Chisaki's Heart

Doll Chisaki and I wander through the halls, exploring the other areas of the maze. Every time I let go of her hand, I fear she will disappear on me again. Whether it's for her safety or mine, I don't know nor care.

Another opening. Just like the immediate previous one, there's no need for a coin. This time, Doll Chisaki sits in the box room. There is a great machine that's acting as a projector, a girl leaping and somersaulting around, like Chisaki did during her battle with me. Packed boxes lie around the building, filled with personal belongings or something.

The projector's scene changes. There are multiple graphs lying around, each showing a decline in profits. 

"This is going to be big! This is out big counterattack!" The blue NPC echo of my dad roars at one of other NPCs, presumably a worker. He stares at his computer, yet another build failure. "Aaahhh, dammit! Where the hell is Miya anyways?"

"Mr. Saeki, sir, Miya's quit a while ago. Do...do you need some sleep?"

"I don't need fucking sleep! I need a graphic designer! Why the hell is everyone else so goddamn lazy? We are about to die!"

"We're already dead! Look around you!" The two "echo NPCs" as I've started to call them ignore the two of us, but Chisaki peers closely at my father's computer.

"WARNING: BUILD FAILURE" the program reads.

"Whatever. I'm not going down with you because you gambled company assets on some stupid ass investment! I am out! I hope you rot in jail, motherfucker!"

"Get back here you piece of shit!" My echo-father roars. "I will fire you! I will uh..." His shoulders droop as he looks back at the computer.

I...this is a scene I've never seen before. But...I believe it.

This is the fall of an empire.

Suddenly, as if acknowledging Doll Chisaki's existence here, he grabs her shoulders.

"You." Despite his lack of facial expressions, I can see he's trying to say something, but stops himself. "Whatever. It doesn't matter." He sits back down on his chair. "It's over."

And with that, he shoves Doll Chisaki aside, sending her sprawling onto the floor!

"Ow!" Doll Chisaki yells.

"Hey!" I get up at the echo of my dad angrily, forgetting what this is, but he just knocks me aside and walks off, as if he can't see me. I fall over onto my butt.

He probably can't.

I remain on my bottom as the scene ends. Then, I slowly get up to see Chisaki slumped over on the floor, hugging her arms close.

"Chisaki...failed..."

"No, no!" I say out. "Chisaki...uh, company failed Chisaki!"

"Chisaki abandoned? No one...no one want Chisaki..."

"Uhhhh..." I look down at my feet.

How do I explain this to her? Heck, even I barely understand the mechanics of company work and failure. But when I look up, Doll Chisaki isn't in front of me. I see her looking up and pointing to something close to the ceiling. I almost scream in terror, but I hold it. It's not a dead person. It's just a mannequin. 

"Friend..." Doll Chisaki says, pointing upwards at the mannequin. The mannequin is in a gym suit, and has short, dark brown hair.

I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things. I pull out the crank.

Doll Chisaki helplessly hops up and down, trying to reach her friend, but it's useless. 

"Here, move aside. I got you."

I insert the crank into the projector machine, and when I turn it, it somehow lowers the girl by a tiny amount.

Oh boy, this is going to take a while.

"Chisaki...help?" Doll Chisaki walks up to me and puts her hands on the crank too. I'm actually a little worried she'd get in the way more than help, but I know how strong Chisaki is. Then again, this is Doll Chisaki, not Chisaki...

My worries are unfounded, as Doll Chisaki is a complete weakling. On the downside, this also means that she doesn't actually contribute.

Flipside, the game seems to have made me a lot stronger than I am in real life. What, just because I work manual labor jobs doesn't mean I'm actually strong.

Finally, after what seems like forever, the gym mannequin is down. "Hashimoto", it says on her uniform. I'm pretty sure that's a surname, but I digress.

"Hey, we got another one down!" I say as I watch her get absorbed into my inventory. I raise my hands for a high five from Doll Chisaki, who looks at my hand without a clue in the world.

***

This time, the next room appears not to be am exhibit room for Chisaki, but a room for me too. The room is much larger than the previous ones, and it almost resembles a street.

I remember this scene. This is the day my father's company went formally bankrupt.

Doll Chisaki sits in a dumpster, as garbage comes raining down from the building above. I'm doing my best to avoid the hailfire of now-useless documents that are coming down upon me. After a while, it stops.

"Chisaki cold. Chisaki lonely..." Chisaki picks up the doll figure she had of me out of her inventory, and strokes it's head gently. "Hinata...keep Chisaki happy..."

The entire area seems to resemble a dead shopping district. I know this. My father's bankruptcy wasn't an isolated incident. Whole entire swathes of industry went down with him.

The green light, which gave the area an ethereal and and dreamlike quality now feels toxic and sterile. The flickering neon lights and the clearance signs don't help.

On the wall are posters of what appears to be the third girl we are meant to save.

"Idol girl Suzuki Sakura, coming to your heart this November!" The poster says. Underneath is written "Our Little Forever". There's some credits too, featuring the name of my father. 

The whole poster is half torn and moldy. I look at another poster. Same deal. This one's scratched.

I presume the crumpled up balls of paper on the ground might be more Our Little Forever advertisements too. I pick one up and uncrumple it.

Oh, the purple one's name is Mizuha Hinomori.

"Friend, friend!" Doll Chisaki excitedly points to a giant oversized claw machine, a claw easily capable of picking up human sized objects. "Clearance Sale Claw Machine", it says. And inside is the mannequin figure of a short blonde girl with half twintails.

It feels wrong.

Doll Chisaki looks at me, expectantly, and I know this is how I'll save her but...

