A Disregarded Palace

Describing and Analyzing

 I quickly made my way back to Lablanc. I wanted their input as to what Katsumi's palace could mean, and why it even existed.

When I got there, everyone was already waiting for me. Akira walked up to me and escorted me to where he was sitting before.

"Now, tell us what happened, please," Makoto asked.

"Katsumi wasn't at school today, so after I went over to his place to check on him. He wasn't there, and instead, I found him in the park next to where he lives. I tried to ask him why he wasn't at school. He told me he needed a day to rest. I told him that I was willing to skip school so he wouldn't be alone, but he all but screamed at me to leave him alone, and he left."

"What about the palace?" Futaba was impatient.

Morgana pawed the back of her head, "Let the man speak."

"Well, anyway. After Katsumi left, I followed him, and everything around me changed. It was still the park, but all the trees had dead bodies hanging from them. There was also a sign pointing towards the lake, and all it said was 'Freedom February Fourteenth.' I kept walking, and I came across an exceedingly large prison. The front gates opened as soon as I walked up to them. I still had my school uniform up until the point I entered the building, which had opened up for me as well. The first floor is a labyrinth of empty corridors and abandoned cells. I couldn't make it past there because guarding the stairs is some sort of shadow, but it didn't feel like a shadow at all."

"That's...A lot to take in." Akira gaped.

"So, the palace is Katsumi's?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. Katsumi views the building he lives in as a prison."

"But why would the park be distorted too?" Ann questioned.

"This is just a theory," Morgana said, "but I think he sees it as the only place he can feel any sort of peace. And the sign pointing towards the lake seems to indicate that he thinks the only real way out is death. February fourteenth being when he plans to kill himself."

That couldn't be it, right? From what I remember of him, he was always so bright and cheerful. Was the time we weren't talking enough time for his life to get so bad he wanted to die?