Aptitude with the branches
Episode 0.1; Ghost
"Ugh....hnng..." I slept late yesterday, plain and simple so I must have woke up pretty late huh?
Every morning, my vision would be hazy to the point everything and anything would look like a blur to me. I can barely see anything for about another few minutes or so, my body also aches slightly if I try to move so I try not to move for a few minutes before finally standing.
"Time for my daily routine of 200 sit-ups, push-ups and another 15 kilometer ru- what the fuck....?"
The moment I'm able to see again, I'm stood in the middle of a white room. The furniture and everything are completely paint in white, even the floor, ceiling and walls!
R
rrrriiiiiinnnnngggg!
Rrrrriiiiiinnnnngggg! Rrrrriiiiiinng!
"........." Hang on this is....yeah a dorm room isn't it? The interior design, the space, no doubt it's an empty dorm room with only the essentials in it like a bed, a desk and a cupboard. There's also this obnoxious ringing sound that seems to be getting more and more distorted as time goes on.
Pick up the phone
"No signal.....- hnnng!"
Install memories
"Ghhh! A-ahhh!"
I hold my head in anguish, my head feels like it's about to split apart.
What is this sensation? Pain, loneliness, anger, all these emotions all in one headache. This pain I'm feeling is nothing I've ever experienced before....yet I feel a sense of understanding.
This feeling, this room....I've been here before. This white room with only a handful of coloured items, I've been here once before but why did I act like I didn't know what was going on?
Oh, you managed to remember. Good job!
"Huh?" I turn towards the familiar voice which echoed through the room.
It's Kujou, floating in mid air....? She's wearing her typical school uniform with a pink jacket over it, somehow her skirt is defying the laws of physics and being held down to cover her panties.
Ah, I remember now. This is the place I first met Kujou, but why does it feel like I've known her for my entire life? Something is up, and I'm about to piss my pants over how illogical this situation is.
Hmm? Is there something on my face?
Kujou goes over to a colourless mirror to check herself.
"...Can you even reflect your image off that? It's literally a blank canvas..."
Of course I can, this is my room after all so I should have power over everything here.
"What the hell are you getting a- wot?!"
She waves her hand in front of the mirror as a portion of the colourless-ness crumbles off, revealing the true mirror reflecting her body to show herself off.
Hold on! What the fuck did she just do?! Is she some sort of god I shouldn't mess with, she also said this is her room but from my knowledge, her room was much more colourful than this. It wasn't too girly but it sure as hell not as boring as this place!
Hmm.... doesn't look like anything is on my face- oh I get it! You're confused aren't you? Well feel free to take a seat on my bed, floating doesn't consume much.
I stare at her for a few seconds before shrugging and slowly seating my ass onto the white bed.
I'm more than confused, this white room might drive me crazy. At first I thought it was only a dream but it's the real deal, I was sent here a second time.
This room is enough to send anyone down the whirlpool of insanity if someone stays here for a lengthy amount of time. My body feels ridiculously light in this place, but it's also suspiciously cold in here like a presence is forever inside this room....I don't think Kujou was in here a few moments ago.
"Alright now to the questions, why am I here again? Also what the hell was that insufferable headache I felt earlier?"
Headache....? Oh you mean the installation of your previous memories in this place? You didn't seem to remember so I tried helping you, things worked out as I planned it seems.
Installation of my previous memories? Is such a thing even possibl- actually a girl I've known in floating in front of me while we're having a chat in this white room so something like this shouldn't surprise me.
If I ever come here again, will that happen? If so I hope it doesn't hurt as much as before, I felt like I was about to die for a second there. It wasn't just pain behind that either, I felt a sense of wanting to die because of those emotions I felt.
Pain, anger, loneliness, depression, all in one mess of a memory remembering process. I remember falling asleep back on the cruise ship but for some reason I had memories of walking through a dense forest similar to that of the exam, and finally holding a dead corpse in my hands.
It felt so real, almost like I've been through that experience before but prior the memory installation, I had absolutely no memory of the event.
Of course you wouldn't remember it, you experienced that horrible event in another branch after all.
"Ah, I forgot you could read my mind. So what's this about a branch? There a tree around here and if so is it at least coloured?"
Oh so you don't know about that..... I'm sure Ghost will tell you eventually, I'm so tired to explain!
Ghost? The person who occasionally takes control of Kane's body? What does she have to do with this, well she is kinda like a...well, ghost and I'm guessing this is a supernatural event....
Yeah everything makes sense to me now. I should stop doubting stuff like this since anything beyond this point should be...at least a little natural to me now. Kujou floating in mid-air, Ghost as a whole and this blasted room, yeah anything more than this won't surprise me anymore.
"Why am I here again?"
An experiment! I wanted to see if you would explode the moment I installed those memories into your brain. I can say it was a success but your head nearly turned to goo.
So I almost died?! The world of the supernatural is extremely dangerous after all, I guess the reason I survived was grandpa's training. Forgive me gramps, I should have never doubted you!
Guess a part of it was my mental fortitude? I'm not well versed in the realm of the supernatural so I shouldn't to into it in too much detail, my brain might not be enough to process the supernatural anyway.
Alright, read my mind and tell why I'm actually here.
Geez.....alright sure. I'm here to warn you about Ghost, she's planning something and I can bet it's not good.
"Planning something? Her? What can she do?"
You have an tendancy to judge a book by what you know about it.... Well to be specific, Ghost is drawing out time and is planning to kill you again to begin another branch.
Kill me? Wait, again?! I've died alread- no wait, I have died already! Those memories, they felt familiar because..
I have been through them before, these installed memories were slightly delayed but I remember vaguely what happened. I died the moment I dropped the person's corpse on the ground, blood gushing out of every vein in my body....man that's a horrible sight.
"Oi, don't talk bad about me behind my back like this. You'll give me a bad reputation Kujou."
I turn towards yet another familiar voice.
It's...Kane- no, it's Ghost standing by the door with her hands inside her pockets. She's wearing a black and white jacket with a black skirt, an outfit which fits her pretty well if I do say so myself- hold on why is she here?
"This is my space too, also why am I the one who talks in quotation marks?"
Live through it for now please!
So they know eachother, I should have known. They have a similar presence, but somehow it still feels like they're conflicting with one another...
"Can you leave please? I want to discuss something with Kujou and O don't want you snitchin'."
"And if I don't- ok no need to snap your fingers at me, please don't kill me again."
"You remember your death? Tch.... That's seriously annoying, well off you go, don't worry I ain't about to harm Kujou in any way."
Ghost effortlessly opens the door without having it close on me again as it sucks me through it in a blink of an eye.
So that was an experience....they know eachother huh? Branches....I need to try something once I wake up, I need to see if the Kujou out there is the same as the Kujou inside the room.
I can confirm that's the same Ghost but does Kane know about this? I need an answer.....for now I should focus on myself. Which reminds me, I haven't spent much time with Ray-chan and Soranyan huh? Maybe I can use this time to hang out with those two for awhile...