Kunō no Merodī [Dokudami Tea]

More in-game dialogue coming your way! It's just that good. And sorry for the wait. I'm planning to have Kunō no Merodī finished by the end of the month.

The girl was laughing as she twirled around the pole, glancing back to Rise every once and awhile as if she were waiting for something to happen. What that could be... she couldn't even begin to fathom. Mostly because she couldn't even think about it, just stare up at the fake her - Risette continuing to put on a show.

She was on the middle of the stage, but there was no one else in the room. So... it's not like there was actually a crowd for her to perform for. No, Rise had accepted awhile back that Risette wasn't putting on a show for anyone but her now. Beyond that one incident of the TV coming on in the room she had woken up in, Risette hadn't made any other grand entrances, though a few times it seemed like she was shouting into the microphone at someone. Multiple people maybe, but Rise still didn't see anyone.

Why wasn't she waking up yet? Why did this nightmare just seem to stretch on for days? She even felt hungry in a way, a rather hollow way. Her stomach didn't growl or anything, it just felt empty. But she hadn't been able to shut her eyes either, and when Risette had come back into her room and then shot off; she had ran after her, following her to where she was now.

On the edge of a stage, on her knees, staring up at the image of her that had been plastered all over TV. Risette continuously shouting that she wasn't going to bare it all to the empty room of spectators. This had been the final clue that the only one she - the demon - was going to bare it all for was Rise herself.

It was crazy, insane. And she was so tired, so wanting for it to be over that she couldn't even stand up any longer. She just continued to sit there, hoping it would all be over soon.

Finally - it felt so long - Risette stopped her twirling, standing in front of the pole, legs spread and just looked at her. Her lips were curled down, disappointed perhaps, but it's not like Rise knew what she wanted. What she was expecting. How was she suppose to know anything? She still didn't even know how she had gotten here, where here was; any of it. So what could she do?

"Stop." The word was more of a whisper than anything else, as if spoken by a ghost.

Risette giggled, pushing back against the pole and grinding her hips, as if requesting Rise to keep going. To start yelling at her again. Was that it? Was that what she wanted? But why-

The doors slammed open and another girl's voice filled the room, "There it is!"

"Look, the real one's here too!" A more familiar voice sounded in the air. Male. But she couldn't recall who it belonged to. Surely not someone she had known for very long.

There were more than two pairs of footsteps moving closer though; one even squeaked, like a window wiper. Risette turned her head to look at whoever it was and began laughing again. "Aaahahahahaha!" She grinned, golden eyes sparkling. "They're all watching! All eyes are on me now!"

No... had she actually been waiting for spectators? People other than her? Had she gotten it wrong? Was she... what was going to happen? "Stop it!" she cried out, wanting to throw her hands over her ears once more to block out anything that might be said. But her arms weren't listening to her body's commands. The only thing she could do was squeeze her eyes shut.

"Awwww! What's the matter? You wanna show your stuff, don'tcha? How's this?" And her eyes opened once again, as if against her will to see Risette spin half-way around the pole, leg curled just behind it, gyrating the air.

"Please... stop this." She didn't want to see anymore of this... thing looking like her, acting this way... it was too much. Too much!

Risette only chuckled at her distress. "Ooh, she wants me to stop. That's so funny!" Her expression of amusement quickly changed to one of disgust. "As if that's even close to what you're really thinking, you little skank! You're me! And obviously, I'm you!"

"No... that's not true." She would never do this. This thing wasn't her, and she wasn't it. A pin-up image of a girl in a bikini, being objectified in every way. A girl that belonged to everyone just to fill their desires, and never filling her own.

"Ahahahahah! C'mon, look! You can't tear your eyes away! This is me! This is who I really am! Not Risette, the fake celebrity! Look at the girl right in front of you! I'm sick of being some airhead cliche who chokes down everything she's fed and takes it all with a smile! 'Risette?' Who the hell is she? There's no such person in this world! I'm no one but myself! C'mon, look at me!"

She nearly choked on the air. "That's not- I..." she gasped, trying to keep her tears back; from breaking down right on this stage.

