Season 3/ Suzune Gikou - "Counting Sheep" [The Third Trial Projection]

MILGRAM

Ei knocked on the door. “Prisoner 003, Suzune Gikou. It’s time for your final projection.” He got his notepad out, though he seemed to be more idly thumbing through it than preparing to jot anything down.

“I’m aware of your general opinion on the verdicts. Is there anything else you’d like to say before we begin?”

Well, Suzune thought, it would have been more surprising if he hadn’t heard about her opinions here or there. She just wanted everyone to get home safely at this point. Suzune, having been working on her little felt blanket weaving project, set the blanket down on her cot and stood to her feet.

“I guess just that… Well. Thanks, for… always aiming for fairness, Ei-san. Do you mind if I take a quick moment to fetch Kuro-chan for this? It’d be comforting if she was there.” As she had been for the previous two times.

He let out a short breath. “A brief check, but no more.” They’d already been dragging their feet a bit with the projections this time. No sense giving any prisoners or wardens more excuses to linger.

Suzune nodded. There may be a time limit, but she was plenty fast herself. A quick jog through the facility in search, she ended up canvassing the entire place before making it back to the projection room, panting as she went to catch her breath.

“I… sorry that took as long as it did. I guess I’m ready for real now, huh?” Suzune obediently sat herself in her projection chair and closed her eyes to wait. It was better if she tried to still her beating heart and relax. The last thing she wanted was to come out the other side exhausted again.

—

Again, Ei 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. Sometimes you swear you glimpse a face or beckoning arm in the wall. Just tricks of the light.

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. There’s a low murmur somewhere behind you.

It only lasts a moment, though. Once the shadow subsides, you find yourself seemingly somewhere else…

Kaoru Naito

The fact Kaoru has arrived was a product of whimsy and happenstance; he just happened to be close enough to hear and thought to himself he’s been in these for just about everyone but her, right? With what he knows of the story, he’s curious to see what the machine will find dramatic enough for the “finale”…

Robert McCay

Robert hadn’t been to Suzune’s second projection, but he’s been more worried about the young missus than usual lately. Especially after how rough Hikaru’s third projection was… Maybe he was being a bit presumptuous, but he figured if someone had to be there, then he was one of the more tolerable options– plus he could probably stave off certain other prisoners who Suzune wouldn’t want there. So he follows solemnly, and… presumably doesn’t see Kaoru walk in just before the machine activates LOL

Emmy | Akemi

That time already. Despite the tension that hung over them following Vincent’s projection, Akemi has every intention to keep the promise she’d made. Even if Suzune had avoided her final projection because of Vincent’s presence, she still came to find Akemi for this, after all.

So, she follows the entourage into the projection room, offering Suzune a firm nod before it was slated to begin. Some part of her wonders if there still remain some details Suzune hadn’t divulged…

“I’m here, Gikou-chan.”

After all, if Suzune sought her out, that meant she was probably the only person in this prison with the ability to support her– and given how much Suzune herself had done in an effort to support the rest of them, this was really the only thing she could do in return.

Chula - Suzune

Projection Playlist (CW for fanservice PV for the fourth song)

When your eyes adjust to the new location, you find yourself in a dimly lit and cozy living room, with a clear view of the darkness of night outside through the various windows and the glass of the door to the back porch. Within the room is a cozy, well-used beige couch facing a television with the latest gaming systems. Another major feature of the room is a large, antique grandfather clock gently ticking away in the corner. The walls around the room are decorated with a blue and white stripe patterned wallpaper, and an entire wall is absolutely COVERED in photographs in ornate frames. This is hardly the only space in this house of course, as a hallway connected to the living room leads to three closed bedroom doors, an open bathroom door, and a locked office door. Additionally, a wide entryway seems to lead into an open concept dining room and kitchen area. Finally, there’s a front door that presumably leads out onto the street.

The next thing you notice beyond the scenery is the discomfort on one of your wrists, a cold piece of golden metal with a chain featuring heart-shaped links. With your eyes following the chain, you find the other cuff of the handcuff leading to someone… INCREDIBLY familiar, sweetly smiling at you. Everyone else in the group seems to be handcuffed to what appears to be androgynous posable fashion mannequins lacking faces.

Finally, you find yourself in fancy, comfortable, and expensive pajamas and slippers, styled to suit your tastes while being silk, fancy cottons, or chic in nature.

Please hold for DM’s regarding the nature of your mannequin before proceeding.

Emmy | Akemi

Yet another projection spent in what she can only assume is the home of her friend– she’d already dealt with that twice before. She takes in the scenery a bit before her eyes catch onto the chain, moreover, the odd mannequins the others are attached to while she herself sees only a facsimile of her friend.

