[i]"Nagatani-san, are you alright? ... That's going to leave a nasty mark."[/i]

"I-I..." It had felt as though Reiko had only caught her breath just to lose it again. If nothing else, her expression was clear. She was pretty violent in the past, and it seemed that there was a new murder to talk about every day back in the big city. But never had Reiko witnessed the death of another human being. Much less, in such a gruesome manner as what had just happened in front of her. Her expression showed clear fear; the kind where one can't quite figure out if what they saw really just happened. "I'm breathing, at least, but...did...did what I just see...did that really just happen?" While she wasn't a violent type these days, Reiko made a mental note the beat the hell out of the club member that sent her on this errand when and if they ever saw each other again. She'd been brought to this hellish place and saw what she still wasn't sure if it was real or not. The quivering of her irises began when the realization suddenly set in. That could have been her. If that...calling it a monster didn't even feel sufficient to Reiko anymore, but if it hadn't tossed her, that lifeless husk could have been [i]her[/i].

"I'll be okay," Reiko finally said. "We...we can't let what just happened slow us down! Right?" The tone in Reiko's voice sounded more like she was looking for confirmation that she [i]was[/i] right, rather than for someone to agree with her. She saw her shinai still in the hall. At least it was still there. That in itself helped with this new feeling of fear she wasn't used to. Slowly making her way to it, as though any step could set off a land mine, Reiko began making her way toward the shinai. If she had that, she figured. If she had that, she could at least [i]try[/i] to fight. Would it even do her any good? She was clearly shaken, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, and she figured you'd have to be crazy to not be. Right now though, it was her only thought. [i]I don't want to die. Even if fighting won't do anything for me, I want to survive, no matter how much I have to kick and scream to do it.[/i]