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The arrival of the third floor brought on new experiences for the it's visitors. There were several new floors to be explored, several new challenges to be faced, along with even brand new guides to introduce everyone make sure that they were comfortable.
...Well, as comfortable as can be within a death game.
Kanna Kizuchi was one of the most pitiable participants of this horrid game. It was sickening to think someone so young would find themselves in such an awful place, full of death and the overwhelming stench of blood's iron.
And yet, here Kanna sat in the relaxation room of this brand new floor. She sat in the grass with her hands between her legs, and picked at the middle yellow green weeds below her. She was thinking about herself and the situation, wondering what horrid things that she'd done to end up in such a place. She pitied herself, and felt somewhat alone here.
Though at least she'd made friends here... Even though they felt temporary. Sara and Sou showed her kindness, they somewhat reminded her of Kugie...
And yet, when her mind wandered to those two specific people, she felt pains in her chest. Had she missed them? Did she not want to be alone in this room, with artificial sunlight brightening her seashell colored skin? As much as she hated thinking about it, her pains probably were caused by growth. Shamefully Kanna just wished she could stay young and not have to worry about her upcoming future and the soon to come need for a driver's liscence.
Kanna stood upward with a deep breath, and released the plants from her tight grasp.
There were attractions to be done, her life was still on the line despite the tremendous amounts of free time that she had left. Kanna headed quickly out of the room and into the main lobby where she would find herself a partner for an upcoming challenge.
As the day trudged onward, Kanna's pain worsened. Was it some sort of trick the messed up creaters of this game had played on her? Was it something else? Kanna didn't understand...
She walked into a nurse's office, where the vice-floormaster, Tia Safalin stood. Her knees were locked... Kanna felt a bit concerned for Safalin's posture, though she was a doll... that's right... no blood circuits were being cut off by her stance.
Hopefully.
"H-Hello." Kanna muttered, clutching into her outfit's shoulders and pulling on the cloth. Despite knowing her fellow participants in this game for over 48 hours now, Kanna still couldn't help but feel uncomortable speaking to the floormasters. "Kanna's chest hurts... can you help with her?"
Safalin stepped over to her, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists, exerting nervousness. "Can you describe it to me...?"
"It feels like something is moving around inside of Kanna." Kanna glanced away from Safalin. There was some sort of concerned look in the older woman's eyes that made Kanna feel somehow guilty. Though really, she probably was causing some sort of trouble for her... having to force everyone to look after her... "Pushing around all of Kanna's ribs..."
Safalin opened her mouth, but then closed it, as if contemplating what to say. With a few prolonged moments, Safalin turned to the ground and pushed her celeste colored hat over her eyes, casting a shadow.
"I don't know how to fix that... It doesn't sound like a plausible occurence..."
Kanna felt frightened hearing such words. She gulped in worry. "Then-"
"Kizuchi... can you come back tomorrow and I can see what to do about it then?" Safalin asked.
Kanna wanted to protest, though it probably was the best idea... That way Safalin could perform more research upon Kanna's symptoms. Yeah. It was alright.
Kanna smiled to Safalin in return and thanked her before returning to her room.
And yet... after sleeping throughout all of those throbbing, wriggling pains within her chest, Kanna still woke up at a strange time in utter darkness. The whole room was pitch black, she was unable to make out any kind of outlines.
Kanna sat upward in the bed, the sheets crumpled around her and she switched on the light.
When Kanna looked to the right she was met the sight of a large splatter of ruby red liquid, reaking with a metallic smell. And yet amonst that was what appeared as rosy flower petals. When Kanna looked downward she could see most of the front of her nightgown was stained with the same liquid, forever it's pearly white ruined.
Kanna slid out of bed quickly, coughing up the rest of the petals and rushing out of the room. Undoubtably it was blood, from some sort of flower sprouting from within Kanna. She rushed past the lobby and into the nurse's office, but yet Safalin wasn't standing there-in fact nobody was.
Kanna was all alone. There was nobody that could help her, especially this late at night. She didn't know what to do... It would be impossible to go back to sleep, there was a risk of choking on these cursed petals and never waking up again...
The thought terrified Kanna. She didn't want to end up like Kugie, but to continue living onward for her. That's what she would want, anyway.
Kanna managed to find a shelf that contained several textbooks that went over a variety diseases, syndromes, defects, illnesses, and other complex terms. Yet despite how much she flipped through the pages of them all she still couldn't find anything about chest pains or coughing up rose petals.
How did something like this even happen? How could a flower blossom inside of Kanna... without the need of water and soil? Though she did feel somewhat dehydrated... but still the conditions were impossible for a flower to grow!
"You're up early." The voice distracted Kanna, she quickly turned around to see Safalin, with her knees locked similarly to before.
"Help..." Kanna begged, pointing to the flowers on her gown and the stains of blood. She felt like she was about to burst into tears.
