[ Waking up on a train is disorienting, if not downright strange. It’s as though the past few hours of Usagi’s memories are just wiped from her brain, leaving her with absolutely no recollection of how she got here, to begin with. However, that seems to be the least of her worries when the train comes to a screeching halt, and the doors open to reveal a station, seemingly devoid of people. For a moment, she holds her breath and stays on the train for a while before realizing that the train is definitely not going to go anywhere else. As she thought earlier, it’s disorienting, but since it doesn’t seem like she has anywhere else to go, she figures she disembark for now. She won’t be able to pinpoint her location from inside the train, after all.

It’s not as terrifying as she had thought, as she takes a wary step out from the train and onto the platform. She doesn’t know if the train will just leave now that she’s on the platform, but if it hadn’t left earlier, then maybe it would just stay here until she’s ready to come back. She’s looking between the train compartment and the stairs at the end of the platform—will the train go anywhere? Will she end up back home? She doesn’t know, and it’s not like her friends are here to help her make these decisions. There’s a little voice in the back of her head that prods her onward, telling her that perhaps she’ll find someone else upstairs. Maybe it’s another case of her sleepwalking—except she doesn’t sleepwalk—and the weird mashup between the baddie of the day sending them into another realm to fend for herself. But it’s too quiet to be any of these options, right?

This is the perfect setting for a horror movie, isn’t it?

Usagi pushes on, and makes her way towards the end of the platform, where the staircase leads somewhere—she doesn’t know where exactly. It’s dark, it’s heavy, almost, and she almost wishes she were back under her covers filing this entire experience as something from a bad dream of sorts to be jotted down in her dream journal. Did she keep one? Hard to know—maybe she’ll start one after this. This feels way too real.

The trip up the stairs is long, but once she makes it up to the top, she hears it—the inevitable sound of the train doors closing. Great, she doesn’t even have an exit plan now. It’s frustrating, but she keeps on going. There are shops here, maps on the wall, and, well, a decent variety of necessities that one will probably need. Every shop in the station is open, including a convenience store, which she spotted earlier. On cue, her stomach lets out a rather loud groan, and she huffs loudly at how stubbornly demanding her stomach is. Usagi looks around in her pockets, but aside from the handkerchief that she always has in hand, there’s maybe a dollar's worth of change in her pocket, which is probably not enough to buy the things she needs.

This is the kind of trouble she gets off to on her own, isn’t it? It almost seems like a no-brainer at this point to see what she can get, but she quickly realizes that there’s no one manning the stores at all. She hates to steal because it’s not exactly moral, but she’s in a pinch, isn’t she? She’ll remind herself that she owes them some sort of compensation as she quickly grabs some snacks on the shelves, keeping count as she does. Curious enough, though, there’s no price tag on these, so maybe…

…but she’s really hungry.

So the best course of action is, of course, to leave the change she found in her pocket on the little table where there would normally be someone there to ring up her items. Surely it’s good enough, right? She blames herself for spending all her allowance on cake and ice cream…

…at least the Castella cake she has in her hand is soothing her anxieties slightly. ]

[ The walk through the city park is probably peaceful, a stark contrast to the earlier experience in the train station. It’s a quiet area, awfully tranquil compared to the areas surrounding it. She can hear the leaves crunch as she walks around the park, without a clear destination in mind. The earlier unease she felt dissipates slowly the longer she stays, and soon, there’s barely any indication of her earlier worries.

It’s like the fog is feeding off of her anxiety.

The feeling reminds her of when she used to stay up during the night, just staring at the moon. It gives her something to think about, as the faint memories of something she can’t seem to remember grazes gently on her mind, giving her glimpses of a past life she might have had once upon a time.

By the time she realizes where her feet have taken her, she’s already standing in the deeper part of the park, and her surroundings are harder to see. Navigating the denser part of what seems to be a forest-like area becomes something of a chore. It’s easy to just go back to where she came from, but the problem is, it’s hard for her to remember where. The former sensation of ease fades, and in its place, there’s an unsettling feeling. With her heart thumping loudly in her chest, she turns a corner to see a statue, covered in vines.

She then realizes there are many statues, but each one looks…oddly familiar. It draws her in as she blankly stares at them.

Has she been staring for too long? She forcibly tears her eyes away from the statues as she shakes her head, trying to get rid of the strange sensation. When she tries to recall what the statues looked like, it’s a blur.

She really needs to get out of here.

She needs to leave. ]

[ There are apartment buildings here. It seems normal enough for her, as she spent a lot of time inside Mamoru’s apartment before…this. There is a general familiarity that every city has these, and this one is no different.

The first door she tries after entering the lobby looks like something out of one of those magazines for interior designers. Clean, and orderly, and not a single item in the room was out of place. It’s eerie how orderly it is—which is not to say that Usagi is unclean or disorderly, but everything seems to have been thoroughly cleaned like the inside of a surgical operation room.

She gulps and retraces her steps to leave the room, having clearly seen enough of this place already.

The second door she opens is far more welcoming than the first. It’s much warmer, in this room, as though it’s someone’s living quarters. No one is in the room currently, and despite being taught manners from a young age, she cautiously walks into the living space to admire the decorations.

But like the park and the train station, she can’t really get used to why this place feels…strange to her, even when the room itself feels undeniably cozy. She can imagine herself living here, with a pet or two and maybe a friend to share the living area with. Saturdays lounging in the living area in front of the television and just existing in her own space—it’s not home, but it’s good enough, right?

Right—that’s what she’s missing, she realizes. None of the places she’s passed through feels like home. It doesn’t feel like she let her guard down, despite all signs that maybe she could. ]