[FREE] Jurassic (Levels of Dissociation) [ATTN: Osatsu Kei]

[Nagareboshi Koi]

If there was one thing Krampusuke and Santako seemed to positively relish in, it was cruel and macabre levels of irony.

This had been evident from the very beginning— from the ways they orchestrated Karina and Hirase’s executions to incorporate the familiar comforts of their lives rioting against them in a wild tangle of violence, from the stage of ballet Karina had once elegantly graced to the waters that Hirase had made it her goal to survey and protect. It was all so sick and twisted and horrible, the idea that the things you revolved your life around could rebel against you and tear your life to pieces— something that Koi couldn’t quite shake.

Perhaps almost as cruel, however, came with the revealed floors in the wake of all the death. Among the new areas was the SHSL Waitress’s Research Lab— established just at the perfect time for Tenshin to never get to see it.

That was what lingered in Nagareboshi’s thoughts as she lingered outside the doorway, hesitance puppeteering every motion she made. Sullen eyes surveyed the entrance, pale fingers curled around the doorknob and still yet to move, as if she feared that by stepping inside, she’d be disgracing the memory of one of her fallen classmates. Her heart thrummed at a slightly faster pace, drumming beneath the looming cage of her ribs, and her brow furrowed in unspoken questioning.

It felt like she was intruding even more when she finally twisted the doorknob, coaxing the door open as she slipped through its archway. She bit her lip and swallowed the anxieties, telling herself that this was all just to scout out or get a coffee cake or honor Tenshin or whatever excuse she could conjure up for being here.

The room was vast and yet cozy— that, she’d been expecting. What she hadn’t been expecting was to see another face.

Looming not far away, their glasses gleaming beneath the light, was Osatsu Kei— the SHSL Comedian, if Nagareboshi remembered correctly. The one who’d been dissociating at the very beginning of this whole mess, and the only other person there besides herself and Suzuki that donned a pair of glasses. They were tiny details to draw upon, and yet they were sufficient— she honestly didn’t have much else to go off of in her mind.

Oh, they loved penguins. There was that too.

Nagareboshi hesitated, her expression twisting slightly with uncertainty. Starting up conversations could always be something of a struggle. But she’d come in here, and she wasn’t alone, so it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.

“Oh, hello— Osatsu-san, right?”

[Osatsu Kei]

🐧 --- They weren't sure how to feel about this room, in all honesty. It was convenient for one thing, but there was something that felt off about it. Was this robot to replace Tenshin? What a sick joke, really. Yet while sitting at a counter, as they watched the cream in their coffee swirl around, they couldn't help but to find it funny. This was a sick joke, yes, but it was a nicely morbid joke to reference the singularity between robots and humans.

(Well done, whoever made this room.)

That thought train was immediately broken up by the sound of someone coming into the room and addressing them, in which they look up from their coffee and over to where Nagareboshi stood.

"Ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆｌｅｓｈ."

Staring at her during an unsettling pause, they soon tilt their head to the side before continuing to talk.

"Come here for something to munch on?"

--- 🐧

[Nagareboshi Koi]

When golden eyes flickered and loomed almost uncomfortably long on her, Koi practically froze in place— her countenance locked into undeniable shock, with her eyes wide and lips parted in unwilling silence. She barely moved, regulating her breathing so her motions were small and unnoticeable, as if Osatsu was a tyrannosaurus and she was the researcher trapped in place with it.

...or maybe she’d just been watching Jurassic Park too often. That was a very real possibility.

Still, the second Osatsu relaxed their expression and frigid monotone, Nagareboshi reverted to her normal stance and she let out a sigh of what had to be relief. Offering a sheepish but hopefully friendly smile, the paleontologist sauntered over to the counter and sank into one of the seats beside Osatsu— not too close, but not at a rude distance, either. 

“Something like that.”

Her voice was wistful, inflections bound to a sentimental yearning, and she balanced her head in the palm of her hand.

“A part of me just wanted to see what this place was, another was hungry, and the last just wanted to...sort of...I suppose, honor Tenshin-san? I know it sounds strange, but...”

She shrugged slightly, a frown crossing over her lips.

