DuckyB

Leaking Worlds

Yori glanced up the stairs, and then towards the door to the rest of the floor. "We stay down here," he stated quietly, gripping Kozue's arm. "For now. Explore this floor first and then go onward. If we skip ahead, we might miss something important."

He began to guide Kozue towards the door. It seemed like the best option for them. Not only was it a logical progression, but...they hadn't heard from the others in some time. Something may have happened to them due to their carelessness. It wasn't an option he wanted to entertain aloud, yet, but it was one he kept in mind. He wouldn't let that happen to them.

Inside the next room, a series of warped, almost grotesque paintings flooded the room. Each seem filled with figures that wavered back and forth between human and inhuman in the blink of an eye. Objects that seemed to be arranged to mimic the human form and features.

"Pareidolia," he mused. "First the mannequin, and now this. No true human form in sight, on mimicry. Curious, isn't it?"

Leaking Worlds

Yori tapped his cheek thoughtfully at the reply as Masato rolled up next to him. "Want? Not necessarily. At least not the artist. She's trying to tell us something. There has to be a deeper meaning."

"Progress," he hummed slowly, looking over the wilting flower. "Progress." He glanced back and forth between the hanged man and the blood rain, trying to put the pieces together. "Progress. The cycle of life and death. The rose dies so that the plants around it may live."

A frustrated sigh escaped his lips. "I can't piece together the numbers, though. They add nothing in context. Perhaps we need more. The others went upstairs, didn't they?"

Leaking Worlds

Yori laced his fingers through Kozue's and gave his hand a re-assuring squeeze. He needed to keep him calm. If he panicked, they might make a mistake. A nervous flinch, a stumble over clumsy footing, an unseen exhibit, any one could cause disaster if the girl on the loudspeaker was to be believed.

He wouldn't let that happen. Not to him, and not to Kozue. Not to anyone else if he could help it. Useless and reckless as they might be, he had no idea what kind of chain reaction they might set off while they destroyed the scenery. One wrong move, and the whole world comes tumbling down around them. They needed caution. Determination. Details.

Yori's specialties.

He moved forward with Kozue, pulling his way into the large, dusty room. The morose paintings loomed around them as they paused inside the room. "Wait, Kozue."

Something wasn't right here. "Look at them," he mused, "there is a theme." He pointed to the mannequin. "Life." Then the rain. "Death. Inverted, to trick the the mind." A finger tapped his chin thoughtfully as he watched the paintings. "It's ingenious, really. The noose is a symbol of suicide, or punishment, the ultimate price for one's deeds. Yet the mannequin is not dead. A mannequin lives only through posing, through observation, through its message. By stringing the mannequin, you give it life, where there should be death."

His finger and his gaze drifted to the painting. "And this. Blood, raining from the skies. Blood, the fuel of life, becomes a harbinger of death when it leaves the body. Unlike water, there is no cycle to be found here. The blood rain is a swan song echoing against the streets before the final death knell."

Yori's voice raised as he called out into the empty gallery. "My compliments. Your imagery is captivating. But tell me, please..." he murmured more softly, drawing closer to the wilted rose. "This piece. What is its purpose? We have already gone from life to death. What comes next, patron?"

A soft smile drifted across his face, and he caught Kozue in the corner of his eye. This was his element. This was how he would keep them safe. This was how he would bring them home.

Leaking Worlds

Everything went to hell.

Masato ruined a desk. Akira had already entered the gallery. While Mitsuki and Kozue seemed content to play it safe with him, the damage was already done. They were not dead, however. That was a positive outcome.

Yori stared at Akira for a few long, uncomfortable moments. He wanted to jerk him back. He wanted to slap him. He wanted to just walk away.

"Fine. We're going in. Together."

But the damage was done.

Leaking Worlds

A gallery.

Kozue was safe in hand so he didn't care too much what the others did. They could explore and tamper as much as they wanted with the strange room. The words on the wall, bidding them to touch nothing, seemed irrelevant, simple graffiti exaggerated by their altered state.

Until the gallery appeared, and the voice began speaking. That was the moment he snapped. The moment that everything started to become too real. As the others began to move forward to explore, he hissed out "Freeze!"

