Polaroid Horror
"You won't reconsider? Really?"
As Rika's voice borders on desperation, Satoko lifts her pencil off the page. She is sitting at her desk in the classroom, the voices of her juniors giggling and chatting filling her ears. They're playing with Keiichi and Rena at the club table, discussing the rules of their latest card game. Rena gushes over the design of an ace card, and on that note, Satoko finally looks up at Rika.
If she had a camera, she would have taken a hundred polaroids of Rika's expression. Disbelief dimples her frown. She is holding her St. Lucia textbook to her chest, her knuckles whiter than usual. She stands with her back like a yardstick. With one hard, harsh push, Satoko believes she would have snapped Rika's spine in half.
Dark circles cling to her eyelids. She opens her mouth but closes it just as quickly to suppress a yawn. She has been studying for her entrance exam for many months now. Exhaustion has her in its cruel, unforgiving grip, refusing to release her even if she craves mercy, and Satoko knows no god would be on Rika's side granting any kind of reprieve when she brought this upon herself.
Satoko drinks her in with a tilt of her head. She squares her shoulders and sets aside her pencil, letting it roll over to her eraser. "I'm sorry, Rika, but I think I've made myself crystal clear," she says, mustering an apologetic quality to her tone.
Rika brushes a few strands of hair behind her ear. "Are you sure? Because St. Lucia Academy is prestigious. It's a place where I think we'll be happy together, Satoko."
Keiichi glances their way. His chair scoots out, creaking on the floorboards. Satoko knows he is preparing to intervene just as he had done the day before, and she is grateful to have such a considerate friend on her side.
She believes this is the twelfth loop. In her previous attempts, she had tried coercing Rika with Hinamizawa's beauty or had used far more violent means to protest Rika's dream. But Rika is a wonderfully obstinate girl. Even if Satoko loathes that quality, she appreciates it, as it had allowed her to think outside the box when she woke up after drowning themselves in the last fragment.
Instead of begging, she will let Rika come to her. She decided to stand her ground and refused to attend St. Lucia. She wanted to go to a local high school that was only a bus ride away from Okinomiya. Keiichi and Rena supported her decision, and Rika, with her eyes wide and smile strained, clapped for her.
The plan went accordingly. Satoko studied for a far easier entrance exam while Rika fussed over St. Lucia. She struggled, sweat dampening her brow, groaning when she couldn't understand a problem in their home, while Satoko leisurely read through her study book. Day after day, night after night, Satoko's scheme flawlessly continued. Without Satoko supporting her, Rika fell into fatigue, and she had observed it all with a smirk hidden on her face.
Soon enough, Rika was asking her to rethink St. Lucia. Sometimes, the requests happened more than daily. Come to St. Lucia, she said. They'll treat us like princesses, she promised. They will be together forever, Rika urged while grasping Satoko's hand, and wouldn't she like that?
Satoko declined every single time. With a subdued voice, she firmly makes her decision. Every rejection is a stab to Rika's heart. She wedges it into her body like a sculptor cutting into marble, her masterpiece soon to be on display.
There is something special about this dismissal. Rika sucks in a shaky breath. She presses herself against the table, her hand falling on Satoko's pencil. Her fingers curl around it and pull it away from Satoko before pointing the tip against her textbook. The lead breaks, falling on Satoko's desk like particles of ash.
"Satoko, I've told you my dream," she whispers like a viper's hiss. "I want both of us to go to St. Lucia. This is my dream."
Satoko's jaw tenses. She's heard that tiring line countless times. With a reserved sigh, she clenches her fists on the table and replies, "But you're not respecting my choice. That might be your dream, but it clashes with mine. I have no interest in those snooty girls and their tea parties."
Rika's expression twitches. A surge of anger flashes across her, and Satoko wants to photograph it. "You don't even know what they'll be like! How can you judge someone you've never met?" she explodes, throwing her arms out and whipping her pencil across the room.
A hush falls over the students. Satoko wonders what wild thoughts are running through their heads. Their perfect priestess has caused a scene, and she's breathing heavily through her mouth. No one has ever seen Rika so distressed, but Satoko has, and this time, she wishes she could keep this fragment in her pocket to replay this moment forever.
Keiichi breaks the silence. He lunges up from his chair, proclaiming, "H-hey, Rika! I thought we settled this yesterday."
Grabbing the pencil, Rena hurries around him and stands by Rika's side. She touches her shoulder, but Rika jerks herself away in the middle of her question. The hurt encompassing Rena is enough for Satoko to apologize on Rika's behalf.
