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Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures
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?
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Upon touching him, a hologram in the shape of a target appears on the back of his head, almost above the neck.
Above, a screen descends from the rocky ceiling, displaying a text to everyone:
'Someone like him would have sensed my bloodthirst, yet he turned his back to me. At that moment, he surrendered his life.'
What in theory one is nudged to do is very strongly implied, even though it's not a direct order.
What will you do, everyone? Will you perform the scene? Will you spare the boy?]
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Did this boy volunteer to die? Is that what Kirumi's implying? Did he accept it, did he...]
Absolutely not.
[That's said to the ceiling, if anything. She's not sure if the others will do the same, but that's her answer right there.]
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We're trying to reach Kirumi where she is - that means accepting and embracing what she has done.
[ So he's in favor of destroying the wax-boy. ]
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Are you sure it's the only way? That this isn't a test of some sorts, to see what we'll do? Like the bowls?
[...Sayaka will bring out her sword, though, gripping it tight. But if he's really sure...]
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But I do believe that trying to establish ourselves as morally superior to her is the wrong way to reach her heart.
[ Or at least it would be the wrong way to reach his heart. Maybe Kirumi would find it inspiring...? McGillis doubts it though. ]
It's functionally no different from killing the shadows earlier, anyway.
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I didn't even consider that. She must want people to accept her for who she is...
[Looks like Shalem's got it covered, at least, though Sayaka bows her head to the Exisal.]
You have my apologies.
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[None of this should be surprising coming from her mouth after Mafuyu's palace, surely.]
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Guess who's back in the uncertain camp and is just kind of going to let whatever happens happens! Because uh. There's arguments for both sides here, and Sayaka's kind of looking between them both like she's got. No. Idea what to do.]
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Our situation here is in no way truly equivalent to hers. What stood in front of her was a human being, what stands in front of us is an elaborate wax figure. The threat she thought she was facing was to a whole country, while we stand to lose much less.
If we rebel here, are we proving that we wouldn't cave to the same pressure? Or is that just self-satisfied posturing?
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I...hadn't considered that, either. You may be right. ... Thank you.
[ Much to think about. He still won't be able to (easily) pull the trigger himself, but he is mulling over it, at least. Shalem seems to have it covered. ]
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...Is it that we're trying to establish ourselves as morally superior?
Or is it that there's that desire in hoping that we must follow the same script instead? Indicating that in her situation there was no other choice at all?
[ Maybe McGillis is right. But there is the possibility that he isn't, either. This wretched creature seems intent on proving that they're all suitable for a killing game, Kirumi included. Wouldn't this be the very same thing in some sense? ]
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[ That line of reasoning does stick with McGillis more than all the hope talk. He doesn't super care to invalidate her choices. ]
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If you wanna tell her that it’s fine to make the same mistake over and over again, then go right ahead. I’m not playing along, though.
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Which means the Exisal just. shuts up. ]
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[ For the sake of Nick's count: ]
My answer is yes. I was already titled "Sinner 01" before this, I cannot act in a place of moral superiority.
[ That's where the 01 in his username comes from. ]
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No.
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[Fuck the bear you can't tell her what to do!!]
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Who does this bear take him for? ]
If you expect myself to entertain the mere thought of killing an innocent from behind, you are most certainly sorely mistaken...
[ There is a pause, though, his brows furrowing, because he has an inkling there is something else to this, but he can't quite put his finger on what it may be. Well, he has no idea about how this will go, or what may be revealed next, but they are all prepared, he is sure. ]
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Shalem steps forward, setting down all of his crowbars except one.]
I shall do it, then. If you don't want to look, you don't need to.
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All yours, sir.
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[like yeah he knows it’s wax or something but this is just more of the same killing game shit!!! let him be contrary!!]
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he hums, clearly not happy with the situation. ]
I suppose Shalem-san’s got it covered.
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The voice I heard when I threw mine in said she feels like she's lacking someone, compared to someone who'd give it up for others. [Which is a load of bullshit, Kainé thinks. She's selfish.]
But I'm not her, and I didn't make her choices. [So she's a bit of an earlier McGillis' position truther.] I would do it. [And even though Shalem has the actual task covered if that's the choice they make.] You can even blame me for it if it makes you feel better.
Good end 👍 👍 👍 👍
A minute later the screen disappeared up into the ceiling of the cave. Slowly, Kirumi appears, fading in. In her hands she holds a piece of lumber. Standing right behind the boy, Kirumi raises the lumber, holding it high, about to swing it down...
...her hands tremble.
Slowly, she lowers the lumber to a side, trembling. Something unexpected happens: the wax boy stands up. The opportunity for murder has passed.
'I could not do it.
I could not betray everyone.
They entrusted their wellbeing to me. I mean my peers, not everyone outside. I didn't have to deal with this alone. These students are citizens of this country too. I must take care of them.'
The boy seemed to accept he had been spared. He invited her to come along. Kirumi didn't even need to come clean to everyone about what she had been about to do.
'Nobody else seemed to me like they considered killing for their motive. If I didn't make a move, nobody would. Monokuma's motive is terrifying, yet we would hold strong together...face that ghastly bear and refuse to play along.
We could have...'
Kirumi walks behind the boy, her head down.
'We could have been fine.
I could have rejected the motive despite my fears. If I hadn't been beside me with worry...
It could...' Kirumi looks up, teary. '...I could have endured...?'
Yes. Yes she could have----]
https://linkingup.dreamwidth.org/7703.html?thread=6073111#cmt6073111