endless_june | June 17th - The Woods, Before Sunrise

...M-M-MINAKO!

[Maya could find no words to express her horror, only the name of her best friend, who now laid dead in front of them, could get through. It was spoken with fear, dread, and worry.

But, as Maya got closer, it was immediately obvious to her.

Minako was dead.

Maya sank to her knees, weak, like she had been punched in the stomach.]

[ It is a near miracle that Nui Harime retained her sanity for the seventeen years she's lived. Her sanctity of mind had always been riding on a thin line, growing weaker and weaker as more stress, more mania built up, turning into an indestructible mass. Being greeted by the corpse of one's closest friend was simply the push needed to obliterate the rational mind she was holding onto.

There's something feral in her unending scream, the way she grips her parasol with enough force to snap the wooden handle, digging splinters into her bare hands. It doesn't occur to her that this was the path she took while entering the woods not five minutes earlier. It doesn't occur to her that, because of this fact, Osaka could not be Minako's murderer. All that does occur to her is that the culprit must be killed. There need be no judge and jury, but only an executioner, to pay for what she'd done--to Minako, to Alice, to Haruhi, wherever they were.

Nui can't stand by Minako any longer, bolting and reversing her course straight back into the heart of the woods. ]

OSAKAAAAAAAA....!

Edited 2015-01-25 05:24 (UTC)

N-Nui! Wait --!

Damnit... why is this happening?! Maya! We need to follow her!

[Mourning -- and guilt -- can come later. Nui could get herself KILLED.]

HOLD IT!

[Maya, in the time Nui had snapped and raced off into the wood to find someone that was possibly alive and likely dead, Maya had rose to her feet again, and had taken up a weighted branch in her clenched hands, holding it up in between her and Hiroshi.

There was fear in her eyes, and rage, and tears.]

Did. You. Do. This? Answer me, Hiroshi! I want the truth!

M...Maya...

[He backs away, mortified.]

Pl...please. Please believe me! I... I don't know who did this! I couldn't have done this! I...

[He winces his eyes shut.]

But... but still...! No... Maybe this is my fault... I was so blasted stupid, reminding Osaka about who gave her the nickname...! Yes, perhaps... I...

Minako... I shouldn't have said anything to her... ah... aaaaah...

[The facade breaks. The stoic, rational minded Hiroshi... is crying.]

Maya... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! This really is all my fault... I didn't listen... I didn't listen to anybody! This has all... ahhhh...

I... I....

[She bites her tongue, eyes shut tightly as she tries to keep herself from trembling. But it was no use, her arms were visibly shaking.]

I-I don't believe you... [She sounded desperate, trying to think like her sister would. There had to be proof...]

My vision! It s-shows everything! You attacked Minako, and then Nui, and knocked out Alice! And so, s-she...

[There had to be a logical reason for everything, a motive...]

You said that "the ninth was dead". But, Osaka-- Ayumu is... She's...

[But she wasn't a lawyer, or even a full-fledged medium for that matter. The branch fell uselessly at Maya's feet, her eyes turned downcast to her hands.]

...I don't understand... [Maya buried her face in her hands, no longer able to stop the tears she had.] What's going on?! Why is this happening to us?!

I... I don't know! I don't KNOW! Nothing... it all makes no sense! None of this should have happened... If I'd been more diligent... no, if I'd just listened to my own instinct for once in my goddamn life! I...

...no. No matter how I look at it, no matter how unscientific it is, it all comes back to that ceremony... Everything started that night... but why? I... I cannot believe in Shigetsuna. I CAN'T! There has to be... something...

The ceremony... where we tried to summon Shigetsuna-sama.

Hiroshi, I WANT to have an explanation for all of this. There must be SOMETHING we can think of! Anything...

[She knelt again, looking blearily at Minako and the golden... thing sticking out of her blood-soaked chest.]

Yes... And not just the ceremony. Those articles. There must be --

[A scream startles him out of his thinking]

That came from --?!

