Natsuki's father lunged forward toward Yuri, However, he had his eyes on me. I moved in front of her, attempting to block him from Yuri. He tackled me, pushing me backward, hitting Yuri, and causing her to fall. I tried to escape from his grasp, but I was weaker than him. He pulled his fist back and punched my face. I could barely feel it due to the adrenaline, but somehow, I knew it was detrimental. He pushed himself away from me as I saw Yuri attempt to stab him with her knife. I stood up, and we were in the same position aside from the punch he gave me.
He then tried to tackle me. However, I moved out of the way in time. I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled him to the ground. I used my free arm to tighten the arm wrapped around his neck. I had heard of this technique before. It was called the kata ha jime. You wrap your arm around the victim's neck and restrict the blood flow to and from the brain until the victim passes out. It wasn't necessarily choking, but it looks like it is.
"Yuri restrain him!" I yelled as I applied the majority of my strength to strangling the father. Yuri then tried holding onto his arms. However, she lacked the strength to hold him. She was then pushed back by his arm, which was flailing around, attempting to assault me. He couldn't move from this grip as it was designed to render the attacker incapable of movement. For a few more seconds, he tried to speak but could not. Eventually, he stopped moving. I let him go and saw that he had passed out. I looked over to Yuri. She was sitting on the floor with a large gash on her hand.
"Yuri! Are you alright?" I asked as I knelt to her. She didn't seem to realize her wound. I guess that was due to her adrenaline. "Yuri, your hand," I said, watching the blood seep out. She looked down at her hand, and her eyes widened. I grabbed a kitchen towel and bunched it up into a ball, pressing it against her wound. The gash wasn't serious, but still, it was big enough to lose a lot of blood. Yuri used her free hand to touch my bandages.
"Why do you do it?" She asked me. I knew what she was talking about. We both have a reason to do it.
"I never let out my emotions, I just don't want anyone to feel them. I don't need to bother them with it." I looked at the towel, watching it slowly become soaked with blood.
"I share your feelings," She said, "I can't find anyone to talk about my interests with. It's disheartening." She pulled back the sleeve of her brown sweater, there laid scars both young and old. I felt closer to Yuri as if we were the same. We had no one to help us. We can only cry and scream into nothing.
I pulled the sleeve to cover the scars, "Thank you, Yuri, for showing me. I will always be here for you." She had always felt this way just as I had. I was on the verge of suicide. However, I will not let her come to that conclusion. "Thank you, Eli," She said. I looked into her eyes, a dark amethyst color staring into me. I leaned closer to her. She did the same. Our lips almost touched before I stopped myself. I can not understand why I did it. However, it must have been for a reason. I felt nothing but guilt for denying Yuri the kiss she was yearning for. The world had paused for both of us, and this moment existed for us, and I ruined it. Yuri opened her eyes in confusion. Her smile turned into a frown, and then quickly backed away from me.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that," She said, looking away. I said nothing, not wanting to ruin anything more than I already did.
As the moment between us ended, Monika promptly appeared before us.
"Eli, are you okay?" She asked, completely ignoring Yuri's wound. I felt annoyed at the fact that she disregarded the obvious towel soaked in blood.
"Monika, I'm fine. Can you please grab a first aid kit or something?" Yuri then interjected, "It should be in the bathroom." Monika then retrieved the kit, and I began disinfecting the wound and treating it. Monika simply watched in silence.
After finishing the treatment. I helped Yuri to her feet, I could feel Monika's eyes on me as I seemed to be so worried about Yuri because I was.
"What do we do with him?" Yuri asked, pointing at Naksuki's father.
"Kill him," all three of us looked back to see Natsuki using Sayori for support. She was wearing a pair of shorts and an oversized T-shirt.
"Natsuki, I'm glad you're okay," I said. She walked over to her father.
"I want him dead," She spat on him. Was it right to just kill someone? Even if they deserve it?
"Natsuki, it's not justifiable to simply commit murder," Monika said. Natsuki shot Monika a glare filled with malice, "I don't care, you have not seen what papa -" she hesitated, " what this man has done to me? Are you telling me he does not deserve to die?" Monika appeared to be speechless. I put my hand on Natsuki's shoulder.
"Murder in any sense is wrong. You know that Natsuki." Her face grew with anger. Without warning, she lunged for Yuri's knife on the ground and shoved it into her father's throat. I had no time to stop her. I pulled her away, and she held onto the knife. Blood spurted from his throat. She dropped the knife and gave up on trying to kill him. He woke up shortly after she stabbed him. He clutched at his throat, trying to stop his demise, but of course, it was fruitless.
