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| House Call; [Sayako] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 4 2016, 02:02 PM (203 Views) | |
| Nonsequitur | Feb 4 2016, 02:02 PM Post #1 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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Apartment number 25 on floor seven, of a rather average building on Matechi street. Exactly as the address that Sayako had given her ad pointed out. On her way up the elevator and inside, Maki had a chance to fully take in her immediate surroundings. Hardly extravagant, but nice. The kind of abode of mid-level managers and their families would stay in. But Maki had spent enough time admiring the sort of environment she was staying in. The redheaded woman in a green skit and jacket suit knocked on the door. "Morinaga-san? It's Yamada." She had of course, called ahead, so it was no surprise. She had few reasons to do so from a coldly rational sense, but she felt the girl was trustworthy. A bright spot despite the ugly, often tangled network of skullduggery and bloodthirstiness of her kinsmen. There was much to discuss. From possibly the true reason her cousins had come to Nagashima to every detail she had learned of the Sadakos, Morinagas and the Matsusuzakis. What she was a bit more reluctant to talk about were the possible family ties she has in town. Sayako might not necessarily be interested, and she still needed to know if it was alright with Masumi or Eri or her daughter. But there were other reasons for a follow-up visit. She needed to know how well she was weathering having her entire world torn from under her. Prior to encountering Maki, she thought her family were just wealthy eccentrics living in Inaba, no doubt. She needed to take responsibility and be prepared to support, as well as inform. |
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| The One True Nobody | Feb 4 2016, 02:58 PM Post #2 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Sayako Morinaga had been napping. As it turned out, without the rigidly-structured lifestyle that had been enforced at her family's country-home in Inaba, it was deliciously easy to fall into a lazy habit of eating when she wanted, reading when she wanted, sleeping when she wanted, and (had she not been keeping to the apartment in anticipation of Maki's visit) go wherever she pleased when she wanted. This newfound freedom was intoxicating. But Sayako was determined not to lose her head over it. So when Maki called, Sayako was ready. She got up, answered, and politely told Maki that she was home, and to come over at her earliest convenience. A shower to wake herself up, followed by a tall glass of juice to hydrate and a quickly-assembled breakfast, and then, she brushed her teeth: these were the preparations, hastily but meticulously completed with great practice, that Sayako made before the police detective arrived. Sayako had always been a heavy sleeper, but her father a demanding morning dictator, so she had learned how to freshen up and feed herself in the morning in record time. "Detective Yamada-san! Welcome," Sayako said, but she kept her voice down, just in case--she didn't believe anyone was listening in, but on the off-chance that Teruko paid her a surprise visit, she didn't want her dealings with a law-enforcement official to be too easy to hear from down the hall. "Come in, come in!" Her hair was only slightly damp when she opened the door. Behind her, the room was pristine, not an object-of-place apart from her copy of The Two Towers on the sitting room table. Several objects would jump out to Maki as immediately unfitting of the other furnishings, though: a flatscreen television on top of a cheap stand, underneath which a PlayStation 4 videogame console sat with a stack of Blu-Ray movies on top of it, all of which were Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings (the Hobbit movies were, for now, not part of Sayako's collection). There was also a crock pot visible on the kitchen counter at the far side of the apartment, and a budget-priced sofa not far from the television; the table and cushions had been moved so that Sayako could sit comfortable on the sofa in front of the television instead, and for drinks and other such comforts while enjoying the couch, three wooden fold-up, one-person tables had been lined up against the wall beside it. Maki, if she was perceptive of such things, could probably see the seams where the comfortable, traditional lifestyle Sayako's parents provided came to an end, and where Sayako's own self-made choices began. Other notable items that Maki would see were a few framed pieces of traditional Japanese art along the walls, and above the television, on several plastic wall-pegs, what appeared to be Sayako's training equipment: a set of shinai of varying lengths from wakizashi to katana, a large wooden practice naginata, a wooden spear, a high-quality bo staff: propped against the same wall, several items that had not been given display pegs of their own as yet: a brand-new bokken with the kanji for Freedom engraved near the grip, and a training-sword and training shield of a more western-medieval variety, these constructed of black polypropylene; next to these, an expensive-looking composite bow and a quiver of arrows, a stack of several practice-target sheets in an open box next to it. One of the practice sheets had evidentally been used, but only bore three holes, all near the outer edge of the circle: Sayako was a total novice with that particular weapon. Folded on the floor next to these was a pair of black tactical pants atop a bulkier garment that might have been the shirt-portion of an equally-black martial-arts gi; a pair of tall, just-as-black boots stood neatly side-by-side. Folded atop the pants-and-gi set was a deep-maroon but narrow bandana