Bright red. It sounded loud when one crawled on all fours, thumping with the hands and knees. Bump bump bump. Red transitioned into blue. The sunlight poured in from all over, the color deepening only where one's shadow was cast. More sounds came from behind, but they were distant, too quiet to be from the red that had just been passed through. The bump, bump, bump was still louder in the form of a wicked echo, enough to just steadily unnerve. A series of big plastic tubes—from red to blue, then up a few, then going across and into the open air…
The glistening slide was next: a simple, angled thin metal sheet. It burned hot and stung the skin. From the slide, one tumbled into the next tube, which was a long one of orange color, which opened up again to the air, this time several feet above a large ball pit.
Murumuru looked to the left, then to the right. The tubes were like intestines at first glance, wrapped so tightly together in one giant clog, but then one noticed the ways in which some divided, making it look instead like some sort of congested three dimensional illustration of an insect colony's many different escape routes. The ball pit blinded Murumuru a bit; it was an almost vomit-inducing array of bright colors. They were not inviting large plastic balls, either; they were compact and made of hard plastic.
Murumuru got into her best diving position. She wiggled her behind and smacked her palms together, so that her elbows arched above her body and a diamond shape was formed by her arms. She then, after taking a deep breath, descended into the pit. The wind gave such a wonderful breeze through her long white hair—it felt very nice and cool, compared to being inside those hot tubes—for the few seconds it lasted. Then, she crashed spectacularly amidst all the color.
She floated such that the plastic balls were up only a little above her waist. Looking ahead, there was another plastic tube. She knew the route well: that one ahead would lead to a little lookout spot outside of the playgrounds. That was her destination. Murmuru waded ahead, using her arms to push against the little obstructions in the way as she kicked herself forward.
Suddenly, her ankle was seized. A hand had clasped her foot, and before Murumuru could do so much as scream, she was pulled down, deep into the ball pit. She was being dragged back, in the direction she had just come from. The speed they were going was violent; she was getting beat up through the rush, as the little plastic pellets moved against her.
There was, of course, no light either. It was just a mad rush through the most colorful darkness. Finally, she found herself being brought to the surface. She gasped for air and opened her eyes, only to observe a knife towering above her, in the hands of her assailant.
"I win! I win!"
Reisuke Houjou started laughing. He stabbed the knife all around her, making little exclamations as he cut through the air. Murumuru began to flail back, kicking up such a storm that the plastic balls began to rise in a flurry between them.
"No fair," Murumuru stammered, after she caught her breath. She crossed her arms, feigning mild defiance. "After all, you made this place. I'm only just figuring it out. You know all the short cuts!"
"No one said it was going to be fair," Reisuke responded, still grinning over his victory. "You can never win against an elite! Let's play again!"
Murumuru shrank a bit, into the ball pit. She looked over her arms and legs, which had several little dark bruises. There were cuts here and there, as well, some recent ones at that. "But we've been playing this game so much," Murumuru whined, "Let's do something else… Play a board game, read some romance manga…"
"That sounds boring!" Reisuke retorted, aiming the knife at her. "The elite get to choose! Always!"
Murumuru rubbed her eyes. This was not helping her blood pressure. Each time they played this game, it ended with Reisuke popping up when she least expected him and was most vulnerable. He always won, and he always took such glee out of beating her. She was reflecting on how cruel children can be, when an idea came to her.
"Hey!" She piped up, grinning back at him suddenly. "You haven't checked on the others below for a while… Maybe you should say hello to them, and make sure they are being good boys and girls."
Reisuke seemed satisfied with this idea. He clapped his hands, and a purple cloud formed where they met, concealing his hands. The smoke faded when he pulled his hands apart, and now he was wearing two hand puppets. One looked like a spitting image of Yuno Gasai, and the other looked just like Yukiteru Amano.
Closing and opening his hands, Reisuke manipulated the puppets' mouths to chatter. He hopped from one side to the other within the ball pit, making the mouths open and close faster and faster, channeling more and more of his powers as he did so. A short distance from where he and Murumuru were, a twisting portal appeared.
Reisuke hopped in, and Murumuru rose into flight. She glided ahead, only to have the portal collapse in her face. When she turned around, having past the spot, she heard Reisuke's distant laugh. A second portal now appeared, behind her. With a sigh, Murumuru entered.
The new Cathedral of Causality had two parts. The higher part was this giant playground, an expansive maze of colorful tubes and slides and ball pits and all sorts of other equipment. There were little sanctuaries within that had swing sets, monkey bars, and even video games.
Below it was a much smaller stretch of floating land. It was pentagonal in shape, dangling from the massive playgrounds above by thin cords at each of the points. Unlike the structure above, which was mostly plastic and metal, this part of the Cathedral of Causality was ripped straight from the earth. Roots hung from the soil, and soft grass invited the feet of its two occupants.
In the center, a large hole went straight through, giving them a terrifying view of the world below. The clouds were constantly repelled from it, allowing for an uninterrupted view of the microscopic world. There were only three items on this stretch of land—Reisuke's seat of power, located near the hole, and two grave stones resting right behind it.
