Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the Corpse Party name, or its various licenses
Prologue – Attempt #172
Insanity. Someone once defined it by relating it to a concept. 'Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.' To those who go throughout their lives never experiencing such a phenomenon, such a statement might appear odd. Something to scoff at. But, to this particularly unfortunate individual:
"I can't say they were wrong."
Satoshi sighed as he stared blankly at the box of festival supplies on his desk. Why was he doing this again?
"Mochida-kun! Why are you just sitting there? Come help me! We're already behind schedule as is!"
Right. To avoid Ayumi's complaints.
Running a hand through his hair he breathed out before taking apart its contents and placing them in piles on the nearby desks. Maybe he could spruce things up this time? Go for something original?
"Haaa… what's the point?"
Everything will just reset tomorrow anyway.
"Did you say something Mochida-kun?"
"No." Yes.
Damnit, why was he paired up with her anyway!? He could never figure the class rep out. Oh, he was aware her infatuation with him was borderline psychotic. Even for someone as oblivious as him, knowing what he knew from other 'dead ends', as it were, even he couldn't deny it.
The occultist freaked him out at times, if he were honest.
'Plus, she's just so… bossy.' Satoshi grumbled to himself. 'Granted, Naomi is too, but at least she has a soft side to go alongside it. I just wish Shinozaki would get with Yoshiki already. It'd save me the trouble and make him happy to boot.'
Though considering that the day never ends, hoping for something like that seemed rather pointless in retrospect.
Satoshi chuckled to himself at the absurdity of it all, as he helped the class rep put up the decorations. Just let things be and do what she asks. Easier that way.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something hanging out of his classmates' pocket.
'The charm, huh.' He chortled. 'Wonder how I'm going to die today.'
If one could hear his thoughts, Satoshi had little doubt that he'd be hauled off for an immediate psyche evaluation. After all, who'd believe him should he bother explaining?
Heavenly Host Elementary School.
Otherwise known as Hell. Well, not really, but it may as well have been. Eternal damnation, with the promise of never-ending pain. What else could it be compared to? In some ways, it's even scarier. Presentation-wise, that is. Plus, it's almost a cruel joke. You don't arrive there when you die, you arrive there while you're still breathing. Then you die. There is no escape. In theory, anyway.
Of course, he was one of the lucky few. One of the very few people in history to have escaped the schools' clutches. In fact, he's set a record of twenty-two break outs by this point.
Satoshi took a moment to stop what he was doing to consider the number. Running it through his head briefly he shrugged before returning to his work. Seemed accurate. As far as he could remember, anyway.
His death toll was just shy of two hundred. So, an approximate thirteen percent success rate sounded correct.
"Ne, Mochida-kun, I can do this part for you. I know how afraid of heights you are-!"
The boy ignored her attempts to charm him and began climbing the stepladder himself. Truthfully, the first few times he went through this, he had appreciated the assistance, but at this point…? Nothing to this level could even begin to intimidate him.
Idly, his mind wandered as he began putting some streamers around the room.
'From my estimation… this would be attempt 172. Just about.' Satoshi mused. 'Of course, many of the nights bleed together, so I may be mistaken. I'll go with it though. It's a good number. 172.'
He could still remember the day he jumped back. His first run through the school, miraculously, ended with them getting out. Or at least, he thought they did.
Instead, the day reset.
Of course, he had spent the majority of that day trying to convince Ayumi not to go through with the Ever After charm. To no avail. And when it came to the actual moment before they all tore into it, he became desperate. Hysterical.
"THIS CHARM IS DANGEROUS!" he had yelled. "WHY DON'T YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND!?"
Looking back, he probably sounded crazy. It was just some stupid thing Ayumi found on the internet. There should have been no lasting repercussions in doing it. Plus, he realized rather quickly how there were certain things, he just couldn't say.
Why not? He had no clue. For some strange reason, though, the words wouldn't come to him. He wasn't sure exactly why they wouldn't, all he knew is that they wouldn't. Any attempts to explain why he was so adamant on them not completing the charm, refused to escape his mouth. So, he decided to go with them. Why wouldn't he? He was given another chance. He could save more of his friends this time. Ensure they find the real way out. This was it!
Instead, he died.
It was sudden, unexpected. Rather anti-climactic, actually. A stray board from the schools' ever-collapsing ceiling fell down and sliced his head clean off. He thought that was it. I mean, for anyone else, having your head severed would mean immediate death. No coming back from an injury like that.
