Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

[destage]

[So. Sayaka already looks positively clammy and pale by the time everyone regroups, and it looks like it's taking a herculean feat to keep herself together.

But thankfully, she is going to manage it, breathing gently and centering herself. She's overthinking, she has to be.]

Shizuki-kun, McGillis-san, and I managed to find a flyer by going east; while much of it seems to be illegible, it was talking about auditions. And there was a map, too--a map pointing to the northwest.

And, um...Shizuki-kun's hands were stained with...black and white ink when he touched the paper, for some reason.

[There's a pause. A quick glance toward Fray for a brief moment, before she speaks up again.]

...

Nobody...happened to encounter a bear or anything like that, right...?

[bloodweapon]

[Fray catches that glance, though he says nothing. He certainly can see why Sayaka's worried...]

[moonshaded]

A stuffed one? Yeah, I did.

[She holds up her hands; they are also stained with black and white.]

Felt soft...and a little warm. Fell into the floor.

[finalmix]

[ adding himself to the got their hands stained with black and white group ]

I tried to clean off the grave since it wasn't maintained.

[moonshaded]

[That's probably fine. Nothing bad will come from this.]

Do you think it's important? The stuff with the ink on it.

[destage]

[It's instantaneous, the way Sayaka freezes up at that. Oh. Oh this is bad--she connecting dots together in ways that she really doesn't like, and it's clear on her face that there's a bolt of recognition.]

...I wonder what it looked like. You wouldn't have happened to have gotten a good look at it, would you?

I...only ask, because of something I talked about with someone on the network. Something we both recognized.

[emptyself]

A bear? I don’t think anything could live in here— it’s all blank.

[destage]

...If it's the one I'm thinking of, it isn't an actual, living bear. It's more like a stuffed, robotic plush.

[emptyself]

You know about this, Sayaka?

[destage]

...Somewhat. Please keep in mind that this is just a lot of assuming based off of some stuff I know. I'm not entirely certain if this is the same thing as what I'm thinking of, but considering what I've talked about on a post to an anon before...and the fact that I can confirm one other person knew the name of this bear...

[Sayaka pauses a bit, shuddering some at the thought--red head brothers nearby, give her metaphorical strength...she's actually saying this in public, but she forces herself to calm down and look at Soujuurou.]

...If it's anything like what I went through, Tojo-san may have gotten dragged into a killing game by a robotic teddybear named Monokuma. I don't know if the circumstances are entirely the same considering what we've found, but...

[vogelfrei]

[ Ah... ]

I can confirm that your assumption is correct. The rules for that game were in her dreamscape last week.

[ And Sayaka... Well, suddenly arriving bloody with a knife makes a lot of sense. Funny how the pieces finally fit together. ]

[destage]

[There's pain in that realization. That their perfect and elegant maid could have been hiding so much pain from them all, despite being such a kind cornerstone. Her strength was incredible and something Sayaka wanted to emulate, and her kindness was something Sayaka appreciated...]

"Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered." I take it that was one of them, or at least of similar wording?

[Because yeah. Yeah, Sayaka's posture is tight but deeply resolved. And...

Honestly, she's shaking with both fright and anger that she's keeping very restrained.]

...So Tojo-san was the anon I talked to, who recognized that bear's name. That explains a lot.

[emptyself]

...

[ soujuurou takes this information and... simply accepts it. he gives her a grave nod, his composure extremely calm. ]

A killing game... I went through something a little similar in someone's dream, but there was no bear involved. Tojo mentioned to me once, that she was once in a situation where she and a group she was in was made to feel responsible for killing someone else. Does that sound familiar to you?

[destage]

...Very much so. Though...

I should be honest. I can't tell you too too much, because I was the first one who died where I came from. But us...we were meant to be going to a school that would ensure that our futures would be bright if we graduated, that only accepted the best in the world. Many people had graduated from it before, so we didn't think anything of it...

But that bear fully intended to keep us locked within the academy, and also introduced motivation to try and make us kill. It's very familiar.

[idealitas]

If Kirumi experienced an event similar to that, then it's very likely that the impact and trauma would influence the nature of her palace.

[ No mincing words here. A killing game doesn't sound pleasant. ]

[destage]

Exactly. It was a very traumatic experience to be forced into for all of us in my own group; I can't imagine that Tojo-san's group got it any easier.

[Yeah. No disagreement from her, essentially.]

...Especially if she was forced to live there longer.

[moodwrecker]

...What?

[No, seriously, what??]

[bloodweapon]

[Fray is here, and he can only imagine how difficult it is for Sayaka to say this. She's doing a good job, though, and he nods whenever she catches his eyes.]

[beautifulknight]

[ It must be difficult indeed for Sayaka to say this - he realizes this, considering...his expression softens at hearing this, looks over towards her.

Also as if to say in such a gaze if she needs a moment or anything, he will happily be there to help in that, even if it is just a hand on a shoulder. ]

...I see. That is most unfortunate.

I would not wish such circumstances on anyone.

[imperiosity]

So that's what you were referring to before, huh.

[The bear thing still sounds absurd even knowing that she wasn't talking about a real one, but the way Sayaka is acting here at least gives this more gravitas then he'd normally afford for such a statement.]

They ever tell you what the point of it all was?

[finalmix]

[ ah. that anon post. ]

[ considering that there's only been one through the whole game so far, it doesn't take too long to put two and two together, though. ]

Peach?

[vogelfrei]

[ Well, all of what everyone said is foreboding and absolutely unpleasant.

But there really is only one path forward for them, isn't there...? ]

We should follow the map. There is nothing to be gained by waiting around here.

[idealitas]

I agree.

[beautifulknight]

...Then, let's go ahead in following the map.

Onwards in the northwest direction.

[ No sense in dallying here indeed! ]

[destage]

...I agree, McGillis-san. We should press forward. Whatever happens, our priority should be getting to Tojo-san.

[Terrified as she is of the realizations this could bring--this is for Tojo-san. ]