headband, evidentally to be tied around the forehead during training. This was an outfit that would have been suited to one of Nagashima's many out-of-control vigilante figures during their heyday, except for two things: they were laid out plainly in the open against a wall-corner of the sitting room under the rest of the training equipment, and there was no face-covering to be seen among any of these items. If Sayako thought this particular arrangement of possessions was in any way unusual, she didn't show it--she walked straight past them to the kitchen, asking over her shoulder, "Would you like some refreshment? I have juice, tea, and ice-cold water, and I could make some food, if you're willing to wait half an hour or so. Does fish teriyaki with sweet-and-sour cucumbers sound good? It's a quick, easy meal that I'm rather fond of, so I always have the ingredients at hand." |
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| Nonsequitur | Feb 6 2016, 11:16 PM Post #3 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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A discerning eye used to pouring over a scene and getting whatever information possible out of it didn't have a hard time to figure out where the remote influence of her parents would end and where the decisions she made for herself would begin: Of course they expected her to keep up with those martial arts skills they went though such pains to teach her. No, they wouldn't tell her why it was so important. Even the place itself was likely their choice. Nice, and quiet and out of the way. Possibly a good way to describe how the Morinagas preferred their children until they had a use for them. But still, Sayako had her own interests and she was pursuing them with great gusto. It was a place away from disapproving eyes and stern admonishments for 'frivolous' things, no doubt. She noted the costume curiously and the irony of most of her family fancying themselves self-styled ninjas was not lost on her. "Hello, Morinaga-san, it's good to see you again." Maki said with one of her rare smiles. She slipped out of her low pumps and opted to step barefoot in her home. "Water would be just fine, thank you." She had a glance before, but afterwards, she was fully immersed in it. "So, have you been adjusting well to town? I understand it's not what you're used to." She didn't doubt that Sayako wasn't enjoying having the autonomy to decide to do what she wanted to do, but a bit of small talk before pushing right into the greater details. |
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| The One True Nobody | Feb 6 2016, 11:43 PM Post #4 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Sayako's formal upbringing was obvious, no matter how she rebelled. When Maki answered that she was fine with just water, the girl actually bowed: a straight-backed bow with her hands on her knees as if she were a server at a traditional Japanese inn. She didn't answer verbally at all, just smiled and strode to the kitchen. The way she walked, now that she was free of the stress and anger that had permeated their previous encounter, was graceful, somehow both feminine and powerful, and also thoughtless: she didn't try to look a certain way, but the combination of martial arts training and domestic pursuits that had ruled her childhood gave her a practiced sense of confidence and poise that one rarely saw in a girl her age. Maki might have seen more similarities between Sayako and her fellow police officers than between Sayako and the other high-school students she knew, but a police officer's mannerisms would probably have been rougher and tougher-looking. Two medium-sized glasses (made of actual glass, not plastic) were filled swiftly with drinks from pitchers in the refrigerator. While Maki's glass was filled with water, Sayako opted for apple juice. It was as Sayako topped these two glasses off with three ice-cubes apiece from the freezer, that she answered Maki's question. "It's quite a lot noisier in the city than in the country, but I have visited Nagashima and Kyoto before," Sayako said. "And I'm quite used to preparing my own food, since I often made food for the whole family as it was--that duty passed between my mother and the daughters of the house, both my immediate family and close cousins. I don't resent that in the slightest--I always knew it would be useful when I was finally free to live alone." She closed the freezer, took both classes from the counter, and walked back to the sitting room, offering Maki her glass of water. "The only thing I'm not used to is being allowed to go where I please, when I please," she said. "And not having to listen for footsteps in the hall while I'm reading. I was only allowed out of the house during school hours, and I was to come right back. Apart from that, sometimes I was sent on an errand to Master Daidara's shop--a local armorer and blacksmith. A bit of an eccentric, but a maker of fine weapons and armor. It was by him that our training weapons were made, the metal ones. I've never actually practiced with a metal sword, myself; we aren't allowed to do so until we come of age, you see." |
