“…I’m sorry to say this Becca-chan, but there’s just no hope left for them. A real shame, indeed but we’ve unfortunately done everything we could possibly think of.”
Well, that was a lie… he had a pretty crystal clear idea of what was happening as he maneuvered his way through the twisted and overly exaggerated environment of the TV World, attention honed in on a possible breakthrough of uncharted territories than anything else. Frankly, he assumed there’d be no need to venture through yet another maze of repressed thoughts and conflicted feelings so soon after the team dealt with the latest obstacle (this time in the form of a melee tournament, really?) trying to disrupt their successfully acquired peacefulness, but fate always managed to find a way to bite him in the ass. It isn’t like complaining would do anything to change the predicament at hand, so he did his best to swallow the slight irritation trying to bubble over. This wasn’t about him right now.
He was merely a friend… a spectator… a chess piece that was tossed onto an unfamiliar playing field with only an electric guitar and keen senses at his disposal. Not much that could do in comparison to the far more experienced fighters among them, like Chie, Rise, and Yukiko… and his agility was basically sub-par compared to Haruka and Naoto, but Yosuke had to take a chance.
Rebecca was counting on him.
At least, he hoped she was.
“Defective trash, huh?” The idol spoke to no one in particular, watching the professionally dressed Shadow present herself in a manner that could only be deemed ‘formal’. Eerily enough, seeing her in such a state reminded him of his own, right down to the way she addressed him before vanishing all together. Swallowing heavily, and taking a moment to sweep an uneasy gaze across the ground floor of the dungeon, Yosuke made an attempt to process the situation. Between the scattered dolls whose broken limbs and vacant stares left an unmistakable lump in the pit of his stomach, and whispering winds that crept behind corners of empty hallways awaiting his presence, there was a lot going on here. A lot he needed to talk to Rebecca about after they got out of here. Together.
Fingers gripped tightly around the neck of his dungeon crawling designated guitar, he called out to the unknown before him. “For your information, the only trash I’ll be taking out are whatever shadows you think can actually hold me back from getting to Becca-chan!” A boastful exclamation, one he didn’t have much strength to support, but he’d be damned if he let that stop him!
He was a man with a mission, god damn it!
And with that, he charged forward into the abyss.
The first floor was as silent as a graveyard, the tapping of Hani’s shoes echoing through the hallways. There weren’t many Shadows, and the ones that were there could be passed by without much issue.
As soon as the idol neared the stairs, there was the sound of a young girl crying, a second young voice speaking.
“Auntie, I think she’s broken!”“I’m not broken-”“Auntie, you should get a new one!”“Shut up-! Leave Mama out of this-!”
The voices and the crying abruptly cut off, allowing Hani to ascend the stairs to the next floor. The next floor had a single room this time, a simple blonde-haired, sapphire-eyed barbie doll with a perpetual smile. The ears of the doll seemed to be slashed at and cut up however.
“Aren’t you supposed to be pretty? You’re a foreigner, aren’t you? Foreigner girls shouldn’t have muscles. What, are you just a dumb gaijin delinquent or something?”
Those simple words echoed in the room before going silent, the sound of a thrum, a heartbeat-like sound was the only thing that could be heard. There was the faint urge to pick up the doll once all went quiet.
A steady beat, almost like a heartbeat, thrummed through silver and blue hallways. Various broken dolls and figurines were scattered on the floor, the heads cracked, but the hair very visibly blonde.
A distinct, yellow-eyed figure elegantly sat on a seat in the middle of the very first room, a leg crossed over the other underneath her elaborate yet professional dress. Long, blonde hair was tied up in a tight braided bun, revealing faint scarring by her ears. She stood up, heels clacking on the floor and a grin on her freckled face as her eyes gleamed.
“So you’ve come. Now we can get started. Shall we~?”
All sound rumbling through the hallways abruptly cut off, leaving silence and any noise the team was making.
“Welcome to my reality. Where the defective trash comes and goes, everyone speaks and yet no one hears. Will you climb to the top and collect your obligation? I wonder about that… Have fun taking out the trash~!”
Without another word, the Shadow disappeared with a barking laugh, echoing through the chillingly silent hallways of what seemed to be a twisted amalgamation of a school and a bakery.
Back in the Game 