𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 ✁𝔸𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕞✁

II.XIV

     If she tried, the memories of that last day would come in quick flashes like some faded movie reel.

     To say that she slept that day much better than when she woke up to leave with the rest of the class was an understatement. Nothing could compare to the overwhelming nausea and the way her body and mind were absolutely fraught with when reality started crashing into her waking up in that single room. She clutched herself in the gray-filtered room, her surroundings blurring in and out frequently as she became swallowed in her thoughts and anxieties. She couldn't realize that there was nothing she could do to stop it, and so she busied herself throughout the entire morning changing her bandages and becoming wrapped in walking back and forth from one to the other end of the room. The octopus had walked in, asking her if everything was okay. It was hard for her not to snap at him to get out, but he did so quick enough to avoid any confrontation with her agitation.

     Kaiyo wasn't entirely sure how she was feeling about having to put on the constant act today. It could've been that after yesterday, it was easier to just go along the flow and act on the fly. Improvising would be a little tiring, but she was probably too exhausted to care about what she was saying or responding to. For the most part, the octopus left her alone and was actually getting in trouble with the government agent for some kind of shenanigan with the snipers.

     Some of the girls decided to sit in her compartment rather than their current groups. They chatted along the way, and Kaiyo supposed that it was helpful even if she was drifting in and out of the conversations. If anything, her lack of sleep last night would've affected her demeanor just as much as her panic was doing at the moment. At some point, she started emptily staring at the window where she watched the scenery run in front of her. She didn't even realize that throughout the ordeal, her eyelids started fluttering against the weight of her exhaustion and thinning endurance against her sleep deprivation.

     She only realized when she heard a voice somewhere. "Here, lay...down here...it's okay..."

     Who had been sitting next to her? Kayano was the one sitting in front of her; she could at least remember the green hair in her fuzzy vision.

     "Kataoka...?"

     She heard a small chuckle, and maybe a soft "Yes" or was it her imagination?

-

     "You're an absolute disappointment."

-

     It felt like waking up to the taser again.

     Her body sprung itself up with that push on her chest before her eyes snapped open. She immediately pushed herself to sit up, gasping and coughing when she thought that her throat was about to constrict. She swallowed down an awful, bile taste and what felt like needles as she coughed for air. She clutched at the blankets in willing her body to stop convulsing in her drowsy state.

     What am- Where am I...?!

     The coughing subsided enough that she let go and started rubbing the blurriness in her eyes. She blinked and tried rubbing again when all she could see was darkness. Her eyes were open weren't they?

     It took some time and her consciousness returning for her to figure out that the room was dark. She looked around too frantically and sharply, and she hissed as pain on her left shoulder and that side of her neck started flaring up intensely. Dry tears burned her eyes as tried swallowing back that pain and the growing nausea weighing down in her head. If that couldn't wake her up, different parts and joints of her body started erupting with throbbing aches. She had to lean over to keep herself somewhat upright before her back toppled back down onto the bed with what felt like the world weighing down her depleted body.