“…why am I chained to Gikou-chan, while the rest of you only have mannequins? I assumed the two of us were the closest compared to you all, but it still seems an odd visual.”

She mutters this partly to herself, offering whatever sort of comforting smile she can offer to her friend. She’s clearly dedicated to picking apart what she sees, to find the deepest understanding she can. Her mannequin, meanwhile, stands energetically, remaining close to Akemi.

Kuro-chan, I’m so glad you were able to come. Thank you for supporting me…are you going to be okay? To the question she’s asked, Akemi offers a small nod and a quiet ’I’ll be fine, Gikou-chan’ to her mannequin, not entirely certain how to engage with this false version of her just yet.

Akemi finds herself drawn to the photographs on the wall, and steps closer to take a look at them.

Chula - Suzune

Emmy | Akemi Akemi finds herself drawn to the photographs on the wall, and steps closer to take a look at them.

The simple wallpaper almost clashes with how fancy and expensive the framed photos are. The photos on the outer sections of the wall feature boisterous gatherings of family and friends, many featuring Suzune herself, though not all.

Some frequent faces in these large scene photos include a small baby with mauve hair, pale skin, and bright golden eyes at various stages of infancy, from recently born and being held by a hospitalized Suzune, to trying to stand by propping herself up against the edges of chairs. Another appears to be a tall and pasty man with dark purple hair that covers a large portion of his face, his bangs only rarely parted or pulled back to reveal glasses and deep purple eyes, like a scene where he’s slaving away at an old sewing machine. There seems to be childhood photos of him and Suzune as well. A later addition to the group is a mid-height woman with platinum blonde hair, so light it looks practically white under the sun, frequently wearing pale white colors and lace, and often seen with a camera around her neck.

Other members of the family include two men bearing resemblance to the purple-haired man, both often seen in soccer team uniforms, and two sets of grandparents. Various other one-or-two-appearance friends show up here and there at gatherings, all with warm and loving vibes. Despite knowing none of these things, a deep warmth of love and nostalgia spreads across your body, filled with fondness.

(cr: Roark & Chula)

The center of the wall features portraits of singular people, with a portrait of Suzune herself at the center. She bears one half of four handcuffs, two on each wrist, with chains that take shape and fall off of the photos into reality-bending, real chains. Two of these handcuffs lead to dangling, empty cuffs, attached to nothing, one chain appears to have been broken forcibly, with the other half still attached to another portrait, and another chain, sturdy and strong, successfully leading to a final portrait. She looks tired, and there appears to be red markings and abrasions on her palms.

Surrounding her portrait are five others. One is the sweet giggling baby, holding nothing in her hands. The in-tact and connected chain leads to the man with purple hair, a handcuff attached to his left wrist. He appears to be holding an unused key in his hand. Two photos appear to be older, a bit aged in its quality, and they each feature middle school girls, one with black hair and another with pink hair. They each hold a key, and a slight red ringed mark remains on one of their wrists, though nothing is placed upon the marks. The final portrait features the platinum blonde woman, with the glass on the face of the portrait shattered. Though she is holding a key, the handcuff on her wrist remains, even with its broken chain dangling out of the portrait. Both ends of the broken chain feature a small spackling of blood.

Emily Lewenhock

Sylas’s projection had been, uh, different! But surely at least Suzune hadn’t beaten a couple to death, right? Right??

Maybe if Emily just stopped hanging around near the projection room, she wouldn’t have had to keep dealing with this quandary.

At any rate, she went ahead ad followed the others in with a nod. Hard to give much of an awkward smile in the circumstances, even if it did reach her eyes.

Into a more normal setting! Whether that was better or worse was… to be seen.

Except for him. Uh? Maybe this wasn’t so strange for dreamland, but it was still a shock to see his face after so long now. Let alone hear his voice.

~~But it was nice to imagine him being safe and happy, at least.~~

Emmy | Akemi “…why am I chained to Gikou-chan, while the rest of you only have mannequins? I assumed the two of us were the closest compared to you all, but it still seems an odd visual.”

“Uh? Yours looks just like both of theirs, doesn’t it?” Suzune was much prettier than that. But Akemi should know that too, so…

She turned to nod to her mannequin, which was stretching leisurely. “Yeah, we’ll see what happens. Same as always.”

As for the photos…

“…Interesting.” The Blood Was Probably Fine.

Kaoru Naito

When Kaoru sees his mannequin, he physically flinches back away from it, only pulling it along with him because of the handcuff.

The mannequin then tilts its head, saying something (a simple “what’s wrong, man?” not that anyone can hear it).

