Hikaru gets bored rather quickly by himself, so he’s glad to hear the sounds of someone approaching his cell - a small cough makes it clear the person is Sie.
“Sorry, I would knock, but…”
He’s still not entirely convinced by their good-cop approach, but he’s not going to cause any more trouble for himself than he needs to. “Go on, then,” he says.
Sie shuffles in and nods at him. “Prisoner 007, Hikaru Suzuki. You’re next up for the projection… This is your chance to say something, if there’s anything you’d like to tell me ahead of time.”
“Like what?” Hikaru laughs airily and flips his hair away from his eyes. “Like, ‘sorry if you don’t see anything, my head is genuinely this empty’?”
They stare blankly at him, seemingly unamused. “Don’t put yourself down. I meant if you felt like sharing anything about what we’re about to see.”
His smile turns thinner and he begins to pick at his nails in lieu of meeting Sie’s stare. “No thanks. I’m sure you’ll get all you need from… this.” He tuts as he reaches a hangnail.
“...Okay. If you’re certain.” Sie turns and beckons for Hikaru to follow. In the moment between them facing away and him walking out into the open, a nervous expression flickers across his face. But by the time he’s walking down the corridor, he’s back to his usual confident smirk.
---
Despite the promise (implication?) that the rest of you would be free to watch, Ei shoos you away so the chosen prisoner can be guided down the long hallway alone. Once they reach the courtroom, though, the wardens are too occupied having the prisoner sit in the lone chair properly to keep you away.
So a few of you make the trek yourselves, finding the hallway only marginally less lonely with your company. The walls still seem stifling, their silence somehow out of place.
But the courtroom is wide open, if barren, and there’s not much to be uncomfortable about until the prisoner of the day is secured in place. A strange…—machine? Somehow enough of it remains in shadow to obscure any useful details—emerges from the wall to hover around the prisoner’s head, then everything but you and the wardens is swallowed by utter darkness.
It only lasts a moment, though. Once the shadow subsides, you find yourself seemingly somewhere else…
