Chizuru's expression is glum, but she is thankful that he can't see it because of the way she's holding her and the way she's clinging to him. Her face just isn't in his line of sight, so he won't see the way a single thought weights heavily on her -
If it were Souji here at his side, Saitou wouldn't have to be compensating for the other's failings. They would be side by side, or at least one right after the other, moving forward without doubt and...
That's why they have to succeed, here. They need Souji. It feels strange for him not to be here, and Chizuru could never be a replacement for him, no matter how hard she tried. And if they can't even get through this without Saitou having to help her along, how can they ever hope to rescue Hijikata?
She's trying so hard, but she's having little to no success at stilling her trembling. But that might also be because this new level is, somehow, much more chilly than the last. There's a chill in the air coming from the only way they have out - a long, dimly-lit hall that stretches out in the opposite direction as the one they'd entered from on the level below. The further they make it down it, the colder it grows, and Chizuru finds that her teeth are chattering.
There is nothing immediately threatening in the hallway, but as they pass from the hall into another circular room - something drips down from the ceiling. Chizuru feels it drip down onto her cheek and brings a hand to her face to touch it, her stomach churning from the smell of -
"Blood..."
She looks up and nearly screams - a naked body hangs above them, tied by the ankles with its throat slit, fresh blood running from the cut. That shouldn't be possible. There was no one else down here. What's even more impossible - what she doesn't notice because she's buried her face in the crook of Saitou's neck already, spooked - is that it's a body of a young woman who looks exactly like Chizuru.
Opposite them, facing away, is the still form of a young man gripping a sword that is coated blood. He isn't moving and, should they approach and get a look at his face, they'll see that his eyes are blank and that he is identical to Saitou.
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If it were Souji here at his side, Saitou wouldn't have to be compensating for the other's failings. They would be side by side, or at least one right after the other, moving forward without doubt and...
That's why they have to succeed, here. They need Souji. It feels strange for him not to be here, and Chizuru could never be a replacement for him, no matter how hard she tried. And if they can't even get through this without Saitou having to help her along, how can they ever hope to rescue Hijikata?
She's trying so hard, but she's having little to no success at stilling her trembling. But that might also be because this new level is, somehow, much more chilly than the last. There's a chill in the air coming from the only way they have out - a long, dimly-lit hall that stretches out in the opposite direction as the one they'd entered from on the level below. The further they make it down it, the colder it grows, and Chizuru finds that her teeth are chattering.
There is nothing immediately threatening in the hallway, but as they pass from the hall into another circular room - something drips down from the ceiling. Chizuru feels it drip down onto her cheek and brings a hand to her face to touch it, her stomach churning from the smell of -
"Blood..."
She looks up and nearly screams - a naked body hangs above them, tied by the ankles with its throat slit, fresh blood running from the cut. That shouldn't be possible. There was no one else down here. What's even more impossible - what she doesn't notice because she's buried her face in the crook of Saitou's neck already, spooked - is that it's a body of a young woman who looks exactly like Chizuru.
Opposite them, facing away, is the still form of a young man gripping a sword that is coated blood. He isn't moving and, should they approach and get a look at his face, they'll see that his eyes are blank and that he is identical to Saitou.