Disclaimer: All characters and game elements belong to NetEase. I own nothing but a will to write.
It's another day in the manor, another match in the game.
The Mind's Eye sits pensively on the rocket chair, the only thing she can do in her present state. The Geisha is lurking around nearby while her teammates are busy decoding. She herself told them to focus on the task since it's just barely the start of the match and she wouldn't want them to lose just because of her. At least, in a way, she's containing the hunter.
She sighs heavenward, not really liking the whole experience of being caught over and over again which makes her heart pound harder than making mistakes in decoding. The unhealed injury on her back stings so much that it feels like a real throbbing wound and the prior feeling of being in the air tied up in balloons always makes her cringe at the loss of sight. She distinctly remembers the way they would put her on the cursed chair: some drop her down so gently while others throw her injured body so roughly that her head aches. But surprisingly enough, the chair itself is comfortable to sit on even if the restraints are too tight. The camping the hunters do doesn't help with her pounding heartbeat, but much to her and their surprises, she doesn't feel fear as much as she should've.
It's such a wonder that one encounter—one show of mercy from the most unlikely of people—can change her outlook about this game so much. To know that a hunter could be capable of mercy, to know that even so-called monsters can be humane, has given her a new perspective on life. Even when the other hunters aren't so inclined to show anything remotely close to what he gave her, it's nice to know that they can show it.
At this point, she'd already met most of them and much to her wonderment, they come in all forms and sizes. Many do look like how she imagined monsters: big, scary, and cruel. She might've completely lost her nerve to play if she'd encountered them in her first match. Aside from the Photographer, only a few looks closer to being human, such as the Bloody Queen and Geisha, but even they are merciless beings with their lovely hum of doom. Undoubtedly, she's grateful that it was Joseph who she met first, and she hopes that he wasn't offended about her comment on his height.
The Mind's Eye's thoughts continue to wander while the Mechanic attempts to rescue her who the Geisha quickly pounces on once in sight; she should've been decoding but with their other teammates injured and her doll incapacitated, she had to go. Helena feels bad for making Tracy take a hit for her sake, so she telegrams "Don't rescue me!" as the timer reaches half of the countdown.
Her fellow survivors are just as enigmatic as the hunters, all of them being strangers driven by some goal to participate in this survival game. She was wary of them, knowing that they're adults who have lived more of life than she did, but thanks to Emma and Emily's cordiality, she has slowly started to warm up to them. Martha is the closest to her age and the Coordinator has somewhat taken it upon herself to be a guardian for the Mind's Eye, almost always sticking with her in the matches. Tracy, too, has taken a liking to her after she witnesses her decoding speed, but she's a bit too energetic to be around with sometimes. Eli and Victor are like the brothers she never had, always looking out for her and sending their respective pet and letters to help her. The rescuers Naib and Norton are so reliable as teammates and she can tell that the hunters always have a hard time chasing the two. But not everyone's so amiable. Many people like to keep to themselves and it reflects on their gameplay, like Aesop and Andrew who prefer to work alone and hardly interact with them. The rest has a casual relationship with one another: being there when they're needed but going off somewhere otherwise.
Truthfully, she'd say that her relationship with them is almost utilitarian, something brought by circumstance and necessity rather than shared commonalities. But the things everyone undoubtedly agrees upon are the hunters' monstrosity and her pitiful condition, Helena discovered immediately after her first match. After being sent back to the mansion's lobby where successful escapees return to, the shocked faces of her teammates greeted her. She'd been assured beforehand that eliminated and 'bled-to-death' survivors would be transported to their respective rooms where they would be expected to rest and recover. Helena and everyone else had assumed that she would be eliminated so to see her unscathed in the lobby was a great shock to everyone in the Survivors' Annex. She was grilled with questions about the match by her fellow survivors, and she answered them all truthfully: that the Photographer spared her out of goodwill.
Of course, they couldn't believe it. No hunter would be kind as to just let someone go because of goodwill. True, some hunters do let the survivors go, they told her, but it's only when they 'felt like it' after they mercilessly let the victim grovel on the ground. But to be granted clemency without compromise especially by the Photographer, it was unheard of. The hunter has had a record of scaring the survivors half to death just by his jump-scares and being irrefutably cruel. Despite him appearing like one of the most human-like out of the hunters, he is one of the most inhumane monsters. Whatever motivated him to spare her, they seemed to agree upon, is just another result of pity.
