Nightshift 49: Bath and Beauty Shop
[from here]The sickening feeling, the small bit of head-spinning and Brook was able to take things in. He might start getting used to the weird sensation sooner or later depending on how many times they kept playing chance with the doorways. This time though, Brook found himself more interested in the area they'd found themselves in than in making
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She hadn't held onto the door when she stepped through. There'd been no need to since she was just going into the Sun Room. It should have been one step, maybe two in order to get just past the door and observe the area before laying out a game plan for everyone to follow. Instead, as soon as she stepped through the door, she felt sick to her stomach again. She stumbled a bit, felt the dizziness that had hit her earlier smash into her again like a car hitting a very unforgiving wall. Righting herself, Franziska reached out, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. She expected to find a couch or something nearby, but instead her fingertips brushed into what felt like bottles.
Glass.
They tinkled and tipped over, thunking against the shelf she was holding onto.
A shelf?
Franziska raised her head and opened her eyes, taking in what appeared to be-- "Impossible."
There was no way she was here. There was no physical way this was happening. She'd never been in this store personally, but she'd passed it many times in her wandering. The sound of the rain thundering against the roof and the windows, some of it coming in from where glass was broken was enough of a reminder that she'd been here just this morning. The smell was like rot though, not the pleasant aromas that usually came wafting out of the store's open door.
"...impossible..."
They were in town. They were in the zombie infested town.
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Unfortunately, that would quickly prove to be impossible. The feeling of stepping through door was different this time-the same sense of vertigo was prevalent, but it came on much stronger this time, enough to send the boy reeling. The last time he felt quite like this, he'd been gripping onto the railing of a boat that was so turbulent he swore he was going to fall off, and presented with the same sort of feeling, he found himself instinctually shutting his eyes. The moment he shut them, however, that sense vanished, and he was left trying to regain a sense of balance.
It was easier said than done, when the first thing he noticed was that horrible smell. The atmosphere in general was a harsh one, not giving off even the faintest sense of calm, but looking around, that was hardly the thing pressing Battler's mind. .... This wasn't the Sun Room. In fact, from the street he could see outside the windows, they weren't even in that hospital anymore. Wasn't this in town? What the hell, wasn't there a limit to ridiculousness...?! Wasn't it completely impossible for something like this to happen?!
He could hear it vaguely-Franziska muttering something to the same effect. Maybe that was what brought him back to his senses, enough that unlike the last time, he was able to keep his cool. Thinking about it, wasn't it only a couple of jumps and some strange, overgrown scorpion? Hadn't he witnessed things much, much more screwed up and otherworldly? During those times, it had always felt like reality and fantasy were overlapping, and he would slowly start to despair and give in. ... However, that style of thinking was wrong. All those incidents definitely had answers, and so did this one. It was too early to be giving up...!
"... About what you were saying earlier, it's actually just the opposite. It's easy to prove something like that exists, but isn't it impossible to prove that it doesn't? Just like you said, there's definitely a possibility. ... I can admit I had no clue about those caged animals you mentioned, and maybe something could be found there. But is what we have now really enough to go on? You guys seem pretty sure of yourselves, but what I learned is a bit different-it's better not to take things at face value, especially when that face is so screwed up.
"We've both presented our own view, right? My argument is more like this: the existence of multiple possibilities calls the validity of both into question! In other words, one needs to be eliminated. ... This room is exactly the same. It doesn't seem possible at all, right? However, you were the ones who said that because it happened, it definitely is possible. That's exactly right! The way we witnessed this just can't happen, so there must be some kind of trick. As for what that is, I don't have a clue. I don't have a clue at all! But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Therefore, if coming into this room out of nowhere like this definitely isn't a possibility, then let's get rid of it. If we figure out the truth, it'll blow that kind of thing away...!"
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Klavier quickly followed after them both, hoping to maybe talk some sense into von Karma and get them all out of harm's way. But all thoughts of arguing were pushed aside as that same wave of nausea and dizziness hit him, feeling somewhat harsher now that he was just walking through rather than running. Or maybe it actually was stronger this time around. Difficult to say. Klavier stumbled slightly and used the forearm of his good arm to catch himself against something. God, this horrible feeling in his stomach... That was twice now. That definitely wasn't a coincidence. There was no doubt this motion sickness had to have something to do with... It was here Klavier looked up and finally saw. This wasn't the Sun Room or the main hall. Heck, it wasn't even the same building. It... it couldn't have been...!
Fräulein was reflecting his thoughts perfectly by muttering the word he was now repeating over and over in his head. This was... a store. One of the stores in Doyleton! Klavier stared around the room in silent disbelief. Now he kind of wished he could believe there were illusions and tricks at play here. It was colder here than it had been inside. It smelled different, rotten and vile with a hint of the sweetness that once lingered. The sound of the rain pounding down outside was so clear and vivid. The crunch broken glass under his feet, perfect. Difficult to argue anything here wasn't real.
