Are You Leaving Me Again?
Okay…so I, KusabiMakabe, do not own…well, just about anything in this little story. Heck, even the story is based off of a story…the rights of these characters, plot, location, etc. belong to the incomparable Tecmo, and not to me.
And, in case I need to put this here, the game that this story is based on is Fatal Frame II, one of my favorite games of all time. So…here we go!
Ryozo Munakata surveyed the village warily. Even now, he felt something amiss, something sinister. Such superstitious nonsense was what he thrived on – after all, he was an apprentice folklorist – but that certainly didn't make him embrace danger.
On the other hand, Seijiro Makabe, Ryozo's teacher, ate danger as though it were food. He scanned the village, looking at the homes, the people, and the mysterious stone slab on Misono Hill. After a few seconds, they started forward together.
Heads turned. Eyes stared. There were several murmurs that Ryozo pretended not to hear. Were they of praise and wonder, or of fear and loathing? His grip on his suitcase tightened. A ritual that was kept a secret from the world and something about twins and hair going white. The intrigue of it was what led them here.
They eventually reached what Ryozo inferred was the Ceremony Master's house. A tall man and his twin daughters – about seventeen or so, by the looks of them – stood outside the front door.
"Welcome, friends," the Ceremony Master said, "to All God's Village."
Sae Kurosawa sat in the Doll Room of her house. Clearly, she was unnerved – and why shouldn't she be, knowing what was going to happen? Her hands were shaking slightly, and her breathing was unnecessarily slow.
Everything lived for it.
Everything died for it.
But why
Even though we finally met
did it have to be like that? Why did they have to live here, of all places? Why did she have to be here…?
Yae slowly walked over to her and sat down. "Sae?"
"Yes, sister?"
Yae licked her lips. "Itsuki says he knows the boy, Ryozo. He says that he may be willing to help us leave…"
Sae closed her eyes. The escape from All God's village had been something she hated to discuss; Yae knew it was best to keep this short.
"I want to help them. Let them leave with us, you know?"
Sae nodded. They couldn't leave the visitors to die while they ran to safety…
You know there's another way.
After a few moments, Sae spoke:
"What should we do?"