"Well then, I guess it's time to prove it. I'm gonna show it all off! Let my naked truth be burned into your brains!"

Somehow she managed to stand up. She couldn't allow this to go on. She couldn't- "Stop... Stop it! You're..."

"No! Don't say it!" That girl shouted.

"You're... not me!"

For a moment the fake was still, and then she began laughing, moving against the pole as she did so. "Heehee, ahaha! Aaahahahahaha! Here it comes! Now, I'm finally myself!"

The air around her was getting dark, like some inky blackness - the shadows themselves - had detached from the corners of the room as they raced around the girl, sparks of red igniting where it came into contact with her body. And then world exploded, and her own vision went black.

"Tch... Here we go!" She could still hear voices in the vicinity as she clinged to consciousness.

"I am a shadow." The thing was still talking. "The true self. And now, the moment you've been waiting for! It's time for me to show you every last inch of myself! Heehee... And for our guests in the front row... I'll give you extra-special, extra-intense service!"

"Looks like she had issues of her own after all..." Was that... what had been his name? Yosuke? "But we'll stop her from going berserk!"

"Oooh? You're going to rush the stage? What an ill-mannered guest! Maybe you're looking for an experience that's a little more intense?"

She could have sworn she heard the crackle of lightning, the sparks of flame, a rush of wind, ice cracking... a hundred fists striking at air.

"Ahahaha! Enjoying yourself? I've got a ways to go until I show my true self... You ain't seen nothin' yet! Feast your eyes!" A roar of flames followed the Shadow's words.

There were more sounds of a fight ensuing from the center stage. The sounds of someone falling down to push themselves back up, shouting an odd twist of words at the top of their lungs as if their life depended on it. On something answering their call for a storm.

"What? I dealt all that exquisite pain and you're still not satisfied? What a finicky guest... You might as well die, then! Aaaahhh!" An odd sound filled her ears, like fingers scattering over a keyboard. "No touching allowed. Ahaha!"

A crystal shattered, but the shards didn't connect with the ground. It was getting quieter... like group of people weren't attacking as fiercely as before. It sounded like they weren't even trying to do anything other than dodge the Shadow's attacks.

"I can see everything about you... Ahaha!"

"What's the deal!? Our attacks aren't making a dent!" That girl that had shouted at her before was yelling now.

"Damn, it's like it's anticipating our every move..." Yosuke seemed to be voicing the same frustration they were all feeling.

"I-I'm completely useless..." Another voice, one she didn't recognize from outside the tofu shop.

That odd technological sound filled her ears again.

"What the-!?"

"That power... I think it's scanning us! Ohh, this is not good!"

"When you say 'not good,' what exactly does that mean!?" Kanji snapped.

"Woohoo! Analysis complete! Okay, here comes my counterattack! See if you can dodge, hmm?"

"S-Stop it!"

A loud explosion filled her ears, a blinding light piercing through her eyelids.

"You gotta be kidding..." Yosuke muttered, clearly out of breath.

"Oogh. How're we supposed to win?" That girl was groaning in pain from whatever the Shadow had unleashed on them.

"A-are we... going to die?" Another girl spoke.

"No! You guys can't die!" That oddly cartoonish voice from before spoke up again. "What can I do? Sensei..."

"It's up to you." 'Sensei' must have responded.

"There must be something... Something I can do... Am I going to be all alone again? No! That's not what I want!"

"Shit! It's winding up again!" Kanji...

"I... I..."

"Okie dokie, here we go again! Good bye... forever!"

"Aw shit... It's coming!" Yosuke.

"M-My body's moving on its own!" Odd little squeaks filled her ears at this announcement. "Wh-Why am I stepping forward!? Wh-Whoaaa! I-I feel like I'm going bear-serk! Grrrrr! I-I'll do it! Take a good look... at Teddie's last stand!"

"Huh!? This high-energy reading... Is it coming from that weird thing!?"

"Teddie! What the hell are you doing!?" Kanji shouted.

"Roaaaaaaaaawr!"

"Teddie!"

Another explosion went off, her body went numb...