His throne was a soft, children's arm chair, stuffed with durable foam and finished off with a bright red fabric. Reisuke sat at the edge of the chair, which was several times his size, poked at the air with his two puppet hands. Wherever he pecked, a bubble appeared, and inside an image of the world below was contained.
The images were like scenes from live cameras; in each, after a few seconds, the children being observed would turn and take notice that they were being watched. Whenever a bubble appeared before Reisuke, a bubble showing his image would appear in their world below. The children, of various sizes and colors and attitudes, would smile at him, with whatever teeth they had, and give him a wave. The bubbles echoed each other, in a high-pitched, child's chorus: "Hi Big Brother!"
Murumuru kept her eyes on the hole as she went around it, to end up on Reisuke's side. She levitated, so that she could speak softly by the boy's ear. "You seem really happy to see them. See? This was a good idea!"
Reisuke nodded. "I'm always happy to see them. I love them all very much! I had to work very hard to get where I am now, so I have to enjoy the world now that it's mine!" He looked from bubble to bubble, keeping his voice low enough so that they could not overhear. "After I had finished playing with my brother and sister in the Amano house, that stranger came to visit. I'll never forget that silly look on her face, when she saw them! I caught her by surprise and found that she had a Diary, which I destroyed. At first, I was very sad to not have my brother and sister to play with… But then I realized that soon I would be in charge and could have all the brothers and sisters I could want! I had a terrible nightmare that first night, but that didn't last long. A few days later, the doorbell rang, and it was this scruffy-looking police man. He kept checking his phone while he asked me questions, and I figured out he was a Diary owner easily! He became the fourth to lose in the Amano house. I snuck away and got picked up by Ai and Marco. I thought they were like my daddy and momma, but then I realized they were nothing like them, at all. They were elites! They brought me to the nice lady's orphanage, where I just had to wait it out. The nice lady was kidnapped, and Ai and Marco went in to save her… I just was sitting at the orphanage, when the explosion happened. Apparently, another Diary owner had tried to use the nice lady's Diary to give everyone in the city a Diary, but because of Ai and Marco, everything blew up! Like that, I won the game!"
He reflected on his victory often. He seemed fixated on retelling it to Murumuru whenever the situation seemed to demand it. He took an odd pride in how his victory combined the ruthless killing of four Diary owners, as well as the harmless observance of the last four being killed without him so much as having to lift a finger. It satisfied two desires: to know that he has the power of an elite, and to know that he was meant to be the new god, that fate worked everything in his favor.
"I was born to be the new god," Reisuke suggested. "That's why daddy and mamma always fought. They knew that I shouldn't learn to depend on them. They wanted me to see them fighting, so I could learn how to rely on my own thinking. They loved me so much, didn't they, Murmuru? God made my parents never sleep with each other, and now I'm god!" Reisuke chuckled.
He raised the Yuno hand puppet. "And now that little Reisuke is god, we're all so happy!" He spoke in a high-pitched, female's voice, which then switched to a voice more like Yukiteru's.
"He gives us everything we need and takes care of us and gives us brothers and sisters to play with!"
Reisuke lowered his puppets and looked fixedly off into one of the bubbles. A few children were playing with some of the toys he had given them: a few sticks of dynamite, some knives, and a stun gun. "If someone is older, they need to watch over the younger people's every move, to keep them in line. This is what it means to be elite."
Murumuru sighed, not because she was bored, but because she exhausted. Ever since Reisuke had replaced Deus, she had lived a much more high strung existence. Little children were so tiring to take care of! Reisuke always wanted to play, and if he ever found himself slightly bored or feeling down, he would certainly take it out on Murumuru in some fashion. The same happened if he was feeling especially happy; his emotions always hurt his helper. He may have been about her size, but he was always faster and always stronger. Deus, who could have crushed her if he so willed, at least was slow and let her be. She would have preferred being sent on more silly errands in the world below, but truthfully, Reisuke kept her locked up there always, so he would not be alone.
"Hi everyone!" the boy who became god waved toward all the bubbles. "Hi!"
"Hi Big Brother!"
"Play time is over, everyone."
A massive "awww" sounded from the little floating spheres. The children wore visible signs of unhappiness. They were worried this might mean it would be nap time soon, or that they might have done something wrong and were about to be punished.
"It's time for snacks!"
At this, the children brightened up again. A few even hollered a quick cheer. Food was sometimes even more popular than fun.
Reisuke clapped his two puppets together, and the magic happened: all across the world below, cupcakes popped into existence. They were just the right size for the little tykes, and were wrapped in colorful paper. They came in all sorts of flavors, from blueberry to chocolate chip to some that looked rainbow colored and tasted like peaches and cream.
"What a rich harvest," Murumuru murmured, dreamily looking on at the bubbles. She wished he would give her a treat once in a while.
The children were enthusiastically biting through the cupcakes, some even going so far as to lick the paper they were in. They were a huge hit with everyone. Then, after a few seconds, their tummies began to make weird gurgling sounds. In less than a minute, all of the children were falling over, silently collapsing by the millions. The entire world's population had been lethally poisoned in less than sixty seconds.
"Yay!" Reisuke cheered. "Now it's time to make new brothers and sisters to love and play with!"