We all watched as he tried to say something, his voice garbled as blood spilled from his hands. He stared at Natsuki, who was doing nothing but simply smiling at him. As his movements slowly ceased, Natsuki whispered, "Goodbye papa," and he passed. We did nothing as we were amazed at her ruthlessness. Natsuki then began to laugh. She stood up and looked back at us, surprised at our expressions.
"What?" She said, confused. Natsuki's shirt and face were covered in her father's blood. She still had a smile on her face, looking like a serial killer who had just committed another murder.
"Natsuki, you killed him," Sayori quivered. She was the only one who looked scared. Monika and Yuri seemed more amazed at the fact.
"So what? Had you all gone through what I had gone through, you would have done the same." She was right. We might not have admitted it, but we would.
"Let's just get out of here, leave the body," Natsuki said, walking towards the door frame.
"Natsuki, wait," I proclaimed before Natsuki walked through the frame. In her way stood a figure dressed entirely in white. Then, before anything could happen, my vision was enwrapped entirely in a blinding white light. All I could hear was a deafening ring as I fell unconscious.
I dreamed of Sonia and me dancing at a gala. She wore a beautiful white dress. She looked like a princess. She was smiling at me as we danced to a waltz. She spoke, "Promise me that you'll never let go of me. Promise me you'll never leave me. Promise me you'll always love me." I said nothing.
The subject is ready. We simply need to wait.
Not again. What do you want?
Vital signs are nominal. We will administer the proper steroids and maso at the medical wing.
Why can't you hear me?
Wipe the last few minutes.
The light was bright as if it was not natural but from a fluorescent light. It was as I opened my eyes to a room that was once again not my own. I was in a bed that seemed more like a dentist's patient seat. As I got up, I was able to tell someone that had me restrained as there were bindings undone at the edges of the chair. I walked out of the room. I seemed to be in some kind of hospital, or at least that's what it looked like. The walls, doors, signs, and even the chair I was in were entirely white. There were doors similar to the door that allowed access to my room. I opened one to see Monika strapped down in the same chair asleep. I hurriedly walked towards her, hoping she was alright.
"Monika, can you hear me?" I asked. No response. I placed my hand on her chest. It slowly rose and fell under the weight of my hand. I sighed, no longer worrying about the worst. "Monika, wake up," I said, slightly shaking her. Still no response. I shook her more aggressively, and there was still no response. I began shaking at the thought of what was wrong with her. I looked around the room. There was a note on the foot of the bed.
The note said, "Subject one, Monitor Kernel Access. Heavily sedated with Benzodiazepine." I didn't know what that sedative was, but I knew that it was powerful. As for her name, Monitor Kernel Access, it sounded like Monika, but it was longer. I had no idea what it could have meant. I took the bindings off of Monika and attempted to lift her from the bed. However, my weak frame spared me only a few seconds of strength as I lifted her and quickly placed her back on the bed. In defeat, I decided to leave her there, hoping she would eventually wake.
I walked out of the room and was greeted with a long white-colored hallway. It looked unnatural for a hospital. Although with Monika being restrained, I highly doubt this is any sort of hospital, or Monika is crazy, it might be both. I decided to explore the neighboring doors and walked towards one. I opened it to see Natsuki struggling to wake Sayori. She was frantically trying to wake Sayori and take her from the bed. However, the sound of the door opening caused her to turn and face me.
"Eli!" She exclaimed, I said nothing and tried to wake Sayori up but to no avail. "She doesn't want to wake up, but she seems okay," Natsuki said.
"She's sedated. The only thing is I'm wondering how you and I were not." Natsuki looked puzzled at my words. I looked at the note on the foot of the bed. It was the same as Monika's using the same sedative. "We should have been sedated like Sayori, and yet here we are. Either way, We need to get out of here, but I can't carry Monika."
Natsuki's head popped up, "Monika's here?" I nodded and told her where Monika was. After she promptly checked Monika's room and attempted to wake her, we both decided to leave them in their rooms and venture around this place.
As we walked away from the supposed hospital rooms, Natsuki seemed to be shaking. I wanted to talk to her about her dad, but I didn't know how exactly to bring it up. The game never really specified that she was being abused and neglected to such an extent as what I had seen. However, there were mentions of it that didn't seem too severe, but it's as if it was intensified. Instead of being simply neglected and slightly harmed, it was full-on abuse, almost to the point of killing her.