“‘Tis rather cruel that they introduced this place in the wake of Sakurako-san’s death. I don’t understand it.”

[Osatsu Kei]

🐧--- The wistful tone of her voice seemed to resonate within Osatsu, with how their shoulders started to relax, and their gaze softening as she takes a seat next to them. Though it disappears as soon as it appears, and they turn their attention back to staring intently the cup of coffee in front of them, sitting in between both their hands. 

It takes a few seconds for them to scrap up a response.

"Amusement, Nagareboshi-san. It's for amusement."

There's a sound of nails idly tapping on ceramic, and there's nothing that seems to stop them from continuing on that harsh, callous response.

"By doing something tragic such as opening up an area as if it was in memory of the victim, it garners more views-- more attention. Controversy is something that people take great interest in, no matter if they're involved or not. They're calculatingly cruel."

Lifting their gaze from the cup in their hands and over to Nagareboshi, they then tilt their head slight to the side.

"But who are we to cry about it. Ah, by the way, the crumb cake is really good. I'd recommend it."

--- 🐧

[Nagareboshi Koi]

Nagareboshi maintained her silence as Osatsu analyzed the matter, their voice so strangely calm alongside the sorrow of the matter they described. Her expression warped a little as the solemnity sank in, her eyes darkening and eyebrows furrowing, her lower lip sinking beneath her two front teeth with the contemplation. 

She really should have considered it that way, in truth— the integration of cruelty and spectatorship was like this was some stupid game or TV show or something. This all felt like something she’d end up reading about on trope websites in the same way she did for her books and manga. 

For a moment, she just nodded, her fingers rising back up to the ribbons in her hair and gently tugging. It wasn’t enough to unravel them, but enough so that she could still feel the resilience of the fabric between her fingertips— the same thing that kept her together whenever she was stressed out or unable to handle the weight of her own anxieties. 

“That...makes sense.”

Nagareboshi sighed, a juxtaposition to her words.

“It makes sense, but I still don’t like it. We aren’t just characters to be thrown in and out of scenes and analyzed to death. We aren’t just figures to generate controversy and have some audience weep over our problems.”

The intensity of her voice elevated, her fingers wrapping around the edge of the counter in white-knuckled tranquil fury. Her glasses almost seemed to mist up.

“We’re human.”

She lifted a hand up to her cheek and balanced her head there, her fingers rising to her temples and gingerly massaging. People always did that when they were overwhelmed or stressed out, and it didn’t really do much to alleviate the headache blooming in her skull, but it certainly did convey her stress.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m just...stressed. Anyway, um, how do you order things here? Crumb cake sounds good.”

[Osatsu Kei]

🐧 --- There's something about Nagareboshi's words that give them pause, holding back that callous response that was threatening to continue to slither out of their mouth. They never really held back on their comments from left to right with this sort of topic, but there was something that Nagareboshi said that made them hesitate. Quiet, even. Yet, even thought they didn't know, a part of them did-- the part that they wanted to lock away behind a door and key so that everyday life would be bearable. 

With every level of intensity her voice jumped to, the more quiet Osatsu was, letting her talk all she wanted before they would even have a chance to comment. Their little taps on the ceramic of the cup disappeared, and their gaze, unwavering, kept their hold on where Nagareboshi sat. She had their full, undivided attention, and with one line--

"We're human."

-- all that Osatsu could offer her in response was a sad, and sympathetic smile, with pinches of its genuine nature sprinkled in the tiny details of their expression.

"...Sometimes I wished we weren't. Wouldn't it just make everything seem more easier?"

Then they quickly moved on with a slight falter in their expression, almost as if they realized that they showed too much for someone who they just met.

(And they did--)

"How about we go on a fun, stress relieving trip after this. I'm terribly bored, and you look like you could use the distraction. What do you say."

Giving her some time to respond, they turn their attention over to the robot that was behind the counter, and calls out to it.

"Robot-san! Could we get two crumb cakes over here?"

After that, the robot seems to come to life at Osatsu's order, and starts to create the crumb cakes. Osatsu turns back to Nagareboshi, and gently picks up their coffee mug with a chuckle.

"Quite useful, isn't it?"

Siip. --- 🐧