𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇no one to sing◇

"little brother, the coyote won't come back again."

"big sis f/n!" a voice called out from you from behind your bedroom door. of course, you recognized it. shaking any bad thoughts out of your head, you opened the door. "hi, gin. what's up?" he grinned when he saw you. "come with me, meow! we're going to escape!" blinking, you slowly nodded. "..alright, gin. lead the way." you followed him to the monitor room, hesitant. sure enough, there was a ladder behind all the monitors. when you climbed up, everyone was already in the room. "f/n, there you are." keiji said, a small grin adorning his face. sara stared at you, seemingly unable to speak.

you immediately took notice of a green book in her hands. she snapped it shut when you looked at it. ignoring her, your eyes landed on a portait in the middle of them room. a man, titled "inauguration".  next to the portrait, was a computer, which sou was messing with. sparing sara one last glance, you approached him. "what're you doing?" he didn't bother to look at you, but you saw him smile. "i'm using ranger's chip to neutralize the security." pretending you knew what he was talking about, you nodded. chip? who knows. well, probably everyone else.

only a couple minutes later, he sat up straight, ecstatic. "i did it...! i did it, i did it! it went great, miss f/n! i'm in the depths of their security now!" you hummed. "want a cookie...?" sou's shoulders slumped, but he smiled. "ahaha.. so harsh... but, things are going to get a little difficult from here." he leaned further in, continuing to work on the computer. "woah! ah, miss f/n, could you help me out?" humming again, you shrugged. "probably. what's up?"

"you see the four monitors this room? there's going to be red error screens appearing on them. when you see one, tell me right away so i can fix it. got it?" you nodded. he nodded back, turning his attention back to the computer.
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"it's done... ahaha...! it worked! it worked, f/n!" he stood, headed straight for the exit. everyone else had gone back to the lobby, watching for changes. "sou, wait." he stopped, sure enough, turning around to face you. "do you actually think this'll work?" your voice wasn't hopeful- no, more like... resentful. pitying. "well, all we can do is hope." sighing, you nodded. "please, sou, don't get your hopes up. or anyone elses. please."

"you think we won't be able to escape, miss f/n?"

"you think we will?"

he stayed quiet for a while before smiling. "guess we'll find out."  downstairs, in the monitor room, all the screens lit up with faces of your fellow captives. you ignored it, heading to the lobby. as you made it, gin grabbed your hand. "all right, everybody, let's head of the exit!" sou exclaimed, completely ignoring your pleas to keep this low profile. "wait! is what you're saying true?" seeing alice made your heart hurt. "i'll explain later... there's no time now."

"everyone.. let's trust sou!" you gave kanna a gentle smile, which she returned. "whoever wants to escape, come to the stairs. if you wanna stay... i won't stop you." of course, nobody planned on staying. the vending machine at the top of the stairs had opened, revealing a passage. sou seemed to notice you staring at it. "that's right, miss f/n. as far as i can see from the map data... the exit is straight ahead from here. the only doors keeping us from it are this vending machine, and the last exit door. and both of those use the exact same security. there's no reason it shouldn't be open..."

"let's go! before the floor masters interfere!" kanna, for the first time, seemed hopeful. everyone followed behind sou. there were multiple doors along the sides of the path, but no one paid them any mind. you ignored the conversation keiji and sou seemed to be having, focused on the young boy holding your hand. "big sis f/n? even once we go home... will you still see me, meow?" your heart ached. "of course, gin." he grinned. "really, woof!? thank goodness, meow!"