Waking Dream - Devil Survivor CYOA

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A.

You lower your shoulder and drive it into Kumiko's back.  She stumbles forward, falling clear of the debris.  You brace yourself to be buried in the rubble.  A massive chunk of concrete is right on track to crush you.

An small explosion - some sort of spell - above you shatters the would-be boulder, and some (comparatively) harmless fragments barrage you instead while the majority of the pieces miss.  More debris continues to fall towards you, and you lose your footing as you stumble over the rubble, trying to escape.

"Grey!"

The world begins to distort and warp, and you feel a disorienting sense of weightlessness.  You suddenly find yourself standing in front of Rita and Grey.  Over Rita's shoulder, you catch a glimpse of a figure in the alley.  A young woman - the young woman.  She gives you a mischievous smile as she turns and disappears around the corner.  Something tells you she's the one that cast that spell that burst open that rock, the one that gave Rita the time she needed.

You don't get a chance to go after her, to thank her or fight her or whatever you want to do.  "I'm so-sorry Kira!" Rita yells as she punches you in the face.

When you wake up a few minutes later, you find yourself laying on a small bedroll in a small, hastily erected tent, a few bandages coiled around your scrapes and cuts.  Sara is standing a few feet away, tending to a man you don't recognize laying on a similar bed.  A few other people lay in various states of consciousness throughout the room.  Rita is crouched down beside you.  Her eyes open in surprise as you sit up.

"Kira!  I'm so glad you're...  Um...  S-sorry," Rita apologizes.

"Kira!?" Sara yells, tossing aside the roll of bandages she was wrapping around the man's arm.  "Kira, you..."  She says in a scolding tone.  She stops and collects herself.  "...Somehow, Kira, as soon as we heard the explosion, I knew I'd find you there.  Why do you do this to me, Kira?  Can't you keep yourself out of trouble for just one day?  Just one?  Please?  For me?"

"It's my fault, I'm sorry...!" Rita jumps to your defense.

"She ran into a collapsing building, Rita.  That's not your fault," Sara counters.

"B-but I'm the one that punched her..." Rita says.

...Right.  Now you remember.  You ask Rita what that was about.

"W-well, Grey's Abduction only works on enemies, so I had to... initiate combat with you to pull you out of there," Rita explains quickly.  You can tell she's been rehearsing.  "And then I thought since we were in combat, I needed to, y'know..."

"You didn't really need to do that," Bast interrupts from four places at once.  The three women check their phones, then turn to look for the fourth source.

Kumiko gives a small awkward wave.  "Um.  The building thing was kinda my fault.  She wanted to... help me save my parents?  And me?  Apparently I was going to die if she hadn't stepped in?  That's what Rita told me, anyway."

"Is that true?"  Sara asks.  "I mean, it is true, about people foreseeing people's deaths..."  She sighs.  "Well, I guess if you were trying to save people, I can't exactly be mad at you.  Just...  Remember to take care of yourself, too?  I'm not going to forgive you if you get yourself killed!"

You ask how Kumiko's parents are doing.

"Alive," Kumiko tells you.  "Dad's head's a bit messed up, but he should be OK after a few days of rest.  Mom's fine."

"We're taking care of everyone that was caught in the blast," Sara informs you.  "But the tamers and non-tamers are being kept separate.  We'll be taking custody of the non-tamers and escorting them to the safe zone.  I'm sorry, but anyone who can summon demons isn't allowed.  No exceptions.  Not even us military tamers."

"That's fine," Kumiko says.  "I have a better chance on my own, to be honest.  It's a load off my mind not having to worry about them."

"That's... a good attitude?" Sara says awkwardly.

"I'm also going to need to find a new place to sleep, new clothes...  I guess it'd be better if I wasn't on my own.  Hey, Kira, you mind if I come with you for a bit?"

You tell her you don't have a problem with it.

"Great!" she tells you.

Sara tries to hide her smile.  "Well, I do feel a bit better if someone's keeping an eye on Kira for me.  Don't let her doing anything else stupid, alright?"

"I'll try," Rita says hesitantly.

"No promises," Kumiko says bluntly.  "Can I talk to Kira alone for a moment?"

"Oh, right!" Sara says.  "I need to treat the others," she says, excusing herself.

"It...  It's fine," Rita says.  She stands up and steps outside.

Kumiko eyes you...  You aren't quite sure what her expression is.  Confused?  The silence starts to get a bit uncomfortable.  "Why'd you do that?" she asks you.  "Shove me out of the way," she clarifies.  "You could have died."

You explain that you were just listening to the voices in your head.

"Oh, like... your conscience?  That...  Makes sense.  I guess it would be kind of hard living with the fact someone died when you could have saved them."

Close enough, you think to yourself.

"A-anyway," Kumiko says, brushing her hair aside nervously.  "I need to... thank you.  So, uh, thank you."

You tell her not to mention it.

"So, um...  Right.  I'll be with you for a bit.  Just until I can get a handle on things."

---

Fate with Kumiko reached Stage 2!
More skills will now be unlocked when she joins you in a battle.

---

Fate with Kumiko reached Stage 3!
You can now fuse Aramisaki.

---

The current time is 17:00.  Choose 4 events.

