Futaba's mom is kinda hot ngl

Walking in silence through the weird room with suspended platforms while holding Futaba on his back felt weird. Not the "This is way too easy. I think something bad will happen." kind of weird, but rather "I can't believe this is how I spend this weekend." weird.

Of course, by this point, Shin had already accepted that he wouldn't be able to live peacefully, or something boring like that. Because honestly, what is the point of getting to live again after dying, if you'd simply pick up from where you left.

"Hey," interjected Futaba, breaking Shin's immersion in his own mind. The girl pointed ahead with one hand, holding herself by Shin's shoulders with the other one. "We're here already. Let's go in."

"Mhm. This is your treasure room. Are you ready?" he asked.

The question was mainly rhetorical. They were so far in, there's no point in quitting now. Shin simply asked as courtesy towards Futaba. It was her heart, after all. The girl didn't reply, but Shin could feel her hands tighten on his shoulders and he assumed she nodded her head. He pushed open the doors into the room, leading to a quite long corridor with an elevator at the end.

After a short, albeit tense ride up the elevator, the two teens finally reached what looked to be a dark, dusty attic-looking room. There were a few thing strewn around, but in the center of the room was a sarcophagus. Shin went towards it, with Futaba in tow, walking on her own two feet, though still moving hesitantly since the room was dark and she didn't have her glasses.

The taller teen went next to the sarcophagus and, in a show of extraordinary strength, lifted the lid-like slab of stone covering it. As Shin and Futaba peered inside, they couldn't see anything inside.

"There isn't anything in there, right? Is that how this goes usually?" asked the girl.

"Normally there's something to be stolen. Though I suppose in your case this whole sarcophagus is probably a metaphor that's too obvious for me to explain. As such..."

While he was speaking, Shin took a hold of the slab of stone with both hands. Leaving his sentence hanging, he swung the slab of stone at the stone coffin with full power.

"Eep!" Futaba squeaked, taking a few steps backwards, away from the pieces of stone flying everywhere.

Of course, the first hit didn't utterly obliterate the sarcophagus, so Shin continued swinging. It wasn't long until the teen only held small pieces of stone in his hands, remnants of the lid. Shin threw them on top of the pile already existent there, dusting off his hands.

"Alright, so that's that. Let's go."

Shin was walking without a care, but he knew that the palace should start shaking soon. Not necessarily from Wakaba's cognition, but rather because he destroyed the place where the treasure would've been as the ruler stood by and watched.

He wasn't actually sure if destroying the sarcophagus would even work, because many parts of palaces before had been indestructible. At least for him then. It might be the case now because he already influenced Futaba, if only a little.

But as he felt the floor tremor, Shin quickly picked up Futaba, despite her protests. Luckily, it was just in time as suddenly, a giant paw smashed through the wall closest to the two. Looking through the hole, Shin could see the face of one giant, angry Wakaba, staring back at them. More specifically, it was looking at Futaba.

"Futabaaaaa!" it screamed.

Shifting the small girl in his arms around so he could take out his gun, Shin shouted before pulling the trigger.

"I hope you don't mind me shooting at your mom's face." despite the situation, Shin couldn't help but feel the corners off his mouth rise, a smirk struggling to form.

Futaba, ever the socially-aware, jabbed a finger into Shin's guts. It did little to actually hurt him, but the intention mattered, and he couldn't take it lying down.

"Y'know, I think we'll have time for poking and prodding one another after we deal with the huge sphinx trying to kill us." he said.

Not bothering to check if his words had any effect on the redhead, Shin jumped through the hole in the wall, almost falling over from having to run down on the exterior of the pyramid.

"How are you going to beat that thing?" shouted Futaba, halfway between terrified for her life and excited at the prospect of sliding down a pyramid while being chased by something.

"That's the neat part." replied Shin, pausing only to jump over a large piece of rubble Wakaba flung at them. "I won't. I just need to get back to the entrance point and we'll be good."

As he was nearing the entrance, Shin suddenly realized something very important to their continued wellbeing: There was a ledge before the entrance, where the smooth wall of the pyramid cut off to make space for the entryway.

Which was really bad because it'd mean he'd hit the ground at the speed he was going, after falling for a few tens of meters.

"Ah, fuck it!" he exclaimed.

Just before jumping off, Shin spun himself around so that he'd be the one to fall directly on the sand, not Futaba. The frail girl certainly wouldn't make it.

And so that's what happened. Shin hit the ground and bounce a few times, before returning to reality while sliding on sand. The pair reappeared in the doorway to Futaba's room, and their momentum carried the two right into the wall of the hallway.

Unfortunately, that meant Shin got slammed into the wooden wall really hard. Fortunately, Shin had equipped Abaddon beforehand, so all physical damage got absorbed. Unfortunately, their crash most certainly attracted the attention of the only other resident of the house, who was undoubtedly heading their way.

-

Confidants:

0. Yaldabaoth (The Fool) - Rank 3

I. Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3

1. Takuto Maruki (The Councillor) - Rank 1

II. Makoto Niijima (The Priestess) - Rank 3

IV. Yusuke Kitagawa (The Emperor) - Rank 3

Odd man - Rank 1

V. Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 4

VI. Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 7

VII. Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 7

VIII. Goro Akechi (The Justice) - Rank 3

IX. Futaba Sakura (The Hermit) - Rank 4

X. Maemi Maeda (The Fortune) - Rank 1

XI. Caroline & Justine (The Strength) - Rank 10

XIII. Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 5

Reaper - Rank 1

XIV. Sadayo Kawakami (The Temperance) - Rank 5

XVIII. Saki Yoshiko (The Moon) - Rank 3

XIX. Sho Minazuki (The Sun) - Rank 2

Toranosuke Yoshida - Rank 1

XX. Sae Niijima (The Judgement) - Rank 2

Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 10

Marie (The Aeon) - Rank 1