蛹.

The clouds have been kissed pink by the warm rays of the setting sun as the bright glow of the afternoon gradually melts away for the dark gloom of the evening to take over. Families and friends have already started packing their things up to call it a day while some have still stayed on their picnic mats to bask in the sight of the sunset. 

Shinsou would have noticed all of this if he isn’t dozing off under the cool comforts of the shade of a tree. He had been initially flipping through a book about bicycles which he had received upon waking up to wherever the hell this is. He had hoped to find a cryptic message between the glossy pages that could help him figure out how to return to his home but as soon as his eyelids began to droop and his head started to loll forward, the young student had given in to the lure of sleep.

Is it smart to sleep outside without at least his binding cloth to reassure him that he can defend himself should the situation call for it? Of course not, but Shinsou’s lack of sleep has gotten him overlooking that dilemma. The sky fades darker with every passing second and yet Shinsou still remains unbothered in his slumber, unaware of the approaching figure before him.

the predilection to wander carves issues sometimes, if not most of the time. without the presence of the royal guards ( and as he wants to claim, there’s no need for such companies, since he can survive without their aid ), he finds himself lost. in the causality of this habit, he finds himself loitering further into the area, and while he’s certain that he’s within the proximity of his house, he possibly cannot be more wrong as well. the possibilities are endless, and as the dusk descends, he believes that he’s lost for real today.

there is this picnic site, scattered with the fleeting light of the beautiful sunset. as the shine ripens, turning into darkness, that’s when noctis believes that he’s truly in trouble. it’s not that the island is invested with daemons the way it is ( was? ) back in his world, warded off from lucis only because of the powers wielded by the rightful king… wasn’t that him? isn’t that him? he doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know. refocusing his thoughts into this singular task of finding his way back home proves to be rather intricate with the weight of his past clinging to his mind. the noose of responsibilities doesn’t desert him just like that — smothers him as always.

the island has never seemed to quiet down even when the weather begins to cool down, with the scattered timing of the breeze causing her to shiver. she hugs herself tighter as she presses her folded arms closer to her chest. the scarf that already wraps around her neck doesn’t proffer enough warmth, and during times like this, she recalls tokyo in pieces. and sometimes, other cities she’s visited. this place is unlike others, with air of peculiarities hanging, but she cannot pinpoint what. not yet.

the height of her curiosity might be high, and she’s suspected some behind the scene acts happening behind the backs of the citizens, but she cannot exactly tell what. it’s just… a gut feeling, to simplify. she’s never found anything odd, though. it’s like the whole island is deceiving her, and she cannot see the fissures that might be telltale. some puzzles are not easy to solve, after all. but what if shinichi was here— might be a different story altogether. yet, he’s not. not like he was present where she was before all this, either. his disappearing acts did become frequent, and it got harder to reach out to him.

quite discombobulated, ran did not, and still does not, really know how to respond to the fact that an idol asked her to teach him how to throw a mean punch. sure, she’s a tad used to the truth that her strength can be admirable, and her techniques in martial arts something that she should be proud of. despite preferring kicks than punches, she most of the times knows how to utilize both, yet she believes she hasn’t exhibited both in too many instances since her arrival in this rather odd world. but perhaps, not many people actually do karate in this place — she’s aware of how many of them are equipped with sheer otherworldly abilities. karate is a niche, it seems, unlike in japan… how she misses home, but that’s not the main concern for now.

nights in koi are often fleeting, with the phase of darkness shifting back to obscurity behind the dawn. days, they last longer, alongside their elongated shadows that bring him nothing if not unwarranted thoughts. there are reminders that he resides in the black when it comes to the monochromatic sides, all sins, no forgiveness. where would he ask penance from? the world has shifted, a different, distant dimension that follows proffers nothing if not confusion. he’s still dazed from all the oddities, so there’s no atonement begged as of yet. even so, he’s found some companies that don’t seem to mind the presence of a boy wearing a cloak of diffused men, all the faces donned as façades. maybe they cannot tell the difference. maybe they can. he doesn’t really know — everything is a blur after those days spent lucid in a world that wasn’t kind.

and this is how he spends his evenings, shrouded by the dark as it comes, in the island that doesn’t require him to repent. clad in a t-shirt hanging loosely onto his frame, he leans towards the barrister that overlooks a frame of the island. he lets the cool breeze caress his exposed skin, mulling over the fact that it’s not like this remote place doesn’t stomach any dissonance, for it does, very much so, but at the same time it also holds its own peace for him. a sphere for him to be private, for many if not most don’t know his background. what he’s done, all the sins that drip from the interstices of his fingers. they matter naught in here, at least. for that, he’s almost thankful. perhaps it’s better this way, not having to return to a place so fucked up. some of these days, he almost can delude himself into believing that it wasn’t real. that saeyoung never left. that he himself never sinned. not to that extent.

currently owing: @stellavirdis / starter for klug from ran, @kingscharm / starter for kirin from saeran, @maskedecho / starter for hibiki from ran, @hakuchigun / meme for chuuya from ran, @tremblinglycoris / meme for oichi from ran, @lackedflaw / meme for odasaku from saeran, @forcottentail / starter for alice from ran.

currently waiting: @lackedflaw / reply from odasaku for ran, @royalied / reply from eichi to ran, @sourceofsin / reply for saeran from osamu.

there are innumerable thoughts that swarm in her, mind adrift as she is chasing the pavements. the world she’s in is growing weirder and weirder, discordance in its own terms. not that she’s fully aware of what’s currently happening within the confines of the islands, and therefore, everything is an overload to her. she doesn’t believe she wants to meddle in anything, but here she is, trying to make sense out of the peculiarities that recently occurred. thank goodness for whatever saved her from being trapped in a costume, but it turns out that the people whom she’s come to know… well, most of them weren’t as fortunate.

she isn’t certain as of now, what odasaku’s fate is. hasn’t seen him for a long time, but she assumes that their plan to visit the haunted houses is still a go. thus, her current whereabouts. she likes treading across the sidewalks, absorbing her surroundings, or ignoring whenever she’s distracted by her own train of thoughts. it feels like an old routine, walking like this. footfalls almost never lethargic, she tries keeping a positive outlook regardless of how odd everything has been. she eventually arrives on the doorstep of the building, looming over her with its shadow cast from the sunset. her entry is rather uneventful, reaching the corridor leading to where odasaku’s unit is.