But he didn't die.
Or at least not permanently. He remembered stumbling around aimlessly as a sightless ghost. 'Remembering', being used loosely. No sight, no sound, just 'phantom' pains around his neck. Then, not long after, he woke up again. In bed. Full body; head and all.
Then it started again.
And again.
And again.
And…
Well, you get the picture.
At first, Satoshi was… confused. Why was this happening to him, and only him? Because it was obvious that no one else had any clue what he was talking about. Not that he could even say, if he wanted to. That was another thing that he had initially been unsure about. Why was he unable to discuss anything about Heavenly Host with his class? If he could tell them about the horrors that lie ahead, perhaps it would dissuade them from going through with it. Or, even better, it might trigger somebody's memories from the other routes, and they may realize how bad of an idea it was.
No such luck. His mouth refused to form the words necessary to escape. Almost as if something or someone was preventing him from doing so.
He was pretty sure it was around death fifty that he slowly began losing hope in the reality presented to him. He was stuck in a loop, and he had to deal with it. He didn't want to. Who would? It seemed almost as cruel as eternal pain. Well, perhaps it wasn't never-ending. Maybe there'd be an end to it, eventually.
He gave up by death ninety-three.
It was conceivable then, that there was some deeper meaning behind why he kept jumping back a day. It was attempt one hundred and seven that he finally pieced it all together.
It was a challenge.
A challenge from the 'God' of the school to him, personally. Why was he chosen? That, he still wasn't sure about. Perhaps, it was because of his leadership position amongst the group. He realized something; throughout all of his many attempts, the group never appeased Sachiko without his help. Granted, Ayumi and Yoshiki did their fair share of the grunt work, but the final step always seemed to be done by him. They never succeeded in their mission when he wasn't there to do that part for them.
Again, that's all just conjecture. He could only assume he was chosen due to his leadership abilities. Abilities that he still wasn't convinced he held; it was more that nobody else had them.
That all being said, where was the proof? How did he know, for a fact, that this was an issued challenge to him?
Because it was the only thing that made sense.
Funnily enough, the correlation came to him while talking to Yoshiki in Heavenly Host. The first time they had been paired up, interestingly.
"Hey, Satoshi. If we manage to get home, you and I are gonna celebrate by playing so much-!"
The title of the game slipped Satoshi's mind at this point, but it mattered little. He remembered the genre well.
It was a rage game.
A piece of 'entertainment' primarily designed to aggravate the player into giving up. It was odd, because it didn't bring happiness to the player. Mostly anger, annoyance, or sadness.
At first, Satoshi didn't get it. If it wasn't meant to be enjoyed, why was it so popular? Why did people continue to play it?
Yoshiki's answered that succinctly.
"That's the point."
'That's the point, huh.' Satoshi sighed. 'It wasn't created for the end users' enjoyment. But for the enjoyment of others. After all, misery breeds comedy.' That sounded comparable to his situation, alright. It was certainly something a vengeful spirit would aim to do. That little bitch-
"Mochida-kun! We're finished, now. Let's go meet up with the others!"
Blinking to clear his blurry vision, he took a quick glance around the room. Huh. Guess he finished working mid-monologue. That's new.
Ayumi looked at her crush (obsession) with a sweet smile on her face. Standing close to him, she began to lead him out of the room and to one of the stands their class set-up.
Satoshi stared blankly ahead as he walked, his mind continuing to wander.
Now where was he…? Oh yes. Well, to put it simply: eventually, he figured out that the whole thing was a test, directly from Sachiko to him. A challenge, of sorts. Perhaps as a means of testing her own power? She was a rather cocky child, after all. It almost seemed as if she found the very concept that she could lose, to be laughable at best. However, a challenge does require both sides to have a possibility of winning. Victory was possible. The parameters, as far as he could gather…?
No one dies.
Seemed simple enough on paper. You go through the same day enough times and eventually you'll find patterns. Realize what you have to do. He had survived before after all. By the point he figured this out…? Another twelve attempts later. Unfortunately, that was also when he realized just how rigged a game, this was.
First of all, he couldn't control his classmates' actions. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop them from doing something completely idiotic. Like leaving their partner to pee outside, while they left the area to wander around by themselves, for example. I mean, who would ever do something like that!?
… Oh, right.
