SDRA2 OTP Extravaganza

Haunted (Setsusora/Setsuka Chiebukuro x Sora)

Sidebloggable Prompt: "Role-Swapped"

Tumblr Prompt: https://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/168529363920/imagine-person-a-of-you-otp-died-has-been-dead/amp

"Imagine person A of your OTP died/ has been dead for a while and person B is remembering when person A used to joke that when they die they are going to haunt B. Turns out A wasn't joking." (loosely based)

Warning: referenced death

***

The Tower of Babel was cold, and Setsuka shivered as she curled up in a corner of the break room. Even after they had stopped Teruya, even after they made themselves free to roam again, the doors were still locked and the temperature was freezing.

Normally, Setsuka would try to rally everyone together, telling them to huddle close and encouraging them to keep warm. But ever since the third class trial they've had, shock had set deep into her heart and was pushing her deep into her insecurities.

It turned out that Kanade was planning to kill her with Hibiki, who had a dissociative state that Setsuka had never seen before, but Sora had walked in at the opportune time and accidentally saved her. Kanade switched her target and knocked Sora out, and the twins killed her while framing Setsuka for the crime.

Kanade dismembered Sora, additionally framed Iroha, and revealed everything that she had done to break Hibiki's psyche after she lost the class trial. While Hibiki screamed for help and did everything she could to survive, Kanade died laughing and unapologetic. In the end, the billiards player was too powerless to do anything.

After the trial, Setsuka went back up to her room and started to cry. Several people reached out to her through the handbook's messaging system, mostly Nikei and Yoruko, but she didn't reply to those messages. She ended up crying herself to sleep.

A few days later, Setsuka helped Nikei come out as a Void to the group and kept the peace - though Setsuka didn't expect the Tower of Babel to be a part of Nikei's plan. She did share the information she learned on the note with the rest of the group in Nikei's room, and everyone found out that not only was this part of a virtual world, but Mikado wasn't human after all. Even Nikei didn't know that.

But even with her discoveries made, even with their victory against Teruya imprisoning them, it couldn't bring Sora back. Nikei had tried to lie that everyone who died in the virtual world was alive in the real world, but Setsuka couldn't give them false hope and told him to knock it off.

The billiards player sighed as she sank into herself. The temperature was only getting colder, and everyone was getting demoralized, including herself. To help get her mind off the freezing room, she decided to replay recordings from her Devil's Eye, even if they were sad ones.

"Setsuka, why are you alone out here?" Setsuka heard Sora question. "Even if you're not investigating, why not enjoy the amusement park?"

The billiards player was sitting on a bench alone, unable to get the thoughts about her and Nikei's plan out of her mind. "Haha, sorry. It's not really big sister-like to look like this, is it, Ra-ra?" she chuckled, standing up from the bench. "Maybe we should go 'explore' a department a little and relax?"

The white-haired girl didn't lose the worried expression on her face, even with Setsuka's attempts to make her less worried. "Setsuka, you've been acting really strange lately. Is something on your mind?"

But Setsuka already knew that Sora was troubled too. While Setsuka could recognize the emotion 'loathing' in seemingly-impassable expression, she could recognize the emotion 'sympathy' too. She couldn't have her friend burdened with her problems, especially when the other girl had lost her entire memory.