[The problem is really rooted in the fact that it's Hierophant-kun that contacted her about this. Maybe if it'd been Noriaki Kakyoin, she wouldn't have decided to be so indulgent, or casually sentimental. But she's intrigued by Hierophant, generally speaking, and he seems earnest enough in the way that he contacts her — clarifying things, making jokes, texting in a way that's absolutely atrocious and yet somehow endearing — so before she turns her attention to her bag, she takes her device and sets it up at a distance, adjusting the angle and switching on the video so that he can see her reaction firsthand as she checks the bag.
In retrospect, she shouldn't have been surprised. Hierophant said something about White Day; she should've expected it.
People wrap gifts. She should've expected it.
The paper is cute. She should've expected it.
They're too small to have bones in them.
She should've expected it.
She didn't look. She should've looked. Maybe there would've been clues to what she'd done, how she'd killed him. All of the executions were horrific, tailored to their recipient. How did she kill him? The headmaster is still inside the school, Alter Ego had said. He was. He was still there. He was gathered up and stuffed in a box to wait for her.
The box was inside the hidden room protected by the password and the password was her name and did he confess it before he died or did she just know did she just know that he would've used her name did everyone know he used her name except her and
stop it stop it, kyoko get hold of yourself, kyoko there's no use for emotions like that!
There's a buzzing in her ears. Tunnel vision. Her hands feel a little numb, like they don't quite belong to herself, but to someone else instead. She doesn't know it, but she's gone paler than she usually is, even; there's sweat on her brow and her eyes are unfocused, and the camera is catching it all without even her realizing it.
She presses her lips together. Get control of it, Kyoko. Stop it. Stop it. It's just a stupid box. It's just paper. How mortifying to react like this over something so stupid.
She sets her bag down. Makes her hands reach into it like piloting the claws of a crane game, grabbing things that are an extension of her will rather than a part of her, and finds the pretty pink paper-wrapped box with its soft pastel flowers and its cute ribbon that must must must belong to Sakura-chan.
It's just a stupid box and stupid paper and there are no bones inside.
Her father is dead and she doesn't care doesn't care doesn't care doesn't care.]
Arigatō gozaimasu, Hierophant-kun.
[Funny. Her voice sounds as robotic as his telegram-style texting.]
video;
In retrospect, she shouldn't have been surprised. Hierophant said something about White Day; she should've expected it.
People wrap gifts. She should've expected it.
The paper is cute. She should've expected it.
They're too small to have bones in them.
She should've expected it.
She didn't look. She should've looked. Maybe there would've been clues to what she'd done, how she'd killed him. All of the executions were horrific, tailored to their recipient. How did she kill him? The headmaster is still inside the school, Alter Ego had said. He was. He was still there. He was gathered up and stuffed in a box to wait for her.
The box was inside the hidden room protected by the password and the password was her name and did he confess it before he died or did she just know did she just know that he would've used her name did everyone know he used her name except her and
stop it
stop it, kyoko
get hold of yourself, kyoko
there's no use for emotions like that!
There's a buzzing in her ears. Tunnel vision. Her hands feel a little numb, like they don't quite belong to herself, but to someone else instead. She doesn't know it, but she's gone paler than she usually is, even; there's sweat on her brow and her eyes are unfocused, and the camera is catching it all without even her realizing it.
She presses her lips together. Get control of it, Kyoko. Stop it. Stop it.
It's just a stupid box. It's just paper. How mortifying to react like this over something so stupid.
She sets her bag down. Makes her hands reach into it like piloting the claws of a crane game, grabbing things that are an extension of her will rather than a part of her, and finds the pretty pink paper-wrapped box with its soft pastel flowers and its cute ribbon that must must must belong to Sakura-chan.
It's just a stupid box and stupid paper and there are no bones inside.
Her father is dead and she doesn't care doesn't care doesn't care doesn't care.]
Arigatō gozaimasu, Hierophant-kun.
[Funny. Her voice sounds as robotic as his telegram-style texting.]