Season 2 / Yoshida Sisters - "A Tale of Two Sisters" [Second Trial Projection]

MILGRAM

Now it’s Warden Bea’s turn to check in on her favorite duo of prisoners! Or, at least they’re really funny to watch when they’re chained together. At the moment—thanks for ruining it, Ei—they’re quite dull, as far as she’s concerned.

But that just means whatever the wardens will find in their heads is bound to be much more interesting, right?

She raps on their cell bars with just enough flourish to get a satisfying ring bouncing around the walls.

“Prisoners 012, Nobuko Yoshida and Shiori Yoshida… Ready for your projection, dears?”

Sat on her bed with her arms hugging her legs, Shiori doesn’t respond to the question, at least not verbally. She does instinctually nod her head, but pauses halfway through the motion to glance over at her sister. Old habits die hard.

Nobuko looks over, the smile on her face weak and tired. Even without the physical ties, she doesn’t stray far from her sister’s side. “Of course, miss. I hope you find whatever is shown enlightening.” She rises, and glances over to Shiori, an hand limply raised, beckoning. “Come along. There is work to be done.”

Obedient like a dog, Shiori silently gets up to follow Bea and Nobuko, her hat pulled down over her eyes. She hopes this projection will show her and her sister in a better life, but that’s a desire that remains unvoiced.

—

Again, Bea shoos you away so the chosen prisoner can be guided down the long hallway alone. By now it’s clear this walk is the only thing the wardens are so particular about keeping the prisoner alone for. Once they reach the courtroom, they don’t bother to keep you away as they set the prisoner up in the burnt chair as properly as they can. Perhaps it’s not worth the effort. Perhaps how you behave in the projections is a test in itself.

Regardless of their motives, a few of you make the trek yourselves today, finding the hallway only marginally less lonely with your company. The walls still seem stifling, the unnatural murmurs pressing in on you tighter.

But the courtroom is wide open, if barren, and there’s not much else 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…

Nobuko Yoshida

When the world fades back into view, you find yourselves surrounded by stark green and muddy grey, a cloudy sky looming over a series of fields that stretch across the horizon, the view only interrupted by the faint skyline of a town way off in the distance. You quickly realize you’re specifically in a paddy field the moment you sense the bottom of your shoes are soaked in water, and yes, unfortunately, it looks like this projection didn’t bother to provide you with the appropriate clothing for such a setting, instead keeping you in whatever outfit you were already wearing. Looking down, you see you’re standing in shallow water, from which rice shoots are growing, and glancing around the area, you’re able to spot a small house within walking distance of you. Other than that, there’s really not much to see around here. A bit of an underwhelming start to a projection, huh?

Ellie Carter

Ellie had been keeping to herself, but she’s restless. She sees the twins being taken away and considers it for a moment before heading over after them. The wardens have probably given up on stopping that.

She instantly regrets this, as her sneakers become disgustingly soggy. This truly is hell.

“Fuck me.”

She starts to move towards the house, partly just to get out of the damn waters.

Nobuko Yoshida

Tatsuko Onizuka

Sylas Grey
The crops here seem to have seen better days, the shoots short and wilting leaves less vibrant in color than they ought to be. They certainly don’t look ready to be harvested, that’s for sure, but perhaps with time they will be. One can only hope

Ellie Carter

A traditional minka style Japanese farmhouse stands before you, the single floor building sporting a thatched roof atop dark pine walls. The entire house looks to be incredibly old, the wood aged and spotted with imperfections. A sliding screen door serves as the front entrance, with the windows beside it appearing to be blocked by something. Would you like to enter?

Tatsuko Onizuka

Tatsuko had had a good time at the Yoshida sisters’ last projection, so when she sees them being taken back to the projection room, she doesn’t hesitate to follow along.

She also immediately regrets this as she is placed in water, her opposite element and sworn enemy. This sucks. She hates it here.

“What the hell? Are you fucking kidding me? This sucks!!!!” This is a totally appropriate and proportional reaction to this situation. Still grumbling, she starts to pull at some of the rice shoots.

Sylas Grey

Whoa. Sylas hadn’t expected THIS when he tagged along. (He was actually hoping that they’d get to do some sort of fancy chauffeur type deal. Or butlery. Was he hoping to dress as a butler?) But fortunately, at the very least… he was wearing boots.

“Whoa. What type of field is this? Wetgrass?” He doesn’t know how rice is grown, chat.

Ellie Carter

Yeah, sure, fuck it, why not. That’s how all these visions go. She knocks first, half just because it’s funny to be polite in the fake dreamworlds, but then opens it without waiting very long for an answer.

“Helllooooo?”

Tatsuko Onizuka

Tatsuko is booking it over to the farmhouse. No more water please!!!!

Sylas Grey

Sylas scuttles up behind Ellie, curious about what’s inside.

“I hope there isn’t another Angry Andy in here.”

