02. action
[Kouya wakes early. There is only so long she can make her body rest when there are so many things she could be doing, so many things she needed to do...
But no, she mustn't think of those yet. There was something even more important that she had to do first, as necessary for her as any sustenance ever could be. Kouya needed to know.
Among the possessions that had been stacked neatly outside the clearing she had arrived in and the clearing she had spent the night, Kouya had found her school uniform and the cellphone that Nagisa-san had given her for communication purposes. The day before, the Vine had distracted her from checking it. Or rather, if she were to be honest to herself, she had kept herself from checking it.
Now, Kouya reaches for it, unable to keep the tremble from her hand as she picks it up and slowly flips it open. The screen is black. Kouya closes her eyes as a feeling of nausea comes over her. No! She squeezes her eyes shut, taking a deep breath, two. Gradually, the nausea subsides for a bit, still not quite suppressed. But manageable. She will continue.
Kouya summons the icy-cold demeanor she used when talking to other people (other people who were not her). She steels herself, steeling her features into one of cold blankness. She's good at it. Her fingers move to the phone's power button. Presses. She waits. The screen remains blank, dead.
The breath she's been holding comes out slowly. ... She should have expected it.]
... Yamato.
[T-there were other ways! Other things that could have happened! But Kouya's mind was already supplying the worst situations for her.
'What if she's not here?! What if they really were separated?! Her other half, her other self, her lo--']
NO!!
[She stands abruptly, shakily. She must calm herself, no, there was no use in panicking-- But she swoons, staggering. The nausea is overwhelming. Kouya has enough presence of mind to make for the bushes at the edge of the clearing before she crashes down, throwing up. It's at moments like these that she hates herself for being so weak.]
But no, she mustn't think of those yet. There was something even more important that she had to do first, as necessary for her as any sustenance ever could be. Kouya needed to know.
Among the possessions that had been stacked neatly outside the clearing she had arrived in and the clearing she had spent the night, Kouya had found her school uniform and the cellphone that Nagisa-san had given her for communication purposes. The day before, the Vine had distracted her from checking it. Or rather, if she were to be honest to herself, she had kept herself from checking it.
Now, Kouya reaches for it, unable to keep the tremble from her hand as she picks it up and slowly flips it open. The screen is black. Kouya closes her eyes as a feeling of nausea comes over her. No! She squeezes her eyes shut, taking a deep breath, two. Gradually, the nausea subsides for a bit, still not quite suppressed. But manageable. She will continue.
Kouya summons the icy-cold demeanor she used when talking to other people (other people who were not her). She steels herself, steeling her features into one of cold blankness. She's good at it. Her fingers move to the phone's power button. Presses. She waits. The screen remains blank, dead.
The breath she's been holding comes out slowly. ... She should have expected it.]
... Yamato.
[T-there were other ways! Other things that could have happened! But Kouya's mind was already supplying the worst situations for her.
'What if she's not here?! What if they really were separated?! Her other half, her other self, her lo--']
NO!!
[She stands abruptly, shakily. She must calm herself, no, there was no use in panicking-- But she swoons, staggering. The nausea is overwhelming. Kouya has enough presence of mind to make for the bushes at the edge of the clearing before she crashes down, throwing up. It's at moments like these that she hates herself for being so weak.]