Day 48: Cafeteria (Breakfast)

[should_be_dead]

Luckily for Mele, the night had ended before Tenzen had changed his mind and deemed Mele appropriate for target practice. Even if the situation of who was mocking who had seemed to change into the Iga ninja's favor. Despite her behavior, perhaps the insolent woman could serve some sort of use nonetheless. He had been trapped in this place for a

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[dreadofthegrave]

"Oh, if it isn't Rika-chan! Of course, you're free to sit here," Battler grinned. "I'd been meaning to talk to you, actually." Their first conversation had been almost surreal in the parallels, and it was hard not to be curious about. If the situations were as similar as they sounded, it could be said that it might not be something that shouldn't be picked at, but rather left alone so that the wounds could heal over. It was something that registered logically and out of a sense of courtesy, but when it came down to it, human curiosity was a destructive and self-serving force, so the questions were difficult to swallow down.

Before he could ask about anything, however, he found himself a little distracted by bandages that hadn't been there previously. "Did you get attacked last night?" He could only hope that his conclusion was wrong. For example, maybe there'd been some sort of accident or something? The idea of someone this small and young receiving the brunt of an attack like that was... a bit unsettling.

He'd anticipated the conversation leisurely progressing from there, but an extra person betrayed that. Battler found himself frowning almost immediately; the voice, the tone, and the word choices were more than enough to let him know who was speaking without even turning to look. "....Erika."

Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to tell her not to decide things on her own and leave their conversation in peace, he couldn't. Not with that greeting. Did she seriously think he created this place...? Why, how? The more he thought about what she said, the less it began to make sense.

"What are you talking about...?" he asked carefully. "No, more importantly, what are you doing here? Don't tell me those witches already got bored of you."

Her presence here couldn't mean anything good. This wasn't Beato's gameboard, and he couldn't imagine Bernkastel and Lambdadelta suddenly disbanding it and creating this place when they'd went as far as they had to ensure that the game would continue. No, this place completely contradicted both of their goals. Lambdadelta wanted that particular board to continue forever, but it couldn't so much as be touched here. Bernkastel's goal was unclear to him, but she was obviously an enemy to Beatrice, who was in a much better state since arriving here. .. The motivations really didn't line up at all. However, that being the case, it left some very glaring questions: where were those witches, and what were they up to? What was happening on Rokkenjima while they were here?

[repeatingfate]

Rika shot her - not double. Not counterpart, even. The girl that looked like an older version of her. Whatever or whoever she was, that action earned her a very dirty look as Rika moved to the other side of the table and set her tray down a little more loudly than she might have otherwise. "Thank you, Battler-san," she said, sitting down with a tiny flourish.

"I'm okay," she said. "I wasn't attacked by a monster. I..." She paused, trying to explain what had happened in a way that wouldn't attract more commentary from Erika. "It was dark and I didn't see someone taller than me approaching. We had a pretty hard collision, but it was an accident. Really, it's nothing to worry about."

She gave him a look that indicated that only a small part of it was true, but that she couldn't say where she had been or what really happened in present company. She really couldn't - if she mentioned the things that she had seen last night or where she had been, there would be no end of questions from her doppleganger, and that was the last thing she wanted. She had the feeling she could explain the sphinx and the riddle and the sudden attack to Battler, but she didn't want Erika to know about any of it.

Was it childish to hold back like that? Perhaps. But did that really matter? No. If Erika was going to find out about all of that, it wouldn't be from her. She felt like it was a shared secret, and only certain people were worthy of it.

Erika's first words to Battler were enough to almost make her laugh, but she held that back, instead focusing on her pancakes for a few minutes. At least, until she heard the word 'witches'.

That couldn't be good. Rika tensed unconsciously, and waited for the explanation. It wouldn't be anything she liked, she knew that much, but she wasn't going to press things just yet.

[witchdetective]

Whatever look Rika gave her, it was ignored as she waited for whatever half-baked excuse Battler would give her for completely changing the setting and goal of the gameboard. Was he so desperate to protect Beatrice's secret that he was willing to completely abandon the goal of the game for her sake? She was about to scold him for that decision, had he not pulled a move so unexpected that even Erika was taken aback, looking visibly shocked when he...

Denied it? The detective stared at him critically. Battler was terrible with jokes, but that was all this could be. What was he trying to pull, thinking that he could get away with lying about this poorly constructed board. She gave an irritated sigh, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder (hair she shared with Rika, a thing that deepened Erika's displeased look a little more). She would let that comment about the witches slide, because... It wasn't true, not at all! This was all Battler's doing, wasn't it?

"I would have never thought of such a third rate excuse from you! Now you don't even want to take responsibility for your mess?" She scoffed, gesturing slightly to mean this entire room, this entire place. "Battler-san, this is a terrible joke, so feel free to stop any time. Why did you change the sixth game so drastically?"

[dreadofthegrave]

An accident, huh...? It would have been nice to be able to leave to leave it at that, but Battler caught the look indicating that it wasn't the whole story. He gave a subtle nod in return to indicate that he'd understood, although the exchange left him more curious. He couldn't exactly blame her for not wanting to be forthcoming around Erika, but that left the question of why. He could gather that they'd already met from the way Erika had greeted them. Did Rika simply not like this girl, or was there something a little more complex going on? He'd have to ask about it later.

But this still.... Just what was this girl going on about, anyway? Nothing she was saying added up at all.

"My mess? In the first place, this isn't the same even the same board! What does anything here have to do with Beato's mystery? Nothing, right? Besides that, if it's the premise you're worried about, you should be talking to Lambdadelta or the Head Doctor. There's no reason for me to have anything to do with any of this!"

At least, that sounded logical enough, until he heard the rest of what she was saying. "The.... sixth game? We were still in the middle of the fifth, weren't we? That's--"

Not possible. He found himself freezing, a cold chill creeping up the base of his spine. The sixth game... He'd been wondering this entire time what was happening back on the board in his absence. Did that mean... They progressed, without him there? Enough to reach a result, and move on to the next board? Then, what was going on with the mystery, his family...?!

"Tell me what happened! What are they doing?!" he demanded. Considering the situation, it was hard to control his inflection, so it came out harsh, and even frantic. It wasn't the sort of thing that could be faked very easily.