Even I'm not entirely sure quite how I managed to write this so fast, but probably excitement has a lot to do with it. Anyway, here we have the first proper chapter of the section of the story that is more-or-less-based on R2 stuff, with some of my own twists thrown in. I've got some fun ideas for this and I'm looking forward to writing them and then sharing them with you all.
Also, I'm dedicating this chapter to cookie as a sign of appreciation for round's R2 Libretto :)
For a moment, the melody blocked everything else out.
Eve knew that somehow, impossibly, she was alive. That she was standing on her own too feet in her own sharp-heeled boots standing on a surface that was most definitely not the school roof but had the same smooth type of hardness to it-smoother, even. She knew that her mask was still firmly affixed on her face from the feel of the ribbons against her ears and the way her breath misted against the surface, warming her.
She knew all this.
But for a moment, the tune that swirled around her and snaked between her ears covered up everything else as it too was a physical thing, a cloud designed to obscure, ice particularly well-honed to freeze. And so she stood, frozen and shocked, holding onto what she knew until the final notes floated and faded. Experimentally, she lifted an arm and felt the side of her head, expecting to feel…something. Any trace of what she had done. Anything. But all she found was the ribbon of her mask snaking around her head, and the texture of her hair and the shocking revelation that the feel of the sleeve against the skin of her arm didn't feel like her clothes, the black and gold that had felt more fitting than anything else. Her second skin.
Or…almost anything else…
With a growing sense of dread, Eve looked down at herself. The red waistcoat with the black belted straps across the chest, her black collared shirt with the red sleeves, her slim black trousers. Even the boots she was wearing weren't the exact same ones as she'd thought she'd known but her bright red plain ones, blood-bright, as shocking as a warning. This outfit was one she only ever wore in one very particular place, and only that place. Her third skin, but a skin for specific situations.
"Evie?"
Hearing Delilah's voice, Eve's head snapped up in shock and she stared not at her friend and the other four standing in a loose cluster beneath a familiar red brick archway, but rather at the brick archways themselves. At the pared-back red of the walls around them, the hazy sunset light filtering in through the windows so bright it almost became whiteness. The machines, the bar, the pool table. The card table and the velvet-scarlet curtains that led to the staff area.
"You told them?" she murmured.
"H-Huh?"
Oh, how very like you, Del, Eve thought bitterly as Delilah's eyes widened and she creased her forehead prettily, the very picture of innocence. She stepped forward, one step, two steps, three. Delilah's eyes watered, but thankfully the tears didn't spill.
"Don't play all innocent, Del," she scoffed. "You're the only one who really knew about this place and what I do here!"
Delilah opened her mouth, but it was Judas who spoke up, stepping forward, squaring up to her. Eve had to tilt her head up to meet his eyes squarely, but she refused to flinch at his bulk as she knew that she should. She knew him too well for that, after all. And more than that-she had killed him. It didn't matter that they were all apparently unscathed, that they were all standing here. She had done that. She had.
And so she held onto that as Judas confronted her.
"So we're in the casino where you gambled away people's livelihoods?" Judas said. "At least, from your reaction and considering what I found out, that's what I'm guessing. Is this another little consequence of this? Are we stuck here because you made the wrong gamble?"
"L-leave her alone!" Delilah stammered. "That's not…that's not fair. Eve wouldn't want this, whatever this is! Right, Evie?"
Delilah's glance was so pleading and desperate it reached out and tried to tug at somewhere deep in Eve, right where a stitch would form under her heart whenever she ran too hard. Eve refused to let it get a grip though, and turned away from her to stare at the others.
"You were complicit, too, weren't you?" Judas demanded of Delilah, turning to glare at her. "If you knew?"
"I…I didn't do anything!"
Eve snorted at that response, but Delilah wasn't finished.
"I mean…I went with Eve and maybe I played a few…things. But this place, when it's normal, it isn't safe, but Evie, Evie, she likes it and….at least if she's not alone that gives her a little more safety…"
Again, that little beseeching tug. Eve swallowed, grateful to at least have her mask. As Delilah trailed off, looking around her all sweet and unsure, a silence descended and Eve continued to stare at them. She finally realised that their clothes too had been replaced, going from black and gold to red and black instead. Further intruding on this space that was meant to be her secret.
"Oh, forget it!" Maria demanded. "Forget that, we can sort out what Eve did or didn't do later, but we need to figure out what's happening with this place, what it means."
"What do you mean, what it means?" Judas asked.
"Presumably, she means exactly that." Cain said dryly, raising a rakish eyebrow.
"Yes, I mean exactly that!" Maria said with a tone of exasperation. "I mean, look around, the emptiness of this place. Where have the staff gone, the other customers? Any other sign of life? And the outside world….I can't feel the outside world. There's no life around us. It's like we've been tucked away into a pocket of time."
"Which means….?" Judas frowned.
"This can't actually be Eve's bar."
Despite herself, Eve jumped at the sound of Abel's pronouncement. Indeed, everyone whipped around to gawk at him. Despite his snowy fur obscuring any form of blushing, from the way he ducked his head it was easy to tell that he was embarrassed. Nonetheless, he swiftly loped across the room, startling everyone once again, a fast, furious purpose to his steps and the new red-and-black outfit making him seem leaner, as though he was a series of lines sketched furiously against paper and then brought to life. Eve watched him reach one of the windows and rest his paws and snout against them as he gazed thoughtfully.
"What is it that you see?" Cain asked after a few moments had passed.
"Nothing."
Abel turned, slowly.
"There's nothing there."
The shock rippled through the room and for a moment, the other four talked over each other, panicked words overlapping, rising up and down. Abel slunk back to the group and leant against the wall, while Eve remained where she was, watching and waiting. Different feelings rising up in her, some easier to quash than others. But there was one above all of them.
That they hadn't got the best of her the first time, and they weren't ever going to get the chance to.
