WEEK 3 INVESTIGATION

[foundationmods]

Three weeks had gone by, and even with the other Witch being revealed, Friday came.

Waking up on this day began to feel like the prelude to something horrible.

To a horrible sight...and some kind of deep betrayal, knowing that one of them had ended the lives of someone they'd been speaking and laughing with just the day before...🗈

...But, they had no choice. This was the game, and it had to be played - set in motion by the pair of Witches.

No matter how they felt, they had to search, to gaze upon cruel death in it's many forms.

No matter....how dear the person once was to them, today...they would be nothing but a corpse to gleam clues from, in preparation for the trial.

And so...they had to push forward. Forward...to find a terrible truth.

Comments

[fullbodied]

I thought you were... I want to believe you are.

[her breath hitches, and then she swallows.]

But Akira and Ryuji aren't pawns. They don't deserve to be referred to as yours, or as pieces. Especially not as a way to brush off their deaths.

[foundfate]

It's not about that-

[Watanuki stops himself short, though, and he makes an irritated noise. But he speaks no further.]

[fullbodied]

[she will remember that, but she can't back down from her insistence.]

... Okay.

I still want to talk to you. I--... I need your help.

[foundfate]

[There is a slight shift in his demeanor, like he is giving up on something and just accepting it for what it is, but he answers her soon enough.]

Alright. Come talk to me later.

[fullbodied]

[she pauses at that, and notes]

There are plenty of us that still trust you, Watanuki-kun. But trust doesn't mean blindly following.

[foundfate]

I'm not asking you to blindly follow me. I can't challenge the witch. Only the rest of you who are still 'in play' can.

I'm asking you to push forward and find your way to victory in this game.

[fullbodied]

[but what if she'd rather have been the one killed.

what if.]

... Mm-hm.

[foundationmods]

[There's something akin to a whisper in his ear....]

[foundfate]

[Watanuki's response is to immediately wave off the words in a rather literal sense as he mutters under his breath at it.]

Shut up already!

[foundationmods]

[...

His nose dents a little, like someone just booped it with a finger.

There's a faint giggle in the air.]

[goldenmaniac]

...

G-ghosts?!

[Takumi no]

[fullbodied]

Normally, I'd be scared.

But I'm tired.

What the hell was that?

[improbablenotimpossible]

Who is that?

[excavated]

. . . That wasn't Lambdadelta-san, was it?

[aleph_armed]

...Okay, how many witches are we at being involved in this game now?

[excavated]

To be honest, I don't know. [ The main two witches are definitely those two, but there might be some other witches watching them from the outside. Or something, anyway. ]

[aleph_armed]

Is this just going to be how the entire thing works? Every week we get a new witch to have to deal with? This place is going to get crowded with witches before long.

[excavated]

It's possible. . . I wouldn't know, though.

[keydomhearts]

Are we going to count all the minor ones?

[aleph_armed]

[...You know what, that answer is way scarier than what she was expecting. She's just going to facepalm a bit.]

...How many minor ones are involved in this already?

[keydomhearts]

[ Hmm ]

I don't actually know. They all look alike!

[ He'll peer around. Here Goats where the heck are you??? ]

Watanuki told me that the goats are pretty much minor witches.

[rikuchi]

...Lambdadelta?

[excavated]

Yes. It's a name of a witch, apparently. One that taught these two the rules of this particular game. Apparently they're supposed to be observing it. . . as far as I'm aware. Kimihiro might have more to say about her than I do, though.

[rikuchi]

[ ...... ]

...Right. The other witch did mention that before, but I think it slipped my mind.

[ He thinks he'll ask Watanuki more about it later, though - for now, off he goes. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

[...]

[Casually reaches over and waves his hand in the air in front of Watanuki's nose.]