Safalin looked somewhat scared to see the bloody mess in front of her. Her lips curled into a frown, discarding the previous glance. "...Your voice is hoarse, Kizuchi... I don't know what to do about this... Again, this doesn't make sense..."
But then, Safalin lowed her hat once more and muttered something under her breath. It felt important, but Kanna wanted to know... Did Safalin figure out some sort of solution already...? Was it something she was unsure about? Whatever it was, it was probably enough for Kanna's desperate want to feel better.
"What...?"
Safalin looked upward. "...It's just... It feels like something that the death game's organizers would understandably be capable of pulling off... An illness this odd, that is."
Illness... and yet, it wasn't ever mentioned on the textbook's pages! But... if it was crafted by the organization, then that would make sense... that it wouldn't be included.
"Can you please help Kanna?" Kanna gasped, placing her hands together and squeezing them tightly.
Safalin stayed silent for a few moments. "It's early, I haven't had breakfast yet, I can discuss this with the other floormasters then... I can get back to you in the next hour at the least."
That was nice to hear... Kanna had spent the last several minutes flipping through these textbooks for some sort of product for healing this... another hour would be fine...
"Oh my god, Kanna, are you alright?"
Kanna stared up into the concerned eyes of Sara Chidouin. Her chest was throbbing calmly... Was it really her that Kanna was so pained of when she thought about?
Kanna smiled brightly, yet the pain was probably shining through her eyes. "Kanna's fine! It'll be sorted out with Safalin by the end of today!"
Sara seemed doubtful as she stared down to Kanna, as though she was somewhat denying that everything would sort itself out by the next 24 hours.
Kanna found Sou within his own bedroom, fiddling away with a laptop. He turned to her and somehow didn't seem to care about the mess that she'd created upon her outfit. He only just let out a huff.
As Kanna sat there, she coughed more frequently than other times. Every time that she'd make a sudden sound like that, Sou would glance at her. Within the first ten minutes Sou asked her if she was doing alright.
Despite the obvious answer being no, Kanna responded with something similar to what she told Sara. It's okay, it's alright, things are going to get better if enough time passes.
Kanna counted twelve petals, before she returned to Safalin's office.
Safalin asked her as she stood there patiently, "Kizuchi, who is it that it feels as though your symptoms are the worst around?"
It was a strange and seemingly pointless question. Was it supposed to be someone that has the same disease that you would feel the worst around?
And yet Sou wasn't coughing at all... Only glancing with concern shining brightly within his eyes.
"...Sou... Kanna thinks it's Sou."
Somehow, Safalin seemed bothered by that answer. Her eyebrows furrowed as pity plastered her face. "Oh... I was told... that it helps if you let him know that you're... thankful for him spending time with you."
Kanna didn't understand how that would help. Why wasn't Safalin giving her some sort of antidote? Something that would kill the flower immediately and wash away all of the pain?
She thanked Sou for spending time with her, and in response he only glanced nervously to her and said "Thank you too... I guess."
And yet over the next several hours Kanna's symptoms worsened. She felt like she was suffocating at times, like when she would eat too much food at once and it would take water to force it completely down her throat.
It lasted to the point where everyone was gifted a horrid suprise by Ranger, the main floormaster of this horrid area, where he nearly silenced Gin's life forever. During this heated moment, Kanna was caged inside a large box, along with mostly everyone else.
Unfortionately, Sou was there, it made Kanna cough so much she felt shameful. She was covering her mouth with one of her sleeves, and still several rosy petals were falling to the floor.
Safalin kept on glancing at her. Keiji placed his hand on her shoulder and asked if she was doing alright.
Sara was far away, all she could do was probably yell something to her, yet words could never be as comforting as physical actions.
Kanna watched Reko die before her very eyes. She watched the knife dig into her chest and the blood spray out from the wound. It sickened her, but instead of puking she only coughed up large, soiled rosy petals.
Reko's brother, Alice, was so seemingly shaken up with the whole ordeal, that he begun to act calm in the situation and adress Reko's recent passing without acting bothered in the slightest.
Kanna pitied him. She didn't want to end up so shaken up by everyone's deaths that she'd end up like him.
It felt wrong to feel that way towards him.
Sou finally cracked each and every code upon Kai's laptop. The final folder on the laptop brought up a photograph of a man that Kanna somewhat recognized. Though there was something about this person that made Sou desperately want to leave. Right after Sou rushed out of the room, Kanna let out an incredibly loud gurgle as her first rose fell out of her mouth.
She felt dizzy after basically puking something so large like that... But it let Kanna know that no matter what she just wanted to be near Sou, didn't want him to leave in any way.
About a few hours later, Sou managed to discover an escape route of sorts. It caused Kanna to feel relieved, as though once she reached the outside world that she would be able to finally be able to see a professional who could treat this horrible disease.
Sou said something to her that caught her off gaurd. "Y'know, Kanna, I hate roses."
