endless_june | June 17th - The Woods, Before Sunrise

[Osaka considers Haruhi's question. Well, that's fair, isn't it? They should know what they did wrong. She continues her advancement forward, swinging the knife a bit as she did.]

Ayumu needed my help. You're holding her back. How is she supposed to get it together when y'all keep babying her?

Ayumu?

[She sounds it out just like Maria did earlier that night, for the same reason, and persists in a haughtier register working off glimpses of school shoe lockers.]

That's slightly harsh for a grade schooler, Katogawa-san.

[She pauses.]

Huh? Who are ya talking about?

Oh.

[She was wrong. She doesn't like that. But this is an opening, and heroines take advantage of those.

Haruhi reaches for the knife with both hands, not caring if she grabs blade instead of handle. She has a backup plan.]

Edited 2015-01-21 23:26 (UTC)

[WOW OKAY, SHIT. SHE DOESN'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. YOU STAY AWAY FROM AYUMU'S BODY. She randomly swings the blade willy-nilly at this, not really caring what happens as long as Haruhi doesn't hurt her.]

[Haruhi has so much hair, in this timeline, that the swing probably nicks some of it. She continues leaning in for the knife, growling. With a burst of strength, she could pretty easily push the knife up back into its wielder.

She does no such thing. Clenching her fingers - anywhere for traction. Knock the knife onto the ground, or pull Osaka away by the wrists. Something. She has such a chance, her backup plan might not be necessary.]

[NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

YOU. ARE NOT ALLOWED. TO DO THIS.

She growls angrily as she attempt to push forward with the knife again, potential of Haruhi knocking her down or get ahold of the knife be damned.]

STAY AWAY FROM AYUMU!

Never!!! No way!

[Haruhi will not butt out. She passed the Overstayed Welcome stage several years ago. The knife gets closer, she can solidly hold the thick part of the blade, blood dampens her hands... and even if she digs in her feet, the knife will probably keep coming closer, won't it.]

[Of course she won't. Like the terrible friend she is. None of them were ever willing to help Ayumu get it together.

And that's why Osaka is all too eager to drive the knife into her.]

Haha...

[Here she is! She's doing it! Taking the knife closer into her body - not letting go of the steel, chunks coming out of her fingers - it's happening. This is the plan: rigor mortis, keep the knife in her hands, Osaka can't take it back. Her elbows are shaking a lot more than she thought they would, though, wow. Same goes for her knees. They give out, and she falls to kneel before Osaka, but there's so much momentum in the front of her body... the rest falls flat onto her back.

She can see the sky through the treetops. A few stars, some identifiable. There's only a little winking moon... and no heavenly river. She'll never make a Tanabata wish again, she realizes, or take Maria trick or treating. No asking Alice's help to make chocolates for Seta and Yamane. No graduation party for Shimamoto-san...

These are all object ideas. Tangible. Typical. Traditional. Fun enough for everyone. Without fun things, Haruhi has never really intended to keep on living. What point is there if you don't get your way? It's not possible for the world to revolve around her. Altair and Vega are too far away for her wishes to have been granted yet, and the ritual... Oh, that ritual... Supernatural phenomena are all crazy people.

The only thing that made them significant... spending time with the others, who she never understood. Maybe when she sees them again later, she'll get to know why Mama Ushiromiya is to be avoided, or how Nui lost her eye, or the real legal name of Osaka.

Her lungs are heavy. Fluid everywhere. Blood blossoms on her white school shirt like a tissue in water.]

See... later...

Edited 2015-01-22 01:03 (UTC)

[There's a very brief moment when Ayumu can only stare in horror. She... Was that her? She could justify the others: she just hugged Maria too hard, she didn't mean to do that. She tripped, she didn't mean to hurt Alice. But she drove that knife straight into Haruhi. Didn't she?

No, Ayumu did nothing, the brain reminds her carefully. Osaka did that. And Osaka is just looking out for Ayumu. Her friends didn't really care anyway, Osaka tried to explain. They were holding her back. Laughing at her and her adorable quirks. Why help her get it together when it was so much funnier to watch her suffer? They had to be stopped.

So Ayumu hid while Osaka continued to keep things moving, exactly the way they should be. Good. It was safer there. Better for Ayumu to keep her away from these monsters.

Osaka struggled against the knife, attempting to pull it out to no avail. Dammit. Ruining Ayumu's life to the end. Jerk.]

[ ... hah

hahahaha

she probably should have intervened, shouldn't she

but she can't. she can't even move. terror and horror sit like leaden weights in her stomach and she's glued to the spot. she can't even stand up straight -- she's stood with her back pressed to the trunk of a tree and with the way her legs feel, it's more propping her up than anything. her stomach does a nasty flip and bile rises in her throat.

haruhi, dead. alice, probably dead. and osaka. osaka osaka osaka holding a rock a knife osaka screaming at haruhi osaka alone in the woods at night and oh god the pieces are starting to click together and she's shaking and she's scared and she's so sick and

her breath hitches thickly in her throat and she doesn't even bother trying to cover her mouth before she vomits.

she coughs and chokes and splutters and she's making such an awful noise -- but with the purging of her stomach comes a lifting of the weight on her stomach and suddenly her feet are light, too light, like she's already taking flight

she's useless here. useless if she gets caught and killed but if she can find help, if she runs and finds someone--

and it's with that thought that her feet take off without her permission, dodging around the tree and screaming at the top of her lungs. ]

HELP! SOMEONE, ANYONE, WHOEVER CAN HEAR ME, SOMEONE JUST COME AND HELP, GOD DAMMIT!