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| Nonsequitur | Feb 15 2016, 02:38 AM Post #5 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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"I…see." There was an eccentric blacksmith in Inaba who just sold real weapons and armor to just anyone that walked in with a request? That in itself was deeply problematic, to Maki, at least from a professional standpoint. Later, she intended to inform the local PD of her concerns. No doubt they wanted to part of an apparent armory operating out their sleepy mountain town. But that was later, for the moment, she nodded along to what Sayako was saying. She took a sip of chilled water and added her own thoughts. "Yes, freedom can be overwhelming. Even intoxicating at first. When you are first free to go in whatever direction you wish, you are paralyzed by just the sheer volume of choices available, are you not?" She said with a smile. "Everyone will have that point in their lives. You're not alone there, at least. But, being able to make informed and sound decisions about what you do from here on out will be very important." Ah, they were getting back to the point of the visit. Not that she didn't find Sayako a fine hostess, but surely she was anxious to hear more if she deemed herself ready. Else she wouldn't have invited Maki over. "Do you have any questions in particular about what i said the other day? Should I move onto a bit of new information regarding your family's movements in town first?" |
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| The One True Nobody | Feb 17 2016, 06:54 AM Post #6 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Sayako nodded, a sheepish smile crossing her face as if by this motion she were admitting to something embarrassing. "It is daunting, I will say that..." she murmured. Moving to sit on her couch, and silently gesturing in invitation for Maki to do the same, the young woman leaned forward a little, sipping at her juice, and losing herself once more in the directionless feeling she'd been suffering since coming to this city. Really, the closest thing to a goal she'd been given so far, apart from "do well in school," had been given to her by the very police detective she spoke with now... Maki asking her if she had any questions brought her back rather peaceably from her reverie, however. Whatever turmoil she'd felt when Maki had first told her the truth was gone. All that remained was quiet, unhappy acceptance. The friendly smile faded from her face, and became a serious frown. "I apologize," she said. "I've never had a guest of my own before, and was enjoying the experience perhaps a little too much. I tried to think of what questions I might ask, when you arrived, but everything that occurred to me, I was able to work out on my own. Weaponry, for instance. A Yakuza family might have use for swords, moreso than one household in the boonies with a tradition of training its children. I assumed many of the weapons that father ordered were being sent to our cousins for training, but most of them are custom-made and expensive... and we have a family branch that specializes in such things, so why do we order from a local smith only to send the weapons away? I can only assume now it is to avoid implicating the Matsuzaki company in anything untoward and to give them no reason to suspect our family of wrongdoing. If that is the case, though, they may be as ignorant as I am, which would explain why I was kept in the dark to begin with." Another sip of her juice. Sayako's eyes drifted to her training equipment, and when the glass lowered from her mouth, she mumbled so softly that Maki might think her hearing it was accidental: "Always train in the clothes you would be wearing if you were to fight, father always said... as if he expected us to intentionally gear up and go out looking for it. Yes, I see. It was just an old habit. Not meant for me, but for my brothers. I never would have needed the lesson." Sayako's eyes and their focus snapped back to Maki. "I think it's fair, before you give me any new information, to give you some of my own," Sayako said. "I called father, and complained to him that Tsuneo had found me at the park and harassed me. He was rather cross, of course, but it turns out father knew he would be here and neglected to warn me of it. Apparently he's investigating the death of his sister Nishiyo, as he claimed, but father echoed a curious request that my cousin Teruko also made of me: that I let him know if I see or hear of anything strange. What do you suppose they expect a high school girl who has been raised to remain indoors to find out in such a large city? Chances are I won't even blindly step across Nishiyo's breadcrumb-trail. In any case, it struck me as strange enough that I thought you should know. The question makes me think that my father and Teruko both have a better idea of what they're looking for than they're letting on." --- As it happened, if Maki remembered to call the Inaba Police Department about Daidara later, she would find they knew full-well about the man, and his work for the one family in the area that never socialized with anyone. However, they would also be able to tell Maki that Daidara rarely had customers of any sort, and that he closed up shop far too early in the evening to sell weapons to minors without being reported by the Shopping District's other businesses: the shop was right smack in the most-populated area of the district. The store, in fact, did very poorly at actually selling anything, and was only able to run by virtue of the owner's eccentric love of his craft (this, the policeman on the phone would say with an understanding laugh, as if to add that he understood the detective's concerns, but there were just some things about their backwater town that a city cop wouldn't understand). The final piece of trivia that officer would provide was that a year or so ago, a pair of boys was arrested for brandishing badly-wrought fake weapons in the mall, but it turned out they weren't dangerous, just stupid: the swords in question were fifteen-dollar Internet purchases that would have broken into pieces if they were ever seriously swung at anything--flimsy, low-quality steel and not even full tang, only suited for putting on an office shelf to seem "hip" and "with it" to the younger generation. This had been the only arrest ever made in the town that had anything to do with swords or other weapons of the type Daidara might have made. The relevant piece of information here was that as secluded as they were, the Morinaga family clearly had money: lots of it. They placed an order for something custom-made at least once a month. |
