♬ 002. The more I think, the less I see.

[idolizer]

Characters: Sayaka Maizono and you. Yes, you!
Setting: Dorms, room 1-05 -> Floor 25 -> Floor 48 -> Floor 14
Format: Actionspamming all the way, but I can match yo.
Summary: It's cold, but the idol won't let it get to her much - that only means more training is a go! It's when she visits the graveyard that something hits her in the feelings...
Warnings: Aside some DR spoilers and sadness, nothing else.




[ Dorms, 1-05 ]

[ It's been less than a month since Sayaka arrived to the Tower, and had to adapt to things rather quickly. Though nothing too terrifying happened, except listening to those audio files, she's got all the more motivation to learn to fight by herself and continue singing even in a place like this. It's a slow process, but she's progressing finely. Whether she's going to actually change her... weapon of choice or not, it's still early to tell.

The cold, however, took her by surprise. Other than her idol outfit and another set of clothes, she doesn't have much she could wear to deal with it. It's unnerving her day by day, along with the nutrition bars being the only damn food available around. Even so, she still tries to keep her pokerface and smile at whoever she meets. It won't be different when her roomates walk in, as they'll find her armed with knitting needles and some wool that she found in the workshop, sitting on her bed and working on this scarf she's doing. There's no way she's going to beg for a spare sweater when she can attempt to make a scarf by herself. ]


[ Floor 25 ]

[ The meadow has easily become her favourite spot, both for training or just chilling. Except that chilly now is more literal, and hanging out there is more ardous because of the cold temperature. But what Sayaka learned with years of showbiz is that if you have to defeat the cold during a concert in the open, you've got to move. And so she'll move, for a couple hours of non-stop powerwalking through the area. This is still part of the training after all. ]


[ Floor 48 ]

[ ... It's a sudden rush of curiosity that pushed her to get to this floor. Call it macabre curiosity, rather, but before we know it, she's in the graveyard, going past each headstone and reading the names on it. Basically they're all names she never heard of... they must be people who disappeared from the tower, but why make a graveyard of them? Are they really all dead, or...?

...

She freezes to a halt when her eyes fall onto perhaps the first and only name she recognizes among those faceless ones. Eyes widen as she read that name over and over.

Leon Kuwata

...

It hits her like a punch in the gut. No, it's not that, it shouldn't feel like that. She should be happy of the discovery! Finally she won't have to deal with him anymore! No more risking to cross paths with him, no more threatening, no more of that stupid loudmouthed redhead who hurt her so much and never regretted it--

...

She should be happy about it, but... even the grudge can't overtake the pity she feels for having him die a second time, and- and she can't bring herself to such a low level. Pity seems to be a fine sentiment in this moment. She can give him that at the very least.

Everyone that passes by will see her stand in front of that headstone for quite the long time, an undescribable expression on her face... like she's got no emotions at all written in it. ]


[ Floor 14 ]

[ After all that walking, the best thing to do is to... well, move some more. And dancing just happens to be one of her favourite activities, a great help when it comes to forget all about whatever bad feelings she had during the day. The music's up, so would you like to join her? ]

Comments

floor 48

[chainsawn]

[ Urotsuki spends quite some time in the graveyard. Not that she particularly enjoys it, or that she has anyone's stone to look at.. but the people here are always so interesting to watch (if not a little sad), they always seem to.. touched by what they see. Sometimes it's easy to make friends that way, to help cheer people up a little, maybe.

But the girl who's standing there today looks a little odd. She's not really.. sad, is she? No, her expression is something else, but the younger girl can't quite place it. In an apparent attempt to grab the other girl's attention, Urotsuki moves to stand behind the stone, staring up at Sayaka. ]

.. What's wrong? Can't you read it?

[idolizer]

... Hm?

[ The question wakes her from whatever state of subconsciousness she got herself in. Damn it, she's not supposed to feel like this about that guy! ]

Oh, no, I can read it.

[chainsawn]

Then is there some other problem?

[ The girl seems a little weird, after all.. Urotsuki can't believe there's really nothing going on, she's way too curious now! So she's still staring. ]

[idolizer]

No...

[ It's not entirely true, but not a lie either. She should be glad Leon is back to being dead like he should be, but... there's a pang of guilt in her that she'll never admit to have, and it's bothering her quite a bit. ] I knew this person, though.

[chainsawn]

It's not really their grave. [ Apparently she thinks that is what must be bothering the other girl, since she's explaining it so calmly, as if she's hoping that will make it better. ]

Yuuto dug one up. There wasn't anything in the coffin.

