“Sorry for interrupting!“ you squeak as loudly as you can, raising your hand. “But… Uh… Uehara-san is right. Please don’t make things harder for us than it needs to be…” For your bravery in speaking up, you are rewarded by the unsettling glare of Amanozaki’s magnified eyes, distorted by her coke bottle glasses.
“Hmph. Stupid men will always wag their tails for popular girls…” she mutters vehemently. Her fingers curl around the crystal skull, gripping it so tightly that you fear that it will crack. Amanozaki casts her gaze around for support, but she does not find any. The others are looking at her with a mixture of pity and amusement. “Fine!” she snarls. “Have it your way, mortals… but soon you will realize the horror of this hospital. Soon you will know the folly of your ways. When the festival of corpses descends upon you in a rain of flesh and blood, all of you will come running to me, screaming for the divine assistance that only I can provide.” Whirling away dramatically, she caresses the crystal skull and cackles softly. “Kukukukuku… and then, I will look down upon you and say, ‘no’…”
Uehara shakes her head in disgust. A big sigh later, her face brightens up and she gives you a wide smile. “Thanks for speaking up for me, Adachi-san! Don’t get mad, but I didn’t expect you to be the one to say anything. I really could have handled it myself, though.” You spot Sakimura looking at the two of you with a complex expression on his face. He appears to be trying to put on his usual grin and not really succeeding at it. Nodding awkwardly, you back away from Uehara, mumbling some vague apologies for getting yourself involved.
In the meantime, the office lady has walked over to the dejected fortune teller. “Amanozaki-san, I know you have our interests in mind, but I think we should all focus on finding a way out right now. The best way to do that is to work together and search this place.” She begins quietly coaxing the younger woman, attempting to bring her back into the fold.
The gathering dissolves for the time being – now that they know each other’s names, everyone else begins talking to each other. Everyone but you: you remain on the sidelines, seated politely on the couch. There’s nothing for you to say to them anyway.
A giant shadow looms over you, blocking out the gentle light cast from the glowing chandeliers. Looking up, you see Mori, gazing gruffly down on you.
“Shinoseki.”
“Y-yes? What is it?” You cannot help but pull back a little from his imposing physical presence.
“Have we met before?”
Of course you can’t remember. “I-I don’t know. I certainly think I would have… remembered, if I did?” you laugh nervously.
He chuckles, scratching his beard. “Hah. Of course you would. I am not an easily forgettable person, am I? Well, that is all I wanted to ask. For now.”
Mori turns away and leaves. Shortly afterwards, Uehara comes bounding over with Sakimura and Mitsuki in tow. “Adachi-san! Was he threatening you again?”
“Uh… no, I’m okay,” you mumble.
“Uehara. You’re being really impolite to Shinoseki-san here. He’s older than us, you know,” nags Sakimura.
“Is he, really? Are you?” she asks inquisitively. “Well, you don’t look older than Tokigawa-san, so you can’t be that old! Anyway, Sakimura, since when did you start calling him Shinoseki-san anyway? You don’t even use honorifics with the teachers.”
“Oh, I… uh… what do you care?”
You look away from the two squabbling high school students. Mitsuki catches your eye. Seeming a little flustered, she bows… perhaps as thanks for helping Uehara out earlier?
“Everyone!” Tokigawa calls out a short while later. The group of twelve - thirteen, yourself included - gather again. It looks like he has something to say. “We’ve rested for a while, so I think we should be moving on. I don’t want to stay in this empty hospital any longer than I have to.” The others nod and murmur in agreement.
He begins explaining his plan. “I am going to check out the upper levels of this building. The bridges on the fourth and fifth floor might be open. In the meantime, Midori will go down into the basement and look around the service corridors.”
“We’ll cover more ground this way,” the trainee nurse, Okuyama, chimes in cheerily. “I mean, taking it easy is nice and all, but since there’s so many of us, it’s probably better to have us moving in groups.”
Tokigawa nods. “That being said, who is going to come up with me to the higher floors?”
“I’ll go.” Uehara is the first to volunteer. “It sounds interesting.” As usual, Sakimura joins her a second later.
“I will come along too,” says Mori calmly.
“I would prefer to investigate the basement. You are coming with me, right, Taketatsu?” Maeda looks at the businessman. A slight frown creases his face, but he nods.
“I suppose I’ll go downstairs with Maeda-san. I don’t really like climbing all that much,” says Kayano.
“Do we have to go anywhere? I would rather just wait for help to come,” mutters Sakaki.
“Well… perhaps Sakaki-san can visit the cafeteria on this floor?” suggests Tokigawa. “I’m sure that after the investigation we are all going to be hungry.”
“It also leads to the central courtyard, so perhaps you can check it out while you are there,” adds Okuyama. “Mitsuki-chan can go with you.”
The young girl does not seem for or against the idea.
“What about you, Amanozaki-san?” asks Tokigawa.
She spins around, her face frowny behind those big lenses. “I… I’ll just stay around here,” she mutters. “I do not need to mingle with people with zero spiritual sense... You only dampen my mystic perception.”
“I’ll stay with Sakaki-san and help look after Mitsuki-chan and Amanozaki-san then,” says Sawada, nodding sagely and looking great in the process. “Having another man around should help.”
“Alright. It looks like everyone has an idea of where they want to go… except for Shinoseki-san? Are you coming with us?” Tokigawa’s question is directed at you.
***
00:57
A. Investigate the connecting bridges: You go with Tokigawa, Uehara, Sakimura, and Mori.
B. Investigate the service corridors: You go with Okuyama, Maeda, Taketatsu, and Kayano.
C. Investigate the cafeteria: You go with Sakaki, Mitsuki, Sawada, and Amanozaki.