Well, anyways, his classmates' actions were something that was out of his control. Following that, he had no ability to choose who exactly he ended up with. For the first ten or so restarts, the groups seemed the same. Then the thirteenth try hit.
He started with Naomi.
It was… interesting, to say the least. He died, of course. Strangled by the girl after she became darkened. Strangulation wasn't pleasant, he could say that for sure.
Then he woke up. Attempt number fourteen found the groups back to their original starting positions. He almost thought he dreamt the whole thing. It wasn't a particularly long run, after all. He died only a couple hours in. But no, another death, (this time from Yuki's ice pick. It's an interesting weapon, he'd give her that), and he started with Ms. Yui and Ayumi. Great.
It seemed like Sachiko realized how many different possibilities for death there were, if she just shuffled them around. Three different overlapping realities; so, three different groups. While not every combination had been made, there weren't many left. Not that he could think of. Without leaving a person on their own that is-
Satoshi stopped walking.
Ayumi cocked her head to the side in concern.
"Ne, Mochida-kun, what's wrong? You've been acting strange today."
Not the first time he's heard that. Or the last.
"Hm, maybe doing things solo could be interesting. Wonder what would happen."
"Eh…?"
"Nevermind." Satoshi began walking. "Let's just keep going."
Ayumi stepped in-line with the brunette as he considered what lead him to this point.
Attempt one hundred and fifty. It was the time that he finally got everyone out of the school alive. Well, almost.
They made it to the rainy walkway. Sachiko already appeased. All nine of them in one place. One reality. They made it.
*Schink*
Or, so he thought.
Why did he ever think it would be so easy? He should have known Sachiko would have had a backup plan. It was in this moment, that Satoshi realized he had forgotten something about her. Not that she was a spirt, and not that she was vengeful. Those were both apparent. But that she was a child.
And children hate to lose.
He watched, blankly, as Yoshikazu was thrown to the ground by his peers, the collective seven of them managing to hold the large man down as Yoshiki kicked him in the head. Repeatedly. Again, and again, and again. The zombie-like being grunted in pain as he took on the delinquent's anger. Satoshi realized in that moment, that he should have been the angriest, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was numb.
Why had Yuka been the one to get stabbed?
It wasn't deep. Nor did it hit anything substantial. But she was child-like in everything that counted. Notably, her physicality. The scissors that the man had surprisingly threw, created a wound that sent her into immediate shock. She died within seconds. Something that, had he, or perhaps Yoshiki, maybe even Naomi or Ms. Yui been hit by; could have survived. Yuka didn't.
He woke up again.
That was the final time he tried. Perhaps in the future, he would try again. At least, he knew what to do now? Kind of. He got lucky in that reality, though. For some strange reason, Sachiko only split them up into two groups. One with four people, and another with five. Because of that, no one was left alone, and they all managed to settle their differences before it became too much.
Maybe in another one hundred and fifty he'd be given a similar reprieve?
The chuckle he gave in that moment was rather self-deprecating.
'Hm.' He thought to himself, once more. 'I wonder how I'm going to die today?'
Five Hours Later:
"… then we each pull a side and we'll remain friends forever!"
Satoshi sighed as he listened to Ayumi drawl on and on about the specifics of the charm. He never understood how it was meant to represent friendship, in the first place. It was just a stickman torn apart at the seams. Didn't seem very friendship-like to him.
"So," he drawled, "don't suppose I could stop you guys from going through with this, could I?"
The class all grinned at him.
"Nope!" the one behind it all exclaimed. "Don't be scared, Mochida-kun. It's just a little friendship chant."
"Hai, hai." He shrugged. "Don't say I didn't try though."
Naomi looked at her crush in confusion as a flash of something shot through her mind.
What was-?
"Alright guys repeat after me!
Sachiko, I beg of you."
The paper tore followed by a familiar earthquake.
Then, the floor opened up.
It swallowed eight screaming people, and one who couldn't be bothered. Satoshi closed his eyes as he fell, one final thought shooting through his mind.
'Did I leave the stove on?'
A/N: Damn another short story I'm uploading instead of updating my biggest few XD. I'M TRYING I SWEAR. Writing when you're not inspired sucks. Fun fact though, this story is the first one I've uploaded that's basically done. Mainly cuz it's not the longest thing out there but hey :P. I know the Corpse Party fandom is tiny and no ones gonna read this but hey. This story was a bit of a fun challenge to myself x) and that's mainly why I wrote it. If you did enjoy (or hated) it, let me know! :)