Kanna looked to Sou, staring at him, although he wasn't looking back. "Why... Sou? Why don't you like them?"
Sou scoffed. "Just don't like them. I once did, but now my mind's changed."
There's no helping it then. It's seemingly hopeless.
But still, Nao approached Kanna moments after Sou finished his sentence and told her about a similar disease seen in fiction.
"Kanna! In fictional media, there's a disease called the hanahaki... Where your crush's favorite flower blossoms within you. You have to confess your love to that mysterious person and if they feel the same way back then the flower dies!"
But that's fiction... And yet Kanna reflected back to Safalin's words, "It feels like something that the death game's organizers would understandably be capable of pulling off..." In that case it would be some sort of horrible trick played on her by one of these organizers, to make her fluster herself towards someone she loved...
And yet the symptoms were worst around Sou... so that would mean...
Kanna wanted to tell him. Tell him that she loved him. It somewhat made sense now, if she could just get her feelings across, to feel that immense relief that he felt the same way.
Nao was here though, walking right by her side. She'd overhear, she'd overhear it all, telling Sou that she loves him. But what was more important, a witness or the pain finally leaving her body?
Kanna turned to Sou and puffed out her chest.
"Kanna loves you, Sou, you know... She hopes that he lives his life to the fullest once we leave this place."
Sou looked back to Kanna, the expression clearly written all over his face.
Astonishment.
But even that look twisted to a slight frown as he turned away, before he said those words that shattered Kanna's heart.
"Don't say stupid things, Kanna."
The rest of the walk was only spent in silence, as the entire group found themselves at a blocked off exit.
Everyone ended up being lectured by one of the floormasters, and it was here that Kanna realized that her symptoms acting up around Sou could've just been a coincidence. Perhaps it was all meant for someone else...
Sara!
Once they were all left alone once more, Kanna walked over to Sara, she said hello, but then there was the sudden fear of being told something like what Sou said in response, so she just said something else that was on her mind.
Sara looked distressed, all alone and by herself, once the conversation was over. Kanna thought that she was worried about her until she saw her glance at her tablet.
Sara had the sacrifice card, one that meant certain death for her.
An idea fell to Kanna's mind, as she rushed to the card trader. There was a way to say she loved Sara, without using words.
It would certainly be enough.
And yet...
And still...
When Kanna awoke from a state of unconsciousness, she found herself in the second main game, her symptoms still remained.
Kanna's heart sank. Just an act such as this wasn't enough. She'd have to outright admit her feelings towards Sara.
As if that wasn't impossible now that they'd have to see who would die within the next hour.
And yet as those minutes passed to complete that horrible main game, Kanna's symptoms slowly and slowly worsened. She coughed up complete flowers much more frequently. Maybe it was the thought of losing her lover that was driving it this insane.
Nao Egokoro helped everyone understand Kanna's condition slightly better. Everyone seemed to agree that it was similar to hanahaki, and that it was created by the people crafting this horrible death game. The only question was who Kanna's feeling were towards, if not Sou.
Yet Kanna knew... But they didn't. But everyone changed the topic before Kanna even had a chance to bring up Sara.
Kanna learned a little more about Sou during these terrible moments. His real name ended up being revealed as Shin, and somehow that made Kanna realize that her feelings were never directed at Sara at all...
Feeling the worst around Sou... Coughing up her first flower... Sou disliking roses... Hanahaki... Sou being revealed as Shin... Safalin pulling her hat down when she told her she felt the worst around Sou...
The man on the computer, being referred to as "The man I killed... Sou Hiyori"
The realization made Kanna feel as though she was suffocating, though this time like as though she literally cant breathe, like holding her breath under water. Was it the overpowering emotion of realizing something so awful? Was it the flowers blooming profusely and causing her throat to burn from the vines squeezing and filling up every single corner inside?
It didn't matter, what mattered was that everyone needed to know.
"Kanna..."
Everyone definitely looked to Kanna, the tone and look on her face scratched out any existing attention to each other.
"Kanna fell in love with Shin's façade... Which was Sou Hiyori..."
Shin's eyes widened with sudden horror. Was he realizing it too? Kanna didn't know, she didn't know what any of them were feeling. Her head was beginning to get dizzy from lightheadedness, black dots were swirling in her vision. Dots she'd only seen once before after adressing the memory of her sister's death.
"So Kanna fell in love with the real Sou Hiyori!"
"No..." Shin responded, his fingers grabbing his desk tighter.
Kanna didn't know why he was acting so scared with the information, though it was certain he knew the real Sou. Though she couldn't ask, not now, now wasn't the time.
"But Sou is dead! So Kanna's disease..."
The words were bearly being released, as if being squeaked out like a mouse. There were several Sous staring her down now. So dizzying, like scenes in cartoons, Kanna felt like she would faint any moment. She was certain her face was blue at this point.
"Can't be cured."
The last three words were barely above a whisper, Kanna last could see Sou running towards her as everything went black.