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

[emptyself]

Sayaka, you're--?

[ honestly, everything else that she said just kind of. fell on deaf ears. because what do you mean that she died in her world? ]

[destage]

...Dead? Yes, I am.

[Perhaps unintentionally, her hands clasp in front of where she'd been stabbed prior to arriving. A very definitely fatal place, for sure.]

[emptyself]

[ soujuurou falls quiet when she says it so plainly, words failing him entirely. it's hard to believe that she's dead when she's been so alive these past two months. and yet, since he doesn't think that she's lying, he simply has no choice but to accept that fact, as dark as it is.

... ]

I see. [ he nods. ] I'm glad you're alive and with us, then.

[destage]

...Thank you, Shizuki-kun. All of you, really.

Being alive here, and with all of you--I can genuinely say that it's the greatest thing this situation has offered me.

[There's a strength in her smile when she says it. Despite the sad circumstances, she can firmly say it's led her to something better, that she never thought she'd have.]

[strawsandals]

[ ... ]

I'm glad Braphine brought you here, Sayaka. I'm - I'm selfish for saying that, I know, but I'm really, really glad.

[destage]

...Yoon-kun...

[Oh, Sayaka's smile is warm.]

...Thank you. Even if it is selfish, it means the world to hear.

[strawsandals]

Yeah. Anytime.

[ He'll have more to say to her once they're out of here. For now, she'll get a warm smile from him, too, before this fucking bear ruins everything- ]