"She's been terribly concerned about her entrance exam. I mean, she still has a whole year to study, but I don't understand why she keeps forcing this on me," she says, one corner of her smile higher than the other. She pinches her pencil back from Rena and twirls it between her fingers. "Forgive her outburst, everyone. She hasn't been sleeping well, and I think it's impacting her usual self."
Keiichi hums, crossing his arms as she comes to Satoko's defense. "Rika-chan, as Satoko's best friend, shouldn't you understand her perspective? I can't see any reason why you're this upset about her going to another school."
"Even Mii-chan is going to a different school from us now, but we'll always be together as friends. It isn't like this is goodbye," Rena adds.
Rika's back is against the wall. All eyes are on her. A few of the younger students frown at her, while others offer Satoko pitying glances. She doesn't mind their sympathy. It only enforces her will, strengthening everyone's alliance with her the more Rika distances herself from her angelic facade.
"That isn't-!" Rika grunts and clears her throat. "You're misinterpreting me. I haven't said anything wrong other than what I want for my future. It's for the good of both of us."
Satoko grits her teeth. She suppresses her desire to scream in her face. Even if the red hot itch burns her entire body, Satoko remains in her seat.
"St. Lucia is a school where all girls can have a better education. Even if they're from a place like Hinamizawa, they can thrive," she explains, and Satoko decides to scratch.
She slams her hands on the table, startling Rena. She jolts out of her seat, allowing her chair to clatter backward into the lockers. Her eyes narrow on Rika, her fuse lit, as Rika meets her gaze with that cool indifference she's come to loathe and adore.
"How can you say such malicious words? Do you believe we're not cut from the same cloth as those wenches from St. Lucia?" she demands, and Rika's eyes widen, her mistake evident.
"No, no, Satoko-chan, she doesn't mean that. She's speaking from a place of anger because of her sleeping schedule, just like you said. She loves Hinamizawa," Rena reassures, smiling at her, then leering at Rika out of the corner of her eye. "Right? Right? We might be able to leave here, but we all love Hinamizawa."
Satoko grimaces. Rena has given Rika an out, and she snatches it to pull herself to safety. Rika nods, stating that while she loves Hinamizawa, it's perfectly normal to want to experience something new.
But she doesn't love Hinamizawa. It's another one of her filthy lies. The hairs on Satoko's neck stand at attention, and her stomach churns from today's lunch and disgust. She feels her heartbeat quicken when Rika faces her, holding out the St. Lucia textbook as if to compel Satoko to agree.
"Satoko, whether I'm in Hinamizawa or St. Lucia, my dream will always include you," she says, her words dripping like honey. She sets the book on the table and nudges it toward her. "The choice is yours. You'll make the right one because I know we always want to be together." She brightens, her voice chipper as she tacks on a well-timed, "Nipah!"
Satoko flinches. Rika is spinning the narrative in her favor. She's acting as if Satoko is making a dangerous mistake. Even if she had gone to a different school in this world, she would have missed Rika. She would have longed to see her again, gazing out the window, aching to be next to her, failing once again.
This world is nothing more than a death sentence, and Rika has signed the order to have her executed if she refuses.
Rika would have been in the same situation. She would have wanted to stay with Satoko, study with her, eat lunch with her, drink tea with her. But the distance between them would have been far too great, and Satoko imagines Rika suffering as she drinks her room temperature milk tea alone.
It's a comforting thought that soothes her, but frustration remains boiling in her chest like lava spewing from a volcano. Rika earnestly believes she can say what will appeal to her heart to receive the answer she wants to desperately hear in front of everyone. The spotlight scorches Satoko and bathes Rika in a heavenly glow, the starring role back in her hands as she gestures for Satoko to say her lines.
Satoko clicks her tongue. It's another loss. This world is already a goner as Keiichi and Rena smile at Rika. She is the victor again, but persistence is also one of Satoko's qualities. The battle in the classroom is over, and the war between the loopers proceeds without a clear victor.
She decides to leave this Rika with a sight she'll never forget as punishment for her deception. Satoko chuckles. At least Rika has given her a proper send-off.
"Well, you know what? If you refuse to listen when someone talks, then maybe this will teach you a lesson you can only learn in Hinamizawa," she mutters, and she plunges the pencil deep into her eye socket.
As it stabs her brain, and she snaps her fingers, the terror on Rika's face is imprinted in Satoko's mind when she wakes up in another Hinamizawa.
