thefoundation | [CONTINUE] ROUND 6

[After so long a trip, you're all finally here. Taken through a hidden passage inside of the very mountain itself, you find yourself standing in front of a field of flowers, growing well due to the open roof above it. If you look up, you can just make out the shimmering colors off of the barrier - looking almost like the shine off of a soap bubble.

Try not to trample on the flowers as you approach the open, purple gate, where it looks as if someone is waiting for all of you just inside. And remember to wear your masks, now that you're here!

...Still, the sight of the yellow flowers waving in the wind....such a cheery sight fills you with determination for what's to come.

Welcome to the Underground.

You have the -

wait.

Haven't you done this before? No, you have. There was the murder, the trial, the ending and the Darkness -

Any abilities or powers you might have had are now totally off, as if they were never there.

...Someone who was dead is alive again. And someone else....

...

What was his name? You've forgotten it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To start with...

[What's the most important thing? As soon as she asks herself that question, the answer is obvious.]

I can't express how glad I am to have you back.

I'm honestly glad to be back, but... I'm shocked that this was the way that I had to come back. At the very least - I can help out again.

[She doesn't need abilities to assist.

And she's certain she can prove herself to do. Besides - wasn't this what she wanted? To feel more human, after all this time?]

That's... actually another thing I wanted to talk about, sort of. I need your help.

... Hm?

My help? On what?

Everything. Existence in general, really. You didn't see what I've been like lately.

... I don't usually say this to anyone, but I've had an existential crisis for a very long time.

...that's another thing I thought we ought to talk about, actually, but that isn't what I meant. Listen, from the moment I saw your body to the moment I saw you alive again, I don't think I spent a single moment as a functional person.

... was it really that bad...?

During the trial I was yelling at Potage-san over practically nothing. I still need to find him and apologize.

I knew trials could sometimes get bad, but I didn't expect it to get that bad when I died a second time.

It wasn't everyone. I don't remember everything clearly, since... what I just said, but I think most people had kept a level head. I wasn't any good investigating, either--it seems like I'm just not cut out for this murder business. Honestly, I don't know if I'm cut out for anything now, as far as this mission goes.

But there was one thing I kept thinking all that time that I think was right: "I can't make it through this alone." But when I thought "alone," I what I really meant was "without Inaba."

... If I didn't know any better, this almost sounds like a confession.

[Just saying.]

But - well, you don't need to be cut out for 'murder' stuff. Honestly, that sort of thing just isn't fair to anyone at all, and it isn't something that we should have had to experience in the first place.

It's... okay to be unsure, though. If you can do something or not. The future is never certain, and like I said before: everyone has something that they can do. You definitely think differently than I do, and have experiences that I just can't relate to that could be useful when talking to others.

It's just... I thought I knew what I could do to help. Even if I wasn't smart enough, or I couldn't make the right connections, or whatever else we needed, I could at least carry heavy things and jump up to high places and put out fires.

A confession, though... honestly, that isn't right, but it isn't entirely wrong.

Mm. Well - we can just figure things out together. We just have to roll with the punches.

[Although at the last part of what Karen says, she cants her head a little, confused.]

What do you mean?

I mean it isn't about a crush or anything like that, but...

[deep breath]

You're important to me, Inaba, in a way that not many people ever have been. You're really good at saying really inspiring things in a way that makes them easy to believe, but even just talking to you about stupid things is enough to make me feel like "it's all right, Inaba is here." When you're here, I'm not alone, and I can make it. Even if I feel useless, and I can't see the way forward, I don't feel hopeless. It's...

[She's kind of wishing she'd gotten more of a chance to think over this, maybe write an actual speech.]

I called you my closest friend, and that's true, but you're more than just a friend.

[That gets her to pause.

Like she's honestly stilled into utter silence - and it's enough for her to widen her dark brown eyes, which seem to water up that's almost unfamiliar.]

I... huh? [She brings her hands to her eyes to wipe the tears.] Sorry - I didn't mean to...

[Her gaze drops, her hands clasped together.]

Nobody's ever said something like that to me before.

[Not having many friends, not having people she was close to for fifteen whole years does that to a girl who was always desperate for friends but could never have any, due to her disposition.]

Thank you.

[Karen... almost wants to laugh. She's always thought of herself as the "friendless" one out of the two of them, the girl who'd built her whole identity on helping everyone else and not needing anything or anyone herself until one day a failure brought her crashing down. Everyone really does have their own problems, huh?

Instead she smiles. She's starting to tear up a little, too, she realizes now.]

Thank you. For being someone I could say it to.

[They sure do!

And Inaba's issues are a lot, even if she's trying to mask it as much as she can. Especially since there's a lot she just doesn't say - that she doesn't actually tell.

Too many variables of things that people just simply don't know about her.

Karen included.]

Well, we just gotta keep it up. I won't make any false promises, but we need to do as much as we can... so that we don't lose any more people.

[There's an emphasis on 'lose', as if she means more than just death.]

We'll find a way to bring everyone back.

[It has to happen.]

[CONTINUE] ROUND 6 - INTRO

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject