DECEPTION (Female Reader) [SAKAMOTO DAYS]

35: "Deceive"

The towering bamboo stalks of Arashiyama should have brought a sense of calm, but here, surrounded by the forest, I felt nothing but the walls of a prison closing in around me. Something about this place stirred old memories, pulling me back to those days in the 'Nameless' facility. The garden there was filled with bamboo, too - thick, unyielding stalks like iron bars. White walls, endless corridors, men in sterile coats, their voices spinning webs of manipulation.

The memory of that disturbing painting I'd seen - the mansion - came back with a haunting familiarity. I shut out the sounds around me, closing my eyes and drawing into myself, but as I slipped into meditation, a biting chill crept over my skin, pulling me back.

*
I opened my eyes. Gone was the bamboo forest. I was back inside that cold, unforgiving capsule. The same fucking capsule where they locked me up after...after what I did. After what they made me do. It was freezing, the glass turning opaque with frost as if sealing me in an icy grave. I could see them, the men outside, talking, their hands flipping through files like I was nothing more than a number.

Then darkness swallowed the view, leaving me in the deep black void where I'd spent six years. The capsule cracked open, and I stumbled forward, choking on the stale air as I tried to shake off the cold, but it only seemed to cling tighter to me.

"̧͓̝̹͐͂̆̀̆͑͞(_Y̯/̶̲͈̑n̶̷̡̧̧̨̤̭̬͈̣̭̰͉̗̩͉͙͇͓͈ͮ̂̈́ͦ̃ͬ̃ͮ̄̈́͂ͪ͂̽̀͂͒ͪ̋̒̏̀̚͢)̡̤̯̘̓̏̓ͫ̌_̶̶̡̟̥̜̠̩̠̪͚̪̬̰͇̺̬͂ͨ́̔̏̑́ͧͯ̿̒̌͋̽͘͟͠͠?̨̛̥̫͙͙̱̲̳̩̼͖̟͓̓̔̒́͆̓͒̀͘̚͘͜͜͞͡͞͠͝"̧͍̯̝̦̀

The voice was soft. I looked up and saw her - a little girl with my same eyes, my same hair. She looked down on me with an expression so pure, so angelic. But I knew better. I wanted to reach for her, but the ground shifted beneath me, and I was falling. Again. Into another darkness. "Seriously? How deep does this go? Hell?" I muttered, bracing myself as I landed, prepared for whatever was next.

When I looked up, I froze. Eyes, hundreds of them, stared back at me.