“Ohh, haha, fuckin’ funny.” He says, then grumbles, “(Real cute, dumb ass chair thinks it’s soooo clever.)”

He then will plant a hand on top of his mannequin’s head and grabs it with flexed fingers, wiggling him from side to side. The mannequin, as far as it can emote, seems fine with this.

“Geheh, I didn’t realize you ’nd Ring-a-ling were close like that! Yers is just a blankie blank mannequin fer me.”

He will not explicitly say what he sees, it’s stressing him out. He instead follows the only source of a nice, repetitive noise he hears, clicking his tongue at the same tempo as it, turning and going towards the grandfather clock.

(When he sees the portraits, he starts trying to map who’s who in his head– that one friend? husband? kid?– idly.)

Chula - Suzune

Kaoru Naito He instead follows the only source of a nice, repetitive noise he hears, clicking his tongue at the same tempo as it, turning and going towards the grandfather clock.

It’s a large, cherrywood antique grandfather clock, taller than even the tallest of you. Atop the base is a beautiful cream clock face with ornately decorative iron clock hands reading a couple minutes past 11, likely 11 PM given the darkness outside. And atop the face… is a large golden bell, similar to what you may see on a church, rather than a traditional chime inside the glass base. Speaking of the glass base, the swinging pendulum perfectly matches the gentle ticking of the clock… and a secondary ticking, of a digital clockface inside attached to what is obviously some kind of wired bomb attached to the inner wall of the base. A keyhole in the glass base locks the door to the base, and it is locked tightly, leaving you unable to access the bomb inside. The bomb’s digital clock face reads a little less than an hour now, and is continuously counting down.

Kaoru Naito

“Yaay, there’s a bomb y’all!”

His mannequin emotes in a really similar way, seemingly hyped about a bomb, even if it scoots behind Kaoru at that.

So, Kaoru turns and grabs his head again, grinning and talking to it quieter, “(Aww, I won’t let ya blow up…! Unless it’s liike… funnyyyy…)”

Robert McCay

“Nice place,” Robert mumbles as he glances around the living room. He stretches one arm, glad to be free of the straitjacket and in this cozy flowery bathrobe. He stretches the other, and–

Handcuffs, connected to a chain, connected to–

“Oh GOD! Oh god! Oh god…”

Choking back a sob, Robert lunges forward towards his short, scrawny mannequin and scoops it up in his arms. His eyes are glued to where its face should be, like there’s nothing else in the world.

“Sorry, sorry– no, I know– I-I’m okay, just– Ahahaha!”

He laughs like none of you have heard him laugh before. He looks around again– are they seeing this– and–

--they’re not, are they. “Mannequins,” he hears Akemi say, vaguely. That’s what he sees chained to the other prisoners in this projection, so that’s probably what they see chained to him. His heart drops as the mannequin paws at his face. He gives it a little peck on the forehead and holds it close.

“Y’all won’t blame me if I pretend fer a bit, right? That it’s real…”

Robert sniffles and paces around to the glass door to the back porch, observing it but not going outside just yet. He hears Kaoru’s excited yelp before he gets around to turning the handle.

“…What the hell d’ya mean there’s a bomb?”

Emily Lewenhock

“Ooooof course there’s a bomb.” It’s just a metaphor it’s fine.

Her mannequin leaned in closer to her.

“No you can’t punch it.”

She yoinked it after her a bit to go check out anywhere else. How about the dining room and kitchen area?

Chula - Suzune

Emily Lewenhock How about the dining room and kitchen area?

The blue and white wallpaper follows through from the living room and into the dining room and kitchen, still decorated with the occasional photo or floating shelf of knicknacks. The floor here is a polished hardwood that matches the color of the dining table, which appears to support some kind of board game and a wrapped plate. A smaller hutch of dishware nearby supports a cornucopia of fake, decorative fruits and patterned table runner. The highlight of the dining room, however, is the antique record player table in the corner. The kitchen is a bit more of what you’d expect, though highly color-coordinated with blues and greens, and a bit of a retro feel in the style of the appliances like the fridge and oven. The marble countertop has drawers stocked beneath them, and well-maintained cabinets are attached to the walls behind them. What perhaps sticks out the most, though, is the steaming kettle on the stove.

Chula - Suzune

Robert McCay Robert sniffles and paces around to the glass door to the back porch, observing it but not going outside just yet. He hears Kaoru’s excited yelp before he gets around to turning the handle.

You try to open the door to the back porch but find it to be locked with a keyhole to potentially get it open, but you can see a bit outside through the porch door thanks to the hanging string lights attached to the awning of the porch, which houses a couple of outdoor chairs with a table between them, a porch swing, and a small yard with a vegetable garden. Hard to get the details until you get outside, though.

