And now for something a little different.
Some of you may remember me talking on Discord about these chapters before, but basically 'Recollections' will be another type of special chapter in this fic, which are basically snippets of the past told from the POVs of the victims. Some will be within the killing game, some on the road trip, and others at different times throughout the year before the killing game. The aim generally is so you can get to know the victim OCs a little better as well as get a better sense of what the past was like for everyone. I aim to at least have one for each victim, but I might tweak that slightly depending on how the main story goes and other such things. Mind you, though I've kicked the recollections off with one of my victim OCs I will try and prioritise submitted victims for these chapters.
So, yeah, enjoy.
"Are we nearly there yeeeee-"
"Yes, for crying out loud!" I said quickly before Yuki could start off again. Honestly, he was such a child, I didn't know how Yuri put up with him. But as I drove slowly down the familiar road, looking for a good place to park, I shook the irritation away. After all, this was my hometown, and I was showing it off.
There'd been a time when I would have been ashamed to admit I was from here, let alone show anyone, for no other reason than I'd been a pugnacious, hurting, confused 10 year old when I'd first arrived here, conscious of being weird for the fact my mother was now single. Looking back now, with a classmate who had a single dad, another raised by two grandmothers, and two who were adopted, single motherhood seemed so ordinary in comparison. But still, now I was 17 and nearly grown, I had skills and pride, and this place had become my home.
"Is that the inn?" I heard Kimiko ask.
"It looks like it," Moeka answered her. "It looks ever so quaint and sweet, Sen'ya-chan!"
"Tell Ma that, she'll love you forever." I answered back, only half-paying attention to everyone's chatter as I concentrated on parking.
Once we were done, I opened the door and got out, and everyone followed suit, drifting out, Eikichi going around to the back to get everyone's suitcases.
"Alright, five of you, come and help me with the suitcases while Ochiai goes to get us registered. "He ordered.
"Who died and made you king?" Osamu snarked.
"Oh, I'll come and help!" Sadie exclaimed. "Lilian-chan, are you coming?"
"I suppose I must do my part, so of course." Lilian responded calmly.
A few others followed, and started Eikichi didn't respond to Osamu's quip-he had been giving variations of this quip most stops so far and clearly didn't mean it. However, I rolled my eyes as I walked in with Fumiaki, Kimiko, Moeka, Azami and Eizo. The lady at the front desk wasn't my mother, or any of the inn employees I recognised, but all the same, when she looked up from her book at us, her face lit up instantly.
"Oh my goodness, you must be Sen'ya-kun!" she exclaimed.
"I….er…did Ma tell you about me?" she asked.
"Yes, yes, and of course, you're practically famous! And you've come to our little inn!"
"It's a lovely place, and of course Sen'ya-chan's mother works here too, so we wouldn't want to stay anywhere else!" Moeka exclaimed. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you! I'm Moeka Kamiya!"
"SHSL Mortician, right?" the lady nodded. "I'm Setsuko Nagai, it's nice to meet you all."
The others introduced themselves, and at that moment, the others started to come in dragging the suitcases. Katsuya and Rin were apparently attempting to attack each other with their suitcases, while Kiran was struggling with his own as well as some of ours.
"Woah, woah!" Fumiaki instantly swept in. "Don't worry about ours, Eizo can carry them!"
"EH?" Eizo exaggerated his surprise. "Me?"
Azami giggled, half out of some sort of girlfriend-ish loyalty (I assumed) and half because Eizo was making a very silly face that made Kiran smile despite the fact he was looking a little embarrassed at his struggles. Fumiaki, of course, just sighed, and after shooting a conspiratorial look at me, simply said:
"Yes, you are."
"Oh, no, no, it's fine, really…" Kiran started.
"No-there's no sense in you over-extending yourself. You already do your bit anyway. Just go join the others."
Eizo pulled another silly face, but obliged in grabbing his and Fumiaki's bags from Kiran, who sighed disconsolately and came to join us.
"Don't worry, kiddo." I said to him. "Want first dibs on the rooms? There'll be a girl's room and a boy's room-right, Nagai-san?"
I directed this to Nagai, making the effort to use the honorific because she was adult, but she laughed and waved it off.
"Please, call me Setsuko!" she grinned. "And yes, that's right-I trust that will suit."
"Yeah, it's fine." I said. "Really, I know this isn't a big place."
Kiran nodded earnestly, eyes wide. I could sense Nagai paying closer attention to him, her eyes widening in that maternal way most people seemed to do around him, what with that aura of little-boy-lost he seemed to have about him, even when he was perfectly fine. I guess it was the frailty (though he wasn't even that short, compared to some of the girls) combined with the very, very slight learning difficulties he'd candidly told us about last year when we were all introducing ourselves during our very first homeroom.
"I'd love to choose."
"Well then, that is settled." Fumiaki said.
"Well, once your names are all written in the book, I'll take you over to the two rooms. And, Sen'ya-kun, I'll see if I can find your mother to come say hi."
"Nah, she'll come sooner or later, I know."
The others got their names written down, and claimed their bags from those who'd been responsible for carrying them in. There was a brief scuffle when Yuki dropped a toy that he'd been carrying and couldn't remember where, but it was quickly found by the door, and Nagai was soon leading us down a familiar light-blue painted corridor, until we got to the two end rooms, one opposite the other. After quickly telling us (well, the others, really) about the bathrooms and what time the meals were, she left to return to the front desk, leaving us with the two rooms, all ready for us.
"Alrighty, Nanakai, you do the honours." I said quickly before anyone could charge in.
"Aww, why's he getting to choose?" Yuki whined.
"Because he is!" I retorted.
"Auuuu…"
"You'll get to choose a futon once you're with the boys, it's fine!" Yuri hurriedly said, looking flustered. I didn't blame her-seeing moments like this made me grateful I was an only child.
"They're probably fairly similar anyway, right?" Teiichi pointed out pragmatically. Thank goodness for people like Teiichi.
"True enough." Eikichi acknowledged.
I just nodded, because I was well aware that apart from the patterns on the folding screens, both rooms were identical. Kiran, for his part, was taking his duty incredibly seriously, his unintentional charm in full effect as he stared into the first room on the left, and then the other. He went back to the first, considered it a moment, then turned to us.
"This one." He beamed, pointing to the left room. "I like the birds."
"Alright, then!" I said. "Left room it is. Girls, you have the other room."
"That is fine by me." Seiko said, some of the others chiming in with something similar.
"Fair play, dude." Rin said.
"Wait, what is in the other room?" Lilian asked, unexpectedly.
Kiran frowned for a moment, then his face lit up.
"Butterflies!"
Lilian touched the tattoo on her face, and nodded in quiet approval.
"Oh, that sounds pretty!" Azami exclaimed. "I wonder if we'll see any real butterflies on this trip!"
"I'm sure we will, but let's get our stuff in," Akari answered. "I don't know about you, but I'm ravenous!"
"I know a cool place near to here-once we're sorted, I'll take you." I said, proud of myself. "We can stop at old man Nagatsuka's on the way back afterwards."
"Sounds like a plan!" Eizo laughed.
"We will trust in you, tour guide Sen-sen!" Katsuya laughed as we filed into our separate rooms.
"OI! I said, stop calling me that!"
A quick note: Ayuna's deadname and pronouns will be used in the recollections simply because not only was Ayuna not transitioned/transitioning during the times covered by them, but none of the victims could possibly know of her new name and pronouns for somewhat obvious reasons. Still, thought it'd be worth clarifying.