???th rebuttal; 4th wall

[superordinary]

[ For some reason, these strange Eevees can be found around Goldenrod today. They're fairly affectionate (?), but the "Upupupupu" noises they make are...kind of unnerving, and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of them. More and more of them keep appearing and they all seem to come from the same place. That place being the Dangan house. ]

[ The door is wide open and a continuous stream of Monovees come out, making "Upupupu" noises in unison as they go their separate ways on their sacred mission to... spread despair or something, who knows. Naegi is standing outside as this this unfolds, and the look of confusion is evident on his face. What the gently caress, Johto. ]

What...am I supposed to do?

Comments

[flawlessprincess]

[The air is cold, and fresh, and clear.

What's wrong about this place isn't the incessant background music, and it's not the strange little animals running around everywhere, and it's not the hustle and bustle of average people living out their average lives with no suspicion whatsoever that anything might ever try to disrupt that. Or rather — what's wrong about this place is all of those things, but fundamentally it's something much simpler. There's a baseline still below all those things, a foundation that all of them are built upon.

It's like these people don't know that the world has ended, and they're all supposed to be dead.

And if that's not a mystery worth solving, she doesn't know what is. It's been quite some time since she solved a mystery, really; lately she's been causing them, and has grown accustomed to playing the other half of the equation. (Barring that one brief stint of amnesia, of course, but we're not talking about that.)

Whatever's going on, this is something that wasn't planned for. That means it's likely something Enoshima did. The adorably fuzzy split-fur animals swarming around her feet would certainly support that theory, and she bends to pick one up (squirming and playful and probably primed to explode) to examine it with her usual detached curiosity.

It's cute, and warm, and it wriggles higher in her arms until it's close enough to lick her cheek. So maybe it's not so bad, really. Maybe it will nuzzle against her, snug and warm in her arms.

Or maybe it will bite her or claw her or scorch her in a blast.

But she's used to being hurt by the things that pretend to love her, isn't she.]

[superordinary]

[ Daddy issues much, mastermind Kirigiri? Or maybe it will squirm its way out of Kirigiri's arms instead of exploding in her face, so it can run away and abandon her just like everyone else in her life because she clearly can't have nice things.

Meanwhile, Naegi's still trying to figure out how to deal with the great Potentially Explosive Eevee Invasion and so far no great plans or sudden epiphanies have come to mind.

...Basically he's just going to walk over to Kirigiri once he spots her and ask for help because she's the detective of the two and not him and there's literally no way this can go wrong.

Right? ]

Hey, Kirigiri-san...

[flawlessprincess]

[Just a few, thank you. A few hundred, that is.

She's not surprised to see Naegi, really; he's the one she'd expect to be alive, after all. So she brushes white and black hairs off her sleeves and straightens up again, settling back into the mindset of the detective princess he knows, and offers him a slight nod of recognition as he approaches.]

Naegi-kun. You've ended up here, too.

[...Right, right.]

I'm glad.

[superordinary]

...What do you mean, "ended up here"?

[ Less than five sentences in and there's already a sign something is up. ]

[flawlessprincess]

[Unfortunately, she has no reason to think otherwise — of course they've ended up here, because they're supposed to be at school. Why would that be strange?]

Here. Wherever this is.

[She motions slightly to their general surroundings.]

[superordinary]

This is Goldenrod City. Um, are you okay...? [ He's probably wondering if she fell and hit her head or something. ]

[flawlessprincess]

...And you don't think it's strange that we're not at school?

[No, seriously, what is going on here...]

[superordinary]

[ What the gently caress. ]

Not particularly. I mean, I've been here for over six months...

[flawlessprincess]

No, you haven't.

[The response is firm and instantaneous.]

You were with me at school. The two of us...

[superordinary]

Don't you remember, Kirigiri-san? Y-you've been here in Johto with me for several months...

[flawlessprincess]

[And all at once, she's tense and coiled like a spring, because of all the questions she's really never wanted to receive again, don't you remember is quite high among them.]

That's not what happened. I don't —

[What is going on?]

The only place we've been is at school. You know that. We're the only ones left.

[superordinary]

[ And Naegi just looks at her like she's some sort of alien from a distant planet, confusion evident. ]

Huh? You're not making any sense, Kirigiri-san.

[flawlessprincess]

...You don't remember what happened?

[superordinary]

No, Kirigiri-san. Why are you saying we're the only ones left? It doesn't make sense.

[flawlessprincess]

Because we are, Naegi-kun.

All of our classmates are dead. You and I are the only ones left alive in the school.

[superordinary]

Kirigiri-san, what's gotten into you? That's not what happened and I know it.

[flawlessprincess]

You're calling me a liar?

[superordinary]

N-no, but... What you've said doesn't make sense at all. It's impossible.

[flawlessprincess]

Fine, then. Don't believe me.

[Ah, yes, and we all remember this attitude — the haughty turn, the dismissive flick of her hair.]

[superordinary]

W-wait, Kirigiri-san...! [ Oh no, not this. He reaches out to settle his hand on her shoulder. ] Don't you want to solve this mystery?