Big Book of Writing

Intoxication Syndrome (Sorakei, SDRA2)

This was an art trade for Kagameeh on Twitter! Go check them out!

Warning: intoxication, spoilers for chapter 1 of SDRA2!

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When the party began at the guest house on Utsuroshima's fifth night, hardly anyone was expecting there to be alcohol on the tables, much less the people who set up the party. Except for one, everyone was taken off-guard from this fact.

But there were some people who weren't deterred by this turn of events, and people like Shinji and Setsuka were the first to start drinking. Eventually, other people started to join in, even if there were people like Yoruko and Yuki who were trying to stop them. Eventually, after all of their complaints, they gave up on trying to stop everybody from drinking alcohol.

Sora had decided to at least try a little of the alcohol, she couldn't remember what it tasted like and wanted to find out. She took a bottle and tried a sip of it, and she was surprised by how bitter it was. But despite the bitterness, it gave her a light buzz in the back of her head. Sora drank a little bit more, and the buzzing came to the forefront.

She put the bottle back down once she got irritated at the warmth in her chest, and she looked around. The room wasn't spinning, she could still walk in a straight line, but she felt just a little more giddy than before. To her, this urge to laugh and relax wasn't a bad feeling after all. The drink had tasted bitter, but it wasn't terrible after all.

As she left the table where the bottles were, Sora wondered what she should try tasting next. Mikado made all sorts of food for the party and continued to make more in another room in the guest house, and there was lots that she didn't remember trying yet. When she spotted pizza near the end of the other table, she immediately began heading to it.

However, Sora wasn't as sober as she thought, and didn't notice that there was another person standing in front of the pizza as well. "Ah, hey! Watch it!" Nikei yelped as she accidentally walked into him.

"Oh, I didn't see you. Sorry about that," the amnesiac apologized. She looked down at the different kinds of pizzas in front of her and the many toppings. "Hm, which kind of toppings would you say are good?"

"Well, that one's just pepperoni, a regular topping, that one is extra cheese, so no toppings, over there is supreme, so lots of vegetables..." Nikei continued rambling about the different kinds of pizzas there on the table while Sora began unintentionally tuning him out, only noticing how cute the journalist was in her tipsy state.

"But!" Nikei suddenly raised his voice, snapping Sora's mind back to reality. "I'd say that the best one is the Canadian peace here, with bacon and mushrooms. The sauce, dough, and cheese here too means that you're technically eating the four food groups, and no one can get on your back for being unhealthy."

"Alright, thanks." Sora offered a smile as she took a paper plate and filled it with the kind he recommended. She bit into a piece, and her eyes lit up in surprise at how good it tasted. "Wow, this is really nice," she commented, and then took another bite.

Nikei sighed as he recognized the bizarre demeanour of the normally-stoic girl. "You're drunk, aren't you? I really thought you'd be the type to dislike alcohol."

"Not as drunk as Setsuka, don't worry," the white-haired girl assured, taking a glance at the billiards player. The girl in question was in the middle of a drinking contest with Kanade and seemed to be losing. "And for the record, how could you say I'd stay away from alcohol if I've never tried it?"

"What do you mean, you never-? Oh, right. Amnesia," he sighed. "Well, it can't be helped. At least you know what it's like now. I just stay away from it in general, the effects don't favour me at all."

All of a sudden, the sound of music began to play. "What on earth? Who turned that on?" Yoruko questioned, looking around.

"I did," Monocrow spoke up from near the doorway. "I figured that the festivities would be rather dull for my students without some ambiance, so why not let them dance to their heart's content? They're still young, after all."

"You think that letting a herd of drunk classmates dance is really a good idea, teacher?" Mikado questioned, poking his head out from his 'kitchen' in the other room. "That would really be a 'Masochism Tango,' you know!"

Mikado let out a small squeak and ducked back into the other room as a show hit the wall beside him. "No one wants to hear your Tom Lehrer reference, so just shut up!" Shinji exclaimed, and Setsuka quickly went to retrieve the shoe taken from the drunken spaceman beside them.

Sora noticed Nikei lost in thought, and suddenly grabbed him, pulling him to a clear area. "Woah, what's going on?!" the journalist exclaimed, trying to struggle out of her grip.

"Come on, dance with me!" Sora giggled. "Isn't this the time to have a bit of fun? Even despite our circumstances, don't you believe that we should still live as we want while we still can? I do."

Nikei continued his attempts at protesting, but they were useless as he was dragged into a clear area of the room by the girl's unnatural strength. When they came to a stop, Sora wrapped her arms around him and looked up at him.

"...Okay, I don't really know how to dance," Sora admitted, "but I can learn."

Nikei felt a part of him die inside at that. "Let's just slow dance for now, alright? You're going to have a huge headache in the morning anyway, so I think it's better to not move around too much." When Sora looked confused at what a 'slow dance' was, Nikei sighed, "It's basically when couples hold onto each other and sway back and forth. N-Not that we're a couple or anything..."

Cutting off his explanation there, Nikei quickly put his arms around Sora and began stepping back and forth in his slow dance with her. Sora looked over at the clock in the guest house, which she had dusted earlier. It was pretty late, but not late enough that the Monocruise would close its doors. She still had an hour to enjoy herself.

Putting her head on Nikei's chest, she closed her eyes and let him take the lead. Tonight, surrounded by everyone, she felt safe in this supposed 'killing game' they were all trapped in. If everything always felt like this, maybe Yuri wouldn't do anything extreme. Maybe no murders would happen. Maybe things won't get worse.

But the next morning, the headache from her hangover was as much of a wake up call as the corpse falling from the bell tower.

***

Art credit: qiongzhouhaixiawanttoeatmeat on lofter