While they talked, she tentatively felt her pockets, patting them down carefully until with a stab of relief she found what she was looking for. Carefully, she pulled it out, feeling the heft of it in her hands before tightening her grip and then letting her arm fall back to her side. She moved a little closer to the card table so that they wouldn't notice it. Cain, Delilah, Maria and Judas continued to argue until finally, Delilah turned to look at her.
"Evie, just tell them! Tell them that this only looks like your bar and that it isn't actually!"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because….it's true?"
"You're very convincing, Del," Eve said. "But how would they know to get here if you didn't have something to do with it?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Cain scoffed in that way he had, all glitter and spite. "We all ended up here, after all. This is something else-"
Eve didn't wait to hear what it was Cain had to say. She whipped up her arm and aimed the pistol, pulling the trigger, pausing long enough only to watch that first bullet to twist through the air before she fired off the next four, averting her eyes when she heard Delilah shriek and ignoring that insistent tugging as she then aimed the gun at her own head. Remembering how she had done it before, she looked up at the pale polished-wood panels on the ceiling and then closed her eyes before doing it again.
Her legs swayed, just as before and there was a blast of white-hot pain before the oblivion…
…except, the oblivion didn't come.
Instead, there was the music. That melody, once again. Once again, she was alive and standing on her two feet in her blood-bright boots on a floor she could now see had the same type of panelling as the ceiling. The others, too, were there-Delilah flattened against one side of one of the archways, hand to her chest and breathing heavily, Cain still all glitter and spite as he heaved himself up onto the pool table to sit on the edge with knuckles moon-white as he held on, Judas standing in the middle of the room starting at her aghast while Maria stood nearby, with Abel back by the window, looking for a moment as though he had lost his balance before he turned back too look at them. All of them, despite the aghast expressions, were whole, fully-formed. No holes, no ripped clothing. But the blood was everywhere else, splashed across those pale smooth floors and the chairs and splattered across the untreated brick of the archways. But that wasn't the most important detail, as horrifying as it was.
No, that detail would be the fact that they weren't alone anymore.
Standing right at the back of the room by the door that was an emergency exit, Oura's eyelids were lowered as they played the final note on a long flute that was almost the same silver-blue of mourning, with an intricate lotus shaped decoration at one end, and an even more elaborate charm of some sort dangling off the end, the blue feathers arranged to look like a butterfly and the circular portion looking something like the good-luck charms known as –if she remembered correctly-dream catchers. A history lesson floated, unbidden, into Eve's memory and she gasped. Oura's eyes flicked up, brilliantly sun-gold as they lowered the flute and their full lips curved into a smirk.
Eve could do nothing but laugh. Laugh, and laugh, and laugh until she was gasping for breath.
"Um, Eve?" Judas asked, uncertainly.
Eve just about managed to lift a finger to point, and the others turned around.
"Oura!" Cain hissed.
"Yes, it's me."
"I…this…are you responsible?" he demanded.
"Well, of course I am!" Oura laughed. "Of course I am!"
"But…what is this place?" Judas asked.
"And why've you made it look like Eve's favourite place?!" Delilah demanded, almost sulky. "Isn't trying to kill us enough?"
"But you're not dead now, are you?" Oura taunted. "You're still alive…and no matter how many times you die, you'll just keep coming back to life, until…"
"Until…?" Judas pressed.
"Why this place? What is this place? And how did you get us here without anyone noticing at school? We died at school."
"So many questions, dear Maria," Oura said, tilting their head coquettishly. "But I can only answer some of them so…hmmm…how shall I put this…you're still at school, technically."
"We're in a casino." Judas said bluntly.
"Oh, you have no imagination," Oura mocked. "Yes, you are, but you are still at school…except…somewhat removed. You caused such a ruckus, after all. Such a terrible inconvenience to your teachers and classmates. And to me! You couldn't have tried to become the grandmaster in a more civilised way?"
"Murder games aren't exactly the marker of a civilised society, Oura." Eve recovered enough to say.
"That's funny coming from you, dear Eve. Besides, that isn't the point. The point is that the game was getting interfered with in the school proper, but it still needs to go on. This thread still needs to be woven so…I've moved you. And added some fun extras. You do like it, don't you, Evie?"
"That's not a name for you to use."
Eve hated how immediately the sound of Delilah's endearment in Oura's mouth made her prickle. Something like that, it shouldn't matter and yet it did and that knowledge made it worse. Oura cackled, the sound grating against her ears. She refused to flinch, instead stepping forward and pretending she didn't notice Cain flinch as she walked past him sitting on the pool table, pretending she didn't notice Judas sucking in a breath, pretending she didn't notice all the blood, still sticky. She came to stand somewhere in the middle of the room, closer to the others but not too close.
"Well, Evie, Eve, whatever you prefer. Don't you like it? This is your domain after all, is it not? The hotbed of all your sins. You've got the upper hand and you can play. Play, as much as you like, over and over again. As I said, no matter how many times you manage to kill your friends-"
Oura paused to let the extra contempt they'd laced into the word sink in and settle. Eve sensed Delilah gazing at her, and once again there was that desperate tug.
"-you will still come back here, over and over again. I'll make sure of it. After all, I am sure you know what this is."
Oura held up the flute, and everyone nodded grimly. Kumiko, the Ancient Flute. Though Eve was pretty sure that the artefact hadn't been designed to facilitate strange time-loop death games, she allowed herself to silently admit the ingenuity was…fascinating.
"You won't get away with this!" Maria said. "Not again, you can't! After all, our bodies…they would have been found, right? They would have seen that I got…I got mauled, that I…"
Maria bit her lip, trailing off, looking down at her shoes. Eve sneered at her, taking satisfaction in the flinching. Delilah let out a whimper and Abel growled, softly but still laced with pain. And Oura, of course, just laughed, tipping their head back as they did so. When they calmed, their bright gaze met them coolly.
