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

Sylas Grey

“Okay. Sure. Whatever you say, I’ll go with.”

Nobuko Yoshida

“'You can’t survive without me’ answered the big sister. ‘It’s the only reason why you would stay in this horrible life with me. As long as we’re together, you will be safe, even if everything is against us.’”

For a final time, the scene before you dissolves into mist, and is replaced by something new. The sisters creep into the merchant’s room, carrying tools to carry out the work that they’ve planned. The merchant is unaware of their approach, sleeping peacefully in a resplendent bed, a far cry from anything the sisters have ever had. Moving precisely as planned, the sisters produced sheets, tying the merchant to their bed and rendering them unable to move. The merchant awakens, and tries to struggle, but they are bound too tightly. The sisters climb on top of the merchant, and take out the knives they stole from the kitchen. In wild strikes, they plunge them down into the merchant, unmistakable fury behind each cut. The merchant writhes in pain, but can do nothing to stop the sisters as they tear into them, each plunge in retribution for everything that was done to them. This carries on for longer than should be possible, but eventually the fury abates and the merchant dies. For a moment, all is still. Then, the voice of the narrator returns.

“With the merchant dead, the sisters were finally free. Together, they scoured the merchant’s home, plundering it of its wealth. Carrying all they could, they vanish into the night, righteous vengeance burning in their hearts. They were not as weak as they thought, and together the sisters could strike back at the merchants, tearing down the people who had wronged them. And when their work is done, maybe, just maybe, a brighter future could be found.”

The story ends, but you’re left with an unsettling feeling. Perhaps if you made a different choice, found a new path, you could find a better ending, a way for this tale to resolve without so much pain and sorrow. The book is still there, and the story can always begin again. Or maybe this is all you needed to see. Maybe you should just accept your lot in life, and never dream of anything more. Maybe you should close the book.

Ellie Carter

There’s one last thread. Well, not the thread, actually. She opens the book again.

“The bottle this time. And I am happy, ’er whatever.”

She tacks on the whatever because it feels weird to say that when they obviously aren’t.

Nobuko Yoshida

“‘I am’ said the little sister. ‘But it’s only because I’m with you. As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter where we are.’”

The scene dissipates, and a new one takes its place. The sisters creep in the merchant’s room in the dead of night, but instead of finding them asleep like the pair had hoped, the merchant is wide awake, tallying the wealth they had accumulated that day. The sisters look to each other, unsure, but they know that if they don’t strike now, they’ll never get another chance. Both lunge at the merchant in unison, the sound alerting them to the sister’s presence. The merchant is quick to defend themself, but where they are one, the sisters are two. Every blow is blocked, the sisters pulling each other away from danger, distracting the merchant. Before long, one sister tackles the merchant, knocking them both to the ground, and the other grabs their head, snapping the merchant’s neck. The two sisters sit there, looking at what they’ve done, and the voice of the narrator returns.

“With the merchant dead, the sisters were finally free. Together, they scoured the merchant’s home, plundering it of its wealth. Carrying all they could they vanished into the night. Though they’ve been through horrible pain and struggle, they were together and that allowed them to survive. And if they stayed together, maybe, just maybe, a brighter future could be found.”

Ellie Carter

Seems like there really is no way for the tale to resolve without pain and sorrow. At least they didn’t accept their lot in life, no matter the path. She looks back at the wardens, trying to get a gauge on them, while she closes the book.

MILGRAM

Ei hangs back wordlessly, fixing his glasses, reevaluating some assumptions.

Bea’s smile is gone, and she fidgets awkwardly with the hem of her skirt.

Sie looks as inscrutably placid as ever.

Ellie Carter

Ellie flips them off. 🖕

Tatsuko Onizuka

Oh is it “we hate the wardens” time? Tatsuko loves that time. She flips them off too. 🖕

Nobuko Yoshida

The book closes, but the mists do not vanish. Instead, they grow thicker, cloying and suffocating. The comforting warmth fades, becoming cold, your breath visibly mixing with the freezing fog. The voice of the narrator rings throughout the space, her tone bitter and cynical.

“But a brighter future was not for us. We had no home to return to, no family waiting for us with open arms. The merchant’s gift was a lie, a trade we didn’t realize we were making, and in exchange for the curses, we lost everything.”

As she speaks, the walls, the floor, even the book dissolves into the freezing, choking mist, that only continues to grow thicker, until it is all that you see. There is no escape, no exit, no salvation, only the cloying weight of everything bearing down on you forever.

And then the projection ends.

MILGRAM

Just as you’re beginning to wonder what takes to end this projection, everything around you shutters into darkness. A breath, a blink, and then you’re once again standing in the relatively empty courtroom. Any injuries or other strangeness incurred during the projection has vanished in like fashion. It’s all finished, it seems, though the wardens still have to release the prisoners from the pathetic remaining restraints on the chairs themselves. Bea in particular seems to double-check that the sisters are free to move separately.

As you’re all shooed away, down the long hallway and back to the core of the prison and your daily life there, all that’s left is for you to ponder what on earth all of that meant.

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