Blood Bind
As the others try to hold off the crazed Murano, you make your move. You bite into your thumb, breaking the skin, and draw the string that Amanozaki has offered right across the wound. The white silk soon turns red, soaked with your blood. “…May my offering please the Great Mother Izanagi. May my blood become the chains of the dead plains. Thus shall the eight myriad sinners be bound in the Great Mother’s womb to await rebirth…” When you complete the incantation, the red string begins to twist and turn upon itself, until it is less than a half its length but almost three times as thick. The
shimenawa is ready.
“Uehara-san. Catch.”
You toss one end of the rope at Uehara, who catches it with a surprised look. “We’ll use this to tie him up.” Her face passes through a quick series of expressions: surprise, fear, anger, before finally settling on mild irritation. Uehara nods reluctantly – it looks like she doesn’t need any convincing.
“Ready,” you say, leaning forward.
“Go!” Uehara darts ahead. You follow, almost a half step behind. You are forced to quicken your pace in order to catch up. “Out of the way!” she yells.
“W-wait, Uehara!” Sakimura cries out as Uehara pushes him aside. Murano shouts out a torrent of incomprehensible syllables as the red rope strikes him right in the chest. You pass on the left of him, and Uehara on the right. As if the two of you are pushing an invisible wall, Murano is dragged along with your run, pressed backwards by the rope.
“Shinoseki. Catch!”
Uehara tosses her end of the rope back at you, making it curl around Murano’s body. Realizing what she wants to do, you repeat her action, tossing your part of the rope towards her. The two ends cross. As they pass each other, they slide together smoothly, somehow becoming entangled into a knot. You grasp the rope at the same time Uehara does, on the other side of the security guard. As one, the two of you pull on the rope. The knot tightens, and Murano screams. He stumbles backwards but does not fall – his torso is rigid and frozen, as are his arms. “No overtime it is good morning already, yes?” he babbles. “Murano is over the time hospital today.” Unable to free himself, Murano begins to shake forwards and backwards. He bangs his head against the invisible barrier around him, making a dry
thud over and over again. It doesn’t look like binding Murano has snapped him out of it, but you suppose at least now he isn’t going to get in the way.
Nice work, Acchan. Though I wish you’d have called me to do that rope-binding thing…
Ei complains as you shut the book, returning it into its own pocket dimension. You give Uehara an awkward bow of thanks, but she merely folds her arms and looks at the struggling Murano disinterestedly. Kozaka and Shiba approach her, as does Sakimura. It looks like they have something to talk about. Again, you note Kozaka looking uncomfortable as Shiba starts to stand closer to Sakimura – he begins to tug at his collar and purposely look away from her, and invariably, his glance is drawn to the imprisoned Murano.
“Wow, that was cool, Leader!” Sawada smiles happily as he comes up to you, clearly relieved that the situation seems to be temporarily resolved. “I wasn’t wrong after all, you
are the right person to lead us out of here. Sorry about earlier, man.”
“
Now you trust me?”
“Well, seeing as your main accuser has fled, abandoning us…” He shrugs, giving you a brilliantly good-looking grin. “I think it’s pretty clear as to who our real saviour is. Isn’t that right?” asks Sawada, raising his voice. You hear grudging voices of consent. Even the maid girl does not say anything. Noticing that you are looking at her, Sawada leans in close and whispers. “Kayano did something. We were believing her pretty easily without asking any real questions. It just made sense at the time. I’m not sure if it’s magic, but… well, just be careful of that maid, Leader. She was the first one Kayano spoke to when we reached the lobby. Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on her for you too.”
“Shinoseki. Shinoseki.” You feel a tap on your shoulder, interrupting your conversation with Sawada. Turning around, you see Amanozaki holding up a map. It appears to be a map of the hospital, although the words seem to be a bit jumbled.
“That… should be useful. Where did you get the map?”
“I made this profound discovery while I was hiding behind the reception counter over there, in a frame tha t had fallen to the floor, ” she says proudly. “My spiritual senses have
never failed me, and here is the proof!”
Amanozaki passes the map to you. As you pore over it, you note that the words seem to be reversed in order. With some difficulty, you manage to make out a few places that might give you the information you need. Whether or not this map is reliable is still up in the air, but it is all you have to go on for now.
“So, what are we going to do now?” It looks like Uehara has finished talking with her friends. They seem to have accepted the situation. Everyone begins to gather around you: it seems that your credentials as a leader has been bolstered a bit. No one offers any apology for how they treated you on Kayano’s words, however. It seems like they would like the whole thing to be forgotten, and to be put behind them.
You tell them about the Nurse, and about how putting her to rest will open up a way, though you leave out the part where your murderous alter-ego was the one that gave you the suggestion, and that he certainly wasn’t planning to escape.
They begin to nod, as if your words make sense.
Thud. Thud.
“I suppose exorcising the ghost is the way to go, yeah,” nods Sakimura. He looks uneasily at Murano, still bashing his head futilely against the thin air.
Thud.
Holding up the map, you say, “Amanozaki-san found this for us. I think there are a few places that we can investigate.”
***
A. The administration office on the second floor. You may be able to find the nurse's employment files here, as well as more details about her career.
B. The records room in the basement. You may be able to find information about the patients she has looked after, or if she was once a patient here.
C. The director's office on the top floor. The director is likely inextricably linked to all this. It is the most dangerous location, yet potentially the most useful.
***
A. You bring Murano along with you. You can't leave him behind.
B. You leave Murano here. It's too risky for you and the others.
***
A. You bring up Kayano and their betrayal before you leave. You want to sort this out and make sure that they are all loyal to you before going anywhere.
B. You don't mention Kayano. You need to focus on getting the information, and potentially irritating them further at this point may be counter-productive.