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| Nonsequitur | Feb 24 2016, 03:09 AM Post #7 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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"I don't think there's anything to apologize for, really." She said calmly, with no sign of trepidation to mirror Sayako's own. In fact, Maki had a hint of a smile before she explained. "It's perhaps for the best that one doesn't have to contemplate such things too closely or too long yes? I think enjoying being on your own terms." But things would not stay so light for long. As Sayako explained what she reasoned out, the policewoman nodded. "You're quite astute, Morinaga-san. It would be in their best interest to control leaks by keeping you in the dark as much as possible should their ultimate goal be to marry you off to another branch of the clan." She spoke of the subject of unneeded lessons. She took a sip of water and took in what Sayako was telling her. It wasn't news: The Sadakos obviously suspected foul play in the untimely end of their daughter. "Frankly, it's something of an open secret that Nishiyo Sadako's death raised more questions than it answered, I don't doubt that's the sole reason for your branch of this family to be involved." She would no doubt encounter that swaggering idiot sometime soon after she'd spoken to Sayako. She had nothing to tell him that he would be satisfied with, no doubt. But he seemed just as dull and prone to use force and violence over finesse and actual forethought to pursue their goals. She had confidence she was able to handle him as well. "But as for the ulterior motive of the Morinagas in town. I have reason to believe they intend to deal with some loose ends to their self-styled eugenics program. A previously thought 'lost' member of their family turned up living a somewhat mundane life with a daughter. In the name of preserving their so-called purity they are obligated to find and kill these perceived rogue kinsmen. No doubt a report of women with green hair whom you don't recognize as family would have surely counted as 'strange' in this context." The implications of what Maki said were twofold. It was a damning picture of how closely Sayako's family was hidebound by their insane ideals. But there was also a silver lining, it suggested family likewise unconnected to that same ethos, someone Sayako could have connected with. |
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| The One True Nobody | Mar 2 2016, 05:15 AM Post #8 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Nishiyo's death, huh? If she really was heiress to a criminal family, it probably wasn't a surprise that grinning piranha-girl had come to a sticky end. Still, Sayako found herself frowning deeply to herself, folding her arms over her chest, closing her eyes, trying to think. Her eyes popped open immediately at the mention of a lost member of the family. "...Oh," she whispered. Her grandmother had fled the estate when she was young and pregnant, years before Sayako's own mother was born. And though she rarely spoke of it, Sayako knew that Kimiko Morinaga had borne fraternal twins. Twins, for some reason, had been her grandmother's genetic curse: twins, and agonizing pregnancies. Sayako's own mother had been a twin. And the third pregnancy would have born twins as well, if Kimiko had not fallen deathly ill three months in, losing her own life along with her unborn sons. "A son and a daughter," Sayako whispered. "Grandmother was found and... brought home, but she had abandoned the twins. She claimed that she'd drowned them. That was over thirty years ago. Eri, that was her daughter's name. We have a... small empty grave for the pair of them, in our back garden. Father always said, she said that our grandmother was a horrible, selfish woman, and that she had brought death on herself with her disregard for family." Sayako let out a short breath, slowly closing her eyes. "...But that cannot be what father meant," she said. "If he believed Eri or her brother still alive, he would have told me so. It would have been so easy to manipulate me into passing the 'good news' along. But he insisted on being cryptic, nonspecific, so I would think to tell him of every strange event that might happen while I'm here. I wonder if there's something else he's..." Sayako slowly stood, and began to pace. Her mind returned to Nishiyo, as much as it wanted to dwell on the news that her grandmother's firstborn twins, or at least one of them, might still be alive and well. She walked left, and then right, and then back again, stopping. "Nishiyo, my oh-so-sweet-tempered cousin," she said suddenly. "I did look into her, in the local news. All I could find was that her betrothed was convicted of--well--I found out more about what you told me. Katashi Himura-san. His name was familiar to me, and it didn't take long for me to find out why. His mother is my aunt--my mother's twin sister, and because the first two were 'dead,' Miyako was now the secondborn daughter. His family is a distant branch-off of the Matsuzaki family, so it was simply... tradition, though the Matsuzaki family had borne only a single daughter that generation, so Miyako was shunted off to marry one of the side-families. Aunt Miyako, though, she was never quite... happy. And she was never quite right in the head. I remember how agitated she always seemed, the few times I met her when I was small. She died when Katashi was five or six. She disappeared one night from the Himura estate and a month later she was found in the road, victim of a hit-and-run. But she died in Saitama... what was she doing so far from Osaka? I thought, perhaps