Operation: School Girl (ParaSyte)

THE TWINS CHUCKLED TO THEMSELVES at Byeol-Su’s remark. That would have been silly to eat a mushroom. But plenty of people were silly like that. Besides, Byeol-Su thought that they were cool, which exempted her from being judged for acts of silliness.

The two—erm, three—young, misplaced teens lingered in the hallway, discussing their options. Hiding in a closet, Byeol-Su proposed?

You can put your eye on my finger, Ayame echoed, clearly amused by the concept?! She pointed a slender finger at Suzume, and Suzume silently laughed at the notion. Imagine that, watching someone with your fingers. How novel.

The two green-skinned girls calmed themselves, and began to stroll down the hallway, inspecting the doors that lined the hall. Most were the kind of doors that slid, with windows to peek through. Not closets at all. Finding nothing deeper into the hallway, they turned to pace towards the stairs again. Near the stairs was a different kind of door—nondescript and windowless, with a grill at its base.

Ayame gasped a faint “ah!” of revelation, gesturing for her sister to follow. The two hastened towards the door, and Suzume eagerly grasped for the handle, tugging at it with all of her weight. Ayame glanced up the hall, towards the classroom where their mark was. She knelt low to the ground, as if peering through the grill.

The knob of the door turned in Suzume’s grasp, but the door was stuck tight, despite not being locked. Suzume tugged again, forcefully, and fell back into her sister from the effort as the door finally gave way.

The door swung open to reveal a collection of brooms, propped against the walls and a deep sink, above which sat stacks upon stacks of towels. They… might be able to fit in there if they moved the brooms.

Not the best, Suzume remarked.

What choice do we have, Ayame sighed, It’s only for a little bit. You first.

Eh?!

ParaSyte and I need to be closer to the door. Move!

Suzume made a petulant expression, as if she was about to protest, but then complied. She stepped gingerly over broomsticks and tucked herself into a corner, up-ending a bucket to sit upon.

Ayame followed shortly after, finding a place upon the floor that was flush with the door. It’d be snug, but that was alright. Neither of them sat in an entirely ladylike position, either, but neither sister seemed to care.

Door please, Suzume, Ayame thought to her sister.

Suzume uttered a quiet growl, standing-up just enough to get the door and pull it shut. They had somehow clambered into the closet without a hitch. No outside intervention or nagging inquiries, nothing—

The chain for a single lightbulb glanced Suzume’s temple. She tugged it once, casting a weak yellow light upon the pair—er, trio.

Will you be able to see through this, Ayame asked, lowering her eyes towards the grate near the base of the door? If she looked at just the right angle, she could see the doors to the classroom where their mark was hiding, but too much wiggling and it was obscured by the strips of metal.

ft. parasyte

SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING NEAR AYAME'S FINGERTIP, which the more cerebral twin watched with a scholarly curiosity. It ballooned almost imperceptibly, going from green to gray. And, just when it was starting to become orb-like, it split, revealing a tiny, purple eye. It was somewhat familiar, but totally foreign. Ayame bared her fangs in a delighted smile, showing the eye to her sister.



Hello! the pair chorused, doing their best to muster quiet laughs. Ayame sat a little taller, since her two normal eyes weren’t really needed, she supposed. She balanced her other fingers on the grate at the bottom of the door so that her index finger was steady.

Through the hivemind, Ayame felt the quiet pulse of how weird it was to have three eyes, with one so far removed from the other two. Subconsciously, she also closed her two eyes, hoping to help ParaSyte focus on the hallway beyond. Perhaps she could even take a nap… would that interrupt their surveillance, though?

Ayame leaned back, her back resting against a shelf filled with large, pungent plastic bottles. Suzume surveyed her nails.

It was then that ParaSyte proposed a game to pass the time. Ayame adjusted her weight, and Suzume sat a little taller.

We do not know shiritori, Ayame confessed.

Teach us, Suzume agreed.

ft. parasyte

quirk: e-rank plant physiology, hivemind, telepathy; f-rank knife-fighting, mobility

ooc notes: time skip? time skip.