-- The direction Nui went!

[Maya shot up, fueled on pure adrenaline now.]

W-we have to go. Come one, Hiroshi!

[Answers were needed, and one way or another this needed to end. Maya shot off, running up the path as quickly as possible.]

Maya --!

[He runs after her, terrified. No... no more bodies, please...]

[ Osaka's a dead (haha) weight on her back and Chiyoko feels like all the air's being crushed out of her lungs. But she has to try -- so she lays still, trying to hiss in as deep a breath as she can manage, waiting for her chance -- and then when Osaka finally lifts herself up, she sucks in a lungfull of air and twists back, cracking her elbow against Osaka's jaw and doing her best to shove her away and scramble to her feet. ]

I SAID WE'RE OVER HERE! SOMEONE COME FIND US ALREADY!

[MOTHER FUCK.

She tumbles backward, gripping her mouth in pain, and yelling out in pain. She can already taste blood in her throat. A low growl escapes her throat, but she doesn't get up. Exhaustion and being as slow as a turtle has caught up to her momentarily and she's having trouble getting up.]

Lo-LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO AYUMU!

[Because there's a huge moral difference between murdering Ayumu's friends and potentially breaking Ayumu's jaw.]

[ Nui hears screaming, screaming that's not from Maya and Hiroshi, so she bolts in that direction as fast as her legs will let her.

Gradually, the two of them will be greeted by an incredibly disheveled Nui, dragging her parasol with her like a baseball bat. ]

[Turns out that being scared out of your wits takes a lot out of a person. As, Maya was half-exhausted when she finally happened on the area where she thought the screaming had come from.]

H-hhiroshi... It's... it's everyone else!

[N-no way. That's --!]

Chiyoko!

[He runs over to try to help her move away from Osaka.]

Osaka, stop this madness! What do you hope to achieve by all of this?!

[ SHE APPRECIATES THAT HAND UP HIROSHI

she scrabbles to her feet, gripping onto him like a lifeline thrown to her to keep her from drowning ina river. She scoots behind him as fast as she can, putting as much distance between her and Osaka as possible.

She lifts a shaky hand and points. ]

... Haruhi.

[ then she licks her lips and swallows hard. ]

Sh--she k--killed--

[Osaka has to take a moment to pull herself up as all these interfering forces pull her victim away. She feels around in her mouth and pull out, just what she guessed, a tooth. Ayumu's tooth. She starts growling again, eyes flashing angrily at these bastards.]

I thought you of all people could figure it out Hiroshi. Aren't you supposed to be smart? Aren't all of you supposed to be smart? Because that's nice, ain't it? Feeling smart and proud because you've got a little moron to compare yourself too! It must be so satisfying seeing someone so dumb

[Her back shoots up and she pretends to be straightening some imaginary glasses.] "It's just Osaka, she probably spaced out for a few minutes." [The imaginary glasses disappear and she's suddenly pointing dramatically.] "Late again? 20 demerits!" [She puts her hands behind her head in what appears to be an attempt at making a bow.] "That name's too hard! We'll just call you Osaka!" [And finally she covers one of her eyes, while also resting her other hand on the side of her face, like a certain spirit medium does when she's thoughtful.] "Blah blah blah here's a bullshit story that I know you'll believe because everyone knows what an idiot you are Osaka!"

[She drops the imitations and advances toward them accusingly.] Its just soooooooooooooo much funnier to laugh at her, wasn't it?! Making fun of her behind her back, never helping her out, never even bothering to LEARN HER NAME, just laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING AND LAUGHING!

[She pauses swaying a little to catch her breath.] ...Yeah. Bet it feels good for you. Doesn't it?

[ The near split second that Osaka stops talking, Nui moves. Why was she talking so much? Blah blah blah blah, just lip movements and indistinguishable vocalizations. Why was Osaka still standing? ]

Shut up!

