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]

[ and then soujuurou gets so pissed off that he breaks the glass and--

no, just kidding. he'll try to slide that pane of glass off of the bulletin board and see what the note says. ]

[kandata]

[When the note is unfolded, it seems to be a typed note. On the top, a sentence:]

'RULES OF THE KILLING GAME'

[The majority of what comes after that is scribbled over, replaced by chickenscratch because, really, stuffed robotic bears can't write all that well, have you seen Monokuma's paws?]

'Let's keep this simple. No trials, just kill the five and you're set.'

[Apparently that's the only rule now: kill five, no consequences]

[emptyself]

[ lol. lmao. ok.

soujuurou looks at the rest of the note, turning it back. is there anything else? ]

[kandata]

[If there were any doubts this mindscape is out to try to mess with you in some manner, it's clear when Soujuurou turns the paper over. Monokuma's grin, once scribbled here because the back of the paper is what was once visible when the paper was folded, is nowhere to be seen. Instead there's a rough map, showing the end of a hallway. A large door is marked with a circle, located near a 'dining hall' and a 'gym'.]

[emptyself]

[ unfortunately, soujuurou continues to be relatively unflappable. he's mildly concerned about having to go there on his own, but at the same time, he doesn't really want to involve the others either.

he'll start heading in the direction of the map. ]

[kandata]

[Looks like you'll have to go through the entire school. Beyond the hallway, beyond the foyer, and into the last wing of the school. There's the door to the dining hall, there's the gym, and there's a pair of really big doors.

The really big doors are boarded up, and on top of them, there are five portraits that look as if someone just cut out photos, enlarged them until they were blurry, and then put them into huge portrait frames, hanging those from the boards.

Ai, Mafuyu, Arven, Eli, and Soujuurou.

Monokuma is there too]

About time one of you came wandering over here. You all made me feel testy earlier, so for a bit of payback I gathered a few Shadows and shaped them into a few of your newer friends to roam around here and try to kill you all. Kill or be killed, so make mincemeat of those for all I care.

[Just...casually saying that like he's not absolutely obstructing your explorations, even making one like Soujuurou because why not. Figures that Monokuma would target the teenagers for killing, and also Ai for good measure]

Deal with that while you search for the little pieces of Kirumi's memories, 'kay?

[And, absolutely cheating, Monokuma opens the doors and goes to the other side even though the doors are boarded up]

[emptyself]

!!!

[ and there’s the reaction that monokuma was surely looking for. soujuurou barely lets the shitty doll finish talking before he’s bolting out of the area as quick as he can.

of course. safety in numbers and now everyone is scattered!! ]

Guys!! GUYS!!!

[ is there even anyone that can hear him shouting? he has to find them, before they encounter one of the shadows!! ]

[vogelfrei]

[ Thanks to ??? McGillis has been taking his time examining the entrance area, which means that when Soujuurou comes running he's still pretty easily within sight.


... and wow, is it rare to see that boy lose composure like this?? ]

Calm down. What's wrong?

[emptyself]

McGillis!!!

[ thank goodness he’s still around! a small sense of relief washes over soujuurou.

the boy stops in his tracks, breathing ragged from all the running he had to do. even if it was at the other end of the school, maybe less than a few minutes had passed since his conversation with the weird bear. ]

We shouldn’t have split up! It made Shadows of us! Of Eli, of Arven, of Mafuyu, of Hoshino, and of me!

[vogelfrei]

[ Well... shit. That is indeed important news - and instantly makes McGillis question if the person in front of him is actually Soujuurou or not, with how he's losing his calm. ]

We have to find the other ones. You stick with me, so I can vouch for your identity.

[ Or take you down in case you're not the real deal. ]

[emptyself]

…

[ soujuurou looks genuinely hurt when he realizes that his own integrity is being put into question, but he doesn’t refute it.

with a nod and a sigh, he falls back to mcgillis’ side. ]

I don’t think we’ve gone against most of these. Mafuyu didn’t fight herself, but my Shadow…

[ he looks distraught at the memory of his near-palace. when he speaks, it’s like a confession from a sinner. ]

I hurt a lot of people. We can’t let that happen again.

[vogelfrei]

[ This, then, sounds more like Soujuurou. McGillis remembers how deeply distraught Celeste was by the events with Soujuurou's realm, and finds himself glad the other isn't here right now. ]

This is not you. It's bound to be a cheap imitation instead.

[ The Shadows they fought before were always intrinsically part of their owner, so McGillis is at least optimistic about that part. ]

We'll find him. Where do we start?

[ Time to head out to a different location and conveniently land somewhere nobody else has gone yet-- ]

[kandata]

[I still have yet to post a list in chat, but I can say right now the windows, the door near the music room, the girls' bathroom, the classroom in the basement, the dining hall and the gym are still untouched]

[emptyself]

How about the gym?

[ he’ll pull out the map, and hopefully the direction is still there? ]

[vogelfrei]

As good a place to start as any.

[ To the gym we go! ]

[kandata]

[Gym!

It's quite big. Every step is echoing here. The air is heavy, foreboding -- this place is full of an atmosphere that hints nothing good ever happened here.

There...doesn't seem to be anyone here, at first glance, though. Looks like you're free to check around. Go ahead!]

[emptyself]

[ hmm… soujuurou will be looking back at the door that they went through. is it still open for them to go through? nick i rolled an 8 help me. ]

[kandata]

[Soujuurou notices too late the doors are closing, and then they slam closed. The gym is now a closed place!

But his failure at perception makes him unable to notice the doors are still unlocked; they're merely closed. No danger on this regard. Still, neither McGillis nor Soujuurou will see the doors are unlocked unless they try to exit]

[emptyself]

—!!!

[ well, even with his failed perception, soujuurou doesn’t first think “enemy”, but “wind draft”.

so he’ll uh… try to open again, then. ]

[kandata]

[At the other side, there's Monokuma]

Geez, make less noise with these doors. You're gonna wake someone up.

[And he closes the gym doors.

Full disclosure, he did this just to mess with Soujuurou and McGillis. If he tries to open the doors again, Monokuma won't be there anymore, and the doors will be able to stay open if that's what they want]

[emptyself]

AHH!!

[ he is NOT a fan!!! of being!! scared like this!!

maybe it’s better if he doesn’t open it anymore. he’ll step away from it and see if there’s anything else he can see on the other end of the gym room (16) ]

[kandata]

[At the other side of the gym there's a stage. Soujuurou's perception will allow him to notice a trapdoor behind a podium, even though the trapdoor is very well camouflaged.

Onto non-perception stuff, one of the stage's red curtains seem to be draped over something unidentifiable. All one can tell is that it's enormous!

There's the podium itself, too, and to a side of the stage, you'll find what seems to be a a tape player.

Plenty of stuff for two people!]

[emptyself]

[ soujuurou will try to push the trap door. does it open? ]

[kandata]

[Nope! It's tremendously heavy, turns out. Abnormally so. Soujuurou can't open the trap door]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis, nosy as he is, will be examining the tape player! ]