the hours away with string tricks and talking about justice. No good died young. No good ever died young. So why…?

They hadn’t moved from where they’d fallen, hands limply dangling at their side and tears silently streaming down their face. This was all wrong. They wanted to go back to sleep, wanted to wake up and find this was all a bad dream, but they had to be strong. That’s what Kiyoyuki had said, wasn’t it? They knew how to be strong.

“Memento mori… but I’ll remember you for who you were alive, Shi-san… a friend.”

A crowd had already gathered, the students each reacting in kind. One of them, a killer. Nana, someone who would kill in fear of a piece of paper? Annie, a nun threatening murder to protect herself? There were terrible people here—a disgustingly sobering realization. They were surrounded by killers.

The only safe route; the company of those they could still trust. Sumiko, of course, and… someone neither good nor bad, someone not human at all in the form of one Mike T.V. They sought both of them out, tugging on Sumiko’s sleeve for attention and simply gazing dully at the screen of the other before speaking, not even bothering to wipe the tears from their eyes.

“Would you two like to investigate Shi-san’s room with me…? We might find something but mostly I… I just need to leave.”

[shslembroidery]

✖ ✖ Seamlessly [Sumiko]

The pressure to tell Sumiko was immense, but they weren’tquite ready yet.

Kaitaro’s normally impeccable sense of timing was off something awful that night, the sea outside of the window in Sumiko’s room pitch black but all lights in the small room ablaze with light to illuminate the two of them sitting side by side on her bed, chatting softly. It had seemed like only a few days ago that she was sitting before them plucking the string from their fingers despite all that had passed in the interim, yet they hadn’t quite expected this outcome at all.

They had been the one to venture the tentative suggestion of a sleepover under the guise of security from murderers but for the actual purpose of just spending more time with her. Despite everything she’d said to them their voice had still shaken and their hands had still trembled to ask but… here they were. Awake later then they’d been in years, talking about things they’d thought no one would want to hear.

With their hands tangled in her hair to pull the gentle locks into a braid as they spoke, one foot brushed against hers to maintain contact as if in not doing so she might disappear, Kaitaro ventured a tentative smile at her. Sumiko Ihara, a scientist for the government’s biological warfare program… but that was fine. She was a good person.

“And Chouko is the older one… she’s twenty five and has a fiancé she’s been engaged  to for years but won’t marry so she doesn’t have to leave us… it’s touching, but we keep telling her to just get on with her life, ahaha. Since mom and dad aren’t ever around with them working all the time, she was the closest thing to a mom I knew—less Onee-chan and more Okaa-san, you know? Then there’s Kozue, she’s eighteen, and I guess the best way to describe her is gentle and kind… She’s always positive, even when things were bad. She kept the family’s morale up a lot, even if we didn’t have enough money that day to put food on the table or anything…”

They paused to loop one of the hairbands on their wrist onto the half of her hair they’d been braiding before shifting around to start on the other side to put Sumiko’s hair in two long, twin braids. Their conversation was more a regurgitation of words than anything else, but the duel facet of newly born trust, sleep deprivation, and the looming threat of death at any time prompted them to continue. Maybe, even if they died here, telling someone would let the memory live on; after all, even though they spouted the optimism that they wouldn’t die, there was no guarantee. The weakest, indeed…

“Chizu is next, just a year older than me… She’s kind of like Aiko if I needed a comparison? We’d rough house a lot—it’s honestly crazy how often I’d have to repair her clothing or my own after that. I think she’s the reason most of the hand me downs got so messed up before I got to them, but I don’t mind… just means I can make new things out of them. And then there’s my little sister but… she’s just a baby still.”

Their smile faltered slightly at the last mention, hoping their lack of using a name wouldn’t be too noticeable. On one level them speaking of their family was an open invitation for Sumiko to talk about hers but on another it was avoidance of the real issue they wanted to tell her. But then again, there was no better time than the present. They steeled themselves, tied off the second braid, and spoke.

“…I don’t mean to ruin the sleepover or anything but… I thought you should know that I know. Know that I know, I mean, and about what happened—” They were a mess. Reprimanding themselves mentally to spit it out, Kaitaro tried again. “Yasu-san told me your secret… but I destroyed it so she couldn’t show anyone after me. I’ll tell you mine if you want, to make it fair! I mean, what I think mine is… I’m not actually sure…?”