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

mind the cw beneath the code

[destage]

[Sayaka refuses to even look at the screen. She doesn't think that her approach is working at all, as much as she does believe in things like friendship and hope--sue her, she's never been allowed to be a genuine bleeding heart, on the leash she's had tightly kept around her neck by her managers.

Maybe, deep down, she needs to embrace what she really wants.]

What, are you going to finally come down and face us yourself, you monochrome coward?

[Sayaka practically sneers at Monokuma, though she looks to Kirumi genuinely. Her look goes...a little blank, but it's surprisingly gentle, despite everything.]

...Kirumi-san, please listen to me. I don't know what the others are going to say or do--we're all going to make our own decision at the end of it all, but please, at least hear us. Or...what I have to say, at least.

Monokuma can claim that he's the god of this place all he wants, but this palace was born of your heart. A confused, guilty heart, but yours nonetheless. You've carried these burdens for so long, and worked so hard despite them...Monokuma can claim all he wants, but you are the one who writes the path forward. You're the one who can choose for herself the fate she wants.

...It's not as if I don't understand wanting to repent for the actions that got one here.

[Sayaka smiles, sad but soft.]

cw: discussion of past suicidal ideation

...I was the person who posted that anonymous post, you know. The one who asked about forgiveness, and things like that. I know we didn't get a chance to talk much, but I...I really do understand this. I wanted to die as penance for my own actions, too.

When I was in that school...I tried to betray my one of the only friends I had in that school. I attempted to play an act, act like I was in danger, and lure someone in to die after he swapped rooms with me so I could frame him. If it had gone to a trial, I can't say that I wouldn't have done similar things. I...would have likely tried to throw Naegi-kun under the bus to try and save myself. I intended to kill Kuwata-kun and leave him to bleed all alone. I didn't even know that the trials would have possibly led to everyone else dying. I don't know what I would have done, if I survived long enough to experience them. Even if I did leave a clue for them all at the end...it doesn't erase my actions. And it will never make up for them.

Even now, those actions haunt me. But people here...they've listened to me. They've come to their own judgements about me, and they likely will continue to do so even now. And now that I've had the opportunity to live--to live for myself, to live freely alongside everyone...I've been able to take a different path. I've been able to come to terms with those actions, at least somewhat--and I've decided to take a different path from them, to something greater.

Kirumi-san. The only one who will decide the path forward is you. Not Monokuma, not anyone else. Your path will be written by you and you alone, no matter how much Monokuma moans and acts like a petulant child. If this is truly the path you want at the end of it all...it'll be sad, but I won't stop you.

But will you at least let us have the opportunity to get rid of this roadblock in front of you, and clear your path forward?

[Sayaka's gaze is filled with determination as she talks (20).]

If you decide at the end of it all, that this is what you truly want...I won't stop you. But that bear, he's not in control here. This was born of your heart, and you deserve to have a say in how it goes.

You've seen us overcome impossible odds before, Kirumi-san. Can you trust us this time, too?

[moodwrecker]

[Watching her quietly as she speaks.]

[emptyself]

[ he’ll give her a small encouraging smile, even if she’s not looking. good job, sayaka. ]

[idealitas]

[ Listens to Sayaka quietly. ]

[bloodweapon]

[Fray's seen how far Sayaka's walked on her new path, and he's seen her struggles in finding her footing. She truly has found what it is she wants to pursue and she's so incredibly strong for it. Fray watches on, proud of her as he always is.]

[beautifulknight]

[ ...Hearing this?

Argenti can't help but be proud of Sayaka.

She has come so, so far. ]