"Hm? Aren't you going to beg them to save you?" the dark-clothed huntress asks as she hovers closer to the captive. "For someone so hopelessly weak, you're awfully calm."
The Mind's Eye doesn't answer, simply letting her thoughts wander to the most likely reason. Such a thing can only be explained by her prior experience with the first, and as of yet, the only hunter who willingly let her go. She treasures that moment, an experience that may never happen again, and always reminisces on it with great fondness. It's like a sweet piece of candy among her bowl of sour drops—Joseph being the one who offered her the former while the other hunters gave her the latter.
Of course, she knows better than to savor an anomaly. Her father had taught her to be cautious of strangers and the others had advised her not to be too trusting of anyone, especially the hunters. Emily had told her about the time the White Guard tricked her into believing he was being friendly before chairing her after she opened the Gate. Eli had a similar story about the Geisha, who forced him to finish the ciphers then eliminated him afterwards just like what she did to his teammates. Even after playing with them with snowballs, the Smiley Face quickly turned on Emma and company after he got Detention. Even though the Photographer is different in that he doesn't trick anyone like that, his enigma is the very thing they cautioned her against.
But like a rebellious bird that constantly pecks at her, that feeling she felt in his presence—that desire to come closer to him—hovers in the back of her mind. Helena can't find the words to exactly describe what it is, but she can't shove it away from her awareness, either. She chalks it up to being mere curiosity, heightened by his good nature and her own interest, yet it doesn't feel right to name it as such. Despite her craving for an answer, it doesn't seem correct to confide these thoughts with someone else, as they've been so adamant that she dismiss all notions of compassion from the hunters. Just because he spared her once, they reasoned, doesn't mean he'll spare her again.
Yet Helena doesn't believe their dogma. Somehow, she knows that it wasn't pity that motivated him and that it isn't simple interest that plagues her mind. Just to satiate this desire—or extinguish it before it festers into a scar—she'd want to meet him again, even if she'd be the first to be bound in a chair.
"Is it true? Did Joseph-san really spare you, unharmed?" the pale-faced lady's voice cuts through her contemplation.
The blind captive blinks in surprise. Usually, the hunters just mock them or say nothing at all. It's disbelieving and amusing at the same time to know that they engage in gossip as well.
"You don't have all the time in the world, girl." The Geisha, now reverted back to her beautiful form, taps the clock on top of the chair with her fan, "Just a yes or no."
The Mind's Eye doesn't really have a choice. "Yes, Sir Joseph spared me," she answers, "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious," the huntress replies in that unique accent, now appraising the survivor fully. Helena notices that the hunters seem to always study her when they see her. "You're a cute little thing, but I never thought a simple girl like you could get his attention."
Helena stares at the huntress in bewilderment. So, everyone knows what the Photographer did. But it was such an unnatural occurrence that even they themselves couldn't believe it. That may explain why she always felt their heavy gazes on her as they kept vigil over her chaired self; they were trying to guess what it was that he saw in her. Truthfully, she doesn't know, either. His reason sounded like he just 'felt like it' but the way his eyes never left her seemed to tell otherwise. And now, everyone's wondering why he didn't at least hit her once before letting her go. That unnameable feeling chirps up again, suggesting something she didn't really think of before. Could it be that she intrigued him as much as he did her? That proposition just added another layer of complication to her thoughts, but she realizes that she doesn't really have enough time left before she returns to the manor once again.
"I'm not sure if it's pity or impulse," Helena opines, more so to elucidate her thoughts than to elaborate to the other person, "and I don't know him enough to say anything else, but I do know that he was a nice person—Sir Joseph showed me that everyone can do something good, no matter their role."
The Geisha stands there silently, her dim figure seemingly contemplative of the survivor's words. "You're an interesting child," the older female croons. "I can see how he could've been charmed by you."
The Mind's Eye flushes at the suggestion, remembering the word the Photographer described her with. Now, she wonders what else he told them about her.
The huntress giggles in amusement as she bows her head in goodbye. "I hope to see you more later. Sayonara."
Helena's thoughts as her seat flies away only consist of an ever-growing resolution that these hunters are no different from them survivors.