MUSIC ROOM

[whimsicalism]

The music room's resident, A, can be contacted by playing a flute or other instrument alone in the music room. She's there if you need her. Comments are screened until the end of the round.

Comments

[whimsicalism]

…ah, you really are bright, Yasu. I was being careful and tried to answer like her but it is difficult. I’m borrowing her voice for now… it’s easier for me this way.

[There’s a slight change in the aura of the doll. A little angry but it smooths out.]

That crane spoke too much but… you’re smart. You would have found me out eventually, I think. I don’t… I would like you to keep this a secret for now. …just a secret for us, yes?

You… you understand it. My game of hide and seek was because I was bored but also… I didn’t want to announce myself normally. A game isn’t just for the person who runs it… though I do like winning.

You… liked my game and you think… I’m good. No one really has done that before. You even said that’d you’d make a game for me! We… think alike. That’s… love, isn’t it?

We can keep this our secret… I… love you. Hehe…

[That anger is gone. Replaced by gentleness as she cuddles close to Yasu.]

[keyringwitness]

Of course I will. I, um. I know that some secrets need to be kept more than most people. [Yasu's smile flickers for a moment when her thoughts brush up against the secrets her future self tried so hard to hide that she buried the whole world to do it, but that delicate porcelain hand in hers calms her down.] B- Besides, and, um, this makes me sound selfish... everyone else can be friends with "A," but I want you to myself for a little while longer.

[Although Yasu can't help but to blush at all the compliments, what really strikes a chord with her is the way her girlfriend describes their games. Even before she realized that truth that her future self had woven at the center of her own board, Yasu would've agreed with every word, but now especially she understands what she's saying in a way that Yasu suspects very few other people would.]

When you play a game with someone else, it's like creating a whole other universe just for the two of you. [Technically more if you wanted to include others, but Yasu doesn't want to muddy the metaphor here.] I want to share mine with you, and... I think... you're right. That's love.

S- S- S- So, I, um. I love you too.

[whimsicalism]

Hehe… I get it. I’m selfish, too… I like attention but knowing that you want to be the only one that A—…[She stops herself for a moment. A silence falls for a moment before she begins again.] I love.

That means you think of me as I think of you. I’ll make sure… we’ll never be alone. [As she speaks a small breeze wafts through Yasu’s room. It’s cool, like autumn itself is passing through but it lingers as if it’s caressing Yasu’s cheek.]

You… aren’t my daddy but I don’t care. We’ll be together forever, I won’t even abandon you if you die.

[keyringwitness]

[To anyone else, "I won't abandon you even if you die" would be a chilling sentiment.

To Yasu, it feels like home. (The water's cold embrace now comforting rather than suffocating in the memories that weren't hers.)

In some futures, Yasu wouldn't be able to choose between any of her self-destructive, self-loathing loves. But right here, right now, that awful potentiality is washed away like a castle made of sand as she holds her girlfriend's doll tight and realizes how similar they are, that she can devote the budding root of love in her heart fully.

(They're still young, so young. Yasu knows it's silly to think in such grand terms, especially when making stories like this for herself was how she would stray from the path on her own world. But can't she dream? Hope? The two of them were the same, that had to count for something, right?)

So Yasu giggles when her girlfriend proudly declares that she'll never abandon her, pauses, blushes, and...]

G- G- Gosh, this, um, feels... so silly, but...

[She plants a kiss on the side of the doll's face. Quick, so much so that it'd almost be hard to notice if it wasn't for how much Yasu is blushing.]

I'd. I'd, um, l- like to do that... with you... for... real...........

[She ducks her head in sheer embarrassment, unable to finish her sentence.]