I insert the "idol sale ticket" into the oversized claw machine. There are no controls - the machine simply mechanically moves it's arm towards the girl and grips her. The moment it does, the girl simply teleports into my inventory.

I look at the collected body of "Sakura Suzuki", the fourth heroine. I just bought her like a piece of furniture. I mean, these girls aren't real. They're fake. But illusions are a hard thing to break.

It's like that for all of them. Never finished, never chosen, never loved, never even born.

I look over at Doll Chisaki. The only difference is that she was finished.

Doll Chisaki turns her head towards me curiously as I stare at her.

"No, it's nothing." I give her a smile.

***

The final room is a forest. Mushrooms and moss overgrow over a cobble structure, and I can see tons of litter on the ground. A giant toad has it's tongue wrapped around a blue haired mannequin. There are no human NPCs.

"Chisaki...hate littering..."

Chisaki begins to pick up the various bits of litter, and I can see closely, that the litter in question are thrown away copies of Our Little Forever.

There is no screen here. There is also no glass. I can simply step into the room as I please.

"Here Chisaki, let me help." I walk into the forest, despite the disgusting conditions. Despite the rest of the maze being fairly sterile and clean, the moment I step into the room, it really does smell like a swamp.

Not to worry, I specialize in demeaning sanitation jobs, do I not?

We gather up the copies of the game and set it up in a neat pile just outside of the room. With the forest clean, we turn my attention to the frog. Chisaki shakes her head.

"Not food!" Doll Chisaki chirps. "Ai is friend! Not frog food!"

"Here." I pull out my apple. Even I know very well that frogs do not eat apples, but the giant frog (or toad, does anyone know the difference?) looks less like an anatomically accurate frog, and more like a fantasy creature, so I figure it's fine. The moment I pull out my apple, the toad's tongue grips it, then unwinds from the Ai, which is apparently the name of the blue haired mannequin girl, and the fifth and final heroine we need to collect.

I gather her into my inventory and finally, we have them all.

We step out of the swamp gallery and back out into the main room, where Chisaki now excitely hops up and down. She grabs my hand.

"Dance, dance!"

"Whoa-hey!" I am dragged by Chisaki along the maze corridor, towards a direction we haven't been to. After a long while of running, we finally come across what I believe is the last room. We stand before a great stage, and before it, lies a door, seemingly to nowhere.

 Doll Chisaki leads me to a chair, and sits by it.

The world goes dark. And the next moment, when the lights are on, every single one of the mannequins - including Doll Chisaki are onstage. It's almost frightening how they just...teleported onto the stage. When I check my inventory, yep - as expected, the four girls are gone, as if the fact that they were up there didn't already make it obvious.

"Chisaki...dance!" Doll Chisaki says, and she vaguely gestures to a clockwork hole in the ground. "Chisaki...waiting." The other four girls are still, locked into a dancing position, as Doll Chisaki excitedly hops up and down.

I...know what's left.

She's been waiting for ten years.

I take the giant wind up key, and press it into the clockwork hole. I turn it, once, twice, thrice. Every time I crank, all the girls - including Doll Chisaki, twitch a little. Finally, on the third turn, I let go of the key and let it all play.

Despite the  apparent lack of activity from the others, as the wind up key turns, the other girls are dancing to the music, just as Doll Chisaki.

I watch as the Doll Chisaki begins to dance alongside her less functional-now functional companions. Despite her janky movements, it's somehow graceful. Just like the Chisaki I know. She silently spins to the ballet dance as the music rings through the theater. Several projectiors now open up their lights, as they air the currently airing chat onto the backdrop.
"DOLL CHISAKI IS DAUGHTER MATERIAL"
"So adorable!"
"You're doing great!"

I can't help but proudly smile at the chat comments as I sit down onto one of the theater chairs. Doll Chisaki smiles - or what I think is a smile - as she continues to dance with the music.

Finally, when Doll Chisaki is done, she takes a bow. The other mannequins shut down, as if inactive, just as I found them. I get up.

Doll Chisaki is taking the mannequins and gathering them all into a corner. And after she does, she gives each and every one of them a deep, warm hug. 

I...I think I'm actually tearing up a little, watching this. After her final hug, she turns to me.

"You did it!" I give her a clap as I try to hide my emotion. "You really did it!"

"Go...out. Real world." Doll Chisaki points to the door. "Go quick."

"Huh? Oh, alright." I walk towards the door. "What...what about you? Will you be okay?"

"Be...be okay. Be okay. Go fast." Doll Chisaki does a little dance, less fancy, more childish than the ballet.

Yeah, I don't know if I trust that.

"Hey..." I turn back. "Are you sure you'll be alright? I don't want to just leave you here. It's not safe."

"Go fast. Go fast. Chisaki cry. Chisaki want. But let go."

"Chisaki...huh?" Doll Chisaki starts to tremble.

"Chisaki love Hinata. Chisaki lonely, want Hinata stay."  The doll's limbs begin to twist in unnatural ways.

"Chisaki! Hey!" I reach out for Doll Chisaki, but suddenly, she grabs me.

"Chisaki hurt. Hurt so much. Chisaki want Hinata."

"Chisaki!"

Doll Chisaki glitches, and standing in her place is Chisaki herself, looking at me with the eyes of a madwoman. Tears run down her cheeks, and she manages to croak out a response as she shakes her head.

"Because if you won't run, I won't be able to control myself anymore."

Her nails dig into my flesh, and her face is filled with anguish and madness. 

"I've waited a long time. I won't wait any longer."

I yell out in terror, and instinctively fire the revolver right at her. The flash actually blinds me, and for a moment, I can't see, but I clearly heard her scream. I blindly stumble towards the door, not looking back, and grab the handle.

I yank the door open. 

Even blinded, I can see the world goes white.