#<- sou's line played in my head the entire time i was writing this Goodbye

[datastate]

floormaster kai genuinely makes me uneasy. he would hate it. the contrast if sara is involved too... "as pawns, your fall is inevitable - at least die for a purpose, for the one you care for" vs. "they'll all die anyway, so use and discard the others if you may live" ... kai pushing those asunaro wishes to be cast out toward the sacrifice, where they may go out splendidly against all odds or at the least may ensure the cursed card doesn't fall upon one they love. sara pressing the inevitability as a way to rid the guilt, where if you aren't set in your own survival, you're as good as dead by comparison.

kai isn't as ruthless, he's mainly desensitized. he's entirety unmoved by macabre demonstrations at this point, however gruesome, but he's far more intrigued with just how far another will go for someone they love. what drives that care? what lingers in their mind that brings them to deny reality, and call or reach for the dead. when will it break? how did it fade? can it be resparked, through what was once treasured, memories, ais, dolls..? he's curious. he's jealous. he's desperate. it's unlike him, but how these emotions strain and rebuild is what he wishes to test, albeit a secretive priority compared to what asunaro demands of him. it's shameful to wish to fulfill the hopes of the participants at all, let alone yearn to connect with them himself despite the roles given to them. they're pathetic, and affectionate, and weak, and trusting in spite of it all. it's pitiful. he can't help but want to satiate it. even if it inevitably fractures the group more, they want it too. to feel close to another, even if it ends in heartbreak or indirect horrific acts. it's ludicrous. it's beneath him. still, he wonders why...

floormasters cannot directly kill participants, but kai may abuse this technicality to prove his point or to urge retaliation. he's not as openly provocative as sara or ranger would be, but he expects order and he looks down upon those who cannot strain their bodies and minds (especially if a child has grown attached to them; how can you not stand strong?) to the point he'll attempt to break them first, valuing those with more endurance as more interesting targets for this private study, because he wonders how one so strong can fall prey to something embedded in his mind as 'weakness'. he plays upon the trust they hold in each other (both in observation (objective value if they noticed the hints he placed) and in what little he had directly told) to have them string together the trial's rules as he stands by in silence, or they don't notice him observe at all. he puts their group's bonds to the test.

the trials evaluate trust, and he's waiting to see what they'll do with the opportunity he's presented. how strong these bonds are, and how they'll last. will they truly use this against asunaro? or will they be blinded by emotion and fight amongst each other? (he wants them to find a collective purpose, join hands and resist the cruel ones who toy with their lives). he doesn't know which to hope for. (he wants them to build their own hope, one they're willing to die for). he knows he shouldn't feel anything toward it at all. (kai wants to see asunaro fall, even if he dies bound to its name).