My mind began overthinking again about Sonia. What happened to her? Did she get pulled into this facility as well? I couldn't specify what to believe, but I knew it had to wait till we left this place. Somehow, I felt as if something was waiting for us. Something that is both familiar and evil. I grew anxious.
"Are you okay?" Natsuki asked me. Somehow, my thoughts had become so great that I had not even known that they had stopped me from walking. I simply stood still until Natsuki called my name. There were only a few times this happened; it was usually in times of major stress or the most recognizable time being when my cat had passed.
"Yeah, sorry, I don't know what came over me," I told her, giving her a half-hearted smile. I learned that even in the most stressful of times, one must remain positive. Of course, I rarely followed this advice, but my adrenaline was giving me the energy to try it. "I think I just need to sit down." As I felt it would happen, my body felt suddenly tired. The adrenaline from fighting Natsuki's father seems to be wearing off. I sat with my back against the wall, and Natsuki sat next to me. I looked towards the ends of the hallway. They seemed to be filled with the same fog that would be present outside of my house and in the general neighborhood.
"Is everything alright with you?" I asked Natsuki. She looked troubled as if this question was one she dreaded being asked. She wrapped her arms around her legs in somewhat of a fetal position.
"It's just a lot to take in so quickly. I finally got rid of my father, hoping maybe I could move in with Sayori. But of course, there had to be some kind of problem, whatever this is." She was right. First, she kills her father and then is trapped in this place. It makes sense that one would find this stressful.
"Yeah, I understand."
"I don't know why, but even though I barely know you, I feel like I have already known you for so long." I would want to tell her why she feels this way, but I know that she wouldn't understand.
"I feel the same way."
"You know Monika told me a little about you." She said, making me a little nervous. "She told me that you're a kind, caring man who's been through so much. You were dating someone named Sonia, I think, and you were hurting her, but she was also hurting you." I looked down at my wrist. The bandages were now stained in a dark, almost blackish crimson. From what I can remember in my actual body, I had scars all along on both my arms. Scars were running from my legs up to my chest. All of these accumulated in the span of a few years. My body was a damaged piece of garbage. I had known that I needed to stop, but I was as addicted as a teenager using social media. There was just no stopping.
Much of the time, I had hurt myself in the chest and legs since those were the spots nobody would ever see. The arms were much more difficult to hide as my job had wanted us to wear short sleeve shirts, which I had dreaded. Luckily, no one had cared enough to take a long enough look at my heavily scarred arm. There was one customer who had both seen and mentioned it, a young woman with, from what I could assume her boyfriend. When the woman asked me about it, they were buying a small nightstand and some tools to build it with.
"Those scars on your arm, self-inflicted?" She asked, making me a little nervous. I didn't want to respond, I had just wanted to ignore her and let them leave, but I decided to make conversation, plus I was the manager. It would just look bad to the big boss and other workers.
"Yeah, but I stopped long ago," I lied. Her supposed boyfriend looked up from his phone when he noticed someone was talking to his girlfriend. This also put me a little on edge, I didn't want him to think I was hitting on her. In an attempt to ease the situation, I mentioned Sonia.
"My girlfriend is trying to help me through the healing process." As I said this, the boyfriend looked back down at his phone. I almost scoffed out loud. The girl pulled up her sleeve to reveal a row of parallel lines going from her wrist to her elbow joint. I had already finished processing the payment, and nobody was in line behind them, but the boyfriend, after witnessing her show me her wounds, tugged at her to leave.
"I still do it because," Before she was finished giving a reason as to why she did it, her boyfriend jerked her arm, and she left unwillingly. I never saw her at the store again. She was on the news a few days after, killed at the hands of her boyfriend. He got 12 years in prison and was also sentenced to a year on two criminal recklessness charges.
Natsuki placed her hand on mine and grasped it firmly. "Eli, we can help you, no therapists, no hospitals. I know how bad those can be. But it can just be us." Her pink Tourmaline-like eyes looked into mine. I felt comforted knowing that we'd been through such terrible events. I felt like I could relate to her. I placed my hand on her cheek. Her skin is soft, causing me to hesitate, but she placed her soft hand on my cheek in response. She leaned in close, catching me off guard. She closed her eyes and moved closer. That's when I realized she wanted to kiss. I wasn't sure if I should do it or not.
Before I could make my decision, all I saw was darkness. That was all I felt as well. There was nothing. I didn't know what was happening, who I was, or where I was. There was just nothing.
The subject is ready.
Transferring controls to pilots.
Error detected.
Subject's Sonia, Yuri, Monika Failure to harness control. Proceeding.