"I'm afraid that won't be happening. You see, it's another little snag if people were looking for you, what with all the darkness swirling around Kawaakari and all that. So, to put it simply, right now, there isn't a single soul in Kawaakari who knows that you exist, let alone that you're here. So…why don't you just play? Raise the stakes as high as you like, because-"
Forgotten. They've forgotten us. Eve bit down on her lip, so hard that it bled. She felt to make sure she had her pistol again, but when she found it she didn't take it out, not yet.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know," Cain huffed. "We're aware that you're just going to keep bringing us back to life, over and over. But until when?"
"Oh, when I feel like it!"
"That's-"
"What about-"
"You can't just make the world forg-"
But none of the protests got answered, because Oura simply lifted up their free hand, clicked their fingers, and disappeared in a flash. The silence descended heavily, seeming to momentarily fix them all where they stood or sat. Eve licked her lip, tasting the salty metal tang of her blood.
"W-what…what do we do now?"
Delilah's tear-soaked question pierced the silence, lingering like a cloud. Eve stared at her at a moment, wanting both to gently wipe away the tears and to completely destroy that fearful expression before it could be used against her. Instead, she briskly strode to the card table, her boots clacking out a sharp, still-sticky rhythm as she did so. Slowly, she picked up the cards and with a practiced hand began to shuffle them before looking up at the members of her Elite Chess Club. Her enemies. Her friends. Enemies, friends. Which ones were they really? Were they anything? She supposed that this was the way to find out, really.
She shuffled them, then spread the cards out in a smooth curved line across the table before holding her hands out in an inviting gesture, tilting her head to regard them fully before asking:.
"Why don't we play a game?"
…
"Lunar….Lunar's dead?"
Julka was aware, somehow, that she sounded like an echo as she repeated the question, blinking at Cookie. She knew what she was supposed to do-to ask questions, to hand over the cat, introduce Robyn and explain her contribution-which she still didn't understand anyway though she did at least remember now where she'd seen the girl before-to say nothing of asking why on earth Cookie looked pale and shaken and why she was shoeless, of all the things
But all she could do was echo:
"Lunar's dead?"
Cookie nodded violently, still trembling all over as she pulled herself away from the doorway and stumbled as unsteady as a young child over to the two of them. Julka watched as the small girl stiffened her shoulders and then reached out to the cat, almost as if by instinct. Julka let her, and watched as Cookie cradled the cat and idly rubbed his fur, some of her spark seeming to return with the motions. It was something that Julka found herself glad of even as she felt herself become more untethered with every passing second. Lunar was dead. She was dead. Lunar's dead, Lunar's dead….no, no…ask something. Anything. Something…
"Where, Cookie? Where is she?"
Cookie's head snapped up and her mouth flattened into a thin line before she gritted out:
"….I saw….from the window….the outskirts of Aeternum."
With those words, everything seemed to blur. Julka was only vaguely aware of a gasp from Robyn as, propelled by a feeling beyond her control she broke into a run, careening past Cookie and out of the greenhouse's doors and hurtling, hurtling, hurtling to the forest. She was vaguely aware of other people's bodies, their whispers, the sensation of pushing past them only to be pushed back by something else and stumbling back, almost crashing.
Landing almost inelegantly on her back, Julka scrambled up and saw a waviness in the air, instantly recognising the powerful magic of a containment barrier. This one was see-through though, and on the other side the forest looked pristine. Normal, even. The barrier didn't cover the whole forest's outskirts though, as far as she could tell, and the uncovered parts of the forest also looked normal, but they did not feel normal. Something pricked in the back of Julka's mind, another set of whispers she had heard just before she had gone chasing after Milo, before Cookie had gone chasing after her. Whatever that was though, the memory was beyond her reach, almost as if the containment barrier had stopped that in its tracks, too.
Such powerful magic, only the Headmistress or Headmaster could have…right?
The thought was enough to make her spin back right around and run, everything blurring around her as she picked up speed, her breath rattling louder and raspier as her chest tightened and her legs started to hurt. She had no idea where she was going, no idea where she wanted to go, just that she had to go. Had to get away, away, away from all this. From the crushing realisation that if Lunar was dead then that meant that it was possible that the other three could be, too.
Amuri…
Once again, something made her lose her footing and she stumbled again, this time dropping to her knees. She trembled and shook, much as Cookie had been doing just moments earlier-where was Cookie? Or Robyn, for that matter? Her mind was suddenly wiped, she barely remembered what she had said or done when Cookie had appeared with her news, just that now she was here, somewhere that she didn't know and that Lunar was dead-
"Julka?"
Julka looked up, everything bright had hazy, and felt like she should recognise the person who was standing in front of her but realising she didn't. She blinked, helplessly, and the person gave a sigh and then knelt down slightly, holding something out to her. Her glasses.
"You dropped these."
"Oh…um….thanks."
Recognising the voice as Mist's, Julka felt embarrassment wash over her as she put the glasses back on and stared at the person that just hours ago she'd started to think of as former friend instead of friend. But Mist wasn't looking at her with angry pain, with an intention of pushing her away. Rather she was….well, there was something softer in her gaze, something different. Julka attempted a shaky smile:
"You heard?"
"I did," Mist nodded. "Say, do you want to go somewhere more private? To talk? I think that would be best."
All too eager to get away from the eyes and the whispers of the crowds which were forming even here, Julka nodded eagerly and allowed Mist to help her up and then lead her to an empty stairwell, which she recognised as being in the South Wing. Mist crossed her arms stood against the wall while Julka perched on one of the stairs, tilting her head to look up at her.
"I want to see her."
Mist's eyebrows twitched.
"And why would you want to do that?"
To bear witness with my own eyes, Julka thought, and to apologise for failing her. But even with Mist here, willing to talk to her, she wasn't sure if it was alright for her to say such a thing so she scrambled for an answer that was equally true but very different, only for find herself cringing at what she came up with:
"You said the body was fresh, right? Our investigation would benefit from as much in-person exposure as we could possibly get."