[idolizer]

[ ... that's definitely not what bothered her, nope, not at all. All the same, she frowns deeply at that. ]

What kind of... sick joke is that?

[chainsawn]

I'm not sure. [ But Urotsuki sure seems much more calm about this than a person should be. Although honestly, you'd get it if you saw her dreams, compared to the disturbing stuff in there this is still pretty normal and factual.. ]

Maybe they wanted to make a graveyard but didn't have enough corpses for it. So they had to improvise.

[idolizer]

But why would they choose random names for it? [ She feels sick to the stomach now... and this girl doesn't seem affected at all. It's disturbing. ] Is it to scare us all?

[chainsawn]

.. Yeah, maybe that's it.. [ She hums, still as calm as before. ]

Someone I met here before said that they want to break us. So.. this is maybe for that too..?

Floor 48 it's always the horrible things with them isn't it.

[yougotthatwrong]

[To be honest, he dreaded this floor after seeing the names of all the friends that used to show up here in the first place, and even more when he found Kirigiri's name on it a few weeks ago and realizing that there was no other way possible for him to apologize to her now.

...today, like any other day that had passed ever since he found this floor, he brought a small flower up with him; to pay respects to the only friend he killed in this tower of madness.

He didn't expect seeing a certain person in front of a new gravestone.]

...Maizono-san?

sob i hate you

[idolizer]

... Naegi-kun?

[ That call was enough to snap her out of those thoughts. She sure didn't expect him of all people to show up in such a place... then again, he's been here longer, he must have friends that he lost. ]

What are you doing here? [ Even so, she can't help but ask. ]

[yougotthatwrong]

I'm visiting someone from back home.

[The answer came automatically for him; after all, there's no use to lie to one of his friends when he's pretty transparent more than half of the times in terms of the actions he did when being depressed. He even held the flower up for emphasis.]

I didn't realize you'd be here as well.

[idolizer]

... Ah? Who is it?

[ She didn't meet Kirigiri, and didn't notice anyone of their group disappeared lately... until she saw Leon's grave, that is. There's a quick glance to the headstone, then back at him. ]

I just wanted to explore a little.

[yougotthatwrong]

Kirigiri-san, she left around the time you arrived.

[The name was mentioned with an action that involved turning his head to the side, as if feeling bad for mentioning her name in front of her.]

...Ah.

[He doesn't know what to say to the second part, though..]

[idolizer]

Kirigiri-san was here? [ What a surprise. She... would have liked to discuss with her about the events that happened after her death. At least the girl would have been more bearable than Togami. ]

... It's a pity I couldn't meet her.

[yougotthatwrong]

[`Because I killed her`, was what he would've said if he wanted to get really negative, but he knew that would've just been a mess, so he holds it inside him.]

Mm, you two could probably get along, together.

[...Okay so that might be streeeetching it a little, and Naegi knows that.]

[idolizer]

[ The fact that Kirigiri is at least more bearable than Togami doesn't mean they would get that much along, for sure. Even so... Sayaka feels sorry for her right now. She at least deserves to be remembered, unlike him. ]

Probably. [ She repeats, a little dully. ] At least she should be safe... wherever she is.

Floor 14

[cutestprogrammer]

[Chihiro is just sitting in one corner working on his laptop when he hears the music and comes over to see who it is.]

Oh, hello, Maizono-san!

[idolizer]

Hello, Fujisaki-kun.

[ She stops and faces him. ] I'm surprised to see you here.

[cutestprogrammer]

I was just working in the corner there. The chairs here are comfortable.

[idolizer]

Is that so? I'm sorry if the music is disturbing you then. [ She lowers the volume, and then wipes some sweat off her forehead. ] I was trying to fight the cold, you see... I'm glad to see you're feeling better.

[cutestprogrammer]

[shakes head] It wasn't disturbing me. I see. Mn. It really is getting so cold here... Thank you for taking care of me when I was ill, Maizono-san!

[idolizer]

Ah, don't mention it- I was glad to help... I couldn't leave you alone to your trouble. [ It's especially out of guilt that she did it, but she won't admit it. ]

[cutestprogrammer]

You are such a nice person, Maizono-san! [and he sincerely means it!]

[idolizer]

[ ...I'm not, she'd like to retort, but that would make things very awkward, even if it would mean saying the truth. She's really trying to forget about Leon and that journey in the graveyard, she doesn't need to make things worse.

Although regretfully, she keeps her smile. ]

Thank you Fujisaki-kun, but I'm sure you would have done the same if I was in trouble.