𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇bloom from morning shower◇

"i say your name in hopes you'll hear it in the stars."

as time passed, you took it upon yourself to sit with gin. people do irrational things when they have to deal with grief, especially when they're only kids, so it's best to have him under some supervision. both of you sat it silence for a while, there wasn't much to say. but frankly, silence made you uncomfortable, so. "i once talked to a kid around your age in an investigation. both of his parents were killed. i don't think i ever saw the kid stop smiling when i interviewed him. then one day, i was just talking to him and he burst into tears. he told me he couldn't cry after his parents died. he said that they wouldn't want him to, but after bearing so many emotions for so long, he broke. he cried for over an hour. i kept working with him, and he's okay now. and if he hadn't broken down that day, i'm not sure that he would be." gin stayed silent as you spoke, not even looking at you.

"i'm sayin' it's okay. you are a tough kid, gin, but you're allowed to cry. sometimes you just need to, so. don't beat yourself up over this, over anything." there was a muffled sob as he reached over to you, his head falling to your chest. you held him as he cried, remaining quiet. after a few minutes, you watched a sara, reko, and joe hurriedly carried a body towards the pink room. it was a man you didn't recognise, though he did have cool hair. confused, you scooped up gin, his head falling to your shoulder instead as he wrapped his legs around your torso. you followed the three, watching as they set the man down with the help of keiji.. gin's quiet cries made them aware of your presence, making them give you a concerned look. waving them off, you turned to nao, who was still kneeling over mishima's body. "she's still.." joe frowned, tightening his fists. "yeah. the same as ever. they haven't moved an inch. hurts to see."

"keiji... shouldn't you leave?" gin's breath was steady now, he was silent. "no thanks. listen, somebody's gotta investigate mishima. am I right? and even i'm not some kinda drill sergeant who'd ask someone else to do it. ..no need for somebody to wear themselves down. since we happen to have a pro here." you heard joe sigh."i'm technically the pro here, keiji. i used work in forensic biology, remember?" he just shrugged. "it.. is hard for you, isn't it." the boy most likely felt bad for misjudging the friendly neighbourhood policeman. "..idiot. nao's got it a million times worse. losing someone you respect..." it seemed like he was talking from experience. "u-um, is there.. someone you lookup to, keiji?" the man only shrugged turning back to you. "maybe there was. is he okay?" was? oh well, that's a discussion for later. "he's asleep." he nodded. "he should sleep. let's put 'im down somewhere so-"

"no." as soon as you realised the urgency in your voice, you changed your response. "we just.. shouldn't leave him unsupervised. plus, he's not that heavy, and.." the urgency in your voice didn't leave. sighing, you gently set him on the floor. "there, we should still-" this time you were cut off. "a message for those in the room. please exit so we can retrieve the corpse." nao immediately panicked. "w-what? d-don't be ridiculous! i won't give the professor to anyone!" her pleads were ignored. "defiance will not be tolerated. initiating fog dissemination." gin woke up, possibly from the fearful yells. "w-what's going on, meow?" ah fuck, you shouldn't have put him down. "no! stop, please stop! he- the professor isn't dead!" you could see her messing with the body, shoving something into the box that was 'big enough to fit a watermelon'. "w-what are you doing, meow?! you shouldn't..!"

"please get out of my way!" she shoved through you, you could hear gin moving. "wait, woof!" he was running. running out of your sight. "gin!" you an sara both called out. "this isn't good, let's give chase." you, keiji, sara, and joe ran out, trying to figure out where they went. "did they.. go upstairs?" without hesitation, you ran up the stairs. there were four doors in front of you. a red one marked 'sp', a black door marked 'ro', a shiny door marked 'mir', and a green door marked 'sp'.keiji and sara appeared behind you. "that's a lot of doors. we should stick together." you shook your head, quite literally on the verge of panicking. "not, you guys go together, i'll look on my own. we'll clear more space. you look for nao, i'll look for gin." keiji stayed quiet, debating what to do. "..if you insist. let's just go left to right i guess. sara and i will check out the red 'sp' door." you only nodded, quickly walking into the 'ro' door.

a giant cage. a humongous trap, with gin inside. "b-big sis f/n!" your breath caught in your throat. as if it wasn't bad enough, the cage began sinking. "help! b-big sis f/n!" you tried as much as you could to stop it from continuing, but you weren't the strongest. perhaps next time you should bring q-taro and keiji. "get me out of here!" it was fully submerged now. panicked, you looked around. that's when you saw it; a misplaced tile, just like in the first trial. you had no scissors to stab it with this time, but you were easily able to get it off. a ladder. you let out a sigh, slightly relieved. without hesitation, you climbed down, sure enough, gin's cage was hanging above some sort of platform. it was blue with a large green button on the side. on the platform were some sort of computer screen, reading; "bird cage game. free the bird (hostage) in the cage. hold down the green switch to raise output to maximum. don't let your guard down. wicked masks will come kill those pressing the button. shine holy light on the masks and wait for an opportunity to keep holding."

holy light? was this some fucked up way to baptise some spirits or something? there was a flashlight below the screen. gin was silent. the flashlight was simple, just a flick of a switch. most flashlights were simple, obviously, but you weren't sure what to expect. you slowly pressed the green button, keeping an eye out for whatever the hell you were supposed to be expecting. the masks were most certainly wicked. but the second you shined the light at them, they were gone. the constant releasing of the button and movement of the flashlight was slightly stressful. okay, extremely stressful. it took a while to actually finish this "game" considering masks would pop up every two seconds. as you finally got the bar to fill, the room flashed red before the 'holy light' completely stopped working. when the lights turned on, you frantically climbed the platform, fumbling with the locked door of the cage.

it opened. "alright, gin. c'mere.." he shakily crawled into your arms as you stepped off the platform, falling to the ground with the boy cradled to your chest. "b-big sis f/n.." he mumbled before you heard him sniffling, clinging onto your shirt. you'd only known the kid for a couple hours, but you still felt like you were going to cry. maybe you had a soft spot for kids. okay, you definitely had a soft spot for kids. you couldn't help it, especially with the situation you were in. or, maybe gin just reminding you of someone you once knew. who cares. slowly, you stood up. "..keiji and sara might be waiting for us." he said nothing. "can you climb the ladder?" he remained silent, but did as he was asked, you following after him. taking the liberty to hold his hand as you walked out, sure enough keiji and sara were standing in front of the stairs.

"so you're saying.. we're really going to do the main game..?"

"we are too weak to discover the truth by reason alone." - st. augustine