He held out a hand to the encroaching pair of Akira and Mitsuki. "Don't move. Don't touch anything. Don't go anywhere until we sort this out." At least Rika, Masato, and Kozue had the sense to hold back and not charge head long into a room threatening to kill them. Hopefully with their hesitance cooler heads would prevail and they could come up with some sort of plan.

Leaking Worlds

Yori stayed silent for awhile as the rest of the group began to explore. Kozue was trying to get their attention and assume some form of authority, but they were all off in their own world. He held on to his hand tight as he waited, assessing the situation.

"Very well," he said quietly as Kozue tried to draw him into the building. He didn't like the idea of moving away. Whatever this was, it wasn't natural, and it made him feel heavy. Out of place. But they could look after the others. No harm could come from investigating the building, even as strung out as they obviously were.

As they moved forward, he spied the text the underclassmen has been panicking over earlier. It was...unsettling, to a degree. Unpleasant to dwell on. He moved past it quickly, spying the group down near the end of the classrooms. Before he could try to pull Kozue along to meet them, however, he found himself pausing at the first door in the hall.

Saturday, April 11th, 12:10AM - Old Classroom 1-1

It might be useful to explore one room at a time. Space their travel out between examinations. Give the drugs time to wear off. The others could do what they liked, but he would look after Kozue's livelihood and his own first. He slowly slid the door open, and examined the room inside.

Leaking Worlds

"Hmph."

Yori lay still for several moments after he woke up. Masato's voice, and Kozue's, were both trying to reach him, but for the moment he was stubbornly refusing to answer. It was less irritating to lay there and collect his thoughts.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and sat up. He shook his head back and forth, both to answer Masato and to clear the lingering fog. "We were drugged. Beyond that, I have no idea."

Kozue's hand fit neatly into his. Their fingers laced together as he looked back into his companion's shaking eyes. "We can't go home. Not yet. Look at the sky." A free finger pointed up above his head as he spoke. "I don't know if you see what I see, but that's...not normal. We're...I don't know, strung out. High on something. Can't just wander off while we're like this."

One of the underclassmen was having a fit. Maybe the drug was affecting her worse than them. He called out to her as she stared forward towards some markings on the wall.

"Hey. You. Are you alright?"

Leaking Worlds

Kozue would need his assistance. Their swelling numbers seemed to make him uneasy, and he didn't react well to having his anxiety pointed out. Sorting him out would come before dealing with the gigantic mess of an underclass before them. Once Kozue was soothed, perhaps they could recruit their fellow third year to impose some level of control over the group. The more chaotic they were, the more likely they were to be caught, after all.

12:00

His first assumption, as the underclassmen around him began dropping like flies, was that they'd collectively and improperly imbibed on some illicit substance to add to the excitement of the night. Shameful, but also an opportunity. There was value in it, so it had his attention.

"Tch," he grunted, but the rest of his reproach never followed. There were no more words as he slid off his bike and sunk to the ground.

There was only silence.

Silence and pain.

Leaking Worlds

Friday, April 10th, 11:56PM - Old School Building

The amount of people here made Yori's expectations for the evening seem more in-feasible. Had the rumors really been so intriguing that half a dozen people had to show up on the same night? To be honest, he didn't really pay much attention to gossip in the first place. No one had seemed that interested when they poked around earlier, though. He'd assumed they'd have the building to themselves.

Disappointing. But not a complete loss. If this many people were here, perhaps there was something more exciting about the building itself than he'd realized. As Kozue gave a weak greeting to the crowd, he placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "Hello. Are we all exploring, then?" Introductions would come with time. For the moment, he only wanted to establish who was going inside.

Leaking Worlds

Kozue was touching him. While that was not altogether unpleasant, it broke his concentration, and the next line came out crooked. Most people would have received a lecture for the interruption, but Kozue was a special case. He didn't know better, and it was about time for them to bike home anyway. The inconvenience could be taken as karmic balance for leaving him to handle Akira alone earlier.

He slowly packed up his supplies as Kozue continued on about the abandoned building next door. Yori hadn't given it much thought, despite the rumors, but the prospect intrigued him. The decrepit building could provide a wealth of sketch ideas, and it was a pleasant excuse to avoid going home. Besides, the two of them, alone, exploring a large, dark, abandoned building...

Any number of things could happen.

"Very well," he said, sliding his satchel over his shoulder. He strode past Kozue into the hall, and began walking not towards the front exit and their bikes, but the old school building.