[ She drops her parasol. Right. She'd brought something else with her. In a fluid motion, she pulls the sewing scissors out of her pocket and practically jumps on the other girl. ]

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut uppppppppp!

[ It's a compulsion to keep repeating that phrase. There's nothing else she can think about save shutting up this stupid girl for good. Maria. Haruhi. Minako. Alice. Who the hell did she think she was?

Her mind is overkill mode. Stab. Stab indiscriminately. Don't stop stabbing. Even when she stops moving, don't cease bringing the scissors down. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. ]

[A hushed silence swept over Maya as Osaka's words hit her like blows to the face. The words stung. Had she really felt that way all this time? Were they to blame...?]

Osaka...

[And then the world started moving again, and Nui was on Osaka like a rabid dog. She raised a hand in protest... but found that she couldn't move.

She could only watch.]

Nui!!

[If it stung for Maya, it stabbed for Hiroshi. Every word, like a dagger. He thought he was smart. He'd been told he was smart -- no, he'd been told he HAD to be smart. Wasn't that what the acceptance had been? Just another stepping stone towards becoming a respected scientist, a member of the intellectual elite? That's how his father felt, right?

But the more he listens to Osaka, the more it hits home. He could have all the smarts in the world, all the great scientific discoveries... and it didn't mean a damn thing if he didn't know how to actually LISTEN to his friends, how to have any sort of empathy. How to read PEOPLE, not books. And now... this. So many people dead...]

Osa... N-no... Ay...

[And then Nui strikes, and he reels backwards, everything happening too fast for his brain to process. And there's blood. Everywhere.]

[ it's probably a good job she's already emptied her stomach, because that bile and nausea is rising again and Chiyoko has to swallow hard to chase it down again. She wants to scream back, tell her to shut up, how dare she try and criticize them now when two people are dead -- but her words hit home and sting too much for her to make any kind of argument.

Not like she has time, anyway.

There's blood everywhere and all she can hear is screaming and it's

too much ]

STOP IT!

[ the scream comes out before she's even concious of opening her mouth and she's suddenly aware that she's started to sob, holding her head heavily in her hands. ]

Just stop it stop it stop it stop it!

[Osaka doesn't even have time to step backward in shock as the scissors strike and she collapses in pain. There's no time to do anything except experience Nui's brutal assault.

She should have expected this. Osaka had been so successful so far in defending Ayumu, they must have decided to do away with it. They didn't need her anymore.

But that doesn't make sense. Nothing makes sense. Why is is so hard to think? Ayumu is so confused and everything hurts. She knew that Osaka was the ninth person at the ritual, it was the only thing that made sense. But where did she come from? Why did her friends lie about Osaka's existence? Why was everyone so angry at her? She didn't do this, it was Osaka.

...Right? She... she was Ayumu. No, Osaka. No... who was she? Why couldn't they help her figure out who she was? They were supposed to be her friends why didn't they ever help? They deserve what they got. No. Yes. Wait. Damn these people. No, don't damn these people. No.... whatever.

Its hard to think, even more so than usual. Osaka- no, Ayumu, no... she... she's so tired. The pain keeps increasing with each stab and everyone's yelling its getting harder and harder to focus.

She's just gotta figure out who's fault this is. She can do if she just gets it together.

Get it together.

Get it together.

Get]

[ Eventually, she stops stabbing, letting the scissors clatter onto the forest floor. For a few moments, she does nothing but stare numbly at the scene before her. There was so much blood, someone surely died here.

It was on her hands. What was she doing here?

Nui can't tell if she stands up on her own or if someone else is hoisting her up. (Did she even stop stabbing? Maybe she was still doing that.) She was...doing this for a reason, right? Osaka....killed them.

Osaka.

Strangely enough, she trembles. Osaka was her friend. She feels no satisfaction. So, why did she.....? ]

June 17th - The Woods, Before Sunrise

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