The words dropped between them like stones, and Mist's lips curved downwards briefly before she responded:
"The school'd never allow it."
"That's true…." Julka sighed, hating that despite her need for atonement she was relieved by that. "Do you know who it was who found her first?"
"You remember Yew, right?"
The immediate answer made Julka freeze. Yew. Xyewii, to give her full name, but she always went by the name of the tree, ever since Julka had known her. She'd been Lunar's room-mate and one of the few friends the girl had had asides from Julka herself, a helpful and earnest girl who'd been looking forward to participating in the buddy system when she'd reached second year. Julka had no idea whether Yew had achieved that goal, or if the hope of reaching it had been shattered after losing a friend. Julka had no idea, because here was yet another thing she'd let slip past her fingers in her desperation over it all.
The failures, they were just stacking up.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I remember."
Mist assessed her coolly for a second, no doubt perfectly aware that Julka had shut Yew out when everything had fallen apart, another person who had wanted only peace the way Mist had. If Mist had never been part of the investigations in the first place, it was likely that there would have been even more distance between them than there was now, and even this distance felt insurmountable. It was enough to make Julka want to tip her head back and wail. Instead, however, she waited.
"The body wasn't…there wasn't any blood, or even any visible wounds from what I heard before the barrier was put up….Julka, how far are you going to take this?"
Julka startled, and was unable to give an immediate answer. Mist sighed and put a hand to her forehead, face creased and tired. Julka could feel the first waves of an argument brewing and tried to step carefully.
"As far as we need to."
"Why?"
Again, Julka hesitated, wondering what answer was alright to give in this fragile, new-born peace that lay between them.
""Because there's a body -a fresh one-here on school grounds, and there's no telling how many more will show up. Because I don't want anyone else to go thr-"
No, that's not right. It was equally true, but it wasn't right. Julka tried again and this time, her words came out softer than they had done before.
"Amuri….I want to find her…I want to believe that she's still alive."
Despite this being barely more than a whisper, the words echoed. Julka watched as Mist moved her hand away from her face, her gaze suddenly far away, as if seeing right through the walls. Silence descended for what felt like the longest time and when Mist finally did speak, the words were raw.
"The body was fresh."
"Y-yes?"
"No, no, Julka."
Still, Mist's eyes were seeing right through the wall, right through her, but now there was a light in them as she pushed from the wall.
"The body was fresh," she repeated. "Lunar's been missing for a year now-she disappeared in the last few days of Crane Moon, remember and now it's Leaf Moon, almost time for the end-of-summer break. But she-her body- wasn't decomposed."
Mist's gaze finally seemed to re-focus and now it pierced Julka searchingly, waiting for her to string along the pieces together, to figure it out for herself. And after a few moments of mad scrambling, she did.
"So she was only killed recently, but-"
"She was alive for months. Who knows where or why or what she was doing but she was alive. She was alive….and that…."
Mist let out a breath, ragged and harsh, and fiddled with the sleeves of her blouse. Julka could see the logical conclusion in her eyes, the fear of voicing it aloud. And considering the stance that Mist had taken all of these months, Julka could understand why this was the case, why she couldn't allow herself to make it real by putting the words out there. But Julka could-she could do that much for her, at least.
"If Lunar was alive until recently, there's a chance the others are too, right?"
Mist's eyes widened and she nodded, fragile and brave. The hope of it all-if it was too much for Julka to bear, she who had been searching and searching for answers and refusing to believe the worst until it became facts, then how was Mist feeling? Mist, who'd already started her grieving and was now having to reassess it all? Once again, Julka wanted to wail, but this time because despite understanding what this meant for both of them, she still had to press. It was the only hope the remaining missing girls had, the only hope of not failing them, too:
"Mist. We can still save them — but I can't do it without your help. Please. Let's see it through to the end."
She held out her hand, invitingly, hoping that Mist would see and understand the apology that it represented. All the words that she herself was not yet brave enough to voice. Mist stared at her for a moment, and then down at her hand, biting her lip for a moment before slowly, slowly extending her own hand and placing it in Julka's. Her fingers curled and squeezed tentatively, before she then met Julka's eyes and gave a thin, watery smile. Julka smiled back, and curled her fingers in return, and for a short moment they just sat there, hand in hand with a new hope blooming bright between them.
…
The voice that had jolted her from her nightmare was not one that Robyn knew, but she was relieved to see that the face that looked down at her was one that she knew. And more than that, one that she adored.
"Jun!" she gasped, sitting up and realising that she had been covered in a blanket.
Further sensations confirmed that she had been lying on an old leather sofa, and that Jun was crouched on the carpet in front of her. Blinking blearily, the remains of the nightmare still swirling in the background of her mind, she sat up and Jun came to sit next to her.
"How long…how long was I out?"
"Not that long at all," Jun shook his head, concern clear. "We just came here for Cookie to talk to the cat and for you and her and the other girl to share information, I think? And for you to take a moment before you go to the infirmary. But then you fell asleep and…you had a nightmare. Was it about…was it about the dead girl?"
"Lunar. Lunar-sempai." Robyn murmured. "It was my fault."
"What?"
"I should have…done something. Done it faster. Realised what was happening…"
Jun shook his head and opened his mouth to say something and then paused. Then, he simply put an arm around her shoulders and drew her in and she let him, grateful for the comfort and for the quiet. It didn't feel like it would help, someone trying to dissuade her from her own guilt. After all, what use was her power to communicate with the dead if it didn't help? Sitting there, she took the time to get a better grasp of her surroundings. It appeared that her sofa was an old, discarded thing, tucked neatly into the corner of an old common room, dusty books everywhere, including piled on the long table that dominated the room. Sitting at one end of the table was an unfamiliar girl, reading an old book with a cracked spine. This girl looked up with a completely blank face and said:
"Hello."
