(Takes place just before the third palace, but hints at things that happen during the sixth palace.)
The director of the SIU stood in his office, looking out the giant window at the Tokyo skyline as he spoke to his mysterious benefactor.
"Yes sir, I agree. While it would have been a fine idea to use her to lure them out, you are correct. She's too unpredictable, and may pick the worst time to start actually taking after her father. Best to get her out of the way now."
"Yes," the corrupt attorney continued. "I had my aides slip it into her coffee earlier today. It should take affect tonight. No sir, it won't be possible to trace back to us. Very well."
The director put his phone away, his benefactor having hung up. As of tonight, Sae Niijima would no longer be a potential obstacle to their plans.
"A shame, really," he mused out loud as he stared back out the window. "If she were just a little more knowledgeable of her place, she could have been an excellent prosecutor."
---
"You're nothing but a worthless burden that eats away at my life!"
As soon as those words left Sae's mouth, she regretted them.
Sae had a bad day at the office. Her boss was more dismissive of her than usual, Akechi was being insufferably smug, and one of the junior attorneys actually had the gall to make a pass at her. Then she came home and her sister said their father would support the Phantom Thieves and... she lost her composure.
And now Makoto was staring at her in disbelief, obviously trying not to cry.
"I'm sorry..." Sae said lamely. "That was uncalled for."
Makoto sniffled a bit. Clearly, by this point the damage had already been done. Sae wasn't going to be able to salvage this tonight.
Sae wasn't sure she WANTED to salvage this tonight.
"I'm going back to the office," Sae said as she rose awkwardly from her chair. "It's probably best if I eat out for dinner from now on."
Sae left without another word. As she closed the door behind her, she heard her sister finally let out a single choked sob, and felt disgusted with herself. She'd have to make it up to Makoto eventually. Unfortunately, the two had grown so distant since their father's passing, Sae wasn't sure how to go about it.
She made it roughly three steps away from her front door when the headaches started. After another two steps, she started to feel dizzy as the hallway around her seemed to stretch impossibly and spin. Realizing something was wrong, she immediately doubled back to the doorway, awkwardness forgotten as she prepared to tell her sister to call an ambulance.
Her hand reached up to pull the handle- since when was the door handle above her? She pushed down to open it, the process taking much more physical strength than it should have. The view in front of her was blurry- she couldn't even tell if Makoto was still at the table or had gone to her room to cry. She staggered into the strangely spacious apartment, any attempt to call out to her sister dying in her throat as she finally fell to the ground and passed out.
---
An indeterminate amount of time later, Sae woke up to find the ceiling impossibly far from her, looming in the distance like the sky. She looked around, scrambling to her feet as she realized the impossible happened. She had shrunk to the size of an insect.
And more to the point...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 Silverhammer (UN: clydoken at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Frost has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author