THE PAIR WAS QUIET AS ParaSyte explained the rules of the game, curious yet reluctant to try it out. Idle time was often filled with sunning oneself on the ground, or swimming, sleeping, or hunting. So such time-passing games were completely foreign. Besides which, their grasp of written language was… debatable. But when ParaSyte described the words phonetically, it made… a little more sense.

School… Suzume repeated, breathing a low “hrrrrm”.

Heart! Ayame interjected eagerly. The volley would continue in the din, the three psychically suggesting words in the snug little closet. Admittedly, as time ticked by, Suzume’s attention thinned. She didn’t have the mind for word games, and started to doze in the corner. Ayame, however remained sharp as ever as they approached a near hour in-hiding.

Suzume had fallen silent, but Ayame scarcely noticed in favor of playing this game with her new friend. She was about to propose the word, Fox! When ParaSyte interrupted her.

The exclamation compelled Ayame to her feet, who carefully freed her hand from the grate so as not to hurt the eye-stalk. Then, with decidedly less care, she nudged Suzume with her toe, hissing across the psychic bond.

Wake up! Our girl is on the move!

When this garnered no response, Ayame kicked Suzume’s shoe.

Wake up!!

A groan of discontent, but some movement, followed.

Moments later, the odd pair (trio?) emerged from the broom-closet, heralded by clouds of spores, which had filled the space in their stationary time. Ayame’s head swiveled left and right before pinpointing their mark, just up the hall.

She kept her steps slow and silent, her heart hammering against her ribs. Ayame kept close to the wall, where she could duck out of view if necessary… and she did, a few times, when she worried that their mark would look back. Suzume followed along, still groggy from her surprise-nap.

It had been ParaSyte’s prompting that had compelled them from the broom closet, so it was to ParaSyte they looked to for guidance. In a way, she had become the leader of this expedition.

Their target slipped through a door into a new room, this one marked with the picture of a girl upon a plastic placard. Ayame and Suzume remained at the door, reluctant. Their mission had been to follow her home, right…? So to follow her to the bathroom…

Now what? Suzume asked groggily, still rubbing at her eyes. Ayame glanced back at her, then at the door. She pushed the door open with the palm of her hand, and slipped inside. Suzume followed. From their vantage point, they could see a pair of shoes beneath the door of one of the stalls.

ft. byeol-su mae

quirk: e-rank plant physiology, hivemind, telepathy; f-rank knife-fighting, mobility

ooc notes:

THE PAIR WAIVERED UNCERTAINLY AS their passenger directed them, moving seemingly at Parasyte’s behest. First, they were directed to go in—to question the other girl—Suzume grabbed the door’s handle.

But then, they were advised to keep their distance—Suzume released the handle yet again. The sisters exchanged glances, uncertain. One go, one follow… both go… uh…?

Inside there was a rusted-over creak of something metallic, some shuffling, and then silence. Ayame grabbed the door’s handle and pulled it open, and the two slipped in.

The room that they entered was mostly covered in cool, strangely colored squares of stone, with sinks protruding from the wall and partitions with doors over the entrances that didn’t fully conceal what lay within. Too many toilets, all unoccupied. How funny, to see so many toilets in one place. Until now, the sisters had only seen rooms with a single toilet inside.

But where was the girl…?

Window! Suzume hissed sharply. Ayame followed her sister’s gaze towards the window at the far end of the room. It was a small window, perhaps meant for ventilation of the small, claustrophobic hall of toilets, and it was thrown open onto the outside, sunlight filtering into the room.

Beyond the window, their mark was stealing hastily across the schoolyard, her bag slung over her shoulder.

The pair stole towards the window—it was a narrow opening, but they were small statured—with a little wriggling, they squirmed their way through.

Their mission was to tail the girl—and she was getting away.

[END]

ft. parasyte

quirk: e-rank plant physiology, hivemind, telepathy; f-rank knife-fighting, mobility

ooc notes: