Mizuho Inada ! D8 - C10 ! World 2-4 [[BOSS CASTLE; REACH THE BOSS!]]
Sitting on the viewing platform at the very top of the lighthouse, Mizuho flinched as another few gunshots sounded from the west, an airborne seagull squawking in retaliation. Hugging her knees, she followed the bird’s path with her eyes as it flew overhead, making a perch out of the railing in front of her.
It was not much later than twelve in the afternoon, but the sky was tinted a dull shade of grey, a far cry from the royal blue of the day before. The clouds had moved in from the east, completely blocking the sun and everything else in their path, leaving the air empty -void of life. They were a little symbolic, Mizuho supposed, considering the carnage they were positioned over.
As if nature had heard and decided to scold her for her train of thought, Mizuho suddenly felt her entire body shudder, a gust of wind rushing past her legs, nearly knocking her on her side. Biting onto her bottom lip nervously, her eyes snapped shut and she let out a moan, weakly rubbing the crystal she held in front of her knees.
“N-need…” She sobbed as she whispered to herself. “Need to stay s-strong. Need to stay strong…”
The words that had been spoken from behind her after Shinji’s death continued to plague her mind, even hours after it happened. Was she losing the plot? It certainly seemed that way. That was twice she’d heard something -someone- speak to her, try to comfort her. Both times the advice had been helpful, too…and yet, it still managed to scare her to the bone. Could she have imagined it more than once, or had someone been stalking her? They could’ve seen Kaori die… Seen Shinji and Takako. It was plausible, wasn’t it? They were following her and whispering things to her through the bushes. They wanted her to crack, for her to break down. So far they seemed to be doing a pretty good jo--
Interrupted by a second shriek from the perched ‘gull, Mizuho’s paranoia caused her to scream in fear without thinking, tightening her grip around her knees even further. Tears, spurred by her distress, began to force their way past her eyelids before the sound of the bird flying away reached her ears. Releasing a stifled hiccup from her throat, the saltiness of a tear trickled onto her lip. She was still stuck. Too afraid of her own classmates to move, unsure of where to go. She had seen so much already; she didn’t want to see another death. Not ever again. It was too hard. She’d seen five people die already. Two, Kaori and Shinji, were people she loved with all her heart. Two more, Yoshio and Takako, were classmates. The last one was, well…
She was…
Taking a deep breath, Mizuho felt the tears push harder, trying with all her might not to gag.
Giving her pendant a habitual squeeze, Mizuho’s body rocked backwards, pressing against the white brick of the lighthouse’s wall. The wind continued to blow strands of hair against her cheeks, tickling her nostrils as they found themselves stuck in her tears.
How would she ever find Megumi? There was an entire island and only a day and a half left. No one but Fumiyo had died in the past few hours, people were bound to get as desperate as she was slowly becoming. They were bound to become scared.
Mizuho bit harder onto her lip, more tears parading down her cheeks.
And why shouldn’t they? They had every right to be scared. Escape seemed almost completely futile… Shinji was dead. Kyoichi was dead. Satomi was dead. Anyone with any hope of outsmarting the man was dead. Despite what seemed to be contrary belief, the program wasn’t a game anymore. There were no cheat codes, no hidden pathways. There was only one option -one solution.
Only one of them could come out alive.
Heaving a dreadful sob, Mizuho forced her eyes open, releasing a wave of tears as she looked to the grey, stormy sky.
“N-no…” She choked, rocking back and forth a few more times, “N-need…need to stay strong… Strong!”
The words echoed in her head. Over and over and over. She couldn’t let herself succumb to Sakamochi’s dark reign. As much as she wanted to give up, to throw away her morals and find sanctuary -freedom-, either through suicide or…winning, she couldn’t. Megumi was out there. Alone. Scared. Waiting for her. Vampire Hunter Takeshi never gave up, not even when Count Hiroki killed Maiden Sakura, his love interest. Mizuho had to be like him. She had to protect Megumi. Save her from certain death.
She’d promised herself. She had to live up to that.
“Y-you… You can do it, Mizuho…”
As weird as it probably seemed, Mizuho found talking to herself almost as comforting as clutching her pendant. It gave her strength; it was reassuring. She knew that most people found her crazy, but…ironically, doing it seemed to actually stop insanity from happening.
At least she thought so.
Grunting, Mizuho slowly picked herself up off the floor of the viewing platform, using the building’s base as balance. She hadn’t stood up in a few hours, leaving her legs quite worse for wear -stretching them after having them bent since the morning was a much harder feat than what she’d imagined it to be. Twisting her body around, she let out a silent yelp, finding herself nearly losing the balance she’d just regained, placing her free hand on the wall for closure. Her muscles began to strain as her weight caused her arm to twist further than she’d hoped, her eyes snapping shut in pain. Beneath gritted teeth, the girl muttered to herself.
“Don’t cry… Don’t cry. Please, Mizuho,” The words came out honestly, empathetically. Perhaps that was why talking to herself was so easy -she understood herself. “You need to save Megumi. Please…”
Holding her tears back, Mizuho continued to hold herself against the wall, slowly beginning to adjust to the lack of feeling in her legs. After regaining her balance and letting go of the white brick, she let out a knowing sigh as she glanced towards the ash-coloured horizon. She hated the thought of it, but she knew going back out there was for the best. Dangerous, no doubt, but for the best? Definitely. She’d been given a long time to think and relax, and Megumi was safe. Still. It was a miracle; something she didn’t think happened all that often in The Program. She couldn’t afford to leave the young poet out there any longer, there wasn’t much time left. She didn’t want her to end up like Yukiko.
Inhaling a strong dose of the high-altitude air, Mizuho scooped up her duffel stoically as possible before turning to her left, towards the door to the lighthouse’s staircase.
Upon seeing the figure standing in the doorframe, she immediately let out a gasp, her duffel falling from her fingertips and back into its position on the floor in less than a second.
S-s…stay strong, Mizuho, the girl's train of though fell from almost confident to timid as she looked up at Yoji Kuramoto, grip tightening on Shinji’s pistol in fear, P-please… Stay strong…
“Hello Inada.” The boy smiled.
(So, basically… I have not posted in quite some time. Not because I’ve been busy or anything of the sort, but because me and another person had an agreement to meet up. The dialogue at the end of my last post was supposed to be them. But…uh. It seems there was a communication error or something (I really don’t know what happened T_T) and they’ve gone and made a post without our meet up. SO. Yeah. I’m not trying to ‘diss them or anything, I just feel the need to clarify this as I don’t want anyone to think I’ve given up on the version (Which I certainly have not).
(also, to the person I was going to meet with, did you get my message? I could've sworn I replied to your reply to mine a while back... I guess you mustn't have received it?)
And if you didn’t notice~ Yes, I’m taking Yoji. Sorry for long blurb.)
It was not much later than twelve in the afternoon, but the sky was tinted a dull shade of grey, a far cry from the royal blue of the day before. The clouds had moved in from the east, completely blocking the sun and everything else in their path, leaving the air empty -void of life. They were a little symbolic, Mizuho supposed, considering the carnage they were positioned over.
As if nature had heard and decided to scold her for her train of thought, Mizuho suddenly felt her entire body shudder, a gust of wind rushing past her legs, nearly knocking her on her side. Biting onto her bottom lip nervously, her eyes snapped shut and she let out a moan, weakly rubbing the crystal she held in front of her knees.
“N-need…” She sobbed as she whispered to herself. “Need to stay s-strong. Need to stay strong…”
The words that had been spoken from behind her after Shinji’s death continued to plague her mind, even hours after it happened. Was she losing the plot? It certainly seemed that way. That was twice she’d heard something -someone- speak to her, try to comfort her. Both times the advice had been helpful, too…and yet, it still managed to scare her to the bone. Could she have imagined it more than once, or had someone been stalking her? They could’ve seen Kaori die… Seen Shinji and Takako. It was plausible, wasn’t it? They were following her and whispering things to her through the bushes. They wanted her to crack, for her to break down. So far they seemed to be doing a pretty good jo--
Interrupted by a second shriek from the perched ‘gull, Mizuho’s paranoia caused her to scream in fear without thinking, tightening her grip around her knees even further. Tears, spurred by her distress, began to force their way past her eyelids before the sound of the bird flying away reached her ears. Releasing a stifled hiccup from her throat, the saltiness of a tear trickled onto her lip. She was still stuck. Too afraid of her own classmates to move, unsure of where to go. She had seen so much already; she didn’t want to see another death. Not ever again. It was too hard. She’d seen five people die already. Two, Kaori and Shinji, were people she loved with all her heart. Two more, Yoshio and Takako, were classmates. The last one was, well…
She was…
Taking a deep breath, Mizuho felt the tears push harder, trying with all her might not to gag.
- ”You need to stay strong, Mizuho.”
Mouth agape in intrigue, Mizuho twisted her head around to face her behind, tears still prickling her cheeks. As she noticed the area not only empty but replete with silence, she gasped to herself quietly, reaching for Shinji’s gun.
“Wh-who-” She fumbled the pistol for a moment, biting her tongue before managing to get a proper grasp, thrusting it at the bushes. “Who’s there!”
There was more silence. Mizuho could hear the sound of her own panting resonating across the field, her heart beating loud as a taiko.
That was when it hit her. Sheer, unadulterated fright.
A small rustle, no louder than the menu screen music from a SNES game, sounded from the bushes a few meters away. Not too long after, there was a scattering sound -the sound of feet scurrying away to safety. It was feint, but Mizuho was certain she could hear it. She wasn’t going mad. She wasn’t.
Unable to speak, unable to fire her crush’s gun, Mizuho did the only thing she could think of. Twisting her body around, tears still spattered against her cheeks, the girl picked herself up off the ground and ran. Past the trees behind her, through the dark depths of the forest and into the unknown. She knew the area was silent but it didn’t seem that way at all, not with the adrenaline and beating of her heart. Each breath flowed hoarsely from the depths of her stomach, she was frightened for her life. Someone had to be following her. Trying to kill her.
She heard them after all, didn’t she? She needed to get away. Get to safety. They couldn't get her at the lighthouse, no one could.
She zipped in and out of trees for several minutes, heart beating faster with every noise she made. Her tears, urged across her face by the velocity of her movements, stopped defying gravity as she came across a small clearing, halting dead in her tracks in order to catch her breath.
“St…” Weary, she felt herself groan, placing her hands -one still holding Shinji’s gun- on her thighs, “Stay strong… Mizuho. Stay…stay…”
She began to look up as she spoke, before something caught the corner of her eye in the distance, causing her to pause mid-sentance. It was a small, hunched-over figure, white-and-navy cloth covering most of its body. Squinting to look at it, Mizuho placed a hand over her eyebrows.
Then, as soon as she noticed the deep -almost fluorescent in the moonlight- red puddle lying beside the body, Mizuho’s arm moved straight from her eyebrows to her mouth, her lips forcing themselves wide to let out her horrified shriek.
Giving her pendant a habitual squeeze, Mizuho’s body rocked backwards, pressing against the white brick of the lighthouse’s wall. The wind continued to blow strands of hair against her cheeks, tickling her nostrils as they found themselves stuck in her tears.
How would she ever find Megumi? There was an entire island and only a day and a half left. No one but Fumiyo had died in the past few hours, people were bound to get as desperate as she was slowly becoming. They were bound to become scared.
Mizuho bit harder onto her lip, more tears parading down her cheeks.
And why shouldn’t they? They had every right to be scared. Escape seemed almost completely futile… Shinji was dead. Kyoichi was dead. Satomi was dead. Anyone with any hope of outsmarting the man was dead. Despite what seemed to be contrary belief, the program wasn’t a game anymore. There were no cheat codes, no hidden pathways. There was only one option -one solution.
Only one of them could come out alive.
Heaving a dreadful sob, Mizuho forced her eyes open, releasing a wave of tears as she looked to the grey, stormy sky.
“N-no…” She choked, rocking back and forth a few more times, “N-need…need to stay strong… Strong!”
The words echoed in her head. Over and over and over. She couldn’t let herself succumb to Sakamochi’s dark reign. As much as she wanted to give up, to throw away her morals and find sanctuary -freedom-, either through suicide or…winning, she couldn’t. Megumi was out there. Alone. Scared. Waiting for her. Vampire Hunter Takeshi never gave up, not even when Count Hiroki killed Maiden Sakura, his love interest. Mizuho had to be like him. She had to protect Megumi. Save her from certain death.
She’d promised herself. She had to live up to that.
- The body was sprawled inorganically against the grass, blood surrounding its stiff figure. A meter to its right laid the head of Yukiko Kitano, pale and half mutilated, her face frozen in an expression of horror. Despite this, her hair had eerily managed to remain prim and proper, shining softly beneath the moon.
Not even thinking, Mizuho felt herself take a single step back, then another, glancing from the corpse to the head and back again.
“Oh… O-oh…no…”
She couldn’t help what happened next. Moving her hands to her chest, Mizuho leaned forward, coughing, feeling the veins on her head coil around her skull like a snake, pulling at her flesh. She wanted to close her eyes but her skin wouldn’t let her. Her coughing grew worse before eventually, she felt the contents of her stomach rush up to her throat, emptying themselves out onto the grass before her.
“Yuk… Yukik-“ she let out another cough, eyes tilted down at the puddle of vomit. She could feel strands of saliva hanging from her lips -never had there been a time where she’d felt more physically disgusted. The emotion behind Kaori and Shinji was so strong, still burning the back of her mind, and yet…their deaths had a sense of grace. They were still in one piece when they passed, but Kitano…she, she was nothing like anything Mizuho had ever seen or dreamt about. She didn’t even know how a death like that was possible. The girl -so sweet and funny in class-, had chunks of her neck staining the floor around her. To do that with a gun or a knife was impossible, a person would need-
Interrupted by another phlegm-laced cough, Mizuho’s felt herself nearly gag in surprise as her neck brushed against the cool of something she’d completely forgotten about.
“C-c… Col-…” She glanced upwards, subconsciously avoiding looking at Yukiko’s corpse as she grabbed for the device around her neck. “Collars…!”
Suddenly Kitano’s demise became oh-so-very clear, and all the more horrific. Mizuho felt herself nearly hurl again, imagining the panic in the girl’s eyes -the fear escaping her body as she made a feeble attempt at reaching safety, all to have it literally blow up in her face.
“Yukiko, you…” Mizuho let out another cough, tearing her eyes from the puke below to look at her duffel, “No…”
Reaching for the bag, Mizuho quickly pulled at the zip, dropping her gun in order to grab at her map. After glancing over it, still forcing the rest of her lunch to stay inside her bowels, Mizuho realized that north of the zone where she was -where Chigusa and Shinji had been-, was, essentially, a big wall of danger zones. She was but a few steps away from ending up exactly like Yukiko.
Shuddering violently in a terrible mixture of both fear and disgust, Mizuho grabbed at her favorite coping mechanism, her crystal, before taking another step back -not only from the corpse, but from her own grizzly demise, too. After finally channelling the strength to look at the distant Yukiko’s charred, bloody expression one last time, she felt herself whimper as she scooped up her gun and bag, quickly deciding to continue her run east.
Trying to push the images to the very back of her mind as she moved, Mizuho’s tears reawakened, burning hard against her irises. Dodging a low tree branch, she managed to squeeze out a single sentence, no louder than a whisper, beneath her panting.
“H-hide, Mizuho… Get… get away.”
“Y-you… You can do it, Mizuho…”
As weird as it probably seemed, Mizuho found talking to herself almost as comforting as clutching her pendant. It gave her strength; it was reassuring. She knew that most people found her crazy, but…ironically, doing it seemed to actually stop insanity from happening.
At least she thought so.
Grunting, Mizuho slowly picked herself up off the floor of the viewing platform, using the building’s base as balance. She hadn’t stood up in a few hours, leaving her legs quite worse for wear -stretching them after having them bent since the morning was a much harder feat than what she’d imagined it to be. Twisting her body around, she let out a silent yelp, finding herself nearly losing the balance she’d just regained, placing her free hand on the wall for closure. Her muscles began to strain as her weight caused her arm to twist further than she’d hoped, her eyes snapping shut in pain. Beneath gritted teeth, the girl muttered to herself.
“Don’t cry… Don’t cry. Please, Mizuho,” The words came out honestly, empathetically. Perhaps that was why talking to herself was so easy -she understood herself. “You need to save Megumi. Please…”
Holding her tears back, Mizuho continued to hold herself against the wall, slowly beginning to adjust to the lack of feeling in her legs. After regaining her balance and letting go of the white brick, she let out a knowing sigh as she glanced towards the ash-coloured horizon. She hated the thought of it, but she knew going back out there was for the best. Dangerous, no doubt, but for the best? Definitely. She’d been given a long time to think and relax, and Megumi was safe. Still. It was a miracle; something she didn’t think happened all that often in The Program. She couldn’t afford to leave the young poet out there any longer, there wasn’t much time left. She didn’t want her to end up like Yukiko.
Inhaling a strong dose of the high-altitude air, Mizuho scooped up her duffel stoically as possible before turning to her left, towards the door to the lighthouse’s staircase.
Upon seeing the figure standing in the doorframe, she immediately let out a gasp, her duffel falling from her fingertips and back into its position on the floor in less than a second.
S-s…stay strong, Mizuho, the girl's train of though fell from almost confident to timid as she looked up at Yoji Kuramoto, grip tightening on Shinji’s pistol in fear, P-please… Stay strong…
“Hello Inada.” The boy smiled.
(So, basically… I have not posted in quite some time. Not because I’ve been busy or anything of the sort, but because me and another person had an agreement to meet up. The dialogue at the end of my last post was supposed to be them. But…uh. It seems there was a communication error or something (I really don’t know what happened T_T) and they’ve gone and made a post without our meet up. SO. Yeah. I’m not trying to ‘diss them or anything, I just feel the need to clarify this as I don’t want anyone to think I’ve given up on the version (Which I certainly have not).
(also, to the person I was going to meet with, did you get my message? I could've sworn I replied to your reply to mine a while back... I guess you mustn't have received it?)
And if you didn’t notice~ Yes, I’m taking Yoji. Sorry for long blurb.)