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Simon does not know how he's alive, but knows that he somehow is. He knows because instead of suffocating in an ocean of blood, he's now looking up at a ceiling. One that is several feet above him instead of the low height of the submarine. The stench of blood from that God-awful ocean still clings to him, and it's with this stench that he knows he's still covered in it.
He takes in the space around him as he lays on the floor of this strange place, with stained glass window panes that are broken, and a long flight of stairs that leads up to a podium sitting at the top. Light flows through the broken panes, creating a warm feeling in the room. The more he looks around, he realizes what this strange place is.
Ah, so this is a church, he thinks to himself as he turns to gaze at the podium high above. It’s a pretty fucking weird layout for a church though. Who builds a flight of stairs that long?
Maybe it’s just for this kind of church in particular? He isn’t sure, it’s not like he had a lot to go off of anyway. Maybe he's been brought here to repent for the sins he’s committed in his life, and beg for forgiveness before death takes him away from the world of the living completely.
But if that’s so, why does this place look like it's been damaged? This no longer looks like a place where someone can speak to God.
He slowly pushes himself up from where he was laying, struggling to do so with one arm missing. It’s probably still in that sad excuse for a submarine, now buried in the depths of the blood ocean. He probably should’ve been buried there alongside it, but he’s here in this church instead. At least the wound seems to have closed up, so he’s not leaking blood from the space his arm used to be.
Sitting upright, he realizes the building is indeed damaged; planks of wood are discarded across the stairs and floor, and what looks like grass is growing through the floorboards. He reaches out for the few strands of grass and touches them, marveling at the fact that, yes, this is indeed grass. Grass grows so freely here, where back at Eden the only living plant he saw was the Last Tree sitting by itself.
If this is here, then I probably did die. Because how the fuck would something alive be casually growing through the floor? He doesn’t know how long he sits there by himself, sitting on the floor still soaked in blood and beyond disoriented. He doesn’t know how long he’s been there until he hears footsteps from behind him, approaching closer to what he sees is the church’s entrance. There is no door at the entrance, it’s been knocked off its hinges and laying on the floor just as he was when he first woke up. That means he sees who's approaching long before they even make their way inside.
Someone with long red hair (not even the orange kind of red, like red red), is making their way towards the inside of the church, towards him. They’re holding some kind of bag in their arms as they make their way over, albeit a bit cautiously as they seem to notice him inside. He doesn’t have the strength to stand up and do anything, to get away and run, so he sits on the floor as he waits to see the kind of person who’d come to a place so clearly abandoned.
As this strange person finally makes their way inside, Simon can tell right away this person is just a kid. Probably old enough to be entering her teenage years, yet still young enough to not be considered a teenager just yet.
“And who the hell are you? I didn't think anyone still came here of all places.” The girl eyes him suspiciously as he remains seated on the floor, sticking her hand into the bag she’s been carrying and pulling out an apple. “Well? Are ya gonna say something or not?” She says as she takes a large bite of the apple she has in her hand, chewing on it as she still looks at him.
Simon says nothing, he’s not sure what he can say really. This whole situation is really bizarre, and the appearance of this girl doesn’t make it easier to understand why he’s here. If he was here to beg for forgiveness before he finally died, then what’s this strange girl doing here? And what's up with the unnatural hair color too? He’s never seen someone with hair in the color of that shade of red before. And the apple she pulled out of her bag…does she have more in there? He’s never seen one person have a whole bag of food on them, not on Eden and not with the COI either. Resources were sparse already, and having that much for one person would just be greedy. Maybe he’s still in the sub hallucinating all this shit, but it feels too real to be a hallucination
The girl is still eating her apple as he remains silent, and swallows the part she was chewing before she gives almost an exasperated sigh at him. “Man, I've run into all sorts of weirdos, but you’re definitely the weirdest I've seen. You look like you just got dunked in a bucket of blood, and you’re sitting in a rundown place like this? You’re better off leaving to go take a shower or something.” The girl walks past him as she takes another bite of her apple, sitting on the first few steps of the stairs as she talks while she eats. “So, what’s your deal then? Gotta have a reason to be here, right?”
After another moment of silence, he decides that speaking to her is probably better than just staying quiet. As much as he’s confused, he also wants to know how exactly he got here. “I…don’t know how I got here. Woke up here by myself.”
“Hmmm…” The strange girl hums to herself as she finishes off the last of her apple, throwing the remains off to the side as she digs through her bag for another one. “Pretty strange, but I guess I’ll take your word for it.” She takes a bite out of her apple and speaks as she chews. “Not like anyone would want to come here if they knew the way.”
Simon gives the girl a strange look before asking, “And why wouldn’t anyone want to come here?” The girl swallows as she gestures with the arm that’s holding her apple. “Well, this church belonged to my dad, until he started to preach stuff that wasn’t in the bible. People didn’t want to come to his sermons anymore, and he was outcasted. This place won’t ever be seen as anything more than the church of a heretic.” The girl tells him in a tone that makes him believe that it affects her more than she wants to express. “He couldn’t take it anymore and killed himself and the rest of my family, all because people wouldn’t listen to his ideas.”
“People don’t tend to like their faith to be challenged.” He tells her as he watches her finish off her second apple. “What’s written down is their truth.”
The girl lets out a huff as she tosses aside the remains of her second apple, looking at him with an annoyed expression. “Yeah, I guess so. But that shit really pisses me off; If they just gave my dad a chance to really explain his ideas, they would’ve definitely liked them and seen he was right!”
Simon isn’t about to argue with some kid about religion, so he instead shifts the conversation to hopefully figure out where the fuck he is. “So…this church is located where, exactly?” The girl looks at him with something akin to disbelief before she starts saying, “Man, you don’t even know the city you’re in? You must’ve hit your head or something. You're currently in Mitakihara City, but we’re more in the forest than the heart of the city.”
“A forest…? Like, a place with a lot of trees?” He says as he looks at the girl, eyes wide in disbelief. A place full of trees, just outside this church?
“Duh! That’s what a forest is, ya weirdo. Hey, there's actually a stream nearby, you could probably rinse off all that blood you’ve got on you too!” The girl says as she stands up and walks over towards him, one arm holding her bag while the other is offered to him. “I don’t actually have a place to stay, so you’ve gotta make do with the stream. So are you gonna get up or not?”
He looks at her offered hand before grabbing onto it, letting her pull him up to his feet. He still feels a little off balance, but he's feeling better than when he first woke up. She lets go of his hand and pulls out a handkerchief from the pocket of her jacket, cleaning off her now blood-stained hand before shoving it back into said pocket. She then reaches down into her bag of apples and takes one out, offering it to him. “By the way, my name’s Kyouko Sakura. And you are?”
“Uh, It’s Simon. Which name do I use for you?” He’s never heard someone introduce themselves with two names before either. This girl, Kyouko Sakura, is a very strange person.
“Hm, you can just call me Kyouko then. Now, are you gonna take the apple or not? ‘Cause if you don’t want it, I’ll just save it for myself!” Kyouko says as she moves her arm closer to him in an insistent gesture to take the apple.
He takes the apple from her hand, and takes a bite out of it as Kyouko looks at him in satisfaction. “Now come on! You kinda stink from all that blood, so you’ve gotta get clean like right now.” She says as she starts making her way to the church’s entrance, Simon close behind her as they step out into the sunlight.