Kaoru Naito

Due to not being able to hear Emily’s guy, he responds to it:

“Uh, yeah, I ’sn’t gonna punch it, if I wanted it t’ go off ’d reach in ’nd find the starter ’nd–”

He stops when his mannequin tilts its head up at him and asks him something, and then he walks into the kitchen thoughtlessly to pick up a fake cornucopia fruit and hold it out at his mannequin’s head.

“What– th’ fruit’s fake? Yeah dog, you’re fake, th’ styrofoam’s good fer you. Just eat it.”

Some kind of words are said, and Kaoru reaches down to grab the Mannequin’s face like he’d be smushing its cheeks if it wasn’t made of wood.

“Aww, well, ’f babying you’s gonna be th’ solution then this puzzle’ll be easyyy.”

It says something else and he nods and will reach into the cabinets (in search of snacks, on request).

Chula - Suzune

Kaoru Naito It says something else and he nods and will reach into the cabinets (in search of snacks, on request).

The cabinets are filled to the brim with pots, pans, strainers, slow cookers, appliances, and much more. This includes a series of color-coded dishes and cups, all in sets of four. As far as you can tell, a white mug and a blue mug are missing, as well as a blue dinner plate.

Since Kaoru in particular is looking for snacks, he does find one cabinet filled with pantry items like spices and things that don’t need to be refrigerated (such as cereal and bread and a tin of nuts and more). There’s also a couple of stray jars of baby food!

Emmy | Akemi

“Then I imagine we are all seeing someone different chained to us, but only seeing mannequins to the others.”

The way Kaoru is behaving with this mannequin, and its body language, denote that it’s clearly someone he knows very well. Robert’s reaction as well seems to imply a very specific person, to him. Given that she doesn’t know the man very well, she cannot say for certain who that person might be, but something tells her that for Kaoru and Robert both, they are people from outside of this prison.

For a moment, Akemi glances back toward her own ‘mannequin,’ eyebrows lowering in solemn understanding. She glances back to the photos, seeing the broken chain and who it leads to. Ah. As if sensing her emotions, her mannequin places a gentle hand on Akemi’s arm. It seems to say something to her, before delicately linking arms with her.

“….enjoy your reunions while you can, but be mindful that we are apparently on a time limit. And…given what I know of what happened to land Gikou-chan here…I– would recommend trying not to become too attached to whoever you’re seeing.”

Her voice is much softer than before, having realized just what these mannequins imply.

Akemi dedicates the photos to memory as best she can, muttering names to herself all the while. ‘Haruki-san, Hazuki-chan, Chiyu-san…’ But her eyes narrow at the two unfamiliar figures depicted. They’re free from the shackles, but not unaffected. What do the keys entail? Who were these people, who clearly had significance Suzune hadn’t been willing to bring up.

She cannot look much further at the other areas before Kaoru’s announcement of a bomb pulls her attention squarely to the clock. She cannot look for very long, before the mannequin begins lightly tapping on Akemi’s arm, tilting its head slightly as if speaking to her. Right, she has to keep searching, and dealing with whatever this mannequin seems to be asking for.

“…fine, I suppose.”

She heads into the kitchen as well, rather immediately looking at the stove. Before she can look at it too closely, she glances back toward her mannequin, opting to grab some veggies from the fridge to offer to her companion– that seemed the healthiest snack option, the sort of thing she’d go for. Hoping that the mannequin is satiated, she then turns her attention to the stove once more.

Chula - Suzune

Emmy | Akemi She heads into the kitchen as well, rather immediately looking at the stove.

A blue teapot has been placed on a stove that seems to be recently turned off, judging from the heat wafting off of both the teapot and one of the turned-off burners. Set beside the stove is a box of sleepy time tea bags, a dish of sugar cubes, and a wet stirring spoon.

Kaoru Naito

Yay! He reaches for the snacks and instead, obviously, grabs the pan and swings it at his mannequin’s head- but stops before actually hitting it. The mannequin flinches back, but rebounds pretty fast and starts punching his arm. Kaoru doesn’t seem bothered by it.

“That’s like, my special move here– yeah I got special moves ’nd shit. Yeaah, I’m practicin’ my combos ’nd shit. ’m kinda a celebrity here. Super-jail’s been so good t’ me!”

He bonks the frying pan on the top of the mannequin’s head. Then the mannequin tries to reach the now opened cabinet and can’t, so Kaoru just pushes a can of nuts into his hand while mumbling something to it about daring him to eat the baby food, but interrupts himself two times to start and stop trying to make different jokes, like the two are racing to finish each other’s punchlines. Then he taps him with the frying pan again. He’s going to be holding this for as long as the projection lets him.