she was kidnapped, but it never quite fit. What if she left of her own will, though? And what if her death wasn't an accident?" Sayako turned quickly to Maki. "...Katashi-kun loved his mother," she said, quite abruptly, in a stilted voice. "You might not believe it if he was truly the sort of person who would do--who would--but, but when I saw him, when he was five and I was still learning basic numbers, he clung to her skirt like a little cartoon toddler. He was so innocent. When I heard what he had become--well, his father was never the most--I didn't like his father much." This last statement came out strangely reluctant. "I think he remarried, but I never met them after Auntie Miyako died. But it's twisting my head around like a twist-tie. Did my grandfather have Auntie Miyako killed? Are they, then, responsible for what Katashi-kun became? How many other twisted lives have come out of this madness? Is it possible to end it? If so... how? Where would I--how could anyone even begin?" |
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| Nonsequitur | Mar 3 2016, 01:22 AM Post #9 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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There were a number of details that had arisen out of Sayako's story that she was not familiar with before. Suddenly Eri's parent had a name. And Eri had a sibling. At least two if the implication that HImura was also the child of her parent. And the circumstances of a car accident at least three decades ago would also need to be looked into. But the more she observed, the more she was worried about what she didn't even realize she told her. The Morignagas were concerned about something strange happening in town beyond just an odd death of one of their own and the jailing of another. She didn't look away from Sayako as she went from pacing to turning to her. Calmly, she gave an answer to what she thought was a rhetorical question. In no small part, it was her best advice to the girl who'd invited her there. "I don't know. You turn your back on it, and leave it behind. It breaks the cycle and the cultist control the family has over their members. If one were to get away. But with no new blood to perpetrate it, in time it would die out with the older family and their ideas." Easier said than ddone. With all the branches and intermarriages, the Morinagas and their satellites were nearly a nation onto themselves. "I have had the misfortune to cross paths with both the late Sadako and her fiance. I can't say I ever considered what they were once like, or what changed that. By the time I ever laid eyes on either they were respectively an unhinged, manipulative murderer and a depraved, self-satisfied sadist. That they were once children like any other played little into my obligation to protect others from them." There was no better proof she'd come to know either of the two than her low opinion of them. "No one can say for sure how a person changes. But I don't doubt the very workings of this shadow network our clan has made played some part in warping people. If it were possible, I'd like nothing more than to dismantle the whole thing. To absolutely do away with something that's been responsible for so many lives cut down and others ruined." She finished her drink quickly and stared off to a far wall for a moment. "…that you have agency, and support independent of them. I think you'll be fine. I don't know what's going to happen overall as a result of this, but that much I am sure of." It was too early and reckless to outright say that she had an aunt and a cousin there. She wanted to talk to Eri and her daughter about this first. To follow-up, to make sure she wasn't putting all three of them in further danger. After that? Who knows? Apparently she's also related to Etsuko. Quite a lot of family that evaded direct affiliation with the Morrinagas or one of their subordinates, one way or the other. |
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| The One True Nobody | Mar 3 2016, 02:42 AM Post #10 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Sayako had always been a patient person, patient and polite. No matter how much her brain screamed at her that she wanted to be somewhere else, someone else, she had always listened when her parents spoke, listened and remained calm and attentive. This held true even now, when Detective Yamada was the speaker and the subject everything that had been wrong with Sayako's life until now. So she listened. She turned to face Maki and she steadied herself, and she listened. Her brain screamed a number of things at her as she did. It screamed that just laying back and hoping the problem would fizzle away wouldn't work. It screamed that those who were twisted into such horrid monsters were as much victims as those they hurt in turn. It screamed that the only way to be sure was to dismantle the whole thing... Her face remained neutral, and after Maki finished, Sayako didn't say anything. Instead she moved to sit down, and took another small sip from her glass, cooling her throat... and her head. Her eyes slowly closed, and she pushed a small exhale out from her lungs, imagining her frustrations blowing away along with it. It was a difficult thing to imagine. "I suppose there's nothing to be said about what to do for now," Sayako said at length. Her eyes opened, and met with Maki's. "Short of some hero out of the blue travelling to Inaba and Osaka and Kyoto and... uprooting it all, somehow, it will just... keep going on, won't it? There's a limit to how much distance I can put between myself and my family before I become another victim, myself. The best I can do is go on pretending I don't know anything." She looked away, eyes flitting to the floor. "I almost wish I didn't know anything..." |
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