Involuntarily, Robyn shrunk back slightly.
"Who are you?" she asked, immediately.
The girl blinked and Robyn suppressed a shiver. The lack of expression matched the blank voice she spoke with, and her pale hair and winter-blue eyes too.
"What were you dreaming of?" the girl asked, rather than answering Robyn's question.
Luckily, someone else saw fit to do that:
"Robyn, meet Frost. As you can tell, she's a real conversationalist. Frost, Robyn-our resident freshman necromancer."
Robyn glanced over to see that Cookie was kneeling in front of an arm chair across from Robyn and Jun. The black cat that Julka had handed over to Cookie was sprawled on said armchair, and though Robyn couldn't see Cookie's expression, from the gritted-tooth sound of her voice she could reasonably guess that the beret-clad girl was glaring. True enough, her next words were even more annoyed, if such a thing was possible:
"Now, keep your voices down, I'm trying to talk to the cat!"
Robyn and Jun exchanged a look, trying not to laugh before Robyn remembered the other person in the room and the sudden, almost inexplicable dread returned.
"It's nice to meet you, Frost-I'm sorry you had to see me like…like this."
"I had hoped the spell would help."
Wow, she really is a conversationalist, Robyn thought to herself, Cookie's sarcasm apparently contagious. Wait a minute. Spell?
"The spell?"
Almost as soon as she asked it, however, the answer clicked into place.
"That was your voice, wasn't it, that I heard? You're an enchanter, then?"
This, for the first time, caused the teeniest, tiniest flicker of expression to appear on Frost's face.
"Yes, that is right. I shouldn't have done it really, but you seemed unwell."
"No, no, thank you. I needed it. I had a bad dream."
"What dream?"
Robyn wondered if she was imagining the slight insistence in Frost's voice, but she obliged her by closing her eyes and trying to remember, despite everything within her screaming to push it away and block it out. Jun squeezed her hand as if to tell her it's okay, Robyn, and with that she was able to take a deep breath and attempt to share what she had dreamed:
"There were…voices…I don't know whose but I'm assuming the missing girls. It didn't sound like eight voices, though so not all of them. And that phrase, again."
"What phrase?"
Just the thought of the words chilled her to the bone, but still, she said them:
"When the flowers bloom."
She thought that perhaps she should say something more-explain something of the dread those words created in her, the way it seeped into every last drop of her, turning her cold and hollow and powerless, dragging her ever-downwards. But before she could find the courage to try, Cookie made a jubilant noise and jumped up.
"I did it!"
Robyn was relieved when Frost turned her blank stare to Cookie, instantly asking her what had happened.
"I think I got it-took a while, but I've got the gist at least," Cookie rambled, mile-a-minute. "Goddess, Julka must think that it's easy to talk to animals! Divination's not meant to be trans-species for crying out loud! Do you know how much work it took to get any sense of what he was saying-I mean, we're talking from cat to human! That's like taking one of the ancient languages, filtering it through five regionals and then finally translating it to Kataru!"
"Cookie…what are you saying?" Jun asked, mercifully.
"Firstly, that I'm a divination genius because I actually managed to do it!"
Robyn managed to smile as Cookie preened for a moment before sobering up, scooping up the cat, who didn't seem to mind the attention.
"Milo did see Negi the day she disappeared-apparently, she was frantically packing things all afternoon. As in, into a suitcase and holy heaven on earth, trying to figure out that you'd seen a suitcase-"
"Cookie." Robyn sighed before the girl could drift off into another rant about language towards the cat.
"Right, of course, yes, she was packing clothes and things into the suitcase and then she just rushed off. Milo doesn't know why, do you, Milo?"
The cat simply rubbed its head against Cookie, looking very pleased with himself.
"So…she was trying to leave?" Robyn asked. "I wonder why."
"I'm guessing that she discovered something big, something that terrified her enough to fear for her own safety and try and get out of here. Despite Kawaakari supposedly being the best of the best."
"I don't remember that being in the news?" Jun said.
"There was barely anything in the news," Cookie informed him derisively, giving him an I don't even know why you're here type of look. "But no, they didn't. Which is pretty damning in itself, no?"
Robyn opened her mouth to respond, then caught a glance of the clock on the wall.
"Ah, I need to go! To cover at the infirmary before we go on Night Patrol."
"Oh, you're one of those?" Frost asked as Robyn leapt up.
"I, um, yeah."
"Robyn, are you sure you're able to go? You still look a bit unwell."
Robyn smiled and turned to Jun, taking his hands.
"I'll be fine, on both counts. Keeping busy should help. Walk me there, though?"
"Of course."
They bade farewell to Cookie and Frost (and to the cat) before leaving. The two of them walked together quietly, hand in hand, when suddenly someone came whooshing out from around the corner.
"Julka-sempai!" Robyn exclaimed. "What are you doing-?"
"There's another necromancer, right? Working with you? Blood specialist?"
"Yoyo-sempai? Yeah…why?"
"We need her help. "
"You're in the same year group though, right?"
"Right, but we aren't in many classes together so I don't know her that well, but you on the other hand…"
Robyn sighed and nodded.
"I'm sure Yoyo-sempai will be happy to help, though I think it'll be busy. We're heading over there anyway, so I'll take you."
…
Jun knew that the infirmary could get busy when something had happened. He'd seen it for himself when Juu and her friends had gone missing-Kyouki may have been particularly affected, but she had not been the only one, not by far. And that, combined with the phenomenon of the 'clouds'….well, he supposed it was a wonder that there was even any space in the infirmary at all. Julka, on the other hand, looked more than a little overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle. Though, to be fair, Jun was having a hard time with the smells of the various types of healing magics and potions that were thickening the air. Reminding himself that he was here to help Robyn however he could, he scanned the room to see if he could spot Yoyo, quickly catching a flash of bright purple ponytails and a floral skirt over where the record books where kept.
"Over there!" he told the two girls.
"Perfect!" Robyn exclaimed, taking a deep breath.
Jun let her take the lead as they wove in amongst the adult nurses, other student volunteers and even Professor Rynacel. Tentatively, Robyn tapped Yoyo's shoulder and the girl turned, a yellow dahlia in her hand. It took Jun a moment to realise that she'd been rearranging a glass vase full of the flowers, and idly he wondered where and when she'd acquired them. They weren't currently growing yellow dahlias in the garden or the greenhouse. But he pushed the question aside when Yoyo gave them a warm smile.
"Robyn! And Jun and…who's this? I think…we're in the same year group, yes?"
"My name's Julka. My specialty is evocation magic."
"Oh yes, oh yes."
"Yoyo-sempai…we really need your help. A favour."
"Oh?" Yoyo tilted her head, bird-like. "A favour?"
"You're a necromancer, aren't you?" Julka asked "Not just a necromancer, though. You have a sub-specialty in hemomancy-that's what Robyn and Jun told me."
"Is that right, now?"
"I…."
Julka seemed flustered for a moment, and Jun didn't blame her. Thinking back to what Julka had frantically told them on the way, he tried to think of a way to word the question that they needed to ask of Yoyo:
"Do you know any spells that drain blood? Or like, spells that require that to happen. If that's even possible in the first place, you know?"
The silence swelled outwards, like a bubble as Yoyo gave them a look that Jun could only describe as odd before suddenly, she giggled putting a hand to her mouth.
"Well, this is a surprise, particularly from the two of you."
She gestured to Jun and to Robyn.
"It's about the missing girls, Yoyo-sempai." Robyn explained quickly. "We need to learn what we can…and there are rumours…"
"Right, I've heard but…you're not turning me into a suspect, are you now?"
Jun frowned. Why is that her first question? Julka in particular seemed panicked at it, gasping in horror, but then Yoyo laughed again, tapping a well-manicured finger against her chin.
"I'm just kidding….but are you expecting this information out of the kindness of my heart?"
"Um…."
Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better. At all. Even so, Jun admitted he would be at a loss to really explain why he thought that, though.
"Yoyo-sempai, we're friends, right?"
"Well, of course, but I'd be stupid to give out that information for free, right? What could you offer me in return?"
"I….um…that is…"
"If the three of us stay….or rather, if we stay to help you until we need to get ready for our Night Patrol shifts and then Julka stays to help for a bit longer, that will take some load off you, right?" Jun asked. "That seems fair."
Robyn gave him a grateful smile, which made him feel pretty damn good about himself until he saw that Yoyo wasn't immediately happy with that. Though at least she was thinking about it. Even so, it's a little weird, isn't it…? Not that he knew what, exactly, it was that was weird but still.
"Hmmm….I suppose that's a start."
Yoyo tilted her head once again, her gaze intensely focusing upon Robyn in particular for some reason. Whatever that reason was though, Robyn simply fidgeted
"Name your price, then." Robyn burst out. "I-we'll-do whatever you want."
"Within reason." Jun added quickly.
Yoyo giggled, a high, skittish sound before spinning around and bending down to open a cupboard, apparently then rootling around in a bag that she had stashed away in there.
"You know, favours are just another form of debts, and I so do enjoy collecting debts. And… I have to admit, I am curious what you'll find. We'll just say that the three of owe me-full payment to be determined but starting with what you have offered me already."
With a jubilant smile, she got up and brandished a book that looked ancient and important in a way that made Jun nervous. In a move that struck him as recklessly irreverent, Yoyo flung it out, and Robyn caught it neatly.
"There, that should give you something to work from. Truth be told, I'm not too invested in the missing girls-there's too much going on here. But nonetheless, I do wish you luck trying to figure out the mystery….once you've finished here, that is. Any more questions?"
Jun had far too many, but he wasn't sure where he'd even begin with those. Then his eyes spotted something on the uppermost shelf. Yoyo's doll. He had seen it a couple times before from other times he had visited Robyn, but even so he wasn't sure he was used to it. And just like everything else today, it seemed like this thing that had barely meant anything before was now taking on a significance he didn't understand. Julka, of course, was practically gobsmacked at the sight and this didn't escape Yoyo who let out another one of those giggles as she smiled sunnily up at the doll.
"Ah, do you like her, Julka? That's Butter- she's my favourite. She has so much to say, if you just know how to listen."
Julka's eyes widened from behind her glasses, but she did nod. Yoyo grinned, clearly satisfied and then she made a chasing gesture to bustle them away from the table and show them what they needed to do next.
…
Thanks to the sheer volume of visitors to the infirmary, Jun and Robyn were thankfully kept very busy right up until it was time for them to leave and so Jun didn't have much time to try and figure out why it was Yoyo was setting off…well, they were not alarms as such, but there was something.
The two of them separated briefly to get themselves ready for the night, and then Jun headed down to meet Robyn in the common room nearest to them both-which, considering their shifts tonight were both dorm-corridor based wasn't too far at all. He stopped for a moment in the doorway, watching her curled up in the very-slightly-oversized armchair considering the cover of the book, and looking for what he assumed was publication information or a contents page or something similar. Her hair spilled around her and her turquoise eyes were thoughtful-until she sensed being watched at which point they looked up, flashing in surprise before then brightening, a sweet blush making her cheeks rosy. Jun felt his own face warm slightly in response and then he crossed over.
"Any space there?" he asked, trying to go for casual.
"Um…."
Robyn considered, and then she straightened and shuffled, and Jun sat down. After a couple moments adjusting their postures, they were comfortably huddled together and they balanced the book on their laps, between them so they could both read and slowly and carefully, they did just that.
Though they kept an eye on the time so as to make sure they weren't late to their posts, for the most part it passed in a blur of archaic language and old, small font. Then, suddenly, Robyn gasped.
