catch-all: rufus.

[siblingless]

jae what's a good shitpost

Comments

Week 7: Friday

[soulus]

[In the Queen Room at the castle, Rufus stands by the round pink table in the center. It's a fairly new location, and quiet besides. Of course, footfalls are hard to ignore in a spacious room like this one, so he looks up when he hears Yoshizawa's entry.]

[siblingless]

[This is a very pretty room and Sumire enters with a quite ooo once she gets a proper look at it. But— Priorities!]

Hello, Wilde-san. [Happily! She is no longer crying on everyone, though her eyes are a little red still.] It's good to see you again.

[soulus]

[He definitely heard her small cries as he was leaving earlier. There's a bit of distance between them still, but he sees the redness.]

Was the journey difficult?

[siblingless]

... A little bit, yes. But nothing as difficult as what you guys had to face in the past weeks.

[She may or may not be gently roughed up, too. That's also fine.]

Are you alright?

[soulus]

As you can see, my condition is stable.

[He certainly isn't roughed up like she is.]

What happened?

[siblingless]

I think— the pathway reacted to our presence, and borrowed from our memories to different situations. I suppose you could say it was similar to what we experienced at that school.

[Though not nearly as bad, probably.]

But, more importantly, I believe I owe you an apology. I wasn't able to uphold my end of our deal after, um, I splintered.

[soulus]

No. I saw one of the messages you sent. Even if it wasn't addressed to me, I still received the information you relayed.

[siblingless]

Oh? [Surprised.] ... I see. I'm glad I was able to help, even then.

[Though, she still wishes she had more letters to send. Sad.]

If you don't mind me asking, which message was it?

[soulus]

You talked at length about eating.

[siblingless]

[She pauses for a moment

and then starts giggling.]

Ahh, so it was that one? I'm sorry, it must have come off as strange!

[soulus]

Was it about the virus?

[siblingless]

[She shakes her head.]

We didn't know it was a virus at the time. But there was a conversation I had with someone over dinner. I wanted to confirm that what we theorized back then was correct.

[soulus]

What theory was that?

[siblingless]

... Do you recall our last conversation? Someone had received a message from the dead, but I couldn't remember what it said because I was splintering. Well, the message seemed to say that each team must kill twice in order to save the deceased.

[soulus]

Were you trying to bypass the censorship?

[siblingless]

[Nods!]

I knew beforehand that the messages were corrupted, so...

[soulus]

Those requirements have been cleared as of last week . . .

What do you know about the virus?

[siblingless]

Only as much as you do. I spoke to my leader after, ah, the execution. But they weren't able to tell me much.

[soulus]

Then there's still no telling what will happen tomorrow . . .

[siblingless]

Right. But at least now, we're all together. I'm sure that will count for something.

[soulus]

Yes. Our numbers have swelled to our advantage for the imminent confrontation with the virus.