(A) Hospital (Elise)
(B) Downtown ruins (Kumiko)
(C) Park (Rita)
(D) Refugee camp (Sara)
(E) Refugee camp (Jackson)
(F) Town outskirts (George and ???)
(G) River Docks

Sure.

You plan out the next few places you're going.  Since you're already here, you decide to start with Sara.  You spend a few minutes making plans with Kumiko, and she leaves to get some things together.  Then you go over to Sara, who's currently hunched over, rubbing some burn ointment on an injured demon tamer's arm.

You bend down and offer to help.

"Oh!  Kira, you're hurt.  You shouldn't be up," she scolds you.

You tell her you feel fine.  You actually do feel pretty good, despite all the bruises.  Besides, you want an excuse to spend some time with her.

"I'm on duty..." Sara tells you.  "You know how I feel about... y'know..."

She takes her career very seriously.  Being a soldier... it's not just something to do to her.  It's what she always wanted.  Her dream job and her duty all in one.  She was so proud when she got her promotion to corporal...  You know it's nothing personal.  You wouldn't try to make her choose between you and her job.

"Well, I guess... we are pretty short-staffed right now.  So...  Grab those bandages and give me a hand," Sara tells you.  You do what she says.  "Right, now I'm going to apply this ointment, then you just wrap around the arm a few times, nice and loose."

You tell her you didn't know she knew all this stuff.

"I've studied plenty of field medicine," she explains proudly.  "More than was required.  I figured it would come in handy.  And I was right.  And since we're short-staffed, we're leaving the worst cases for the medics while anyone with training is working on the simple stuff.  This is a simple first-degree burn.  He'll be OK."

"Glad to hear that," the man says.  "Thanks, by the way."  You'd forgotten you were working on a real person.

"It's not a problem," Sara assures him.  "Just make sure to keep it dry and lightly covered until it heals.  Sorry, we don't have much cream to spare.  And... well... now that we've made sure you're not... badly injured..."

"I understand," he says.  He rolls over, pushes himself up, and heads out of the tent.

You help Sara treat another three people.  What started as a crowded tent full of people with mild injuries - a few dozen - has nearly emptied.  Sara walks with you to the entrance, and you see another three tents.  "The badly injured are in that tent," Sara point.  "And the non-tamers are in those two.  Military command's been really obsessive about keeping tamers and non-tamers separate.  They've even gone so far as to use force.  Not all of the non-tamers in the quarantine zone are... really there by choice."

(A) "It's a good idea."
(B) "They're just being safe."
(C) "They're going too far."
(D) "Are you OK?"

"Are you OK?"

Your question takes Sara by surprise.  "I'm... fine?" she answers, a bit off-balance.  "I mean...  I...  I may not really like my orders, but I understand why what we're doing is necessary.  We've got to maintain order until we manage to get a handle on the situation.  So I'll just... y'know... suck it up."

You ask her if she thinks there ever will really be a "handle on the situation."

"Well..." she says.  She looks around hesitantly, making sure no one's in earshot.  "I really shouldn't be telling you this, Kira, but we've started receiving regular supply deliveries.  Not... not enough on its own, but combined with what we've got stockpiled and what the Guardians are giving us, it should be plenty."

You ask how that's possible.

"Apparently, some places got it worse than others.  A few cities seem to be... demon hotspots.  Some places are practically demon-free, while other places are... well, you know how bad things are.  Supposedly, we're some of the worst off.  But if we can just hold out, keep from tearing ourselves apart..." Sara trails off as a pair of medics walk by, covered in blood.

"Anyway, I need to get back to work before I get in trouble.  I'll meet up with you tomorrow afternoon, after our mission, OK?  Stay safe for me.  Really, no more running into decrepit, crumbling buildings, no more explosions, no more of whatever happened in that library that Rita was talking about, and no more feeding yourself to demons!"

You promise to be on your best behavior.  You say your farewells and depart.

Something grabs your wrist and stops you.  Sara leads you out of sight behind a tent fold.  "Hey, um...  I really appreciate that you were worried about me."  She double-checks that no one's watching before sneaking a quick kiss.

---

Fate with Sara Lyon became 4!
Her Wind and Curse resistance became strong.

---

Feeling a bit more invigorated, you head downtown to meet up with Kumiko.  You find her sifting through the ruins of the now-fully-collapsed building she'd been holed up in.  She pulls out a scrap of cloth partially hidden beneath a rock.  She stares at it for several seconds, lost in thought, her jaw set to one side.  Then she shrugs, tosses the scrap aside, and stands up.

"Oh.  Kira.  You're earlier than I expected."

You ask if she was able to find anything.

"No, it's all gone.  Like I expected.  Kind of silly to get my hopes up, I guess.  Oh, well.  I've still got the shirt on my back, my phone, and a charger.  And now my parents are taken care of, so that's one less thing to worry about.  Plus, I made a few... er... friends.  All in all, not a bad day, I suppose."

You tell her that's a good attitude.

She doesn't say anything for a bit, just takes a few cautious steps down from the ruined building.  "...No point crying over spilled milk," she finally says.  "Either you move forward, get stronger, and survive, or you cling to the past and die."

(A) "That's ridiculous."
(B) "Maybe you're right."
(C) "Damn straight."
(D) "Not to change the subject or anything, but do you like raccoons?"

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