Despair on Display

~ P r o l o g u e P a r t I I ~

"This is not a punishment, is it? We did not upset him, did we?"
"My dear sister, do not fear. This place does not seem like the work of-"
"Hush, someone is listening to us."

The two turned to Rei, who adjusted her glasses and looked away.

"Pardon me for intruding, but I simply wished to introduce myself," Rei said, giving a slight bow. The strange girl turned her head further to face Rei, and Rei took a step back in shock.

"You did not hear anything, did you?" The girl asked, to which Rei shook her head.
"I did not. I promise. I only wish to introduce myself. I'm Mochizuki Rei. Ultimate Composer." The girl seemed to relax and cracked a small smile.

"Pardon me for my hostility. I hope you do not form a negative opinion of me due to this. You may call me Mieko Mita. I am the Ultimate... Ultimate Occultist. As for my brother, he is Mieko Mito, the Ultimate Spectrologist." Mita turned her head to Mito, who bowed when he was introduced.

"Yes... as my dearest sister said, you may refer to me as Mieko Mito. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mochizuki-san."'

"It seems you are alarmed with our presence. I do apologize for any fear we may have caused you." Mita spoke, clasping her hands together. Mito adjusted his eyepatch and nodded in agreement.
"We did not mean to alarm you." He added.
Rei furrowed her eyebrows and forced a smile.
"No no, I am sorry for getting startled, I just did not expect-"

Just then, the lights turned off.

When they turned back on, the 5 statues were back at the center of the room.

"Ahem, ahem! Attention, please!" The middle statue called, turning its head from side to side.

"Welcome, welcome, dear visitors!!! We are delighted to inform you that you have been chosen to be a part of a new exhibit here at the Ultimate Gallery of Modern Illusions!"

A few murmurs rushed through the crowd. Rei noticed Mita and Mito, who were still near her, exchange confused glances.

"Yes yes, I know, I know, you are all probably wondering how the heck you all got here, what the exhibit even is, or who we are! So to put your heads to rest, and without further ado, allow us to introduce ourselves!"

The middle statue's podium began to grow taller while the other four started to shrink. The whispers among the group turned into loud gasps.

"Let's start with the most important one, shall we? Now. I am your wonderful museum curator, Chronokuma!!" Chronokuma raised his paws into the air and waved around at everyone.

"Next up, your wonderful tour guide and friend, Monoshika!" The deer bust's podium just to the left of Chronokuma started to raise. Monoshika only nodded and smiled- well, what Rei thought was a deer smiling- at the crowd.

"And this lovely fox here is Monolisa!" Chronokuma gestured to his right, and the fox's podium started to raise. 

"Wait wait wait! Seriously? Mona Lisa? One of you strange talking statues things named yourself after a painting. What type of name is that?" A voice called out, and Rei turned to see a man in a fancy suit step forward. He folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at the fox bust. Rei rolled her eyes.

The fox bust- Monolisa- turned her head to the person. 
"You're that conductor, arent you? I would have thought that someone like you who has traveled all over the world would know more about my name, but I suppose that isn't true!" The fox snickered, her beady eyes glinting.
"It's Russian, you imbecile. And that's Monolisa to you, not Mona. I will not be called Monofox or anything idiotic like that, understood?" Monolisa suddenly barked, causing the poor conductor to stumble back.

"Oh. I see. Yes. My apologies, m-ma'am." The conductor mumbled,tipped his hat in shame, and walked back into the crowd once more.

"Ahem. Well then! Moving on!" Chronokuma spoke up as he looked at his pocket watch. 

"To my farthest left is Monomishka!" The mouse bust started to raise. 

"H-hello, v-visitors...! It's nice to meet-"

"AAAAND finally, we have Mono-Z!" The final podium displaying a rabbit rose.

"And we are all the Monostatues, here to guide you through the exhibit! Now, what exactly is this exhibit, you may ask?" Chronokuma said, his one round eye squinting. 

"Well, let me tell you! It's a-"

"Now, hold on a just a moment!" 

All eyes turned to the person who spoke. A girl in baggy overalls stepped forward, her hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed.

"We can learn about what this exhibit of yours is later. But you better tell us how we got here first! I don't remember a single thing about coming here or even agreeing to any 'exhibit.' You better explain yourselves! How can you expect us to participate if we don't even recall consenting to it?" After the girl spoke, a few people in the crowd nodded in agreement. Rei found herself silently agreeing with the person, and turned back to the statues for their answer.

Chronokuma laughed. "Well, you all did just wake up a few minutes ago, right? Your memory must be hazy. You'll remember soon enough, and so it doesn't matter! So! As I was saying-"

"Hey, but that still doesn't explain why we woke up randomly with no idea where we were! One would think that, if we did agree to whatever this exhibit is, we would have come here to this gallery normally and with a memory of what the exhibit is!" The girl interrupted again, inching closer to the statues.

"Oh, won't you just shut up already?" Chronokuma snapped.
"Are... are all p-pyrotechnicians this loud...?" Monomishka mumbled. 
"Anyways, enough of this idle chit chat! I can't afford to lose any more time than we already have!! Now!! This exhibition will last for the rest of your lifetime! However short or long that may be!"
The entire room went silent. Rei's eyes widened as she felt a new fear settle in, just as one was lifted. 

"Oh, so now you all go silent! Well, good! Because listen to what I have to say! This exhibit is the first of its kind! This shall be the most beautiful exhibition ever, for it is none other than a killing exhibition! That's right! You either stay here forever until you become a beautiful, bloody canvas for someone else, or you can be the one to slaughter your fellow visitors, get away with it, and leave scot-free!"

The silence turned into bursts of outrage. While chaos unfolded around her, Rei felt the floor sway underneath her feet. Her entire mind became a mushed abstract painting itself as it drowned out the yells from those around her. 

These... statues... saw murder... as a form of art? Why would anyone want to do this? What did she do to deserve this? Her breath quickened, and she stumbled due to her wobbling legs.

For all she knew, she was going to become the first gruesome masterpiece: hung and framed.