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

[kandata]

[McGillis looks at the podium with his eyes closed. Since he failed the roll, all he'll see is...

...a check! Written to Kirumi Tojo. Ten thousand dollars for a single day of work!

Doesn't seem like it's a trap of some kind]

[vogelfrei]

... she wasn't kidding when she said she's in demand.

[ Does the check say what kind of work she did? He'll pick it up and look it over carefully. ]

[kandata]

[When McGillis picks up the check, once he looks up, he sees Kirumi and another teenager standing nearby

They're having a conversation, and both McGillis and Soujuurou can see it. Once the conversation is over, they both vanish into thin air.

On the back of the check, there's something written in Kirumi's handwriting.

'I am not in this for money. All I want is see those I serve reach the potential I see in them.']

[emptyself]

Tojo’s always been a kind, trustworthy person.

[ soujuurou nods, feeling a sense of warmth upon seeing that memory. ]

It seems that she really dedicates her life to her job. She must be very passionate about it.

[vogelfrei]

I can't say I understand her love for this work, but nobody can deny it's genuine.

[ Kirumi is a very strange person to him, but the way he smiles despite his complete bafflement suggests he is still fond of her. ]

[emptyself]

Mm.

[ he’s about to ask what is so odd about it, since he thinks it simply feels good to serve for a cause you think is worth it.

but on further consideration, he thinks he can understand where mcgillis is coming from. ]

Maybe she’s like the opposite of you?

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis doesn't think that assessment is wrong in itself, but... ]

How so?

[ More than anything, he wants to hear Soujuurou's logic once more. Sorry buddy, you're still a curiousity to some degree. ]

[emptyself]

Are you only asking me this because you want to know my answer?

[ he’s caught on to your scheme mcgillis.

except he doesn’t mind enough to not answer, so he’ll go ahead and satisfy mcgillis’ curiosity. ]

Maybe it’s because I don’t think you would see any point in wanting to help others for the sake of helping them. Or maybe you might think it’s inefficient? I’m not sure.

[vogelfrei]

[ Interesting. Soujuurou, with his strange lack of common sense, is always a fascinating mirror to see how one might be perceived. ]

More of the latter. I think the kinds of people who can be helped by a maid don't require the assistance the most.

[emptyself]

That's not always the case. But sometimes it is.

[ he's had his encounters with both kinds of people. ]