When Red opened his mouth again, Klavier honestly had to bite down the sudden urge to tell him to shut up. Was he going to continue on about this even now?! They were IN TOWN. At night!! Did the idiot have absolutely no concept of what exactly this meant?! How were they going to get out of there?! How were...?! No. Maybe Red had the right idea. Think. Talk. It was calming. It was for this reason Klavier remained silent and turned his gaze away from the boy to inspect the room a bit more thoroughly, allowing Herr Red's words to fall into the background like the soundtrack music to a movie scene. ...Ironically, this meant he was paying very close attention.
"Excellent points, Herr Red." He touched a hand to the glass of the front window, distracted. Had he not been talking, it might have seemed like he was ignoring them all. "But as much fun as it sounds to sit here all night and pick away at a list of impossibilities, let's approach this a bit more rationally, hm?" Dark. No distant glow of city lights in sight. "You can't just discard everything you feel is off as 'impossible' and simply assume whatever is left over must be fact. That's idiotic. And all this talk of arguing possibilities with possibilities... it's useless." Smile. "The only thing that can argue possibilities is evidence. Concrete evidence. Until we have that, all we have to go on is what we've witnessed and experienced. If you want to present anything contradicting that," he turned his attention back to them finally, "the burden of proof rests on you."
And if he couldn't provide that, then Klavier hoped he would be a good boy and would please shut his mouth.
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Klavier Gavin was speaking as well, but he at least made sense. The way Battler spoke it made Franziska's head hurt worse than it already did. There was no trick in the world that could instantly transport them all the way to Doyleton! No matter how little Franziska wanted to admit she was stumped as to how this was happening, there was no logical explanation besides whatever mechanism was able to pull them into the Institute in the first place. It was malfunctioning or the Head Doctor was just being a complete jerk and doing this for his own amusement. Whatever the answer, arguing it with useless logical arguments without evidence to support their theories was just--
The floorboards jerked under her feet and Franziska froze as her earlier thoughts came back to her.
Zombie infested town.
Unwrapping her whip, she struck it at Battler's feet and snapped it back in her hands, pulling it tight. "Quiet! Unless you're completely unaware, this town was overrun with the living dead last week and was in much this same condition when we left it. Unless you want to be eaten alive, I suggest we grab what we can to fight with and get out."
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“ ‘In the absence of proof, the observation becomes the proof,’ is what you’re saying...?” Whatever couldn’t be disproven directly would be accepted. In other words, his usual style of argument wasn’t going to work. ... No, that was probably true even without that. Up until now, he’d been fighting possibilities with possibilities, but here, that probably wasn’t possible. With the absence of red and blue, rather than a wall of ideas, he’d have to figure out something more concrete. Simply put, fighting twisted logic with twisted logic no longer applied. He found himself crossing his arms in thought. ... It really was different than what he was used to, this style of argument.
In a mystery novel, it could be said that there was one crucial problem-the clues. Which was to say, normally, you fought utilizing all the information at hand to build a theory. However, in order for that to work, something crucial was needed: the guarantee that all the information had been collected and was accurate. The discovery or overturning of even a single piece of evidence could completely change the entire outcome of the story. In Beato’s game, the use of red had bypassed that, but in a situation like this, things became a bit different. No matter how thoroughly they looked, it was impossible to prove that something hadn’t been overlooked, and in cases like this, it was those small details that could bring everything in perspective. Anti-mystery, was it...? That is, unlike in a story, there was no guarantee of facts, and no guarantee that it could absolutely be solved with what was given.
But wasn’t that fine? Something overlooked could definitely remain possible. However, by Klavier’s argument, just because it was possible didn’t make it valid. In other words, unlike before, he would be limited to fighting with only what was there. Concrete possibilities, not just ideas. Instead of arguing tricks, there was a need a prove to the trick. So, was this how they went about fighting here...? Rather than trying to drive in his point further, Battler found himself smirking.
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It was Franziska’s voice that managed to snap him out of his thoughts. Zombies, huh....? He’d heard about that from Naminé, but Battler still had trouble wrapping his head around that as anything but a bad horror plot. On the other hand, even though that was what common sense told him, as he was now, there was no means to argue the opposite. ... It was sort of annoying. He’d agreed to bear the burden of proof this time, but when it came to things like that, it seemed that it was going to be a double-edged sword. He was going to have to accept that screwed up story until he could disprove it, huh...? Well, that was fine too. The logic went something like, ‘It can’t be disproven. Therefore, it exists.’ And that was where he had to turn the chessboard over. ‘It can’t exist. Therefore, there must be proof against it.’ ... The complete opposite of the Devil’s Proof argument. It certainly made things more difficult for him, but even so, he couldn’t help but think that he’d like to see it, where this line of reasoning would lead him.
Battler glanced around the storefront for a moment, but even by doing that much, it was clear that there wasn’t anything of interest to found here. Soaps, lotions, shampoos, perfumes... Not that he objected to good smells or being clean, but they were hardly useful for what they were trying to accomplish. Instead of bothering with that, like Franziska had before him, he went to the door to investigate. As like before, it didn’t reveal anything helpful or interesting. Did that mean that what they were looking for was elsewhere....? Well, no reason to stand around, then. If there was something to be found at all, he definitely intended to find it! Thus, with a nod back towards the other two, he headed out the door.
[to here]
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