The Monomachine

It was a lovely day outside. Dark clouds and a humid feeling in the air as if it were going to rain. The entire atmosphere of the park was depressed, dark, crying, sad. It had only been a couple days since Daisuke had been so terribly executed. The image of the blood coming from the boy's body was seared into their minds, or at least many of their minds, causing even the bravest to seclude themselves from the others. The bravest meaning the coward known as Alexander Root, a man who preferred to be an asshole to others instead of changing himself to adjust to how others wanted him to be, a man who said he would be a fellow student's confidence, and so he'd made sure he wasn't around for her to see any time when he remembered the image.

It would be bad if anyone saw him with fear in his eyes, but it would be even worse if she saw it in his eyes. He was failing at being confident for himself, and he was failing at being the confidence for her too. He was a failure, as he always had been, a failure to his father, a failure in life, a failure at the only thing he was good for, science. They all probably thought it was a fluke in the trial, how he didn't remember what color ink the note was written in, but he knew it was because his memory was shot. And it was his fault. That was why he was such a failure all the time. A good scientist would never have to go back and refigure out an answer to a problem. A good scientist wouldn't have to refer to his notes pasted all over his room like a conspiracy theorist. A good scientist would remember at least a little bit of the work he did before so they didn't have to keep going over everything. The fact he still managed to make strides in science was a miracle, a testament to his insistence, because without science, what was he good for? However, it was always a good thing when he read his notes as the memory would present itself in his mind usually, it just needed spurring from his written word. That fact was probably his only saving grace, the only thing that gave him a shred of usefulness.

Today he was only out of his room because he had found a few curious coins in his room that he'd never seen before. Of course he knew they had to have come from Monoworld, as printed on the metal surface was the face of the infamous bear who had kept them here captive, the leader so to say. Curious and feeling a bit stuffy (an odd feeling he had rarely felt before, as he preferred being inside), Root decided to make an excursion today. Taking a deep breath as he studied his wall one last time, Root made his way out of his room, coins in hand and his journal tucked under his arm. Root slowly made his way out of the castle, his mind whirling around mostly focusing on hopefully not seeing the girl he totally failed, or anyone else, or he'd have to put on a fake look of confidence as he walked, not wanting to be disturbed.

Being alone and lost in his thoughts was never a good thing for Alexander Root. Getting lost in his own head without a wall of theories and equations caused his inner demons to emerge. He clenched his fist around the coins to the point they began digging into his hand. 'Don't listen. Don't listen. Don't listen. You're not wasting your time. You're not a disgrace. Don't listen. Don't listen. Don't listen.' He continued the chant as he wandered the park until the point where he had to stop to rest. He was nearby the fountain at this point, and he sat down next to the fountain, on the ground, and buried his head into his knees. He had to rest. He couldn't go on. His body was aching from walking around too much, too much stress on his body, his blood pressure was probably elevated and would probably be the death of him. He shut his eyes tightly continuing to chant at himself not to listen to the little voices in his head that were degrading him. This was why he had to keep working all the time. These coins, however, as he just remembered as he tightened his fist and the pain from them in his hand increased, posed a mystery. A mystery to be solved, not something that he could just wander around and stay in the hell that was his own mind, something to occupy him. Why didn't he think of it before? After all, they were the reason he left his room, the reason he left his studies.

He pushed himself up and looked around, a new look on his face, a look of determination, a look of reason, a look of focus, a look of obsession. It didn't take long before Root found the machine which these coins obviously belonged to, perhaps because of his subconscious mind pretty much leading him there, as the Monomachine was in the park center just as the fountain was. Root looked from the coins to the machine, and began to inspect the machine itself. It seemed harmless, but with the sense of humor this bear had, it could end up killing him.

He wasn't sure if he was willing to risk it, but the mystery as to what would happen stuck in his mind. It was so tempting. The risk was so great, but Root decided that he would try it, but not without caution. Slowly, he took one coin and placed it into the coin slot, before quickly running back, away from the machine. He hoped that it wasn't a cruel machine that was going to kill him this far away, predicting that he would make these moves. Then again, he doubted anyone would miss him… No, no, he had to keep on living because he promised he would.

Eventually, Root approached the machine again, placing the other four coins in the machine individually to find out what these coins would get him, hoping that he wouldn't die because of it.