"Wait, turn back."
"What is it?"
"I…just…hold on, hold on…." Robyn frowned at the page, and then started to read. "Flowers are of special interest to the hemomancer, the waxing and waning of his magical abilities not unlike the life cycle of a flowering specimen. By imbuing the blossoming flower with necromantic capabilities, it becomes possible to employ these plants as extensions of an individual's magical will: detecting blood type, stemming blood loss, even stealing the life force from a desired target."
"Hold on a moment….stealing the life force?" Jun repeated.
Even as that sunk in, however, another phrase hit him. The waxing and waning not unlike the life cycle of a flowering specimen….and yet, he remembered saying something about necromancy and plants being linked and that Yoyo had been sceptical. Maybe it didn't mean anything. Maybe she was just literal and hadn't thought to generalise. Or something.
Then again, what do I know? Jun sighed. He was way out of his depth with something like this and he knew it. Like he kept reminding himself, he was here for Robyn. He wasn't a detective of any kind.
"Jun-"Robyn stammered. "Jun, my dreams…the one thing that they all have in common, the phrase…"
"'When the flowers bloom', right?"
"Yes, yes…what if…it's like they said…there aren't any specific necromantic plants, are there?"
"No….But…"
"But?"
"Robyn, last night? Remember what the Aeternum group said about the flowers that were blooming everywhere?"
"You don't think-"
"I mean, it's possible, right? I'm just not sure how it all fits, precisely."
"Still, it would make sense for it to fit, in some way…if we're right. Perhaps we should tell Julka-sempai, right? Go and find her-"
Almost as if he'd summoned her, at that moment Julka opened the door and stepped in.
"Yoyo said I could go, so I thought I'd come and get the book-are you two alright?"
For a moment, Jun thought that she was commenting on their seating arrangement and blushed furiously before realising that it was entirely possible that she could tell they were thinking something horrible.
"You know, right, about the Night Patrol?" he asked.
"I burst in on one of your meetings, remember?"
Julka looked very uncomfortable at the memory and Jun gave what he hoped was a friendly smile.
"Yeah, that was just when we were getting set up and all but last night…last night, something kind of weird happened at Aeternum. That's one of the places we patrol. Robyn, do you want to explain it?"
"Ah, sure."
Robyn shook herself, and then got up, stepping forward slightly and clasping her hands together as if actively getting herself into gear to explain. A moment or so passed before she did so.
"There was a noise in the forest, so some of the group stationed there went into investigate and all of a sudden there were flowers that bloomed-really fast, in a way that they don't usually even in magical soil. Cutting them just made them grow back and the group were almost trapped and lost, unable to get past the flowers to retrace their steps. However, Kaguya-san appeared and was able to lead them back up to safety."
"I didn't see any flowers growing around….even outside the containment barrier." Julka frowned.
"They were a bit deeper inside, for the most part and one of the group checked early this morning-all gone. As if they'd never grown at all."
"I don't…why are you telling me this?"
Jun got up himself now to explain the passage they had just read, and what they were thinking-that somehow, these weirdly blooming flowers could have been necromantic. That if they'd had something to do with Lunar, then she may have died that very night itself. Julka's frown only deepened, until Robyn jumped back in:
"Julka, the flowers…they weren't just any flowers. They were hydrangeas. Purple ones."
Jun had never seen someone go quite so pale quite so quickly. Julka gasped and put a hand to her mouth, meeting Robyn's eyes and letting out a gasp when Robyn just nodded.
"In my dreams, I always saw Lunar surrounded by purple hydrangeas." Robyn continued. "Were they her favourite flower, by any chance? Or did she like to use them for her magic?"
"Both, I believe. Yew would know better. She was a b-a closer friend than me."
"Yew? Like the tree?"
"Xyewii Harunschild. But yeah, like the tree." Julka supplied.
The name meant nothing to Jun, but then he supposed it wouldn't considering the girl was a second year.
There was a brief silence as the three of them stood, considering each other. Then, Julka sighed and rubbed her forehead tiredly.
"So…these flowers, did you see them?"
"No, no, I wasn't in that group but in our year it was Yara, Quiet and Tricker and then from your year group it was Hiraga-sempai, Ani-sempai and Sasi-sempai." Robyn explained.
Julka considered this.
"I think I know who those three first years are…Tricker, he's the one with arms, right?"
Both Jun and Robyn gave Julka a blank stare, and she frowned back at them.
"Sempai…" Jun eventually said, slowly. "Everyone has arms."
Julka spluttered something that didn't sound particularly coherent and then sighed, rubbing her forehead again. To say that she looked tired was quite possibly the understatement of the year, and Jun felt for her. He just wished that they'd been able to spot something more useful the night before, something that could have changed the outcome. He suspected now that everyone in that group would be feeling it even more.
"Oh, you know what I mean."
"If you mean fully prosthetic arms, then yeah. Also, he's with Sasi-sempai if that rings a bell." Robyn supplied.
Apparently, this did ring a bell with Julka, and she nodded firmly, then repeated back the names at them as if to make sure that she remembered them before asking a couple more questions to clarify. Once Jun and Robyn had done the best that they could to help with that, Julka sighed.
"Okay, I think I should take the book to have a look, right? Fresh pair of eyes and all that."
"Right, yeah, we left it on the ch-"
Jun trailed off as he turned back to the arm chair and just stared. That can't be…remembering how they'd been sitting, he crouched down to see if it had fallen underneath the chair, but there was no sign of it.
"Jun?"
"It's gone, Robyn!"
Immediately, Robyn crouched down the same way he had, and they frantically searched around the arm-chair. But they came up with nothing, and now he was thinking about it, surely they would have heard it drop off the chair if that was what had happened-it had been a fairly chunky thing, with a hard cover.