Nobuko Yoshida

Entering the humble adobe, its interior, much like its exterior, is clearly worn with age, with scratches in the wooden floor and walls as well as weathering on the curtains that are hanging over the windows. The one room house is pretty bare bones, completely devoid of furniture aside from an irori in the center of the room and four tatami mats arranged around it. There is, however, something that looks a bit out of place, that being a book in the back corner of the room.

Tatsuko Onizuka

Tatsuko immediately goes over the the irori. Finally some good fucking fire.

Nobuko Yoshida

Tatsuko Onizuka

In the middle of the room is a square-shaped hearth built into the floor, an iron kettle hanging above it that’s held aloft by tube attached to the ceiling. A pile of ashes and burnt wood chips lays in the bottom of the hearth, with not an ounce of heat lingering from them or the kettle, which proves to be empty when examined further.

Sylas Grey

The curtains are made from a thick course material and appear to have yellowed with age, likely having been pure white in their prime. For those who can read kanji, the characters for ‘Yoshida’ have been painted in black calligraphy onto the curtains. Opening the curtains not only lets more light into the home but also provides you with a lovely view of the rice field that the family’s surname is based on. If only it were truly a lucky one.

Ellie Carter

This book stands out like a sore thumb amidst the modest home, its ornate leather decorated with golden embossing that surrounds equally golden writing. It has some serious heft when you pick it up, and there’s not so much as a scratch on it, clearly being much less worn with age than everything else in this house. Written in elegant calligraphy on the front cover are kanji characters spelling out the title A Tale of Two Sisters. Would you like to read it?

Sylas Grey

Sylas has a boggle at the curtains.

“Damn. This house has some crazy architecture goin’ on. Wish we were here to look at joinwork and timber instead of like, psychologial trauma.”

Ellie Carter

“Ain’t it just an old ass hut? Things used to look like this, I think. In Japan or something.”

She goes for that book, opening it to see what’s inside. It just seems like books in these things are always giving exposition or some shit.

Sylas Grey

“I’ve never been to Japan! Except in people’s repressed memories or whatever the hell any of this is, in which case I’ve been to Japan so much that I bloody well deserve citizenship at this point.”

Tatsuko Onizuka

“Yeah, things used to be like this. I think.” She wouldn’t know, she didn’t pay attention in history class. “Some places are still like this because they’re weird or something, I dunno.” Thank you for the excellent and helpful insider knowledge Tatsuko.

Sylas Grey

SYLAS, WHO MOST CERTAINLY CANNOT READ KANJI, JUST OPENS THE CURTAINS AND ENJOYS THE VIEW.

Ellie Carter

Ellie… will flip through the book. Although, she cannot normally read kanji.

Nobuko Yoshida

As the book opens, a strangely warm mist pours out and fills the room. It feels comfortable, like a blanket covering you on a cold winter’s night, keeping you safe from the dangers of the world. In certain places, the mist coalesces, and forms before you a rice farm, similar to the one outside but more old fashioned. On this farm are four mannequins, all dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. There is a larger man and woman, and two girls, one bigger than the other. They all work together in the field of rice, harvesting the grain. As this scene appears before you, you hear the sound of a young girl speaking Japanese, though it’s impossible to detect where it’s coming from. Whether or not that’s a language you speak, the meaning rings clear in your mind.

“Once upon a time there were two sisters, one big and one little, who lived on a farm with their parents. They were nowhere near as rich as the merchants who lived in the nearby city, and life was difficult for the family. But they had enough to get by, and they had each other, so they were happy.”

The mist shifts again, and a new figure appears. A mannequin dressed in ornate clothing, with a cart laden with various boxes being pulled by a horse, walks up to the farm and looks over to the family. The family stops their work, and gathers before the new figure, curious as to why they were there.

“One day, when they were working on the farm, a merchant from the city was passing by. They saw how the family worked, and the strain they were under, and the merchant made them an offer. ‘I see that you are hard workers, but this life is surely not what you want for your daughters! As parents you want only the best for them, and I would love to help.’ The Merchant reaches into their cart, and pulls out a box, and from it, they procure three items. ‘I offer your children a gift to help them, the Potion of Eternal Happiness, the Thread of Unbreakable Protection, or the Masks of Golden Prosperity.’”

As the voice described, the new figure, the merchant, places three objects before the two girls. One is a glass bottle holding a swirling liquid that glows and sparkles with strange light. Another is a ball of shining thread that seems to be spun from pure stardust, or perhaps diamonds. Finally, are two masks, styled after the faces of a fox and a dog, both made of beautifully polished gold.

“Which gift do the sisters choose?”

Ellie Carter

“Well, they sure don’t seem that fucking happy,”

Ellie shrugs. This is about the twins, isn’t it? She doesn’t know them too well, but she could take a guess. She looks between the thread and the mask and points at the mask.

“This one. They seem like girls that put on a mask, ya know?”