[Osaka jolts up at the vomiting, staring in surprise. By the time she's processed Chiyoko, the girl's already bolting. Shit. She forgot about her. She makes chase, as slow as it is.

That wasn't entirely true, Osaka reflected. She hadn't forgotten Chiyoko's presence. She just hadn't decided what to do with her yet. Chiyoko was better than the rest, only slightly. Demerits, a similar background. All good ways to help Ayumu get better. Show that daydreaming all the time had consequences, punish silly actions, help her get it together. She could be useful.

But she never did enough. Brushed it off, disappeared all the time for reasons no one would explain. And now she was actively interrupting her plans, which she of all people should understand! Wouldn't club activity improve without all these distractions? With a powerful witch at their aid? So why was she running and shouting? The girl was as bad as the rest, in the end. And she had to go too.

Forgetting the knife, she runs (more of a fast walks) after the girl. This screaming... just makes her angrier and angrier!]

Help?! You don't deserve help!

[ she needs all her breath to keep screaming and running, whooping in as much air as her lungs can take in between words -- or sometimes just screams, any kind of noise to get someone to hear or notice. She's almost running blind -- she has no idea which path they took into the forest anymore so all she can do is keep to the section of the ground that looks most trodden and hope and pray that someone will hear or find them.

She's running, tripping, staggering and there's an awful, heart-stopping moment where her foot catches on a stray root and wrenches her ankle in the wrong direction and she hears herself shriek, almost falls -- but she uses the momentum to keep pushing herself forward because if she falls, she won't get up.

Her eyes are streaming and even as she runs, she's limping badly -- but she's not going to stop running and screaming until someone makes her stop. ]

IT'S OSAKA! OSAKA'S IN THE WOODS AN' SHE'S GONE NUTS! IS ANYONE EVEN HEARING ME?!

[ She's certain she's only been running for about two minutes, but it feels as though it's been much longer. Oddly nimble for a mere seamstress, Nui darts across the forest as fast as her legs will let her. Her lungs are burning, her feet are scratched and bloody from wearing only thin sandals across the rough terrain. ]

Alice! Haruhi! [ She can't stop yelling. This forest is huge. She could run past them five or six times if there wasn't a response, or a flash of color. ] Osaka, you goddamned lunatic, I'm gonna slice all of your fingers off one by one!

[ --what was that? A blur of gray and purple in the distance. Someone. It probably wasn't Alice and Haruhi, but someone else was out in the forest at this time of night, that was the important point. Temporarily, she adjusts her course towards the figures.

Well. She was just wearing a nightgown and jeans, so her parasol would have to be the key identifier here. Pink as ever, and trailing behind her like a makeshift club. ]

[Hiroshi was getting antsy. They'd called people eons ago, and they still hadn't seen anybody. With Maria dead, he couldn't help but have his mind go in terrible directions and who the hell is that screeching like a banshee

Nui will find Hiroshi looking a bit like a deer in the headlights when she arrives.]

...Nui?

[Maya was about ready to tear her hair out in frustration. No one was coming yet, and she kept hearing things in the woods.

Hearing that horrible screeching noise, Maya squeaked and grabbed for her prayer beads until she realized what it was...]

Nui... Nui! What's the big idea?! Where is eveyrone?!

[ --Hiroshi and Maya? What the hell were they doing out here? Well, maybe Alice called them beforehand.

She can't bring herself to stop running, though, so she keeps moving around the two of them in jagged patterns while she speaks, shifting her parasol uncomfortably. ]

Alice called me. Osaka's gone nuts!

Osaka?! Are you quite certain?

[A memory flits through his mind, then: "Why does everybody call me Osaka?" "I don't understand. Why are you lying?"

He pales, though it's hard to make out in the darkness. The signs were there. The signs were there and he'd ignored them. Okay, he couldn't have known what they were signs of, but...]

[Dammit. Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit dammit. Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit. She's ruining everything.

Pushing forward with an energy she doesn't really have much of, Osaka keeps pursuing Chiyoko, teeth grinding, eyes fiery, anger at a tipping point. She's practically scratching at the trees in her way as she pursues the kansai buddy, tearing through anything in her path, until she's close enough to almost- yes, she finally manages to push into Chiyoko before immediately collapsing.

And then struggle with the desire to fall asleep jesus christ this body is so weak.]

Whaaat?! Osaka is the person doing this?!

[Maya was stunned. Nice, ditzy Osaka, a murderer? She was the one that did this to Maria? But why? What was the motive? Why would she...

And then she noticed Hiroshi's face.]

Hiroshi... do you know something...?

That's what she said. She got hit or something, and Haruhi-chan was screaming.

[ Nui attempts to stay silent in her frantic pacing, but grows frustrated when the two of them aren't keen on moving. ]

Ugh, talk while you're walking! Move, or I'll leave you two behind!

Edited 2015-01-23 09:17 (UTC)

[He follows her, but he still seems a little stunned.]

Osaka... she had been acting strangely behind Souji's house. Asking why everybody called her Osaka, accusing me of lying when I told her that it was HER nickname. I thought it was just her being her at the time and that I was imagining her acting funny, so I had not put any thought into it, but...

[He grabs his temples, angry at himself.]

If I had only listened!

Wh-whaaaaat?! No waaaay!

[Maya looks very worried now, keeping her eyes trained on every shadow that looked like it was moving, even though it was a trick of the lights. Maybe.]

B-but, why is it her..... it was you before...!

[ nui says nothing in response to the two of them, more concentrated on occasionally calling out the girl's names and peering around the trees that continually block her path.

How far into the forest where they? It had to have been relatively far if these two didn't hear the others screaming. ]

What the hell, where are they?

June 17th - The Woods, Before Sunrise

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