"That's…really weird." Jun said, running a hand through his hair before turning back to Julka. "It's just disappeared."
"Well that's a problem."
Jun and Robyn both got up and stared at Julka.
"What on earth are we going to tell Yoyo?" Julka muttered.
"I'm sorry." Robyn apologised.
"No, no….." Julka shook her head. "Anyway, isn't it time you two went? I'll tell the others about what you told me, then I guess tomorrow some of us will be questioning your friends."
"I'll pave the way with Yara," Jun offered. "We're close friends."
Julka nodded distractedly at that, apparently deciding to remain in the room. Jun left quickly with Robyn close behind, and he'd never been more relieved to do so.
…
Ririsa wasn't sure how long she'd spent staring up at the ceiling, scenes of the day playing so clearly they may as well have been projected directly onto the stark off-white. She hadn't seen the body, the way poor Yew had stumbled across it or how a few unfortunate souls had before the teachers had arrived to sort everything out. But just like the time when the five first year girls had gone missing, their café had been completely over-run with people seeking comfort in sweet treats. She remembered it being much the same back whe-
Ririsa blinked as suddenly, her reminiscing drew to a halt. When what? Something must have happened, otherwise the thought wouldn't have come to her in the first place, but what that something was seemed nothing but a blank. Ririsa wracked her brain, but came up with absolutely nothing and gave up, sighing. At least today, sweet little Ariadne and a couple of her friends had come and pitched in-two of the other quieter ones, Rena and Wendy. If they hadn't insisted so vehemently then Ririsa wouldn't have let them-as second years, it was her responsibility to take care of them, after all. But she'd been touched by their kindness.
It wasn't enough to help her relax enough to sleep, though.
Getting up and blinking (apparently, without realising, she'd started staring right into the electric lights) she slipped her feet into her bunny slippers and picked up her own plush bunny and padded to the window, careful to not wake Memora. Outside, she could see a sliver of Aeternum, enough to also spot some of the students who were patrolling. Curiously, she frowned, and thought she could spot Will, Asuka and the muscular boy from the first year, the one with the shiny prosthetic hand. If she remembered correctly, there was something about him-something about an accident he'd rescued people from before attending Kawaakari. Still, even if someone like that hadn't been part of the Night Patrol, Ririsa would still have found herself feeling a little wrong as she did now.
The four of them, she and Tiro and Stella and Memora, they were sure that what they were doing was what they could do. Patrolling like that, the way that so many of them were doing…honestly, she would only hold them back. She believed that, truly. And yet, she remembered Lunar. Hadn't known her well, but remembered her. Another sweet one, wide-eyed and wary, something of the wobbly-legged fawn about her but always ready with a smile and a greeting.
"Can't sleep?"
Ririsa looked over as Memora sat up in bed, yawning. She rubbed her eyes, and then came over to join her.
"What you thinking about? Beyond the obvious."
"Honestly," Ririsa managed to smile, wearily. "Just the obvious."
"Mmmm…..the sky's pretty though."
Ririsa hadn't even looked properly at the sky, but now she did she saw that Memora was right. It was almost perverse, how splendid the stars looked all spilled out against the sky, the glitter enhanced by the magical dust that streamed down from the floating gardens.
"Riri, the floating gardens are gone."
"Huh?"
"Look."
Memora poked at the window, pointing upwards and Ririsa followed one of the streams of glitter dust up to….nothing.
"Well that's….they've got to be there though, look, the dust is there…and in the same sort of shape as they would be if we could see the islands."
This was indeed true. From the placement of the clusters and streams of shimmering dust, Ririsa could easily imagine the distant forms of the interlocking islands. From so high, they really only looked like clumps in the sky but nonetheless, they had always been very clearly there. Now, seeing all that extra deep blue…it was as if there was a hole in the sky.
"Still, it's weird, huh, Memora?"
"It is…" Memora shivered. "Maybe this is a dream. Just some weird, twisted fever dream."
"Maybe all of it is a dream." Ririsa agreed. "Maybe, when we wake up it'll be there like normal."
Memora smiled thinly at her, but didn't say anything. She didn't need to, really. Ririsa gazed up at the space where the gardens had been, and then back down to where her friends and other fellow students were patrolling. Doing their best, against all odds.
Then, with a sigh, she turned away and decided to try and get back to sleep, even though she knew that this, too, would be a pointless effort.
A note about languages:
Kataru is the name I've given the main language that is spoken everywhere in this universe. It is probably something akin to modern Japanese (not exactly, but there is a rough equivalence), given the Japanese influence of Kawaakari's original lore. In any case, I got the name from an alternate reading of the character meaning 'language' which can also be read as 'go' like in the words Nihongo or Eigo. Kataru can also apparently be a word meaning 'to tell' or 'to speak' something along those lines, which is a bit on-the-nose if that's correct but then again I was also considering calling the language 'Main' so there we go.
Regionals is simply a shorthand for 'regional languages' which are basically what they sound like-languages spoken mainly in a particular region- and a rough analogy would be modern foreign languages in our world. Incidentally, there is an English-like language in this world which is called Eigo (like the Japanese word for English) that tends to be the most common second-language. As for ancient languages, that's basically like ancient languages in our world too-long dead, barely spoken in the current day and usually only by select scholars and experts. Though with that being said the runes used by a wide variety of magic users do derive from many of these ancient languages so they do have that purpose, at least. And since the runes in this world are basically inspired by Norse/Celtic/Vedic runes and even the Ogham alphabet, some of the ancient languages would roughly be similar to the real-life languages these runes came from. The point is that if you attempted to have a conversation in an ancient language in the current age of the Kawaakari world you would be completely unintelligible.
I'm not about to go actually constructing these languages themselves, but thought this trivia might be interesting. Another extra layer to the worldbuilding, if you like.
Anyway, I'll see you with the next chapter. I doubt it will come as fast as this one, but it will come :) :) I hope you enjoyed this one!