Chapter Text
Under the fake moon in the courtyard, Alice hold out some tokens to the sparse lighting during the night.
He squints at it, unsure of its weight and realness.
"That in your hand- it's Reko's tokens. You have not used it yet?"
This simple question triggers an alarm in Alice,
"I WON'T GIVE IT BACK! A DEAL IS A DEAL!!" Alice tugged the tokens close to his chest with the desperation of a mother protection her children.
"Wha-?" Sara arched her brow in irritation, "How many time must I tell you, these tokens are for your use however you like."
He does understand that, nevertheless, a trade without return scares him.
He is too afraid to ask why she agreed.
If years of prison taught him anything, is that nothing is free in this world.
"Then what are you doing here, mope away somewhere else, you have nothing to gain here!"
It's midnight, most participants are asleep. Why would Sara--of all people--want to converse with him?
He wants to shoo her away, though she seemed unfazed.
She gave Alice a look. His finger pointing at her twitches.
Alice has a feeling that even though he is the one more intimidated instead.
Does she not know his title? Are kids these days that lacking in self-preservation?
The chair under her gives a small squeak as she sat down facing Alice.
The silence isn't helping her cluttered visions, Sara wants to do anything to keep her distracted.
Maybe talk about her ventures with Reko today with her, in the dancing attraction she aided her a lot.
The last dance pattern caught her off guard, in her last moment as she's about to lose Reko steps in with her perfect memory.
Never has she been interested in music stars, but if they are all talented musicians and dancers like Reko she will be more attentive of them in the future.
Future...in this place?
Coldness ran through her entire body
Sara, I don't have a future anymore, remember? Because...
It cannot be stopped. Once the visions Truth and voices Punishments appears, she Murderer cannot stop them.
Despite her best efforts...to Be Trapped Forever avoid the hallucinations.
Like a puppet without string, she slumped forward.
Alice instantly felt relief when Sara turn away from him. Even Q-Taro has trouble beating her in a staring contest, Alice is not going to try.
"..." The high school girl, even in moments of somberness, has an air of sharpness to her. If that's a front, it is a well built one.
Maybe it is the unnerving silence, maybe it is the feint artificial light above. Her hand is shaking as she clutches her head.
"....." Alice eyed her carefully. His ridiculous posture still holds.
What does she want from him? He's not giving back Reko's tokens! A deal is a deal!
"......Urk" The prisoner curses to himself that he is definitely not a coward who keel easily to pressure, it is just that the uncertainty of this situation made him suspicious.
Soon Alice realizes that she is not avoiding his gaze, but something behind him.
He cranks he neck slowly towards the back, there's no one there. He felt coldness crept up his shoulders. Is that a g-g-g-ghost?
"There's not a spirit here is it?"
He is afraid of the dark cell, but most importantly he is more afraid of sudden loneliness.
There's a hand on her shoulder, it speaks to her.
When she doesn't reply, he panics, "Hey! You're just pulling my leg! Stop that!"
He felt like the useless brother that hides behind Reko again, in front of an unstable person no less.
It's a voice of familiarity. but it has no interest in holding a conversation.
"Sara Chidouin! Answer me! I don't want to be cursed!"
'Click' it repeats.
He shakes Sara on the shoulders with all the strength he got, scared.
This shook her out of her trance.
Sara blinked at the current situation of a crying Alice, unsure what she's woken up to.
A groan, both of awkward return to consciousness and utter exasperation, "...You"
"...Stop screaming please."
Just barely returned from the realms of inner demons, Sara looked at Alice's horror stricken face.
Alice is a grown man, isn't he?
Spirits in a general sense doesn't scare her in this sadistic game.
In fact, she wants them to be real instead of this constant state of uncertainty towards her own sanity.
A part of her envies his energy.
A part of her thinks she's out of her mind.
Oddly, she accepts that this grown adult man is scared of ghosts, and even thought to herself once, 'Interesting.'
She rubbed her forehead to ease the headache she felt in her strange acceptance.
The source of her headache put up fake bravado with the best impression he can, "Ha! I know what you are thinking Sara Chidouin!"
"Right," She replied flatly.
"'You're a grown man, aren't you?' That's what you're thinking!" He points to her with triumphant self confidence, "You can't fool me! Reko used to make that stern face too!"
"...Riiight," She deadpanned. Can such a person really killed someone? Quite a rude thought, but a territory that her mind wanders to.
The thought pop up to her mind, but looking at the childish contentment on the man's face, Sara pushed it down again.
Well, She is also-
She is definitely not qualified to judge.
Seeing that the conversation goes no where, she stood up.
The prisoner seem to expect her leaving too, as he looks ecstatic for her to leave him alone.
Before she left, she stares back at Alice one last time,
"How do you live with-"
She stops herself, and shakes her head almost apologetically, scolding herself inwardly,
"No, never mind. Goodnight."
Deciding she should drop the sentence, she walks away without looking back.
In the moonlit courtyard, the artificial moon lights the fake garden.
The white sand, the rocks, the plants all seemed so lifeless.
A toy box for a cruel god.
No matter how pleasant its interior, nobody could fool themselves into believing that this place is not a prison.
Within this prison, there's a displaced prisoner.
He clutches the 20 tokens--a relationship that can't be fixed--in his hand and mutters emptily at the direction the girl just left, "You don't."
Sara's last words before leaving, though incomplete, is something Alice recognizes because he had ask himself this all the time.
How do you live with this guilt?
Speaking to the cold air, he murmurs again seemingly without aim or purpose, the words that does not sound like a reply,
"You don't. "